Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/136

 IV WORSHIP: WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT IS NOT. (1891.)

There has been, of late, much writing and speaking about the necessity of idol-worship for man as a preliminary stage in the progress of religion. The Brahmamdin had an elaborately written article on this subject; and the Awakened India reported a sermon preached by Sri Sankarachariar in favour of it. These, no doubt, contain no new argument, suggest no “original” justification for the ancient and wide-spread institution of Idolatry, and only re])eat the. old and staple excuse alleged to be based on the supposed incapacity of people in general to understand the nature of God. As humble advocates of the possibility of spiritual worship for every person that, to any degree, aspires to a religious life, and of the sole efficacy of such worship, we think it our supreme duty