Exceptional ALS, one page, 8 x 10, April 14, 1834. Adams, then a post-presidential congressman from Massachusetts, writes to the Reverend J. C. Brigham, corresponding secretary of the American Bible Society in New York. In part: “I received your kind letter ... and the invitation to attend the 18th Anniversary of the Society on the 8th of next month, which I regret to say will not be in my power. To all the friends of Religion and Morals it must afford cheering consolation and encouragement to learn the continued success of the Society in spreading over every region of the Earth, the knowledge and the faith of the Redeemer. If in the profound Peace and unexampled Prosperity which we have so long been enjoying at home, symptoms have been seen of relaxation in the zeal of the followers of Christ, among ourselves, the certainly that the Book of Life has been opening its instruction, its promises and its rewards to multitudes without number in other regions of the globe, may serve as counteraction to that languor and indifference which seems to be creeping in among ourselves, and still give assurance to our faith that against the Rock on which the Church of Christ is founded, the Gates of Hell shall not prevail....” Apart from politics, religion and theology were indeed among the most important of Adams’s preoccupations throughout his life. Raised a Congregationalist-Unitarian, Adams constantly re-examined his views on the nature of God, the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, and the Bible, noting in a letter to a minister that “[S]o great is my veneration of the Bible, and so strong is my belief, that when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that which contributes most to making men good, wise, and happy.” For some 30 years Adams was vice president of the American Bible Society, an evangelical organization that specialized in the publication and distribution of Bibles and moralistic tracts that anecdotally “documented” the salvation of the virtuous and the degeneration of the sinful. In the year of writing, Adams ran unsuccessfully as the Anti-Masonic candidate for Governor of Massachusetts and became a Whig, the last of several changes of party allegiance throughout his political career. Faint intersecting folds (vertical fold to “Q”), mild scattered soiling, and some light marginal staining, otherwise fine, attractive, eminently displayable condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
