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INVOCATION TO TRUTH.

I KNOW not in what language to utter thy operation of thought, while thy glorious essence is the subject of its contemplation. Error has so condensed the medium of speech, through which only thou canst be defined, that should thought, elevated above the atmosphere of prejudice obtain a view of thy effulgent nature, speech would sully thy glory in the clouds of definition, formed of perverted epithets and unmeaning terms.

Shine forth then in the plenitude of thy radiance! Dispel with the ardor of thy rays the thick mist of credulity and vanity, which error collects to envelope the human thought, to hide it from the least glimpse of thy light, to conceal the source of moral motion, to hide self from man, to betray him into misery, and by perpetuating the moral chaos, to universalize and eternize the pains of Nature, by the artifice of a detestable proverb, that "Truth is dangerous."

This blasphemy of the holy majesty of Nature is an infernal falsehood. While the moral world is agonizing under the double oppression of tyranny and error, where can relief be found, but in human thought in a state of absolute freedom, emancipated from all the chains of civil, domestic and religious institutions, to obtain that

clear medium of just conception, in which only thy divine nature can be discovered.

Teach mankind, that while the most feeble groan is caused by moral volition to any part of sensitive Nature, it arises from thy light being interrupted and eclipsed by error, and that thy power over moral and physical causes is sufficient to remove almost the whole of evil and misefrom the domains of Nature.

гу

O, inspire me with thy divine qualities of sympathy and probity, and unprejudiced conception, that by the energy of simple speech, though I may not be able to describe the immensity and beneficence of thy essence, I nay at least detect the machinations of tyranny and error; and induce mankind to attempt that emancipation from their yoke, which must precede, and be the twilight or that happy aurora of thy glorious sun, to, generate intellectual existence, reduce the moral chaos into system and procure happiness to all sensitive Nature!

DEDICATION,

TO THE

CHILD OF NATURE.

O rou, happy mortal, elevated above the articulated air of applause, and looking down upon humanity, not with pride but pity-you, who are in contrast with all the heroes of the world, and like visible objects become greater, the more we approach you on your eminence of sympathy, probity and wisdom-you, moving in the moral system, with the same irrefragable order that planets move with in the solar, and governed by similar laws of gravitation, towards self as the centre and sympathy or attraction towards other selfs in the universality of sensitive Nature-deign to protect the sentiments of the work now presented from the fangs of tyranny and error.

You, who in your daily perambulations, seek and give relief to various parts of distressed Nature; who from extreme anticipative powers of mind, see, and study to remove the causes as well as the effects of misery; who frequently drop a tear with your penny into the basket of the industrious poor that are ashamed to beg, and leading their half starved offspring, to strike with double force

upon sympathy-the chain of Nature. Your penetrating mind sees, and your sympathetic heart feels, the misery which pride or fear induces poverty to conceal. The numberless shops that are open to support a numerous offspring-does accident every day reward the anxiety and captivity of the owners by procuring a mere subsistence? -the doubt gives pain to your sympathetic mind, and excites the wish, that civilized association which makes no provision for misfortune or mental weakness, might be improved into natural, where wisdom assisting folly, and strength weakness, would produce universal liberty and equality, without which the moral world must ever remain in the chaos of error and misery.

Under the protection of that sympathy and probity I launch out my little bark of opinion upon the tempestuous ocean of the world; and though the storms of error, and thunderbolt of interest may impede its progress, yet, covered by your benign influence, it shall navigate unhurt, and arrive at the haven of humanity oppressed by error, and discharge its cargo of sympathy and truth, to reform and relieve mankind, by leading them to a state of intellectual existence and enlightened Nature.

In a disposition of mind interested in the happiness of all animated matter, the author of the following new ideas traversed the globe, and proposes to lay them before the public, conjuring his readers to pay them the attention their importance demands.

He must take the liberty to admonish his critics, who he hopes may be as numerous as are their interests in the subjects treated on, to withdraw the mind as much as possible from the influence of education and custom; and as the author's reflections have dared to claim and assert the right of reason, to investigate every institution that is to direct the essence of man to well-being and happiness, he hopes they will be aware how difficult it is to arrive at that elevated position, where a critic must place himself, to take a view of this work.

The rarest character I have sought for among mankind is, the man who unites the excellence of natural with that of acquired good sense or learning. The latter accustoms the mind to such habits of decision or cessation from reflection, that I believe the talents are incompatible; for a mind of great natural capacity is wholly occupied in investigating sentiments, or moral truths, while the other is constantly composing and consolidating the ideas of others and its own into new sentiments, which it labors to establish, and thereby to acquire fame for an excellence in knowledge.

The mind of natural good sense, improved by education, not books, into wisdom, is aware of the vanity of fame, and decomposes and analyzes the sentiments of others and its own, which it recommends to the discussion of mankind, and by this co-operative exercise of thought, acquires that intellectual power of reflection, that never decides, but rather reposes upon the evidence that discussion has presented, and acts thereon, till further reflection or discussion provides it with more.

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