AN ADDRESS TO THE DEITY.
No longer then do I address myself to men, but to Thee, God of all
beings, of all worlds, and of all ages; if it may be permitted weak
creatures lost in immensity and imperceptible to the rest of the
universe, to presume to petition Thee for aught, who hast given
plenty of all things, and whose decrees are immutable as eternal.
Deign to look with an eye of pity on the errors annexed to our
natures! let not these errors prove the sources of misery to us! Thou
hast not given us hearts to hate, nor hands to kill one another;
grant then that we may mutually aid and assist each other to support
the burden of this painful and transitory life! May the trifling
differences in the garments that cover our frail bodies, in the
mode of expressing our insignificant thoughts, in our ridiculous
customs and our imperfect laws, in our idle opinions, and in our
several conditions and situations, that appear so disproportionate
in our eyes, and all are equal in Thine; in a word, may the slight
variations that are found amongst the atoms called men not be made
use of by us as signals of mutual hatred and persecution! May those
who worship Thee by the light of tapers at noonday bear charitably
with those who content themselves with the light of that glorious
planet Thou hast placed in the midst of the heavens! May those who
dress themselves in a robe of white linen to teach their hearers that
Thou art to be loved and feared, not detest or revile those who teach
the same doctrine in long cloaks of black wool! May it be accounted
the same to adore Thee in a dialect formed from an ancient or a
modern language! May those who, clothed in vestments of crimson or
violet color, rule over a little parcel of that heap of dirt called
the world, and are possessed of a few round fragments of a certain
metal, enjoy without pride or insolence what they call grandeur and
riches, and may others look on them without envy; for Thou knowest,
O God, that there is nothing in all these vanities proper to inspire
envy or pride.
May all men remember that they are brethren! May they alike abhor
that tyranny which seeks to subject the freedom of the will, as they
do the rapine which tears from the arms of industry the fruits of its
peaceful labors! And if the scourge of war is not to be avoided, let
us not mutually hate and destroy each other in the midst of peace;
but rather make use of the few moments of our existence to join in
praising, in a thousand different languages, from one extremity of
the world to the other, Thy goodness, O all-merciful Creator, to whom
we are indebted for that existence!