John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

2. V: After being up two or three times in the Night— This was the fourth day in succession of overpowering heat. Fahrenheit the greater part of the day at 92. though with a light breeze of air, which made it supportable for reading but not for writing. I attended Church with Charles at Mr. M’Cormick’s— He read prayers for the fifth Sunday after Trinity, and after reading the first Lesson, which was the 49th. Chapter of Genesis, the prophecy of Jacob at his Death, concerning the future Fortunes of his posterity; made some remarks upon it, specially noticing the prophecy of the Shiloh, or Messiah— This is one of the most remarkable, and unintelligible Chapters to me of the whole Bible— That Jacob at the hour of his death should call his sons together to give them advice for their future conduct in the world, would have been indicative of a great, a wise, and a good man; and the occasion might have been taken to administer good counsel through them to all their posterity and to all mankind. And such good counsel there is; but delivered in obscure and mysterious language— It is said in 28. that these were the twelve tribes of Israel; and that he blessed them, every one according to his blessing— But some of the fortunes which he portends have not much the appearance of blessings— The two favourites are Judah, and Joseph, the forefathers of the two dynasties of the Kings of Judah, and of Ephraim, or the ten tribes.— Judah was the fourth son by Leah, and Joseph was the eldest son by the darling Rachel.— Jacob begins by admitting that Reuben was entitled to special distinction as the first-born—but says he had forfeited that right by his misconduct. The passage in the common English bible—“Unstable as Water, thou shalt not excel” is a moral lesson of inestimable value; but I am afraid is not in the text— In my Latin, French and German translations it is, thou art poured out like water, and shalt not increase— The offence of Reuben was not mere instability but something worse— The abhorrence with which Jacob viewed it, (and most justly) is marked by the reproach addressed first to Reuben himself; and then repeated to all the brethren, in the third person—he went up to my couch— Simeon and Levi too are declared to have forfeited their older birthright, by their cruelty— It appears therefore to be given to Judah, to whom the Sceptre and the lawgiver is secured until Shiloh come; and unto him should the gathering of the people be— The transcendent blessing of the Shiloh was to come through Judah; though it is said 1. Chronicles V.1. that the birth-right, meaning the double-portion was given to the sons of Joseph— Joseph was the most amiable and virtuous of all the Patriarchs, and in this Chapter of blessings is the only one of whom Jacob speaks with the tenderest affection and unqualified approbation—for magnificent as the blessing is of Judah, it is only a portent of glory, prosperity and power—while that of Joseph is ascribed to his piety, and the special favour of the deity— Judah was the Lion’s whelp whom his brethren should praise; but Joseph’s arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. In reviewing this Chapter, my reflections crowd upon me too much for the time to record them— A question occurs to me, why the Fortunes of the Posterity of these Patriarchs, was made to depend so much upon the solitary incidents in the lives of their respective first progenitors?—why for example was the whole tribe of Reuben in after ages made to suffer, for his incestuous crime? and why was that of Judah, with Tamar suffered to pass not only without punishment, but without notice?— The broken sentences, and the figurative language of the Chapter deserve to be analyzed with care— The poetical imagery is of the oriental character—and there is a curious mingling of the past and future tenses, which could be appropriate only for prophecy— Mr M’Cormick’s Sermon was from Luke XVI.19–31. The Parable of the rich man and Lazarus.— I was not so much pleased with this, as I have been with other Sermons of his reading— He spent rather too much of his discourse in explaining what was to 383be understood by a rich man—this was one division of his sermon—the other where; why the rich man was punished and how— In exposition of the why, he remarked that the parable did not ascribe to the rich man, any crime, or even any vice, it barely referred to the costliness of his apparel, and of his food—from which he inferred that eternal perdition was denounced to the mere possession of wealth if applied to mere selfish purposes though innocent— He also inferred from this parable that the punishment of Hell, is by elementary fire, and that it is endless— There is certainly foundation for this reasoning so far at least as that the idea was countenanced by Christ— The Parable represents a rich man possessed of all the luxuries, and a poor man in want of all the necessaries of life— The rich man dies and goes to the place of punishment—the poor man dies and is carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom— But neither the poverty of Lazarus, nor the Wealth of the rich man were the causes of their reward and punishment after death— The causes are not mentioned in either case; the fact is simply stated— It was not the purpose of this parable to prove that virtue and vice would meet with appropriate retribution in a future life; but that enjoyment and misery in this life, are generally reversed in the future— On another occasion Jesus had said that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. The general doctrine of the gospel is, that those who possess riches here will be subject to divine punishment hereafter. The moral of the gospel is that the only way for a rich man to excape this penalty is to distribute his riches to the benefit of the poor— What he prescribed to the rich man who consulted him, and who had fulfilled all the duties required of him by the Mosaic Law, was to sell all that he had, and give it to the poor, and to follow him— It was not a limited distribution of superfluous income, but a direction to divest himself of all his property; to make himself one of the poor, for the benefit of those who were so and to follow him— It has not been inferred by any denomination of Christians that this injunction was applicable to all, though during the time of the Apostles it appears they did for a short period hold all property in common— In the first fervour of enthusiasm, after the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles, the new converts practiced upon this precept; Barrabas among the rest sold the Lands he owned, and laid the proceeds at the feet of the Apostles— But the Story of Ananias and Sapphira soon shewed how human nature worked under such a rule of discipline— They sold their possessions and pretended to give the proceeds to the Apostles, but kept back part of the price— For this attempt at fraud they were miraculously struck dead, but at the same time Peter by reminding Ananias, that the property had been his own, that the donation of it had been voluntary, and that his crime had consisted in the deception, appears at least to have released all other disciples from the obligation of selling all they had to give to the poor— In the parable of Lazarus, when the rich man, being in the torments of Hell, called on Abraham for Mercy and to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his fingers in water to cool his tongue— Abraham in his answer assigns for his reasons of refusal, not that the rich man was suffering the punishment of his crimes; but that he had received his good things in his life time—and Lazarus evil things. The rich man had misused his wealth in the habitual indulgence of pride and sensuality. Abraham also alledges that there is a great gulf fixed between Heaven and Hell; which cannot be passed by those on either side— The latter part of the Parable presents the rich man in a favourable light; for when he finds there is to be no end or relief to his own torment, he intreats Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house; to admonish his five brethren to repent, and avoid the punishment that he is enduring— There is something so amiable in this trait of brotherly affection, stronger than death, stronger than Hell, that it always excited in my breast a sentiment of compassion in favour of this unfortunate rich man— This sympathy for others in the midst of his own torment and despair shews him at least as not wholly reprobate, and leads me to wish that there might at least have been an end to his miseries— The reference to Moses and the prophets was hardly sufficient if it be true that the sanctions of the Mosaic Law were all temporal, and that John the Baptist was the first who proclaimed repentance as the condition of Salvation— Neither does the declaration that if they believe not Moses and the prophets they 384would as little be persuaded by a Messenger from the dead, tally with the necessity for a new dispensation in the person of Christ himself— I examined Hewlett’s Commentary upon this parable; but his only remarks are upon the idea of Hell contained in it; which is observed to be analogous to that of the Pagan Mythology. M’Cormick observed upon the statement that Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, that it was founded on the ancient idea that the bliss of Heaven consisted in a perpetual banquet, and that Abraham as father of the faithful, being at the head of the feast, and that the guests being arranged according to their honours and dignities, he who reclined next to him was said to lie in his bosom— He also remarked upon the intimation that the blessed in Heaven and the accursed in Hell can see one another; and observed that we can see fixed Stars at the distance of many hundred Millions of Miles— But he said nothing of the Conversation, between Abraham and the rich man— We cannot hear at the distance of a fixed Star— There is no doubt in my mind that this and all the other Parables of Christ were fictitious narratives, to inculcate moral and religious principles.— Here is now a scruple of my Meditations upon the religious services which I have this day attended— Would it have been well or ill, if I had followed this practice these forty years?— I called this Evening to see Mr Calhoun, but he was not at home; I therefore closed the Evening with a short walk.