"These instances," he observes, "shew Mr. Jefferson to want firmness, and a man, who shall once "have abandoned the helm in the hour of danger, "or at the appearance of a tempest, seems not fit 66 to be trusted in better times, for no one can know "how soon or from whence a storm may come."

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"We are next informed of Mr. Jefferson's "attachment to the RELIGIOUS rights of mankind,' and are referred for his sentiments respecting religious liberty to his writings, his conduct, and particularly to the " act establishing religious freedom," drawn up by him.

"Hampden would have acted more wisely, and more conformably, I am persuaded, to the wishes of his patron, had he passed over this tender subject in silence. It was certainly indiscreet to mention Thomas Jefferson and religion in the same paragraph of an eulogy.-Religious freedom and freedom from religion are now become convertible terms with most modern philosophers, particularly those who have been educated in the philosophical schools of France. Mr. Jefferson has been heard to say, since his return from France, that the men of letters and philosophers he had, met with in that country, were generally Atheists. The late impious and blasphemous works of Thomas Paine, reviling the christian religion, have been much applauded in France, and have been very industriously circulated in the United States, by all that class of people who are friendly to Mr. Jefferson's politics, and anxiously desirous of his election to the presidency. Mr. Jeffersons's friendship for Paine has been already mentioned; that anti-christian writer had apartments at Citizen Monroe's at Paris, and should Mr. Jefferson be President, there is no doubt Tom would return to this country, and be a conspicuous figure at the President's table at Philadelphia, where this enlightened pair of philosophers would frater

nize,

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nize, and philosophize against the christian religion, and all religious worship.-Whatever new lights Jefferson may have acquired in France, it is certain that he had naturally very good pre-dispositions on the subject of religion. In his Notes on Virginia, page 169, in discussing the subject of religious freedom, he makes this witty observation" It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god; it neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg; if it be "said, his testimony in a court of justice cannot "be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma "on him." In page 170, he says, " millions of "innocent men, women and children, since the "introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, "tortured, fined and imprisoned." In page 171, speaking of the state of religion in Pennsylvania and New-York, he says, "Religion there is well "supported, of various kinds indeed, but all good "enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and "order."

"Which ought we to be the most shocked at, the levity or the impiety of these remarks?" it does "me no injury, if my neighbour is AN ATHEIST, "because it does not break my leg!" What? do I receive no injury, as a member of society, if I am surrounded with atheists, with whom I can have no social intercourse, on whom there are none of those religious and sacred ties, which restrain mankind from the perpetration of crimes, and without which ties civil society would soon degenerate into a wretched state of barbarism, and be stained with scenes of turpitude and with every kind of atrocity?

"There are religions, of various kinds indeed, says our philosopher, BUT ALL GOOD ENOUGH."

"Good enough indeed for him, who established and patronized a newspaper, one object of which was to revile Christianity! It is not forgotten, that

the

the National Gazette, published by a clerk in the department of state, and under the auspices of the Secretary, lost no convenient opportunity of making a mockery of religion*, and vilifying the clergy of the country.

"It is well observed by a modern writer, "that patriotism, as a moral principle attaching itself to political society, depends, like every other moral principle, on its relation to religion. The Creator of man has bound the social to the divine virtues, and made our devotion and our reverence to himself, the ground work of our duties to our brethren and to our country.

"The act for establishing religious freedom in Virginia, (the necessity for which is not very obvious,) has been much extolled by Mr. Jefferson's panegyrists. I ask them, what good effects has it produced? Does religion flourish in Virginia more than it did, or more than in the eastern states? Is public worship better attended? Are the ministers of the gospel better supported, than in the eastern states?

"That act, which is nearly all preamble, setting forth a series of principles, some of which are proved by late experience in France to be very questionable, has, in my opinion, an immediate tendency to produce a total disregard to public worship, an absolute indifference to all religion whatever. It states, among other things, "that we ought not to be obliged to support even the ministers of our own religious persuasion, and that

* See, among various instances, the thirty-sixth Number of the National Gazette, where the belief of a Providence is treated as an impious tenet. In the time of Robespierre, a member of the convention, who had introduced into his speech the word Providence, was called to order, by the cry of Point de Providence, no Providence.

our

our civil rights have no more dependence on our religious opinions, than on our opinions in physic or geometry." The act then declares," that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or minister whatever, and that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions, in matters of religion, without diminishing their civil capacities."

"I will not accuse Mr. Jefferson of having been influenced by selfish views, in getting this act passed; but those acquainted with his conduct and opinions will agree with me, that he has fully taken advantage of every tittle of the preamble and enacting clause: he has by his conduct proved his religious freedom, or, rather, his freedom from religion; and, by his opinions, his right to maintain by argument any doctrine, whatever, in matters of religion. Who ever saw him in a place of worship? The man who can say he has seen such a phenomenon, is himself a much greater curiosity than the elephant now travelling through the southern states.

"But how inconsistent, not only with truth, but with themselves, are these visionary philosophers, who are thus always striking out some new doctrine? The preamble states, that our civil rights have no dependence whatever on our religious opinions; and yet it immediately after admits, that religious opinions may break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and yet the letter just quoted speaks of criminal acts dictated by religious error!

"What a conformity do we find between the sentiments of Mr. Jefferson, in matters of religion, and those of Tom Paine? Where is the wonder, then, if the works of the latter are circulated with so much zeal by the friends of the former? Tom Paine has ridiculed the Holy Scriptures, and reprobated

probated public worship. Tom Jefferson has attempted to disprove the deluge-has made it a question whether the Almighty ever had a chosen people*, and has, by example and precept, discountenanced public worship. Such is the Chief Magistrate whom the patriots of citizen Fauchet have selected for the United States!! Such the kindred philosophers, whose new lights are to be disseminated throughout America, under the auspices of the Chief Magistrate of the Union!

"The opinions of Mr. Jefferson, relative to the present constitution of the United States, are next in order to be considered.

"If he is not antifederal, it will not be denied that he entertained very considerable objections to the constitution, and that his advice to call a second convention, if pursued, would have prevented our having ever obtained so good a constitution.

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"Some of his opinions, relative to the constitution, are to be found in a series of letters, written from Paris, in the years 1788 and 1789. Partial extracts from these letters were published in 1792, by a friend of Mr. Jefferson, as a vindication of his federalism. How far they established it, will now appear.

"In a letter, dated 20th December, 1787, after expressing his approbation of some of the features of the new constitution, which had been generally approved of, and which he could not well object to, he says, "I will now add what I do not like: "first, the omission of a bill of rights, &c. &c. "The second feature I dislike, and greatly dislike, "is, the abandonment, in every instance, of the necessity of rotation in office, and most particularly

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*Notes on Virginia, p. 175. "Those who labour on the earth, are the chosen people of God, if ever be bad a chosen people."