98 
If the promulgation of truth be- 
comes dangerous, let us conceal it 
in our bosoms and those of our fel- 
low friends. 
Let us institute a society for the 
preservation of this sacred fire. 
Let us become the vestals o£ truth, 
let us preserve this holy deposit pure 
and unadulterated. 
It is deplorable to conceal truth 
and happiness from mankind; but it 
is often needful. 
When the time will come for un- 
veiling the sun of eternal light it 
will be our duty to do it. 
Let us select with care the vestals 
of truth: every one is not worthy to 
nurse it. 
Our bonds shall be union and har- 
mony, order and knowledge; the re- 
sults wisdom and love, health and 
wealth, happiness and peace. 
We must unite the labor of the 
hands to the labor of the mind. 
We shall receive no salary for ad- 
mission, nor instruction, nor under 
any other shape; let us beware of ve- 
nality; must we pay to see the sun? 
But no one among us can hold 
perpetual property; he may give it 
to whom he pleases. 
We shall live in common with 
our families: our eldest men shall 
be o,ur rulers: our wisest men our 
teachers and advisers. 
Our motto shall be, To do Good 
and Keep the Truth. 
Let us be physicians of the body 
and the soul. 
Let us instruct, admonish, and 
judge mankind. 
Let us seek to become mediators 
in domestic discords, and even in 
public ones if we are able and call- 
ed upon. 
Let us guide youth, inexperience, 
ignorance, and repentance. 
And let us perform all this with- 
out reward. 
Let us pardon, ever before hand, 
those who may do us some injuries, 
as we pardon the staff of the blind- 
man striking at random. 
Let us remember that we must 
not say all to all. 
Let us beware of blood, money, 
and error. 
Let us live and let us die, for 
truth, justice, equality, benevolence 
and happiness. 
Benj. Franklin, Junr. 
4. The American Nations and 
Tribes are not Jews. 
As early as 1829, I published in 
the Evening Post a letter to the Rev. 
Ethan Smith, against the singular, 
but absurd opinion that the Ameri- 
can tribes descend from the He- 
brews or the ten lost tribes. This 
opinion based upon some religious 
prejudices and slight acquaintance 
with philology and antiquities, has 
been entertained by Penn, Adair, 
Boudinot, and several other super- 
ficial writers, among which Ira Hill, 
author of a late work, Antiquities 
of America Explained. Hagers- 
town, Maryland, 1831. It is to 
me astonishing how in this enlight- 
ened age, any such unfounded be- 
lief can be sustained; if greater ab- 
surdities still did not prevail as yet 
among a few. 
Two recent instances of egregi- 
ous folly based upon this singular 
tenet, have induced me to republish 
my letter of 1829, which if read by 
those laboring under this delusion 
cannot fail to shake their belief. 
A new Religion or sect has been 
founded upon this belief! the Mor- 
monites, thus called after a new 
Alcoran, or Book of Mormon, (which 
is not a Jewish name.) Supposed 
to be written in gold letters more 
than 2000 years ago by Mormon 
leader of the American Jews. This 
Book which no one has seen nor 
read but the founder of the sect, 
the probable writer thereof, has 
been made the Bible of a new sect. 
I have tried in vain to procure a 
copy of the translation, wherein I 
could certainly detect a crowd of 
absurdities and incongruities. Mean- 
time a Sect of Fanatics has arisen 
therefrom, and wandered from New- 
York to Ohio and Missouri: an evi- 
dent proof how false beliefs can be 
