Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker volume 3.djvu/284

Rh set forth and accepted, what a change will follow! Speculative atheism will be stark dead; no thoughtful man will look upon the world of matter, and deny the power, law, and mind, which are imminent therein; no thoughtful man will feel the world of spirit within him, but will also feel the consciousness of the Perfect God, and joyous turn to Him—for it is not the God of Nature that the speculative atheist would deny, but only the unreal God of theologic dreams, which science turns off from, while the Deity which all the world of matter and the world of spirit alike reveal, the scientific men draw near with love greatening continually as they know Him and approach.

What an effect will this natural theology have in making a real revival in natural religion! Conscious of such a nature in us, of such a God as Cause and Providence, of such duties, such rights, such a destination—what wealth of religious emotion will spring up within the human soul! what depth of piety, the love of God! what strength of morality, the keeping of his commands I What an influence will it have on the individual, to make him a great man, intellectual, moral, affectional, and religious; then on the family, the community, the state, the church, and the world! Then ministers and politicians will not seek to justify a well-known wrong by quoting texts from Bible, or Koran, or saint, none knows who; but out of the experience of mankind past and the consciousness of mankind present, and the actual inspiration of God now, shall both derive the unchanging higher law of truth, justice, love, and make these the statutes of mankind, till the constitution of the universe become the people's common law! I just now spoke of the religious faculty as the strongest of all the human powers. When it works aright, what service will it render us! It is a mighty Amazon, reaching from the infinite ocean of God, far into the innermost continent of man, fed by the breath of that ocean which it tends unto. What tall mountains shall it drain ; what kingdoms water ; what mills and factories of human wealth shall it turn; what fleets laden with peaceful welfare shall it bear on its bosom; what cottages, palaces, villages, towns, and mighty cities, swarming with progressive, virtuous, happy men, shall be reflected in this great river of