Quote of the day.
"We can never be so certain of any Prophecy, or the fulfillment of any Prophecy; or of any miracle, or the design of any miracle as We are, from the revelation of nature i.e. natures God that two and two are equal to four. Miracles or Prophecies might frighten Us out of our Witts; might scare us to death; might induce Us to lie, to say that We believe that 2 and 2 makes 5. But We should not believe it. We should know the contrary."
--John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 1813.
posted by Ben @ 5:43 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
This is actually a favorite letter of mine. Actually, the whole series of letters between the two at this time are awesome, especially on Adams's part (he was writing far more to Jefferson than he received, by about 4 to 1.) In the same letter he imagines himself and Jefferson on Mount Sinai with Moses:
"Had you and I been forty days with Moses on Mount Sinai and admitted to behold, the divine Shekinah, and there told that one was three and three, one: We might not have the courage to deny it, but We could not have believed it. The thunders and Lightenings and Earthqu[ak]es and the transcendant Splendors and Glories, might have overwhelmed Us with terror and Amazement: but We could not have believed the doctrine. We should be more likley to say in our hearts . . . There is no god! No Truth . . . Nothing has produced all this Pomp and Splendor; and Nothing may produce Our eternal damnation in the flames of Hell fire and Brimstone for what We know, as well as this tremendous Exhibition of Terror and Falshood."
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