Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/60

Rh  is a transient phenomenon, which at best only imperfectly represents the substance. To possess the Idea of God, though latent in us, is unavoidable; to feel its comfort is natural; to dwell in the Sentiment of God is delightful; but to frame an adequate Conception of Deity and set this forth in words, is not only above human capability but impossible in the nature of things. The abyss of God is not to be fathomed save by Him who is All-in-all.

this inborn religious Faculty is the basis and cause of all Religion. Without this internal religious element, either Man could not have any religious notions, nor become religious at all, or else religion would be something foreign to his nature, which he might yet be taught mechanically from without, as bears are taught to dance, and parrots to talk; but which, like this acquired and unnatural accomplishment of the beast and the bird, would divert him from his true nature and perfection rendering him a monster, but less of a man than he would be without the superfetation of this Religion upon him. Without a moral faculty, we could have no duties in respect to men; without a religious faculty, no duties in respect of God. The foundation of each is in Man, not out of him. If man have not a religious element in his nature, miraculous or other “revelations” can no more render him religious than fragments of sermons and leaves of the Bible can make a Lamb religious when mixed and eaten with its daily food. The Law, the Duty, and the Destiny of Man as of all God's creatures, are writ in himself, and by the Almighty's hand.