from the thought of being an idolater and thank God that he was not of the number?

     But is it true my hearers that we are altogether free from this sin and that the text has no application to us?  What is idolatry? I made no attempt to explain the term [in the morning] because everyone knows what it means when applied to the heathen. But the worship of the pagan divinities is but one vanity of idolatry & by no means comprises the whole of it.  Every object upon which men bestow supreme regard or affection is in the strict scriptural sense an idol.  Stubbornness is called idolatry by Samuel as is covetousness by Paul. and indeed the term is really applicable to all sin- For idolatry consists in perferring any thing to God: and sin consists in a preference of oneself to all beings.

    The text then has a most important bearing upon us in a Christian land: nay it applies to the most advance-