Atheism ... That Bugbear Of

Religion Is The Centre Which Unites, And The Cement Which Connects The Several Parts Of Members Of The Political Body.

It Would Much Conduce To The Public Benefit, If, Instead Of Discouraging Free-thinking, There Was Erected In The Midst Of This Free Country A Dianoetic Academy, Or Seminary For Free-thinkers, Provided With Retired Chambers, And Galleries, And Shady Walks And Groves, Where, After Seven Years Spent In Silence And Meditation, A Man Might Commence A Genuine Free-thinker, And From That Time Forward, Have License To Think What He Pleased, And A Badge To Distinguish Him From Counterfeits.

The Real Essence, The Internal Qualities, And Constitution Of Even The Meanest Object, Is Hid From Our View; Something There Is Inevery Drop Of Water, Every Grain Of Sand, Which It Is Beyond The Power Of Human Understanding To Fathom Or Comprehend. But It Is Evidentthat We Are Influenced By False Principles To That Degree As To Mistrust Our Senses, And Think We Know Nothing Of Those Things Which We Perfectly Comprehend.

What Doubts, What Hypotheses, What Labyrinths Of Amusement, What Fields Of Disputation, What An Ocean Of False Learning, May Be Avoided By That Single Notion Of Immaterialism!

So Long As I Confine My Thoughts To My Own Ideas Divested Of Words, I Do Not See How I Can Be Easily Mistaken.