Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-05-03

on THE BIBLE AND ITS TEACHIyCs.
r~nmupicated 10 the New York Tribune.
LETTER vi.
Sr. PETERSBURG, Sept. i

on THE BIBLE ITS TEACuIycs.
= ,nnaupjcafed 10 the New Y ork Tribune.
LETTER vi.
Sr. PErERsBUaG, Sept. 1871.
rromised you in my last letter, to state
a. PARTICULARS in which deemed the
christian dispensation TO be an improve
800 or perfection Of the law delivered at
sinai. considered as including system
- morality; but before I come TO this
mint, il is proper TO remark upon the char
scter ,f the books Of the Old Testament,
.nhseouent to those of Moses. Some are
h;ssorcal, some prophetical, and some
ooetical; and two may be considered as
Secu]iarly Of the moral class-onc be .ne
m affecting dissertation upon the vanity
of human life, and another collection of
moral sentences under the name of Pro-
verbs. have already observed that the
great immoyeablc and eternal foundation
of the superiority Of Scripture morals TO
III other morality, was the idea Of God
disclosed in them and only in them; the
unity Of God. His omnipotcncc. His right
eousncss, His mercy. and the inlinity Of
biz attributes, are marked in every line Of
the Old Testament in characters which
nothing less than blindness can fail to dis
cem, and nothing less than fraud can
misreprcsent. This conception Of God
serving as basis for the picty Of His wor-
shippers, was of course incomparably
more rational and more profound than it
was possible that sentiment could be which
adorcd Devils for dcitics, or even that OF
philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Cice-
70, who, with purcr and more exalted
IDEAS Of the Divine nature than the rabblc
Of the Poets, still considered the existence
Of any God at all as question upon
which they could form no decided opinion.
You have seen that even Cicero believed
the only solid foundation Of all human vir-
tue to be piety; and il was impossible that
apiety so far transcending that of all 9th
er nations should not contain in its conse-
ouences a system of moral virtue equally
,ranscendeut The first Of the ten com
mandment, was. that the Jewish people
should never admit the idea of any other
Cod-ihc object Of the second. third and
fourth was merely to impress with greater
force the obligation Of the FIRST, and 10 OBJ
viatc the tendencies and temptations
which might arise to is being neg lccted. or
disrcgarded Throughout the whole law
the same I'M functions are continually re-
newed; all the rites and ceremonies were
adopted to root deeper into the hearts
and souls Of the chosen people that the
Lord Jehovah was TO be forever the sole
and exclusive object of love. Reverence
and alteration. unbounded as His own ma
ture was the principle; every letter Of the
Law. and the whole Bible is but COM
mentary upon il, and corolary from it.
Of a commandment from God, but in that
of covenant or compact between the
Supreme Creator and the Jewish peoples it
was sanctioned by the blessing and the
curse pronounced upon Mount Gerzim
and Mount Ebal. in the presence of the
whole Jewish people and strangers. and
by the solemn acceptance of the whole
people responding Amen TO every one of
the curses denounced for violation on their
part of the Covenant From that day un-
Ill the birth of Christ. Ga period of about
1900 years) the historical books of the
Old Testament are no more :han a simple
record of the tulfillmcnt or transgresson
Of its duties by the people. The nation
was first governed by Joshua, under the
express appointment of God; then by a
succession of Judges, and aiterward by a
double line Of kings. until conquered and
carried into captivity by the kings OF AS
syria and Babylon; seventy years after
ward restored to their country, their tenn
pie and their laws; and again conquered
by the Romans, and ruled by their tribu-
tary kings and proconsuls. iet.through all
their vicissitudcs Of fortune. they never
complied with the duties to which they had
bound themselves by the covenant without
being loaded with the blessing promised
on Mount Gerizim. and never departed
from them without being afflicted with
some Of the curses denounced upon Mt.
Ebal. The prophetical books are them
selves historical-for prophecy. in the
strcteSt sense. is no more than history re-
lated before the event; but the Jewish
Prophets, (of whom there was success
sion almost constant from the time of Josh
uato that Of Christ.) were messengers.
specially commissioned Of God, to warn
the people of their duty TO foretel' the pun
ishments which awaited their transgres-
sion. and finally to keep alive by uninter-
mitted prediction the expectation of the
Messiah. 1.-the seed of Abraham, in whom
all the families of the earth should be
blessed" With this conception of the
Divine nature. SO infinitely surprising
that Of any other nation-with this system
Of moral virtue, so indissolubly blending
Us by the eternal constitution Of things
must be blended piety-with this uninter-
ruupsed series Of signs and wonders. pro-
Phets and seers. miraculous interpretations
OF the Omnipotent Creator to preserve and
indicate the truth; it is lamentable, but to
those who know the nature of man, it is
not surprising to find the Jewish history
Attie else than a narrative of idolatres
ana corruption Of the Israelitcs and their
monarchs; that the very people who had
heard the voice Of God from Mount Sinai
within forty days compel Aaron to make
golden calf and worship that as the .God
Who brought them out the land of Egypt
mat the very Solomon. the wisest Of man
Kind. to whom God had twice revealed
kmselfin visions-the sublime dictator of
NE Temple. the witness. in the presence
otshc whole people, Of the fire from Hea-