Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-11-05

su | and one which deserves the attenti tt l.1 of taste as well as Christians In s with these views, he maintains tha , Uer haUe Furnished Me MATERIA no6kcSt and best HtcrQture Of n
 nationS-and that 'fhe more Ae gree
 7vriterv have rejected the conStitneni of Classic .4ntiquity, Me better 4 .. Succeeded.
 Do we forget, he asks, 'that
 laid aside forever the religion, st
 lty, and forms of government, .e ..lH-te.. social and domestic economy; th .-gi.ia i1n and commerce.; the military ana g-f- fare; the scheme of morals and n -4Me forms of public and private life; t, .i i1- tercourse and domestic habits; al u. nenly the female character o tt .' Hence, the classics can no ionger r-e
 ed as q storehouSe of MATERIAL fh-rI- tnre. But the predominant feat lD. | Bible IS THOUGHT, UniUer9 tm is .r. 1 limheriShaGle in itS character, en6 f.t H- varieties, and un6oNndei in HS reit
 Bible then IS Me only storeh0use of .....
 literature, ofa literature fitted to e s'y nig and every age, to every state of SC 1od form of government.
 We are too apt to believe, and i 6uc lI the calamities of modern lteraturet t.s. mo thing can rival classic excellence, that r.-A.ns Can be regarded as finished, exceI con form to some classic model. But Ic b. ap- ties of the Scriptures are essentially chrs'-- teristicaly, the beauties of thougl whil those of the classic writers are chic ,. found in the structure of their coml .us. and in their style. In the workmanship oI their mat terals, they have displayed the con- Summate skill and delicate taste of accomplish ed artists; but the materials themselves, were Unworthy of the genius conferred on them by the Creator of all genius. The authors of Greece and Rome were indeed the morning star of modern literature, but the Bible only can be it's never setting sun. To build our literature and found our schemes of literary education, primarily on the scriptures, seem then to be the dictates of sound judgment and pure taste. It conforms to that wise maxim, equally just in theory and safe in practice that genius 7viH ai7vays hroduce more admi- rabie 7vorkS, He richer and more variouS, the no6ier and more beautifuithe materials. | "A remarkable illustration of the supreme excellence of the scriptures is found in the fact that they are the only books whose beau ties cannot be destroyed by the worst trans lation And such is the truth only because they are cmphatlcally THE BEAUTIES OF THOUGHT. How common is the boast, for it never has and never will be the lamentation of the classic devotee, that no translator can rival the beauties of the classics. And this, so far as the remark is just, arises from the fact, that these beauties consist, to a ~ast eX- tent, of the 'curiosa fcictas' of expression, of the beauties of style
 But these views by no means lead the ora tor to banish the classics from our course of studies. On this point he expresses his feel ngs in a manner which, Ike other portions of h ,lJ bov tl,p hsct hat it was not the ignorance of an uneducated f man, nor the prejudice of narrow religionist, which has led to the opinions he expresses; but that they are the deliberate conclusions ot an accomplished scholar and an enlightened Christian.
 'We aren not enemies to the cultivation of classical learning, at a suitable age, in an ap- propriate place, and by those, who will re- ceive profit, without injury. Like Petrarch's father, we would not in our wrath, hurl the classics of our sons into the fire. But we dc protest, and if fifty years more of life were to be our lot, we should protest to the last mo- ment of that half century, against the scheme which constitutes the classics-the MON ARCHS, not the SUBJECTS of the BIBLE, in the instruction of Christian youth.
 'Ue are not the enemies ofholHe Hterature, the most refned, the most learned. We ad-
 
 We believe that we set high estimate on the compre hensiveness of it's views, and the va rety of it's knowledge, on the embellishments of it's taste, and the richness of it's stores.- We look with chastened pleasure on the beautiful in the countenance, on the graceful in the form of woman. We look with sen timent of just exaltation upon man, in the ex- pressiveness of his features and majesty of his department We look with admiration on the fair, the rich, the magnificent in archi- lecture; on the mastersketch, the colorlng, the light and shade of the painter; on the transforming power and decorative taste oi the sculpture. We gaze with a Chid's re- oicing, on the bud and the blossom, on the flower and the leaf; on the gaudy butterfly, the glmmering scales of the fish, and the dazzling plumage of the bird. We gaze with poets feeling, if not with poets eye, on the cheerful landscape of morning, and the pensive scenery of evening; on the beauty and serenity of the lake, the meadow and the woodland. We gaze with a religious awe upon the deep silence of the heavens, and the calm majesty of the ocean, on the gloom oi the forest and the fury of the storm, on the savage rush of the cataract, and the solemn grandeur of the mountain And what are these! What indeed are the loveliness of wo- man and the dignity of man, the marvellous in sculpture, the fair in painting, and the au- gust in the architecture, the sublime and the beautiful in nature, but the literature of the visible world? And if it be duty and plea sure to cultivate this, we at least, esteem it a nobler duty, and higher pleasure, to culti- vate that elegant literature, which springs fresh and living from the heart, the soul, the mind of man. It is our admiration of this literature, it is our grief at the dishonor cast lupon it. it is our anxiety for it's progress and Improvement, it is our inhexible faith in its