had attempted a measure so injurious to the feelings and so repugnant
to the true interest of so great a part of the citizens of the United
States. The people of New England, if you will allow me to use a
Scripture phrase, are fast returning to their first love. Will you
excite among them the spirit of angry controversy at a time when they
are hastening to amity and peace? I am told that some of our newspapers
have announced your intention to publish an additional pamphlet upon
the principles of your Age of Reason. Do you think that your pen, or
the pen of any other man, can unchristianize the mass of our citizens,
or have you hopes of converting a few of them to assist you in so bad a
cause? We ought to think ourselves happy in the enjoyment of opinion,
without the danger of persecution by civil or ecclesiastical law. Our
friend, the President of the United States, has been calumniated for
his liberal sentiments by men who have attributed that liberality to a
latent design to promote the cause of infidelity. This, and all other
slanders, have been made without the least shadow of proof. Neither
religion nor liberty can long subsist in the tumult of altercation, and
amidst the noise and violence of faction. Felix qui cautus. Adieu.