Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/200



was said before, that Religion, like Love, is always the same thing in kind, though both are necessarily modified by other emotions combining therewith, and by the conception of the object to which the emotion is directed. Thus Love is modified as it chances to coexist with weakness or strength, folly or wisdom, selfishness or morality,—qualities in the Subject who loves. By these qualities the degree of Love is determined. It is modified also by the qualities of the Object; as love is directed towards a child, a wife, or a friend. Hence come the different modifications of Religion as it coexists with faith or fear, wisdom or ignorance, love or hate in the worshipping subject; and again as the object of worship is conceived to be one being, or many beings, or all being; as it is conceived of as the absolutely Perfect, or represented as finite, cruel, capricious, and unlovely. The only perfect form of Religion is produced by all the powers of a man's nature, acting harmoniously together. All manifestations of Religion proceed from the religious element in Man, and are, more or less, imperfect representations of that element, as its action is more or less impeded or promoted by various causes.