[632] Morse had been at pains in his sermon to recommend Robison’s volume as throwing a flood of light upon “the causes which have brought the world into its present disorganized state.” (_Ibid._, pp. 24 _et seq._) Later it must have occurred to him that the silence he had maintained in the pulpit respecting Masonry’s part in the conspiracy was bound to be noticed by all who upon his recommendation read Robison’s volume. [633] _Ibid._, p. 21. [634] Morse, _op. cit._, p. 21. [635] _Ibid._, p. 22. [636] _Ibid._, pp. 21, 22. For the time being Morse was content to follow the example of Robison. The latter, in his discussion of English Freemasonry, made a fairly sharp distinction between the English system and the Masonic systems of the continent. That distinction, on the whole, was decidedly favorable to English Freemasonry. By every consideration of precedent and prudence Morse must have felt strongly impelled to pursue the same course. [637] _Ibid._, p. 22. [638] Morse, _op. cit._, p. 25. [639] _Ibid._, pp. 25 _et seq._ [640] _Cf. supra_, ch. i, 2. [641] _Cf. supra_, pp. 125 _et seq._ [642] The editor of as loyal and resourceful a Federalist sheet as the _Columbian Centinel_, for example, insisted upon treating as a whole the performances of the clergy on the occasion of the national fast, and refused to make discriminations with respect to the special import or merit of any particular minister’s performance: “Wednesday last was observed throughout the United States as a day of Fasting and Prayer. (Within the sphere of our information we can say, that on no occasion were there ever exhibited more moral patriotism, and more ardent devotion.) The Clergy on this occasion came forward with a zeal which added greatly to the high character they have long enjoyed, as Patriots. We could instance numerous traits of Federalism, which would do them honour; but when all of them are entitled to praise, it would be invidious to make distinctions.” (_Columbian Centinel_, May 12, 1798.) [643] _Wolcott Papers_, viii, 23. [644] _A Discourse, Delivered at the Roman Catholic Church in Boston on the 9th of May, 1798._ ... By the Reverend John Thayer, Catholic Missioner, Boston, 1798. [645] _Ibid._, p. 23. [646] _Op. cit._ [647] _Independent Chronicle_, May 31, 1798. [648] _Ibid._ The “observations” referred to really threw no new light upon the situation. They amounted to nothing more than proof of the fact that the editor of the _New York Spectator_ had accepted the idea of the Illuminati conspiracy. This being the case he was anxious to warn his readers that if they would escape from the designs of the French government they must make their choice, and that speedily, between “INDEPENDENCE and SUBMISSION.” [649] _Independent Chronicle_, June 14, 1798.