The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
MORAL PRINCIPLES / ESPOUSED BY JESUS CHRIST
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. In
a pamphlet lately published in Philadelphia by Dr. Priestley, he has
treated, with more justice and skill than Mr. Bennet, a small portion
of this subject. His is a comparative view of Socrates only with
Jesus. I have urged him to take up the subject on a broader scale.
to Edward Dowse, 19 April 1803
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