Religion is dependence upon a Being recognised to be perfect and
sovereign, whose will guides, and whose character moulds, the whole
life. That general statement may be broken up into parts; and we may
dwell upon the attitude of dependence, or of that of submission, or upon
that of admiration and recognition of ideal perfection, or upon that of
aspiration; but we come at last to the one thought--that the goal of
religion is likeness and the truest worship is imitation. Such a view of
the essence of religion gives point to the question, What is our god?
and makes it a very easily applied, and very searching test, of our
lives. Whatever we profess, that which we feel ourselves dependent on,
that which we invest, erroneously or rightly, with supreme attributes of
excellence, that which we aspire after as our highest good, that which
shapes and orders the current of our lives, is our god. We call
ourselves Christians. I am afraid that if we tried ourselves by such a
test, many of us would fail to pass it. It would thin the ranks of all
churches as effectually as did Gideon's ordeal by water, which brought
down a mob of ten thousand to a little steadfast band of three hundred.
No matter to what church we belong, or how flaming our professions, our
practical religion is determined by our answer to the question, What do
we most desire? What do we most eagerly pursue? England has as much need
as ever the house of Jacob had of the scathing words that poured like
molten lead from the lips of Isaiah the son of Amoz, 'Their land is full
of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their
land is also full of idols: they worship the work of their own hands.'
Money, knowledge, the good opinion of our fellows, success in a
political career--these, and the like, are our gods. There is a worse
idolatry than that which bows down before stocks and stones. The aims
that absorb us; our highest ideal of excellence; that which possessed,
we think would secure our blessedness; that lacking which everything
else is insipid and vain--these are our gods: and the solemn prohibition
may well be thundered in the ears of the unconscious idolaters not only
in the English world, but also in the English churches. 'Thou shalt not
give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.'