Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/263

216 have come from man, and then it follows by implication that they came from God; or That at a certain time and place, God did miraculously reveal the contents of the book.

Now it is a notorious fact, first, that it has not been and cannot be proved, that every statement in the Bible is true; or, secondly, that its contents, such as they are, could not have proceeded from man, under the ordinary influence of God; or, finally, that any one book or word of the Bible was miraculously revealed to man. In the absence of proof for any one of these three points, it has been found a more convenient way to assume the truth of them all, and avoid troublesome questions.

Laying aside all prejudices, if we look into the Bible in a general way, as into other books, we find facts which force the conclusion upon us, that the Bible is a human work, as much as the Principia of Newton or Descartes, or the Vedas and Koran. Some things are beautiful and true, but others no man, in his reason, can accept. Here are the works of various writers, from the eleventh century before to the second century after Christ, thrown capriciously together, and united by no common tie but the lids of the bookbinder. Here are two forms of Religion, which differ widely, set forth and enforced by miracles; the one ritual and formal, the other actual and spiritual; the one the religion of Fear, the other of Love; one final, and resting entirely on the special revelation made to Moses, the other progressive, based on the universal revelation of God, who enlightens all that come into the world; one offers only earthly recompense, the other makes immortality a motive to a divine life; one compels men, the other invites them. One half the Bible repeals the other half. The Gospel annihilates the Law; the Apostles take the place of the Prophets, and go higher up. If Christianity and Judaism be not the same thing, there must be hostility between the Old Testament and the New Testament, for the Jewish form claims to be eternal. To an unprejudiced man this hostility is very obvious. It may indeed be said Christianity came not to destroy the Law