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Show 278 TilE LIIJEltTY DELI •. n\" F.D)!UND QUINCY. 11 Nover did Art 80 weU with Nn.ture strive, Nor ever Idol secm'd 10 much aUvo; So like o. me.n, 110 golden to the slg~1t; ~ . So bMc within, 80 counterfeit aud light. -DnrD£~ . TnE genesis of idolatry is n curious study. That men should select such ungainly, clumsy, frightful objects of worship, and invest them with such cruel, bloody, filthy attributes, docs seem, nt first, passing strange, and as if it must spring from some idiosyncrasy of barbarous nations. When at a 'Missionary Meeting some uncouth shape, before which tho islands of tho sea bow down and worship, is displayed by the Apostle on furlough, and tho assembled multitude of Saints are told of the fiorcc 270 and licentious qualities it embodies, the whole com· pany is moved to astonishment, if not to tears, the strings of thcil' purses arc unloosed, and fresh offerings nrc laid on tho altar for tho deliyerancc of Heathendom from such a woe. And yet it may be that, in their own way, these \·cry evangelizing Doctors in Divinity, and Deacons and Churchmembers, hnvo just been doing what is quito as revolting in tho eye of Pure Reason as this 1\fonstm ··worship, and what would seem as barbarous and incxplicablo to those very worshippers they are ploased to call bal'ba!'ous, should tho facts bo laid before them. Idols arc not, by any means, carved out of wood and stone only. Thoy arc, sometimes, incarnat<ld in V(li'J substantial flesh and blood. Tho Philosophy of all Idolatl'y is not hard to understand. l\Icn make their gods in their own image, and then adore them for their resemblance to themselves. Their deities must necessarily bear a strong family resemblance to the worshippers, at least in mental and moral chnractcristics. The |