No. 152
63 & Hymn 2d Book
89 Psalm 2d part L. M.
61 & Hymn 2d Book
A10 Nov. 1836
At Conway Feb. 1823
16 Psalm 4th part C. M. (Church Psalmatry)
459 Hymn &
590 Hymn & Amherst College August 1835
172 Hymn & Amherst W. Parish Nov 1835
Sunderland April 1836
Greenfield S. parish May 1836
Idolatry
Hadley May 22d 1836
Hadley Mills May 29th 1836
Amherst June 5th 1836
Hatfield August 1836
Northampton Jan. 1837
Exodus 20__ 3.
Thou shall have no other gods before me.
In the morning I presented from this text a history of heathen idolatry-and who of us was there that did not feel an abhorrence of the disgraceful & beastly & bloody worship of false gods? Who did not feel as if the existence of idolatry indicated a state of society the most depraved & corrupt & hateful? Who did not shrink
In this sermon, Edward Hitchcock questions the meaning of idolatry and whether his “hearers” are free of it. He warns that idolatry encompasses much more than worship by pagans: “Every object upon which men bestow supreme regard or affection is in the strict scriptural sense an idol.” Hitchcock’s examples include stubbornness, fame, ambitiously advancing one’s knowledge, manners, gluttony, and even loving one’s spouse, parent, or child above God. This sermon becomes particularly poignant with the knowledge that Edward Hitchcock himself struggled mightily with his idolization of science, as he pondered if it was an obstacle in the way of his relationship with God.