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

high place. and every grove should have
swarmed with idols. to corrupt the hearts
and debase the minds Of people SO high.
lv favored eff Heaven-the elect of the
Almighty NAV be among the mysteries o
Divine Providence. which il is not given &c
mortality to explain. but as inadmissible
only to those who presume TO demand VIII,
it has pleased the Supreme Arbitcr o.
events TO create such a being as man
Observe. however. that amid the attrocious
crimes which that nation SO often polluted
themselves witl,--through all their servi-
tudcs. acknowledgements. captivi'ies. and
transmigrations-,he Divine light. which
had been impaired exclusively to them
was never extinguished; the law delivered
from Sinai was preserved in all its purity:
the histories which attestcd its violations
and its accomplishments were recorded
and never lost. The writings of the
prophets, ofDavid and Solomon. were all
inspired with the same idea Of the God
head. the same intertwinement Of religion
and morality, and the same anticipatons
Of the Divine emmanuel. the God with
i. u.s." these survived all the changes of
government and of constitutions which
beiell the people: "thc pillar Of cloud by
day and the pillar Of fire by night. the
law and the prophets. eternal in their ma
ture--went before them unsullied and I'M
impaired through all the ruins ofrebellion
and revolution, of conquest and dsper-
sion, of war, pestilence and famine. The
! Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian en-
pires, Tyre and Sidon. Carthage and all
the other nations ofantiquity rose and fell
( in their religious institutions at the same
time as in their law and government: it
was the practice ofthe Romans when they
besiegcd city to invoke its gods 10 come
over to them; they considered the gods as
Summer friends. ready TO desert their vo-
taries in the hour Of calamity. or as trail
tors, ready I o sell themselves for bribe
they had no higher estimates oftheir own
than of the stranger deitics. whom, as
Gibbon said--'they were always ready TO
admit 10 the freedom ofthe city, All the
gods ofthc heather have persisted with
their makers; for where on the face OF the
globe could now be found the being who
believes in any one of them! SO much
more deep and strong was the hold which
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
to ok upon the imaoinations and reason of
mankind. that might also invert the ques-
ton, and say. Where is the human being
! found believing in any God at all and not
! believing in Him! The moral character
I ofthc Old Testament. then. is, that pietv TO
God is the foundation Of all virtue. and
that virtue is inseparable from it; but that
pietv without the practice of virtue is itself
a crime and the aggravation Of all iniquitv.
| All the virtues which are here recognized
/ bv the heather. are inculOatcd not only
with more authority but with more energy
of argument and more eloquent pcrsua-
sion in the Bible than in all the writings Of
the ancient moraiiSts. In ono of the apoc-
4 rvpl,al books. (Wisdom of Solomon the
/ cardinal virtues are expressly named: elf
i any man love II righteousness, her laborS are
virtue, for she tcache:h temperance and
prudence and justice and forttude;'
! which are such things as men can have
nothing more profitable in this life. The
I book Of Job, whether considered as his
tory or as all allegorical parable. was
written to teach the lessons of patience in
Affections. of resignation under Divine
! chastisemcnt, of undoubted confidence in
| the Justice and goodness Of God under ev
cry temptation or provocation to depart
from it. The morality ofthc apocryphal
books is generally the same as that Of
the inspired writers, except that in some
Of them there is more stress laid upon the
minor objects Of the law, and merely for
NAL ordinances of the police, and less con-
tinual recurrence to 1.-THE weiSiltier mat
ters'' The book of Ecclesiastcus. how
ever, contains more wisdom than all the
sayings of the seven Grecian Sages. 1t
was upon this foundation tina, the more
perfect system of Christian morality was
to be raised. And must defer the con-
sideration TO my next letter. In the mean
time as have urged that the scriptural
idea of God is the foundation of all perfect
virtue and that it is totally different from
the idea Of God conceived by any ancient
nation should recommend it to you in
pursuing the Scriptures hereafter to medi-
tate often upon the expressions by which
they mark the character ofthe Deity. and
to reflect upon the duties to Him and to
your fellow lnortal< which follow by newt
able deductions from them. That you
may have an exact idea of the opinions of
ancient heather philosophers concerning
God, or rather the gods, study Cicero's
dialogues. and read the Able Olivet's re-
marks on the Theology of the Grecian
Philosophers, annexed to his TRANSACTIONS.
From Your affectionate Father,
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.