Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

JUDGE HOPKINS' LETTER.

Extract of a letter from Judge Hopkins, Philadelphia, to a gentleman in England.

“You will excuse my making no reply to that part of your letter which treats of religious concerns. I have avoided such topics all my life, and shall continue to do so. I have seldom seen a man able to embark in such discussions and studies without becoming an enthusiast or a bigot, and pursuing them to the ruin or injury of his practical social duties. I have never seen one become a better or a sounder man, and more amiable Christian, by involving himself in the impassable mazes of theological controversy, or the unintelligible jargon of doctrinal points—questions which have no termination, compromise, no rational evidence or conviction on either side, which have been undecided for thousands of years, and will forever remain so, and which, happily, it is entirely unimportant when or how they are decided.

I have seen sensible and enlightened men by devoting themselves to such investigation distract and cloud their understanding, inflate themselves with the vain conceit that it is given to them to understand mysteries far beyond the fathom of human intellect, and which they find it impossible to explain to any plain and unsophisticated mind—a clear proof that they really do not understand them themselves. The life of man was intended to be employed in useful and active pursuits—in the fulfillment of duties requiring the practice of his moral and physical energies and talents—and not to be employed in metaphysical disquisitions which lead to no one practical or useful result to the individual, his family, his friends, or society. Men who employ their talents and time in such inconclusive speculations, become uncomfortable to themselves, and often uncharitable to others: they are less amiable as husbands, fathers, or masters; and neglect their domestic duties in the indulgence of the pride and vanity of expert polemic. They mistake a new and obscure collection of words for knowledge, and unintelligible phrase for wisdom, and believe they are displaying the testimonies of truth, when they are only repeating sentences of which they cannot give any possible explanation. The truths which the wise and just Creator of man intended to be his guides to virtue and happiness, can not be wrapt up in libraries of folios, accessible to but one in a million; nor to be found only by poring over thousands of pages of what is miscalled learned criticism upon a Greek root, or a Greek particle. The precepts of a good and acceptable life are acceptable to all the human race, as the air they breathe in common, the sun which shines on them all alike, and the food and water which refresh them. Has God given to all men whatever is necessary for the support and health of their perishable bodies, and withheld almost from all that which is indispensable for their eternal welfare? This is the impious conceit of the few who persuade themselves that they have the saving secret, the immortal panacea!

Mr. [Condy,] of whom you speak, was a man of distinguished learning in the profession of the law, and also of general knowledge and scholarship, with a most acute and penetrating mind.—He would have been at the head of the bar, with wealth, reputation, and all the good he could have desired; but about fifteen or more years since, he became a devotee to the doctrines of Swedenborg—From that moment every thing was neglected or abandoned for these studies: his law books were laid aside, his clients unattended to, and his days and nights given to Hebrew bibles, Latin Folios, and learned criticisms and commentaries. He was soon involved in the embarrassment of debt, and after a most miserable existence, died a few months since of a broken heart & spirit leaving a wife & children destitute. And to what did he sacrifice himself and family? What discovery has he made? What truth elucidated or established that is worth a farthing to any body!

This fondness for plaguing ourselves with what we can never unfold, has been a part of our nature in all ages. Childhood is amused by riddles, and old age by mysteries. In both cases, after guessing again and again, we are obliged to—'give it up.' In this, however, they differ—the solution of riddles is within the scope of human faculties; not so of mysteries.

I have unintentionally run on in this course of observation, not to dissuade you from the interest you seem to take in your new doctrines; for if they occupy and amuse you they are so far, at least, useful; and I do not fear they will lead your generous spirit into any neglect of higher duties, or to any intolerance of others; nor are my remarks pointed particularly at your mode of faith. I repeat, that I have all my life avoided all knotty and disputed points of religion. I argue with nobody about the trinity or unity of the God head; the mysteries of free agency and free will; or the profound doctrine of the atonement by the death of Christ. I read nothing about them—I affirm or deny nothing—I know nothing. I profess not to understand them: and I know that much wiser and stronger men have come to no understanding about them after centuries of learned and intolerant disputation, in which rivers of blood, as well as of ink, have flowed in support of this savage and unchristian warfare.

I mix not in such strife, but am content to discharge, as well as I can, the duties which providence has assigned me, according to the clear and undisputed light he has given me—I consider religion to have nothing to do with the conflicts of theologians, and the questions of the schools; they are, to my mind, the proofs of the weakness, the pride, and vindictive intolerance of the human heart and passions. Altho' I have been a constant and very general reader for more than 40 years, I have never perused one page of any writer upon any controverted question of religion, not even a sermon. This is literally true; and I am sure I have escaped a world of perplexity by this course, and lost nothing worth having."