_The Construction and Worship of Images_.--In Exod. xx. 4 we find the following command: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness _of any thing_ that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Here, it will be observed, is a sweeping interdiction against image-making; and, as it prohibits the likeness of _any thing_ that "is in heaven above or the earth beneath," it is a dead-lock upon the fine arts. All engravings, paintings, photographs, &c., with which the civilized world is now flooded, and which hold high rank among the arts and sciences, involve an open infraction of this command. And hence, this biblical interdiction being devoid of reason, and of an anti-civilizing tendency, the enlightened portion of Christendom, by common consent, tramples it heedlessly under foot. And we are bold to say that this command is both foolish and of impracticable application; for a living, thinking human being can no more avoid forming images of every thing that comes within the range of his mental vision, whether situated in heaven above or the earth beneath, than he can stop the entire machinery of his thoughts, or the blood from circulating through his veins. It is as natural as eating, and as inevitable as breathing. To be sure, he does not give expression with wood, metal, or canvas to every image formed in the mind; but the nature of the act, morally speaking, is precisely the same as if he did. St. Clemens admits this when he declares it to be a sin for women to look in the glass, because they form images of themselves. All true! viewed from the Christian stand-point, which regards image-making as a sin. The most sinful or reprehensible act of image-making, however, in the view of Christians, is the construction of idols or images to represent the Deity. Living in a civilized age, they would be ashamed to occupy the broad ground assumed by the command which we have quoted above, which forbids the likeness of every thing that exists; yet they still hold that it is wrong to make images of the Deity,--not anymore so, according to the above command, than the acceptance of engravings of animals and photographs of friends. But where is the man now living, or when did the man live, who has not formed images of the Deity, or who does not instinctively and habitually do it every day of his life? Every man makes a likeness of God, or what he supposes to be such, every time he thinks of such a being. It is impossible to make him the subject of thought without constructing a mental image of him,--i.e., without constructing an image of him in the brain. And can it be more sinful to make an image of him with the hand than with the head?--in other words, to construct a likeness of him externally, than to construct it internally. Certainly not. One is shaped out in the mind; the other is shaped out of a block of wood or metal: and most certainly, if the latter is idolatry, the former is