victory, which before he had despaired of--did then
immediately acknowledge that they had a God, and that they should no
longer be reviled as atheists; since it was plain that men might believe
in a God, and carry about the image of him in their own minds, though
they had no visible one. It is thus we are all believers. We carry about
with us, in the sanctuary of our own bosoms, our image of the great and
almighty God whom we serve; and before that, and that only, do we bow
down and worship. Were we indeed atheists, it were not unreasonable that
you dealt with us as you now do, nay and much more severely; for, where
belief in a God does not exist, it is not easy to see how any state can
long hold together. The necessary bond is wanting, and, as a sheaf of
wheat when the band is broken, it must fall asunder.

'The first principle of the religion of Christ is this belief in God; in
his righteous providence here on earth, and in a righteous retribution
hereafter. How then can the religion of Christ in this respect be of
dangerous influence or tendency? It is well known to all, who are
acquainted in the least with history or philosophy, that in the religion
of the Jews, the belief and worship of one God almost constitutes the
religion itself. Every thing else is inferior and subordinate. In this
respect the religion of Jesus is like that of the Jews. It is exceeding
jealous of the honor and worship of this one God--this very same God of
the Jews; for Jesus was himself a Jew, and has revealed to us the same
God whom we are required to worship, only with none of the ceremonies,
rites, and sacrifices, which were peculiar to that people. It is this
which has caused us, equally to our and their displeasure, frequently to
be confounded together, and mistaken the one for the other. But the
differences between us are, excepting in the great doctrine I have just
named, very great and essential. This doctrine therefore, which is the
chief of all, being so fundamental with us, it is not easy, I say, to
see how we can on religious accounts be dangerous to the state. For
many things are comprehended in and follow from this faith. It is not a
barren, unprofitable speculation, but a practical and restraining
doctrine of the greatest moral efficiency. If it be not this to us, to
all and every one of us, it is not what it ought to be and we wrongly
understand or else wilfully pervert it.

'We believe that we are everywhere surrounded by th