Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/216

Rh but it is everywhere implied. As the doctrine was familiar, he dwells little upon it.

It is vain to deny, or attempt to conceal, the errors in his doctrine,—a revengeful God, a Devil absolutely evil, an eternal Hell, a speedy end of the world; but the actual superiority of the mode of Religion he taught, its sublime faith in God, its profound Humanity, seem also as clear as the noonday sun.

Such, then, is the religious doctrine of Jesus. It was always taught with direct application to life; not as Science, but as daily Duty. Love of God was no abstraction. It implied love of Wisdom, Justice, Purity, Goodness, Holiness, Charity. To love these is to love God; to love them is to live them. It implies abhorrence of evil for its own sake; a desire and effort to be perfect as God, to tolerate no wrong action, wrong thought, or wrong feeling; to make the heart right, the head right, the hand right; to serve God, not with the lips alone, but the life, not only in Jerusalem and Gerizim, but everywhere; not by tithing mint, anise, and cumin, but by judgment, mercy, and faith; not by saying “Lord, Lord,” “Save us, good Lord,” but by doing the Father's will. It implies a Faith that is stronger than Fear, prevails over every sorrow, grief, disappointment, and asks only this—Thy will be done; a Love which is strongest in times of trouble, which never fails when mere human affection goes stooping and feeble, weeping its tears of blood; a Love which annihilates temptation, and in the hour of mortal agony brings as it were an angel from the sky; an absolute Trust in God, a brave unconcern for the morrow, so long as the day's duties are faithfully done. It is a love of Goodness and Religion for their own sake, not for the bribe of Heaven, or the dread of Hell. It implies a reunion of Man and God, till we think God's thought, and will God's will, and so have. God abiding in us, and become one with Him.

The other doctrine, Love of Man, is Love of all as yourself, not because they have no faults, but in spite thereof. To feel no enmity towards enemies; to labour for them with love; pray for them with pitying affection, remembering the less they deserve, the more they need; this was the doctrine of Love. It demands that the rich, the