Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/114

Rh the truth does its work; elevates those who receive it; new faculties awake; the falsehood is seen to be false. The free man would gladly reject it. But the Priesthood, whom interest chains to the old form, though false; or the People, — not yet elevated enough to see the truth,—will not allow a man to separate the false from the true. They say to the Prophet and the Sage, “Thou shalt accept the old doctrine as we and our fathers. It is from God; the only Rule. Unless thou accept it on the same authority and in the same way as ourselves, we will burn thee and thy children with fire. Thou mayest live as likest thee; thou shalt believe with us.” The free man replies, “Burn then if thou wilt; but Truth thou canst not burn down. A lie thou canst not build up. God does not die with his children, nor Truth with its martyrs.”

Then, as Truth is stronger than every lie, and he that has her is mightier than all men, so the fagot of martyrdom proves the fire-pillar of the human race, guiding them from the bondage and darkness of Egypt to the land of liberty and light. Truth, armed with her arrows to smite, her olive to bless, spreads wide her wings amid the outcry of the Priest and the King. At last Error goes down to the ground, but because honoured beyond her time, takes with her temple and tower in her fall.

The Truth represented by Fetichism is this: The un-