be there perpetually." (1 Kings ix. 3.) There can therefore be no doubt that the second commandment was intended only to for- bid the making or using the likeness of anything in heaven or earth as objects of worship.1
The Worship of Images forbidden.
It is equally clear that the second commandment does forbid the use of images in divine worship. In other words* idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images. This is clear, — , 1. From the literal meaning of the words. The precise thing forbidden is, bowing down to them, or serving them, i. e., ren- dering them any kind of external homage. This, however, is exactly what is done by all those who employ images as the ob- jects, or aids of religious worship.
2. This is still further plain because the Hebrews were solemnly enjoined not to make any visible representation of the unseen God, or to adopt anything external as the symbol of the invisible and make such symbol the object of worship ; i. e., they were not to bow down before these images or symbols or serve them. The Hebrew word -rnv rendered " to serve," includes all kinds of external homage, burning incense, making oblations, and kissing in token of subjection. The Hebrews were surrounded by idol- aters. The nations, having forgotten God, or refusing to acknowl- edge Him, had given themselves up to false gods. It was nature's invisible force, of which they saw constant, and often fearful manifestations around them, that was the great object of their reverence and fear. But nature, force, the invisible, could no more satisfy them, than the invisible Jehovah. They symbolized not the unknown, but the real, first in one way and then in another. Light and darkness were the two most obvious symbols of good and evil ; light, therefore, the sun, moon, and stars, the host of heaven, were among the earlier objects of religious rev- erence. But anything external and visible, living or dead, might be made to the people, by association or arbitrary appointment, the representative of the great unknown power by which all things
1 The later Jews~interpreted this commandment more strictly than either Moses or Solo- mon. Josephus, Ant. 8, 7, 5, pronounced making the figures of oxen to support the brazen laver to be contrary to the law. One of the most distinguished ministers of our Church objected to the American Sunday School Union, that they published books with pictures. When asked, What he thought of maps ? he answered that so far as maps were designed simply to show the relative position of places on the face of the earth, they were allowed ; but if they had any shading on them to represent mountains, they were forbidden by the second commandment.
292 PART III. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
were controlled. Most naturally, men distinguished by force of character and by their exploits would be regarded as manifesta- tions of the unknown. Thus nature-worship and hero-worship, the two great forms of heathenism, are seen to be radically the same. It was in view of this state of the Gentile world, all nations being given to the worship of the visible as the symbol of the invisible, that Moses delivered the solemn address to the chosen people recorded in the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy. " Only take heed to thyself," said the prophet, " and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life ; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons." What is it that he thus earnestly called on them to remember ? It was that in all the wonderful display of the divine presence and majesty upon Sinai, they had seen " no similitude," but only heard a voice, " Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves ; (for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lobd spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,) lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the likeness of anything that creepeth on the ground, the like- ness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth : and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them [literally, " to prostrate thyself before them1'], and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided
unto all nations under the whole heaven Take heed unto
yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jeal- ous God." The thing thus repeatedly and solemnly forbidden as a violation of the covenant between God and the people, was the bowing down to, or using anything visible, whether a natural object as the sun or moon, or a work of art and man's device, as an object or mode of divine worship. And in this sense the com- mand has been understood by the people to whom it was given, from the time of Moses until now. The worship of the true God by images, in the eyes of the Hebrews* has ever been considered as much an act of idolatry as the worship of false gods.
3. A third argument on this subject is, that the worship of