most perfect and sublime that has ever been taught by man.
The question of his being a member of the Godhead, or in direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his followers and denied by others, is foreign to the present view, which is merely an estimate of the intrinsic merits of his doctrines.
1. He corrected the Deism of the Jews, confirming them in their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions of His attributes and government.
2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were more pure and perfect than those of the most correct of the philosophers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews; and they went far beyond both in inculcating universal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering all into one family under the bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants and common aids. A development of this head will evince the peculiar superiority of the system of Jesus over all others.
3. The precepts of philosophy, and of the Hebrew code, laid hold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart of man; erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and purified the waters at the fountain head.
4. He taught, emphatically, the doctrines of a future state, which was either doubted or disbelieved by the Jews, and wielded it with efficacy as an important incentive, supplementary to the other motives to moral conduct.
* * *
[Jefferson’s footnote:] To explain, I will exhibit the heads of Seneca’s and Cicero’s philosophical works, the most extensive of any we have received from the ancients. Of ten heads in Seneca, seven relate to ourselves, viz. de ira, consolatio, de tranquilitate, de constantia sapientis, de otio sapientis, de vita beata, de brevitate vitae; two relate to others, de clementia, de beneficiis; and one relates to the government of the world, de providentia. Of eleven tracts of Cicero, five respect ourselves, viz. de finibus, Tusculana, academica, paradoxa, de Senectute; one, de officiis, relates partly to ourselves, partly to others; one, de amicitia, relates to others; and four are on different subjects, to wit, de natura deorum, de divinatione, de fato, and sommium Scipionis.
Letter To William Short:
Monticello, April 13, 1820.
Dear Sir,
Your favor of March the 27th is received, and as you request, a copy of the syllabus is now enclosed. It was originally written to Dr. Rush. On his death, fearing that the inquisition of the public might get hold of it, I asked the return of it from the family, which they kindly complied with. At the request of another friend, I had given him a copy. He lent it to his friend to read, who copied it, and in a few months it appeared in the Theological Magazine of London. Happily that repository is scarcely known in this country, and the syllabus, therefore, is still a secret, and in your hands I am sure it will continue so.
But while this syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus in its true and high light, as no impostor Himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with Him in all His doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentance towards forgiveness of sin; I require counterpoise of good works to redeem it, etc., etc. It is the innocence of His character, the purity and sublimity of His moral precepts, the eloquence of His inculcations, the beauty of the apologues in which He conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes, indeed, needing indulgence to eastern hyperbolism. My eulogies, too, may be founded on a postulate which all may not be ready to grant. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to Him by His biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same Being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore to Him the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and roguery of others of His disciples. Of this band of dupes and impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus. These palpable interpolations and falsifications of His doctrines, led me to try to sift them apart. I found the work obvious and easy, and that His past composed the most beautiful morsel of morality which has been given to us by man. The syllabus is therefore of His doctrines, not all of mine. I read them as I do those of other ancient and modern moralists, with a mixture of approbation and dissent...
Thomas Jefferson
A Table of the Texts from the Evangelists employed in this narrative and of the order of their arrangements.
[“L.” refers to Luke; “Mt.” to Matthew; “Mk.” to Mark; and “J.” to John.]
Luke 2.1-7. Joseph & Mary go to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born.
21. 39. he is circumsized & named & they return to Nazareth.
40. 42-48. 51. 52. at 12 years of age he accompanies his parents
to Jerusalem and returns.
L.3. 1.2.Mk.1.4.Mt.3.4.5.6. John baptises in Jordan.
Mt.3.13. Jesus is baptised. L.3.23. at 30 years of age.
J.2.12-16. drives the traders out of the temple.
J.3.22.Mt.4.12.Mk.6.17-28. he baptises but retires into Galilee on the
death of John.
Mk.1.21.22. he teaches in the Synagogue.
Mt.12.1-5 .9-12.Mk.2.27.Mt.12.14.15. explains the Sabbath.
L.6.12. call of his disciples.
Mt.5.1-12 L.6.24.25.26.Mt.5.13-47.L.6.34.35.36.Mt.6.1.-34. 7.1. L.6.38.Mt.7.3-20.12.35.36.37.7.24-29 the Sermon on the Mount.
Mt.8.1.Mk.6.6.Mt.11.28.29.30. exhorts.
L.7.36-46. a woman anointeth him.
Mk.3.31-35.L.12.1-7 .13-15. precepts.
L.12.16-21. parable of the rich man.
22-48.54-59.L.13.1-5. precepts.
L.13.6-9. parable of the fig tree.
L.11.37-46.52.53.54. precepts.
Mt.13.1-9.Mk.4.10.Mt.13.18-23. parable of the sower.
Mk.4.21.22.23. precepts. Mt.13.24-30.36-52. parable of the Tares.
Mk.4.26-34.L.9.57-62.L.5.27-29.Mk.2.15-17. precepts.
L.5.36-38. parable of new wine in old bottles.
Mt.13.53.-57. a prophet hath no honor in his own country.
Mt.9.36.Mk.6.7.Mt.10.5.6.9-18.23.26-31.Mk.6.12.30. mission, instruction,
return of apostles.
J.7.1.Mk.7.1.-5.14-24.Mt.18.1-4.7-9.12-17.21-25.
