ndispensable to
the faithful discharge of public duty, he endeavored to avoid, as far as
possible, laying himself under obligations to any man. When a certain
bookseller once sent him an elegant copy of the Scriptures, he kept the
book, but returned its full equivalent in money.

While sojourning at St. Petersburg, Mr. Adams wrote a series of letters to
a son at school in Massachusetts, on the value of the Bible, and the
importance of its daily perusal. Since his decease they have been
published in a volume, entitled "Letters of John Quincy Adams to his son,
on the Bible and its teachings." "Their purpose is the inculcation of a
love and reverence for the Holy Scriptures, and a delight in their perusal
and study. Throughout his long life, Mr. Adams was himself a daily and
devout reader of the Scriptures, and delighted in comparing and
considering them in the various languages with which he was familiar,
hoping thereby to acquire a nicer and clearer appreciation of their
meaning. The Bible was emphatically his counsel and monitor through life,
and the fruits of its guidance are seen in the unsullied character which
he bore, through the turbid waters of political contention, to his final
earthly rest. Though long and fiercely opposed and contemned in life he
left no man behind him who would wish to fix a stain on the name he has
inscribed so high on the roll of his country's most gifted and illustrious
sons. The intrinsic value of these letters, their familiar and lucid
style, their profound and comprehensive views, their candid and reverent
spirit, must win for them a large measure of the public attention and
esteem. But, apart from even this, the testimony so unconsciously borne by
their pure-minded and profoundly learned author, to the truth and
excellence of the Christian faith and records, will not be lightly
regarded. It is no slight testimonial to the verity and worth of
Christianity, that in all ages since its promulgation, the great mass of
those who have risen to eminence by their profound wisdom, integrity, and
philanthropy, have recognized and reverenced, in Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of the living God. To the names of Augustine, Xavier, Fenelon,
Milton, Newton, Locke, Lavater, Howard, Chateaubriand, and their
thousands of compeers in Christian faith, among the world's wisest and
noblest, it is not without pride that the American may add, from among his
countrymen, those of such men as WASHINGTON, JAY, PATRICK