Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/297

250 perish? Mankind, moving solemnly on its appointed road, from age to age, passes by its imperfect teachers, guided by their light, blessed by their toil, and sprinkled with their blood. But Truth, like her God, is before and above us for ever. So we pass by the lamps of the street, with wonder at their light, though but a smoky glare; they seem to change places and burn dim in the distance as we go on; at last the solid walls of darkness shut them in. But high over our head are the unsullied stars, which never change their place, nor dim their eye. So the truths of the Scriptures will teach for ever, though the record perish and its authors be forgot. They came from God, through the Soul of Man. They have exhausted neither God nor the Soul. Man is greater than the Bible. That is one ray out of the sun; one drop from the infinite ocean. The inward Christ, which alone abideth for ever, has much to say which the Bible never told, much which the historical Jesus never knew. The Bible is made for Man, not Man for the Bible. Its truths are old as the creation, repeated more or less purely in every tongue. Let its errors and absurdities no longer be forced on the pious mind, but perish for ever; let the Word of God come through Conscience, Reason, and holy Feeling, as light through the windows of morning. Worship with no master but God, no creed but Truth, no service but Love, and we have nothing to fear.