Rational Rant Supplement

John Quincy Adams to an Autograph Collector, 27 April 1837

2011-11-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

John Adams to Arthur Lee, 24 March 1779

Brest, March 24, 1779.

Dear Sir: I have this moment the honour of yours of 18th. I am perfectly of your opinion, that we have yet a hard battle to fight. The Struggle will yet be long and painful, and the difficulty of it will arise from nothing more than the weak disposition in our Countrymen, as well as our allies, to think it will be short.

Long before this war began, I expected a Severe Tryal: but I never foresaw so much embarrassment, from Selfishness, vanity, flattery, and Corruption, as I find.

If these proceed much longer in their Career, it will not be worth the while of men of Virtue to make themselves miserable, by continuing in the service. If they leave it, the American system of Flattery and Corruption will still prevail over the British, but there will be an end of our virtuous visions of a kingdom of the just.

I wrote Mr. Israel, from Nantes. My regards to him and your brother.

I am no hand at a Cypher, bat will endeavour to unriddle, if you write in it.

With much esteem,

Your humble Servant,

John Adams

Letter from John Quincy Adams, inclosing the preceding

Washington, 27th April, 1837

Sir: In compliance with the request contained in your letter of the 27th ult., I enclose herewith two Autographs of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and afterwards, successively, second and third Presidents of the United States.

The first is an original letter from John Adams to Arthur Lee, written at Brest, in France, on the 24th of March, 1779. Mr. Adams and Mr. Lee had been joint Commissioners at the Court of France, together with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and Mr. Lee had a separate commission, as Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Spain. After the conclusion of the treaties of Alliance and of Commerce with France, Congress superseded the joint commission, and appointed Dr. Franklin sole Minister Plenipotentiary to France. Mr. Lee retained his commission as Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain. In February, 1779, Mr. Adams left Paris and went to Nantes, and in March to Brest, with a view to embark in the frigate Alliance, then at that port, to return to the United States. The inclosed letter was then written in answer to one received from Mr. Lee, then still remaining at Paris. The destination of the frigate Alliance was afterwards changed, and Mr. Adams, in June, 1779, embarked in the French frigate La Sensible, and returned from L'Orient to the United States. I was during all that time with him—a boy of twelve years of age.
The other autograph is the cover of a letter from Thomas Jefferson, when Secretary of State, to John Adams, then Vice-president of the United States. The whole direction is in his handwriting, and the signature of the name very strongly marks the manner of his usual sign-manual.

These are all the autographs of the kind requested in your letter which I have here, and am now able to furnish yon. On my return to my residence in Massachusetts, I may, perhaps, find upon my files of papers some others, and will remember yon. It is as you conjecture; I have received and still frequently receive applications for autographs of persons whose names are distinguished in the history of our Revolution. I have always complied with such requests, so far as I have been able, with great pleasure, considering them as evidences not only of the sentiments cherished by the collectors of such relics towards the founders of our national independence, but of a spirit extending in the community far beyond the collectors themselves.

From the interest taken in those characters, I am encouraged to infer a widely spread attachment to the principles by which they were actuated, and which they maintained with the well-redeemed pledge of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. If, at one of the most trying periods of that conflict, in March, 1779, you find Mr. Adams complaining of the dangers which beset the cause, and the difficulties which it had to encounter from the weakness, the selfishness, flattery, vanity, and corruption of the times, yet confiding without the admission of a doubt in the ultimate success of the cause itself,—may we not take it, in these times when the cause has succeeded, and the nation, formed by the labors and sufferings of those days, has enjoyed such a career of prosperity as was never before by Divine Providence allotted to man; may we not take it as an admonition, that the adherence to those principles of our fathers has been among the principal causes of that prosperity? Should we not proceed a step further, and inquire whether that half-century of unexampled prosperity might not have been still more resplendent with glory, but for our own aberrations from those principles, the contemplation of which had fired the soul of the writer of the inclosed letter with visions of an approaching kingdom of the just, to result from the success of that Revolution? In reviewing its history and our own, while we remember with exultation and gratitude the triumphant issue of the cause, and the favors of heaven by which it has been followed, is there not remaining an augury, both retrospective and prospective, upon ourselves? That kingdom of the just, which had floated in the virtuous visions of John Adams, while he was toiling for his country's independence,—that kingdom of our Father in Heaven, for which His Son taught us to approach Him in daily prayer,—has it yet come; and if not, have our advances towards it been as pure, as virtuous, as self-denying, as were those of our fathers in the days of their trial of adversity? And if we lay these questions in seriousness to our souls, are we not bound to interrogate them still further?—to cross-examine them if they answer with too confident assurance of their own righteousness, and ask them whether of late, and even now, we are not stationary, or more than stationary, moving backwards, from that progress towards the kingdom of the just, which was among the anticipated fruits of our Revolutionary warfare? The highest, the transcendent glory of the American Revolution was this—it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the precepts of Christianity. If it has never been considered in that light, it is because its compass has not been perceived. The letter which I now send you, short as it is, may disclose it. But this investigation opens a field of inquiry too important and too vast for a letter merely inclosing an autograph. I offer it here to your meditations, and if they should lead you to the conclusion that we are degenerating from the lofty energies of our Revolutionary principles, and falling into that retrograde movement which physical nature sometimes presents in the aspects of the planets, hope, with me, that this apparent deviation from the progress of moral and political improvement upon earth, is but an incidental anomaly in the promulgation of that great and universal law which the visions of John Adams beheld in the ancient prophecies of the kingdom of the just.

If I have given you a sermon for an autograph, I pray you to excuse me, and believe me, with great respect to be, your fellow-citizen and servant,

John Quincy Adams

[from The Historical Magazine, July 1860, pp. 193-194]

Fragments from a 1950s Novel

2011-05-13T21:43:00.000-07:00

[MSS probably written c1970]

There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves hobbits.
John Rogers? (h/t Millard Fillmore's Bathtub)

[First Fragment]

The man on the sled laughed, “You’re not goin’ anywhere. Stick around.”

“Oh yea?” replied Edless. “I’ll make this bus run.”

The passengers were climbing from the bus and milling around aimlessly, not having anything better to do. The Vomit stood, silent and gray againt the setting sun. A dog howled.

“You need a lift?’ asked the man.

A surge of anger rose inside Willit. “Go to Hell!” he shouted.

“No, I mean it. You think you’re goin’ to Chicago, don’t you?”

“I am going to Chicago!”

“No you ain’t, because there ain’t no motor in that bus, and even if there was, they ain’t no Chicago.”

“How do you know?”

“Brother, I came from there.”

“No, how do you know the motor is missing?”

“I have it.”

Edless Willit did not [know] what happened next; he had fallen against his chair, staring into the dusk; he didn’t know how long he lay there; he only knew that the next time he looked up, they had left him.

He looked out of the bus. “Ticket to nowhere,” the man changed, “Ticket to nowhere. Step right up! Room for all. We gotta keep goin’, cause we don’t know where it’s at. We gotta travel by night to avoid the Washington gang, and by day to avoid the thugs. Hurry up, last chance to buy a ticket to nowhere.” The passengers climbed aboard the sleds as they left.

“Wait!” shouted Edless Willit. “You can’t abandon the Vomit!”

“Ticket to nowhere!”

“It’s too late to back out now!”

“Ticket to nowhere!”

“Come back you fools!” As the last sled pulled out Edless collapsed against the side of the bus. “They’re not going anywhere,” he murmured to himself. He felt like the lone survivor of a wrecked ship who preferred drowing to being rescued by a low-class fishing boat.

Suddenly rage seized him, he leaped into the bus, twisted the wheel violently until it came off in his hands, pulling and pushing levers that failed to respond, trying to coax life into his nonexistent engine. “Go, damn you” his miond was screaming—while he was seeing the neon signs on Skid Row—Go, damn you—while he was seeing the slums under the smoky factory air—Go damn you—while he was seeing the busline across the continent, while he was struggling to force the engine to live.

He was pulling off the knobs, ripping out the useless pedals, while the edge of sunlight cut into his brain. Ann!—he screamed soundlessly—Ann!—This is the best within us. And for this I must start this bus—Ann!—you knew when you said selfishness was everything—but I didn’t then. That is the best within us, grabbing the earth, eating away at its resources—Ann!—that was the thing to defend, and in the name of $elfishness I must start this bus!

He collapsed against the windshield, tired, afraid of his uselessness. Outside, a mongrel dog walked up, and crapped on the side of the bus. He ran screaming after the dog, as if by that action eh could drive off the enemies that were even now gathering in the darkness around him.
He stepped to the side of the bus, and looked at the letters BS. Then he collapsed by the dead bus, and wept.

[Second Fragment]

Ethyl demanded “Don’t you realize that this ‘fairness’ law saying that all busses have to take the same number of people will ruin us?”

“How?” replied John Braggart. “We’ve only been running at half capacity since Western moved in. There isn’t room for two of us to compete here—so they’ll have to cut down, giving more business to us. They’re over-extended anyway, and with the unfair competition tax on them, they’ll have to withdraw.”

“But don’t you realize we need them?” said Ethyl.

“We need them like a hole in our heads. They’re taking our customers from us.”

“But competition is essential to the life of the nation. If you destroy competition you destroy the life blood of the economy. How can we4 survive when competition is destroyed?”

“Better than we’re surviving now,” snarled Braggart, nervously tearing apart a dollar bill in front of him. “Anyway, you’re always prophesying doom. Nothing happened when we passed the busline cooperation agreement—“

“Because I saved you!” Ethyl screamed. “That law nearly drove Braggart Buslines into bankruptcy—but I saved you.”

“Get out of here. You’re too materialistic for me. You’re always putting money ahead of everything else—don’t you realize that the public good comes ahead of money?”

Ethyl looked at John speechlessly. What could she say to this man with no manners, no morals, no mind. What could she say to a relativatist, anyway? She turned and walked out.

In her office the phone was ringing. Dully she picked up the receiver—hoping for some news to relieve the gray nothingness seeping through her mind. Bank Rearend’s voice asked, “Ethyl?”

“Yes.”

“It’s terrible—Standly, the slumlord, after the government passed the minimum standard housing bill—“

“That horrible bill designed to eliminate competition in building by demanding that all housing meet certain standards?”

“Yes—“

“Don’t they realize that if it weren’t for men like Standly the poor wouldn’t have houses? Don’t they realize that if they pass a bill like that thousands will be left homeless?”

“Ethyl—“

“Don’t they realize that competition is the life-blood of the economy? That i9f they destroy competition they destroy the nation?”

“Ethyl, please listen.”

“What?”

“Standly, after that bill was passed—“
Horror overcame Ethyl—a gray horror that numbed her consciousness. “What happened to him?”

“He blew up his tenements—and vanished.”

“Another of us gone.”

[Third fragment]

Of the passengers in that bus during the fatal descent when the bus screamed driverless over the edge of the chasm not one saw the light of day again.

There is a school of thought that maintains that these were random victims in a purposeless catastrophe, that there is no relationship between victims and the disaster.

The man in the seat behind the driver was a teacher who taught relativity in the public schools for twenty years

The woman across from him had lived on social security for two years.

The man two seats back from her was Abbie Hoffman.

The man sitting in the back of the bus hated Daddy Warbucks.

The man beside him hated Braggart Buslines. All had expressed views opposed to Ann Rynd’s, and all had received tickets for this particular bus anonymously in the mail a week before.

Who says there wasn’t any cause and effect relationship, anyway?

Noah Webster to David McClure, 25 October 1836

2010-12-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

New Haven, Oct. 25, 1836

Dear Sir—I have received and perused the system of education for the Girard College for Orphans, which you have been so good as to send me, and for which please to accept my thanks.

In regard to the merits of the system, on which you request my opinions, I will make a few remarks, although I do not think myself so well qualified to judge of it as many gentlemen who have been in the employment of instruction in our higher seminaries.

The mode you propose for instructing children in the French and Spanish languages, is nearly the same as I have always supposed to be the best, if not the only mode of making pupils perfectly masters of a foreign language. An accurate pronunciation and familiarity with a language can not easily be acquired, except in youth, when the organs of speech are pliable, and by practice, as we learn our vernacular language.

In regard to your system in general, I can only say, that it appears to be judiciously constructed, and well adapted for the purpose of making thorough scholars. If on trial it should be found susceptible of improvement, experience will direct to the proper amendments. One remark, however, I take the liberty to make. I do not suppose an exact conformity to a particular course of studies to be essential to a thorough education. One course may be preferable to another, but there seems to be “no royal way to geometry;” close and persevering application only will make good scholars, and this will accomplish the object, without an adherence to any precise order of studies.

As by Mr. Girard’s will, there can not be in the college any instruction in the Christian religion, I shall take the liberty to make a few remarks on that subject.

In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed. In this institution it is of more importance, as the pupils will be orphans, and may be destitute of parental instruction.

No truth is more evident to my rnind, than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. The opinion that human reason, left without the constant control of divine laws and commands, will preserve a just administration, secure freedom, and other rights, restrain men from violations of laws and constitutions, and give duration to a popular government, is as chimerical as the most extravagant ideas that enter the head of a maniac. The history of the whole world refutes the opinion; the Bible refutes it; our own melancholy experience refutes it.

When I speak of the Christian religion as the basis of government, I do not mean an ecclesiastical establishment, a creed, or rites, forms, and ceremonies, or any compulsion of conscience. I mean primitive Christianity, in its simplicity, as taught by Christ and his apostles; consisting in a belief in the being, perfections, and moral government of God; in the revelation of his will to men, as their supreme rule of action; in man’s accountability to God for his conduct in this life; and in the indispensable obligation of all men to yield entire obedience to God’s commands in the moral law and in the Gospel. This belief and this practice may consist with different forms of church government, which, not being essential to Christianity, need not enter into any system of education.

Where will you find any code of laws, among civilized men, in which the commands and prohibitions are not founded on Christian principles? I need not specify the prohibition of murder, robbery, theft, trespass; but commercial and social regulations are all derived from those principles, or intended to enforce them. The laws of contracts and bills of exchange are founded on the principles of justice, the basis of all security of rights in society. The laws of insurance are founded on the Christian principle of benevolence, and intended to protect men from want and distress. The provisions of law for the relief of the poor are in pursuance of Christian principles. Every wise code of laws must embrace the main principles of the religion of Christ.

Now the most efficient support of human laws is, the full belief that the subjects of such laws are accountable to higher authority than human tribunals. The halter and the penitentiary may restrain many men from overt criminal acts; but it is the fear of God and a reverence for his authority and commands, which alone can control and subdue the will, when tempted by ambition and interest to violate the laws. Whatever superficial observers may think, it is beyond a question, that the small band of real Christians in Protestant countries has more influence in securing order and peace in society than all the civil officer of government Just in proportion as the influence of such men is impaired, is the increase of crimes and outrages upon the rights of individuals and upon the public peace.

It has been a misfortune to the citizens of this country, that, from their abhorrence of the ecclesiastical tyranny of certain orders of the clergy in Europe, they have contracted strong prejudices against the clergy in this country, who have neither rank nor temporal power, and whose influence is derived solely from their personal attainments and worth, and their official services.

The clergy in this country are generally men of learning and of good principles. They have been uniformly and preeminently the friends of education and civil liberty. The learned clergy among the first settlers of New England had great influence in founding the first genuine republican governments ever formed, and which, with all the faults and defects of the men and their laws, were the best republican governments on earth. At this moment the people of this country are indebted chiefly to their institutions for the rights and privileges which are enjoyed.

During the Revolution the clergy were very useful in supporting the courage and fortitude of our citizens, and in restraining their intemperate passions. They have uniformly been the supporters of law and order, and to them is popular education, in this country, more indebted than to any other class of men. That such men should be precluded from any concern in the education of youth in a literary institution, is a reproach to a Christian country.

It may be said that the clergy are bigoted men, and often engaged in controversy. But other classes of men are liable to the same imputation; and nothing in the character of clergymen furnishes a good reason for proscribing their aid in the education of youth. Clergymen differ chiefly on speculative points in religion; in the fundamental points to which my description of religion is limited, they are probably all united; and in support of them they would join in solid phalanx to resist the inroads of licentiousness.

The foundation of all free government and of all social order, must be laid in families, and in the discipline of youth. Young persons must not only be furnished with knowledge, but they must be accustomed to subordination, and subjected to the authority and influence of good principles. It will avail little that youths are made to understand truth and correct principles, unless they are accustomed to submit to be governed by them. The speculative principles of natural religion will have little effect, or none at all, unless the pupil is made to yield obedience to the practical laws of Christian morality; and the practice of yielding such obedience must be familiar, and wrought into habit in early life, or the instruction of teachers will, for the most part, be lost on their pupils. To give efficacy to such a course of education, the pupil must believe himself to be accountable for his actions to the Supreme Being, as well as to human laws; for, without such belief, no dependence can be had upon his fidelity to the laws, when urged to violate them by strong passions, or by the powerful temptations of present advantage. The experience of the whole world evinces that all the restraints of religion and law are often insufficient to control the selfish I and malignant passions of men. Any system of education, therefore, which limits instruction to the arts and sciences, and rejects the aids of religion in forming the characters of citizens, is essentially defective.

In giving this view of my opinions, I am aware that I expose myself to the obloquy of modern philosophers. But this I disregard; for I have, in support of my opinions, the experience of the whole civilized world, as well as the proofs presented by inspired truth, from the beginning to the end of the Bible; that book which the benevolent Creator has furnished for the express purpose of guiding human reason in the path of safety, and the only book which can remedy, or essentially mitigate, the evils of a licentious world.

From a full conviction of these truths, I firmly believe, that without material changes in the principles now prevalent in the United States, our republican government is destined to be of short duration.

An attempt to conduct the affairs of a free government with wisdom and impartiality, and to preserve the just righu of all classes of citizens, without the guidance of Divine precepts, will certainly end in disappointment. God is the supreme moral Governor of the world be has made, and as he himself governs with perfect rectitude, he requires his rational creatures to govern themselves in like manner. If men will not submit to be controlled by His laws, he will punish them by the evils resulting from their own disobedience.

Be pleased, sir, to accept the respects of your obedient servant,

N. Webster

Alison, Ewing, and Marshall to the Continental Congress

2010-05-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

To the honourable Continental Congress of the United States of North America now sitting in Philadelphia.

Honoured Gentlemen

We the Ministers of the Gospel of Christ in the City of Philadelphia, whose names are under written, taking it into our Serious consideration that in our present circumstances, Books in General, & in particular the holy Scriptures contained in the old & new Testaments are growing so Scarce & Dear, that we greatly fear that unless timely care be used to prevent it, we shall not have bibles for our Schools & families, & for the publick Worship of God in our Churches.

We therefore think it our Duty to our Country & to the Churches of Christ to lay this design before this honourable house, humbly requesting that under your care, & by your encouragement, a Copy of the holy Bible may be printed, so as to be sold nearly as cheap as the Common Bibles, formerly imported from Britain & Ireland, were sold.

The number of purchasers is so great, that we doubt not but a large impression would soon be sold, But unless the sale of the whole Edition belong to the printer, & he be bound under sufficient Penalties, that no copy be sold by him, nor by any Retailer under him, at a higher price than that allowed by this honourable house, we fear that the whole impression would soon be bought up, & sold again at an exorbitant price, which would frustrate your pious endeavours & fill this Country with Just complaints.

We are persuaded that your care & Seasonable interposition will remove the anxious fears of many pious & well-disposed persons; would prevent the murmurs of the discontented; would save much money to the United States; would be the means of promoting Christian knowledge in all our Churches, & would transmit your names with additional honour to the later Posterity.

Our Sincere prayers shall ever be for your Welfare & Prosperity, & we beg leave with the greeted respect to subscribe our Selves

Honoured Gentlemen

Your Most obedient humble servants.

Francis Alison
John Ewing
William Marshall

[Transcribed from image at Footnote.com]

The Americans (1974 parody)

2009-10-31T12:18:00.000-07:00

The American dollar took another pounding on the international exchange today, and the pound took a franking as the Deutschmark and the Yen lorded it with familiar Axis-like arrogance over the Yankee buck that rebuilt their bombed-out bailiwicks from scratch. Well, this is one Canadian who thinks it's time to speak up for the American dollar or else unpeg our currency from theirs, which, given the high possibility of an invasion, seems unwise.

Can you name me one nation that's anything like the Americans? I thought not. Whenever there's a fire, a flood, an earthquake or another act of God anywhere in the world, who gets there first with cameramen, photographers, reporters, and color commentators? The Americans. Yet when a tornado hit a midwestern town, causing what President Nixon called the worst disaster he had ever seen, with the exception of his personal tax returns maybe, did one country from Southeast Asia send in an eyewitness news team? I ask you.

Whenever, for two hundred years the people of Cuba, The Dominican Republic, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, the Philippines, Libya, Korea, and Cambodia didn't know what was good for them, who helped, with CIA agents, marines, counter-insurgency forces, and bushels of laundered cash? The Americans.

When tiny Vietnam found itself being overrun by Asians, who came to its aid?

I, for one, am damned glad the Americans had the generosity to invade Canada three times or we'd never have found out who our real friends are.

And when Canada decided to dam James Bay, flood the tundra, and destroy the ecology of the North in order to produce hydro-electric power, it was the Americans who offered to buy that power at a price they could afford.

Come on, let's hear it. Who but the Americans could have produced the DC-10, the technological breakthrough that's done more to control the population explosion than anything since the fragmentation bomb? You talk about your Japanese technocracy and you get the electric dildo. You talk about your German technocracy and you get eighteen minutes of silent recording tape. But you talk about your American technocracy and you get men on the moon, playing golf, and drinking Tang.

And right here on our Canadian streets there are draft-dodgers, free to come and go as they please, as long as they don't talk out of turn or get too near the border, and many of them have pockets full of letters from Mom and Dad back home, begging them to turn themselves in to Leavenworth for the Commies they are.

Sure the Americans are in a bind right now, but they put their scandals right in the store window, where they're sold to the highest bidder. And when they come out of this with their flags flying at half-mast, and they will, who could blame them if they said to hell with the rest of the world and gave back the fifty percent of Canadian land and the seventy percent of Canadian industry they own. And where would we be then? Would we know what to do with it? I ask you.

I'm one Canadian who's damned tired of watching the Americans kicked around, and I'd give up watching the American news if it wasn't the only channel I got.

And another thing; President Nixon announced the other day that when he's paid off his debts and lawyers, and all his back taxes, he'll be broke. And not a single Canadian has offered to help.

[from the Canada Show episode of The National Lampoon Radio Hour]

Sunderland to Reed, 15 November 1872

2009-08-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Washington City, Nov. 15th, 1872.

Rev. Jas. A. Reed:

Dear Bro.—It was in the last days of 1862, about the time Mr. Lincoln was seriously contemplating the issuing of the Emancipation proclamation, that I, in company with some friends of the President, called upon him. After some conversation, in which he seemed disposed to have his joke and fun, he settled down to a serious consideration of the subject before his mini!, and for one half-hour poured forth a volume of the deepest Christian philosophy I ever heard. He began by saying—

"The ways of God are mysterious and profound beyond all comprehension—'who by searching can find Him out?' Now, judging after the manner of men, taking counsel of our sympathies and feelings, if it had been left to us to determine it, we would have had no war. And going further back to the occasion of it, we would have had no slavery. And tracing it still further back, we would have had no evil. There is the mystery of the universe which no man can solve, and it is at that point that the human understanding utterly backs down. And then there is nothing left but for the heart of man to take up faith and believe and trust where it cannot reason. Now, I believe we are all agents and instruments of Divine providence. On both sides we are working out the will of God; yet how strange the spectacle! Here is one hall the nation prostrated in prayer that God will help them to destroy the Union and build up a government upon the corner-stone of human bondage. And here is the other half equally earnest in their prayers and efforts to defeat a purpose which they regard as so repugnant to their ideas of human nature and the rights of society, as well as liberty and independence. They want slavery; we want freedom. They want a servile class; we want to make equality practical as far as possible. And they are Christians, and we are Christians. They and we are praying and fighting for results exactly the opposite. What must God think of such a posture of affairs? There is but one solution—self-deception. Somewhere there is a fearful heresy in our religion, and I cannot think it lies in the love of liberty and in the aspirations of the human soul.

"What I am to do in the present emergency time will determine. I hold myself in my present position and with the authority vested in me as an instrument of Providence. I have my own views and purposes. I have my convictions of duly, and my notions of what is right to be done. But I am conscious every moment that all I am and all I have is subject to the control of a Higher Power, and that Power can use me or not use me in any manner, and at any time, as in His wisdom and might may be pleasing to Him.

"Nevertheless, I am no fatalist. I believe in the supremacy of the human conscience, and that men are responsible beings; that God has a right to hold them, and will hold them, to a strict personal account for the deeds done m the body. But, sirs, I do not mean to give you a lecture upon the doctrines of the Christian religion. These are simply with me the convictions and realities of great and vital truths, the power and demonstration of which I see now in the light of this our national struggle as I have never seen before. God only knows the issue of this business. He has destroyed nations from the map of history for their sins. Nevertheless my hopes prevail generally above my fears for our own Republic. The times are dark, the spirits of ruin are abroad in all their power, and the mercy of God alone can save us."

So did the President discourse until we felt we were imposing on his time, and rising we took our leave of him, confident that he would be true to those convictions of right and duty which were derived from so deep a Christian philosophy.

Yours truly, Byron Sunderland.

John Quincy Adams to the American Bible Society

2009-07-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Fellow-citizens of the American Bible Society, and of this Assembly,—In taking the chair awarded to me as the oldest Vice-president of the American Bible Society, I deem myself fortunate in having the opportunity, at a stage of a long life drawing rapidly to its close, to bear at this place, the capital of our national Union, in the Hall of Representation of the North American people, in the chair of the presiding officer representing that whole people, the personification of this great and mighty nation, to bear my solemn testimonial of reverence and gratitude to that Book of books, the Holy Bible.

Thirty-five years have passed away since, in the State House at Boston, the capital of my native commonwealth, I became a member of the Bible Society; and although I have followed, with a deep interest, their continual exertions and the various fortunes of their success in distributing this Book, I think I have never been able to attend another meeting of the society from that time to this. Since that time one generation of mankind has passed away—another has arisen. In the midst of the painful and perilous conflicts inseparable from public life, and on the eve of that moment when the grave shall close over them forever, I may be permitted to indulge the pleasing reflection that, having been taught in childhood the unparalleled blessings of the Christian gospel, in the maturity of manhood I associated with my brethren of that age, for spreading the light of that gospel over the face of the earth, by the simple and silent process of placing in the hands of every human being who needed, and could not otherwise procure it, that Book, which contains the duties, the admonitions, the promises, and the rewards of the Christian gospel. It ie a soothing consolation to my last hours, that, having so long since associated in this cause with the fathers, I still find myself associated in it with the sons; that it has in the interval been perseveringly and unceasingly prosecuted with intense ardor, with untiring assiduity, and with animating and eminent success. In contemplating what may be termed the life and adventures of one whole generation of the race of man, the only member of the animal creation susceptible of the perception of good and evil, of virtue and vice, of right and wrong, there are in this, as there have been in all former ages, observing and reflecting men, especially in the decline of life, prone to depreciate the moral and physical character of the present age, and to glorify the past. Far more pleasing, and I believe more correct, is the conclusion, that the race of man, in his fallen estate, is placed by successive generations upon earth to improve his own condition and that of his kind; and that this book has been furnished him, by the special providence of his Maker, to enable him, by faith in his Redeemer, and by works conformable to that faith, to secure his salvation in a future world, and to promote his well-being in the present. If this be true, the improvement of successive generations of men in their condition upon earth, and their preparation for eternity, depends in no small degree in the diffusion and circulation of this volume among all the tribes of man throughout the habitable globe This is the great and exclusive object for which, in the last generation, this society was instituted. The whole Book had then existed upward of eighteen hundred years ; and wherever it had penetrated and heen received, it had purified and exalted the character of man. Reposing upon three fundamental pillars, the unity and omnipotence of God, the Creator and Governor of all worlds ; the immortality of the human soul, and its responsibility to that Creator in a future world for all the deeds done in the present; and the system of morals, embracing in one precept the whole duty of man upon earth—Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and [thou shall love] thy neighbor as thyself.

The Bible carries with it the history of the creation, the fall and the redemption of man; and discloses to him, in the infant born at Bethlehem, the Legislator and Savior of the world. The faith in him and in his divine mission is inseparably connected with the performance of his will, and that will is all comprised in the song of the angels at his birth—Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

In whatever region of the earth, in whatever condition of the human being this blissful sound first salutes his ears, the depravities of his nature fall before it; the selfish and the rancorous passions which had absorbed his soul and ruled his conduct under the impulses of hatred and revenge, sink within him into impotence; he bathes in the waters of Jordan, and rises cleansed from his leprosy, in the freshness and vigor of health, and the purity of benevolence and mercy.

Such has been the progress of the gospel wherever the Bible has been carried and suffered to be read. In the mysterious providence of God, its influences have been counteracted by the spirit of evil in all its thousand forms, throughout a long succession of ages. Its advancement has been slow; its victories desperately contested ; its triumphs subjected to cruel vicissitudes; its war against the world, the flesh, and the serpent, a perpetual, never-ceasing struggle. Yet its march has been uniform in purifying and ennobling the moral, the intellectual, and the physical condition and character of man.

To circulate and distribute among great multitudes of men, in every quarter of the globe, this blessed volume, was the purpose for which this society was instituted. One generation of mankind has since passed away.

The secretary of the society is now present, and will give an account of their labors, their success, and their prospects. I trust they will prove to the satisfaction of this assembly that, by their labors, the human being of this age is, on the whole, wiser, better, happier than the human being of the last.

That by the success, of those labors they will be cheered and encouraged to perseverance in them, by the emulation of the present age to contribute their aid to the progress of human wisdom, virtue, and happiness, from age to age, till that consummation of human felicity promised in this book, when—

The wolf, also, shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the failing together; and a little child shall lend them.

[From Samuel Hanson Cox, Interviews: Memorable and Useful; from diary and memory reproduced, New York, 1853, pp. 270-73.]

Hull and Walker To John Adams

2009-07-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

To John Adams, President of the United States of America:—

Sir—In reviewing the history of our country, and comparing it with the convulsed state of Europe, we find the strongest reasons to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. We feel a pride in the name and character of Americans. It is our glory to be the descendants of ancestors who purchased freedom and independence by their wisdom and valour; and some of whom, on this spot, exhibited to the world an example of the unconquerable spirit of freemen. May we be inspired with firmness to imitate their virtues, and maintain the inheritance purchased by their valour. It is impossible sufficiently to estimate the Government under which we live. It has been established by our consent, and administered by our choice. We ought to make it the pole-star of our conduct, and it will prove the ark of our safety. It claims our reverence, and demands our support. With the keenest sensibility we feel the insults it has experienced, and as American soldiers, in the presence of our standard, we here solemnly declare, that we will ever be ready to be the guardians of its rights and the avengers of its wrongs.

And having sworn, when we accepted our commission, to defend the Constitution of the United States, we now, on this memorable ground, renew to you, sir, and our country, the sacred oath.

We offer to you, agreeably to act of Congress, our individual services, and pledge our lives and all that is dear to us, for the support of the Government and the defence of the Country.

That you may long live an ornament to the land which gave you birth, and a blessing to the world, is our sincere wish.

We are, in behalf of the officers of the first brigade and third division of the militia of Massachusetts,

Your most obedient servants,

William Hull, Major-General.
J. Walker, Brigadier-General.

Lexington, Massachusetts, October 2, 1798.

[From Maria Campbell and James Freeman Clarke, Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull, New York, 1848, pp. 263-264. Adams' reply is posted here.]

Too Depressed to Commit Suicide (PeeCees)

2009-06-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

What a dreary life it is this ... teaching
Feel like a peach melba without a ... peach in
I was so depressed I started ... screeching
Feel like Debbie Harry's hair without the ... bleach in
Telling kids to keep down the noise
Are you surprised I lost my voice
Guess I chose the wrong career
Like the Dane in that play by Shakespeare

To be To be or To be or yo-yo-yo
I'm go I'm going I'm going ga ga go
I'm so I'm sewin I'm so in pain inside
I'm too I'm too deep too depressed to commit ... suicide yo yo yo
(I'm too depressed to commit suicide)

When I go home I waste my time ... markin
Hate to watch the news read by Leonard ... Parkin
If I were a dog I'd really be ... barkin
Instead I'll look for some pool with a ... shark in
But then suicide's a crime
Don't want to waste the police's time
Just quietly do myself in
Like the guy in that book by Solzhenitsyn

Archie Archie Bell Archipela-go-go-go
Ga ga Ga ga go Ga ga ga Yo yo yo
I'm so I'm sewin' I'm so in pain inside
Too deep Too depressed to commit suicide

Too depressed to commit suicide
Too depressed to inject cyanide
Nooses ice-cubes gas insecticide
Razor's blunt so I'll take pesticide
Too depressed to commit suicide
Too depressed to commit suicide
Too...

Pseudo-Madison 1

2009-06-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is not about the "ten commandments" fake Madison quotation as such, though it is connected with it. This is about the following fake Madison quotation:

The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

This appears to be a mere paraphrase of the "ten commandments" fake quotation, and I suspect was merely somebody's commentary on it that somehow became attached to it. Here are some sources for the Pseudo-Madison quotation:

The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded. We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government—far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the commandments of God.

In Guy Livingston, The Fate of Our Nation, p. 21. No source given. 2004.

We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us ... to govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws upon which this Constitution is founded.

In Michael J. Anthony and Warren S. Benson, Exploring the History & Philosophy of Christian Education: Principles for the 21st Century, pp. 288-289. No source given. 2004.

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

In Bettie B. Youngs, Living the 10 Commandments in New Times: a Book for Young Adults, p xxiii.

We've staked the whole future of American Civilization on the power of government, no, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us ... to govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

In J. William, Evil Unleashed: The First Bite of the Apple, p. 218. No source given. 2006.

The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

In Donald G. Lett Jr; Phoenix Rising: The Rise and Fall of the American Republic, p. 17. 2008. Lett gives a source: America's Judeo-Christian Heritage Foundational Quotes, 2 March 2007. This is a website. On it the quote appears as:

We've staked the whole future of American civilization not on the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us . . . to Govern ourselves according to the commandments of God. The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.

In other words, in every case so far located the "future and success" quotation appears as part of a variant of the "ten commandments" quotation it appears to summarize. This website seems to claim that this quotation comes from William J. Federer's America's God and Country, but the portions available online do not contain it, though the fake "ten commandments" quotation is included. Federer's book is, of course, a notoriously unreliable source.

Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr

2009-06-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Paris, August 10, 1787.

Dear Peter,

I have received your two letters of December the 30th and April the 18th, and am very happy to find by them, as well as by letters from Mr. Wythe, that you have been so fortunate as to attract his notice and good will: I am sure you will find this to have been one of the most fortunate events of your life, as I have ever been sensible it was of mine. I inclose you a sketch of the sciences to which I would wish you to apply, in such order as Mr. Wythe shall advise: I mention, also, the books in them worth your reading, which submit to his correction. Many of these are among your father's books, which you should have brought to you. As I do not recollect those of them not in his library, you must write to me for them, making out a catalogue of such as you think you shall have occasion for, in eighteen months from the date of your letter, and consulting Mr. Wythe on the subject. To this sketch I will add a few particular observations.

1. Italian. I fear the learning this language will confound your French and Spanish. Being all of them degenerated dialects of the Latin, they are apt to mix in conversation. I have never seen a person speaking the three languages, who did not mix them. It is a delightful language, but late events having rendered the Spanish more useful; lay it aside to prosecute that.

2. Spanish. Bestow great attention on this, and endeavor to acquire an accurate knowledge of it. Our future connections with Spain and Spanish America, will render that language a valuable acquisition. The ancient history of a great part of America, too, is written in that language. I send you a dictionary.

Moral Philosophy. I think it lost time to attend lectures on this branch. He who made us would have been a pitiful bungler, if he had made the rules of our moral conduct a matter of science. For one man of science, there are thousands who are not. What would have become of them? Man was destined for society. His morality, therefore, was to be formed to this object. He was endowed with a sense of right and wrong, merely relative to this. This sense is as much a part of his nature, as the sense of hearing, seeing, feeling; it is the true foundation of morality, and not the ΤΟ ΚΑΛΟΝ, truth, &c. as fanciful writers have imagined. The moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man, as his leg or his arm. It is given to all human beings in a stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them in a greater or less degree. It may be strengthened by exercise, as may any particular limb of the body. This sense is submitted, indeed, in some degree, to the guidance of reason ; but it is a small stock which is required for this: even a less one than what we call common sense. State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often better than the latter, because he has not been led astray by artificial rules. In this branch, therefore, read good books, because they will encourage, as well as direct your feelings. The writings of Sterne, particularly, form the best course of morality that ever was written. Besides these, read the books mentioned in the inclosed paper: and above all things, lose no occasion of exercising your dispositions to be grateful, to be generous, to be charitable, to be humane, to be true, just, firm, orderly,courageous, &c. Consider every act of this kind, as an exercise which will strengthen your moral faculties, and increase your worth.

4. Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty and singularity of opinion. Indulge them in any other subject rather than that of religion. It is too important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. On the other hand, shake off all the fears and servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. You will naturally examine, first, the religion of your own country. Read the bible then, as you would read Livy or Tacitus. The facts which are within the ordinary course of nature, you will believe on the authority of the writer, as you do those of the same kind in Livy and Tacitus. The testimony of the writer weighs in their favor, in one scale, and their not being against the laws of nature, does not weigh against them. But those facts in the bible which contradict the laws of nature, must be examined with more care, and under a variety of faces. Here you must recur to the pretensions of the writer to inspiration from God. Examine upon what evidence his pretensions are founded, and whether that evidence is so strong, as that its falsehood would be more probable, than a change of the laws of nature, in the case he relates. For example, in the book of Joshua we are told, the sun stood still several hours. Were we to read that fact in Livy or Tacitus, we should class it with their showers of blood, speaking of statues, beasts, &c. But it is said, that the writer of that book was inspired. Examine, therefore, candidly, what evidence there is of his having been inspired. The pretension is entitled to your inquiry, because millions believe it. On the other hand, you are astronomer enough to know, how contrary it is to the law of nature, that a body revolving on its axis, as the earth does, should have stopped, should not by that sudden stoppage, have prostrated animals, trees, buildings, and should after a certain time have resumed its revolution, and that without a second general prostration. Is this arrest of the earth's motion, or the evidence which affirms it, most within the law of probabilities? You will next read the New Testament. It is the history of a personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the opposite pretensions, 1. of those who say he was begotten of God, born of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws of nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven: and 2. of those who say he was a man, of illegitimate birth, of a benevolent heart, enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally for sedition, by being gibbeted, according to the Roman law, which punished the first commission of that offence by whipping, and the second by exile or death in furea. See this law in the Digest, Lib. 48. tit. 19. s. 28, 3. and Lipsius Lib. 2. de cruce. cap. 2. These questions are examined in the books I have mentioned, under the head of Religion, and several others. They will assist you in your inquiries ; but keep your reason firmly on the watch in reading them all. Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it' will procure you. If you find reason to believe there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under his eye, and that he approves you, will be a vast additional incitement; if that there be a future state, the hope of a happy existence in that, increases the appetite to deserve it: if that Jesus was also a God, you will be comforted by a belief of his aid and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject any thing, because any other person, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven, and you are answerable not for the lightness, but uprightness of the decision. I forgot to observe, when speaking of the New Testament, that you should read all the histories of Christ, as well of those whom a council of ecclesiastics have decided for us, to be Pseudo-evangelists, as those they named Evangelists. Because these Pseudo-evangelists pretended to inspiration, as much as the others, and you are to judge their pretensions by your own reason, and not by the reason of those ecclesiastics. Most of these are lost. There are some, however, still extant, collected by Fabricius, which I will endeavour to get and send you.

5. Travelling. This makes men wiser, but less happy. When men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge, which they may apply usefully for their country; but they are subject ever after to recollections mixed with regret; their affections are weakened by being extended over more objects; and they learn new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home. Young men who travel, are exposed to all these inconveniences in a higher degree, to others still more serious, and do not acquire that wisdom for which a previous foundation is requisite, by repeated and just observations at home. The glare of pomp and pleasure, is analogous to the motion of the blood; it absorbs all their affection and attention, they are torn from it as from the only good in this world, and return to their home as to a place of exile and condemnation. Their eyes are forever turned back to the object they have lost, and its recollection poisons the residue of their lives. Their first and most delicate passions are hackneyed on unworthy objects here, and they carry home the dregs, insufficient to make themselves or any body else happy. Add to this, that a habit of idleness, an inability to apply themselves to business is acquired, and renders them useless to themselves and their country. These observations are founded in experience. There is no place where your pursuit of knowledge will be so little obstructed by foreign objects, as in your own country, nor any, wherein the virtues of the heart will be less exposed to be weakened. Be good, be learned, and be industrious, and you will not want the aid of travelling, to render you precious to your country, dear to your friends, happy within yourself. I repeat my advice, to take a great deal of exercise, and on foot. Health is the first requisite after morality. Write to me often, and be assured of the interest I take in your success, as well as the warmth of those sentiments of attachment with which I am, Dear Peter, your affectionate friend,

Th: Jefferson.

Pseudo-Ignatius 2

2008-08-21T02:32:00.000-07:00

The Epistle of Ignatius to Mary at Neapolis, Near Zarbus.

Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to her who has obtained mercy through the grace of the most high God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Lord, who died for us, to Mary, my daughter, most faithful, worthy of God, and bearing Christ [in her heart], wishes abundance of happiness in God.

Chapter I.—Acknowledgment of her excellence and wisdom.

Sight indeed is better than writing, inasmuch as, being one¹ of the company of the senses, it not only, by communicating proofs of friendship, honours him who receives them, but also, by those which it in turn receives, enriches the desire for better things. But the second harbour of refuge, as the phrase runs, is the practice of writing, which we have received, as a convenient haven, by thy faith, from so great a distance, seeing that by means of a letter we have learned the excellence that is in thee. For the souls of the good, O thou wisest² of women! resemble fountains of the purest water; for they allure by their beauty passers-by to drink of them, even though these should not be thirsty. And thy intelligence invites us, as by a word of command, to participate in those divine draughts which gush forth so abundantly in thy soul.

Chapter II.—His own condition.

But I, O thou blessed woman, not being now so much my own master as in the power of others, am driven along by the varying wills of many adversaries,³ being in one sense in exile, in another in prison, and in a third in bonds. But I pay no regard to these things. Yea, by the injuries inflicted on me through them, I acquire all the more the character of a disciple, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. May I enjoy the torments which are prepared for me, seeing that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”⁴

Chapter III.—He had complied with her request.

I have gladly acted as requested in thy letter,⁵ having no doubt respecting those persons whom thou didst prove to be men of worth. For I am sure that thou barest testimony to them in the exercise of a godly judgment,⁶ and not through the influence of carnal favour. And thy numerous quotations of Scripture passages exceedingly delighted me, which, when I had read, I had no longer a single doubtful thought respecting the matter. For I did not hold that those things were simply to be glanced over by my eyes, of which I had received from thee such an incontrovertible demonstration. May I be in place of thy soul, because thou lovest Jesus, the Son of the living God. Wherefore also He Himself says to thee, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me shall find peace.”⁷

Chapter IV.—Commendation and exhortation.

Now it occurs to me to mention, that the report is true which I heard of thee whilst thou wast at Rome with the blessed father⁸ Linus, whom the deservedly-blessed Clement, a hearer of Peter and Paul, has now succeeded. And by this time thou hast added a hundred-fold to thy reputation; and may thou, O woman! still further increase it. I greatly desired to come unto you, that I might have rest with you; but “the way of man is not in himself.”⁹ For the military guard [under which I am kept] hinders my purpose, and does not permit me to go further. Nor indeed, in the state I am now in, can I either do or suffer anything. Wherefore deeming the practice of writing the second resource of friends for their mutual encouragement, I salute thy sacred soul, beseeching of thee to add still further to thy vigour. For our present labour is but little, while the reward which is expected is great.

Chapter V.—Salutations and good wishes.

Avoid those that deny the passion of Christ, and His birth according to the flesh: and there are many at present who suffer under this disease. But it would be absurd to admonish thee on other points, seeing that thou art perfect in every good work and word, and able also to exhort others in Christ. Salute all that are like-minded with thyself, and who hold fast to their salvation in Christ. The presbyters and deacons, and above all the holy Hero, salute thee. Cassian my host salutes thee, as well as my sister, his wife, and their very dear children. May the Lord sanctify thee for evermore in the enjoyment both of bodily and spiritual health, and may I see thee in Christ obtaining the crown!

Notes

1. Literally, “a part.”
2. Literally, “all-wise.”
3. Literally, “by the many wills of the adversaries.”
4. Rom. viii. 18.
5. Literally, “I have gladly fulfilled the things commanded by thee in the letter.”
6. Literally, “by a judgment of God.”
7. Prov. viii. 17 (loosely quoted from LXX.).
8. The original is πάπα, [common to primitive bishops.]
9. Jer. x. 23.

Pseudo-Ignatius 1

2008-08-21T00:29:00.000-07:00

Mary of Cassobelæ to Ignatius

Maria, a proselyte of Jesus Christ, to Ignatius Theophorus, most blessed bishop of the apostolic Church which is at Antioch, beloved in God the Father, and Jesus: Happiness and safety. We all¹ beg for thee joy and health in Him.

Chapter I.—Occasion of the epistle.

Since Christ has, to our wonder,² been made known among us to be the Son of the living God, and to have become man in these last times by means of the Virgin Mary,³ of the seed of David and Abraham, according to the announcements previously made regarding Him and through Him by the company of the prophets, we therefore beseech and entreat that, by thy wisdom, Maris our friend, bishop of our native Neapolis,⁴ which is near Zarbus,⁵ and Eulogius, and Sobelus the presbyter, be sent to us, that we be not destitute of such as preside over the divine word as Moses also says, “Let the Lord God look out a man who shall guide this people, and the congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”⁶

Chapter II.—Youth may be allied with piety and discretion.

But as to those whom we have named being young men, do not, thou blessed one, have any apprehension. For I would have you know that they are wise about the flesh, and are insensible to its passions, they themselves glowing with all the glory of a hoary head through their own⁷ intrinsic merits, and though but recently called as young men to the priesthood.⁸ Now, call thou into exercise⁹ thy thoughts through the Spirit that God has given to thee by Christ, and thou wilt remember¹⁰ that Samuel, while yet a little child, was called a seer, and was reckoned in the company of the prophets, that he reproved the aged Eli for transgression, since he had honoured his infatuated sons above God the author of all things, and had allowed them to go unpunished, when they turned the office of the priesthood into ridicule, and acted violently towards thy people.

Chapter III.—Examples of youthful devotedness.

Moreover, the wise Daniel, while he was a young man, passed judgment on certain vigorous old man,¹¹ showing them that they were abandoned wretches, and not [worthy to be reckoned] elders, and that, though Jews by extraction, they were Canaanites in practice. And Jeremiah, when on account of his youth he declined the office of a prophet entrusted to him by God, was addressed in these words: “Say not, I am a youth; for thou shalt go to all those to whom I send thee, and thou shalt speak according to all that I command thee; because I am with thee.”¹² And the wise Solomon, when only in the twelfth year of his age,¹³ had wisdom to decide the important question concerning the children of the two women,¹⁴ when it was unknown to whom these respectively belonged; so that the whole people were astonished at such wisdom in a child, and venerated him as being not a mere youth, but a full-grown man. And he solved the hard questions of the queen of the Ethiopians, which had profit in them as the streams of the Nile [have fertility], in such a manner that that woman, though herself so wise, was beyond measure astonished.¹⁵

Chapter IV.—The same subject continued.

Josiah also, beloved of God, when as yet he could scarcely speak articulately, convicts those who were possessed of a wicked spirit as being false in their speech, and deceivers of the people. He also reveals the deceit of the demons, and openly exposes those that are no gods; yea, while yet an infant he slays their priests, and overturns their altars, and defiles the place where sacrifices were offered with dead bodies, and throws down the temples, and cuts down the groves, and breaks in pieces the pillars, and breaks open the tombs of the ungodly, that not a relic of the wicked might any longer exist.¹⁶ To such an extent did he display zeal in the cause of godliness, and prove himself a punisher of the ungodly, while he as yet faltered in speech like a child. David, too, who was at once a prophet and a king, and the root of our Saviour according to the flesh, while yet a youth is anointed by Samuel to be king.¹⁷ For he himself says in a certain place, “I was small among my brethren, and the youngest in the house of my father.”¹⁸

Chapter V.—Expressions of respect for Ignatius.

But time would fail me if I should endeavour to enumerate¹⁹ all those that pleased God in their youth, having been entrusted by God with either the prophetical, the priestly, or the kingly office. And those which have been mentioned may suffice, by way of bringing the subject to thy remembrance. But I entreat thee not to reckon me presumptuous or ostentatious [in writing as I have done]. For I have set forth these statements, not as instructing thee, but simply as suggesting the matter to the remembrance of my father in God. For I know my own place,²⁰ and do not compare myself with such as you. I salute thy holy clergy, and thy Christ-loving people who are ruled under thy care as their pastor. All the faithful with us salute thee. Pray, blessed shepherd, that I may be in health as respects God.

Notes

1. Some propose to read, “always.”
2. Or, “wonderfully.”
3. The ms. has, “and.”
4. The ms. has Ημελάπης, which Vossius and others deem a mistake for ημεδαπης, as translated above.
5. The same as Azarbus (comp. Epist. to Hero, chap. ix.).
6. Num. xxvii. 16, 17.
7. Literally, “in themselves.”
8. Literally, “in recent newness of priesthood.”
9. Literally, “call up.”
10. Literally, “know.”
11. The ancient Latin version translates ωμογέροντας “cruel old men,” which perhaps suits the reference better.
12. Jer. i. 7.
13. Comp. for similar statements to those here made, Epistle to the Magnesians (longer), chap. iii.
14. Literally, “understood the great question of the ignorance of the women respecting their children.”
15. Literally, “out of herself.”
16. 2 Kings xxii., xxiii.
17. 1 Sam. xvi.
18. Ps. cl. 1 (in the Septuagint; not found at all in Hebrew).
19. Literally, “to trace up.”
20. Literally, “measure” or “limits.”

James Meacham on the Danger of a Union of Church and State

2008-07-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

The reason more generally urged, is the danger of a union of church and State. If the danger were real, we should be disposed to take the most prompt and decided measures to forestall the evil, because one of the worst for the religious and political interests of this nation that could possibly overtake us. But we deem this apprehension entirely imaginary; and we think any one of the petitioners must be convinced of this on examination of the facts. I have prepared a table showing the churches, ministers, members, and worshippers, in the leading denominations of Christians in this land. It was hastily made, and is doubtless imperfect. I shall append another table, which was published in the Christian Almanac; and any person who has the leisure may compare, and from both form a correct conclusion. The column of worshippers was made by taking from the census the list of church accommodations of each church. This, of course, makes no pretence to entire accuracy; but it is, comparatively, perfectly fair, because it assumes that all churches are filled with worshippers, and that this is the measure of them. It is the nearest and fairest approach to accuracy that I know how to make. Now look at that score of different denominations, and tell us, do you believe it possible to make a majority agree in forming a league to unite their religious interests with those of the State? If you take from the larger sects, you must select some three or four of the largest to make a majority of clergy, or laity, or worshippers. And these sects are widely separated in their doctrines, their religious rites, and in their church discipline. How do you expect them to unite for any such object? If you take the smaller sects, you must unite some fifteen to make a majority, and must take such discordant materials as the Quaker, the Jew, the Universalist, the Unitarian, the Tunker, and the Swedenborgian. Does any one suppose it possible to make these harmonize? If not, there can be no union of church and State. Your committee know of no denomination of Christians who wish for such union. They have had their existence in the voluntary system, and wish it to continue. The sentiment of the whole body of American Christians is against a union with the State. A great change has been wrought in this respect. At the adoption of the constitution, we believe every State—certainly ten of the thirteen—provided as regularly for the support of the church, as for the support of the government: one, Virginia, had the system of tithes. Down to the Revolution, every colony did sustain religion in some form. It was deemed peculiarly proper that the religion of liberty should be upheld by a free people. Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time of the adoption of the constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged—not any one sect. Any attempt to level and discard all religion, would have been viewed with universal indignation. The object was not to substitute Judaism, or Mahomedanism, or infidelity, but to prevent rivalry among sects to the exclusion of others. The result of the change above named is, that now there is not a single State that, as a State, supports the gospel. In 1816 Connecticut repealed her law which was passed to sustain the church; and in 1833, Massachusetts wiped from her statute-book the last law on the subject that existed in the whole Union. Every one will notice that this is a very great change to be made in so short a period—greater than, we believe, was ever before made in ecclesiastical affairs in sixty-five years, without a revolution or some great convulsion. This change has been made silently and noiselessly, with the consent and wish of all parties, civil and religious. From this it will be seen that the tendency of the times is not to a union of church and State, but is decidedly and strongly bearing in an opposite direction. Every tie is sundered; and there is no wish on either side to have the bond renewed. It seems to us that the men who would raise the cry of danger in this state of things, would cry fire on the thirty-ninth day of a general deluge.

[Representative James Meacham (Whig, Vermont) served from 1849 to 1856. This paragraph comes from HR 124, 33rd Cong. 1st Sess., p. 6, a report on chaplains.]

Favorite Quotations

2008-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Art

The very globe we live on is a far more interesting sphere than it can have been when men supposed that men like themselves would be on it to the end of time. It is only since we heard what Darwin had to say … that the Book of Life has taken so strong a hold on us and “once taken up, cannot,” as the reviewers say, “readily be laid down.” The work doesn’t strike us as a masterpiece yet, certainly; but who knows that it isn’t—that it won’t be, judged as a whole?

Max Beerbohm

When Nature intends anyone to be a highly cultivated artist, she generally forces them on by condemning them to fiendishness or loutishness until they fulfil her intention. However, there must be exceptions to this, except perhaps as to the fiendishness.

Bernard Shaw

Belief

FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

Ambrose Bierce

Bullshit

… critics can usually be found to defend any nonsense and see in it proof of the subtlety of the author’s thought.

W. W. Greg

… there ain’t nothing you can do with a bag of crap except bury it.

Pap Finn

Choice

The rise of slavery in the South was inevitable only in the sense that every event in history seems inevitable after it has occurred.

Kenneth M. Stampp

Etiquette

In the future, etiquette will become more and more important. That doesn’t mean knowing which fork to pick up—I mean basic consideration for the rights of other animals (human beings included) and the willingness, whenever practical, to tolerate the other guy’s idiosyncracies.
We live in a world where people preach at you constantly (like now, even)—telling you not to be fat, you can’t smoke, you can’t eat butter, sugar will kill you, everything is bad for you—especially sex. Every natural human urge has been thwarted in one way or another, so that some cocksucker gets to make a dollar off your guilt.

Frank Zappa

No quarter whatever should be given to the bigotry of people so unfit for social life as to insist not only that their own prejudices and superstitions should have the fullest toleration but that everybody else should be compelled to think and act as they do.

Bernard Shaw

This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.

Abraham Lincoln

Evidence

By most writers the invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese, but not upon very convincing evidence. Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels.

Ambrose Bierce

Government

It is said that every people has the Government it deserves. It is more to the point that every Government has the electorate it deserves; for the orators of the front bench can edify or debauch an ignorant electorate at will. Thus our democracy moves in a vicious circle of reciprocal worthiness and unworthiness.

Bernard Shaw

Immortality

From the beginning you are immortal and children of eternal life. You wished to take death to yourselves as your portion in order that you might destroy it and annihilate it utterly, and that death might die in you and through you. For when you destroy the world and yourselves are not destroyed, then you are lords over the whole creation and over all decay.

Valentinus

Knowledge

To the small part of ignorance that we can arrange and classify we give the name Knowledge.

Ambrose Bierce

One legend of Alexandria, probably false, states that the library was still intact when Muslims captured the city in the seventh century. The emir Amrou Ibn El-Ass, having conquered Alexandria in 642, wrote to the caliph Omar asking (in part) what must be done with the library (and hoping against hope that the caliph would spare this great treasure). But the warlike and uncompromising Omar replied with the most stunning “heads I win, tails you lose” in all human history. The books, he proclaimed, are either contrary to the Koran, in which case they are heretical and must be destroyed, or they are consonant with the Koran, in which case they are superfluous and must also be destroyed. The contents of the library were therefore burned to heat water in the public baths of Alexandria. The books and scrolls kept the fires going for six months.

Omar will never win any praise from intellectuals, but I do grasp his point in an entirely reversed way. Microdictyon and Halkieria are, in a sense, either heretical (if lying outside the range of modern forms) or superfluous (if lying inside). But in either case, they are equally wonderful and worthy of our most cherished interest and protection—and in this judgment lies the difference between most of us and the enemies of the light. In this lies the turf that we must defend at all costs.

Stephen Jay Gould

Know what is in front of your face, and what is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed.

Jesus of Nazareth

Miracles

MIRACLE, n. An act or event out of the order of nature and unaccountable, as beating a normal hand of four kings and an ace with four aces and a king.

Ambrose Bierce

When a donkey flies, you don’t blame him for not staying up too long.

Murray Slaughter

Objectivity

It has been argued that complete objectivity is impossible, since scholars are human beings, with their own loyalties and biases. This is no doubt true, but does not affect the issue. To borrow an analogy, any surgeon will admit that complete asepsis is also impossible, but one does not, for that reason, perform surgery in a sewer.

Bernard Lewis

Patriotism

PATRIOT, n. One to whom the interests of a part seem superior to those of the whole. The dupe of statesmen and the tool of conquerors.

Ambrose Bierce

Patriotism, though it is based upon the natural and indeed instinctive love of home, has been elevated in the modern world into an unparalleled congeries of imbecilities. What it demands of the individual citizen, as a practical matter, is that he yield not only his judgment but also his property and even his life to whatever gang of scheming politicians happen to be in power. The essence of his virtue as a patriot is that he ask not questions, once the band is set to playing.

H. L. Mencken

Politics

POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Ambrose Bierce

Problems

And it strikes me as gruesome and comical that in our culture we have an expectation that a man can always solve his problems. There is the implication that if you just have a little more energy, a little more fight, the problem can always be solved. This is so untrue that it makes me want to cry—or laugh. Culturally American men aren’t supposed to cry. So I don’t cry much—but I do laugh a lot. When I think about a stupid, uneducated black junkie in this city, and then I run into some optimist who feels that any man can lift himself above his origins if he’s any good—that’s something to cry about or laugh about. A sort of braying, donkeylike laugh. But every laugh counts, because every laugh feels like a laugh.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Reality

…we so easily make the mistake of assuming that our world—the world perceived by human senses—is the “real” world. A particular bit of forest is a very different place to a caterpillar, a bird, or a man living there. We naturally describe the forest in the way we see it—which works for most human purposes. But it doesn’t necessarily work if we are trying to understand the behavior of the bird or the caterpillar.

Marston Bates

Religion

RELIGION, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.

Ambrose Bierce

Latter-day Protestantism, by selecting the humaner passages of the Bible, and teaching them to the world, whilst allowing those of a different sort to lie dormant, has produced the highest and purest and best individuals which modern society has known. Thus used, the Bible is the most valuable of books. but the strongly-worded authority for all the religious atrocities of the Middle Ages is still in it, and some day or other it may again become as heavy a curse to the world as it formerly was. The devastating powers of the Book are only suspended, not extinguished. An Expurgated Bible would not be an unuseful thing.

Samuel Clemens

…I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don’t bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I….

Hunter Thompson

How dangerous is the apparently pious doctrine that the Christian religion is a part of the common law. If it be true, all who disbelieve that religion are habitual breakers of the law. The Jew, the Hindoo, the Pagan, are perpetual malefactors . . . . It is a melancholy truth, that those who believe in one God, have been more intolerant than Pagans. Polytheism, however erroneous, by allowing the worship of numerous Gods, became indulgent to the introduction of many new ones. But the Mohammedans, the Jews, and above all, I am compelled to say, the Christians, have been guilty of the cruelest persecutions that ever afflicted the human race.

Thaddeus Stevens

Scholarship

A penalty of the scholar’s vocation to which he must steel himself is the reading of rubbish….

Samuel Schoenbaum

Stereotyping

In the course of our visit a discussion arose as to the credibility of any Negro assertion, though, indeed, that could hardly be called a discussion that was simply a chorus of assenting opinions. No Negro was to be believed on any occasion or anyh subject. No doubt they are habitual liars, for they are slaves; but there are some thrice honorable exceptions, who, being slaves, are yet not liars; and certainly the vice results much more from the circumstances in which they are placed than from any natural tendency to untruth in their case. The truth is that they are always considered as false and deceitful, and it is very seldom that any special investigation of the facts of any particular case is resorted to in their behalf. They are always prejudged on their supposed general characteristics, and never judged after the fact on the merit of any special instance.

Fanny Kemble

Truth

Whenever a critic makes much use of a higher truth you may suppose he is trying to conceal a lower falsity.

Morton Smith

…I have always found that the only kind of statement worth making is an overstatement. A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries further.

Stephen Leacock

Utopia

Any fanciful way of naming the days would be bad, as too sharply differentiating one day from another. What we must strive for in the Dawn is that every day shall be as nearly as possible like every other day.

H. G. W*lls

Vision

If one does not stand in the darkness, he will not be able to see the light.

Jesus of Nazareth

Work

Any man can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he’s supposed to be doing.

Robert Benchley

Sources

Marston Bates:

…we so easily make the mistake… The Forest and the Sea (New York, 1960), p. 142. Bates distinguishes among the perceptual environment (“including only the elements perceived by the organism”), the effective environment (“including all elements which affect the organism, whether perceived or not”), and total reality (“including all elements that can be detected or inferred, whether they influence the organism in any way or not”).

Max Beerbohn:

The very globe we live on… From the opening paragraph of “Quia Imperfectum” in And Even Now; p. 110 in my copy.

William McGuffey

2008-07-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

...Let us be careful never to inculcate any doubtful principle of morality or religion; or to recommend, by precept or example, any wrong, or even equivocal sentiment or feeling.

We may, nay we must, have our own speculative opinions—hypotheses in morals, which we have not yet been able either to verify or disprove by inductive experience. But, in this state, fellow-teachers, let them never once be named in our schools: nor let them begin to influence our conduct as practical teachers. The intellectual and moral character of our pupils is too valuable, to be made the subject of rash and hazardous experiment.

The christian religion, is the religion of our country. From it are derived our prevalent notions of the character of God, the great moral governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free institutions. From its sanctions are derived the obligations to veracity imposed in the administration of justice. In its revelations are found the only certain grounds of hope in reference to that, else unknown future, which lies beyond the horizon of time. It alone places a guard over the conscience, which never slumbers, and whose eye cannot be evaded by any address of the delinquent. Its maxims, its precepts, its sentiments, and even its very spirit, have become so incorporated with the mind and soul of civilization, and all refinement, that it cannot be eradicated, or even opposed, without imminent hazard of all that is beautiful, lovely, and valuable in the arts, in science, and in society.

Let us then, fellow-teachers, avoid, on the one hand, the inculcation of all sectarian peculiarities in religion: and on the other, let us beware of incurring the charge, (which will not fail to be made, and justly made,) of being enemies to our country's quiet, by teaching to our pupils the crude notions, and revolutionary principles of modern infidelity. It is, at best, but an unsustained hypothesis.

[Excerpt from William H. McGuffey, "Duties of Teachers and Parents," in Transactions of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Western Literary Institute, Cincinatti, 1836, p. 138.]

John Jay

2008-07-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

TO JOHN MURRAY, JUN.
Bedford, 12th October, 1816.

Accept, my good friend, my thanks for your kind letter of the 22d ult., and for the pamphlets enclosed with it. They came to my hands on the 2d inst. The state of my health is such, that I can read or write but little at a time without fatigue; and, therefore, I cannot prudently venture on the task you recommend.

Whether war of every description is prohibited by the gospel, is one of those questions on which the excitement of any of the passions can produce no light. An answer to it can result only from careful investigation and fair reasoning.

It appears to me that the gospel not only recognises the whole moral law, and extends and perfects our knowledge of it, but also enjoins on all mankind the observance of it. Being ordained by a legislator of infinite wisdom and rectitude, and in whom there is "no variableness," it must be free from imperfection, and therefore never has, nor ever will require amendment or alteration. Hence I conclude, that the moral law is exactly the same now that it was before the flood.

That all those wars and fightings are unlawful, which proceed from culpable desires and designs (or in Scripture language from lusts), on the one side or on the other, is too clear to require proof. As to wars of an opposite description, and many such there have been, I believe they are as lawful to the unoffending party in our days, as they were in the days of Abraham. He waged war against and defeated the five kings. He piously dedicated a tenth of the spoils; and, instead of being blamed, was blessed.

What should we think of a human legislator who should authorize or encourage infractions of his own laws? If wars of every kind and description are prohibited by the moral law, I see no way of reconciling such a prohibition with those parts of Scripture which record institutions, declarations, and interpositions of the Almighty which manifestly evince the contrary? If every war is sinful, how did it happen that the sin of waging any war is not specified among the numerous sins and offences which are mentioned and reproved in both the Testaments?

To collect and arrange the many facts and arguments which relate to this subject, would require more time and application than I am able to bestow. The aforegoing are hinted merely to exhibit some of the reasons on which my opinion rests.

It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it, is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war.

Almost all nations have peace or war at the will and pleasure of rulers whom they do not elect, and who are not always wise or virtuous. Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest, of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

I thank you for the kind wishes expressed in the conclusion of your letter. They refer to topics on which I have been accustomed to meditate, and are far more important than any which belong to this transient scene.

With the best wishes for your welfare, in the most enlarged sense,
I remain, your obliged friend,
JOHN JAY.

[From William Jay, The Life of John Jay, With Selections from his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, New York, 1833, volume II, pp. 375-376]

John Adams

2008-07-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts:—

GENTLEMEN—I have received from Major General Hull and Brigadier-General Walker, your unanimous address from Lexington, animated with a martial spirit, and expressed with a military dignity, becoming your character and the memorable plains on which it was adopted.

An address so animated, and from the officers commanding two thousand eight hundred men, composed of such substantial citizens as are able and willing, at their own expense, completely to arm and clothe themselves in handsome uniform, does honour to that division of the militia, which has done so much honour to their country.

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned us by Providence. But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation, while it is practising iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candour, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world. Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion.

Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Oaths in this country are as yet universally considered as sacred obligations. That which you have taken, and so solemnly repeated on that venerable ground, is an ample pledge of your sincerity and devotion to your country and its government.

(Signed) JOHN ADAMS.
Quincy, 11th October, 1798.

[From Maria Campbell and James Freeman Clarke, Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull, New York, 1848, pp. 265-266.]

George Washington 2

2008-07-08T02:09:00.000-07:00

He was not accustomed to argue points of faith, but on one occasion, in reply to a gentleman who expressed doubts on the subject, thus gave his sentiments:—

"It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe without the agency of a Supreme Being.

"It is impossible to govern the universe without the aid of a Supreme Being.

"It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to; and well has it been said, that if there had been no God, mankind would have been obliged to imagine one."

From James Kirke Paulding, A Life of Washington, New York, 1835, volume 2, pp. 209-10. Paulding gives no source for this quotation and it has not surfaced since.

George Washington 1

2008-07-08T02:01:00.000-07:00

It is impossible to govern the world without God. It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits and humbly implore his protection and favor. I am sure there never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States ; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency which was so often manifested during the revolution ; or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of Him, who is alone able to protect them. He must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.

Found in the September 1867 issue of Hall's Journal of Health; quoted there from "TESTIMONIES of American Statesmen and Jurists, to the Truths of Christianity," by Hon. HENRY WILSON, United States Senator from Massachusetts, published by the American Tract Society, 28 Cornhill, Boston.

Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson

2008-07-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

MONTICELLO, January 9, 1816.

MY DEAR AND ANCIENT FRIEND,—An acquaintance of fifty-two years, for I think ours dates from 1764, calls for an interchange of notice now and then, that we remain in existence, the monuments of another age, and examples of a friendship unaffected by the jarring elements by which we have been surrounded, of revolutions of government, of party and of opinion. I am reminded of this duty by the receipt, through our friend Dr. Patterson, of your synopsis of the four Evangelists. I had procured it as soon as I saw it advertised, and had become familiar with its use; but this copy is the more valued as it comes from your hand. This work bears the stamp of that accuracy which marks everything from you, and will be useful to those who, not taking things on trust, recur for themselves to the fountain of pure morals. I, too, have made a wee-little book from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma of His doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its Author never said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mysteries a system beyond the comprehension of man, of which the great Reformer of the vicious ethics and deism of the Jews, were He to return on earth, would not recognize one feature. If I had time, I would add to my little book the Greek, Latin and French texts, in columns side by side. And I wish I could subjoin a translation of Gosindi's Syntagma of the doctrines of Epicurus, which, notwithstanding the calumnies of the Stoics and caricatures of Cicero, is the most rational system remaining of the philosophy of the ancients, as frugal of vicious indulgence, and fruitful of virtue as the hyperbolical extravagances of his rival sects.

I retain good health, am rather feeble to walk much, but ride with ease, passing two or three hours a day on horseback, and every three or four months taking in a carriage a journey of ninety miles to a distant possession, where I pass a good deal of my time. My eyes need the aid of glasses by night, and with small print in the day also; my hearing is not quite so sensible as it used to be; no tooth shaking yet, but shivering and shrinking in body from the cold we now experience, my thermometer having been as low as 12° this morning. My greatest oppression is a correspondence afflictingly laborious, the extent of which I have been long endeavoring to curtail. This keeps me at the drudgery of the writing-table all the prime hours of the day, leaving for the gratification of my appetite for reading, only what I can steal from the hours of sleep. Could I reduce this epistolary corvée within the limits of my friends and affairs, and give the time redeemed from it to reading and reflection, to history, ethics, mathematics, my life would be as happy as the infirmities of age would admit, and I should look on its consummation with the composure of one "qui summum nec me tuit diem nec optat."

So much as to myself, and I have given you this string of egotisms in the hope of drawing a similar one from yourself. I have heard from others that you retain your health, a good degree of activity, and all the vivacity and cheerfulness of your mind, but I wish to learn it more minutely from yourself. How has time affected your health and spirits? What are your amusements, literary and social? Tell me everything about yourself, because all will be interesting to me, who retains for you ever the same constant and affectionate friendship and respect.

Thomas Jefferson to Timothy Pickering

2008-07-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

MONTICELLO, February 27, 1821.

I have received, Sir, your favor of the 12th, and I assure you I received it with pleasure. It is true, as you say, that we have differed in political opinions; but I can say with equal truth, that I never suffered a political to become a personal difference. I have been left on this ground by some friends whom I dearly loved, but I was never the first to separate. With some others, of politics different from mine, I have continued in the warmest friendship to this day, and to all, and to yourself particularly, I have ever done moral justice.

I thank you for Mr. Channing's discourse, which you have been so kind as to forward me. It is not yet at hand, but is doubtless on its way. I had received it through another channel, and read it with high satisfaction. No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its advances towards rational Christianity. When we shall have done away the incomprehensible jargon of the Trinitarian arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three; when we shall have knocked down the artificial scaffolding, reared to mask from view the simple structure of Jesus; when, in short, we shall have unlearned everything which has been taught since His day, and got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples; and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from His lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian. I know that the case you cite, of Dr. Drake, has been a common one. The religion-builders have so distorted and deformed the doctrines of Jesus, so muffled them in mysticisms, fancies and falsehoods, have caricatured them into forms so monstrous and inconceivable, as to shock reasonable thinkers, to revolt them against the whole, and drive them rashly to pronounce its Founder an impostor. Had there never been a commentator, there never would have been an infidel. In the present advance of truth, which we both approve, I do not know that you and I may think alike on all points. As the Creator has made no two faces alike, so no two minds, and probably no two creeds. We well know that among Unitarians themselves there are strong shades of difference, as between Doctors Price and Priestley, for example. So there may be peculiarities in your creed and in mine. They are honestly formed without doubt. I do not wish to trouble the world with mine, nor to be troubled for them. These accounts are to be settled only with Him who made us; and to Him we leave it, with charity for all others, of whom, also, He is the only rightful and competent Judge. I have little doubt that the whole of our country will soon be rallied to the unity of the Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also.

In saying to you so much, and without reserve, on a subject on which I never permit myself to go before the public, I know that I am safe against the infidelities which have so often betrayed my letters to the strictures of those for whom they were not written, and to whom I never meant to commit my peace. To yourself I wish every happiness, and will conclude, as you have done, in the same simple style of antiquity, da operam ut valeas; hoc mihi gratius facere nihil potes.

[From Andrew A. Lipscomb, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (Washington, 1904), Volume XV, pp. 322-324.]

America's Christian Roots

2008-07-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

A word of warning for those who may have stumbled upon this while surfing the internet: the material that follows is mostly untrue. This document, variously titled "Forsaken Roots," "America's Christian Roots," "What our Forefathers Believed," etc., etc., sets forth the Christian Nation doctrine in a brief form. Its "author" (or better, assembler) is unknown. There are many copies of it about the internet; this edition is based on four of them. Copies that I've seen fall into one of two recensions, a longer one and a shorter one. For reasons given in my commentary, it appears that the shorter is derived from the longer. The material in blue below is omitted in the shorter recension. sbh, 7 July 2008.

The U.S. Constitution was founded on Biblical principles, and it was the intention of the authors for this to be a Christian nation.

Did you know that 52 of the 55 signers of the Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three all believed in the bible as the divine truth, the God of Scripture, and His personal intervention.

It is the same Congress that formed the American Bible Society.

Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of Scripture for the people of this nation.

Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me death"; but in current textbooks, the context of these words is omitted. Here is what he actually said: "An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."

These sentences have been erased from our textbooks. Was Patrick Henry a Christian? The following year, 1776, he wrote this: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."

Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote in the front of his well-worn Bible: "I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also."

Consider these words from George Washington, the Father of our Nation, in his farewell speech on September 19, 1796: "It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supports. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

Was George Washington a Christian? Consider these words from his personal prayer book: "Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thee and thy son, Jesus Christ."

Consider these words by John Adams, our second president, who also served as chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders he said: “We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and true religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

How about our first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay? He stated that when we select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our Nation, we must select Christians: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was the sixth U.S. President. He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered his highest and most important role.

On July 4, 1821, President Adams said, "The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: "It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."

In 1782, the United States Congress voted this resolution: "The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."

William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools, with over 125 million copies sold, until it was stopped in 1963. President Lincoln called him the "Schoolmaster of the Nation." Listen to these words of Mr. McGuffey: "The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our notions on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions. From no source has the author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology."

Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the Scriptures: "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of him (Proverbs 2:3)." For over 100 years, more than 50% of all Harvard graduates were pastors!

It is clear from history that the Bible and the Christian faith, were foundational in our educational and judicial system. However in 1947, there was a radical change of direction in the Supreme Court.

It required ignoring every precedent of Supreme Court ruling for the past 160 years. The Supreme Court ruled in a limited way to affirm a wall of separation between church and State in the public classroom. In the coming years, this led to removing prayer from public schools in 1962.

Here is the prayer that was banished: "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on Thee. We beg Thy blessings upon us and our parents and our teachers and our country. Amen."

In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school system. The court offered this justification: "If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could and have been psychologically harmful to children."

Bible reading was now unconstitutional, though the Bible was quoted 94% of the time by those who wrote our constitution and shaped our Nation and its system of education and justice and government.

In 1965, the Courts denied as unconstitutional the rights of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly for his food.

In 1980, Stone vs. Graham outlawed the Ten Commandments in our public schools. The Supreme Court said this: “If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments were to have any effect at all, it would be to induce school children to read them. And if they read them, meditated upon them, and perhaps venerated and observed them, this is not a permissible objective.” Is it not a permissible objective to allow our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments?

James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: “We have staked the whole future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”

Most of what you read in this article has been erased from our textbooks. Revisionists have rewritten history to remove the truth about our country's Christian roots. You are encouraged to share this with others, so that the truth of our nation's history will be told.

[Here are some versions I've seen in the wild, as it were: Shorter recension: "What Our Forefathers Believed, American Christian History: History Forgotten, Forsaken Roots in the United States, History, [Untitled Comment], The Foundation of Our Country, History Forgotten, History Forgotten, Forsaken Roots in the United States, History Forgotten (PDF), History, History Forgotten, [no title]; longer recension: Real Roots, Forsaken Roots, Forsaken Roots, Our Real Roots, Our Nation's Founders and Christianity (an expanded version), Forsaken Roots, American History is God Based, The Truth about America's Founding, American History, One Nation Under God, America: Repent or Perish, Our Real Roots, Jul 21 2008, Who Do You Believe (a slightly expanded version by Donald N. Moran), Forsaken Roots; commentaries: Ed Brayton (shorter recension), William Benson (longer recension), Derek H. Davis and Matthew McMearty (longer recension) [or here], Ken Ashford (shorter recension); possible source or analogue: U.S. Founded as a Christian Nation.]