Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1838-12-06

could scarcely name any list o. hookeS %
Of authors which I could recommend %
equally worthy Of attention TO you all. The
first, and almost the only book deserving
such universal recommendation, Is Ahe Bible
and 10 recommending that, fear that some
of YOU will think am performing SUPER
fluous, and others very unnecessary office
yet such is my deliberate opinion. The
Bible is the Book of all others to be read at
all ages and in all conditions of human life
not 10 be read once or twice or thrice through,
and then to be laid aside but to be read in
small portions Of one or two chapters, every
day, and never to be intermitted unless by
some overruling necessity. ...a
This attentive and repeated reading OF the
Bible, in small portions every day, leads the
mind to habitual meditation upon subjects
of the highest interest to the welfare OF the
invidual in this world, as well as to prepare
him for that hereafter to which we are all
destined. II furnishes rules for our con-
duct towards others in our social rela-
tons. In the commandments delivered from
Sinai, in the inimitable subIimity Of the
Psalms aud Of the Prophets, in the profound
and concentrated observations upon human
life and manners embodied in the Proverbs
of Solomon, in the philosophical allegory so
beautifully SET forth in the narrative of facts,
whether real or imaginary, of the book OF
Job, an active mind cannot peruse single
chapter and lay this book aside to think, and
take it up again tomorrow, without finding
in it advice for our own conduct, which we
may turn to useful account in the progress of
our daily pilgrimage upon Earth-and when
we pass from the Old Testament to the New,
we meet at once q system of universal mo-
rality founded upon one precept OF unIver-
sal application, pointing US to peace and
good will towards the whole race of man for
this life, and to peace with God, and an ever
blessed existence hereafter.
My friends, if all or any of you have spir-
itual pastors to guide you in the paths OF sal.
walton, do not imagine that / am encroach-
ing upon the field of their appropriate SER
vices 81 speak as man of the world, to
men Of the world, and I say to you, Search
the Scriptures! If ever you tire of them in
seeking tor rule of faith and Il standard OF
Morals, search them as records of History.
General and compendious history is one Of
the fountains of human knowledge to which
you should all resort with steady and perse-
vering pursuit. The Bible contains the on
ly authentic introduction TO the history ofthe
world: and in storing your minds with the
facts Of this history, you will Immediately
perceive the need of assistance from Geo.
graphy and Chronology. These assistances
you may find in many Of the Bibles publish
cd with commentaries, and you can have no
difficulty in procuring them. Acquaint your
selves with the Chronology and Geography of
of the Bible-that will lead you to general
knowledge of Chronology and of Geography,
ancient and modern,and these will open to you
an inexhaustible fountain Of knowledge, re-
specting the globe which you inhabit, and re-
speeding the race of man, its inhabitant, to
which you yourselves belong.
You may pursue these inquiries just so far
as your time and inclination will permit
Give one hour of mental application Qor
you must not read without thinking, or you
will read to little purpose)-giye an hour Of
joint reading and thought to chronology, and
one to the geography OF the Bible. and 1t 1t
introduces you to too hard study, stop there
Even for those two hours, you will ever after
read the Bible, and any other history, with
more fruit-more ntellgence-rncre salts
faction. But, if those two hours excite your
curiosity, and tempt you to devote part ofah
hour every day for year or years, to study
thoroughly the chronology and geography Of
the Bible, it will not only lead you far deep
er than you will otherwise ever penetrate in
to the knowledge of the hook, but it will
spread foods of light upon every step you
shall afterwards take in acquiring the knowl.
edge Of profane history, and upon the local
habitation of every tribe Of man, and upon
the name of every nation into which the chill
dren Of Adam have been divided.
There are many other subsidiary studies
to which you may devote more or less of
Bible reading more Ineligible to yourselves.
1t is book which neither the most ignorant
and weakest, nor the most learned and intel
ligent mind can read without improvement.
There are other books of great worth and
of easy acquisition, which suppose will be
accessible to you all. The libraries of USE
full and of entertaining knowledge--the FAM
lily Library. the Monthly and Quarterly Re-
views and Magazines, which are in n contin-
ual succession of publication in this country
as well as in England. will furnish you a
constant supply Of profitable reading; for the
selection of which, time, inclination and OPP
portunity will be your wisest councillors
AS citizens Of a free country, taking an inter-
est in its public concerns, am sure need
not remind you how strong your impulse
should be TO seek an intimate knowledge of
the history Of America from the voyage of
Columbus, and even Of his supposed prede-
cessors, Prince Madloc of Wale4Dand the
North men, down to the Olympiads of An
drew jackson and Martin Van Buren.-The
American Hemisphere-The Continent of
North America-the United States of Amer
ica before and since the acquisition Of Lou.
isiana, and every separate State of this I'm.
ion, is series of historical problems of which
you should systematically seek the solution.
Read the Constitution of the United States
the Commentary Of the Federalist-the Con-
stitution and history Of your own State-bi-
ographies, beginning with Langhorne's, Plu-
tarch's, and thence proceeding TO the history
Of John Smith to the American Biogra-
phies of Belknap and Sparks: to Washing
ton Irving's Life Of Columbus and to the
Articles Of Penn, and Calvert and Locke,
and Oglethorpe, which will lead you on to
others in the Encyclopedia Americana or
Conversations Lexicon. Then the fashiona-
be Novels and Poetry of the present times