asm which reminds us of the grossness of the coarser brood
of infidels. An English critic, noticing this defect, says: "His vigor
of style was deformed by a power of sarcasm, which often invested the
most sacred subjects with caricature and vulgarity; a boundless
malignity against supposed errors.... He equals Paine in vulgarity and
Voltaire in sarcasm."[271]

Parker felt that a bold course must be taken or orthodoxy could not be
made to yield its position. His biographer informs us that when he was
less than seven years of age "he fell out with the doctrines of eternal
damnation and a wrathful God."[272] In later life, when striving to find
the sources of what he considered the evils of the popular theology, he
fixed upon two common idols: "the Bible, which is only a record of men's
words and works; and Jesus of Nazareth, a man who only lived divinely
some centuries ago. The popular religion is wrong in that it tells man
he is an outcast, that he is but a spurious issue of the devil, must not
pray in his own name, is only sure of one thing--and that is damnation.
Man is declared to be immortal, but it is such immortality as proves a
curse instead of a blessing. In fact this whole orthodox theology rests
on a lie."[273]

His positive faith is comprehended in his own term, "the Absolute
Religion." God has created man with an intuitive religious element, the
strongest and deepest in human nature, indestructible, and existing
everywhere. Its legitimate action is to produce reverence, and ascends
into trust, hope, and love, or descends into doubt, fear, and hate.
Religion is not confined to one age, or people, or sect. It is the same
thing in each man, "not a similar thing--but the same thing." Three
forms of religion have existed, and each in turn has ruled the
mind,--Fetichism, Polytheism, and Monotheism. The first can be
distinctly traced in the mythical stories of Genesis, the second in
pagan nations, and the third in these later times. Now, it is a very
small matter in which one of these forms man has worshiped or may still
worship. If he worship at all, he adores the true God, "the only God,
whether he call on Brahma, Jehovah, Pan, or Lord, or by no name at
all.... Many a swarthy Indian, who bowed to wood and stone; many a
grim-faced Calmuck, who worships the great God of storms; many a Grecian
peasant, who did homage to Phoebus-Apollo when the sun rose or went
down; yes, many a savage, his hand smeared all over with