Evansville weekly journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 184?-18??, 1848-03-23
from the New York Tribune
LETTERS FROM HON. JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS TO HIS SON ON THE BIBLE
AND lis TEACHINGS.
LETTER NO. IL.

LETTER NO. II.
| The first point Of view in which have invi-
! ted YOU to consider the Bible is in the light of
| Diuine Recitation. And wha' are we to I'M
derstand by these terms? | intend, as much as
possible, to avoid the field of controversy,
which | am not well acquainted with, and for
which | have little respect and still less incE-
nation. My idea Of the Bible as a Divine Req
clation is founded upon its practical use to man
kind, and not upon metaphysical subtleties.
| There are three points of doctrine; The belief
of which forms the foundation of all morality.
| The first is, the existence of a God; the second
/ is, the immortality of the human soul; and the
third is, future state of rewards and punish
ments. Suppose it possible for man to dis
believe either Of these articles of faith and that
man will have no conscience, he will have no
other law than that of the tiger, or the shark,
| the laws of man may bind him IN chains, or
may put him to death, but they never can make
him wise. vrtuous, or happy 1t is possible
TO believe them all without believing that the
Bible is divine revelation. 1t is so obvious
to every reasonable being that he did not make
himself and the world which he inhabits could
as little make ITSELF that the moment we be-
gin to exercise the power of reflection, it seems
! impossible to escape the conviction that there
| is Creator. 1t is equally evident that the
/ Creator must be a spiritual and not material
being; there is also a consciousness that the
thinking part of our nature is not material but
| spiritual-that il is not subject to the laws of
matter, ror perishable with it. Hence arises
the belief that we have an immortal soul, and
pursuing the train of thought which the visi-
BILE creation and observation upon ourselves
suggest, we must soon discover that the Crea-
tor must also be the governor of the universe;
that His wisdom. and His goodness, must be
without bounds-that He is a righteous God
and loves righteousness-tha mankind are
bound by the laws of righteousness, and are
} accountable to Him for their obedience to them
in this life, according to their good or evil
5 deeds. This completion of Divine justice
: must be reserved for another life. The exist
D ence of Creator, the immortality OF the human
I soul and future state ofretribution ARE there
! fore so perfectly congenial to natural reason
Y when once discovered or rather it is impoSsi
= Bile for natural reason TO disbeieve them-tha
$ it would seem the light of natural reason
il could alone suffice for their discovery, but tn
: conclusion would not be correct. Human rea
II son NAV be- sufficient to get an obscure gImps
n of these sacred and important truths, but
ie cannot discover them in all their clearness
/ For example-in all their numberless, falls
= religions, which have swayed the minds c
h men in different ages and regions of tn
Id world the idea of God has always bee
lie included:
lie Father of ALL in every age,
ID In every cline adored-
tx BY saint by savage and by sage
!, Jehovah, Joye, or Lord"
so So says Pope's Universal Prayer, But ii is tt
I'd God of the Hebrews alone who is announce
to us as the Creator of the world. The idei
re of God entertained by all the most illustriol
IN and most ingenious nations of antiquity wei
III weak and absurd. The Persians worshippe
+ the sun; the Egyptians believed in an INIT
ch merable multitude of gods, and worshippe
u not only oxen, crocodiles, dogs and cats, bt
n even garlics and onions. The Greeks invente
10 a poetical religion. and adored men and won
r. EN-, virtues and vices; air, water and fire, an
s. everything that a vivid Imagination could pc
,u sonify Almost all the Greek philosophe
If. reasoned and meditated upon the nature of Il
gods; but scarcely any of them reflected enoug
rs: even to imagine there was but one God, ar
r not one them ey.r conceived of Him as II
mr. Creator of the world. Cicero has collect Il
K gether all their opinions upon the nature
nj the GODS and pronounced them more like II
ee dreams of madInen than the sober judgment
M wise men, In the first book of 0vid's Met;
Il morph0ses there is an account of the chang
f. of chaos in the world. Before the sea and Il
mr. sky that surrounds all things, lsays Ovid
n there was thing called chaos. and some of II
v gods The does not know which,) separate
= from each other the elements of this chao
6 and turned them into the world; thus far an
IN no farther coul human reason extend. Buthf
nj first word of the Bible are: linz the beginnin
God created The heavens and the EARTH" II
N blessed and sublime idea of God, as the Cree
!; : for of the universe; the source of all huma
:. happiness, for which all the sages and philost
N piers of Greece and Rome CROPPED in darkne'
,e and never found, is recalled in the first yer;
E. of the book of Genesis. / cali it the source
N all human virtue and happiness, because whe
1s we have attained the conception of a BeinI
"a who, BY the mere act of His will, created Ii