essentially a supreme love for a thing; that, therefore, which man supremely loves, he in fact and in heart worships, though he may not pay it any formal adoration: hence, such a thing is truly an idol. To the miser, for instance, gold is an idol; he in heart worships it; for it is the object of his strongest love, and it occupies the first place in his thoughts. "He who, or that which, is loved above all things," says the doctrine of the New Church, "is to him that thus loves, a god and divine. As, for instance, whoever loves himself above all things, or the world above all things, to such a person himself or the world is his god. Hence, such persons do not in heart acknowledge any God: they therefore are conjoined with their like in hell, where are collected all who have loved themselves and the world above all things."[1]
Under the light of this truth, look now at the Christian world! How many thousands who little think they are idolaters, are yet truly such in heart! how many, who have little idea that they are breaking this first Commandment, are doing so daily and hourly! "Ye cannot," said the Lord, "serve God and Mammon."[2] Here the same truth is expressed by the Divine Savior himself, who was Jehovah manifest in the flesh. He who from Mount Sinai, amid thunders and lightnings, uttered the words, "Thou shalt have no other gods before my face"—the same Jehovah, clothed with Humanity, and standing in the streets of Jerusalem, declared that those who worshiped Mammon broke this commandment, for they could not do
- ↑ True Christian Religion, n. 293.
- ↑ Matt. vi. 24.
