Latest / Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings / 10 - Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings by John Quincy Adams

Transcript

10 - Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings by John Quincy Adams · Letters of John Quincy Adams to His Son, on the Bible and Its Teachings

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Section nine of Letters of John Quincy Adams to his
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: son on the Bible in its teachings. This LibriVox recording
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain, read by Dale Berkley Letter nine.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: The fourth and last point of view in which I
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: proposed to offer you some general observations upon the scriptures
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: was with reference to literature, and the first remark that
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: presents itself is that the five Books of Moses are
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the most ancient monuments of written language now extant in
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the world. The Book of Job is nearly of the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: same date, and by many of the Jewish and Christian commentators,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: is thought to have been written by Moses. The employment
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of alphabetical characters to represent all the articulations of the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: human voice is the greatest invention that ever was compassed
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: by human genius. Plato says that it was the discovery
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: of either a god or a man divinely inspired. The
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Egyptians ascribed it to thought, whom the Greeks afterward worshiped
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: under the name of Hermes. This is, however, a fabulous origin.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: That it was an Egyptian invention, there is little doubt,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: and it was a part of that learning of the Egyptians.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: In all of which we are told Moses was versed.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: It is probable that when Moses wrote this act was
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: if not absolutely recent, of no very remote invention. There
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: was but one copy of the Law written in a book.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: It was deposited in the Ark of the Covenant, and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: was read aloud once in seven years to all the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: people at their general assembly, in the feast of Tabernacles.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: There was one other copy of the Law written upon
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: stone erected on Mount Ebel. It does not appear that
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: there existed any other copies. In process of time, the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: usage of reading it thus must have been dropped, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the monument upon Mount Ebel must have perished. For in
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the reign of Josiah, about eight hundred years afterward, the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Book of the Law was found in the temple. How
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: long it had been lost is not expressly told, but
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: from the estonaunishment and consternation of Josiah upon hearing the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: book read, its contents must have been long forgotten, so
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: that scarcely a tradition of them remained. We are indeed
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: told that when the Ark of the Covenant was deposited
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: in the Temple of Solomon, there is nothing in the
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Ark save the two tables, which Moses put therein at Horeb.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: The two tables contained not the whole law, but the
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: ten Commandments. The Book of the Law was therefore no
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: longer in the Ark at the dedication of Solomon's temple,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that is, about five hundred years after the law was given,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: and three hundred before the book was found by Hezekiah,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the High Priest in the eighteenth year of Josiah. From
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: these circumstances, as well as from the expedients used by
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Moses and Joshua for preserving the ceremonial Law and the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: repeated covenant between God and the people, it is observed
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: that the art and practice of writing was extremely rare,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and that very few of the people were even taught
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to read. That there were few books extant, and of
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: those few only single copies. The art of writing, speaking,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and thinking, with their several modifications of grammar, rhetoric, and logic,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: were never cultivated among the Hebrews, as they were though
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: not till a thousand years later than Moses among the Greeks.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Philosophical research and the spirit of analysis appear to have
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: belonged among the ancient nations exclusively to the Greeks. They
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: studied language as a science, and from the discoveries they
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: made in this pursuit resulted a system of literary compositions
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: founded upon logical deductions. The language of the ancient writers
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was not constructed upon the foundation of abstruse science. It
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: partakes of the nature of all primitive languages, which is
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: almost entirely figurative, and in some degree of the character
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: of primitive writing and hieroglyphics. Where not told from what
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: materials Moses compiled the Book of Genesis, which contains the
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: history of the creation and of three hundred years succeeding it,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: in which terminates three generations prior to the birth of
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Moses himself. Whether he had it altogether from tradition, or
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: whether he collected it from the more ancient written or
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: printed memorials, The account of the creation, of the fall
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of man, and all the antediluvian part of the history
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: carries strong internal evidences of having been copied, or, if
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I may express myself, translated from hieroglyphic or symbolic record.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: The story is of the most perfect simplicity. The discourses
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: of the persons introduced are given as if taken down
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: verbatim from their mouths, and the narrative is scarcely anything
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: more than the connecting link of the discourses. The genealogies
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: are given with great precision, and this is one of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the most remarkable peculiarities of the Old Testament. The rest
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: is all figurative. The rib, the garden, the tree of life,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: and of the knowledge of good and evil. The apple,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: the serpent are all images which seem to indicate a
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: hieroglyphic origin. All the historical books of bull the Old
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: New Testaments retain the peculiar characteristics that I have noticed,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the simplicity and brevity of the narrative, the practice of
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: repeating all discourses in the identical words spoken, and the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: constant use of figurative, symbolical and allegorical language. But of
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: the rules of composition prescribed by the Grecian schools, the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: unities of Aristotle, or the congruities of figures taught by
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the Greek philologists, not a feature is to be seen.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: The psalms or a collection of songs. The Song of
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Solomon is a pastoral poem. The proverbs are a collection
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: of moral sentences and maxims, apparently addressed by Solomon to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: his son with the addition of others of the same description.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: The prophetical books are partly historical and partly poetical. They
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: contain the narrative of visions and revelations of the Deity
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: to the prophets who recorded them. In the New Testament,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are historical.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: They contain memoirs of the life of Christ in some
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: of his disciples, and the proceedings of some of his
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: principal apostles for some years after his disease. The simplicity
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of the narrative is the same as that of the
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: Old Testament. The style in general indicates an age when
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: reading and writing had become more common in books more multiplied.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: The epistles of Paul are the productions of a mind
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: educated in the learning of the age and well versed
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: in the Grecian literature. From his history, it appears that
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: he was not only capable of maintaining an argument with
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: the doctors of the Jewish law, but of discussing principles
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. His speech of Athens
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: is a specimen of eloquence worthy of an audience in
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the native country. Of Demosthenes. The Apocalypse of John resembles
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: in many respects some of the prophetical books of the
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Old Testament. The figurative, symbolical, and allegorical language of these
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: books shows a range of imagination suitable only to be
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the record of dreams and visions, their languages, in many
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: parts inexplicably obscure. It has been, and it is to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: this day, among the follies and vices of many sects
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: of Christians, to attempt explanations of them adapted to sectarian
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: purposes and opinions. The style of none of the books
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: of either the Old or New Testament affords a general
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: model for imitation to a writer of the present age.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: The principles and rules for composition derived from Greek and
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Roman schools, and the example of their principal writers, have
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: been so generally adopted in modern literature that the scriptures
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: differing so essentially from them could not be imitated without
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: great affectation. But for pathos of narrative, for the selections
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: of incidents that go directly to the heart, for the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: picturesque of character and manner, the selection of circumstances that
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: mark the individuality of persons, for copiousness, grandeur, and sublimity
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: of imagery, for unanswerable cogency and closeness of reasoning, and
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: for irresistible force of persuasion. No book in the world
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: deserves to be so unceasingly studied and so profoundly meditated
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: upon as the Bible. I shall conclude here the series
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: of letters which I proposed about two years ago to
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: write you for the purpose of exhorting you to search
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the scriptures, and of pointing out to your consideration the
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: general points of application, with a view to which I
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: thought this study might be made profitable to the improvement
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: and usefulness of your future life. There are other and
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: particular points to which I may hereafter occasionally invite your attention.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I am sensible how feeble and superficial what I have
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: written has been, and every letter has convinced me more
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: and more of my own incompetency to the adequate performance
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: of the task I had assumed. But my great object
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: was to show you the importance of devoting your own
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: faculties to this pursuit. To read the Bible is of
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: itself a laudable occupation, and can scarcely fail of being
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: a useful employment. Of time. But the habit of refe
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: reflecting upon what you have read is equally essential as
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: that of reading itself, to give it all the efficacy
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: of which it is susceptible, I therefore recommend to you
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to set apart a small portion of every day to
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: read one or more chapters of the Bible, and always
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: read it with reference to some particular train of observation
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: or reflection. In these letters I have suggested to you
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: four general ones, considering the scriptures as divine revelations, as
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: historical records, as a system of morals, and as literary compositions.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: There are many other points of view in which they
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: may be subjects of useful investigation. As an expedient for
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: fixing your attention, make it also a practice for some
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: time to minute down in writing your reflections upon what
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: you read from day to day. You may perhaps at
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: first find this irksome and your reflections scanty and unimportant,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: but they will soon become both easy and copious. Be careful,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: of all not to let your reading make you a
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: pedant or a bit. Let it never puff you up
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: with pride or a conceited opinion of your own knowledge,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: nor make you intolerant of the opinions which others draw
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: from the same source, however different from your own. And
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: may the merciful creator, who gave the scriptures for our instruction,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: bless your study of them, and make them to you
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: fruitful of good works, Your affectionate father, John Quincy Adams,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: end of section nine.