Our first concern, as lovers of our country, must be to enlighten it. Enlighten them and you will elevate them. Show them they are men, and they will act like men. Give them just ideas of civil government, and let them know that it is an expedient for gaining protection against injury and defending their rights, and it will be impossible for them to submit to governments which, like most of those now in the world, are usurpations on the rights of men, and little better than contrivances for enabling the f ew to oppress the many. Set religion before them as a rational service, consisting not in rites and ceremonies, but in worshipping God with a pure heart and practicing righteousness from the fear of his displeasure and the apprehension of a future righteous judgment, and that gloomy and cruel superstition will be abolished which has hitherto gone under the name of religion, and to the support of which civil government has been perverted.
Ignorance is the parent of bigotry, intolerance, persecution, and slavery.
Happy is the person who, himself raised above vulgar errors, is conscious of having aimed at giving mankind this instruction. They sowed a seed which has since taken root, and is now growing up to a glorious harvest. To the information they conveyed by their writings we owe those revolutions in which every friend of mankind is now exulting. Every degree of illumination which we can communicate must do the greatest good. It helps to prepare the minds of men for the recovery of their rights, and hastens the overthrow of priestcraft and tyranny.