The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-16

time, he would be a welcome member to
any liberal Christian church. When
Mrs. John Adams died in Novem-
Der, 1918, President Jefferson wrote
to her husband in these words: II
will not by useless condolences open
afresh the sluices of your grief, nor
! will say a word more where words are
| vain, but that it is some comfort to US both
that the time is not very distant at which
| we are to deposit in the same cerement our
sorrows and suffering bodies and TO ascend
in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the
friends we have loved and lost and whom
| we shall still love and never lose again.
| God bless you and support you under your
| heavy affection" Imagine the hide-bound
! bigotry of an age in which such a man
could be widely denounced as an infidel
Thomas jefferson records In his diary
that 1t was his nightly habit to read over a
collection Of passages which he had himself
| compiled from the four gospels, composed
! entirely of words that came directly from
the lips OF Christ. He wrote to friend as
| to this compilation which he had made from
! the New Testament, "A more beautiful or
perfect system Of ethics l have never seen;
| it is document in proof that | am a real
| Christian; that it is to say. disciple of the
| doctrines of Jesus"
This little volume which Mr.. Jefferson
| prepared with 80 much care and pride was
a complete digest of the teachings of Christ,
! II
| of Nazareth"
| He also compiled another little volume,
| which he had bound in morocco, in hand
| some octave form, and on the back of
| which he inscribed, Morals Of Jesus"
| These compilations, representing his inner
religious faith, to which his outer practice
very closely conformed, were made so
secretly that no one OF the members of his
family knew they we're in existence until
| after his death. But this was characteristic
OF the man. He was not willing to openly
avow any religious faith, and would not
consent that any form OF religion should be
| taught in the University of Virginia as a
part OF its course Of instruction. He taught
his children and grandchildren the lofties5
morals and held up to them the su6limest
ideals or life, but he would not
| give them any opinion as to the truth or
error of any particular creed. Yet he Yves
regular in his attendance at the Episcopal
| church, taking his prayer book with him.
| He drew the plan of the Episcopal church
at Charlottesville and regularly subscribed
to the support of Its minister. But he also
subscribed largely to the Presbyterian
church in the same village. He never used
profane language himself and would not
permit profanity in his presence. Time and
time again he expressed his contempt for
all moral systems compared TO that OF
Christ.
| EhEEAhED FUR DEATH.
He was almost puritanical in his habits
never used spirits or wines, not even in ill
ness, and neither played cards himself nor
would allow them to be played in his house
| Yet he was mathematical from hundreds)f
pulpits as an irrevereut and impious man
and always declined TO make any answer to
these assaults. He is on record as saying
privately that his enemies had never known
him; that they had created an imaginary
| hainCg WI haH oil
and that it was this creature of their imag
ination whom they had 30 bitterly at
tackled"
When he lay dying the Episcopal minister
| called and Jefferson remarked, II have no
| objection to see him as kind and good
neighbor," implying that be did not wish to
see him as minister. be met his end with
great fortitude and calmness, thus showing
the sincerity Of the words he had used i'll
writing to Mr.. Adams many years before:
| There is a ripeness of time for death re-
| garding others as well as ourselves, when it
| is reasonable we should drop Off and make
| room for another growth. When we have
| lived our generation out we should not wish
| to encroach upon another. | enjoy good
health, l am happy in what is around me-
! yet l assure you am ready to leave all this
day, this year. this hour"
He wrote again to Mr.. Adams IN Janu-
airy. 1917, and used this language: 'Per-
/
ure felicity is to be in constant aud unim-
FASHIONED view of what is passing here. I"
| In the same letter he speaks of having an
| swered one who questioned his religious
faith in these words: Say nothing of my
religion; it is known to my God and myself
| alone" Putting all the evidence together,
| Thomas Jefferson may fairly be classified
\ as having been practically, though not
! professedly, Unitarian.
| OF Presidents Madison aud Monroe it is
enough to say that they were members of
the Episcopal church IN good standing and
that their lives were consistent with their
| professions.
A MAN OF PIETY.
! President John Quincy Adams, 1.-THE Old
Man Eloquent" was,of the same religious
| type as his father, John Adams. When
| the first church of Quincy held its Booth
anniversary i'll 1882 John Quincy Adams
| wrote special hymn for the occasion, and
we get some idea both of hts quality as a
| poet and his faith as a Christian from its
| lines:
Alas, how swift the moments fly,
How flash the years along!
| Scarce here yet gone already by
| The burden Of song.
| See childhood, youth and manhood pass,
And age with furrowed brow;
| Time was, time shall be-turn the glass
| But where in time is row?
Time is the measure but of change,
| No present hour is found
The past, the future I'LL the range
| OF times unceasing round.
| Where then, is now? In realms above
| b. With Gods atoning Lamb,
In regions of eternal love,
| Where sits enthroned AM
Then, pilgrim, let thy joys and tears
| On time no longer lean,
| But henceforth all thy hopes and fears
| From earths affections wean.
To God let votive accents rise;
With truth, with virtue live,
So all the bliss that time denies
Eternity shall give.
1t is said of President John Quincy
| Adams that when his hair had been whit
ened by the frosts of fourscore winters he
/ was still accustomed to repeat every night
before he slept the prayer which his mother
taught him in infancy, the famous, "Now l
lay me down to sleep" He died, like Eng
lands great Earl OF Chatham, from a
stroke of paralysis while he was speaking
| from his place In the national legislature.
| They carried him to the speakers chamber,
and in a moment of recovered consciousness
he looked calmly around and said: This
is the end of eartb-I am content" and
soon after breathed his last.
CONVERTED IN HIS OLD AGE.
A far different figure in the presidential
panorama is thet Of Andrew jackson. whose
wild boyhold filed bis good Presbyterian
! mother with the darkest fears both for his