Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1801-1806, 1803-02-12

III we 20 DSck 10 your dnCcuos ana mine, tnfcc
or four huodred years ago, tor we mua have
had fathers and grandiathers or We thould not
be here, we lhall find them praying TO fsints and
virgins. aad believing in pursatory and tran
fubhantation. and iherefore all Of us are inhdcls
according 10 our toreta hers belief. five 60
back TO times more ancient. We fhair again be In
6dcls according to the belief of ioinc other iore
fathers.
Th. cafe, my friend. is, that tn. world
has been oyer-run with fable and creed. of hu-
man invention, sith feetanes of whole nations.
againt other nations, and feetaries OF thofe fec
tsries 10 each of them sgainR each other. Every
fectsry, except the Qosken. have bcen perfe-
cutor. Thofe who hed from periecu,ion ,perie-
cuted in their turn and IL is this coniuiion OF
creeds that has filed the world with periecution
& deIueed il with blood. Even the depreciation
on your commerce by the Bsrbary powers, ,fpraog
from the cruiAdes of The chutch againif thoie
powers. Ii was war Of creed agsinf cseed, each
boating Of God for its author, and re Wiling each
other with the name of inhdel. If do not be-
lieve as you believe. il proves that you DO not
believe believe, and this is all that il proves.
There is however one point OF union where.
in all religions meet, and that is in the hGt ar
ticle OF every mans creed, aud OF every nations
creed, thar has any creed at all. beiieve IN
God. Thofe who ref here, and there are mil
lions who DO. cannot be wrong as far as their
creed goes. Thofe who chuic TO 60 further may
be qVyong, for il is inpolibIe that all can be
right, ,6nce there is 70 much contradiction among
them. The fra therefore, are 10 my opinion
on the fafcfi Gde.
preiume you are 70 far acquainted with
otaEa Il l. n. A. - l. III.
who has anfwered me has been Obliged TO ac.
knowledge the fact, that the books that COM
pofe the New Tefament were voted by ytat &
rays TO be the word of God, as you nov. vote a
law, by the popifh council, OF Nice and Laodo-
cis, about r4So years ago. With refped to
the faet ,lieie Is no diipute. neither do men
ton il for the fake Of controversy. This vote
may appear authority enough to iome, aud not
authority enough TO Others. Ii is proper how
ever thar every body ihould know the fact.
With refped to the Age If ReajSx which
You 70 much condemn, and that believe with
out having read it, for ". Gay only that you
beard of it. will inform you ofa circumfance
becauie you cannot know it by other means.
| have faid in the frR page of the fra part
of that work. that il had long been my io,en-
ton to publilh nv thoughts upon religion, but
that had rciervcd il TO later time of lite. j
have now 10 inform you why wrote 1t and
publilhed IL at the time did. -.~,4
. In the frft place, fsw my life in cen,in-
ual danger. My friends we're falling as fat as
the guillotnc could cot their heads off; and as
| every dsy expected the fame fate, rctolvod 70
begin my work. / appeared 10 myielfto be on
my death bed, for death was on cvetF Gdc of
me, and had no time 10 iote. This sccounts
tor my wrisiug at the timc did anti nicey
did the time & the intention meet, that had not
6nifhcd the hrt part of that work more than fx
hours before | was aEtied and taken to prifon.
j Joel Barlow was with ne, & knows the faet.
In the iccond place, the people of France
we're running headlong into A'heifm, and had
the work tianilsted and publiihcd in their own
language. Go itop them in that career, and fix
every mans creed, who has any creed at al, be.
Lieve in God. Iendangered my own life, in the
iiR place. by oppoGng in the convention theex-
eeution of the king. ard laboring 10 ihew they
were trying the monarchy, and not the man, and
that the crimes imputed TO him were the crimes
of the monarchical iyHem and Endangered it
iecond time 10y opPcGng Athei(m and yet Jane
of yonr pricas, for do NOT believe that al are
perveric, cry OUT, in the svar 1vbosp of mon
archcsl prea-craft, What an irhde ! What
wicked man is Thomas Paine They might as
well add, for he believes in God, and j, againlt
fhedding blood.
Rot all this qDqy 7ok0ob of the pulpit iras
fomc concealed objed. Religion is not the
csufe, but is the talking horte. They put
il forward TO conceal themielves behind il. IL
is not iecret that there has been party com
pofed Of the leaders Of the Federaliits, for do
not include all Fcderalias with their leaders ~ ho
have been working by variou, means for feyeral
years paR, to oveuurn the Federal cooititniion,
eitabliihed on the representative fyifem. and
place government in the new world on the cor
rupt fy0em Of the old. To sccomphfh this a
large fanding army was neceTary. and az q
pretcnce for iuch an army, the danger of for
eign invaiion mua be beloved forth, from the
pulpit. from the prefs. s. by their public orators.
arm not of a difpoG,ion inclined to fui-
picion. Ii is in Its nature a mean and cow asdly
patton. and upon the whole, even admitting
error into the cafe, il is better, am fore il m
more generous, to be wrong on the lde Of con
hdence, than on the iidc OF fufpiciop. Bon l
know as a faet. tina, the Engliih government
daributcs annually fifteen hundred pounds Ger
ling among the Preibyterisn mipiaeo in Eng
land, and one thoufsnd among thoie of Ireland, /,
and when hear of the Grange difcourtes Of fome
ri xonr rriniArrs ard rroerNavs rs r,lsrors I