Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-11-05

Eifrocs from Grfmke's oratiOp dcive,ed bcore the Coz
 necltcut Abha efte Phi Beth Kappa Society," September | 1850. By Thomas s. Grimke.
 In ourlastnumber we presented Mir Grimke' leading argument for the employment of th
 Bible as text book in education, on the scor of duty, from the Address before the Rich
 land School. In the present address, he en deavors to establish it's claims to this plac, on the score of HS literary character merely | He commences with the following beautiful comparison of Classic and Sacred Literature | Classic Literature stands, like the sta tute Of Prometheus, graceful in its beauty, majestic n it's power. But Sacred Ltera- ture IS the ever living fire that descendS from heaven, instinct with life, immortal, univer- sal Thar is the mausoleum of departed nations, splendid, yet desolate; and bearing an inscription, written indeed, "in the king ly language of the mighty dead" 7HiS is none other than the house of God, this is the gate ot heaven-its second is the book oflife, spotlesS and eternal-its penmen are Pro phets, Apostles, and Martyrs-its minister ing servants are Cherubim and Scraphim, the Angel and the Archangel.'
 I he literature of the classics was not that PRovIDFNT PROPHETIC Literature, qUhich studies the tast and the trcsent, for The inn froUcmeW of Me .futurc; qvhich iabourS no7v ufon Man aS he IS, t0 make him, n years 70 comc, Man as he should De; for it was mo- delled almost exclusively on their own my thology and states of society,"
 He next inquires what should be the stan dard of literature, and observes:-
 If we would estimate rightly the worth of Literature, at any given period of time, we have only to apply these tests; Ho7v fur has honored God? Ho7v fur has it in,hroped mankind? If it has dishonorcd God, if it has debaSed and corrupted the human mind, let it perish-however various and profound it's learning, however beautiful its taste, and mag niicent it's genius. Such Literature can- not live, either in its own forms, or in those which spring from it. They contain no prin- ciple perpetuity. But the Literature which is ever mindful of its duty to God, and of its obligation to Man, has within itself the seeds of life, and lives from age to age, transmitted in its original forms, or in an endless success sion of notifications and improvements.
 He regards Polite Literature 'as a mode, in which the Creator loves to be honored and praised, by the cultivation of our pow CTS, in all the variety and grandeur, novelty and loveliness, of which the soul is suscep- tible;' and thus endeavors to account for its eStTdDStHltnt IrOm rclSOn.
 'Such being the true character and desti- ny ct Polite Literature, how surprising is the fact, that it should almost universally have dishonored God, and have degraded or cor rupted man. How can this phenomenon be accounted for? The causes must be sought in the melancholy truth, that the great body of literary men have never written, either under a sense of duty to God, or in the spirit of use | fu1DpSS tO Npcocyitx, f h lo,ta If fnpno emulation or envy, love or hatred, las been the ruling motive with countless numbers | And why have these inducements possessed such transcendent authority over the mind, and hearts of this host of Authors? 7He chieJ rea8on must be traced to the absolute erciu- sion ofthe Bible, as the only standard of duty, the only fountain of usefulness, from all ou, scheme of education-when the Gauls were ravaging with fire and sword the city ofRome, | Albanus bore away in his chariot the Vesta | Virgins, and left his family to perish. But the christian scholar, with no such dreadful alternative before him, is content to leave the | Vestal Virgin of sacred Literature to perish, while he welcomes to his home, as his choicest | friends and instructors of his children, the Priest of Mars, and Bacchus and Venus, the poetry and mythology of Pagan Antiquity Language can hardly express too strongly and | wildly, cur astonishment, indignation, and sorrow, that such should be the fact
 The literary character of the scriptures is next vindcatcd, in the following animated | strains:
 'The existence of such poetry, as is to be l found in the Pentateuch, .fUe Hundred ana Lffy years 6efore he age of Homer, and oi such history, as is contained in the same col lection, one Mousand years De fore HerodotuS, is of itself one of the highest proofs of the divinity of the Scriptures. In all other coun- tres the style of poetry has preceded, by ma ny a century, the style of prose; but here we behold both of them, written at the same time, and in the same work, zviM q skill anu beau ty neUer riuaiied, except in other parts of the holy volume. That such body ot He- 7ature should have appeared successively, during one Mou8and and ffty years, from Moses to Malachi, among such people as the Jews, unaided by the leading influences that have produced the Literature of other nations, is the more unaccountable, when we consider its vast superiority over every other, and the perfection of It's language in its ear Hest form as a written tongue, without disco verable, CT even imaginable, antecedent pro- gross preparatory to its fitness of glory in the works of Moses. Shall we not indeed, adopt the language of the Psalmist, so happi- ly applied by Lord Chesterfield, to one of the most memorable events of English History. "It is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes"
 It is not less remarkable that 'in all that pe- riod of one thousand and fifty years, notwith- standing the changes in the form of govern ment, and the revolutions in the state of so- cety, whether the nation was at the summit of power and glory, or sunk in the abyss of misery and captivity; whether the true reli- zion swayed the Prince and the people, or both of them bowed before the shrine of Idol atry, the same dignity and gravity, the same simplicity and purity. mark the style; the same n,.ipinalitv and grandpur of thoupht the