Emory Upton to Maria Upton, February 13, 1858

WEST POINT, February 13, 1858.

DEAR SISTER: . . . I received a letter from Sister L— in which she says that she and S— have experienced religion. I hope they may have the strength to defend and exemplify it throughout their whole lives. I also hope they have attained it through a firm conviction of its being right, and that the irresistible current of a protracted meeting did not hasten them to take such an important step. Do not infer from this that I am opposed to such meetings, for I am not; on the contrary, I think they cause two thirds of the true conversions, but you know that young and inconsiderate persons often catch the enthusiasm of an excited minister, and believe they have found religion; but, as soon as the meetings cease, their enthusiasm subsides, from the want of thorough conviction, and they necessarily revert to their primitive state. My reason for not seeking religion can only be ascribed to a queer kind of apathy.

SOURCE: Peter Smith Michie, The Life and Letters of Emory Upton, p. 14