AKRON, OHIO, Aug. 26,
1853.
DEAR SON JOHN, — Your letter of the 21st instant was
received yesterday, and as I may be somewhat more lengthy than usual I begin my
answer at once. The family have enjoyed as good health as usual since I wrote
before, but my own health has been poor since in May. Father has had a short
turn of fever and ague; Jason and Ellen have had a good deal of it, and were
not very stout on Sunday last. The wheat crop has been rather light in this
quarter; first crop of grass light; oats very poor; corn and potatoes promise
well, and frequent rains have given the late grass a fine start. There has been
some very fatal sickness about, but the season so far has been middling
healthy. Our sheep and cattle have done well; have raised five hundred and
fifty lambs, and expect about eighty cents per pound for our wool. We shall be
glad to have a visit from you about the time of our county fair, but I do not
yet know at what time it comes. Got a letter from Henry dated the 16th of
August; all there well. Grain crops there very good. We are preparing (in our
minds, at least) to go back next spring. Mrs. Perkins was confined yesterday
with another boy, it being her eleventh child. The understanding between the
two families continues much as formerly, so far as I know.
In Talmadge there has been for some time an unusual
seriousness and attention to future interests. In your letter you appear rather
disposed to sermonize; and how will it operate on you and Wealthy if I should
pattern after you a little, and also quote some from the Bible? In choosing my
texts, and in qnoting from the Bible, I perhaps select the very portions which
"another portion" of my family hold are not to be wholly received as true.
I forgot to say that my younger sons (as is common in this
"progressive age") appear to be a little in advance of my
older, and have thrown off the old shackles entirely; after Thorough And
Candid investigation they have discovered the Bible to be All a fiction! Shall
I add, that a letter received from you some time since gave me little
else than pain and sorrow? "The righteous shall hold on his way;” "By
and by he is offended."
My object at this time is to recall your particular
attention to the fact that the earliest, as well as all other, writers of the
Bible seem to have been impressed with such ideas of the character of the
religion they taught, as led them to apprehend a want of steadfastness among
those who might profess to adhere to it (no matter what may have been the
motives of the different writers). Accordingly we find the writer of the first
five books putting into the mouth of his Moses expressions like the following,
— and they all appear to dwell much on the idea of two distinct classes among
their reputed disciples; namely, a genuine and a spurious class: —
"Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or
family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to
serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that
beareth gall and wormwood." "Then men shall say, because they have
forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers." "But if
thine heart turn away so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and
worship other gods, and serve them." "Now therefore write ye this
song for you, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths,
that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel."
"For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and
turn aside from the way which I have commanded you." "They have
corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children."
"Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God
that formed thee." "Oh, that they were wise, that they understood
this, that they would consider their latter end!"
The writer here makes his Moses to dwell on this
point with a most remarkable solicitnde, a most heart-moving earnestness. The
writer of the next book makes his Joshua to plead with Israel with the
same earnestness. "Choose you this day whom you will serve." "Ye
are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve
him." The writer of the book called Judges used strong language in regard
to the same disposition in Israel to backslide: "And it came to pass when
the judge was dead, that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their
fathers; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn
way." The writer of the book Ruth makes Naomi say to Orpah, "Thy
sister-in-law is gone back unto her people and unto her gods." The writer
of the books called Samuel represents Saul as one of the same spurious class. Samuel
is made to say to him, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to
hearken, than the fat of rams," — clearly intimating that all service that
did not flow from an obedient spirit and an honest heart would be of no avail.
He makes his Saul turn out faithless and treacherous in the end, and finally
consult a woman "having a familiar spirit," near the close of his sad
career. The same writer introduces Ahitophel as one whose counsel "was as
if a man had inquired at the oracle of God;" a writer of the Psalms makes
David say of him, "We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house
of God in company;" but he is left advising the son of David to incest
publicly, and soon after hangs himself. The spot of those men seems not to be
genuine.
One distinguishing mark of unsoundness with all the
Old Testament writers was aversion to the character of the God whom Moses
declares in his books, and by whose direction all the so-called prophets
affirmed that they spoke and wrote. The writer of the books called Kings says
of Solomon: ''And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned
away from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared to him twice." The
same writer makes Elijah inquire of Israel: "How long halt ye between two
opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him."
He makes Elijah pray thus: "Hear me, O Lord! hear me, that this people may
know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back
again." The same writer makes God say to Elijah, "Yet I have left me
seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and
every mouth which hath not kissed him." The same writer makes John say,
"Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord;” but says of him afterward,
"But John took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with
all his heart." This writer also says of Josiah, "And like unto him
there was no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart and
with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the
law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him." The writer of
the book called Chronicles says of Judah, in a time of most remarkable
reformation: "And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with
shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets; And all Judah rejoiced at the
oath, for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole
desire, and he was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round
about." Those who wrote the books called Ezra and Nehemiah notice the same
distinguishing marks of character.
The writer of the book called Job, makes God to say of him:
"There is none like him in the earth; a perfect and an upright man, one
who feareth God and escheweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his
integrity." The same writer makes Eliphaz put to Job these questions,
remarkable, but searching: "Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy
hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?" This writer makes his different
characters call the unstable and unsound, hypocrites. Bildad says, "So are
the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Whose
hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.'' Zophar says of the same class of persons,
"And their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost." Eliphaz
says, "Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall be
his recompense." Job says, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes behold, and not another." Zophar says,
"The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but
for a moment." Job is made to inquire concerning those who deceive
themselves (as though the thing had come to be well understood in his day):
"Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call upon
God?" One writer of the Psalms says of those who did not love Israel's
God, "Through the pride of his countenance he will not seek after God. God
is not in all his thoughts."
A writer of the Psalms, in view of the different feelings of
men toward the God of the Bible, has this language: "With the merciful
thou wilt show thyself merciful, with an upright man thou wilt show thyself
upright, with the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou
wilt show thyself forward." Again in the Psalms we read, "The meek
shall eat and he satisfied, they shall praise the Lord that seek him."
Again, "The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will
he teach his way." "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
unto such as keep his covenant and testimonies." "The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant."
"Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear
thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of
men!" "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear
him, and delivereth them." "The Lord redeemeth the soul of his
servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate."
"Though he fall, yet he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord
upholdeth him with his hand." "The law of his God is in his heart;
none of his steps shall slide." "But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord; he is their strength in the time of trouble." "Mark
the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is
peace." "The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing;
thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." "Our heart is not turned
back, neither have our steps declined from thy way." "They go from
strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appear before God."
"Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend
them." "Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy
commandments." "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem! let my right hand
forget her cunning." "The backslider in heart shall be filled with
his own ways." "To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not
according to their word, it is because there is no light in them."
"Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me that
they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become
vain?" "Turn, O back-sliding children, saith the Lord."
"But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the
counsels and in the imaginations of their evil heart, and went backward and not
forward." "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times,
and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming,
but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." "The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?"
"Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee, and they have
not discovered thine iniquity." "They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy." "Then they shall answer, Because they have
forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God." "Forty years long was I
grieved with this generation, and said it is a people that do err in their
heart, and they have not known my ways." "But they like men have
transgressed the covenant; there have they dealt treacherously against
me." "Many shall he purified and made white and tried, but the wicked
shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall
understand." "The preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and
that which was written was upright, even words of truth." "That the
generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who
should arise and declare them to their children; that they might set their hope
in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and might
not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation
that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with
God." "Who is wise and shall understand these things; prudent, and he
shall know them. For the ways of the
Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressor shall
fall therein."
"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I also confess before my Father which is in Heaven." "And many
false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold." "And blessed is he
whosoever shall not be offended in me." "They on the rock are they
which when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, and
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away." "From that
time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him."
"He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth
him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last
day." "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh
away." "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost." "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you
into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel." "Ye did run well: who
did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" "Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." "For now we
live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." "For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine." "Therefore we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should
let them slip." "Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left us
of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."
"And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the
full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of
them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." "Now the
just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no
pleasure in him." "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that
are excellent, that may be sincere and without offence till the day of
Christ.'' "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame
be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed." "Looking
diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God." "For it had been
better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after they
have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them."
"Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent."
"Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain and are ready to die,
for I have not found thy works perfect before God." "He that
overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father,
and before his angels." "Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Amen." "And I
beseech you [children] to suffor the word of exhortation.”
SOURCE: Franklin B. Sanborn, The Life and Letters of
John Brown, p. 45-51
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