Adams Papers

From John Adams to Oliver Hart, 26 November 1791

To Oliver Hart

Philadelphia Novr: 26 1791:

Sir.

I have received from you an agreeable present of your Thanksgiving Sermon; and have read it with pleasure; The text I think was very appositely chosen; for every Balaam in the world, I think, unless a more abandoned deceiver of himself than the original prophet of that name must cry, “How shall I curse, when God has not cursed,” when he is called upon to prophecy evil concerning America.1 Permit me to return you my thanks for your kind attention, and to request the favor of seeing you at my House when you come to Philadelphia.

I am Sir, with esteem, / your most humble Servt:

John Adams

LbC in TBA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Revd / Oliver Hart”; APM Reel 115.

1. Born in Warminster, Penn., Hart (1723–1795) served as pastor of Baptist Church in Hopewell, N.J., from 1780 until his death. The subject of Hart’s sermon, which JA partially quoted here, was Numbers, 23 (ANB description begins John A. Garraty, Mark C. Carnes, and Paul Betz, eds., American National Biography, New York, 1999–2002; 24 vols. plus supplement; rev. edn., www.anb.org. description ends ; Hart, America’s Remembrancer … A Sermon, Delivered in Hopewell, New Jersey, on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1789, Phila., 1791, Evans, description begins Charles Evans and others, American Bibliography: A Chronological Dictionary of All Books, Pamphlets and Periodical Publications Printed in the United States of America [1639–1800], Chicago and Worcester, Mass., 1903–1959; 14 vols., rev. edn., www.readex.com. description ends No. 23428).

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    Source Project
    Adams Papers
    Title
    From John Adams to Oliver Hart, 26 November 1791
    Author
    Adams, John
    Recipient
    Hart, Oliver
    Date
    26 November 1791

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From John Adams to Oliver Hart, 26 November 1791,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-21-02-0055. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 21, March 1791–January 1797, ed. Sara Georgini, Sara Martin, R. M. Barlow, Gwen Fries, Amanda M. Norton, and Hobson Woodward. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2022, p. 83.]