Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1858-07-16
D MEL Webster's Letter on Sunday
Schools.
MARsurIELD, June Is, 1852.

nual report OF the conGition OF tue new
York Sabbath School Association, and
read it with great pleasure and instruction.
1t is gratifying, very gratifying to learn,
that, in "a city where vice and immortality |
run riot with impunity," few humble
Christians have devoted their time and
energies to the cause Of religion, and
fervently pray that your labors may be .
crowned with success.
The Sabbath school is one of the great
institutions of the day. 1t leads our youth
in the path of truth and morality, and
makes them good men and useful citizens.
As u school OF religious instruction, it is
of incstimable value as civil institution,
it is priceless, and has done more to pre-
serve our liberties than grave statesman
and armed soldiers. Let it, then, be fos
tered and preserved until the end of time.
| once defended a man charged with the
awful crime Of murder. At the conclu-
sion Of the trial, asked him what could
induce him to stain his hands with the
blood of fellow w-being. Turning his
blood-shot eyes full upon me, he replied,
in voice OF despair, "Mr. Webster, in my
youth spent the holy Sabbath in evil
au..Semeuts, Instead of frcIucutiug the
house Oh prayer aud praise" Could we
60 back to the early years Of all hardened
criminals, believe, yes l firmly believe,
that their FIRST departure from the path of
morality was when thny abandoned the
Sabbath school, and their subsequent
crimes might thus be traced back tu the
neglect Of youthful religious instruction.
| Many years ago, spent Sabbath with
Thomas jefferson, at his residence in Vir-
ginia. 1t was in the month of June, and
the weather was delightful. While enga-
ged in discussing the beauties of the Bible,
the sound Of u bell broke upon our ears,
when, turning to the sage of Monticello, l
remarked "lIow sweetly, how very
swectly sounds that Sabbath bell ~ The
/ distinguished statesman for q moment
seemed lost in thought, and then replied {:
"Yes, my dear Webster, yes it melts the
heart, it calms our passions, and makes US
boys again" Here | observed that man
was formed for religious worship, and that
notwithstanding all the sophistry of Epi-
Gurus, Lucretius, and Voltaire, the Scrip
lures stood upon rock as firm as unnove-
able as truth itself; that man, in his purer,
loftier breathings, turned the mental eyes
toward Immortality, and that the poet only
echoed the general sentiment of our nature
in saying, that
The soul, secure in her existence,
Smiles at the drawn dagger, and dcfies its
point
Mr. jefferson fully concurred in this
opinion, and observed that the tendency
of the American mind was in different
direction and that Sunday schools-(he
did not use our more correct term, Sab.
bath )-presented the only legitimate
means: under the constitution, of avoiding
the rock on which the French republic was
wrecked. "Burke,' said he, "ncver ut.
tered more important truth than when
he exclaimed that "a religious education
was the cheap defence of nations"
"Raikes," said Mr.. Jefferson, "has done
more for our nation than the present gen.
Grafton will acknowledge; perhaps, wher
am cold, he will obtain his reward; |
hope so, earnestly hope SO. am consid.
cred by many, Mr.. Webster, to have little
religion, but now is not the time to correct
errors of this sort. have always said,
and always will say, that the studious per-
usal of the Sacred Volume will make bet.
ter citizens, better fathers, and better hus-
bands. Of the distinguished Raikes, he
was 'clarem ct venerable nomn." | took
the liberty of saying that found more
pleasure in Hebrew poetry than in the
best productions Of Greece and Rome; that
"the harp upon the billows by Babylon"
had charms for me beyond anything in the
numbers of the blind man of Smyrna. l
then turned to jeremiah, (there was fine
folio Of the Scriptures before me, )and read
aloud some of those sublime passages that
used to delight me on my fathers knee.
But | fear, my dear friend, | shall tire
you with my prolix account of what was a
pleasant Sabbath spent in the company o.
one who has filled a very large space in our
political and literary aunals.
Thanking you for your report, ,and hear
tily concurring with you in the truth of
your quotation, that "Righteousness exal- |
teth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people, | remain, with high regard your
friend, D. WEBSTER.
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ss~"lou have lost your baby, l hear"
said one gentleman to another.