59 



to avoid the pestiferous embraces of Carlisle's 

 associates. By this sudden and avowed sup- 

 pression of your Lectures, infidelity is now de- 

 prived of the aids of science, and left to appear 

 in her native darkness and deformity. She may 

 still stalk abroad in the garb of obscurity, and 

 wave the dagger of the assassin ; she may utter 

 the ravings of democracy, and gain converts 

 amidst the outcasts of Society ; but, henceforth, 

 she will be excluded, I trust, from the schools of 

 science, and expelled from our hospitals and 

 colleges ; and thus this salutary truth will be in- 

 culcated on the Deist, that he must retain his 

 opinions within his own bosom, if he would pre- 

 serve the respect and admiration to which his 

 talents may, perhaps, justly aspire. 



I am not so vain as to suppose that my short 

 and Cursory Observations on your Lectures, 

 can in any degree, have led to their suppression; 

 nor am 1 disposed to triumph in a victory which 

 may be attributed either to your own feelings of 

 propriety, or to the far abler exertions of others. 

 In a cause like ours, every sentiment of personal 

 exultation must be lost amidst joy and gratula- 

 tion at the event; for without any excessive 

 compliment to your talents, we may still address 

 you as the Hector of a vanquished Host. 



Si Pergama dextra 

 Defend! possent, ctiarp hac defensa fuisicnt. 



