Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/45

 But has Religion only the bubble of Tradition to rest on; no other sanction than Authority; no substance but Belief? They know little of the matter who say it. Did Religion begin with what we call Christianity? Were there no saints before Peter? Religion is the first spiritual thing man learned; the last thing he will abandon. There is but one Religion, as one Ocean; though we call it Faith in our church, and Infidelity out of our church.

It is my design in these pages to recall men from the transient Form to the eternal Substance; from outward and false Belief to real and Inward Life; from this partial Theology and its Idols of human device, to that universal Religion and its ever-living Infinite God; from the temples of human Folly and Sin, which every day crumble and fall, to the inner Sanctuary of the Heart, where the still small voice will never cease to speak. I would show men Religion as she is—most fair of all God's fairest children. If I fail in this, it is the head that is weak, not the heart that is wanting.