Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them. Sermons
They that make them shall be like unto them. This suggests a topic in the line of the previous homily. It is a law which works in a twofold way. As is the god who is worshipped, so are the people who worship. As is the people who worship, so are the gods whom they create for worship. It is, indeed, the very essence of the idea of a God worthy to be worshipped, that he shall be revealed to man, not created by him; that he shall be in the sphere of man's thoughts, and so apprehensible; but beyond the reach of man's thoughts, and so a perpetual inspiration to him. The reproach which Jehovah makes to his people is that they have not kept him beyond them, but have reduced him to their level. "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." We have seen that what men attempt to embody when they make their own gods is themselves; the gods are like the people. The characteristics of any nation can be known by a study of its gods; and the characteristics of any particular age of a nation can be known by its relation to, and treatment of, the national gods. Therefore the history of the nations is so largely the history of the national religions. I. Let men make their own gods like themselves, and THEY WILL NEVER MAKE THE GODS LIKE THEMSELVES AT THEIR REST. Whatever may be thought about the formulated doctrine of original sin, the fact of universal moral deterioration is bound to be generally accepted. And the sign of it is that man is not interested in his best; perhaps not even able to set before himself the image of himself at his best possible. So there never yet was an idol-god made that even represented its maker at his noblest. II. Let men make their own gods like themselves, and THEY WILL BE SURE TO MAKE THE GODS LIKE THEMSELVES AT THEIR WORST. This can be effectually illustrated by the Kali, Sarasvati, Juggernaut, of India; the Baal and Ashtaroth of Phoenicians; the Moloch of Amorites; and even the refined and artistic creations of Grecian genius; for these represent man sensual, which really is man at his lowest. And this fact, that if man makes his own gods he makes them like himself at his worst, may be shown to be equally true of those immaterial, mental, figures of God which men now make as the idols of an intellectual age. They are no more worthy of God than the hideous figures of India, and this is the serious feature of the case. Let man make his god after the pattern of himself at his worst, and the god he makes and worships will inevitably debase him lower and lower. - R.T. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. A false religion has all the outward signs of importance. A false religion could not live if it showed only its lying side. Even a lie could not live but for the one grain of truth that may be in it: it may be a grain of probability only, or even of possibility, but the lie owes its life, however brief, to the element of at least seeming truth, or possible truth, that may be in it. So with false religions: enumerate them, set them all out in a line, and one looks very much like another as to outward appearance. How long would a piece of lead be in the market-place if offered as a coin? Not one moment. But if treated, if smelted, minted, stamped, drilled, and made to look like a coin, it might deceive somebody, it might live a little while. To what would it owe its life? Not to its intrinsic quality, but to its appearance. So when you cite the religions of the world, and set them all in a line, you are perfectly right in saying, Behold them, and see how very strikingly they resemble one another. The counterfeit coin lives in its resemblance: take away this resemblance, and you take away its whole value; its similitude is its life. What wonder, then, that we find men deceived by religions that are superficial, and merely human inventions, that have nothing to live upon that is of an eternal and Divine nature? It is quite possible that the counterfeit coin may be more brilliant than the real coin. How did the five-pound note pass? Because it was like a five-pound note: the paper was the same, the mill mark was the same, the writing was the same; the resemblance was the reason of the successful deception. Much is mistaken for faith that is not faith, that is mere intellectual assent, or mere intellectual indifference. A man does not believe things which he simply names with his mouth. He only believes those things for which he would die. What havoc this makes in the professed beliefs of the Church! Yet everything must be judged by the degree in which it realizes its own pretensions. To pretend to have hands means power of handling, or it is a lie: to profess to have feet and yet to be unable to walk is to contradict your own statement: to have ears carved by an Angelo which yet cannot hear a thunderburst is to have ears that are visible falsehoods. Where we find hands we have a right to expect handling: where we find faith we have a right to expect morality, or service, or action: and if we with all Christian profession of an intellectual kind are not balancing that profession by actual, living, useful service, then let all the mockers of the universe taunt us, saying, They have hands, but they handle not. The taunt is not a mere taunt; it is a sneer justified by reason. If there were no hands we should pity the sufferer. Who expects to refresh himself from the branches of an oak tree? Yet if the hungry soul should come to a fig tree in the time of figs, and should find upon the tree nothing but leaves, hunger has priestly rights of cursing, hunger may excommunicate that tree from the trees of the garden, because it pretended to be a fruit tree and yet it grew nothing but leaves. () People Aaron, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Confideth, Faith, Makers, Mutter, Puts, Throat, Trust, Trusteth, Trusting, Trusts, Yea, YesOutline 1. Because God is truly glorious4. And idols are vanity9. He exhorts to confidence in God12. God is to be blessed for his blessingDictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 115:2-8 8780 materialism, and sin Psalm 115:2-11 8023 faith, necessity Psalm 115:3-8 6708 predestination Psalm 115:4-8 5973 unreliability Psalm 115:5-8 8032 trust, lack of Library The Warning
"And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered abroad. Howbeit, after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee. But Peter said unto Him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I. And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, that thou today, even this night, before the cock crow twice, shalt deny me thrice. But he spake exceeding …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. MarkLetter xxxiv. To Marcella.
In reply to a request from Marcella for information concerning two phrases in Ps. cxxvii. ("bread of sorrow," v. 2, and "children of the shaken off," A.V. "of the youth," v. 4). Jerome, after lamenting that Origen's notes on the psalm are no longer extant, gives the following explanations: The Hebrew phrase "bread of sorrow" is rendered by the LXX. "bread of idols"; by Aquila, "bread of troubles"; by Symmachus, "bread of misery." Theodotion follows the LXX. So does Origen's Fifth Version. The Sixth …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome Christian Graces.
FAITH. FAITH! Peter saith, faith, in the very trial of it, is much more precious than gold that perisheth. If so, what is the worth or value that is in the grace itself? Faith is so great an artist in arguing and reasoning with the soul, that it will bring over the hardest heart that it hath to deal with. It will bring to my remembrance at once, both my vileness against God, and his goodness towards me; it will show me, that though I deserve not to breathe in the air, yet God will have me an heir …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan Impiety of Attributing a visible Form to God. --The Setting up of Idols a Defection from the True God.
1. God is opposed to idols, that all may know he is the only fit witness to himself. He expressly forbids any attempt to represent him by a bodily shape. 2. Reasons for this prohibition from Moses, Isaiah, and Paul. The complaint of a heathen. It should put the worshipers of idols to shame. 3. Consideration of an objection taken from various passages in Moses. The Cherubim and Seraphim show that images are not fit to represent divine mysteries. The Cherubim belonged to the tutelage of the Law. 4. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Stedfastness in the Old Paths.
"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls."--Jer. vi. 16. Reverence for the old paths is a chief Christian duty. We look to the future indeed with hope; yet this need not stand in the way of our dwelling on the past days of the Church with affection and deference. This is the feeling of our own Church, as continually expressed in the Prayer Book;--not to slight what has gone before, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII Messiah Derided Upon the Cross
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. F allen man, though alienated from the life of God, and degraded with respect to many of his propensities and pursuits, to a level with the beasts that perish, is not wholly destitute of kind and compassionate feelings towards his fellow-creatures. While self-interest does not interfere, and the bitter passions …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 Triumph Over Death and the Grave
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. T he Christian soldier may with the greatest propriety, be said to war a good warfare (I Timothy 1:18) . He is engaged in a good cause. He fights under the eye of the Captain of his salvation. Though he be weak in himself, and though his enemies are many and mighty, he may do that which in other soldiers …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Divine Support and Protection
[What shall we say then to these things?] If God be for us, who can be against us? T he passions of joy or grief, of admiration or gratitude, are moderate when we are able to find words which fully describe their emotions. When they rise very high, language is too faint to express them; and the person is either lost in silence, or feels something which, after his most laboured efforts, is too big for utterance. We may often observe the Apostle Paul under this difficulty, when attempting to excite …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 The Last Supper
189. On Thursday Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem for the last time. Knowing the temper of the leaders, and the danger of arrest at any time, Jesus was particularly eager to eat the Passover with his disciples (Luke xxii. 15), and he sent two of them--Luke names them as Peter and John--to prepare for the supper. In a way which would give no information to such a one as Judas, he directed them carefully how to find the house where a friend would provide them the upper room that was needed …
Rush Rhees—The Life of Jesus of Nazareth Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Psalm 115:8 NIVPsalm 115:8 NLTPsalm 115:8 ESVPsalm 115:8 NASBPsalm 115:8 KJV
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