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04 - 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

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  Speaker 1: Section three of letters of John Quincy Adams to his
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  Speaker 1: son on the Bible and its teachings. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain, read by Dale Barclay Letter three.
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  Speaker 1: The second general point of view in which I propose
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  Speaker 1: for you to consider the Bible to the end that
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  Speaker 1: it may thoroughly furnish you unto all good works, is
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  Speaker 1: in the historical character. To a man of liberal education,
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  Speaker 1: the study of history is not only useful and important,
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  Speaker 1: but altogether indispensable. And with regard to the history contained
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  Speaker 1: in the Bible, the observation which Cicero makes respecting that
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  Speaker 1: of his own country is much more emphatically applicable. That
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  Speaker 1: it is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with
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  Speaker 1: as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. History,
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  Speaker 1: so far as it relates to the actions and adventures
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  Speaker 1: of men, may be divided into five different classes. First
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  Speaker 1: the history of the world, otherwise called universal history, second
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  Speaker 1: that of particular nations, third that of particular institutions, fourth
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  Speaker 1: that of single families, and fifth that of individual men.
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  Speaker 1: The last two of these classes are generally distinguished by
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  Speaker 1: the name of memoirs and biography. All these classes of
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  Speaker 1: history are to be found in the Bible, and it
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  Speaker 1: may be worth your while to discriminate them one from another.
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  Speaker 1: The universal history is short and all contained in the
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  Speaker 1: first eleven chapters of Genesis, together with the first chapter
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  Speaker 1: of the first Book of Chronicles, which is little more
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  Speaker 1: than a genealogical list of names. But it is of
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  Speaker 1: great importance, not only as it includes the history of
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  Speaker 1: the creation, of the fall of man, of the antediluvian
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  Speaker 1: world in the flood by which the whole human race,
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  Speaker 1: excepting Noah and his family, were destroyed, but as it
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  Speaker 1: gives a very precise account of the time from the
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  Speaker 1: creation until the birth of Abraham. This is the foundation
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  Speaker 1: of ancient history, and in reading profane historians here I
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  Speaker 1: would advise you always to reflect upon their narratives with
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  Speaker 1: reference to it. With respect to the chronology, a correct
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  Speaker 1: idea of this is so necessary to understand all history,
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  Speaker 1: ancient and modern, that I may hereafter write you something
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  Speaker 1: further concerning it. For the present, I shall only recommend
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  Speaker 1: to your particular attention the fifth and eleventh chapters of Genesis,
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  Speaker 1: and request you to cast up and write me the
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  Speaker 1: amount of the age of the world when Abraham was born.
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  Speaker 1: The remainder of the Book of Genesis, beginning at the
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  Speaker 1: twelfth chapter, is a history of one individual, Abraham and
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  Speaker 1: his family during three generations of his descendants, after which
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Exodus commences with the history of the
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  Speaker 1: same family multiplied into a nation. This national and family
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  Speaker 1: history is continued through the books of the Old Testament
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  Speaker 1: until that of Job, which is of a peculiar character,
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  Speaker 1: differing in many particulars from every other part of the Scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: There is no other history extant which can give so
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  Speaker 1: interesting and correct view of the rise and progress of
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  Speaker 1: human associations as this account of Abraham and his descendants,
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  Speaker 1: through all the vicissitudes to which individuals, families, and nations
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  Speaker 1: are liable. There is no other history where the origin
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  Speaker 1: of a whole nation is traced up to a single man,
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  Speaker 1: and where a connected train of events and a regular
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  Speaker 1: series of persons from generation to generation is preserved. As
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  Speaker 1: the history of a family. It is intimately connected with
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  Speaker 1: our religious principles and opinions, for it is the family
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  Speaker 1: from which, in his human character Jesus Christ descended. It
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  Speaker 1: begins by relating the commands of God to Abraham to
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  Speaker 1: abandon his country, his kindred, and his father's house, and
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  Speaker 1: to go to a land which he would show him.
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  Speaker 1: This command was accompanied by two promises, from which and
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  Speaker 1: from their fulfillment arose the differences which I have just
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  Speaker 1: noticed between the history of the Jews and that of
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  Speaker 1: every other nation. The first of these promises was that
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  Speaker 1: God would make Abraham a great nation and bless him.
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  Speaker 1: The second, and incomparably the most important, was that in
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  Speaker 1: him all the families of the earth should be blessed.
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  Speaker 1: This promise was made about two thousand years before the
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  Speaker 1: birth of Christ, and in him had its fulfillment. When Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: in obedience to the command of God, had gone into
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  Speaker 1: the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared unto him and
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  Speaker 1: made him a third promise, which was that he should
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  Speaker 1: give that land to a nation which should descend from
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  Speaker 1: him as a possession. This was fulfilled between five and
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  Speaker 1: six hundred years afterward. In reading all the historical books
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  Speaker 1: of both the Old and the New Testament, as well
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  Speaker 1: as the books the prophets, you should always bear in
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  Speaker 1: mind the reference which they have to these three promises
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  Speaker 1: of God to Abraham. All the history is no more
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  Speaker 1: than a narrative of the particular manner and the detail
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  Speaker 1: of events by which those promises were fulfilled. In the
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  Speaker 1: account of the Creation and the Fall of Man, I
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  Speaker 1: have already he remarked that the moral doctrine culcated by
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  Speaker 1: the Bible is that the great consummation of all human
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  Speaker 1: virtue consists in obedience to the will of God. When
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  Speaker 1: we come hereafter to speak of the Bible in its
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  Speaker 1: ethical character, I shall endeavor to show you the intrinsic
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  Speaker 1: excellence of this principle. But I shall now only remark
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  Speaker 1: how strongly the principle itself is illustrated, first in the
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  Speaker 1: account of the Fall, and next by the history of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: In the account of the Creation, we are informed that God,
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  Speaker 1: after having made the world, created the first human pair
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  Speaker 1: and gave them dominion over every living thing that moveth
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  Speaker 1: upon the earth. He gave them also every herb bearing seed,
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  Speaker 1: and the fruit of every tree for meat. And all
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  Speaker 1: this we are told God saw was very good. Thus
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  Speaker 1: the immediate possession of everything was given them, and its
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  Speaker 1: perpetual enjoyment secured to their descendants, on condition of abstaining
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  Speaker 1: from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good
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  Speaker 1: and evil. It is altogether immaterial to my present remarks
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  Speaker 1: whether the narrative is to be understood in a literal
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  Speaker 1: or allegorical sense, as not only the knowledge, but the
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  Speaker 1: possession of created good was granted. The fruit of the
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  Speaker 1: tree could confer upon them no knowledge but that of evil,
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  Speaker 1: and that the command was nothing more than to abstain
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  Speaker 1: from that knowledge, to forbear from rushing upon their own destruction.
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  Speaker 1: It is not sufficient to say that this was a
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  Speaker 1: command in its own nature, light and easy. It was
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  Speaker 1: a command to pursue the only law of their nature,
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  Speaker 1: to keep the happiness that had been heaped upon them
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  Speaker 1: without measure, but observe. It contained the principle of obedience.
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  Speaker 1: It was assigned to them as a duty, and the
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  Speaker 1: heaviest of penalties was denounced upon its transgression. They were
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  Speaker 1: not to discuss the wisdom or justice of this command.
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  Speaker 1: They were not to inquire why it had been enjoined
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  Speaker 1: upon them, nor could they have the slightest possible motive
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  Speaker 1: for the inquiry. Unqualified felicity and immortality were already theirs.
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  Speaker 1: Wretchedness and death were alone forbidden them, but placed within
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  Speaker 1: their reach as merely trials of their obedience. They violated
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  Speaker 1: the law, they forfeited their joy and immortality. They brought
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  Speaker 1: into the world death, and all are woe. Here, then,
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  Speaker 1: is an extreme case in which the mere principle of
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  Speaker 1: obedience could be tried, and command to abstain from that
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  Speaker 1: from which every motive of reason and interest would have
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  Speaker 1: deterred had the command never been given. A command given
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  Speaker 1: in the easiest of all possible form, requiring not so
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  Speaker 1: much as an action of any kind, but merely forbearance,
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  Speaker 1: and its transgression was so severely punished. The only inference
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  Speaker 1: we can draw from it is that the most aggravated
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  Speaker 1: of all crimes, and that which includes in itself all others,
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  Speaker 1: is disobedience to the will of God. Let us now
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  Speaker 1: consider how the principle of obedience is inculcated in the
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  Speaker 1: history of Abraham by a case in the opposite extreme.
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  Speaker 1: God commanded Abraham to abandon forever his country, his kindred,
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  Speaker 1: and his father's house to go. He knew not where,
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  Speaker 1: promising as a reward of his obedience to bless him
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  Speaker 1: in his posterity, though he was then childless. He was
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  Speaker 1: required to renounce everything that could most contribute to the
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  Speaker 1: happiness and comfort of his life, and which was in
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  Speaker 1: his actual enjoyment to become a houseless, friendless wanderer upon
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  Speaker 1: the earth, on the mere faith of the promise that
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  Speaker 1: a land should be shown him which his descendants should possess,
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  Speaker 1: that they should be a great nation, and that through
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  Speaker 1: them all mankind should receive in future ages a blessing.
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  Speaker 1: The obedience required of Adam was merely to retain all
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  Speaker 1: the blessings he enjoyed. The obedience of Abraham was to
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice all that he possessed for the vague and distant
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  Speaker 1: prospect of a future compensation to his posterity. The self
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  Speaker 1: control and self denial required of Adam was in itself
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  Speaker 1: the slightest that imagination can conceive, but its failure was
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  Speaker 1: punished by the forfeiture of all his enjoyments. The self
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  Speaker 1: dominion to be exercised by Abraham was of the most
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  Speaker 1: severe and painful kind, but its accomplishment will ultimately be
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  Speaker 1: rewarded by the restoration of all that was forfeited by Adam.
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  Speaker 1: This restoration, however, was to be obtained by no ordinary
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  Speaker 1: proof of obedience. The sacrifice of mere personal blessings, however great,
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  Speaker 1: could not lay the foundation for the redemption of mankind
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  Speaker 1: from death. The voluntary submission of Jesus Christ to his
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  Speaker 1: own death in the most excruciating and ignominious form was
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  Speaker 1: to consummate the great plan of redemption, but the submission
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  Speaker 1: of Abraham to sacrifice his beloved and only son, Isaac,
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  Speaker 1: the child promised by God himself and through whom all
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  Speaker 1: the greater promises were to be carried into effect. The
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  Speaker 1: feelings of nature, the parent's bowels were all required to
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  Speaker 1: be sacrificed by Abraham to the blind, unquestioning principle of
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  Speaker 1: obedience the will of God. The blood of Isaac was
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  Speaker 1: not indeed shed. The butchery of an only son by
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  Speaker 1: the hand of his father was a sacrifice which a
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  Speaker 1: merciful God did not require to be completely executed, but
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  Speaker 1: as an instance of obedience, it was imposed upon Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: and nothing less than the voice of an angel from
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  Speaker 1: heaven could arrest his uplifted arm and withhold him from
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  Speaker 1: sheathing his knife in the heart of his child. It
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  Speaker 1: was upon this testimonial of obedience that God's promise of
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  Speaker 1: redemption was expressly renewed to Abraham. In Thy seed shall
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  Speaker 1: all the nations of the earth be blessed, Because thou
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  Speaker 1: hast obeyed my voice Genesis, twenty two eighteen. End of
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  Speaker 1: section three,