Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/95

48 The Genius of the nation demanded it; accordingly there sprang up a body of men, neither political, sacerdotal, nor military—the philosophers. They could have found no place in any theocratic government, but have done the world great religious service, building “wiser than they knew.” It was comparatively easy for Art, Science, and all the great works of men, to go forward under such circumstances. Hence comes that wonderful development of mind in the country of Homer, Socrates, and Phidias. But in countries where the temporal was subject to the spiritual power, the reverse followed; there was no change without a violent revolution. The character of the nation becomes monotonous; science, literature, morals, cease to improve. When the nation goes down, it “falls like Lucifer, never to hope again.” The story of Samuel affords us an instance, among the Jews, of the sacerdotal class resisting, and successfully, the attempt to take away its power. Here the Priest, finding there must be a King, succeeded at length in placing on the throne a “man after God's own heart,” that is, one who would sacrifice as the Priest allowed. The effort to separate the temporal from the spiritual power, to disenthral mankind from the tyranny of sacerdotal corporations, is one of the great battles for the souls of the world. It begins early, and continues long. The contest shakes the earth in its time.

V. Another trait of the polytheistic period is the deification of men. Fetichism makes gods of cattle; Polytheism of men. This exaltation of men exerted great influence in the early stage of polytheism, when it was a