John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

373

12. VI.45. Sunday.

My dear wife’s birth-day. 57. I began the version of the 78th. Psalm— A long, and very beautiful Poem—of which I versified this morning the first eight verses; in a most unsatisfactory manner— Last evening I came under the censure of self-reproof, for indiscreet garrulity with my company— This morning I am discontented with the employment of my time in Solitude; and so life passes away—never satisfied with myself— For this there is no remedy— The cause is deficiency of intellect— The means—resistance against the allotment of Providence— The result perpetual disappointment, and the failure of attempts beyond my powers— This has been the character of my existence—Boundless Aspirations—unremitting exertions—Perpetual failures— Nothing can be more desperate than this attempt at a new versification of the Psalms; and yet I pray that I may not give it up in despair— I heard Mr Smith this morning from 1. Timothy 2.8 [“]I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting:”—and in the afternoon from Romans 1.22. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” I paid not sufficient attention to these discourses to derive any benefit from them— My thoughts were wandering as too often they do— If I could faithfully devote every hour of the Sabbath to God, I might more profitably occupy every hour of the week to the benefit of mankind— I find a passage in reading the Bible, which I had never particularly noticed before— Part of the last words of David. “But the Sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a Spear; and they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the same place”— 2. Samuel 23.6–7— How are the preceding verses of this Chapter to be understood? Who are the sons of Belial? compare the other passages of Scripture where they are named, See Miltons Paradise lost— Is there an inversion of tenses in this passage— The past, the present and the future are often indiscriminately blended in the language of Scripture— What is the import of this figure of Speech—comparing the sons of Belial to thorns, and indicating how they are to be treated— Why are these last Words of David made to precede the Catalogue of his Mighty Men— His numbering of the People— The disorders of his last days— His transfer of the crown and his dying charge to Solomon? Here is a good subject for a historical and moral discourse.