Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/374

328 the Fetichism of the Canaanites, and the Polytheism of the Egyptians, and connect it with the doctrine of one God. No doubt Jannes and Jambres exclaimed with pious horror, What, give up the Garlic and the Cats which our fathers prayed to swore by! we shall never be guilty of that infidelity. But the Priesthood of Garlic came to an end, and the world still continued, though the Cats were not worshipped. In the time of Jesus, the problem was, to separate Religion from the obsolete ritual of Moses. We know the result; the Scribes and Pharisees were shocked at the thought of abandoning the ritual of Moses! But the ritual went its way. In the time of Luther a new problem arose; to separate Religion from the forms of the Catholic church. The issue is well known. In our times the problem is to separate Religion from whatever is finite, church, book, person, and let it rest on its Absolute Truth. Numerous questions come up for discussion: Is Christianity Absolute Religion? What relation does Jesus bear to the human race? What relation does the Bible sustain to it? We have nothing to fear from truth, or for truth, but everything to hope. It is about Theology that men quarrel, not about Religion; that is but one.

Coming away from the theology of our time, and looking at the public virtue, as revealed in our life, political, commercial, and social, and seeing things as they are, we must come to this conclusion; either Christianity—considered as the Absolute Religion—is false and utterly detestable, or else modern society, in its basis and details, is wrong, very wrong. There is no third conclusion possible. Religion demands a divine life; society one mean and earthly. Religion says—its great practical maxim—We that are strong ought to bear the burdens of the weak; society, We that are strong must make the weak bear our burdens, and do this daily. The strong do not always compel the weak as heretofore, with a sword, nor violently bind them mainly in fetters of iron; they compel with an idea, and chain with manacles unseen, but felt. Men most eminent in defence of the popular theology are loudest in