Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-06-29
JEFFERSON AND WEBSTER.
Their Views ON the sabbath. the Bible aud
Suntiay.Schools.


into discredit the Bible, the Sabbath, and
the institutions of religion generally. Pre-
Vious TO the anniversary of the American
Sunday-school Union, some one took the
trouble to scatter over the seats ofTremont
Temple a tract designed to show. that Mr.
Jefferson had no very good opinion of the
Bible or the institutions of religion found
ed on its teachings. The attention of the
chairman of the meeting Hon. f.. :.
Tobey, having been called TO this, he
thought 1t peculiarly appropriate to read a
letter I'M his possession from Daniel Web
ster, written thirty-eight years ago to
Professor Pease, of New York, i'm response
to his report of tie New York Sabbath
school Association, which the Professor
had sent to Manchester. In this Mr.
Webster describes an interview which he
had with Thomas Jefferson many years
previous while spending the Sabbath at
his residence in Virginia. and repeats Mr..
Jefferson's utterances respecting the Sab
bath, the Bible, and the Sabbath-school
institutions, which very clearly show that
whatever speculative opinions he may
have expressed at any time he was very far
from being the scotier which some would
have us believe. And this conversation,
and the entire tone of Mr.. Webster's let
ter, prove conclusively the deep respect
and reverence for religious things which
We're ever cherished by this most eminent
of American lawyers and statesmen:
LETTER FROM MIR. WEBSTER. .
MARsHFIELD, June 10, 1872.
PROFESSOR PEASE- Dear Sir: | have re-
ceived your very able and interesting an
nual report of the condition of the New
| York Sabbath-sclfool Association, and read
| il with great pleasure and instruction. II
is gratifying, very gratifying, to learn that
| in "a city where vice and immortality run
riot with impunity," few humble Chris
tians 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 school of religious instruction, it is of
inestimable value; as a civil institution, it
| is priceless, and has done more to preserve
| our liberties than grave statesmen and arm
! ed soldiers. Let it then be fostered and
preserved until the end of time!
| | once defended man charged with the
awful crime of murder. At the conclusion
| of the trial / asked him what could induce
| him to stain his hands with the blood of
fellow being. Turning his bloodshot eyes
full upon me, he replied, in Il voice of de-
spair, Z" Mr.. Webster, in my youth | spent
the holy Sabbath in evil amusements, in
stead of frequenting the house of prayer
and praisen Could we 90 back TO the ear
ly years of all hardened criminals | be-
lieve, yes, firmly believe, that their first
departure from the path of morality was
when they abandoned the Sabbath-school,
and their subsequent crimes might thus be
traced back to the neglect of youthful re-
ligious instruction.
| Some years ago j spent Sabbath with
Thomas Jefferson at his residence in Vir-
ginia. 1t was in the month of June, and
the weather was delightful. While en-
gagged in discussing the beauties of the BIZ
Bile, the sound of bell broke upon our
ears, when, turning to the Sage of Month
cello, | remarked, "How sweetly, how
very sweetly, sounds that Sabbath bell.n
The distinguished statesman for moment
seemed lost in thought, and then replied:
Yes, my dear Webster, yes, ii melts the
heart il calms our passions, and makes us
boys again. Here i observed that man
was only an animal formed for religious
worship, and that notwithstanding all the
| sophistry of Epicurus, Lucretius and Vol
| taire, the Scriptures stood upon n rock as
| firm, as unmovable as truth itself; that
man in his purer, loftier breathings turned
| the mental eye toward immortality, and
that the poet only echoed the general sem
timent of oIfr nature in saying that 1.-The
| soul, secure in her existence, smiles at the
drawn dagger, and deties its point
Mr. Jefferson fully concurred in this
opinion, and observed that the tendency of
| the American mind was in n different di-
| rection and that Sunday-schools (he did
not use our more correct term, Sabbath)
presented the only legitimate means, un-
der the Constitution, of avoiding the rock
on which the French Republic was wreck
ed. 4" Burke,n said he, +" never uttered a
more important truth than when no eX-
claimed that a religious education was
hn sh nj nnflnn.
% Baikes," observed Mr.. Jefferson,
has done more for iour country than the
present generation will acknowledge per-
haps, when am cold, he will obtain his
reward; hope so, earnestly hope go;
am considered 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 perusal of the sacred volume Will
make better citizens, better fathers, and
better husbands. OF the distinguished
Raikes he was clarunl ct ueRera6ile
nonen.'n | 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 willows
of Babylon ~ had charms for me beyond
any thing in the numbers of the blind man
of SMYRNA. / then turned to jeremiah
there was a fine folio of the Scriptures
before me of l458, and read aloud some of
those sublime passages that used to delight
me on my fathers knee. But / fear, my
dear friend, that / shall tire you with my
| g AalN