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I fancy, he did not think that the poor image his
own hands had made _was_ God; but that God was emblemed by it, that God was
in it some way or other. And now in this sense, one may ask, Is not all
worship whatsoever a worship by Symbols, by _eidola_, or things seen?
Whether _seen_, rendered visible as an image or picture to the bodily eye;
or visible only to the inward eye, to the imagination, to the intellect:
this makes a superficial, but no substantial difference. It is still a
Thing Seen, significant of Godhead; an Idol. The most rigorous Puritan has
his Confession of Faith, and intellectual Representation of Divine things,
and worships thereby; thereby is worship first made possible for him. All
creeds, liturgies, religious forms, conceptions that fitly invest religious
feelings, are in this sense _eidola_, things seen. All worship whatsoever
must proceed by Symbols, by Idols:--we may say, all Idolatry is
comparative, and the worst Idolatry is only _more_ idolatrous.


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