God (Christianity) -- Worship and love; Spirituality
Here are the facts as I see them. For four hundred years Israel had
dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the crassest idolatry. By the hand of
Moses they were brought out at last and started toward the land of
promise. The very idea of holiness had been lost to them. To correct
this, God began at the bottom. He localized Himself in the cloud and
fire and later when the tabernacle had been built He dwelt in fiery
manifestation in the Holy of Holies. By innumerable distinctions God
taught Israel the difference between holy and unholy. There were holy
days, holy vessels, holy garments. There were washings, sacrifices,
offerings of many kinds. By these means Israel learned that _God is
holy_. It was this that He was teaching them. Not the holiness of things
or places, but the holiness of Jehovah was the lesson they must learn.
Then came the great day when Christ appeared. Immediately He began to
say, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time--but _I_ say
unto you." The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ died on the
cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The Holy of
Holies was opened to everyone who would enter in faith. Christ's words
were remembered, "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.... But the hour
cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God
is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth."
Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of liberty and declared all meats
clean, every day holy, all places sacred and every act acceptable to
God. The sacredness of times and places, a half-light necessary to the
education of the race, passed away before the full sun of spiritual
worship.
The essential spirituality of worship remained the possession of the
Church until it was slowly lost with the passing of the years. Then the
natural _legality_ of the fallen hearts of men began to introduce the
old distinctions. The Church came to observe again days and seasons and
times. Certain places were chosen and marked out as holy in a special
sense. Differences were observed between one and another day or place or
person, "The sacraments" were first two, then three, then four until
with the triumph of Romanism they were fixed at seven.
In all charity, and with no desire to reflect unkindly upon any
Christian, however misled, I would point out that the Roman Catholic
church represents today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its
logical conclusion. Its deadliest effect is the complete cleavage it
introduces between religion and life. Its teachers attempt to avoid this
snare by many footnotes and multitudinous explanations, but the mind's
instinct for logic is too strong. In practical living the cleavage is a
fact.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account