The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
MORAL PRINCIPLES / ESPOUSED BY JESUS CHRIST
I now return the sermon you were so kind as to enclose me, having
perused it with attention.
I must also add that though I concur
with the author in considering the moral precepts of Jesus as more
pure, correct, and sublime than those of the ancient philosophers, yet
I do not concur with him in the mode of proving it. He thinks it
necessary to libel and decry the doctrines of the philosophers; but a
man must be blinded, indeed, by prejudice, who can deny them a great
degree of merit. I give them their just due, and yet maintain that the
morality of Jesus, as taught by himself, and freed from the
corruptions of latter times, is far superior. Their philosophy went
chiefly to the government of our passions, so far as respected
ourselves, and the procuring our own tranquillity. In our duties to
others they were short and deficient. They extended their cares
scarcely beyond our kindred and friends individually, and our country
in the abstract. Jesus embraced with charity and philanthropy our
neighbors, our countrymen, and the whole family of mankind. They
confined themselves to actions; he pressed his sentiments into the
region of our thoughts, and called for purity at the fountain head.
to Edward Dowse, Esq., 19 April 1803
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