Memoirs Of Aaron Burr, Volume 1 - Matthew L. Davis (top android ebook reader txt) 📗
- Author: Matthew L. Davis
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_An Attempt To Search The Origin Of Idolatry._
"It Is Altogether Impossible To Fix Exactly The Period When Idolatry
Took Its Rise. Adam, Coming Immediately From The Hands Of God, Had
Experienced Too Many Manifestations Of His Power And Goodness To Be
Unacquainted With Him, And Must Have Preserved The Purest Idea Of Him
In His Own Family, Which, Most Probably, Continued In The Branch Of
Seth Till The Deluge. The Posterity Of Cain, On The Contrary (The Pure
Idea Of God Gradually Wearing Away, And By Loose Men Being Connected
With Sense), Fell Into Idolatry, And Every Other Crime, Which Brought
On The Deluge; A Period About Which Moses Has Said But Little, And
From What He Has Said We Can Draw No Just Conclusion With Respect To
The Idolatry Of Those Times.
"A Certain Author, Being Persuaded That Idolatry Did Not Take Its Rise
Till After The Deluge, Gives A Very Singular Account Of Its Origin.
According To Him, Atheism Had Spread Itself Over The World. This
Disposition Of Mind, Says He, Is The Capital Crime. Atheists Are Much
More Odious To The Divinity Than Idolaters. Besides, This Principle Is
Much More Capable Of Leading Men Into That Excessive Corruption The
World Fell Into Before The Deluge. The Knowledge Of A God, Of Whatever
Nature He Is Conceived, And The Worship Of A Deity, Are Apt, Of
Themselves, To Be A Restraint Upon Men. So That Idolatry Was Of Some
Use To Bear Down The Corruption Of The World. It Is Therefore
Probable, That The Horrid Vices Men Were Fallen Into Before The
Deluge, Proceeded Only From Their Not Knowing Nor Serving A God. I Am
Even Of Opinion (Continues He) That The Idolatry And Polytheism After
The Deluge Derived Their Origin From The Atheism And Impiety That
Reigned Before It. Such Is The Temper Of Men, When They Have Been
Severely Punished For Any Crime, They Run Into The Opposite Extreme. I
Conjecture (Concludes The Same Author) This Was The Case With Men
After The Deluge. As They Reckoned That This Terrible Judgment, Which
Carried Such Indications Of Divine Wrath, Was Sent For The Punishment
Of Atheism, They Ran Into The Opposite Extreme. They Adored Whatever
Seemed To Deserve Their Worship.
"It Is True, Indeed, That Idolatry Is Capable Of Furnishing A Curb
Against Irregularity Of Manners; But This Author Has Conjectured,
Without Foundation, That Atheism Reigned Universally Before The
Deluge. He Ought, At Least, To Have Excepted The Posterity Of Seth.
"However Idolatry Might Have Reigned Before The Deluge, It Is Certain
That The Knowledge And Worship Of The True God Were Again United In
The Family Of Noah; And As Long As The Children And Grandchildren Of
That Patriarch Made But One Family, In All Probability, The Worship Of
The True God Was Little Altered In Its Purity. Noah Being At The Head
Of The People, And Shem, Ham, And Japheth Witnesses Of God'S Vengeance
On Their Contemporaries, Is It Probable That They, Living In The Midst
Of Their Families, Would Suffer Them To Depart From The Truth? We Read
Of Nothing That Can Incline Us To This Belief. Various Have Been The
Conjectures Concerning The Authors Of Idolatry. Some Believe It Was
Serug, The Grandfather Of Terah, Who First Introduced Idolatry After
The Deluge. Others Maintain It Was Nimrod, And That He Instituted The
Worship Of Fire Among His Subjects, Which Continues Even To This Day
In Some Places In Persia.
Chapter II Pg 18Others Assert That Ham Was The Author Of It,
And Then His Son Canaan; And It Is Most Probable That The Unfortunate
Sons Of An Accursed Father Were The First Who, Following The
Propensity Of Their Own Heart, Sought Out Sensible Objects To Which
They Might Offer A Superstitious Worship. As The Two Sons Of Ham,
Canaan And Mizraim, Settled, The One In Phoenicia, And The Other In
Egypt, It Is Probable That These Were The First Nurseries Of Idolatry;
And The Sun, Being Looked Upon As The Purest Image Of The Creator, Was
The First Object Of It. It Is Not Probable That Men Would Choose
Beings Like Themselves For The First Objects Of Their Adoration.
Nothing Could Be More Capable Of Seducing Than The Beauty And
Usefulness Of The Sun, Dispensing Light And Fertility All Around. But,
To Conclude, We Must Not Imagine That All Idolatry Sprang From The
Same Country. It Came By Slow Degrees, And Those Who Made The First
Advances Towards This Impiety, Did By No Means Carry It To That
Extravagant Height To Which It Afterwards Arrived."
Chapter III Pg 19
In College, Young Burr Formed Intimacies Which Ripened Into Lasting
Friendship. The Attachment Between Him And Colonel Matthias Ogden, Of
New-Jersey, Was Both Ardent And Mutual; And, It Is Believed, Continued
During The Life Of The Latter. Colonel Knapp Says, "Samuel Spring, D.
D., Late Of Newburyport, Was In College With Colonel Burr, And Part Of
Their College Life Was His Chum. The Doctor Was A Student Of Mature
Age, And Had A Provisitorial Power Over Burr In His Daily Duties. He
Has Often Spoken Of His Young Friend With More Than Ordinary Feeling.
He, In Fact, Prophesied His Future Genius, From The Early Proofs He
Gave Of Intellectual Power In The Course Of His College Life."
At Princeton, Burr Enjoyed The Counsel And Advice Of The Late William
Paterson, Subsequently One Of The Judges Of The Supreme Court Of The
United States. To Be Thus Early In Life Honoured With The Respect And
Esteem Of Such A Man As Judge Paterson, Was Highly Flattering. Their
Correspondence Commenced In 1772, And Continued Until The Decease Of
The Judge. Extracts From His Letters To Colonel Burr Will Be Given
Occasionally. He Says, In A Letter Dated
Chapter III Pg 20"Princeton, January 17Th, 1772.
"Dear Burr,
"I Am Just Ready To Take Horse, And Therefore Cannot Have The Pleasure
Of Waiting On You In Person. Be Pleased To Accept Of The Enclosed
Notes On _Dancing_. If You Pitch Upon It As The Subject Of Your Next
Discourse, They May, Perhaps, Furnish You With A Few Hints, And Enable
You To Compose With The Greater Facility And Despatch. To Do You Any
Little Services In My Power Will Afford Me Great Satisfaction, And I
Hope You Will Take The Liberty (It Is Nothing More, My Dear Burr, Than
The Freedom Of A Friend) To Call Upon Me Whenever You Think I Can.
"When I Shall Be Here Again Is Uncertain--Perhaps Not Before Vacation.
Forbear With Me While I Say _That You Cannot Speak Too Slow_. Your
Good Judgment Generally Leads You To Lay The Emphasis On The Most
Forcible Word In The Sentence; So Far You Act Very Right. But The
Misfortune Is, That You Lay Too Great Stress Upon The Emphatical Word.
Every Word Should Be Distinctly Pronounced; One Should Not Be So
Highly Sounded As To Drown Another. To See You Shine As A Speaker
Would Give Great Pleasure To Your Friends In General, And To Me In
Particular. I Say Nothing Of Your Own Honour. The Desire Of Making
Others Happy Will, To A Generous Mind, Be The Strongest Incentive. I
Am Much Mistaken If Such A Desire Has Not Great Influence Over You.
You Are Certainly Capable Of Making A Good Speaker. Exert Yourself. I
Am In Haste.
"Dear Burr, Adieu.
"Wm. Paterson"
Chapter III Pg 21Another Letter, Dated
"Princeton, October 26Th, 1772.
"Dear Burr,
"Our Mutual Friend, Stewart, With Whom I Spent Part Of The Evening,
Informed Me You Were Still In Elizabethtown. You Are Much Fonder Of
That Place Than I Am, Otherwise You Would Hardly Be Prevailed Upon To
Make So Long A Stay. But, Perhaps, The Reason That I Fear It, Makes
You Like It. There Is Certainly Something Amorous In Its Very Air. Nor
Is This A Case Any Way Extraordinary Or Beyond Belief. I Have Read
(And It Was In Point, Too) That A Flock Of Birds, Being On The Wing,
And Bending Their Flight Towards A Certain Town In Connecticut,
Dropped Down Dead Just As They Were Over It. The People Were At First
Fairly At A Loss To Account For This Phenomenon In Any Natural Way.
However, It Was At Length Agreed On All Hands That It Was Owing To The
Noisomeness Of The Atmosphere, The Smallpox At That Time Being Very
Rife In The Place. I Should Never Have Given Credit To The Report, Had
It Not Come From So Good A Quarter As That Of New-England. For My
Part, I Always Drive Through Elizabethtown As Quickly As Possible,
Lest The Soft Infection Should Steal Upon Me, Or I Should Take It In
With The Very Air I Breathe.
"Yesterday I Went To Hear Mr. Halsey, And There, Too, I Saw His Young
And Blooming Wife. The Old Gentleman Seems Very Fond Of His Rib, And,
In Good Sooth, Leers Very Wistfully At Her As She Trips Along By His
Side. Some Allowance, However, Must Be Made; He Is In The Vale Of
Life; Love Is A New Thing To Him, And The Honey-Moon Is Not Yet Over.
'They Are Amorous, And Fond, And Billing,
Like Philip And Mary On A Shilling.'
I Have Promised To Pay Him A Visit; Stewart, Or Some Of The Tutors, I
Believe, Will
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