Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4Jefferson, Thomas
History
Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4
Jefferson, Thomas
United States -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783; United States -- Politics and government -- 1783-1865
The mass of human concerns, moral and physical, is so vast, the field of
knowledge requisite for man to conduct them to the best advantage is so
extensive, that no human being can acquire the whole himself, and much
less in that degree necessary for the instruction of others. It has of
necessity, then, been distributed into different departments, each
of which, singly, may give occupation enough to the whole time and
attention of a single individual. Thus we have teachers of Languages,
teachers of Mathematics, of Natural Philosophy, of Chemistry, of
Medicine, of Law, of History, of Government, &c. Religion, too, is a
separate department, and happens to be the only one deemed requisite
for all men, however high or low. Collections of men associate together,
under the name of congregations, and employ a religious teacher of the
particular sect of opinions of which they happen to be, and contribute
to make up a stipend as a compensation for the trouble of delivering
them, at such periods as they agree on, lessons in the religion they
profess. If they want instruction in other sciences or arts, they apply
to other instructers; and this is generally the business of early life.
But I suppose there is not an instance of a single congregation which
has employed their preacher for the mixt purpose of lecturing them
from the pulpit, in Chemistry, in Medicine, in Law, in the science and
principles of Government, or in any thing but Religion exclusively.
Whenever, therefore, preachers, instead of a lesson in religion,
put them off with a discourse on the Copernican system, on chemical
affinities, on the construction of government, or the characters or
conduct of those administering it, it is a breach of contract, depriving
their audience of the kind of service for which they are salaried, and
giving them, instead it, what they did not want, or if wanted, would
rather seek from better sources in that particular art or science. In
choosing our pastor we look to his religious qualifications, without
inquiring into his physical or political dogmas, with which we mean to
have nothing to do. I am aware that arguments may be found, which may
twist a thread of politics into the cord of religious duties. So may
they for every other branch of human art or science. Thus, for example,
it is a religious duty to obey the laws of our country: the teacher of
religion, therefore, must instruct us in those laws, that we may know
how to obey them. It is a religious duty to assist our sick neighbors:
the preacher must, therefore, teach us medicine, that we may do it
understandingly. It is a religious duty to preserve our own health: our
religious teacher, then, must tell us what dishes are wholesome, and
give us recipes in cookery, that we may learn how to prepare them. And
so ingenuity, by generalizing more and more, may amalgamate all the
branches of science into any one of them, and the physician who is
paid to visit the sick, may give a sermon instead of medicine; and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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