Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/277

230 he knew he was not the Messiah of the prophets, and so never formally assumed the title; but, knowing that he was a true deliverer, far greater than their impossible Messiah, first suffered the name to be affixed to him, and then made the most of the popular Idea? Or, was he himself mistaken? It concerns us little; but this remains, that he was much more than the Jews looked for. The Jewish Christians mistook the matter; Paul would prove that he was the Messiah of the prophets. Mistakes in Theology, like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope, are repeated again and again, in fantastic combinations.

Under this head are comprised the remaining books of the Old Testament. Here is the dramatic poem of Job, a work of surprising beauty, and full of truth. But its author denies the immortality of the soul, and though he attempts “to justify the ways of God to man,” he yet leaves the question as undecided as he found it.

In the Psalms we have beautiful prayers, mixed up with their local occasions; penitential hymns, songs of praise, expressions of hope, faith, trust in God, that have never been surpassed. The devotion of some of these sweet lyrics is beyond praise. But at the same time here are the most awful denunciations that speech ever spoke. In he following passage the writer denounces his enemies. “Set thou a wicked man over him. Let Satan stand at his right hand; when he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few; let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg. … Let there be none to extend mercy unto him, neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.” These are the words of a man angry and revengeful. The Psalms abound with similar impre-