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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3743-0.txt b/3743-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e7c8053 --- /dev/null +++ b/3743-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7346 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV., by Thomas Paine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you +will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before +using this eBook. + +Title: The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV. + 1794-1796. + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Editor: Moncure Daniel Conway + +Release Date: August 14, 2001 [eBook #3743] +[Most recently updated: March 20, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +Produced by: Norman M. Wolcott and David Widger + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + + + + +The Writings of Thomas Paine + +The Age of Reason — Part I and II + +by Thomas Paine + +Collected And Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway + +VOLUME IV. + +(1796) + + +Contents + + EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION + + THE AGE OF REASON — PART I + CHAPTER I. THE AUTHOR’S PROFESSION OF FAITH + CHAPTER II. OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS + CHAPTER III. CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY + CHAPTER IV. OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY + CHAPTER V. EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES + CHAPTER VI. OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY + CHAPTER VII. EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT + CHAPTER VIII. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT + CHAPTER IX. IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS + CHAPTER X. CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES BY THE BIBLE + CHAPTER XI. OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY + CHAPTER XII. THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED REFORMS + CHAPTER XIII. COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS INSPIRED BY NATURE + CHAPTER XIV. SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE + CHAPTER XV. ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR SYSTEM + CHAPTER XVI. APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE CHRISTIANS + CHAPTER XVII. OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLES + RECAPITULATION + + THE AGE OF REASON — PART II + PREFACE + CHAPTER I. THE OLD TESTAMENT + CHAPTER II. THE NEW TESTAMENT + CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION + + + + +EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION + +WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES. + + +In the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its +king, the wrath turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace +every tyrant claimed to reign. But eventualities had brought among them +a great English and American heart—Thomas Paine. He had pleaded for +Louis Capet—“Kill the king but spare the man.” Now he +pleaded,—“Disbelieve in the King of kings, but do not confuse with that +idol the Father of Mankind!” + +In Paine’s Preface to the Second Part of “The Age of Reason” he +describes himself as writing the First Part near the close of the year +1793. “I had not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has +since appeared, before a guard came about three in the morning, with an +order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, +for putting me in arrestation.” This was on the morning of December 28. +But it is necessary to weigh the words just quoted—“in the state it has +since appeared.” For on August 5, 1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an +appeal for Paine’s liberation, wrote as follows: “I deliver to Merlin +de Thionville a copy of the last work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason], +formerly our colleague, and in custody since the decree excluding +foreigners from the national representation. This book was written by +the author in the beginning of the year ’93 (old style). I undertook +its translation before the revolution against priests, and it was +published in French about the same time. Couthon, to whom I sent it, +seemed offended with me for having translated this work.” + +Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of +Robespierre, this early publication seems to have been so effectually +suppressed that no copy bearing that date, 1793, can be found in France +or elsewhere. In Paine’s letter to Samuel Adams, printed in the present +volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to stay the +progress of atheism, and that he endangered his life “by opposing +atheism.” The time indicated by Lanthenas as that in which he submitted +the work to Couthon would appear to be the latter part of March, 1793, +the fury against the priesthood having reached its climax in the +decrees against them of March 19 and 26. If the moral deformity of +Couthon, even greater than that of his body, be remembered, and the +readiness with which death was inflicted for the most theoretical +opinion not approved by the “Mountain,” it will appear probable that +the offence given Couthon by Paine’s book involved danger to him and +his translator. On May 31, when the Girondins were accused, the name of +Lanthenas was included, and he barely escaped; and on the same day +Danton persuaded Paine not to appear in the Convention, as his life +might be in danger. Whether this was because of the “Age of Reason,” +with its fling at the “Goddess Nature” or not, the statements of author +and translator are harmonized by the fact that Paine prepared the +manuscript, with considerable additions and changes, for publication in +English, as he has stated in the Preface to Part II. + +A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by sentence, +proved to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to Merlin de +Thionville in 1794 is the same as that he sent to Couthon in 1793. This +discovery was the means of recovering several interesting sentences of +the original work. I have given as footnotes translations of such +clauses and phrases of the French work as appeared to be important. +Those familiar with the translations of Lanthenas need not be reminded +that he was too much of a literalist to depart from the manuscript +before him, and indeed he did not even venture to alter it in an +instance (presently considered) where it was obviously needed. Nor +would Lanthenas have omitted any of the paragraphs lacking in his +translation. This original work was divided into seventeen chapters, +and these I have restored, translating their headings into English. The +“Age of Reason” is thus for the first time given to the world with +nearly its original completeness. + +It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of his +“Age of Reason” (Part I.) which went through the press while he was in +prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some sentences as +abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable instance is the +dropping out of his estimate of Jesus the words rendered by Lanthenas +“trop peu imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu.” The addition of these +words to Paine’s tribute makes it the more notable that almost the only +recognition of the human character and life of Jesus by any theological +writer of that generation came from one long branded as an infidel. + +To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must be +attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already alluded +to, as one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity, would have +corrected. This is Paine’s repeated mention of six planets, and +enumeration of them, twelve years after the discovery of Uranus. Paine +was a devoted student of astronomy, and it cannot for a moment be +supposed that he had not participated in the universal welcome of +Herschel’s discovery. The omission of any allusion to it convinces me +that the astronomical episode was printed from a manuscript written +before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. Unfamiliar with French in +1793, Paine might not have discovered the erratum in Lanthenas’ +translation, and, having no time for copying, he would naturally use as +much as possible of the same manuscript in preparing his work for +English readers. But he had no opportunity of revision, and there +remains an erratum which, if my conjecture be correct, casts a +significant light on the paragraphs in which he alludes to the +preparation of the work. He states that soon after his publication of +“Common Sense” (1776), he “saw the exceeding probability that a +revolution in the system of government would be followed by a +revolution in the system of religion,” and that “man would return to +the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God and no more.” He +tells Samuel Adams that it had long been his intention to publish his +thoughts upon religion, and he had made a similar remark to John Adams +in 1776. Like the Quakers among whom he was reared Paine could then +readily use the phrase “word of God” for anything in the Bible which +approved itself to his “inner light,” and as he had drawn from the +first Book of Samuel a divine condemnation of monarchy, John Adams, a +Unitarian, asked him if he believed in the inspiration of the Old +Testament. Paine replied that he did not, and at a later period meant +to publish his views on the subject. There is little doubt that he +wrote from time to time on religious points, during the American war, +without publishing his thoughts, just as he worked on the problem of +steam navigation, in which he had invented a practicable method (ten +years before John Fitch made his discovery) without publishing it. At +any rate it appears to me certain that the part of “The Age of Reason” +connected with Paine’s favorite science, astronomy, was written before +1781, when Uranus was discovered. + +Paine’s theism, however invested with biblical and Christian +phraseology, was a birthright. It appears clear from several allusions +in “The Age of Reason” to the Quakers that in his early life, or before +the middle of the eighteenth century, the people so called were +substantially Deists. An interesting confirmation of Paine’s statements +concerning them appears as I write in an account sent by Count Leo +Tolstoi to the London ‘Times’ of the Russian sect called Dukhobortsy +(The Times, October 23, 1895). This sect sprang up in the last century, +and the narrative says: + +“The first seeds of the teaching called afterwards ‘Dukhoborcheskaya’ +were sown by a foreigner, a Quaker, who came to Russia. The fundamental +idea of his Quaker teaching was that in the soul of man dwells God +himself, and that He himself guides man by His inner word. God lives in +nature physically and in man’s soul spiritually. To Christ, as to an +historical personage, the Dukhobortsy do not ascribe great +importance... Christ was God’s son, but only in the sense in which we +call, ourselves ‘sons of God.’ The purpose of Christ’s sufferings was +no other than to show us an example of suffering for truth. The Quakers +who, in 1818, visited the Dukhobortsy, could not agree with them upon +these religious subjects; and when they heard from them their opinion +about Jesus Christ (that he was a man), exclaimed ‘Darkness!’ From the +Old and New Testaments,’ they say, ‘we take only what is useful,’ +mostly the moral teaching.... The moral ideas of the Dukhobortsy are +the following:—All men are, by nature, equal; external distinctions, +whatsoever they may be, are worth nothing. This idea of men’s equality +the Dukhoborts have directed further, against the State authority.... +Amongst themselves they hold subordination, and much more, a +monarchical Government, to be contrary to their ideas.” + +Here is an early Hicksite Quakerism carried to Russia long before the +birth of Elias Hicks, who recovered it from Paine, to whom the American +Quakers refused burial among them. Although Paine arraigned the union +of Church and State, his ideal Republic was religious; it was based on +a conception of equality based on the divine son-ship of every man. +This faith underlay equally his burden against claims to divine +partiality by a “Chosen People,” a Priesthood, a Monarch “by the grace +of God,” or an Aristocracy. Paine’s “Reason” is only an expansion of +the Quaker’s “inner light”; and the greater impression, as compared +with previous republican and deistic writings made by his “Rights of +Man” and “Age of Reason” (really volumes of one work), is partly +explained by the apostolic fervor which made him a spiritual, successor +of George Fox. + +Paine’s mind was by no means skeptical, it was eminently instructive. +That he should have waited until his fifty-seventh year before +publishing his religious convictions was due to a desire to work out +some positive and practicable system to take the place of that which he +believed was crumbling. The English engineer Hall, who assisted Paine +in making the model of his iron bridge, wrote to his friends in +England, in 1786: “My employer has Common Sense enough to disbelieve +most of the common systematic theories of Divinity, but does not seem +to establish any for himself.” But five years later Paine was able to +lay the corner-stone of his temple: “With respect to religion itself, +without regard to names, and as directing itself from the universal +family of mankind to the ‘Divine object of all adoration, it is man +bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those fruits +may differ from each other like the fruits of the earth, the grateful +tribute of every one, is accepted.” (“Rights of Man.” See my edition of +Paine’s Writings, ii., p. 326.) Here we have a reappearance of George +Fox confuting the doctor in America who “denied the light and Spirit of +God to be in every one; and affirmed that it was not in the Indians. +Whereupon I called an Indian to us, and asked him ‘whether or not, when +he lied, or did wrong to anyone, there was not something in him that +reproved him for it?’ He said, ‘There was such a thing in him that did +so reprove him; and he was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken +wrong.’ So we shamed the doctor before the governor and the people.” +(Journal of George Fox, September 1672.) + +Paine, who coined the phrase “Religion of Humanity” (The Crisis, vii., +1778), did but logically defend it in “The Age of Reason,” by denying a +special revelation to any particular tribe, or divine authority in any +particular creed of church; and the centenary of this much-abused +publication has been celebrated by a great conservative champion of +Church and State, Mr. Balfour, who, in his “Foundations of Belief,” +affirms that “inspiration” cannot be denied to the great Oriental +teachers, unless grapes may be gathered from thorns. + +The centenary of the complete publication of “The Age of Reason,” +(October 25, 1795), was also celebrated at the Church Congress, +Norwich, on October 10, 1895, when Professor Bonney, F.R.S., Canon of +Manchester, read a paper in which he said: “I cannot deny that the +increase of scientific knowledge has deprived parts of the earlier +books of the Bible of the historical value which was generally +attributed to them by our forefathers. The story of Creation in the +Book of Genesis, unless we play fast and loose either with words or +with science, cannot be brought into harmony with what we have learnt +from geology. Its ethnological statements are imperfect, if not +sometimes inaccurate. The stories of the Fall, of the Flood, and of the +Tower of Babel, are incredible in their present form. Some historical +element may underlie many of the traditions in the first eleven +chapters in that book, but this we cannot hope to recover.” Canon +Bonney proceeded to say of the New Testament also, that “the Gospels +are not so far as we know, strictly contemporaneous records, so we must +admit the possibility of variations and even inaccuracies in details +being introduced by oral tradition.” The Canon thinks the interval too +short for these importations to be serious, but that any question of +this kind is left open proves the Age of Reason fully upon us. Reason +alone can determine how many texts are as spurious as the three +heavenly witnesses (i John v. 7), and like it “serious” enough to have +cost good men their lives, and persecutors their charities. When men +interpolate, it is because they believe their interpolation seriously +needed. It will be seen by a note in Part II. of the work, that Paine +calls attention to an interpolation introduced into the first American +edition without indication of its being an editorial footnote. This +footnote was: “The book of Luke was carried by a majority of one only. +Vide Moshelm’s Ecc. History.” Dr. Priestley, then in America, answered +Paine’s work, and in quoting less than a page from the “Age of Reason” +he made three alterations,—one of which changed “church mythologists” +into “Christian mythologists,”—and also raised the editorial footnote +into the text, omitting the reference to Mosheim. Having done this, +Priestley writes: “As to the gospel of Luke being carried by a majority +of one only, it is a legend, if not of Mr. Paine’s own invention, of no +better authority whatever.” And so on with further castigation of the +author for what he never wrote, and which he himself (Priestley) was +the unconscious means of introducing into the text within the year of +Paine’s publication. + +If this could be done, unintentionally by a conscientious and exact +man, and one not unfriendly to Paine, if such a writer as Priestley +could make four mistakes in citing half a page, it will appear not very +wonderful when I state that in a modern popular edition of “The Age of +Reason,” including both parts, I have noted about five hundred +deviations from the original. These were mainly the accumulated efforts +of friendly editors to improve Paine’s grammar or spelling; some were +misprints, or developed out of such; and some resulted from the sale in +London of a copy of Part Second surreptitiously made from the +manuscript. These facts add significance to Paine’s footnote (itself +altered in some editions!), in which he says: “If this has happened +within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of printing, +which prevents the alteration of copies individually; what may not have +happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no printing, +and when any man who could write, could make a written copy, and call +it an original, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.” + +Nothing appears to me more striking, as an illustration of the +far-reaching effects of traditional prejudice, than the errors into +which some of our ablest contemporary scholars have fallen by reason of +their not having studied Paine. Professor Huxley, for instance, +speaking of the freethinkers of the eighteenth century, admires the +acuteness, common sense, wit, and the broad humanity of the best of +them, but says “there is rarely much to be said for their work as an +example of the adequate treatment of a grave and difficult +investigation,” and that they shared with their adversaries “to the +full the fatal weakness of a priori philosophizing.” [NOTE: Science and +Christian Tradition, p. 18 (Lon. ed., 1894).] Professor Huxley does not +name Paine, evidently because he knows nothing about him. Yet Paine +represents the turning-point of the historical freethinking movement; +he renounced the ‘a priori’ method, refused to pronounce anything +impossible outside pure mathematics, rested everything on evidence, and +really founded the Huxleyan school. He plagiarized by anticipation many +things from the rationalistic leaders of our time, from Strauss and +Baur (being the first to expatiate on “Christian Mythology”), from +Renan (being the first to attempt recovery of the human Jesus), and +notably from Huxley, who has repeated Paine’s arguments on the +untrustworthiness of the biblical manuscripts and canon, on the +inconsistencies of the narratives of Christ’s resurrection, and various +other points. None can be more loyal to the memory of Huxley than the +present writer, and it is even because of my sense of his grand +leadership that he is here mentioned as a typical instance of the +extent to which the very elect of free-thought may be unconsciously +victimized by the phantasm with which they are contending. He says that +Butler overthrew freethinkers of the eighteenth century type, but Paine +was of the nineteenth century type; and it was precisely because of his +critical method that he excited more animosity than his deistical +predecessors. He compelled the apologists to defend the biblical +narratives in detail, and thus implicitly acknowledge the tribunal of +reason and knowledge to which they were summoned. The ultimate answer +by police was a confession of judgment. A hundred years ago England was +suppressing Paine’s works, and many an honest Englishman has gone to +prison for printing and circulating his “Age of Reason.” The same views +are now freely expressed; they are heard in the seats of learning, and +even in the Church Congress; but the suppression of Paine, begun by +bigotry and ignorance, is continued in the long indifference of the +representatives of our Age of Reason to their pioneer and founder. It +is a grievous loss to them and to their cause. It is impossible to +understand the religious history of England, and of America, without +studying the phases of their evolution represented in the writings of +Thomas Paine, in the controversies that grew out of them with such +practical accompaniments as the foundation of the Theophilanthropist +Church in Paris and New York, and of the great rationalist wing of +Quakerism in America. + +Whatever may be the case with scholars in our time, those of Paine’s +time took the “Age of Reason” very seriously indeed. Beginning with the +learned Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, a large number of +learned men replied to Paine’s work, and it became a signal for the +commencement of those concessions, on the part of theology, which have +continued to our time; and indeed the so-called “Broad Church” is to +some extent an outcome of “The Age of Reason.” It would too much +enlarge this Introduction to cite here the replies made to Paine +(thirty-six are catalogued in the British Museum), but it may be +remarked that they were notably free, as a rule, from the personalities +that raged in the pulpits. I must venture to quote one passage from his +very learned antagonist, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., “late Fellow +of Jesus College, Cambridge.” Wakefield, who had resided in London +during all the Paine panic, and was well acquainted with the slanders +uttered against the author of “Rights of Man,” indirectly brands them +in answering Paine’s argument that the original and traditional +unbelief of the Jews, among whom the alleged miracles were wrought, is +an important evidence against them. The learned divine writes: + +“But the subject before us admits of further illustration from the +example of Mr. Paine himself. In this country, where his opposition to +the corruptions of government has raised him so many adversaries, and +such a swarm of unprincipled hirelings have exerted themselves in +blackening his character and in misrepresenting all the transactions +and incidents of his life, will it not be a most difficult, nay an +impossible task, for posterity, after a lapse of 1700 years, if such a +wreck of modern literature as that of the ancient, should intervene, to +identify the real circumstances, moral and civil, of the man? And will +a true historian, such as the Evangelists, be credited at that future +period against such a predominant incredulity, without large and mighty +accessions of collateral attestation? And how transcendently +extraordinary, I had almost said miraculous, will it be estimated by +candid and reasonable minds, that a writer whose object was a +melioration of condition to the common people, and their deliverance +from oppression, poverty, wretchedness, to the numberless blessings of +upright and equal government, should be reviled, persecuted, and burned +in effigy, with every circumstance of insult and execration, by these +very objects of his benevolent intentions, in every corner of the +kingdom?” After the execution of Louis XVI., for whose life Paine +pleaded so earnestly,—while in England he was denounced as an +accomplice in the deed,—he devoted himself to the preparation of a +Constitution, and also to gathering up his religious compositions and +adding to them. This manuscript I suppose to have been prepared in what +was variously known as White’s Hotel or Philadelphia House, in Paris, +No. 7 Passage des Petits Peres. This compilation of early and fresh +manuscripts (if my theory be correct) was labelled, “The Age of +Reason,” and given for translation to Francois Lanthenas in March 1793. +It is entered, in Qudrard (La France Literaire) under the year 1793, +but with the title “L’Age de la Raison” instead of that which it bore +in 1794, “Le Siecle de la Raison.” The latter, printed “Au Burcau de +l’imprimerie, rue du Theatre-Francais, No. 4,” is said to be by “Thomas +Paine, Citoyen et cultivateur de l’Amerique septentrionale, secretaire +du Congres du departement des affaires etrangeres pendant la guerre +d’Amerique, et auteur des ouvrages intitules: LA SENS COMMUN et LES +DROITS DE L’HOMME.” + +When the Revolution was advancing to increasing terrors, Paine, +unwilling to participate in the decrees of a Convention whose sole +legal function was to frame a Constitution, retired to an old mansion +and garden in the Faubourg St. Denis, No. 63. Mr. J.G. Alger, whose +researches in personal details connected with the Revolution are +original and useful, recently showed me in the National Archives at +Paris, some papers connected with the trial of Georgeit, Paine’s +landlord, by which it appears that the present No. 63 is not, as I had +supposed, the house in which Paine resided. Mr. Alger accompanied me to +the neighborhood, but we were not able to identify the house. The +arrest of Georgeit is mentioned by Paine in his essay on +“Forgetfulness” (Writings, iii., 319). When his trial came on one of +the charges was that he had kept in his house “Paine and other +Englishmen,”—Paine being then in prison,—but he (Georgeit) was +acquitted of the paltry accusations brought against him by his Section, +the “Faubourg du Nord.” This Section took in the whole east side of the +Faubourg St. Denis, whereas the present No. 63 is on the west side. +After Georgeit (or Georger) had been arrested, Paine was left alone in +the large mansion (said by Rickman to have been once the hotel of +Madame de Pompadour), and it would appear, by his account, that it was +after the execution (October 31, 1793) Of his friends the Girondins, +and political comrades, that he felt his end at hand, and set about his +last literary bequest to the world,—“The Age of Reason,”—in the state +in which it has since appeared, as he is careful to say. There was +every probability, during the months in which he wrote (November and +December 1793) that he would be executed. His religious testament was +prepared with the blade of the guillotine suspended over him,—a fact +which did not deter pious mythologists from portraying his death-bed +remorse for having written the book. + +In editing Part I. of “The Age of Reason,” I follow closely the first +edition, which was printed by Barrois in Paris from the manuscript, no +doubt under the superintendence of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine, on his +way to the Luxembourg, had confided it. Barlow was an American +ex-clergyman, a speculator on whose career French archives cast an +unfavorable light, and one cannot be certain that no liberties were +taken with Paine’s proofs. + +I may repeat here what I have stated in the outset of my editorial work +on Paine that my rule is to correct obvious misprints, and also any +punctuation which seems to render the sense less clear. And to that I +will now add that in following Paine’s quotations from the Bible I have +adopted the Plan now generally used in place of his occasionally too +extended writing out of book, chapter, and verse. + +Paine was imprisoned in the Luxembourg on December 28, 1793, and +released on November 4, 1794. His liberation was secured by his old +friend, James Monroe (afterwards President), who had succeeded his +(Paine’s) relentless enemy, Gouverneur Morris, as American Minister in +Paris. He was found by Monroe more dead than alive from +semi-starvation, cold, and an abscess contracted in prison, and taken +to the Minister’s own residence. It was not supposed that he could +survive, and he owed his life to the tender care of Mr. and Mrs. +Monroe. It was while thus a prisoner in his room, with death still +hovering over him, that Paine wrote Part Second of “The Age of Reason.” + +The work was published in London by H.D. Symonds on October 25, 1795, +and claimed to be “from the Author’s manuscript.” It is marked as +“Entered at Stationers Hall,” and prefaced by an apologetic note of +“The Bookseller to the Public,” whose commonplaces about avoiding both +prejudice and partiality, and considering “both sides,” need not be +quoted. While his volume was going through the press in Paris, Paine +heard of the publication in London, which drew from him the following +hurried note to a London publisher, no doubt Daniel Isaacs Eaton: + +“SIR,—I have seen advertised in the London papers the second Edition +[part] of the Age of Reason, printed, the advertisement says, from the +Author’s Manuscript, and entered at Stationers Hall. I have never sent +any manuscript to any person. It is therefore a forgery to say it is +printed from the author’s manuscript; and I suppose is done to give the +Publisher a pretence of Copy Right, which he has no title to. + +“I send you a printed copy, which is the only one I have sent to +London. I wish you to make a cheap edition of it. I know not by what +means any copy has got over to London. If any person has made a +manuscript copy I have no doubt but it is full of errors. I wish you +would talk to Mr. ——- upon this subject as I wish to know by what means +this trick has been played, and from whom the publisher has got +possession of any copy. + +“T. PAINE. + +“PARIS, December 4, 1795” + +Eaton’s cheap edition appeared January 1, 1796, with the above letter +on the reverse of the title. The blank in the note was probably +“Symonds” in the original, and possibly that publisher was imposed +upon. Eaton, already in trouble for printing one of Paine’s political +pamphlets, fled to America, and an edition of the “Age of Reason” was +issued under a new title; no publisher appears; it is said to be +“printed for, and sold by all the Booksellers in Great Britain and +Ireland.” It is also said to be “By Thomas Paine, author of several +remarkable performances.” I have never found any copy of this anonymous +edition except the one in my possession. It is evidently the edition +which was suppressed by the prosecution of Williams for selling a copy +of it. + +A comparison with Paine’s revised edition reveals a good many clerical +and verbal errors in Symonds, though few that affect the sense. The +worst are in the preface, where, instead of “1793,” the misleading date +“1790” is given as the year at whose close Paine completed Part +First,—an error that spread far and wide and was fastened on by his +calumnious American “biographer,” Cheetham, to prove his inconsistency. +The editors have been fairly demoralized by, and have altered in +different ways, the following sentence of the preface in Symonds: “The +intolerant spirit of religious persecution had transferred itself into +politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, supplied the place of +the Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the State outdid the Fire and +Faggot of the Church.” The rogue who copied this little knew the care +with which Paine weighed words, and that he would never call +persecution “religious,” nor connect the guillotine with the “State,” +nor concede that with all its horrors it had outdone the history of +fire and faggot. What Paine wrote was: “The intolerant spirit of church +persecution had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, styled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition and the Guillotine, +of the Stake.” + +An original letter of Paine, in the possession of Joseph Cowen, +ex-M.P., which that gentleman permits me to bring to light, besides +being one of general interest makes clear the circumstances of the +original publication. Although the name of the correspondent does not +appear on the letter, it was certainly written to Col. John Fellows of +New York, who copyrighted Part I. of the “Age of Reason.” He published +the pamphlets of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine confided his manuscript on +his way to prison. Fellows was afterwards Paine’s intimate friend in +New York, and it was chiefly due to him that some portions of the +author’s writings, left in manuscript to Madame Bonneville while she +was a freethinker were rescued from her devout destructiveness after +her return to Catholicism. The letter which Mr. Cowen sends me, is +dated at Paris, January 20, 1797. + +“SIR,—Your friend Mr. Caritat being on the point of his departure for +America, I make it the opportunity of writing to you. I received two +letters from you with some pamphlets a considerable time past, in which +you inform me of your entering a copyright of the first part of the Age +of Reason: when I return to America we will settle for that matter. + +“As Doctor Franklin has been my intimate friend for thirty years past +you will naturally see the reason of my continuing the connection with +his grandson. I printed here (Paris) about fifteen thousand of the +second part of the Age of Reason, which I sent to Mr. F[ranklin] Bache. +I gave him notice of it in September 1795 and the copy-right by my own +direction was entered by him. The books did not arrive till April +following, but he had advertised it long before. + +“I sent to him in August last a manuscript letter of about 70 pages, +from me to Mr. Washington to be printed in a pamphlet. Mr. Barnes of +Philadelphia carried the letter from me over to London to be forwarded +to America. It went by the ship Hope, Cap: Harley, who since his return +from America told me that he put it into the post office at New York +for Bache. I have yet no certain account of its publication. I mention +this that the letter may be enquired after, in case it has not been +published or has not arrived to Mr. Bache. Barnes wrote to me, from +London 29 August informing me that he was offered three hundred pounds +sterling for the manuscript. The offer was refused because it was my +intention it should not appear till it appeared in America, as that, +and not England was the place for its operation. + +“You ask me by your letter to Mr. Caritat for a list of my several +works, in order to publish a collection of them. This is an undertaking +I have always reserved for myself. It not only belongs to me of right, +but nobody but myself can do it; and as every author is accountable (at +least in reputation) for his works, he only is the person to do it. If +he neglects it in his life-time the case is altered. It is my intention +to return to America in the course of the present year. I shall then +[do] it by subscription, with historical notes. As this work will +employ many persons in different parts of the Union, I will confer with +you upon the subject, and such part of it as will suit you to +undertake, will be at your choice. I have sustained so much loss, by +disinterestedness and inattention to money matters, and by accidents, +that I am obliged to look closer to my affairs than I have done. The +printer (an Englishman) whom I employed here to print the second part +of ‘the Age of Reason’ made a manuscript copy of the work while he was +printing it, which he sent to London and sold. It was by this means +that an edition of it came out in London. + +“We are waiting here for news from America of the state of the federal +elections. You will have heard long before this reaches you that the +French government has refused to receive Mr. Pinckney as minister. +While Mr. Monroe was minister he had the opportunity of softening +matters with this government, for he was in good credit with them tho’ +they were in high indignation at the infidelity of the Washington +Administration. It is time that Mr. Washington retire, for he has +played off so much prudent hypocrisy between France and England that +neither government believes anything he says. + +“Your friend, etc., + +“THOMAS PAINE.” + +It would appear that Symonds’ stolen edition must have got ahead of +that sent by Paine to Franklin Bache, for some of its errors continue +in all modern American editions to the present day, as well as in those +of England. For in England it was only the shilling edition—that +revised by Paine—which was suppressed. Symonds, who ministered to the +half-crown folk, and who was also publisher of replies to Paine, was +left undisturbed about his pirated edition, and the new Society for the +suppression of Vice and Immorality fastened on one Thomas Williams, who +sold pious tracts but was also convicted (June 24, 1797) of having sold +one copy of the “Age of Reason.” Erskine, who had defended Paine at his +trial for the “Rights of Man,” conducted the prosecution of Williams. +He gained the victory from a packed jury, but was not much elated by +it, especially after a certain adventure on his way to Lincoln’s Inn. +He felt his coat clutched and beheld at his feet a woman bathed in +tears. She led him into the small book-shop of Thomas Williams, not yet +called up for judgment, and there he beheld his victim stitching tracts +in a wretched little room, where there were three children, two +suffering with Smallpox. He saw that it would be ruin and even a sort +of murder to take away to prison the husband, who was not a +freethinker, and lamented his publication of the book, and a meeting of +the Society which had retained him was summoned. There was a full +meeting, the Bishop of London (Porteus) in the chair. Erskine reminded +them that Williams was yet to be brought up for sentence, described the +scene he had witnessed, and Williams’ penitence, and, as the book was +now suppressed, asked permission to move for a nominal sentence. Mercy, +he urged, was a part of the Christianity they were defending. Not one +of the Society took his side,—not even “philanthropic” Wilberforce—and +Erskine threw up his brief. This action of Erskine led the Judge to +give Williams only a year in prison instead of the three he said had +been intended. + +While Williams was in prison the orthodox colporteurs were circulating +Erskine’s speech on Christianity, but also an anonymous sermon “On the +Existence and Attributes of the Deity,” all of which was from Paine’s +“Age of Reason,” except a brief “Address to the Deity” appended. This +picturesque anomaly was repeated in the circulation of Paine’s +“Discourse to the Theophilanthropists” (their and the author’s names +removed) under the title of “Atheism Refuted.” Both of these pamphlets +are now before me, and beside them a London tract of one page just sent +for my spiritual benefit. This is headed “A Word of Caution.” It begins +by mentioning the “pernicious doctrines of Paine,” the first being +“that there is No GOD” (sic,) then proceeds to adduce evidences of +divine existence taken from Paine’s works. It should be added that this +one dingy page is the only “survival” of the ancient Paine effigy in +the tract form which I have been able to find in recent years, and to +this no Society or Publisher’s name is attached. + +The imprisonment of Williams was the beginning of a thirty years’ war +for religious liberty in England, in the course of which occurred many +notable events, such as Eaton receiving homage in his pillory at +Choring Cross, and the whole Carlile family imprisoned,—its head +imprisoned more than nine years for publishing the “Age of Reason.” +This last victory of persecution was suicidal. Gentlemen of wealth, not +adherents of Paine, helped in setting Carlile up in business in Fleet +Street, where free-thinking publications have since been sold without +interruption. But though Liberty triumphed in one sense, the “Age of +Reason.” remained to some extent suppressed among those whose attention +it especially merited. Its original prosecution by a Society for the +Suppression of Vice (a device to, relieve the Crown) amounted to a +libel upon a morally clean book, restricting its perusal in families; +and the fact that the shilling book sold by and among humble people was +alone prosecuted, diffused among the educated an equally false notion +that the “Age of Reason” was vulgar and illiterate. The theologians, as +we have seen, estimated more justly the ability of their antagonist, +the collaborator of Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Clymer, on whom the +University of Pennsylvania had conferred the degree of Master of +Arts,—but the gentry confused Paine with the class described by Burke +as “the swinish multitude.” Skepticism, or its free utterance, was +temporarily driven out of polite circles by its complication with the +out-lawed vindicator of the “Rights of Man.” But that long combat has +now passed away. Time has reduced the “Age of Reason” from a flag of +popular radicalism to a comparatively conservative treatise, so far as +its negations are concerned. An old friend tells me that in his youth +he heard a sermon in which the preacher declared that “Tom Paine was so +wicked that he could not be buried; his bones were thrown into a box +which was bandied about the world till it came to a +button-manufacturer; and now Paine is travelling round the world in the +form of buttons!” This variant of the Wandering Jew myth may now be +regarded as unconscious homage to the author whose metaphorical bones +may be recognized in buttons now fashionable, and some even found +useful in holding clerical vestments together. + +But the careful reader will find in Paine’s “Age of Reason” something +beyond negations, and in conclusion I will especially call attention to +the new departure in Theism indicated in a passage corresponding to a +famous aphorism of Kant, indicated by a note in Part II. The discovery +already mentioned, that Part I. was written at least fourteen years +before Part II., led me to compare the two; and it is plain that while +the earlier work is an amplification of Newtonian Deism, based on the +phenomena of planetary motion, the work of 1795 bases belief in God on +“the universal display of himself in the works of the creation and by +that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and disposition to +do good ones.” This exaltation of the moral nature of man to be the +foundation of theistic religion, though now familiar, was a hundred +years ago a new affirmation; it has led on a conception of deity +subversive of last-century deism, it has steadily humanized religion, +and its ultimate philosophical and ethical results have not yet been +reached. + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON — PART I + + + + +CHAPTER I. +THE AUTHOR’S PROFESSION OF FAITH. + + +It has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my +thoughts upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend +the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more +advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should +make to my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the +purity of the motive that induced me to it could not admit of a +question, even by those who might disapprove the work. + +The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total +abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything +appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles +of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work +of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the general wreck of +superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we +lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true. + +As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow-citizens of +France, have given me the example of making their voluntary and +individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this +with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man +communicates with itself. + +I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this +life. + +I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties +consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our +fellow-creatures happy. + +But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in +addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the +things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them. + +I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the +Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the +Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my +own church. + +All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or +Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify +and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. + +I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe +otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. +But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally +faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in +disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not +believe. + +It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express +it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far +corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his +professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared +himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade +of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for +that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive anything more +destructive to morality than this? + +Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw +the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government +would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The +adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, +whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, +by pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and +upon first principles of religion, that until the system of government +should be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and +openly before the world; but that whenever this should be done, a +revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and +priest-craft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, +unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God, and no more. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS. + + +Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending +some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The +Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their +apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God +was not open to every man alike. + +Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, +or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by +God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God +came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God +(the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches +accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them +all. + +As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I +proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word +‘revelation.’ Revelation when applied to religion, means something +communicated immediately from God to man. + +No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, +that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed +to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he +tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, +and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is +revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to every other, and, +consequently, they are not obliged to believe it. + +It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation +that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in writing. +Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication. After +this, it is only an account of something which that person says was a +revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to +believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same +manner, for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his +word for it that it was made to him. + +When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables +of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to +believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his +telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than some +historian telling me so, the commandments carrying no internal evidence +of divinity with them. They contain some good moral precepts such as +any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce +himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention. [NOTE: +It is, however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God +‘visits the sins of the fathers upon the children’. This is contrary to +every principle of moral justice.—Author.] + +When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to +Mahomet by an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of hearsay +evidence and second hand authority as the former. I did not see the +angel myself, and therefore I have a right not to believe it. + +When also I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave +out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and +that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I +have a right to believe them or not: such a circumstance required a +much stronger evidence than their bare word for it: but we have not +even this; for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter +themselves. It is only reported by others that they said so. It is +hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not chose to rest my belief upon such +evidence. + +It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given +to the story of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He was born when the +heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the world, and +that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of such a story. +Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology +were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods. It was not a new +thing at that time to believe a man to have been celestially begotten; +the intercourse of gods with women was then a matter of familiar +opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, had cohabited with +hundreds; the story therefore had nothing in it either new, wonderful, +or obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed +among the people called Gentiles, or mythologists, and it was those +people only that believed it. The Jews, who had kept strictly to the +belief of one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen +mythology, never credited the story. + +It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian +Church, sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct +incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the reputed +founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that then +followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality, which +was about twenty or thirty thousand. The statue of Mary succeeded the +statue of Diana of Ephesus. The deification of heroes changed into the +canonization of saints. The Mythologists had gods for everything; the +Christian Mythologists had saints for everything. The church became as +crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been with the other; and Rome +was the place of both. The Christian theory is little else than the +idolatry of the ancient mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of +power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to +abolish the amphibious fraud. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY. + + +Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant +disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous +and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of +the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had +been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many +years before, by the Quakers since, and by many good men in all ages, +it has not been exceeded by any. + +Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or +anything else. Not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his +writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other people; and +as to the account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the +necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His historians, having +brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to +take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story +must have fallen to the ground. + +The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds +everything that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous +conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore +the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though +they might not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not +be expected to prove it, because it was not one of those things that +admitted of proof, and it was impossible that the person of whom it was +told could prove it himself. + +But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension +through the air, is a thing very different, as to the evidence it +admits of, to the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The +resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, +admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension +of a balloon, or the sun at noon day, to all Jerusalem at least. A +thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that the proof +and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal; and as the +public visibility of this last related act was the only evidence that +could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to the +ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small +number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are introduced as +proxies for the whole world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of +the world are called upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did +not believe the resurrection; and, as they say, would not believe +without having ocular and manual demonstration himself. So neither will +I; and the reason is equally as good for me, and for every other +person, as for Thomas. + +It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The +story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of +fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors +of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be +assured that the books in which the account is related were written by +the persons whose names they bear. The best surviving evidence we now +have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended +from the people who lived in the time this resurrection and ascension +is said to have happened, and they say ‘it is not true.’ It has long +appeared to me a strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of +the truth of the story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I +will prove the truth of what I have told you, by producing the people +who say it is false. + +That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, +which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations +strictly within the limits of probability. He preached most excellent +morality, and the equality of man; but he preached also against the +corruptions and avarice of the Jewish priests, and this brought upon +him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priest-hood. The +accusation which those priests brought against him was that of sedition +and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which the Jews were +then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the Roman +government might have some secret apprehension of the effects of his +doctrine as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that +Jesus Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation +from the bondage of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous +reformer and revolutionist lost his life. [NOTE: The French work has +here: “However this may be, for one or the other of these suppositions +this virtuous reformer, this revolutionist, too little imitated, too +much forgotten, too much misunderstood, lost his life.”—Editor. +(Conway)] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY. + + +It is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case I +am going to mention, that the Christian mythologists, calling +themselves the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which for +absurdity and extravagance is not exceeded by anything that is to be +found in the mythology of the ancients. + +The ancient mythologists tell us that the race of Giants made war +against Jupiter, and that one of them threw a hundred rocks against him +at one throw; that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and confined him +afterwards under Mount Etna; and that every time the Giant turns +himself, Mount Etna belches fire. It is here easy to see that the +circumstance of the mountain, that of its being a volcano, suggested +the idea of the fable; and that the fable is made to fit and wind +itself up with that circumstance. + +The Christian mythologists tell that their Satan made war against the +Almighty, who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a +mountain, but in a pit. It is here easy to see that the first fable +suggested the idea of the second; for the fable of Jupiter and the +Giants was told many hundred years before that of Satan. + +Thus far the ancient and the Christian mythologists differ very little +from each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the matter much +farther. They have contrived to connect the fabulous part of the story +of Jesus Christ with the fable originating from Mount Etna; and, in +order to make all the parts of the story tie together, they have taken +to their aid the traditions of the Jews; for the Christian mythology is +made up partly from the ancient mythology, and partly from the Jewish +traditions. + +The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, were +obliged to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the fable. He is +then introduced into the garden of Eden in the shape of a snake, or a +serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar conversation with +Eve, who is no ways surprised to hear a snake talk; and the issue of +this tete-a-tate is, that he persuades her to eat an apple, and the +eating of that apple damns all mankind. + +After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would have +supposed that the church mythologists would have been kind enough to +send him back again to the pit, or, if they had not done this, that +they would have put a mountain upon him, (for they say that their faith +can remove a mountain) or have put him under a mountain, as the former +mythologists had done, to prevent his getting again among the women, +and doing more mischief. But instead of this, they leave him at large, +without even obliging him to give his parole. The secret of which is, +that they could not do without him; and after being at the trouble of +making him, they bribed him to stay. They promised him ALL the Jews, +ALL the Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world beside, and +Mahomet into the bargain. After this, who can doubt the bountifulness +of the Christian Mythology? + +Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in heaven, in which none +of the combatants could be either killed or wounded—put Satan into the +pit—let him out again—given him a triumph over the whole +creation—damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, there Christian +mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together. They represent +this virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at once both God and +man, and also the Son of God, celestially begotten, on purpose to be +sacrificed, because they say that Eve in her longing [NOTE: The French +work has: “yielding to an unrestrained appetite.”—Editor.] had eaten an +apple. + + + + +CHAPTER V. +EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES. + + +Putting aside everything that might excite laughter by its absurdity, +or detestation by its profaneness, and confining ourselves merely to an +examination of the parts, it is impossible to conceive a story more +derogatory to the Almighty, more inconsistent with his wisdom, more +contradictory to his power, than this story is. + +In order to make for it a foundation to rise upon, the inventors were +under the necessity of giving to the being whom they call Satan a power +equally as great, if not greater, than they attribute to the Almighty. +They have not only given him the power of liberating himself from the +pit, after what they call his fall, but they have made that power +increase afterwards to infinity. Before this fall they represent him +only as an angel of limited existence, as they represent the rest. +After his fall, he becomes, by their account, omnipresent. He exists +everywhere, and at the same time. He occupies the whole immensity of +space. + +Not content with this deification of Satan, they represent him as +defeating by stratagem, in the shape of an animal of the creation, all +the power and wisdom of the Almighty. They represent him as having +compelled the Almighty to the direct necessity either of surrendering +the whole of the creation to the government and sovereignty of this +Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption by coming down upon earth, +and exhibiting himself upon a cross in the shape of a man. + +Had the inventors of this story told it the contrary way, that is, had +they represented the Almighty as compelling Satan to exhibit himself on +a cross in the shape of a snake, as a punishment for his new +transgression, the story would have been less absurd, less +contradictory. But, instead of this they make the transgressor triumph, +and the Almighty fall. + +That many good men have believed this strange fable, and lived very +good lives under that belief (for credulity is not a crime) is what I +have no doubt of. In the first place, they were educated to believe it, +and they would have believed anything else in the same manner. There +are also many who have been so enthusiastically enraptured by what they +conceived to be the infinite love of God to man, in making a sacrifice +of himself, that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden and deterred +them from examining into the absurdity and profaneness of the story. +The more unnatural anything is, the more is it capable of becoming the +object of dismal admiration. [NOTE: The French work has “blind and” +preceding dismal.—Editor.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + + +But if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not +present themselves every hour to our eyes? Do we not see a fair +creation prepared to receive us the instant we are born—a world +furnished to our hands, that cost us nothing? Is it we that light up +the sun; that pour down the rain; and fill the earth with abundance? +Whether we sleep or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still goes +on. Are these things, and the blessings they indicate in future, +nothing to, us? Can our gross feelings be excited by no other subjects +than tragedy and suicide? Or is the gloomy pride of man become so +intolerable, that nothing can flatter it but a sacrifice of the +Creator? + +I know that this bold investigation will alarm many, but it would be +paying too great a compliment to their credulity to forbear it on that +account. The times and the subject demand it to be done. The suspicion +that the theory of what is called the Christian church is fabulous, is +becoming very extensive in all countries; and it will be a consolation +to men staggering under that suspicion, and doubting what to believe +and what to disbelieve, to see the subject freely investigated. I +therefore pass on to an examination of the books called the Old and the +New Testament. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. + + +These books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelations, +(which, by the bye, is a book of riddles that requires a revelation to +explain it) are, we are told, the word of God. It is, therefore, proper +for us to know who told us so, that we may know what credit to give to +the report. The answer to this question is, that nobody can tell, +except that we tell one another so. The case, however, historically +appears to be as follows: + +When the church mythologists established their system, they collected +all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. It +is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the +writings as now appear under the name of the Old and the New Testament, +are in the same state in which those collectors say they found them; or +whether they added, altered, abridged, or dressed them up. + +Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the +collection they had made, should be the WORD OF GOD, and which should +not. They rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as +the books called the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority of +votes, were voted to be the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, all +the people since calling themselves Christians had believed otherwise; +for the belief of the one comes from the vote of the other. Who the +people were that did all this, we know nothing of. They call themselves +by the general name of the Church; and this is all we know of the +matter. + +As we have no other external evidence or authority for believing these +books to be the word of God, than what I have mentioned, which is no +evidence or authority at all, I come, in the next place, to examine the +internal evidence contained in the books themselves. + +In the former part of this essay, I have spoken of revelation. I now +proceed further with that subject, for the purpose of applying it to +the books in question. + +Revelation is a communication of something, which the person, to whom +that thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a +thing, or seen it done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done +it, or seen it, nor to enable me to tell it, or to write it. + +Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth of +which man is himself the actor or the witness; and consequently all the +historical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost the whole +of it, is not within the meaning and compass of the word revelation, +and, therefore, is not the word of God. + +When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so, +(and whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he visited his +Delilah, or caught his foxes, or did anything else, what has revelation +to do with these things? If they were facts, he could tell them +himself; or his secretary, if he kept one, could write them, if they +were worth either telling or writing; and if they were fictions, +revelation could not make them true; and whether true or not, we are +neither the better nor the wiser for knowing them. When we contemplate +the immensity of that Being, who directs and governs the +incomprehensible WHOLE, of which the utmost ken of human sight can +discover but a part, we ought to feel shame at calling such paltry +stories the word of God. + +As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Genesis +opens, it has all the appearance of being a tradition which the +Israelites had among them before they came into Egypt; and after their +departure from that country, they put it at the head of their history, +without telling, as it is most probable that they did not know, how +they came by it. The manner in which the account opens, shows it to be +traditionary. It begins abruptly. It is nobody that speaks. It is +nobody that hears. It is addressed to nobody. It has neither first, +second, nor third person. It has every criterion of being a tradition. +It has no voucher. Moses does not take it upon himself by introducing +it with the formality that he uses on other occasions, such as that of +saying, “The Lords spake unto Moses, saying.” + +Why it has been called the Mosaic account of the creation, I am at a +loss to conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such +subjects to put his name to that account. He had been educated among +the Egyptians, who were a people as well skilled in science, and +particularly in astronomy, as any people of their day; and the silence +and caution that Moses observes, in not authenticating the account, is +a good negative evidence that he neither told it nor believed it.—The +case is, that every nation of people has been world-makers, and the +Israelites had as much right to set up the trade of world-making as any +of the rest; and as Moses was not an Israelite, he might not chose to +contradict the tradition. The account, however, is harmless; and this +is more than can be said for many other parts of the Bible. + +Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the +cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with +which more than half the Bible [NOTE: It must be borne in mind that by +the “Bible” Paine always means the Old Testament alone.—Editor.] is +filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a +demon, than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has +served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I +sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. + +We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what +deserves either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come to the +miscellaneous parts of the Bible. In the anonymous publications, the +Psalms, and the Book of Job, more particularly in the latter, we find a +great deal of elevated sentiment reverentially expressed of the power +and benignity of the Almighty; but they stand on no higher rank than +many other compositions on similar subjects, as well before that time +as since. + +The Proverbs which are said to be Solomon’s, though most probably a +collection, (because they discover a knowledge of life, which his +situation excluded him from knowing) are an instructive table of +ethics. They are inferior in keenness to the proverbs of the Spaniards, +and not more wise and oeconomical than those of the American Franklin. + +All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the name of +the Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and itinerant +preachers, who mixed poetry, anecdote, and devotion together—and those +works still retain the air and style of poetry, though in translation. +[NOTE: As there are many readers who do not see that a composition is +poetry, unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add +this note. + +Poetry consists principally in two things—imagery and composition. The +composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of +mixing long and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a +line of poetry, and put a short one in the room of it, or put a long +syllable where a short one should be, and that line will lose its +poetical harmony. It will have an effect upon the line like that of +misplacing a note in a song. + +The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether to +poetry. It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in +any other kind of writing than poetry. + +To show that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will +take ten syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the +same number of syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the +last word. It will then be seen that the composition of those books is +poetical measure. The instance I shall first produce is from Isaiah:— + + “Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth + ’T is God himself that calls attention forth. + +Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which +I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the +figure, and showing the intention of the poet. + + “O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes + Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies; + Then would I give the mighty flood release + And weep a deluge for the human race.”—Author.] + +There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word that +describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes what +we call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later +times have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and the +word ‘propesying’ meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the art +of playing poetry to a tune upon any instrument of music. + +We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns—of prophesying +with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every other +instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to speak of +prophesying with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the expression +would have no meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to some people +contemptuous, because we have changed the meaning of the word. + +We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he +prophesied; but we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he +prophesied. The case is, there was nothing to tell; for these prophets +were a company of musicians and poets, and Saul joined in the concert, +and this was called prophesying. + +The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel, is, that +Saul met a company of prophets; a whole company of them! coming down +with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they +prophesied, and that he prophesied with them. But it appears +afterwards, that Saul prophesied badly, that is, he performed his part +badly; for it is said that an “evil spirit from God [NOTE: As those men +who call themselves divines and commentators are very fond of puzzling +one another, I leave them to contest the meaning of the first part of +the phrase, that of an evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to +the meaning of the word prophesy.—Author.] came upon Saul, and he +prophesied.” + +Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible, than +this, to demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of +the word prophesy, and substituted another meaning in its place, this +alone would be sufficient; for it is impossible to use and apply the +word prophesy, in the place it is here used and applied, if we give to +it the sense which later times have affixed to it. The manner in which +it is here used strips it of all religious meaning, and shews that a +man might then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as he may now be a +poet or a musician, without any regard to the morality or the +immorality of his character. The word was originally a term of science, +promiscuously applied to poetry and to music, and not restricted to any +subject upon which poetry and music might be exercised. + +Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they predicted +anything, but because they composed the poem or song that bears their +name, in celebration of an act already done. David is ranked among the +prophets, for he was a musician, and was also reputed to be (though +perhaps very erroneously) the author of the Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, +and Jacob are not called prophets; it does not appear from any accounts +we have, that they could either sing, play music, or make poetry. + +We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might as well +tell us of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be degrees +in prophesying consistently with its modern sense. But there are +degrees in poetry, and there-fore the phrase is reconcilable to the +case, when we understand by it the greater and the lesser poets. + +It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any observations +upon what those men, styled prophets, have written. The axe goes at +once to the root, by showing that the original meaning of the word has +been mistaken, and consequently all the inferences that have been drawn +from those books, the devotional respect that has been paid to them, +and the laboured commentaries that have been written upon them, under +that mistaken meaning, are not worth disputing about.—In many things, +however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a better fate than +that of being bound up, as they now are, with the trash that +accompanies them, under the abused name of the Word of God. + +If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must +necessarily affix the idea, not only of unchangeableness, but of the +utter impossibility of any change taking place, by any means or +accident whatever, in that which we would honour with the name of the +Word of God; and therefore the Word of God cannot exist in any written +or human language. + +The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is +subject, the want of an universal language which renders translation +necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the +mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the possibility of +wilful alteration, are of themselves evidences that human language, +whether in speech or in print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of +God.—The Word of God exists in something else. + +Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of ideas and expression +all the books now extant in the world, I would not take it for my rule +of faith, as being the Word of God; because the possibility would +nevertheless exist of my being imposed upon. But when I see throughout +the greatest part of this book scarcely anything but a history of the +grossest vices, and a collection of the most paltry and contemptible +tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it by his name. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. + + +Thus much for the Bible; I now go on to the book called the New +Testament. The new Testament! that is, the ‘new’ Will, as if there +could be two wills of the Creator. + +Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish a +new religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, or +procured it to be written in his life time. But there is no publication +extant authenticated with his name. All the books called the New +Testament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by +profession; and he was the son of God in like manner that every other +person is; for the Creator is the Father of All. + +The first four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not give +a history of the life of Jesus Christ, but only detached anecdotes of +him. It appears from these books, that the whole time of his being a +preacher was not more than eighteen months; and it was only during this +short time that those men became acquainted with him. They make mention +of him at the age of twelve years, sitting, they say, among the Jewish +doctors, asking and answering them questions. As this was several years +before their acquaintance with him began, it is most probable they had +this anecdote from his parents. From this time there is no account of +him for about sixteen years. Where he lived, or how he employed himself +during this interval, is not known. Most probably he was working at his +father’s trade, which was that of a carpenter. It does not appear that +he had any school education, and the probability is, that he could not +write, for his parents were extremely poor, as appears from their not +being able to pay for a bed when he was born. [NOTE: One of the few +errors traceable to Paine’s not having a Bible at hand while writing +Part I. There is no indication that the family was poor, but the +reverse may in fact be inferred.—Editor.] + +It is somewhat curious that the three persons whose names are the most +universally recorded were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a +foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule +driver. The first and the last of these men were founders of different +systems of religion; but Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called +men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The +great trait in his character is philanthropy. + +The manner in which he was apprehended shows that he was not much +known, at that time; and it shows also that the meetings he then held +with his followers were in secret; and that he had given over or +suspended preaching publicly. Judas could no otherways betray him than +by giving information where he was, and pointing him out to the +officers that went to arrest him; and the reason for employing and +paying Judas to do this could arise only from the causes already +mentioned, that of his not being much known, and living concealed. + +The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his reputed +divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity; and his +being betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on the +information of one of his followers, shows that he did not intend to be +apprehended, and consequently that he did not intend to be crucified. + +The Christian mythologists tell us that Christ died for the sins of the +world, and that he came on Purpose to die. Would it not then have been +the same if he had died of a fever or of the small pox, of old age, or +of anything else? + +The declaratory sentence which, they say, was passed upon Adam, in case +he ate of the apple, was not, that thou shalt surely be crucified, but, +thou shale surely die. The sentence was death, and not the manner of +dying. Crucifixion, therefore, or any other particular manner of dying, +made no part of the sentence that Adam was to suffer, and consequently, +even upon their own tactic, it could make no part of the sentence that +Christ was to suffer in the room of Adam. A fever would have done as +well as a cross, if there was any occasion for either. + +This sentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus passed upon Adam, +must either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceasing to live, or +have meant what these mythologists call damnation; and consequently, +the act of dying on the part of Jesus Christ, must, according to their +system, apply as a prevention to one or other of these two things +happening to Adam and to us. + +That it does not prevent our dying is evident, because we all die; and +if their accounts of longevity be true, men die faster since the +crucifixion than before: and with respect to the second explanation, +(including with it the natural death of Jesus Christ as a substitute +for the eternal death or damnation of all mankind,) it is impertinently +representing the Creator as coming off, or revoking the sentence, by a +pun or a quibble upon the word death. That manufacturer of, quibbles, +St. Paul, if he wrote the books that bear his name, has helped this +quibble on by making another quibble upon the word Adam. He makes there +to be two Adams; the one who sins in fact, and suffers by proxy; the +other who sins by proxy, and suffers in fact. A religion thus +interlarded with quibble, subterfuge, and pun, has a tendency to +instruct its professors in the practice of these arts. They acquire the +habit without being aware of the cause. + +If Jesus Christ was the being which those mythologists tell us he was, +and that he came into this world to suffer, which is a word they +sometimes use instead of ‘to die,’ the only real suffering he could +have endured would have been ‘to live.’ His existence here was a state +of exilement or transportation from heaven, and the way back to his +original country was to die.—In fine, everything in this strange system +is the reverse of what it pretends to be. It is the reverse of truth, +and I become so tired of examining into its inconsistencies and +absurdities, that I hasten to the conclusion of it, in order to proceed +to something better. + +How much, or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were +written by the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know +nothing of, neither are we certain in what language they were +originally written. The matters they now contain may be classed under +two heads: anecdote, and epistolary correspondence. + +The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are +altogether anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. +They tell what Jesus Christ did and said, and what others did and said +to him; and in several instances they relate the same event +differently. Revelation is necessarily out of the question with respect +to those books; not only because of the disagreement of the writers, +but because revelation cannot be applied to the relating of facts by +the persons who saw them done, nor to the relating or recording of any +discourse or conversation by those who heard it. The book called the +Acts of the Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also to the anecdotal +part. + +All the other parts of the New Testament, except the book of enigmas, +called the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of +epistles; and the forgery of letters has been such a common practice in +the world, that the probability is at least equal, whether they are +genuine or forged. One thing, however, is much less equivocal, which +is, that out of the matters contained in those books, together with the +assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a system of +religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name +it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue in pretended +imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty. + +The invention of a purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, +by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, +dispensations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that +name or carrying that appearance. But the case nevertheless is, that +those things derive their origin from the proxysm of the crucifixion, +and the theory deduced therefrom, which was, that one person could +stand in the place of another, and could perform meritorious services +for him. The probability, therefore, is, that the whole theory or +doctrine of what is called the redemption (which is said to have been +accomplished by the act of one person in the room of another) was +originally fabricated on purpose to bring forward and build all those +secondary and pecuniary redemptions upon; and that the passages in the +books upon which the idea of theory of redemption is built, have been +manufactured and fabricated for that purpose. Why are we to give this +church credit, when she tells us that those books are genuine in every +part, any more than we give her credit for everything else she has told +us; or for the miracles she says she has performed? That she could +fabricate writings is certain, because she could write; and the +composition of the writings in question, is of that kind that anybody +might do it; and that she did fabricate them is not more inconsistent +with probability, than that she should tell us, as she has done, that +she could and did work miracles. + +Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long distance of time, +be produced to prove whether the church fabricated the doctrine called +redemption or not, (for such evidence, whether for or against, would be +subject to the same suspicion of being fabricated,) the case can only +be referred to the internal evidence which the thing carries of itself; +and this affords a very strong presumption of its being a fabrication. +For the internal evidence is, that the theory or doctrine of redemption +has for its basis an idea of pecuniary justice, and not that of moral +justice. + +If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me +in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay it +for me. But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case +is changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even +if the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is +to destroy the principle of its existence, which is the thing itself. +It is then no longer justice. It is indiscriminate revenge. + +This single reflection will show that the doctrine of redemption is +founded on a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt which +another person might pay; and as this pecuniary idea corresponds again +with the system of second redemptions, obtained through the means of +money given to the church for pardons, the probability is that the same +persons fabricated both the one and the other of those theories; and +that, in truth, there is no such thing as redemption; that it is +fabulous; and that man stands in the same relative condition with his +Maker he ever did stand, since man existed; and that it is his greatest +consolation to think so. + +Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally, +than by any other system. It is by his being taught to contemplate +himself as an out-law, as an out-cast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as one +thrown as it were on a dunghill, at an immense distance from his +Creator, and who must make his approaches by creeping, and cringing to +intermediate beings, that he conceives either a contemptuous disregard +for everything under the name of religion, or becomes indifferent, or +turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he consumes his life in +grief, or the affectation of it. His prayers are reproaches. His +humility is ingratitude. He calls himself a worm, and the fertile earth +a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the thankless name of +vanities. He despises the choicest gift of God to man, the GIFT OF +REASON; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a +system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human +reason, as if man could give reason to himself. + +Yet, with all this strange appearance of humility, and this contempt +for human reason, he ventures into the boldest presumptions. He finds +fault with everything. His selfishness is never satisfied; his +ingratitude is never at an end. He takes on himself to direct the +Almighty what to do, even in the govemment of the universe. He prays +dictatorially. When it is sunshine, he prays for rain, and when it is +rain, he prays for sunshine. He follows the same idea in everything +that he prays for; for what is the amount of all his prayers, but an +attempt to make the Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise than he +does? It is as if he were to say—thou knowest not so well as I. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS. + + +But some perhaps will say—Are we to have no word of God—no revelation? +I answer yes. There is a Word of God; there is a revelation. + +THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, +which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh +universally to man. + +Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of +being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. The +idea that God sent Jesus Christ to publish, as they say, the glad +tidings to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other, is +consistent only with the ignorance of those who know nothing of the +extent of the world, and who believed, as those world-saviours +believed, and continued to believe for several centuries, (and that in +contradiction to the discoveries of philosophers and the experience of +navigators,) that the earth was flat like a trencher; and that a man +might walk to the end of it. + +But how was Jesus Christ to make anything known to all nations? He +could speak but one language, which was Hebrew; and there are in the +world several hundred languages. Scarcely any two nations speak the +same language, or understand each other; and as to translations, every +man who knows anything of languages, knows that it is impossible to +translate from one language into another, not only without losing a +great part of the original, but frequently of mistaking the sense; and +besides all this, the art of printing was wholly unknown at the time +Christ lived. + +It is always necessary that the means that are to accomplish any end be +equal to the accomplishment of that end, or the end cannot be +accomplished. It is in this that the difference between finite and +infinite power and wisdom discovers itself. Man frequently fails in +accomplishing his end, from a natural inability of the power to the +purpose; and frequently from the want of wisdom to apply power +properly. But it is impossible for infinite power and wisdom to fail as +man faileth. The means it useth are always equal to the end: but human +language, more especially as there is not an universal language, is +incapable of being used as an universal means of unchangeable and +uniform information; and therefore it is not the means that God useth +in manifesting himself universally to man. + +It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a word +of God can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, +independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various +as they be. It is an ever existing original, which every man can read. +It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it +cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the +will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself +from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and +to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is +necessary for man to know of God. + +Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the +creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the +unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. Do +we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with +which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see +it in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In +fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the +scripture, which any human hand might make, but the scripture called +the Creation. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES BY +THE BIBLE. + + +The only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first +cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it +is for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the +belief of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. +It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no +end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult +beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call +time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be +no time. + +In like manner of reasoning, everything we behold carries in itself the +internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence +to himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his father make +himself, nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; neither could any +tree, plant, or animal make itself; and it is the conviction arising +from this evidence, that carries us on, as it were, by necessity, to +the belief of a first cause eternally existing, of a nature totally +different to any material existence we know of, and by the power of +which all things exist; and this first cause, man calls God. + +It is only by the exercise of reason, that man can discover God. Take +away that reason, and he would be incapable of understanding anything; +and in this case it would be just as consistent to read even the book +called the Bible to a horse as to a man. How then is it that those +people pretend to reject reason? + +Almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to us +any idea of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm; I +recollect no other. Those parts are true deistical compositions; for +they treat of the Deity through his works. They take the book of +Creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book; and all the +inferences they make are drawn from that volume. + +I insert in this place the 19th Psalm, as paraphrased into English +verse by Addison. I recollect not the prose, and where I write this I +have not the opportunity of seeing it: + + The spacious firmament on high, + With all the blue etherial sky, + And spangled heavens, a shining frame, + Their great original proclaim. + The unwearied sun, from day to day, + Does his Creator’s power display, + And publishes to every land + The work of an Almighty hand. + Soon as the evening shades prevail, + The moon takes up the wondrous tale, + And nightly to the list’ning earth + Repeats the story of her birth; + Whilst all the stars that round her burn, + And all the planets, in their turn, + Confirm the tidings as they roll, + And spread the truth from pole to pole. + What though in solemn silence all + Move round this dark terrestrial ball + What though no real voice, nor sound, + Amidst their radiant orbs be found, + In reason’s ear they all rejoice, + And utter forth a glorious voice, + Forever singing as they shine, + THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE. + +What more does man want to know, than that the hand or power that made +these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this, with the +force it is impossible to repel if he permits his reason to act, and +his rule of moral life will follow of course. + +The allusions in Job have all of them the same tendency with this +Psalm; that of deducing or proving a truth that would be otherwise +unknown, from truths already known. + +I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them correctly; +but there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to the subject I +am speaking upon. “Canst thou by searching find out God; canst thou +find out the Almighty to perfection?” + +I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no +Bible; but it contains two distinct questions that admit of distinct +answers. + +First, Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes. Because, in the first +place, I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; and by +searching into the nature of other things, I find that no other thing +could make itself; and yet millions of other things exist; therefore it +is, that I know, by positive conclusion resulting from this search, +that there is a power superior to all those things, and that power is +God. + +Secondly, Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No. Not only +because the power and wisdom He has manifested in the structure of the +Creation that I behold is to me incomprehensible; but because even this +manifestation, great as it is is probably but a small display of that +immensity of power and wisdom, by which millions of other worlds, to me +invisible by their distance, were created and continue to exist. + +It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of +the person to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it is +only by admitting the first question to be answered affirmatively, that +the second could follow. It would have been unnecessary, and even +absurd, to have put a second question, more difficult than the first, +if the first question had been answered negatively. The two questions +have different objects; the first refers to the existence of God, the +second to his attributes. Reason can discover the one, but it falls +infinitely short in discovering the whole of the other. + +I recollect not a single passage in all the writings ascribed to the +men called apostles, that conveys any idea of what God is. Those +writings are chiefly controversial; and the gloominess of the subject +they dwell upon, that of a man dying in agony on a cross, is better +suited to the gloomy genius of a monk in a cell, by whom it is not +impossible they were written, than to any man breathing the open air of +the Creation. The only passage that occurs to me, that has any +reference to the works of God, by which only his power and wisdom can +be known, is related to have been spoken by Jesus Christ, as a remedy +against distrustful care. “Behold the lilies of the field, they toil +not, neither do they spin.” This, however, is far inferior to the +allusions in Job and in the 19th Psalm; but it is similar in idea, and +the modesty of the imagery is correspondent to the modesty of the man. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + + +As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of +atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in +a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism +with but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight is to +darkness. It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body, which +it calls a redeemer, as the moon introduces her opaque self between the +earth and the sun, and it produces by this means a religious or an +irreligious eclipse of light. It has put the whole orbit of reason into +shade. + +The effect of this obscurity has been that of turning everything upside +down, and representing it in reverse; and among the revolutions it has +thus magically produced, it has made a revolution in Theology. + +That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle +of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study +of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, +and is the true theology. + +As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of +human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study +of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or +writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the +mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it has +abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a +beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag +of superstition. + +The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the church admits to be +more ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in the +book called the Bible, are theological orations conformable to the +original system of theology. The internal evidence of those orations +proves to a demonstration that the study and contemplation of the works +of creation, and of the power and wisdom of God revealed and manifested +in those works, made a great part of the religious devotion of the +times in which they were written; and it was this devotional study and +contemplation that led to the discovery of the principles upon which +what are now called Sciences are established; and it is to the +discovery of these principles that almost all the Arts that contribute +to the convenience of human life owe their existence. Every principal +art has some science for its parent, though the person who mechanically +performs the work does not always, and but very seldom, perceive the +connection. + +It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences ‘human +inventions;’ it is only the application of them that is human. Every +science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and +unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. +Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them. + +For example: Every person who looks at an almanack sees an account when +an eclipse will take place, and he sees also that it never fails to +take place according to the account there given. This shows that man is +acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But it +would be something worse than ignorance, were any church on earth to +say that those laws are an human invention. + +It would also be ignorance, or something worse, to say that the +scientific principles, by the aid of which man is enabled to calculate +and foreknow when an eclipse will take place, are an human invention. +Man cannot invent any thing that is eternal and immutable; and the +scientific principles he employs for this purpose must, and are, of +necessity, as eternal and immutable as the laws by which the heavenly +bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to ascertain the +time when, and the manner how, an eclipse will take place. + +The scientific principles that man employs to obtain the foreknowledge +of an eclipse, or of any thing else relating to the motion of the +heavenly bodies, are contained chiefly in that part of science that is +called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which, when +applied to the study of the heavenly bodies, is called astronomy; when +applied to direct the course of a ship on the ocean, it is called +navigation; when applied to the construction of figures drawn by a rule +and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to the construction of +plans of edifices, it is called architecture; when applied to the +measurement of any portion of the surface of the earth, it is called +land-surveying. In fine, it is the soul of science. It is an eternal +truth: it contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, +and the extent of its uses are unknown. + +It may be said, that man can make or draw a triangle, and therefore a +triangle is an human invention. + +But the triangle, when drawn, is no other than the image of the +principle: it is a delineation to the eye, and from thence to the mind, +of a principle that would otherwise be imperceptible. The triangle does +not make the principle, any more than a candle taken into a room that +was dark, makes the chairs and tables that before were invisible. All +the properties of a triangle exist independently of the figure, and +existed before any triangle was drawn or thought of by man. Man had no +more to do in the formation of those properties or principles, than he +had to do in making the laws by which the heavenly bodies move; and +therefore the one must have the same divine origin as the other. + +In the same manner as, it may be said, that man can make a triangle, so +also, may it be said, he can make the mechanical instrument called a +lever. But the principle by which the lever acts, is a thing distinct +from the instrument, and would exist if the instrument did not; it +attaches itself to the instrument after it is made; the instrument, +therefore, can act no otherwise than it does act; neither can all the +efforts of human invention make it act otherwise. That which, in all +such cases, man calls the effect, is no other than the principle itself +rendered perceptible to the senses. + +Since, then, man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a +knowledge of them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things +on earth, but to ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant +from him as all the heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he +gain that knowledge, but from the study of the true theology? + +It is the structure of the universe that has taught this knowledge to +man. That structure is an ever-existing exhibition of every principle +upon which every part of mathematical science is founded. The offspring +of this science is mechanics; for mechanics is no other than the +principles of science applied practically. The man who proportions the +several parts of a mill uses the same scientific principles as if he +had the power of constructing an universe, but as he cannot give to +matter that invisible agency by which all the component parts of the +immense machine of the universe have influence upon each other, and act +in motional unison together, without any apparent contact, and to which +man has given the name of attraction, gravitation, and repulsion, he +supplies the place of that agency by the humble imitation of teeth and +cogs. All the parts of man’s microcosm must visibly touch. But could he +gain a knowledge of that agency, so as to be able to apply it in +practice, we might then say that another canonical book of the word of +God had been discovered. + +If man could alter the properties of the lever, so also could he alter +the properties of the triangle: for a lever (taking that sort of lever +which is called a steel-yard, for the sake of explanation) forms, when +in motion, a triangle. The line it descends from, (one point of that +line being in the fulcrum,) the line it descends to, and the chord of +the arc, which the end of the lever describes in the air, are the three +sides of a triangle. The other arm of the lever describes also a +triangle; and the corresponding sides of those two triangles, +calculated scientifically, or measured geometrically,—and also the +sines, tangents, and secants generated from the angles, and +geometrically measured,—have the same proportions to each other as the +different weights have that will balance each other on the lever, +leaving the weight of the lever out of the case. + +It may also be said, that man can make a wheel and axis; that he can +put wheels of different magnitudes together, and produce a mill. Still +the case comes back to the same point, which is, that he did not make +the principle that gives the wheels those powers. This principle is as +unalterable as in the former cases, or rather it is the same principle +under a different appearance to the eye. + +The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each other +is in the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two wheels +were joined together and made into that kind of lever I have described, +suspended at the part where the semi-diameters join; for the two +wheels, scientifically considered, are no other than the two circles +generated by the motion of the compound lever. + +It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of +science is derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts +have originated. + +The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the +structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. +It is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call +ours, “I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered +the starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can +now provide for his own comfort, AND LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, +TO BE KIND TO EACH OTHER.” + +Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye is +endowed with the power of beholding, to an incomprehensible distance, +an immensity of worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or of what use +is it that this immensity of worlds is visible to man? What has man to +do with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with the star he calls +the north star, with the moving orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, +Mars, Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to follow from their being +visible? A less power of vision would have been sufficient for man, if +the immensity he now possesses were given only to waste itself, as it +were, on an immense desert of space glittering with shows. + +It is only by contemplating what he calls the starry heavens, as the +book and school of science, that he discovers any use in their being +visible to him, or any advantage resulting from his immensity of +vision. But when he contemplates the subject in this light, he sees an +additional motive for saying, that nothing was made in vain; for in +vain would be this power of vision if it taught man nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED REFORMS + + +As the Christian system of faith has made a revolution in theology, so +also has it made a revolution in the state of learning. That which is +now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not +consist, as the schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of +languages, but in the knowledge of things to which language gives +names. + +The Greeks were a learned people, but learning with them did not +consist in speaking Greek, any more than in a Roman’s speaking Latin, +or a Frenchman’s speaking French, or an Englishman’s speaking English. +From what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that they knew or +studied any language but their own, and this was one cause of their +becoming so learned; it afforded them more time to apply themselves to +better studies. The schools of the Greeks were schools of science and +philosophy, and not of languages; and it is in the knowledge of the +things that science and philosophy teach that learning consists. + +Almost all the scientific learning that now exists, came to us from the +Greeks, or the people who spoke the Greek language. It therefore became +necessary to the people of other nations, who spoke a different +language, that some among them should learn the Greek language, in +order that the learning the Greeks had might be made known in those +nations, by translating the Greek books of science and philosophy into +the mother tongue of each nation. + +The study, therefore, of the Greek language (and in the same manner for +the Latin) was no other than the drudgery business of a linguist; and +the language thus obtained, was no other than the means, or as it were +the tools, employed to obtain the learning the Greeks had. It made no +part of the learning itself; and was so distinct from it as to make it +exceedingly probable that the persons who had studied Greek +sufficiently to translate those works, such for instance as Euclid’s +Elements, did not understand any of the learning the works contained. + +As there is now nothing new to be learned from the dead languages, all +the useful books being already translated, the languages are become +useless, and the time expended in teaching and in learning them is +wasted. So far as the study of languages may contribute to the progress +and communication of knowledge (for it has nothing to do with the +creation of knowledge) it is only in the living languages that new +knowledge is to be found; and certain it is, that, in general, a youth +will learn more of a living language in one year, than of a dead +language in seven; and it is but seldom that the teacher knows much of +it himself. The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not +arise from any superior abstruseness in the languages themselves, but +in their being dead, and the pronunciation entirely lost. It would be +the same thing with any other language when it becomes dead. The best +Greek linguist that now exists does not understand Greek so well as a +Grecian plowman did, or a Grecian milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, +compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect +to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the cows that she milked. It +would therefore be advantageous to the state of learning to abolish the +study of the dead languages, and to make learning consist, as it +originally did, in scientific knowledge. + +The apology that is sometimes made for continuing to teach the dead +languages is, that they are taught at a time when a child is not +capable of exerting any other mental faculty than that of memory. But +this is altogether erroneous. The human mind has a natural disposition +to scientific knowledge, and to the things connected with it. The first +and favourite amusement of a child, even before it begins to play, is +that of imitating the works of man. It builds houses with cards or +sticks; it navigates the little ocean of a bowl of water with a paper +boat; or dams the stream of a gutter, and contrives something which it +calls a mill; and it interests itself in the fate of its works with a +care that resembles affection. It afterwards goes to school, where its +genius is killed by the barren study of a dead language, and the +philosopher is lost in the linguist. + +But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead +languages, could not be the cause at first of cutting down learning to +the narrow and humble sphere of linguistry; the cause therefore must be +sought for elsewhere. In all researches of this kind, the best evidence +that can be produced, is the internal evidence the thing carries with +itself, and the evidence of circumstances that unites with it; both of +which, in this case, are not difficult to be discovered. + +Putting then aside, as matter of distinct consideration, the outrage +offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing him to make the +innocent suffer for the guilty, and also the loose morality and low +contrivance of supposing him to change himself into the shape of a man, +in order to make an excuse to himself for not executing his supposed +sentence upon Adam; putting, I say, those things aside as matter of +distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called the christian +system of faith, including in it the whimsical account of the +creation—the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple—the +amphibious idea of a man-god—the corporeal idea of the death of a +god—the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the christian system +of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, are all +irreconcilable, not only to the divine gift of reason, that God has +given to man, but to the knowledge that man gains of the power and +wisdom of God by the aid of the sciences, and by studying the structure +of the universe that God has made. + +The setters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Christian system of +faith, could not but foresee that the continually progressive knowledge +that man would gain by the aid of science, of the power and wisdom of +God, manifested in the structure of the universe, and in all the works +of creation, would militate against, and call into question, the truth +of their system of faith; and therefore it became necessary to their +purpose to cut learning down to a size less dangerous to their project, +and this they effected by restricting the idea of learning to the dead +study of dead languages. + +They not only rejected the study of science out of the christian +schools, but they persecuted it; and it is only within about the last +two centuries that the study has been revived. So late as 1610, +Galileo, a Florentine, discovered and introduced the use of telescopes, +and by applying them to observe the motions and appearances of the +heavenly bodies, afforded additional means for ascertaining the true +structure of the universe. Instead of being esteemed for these +discoveries, he was sentenced to renounce them, or the opinions +resulting from them, as a damnable heresy. And prior to that time +Virgilius was condemned to be burned for asserting the antipodes, or in +other words, that the earth was a globe, and habitable in every part +where there was land; yet the truth of this is now too well known even +to be told. [NOTE: I cannot discover the source of this statement +concerning the ancient author whose Irish name Feirghill was Latinized +into Virgilius. The British Museum possesses a copy of the work +(Decalogiunt) which was the pretext of the charge of heresy made by +Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, against Virgilius, Abbot—bishop of +Salzburg, These were leaders of the rival “British” and “Roman parties, +and the British champion made a countercharge against Boniface of +irreligious practices.” Boniface had to express a “regret,” but none +the less pursued his rival. The Pope, Zachary II., decided that if his +alleged “doctrine, against God and his soul, that beneath the earth +there is another world, other men, or sun and moon,” should be +acknowledged by Virgilius, he should be excommunicated by a Council and +condemned with canonical sanctions. Whatever may have been the fate +involved by condemnation with “canonicis sanctionibus,” in the middle +of the eighth century, it did not fall on Virgilius. His accuser, +Boniface, was martyred, 755, and it is probable that Virgilius +harmonied his Antipodes with orthodoxy. The gravamen of the heresy +seems to have been the suggestion that there were men not of the +progeny of Adam. Virgilius was made Bishop of Salzburg in 768. He bore +until his death, 789, the curious title, “Geometer and Solitary,” or +“lone wayfarer” (Solivagus). A suspicion of heresy clung to his memory +until 1233, when he was raised by Gregory IX, to sainthood beside his +accuser, St. Boniface.—Editor. (Conway)] + +If the belief of errors not morally bad did no mischief, it would make +no part of the moral duty of man to oppose and remove them. There was +no moral ill in believing the earth was flat like a trencher, any more +than there was moral virtue in believing it was round like a globe; +neither was there any moral ill in believing that the Creator made no +other world than this, any more than there was moral virtue in +believing that he made millions, and that the infinity of space is +filled with worlds. But when a system of religion is made to grow out +of a supposed system of creation that is not true, and to unite itself +therewith in a manner almost inseparable therefrom, the case assumes an +entirely different ground. It is then that errors, not morally bad, +become fraught with the same mischiefs as if they were. It is then that +the truth, though otherwise indifferent itself, becomes an essential, +by becoming the criterion that either confirms by corresponding +evidence, or denies by contradictory evidence, the reality of the +religion itself. In this view of the case it is the moral duty of man +to obtain every possible evidence that the structure of the heavens, or +any other part of creation affords, with respect to systems of +religion. But this, the supporters or partizans of the christian +system, as if dreading the result, incessantly opposed, and not only +rejected the sciences, but persecuted the professors. Had Newton or +Descartes lived three or four hundred years ago, and pursued their +studies as they did, it is most probable they would not have lived to +finish them; and had Franklin drawn lightning from the clouds at the +same time, it would have been at the hazard of expiring for it in +flames. + +Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, +however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to +believe or to acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age of +ignorance commenced with the Christian system. There was more knowledge +in the world before that period, than for many centuries afterwards; +and as to religious knowledge, the Christian system, as already said, +was only another species of mythology; and the mythology to which it +succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient system of theism. [NOTE by +Paine: It is impossible for us now to know at what time the heathen +mythology began; but it is certain, from the internal evidence that it +carries, that it did not begin in the same state or condition in which +it ended. All the gods of that mythology, except Saturn, were of modern +invention. The supposed reign of Saturn was prior to that which is +called the heathen mythology, and was so far a species of theism that +it admitted the belief of only one God. Saturn is supposed to have +abdicated the govemment in favour of his three sons and one daughter, +Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno; after this, thousands of other gods +and demigods were imaginarily created, and the calendar of gods +increased as fast as the calendar of saints and the calendar of courts +have increased since. + +All the corruptions that have taken place, in theology and in religion +have been produced by admitting of what man calls ‘revealed religion.’ +The mythologists pretended to more revealed religion than the +christians do. They had their oracles and their priests, who were +supposed to receive and deliver the word of God verbally on almost all +occasions. + +Since then all corruptions down from Moloch to modern +predestinarianism, and the human sacrifices of the heathens to the +christian sacrifice of the Creator, have been produced by admitting of +what is called revealed religion, the most effectual means to prevent +all such evils and impositions is, not to admit of any other revelation +than that which is manifested in the book of Creation., and to +contemplate the Creation as the only true and real word of God that +ever did or ever will exist; and every thing else called the word of +God is fable and imposition.—Author.] + +It is owing to this long interregnum of science, and to no other cause, +that we have now to look back through a vast chasm of many hundred +years to the respectable characters we call the Ancients. Had the +progression of knowledge gone on proportionably with the stock that +before existed, that chasm would have been filled up with characters +rising superior in knowledge to each other; and those Ancients we now +so much admire would have appeared respectably in the background of the +scene. But the christian system laid all waste; and if we take our +stand about the beginning of the sixteenth century, we look back +through that long chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as over a vast +sandy desert, in which not a shrub appears to intercept the vision to +the fertile hills beyond. + +It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any thing +should exist, under the name of a religion, that held it to be +irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that +God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. The +event that served more than any other to break the first link in this +long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the +Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to +have made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are +called Reformers, the Sciences began to revive, and Liberality, their +natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the +Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as well +not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; and a +multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the Pope of +Christendom. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS INSPIRED BY NATURE + + +Having thus shewn, from the internal evidence of things, the cause that +produced a change in the state of learning, and the motive for +substituting the study of the dead languages, in the place of the +Sciences, I proceed, in addition to the several observations already +made in the former part of this work, to compare, or rather to +confront, the evidence that the structure of the universe affords, with +the christian system of religion. But as I cannot begin this part +better than by referring to the ideas that occurred to me at an early +part of life, and which I doubt not have occurred in some degree to +almost every other person at one time or other, I shall state what +those ideas were, and add thereto such other matter as shall arise out +of the subject, giving to the whole, by way of preface, a short +introduction. + +My father being of the quaker profession, it was my good fortune to +have an exceedingly good moral education, and a tolerable stock of +useful learning. Though I went to the grammar school, I did not learn +Latin, not only because I had no inclination to learn languages, but +because of the objection the quakers have against the books in which +the language is taught. But this did not prevent me from being +acquainted with the subjects of all the Latin books used in the school. + +The natural bent of my mind was to science. I had some turn, and I +believe some talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed than +encouraged, as leading too much into the field of imagination. As soon +as I was able, I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the +philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became afterwards +acquainted with Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, +then living in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer. + +I had no disposition for what was called politics. It presented to my +mind no other idea than is contained in the word jockeyship. When, +therefore, I turned my thoughts towards matters of government, I had to +form a system for myself, that accorded with the moral and philosophic +principles in which I had been educated. I saw, or at least I thought I +saw, a vast scene opening itself to the world in the affairs of +America; and it appeared to me, that unless the Americans changed the +plan they were then pursuing, with respect to the government of +England, and declared themselves independent, they would not only +involve themselves in a multiplicity of new difficulties, but shut out +the prospect that was then offering itself to mankind through their +means. It was from these motives that I published the work known by the +name of Common Sense, which is the first work I ever did publish, and +so far as I can judge of myself, I believe I should never have been +known in the world as an author on any subject whatever, had it not +been for the affairs of America. I wrote Common Sense the latter end of +the year 1775, and published it the first of January, 1776. +Independence was declared the fourth of July following. [NOTE: The +pamphlet Common Sense was first advertised, as “just published,” on +January 10, 1776. His plea for the Officers of Excise, written before +leaving England, was printed, but not published until 1793. Despite his +reiterated assertion that Common Sense was the first work he ever +published the notion that he was “junius” still finds some believers. +An indirect comment on our Paine-Junians may be found in Part 2 of this +work where Paine says a man capable of writing Homer “would not have +thrown away his own fame by giving it to another.” It is probable that +Paine ascribed the Letters of Junius to Thomas Hollis. His friend F. +Lanthenas, in his translation of the Age of Reason (1794) advertises +his translation of the Letters of Junius from the English “(Thomas +Hollis).” This he could hardly have done without consultation with +Paine. Unfortunately this translation of Junius cannot be found either +in the Bibliotheque Nationale or the British Museum, and it cannot be +said whether it contains any attempt at an identification of +Junius—Editor.] + +Any person, who has made observations on the state and progress of the +human mind, by observing his own, can not but have observed, that there +are two distinct classes of what are called Thoughts; those that we +produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those +that bolt into the mind of their own accord. I have always made it a +rule to treat those voluntary visitors with civility, taking care to +examine, as well as I was able, if they were worth entertaining; and it +is from them I have acquired almost all the knowledge that I have. As +to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves +only, like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning +for himself afterwards. Every person of learning is finally his own +teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct +quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their +place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so +lasting as when they begin by conception. Thus much for the +introductory part. + +From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it +by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the christian system, or +thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but I +well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon +read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the church, upon +the subject of what is called Redemption by the death of the Son of +God. After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was +going down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I +revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself +that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed +his son, when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I was +sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for +what purpose they preached such sermons. This was not one of those kind +of thoughts that had any thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a +serious reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good +to do such an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity +of doing it. I believe in the same manner to this moment; and I +moreover believe, that any system of religion that has anything in it +that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system. + +It seems as if parents of the christian profession were ashamed to tell +their children any thing about the principles of their religion. They +sometimes instruct them in morals, and talk to them of the goodness of +what they call Providence; for the Christian mythology has five +deities: there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the +God Providence, and the Goddess Nature. But the christian story of God +the Father putting his son to death, or employing people to do it, (for +that is the plain language of the story,) cannot be told by a parent to +a child; and to tell him that it was done to make mankind happier and +better, is making the story still worse; as if mankind could be +improved by the example of murder; and to tell him that all this is a +mystery, is only making an excuse for the incredibility of it. + +How different is this to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The +true deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists in +contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his +works, and in endeavouring to imitate him in every thing moral, +scientifical, and mechanical. + +The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true Deism, +in the moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the quakers: +but they have contracted themselves too much by leaving the works of +God out of their system. Though I reverence their philanthropy, I can +not help smiling at the conceit, that if the taste of a quaker could +have been consulted at the creation, what a silent and drab-colored +creation it would have been! Not a flower would have blossomed its +gaieties, nor a bird been permitted to sing. + +Quitting these reflections, I proceed to other matters. After I had +made myself master of the use of the globes, and of the orrery, [NOTE +by Paine: As this book may fall into the bands of persons who do not +know what an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, as +the name gives no idea of the uses of the thing. The orrery has its +name from the person who invented it. It is a machinery of clock-work, +representing the universe in miniature: and in which the revolution of +the earth round itself and round the sun, the revolution of the moon +round the earth, the revolution of the planets round the sun, their +relative distances from the sun, as the center of the whole system, +their relative distances from each other, and their different +magnitudes, are represented as they really exist in what we call the +heavens.—Author.] and conceived an idea of the infinity of space, and +of the eternal divisibility of matter, and obtained, at least, a +general knowledge of what was called natural philosophy, I began to +compare, or, as I have before said, to confront, the internal evidence +those things afford with the christian system of faith. + +Though it is not a direct article of the christian system that this +world that we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it is +so worked up therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of the +creation, the story of Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of that +story, the death of the Son of God, that to believe otherwise, that is, +to believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous +as what we call stars, renders the christian system of faith at once +little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the +air. The two beliefs can not be held together in the same mind; and he +who thinks that he believes both, has thought but little of either. + +Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the +ancients, it is only within the last three centuries that the extent +and dimensions of this globe that we inhabit have been ascertained. +Several vessels, following the tract of the ocean, have sailed entirely +round the world, as a man may march in a circle, and come round by the +contrary side of the circle to the spot he set out from. The circular +dimensions of our world, in the widest part, as a man would measure the +widest round of an apple, or a ball, is only twenty-five thousand and +twenty English miles, reckoning sixty-nine miles and an half to an +equatorial degree, and may be sailed round in the space of about three +years. [NOTE by Paine: Allowing a ship to sail, on an average, three +miles in an hour, she would sail entirely round the world in less than +one year, if she could sail in a direct circle, but she is obliged to +follow the course of the ocean.—Author.] + +A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be great; +but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is +suspended, like a bubble or a balloon in the air, it is infinitely less +in proportion than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of the +world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is +therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of a +system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed. + +It is not difficult to gain some faint idea of the immensity of space +in which this and all the other worlds are suspended, if we follow a +progression of ideas. When we think of the size or dimensions of, a +room, our ideas limit themselves to the walls, and there they stop. But +when our eye, or our imagination darts into space, that is, when it +looks upward into what we call the open air, we cannot conceive any +walls or boundaries it can have; and if for the sake of resting our +ideas we suppose a boundary, the question immediately renews itself, +and asks, what is beyond that boundary? and in the same manner, what +beyond the next boundary? and so on till the fatigued imagination +returns and says, there is no end. Certainly, then, the Creator was not +pent for room when he made this world no larger than it is; and we have +to seek the reason in something else. + +If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the +Creator has given us the use as our portion in the immense system of +creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air +that surround it, filled, and as it were crowded with life, down from +the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects the naked +eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally +invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every +plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world to +some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly +refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for +thousands. + +Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be +supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal +waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or larger than +ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each other. + +Having now arrived at this point, if we carry our ideas only one +thought further, we shall see, perhaps, the true reason, at least a +very good reason for our happiness, why the Creator, instead of making +one immense world, extending over an immense quantity of space, has +preferred dividing that quantity of matter into several distinct and +separate worlds, which we call planets, of which our earth is one. But +before I explain my ideas upon this subject, it is necessary (not for +the sake of those that already know, but for those who do not) to show +what the system of the universe is. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. + + +That part of the universe that is called the solar system (meaning the +system of worlds to which our earth belongs, and of which Sol, or in +English language, the Sun, is the center) consists, besides the Sun, of +six distinct orbs, or planets, or worlds, besides the secondary bodies, +called the satellites, or moons, of which our earth has one that +attends her in her annual revolution round the Sun, in like manner as +the other satellites or moons, attend the planets or worlds to which +they severally belong, as may be seen by the assistance of the +telescope. + +The Sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve +at different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each +other. Each world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round the +Sun, and continues at the same time turning round itself, in nearly an +upright position, as a top turns round itself when it is spinning on +the ground, and leans a little sideways. + +It is this leaning of the earth (23 1/2 degrees) that occasions summer +and winter, and the different length of days and nights. If the earth +turned round itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level +of the circle it moves in round the Sun, as a top turns round when it +stands erect on the ground, the days and nights would be always of the +same length, twelve hours day and twelve hours night, and the season +would be uniformly the same throughout the year. + +Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, it +makes what we call day and night; and every time it goes entirely round +the Sun, it makes what we call a year, consequently our world turns +three hundred and sixty-five times round itself, in going once round +the Sun. + +The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are +still called by the same names, are Mercury, Venus, this world that we +call ours, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They appear larger to the eye +than the stars, being many million miles nearer to our earth than any +of the stars are. The planet Venus is that which is called the evening +star, and sometimes the morning star, as she happens to set after, or +rise before the Sun, which in either case is never more than three +hours. + +The Sun as before said being the center, the planet or world nearest +the Sun is Mercury; his distance from the Sun is thirty-four million +miles, and he moves round in a circle always at that distance from the +Sun, as a top may be supposed to spin round in the tract in which a +horse goes in a mill. The second world is Venus; she is fifty-seven +million miles distant from the Sun, and consequently moves round in a +circle much greater than that of Mercury. The third world is this that +we inhabit, and which is eighty-eight million miles distant from the +Sun, and consequently moves round in a circle greater than that of +Venus. The fourth world is Mars; he is distant from the sun one hundred +and thirty-four million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of our earth. The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant +from the Sun five hundred and fifty-seven million miles, and +consequently moves round in a circle greater than that of Mars. The +sixth world is Saturn; he is distant from the Sun seven hundred and +sixty-three million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +that surrounds the circles or orbits of all the other worlds or +planets. + +The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space, that +our solar system takes up for the several worlds to perform their +revolutions in round the Sun, is of the extent in a strait line of the +whole diameter of the orbit or circle in which Saturn moves round the +Sun, which being double his distance from the Sun, is fifteen hundred +and twenty-six million miles; and its circular extent is nearly five +thousand million; and its globical content is almost three thousand +five hundred million times three thousand five hundred million square +miles. [NOTE by Paine: If it should be asked, how can man know these +things? I have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how +to calculate an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time +when the planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the Sun, will +come in a strait line between our earth and the Sun, and will appear to +us about the size of a large pea passing across the face of the Sun. +This happens but twice in about a hundred years, at the distance of +about eight years from each other, and has happened twice in our time, +both of which were foreknown by calculation. It can also be known when +they will happen again for a thousand years to come, or to any other +portion of time. As therefore, man could not be able to do these things +if he did not understand the solar system, and the manner in which the +revolutions of the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of +calculating an eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point that +the knowledge exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few million +miles, more or less, it makes scarcely any sensible difference in such +immense distances.—Author.] + +But this, immense as it is, is only one system of worlds. Beyond this, +at a vast distance into space, far beyond all power of calculation, are +the stars called the fixed stars. They are called fixed, because they +have no revolutionary motion, as the six worlds or planets have that I +have been describing. Those fixed stars continue always at the same +distance from each other, and always in the same place, as the Sun does +in the center of our system. The probability, therefore, is that each +of those fixed stars is also a Sun, round which another system of +worlds or planets, though too remote for us to discover, performs its +revolutions, as our system of worlds does round our central Sun. By +this easy progression of ideas, the immensity of space will appear to +us to be filled with systems of worlds; and that no part of space lies +at waste, any more than any part of our globe of earth and water is +left unoccupied. + +Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and easy manner, some +idea of the structure of the universe, I return to explain what I +before alluded to, namely, the great benefits arising to man in +consequence of the Creator having made a Plurality of worlds, such as +our system is, consisting of a central Sun and six worlds, besides +satellites, in preference to that of creating one world only of a vast +extent. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR SYSTEM + + +It is an idea I have never lost sight of, that all our knowledge of +science is derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye and from +thence to our understanding) which those several planets or worlds of +which our system is composed make in their circuit round the Sun. + +Had then the quantity of matter which these six worlds contain been +blended into one solitary globe, the consequence to us would have been, +that either no revolutionary motion would have existed, or not a +sufficiency of it to give us the ideas and the knowledge of science we +now have; and it is from the sciences that all the mechanical arts that +contribute so much to our earthly felicity and comfort are derived. + +As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be +believed that he organized the structure of the universe in the most +advantageous manner for the benefit of man; and as we see, and from +experience feel, the benefits we derive from the structure of the +universe, formed as it is, which benefits we should not have had the +opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as relates to our +system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one reason +why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls forth +the devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration. + +But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe, only, that the +benefits arising from a plurality of worlds are limited. The +inhabitants of each of the worlds of which our system is composed, +enjoy the same opportunities of knowledge as we do. They behold the +revolutionary motions of our earth, as we behold theirs. All the +planets revolve in sight of each other; and, therefore, the same +universal school of science presents itself to all. + +Neither does the knowledge stop here. The system of worlds next to us +exhibits, in its revolutions, the same principles and school of +science, to the inhabitants of their system, as our system does to us, +and in like manner throughout the immensity of space. + +Our ideas, not only of the almightiness of the Creator, but of his +wisdom and his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we +contemplate the extent and the structure of the universe. The solitary +idea of a solitary world, rolling or at rest in the immense ocean of +space, gives place to the cheerful idea of a society of worlds, so +happily contrived as to administer, even by their motion, instruction +to man. We see our own earth filled with abundance; but we forget to +consider how much of that abundance is owing to the scientific +knowledge the vast machinery of the universe has unfolded. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE CHRISTIANS + + +But, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the +christian system of faith that forms itself upon the idea of only one +world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shown, than +twenty-five thousand miles. An extent which a man, walking at the rate +of three miles an hour for twelve hours in the day, could he keep on in +a circular direction, would walk entirely round in less than two years. +Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and the almighty power +of the Creator! + +From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit that the +Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his +protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in +our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple! +And, on the other hand, are we to suppose that every world in the +boundless creation had an Eve, an apple, a serpent, and a redeemer? In +this case, the person who is irreverently called the Son of God, and +sometimes God himself, would have nothing else to do than to travel +from world to world, in an endless succession of death, with scarcely a +momentary interval of life. + +It has been by rejecting the evidence, that the word, or works of God +in the creation, affords to our senses, and the action of our reason +upon that evidence, that so many wild and whimsical systems of faith, +and of religion, have been fabricated and set up. There may be many +systems of religion that so far from being morally bad are in many +respects morally good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and that +one necessarily must, as it ever will, be in all things consistent with +the ever existing word of God that we behold in his works. But such is +the strange construction of the christian system of faith, that every +evidence the heavens affords to man, either directly contradicts it or +renders it absurd. + +It is possible to believe, and I always feel pleasure in encouraging +myself to believe it, that there have been men in the world who +persuaded themselves that what is called a pious fraud, might, at least +under particular circumstances, be productive of some good. But the +fraud being once established, could not afterwards be explained; for it +is with a pious fraud as with a bad action, it begets a calamitous +necessity of going on. + +The persons who first preached the christian system of faith, and in +some measure combined with it the morality preached by Jesus Christ, +might persuade themselves that it was better than the heathen mythology +that then prevailed. From the first preachers the fraud went on to the +second, and to the third, till the idea of its being a pious fraud +became lost in the belief of its being true; and that belief became +again encouraged by the interest of those who made a livelihood by +preaching it. + +But though such a belief might, by such means, be rendered almost +general among the laity, it is next to impossible to account for the +continual persecution carried on by the church, for several hundred +years, against the sciences, and against the professors of science, if +the church had not some record or tradition that it was originally no +other than a pious fraud, or did not foresee that it could not be +maintained against the evidence that the structure of the universe +afforded. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE +THE PEOPLES + + +Having thus shown the irreconcileable inconsistencies between the real +word of God existing in the universe, and that which is called the word +of God, as shown to us in a printed book that any man might make, I +proceed to speak of the three principal means that have been employed +in all ages, and perhaps in all countries, to impose upon mankind. + +Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, The first two are +incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be +suspected. + +With respect to Mystery, everything we behold is, in one sense, a +mystery to us. Our own existence is a mystery: the whole vegetable +world is a mystery. We cannot account how it is that an acorn, when put +into the ground, is made to develop itself and become an oak. We know +not how it is that the seed we sow unfolds and multiplies itself, and +returns to us such an abundant interest for so small a capital. + +The fact however, as distinct from the operating cause, is not a +mystery, because we see it; and we know also the means we are to use, +which is no other than putting the seed in the ground. We know, +therefore, as much as is necessary for us to know; and that part of the +operation that we do not know, and which if we did, we could not +perform, the Creator takes upon himself and performs it for us. We are, +therefore, better off than if we had been let into the secret, and left +to do it for ourselves. + +But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word +mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can +be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral +truth, and not a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist +of truth. It is a fog of human invention that obscures truth, and +represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery; +and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of +its antagonist, and never of itself. + +Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the practice of +moral truth, cannot have connection with mystery. The belief of a God, +so far from having any thing of mystery in it, is of all beliefs the +most easy, because it arises to us, as is before observed, out of +necessity. And the practice of moral truth, or, in other words, a +practical imitation of the moral goodness of God, is no other than our +acting towards each other as he acts benignly towards all. We cannot +serve God in the manner we serve those who cannot do without such +service; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of serving God, is +that of contributing to the happiness of the living creation that God +has made. This cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the society of +the world, and spending a recluse life in selfish devotion. + +The very nature and design of religion, if I may so express it, prove +even to demonstration that it must be free from every thing of mystery, +and unincumbered with every thing that is mysterious. Religion, +considered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living soul alike, and, +therefore, must be on a level to the understanding and comprehension of +all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the secrets and mysteries +of a trade. He learns the theory of religion by reflection. It arises +out of the action of his own mind upon the things which he sees, or +upon what he may happen to hear or to read, and the practice joins +itself thereto. + +When men, whether from policy or pious fraud, set up systems of +religion incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, +and not only above but repugnant to human comprehension, they were +under the necessity of inventing or adopting a word that should serve +as a bar to all questions, inquiries and speculations. The word mystery +answered this purpose, and thus it has happened that religion, which is +in itself without mystery, has been corrupted into a fog of mysteries. + +As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an +occasional auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the +latter to puzzle the senses. The one was the lingo, the other the +legerdemain. + +But before going further into this subject, it will be proper to +inquire what is to be understood by a miracle. + +In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so also +may it be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one thing is +a greater miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a +greater miracle than a mite: nor a mountain a greater miracle than an +atom. To an almighty power it is no more difficult to make the one than +the other, and no more difficult to make a million of worlds than to +make one. Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in one sense; whilst, +in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a +miracle when compared to our power, and to our comprehension. It is not +a miracle compared to the power that performs it. But as nothing in +this description conveys the idea that is affixed to the word miracle, +it is necessary to carry the inquiry further. + +Mankind have conceived to themselves certain laws, by which what they +call nature is supposed to act; and that a miracle is something +contrary to the operation and effect of those laws. But unless we know +the whole extent of those laws, and of what are commonly called the +powers of nature, we are not able to judge whether any thing that may +appear to us wonderful or miraculous, be within, or be beyond, or be +contrary to, her natural power of acting. + +The ascension of a man several miles high into the air, would have +everything in it that constitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were not +known that a species of air can be generated several times lighter than +the common atmospheric air, and yet possess elasticity enough to +prevent the balloon, in which that light air is inclosed, from being +compressed into as many times less bulk, by the common air that +surrounds it. In like manner, extracting flashes or sparks of fire from +the human body, as visibly as from a steel struck with a flint, and +causing iron or steel to move without any visible agent, would also +give the idea of a miracle, if we were not acquainted with electricity +and magnetism; so also would many other experiments in natural +philosophy, to those who are not acquainted with the subject. The +restoring persons to life who are to appearance dead as is practised +upon drowned persons, would also be a miracle, if it were not known +that animation is capable of being suspended without being extinct. + +Besides these, there are performances by slight of hand, and by persons +acting in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which, when +known, are thought nothing of. And, besides these, there are mechanical +and optical deceptions. There is now an exhibition in Paris of ghosts +or spectres, which, though it is not imposed upon the spectators as a +fact, has an astonishing appearance. As, therefore, we know not the +extent to which either nature or art can go, there is no criterion to +determine what a miracle is; and mankind, in giving credit to +appearances, under the idea of their being miracles, are subject to be +continually imposed upon. + +Since then appearances are so capable of deceiving, and things not real +have a strong resemblance to things that are, nothing can be more +inconsistent than to suppose that the Almighty would make use of means, +such as are called miracles, that would subject the person who +performed them to the suspicion of being an impostor, and the person +who related them to be suspected of lying, and the doctrine intended to +be supported thereby to be suspected as a fabulous invention. + +Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain belief +to any system or opinion to which the name of religion has been given, +that of miracle, however successful the imposition may have been, is +the most inconsistent. For, in the first place, whenever recourse is +had to show, for the purpose of procuring that belief (for a miracle, +under any idea of the word, is a show) it implies a lameness or +weakness in the doctrine that is preached. And, in the second place, it +is degrading the Almighty into the character of a show-man, playing +tricks to amuse and make the people stare and wonder. It is also the +most equivocal sort of evidence that can be set up; for the belief is +not to depend upon the thing called a miracle, but upon the credit of +the reporter, who says that he saw it; and, therefore, the thing, were +it true, would have no better chance of being believed than if it were +a lie. + +Suppose I were to say, that when I sat down to write this book, a hand +presented itself in the air, took up the pen and wrote every word that +is herein written; would any body believe me? Certainly they would not. +Would they believe me a whit the more if the thing had been a fact? +Certainly they would not. Since then a real miracle, were it to happen, +would be subject to the same fate as the falsehood, the inconsistency +becomes the greater of supposing the Almighty would make use of means +that would not answer the purpose for which they were intended, even if +they were real. + +If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the +course of what is called nature, that she must go out of that course to +accomplish it, and we see an account given of such a miracle by the +person who said he saw it, it raises a question in the mind very easily +decided, which is,—Is it more probable that nature should go out of her +course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our +time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe +that millions of lies have been told in the same time; it is, +therefore, at least millions to one, that the reporter of a miracle +tells a lie. + +The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large enough +to do it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would have +approached nearer to the idea of a miracle, if Jonah had swallowed the +whale. In this, which may serve for all cases of miracles, the matter +would decide itself as before stated, namely, Is it more probable that +a man should have, swallowed a whale, or told a lie? + +But suppose that Jonah had really swallowed the whale, and gone with it +in his belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people that it was true +have cast it up in their sight, of the full length and size of a whale, +would they not have believed him to have been the devil instead of a +prophet? or if the whale had carried Jonah to Nineveh, and cast him up +in the same public manner, would they not have believed the whale to +have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps? + +The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in +the New Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus Christ, +and carrying him to the top of a high mountain; and to the top of the +highest pinnacle of the temple, and showing him and promising to him +all the kingdoms of the world. How happened it that he did not discover +America? or is it only with kingdoms that his sooty highness has any +interest. + +I have too much respect for the moral character of Christ to believe +that he told this whale of a miracle himself: neither is it easy to +account for what purpose it could have been fabricated, unless it were +to impose upon the connoisseurs of miracles, as is sometimes practised +upon the connoisseurs of Queen Anne’s farthings, and collectors of +relics and antiquities; or to render the belief of miracles ridiculous, +by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote outdid chivalry; or to embarrass +the belief of miracles, by making it doubtful by what power, whether of +God or of the devil, any thing called a miracle was performed. It +requires, however, a great deal of faith in the devil to believe this +miracle. + +In every point of view in which those things called miracles can be +placed and considered, the reality of them is improbable, and their +existence unnecessary. They would not, as before observed, answer any +useful purpose, even if they were true; for it is more difficult to +obtain belief to a miracle, than to a principle evidently moral, +without any miracle. Moral principle speaks universally for itself. +Miracle could be but a thing of the moment, and seen but by a few; +after this it requires a transfer of faith from God to man to believe a +miracle upon man’s report. Instead, therefore, of admitting the +recitals of miracles as evidence of any system of religion being true, +they ought to be considered as symptoms of its being fabulous. It is +necessary to the full and upright character of truth that it rejects +the crutch; and it is consistent with the character of fable to seek +the aid that truth rejects. Thus much for Mystery and Miracle. + +As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, +Prophecy took charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith. It +was not sufficient to know what had been done, but what would be done. +The supposed prophet was the supposed historian of times to come; and +if he happened, in shooting with a long bow of a thousand years, to +strike within a thousand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of posterity +could make it point-blank; and if he happened to be directly wrong, it +was only to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, that God had +repented himself and changed his mind. What a fool do fabulous systems +make of man! + +It has been shewn, in a former part of this work, that the original +meaning of the words prophet and prophesying has been changed, and that +a prophet, in the sense of the word as now used, is a creature of +modern invention; and it is owing to this change in the meaning of the +words, that the flights and metaphors of the Jewish poets, and phrases +and expressions now rendered obscure by our not being acquainted with +the local circumstances to which they applied at the time they were +used, have been erected into prophecies, and made to bend to +explanations at the will and whimsical conceits of sectaries, +expounders, and commentators. Every thing unintelligible was +prophetical, and every thing insignificant was typical. A blunder would +have served for a prophecy; and a dish-clout for a type. + +If by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty +communicated some event that would take place in future, either there +were such men, or there were not. If there were, it is consistent to +believe that the event so communicated would be told in terms that +could be understood, and not related in such a loose and obscure manner +as to be out of the comprehension of those that heard it, and so +equivocal as to fit almost any circumstance that might happen +afterwards. It is conceiving very irreverently of the Almighty, to +suppose he would deal in this jesting manner with mankind; yet all the +things called prophecies in the book called the Bible come under this +description. + +But it is with Prophecy as it is with Miracle. It could not answer the +purpose even if it were real. Those to whom a prophecy should be told +could not tell whether the man prophesied or lied, or whether it had +been revealed to him, or whether he conceited it; and if the thing that +he prophesied, or pretended to prophesy, should happen, or some thing +like it, among the multitude of things that are daily happening, nobody +could again know whether he foreknew it, or guessed at it, or whether +it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a character useless and +unnecessary; and the safe side of the case is to guard against being +imposed upon, by not giving credit to such relations. + +Upon the whole, Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, are appendages that +belong to fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by +which so many Lo heres! and Lo theres! have been spread about the +world, and religion been made into a trade. The success of one impostor +gave encouragement to another, and the quieting salvo of doing some +good by keeping up a pious fraud protected them from remorse. + + + + +RECAPITULATION + + +Having now extended the subject to a greater length than I first +intended, I shall bring it to a close by abstracting a summary from the +whole. + +First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or +in writing, or in speech, is inconsistent in itself for the reasons +already assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an +universal language; the mutability of language; the errors to which +translations are subject, the possibility of totally suppressing such a +word; the probability of altering it, or of fabricating the whole, and +imposing it upon the world. + +Secondly, That the Creation we behold is the real and ever existing +word of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth his power, +it demonstrates his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and beneficence. + +Thirdly, That the moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral +goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all +his creatures. That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to all +men, it is an example calling upon all men to practise the same towards +each other; and, consequently, that every thing of persecution and +revenge between man and man, and every thing of cruelty to animals, is +a violation of moral duty. + +I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content +myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that +gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he +pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable +to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have +had existence, as I now have, before that existence began. + +It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all +religions agree. All believe in a God. The things in which they +disgrace are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore, if +ever an universal religion should prevail, it will not be believing any +thing new, but in getting rid of redundancies, and believing as man +believed at first. [“In the childhood of the world,” according to the +first (French) version; and the strict translation of the final +sentence is: “Deism was the religion of Adam, supposing him not an +imaginary being; but none the less must it be left to all men to +follow, as is their right, the religion and worship they +prefer.”—Editor.] Adam, if ever there was such a man, was created a +Deist; but in the mean time, let every man follow, as he has a right to +do, the religion and worship he prefers. + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON - PART II + + + + +PREFACE + + +I have mentioned in the former part of The Age of Reason that it had +long been my intention to publish my thoughts upon Religion; but that I +had originally reserved it to a later period in life, intending it to +be the last work I should undertake. The circumstances, however, which +existed in France in the latter end of the year 1793, determined me to +delay it no longer. The just and humane principles of the Revolution +which Philosophy had first diffused, had been departed from. The Idea, +always dangerous to Society as it is derogatory to the Almighty,—that +priests could forgive sins,—though it seemed to exist no longer, had +blunted the feelings of humanity, and callously prepared men for the +commission of all crimes. The intolerant spirit of church persecution +had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, stiled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition; and the Guillotine +of the Stake. I saw many of my most intimate friends destroyed; others +daily carried to prison; and I had reason to believe, and had also +intimations given me, that the same danger was approaching myself. + +Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of the Age of +Reason; I had, besides, neither Bible nor Testament [It must be borne +in mind that throughout this work Paine generally means by “Bible” only +the Old Testament, and speaks of the New as the “Testament.”—Editor.] +to refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure +any; notwithstanding which I have produced a work that no Bible +Believer, though writing at his ease and with a Library of Church Books +about him, can refute. Towards the latter end of December of that year, +a motion was made and carried, to exclude foreigners from the +Convention. There were but two, Anacharsis Cloots and myself; and I saw +I was particularly pointed at by Bourdon de l’Oise, in his speech on +that motion. + +Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I sat +down and brought the work to a close as speedily as possible; and I had +not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has since +appeared, [This is an allusion to the essay which Paine wrote at an +earlier part of 1793. See Introduction.—Editor.] before a guard came +there, about three in the morning, with an order signed by the two +Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, for putting me in +arrestation as a foreigner, and conveying me to the prison of the +Luxembourg. I contrived, in my way there, to call on Joel Barlow, and I +put the Manuscript of the work into his hands, as more safe than in my +possession in prison; and not knowing what might be the fate in France +either of the writer or the work, I addressed it to the protection of +the citizens of the United States. + +It is justice that I say, that the guard who executed this order, and +the interpreter to the Committee of General Surety, who accompanied +them to examine my papers, treated me not only with civility, but with +respect. The keeper of the ‘Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of good heart, +shewed to me every friendship in his power, as did also all his family, +while he continued in that station. He was removed from it, put into +arrestation, and carried before the tribunal upon a malignant +accusation, but acquitted. + +After I had been in Luxembourg about three weeks, the Americans then in +Paris went in a body to the Convention to reclaim me as their +countryman and friend; but were answered by the President, Vadier, who +was also President of the Committee of Surety General, and had signed +the order for my arrestation, that I was born in England. [These +excited Americans do not seem to have understood or reported the most +important item in Vadeer’s reply, namely that their application was +“unofficial,” i.e. not made through or sanctioned by Gouverneur Morris, +American Minister. For the detailed history of all this see vol. +iii.—Editor.] I heard no more, after this, from any person out of the +walls of the prison, till the fall of Robespierre, on the 9th of +Thermidor—July 27, 1794. + +About two months before this event, I was seized with a fever that in +its progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the effects +of which I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed +satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, on having +written the former part of The Age of Reason. I had then but little +expectation of surviving, and those about me had less. I know therefore +by experience the conscientious trial of my own principles. + +I was then with three chamber comrades: Joseph Vanheule of Bruges, +Charles Bastfni, and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The unceasing and +anxious attention of these three friends to me, by night and day, I +remember with gratitude and mention with pleasure. It happened that a +physician (Dr. Graham) and a surgeon, (Mr. Bond,) part of the suite of +General O’Hara, [The officer who at Yorktown, Virginia, carried out the +sword of Cornwallis for surrender, and satirically offered it to +Rochambeau instead of Washington. Paine loaned him 300 pounds when he +(O’Hara) left the prison, the money he had concealed in the lock of his +cell-door.—Editor.] were then in the Luxembourg: I ask not myself +whether it be convenient to them, as men under the English Government, +that I express to them my thanks; but I should reproach myself if I did +not; and also to the physician of the Luxembourg, Dr. Markoski. + +I have some reason to believe, because I cannot discover any other, +that this illness preserved me in existence. Among the papers of +Robespierre that were examined and reported upon to the Convention by a +Committee of Deputies, is a note in the hand writing of Robespierre, in +the following words: + +“Demander que Thomas Paine soit decrete d’accusation, pour l’interet de +l’Amerique autant que de la France.” + +[Demand that Thomas Paine be decreed of accusation, for the interest of +America, as well as of France.] From what cause it was that the +intention was not put in execution, I know not, and cannot inform +myself; and therefore I ascribe it to impossibility, on account of that +illness. + +The Convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injustice I +had sustained, invited me publickly and unanimously to return into the +Convention, and which I accepted, to shew I could bear an injury +without permitting it to injure my principles or my disposition. It is +not because right principles have been violated, that they are to be +abandoned. + +I have seen, since I have been at liberty, several publications +written, some in America, and some in England, as answers to the former +part of “The Age of Reason.” If the authors of these can amuse +themselves by so doing, I shall not interrupt them, They may write +against the work, and against me, as much as they please; they do me +more service than they intend, and I can have no objection that they +write on. They will find, however, by this Second Part, without its +being written as an answer to them, that they must return to their +work, and spin their cobweb over again. The first is brushed away by +accident. + +They will now find that I have furnished myself with a Bible and +Testament; and I can say also that I have found them to be much worse +books than I had conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former +part of the Age of Reason, it has been by speaking better of some parts +than they deserved. + +I observe, that all my opponents resort, more or less, to what they +call Scripture Evidence and Bible authority, to help them out. They are +so little masters of the subject, as to confound a dispute about +authenticity with a dispute about doctrines; I will, however, put them +right, that if they should be disposed to write any more, they may know +how to begin. + +THOMAS PAINE. October, 1795. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +THE OLD TESTAMENT + + +It has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; but +before any thing can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible itself +must be proved to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or the truth +of it be doubtful, it ceases to have authority, and cannot be admitted +as proof of any thing. + +It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, +and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on the +world as a mass of truth, and as the word of God; they have disputed +and wrangled, and have anathematized each other about the supposeable +meaning of particular parts and passages therein; one has said and +insisted that such a passage meant such a thing, another that it meant +directly the contrary, and a third, that it meant neither one nor the +other, but something different from both; and this they have called +understanding the Bible. + +It has happened, that all the answers that I have seen to the former +part of ‘The Age of Reason’ have been written by priests: and these +pious men, like their predecessors, contend and wrangle, and understand +the Bible; each understands it differently, but each understands it +best; and they have agreed in nothing but in telling their readers that +Thomas Paine understands it not. + +Now instead of wasting their time, and heating themselves in fractious +disputations about doctrinal points drawn from the Bible, these men +ought to know, and if they do not it is civility to inform them, that +the first thing to be understood is, whether there is sufficient +authority for believing the Bible to be the word of God, or whether +there is not? + +There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command +of God, that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea we have of +moral justice, as any thing done by Robespierre, by Carrier, by Joseph +le Bon, in France, by the English government in the East Indies, or by +any other assassin in modern times. When we read in the books ascribed +to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they (the Israelites) came by stealth upon +whole nations of people, who, as the history itself shews, had given +them no offence; that they put all those nations to the sword; that +they spared neither age nor infancy; that they utterly destroyed men, +women and children; that they left not a soul to breathe; expressions +that are repeated over and over again in those books, and that too with +exulting ferocity; are we sure these things are facts? are we sure that +the Creator of man commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure +that the books that tell us so were written by his authority? + +It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; on +the contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous; for the more +ancient any history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance of +a fable. The origin of every nation is buried in fabulous tradition, +and that of the Jews is as much to be suspected as any other. + +To charge the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their +own nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all +assassination is, and more especially the assassination of infants, is +matter of serious concern. The Bible tells us, that those +assassinations were done by the express command of God. To believe +therefore the Bible to be true, we must unbelieve all our belief in the +moral justice of God; for wherein could crying or smiling infants +offend? And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo every thing +that is tender, sympathising, and benevolent in the heart of man. +Speaking for myself, if I had no other evidence that the Bible is +fabulous, than the sacrifice I must make to believe it to be true, that +alone would be sufficient to determine my choice. + +But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, in +the progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a priest +cannot deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is not +entitled to credit, as being the word of God. + +But, before I proceed to this examination, I will show wherein the +Bible differs from all other ancient writings with respect to the +nature of the evidence necessary to establish its authenticity; and +this is the more proper to be done, because the advocates of the Bible, +in their answers to the former part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ undertake +to say, and they put some stress thereon, that the authenticity of the +Bible is as well established as that of any other ancient book: as if +our belief of the one could become any rule for our belief of the +other. + +I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively +challenges universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid’s Elements +of Geometry; [Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three +hundred years before Christ, and about one hundred before Archimedes; +he was of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt.—Author.] and the reason is, +because it is a book of self-evident demonstration, entirely +independent of its author, and of every thing relating to time, place, +and circumstance. The matters contained in that book would have the +same authority they now have, had they been written by any other +person, or had the work been anonymous, or had the author never been +known; for the identical certainty of who was the author makes no part +of our belief of the matters contained in the book. But it is quite +otherwise with respect to the books ascribed to Moses, to Joshua, to +Samuel, etc.: those are books of testimony, and they testify of things +naturally incredible; and therefore the whole of our belief, as to the +authenticity of those books, rests, in the first place, upon the +certainty that they were written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel; +secondly, upon the credit we give to their testimony. We may believe +the first, that is, may believe the certainty of the authorship, and +yet not the testimony; in the same manner that we may believe that a +certain person gave evidence upon a case, and yet not believe the +evidence that he gave. But if it should be found that the books +ascribed to Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, were not written by Moses, +Joshua, and Samuel, every part of the authority and authenticity of +those books is gone at once; for there can be no such thing as forged +or invented testimony; neither can there be anonymous testimony, more +especially as to things naturally incredible; such as that of talking +with God face to face, or that of the sun and moon standing still at +the command of a man. + +The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of +which kind are those ascribed to Homer, to Plato, to Aristotle, to +Demosthenes, to Cicero, etc. Here again the author is not an essential +in the credit we give to any of those works; for as works of genius +they would have the same merit they have now, were they anonymous. +Nobody believes the Trojan story, as related by Homer, to be true; for +it is the poet only that is admired, and the merit of the poet will +remain, though the story be fabulous. But if we disbelieve the matters +related by the Bible authors (Moses for instance) as we disbelieve the +things related by Homer, there remains nothing of Moses in our +estimation, but an imposter. As to the ancient historians, from +Herodotus to Tacitus, we credit them as far as they relate things +probable and credible, and no further: for if we do, we must believe +the two miracles which Tacitus relates were performed by Vespasian, +that of curing a lame man, and a blind man, in just the same manner as +the same things are told of Jesus Christ by his historians. We must +also believe the miracles cited by Josephus, that of the sea of +Pamphilia opening to let Alexander and his army pass, as is related of +the Red Sea in Exodus. These miracles are quite as well authenticated +as the Bible miracles, and yet we do not believe them; consequently the +degree of evidence necessary to establish our belief of things +naturally incredible, whether in the Bible or elsewhere, is far greater +than that which obtains our belief to natural and probable things; and +therefore the advocates for the Bible have no claim to our belief of +the Bible because that we believe things stated in other ancient +writings; since that we believe the things stated in those writings no +further than they are probable and credible, or because they are +self-evident, like Euclid; or admire them because they are elegant, +like Homer; or approve them because they are sedate, like Plato; or +judicious, like Aristotle. + +Having premised these things, I proceed to examine the authenticity of +the Bible; and I begin with what are called the five books of Moses, +Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. My intention is +to shew that those books are spurious, and that Moses is not the author +of them; and still further, that they were not written in the time of +Moses nor till several hundred years afterwards; that they are no other +than an attempted history of the life of Moses, and of the times in +which he is said to have lived, and also of the times prior thereto, +written by some very ignorant and stupid pretenders to authorship, +several hundred years after the death of Moses; as men now write +histories of things that happened, or are supposed to have happened, +several hundred or several thousand years ago. + +The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books +themselves; and I will confine myself to this evidence only. Were I to +refer for proofs to any of the ancient authors, whom the advocates of +the Bible call prophane authors, they would controvert that authority, +as I controvert theirs: I will therefore meet them on their own ground, +and oppose them with their own weapon, the Bible. + +In the first place, there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is the +author of those books; and that he is the author, is altogether an +unfounded opinion, got abroad nobody knows how. The style and manner in +which those books are written give no room to believe, or even to +suppose, they were written by Moses; for it is altogether the style and +manner of another person speaking of Moses. In Exodus, Leviticus and +Numbers, (for every thing in Genesis is prior to the times of Moses and +not the least allusion is made to him therein,) the whole, I say, of +these books is in the third person; it is always, the Lord said unto +Moses, or Moses said unto the Lord; or Moses said unto the people, or +the people said unto Moses; and this is the style and manner that +historians use in speaking of the person whose lives and actions they +are writing. It may be said, that a man may speak of himself in the +third person, and, therefore, it may be supposed that Moses did; but +supposition proves nothing; and if the advocates for the belief that +Moses wrote those books himself have nothing better to advance than +supposition, they may as well be silent. + +But granting the grammatical right, that Moses might speak of himself +in the third person, because any man might speak of himself in that +manner, it cannot be admitted as a fact in those books, that it is +Moses who speaks, without rendering Moses truly ridiculous and +absurd:—for example, Numbers xii. 3: “Now the man Moses was very MEEK, +above all the men which were on the face of the earth.” If Moses said +this of himself, instead of being the meekest of men, he was one of the +most vain and arrogant coxcombs; and the advocates for those books may +now take which side they please, for both sides are against them: if +Moses was not the author, the books are without authority; and if he +was the author, the author is without credit, because to boast of +meekness is the reverse of meekness, and is a lie in sentiment. + +In Deuteronomy, the style and manner of writing marks more evidently +than in the former books that Moses is not the writer. The manner here +used is dramatical; the writer opens the subject by a short +introductory discourse, and then introduces Moses as in the act of +speaking, and when he has made Moses finish his harrangue, he (the +writer) resumes his own part, and speaks till he brings Moses forward +again, and at last closes the scene with an account of the death, +funeral, and character of Moses. + +This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the +first verse of the first chapter, to the end of the fifth verse, it is +the writer who speaks; he then introduces Moses as in the act of making +his harrangue, and this continues to the end of the 40th verse of the +fourth chapter; here the writer drops Moses, and speaks historically of +what was done in consequence of what Moses, when living, is supposed to +have said, and which the writer has dramatically rehearsed. + +The writer opens the subject again in the first verse of the fifth +chapter, though it is only by saying that Moses called the people of +Israel together; he then introduces Moses as before, and continues him +as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 26th chapter. He does the +same thing at the beginning of the 27th chapter; and continues Moses as +in the act of speaking, to the end of the 28th chapter. At the 29th +chapter the writer speaks again through the whole of the first verse, +and the first line of the second verse, where he introduces Moses for +the last time, and continues him as in the act of speaking, to the end +of the 33d chapter. + +The writer having now finished the rehearsal on the part of Moses, +comes forward, and speaks through the whole of the last chapter: he +begins by telling the reader, that Moses went up to the top of Pisgah, +that he saw from thence the land which (the writer says) had been +promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that he, Moses, died there in +the land of Moab, that he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, +but that no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day, that is unto +the time in which the writer lived who wrote the book of Deuteronomy. +The writer then tells us, that Moses was one hundred and ten years of +age when he died—that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force +abated; and he concludes by saying, that there arose not a prophet +since in Israel like unto Moses, whom, says this anonymous writer, the +Lord knew face to face. + +Having thus shewn, as far as grammatical evidence implies, that Moses +was not the writer of those books, I will, after making a few +observations on the inconsistencies of the writer of the book of +Deuteronomy, proceed to shew, from the historical and chronological +evidence contained in those books, that Moses was not, because he could +not be, the writer of them; and consequently, that there is no +authority for believing that the inhuman and horrid butcheries of men, +women, and children, told of in those books, were done, as those books +say they were, at the command of God. It is a duty incumbent on every +true deist, that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the +calumnies of the Bible. + +The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an +anonymous work, is obscure, and also contradictory with himself in the +account he has given of Moses. + +After telling that Moses went to the top of Pisgah (and it does not +appear from any account that he ever came down again) he tells us, that +Moses died there in the land of Moab, and that he buried him in a +valley in the land of Moab; but as there is no antecedent to the +pronoun he, there is no knowing who he was, that did bury him. If the +writer meant that he (God) buried him, how should he (the writer) know +it? or why should we (the readers) believe him? since we know not who +the writer was that tells us so, for certainly Moses could not himself +tell where he was buried. + +The writer also tells us, that no man knoweth where the sepulchre of +Moses is unto this day, meaning the time in which this writer lived; +how then should he know that Moses was buried in a valley in the land +of Moab? for as the writer lived long after the time of Moses, as is +evident from his using the expression of unto this day, meaning a great +length of time after the death of Moses, he certainly was not at his +funeral; and on the other hand, it is impossible that Moses himself +could say that no man knoweth where the sepulchre is unto this day. To +make Moses the speaker, would be an improvement on the play of a child +that hides himself and cries nobody can find me; nobody can find Moses. + +This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he +has put into the mouth of Moses to speak, and therefore we have a right +to conclude that he either composed them himself, or wrote them from +oral tradition. One or other of these is the more probable, since he +has given, in the fifth chapter, a table of commandments, in which that +called the fourth commandment is different from the fourth commandment +in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. In that of Exodus, the reason given +for keeping the seventh day is, because (says the commandment) God made +the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh; but +in that of Deuteronomy, the reason given is, that it was the day on +which the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and therefore, says +this commandment, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the +sabbath-day This makes no mention of the creation, nor that of the +coming out of Egypt. There are also many things given as laws of Moses +in this book, that are not to be found in any of the other books; among +which is that inhuman and brutal law, xxi. 18, 19, 20, 21, which +authorizes parents, the father and the mother, to bring their own +children to have them stoned to death for what it pleased them to call +stubbornness.—But priests have always been fond of preaching up +Deuteronomy, for Deuteronomy preaches up tythes; and it is from this +book, xxv. 4, they have taken the phrase, and applied it to tything, +that “thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth Out the corn:” and +that this might not escape observation, they have noted it in the table +of contents at the head of the chapter, though it is only a single +verse of less than two lines. O priests! priests! ye are willing to be +compared to an ox, for the sake of tythes. [An elegant pocket edition +of Paine’s Theological Works (London. R. Carlile, 1822) has in its +title a picture of Paine, as a Moses in evening dress, unfolding the +two tables of his “Age of Reason” to a farmer from whom the Bishop of +Llandaff (who replied to this work) has taken a sheaf and a lamb which +he is carrying to a church at the summit of a well stocked +hill.—Editor.]—Though it is impossible for us to know identically who +the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not difficult to discover him +professionally, that he was some Jewish priest, who lived, as I shall +shew in the course of this work, at least three hundred and fifty years +after the time of Moses. + +I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. The +chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology; for I mean not to +go out of the Bible for evidence of any thing, but to make the Bible +itself prove historically and chronologically that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him. It is therefore proper that I +inform the readers (such an one at least as may not have the +opportunity of knowing it) that in the larger Bibles, and also in some +smaller ones, there is a series of chronology printed in the margin of +every page for the purpose of showing how long the historical matters +stated in each page happened, or are supposed to have happened, before +Christ, and consequently the distance of time between one historical +circumstance and another. + +I begin with the book of Genesis.—In Genesis xiv., the writer gives an +account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings +against five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot being +taken came to Abraham, that he armed all his household and marched to +rescue Lot from the captors; and that he pursued them unto Dan. (ver. +14.) + +To shew in what manner this expression of Pursuing them unto Dan +applies to the case in question, I will refer to two circumstances, the +one in America, the other in France. The city now called New York, in +America, was originally New Amsterdam; and the town in France, lately +called Havre Marat, was before called Havre-de-Grace. New Amsterdam was +changed to New York in the year 1664; Havre-de-Grace to Havre Marat in +the year 1793. Should, therefore, any writing be found, though without +date, in which the name of New-York should be mentioned, it would be +certain evidence that such a writing could not have been written +before, and must have been written after New Amsterdam was changed to +New York, and consequently not till after the year 1664, or at least +during the course of that year. And in like manner, any dateless +writing, with the name of Havre Marat, would be certain evidence that +such a writing must have been written after Havre-de-Grace became Havre +Marat, and consequently not till after the year 1793, or at least +during the course of that year. + +I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there +was no such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and +consequently, that Moses could not be the writer of the book of +Genesis, where this account of pursuing them unto Dan is given. + +The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the +Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this +town, they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who was +the father of that tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham. + +To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to +chapter xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there said +(ver. 27) that “they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that +were quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword +[the Bible is filled with murder] and burned the city with fire; and +they built a city, (ver. 28,) and dwelt therein, and [ver. 29,] they +called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, their father; +howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.” + +This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it +to Dan, is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of +Samson. The death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. 1120 and that +of Moses B.C. 1451; and, therefore, according to the historical +arrangement, the place was not called Dan till 331 years after the +death of Moses. + +There is a striking confusion between the historical and the +chronological arrangement in the book of judges. The last five +chapters, as they stand in the book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put +chronologically before all the preceding chapters; they are made to be +28 years before the 16th chapter, 266 before the 15th, 245 before the +13th, 195 before the 9th, 90 before the 4th, and 15 years before the +1st chapter. This shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the Bible. +According to the chronological arrangement, the taking of Laish, and +giving it the name of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death +of Joshua, who was the successor of Moses; and by the historical order, +as it stands in the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of +Joshua, and 331 after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from +being the writer of Genesis, because, according to either of the +statements, no such a place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and +therefore the writer of Genesis must have been some person who lived +after the town of Laish had the name of Dan; and who that person was +nobody knows, and consequently the book of Genesis is anonymous, and +without authority. + +I come now to state another point of historical and chronological +evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses +is not the author of the book of Genesis. + +In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and +descendants of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name +of the kings of Edom; in enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, +“And these are the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any +king over the children of Israel.” + +Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any +past events, the writer should say, these things happened before there +was any Congress in America, or before there was any Convention in +France, it would be evidence that such writing could not have been +written before, and could only be written after there was a Congress in +America or a Convention in France, as the case might be; and, +consequently, that it could not be written by any person who died +before there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention in the +other. + +Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than +to refer to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to do, +because a fact fixes itself in the memory better than a date; secondly, +because the fact includes the date, and serves to give two ideas at +once; and this manner of speaking by circumstances implies as +positively that the fact alluded to is past, as if it was so expressed. +When a person in speaking upon any matter, says, it was before I was +married, or before my son was born, or before I went to America, or +before I went to France, it is absolutely understood, and intended to +be understood, that he has been married, that he has had a son, that he +has been in America, or been in France. Language does not admit of +using this mode of expression in any other sense; and whenever such an +expression is found anywhere, it can only be understood in the sense in +which only it could have been used. + +The passage, therefore, that I have quoted—that “these are the kings +that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children +of Israel,” could only have been written after the first king began to +reign over them; and consequently that the book of Genesis, so far from +having been written by Moses, could not have been written till the time +of Saul at least. This is the positive sense of the passage; but the +expression, any king, implies more kings than one, at least it implies +two, and this will carry it to the time of David; and, if taken in a +general sense, it carries itself through all times of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Had we met with this verse in any part of the Bible that professed to +have been written after kings began to reign in Israel, it would have +been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens then +that this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which give a +history of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in +fact, written after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse that I +have quoted, and all the remaining verses of Genesis xxxvi. are, word +for word, In 1 Chronicles i., beginning at the 43d verse. + +It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say as +he has said, 1 Chron. i. 43, “These are the kings that reigned in Edom, +before there reigned any king over the children of Israel,” because he +was going to give, and has given, a list of the kings that had reigned +in Israel; but as it is impossible that the same expression could have +been used before that period, it is as certain as any thing can be +proved from historical language, that this part of Genesis is taken +from Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old as Chronicles, and +probably not so old as the book of Homer, or as Æsop’s Fables; +admitting Homer to have been, as the tables of chronology state, +contemporary with David or Solomon, and Æsop to have lived about the +end of the Jewish monarchy. + +Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which +only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there +remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, +and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies. The +story of Eve and the serpent, and of Noah and his ark, drops to a level +with the Arabian Tales, without the merit of being entertaining, and +the account of men living to eight and nine hundred years becomes as +fabulous as the immortality of the giants of the Mythology. + +Besides, the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most +horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was the +wretch that first began and carried on wars on the score or on the +pretence of religion; and under that mask, or that infatuation, +committed the most unexampled atrocities that are to be found in the +history of any nation. Of which I will state only one instance: + +When the Jewish army returned from one of their plundering and +murdering excursions, the account goes on as follows (Numbers xxxi. +13): “And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the +congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was +wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, +and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle; and Moses said +unto them, ‘Have ye saved all the women alive?’ behold, these caused +the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit +trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague +among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, ‘kill every male +among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by +lying with him; but all the women-children that have not known a man by +lying with him, keep alive for Yourselves.’” + +Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have +disgraced the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than +Moses, if this account be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, +to massacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. + +Let any mother put herself in the situation of those mothers, one child +murdered, another destined to violation, and herself in the hands of an +executioner: let any daughter put herself in the situation of those +daughters, destined as a prey to the murderers of a mother and a +brother, and what will be their feelings? It is in vain that we attempt +to impose upon nature, for nature will have her course, and the +religion that tortures all her social ties is a false religion. + +After this detestable order, follows an account of the plunder taken, +and the manner of dividing it; and here it is that the profaneings of +priestly hypocrisy increases the catalogue of crimes. Verse 37, “And +the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and +fifteen; and the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the +Lord’s tribute was threescore and twelve; and the asses were thirty +thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was threescore and one; and the +persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty +and two.” In short, the matters contained in this chapter, as well as +in many other parts of the Bible, are too horrid for humanity to read, +or for decency to hear; for it appears, from the 35th verse of this +chapter, that the number of women-children consigned to debauchery by +the order of Moses was thirty-two thousand. + +People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended +word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for +granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit +themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of +the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught +to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is quite +another thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for +what can be greater blasphemy, than to ascribe the wickedness of man to +the orders of the Almighty! + +But to return to my subject, that of showing that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him, and that the Bible is spurious. +The two instances I have already given would be sufficient, without any +additional evidence, to invalidate the authenticity of any book that +pretended to be four or five hundred years more ancient than the +matters it speaks of, refers to, them as facts; for in the case of +pursuing them unto Dan, and of the kings that reigned over the children +of Israel; not even the flimsy pretence of prophecy can be pleaded. The +expressions are in the preter tense, and it would be downright idiotism +to say that a man could prophecy in the preter tense. + +But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books that +unite in the same point of evidence. It is said in Exodus, (another of +the books ascribed to Moses,) xvi. 35: “And the children of Israel did +eat manna until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until +they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.” + +Whether the children of Israel ate manna or not, or what manna was, or +whether it was anything more than a kind of fungus or small mushroom, +or other vegetable substance common to that part of the country, makes +no part of my argument; all that I mean to show is, that it is not +Moses that could write this account, because the account extends itself +beyond the life time of Moses. Moses, according to the Bible, (but it +is such a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which +part to believe, or whether any) died in the wilderness, and never came +upon the borders of ‘the land of Canaan; and consequently, it could not +be he that said what the children of Israel did, or what they ate when +they came there. This account of eating manna, which they tell us was +written by Moses, extends itself to the time of Joshua, the successor +of Moses, as appears by the account given in the book of Joshua, after +the children of Israel had passed the river Jordan, and came into the +borders of the land of Canaan. Joshua, v. 12: “And the manna ceased on +the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither +had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the +fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” + +But a more remarkable instance than this occurs in Deuteronomy; which, +while it shows that Moses could not be the writer of that book, shows +also the fabulous notions that prevailed at that time about giants’ In +Deuteronomy iii. 11, among the conquests said to be made by Moses, is +an account of the taking of Og, king of Bashan: “For only Og, king of +Bashan, remained of the race of giants; behold, his bedstead was a +bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine +cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after +the cubit of a man.” A cubit is 1 foot 9 888/1000 inches; the length +therefore of the bed was 16 feet 4 inches, and the breadth 7 feet 4 +inches: thus much for this giant’s bed. Now for the historical part, +which, though the evidence is not so direct and positive as in the +former cases, is nevertheless very presumable and corroborating +evidence, and is better than the best evidence on the contrary side. + +The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to +his bed, as an ancient relick, and says, is it not in Rabbath (or +Rabbah) of the children of Ammon? meaning that it is; for such is +frequently the bible method of affirming a thing. But it could not be +Moses that said this, because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, +nor of what was in it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant +king, nor was it one of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge +therefore that this bed was at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its +dimensions, must be referred to the time when Rabbah was taken, and +this was not till four hundred years after the death of Moses; for +which, see 2 Sam. xii. 26: “And Joab [David’s general] fought against +Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city,” etc. + +As I am not undertaking to point out all the contradictions in time, +place, and circumstance that abound in the books ascribed to Moses, and +which prove to demonstration that those books could not be written by +Moses, nor in the time of Moses, I proceed to the book of Joshua, and +to shew that Joshua is not the author of that book, and that it is +anonymous and without authority. The evidence I shall produce is +contained in the book itself: I will not go out of the Bible for proof +against the supposed authenticity of the Bible. False testimony is +always good against itself. + +Joshua, according to Joshua i., was the immediate successor of Moses; +he was, moreover, a military man, which Moses was not; and he continued +as chief of the people of Israel twenty-five years; that is, from the +time that Moses died, which, according to the Bible chronology, was +B.C. 1451, until B.C. 1426, when, according to the same chronology, +Joshua died. If, therefore, we find in this book, said to have been +written by Joshua, references to facts done after the death of Joshua, +it is evidence that Joshua could not be the author; and also that the +book could not have been written till after the time of the latest fact +which it records. As to the character of the book, it is horrid; it is +a military history of rapine and murder, as savage and brutal as those +recorded of his predecessor in villainy and hypocrisy, Moses; and the +blasphemy consists, as in the former books, in ascribing those deeds to +the orders of the Almighty. + +In the first place, the book of Joshua, as is the case in the preceding +books, is written in the third person; it is the historian of Joshua +that speaks, for it would have been absurd and vainglorious that Joshua +should say of himself, as is said of him in the last verse of the sixth +chapter, that “his fame was noised throughout all the country.”—I now +come more immediately to the proof. + +In Joshua xxiv. 31, it is said “And Israel served the Lord all the days +of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua.” Now, +in the name of common sense, can it be Joshua that relates what people +had done after he was dead? This account must not only have been +written by some historian that lived after Joshua, but that lived also +after the elders that out-lived Joshua. + +There are several passages of a general meaning with respect to time, +scattered throughout the book of Joshua, that carries the time in which +the book was written to a distance from the time of Joshua, but without +marking by exclusion any particular time, as in the passage above +quoted. In that passage, the time that intervened between the death of +Joshua and the death of the elders is excluded descriptively and +absolutely, and the evidence substantiates that the book could not have +been written till after the death of the last. + +But though the passages to which I allude, and which I am going to +quote, do not designate any particular time by exclusion, they imply a +time far more distant from the days of Joshua than is contained between +the death of Joshua and the death of the elders. Such is the passage, +x. 14, where, after giving an account that the sun stood still upon +Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, at the command of Joshua, +(a tale only fit to amuse children) [NOTE: This tale of the sun +standing still upon Motint Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of +Ajalon, is one of those fables that detects itself. Such a circumstance +could not have happened without being known all over the world. One +half would have wondered why the sun did not rise, and the other why it +did not set; and the tradition of it would be universal; whereas there +is not a nation in the world that knows anything about it. But why must +the moon stand still? What occasion could there be for moonlight in the +daytime, and that too whilst the sun shined? As a poetical figure, the +whole is well enough; it is akin to that in the song of Deborah and +Barak, The stars in their courses fought against Sisera; but it is +inferior to the figurative declaration of Mahomet to the persons who +came to expostulate with him on his goings on, Wert thou, said he, to +come to me with the sun in thy right hand and the moon in thy left, it +should not alter my career. For Joshua to have exceeded Mahomet, he +should have put the sun and moon, one in each pocket, and carried them +as Guy Faux carried his dark lanthorn, and taken them out to shine as +he might happen to want them. The sublime and the ridiculous are often +so nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately. One +step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the +ridiculous makes the sublime again; the account, however, abstracted +from the poetical fancy, shews the ignorance of Joshua, for he should +have commanded the earth to have stood still.—Author.] the passage +says: “And there was no day like that, before it, nor after it, that +the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man.” + +The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, +being put in comparison with all the time that passed before it, must, +in order to give any expressive signification to the passage, mean a +great length of time:—for example, it would have been ridiculous to +have said so the next day, or the next week, or the next month, or the +next year; to give therefore meaning to the passage, comparative with +the wonder it relates, and the prior time it alludes to, it must mean +centuries of years; less however than one would be trifling, and less +than two would be barely admissible. + +A distant, but general time is also expressed in chapter viii.; where, +after giving an account of the taking the city of Ai, it is said, ver. +28th, “And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an heap for ever, a desolation +unto this day;” and again, ver. 29, where speaking of the king of Ai, +whom Joshua had hanged, and buried at the entering of the gate, it is +said, “And he raised thereon a great heap of stones, which remaineth +unto this day,” that is, unto the day or time in which the writer of +the book of Joshua lived. And again, in chapter x. where, after +speaking of the five kings whom Joshua had hanged on five trees, and +then thrown in a cave, it is said, “And he laid great stones on the +cave’s mouth, which remain unto this very day.” + +In enumerating the several exploits of Joshua, and of the tribes, and +of the places which they conquered or attempted, it is said, xv. 63, +“As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of +Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the +children of Judah AT JERUSALEM unto this day.” The question upon this +passage is, At what time did the Jebusites and the children of Judah +dwell together at Jerusalem? As this matter occurs again in judges i. I +shall reserve my observations till I come to that part. + +Having thus shewn from the book of Joshua itself, without any auxiliary +evidence whatever, that Joshua is not the author of that book, and that +it is anonymous, and consequently without authority, I proceed, as +before-mentioned, to the book of Judges. + +The book of Judges is anonymous on the face of it; and, therefore, even +the pretence is wanting to call it the word of God; it has not so much +as a nominal voucher; it is altogether fatherless. + +This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. That +of Joshua begins, chap i. 1, Now after the death of Moses, etc., and +this of the Judges begins, Now after the death of Joshua, etc. This, +and the similarity of stile between the two books, indicate that they +are the work of the same author; but who he was, is altogether unknown; +the only point that the book proves is that the author lived long after +the time of Joshua; for though it begins as if it followed immediately +after his death, the second chapter is an epitome or abstract of the +whole book, which, according to the Bible chronology, extends its +history through a space of 306 years; that is, from the death of +Joshua, B.C. 1426 to the death of Samson, B.C. 1120, and only 25 years +before Saul went to seek his father’s asses, and was made king. But +there is good reason to believe, that it was not written till the time +of David, at least, and that the book of Joshua was not written before +the same time. + +In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, +proceeds to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the +native inhabitants of the land of Canaan. In this statement the writer, +having abruptly mentioned Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately +after, in the 8th verse, by way of explanation, “Now the children of +Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and taken it;” consequently this +book could not have been written before Jerusalem had been taken. The +reader will recollect the quotation I have just before made from Joshua +xv. 63, where it said that the Jebusites dwell with the children of +Judah at Jerusalem at this day; meaning the time when the book of +Joshua was written. + +The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I have +hitherto treated of were not written by the persons to whom they are +ascribed, nor till many years after their death, if such persons ever +lived, is already so abundant, that I can afford to admit this passage +with less weight than I am entitled to draw from it. For the case is, +that so far as the Bible can be credited as an history, the city of +Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David; and consequently, that +the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not written till after the +commencement of the reign of David, which was 370 years after the death +of Joshua. + +The name of the city that was afterward called Jerusalem was originally +Jebus, or Jebusi, and was the capital of the Jebusites. The account of +David’s taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, v. 4, etc.; also in 1 +Chron. xiv. 4, etc. There is no mention in any part of the Bible that +it was ever taken before, nor any account that favours such an opinion. +It is not said, either in Samuel or in Chronicles, that they “utterly +destroyed men, women and children, that they left not a soul to +breathe,” as is said of their other conquests; and the silence here +observed implies that it was taken by capitulation; and that the +Jebusites, the native inhabitants, continued to live in the place after +it was taken. The account therefore, given in Joshua, that “the +Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah” at Jerusalem at this day, +corresponds to no other time than after taking the city by David. + +Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Judges, +is without authenticity, I come to the book of Ruth, an idle, bungling +story, foolishly told, nobody knows by whom, about a strolling +country-girl creeping slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. [The text of +Ruth does not imply the unpleasant sense Paine’s words are likely to +convey.—Editor.] Pretty stuff indeed to be called the word of God. It +is, however, one of the best books in the Bible, for it is free from +murder and rapine. + +I come next to the two books of Samuel, and to shew that those books +were not written by Samuel, nor till a great length of time after the +death of Samuel; and that they are, like all the former books, +anonymous, and without authority. + +To be convinced that these books have been written much later than the +time of Samuel, and consequently not by him, it is only necessary to +read the account which the writer gives of Saul going to seek his +father’s asses, and of his interview with Samuel, of whom Saul went to +enquire about those lost asses, as foolish people now-a-days go to a +conjuror to enquire after lost things. + +The writer, in relating this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, does +not tell it as a thing that had just then happened, but as an ancient +story in the time this writer lived; for he tells it in the language or +terms used at the time that Samuel lived, which obliges the writer to +explain the story in the terms or language used in the time the writer +lived. + +Samuel, in the account given of him in the first of those books, chap. +ix. 13 called the seer; and it is by this term that Saul enquires after +him, ver. 11, “And as they [Saul and his servant] went up the hill to +the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water; and they +said unto them, Is the seer here?” Saul then went according to the +direction of these maidens, and met Samuel without knowing him, and +said unto him, ver. 18, “Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s house +is? and Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer.” + +As the writer of the book of Samuel relates these questions and +answers, in the language or manner of speaking used in the time they +are said to have been spoken, and as that manner of speaking was out of +use when this author wrote, he found it necessary, in order to make the +story understood, to explain the terms in which these questions and +answers are spoken; and he does this in the 9th verse, where he says, +“Before-time in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he +spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a prophet, +was before-time called a seer.” This proves, as I have before said, +that this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was an ancient story at +the time the book of Samuel was written, and consequently that Samuel +did not write it, and that the book is without authenticity. + +But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more +positive that Samuel is not the writer of them; for they relate things +that did not happen till several years after the death of Samuel. +Samuel died before Saul; for i Samuel, xxviii. tells, that Saul and the +witch of Endor conjured Samuel up after he was dead; yet the history of +matters contained in those books is extended through the remaining part +of Saul’s life, and to the latter end of the life of David, who +succeeded Saul. The account of the death and burial of Samuel (a thing +which he could not write himself) is related in i Samuel xxv.; and the +chronology affixed to this chapter makes this to be B.C. 1060; yet the +history of this first book is brought down to B.C. 1056, that is, to +the death of Saul, which was not till four years after the death of +Samuel. + +The second book of Samuel begins with an account of things that did not +happen till four years after Samuel was dead; for it begins with the +reign of David, who succeeded Saul, and it goes on to the end of +David’s reign, which was forty-three years after the death of Samuel; +and, therefore, the books are in themselves positive evidence that they +were not written by Samuel. + +I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, +to which the names of persons are affixed, as being the authors of +those books, and which the church, styling itself the Christian church, +have imposed upon the world as the writings of Moses, Joshua and +Samuel; and I have detected and proved the falsehood of this +imposition.—And now ye priests, of every description, who have preached +and written against the former part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ what have +ye to say? Will ye with all this mass of evidence against you, and +staring you in the face, still have the assurance to march into your +pulpits, and continue to impose these books on your congregations, as +the works of inspired penmen and the word of God? when it is as evident +as demonstration can make truth appear, that the persons who ye say are +the authors, are not the authors, and that ye know not who the authors +are. What shadow of pretence have ye now to produce for continuing the +blasphemous fraud? What have ye still to offer against the pure and +moral religion of deism, in support of your system of falsehood, +idolatry, and pretended revelation? Had the cruel and murdering orders, +with which the Bible is filled, and the numberless torturing executions +of men, women, and children, in consequence of those orders, been +ascribed to some friend, whose memory you revered, you would have +glowed with satisfaction at detecting the falsehood of the charge, and +gloried in defending his injured fame. It is because ye are sunk in the +cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honour of your +Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them +with callous indifference. The evidence I have produced, and shall +still produce in the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is +without authority, will, whilst it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, +relieve and tranquillize the minds of millions: it will free them from +all those hard thoughts of the Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible +had infused into their minds, and which stood in everlasting opposition +to all their ideas of his moral justice and benevolence. + +I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of +Chronicles.—Those books are altogether historical, and are chiefly +confined to the lives and actions of the Jewish kings, who in general +were a parcel of rascals: but these are matters with which we have no +more concern than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer’s account +of the Trojan war. Besides which, as those books are anonymous, and as +we know nothing of the writer, or of his character, it is impossible +for us to know what degree of credit to give to the matters related +therein. Like all other ancient histories, they appear to be a jumble +of fable and of fact, and of probable and of improbable things, but +which distance of time and place, and change of circumstances in the +world, have rendered obsolete and uninteresting. + +The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing +them with each other, and with other parts of the Bible, to show the +confusion, contradiction, and cruelty in this pretended word of God. + +The first book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, +according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1015; and the second book +ends B.C. 588, being a little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom +Nebuchadnezzar, after taking Jerusalem and conquering the Jews, carried +captive to Babylon. The two books include a space of 427 years. + +The two books of Chronicles are an history of the same times, and in +general of the same persons, by another author; for it would be absurd +to suppose that the same author wrote the history twice over. The first +book of Chronicles (after giving the genealogy from Adam to Saul, which +takes up the first nine chapters) begins with the reign of David; and +the last book ends, as in the last book of Kings, soon, after the reign +of Zedekiah, about B.C. 588. The last two verses of the last chapter +bring the history 52 years more forward, that is, to 536. But these +verses do not belong to the book, as I shall show when I come to speak +of the book of Ezra. + +The two books of Kings, besides the history of Saul, David, and +Solomon, who reigned over all Israel, contain an abstract of the lives +of seventeen kings, and one queen, who are stiled kings of Judah; and +of nineteen, who are stiled kings of Israel; for the Jewish nation, +immediately on the death of Solomon, split into two parties, who chose +separate kings, and who carried on most rancorous wars against each +other. + +These two books are little more than a history of assassinations, +treachery, and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accustomed +themselves to practise on the Canaanites, whose country they had +savagely invaded, under a pretended gift from God, they afterwards +practised as furiously on each other. Scarcely half their kings died a +natural death, and in some instances whole families were destroyed to +secure possession to the successor, who, after a few years, and +sometimes only a few months, or less, shared the same fate. In 2 Kings +x., an account is given of two baskets full of children’s heads, +seventy in number, being exposed at the entrance of the city; they were +the children of Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of Jehu, whom +Elisha, the pretended man of God, had anointed to be king over Israel, +on purpose to commit this bloody deed, and assassinate his predecessor. +And in the account of the reign of Menahem, one of the kings of Israel +who had murdered Shallum, who had reigned but one month, it is said, 2 +Kings xv. 16, that Menahem smote the city of Tiphsah, because they +opened not the city to him, and all the women therein that were with +child he ripped up. + +Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would +distinguish any nation of people by the name of his chosen people, we +must suppose that people to have been an example to all the rest of the +world of the purest piety and humanity, and not such a nation of +ruffians and cut-throats as the ancient Jews were,—a people who, +corrupted by and copying after such monsters and imposters as Moses and +Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, and David, had distinguished themselves above +all others on the face of the known earth for barbarity and wickedness. +If we will not stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our hearts it is +impossible not to see, in spite of all that long-established +superstition imposes upon the mind, that the flattering appellation of +his chosen people is no other than a LIE which the priests and leaders +of the Jews had invented to cover the baseness of their own characters; +and which Christian priests sometimes as corrupt, and often as cruel, +have professed to believe. + +The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the same crimes; but +the history is broken in several places, by the author leaving out the +reign of some of their kings; and in this, as well as in that of Kings, +there is such a frequent transition from kings of Judah to kings of +Israel, and from kings of Israel to kings of Judah, that the narrative +is obscure in the reading. In the same book the history sometimes +contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. 17, we are told, but in +rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of Ahaziah, king of +Israel, Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), reigned in +his stead in the second Year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of Jehoshaphat, +king of Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is said, “And in +the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat +being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of +judah, began to reign.” That is, one chapter says Joram of Judah began +to reign in the second year of Joram of Israel; and the other chapter +says, that Joram of Israel began to reign in the fifth year of Joram of +Judah. + +Several of the most extraordinary matters related in one history, as +having happened during the reign of such or such of their kings, are +not to be found in the other, in relating the reign of the same king: +for example, the two first rival kings, after the death of Solomon, +were Rehoboam and Jeroboam; and in i Kings xii. and xiii. an account is +given of Jeroboam making an offering of burnt incense, and that a man, +who is there called a man of God, cried out against the altar (xiii. +2): “O altar, altar! thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born +unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer +the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s +bones shall be burned upon thee.” Verse 4: “And it came to pass, when +king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried +against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, +saying, Lay hold on him; and his hand which he put out against him +dried up so that he could not pull it again to him.” + +One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is +spoken of as a judgement,) happening to the chief of one of the +parties, and that at the first moment of the separation of the +Israelites into two nations, would, if it,. had been true, have been +recorded in both histories. But though men, in later times, have +believed all that the prophets have said unto them, it does appear that +those prophets, or historians, disbelieved each other: they knew each +other too well. + +A long account also is given in Kings about Elijah. It runs through +several chapters, and concludes with telling, 2 Kings ii. 11, “And it +came to pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, +that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and +parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into +heaven.” Hum! this the author of Chronicles, miraculous as the story +is, makes no mention of, though he mentions Elijah by name; neither +does he say anything of the story related in the second chapter of the +same book of Kings, of a parcel of children calling Elisha bald head; +and that this man of God (ver. 24) “turned back, and looked upon them, +and cursed them in the name of the Lord; and there came forth two +she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.” He +also passes over in silence the story told, 2 Kings xiii., that when +they were burying a man in the sepulchre where Elisha had been buried, +it happened that the dead man, as they were letting him down, (ver. 21) +“touched the bones of Elisha, and he (the dead man) revived, and stood +up on his feet.” The story does not tell us whether they buried the +man, notwithstanding he revived and stood upon his feet, or drew him up +again. Upon all these stories the writer of the Chronicles is as silent +as any writer of the present day, who did not chose to be accused of +lying, or at least of romancing, would be about stories of the same +kind. + +But, however these two historians may differ from each other with +respect to the tales related by either, they are silent alike with +respect to those men styled prophets whose writings fill up the latter +part of the Bible. Isaiah, who lived in the time of Hezekiab, is +mentioned in Kings, and again in Chronicles, when these histories are +speaking of that reign; but except in one or two instances at most, and +those very slightly, none of the rest are so much as spoken of, or even +their existence hinted at; though, according to the Bible chronology, +they lived within the time those histories were written; and some of +them long before. If those prophets, as they are called, were men of +such importance in their day, as the compilers of the Bible, and +priests and commentators have since represented them to be, how can it +be accounted for that not one of those histories should say anything +about them? + +The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought forward, +as I have already said, to the year B.C. 588; it will, therefore, be +proper to examine which of these prophets lived before that period. + +Here follows a table of all the prophets, with the times in which they +lived before Christ, according to the chronology affixed to the first +chapter of each of the books of the prophets; and also of the number of +years they lived before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + +TABLE of the Prophets, with the time in which they lived before Christ, +and also before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + + + Years Years before + NAMES. before Kings and Observations. + Christ. Chronicles. + + Isaiah............... 760 172 mentioned. + + + (mentioned only in + Jeremiah............. 629 41 the last [two] chapters + of Chronicles. + + Ezekiel.............. 595 7 not mentioned. + + Daniel............... 607 19 not mentioned. + + Hosea................ 785 97 not mentioned. + + Joel................. 800 212 not mentioned. + + Amos................. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Obadiah.............. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Jonah................ 862 274 see the note. + + Micah................ 750 162 not mentioned. + + Nahum................ 713 125 not mentioned. + + Habakkuk............. 620 38 not mentioned. + + Zepbaniah............ 630 42 not mentioned. + + +Haggai Zechariah all three after the year 588 Medachi [NOTE In 2 Kings +xiv. 25, the name of Jonah is mentioned on account of the restoration +of a tract of land by Jeroboam; but nothing further is said of him, nor +is any allusion made to the book of Jonah, nor to his expedition to +Nineveh, nor to his encounter with the whale.—Author.] + +This table is either not very honourable for the Bible historians, or +not very honourable for the Bible prophets; and I leave to priests and +commentators, who are very learned in little things, to settle the +point of etiquette between the two; and to assign a reason, why the +authors of Kings and of Chronicles have treated those prophets, whom, +in the former part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ I have considered as poets, +with as much degrading silence as any historian of the present day +would treat Peter Pindar. + +I have one more observation to make on the book of Chronicles; after +which I shall pass on to review the remaining books of the Bible. + +In my observations on the book of Genesis, I have quoted a passage from +xxxvi. 31, which evidently refers to a time, after that kings began to +reign over the children of Israel; and I have shown that as this verse +is verbatim the same as in 1 Chronicles i. 43, where it stands +consistently with the order of history, which in Genesis it does not, +that the verse in Genesis, and a great part of the 36th chapter, have +been taken from Chronicles; and that the book of Genesis, though it is +placed first in the Bible, and ascribed to Moses, has been manufactured +by some unknown person, after the book of Chronicles was written, which +was not until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. + +The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has in +it but two stages. First, as I have already stated, that the passage in +Genesis refers itself for time to Chronicles; secondly, that the book +of Chronicles, to which this passage refers itself, was not begun to be +written until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. To prove this, we have only to look into 1 Chronicles iii. 15, +where the writer, in giving the genealogy of the descendants of David, +mentions Zedekiah; and it was in the time of Zedekiah that +Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, B.C. 588, and consequently more +than 860 years after Moses. Those who have superstitiously boasted of +the antiquity of the Bible, and particularly of the books ascribed to +Moses, have done it without examination, and without any other +authority than that of one credulous man telling it to another: for, so +far as historical and chronological evidence applies, the very first +book in the Bible is not so ancient as the book of Homer, by more than +three hundred years, and is about the same age with Æsop’s Fables. + +I am not contending for the morality of Homer; on the contrary, I think +it a book of false glory, and tending to inspire immoral and +mischievous notions of honour; and with respect to Æsop, though the +moral is in general just, the fable is often cruel; and the cruelty of +the fable does more injury to the heart, especially in a child, than +the moral does good to the judgment. + +Having now dismissed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in +course, the book of Ezra. + +As one proof, among others I shall produce to shew the disorder in +which this pretended word of God, the Bible, has been put together, and +the uncertainty of who the authors were, we have only to look at the +first three verses in Ezra, and the last two in 2 Chronicles; for by +what kind of cutting and shuffling has it been that the first three +verses in Ezra should be the last two verses in 2 Chronicles, or that +the last two in 2 Chronicles should be the first three in Ezra? Either +the authors did not know their own works or the compilers did not know +the authors. + +Last Two Verses of 2 Chronicles. + +Ver. 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word +of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished, +the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a +proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, +saying. + +earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to +build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among +you of all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. +*** + +First Three Verses of Ezra. + +Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word +of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord +stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a +proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, +saying. + +2. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given +me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him +an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. + +3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and +let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of +the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem. + +*** The last verse in Chronicles is broken abruptly, and ends in the +middle of the phrase with the word ‘up’ without signifying to what +place. This abrupt break, and the appearance of the same verses in +different books, show as I have already said, the disorder and +ignorance in which the Bible has been put together, and that the +compilers of it had no authority for what they were doing, nor we any +authority for believing what they have done. [NOTE I observed, as I +passed along, several broken and senseless passages in the Bible, +without thinking them of consequence enough to be introduced in the +body of the work; such as that, 1 Samuel xiii. 1, where it is said, +“Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, +Saul chose him three thousand men,” &c. The first part of the verse, +that Saul reigned one year has no sense, since it does not tell us what +Saul did, nor say any thing of what happened at the end of that one +year; and it is, besides, mere absurdity to say he reigned one year, +when the very next phrase says he had reigned two for if he had reigned +two, it was impossible not to have reigned one. + +Another instance occurs in Joshua v. where the writer tells us a story +of an angel (for such the table of contents at the head of the chapter +calls him) appearing unto Joshua; and the story ends abruptly, and +without any conclusion. The story is as follows:—Ver. 13. “And it came +to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and +looked, and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword +drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou +for us, or for our adversaries?” Verse 14, “And he said, Nay; but as +captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his +face to the earth, and did worship and said unto him, What saith my +Lord unto his servant?” Verse 15, “And the captain of the Lord’s host +said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place +whereon thou standeth is holy. And Joshua did so.”—And what then? +nothing: for here the story ends, and the chapter too. + +Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told by +some Jewish humourist in ridicule of Joshua’s pretended mission from +God, and the compilers of the Bible, not perceiving the design of the +story, have told it as a serious matter. As a story of humour and +ridicule it has a great deal of point; for it pompously introduces an +angel in the figure of a man, with a drawn sword in his hand, before +whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and worships (which is +contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most important +embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his shoe. It +might as well have told him to pull up his breeches. + +It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit every thing their +leaders told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which they +speak of Moses, when he was gone into the mount. As for this Moses, say +they, we wot not what is become of him. Exod. xxxii. 1.—Author. + +The only thing that has any appearance of certainty in the book of Ezra +is the time in which it was written, which was immediately after the +return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, about B.C. 536. Ezra +(who, according to the Jewish commentators, is the same person as is +called Esdras in the Apocrypha) was one of the persons who returned, +and who, it is probable, wrote the account of that affair. Nebemiah, +whose book follows next to Ezra, was another of the returned persons; +and who, it is also probable, wrote the account of the same affair, in +the book that bears his name. But those accounts are nothing to us, nor +to any other person, unless it be to the Jews, as a part of the history +of their nation; and there is just as much of the word of God in those +books as there is in any of the histories of France, or Rapin’s history +of England, or the history of any other country. + +But even in matters of historical record, neither of those writers are +to be depended upon. In Ezra ii., the writer gives a list of the tribes +and families, and of the precise number of souls of each, that returned +from Babylon to Jerusalem; and this enrolment of the persons so +returned appears to have been one of the principal objects for writing +the book; but in this there is an error that destroys the intention of +the undertaking. + +The writer begins his enrolment in the following manner (ii. 3): “The +children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy and four.” Ver. 4, +“The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.” And in +this manner he proceeds through all the families; and in the 64th +verse, he makes a total, and says, the whole congregation together was +forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. + +But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several +particulars, will find that the total is but 29,818; so that the error +is 12,542. What certainty then can there be in the Bible for any thing? + +[Here Mr. Paine includes the long list of numbers from the Bible of all +the children listed and the total thereof. This can be had directly +from the Bible.] + +Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a list of the returned families, and of +the number of each family. He begins as in Ezra, by saying (vii. 8): +“The children of Parosh, two thousand three hundred and seventy-two;” +and so on through all the families. (The list differs in several of the +particulars from that of Ezra.) In ver. 66, Nehemiah makes a total, and +says, as Ezra had said, “The whole congregation together was forty and +two thousand three hundred and threescore.” But the particulars of this +list make a total but of 31,089, so that the error here is 11,271. +These writers may do well enough for Bible-makers, but not for any +thing where truth and exactness is necessary. + +The next book in course is the book of Esther. If Madam Esther thought +it any honour to offer herself as a kept mistress to Ahasuerus, or as a +rival to Queen Vashti, who had refused to come to a drunken king in the +midst of a drunken company, to be made a show of, (for the account +says, they had been drinking seven days, and were merry,) let Esther +and Mordecai look to that, it is no business of ours, at least it is +none of mine; besides which, the story has a great deal the appearance +of being fabulous, and is also anonymous. I pass on to the book of Job. + +The book of Job differs in character from all the books we have +hitherto passed over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book; +it is the meditations of a mind strongly impressed with the +vicissitudes of human life, and by turns sinking under, and struggling +against the pressure. It is a highly wrought composition, between +willing submission and involuntary discontent; and shows man, as he +sometimes is, more disposed to be resigned than he is capable of being. +Patience has but a small share in the character of the person of whom +the book treats; on the contrary, his grief is often impetuous; but he +still endeavours to keep a guard upon it, and seems determined, in the +midst of accumulating ills, to impose upon himself the hard duty of +contentment. + +I have spoken in a respectful manner of the book of Job in the former +part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ but without knowing at that time what I +have learned since; which is, that from all the evidence that can be +collected, the book of Job does not belong to the Bible. + +I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and +Spinoza, upon this subject; they both say that the book of Job carries +no internal evidence of being an Hebrew book; that the genius of the +composition, and the drama of the piece, are not Hebrew; that it has +been translated from another language into Hebrew, and that the author +of the book was a Gentile; that the character represented under the +name of Satan (which is the first and only time this name is mentioned +in the Bible) [In a later work Paine notes that in “the Bible” (by +which he always means the Old Testament alone) the word Satan occurs +also in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, and remarks that the action there ascribed to +Satan is in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, attributed to Jehovah (“Essay on Dreams”). +In these places, however, and in Ps. cix. 6, Satan means “adversary,” +and is so translated (A.S. version) in 2 Sam. xix. 22, and 1 Kings v. +4, xi. 25. As a proper name, with the article, Satan appears in the Old +Testament only in Job and in Zech. iii. 1, 2. But the authenticity of +the passage in Zechariah has been questioned, and it may be that in +finding the proper name of Satan in Job alone, Paine was following some +opinion met with in one of the authorities whose comments are condensed +in his paragraph.—Editor.] does not correspond to any Hebrew idea; and +that the two convocations which the Deity is supposed to have made of +those whom the poem calls sons of God, and the familiarity which this +supposed Satan is stated to have with the Deity, are in the same case. + +It may also be observed, that the book shows itself to be the +production of a mind cultivated in science, which the Jews, so far from +being famous for, were very ignorant of. The allusions to objects of +natural philosophy are frequent and strong, and are of a different cast +to any thing in the books known to be Hebrew. The astronomical names, +Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, are Greek and not Hebrew names, and it +does not appear from any thing that is to be found in the Bible that +the Jews knew any thing of astronomy, or that they studied it, they had +no translation of those names into their own language, but adopted the +names as they found them in the poem. [Paine’s Jewish critic, David +Levi, fastened on this slip (“Defence of the Old Testament,” 1797, p. +152). In the original the names are Ash (Arcturus), Kesil’ (Orion), +Kimah’ (Pleiades), though the identifications of the constellations in +the A.S.V. have been questioned.—Editor.] + +That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile +nations into the Hebrew language, and mix them with their own, is not a +matter of doubt; Proverbs xxxi. i, is an evidence of this: it is there +said, The word of king Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught +him. This verse stands as a preface to the proverbs that follow, and +which are not the proverbs of Solomon, but of Lemuel; and this Lemuel +was not one of the kings of Israel, nor of Judah, but of some other +country, and consequently a Gentile. The Jews however have adopted his +proverbs; and as they cannot give any account who the author of the +book of Job was, nor how they came by the book, and as it differs in +character from the Hebrew writings, and stands totally unconnected with +every other book and chapter in the Bible before it and after it, it +has all the circumstantial evidence of being originally a book of the +Gentiles. [The prayer known by the name of Agur’s Prayer, in Proverbs +xxx.,—immediately preceding the proverbs of Lemuel,—and which is the +only sensible, well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, +has much the appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. The +name of Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is +introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same +manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are +introduced in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, “The +words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:” here the word +prophecy is used with the same application it has in the following +chapter of Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer +of Agur is in the 8th and 9th verses, “Remove far from me vanity and +lies; give me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food +convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the +Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in +vain.” This has not any of the marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the +Jews never prayed but when they were in trouble, and never for anything +but victory, vengeance, or riches.—Author. (Prov. xxx. 1, and xxxi. 1) +the word “prophecy” in these verses is translated “oracle” or “burden” +(marg.) in the revised version.—The prayer of Agur was quoted by Paine +in his plea for the officers of Excise, 1772.—Editor.] + +The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible +chronologists, appear to have been at a loss where to place and how to +dispose of the book of Job; for it contains no one historical +circumstance, nor allusion to any, that might serve to determine its +place in the Bible. But it would not have answered the purpose of these +men to have informed the world of their ignorance; and, therefore, they +have affixed it to the aera of B.C. 1520, which is during the time the +Israelites were in Egypt, and for which they have just as much +authority and no more than I should have for saying it was a thousand +years before that period. The probability however is, that it is older +than any book in the Bible; and it is the only one that can be read +without indignation or disgust. + +We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) was +before the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to calumniate and +blacken the character of all other nations; and it is from the Jewish +accounts that we have learned to call them heathens. But, as far as we +know to the contrary, they were a just and moral people, and not +addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and revenge, but of whose +profession of faith we are unacquainted. It appears to have been their +custom to personify both virtue and vice by statues and images, as is +done now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but it does not +follow from this that they worshipped them any more than we do.—I pass +on to the book of, + +Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation. Some of +them are moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater part +relates to certain local circumstances of the Jewish nation at the time +they were written, with which we have nothing to do. It is, however, an +error or an imposition to call them the Psalms of David; they are a +collection, as song-books are now-a-days, from different song-writers, +who lived at different times. The 137th Psalm could not have been +written till more than 400 years after the time of David, because it is +written in commemoration of an event, the captivity of the Jews in +Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time. “By the +rivers of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We +hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they +that carried us away captive required of us a song, saying, sing us one +of the songs of Zion.” As a man would say to an American, or to a +Frenchman, or to an Englishman, sing us one of your American songs, or +your French songs, or your English songs. This remark, with respect to +the time this psalm was written, is of no other use than to show (among +others already mentioned) the general imposition the world has been +under with respect to the authors of the Bible. No regard has been paid +to time, place, and circumstance; and the names of persons have been +affixed to the several books which it was as impossible they should +write, as that a man should walk in procession at his own funeral. + +The Book of Proverbs. These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and +that from authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish +nation, as I have shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; +besides which, some of the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not appear +till two hundred and fifty years after the death of Solomon; for it is +said in xxv. i, “These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of +Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out.” It was two hundred and fifty +years from the time of Solomon to the time of Hezekiah. When a man is +famous and his name is abroad he is made the putative father of things +he never said or did; and this, most probably, has been the case with +Solomon. It appears to have been the fashion of that day to make +proverbs, as it is now to make jest-books, and father them upon those +who never saw them. [A “Tom Paine’s Jest Book” had appeared in London +with little or nothing of Paine in it.—Editor.] + +The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon, +and that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written as the +solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon was, who +looking back on scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All is Vanity! +A great deal of the metaphor and of the sentiment is obscure, most +probably by translation; but enough is left to show they were strongly +pointed in the original. [Those that look out of the window shall be +darkened, is an obscure figure in translation for loss of +sight.—Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the character of +Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at last melancholy. +He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the age of fifty-eight +years. + +Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than none; +and, however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened +enjoyment, it defeats all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no +point to fix upon; divided love is never happy. This was the case with +Solomon; and if he could not, with all his pretensions to wisdom, +discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the mortification he +afterwards endured. In this point of view, his preaching is +unnecessary, because, to know the consequences, it is only necessary to +know the cause. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would +have stood in place of the whole book. It was needless after this to +say that all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to +derive happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of +happiness. + +To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to +objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that +we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is +miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but little +better: whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical +science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of +the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the study of those +things is the study of the true theology; it teaches man to know and to +admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the creation, +and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. + +Those who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollect, that his mind was ever +young; his temper ever serene; science, that never grows grey, was +always his mistress. He was never without an object; for when we cease +to have an object we become like an invalid in an hospital waiting for +death. + +Solomon’s Songs, amorous and foolish enough, but which wrinkled +fanaticism has called divine.—The compilers of the Bible have placed +these songs after the book of Ecclesiastes; and the chronologists have +affixed to them the aera of B.C. 1014, at which time Solomon, according +to the same chronology, was nineteen years of age, and was then forming +his seraglio of wives and concubines. The Bible-makers and the +chronologists should have managed this matter a little better, and +either have said nothing about the time, or chosen a time less +inconsistent with the supposed divinity of those songs; for Solomon was +then in the honey-moon of one thousand debaucheries. + +It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did +write, the book of Ecclesiastes, long after these songs, and in which +he exclaims that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, that he included +those songs in that description. This is the more probable, because he +says, or somebody for him, Ecclesiastes ii. 8, I got me men-singers, +and women-singers [most probably to sing those songs], and musical +instruments of all sorts; and behold (Ver. ii), “all was vanity and +vexation of spirit.” The compilers however have done their work but by +halves; for as they have given us the songs they should have given us +the tunes, that we might sing them. + +The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the remaining +part of the Bible; they are sixteen in number, beginning with Isaiah +and ending with Malachi, of which I have given a list in the +observations upon Chronicles. Of these sixteen prophets, all of whom +except the last three lived within the time the books of Kings and +Chronicles were written, two only, Isaiah and Jeremiah, are mentioned +in the history of those books. I shall begin with those two, reserving, +what I have to say on the general character of the men called prophets +to another part of the work. + +Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed to Isaiah, +will find it one of the most wild and disorderly compositions ever put +together; it has neither beginning, middle, nor end; and, except a +short historical part, and a few sketches of history in the first two +or three chapters, is one continued incoherent, bombastical rant, full +of extravagant metaphor, without application, and destitute of meaning; +a school-boy would scarcely have been excusable for writing such stuff; +it is (at least in translation) that kind of composition and false +taste that is properly called prose run mad. + +The historical part begins at chapter xxxvi., and is continued to the +end of chapter xxxix. It relates some matters that are said to have +passed during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, at which time +Isaiah lived. This fragment of history begins and ends abruptly; it has +not the least connection with the chapter that precedes it, nor with +that which follows it, nor with any other in the book. It is probable +that Isaiah wrote this fragment himself, because he was an actor in the +circumstances it treats of; but except this part there are scarcely two +chapters that have any connection with each other. One is entitled, at +the beginning of the first verse, the burden of Babylon; another, the +burden of Moab; another, the burden of Damascus; another, the burden of +Egypt; another, the burden of the Desert of the Sea; another, the +burden of the Valley of Vision: as you would say the story of the +Knight of the Burning Mountain, the story of Cinderella, or the glassen +slipper, the story of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, etc., etc. + +I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 +Chronicles, and the first three in Ezra, that the compilers of the +Bible mixed and confounded the writings of different authors with each +other; which alone, were there no other cause, is sufficient to destroy +the authenticity of an compilation, because it is more than presumptive +evidence that the compilers are ignorant who the authors were. A very +glaring instance of this occurs in the book ascribed to Isaiah: the +latter part of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th, so far +from having been written by Isaiah, could only have been written by +some person who lived at least an hundred and fifty years after Isaiah +was dead. + +These chapters are a compliment to Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to +return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem +and the temple, as is stated in Ezra. The last verse of the 44th +chapter, and the beginning of the 45th [Isaiah] are in the following +words: “That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all +my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to the +temple thy foundations shall be laid: thus saith the Lord to his +enointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations +before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the +two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before +thee,” etc. + +What audacity of church and priestly ignorance it is to impose this +book upon the world as the writing of Isaiah, when Isaiah, according to +their own chronology, died soon after the death of Hezekiah, which was +B.C. 698; and the decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews returning to +Jerusalem, was, according to the same chronology, B.C. 536; which is a +distance of time between the two of 162 years. I do not suppose that +the compilers of the Bible made these books, but rather that they +picked up some loose, anonymous essays, and put them together under the +names of such authors as best suited their purpose. They have +encouraged the imposition, which is next to inventing it; for it was +impossible but they must have observed it. + +When we see the studied craft of the scripture-makers, in making every +part of this romantic book of school-boy’s eloquence bend to the +monstrous idea of a Son of God, begotten by a ghost on the body of a +virgin, there is no imposition we are not justified in suspecting them +of. Every phrase and circumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of +superstitious torture, and forced into meanings it was impossible they +could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are +blazoned with the names of Christ and the Church, that the unwary +reader might suck in the error before he began to read. + +Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. vii. I4), has been +interpreted to mean the person called Jesus Christ, and his mother +Mary, and has been echoed through christendom for more than a thousand +years; and such has been the rage of this opinion, that scarcely a spot +in it but has been stained with blood and marked with desolation in +consequence of it. Though it is not my intention to enter into +controversy on subjects of this kind, but to confine myself to show +that the Bible is spurious,—and thus, by taking away the foundation, to +overthrow at once the whole structure of superstition raised thereon,—I +will however stop a moment to expose the fallacious application of this +passage. + +Whether Isaiah was playing a trick with Ahaz, king of Judah, to whom +this passage is spoken, is no business of mine; I mean only to show the +misapplication of the passage, and that it has no more reference to +Christ and his mother, than it has to me and my mother. The story is +simply this: + +The king of Syria and the king of Israel (I have already mentioned that +the Jews were split into two nations, one of which was called Judah, +the capital of which was Jerusalem, and the other Israel) made war +jointly against Ahaz, king of Judah, and marched their armies towards +Jerusalem. Ahaz and his people became alarmed, and the account says +(Is. vii. 2), Their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are +moved with the wind. + +In this situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and +assures him in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the +prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him; and to +satisfy Ahaz that this should be the case, tells him to ask a sign. +This, the account says, Ahaz declined doing; giving as a reason that he +would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who is the speaker, says, +ver. 14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a +virgin shall conceive and bear a son;” and the 16th verse says, “And +before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, +the land which thou abhorrest or dreadest [meaning Syria and the +kingdom of Israel] shall be forsaken of both her kings.” Here then was +the sign, and the time limited for the completion of the assurance or +promise; namely, before this child shall know to refuse the evil and +choose the good. + +Isaiah having committed himself thus far, it became necessary to him, +in order to avoid the imputation of being a false prophet, and the +consequences thereof, to take measures to make this sign appear. It +certainly was not a difficult thing, in any time of the world, to find +a girl with child, or to make her so; and perhaps Isaiah knew of one +beforehand; for I do not suppose that the prophets of that day were any +more to be trusted than the priests of this: be that, however, as it +may, he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, “And I took unto me faithful +witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of +Jeberechiah, and I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare +a son.” + +Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and this +virgin; and it is upon the barefaced perversion of this story that the +book of Matthew, and the impudence and sordid interest of priests in +later times, have founded a theory, which they call the gospel; and +have applied this story to signify the person they call Jesus Christ; +begotten, they say, by a ghost, whom they call holy, on the body of a +woman engaged in marriage, and afterwards married, whom they call a +virgin, seven hundred years after this foolish story was told; a theory +which, speaking for myself, I hesitate not to believe, and to say, is +as fabulous and as false as God is true. [In Is. vii. 14, it is said +that the child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given +to either of the children, otherwise than as a character, which the +word signifies. That of the prophetess was called Maher-shalalhash-baz, +and that of Mary was called Jesus.—Author.] + +But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah we have only to +attend to the sequel of this story; which, though it is passed over in +silence in the book of Isaiah, is related in 2 Chronicles, xxviii; and +which is, that instead of these two kings failing in their attempt +against Ahaz, king of Judah, as Isaiah had pretended to foretel in the +name of the Lord, they succeeded: Ahaz was defeated and destroyed; an +hundred and twenty thousand of his people were slaughtered; Jerusalem +was plundered, and two hundred thousand women and sons and daughters +carried into captivity. Thus much for this lying prophet and imposter +Isaiah, and the book of falsehoods that bears his name. I pass on to +the book of Jeremiah. This prophet, as he is called, lived in the time +that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, the +last king of Judah; and the suspicion was strong against him that he +was a traitor in the interest of Nebuchadnezzar. Every thing relating +to Jeremiah shows him to have been a man of an equivocal character: in +his metaphor of the potter and the clay, (ch. xviii.) he guards his +prognostications in such a crafty manner as always to leave himself a +door to escape by, in case the event should be contrary to what he had +predicted. In the 7th and 8th verses he makes the Almighty to say, “At +what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a +kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and destroy it, if that nation, +against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent me +of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” Here was a proviso against +one side of the case: now for the other side. Verses 9 and 10, “At what +instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to +build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my +voice, then I will repent me of the good wherewith I said I would +benefit them.” Here is a proviso against the other side; and, according +to this plan of prophesying, a prophet could never be wrong, however +mistaken the Almighty might be. This sort of absurd subterfuge, and +this manner of speaking of the Almighty, as one would speak of a man, +is consistent with nothing but the stupidity of the Bible. + +As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it in +order to decide positively that, though some passages recorded therein +may have been spoken by Jeremiah, he is not the author of the book. The +historical parts, if they can be called by that name, are in the most +confused condition; the same events are several times repeated, and +that in a manner different, and sometimes in contradiction to each +other; and this disorder runs even to the last chapter, where the +history, upon which the greater part of the book has been employed, +begins anew, and ends abruptly. The book has all the appearance of +being a medley of unconnected anecdotes respecting persons and things +of that time, collected together in the same rude manner as if the +various and contradictory accounts that are to be found in a bundle of +newspapers, respecting persons and things of the present day, were put +together without date, order, or explanation. I will give two or three +examples of this kind. + +It appears, from the account of chapter xxxvii. that the army of +Nebuchadnezzer, which is called the army of the Chaldeans, had besieged +Jerusalem some time; and on their hearing that the army of Pharaoh of +Egypt was marching against them, they raised the siege and retreated +for a time. It may here be proper to mention, in order to understand +this confused history, that Nebuchadnezzar had besieged and taken +Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoakim, the redecessor of Zedekiah; and +that it was Nebuchadnezzar who had make Zedekiah king, or rather +viceroy; and that this second siege, of which the book of Jeremiah +treats, was in consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against +Nebuchadnezzar. This will in some measure account for the suspicion +that affixes itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the interest +of Nebuchadnezzar,—whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the servant of God. + +Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, “And it came to pass, that, when the army +of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of Pharaoh’s +army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as this account +states) into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the +midst of the people; and when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captain +of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah... and he took Jeremiah +the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans; then Jeremiah +said, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans.” Jeremiah being +thus stopt and accused, was, after being examined, committed to prison, +on suspicion of being a traitor, where he remained, as is stated in the +last verse of this chapter. + +But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah, +which has no connection with this account, but ascribes his +imprisonment to another circumstance, and for which we must go back to +chapter xxi. It is there stated, ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur the +son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to +Jeremiah, to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whose army was +then before Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, “Thus saith +the Lord, Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of +death; he that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the +famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the +Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto +him for a prey.” + +This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the +10th verse of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book that +we have to pass over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in order +to come at the continuation and event of this conference; and this +brings us to the first verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just +mentioned. The chapter opens with saying, “Then Shaphatiah, the son of +Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and +Pashur the son of Malchiah, (here are more persons mentioned than in +chapter xxi.) heard the words that Jeremiah spoke unto all the people, +saying, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city, shall die +by the sword, by famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth +to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and +shall live”; [which are the words of the conference;] therefore, (say +they to Zedekiah,) “We beseech thee, let this man be put to death, for +thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, +and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for +this man seeketh not the welfare of the people, but the hurt:” and at +the 6th verse it is said, “Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into +the dungeon of Malchiah.” + +These two accounts are different and contradictory. The one ascribes +his imprisonment to his attempt to escape out of the city; the other to +his preaching and prophesying in the city; the one to his being seized +by the guard at the gate; the other to his being accused before +Zedekiah by the conferees. [I observed two chapters in I Samuel (xvi. +and xvii.) that contradict each other with respect to David, and the +manner he became acquainted with Saul; as Jeremiah xxxvii. and xxxviii. +contradict each other with respect to the cause of Jeremiah’s +imprisonment. + +In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled +Saul, and that his servants advised him (as a remedy) “to seek out a +man who was a cunning player upon the harp.” And Saul said, ver. 17, +“Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then +answered one of his servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of +Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty man, +and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the +Lord is with him; wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, +Send me David, thy son. And (verse 21) David came to Saul, and stood +before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer; +and when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, (verse 23) David took +his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was +well.” + +But the next chapter (xvii.) gives an account, all different to this, +of the manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is +ascribed to David’s encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his +father to carry provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th +verse of this chapter it is said, “And when Saul saw David go forth +against the Philistine (Goliah) he said to Abner, the captain of the +host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul +liveth, 0 king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose +son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the +Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head +of the Philistine in his hand; and Saul said unto him, Whose son art +thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, +Jesse, the Betblehemite,” These two accounts belie each other, because +each of them supposes Saul and David not to have known each other +before. This book, the Bible, is too ridiculous for criticism.—Author.] + +In the next chapter (Jer. xxxix.) we have another instance of the +disordered state of this book; for notwithstanding the siege of the +city by Nebuchadnezzar has been the subject of several of the preceding +chapters, particularly xxxvii. and xxxviii., chapter xxxix. begins as +if not a word had been said upon the subject, and as if the reader was +still to be informed of every particular respecting it; for it begins +with saying, ver. 1, “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in +the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, +against Jerusalem, and besieged it,” etc. + +But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; for +though the story has been told over and over again, this chapter still +supposes the reader not to know anything of it, for it begins by +saying, ver. i, “Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to +reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name +was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.” (Ver. 4,) “And it +came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that +Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against +Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it,” etc. + +It is not possible that any one man, and more particularly Jeremiah, +could have been the writer of this book. The errors are such as could +not have been committed by any person sitting down to compose a work. +Were I, or any other man, to write in such a disordered manner, no body +would read what was written, and every body would suppose that the +writer was in a state of insanity. The only way, therefore, to account +for the disorder is, that the book is a medley of detached +unauthenticated anecdotes, put together by some stupid book-maker, +under the name of Jeremiah; because many of them refer to him, and to +the circumstances of the times he lived in. + +Of the duplicity, and of the false predictions of Jeremiah, I shall +mention two instances, and then proceed to review the remainder of the +Bible. + +It appears from chapter xxxviii. that when Jeremiah was in prison, +Zedekiah sent for him, and at this interview, which was private, +Jeremiah pressed it strongly on Zedekiah to surrender himself to the +enemy. “If,” says he, (ver. 17,) “thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the +king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live,” etc. Zedekiah was +apprehensive that what passed at this conference should be known; and +he said to Jeremiah, (ver. 25,) “If the princes [meaning those of +Judah] hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and +say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king; +hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; and also what +the king said unto thee; then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my +supplication before the king that he would not cause me to return to +Jonathan’s house, to die there. Then came all the princes unto +Jeremiah, and asked him, and “he told them according to all the words +the king had commanded.” Thus, this man of God, as he is called, could +tell a lie, or very strongly prevaricate, when he supposed it would +answer his purpose; for certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to make +this supplication, neither did he make it; he went because he was sent +for, and he employed that opportunity to advise Zedekiah to surrender +himself to Nebuchadnezzar. + +In chapter xxxiv. 2-5, is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah in these +words: “Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the hand +of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire; and thou shalt +not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and +delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the +king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou +shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of the Lord; O Zedekiah, king, +of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, but +thou shalt die in Peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the +former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee, +and they will lament thee, saying, Ah, Lord! for I have pronounced the +word, saith the Lord.” + +Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, and +speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the +burning of odours, as at the funeral of his fathers, (as Jeremiah had +declared the Lord himself had pronounced,) the reverse, according to +chapter Iii., 10, 11 was the case; it is there said, that the king of +Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: then he put out the +eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, +and put him in prison till the day of his death. + +What then can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors and +liars? + +As for Jeremiah, he experienced none of those evils. He was taken into +favour by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him in charge to the captain of the +guard (xxxix, 12), “Take him (said he) and look well to him, and do him +no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee.” Jeremiah +joined himself afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, and went about prophesying +for him against the Egyptians, who had marched to the relief of +Jerusalem while it was besieged. Thus much for another of the lying +prophets, and the book that bears his name. + +I have been the more particular in treating of the books ascribed to +Isaiah and Jeremiah, because those two are spoken of in the books of +Kings and Chronicles, which the others are not. The remainder of the +books ascribed to the men called prophets I shall not trouble myself +much about; but take them collectively into the observations I shall +offer on the character of the men styled prophets. + +In the former part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ I have said that the word +prophet was the Bible-word for poet, and that the flights and metaphors +of Jewish poets have been foolishly erected into what are now called +prophecies. I am sufficiently justified in this opinion, not only +because the books called the prophecies are written in poetical +language, but because there is no word in the Bible, except it be the +word prophet, that describes what we mean by a poet. I have also said, +that the word signified a performer upon musical instruments, of which +I have given some instances; such as that of a company of prophets, +prophesying with psalteries, with tabrets, with pipes, with harps, +etc., and that Saul prophesied with them, 1 Sam. x., 5. It appears from +this passage, and from other parts in the book of Samuel, that the word +prophet was confined to signify poetry and music; for the person who +was supposed to have a visionary insight into concealed things, was not +a prophet but a seer, [I know not what is the Hebrew word that +corresponds to the word seer in English; but I observe it is translated +into French by Le Voyant, from the verb voir to see, and which means +the person who sees, or the seer.—Author.] + +[The Hebrew word for Seer, in 1 Samuel ix., transliterated, is chozeh, +the gazer, it is translated in Is. xlvii. 13, “the +stargazers.”—Editor.] (i Sam, ix. 9;) and it was not till after the +word seer went out of use (which most probably was when Saul banished +those he called wizards) that the profession of the seer, or the art of +seeing, became incorporated into the word prophet. + +According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophesying, it +signifies foretelling events to a great distance of time; and it became +necessary to the inventors of the gospel to give it this latitude of +meaning, in order to apply or to stretch what they call the prophecies +of the Old Testament, to the times of the New. But according to the Old +Testament, the prophesying of the seer, and afterwards of the prophet, +so far as the meaning of the word “seer” was incorporated into that of +prophet, had reference only to things of the time then passing, or very +closely connected with it; such as the event of a battle they were +going to engage in, or of a journey, or of any enterprise they were +going to undertake, or of any circumstance then pending, or of any +difficulty they were then in; all of which had immediate reference to +themselves (as in the case already mentioned of Ahaz and Isaiah with +respect to the expression, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a +son,) and not to any distant future time. It was that kind of +prophesying that corresponds to what we call fortune-telling; such as +casting nativities, predicting riches, fortunate or unfortunate +marriages, conjuring for lost goods, etc.; and it is the fraud of the +Christian church, not that of the Jews, and the ignorance and the +superstition of modern, not that of ancient times, that elevated those +poetical, musical, conjuring, dreaming, strolling gentry, into the rank +they have since had. + +But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had also +a particular character. They were in parties, and they prophesied for +or against, according to the party they were with; as the poetical and +political writers of the present day write in defence of the party they +associate with against the other. + +After the Jews were divided into two nations, that of Judah and that of +Israel, each party had its prophets, who abused and accused each other +of being false prophets, lying prophets, impostors, etc. + +The prophets of the party of Judah prophesied against the prophets of +the party of Israel; and those of the party of Israel against those of +Judah. This party prophesying showed itself immediately on the +separation under the first two rival kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The +prophet that cursed, or prophesied against the altar that Jeroboam had +built in Bethel, was of the party of Judah, where Rehoboam was king; +and he was way-laid on his return home by a prophet of the party of +Israel, who said unto him (i Kings xiii.) “Art thou the man of God that +came from Judah? and he said, I am.” Then the prophet of the party of +Israel said to him “I am a prophet also, as thou art, [signifying of +Judah,] and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, +Bring him back with thee unto thine house, that he may eat bread and +drink water; but (says the 18th verse) he lied unto him.” The event, +however, according to the story, is, that the prophet of Judah never +got back to Judah; for he was found dead on the road by the contrivance +of the prophet of Israel, who no doubt was called a true prophet by his +own party, and the prophet of Judah a lying prophet. + +In 2 Kings, iii., a story is related of prophesying or conjuring that +shews, in several particulars, the character of a prophet. Jehoshaphat +king of Judah, and Joram king of Israel, had for a while ceased their +party animosity, and entered into an alliance; and these two, together +with the king of Edom, engaged in a war against the king of Moab. After +uniting and marching their armies, the story says, they were in great +distress for water, upon which Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here a +prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? and one of +the servants of the king of Israel said here is Elisha. [Elisha was of +the party of Judah.] And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said, The word +of the Lord is with him.” The story then says, that these three kings +went down to Elisha; and when Elisha [who, as I have said, was a +Judahmite prophet] saw the King of Israel, he said unto him, “What have +I to do with thee, get thee to the prophets of thy father and the +prophets of thy mother. Nay but, said the king of Israel, the Lord hath +called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of +the king of Moab,” (meaning because of the distress they were in for +water;) upon which Elisha said, “As the Lord of hosts liveth before +whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of +Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look towards thee nor see +thee.” Here is all the venom and vulgarity of a party prophet. We are +now to see the performance, or manner of prophesying. + +Ver. 15. “‘Bring me,’ (said Elisha), ‘a minstrel’; and it came to pass, +when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.” +Here is the farce of the conjurer. Now for the prophecy: “And Elisha +said, [singing most probably to the tune he was playing], Thus saith +the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches;” which was just telling +them what every countryman could have told them without either fiddle +or farce, that the way to get water was to dig for it. + +But as every conjuror is not famous alike for the same thing, so +neither were those prophets; for though all of them, at least those I +have spoken of, were famous for lying, some of them excelled in +cursing. Elisha, whom I have just mentioned, was a chief in this branch +of prophesying; it was he that cursed the forty-two children in the +name of the Lord, whom the two she-bears came and devoured. We are to +suppose that those children were of the party of Israel; but as those +who will curse will lie, there is just as much credit to be given to +this story of Elisha’s two she-bears as there is to that of the Dragon +of Wantley, of whom it is said: + + Poor children three devoured be, + That could not with him grapple; + And at one sup he eat them up, + As a man would eat an apple. + +There was another description of men called prophets, that amused +themselves with dreams and visions; but whether by night or by day we +know not. These, if they were not quite harmless, were but little +mischievous. Of this class are, + +EZEKIEL and DANIEL; and the first question upon these books, as upon +all the others, is, Are they genuine? that is, were they written by +Ezekiel and Daniel? + +Of this there is no proof; but so far as my own opinion goes, I am more +inclined to believe they were, than that they were not. My reasons for +this opinion are as follows: First, Because those books do not contain +internal evidence to prove they were not written by Ezekiel and Daniel, +as the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc., prove they were +not written by Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc. + +Secondly, Because they were not written till after the Babylonish +captivity began; and there is good reason to believe that not any book +in the bible was written before that period; at least it is proveable, +from the books themselves, as I have already shown, that they were not +written till after the commencement of the Jewish monarchy. + +Thirdly, Because the manner in which the books ascribed to Ezekiel and +Daniel are written, agrees with the condition these men were in at the +time of writing them. + +Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly employed +or wasted their time in pretending to expound and unriddle those books, +been carred into captivity, as Ezekiel and Daniel were, it would +greatly have improved their intellects in comprehending the reason for +this mode of writing, and have saved them the trouble of racking their +invention, as they have done to no purpose; for they would have found +that themselves would be obliged to write whatever they had to write, +respecting their own affairs, or those of their friends, or of their +country, in a concealed manner, as those men have done. + +These two books differ from all the rest; for it is only these that are +filled with accounts of dreams and visions: and this difference arose +from the situation the writers were in as prisoners of war, or +prisoners of state, in a foreign country, which obliged them to convey +even the most trifling information to each other, and all their +political projects or opinions, in obscure and metaphorical terms. They +pretend to have dreamed dreams, and seen visions, because it was unsafe +for them to speak facts or plain language. We ought, however, to +suppose, that the persons to whom they wrote understood what they +meant, and that it was not intended anybody else should. But these busy +commentators and priests have been puzzling their wits to find out what +it was not intended they should know, and with which they have nothing +to do. + +Ezekiel and Daniel were carried prisoners to Babylon, under the first +captivity, in the time of Jehoiakim, nine years before the second +captivity in the time of Zedekiah. The Jews were then still numerous, +and had considerable force at Jerusalem; and as it is natural to +suppose that men in the situation of Ezekiel and Daniel would be +meditating the recovery of their country, and their own deliverance, it +is reasonable to suppose that the accounts of dreams and visions with +which these books are filled, are no other than a disguised mode of +correspondence to facilitate those objects: it served them as a cypher, +or secret alphabet. If they are not this, they are tales, reveries, and +nonsense; or at least a fanciful way of wearing off the wearisomeness +of captivity; but the presumption is, they are the former. + +Ezekiel begins his book by speaking of a vision of cherubims, and of a +wheel within a wheel, which he says he saw by the river Chebar, in the +land of his captivity. Is it not reasonable to suppose that by the +cherubims he meant the temple at Jerusalem, where they had figures of +cherubims? and by a wheel within a wheel (which as a figure has always +been understood to signify political contrivance) the project or means +of recovering Jerusalem? In the latter part of his book he supposes +himself transported to Jerusalem, and into the temple; and he refers +back to the vision on the river Chebar, and says, (xliii- 3,) that this +last vision was like the vision on the river Chebar; which indicates +that those pretended dreams and visions had for their object the +recovery of Jerusalem, and nothing further. + +As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the dreams +and visions they undertake to explain, which commentators and priests +have made of those books, that of converting them into things which +they call prophecies, and making them bend to times and circumstances +as far remote even as the present day, it shows the fraud or the +extreme folly to which credulity or priestcraft can go. + +Scarcely anything can be more absurd than to suppose that men situated +as Ezekiel and Daniel were, whose country was over-run, and in the +possession of the enemy, all their friends and relations in captivity +abroad, or in slavery at home, or massacred, or in continual danger of +it; scarcely any thing, I say, can be more absurd than to suppose that +such men should find nothing to do but that of employing their time and +their thoughts about what was to happen to other nations a thousand or +two thousand years after they were dead; at the same time nothing more +natural than that they should meditate the recovery of Jerusalem, and +their own deliverance; and that this was the sole object of all the +obscure and apparently frantic writing contained in those books. + +In this sense the mode of writing used in those two books being forced +by necessity, and not adopted by choice, is not irrational; but, if we +are to use the books as prophecies, they are false. In Ezekiel xxix. +11., speaking of Egypt, it is said, “No foot of man shall pass through +it, nor foot of beast pass through it; neither shall it be inhabited +for forty years.” This is what never came to pass, and consequently it +is false, as all the books I have already reviewed are.—I here close +this part of the subject. + +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason’ I have spoken of Jonah, and +of the story of him and the whale.—A fit story for ridicule, if it was +written to be believed; or of laughter, if it was intended to try what +credulity could swallow; for, if it could swallow Jonah and the whale +it could swallow anything. + +But, as is already shown in the observations on the book of Job and of +Proverbs, it is not always certain which of the books in the Bible are +originally Hebrew, or only translations from the books of the Gentiles +into Hebrew; and, as the book of Jonah, so far from treating of the +affairs of the Jews, says nothing upon that subject, but treats +altogether of the Gentiles, it is more probable that it is a book of +the Gentiles than of the Jews, [I have read in an ancient Persian poem +(Saadi, I believe, but have mislaid the reference) this phrase: “And +now the whale swallowed Jonah: the sun set.”—Editor.] and that it has +been written as a fable to expose the nonsense, and satyrize the +vicious and malignant character, of a Bible-prophet, or a predicting +priest. + +Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away from +his mission, and taking shelter aboard a vessel of the Gentiles, bound +from Joppa to Tarshish; as if he ignorantly supposed, by such a paltry +contrivance, he could hide himself where God could not find him. The +vessel is overtaken by a storm at sea; and the mariners, all of whom +are Gentiles, believing it to be a judgement on account of some one on +board who had committed a crime, agreed to cast lots to discover the +offender; and the lot fell upon Jonah. But before this they had cast +all their wares and merchandise over-board to lighten the vessel, while +Jonah, like a stupid fellow, was fast asleep in the hold. + +After the lot had designated Jonah to be the offender, they questioned +him to know who and what he was? and he told them he was an Hebrew; and +the story implies that he confessed himself to be guilty. But these +Gentiles, instead of sacrificing him at once without pity or mercy, as +a company of Bible-prophets or priests would have done by a Gentile in +the same case, and as it is related Samuel had done by Agag, and Moses +by the women and children, they endeavoured to save him, though at the +risk of their own lives: for the account says, “Nevertheless [that is, +though Jonah was a Jew and a foreigner, and the cause of all their +misfortunes, and the loss of their cargo] the men rowed hard to bring +the boat to land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was +tempestuous against them.” Still however they were unwilling to put the +fate of the lot into execution; and they cried, says the account, unto +the Lord, saying, “We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this +man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast +done as it pleased thee.” Meaning thereby, that they did not presume to +judge Jonah guilty, since that he might be innocent; but that they +considered the lot that had fallen upon him as a decree of God, or as +it pleased God. The address of this prayer shows that the Gentiles +worshipped one Supreme Being, and that they were not idolaters as the +Jews represented them to be. But the storm still continuing, and the +danger encreasing, they put the fate of the lot into execution, and +cast Jonah in the sea; where, according to the story, a great fish +swallowed him up whole and alive! + +We have now to consider Jonah securely housed from the storm in the +fish’s belly. Here we are told that he prayed; but the prayer is a +made-up prayer, taken from various parts of the Psalms, without +connection or consistency, and adapted to the distress, but not at all +to the condition that Jonah was in. It is such a prayer as a Gentile, +who might know something of the Psalms, could copy out for him. This +circumstance alone, were there no other, is sufficient to indicate that +the whole is a made-up story. The prayer, however, is supposed to have +answered the purpose, and the story goes on, (taking-off at the same +time the cant language of a Bible-prophet,) saying, “The Lord spake +unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land.” + +Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets +out; and we have now to consider him as a preacher. The distress he is +represented to have suffered, the remembrance of his own disobedience +as the cause of it, and the miraculous escape he is supposed to have +had, were sufficient, one would conceive, to have impressed him with +sympathy and benevolence in the execution of his mission; but, instead +of this, he enters the city with denunciation and malediction in his +mouth, crying, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” + +We have now to consider this supposed missionary in the last act of his +mission; and here it is that the malevolent spirit of a Bible-prophet, +or of a predicting priest, appears in all that blackness of character +that men ascribe to the being they call the devil. + +Having published his predictions, he withdrew, says the story, to the +east side of the city.—But for what? not to contemplate in retirement +the mercy of his Creator to himself or to others, but to wait, with +malignant impatience, the destruction of Nineveh. It came to pass, +however, as the story relates, that the Ninevites reformed, and that +God, according to the Bible phrase, repented him of the evil he had +said he would do unto them, and did it not. This, saith the first verse +of the last chapter, displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very +angry. His obdurate heart would rather that all Nineveh should be +destroyed, and every soul, young and old, perish in its ruins, than +that his prediction should not be fulfilled. To expose the character of +a prophet still more, a gourd is made to grow up in the night, that +promises him an agreeable shelter from the heat of the sun, in the +place to which he is retired; and the next morning it dies. + +Here the rage of the prophet becomes excessive, and he is ready to +destroy himself. “It is better, said he, for me to die than to live.” +This brings on a supposed expostulation between the Almighty and the +prophet; in which the former says, “Doest thou well to be angry for the +gourd? And Jonah said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said +the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not +laboured, neither madest it to grow, which came up in a night, and +perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, +in which are more than threescore thousand persons, that cannot discern +between their right hand and their left?” + +Here is both the winding up of the satire, and the moral of the fable. +As a satire, it strikes against the character of all the +Bible-prophets, and against all the indiscriminate judgements upon men, +women and children, with which this lying book, the bible, is crowded; +such as Noah’s flood, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and +Gomorrah, the extirpation of the Canaanites, even to suckling infants, +and women with child; because the same reflection ‘that there are more +than threescore thousand persons that cannot discern between their +right hand and their left,’ meaning young children, applies to all +their cases. It satirizes also the supposed partiality of the Creator +for one nation more than for another. + +As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; +for as certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish it. +The pride of having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at last +he beholds with satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the +accomplishment or the failure of his predictions.—This book ends with +the same kind of strong and well-directed point against prophets, +prophecies and indiscriminate judgements, as the chapter that Benjamin +Franklin made for the Bible, about Abraham and the stranger, ends +against the intolerant spirit of religious persecutions—Thus much for +the book Jonah. [The story of Abraham and the Fire-worshipper, ascribed +to Franklin, is from Saadi. (See my “Sacred Anthology,” p. 61.) Paine +has often been called a “mere scoffer,” but he seems to have been among +the first to treat with dignity the book of Jonah, so especially liable +to the ridicule of superficial readers, and discern in it the highest +conception of Deity known to the Old Testament.—Editor.] + +Of the poetical parts of the Bible, that are called prophecies, I have +spoken in the former part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ and already in this, +where I have said that the word for prophet is the Bible-word for Poet, +and that the flights and metaphors of those poets, many of which have +become obscure by the lapse of time and the change of circumstances, +have been ridiculously erected into things called prophecies, and +applied to purposes the writers never thought of. When a priest quotes +any of those passages, he unriddles it agreeably to his own views, and +imposes that explanation upon his congregation as the meaning of the +writer. The whore of Babylon has been the common whore of all the +priests, and each has accused the other of keeping the strumpet; so +well do they agree in their explanations. + +There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser +prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, +it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let +them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be +forgotten together. + +I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood +with an axe on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the +priests, if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them +in the ground, but they will never make them grow.—I pass on to the +books of the New Testament. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +THE NEW TESTAMENT + + +The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the +Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation. + +As it is nothing extraordinary that a woman should be with child before +she was married, and that the son she might bring forth should be +executed, even unjustly, I see no reason for not believing that such a +woman as Mary, and such a man as Joseph, and Jesus, existed; their mere +existence is a matter of indifference, about which there is no ground +either to believe or to disbelieve, and which comes under the common +head of, It may be so, and what then? The probability however is that +there were such persons, or at least such as resembled them in part of +the circumstances, because almost all romantic stories have been +suggested by some actual circumstance; as the adventures of Robinson +Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were suggested by the case of +Alexander Selkirk. + +It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons that +I trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the +New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, +against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is +blasphemously obscene. It gives an account of a young woman engaged to +be married, and while under this engagement, she is, to speak plain +language, debauched by a ghost, under the impious pretence, (Luke i. +35,) that “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the +Highest shall overshadow thee.” Notwithstanding which, Joseph +afterwards marries her, cohabits with her as his wife, and in his turn +rivals the ghost. This is putting the story into intelligible language, +and when told in this manner, there is not a priest but must be ashamed +to own it. [Mary, the supposed virgin, mother of Jesus, had several +other children, sons and daughters. See Matt. xiii. 55, 56.—Author.] + +Obscenity in matters of faith, however wrapped up, is always a token of +fable and imposture; for it is necessary to our serious belief in God, +that we do not connect it with stories that run, as this does, into +ludicrous interpretations. This story is, upon the face of it, the same +kind of story as that of Jupiter and Leda, or Jupiter and Europa, or +any of the amorous adventures of Jupiter; and shews, as is already +stated in the former part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ that the Christian +faith is built upon the heathen Mythology. + +As the historical parts of the New Testament, so far as concerns Jesus +Christ, are confined to a very short space of time, less than two +years, and all within the same country, and nearly to the same spot, +the discordance of time, place, and circumstance, which detects the +fallacy of the books of the Old Testament, and proves them to be +impositions, cannot be expected to be found here in the same abundance. +The New Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act, in +which there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. +There are, however, some glaring contradictions, which, exclusive of +the fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are sufficient to show the +story of Jesus Christ to be false. + +I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted, first, that +the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story to +be true, because the parts may agree, and the whole may be false; +secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves the +whole cannot be true. The agreement does not prove truth, but the +disagreement proves falsehood positively. + +The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.—The first chapter of Matthew begins with +giving a genealogy of Jesus Christ; and in the third chapter of Luke +there is also given a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Did these two agree, +it would not prove the genealogy to be true, because it might +nevertheless be a fabrication; but as they contradict each other in +every particular, it proves falsehood absolutely. If Matthew speaks +truth, Luke speaks falsehood; and if Luke speaks truth, Matthew speaks +falsehood: and as there is no authority for believing one more than the +other, there is no authority for believing either; and if they cannot +be believed even in the very first thing they say, and set out to +prove, they are not entitled to be believed in any thing they say +afterwards. Truth is an uniform thing; and as to inspiration and +revelation, were we to admit it, it is impossible to suppose it can be +contradictory. Either then the men called apostles were imposters, or +the books ascribed to them have been written by other persons, and +fathered upon them, as is the case in the Old Testament. + +The book of Matthew gives (i. 6), a genealogy by name from David, up, +through Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Christ; and makes there to be +twent eight generations. The book of Luke gives also a genealogy by +name from Christ, through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to David, +and makes there to be forty-three generations; besides which, there is +only the two names of David and Joseph that are alike in the two +lists.—I here insert both genealogical lists, and for the sake of +perspicuity and comparison, have placed them both in the same +direction, that is, from Joseph down to David. + + + Genealogy, according to Genealogy, according to + Matthew. Luke. + + Christ Christ + 2 Joseph 2 Joseph + 3 Jacob 3 Heli + 4 Matthan 4 Matthat + 5 Eleazer 5 Levi + 6 Eliud 6 Melchl + 7 Achim 7 Janna + 8 Sadoc 8 Joseph + 9 Azor 9 Mattathias + 10 Eliakim 10 Amos + 11 Abiud 11 Naum + 12 Zorobabel 12 Esli + 13 Salathiel 13 Nagge + 14 Jechonias 14 Maath + 15 Josias 15 Mattathias + 16 Amon 16 Semei + 17 Manasses 17 Joseph + 18 Ezekias 18 Juda + 19 Achaz 19 Joanna + 20 Joatham 20 Rhesa + 21 Ozias 21 Zorobabel + 22 Joram 22 Salathiel + 23 Josaphat 23 Neri + 24 Asa 24 Melchi + 25 Abia 25 Addi + 26 Roboam 26 Cosam + 27 Solomon 27 Elmodam + 28 David * 28 Er + 29 Jose + 30 Eliezer + 31 Jorim + 32 Matthat + 33 Levi + 34 Simeon + 35 Juda + 36 Joseph + 37 Jonan + 38 Eliakim + 39 Melea + 40 Menan + 41 Mattatha + 42 Nathan + 43 David + + +[NOTE: * From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is upwards of +1080 years; and as the life-time of Christ is not included, there are +but 27 full generations. To find therefore the average age of each +person mentioned in the list, at the time his first son was born, it is +only necessary to divide 1080 by 27, which gives 40 years for each +person. As the life-time of man was then but of the same extent it is +now, it is an absurdity to suppose, that 27 following generations +should all be old bachelors, before they married; and the more so, when +we are told that Solomon, the next in succession to David, had a house +full of wives and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of age. So +far from this genealogy being a solemn truth, it is not even a +reasonable lie. The list of Luke gives about twenty-six years for the +average age, and this is too much.—Author.] + +Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between +them (as these two accounts show they do) in the very commencement of +their history of Jesus Christ, and of who, and of what he was, what +authority (as I have before asked) is there left for believing the +strange things they tell us afterwards? If they cannot be believed in +their account of his natural genealogy, how are we to believe them when +they tell us he was the son of God, begotten by a ghost; and that an +angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied in one +genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other? If his natural +genealogy be manufactured, which it certainly is, why are we not to +suppose that his celestial genealogy is manufactured also, and that the +whole is fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard his future +happiness upon the belief of a story naturally impossible, repugnant to +every idea of decency, and related by persons already detected of +falsehood? Is it not more safe that we stop ourselves at the plain, +pure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is deism, than that we +commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational, indecent, and +contradictory tales? + +The first question, however, upon the books of the New Testament, as +upon those of the Old, is, Are they genuine? were they written by the +persons to whom they are ascribed? For it is upon this ground only that +the strange things related therein have been credited. Upon this point, +there is no direct proof for or against; and all that this state of a +case proves is doubtfulness; and doubtfulness is the opposite of +belief. The state, therefore, that the books are in, proves against +themselves as far as this kind of proof can go. + +But, exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books called the +Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not +written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and that they are +impositions. The disordered state of the history in these four books, +the silence of one book upon matters related in the other, and the +disagreement that is to be found among them, implies that they are the +productions of some unconnected individuals, many years after the +things they pretend to relate, each of whom made his own legend; and +not the writings of men living intimately together, as the men called +apostles are supposed to have done: in fine, that they have been +manufactured, as the books of the Old Testament have been, by other +persons than those whose names they bear. + +The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the immaculate +conception, is not so much as mentioned in the books ascribed to Mark, +and John; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former +says the angel, appeared to Joseph; the latter says, it was to Mary; +but either Joseph or Mary was the worst evidence that could have been +thought of; for it was others that should have testified for them, and +not they for themselves. Were any girl that is now with child to say, +and even to swear it, that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and +that an angel told her so, would she be believed? Certainly she would +not. Why then are we to believe the same thing of another girl whom we +never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where? How strange +and inconsistent is it, that the same circumstance that would weaken +the belief even of a probable story, should be given as a motive for +believing this one, that has upon the face of it every token of +absolute impossibility and imposture. + +The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old, +belongs altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest mentions +anything about it. Had such a circumstance been true, the universality +of it must have made it known to all the writers, and the thing would +have been too striking to have been omitted by any. This writer tell +us, that Jesus escaped this slaughter, because Joseph and Mary were +warned by an angel to flee with him into Egypt; but he forgot to make +provision for John [the Baptist], who was then under two years of age. +John, however, who staid behind, fared as well as Jesus, who fled; and +therefore the story circumstantially belies itself. + +Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same +words, the written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us was +put over Christ when he was crucified; and besides this, Mark says, He +was crucified at the third hour, (nine in the morning;) and John says +it was the sixth hour, (twelve at noon.) [According to John, (xix. 14) +the sentence was not passed till about the sixth hour (noon,) and +consequently the execution could not be till the afternoon; but Mark +(xv. 25) Says expressly that he was crucified at the third hour, (nine +in the morning,)—Author.] + +The inscription is thus stated in those books: + +Matthew—This is Jesus the king of the Jews. Mark—The king of the Jews. +Luke—This is the king of the Jews. John—Jesus of Nazareth the king of +the Jews. + +We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that those +writers, whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, were not +present at the scene. The only one of the men called apostles who +appears to have been near to the spot was Peter, and when he was +accused of being one of Jesus’s followers, it is said, (Matthew xxvi. +74,) “Then Peter began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the +man:” yet we are now called to believe the same Peter, convicted, by +their own account, of perjury. For what reason, or on what authority, +should we do this? + +The accounts that are given of the circumstances, that they tell us +attended the crucifixion, are differently related in those four books. + +The book ascribed to Matthew says ‘there was darkness over all the land +from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour—that the veil of the temple was +rent in twain from the top to the bottom—that there was an +earthquake—that the rocks rent—that the graves opened, that the bodies +of many of the saints that slept arose and came out of their graves +after the resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto +many.’ Such is the account which this dashing writer of the book of +Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the writers of the +other books. + +The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the circumstances +of the crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, nor of the +rocks rending, nor of the graves opening, nor of the dead men walking +out. The writer of the book of Luke is silent also upon the same +points. And as to the writer of the book of John, though he details all +the circumstances of the crucifixion down to the burial of Christ, he +says nothing about either the darkness—the veil of the temple—the +earthquake—the rocks—the graves—nor the dead men. + +Now if it had been true that these things had happened, and if the +writers of these books had lived at the time they did happen, and had +been the persons they are said to be—namely, the four men called +apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,—it was not possible for them, +as true historians, even without the aid of inspiration, not to have +recorded them. The things, supposing them to have been facts, were of +too much notoriety not to have been known, and of too much importance +not to have been told. All these supposed apostles must have been +witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any, for it was not +possible for them to have been absent from it: the opening of the +graves and resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about the +city, is of still greater importance than the earthquake. An earthquake +is always possible, and natural, and proves nothing; but this opening +of the graves is supernatural, and directly in point to their doctrine, +their cause, and their apostleship. Had it been true, it would have +filled up whole chapters of those books, and been the chosen theme and +general chorus of all the writers; but instead of this, little and +trivial things, and mere prattling conversation of ‘he said this and +she said that’ are often tediously detailed, while this most important +of all, had it been true, is passed off in a slovenly manner by a +single dash of the pen, and that by one writer only, and not so much as +hinted at by the rest. + +It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the +lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have +told us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into the +city, and what became of them afterwards, and who it was that saw them; +for he is not hardy enough to say that he saw them himself;—whether +they came out naked, and all in natural buff, he-saints and she-saints, +or whether they came full dressed, and where they got their dresses; +whether they went to their former habitations, and reclaimed their +wives, their husbands, and their property, and how they were received; +whether they entered ejectments for the recovery of their possessions, +or brought actions of crim. con. against the rival interlopers; whether +they remained on earth, and followed their former occupation of +preaching or working; or whether they died again, or went back to their +graves alive, and buried themselves. + +Strange indeed, that an army of saints should retum to life, and nobody +know who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not a word +more should be said upon the subject, nor these saints have any thing +to tell us! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly +prophesied of these things, they must have had a great deal to say. +They could have told us everything, and we should have had posthumous +prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the first, a little better +at least than we have now. Had it been Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua, +and Samuel, and David, not an unconverted Jew had remained in all +Jerusalem. Had it been John the Baptist, and the saints of the times +then present, everybody would have known them, and they would have +out-preached and out-famed all the other apostles. But, instead of +this, these saints are made to pop up, like Jonah’s gourd in the night, +for no purpose at all but to wither in the morning.—Thus much for this +part of the story. + +The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion; and in +this as well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so +much as to make it evident that none of them were there. + +The book of Matthew states, that when Christ was put in the sepulchre +the Jews applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over the +septilchre, to prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; and that +in consequence of this request the sepulchre was made sure, sealing the +stone that covered the mouth, and setting a watch. But the other books +say nothing about this application, nor about the sealing, nor the +guard, nor the watch; and according to their accounts, there were none. +Matthew, however, follows up this part of the story of the guard or the +watch with a second part, that I shall notice in the conclusion, as it +serves to detect the fallacy of those books. + +The book of Matthew continues its account, and says, (xxviii. 1,) that +at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the first day +of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the +sepulchre. Mark says it was sun-rising, and John says it was dark. Luke +says it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, +and other women, that came to the sepulchre; and John states that Mary +Magdalene came alone. So well do they agree about their first evidence! +They all, however, appear to have known most about Mary Magdalene; she +was a woman of large acquaintance, and it was not an ill conjecture +that she might be upon the stroll. [The Bishop of Llandaff, in his +famous “Apology,” censured Paine severely for this insinuation against +Mary Magdalene, but the censure really falls on our English version, +which, by a chapter-heading (Luke vii.), has unwarrantably identified +her as the sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and irrevocably branded +her.—Editor.] + +The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2): “And behold there was a +great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and +came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” But the +other books say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the angel +rolling back the stone, and sitting upon it and, according to their +account, there was no angel sitting there. Mark says the angel [Mark +says “a young man,” and Luke “two men.”—Editor.] was within the +sepulchre, sitting on the right side. Luke says there were two, and +they were both standing up; and John says they were both sitting down, +one at the head and the other at the feet. + +Matthew says, that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the +outside of the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, and +that the women went away quickly. Mark says, that the women, upon +seeing the stone rolled away, and wondering at it, went into the +sepulchre, and that it was the angel that was sitting within on the +right side, that told them so. Luke says, it was the two angels that +were Standing up; and John says, it was Jesus Christ himself that told +it to Mary Magdalene; and that she did not go into the sepulchre, but +only stooped down and looked in. + +Now, if the writers of these four books had gone into a court of +justice to prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is +here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by +supernatural means,) and had they given their evidence in the same +contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in +danger of having their ears cropt for perjury, and would have justly +deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that +have been imposed upon the world as being given by divine inspiration, +and as the unchangeable word of God. + +The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates a +story that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is +the same I have just before alluded to. “Now,” says he, [that is, after +the conversation the women had had with the angel sitting upon the +stone,] “behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had said +had been placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and shewed unto +the chief priests all the things that were done; and when they were +assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money +unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, that his disciples came by night, +and stole him away while we slept; and if this come to the governor’s +ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and +did as they were taught; and this saying [that his disciples stole him +away] is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.” + +The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed +to Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been +manufactured long after the times and things of which it pretends to +treat; for the expression implies a great length of intervening time. +It would be inconsistent in us to speak in this manner of any thing +happening in our own time. To give, therefore, intelligible meaning to +the expression, we must suppose a lapse of some generations at least, +for this manner of speaking carries the mind back to ancient time. + +The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the +writer of the book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and +foolish man. He tells a story that contradicts itself in point of +possibility; for though the guard, if there were any, might be made to +say that the body was taken away while they were asleep, and to give +that as a reason for their not having prevented it, that same sleep +must also have prevented their knowing how, and by whom, it was done; +and yet they are made to say that it was the disciples who did it. Were +a man to tender his evidence of something that he should say was done, +and of the manner of doing it, and of the person who did it, while he +was asleep, and could know nothing of the matter, such evidence could +not be received: it will do well enough for Testament evidence, but not +for any thing where truth is concerned. + +I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects +the pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. + +The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was +sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two +Marys (xxviii. 7), “Behold Christ is gone before you into Galilee, +there ye shall see him; lo, I have told you.” And the same writer at +the next two verses (8, 9,) makes Christ himself to speak to the same +purpose to these women immediately after the angel had told it to them, +and that they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and it is said +(ver. 16), “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a +mountain where Jesus had appointed them; and, when they saw him, they +worshipped him.” + +But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to +this; for he says (xx. 19) “Then the same day at evening, being the +first day of the week, [that is, the same day that Christ is said to +have risen,] when the doors were shut, where the disciples were +assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of +them.” + +According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet Jesus +in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according +to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by +appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews. + +The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contradicts that of +Matthew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly, that the +meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he (Christ) +rose, and that the eleven were there. + +Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the +right of wilful lying, that the writers of these books could be any of +the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, the +eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own +appointment, on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and +John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says +expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same +day, in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according to +Luke and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, +Matthew must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting +was in a mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in +those books destroy each other. + +The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in +Galilee; but he says (xvi. 12) that Christ, after his resurrection, +appeared in another form to two of them, as they walked into the +country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not +believe them. [This belongs to the late addition to Mark, which +originally ended with xvi. 8.—Editor.] Luke also tells a story, in +which he keeps Christ employed the whole of the day of this pretended +resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the +account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He says, that two of them, +without saying which two, went that same day to a village called +Emmaus, three score furlongs (seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, +and that Christ in disguise went with them, and stayed with them unto +the evening, and supped with them, and then vanished out of their +sight, and reappeared that same evening, at the meeting of the eleven +in Jerusalem. + +This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this +pretended reappearance of Christ is stated: the only point in which the +writers agree, is the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for +whether it was in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in a shut-up +house in Jerusalem, it was still skulking. To what cause then are we to +assign this skulking? On the one hand, it is directly repugnant to the +supposed or pretended end, that of convincing the world that Christ was +risen; and, on the other hand, to have asserted the publicity of it +would have exposed the writers of those books to public detection; and, +therefore, they have been under the necessity of making it a private +affair. + +As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at +once, it is Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say it +for themselves. It is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, and +that too of a man, who did not, according to the same account, believe +a word of the matter himself at the time it is said to have happened. +His evidence, supposing him to have been the writer of Corinthians xv., +where this account is given, is like that of a man who comes into a +court of justice to swear that what he had sworn before was false. A +man may often see reason, and he has too always the right of changing +his opinion; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fact. + +I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven.—Here +all fear of the Jews, and of every thing else, must necessarily have +been out of the question: it was that which, if true, was to seal the +whole; and upon which the reality of the future mission of the +disciples was to rest for proof. Words, whether declarations or +promises, that passed in private, either in the recess of a mountain in +Galilee, or in a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even supposing them to +have been spoken, could not be evidence in public; it was therefore +necessary that this last scene should preclude the possibility of +denial and dispute; and that it should be, as I have stated in the +former part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ as public and as visible as the sun +at noon-day; at least it ought to have been as public as the +crucifixion is reported to have been.—But to come to the point. + +In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a +syllable about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This +being the case, is it possible to suppose that those writers, who +affect to be even minute in other matters, would have been silent upon +this, had it been true? The writer of the book of Mark passes it off in +a careless, slovenly manner, with a single dash of the pen, as if he +was tired of romancing, or ashamed of the story. So also does the +writer of Luke. And even between these two, there is not an apparent +agreement, as to the place where this final parting is said to have +been. [The last nine verses of Mark being ungenuine, the story of the +ascension rests exclusively on the words in Luke xxiv. 51, “was carried +up into heaven,”—words omitted by several ancient authorities.—Editor.] + +The book of Mark says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat at +meat, alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem: he then +states the conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and +immediately after says (as a school-boy would finish a dull story,) “So +then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into +heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” But the writer of Luke says, +that the ascension was from Bethany; that he (Christ) led them out as +far as Bethany, and was parted from them there, and was carried up into +heaven. So also was Mahomet: and, as to Moses, the apostle Jude says, +ver. 9. That ‘Michael and the devil disputed about his body.’ While we +believe such fables as these, or either of them, we believe unworthily +of the Almighty. + +I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and when it is considered that the whole +space of time, from the crucifixion to what is called the ascension, is +but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, and that all +the circumstances are reported to have happened nearly about the same +spot, Jerusalem, it is, I believe, impossible to find in any story upon +record so many and such glaring absurdities, contradictions, and +falsehoods, as are in those books. They are more numerous and striking +than I had any expectation of finding, when I began this examination, +and far more so than I had any idea of when I wrote the former part of +‘The Age of Reason.’ I had then neither Bible nor Testament to refer +to, nor could I procure any. My own situation, even as to existence, +was becoming every day more precarious; and as I was willing to leave +something behind me upon the subject, I was obliged to be quick and +concise. The quotations I then made were from memory only, but they are +correct; and the opinions I have advanced in that work are the effect +of the most clear and long-established conviction,—that the Bible and +the Testament are impositions upon the world;—that the fall of man, the +account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to +appease the wrath of God, and of salvation by that strange means, are +all fabulous inventions, dishonourable to the wisdom and power of the +Almighty;—that the only true religion is deism, by which I then meant +and now mean the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral +character, or the practice of what are called moral virtues;—and that +it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested +all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So say I now—and so help me God. + +But to retum to the subject.—Though it is impossible, at this distance +of time, to ascertain as a fact who were the writers of those four +books (and this alone is sufficient to hold them in doubt, and where we +doubt we do not believe) it is not difficult to ascertain negatively +that they were not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed. +The contradictions in those books demonstrate two things: + +First, that the writers cannot have been eye-witnesses and +ear-witnesses of the matters they relate, or they would have related +them without those contradictions; and, consequently that the books +have not been written by the persons called apostles, who are supposed +to have been witnesses of this kind. + +Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in +concerted imposition, but each writer separately and individually for +himself, and without the knowledge of the other. + +The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to +prove both cases; that is, that the books were not written by the men +called apostles, and also that they are not a concerted imposition. As +to inspiration, it is altogether out of the question; we may as well +attempt to unite truth and falsehood, as inspiration and contradiction. + +If four men are eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses to a scene, they will +without any concert between them, agree as to time and place, when and +where that scene happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, +each one knowing it for himself, renders concert totally unnecessary; +the one will not say it was in a mountain in the country, and the other +at a house in town; the one will not say it was at sunrise, and the +other that it was dark. For in whatever place it was and whatever time +it was, they know it equally alike. + +And on the other hand, if four men concert a story, they will make +their separate relations of that story agree and corroborate with each +other to support the whole. That concert supplies the want of fact in +the one case, as the knowledge of the fact supersedes, in the other +case, the necessity of a concert. The same contradictions, therefore, +that prove there has been no concert, prove also that the reporters had +no knowledge of the fact, (or rather of that which they relate as a +fact,) and detect also the falsehood of their reports. Those books, +therefore, have neither been written by the men called apostles, nor by +imposters in concert.—How then have they been written? + +I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that +which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case +of men setting up to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for +prophesying is lying professionally. In almost all other cases it is +not difficult to discover the progress by which even simple +supposition, with the aid of credulity, will in time grow into a lie, +and at last be told as a fact; and whenever we can find a charitable +reason for a thing of this kind, we ought not to indulge a severe one. + +The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of +an apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, +and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the +assassination of Julius Caesar not many years before, and they +generally have their origin in violent deaths, or in execution of +innocent persons. In cases of this kind, compassion lends its aid, and +benevolently stretches the story. It goes on a little and a little +farther, till it becomes a most certain truth. Once start a ghost, and +credulity fills up the history of its life, and assigns the cause of +its appearance; one tells it one way, another another way, till there +are as many stories about the ghost, and about the proprietor of the +ghost, as there are about Jesus Christ in these four books. + +The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange +mixture of the natural and impossible, that distinguishes legendary +tale from fact. He is represented as suddenly coming in and going out +when the doors are shut, and of vanishing out of sight, and appearing +again, as one would conceive of an unsubstantial vision; then again he +is hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his supper. But as those who +tell stories of this kind never provide for all the cases, so it is +here: they have told us, that when he arose he left his grave-clothes +behind him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for him to +appear in afterwards, or to tell us what he did with them when he +ascended; whether he stripped all off, or went up clothes and all. In +the case of Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throw +down his mantle; how it happened not to be burnt in the chariot of +fire, they also have not told us; but as imagination supplies all +deficiencies of this kind, we may suppose if we please that it was made +of salamander’s wool. + +Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history, may +suppose that the book called the New Testament has existed ever since +the time of Jesus Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed to +Moses have existed ever since the time of Moses. But the fact is +historically otherwise; there was no such book as the New Testament +till more than three hundred years after the time that Christ is said +to have lived. + +At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, began +to appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not the +least shadow of evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, nor +at what time they were written; and they might as well have been called +by the names of any of the other supposed apostles as by the names they +are now called. The originals are not in the possession of any +Christian Church existing, any more than the two tables of stone +written on, they pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and +given to Moses, are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they +were, there is no possibility of proving the hand-writing in either +case. At the time those four books were written there was no printing, +and consequently there could be no publication otherwise than by +written copies, which any man might make or alter at pleasure, and call +them originals. Can we suppose it is consistent with the wisdom of the +Almighty to commit himself and his will to man upon such precarious +means as these; or that it is consistent we should pin our faith upon +such uncertainties? We cannot make nor alter, nor even imitate, so much +as one blade of grass that he has made, and yet we can make or alter +words of God as easily as words of man. [The former part of the ‘Age of +Reason’ has not been published two years, and there is already an +expression in it that is not mine. The expression is: The book of Luke +was carried by a majority of one voice only. It may be true, but it is +not I that have said it. Some person who might know of that +circumstance, has added it in a note at the bottom of the page of some +of the editions, printed either in England or in America; and the +printers, after that, have erected it into the body of the work, and +made me the author of it. If this has happened within such a short +space of time, notwithstanding the aid of printing, which prevents the +alteration of copies individually, what may not have happened in a much +greater length of time, when there was no printing, and when any man +who could write could make a written copy and call it an original by +Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?—Author.] + +[The spurious addition to Paine’s work alluded to in his footnote drew +on him a severe criticism from Dr. Priestley (“Letters to a +Philosophical Unbeliever,” p. 75), yet it seems to have been Priestley +himself who, in his quotation, first incorporated into Paine’s text the +footnote added by the editor of the American edition (1794). The +American added: “Vide Moshiem’s (sic) Ecc. History,” which Priestley +omits. In a modern American edition I notice four verbal alterations +introduced into the above footnote.—Editor.] + +About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is said +to have lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of were +scattered in the hands of divers individuals; and as the church had +begun to form itself into an hierarchy, or church government, with +temporal powers, it set itself about collecting them into a code, as we +now see them, called ‘The New Testament.’ They decided by vote, as I +have before said in the former part of the Age of Reason, which of +those writings, out of the collection they had made, should be the word +of God, and which should not. The Robbins of the Jews had decided, by +vote, upon the books of the Bible before. + +As the object of the church, as is the case in all national +establishments of churches, was power and revenue, and terror the means +it used, it is consistent to suppose that the most miraculous and +wonderful of the writings they had collected stood the best chance of +being voted. And as to the authenticity of the books, the vote stands +in the place of it; for it can be traced no higher. + +Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves +Christians, not only as to points of doctrine, but as to the +authenticity of the books. In the contest between the person called St. +Augustine, and Fauste, about the year 400, the latter says, “The books +called the Evangelists have been composed long after the times of the +apostles, by some obscure men, who, fearing that the world would not +give credit to their relation of matters of which they could not be +informed, have published them under the names of the apostles; and +which are so full of sottishness and discordant relations, that there +is neither agreement nor connection between them.” + +And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those +books, as being the word of God, he says, “It is thus that your +predecessors have inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things +which, though they carry his name, agree not with his doctrine.” This +is not surprising, since that we have often proved that these things +have not been written by himself, nor by his apostles, but that for the +greatest part they are founded upon tales, upon vague reports, and put +together by I know not what half-Jews, with but little agreement +between them; and which they have nevertheless published under the name +of the apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed to them their own +errors and their lies. [I have taken these two extracts from +Boulanger’s Life of Paul, written in French; Boulanger has quoted them +from the writings of Augustine against Fauste, to which he +refers.—Author.] + +This Bishop Faustus is usually styled “The Manichaeum,” Augustine +having entitled his book, Contra Frustum Manichaeum Libri xxxiii., in +which nearly the whole of Faustus’ very able work is quoted.—Editor.] + +The reader will see by those extracts that the authenticity of the +books of the New Testament was denied, and the books treated as tales, +forgeries, and lies, at the time they were voted to be the word of God. +But the interest of the church, with the assistance of the faggot, bore +down the opposition, and at last suppressed all investigation. Miracles +followed upon miracles, if we will believe them, and men were taught to +say they believed whether they believed or not. But (by way of throwing +in a thought) the French Revolution has excommunicated the church from +the power of working miracles; she has not been able, with the +assistance of all her saints, to work one miracle since the revolution +began; and as she never stood in greater need than now, we may, without +the aid of divination, conclude that all her former miracles are tricks +and lies. [Boulanger in his life of Paul, has collected from the +ecclesiastical histories, and the writings of the fathers as they are +called, several matters which show the opinions that prevailed among +the different sects of Christians, at the time the Testament, as we now +see it, was voted to be the word of God. The following extracts are +from the second chapter of that work: + +[The Marcionists (a Christian sect) asserted that the evangelists were +filled with falsities. The Manichaeans, who formed a very numerous sect +at the commencement of Christianity, rejected as false all the New +Testament, and showed other writings quite different that they gave for +authentic. The Corinthians, like the Marcionists, admitted not the Acts +of the Apostles. The Encratites and the Sevenians adopted neither the +Acts, nor the Epistles of Paul. Chrysostom, in a homily which he made +upon the Acts of the Apostles, says that in his time, about the year +400, many people knew nothing either of the author or of the book. St. +Irene, who lived before that time, reports that the Valentinians, like +several other sects of the Christians, accused the scriptures of being +filled with imperfections, errors, and contradictions. The Ebionites, +or Nazarenes, who were the first Christians, rejected all the Epistles +of Paul, and regarded him as an impostor. They report, among other +things, that he was originally a Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, +where he lived some time; and that having a mind to marry the daughter +of the high priest, he had himself been circumcised; but that not being +able to obtain her, he quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against +circumcision, and against the observation of the Sabbath, and against +all the legal ordinances.—Author.] [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. +de la Vie de St. Paul, by N.A. Boulanger, 1770.—Editor.] + +When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening +between the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the New +Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even without the +assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is +of its authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as +regards the authorship, is much better established than that of the New +Testament, though Homer is a thousand years the most ancient. It was +only an exceeding good poet that could have written the book of Homer, +and, therefore, few men only could have attempted it; and a man capable +of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to +another. In like manner, there were but few that could have composed +Euclid’s Elements, because none but an exceeding good geometrician +could have been the author of that work. + +But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such +parts as tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any +person who could tell a story of an apparition, or of a man’s walking, +could have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The +chance, therefore, of forgery in the Testament is millions to one +greater than in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priests or +parsons of the present day, bishops and all, every one of them can make +a sermon, or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if it has been +translated a thousand times before; but is there any amongst them that +can write poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid? The sum total of a +parson’s learning, with very few exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, +haec, hoc; and their knowledge of science is, three times one is three; +and this is more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived +at the time, to have written all the books of the New Testament. + +As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was the +inducement. A man could gain no advantage by writing under the name of +Homer or Euclid; if he could write equal to them, it would be better +that he wrote under his own name; if inferior, he could not succeed. +Pride would prevent the former, and impossibility the latter. But with +respect to such books as compose the New Testament, all the inducements +were on the side of forgery. The best imagined history that could have +been made, at the distance of two or three hundred years after the +time, could not have passed for an original under the name of the real +writer; the only chance of success lay in forgery; for the church +wanted pretence for its new doctrine, and truth and talents were out of +the question. + +But as it is not uncommon (as before observed) to relate stories of +persons walking after they are dead, and of ghosts and apparitions of +such as have fallen by some violent or extraordinary means; and as the +people of that day were in the habit of believing such things, and of +the appearance of angels, and also of devils, and of their getting into +people’s insides, and shaking them like a fit of an ague, and of their +being cast out again as if by an emetic—(Mary Magdalene, the book of +Mark tells us had brought up, or been brought to bed of seven devils;) +it was nothing extraordinary that some story of this kind should get +abroad of the person called Jesus Christ, and become afterwards the +foundation of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. +Each writer told a tale as he heard it, or thereabouts, and gave to his +book the name of the saint or the apostle whom tradition had given as +the eye-witness. It is only upon this ground that the contradictions in +those books can be accounted for; and if this be not the case, they are +downright impositions, lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of +credulity. + +That they have been written by a sort of half Jews, as the foregoing +quotations mention, is discernible enough. The frequent references made +to that chief assassin and impostor Moses, and to the men called +prophets, establishes this point; and, on the other hand, the church +has complimented the fraud, by admitting the Bible and the Testament to +reply to each other. Between the Christian-Jew and the +Christian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the thing +prophesied of, the type and the thing typified, the sign and the thing +signified, have been industriously rummaged up, and fitted together +like old locks and pick-lock keys. The story foolishly enough told of +Eve and the serpent, and naturally enough as to the enmity between men +and serpents (for the serpent always bites about the heel, because it +cannot reach higher, and the man always knocks the serpent about the +head, as the most effectual way to prevent its biting;) [“It shall +bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. iii. +15.—Author.] this foolish story, I say, has been made into a prophecy, +a type, and a promise to begin with; and the lying imposition of Isaiah +to Ahaz, ‘That a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,’ as a sign that +Ahaz should conquer, when the event was that he was defeated (as +already noticed in the observations on the book of Isaiah), has been +perverted, and made to serve as a winder up. + +Jonah and the whale are also made into a sign and type. Jonah is Jesus, +and the whale is the grave; for it is said, (and they have made Christ +to say it of himself, Matt. xii. 40), “For as Jonah was three days and +three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three +days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” But it happens, +awkwardly enough, that Christ, according to their own account, was but +one day and two nights in the grave; about 36 hours instead of 72; that +is, the Friday night, the Saturday, and the Saturday night; for they +say he was up on the Sunday morning by sunrise, or before. But as this +fits quite as well as the bite and the kick in Genesis, or the virgin +and her son in Isaiah, it will pass in the lump of orthodox +things.—Thus much for the historical part of the Testament and its +evidences. + +Epistles of Paul—The epistles ascribed to Paul, being fourteen in +number, almost fill up the remaining part of the Testament. Whether +those epistles were written by the person to whom they are ascribed is +a matter of no great importance, since that the writer, whoever he was, +attempts to prove his doctrine by argument. He does not pretend to have +been witness to any of the scenes told of the resurrection and the +ascension; and he declares that he had not believed them. + +The story of his being struck to the ground as he was journeying to +Damascus, has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary; he escaped +with life, and that is more than many others have done, who have been +struck with lightning; and that he should lose his sight for three +days, and be unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more +than is common in such conditions. His companions that were with him +appear not to have suffered in the same manner, for they were well +enough to lead him the remainder of the journey; neither did they +pretend to have seen any vision. + +The character of the person called Paul, according to the accounts +given of him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticism; he had +persecuted with as much heat as he preached afterwards; the stroke he +had received had changed his thinking, without altering his +constitution; and either as a Jew or a Christian he was the same +zealot. Such men are never good moral evidences of any doctrine they +preach. They are always in extremes, as well of action as of belief. + +The doctrine he sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of +the same body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. But +so much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in the +conclusions they draw from the same premises, that this doctrine of the +resurrection of the same body, so far from being an evidence of +immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against it; for if I have +already died in this body, and am raised again in the same body in +which I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. +That resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, +than an ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe +therefore in immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is +contained in the gloomy doctrine of the resurrection. + +Besides, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather have a +better body and a more convenient form than the present. Every animal +in the creation excels us in something. The winged insects, without +mentioning doves or eagles, can pass over more space with greater ease +in a few minutes than man can in an hour. The glide of the smallest +fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in motion almost beyond +comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish snail can ascend +from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want of that ability, +would perish; and a spider can launch itself from the top, as a playful +amusement. The personal powers of man are so limited, and his heavy +frame so little constructed to extensive enjoyment, that there is +nothing to induce us to wish the opinion of Paul to be true. It is too +little for the magnitude of the scene, too mean for the sublimity of +the subject. + +But all other arguments apart, the consciousness of existence is the +only conceivable idea we can have of another life, and the continuance +of that consciousness is immortality. The consciousness of existence, +or the knowing that we exist, is not necessarily confined to the same +form, nor to the same matter, even in this life. + +We have not in all cases the same form, nor in any case the same +matter, that composed our bodies twenty or thirty years ago; and yet we +are conscious of being the same persons. Even legs and arms, which make +up almost half the human frame, are not necessary to the consciousness +of existence. These may be lost or taken away and the full +consciousness of existence remain; and were their place supplied by +wings, or other appendages, we cannot conceive that it could alter our +consciousness of existence. In short, we know not how much, or rather +how little, of our composition it is, and how exquisitely fine that +little is, that creates in us this consciousness of existence; and all +beyond that is like the pulp of a peach, distinct and separate from the +vegetative speck in the kernel. + +Who can say by what exceeding fine action of fine matter it is that a +thought is produced in what we call the mind? and yet that thought when +produced, as I now produce the thought I am writing, is capable of +becoming immortal, and is the only production of man that has that +capacity. + +Statues of brass and marble will perish; and statues made in imitation +of them are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship, any more +than the copy of a picture is the same picture. But print and reprint a +thought a thousand times over, and that with materials of any kind, +carve it in wood, or engrave it on stone, the thought is eternally and +identically the same thought in every case. It has a capacity of +unimpaired existence, unaffected by change of matter, and is +essentially distinct, and of a nature different from every thing else +that we know of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has in +itself a capacity of being immortal, it is more than a token that the +power that produced it, which is the self-same thing as consciousness +of existence, can be immortal also; and that as independently of the +matter it was first connected with, as the thought is of the printing +or writing it first appeared in. The one idea is not more difficult to +believe than the other; and we can see that one is true. + +That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form +or the same matter, is demonstrated to our senses in the works of the +creation, as far as our senses are capable of receiving that +demonstration. A very numerous part of the animal creation preaches to +us, far better than Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their little +life resembles an earth and a heaven, a present and a future state; and +comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in miniature. + +The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged +insects, and they are not so originally. They acquire that form and +that inimitable brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and +creeping caterpillar worm of to day, passes in a few days to a torpid +figure, and a state resembling death; and in the next change comes +forth in all the miniature magnificence of life, a splendid butterfly. +No resemblance of the former creature remains; every thing is changed; +all his powers are new, and life is to him another thing. We cannot +conceive that the consciousness of existence is not the same in this +state of the animal as before; why then must I believe that the +resurrection of the same body is necessary to continue to me the +consciousness of existence hereafter? + +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason.’ I have called the creation +the true and only real word of God; and this instance, or this text, in +the book of creation, not only shows to us that this thing may be so, +but that it is so; and that the belief of a future state is a rational +belief, founded upon facts visible in the creation: for it is not more +difficult to believe that we shall exist hereafter in a better state +and form than at present, than that a worm should become a butterfly, +and quit the dunghill for the atmosphere, if we did not know it as a +fact. + +As to the doubtful jargon ascribed to Paul in 1 Corinthians xv., which +makes part of the burial service of some Christian sectaries, it is as +destitute of meaning as the tolling of a bell at the funeral; it +explains nothing to the understanding, it illustrates nothing to the +imagination, but leaves the reader to find any meaning if he can. “All +flesh,” says he, “is not the same flesh. There is one flesh of men, +another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.” And what +then? nothing. A cook could have said as much. “There are also,” says +he, “bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial; the glory of the +celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is the other.” And +what then? nothing. And what is the difference? nothing that he has +told. “There is,” says he, “one glory of the sun, and another glory of +the moon, and another glory of the stars.” And what then? nothing; +except that he says that one star differeth from another star in glory, +instead of distance; and he might as well have told us that the moon +did not shine so bright as the sun. All this is nothing better than the +jargon of a conjuror, who picks up phrases he does not understand to +confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told. +Priests and conjurors are of the same trade. + +Sometimes Paul affects to be a naturalist, and to prove his system of +resurrection from the principles of vegetation. “Thou fool” says he, +“that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.” To which one +might reply in his own language, and say, Thou fool, Paul, that which +thou sowest is not quickened except it die not; for the grain that dies +in the ground never does, nor can vegetate. It is only the living +grains that produce the next crop. But the metaphor, in any point of +view, is no simile. It is succession, and [not] resurrection. + +The progress of an animal from one state of being to another, as from a +worm to a butterfly, applies to the case; but this of a grain does not, +and shows Paul to have been what he says of others, a fool. + +Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him or +not, is a matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or +dogmatical; and as the argument is defective, and the dogmatical part +is merely presumptive, it signifies not who wrote them. And the same +may be said for the remaining parts of the Testament. It is not upon +the Epistles, but upon what is called the Gospel, contained in the four +books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the pretended +prophecies, that the theory of the church, calling itself the Christian +Church, is founded. The Epistles are dependant upon those, and must +follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous, all +reasoning founded upon it, as a supposed truth, must fall with it. + +We know from history, that one of the principal leaders of this church, +Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testament was formed; [Athanasius +died, according to the Church chronology, in the year 371—Author.] and +we know also, from the absurd jargon he has left us under the name of a +creed, the character of the men who formed the New Testament; and we +know also from the same history that the authenticity of the books of +which it is composed was denied at the time. It was upon the vote of +such as Athanasius that the Testament was decreed to be the word of +God; and nothing can present to us a more strange idea than that of +decreeing the word of God by vote. Those who rest their faith upon such +authority put man in the place of God, and have no true foundation for +future happiness. Credulity, however, is not a crime, but it becomes +criminal by resisting conviction. It is strangling in the womb of the +conscience the efforts it makes to ascertain truth. We should never +force belief upon ourselves in any thing. + +I here close the subject on the Old Testament and the New. The evidence +I have produced to prove them forgeries, is extracted from the books +themselves, and acts, like a two-edge sword, either way. If the +evidence be denied, the authenticity of the Scriptures is denied with +it, for it is Scripture evidence: and if the evidence be admitted, the +authenticity of the books is disproved. The contradictory +impossibilities, contained in the Old Testament and the New, put them +in the case of a man who swears for and against. Either evidence +convicts him of perjury, and equally destroys reputation. + +Should the Bible and the Testament hereafter fall, it is not that I +have done it. I have done no more than extracted the evidence from the +confused mass of matters with which it is mixed, and arranged that +evidence in a point of light to be clearly seen and easily +comprehended; and, having done this, I leave the reader to judge for +himself, as I have judged for myself. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +CONCLUSION + + +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason’ I have spoken of the three +frauds, mystery, miracle, and Prophecy; and as I have seen nothing in +any of the answers to that work that in the least affects what I have +there said upon those subjects, I shall not encumber this Second Part +with additions that are not necessary. + +I have spoken also in the same work upon what is celled revelation, and +have shown the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of the +Old Testament and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the +question in reciting any thing of which man has been the actor or the +witness. That which man has done or seen, needs no revelation to tell +him he has done it, or seen it—for he knows it already—nor to enable +him to tell it or to write it. It is ignorance, or imposition, to apply +the term revelation in such cases; yet the Bible and Testament are +classed under this fraudulent description of being all revelation. + +Revelation then, so far as the term has relation between God and man, +can only be applied to something which God reveals of his will to man; +but though the power of the Almighty to make such a communication is +necessarily admitted, because to that power all things are possible, +yet, the thing so revealed (if any thing ever was revealed, and which, +by the bye, it is impossible to prove) is revelation to the person only +to whom it is made. His account of it to another is not revelation; and +whoever puts faith in that account, puts it in the man from whom the +account comes; and that man may have been deceived, or may have dreamed +it; or he may be an impostor and may lie. There is no possible +criterion whereby to judge of the truth of what he tells; for even the +morality of it would be no proof of revelation. In all such cases, the +proper answer should be, “When it is revealed to me, I will believe it +to be revelation; but it is not and cannot be incumbent upon me to +believe it to be revelation before; neither is it proper that I should +take the word of man as the word of God, and put man in the place of +God.” This is the manner in which I have spoken of revelation in the +former part of The Age of Reason; and which, whilst it reverentially +admits revelation as a possible thing, because, as before said, to the +Almighty all things are possible, it prevents the imposition of one man +upon another, and precludes the wicked use of pretended revelation. + +But though, speaking for myself, I thus admit the possibility of +revelation, I totally disbelieve that the Almighty ever did communicate +any thing to man, by any mode of speech, in any language, or by any +kind of vision, or appearance, or by any means which our senses are +capable of receiving, otherwise than by the universal display of +himself in the works of the creation, and by that repugnance we feel in +ourselves to bad actions, and disposition to good ones. [A fair +parallel of the then unknown aphorism of Kant: “Two things fill the +soul with wonder and reverence, increasing evermore as I meditate more +closely upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within +me.” (Kritik derpraktischen Vernunfe, 1788). Kant’s religious +utterances at the beginning of the French Revolution brought on him a +royal mandate of silence, because he had worked out from “the moral law +within” a principle of human equality precisely similar to that which +Paine had derived from his Quaker doctrine of the “inner light” of +every man. About the same time Paine’s writings were suppressed in +England. Paine did not understand German, but Kant, though always +independent in the formation of his opinions, was evidently well +acquainted with the literature of the Revolution, in America, England, +and France.—Editor.] + +The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the +greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their +origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has +been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the +divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness +of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. It is +better, far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a thousand +devils to roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine of devils, +if there were any such, than that we permitted one such impostor and +monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with +the pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit among us. + +Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, +women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody +persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since +that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but +from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous +belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been the +cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament [of] the other. + +Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the +sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that +twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no +sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to +employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too; and +Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit that Peter cut off +the ear of the high priest’s servant (if the story be true) he would +cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he been able. Besides +this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the [Hebrew] Bible, +and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the +worst use of it—not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made no +converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] +Testament, and both are called the word of God. The Christians read +both books; the ministers preach from both books; and this thing called +Christianity is made up of both. It is then false to say that +Christianity was not established by the sword. + +The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only +reason that can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than +Christians. They do not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they call +the scriptures a dead letter. [This is an interesting and correct +testimony as to the beliefs of the earlier Quakers, one of whom was +Paine’s father.—Editor.] Had they called them by a worse name, they had +been nearer the truth. + +It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the +Creator, and who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial miseries, +and remove the cause that has sown persecutions thick among mankind, to +expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an +impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from this pretended +thing called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful to man, and +every thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What is it the Bible +teaches us?—repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament +teaches us?—to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a +woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is +called faith. + +As to the fragments of morality that are irregularly and thinly +scattered in those books, they make no part of this pretended thing, +revealed religion. They are the natural dictates of conscience, and the +bonds by which society is held together, and without which it cannot +exist; and are nearly the same in all religions, and in all societies. +The Testament teaches nothing new upon this subject, and where it +attempts to exceed, it becomes mean and ridiculous. The doctrine of not +retaliating injuries is much better expressed in Proverbs, which is a +collection as well from the Gentiles as the Jews, than it is in the +Testament. It is there said, (Xxv. 2 I) “If thine enemy be hungry, give +him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:” +[According to what is called Christ’s sermon on the mount, in the book +of Matthew, where, among some other [and] good things, a great deal of +this feigned morality is introduced, it is there expressly said, that +the doctrine of forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not +any part of the doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in +“Proverbs,” it must, according to that statement, have been copied from +the Gentiles, from whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish +and Christian idolators have abusively called heathen, had much better +and clearer ideas of justice and morality than are to be found in the +Old Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or in the New. The answer of +Solon on the question, “Which is the most perfect popular govemment,” +has never been exceeded by any man since his time, as containing a +maxim of political morality, “That,” says he, “where the least injury +done to the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the whole +constitution.” Solon lived about 500 years before Christ.—Author.] but +when it is said, as in the Testament, “If a man smite thee on the right +cheek, turn to him the other also,” it is assassinating the dignity of +forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel. + +Loving, of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has +besides no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he does +not revenge an injury; and it is equally as good in a political sense, +for there is no end to retaliation; each retaliates on the other, and +calls it justice: but to love in proportion to the injury, if it could +be done, would be to offer a premium for a crime. Besides, the word +enemies is too vague and general to be used in a moral maxim, which +ought always to be clear and defined, like a proverb. If a man be the +enemy of another from mistake and prejudice, as in the case of +religious opinions, and sometimes in politics, that man is different to +an enemy at heart with a criminal intention; and it is incumbent upon +us, and it contributes also to our own tranquillity, that we put the +best construction upon a thing that it will bear. But even this +erroneous motive in him makes no motive for love on the other part; and +to say that we can love voluntarily, and without a motive, is morally +and physically impossible. + +Morality is injured by prescribing to it duties that, in the first +place, are impossible to be performed, and if they could be would be +productive of evil; or, as before said, be premiums for crime. The +maxim of doing as we would be done unto does not include this strange +doctrine of loving enemies; for no man expects to be loved himself for +his crime or for his enmity. + +Those who preach this doctrine of loving their enemies, are in general +the greatest persecutors, and they act consistently by so doing; for +the doctrine is hypocritical, and it is natural that hypocrisy should +act the reverse of what it preaches. For my own part, I disown the +doctrine, and consider it as a feigned or fabulous morality; yet the +man does not exist that can say I have persecuted him, or any man, or +any set of men, either in the American Revolution, or in the French +Revolution; or that I have, in any case, returned evil for evil. But it +is not incumbent on man to reward a bad action with a good one, or to +return good for evil; and wherever it is done, it is a voluntary act, +and not a duty. It is also absurd to suppose that such doctrine can +make any part of a revealed religion. We imitate the moral character of +the Creator by forbearing with each other, for he forbears with all; +but this doctrine would imply that he loved man, not in proportion as +he was good, but as he was bad. + +If we consider the nature of our condition here, we must see there is +no occasion for such a thing as revealed religion. What is it we want +to know? Does not the creation, the universe we behold, preach to us +the existence of an Almighty power, that governs and regulates the +whole? And is not the evidence that this creation holds out to our +senses infinitely stronger than any thing we can read in a book, that +any imposter might make and call the word of God? As for morality, the +knowledge of it exists in every man’s conscience. + +Here we are. The existence of an Almighty power is sufficiently +demonstrated to us, though we cannot conceive, as it is impossible we +should, the nature and manner of its existence. We cannot conceive how +we came here ourselves, and yet we know for a fact that we are here. We +must know also, that the power that called us into being, can if he +please, and when he pleases, call us to account for the manner in which +we have lived here; and therefore without seeking any other motive for +the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, for we know +beforehand that he can. The probability or even possibility of the +thing is all that we ought to know; for if we knew it as a fact, we +should be the mere slaves of terror; our belief would have no merit, +and our best actions no virtue. + +Deism then teaches us, without the possibility of being deceived, all +that is necessary or proper to be known. The creation is the Bible of +the deist. He there reads, in the hand-writing of the Creator himself, +the certainty of his existence, and the immutability of his power; and +all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries. The probability +that we may be called to account hereafter, will, to reflecting minds, +have the influence of belief; for it is not our belief or disbelief +that can make or unmake the fact. As this is the state we are in, and +which it is proper we should be in, as free agents, it is the fool +only, and not the philosopher, nor even the prudent man, that will live +as if there were no God. + +But the belief of a God is so weakened by being mixed with the strange +fable of the Christian creed, and with the wild adventures related in +the Bible, and the obscurity and obscene nonsense of the Testament, +that the mind of man is bewildered as in a fog. Viewing all these +things in a confused mass, he confounds fact with fable; and as he +cannot believe all, he feels a disposition to reject all. But the +belief of a God is a belief distinct from all other things, and ought +not to be confounded with any. The notion of a Trinity of Gods has +enfeebled the belief of one God. A multiplication of beliefs acts as a +division of belief; and in proportion as anything is divided, it is +weakened. + +Religion, by such means, becomes a thing of form instead of fact; of +notion instead of principle: morality is banished to make room for an +imaginary thing called faith, and this faith has its origin in a +supposed debauchery; a man is preached instead of a God; an execution +is an object for gratitude; the preachers daub themselves with the +blood, like a troop of assassins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy +it gives them; they preach a humdrum sermon on the merits of the +execution; then praise Jesus Christ for being executed, and condemn the +Jews for doing it. + +A man, by hearing all this nonsense lumped and preached together, +confounds the God of the Creation with the imagined God of the +Christians, and lives as if there were none. + +Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none +more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant +to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called +Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and +too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces +only atheists and fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the +purpose of despotism; and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests; +but so far as respects the good of man in general, it leads to nothing +here or hereafter. + +The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every +evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It must have +been the first and will probably be the last that man believes. But +pure and simple deism does not answer the purpose of despotic +governments. They cannot lay hold of religion as an engine but by +mixing it with human inventions, and making their own authority a part; +neither does it answer the avarice of priests, but by incorporating +themselves and their functions with it, and becoming, like the +government, a party in the system. It is this that forms the otherwise +mysterious connection of church and state; the church human, and the +state tyrannic. + +Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the +belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of +belief; he would stand in awe of God, and of himself, and would not do +the thing that could not be concealed from either. To give this belief +the full opportunity of force, it is necessary that it acts alone. This +is deism. + +But when, according to the Christian Trinitarian scheme, one part of +God is represented by a dying man, and another part, called the Holy +Ghost, by a flying pigeon, it is impossible that belief can attach +itself to such wild conceits. [The book called the book of Matthew, +says, (iii. 16,) that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove. +It might as well have said a goose; the creatures are equally harmless, +and the one is as much a nonsensical lie as the other. Acts, ii. 2, 3, +says, that it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in the shape of +cloven tongues: perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd stuff is fit +only for tales of witches and wizards.—Author.] + +It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other +invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, +as it is of government to hold him in ignorance of his rights. The +systems of the one are as false as those of the other, and are +calculated for mutual support. The study of theology as it stands in +Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; +it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no +data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no conclusion. Not any +thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of +the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case +with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing. + +Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible and +Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the +authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we refer to +the Bible of the creation. The principles we discover there are +eternal, and of divine origin: they are the foundation of all the +science that exists in the world, and must be the foundation of +theology. + +We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of +any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it. We +have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of +comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no idea of his +wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it acts. The +principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is +the Creator of science, and it is through that medium that man can see +God, as it were, face to face. + +Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision +to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure +of the universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the +cause of their varying appearances, the unerring order in which they +revolve, even to the remotest comet, their connection and dependence on +each other, and to know the system of laws established by the Creator, +that governs and regulates the whole; he would then conceive, far +beyond what any church theology can teach him, the power, the wisdom, +the vastness, the munificence of the Creator. He would then see that +all the knowledge man has of science, and that all the mechanical arts +by which he renders his situation comfortable here, are derived from +that source: his mind, exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, +would increase in gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion +or his worship would become united with his improvement as a man: any +employment he followed that had connection with the principles of the +creation,—as everything of agriculture, of science, and of the +mechanical arts, has,—would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude +he owes to him, than any theological Christian sermon he now hears. +Great objects inspire great thoughts; great munificence excites great +gratitude; but the grovelling tales and doctrines of the Bible and the +Testament are fit only to excite contempt. + +Though man cannot arrive, at least in this life, at the actual scene I +have described, he can demonstrate it, because he has knowledge of the +principles upon which the creation is constructed. We know that the +greatest works can be represented in model, and that the universe can +be represented by the same means. The same principles by which we +measure an inch or an acre of ground will measure to millions in +extent. A circle of an inch diameter has the same geometrical +properties as a circle that would circumscribe the universe. The same +properties of a triangle that will demonstrate upon paper the course of +a ship, will do it on the ocean; and, when applied to what are called +the heavenly bodies, will ascertain to a minute the time of an eclipse, +though those bodies are millions of miles distant from us. This +knowledge is of divine origin; and it is from the Bible of the creation +that man has learned it, and not from the stupid Bible of the church, +that teaches man nothing. [The Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, +in the first chapter of Genesis, an account of the creation; and in +doing this they have demonstrated nothing but their ignorance. They +make there to have been three days and three nights, evenings and +mornings, before there was any sun; when it is the presence or absence +of the sun that is the cause of day and night—and what is called his +rising and setting that of morning and evening. Besides, it is a +puerile and pitiful idea, to suppose the Almighty to say, “Let there be +light.” It is the imperative manner of speaking that a conjuror uses +when he says to his cups and balls, Presto, be gone—and most probably +has been taken from it, as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his +wand. Longinus calls this expression the sublime; and by the same rule +the conjurer is sublime too; for the manner of speaking is expressively +and grammatically the same. When authors and critics talk of the +sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous. The +sublime of the critics, like some parts of Edmund Burke’s sublime and +beautiful, is like a windmill just visible in a fog, which imagination +might distort into a flying mountain, or an archangel, or a flock of +wild geese.—Author.] + +All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of +which his existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without +which he would be scarcely distinguishable in appearance and condition +from a common animal, comes from the great machine and structure of the +universe. The constant and unwearied observations of our ancestors upon +the movements and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, in what are +supposed to have been the early ages of the world, have brought this +knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and the prophets, nor Jesus +Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. The Almighty is the great +mechanic of the creation, the first philosopher, and original teacher +of all science. Let us then learn to reverence our master, and not +forget the labours of our ancestors. + +Had we, at this day, no knowledge of machinery, and were it possible +that man could have a view, as I have before described, of the +structure and machinery of the universe, he would soon conceive the +idea of constructing some at least of the mechanical works we now have; +and the idea so conceived would progressively advance in practice. Or +could a model of the universe, such as is called an orrery, be +presented before him and put in motion, his mind would arrive at the +same idea. Such an object and such a subject would, whilst it improved +him in knowledge useful to himself as a man and a member of society, as +well as entertaining, afford far better matter for impressing him with +a knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, and of the reverence and +gratitude that man owes to him, than the stupid texts of the Bible and +the Testament, from which, be the talents of the preacher; what they +may, only stupid sermons can be preached. If man must preach, let him +preach something that is edifying, and from the texts that are known to +be true. + +The Bible of the creation is inexhaustible in texts. Every part of +science, whether connected with the geometry of the universe, with the +systems of animal and vegetable life, or with the properties of +inanimate matter, is a text as well for devotion as for philosophy—for +gratitude, as for human improvement. It will perhaps be said, that if +such a revolution in the system of religion takes place, every preacher +ought to be a philosopher. Most certainly, and every house of devotion +a school of science. + +It has been by wandering from the immutable laws of science, and the +light of reason, and setting up an invented thing called “revealed +religion,” that so many wild and blasphemous conceits have been formed +of the Almighty. The Jews have made him the assassin of the human +species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have +made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of a new religion to +supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to find pretence and +admission for these things, they must have supposed his power or his +wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the changeableness of the +will is the imperfection of the judgement. The philosopher knows that +the laws of the Creator have never changed, with respect either to the +principles of science, or the properties of matter. Why then is it to +be supposed they have changed with respect to man? + +I here close the subject. I have shown in all the foregoing parts of +this work that the Bible and Testament are impositions and forgeries; +and I leave the evidence I have produced in proof of it to be refuted, +if any one can do it; and I leave the ideas that are suggested in the +conclusion of the work to rest on the mind of the reader; certain as I +am that when opinions are free, either in matters of govemment or +religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail. + +END OF PART II + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + +***** This file should be named 3743-0.txt or 3743-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3743/ + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the +United States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV.<br /> +1794-1796.</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Thomas Paine</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Moncure Daniel Conway</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 14, 2001 [eBook #3743]<br /> +[Most recently updated: March 20, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Norman M. Wolcott and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE ***</div> + +<h1>The Writings of Thomas Paine</h1> + +<h3>The Age of Reason — Part I and II</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Thomas Paine</h2> + +<h3>Collected And Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway</h3> + +<h2>VOLUME IV.</h2> + +<h3>(1796)</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap00">EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part01"><b>THE AGE OF REASON — PART I</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. THE AUTHOR’S PROFESSION OF FAITH</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES BY THE BIBLE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED REFORMS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS INSPIRED BY NATURE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR SYSTEM</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE CHRISTIANS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">RECAPITULATION</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#part02"><b>THE AGE OF REASON — PART II</b></a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">PREFACE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER I. THE OLD TESTAMENT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER II. THE NEW TESTAMENT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap00"></a>EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<h3>WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES.</h3> + +<p> +In the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its king, the +wrath turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace every tyrant claimed +to reign. But eventualities had brought among them a great English and American +heart—Thomas Paine. He had pleaded for Louis Capet—“Kill the +king but spare the man.” Now he pleaded,—“Disbelieve in the +King of kings, but do not confuse with that idol the Father of Mankind!” +</p> + +<p> +In Paine’s Preface to the Second Part of “The Age of Reason” +he describes himself as writing the First Part near the close of the year 1793. +“I had not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has since +appeared, before a guard came about three in the morning, with an order signed +by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, for putting me in +arrestation.” This was on the morning of December 28. But it is necessary +to weigh the words just quoted—“in the state it has since +appeared.” For on August 5, 1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an appeal for +Paine’s liberation, wrote as follows: “I deliver to Merlin de +Thionville a copy of the last work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason], formerly +our colleague, and in custody since the decree excluding foreigners from the +national representation. This book was written by the author in the beginning +of the year ’93 (old style). I undertook its translation before the +revolution against priests, and it was published in French about the same time. +Couthon, to whom I sent it, seemed offended with me for having translated this +work.” +</p> + +<p> +Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of +Robespierre, this early publication seems to have been so effectually +suppressed that no copy bearing that date, 1793, can be found in France or +elsewhere. In Paine’s letter to Samuel Adams, printed in the present +volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to stay the progress of +atheism, and that he endangered his life “by opposing atheism.” The +time indicated by Lanthenas as that in which he submitted the work to Couthon +would appear to be the latter part of March, 1793, the fury against the +priesthood having reached its climax in the decrees against them of March 19 +and 26. If the moral deformity of Couthon, even greater than that of his body, +be remembered, and the readiness with which death was inflicted for the most +theoretical opinion not approved by the “Mountain,” it will appear +probable that the offence given Couthon by Paine’s book involved danger +to him and his translator. On May 31, when the Girondins were accused, the name +of Lanthenas was included, and he barely escaped; and on the same day Danton +persuaded Paine not to appear in the Convention, as his life might be in +danger. Whether this was because of the “Age of Reason,” with its +fling at the “Goddess Nature” or not, the statements of author and +translator are harmonized by the fact that Paine prepared the manuscript, with +considerable additions and changes, for publication in English, as he has +stated in the Preface to Part II. +</p> + +<p> +A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by sentence, proved +to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to Merlin de Thionville in 1794 is +the same as that he sent to Couthon in 1793. This discovery was the means of +recovering several interesting sentences of the original work. I have given as +footnotes translations of such clauses and phrases of the French work as +appeared to be important. Those familiar with the translations of Lanthenas +need not be reminded that he was too much of a literalist to depart from the +manuscript before him, and indeed he did not even venture to alter it in an +instance (presently considered) where it was obviously needed. Nor would +Lanthenas have omitted any of the paragraphs lacking in his translation. This +original work was divided into seventeen chapters, and these I have restored, +translating their headings into English. The “Age of Reason” is +thus for the first time given to the world with nearly its original +completeness. +</p> + +<p> +It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of his +“Age of Reason” (Part I.) which went through the press while he was +in prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some sentences as +abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable instance is the dropping +out of his estimate of Jesus the words rendered by Lanthenas “trop peu +imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu.” The addition of these words to +Paine’s tribute makes it the more notable that almost the only +recognition of the human character and life of Jesus by any theological writer +of that generation came from one long branded as an infidel. +</p> + +<p> +To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must be +attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already alluded to, as +one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity, would have corrected. This is +Paine’s repeated mention of six planets, and enumeration of them, twelve +years after the discovery of Uranus. Paine was a devoted student of astronomy, +and it cannot for a moment be supposed that he had not participated in the +universal welcome of Herschel’s discovery. The omission of any allusion +to it convinces me that the astronomical episode was printed from a manuscript +written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. Unfamiliar with French in +1793, Paine might not have discovered the erratum in Lanthenas’ +translation, and, having no time for copying, he would naturally use as much as +possible of the same manuscript in preparing his work for English readers. But +he had no opportunity of revision, and there remains an erratum which, if my +conjecture be correct, casts a significant light on the paragraphs in which he +alludes to the preparation of the work. He states that soon after his +publication of “Common Sense” (1776), he “saw the exceeding +probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by +a revolution in the system of religion,” and that “man would return +to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God and no more.” +He tells Samuel Adams that it had long been his intention to publish his +thoughts upon religion, and he had made a similar remark to John Adams in 1776. +Like the Quakers among whom he was reared Paine could then readily use the +phrase “word of God” for anything in the Bible which approved +itself to his “inner light,” and as he had drawn from the first +Book of Samuel a divine condemnation of monarchy, John Adams, a Unitarian, +asked him if he believed in the inspiration of the Old Testament. Paine replied +that he did not, and at a later period meant to publish his views on the +subject. There is little doubt that he wrote from time to time on religious +points, during the American war, without publishing his thoughts, just as he +worked on the problem of steam navigation, in which he had invented a +practicable method (ten years before John Fitch made his discovery) without +publishing it. At any rate it appears to me certain that the part of “The +Age of Reason” connected with Paine’s favorite science, astronomy, +was written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. +</p> + +<p> +Paine’s theism, however invested with biblical and Christian phraseology, +was a birthright. It appears clear from several allusions in “The Age of +Reason” to the Quakers that in his early life, or before the middle of +the eighteenth century, the people so called were substantially Deists. An +interesting confirmation of Paine’s statements concerning them appears as +I write in an account sent by Count Leo Tolstoi to the London +‘Times’ of the Russian sect called Dukhobortsy (The Times, October +23, 1895). This sect sprang up in the last century, and the narrative says: +</p> + +<p> +“The first seeds of the teaching called afterwards +‘Dukhoborcheskaya’ were sown by a foreigner, a Quaker, who came to +Russia. The fundamental idea of his Quaker teaching was that in the soul of man +dwells God himself, and that He himself guides man by His inner word. God lives +in nature physically and in man’s soul spiritually. To Christ, as to an +historical personage, the Dukhobortsy do not ascribe great importance... Christ +was God’s son, but only in the sense in which we call, ourselves +‘sons of God.’ The purpose of Christ’s sufferings was no +other than to show us an example of suffering for truth. The Quakers who, in +1818, visited the Dukhobortsy, could not agree with them upon these religious +subjects; and when they heard from them their opinion about Jesus Christ (that +he was a man), exclaimed ‘Darkness!’ From the Old and New +Testaments,’ they say, ‘we take only what is useful,’ mostly +the moral teaching.... The moral ideas of the Dukhobortsy are the +following:—All men are, by nature, equal; external distinctions, +whatsoever they may be, are worth nothing. This idea of men’s equality +the Dukhoborts have directed further, against the State authority.... Amongst +themselves they hold subordination, and much more, a monarchical Government, to +be contrary to their ideas.” +</p> + +<p> +Here is an early Hicksite Quakerism carried to Russia long before the birth of +Elias Hicks, who recovered it from Paine, to whom the American Quakers refused +burial among them. Although Paine arraigned the union of Church and State, his +ideal Republic was religious; it was based on a conception of equality based on +the divine son-ship of every man. This faith underlay equally his burden +against claims to divine partiality by a “Chosen People,” a +Priesthood, a Monarch “by the grace of God,” or an Aristocracy. +Paine’s “Reason” is only an expansion of the Quaker’s +“inner light”; and the greater impression, as compared with +previous republican and deistic writings made by his “Rights of +Man” and “Age of Reason” (really volumes of one work), is +partly explained by the apostolic fervor which made him a spiritual, successor +of George Fox. +</p> + +<p> +Paine’s mind was by no means skeptical, it was eminently instructive. +That he should have waited until his fifty-seventh year before publishing his +religious convictions was due to a desire to work out some positive and +practicable system to take the place of that which he believed was crumbling. +The English engineer Hall, who assisted Paine in making the model of his iron +bridge, wrote to his friends in England, in 1786: “My employer has Common +Sense enough to disbelieve most of the common systematic theories of Divinity, +but does not seem to establish any for himself.” But five years later +Paine was able to lay the corner-stone of his temple: “With respect to +religion itself, without regard to names, and as directing itself from the +universal family of mankind to the ‘Divine object of all adoration, it is +man bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those fruits may +differ from each other like the fruits of the earth, the grateful tribute of +every one, is accepted.” (“Rights of Man.” See my edition of +Paine’s Writings, ii., p. 326.) Here we have a reappearance of George Fox +confuting the doctor in America who “denied the light and Spirit of God +to be in every one; and affirmed that it was not in the Indians. Whereupon I +called an Indian to us, and asked him ‘whether or not, when he lied, or +did wrong to anyone, there was not something in him that reproved him for +it?’ He said, ‘There was such a thing in him that did so reprove +him; and he was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken wrong.’ So we +shamed the doctor before the governor and the people.” (Journal of George +Fox, September 1672.) +</p> + +<p> +Paine, who coined the phrase “Religion of Humanity” (The Crisis, +vii., 1778), did but logically defend it in “The Age of Reason,” by +denying a special revelation to any particular tribe, or divine authority in +any particular creed of church; and the centenary of this much-abused +publication has been celebrated by a great conservative champion of Church and +State, Mr. Balfour, who, in his “Foundations of Belief,” affirms +that “inspiration” cannot be denied to the great Oriental teachers, +unless grapes may be gathered from thorns. +</p> + +<p> +The centenary of the complete publication of “The Age of Reason,” +(October 25, 1795), was also celebrated at the Church Congress, Norwich, on +October 10, 1895, when Professor Bonney, F.R.S., Canon of Manchester, read a +paper in which he said: “I cannot deny that the increase of scientific +knowledge has deprived parts of the earlier books of the Bible of the +historical value which was generally attributed to them by our forefathers. The +story of Creation in the Book of Genesis, unless we play fast and loose either +with words or with science, cannot be brought into harmony with what we have +learnt from geology. Its ethnological statements are imperfect, if not +sometimes inaccurate. The stories of the Fall, of the Flood, and of the Tower +of Babel, are incredible in their present form. Some historical element may +underlie many of the traditions in the first eleven chapters in that book, but +this we cannot hope to recover.” Canon Bonney proceeded to say of the New +Testament also, that “the Gospels are not so far as we know, strictly +contemporaneous records, so we must admit the possibility of variations and +even inaccuracies in details being introduced by oral tradition.” The +Canon thinks the interval too short for these importations to be serious, but +that any question of this kind is left open proves the Age of Reason fully upon +us. Reason alone can determine how many texts are as spurious as the three +heavenly witnesses (i John v. 7), and like it “serious” enough to +have cost good men their lives, and persecutors their charities. When men +interpolate, it is because they believe their interpolation seriously needed. +It will be seen by a note in Part II. of the work, that Paine calls attention +to an interpolation introduced into the first American edition without +indication of its being an editorial footnote. This footnote was: “The +book of Luke was carried by a majority of one only. Vide Moshelm’s Ecc. +History.” Dr. Priestley, then in America, answered Paine’s work, +and in quoting less than a page from the “Age of Reason” he made +three alterations,—one of which changed “church mythologists” +into “Christian mythologists,”—and also raised the editorial +footnote into the text, omitting the reference to Mosheim. Having done this, +Priestley writes: “As to the gospel of Luke being carried by a majority +of one only, it is a legend, if not of Mr. Paine’s own invention, of no +better authority whatever.” And so on with further castigation of the +author for what he never wrote, and which he himself (Priestley) was the +unconscious means of introducing into the text within the year of Paine’s +publication. +</p> + +<p> +If this could be done, unintentionally by a conscientious and exact man, and +one not unfriendly to Paine, if such a writer as Priestley could make four +mistakes in citing half a page, it will appear not very wonderful when I state +that in a modern popular edition of “The Age of Reason,” including +both parts, I have noted about five hundred deviations from the original. These +were mainly the accumulated efforts of friendly editors to improve +Paine’s grammar or spelling; some were misprints, or developed out of +such; and some resulted from the sale in London of a copy of Part Second +surreptitiously made from the manuscript. These facts add significance to +Paine’s footnote (itself altered in some editions!), in which he says: +“If this has happened within such a short space of time, notwithstanding +the aid of printing, which prevents the alteration of copies individually; what +may not have happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no +printing, and when any man who could write, could make a written copy, and call +it an original, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.” +</p> + +<p> +Nothing appears to me more striking, as an illustration of the far-reaching +effects of traditional prejudice, than the errors into which some of our ablest +contemporary scholars have fallen by reason of their not having studied Paine. +Professor Huxley, for instance, speaking of the freethinkers of the eighteenth +century, admires the acuteness, common sense, wit, and the broad humanity of +the best of them, but says “there is rarely much to be said for their +work as an example of the adequate treatment of a grave and difficult +investigation,” and that they shared with their adversaries “to the +full the fatal weakness of a priori philosophizing.” [NOTE: Science and +Christian Tradition, p. 18 (Lon. ed., 1894).] Professor Huxley does not name +Paine, evidently because he knows nothing about him. Yet Paine represents the +turning-point of the historical freethinking movement; he renounced the +‘a priori’ method, refused to pronounce anything impossible outside +pure mathematics, rested everything on evidence, and really founded the +Huxleyan school. He plagiarized by anticipation many things from the +rationalistic leaders of our time, from Strauss and Baur (being the first to +expatiate on “Christian Mythology”), from Renan (being the first to +attempt recovery of the human Jesus), and notably from Huxley, who has repeated +Paine’s arguments on the untrustworthiness of the biblical manuscripts +and canon, on the inconsistencies of the narratives of Christ’s +resurrection, and various other points. None can be more loyal to the memory of +Huxley than the present writer, and it is even because of my sense of his grand +leadership that he is here mentioned as a typical instance of the extent to +which the very elect of free-thought may be unconsciously victimized by the +phantasm with which they are contending. He says that Butler overthrew +freethinkers of the eighteenth century type, but Paine was of the nineteenth +century type; and it was precisely because of his critical method that he +excited more animosity than his deistical predecessors. He compelled the +apologists to defend the biblical narratives in detail, and thus implicitly +acknowledge the tribunal of reason and knowledge to which they were summoned. +The ultimate answer by police was a confession of judgment. A hundred years ago +England was suppressing Paine’s works, and many an honest Englishman has +gone to prison for printing and circulating his “Age of Reason.” +The same views are now freely expressed; they are heard in the seats of +learning, and even in the Church Congress; but the suppression of Paine, begun +by bigotry and ignorance, is continued in the long indifference of the +representatives of our Age of Reason to their pioneer and founder. It is a +grievous loss to them and to their cause. It is impossible to understand the +religious history of England, and of America, without studying the phases of +their evolution represented in the writings of Thomas Paine, in the +controversies that grew out of them with such practical accompaniments as the +foundation of the Theophilanthropist Church in Paris and New York, and of the +great rationalist wing of Quakerism in America. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever may be the case with scholars in our time, those of Paine’s time +took the “Age of Reason” very seriously indeed. Beginning with the +learned Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, a large number of learned men +replied to Paine’s work, and it became a signal for the commencement of +those concessions, on the part of theology, which have continued to our time; +and indeed the so-called “Broad Church” is to some extent an +outcome of “The Age of Reason.” It would too much enlarge this +Introduction to cite here the replies made to Paine (thirty-six are catalogued +in the British Museum), but it may be remarked that they were notably free, as +a rule, from the personalities that raged in the pulpits. I must venture to +quote one passage from his very learned antagonist, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, +B.A., “late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.” Wakefield, who had +resided in London during all the Paine panic, and was well acquainted with the +slanders uttered against the author of “Rights of Man,” indirectly +brands them in answering Paine’s argument that the original and +traditional unbelief of the Jews, among whom the alleged miracles were wrought, +is an important evidence against them. The learned divine writes: +</p> + +<p> +“But the subject before us admits of further illustration from the +example of Mr. Paine himself. In this country, where his opposition to the +corruptions of government has raised him so many adversaries, and such a swarm +of unprincipled hirelings have exerted themselves in blackening his character +and in misrepresenting all the transactions and incidents of his life, will it +not be a most difficult, nay an impossible task, for posterity, after a lapse +of 1700 years, if such a wreck of modern literature as that of the ancient, +should intervene, to identify the real circumstances, moral and civil, of the +man? And will a true historian, such as the Evangelists, be credited at that +future period against such a predominant incredulity, without large and mighty +accessions of collateral attestation? And how transcendently extraordinary, I +had almost said miraculous, will it be estimated by candid and reasonable +minds, that a writer whose object was a melioration of condition to the common +people, and their deliverance from oppression, poverty, wretchedness, to the +numberless blessings of upright and equal government, should be reviled, +persecuted, and burned in effigy, with every circumstance of insult and +execration, by these very objects of his benevolent intentions, in every corner +of the kingdom?” After the execution of Louis XVI., for whose life Paine +pleaded so earnestly,—while in England he was denounced as an accomplice +in the deed,—he devoted himself to the preparation of a Constitution, and +also to gathering up his religious compositions and adding to them. This +manuscript I suppose to have been prepared in what was variously known as +White’s Hotel or Philadelphia House, in Paris, No. 7 Passage des Petits +Peres. This compilation of early and fresh manuscripts (if my theory be +correct) was labelled, “The Age of Reason,” and given for +translation to Francois Lanthenas in March 1793. It is entered, in Qudrard (La +France Literaire) under the year 1793, but with the title “L’Age de +la Raison” instead of that which it bore in 1794, “Le Siecle de la +Raison.” The latter, printed “Au Burcau de l’imprimerie, rue +du Theatre-Francais, No. 4,” is said to be by “Thomas Paine, +Citoyen et cultivateur de l’Amerique septentrionale, secretaire du +Congres du departement des affaires etrangeres pendant la guerre +d’Amerique, et auteur des ouvrages intitules: LA SENS COMMUN et LES +DROITS DE L’HOMME.” +</p> + +<p> +When the Revolution was advancing to increasing terrors, Paine, unwilling to +participate in the decrees of a Convention whose sole legal function was to +frame a Constitution, retired to an old mansion and garden in the Faubourg St. +Denis, No. 63. Mr. J.G. Alger, whose researches in personal details connected +with the Revolution are original and useful, recently showed me in the National +Archives at Paris, some papers connected with the trial of Georgeit, +Paine’s landlord, by which it appears that the present No. 63 is not, as +I had supposed, the house in which Paine resided. Mr. Alger accompanied me to +the neighborhood, but we were not able to identify the house. The arrest of +Georgeit is mentioned by Paine in his essay on “Forgetfulness” +(Writings, iii., 319). When his trial came on one of the charges was that he +had kept in his house “Paine and other Englishmen,”—Paine +being then in prison,—but he (Georgeit) was acquitted of the paltry +accusations brought against him by his Section, the “Faubourg du +Nord.” This Section took in the whole east side of the Faubourg St. +Denis, whereas the present No. 63 is on the west side. After Georgeit (or +Georger) had been arrested, Paine was left alone in the large mansion (said by +Rickman to have been once the hotel of Madame de Pompadour), and it would +appear, by his account, that it was after the execution (October 31, 1793) Of +his friends the Girondins, and political comrades, that he felt his end at +hand, and set about his last literary bequest to the world,—“The +Age of Reason,”—in the state in which it has since appeared, as he +is careful to say. There was every probability, during the months in which he +wrote (November and December 1793) that he would be executed. His religious +testament was prepared with the blade of the guillotine suspended over +him,—a fact which did not deter pious mythologists from portraying his +death-bed remorse for having written the book. +</p> + +<p> +In editing Part I. of “The Age of Reason,” I follow closely the +first edition, which was printed by Barrois in Paris from the manuscript, no +doubt under the superintendence of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine, on his way to +the Luxembourg, had confided it. Barlow was an American ex-clergyman, a +speculator on whose career French archives cast an unfavorable light, and one +cannot be certain that no liberties were taken with Paine’s proofs. +</p> + +<p> +I may repeat here what I have stated in the outset of my editorial work on +Paine that my rule is to correct obvious misprints, and also any punctuation +which seems to render the sense less clear. And to that I will now add that in +following Paine’s quotations from the Bible I have adopted the Plan now +generally used in place of his occasionally too extended writing out of book, +chapter, and verse. +</p> + +<p> +Paine was imprisoned in the Luxembourg on December 28, 1793, and released on +November 4, 1794. His liberation was secured by his old friend, James Monroe +(afterwards President), who had succeeded his (Paine’s) relentless enemy, +Gouverneur Morris, as American Minister in Paris. He was found by Monroe more +dead than alive from semi-starvation, cold, and an abscess contracted in +prison, and taken to the Minister’s own residence. It was not supposed +that he could survive, and he owed his life to the tender care of Mr. and Mrs. +Monroe. It was while thus a prisoner in his room, with death still hovering +over him, that Paine wrote Part Second of “The Age of Reason.” +</p> + +<p> +The work was published in London by H.D. Symonds on October 25, 1795, and +claimed to be “from the Author’s manuscript.” It is marked as +“Entered at Stationers Hall,” and prefaced by an apologetic note of +“The Bookseller to the Public,” whose commonplaces about avoiding +both prejudice and partiality, and considering “both sides,” need +not be quoted. While his volume was going through the press in Paris, Paine +heard of the publication in London, which drew from him the following hurried +note to a London publisher, no doubt Daniel Isaacs Eaton: +</p> + +<p> +“SIR,—I have seen advertised in the London papers the second +Edition [part] of the Age of Reason, printed, the advertisement says, from the +Author’s Manuscript, and entered at Stationers Hall. I have never sent +any manuscript to any person. It is therefore a forgery to say it is printed +from the author’s manuscript; and I suppose is done to give the Publisher +a pretence of Copy Right, which he has no title to. +</p> + +<p> +“I send you a printed copy, which is the only one I have sent to London. +I wish you to make a cheap edition of it. I know not by what means any copy has +got over to London. If any person has made a manuscript copy I have no doubt +but it is full of errors. I wish you would talk to Mr. ——- upon +this subject as I wish to know by what means this trick has been played, and +from whom the publisher has got possession of any copy. +</p> + +<p> +“T. PAINE. +</p> + +<p> +“PARIS, December 4, 1795” +</p> + +<p> +Eaton’s cheap edition appeared January 1, 1796, with the above letter on +the reverse of the title. The blank in the note was probably +“Symonds” in the original, and possibly that publisher was imposed +upon. Eaton, already in trouble for printing one of Paine’s political +pamphlets, fled to America, and an edition of the “Age of Reason” +was issued under a new title; no publisher appears; it is said to be +“printed for, and sold by all the Booksellers in Great Britain and +Ireland.” It is also said to be “By Thomas Paine, author of several +remarkable performances.” I have never found any copy of this anonymous +edition except the one in my possession. It is evidently the edition which was +suppressed by the prosecution of Williams for selling a copy of it. +</p> + +<p> +A comparison with Paine’s revised edition reveals a good many clerical +and verbal errors in Symonds, though few that affect the sense. The worst are +in the preface, where, instead of “1793,” the misleading date +“1790” is given as the year at whose close Paine completed Part +First,—an error that spread far and wide and was fastened on by his +calumnious American “biographer,” Cheetham, to prove his +inconsistency. The editors have been fairly demoralized by, and have altered in +different ways, the following sentence of the preface in Symonds: “The +intolerant spirit of religious persecution had transferred itself into +politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, supplied the place of the +Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the State outdid the Fire and Faggot of the +Church.” The rogue who copied this little knew the care with which Paine +weighed words, and that he would never call persecution +“religious,” nor connect the guillotine with the +“State,” nor concede that with all its horrors it had outdone the +history of fire and faggot. What Paine wrote was: “The intolerant spirit +of church persecution had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, +styled Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition and the Guillotine, +of the Stake.” +</p> + +<p> +An original letter of Paine, in the possession of Joseph Cowen, ex-M.P., which +that gentleman permits me to bring to light, besides being one of general +interest makes clear the circumstances of the original publication. Although +the name of the correspondent does not appear on the letter, it was certainly +written to Col. John Fellows of New York, who copyrighted Part I. of the +“Age of Reason.” He published the pamphlets of Joel Barlow, to whom +Paine confided his manuscript on his way to prison. Fellows was afterwards +Paine’s intimate friend in New York, and it was chiefly due to him that +some portions of the author’s writings, left in manuscript to Madame +Bonneville while she was a freethinker were rescued from her devout +destructiveness after her return to Catholicism. The letter which Mr. Cowen +sends me, is dated at Paris, January 20, 1797. +</p> + +<p> +“SIR,—Your friend Mr. Caritat being on the point of his departure +for America, I make it the opportunity of writing to you. I received two +letters from you with some pamphlets a considerable time past, in which you +inform me of your entering a copyright of the first part of the Age of Reason: +when I return to America we will settle for that matter. +</p> + +<p> +“As Doctor Franklin has been my intimate friend for thirty years past you +will naturally see the reason of my continuing the connection with his +grandson. I printed here (Paris) about fifteen thousand of the second part of +the Age of Reason, which I sent to Mr. F[ranklin] Bache. I gave him notice of +it in September 1795 and the copy-right by my own direction was entered by him. +The books did not arrive till April following, but he had advertised it long +before. +</p> + +<p> +“I sent to him in August last a manuscript letter of about 70 pages, from +me to Mr. Washington to be printed in a pamphlet. Mr. Barnes of Philadelphia +carried the letter from me over to London to be forwarded to America. It went +by the ship Hope, Cap: Harley, who since his return from America told me that +he put it into the post office at New York for Bache. I have yet no certain +account of its publication. I mention this that the letter may be enquired +after, in case it has not been published or has not arrived to Mr. Bache. +Barnes wrote to me, from London 29 August informing me that he was offered +three hundred pounds sterling for the manuscript. The offer was refused because +it was my intention it should not appear till it appeared in America, as that, +and not England was the place for its operation. +</p> + +<p> +“You ask me by your letter to Mr. Caritat for a list of my several works, +in order to publish a collection of them. This is an undertaking I have always +reserved for myself. It not only belongs to me of right, but nobody but myself +can do it; and as every author is accountable (at least in reputation) for his +works, he only is the person to do it. If he neglects it in his life-time the +case is altered. It is my intention to return to America in the course of the +present year. I shall then [do] it by subscription, with historical notes. As +this work will employ many persons in different parts of the Union, I will +confer with you upon the subject, and such part of it as will suit you to +undertake, will be at your choice. I have sustained so much loss, by +disinterestedness and inattention to money matters, and by accidents, that I am +obliged to look closer to my affairs than I have done. The printer (an +Englishman) whom I employed here to print the second part of ‘the Age of +Reason’ made a manuscript copy of the work while he was printing it, +which he sent to London and sold. It was by this means that an edition of it +came out in London. +</p> + +<p> +“We are waiting here for news from America of the state of the federal +elections. You will have heard long before this reaches you that the French +government has refused to receive Mr. Pinckney as minister. While Mr. Monroe +was minister he had the opportunity of softening matters with this government, +for he was in good credit with them tho’ they were in high indignation at +the infidelity of the Washington Administration. It is time that Mr. Washington +retire, for he has played off so much prudent hypocrisy between France and +England that neither government believes anything he says. +</p> + +<p> +“Your friend, etc., +</p> + +<p> +“THOMAS PAINE.” +</p> + +<p> +It would appear that Symonds’ stolen edition must have got ahead of that +sent by Paine to Franklin Bache, for some of its errors continue in all modern +American editions to the present day, as well as in those of England. For in +England it was only the shilling edition—that revised by +Paine—which was suppressed. Symonds, who ministered to the half-crown +folk, and who was also publisher of replies to Paine, was left undisturbed +about his pirated edition, and the new Society for the suppression of Vice and +Immorality fastened on one Thomas Williams, who sold pious tracts but was also +convicted (June 24, 1797) of having sold one copy of the “Age of +Reason.” Erskine, who had defended Paine at his trial for the +“Rights of Man,” conducted the prosecution of Williams. He gained +the victory from a packed jury, but was not much elated by it, especially after +a certain adventure on his way to Lincoln’s Inn. He felt his coat +clutched and beheld at his feet a woman bathed in tears. She led him into the +small book-shop of Thomas Williams, not yet called up for judgment, and there +he beheld his victim stitching tracts in a wretched little room, where there +were three children, two suffering with Smallpox. He saw that it would be ruin +and even a sort of murder to take away to prison the husband, who was not a +freethinker, and lamented his publication of the book, and a meeting of the +Society which had retained him was summoned. There was a full meeting, the +Bishop of London (Porteus) in the chair. Erskine reminded them that Williams +was yet to be brought up for sentence, described the scene he had witnessed, +and Williams’ penitence, and, as the book was now suppressed, asked +permission to move for a nominal sentence. Mercy, he urged, was a part of the +Christianity they were defending. Not one of the Society took his +side,—not even “philanthropic” Wilberforce—and Erskine +threw up his brief. This action of Erskine led the Judge to give Williams only +a year in prison instead of the three he said had been intended. +</p> + +<p> +While Williams was in prison the orthodox colporteurs were circulating +Erskine’s speech on Christianity, but also an anonymous sermon “On +the Existence and Attributes of the Deity,” all of which was from +Paine’s “Age of Reason,” except a brief “Address to the +Deity” appended. This picturesque anomaly was repeated in the circulation +of Paine’s “Discourse to the Theophilanthropists” (their and +the author’s names removed) under the title of “Atheism +Refuted.” Both of these pamphlets are now before me, and beside them a +London tract of one page just sent for my spiritual benefit. This is headed +“A Word of Caution.” It begins by mentioning the “pernicious +doctrines of Paine,” the first being “that there is No GOD” +(sic,) then proceeds to adduce evidences of divine existence taken from +Paine’s works. It should be added that this one dingy page is the only +“survival” of the ancient Paine effigy in the tract form which I +have been able to find in recent years, and to this no Society or +Publisher’s name is attached. +</p> + +<p> +The imprisonment of Williams was the beginning of a thirty years’ war for +religious liberty in England, in the course of which occurred many notable +events, such as Eaton receiving homage in his pillory at Choring Cross, and the +whole Carlile family imprisoned,—its head imprisoned more than nine years +for publishing the “Age of Reason.” This last victory of +persecution was suicidal. Gentlemen of wealth, not adherents of Paine, helped +in setting Carlile up in business in Fleet Street, where free-thinking +publications have since been sold without interruption. But though Liberty +triumphed in one sense, the “Age of Reason.” remained to some +extent suppressed among those whose attention it especially merited. Its +original prosecution by a Society for the Suppression of Vice (a device to, +relieve the Crown) amounted to a libel upon a morally clean book, restricting +its perusal in families; and the fact that the shilling book sold by and among +humble people was alone prosecuted, diffused among the educated an equally +false notion that the “Age of Reason” was vulgar and illiterate. +The theologians, as we have seen, estimated more justly the ability of their +antagonist, the collaborator of Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Clymer, on whom the +University of Pennsylvania had conferred the degree of Master of +Arts,—but the gentry confused Paine with the class described by Burke as +“the swinish multitude.” Skepticism, or its free utterance, was +temporarily driven out of polite circles by its complication with the out-lawed +vindicator of the “Rights of Man.” But that long combat has now +passed away. Time has reduced the “Age of Reason” from a flag of +popular radicalism to a comparatively conservative treatise, so far as its +negations are concerned. An old friend tells me that in his youth he heard a +sermon in which the preacher declared that “Tom Paine was so wicked that +he could not be buried; his bones were thrown into a box which was bandied +about the world till it came to a button-manufacturer; and now Paine is +travelling round the world in the form of buttons!” This variant of the +Wandering Jew myth may now be regarded as unconscious homage to the author +whose metaphorical bones may be recognized in buttons now fashionable, and some +even found useful in holding clerical vestments together. +</p> + +<p> +But the careful reader will find in Paine’s “Age of Reason” +something beyond negations, and in conclusion I will especially call attention +to the new departure in Theism indicated in a passage corresponding to a famous +aphorism of Kant, indicated by a note in Part II. The discovery already +mentioned, that Part I. was written at least fourteen years before Part II., +led me to compare the two; and it is plain that while the earlier work is an +amplification of Newtonian Deism, based on the phenomena of planetary motion, +the work of 1795 bases belief in God on “the universal display of himself +in the works of the creation and by that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad +actions, and disposition to do good ones.” This exaltation of the moral +nature of man to be the foundation of theistic religion, though now familiar, +was a hundred years ago a new affirmation; it has led on a conception of deity +subversive of last-century deism, it has steadily humanized religion, and its +ultimate philosophical and ethical results have not yet been reached. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part01"></a>THE AGE OF REASON — PART I</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +THE AUTHOR’S PROFESSION OF FAITH.</h2> + +<p> +It has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts upon +religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from +that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I +intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow-citizens of all +nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it +could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work. +</p> + +<p> +The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total abolition of +the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything appertaining to +compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only +precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly +necessary, lest, in the general wreck of superstition, of false systems of +government, and false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of +the theology that is true. +</p> + +<p> +As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow-citizens of France, have +given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of +faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and +frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself. +</p> + +<p> +I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. +</p> + +<p> +I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties consist in +doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures +happy. +</p> + +<p> +But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to +these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not +believe, and my reasons for not believing them. +</p> + +<p> +I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman +church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, +nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church. +</p> + +<p> +All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, +appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave +mankind, and monopolize power and profit. +</p> + +<p> +I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they +have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to +the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does +not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to +believe what he does not believe. +</p> + +<p> +It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that +mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and +prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief +to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of +every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and, +in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we +conceive anything more destructive to morality than this? +</p> + +<p> +Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw the +exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be +followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The adulterous connection +of church and state, wherever it had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or +Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties, every +discussion upon established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that +until the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not be +brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this should be +done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. Human inventions and +priest-craft would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and +unadulterated belief of one God, and no more. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS.</h2> + +<p> +Every national church or religion has established itself by pretending some +special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The Jews have +their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles and saints; and +the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not open to every man alike. +</p> + +<p> +Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, or the +Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God to Moses face +to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came by divine inspiration; +and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel +from heaven. Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my +own part, I disbelieve them all. +</p> + +<p> +As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I proceed +further into the subject, offer some observations on the word +‘revelation.’ Revelation when applied to religion, means something +communicated immediately from God to man. +</p> + +<p> +No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that +something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any other +person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to a second +person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a +revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and +hearsay to every other, and, consequently, they are not obliged to believe it. +</p> + +<p> +It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation that +comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in writing. Revelation is +necessarily limited to the first communication. After this, it is only an +account of something which that person says was a revelation made to him; and +though he may find himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me +to believe it in the same manner, for it was not a revelation made to me, and I +have only his word for it that it was made to him. +</p> + +<p> +When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables of the +commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to believe him, +because they had no other authority for it than his telling them so; and I have +no other authority for it than some historian telling me so, the commandments +carrying no internal evidence of divinity with them. They contain some good +moral precepts such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could +produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention. [NOTE: +It is, however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God +‘visits the sins of the fathers upon the children’. This is +contrary to every principle of moral justice.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to Mahomet by +an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of hearsay evidence and +second hand authority as the former. I did not see the angel myself, and +therefore I have a right not to believe it. +</p> + +<p> +When also I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave out, +that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and that her +betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I have a right to +believe them or not: such a circumstance required a much stronger evidence than +their bare word for it: but we have not even this; for neither Joseph nor Mary +wrote any such matter themselves. It is only reported by others that they said +so. It is hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not chose to rest my belief upon such +evidence. +</p> + +<p> +It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given to the +story of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He was born when the heathen +mythology had still some fashion and repute in the world, and that mythology +had prepared the people for the belief of such a story. Almost all the +extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology were reputed to be the +sons of some of their gods. It was not a new thing at that time to believe a +man to have been celestially begotten; the intercourse of gods with women was +then a matter of familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, +had cohabited with hundreds; the story therefore had nothing in it either new, +wonderful, or obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed +among the people called Gentiles, or mythologists, and it was those people only +that believed it. The Jews, who had kept strictly to the belief of one God, and +no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, never credited the +story. +</p> + +<p> +It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian Church, +sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct incorporation took +place in the first instance, by making the reputed founder to be celestially +begotten. The trinity of gods that then followed was no other than a reduction +of the former plurality, which was about twenty or thirty thousand. The statue +of Mary succeeded the statue of Diana of Ephesus. The deification of heroes +changed into the canonization of saints. The Mythologists had gods for +everything; the Christian Mythologists had saints for everything. The church +became as crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been with the other; and +Rome was the place of both. The Christian theory is little else than the +idolatry of the ancient mythologists, accommodated to the purposes of power and +revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious +fraud. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY. +</h2> + +<p> +Nothing that is here said can apply, even with the most distant disrespect, to +the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and an amiable man. The +morality that he preached and practiced was of the most benevolent kind; and +though similar systems of morality had been preached by Confucius, and by some +of the Greek philosophers, many years before, by the Quakers since, and by many +good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any. +</p> + +<p> +Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or anything +else. Not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his writing. The +history of him is altogether the work of other people; and as to the account +given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the necessary counterpart to +the story of his birth. His historians, having brought him into the world in a +supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same manner, or +the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds +everything that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous +conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore the +tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though they might +not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not be expected to +prove it, because it was not one of those things that admitted of proof, and it +was impossible that the person of whom it was told could prove it himself. +</p> + +<p> +But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension through +the air, is a thing very different, as to the evidence it admits of, to the +invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection and ascension, +supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public and ocular +demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon day, +to all Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody is required to believe, +requires that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and +universal; and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only +evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to +the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small +number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for +the whole world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called +upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the +resurrection; and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular and +manual demonstration himself. So neither will I; and the reason is equally as +good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas. +</p> + +<p> +It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, so far +as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of fraud and imposition +stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is as impossible for us +now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the books in which the account +is related were written by the persons whose names they bear. The best +surviving evidence we now have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are +regularly descended from the people who lived in the time this resurrection and +ascension is said to have happened, and they say ‘it is not true.’ +It has long appeared to me a strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof +of the truth of the story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I will +prove the truth of what I have told you, by producing the people who say it is +false. +</p> + +<p> +That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, which +was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations strictly within +the limits of probability. He preached most excellent morality, and the +equality of man; but he preached also against the corruptions and avarice of +the Jewish priests, and this brought upon him the hatred and vengeance of the +whole order of priest-hood. The accusation which those priests brought against +him was that of sedition and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which +the Jews were then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the +Roman government might have some secret apprehension of the effects of his +doctrine as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that Jesus +Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation from the bondage +of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous reformer and +revolutionist lost his life. [NOTE: The French work has here: “However +this may be, for one or the other of these suppositions this virtuous reformer, +this revolutionist, too little imitated, too much forgotten, too much +misunderstood, lost his life.”—Editor. (Conway)] +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY.</h2> + +<p> +It is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case I am going +to mention, that the Christian mythologists, calling themselves the Christian +Church, have erected their fable, which for absurdity and extravagance is not +exceeded by anything that is to be found in the mythology of the ancients. +</p> + +<p> +The ancient mythologists tell us that the race of Giants made war against +Jupiter, and that one of them threw a hundred rocks against him at one throw; +that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and confined him afterwards under Mount +Etna; and that every time the Giant turns himself, Mount Etna belches fire. It +is here easy to see that the circumstance of the mountain, that of its being a +volcano, suggested the idea of the fable; and that the fable is made to fit and +wind itself up with that circumstance. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian mythologists tell that their Satan made war against the Almighty, +who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a mountain, but in a +pit. It is here easy to see that the first fable suggested the idea of the +second; for the fable of Jupiter and the Giants was told many hundred years +before that of Satan. +</p> + +<p> +Thus far the ancient and the Christian mythologists differ very little from +each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the matter much farther. +They have contrived to connect the fabulous part of the story of Jesus Christ +with the fable originating from Mount Etna; and, in order to make all the parts +of the story tie together, they have taken to their aid the traditions of the +Jews; for the Christian mythology is made up partly from the ancient mythology, +and partly from the Jewish traditions. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, were obliged +to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the fable. He is then introduced +into the garden of Eden in the shape of a snake, or a serpent, and in that +shape he enters into familiar conversation with Eve, who is no ways surprised +to hear a snake talk; and the issue of this tete-a-tate is, that he persuades +her to eat an apple, and the eating of that apple damns all mankind. +</p> + +<p> +After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would have +supposed that the church mythologists would have been kind enough to send him +back again to the pit, or, if they had not done this, that they would have put +a mountain upon him, (for they say that their faith can remove a mountain) or +have put him under a mountain, as the former mythologists had done, to prevent +his getting again among the women, and doing more mischief. But instead of +this, they leave him at large, without even obliging him to give his parole. +The secret of which is, that they could not do without him; and after being at +the trouble of making him, they bribed him to stay. They promised him ALL the +Jews, ALL the Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world beside, and +Mahomet into the bargain. After this, who can doubt the bountifulness of the +Christian Mythology? +</p> + +<p> +Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in heaven, in which none of the +combatants could be either killed or wounded—put Satan into the +pit—let him out again—given him a triumph over the whole +creation—damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, there Christian +mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together. They represent this +virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at once both God and man, and +also the Son of God, celestially begotten, on purpose to be sacrificed, because +they say that Eve in her longing [NOTE: The French work has: “yielding to +an unrestrained appetite.”—Editor.] had eaten an apple. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES.</h2> + +<p> +Putting aside everything that might excite laughter by its absurdity, or +detestation by its profaneness, and confining ourselves merely to an +examination of the parts, it is impossible to conceive a story more derogatory +to the Almighty, more inconsistent with his wisdom, more contradictory to his +power, than this story is. +</p> + +<p> +In order to make for it a foundation to rise upon, the inventors were under the +necessity of giving to the being whom they call Satan a power equally as great, +if not greater, than they attribute to the Almighty. They have not only given +him the power of liberating himself from the pit, after what they call his +fall, but they have made that power increase afterwards to infinity. Before +this fall they represent him only as an angel of limited existence, as they +represent the rest. After his fall, he becomes, by their account, omnipresent. +He exists everywhere, and at the same time. He occupies the whole immensity of +space. +</p> + +<p> +Not content with this deification of Satan, they represent him as defeating by +stratagem, in the shape of an animal of the creation, all the power and wisdom +of the Almighty. They represent him as having compelled the Almighty to the +direct necessity either of surrendering the whole of the creation to the +government and sovereignty of this Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption +by coming down upon earth, and exhibiting himself upon a cross in the shape of +a man. +</p> + +<p> +Had the inventors of this story told it the contrary way, that is, had they +represented the Almighty as compelling Satan to exhibit himself on a cross in +the shape of a snake, as a punishment for his new transgression, the story +would have been less absurd, less contradictory. But, instead of this they make +the transgressor triumph, and the Almighty fall. +</p> + +<p> +That many good men have believed this strange fable, and lived very good lives +under that belief (for credulity is not a crime) is what I have no doubt of. In +the first place, they were educated to believe it, and they would have believed +anything else in the same manner. There are also many who have been so +enthusiastically enraptured by what they conceived to be the infinite love of +God to man, in making a sacrifice of himself, that the vehemence of the idea +has forbidden and deterred them from examining into the absurdity and +profaneness of the story. The more unnatural anything is, the more is it +capable of becoming the object of dismal admiration. [NOTE: The French work has +“blind and” preceding dismal.—Editor.] +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY.</h2> + +<p> +But if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not present +themselves every hour to our eyes? Do we not see a fair creation prepared to +receive us the instant we are born—a world furnished to our hands, that +cost us nothing? Is it we that light up the sun; that pour down the rain; and +fill the earth with abundance? Whether we sleep or wake, the vast machinery of +the universe still goes on. Are these things, and the blessings they indicate +in future, nothing to, us? Can our gross feelings be excited by no other +subjects than tragedy and suicide? Or is the gloomy pride of man become so +intolerable, that nothing can flatter it but a sacrifice of the Creator? +</p> + +<p> +I know that this bold investigation will alarm many, but it would be paying too +great a compliment to their credulity to forbear it on that account. The times +and the subject demand it to be done. The suspicion that the theory of what is +called the Christian church is fabulous, is becoming very extensive in all +countries; and it will be a consolation to men staggering under that suspicion, +and doubting what to believe and what to disbelieve, to see the subject freely +investigated. I therefore pass on to an examination of the books called the Old +and the New Testament. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.</h2> + +<p> +These books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelations, (which, by the +bye, is a book of riddles that requires a revelation to explain it) are, we are +told, the word of God. It is, therefore, proper for us to know who told us so, +that we may know what credit to give to the report. The answer to this question +is, that nobody can tell, except that we tell one another so. The case, +however, historically appears to be as follows: +</p> + +<p> +When the church mythologists established their system, they collected all the +writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. It is a matter +altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the writings as now appear +under the name of the Old and the New Testament, are in the same state in which +those collectors say they found them; or whether they added, altered, abridged, +or dressed them up. +</p> + +<p> +Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the +collection they had made, should be the WORD OF GOD, and which should not. They +rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as the books called +the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority of votes, were voted to be +the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, all the people since calling +themselves Christians had believed otherwise; for the belief of the one comes +from the vote of the other. Who the people were that did all this, we know +nothing of. They call themselves by the general name of the Church; and this is +all we know of the matter. +</p> + +<p> +As we have no other external evidence or authority for believing these books to +be the word of God, than what I have mentioned, which is no evidence or +authority at all, I come, in the next place, to examine the internal evidence +contained in the books themselves. +</p> + +<p> +In the former part of this essay, I have spoken of revelation. I now proceed +further with that subject, for the purpose of applying it to the books in +question. +</p> + +<p> +Revelation is a communication of something, which the person, to whom that +thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a thing, or seen it +done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done it, or seen it, nor to +enable me to tell it, or to write it. +</p> + +<p> +Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth of which +man is himself the actor or the witness; and consequently all the historical +and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost the whole of it, is not within +the meaning and compass of the word revelation, and, therefore, is not the word +of God. +</p> + +<p> +When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so, (and +whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he visited his Delilah, or +caught his foxes, or did anything else, what has revelation to do with these +things? If they were facts, he could tell them himself; or his secretary, if he +kept one, could write them, if they were worth either telling or writing; and +if they were fictions, revelation could not make them true; and whether true or +not, we are neither the better nor the wiser for knowing them. When we +contemplate the immensity of that Being, who directs and governs the +incomprehensible WHOLE, of which the utmost ken of human sight can discover but +a part, we ought to feel shame at calling such paltry stories the word of God. +</p> + +<p> +As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Genesis opens, it has +all the appearance of being a tradition which the Israelites had among them +before they came into Egypt; and after their departure from that country, they +put it at the head of their history, without telling, as it is most probable +that they did not know, how they came by it. The manner in which the account +opens, shows it to be traditionary. It begins abruptly. It is nobody that +speaks. It is nobody that hears. It is addressed to nobody. It has neither +first, second, nor third person. It has every criterion of being a tradition. +It has no voucher. Moses does not take it upon himself by introducing it with +the formality that he uses on other occasions, such as that of saying, +“The Lords spake unto Moses, saying.” +</p> + +<p> +Why it has been called the Mosaic account of the creation, I am at a loss to +conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such subjects to put his +name to that account. He had been educated among the Egyptians, who were a +people as well skilled in science, and particularly in astronomy, as any people +of their day; and the silence and caution that Moses observes, in not +authenticating the account, is a good negative evidence that he neither told it +nor believed it.—The case is, that every nation of people has been +world-makers, and the Israelites had as much right to set up the trade of +world-making as any of the rest; and as Moses was not an Israelite, he might +not chose to contradict the tradition. The account, however, is harmless; and +this is more than can be said for many other parts of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel +and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than +half the Bible [NOTE: It must be borne in mind that by the “Bible” +Paine always means the Old Testament alone.—Editor.] is filled, it would +be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the Word of God. +It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize +mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything +that is cruel. +</p> + +<p> +We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what deserves +either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come to the miscellaneous parts +of the Bible. In the anonymous publications, the Psalms, and the Book of Job, +more particularly in the latter, we find a great deal of elevated sentiment +reverentially expressed of the power and benignity of the Almighty; but they +stand on no higher rank than many other compositions on similar subjects, as +well before that time as since. +</p> + +<p> +The Proverbs which are said to be Solomon’s, though most probably a +collection, (because they discover a knowledge of life, which his situation +excluded him from knowing) are an instructive table of ethics. They are +inferior in keenness to the proverbs of the Spaniards, and not more wise and +oeconomical than those of the American Franklin. +</p> + +<p> +All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the name of the +Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and itinerant preachers, who mixed +poetry, anecdote, and devotion together—and those works still retain the +air and style of poetry, though in translation. [NOTE: As there are many +readers who do not see that a composition is poetry, unless it be in rhyme, it +is for their information that I add this note. +</p> + +<p> +Poetry consists principally in two things—imagery and composition. The +composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of mixing long +and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a line of poetry, and +put a short one in the room of it, or put a long syllable where a short one +should be, and that line will lose its poetical harmony. It will have an effect +upon the line like that of misplacing a note in a song. +</p> + +<p> +The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether to poetry. +It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in any other kind +of writing than poetry. +</p> + +<p> +To show that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will take ten +syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the same number of +syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the last word. It will then +be seen that the composition of those books is poetical measure. The instance I +shall first produce is from Isaiah:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth<br /> +’T is God himself that calls attention forth. +</p> + +<p> +Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which I shall +add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the figure, and showing +the intention of the poet. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes<br /> +Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies;<br /> +Then would I give the mighty flood release<br /> +And weep a deluge for the human race.”—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word that +describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes what we call +poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later times have affixed +a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and the word ‘propesying’ +meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the art of playing poetry to a +tune upon any instrument of music. +</p> + +<p> +We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns—of prophesying with +harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every other instrument of music +then in fashion. Were we now to speak of prophesying with a fiddle, or with a +pipe and tabor, the expression would have no meaning, or would appear +ridiculous, and to some people contemptuous, because we have changed the +meaning of the word. +</p> + +<p> +We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he prophesied; but +we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he prophesied. The case is, +there was nothing to tell; for these prophets were a company of musicians and +poets, and Saul joined in the concert, and this was called prophesying. +</p> + +<p> +The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel, is, that Saul met a +company of prophets; a whole company of them! coming down with a psaltery, a +tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they prophesied, and that he prophesied +with them. But it appears afterwards, that Saul prophesied badly, that is, he +performed his part badly; for it is said that an “evil spirit from God +[NOTE: As those men who call themselves divines and commentators are very fond +of puzzling one another, I leave them to contest the meaning of the first part +of the phrase, that of an evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to the +meaning of the word prophesy.—Author.] came upon Saul, and he +prophesied.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible, than this, to +demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of the word prophesy, +and substituted another meaning in its place, this alone would be sufficient; +for it is impossible to use and apply the word prophesy, in the place it is +here used and applied, if we give to it the sense which later times have +affixed to it. The manner in which it is here used strips it of all religious +meaning, and shews that a man might then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as +he may now be a poet or a musician, without any regard to the morality or the +immorality of his character. The word was originally a term of science, +promiscuously applied to poetry and to music, and not restricted to any subject +upon which poetry and music might be exercised. +</p> + +<p> +Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they predicted anything, but +because they composed the poem or song that bears their name, in celebration of +an act already done. David is ranked among the prophets, for he was a musician, +and was also reputed to be (though perhaps very erroneously) the author of the +Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not called prophets; it does not +appear from any accounts we have, that they could either sing, play music, or +make poetry. +</p> + +<p> +We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might as well tell us +of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be degrees in prophesying +consistently with its modern sense. But there are degrees in poetry, and +there-fore the phrase is reconcilable to the case, when we understand by it the +greater and the lesser poets. +</p> + +<p> +It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any observations upon what +those men, styled prophets, have written. The axe goes at once to the root, by +showing that the original meaning of the word has been mistaken, and +consequently all the inferences that have been drawn from those books, the +devotional respect that has been paid to them, and the laboured commentaries +that have been written upon them, under that mistaken meaning, are not worth +disputing about.—In many things, however, the writings of the Jewish +poets deserve a better fate than that of being bound up, as they now are, with +the trash that accompanies them, under the abused name of the Word of God. +</p> + +<p> +If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must necessarily +affix the idea, not only of unchangeableness, but of the utter impossibility of +any change taking place, by any means or accident whatever, in that which we +would honour with the name of the Word of God; and therefore the Word of God +cannot exist in any written or human language. +</p> + +<p> +The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is subject, +the want of an universal language which renders translation necessary, the +errors to which translations are again subject, the mistakes of copyists and +printers, together with the possibility of wilful alteration, are of themselves +evidences that human language, whether in speech or in print, cannot be the +vehicle of the Word of God.—The Word of God exists in something else. +</p> + +<p> +Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of ideas and expression all the +books now extant in the world, I would not take it for my rule of faith, as +being the Word of God; because the possibility would nevertheless exist of my +being imposed upon. But when I see throughout the greatest part of this book +scarcely anything but a history of the grossest vices, and a collection of the +most paltry and contemptible tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it +by his name. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.</h2> + +<p> +Thus much for the Bible; I now go on to the book called the New Testament. The +new Testament! that is, the ‘new’ Will, as if there could be two +wills of the Creator. +</p> + +<p> +Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish a new +religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, or procured it +to be written in his life time. But there is no publication extant +authenticated with his name. All the books called the New Testament were +written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by profession; and he was +the son of God in like manner that every other person is; for the Creator is +the Father of All. +</p> + +<p> +The first four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not give a +history of the life of Jesus Christ, but only detached anecdotes of him. It +appears from these books, that the whole time of his being a preacher was not +more than eighteen months; and it was only during this short time that those +men became acquainted with him. They make mention of him at the age of twelve +years, sitting, they say, among the Jewish doctors, asking and answering them +questions. As this was several years before their acquaintance with him began, +it is most probable they had this anecdote from his parents. From this time +there is no account of him for about sixteen years. Where he lived, or how he +employed himself during this interval, is not known. Most probably he was +working at his father’s trade, which was that of a carpenter. It does not +appear that he had any school education, and the probability is, that he could +not write, for his parents were extremely poor, as appears from their not being +able to pay for a bed when he was born. [NOTE: One of the few errors traceable +to Paine’s not having a Bible at hand while writing Part I. There is no +indication that the family was poor, but the reverse may in fact be +inferred.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +It is somewhat curious that the three persons whose names are the most +universally recorded were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a foundling; +Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule driver. The first and +the last of these men were founders of different systems of religion; but Jesus +Christ founded no new system. He called men to the practice of moral virtues, +and the belief of one God. The great trait in his character is philanthropy. +</p> + +<p> +The manner in which he was apprehended shows that he was not much known, at +that time; and it shows also that the meetings he then held with his followers +were in secret; and that he had given over or suspended preaching publicly. +Judas could no otherways betray him than by giving information where he was, +and pointing him out to the officers that went to arrest him; and the reason +for employing and paying Judas to do this could arise only from the causes +already mentioned, that of his not being much known, and living concealed. +</p> + +<p> +The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his reputed +divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity; and his being +betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on the information of one +of his followers, shows that he did not intend to be apprehended, and +consequently that he did not intend to be crucified. +</p> + +<p> +The Christian mythologists tell us that Christ died for the sins of the world, +and that he came on Purpose to die. Would it not then have been the same if he +had died of a fever or of the small pox, of old age, or of anything else? +</p> + +<p> +The declaratory sentence which, they say, was passed upon Adam, in case he ate +of the apple, was not, that thou shalt surely be crucified, but, thou shale +surely die. The sentence was death, and not the manner of dying. Crucifixion, +therefore, or any other particular manner of dying, made no part of the +sentence that Adam was to suffer, and consequently, even upon their own tactic, +it could make no part of the sentence that Christ was to suffer in the room of +Adam. A fever would have done as well as a cross, if there was any occasion for +either. +</p> + +<p> +This sentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus passed upon Adam, must +either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceasing to live, or have meant what +these mythologists call damnation; and consequently, the act of dying on the +part of Jesus Christ, must, according to their system, apply as a prevention to +one or other of these two things happening to Adam and to us. +</p> + +<p> +That it does not prevent our dying is evident, because we all die; and if their +accounts of longevity be true, men die faster since the crucifixion than +before: and with respect to the second explanation, (including with it the +natural death of Jesus Christ as a substitute for the eternal death or +damnation of all mankind,) it is impertinently representing the Creator as +coming off, or revoking the sentence, by a pun or a quibble upon the word +death. That manufacturer of, quibbles, St. Paul, if he wrote the books that +bear his name, has helped this quibble on by making another quibble upon the +word Adam. He makes there to be two Adams; the one who sins in fact, and +suffers by proxy; the other who sins by proxy, and suffers in fact. A religion +thus interlarded with quibble, subterfuge, and pun, has a tendency to instruct +its professors in the practice of these arts. They acquire the habit without +being aware of the cause. +</p> + +<p> +If Jesus Christ was the being which those mythologists tell us he was, and that +he came into this world to suffer, which is a word they sometimes use instead +of ‘to die,’ the only real suffering he could have endured would +have been ‘to live.’ His existence here was a state of exilement or +transportation from heaven, and the way back to his original country was to +die.—In fine, everything in this strange system is the reverse of what it +pretends to be. It is the reverse of truth, and I become so tired of examining +into its inconsistencies and absurdities, that I hasten to the conclusion of +it, in order to proceed to something better. +</p> + +<p> +How much, or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were written by +the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know nothing of, neither are +we certain in what language they were originally written. The matters they now +contain may be classed under two heads: anecdote, and epistolary +correspondence. +</p> + +<p> +The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are altogether +anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. They tell what Jesus +Christ did and said, and what others did and said to him; and in several +instances they relate the same event differently. Revelation is necessarily out +of the question with respect to those books; not only because of the +disagreement of the writers, but because revelation cannot be applied to the +relating of facts by the persons who saw them done, nor to the relating or +recording of any discourse or conversation by those who heard it. The book +called the Acts of the Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also to the +anecdotal part. +</p> + +<p> +All the other parts of the New Testament, except the book of enigmas, called +the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of epistles; and +the forgery of letters has been such a common practice in the world, that the +probability is at least equal, whether they are genuine or forged. One thing, +however, is much less equivocal, which is, that out of the matters contained in +those books, together with the assistance of some old stories, the church has +set up a system of religion very contradictory to the character of the person +whose name it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue in +pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty. +</p> + +<p> +The invention of a purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, by +prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, +dispensations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that name or +carrying that appearance. But the case nevertheless is, that those things +derive their origin from the proxysm of the crucifixion, and the theory deduced +therefrom, which was, that one person could stand in the place of another, and +could perform meritorious services for him. The probability, therefore, is, +that the whole theory or doctrine of what is called the redemption (which is +said to have been accomplished by the act of one person in the room of another) +was originally fabricated on purpose to bring forward and build all those +secondary and pecuniary redemptions upon; and that the passages in the books +upon which the idea of theory of redemption is built, have been manufactured +and fabricated for that purpose. Why are we to give this church credit, when +she tells us that those books are genuine in every part, any more than we give +her credit for everything else she has told us; or for the miracles she says +she has performed? That she could fabricate writings is certain, because she +could write; and the composition of the writings in question, is of that kind +that anybody might do it; and that she did fabricate them is not more +inconsistent with probability, than that she should tell us, as she has done, +that she could and did work miracles. +</p> + +<p> +Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long distance of time, be +produced to prove whether the church fabricated the doctrine called redemption +or not, (for such evidence, whether for or against, would be subject to the +same suspicion of being fabricated,) the case can only be referred to the +internal evidence which the thing carries of itself; and this affords a very +strong presumption of its being a fabrication. For the internal evidence is, +that the theory or doctrine of redemption has for its basis an idea of +pecuniary justice, and not that of moral justice. +</p> + +<p> +If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me in +prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay it for me. But +if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case is changed. Moral +justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even if the innocent would +offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is to destroy the principle of its +existence, which is the thing itself. It is then no longer justice. It is +indiscriminate revenge. +</p> + +<p> +This single reflection will show that the doctrine of redemption is founded on +a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt which another person +might pay; and as this pecuniary idea corresponds again with the system of +second redemptions, obtained through the means of money given to the church for +pardons, the probability is that the same persons fabricated both the one and +the other of those theories; and that, in truth, there is no such thing as +redemption; that it is fabulous; and that man stands in the same relative +condition with his Maker he ever did stand, since man existed; and that it is +his greatest consolation to think so. +</p> + +<p> +Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally, than by +any other system. It is by his being taught to contemplate himself as an +out-law, as an out-cast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as one thrown as it were on +a dunghill, at an immense distance from his Creator, and who must make his +approaches by creeping, and cringing to intermediate beings, that he conceives +either a contemptuous disregard for everything under the name of religion, or +becomes indifferent, or turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he +consumes his life in grief, or the affectation of it. His prayers are +reproaches. His humility is ingratitude. He calls himself a worm, and the +fertile earth a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the thankless name +of vanities. He despises the choicest gift of God to man, the GIFT OF REASON; +and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a system against +which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human reason, as if man could +give reason to himself. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, with all this strange appearance of humility, and this contempt for human +reason, he ventures into the boldest presumptions. He finds fault with +everything. His selfishness is never satisfied; his ingratitude is never at an +end. He takes on himself to direct the Almighty what to do, even in the +govemment of the universe. He prays dictatorially. When it is sunshine, he +prays for rain, and when it is rain, he prays for sunshine. He follows the same +idea in everything that he prays for; for what is the amount of all his +prayers, but an attempt to make the Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise +than he does? It is as if he were to say—thou knowest not so well as I. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS.</h2> + +<p> +But some perhaps will say—Are we to have no word of God—no +revelation? I answer yes. There is a Word of God; there is a revelation. +</p> + +<p> +THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no +human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man. +</p> + +<p> +Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of being +used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. The idea that God +sent Jesus Christ to publish, as they say, the glad tidings to all nations, +from one end of the earth unto the other, is consistent only with the ignorance +of those who know nothing of the extent of the world, and who believed, as +those world-saviours believed, and continued to believe for several centuries, +(and that in contradiction to the discoveries of philosophers and the +experience of navigators,) that the earth was flat like a trencher; and that a +man might walk to the end of it. +</p> + +<p> +But how was Jesus Christ to make anything known to all nations? He could speak +but one language, which was Hebrew; and there are in the world several hundred +languages. Scarcely any two nations speak the same language, or understand each +other; and as to translations, every man who knows anything of languages, knows +that it is impossible to translate from one language into another, not only +without losing a great part of the original, but frequently of mistaking the +sense; and besides all this, the art of printing was wholly unknown at the time +Christ lived. +</p> + +<p> +It is always necessary that the means that are to accomplish any end be equal +to the accomplishment of that end, or the end cannot be accomplished. It is in +this that the difference between finite and infinite power and wisdom discovers +itself. Man frequently fails in accomplishing his end, from a natural inability +of the power to the purpose; and frequently from the want of wisdom to apply +power properly. But it is impossible for infinite power and wisdom to fail as +man faileth. The means it useth are always equal to the end: but human +language, more especially as there is not an universal language, is incapable +of being used as an universal means of unchangeable and uniform information; +and therefore it is not the means that God useth in manifesting himself +universally to man. +</p> + +<p> +It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a word of God +can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, independently of human +speech or human language, multiplied and various as they be. It is an ever +existing original, which every man can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be +counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be +suppressed. It does not depend upon the will of man whether it shall be +published or not; it publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. +It preaches to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to +man all that is necessary for man to know of God. +</p> + +<p> +Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of the +creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the unchangeable +order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. Do we want to +contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with which he fills the +earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it in his not withholding +that abundance even from the unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God +is? Search not the book called the scripture, which any human hand might make, +but the scripture called the Creation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES BY THE +BIBLE.</h2> + +<p> +The only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first cause, the +cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is for a man to +conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief of it, from the +tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. It is difficult beyond +description to conceive that space can have no end; but it is more difficult to +conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal +duration of what we call time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time +when there shall be no time. +</p> + +<p> +In like manner of reasoning, everything we behold carries in itself the +internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence to +himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his father make himself, +nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; neither could any tree, plant, or +animal make itself; and it is the conviction arising from this evidence, that +carries us on, as it were, by necessity, to the belief of a first cause +eternally existing, of a nature totally different to any material existence we +know of, and by the power of which all things exist; and this first cause, man +calls God. +</p> + +<p> +It is only by the exercise of reason, that man can discover God. Take away that +reason, and he would be incapable of understanding anything; and in this case +it would be just as consistent to read even the book called the Bible to a +horse as to a man. How then is it that those people pretend to reject reason? +</p> + +<p> +Almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to us any idea +of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm; I recollect no other. +Those parts are true deistical compositions; for they treat of the Deity +through his works. They take the book of Creation as the word of God; they +refer to no other book; and all the inferences they make are drawn from that +volume. +</p> + +<p> +I insert in this place the 19th Psalm, as paraphrased into English verse by +Addison. I recollect not the prose, and where I write this I have not the +opportunity of seeing it: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +The spacious firmament on high,<br /> +With all the blue etherial sky,<br /> +And spangled heavens, a shining frame,<br /> +Their great original proclaim.<br /> +The unwearied sun, from day to day,<br /> +Does his Creator’s power display,<br /> +And publishes to every land<br /> +The work of an Almighty hand.<br /> +Soon as the evening shades prevail,<br /> +The moon takes up the wondrous tale,<br /> +And nightly to the list’ning earth<br /> +Repeats the story of her birth;<br /> +Whilst all the stars that round her burn,<br /> +And all the planets, in their turn,<br /> +Confirm the tidings as they roll,<br /> +And spread the truth from pole to pole.<br /> +What though in solemn silence all<br /> +Move round this dark terrestrial ball<br /> +What though no real voice, nor sound,<br /> +Amidst their radiant orbs be found,<br /> +In reason’s ear they all rejoice,<br /> +And utter forth a glorious voice,<br /> +Forever singing as they shine,<br /> +THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE. +</p> + +<p> +What more does man want to know, than that the hand or power that made these +things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this, with the force it is +impossible to repel if he permits his reason to act, and his rule of moral life +will follow of course. +</p> + +<p> +The allusions in Job have all of them the same tendency with this Psalm; that +of deducing or proving a truth that would be otherwise unknown, from truths +already known. +</p> + +<p> +I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them correctly; but +there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to the subject I am speaking +upon. “Canst thou by searching find out God; canst thou find out the +Almighty to perfection?” +</p> + +<p> +I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no Bible; but +it contains two distinct questions that admit of distinct answers. +</p> + +<p> +First, Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes. Because, in the first place, +I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; and by searching into +the nature of other things, I find that no other thing could make itself; and +yet millions of other things exist; therefore it is, that I know, by positive +conclusion resulting from this search, that there is a power superior to all +those things, and that power is God. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No. Not only because +the power and wisdom He has manifested in the structure of the Creation that I +behold is to me incomprehensible; but because even this manifestation, great as +it is is probably but a small display of that immensity of power and wisdom, by +which millions of other worlds, to me invisible by their distance, were created +and continue to exist. +</p> + +<p> +It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of the person +to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it is only by admitting +the first question to be answered affirmatively, that the second could follow. +It would have been unnecessary, and even absurd, to have put a second question, +more difficult than the first, if the first question had been answered +negatively. The two questions have different objects; the first refers to the +existence of God, the second to his attributes. Reason can discover the one, +but it falls infinitely short in discovering the whole of the other. +</p> + +<p> +I recollect not a single passage in all the writings ascribed to the men called +apostles, that conveys any idea of what God is. Those writings are chiefly +controversial; and the gloominess of the subject they dwell upon, that of a man +dying in agony on a cross, is better suited to the gloomy genius of a monk in a +cell, by whom it is not impossible they were written, than to any man breathing +the open air of the Creation. The only passage that occurs to me, that has any +reference to the works of God, by which only his power and wisdom can be known, +is related to have been spoken by Jesus Christ, as a remedy against distrustful +care. “Behold the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they +spin.” This, however, is far inferior to the allusions in Job and in the +19th Psalm; but it is similar in idea, and the modesty of the imagery is +correspondent to the modesty of the man. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY. +</h2> + +<p> +As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of atheism; +a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a man rather than +in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism with but little deism, and +is as near to atheism as twilight is to darkness. It introduces between man and +his Maker an opaque body, which it calls a redeemer, as the moon introduces her +opaque self between the earth and the sun, and it produces by this means a +religious or an irreligious eclipse of light. It has put the whole orbit of +reason into shade. +</p> + +<p> +The effect of this obscurity has been that of turning everything upside down, +and representing it in reverse; and among the revolutions it has thus magically +produced, it has made a revolution in Theology. +</p> + +<p> +That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of +science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works +of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true +theology. +</p> + +<p> +As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of human +opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the study of God +himself in the works that he has made, but in the works or writings that man +has made; and it is not among the least of the mischiefs that the Christian +system has done to the world, that it has abandoned the original and beautiful +system of theology, like a beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to +make room for the hag of superstition. +</p> + +<p> +The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the church admits to be more +ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in the book called the +Bible, are theological orations conformable to the original system of theology. +The internal evidence of those orations proves to a demonstration that the +study and contemplation of the works of creation, and of the power and wisdom +of God revealed and manifested in those works, made a great part of the +religious devotion of the times in which they were written; and it was this +devotional study and contemplation that led to the discovery of the principles +upon which what are now called Sciences are established; and it is to the +discovery of these principles that almost all the Arts that contribute to the +convenience of human life owe their existence. Every principal art has some +science for its parent, though the person who mechanically performs the work +does not always, and but very seldom, perceive the connection. +</p> + +<p> +It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences ‘human +inventions;’ it is only the application of them that is human. Every +science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and unalterable as +those by which the universe is regulated and governed. Man cannot make +principles, he can only discover them. +</p> + +<p> +For example: Every person who looks at an almanack sees an account when an +eclipse will take place, and he sees also that it never fails to take place +according to the account there given. This shows that man is acquainted with +the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But it would be something worse +than ignorance, were any church on earth to say that those laws are an human +invention. +</p> + +<p> +It would also be ignorance, or something worse, to say that the scientific +principles, by the aid of which man is enabled to calculate and foreknow when +an eclipse will take place, are an human invention. Man cannot invent any thing +that is eternal and immutable; and the scientific principles he employs for +this purpose must, and are, of necessity, as eternal and immutable as the laws +by which the heavenly bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to +ascertain the time when, and the manner how, an eclipse will take place. +</p> + +<p> +The scientific principles that man employs to obtain the foreknowledge of an +eclipse, or of any thing else relating to the motion of the heavenly bodies, +are contained chiefly in that part of science that is called trigonometry, or +the properties of a triangle, which, when applied to the study of the heavenly +bodies, is called astronomy; when applied to direct the course of a ship on the +ocean, it is called navigation; when applied to the construction of figures +drawn by a rule and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to the +construction of plans of edifices, it is called architecture; when applied to +the measurement of any portion of the surface of the earth, it is called +land-surveying. In fine, it is the soul of science. It is an eternal truth: it +contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, and the extent of +its uses are unknown. +</p> + +<p> +It may be said, that man can make or draw a triangle, and therefore a triangle +is an human invention. +</p> + +<p> +But the triangle, when drawn, is no other than the image of the principle: it +is a delineation to the eye, and from thence to the mind, of a principle that +would otherwise be imperceptible. The triangle does not make the principle, any +more than a candle taken into a room that was dark, makes the chairs and tables +that before were invisible. All the properties of a triangle exist +independently of the figure, and existed before any triangle was drawn or +thought of by man. Man had no more to do in the formation of those properties +or principles, than he had to do in making the laws by which the heavenly +bodies move; and therefore the one must have the same divine origin as the +other. +</p> + +<p> +In the same manner as, it may be said, that man can make a triangle, so also, +may it be said, he can make the mechanical instrument called a lever. But the +principle by which the lever acts, is a thing distinct from the instrument, and +would exist if the instrument did not; it attaches itself to the instrument +after it is made; the instrument, therefore, can act no otherwise than it does +act; neither can all the efforts of human invention make it act otherwise. That +which, in all such cases, man calls the effect, is no other than the principle +itself rendered perceptible to the senses. +</p> + +<p> +Since, then, man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a knowledge of +them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things on earth, but to +ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant from him as all the +heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he gain that knowledge, but from +the study of the true theology? +</p> + +<p> +It is the structure of the universe that has taught this knowledge to man. That +structure is an ever-existing exhibition of every principle upon which every +part of mathematical science is founded. The offspring of this science is +mechanics; for mechanics is no other than the principles of science applied +practically. The man who proportions the several parts of a mill uses the same +scientific principles as if he had the power of constructing an universe, but +as he cannot give to matter that invisible agency by which all the component +parts of the immense machine of the universe have influence upon each other, +and act in motional unison together, without any apparent contact, and to which +man has given the name of attraction, gravitation, and repulsion, he supplies +the place of that agency by the humble imitation of teeth and cogs. All the +parts of man’s microcosm must visibly touch. But could he gain a +knowledge of that agency, so as to be able to apply it in practice, we might +then say that another canonical book of the word of God had been discovered. +</p> + +<p> +If man could alter the properties of the lever, so also could he alter the +properties of the triangle: for a lever (taking that sort of lever which is +called a steel-yard, for the sake of explanation) forms, when in motion, a +triangle. The line it descends from, (one point of that line being in the +fulcrum,) the line it descends to, and the chord of the arc, which the end of +the lever describes in the air, are the three sides of a triangle. The other +arm of the lever describes also a triangle; and the corresponding sides of +those two triangles, calculated scientifically, or measured +geometrically,—and also the sines, tangents, and secants generated from +the angles, and geometrically measured,—have the same proportions to each +other as the different weights have that will balance each other on the lever, +leaving the weight of the lever out of the case. +</p> + +<p> +It may also be said, that man can make a wheel and axis; that he can put wheels +of different magnitudes together, and produce a mill. Still the case comes back +to the same point, which is, that he did not make the principle that gives the +wheels those powers. This principle is as unalterable as in the former cases, +or rather it is the same principle under a different appearance to the eye. +</p> + +<p> +The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each other is in +the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two wheels were joined +together and made into that kind of lever I have described, suspended at the +part where the semi-diameters join; for the two wheels, scientifically +considered, are no other than the two circles generated by the motion of the +compound lever. +</p> + +<p> +It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of science is +derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts have originated. +</p> + +<p> +The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the structure +of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It is as if he had +said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call ours, “I have made an +earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible, to +teach him science and the arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, AND +LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, TO BE KIND TO EACH OTHER.” +</p> + +<p> +Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye is endowed +with the power of beholding, to an incomprehensible distance, an immensity of +worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or of what use is it that this +immensity of worlds is visible to man? What has man to do with the Pleiades, +with Orion, with Sirius, with the star he calls the north star, with the moving +orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to +follow from their being visible? A less power of vision would have been +sufficient for man, if the immensity he now possesses were given only to waste +itself, as it were, on an immense desert of space glittering with shows. +</p> + +<p> +It is only by contemplating what he calls the starry heavens, as the book and +school of science, that he discovers any use in their being visible to him, or +any advantage resulting from his immensity of vision. But when he contemplates +the subject in this light, he sees an additional motive for saying, that +nothing was made in vain; for in vain would be this power of vision if it +taught man nothing. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED REFORMS</h2> + +<p> +As the Christian system of faith has made a revolution in theology, so also has +it made a revolution in the state of learning. That which is now called +learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not consist, as the +schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of languages, but in the +knowledge of things to which language gives names. +</p> + +<p> +The Greeks were a learned people, but learning with them did not consist in +speaking Greek, any more than in a Roman’s speaking Latin, or a +Frenchman’s speaking French, or an Englishman’s speaking English. +From what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that they knew or studied +any language but their own, and this was one cause of their becoming so +learned; it afforded them more time to apply themselves to better studies. The +schools of the Greeks were schools of science and philosophy, and not of +languages; and it is in the knowledge of the things that science and philosophy +teach that learning consists. +</p> + +<p> +Almost all the scientific learning that now exists, came to us from the Greeks, +or the people who spoke the Greek language. It therefore became necessary to +the people of other nations, who spoke a different language, that some among +them should learn the Greek language, in order that the learning the Greeks had +might be made known in those nations, by translating the Greek books of science +and philosophy into the mother tongue of each nation. +</p> + +<p> +The study, therefore, of the Greek language (and in the same manner for the +Latin) was no other than the drudgery business of a linguist; and the language +thus obtained, was no other than the means, or as it were the tools, employed +to obtain the learning the Greeks had. It made no part of the learning itself; +and was so distinct from it as to make it exceedingly probable that the persons +who had studied Greek sufficiently to translate those works, such for instance +as Euclid’s Elements, did not understand any of the learning the works +contained. +</p> + +<p> +As there is now nothing new to be learned from the dead languages, all the +useful books being already translated, the languages are become useless, and +the time expended in teaching and in learning them is wasted. So far as the +study of languages may contribute to the progress and communication of +knowledge (for it has nothing to do with the creation of knowledge) it is only +in the living languages that new knowledge is to be found; and certain it is, +that, in general, a youth will learn more of a living language in one year, +than of a dead language in seven; and it is but seldom that the teacher knows +much of it himself. The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not +arise from any superior abstruseness in the languages themselves, but in their +being dead, and the pronunciation entirely lost. It would be the same thing +with any other language when it becomes dead. The best Greek linguist that now +exists does not understand Greek so well as a Grecian plowman did, or a Grecian +milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of +the Romans; and with respect to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the +cows that she milked. It would therefore be advantageous to the state of +learning to abolish the study of the dead languages, and to make learning +consist, as it originally did, in scientific knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +The apology that is sometimes made for continuing to teach the dead languages +is, that they are taught at a time when a child is not capable of exerting any +other mental faculty than that of memory. But this is altogether erroneous. The +human mind has a natural disposition to scientific knowledge, and to the things +connected with it. The first and favourite amusement of a child, even before it +begins to play, is that of imitating the works of man. It builds houses with +cards or sticks; it navigates the little ocean of a bowl of water with a paper +boat; or dams the stream of a gutter, and contrives something which it calls a +mill; and it interests itself in the fate of its works with a care that +resembles affection. It afterwards goes to school, where its genius is killed +by the barren study of a dead language, and the philosopher is lost in the +linguist. +</p> + +<p> +But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead languages, +could not be the cause at first of cutting down learning to the narrow and +humble sphere of linguistry; the cause therefore must be sought for elsewhere. +In all researches of this kind, the best evidence that can be produced, is the +internal evidence the thing carries with itself, and the evidence of +circumstances that unites with it; both of which, in this case, are not +difficult to be discovered. +</p> + +<p> +Putting then aside, as matter of distinct consideration, the outrage offered to +the moral justice of God, by supposing him to make the innocent suffer for the +guilty, and also the loose morality and low contrivance of supposing him to +change himself into the shape of a man, in order to make an excuse to himself +for not executing his supposed sentence upon Adam; putting, I say, those things +aside as matter of distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called +the christian system of faith, including in it the whimsical account of the +creation—the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple—the +amphibious idea of a man-god—the corporeal idea of the death of a +god—the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the christian system +of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, are all irreconcilable, +not only to the divine gift of reason, that God has given to man, but to the +knowledge that man gains of the power and wisdom of God by the aid of the +sciences, and by studying the structure of the universe that God has made. +</p> + +<p> +The setters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Christian system of faith, +could not but foresee that the continually progressive knowledge that man would +gain by the aid of science, of the power and wisdom of God, manifested in the +structure of the universe, and in all the works of creation, would militate +against, and call into question, the truth of their system of faith; and +therefore it became necessary to their purpose to cut learning down to a size +less dangerous to their project, and this they effected by restricting the idea +of learning to the dead study of dead languages. +</p> + +<p> +They not only rejected the study of science out of the christian schools, but +they persecuted it; and it is only within about the last two centuries that the +study has been revived. So late as 1610, Galileo, a Florentine, discovered and +introduced the use of telescopes, and by applying them to observe the motions +and appearances of the heavenly bodies, afforded additional means for +ascertaining the true structure of the universe. Instead of being esteemed for +these discoveries, he was sentenced to renounce them, or the opinions resulting +from them, as a damnable heresy. And prior to that time Virgilius was condemned +to be burned for asserting the antipodes, or in other words, that the earth was +a globe, and habitable in every part where there was land; yet the truth of +this is now too well known even to be told. [NOTE: I cannot discover the source +of this statement concerning the ancient author whose Irish name Feirghill was +Latinized into Virgilius. The British Museum possesses a copy of the work +(Decalogiunt) which was the pretext of the charge of heresy made by Boniface, +Archbishop of Mayence, against Virgilius, Abbot—bishop of Salzburg, These +were leaders of the rival “British” and “Roman parties, and +the British champion made a countercharge against Boniface of irreligious +practices.” Boniface had to express a “regret,” but none the +less pursued his rival. The Pope, Zachary II., decided that if his alleged +“doctrine, against God and his soul, that beneath the earth there is +another world, other men, or sun and moon,” should be acknowledged by +Virgilius, he should be excommunicated by a Council and condemned with +canonical sanctions. Whatever may have been the fate involved by condemnation +with “canonicis sanctionibus,” in the middle of the eighth century, +it did not fall on Virgilius. His accuser, Boniface, was martyred, 755, and it +is probable that Virgilius harmonied his Antipodes with orthodoxy. The gravamen +of the heresy seems to have been the suggestion that there were men not of the +progeny of Adam. Virgilius was made Bishop of Salzburg in 768. He bore until +his death, 789, the curious title, “Geometer and Solitary,” or +“lone wayfarer” (Solivagus). A suspicion of heresy clung to his +memory until 1233, when he was raised by Gregory IX, to sainthood beside his +accuser, St. Boniface.—Editor. (Conway)] +</p> + +<p> +If the belief of errors not morally bad did no mischief, it would make no part +of the moral duty of man to oppose and remove them. There was no moral ill in +believing the earth was flat like a trencher, any more than there was moral +virtue in believing it was round like a globe; neither was there any moral ill +in believing that the Creator made no other world than this, any more than +there was moral virtue in believing that he made millions, and that the +infinity of space is filled with worlds. But when a system of religion is made +to grow out of a supposed system of creation that is not true, and to unite +itself therewith in a manner almost inseparable therefrom, the case assumes an +entirely different ground. It is then that errors, not morally bad, become +fraught with the same mischiefs as if they were. It is then that the truth, +though otherwise indifferent itself, becomes an essential, by becoming the +criterion that either confirms by corresponding evidence, or denies by +contradictory evidence, the reality of the religion itself. In this view of the +case it is the moral duty of man to obtain every possible evidence that the +structure of the heavens, or any other part of creation affords, with respect +to systems of religion. But this, the supporters or partizans of the christian +system, as if dreading the result, incessantly opposed, and not only rejected +the sciences, but persecuted the professors. Had Newton or Descartes lived +three or four hundred years ago, and pursued their studies as they did, it is +most probable they would not have lived to finish them; and had Franklin drawn +lightning from the clouds at the same time, it would have been at the hazard of +expiring for it in flames. +</p> + +<p> +Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, however +unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to believe or to +acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age of ignorance commenced +with the Christian system. There was more knowledge in the world before that +period, than for many centuries afterwards; and as to religious knowledge, the +Christian system, as already said, was only another species of mythology; and +the mythology to which it succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient system of +theism. [NOTE by Paine: It is impossible for us now to know at what time the +heathen mythology began; but it is certain, from the internal evidence that it +carries, that it did not begin in the same state or condition in which it +ended. All the gods of that mythology, except Saturn, were of modern invention. +The supposed reign of Saturn was prior to that which is called the heathen +mythology, and was so far a species of theism that it admitted the belief of +only one God. Saturn is supposed to have abdicated the govemment in favour of +his three sons and one daughter, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno; after this, +thousands of other gods and demigods were imaginarily created, and the calendar +of gods increased as fast as the calendar of saints and the calendar of courts +have increased since. +</p> + +<p> +All the corruptions that have taken place, in theology and in religion have +been produced by admitting of what man calls ‘revealed religion.’ +The mythologists pretended to more revealed religion than the christians do. +They had their oracles and their priests, who were supposed to receive and +deliver the word of God verbally on almost all occasions. +</p> + +<p> +Since then all corruptions down from Moloch to modern predestinarianism, and +the human sacrifices of the heathens to the christian sacrifice of the Creator, +have been produced by admitting of what is called revealed religion, the most +effectual means to prevent all such evils and impositions is, not to admit of +any other revelation than that which is manifested in the book of Creation., +and to contemplate the Creation as the only true and real word of God that ever +did or ever will exist; and every thing else called the word of God is fable +and imposition.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +It is owing to this long interregnum of science, and to no other cause, that we +have now to look back through a vast chasm of many hundred years to the +respectable characters we call the Ancients. Had the progression of knowledge +gone on proportionably with the stock that before existed, that chasm would +have been filled up with characters rising superior in knowledge to each other; +and those Ancients we now so much admire would have appeared respectably in the +background of the scene. But the christian system laid all waste; and if we +take our stand about the beginning of the sixteenth century, we look back +through that long chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as over a vast sandy +desert, in which not a shrub appears to intercept the vision to the fertile +hills beyond. +</p> + +<p> +It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any thing should +exist, under the name of a religion, that held it to be irreligious to study +and contemplate the structure of the universe that God had made. But the fact +is too well established to be denied. The event that served more than any other +to break the first link in this long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known +by the name of the Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not +appear to have made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are +called Reformers, the Sciences began to revive, and Liberality, their natural +associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the Reformation did; +for, with respect to religious good, it might as well not have taken place. The +mythology still continued the same; and a multiplicity of National Popes grew +out of the downfall of the Pope of Christendom. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS INSPIRED BY NATURE</h2> + +<p> +Having thus shewn, from the internal evidence of things, the cause that +produced a change in the state of learning, and the motive for substituting the +study of the dead languages, in the place of the Sciences, I proceed, in +addition to the several observations already made in the former part of this +work, to compare, or rather to confront, the evidence that the structure of the +universe affords, with the christian system of religion. But as I cannot begin +this part better than by referring to the ideas that occurred to me at an early +part of life, and which I doubt not have occurred in some degree to almost +every other person at one time or other, I shall state what those ideas were, +and add thereto such other matter as shall arise out of the subject, giving to +the whole, by way of preface, a short introduction. +</p> + +<p> +My father being of the quaker profession, it was my good fortune to have an +exceedingly good moral education, and a tolerable stock of useful learning. +Though I went to the grammar school, I did not learn Latin, not only because I +had no inclination to learn languages, but because of the objection the quakers +have against the books in which the language is taught. But this did not +prevent me from being acquainted with the subjects of all the Latin books used +in the school. +</p> + +<p> +The natural bent of my mind was to science. I had some turn, and I believe some +talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed than encouraged, as leading too +much into the field of imagination. As soon as I was able, I purchased a pair +of globes, and attended the philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and +became afterwards acquainted with Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal +Society, then living in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer. +</p> + +<p> +I had no disposition for what was called politics. It presented to my mind no +other idea than is contained in the word jockeyship. When, therefore, I turned +my thoughts towards matters of government, I had to form a system for myself, +that accorded with the moral and philosophic principles in which I had been +educated. I saw, or at least I thought I saw, a vast scene opening itself to +the world in the affairs of America; and it appeared to me, that unless the +Americans changed the plan they were then pursuing, with respect to the +government of England, and declared themselves independent, they would not only +involve themselves in a multiplicity of new difficulties, but shut out the +prospect that was then offering itself to mankind through their means. It was +from these motives that I published the work known by the name of Common Sense, +which is the first work I ever did publish, and so far as I can judge of +myself, I believe I should never have been known in the world as an author on +any subject whatever, had it not been for the affairs of America. I wrote +Common Sense the latter end of the year 1775, and published it the first of +January, 1776. Independence was declared the fourth of July following. [NOTE: +The pamphlet Common Sense was first advertised, as “just +published,” on January 10, 1776. His plea for the Officers of Excise, +written before leaving England, was printed, but not published until 1793. +Despite his reiterated assertion that Common Sense was the first work he ever +published the notion that he was “junius” still finds some +believers. An indirect comment on our Paine-Junians may be found in Part 2 of +this work where Paine says a man capable of writing Homer “would not have +thrown away his own fame by giving it to another.” It is probable that +Paine ascribed the Letters of Junius to Thomas Hollis. His friend F. Lanthenas, +in his translation of the Age of Reason (1794) advertises his translation of +the Letters of Junius from the English “(Thomas Hollis).” This he +could hardly have done without consultation with Paine. Unfortunately this +translation of Junius cannot be found either in the Bibliotheque Nationale or +the British Museum, and it cannot be said whether it contains any attempt at an +identification of Junius—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +Any person, who has made observations on the state and progress of the human +mind, by observing his own, can not but have observed, that there are two +distinct classes of what are called Thoughts; those that we produce in +ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those that bolt into the +mind of their own accord. I have always made it a rule to treat those voluntary +visitors with civility, taking care to examine, as well as I was able, if they +were worth entertaining; and it is from them I have acquired almost all the +knowledge that I have. As to the learning that any person gains from school +education, it serves only, like a small capital, to put him in the way of +beginning learning for himself afterwards. Every person of learning is finally +his own teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct +quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their place of +mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so lasting as when +they begin by conception. Thus much for the introductory part. +</p> + +<p> +From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it by +reflection, I either doubted the truth of the christian system, or thought it +to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but I well remember, when +about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, +who was a great devotee of the church, upon the subject of what is called +Redemption by the death of the Son of God. After the sermon was ended, I went +into the garden, and as I was going down the garden steps (for I perfectly +recollect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and +thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man, +that killed his son, when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I +was sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what +purpose they preached such sermons. This was not one of those kind of thoughts +that had any thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious reflection, +arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such an action, and +also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. I believe in the same +manner to this moment; and I moreover believe, that any system of religion that +has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system. +</p> + +<p> +It seems as if parents of the christian profession were ashamed to tell their +children any thing about the principles of their religion. They sometimes +instruct them in morals, and talk to them of the goodness of what they call +Providence; for the Christian mythology has five deities: there is God the +Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the God Providence, and the Goddess +Nature. But the christian story of God the Father putting his son to death, or +employing people to do it, (for that is the plain language of the story,) +cannot be told by a parent to a child; and to tell him that it was done to make +mankind happier and better, is making the story still worse; as if mankind +could be improved by the example of murder; and to tell him that all this is a +mystery, is only making an excuse for the incredibility of it. +</p> + +<p> +How different is this to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The true +deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists in contemplating the power, +wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in endeavouring to imitate +him in every thing moral, scientifical, and mechanical. +</p> + +<p> +The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true Deism, in the +moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the quakers: but they have +contracted themselves too much by leaving the works of God out of their system. +Though I reverence their philanthropy, I can not help smiling at the conceit, +that if the taste of a quaker could have been consulted at the creation, what a +silent and drab-colored creation it would have been! Not a flower would have +blossomed its gaieties, nor a bird been permitted to sing. +</p> + +<p> +Quitting these reflections, I proceed to other matters. After I had made myself +master of the use of the globes, and of the orrery, [NOTE by Paine: As this +book may fall into the bands of persons who do not know what an orrery is, it +is for their information I add this note, as the name gives no idea of the uses +of the thing. The orrery has its name from the person who invented it. It is a +machinery of clock-work, representing the universe in miniature: and in which +the revolution of the earth round itself and round the sun, the revolution of +the moon round the earth, the revolution of the planets round the sun, their +relative distances from the sun, as the center of the whole system, their +relative distances from each other, and their different magnitudes, are +represented as they really exist in what we call the heavens.—Author.] +and conceived an idea of the infinity of space, and of the eternal divisibility +of matter, and obtained, at least, a general knowledge of what was called +natural philosophy, I began to compare, or, as I have before said, to confront, +the internal evidence those things afford with the christian system of faith. +</p> + +<p> +Though it is not a direct article of the christian system that this world that +we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it is so worked up +therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of the creation, the story of +Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of that story, the death of the Son of +God, that to believe otherwise, that is, to believe that God created a +plurality of worlds, at least as numerous as what we call stars, renders the +christian system of faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the +mind like feathers in the air. The two beliefs can not be held together in the +same mind; and he who thinks that he believes both, has thought but little of +either. +</p> + +<p> +Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the ancients, it is +only within the last three centuries that the extent and dimensions of this +globe that we inhabit have been ascertained. Several vessels, following the +tract of the ocean, have sailed entirely round the world, as a man may march in +a circle, and come round by the contrary side of the circle to the spot he set +out from. The circular dimensions of our world, in the widest part, as a man +would measure the widest round of an apple, or a ball, is only twenty-five +thousand and twenty English miles, reckoning sixty-nine miles and an half to an +equatorial degree, and may be sailed round in the space of about three years. +[NOTE by Paine: Allowing a ship to sail, on an average, three miles in an hour, +she would sail entirely round the world in less than one year, if she could +sail in a direct circle, but she is obliged to follow the course of the +ocean.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be great; but if +we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is suspended, like a +bubble or a balloon in the air, it is infinitely less in proportion than the +smallest grain of sand is to the size of the world, or the finest particle of +dew to the whole ocean, and is therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter +shown, is only one of a system of worlds, of which the universal creation is +composed. +</p> + +<p> +It is not difficult to gain some faint idea of the immensity of space in which +this and all the other worlds are suspended, if we follow a progression of +ideas. When we think of the size or dimensions of, a room, our ideas limit +themselves to the walls, and there they stop. But when our eye, or our +imagination darts into space, that is, when it looks upward into what we call +the open air, we cannot conceive any walls or boundaries it can have; and if +for the sake of resting our ideas we suppose a boundary, the question +immediately renews itself, and asks, what is beyond that boundary? and in the +same manner, what beyond the next boundary? and so on till the fatigued +imagination returns and says, there is no end. Certainly, then, the Creator was +not pent for room when he made this world no larger than it is; and we have to +seek the reason in something else. +</p> + +<p> +If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the Creator +has given us the use as our portion in the immense system of creation, we find +every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air that surround it, filled, +and as it were crowded with life, down from the largest animals that we know of +to the smallest insects the naked eye can behold, and from thence to others +still smaller, and totally invisible without the assistance of the microscope. +Every tree, every plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a +world to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly +refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for thousands. +</p> + +<p> +Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be supposed +that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal waste? There is +room for millions of worlds as large or larger than ours, and each of them +millions of miles apart from each other. +</p> + +<p> +Having now arrived at this point, if we carry our ideas only one thought +further, we shall see, perhaps, the true reason, at least a very good reason +for our happiness, why the Creator, instead of making one immense world, +extending over an immense quantity of space, has preferred dividing that +quantity of matter into several distinct and separate worlds, which we call +planets, of which our earth is one. But before I explain my ideas upon this +subject, it is necessary (not for the sake of those that already know, but for +those who do not) to show what the system of the universe is. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE.</h2> + +<p> +That part of the universe that is called the solar system (meaning the system +of worlds to which our earth belongs, and of which Sol, or in English language, +the Sun, is the center) consists, besides the Sun, of six distinct orbs, or +planets, or worlds, besides the secondary bodies, called the satellites, or +moons, of which our earth has one that attends her in her annual revolution +round the Sun, in like manner as the other satellites or moons, attend the +planets or worlds to which they severally belong, as may be seen by the +assistance of the telescope. +</p> + +<p> +The Sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve at +different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each other. Each +world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round the Sun, and continues at +the same time turning round itself, in nearly an upright position, as a top +turns round itself when it is spinning on the ground, and leans a little +sideways. +</p> + +<p> +It is this leaning of the earth (23 1/2 degrees) that occasions summer and +winter, and the different length of days and nights. If the earth turned round +itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level of the circle it moves +in round the Sun, as a top turns round when it stands erect on the ground, the +days and nights would be always of the same length, twelve hours day and twelve +hours night, and the season would be uniformly the same throughout the year. +</p> + +<p> +Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, it makes +what we call day and night; and every time it goes entirely round the Sun, it +makes what we call a year, consequently our world turns three hundred and +sixty-five times round itself, in going once round the Sun. +</p> + +<p> +The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are still +called by the same names, are Mercury, Venus, this world that we call ours, +Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They appear larger to the eye than the stars, being +many million miles nearer to our earth than any of the stars are. The planet +Venus is that which is called the evening star, and sometimes the morning star, +as she happens to set after, or rise before the Sun, which in either case is +never more than three hours. +</p> + +<p> +The Sun as before said being the center, the planet or world nearest the Sun is +Mercury; his distance from the Sun is thirty-four million miles, and he moves +round in a circle always at that distance from the Sun, as a top may be +supposed to spin round in the tract in which a horse goes in a mill. The second +world is Venus; she is fifty-seven million miles distant from the Sun, and +consequently moves round in a circle much greater than that of Mercury. The +third world is this that we inhabit, and which is eighty-eight million miles +distant from the Sun, and consequently moves round in a circle greater than +that of Venus. The fourth world is Mars; he is distant from the sun one hundred +and thirty-four million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle greater +than that of our earth. The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant from the Sun five +hundred and fifty-seven million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of Mars. The sixth world is Saturn; he is distant from the +Sun seven hundred and sixty-three million miles, and consequently moves round +in a circle that surrounds the circles or orbits of all the other worlds or +planets. +</p> + +<p> +The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space, that our solar +system takes up for the several worlds to perform their revolutions in round +the Sun, is of the extent in a strait line of the whole diameter of the orbit +or circle in which Saturn moves round the Sun, which being double his distance +from the Sun, is fifteen hundred and twenty-six million miles; and its circular +extent is nearly five thousand million; and its globical content is almost +three thousand five hundred million times three thousand five hundred million +square miles. [NOTE by Paine: If it should be asked, how can man know these +things? I have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how to +calculate an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time when the +planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the Sun, will come in a strait +line between our earth and the Sun, and will appear to us about the size of a +large pea passing across the face of the Sun. This happens but twice in about a +hundred years, at the distance of about eight years from each other, and has +happened twice in our time, both of which were foreknown by calculation. It can +also be known when they will happen again for a thousand years to come, or to +any other portion of time. As therefore, man could not be able to do these +things if he did not understand the solar system, and the manner in which the +revolutions of the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of +calculating an eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point that the +knowledge exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few million miles, more +or less, it makes scarcely any sensible difference in such immense +distances.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +But this, immense as it is, is only one system of worlds. Beyond this, at a +vast distance into space, far beyond all power of calculation, are the stars +called the fixed stars. They are called fixed, because they have no +revolutionary motion, as the six worlds or planets have that I have been +describing. Those fixed stars continue always at the same distance from each +other, and always in the same place, as the Sun does in the center of our +system. The probability, therefore, is that each of those fixed stars is also a +Sun, round which another system of worlds or planets, though too remote for us +to discover, performs its revolutions, as our system of worlds does round our +central Sun. By this easy progression of ideas, the immensity of space will +appear to us to be filled with systems of worlds; and that no part of space +lies at waste, any more than any part of our globe of earth and water is left +unoccupied. +</p> + +<p> +Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and easy manner, some idea of +the structure of the universe, I return to explain what I before alluded to, +namely, the great benefits arising to man in consequence of the Creator having +made a Plurality of worlds, such as our system is, consisting of a central Sun +and six worlds, besides satellites, in preference to that of creating one world +only of a vast extent. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR SYSTEM</h2> + +<p> +It is an idea I have never lost sight of, that all our knowledge of science is +derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye and from thence to our +understanding) which those several planets or worlds of which our system is +composed make in their circuit round the Sun. +</p> + +<p> +Had then the quantity of matter which these six worlds contain been blended +into one solitary globe, the consequence to us would have been, that either no +revolutionary motion would have existed, or not a sufficiency of it to give us +the ideas and the knowledge of science we now have; and it is from the sciences +that all the mechanical arts that contribute so much to our earthly felicity +and comfort are derived. +</p> + +<p> +As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be believed that +he organized the structure of the universe in the most advantageous manner for +the benefit of man; and as we see, and from experience feel, the benefits we +derive from the structure of the universe, formed as it is, which benefits we +should not have had the opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as +relates to our system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one +reason why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls forth the +devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration. +</p> + +<p> +But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe, only, that the benefits +arising from a plurality of worlds are limited. The inhabitants of each of the +worlds of which our system is composed, enjoy the same opportunities of +knowledge as we do. They behold the revolutionary motions of our earth, as we +behold theirs. All the planets revolve in sight of each other; and, therefore, +the same universal school of science presents itself to all. +</p> + +<p> +Neither does the knowledge stop here. The system of worlds next to us exhibits, +in its revolutions, the same principles and school of science, to the +inhabitants of their system, as our system does to us, and in like manner +throughout the immensity of space. +</p> + +<p> +Our ideas, not only of the almightiness of the Creator, but of his wisdom and +his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we contemplate the extent and +the structure of the universe. The solitary idea of a solitary world, rolling +or at rest in the immense ocean of space, gives place to the cheerful idea of a +society of worlds, so happily contrived as to administer, even by their motion, +instruction to man. We see our own earth filled with abundance; but we forget +to consider how much of that abundance is owing to the scientific knowledge the +vast machinery of the universe has unfolded. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE CHRISTIANS</h2> + + +<p> +But, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the christian +system of faith that forms itself upon the idea of only one world, and that of +no greater extent, as is before shown, than twenty-five thousand miles. An +extent which a man, walking at the rate of three miles an hour for twelve hours +in the day, could he keep on in a circular direction, would walk entirely round +in less than two years. Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and +the almighty power of the Creator! +</p> + +<p> +From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit that the +Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his protection, +should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, +they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple! And, on the other hand, are +we to suppose that every world in the boundless creation had an Eve, an apple, +a serpent, and a redeemer? In this case, the person who is irreverently called +the Son of God, and sometimes God himself, would have nothing else to do than +to travel from world to world, in an endless succession of death, with scarcely +a momentary interval of life. +</p> + +<p> +It has been by rejecting the evidence, that the word, or works of God in the +creation, affords to our senses, and the action of our reason upon that +evidence, that so many wild and whimsical systems of faith, and of religion, +have been fabricated and set up. There may be many systems of religion that so +far from being morally bad are in many respects morally good: but there can be +but ONE that is true; and that one necessarily must, as it ever will, be in all +things consistent with the ever existing word of God that we behold in his +works. But such is the strange construction of the christian system of faith, +that every evidence the heavens affords to man, either directly contradicts it +or renders it absurd. +</p> + +<p> +It is possible to believe, and I always feel pleasure in encouraging myself to +believe it, that there have been men in the world who persuaded themselves that +what is called a pious fraud, might, at least under particular circumstances, +be productive of some good. But the fraud being once established, could not +afterwards be explained; for it is with a pious fraud as with a bad action, it +begets a calamitous necessity of going on. +</p> + +<p> +The persons who first preached the christian system of faith, and in some +measure combined with it the morality preached by Jesus Christ, might persuade +themselves that it was better than the heathen mythology that then prevailed. +From the first preachers the fraud went on to the second, and to the third, +till the idea of its being a pious fraud became lost in the belief of its being +true; and that belief became again encouraged by the interest of those who made +a livelihood by preaching it. +</p> + +<p> +But though such a belief might, by such means, be rendered almost general among +the laity, it is next to impossible to account for the continual persecution +carried on by the church, for several hundred years, against the sciences, and +against the professors of science, if the church had not some record or +tradition that it was originally no other than a pious fraud, or did not +foresee that it could not be maintained against the evidence that the structure +of the universe afforded. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE +PEOPLES</h2> + +<p> +Having thus shown the irreconcileable inconsistencies between the real word of +God existing in the universe, and that which is called the word of God, as +shown to us in a printed book that any man might make, I proceed to speak of +the three principal means that have been employed in all ages, and perhaps in +all countries, to impose upon mankind. +</p> + +<p> +Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, The first two are +incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be suspected. +</p> + +<p> +With respect to Mystery, everything we behold is, in one sense, a mystery to +us. Our own existence is a mystery: the whole vegetable world is a mystery. We +cannot account how it is that an acorn, when put into the ground, is made to +develop itself and become an oak. We know not how it is that the seed we sow +unfolds and multiplies itself, and returns to us such an abundant interest for +so small a capital. +</p> + +<p> +The fact however, as distinct from the operating cause, is not a mystery, +because we see it; and we know also the means we are to use, which is no other +than putting the seed in the ground. We know, therefore, as much as is +necessary for us to know; and that part of the operation that we do not know, +and which if we did, we could not perform, the Creator takes upon himself and +performs it for us. We are, therefore, better off than if we had been let into +the secret, and left to do it for ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word mystery +cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to +light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral truth, and not a God of +mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human +invention that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never +envelops itself in mystery; and the mystery in which it is at any time +enveloped, is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself. +</p> + +<p> +Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the practice of moral +truth, cannot have connection with mystery. The belief of a God, so far from +having any thing of mystery in it, is of all beliefs the most easy, because it +arises to us, as is before observed, out of necessity. And the practice of +moral truth, or, in other words, a practical imitation of the moral goodness of +God, is no other than our acting towards each other as he acts benignly towards +all. We cannot serve God in the manner we serve those who cannot do without +such service; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of serving God, is that +of contributing to the happiness of the living creation that God has made. This +cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the society of the world, and +spending a recluse life in selfish devotion. +</p> + +<p> +The very nature and design of religion, if I may so express it, prove even to +demonstration that it must be free from every thing of mystery, and +unincumbered with every thing that is mysterious. Religion, considered as a +duty, is incumbent upon every living soul alike, and, therefore, must be on a +level to the understanding and comprehension of all. Man does not learn +religion as he learns the secrets and mysteries of a trade. He learns the +theory of religion by reflection. It arises out of the action of his own mind +upon the things which he sees, or upon what he may happen to hear or to read, +and the practice joins itself thereto. +</p> + +<p> +When men, whether from policy or pious fraud, set up systems of religion +incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, and not only above +but repugnant to human comprehension, they were under the necessity of +inventing or adopting a word that should serve as a bar to all questions, +inquiries and speculations. The word mystery answered this purpose, and thus it +has happened that religion, which is in itself without mystery, has been +corrupted into a fog of mysteries. +</p> + +<p> +As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an occasional +auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the latter to puzzle the +senses. The one was the lingo, the other the legerdemain. +</p> + +<p> +But before going further into this subject, it will be proper to inquire what +is to be understood by a miracle. +</p> + +<p> +In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so also may it +be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one thing is a greater +miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a greater miracle +than a mite: nor a mountain a greater miracle than an atom. To an almighty +power it is no more difficult to make the one than the other, and no more +difficult to make a million of worlds than to make one. Every thing, therefore, +is a miracle, in one sense; whilst, in the other sense, there is no such thing +as a miracle. It is a miracle when compared to our power, and to our +comprehension. It is not a miracle compared to the power that performs it. But +as nothing in this description conveys the idea that is affixed to the word +miracle, it is necessary to carry the inquiry further. +</p> + +<p> +Mankind have conceived to themselves certain laws, by which what they call +nature is supposed to act; and that a miracle is something contrary to the +operation and effect of those laws. But unless we know the whole extent of +those laws, and of what are commonly called the powers of nature, we are not +able to judge whether any thing that may appear to us wonderful or miraculous, +be within, or be beyond, or be contrary to, her natural power of acting. +</p> + +<p> +The ascension of a man several miles high into the air, would have everything +in it that constitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were not known that a +species of air can be generated several times lighter than the common +atmospheric air, and yet possess elasticity enough to prevent the balloon, in +which that light air is inclosed, from being compressed into as many times less +bulk, by the common air that surrounds it. In like manner, extracting flashes +or sparks of fire from the human body, as visibly as from a steel struck with a +flint, and causing iron or steel to move without any visible agent, would also +give the idea of a miracle, if we were not acquainted with electricity and +magnetism; so also would many other experiments in natural philosophy, to those +who are not acquainted with the subject. The restoring persons to life who are +to appearance dead as is practised upon drowned persons, would also be a +miracle, if it were not known that animation is capable of being suspended +without being extinct. +</p> + +<p> +Besides these, there are performances by slight of hand, and by persons acting +in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which, when known, are thought +nothing of. And, besides these, there are mechanical and optical deceptions. +There is now an exhibition in Paris of ghosts or spectres, which, though it is +not imposed upon the spectators as a fact, has an astonishing appearance. As, +therefore, we know not the extent to which either nature or art can go, there +is no criterion to determine what a miracle is; and mankind, in giving credit +to appearances, under the idea of their being miracles, are subject to be +continually imposed upon. +</p> + +<p> +Since then appearances are so capable of deceiving, and things not real have a +strong resemblance to things that are, nothing can be more inconsistent than to +suppose that the Almighty would make use of means, such as are called miracles, +that would subject the person who performed them to the suspicion of being an +impostor, and the person who related them to be suspected of lying, and the +doctrine intended to be supported thereby to be suspected as a fabulous +invention. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain belief to any +system or opinion to which the name of religion has been given, that of +miracle, however successful the imposition may have been, is the most +inconsistent. For, in the first place, whenever recourse is had to show, for +the purpose of procuring that belief (for a miracle, under any idea of the +word, is a show) it implies a lameness or weakness in the doctrine that is +preached. And, in the second place, it is degrading the Almighty into the +character of a show-man, playing tricks to amuse and make the people stare and +wonder. It is also the most equivocal sort of evidence that can be set up; for +the belief is not to depend upon the thing called a miracle, but upon the +credit of the reporter, who says that he saw it; and, therefore, the thing, +were it true, would have no better chance of being believed than if it were a +lie. +</p> + +<p> +Suppose I were to say, that when I sat down to write this book, a hand +presented itself in the air, took up the pen and wrote every word that is +herein written; would any body believe me? Certainly they would not. Would they +believe me a whit the more if the thing had been a fact? Certainly they would +not. Since then a real miracle, were it to happen, would be subject to the same +fate as the falsehood, the inconsistency becomes the greater of supposing the +Almighty would make use of means that would not answer the purpose for which +they were intended, even if they were real. +</p> + +<p> +If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the course of +what is called nature, that she must go out of that course to accomplish it, +and we see an account given of such a miracle by the person who said he saw it, +it raises a question in the mind very easily decided, which is,—Is it +more probable that nature should go out of her course, or that a man should +tell a lie? We have never seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but +we have good reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same +time; it is, therefore, at least millions to one, that the reporter of a +miracle tells a lie. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large enough to do +it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would have approached nearer to +the idea of a miracle, if Jonah had swallowed the whale. In this, which may +serve for all cases of miracles, the matter would decide itself as before +stated, namely, Is it more probable that a man should have, swallowed a whale, +or told a lie? +</p> + +<p> +But suppose that Jonah had really swallowed the whale, and gone with it in his +belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people that it was true have cast it up +in their sight, of the full length and size of a whale, would they not have +believed him to have been the devil instead of a prophet? or if the whale had +carried Jonah to Nineveh, and cast him up in the same public manner, would they +not have believed the whale to have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps? +</p> + +<p> +The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in the New +Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus Christ, and carrying him +to the top of a high mountain; and to the top of the highest pinnacle of the +temple, and showing him and promising to him all the kingdoms of the world. How +happened it that he did not discover America? or is it only with kingdoms that +his sooty highness has any interest. +</p> + +<p> +I have too much respect for the moral character of Christ to believe that he +told this whale of a miracle himself: neither is it easy to account for what +purpose it could have been fabricated, unless it were to impose upon the +connoisseurs of miracles, as is sometimes practised upon the connoisseurs of +Queen Anne’s farthings, and collectors of relics and antiquities; or to +render the belief of miracles ridiculous, by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote +outdid chivalry; or to embarrass the belief of miracles, by making it doubtful +by what power, whether of God or of the devil, any thing called a miracle was +performed. It requires, however, a great deal of faith in the devil to believe +this miracle. +</p> + +<p> +In every point of view in which those things called miracles can be placed and +considered, the reality of them is improbable, and their existence unnecessary. +They would not, as before observed, answer any useful purpose, even if they +were true; for it is more difficult to obtain belief to a miracle, than to a +principle evidently moral, without any miracle. Moral principle speaks +universally for itself. Miracle could be but a thing of the moment, and seen +but by a few; after this it requires a transfer of faith from God to man to +believe a miracle upon man’s report. Instead, therefore, of admitting the +recitals of miracles as evidence of any system of religion being true, they +ought to be considered as symptoms of its being fabulous. It is necessary to +the full and upright character of truth that it rejects the crutch; and it is +consistent with the character of fable to seek the aid that truth rejects. Thus +much for Mystery and Miracle. +</p> + +<p> +As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, Prophecy took +charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith. It was not sufficient to +know what had been done, but what would be done. The supposed prophet was the +supposed historian of times to come; and if he happened, in shooting with a +long bow of a thousand years, to strike within a thousand miles of a mark, the +ingenuity of posterity could make it point-blank; and if he happened to be +directly wrong, it was only to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, +that God had repented himself and changed his mind. What a fool do fabulous +systems make of man! +</p> + +<p> +It has been shewn, in a former part of this work, that the original meaning of +the words prophet and prophesying has been changed, and that a prophet, in the +sense of the word as now used, is a creature of modern invention; and it is +owing to this change in the meaning of the words, that the flights and +metaphors of the Jewish poets, and phrases and expressions now rendered obscure +by our not being acquainted with the local circumstances to which they applied +at the time they were used, have been erected into prophecies, and made to bend +to explanations at the will and whimsical conceits of sectaries, expounders, +and commentators. Every thing unintelligible was prophetical, and every thing +insignificant was typical. A blunder would have served for a prophecy; and a +dish-clout for a type. +</p> + +<p> +If by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty communicated some +event that would take place in future, either there were such men, or there +were not. If there were, it is consistent to believe that the event so +communicated would be told in terms that could be understood, and not related +in such a loose and obscure manner as to be out of the comprehension of those +that heard it, and so equivocal as to fit almost any circumstance that might +happen afterwards. It is conceiving very irreverently of the Almighty, to +suppose he would deal in this jesting manner with mankind; yet all the things +called prophecies in the book called the Bible come under this description. +</p> + +<p> +But it is with Prophecy as it is with Miracle. It could not answer the purpose +even if it were real. Those to whom a prophecy should be told could not tell +whether the man prophesied or lied, or whether it had been revealed to him, or +whether he conceited it; and if the thing that he prophesied, or pretended to +prophesy, should happen, or some thing like it, among the multitude of things +that are daily happening, nobody could again know whether he foreknew it, or +guessed at it, or whether it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a +character useless and unnecessary; and the safe side of the case is to guard +against being imposed upon, by not giving credit to such relations. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the whole, Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, are appendages that belong to +fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by which so many Lo +heres! and Lo theres! have been spread about the world, and religion been made +into a trade. The success of one impostor gave encouragement to another, and +the quieting salvo of doing some good by keeping up a pious fraud protected +them from remorse. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>RECAPITULATION</h2> + +<p> +Having now extended the subject to a greater length than I first intended, I +shall bring it to a close by abstracting a summary from the whole. +</p> + +<p> +First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or in +writing, or in speech, is inconsistent in itself for the reasons already +assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an universal +language; the mutability of language; the errors to which translations are +subject, the possibility of totally suppressing such a word; the probability of +altering it, or of fabricating the whole, and imposing it upon the world. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, That the Creation we behold is the real and ever existing word of +God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth his power, it demonstrates +his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and beneficence. +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, That the moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral goodness +and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all his creatures. +That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to all men, it is an example +calling upon all men to practise the same towards each other; and, +consequently, that every thing of persecution and revenge between man and man, +and every thing of cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty. +</p> + +<p> +I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content myself +with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that gave me +existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he pleases, either +with or without this body; and it appears more probable to me that I shall +continue to exist hereafter than that I should have had existence, as I now +have, before that existence began. +</p> + +<p> +It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all religions +agree. All believe in a God. The things in which they disgrace are the +redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore, if ever an universal +religion should prevail, it will not be believing any thing new, but in getting +rid of redundancies, and believing as man believed at first. [“In the +childhood of the world,” according to the first (French) version; and the +strict translation of the final sentence is: “Deism was the religion of +Adam, supposing him not an imaginary being; but none the less must it be left +to all men to follow, as is their right, the religion and worship they +prefer.”—Editor.] Adam, if ever there was such a man, was created a +Deist; but in the mean time, let every man follow, as he has a right to do, the +religion and worship he prefers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="part02"></a>THE AGE OF REASON - PART II</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +I have mentioned in the former part of The Age of Reason that it had long been +my intention to publish my thoughts upon Religion; but that I had originally +reserved it to a later period in life, intending it to be the last work I +should undertake. The circumstances, however, which existed in France in the +latter end of the year 1793, determined me to delay it no longer. The just and +humane principles of the Revolution which Philosophy had first diffused, had +been departed from. The Idea, always dangerous to Society as it is derogatory +to the Almighty,—that priests could forgive sins,—though it seemed +to exist no longer, had blunted the feelings of humanity, and callously +prepared men for the commission of all crimes. The intolerant spirit of church +persecution had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, stiled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the +Stake. I saw many of my most intimate friends destroyed; others daily carried +to prison; and I had reason to believe, and had also intimations given me, that +the same danger was approaching myself. +</p> + +<p> +Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of the Age of Reason; I had, +besides, neither Bible nor Testament [It must be borne in mind that throughout +this work Paine generally means by “Bible” only the Old Testament, +and speaks of the New as the “Testament.”—Editor.] to refer +to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure any; notwithstanding +which I have produced a work that no Bible Believer, though writing at his ease +and with a Library of Church Books about him, can refute. Towards the latter +end of December of that year, a motion was made and carried, to exclude +foreigners from the Convention. There were but two, Anacharsis Cloots and +myself; and I saw I was particularly pointed at by Bourdon de l’Oise, in +his speech on that motion. +</p> + +<p> +Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I sat down and +brought the work to a close as speedily as possible; and I had not finished it +more than six hours, in the state it has since appeared, [This is an allusion +to the essay which Paine wrote at an earlier part of 1793. See +Introduction.—Editor.] before a guard came there, about three in the +morning, with an order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety +General, for putting me in arrestation as a foreigner, and conveying me to the +prison of the Luxembourg. I contrived, in my way there, to call on Joel Barlow, +and I put the Manuscript of the work into his hands, as more safe than in my +possession in prison; and not knowing what might be the fate in France either +of the writer or the work, I addressed it to the protection of the citizens of +the United States. +</p> + +<p> +It is justice that I say, that the guard who executed this order, and the +interpreter to the Committee of General Surety, who accompanied them to examine +my papers, treated me not only with civility, but with respect. The keeper of +the ‘Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of good heart, shewed to me every +friendship in his power, as did also all his family, while he continued in that +station. He was removed from it, put into arrestation, and carried before the +tribunal upon a malignant accusation, but acquitted. +</p> + +<p> +After I had been in Luxembourg about three weeks, the Americans then in Paris +went in a body to the Convention to reclaim me as their countryman and friend; +but were answered by the President, Vadier, who was also President of the +Committee of Surety General, and had signed the order for my arrestation, that +I was born in England. [These excited Americans do not seem to have understood +or reported the most important item in Vadeer’s reply, namely that their +application was “unofficial,” i.e. not made through or sanctioned +by Gouverneur Morris, American Minister. For the detailed history of all this +see vol. iii.—Editor.] I heard no more, after this, from any person out +of the walls of the prison, till the fall of Robespierre, on the 9th of +Thermidor—July 27, 1794. +</p> + +<p> +About two months before this event, I was seized with a fever that in its +progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the effects of which I +am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed satisfaction, and +congratulated myself most sincerely, on having written the former part of The +Age of Reason. I had then but little expectation of surviving, and those about +me had less. I know therefore by experience the conscientious trial of my own +principles. +</p> + +<p> +I was then with three chamber comrades: Joseph Vanheule of Bruges, Charles +Bastfni, and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The unceasing and anxious attention of +these three friends to me, by night and day, I remember with gratitude and +mention with pleasure. It happened that a physician (Dr. Graham) and a surgeon, +(Mr. Bond,) part of the suite of General O’Hara, [The officer who at +Yorktown, Virginia, carried out the sword of Cornwallis for surrender, and +satirically offered it to Rochambeau instead of Washington. Paine loaned him +300 pounds when he (O’Hara) left the prison, the money he had concealed +in the lock of his cell-door.—Editor.] were then in the Luxembourg: I ask +not myself whether it be convenient to them, as men under the English +Government, that I express to them my thanks; but I should reproach myself if I +did not; and also to the physician of the Luxembourg, Dr. Markoski. +</p> + +<p> +I have some reason to believe, because I cannot discover any other, that this +illness preserved me in existence. Among the papers of Robespierre that were +examined and reported upon to the Convention by a Committee of Deputies, is a +note in the hand writing of Robespierre, in the following words: +</p> + +<p> +“Demander que Thomas Paine soit decrete d’accusation, pour +l’interet de l’Amerique autant que de la France.” +</p> + +<p> +[Demand that Thomas Paine be decreed of accusation, for the interest of +America, as well as of France.] From what cause it was that the intention was +not put in execution, I know not, and cannot inform myself; and therefore I +ascribe it to impossibility, on account of that illness. +</p> + +<p> +The Convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injustice I had +sustained, invited me publickly and unanimously to return into the Convention, +and which I accepted, to shew I could bear an injury without permitting it to +injure my principles or my disposition. It is not because right principles have +been violated, that they are to be abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +I have seen, since I have been at liberty, several publications written, some +in America, and some in England, as answers to the former part of “The +Age of Reason.” If the authors of these can amuse themselves by so doing, +I shall not interrupt them, They may write against the work, and against me, as +much as they please; they do me more service than they intend, and I can have +no objection that they write on. They will find, however, by this Second Part, +without its being written as an answer to them, that they must return to their +work, and spin their cobweb over again. The first is brushed away by accident. +</p> + +<p> +They will now find that I have furnished myself with a Bible and Testament; and +I can say also that I have found them to be much worse books than I had +conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former part of the Age of +Reason, it has been by speaking better of some parts than they deserved. +</p> + +<p> +I observe, that all my opponents resort, more or less, to what they call +Scripture Evidence and Bible authority, to help them out. They are so little +masters of the subject, as to confound a dispute about authenticity with a +dispute about doctrines; I will, however, put them right, that if they should +be disposed to write any more, they may know how to begin. +</p> + +<p> +THOMAS PAINE. October, 1795. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +THE OLD TESTAMENT</h2> + +<p> +It has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; but before +any thing can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible itself must be proved +to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or the truth of it be doubtful, it +ceases to have authority, and cannot be admitted as proof of any thing. +</p> + +<p> +It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and of all +Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on the world as a mass of +truth, and as the word of God; they have disputed and wrangled, and have +anathematized each other about the supposeable meaning of particular parts and +passages therein; one has said and insisted that such a passage meant such a +thing, another that it meant directly the contrary, and a third, that it meant +neither one nor the other, but something different from both; and this they +have called understanding the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +It has happened, that all the answers that I have seen to the former part of +‘The Age of Reason’ have been written by priests: and these pious +men, like their predecessors, contend and wrangle, and understand the Bible; +each understands it differently, but each understands it best; and they have +agreed in nothing but in telling their readers that Thomas Paine understands it +not. +</p> + +<p> +Now instead of wasting their time, and heating themselves in fractious +disputations about doctrinal points drawn from the Bible, these men ought to +know, and if they do not it is civility to inform them, that the first thing to +be understood is, whether there is sufficient authority for believing the Bible +to be the word of God, or whether there is not? +</p> + +<p> +There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command of God, +that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea we have of moral justice, +as any thing done by Robespierre, by Carrier, by Joseph le Bon, in France, by +the English government in the East Indies, or by any other assassin in modern +times. When we read in the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they +(the Israelites) came by stealth upon whole nations of people, who, as the +history itself shews, had given them no offence; that they put all those +nations to the sword; that they spared neither age nor infancy; that they +utterly destroyed men, women and children; that they left not a soul to +breathe; expressions that are repeated over and over again in those books, and +that too with exulting ferocity; are we sure these things are facts? are we +sure that the Creator of man commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure +that the books that tell us so were written by his authority? +</p> + +<p> +It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; on the +contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous; for the more ancient any +history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance of a fable. The origin +of every nation is buried in fabulous tradition, and that of the Jews is as +much to be suspected as any other. +</p> + +<p> +To charge the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their own +nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all assassination +is, and more especially the assassination of infants, is matter of serious +concern. The Bible tells us, that those assassinations were done by the express +command of God. To believe therefore the Bible to be true, we must unbelieve +all our belief in the moral justice of God; for wherein could crying or smiling +infants offend? And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo every thing +that is tender, sympathising, and benevolent in the heart of man. Speaking for +myself, if I had no other evidence that the Bible is fabulous, than the +sacrifice I must make to believe it to be true, that alone would be sufficient +to determine my choice. +</p> + +<p> +But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, in the +progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a priest cannot +deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is not entitled to credit, +as being the word of God. +</p> + +<p> +But, before I proceed to this examination, I will show wherein the Bible +differs from all other ancient writings with respect to the nature of the +evidence necessary to establish its authenticity; and this is the more proper +to be done, because the advocates of the Bible, in their answers to the former +part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ undertake to say, and they put some +stress thereon, that the authenticity of the Bible is as well established as +that of any other ancient book: as if our belief of the one could become any +rule for our belief of the other. +</p> + +<p> +I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges +universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid’s Elements of Geometry; +[Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three hundred years before +Christ, and about one hundred before Archimedes; he was of the city of +Alexandria, in Egypt.—Author.] and the reason is, because it is a book of +self-evident demonstration, entirely independent of its author, and of every +thing relating to time, place, and circumstance. The matters contained in that +book would have the same authority they now have, had they been written by any +other person, or had the work been anonymous, or had the author never been +known; for the identical certainty of who was the author makes no part of our +belief of the matters contained in the book. But it is quite otherwise with +respect to the books ascribed to Moses, to Joshua, to Samuel, etc.: those are +books of testimony, and they testify of things naturally incredible; and +therefore the whole of our belief, as to the authenticity of those books, +rests, in the first place, upon the certainty that they were written by Moses, +Joshua, and Samuel; secondly, upon the credit we give to their testimony. We +may believe the first, that is, may believe the certainty of the authorship, +and yet not the testimony; in the same manner that we may believe that a +certain person gave evidence upon a case, and yet not believe the evidence that +he gave. But if it should be found that the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, +and Samuel, were not written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, every part of the +authority and authenticity of those books is gone at once; for there can be no +such thing as forged or invented testimony; neither can there be anonymous +testimony, more especially as to things naturally incredible; such as that of +talking with God face to face, or that of the sun and moon standing still at +the command of a man. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of which kind +are those ascribed to Homer, to Plato, to Aristotle, to Demosthenes, to Cicero, +etc. Here again the author is not an essential in the credit we give to any of +those works; for as works of genius they would have the same merit they have +now, were they anonymous. Nobody believes the Trojan story, as related by +Homer, to be true; for it is the poet only that is admired, and the merit of +the poet will remain, though the story be fabulous. But if we disbelieve the +matters related by the Bible authors (Moses for instance) as we disbelieve the +things related by Homer, there remains nothing of Moses in our estimation, but +an imposter. As to the ancient historians, from Herodotus to Tacitus, we credit +them as far as they relate things probable and credible, and no further: for if +we do, we must believe the two miracles which Tacitus relates were performed by +Vespasian, that of curing a lame man, and a blind man, in just the same manner +as the same things are told of Jesus Christ by his historians. We must also +believe the miracles cited by Josephus, that of the sea of Pamphilia opening to +let Alexander and his army pass, as is related of the Red Sea in Exodus. These +miracles are quite as well authenticated as the Bible miracles, and yet we do +not believe them; consequently the degree of evidence necessary to establish +our belief of things naturally incredible, whether in the Bible or elsewhere, +is far greater than that which obtains our belief to natural and probable +things; and therefore the advocates for the Bible have no claim to our belief +of the Bible because that we believe things stated in other ancient writings; +since that we believe the things stated in those writings no further than they +are probable and credible, or because they are self-evident, like Euclid; or +admire them because they are elegant, like Homer; or approve them because they +are sedate, like Plato; or judicious, like Aristotle. +</p> + +<p> +Having premised these things, I proceed to examine the authenticity of the +Bible; and I begin with what are called the five books of Moses, Genesis, +Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. My intention is to shew that those +books are spurious, and that Moses is not the author of them; and still +further, that they were not written in the time of Moses nor till several +hundred years afterwards; that they are no other than an attempted history of +the life of Moses, and of the times in which he is said to have lived, and also +of the times prior thereto, written by some very ignorant and stupid pretenders +to authorship, several hundred years after the death of Moses; as men now write +histories of things that happened, or are supposed to have happened, several +hundred or several thousand years ago. +</p> + +<p> +The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books themselves; +and I will confine myself to this evidence only. Were I to refer for proofs to +any of the ancient authors, whom the advocates of the Bible call prophane +authors, they would controvert that authority, as I controvert theirs: I will +therefore meet them on their own ground, and oppose them with their own weapon, +the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is the author +of those books; and that he is the author, is altogether an unfounded opinion, +got abroad nobody knows how. The style and manner in which those books are +written give no room to believe, or even to suppose, they were written by +Moses; for it is altogether the style and manner of another person speaking of +Moses. In Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, (for every thing in Genesis is prior +to the times of Moses and not the least allusion is made to him therein,) the +whole, I say, of these books is in the third person; it is always, the Lord +said unto Moses, or Moses said unto the Lord; or Moses said unto the people, or +the people said unto Moses; and this is the style and manner that historians +use in speaking of the person whose lives and actions they are writing. It may +be said, that a man may speak of himself in the third person, and, therefore, +it may be supposed that Moses did; but supposition proves nothing; and if the +advocates for the belief that Moses wrote those books himself have nothing +better to advance than supposition, they may as well be silent. +</p> + +<p> +But granting the grammatical right, that Moses might speak of himself in the +third person, because any man might speak of himself in that manner, it cannot +be admitted as a fact in those books, that it is Moses who speaks, without +rendering Moses truly ridiculous and absurd:—for example, Numbers xii. 3: +“Now the man Moses was very MEEK, above all the men which were on the +face of the earth.” If Moses said this of himself, instead of being the +meekest of men, he was one of the most vain and arrogant coxcombs; and the +advocates for those books may now take which side they please, for both sides +are against them: if Moses was not the author, the books are without authority; +and if he was the author, the author is without credit, because to boast of +meekness is the reverse of meekness, and is a lie in sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +In Deuteronomy, the style and manner of writing marks more evidently than in +the former books that Moses is not the writer. The manner here used is +dramatical; the writer opens the subject by a short introductory discourse, and +then introduces Moses as in the act of speaking, and when he has made Moses +finish his harrangue, he (the writer) resumes his own part, and speaks till he +brings Moses forward again, and at last closes the scene with an account of the +death, funeral, and character of Moses. +</p> + +<p> +This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the first +verse of the first chapter, to the end of the fifth verse, it is the writer who +speaks; he then introduces Moses as in the act of making his harrangue, and +this continues to the end of the 40th verse of the fourth chapter; here the +writer drops Moses, and speaks historically of what was done in consequence of +what Moses, when living, is supposed to have said, and which the writer has +dramatically rehearsed. +</p> + +<p> +The writer opens the subject again in the first verse of the fifth chapter, +though it is only by saying that Moses called the people of Israel together; he +then introduces Moses as before, and continues him as in the act of speaking, +to the end of the 26th chapter. He does the same thing at the beginning of the +27th chapter; and continues Moses as in the act of speaking, to the end of the +28th chapter. At the 29th chapter the writer speaks again through the whole of +the first verse, and the first line of the second verse, where he introduces +Moses for the last time, and continues him as in the act of speaking, to the +end of the 33d chapter. +</p> + +<p> +The writer having now finished the rehearsal on the part of Moses, comes +forward, and speaks through the whole of the last chapter: he begins by telling +the reader, that Moses went up to the top of Pisgah, that he saw from thence +the land which (the writer says) had been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and +Jacob; that he, Moses, died there in the land of Moab, that he buried him in a +valley in the land of Moab, but that no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this +day, that is unto the time in which the writer lived who wrote the book of +Deuteronomy. The writer then tells us, that Moses was one hundred and ten years +of age when he died—that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force +abated; and he concludes by saying, that there arose not a prophet since in +Israel like unto Moses, whom, says this anonymous writer, the Lord knew face to +face. +</p> + +<p> +Having thus shewn, as far as grammatical evidence implies, that Moses was not +the writer of those books, I will, after making a few observations on the +inconsistencies of the writer of the book of Deuteronomy, proceed to shew, from +the historical and chronological evidence contained in those books, that Moses +was not, because he could not be, the writer of them; and consequently, that +there is no authority for believing that the inhuman and horrid butcheries of +men, women, and children, told of in those books, were done, as those books say +they were, at the command of God. It is a duty incumbent on every true deist, +that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the calumnies of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an anonymous +work, is obscure, and also contradictory with himself in the account he has +given of Moses. +</p> + +<p> +After telling that Moses went to the top of Pisgah (and it does not appear from +any account that he ever came down again) he tells us, that Moses died there in +the land of Moab, and that he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab; but +as there is no antecedent to the pronoun he, there is no knowing who he was, +that did bury him. If the writer meant that he (God) buried him, how should he +(the writer) know it? or why should we (the readers) believe him? since we know +not who the writer was that tells us so, for certainly Moses could not himself +tell where he was buried. +</p> + +<p> +The writer also tells us, that no man knoweth where the sepulchre of Moses is +unto this day, meaning the time in which this writer lived; how then should he +know that Moses was buried in a valley in the land of Moab? for as the writer +lived long after the time of Moses, as is evident from his using the expression +of unto this day, meaning a great length of time after the death of Moses, he +certainly was not at his funeral; and on the other hand, it is impossible that +Moses himself could say that no man knoweth where the sepulchre is unto this +day. To make Moses the speaker, would be an improvement on the play of a child +that hides himself and cries nobody can find me; nobody can find Moses. +</p> + +<p> +This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he has put +into the mouth of Moses to speak, and therefore we have a right to conclude +that he either composed them himself, or wrote them from oral tradition. One or +other of these is the more probable, since he has given, in the fifth chapter, +a table of commandments, in which that called the fourth commandment is +different from the fourth commandment in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. In +that of Exodus, the reason given for keeping the seventh day is, because (says +the commandment) God made the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on +the seventh; but in that of Deuteronomy, the reason given is, that it was the +day on which the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and therefore, says this +commandment, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath-day This makes +no mention of the creation, nor that of the coming out of Egypt. There are also +many things given as laws of Moses in this book, that are not to be found in +any of the other books; among which is that inhuman and brutal law, xxi. 18, +19, 20, 21, which authorizes parents, the father and the mother, to bring their +own children to have them stoned to death for what it pleased them to call +stubbornness.—But priests have always been fond of preaching up +Deuteronomy, for Deuteronomy preaches up tythes; and it is from this book, xxv. +4, they have taken the phrase, and applied it to tything, that “thou +shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth Out the corn:” and that this +might not escape observation, they have noted it in the table of contents at +the head of the chapter, though it is only a single verse of less than two +lines. O priests! priests! ye are willing to be compared to an ox, for the sake +of tythes. [An elegant pocket edition of Paine’s Theological Works +(London. R. Carlile, 1822) has in its title a picture of Paine, as a Moses in +evening dress, unfolding the two tables of his “Age of Reason” to a +farmer from whom the Bishop of Llandaff (who replied to this work) has taken a +sheaf and a lamb which he is carrying to a church at the summit of a well +stocked hill.—Editor.]—Though it is impossible for us to know +identically who the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not difficult to discover +him professionally, that he was some Jewish priest, who lived, as I shall shew +in the course of this work, at least three hundred and fifty years after the +time of Moses. +</p> + +<p> +I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. The +chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology; for I mean not to go out +of the Bible for evidence of any thing, but to make the Bible itself prove +historically and chronologically that Moses is not the author of the books +ascribed to him. It is therefore proper that I inform the readers (such an one +at least as may not have the opportunity of knowing it) that in the larger +Bibles, and also in some smaller ones, there is a series of chronology printed +in the margin of every page for the purpose of showing how long the historical +matters stated in each page happened, or are supposed to have happened, before +Christ, and consequently the distance of time between one historical +circumstance and another. +</p> + +<p> +I begin with the book of Genesis.—In Genesis xiv., the writer gives an +account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings against +five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot being taken came to +Abraham, that he armed all his household and marched to rescue Lot from the +captors; and that he pursued them unto Dan. (ver. 14.) +</p> + +<p> +To shew in what manner this expression of Pursuing them unto Dan applies to the +case in question, I will refer to two circumstances, the one in America, the +other in France. The city now called New York, in America, was originally New +Amsterdam; and the town in France, lately called Havre Marat, was before called +Havre-de-Grace. New Amsterdam was changed to New York in the year 1664; +Havre-de-Grace to Havre Marat in the year 1793. Should, therefore, any writing +be found, though without date, in which the name of New-York should be +mentioned, it would be certain evidence that such a writing could not have been +written before, and must have been written after New Amsterdam was changed to +New York, and consequently not till after the year 1664, or at least during the +course of that year. And in like manner, any dateless writing, with the name of +Havre Marat, would be certain evidence that such a writing must have been +written after Havre-de-Grace became Havre Marat, and consequently not till +after the year 1793, or at least during the course of that year. +</p> + +<p> +I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there was no +such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and consequently, +that Moses could not be the writer of the book of Genesis, where this account +of pursuing them unto Dan is given. +</p> + +<p> +The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the +Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this town, they +changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who was the father of that +tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham. +</p> + +<p> +To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to chapter +xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there said (ver. 27) that +“they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that were quiet and +secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword [the Bible is filled +with murder] and burned the city with fire; and they built a city, (ver. 28,) +and dwelt therein, and [ver. 29,] they called the name of the city Dan, after +the name of Dan, their father; howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the +first.” +</p> + +<p> +This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it to Dan, +is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of Samson. The +death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. 1120 and that of Moses B.C. 1451; +and, therefore, according to the historical arrangement, the place was not +called Dan till 331 years after the death of Moses. +</p> + +<p> +There is a striking confusion between the historical and the chronological +arrangement in the book of judges. The last five chapters, as they stand in the +book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put chronologically before all the preceding +chapters; they are made to be 28 years before the 16th chapter, 266 before the +15th, 245 before the 13th, 195 before the 9th, 90 before the 4th, and 15 years +before the 1st chapter. This shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the +Bible. According to the chronological arrangement, the taking of Laish, and +giving it the name of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death of +Joshua, who was the successor of Moses; and by the historical order, as it +stands in the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of Joshua, and +331 after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from being the writer of +Genesis, because, according to either of the statements, no such a place as Dan +existed in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of Genesis must have +been some person who lived after the town of Laish had the name of Dan; and who +that person was nobody knows, and consequently the book of Genesis is +anonymous, and without authority. +</p> + +<p> +I come now to state another point of historical and chronological evidence, and +to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses is not the author of +the book of Genesis. +</p> + +<p> +In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and descendants of +Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings of Edom; in +enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, “And these are the kings that +reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of +Israel.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any past +events, the writer should say, these things happened before there was any +Congress in America, or before there was any Convention in France, it would be +evidence that such writing could not have been written before, and could only +be written after there was a Congress in America or a Convention in France, as +the case might be; and, consequently, that it could not be written by any +person who died before there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention +in the other. +</p> + +<p> +Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than to refer +to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to do, because a fact +fixes itself in the memory better than a date; secondly, because the fact +includes the date, and serves to give two ideas at once; and this manner of +speaking by circumstances implies as positively that the fact alluded to is +past, as if it was so expressed. When a person in speaking upon any matter, +says, it was before I was married, or before my son was born, or before I went +to America, or before I went to France, it is absolutely understood, and +intended to be understood, that he has been married, that he has had a son, +that he has been in America, or been in France. Language does not admit of +using this mode of expression in any other sense; and whenever such an +expression is found anywhere, it can only be understood in the sense in which +only it could have been used. +</p> + +<p> +The passage, therefore, that I have quoted—that “these are the +kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of +Israel,” could only have been written after the first king began to reign +over them; and consequently that the book of Genesis, so far from having been +written by Moses, could not have been written till the time of Saul at least. +This is the positive sense of the passage; but the expression, any king, +implies more kings than one, at least it implies two, and this will carry it to +the time of David; and, if taken in a general sense, it carries itself through +all times of the Jewish monarchy. +</p> + +<p> +Had we met with this verse in any part of the Bible that professed to have been +written after kings began to reign in Israel, it would have been impossible not +to have seen the application of it. It happens then that this is the case; the +two books of Chronicles, which give a history of all the kings of Israel, are +professedly, as well as in fact, written after the Jewish monarchy began; and +this verse that I have quoted, and all the remaining verses of Genesis xxxvi. +are, word for word, In 1 Chronicles i., beginning at the 43d verse. +</p> + +<p> +It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say as he has +said, 1 Chron. i. 43, “These are the kings that reigned in Edom, before +there reigned any king over the children of Israel,” because he was going +to give, and has given, a list of the kings that had reigned in Israel; but as +it is impossible that the same expression could have been used before that +period, it is as certain as any thing can be proved from historical language, +that this part of Genesis is taken from Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so +old as Chronicles, and probably not so old as the book of Homer, or as +Æsop’s Fables; admitting Homer to have been, as the tables of chronology +state, contemporary with David or Solomon, and Æsop to have lived about the end +of the Jewish monarchy. +</p> + +<p> +Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the +strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing +of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or +invented absurdities, or of downright lies. The story of Eve and the serpent, +and of Noah and his ark, drops to a level with the Arabian Tales, without the +merit of being entertaining, and the account of men living to eight and nine +hundred years becomes as fabulous as the immortality of the giants of the +Mythology. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid +that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was the wretch that first +began and carried on wars on the score or on the pretence of religion; and +under that mask, or that infatuation, committed the most unexampled atrocities +that are to be found in the history of any nation. Of which I will state only +one instance: +</p> + +<p> +When the Jewish army returned from one of their plundering and murdering +excursions, the account goes on as follows (Numbers xxxi. 13): “And +Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went +forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was wroth with the officers of +the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which +came from the battle; and Moses said unto them, ‘Have ye saved all the +women alive?’ behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the +counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, +and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, +‘kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath +known a man by lying with him; but all the women-children that have not known a +man by lying with him, keep alive for Yourselves.’” +</p> + +<p> +Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have disgraced +the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than Moses, if this account +be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, to massacre the mothers, and +debauch the daughters. +</p> + +<p> +Let any mother put herself in the situation of those mothers, one child +murdered, another destined to violation, and herself in the hands of an +executioner: let any daughter put herself in the situation of those daughters, +destined as a prey to the murderers of a mother and a brother, and what will be +their feelings? It is in vain that we attempt to impose upon nature, for nature +will have her course, and the religion that tortures all her social ties is a +false religion. +</p> + +<p> +After this detestable order, follows an account of the plunder taken, and the +manner of dividing it; and here it is that the profaneings of priestly +hypocrisy increases the catalogue of crimes. Verse 37, “And the +Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen; +and the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute +was threescore and twelve; and the asses were thirty thousand, of which the +Lord’s tribute was threescore and one; and the persons were sixteen +thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty and two.” In +short, the matters contained in this chapter, as well as in many other parts of +the Bible, are too horrid for humanity to read, or for decency to hear; for it +appears, from the 35th verse of this chapter, that the number of women-children +consigned to debauchery by the order of Moses was thirty-two thousand. +</p> + +<p> +People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended word of +God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for granted that the +Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit themselves not to doubt of it, +and they carry the ideas they form of the benevolence of the Almighty to the +book which they have been taught to believe was written by his authority. Good +heavens! it is quite another thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and +blasphemy; for what can be greater blasphemy, than to ascribe the wickedness of +man to the orders of the Almighty! +</p> + +<p> +But to return to my subject, that of showing that Moses is not the author of +the books ascribed to him, and that the Bible is spurious. The two instances I +have already given would be sufficient, without any additional evidence, to +invalidate the authenticity of any book that pretended to be four or five +hundred years more ancient than the matters it speaks of, refers to, them as +facts; for in the case of pursuing them unto Dan, and of the kings that reigned +over the children of Israel; not even the flimsy pretence of prophecy can be +pleaded. The expressions are in the preter tense, and it would be downright +idiotism to say that a man could prophecy in the preter tense. +</p> + +<p> +But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books that unite +in the same point of evidence. It is said in Exodus, (another of the books +ascribed to Moses,) xvi. 35: “And the children of Israel did eat manna +until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until they came unto +the borders of the land of Canaan.” +</p> + +<p> +Whether the children of Israel ate manna or not, or what manna was, or whether +it was anything more than a kind of fungus or small mushroom, or other +vegetable substance common to that part of the country, makes no part of my +argument; all that I mean to show is, that it is not Moses that could write +this account, because the account extends itself beyond the life time of Moses. +Moses, according to the Bible, (but it is such a book of lies and +contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe, or whether any) died +in the wilderness, and never came upon the borders of ‘the land of +Canaan; and consequently, it could not be he that said what the children of +Israel did, or what they ate when they came there. This account of eating +manna, which they tell us was written by Moses, extends itself to the time of +Joshua, the successor of Moses, as appears by the account given in the book of +Joshua, after the children of Israel had passed the river Jordan, and came into +the borders of the land of Canaan. Joshua, v. 12: “And the manna ceased +on the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had +the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit of the +land of Canaan that year.” +</p> + +<p> +But a more remarkable instance than this occurs in Deuteronomy; which, while it +shows that Moses could not be the writer of that book, shows also the fabulous +notions that prevailed at that time about giants’ In Deuteronomy iii. 11, +among the conquests said to be made by Moses, is an account of the taking of +Og, king of Bashan: “For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the race of +giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of +the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the +breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.” A cubit is 1 foot 9 888/1000 +inches; the length therefore of the bed was 16 feet 4 inches, and the breadth 7 +feet 4 inches: thus much for this giant’s bed. Now for the historical +part, which, though the evidence is not so direct and positive as in the former +cases, is nevertheless very presumable and corroborating evidence, and is +better than the best evidence on the contrary side. +</p> + +<p> +The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to his bed, +as an ancient relick, and says, is it not in Rabbath (or Rabbah) of the +children of Ammon? meaning that it is; for such is frequently the bible method +of affirming a thing. But it could not be Moses that said this, because Moses +could know nothing about Rabbah, nor of what was in it. Rabbah was not a city +belonging to this giant king, nor was it one of the cities that Moses took. The +knowledge therefore that this bed was at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its +dimensions, must be referred to the time when Rabbah was taken, and this was +not till four hundred years after the death of Moses; for which, see 2 Sam. +xii. 26: “And Joab [David’s general] fought against Rabbah of the +children of Ammon, and took the royal city,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +As I am not undertaking to point out all the contradictions in time, place, and +circumstance that abound in the books ascribed to Moses, and which prove to +demonstration that those books could not be written by Moses, nor in the time +of Moses, I proceed to the book of Joshua, and to shew that Joshua is not the +author of that book, and that it is anonymous and without authority. The +evidence I shall produce is contained in the book itself: I will not go out of +the Bible for proof against the supposed authenticity of the Bible. False +testimony is always good against itself. +</p> + +<p> +Joshua, according to Joshua i., was the immediate successor of Moses; he was, +moreover, a military man, which Moses was not; and he continued as chief of the +people of Israel twenty-five years; that is, from the time that Moses died, +which, according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1451, until B.C. 1426, when, +according to the same chronology, Joshua died. If, therefore, we find in this +book, said to have been written by Joshua, references to facts done after the +death of Joshua, it is evidence that Joshua could not be the author; and also +that the book could not have been written till after the time of the latest +fact which it records. As to the character of the book, it is horrid; it is a +military history of rapine and murder, as savage and brutal as those recorded +of his predecessor in villainy and hypocrisy, Moses; and the blasphemy +consists, as in the former books, in ascribing those deeds to the orders of the +Almighty. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, the book of Joshua, as is the case in the preceding books, +is written in the third person; it is the historian of Joshua that speaks, for +it would have been absurd and vainglorious that Joshua should say of himself, +as is said of him in the last verse of the sixth chapter, that “his fame +was noised throughout all the country.”—I now come more immediately +to the proof. +</p> + +<p> +In Joshua xxiv. 31, it is said “And Israel served the Lord all the days +of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua.” Now, +in the name of common sense, can it be Joshua that relates what people had done +after he was dead? This account must not only have been written by some +historian that lived after Joshua, but that lived also after the elders that +out-lived Joshua. +</p> + +<p> +There are several passages of a general meaning with respect to time, scattered +throughout the book of Joshua, that carries the time in which the book was +written to a distance from the time of Joshua, but without marking by exclusion +any particular time, as in the passage above quoted. In that passage, the time +that intervened between the death of Joshua and the death of the elders is +excluded descriptively and absolutely, and the evidence substantiates that the +book could not have been written till after the death of the last. +</p> + +<p> +But though the passages to which I allude, and which I am going to quote, do +not designate any particular time by exclusion, they imply a time far more +distant from the days of Joshua than is contained between the death of Joshua +and the death of the elders. Such is the passage, x. 14, where, after giving an +account that the sun stood still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of +Ajalon, at the command of Joshua, (a tale only fit to amuse children) [NOTE: +This tale of the sun standing still upon Motint Gibeon, and the moon in the +valley of Ajalon, is one of those fables that detects itself. Such a +circumstance could not have happened without being known all over the world. +One half would have wondered why the sun did not rise, and the other why it did +not set; and the tradition of it would be universal; whereas there is not a +nation in the world that knows anything about it. But why must the moon stand +still? What occasion could there be for moonlight in the daytime, and that too +whilst the sun shined? As a poetical figure, the whole is well enough; it is +akin to that in the song of Deborah and Barak, The stars in their courses +fought against Sisera; but it is inferior to the figurative declaration of +Mahomet to the persons who came to expostulate with him on his goings on, Wert +thou, said he, to come to me with the sun in thy right hand and the moon in thy +left, it should not alter my career. For Joshua to have exceeded Mahomet, he +should have put the sun and moon, one in each pocket, and carried them as Guy +Faux carried his dark lanthorn, and taken them out to shine as he might happen +to want them. The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related that +it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the +ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again; the +account, however, abstracted from the poetical fancy, shews the ignorance of +Joshua, for he should have commanded the earth to have stood +still.—Author.] the passage says: “And there was no day like that, +before it, nor after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man.” +</p> + +<p> +The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, being put +in comparison with all the time that passed before it, must, in order to give +any expressive signification to the passage, mean a great length of +time:—for example, it would have been ridiculous to have said so the next +day, or the next week, or the next month, or the next year; to give therefore +meaning to the passage, comparative with the wonder it relates, and the prior +time it alludes to, it must mean centuries of years; less however than one +would be trifling, and less than two would be barely admissible. +</p> + +<p> +A distant, but general time is also expressed in chapter viii.; where, after +giving an account of the taking the city of Ai, it is said, ver. 28th, +“And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an heap for ever, a desolation unto +this day;” and again, ver. 29, where speaking of the king of Ai, whom +Joshua had hanged, and buried at the entering of the gate, it is said, +“And he raised thereon a great heap of stones, which remaineth unto this +day,” that is, unto the day or time in which the writer of the book of +Joshua lived. And again, in chapter x. where, after speaking of the five kings +whom Joshua had hanged on five trees, and then thrown in a cave, it is said, +“And he laid great stones on the cave’s mouth, which remain unto +this very day.” +</p> + +<p> +In enumerating the several exploits of Joshua, and of the tribes, and of the +places which they conquered or attempted, it is said, xv. 63, “As for the +Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah could not drive +them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah AT JERUSALEM unto +this day.” The question upon this passage is, At what time did the +Jebusites and the children of Judah dwell together at Jerusalem? As this matter +occurs again in judges i. I shall reserve my observations till I come to that +part. +</p> + +<p> +Having thus shewn from the book of Joshua itself, without any auxiliary +evidence whatever, that Joshua is not the author of that book, and that it is +anonymous, and consequently without authority, I proceed, as before-mentioned, +to the book of Judges. +</p> + +<p> +The book of Judges is anonymous on the face of it; and, therefore, even the +pretence is wanting to call it the word of God; it has not so much as a nominal +voucher; it is altogether fatherless. +</p> + +<p> +This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. That of Joshua +begins, chap i. 1, Now after the death of Moses, etc., and this of the Judges +begins, Now after the death of Joshua, etc. This, and the similarity of stile +between the two books, indicate that they are the work of the same author; but +who he was, is altogether unknown; the only point that the book proves is that +the author lived long after the time of Joshua; for though it begins as if it +followed immediately after his death, the second chapter is an epitome or +abstract of the whole book, which, according to the Bible chronology, extends +its history through a space of 306 years; that is, from the death of Joshua, +B.C. 1426 to the death of Samson, B.C. 1120, and only 25 years before Saul went +to seek his father’s asses, and was made king. But there is good reason +to believe, that it was not written till the time of David, at least, and that +the book of Joshua was not written before the same time. +</p> + +<p> +In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, proceeds to +tell what happened between the children of Judah and the native inhabitants of +the land of Canaan. In this statement the writer, having abruptly mentioned +Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately after, in the 8th verse, by way of +explanation, “Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and +taken it;” consequently this book could not have been written before +Jerusalem had been taken. The reader will recollect the quotation I have just +before made from Joshua xv. 63, where it said that the Jebusites dwell with the +children of Judah at Jerusalem at this day; meaning the time when the book of +Joshua was written. +</p> + +<p> +The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I have hitherto +treated of were not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed, nor till +many years after their death, if such persons ever lived, is already so +abundant, that I can afford to admit this passage with less weight than I am +entitled to draw from it. For the case is, that so far as the Bible can be +credited as an history, the city of Jerusalem was not taken till the time of +David; and consequently, that the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not +written till after the commencement of the reign of David, which was 370 years +after the death of Joshua. +</p> + +<p> +The name of the city that was afterward called Jerusalem was originally Jebus, +or Jebusi, and was the capital of the Jebusites. The account of David’s +taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, v. 4, etc.; also in 1 Chron. xiv. 4, +etc. There is no mention in any part of the Bible that it was ever taken +before, nor any account that favours such an opinion. It is not said, either in +Samuel or in Chronicles, that they “utterly destroyed men, women and +children, that they left not a soul to breathe,” as is said of their +other conquests; and the silence here observed implies that it was taken by +capitulation; and that the Jebusites, the native inhabitants, continued to live +in the place after it was taken. The account therefore, given in Joshua, that +“the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah” at Jerusalem at +this day, corresponds to no other time than after taking the city by David. +</p> + +<p> +Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Judges, is +without authenticity, I come to the book of Ruth, an idle, bungling story, +foolishly told, nobody knows by whom, about a strolling country-girl creeping +slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. [The text of Ruth does not imply the +unpleasant sense Paine’s words are likely to convey.—Editor.] +Pretty stuff indeed to be called the word of God. It is, however, one of the +best books in the Bible, for it is free from murder and rapine. +</p> + +<p> +I come next to the two books of Samuel, and to shew that those books were not +written by Samuel, nor till a great length of time after the death of Samuel; +and that they are, like all the former books, anonymous, and without authority. +</p> + +<p> +To be convinced that these books have been written much later than the time of +Samuel, and consequently not by him, it is only necessary to read the account +which the writer gives of Saul going to seek his father’s asses, and of +his interview with Samuel, of whom Saul went to enquire about those lost asses, +as foolish people now-a-days go to a conjuror to enquire after lost things. +</p> + +<p> +The writer, in relating this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, does not +tell it as a thing that had just then happened, but as an ancient story in the +time this writer lived; for he tells it in the language or terms used at the +time that Samuel lived, which obliges the writer to explain the story in the +terms or language used in the time the writer lived. +</p> + +<p> +Samuel, in the account given of him in the first of those books, chap. ix. 13 +called the seer; and it is by this term that Saul enquires after him, ver. 11, +“And as they [Saul and his servant] went up the hill to the city, they +found young maidens going out to draw water; and they said unto them, Is the +seer here?” Saul then went according to the direction of these maidens, +and met Samuel without knowing him, and said unto him, ver. 18, “Tell me, +I pray thee, where the seer’s house is? and Samuel answered Saul, and +said, I am the seer.” +</p> + +<p> +As the writer of the book of Samuel relates these questions and answers, in the +language or manner of speaking used in the time they are said to have been +spoken, and as that manner of speaking was out of use when this author wrote, +he found it necessary, in order to make the story understood, to explain the +terms in which these questions and answers are spoken; and he does this in the +9th verse, where he says, “Before-time in Israel, when a man went to +enquire of God, thus he spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now +called a prophet, was before-time called a seer.” This proves, as I have +before said, that this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was an ancient +story at the time the book of Samuel was written, and consequently that Samuel +did not write it, and that the book is without authenticity. +</p> + +<p> +But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more positive that +Samuel is not the writer of them; for they relate things that did not happen +till several years after the death of Samuel. Samuel died before Saul; for i +Samuel, xxviii. tells, that Saul and the witch of Endor conjured Samuel up +after he was dead; yet the history of matters contained in those books is +extended through the remaining part of Saul’s life, and to the latter end +of the life of David, who succeeded Saul. The account of the death and burial +of Samuel (a thing which he could not write himself) is related in i Samuel +xxv.; and the chronology affixed to this chapter makes this to be B.C. 1060; +yet the history of this first book is brought down to B.C. 1056, that is, to +the death of Saul, which was not till four years after the death of Samuel. +</p> + +<p> +The second book of Samuel begins with an account of things that did not happen +till four years after Samuel was dead; for it begins with the reign of David, +who succeeded Saul, and it goes on to the end of David’s reign, which was +forty-three years after the death of Samuel; and, therefore, the books are in +themselves positive evidence that they were not written by Samuel. +</p> + +<p> +I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, to which +the names of persons are affixed, as being the authors of those books, and +which the church, styling itself the Christian church, have imposed upon the +world as the writings of Moses, Joshua and Samuel; and I have detected and +proved the falsehood of this imposition.—And now ye priests, of every +description, who have preached and written against the former part of the +‘Age of Reason,’ what have ye to say? Will ye with all this mass of +evidence against you, and staring you in the face, still have the assurance to +march into your pulpits, and continue to impose these books on your +congregations, as the works of inspired penmen and the word of God? when it is +as evident as demonstration can make truth appear, that the persons who ye say +are the authors, are not the authors, and that ye know not who the authors are. +What shadow of pretence have ye now to produce for continuing the blasphemous +fraud? What have ye still to offer against the pure and moral religion of +deism, in support of your system of falsehood, idolatry, and pretended +revelation? Had the cruel and murdering orders, with which the Bible is filled, +and the numberless torturing executions of men, women, and children, in +consequence of those orders, been ascribed to some friend, whose memory you +revered, you would have glowed with satisfaction at detecting the falsehood of +the charge, and gloried in defending his injured fame. It is because ye are +sunk in the cruelty of superstition, or feel no interest in the honour of your +Creator, that ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with +callous indifference. The evidence I have produced, and shall still produce in +the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, +whilst it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquillize the +minds of millions: it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the +Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible had infused into their minds, and +which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his moral justice +and benevolence. +</p> + +<p> +I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of +Chronicles.—Those books are altogether historical, and are chiefly +confined to the lives and actions of the Jewish kings, who in general were a +parcel of rascals: but these are matters with which we have no more concern +than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer’s account of the Trojan +war. Besides which, as those books are anonymous, and as we know nothing of the +writer, or of his character, it is impossible for us to know what degree of +credit to give to the matters related therein. Like all other ancient +histories, they appear to be a jumble of fable and of fact, and of probable and +of improbable things, but which distance of time and place, and change of +circumstances in the world, have rendered obsolete and uninteresting. +</p> + +<p> +The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing them with +each other, and with other parts of the Bible, to show the confusion, +contradiction, and cruelty in this pretended word of God. +</p> + +<p> +The first book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, according to +the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1015; and the second book ends B.C. 588, being a +little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, after taking Jerusalem +and conquering the Jews, carried captive to Babylon. The two books include a +space of 427 years. +</p> + +<p> +The two books of Chronicles are an history of the same times, and in general of +the same persons, by another author; for it would be absurd to suppose that the +same author wrote the history twice over. The first book of Chronicles (after +giving the genealogy from Adam to Saul, which takes up the first nine chapters) +begins with the reign of David; and the last book ends, as in the last book of +Kings, soon, after the reign of Zedekiah, about B.C. 588. The last two verses +of the last chapter bring the history 52 years more forward, that is, to 536. +But these verses do not belong to the book, as I shall show when I come to +speak of the book of Ezra. +</p> + +<p> +The two books of Kings, besides the history of Saul, David, and Solomon, who +reigned over all Israel, contain an abstract of the lives of seventeen kings, +and one queen, who are stiled kings of Judah; and of nineteen, who are stiled +kings of Israel; for the Jewish nation, immediately on the death of Solomon, +split into two parties, who chose separate kings, and who carried on most +rancorous wars against each other. +</p> + +<p> +These two books are little more than a history of assassinations, treachery, +and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accustomed themselves to practise on +the Canaanites, whose country they had savagely invaded, under a pretended gift +from God, they afterwards practised as furiously on each other. Scarcely half +their kings died a natural death, and in some instances whole families were +destroyed to secure possession to the successor, who, after a few years, and +sometimes only a few months, or less, shared the same fate. In 2 Kings x., an +account is given of two baskets full of children’s heads, seventy in +number, being exposed at the entrance of the city; they were the children of +Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of Jehu, whom Elisha, the pretended man +of God, had anointed to be king over Israel, on purpose to commit this bloody +deed, and assassinate his predecessor. And in the account of the reign of +Menahem, one of the kings of Israel who had murdered Shallum, who had reigned +but one month, it is said, 2 Kings xv. 16, that Menahem smote the city of +Tiphsah, because they opened not the city to him, and all the women therein +that were with child he ripped up. +</p> + +<p> +Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would distinguish any +nation of people by the name of his chosen people, we must suppose that people +to have been an example to all the rest of the world of the purest piety and +humanity, and not such a nation of ruffians and cut-throats as the ancient Jews +were,—a people who, corrupted by and copying after such monsters and +imposters as Moses and Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, and David, had distinguished +themselves above all others on the face of the known earth for barbarity and +wickedness. If we will not stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our hearts it is +impossible not to see, in spite of all that long-established superstition +imposes upon the mind, that the flattering appellation of his chosen people is +no other than a LIE which the priests and leaders of the Jews had invented to +cover the baseness of their own characters; and which Christian priests +sometimes as corrupt, and often as cruel, have professed to believe. +</p> + +<p> +The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the same crimes; but the +history is broken in several places, by the author leaving out the reign of +some of their kings; and in this, as well as in that of Kings, there is such a +frequent transition from kings of Judah to kings of Israel, and from kings of +Israel to kings of Judah, that the narrative is obscure in the reading. In the +same book the history sometimes contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. +17, we are told, but in rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of +Ahaziah, king of Israel, Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), +reigned in his stead in the second Year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of +Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is said, +“And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, +Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of +judah, began to reign.” That is, one chapter says Joram of Judah began to +reign in the second year of Joram of Israel; and the other chapter says, that +Joram of Israel began to reign in the fifth year of Joram of Judah. +</p> + +<p> +Several of the most extraordinary matters related in one history, as having +happened during the reign of such or such of their kings, are not to be found +in the other, in relating the reign of the same king: for example, the two +first rival kings, after the death of Solomon, were Rehoboam and Jeroboam; and +in i Kings xii. and xiii. an account is given of Jeroboam making an offering of +burnt incense, and that a man, who is there called a man of God, cried out +against the altar (xiii. 2): “O altar, altar! thus saith the Lord: +Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon +thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, +and men’s bones shall be burned upon thee.” Verse 4: “And it +came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had +cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, +saying, Lay hold on him; and his hand which he put out against him dried up so +that he could not pull it again to him.” +</p> + +<p> +One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is spoken of as +a judgement,) happening to the chief of one of the parties, and that at the +first moment of the separation of the Israelites into two nations, would, if +it,. had been true, have been recorded in both histories. But though men, in +later times, have believed all that the prophets have said unto them, it does +appear that those prophets, or historians, disbelieved each other: they knew +each other too well. +</p> + +<p> +A long account also is given in Kings about Elijah. It runs through several +chapters, and concludes with telling, 2 Kings ii. 11, “And it came to +pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, that, behold, +there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and parted them both +asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” Hum! this the +author of Chronicles, miraculous as the story is, makes no mention of, though +he mentions Elijah by name; neither does he say anything of the story related +in the second chapter of the same book of Kings, of a parcel of children +calling Elisha bald head; and that this man of God (ver. 24) “turned +back, and looked upon them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord; and there +came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of +them.” He also passes over in silence the story told, 2 Kings xiii., that +when they were burying a man in the sepulchre where Elisha had been buried, it +happened that the dead man, as they were letting him down, (ver. 21) +“touched the bones of Elisha, and he (the dead man) revived, and stood up +on his feet.” The story does not tell us whether they buried the man, +notwithstanding he revived and stood upon his feet, or drew him up again. Upon +all these stories the writer of the Chronicles is as silent as any writer of +the present day, who did not chose to be accused of lying, or at least of +romancing, would be about stories of the same kind. +</p> + +<p> +But, however these two historians may differ from each other with respect to +the tales related by either, they are silent alike with respect to those men +styled prophets whose writings fill up the latter part of the Bible. Isaiah, +who lived in the time of Hezekiab, is mentioned in Kings, and again in +Chronicles, when these histories are speaking of that reign; but except in one +or two instances at most, and those very slightly, none of the rest are so much +as spoken of, or even their existence hinted at; though, according to the Bible +chronology, they lived within the time those histories were written; and some +of them long before. If those prophets, as they are called, were men of such +importance in their day, as the compilers of the Bible, and priests and +commentators have since represented them to be, how can it be accounted for +that not one of those histories should say anything about them? +</p> + +<p> +The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought forward, as I +have already said, to the year B.C. 588; it will, therefore, be proper to +examine which of these prophets lived before that period. +</p> + +<p> +Here follows a table of all the prophets, with the times in which they lived +before Christ, according to the chronology affixed to the first chapter of each +of the books of the prophets; and also of the number of years they lived before +the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: +</p> + +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +TABLE of the Prophets, with the time in which they lived before Christ, +and also before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + + Years Years before + NAMES. before Kings and Observations. + Christ. Chronicles. + + Isaiah............... 760 172 mentioned. + + + (mentioned only in + Jeremiah............. 629 41 the last [two] chapters + of Chronicles. + + Ezekiel.............. 595 7 not mentioned. + + Daniel............... 607 19 not mentioned. + + Hosea................ 785 97 not mentioned. + + Joel................. 800 212 not mentioned. + + Amos................. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Obadiah.............. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Jonah................ 862 274 see the note. + + Micah................ 750 162 not mentioned. + + Nahum................ 713 125 not mentioned. + + Habakkuk............. 620 38 not mentioned. + + Zepbaniah............ 630 42 not mentioned. +</pre> + +<p> +Haggai Zechariah all three after the year 588 Medachi [NOTE In 2 Kings xiv. 25, +the name of Jonah is mentioned on account of the restoration of a tract of land +by Jeroboam; but nothing further is said of him, nor is any allusion made to +the book of Jonah, nor to his expedition to Nineveh, nor to his encounter with +the whale.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +This table is either not very honourable for the Bible historians, or not very +honourable for the Bible prophets; and I leave to priests and commentators, who +are very learned in little things, to settle the point of etiquette between the +two; and to assign a reason, why the authors of Kings and of Chronicles have +treated those prophets, whom, in the former part of the ‘Age of +Reason,’ I have considered as poets, with as much degrading silence as +any historian of the present day would treat Peter Pindar. +</p> + +<p> +I have one more observation to make on the book of Chronicles; after which I +shall pass on to review the remaining books of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +In my observations on the book of Genesis, I have quoted a passage from xxxvi. +31, which evidently refers to a time, after that kings began to reign over the +children of Israel; and I have shown that as this verse is verbatim the same as +in 1 Chronicles i. 43, where it stands consistently with the order of history, +which in Genesis it does not, that the verse in Genesis, and a great part of +the 36th chapter, have been taken from Chronicles; and that the book of +Genesis, though it is placed first in the Bible, and ascribed to Moses, has +been manufactured by some unknown person, after the book of Chronicles was +written, which was not until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the +time of Moses. +</p> + +<p> +The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has in it but +two stages. First, as I have already stated, that the passage in Genesis refers +itself for time to Chronicles; secondly, that the book of Chronicles, to which +this passage refers itself, was not begun to be written until at least eight +hundred and sixty years after the time of Moses. To prove this, we have only to +look into 1 Chronicles iii. 15, where the writer, in giving the genealogy of +the descendants of David, mentions Zedekiah; and it was in the time of Zedekiah +that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, B.C. 588, and consequently more than +860 years after Moses. Those who have superstitiously boasted of the antiquity +of the Bible, and particularly of the books ascribed to Moses, have done it +without examination, and without any other authority than that of one credulous +man telling it to another: for, so far as historical and chronological evidence +applies, the very first book in the Bible is not so ancient as the book of +Homer, by more than three hundred years, and is about the same age with +Æsop’s Fables. +</p> + +<p> +I am not contending for the morality of Homer; on the contrary, I think it a +book of false glory, and tending to inspire immoral and mischievous notions of +honour; and with respect to Æsop, though the moral is in general just, the +fable is often cruel; and the cruelty of the fable does more injury to the +heart, especially in a child, than the moral does good to the judgment. +</p> + +<p> +Having now dismissed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in course, the +book of Ezra. +</p> + +<p> +As one proof, among others I shall produce to shew the disorder in which this +pretended word of God, the Bible, has been put together, and the uncertainty of +who the authors were, we have only to look at the first three verses in Ezra, +and the last two in 2 Chronicles; for by what kind of cutting and shuffling has +it been that the first three verses in Ezra should be the last two verses in 2 +Chronicles, or that the last two in 2 Chronicles should be the first three in +Ezra? Either the authors did not know their own works or the compilers did not +know the authors. +</p> + +<p> +Last Two Verses of 2 Chronicles. +</p> + +<p> +Ver. 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the +Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished, the Lord stirred +up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout +all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. +</p> + +<p> +earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him +an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his +people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. *** +</p> + +<p> +First Three Verses of Ezra. +</p> + +<p> +Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the +Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the +spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his +kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. +</p> + +<p> +2. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all +the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at +Jerusalem, which is in Judah. +</p> + +<p> +3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him +go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of +Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +*** The last verse in Chronicles is broken abruptly, and ends in the middle of +the phrase with the word ‘up’ without signifying to what place. +This abrupt break, and the appearance of the same verses in different books, +show as I have already said, the disorder and ignorance in which the Bible has +been put together, and that the compilers of it had no authority for what they +were doing, nor we any authority for believing what they have done. [NOTE I +observed, as I passed along, several broken and senseless passages in the +Bible, without thinking them of consequence enough to be introduced in the body +of the work; such as that, 1 Samuel xiii. 1, where it is said, “Saul +reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him +three thousand men,” &c. The first part of the verse, that Saul +reigned one year has no sense, since it does not tell us what Saul did, nor say +any thing of what happened at the end of that one year; and it is, besides, +mere absurdity to say he reigned one year, when the very next phrase says he +had reigned two for if he had reigned two, it was impossible not to have +reigned one. +</p> + +<p> +Another instance occurs in Joshua v. where the writer tells us a story of an +angel (for such the table of contents at the head of the chapter calls him) +appearing unto Joshua; and the story ends abruptly, and without any conclusion. +The story is as follows:—Ver. 13. “And it came to pass, when Joshua +was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold there stood a +man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him +and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?” Verse 14, +“And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. +And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship and said unto him, +What saith my Lord unto his servant?” Verse 15, “And the captain of +the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for +the place whereon thou standeth is holy. And Joshua did so.”—And +what then? nothing: for here the story ends, and the chapter too. +</p> + +<p> +Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told by some +Jewish humourist in ridicule of Joshua’s pretended mission from God, and +the compilers of the Bible, not perceiving the design of the story, have told +it as a serious matter. As a story of humour and ridicule it has a great deal +of point; for it pompously introduces an angel in the figure of a man, with a +drawn sword in his hand, before whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and +worships (which is contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most +important embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his shoe. It +might as well have told him to pull up his breeches. +</p> + +<p> +It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit every thing their leaders +told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which they speak of Moses, +when he was gone into the mount. As for this Moses, say they, we wot not what +is become of him. Exod. xxxii. 1.—Author. +</p> + +<p> +The only thing that has any appearance of certainty in the book of Ezra is the +time in which it was written, which was immediately after the return of the +Jews from the Babylonian captivity, about B.C. 536. Ezra (who, according to the +Jewish commentators, is the same person as is called Esdras in the Apocrypha) +was one of the persons who returned, and who, it is probable, wrote the account +of that affair. Nebemiah, whose book follows next to Ezra, was another of the +returned persons; and who, it is also probable, wrote the account of the same +affair, in the book that bears his name. But those accounts are nothing to us, +nor to any other person, unless it be to the Jews, as a part of the history of +their nation; and there is just as much of the word of God in those books as +there is in any of the histories of France, or Rapin’s history of +England, or the history of any other country. +</p> + +<p> +But even in matters of historical record, neither of those writers are to be +depended upon. In Ezra ii., the writer gives a list of the tribes and families, +and of the precise number of souls of each, that returned from Babylon to +Jerusalem; and this enrolment of the persons so returned appears to have been +one of the principal objects for writing the book; but in this there is an +error that destroys the intention of the undertaking. +</p> + +<p> +The writer begins his enrolment in the following manner (ii. 3): “The +children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy and four.” Ver. 4, +“The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.” And in +this manner he proceeds through all the families; and in the 64th verse, he +makes a total, and says, the whole congregation together was forty and two +thousand three hundred and threescore. +</p> + +<p> +But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several particulars, will +find that the total is but 29,818; so that the error is 12,542. What certainty +then can there be in the Bible for any thing? +</p> + +<p> +[Here Mr. Paine includes the long list of numbers from the Bible of all the +children listed and the total thereof. This can be had directly from the +Bible.] +</p> + +<p> +Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a list of the returned families, and of the +number of each family. He begins as in Ezra, by saying (vii. 8): “The +children of Parosh, two thousand three hundred and seventy-two;” and so +on through all the families. (The list differs in several of the particulars +from that of Ezra.) In ver. 66, Nehemiah makes a total, and says, as Ezra had +said, “The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three +hundred and threescore.” But the particulars of this list make a total +but of 31,089, so that the error here is 11,271. These writers may do well +enough for Bible-makers, but not for any thing where truth and exactness is +necessary. +</p> + +<p> +The next book in course is the book of Esther. If Madam Esther thought it any +honour to offer herself as a kept mistress to Ahasuerus, or as a rival to Queen +Vashti, who had refused to come to a drunken king in the midst of a drunken +company, to be made a show of, (for the account says, they had been drinking +seven days, and were merry,) let Esther and Mordecai look to that, it is no +business of ours, at least it is none of mine; besides which, the story has a +great deal the appearance of being fabulous, and is also anonymous. I pass on +to the book of Job. +</p> + +<p> +The book of Job differs in character from all the books we have hitherto passed +over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book; it is the meditations of +a mind strongly impressed with the vicissitudes of human life, and by turns +sinking under, and struggling against the pressure. It is a highly wrought +composition, between willing submission and involuntary discontent; and shows +man, as he sometimes is, more disposed to be resigned than he is capable of +being. Patience has but a small share in the character of the person of whom +the book treats; on the contrary, his grief is often impetuous; but he still +endeavours to keep a guard upon it, and seems determined, in the midst of +accumulating ills, to impose upon himself the hard duty of contentment. +</p> + +<p> +I have spoken in a respectful manner of the book of Job in the former part of +the ‘Age of Reason,’ but without knowing at that time what I have +learned since; which is, that from all the evidence that can be collected, the +book of Job does not belong to the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and Spinoza, upon +this subject; they both say that the book of Job carries no internal evidence +of being an Hebrew book; that the genius of the composition, and the drama of +the piece, are not Hebrew; that it has been translated from another language +into Hebrew, and that the author of the book was a Gentile; that the character +represented under the name of Satan (which is the first and only time this name +is mentioned in the Bible) [In a later work Paine notes that in “the +Bible” (by which he always means the Old Testament alone) the word Satan +occurs also in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, and remarks that the action there ascribed to +Satan is in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, attributed to Jehovah (“Essay on +Dreams”). In these places, however, and in Ps. cix. 6, Satan means +“adversary,” and is so translated (A.S. version) in 2 Sam. xix. 22, +and 1 Kings v. 4, xi. 25. As a proper name, with the article, Satan appears in +the Old Testament only in Job and in Zech. iii. 1, 2. But the authenticity of +the passage in Zechariah has been questioned, and it may be that in finding the +proper name of Satan in Job alone, Paine was following some opinion met with in +one of the authorities whose comments are condensed in his +paragraph.—Editor.] does not correspond to any Hebrew idea; and that the +two convocations which the Deity is supposed to have made of those whom the +poem calls sons of God, and the familiarity which this supposed Satan is stated +to have with the Deity, are in the same case. +</p> + +<p> +It may also be observed, that the book shows itself to be the production of a +mind cultivated in science, which the Jews, so far from being famous for, were +very ignorant of. The allusions to objects of natural philosophy are frequent +and strong, and are of a different cast to any thing in the books known to be +Hebrew. The astronomical names, Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, are Greek and +not Hebrew names, and it does not appear from any thing that is to be found in +the Bible that the Jews knew any thing of astronomy, or that they studied it, +they had no translation of those names into their own language, but adopted the +names as they found them in the poem. [Paine’s Jewish critic, David Levi, +fastened on this slip (“Defence of the Old Testament,” 1797, p. +152). In the original the names are Ash (Arcturus), Kesil’ (Orion), +Kimah’ (Pleiades), though the identifications of the constellations in +the A.S.V. have been questioned.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile nations +into the Hebrew language, and mix them with their own, is not a matter of +doubt; Proverbs xxxi. i, is an evidence of this: it is there said, The word of +king Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. This verse stands as a +preface to the proverbs that follow, and which are not the proverbs of Solomon, +but of Lemuel; and this Lemuel was not one of the kings of Israel, nor of +Judah, but of some other country, and consequently a Gentile. The Jews however +have adopted his proverbs; and as they cannot give any account who the author +of the book of Job was, nor how they came by the book, and as it differs in +character from the Hebrew writings, and stands totally unconnected with every +other book and chapter in the Bible before it and after it, it has all the +circumstantial evidence of being originally a book of the Gentiles. [The prayer +known by the name of Agur’s Prayer, in Proverbs xxx.,—immediately +preceding the proverbs of Lemuel,—and which is the only sensible, +well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, has much the appearance +of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. The name of Agur occurs on no other +occasion than this; and he is introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to +him, in the same manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his +proverbs are introduced in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, +“The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:” here the +word prophecy is used with the same application it has in the following chapter +of Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer of Agur is in +the 8th and 9th verses, “Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me +neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be +full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and +take the name of my God in vain.” This has not any of the marks of being +a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never prayed but when they were in trouble, and +never for anything but victory, vengeance, or riches.—Author. (Prov. xxx. +1, and xxxi. 1) the word “prophecy” in these verses is translated +“oracle” or “burden” (marg.) in the revised +version.—The prayer of Agur was quoted by Paine in his plea for the +officers of Excise, 1772.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible chronologists, appear +to have been at a loss where to place and how to dispose of the book of Job; +for it contains no one historical circumstance, nor allusion to any, that might +serve to determine its place in the Bible. But it would not have answered the +purpose of these men to have informed the world of their ignorance; and, +therefore, they have affixed it to the aera of B.C. 1520, which is during the +time the Israelites were in Egypt, and for which they have just as much +authority and no more than I should have for saying it was a thousand years +before that period. The probability however is, that it is older than any book +in the Bible; and it is the only one that can be read without indignation or +disgust. +</p> + +<p> +We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) was before +the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to calumniate and blacken the +character of all other nations; and it is from the Jewish accounts that we have +learned to call them heathens. But, as far as we know to the contrary, they +were a just and moral people, and not addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and +revenge, but of whose profession of faith we are unacquainted. It appears to +have been their custom to personify both virtue and vice by statues and images, +as is done now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but it does not follow +from this that they worshipped them any more than we do.—I pass on to the +book of, +</p> + +<p> +Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation. Some of them are +moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater part relates to certain +local circumstances of the Jewish nation at the time they were written, with +which we have nothing to do. It is, however, an error or an imposition to call +them the Psalms of David; they are a collection, as song-books are now-a-days, +from different song-writers, who lived at different times. The 137th Psalm +could not have been written till more than 400 years after the time of David, +because it is written in commemoration of an event, the captivity of the Jews +in Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time. “By the +rivers of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged +our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they that carried +us away captive required of us a song, saying, sing us one of the songs of +Zion.” As a man would say to an American, or to a Frenchman, or to an +Englishman, sing us one of your American songs, or your French songs, or your +English songs. This remark, with respect to the time this psalm was written, is +of no other use than to show (among others already mentioned) the general +imposition the world has been under with respect to the authors of the Bible. +No regard has been paid to time, place, and circumstance; and the names of +persons have been affixed to the several books which it was as impossible they +should write, as that a man should walk in procession at his own funeral. +</p> + +<p> +The Book of Proverbs. These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and that from +authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish nation, as I have +shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; besides which, some of the +Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not appear till two hundred and fifty years +after the death of Solomon; for it is said in xxv. i, “These are also +proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied +out.” It was two hundred and fifty years from the time of Solomon to the +time of Hezekiah. When a man is famous and his name is abroad he is made the +putative father of things he never said or did; and this, most probably, has +been the case with Solomon. It appears to have been the fashion of that day to +make proverbs, as it is now to make jest-books, and father them upon those who +never saw them. [A “Tom Paine’s Jest Book” had appeared in +London with little or nothing of Paine in it.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon, and +that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written as the solitary +reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon was, who looking back on +scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All is Vanity! A great deal of the +metaphor and of the sentiment is obscure, most probably by translation; but +enough is left to show they were strongly pointed in the original. [Those that +look out of the window shall be darkened, is an obscure figure in translation +for loss of sight.—Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the +character of Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at last +melancholy. He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the age of +fifty-eight years. +</p> + +<p> +Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than none; and, +however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened enjoyment, it defeats +all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no point to fix upon; divided love +is never happy. This was the case with Solomon; and if he could not, with all +his pretensions to wisdom, discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the +mortification he afterwards endured. In this point of view, his preaching is +unnecessary, because, to know the consequences, it is only necessary to know +the cause. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would have stood +in place of the whole book. It was needless after this to say that all was +vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive happiness from +the company of those whom we deprive of happiness. +</p> + +<p> +To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to objects +that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that we take the rest +as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is miserable in old age; and the +mere drudge in business is but little better: whereas, natural philosophy, +mathematical and mechanical science, are a continual source of tranquil +pleasure, and in spite of the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, +the study of those things is the study of the true theology; it teaches man to +know and to admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the +creation, and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. +</p> + +<p> +Those who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollect, that his mind was ever young; +his temper ever serene; science, that never grows grey, was always his +mistress. He was never without an object; for when we cease to have an object +we become like an invalid in an hospital waiting for death. +</p> + +<p> +Solomon’s Songs, amorous and foolish enough, but which wrinkled +fanaticism has called divine.—The compilers of the Bible have placed +these songs after the book of Ecclesiastes; and the chronologists have affixed +to them the aera of B.C. 1014, at which time Solomon, according to the same +chronology, was nineteen years of age, and was then forming his seraglio of +wives and concubines. The Bible-makers and the chronologists should have +managed this matter a little better, and either have said nothing about the +time, or chosen a time less inconsistent with the supposed divinity of those +songs; for Solomon was then in the honey-moon of one thousand debaucheries. +</p> + +<p> +It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did write, the +book of Ecclesiastes, long after these songs, and in which he exclaims that all +is vanity and vexation of spirit, that he included those songs in that +description. This is the more probable, because he says, or somebody for him, +Ecclesiastes ii. 8, I got me men-singers, and women-singers [most probably to +sing those songs], and musical instruments of all sorts; and behold (Ver. ii), +“all was vanity and vexation of spirit.” The compilers however have +done their work but by halves; for as they have given us the songs they should +have given us the tunes, that we might sing them. +</p> + +<p> +The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the remaining part of +the Bible; they are sixteen in number, beginning with Isaiah and ending with +Malachi, of which I have given a list in the observations upon Chronicles. Of +these sixteen prophets, all of whom except the last three lived within the time +the books of Kings and Chronicles were written, two only, Isaiah and Jeremiah, +are mentioned in the history of those books. I shall begin with those two, +reserving, what I have to say on the general character of the men called +prophets to another part of the work. +</p> + +<p> +Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed to Isaiah, will find +it one of the most wild and disorderly compositions ever put together; it has +neither beginning, middle, nor end; and, except a short historical part, and a +few sketches of history in the first two or three chapters, is one continued +incoherent, bombastical rant, full of extravagant metaphor, without +application, and destitute of meaning; a school-boy would scarcely have been +excusable for writing such stuff; it is (at least in translation) that kind of +composition and false taste that is properly called prose run mad. +</p> + +<p> +The historical part begins at chapter xxxvi., and is continued to the end of +chapter xxxix. It relates some matters that are said to have passed during the +reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, at which time Isaiah lived. This fragment of +history begins and ends abruptly; it has not the least connection with the +chapter that precedes it, nor with that which follows it, nor with any other in +the book. It is probable that Isaiah wrote this fragment himself, because he +was an actor in the circumstances it treats of; but except this part there are +scarcely two chapters that have any connection with each other. One is +entitled, at the beginning of the first verse, the burden of Babylon; another, +the burden of Moab; another, the burden of Damascus; another, the burden of +Egypt; another, the burden of the Desert of the Sea; another, the burden of the +Valley of Vision: as you would say the story of the Knight of the Burning +Mountain, the story of Cinderella, or the glassen slipper, the story of the +Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, etc., etc. +</p> + +<p> +I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 Chronicles, +and the first three in Ezra, that the compilers of the Bible mixed and +confounded the writings of different authors with each other; which alone, were +there no other cause, is sufficient to destroy the authenticity of an +compilation, because it is more than presumptive evidence that the compilers +are ignorant who the authors were. A very glaring instance of this occurs in +the book ascribed to Isaiah: the latter part of the 44th chapter, and the +beginning of the 45th, so far from having been written by Isaiah, could only +have been written by some person who lived at least an hundred and fifty years +after Isaiah was dead. +</p> + +<p> +These chapters are a compliment to Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to return to +Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, +as is stated in Ezra. The last verse of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of +the 45th [Isaiah] are in the following words: “That saith of Cyrus, he is +my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou +shalt be built; and to the temple thy foundations shall be laid: thus saith the +Lord to his enointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue +nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the +two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before +thee,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +What audacity of church and priestly ignorance it is to impose this book upon +the world as the writing of Isaiah, when Isaiah, according to their own +chronology, died soon after the death of Hezekiah, which was B.C. 698; and the +decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews returning to Jerusalem, was, according +to the same chronology, B.C. 536; which is a distance of time between the two +of 162 years. I do not suppose that the compilers of the Bible made these +books, but rather that they picked up some loose, anonymous essays, and put +them together under the names of such authors as best suited their purpose. +They have encouraged the imposition, which is next to inventing it; for it was +impossible but they must have observed it. +</p> + +<p> +When we see the studied craft of the scripture-makers, in making every part of +this romantic book of school-boy’s eloquence bend to the monstrous idea +of a Son of God, begotten by a ghost on the body of a virgin, there is no +imposition we are not justified in suspecting them of. Every phrase and +circumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of superstitious torture, and +forced into meanings it was impossible they could have. The head of every +chapter, and the top of every page, are blazoned with the names of Christ and +the Church, that the unwary reader might suck in the error before he began to +read. +</p> + +<p> +Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. vii. I4), has been +interpreted to mean the person called Jesus Christ, and his mother Mary, and +has been echoed through christendom for more than a thousand years; and such +has been the rage of this opinion, that scarcely a spot in it but has been +stained with blood and marked with desolation in consequence of it. Though it +is not my intention to enter into controversy on subjects of this kind, but to +confine myself to show that the Bible is spurious,—and thus, by taking +away the foundation, to overthrow at once the whole structure of superstition +raised thereon,—I will however stop a moment to expose the fallacious +application of this passage. +</p> + +<p> +Whether Isaiah was playing a trick with Ahaz, king of Judah, to whom this +passage is spoken, is no business of mine; I mean only to show the +misapplication of the passage, and that it has no more reference to Christ and +his mother, than it has to me and my mother. The story is simply this: +</p> + +<p> +The king of Syria and the king of Israel (I have already mentioned that the +Jews were split into two nations, one of which was called Judah, the capital of +which was Jerusalem, and the other Israel) made war jointly against Ahaz, king +of Judah, and marched their armies towards Jerusalem. Ahaz and his people +became alarmed, and the account says (Is. vii. 2), Their hearts were moved as +the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. +</p> + +<p> +In this situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and assures him +in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the prophets) that these two +kings should not succeed against him; and to satisfy Ahaz that this should be +the case, tells him to ask a sign. This, the account says, Ahaz declined doing; +giving as a reason that he would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who is +the speaker, says, ver. 14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a +sign; behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son;” and the 16th verse +says, “And before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose +the good, the land which thou abhorrest or dreadest [meaning Syria and the +kingdom of Israel] shall be forsaken of both her kings.” Here then was +the sign, and the time limited for the completion of the assurance or promise; +namely, before this child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good. +</p> + +<p> +Isaiah having committed himself thus far, it became necessary to him, in order +to avoid the imputation of being a false prophet, and the consequences thereof, +to take measures to make this sign appear. It certainly was not a difficult +thing, in any time of the world, to find a girl with child, or to make her so; +and perhaps Isaiah knew of one beforehand; for I do not suppose that the +prophets of that day were any more to be trusted than the priests of this: be +that, however, as it may, he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, “And I +took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the +son of Jeberechiah, and I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare +a son.” +</p> + +<p> +Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and this virgin; +and it is upon the barefaced perversion of this story that the book of Matthew, +and the impudence and sordid interest of priests in later times, have founded a +theory, which they call the gospel; and have applied this story to signify the +person they call Jesus Christ; begotten, they say, by a ghost, whom they call +holy, on the body of a woman engaged in marriage, and afterwards married, whom +they call a virgin, seven hundred years after this foolish story was told; a +theory which, speaking for myself, I hesitate not to believe, and to say, is as +fabulous and as false as God is true. [In Is. vii. 14, it is said that the +child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given to either of the +children, otherwise than as a character, which the word signifies. That of the +prophetess was called Maher-shalalhash-baz, and that of Mary was called +Jesus.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah we have only to attend to +the sequel of this story; which, though it is passed over in silence in the +book of Isaiah, is related in 2 Chronicles, xxviii; and which is, that instead +of these two kings failing in their attempt against Ahaz, king of Judah, as +Isaiah had pretended to foretel in the name of the Lord, they succeeded: Ahaz +was defeated and destroyed; an hundred and twenty thousand of his people were +slaughtered; Jerusalem was plundered, and two hundred thousand women and sons +and daughters carried into captivity. Thus much for this lying prophet and +imposter Isaiah, and the book of falsehoods that bears his name. I pass on to +the book of Jeremiah. This prophet, as he is called, lived in the time that +Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of +Judah; and the suspicion was strong against him that he was a traitor in the +interest of Nebuchadnezzar. Every thing relating to Jeremiah shows him to have +been a man of an equivocal character: in his metaphor of the potter and the +clay, (ch. xviii.) he guards his prognostications in such a crafty manner as +always to leave himself a door to escape by, in case the event should be +contrary to what he had predicted. In the 7th and 8th verses he makes the +Almighty to say, “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and +concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and destroy it, if that +nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent me +of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” Here was a proviso against +one side of the case: now for the other side. Verses 9 and 10, “At what +instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build +and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I +will repent me of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them.” Here +is a proviso against the other side; and, according to this plan of +prophesying, a prophet could never be wrong, however mistaken the Almighty +might be. This sort of absurd subterfuge, and this manner of speaking of the +Almighty, as one would speak of a man, is consistent with nothing but the +stupidity of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it in order to +decide positively that, though some passages recorded therein may have been +spoken by Jeremiah, he is not the author of the book. The historical parts, if +they can be called by that name, are in the most confused condition; the same +events are several times repeated, and that in a manner different, and +sometimes in contradiction to each other; and this disorder runs even to the +last chapter, where the history, upon which the greater part of the book has +been employed, begins anew, and ends abruptly. The book has all the appearance +of being a medley of unconnected anecdotes respecting persons and things of +that time, collected together in the same rude manner as if the various and +contradictory accounts that are to be found in a bundle of newspapers, +respecting persons and things of the present day, were put together without +date, order, or explanation. I will give two or three examples of this kind. +</p> + +<p> +It appears, from the account of chapter xxxvii. that the army of +Nebuchadnezzer, which is called the army of the Chaldeans, had besieged +Jerusalem some time; and on their hearing that the army of Pharaoh of Egypt was +marching against them, they raised the siege and retreated for a time. It may +here be proper to mention, in order to understand this confused history, that +Nebuchadnezzar had besieged and taken Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoakim, +the redecessor of Zedekiah; and that it was Nebuchadnezzar who had make +Zedekiah king, or rather viceroy; and that this second siege, of which the book +of Jeremiah treats, was in consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against +Nebuchadnezzar. This will in some measure account for the suspicion that +affixes itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the interest of +Nebuchadnezzar,—whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the servant of God. +</p> + +<p> +Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, “And it came to pass, that, when the army of +the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of Pharaoh’s army, +that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as this account states) into +the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people; +and when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captain of the ward was there, whose +name was Irijah... and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away +to the Chaldeans; then Jeremiah said, It is false; I fall not away to the +Chaldeans.” Jeremiah being thus stopt and accused, was, after being +examined, committed to prison, on suspicion of being a traitor, where he +remained, as is stated in the last verse of this chapter. +</p> + +<p> +But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah, which +has no connection with this account, but ascribes his imprisonment to another +circumstance, and for which we must go back to chapter xxi. It is there stated, +ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of +Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah, to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, +whose army was then before Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, +“Thus saith the Lord, Behold I set before you the way of life, and the +way of death; he that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the +famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the +Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a +prey.” +</p> + +<p> +This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the 10th verse +of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book that we have to pass +over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in order to come at the +continuation and event of this conference; and this brings us to the first +verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just mentioned. The chapter opens with +saying, “Then Shaphatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, +and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, (here are more +persons mentioned than in chapter xxi.) heard the words that Jeremiah spoke +unto all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this +city, shall die by the sword, by famine, and by the pestilence; but he that +goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, +and shall live”; [which are the words of the conference;] therefore, (say +they to Zedekiah,) “We beseech thee, let this man be put to death, for +thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the +hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man seeketh +not the welfare of the people, but the hurt:” and at the 6th verse it is +said, “Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into the dungeon of +Malchiah.” +</p> + +<p> +These two accounts are different and contradictory. The one ascribes his +imprisonment to his attempt to escape out of the city; the other to his +preaching and prophesying in the city; the one to his being seized by the guard +at the gate; the other to his being accused before Zedekiah by the conferees. +[I observed two chapters in I Samuel (xvi. and xvii.) that contradict each +other with respect to David, and the manner he became acquainted with Saul; as +Jeremiah xxxvii. and xxxviii. contradict each other with respect to the cause +of Jeremiah’s imprisonment. +</p> + +<p> +In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled Saul, and +that his servants advised him (as a remedy) “to seek out a man who was a +cunning player upon the harp.” And Saul said, ver. 17, “Provide me +now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of his +servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that +is cunning in playing, and a mighty man, and a man of war, and prudent in +matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him; wherefore Saul sent +messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David, thy son. And (verse 21) David +came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his +armour-bearer; and when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, (verse 23) +David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was +well.” +</p> + +<p> +But the next chapter (xvii.) gives an account, all different to this, of the +manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is ascribed to +David’s encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his father to carry +provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th verse of this chapter it is +said, “And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine (Goliah) +he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And +Abner said, As thy soul liveth, 0 king, I cannot tell. And the king said, +Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. And as David returned from the +slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with +the head of the Philistine in his hand; and Saul said unto him, Whose son art +thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, +the Betblehemite,” These two accounts belie each other, because each of +them supposes Saul and David not to have known each other before. This book, +the Bible, is too ridiculous for criticism.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +In the next chapter (Jer. xxxix.) we have another instance of the disordered +state of this book; for notwithstanding the siege of the city by Nebuchadnezzar +has been the subject of several of the preceding chapters, particularly xxxvii. +and xxxviii., chapter xxxix. begins as if not a word had been said upon the +subject, and as if the reader was still to be informed of every particular +respecting it; for it begins with saying, ver. 1, “In the ninth year of +Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of +Babylon, and all his army, against Jerusalem, and besieged it,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; for though +the story has been told over and over again, this chapter still supposes the +reader not to know anything of it, for it begins by saying, ver. i, +“Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he +reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the +daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.” (Ver. 4,) “And it came to pass in +the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of +Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, +and built forts against it,” etc. +</p> + +<p> +It is not possible that any one man, and more particularly Jeremiah, could have +been the writer of this book. The errors are such as could not have been +committed by any person sitting down to compose a work. Were I, or any other +man, to write in such a disordered manner, no body would read what was written, +and every body would suppose that the writer was in a state of insanity. The +only way, therefore, to account for the disorder is, that the book is a medley +of detached unauthenticated anecdotes, put together by some stupid book-maker, +under the name of Jeremiah; because many of them refer to him, and to the +circumstances of the times he lived in. +</p> + +<p> +Of the duplicity, and of the false predictions of Jeremiah, I shall mention two +instances, and then proceed to review the remainder of the Bible. +</p> + +<p> +It appears from chapter xxxviii. that when Jeremiah was in prison, Zedekiah +sent for him, and at this interview, which was private, Jeremiah pressed it +strongly on Zedekiah to surrender himself to the enemy. “If,” says +he, (ver. 17,) “thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of +Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live,” etc. Zedekiah was +apprehensive that what passed at this conference should be known; and he said +to Jeremiah, (ver. 25,) “If the princes [meaning those of Judah] hear +that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, +Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king; hide it not from us, and +we will not put thee to death; and also what the king said unto thee; then thou +shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king that he would +not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there. Then came all +the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him, and “he told them according to +all the words the king had commanded.” Thus, this man of God, as he is +called, could tell a lie, or very strongly prevaricate, when he supposed it +would answer his purpose; for certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to make this +supplication, neither did he make it; he went because he was sent for, and he +employed that opportunity to advise Zedekiah to surrender himself to +Nebuchadnezzar. +</p> + +<p> +In chapter xxxiv. 2-5, is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah in these words: +“Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the hand of the +king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire; and thou shalt not escape out +of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and +thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak +with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of +the Lord; O Zedekiah, king, of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die +by the sword, but thou shalt die in Peace; and with the burnings of thy +fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for +thee, and they will lament thee, saying, Ah, Lord! for I have pronounced the +word, saith the Lord.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, and +speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the burning of +odours, as at the funeral of his fathers, (as Jeremiah had declared the Lord +himself had pronounced,) the reverse, according to chapter Iii., 10, 11 was the +case; it is there said, that the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah +before his eyes: then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, +and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. +</p> + +<p> +What then can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors and liars? +</p> + +<p> +As for Jeremiah, he experienced none of those evils. He was taken into favour +by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him in charge to the captain of the guard (xxxix, +12), “Take him (said he) and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do +unto him even as he shall say unto thee.” Jeremiah joined himself +afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, and went about prophesying for him against the +Egyptians, who had marched to the relief of Jerusalem while it was besieged. +Thus much for another of the lying prophets, and the book that bears his name. +</p> + +<p> +I have been the more particular in treating of the books ascribed to Isaiah and +Jeremiah, because those two are spoken of in the books of Kings and Chronicles, +which the others are not. The remainder of the books ascribed to the men called +prophets I shall not trouble myself much about; but take them collectively into +the observations I shall offer on the character of the men styled prophets. +</p> + +<p> +In the former part of the ‘Age of Reason,’ I have said that the +word prophet was the Bible-word for poet, and that the flights and metaphors of +Jewish poets have been foolishly erected into what are now called prophecies. I +am sufficiently justified in this opinion, not only because the books called +the prophecies are written in poetical language, but because there is no word +in the Bible, except it be the word prophet, that describes what we mean by a +poet. I have also said, that the word signified a performer upon musical +instruments, of which I have given some instances; such as that of a company of +prophets, prophesying with psalteries, with tabrets, with pipes, with harps, +etc., and that Saul prophesied with them, 1 Sam. x., 5. It appears from this +passage, and from other parts in the book of Samuel, that the word prophet was +confined to signify poetry and music; for the person who was supposed to have a +visionary insight into concealed things, was not a prophet but a seer, [I know +not what is the Hebrew word that corresponds to the word seer in English; but I +observe it is translated into French by Le Voyant, from the verb voir to see, +and which means the person who sees, or the seer.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +[The Hebrew word for Seer, in 1 Samuel ix., transliterated, is chozeh, the +gazer, it is translated in Is. xlvii. 13, “the +stargazers.”—Editor.] (i Sam, ix. 9;) and it was not till after the +word seer went out of use (which most probably was when Saul banished those he +called wizards) that the profession of the seer, or the art of seeing, became +incorporated into the word prophet. +</p> + +<p> +According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophesying, it +signifies foretelling events to a great distance of time; and it became +necessary to the inventors of the gospel to give it this latitude of meaning, +in order to apply or to stretch what they call the prophecies of the Old +Testament, to the times of the New. But according to the Old Testament, the +prophesying of the seer, and afterwards of the prophet, so far as the meaning +of the word “seer” was incorporated into that of prophet, had +reference only to things of the time then passing, or very closely connected +with it; such as the event of a battle they were going to engage in, or of a +journey, or of any enterprise they were going to undertake, or of any +circumstance then pending, or of any difficulty they were then in; all of which +had immediate reference to themselves (as in the case already mentioned of Ahaz +and Isaiah with respect to the expression, Behold a virgin shall conceive and +bear a son,) and not to any distant future time. It was that kind of +prophesying that corresponds to what we call fortune-telling; such as casting +nativities, predicting riches, fortunate or unfortunate marriages, conjuring +for lost goods, etc.; and it is the fraud of the Christian church, not that of +the Jews, and the ignorance and the superstition of modern, not that of ancient +times, that elevated those poetical, musical, conjuring, dreaming, strolling +gentry, into the rank they have since had. +</p> + +<p> +But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had also a +particular character. They were in parties, and they prophesied for or against, +according to the party they were with; as the poetical and political writers of +the present day write in defence of the party they associate with against the +other. +</p> + +<p> +After the Jews were divided into two nations, that of Judah and that of Israel, +each party had its prophets, who abused and accused each other of being false +prophets, lying prophets, impostors, etc. +</p> + +<p> +The prophets of the party of Judah prophesied against the prophets of the party +of Israel; and those of the party of Israel against those of Judah. This party +prophesying showed itself immediately on the separation under the first two +rival kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The prophet that cursed, or prophesied +against the altar that Jeroboam had built in Bethel, was of the party of Judah, +where Rehoboam was king; and he was way-laid on his return home by a prophet of +the party of Israel, who said unto him (i Kings xiii.) “Art thou the man +of God that came from Judah? and he said, I am.” Then the prophet of the +party of Israel said to him “I am a prophet also, as thou art, +[signifying of Judah,] and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, +saying, Bring him back with thee unto thine house, that he may eat bread and +drink water; but (says the 18th verse) he lied unto him.” The event, +however, according to the story, is, that the prophet of Judah never got back +to Judah; for he was found dead on the road by the contrivance of the prophet +of Israel, who no doubt was called a true prophet by his own party, and the +prophet of Judah a lying prophet. +</p> + +<p> +In 2 Kings, iii., a story is related of prophesying or conjuring that shews, in +several particulars, the character of a prophet. Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and +Joram king of Israel, had for a while ceased their party animosity, and entered +into an alliance; and these two, together with the king of Edom, engaged in a +war against the king of Moab. After uniting and marching their armies, the +story says, they were in great distress for water, upon which Jehoshaphat said, +“Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord +by him? and one of the servants of the king of Israel said here is Elisha. +[Elisha was of the party of Judah.] And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said, The +word of the Lord is with him.” The story then says, that these three +kings went down to Elisha; and when Elisha [who, as I have said, was a +Judahmite prophet] saw the King of Israel, he said unto him, “What have I +to do with thee, get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of thy +mother. Nay but, said the king of Israel, the Lord hath called these three +kings together, to deliver them into the hands of the king of Moab,” +(meaning because of the distress they were in for water;) upon which Elisha +said, “As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, surely, were it +not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look +towards thee nor see thee.” Here is all the venom and vulgarity of a +party prophet. We are now to see the performance, or manner of prophesying. +</p> + +<p> +Ver. 15. “‘Bring me,’ (said Elisha), ‘a +minstrel’; and it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand +of the Lord came upon him.” Here is the farce of the conjurer. Now for +the prophecy: “And Elisha said, [singing most probably to the tune he was +playing], Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches;” which +was just telling them what every countryman could have told them without either +fiddle or farce, that the way to get water was to dig for it. +</p> + +<p> +But as every conjuror is not famous alike for the same thing, so neither were +those prophets; for though all of them, at least those I have spoken of, were +famous for lying, some of them excelled in cursing. Elisha, whom I have just +mentioned, was a chief in this branch of prophesying; it was he that cursed the +forty-two children in the name of the Lord, whom the two she-bears came and +devoured. We are to suppose that those children were of the party of Israel; +but as those who will curse will lie, there is just as much credit to be given +to this story of Elisha’s two she-bears as there is to that of the Dragon +of Wantley, of whom it is said: +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Poor children three devoured be,<br /> +That could not with him grapple;<br /> +And at one sup he eat them up,<br /> +As a man would eat an apple. +</p> + +<p> +There was another description of men called prophets, that amused themselves +with dreams and visions; but whether by night or by day we know not. These, if +they were not quite harmless, were but little mischievous. Of this class are, +</p> + +<p> +EZEKIEL and DANIEL; and the first question upon these books, as upon all the +others, is, Are they genuine? that is, were they written by Ezekiel and Daniel? +</p> + +<p> +Of this there is no proof; but so far as my own opinion goes, I am more +inclined to believe they were, than that they were not. My reasons for this +opinion are as follows: First, Because those books do not contain internal +evidence to prove they were not written by Ezekiel and Daniel, as the books +ascribed to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc., prove they were not written by Moses, +Joshua, Samuel, etc. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, Because they were not written till after the Babylonish captivity +began; and there is good reason to believe that not any book in the bible was +written before that period; at least it is proveable, from the books +themselves, as I have already shown, that they were not written till after the +commencement of the Jewish monarchy. +</p> + +<p> +Thirdly, Because the manner in which the books ascribed to Ezekiel and Daniel +are written, agrees with the condition these men were in at the time of writing +them. +</p> + +<p> +Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly employed or +wasted their time in pretending to expound and unriddle those books, been +carred into captivity, as Ezekiel and Daniel were, it would greatly have +improved their intellects in comprehending the reason for this mode of writing, +and have saved them the trouble of racking their invention, as they have done +to no purpose; for they would have found that themselves would be obliged to +write whatever they had to write, respecting their own affairs, or those of +their friends, or of their country, in a concealed manner, as those men have +done. +</p> + +<p> +These two books differ from all the rest; for it is only these that are filled +with accounts of dreams and visions: and this difference arose from the +situation the writers were in as prisoners of war, or prisoners of state, in a +foreign country, which obliged them to convey even the most trifling +information to each other, and all their political projects or opinions, in +obscure and metaphorical terms. They pretend to have dreamed dreams, and seen +visions, because it was unsafe for them to speak facts or plain language. We +ought, however, to suppose, that the persons to whom they wrote understood what +they meant, and that it was not intended anybody else should. But these busy +commentators and priests have been puzzling their wits to find out what it was +not intended they should know, and with which they have nothing to do. +</p> + +<p> +Ezekiel and Daniel were carried prisoners to Babylon, under the first +captivity, in the time of Jehoiakim, nine years before the second captivity in +the time of Zedekiah. The Jews were then still numerous, and had considerable +force at Jerusalem; and as it is natural to suppose that men in the situation +of Ezekiel and Daniel would be meditating the recovery of their country, and +their own deliverance, it is reasonable to suppose that the accounts of dreams +and visions with which these books are filled, are no other than a disguised +mode of correspondence to facilitate those objects: it served them as a cypher, +or secret alphabet. If they are not this, they are tales, reveries, and +nonsense; or at least a fanciful way of wearing off the wearisomeness of +captivity; but the presumption is, they are the former. +</p> + +<p> +Ezekiel begins his book by speaking of a vision of cherubims, and of a wheel +within a wheel, which he says he saw by the river Chebar, in the land of his +captivity. Is it not reasonable to suppose that by the cherubims he meant the +temple at Jerusalem, where they had figures of cherubims? and by a wheel within +a wheel (which as a figure has always been understood to signify political +contrivance) the project or means of recovering Jerusalem? In the latter part +of his book he supposes himself transported to Jerusalem, and into the temple; +and he refers back to the vision on the river Chebar, and says, (xliii- 3,) +that this last vision was like the vision on the river Chebar; which indicates +that those pretended dreams and visions had for their object the recovery of +Jerusalem, and nothing further. +</p> + +<p> +As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the dreams and +visions they undertake to explain, which commentators and priests have made of +those books, that of converting them into things which they call prophecies, +and making them bend to times and circumstances as far remote even as the +present day, it shows the fraud or the extreme folly to which credulity or +priestcraft can go. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely anything can be more absurd than to suppose that men situated as +Ezekiel and Daniel were, whose country was over-run, and in the possession of +the enemy, all their friends and relations in captivity abroad, or in slavery +at home, or massacred, or in continual danger of it; scarcely any thing, I say, +can be more absurd than to suppose that such men should find nothing to do but +that of employing their time and their thoughts about what was to happen to +other nations a thousand or two thousand years after they were dead; at the +same time nothing more natural than that they should meditate the recovery of +Jerusalem, and their own deliverance; and that this was the sole object of all +the obscure and apparently frantic writing contained in those books. +</p> + +<p> +In this sense the mode of writing used in those two books being forced by +necessity, and not adopted by choice, is not irrational; but, if we are to use +the books as prophecies, they are false. In Ezekiel xxix. 11., speaking of +Egypt, it is said, “No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of +beast pass through it; neither shall it be inhabited for forty years.” +This is what never came to pass, and consequently it is false, as all the books +I have already reviewed are.—I here close this part of the subject. +</p> + +<p> +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason’ I have spoken of Jonah, +and of the story of him and the whale.—A fit story for ridicule, if it +was written to be believed; or of laughter, if it was intended to try what +credulity could swallow; for, if it could swallow Jonah and the whale it could +swallow anything. +</p> + +<p> +But, as is already shown in the observations on the book of Job and of +Proverbs, it is not always certain which of the books in the Bible are +originally Hebrew, or only translations from the books of the Gentiles into +Hebrew; and, as the book of Jonah, so far from treating of the affairs of the +Jews, says nothing upon that subject, but treats altogether of the Gentiles, it +is more probable that it is a book of the Gentiles than of the Jews, [I have +read in an ancient Persian poem (Saadi, I believe, but have mislaid the +reference) this phrase: “And now the whale swallowed Jonah: the sun +set.”—Editor.] and that it has been written as a fable to expose +the nonsense, and satyrize the vicious and malignant character, of a +Bible-prophet, or a predicting priest. +</p> + +<p> +Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away from his +mission, and taking shelter aboard a vessel of the Gentiles, bound from Joppa +to Tarshish; as if he ignorantly supposed, by such a paltry contrivance, he +could hide himself where God could not find him. The vessel is overtaken by a +storm at sea; and the mariners, all of whom are Gentiles, believing it to be a +judgement on account of some one on board who had committed a crime, agreed to +cast lots to discover the offender; and the lot fell upon Jonah. But before +this they had cast all their wares and merchandise over-board to lighten the +vessel, while Jonah, like a stupid fellow, was fast asleep in the hold. +</p> + +<p> +After the lot had designated Jonah to be the offender, they questioned him to +know who and what he was? and he told them he was an Hebrew; and the story +implies that he confessed himself to be guilty. But these Gentiles, instead of +sacrificing him at once without pity or mercy, as a company of Bible-prophets +or priests would have done by a Gentile in the same case, and as it is related +Samuel had done by Agag, and Moses by the women and children, they endeavoured +to save him, though at the risk of their own lives: for the account says, +“Nevertheless [that is, though Jonah was a Jew and a foreigner, and the +cause of all their misfortunes, and the loss of their cargo] the men rowed hard +to bring the boat to land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was +tempestuous against them.” Still however they were unwilling to put the +fate of the lot into execution; and they cried, says the account, unto the +Lord, saying, “We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this +man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast +done as it pleased thee.” Meaning thereby, that they did not presume to +judge Jonah guilty, since that he might be innocent; but that they considered +the lot that had fallen upon him as a decree of God, or as it pleased God. The +address of this prayer shows that the Gentiles worshipped one Supreme Being, +and that they were not idolaters as the Jews represented them to be. But the +storm still continuing, and the danger encreasing, they put the fate of the lot +into execution, and cast Jonah in the sea; where, according to the story, a +great fish swallowed him up whole and alive! +</p> + +<p> +We have now to consider Jonah securely housed from the storm in the +fish’s belly. Here we are told that he prayed; but the prayer is a +made-up prayer, taken from various parts of the Psalms, without connection or +consistency, and adapted to the distress, but not at all to the condition that +Jonah was in. It is such a prayer as a Gentile, who might know something of the +Psalms, could copy out for him. This circumstance alone, were there no other, +is sufficient to indicate that the whole is a made-up story. The prayer, +however, is supposed to have answered the purpose, and the story goes on, +(taking-off at the same time the cant language of a Bible-prophet,) saying, +“The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry +land.” +</p> + +<p> +Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets out; and we +have now to consider him as a preacher. The distress he is represented to have +suffered, the remembrance of his own disobedience as the cause of it, and the +miraculous escape he is supposed to have had, were sufficient, one would +conceive, to have impressed him with sympathy and benevolence in the execution +of his mission; but, instead of this, he enters the city with denunciation and +malediction in his mouth, crying, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be +overthrown.” +</p> + +<p> +We have now to consider this supposed missionary in the last act of his +mission; and here it is that the malevolent spirit of a Bible-prophet, or of a +predicting priest, appears in all that blackness of character that men ascribe +to the being they call the devil. +</p> + +<p> +Having published his predictions, he withdrew, says the story, to the east side +of the city.—But for what? not to contemplate in retirement the mercy of +his Creator to himself or to others, but to wait, with malignant impatience, +the destruction of Nineveh. It came to pass, however, as the story relates, +that the Ninevites reformed, and that God, according to the Bible phrase, +repented him of the evil he had said he would do unto them, and did it not. +This, saith the first verse of the last chapter, displeased Jonah exceedingly +and he was very angry. His obdurate heart would rather that all Nineveh should +be destroyed, and every soul, young and old, perish in its ruins, than that his +prediction should not be fulfilled. To expose the character of a prophet still +more, a gourd is made to grow up in the night, that promises him an agreeable +shelter from the heat of the sun, in the place to which he is retired; and the +next morning it dies. +</p> + +<p> +Here the rage of the prophet becomes excessive, and he is ready to destroy +himself. “It is better, said he, for me to die than to live.” This +brings on a supposed expostulation between the Almighty and the prophet; in +which the former says, “Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And +Jonah said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou +hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it +to grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I +spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than threescore thousand +persons, that cannot discern between their right hand and their left?” +</p> + +<p> +Here is both the winding up of the satire, and the moral of the fable. As a +satire, it strikes against the character of all the Bible-prophets, and against +all the indiscriminate judgements upon men, women and children, with which this +lying book, the bible, is crowded; such as Noah’s flood, the destruction +of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the extirpation of the Canaanites, even to +suckling infants, and women with child; because the same reflection ‘that +there are more than threescore thousand persons that cannot discern between +their right hand and their left,’ meaning young children, applies to all +their cases. It satirizes also the supposed partiality of the Creator for one +nation more than for another. +</p> + +<p> +As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; for as +certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish it. The pride of +having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at last he beholds with +satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the accomplishment or the failure of +his predictions.—This book ends with the same kind of strong and +well-directed point against prophets, prophecies and indiscriminate judgements, +as the chapter that Benjamin Franklin made for the Bible, about Abraham and the +stranger, ends against the intolerant spirit of religious +persecutions—Thus much for the book Jonah. [The story of Abraham and the +Fire-worshipper, ascribed to Franklin, is from Saadi. (See my “Sacred +Anthology,” p. 61.) Paine has often been called a “mere +scoffer,” but he seems to have been among the first to treat with dignity +the book of Jonah, so especially liable to the ridicule of superficial readers, +and discern in it the highest conception of Deity known to the Old +Testament.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +Of the poetical parts of the Bible, that are called prophecies, I have spoken +in the former part of ‘The Age of Reason,’ and already in this, +where I have said that the word for prophet is the Bible-word for Poet, and +that the flights and metaphors of those poets, many of which have become +obscure by the lapse of time and the change of circumstances, have been +ridiculously erected into things called prophecies, and applied to purposes the +writers never thought of. When a priest quotes any of those passages, he +unriddles it agreeably to his own views, and imposes that explanation upon his +congregation as the meaning of the writer. The whore of Babylon has been the +common whore of all the priests, and each has accused the other of keeping the +strumpet; so well do they agree in their explanations. +</p> + +<p> +There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser +prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, it would +be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let them sleep, then, in +the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be forgotten together. +</p> + +<p> +I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood with an axe +on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the priests, if they can, +may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them in the ground, but they will +never make them grow.—I pass on to the books of the New Testament. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +THE NEW TESTAMENT</h2> + +<p> +The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if +so, it must follow the fate of its foundation. +</p> + +<p> +As it is nothing extraordinary that a woman should be with child before she was +married, and that the son she might bring forth should be executed, even +unjustly, I see no reason for not believing that such a woman as Mary, and such +a man as Joseph, and Jesus, existed; their mere existence is a matter of +indifference, about which there is no ground either to believe or to +disbelieve, and which comes under the common head of, It may be so, and what +then? The probability however is that there were such persons, or at least such +as resembled them in part of the circumstances, because almost all romantic +stories have been suggested by some actual circumstance; as the adventures of +Robinson Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were suggested by the case of +Alexander Selkirk. +</p> + +<p> +It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons that I +trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the New +Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, against which I +contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is blasphemously obscene. It gives +an account of a young woman engaged to be married, and while under this +engagement, she is, to speak plain language, debauched by a ghost, under the +impious pretence, (Luke i. 35,) that “the Holy Ghost shall come upon +thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” +Notwithstanding which, Joseph afterwards marries her, cohabits with her as his +wife, and in his turn rivals the ghost. This is putting the story into +intelligible language, and when told in this manner, there is not a priest but +must be ashamed to own it. [Mary, the supposed virgin, mother of Jesus, had +several other children, sons and daughters. See Matt. xiii. 55, +56.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +Obscenity in matters of faith, however wrapped up, is always a token of fable +and imposture; for it is necessary to our serious belief in God, that we do not +connect it with stories that run, as this does, into ludicrous interpretations. +This story is, upon the face of it, the same kind of story as that of Jupiter +and Leda, or Jupiter and Europa, or any of the amorous adventures of Jupiter; +and shews, as is already stated in the former part of ‘The Age of +Reason,’ that the Christian faith is built upon the heathen Mythology. +</p> + +<p> +As the historical parts of the New Testament, so far as concerns Jesus Christ, +are confined to a very short space of time, less than two years, and all within +the same country, and nearly to the same spot, the discordance of time, place, +and circumstance, which detects the fallacy of the books of the Old Testament, +and proves them to be impositions, cannot be expected to be found here in the +same abundance. The New Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce of one +act, in which there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. +There are, however, some glaring contradictions, which, exclusive of the +fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are sufficient to show the story of Jesus +Christ to be false. +</p> + +<p> +I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted, first, that the +agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story to be true, +because the parts may agree, and the whole may be false; secondly, that the +disagreement of the parts of a story proves the whole cannot be true. The +agreement does not prove truth, but the disagreement proves falsehood +positively. +</p> + +<p> +The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed to Matthew, +Mark, Luke, and John.—The first chapter of Matthew begins with giving a +genealogy of Jesus Christ; and in the third chapter of Luke there is also given +a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Did these two agree, it would not prove the +genealogy to be true, because it might nevertheless be a fabrication; but as +they contradict each other in every particular, it proves falsehood absolutely. +If Matthew speaks truth, Luke speaks falsehood; and if Luke speaks truth, +Matthew speaks falsehood: and as there is no authority for believing one more +than the other, there is no authority for believing either; and if they cannot +be believed even in the very first thing they say, and set out to prove, they +are not entitled to be believed in any thing they say afterwards. Truth is an +uniform thing; and as to inspiration and revelation, were we to admit it, it is +impossible to suppose it can be contradictory. Either then the men called +apostles were imposters, or the books ascribed to them have been written by +other persons, and fathered upon them, as is the case in the Old Testament. +</p> + +<p> +The book of Matthew gives (i. 6), a genealogy by name from David, up, through +Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Christ; and makes there to be twent eight +generations. The book of Luke gives also a genealogy by name from Christ, +through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to David, and makes there to be +forty-three generations; besides which, there is only the two names of David +and Joseph that are alike in the two lists.—I here insert both +genealogical lists, and for the sake of perspicuity and comparison, have placed +them both in the same direction, that is, from Joseph down to David. +</p> + +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Genealogy, according to Genealogy, according to + Matthew. Luke. + + Christ Christ + 2 Joseph 2 Joseph + 3 Jacob 3 Heli + 4 Matthan 4 Matthat + 5 Eleazer 5 Levi + 6 Eliud 6 Melchl + 7 Achim 7 Janna + 8 Sadoc 8 Joseph + 9 Azor 9 Mattathias + 10 Eliakim 10 Amos + 11 Abiud 11 Naum + 12 Zorobabel 12 Esli + 13 Salathiel 13 Nagge + 14 Jechonias 14 Maath + 15 Josias 15 Mattathias + 16 Amon 16 Semei + 17 Manasses 17 Joseph + 18 Ezekias 18 Juda + 19 Achaz 19 Joanna + 20 Joatham 20 Rhesa + 21 Ozias 21 Zorobabel + 22 Joram 22 Salathiel + 23 Josaphat 23 Neri + 24 Asa 24 Melchi + 25 Abia 25 Addi + 26 Roboam 26 Cosam + 27 Solomon 27 Elmodam + 28 David * 28 Er + 29 Jose + 30 Eliezer + 31 Jorim + 32 Matthat + 33 Levi + 34 Simeon + 35 Juda + 36 Joseph + 37 Jonan + 38 Eliakim + 39 Melea + 40 Menan + 41 Mattatha + 42 Nathan + 43 David +</pre> + +<p> +[NOTE: * From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is upwards of 1080 +years; and as the life-time of Christ is not included, there are but 27 full +generations. To find therefore the average age of each person mentioned in the +list, at the time his first son was born, it is only necessary to divide 1080 +by 27, which gives 40 years for each person. As the life-time of man was then +but of the same extent it is now, it is an absurdity to suppose, that 27 +following generations should all be old bachelors, before they married; and the +more so, when we are told that Solomon, the next in succession to David, had a +house full of wives and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of age. So +far from this genealogy being a solemn truth, it is not even a reasonable lie. +The list of Luke gives about twenty-six years for the average age, and this is +too much.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between them (as +these two accounts show they do) in the very commencement of their history of +Jesus Christ, and of who, and of what he was, what authority (as I have before +asked) is there left for believing the strange things they tell us afterwards? +If they cannot be believed in their account of his natural genealogy, how are +we to believe them when they tell us he was the son of God, begotten by a +ghost; and that an angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied +in one genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other? If his natural +genealogy be manufactured, which it certainly is, why are we not to suppose +that his celestial genealogy is manufactured also, and that the whole is +fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard his future happiness upon +the belief of a story naturally impossible, repugnant to every idea of decency, +and related by persons already detected of falsehood? Is it not more safe that +we stop ourselves at the plain, pure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is +deism, than that we commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational, +indecent, and contradictory tales? +</p> + +<p> +The first question, however, upon the books of the New Testament, as upon those +of the Old, is, Are they genuine? were they written by the persons to whom they +are ascribed? For it is upon this ground only that the strange things related +therein have been credited. Upon this point, there is no direct proof for or +against; and all that this state of a case proves is doubtfulness; and +doubtfulness is the opposite of belief. The state, therefore, that the books +are in, proves against themselves as far as this kind of proof can go. +</p> + +<p> +But, exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books called the +Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not written by +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and that they are impositions. The disordered +state of the history in these four books, the silence of one book upon matters +related in the other, and the disagreement that is to be found among them, +implies that they are the productions of some unconnected individuals, many +years after the things they pretend to relate, each of whom made his own +legend; and not the writings of men living intimately together, as the men +called apostles are supposed to have done: in fine, that they have been +manufactured, as the books of the Old Testament have been, by other persons +than those whose names they bear. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the immaculate +conception, is not so much as mentioned in the books ascribed to Mark, and +John; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former says the +angel, appeared to Joseph; the latter says, it was to Mary; but either Joseph +or Mary was the worst evidence that could have been thought of; for it was +others that should have testified for them, and not they for themselves. Were +any girl that is now with child to say, and even to swear it, that she was +gotten with child by a ghost, and that an angel told her so, would she be +believed? Certainly she would not. Why then are we to believe the same thing of +another girl whom we never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where? +How strange and inconsistent is it, that the same circumstance that would +weaken the belief even of a probable story, should be given as a motive for +believing this one, that has upon the face of it every token of absolute +impossibility and imposture. +</p> + +<p> +The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old, belongs +altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest mentions anything about +it. Had such a circumstance been true, the universality of it must have made it +known to all the writers, and the thing would have been too striking to have +been omitted by any. This writer tell us, that Jesus escaped this slaughter, +because Joseph and Mary were warned by an angel to flee with him into Egypt; +but he forgot to make provision for John [the Baptist], who was then under two +years of age. John, however, who staid behind, fared as well as Jesus, who +fled; and therefore the story circumstantially belies itself. +</p> + +<p> +Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same words, the +written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us was put over Christ +when he was crucified; and besides this, Mark says, He was crucified at the +third hour, (nine in the morning;) and John says it was the sixth hour, (twelve +at noon.) [According to John, (xix. 14) the sentence was not passed till about +the sixth hour (noon,) and consequently the execution could not be till the +afternoon; but Mark (xv. 25) Says expressly that he was crucified at the third +hour, (nine in the morning,)—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +The inscription is thus stated in those books: +</p> + +<p> +Matthew—This is Jesus the king of the Jews. Mark—The king of the +Jews. Luke—This is the king of the Jews. John—Jesus of Nazareth the +king of the Jews. +</p> + +<p> +We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that those writers, +whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, were not present at the +scene. The only one of the men called apostles who appears to have been near to +the spot was Peter, and when he was accused of being one of Jesus’s +followers, it is said, (Matthew xxvi. 74,) “Then Peter began to curse and +to swear, saying, I know not the man:” yet we are now called to believe +the same Peter, convicted, by their own account, of perjury. For what reason, +or on what authority, should we do this? +</p> + +<p> +The accounts that are given of the circumstances, that they tell us attended +the crucifixion, are differently related in those four books. +</p> + +<p> +The book ascribed to Matthew says ‘there was darkness over all the land +from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour—that the veil of the temple was +rent in twain from the top to the bottom—that there was an +earthquake—that the rocks rent—that the graves opened, that the +bodies of many of the saints that slept arose and came out of their graves +after the resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto +many.’ Such is the account which this dashing writer of the book of +Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the writers of the other +books. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the circumstances of the +crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, nor of the rocks rending, nor +of the graves opening, nor of the dead men walking out. The writer of the book +of Luke is silent also upon the same points. And as to the writer of the book +of John, though he details all the circumstances of the crucifixion down to the +burial of Christ, he says nothing about either the darkness—the veil of +the temple—the earthquake—the rocks—the graves—nor the +dead men. +</p> + +<p> +Now if it had been true that these things had happened, and if the writers of +these books had lived at the time they did happen, and had been the persons +they are said to be—namely, the four men called apostles, Matthew, Mark, +Luke, and John,—it was not possible for them, as true historians, even +without the aid of inspiration, not to have recorded them. The things, +supposing them to have been facts, were of too much notoriety not to have been +known, and of too much importance not to have been told. All these supposed +apostles must have been witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any, for +it was not possible for them to have been absent from it: the opening of the +graves and resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about the city, is +of still greater importance than the earthquake. An earthquake is always +possible, and natural, and proves nothing; but this opening of the graves is +supernatural, and directly in point to their doctrine, their cause, and their +apostleship. Had it been true, it would have filled up whole chapters of those +books, and been the chosen theme and general chorus of all the writers; but +instead of this, little and trivial things, and mere prattling conversation of +‘he said this and she said that’ are often tediously detailed, +while this most important of all, had it been true, is passed off in a slovenly +manner by a single dash of the pen, and that by one writer only, and not so +much as hinted at by the rest. +</p> + +<p> +It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the lie after +it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have told us who the +saints were that came to life again, and went into the city, and what became of +them afterwards, and who it was that saw them; for he is not hardy enough to +say that he saw them himself;—whether they came out naked, and all in +natural buff, he-saints and she-saints, or whether they came full dressed, and +where they got their dresses; whether they went to their former habitations, +and reclaimed their wives, their husbands, and their property, and how they +were received; whether they entered ejectments for the recovery of their +possessions, or brought actions of crim. con. against the rival interlopers; +whether they remained on earth, and followed their former occupation of +preaching or working; or whether they died again, or went back to their graves +alive, and buried themselves. +</p> + +<p> +Strange indeed, that an army of saints should retum to life, and nobody know +who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not a word more should be +said upon the subject, nor these saints have any thing to tell us! Had it been +the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly prophesied of these things, they +must have had a great deal to say. They could have told us everything, and we +should have had posthumous prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the +first, a little better at least than we have now. Had it been Moses, and Aaron, +and Joshua, and Samuel, and David, not an unconverted Jew had remained in all +Jerusalem. Had it been John the Baptist, and the saints of the times then +present, everybody would have known them, and they would have out-preached and +out-famed all the other apostles. But, instead of this, these saints are made +to pop up, like Jonah’s gourd in the night, for no purpose at all but to +wither in the morning.—Thus much for this part of the story. +</p> + +<p> +The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion; and in this as +well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so much as to make it +evident that none of them were there. +</p> + +<p> +The book of Matthew states, that when Christ was put in the sepulchre the Jews +applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over the septilchre, to +prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; and that in consequence of this +request the sepulchre was made sure, sealing the stone that covered the mouth, +and setting a watch. But the other books say nothing about this application, +nor about the sealing, nor the guard, nor the watch; and according to their +accounts, there were none. Matthew, however, follows up this part of the story +of the guard or the watch with a second part, that I shall notice in the +conclusion, as it serves to detect the fallacy of those books. +</p> + +<p> +The book of Matthew continues its account, and says, (xxviii. 1,) that at the +end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the first day of the week, +came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. Mark says it was +sun-rising, and John says it was dark. Luke says it was Mary Magdalene and +Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women, that came to the +sepulchre; and John states that Mary Magdalene came alone. So well do they +agree about their first evidence! They all, however, appear to have known most +about Mary Magdalene; she was a woman of large acquaintance, and it was not an +ill conjecture that she might be upon the stroll. [The Bishop of Llandaff, in +his famous “Apology,” censured Paine severely for this insinuation +against Mary Magdalene, but the censure really falls on our English version, +which, by a chapter-heading (Luke vii.), has unwarrantably identified her as +the sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and irrevocably branded +her.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2): “And behold there was a +great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and +rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it” But the other books +say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the angel rolling back the stone, +and sitting upon it and, according to their account, there was no angel sitting +there. Mark says the angel [Mark says “a young man,” and Luke +“two men.”—Editor.] was within the sepulchre, sitting on the +right side. Luke says there were two, and they were both standing up; and John +says they were both sitting down, one at the head and the other at the feet. +</p> + +<p> +Matthew says, that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the outside of +the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, and that the women went +away quickly. Mark says, that the women, upon seeing the stone rolled away, and +wondering at it, went into the sepulchre, and that it was the angel that was +sitting within on the right side, that told them so. Luke says, it was the two +angels that were Standing up; and John says, it was Jesus Christ himself that +told it to Mary Magdalene; and that she did not go into the sepulchre, but only +stooped down and looked in. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if the writers of these four books had gone into a court of justice to +prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is here attempted to +be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by supernatural means,) and had +they given their evidence in the same contradictory manner as it is here given, +they would have been in danger of having their ears cropt for perjury, and +would have justly deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the +books, that have been imposed upon the world as being given by divine +inspiration, and as the unchangeable word of God. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates a story +that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is the same I have +just before alluded to. “Now,” says he, [that is, after the +conversation the women had had with the angel sitting upon the stone,] +“behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had said had been +placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and shewed unto the chief +priests all the things that were done; and when they were assembled with the +elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, +Say ye, that his disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept; +and if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure +you. So they took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying [that +his disciples stole him away] is commonly reported among the Jews until this +day.” +</p> + +<p> +The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed to +Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been manufactured long +after the times and things of which it pretends to treat; for the expression +implies a great length of intervening time. It would be inconsistent in us to +speak in this manner of any thing happening in our own time. To give, +therefore, intelligible meaning to the expression, we must suppose a lapse of +some generations at least, for this manner of speaking carries the mind back to +ancient time. +</p> + +<p> +The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the writer of +the book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and foolish man. He tells a +story that contradicts itself in point of possibility; for though the guard, if +there were any, might be made to say that the body was taken away while they +were asleep, and to give that as a reason for their not having prevented it, +that same sleep must also have prevented their knowing how, and by whom, it was +done; and yet they are made to say that it was the disciples who did it. Were a +man to tender his evidence of something that he should say was done, and of the +manner of doing it, and of the person who did it, while he was asleep, and +could know nothing of the matter, such evidence could not be received: it will +do well enough for Testament evidence, but not for any thing where truth is +concerned. +</p> + +<p> +I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects the +pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was sitting on +the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two Marys (xxviii. 7), +“Behold Christ is gone before you into Galilee, there ye shall see him; +lo, I have told you.” And the same writer at the next two verses (8, 9,) +makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to these women immediately +after the angel had told it to them, and that they ran quickly to tell it to +the disciples; and it is said (ver. 16), “Then the eleven disciples went +away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them; and, when +they saw him, they worshipped him.” +</p> + +<p> +But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to this; for +he says (xx. 19) “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of +the week, [that is, the same day that Christ is said to have risen,] when the +doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came +Jesus and stood in the midst of them.” +</p> + +<p> +According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet Jesus in a +mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according to John, +they were assembled in another place, and that not by appointment, but in +secret, for fear of the Jews. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contradicts that of Matthew +more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly, that the meeting was in +Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he (Christ) rose, and that the +eleven were there. +</p> + +<p> +Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the right of +wilful lying, that the writers of these books could be any of the eleven +persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, the eleven went into +Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own appointment, on the same day +that he is said to have risen, Luke and John must have been two of that eleven; +yet the writer of Luke says expressly, and John implies as much, that the +meeting was that same day, in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, +according to Luke and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, +Matthew must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting was in +a mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in those books +destroy each other. +</p> + +<p> +The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in Galilee; but +he says (xvi. 12) that Christ, after his resurrection, appeared in another form +to two of them, as they walked into the country, and that these two told it to +the residue, who would not believe them. [This belongs to the late addition to +Mark, which originally ended with xvi. 8.—Editor.] Luke also tells a +story, in which he keeps Christ employed the whole of the day of this pretended +resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the account of +going to the mountain in Galilee. He says, that two of them, without saying +which two, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, three score furlongs +(seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, and that Christ in disguise went with +them, and stayed with them unto the evening, and supped with them, and then +vanished out of their sight, and reappeared that same evening, at the meeting +of the eleven in Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this pretended +reappearance of Christ is stated: the only point in which the writers agree, is +the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for whether it was in the recess of +a mountain in Galilee, or in a shut-up house in Jerusalem, it was still +skulking. To what cause then are we to assign this skulking? On the one hand, +it is directly repugnant to the supposed or pretended end, that of convincing +the world that Christ was risen; and, on the other hand, to have asserted the +publicity of it would have exposed the writers of those books to public +detection; and, therefore, they have been under the necessity of making it a +private affair. +</p> + +<p> +As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at once, it is +Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say it for themselves. It +is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, and that too of a man, who did +not, according to the same account, believe a word of the matter himself at the +time it is said to have happened. His evidence, supposing him to have been the +writer of Corinthians xv., where this account is given, is like that of a man +who comes into a court of justice to swear that what he had sworn before was +false. A man may often see reason, and he has too always the right of changing +his opinion; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fact. +</p> + +<p> +I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven.—Here all +fear of the Jews, and of every thing else, must necessarily have been out of +the question: it was that which, if true, was to seal the whole; and upon which +the reality of the future mission of the disciples was to rest for proof. +Words, whether declarations or promises, that passed in private, either in the +recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even +supposing them to have been spoken, could not be evidence in public; it was +therefore necessary that this last scene should preclude the possibility of +denial and dispute; and that it should be, as I have stated in the former part +of ‘The Age of Reason,’ as public and as visible as the sun at +noon-day; at least it ought to have been as public as the crucifixion is +reported to have been.—But to come to the point. +</p> + +<p> +In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a syllable +about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This being the case, is +it possible to suppose that those writers, who affect to be even minute in +other matters, would have been silent upon this, had it been true? The writer +of the book of Mark passes it off in a careless, slovenly manner, with a single +dash of the pen, as if he was tired of romancing, or ashamed of the story. So +also does the writer of Luke. And even between these two, there is not an +apparent agreement, as to the place where this final parting is said to have +been. [The last nine verses of Mark being ungenuine, the story of the ascension +rests exclusively on the words in Luke xxiv. 51, “was carried up into +heaven,”—words omitted by several ancient +authorities.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The book of Mark says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat at meat, +alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem: he then states the +conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and immediately after says +(as a school-boy would finish a dull story,) “So then, after the Lord had +spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of +God.” But the writer of Luke says, that the ascension was from Bethany; +that he (Christ) led them out as far as Bethany, and was parted from them +there, and was carried up into heaven. So also was Mahomet: and, as to Moses, +the apostle Jude says, ver. 9. That ‘Michael and the devil disputed about +his body.’ While we believe such fables as these, or either of them, we +believe unworthily of the Almighty. +</p> + +<p> +I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to Matthew, +Mark, Luke and John; and when it is considered that the whole space of time, +from the crucifixion to what is called the ascension, is but a few days, +apparently not more than three or four, and that all the circumstances are +reported to have happened nearly about the same spot, Jerusalem, it is, I +believe, impossible to find in any story upon record so many and such glaring +absurdities, contradictions, and falsehoods, as are in those books. They are +more numerous and striking than I had any expectation of finding, when I began +this examination, and far more so than I had any idea of when I wrote the +former part of ‘The Age of Reason.’ I had then neither Bible nor +Testament to refer to, nor could I procure any. My own situation, even as to +existence, was becoming every day more precarious; and as I was willing to +leave something behind me upon the subject, I was obliged to be quick and +concise. The quotations I then made were from memory only, but they are +correct; and the opinions I have advanced in that work are the effect of the +most clear and long-established conviction,—that the Bible and the +Testament are impositions upon the world;—that the fall of man, the +account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to appease the +wrath of God, and of salvation by that strange means, are all fabulous +inventions, dishonourable to the wisdom and power of the Almighty;—that +the only true religion is deism, by which I then meant and now mean the belief +of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the practice of what +are called moral virtues;—and that it was upon this only (so far as +religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So +say I now—and so help me God. +</p> + +<p> +But to retum to the subject.—Though it is impossible, at this distance of +time, to ascertain as a fact who were the writers of those four books (and this +alone is sufficient to hold them in doubt, and where we doubt we do not +believe) it is not difficult to ascertain negatively that they were not written +by the persons to whom they are ascribed. The contradictions in those books +demonstrate two things: +</p> + +<p> +First, that the writers cannot have been eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of the +matters they relate, or they would have related them without those +contradictions; and, consequently that the books have not been written by the +persons called apostles, who are supposed to have been witnesses of this kind. +</p> + +<p> +Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in concerted +imposition, but each writer separately and individually for himself, and +without the knowledge of the other. +</p> + +<p> +The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to prove both +cases; that is, that the books were not written by the men called apostles, and +also that they are not a concerted imposition. As to inspiration, it is +altogether out of the question; we may as well attempt to unite truth and +falsehood, as inspiration and contradiction. +</p> + +<p> +If four men are eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses to a scene, they will without +any concert between them, agree as to time and place, when and where that scene +happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, each one knowing it for +himself, renders concert totally unnecessary; the one will not say it was in a +mountain in the country, and the other at a house in town; the one will not say +it was at sunrise, and the other that it was dark. For in whatever place it was +and whatever time it was, they know it equally alike. +</p> + +<p> +And on the other hand, if four men concert a story, they will make their +separate relations of that story agree and corroborate with each other to +support the whole. That concert supplies the want of fact in the one case, as +the knowledge of the fact supersedes, in the other case, the necessity of a +concert. The same contradictions, therefore, that prove there has been no +concert, prove also that the reporters had no knowledge of the fact, (or rather +of that which they relate as a fact,) and detect also the falsehood of their +reports. Those books, therefore, have neither been written by the men called +apostles, nor by imposters in concert.—How then have they been written? +</p> + +<p> +I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that which is +called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case of men setting up +to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for prophesying is lying +professionally. In almost all other cases it is not difficult to discover the +progress by which even simple supposition, with the aid of credulity, will in +time grow into a lie, and at last be told as a fact; and whenever we can find a +charitable reason for a thing of this kind, we ought not to indulge a severe +one. +</p> + +<p> +The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an +apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, and +credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the assassination of +Julius Caesar not many years before, and they generally have their origin in +violent deaths, or in execution of innocent persons. In cases of this kind, +compassion lends its aid, and benevolently stretches the story. It goes on a +little and a little farther, till it becomes a most certain truth. Once start a +ghost, and credulity fills up the history of its life, and assigns the cause of +its appearance; one tells it one way, another another way, till there are as +many stories about the ghost, and about the proprietor of the ghost, as there +are about Jesus Christ in these four books. +</p> + +<p> +The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange mixture +of the natural and impossible, that distinguishes legendary tale from fact. He +is represented as suddenly coming in and going out when the doors are shut, and +of vanishing out of sight, and appearing again, as one would conceive of an +unsubstantial vision; then again he is hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his +supper. But as those who tell stories of this kind never provide for all the +cases, so it is here: they have told us, that when he arose he left his +grave-clothes behind him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for +him to appear in afterwards, or to tell us what he did with them when he +ascended; whether he stripped all off, or went up clothes and all. In the case +of Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throw down his mantle; how +it happened not to be burnt in the chariot of fire, they also have not told us; +but as imagination supplies all deficiencies of this kind, we may suppose if we +please that it was made of salamander’s wool. +</p> + +<p> +Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history, may suppose that +the book called the New Testament has existed ever since the time of Jesus +Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed to Moses have existed ever +since the time of Moses. But the fact is historically otherwise; there was no +such book as the New Testament till more than three hundred years after the +time that Christ is said to have lived. +</p> + +<p> +At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, began to +appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not the least shadow of +evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, nor at what time they were +written; and they might as well have been called by the names of any of the +other supposed apostles as by the names they are now called. The originals are +not in the possession of any Christian Church existing, any more than the two +tables of stone written on, they pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount +Sinai, and given to Moses, are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they +were, there is no possibility of proving the hand-writing in either case. At +the time those four books were written there was no printing, and consequently +there could be no publication otherwise than by written copies, which any man +might make or alter at pleasure, and call them originals. Can we suppose it is +consistent with the wisdom of the Almighty to commit himself and his will to +man upon such precarious means as these; or that it is consistent we should pin +our faith upon such uncertainties? We cannot make nor alter, nor even imitate, +so much as one blade of grass that he has made, and yet we can make or alter +words of God as easily as words of man. [The former part of the ‘Age of +Reason’ has not been published two years, and there is already an +expression in it that is not mine. The expression is: The book of Luke was +carried by a majority of one voice only. It may be true, but it is not I that +have said it. Some person who might know of that circumstance, has added it in +a note at the bottom of the page of some of the editions, printed either in +England or in America; and the printers, after that, have erected it into the +body of the work, and made me the author of it. If this has happened within +such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of printing, which prevents +the alteration of copies individually, what may not have happened in a much +greater length of time, when there was no printing, and when any man who could +write could make a written copy and call it an original by Matthew, Mark, Luke, +or John?—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +[The spurious addition to Paine’s work alluded to in his footnote drew on +him a severe criticism from Dr. Priestley (“Letters to a Philosophical +Unbeliever,” p. 75), yet it seems to have been Priestley himself who, in +his quotation, first incorporated into Paine’s text the footnote added by +the editor of the American edition (1794). The American added: “Vide +Moshiem’s (sic) Ecc. History,” which Priestley omits. In a modern +American edition I notice four verbal alterations introduced into the above +footnote.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is said to have +lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of were scattered in the +hands of divers individuals; and as the church had begun to form itself into an +hierarchy, or church government, with temporal powers, it set itself about +collecting them into a code, as we now see them, called ‘The New +Testament.’ They decided by vote, as I have before said in the former +part of the Age of Reason, which of those writings, out of the collection they +had made, should be the word of God, and which should not. The Robbins of the +Jews had decided, by vote, upon the books of the Bible before. +</p> + +<p> +As the object of the church, as is the case in all national establishments of +churches, was power and revenue, and terror the means it used, it is consistent +to suppose that the most miraculous and wonderful of the writings they had +collected stood the best chance of being voted. And as to the authenticity of +the books, the vote stands in the place of it; for it can be traced no higher. +</p> + +<p> +Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves +Christians, not only as to points of doctrine, but as to the authenticity of +the books. In the contest between the person called St. Augustine, and Fauste, +about the year 400, the latter says, “The books called the Evangelists +have been composed long after the times of the apostles, by some obscure men, +who, fearing that the world would not give credit to their relation of matters +of which they could not be informed, have published them under the names of the +apostles; and which are so full of sottishness and discordant relations, that +there is neither agreement nor connection between them.” +</p> + +<p> +And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those books, as +being the word of God, he says, “It is thus that your predecessors have +inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things which, though they carry his +name, agree not with his doctrine.” This is not surprising, since that we +have often proved that these things have not been written by himself, nor by +his apostles, but that for the greatest part they are founded upon tales, upon +vague reports, and put together by I know not what half-Jews, with but little +agreement between them; and which they have nevertheless published under the +name of the apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed to them their own +errors and their lies. [I have taken these two extracts from Boulanger’s +Life of Paul, written in French; Boulanger has quoted them from the writings of +Augustine against Fauste, to which he refers.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +This Bishop Faustus is usually styled “The Manichaeum,” Augustine +having entitled his book, Contra Frustum Manichaeum Libri xxxiii., in which +nearly the whole of Faustus’ very able work is quoted.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The reader will see by those extracts that the authenticity of the books of the +New Testament was denied, and the books treated as tales, forgeries, and lies, +at the time they were voted to be the word of God. But the interest of the +church, with the assistance of the faggot, bore down the opposition, and at +last suppressed all investigation. Miracles followed upon miracles, if we will +believe them, and men were taught to say they believed whether they believed or +not. But (by way of throwing in a thought) the French Revolution has +excommunicated the church from the power of working miracles; she has not been +able, with the assistance of all her saints, to work one miracle since the +revolution began; and as she never stood in greater need than now, we may, +without the aid of divination, conclude that all her former miracles are tricks +and lies. [Boulanger in his life of Paul, has collected from the ecclesiastical +histories, and the writings of the fathers as they are called, several matters +which show the opinions that prevailed among the different sects of Christians, +at the time the Testament, as we now see it, was voted to be the word of God. +The following extracts are from the second chapter of that work: +</p> + +<p> +[The Marcionists (a Christian sect) asserted that the evangelists were filled +with falsities. The Manichaeans, who formed a very numerous sect at the +commencement of Christianity, rejected as false all the New Testament, and +showed other writings quite different that they gave for authentic. The +Corinthians, like the Marcionists, admitted not the Acts of the Apostles. The +Encratites and the Sevenians adopted neither the Acts, nor the Epistles of +Paul. Chrysostom, in a homily which he made upon the Acts of the Apostles, says +that in his time, about the year 400, many people knew nothing either of the +author or of the book. St. Irene, who lived before that time, reports that the +Valentinians, like several other sects of the Christians, accused the +scriptures of being filled with imperfections, errors, and contradictions. The +Ebionites, or Nazarenes, who were the first Christians, rejected all the +Epistles of Paul, and regarded him as an impostor. They report, among other +things, that he was originally a Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, where he +lived some time; and that having a mind to marry the daughter of the high +priest, he had himself been circumcised; but that not being able to obtain her, +he quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against circumcision, and against the +observation of the Sabbath, and against all the legal +ordinances.—Author.] [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. de la Vie de St. +Paul, by N.A. Boulanger, 1770.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening between +the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the New Testament was +formed into a book, we must see, even without the assistance of historical +evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is of its authenticity. The +authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as regards the authorship, is much +better established than that of the New Testament, though Homer is a thousand +years the most ancient. It was only an exceeding good poet that could have +written the book of Homer, and, therefore, few men only could have attempted +it; and a man capable of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by +giving it to another. In like manner, there were but few that could have +composed Euclid’s Elements, because none but an exceeding good +geometrician could have been the author of that work. +</p> + +<p> +But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such parts as +tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any person who could tell +a story of an apparition, or of a man’s walking, could have made such +books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The chance, therefore, of forgery +in the Testament is millions to one greater than in the case of Homer or +Euclid. Of the numerous priests or parsons of the present day, bishops and all, +every one of them can make a sermon, or translate a scrap of Latin, especially +if it has been translated a thousand times before; but is there any amongst +them that can write poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid? The sum total of +a parson’s learning, with very few exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, +haec, hoc; and their knowledge of science is, three times one is three; and +this is more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time, +to have written all the books of the New Testament. +</p> + +<p> +As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was the inducement. A man +could gain no advantage by writing under the name of Homer or Euclid; if he +could write equal to them, it would be better that he wrote under his own name; +if inferior, he could not succeed. Pride would prevent the former, and +impossibility the latter. But with respect to such books as compose the New +Testament, all the inducements were on the side of forgery. The best imagined +history that could have been made, at the distance of two or three hundred +years after the time, could not have passed for an original under the name of +the real writer; the only chance of success lay in forgery; for the church +wanted pretence for its new doctrine, and truth and talents were out of the +question. +</p> + +<p> +But as it is not uncommon (as before observed) to relate stories of persons +walking after they are dead, and of ghosts and apparitions of such as have +fallen by some violent or extraordinary means; and as the people of that day +were in the habit of believing such things, and of the appearance of angels, +and also of devils, and of their getting into people’s insides, and +shaking them like a fit of an ague, and of their being cast out again as if by +an emetic—(Mary Magdalene, the book of Mark tells us had brought up, or +been brought to bed of seven devils;) it was nothing extraordinary that some +story of this kind should get abroad of the person called Jesus Christ, and +become afterwards the foundation of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, +Luke, and John. Each writer told a tale as he heard it, or thereabouts, and +gave to his book the name of the saint or the apostle whom tradition had given +as the eye-witness. It is only upon this ground that the contradictions in +those books can be accounted for; and if this be not the case, they are +downright impositions, lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of +credulity. +</p> + +<p> +That they have been written by a sort of half Jews, as the foregoing quotations +mention, is discernible enough. The frequent references made to that chief +assassin and impostor Moses, and to the men called prophets, establishes this +point; and, on the other hand, the church has complimented the fraud, by +admitting the Bible and the Testament to reply to each other. Between the +Christian-Jew and the Christian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the +thing prophesied of, the type and the thing typified, the sign and the thing +signified, have been industriously rummaged up, and fitted together like old +locks and pick-lock keys. The story foolishly enough told of Eve and the +serpent, and naturally enough as to the enmity between men and serpents (for +the serpent always bites about the heel, because it cannot reach higher, and +the man always knocks the serpent about the head, as the most effectual way to +prevent its biting;) [“It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise +his heel.” Gen. iii. 15.—Author.] this foolish story, I say, has +been made into a prophecy, a type, and a promise to begin with; and the lying +imposition of Isaiah to Ahaz, ‘That a virgin shall conceive and bear a +son,’ as a sign that Ahaz should conquer, when the event was that he was +defeated (as already noticed in the observations on the book of Isaiah), has +been perverted, and made to serve as a winder up. +</p> + +<p> +Jonah and the whale are also made into a sign and type. Jonah is Jesus, and the +whale is the grave; for it is said, (and they have made Christ to say it of +himself, Matt. xii. 40), “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in +the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights +in the heart of the earth.” But it happens, awkwardly enough, that +Christ, according to their own account, was but one day and two nights in the +grave; about 36 hours instead of 72; that is, the Friday night, the Saturday, +and the Saturday night; for they say he was up on the Sunday morning by +sunrise, or before. But as this fits quite as well as the bite and the kick in +Genesis, or the virgin and her son in Isaiah, it will pass in the lump of +orthodox things.—Thus much for the historical part of the Testament and +its evidences. +</p> + +<p> +Epistles of Paul—The epistles ascribed to Paul, being fourteen in number, +almost fill up the remaining part of the Testament. Whether those epistles were +written by the person to whom they are ascribed is a matter of no great +importance, since that the writer, whoever he was, attempts to prove his +doctrine by argument. He does not pretend to have been witness to any of the +scenes told of the resurrection and the ascension; and he declares that he had +not believed them. +</p> + +<p> +The story of his being struck to the ground as he was journeying to Damascus, +has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary; he escaped with life, and that +is more than many others have done, who have been struck with lightning; and +that he should lose his sight for three days, and be unable to eat or drink +during that time, is nothing more than is common in such conditions. His +companions that were with him appear not to have suffered in the same manner, +for they were well enough to lead him the remainder of the journey; neither did +they pretend to have seen any vision. +</p> + +<p> +The character of the person called Paul, according to the accounts given of +him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticism; he had persecuted with +as much heat as he preached afterwards; the stroke he had received had changed +his thinking, without altering his constitution; and either as a Jew or a +Christian he was the same zealot. Such men are never good moral evidences of +any doctrine they preach. They are always in extremes, as well of action as of +belief. +</p> + +<p> +The doctrine he sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of the same +body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. But so much will men +differ in their manner of thinking, and in the conclusions they draw from the +same premises, that this doctrine of the resurrection of the same body, so far +from being an evidence of immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against +it; for if I have already died in this body, and am raised again in the same +body in which I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. +That resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, than an +ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe therefore in +immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is contained in the gloomy +doctrine of the resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather have a better +body and a more convenient form than the present. Every animal in the creation +excels us in something. The winged insects, without mentioning doves or eagles, +can pass over more space with greater ease in a few minutes than man can in an +hour. The glide of the smallest fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in +motion almost beyond comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish snail +can ascend from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want of that +ability, would perish; and a spider can launch itself from the top, as a +playful amusement. The personal powers of man are so limited, and his heavy +frame so little constructed to extensive enjoyment, that there is nothing to +induce us to wish the opinion of Paul to be true. It is too little for the +magnitude of the scene, too mean for the sublimity of the subject. +</p> + +<p> +But all other arguments apart, the consciousness of existence is the only +conceivable idea we can have of another life, and the continuance of that +consciousness is immortality. The consciousness of existence, or the knowing +that we exist, is not necessarily confined to the same form, nor to the same +matter, even in this life. +</p> + +<p> +We have not in all cases the same form, nor in any case the same matter, that +composed our bodies twenty or thirty years ago; and yet we are conscious of +being the same persons. Even legs and arms, which make up almost half the human +frame, are not necessary to the consciousness of existence. These may be lost +or taken away and the full consciousness of existence remain; and were their +place supplied by wings, or other appendages, we cannot conceive that it could +alter our consciousness of existence. In short, we know not how much, or rather +how little, of our composition it is, and how exquisitely fine that little is, +that creates in us this consciousness of existence; and all beyond that is like +the pulp of a peach, distinct and separate from the vegetative speck in the +kernel. +</p> + +<p> +Who can say by what exceeding fine action of fine matter it is that a thought +is produced in what we call the mind? and yet that thought when produced, as I +now produce the thought I am writing, is capable of becoming immortal, and is +the only production of man that has that capacity. +</p> + +<p> +Statues of brass and marble will perish; and statues made in imitation of them +are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship, any more than the copy of a +picture is the same picture. But print and reprint a thought a thousand times +over, and that with materials of any kind, carve it in wood, or engrave it on +stone, the thought is eternally and identically the same thought in every case. +It has a capacity of unimpaired existence, unaffected by change of matter, and +is essentially distinct, and of a nature different from every thing else that +we know of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has in itself a +capacity of being immortal, it is more than a token that the power that +produced it, which is the self-same thing as consciousness of existence, can be +immortal also; and that as independently of the matter it was first connected +with, as the thought is of the printing or writing it first appeared in. The +one idea is not more difficult to believe than the other; and we can see that +one is true. +</p> + +<p> +That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form or the +same matter, is demonstrated to our senses in the works of the creation, as far +as our senses are capable of receiving that demonstration. A very numerous part +of the animal creation preaches to us, far better than Paul, the belief of a +life hereafter. Their little life resembles an earth and a heaven, a present +and a future state; and comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in +miniature. +</p> + +<p> +The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged insects, and +they are not so originally. They acquire that form and that inimitable +brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and creeping caterpillar worm of to +day, passes in a few days to a torpid figure, and a state resembling death; and +in the next change comes forth in all the miniature magnificence of life, a +splendid butterfly. No resemblance of the former creature remains; every thing +is changed; all his powers are new, and life is to him another thing. We cannot +conceive that the consciousness of existence is not the same in this state of +the animal as before; why then must I believe that the resurrection of the same +body is necessary to continue to me the consciousness of existence hereafter? +</p> + +<p> +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason.’ I have called the +creation the true and only real word of God; and this instance, or this text, +in the book of creation, not only shows to us that this thing may be so, but +that it is so; and that the belief of a future state is a rational belief, +founded upon facts visible in the creation: for it is not more difficult to +believe that we shall exist hereafter in a better state and form than at +present, than that a worm should become a butterfly, and quit the dunghill for +the atmosphere, if we did not know it as a fact. +</p> + +<p> +As to the doubtful jargon ascribed to Paul in 1 Corinthians xv., which makes +part of the burial service of some Christian sectaries, it is as destitute of +meaning as the tolling of a bell at the funeral; it explains nothing to the +understanding, it illustrates nothing to the imagination, but leaves the reader +to find any meaning if he can. “All flesh,” says he, “is not +the same flesh. There is one flesh of men, another of beasts, another of +fishes, and another of birds.” And what then? nothing. A cook could have +said as much. “There are also,” says he, “bodies celestial +and bodies terrestrial; the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the +terrestrial is the other.” And what then? nothing. And what is the +difference? nothing that he has told. “There is,” says he, +“one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory +of the stars.” And what then? nothing; except that he says that one star +differeth from another star in glory, instead of distance; and he might as well +have told us that the moon did not shine so bright as the sun. All this is +nothing better than the jargon of a conjuror, who picks up phrases he does not +understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune +told. Priests and conjurors are of the same trade. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes Paul affects to be a naturalist, and to prove his system of +resurrection from the principles of vegetation. “Thou fool” says +he, “that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die.” To +which one might reply in his own language, and say, Thou fool, Paul, that which +thou sowest is not quickened except it die not; for the grain that dies in the +ground never does, nor can vegetate. It is only the living grains that produce +the next crop. But the metaphor, in any point of view, is no simile. It is +succession, and [not] resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +The progress of an animal from one state of being to another, as from a worm to +a butterfly, applies to the case; but this of a grain does not, and shows Paul +to have been what he says of others, a fool. +</p> + +<p> +Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him or not, is a +matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or dogmatical; and as the +argument is defective, and the dogmatical part is merely presumptive, it +signifies not who wrote them. And the same may be said for the remaining parts +of the Testament. It is not upon the Epistles, but upon what is called the +Gospel, contained in the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, +and upon the pretended prophecies, that the theory of the church, calling +itself the Christian Church, is founded. The Epistles are dependant upon those, +and must follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous, all +reasoning founded upon it, as a supposed truth, must fall with it. +</p> + +<p> +We know from history, that one of the principal leaders of this church, +Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testament was formed; [Athanasius died, +according to the Church chronology, in the year 371—Author.] and we know +also, from the absurd jargon he has left us under the name of a creed, the +character of the men who formed the New Testament; and we know also from the +same history that the authenticity of the books of which it is composed was +denied at the time. It was upon the vote of such as Athanasius that the +Testament was decreed to be the word of God; and nothing can present to us a +more strange idea than that of decreeing the word of God by vote. Those who +rest their faith upon such authority put man in the place of God, and have no +true foundation for future happiness. Credulity, however, is not a crime, but +it becomes criminal by resisting conviction. It is strangling in the womb of +the conscience the efforts it makes to ascertain truth. We should never force +belief upon ourselves in any thing. +</p> + +<p> +I here close the subject on the Old Testament and the New. The evidence I have +produced to prove them forgeries, is extracted from the books themselves, and +acts, like a two-edge sword, either way. If the evidence be denied, the +authenticity of the Scriptures is denied with it, for it is Scripture evidence: +and if the evidence be admitted, the authenticity of the books is disproved. +The contradictory impossibilities, contained in the Old Testament and the New, +put them in the case of a man who swears for and against. Either evidence +convicts him of perjury, and equally destroys reputation. +</p> + +<p> +Should the Bible and the Testament hereafter fall, it is not that I have done +it. I have done no more than extracted the evidence from the confused mass of +matters with which it is mixed, and arranged that evidence in a point of light +to be clearly seen and easily comprehended; and, having done this, I leave the +reader to judge for himself, as I have judged for myself. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +CONCLUSION</h2> + +<p> +In the former part of ‘The Age of Reason’ I have spoken of the +three frauds, mystery, miracle, and Prophecy; and as I have seen nothing in any +of the answers to that work that in the least affects what I have there said +upon those subjects, I shall not encumber this Second Part with additions that +are not necessary. +</p> + +<p> +I have spoken also in the same work upon what is celled revelation, and have +shown the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of the Old Testament +and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the question in reciting any +thing of which man has been the actor or the witness. That which man has done +or seen, needs no revelation to tell him he has done it, or seen it—for +he knows it already—nor to enable him to tell it or to write it. It is +ignorance, or imposition, to apply the term revelation in such cases; yet the +Bible and Testament are classed under this fraudulent description of being all +revelation. +</p> + +<p> +Revelation then, so far as the term has relation between God and man, can only +be applied to something which God reveals of his will to man; but though the +power of the Almighty to make such a communication is necessarily admitted, +because to that power all things are possible, yet, the thing so revealed (if +any thing ever was revealed, and which, by the bye, it is impossible to prove) +is revelation to the person only to whom it is made. His account of it to +another is not revelation; and whoever puts faith in that account, puts it in +the man from whom the account comes; and that man may have been deceived, or +may have dreamed it; or he may be an impostor and may lie. There is no possible +criterion whereby to judge of the truth of what he tells; for even the morality +of it would be no proof of revelation. In all such cases, the proper answer +should be, “When it is revealed to me, I will believe it to be +revelation; but it is not and cannot be incumbent upon me to believe it to be +revelation before; neither is it proper that I should take the word of man as +the word of God, and put man in the place of God.” This is the manner in +which I have spoken of revelation in the former part of The Age of Reason; and +which, whilst it reverentially admits revelation as a possible thing, because, +as before said, to the Almighty all things are possible, it prevents the +imposition of one man upon another, and precludes the wicked use of pretended +revelation. +</p> + +<p> +But though, speaking for myself, I thus admit the possibility of revelation, I +totally disbelieve that the Almighty ever did communicate any thing to man, by +any mode of speech, in any language, or by any kind of vision, or appearance, +or by any means which our senses are capable of receiving, otherwise than by +the universal display of himself in the works of the creation, and by that +repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and disposition to good ones. +[A fair parallel of the then unknown aphorism of Kant: “Two things fill +the soul with wonder and reverence, increasing evermore as I meditate more +closely upon them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within +me.” (Kritik derpraktischen Vernunfe, 1788). Kant’s religious +utterances at the beginning of the French Revolution brought on him a royal +mandate of silence, because he had worked out from “the moral law +within” a principle of human equality precisely similar to that which +Paine had derived from his Quaker doctrine of the “inner light” of +every man. About the same time Paine’s writings were suppressed in +England. Paine did not understand German, but Kant, though always independent +in the formation of his opinions, was evidently well acquainted with the +literature of the Revolution, in America, England, and France.—Editor.] +</p> + +<p> +The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest +miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this +thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has been the most +dishonourable belief against the character of the divinity, the most +destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness of man, that ever was +propagated since man began to exist. It is better, far better, that we +admitted, if it were possible, a thousand devils to roam at large, and to +preach publicly the doctrine of devils, if there were any such, than that we +permitted one such impostor and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible +prophets, to come with the pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit +among us. +</p> + +<p> +Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, women, and +infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody persecutions, and +tortures unto death and religious wars, that since that time have laid Europe +in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but from this impious thing called +revealed religion, and this monstrous belief that God has spoken to man? The +lies of the Bible have been the cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament +[of] the other. +</p> + +<p> +Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the sword; but +of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that twelve men could +begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no sooner were the professors +of Christianity sufficiently powerful to employ the sword than they did so, and +the stake and faggot too; and Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same +spirit that Peter cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant (if the +story be true) he would cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he +been able. Besides this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the +[Hebrew] Bible, and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that +in the worst use of it—not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made no +converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] Testament, and +both are called the word of God. The Christians read both books; the ministers +preach from both books; and this thing called Christianity is made up of both. +It is then false to say that Christianity was not established by the sword. +</p> + +<p> +The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only reason that +can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than Christians. They do +not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they call the scriptures a dead +letter. [This is an interesting and correct testimony as to the beliefs of the +earlier Quakers, one of whom was Paine’s father.—Editor.] Had they +called them by a worse name, they had been nearer the truth. +</p> + +<p> +It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the Creator, and +who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial miseries, and remove the cause +that has sown persecutions thick among mankind, to expel all ideas of a +revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an impious fraud. What is it that +we have learned from this pretended thing called revealed religion? Nothing +that is useful to man, and every thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What +is it the Bible teaches us?—repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the +Testament teaches us?—to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery +with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called +faith. +</p> + +<p> +As to the fragments of morality that are irregularly and thinly scattered in +those books, they make no part of this pretended thing, revealed religion. They +are the natural dictates of conscience, and the bonds by which society is held +together, and without which it cannot exist; and are nearly the same in all +religions, and in all societies. The Testament teaches nothing new upon this +subject, and where it attempts to exceed, it becomes mean and ridiculous. The +doctrine of not retaliating injuries is much better expressed in Proverbs, +which is a collection as well from the Gentiles as the Jews, than it is in the +Testament. It is there said, (Xxv. 2 I) “If thine enemy be hungry, give +him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:” +[According to what is called Christ’s sermon on the mount, in the book of +Matthew, where, among some other [and] good things, a great deal of this +feigned morality is introduced, it is there expressly said, that the doctrine +of forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not any part of the +doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in “Proverbs,” +it must, according to that statement, have been copied from the Gentiles, from +whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish and Christian idolators have +abusively called heathen, had much better and clearer ideas of justice and +morality than are to be found in the Old Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or +in the New. The answer of Solon on the question, “Which is the most +perfect popular govemment,” has never been exceeded by any man since his +time, as containing a maxim of political morality, “That,” says he, +“where the least injury done to the meanest individual, is considered as +an insult on the whole constitution.” Solon lived about 500 years before +Christ.—Author.] but when it is said, as in the Testament, “If a +man smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,” it is +assassinating the dignity of forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel. +</p> + +<p> +Loving, of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has besides no +meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he does not revenge an +injury; and it is equally as good in a political sense, for there is no end to +retaliation; each retaliates on the other, and calls it justice: but to love in +proportion to the injury, if it could be done, would be to offer a premium for +a crime. Besides, the word enemies is too vague and general to be used in a +moral maxim, which ought always to be clear and defined, like a proverb. If a +man be the enemy of another from mistake and prejudice, as in the case of +religious opinions, and sometimes in politics, that man is different to an +enemy at heart with a criminal intention; and it is incumbent upon us, and it +contributes also to our own tranquillity, that we put the best construction +upon a thing that it will bear. But even this erroneous motive in him makes no +motive for love on the other part; and to say that we can love voluntarily, and +without a motive, is morally and physically impossible. +</p> + +<p> +Morality is injured by prescribing to it duties that, in the first place, are +impossible to be performed, and if they could be would be productive of evil; +or, as before said, be premiums for crime. The maxim of doing as we would be +done unto does not include this strange doctrine of loving enemies; for no man +expects to be loved himself for his crime or for his enmity. +</p> + +<p> +Those who preach this doctrine of loving their enemies, are in general the +greatest persecutors, and they act consistently by so doing; for the doctrine +is hypocritical, and it is natural that hypocrisy should act the reverse of +what it preaches. For my own part, I disown the doctrine, and consider it as a +feigned or fabulous morality; yet the man does not exist that can say I have +persecuted him, or any man, or any set of men, either in the American +Revolution, or in the French Revolution; or that I have, in any case, returned +evil for evil. But it is not incumbent on man to reward a bad action with a +good one, or to return good for evil; and wherever it is done, it is a +voluntary act, and not a duty. It is also absurd to suppose that such doctrine +can make any part of a revealed religion. We imitate the moral character of the +Creator by forbearing with each other, for he forbears with all; but this +doctrine would imply that he loved man, not in proportion as he was good, but +as he was bad. +</p> + +<p> +If we consider the nature of our condition here, we must see there is no +occasion for such a thing as revealed religion. What is it we want to know? +Does not the creation, the universe we behold, preach to us the existence of an +Almighty power, that governs and regulates the whole? And is not the evidence +that this creation holds out to our senses infinitely stronger than any thing +we can read in a book, that any imposter might make and call the word of God? +As for morality, the knowledge of it exists in every man’s conscience. +</p> + +<p> +Here we are. The existence of an Almighty power is sufficiently demonstrated to +us, though we cannot conceive, as it is impossible we should, the nature and +manner of its existence. We cannot conceive how we came here ourselves, and yet +we know for a fact that we are here. We must know also, that the power that +called us into being, can if he please, and when he pleases, call us to account +for the manner in which we have lived here; and therefore without seeking any +other motive for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, for we +know beforehand that he can. The probability or even possibility of the thing +is all that we ought to know; for if we knew it as a fact, we should be the +mere slaves of terror; our belief would have no merit, and our best actions no +virtue. +</p> + +<p> +Deism then teaches us, without the possibility of being deceived, all that is +necessary or proper to be known. The creation is the Bible of the deist. He +there reads, in the hand-writing of the Creator himself, the certainty of his +existence, and the immutability of his power; and all other Bibles and +Testaments are to him forgeries. The probability that we may be called to +account hereafter, will, to reflecting minds, have the influence of belief; for +it is not our belief or disbelief that can make or unmake the fact. As this is +the state we are in, and which it is proper we should be in, as free agents, it +is the fool only, and not the philosopher, nor even the prudent man, that will +live as if there were no God. +</p> + +<p> +But the belief of a God is so weakened by being mixed with the strange fable of +the Christian creed, and with the wild adventures related in the Bible, and the +obscurity and obscene nonsense of the Testament, that the mind of man is +bewildered as in a fog. Viewing all these things in a confused mass, he +confounds fact with fable; and as he cannot believe all, he feels a disposition +to reject all. But the belief of a God is a belief distinct from all other +things, and ought not to be confounded with any. The notion of a Trinity of +Gods has enfeebled the belief of one God. A multiplication of beliefs acts as a +division of belief; and in proportion as anything is divided, it is weakened. +</p> + +<p> +Religion, by such means, becomes a thing of form instead of fact; of notion +instead of principle: morality is banished to make room for an imaginary thing +called faith, and this faith has its origin in a supposed debauchery; a man is +preached instead of a God; an execution is an object for gratitude; the +preachers daub themselves with the blood, like a troop of assassins, and +pretend to admire the brilliancy it gives them; they preach a humdrum sermon on +the merits of the execution; then praise Jesus Christ for being executed, and +condemn the Jews for doing it. +</p> + +<p> +A man, by hearing all this nonsense lumped and preached together, confounds the +God of the Creation with the imagined God of the Christians, and lives as if +there were none. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more +derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, +and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity. Too +absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for +practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces only atheists and fanatics. +As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism; and as a means of +wealth, the avarice of priests; but so far as respects the good of man in +general, it leads to nothing here or hereafter. +</p> + +<p> +The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every evidence +of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It must have been the first +and will probably be the last that man believes. But pure and simple deism does +not answer the purpose of despotic governments. They cannot lay hold of +religion as an engine but by mixing it with human inventions, and making their +own authority a part; neither does it answer the avarice of priests, but by +incorporating themselves and their functions with it, and becoming, like the +government, a party in the system. It is this that forms the otherwise +mysterious connection of church and state; the church human, and the state +tyrannic. +</p> + +<p> +Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the belief of +a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of belief; he would stand +in awe of God, and of himself, and would not do the thing that could not be +concealed from either. To give this belief the full opportunity of force, it is +necessary that it acts alone. This is deism. +</p> + +<p> +But when, according to the Christian Trinitarian scheme, one part of God is +represented by a dying man, and another part, called the Holy Ghost, by a +flying pigeon, it is impossible that belief can attach itself to such wild +conceits. [The book called the book of Matthew, says, (iii. 16,) that the Holy +Ghost descended in the shape of a dove. It might as well have said a goose; the +creatures are equally harmless, and the one is as much a nonsensical lie as the +other. Acts, ii. 2, 3, says, that it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in the +shape of cloven tongues: perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd stuff is fit +only for tales of witches and wizards.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other invented +systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, as it is of +government to hold him in ignorance of his rights. The systems of the one are +as false as those of the other, and are calculated for mutual support. The +study of theology as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; +it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no +authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no +conclusion. Not any thing can be studied as a science without our being in +possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the +case with Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible and +Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the +authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we refer to the Bible +of the creation. The principles we discover there are eternal, and of divine +origin: they are the foundation of all the science that exists in the world, +and must be the foundation of theology. +</p> + +<p> +We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of any one +attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it. We have only a +confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of comprehending something +of its immensity. We can have no idea of his wisdom, but by knowing the order +and manner in which it acts. The principles of science lead to this knowledge; +for the Creator of man is the Creator of science, and it is through that medium +that man can see God, as it were, face to face. +</p> + +<p> +Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision to +behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure of the +universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the cause of their +varying appearances, the unerring order in which they revolve, even to the +remotest comet, their connection and dependence on each other, and to know the +system of laws established by the Creator, that governs and regulates the +whole; he would then conceive, far beyond what any church theology can teach +him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness, the munificence of the Creator. He +would then see that all the knowledge man has of science, and that all the +mechanical arts by which he renders his situation comfortable here, are derived +from that source: his mind, exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, +would increase in gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion or his +worship would become united with his improvement as a man: any employment he +followed that had connection with the principles of the creation,—as +everything of agriculture, of science, and of the mechanical arts, +has,—would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes to him, +than any theological Christian sermon he now hears. Great objects inspire great +thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but the grovelling tales +and doctrines of the Bible and the Testament are fit only to excite contempt. +</p> + +<p> +Though man cannot arrive, at least in this life, at the actual scene I have +described, he can demonstrate it, because he has knowledge of the principles +upon which the creation is constructed. We know that the greatest works can be +represented in model, and that the universe can be represented by the same +means. The same principles by which we measure an inch or an acre of ground +will measure to millions in extent. A circle of an inch diameter has the same +geometrical properties as a circle that would circumscribe the universe. The +same properties of a triangle that will demonstrate upon paper the course of a +ship, will do it on the ocean; and, when applied to what are called the +heavenly bodies, will ascertain to a minute the time of an eclipse, though +those bodies are millions of miles distant from us. This knowledge is of divine +origin; and it is from the Bible of the creation that man has learned it, and +not from the stupid Bible of the church, that teaches man nothing. [The +Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, in the first chapter of Genesis, an +account of the creation; and in doing this they have demonstrated nothing but +their ignorance. They make there to have been three days and three nights, +evenings and mornings, before there was any sun; when it is the presence or +absence of the sun that is the cause of day and night—and what is called +his rising and setting that of morning and evening. Besides, it is a puerile +and pitiful idea, to suppose the Almighty to say, “Let there be +light.” It is the imperative manner of speaking that a conjuror uses when +he says to his cups and balls, Presto, be gone—and most probably has been +taken from it, as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his wand. Longinus calls +this expression the sublime; and by the same rule the conjurer is sublime too; +for the manner of speaking is expressively and grammatically the same. When +authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on +the ridiculous. The sublime of the critics, like some parts of Edmund +Burke’s sublime and beautiful, is like a windmill just visible in a fog, +which imagination might distort into a flying mountain, or an archangel, or a +flock of wild geese.—Author.] +</p> + +<p> +All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of which his +existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without which he would be +scarcely distinguishable in appearance and condition from a common animal, +comes from the great machine and structure of the universe. The constant and +unwearied observations of our ancestors upon the movements and revolutions of +the heavenly bodies, in what are supposed to have been the early ages of the +world, have brought this knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and the +prophets, nor Jesus Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. The Almighty +is the great mechanic of the creation, the first philosopher, and original +teacher of all science. Let us then learn to reverence our master, and not +forget the labours of our ancestors. +</p> + +<p> +Had we, at this day, no knowledge of machinery, and were it possible that man +could have a view, as I have before described, of the structure and machinery +of the universe, he would soon conceive the idea of constructing some at least +of the mechanical works we now have; and the idea so conceived would +progressively advance in practice. Or could a model of the universe, such as is +called an orrery, be presented before him and put in motion, his mind would +arrive at the same idea. Such an object and such a subject would, whilst it +improved him in knowledge useful to himself as a man and a member of society, +as well as entertaining, afford far better matter for impressing him with a +knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, and of the reverence and gratitude +that man owes to him, than the stupid texts of the Bible and the Testament, +from which, be the talents of the preacher; what they may, only stupid sermons +can be preached. If man must preach, let him preach something that is edifying, +and from the texts that are known to be true. +</p> + +<p> +The Bible of the creation is inexhaustible in texts. Every part of science, +whether connected with the geometry of the universe, with the systems of animal +and vegetable life, or with the properties of inanimate matter, is a text as +well for devotion as for philosophy—for gratitude, as for human +improvement. It will perhaps be said, that if such a revolution in the system +of religion takes place, every preacher ought to be a philosopher. Most +certainly, and every house of devotion a school of science. +</p> + +<p> +It has been by wandering from the immutable laws of science, and the light of +reason, and setting up an invented thing called “revealed +religion,” that so many wild and blasphemous conceits have been formed of +the Almighty. The Jews have made him the assassin of the human species, to make +room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have made him the murderer of +himself, and the founder of a new religion to supersede and expel the Jewish +religion. And to find pretence and admission for these things, they must have +supposed his power or his wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the +changeableness of the will is the imperfection of the judgement. The +philosopher knows that the laws of the Creator have never changed, with respect +either to the principles of science, or the properties of matter. Why then is +it to be supposed they have changed with respect to man? +</p> + +<p> +I here close the subject. I have shown in all the foregoing parts of this work +that the Bible and Testament are impositions and forgeries; and I leave the +evidence I have produced in proof of it to be refuted, if any one can do it; +and I leave the ideas that are suggested in the conclusion of the work to rest +on the mind of the reader; certain as I am that when opinions are free, either +in matters of govemment or religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail. +</p> + +<p> +END OF PART II +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 3743-h.htm or 3743-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3743/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20261a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #3743 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3743) diff --git a/old/3743.txt b/old/3743.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c71c88 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/3743.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7237 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV., by Thomas Paine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume IV. + 1794-1796. + +Author: Thomas Paine + +Editor: Moncure Daniel Conway + +Release Date: February, 2003 [Etext #3743] +Posting Date: February 12, 2010 +[Last updated: January 4, 2021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + + + + +Produced by Norman M. Wolcott + + + + + +THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE + +By Thomas Paine + + +Collected And Edited By Moncure Daniel Conway + +VOLUME IV. + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON + + +(1796) + + + Contents + + Editor's Introduction + + Part One + Chapter I - The Author's Profession Of Faith + Chapter II - Of Missions And Revelations + Chapter III - Concerning The Character of Jesus Christ, And His History + Chapter IV - Of The Bases Of Christianity + Chapter V - Examination In Detail Of The Preceding Bases + Chapter VI - Of The True Theology + Chapter VII - Examination Of The Old Testament + Chapter VIII - Of The New Testament + Chapter IX - In What The True Revelation Consists + Chapter X - Concerning God, And The Lights Cast On His Existence And + Attributes By The Bible + Chapter XI - Of The Theology Of The Christians; And The True Theology + Chapter XII - The Effects Of Christianism On Education; Proposed Reforms + Chapter XIII - Comparison Of Christianism With The Religious Ideas + Inspired By Nature + Chapter XIV - System Of The Universe + Chapter XV - Advantages Of The Existence Of Many Worlds In Each Solar + System + Chapter XVI - Applications Of The Preceding To The System Of The + Christians + Chapter XVII - Of The Means Employed In All Time, And Almost + Universally, To Deceive The Peoples + Recapitulation + + Part Two + Preface + Chapter I - The Old Testament + Chapter II - The New Testament + Chapter III - Conclusion + + + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION + +WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES. + +IN the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its +king, the wrath turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace every +tyrant claimed to reign. But eventualities had brought among them a +great English and American heart--Thomas Paine. He had pleaded for Louis +Capet--"Kill the king but spare the man." Now he pleaded,--"Disbelieve +in the King of kings, but do not confuse with that idol the Father of +Mankind!" + +In Paine's Preface to the Second Part of "The Age of Reason" he +describes himself as writing the First Part near the close of the year +1793. "I had not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has +since appeared, before a guard came about three in the morning, with an +order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, +for putting me in arrestation." This was on the morning of December 28. +But it is necessary to weigh the words just quoted--"in the state it has +since appeared." For on August 5, 1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an +appeal for Paine's liberation, wrote as follows: "I deliver to Merlin +de Thionville a copy of the last work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason], +formerly our colleague, and in custody since the decree excluding +foreigners from the national representation. This book was written by +the author in the beginning of the year '93 (old style). I undertook its +translation before the revolution against priests, and it was published +in French about the same time. Couthon, to whom I sent it, seemed +offended with me for having translated this work." + +Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of +Robespierre, this early publication seems to have been so effectually +suppressed that no copy bearing that date, 1793, can be found in France +or elsewhere. In Paine's letter to Samuel Adams, printed in the present +volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to stay the +progress of atheism, and that he endangered his life "by opposing +atheism." The time indicated by Lanthenas as that in which he submitted +the work to Couthon would appear to be the latter part of March, 1793, +the fury against the priesthood having reached its climax in the decrees +against them of March 19 and 26. If the moral deformity of Couthon, even +greater than that of his body, be remembered, and the readiness with +which death was inflicted for the most theoretical opinion not approved +by the "Mountain," it will appear probable that the offence given +Couthon by Paine's book involved danger to him and his translator. +On May 31, when the Girondins were accused, the name of Lanthenas was +included, and he barely escaped; and on the same day Danton persuaded +Paine not to appear in the Convention, as his life might be in danger. +Whether this was because of the "Age of Reason," with its fling at the +"Goddess Nature" or not, the statements of author and translator +are harmonized by the fact that Paine prepared the manuscript, with +considerable additions and changes, for publication in English, as he +has stated in the Preface to Part II. + +A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by sentence, +proved to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to Merlin de +Thionville in 1794 is the same as that he sent to Couthon in 1793. This +discovery was the means of recovering several interesting sentences +of the original work. I have given as footnotes translations of such +clauses and phrases of the French work as appeared to be important. +Those familiar with the translations of Lanthenas need not be reminded +that he was too much of a literalist to depart from the manuscript +before him, and indeed he did not even venture to alter it in an +instance (presently considered) where it was obviously needed. Nor would +Lanthenas have omitted any of the paragraphs lacking in his translation. +This original work was divided into seventeen chapters, and these I have +restored, translating their headings into English. The "Age of Reason" +is thus for the first time given to the world with nearly its original +completeness. + +It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of his +"Age of Reason" (Part I.) which went through the press while he was in +prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some sentences as +abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable instance is the +dropping out of his estimate of Jesus the words rendered by Lanthenas +"trop peu imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu." The addition of these +words to Paine's tribute makes it the more notable that almost the only +recognition of the human character and life of Jesus by any theological +writer of that generation came from one long branded as an infidel. + +To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must be +attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already alluded +to, as one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity, would have +corrected. This is Paine's repeated mention of six planets, and +enumeration of them, twelve years after the discovery of Uranus. Paine +was a devoted student of astronomy, and it cannot for a moment be +supposed that he had not participated in the universal welcome of +Herschel's discovery. The omission of any allusion to it convinces me +that the astronomical episode was printed from a manuscript written +before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. Unfamiliar with French in 1793, +Paine might not have discovered the erratum in Lanthenas' translation, +and, having no time for copying, he would naturally use as much as +possible of the same manuscript in preparing his work for English +readers. But he had no opportunity of revision, and there remains an +erratum which, if my conjecture be correct, casts a significant light +on the paragraphs in which he alludes to the preparation of the work. He +states that soon after his publication of "Common Sense" (1776), he "saw +the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government +would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion," and that +"man would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of +one God and no more." He tells Samuel Adams that it had long been his +intention to publish his thoughts upon religion, and he had made a +similar remark to John Adams in 1776. Like the Quakers among whom he +was reared Paine could then readily use the phrase "word of God" for +anything in the Bible which approved itself to his "inner light," and +as he had drawn from the first Book of Samuel a divine condemnation +of monarchy, John Adams, a Unitarian, asked him if he believed in the +inspiration of the Old Testament. Paine replied that he did not, and +at a later period meant to publish his views on the subject. There is +little doubt that he wrote from time to time on religious points, during +the American war, without publishing his thoughts, just as he worked on +the problem of steam navigation, in which he had invented a practicable +method (ten years before John Fitch made his discovery) without +publishing it. At any rate it appears to me certain that the part of +"The Age of Reason" connected with Paine's favorite science, astronomy, +was written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. + +Paine's theism, however invested with biblical and Christian +phraseology, was a birthright. It appears clear from several allusions +in "The Age of Reason" to the Quakers that in his early life, or +before the middle of the eighteenth century, the people so called were +substantially Deists. An interesting confirmation of Paine's statements +concerning them appears as I write in an account sent by Count Leo +Tolstoi to the London 'Times' of the Russian sect called Dukhobortsy +(The Times, October 23, 1895). This sect sprang up in the last century, +and the narrative says: + +"The first seeds of the teaching called afterwards 'Dukhoborcheskaya' +were sown by a foreigner, a Quaker, who came to Russia. The fundamental +idea of his Quaker teaching was that in the soul of man dwells God +himself, and that He himself guides man by His inner word. God lives +in nature physically and in man's soul spiritually. To Christ, as to an +historical personage, the Dukhobortsy do not ascribe great importance... +Christ was God's son, but only in the sense in which we call, ourselves +'sons of God.' The purpose of Christ's sufferings was no other than to +show us an example of suffering for truth. The Quakers who, in 1818, +visited the Dukhobortsy, could not agree with them upon these religious +subjects; and when they heard from them their opinion about Jesus +Christ (that he was a man), exclaimed 'Darkness!' From the Old and New +Testaments,' they say, 'we take only what is useful,' mostly the moral +teaching.... The moral ideas of the Dukhobortsy are the following:--All +men are, by nature, equal; external distinctions, whatsoever they may +be, are worth nothing. This idea of men's equality the Dukhoborts have +directed further, against the State authority.... Amongst themselves +they hold subordination, and much more, a monarchical Government, to be +contrary to their ideas." + +Here is an early Hicksite Quakerism carried to Russia long before the +birth of Elias Hicks, who recovered it from Paine, to whom the American +Quakers refused burial among them. Although Paine arraigned the union +of Church and State, his ideal Republic was religious; it was based on +a conception of equality based on the divine son-ship of every man. This +faith underlay equally his burden against claims to divine partiality by +a "Chosen People," a Priesthood, a Monarch "by the grace of God," or +an Aristocracy. Paine's "Reason" is only an expansion of the Quaker's +"inner light"; and the greater impression, as compared with previous +republican and deistic writings made by his "Rights of Man" and "Age +of Reason" (really volumes of one work), is partly explained by the +apostolic fervor which made him a spiritual, successor of George Fox. + +Paine's mind was by no means skeptical, it was eminently instructive. +That he should have waited until his fifty-seventh year before +publishing his religious convictions was due to a desire to work out +some positive and practicable system to take the place of that which he +believed was crumbling. The English engineer Hall, who assisted Paine in +making the model of his iron bridge, wrote to his friends in England, +in 1786: "My employer has Common Sense enough to disbelieve most of the +common systematic theories of Divinity, but does not seem to establish +any for himself." But five years later Paine was able to lay the +corner-stone of his temple: "With respect to religion itself, without +regard to names, and as directing itself from the universal family of +mankind to the 'Divine object of all adoration, it is man bringing to +his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those fruits may differ +from each other like the fruits of the earth, the grateful tribute of +every one, is accepted." ("Rights of Man." See my edition of Paine's +Writings, ii., p. 326.) Here we have a reappearance of George Fox +confuting the doctor in America who "denied the light and Spirit of +God to be in every one; and affirmed that it was not in the Indians. +Whereupon I called an Indian to us, and asked him 'whether or not, when +he lied, or did wrong to anyone, there was not something in him that +reproved him for it?' He said, 'There was such a thing in him that did +so reprove him; and he was ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken +wrong.' So we shamed the doctor before the governor and the people." +(Journal of George Fox, September 1672.) + +Paine, who coined the phrase "Religion of Humanity" (The Crisis, vii., +1778), did but logically defend it in "The Age of Reason," by denying a +special revelation to any particular tribe, or divine authority in +any particular creed of church; and the centenary of this much-abused +publication has been celebrated by a great conservative champion of +Church and State, Mr. Balfour, who, in his "Foundations of Belief," +affirms that "inspiration" cannot be denied to the great Oriental +teachers, unless grapes may be gathered from thorns. + +The centenary of the complete publication of "The Age of Reason," +(October 25, 1795), was also celebrated at the Church Congress, Norwich, +on October 10, 1895, when Professor Bonney, F.R.S., Canon of Manchester, +read a paper in which he said: "I cannot deny that the increase of +scientific knowledge has deprived parts of the earlier books of the +Bible of the historical value which was generally attributed to them by +our forefathers. The story of Creation in the Book of Genesis, unless we +play fast and loose either with words or with science, cannot be brought +into harmony with what we have learnt from geology. Its ethnological +statements are imperfect, if not sometimes inaccurate. The stories of +the Fall, of the Flood, and of the Tower of Babel, are incredible in +their present form. Some historical element may underlie many of the +traditions in the first eleven chapters in that book, but this we cannot +hope to recover." Canon Bonney proceeded to say of the New Testament +also, that "the Gospels are not so far as we know, strictly +contemporaneous records, so we must admit the possibility of variations +and even inaccuracies in details being introduced by oral tradition." +The Canon thinks the interval too short for these importations to be +serious, but that any question of this kind is left open proves the Age +of Reason fully upon us. Reason alone can determine how many texts are +as spurious as the three heavenly witnesses (i John v. 7), and like +it "serious" enough to have cost good men their lives, and persecutors +their charities. When men interpolate, it is because they believe their +interpolation seriously needed. It will be seen by a note in Part II. of +the work, that Paine calls attention to an interpolation introduced into +the first American edition without indication of its being an editorial +footnote. This footnote was: "The book of Luke was carried by a majority +of one only. Vide Moshelm's Ecc. History." Dr. Priestley, then in +America, answered Paine's work, and in quoting less than a page from the +"Age of Reason" he made three alterations,--one of which changed "church +mythologists" into "Christian mythologists,"--and also raised the +editorial footnote into the text, omitting the reference to Mosheim. +Having done this, Priestley writes: "As to the gospel of Luke being +carried by a majority of one only, it is a legend, if not of Mr. Paine's +own invention, of no better authority whatever." And so on with further +castigation of the author for what he never wrote, and which he himself +(Priestley) was the unconscious means of introducing into the text +within the year of Paine's publication. + +If this could be done, unintentionally by a conscientious and exact man, +and one not unfriendly to Paine, if such a writer as Priestley could +make four mistakes in citing half a page, it will appear not very +wonderful when I state that in a modern popular edition of "The Age +of Reason," including both parts, I have noted about five hundred +deviations from the original. These were mainly the accumulated efforts +of friendly editors to improve Paine's grammar or spelling; some were +misprints, or developed out of such; and some resulted from the sale +in London of a copy of Part Second surreptitiously made from the +manuscript. These facts add significance to Paine's footnote (itself +altered in some editions!), in which he says: "If this has happened +within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of printing, +which prevents the alteration of copies individually; what may not have +happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no printing, +and when any man who could write, could make a written copy, and call it +an original, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John." + +Nothing appears to me more striking, as an illustration of the +far-reaching effects of traditional prejudice, than the errors into +which some of our ablest contemporary scholars have fallen by reason of +their not having studied Paine. Professor Huxley, for instance, speaking +of the freethinkers of the eighteenth century, admires the acuteness, +common sense, wit, and the broad humanity of the best of them, but says +"there is rarely much to be said for their work as an example of the +adequate treatment of a grave and difficult investigation," and that +they shared with their adversaries "to the full the fatal weakness of +a priori philosophizing." [NOTE: Science and Christian Tradition, p. +18 (Lon. ed., 1894).] Professor Huxley does not name Paine, evidently +because he knows nothing about him. Yet Paine represents the +turning-point of the historical freethinking movement; he renounced the +'a priori' method, refused to pronounce anything impossible outside +pure mathematics, rested everything on evidence, and really founded the +Huxleyan school. He plagiarized by anticipation many things from the +rationalistic leaders of our time, from Strauss and Baur (being the +first to expatiate on "Christian Mythology"), from Renan (being the +first to attempt recovery of the human Jesus), and notably from Huxley, +who has repeated Paine's arguments on the untrustworthiness of the +biblical manuscripts and canon, on the inconsistencies of the narratives +of Christ's resurrection, and various other points. None can be more +loyal to the memory of Huxley than the present writer, and it is even +because of my sense of his grand leadership that he is here mentioned as +a typical instance of the extent to which the very elect of free-thought +may be unconsciously victimized by the phantasm with which they are +contending. He says that Butler overthrew freethinkers of the eighteenth +century type, but Paine was of the nineteenth century type; and it was +precisely because of his critical method that he excited more animosity +than his deistical predecessors. He compelled the apologists to defend +the biblical narratives in detail, and thus implicitly acknowledge +the tribunal of reason and knowledge to which they were summoned. The +ultimate answer by police was a confession of judgment. A hundred years +ago England was suppressing Paine's works, and many an honest Englishman +has gone to prison for printing and circulating his "Age of Reason." +The same views are now freely expressed; they are heard in the seats of +learning, and even in the Church Congress; but the suppression of Paine, +begun by bigotry and ignorance, is continued in the long indifference of +the representatives of our Age of Reason to their pioneer and founder. +It is a grievous loss to them and to their cause. It is impossible to +understand the religious history of England, and of America, without +studying the phases of their evolution represented in the writings +of Thomas Paine, in the controversies that grew out of them with such +practical accompaniments as the foundation of the Theophilanthropist +Church in Paris and New York, and of the great rationalist wing of +Quakerism in America. + +Whatever may be the case with scholars in our time, those of Paine's +time took the "Age of Reason" very seriously indeed. Beginning with +the learned Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, a large number of +learned men replied to Paine's work, and it became a signal for the +commencement of those concessions, on the part of theology, which have +continued to our time; and indeed the so-called "Broad Church" is to +some extent an outcome of "The Age of Reason." It would too much enlarge +this Introduction to cite here the replies made to Paine (thirty-six are +catalogued in the British Museum), but it may be remarked that they +were notably free, as a rule, from the personalities that raged in +the pulpits. I must venture to quote one passage from his very learned +antagonist, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., "late Fellow of Jesus +College, Cambridge." Wakefield, who had resided in London during all the +Paine panic, and was well acquainted with the slanders uttered against +the author of "Rights of Man," indirectly brands them in answering +Paine's argument that the original and traditional unbelief of the Jews, +among whom the alleged miracles were wrought, is an important evidence +against them. The learned divine writes: + +"But the subject before us admits of further illustration from the +example of Mr. Paine himself. In this country, where his opposition to +the corruptions of government has raised him so many adversaries, +and such a swarm of unprincipled hirelings have exerted themselves in +blackening his character and in misrepresenting all the transactions +and incidents of his life, will it not be a most difficult, nay an +impossible task, for posterity, after a lapse of 1700 years, if such a +wreck of modern literature as that of the ancient, should intervene, to +identify the real circumstances, moral and civil, of the man? And will +a true historian, such as the Evangelists, be credited at that future +period against such a predominant incredulity, without large and +mighty accessions of collateral attestation? And how transcendently +extraordinary, I had almost said miraculous, will it be estimated +by candid and reasonable minds, that a writer whose object was a +melioration of condition to the common people, and their deliverance +from oppression, poverty, wretchedness, to the numberless blessings of +upright and equal government, should be reviled, persecuted, and burned +in effigy, with every circumstance of insult and execration, by these +very objects of his benevolent intentions, in every corner of the +kingdom?" After the execution of Louis XVI., for whose life Paine +pleaded so earnestly,--while in England he was denounced as an +accomplice in the deed,--he devoted himself to the preparation of a +Constitution, and also to gathering up his religious compositions and +adding to them. This manuscript I suppose to have been prepared in what +was variously known as White's Hotel or Philadelphia House, in Paris, +No. 7 Passage des Petits Peres. This compilation of early and fresh +manuscripts (if my theory be correct) was labelled, "The Age of Reason," +and given for translation to Francois Lanthenas in March 1793. It is +entered, in Qudrard (La France Literaire) under the year 1793, but with +the title "L'Age de la Raison" instead of that which it bore in +1794, "Le Siecle de la Raison." The latter, printed "Au Burcau de +l'imprimerie, rue du Theatre-Francais, No. 4," is said to be by "Thomas +Paine, Citoyen et cultivateur de l'Amerique septentrionale, secretaire +du Congres du departement des affaires etrangeres pendant la guerre +d'Amerique, et auteur des ouvrages intitules: LA SENS COMMUN et LES +DROITS DE L'HOMME." + +When the Revolution was advancing to increasing terrors, Paine, +unwilling to participate in the decrees of a Convention whose sole legal +function was to frame a Constitution, retired to an old mansion +and garden in the Faubourg St. Denis, No. 63. Mr. J.G. Alger, whose +researches in personal details connected with the Revolution are +original and useful, recently showed me in the National Archives +at Paris, some papers connected with the trial of Georgeit, Paine's +landlord, by which it appears that the present No. 63 is not, as I had +supposed, the house in which Paine resided. Mr. Alger accompanied me to +the neighborhood, but we were not able to identify the house. The +arrest of Georgeit is mentioned by Paine in his essay on "Forgetfulness" +(Writings, iii., 319). When his trial came on one of the charges was +that he had kept in his house "Paine and other Englishmen,"--Paine +being then in prison,--but he (Georgeit) was acquitted of the paltry +accusations brought against him by his Section, the "Faubourg du Nord." +This Section took in the whole east side of the Faubourg St. Denis, +whereas the present No. 63 is on the west side. After Georgeit (or +Georger) had been arrested, Paine was left alone in the large mansion +(said by Rickman to have been once the hotel of Madame de Pompadour), +and it would appear, by his account, that it was after the execution +(October 31, 1793) Of his friends the Girondins, and political comrades, +that he felt his end at hand, and set about his last literary bequest +to the world,--"The Age of Reason,"--in the state in which it has since +appeared, as he is careful to say. There was every probability, during +the months in which he wrote (November and December 1793) that he would +be executed. His religious testament was prepared with the blade of +the guillotine suspended over him,--a fact which did not deter pious +mythologists from portraying his death-bed remorse for having written +the book. + +In editing Part I. of "The Age of Reason," I follow closely the first +edition, which was printed by Barrois in Paris from the manuscript, no +doubt under the superintendence of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine, on +his way to the Luxembourg, had confided it. Barlow was an American +ex-clergyman, a speculator on whose career French archives cast an +unfavorable light, and one cannot be certain that no liberties were +taken with Paine's proofs. + +I may repeat here what I have stated in the outset of my editorial work +on Paine that my rule is to correct obvious misprints, and also any +punctuation which seems to render the sense less clear. And to that I +will now add that in following Paine's quotations from the Bible I have +adopted the Plan now generally used in place of his occasionally too +extended writing out of book, chapter, and verse. + +Paine was imprisoned in the Luxembourg on December 28, 1793, and +released on November 4, 1794. His liberation was secured by his old +friend, James Monroe (afterwards President), who had succeeded his +(Paine's) relentless enemy, Gouverneur Morris, as American Minister in +Paris. He was found by Monroe more dead than alive from semi-starvation, +cold, and an abscess contracted in prison, and taken to the Minister's +own residence. It was not supposed that he could survive, and he owed +his life to the tender care of Mr. and Mrs. Monroe. It was while thus +a prisoner in his room, with death still hovering over him, that Paine +wrote Part Second of "The Age of Reason." + +The work was published in London by H.D. Symonds on October 25, 1795, +and claimed to be "from the Author's manuscript." It is marked as +"Entered at Stationers Hall," and prefaced by an apologetic note of +"The Bookseller to the Public," whose commonplaces about avoiding both +prejudice and partiality, and considering "both sides," need not be +quoted. While his volume was going through the press in Paris, Paine +heard of the publication in London, which drew from him the following +hurried note to a London publisher, no doubt Daniel Isaacs Eaton: + +"SIR,--I have seen advertised in the London papers the second Edition +[part] of the Age of Reason, printed, the advertisement says, from the +Author's Manuscript, and entered at Stationers Hall. I have never sent +any manuscript to any person. It is therefore a forgery to say it is +printed from the author's manuscript; and I suppose is done to give the +Publisher a pretence of Copy Right, which he has no title to. + +"I send you a printed copy, which is the only one I have sent to London. +I wish you to make a cheap edition of it. I know not by what means any +copy has got over to London. If any person has made a manuscript copy +I have no doubt but it is full of errors. I wish you would talk to Mr. +----- upon this subject as I wish to know by what means this trick has +been played, and from whom the publisher has got possession of any copy. + +"T. PAINE. + +"PARIS, December 4, 1795" + +Eaton's cheap edition appeared January 1, 1796, with the above letter on +the reverse of the title. The blank in the note was probably "Symonds" +in the original, and possibly that publisher was imposed upon. Eaton, +already in trouble for printing one of Paine's political pamphlets, fled +to America, and an edition of the "Age of Reason" was issued under a new +title; no publisher appears; it is said to be "printed for, and sold by +all the Booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland." It is also said to +be "By Thomas Paine, author of several remarkable performances." I have +never found any copy of this anonymous edition except the one in my +possession. It is evidently the edition which was suppressed by the +prosecution of Williams for selling a copy of it. + +A comparison with Paine's revised edition reveals a good many clerical +and verbal errors in Symonds, though few that affect the sense. The +worst are in the preface, where, instead of "1793," the misleading +date "1790" is given as the year at whose close Paine completed Part +First,--an error that spread far and wide and was fastened on by his +calumnious American "biographer," Cheetham, to prove his inconsistency. +The editors have been fairly demoralized by, and have altered in +different ways, the following sentence of the preface in Symonds: "The +intolerant spirit of religious persecution had transferred itself into +politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, supplied the place of the +Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the State outdid the Fire and Faggot +of the Church." The rogue who copied this little knew the care with +which Paine weighed words, and that he would never call persecution +"religious," nor connect the guillotine with the "State," nor concede +that with all its horrors it had outdone the history of fire and faggot. +What Paine wrote was: "The intolerant spirit of church persecution had +transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, styled Revolutionary, +supplied the place of an Inquisition and the Guillotine, of the Stake." + +An original letter of Paine, in the possession of Joseph Cowen, ex-M.P., +which that gentleman permits me to bring to light, besides being one +of general interest makes clear the circumstances of the original +publication. Although the name of the correspondent does not appear on +the letter, it was certainly written to Col. John Fellows of New +York, who copyrighted Part I. of the "Age of Reason." He published the +pamphlets of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine confided his manuscript on his +way to prison. Fellows was afterwards Paine's intimate friend in New +York, and it was chiefly due to him that some portions of the author's +writings, left in manuscript to Madame Bonneville while she was a +freethinker were rescued from her devout destructiveness after her +return to Catholicism. The letter which Mr. Cowen sends me, is dated at +Paris, January 20, 1797. + +"SIR,--Your friend Mr. Caritat being on the point of his departure for +America, I make it the opportunity of writing to you. I received two +letters from you with some pamphlets a considerable time past, in which +you inform me of your entering a copyright of the first part of the Age +of Reason: when I return to America we will settle for that matter. + +"As Doctor Franklin has been my intimate friend for thirty years past +you will naturally see the reason of my continuing the connection with +his grandson. I printed here (Paris) about fifteen thousand of the +second part of the Age of Reason, which I sent to Mr. F[ranklin] Bache. +I gave him notice of it in September 1795 and the copy-right by my +own direction was entered by him. The books did not arrive till April +following, but he had advertised it long before. + +"I sent to him in August last a manuscript letter of about 70 pages, +from me to Mr. Washington to be printed in a pamphlet. Mr. Barnes of +Philadelphia carried the letter from me over to London to be forwarded +to America. It went by the ship Hope, Cap: Harley, who since his return +from America told me that he put it into the post office at New York for +Bache. I have yet no certain account of its publication. I mention this +that the letter may be enquired after, in case it has not been published +or has not arrived to Mr. Bache. Barnes wrote to me, from London 29 +August informing me that he was offered three hundred pounds sterling +for the manuscript. The offer was refused because it was my intention it +should not appear till it appeared in America, as that, and not England +was the place for its operation. + +"You ask me by your letter to Mr. Caritat for a list of my several +works, in order to publish a collection of them. This is an undertaking +I have always reserved for myself. It not only belongs to me of right, +but nobody but myself can do it; and as every author is accountable (at +least in reputation) for his works, he only is the person to do it. If +he neglects it in his life-time the case is altered. It is my intention +to return to America in the course of the present year. I shall then +[do] it by subscription, with historical notes. As this work will employ +many persons in different parts of the Union, I will confer with you +upon the subject, and such part of it as will suit you to +undertake, will be at your choice. I have sustained so much loss, by +disinterestedness and inattention to money matters, and by accidents, +that I am obliged to look closer to my affairs than I have done. The +printer (an Englishman) whom I employed here to print the second part +of 'the Age of Reason' made a manuscript copy of the work while he was +printing it, which he sent to London and sold. It was by this means that +an edition of it came out in London. + +"We are waiting here for news from America of the state of the federal +elections. You will have heard long before this reaches you that the +French government has refused to receive Mr. Pinckney as minister. While +Mr. Monroe was minister he had the opportunity of softening matters with +this government, for he was in good credit with them tho' they were in +high indignation at the infidelity of the Washington Administration. +It is time that Mr. Washington retire, for he has played off so much +prudent hypocrisy between France and England that neither government +believes anything he says. + +"Your friend, etc., + +"THOMAS PAINE." + +It would appear that Symonds' stolen edition must have got ahead of that +sent by Paine to Franklin Bache, for some of its errors continue in +all modern American editions to the present day, as well as in those of +England. For in England it was only the shilling edition--that +revised by Paine--which was suppressed. Symonds, who ministered to the +half-crown folk, and who was also publisher of replies to Paine, was +left undisturbed about his pirated edition, and the new Society for the +suppression of Vice and Immorality fastened on one Thomas Williams, who +sold pious tracts but was also convicted (June 24, 1797) of having sold +one copy of the "Age of Reason." Erskine, who had defended Paine at his +trial for the "Rights of Man," conducted the prosecution of Williams. +He gained the victory from a packed jury, but was not much elated by +it, especially after a certain adventure on his way to Lincoln's Inn. He +felt his coat clutched and beheld at his feet a woman bathed in tears. +She led him into the small book-shop of Thomas Williams, not yet called +up for judgment, and there he beheld his victim stitching tracts in a +wretched little room, where there were three children, two suffering +with Smallpox. He saw that it would be ruin and even a sort of murder to +take away to prison the husband, who was not a freethinker, and lamented +his publication of the book, and a meeting of the Society which had +retained him was summoned. There was a full meeting, the Bishop of +London (Porteus) in the chair. Erskine reminded them that Williams was +yet to be brought up for sentence, described the scene he had witnessed, +and Williams' penitence, and, as the book was now suppressed, asked +permission to move for a nominal sentence. Mercy, he urged, was a part +of the Christianity they were defending. Not one of the Society took his +side,--not even "philanthropic" Wilberforce--and Erskine threw up his +brief. This action of Erskine led the Judge to give Williams only a year +in prison instead of the three he said had been intended. + +While Williams was in prison the orthodox colporteurs were circulating +Erskine's speech on Christianity, but also an anonymous sermon "On the +Existence and Attributes of the Deity," all of which was from Paine's +"Age of Reason," except a brief "Address to the Deity" appended. +This picturesque anomaly was repeated in the circulation of Paine's +"Discourse to the Theophilanthropists" (their and the author's names +removed) under the title of "Atheism Refuted." Both of these pamphlets +are now before me, and beside them a London tract of one page just sent +for my spiritual benefit. This is headed "A Word of Caution." It begins +by mentioning the "pernicious doctrines of Paine," the first being "that +there is No GOD" (sic,) then proceeds to adduce evidences of divine +existence taken from Paine's works. It should be added that this one +dingy page is the only "survival" of the ancient Paine effigy in the +tract form which I have been able to find in recent years, and to this +no Society or Publisher's name is attached. + +The imprisonment of Williams was the beginning of a thirty years' war +for religious liberty in England, in the course of which occurred many +notable events, such as Eaton receiving homage in his pillory at Choring +Cross, and the whole Carlile family imprisoned,--its head imprisoned +more than nine years for publishing the "Age of Reason." This last +victory of persecution was suicidal. Gentlemen of wealth, not adherents +of Paine, helped in setting Carlile up in business in Fleet Street, +where free-thinking publications have since been sold without +interruption. But though Liberty triumphed in one sense, the "Age of +Reason." remained to some extent suppressed among those whose attention +it especially merited. Its original prosecution by a Society for the +Suppression of Vice (a device to, relieve the Crown) amounted to a libel +upon a morally clean book, restricting its perusal in families; and the +fact that the shilling book sold by and among humble people was alone +prosecuted, diffused among the educated an equally false notion that the +"Age of Reason" was vulgar and illiterate. The theologians, as we +have seen, estimated more justly the ability of their antagonist, +the collaborator of Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Clymer, on whom the +University of Pennsylvania had conferred the degree of Master of +Arts,--but the gentry confused Paine with the class described by Burke +as "the swinish multitude." Skepticism, or its free utterance, was +temporarily driven out of polite circles by its complication with the +out-lawed vindicator of the "Rights of Man." But that long combat has +now passed away. Time has reduced the "Age of Reason" from a flag of +popular radicalism to a comparatively conservative treatise, so far as +its negations are concerned. An old friend tells me that in his youth +he heard a sermon in which the preacher declared that "Tom Paine was +so wicked that he could not be buried; his bones were thrown into a box +which was bandied about the world till it came to a button-manufacturer; +and now Paine is travelling round the world in the form of buttons!" +This variant of the Wandering Jew myth may now be regarded as +unconscious homage to the author whose metaphorical bones may be +recognized in buttons now fashionable, and some even found useful in +holding clerical vestments together. + +But the careful reader will find in Paine's "Age of Reason" something +beyond negations, and in conclusion I will especially call attention to +the new departure in Theism indicated in a passage corresponding to a +famous aphorism of Kant, indicated by a note in Part II. The discovery +already mentioned, that Part I. was written at least fourteen years +before Part II., led me to compare the two; and it is plain that while +the earlier work is an amplification of Newtonian Deism, based on the +phenomena of planetary motion, the work of 1795 bases belief in God on +"the universal display of himself in the works of the creation and by +that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and disposition +to do good ones." This exaltation of the moral nature of man to be the +foundation of theistic religion, though now familiar, was a hundred +years ago a new affirmation; it has led on a conception of deity +subversive of last-century deism, it has steadily humanized religion, +and its ultimate philosophical and ethical results have not yet been +reached. + + + +CHAPTER I - THE AUTHOR'S PROFESSION OF FAITH. + +IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my thoughts +upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the +subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced +period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to +my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of +the motive that induced me to it could not admit of a question, even by +those who might disapprove the work. + +The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total +abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of everything +appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles +of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work +of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the general wreck of +superstition, of false systems of government, and false theology, we +lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is true. + +As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow-citizens of France, +have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual +profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that +sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with +itself. + +I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this +life. + +I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties +consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our +fellow-creatures happy. + +But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in +addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the +things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them. + +I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by +the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the +Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my +own church. + +All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or +Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify +and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. + +I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe +otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to +mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally +faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in +disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not +believe. + +It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express +it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far +corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe +his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared +himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade +of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for +that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive anything more +destructive to morality than this? + +Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I saw +the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government +would be followed by a revolution in the system of religion. The +adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it had taken place, +whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so effectually prohibited, by +pains and penalties, every discussion upon established creeds, and upon +first principles of religion, that until the system of government should +be changed, those subjects could not be brought fairly and openly before +the world; but that whenever this should be done, a revolution in the +system of religion would follow. Human inventions and priest-craft +would be detected; and man would return to the pure, unmixed, and +unadulterated belief of one God, and no more. + +CHAPTER II - OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS. + +EVERY national church or religion has established itself by pretending +some special mission from God, communicated to certain individuals. The +Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus Christ, their apostles +and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if the way to God was not +open to every man alike. + +Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call revelation, +or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God was given by God +to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that their Word of God came +by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that their Word of God (the +Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. Each of those churches +accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own part, I disbelieve them +all. + +As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I +proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word +'revelation.' Revelation when applied to religion, means something +communicated immediately from God to man. + +No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, that +something has been revealed to a certain person, and not revealed to any +other person, it is revelation to that person only. When he tells it to +a second person, a second to a third, a third to a fourth, and so on, it +ceases to be a revelation to all those persons. It is revelation to the +first person only, and hearsay to every other, and, consequently, they +are not obliged to believe it. + +It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a revelation +that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in writing. +Revelation is necessarily limited to the first communication. After +this, it is only an account of something which that person says was +a revelation made to him; and though he may find himself obliged to +believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to believe it in the same +manner, for it was not a revelation made to me, and I have only his word +for it that it was made to him. + +When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two tables +of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to +believe him, because they had no other authority for it than his telling +them so; and I have no other authority for it than some historian +telling me so, the commandments carrying no internal evidence of +divinity with them. They contain some good moral precepts such as any +man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce himself, +without having recourse to supernatural intervention. [NOTE: It is, +however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God 'visits +the sins of the fathers upon the children'. This is contrary to every +principle of moral justice.--Author.] + +When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to +Mahomet by an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of hearsay +evidence and second hand authority as the former. I did not see the +angel myself, and therefore I have a right not to believe it. + +When also I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, said, or gave +out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a man, and +that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told him so, I +have a right to believe them or not: such a circumstance required a +much stronger evidence than their bare word for it: but we have not even +this; for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter themselves. +It is only reported by others that they said so. It is hearsay upon +hearsay, and I do not chose to rest my belief upon such evidence. + +It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was given +to the story of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He was born when the +heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the world, and +that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of such a story. +Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the heathen mythology +were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods. It was not a new +thing at that time to believe a man to have been celestially begotten; +the intercourse of gods with women was then a matter of familiar +opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their accounts, had cohabited with +hundreds; the story therefore had nothing in it either new, wonderful, +or obscene; it was conformable to the opinions that then prevailed among +the people called Gentiles, or mythologists, and it was those people +only that believed it. The Jews, who had kept strictly to the belief of +one God, and no more, and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, +never credited the story. + +It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the Christian +Church, sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A direct +incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the reputed +founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that then +followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality, which +was about twenty or thirty thousand. The statue of Mary succeeded the +statue of Diana of Ephesus. The deification of heroes changed into the +canonization of saints. The Mythologists had gods for everything; the +Christian Mythologists had saints for everything. The church became as +crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been with the other; and Rome +was the place of both. The Christian theory is little else than the +idolatry of the ancient mythologists, accommodated to the purposes +of power and revenue; and it yet remains to reason and philosophy to +abolish the amphibious fraud. + + + +CHAPTER III - CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS HISTORY. + +NOTHING that is here said can apply, even with the most distant +disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous and +an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was of the +most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality had been +preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers, many years +before, by the Quakers since, and by many good men in all ages, it has +not been exceeded by any. + +Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or +anything else. Not a line of what is called the New Testament is of his +writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other people; and +as to the account given of his resurrection and ascension, it was the +necessary counterpart to the story of his birth. His historians, having +brought him into the world in a supernatural manner, were obliged to +take him out again in the same manner, or the first part of the story +must have fallen to the ground. + +The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds +everything that went before it. The first part, that of the miraculous +conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; and therefore +the tellers of this part of the story had this advantage, that though +they might not be credited, they could not be detected. They could not +be expected to prove it, because it was not one of those things that +admitted of proof, and it was impossible that the person of whom it was +told could prove it himself. + +But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his ascension +through the air, is a thing very different, as to the evidence it admits +of, to the invisible conception of a child in the womb. The resurrection +and ascension, supposing them to have taken place, admitted of public +and ocular demonstration, like that of the ascension of a balloon, or +the sun at noon day, to all Jerusalem at least. A thing which everybody +is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it +should be equal to all, and universal; and as the public visibility of +this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction +to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that +evidence never was given. Instead of this, a small number of persons, +not more than eight or nine, are introduced as proxies for the whole +world, to say they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called +upon to believe it. But it appears that Thomas did not believe the +resurrection; and, as they say, would not believe without having ocular +and manual demonstration himself. So neither will I; and the reason is +equally as good for me, and for every other person, as for Thomas. + +It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The story, +so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of fraud and +imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the authors of it is +as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to be assured that the +books in which the account is related were written by the persons whose +names they bear. The best surviving evidence we now have respecting this +affair is the Jews. They are regularly descended from the people who +lived in the time this resurrection and ascension is said to have +happened, and they say 'it is not true.' It has long appeared to me a +strange inconsistency to cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the +story. It is just the same as if a man were to say, I will prove the +truth of what I have told you, by producing the people who say it is +false. + +That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was crucified, +which was the mode of execution at that day, are historical relations +strictly within the limits of probability. He preached most excellent +morality, and the equality of man; but he preached also against the +corruptions and avarice of the Jewish priests, and this brought upon +him the hatred and vengeance of the whole order of priest-hood. The +accusation which those priests brought against him was that of sedition +and conspiracy against the Roman government, to which the Jews were +then subject and tributary; and it is not improbable that the Roman +government might have some secret apprehension of the effects of his +doctrine as well as the Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that +Jesus Christ had in contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation +from the bondage of the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous +reformer and revolutionist lost his life. [NOTE: The French work has +here: "However this may be, for one or the other of these suppositions +this virtuous reformer, this revolutionist, too little imitated, +too much forgotten, too much misunderstood, lost his life."--Editor. +(Conway)] + + + +CHAPTER IV - OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY. + +IT is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case I +am going to mention, that the Christian mythologists, calling themselves +the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which for absurdity +and extravagance is not exceeded by anything that is to be found in the +mythology of the ancients. + +The ancient mythologists tell us that the race of Giants made war +against Jupiter, and that one of them threw a hundred rocks against him +at one throw; that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and confined +him afterwards under Mount Etna; and that every time the Giant turns +himself, Mount Etna belches fire. It is here easy to see that the +circumstance of the mountain, that of its being a volcano, suggested the +idea of the fable; and that the fable is made to fit and wind itself up +with that circumstance. + +The Christian mythologists tell that their Satan made war against the +Almighty, who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a +mountain, but in a pit. It is here easy to see that the first fable +suggested the idea of the second; for the fable of Jupiter and the +Giants was told many hundred years before that of Satan. + +Thus far the ancient and the Christian mythologists differ very little +from each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the matter much +farther. They have contrived to connect the fabulous part of the story +of Jesus Christ with the fable originating from Mount Etna; and, in +order to make all the parts of the story tie together, they have taken +to their aid the traditions of the Jews; for the Christian mythology is +made up partly from the ancient mythology, and partly from the Jewish +traditions. + +The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, were +obliged to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the fable. He is +then introduced into the garden of Eden in the shape of a snake, or a +serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar conversation with +Eve, who is no ways surprised to hear a snake talk; and the issue of +this tete-a-tate is, that he persuades her to eat an apple, and the +eating of that apple damns all mankind. + +After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would have +supposed that the church mythologists would have been kind enough to +send him back again to the pit, or, if they had not done this, that they +would have put a mountain upon him, (for they say that their faith +can remove a mountain) or have put him under a mountain, as the former +mythologists had done, to prevent his getting again among the women, +and doing more mischief. But instead of this, they leave him at large, +without even obliging him to give his parole. The secret of which is, +that they could not do without him; and after being at the trouble of +making him, they bribed him to stay. They promised him ALL the Jews, ALL +the Turks by anticipation, nine-tenths of the world beside, and Mahomet +into the bargain. After this, who can doubt the bountifulness of the +Christian Mythology? + +Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in heaven, in which none +of the combatants could be either killed or wounded--put Satan into +the pit--let him out again--given him a triumph over the whole +creation--damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, there Christian +mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together. They represent +this virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at once both God and +man, and also the Son of God, celestially begotten, on purpose to be +sacrificed, because they say that Eve in her longing [NOTE: The French +work has: "yielding to an unrestrained appetite."--Editor.] had eaten an +apple. + + + +CHAPTER V - EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES. + +PUTTING aside everything that might excite laughter by its absurdity, +or detestation by its profaneness, and confining ourselves merely to +an examination of the parts, it is impossible to conceive a story more +derogatory to the Almighty, more inconsistent with his wisdom, more +contradictory to his power, than this story is. + +In order to make for it a foundation to rise upon, the inventors were +under the necessity of giving to the being whom they call Satan a power +equally as great, if not greater, than they attribute to the Almighty. +They have not only given him the power of liberating himself from +the pit, after what they call his fall, but they have made that power +increase afterwards to infinity. Before this fall they represent him +only as an angel of limited existence, as they represent the rest. +After his fall, he becomes, by their account, omnipresent. He exists +everywhere, and at the same time. He occupies the whole immensity of +space. + +Not content with this deification of Satan, they represent him as +defeating by stratagem, in the shape of an animal of the creation, +all the power and wisdom of the Almighty. They represent him as having +compelled the Almighty to the direct necessity either of surrendering +the whole of the creation to the government and sovereignty of this +Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption by coming down upon earth, +and exhibiting himself upon a cross in the shape of a man. + +Had the inventors of this story told it the contrary way, that is, had +they represented the Almighty as compelling Satan to exhibit himself +on a cross in the shape of a snake, as a punishment for his +new transgression, the story would have been less absurd, less +contradictory. But, instead of this they make the transgressor triumph, +and the Almighty fall. + +That many good men have believed this strange fable, and lived very good +lives under that belief (for credulity is not a crime) is what I have no +doubt of. In the first place, they were educated to believe it, and they +would have believed anything else in the same manner. There are also +many who have been so enthusiastically enraptured by what they conceived +to be the infinite love of God to man, in making a sacrifice of himself, +that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden and deterred them from +examining into the absurdity and profaneness of the story. The more +unnatural anything is, the more is it capable of becoming the object +of dismal admiration. [NOTE: The French work has "blind and" preceding +dismal.--Editor.] + + + +CHAPTER VI - OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +BUT if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they not +present themselves every hour to our eyes? Do we not see a fair creation +prepared to receive us the instant we are born--a world furnished to our +hands, that cost us nothing? Is it we that light up the sun; that pour +down the rain; and fill the earth with abundance? Whether we sleep +or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still goes on. Are these +things, and the blessings they indicate in future, nothing to, us? Can +our gross feelings be excited by no other subjects than tragedy and +suicide? Or is the gloomy pride of man become so intolerable, that +nothing can flatter it but a sacrifice of the Creator? + +I know that this bold investigation will alarm many, but it would be +paying too great a compliment to their credulity to forbear it on that +account. The times and the subject demand it to be done. The suspicion +that the theory of what is called the Christian church is fabulous, is +becoming very extensive in all countries; and it will be a consolation +to men staggering under that suspicion, and doubting what to believe and +what to disbelieve, to see the subject freely investigated. I therefore +pass on to an examination of the books called the Old and the New +Testament. + + + +CHAPTER VII - EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. + +THESE books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelations, (which, +by the bye, is a book of riddles that requires a revelation to explain +it) are, we are told, the word of God. It is, therefore, proper for +us to know who told us so, that we may know what credit to give to the +report. The answer to this question is, that nobody can tell, except +that we tell one another so. The case, however, historically appears to +be as follows: + +When the church mythologists established their system, they collected +all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. It +is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the writings +as now appear under the name of the Old and the New Testament, are in +the same state in which those collectors say they found them; or whether +they added, altered, abridged, or dressed them up. + +Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the +collection they had made, should be the WORD OF GOD, and which should +not. They rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as +the books called the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority of +votes, were voted to be the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, all +the people since calling themselves Christians had believed otherwise; +for the belief of the one comes from the vote of the other. Who the +people were that did all this, we know nothing of. They call themselves +by the general name of the Church; and this is all we know of the +matter. + +As we have no other external evidence or authority for believing these +books to be the word of God, than what I have mentioned, which is no +evidence or authority at all, I come, in the next place, to examine the +internal evidence contained in the books themselves. + +In the former part of this essay, I have spoken of revelation. I now +proceed further with that subject, for the purpose of applying it to the +books in question. + +Revelation is a communication of something, which the person, to whom +that thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a thing, +or seen it done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done it, or +seen it, nor to enable me to tell it, or to write it. + +Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth of +which man is himself the actor or the witness; and consequently all the +historical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost the whole of +it, is not within the meaning and compass of the word revelation, and, +therefore, is not the word of God. + +When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so, (and +whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he visited his Delilah, +or caught his foxes, or did anything else, what has revelation to do +with these things? If they were facts, he could tell them himself; or +his secretary, if he kept one, could write them, if they were worth +either telling or writing; and if they were fictions, revelation could +not make them true; and whether true or not, we are neither the better +nor the wiser for knowing them. When we contemplate the immensity of +that Being, who directs and governs the incomprehensible WHOLE, of which +the utmost ken of human sight can discover but a part, we ought to feel +shame at calling such paltry stories the word of God. + +As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Genesis opens, +it has all the appearance of being a tradition which the Israelites had +among them before they came into Egypt; and after their departure from +that country, they put it at the head of their history, without telling, +as it is most probable that they did not know, how they came by it. +The manner in which the account opens, shows it to be traditionary. It +begins abruptly. It is nobody that speaks. It is nobody that hears. It +is addressed to nobody. It has neither first, second, nor third person. +It has every criterion of being a tradition. It has no voucher. Moses +does not take it upon himself by introducing it with the formality that +he uses on other occasions, such as that of saying, "The Lords spake +unto Moses, saying." + +Why it has been called the Mosaic account of the creation, I am at +a loss to conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such +subjects to put his name to that account. He had been educated among +the Egyptians, who were a people as well skilled in science, and +particularly in astronomy, as any people of their day; and the silence +and caution that Moses observes, in not authenticating the account, is +a good negative evidence that he neither told it nor believed it.--The +case is, that every nation of people has been world-makers, and the +Israelites had as much right to set up the trade of world-making as any +of the rest; and as Moses was not an Israelite, he might not chose to +contradict the tradition. The account, however, is harmless; and this is +more than can be said for many other parts of the Bible. + +Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the +cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with +which more than half the Bible [NOTE: It must be borne in mind that by +the "Bible" Paine always means the Old Testament alone.--Editor.] is +filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a +demon, than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that +has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I +sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. + +We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what +deserves either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come to the +miscellaneous parts of the Bible. In the anonymous publications, the +Psalms, and the Book of Job, more particularly in the latter, we find +a great deal of elevated sentiment reverentially expressed of the power +and benignity of the Almighty; but they stand on no higher rank than +many other compositions on similar subjects, as well before that time as +since. + +The Proverbs which are said to be Solomon's, though most probably +a collection, (because they discover a knowledge of life, which his +situation excluded him from knowing) are an instructive table of ethics. +They are inferior in keenness to the proverbs of the Spaniards, and not +more wise and oeconomical than those of the American Franklin. + +All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the name of the +Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and itinerant preachers, +who mixed poetry, anecdote, and devotion together--and those works still +retain the air and style of poetry, though in translation. [NOTE: As +there are many readers who do not see that a composition is poetry, +unless it be in rhyme, it is for their information that I add this note. + +Poetry consists principally in two things--imagery and composition. The +composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of mixing +long and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of a line +of poetry, and put a short one in the room of it, or put a long syllable +where a short one should be, and that line will lose its poetical +harmony. It will have an effect upon the line like that of misplacing a +note in a song. + +The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether to +poetry. It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not admissible in +any other kind of writing than poetry. + +To show that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will +take ten syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the +same number of syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the +last word. It will then be seen that the composition of those books is +poetical measure. The instance I shall first produce is from Isaiah:-- + + "Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth + 'T is God himself that calls attention forth. + +Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to which +I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out the figure, +and showing the intention of the poet. + + "O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes + Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies; + Then would I give the mighty flood release + And weep a deluge for the human race."--Author.] + +There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word that +describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes what we +call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a later times +have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and the word +'propesying' meant the art of making poetry. It also meant the art of +playing poetry to a tune upon any instrument of music. + +We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns--of prophesying +with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every other +instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to speak of prophesying +with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the expression would have no +meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to some people contemptuous, +because we have changed the meaning of the word. + +We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he +prophesied; but we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he +prophesied. The case is, there was nothing to tell; for these prophets +were a company of musicians and poets, and Saul joined in the concert, +and this was called prophesying. + +The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel, is, that +Saul met a company of prophets; a whole company of them! coming down +with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they prophesied, +and that he prophesied with them. But it appears afterwards, that Saul +prophesied badly, that is, he performed his part badly; for it is said +that an "evil spirit from God [NOTE: As thos; men who call themselves +divines and commentators are very fond of puzzling one another, I leave +them to contest the meaning of the first part of the phrase, that of an +evil spirit of God. I keep to my text. I keep to the meaning of the word +prophesy.--Author.] came upon Saul, and he prophesied." + +Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible, than +this, to demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of the +word prophesy, and substituted another meaning in its place, this alone +would be sufficient; for it is impossible to use and apply the word +prophesy, in the place it is here used and applied, if we give to it the +sense which later times have affixed to it. The manner in which it is +here used strips it of all religious meaning, and shews that a man might +then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as he may now be a poet or a +musician, without any regard to the morality or the immorality of his +character. The word was originally a term of science, promiscuously +applied to poetry and to music, and not restricted to any subject upon +which poetry and music might be exercised. + +Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they predicted +anything, but because they composed the poem or song that bears their +name, in celebration of an act already done. David is ranked among the +prophets, for he was a musician, and was also reputed to be (though +perhaps very erroneously) the author of the Psalms. But Abraham, Isaac, +and Jacob are not called prophets; it does not appear from any accounts +we have, that they could either sing, play music, or make poetry. + +We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might as well +tell us of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be degrees +in prophesying consistently with its modern sense. But there are degrees +in poetry, and there-fore the phrase is reconcilable to the case, when +we understand by it the greater and the lesser poets. + +It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any observations upon +what those men, styled prophets, have written. The axe goes at once +to the root, by showing that the original meaning of the word has been +mistaken, and consequently all the inferences that have been drawn from +those books, the devotional respect that has been paid to them, and +the laboured commentaries that have been written upon them, under +that mistaken meaning, are not worth disputing about.--In many things, +however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a better fate than +that of being bound up, as they now are, with the trash that accompanies +them, under the abused name of the Word of God. + +If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must +necessarily affix the idea, not only of unchangeableness, but of the +utter impossibility of any change taking place, by any means or accident +whatever, in that which we would honour with the name of the Word of +God; and therefore the Word of God cannot exist in any written or human +language. + +The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is +subject, the want of an universal language which renders translation +necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the +mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the possibility of +wilful alteration, are of themselves evidences that human language, +whether in speech or in print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of +God.--The Word of God exists in something else. + +Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of ideas and expression +all the books now extant in the world, I would not take it for my +rule of faith, as being the Word of God; because the possibility would +nevertheless exist of my being imposed upon. But when I see throughout +the greatest part of this book scarcely anything but a history of the +grossest vices, and a collection of the most paltry and contemptible +tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it by his name. + + + +CHAPTER VIII - OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. + +THUS much for the Bible; I now go on to the book called the New +Testament. The new Testament! that is, the 'new' Will, as if there could +be two wills of the Creator. + +Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish a +new religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, or +procured it to be written in his life time. But there is no publication +extant authenticated with his name. All the books called the New +Testament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth and by +profession; and he was the son of God in like manner that every other +person is; for the Creator is the Father of All. + +The first four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not give +a history of the life of Jesus Christ, but only detached anecdotes of +him. It appears from these books, that the whole time of his being a +preacher was not more than eighteen months; and it was only during this +short time that those men became acquainted with him. They make mention +of him at the age of twelve years, sitting, they say, among the Jewish +doctors, asking and answering them questions. As this was several years +before their acquaintance with him began, it is most probable they had +this anecdote from his parents. From this time there is no account of +him for about sixteen years. Where he lived, or how he employed himself +during this interval, is not known. Most probably he was working at his +father's trade, which was that of a carpenter. It does not appear that +he had any school education, and the probability is, that he could not +write, for his parents were extremely poor, as appears from their not +being able to pay for a bed when he was born. [NOTE: One of the few +errors traceable to Paine's not having a Bible at hand while writing +Part I. There is no indication that the family was poor, but the reverse +may in fact be inferred.--Editor.] + +It is somewhat curious that the three persons whose names are the +most universally recorded were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a +foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule +driver. The first and the last of these men were founders of different +systems of religion; but Jesus Christ founded no new system. He called +men to the practice of moral virtues, and the belief of one God. The +great trait in his character is philanthropy. + +The manner in which he was apprehended shows that he was not much known, +at that time; and it shows also that the meetings he then held with +his followers were in secret; and that he had given over or suspended +preaching publicly. Judas could no otherways betray him than by giving +information where he was, and pointing him out to the officers that went +to arrest him; and the reason for employing and paying Judas to do this +could arise only from the causes already mentioned, that of his not +being much known, and living concealed. + +The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his reputed +divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity; and +his being betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on the +information of one of his followers, shows that he did not intend to be +apprehended, and consequently that he did not intend to be crucified. + +The Christian mythologists tell us that Christ died for the sins of the +world, and that he came on Purpose to die. Would it not then have been +the same if he had died of a fever or of the small pox, of old age, or +of anything else? + +The declaratory sentence which, they say, was passed upon Adam, in case +he ate of the apple, was not, that thou shalt surely be crucified, but, +thou shale surely die. The sentence was death, and not the manner of +dying. Crucifixion, therefore, or any other particular manner of dying, +made no part of the sentence that Adam was to suffer, and consequently, +even upon their own tactic, it could make no part of the sentence that +Christ was to suffer in the room of Adam. A fever would have done as +well as a cross, if there was any occasion for either. + +This sentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus passed upon Adam, +must either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceasing to live, or +have meant what these mythologists call damnation; and consequently, +the act of dying on the part of Jesus Christ, must, according to their +system, apply as a prevention to one or other of these two things +happening to Adam and to us. + +That it does not prevent our dying is evident, because we all die; +and if their accounts of longevity be true, men die faster since the +crucifixion than before: and with respect to the second explanation, +(including with it the natural death of Jesus Christ as a substitute +for the eternal death or damnation of all mankind,) it is impertinently +representing the Creator as coming off, or revoking the sentence, by a +pun or a quibble upon the word death. That manufacturer of, quibbles, +St. Paul, if he wrote the books that bear his name, has helped this +quibble on by making another quibble upon the word Adam. He makes there +to be two Adams; the one who sins in fact, and suffers by proxy; +the other who sins by proxy, and suffers in fact. A religion thus +interlarded with quibble, subterfuge, and pun, has a tendency to +instruct its professors in the practice of these arts. They acquire the +habit without being aware of the cause. + +If Jesus Christ was the being which those mythologists tell us he +was, and that he came into this world to suffer, which is a word they +sometimes use instead of 'to die,' the only real suffering he could have +endured would have been 'to live.' His existence here was a state +of exilement or transportation from heaven, and the way back to his +original country was to die.--In fine, everything in this strange system +is the reverse of what it pretends to be. It is the reverse of truth, +and I become so tired of examining into its inconsistencies and +absurdities, that I hasten to the conclusion of it, in order to proceed +to something better. + +How much, or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were +written by the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know +nothing of, neither are we certain in what language they were originally +written. The matters they now contain may be classed under two heads: +anecdote, and epistolary correspondence. + +The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are +altogether anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. +They tell what Jesus Christ did and said, and what others did and said +to him; and in several instances they relate the same event differently. +Revelation is necessarily out of the question with respect to those +books; not only because of the disagreement of the writers, but because +revelation cannot be applied to the relating of facts by the persons +who saw them done, nor to the relating or recording of any discourse +or conversation by those who heard it. The book called the Acts of the +Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also to the anecdotal part. + +All the other parts of the New Testament, except the book of enigmas, +called the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of +epistles; and the forgery of letters has been such a common practice +in the world, that the probability is at least equal, whether they are +genuine or forged. One thing, however, is much less equivocal, which +is, that out of the matters contained in those books, together with +the assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a system of +religion very contradictory to the character of the person whose name +it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue in pretended +imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty. + +The invention of a purgatory, and of the releasing of souls therefrom, +by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling of pardons, +dispensations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without bearing that +name or carrying that appearance. But the case nevertheless is, that +those things derive their origin from the proxysm of the crucifixion, +and the theory deduced therefrom, which was, that one person could stand +in the place of another, and could perform meritorious services for him. +The probability, therefore, is, that the whole theory or doctrine of +what is called the redemption (which is said to have been accomplished +by the act of one person in the room of another) was originally +fabricated on purpose to bring forward and build all those secondary +and pecuniary redemptions upon; and that the passages in the books upon +which the idea of theory of redemption is built, have been manufactured +and fabricated for that purpose. Why are we to give this church credit, +when she tells us that those books are genuine in every part, any more +than we give her credit for everything else she has told us; or for the +miracles she says she has performed? That she could fabricate writings +is certain, because she could write; and the composition of the writings +in question, is of that kind that anybody might do it; and that she did +fabricate them is not more inconsistent with probability, than that she +should tell us, as she has done, that she could and did work miracles. + +Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long distance of time, +be produced to prove whether the church fabricated the doctrine called +redemption or not, (for such evidence, whether for or against, would be +subject to the same suspicion of being fabricated,) the case can only be +referred to the internal evidence which the thing carries of itself; and +this affords a very strong presumption of its being a fabrication. For +the internal evidence is, that the theory or doctrine of redemption +has for its basis an idea of pecuniary justice, and not that of moral +justice. + +If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put me +in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay it for +me. But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the case is +changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty even if +the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to do this, is to +destroy the principle of its existence, which is the thing itself. It is +then no longer justice. It is indiscriminate revenge. + +This single reflection will show that the doctrine of redemption is +founded on a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt which +another person might pay; and as this pecuniary idea corresponds again +with the system of second redemptions, obtained through the means of +money given to the church for pardons, the probability is that the same +persons fabricated both the one and the other of those theories; +and that, in truth, there is no such thing as redemption; that it is +fabulous; and that man stands in the same relative condition with his +Maker he ever did stand, since man existed; and that it is his greatest +consolation to think so. + +Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally, +than by any other system. It is by his being taught to contemplate +himself as an out-law, as an out-cast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as +one thrown as it were on a dunghill, at an immense distance from his +Creator, and who must make his approaches by creeping, and cringing to +intermediate beings, that he conceives either a contemptuous disregard +for everything under the name of religion, or becomes indifferent, or +turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he consumes his life +in grief, or the affectation of it. His prayers are reproaches. His +humility is ingratitude. He calls himself a worm, and the fertile earth +a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the thankless name of +vanities. He despises the choicest gift of God to man, the GIFT OF +REASON; and having endeavoured to force upon himself the belief of a +system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully calls it human +reason, as if man could give reason to himself. + +Yet, with all this strange appearance of humility, and this contempt for +human reason, he ventures into the boldest presumptions. He finds fault +with everything. His selfishness is never satisfied; his ingratitude is +never at an end. He takes on himself to direct the Almighty what to do, +even in the govemment of the universe. He prays dictatorially. When +it is sunshine, he prays for rain, and when it is rain, he prays for +sunshine. He follows the same idea in everything that he prays for; +for what is the amount of all his prayers, but an attempt to make the +Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise than he does? It is as if he +were to say--thou knowest not so well as I. + + + +CHAPTER IX - IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS. + +BUT some perhaps will say--Are we to have no word of God--no revelation? +I answer yes. There is a Word of God; there is a revelation. + +THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, +which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh +universally to man. + +Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of +being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. +The idea that God sent Jesus Christ to publish, as they say, the glad +tidings to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other, is +consistent only with the ignorance of those who know nothing of the +extent of the world, and who believed, as those world-saviours +believed, and continued to believe for several centuries, (and that in +contradiction to the discoveries of philosophers and the experience of +navigators,) that the earth was flat like a trencher; and that a man +might walk to the end of it. + +But how was Jesus Christ to make anything known to all nations? He could +speak but one language, which was Hebrew; and there are in the world +several hundred languages. Scarcely any two nations speak the same +language, or understand each other; and as to translations, every +man who knows anything of languages, knows that it is impossible to +translate from one language into another, not only without losing a +great part of the original, but frequently of mistaking the sense; and +besides all this, the art of printing was wholly unknown at the time +Christ lived. + +It is always necessary that the means that are to accomplish any end +be equal to the accomplishment of that end, or the end cannot be +accomplished. It is in this that the difference between finite and +infinite power and wisdom discovers itself. Man frequently fails in +accomplishing his end, from a natural inability of the power to the +purpose; and frequently from the want of wisdom to apply power properly. +But it is impossible for infinite power and wisdom to fail as man +faileth. The means it useth are always equal to the end: but human +language, more especially as there is not an universal language, is +incapable of being used as an universal means of unchangeable and +uniform information; and therefore it is not the means that God useth in +manifesting himself universally to man. + +It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a +word of God can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, +independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and various +as they be. It is an ever existing original, which every man can read. +It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot be lost; it +cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not depend upon the +will of man whether it shall be published or not; it publishes itself +from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches to all nations and +to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man all that is necessary +for man to know of God. + +Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of +the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the +unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. Do +we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance with +which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? We see it +in his not withholding that abundance even from the unthankful. In +fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the +scripture, which any human hand might make, but the scripture called the +Creation. + + + +CHAPTER X - CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE + +AND ATTRIBUTES BY THE BIBLE. + +THE only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first +cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is +for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief +of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. It is +difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no end; +but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult beyond the +power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we call time; but +it is more impossible to conceive a time when there shall be no time. + +In like manner of reasoning, everything we behold carries in itself the +internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an evidence +to himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his father make +himself, nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; neither could any +tree, plant, or animal make itself; and it is the conviction arising +from this evidence, that carries us on, as it were, by necessity, to +the belief of a first cause eternally existing, of a nature totally +different to any material existence we know of, and by the power of +which all things exist; and this first cause, man calls God. + +It is only by the exercise of reason, that man can discover God. Take +away that reason, and he would be incapable of understanding anything; +and in this case it would be just as consistent to read even the book +called the Bible to a horse as to a man. How then is it that those +people pretend to reject reason? + +Almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to +us any idea of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm; I +recollect no other. Those parts are true deistical compositions; +for they treat of the Deity through his works. They take the book of +Creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book; and all the +inferences they make are drawn from that volume. + +I insert in this place the 19th Psalm, as paraphrased into English verse +by Addison. I recollect not the prose, and where I write this I have not +the opportunity of seeing it: + + The spacious firmament on high, + With all the blue etherial sky, + And spangled heavens, a shining frame, + Their great original proclaim. + The unwearied sun, from day to day, + Does his Creator's power display, + And publishes to every land + The work of an Almighty hand. + Soon as the evening shades prevail, + The moon takes up the wondrous tale, + And nightly to the list'ning earth + Repeats the story of her birth; + Whilst all the stars that round her burn, + And all the planets, in their turn, + Confirm the tidings as they roll, + And spread the truth from pole to pole. + What though in solemn silence all + Move round this dark terrestrial ball + What though no real voice, nor sound, + Amidst their radiant orbs be found, + In reason's ear they all rejoice, + And utter forth a glorious voice, + Forever singing as they shine, + THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE. + +What more does man want to know, than that the hand or power that made +these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this, with the +force it is impossible to repel if he permits his reason to act, and his +rule of moral life will follow of course. + +The allusions in Job have all of them the same tendency with this Psalm; +that of deducing or proving a truth that would be otherwise unknown, +from truths already known. + +I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them correctly; +but there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to the subject I +am speaking upon. "Canst thou by searching find out God; canst thou find +out the Almighty to perfection?" + +I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no +Bible; but it contains two distinct questions that admit of distinct +answers. + +First, Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes. Because, in the first +place, I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; and by +searching into the nature of other things, I find that no other thing +could make itself; and yet millions of other things exist; therefore it +is, that I know, by positive conclusion resulting from this search, that +there is a power superior to all those things, and that power is God. + +Secondly, Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No. Not only +because the power and wisdom He has manifested in the structure of the +Creation that I behold is to me incomprehensible; but because even this +manifestation, great as it is is probably but a small display of that +immensity of power and wisdom, by which millions of other worlds, to me +invisible by their distance, were created and continue to exist. + +It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of the +person to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it is only +by admitting the first question to be answered affirmatively, that the +second could follow. It would have been unnecessary, and even absurd, to +have put a second question, more difficult than the first, if the first +question had been answered negatively. The two questions have different +objects; the first refers to the existence of God, the second to his +attributes. Reason can discover the one, but it falls infinitely short +in discovering the whole of the other. + +I recollect not a single passage in all the writings ascribed to the men +called apostles, that conveys any idea of what God is. Those writings +are chiefly controversial; and the gloominess of the subject they dwell +upon, that of a man dying in agony on a cross, is better suited to the +gloomy genius of a monk in a cell, by whom it is not impossible they +were written, than to any man breathing the open air of the Creation. +The only passage that occurs to me, that has any reference to the works +of God, by which only his power and wisdom can be known, is related to +have been spoken by Jesus Christ, as a remedy against distrustful care. +"Behold the lilies of the field, they toil not, neither do they spin." +This, however, is far inferior to the allusions in Job and in the 19th +Psalm; but it is similar in idea, and the modesty of the imagery is +correspondent to the modesty of the man. + + + +CHAPTER XI - OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of +atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe in a +man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of man-ism with +but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight is to darkness. +It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque body, which it calls +a redeemer, as the moon introduces her opaque self between the earth +and the sun, and it produces by this means a religious or an irreligious +eclipse of light. It has put the whole orbit of reason into shade. + +The effect of this obscurity has been that of turning everything upside +down, and representing it in reverse; and among the revolutions it has +thus magically produced, it has made a revolution in Theology. + +That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle +of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of +the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and +is the true theology. + +As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study of +human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the +study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works +or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the +mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it +has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a +beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the hag +of superstition. + +The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the church admits to be +more ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in the +book called the Bible, are theological orations conformable to the +original system of theology. The internal evidence of those orations +proves to a demonstration that the study and contemplation of the works +of creation, and of the power and wisdom of God revealed and manifested +in those works, made a great part of the religious devotion of the +times in which they were written; and it was this devotional study and +contemplation that led to the discovery of the principles upon which +what are now called Sciences are established; and it is to the discovery +of these principles that almost all the Arts that contribute to the +convenience of human life owe their existence. Every principal art has +some science for its parent, though the person who mechanically performs +the work does not always, and but very seldom, perceive the connection. + +It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences 'human +inventions;' it is only the application of them that is human. +Every science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and +unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. +Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them. + +For example: Every person who looks at an almanack sees an account when +an eclipse will take place, and he sees also that it never fails to +take place according to the account there given. This shows that man is +acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. But it would +be something worse than ignorance, were any church on earth to say that +those laws are an human invention. + +It would also be ignorance, or something worse, to say that the +scientific principles, by the aid of which man is enabled to calculate +and foreknow when an eclipse will take place, are an human invention. +Man cannot invent any thing that is eternal and immutable; and the +scientific principles he employs for this purpose must, and are, of +necessity, as eternal and immutable as the laws by which the heavenly +bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to ascertain the time +when, and the manner how, an eclipse will take place. + +The scientific principles that man employs to obtain the foreknowledge +of an eclipse, or of any thing else relating to the motion of the +heavenly bodies, are contained chiefly in that part of science that +is called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, which, when +applied to the study of the heavenly bodies, is called astronomy; +when applied to direct the course of a ship on the ocean, it is called +navigation; when applied to the construction of figures drawn by a rule +and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to the construction +of plans of edifices, it is called architecture; when applied to the +measurement of any portion of the surface of the earth, it is called +land-surveying. In fine, it is the soul of science. It is an eternal +truth: it contains the mathematical demonstration of which man speaks, +and the extent of its uses are unknown. + +It may be said, that man can make or draw a triangle, and therefore a +triangle is an human invention. + +But the triangle, when drawn, is no other than the image of the +principle: it is a delineation to the eye, and from thence to the mind, +of a principle that would otherwise be imperceptible. The triangle does +not make the principle, any more than a candle taken into a room that +was dark, makes the chairs and tables that before were invisible. All +the properties of a triangle exist independently of the figure, and +existed before any triangle was drawn or thought of by man. Man had no +more to do in the formation of those properties or principles, than +he had to do in making the laws by which the heavenly bodies move; and +therefore the one must have the same divine origin as the other. + +In the same manner as, it may be said, that man can make a triangle, +so also, may it be said, he can make the mechanical instrument called +a lever. But the principle by which the lever acts, is a thing distinct +from the instrument, and would exist if the instrument did not; it +attaches itself to the instrument after it is made; the instrument, +therefore, can act no otherwise than it does act; neither can all the +efforts of human invention make it act otherwise. That which, in all +such cases, man calls the effect, is no other than the principle itself +rendered perceptible to the senses. + +Since, then, man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a +knowledge of them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things on +earth, but to ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant from +him as all the heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he gain +that knowledge, but from the study of the true theology? + +It is the structure of the universe that has taught this knowledge to +man. That structure is an ever-existing exhibition of every principle +upon which every part of mathematical science is founded. The offspring +of this science is mechanics; for mechanics is no other than the +principles of science applied practically. The man who proportions the +several parts of a mill uses the same scientific principles as if he had +the power of constructing an universe, but as he cannot give to matter +that invisible agency by which all the component parts of the immense +machine of the universe have influence upon each other, and act in +motional unison together, without any apparent contact, and to which +man has given the name of attraction, gravitation, and repulsion, he +supplies the place of that agency by the humble imitation of teeth and +cogs. All the parts of man's microcosm must visibly touch. But could +he gain a knowledge of that agency, so as to be able to apply it in +practice, we might then say that another canonical book of the word of +God had been discovered. + +If man could alter the properties of the lever, so also could he alter +the properties of the triangle: for a lever (taking that sort of lever +which is called a steel-yard, for the sake of explanation) forms, when +in motion, a triangle. The line it descends from, (one point of that +line being in the fulcrum,) the line it descends to, and the chord of +the arc, which the end of the lever describes in the air, are the +three sides of a triangle. The other arm of the lever describes also a +triangle; and the corresponding sides of those two triangles, calculated +scientifically, or measured geometrically,--and also the sines, +tangents, and secants generated from the angles, and geometrically +measured,--have the same proportions to each other as the different +weights have that will balance each other on the lever, leaving the +weight of the lever out of the case. + +It may also be said, that man can make a wheel and axis; that he can put +wheels of different magnitudes together, and produce a mill. Still the +case comes back to the same point, which is, that he did not make the +principle that gives the wheels those powers. This principle is as +unalterable as in the former cases, or rather it is the same principle +under a different appearance to the eye. + +The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each other +is in the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two wheels +were joined together and made into that kind of lever I have described, +suspended at the part where the semi-diameters join; for the two wheels, +scientifically considered, are no other than the two circles generated +by the motion of the compound lever. + +It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of +science is derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts have +originated. + +The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the +structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It +is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call ours, +"I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the +starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the arts. He can now +provide for his own comfort, AND LEARN FROM MY MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, TO BE +KIND TO EACH OTHER." + +Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye is +endowed with the power of beholding, to an incomprehensible distance, an +immensity of worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or of what use is +it that this immensity of worlds is visible to man? What has man to do +with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with the star he calls the +north star, with the moving orbs he has named Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, +Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to follow from their being visible? +A less power of vision would have been sufficient for man, if the +immensity he now possesses were given only to waste itself, as it were, +on an immense desert of space glittering with shows. + +It is only by contemplating what he calls the starry heavens, as the +book and school of science, that he discovers any use in their being +visible to him, or any advantage resulting from his immensity of +vision. But when he contemplates the subject in this light, he sees an +additional motive for saying, that nothing was made in vain; for in vain +would be this power of vision if it taught man nothing. + + + +CHAPTER XII - THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED +REFORMS. + +As the Christian system of faith has made a revolution in theology, so +also has it made a revolution in the state of learning. That which is +now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does not +consist, as the schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of +languages, but in the knowledge of things to which language gives names. + +The Greeks were a learned people, but learning with them did not consist +in speaking Greek, any more than in a Roman's speaking Latin, or a +Frenchman's speaking French, or an Englishman's speaking English. From +what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that they knew or studied +any language but their own, and this was one cause of their becoming +so learned; it afforded them more time to apply themselves to better +studies. The schools of the Greeks were schools of science and +philosophy, and not of languages; and it is in the knowledge of the +things that science and philosophy teach that learning consists. + +Almost all the scientific learning that now exists, came to us from the +Greeks, or the people who spoke the Greek language. It therefore +became necessary to the people of other nations, who spoke a different +language, that some among them should learn the Greek language, in order +that the learning the Greeks had might be made known in those nations, +by translating the Greek books of science and philosophy into the mother +tongue of each nation. + +The study, therefore, of the Greek language (and in the same manner for +the Latin) was no other than the drudgery business of a linguist; and +the language thus obtained, was no other than the means, or as it were +the tools, employed to obtain the learning the Greeks had. It made no +part of the learning itself; and was so distinct from it as to make it +exceedingly probable that the persons who had studied Greek sufficiently +to translate those works, such for instance as Euclid's Elements, did +not understand any of the learning the works contained. + +As there is now nothing new to be learned from the dead languages, all +the useful books being already translated, the languages are become +useless, and the time expended in teaching and in learning them is +wasted. So far as the study of languages may contribute to the progress +and communication of knowledge (for it has nothing to do with the +creation of knowledge) it is only in the living languages that new +knowledge is to be found; and certain it is, that, in general, a +youth will learn more of a living language in one year, than of a dead +language in seven; and it is but seldom that the teacher knows much of +it himself. The difficulty of learning the dead languages does not arise +from any superior abstruseness in the languages themselves, but in their +being dead, and the pronunciation entirely lost. It would be the same +thing with any other language when it becomes dead. The best Greek +linguist that now exists does not understand Greek so well as a Grecian +plowman did, or a Grecian milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, +compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect +to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the cows that she milked. It +would therefore be advantageous to the state of learning to abolish +the study of the dead languages, and to make learning consist, as it +originally did, in scientific knowledge. + +The apology that is sometimes made for continuing to teach the dead +languages is, that they are taught at a time when a child is not capable +of exerting any other mental faculty than that of memory. But this +is altogether erroneous. The human mind has a natural disposition to +scientific knowledge, and to the things connected with it. The first and +favourite amusement of a child, even before it begins to play, is that +of imitating the works of man. It builds bouses with cards or sticks; it +navigates the little ocean of a bowl of water with a paper boat; or dams +the stream of a gutter, and contrives something which it calls a mill; +and it interests itself in the fate of its works with a care that +resembles affection. It afterwards goes to school, where its genius is +killed by the barren study of a dead language, and the philosopher is +lost in the linguist. + +But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead +languages, could not be the cause at first of cutting down learning to +the narrow and humble sphere of linguistry; the cause therefore must be +sought for elsewhere. In all researches of this kind, the best evidence +that can be produced, is the internal evidence the thing carries with +itself, and the evidence of circumstances that unites with it; both of +which, in this case, are not difficult to be discovered. + +Putting then aside, as matter of distinct consideration, the outrage +offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing him to make the +innocent suffer for the guilty, and also the loose morality and low +contrivance of supposing him to change himself into the shape of a man, +in order to make an excuse to himself for not executing his supposed +sentence upon Adam; putting, I say, those things aside as matter of +distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called the +christian system of faith, including in it the whimsical account of +the creation--the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple--the +amphibious idea of a man-god--the corporeal idea of the death of a +god--the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the christian +system of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, are all +irreconcilable, not only to the divine gift of reason, that God has +given to man, but to the knowledge that man gains of the power and +wisdom of God by the aid of the sciences, and by studying the structure +of the universe that God has made. + +The setters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Christian system of +faith, could not but foresee that the continually progressive knowledge +that man would gain by the aid of science, of the power and wisdom of +God, manifested in the structure of the universe, and in all the works +of creation, would militate against, and call into question, the truth +of their system of faith; and therefore it became necessary to their +purpose to cut learning down to a size less dangerous to their project, +and this they effected by restricting the idea of learning to the dead +study of dead languages. + +They not only rejected the study of science out of the christian +schools, but they persecuted it; and it is only within about the last +two centuries that the study has been revived. So late as 1610, Galileo, +a Florentine, discovered and introduced the use of telescopes, and by +applying them to observe the motions and appearances of the heavenly +bodies, afforded additional means for ascertaining the true structure +of the universe. Instead of being esteemed for these discoveries, he was +sentenced to renounce them, or the opinions resulting from them, as a +damnable heresy. And prior to that time Virgilius was condemned to be +burned for asserting the antipodes, or in other words, that the earth +was a globe, and habitable in every part where there was land; yet the +truth of this is now too well known even to be told. [NOTE: I cannot +discover the source of this statement concerning the ancient author +whose Irish name Feirghill was Latinized into Virgilius. The British +Museum possesses a copy of the work (Decalogiunt) which was the pretext +of the charge of heresy made by Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, against +Virgilius, Abbot--bishop of Salzburg, These were leaders of the +rival "British" and "Roman parties, and the British champion made a +countercharge against Boniface of irreligious practices." Boniface had +to express a "regret," but none the less pursued his rival. The Pope, +Zachary II., decided that if his alleged "doctrine, against God and his +soul, that beneath the earth there is another world, other men, or +sun and moon," should be acknowledged by Virgilius, he should be +excommunicated by a Council and condemned with canonical sanctions. +Whatever may have been the fate involved by condemnation with "canonicis +sanctionibus," in the middle of the eighth century, it did not fall on +Virgilius. His accuser, Boniface, was martyred, 755, and it is probable +that Virgilius harmonied his Antipodes with orthodoxy. The gravamen of +the heresy seems to have been the suggestion that there were men not of +the progeny of Adam. Virgilius was made Bishop of Salzburg in 768. He +bore until his death, 789, the curious title, "Geometer and Solitary," +or "lone wayfarer" (Solivagus). A suspicion of heresy clung to his +memory until 1233, when he was raised by Gregory IX, to sainthood beside +his accuser, St. Boniface.--Editor. (Conway)] + +If the belief of errors not morally bad did no mischief, it would make +no part of the moral duty of man to oppose and remove them. There was no +moral ill in believing the earth was flat like a trencher, any more than +there was moral virtue in believing it was round like a globe; neither +was there any moral ill in believing that the Creator made no other +world than this, any more than there was moral virtue in believing that +he made millions, and that the infinity of space is filled with worlds. +But when a system of religion is made to grow out of a supposed system +of creation that is not true, and to unite itself therewith in a manner +almost inseparable therefrom, the case assumes an entirely different +ground. It is then that errors, not morally bad, become fraught with +the same mischiefs as if they were. It is then that the truth, though +otherwise indifferent itself, becomes an essential, by becoming the +criterion that either confirms by corresponding evidence, or denies by +contradictory evidence, the reality of the religion itself. In this +view of the case it is the moral duty of man to obtain every possible +evidence that the structure of the heavens, or any other part of +creation affords, with respect to systems of religion. But this, the +supporters or partizans of the christian system, as if dreading the +result, incessantly opposed, and not only rejected the sciences, but +persecuted the professors. Had Newton or Descartes lived three or four +hundred years ago, and pursued their studies as they did, it is most +probable they would not have lived to finish them; and had Franklin +drawn lightning from the clouds at the same time, it would have been at +the hazard of expiring for it in flames. + +Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, +however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to +believe or to acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age of +ignorance commenced with the Christian system. There was more knowledge +in the world before that period, than for many centuries afterwards; and +as to religious knowledge, the Christian system, as already said, +was only another species of mythology; and the mythology to which it +succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient system of theism. [NOTE by +Paine: It is impossible for us now to know at what time the heathen +mythology began; but it is certain, from the internal evidence that it +carries, that it did not begin in the same state or condition in which +it ended. All the gods of that mythology, except Saturn, were of modern +invention. The supposed reign of Saturn was prior to that which is +called the heathen mythology, and was so far a species of theism that +it admitted the belief of only one God. Saturn is supposed to have +abdicated the govemment in favour of his three sons and one daughter, +Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno; after this, thousands of other +gods and demigods were imaginarily created, and the calendar of gods +increased as fast as the calendar of saints and the calendar of courts +have increased since. + +All the corruptions that have taken place, in theology and in religion +have been produced by admitting of what man calls 'revealed religion.' +The mythologists pretended to more revealed religion than the christians +do. They had their oracles and their priests, who were supposed to +receive and deliver the word of God verbally on almost all occasions. + +Since then all corruptions down from Moloch to modern predestinarianism, +and the human sacrifices of the heathens to the christian sacrifice of +the Creator, have been produced by admitting of what is called revealed +religion, the most effectual means to prevent all such evils and +impositions is, not to admit of any other revelation than that which is +manifested in the book of Creation., and to contemplate the Creation as +the only true and real word of God that ever did or ever will exist; +and every thing else called the word of God is fable and +imposition.--Author.] + +It is owing to this long interregnum of science, and to no other cause, +that we have now to look back through a vast chasm of many hundred years +to the respectable characters we call the Ancients. Had the progression +of knowledge gone on proportionably with the stock that before existed, +that chasm would have been filled up with characters rising superior in +knowledge to each other; and those Ancients we now so much admire +would have appeared respectably in the background of the scene. But +the christian system laid all waste; and if we take our stand about +the beginning of the sixteenth century, we look back through that long +chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as over a vast sandy desert, in +which not a shrub appears to intercept the vision to the fertile hills +beyond. + +It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any +thing should exist, under the name of a religion, that held it to be +irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe that +God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. The +event that served more than any other to break the first link in this +long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of the +Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear to have +made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are called +Reformers, the Sciences began to revive, and Liberality, their +natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the +Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as well +not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; and a +multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the Pope of +Christendom. + + + +CHAPTER XIII - COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS +INSPIRED BY NATURE. + +HAVING thus shewn, from the internal evidence of things, the cause +that produced a change in the state of learning, and the motive for +substituting the study of the dead languages, in the place of the +Sciences, I proceed, in addition to the several observations already +made in the former part of this work, to compare, or rather to confront, +the evidence that the structure of the universe affords, with the +christian system of religion. But as I cannot begin this part better +than by referring to the ideas that occurred to me at an early part of +life, and which I doubt not have occurred in some degree to almost every +other person at one time or other, I shall state what those ideas were, +and add thereto such other matter as shall arise out of the subject, +giving to the whole, by way of preface, a short introduction. + +My father being of the quaker profession, it was my good fortune to have +an exceedingly good moral education, and a tolerable stock of useful +learning. Though I went to the grammar school, I did not learn Latin, +not only because I had no inclination to learn languages, but because of +the objection the quakers have against the books in which the language +is taught. But this did not prevent me from being acquainted with the +subjects of all the Latin books used in the school. + +The natural bent of my mind was to science. I had some turn, and +I believe some talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed than +encouraged, as leading too much into the field of imagination. As +soon as I was able, I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the +philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became afterwards +acquainted with Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, then +living in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer. + +I had no disposition for what was called politics. It presented to +my mind no other idea than is contained in the word jockeyship. When, +therefore, I turned my thoughts towards matters of government, I had to +form a system for myself, that accorded with the moral and philosophic +principles in which I had been educated. I saw, or at least I thought I +saw, a vast scene opening itself to the world in the affairs of America; +and it appeared to me, that unless the Americans changed the plan they +were then pursuing, with respect to the government of England, and +declared themselves independent, they would not only involve themselves +in a multiplicity of new difficulties, but shut out the prospect that +was then offering itself to mankind through their means. It was from +these motives that I published the work known by the name of Common +Sense, which is the first work I ever did publish, and so far as I can +judge of myself, I believe I should never have been known in the world +as an author on any subject whatever, had it not been for the affairs +of America. I wrote Common Sense the latter end of the year 1775, and +published it the first of January, 1776. Independence was declared the +fourth of July following. [NOTE: The pamphlet Common Sense was first +advertised, as "just published," on January 10, 1776. His plea for the +Officers of Excise, written before leaving England, was printed, but not +published until 1793. Despite his reiterated assertion that Common Sense +was the first work he ever published the notion that he was "junius" +still finds some believers. An indirect comment on our Paine-Junians +may be found in Part 2 of this work where Paine says a man capable of +writing Homer "would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to +another." It is probable that Paine ascribed the Letters of Junius to +Thomas Hollis. His friend F. Lanthenas, in his translation of the Age of +Reason (1794) advertises his translation of the Letters of Junius from +the English "(Thomas Hollis)." This he could hardly have done without +consultation with Paine. Unfortunately this translation of Junius cannot +be found either in the Bibliotheque Nationale or the British Museum, and +it cannot be said whether it contains any attempt at an identification +of Junius--Editor.] + +Any person, who has made observations on the state and progress of the +human mind, by observing his own, can not but have observed, that there +are two distinct classes of what are called Thoughts; those that we +produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, and those +that bolt into the mind of their own accord. I have always made it a +rule to treat those voluntary visitors with civility, taking care to +examine, as well as I was able, if they were worth entertaining; and it +is from them I have acquired almost all the knowledge that I have. As +to the learning that any person gains from school education, it serves +only, like a small capital, to put him in the way of beginning learning +for himself afterwards. Every person of learning is finally his own +teacher; the reason of which is, that principles, being of a distinct +quality to circumstances, cannot be impressed upon the memory; their +place of mental residence is the understanding, and they are never so +lasting as when they begin by conception. Thus much for the introductory +part. + +From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it +by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the christian system, or +thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but I +well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon +read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the church, upon +the subject of what is called Redemption by the death of the Son of God. +After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was going +down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at +the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was +making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son, +when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I was sure a man +would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose +they preached such sermons. This was not one of those kind of thoughts +that had any thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious +reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such +an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. +I believe in the same manner to this moment; and I moreover believe, +that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind +of a child, cannot be a true system. + +It seems as if parents of the christian profession were ashamed to tell +their children any thing about the principles of their religion. They +sometimes instruct them in morals, and talk to them of the goodness of +what they call Providence; for the Christian mythology has five deities: +there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, the God +Providence, and the Goddess Nature. But the christian story of God the +Father putting his son to death, or employing people to do it, (for that +is the plain language of the story,) cannot be told by a parent to a +child; and to tell him that it was done to make mankind happier and +better, is making the story still worse; as if mankind could be improved +by the example of murder; and to tell him that all this is a mystery, is +only making an excuse for the incredibility of it. + +How different is this to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The +true deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists in contemplating +the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in +endeavouring to imitate him in every thing moral, scientifical, and +mechanical. + +The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true Deism, in +the moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the quakers: but +they have contracted themselves too much by leaving the works of God out +of their system. Though I reverence their philanthropy, I can not help +smiling at the conceit, that if the taste of a quaker could have been +consulted at the creation, what a silent and drab-colored creation it +would have been! Not a flower would have blossomed its gaieties, nor a +bird been permitted to sing. + +Quitting these reflections, I proceed to other matters. After I had +made myself master of the use of the globes, and of the orrery, [NOTE by +Paine: As this book may fall into the bands of persons who do not know +what an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, as the +name gives no idea of the uses of the thing. The orrery has its name +from the person who invented it. It is a machinery of clock-work, +representing the universe in miniature: and in which the revolution of +the earth round itself and round the sun, the revolution of the moon +round the earth, the revolution of the planets round the sun, their +relative distances from the sun, as the center of the whole system, +their relative distances from each other, and their different +magnitudes, are represented as they really exist in what we call the +heavens.--Author.] and conceived an idea of the infinity of space, and +of the eternal divisibility of matter, and obtained, at least, a general +knowledge of what was called natural philosophy, I began to compare, or, +as I have before said, to confront, the internal evidence those things +afford with the christian system of faith. + +Though it is not a direct article of the christian system that this +world that we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it is +so worked up therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of the +creation, the story of Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of that +story, the death of the Son of God, that to believe otherwise, that is, +to believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least as numerous +as what we call stars, renders the christian system of faith at once +little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the +air. The two beliefs can not be held together in the same mind; and he +who thinks that he believes both, has thought but little of either. + +Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the +ancients, it is only within the last three centuries that the extent and +dimensions of this globe that we inhabit have been ascertained. Several +vessels, following the tract of the ocean, have sailed entirely round +the world, as a man may march in a circle, and come round by the +contrary side of the circle to the spot he set out from. The circular +dimensions of our world, in the widest part, as a man would measure the +widest round of an apple, or a ball, is only twenty-five thousand and +twenty English miles, reckoning sixty-nine miles and an half to an +equatorial degree, and may be sailed round in the space of about three +years. [NOTE by Paine: Allowing a ship to sail, on an average, three +miles in an hour, she would sail entirely round the world in less than +one year, if she could sail in a direct circle, but she is obliged to +follow the course of the ocean.--Author.] + +A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be +great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it is +suspended, like a bubble or a balloon in the air, it is infinitely less +in proportion than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of +the world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is +therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of a +system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed. + +It is not difficult to gain some faint idea of the immensity of space +in which this and all the other worlds are suspended, if we follow a +progression of ideas. When we think of the size or dimensions of, a +room, our ideas limit themselves to the walls, and there they stop. +But when our eye, or our imagination darts into space, that is, when +it looks upward into what we call the open air, we cannot conceive any +walls or boundaries it can have; and if for the sake of resting our +ideas we suppose a boundary, the question immediately renews itself, and +asks, what is beyond that boundary? and in the same manner, what beyond +the next boundary? and so on till the fatigued imagination returns and +says, there is no end. Certainly, then, the Creator was not pent for +room when he made this world no larger than it is; and we have to seek +the reason in something else. + +If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the +Creator has given us the use as our portion in the immense system of +creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the air +that surround it, filled, and as it were crowded with life, down from +the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects the naked +eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and totally +invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every tree, every +plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but as a world +to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so exceedingly +refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be food for +thousands. + +Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be +supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in eternal +waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or larger than +ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each other. + +Having now arrived at this point, if we carry our ideas only one thought +further, we shall see, perhaps, the true reason, at least a very good +reason for our happiness, why the Creator, instead of making one immense +world, extending over an immense quantity of space, has preferred +dividing that quantity of matter into several distinct and separate +worlds, which we call planets, of which our earth is one. But before I +explain my ideas upon this subject, it is necessary (not for the sake +of those that already know, but for those who do not) to show what the +system of the universe is. + + + +CHAPTER XIV - SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. + +THAT part of the universe that is called the solar system (meaning the +system of worlds to which our earth belongs, and of which Sol, or in +English language, the Sun, is the center) consists, besides the Sun, of +six distinct orbs, or planets, or worlds, besides the secondary bodies, +called the satellites, or moons, of which our earth has one that attends +her in her annual revolution round the Sun, in like manner as the +other satellites or moons, attend the planets or worlds to which they +severally belong, as may be seen by the assistance of the telescope. + +The Sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve at +different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each other. +Each world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round the Sun, and +continues at the same time turning round itself, in nearly an upright +position, as a top turns round itself when it is spinning on the ground, +and leans a little sideways. + +It is this leaning of the earth (23 1/2 degrees) that occasions summer +and winter, and the different length of days and nights. If the earth +turned round itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level +of the circle it moves in round the Sun, as a top turns round when it +stands erect on the ground, the days and nights would be always of the +same length, twelve hours day and twelve hours night, and the season +would be uniformly the same throughout the year. + +Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, it +makes what we call day and night; and every time it goes entirely round +the Sun, it makes what we call a year, consequently our world turns +three hundred and sixty-five times round itself, in going once round the +Sun. + +The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are +still called by the same names, are Mercury, Venus, this world that we +call ours, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They appear larger to the eye than +the stars, being many million miles nearer to our earth than any of the +stars are. The planet Venus is that which is called the evening star, +and sometimes the morning star, as she happens to set after, or rise +before the Sun, which in either case is never more than three hours. + +The Sun as before said being the center, the planet or world nearest the +Sun is Mercury; his distance from the Sun is thirty-four million miles, +and he moves round in a circle always at that distance from the Sun, as +a top may be supposed to spin round in the tract in which a horse goes +in a mill. The second world is Venus; she is fifty-seven million miles +distant from the Sun, and consequently moves round in a circle much +greater than that of Mercury. The third world is this that we inhabit, +and which is eighty-eight million miles distant from the Sun, and +consequently moves round in a circle greater than that of Venus. The +fourth world is Mars; he is distant from the sun one hundred and +thirty-four million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of our earth. The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant from +the Sun five hundred and fifty-seven million miles, and consequently +moves round in a circle greater than that of Mars. The sixth world is +Saturn; he is distant from the Sun seven hundred and sixty-three million +miles, and consequently moves round in a circle that surrounds the +circles or orbits of all the other worlds or planets. + +The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space, that +our solar system takes up for the several worlds to perform their +revolutions in round the Sun, is of the extent in a strait line of the +whole diameter of the orbit or circle in which Saturn moves round the +Sun, which being double his distance from the Sun, is fifteen hundred +and twenty-six million miles; and its circular extent is nearly five +thousand million; and its globical content is almost three thousand five +hundred million times three thousand five hundred million square miles. +[NOTE by Paine: If it should be asked, how can man know these things? I +have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how to calculate +an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time when the +planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the Sun, will come in a +strait line between our earth and the Sun, and will appear to us about +the size of a large pea passing across the face of the Sun. This happens +but twice in about a hundred years, at the distance of about eight years +from each other, and has happened twice in our time, both of which were +foreknown by calculation. It can also be known when they will happen +again for a thousand years to come, or to any other portion of time. +As therefore, man could not be able to do these things if he did not +understand the solar system, and the manner in which the revolutions of +the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of calculating an +eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point that the knowledge +exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few million miles, more +or less, it makes scarcely any sensible difference in such immense +distances.--Author.] + +But this, immense as it is, is only one system of worlds. Beyond this, +at a vast distance into space, far beyond all power of calculation, are +the stars called the fixed stars. They are called fixed, because they +have no revolutionary motion, as the six worlds or planets have that +I have been describing. Those fixed stars continue always at the same +distance from each other, and always in the same place, as the Sun does +in the center of our system. The probability, therefore, is that each of +those fixed stars is also a Sun, round which another system of worlds or +planets, though too remote for us to discover, performs its revolutions, +as our system of worlds does round our central Sun. By this easy +progression of ideas, the immensity of space will appear to us to be +filled with systems of worlds; and that no part of space lies at +waste, any more than any part of our globe of earth and water is left +unoccupied. + +Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and easy manner, some +idea of the structure of the universe, I return to explain what I before +alluded to, namely, the great benefits arising to man in consequence of +the Creator having made a Plurality of worlds, such as our system is, +consisting of a central Sun and six worlds, besides satellites, in +preference to that of creating one world only of a vast extent. + + + +CHAPTER XV - ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR +SYSTEM. + +IT is an idea I have never lost sight of, that all our knowledge of +science is derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye and from +thence to our understanding) which those several planets or worlds of +which our system is composed make in their circuit round the Sun. + +Had then the quantity of matter which these six worlds contain been +blended into one solitary globe, the consequence to us would have +been, that either no revolutionary motion would have existed, or not a +sufficiency of it to give us the ideas and the knowledge of science we +now have; and it is from the sciences that all the mechanical arts that +contribute so much to our earthly felicity and comfort are derived. + +As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be +believed that he organized the structure of the universe in the most +advantageous manner for the benefit of man; and as we see, and from +experience feel, the benefits we derive from the structure of the +universe, formed as it is, which benefits we should not have had the +opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as relates to our +system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one reason +why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls forth the +devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration. + +But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe, only, that the +benefits arising from a plurality of worlds are limited. The inhabitants +of each of the worlds of which our system is composed, enjoy the same +opportunities of knowledge as we do. They behold the revolutionary +motions of our earth, as we behold theirs. All the planets revolve +in sight of each other; and, therefore, the same universal school of +science presents itself to all. + +Neither does the knowledge stop here. The system of worlds next to us +exhibits, in its revolutions, the same principles and school of science, +to the inhabitants of their system, as our system does to us, and in +like manner throughout the immensity of space. + +Our ideas, not only of the almightiness of the Creator, but of his +wisdom and his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we +contemplate the extent and the structure of the universe. The solitary +idea of a solitary world, rolling or at rest in the immense ocean of +space, gives place to the cheerful idea of a society of worlds, so +happily contrived as to administer, even by their motion, instruction +to man. We see our own earth filled with abundance; but we forget to +consider how much of that abundance is owing to the scientific knowledge +the vast machinery of the universe has unfolded. + + + +CHAPTER XVI - APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE +CHRISTIANS. + +BUT, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the +christian system of faith that forms itself upon the idea of only +one world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shown, than +twenty-five thousand miles. An extent which a man, walking at the rate +of three miles an hour for twelve hours in the day, could he keep on in +a circular direction, would walk entirely round in less than two years. +Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and the almighty power +of the Creator! + +From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit that +the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his +protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our +world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple! And, +on the other hand, are we to suppose that every world in the boundless +creation had an Eve, an apple, a serpent, and a redeemer? In this case, +the person who is irreverently called the Son of God, and sometimes +God himself, would have nothing else to do than to travel from world +to world, in an endless succession of death, with scarcely a momentary +interval of life. + +It has been by rejecting the evidence, that the word, or works of God in +the creation, affords to our senses, and the action of our reason upon +that evidence, that so many wild and whimsical systems of faith, and of +religion, have been fabricated and set up. There may be many systems of +religion that so far from being morally bad are in many respects morally +good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and that one necessarily +must, as it ever will, be in all things consistent with the ever +existing word of God that we behold in his works. But such is the +strange construction of the christian system of faith, that every +evidence the heavens affords to man, either directly contradicts it or +renders it absurd. + +It is possible to believe, and I always feel pleasure in encouraging +myself to believe it, that there have been men in the world who +persuaded themselves that what is called a pious fraud, might, at least +under particular circumstances, be productive of some good. But the +fraud being once established, could not afterwards be explained; for +it is with a pious fraud as with a bad action, it begets a calamitous +necessity of going on. + +The persons who first preached the christian system of faith, and in +some measure combined with it the morality preached by Jesus Christ, +might persuade themselves that it was better than the heathen mythology +that then prevailed. From the first preachers the fraud went on to +the second, and to the third, till the idea of its being a pious fraud +became lost in the belief of its being true; and that belief became +again encouraged by the interest of those who made a livelihood by +preaching it. + +But though such a belief might, by such means, be rendered almost +general among the laity, it is next to impossible to account for the +continual persecution carried on by the church, for several hundred +years, against the sciences, and against the professors of science, if +the church had not some record or tradition that it was originally +no other than a pious fraud, or did not foresee that it could not be +maintained against the evidence that the structure of the universe +afforded. + + + +CHAPTER XVII - OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST +UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLES. + +HAVING thus shown the irreconcileable inconsistencies between the real +word of God existing in the universe, and that which is called the word +of God, as shown to us in a printed book that any man might make, I +proceed to speak of the three principal means that have been employed in +all ages, and perhaps in all countries, to impose upon mankind. + +Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, The first two +are incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be +suspected. + +With respect to Mystery, everything we behold is, in one sense, a +mystery to us. Our own existence is a mystery: the whole vegetable world +is a mystery. We cannot account how it is that an acorn, when put into +the ground, is made to develop itself and become an oak. We know not how +it is that the seed we sow unfolds and multiplies itself, and returns to +us such an abundant interest for so small a capital. + +The fact however, as distinct from the operating cause, is not a +mystery, because we see it; and we know also the means we are to +use, which is no other than putting the seed in the ground. We know, +therefore, as much as is necessary for us to know; and that part of +the operation that we do not know, and which if we did, we could not +perform, the Creator takes upon himself and performs it for us. We are, +therefore, better off than if we had been let into the secret, and left +to do it for ourselves. + +But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word +mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can +be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral truth, +and not a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist +of truth. It is a fog of human invention that obscures truth, and +represents it in distortion. Truth never envelops itself in mystery; +and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of its +antagonist, and never of itself. + +Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the practice of +moral truth, cannot have connection with mystery. The belief of a God, +so far from having any thing of mystery in it, is of all beliefs the +most easy, because it arises to us, as is before observed, out of +necessity. And the practice of moral truth, or, in other words, a +practical imitation of the moral goodness of God, is no other than our +acting towards each other as he acts benignly towards all. We cannot +serve God in the manner we serve those who cannot do without such +service; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of serving God, is +that of contributing to the happiness of the living creation that God +has made. This cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the society of +the world, and spending a recluse life in selfish devotion. + +The very nature and design of religion, if I may so express it, prove +even to demonstration that it must be free from every thing of mystery, +and unincumbered with every thing that is mysterious. Religion, +considered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living soul alike, and, +therefore, must be on a level to the understanding and comprehension of +all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the secrets and mysteries +of a trade. He learns the theory of religion by reflection. It arises +out of the action of his own mind upon the things which he sees, or upon +what he may happen to hear or to read, and the practice joins itself +thereto. + +When men, whether from policy or pious fraud, set up systems of religion +incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, and not +only above but repugnant to human comprehension, they were under the +necessity of inventing or adopting a word that should serve as a bar +to all questions, inquiries and speculations. The word mystery answered +this purpose, and thus it has happened that religion, which is in itself +without mystery, has been corrupted into a fog of mysteries. + +As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an +occasional auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the latter +to puzzle the senses. The one was the lingo, the other the legerdemain. + +But before going further into this subject, it will be proper to inquire +what is to be understood by a miracle. + +In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so also +may it be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one thing is +a greater miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a +greater miracle than a mite: nor a mountain a greater miracle than an +atom. To an almighty power it is no more difficult to make the one than +the other, and no more difficult to make a million of worlds than to +make one. Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in one sense; whilst, +in the other sense, there is no such thing as a miracle. It is a miracle +when compared to our power, and to our comprehension. It is not a +miracle compared to the power that performs it. But as nothing in this +description conveys the idea that is affixed to the word miracle, it is +necessary to carry the inquiry further. + +Mankind have conceived to themselves certain laws, by which what they +call nature is supposed to act; and that a miracle is something contrary +to the operation and effect of those laws. But unless we know the whole +extent of those laws, and of what are commonly called the powers of +nature, we are not able to judge whether any thing that may appear to us +wonderful or miraculous, be within, or be beyond, or be contrary to, her +natural power of acting. + +The ascension of a man several miles high into the air, would have +everything in it that constitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were not +known that a species of air can be generated several times lighter than +the common atmospheric air, and yet possess elasticity enough to prevent +the balloon, in which that light air is inclosed, from being compressed +into as many times less bulk, by the common air that surrounds it. In +like manner, extracting flashes or sparks of fire from the human body, +as visibly as from a steel struck with a flint, and causing iron or +steel to move without any visible agent, would also give the idea of a +miracle, if we were not acquainted with electricity and magnetism; so +also would many other experiments in natural philosophy, to those who +are not acquainted with the subject. The restoring persons to life who +are to appearance dead as is practised upon drowned persons, would also +be a miracle, if it were not known that animation is capable of being +suspended without being extinct. + +Besides these, there are performances by slight of hand, and by persons +acting in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which, when known, +are thought nothing of. And, besides these, there are mechanical and +optical deceptions. There is now an exhibition in Paris of ghosts or +spectres, which, though it is not imposed upon the spectators as a fact, +has an astonishing appearance. As, therefore, we know not the extent to +which either nature or art can go, there is no criterion to determine +what a miracle is; and mankind, in giving credit to appearances, under +the idea of their being miracles, are subject to be continually imposed +upon. + +Since then appearances are so capable of deceiving, and things not +real have a strong resemblance to things that are, nothing can be more +inconsistent than to suppose that the Almighty would make use of means, +such as are called miracles, that would subject the person who performed +them to the suspicion of being an impostor, and the person who related +them to be suspected of lying, and the doctrine intended to be supported +thereby to be suspected as a fabulous invention. + +Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain belief to +any system or opinion to which the name of religion has been given, that +of miracle, however successful the imposition may have been, is the most +inconsistent. For, in the first place, whenever recourse is had to show, +for the purpose of procuring that belief (for a miracle, under any +idea of the word, is a show) it implies a lameness or weakness in the +doctrine that is preached. And, in the second place, it is degrading the +Almighty into the character of a show-man, playing tricks to amuse and +make the people stare and wonder. It is also the most equivocal sort of +evidence that can be set up; for the belief is not to depend upon the +thing called a miracle, but upon the credit of the reporter, who says +that he saw it; and, therefore, the thing, were it true, would have no +better chance of being believed than if it were a lie. + +Suppose I were to say, that when I sat down to write this book, a hand +presented itself in the air, took up the pen and wrote every word that +is herein written; would any body believe me? Certainly they would not. +Would they believe me a whit the more if the thing had been a fact? +Certainly they would not. Since then a real miracle, were it to happen, +would be subject to the same fate as the falsehood, the inconsistency +becomes the greater of supposing the Almighty would make use of means +that would not answer the purpose for which they were intended, even if +they were real. + +If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the +course of what is called nature, that she must go out of that course +to accomplish it, and we see an account given of such a miracle by the +person who said he saw it, it raises a question in the mind very easily +decided, which is,--Is it more probable that nature should go out of +her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never seen, in our +time, nature go out of her course; but we have good reason to believe +that millions of lies have been told in the same time; it is, therefore, +at least millions to one, that the reporter of a miracle tells a lie. + +The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large +enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would have +approached nearer to the idea of a miracle, if Jonah had swallowed the +whale. In this, which may serve for all cases of miracles, the matter +would decide itself as before stated, namely, Is it more probable that a +man should have, swallowed a whale, or told a lie? + +But suppose that Jonah had really swallowed the whale, and gone with +it in his belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people that it was true +have cast it up in their sight, of the full length and size of a whale, +would they not have believed him to have been the devil instead of a +prophet? or if the whale had carried Jonah to Nineveh, and cast him up +in the same public manner, would they not have believed the whale to +have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps? + +The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in the +New Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus Christ, +and carrying him to the top of a high mountain; and to the top of the +highest pinnacle of the temple, and showing him and promising to him +all the kingdoms of the world. How happened it that he did not discover +America? or is it only with kingdoms that his sooty highness has any +interest. + +I have too much respect for the moral character of Christ to believe +that he told this whale of a miracle himself: neither is it easy to +account for what purpose it could have been fabricated, unless it were +to impose upon the connoisseurs of miracles, as is sometimes practised +upon the connoisseurs of Queen Anne's farthings, and collectors of +relics and antiquities; or to render the belief of miracles ridiculous, +by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote outdid chivalry; or to embarrass the +belief of miracles, by making it doubtful by what power, whether of God +or of the devil, any thing called a miracle was performed. It requires, +however, a great deal of faith in the devil to believe this miracle. + +In every point of view in which those things called miracles can be +placed and considered, the reality of them is improbable, and their +existence unnecessary. They would not, as before observed, answer any +useful purpose, even if they were true; for it is more difficult to +obtain belief to a miracle, than to a principle evidently moral, without +any miracle. Moral principle speaks universally for itself. Miracle +could be but a thing of the moment, and seen but by a few; after this it +requires a transfer of faith from God to man to believe a miracle upon +man's report. Instead, therefore, of admitting the recitals of miracles +as evidence of any system of religion being true, they ought to be +considered as symptoms of its being fabulous. It is necessary to the +full and upright character of truth that it rejects the crutch; and it +is consistent with the character of fable to seek the aid that truth +rejects. Thus much for Mystery and Miracle. + +As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, Prophecy +took charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith. It was +not sufficient to know what had been done, but what would be done. The +supposed prophet was the supposed historian of times to come; and if +he happened, in shooting with a long bow of a thousand years, to strike +within a thousand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of posterity could make +it point-blank; and if he happened to be directly wrong, it was only +to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, that God had repented +himself and changed his mind. What a fool do fabulous systems make of +man! + +It has been shewn, in a former part of this work, that the original +meaning of the words prophet and prophesying has been changed, and that +a prophet, in the sense of the word as now used, is a creature of modern +invention; and it is owing to this change in the meaning of the words, +that the flights and metaphors of the Jewish poets, and phrases and +expressions now rendered obscure by our not being acquainted with the +local circumstances to which they applied at the time they were used, +have been erected into prophecies, and made to bend to explanations +at the will and whimsical conceits of sectaries, expounders, and +commentators. Every thing unintelligible was prophetical, and every +thing insignificant was typical. A blunder would have served for a +prophecy; and a dish-clout for a type. + +If by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty +communicated some event that would take place in future, either there +were such men, or there were not. If there were, it is consistent to +believe that the event so communicated would be told in terms that could +be understood, and not related in such a loose and obscure manner as to +be out of the comprehension of those that heard it, and so equivocal +as to fit almost any circumstance that might happen afterwards. It is +conceiving very irreverently of the Almighty, to suppose he would +deal in this jesting manner with mankind; yet all the things called +prophecies in the book called the Bible come under this description. + +But it is with Prophecy as it is with Miracle. It could not answer the +purpose even if it were real. Those to whom a prophecy should be told +could not tell whether the man prophesied or lied, or whether it had +been revealed to him, or whether he conceited it; and if the thing that +he prophesied, or pretended to prophesy, should happen, or some thing +like it, among the multitude of things that are daily happening, nobody +could again know whether he foreknew it, or guessed at it, or whether +it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a character useless and +unnecessary; and the safe side of the case is to guard against being +imposed upon, by not giving credit to such relations. + +Upon the whole, Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, are appendages that +belong to fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by which +so many Lo heres! and Lo theres! have been spread about the world, +and religion been made into a trade. The success of one impostor gave +encouragement to another, and the quieting salvo of doing some good by +keeping up a pious fraud protected them from remorse. + +RECAPITULATION. + +HAVING now extended the subject to a greater length than I first +intended, I shall bring it to a close by abstracting a summary from the +whole. + +First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or in +writing, or in speech, is inconsistent in itself for the reasons already +assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of an universal +language; the mutability of language; the errors to which translations +are subject, the possibility of totally suppressing such a word; the +probability of altering it, or of fabricating the whole, and imposing it +upon the world. + +Secondly, That the Creation we behold is the real and ever existing word +of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth his power, it +demonstrates his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and beneficence. + +Thirdly, That the moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral +goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards all +his creatures. That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to all +men, it is an example calling upon all men to practise the same towards +each other; and, consequently, that every thing of persecution and +revenge between man and man, and every thing of cruelty to animals, is a +violation of moral duty. + +I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content +myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power that +gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner he +pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more probable +to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I should have +had existence, as I now have, before that existence began. + +It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all +religions agree. All believe in a God. The things in which they disgrace +are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore, if ever an +universal religion should prevail, it will not be believing any thing +new, but in getting rid of redundancies, and believing as man believed +at first. ["In the childhood of the world," according to the first +(French) version; and the strict translation of the final sentence is: +"Deism was the religion of Adam, supposing him not an imaginary being; +but none the less must it be left to all men to follow, as is their +right, the religion and worship they prefer."--Editor.] Adam, if ever +there was such a man, was created a Deist; but in the mean time, let +every man follow, as he has a right to do, the religion and worship he +prefers. + + +END OF PART I + + + + + +THE AGE OF REASON - PART II + + + Contents + + * Preface + * Chapter I - The Old Testament + * Chapter II - The New Testament + * Chapter III - Conclusion + + + + +PREFACE + +I HAVE mentioned in the former part of The Age of Reason that it had +long been my intention to publish my thoughts upon Religion; but that I +had originally reserved it to a later period in life, intending it to +be the last work I should undertake. The circumstances, however, which +existed in France in the latter end of the year 1793, determined me to +delay it no longer. The just and humane principles of the Revolution +which Philosophy had first diffused, had been departed from. The Idea, +always dangerous to Society as it is derogatory to the Almighty,--that +priests could forgive sins,--though it seemed to exist no longer, had +blunted the feelings of humanity, and callously prepared men for the +commission of all crimes. The intolerant spirit of church persecution +had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, stiled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition; and the Guillotine +of the Stake. I saw many of my most intimate friends destroyed; others +daily carried to prison; and I had reason to believe, and had also +intimations given me, that the same danger was approaching myself. + +Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of the Age of Reason; +I had, besides, neither Bible nor Testament [It must be borne in mind +that throughout this work Paine generally means by "Bible" only the Old +Testament, and speaks of the New as the "Testament."--Editor.] to +refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I procure any; +notwithstanding which I have produced a work that no Bible Believer, +though writing at his ease and with a Library of Church Books about him, +can refute. Towards the latter end of December of that year, a motion +was made and carried, to exclude foreigners from the Convention. There +were but two, Anacharsis Cloots and myself; and I saw I was particularly +pointed at by Bourdon de l'Oise, in his speech on that motion. + +Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I sat down +and brought the work to a close as speedily as possible; and I had not +finished it more than six hours, in the state it has since appeared, +[This is an allusion to the essay which Paine wrote at an earlier part +of 1793. See Introduction.--Editor.] before a guard came there, about +three in the morning, with an order signed by the two Committees of +Public Safety and Surety General, for putting me in arrestation as +a foreigner, and conveying me to the prison of the Luxembourg. I +contrived, in my way there, to call on Joel Barlow, and I put the +Manuscript of the work into his hands, as more safe than in my +possession in prison; and not knowing what might be the fate in France +either of the writer or the work, I addressed it to the protection of +the citizens of the United States. + +It is justice that I say, that the guard who executed this order, and +the interpreter to the Committee of General Surety, who accompanied +them to examine my papers, treated me not only with civility, but with +respect. The keeper of the 'Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of good heart, +shewed to me every friendship in his power, as did also all his family, +while he continued in that station. He was removed from it, put +into arrestation, and carried before the tribunal upon a malignant +accusation, but acquitted. + +After I had been in Luxembourg about three weeks, the Americans then in +Paris went in a body to the Convention to reclaim me as their countryman +and friend; but were answered by the President, Vadier, who was also +President of the Committee of Surety General, and had signed the order +for my arrestation, that I was born in England. [These excited Americans +do not seem to have understood or reported the most important item in +Vadeer's reply, namely that their application was "unofficial," i.e. not +made through or sanctioned by Gouverneur Morris, American Minister. +For the detailed history of all this see vol. iii.--Editor.] I heard no +more, after this, from any person out of the walls of the prison, till +the fall of Robespierre, on the 9th of Thermidor--July 27, 1794. + +About two months before this event, I was seized with a fever that in +its progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the effects +of which I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered with renewed +satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, on having written +the former part of The Age of Reason. I had then but little expectation +of surviving, and those about me had less. I know therefore by +experience the conscientious trial of my own principles. + +I was then with three chamber comrades: Joseph Vanheule of Bruges, +Charles Bastfni, and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The unceasing and +anxious attention of these three friends to me, by night and day, I +remember with gratitude and mention with pleasure. It happened that a +physician (Dr. Graham) and a surgeon, (Mr. Bond,) part of the suite of +General O'Hara, [The officer who at Yorktown, Virginia, carried out +the sword of Cornwallis for surrender, and satirically offered it to +Rochambeau instead of Washington. Paine loaned him 300 pounds when he +(O'Hara) left the prison, the money he had concealed in the lock of +his cell-door.--Editor.] were then in the Luxembourg: I ask not myself +whether it be convenient to them, as men under the English Government, +that I express to them my thanks; but I should reproach myself if I did +not; and also to the physician of the Luxembourg, Dr. Markoski. + +I have some reason to believe, because I cannot discover any other, that +this illness preserved me in existence. Among the papers of Robespierre +that were examined and reported upon to the Convention by a Committee of +Deputies, is a note in the hand writing of Robespierre, in the following +words: + +"Demander que Thomas Paine soit decrete d'accusation, pour l'interet de +l'Amerique autant que de la France." + +[Demand that Thomas Paine be decreed of accusation, for the interest +of America, as well as of France.] From what cause it was that the +intention was not put in execution, I know not, and cannot inform +myself; and therefore I ascribe it to impossibility, on account of that +illness. + +The Convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injustice I +had sustained, invited me publickly and unanimously to return into the +Convention, and which I accepted, to shew I could bear an injury without +permitting it to injure my principles or my disposition. It is not +because right principles have been violated, that they are to be +abandoned. + +I have seen, since I have been at liberty, several publications written, +some in America, and some in England, as answers to the former part of +"The Age of Reason." If the authors of these can amuse themselves by so +doing, I shall not interrupt them, They may write against the work, and +against me, as much as they please; they do me more service than they +intend, and I can have no objection that they write on. They will find, +however, by this Second Part, without its being written as an answer to +them, that they must return to their work, and spin their cobweb over +again. The first is brushed away by accident. + +They will now find that I have furnished myself with a Bible and +Testament; and I can say also that I have found them to be much worse +books than I had conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former +part of the Age of Reason, it has been by speaking better of some parts +than they deserved. + +I observe, that all my opponents resort, more or less, to what they call +Scripture Evidence and Bible authority, to help them out. They are +so little masters of the subject, as to confound a dispute about +authenticity with a dispute about doctrines; I will, however, put them +right, that if they should be disposed to write any more, they may know +how to begin. + +THOMAS PAINE. October, 1795. + + + + +CHAPTER I - THE OLD TESTAMENT + +IT has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; but +before any thing can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible itself +must be proved to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or the truth of +it be doubtful, it ceases to have authority, and cannot be admitted as +proof of any thing. + +It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, and +of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on the +world as a mass of truth, and as the word of God; they have disputed +and wrangled, and have anathematized each other about the supposeable +meaning of particular parts and passages therein; one has said and +insisted that such a passage meant such a thing, another that it meant +directly the contrary, and a third, that it meant neither one nor the +other, but something different from both; and this they have called +understanding the Bible. + +It has happened, that all the answers that I have seen to the former +part of 'The Age of Reason' have been written by priests: and these +pious men, like their predecessors, contend and wrangle, and understand +the Bible; each understands it differently, but each understands it +best; and they have agreed in nothing but in telling their readers that +Thomas Paine understands it not. + +Now instead of wasting their time, and heating themselves in fractious +disputations about doctrinal points drawn from the Bible, these men +ought to know, and if they do not it is civility to inform them, +that the first thing to be understood is, whether there is sufficient +authority for believing the Bible to be the word of God, or whether +there is not? + +There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command +of God, that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea we have of +moral justice, as any thing done by Robespierre, by Carrier, by Joseph +le Bon, in France, by the English government in the East Indies, or by +any other assassin in modern times. When we read in the books ascribed +to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they (the Israelites) came by stealth upon +whole nations of people, who, as the history itself shews, had given +them no offence; that they put all those nations to the sword; that they +spared neither age nor infancy; that they utterly destroyed men, women +and children; that they left not a soul to breathe; expressions that are +repeated over and over again in those books, and that too with exulting +ferocity; are we sure these things are facts? are we sure that the +Creator of man commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure that +the books that tell us so were written by his authority? + +It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; +on the contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous; for the more +ancient any history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance of +a fable. The origin of every nation is buried in fabulous tradition, and +that of the Jews is as much to be suspected as any other. + +To charger the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their +own nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all +assassination is, and more especially the assassination of infants, is +matter of serious concern. The Bible tells us, that those assassinations +were done by the express command of God. To believe therefore the Bible +to be true, we must unbelieve all our belief in the moral justice of +God; for wherein could crying or smiling infants offend? And to read +the Bible without horror, we must undo every thing that is tender, +sympathising, and benevolent in the heart of man. Speaking for myself, +if I had no other evidence that the Bible is fabulous, than the +sacrifice I must make to believe it to be true, that alone would be +sufficient to determine my choice. + +But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, in +the progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a +priest cannot deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is not +entitled to credit, as being the word of God. + +But, before I proceed to this examination, I will show wherein the Bible +differs from all other ancient writings with respect to the nature of +the evidence necessary to establish its authenticity; and this is is +the more proper to be done, because the advocates of the Bible, in their +answers to the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' undertake to say, and +they put some stress thereon, that the authenticity of the Bible is as +well established as that of any other ancient book: as if our belief of +the one could become any rule for our belief of the other. + +I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively challenges +universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid's Elements of Geometry; +[Euclid, according to chronological history, lived three hundred years +before Christ, and about one hundred before Archimedes; he was of the +city of Alexandria, in Egypt.--Author.] and the reason is, because it +is a book of self-evident demonstration, entirely independent of its +author, and of every thing relating to time, place, and circumstance. +The matters contained in that book would have the same authority they +now have, had they been written by any other person, or had the work +been anonymous, or had the author never been known; for the identical +certainty of who was the author makes no part of our belief of the +matters contained in the book. But it is quite otherwise with respect to +the books ascribed to Moses, to Joshua, to Samuel, etc.: those are +books of testimony, and they testify of things naturally incredible; +and therefore the whole of our belief, as to the authenticity of those +books, rests, in the first place, upon the certainty that they were +written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel; secondly, upon the credit we give +to their testimony. We may believe the first, that is, may believe the +certainty of the authorship, and yet not the testimony; in the same +manner that we may believe that a certain person gave evidence upon a +case, and yet not believe the evidence that he gave. But if it should +be found that the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, were not +written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, every part of the authority and +authenticity of those books is gone at once; for there can be no such +thing as forged or invented testimony; neither can there be anonymous +testimony, more especially as to things naturally incredible; such +as that of talking with God face to face, or that of the sun and moon +standing still at the command of a man. + +The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of +which kind are those ascribed to Homer, to Plato, to Aristotle, to +Demosthenes, to Cicero, etc. Here again the author is not an essential +in the credit we give to any of those works; for as works of genius they +would have the same merit they have now, were they anonymous. Nobody +believes the Trojan story, as related by Homer, to be true; for it is +the poet only that is admired, and the merit of the poet will remain, +though the story be fabulous. But if we disbelieve the matters related +by the Bible authors (Moses for instance) as we disbelieve the things +related by Homer, there remains nothing of Moses in our estimation, but +an imposter. As to the ancient historians, from Herodotus to Tacitus, we +credit them as far as they relate things probable and credible, and no +further: for if we do, we must believe the two miracles which Tacitus +relates were performed by Vespasian, that of curing a lame man, and a +blind man, in just the same manner as the same things are told of Jesus +Christ by his historians. We must also believe the miracles cited by +Josephus, that of the sea of Pamphilia opening to let Alexander and his +army pass, as is related of the Red Sea in Exodus. These miracles are +quite as well authenticated as the Bible miracles, and yet we do not +believe them; consequently the degree of evidence necessary to establish +our belief of things naturally incredible, whether in the Bible or +elsewhere, is far greater than that which obtains our belief to natural +and probable things; and therefore the advocates for the Bible have no +claim to our belief of the Bible because that we believe things stated +in other ancient writings; since that we believe the things stated +in those writings no further than they are probable and credible, or +because they are self-evident, like Euclid; or admire them because they +are elegant, like Homer; or approve them because they are sedate, like +Plato; or judicious, like Aristotle. + +Having premised these things, I proceed to examine the authenticity of +the Bible; and I begin with what are called the five books of Moses, +Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. My intention is to +shew that those books are spurious, and that Moses is not the author of +them; and still further, that they were not written in the time of Moses +nor till several hundred years afterwards; that they are no other than +an attempted history of the life of Moses, and of the times in which he +is said to have lived, and also of the times prior thereto, written by +some very ignorant and stupid pretenders to authorship, several hundred +years after the death of Moses; as men now write histories of things +that happened, or are supposed to have happened, several hundred or +several thousand years ago. + +The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books +themselves; and I will confine myself to this evidence only. Were I to +refer for proofs to any of the ancient authors, whom the advocates of +the Bible call prophane authors, they would controvert that authority, +as I controvert theirs: I will therefore meet them on their own ground, +and oppose them with their own weapon, the Bible. + +In the first place, there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is +the author of those books; and that he is the author, is altogether an +unfounded opinion, got abroad nobody knows how. The style and manner +in which those books are written give no room to believe, or even to +suppose, they were written by Moses; for it is altogether the style and +manner of another person speaking of Moses. In Exodus, Leviticus and +Numbers, (for every thing in Genesis is prior to the times of Moses and +not the least allusion is made to him therein,) the whole, I say, of +these books is in the third person; it is always, the Lord said unto +Moses, or Moses said unto the Lord; or Moses said unto the people, +or the people said unto Moses; and this is the style and manner that +historians use in speaking of the person whose lives and actions they +are writing. It may be said, that a man may speak of himself in the +third person, and, therefore, it may be supposed that Moses did; but +supposition proves nothing; and if the advocates for the belief that +Moses wrote those books himself have nothing better to advance than +supposition, they may as well be silent. + +But granting the grammatical right, that Moses might speak of himself in +the third person, because any man might speak of himself in that manner, +it cannot be admitted as a fact in those books, that it is Moses who +speaks, without rendering Moses truly ridiculous and absurd:--for +example, Numbers xii. 3: "Now the man Moses was very MEEK, above all the +men which were on the face of the earth." If Moses said this of himself, +instead of being the meekest of men, he was one of the most vain and +arrogant coxcombs; and the advocates for those books may now take which +side they please, for both sides are against them: if Moses was not the +author, the books are without authority; and if he was the author, the +author is without credit, because to boast of meekness is the reverse of +meekness, and is a lie in sentiment. + +In Deuteronomy, the style and manner of writing marks more evidently +than in the former books that Moses is not the writer. The manner here +used is dramatical; the writer opens the subject by a short introductory +discourse, and then introduces Moses as in the act of speaking, and when +he has made Moses finish his harrangue, he (the writer) resumes his own +part, and speaks till he brings Moses forward again, and at last closes +the scene with an account of the death, funeral, and character of Moses. + +This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the +first verse of the first chapter, to the end of the fifth verse, it is +the writer who speaks; he then introduces Moses as in the act of making +his harrangue, and this continues to the end of the 40th verse of the +fourth chapter; here the writer drops Moses, and speaks historically of +what was done in consequence of what Moses, when living, is supposed to +have said, and which the writer has dramatically rehearsed. + +The writer opens the subject again in the first verse of the fifth +chapter, though it is only by saying that Moses called the people of +Israel together; he then introduces Moses as before, and continues him +as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 26th chapter. He does the +same thing at the beginning of the 27th chapter; and continues Moses +as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 28th chapter. At the 29th +chapter the writer speaks again through the whole of the first verse, +and the first line of the second verse, where he introduces Moses for +the last time, and continues him as in the act of speaking, to the end +of the 33d chapter. + +The writer having now finished the rehearsal on the part of Moses, comes +forward, and speaks through the whole of the last chapter: he begins by +telling the reader, that Moses went up to the top of Pisgah, that he +saw from thence the land which (the writer says) had been promised to +Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that he, Moses, died there in the land of +Moab, that he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, but that no +man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day, that is unto the time in +which the writer lived who wrote the book of Deuteronomy. The writer +then tells us, that Moses was one hundred and ten years of age when he +died--that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated; and he +concludes by saying, that there arose not a prophet since in Israel +like unto Moses, whom, says this anonymous writer, the Lord knew face to +face. + +Having thus shewn, as far as grammatical evidence implies, that +Moses was not the writer of those books, I will, after making a few +observations on the inconsistencies of the writer of the book of +Deuteronomy, proceed to shew, from the historical and chronological +evidence contained in those books, that Moses was not, because he could +not be, the writer of them; and consequently, that there is no authority +for believing that the inhuman and horrid butcheries of men, women, and +children, told of in those books, were done, as those books say they +were, at the command of God. It is a duty incumbent on every true deist, +that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the calumnies of the +Bible. + +The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an +anonymous work, is obscure, and also contradictory with himself in the +account he has given of Moses. + +After telling that Moses went to the top of Pisgah (and it does not +appear from any account that he ever came down again) he tells us, that +Moses died there in the land of Moab, and that he buried him in a valley +in the land of Moab; but as there is no antecedent to the pronoun he, +there is no knowing who he was, that did bury him. If the writer meant +that he (God) buried him, how should he (the writer) know it? or why +should we (the readers) believe him? since we know not who the writer +was that tells us so, for certainly Moses could not himself tell where +he was buried. + +The writer also tells us, that no man knoweth where the sepulchre of +Moses is unto this day, meaning the time in which this writer lived; +how then should he know that Moses was buried in a valley in the land +of Moab? for as the writer lived long after the time of Moses, as is +evident from his using the expression of unto this day, meaning a great +length of time after the death of Moses, he certainly was not at his +funeral; and on the other hand, it is impossible that Moses himself +could say that no man knoweth where the sepulchre is unto this day. To +make Moses the speaker, would be an improvement on the play of a child +that hides himself and cries nobody can find me; nobody can find Moses. + +This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he +has put into the mouth of Moses to speak, and therefore we have a right +to conclude that he either composed them himself, or wrote them from +oral tradition. One or other of these is the more probable, since he +has given, in the fifth chapter, a table of commandments, in which that +called the fourth commandment is different from the fourth commandment +in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. In that of Exodus, the reason given +for keeping the seventh day is, because (says the commandment) God made +the heavens and the earth in six days, and rested on the seventh; but in +that of Deuteronomy, the reason given is, that it was the day on which +the children of Israel came out of Egypt, and therefore, says this +commandment, the Lord thy God commanded thee to kee the sabbath-day This +makes no mention of the creation, nor that of the coming out of Egypt. +There are also many things given as laws of Moses in this book, that are +not to be found in any of the other books; among which is that inhuman +and brutal law, xxi. 18, 19, 20, 21, which authorizes parents, the +father and the mother, to bring their own children to have them stoned +to death for what it pleased them to call stubbornness.--But priests +have always been fond of preaching up Deuteronomy, for Deuteronomy +preaches up tythes; and it is from this book, xxv. 4, they have taken +the phrase, and applied it to tything, that "thou shalt not muzzle +the ox when he treadeth Out the corn:" and that this might not escape +observation, they have noted it in the table of contents at the head of +the chapter, though it is only a single verse of less than two lines. O +priests! priests! ye are willing to be compared to an ox, for the sake +of tythes. [An elegant pocket edition of Paine's Theological Works +(London. R. Carlile, 1822) has in its title a picture of Paine, as a +Moses in evening dress, unfolding the two tables of his "Age of Reason" +to a farmer from whom the Bishop of Llandaff (who replied to this work) +has taken a sheaf and a lamb which he is carrying to a church at the +summit of a well stocked hill.--Editor.]--Though it is impossible for +us to know identically who the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not +difficult to discover him professionally, that he was some Jewish +priest, who lived, as I shall shew in the course of this work, at least +three hundred and fifty years after the time of Moses. + +I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. The +chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology; for I mean not to +go out of the Bible for evidence of any thing, but to make the Bible +itself prove historically and chronologically that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him. It is therefore proper that I +inform the readers (such an one at least as may not have the opportunity +of knowing it) that in the larger Bibles, and also in some smaller ones, +there is a series of chronology printed in the margin of every page for +the purpose of showing how long the historical matters stated in each +page happened, or are supposed to have happened, before Christ, and +consequently the distance of time between one historical circumstance +and another. + +I begin with the book of Genesis.--In Genesis xiv., the writer gives an +account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the four kings +against five, and carried off; and that when the account of Lot being +taken came to Abraham, that he armed all his household and marched to +rescue Lot from the captors; and that he pursued them unto Dan. (ver. +14.) + +To shew in what manner this expression of Pursuing them unto Dan applies +to the case in question, I will refer to two circumstances, the one in +America, the other in France. The city now called New York, in America, +was originally New Amsterdam; and the town in France, lately called +Havre Marat, was before called Havre-de-Grace. New Amsterdam was changed +to New York in the year 1664; Havre-de-Grace to Havre Marat in the year +1793. Should, therefore, any writing be found, though without date, +in which the name of New-York should be mentioned, it would be certain +evidence that such a writing could not have been written before, and +must have been written after New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and +consequently not till after the year 1664, or at least during the course +of that year. And in like manner, any dateless writing, with the name +of Havre Marat, would be certain evidence that such a writing must have +been written after Havre-de-Grace became Havre Marat, and consequently +not till after the year 1793, or at least during the course of that +year. + +I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there +was no such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; and +consequently, that Moses could not be the writer of the book of Genesis, +where this account of pursuing them unto Dan is given. + +The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of the +Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon this +town, they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who was the +father of that tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham. + +To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to +chapter xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there said +(ver. 27) that "they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people that were +quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword [the +Bible is filled with murder] and burned the city with fire; and they +built a city, (ver. 28,) and dwelt therein, and [ver. 29,] they called +the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, their father; howbeit +the name of the city was Laish at the first." + +This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing it +to Dan, is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the death of +Samson. The death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. 1120 and +that of Moses B.C. 1451; and, therefore, according to the historical +arrangement, the place was not called Dan till 331 years after the death +of Moses. + +There is a striking confusion between the historical and the +chronological arrangement in the book of judges. The last five chapters, +as they stand in the book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put chronologically +before all the preceding chapters; they are made to be 28 years before +the 16th chapter, 266 before the 15th, 245 before the 13th, 195 before +the 9th, go before the 4th, and 15 years before the 1st chapter. This +shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the Bible. According to the +chronological arrangement, the taking of Laish, and giving it the name +of Dan, is made to be twenty years after the death of Joshua, who was +the successor of Moses; and by the historical order, as it stands in +the book, it is made to be 306 years after the death of Joshua, and 331 +after that of Moses; but they both exclude Moses from being the writer +of Genesis, because, according to either of the statements, no such a +place as Dan existed in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of +Genesis must have been some person who lived after the town of Laish had +the name of Dan; and who that person was nobody knows, and consequently +the book of Genesis is anonymous, and without authority. + +I come now to state another point of historical and chronological +evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses is +not the author of the book of Genesis. + +In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and descendants +of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name of the kings +of Edom; in enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, "And these are +the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the +children of Israel." + +Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any +past events, the writer should say, these things happened before there +was any Congress in America, or before there was any Convention in +France, it would be evidence that such writing could not have been +written before, and could only be written after there was a Congress +in America or a Convention in France, as the case might be; and, +consequently, that it could not be written by any person who died before +there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention in the other. + +Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than +to refer to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to do, +because a fact fixes itself in the memory better than a date; secondly, +because the fact includes the date, and serves to give two ideas at +once; and this manner of speaking by circumstances implies as positively +that the fact alluded to is past, as if it was so expressed. When a +person in speaking upon any matter, says, it was before I was married, +or before my son was born, or before I went to America, or before I went +to France, it is absolutely understood, and intended to be understood, +that he has been married, that he has had a son, that he has been in +America, or been in France. Language does not admit of using this mode +of expression in any other sense; and whenever such an expression is +found anywhere, it can only be understood in the sense in which only it +could have been used. + +The passage, therefore, that I have quoted--that "these are the kings +that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the children +of Israel," could only have been written after the first king began to +reign over them; and consequently that the book of Genesis, so far from +having been written by Moses, could not have been written till the time +of Saul at least. This is the positive sense of the passage; but the +expression, any king, implies more kings than one, at least it implies +two, and this will carry it to the time of David; and, if taken in +a general sense, it carries itself through all times of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Had we met with this verse in any part of the Bible that professed to +have been written after kings began to reign in Israel, it would have +been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens then +that this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which give a history +of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in fact, written +after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse that I have quoted, +and all the remaining verses of Genesis xxxvi. are, word for word, In 1 +Chronicles i., beginning at the 43d verse. + +It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say as +he has said, 1 Chron. i. 43, "These are the kings that reigned in Edom, +before there reigned any king ever the children of Israel," because he +was going to give, and has given, a list of the kings that had reigned +in Israel; but as it is impossible that the same expression could have +been used before that period, it is as certain as any thing can be +proved from historical language, that this part of Genesis is taken from +Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old as Chronicles, and probably +not so old as the book of Homer, or as AEsop's Fables; admitting Homer +to have been, as the tables of chronology state, contemporary with +David or Solomon, and AEsop to have lived about the end of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which +only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there +remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and +traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies. The story of +Eve and the serpent, and of Noah and his ark, drops to a level with the +Arabian Tales, without the merit of being entertaining, and the account +of men living to eight and nine hundred years becomes as fabulous as the +immortality of the giants of the Mythology. + +Besides, the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most +horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was the +wretch that first began and carried on wars on the score or on the +pretence of religion; and under that mask, or that infatuation, +committed the most unexampled atrocities that are to be found in the +history of any nation. Of which I will state only one instance: + +When the Jewish army returned from one of their plundering and murdering +excursions, the account goes on as follows (Numbers xxxi. 13): "And +Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, +went forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was wroth with the +officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains +over hundreds, which came from the battle; and Moses said unto them, +'Have ye saved all the women alive?' behold, these caused the children +of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against +the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the +congregation of the Lord. Now therefore, 'kill every male among the +little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with +him; but all the women-children that have not known a man by lying with +him, keep alive for Yourselves.'" + +Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have +disgraced the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than +Moses, if this account be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, to +massacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. + +Let any mother put herself in the situation of those mothers, one child +murdered, another destined to violation, and herself in the hands of +an executioner: let any daughter put herself in the situation of +those daughters, destined as a prey to the murderers of a mother and a +brother, and what will be their feelings? It is in vain that we attempt +to impose upon nature, for nature will have her course, and the religion +that tortures all her social ties is a false religion. + +After this detestable order, follows an account of the plunder taken, +and the manner of dividing it; and here it is that the profaneings of +priestly hypocrisy increases the catalogue of crimes. Verse 37, "And the +Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen; +and the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute +was threescore and twelve; and the asses were thirty thousand, of which +the Lord's tribute was threescore and one; and the persons were sixteen +thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two." In short, the +matters contained in this chapter, as well as in many other parts of the +Bible, are too horrid for humanity to read, or for decency to hear; +for it appears, from the 35th verse of this chapter, that the number +of women-children consigned to debauchery by the order of Moses was +thirty-two thousand. + +People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended +word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for +granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit +themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of the +benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been taught to +believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is quite another +thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; for what can be +greater blasphemy, than to ascribe the wickedness of man to the orders +of the Almighty! + +But to return to my subject, that of showing that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him, and that the Bible is spurious. +The two instances I have already given would be sufficient, without any +additional evidence, to invalidate the authenticity of any book that +pretended to be four or five hundred years more ancient than the matters +it speaks of, refers to, them as facts; for in the case of pursuing them +unto Dan, and of the kings that reigned over the children of Israel; not +even the flimsy pretence of prophecy can be pleaded. The expressions are +in the preter tense, and it would be downright idiotism to say that a +man could prophecy in the preter tense. + +But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books that +unite in the same point of evidence. It is said in Exodus, (another of +the books ascribed to Moses,) xvi. 35: "And the children of Israel did +eat manna until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna until +they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." + +Whether the children of Israel ate manna or not, or what manna was, or +whether it was anything more than a kind of fungus or small mushroom, or +other vegetable substance common to that part of the country, makes no +part of my argument; all that I mean to show is, that it is not Moses +that could write this account, because the account extends itself beyond +the life time of Moses. Moses, according to the Bible, (but it is such +a book of lies and contradictions there is no knowing which part to +believe, or whether any) died in the wilderness, and never came upon +the borders of 'the land of Canaan; and consequently, it could not be +he that said what the children of Israel did, or what they ate when they +came there. This account of eating manna, which they tell us was written +by Moses, extends itself to the time of Joshua, the successor of +Moses, as appears by the account given in the book of Joshua, after +the children of Israel had passed the river Jordan, and came into the +borders of the land of Canaan. Joshua, v. 12: "And the manna ceased on +the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither +had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat of the fruit +of the land of Canaan that year." + +But a more remarkable instance than this occurs in Deuteronomy; which, +while it shows that Moses could not be the writer of that book, shows +also the fabulous notions that prevailed at that time about giants' In +Deuteronomy iii. 11, among the conquests said to be made by Moses, is +an account of the taking of Og, king of Bashan: "For only Og, king +of Bashan, remained of the race of giants; behold, his bedstead was a +bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine +cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after +the cubit of a man." A cubit is 1 foot 9 888/1000 inches; the length +therefore of the bed was 16 feet 4 inches, and the breadth 7 feet 4 +inches: thus much for this giant's bed. Now for the historical part, +which, though the evidence is not so direct and positive as in the +former cases, is nevertheless very presumable and corroborating +evidence, and is better than the best evidence on the contrary side. + +The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to his +bed, as an ancient relick, and says, is it not in Rabbath (or Rabbah) +of the children of Ammon? meaning that it is; for such is frequently the +bible method of affirming a thing. But it could not be Moses that said +this, because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, nor of what was in +it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant king, nor was it one +of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge therefore that this bed was +at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its dimensions, must be referred to +the time when Rabbah was taken, and this was not till four hundred +years after the death of Moses; for which, see 2 Sam. xii. 26: "And Joab +[David's general] fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and +took the royal city," etc. + +As I am not undertaking to point out all the contradictions in time, +place, and circumstance that abound in the books ascribed to Moses, and +which prove to demonstration that those books could not be written by +Moses, nor in the time of Moses, I proceed to the book of Joshua, and +to shew that Joshua is not the author of that book, and that it is +anonymous and without authority. The evidence I shall produce is +contained in the book itself: I will not go out of the Bible for proof +against the supposed authenticity of the Bible. False testimony is +always good against itself. + +Joshua, according to Joshua i., was the immediate successor of Moses; he +was, moreover, a military man, which Moses was not; and he continued as +chief of the people of Israel twenty-five years; that is, from the time +that Moses died, which, according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. +1451, until B.C. 1426, when, according to the same chronology, Joshua +died. If, therefore, we find in this book, said to have been written +by Joshua, references to facts done after the death of Joshua, it is +evidence that Joshua could not be the author; and also that the book +could not have been written till after the time of the latest fact +which it records. As to the character of the book, it is horrid; it is +a military history of rapine and murder, as savage and brutal as those +recorded of his predecessor in villainy and hypocrisy, Moses; and the +blasphemy consists, as in the former books, in ascribing those deeds to +the orders of the Almighty. + +In the first place, the book of Joshua, as is the case in the preceding +books, is written in the third person; it is the historian of Joshua +that speaks, for it would have been absurd and vainglorious that Joshua +should say of himself, as is said of him in the last verse of the sixth +chapter, that "his fame was noised throughout all the country."--I now +come more immediately to the proof. + +In Joshua xxiv. 31, it is said "And Israel served the Lord all the days +of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived Joshua." Now, +in the name of common sense, can it be Joshua that relates what people +had done after he was dead? This account must not only have been written +by some historian that lived after Joshua, but that lived also after the +elders that out-lived Joshua. + +There are several passages of a general meaning with respect to time, +scattered throughout the book of Joshua, that carries the time in which +the book was written to a distance from the time of Joshua, but without +marking by exclusion any particular time, as in the passage above +quoted. In that passage, the time that intervened between the death +of Joshua and the death of the elders is excluded descriptively and +absolutely, and the evidence substantiates that the book could not have +been written till after the death of the last. + +But though the passages to which I allude, and which I am going to +quote, do not designate any particular time by exclusion, they imply a +time far more distant from the days of Joshua than is contained between +the death of Joshua and the death of the elders. Such is the passage, x. +14, where, after giving an account that the sun stood still upon Gibeon, +and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, at the command of Joshua, (a tale +only fit to amuse children) [NOTE: This tale of the sun standing still +upon Motint Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, is one of +those fables that detects itself. Such a circumstance could not have +happened without being known all over the world. One half would have +wondered why the sun did not rise, and the other why it did not set; and +the tradition of it would be universal; whereas there is not a nation +in the world that knows anything about it. But why must the moon stand +still? What occasion could there be for moonlight in the daytime, and +that too whilst the sun shined? As a poetical figure, the whole is well +enough; it is akin to that in the song of Deborah and Barak, The stars +in their courses fought against Sisera; but it is inferior to the +figurative declaration of Mahomet to the persons who came to expostulate +with him on his goings on, Wert thou, said he, to come to me with the +sun in thy right hand and the moon in thy left, it should not alter my +career. For Joshua to have exceeded Mahomet, he should have put the sun +and moon, one in each pocket, and carried them as Guy Faux carried his +dark lanthorn, and taken them out to shine as he might happen to want +them. The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related that it +is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes +the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime +again; the account, however, abstracted from the poetical fancy, shews +the ignorance of Joshua, for he should have commanded the earth to have +stood still.--Author.] the passage says: "And there was no day like +that, before it, nor after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of a +man." + +The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, +being put in comparison with all the time that passed before it, must, +in order to give any expressive signification to the passage, mean a +great length of time:--for example, it would have been ridiculous to +have said so the next day, or the next week, or the next month, or the +next year; to give therefore meaning to the passage, comparative with +the wonder it relates, and the prior time it alludes to, it must mean +centuries of years; less however than one would be trifling, and less +than two would be barely admissible. + +A distant, but general time is also expressed in chapter viii.; where, +after giving an account of the taking the city of Ai, it is said, ver. +28th, "And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an heap for ever, a desolation +unto this day;" and again, ver. 29, where speaking of the king of Ai, +whom Joshua had hanged, and buried at the entering of the gate, it is +said, "And he raised thereon a great heap of stones, which remaineth +unto this day," that is, unto the day or time in which the writer of the +book of Joshua lived. And again, in chapter x. where, after speaking of +the five kings whom Joshua had hanged on five trees, and then thrown in +a cave, it is said, "And he laid great stones on the cave's mouth, which +remain unto this very day." + +In enumerating the several exploits of Joshua, and of the tribes, and +of the places which they conquered or attempted, it is said, xv. 63, "As +for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah +could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of +Judah AT JERUSALEM unto this day." The question upon this passage is, At +what time did the Jebusites and the children of Judah dwell together at +Jerusalem? As this matter occurs again in judges i. I shall reserve my +observations till I come to that part. + +Having thus shewn from the book of Joshua itself, without any auxiliary +evidence whatever, that Joshua is not the author of that book, and +that it is anonymous, and consequently without authority, I proceed, as +before-mentioned, to the book of Judges. + +The book of Judges is anonymous on the face of it; and, therefore, even +the pretence is wanting to call it the word of God; it has not so much +as a nominal voucher; it is altogether fatherless. + +This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. That of +Joshua begins, chap i. 1, Now after the death of Moses, etc., and this +of the Judges begins, Now after the death of Joshua, etc. This, and the +similarity of stile between the two books, indicate that they are the +work of the same author; but who he was, is altogether unknown; the only +point that the book proves is that the author lived long after the time +of Joshua; for though it begins as if it followed immediately after his +death, the second chapter is an epitome or abstract of the whole book, +which, according to the Bible chronology, extends its history through a +space of 306 years; that is, from the death of Joshua, B.C. 1426 to the +death of Samson, B.C. 1120, and only 25 years before Saul went to seek +his father's asses, and was made king. But there is good reason to +believe, that it was not written till the time of David, at least, and +that the book of Joshua was not written before the same time. + +In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, proceeds +to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the native +inhabitants of the land of Canaan. In this statement the writer, having +abruptly mentioned Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says immediately after, +in the 8th verse, by way of explanation, "Now the children of Judah had +fought against Jerusalem, and taken it;" consequently this book could +not have been written before Jerusalem had been taken. The reader will +recollect the quotation I have just before made from Joshua xv. 63, +where it said that the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at +Jerusalem at this day; meaning the time when the book of Joshua was +written. + +The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I have +hitherto treated of were not written by the persons to whom they are +ascribed, nor till many years after their death, if such persons ever +lived, is already so abundant, that I can afford to admit this passage +with less weight than I am entitled to draw from it. For the case is, +that so far as the Bible can be credited as an history, the city of +Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David; and consequently, that +the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not written till after the +commencement of the reign of David, which was 370 years after the death +of Joshua. + +The name of the city that was afterward called Jerusalem was originally +Jebus, or Jebusi, and was the capital of the Jebusites. The account of +David's taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, v. 4, etc.; also in 1 +Chron. xiv. 4, etc. There is no mention in any part of the Bible that it +was ever taken before, nor any account that favours such an opinion. +It is not said, either in Samuel or in Chronicles, that they "utterly +destroyed men, women and children, that they left not a soul to +breathe," as is said of their other conquests; and the silence here +observed implies that it was taken by capitulation; and that the +Jebusites, the native inhabitants, continued to live in the place +after it was taken. The account therefore, given in Joshua, that "the +Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah" at Jerusalem at this day, +corresponds to no other time than after taking the city by David. + +Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to Judges, +is without authenticity, I come to the book of Ruth, an idle, bungling +story, foolishly told, nobody knows by whom, about a strolling +country-girl creeping slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. [The text of +Ruth does not imply the unpleasant sense Paine's words are likely to +convey.--Editor.] Pretty stuff indeed to be called the word of God. It +is, however, one of the best books in the Bible, for it is free from +murder and rapine. + +I come next to the two books of Samuel, and to shew that those books +were not written by Samuel, nor till a great length of time after +the death of Samuel; and that they are, like all the former books, +anonymous, and without authority. + +To be convinced that these books have been written much later than the +time of Samuel, and consequently not by him, it is only necessary +to read the account which the writer gives of Saul going to seek his +father's asses, and of his interview with Samuel, of whom Saul went +to enquire about those lost asses, as foolish people now-a-days go to a +conjuror to enquire after lost things. + +The writer, in relating this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, does +not tell it as a thing that had just then happened, but as an ancient +story in the time this writer lived; for he tells it in the language or +terms used at the time that Samuel lived, which obliges the writer to +explain the story in the terms or language used in the time the writer +lived. + +Samuel, in the account given of him in the first of those books, chap. +ix. 13 called the seer; and it is by this term that Saul enquires after +him, ver. 11, "And as they [Saul and his servant] went up the hill to +the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water; and they +said unto them, Is the seer here?" Saul then went according to the +direction of these maidens, and met Samuel without knowing him, and said +unto him, ver. 18, "Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is? and +Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer." + +As the writer of the book of Samuel relates these questions and answers, +in the language or manner of speaking used in the time they are said +to have been spoken, and as that manner of speaking was out of use when +this author wrote, he found it necessary, in order to make the story +understood, to explain the terms in which these questions and +answers are spoken; and he does this in the 9th verse, where he says, +"Before-time in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he +spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a prophet, +was before-time called a seer." This proves, as I have before said, that +this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was an ancient story at the +time the book of Samuel was written, and consequently that Samuel did +not write it, and that the book is without authenticity. + +But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more +positive that Samuel is not the writer of them; for they relate things +that did not happen till several years after the death of Samuel. Samuel +died before Saul; for i Samuel, xxviii. tells, that Saul and the witch +of Endor conjured Samuel up after he was dead; yet the history of +matters contained in those books is extended through the remaining part +of Saul's life, and to the latter end of the life of David, who succeeded +Saul. The account of the death and burial of Samuel (a thing which he +could not write himself) is related in i Samuel xxv.; and the chronology +affixed to this chapter makes this to be B.C. 1060; yet the history of +this first book is brought down to B.C. 1056, that is, to the death of +Saul, which was not till four years after the death of Samuel. + +The second book of Samuel begins with an account of things that did not +happen till four years after Samuel was dead; for it begins with the +reign of David, who succeeded Saul, and it goes on to the end of David's +reign, which was forty-three years after the death of Samuel; and, +therefore, the books are in themselves positive evidence that they were +not written by Samuel. + +I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, +to which the names of persons are affixed, as being the authors of those +books, and which the church, styling itself the Christian church, have +imposed upon the world as the writings of Moses, Joshua and Samuel; and +I have detected and proved the falsehood of this imposition.--And now ye +priests, of every description, who have preached and written against the +former part of the 'Age of Reason,' what have ye to say? Will ye with +all this mass of evidence against you, and staring you in the face, +still have the assurance to march into your pulpits, and continue to +impose these books on your congregations, as the works of inspired +penmen and the word of God? when it is as evident as demonstration can +make truth appear, that the persons who ye say are the authors, are not +the authors, and that ye know not who the authors are. What shadow of +pretence have ye now to produce for continuing the blasphemous fraud? +What have ye still to offer against the pure and moral religion of +deism, in support of your system of falsehood, idolatry, and pretended +revelation? Had the cruel and murdering orders, with which the Bible +is filled, and the numberless torturing executions of men, women, and +children, in consequence of those orders, been ascribed to some friend, +whose memory you revered, you would have glowed with satisfaction at +detecting the falsehood of the charge, and gloried in defending his +injured fame. It is because ye are sunk in the cruelty of superstition, +or feel no interest in the honour of your Creator, that ye listen to the +horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous indifference. The +evidence I have produced, and shall still produce in the course of this +work, to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, whilst it +wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquillize the minds +of millions: it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the +Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible had infused into their minds, +and which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his +moral justice and benevolence. + +I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of +Chronicles.--Those books are altogether historical, and are chiefly +confined to the lives and actions of the Jewish kings, who in general +were a parcel of rascals: but these are matters with which we have no +more concern than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer's account of +the Trojan war. Besides which, as those books are anonymous, and as we +know nothing of the writer, or of his character, it is impossible for +us to know what degree of credit to give to the matters related therein. +Like all other ancient histories, they appear to be a jumble of fable +and of fact, and of probable and of improbable things, but which +distance of time and place, and change of circumstances in the world, +have rendered obsolete and uninteresting. + +The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing +them with each other, and with other parts of the Bible, to show the +confusion, contradiction, and cruelty in this pretended word of God. + +The first book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, +according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1015; and the second +book ends B.C. 588, being a little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom +Nebuchadnezzar, after taking Jerusalem and conquering the Jews, carried +captive to Babylon. The two books include a space of 427 years. + +The two books of Chronicles are an history of the same times, and in +general of the same persons, by another author; for it would be absurd +to suppose that the same author wrote the history twice over. The first +book of Chronicles (after giving the genealogy from Adam to Saul, which +takes up the first nine chapters) begins with the reign of David; and +the last book ends, as in the last book of Kings, soon, after the reign +of Zedekiah, about B.C. 588. The last two verses of the last chapter +bring the history 52 years more forward, that is, to 536. But these +verses do not belong to the book, as I shall show when I come to speak +of the book of Ezra. + +The two books of Kings, besides the history of Saul, David, and Solomon, +who reigned over all Israel, contain an abstract of the lives of +seventeen kings, and one queen, who are stiled kings of Judah; and +of nineteen, who are stiled kings of Israel; for the Jewish nation, +immediately on the death of Solomon, split into two parties, who chose +separate kings, and who carried on most rancorous wars against each +other. + +These two books are little more than a history of assassinations, +treachery, and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accustomed +themselves to practise on the Canaanites, whose country they had +savagely invaded, under a pretended gift from God, they afterwards +practised as furiously on each other. Scarcely half their kings died a +natural death, and in some instances whole families were destroyed +to secure possession to the successor, who, after a few years, and +sometimes only a few months, or less, shared the same fate. In 2 Kings +x., an account is given of two baskets full of children's heads, seventy +in number, being exposed at the entrance of the city; they were the +children of Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of Jehu, whom Elisha, +the pretended man of God, had anointed to be king over Israel, on +purpose to commit this bloody deed, and assassinate his predecessor. And +in the account of the reign of Menahem, one of the kings of Israel who +had murdered Shallum, who had reigned but one month, it is said, 2 Kings +xv. 16, that Menahem smote the city of Tiphsah, because they opened +not the city to him, and all the women therein that were with child he +ripped up. + +Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would distinguish +any nation of people by the name of his chosen people, we must suppose +that people to have been an example to all the rest of the world of +the purest piety and humanity, and not such a nation of ruffians and +cut-throats as the ancient Jews were,--a people who, corrupted by and +copying after such monsters and imposters as Moses and Aaron, Joshua, +Samuel, and David, had distinguished themselves above all others on the +face of the known earth for barbarity and wickedness. If we will not +stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our hearts it is impossible not to +see, in spite of all that long-established superstition imposes upon the +mind, that the flattering appellation of his chosen people is no other +than a LIE which the priests and leaders of the Jews had invented to +cover the baseness of their own characters; and which Christian priests +sometimes as corrupt, and often as cruel, have professed to believe. + +The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the same crimes; but the +history is broken in several places, by the author leaving out the reign +of some of their kings; and in this, as well as in that of Kings, there +is such a frequent transition from kings of Judah to kings of Israel, +and from kings of Israel to kings of Judah, that the narrative +is obscure in the reading. In the same book the history sometimes +contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. 17, we are told, but in +rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of Ahaziah, king of Israel, +Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), reigned in his stead +in the second Year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of +Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is said, "And in the fifth +year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then +king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat king of judah, began to +reign." That is, one chapter says Joram of Judah began to reign in the +second year of Joram of Israel; and the other chapter says, that Joram +of Israel began to reign in the fifth year of Joram of Judah. + +Several of the most extraordinary matters related in one history, as +having happened during the reign of such or such of their kings, are not +to be found in the other, in relating the reign of the same king: for +example, the two first rival kings, after the death of Solomon, were +Rehoboam and Jeroboam; and in i Kings xii. and xiii. an account is given +of Jeroboam making an offering of burnt incense, and that a man, who +is there called a man of God, cried out against the altar (xiii. 2): "O +altar, altar! thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child shall be born unto +the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee shall he offer the +priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones +shall be burned upon thee." Verse 4: "And it came to pass, when king +Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the +altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay +hold on him; and his hand which he put out against him dried up so that +he could not pull it again to him." + +One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is +spoken of as a judgement,) happening to the chief of one of the parties, +and that at the first moment of the separation of the Israelites into +two nations, would, if it,. had been true, have been recorded in both +histories. But though men, in later times, have believed all that the +prophets have said unto them, it does appear that those prophets, or +historians, disbelieved each other: they knew each other too well. + +A long account also is given in Kings about Elijah. It runs through +several chapters, and concludes with telling, 2 Kings ii. 11, "And it +came to pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, +that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, +and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into +heaven." Hum! this the author of Chronicles, miraculous as the story is, +makes no mention of, though he mentions Elijah by name; neither does he +say anything of the story related in the second chapter of the same book +of Kings, of a parcel of children calling Elisha bald head; and that +this man of God (ver. 24) "turned back, and looked upon them, and cursed +them in the name of the Lord; and there came forth two she-bears out of +the wood, and tare forty and two children of them." He also passes over +in silence the story told, 2 Kings xiii., that when they were burying a +man in the sepulchre where Elisha had been buried, it happened that the +dead man, as they were letting him down, (ver. 21) "touched the bones +of Elisha, and he (the dead man) revived, and stood up on his feet." The +story does not tell us whether they buried the man, notwithstanding he +revived and stood upon his feet, or drew him up again. Upon all these +stories the writer of the Chronicles is as silent as any writer of the +present day, who did not chose to be accused of lying, or at least of +romancing, would be about stories of the same kind. + +But, however these two historians may differ from each other with +respect to the tales related by either, they are silent alike with +respect to those men styled prophets whose writings fill up the latter +part of the Bible. Isaiah, who lived in the time of Hezekiab, is +mentioned in Kings, and again in Chronicles, when these histories are +speaking of that reign; but except in one or two instances at most, and +those very slightly, none of the rest are so much as spoken of, or even +their existence hinted at; though, according to the Bible chronology, +they lived within the time those histories were written; and some of +them long before. If those prophets, as they are called, were men of +such importance in their day, as the compilers of the Bible, and priests +and commentators have since represented them to be, how can it be +accounted for that not one of those histories should say anything about +them? + +The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought forward, +as I have already said, to the year B.C. 588; it will, therefore, be +proper to examine which of these prophets lived before that period. + +Here follows a table of all the prophets, with the times in which they +lived before Christ, according to the chronology affixed to the first +chapter of each of the books of the prophets; and also of the number of +years they lived before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + +TABLE of the Prophets, with the time in which they lived before Christ, +and also before the books of Kings and Chronicles were written: + + Years Years before + NAMES. before Kings and Observations. + Christ. Chronicles. + + Isaiah............... 760 172 mentioned. + + + (mentioned only in + Jeremiah............. 629 41 the last [two] chapters + of Chronicles. + + Ezekiel.............. 595 7 not mentioned. + + Daniel............... 607 19 not mentioned. + + Hosea................ 785 97 not mentioned. + + Joel................. 800 212 not mentioned. + + Amos................. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Obadiah.............. 789 199 not mentioned. + + Jonah................ 862 274 see the note. + + Micah................ 750 162 not mentioned. + + Nahum................ 713 125 not mentioned. + + Habakkuk............. 620 38 not mentioned. + + Zepbaniah............ 630 42 not mentioned. + +Haggai Zechariah all three after the year 588 Medachi [NOTE In 2 Kings +xiv. 25, the name of Jonah is mentioned on account of the restoration of +a tract of land by Jeroboam; but nothing further is said of him, nor +is any allusion made to the book of Jonah, nor to his expedition to +Nineveh, nor to his encounter with the whale.--Author.] + +This table is either not very honourable for the Bible historians, or +not very honourable for the Bible prophets; and I leave to priests and +commentators, who are very learned in little things, to settle the point +of etiquette between the two; and to assign a reason, why the authors of +Kings and of Chronicles have treated those prophets, whom, in the former +part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have considered as poets, with as much +degrading silence as any historian of the present day would treat Peter +Pindar. + +I have one more observation to make on the book of Chronicles; after +which I shall pass on to review the remaining books of the Bible. + +In my observations on the book of Genesis, I have quoted a passage from +xxxvi. 31, which evidently refers to a time, after that kings began to +reign over the children of Israel; and I have shown that as this +verse is verbatim the same as in 1 Chronicles i. 43, where it stands +consistently with the order of history, which in Genesis it does not, +that the verse in Genesis, and a great part of the 36th chapter, have +been taken from Chronicles; and that the book of Genesis, though it is +placed first in the Bible, and ascribed to Moses, has been manufactured +by some unknown person, after the book of Chronicles was written, which +was not until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. + +The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has in +it but two stages. First, as I have already stated, that the passage in +Genesis refers itself for time to Chronicles; secondly, that the book +of Chronicles, to which this passage refers itself, was not begun to be +written until at least eight hundred and sixty years after the time of +Moses. To prove this, we have only to look into 1 Chronicles iii. 15, +where the writer, in giving the genealogy of the descendants of +David, mentions Zedekiah; and it was in the time of Zedekiah that +Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, B.C. 588, and consequently more than +860 years after Moses. Those who have superstitiously boasted of the +antiquity of the Bible, and particularly of the books ascribed to Moses, +have done it without examination, and without any other authority +than that of one credulous man telling it to another: for, so far as +historical and chronological evidence applies, the very first book in +the Bible is not so ancient as the book of Homer, by more than three +hundred years, and is about the same age with AEsop's Fables. + +I am not contending for the morality of Homer; on the contrary, I think +it a book of false glory, and tending to inspire immoral and mischievous +notions of honour; and with respect to AEsop, though the moral is in +general just, the fable is often cruel; and the cruelty of the fable +does more injury to the heart, especially in a child, than the moral +does good to the judgment. + +Having now dismissed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in course, +the book of Ezra. + +As one proof, among others I shall produce to shew the disorder in which +this pretended word of God, the Bible, has been put together, and the +uncertainty of who the authors were, we have only to look at the first +three verses in Ezra, and the last two in 2 Chronicles; for by what kind +of cutting and shuffling has it been that the first three verses in Ezra +should be the last two verses in 2 Chronicles, or that the last two in 2 +Chronicles should be the first three in Ezra? Either the authors did not +know their own works or the compilers did not know the authors. + +Last Two Verses of 2 Chronicles. + +Ver. 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word +of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished, +the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made +a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, +saying. + +earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to +build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among +you of all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up. +*** + +First Three Verses of Ezra. + +Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of +the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred +up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation +throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying. + +2. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given +me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an +house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. + +3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and +let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of +the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem. + +*** The last verse in Chronicles is broken abruptly, and ends in the +middle of the phrase with the word 'up' without signifying to what +place. This abrupt break, and the appearance of the same verses in +different books, show as I have already said, the disorder and ignorance +in which the Bible has been put together, and that the compilers of +it had no authority for what they were doing, nor we any authority for +believing what they have done. [NOTE I observed, as I passed along, +several broken and senseless passages in the Bible, without thinking +them of consequence enough to be introduced in the body of the work; +such as that, 1 Samuel xiii. 1, where it is said, "Saul reigned one +year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel, Saul chose him +three thousand men," &c. The first part of the verse, that Saul reigned +one year has no sense, since it does not tell us what Saul did, nor +say any thing of what happened at the end of that one year; and it is, +besides, mere absurdity to say he reigned one year, when the very +next phrase says he had reigned two for if he had reigned two, it was +impossible not to have reigned one. + +Another instance occurs in Joshua v. where the writer tells us a story +of an angel (for such the table of contents at the head of the chapter +calls him) appearing unto Joshua; and the story ends abruptly, and +without any conclusion. The story is as follows:--Ver. 13. "And it came +to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and +looked, and behold there stood a man over against him with his sword +drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him and said unto him, Art thou +for us, or for our adversaries?" Verse 14, "And he said, Nay; but as +captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his +face to the earth, and did worship and said unto him, What saith my Lord +unto his servant?" Verse 15, "And the captain of the Lord's host said +unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon +thou standeth is holy. And Joshua did so."--And what then? nothing: for +here the story ends, and the chapter too. + +Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told +by some Jewish humourist in ridicule of Joshua's pretended mission from +God, and the compilers of the Bible, not perceiving the design of +the story, have told it as a serious matter. As a story of humour and +ridicule it has a great deal of point; for it pompously introduces an +angel in the figure of a man, with a drawn sword in his hand, before +whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and worships (which is +contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most important +embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his shoe. It +might as well have told him to pull up his breeches. + +It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit every thing their +leaders told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which they +speak of Moses, when he was gone into the mount. As for this Moses, say +they, we wot not what is become of him. Exod. xxxii. 1.--Author. + +The only thing that has any appearance of certainty in the book of Ezra +is the time in which it was written, which was immediately after the +return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, about B.C. 536. Ezra +(who, according to the Jewish commentators, is the same person as is +called Esdras in the Apocrypha) was one of the persons who returned, and +who, it is probable, wrote the account of that affair. Nebemiah, whose +book follows next to Ezra, was another of the returned persons; and who, +it is also probable, wrote the account of the same affair, in the book +that bears his name. But those accounts are nothing to us, nor to any +other person, unless it be to the Jews, as a part of the history of +their nation; and there is just as much of the word of God in those +books as there is in any of the histories of France, or Rapin's history +of England, or the history of any other country. + +But even in matters of historical record, neither of those writers are +to be depended upon. In Ezra ii., the writer gives a list of the tribes +and families, and of the precise number of souls of each, that returned +from Babylon to Jerusalem; and this enrolment of the persons so returned +appears to have been one of the principal objects for writing the +book; but in this there is an error that destroys the intention of the +undertaking. + +The writer begins his enrolment in the following manner (ii. 3): "The +children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy and four." Ver. 4, +"The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two." And in this +manner he proceeds through all the families; and in the 64th verse, he +makes a total, and says, the whole congregation together was forty and +two thousand three hundred and threescore. + +But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several particulars, +will find that the total is but 29,818; so that the error is 12,542. +What certainty then can there be in the Bible for any thing? + +[Here Mr. Paine includes the long list of numbers from the Bible of all +the children listed and the total thereof. This can be had directly from +the Bible.] + +Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a list of the returned families, and +of the number of each family. He begins as in Ezra, by saying (vii. 8): +"The children of Parosh, two thousand three hundred and seventy-two;" +and so on through all the families. (The list differs in several of the +particulars from that of Ezra.) In ver. 66, Nehemiah makes a total, and +says, as Ezra had said, "The whole congregation together was forty and +two thousand three hundred and threescore." But the particulars of this +list make a total but of 31,089, so that the error here is 11,271. These +writers may do well enough for Bible-makers, but not for any thing where +truth and exactness is necessary. + +The next book in course is the book of Esther. If Madam Esther thought +it any honour to offer herself as a kept mistress to Ahasuerus, or as a +rival to Queen Vashti, who had refused to come to a drunken king in the +midst of a drunken company, to be made a show of, (for the account +says, they had been drinking seven days, and were merry,) let Esther and +Mordecai look to that, it is no business of ours, at least it is none of +mine; besides which, the story has a great deal the appearance of being +fabulous, and is also anonymous. I pass on to the book of Job. + +The book of Job differs in character from all the books we have hitherto +passed over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book; it is the +meditations of a mind strongly impressed with the vicissitudes of human +life, and by turns sinking under, and struggling against the pressure. +It is a highly wrought composition, between willing submission and +involuntary discontent; and shows man, as he sometimes is, more disposed +to be resigned than he is capable of being. Patience has but a small +share in the character of the person of whom the book treats; on the +contrary, his grief is often impetuous; but he still endeavours to keep +a guard upon it, and seems determined, in the midst of accumulating +ills, to impose upon himself the hard duty of contentment. + +I have spoken in a respectful manner of the book of Job in the former +part of the 'Age of Reason,' but without knowing at that time what I +have learned since; which is, that from all the evidence that can be +collected, the book of Job does not belong to the Bible. + +I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and +Spinoza, upon this subject; they both say that the book of Job carries +no internal evidence of being an Hebrew book; that the genius of the +composition, and the drama of the piece, are not Hebrew; that it has +been translated from another language into Hebrew, and that the author +of the book was a Gentile; that the character represented under the name +of Satan (which is the first and only time this name is mentioned in +the Bible) [In a later work Paine notes that in "the Bible" (by which +he always means the Old Testament alone) the word Satan occurs also in 1 +Chron. xxi. 1, and remarks that the action there ascribed to Satan is +in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, attributed to Jehovah ("Essay on Dreams"). In these +places, however, and in Ps. cix. 6, Satan means "adversary," and is so +translated (A.S. version) in 2 Sam. xix. 22, and 1 Kings v. 4, xi. 25. +As a proper name, with the article, Satan appears in the Old Testament +only in Job and in Zech. iii. 1, 2. But the authenticity of the passage +in Zechariah has been questioned, and it may be that in finding the +proper name of Satan in Job alone, Paine was following some opinion +met with in one of the authorities whose comments are condensed in his +paragraph.--Editor.] does not correspond to any Hebrew idea; and that +the two convocations which the Deity is supposed to have made of those +whom the poem calls sons of God, and the familiarity which this supposed +Satan is stated to have with the Deity, are in the same case. + +It may also be observed, that the book shows itself to be the production +of a mind cultivated in science, which the Jews, so far from being +famous for, were very ignorant of. The allusions to objects of natural +philosophy are frequent and strong, and are of a different cast to any +thing in the books known to be Hebrew. The astronomical names, Pleiades, +Orion, and Arcturus, are Greek and not Hebrew names, and it does not +appear from any thing that is to be found in the Bible that the Jews +knew any thing of astronomy, or that they studied it, they had no +translation of those names into their own language, but adopted the +names as they found them in the poem. [Paine's Jewish critic, David +Levi, fastened on this slip ("Defence of the Old Testament," 1797, p. +152). In the original the names are Ash (Arcturus), Kesil' (Orion), +Kimah' (Pleiades), though the identifications of the constellations in +the A.S.V. have been questioned.--Editor.] + +That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile +nations into the Hebrew language, and mix them with their own, is not a +matter of doubt; Proverbs xxxi. i, is an evidence of this: it is there +said, The word of king Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother taught him. +This verse stands as a preface to the proverbs that follow, and which +are not the proverbs of Solomon, but of Lemuel; and this Lemuel was not +one of the kings of Israel, nor of Judah, but of some other country, and +consequently a Gentile. The Jews however have adopted his proverbs; and +as they cannot give any account who the author of the book of Job was, +nor how they came by the book, and as it differs in character from the +Hebrew writings, and stands totally unconnected with every other +book and chapter in the Bible before it and after it, it has all the +circumstantial evidence of being originally a book of the Gentiles. +[The prayer known by the name of Agur's Prayer, in Proverbs +xxx.,--immediately preceding the proverbs of Lemuel,--and which is the +only sensible, well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, +has much the appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. +The name of Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is +introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same +manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are +introduced in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, "The words +of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:" here the word prophecy +is used with the same application it has in the following chapter of +Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer of Agur is +in the 8th and 9th verses, "Remove far from me vanity and lies; give +me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient for me; +lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor +and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." This has not any of the +marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never prayed but when +they were in trouble, and never for anything but victory, vengeance, +or riches.--Author. (Prov. xxx. 1, and xxxi. 1) the word "prophecy" in +these verses is translated "oracle" or "burden" (marg.) in the revised +version.--The prayer of Agur was quoted by Paine in his plea for the +officers of Excise, 1772.--Editor.] + +The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible chronologists, +appear to have been at a loss where to place and how to dispose of +the book of Job; for it contains no one historical circumstance, nor +allusion to any, that might serve to determine its place in the Bible. +But it would not have answered the purpose of these men to have informed +the world of their ignorance; and, therefore, they have affixed it to +the aera of B.C. 1520, which is during the time the Israelites were in +Egypt, and for which they have just as much authority and no more than +I should have for saying it was a thousand years before that period. The +probability however is, that it is older than any book in the Bible; and +it is the only one that can be read without indignation or disgust. + +We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) was +before the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to calumniate and +blacken the character of all other nations; and it is from the Jewish +accounts that we have learned to call them heathens. But, as far as +we know to the contrary, they were a just and moral people, and not +addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and revenge, but of whose profession +of faith we are unacquainted. It appears to have been their custom +to personify both virtue and vice by statues and images, as is done +now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but it does not follow from +this that they worshipped them any more than we do.--I pass on to the +book of, + +Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation. Some of +them are moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater part +relates to certain local circumstances of the Jewish nation at the time +they were written, with which we have nothing to do. It is, however, +an error or an imposition to call them the Psalms of David; they are a +collection, as song-books are now-a-days, from different song-writers, +who lived at different times. The 137th Psalm could not have been +written till more than 400 years after the time of David, because it +is written in commemoration of an event, the captivity of the Jews in +Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time. "By the rivers +of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged +our harps upon the willows, in the midst thereof; for there they that +carried us away captive required of us a song, saying, sing us one +of the songs of Zion." As a man would say to an American, or to a +Frenchman, or to an Englishman, sing us one of your American songs, or +your French songs, or your English songs. This remark, with respect to +the time this psalm was written, is of no other use than to show (among +others already mentioned) the general imposition the world has been +under with respect to the authors of the Bible. No regard has been paid +to time, place, and circumstance; and the names of persons have been +affixed to the several books which it was as impossible they should +write, as that a man should walk in procession at his own funeral. + +The Book of Proverbs. These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and that +from authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish nation, +as I have shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; besides which, +some of the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not appear till two hundred +and fifty years after the death of Solomon; for it is said in xxv. i, +"These are also proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of +Judah, copied out." It was two hundred and fifty years from the time of +Solomon to the time of Hezekiah. When a man is famous and his name is +abroad he is made the putative father of things he never said or did; +and this, most probably, has been the case with Solomon. It appears to +have been the fashion of that day to make proverbs, as it is now to +make jest-books, and father them upon those who never saw them. [A "Tom +Paine's Jest Book" had appeared in London with little or nothing of +Paine in it.--Editor.] + +The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to Solomon, +and that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written as the +solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon was, who +looking back on scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All is Vanity! +A great deal of the metaphor and of the sentiment is obscure, most +probably by translation; but enough is left to show they were strongly +pointed in the original. [Those that look out of the window shall +be darkened, is an obscure figure in translation for loss of +sight.--Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the character of +Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at last melancholy. +He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the age of fifty-eight +years. + +Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than +none; and, however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened +enjoyment, it defeats all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no +point to fix upon; divided love is never happy. This was the case +with Solomon; and if he could not, with all his pretensions to wisdom, +discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the mortification he +afterwards endured. In this point of view, his preaching is unnecessary, +because, to know the consequences, it is only necessary to know the +cause. Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines would have +stood in place of the whole book. It was needless after this to say that +all was vanity and vexation of spirit; for it is impossible to derive +happiness from the company of those whom we deprive of happiness. + +To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to +objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that +we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is +miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but little +better: whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical +science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of +the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the study of those +things is the study of the true theology; it teaches man to know and to +admire the Creator, for the principles of science are in the creation, +and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. + +Those who knew Benjamin Franklin will recollect, that his mind was +ever young; his temper ever serene; science, that never grows grey, was +always his mistress. He was never without an object; for when we cease +to have an object we become like an invalid in an hospital waiting for +death. + +Solomon's Songs, amorous and foolish enough, but which wrinkled +fanaticism has called divine.--The compilers of the Bible have placed +these songs after the book of Ecclesiastes; and the chronologists have +affixed to them the aera of B.C. 1014, at which time Solomon, according +to the same chronology, was nineteen years of age, and was then +forming his seraglio of wives and concubines. The Bible-makers and +the chronologists should have managed this matter a little better, +and either have said nothing about the time, or chosen a time less +inconsistent with the supposed divinity of those songs; for Solomon was +then in the honey-moon of one thousand debaucheries. + +It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did +write, the book of Ecclesiastes, long after these songs, and in which +he exclaims that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, that he included +those songs in that description. This is the more probable, because he +says, or somebody for him, Ecclesiastes ii. 8, I got me men-singers, +and women-singers [most probably to sing those songs], and musical +instruments of all sorts; and behold (Ver. ii), "all was vanity and +vexation of spirit." The compilers however have done their work but by +halves; for as they have given us the songs they should have given us +the tunes, that we might sing them. + +The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the remaining +part of the Bible; they are sixteen in number, beginning with Isaiah and +ending with Malachi, of which I have given a list in the observations +upon Chronicles. Of these sixteen prophets, all of whom except the +last three lived within the time the books of Kings and Chronicles were +written, two only, Isaiah and Jeremiah, are mentioned in the history of +those books. I shall begin with those two, reserving, what I have to say +on the general character of the men called prophets to another part of +the work. + +Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed to Isaiah, +will find it one of the most wild and disorderly compositions ever put +together; it has neither beginning, middle, nor end; and, except a short +historical part, and a few sketches of history in the first two or +three chapters, is one continued incoherent, bombastical rant, full of +extravagant metaphor, without application, and destitute of meaning; a +school-boy would scarcely have been excusable for writing such stuff; +it is (at least in translation) that kind of composition and false taste +that is properly called prose run mad. + +The historical part begins at chapter xxxvi., and is continued to the +end of chapter xxxix. It relates some matters that are said to have +passed during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, at which time Isaiah +lived. This fragment of history begins and ends abruptly; it has not the +least connection with the chapter that precedes it, nor with that which +follows it, nor with any other in the book. It is probable that +Isaiah wrote this fragment himself, because he was an actor in the +circumstances it treats of; but except this part there are scarcely two +chapters that have any connection with each other. One is entitled, at +the beginning of the first verse, the burden of Babylon; another, the +burden of Moab; another, the burden of Damascus; another, the burden of +Egypt; another, the burden of the Desert of the Sea; another, the burden +of the Valley of Vision: as you would say the story of the Knight of the +Burning Mountain, the story of Cinderella, or the glassen slipper, the +story of the Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, etc., etc. + + +I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 +Chronicles, and the first three in Ezra, that the compilers of the Bible +mixed and confounded the writings of different authors with each other; +which alone, were there no other cause, is sufficient to destroy the +authenticity of an compilation, because it is more than presumptive +evidence that the compilers are ignorant who the authors were. A very +glaring instance of this occurs in the book ascribed to Isaiah: the +latter part of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th, so far +from having been written by Isaiah, could only have been written by some +person who lived at least an hundred and fifty years after Isaiah was +dead. + +These chapters are a compliment to Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to +return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild Jerusalem +and the temple, as is stated in Ezra. The last verse of the 44th +chapter, and the beginning of the 45th [Isaiah] are in the following +words: "That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all +my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built; and to +the temple thy foundations shall be laid: thus saith the Lord to his +enointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations +before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the +two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before +thee," etc. + +What audacity of church and priestly ignorance it is to impose this book +upon the world as the writing of Isaiah, when Isaiah, according to their +own chronology, died soon after the death of Hezekiah, which was +B.C. 698; and the decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews returning to +Jerusalem, was, according to the same chronology, B.C. 536; which is a +distance of time between the two of 162 years. I do not suppose that the +compilers of the Bible made these books, but rather that they picked up +some loose, anonymous essays, and put them together under the names +of such authors as best suited their purpose. They have encouraged the +imposition, which is next to inventing it; for it was impossible but +they must have observed it. + +When we see the studied craft of the scripture-makers, in making +every part of this romantic book of school-boy's eloquence bend to the +monstrous idea of a Son of God, begotten by a ghost on the body of a +virgin, there is no imposition we are not justified in suspecting them +of. Every phrase and circumstance are marked with the barbarous hand of +superstitious torture, and forced into meanings it was impossible they +could have. The head of every chapter, and the top of every page, are +blazoned with the names of Christ and the Church, that the unwary reader +might suck in the error before he began to read. + +Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. vii. I4), has been +interpreted to mean the person called Jesus Christ, and his mother Mary, +and has been echoed through christendom for more than a thousand years; +and such has been the rage of this opinion, that scarcely a spot in +it but has been stained with blood and marked with desolation in +consequence of it. Though it is not my intention to enter into +controversy on subjects of this kind, but to confine myself to show +that the Bible is spurious,--and thus, by taking away the foundation, to +overthrow at once the whole structure of superstition raised thereon,--I +will however stop a moment to expose the fallacious application of this +passage. + +Whether Isaiah was playing a trick with Ahaz, king of Judah, to whom +this passage is spoken, is no business of mine; I mean only to show +the misapplication of the passage, and that it has no more reference +to Christ and his mother, than it has to me and my mother. The story is +simply this: + +The king of Syria and the king of Israel (I have already mentioned that +the Jews were split into two nations, one of which was called Judah, the +capital of which was Jerusalem, and the other Israel) made war jointly +against Ahaz, king of Judah, and marched their armies towards Jerusalem. +Ahaz and his people became alarmed, and the account says (Is. vii. 2), +Their hearts were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the +wind. + +In this situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and +assures him in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the +prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him; and to +satisfy Ahaz that this should be the case, tells him to ask a sign. +This, the account says, Ahaz declined doing; giving as a reason that he +would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who is the speaker, says, +ver. 14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a +virgin shall conceive and bear a son;" and the 16th verse says, "And +before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, +the land which thou abhorrest or dreadest [meaning Syria and the kingdom +of Israel] shall be forsaken of both her kings." Here then was the sign, +and the time limited for the completion of the assurance or promise; +namely, before this child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the +good. + +Isaiah having committed himself thus far, it became necessary to him, +in order to avoid the imputation of being a false prophet, and the +consequences thereof, to take measures to make this sign appear. It +certainly was not a difficult thing, in any time of the world, to find +a girl with child, or to make her so; and perhaps Isaiah knew of one +beforehand; for I do not suppose that the prophets of that day were any +more to be trusted than the priests of this: be that, however, as it +may, he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, "And I took unto me faithful +witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of +Jeberechiah, and I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bare +a son." + +Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and this +virgin; and it is upon the barefaced perversion of this story that the +book of Matthew, and the impudence and sordid interest of priests in +later times, have founded a theory, which they call the gospel; and +have applied this story to signify the person they call Jesus Christ; +begotten, they say, by a ghost, whom they call holy, on the body of +a woman engaged in marriage, and afterwards married, whom they call a +virgin, seven hundred years after this foolish story was told; a theory +which, speaking for myself, I hesitate not to believe, and to say, is as +fabulous and as false as God is true. [In Is. vii. 14, it is said that +the child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given to +either of the children, otherwise than as a character, which the word +signifies. That of the prophetess was called Maher-shalalhash-baz, and +that of Mary was called Jesus.--Author.] + +But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah we have only to +attend to the sequel of this story; which, though it is passed over in +silence in the book of Isaiah, is related in 2 Chronicles, xxviii; +and which is, that instead of these two kings failing in their attempt +against Ahaz, king of Judah, as Isaiah had pretended to foretel in the +name of the Lord, they succeeded: Ahaz was defeated and destroyed; an +hundred and twenty thousand of his people were slaughtered; Jerusalem +was plundered, and two hundred thousand women and sons and daughters +carried into captivity. Thus much for this lying prophet and imposter +Isaiah, and the book of falsehoods that bears his name. I pass on to the +book of Jeremiah. This prophet, as he is called, lived in the time that +Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, the last +king of Judah; and the suspicion was strong against him that he was +a traitor in the interest of Nebuchadnezzar. Every thing relating to +Jeremiah shows him to have been a man of an equivocal character: in +his metaphor of the potter and the clay, (ch. xviii.) he guards his +prognostications in such a crafty manner as always to leave himself a +door to escape by, in case the event should be contrary to what he had +predicted. In the 7th and 8th verses he makes the Almighty to say, +"At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a +kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and destroy it, if that nation, +against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent me +of the evil that I thought to do unto them." Here was a proviso against +one side of the case: now for the other side. Verses 9 and 10, "At what +instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to +build and to plant it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not +my voice, then I will repent me of the good wherewith I said I would +benefit them." Here is a proviso against the other side; and, according +to this plan of prophesying, a prophet could never be wrong, however +mistaken the Almighty might be. This sort of absurd subterfuge, and +this manner of speaking of the Almighty, as one would speak of a man, is +consistent with nothing but the stupidity of the Bible. + +As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it in +order to decide positively that, though some passages recorded therein +may have been spoken by Jeremiah, he is not the author of the book. The +historical parts, if they can be called by that name, are in the most +confused condition; the same events are several times repeated, and that +in a manner different, and sometimes in contradiction to each other; +and this disorder runs even to the last chapter, where the history, upon +which the greater part of the book has been employed, begins anew, and +ends abruptly. The book has all the appearance of being a medley of +unconnected anecdotes respecting persons and things of that time, +collected together in the same rude manner as if the various and +contradictory accounts that are to be found in a bundle of newspapers, +respecting persons and things of the present day, were put together +without date, order, or explanation. I will give two or three examples +of this kind. + +It appears, from the account of chapter xxxvii. that the army of +Nebuchadnezzer, which is called the army of the Chaldeans, had besieged +Jerusalem some time; and on their hearing that the army of Pharaoh of +Egypt was marching against them, they raised the siege and retreated for +a time. It may here be proper to mention, in order to understand this +confused history, that Nebuchadnezzar had besieged and taken Jerusalem +during the reign of Jehoakim, the redecessor of Zedekiah; and that it +was Nebuchadnezzar who had make Zedekiah king, or rather viceroy; and +that this second siege, of which the book of Jeremiah treats, was in +consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against Nebuchadnezzar. This +will in some measure account for the suspicion that affixes +itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the interest of +Nebuchadnezzar,--whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the servant of God. + +Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, "And it came to pass, that, when the army +of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of Pharaoh's +army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as this account +states) into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the +midst of the people; and when he was in the gate of Benjamin a captain +of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah... and he took Jeremiah the +prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans; then Jeremiah said, +It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans." Jeremiah being thus +stopt and accused, was, after being examined, committed to prison, on +suspicion of being a traitor, where he remained, as is stated in the +last verse of this chapter. + +But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of Jeremiah, +which has no connection with this account, but ascribes his imprisonment +to another circumstance, and for which we must go back to chapter +xxi. It is there stated, ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur the son of +Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah, +to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whose army was then before +Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, "Thus saith the Lord, +Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of death; he that +abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the famine, and by +the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that +besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey." + +This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the 10th +verse of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book that we +have to pass over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in order to +come at the continuation and event of this conference; and this brings +us to the first verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just mentioned. The +chapter opens with saying, "Then Shaphatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah +the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of +Malchiah, (here are more persons mentioned than in chapter xxi.) heard +the words that Jeremiah spoke unto all the people, saying, Thus saith +the Lord, He that remaineth in this city, shall die by the sword, by +famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans +shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live"; +[which are the words of the conference;] therefore, (say they to +Zedekiah,) "We beseech thee, let this man be put to death, for thus he +weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the +hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man +seeketh not the welfare of the people, but the hurt:" and at the 6th +verse it is said, "Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into the dungeon +of Malchiah." + +These two accounts are different and contradictory. The one ascribes his +imprisonment to his attempt to escape out of the city; the other to his +preaching and prophesying in the city; the one to his being seized by +the guard at the gate; the other to his being accused before Zedekiah +by the conferees. [I observed two chapters in I Samuel (xvi. and xvii.) +that contradict each other with respect to David, and the manner he +became acquainted with Saul; as Jeremiah xxxvii. and xxxviii. contradict +each other with respect to the cause of Jeremiah's imprisonment. + +In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled Saul, +and that his servants advised him (as a remedy) "to seek out a man who +was a cunning player upon the harp." And Saul said, ver. 17, "Provide me +now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one +of his servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the +Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty man, and a man of +war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with +him; wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David, +thy son. And (verse 21) David came to Saul, and stood before him, and +he loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer; and when the +evil spirit from God was upon Saul, (verse 23) David took his harp, and +played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was well." + +But the next chapter (xvii.) gives an account, all different to this, of +the manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is ascribed +to David's encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his father to +carry provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th verse of +this chapter it is said, "And when Saul saw David go forth against the +Philistine (Goliah) he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, +whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, 0 king, I +cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. +And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took +him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his +hand; and Saul said unto him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And +David answered, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse, the Betblehemite," +These two accounts belie each other, because each of them supposes Saul +and David not to have known each other before. This book, the Bible, is +too ridiculous for criticism.--Author.] + +In the next chapter (Jer. xxxix.) we have another instance of the +disordered state of this book; for notwithstanding the siege of the +city by Nebuchadnezzar has been the subject of several of the preceding +chapters, particularly xxxvii. and xxxviii., chapter xxxix. begins as +if not a word had been said upon the subject, and as if the reader was +still to be informed of every particular respecting it; for it begins +with saying, ver. 1, "In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in +the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, +against Jerusalem, and besieged it," etc. + +But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; for +though the story has been told over and over again, this chapter still +supposes the reader not to know anything of it, for it begins by saying, +ver. i, "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, +and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was +Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah." (Ver. 4,) "And it came +to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, that +Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against +Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it," etc. + +It is not possible that any one man, and more particularly Jeremiah, +could have been the writer of this book. The errors are such as could +not have been committed by any person sitting down to compose a work. +Were I, or any other man, to write in such a disordered manner, no +body would read what was written, and every body would suppose that the +writer was in a state of insanity. The only way, therefore, to +account for the disorder is, that the book is a medley of detached +unauthenticated anecdotes, put together by some stupid book-maker, under +the name of Jeremiah; because many of them refer to him, and to the +circumstances of the times he lived in. + +Of the duplicity, and of the false predictions of Jeremiah, I shall +mention two instances, and then proceed to review the remainder of the +Bible. + +It appears from chapter xxxviii. that when Jeremiah was in prison, +Zedekiah sent for him, and at this interview, which was private, +Jeremiah pressed it strongly on Zedekiah to surrender himself to the +enemy. "If," says he, (ver. 17,) "thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the +king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live," etc. Zedekiah was +apprehensive that what passed at this conference should be known; and +he said to Jeremiah, (ver. 25,) "If the princes [meaning those of Judah] +hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto +thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king; hide it not +from us, and we will not put thee to death; and also what the king said +unto thee; then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication +before the king that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's +house, to die there. Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and +asked him, and "he told them according to all the words the king had +commanded." Thus, this man of God, as he is called, could tell a lie, or +very strongly prevaricate, when he supposed it would answer his purpose; +for certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to make this supplication, +neither did he make it; he went because he was sent for, and he +employed that opportunity to advise Zedekiah to surrender himself to +Nebuchadnezzar. + +In chapter xxxiv. 2-5, is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah in these +words: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the hand +of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire; and thou +shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and +delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the +king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou +shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of the Lord; O Zedekiah, king, +of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, but thou +shalt die in Peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former +kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee, and +they will lament thee, saying, Ah, Lord! for I have pronounced the word, +saith the Lord." + +Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, +and speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with the +burning of odours, as at the funeral of his fathers, (as Jeremiah had +declared the Lord himself had pronounced,) the reverse, according to +chapter Iii., 10, 11 was the case; it is there said, that the king of +Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: then he put out the +eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, +and put him in prison till the day of his death. + +What then can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors and +liars? + +As for Jeremiah, he experienced none of those evils. He was taken into +favour by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him in charge to the captain of the +guard (xxxix, 12), "Take him (said he) and look well to him, and do +him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." Jeremiah +joined himself afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, and went about prophesying +for him against the Egyptians, who had marched to the relief of +Jerusalem while it was besieged. Thus much for another of the lying +prophets, and the book that bears his name. + +I have been the more particular in treating of the books ascribed to +Isaiah and Jeremiah, because those two are spoken of in the books of +Kings and Chronicles, which the others are not. The remainder of the +books ascribed to the men called prophets I shall not trouble myself +much about; but take them collectively into the observations I shall +offer on the character of the men styled prophets. + +In the former part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have said that the word +prophet was the Bible-word for poet, and that the flights and metaphors +of Jewish poets have been foolishly erected into what are now called +prophecies. I am sufficiently justified in this opinion, not only +because the books called the prophecies are written in poetical +language, but because there is no word in the Bible, except it be the +word prophet, that describes what we mean by a poet. I have also said, +that the word signified a performer upon musical instruments, of which +I have given some instances; such as that of a company of prophets, +prophesying with psalteries, with tabrets, with pipes, with harps, etc., +and that Saul prophesied with them, 1 Sam. x., 5. It appears from this +passage, and from other parts in the book of Samuel, that the word +prophet was confined to signify poetry and music; for the person who was +supposed to have a visionary insight into concealed things, was not a +prophet but a seer, [I know not what is the Hebrew word that corresponds +to the word seer in English; but I observe it is translated into French +by Le Voyant, from the verb voir to see, and which means the person who +sees, or the seer.--Author.] + +[The Hebrew word for Seer, in 1 Samuel ix., transliterated, is +chozeh, the gazer, it is translated in Is. xlvii. 13, "the +stargazers."--Editor.] (i Sam, ix. 9;) and it was not till after the +word seer went out of use (which most probably was when Saul banished +those he called wizards) that the profession of the seer, or the art of +seeing, became incorporated into the word prophet. + +According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophesying, it +signifies foretelling events to a great distance of time; and it became +necessary to the inventors of the gospel to give it this latitude of +meaning, in order to apply or to stretch what they call the prophecies +of the Old Testament, to the times of the New. But according to the Old +Testament, the prophesying of the seer, and afterwards of the prophet, +so far as the meaning of the word "seer" was incorporated into that of +prophet, had reference only to things of the time then passing, or very +closely connected with it; such as the event of a battle they were going +to engage in, or of a journey, or of any enterprise they were going to +undertake, or of any circumstance then pending, or of any difficulty +they were then in; all of which had immediate reference to themselves +(as in the case already mentioned of Ahaz and Isaiah with respect to the +expression, Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,) and not +to any distant future time. It was that kind of prophesying that +corresponds to what we call fortune-telling; such as casting nativities, +predicting riches, fortunate or unfortunate marriages, conjuring for +lost goods, etc.; and it is the fraud of the Christian church, not that +of the Jews, and the ignorance and the superstition of modern, not that +of ancient times, that elevated those poetical, musical, conjuring, +dreaming, strolling gentry, into the rank they have since had. + +But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had also +a particular character. They were in parties, and they prophesied for +or against, according to the party they were with; as the poetical and +political writers of the present day write in defence of the party they +associate with against the other. + +After the Jews were divided into two nations, that of Judah and that of +Israel, each party had its prophets, who abused and accused each other +of being false prophets, lying prophets, impostors, etc. + +The prophets of the party of Judah prophesied against the prophets of +the party of Israel; and those of the party of Israel against those +of Judah. This party prophesying showed itself immediately on the +separation under the first two rival kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. The +prophet that cursed, or prophesied against the altar that Jeroboam had +built in Bethel, was of the party of Judah, where Rehoboam was king; and +he was way-laid on his return home by a prophet of the party of Israel, +who said unto him (i Kings xiii.) "Art thou the man of God that came +from Judah? and he said, I am." Then the prophet of the party of Israel +said to him "I am a prophet also, as thou art, [signifying of Judah,] +and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him +back with thee unto thine house, that he may eat bread and drink +water; but (says the 18th verse) he lied unto him." The event, however, +according to the story, is, that the prophet of Judah never got back +to Judah; for he was found dead on the road by the contrivance of the +prophet of Israel, who no doubt was called a true prophet by his own +party, and the prophet of Judah a lying prophet. + +In 2 Kings, iii., a story is related of prophesying or conjuring that +shews, in several particulars, the character of a prophet. Jehoshaphat +king of Judah, and Joram king of Israel, had for a while ceased their +party animosity, and entered into an alliance; and these two, together +with the king of Edom, engaged in a war against the king of Moab. After +uniting and marching their armies, the story says, they were in great +distress for water, upon which Jehoshaphat said, "Is there not here a +prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire of the Lord by him? and one of +the servants of the king of Israel said here is Elisha. [Elisha was of +the party of Judah.] And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said, The word of +the Lord is with him." The story then says, that these three kings went +down to Elisha; and when Elisha [who, as I have said, was a Judahmite +prophet] saw the King of Israel, he said unto him, "What have I to do +with thee, get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of +thy mother. Nay but, said the king of Israel, the Lord hath called these +three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of the king of +Moab," (meaning because of the distress they were in for water;) upon +which Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts liveth before whom I stand, +surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, king +of Judah, I would not look towards thee nor see thee." Here is all +the venom and vulgarity of a party prophet. We are now to see the +performance, or manner of prophesying. + +Ver. 15. "'Bring me,' (said Elisha), 'a minstrel'; and it came to pass, +when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him." Here +is the farce of the conjurer. Now for the prophecy: "And Elisha said, +[singing most probably to the tune he was playing], Thus saith the Lord, +Make this valley full of ditches;" which was just telling them what +every countryman could have told them without either fiddle or farce, +that the way to get water was to dig for it. + +But as every conjuror is not famous alike for the same thing, so neither +were those prophets; for though all of them, at least those I have +spoken of, were famous for lying, some of them excelled in cursing. +Elisha, whom I have just mentioned, was a chief in this branch of +prophesying; it was he that cursed the forty-two children in the name +of the Lord, whom the two she-bears came and devoured. We are to suppose +that those children were of the party of Israel; but as those who will +curse will lie, there is just as much credit to be given to this story +of Elisha's two she-bears as there is to that of the Dragon of Wantley, +of whom it is said: + + Poor children three devoured be, + That could not with him grapple; + And at one sup he eat them up, + As a man would eat an apple. + +There was another description of men called prophets, that amused +themselves with dreams and visions; but whether by night or by day +we know not. These, if they were not quite harmless, were but little +mischievous. Of this class are, + +EZEKIEL and DANIEL; and the first question upon these books, as upon all +the others, is, Are they genuine? that is, were they written by Ezekiel +and Daniel? + +Of this there is no proof; but so far as my own opinion goes, I am more +inclined to believe they were, than that they were not. My reasons for +this opinion are as follows: First, Because those books do not contain +internal evidence to prove they were not written by Ezekiel and Daniel, +as the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc., prove they were +not written by Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc. + +Secondly, Because they were not written till after the Babylonish +captivity began; and there is good reason to believe that not any book +in the bible was written before that period; at least it is proveable, +from the books themselves, as I have already shown, that they were not +written till after the commencement of the Jewish monarchy. + +Thirdly, Because the manner in which the books ascribed to Ezekiel and +Daniel are written, agrees with the condition these men were in at the +time of writing them. + +Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly employed +or wasted their time in pretending to expound and unriddle those books, +been carred into captivity, as Ezekiel and Daniel were, it would greatly +have improved their intellects in comprehending the reason for this mode +of writing, and have saved them the trouble of racking their invention, +as they have done to no purpose; for they would have found that +themselves would be obliged to write whatever they had to write, +respecting their own affairs, or those of their friends, or of their +country, in a concealed manner, as those men have done. + +These two books differ from all the rest; for it is only these that are +filled with accounts of dreams and visions: and this difference arose +from the situation the writers were in as prisoners of war, or prisoners +of state, in a foreign country, which obliged them to convey even +the most trifling information to each other, and all their political +projects or opinions, in obscure and metaphorical terms. They pretend to +have dreamed dreams, and seen visions, because it was unsafe for them to +speak facts or plain language. We ought, however, to suppose, that the +persons to whom they wrote understood what they meant, and that it +was not intended anybody else should. But these busy commentators +and priests have been puzzling their wits to find out what it was not +intended they should know, and with which they have nothing to do. + +Ezekiel and Daniel were carried prisoners to Babylon, under the first +captivity, in the time of Jehoiakim, nine years before the second +captivity in the time of Zedekiah. The Jews were then still numerous, +and had considerable force at Jerusalem; and as it is natural to suppose +that men in the situation of Ezekiel and Daniel would be meditating the +recovery of their country, and their own deliverance, it is reasonable +to suppose that the accounts of dreams and visions with which these +books are filled, are no other than a disguised mode of correspondence +to facilitate those objects: it served them as a cypher, or secret +alphabet. If they are not this, they are tales, reveries, and nonsense; +or at least a fanciful way of wearing off the wearisomeness of +captivity; but the presumption is, they are the former. + +Ezekiel begins his book by speaking of a vision of cherubims, and of a +wheel within a wheel, which he says he saw by the river Chebar, in +the land of his captivity. Is it not reasonable to suppose that by the +cherubims he meant the temple at Jerusalem, where they had figures of +cherubims? and by a wheel within a wheel (which as a figure has always +been understood to signify political contrivance) the project or means +of recovering Jerusalem? In the latter part of his book he supposes +himself transported to Jerusalem, and into the temple; and he refers +back to the vision on the river Chebar, and says, (xliii- 3,) that this +last vision was like the vision on the river Chebar; which indicates +that those pretended dreams and visions had for their object the +recovery of Jerusalem, and nothing further. + +As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the dreams +and visions they undertake to explain, which commentators and priests +have made of those books, that of converting them into things which they +call prophecies, and making them bend to times and circumstances as far +remote even as the present day, it shows the fraud or the extreme folly +to which credulity or priestcraft can go. + +Scarcely anything can be more absurd than to suppose that men situated +as Ezekiel and Daniel were, whose country was over-run, and in the +possession of the enemy, all their friends and relations in captivity +abroad, or in slavery at home, or massacred, or in continual danger of +it; scarcely any thing, I say, can be more absurd than to suppose that +such men should find nothing to do but that of employing their time and +their thoughts about what was to happen to other nations a thousand or +two thousand years after they were dead; at the same time nothing more +natural than that they should meditate the recovery of Jerusalem, and +their own deliverance; and that this was the sole object of all the +obscure and apparently frantic writing contained in those books. + +In this sense the mode of writing used in those two books being forced +by necessity, and not adopted by choice, is not irrational; but, if we +are to use the books as prophecies, they are false. In Ezekiel xxix. +11., speaking of Egypt, it is said, "No foot of man shall pass through +it, nor foot of beast pass through it; neither shall it be inhabited for +forty years." This is what never came to pass, and consequently it is +false, as all the books I have already reviewed are.--I here close this +part of the subject. + +In the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of Jonah, and +of the story of him and the whale.--A fit story for ridicule, if it was +written to be believed; or of laughter, if it was intended to try what +credulity could swallow; for, if it could swallow Jonah and the whale it +could swallow anything. + +But, as is already shown in the observations on the book of Job and of +Proverbs, it is not always certain which of the books in the Bible are +originally Hebrew, or only translations from the books of the Gentiles +into Hebrew; and, as the book of Jonah, so far from treating of +the affairs of the Jews, says nothing upon that subject, but treats +altogether of the Gentiles, it is more probable that it is a book of +the Gentiles than of the Jews, [I have read in an ancient Persian poem +(Saadi, I believe, but have mislaid the reference) this phrase: "And now +the whale swallowed Jonah: the sun set."--Editor.] and that it has been +written as a fable to expose the nonsense, and satyrize the vicious and +malignant character, of a Bible-prophet, or a predicting priest. + +Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away from +his mission, and taking shelter aboard a vessel of the Gentiles, bound +from Joppa to Tarshish; as if he ignorantly supposed, by such a paltry +contrivance, he could hide himself where God could not find him. The +vessel is overtaken by a storm at sea; and the mariners, all of whom are +Gentiles, believing it to be a judgement on account of some one on board +who had committed a crime, agreed to cast lots to discover the offender; +and the lot fell upon Jonah. But before this they had cast all their +wares and merchandise over-board to lighten the vessel, while Jonah, +like a stupid fellow, was fast asleep in the hold. + +After the lot had designated Jonah to be the offender, they questioned +him to know who and what he was? and he told them he was an Hebrew; +and the story implies that he confessed himself to be guilty. But these +Gentiles, instead of sacrificing him at once without pity or mercy, as a +company of Bible-prophets or priests would have done by a Gentile in the +same case, and as it is related Samuel had done by Agag, and Moses by +the women and children, they endeavoured to save him, though at the risk +of their own lives: for the account says, "Nevertheless [that is, though +Jonah was a Jew and a foreigner, and the cause of all their misfortunes, +and the loss of their cargo] the men rowed hard to bring the boat +to land, but they could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous +against them." Still however they were unwilling to put the fate of the +lot into execution; and they cried, says the account, unto the Lord, +saying, "We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, +and lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done as it +pleased thee." Meaning thereby, that they did not presume to judge Jonah +guilty, since that he might be innocent; but that they considered the +lot that had fallen upon him as a decree of God, or as it pleased +God. The address of this prayer shows that the Gentiles worshipped one +Supreme Being, and that they were not idolaters as the Jews represented +them to be. But the storm still continuing, and the danger encreasing, +they put the fate of the lot into execution, and cast Jonah in the sea; +where, according to the story, a great fish swallowed him up whole and +alive! + +We have now to consider Jonah securely housed from the storm in the +fish's belly. Here we are told that he prayed; but the prayer is +a made-up prayer, taken from various parts of the Psalms, without +connection or consistency, and adapted to the distress, but not at all +to the condition that Jonah was in. It is such a prayer as a Gentile, +who might know something of the Psalms, could copy out for him. This +circumstance alone, were there no other, is sufficient to indicate that +the whole is a made-up story. The prayer, however, is supposed to have +answered the purpose, and the story goes on, (taking-off at the same +time the cant language of a Bible-prophet,) saying, "The Lord spake unto +the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land." + +Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets +out; and we have now to consider him as a preacher. The distress he is +represented to have suffered, the remembrance of his own disobedience as +the cause of it, and the miraculous escape he is supposed to have had, +were sufficient, one would conceive, to have impressed him with sympathy +and benevolence in the execution of his mission; but, instead of this, +he enters the city with denunciation and malediction in his mouth, +crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." + +We have now to consider this supposed missionary in the last act of his +mission; and here it is that the malevolent spirit of a Bible-prophet, +or of a predicting priest, appears in all that blackness of character +that men ascribe to the being they call the devil. + +Having published his predictions, he withdrew, says the story, to the +east side of the city.--But for what? not to contemplate in retirement +the mercy of his Creator to himself or to others, but to wait, with +malignant impatience, the destruction of Nineveh. It came to pass, +however, as the story relates, that the Ninevites reformed, and that +God, according to the Bible phrase, repented him of the evil he had said +he would do unto them, and did it not. This, saith the first verse of +the last chapter, displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry. +His obdurate heart would rather that all Nineveh should be destroyed, +and every soul, young and old, perish in its ruins, than that his +prediction should not be fulfilled. To expose the character of a prophet +still more, a gourd is made to grow up in the night, that promises him +an agreeable shelter from the heat of the sun, in the place to which he +is retired; and the next morning it dies. + +Here the rage of the prophet becomes excessive, and he is ready to +destroy himself. "It is better, said he, for me to die than to live." +This brings on a supposed expostulation between the Almighty and the +prophet; in which the former says, "Doest thou well to be angry for the +gourd? And Jonah said, I do well to be angry even unto death. Then +said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast +not laboured, neither madest it to grow, which came up in a night, and +perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, +in which are more than threescore thousand persons, that cannot discern +between their right hand and their left?" + +Here is both the winding up of the satire, and the moral of the fable. +As a satire, it strikes against the character of all the Bible-prophets, +and against all the indiscriminate judgements upon men, women and +children, with which this lying book, the bible, is crowded; such as +Noah's flood, the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the +extirpation of the Canaanites, even to suckling infants, and women with +child; because the same reflection 'that there are more than threescore +thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their +left,' meaning young children, applies to all their cases. It satirizes +also the supposed partiality of the Creator for one nation more than for +another. + +As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; for +as certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish it. The +pride of having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at last +he beholds with satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the +accomplishment or the failure of his predictions.--This book ends +with the same kind of strong and well-directed point against prophets, +prophecies and indiscriminate judgements, as the chapter that Benjamin +Franklin made for the Bible, about Abraham and the stranger, ends +against the intolerant spirit of religious persecutions--Thus much for +the book Jonah. [The story of Abraham and the Fire-worshipper, ascribed +to Franklin, is from Saadi. (See my "Sacred Anthology," p. 61.) Paine +has often been called a "mere scoffer," but he seems to have been among +the first to treat with dignity the book of Jonah, so especially liable +to the ridicule of superficial readers, and discern in it the highest +conception of Deity known to the Old Testament.--Editor.] + +Of the poetical parts of the Bible, that are called prophecies, I have +spoken in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' and already in this, +where I have said that the word for prophet is the Bible-word for Poet, +and that the flights and metaphors of those poets, many of which have +become obscure by the lapse of time and the change of circumstances, +have been ridiculously erected into things called prophecies, and +applied to purposes the writers never thought of. When a priest quotes +any of those passages, he unriddles it agreeably to his own views, and +imposes that explanation upon his congregation as the meaning of the +writer. The whore of Babylon has been the common whore of all the +priests, and each has accused the other of keeping the strumpet; so well +do they agree in their explanations. + +There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the lesser +prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are impostors, +it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little ones. Let +them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, and both be +forgotten together. + +I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood with +an axe on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the priests, +if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them in the +ground, but they will never make them grow.--I pass on to the books of +the New Testament. + + + +CHAPTER II - THE NEW TESTAMENT + +THE New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the +Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation. + +As it is nothing extraordinary that a woman should be with child before +she was married, and that the son she might bring forth should be +executed, even unjustly, I see no reason for not believing that such a +woman as Mary, and such a man as Joseph, and Jesus, existed; their mere +existence is a matter of indifference, about which there is no ground +either to believe or to disbelieve, and which comes under the common +head of, It may be so, and what then? The probability however is that +there were such persons, or at least such as resembled them in part +of the circumstances, because almost all romantic stories have been +suggested by some actual circumstance; as the adventures of Robinson +Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were suggested by the case of +Alexander Selkirk. + +It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons that +I trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in +the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, +against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is +blasphemously obscene. It gives an account of a young woman engaged +to be married, and while under this engagement, she is, to speak plain +language, debauched by a ghost, under the impious pretence, (Luke i. +35,) that "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the +Highest shall overshadow thee." Notwithstanding which, Joseph afterwards +marries her, cohabits with her as his wife, and in his turn rivals the +ghost. This is putting the story into intelligible language, and when +told in this manner, there is not a priest but must be ashamed to own +it. [Mary, the supposed virgin, mother of Jesus, had several other +children, sons and daughters. See Matt. xiii. 55, 56.--Author.] + +Obscenity in matters of faith, however wrapped up, is always a token of +fable and imposture; for it is necessary to our serious belief in God, +that we do not connect it with stories that run, as this does, into +ludicrous interpretations. This story is, upon the face of it, the same +kind of story as that of Jupiter and Leda, or Jupiter and Europa, or any +of the amorous adventures of Jupiter; and shews, as is already stated +in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' that the Christian faith is +built upon the heathen Mythology. + +As the historical parts of the New Testament, so far as concerns Jesus +Christ, are confined to a very short space of time, less than two +years, and all within the same country, and nearly to the same spot, the +discordance of time, place, and circumstance, which detects the fallacy +of the books of the Old Testament, and proves them to be impositions, +cannot be expected to be found here in the same abundance. The New +Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce of one act, in which +there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. There +are, however, some glaring contradictions, which, exclusive of the +fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are sufficient to show the story of +Jesus Christ to be false. + +I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted, first, that +the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story +to be true, because the parts may agree, and the whole may be false; +secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves the whole +cannot be true. The agreement does not prove truth, but the disagreement +proves falsehood positively. + +The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.--The first chapter of Matthew begins with +giving a genealogy of Jesus Christ; and in the third chapter of Luke +there is also given a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Did these two agree, it +would not prove the genealogy to be true, because it might nevertheless +be a fabrication; but as they contradict each other in every particular, +it proves falsehood absolutely. If Matthew speaks truth, Luke speaks +falsehood; and if Luke speaks truth, Matthew speaks falsehood: and as +there is no authority for believing one more than the other, there is no +authority for believing either; and if they cannot be believed even +in the very first thing they say, and set out to prove, they are not +entitled to be believed in any thing they say afterwards. Truth is an +uniform thing; and as to inspiration and revelation, were we to admit +it, it is impossible to suppose it can be contradictory. Either then the +men called apostles were imposters, or the books ascribed to them have +been written by other persons, and fathered upon them, as is the case in +the Old Testament. + +The book of Matthew gives (i. 6), a genealogy by name from David, up, +through Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Christ; and makes there to be +twent eight generations. The book of Luke gives also a genealogy by +name from Christ, through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to David, and +makes there to be forty-three generations; besides which, there is only +the two names of David and Joseph that are alike in the two lists.--I +here insert both genealogical lists, and for the sake of perspicuity and +comparison, have placed them both in the same direction, that is, from +Joseph down to David. + + Genealogy, according to Genealogy, according to + Matthew. Luke. + + Christ Christ + 2 Joseph 2 Joseph + 3 Jacob 3 Heli + 4 Matthan 4 Matthat + 5 Eleazer 5 Levi + 6 Eliud 6 Melchl + 7 Achim 7 Janna + 8 Sadoc 8 Joseph + 9 Azor 9 Mattathias + 10 Eliakim 10 Amos + 11 Abiud 11 Naum + 12 Zorobabel 12 Esli + 13 Salathiel 13 Nagge + 14 Jechonias 14 Maath + 15 Josias 15 Mattathias + 16 Amon 16 Semei + 17 Manasses 17 Joseph + 18 Ezekias 18 Juda + 19 Achaz 19 Joanna + 20 Joatham 20 Rhesa + 21 Ozias 21 Zorobabel + 22 Joram 22 Salathiel + 23 Josaphat 23 Neri + 24 Asa 24 Melchi + 25 Abia 25 Addi + 26 Roboam 26 Cosam + 27 Solomon 27 Elmodam + 28 David * 28 Er + 29 Jose + 30 Eliezer + 31 Jorim + 32 Matthat + 33 Levi + 34 Simeon + 35 Juda + 36 Joseph + 37 Jonan + 38 Eliakim + 39 Melea + 40 Menan + 41 Mattatha + 42 Nathan + 43 David + +[NOTE: * From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is upwards of +1080 years; and as the life-time of Christ is not included, there are +but 27 full generations. To find therefore the average age of each +person mentioned in the list, at the time his first son was born, it +is only necessary to divide 1080 by 27, which gives 40 years for each +person. As the life-time of man was then but of the same extent it is +now, it is an absurdity to suppose, that 27 following generations should +all be old bachelors, before they married; and the more so, when we are +told that Solomon, the next in succession to David, had a house full of +wives and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of age. So far from +this genealogy being a solemn truth, it is not even a reasonable lie. +The list of Luke gives about twenty-six years for the average age, and +this is too much.--Author.] + +Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between +them (as these two accounts show they do) in the very commencement of +their history of Jesus Christ, and of who, and of what he was, what +authority (as I have before asked) is there left for believing the +strange things they tell us afterwards? If they cannot be believed in +their account of his natural genealogy, how are we to believe them when +they tell us he was the son of God, begotten by a ghost; and that +an angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied in one +genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other? If his natural +genealogy be manufactured, which it certainly is, why are we not to +suppose that his celestial genealogy is manufactured also, and that the +whole is fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard his future +happiness upon the belief of a story naturally impossible, repugnant +to every idea of decency, and related by persons already detected of +falsehood? Is it not more safe that we stop ourselves at the plain, +pure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is deism, than that we +commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational, indecent, and +contradictory tales? + +The first question, however, upon the books of the New Testament, as +upon those of the Old, is, Are they genuine? were they written by the +persons to whom they are ascribed? For it is upon this ground only that +the strange things related therein have been credited. Upon this point, +there is no direct proof for or against; and all that this state of a +case proves is doubtfulness; and doubtfulness is the opposite of belief. +The state, therefore, that the books are in, proves against themselves +as far as this kind of proof can go. + +But, exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books called the +Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not +written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and that they are impositions. +The disordered state of the history in these four books, the silence of +one book upon matters related in the other, and the disagreement that +is to be found among them, implies that they are the productions of some +unconnected individuals, many years after the things they pretend to +relate, each of whom made his own legend; and not the writings of men +living intimately together, as the men called apostles are supposed to +have done: in fine, that they have been manufactured, as the books of +the Old Testament have been, by other persons than those whose names +they bear. + +The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the immaculate +conception, is not so much as mentioned in the books ascribed to Mark, +and John; and is differently related in Matthew and Luke. The former +says the angel, appeared to Joseph; the latter says, it was to Mary; +but either Joseph or Mary was the worst evidence that could have been +thought of; for it was others that should have testified for them, and +not they for themselves. Were any girl that is now with child to say, +and even to swear it, that she was gotten with child by a ghost, and +that an angel told her so, would she be believed? Certainly she would +not. Why then are we to believe the same thing of another girl whom we +never saw, told by nobody knows who, nor when, nor where? How strange +and inconsistent is it, that the same circumstance that would weaken +the belief even of a probable story, should be given as a motive for +believing this one, that has upon the face of it every token of absolute +impossibility and imposture. + +The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old, +belongs altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest mentions +anything about it. Had such a circumstance been true, the universality +of it must have made it known to all the writers, and the thing would +have been too striking to have been omitted by any. This writer tell us, +that Jesus escaped this slaughter, because Joseph and Mary were warned +by an angel to flee with him into Egypt; but he forgot to make provision +for John [the Baptist], who was then under two years of age. John, +however, who staid behind, fared as well as Jesus, who fled; and +therefore the story circumstantially belies itself. + +Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same +words, the written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us was +put over Christ when he was crucified; and besides this, Mark says, He +was crucified at the third hour, (nine in the morning;) and John says it +was the sixth hour, (twelve at noon.) [According to John, (xix. 14) +the sentence was not passed till about the sixth hour (noon,) and +consequently the execution could not be till the afternoon; but Mark +(xv. 25) Says expressly that he was crucified at the third hour, (nine +in the morning,)--Author.] + +The inscription is thus stated in those books: + +Matthew--This is Jesus the king of the Jews. Mark--The king of the Jews. +Luke--This is the king of the Jews. John--Jesus of Nazareth the king of +the Jews. + +We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that those +writers, whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, were +not present at the scene. The only one of the men called apostles who +appears to have been near to the spot was Peter, and when he was accused +of being one of Jesus's followers, it is said, (Matthew xxvi. 74,) "Then +Peter began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man:" yet +we are now called to believe the same Peter, convicted, by their own +account, of perjury. For what reason, or on what authority, should we do +this? + +The accounts that are given of the circumstances, that they tell us +attended the crucifixion, are differently related in those four books. + +The book ascribed to Matthew says 'there was darkness over all the land +from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour--that the veil of the temple +was rent in twain from the top to the bottom--that there was an +earthquake--that the rocks rent--that the graves opened, that the bodies +of many of the saints that slept arose and came out of their graves +after the resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto +many.' Such is the account which this dashing writer of the book of +Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the writers of the +other books. + +The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the circumstances +of the crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, nor of the rocks +rending, nor of the graves opening, nor of the dead men walking out. The +writer of the book of Luke is silent also upon the same points. And +as to the writer of the book of John, though he details all the +circumstances of the crucifixion down to the burial of Christ, he +says nothing about either the darkness--the veil of the temple--the +earthquake--the rocks--the graves--nor the dead men. + +Now if it had been true that these things had happened, and if the +writers of these books had lived at the time they did happen, and +had been the persons they are said to be--namely, the four men called +apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,--it was not possible for them, +as true historians, even without the aid of inspiration, not to have +recorded them. The things, supposing them to have been facts, were of +too much notoriety not to have been known, and of too much importance +not to have been told. All these supposed apostles must have been +witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any, for it was not +possible for them to have been absent from it: the opening of the graves +and resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about the city, is +of still greater importance than the earthquake. An earthquake is always +possible, and natural, and proves nothing; but this opening of the +graves is supernatural, and directly in point to their doctrine, their +cause, and their apostleship. Had it been true, it would have filled +up whole chapters of those books, and been the chosen theme and general +chorus of all the writers; but instead of this, little and trivial +things, and mere prattling conversation of 'he said this and she said +that' are often tediously detailed, while this most important of all, +had it been true, is passed off in a slovenly manner by a single dash +of the pen, and that by one writer only, and not so much as hinted at by +the rest. + +It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the +lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have told +us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into the city, +and what became of them afterwards, and who it was that saw them; for he +is not hardy enough to say that he saw them himself;--whether they came +out naked, and all in natural buff, he-saints and she-saints, or whether +they came full dressed, and where they got their dresses; whether they +went to their former habitations, and reclaimed their wives, their +husbands, and their property, and how they were received; whether they +entered ejectments for the recovery of their possessions, or brought +actions of crim. con. against the rival interlopers; whether they +remained on earth, and followed their former occupation of preaching or +working; or whether they died again, or went back to their graves alive, +and buried themselves. + +Strange indeed, that an army of saints should retum to life, and nobody +know who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not a word +more should be said upon the subject, nor these saints have any thing +to tell us! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) had formerly +prophesied of these things, they must have had a great deal to say. +They could have told us everything, and we should have had posthumous +prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the first, a little better +at least than we have now. Had it been Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua, and +Samuel, and David, not an unconverted Jew had remained in all Jerusalem. +Had it been John the Baptist, and the saints of the times then present, +everybody would have known them, and they would have out-preached and +out-famed all the other apostles. But, instead of this, these saints are +made to pop up, like Jonah's gourd in the night, for no purpose at all +but to wither in the morning.--Thus much for this part of the story. + +The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion; and in +this as well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so +much as to make it evident that none of them were there. + +The book of Matthew states, that when Christ was put in the sepulchre +the Jews applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over the +septilchre, to prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; and that +in consequence of this request the sepulchre was made sure, sealing the +stone that covered the mouth, and setting a watch. But the other books +say nothing about this application, nor about the sealing, nor the +guard, nor the watch; and according to their accounts, there were none. +Matthew, however, follows up this part of the story of the guard or the +watch with a second part, that I shall notice in the conclusion, as it +serves to detect the fallacy of those books. + +The book of Matthew continues its account, and says, (xxviii. 1,) that +at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the first day of +the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. +Mark says it was sun-rising, and John says it was dark. Luke says it +was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other +women, that came to the sepulchre; and John states that Mary Magdalene +came alone. So well do they agree about their first evidence! They all, +however, appear to have known most about Mary Magdalene; she was a woman +of large acquaintance, and it was not an ill conjecture that she might +be upon the stroll. [The Bishop of Llandaff, in his famous "Apology," +censured Paine severely for this insinuation against Mary Magdalene, but +the censure really falls on our English version, which, by a +chapter-heading (Luke vii.), has unwarrantably identified her as the +sinful woman who anointed Jesus, and irrevocably branded her.--Editor.] + +The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2): "And behold there was a +great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and +came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it" But +the other books say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the angel +rolling back the stone, and sitting upon it and, according to their +account, there was no angel sitting there. Mark says the angel [Mark +says "a young man," and Luke "two men."--Editor.] was within the +sepulchre, sitting on the right side. Luke says there were two, and they +were both standing up; and John says they were both sitting down, one at +the head and the other at the feet. + +Matthew says, that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the +outside of the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, and +that the women went away quickly. Mark says, that the women, upon seeing +the stone rolled away, and wondering at it, went into the sepulchre, and +that it was the angel that was sitting within on the right side, that +told them so. Luke says, it was the two angels that were Standing +up; and John says, it was Jesus Christ himself that told it to Mary +Magdalene; and that she did not go into the sepulchre, but only stooped +down and looked in. + +Now, if the writers of these four books had gone into a court of justice +to prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that is +here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by +supernatural means,) and had they given their evidence in the same +contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in danger +of having their ears cropt for perjury, and would have justly deserved +it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that have been +imposed upon the world as being given by divine inspiration, and as the +unchangeable word of God. + +The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates +a story that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which is +the same I have just before alluded to. "Now," says he, [that is, after +the conversation the women had had with the angel sitting upon the +stone,] "behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had said +had been placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and shawed unto +the chief priests all the things that were done; and when they were +assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money +unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, that his disciples came by night, and +stole him away while we slept; and if this come to the governor's ears, +we will persuade him, and secure you. So they took the money, and did as +they were taught; and this saying [that his disciples stole him away] is +commonly reported among the Jews until this day." + +The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed +to Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been manufactured +long after the times and things of which it pretends to treat; for +the expression implies a great length of intervening time. It would be +inconsistent in us to speak in this manner of any thing happening in our +own time. To give, therefore, intelligible meaning to the expression, +we must suppose a lapse of some generations at least, for this manner of +speaking carries the mind back to ancient time. + +The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the +writer of the book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and foolish +man. He tells a story that contradicts itself in point of possibility; +for though the guard, if there were any, might be made to say that the +body was taken away while they were asleep, and to give that as a +reason for their not having prevented it, that same sleep must also have +prevented their knowing how, and by whom, it was done; and yet they are +made to say that it was the disciples who did it. Were a man to tender +his evidence of something that he should say was done, and of the manner +of doing it, and of the person who did it, while he was asleep, and +could know nothing of the matter, such evidence could not be received: +it will do well enough for Testament evidence, but not for any thing +where truth is concerned. + +I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects +the pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. + +The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was +sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two +Marys (xxviii. 7), "Behold Christ is gone before you into Galilee, there +ye shall see him; lo, I have told you." And the same writer at the next +two verses (8, 9,) makes Christ himself to speak to the same purpose to +these women immediately after the angel had told it to them, and that +they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and it is said (ver. 16), +"Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where +Jesus had appointed them; and, when they saw him, they worshipped him." + +But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to +this; for he says (xx. 19) "Then the same day at evening, being the +first day of the week, [that is, the same day that Christ is said +to have risen,] when the doors were shut, where the disciples were +assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of +them." + +According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet Jesus +in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, according +to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not by +appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews. + +The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contradicts that of +Matthew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly, that the +meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he (Christ) +rose, and that the eleven were there. + +Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the +right of wilful lying, that the writers of these books could be any of +the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, +the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own +appointment, on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and +John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says +expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same day, +in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according to Luke +and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, Matthew +must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the meeting was in a +mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence given in those books +destroy each other. + +The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in +Galilee; but he says (xvi. 12) that Christ, after his resurrection, +appeared in another form to two of them, as they walked into the +country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not +believe them. [This belongs to the late addition to Mark, which +originally ended with xvi. 8.--Editor.] Luke also tells a story, in +which he keeps Christ employed the whole of the day of this pretended +resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the +account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He says, that two of them, +without saying which two, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, +three score furlongs (seven miles and a half) from Jerusalem, and +that Christ in disguise went with them, and stayed with them unto the +evening, and supped with them, and then vanished out of their sight, and +reappeared that same evening, at the meeting of the eleven in Jerusalem. + +This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this pretended +reappearance of Christ is stated: the only point in which the writers +agree, is the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for whether it +was in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in a shut-up house in +Jerusalem, it was still skulking. To what cause then are we to assign +this skulking? On the one hand, it is directly repugnant to the supposed +or pretended end, that of convincing the world that Christ was risen; +and, on the other hand, to have asserted the publicity of it would have +exposed the writers of those books to public detection; and, therefore, +they have been under the necessity of making it a private affair. + +As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at +once, it is Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say it +for themselves. It is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, and that +too of a man, who did not, according to the same account, believe a +word of the matter himself at the time it is said to have happened. +His evidence, supposing him to have been the writer of Corinthians xv., +where this account is given, is like that of a man who comes into a +court of justice to swear that what he had sworn before was false. A man +may often see reason, and he has too always the right of changing his +opinion; but this liberty does not extend to matters of fact. + +I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven.--Here +all fear of the Jews, and of every thing else, must necessarily have +been out of the question: it was that which, if true, was to seal the +whole; and upon which the reality of the future mission of the disciples +was to rest for proof. Words, whether declarations or promises, that +passed in private, either in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in +a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even supposing them to have been spoken, +could not be evidence in public; it was therefore necessary that this +last scene should preclude the possibility of denial and dispute; and +that it should be, as I have stated in the former part of 'The Age of +Reason,' as public and as visible as the sun at noon-day; at least it +ought to have been as public as the crucifixion is reported to have +been.--But to come to the point. + +In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a +syllable about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This +being the case, is it possible to suppose that those writers, who affect +to be even minute in other matters, would have been silent upon this, +had it been true? The writer of the book of Mark passes it off in a +careless, slovenly manner, with a single dash of the pen, as if he was +tired of romancing, or ashamed of the story. So also does the writer of +Luke. And even between these two, there is not an apparent agreement, +as to the place where this final parting is said to have been. [The last +nine verses of Mark being ungenuine, the story of the ascension +rests exclusively on the words in Luke xxiv. 51, "was carried up into +heaven,"--words omitted by several ancient authorities.--Editor.] + +The book of Mark says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat at +meat, alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem: he then states +the conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and immediately +after says (as a school-boy would finish a dull story,) "So then, after +the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and +sat on the right hand of God." But the writer of Luke says, that the +ascension was from Bethany; that he (Christ) led them out as far as +Bethany, and was parted from them there, and was carried up into heaven. +So also was Mahomet: and, as to Moses, the apostle Jude says, ver. 9. +That 'Michael and the devil disputed about his body.' While we believe +such fables as these, or either of them, we believe unworthily of the +Almighty. + +I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and when it is considered that the whole +space of time, from the crucifixion to what is called the ascension, is +but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, and that all the +circumstances are reported to have happened nearly about the same spot, +Jerusalem, it is, I believe, impossible to find in any story upon record +so many and such glaring absurdities, contradictions, and falsehoods, as +are in those books. They are more numerous and striking than I had any +expectation of finding, when I began this examination, and far more +so than I had any idea of when I wrote the former part of 'The Age of +Reason.' I had then neither Bible nor Testament to refer to, nor could I +procure any. My own situation, even as to existence, was becoming every +day more precarious; and as I was willing to leave something behind me +upon the subject, I was obliged to be quick and concise. The quotations +I then made were from memory only, but they are correct; and the +opinions I have advanced in that work are the effect of the most clear +and long-established conviction,--that the Bible and the Testament are +impositions upon the world;--that the fall of man, the account of Jesus +Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to appease the wrath +of God, and of salvation by that strange means, are all fabulous +inventions, dishonourable to the wisdom and power of the Almighty;--that +the only true religion is deism, by which I then meant and now mean +the belief of one God, and an imitation of his moral character, or the +practice of what are called moral virtues;--and that it was upon this +only (so far as religion is concerned) that I rested all my hopes of +happiness hereafter. So say I now--and so help me God. + +But to retum to the subject.--Though it is impossible, at this distance +of time, to ascertain as a fact who were the writers of those four books +(and this alone is sufficient to hold them in doubt, and where we doubt +we do not believe) it is not difficult to ascertain negatively that +they were not written by the persons to whom they are ascribed. The +contradictions in those books demonstrate two things: + +First, that the writers cannot have been eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses +of the matters they relate, or they would have related them without +those contradictions; and, consequently that the books have not been +written by the persons called apostles, who are supposed to have been +witnesses of this kind. + +Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in +concerted imposition, but each writer separately and individually for +himself, and without the knowledge of the other. + +The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to +prove both cases; that is, that the books were not written by the men +called apostles, and also that they are not a concerted imposition. As +to inspiration, it is altogether out of the question; we may as well +attempt to unite truth and falsehood, as inspiration and contradiction. + +If four men are eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses to a scene, they will +without any concert between them, agree as to time and place, when and +where that scene happened. Their individual knowledge of the thing, each +one knowing it for himself, renders concert totally unnecessary; the +one will not say it was in a mountain in the country, and the other at +a house in town; the one will not say it was at sunrise, and the other +that it was dark. For in whatever place it was and whatever time it was, +they know it equally alike. + +And on the other hand, if four men concert a story, they will make their +separate relations of that story agree and corroborate with each other +to support the whole. That concert supplies the want of fact in the one +case, as the knowledge of the fact supersedes, in the other case, the +necessity of a concert. The same contradictions, therefore, that +prove there has been no concert, prove also that the reporters had no +knowledge of the fact, (or rather of that which they relate as a fact,) +and detect also the falsehood of their reports. Those books, therefore, +have neither been written by the men called apostles, nor by imposters +in concert.--How then have they been written? + +I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that +which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case of +men setting up to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for prophesying +is lying professionally. In almost all other cases it is not difficult +to discover the progress by which even simple supposition, with the aid +of credulity, will in time grow into a lie, and at last be told as a +fact; and whenever we can find a charitable reason for a thing of this +kind, we ought not to indulge a severe one. + +The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of an +apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in vision, +and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of the +assassination of Julius Caesar not many years before, and they generally +have their origin in violent deaths, or in execution of innocent +persons. In cases of this kind, compassion lends its aid, and +benevolently stretches the story. It goes on a little and a little +farther, till it becomes a most certain truth. Once start a ghost, and +credulity fills up the history of its life, and assigns the cause of its +appearance; one tells it one way, another another way, till there are as +many stories about the ghost, and about the proprietor of the ghost, as +there are about Jesus Christ in these four books. + +The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange +mixture of the natural and impossible, that distinguishes legendary tale +from fact. He is represented as suddenly coming in and going out when +the doors are shut, and of vanishing out of sight, and appearing again, +as one would conceive of an unsubstantial vision; then again he is +hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his supper. But as those who tell +stories of this kind never provide for all the cases, so it is here: +they have told us, that when he arose he left his grave-clothes behind +him; but they have forgotten to provide other clothes for him to appear +in afterwards, or to tell us what he did with them when he ascended; +whether he stripped all off, or went up clothes and all. In the case of +Elijah, they have been careful enough to make him throw down his mantle; +how it happened not to be burnt in the chariot of fire, they also have +not told us; but as imagination supplies all deficiencies of this kind, +we may suppose if we please that it was made of salamander's wool. + +Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history, may +suppose that the book called the New Testament has existed ever since +the time of Jesus Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed +to Moses have existed ever since the time of Moses. But the fact is +historically otherwise; there was no such book as the New Testament till +more than three hundred years after the time that Christ is said to have +lived. + +At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, began +to appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not the least +shadow of evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, nor at what +time they were written; and they might as well have been called by the +names of any of the other supposed apostles as by the names they are now +called. The originals are not in the possession of any Christian +Church existing, any more than the two tables of stone written on, they +pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and given to Moses, +are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they were, there is no +possibility of proving the hand-writing in either case. At the time +those four books were written there was no printing, and consequently +there could be no publication otherwise than by written copies, which +any man might make or alter at pleasure, and call them originals. Can +we suppose it is consistent with the wisdom of the Almighty to commit +himself and his will to man upon such precarious means as these; or that +it is consistent we should pin our faith upon such uncertainties? We +cannot make nor alter, nor even imitate, so much as one blade of grass +that he has made, and yet we can make or alter words of God as easily +as words of man. [The former part of the 'Age of Reason' has not been +published two years, and there is already an expression in it that is +not mine. The expression is: The book of Luke was carried by a majority +of one voice only. It may be true, but it is not I that have said it. +Some person who might know of that circumstance, has added it in a note +at the bottom of the page of some of the editions, printed either in +England or in America; and the printers, after that, have erected it +into the body of the work, and made me the author of it. If this has +happened within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid of +printing, which prevents the alteration of copies individually, what may +not have happened in a much greater length of time, when there was no +printing, and when any man who could write could make a written copy and +call it an original by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?--Author.] + +[The spurious addition to Paine's work alluded to in his footnote drew on +him a severe criticism from Dr. Priestley ("Letters to a Philosophical +Unbeliever," p. 75), yet it seems to have been Priestley himself who, in +his quotation, first incorporated into Paine's text the footnote added +by the editor of the American edition (1794). The American added: +"Vide Moshiem's (sic) Ecc. History," which Priestley omits. In a modern +American edition I notice four verbal alterations introduced into the +above footnote.--Editor.] + +About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is +said to have lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of were +scattered in the hands of divers individuals; and as the church had +begun to form itself into an hierarchy, or church government, with +temporal powers, it set itself about collecting them into a code, as +we now see them, called 'The New Testament.' They decided by vote, as I +have before said in the former part of the Age of Reason, which of those +writings, out of the collection they had made, should be the word of +God, and which should not. The Robbins of the Jews had decided, by vote, +upon the books of the Bible before. + +As the object of the church, as is the case in all national +establishments of churches, was power and revenue, and terror the +means it used, it is consistent to suppose that the most miraculous and +wonderful of the writings they had collected stood the best chance of +being voted. And as to the authenticity of the books, the vote stands in +the place of it; for it can be traced no higher. + +Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves +Christians, not only as to points of doctrine, but as to the +authenticity of the books. In the contest between the person called St. +Augustine, and Fauste, about the year 400, the latter says, "The books +called the Evangelists have been composed long after the times of the +apostles, by some obscure men, who, fearing that the world would not +give credit to their relation of matters of which they could not be +informed, have published them under the names of the apostles; and +which are so full of sottishness and discordant relations, that there is +neither agreement nor connection between them." + +And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those +books, as being the word of God, he says, "It is thus that your +predecessors have inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things +which, though they carry his name, agree not with his doctrine." This is +not surprising, since that we have often proved that these things have +not been written by himself, nor by his apostles, but that for the +greatest part they are founded upon tales, upon vague reports, and put +together by I know not what half-Jews, with but little agreement between +them; and which they have nevertheless published under the name of the +apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed to them their own errors +and their lies. [I have taken these two extracts from Boulanger's Life +of Paul, written in French; Boulanger has quoted them from the writings +of Augustine against Fauste, to which he refers.--Author.] + +This Bishop Faustus is usually styled "The Manichaeum," Augustine having +entitled his book, Contra Frustum Manichaeum Libri xxxiii., in which +nearly the whole of Faustus' very able work is quoted.--Editor.] + +The reader will see by those extracts that the authenticity of the +books of the New Testament was denied, and the books treated as tales, +forgeries, and lies, at the time they were voted to be the word of God. +But the interest of the church, with the assistance of the faggot, bore +down the opposition, and at last suppressed all investigation. Miracles +followed upon miracles, if we will believe them, and men were taught to +say they believed whether they believed or not. But (by way of throwing +in a thought) the French Revolution has excommunicated the church +from the power of working miracles; she has not been able, with the +assistance of all her saints, to work one miracle since the revolution +began; and as she never stood in greater need than now, we may, without +the aid of divination, conclude that all her former miracles are +tricks and lies. [Boulanger in his life of Paul, has collected from the +ecclesiastical histories, and the writings of the fathers as they are +called, several matters which show the opinions that prevailed among the +different sects of Christians, at the time the Testament, as we now see +it, was voted to be the word of God. The following extracts are from the +second chapter of that work: + +[The Marcionists (a Christian sect) asserted that the evangelists were +filled with falsities. The Manichaeans, who formed a very numerous +sect at the commencement of Christianity, rejected as false all the New +Testament, and showed other writings quite different that they gave for +authentic. The Corinthians, like the Marcionists, admitted not the Acts +of the Apostles. The Encratites and the Sevenians adopted neither the +Acts, nor the Epistles of Paul. Chrysostom, in a homily which he made +upon the Acts of the Apostles, says that in his time, about the year +400, many people knew nothing either of the author or of the book. St. +Irene, who lived before that time, reports that the Valentinians, like +several other sects of the Christians, accused the scriptures of being +filled with imperfections, errors, and contradictions. The Ebionites, or +Nazarenes, who were the first Christians, rejected all the Epistles of +Paul, and regarded him as an impostor. They report, among other things, +that he was originally a Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, where he +lived some time; and that having a mind to marry the daughter of the +high priest, he had himself been circumcised; but that not being able to +obtain her, he quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against circumcision, +and against the observation of the Sabbath, and against all the legal +ordinances.--Author.] [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. de la Vie de +St. Paul, by N.A. Boulanger, 1770.--Editor.] + +When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years intervening +between the time that Christ is said to have lived and the time the +New Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even without the +assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding uncertainty there is +of its authenticity. The authenticity of the book of Homer, so far as +regards the authorship, is much better established than that of the New +Testament, though Homer is a thousand years the most ancient. It was +only an exceeding good poet that could have written the book of Homer, +and, therefore, few men only could have attempted it; and a man capable +of doing it would not have thrown away his own fame by giving it to +another. In like manner, there were but few that could have composed +Euclid's Elements, because none but an exceeding good geometrician could +have been the author of that work. + +But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such +parts as tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any person +who could tell a story of an apparition, or of a man's walking, could +have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly told. The chance, +therefore, of forgery in the Testament is millions to one greater than +in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous priests or parsons of +the present day, bishops and all, every one of them can make a sermon, +or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if it has been translated +a thousand times before; but is there any amongst them that can write +poetry like Homer, or science like Euclid? The sum total of a parson's +learning, with very few exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, haec, hoc; +and their knowledge of science is, three times one is three; and this is +more than sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time, +to have written all the books of the New Testament. + +As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was the +inducement. A man could gain no advantage by writing under the name of +Homer or Euclid; if he could write equal to them, it would be better +that he wrote under his own name; if inferior, he could not succeed. +Pride would prevent the former, and impossibility the latter. But with +respect to such books as compose the New Testament, all the inducements +were on the side of forgery. The best imagined history that could have +been made, at the distance of two or three hundred years after the time, +could not have passed for an original under the name of the real +writer; the only chance of success lay in forgery; for the church wanted +pretence for its new doctrine, and truth and talents were out of the +question. + +But as it is not uncommon (as before observed) to relate stories of +persons walking after they are dead, and of ghosts and apparitions of +such as have fallen by some violent or extraordinary means; and as the +people of that day were in the habit of believing such things, and of +the appearance of angels, and also of devils, and of their getting into +people's insides, and shaking them like a fit of an ague, and of their +being cast out again as if by an emetic--(Mary Magdalene, the book of +Mark tells us had brought up, or been brought to bed of seven devils;) +it was nothing extraordinary that some story of this kind should get +abroad of the person called Jesus Christ, and become afterwards the +foundation of the four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. +Each writer told a tale as he heard it, or thereabouts, and gave to his +book the name of the saint or the apostle whom tradition had given as +the eye-witness. It is only upon this ground that the contradictions in +those books can be accounted for; and if this be not the case, they are +downright impositions, lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of +credulity. + +That they have been written by a sort of half Jews, as the foregoing +quotations mention, is discernible enough. The frequent references +made to that chief assassin and impostor Moses, and to the men called +prophets, establishes this point; and, on the other hand, the church +has complimented the fraud, by admitting the Bible and the Testament +to reply to each other. Between the Christian-Jew and the +Christian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the thing prophesied +of, the type and the thing typified, the sign and the thing signified, +have been industriously rummaged up, and fitted together like old locks +and pick-lock keys. The story foolishly enough told of Eve and the +serpent, and naturally enough as to the enmity between men and serpents +(for the serpent always bites about the heel, because it cannot reach +higher, and the man always knocks the serpent about the head, as the +most effectual way to prevent its biting;) ["It shall bruise thy head, +and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii. 15.--Author.] this foolish +story, I say, has been made into a prophecy, a type, and a promise to +begin with; and the lying imposition of Isaiah to Ahaz, 'That a virgin +shall conceive and bear a son,' as a sign that Ahaz should conquer, +when the event was that he was defeated (as already noticed in the +observations on the book of Isaiah), has been perverted, and made to +serve as a winder up. + +Jonah and the whale are also made into a sign and type. Jonah is Jesus, +and the whale is the grave; for it is said, (and they have made Christ +to say it of himself, Matt. xii. 40), "For as Jonah was three days and +three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days +and three nights in the heart of the earth." But it happens, awkwardly +enough, that Christ, according to their own account, was but one day +and two nights in the grave; about 36 hours instead of 72; that is, the +Friday night, the Saturday, and the Saturday night; for they say he was +up on the Sunday morning by sunrise, or before. But as this fits quite +as well as the bite and the kick in Genesis, or the virgin and her son +in Isaiah, it will pass in the lump of orthodox things.--Thus much for +the historical part of the Testament and its evidences. + +Epistles of Paul--The epistles ascribed to Paul, being fourteen in +number, almost fill up the remaining part of the Testament. Whether +those epistles were written by the person to whom they are ascribed is +a matter of no great importance, since that the writer, whoever he was, +attempts to prove his doctrine by argument. He does not pretend to +have been witness to any of the scenes told of the resurrection and the +ascension; and he declares that he had not believed them. + +The story of his being struck to the ground as he was journeying to +Damascus, has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary; he escaped with +life, and that is more than many others have done, who have been struck +with lightning; and that he should lose his sight for three days, and be +unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more than is common +in such conditions. His companions that were with him appear not to have +suffered in the same manner, for they were well enough to lead him the +remainder of the journey; neither did they pretend to have seen any +vision. + +The character of the person called Paul, according to the accounts +given of him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticism; he had +persecuted with as much heat as he preached afterwards; the stroke +he had received had changed his thinking, without altering his +constitution; and either as a Jew or a Christian he was the same zealot. +Such men are never good moral evidences of any doctrine they preach. +They are always in extremes, as well of action as of belief. + +The doctrine he sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of +the same body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. +But so much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in the +conclusions they draw from the same premises, that this doctrine of +the resurrection of the same body, so far from being an evidence of +immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against it; for if I have +already died in this body, and am raised again in the same body in which +I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. That +resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, than an +ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe therefore in +immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is contained in the +gloomy doctrine of the resurrection. + +Besides, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather have a +better body and a more convenient form than the present. Every animal +in the creation excels us in something. The winged insects, without +mentioning doves or eagles, can pass over more space with greater ease +in a few minutes than man can in an hour. The glide of the smallest +fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in motion almost beyond +comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish snail can ascend +from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want of that ability, +would perish; and a spider can launch itself from the top, as a playful +amusement. The personal powers of man are so limited, and his heavy +frame so little constructed to extensive enjoyment, that there is +nothing to induce us to wish the opinion of Paul to be true. It is too +little for the magnitude of the scene, too mean for the sublimity of the +subject. + +But all other arguments apart, the consciousness of existence is the +only conceivable idea we can have of another life, and the continuance +of that consciousness is immortality. The consciousness of existence, or +the knowing that we exist, is not necessarily confined to the same form, +nor to the same matter, even in this life. + +We have not in all cases the same form, nor in any case the same matter, +that composed our bodies twenty or thirty years ago; and yet we are +conscious of being the same persons. Even legs and arms, which make up +almost half the human frame, are not necessary to the consciousness of +existence. These may be lost or taken away and the full consciousness +of existence remain; and were their place supplied by wings, or other +appendages, we cannot conceive that it could alter our consciousness of +existence. In short, we know not how much, or rather how little, of our +composition it is, and how exquisitely fine that little is, that creates +in us this consciousness of existence; and all beyond that is like the +pulp of a peach, distinct and separate from the vegetative speck in the +kernel. + +Who can say by what exceeding fine action of fine matter it is that a +thought is produced in what we call the mind? and yet that thought +when produced, as I now produce the thought I am writing, is capable +of becoming immortal, and is the only production of man that has that +capacity. + +Statues of brass and marble will perish; and statues made in imitation +of them are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship, any more +than the copy of a picture is the same picture. But print and reprint +a thought a thousand times over, and that with materials of any kind, +carve it in wood, or engrave it on stone, the thought is eternally +and identically the same thought in every case. It has a capacity of +unimpaired existence, unaffected by change of matter, and is essentially +distinct, and of a nature different from every thing else that we know +of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has in itself a capacity +of being immortal, it is more than a token that the power that produced +it, which is the self-same thing as consciousness of existence, can +be immortal also; and that as independently of the matter it was first +connected with, as the thought is of the printing or writing it first +appeared in. The one idea is not more difficult to believe than the +other; and we can see that one is true. + +That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form +or the same matter, is demonstrated to our senses in the works of +the creation, as far as our senses are capable of receiving that +demonstration. A very numerous part of the animal creation preaches to +us, far better than Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their little +life resembles an earth and a heaven, a present and a future state; and +comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in miniature. + +The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged +insects, and they are not so originally. They acquire that form and +that inimitable brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and creeping +caterpillar worm of to day, passes in a few days to a torpid figure, and +a state resembling death; and in the next change comes forth in all the +miniature magnificence of life, a splendid butterfly. No resemblance of +the former creature remains; every thing is changed; all his powers +are new, and life is to him another thing. We cannot conceive that the +consciousness of existence is not the same in this state of the animal +as before; why then must I believe that the resurrection of the same +body is necessary to continue to me the consciousness of existence +hereafter? + +In the former part of 'The Agee of Reason.' I have called the creation +the true and only real word of God; and this instance, or this text, in +the book of creation, not only shows to us that this thing may be so, +but that it is so; and that the belief of a future state is a rational +belief, founded upon facts visible in the creation: for it is not more +difficult to believe that we shall exist hereafter in a better state and +form than at present, than that a worm should become a butterfly, and +quit the dunghill for the atmosphere, if we did not know it as a fact. + +As to the doubtful jargon ascribed to Paul in 1 Corinthians xv., which +makes part of the burial service of some Christian sectaries, it is +as destitute of meaning as the tolling of a bell at the funeral; it +explains nothing to the understanding, it illustrates nothing to the +imagination, but leaves the reader to find any meaning if he can. "All +flesh," says he, "is not the same flesh. There is one flesh of men, +another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." And what +then? nothing. A cook could have said as much. "There are also," says +he, "bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial; the glory of the celestial +is one and the glory of the terrestrial is the other." And what then? +nothing. And what is the difference? nothing that he has told. "There +is," says he, "one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and +another glory of the stars." And what then? nothing; except that he says +that one star differeth from another star in glory, instead of distance; +and he might as well have told us that the moon did not shine so bright +as the sun. All this is nothing better than the jargon of a conjuror, +who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous +people who come to have their fortune told. Priests and conjurors are of +the same trade. + +Sometimes Paul affects to be a naturalist, and to prove his system of +resurrection from the principles of vegetation. "Thou fool" says he, +"that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." To which one +might reply in his own language, and say, Thou fool, Paul, that which +thou sowest is not quickened except it die not; for the grain that dies +in the ground never does, nor can vegetate. It is only the living grains +that produce the next crop. But the metaphor, in any point of view, is +no simile. It is succession, and [not] resurrection. + +The progress of an animal from one state of being to another, as from a +worm to a butterfly, applies to the case; but this of a grain does not, +and shows Paul to have been what he says of others, a fool. + +Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him +or not, is a matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or +dogmatical; and as the argument is defective, and the dogmatical part is +merely presumptive, it signifies not who wrote them. And the same may +be said for the remaining parts of the Testament. It is not upon the +Epistles, but upon what is called the Gospel, contained in the four +books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the pretended +prophecies, that the theory of the church, calling itself the Christian +Church, is founded. The Epistles are dependant upon those, and must +follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ be fabulous, all +reasoning founded upon it, as a supposed truth, must fall with it. + +We know from history, that one of the principal leaders of this church, +Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testament was formed; [Athanasius +died, according to the Church chronology, in the year 371--Author.] and +we know also, from the absurd jargon he has left us under the name of +a creed, the character of the men who formed the New Testament; and we +know also from the same history that the authenticity of the books of +which it is composed was denied at the time. It was upon the vote of +such as Athanasius that the Testament was decreed to be the word of God; +and nothing can present to us a more strange idea than that of decreeing +the word of God by vote. Those who rest their faith upon such authority +put man in the place of God, and have no true foundation for future +happiness. Credulity, however, is not a crime, but it becomes criminal +by resisting conviction. It is strangling in the womb of the conscience +the efforts it makes to ascertain truth. We should never force belief +upon ourselves in any thing. + +I here close the subject on the Old Testament and the New. The evidence +I have produced to prove them forgeries, is extracted from the books +themselves, and acts, like a two-edge sword, either way. If the evidence +be denied, the authenticity of the Scriptures is denied with it, for it +is Scripture evidence: and if the evidence be admitted, the authenticity +of the books is disproved. The contradictory impossibilities, contained +in the Old Testament and the New, put them in the case of a man who +swears for and against. Either evidence convicts him of perjury, and +equally destroys reputation. + +Should the Bible and the Testament hereafter fall, it is not that I +have done it. I have done no more than extracted the evidence from +the confused mass of matters with which it is mixed, and arranged that +evidence in a point of light to be clearly seen and easily comprehended; +and, having done this, I leave the reader to judge for himself, as I +have judged for myself. + + + +CHAPTER III - CONCLUSION + +IN the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of the three +frauds, mystery, miracle, and Prophecy; and as I have seen nothing in +any of the answers to that work that in the least affects what I have +there said upon those subjects, I shall not encumber this Second Part +with additions that are not necessary. + +I have spoken also in the same work upon what is celled revelation, and +have shown the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of +the Old Testament and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the +question in reciting any thing of which man has been the actor or the +witness. That which man has done or seen, needs no revelation to tell +him he has done it, or seen it--for he knows it already--nor to enable +him to tell it or to write it. It is ignorance, or imposition, to apply +the term revelation in such cases; yet the Bible and Testament are +classed under this fraudulent description of being all revelation. + +Revelation then, so far as the term has relation between God and man, +can only be applied to something which God reveals of his will to man; +but though the power of the Almighty to make such a communication is +necessarily admitted, because to that power all things are possible, +yet, the thing so revealed (if any thing ever was revealed, and which, +by the bye, it is impossible to prove) is revelation to the person only +to whom it is made. His account of it to another is not revelation; and +whoever puts faith in that account, puts it in the man from whom the +account comes; and that man may have been deceived, or may have dreamed +it; or he may be an impostor and may lie. There is no possible criterion +whereby to judge of the truth of what he tells; for even the morality of +it would be no proof of revelation. In all such cases, the proper +answer should be, "When it is revealed to me, I will believe it to be +revelation; but it is not and cannot be incumbent upon me to believe +it to be revelation before; neither is it proper that I should take the +word of man as the word of God, and put man in the place of God." This +is the manner in which I have spoken of revelation in the former part of +The Age of Reason; and which, whilst it reverentially admits revelation +as a possible thing, because, as before said, to the Almighty all things +are possible, it prevents the imposition of one man upon another, and +precludes the wicked use of pretended revelation. + +But though, speaking for myself, I thus admit the possibility of +revelation, I totally disbelieve that the Almighty ever did communicate +any thing to man, by any mode of speech, in any language, or by any kind +of vision, or appearance, or by any means which our senses are capable +of receiving, otherwise than by the universal display of himself in the +works of the creation, and by that repugnance we feel in ourselves to +bad actions, and disposition to good ones. [A fair parallel of the then +unknown aphorism of Kant: "Two things fill the soul with wonder and +reverence, increasing evermore as I meditate more closely upon them: +the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me." (Kritik +derpraktischen Vernunfe, 1788). Kant's religious utterances at the +beginning of the French Revolution brought on him a royal mandate +of silence, because he had worked out from "the moral law within" a +principle of human equality precisely similar to that which Paine had +derived from his Quaker doctrine of the "inner light" of every man. +About the same time Paine's writings were suppressed in England. Paine +did not understand German, but Kant, though always independent in +the formation of his opinions, was evidently well acquainted with the +literature of the Revolution, in America, England, and France.--Editor.] + +The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the +greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their +origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It +has been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the +divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and happiness +of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. It is better, +far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a thousand devils to +roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine of devils, if there +were any such, than that we permitted one such impostor and monster +as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible prophets, to come with the +pretended word of God in his mouth, and have credit among us. + +Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, +women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody +persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since +that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but +from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous +belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been the +cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament [of] the other. + +Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the +sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible that +twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; but no +sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently powerful to +employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and faggot too; and +Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit that Peter cut off +the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story be true) he would +cut off his head, and the head of his master, had he been able. Besides +this, Christianity grounds itself originally upon the [Hebrew] Bible, +and the Bible was established altogether by the sword, and that in the +worst use of it--not to terrify, but to extirpate. The Jews made +no converts: they butchered all. The Bible is the sire of the [New] +Testament, and both are called the word of God. The Christians read +both books; the ministers preach from both books; and this thing +called Christianity is made up of both. It is then false to say that +Christianity was not established by the sword. + +The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only +reason that can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than +Christians. They do not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they +call the scriptures a dead letter. [This is an interesting and correct +testimony as to the beliefs of the earlier Quakers, one of whom was +Paine's father.--Editor.] Had they called them by a worse name, they had +been nearer the truth. + +It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the +Creator, and who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial miseries, +and remove the cause that has sown persecutions thick among mankind, +to expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous heresy, and an +impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from this pretended thing +called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful to man, and every +thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What is it the Bible teaches +us?--repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches +us?--to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman +engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called +faith. + +As to the fragments of morality that are irregularly and thinly +scattered in those books, they make no part of this pretended thing, +revealed religion. They are the natural dictates of conscience, and the +bonds by which society is held together, and without which it cannot +exist; and are nearly the same in all religions, and in all societies. +The Testament teaches nothing new upon this subject, and where it +attempts to exceed, it becomes mean and ridiculous. The doctrine of not +retaliating injuries is much better expressed in Proverbs, which is +a collection as well from the Gentiles as the Jews, than it is in the +Testament. It is there said, (Xxv. 2 I) "If thine enemy be hungry, +give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:" +[According to what is called Christ's sermon on the mount, in the book +of Matthew, where, among some other [and] good things, a great deal of +this feigned morality is introduced, it is there expressly said, that +the doctrine of forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not +any part of the doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in +"Proverbs," it must, according to that statement, have been copied from +the Gentiles, from whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish and +Christian idolators have abusively called heathen, had much better and +clearer ideas of justice and morality than are to be found in the Old +Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or in the New. The answer of Solon on +the question, "Which is the most perfect popular govemment," has never +been exceeded by any man since his time, as containing a maxim of +political morality, "That," says he, "where the least injury done to +the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the whole +constitution." Solon lived about 500 years before Christ.--Author.] but +when it is said, as in the Testament, "If a man smite thee on the right +cheek, turn to him the other also," it is assassinating the dignity of +forbearance, and sinking man into a spaniel. + +Loving, of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has besides +no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he does not +revenge an injury; and it is equally as good in a political sense, for +there is no end to retaliation; each retaliates on the other, and calls +it justice: but to love in proportion to the injury, if it could be +done, would be to offer a premium for a crime. Besides, the word enemies +is too vague and general to be used in a moral maxim, which ought +always to be clear and defined, like a proverb. If a man be the enemy +of another from mistake and prejudice, as in the case of religious +opinions, and sometimes in politics, that man is different to an enemy +at heart with a criminal intention; and it is incumbent upon us, and +it contributes also to our own tranquillity, that we put the best +construction upon a thing that it will bear. But even this erroneous +motive in him makes no motive for love on the other part; and to say +that we can love voluntarily, and without a motive, is morally and +physically impossible. + +Morality is injured by prescribing to it duties that, in the first +place, are impossible to be performed, and if they could be would be +productive of evil; or, as before said, be premiums for crime. The maxim +of doing as we would be done unto does not include this strange doctrine +of loving enemies; for no man expects to be loved himself for his crime +or for his enmity. + +Those who preach this doctrine of loving their enemies, are in general +the greatest persecutors, and they act consistently by so doing; for the +doctrine is hypocritical, and it is natural that hypocrisy should act +the reverse of what it preaches. For my own part, I disown the doctrine, +and consider it as a feigned or fabulous morality; yet the man does not +exist that can say I have persecuted him, or any man, or any set of men, +either in the American Revolution, or in the French Revolution; or that +I have, in any case, returned evil for evil. But it is not incumbent on +man to reward a bad action with a good one, or to return good for evil; +and wherever it is done, it is a voluntary act, and not a duty. It +is also absurd to suppose that such doctrine can make any part of a +revealed religion. We imitate the moral character of the Creator by +forbearing with each other, for he forbears with all; but this doctrine +would imply that he loved man, not in proportion as he was good, but as +he was bad. + +If we consider the nature of our condition here, we must see there is +no occasion for such a thing as revealed religion. What is it we want +to know? Does not the creation, the universe we behold, preach to us the +existence of an Almighty power, that governs and regulates the whole? +And is not the evidence that this creation holds out to our senses +infinitely stronger than any thing we can read in a book, that any +imposter might make and call the word of God? As for morality, the +knowledge of it exists in every man's conscience. + +Here we are. The existence of an Almighty power is sufficiently +demonstrated to us, though we cannot conceive, as it is impossible we +should, the nature and manner of its existence. We cannot conceive how +we came here ourselves, and yet we know for a fact that we are here. +We must know also, that the power that called us into being, can if he +please, and when he pleases, call us to account for the manner in which +we have lived here; and therefore without seeking any other motive +for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, for we know +beforehand that he can. The probability or even possibility of the thing +is all that we ought to know; for if we knew it as a fact, we should be +the mere slaves of terror; our belief would have no merit, and our best +actions no virtue. + +Deism then teaches us, without the possibility of being deceived, all +that is necessary or proper to be known. The creation is the Bible of +the deist. He there reads, in the hand-writing of the Creator himself, +the certainty of his existence, and the immutability of his power; and +all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries. The probability +that we may be called to account hereafter, will, to reflecting minds, +have the influence of belief; for it is not our belief or disbelief that +can make or unmake the fact. As this is the state we are in, and which +it is proper we should be in, as free agents, it is the fool only, and +not the philosopher, nor even the prudent man, that will live as if +there were no God. + +But the belief of a God is so weakened by being mixed with the strange +fable of the Christian creed, and with the wild adventures related in +the Bible, and the obscurity and obscene nonsense of the Testament, that +the mind of man is bewildered as in a fog. Viewing all these things in +a confused mass, he confounds fact with fable; and as he cannot believe +all, he feels a disposition to reject all. But the belief of a God is +a belief distinct from all other things, and ought not to be confounded +with any. The notion of a Trinity of Gods has enfeebled the belief of +one God. A multiplication of beliefs acts as a division of belief; and +in proportion as anything is divided, it is weakened. + +Religion, by such means, becomes a thing of form instead of fact; of +notion instead of principle: morality is banished to make room for +an imaginary thing called faith, and this faith has its origin in a +supposed debauchery; a man is preached instead of a God; an execution is +an object for gratitude; the preachers daub themselves with the blood, +like a troop of assassins, and pretend to admire the brilliancy it gives +them; they preach a humdrum sermon on the merits of the execution; then +praise Jesus Christ for being executed, and condemn the Jews for doing +it. + +A man, by hearing all this nonsense lumped and preached together, +confounds the God of the Creation with the imagined God of the +Christians, and lives as if there were none. + +Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none +more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant +to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called +Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too +inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces only +atheists and fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of +despotism; and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests; but so +far as respects the good of man in general, it leads to nothing here or +hereafter. + +The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it every +evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It must have +been the first and will probably be the last that man believes. But pure +and simple deism does not answer the purpose of despotic governments. +They cannot lay hold of religion as an engine but by mixing it with +human inventions, and making their own authority a part; neither does it +answer the avarice of priests, but by incorporating themselves and their +functions with it, and becoming, like the government, a party in the +system. It is this that forms the otherwise mysterious connection of +church and state; the church human, and the state tyrannic. + +Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the +belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of +belief; he would stand in awe of God, and of himself, and would not do +the thing that could not be concealed from either. To give this belief +the full opportunity of force, it is necessary that it acts alone. This +is deism. + +But when, according to the Christian Trinitarian scheme, one part of God +is represented by a dying man, and another part, called the Holy Ghost, +by a flying pigeon, it is impossible that belief can attach itself to +such wild conceits. [The book called the book of Matthew, says, (iii. +16,) that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a dove. It might as +well have said a goose; the creatures are equally harmless, and the one +is as much a nonsensical lie as the other. Acts, ii. 2, 3, says, that +it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in the shape of cloven tongues: +perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd stuff is fit only for tales of +witches and wizards.--Author.] + +It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other +invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, +as it is of government to hold him in ignorance of his rights. +The systems of the one are as false as those of the other, and are +calculated for mutual support. The study of theology as it stands in +Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; +it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no +data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no conclusion. Not any +thing can be studied as a science without our being in possession of the +principles upon which it is founded; and as this is not the case with +Christian theology, it is therefore the study of nothing. + +Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible and +Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, and the +authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we refer to the +Bible of the creation. The principles we discover there are eternal, and +of divine origin: they are the foundation of all the science that exists +in the world, and must be the foundation of theology. + +We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception of +any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to it. +We have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the means of +comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no idea of his +wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it acts. The +principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is +the Creator of science, and it is through that medium that man can see +God, as it were, face to face. + +Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of vision +to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the structure of +the universe, to mark the movements of the several planets, the cause +of their varying appearances, the unerring order in which they revolve, +even to the remotest comet, their connection and dependence on each +other, and to know the system of laws established by the Creator, that +governs and regulates the whole; he would then conceive, far beyond what +any church theology can teach him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness, +the munificence of the Creator. He would then see that all the knowledge +man has of science, and that all the mechanical arts by which he renders +his situation comfortable here, are derived from that source: his mind, +exalted by the scene, and convinced by the fact, would increase in +gratitude as it increased in knowledge: his religion or his worship +would become united with his improvement as a man: any employment he +followed that had connection with the principles of the creation,--as +everything of agriculture, of science, and of the mechanical arts, +has,--would teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes to +him, than any theological Christian sermon he now hears. Great objects +inspire great thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but +the grovelling tales and doctrines of the Bible and the Testament are +fit only to excite contempt. + +Though man cannot arrive, at least in this life, at the actual scene I +have described, he can demonstrate it, because he has knowledge of the +principles upon which the creation is constructed. We know that the +greatest works can be represented in model, and that the universe can be +represented by the same means. The same principles by which we measure +an inch or an acre of ground will measure to millions in extent. A +circle of an inch diameter has the same geometrical properties as a +circle that would circumscribe the universe. The same properties of a +triangle that will demonstrate upon paper the course of a ship, will +do it on the ocean; and, when applied to what are called the heavenly +bodies, will ascertain to a minute the time of an eclipse, though those +bodies are millions of miles distant from us. This knowledge is of +divine origin; and it is from the Bible of the creation that man has +learned it, and not from the stupid Bible of the church, that teaches +man nothing. [The Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, in the first +chapter of Genesis, an account of the creation; and in doing this they +have demonstrated nothing but their ignorance. They make there to have +been three days and three nights, evenings and mornings, before there +was any sun; when it is the presence or absence of the sun that is the +cause of day and night--and what is called his rising and setting that +of morning and evening. Besides, it is a puerile and pitiful idea, to +suppose the Almighty to say, "Let there be light." It is the imperative +manner of speaking that a conjuror uses when he says to his cups and +balls, Presto, be gone--and most probably has been taken from it, +as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his wand. Longinus calls this +expression the sublime; and by the same rule the conjurer is sublime +too; for the manner of speaking is expressively and grammatically the +same. When authors and critics talk of the sublime, they see not how +nearly it borders on the ridiculous. The sublime of the critics, like +some parts of Edmund Burke's sublime and beautiful, is like a windmill +just visible in a fog, which imagination might distort into a flying +mountain, or an archangel, or a flock of wild geese.--Author.] + +All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of +which his existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without +which he would be scarcely distinguishable in appearance and condition +from a common animal, comes from the great machine and structure of the +universe. The constant and unwearied observations of our ancestors +upon the movements and revolutions of the heavenly bodies, in what are +supposed to have been the early ages of the world, have brought this +knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and the prophets, nor Jesus +Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. The Almighty is the great +mechanic of the creation, the first philosopher, and original teacher of +all science. Let us then learn to reverence our master, and not forget +the labours of our ancestors. + +Had we, at this day, no knowledge of machinery, and were it possible +that man could have a view, as I have before described, of the structure +and machinery of the universe, he would soon conceive the idea of +constructing some at least of the mechanical works we now have; and the +idea so conceived would progressively advance in practice. Or could a +model of the universe, such as is called an orrery, be presented before +him and put in motion, his mind would arrive at the same idea. Such an +object and such a subject would, whilst it improved him in knowledge +useful to himself as a man and a member of society, as well as +entertaining, afford far better matter for impressing him with a +knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, and of the reverence and +gratitude that man owes to him, than the stupid texts of the Bible and +the Testament, from which, be the talents of the preacher; what they +may, only stupid sermons can be preached. If man must preach, let him +preach something that is edifying, and from the texts that are known to +be true. + +The Bible of the creation is inexhaustible in texts. Every part of +science, whether connected with the geometry of the universe, with +the systems of animal and vegetable life, or with the properties of +inanimate matter, is a text as well for devotion as for philosophy--for +gratitude, as for human improvement. It will perhaps be said, that if +such a revolution in the system of religion takes place, every preacher +ought to be a philosopher. Most certainly, and every house of devotion a +school of science. + +It has been by wandering from the immutable laws of science, and the +light of reason, and setting up an invented thing called "revealed +religion," that so many wild and blasphemous conceits have been formed +of the Almighty. The Jews have made him the assassin of the human +species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The Christians have +made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of a new religion +to supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to find pretence and +admission for these things, they must have supposed his power or his +wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the changeableness of the +will is the imperfection of the judgement. The philosopher knows that +the laws of the Creator have never changed, with respect either to the +principles of science, or the properties of matter. Why then is it to be +supposed they have changed with respect to man? + +I here close the subject. I have shown in all the foregoing parts of +this work that the Bible and Testament are impositions and forgeries; +and I leave the evidence I have produced in proof of it to be refuted, +if any one can do it; and I leave the ideas that are suggested in the +conclusion of the work to rest on the mind of the reader; certain as +I am that when opinions are free, either in matters of govemment or +religion, truth will finally and powerfully prevail. + + +END OF PART II + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Writings of Thomas Paine, Volume +IV., by Thomas Paine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WRITINGS OF THOMAS PAINE *** + +***** This file should be named 3743.txt or 3743.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/4/3743/ + +Produced by Norman M. 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In this version the notes are enclosed in square brackets. +A Table of contents for this part has been added not found in the +printed edition.] + ----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + THE WRITINGS + + OF + + THOMAS PAINE + + COLLECTED AND EDITED BY + + MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY + + VOLUME IV. + + + + +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + + The Age of Reason + + by Thomas Paine (1796) + + + Contents + +Editor's Introduction + + Part One +Chapter I - The Author's Profession Of Faith +Chapter II - Of Missions And Revelations +Chapter III - Concerning The Character of Jesus Christ, And His History +Chapter IV - Of The Bases Of Christianity +Chapter V - Examination In Detail Of The Preceding Bases +Chapter VI - Of The True Theology +Chapter VII - Examination Of The Old Testament +Chapter VIII - Of The New Testament +Chapter IX - In What The True Revelation Consists +Chapter X - Concerning God, And The Lights Cast On His Existence And + Attributes By The Bible +Chapter XI - Of The Theology Of The Christians; And The True Theology +Chapter XII - The Effects Of Christianism On Education; Proposed Reforms +Chapter XIII - Comparison Of Christianism With The Religious Ideas + Inspired By Nature +Chapter XIV - System Of The Universe +Chapter XV - Advantages Of The Existence Of Many Worlds In Each Solar + System +Chapter XVI - Applications Of The Preceding To The System Of The + Christians +Chapter XVII - Of The Means Employed In All Time, And Almost + Universally, To Deceive The Peoples +Recapitulation + + Part Two +Preface +Chapter I - The Old Testament +Chapter II - The New Testament +Chapter III - Conclusion + +-------------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION +WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES. + +IN the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its +king, the wrath turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace +every tyrant claimed to reign. But eventualities had brought among +them a great English and American heart -- Thomas Paine. He had +pleaded for Louis Caper -- "Kill the king but spare the man." Now he +pleaded, -- "Disbelieve in the King of kings, but do not confuse with +that idol the Father of Mankind!" + +In Paine's Preface to the Second Part of "The Age of Reason" he +describes himself as writing the First Part near the close of the +year 1793. "I had not finished it more than six hours, in the state +it has since appeared, before a guard came about three in the +morning, with an order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety +and Surety General, for putting me in arrestation." This was on the +morning of December 28. But it is necessary to weigh the words just +quoted -- "in the state it has since appeared." For on August 5, +1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an appeal for Paine's liberation, wrote +as follows: "I deliver to Merlin de Thionville a copy of the last +work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason], formerly our colleague, and in +custody since the decree excluding foreigners from the national +representation. This book was written by the author in the beginning +of the year '93 (old style). I undertook its translation before the +revolution against priests, and it was published in French about the +same time. Couthon, to whom I sent it, seemed offended with me for +having translated this work." + +Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of +Robespierre, this early publication seems to have been so effectually +suppressed that no copy bearing that date, 1793, can be found in +France or elsewhere. In Paine's letter to Samuel Adams, printed in +the present volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to +stay the progress of atheism, and that he endangered his life "by +opposing atheism." The time indicated by Lanthenas as that in which +he submitted the work to Couthon would appear to be the latter part +of March, 1793, the fury against the priesthood having reached its +climax in the decrees against them of March 19 and 26. If the moral +deformity of Couthon, even greater than that of his body, be +remembered, and the readiness with which death was inflicted for the +most theoretical opinion not approved by the "Mountain," it will +appear probable that the offence given Couthon by Paine's book +involved danger to him and his translator. On May 31, when the +Girondins were accused, the name of Lanthenas was included, and he +barely escaped; and on the same day Danton persuaded Paine not to +appear in the Convention, as his life might be in danger. Whether +this was because of the "Age of Reason," with its fling at the +"Goddess Nature" or not, the statements of author and translator are +harmonized by the fact that Paine prepared the manuscript, with +considerable additions and changes, for publication in English, as he +has stated in the Preface to Part II. + +A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by +sentence, proved to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to +Merlin de Thionville in 1794 is the same as that he sent to Couthon +in 1793. This discovery was the means of recovering several +interesting sentences of the original work. I have given as footnotes +translations of such clauses and phrases of the French work as +appeared to be important. Those familiar with the translations of +Lanthenas need not be reminded that he was too much of a literalist +to depart from the manuscript before him, and indeed he did not even +venture to alter it in an instance (presently considered) where it +was obviously needed. Nor would Lanthenas have omitted any of the +paragraphs lacking in his translation. This original work was divided +into seventeen chapters, and these I have restored, translating their +headings into English. The "Age of Reason" is thus for the first time +given to the world with nearly its original completeness. + +It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of +his "Age of Reason" (Part I.) which went through the press while he +was in prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some +sentences as abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable +instance is the dropping out of his estimate of Jesus the words +rendered by Lanthenas "trop peu imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu." +The addition of these words to Paine's tribute makes it the more +notable that almost the only recognition of the human character and +life of Jesus by any theological writer of that generation came from +one long branded as an infidel. + +To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must +be attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already +alluded to, as one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity, +would have corrected. This is Paine's repeated mention of six +planets, and enumeration of them, twelve years after the discovery of +Uranus. Paine was a devoted student of astronomy, and it cannot for a +moment be supposed that he had not participated in the universal +welcome of Herschel's discovery. The omission of any allusion to it +convinces me that the astronomical episode was printed from a +manuscript written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. +Unfamiliar with French in 1793, Paine might not have discovered the +erratum in Lanthenas' translation, and, having no time for copying, +he would naturally use as much as possible of the same manuscript in +preparing his work for English readers. But he had no opportunity of +revision, and there remains an erratum which, if my conjecture be +correct, casts a significant light on the paragraphs in which he +alludes to the preparation of the work. He states that soon after his +publication of "Common Sense" (1776), he "saw the exceeding +probability that a revolution in the system of government would be +followed by a revolution in the system of religion," and that "man +would return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one +God and no more." He tells Samuel Adams that it had long been his +intention to publish his thoughts upon religion, and he had made a +similar remark to John Adams in 1776. Like the Quakers among whom he +was reared Paine could then readily use the phrase "word of God" for +anything in the Bible which approved itself to his "inner light," and +as he had drawn from the first Book of Samuel a divine condemnation +of monarchy, John Adams, a Unitarian, asked him if he believed in the +inspiration of the Old Testament. Paine replied that he did not, and +at a later period meant to publish his views on the subject. There is +little doubt that he wrote from time to time on religious points, +during the American war, without publishing his thoughts, just as he +worked on the problem of steam navigation, in which he had invented a +practicable method (ten years before John Fitch made his discovery) +without publishing it. At any rate it appears to me certain that the +part of "The Age of Reason" connected with Paine's favorite science, +astronomy, was written before 1781, when Uranus was discovered. + +Paine's theism, however invested with biblical and Christian +phraseology, was a birthright. It appears clear from several +allusions in "The Age of Reason" to the Quakers that in his early +life, or before the middle of the eighteenth century, the people so +called were substantially Deists. An interesting confirmation of +Paine's statements concerning them appears as I write in an account +sent by Count Leo Tolstoi to the London 'Times' of the Russian sect +called Dukhobortsy (The Times, October 23, 1895). This sect sprang up +in the last century, and the narrative says: + +"The first seeds of the teaching called afterwards 'Dukhoborcheskaya' +were sown by a foreigner, a Quaker, who came to Russia. The +fundamental idea of his Quaker teaching was that in the soul of man +dwells God himself, and that He himself guides man by His inner word. +God lives in nature physically and in man's soul spiritually. To +Christ, as to an historical personage, the Dukhobortsy do not ascribe +great importance ... Christ was God's son, but only in the sense in +which we call, ourselves 'sons of God.' The purpose of Christ's +sufferings was no other than to show us an example of suffering for +truth. The Quakers who, in 1818, visited the Dukhobortsy, could not +agree with them upon these religious subjects; and when they heard +from them their opinion about Jesus Christ (that he was a man), +exclaimed 'Darkness!' From the Old and New Testaments,' they say, 'we +take only what is useful,' mostly the moral teaching. ... The moral +ideas of the Dukhobortsy are the following: -- All men are, by +nature, equal; external distinctions, whatsoever they may be, are +worth nothing. This idea of men's equality the Dukhoborts have +directed further, against the State authority. ... Amongst themselves +they hold subordination, and much more, a monarchical Government, to +be contrary to their ideas." + +Here is an early Hicksite Quakerism +carried to Russia long before the birth of Elias Hicks, who recovered +it from Paine, to whom the American Quakers refused burial among +them. Although Paine arraigned the union of Church and State, his +ideal Republic was religious; it was based on a conception of +equality based on the divine son-ship of every man. This faith +underlay equally his burden against claims to divine partiality by a +"Chosen People," a Priesthood, a Monarch "by the grace of God," or an +Aristocracy. Paine's "Reason" is only an expansion of the Quaker's +"inner light"; and the greater impression, as compared with previous +republican and deistic writings made by his "Rights of Man" and "Age +of Reason" (really volumes of one work), is partly explained by the +apostolic fervor which made him a spiritual, successor of George Fox. + +Paine's mind was by no means skeptical, it was eminently instructive. +That he should have waited until his fifty-seventh year before +publishing his religious convictions was due to a desire to work out +some positive and practicable system to take the place of that which +he believed was crumbling. The English engineer Hall, who assisted +Paine in making the model of his iron bridge, wrote to his friends in +England, in 1786: "My employer has Common Sense enough to disbelieve +most of the common systematic theories of Divinity, but does not seem +to establish any for himself." But five years later Paine was able to +lay the corner-stone of his temple: "With respect to religion itself, +without regard to names, and as directing itself from the universal +family of mankind to the 'Divine object of all adoration, it is man +bringing to his Maker the fruits of his heart; and though those +fruits may differ from each other like the fruits of the earth, the +grateful tribute of every one, is accepted." ("Rights of Man." See my +edition of Paine's Writings, ii., p. 326.) Here we have a +reappearance of George Fox confuting the doctor in America who +"denied the light and Spirit of God to be in every one; and affirmed +that it was not in the Indians. Whereupon I called an Indian to us, +and asked him 'whether or not, when he lied, or did wrong to anyone, +there was not something in him that reproved him for it?' He said, +'There was such a thing in him that did so reprove him; and he was +ashamed when he had done wrong, or spoken wrong.' So we shamed the +doctor before the governor and the people." (Journal of George Fox, +September 1672.) + +Paine, who coined the phrase "Religion of Humanity" (The Crisis, vii., +1778), did but logically defend it in "The Age of Reason," by denying +a special revelation to any particular tribe, or divine authority in +any particular creed of church; and the centenary of this much-abused +publication has been celebrated by a great conservative champion of +Church and State, Mr. Balfour, who, in his "Foundations of Belief," +affirms that "inspiration" cannot be denied to the great Oriental +teachers, unless grapes may be gathered from thorns. + +The centenary of the complete publication of "The Age of Reason," +(October 25, 1795), was also celebrated at the Church Congress, +Norwich, on October 10, 1895, when Professor Bonney, F.R.S., Canon of +Manchester, read a paper in which he said: "I cannot deny that the +increase of scientific knowledge has deprived parts of the earlier +books of the Bible of the historical value which was generally +attributed to them by our forefathers. The story of Creation in the +Book of Genesis, unless we play fast and loose either with words or +with science, cannot be brought into harmony with what we have learnt +from geology. Its ethnological statements are imperfect, if not +sometimes inaccurate. The stories of the Fall, of the Flood, and of +the Tower of Babel, are incredible in their present form. Some +historical element may underlie many of the traditions in the first +eleven chapters in that book, but this we cannot hope to recover." +Canon Bonney proceeded to say of the New Testament also, that "the +Gospels are not so far as we know, strictly contemporaneous records, +so we must admit the possibility of variations and even inaccuracies +in details being introduced by oral tradition." The Canon thinks the +interval too short for these importations to be serious, but that any +question of this kind is left open proves the Age of Reason fully +upon us. Reason alone can determine how many texts are as spurious as +the three heavenly witnesses (i John v. 7), and like it "serious" +enough to have cost good men their lives, and persecutors their +charities. When men interpolate, it is because they believe their +interpolation seriously needed. It will be seen by a note in Part II. +of the work, that Paine calls attention to an interpolation +introduced into the first American edition without indication of its +being an editorial footnote. This footnote was: "The book of Luke was +carried by a majority of one only. Vide Moshelm's Ecc. History." Dr. +Priestley, then in America, answered Paine's work, and in quoting +less than a page from the "Age of Reason" he made three alterations, +-- one of which changed "church mythologists" into "Christian +mythologists," -- and also raised the editorial footnote into the +text, omitting the reference to Mosheim. Having done this, Priestley +writes: "As to the gospel of Luke being carried by a majority of one +only, it is a legend, if not of Mr. Paine's own invention, of no +better authority whatever." And so on with further castigation of the +author for what he never wrote, and which he himself (Priestley) was +the unconscious means of introducing into the text within the year of +Paine's publication. + +If this could be done, unintentionally by a conscientious and exact +man, and one not unfriendly to Paine, if such a writer as Priestley +could make four mistakes in citing half a page, it will appear not +very wonderful when I state that in a modern popular edition of "The +Age of Reason," including both parts, I have noted about five hundred +deviations from the original. These were mainly the accumulated +efforts of friendly editors to improve Paine's grammar or spelling; +some were misprints, or developed out of such; and some resulted from +the sale in London of a copy of Part Second surreptitiously made from +the manuscript. These facts add significance to Paine's footnote +(itself altered in some editions!), in which he says: "If this has +happened within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid +of printing, which prevents the alteration of copies individually; +what may not have happened in a much greater length of time, when +there was no printing, and when any man who could write, could make a +written copy, and call it an original, by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or +John." + +Nothing appears to me more striking, as an illustration of the +far-reaching effects of traditional prejudice, than the errors into +which some of our ablest contemporary scholars have fallen by reason +of their not having studied Paine. Professor Huxley, for instance, +speaking of the freethinkers of the eighteenth century, admires the +acuteness, common sense, wit, and the broad humanity of the best of +them, but says "there is rarely much to be said for their work as an +example of the adequate treatment of a grave and difficult +investigation," and that they shared with their adversaries "to the +full the fatal weakness of a priori philosophizing." [NOTE: Science +and Christian Tradition, p. 18 (Lon. ed., 1894).] Professor Huxley +does not name Paine, evidently because he knows nothing about him. +Yet Paine represents the turning-point of the historical freethinking +movement; he renounced the 'a priori' method, refused to pronounce +anything impossible outside pure mathematics, rested everything on +evidence, and really founded the Huxleyan school. He plagiarized by +anticipation many things from the rationalistic leaders of our time, +from Strauss and Baur (being the first to expatiate on "Christian +Mythology"), from Renan (being the first to attempt recovery of the +human Jesus), and notably from Huxley, who has repeated Paine's +arguments on the untrustworthiness of the biblical manuscripts and +canon, on the inconsistencies of the narratives of Christ's +resurrection, and various other points. None can be more loyal to the +memory of Huxley than the present writer, and it is even because of +my sense of his grand leadership that he is here mentioned as a +typical instance of the extent to which the very elect of +free-thought may be unconsciously victimized by the phantasm with +which they are contending. He says that Butler overthrew freethinkers +of the eighteenth century type, but Paine was of the nineteenth +century type; and it was precisely because of his critical method +that he excited more animosity than his deistical predecessors. He +compelled the apologists to defend the biblical narratives in detail, +and thus implicitly acknowledge the tribunal of reason and knowledge +to which they were summoned. The ultimate answer by police was a +confession of judgment. A hundred years ago England was suppressing +Paine's works, and many an honest Englishman has gone to prison for +printing and circulating his "Age of Reason." The same views are now +freely expressed; they are heard in the seats of learning, and even +in the Church Congress; but the suppression of Paine, begun by +bigotry and ignorance, is continued in the long indifference of the +representatives of our Age of Reason to their pioneer and founder. It +is a grievous loss to them and to their cause. It is impossible to +understand the religious history of England, and of America, without +studying the phases of their evolution represented in the writings of +Thomas Paine, in the controversies that grew out of them with such +practical accompaniments as the foundation of the Theophilanthropist +Church in Paris and New York, and of the great rationalist wing of +Quakerism in America. + +Whatever may be the case with scholars in our time, those of Paine's +time took the "Age of Reason" very seriously indeed. Beginning with +the learned Dr. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, a large number of +learned men replied to Paine's work, and it became a signal for the +commencement of those concessions, on the part of theology, which +have continued to our time; and indeed the so-called "Broad Church" +is to some extent an outcome of "The Age of Reason." It would too +much enlarge this Introduction to cite here the replies made to Paine +(thirty-six are catalogued in the British Museum), but it may be +remarked that they were notably free, as a rule, from the +personalities that raged in the pulpits. I must venture to quote one +passage from his very learned antagonist, the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield, +B.A., "late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge." Wakefield, who had +resided in London during all the Paine panic, and was well acquainted +with the slanders uttered against the author of "Rights of Man," +indirectly brands them in answering Paine's argument that the +original and traditional unbelief of the Jews, among whom the alleged +miracles were wrought, is an important evidence against them. The +learned divine writes: + +"But the subject before us admits of further illustration from the +example of Mr. Paine himself. In this country, where his opposition +to the corruptions of government has raised him so many adversaries, +and such a swarm of unprincipled hirelings have exerted themselves in +blackening his character and in misrepresenting all the transactions +and incidents of his life, will it not be a most difficult, nay an +impossible task, for posterity, after a lapse of 1700 years, if such +a wreck of modern literature as that of the ancient, should +intervene, to identify the real circumstances, moral and civil, of +the man? And will a true historian, such as the Evangelists, be +credited at that future period against such a predominant +incredulity, without large and mighty accessions of collateral +attestation? And how transcendently extraordinary, I had almost said +miraculous, will it be estimated by candid and reasonable minds, that +a writer whose object was a melioration of condition to the common +people, and their deliverance from oppression, poverty, wretchedness, +to the numberless blessings of upright and equal government, should +be reviled, persecuted, and burned in effigy, with every circumstance +of insult and execration, by these very objects of his benevolent +intentions, in every corner of the kingdom?" After the execution of +Louis XVI., for whose life Paine pleaded so earnestly, -- while in +England he was denounced as an accomplice in the deed, -- he devoted +himself to the preparation of a Constitution, and also to gathering +up his religious compositions and adding to them. This manuscript I +suppose to have been prepared in what was variously known as White's +Hotel or Philadelphia House, in Paris, No. 7 Passage des Petits +Peres. This compilation of early and fresh manuscripts (if my theory +be correct) was labelled, "The Age of Reason," and given for +translation to Francois Lanthenas in March 1793. It is entered, in +Qudrard (La France Literaire) under the year 1793, but with the title +"L'Age de la Raison" instead of that which it bore in 1794, "Le +Siecle de la Raison." The latter, printed "Au Burcau de l'imprimerie, +rue du Theatre-Francais, No. 4," is said to be by "Thomas Paine, +Citoyen et cultivateur de I'Amerique septentrionale, secretaire du +Congres du departement des affaires etrangeres pendant la guerre +d'Amerique, et auteur des ouvrages intitules: LA SENS COMMUN et LES +DROITS DE L'HOMME." + +When the Revolution was advancing to increasing terrors, Paine, +unwilling to participate in the decrees of a Convention whose sole +legal function was to frame a Constitution, retired to an old mansion +and garden in the Faubourg St. Denis, No. 63. Mr. J.G. Alger, whose +researches in personal details connected with the Revolution are +original and useful, recently showed me in the National Archives at +Paris, some papers connected with the trial of Georgeit, Paine's +landlord, by which it appears that the present No. 63 is not, as I +had supposed, the house in which Paine resided. Mr. Alger accompanied +me to the neighborhood, but we were not able to identify the house. +The arrest of Georgeit is mentioned by Paine in his essay on +"Forgetfulness" (Writings, iii., 319). When his trial came on one of +the charges was that he had kept in his house "Paine and other +Englishmen," -- Paine being then in prison, -- but he (Georgeit) was +acquitted of the paltry accusations brought against him by his +Section, the "Faubourg du Nord." This Section took in the whole east +side of the Faubourg St. Denis, whereas the present No. 63 is on the +west side. After Georgeit (or Georger) had been arrested, Paine was +left alone in the large mansion (said by Rickman to have been once +the hotel of Madame de Pompadour), and it would appear, by his +account, that it was after the execution (October 31, 1793) Of his +friends the Girondins, and political comrades, that he felt his end +at hand, and set about his last literary bequest to the world, -- +"The Age of Reason," -- in the state in which it has since appeared, +as he is careful to say. There was every probability, during the +months in which he wrote (November and December 1793) that he would +be executed. His religious testament was prepared with the blade of +the guillotine suspended over him, -- a fact which did not deter +pious mythologists from portraying his death-bed remorse for having +written the book. + +In editing Part I. of "The Age of Reason," I follow closely the first +edition, which was printed by Barrois in Paris from the manuscript, +no doubt under the superintendence of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine, on +his way to the Luxembourg, had confided it. Barlow was an American +ex-clergyman, a speculator on whose career French archives cast an +unfavorable light, and one cannot be certain that no liberties were +taken with Paine's proofs. + +I may repeat here what I have stated in the outset of my editorial +work on Paine that my rule is to correct obvious misprints, and also +any punctuation which seems to render the sense less clear. And to +that I will now add that in following Paine's quotations from the +Bible I have adopted the Plan now generally used in place of his +occasionally too extended writing out of book, chapter, and verse. + +Paine was imprisoned in the Luxembourg on December 28, 1793, and +released on November 4, 1794. His liberation was secured by his old +friend, James Monroe (afterwards President), who had succeeded his +(Paine's) relentless enemy, Gouvemeur Morris, as American Minister in +Paris. He was found by Monroe more dead than alive from +semi-starvation, cold, and an abscess contracted in prison, and taken +to the Minister's own residence. It was not supposed that he could +survive, and he owed his life to the tender care of Mr. and Mrs. +Monroe. It was while thus a prisoner in his room, with death still +hovering over him, that Paine wrote Part Second of "The Age of +Reason." + +The work was published in London by H.D. Symonds on October 25, 1795, +and claimed to be "from the Author's manuscript." It is marked as +"Entered at Stationers Hall," and prefaced by an apologetic note of +"The Bookseller to the Public," whose commonplaces about avoiding +both prejudice and partiality, and considering "both sides," need not +be quoted. While his volume was going through the press in Paris, +Paine heard of the publication in London, which drew from him the +following hurried note to a London publisher, no doubt Daniel Isaacs +Eaton: + +"SIR, -- I have seen advertised in the London papers the second +Edition [part] of the Age of Reason, printed, the advertisement says, +from the Author's Manuscript, and entered at Stationers Hall. I have +never sent any manuscript to any person. It is therefore a forgery to +say it is printed from the author's manuscript; and I suppose is done +to give the Publisher a pretence of Copy Right, which he has no title +to. + +"I send you a printed copy, which is the only one I have sent to +London. I wish you to make a cheap edition of it. I know not by what +means any copy has got over to London. If any person has made a +manuscript copy I have no doubt but it is full of errors. I wish you +would talk to Mr. ----- upon this subject as I wish to know by what +means this trick has been played, and from whom the publisher has got +possession of any copy. + +T. PAINE. +"PARIS, December 4, 1795," + +Eaton's cheap edition appeared January 1, 1796, with the above letter +on the reverse of the title. The blank in the note was probably +"Symonds" in the original, and possibly that publisher was imposed +upon. Eaton, already in trouble for printing one of Paine's political +pamphlets, fled to America, and an edition of the "Age of Reason" was +issued under a new title; no publisher appears; it is said to be +"printed for, and sold by all the Booksellers in Great Britain and +Ireland." It is also said to be "By Thomas Paine, author of several +remarkable performances." I have never found any copy of this +anonymous edition except the one in my possession. It is evidently +the edition which was suppressed by the prosecution of Williams for +selling a copy of it. + +A comparison with Paine's revised edition reveals a good many +clerical and verbal errors in Symonds, though few that affect the +sense. The worst are in the preface, where, instead of "1793," the +misleading date "1790" is given as the year at whose close Paine +completed Part First, -- an error that spread far and wide and was +fastened on by his calumnious American "biographer," Cheetham, to +prove his inconsistency. The editors have been fairly demoralized by, +and have altered in different ways, the following sentence of the +preface in Symonds: "The intolerant spirit of religious persecution +had transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, styled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of the Inquisition; and the +Guillotine of the State outdid the Fire and Faggot of the Church." +The rogue who copied this little knew the care with which Paine +weighed words, and that he would never call persecution "religious," +nor connect the guillotine with the "State," nor concede that with +all its horrors it had outdone the history of fire and faggot. What +Paine wrote was: "The intolerant spirit of church persecution had +transferred itself into politics; the tribunals, styled +Revolutionary, supplied the place of an Inquisition and the +Guillotine, of the Stake." + +An original letter of Paine, in the possession of Joseph Cowen, +ex-M.P., which that gentleman permits me to bring to light, besides +being one of general interest makes clear the circumstances of the +original publication. Although the name of the correspondent does not +appear on the letter, it was certainly written to Col. John Fellows +of New York, who copyrighted Part I. of the "Age of Reason." He +published the pamphlets of Joel Barlow, to whom Paine confided his +manuscript on his way to prison. Fellows was afterwards Paine's +intimate friend in New York, and it was chiefly due to him that some +portions of the author's writings, left in manuscript to Madame +Bonneville while she was a freethinker were rescued from her devout +destructiveness after her return to Catholicism. The letter which Mr. +Cowen sends me, is dated at Paris, January 20, 1797. + +"SIR, -- Your friend Mr. Caritat being on the point of his departure +for America, I make it the opportunity of writing to you. I received +two letters from you with some pamphlets a considerable time past, in +which you inform me of your entering a copyright of the first part of +the Age of Reason: when I return to America we will settle for that +matter. + +"As Doctor Franklin has been my intimate friend for thirty years past +you will naturally see the reason of my continuing the connection +with his grandson. I printed here (Paris) about fifteen thousand of +the second part of the Age of Reason, which I sent to Mr. F[ranklin] +Bache. I gave him notice of it in September 1795 and the copy-right +by my own direction was entered by him. The books did not arrive till +April following, but he had advertised it long before. + +"I sent to him in August last a manuscript letter of about 70 pages, +from me to Mr. Washington to be printed in a pamphlet. Mr. Barnes of +Philadelphia carried the letter from me over to London to be +forwarded to America. It went by the ship Hope, Cap: Harley, who +since his return from America told me that he put it into the post +office at New York for Bache. I have yet no certain account of its +publication. I mention this that the letter may be enquired after, in +case it has not been published or has not arrived to Mr. Bache. +Barnes wrote to me, from London 29 August informing me that he was +offered three hundred pounds sterling for the manuscript. The offer +was refused because it was my intention it should not appear till it +appeared in America, as that, and not England was the place for its +operation. + +"You ask me by your letter to Mr. Caritat for a list of my several +works, in order to publish a collection of them. This is an +undertaking I have always reserved for myself. It not only belongs to +me of right, but nobody but myself can do it; and as every author is +accountable (at least in reputation) for his works, he only is the +person to do it. If he neglects it in his life-time the case is +altered. It is my intention to return to America in the course of the +present year. I shall then [do] it by subscription, with historical +notes. As this work will employ many persons in different parts of +the Union, I will confer with you upon the subject, and such part of +it as will suit you to undertake, will be at your choice. I have +sustained so much loss, by disinterestedness and inattention to money +matters, and by accidents, that I am obliged to look closer to my +affairs than I have done. The printer (an Englishman) whom I employed +here to print the second part of 'the Age of Reason' made a +manuscript copy of the work while he was printing it, which he sent +to London and sold. It was by this means that an edition of it came +out in London. + +"We are waiting here for news from America of the state of the +federal elections. You will have heard long before this reaches you +that the French government has refused to receive Mr. Pinckney as +minister. While Mr. Monroe was minister he had the opportunity of +softening matters with this government, for he was in good credit +with them tho' they were in high indignation at the infidelity of the +Washington Administration. It is time that Mr. Washington retire, for +he has played off so much prudent hypocrisy between France and +England that neither government believes anything he says. + +"Your friend, etc., +"THOMAS PAINE." + +It would appear that Symonds' stolen edition must have got ahead of +that sent by Paine to Franklin Bache, for some of its errors continue +in all modern American editions to the present day, as well as in +those of England. For in England it was only the shilling edition -- +that revised by Paine -- which was suppressed. Symonds, who +ministered to the half-crown folk, and who was also publisher of +replies to Paine, was left undisturbed about his pirated edition, and +the new Society for the suppression of Vice and Immorality fastened +on one Thomas Williams, who sold pious tracts but was also convicted +(June 24, 1797) of having sold one copy of the "Age of Reason." +Erskine, who had defended Paine at his trial for the "Rights of Man," +conducted the prosecution of Williams. He gained the victory from a +packed jury, but was not much elated by it, especially after a +certain adventure on his way to Lincoln's Inn. He felt his coat +clutched and beheld at his feet a woman bathed in tears. She led him +into the small book-shop of Thomas Williams, not yet called up for +judgment, and there he beheld his victim stitching tracts in a +wretched little room, where there were three children, two suffering +with Smallpox. He saw that it would be ruin and even a sort of murder +to take away to prison the husband, who was not a freethinker, and +lamented his publication of the book, and a meeting of the Society +which had retained him was summoned. There was a full meeting, the +Bishop of London (Porteus) in the chair. Erskine reminded them that +Williams was yet to be brought up for sentence, described the scene +he had witnessed, and Williams' penitence, and, as the book was now +suppressed, asked permission to move for a nominal sentence. Mercy, +he urged, was a part of the Christianity they were defending. Not one +of the Society took his side, -- not even "philanthropic" Wilberforce +-- and Erskine threw up his brief. This action of Erskine led the +Judge to give Williams only a year in prison instead of the three he +said had been intended. + +While Williams was in prison the orthodox colporteurs were +circulating Erskine's speech on Christianity, but also an anonymous +sermon "On the Existence and Attributes of the Deity," all of which +was from Paine's "Age of Reason," except a brief "Address to the +Deity" appended. This picturesque anomaly was repeated in the +circulation of Paine's "Discourse to the Theophilanthropists" (their +and the author's names removed) under the title of "Atheism Refuted." +Both of these pamphlets are now before me, and beside them a London +tract of one page just sent for my spiritual benefit. This is headed +"A Word of Caution." It begins by mentioning the "pernicious +doctrines of Paine," the first being "that there is No GOD" (sic,) +then proceeds to adduce evidences of divine existence taken from +Paine's works. It should be added that this one dingy page is the +only "survival" of the ancient Paine effigy in the tract form which I +have been able to find in recent years, and to this no Society or +Publisher's name is attached. + +The imprisonment of Williams was the beginning of a thirty years' war +for religious liberty in England, in the course of which occurred +many notable events, such as Eaton receiving homage in his pillory at +Choring Cross, and the whole Carlile family imprisoned, -- its head +imprisoned more than nine years for publishing the "Age of Reason." +This last victory of persecution was suicidal. Gentlemen of wealth, +not adherents of Paine, helped in setting Carlile up in business in +Fleet Street, where free-thinking publications have since been sold +without interruption. But though Liberty triumphed in one sense, the +"Age of Reason." remained to some extent suppressed among those whose +attention it especially merited. Its original prosecution by a +Society for the Suppression of Vice (a device to, relieve the Crown) +amounted to a libel upon a morally clean book, restricting its +perusal in families; and the fact that the shilling book sold by and +among humble people was alone prosecuted, diffused among the educated +an equally false notion that the "Age of Reason" was vulgar and +illiterate. The theologians, as we have seen, estimated more justly +the ability of their antagonist, the collaborator of Franklin, +Rittenhouse, and Clymer, on whom the University of Pennsylvania had +conferred the degree of Master of Arts, -- but the gentry confused +Paine with the class described by Burke as "the swinish multitude." +Skepticism, or its free utterance, was temporarily driven out of +polite circles by its complication with the out-lawed vindicator of +the "Rights of Man." But that long combat has now passed away. Time +has reduced the "Age of Reason" from a flag of popular radicalism to +a comparatively conservative treatise, so far as its negations are +concerned. An old friend tells me that in his youth he heard a sermon +in which the preacher declared that "Tom Paine was so wicked that he +could not be buried; his bones were thrown into a box which was +bandied about the world till it came to a button-manufacturer; and +now Paine is travelling round the world in the form of buttons!" This +variant of the Wandering Jew myth may now be regarded as unconscious +homage to the author whose metaphorical bones may be recognized in +buttons now fashionable, and some even found useful in holding +clerical vestments together. + +But the careful reader will find in Paine's "Age of Reason" something +beyond negations, and in conclusion I will especially call attention +to the new departure in Theism indicated in a passage corresponding +to a famous aphorism of Kant, indicated by a note in Part II. The +discovery already mentioned, that Part I. was written at least +fourteen years before Part II., led me to compare the two; and it is +plain that while the earlier work is an amplification of Newtonian +Deism, based on the phenomena of planetary motion, the work of 1795 +bases belief in God on "the universal display of himself in the works +of the creation and by that repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad +actions, and disposition to do good ones." This exaltation of the +moral nature of man to be the foundation of theistic religion, though +now familiar, was a hundred years ago a new affirmation; it has led +on a conception of deity subversive of last-century deism, it has +steadily humanized religion, and its ultimate philosophical and +ethical results have not yet been reached. + + + +CHAPTER I - THE AUTHOR'S PROFESSION OF FAITH. + +IT has been my intention, for several years past, to publish my +thoughts upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that +attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a +more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I +should make to my fellow-citizens of all nations, and that at a time +when the purity of the motive that induced me to it could not admit +of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work. + +The circumstance that has now taken place in France, of the total +abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of +everything appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and +compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, +but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the +general wreck of superstition, of false systems of government, and +false theology, we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the +theology that is true. + +As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow-citizens of +France, have given me the example of making their voluntary and +individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this +with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man +communicates with itself. + +I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond +this life. + +I believe the equality of man, and I believe that religious duties +consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our +fellow-creatures happy. + +But, lest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in +addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the +things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them. + +I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the +Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the +Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is +my own church. + +All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or +Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to +terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. + +I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe +otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to +mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be +mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in +believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe +what he does not believe. + +It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express +it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far +corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe +his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has +prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up +the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify +himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive +anything more destructive to morality than this? + +Soon after I had published the pamphlet COMMON SENSE, in America, I +saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of +government would be followed by a revolution in the system of +religion. The adulterous connection of church and state, wherever it +had taken place, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, had so +effectually prohibited, by pains and penalties, every discussion upon +established creeds, and upon first principles of religion, that until +the system of government should be changed, those subjects could not +be brought fairly and openly before the world; but that whenever this +should be done, a revolution in the system of religion would follow. +Human inventions and priest-craft would be detected; and man would +return to the pure, unmixed, and unadulterated belief of one God, and +no more. + +CHAPTER II - OF MISSIONS AND REVELATIONS. + +EVERY national church or religion has established itself by +pretending some special mission from God, communicated to certain +individuals. The Jews have their Moses; the Christians their Jesus +Christ, their apostles and saints; and the Turks their Mahomet; as if +the way to God was not open to every man alike. + +Each of those churches shows certain books, which they call +revelation, or the Word of God. The Jews say that their Word of God +was given by God to Moses face to face; the Christians say, that +their Word of God came by divine inspiration; and the Turks say, that +their Word of God (the Koran) was brought by an angel from heaven. +Each of those churches accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own +part, I disbelieve them all. + +As it is necessary to affix right ideas to words, I will, before I +proceed further into the subject, offer some observations on the word +'revelation.' Revelation when applied to religion, means something +communicated immediately from God to man. + +No one will deny or dispute the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication if he pleases. But admitting, for the sake of a case, +that something has been revealed to a certain person, and not +revealed to any other person, it is revelation to that person only. +When he tells it to a second person, a second to a third, a third to +a fourth, and so on, it ceases to be a revelation to all those +persons. It is revelation to the first person only, and hearsay to +every other, and, consequently, they are not obliged to believe it. + +It is a contradiction in terms and ideas to call anything a +revelation that comes to us at second hand, either verbally or in +writing. Revelation is necessarily limited to the first +communication. After this, it is only an account of something which +that person says was a revelation made to him; and though he may find +himself obliged to believe it, it cannot be incumbent on me to +believe it in the same manner, for it was not a revelation made to +me, and I have only his word for it that it was made to him. + +When Moses told the children of Israel that he received the two +tables of the commandments from the hand of God, they were not +obliged to believe him, because they had no other authority for it +than his telling them so; and I have no other authority for it than +some historian telling me so, the commandments carrying no internal +evidence of divinity with them. They contain some good moral precepts +such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could +produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural +intervention. [NOTE: It is, however, necessary to except the +declamation which says that God 'visits the sins of the fathers upon +the children'. This is contrary to every principle of moral justice. +-- Author.] + +When I am told that the Koran was written in Heaven, and brought to +Mahomet by an angel, the account comes to near the same kind of +hearsay evidence and second hand authority as the former. I did not +see the angel myself, and therefore I have a right not to believe it. + +When also I am told that a woman, called the Virgin Mary, said, or +gave out, that she was with child without any cohabitation with a +man, and that her betrothed husband, Joseph, said that an angel told +him so, I have a right to believe them or not: such a circumstance +required a much stronger evidence than their bare word for it: but we +have not even this; for neither Joseph nor Mary wrote any such matter +themselves. It is only reported by others that they said so. It is +hearsay upon hearsay, and I do not chose to rest my belief upon such +evidence. + +It is, however, not difficult to account for the credit that was +given to the story of Jesus Christ being the Son of God. He was born +when the heathen mythology had still some fashion and repute in the +world, and that mythology had prepared the people for the belief of +such a story. Almost all the extraordinary men that lived under the +heathen mythology were reputed to be the sons of some of their gods. +It was not a new thing at that time to believe a man to have been +celestially begotten; the intercourse of gods with women was then a +matter of familiar opinion. Their Jupiter, according to their +accounts, had cohabited with hundreds; the story therefore had +nothing in it either new, wonderful, or obscene; it was conformable +to the opinions that then prevailed among the people called Gentiles, +or mythologists, and it was those people only that believed it. The +Jews, who had kept strictly to the belief of one God, and no more, +and who had always rejected the heathen mythology, never credited the +story. + +It is curious to observe how the theory of what is called the +Christian Church, sprung out of the tail of the heathen mythology. A +direct incorporation took place in the first instance, by making the +reputed founder to be celestially begotten. The trinity of gods that +then followed was no other than a reduction of the former plurality, +which was about twenty or thirty thousand. The statue of Mary +succeeded the statue of Diana of Ephesus. The deification of heroes +changed into the canonization of saints. The Mythologists had gods +for everything; the Christian Mythologists had saints for everything. +The church became as crowded with the one, as the pantheon had been +with the other; and Rome was the place of both. The Christian theory +is little else than the idolatry of the ancient mythologists, +accommodated to the purposes of power and revenue; and it yet remains +to reason and philosophy to abolish the amphibious fraud. + +CHAPTER III - CONCERNING THE CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST, AND HIS +HISTORY. + +NOTHING that is here said can apply, even with the most distant +disrespect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was a virtuous +and an amiable man. The morality that he preached and practiced was +of the most benevolent kind; and though similar systems of morality +had been preached by Confucius, and by some of the Greek +philosophers, many years before, by the Quakers since, and by many +good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any. + +Jesus Christ wrote no account of himself, of his birth, parentage, or +anything else. Not a line of what is called the New Testament is of +his writing. The history of him is altogether the work of other +people; and as to the account given of his resurrection and +ascension, it was the necessary counterpart to the story of his +birth. His historians, having brought him into the world in a +supernatural manner, were obliged to take him out again in the same +manner, or the first part of the story must have fallen to the ground. + +The wretched contrivance with which this latter part is told, exceeds +everything that went before it. The first part, that of the +miraculous conception, was not a thing that admitted of publicity; +and therefore the tellers of this part of the story had this +advantage, that though they might not be credited, they could not be +detected. They could not be expected to prove it, because it was not +one of those things that admitted of proof, and it was impossible +that the person of whom it was told could prove it himself. + +But the resurrection of a dead person from the grave, and his +ascension through the air, is a thing very different, as to the +evidence it admits of, to the invisible conception of a child in the +womb. The resurrection and ascension, supposing them to have taken +place, admitted of public and ocular demonstration, like that of the +ascension of a balloon, or the sun at noon day, to all Jerusalem at +least. A thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that +the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal; +and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only +evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it +falls to the ground, because that evidence never was given. Instead +of this, a small number of persons, not more than eight or nine, are +introduced as proxies for the whole world, to say they saw it, and +all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But it +appears that Thomas did not believe the resurrection; and, as they +say, would not believe without having ocular and manual demonstration +himself. So neither will I; and the reason is equally as good for me, +and for every other person, as for Thomas. + +It is in vain to attempt to palliate or disguise this matter. The +story, so far as relates to the supernatural part, has every mark of +fraud and imposition stamped upon the face of it. Who were the +authors of it is as impossible for us now to know, as it is for us to +be assured that the books in which the account is related were +written by the persons whose names they bear. The best surviving +evidence we now have respecting this affair is the Jews. They are +regularly descended from the people who lived in the time this +resurrection and ascension is said to have happened, and they say 'it +is not true.' It has long appeared to me a strange inconsistency to +cite the Jews as a proof of the truth of the story. It is just the +same as if a man were to say, I will prove the truth of what I have +told you, by producing the people who say it is false. + +That such a person as Jesus Christ existed, and that he was +crucified, which was the mode of execution at that day, are +historical relations strictly within the limits of probability. He +preached most excellent morality, and the equality of man; but he +preached also against the corruptions and avarice of the Jewish +priests, and this brought upon him the hatred and vengeance of the +whole order of priest-hood. The accusation which those priests +brought against him was that of sedition and conspiracy against the +Roman government, to which the Jews were then subject and tributary; +and it is not improbable that the Roman government might have some +secret apprehension of the effects of his doctrine as well as the +Jewish priests; neither is it improbable that Jesus Christ had in +contemplation the delivery of the Jewish nation from the bondage of +the Romans. Between the two, however, this virtuous reformer and +revolutionist lost his life. [NOTE: The French work has here: +"However this may be, for one or the other of these suppositions this +virtuous reformer, this revolutionist, too little imitated, too much +forgotten, too much misunderstood, lost his life." -- Editor. (Conway)] + +CHAPTER IV - OF THE BASES OF CHRISTIANITY. + +IT is upon this plain narrative of facts, together with another case +I am going to mention, that the Christian mythologists, calling +themselves the Christian Church, have erected their fable, which for +absurdity and extravagance is not exceeded by anything that is to be +found in the mythology of the ancients. + +The ancient mythologists tell us that the race of Giants made war +against Jupiter, and that one of them threw a hundred rocks against +him at one throw; that Jupiter defeated him with thunder, and +confined him afterwards under Mount Etna; and that every time the +Giant turns himself, Mount Etna belches fire. It is here easy to see +that the circumstance of the mountain, that of its being a volcano, +suggested the idea of the fable; and that the fable is made to fit +and wind itself up with that circumstance. + +The Christian mythologists tell that their Satan made war against the +Almighty, who defeated him, and confined him afterwards, not under a +mountain, but in a pit. It is here easy to see that the first fable +suggested the idea of the second; for the fable of Jupiter and the +Giants was told many hundred years before that of Satan. + +Thus far the ancient and the Christian mythologists differ very +little from each other. But the latter have contrived to carry the +matter much farther. They have contrived to connect the fabulous part +of the story of Jesus Christ with the fable originating from Mount +Etna; and, in order to make all the parts of the story tie together, +they have taken to their aid the traditions of the Jews; for the +Christian mythology is made up partly from the ancient mythology, and +partly from the Jewish traditions. + +The Christian mythologists, after having confined Satan in a pit, +were obliged to let him out again to bring on the sequel of the +fable. He is then introduced into the garden of Eden in the shape of +a snake, or a serpent, and in that shape he enters into familiar +conversation with Eve, who is no ways surprised to hear a snake talk; +and the issue of this tete-a-tate is, that he persuades her to eat an +apple, and the eating of that apple damns all mankind. + +After giving Satan this triumph over the whole creation, one would +have supposed that the church mythologists would have been kind +enough to send him back again to the pit, or, if they had not done +this, that they would have put a mountain upon him, (for they say +that their faith can remove a mountain) or have put him under a +mountain, as the former mythologists had done, to prevent his getting +again among the women, and doing more mischief. But instead of this, +they leave him at large, without even obliging him to give his +parole. The secret of which is, that they could not do without him; +and after being at the trouble of making him, they bribed him to +stay. They promised him ALL the Jews, ALL the Turks by anticipation, +nine-tenths of the world beside, and Mahomet into the bargain. After +this, who can doubt the bountifulness of the Christian Mythology? + +Having thus made an insurrection and a battle in heaven, in which +none of the combatants could be either killed or wounded -- put Satan +into the pit -- let him out again -- given him a triumph over the +whole creation -- damned all mankind by the eating of an apple, there +Christian mythologists bring the two ends of their fable together. +They represent this virtuous and amiable man, Jesus Christ, to be at +once both God and man, and also the Son of God, celestially begotten, +on purpose to be sacrificed, because they say that Eve in her longing +[NOTE: The French work has: "yielding to an unrestrained appetite." -- +Editor.] had eaten an apple. + +CHAPTER V - EXAMINATION IN DETAIL OF THE PRECEDING BASES. + +PUTTING aside everything that might excite laughter by its absurdity, +or detestation by its profaneness, and confining ourselves merely to +an examination of the parts, it is impossible to conceive a story +more derogatory to the Almighty, more inconsistent with his wisdom, +more contradictory to his power, than this story is. + +In order to make for it a foundation to rise upon, the inventors were +under the necessity of giving to the being whom they call Satan a +power equally as great, if not greater, than they attribute to the +Almighty. They have not only given him the power of liberating +himself from the pit, after what they call his fall, but they have +made that power increase afterwards to infinity. Before this fall +they represent him only as an angel of limited existence, as they +represent the rest. After his fall, he becomes, by their account, +omnipresent. He exists everywhere, and at the same time. He occupies +the whole immensity of space. + +Not content with this deification of Satan, they represent him as +defeating by stratagem, in the shape of an animal of the creation, +all the power and wisdom of the Almighty. They represent him as +having compelled the Almighty to the direct necessity either of +surrendering the whole of the creation to the government and +sovereignty of this Satan, or of capitulating for its redemption by +coming down upon earth, and exhibiting himself upon a cross in the +shape of a man. + +Had the inventors of this story told it the contrary way, that is, +had they represented the Almighty as compelling Satan to exhibit +himself on a cross in the shape of a snake, as a punishment for his +new transgression, the story would have been less absurd, less +contradictory. But, instead of this they make the transgressor +triumph, and the Almighty fall. + +That many good men have believed this strange fable, and lived very +good lives under that belief (for credulity is not a crime) is what I +have no doubt of. In the first place, they were educated to believe +it, and they would have believed anything else in the same manner. +There are also many who have been so enthusiastically enraptured by +what they conceived to be the infinite love of God to man, in making +a sacrifice of himself, that the vehemence of the idea has forbidden +and deterred them from examining into the absurdity and profaneness +of the story. The more unnatural anything is, the more is it capable +of becoming the object of dismal admiration. [NOTE: The French work +has "blind and" preceding dismal. -- Editor.] + +CHAPTER VI - OF THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +BUT if objects for gratitude and admiration are our desire, do they +not present themselves every hour to our eyes? Do we not see a fair +creation prepared to receive us the instant we are born -- a world +furnished to our hands, that cost us nothing? Is it we that light up +the sun; that pour down the rain; and fill the earth with abundance? +Whether we sleep or wake, the vast machinery of the universe still +goes on. Are these things, and the blessings they indicate in future, +nothing to, us? Can our gross feelings be excited by no other +subjects than tragedy and suicide? Or is the gloomy pride of man +become so intolerable, that nothing can flatter it but a sacrifice of +the Creator? + +I know that this bold investigation will alarm many, but it would be +paying too great a compliment to their, credulity to forbear it on +that account. The times and the subject demand it to be done. The +suspicion that the theory of what is called the Christian church is +fabulous, is becoming very extensive in all countries; and it will be +a consolation to men staggering under that suspicion, and doubting +what to believe and what to disbelieve, to see the subject freely +investigated. I therefore pass on to an examination of the books +called the Old and the New Testament. + +CHAPTER VII - EXAMINATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. + +THESE books, beginning with Genesis and ending with Revelations, +(which, by the bye, is a book of riddles that requires a revelation +to explain it) are, we are told, the word of God. It is, therefore, +proper for us to know who told us so, that we may know what credit to +give to the report. The answer to this question is, that nobody can +tell, except that we tell one another so. The case, however, +historically appears to be as follows: + +When the church mythologists established their system, they collected +all the writings they could find, and managed them as they pleased. +It is a matter altogether of uncertainty to us whether such of the +writings as now appear under the name of the Old and the New +Testament, are in the same state in which those collectors say they +found them; or whether they added, altered, abridged, or dressed them +up. + +Be this as it may, they decided by vote which of the books out of the +collection they had made, should be the WORD OF GOD, and which should +not. They rejected several; they voted others to be doubtful, such as +the books called the Apocrypha; and those books which had a majority +of votes, were voted to be the word of God. Had they voted otherwise, +all the people since calling themselves Christians had believed +otherwise; for the belief of the one comes from the vote of the +other. Who the people were that did all this, we know nothing of. +They call themselves by the general name of the Church; and this is +all we know of the matter. + +As we have no other external evidence or authority for believing +these books to be the word of God, than what I have mentioned, which +is no evidence or authority at all, I come, in the next place, to +examine the internal evidence contained in the books themselves. + +In the former part of this essay, I have spoken of revelation. I now +proceed further with that subject, for the purpose of applying it to +the books in question. + +Revelation is a communication of something, which the person, to whom +that thing is revealed, did not know before. For if I have done a +thing, or seen it done, it needs no revelation to tell me I have done +it, or seen it, nor to enable me to tell it, or to write it. + +Revelation, therefore, cannot be applied to anything done upon earth +of which man is himself the actor or the witness; and consequently +all the historical and anecdotal part of the Bible, which is almost +the whole of it, is not within the meaning and compass of the word +revelation, and, therefore, is not the word of God. + +When Samson ran off with the gate-posts of Gaza, if he ever did so, +(and whether he did or not is nothing to us,) or when he visited his +Delilah, or caught his foxes, or did anything else, what has +revelation to do with these things? If they were facts, he could tell +them himself; or his secretary, if he kept one, could write them, if +they were worth either telling or writing; and if they were fictions, +revelation could not make them true; and whether true or not, we are +neither the better nor the wiser for knowing them. When we +contemplate the immensity of that Being, who directs and governs the +incomprehensible WHOLE, of which the utmost ken of human sight can +discover but a part, we ought to feel shame at calling such paltry +stories the word of God. + +As to the account of the creation, with which the book of Genesis +opens, it has all the appearance of being a tradition which the +Israelites had among them before they came into Egypt; and after +their departure from that country, they put it at the head of their +history, without telling, as it is most probable that they did not +know, how they came by it. The manner in which the account opens, +shows it to be traditionary. It begins abruptly. It is nobody that +speaks. It is nobody that hears. It is addressed to nobody. It has +neither first, second, nor third person. It has every criterion of +being a tradition. It has no voucher. Moses does not take it upon +himself by introducing it with the formality that he uses on other +occasions, such as that of saying, "The Lords spake unto Moses, +saying." + +Why it has been called the Mosaic account of the creation, I am at a +loss to conceive. Moses, I believe, was too good a judge of such +subjects to put his name to that account. He had been educated among +the Egyptians, who were a people as well skilled in science, and +particularly in astronomy, as any people of their day; and the +silence and caution that Moses observes, in not authenticating the +account, is a good negative evidence that he neither told it nor +believed it. -- The case is, that every nation of people has been +world-makers, and the Israelites had as much right to set up the +trade of world-making as any of the rest; and as Moses was not an +Israelite, he might not chose to contradict the tradition. The +account, however, is harmless; and this is more than can be said for +many other parts of the Bible. + +Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, +the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, +with which more than half the Bible [NOTE: It must be borne in mind +that by the "Bible" Paine always means the Old Testament alone. -- +Editor.] is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the +word of a demon, than the Word of God. It is a history of wickedness, +that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own +part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. + +We scarcely meet with anything, a few phrases excepted, but what +deserves either our abhorrence or our contempt, till we come to the +miscellaneous parts of the Bible. In the anonymous publications, the +Psalms, and the Book of Job, more particularly in the latter, we find +a great deal of elevated sentiment reverentially expressed of the +power and benignity of the Almighty; but they stand on no higher rank +than many other compositions on similar subjects, as well before that +time as since. + +The Proverbs which are said to be Solomon's, though most probably a +collection, (because they discover a knowledge of life, which his +situation excluded him from knowing) are an instructive table of +ethics. They are inferior in keenness to the proverbs of the +Spaniards, and not more wise and oeconomical than those of the +American Franklin. + +All the remaining parts of the Bible, generally known by the name of +the Prophets, are the works of the Jewish poets and itinerant +preachers, who mixed poetry, anecdote, and devotion together -- and +those works still retain the air and style of poetry, though in +translation. [NOTE: As there are many readers who do not see that a +composition is poetry, unless it be in rhyme, it is for their +information that I add this note. + +Poetry consists principally in two things -- imagery and composition. +The composition of poetry differs from that of prose in the manner of +mixing long and short syllables together. Take a long syllable out of +a line of poetry, and put a short one in the room of it, or put a +long syllable where a short one should be, and that line will lose +its poetical harmony. It will have an effect upon the line like that +of misplacing a note in a song. + +The imagery in those books called the Prophets appertains altogether +to poetry. It is fictitious, and often extravagant, and not +admissible in any other kind of writing than poetry. + +To show that these writings are composed in poetical numbers, I will +take ten syllables, as they stand in the book, and make a line of the +same number of syllables, (heroic measure) that shall rhyme with the +last word. It will then be seen that the composition of those books +is poetical measure. The instance I shall first produce is from +Isaiah: -- + + "Hear, O ye heavens, and give ear, O earth + 'T is God himself that calls attention forth. + +Another instance I shall quote is from the mournful Jeremiah, to +which I shall add two other lines, for the purpose of carrying out +the figure, and showing the intention of the poet. + + "O, that mine head were waters and mine eyes + Were fountains flowing like the liquid skies; + Then would I give the mighty flood release + And weep a deluge for the human race." -- Author.] + +There is not, throughout the whole book called the Bible, any word +that describes to us what we call a poet, nor any word that describes +what we call poetry. The case is, that the word prophet, to which a +later times have affixed a new idea, was the Bible word for poet, and +the word 'propesytng' meant the art of making poetry. It also meant +the art of playing poetry to a tune upon any instrument of music. + +We read of prophesying with pipes, tabrets, and horns -- of +prophesying with harps, with psalteries, with cymbals, and with every +other instrument of music then in fashion. Were we now to speak of +prophesying with a fiddle, or with a pipe and tabor, the expression +would have no meaning, or would appear ridiculous, and to some people +contemptuous, because we have changed the meaning of the word. + +We are told of Saul being among the prophets, and also that he +prophesied; but we are not told what they prophesied, nor what he +prophesied. The case is, there was nothing to tell; for these +prophets were a company of musicians and poets, and Saul joined in +the concert, and this was called prophesying. + +The account given of this affair in the book called Samuel, is, that +Saul met a company of prophets; a whole company of them! coming down +with a psaltery, a tabret, a pipe, and a harp, and that they +prophesied, and that he prophesied with them. But it appears +afterwards, that Saul prophesied badly, that is, he performed his +part badly; for it is said that an "evil spirit from God [NOTE: As +thos; men who call themselves divines and commentators are very fond +of puzzling one another, I leave them to contest the meaning of the +first part of the phrase, that of an evil spirit of God. I keep to +my text. I keep to the meaning of the word prophesy. -- Author.] came +upon Saul, and he prophesied." + +Now, were there no other passage in the book called the Bible, than +this, to demonstrate to us that we have lost the original meaning of +the word prophesy, and substituted another meaning in its place, this +alone would be sufficient; for it is impossible to use and apply the +word prophesy, in the place it is here used and applied, if we give +to it the sense which later times have affixed to it. The manner in +which it is here used strips it of all religious meaning, and shews +that a man might then be a prophet, or he might Prophesy, as he may +now be a poet or a musician, without any regard to the morality or +the immorality of his character. The word was originally a term of +science, promiscuously applied to poetry and to music, and not +restricted to any subject upon which poetry and music might be +exercised. + +Deborah and Barak are called prophets, not because they predicted +anything, but because they composed the poem or song that bears their +name, in celebration of an act already done. David is ranked among +the prophets, for he was a musician, and was also reputed to be +(though perhaps very erroneously) the author of the Psalms. But +Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not called prophets; it does not appear +from any accounts we have, that they could either sing, play music, +or make poetry. + +We are told of the greater and the lesser prophets. They might as +well tell us of the greater and the lesser God; for there cannot be +degrees in prophesying consistently with its modern sense. But there +are degrees in poetry, and there-fore the phrase is reconcilable to +the case, when we understand by it the greater and the lesser poets. + +It is altogether unnecessary, after this, to offer any observations +upon what those men, styled prophets, have written. The axe goes at +once to the root, by showing that the original meaning of the word +has been mistaken, and consequently all the inferences that have been +drawn from those books, the devotional respect that has been paid to +them, and the laboured commentaries that have been written upon them, +under that mistaken meaning, are not worth disputing about. -- In +many things, however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a +better fate than that of being bound up, as they now are, with the +trash that accompanies them, under the abused name of the Word of God. + +If we permit ourselves to conceive right ideas of things, we must +necessarily affix the idea, not only of unchangeableness, but of the +utter impossibility of any change taking place, by any means or +accident whatever, in that which we would honour with the name of the +Word of God; and therefore the Word of God cannot exist in any +written or human language. + +The continually progressive change to which the meaning of words is +subject, the want of an universal language which renders translation +necessary, the errors to which translations are again subject, the +mistakes of copyists and printers, together with the possibility of +wilful alteration, are of themselves evidences that human language, +whether in speech or in print, cannot be the vehicle of the Word of +God. -- The Word of God exists in something else. + +Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of ideas and expression +all the books now extant in the world, I would not take it for my +rule of faith, as being the Word of God; because the possibility +would nevertheless exist of my being imposed upon. But when I see +throughout the greatest part of this book scarcely anything but a +history of the grossest vices, and a collection of the most paltry +and contemptible tales, I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it +by his name. + +CHAPTER VIII - OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. + +THUS much for the Bible; I now go on to the book called the New +Testament. The new Testament! that is, the 'new' Will, as if there +could be two wills of the Creator. + +Had it been the object or the intention of Jesus Christ to establish +a new religion, he would undoubtedly have written the system himself, +or procured it to be written in his life time. But there is no +publication extant authenticated with his name. All the books called +the New Testament were written after his death. He was a Jew by birth +and by profession; and he was the son of God in like manner that +every other person is; for the Creator is the Father of All. + +The first four books, called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, do not +give a history of the life of Jesus Christ, but only detached +anecdotes of him. It appears from these books, that the whole time of +his being a preacher was not more than eighteen months; and it was +only during this short time that those men became acquainted with +him. They make mention of him at the age of twelve years, sitting, +they say, among the Jewish doctors, asking and answering them +questions. As this was several years before their acquaintance with +him began, it is most probable they had this anecdote from his +parents. From this time there is no account of him for about sixteen +years. Where he lived, or how he employed himself during this +interval, is not known. Most probably he was working at his father's +trade, which was that of a carpenter. It does not appear that he had +any school education, and the probability is, that he could not +write, for his parents were extremely poor, as appears from their not +being able to pay for a bed when he was born. [NOTE: One of the few +errors traceable to Paine's not having a Bible at hand while writing +Part I. There is no indication that the family was poor, but the +reverse may in fact be inferred. -- Editor.] + +It is somewhat curious that the three persons whose names are the +most universally recorded were of very obscure parentage. Moses was a +foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule +driver. The first and the last of these men were founders of +different systems of religion; but Jesus Christ founded no new +system. He called men to the practice of moral virtues, and the +belief of one God. The great trait in his character is philanthropy. + +The manner in which he was apprehended shows that he was not much +known, at that time; and it shows also that the meetings he then held +with his followers were in secret; and that he had given over or +suspended preaching publicly. Judas could no otherways betray him +than by giving information where he was, and pointing him out to the +officers that went to arrest him; and the reason for employing and +paying Judas to do this could arise only from the causes already +mentioned, that of his not being much known, and living concealed. + +The idea of his concealment, not only agrees very ill with his +reputed divinity, but associates with it something of pusillanimity; +and his being betrayed, or in other words, his being apprehended, on +the information of one of his followers, shows that he did not intend +to be apprehended, and consequently that he did not intend to be +crucified. + +The Christian mythologists tell us that Christ died for the sins of +the world, and that he came on Purpose to die. Would it not then have +been the same if he had died of a fever or of the small pox, of old +age, or of anything else? + +The declaratory sentence which, they say, was passed upon Adam, in +case he ate of the apple, was not, that thou shalt surely be +crucified, but, thou shale surely die. The sentence was death, and +not the manner of dying. Crucifixion, therefore, or any other +particular manner of dying, made no part of the sentence that Adam +was to suffer, and consequently, even upon their own tactic, it could +make no part of the sentence that Christ was to suffer in the room of +Adam. A fever would have done as well as a cross, if there was any +occasion for either. + +This sentence of death, which, they tell us, was thus passed upon +Adam, must either have meant dying naturally, that is, ceasing to +live, or have meant what these mythologists call damnation; and +consequently, the act of dying on the part of Jesus Christ, must, +according to their system, apply as a prevention to one or other of +these two things happening to Adam and to us. + +That it does not prevent our dying is evident, because we all die; +and if their accounts of longevity be true, men die faster since the +crucifixion than before: and with respect to the second explanation, +(including with it the natural death of Jesus Christ as a substitute +for the eternal death or damnation of all mankind,) it is +impertinently representing the Creator as coming off, or revoking the +sentence, by a pun or a quibble upon the word death. That +manufacturer of, quibbles, St. Paul, if he wrote the books that bear +his name, has helped this quibble on by making another quibble upon +the word Adam. He makes there to be two Adams; the one who sins in +fact, and suffers by proxy; the other who sins by proxy, and suffers +in fact. A religion thus interlarded with quibble, subterfuge, and +pun, has a tendency to instruct its professors in the practice of +these arts. They acquire the habit without being aware of the cause. + +If Jesus Christ was the being which those mythologists tell us he +was, and that he came into this world to suffer, which is a word they +sometimes use instead of 'to die,' the only real suffering he could +have endured would have been 'to live.' His existence here was a +state of exilement or transportation from heaven, and the way back to +his original country was to die. -- In fine, everything in this +strange system is the reverse of what it pretends to be. It is the +reverse of truth, and I become so tired of examining into its +inconsistencies and absurdities, that I hasten to the conclusion of +it, in order to proceed to something better. + +How much, or what parts of the books called the New Testament, were +written by the persons whose names they bear, is what we can know +nothing of, neither are we certain in what language they were +originally written. The matters they now contain may be classed under +two heads: anecdote, and epistolary correspondence. + +The four books already mentioned, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are +altogether anecdotal. They relate events after they had taken place. +They tell what Jesus Christ did and said, and what others did and +said to him; and in several instances they relate the same event +differently. Revelation is necessarily out of the question with +respect to those books; not only because of the disagreement of the +writers, but because revelation cannot be applied to the relating of +facts by the persons who saw them done, nor to the relating or +recording of any discourse or conversation by those who heard it. The +book called the Acts of the Apostles (an anonymous work) belongs also +to the anecdotal part. + +All the other parts of the New Testament, except the book of enigmas, +called the Revelations, are a collection of letters under the name of +epistles; and the forgery of letters has been such a common practice +in the world, that the probability is at least equal, whether they +are genuine or forged. One thing, however, is much less equivocal, +which is, that out of the matters contained in those books, together +with the assistance of some old stories, the church has set up a +system of religion very contradictory to the character of the person +whose name it bears. It has set up a religion of pomp and of revenue +in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and +poverty. + +The invention of a purgatory, and of the releasing of souls +therefrom, by prayers, bought of the church with money; the selling +of pardons, dispensations, and indulgences, are revenue laws, without +bearing that name or carrying that appearance. But the case +nevertheless is, that those things derive their origin from the +proxysm of the crucifixion, and the theory deduced therefrom, which +was, that one person could stand in the place of another, and could +perform meritorious services for him. The probability, therefore, is, +that the whole theory or doctrine of what is called the redemption +(which is said to have been accomplished by the act of one person in +the room of another) was originally fabricated on purpose to bring +forward and build all those secondary and pecuniary redemptions upon; +and that the passages in the books upon which the idea of theory of +redemption is built, have been manufactured and fabricated for that +purpose. Why are we to give this church credit, when she tells us +that those books are genuine in every part, any more than we give her +credit for everything else she has told us; or for the miracles she +says she has performed? That she could fabricate writings is certain, +because she could write; and the composition of the writings in +question, is of that kind that anybody might do it; and that she did +fabricate them is not more inconsistent with probability, than that +she should tell us, as she has done, that she could and did work +miracles. + +Since, then, no external evidence can, at this long distance of time, +be produced to prove whether the church fabricated the doctrine +called redemption or not, (for such evidence, whether for or against, +would be subject to the same suspicion of being fabricated,) the case +can only be referred to the internal evidence which the thing carries +of itself; and this affords a very strong presumption of its being a +fabrication. For the internal evidence is, that the theory or +doctrine of redemption has for its basis an idea of pecuniary +justice, and not that of moral justice. + +If I owe a person money, and cannot pay him, and he threatens to put +me in prison, another person can take the debt upon himself, and pay +it for me. But if I have committed a crime, every circumstance of the +case is changed. Moral justice cannot take the innocent for the +guilty even if the innocent would offer itself. To suppose justice to +do this, is to destroy the principle of its existence, which is the +thing itself. It is then no longer justice. It is indiscriminate +revenge. + +This single reflection will show that the doctrine of redemption is +founded on a mere pecuniary idea corresponding to that of a debt +which another person might pay; and as this pecuniary idea +corresponds again with the system of second redemptions, obtained +through the means of money given to the church for pardons, the +probability is that the same persons fabricated both the one and the +other of those theories; and that, in truth, there is no such thing +as redemption; that it is fabulous; and that man stands in the same +relative condition with his Maker he ever did stand, since man +existed; and that it is his greatest consolation to think so. + +Let him believe this, and he will live more consistently and morally, +than by any other system. It is by his being taught to contemplate +himself as an out-law, as an out-cast, as a beggar, as a mumper, as +one thrown as it were on a dunghill, at an immense distance from his +Creator, and who must make his approaches by creeping, and cringing +to intermediate beings, that he conceives either a contemptuous +disregard for everything under the name of religion, or becomes +indifferent, or turns what he calls devout. In the latter case, he +consumes his life in grief, or the affectation of it. His prayers are +reproaches. His humility is ingratitude. He calls himself a worm, and +the fertile earth a dunghill; and all the blessings of life by the +thankless name of vanities. He despises the choicest gift of God to +man, the GIFT OF REASON; and having endeavoured to force upon himself +the belief of a system against which reason revolts, he ungratefully +calls it human reason, as if man could give reason to himself. + +Yet, with all this strange appearance of humility, and this contempt +for human reason, he ventures into the boldest presumptions. He finds +fault with everything. His selfishness is never satisfied; his +ingratitude is never at an end. He takes on himself to direct the +Almighty what to do, even in the govemment of the universe. He prays +dictatorially. When it is sunshine, he prays for rain, and when it is +rain, he prays for sunshine. He follows the same idea in everything +that he prays for; for what is the amount of all his prayers, but an +attempt to make the Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise than +he does? It is as if he were to say -- thou knowest not so well as I. + +CHAPTER IX - IN WHAT THE TRUE REVELATION CONSISTS. + +BUT some perhaps will say -- Are we to have no word of God -- no +revelation? I answer yes. There is a Word of God; there is a +revelation. + +THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, +which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh +universally to man. + +Human language is local and changeable, and is therefore incapable of +being used as the means of unchangeable and universal information. +The idea that God sent Jesus Christ to publish, as they say, the glad +tidings to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other, is +consistent only with the ignorance of those who know nothing of the +extent of the world, and who believed, as those world-saviours +believed, and continued to believe for several centuries, (and that +in contradiction to the discoveries of philosophers and the +experience of navigators,) that the earth was flat like a trencher; +and that a man might walk to the end of it. + +But how was Jesus Christ to make anything known to all nations? He +could speak but one language, which was Hebrew; and there are in the +world several hundred languages. Scarcely any two nations speak the +same language, or understand each other; and as to translations, +every man who knows anything of languages, knows that it is +impossible to translate from one language into another, not only +without losing a great part of the original, but frequently of +mistaking the sense; and besides all this, the art of printing was +wholly unknown at the time Christ lived. + +It is always necessary that the means that are to accomplish any end +be equal to the accomplishment of that end, or the end cannot be +accomplished. It is in this that the difference between finite and +infinite power and wisdom discovers itself. Man frequently fails in +accomplishing his end, from a natural inability of the power to the +purpose; and frequently from the want of wisdom to apply power +properly. But it is impossible for infinite power and wisdom to fail +as man faileth. The means it useth are always equal to the end: but +human language, more especially as there is not an universal +language, is incapable of being used as an universal means of +unchangeable and uniform information; and therefore it is not the +means that God useth in manifesting himself universally to man. + +It is only in the CREATION that all our ideas and conceptions of a +word of God can unite. The Creation speaketh an universal language, +independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and +various as they be. It is an ever existing original, which every man +can read. It cannot be forged; it cannot be counterfeited; it cannot +be lost; it cannot be altered; it cannot be suppressed. It does not +depend upon the will of man whether it shall be published or not; it +publishes itself from one end of the earth to the other. It preaches +to all nations and to all worlds; and this word of God reveals to man +all that is necessary for man to know of God. + +Do we want to contemplate his power? We see it in the immensity of +the creation. Do we want to contemplate his wisdom? We see it in the +unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible Whole is governed. +Do we want to contemplate his munificence? We see it in the abundance +with which he fills the earth. Do we want to contemplate his mercy? +We see it in his not withholding that abundance even from the +unthankful. In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the +book called the scripture, which any human hand might make, but the +scripture called the Creation. + +CHAPTER X - CONCERNING GOD, AND THE LIGHTS CAST ON HIS EXISTENCE AND +ATTRIBUTES BY THE BIBLE. + +THE only idea man can affix to the name of God, is that of a first +cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it +is for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the +belief of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it. +It is difficult beyond description to conceive that space can have no +end; but it is more difficult to conceive an end. It is difficult +beyond the power of man to conceive an eternal duration of what we +call time; but it is more impossible to conceive a time when there +shall be no time. + +In like manner of reasoning, everything we behold carries in itself +the internal evidence that it did not make itself. Every man is an +evidence to himself, that he did not make himself; neither could his +father make himself, nor his grandfather, nor any of his race; +neither could any tree, plant, or animal make itself; and it is the +conviction arising from this evidence, that carries us on, as it +were, by necessity, to the belief of a first cause eternally +existing, of a nature totally different to any material existence we +know of, and by the power of which all things exist; and this first +cause, man calls God. + +It is only by the exercise of reason, that man can discover God. Take +away that reason, and he would be incapable of understanding +anything; and in this case it would be just as consistent to read +even the book called the Bible to a horse as to a man. How then is it +that those people pretend to reject reason? + +Almost the only parts in the book called the Bible, that convey to us +any idea of God, are some chapters in Job, and the 19th Psalm; I +recollect no other. Those parts are true deistical compositions; for +they treat of the Deity through his works. They take the book of +Creation as the word of God; they refer to no other book; and all the +inferences they make are drawn from that volume. + +I insert in this place the 19th Psalm, as paraphrased into English +verse by Addison. I recollect not the prose, and where I write this I +have not the opportunity of seeing it: + + The spacious firmament on high, + With all the blue etherial sky, + And spangled heavens, a shining frame, + Their great original proclaim. + The unwearied sun, from day to day, + Does his Creator's power display, + And publishes to every land + The work of an Almighty hand. + Soon as the evening shades prevail, + The moon takes up the wondrous tale, + And nightly to the list'ning earth + Repeats the story of her birth; + Whilst all the stars that round her burn, + And all the planets, in their turn, + Confirm the tidings as they roll, + And spread the truth from pole to pole. + What though in solemn silence all + Move round this dark terrestrial ball + What though no real voice, nor sound, + Amidst their radiant orbs be found, + In reason's ear they all rejoice, + And utter forth a glorious voice, + Forever singing as they shine, + THE HAND THAT MADE US IS DIVINE. + +What more does man want to know, than that the hand or power that +made these things is divine, is omnipotent? Let him believe this, +with the force it is impossible to repel if he permits his reason to +act, and his rule of moral life will follow of course. + +The allusions in job have all of them the same tendency with this +Psalm; that of deducing or proving a truth that would be otherwise +unknown, from truths already known. + +I recollect not enough of the passages in Job to insert them +correctly; but there is one that occurs to me that is applicable to +the subject I am speaking upon. "Canst thou by searching find out +God; canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" + +I know not how the printers have pointed this passage, for I keep no +Bible; but it contains two distinct questions that admit of distinct +answers. + +First, Canst thou by searching find out God? Yes. Because, in the +first place, I know I did not make myself, and yet I have existence; +and by searching into the nature of other things, I find that no +other thing could make itself; and yet millions of other things +exist; therefore it is, that I know, by positive conclusion resulting +from this search, that there is a power superior to all those things, +and that power is God. + +Secondly, Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? No. Not +only because the power and wisdom He has manifested in the structure +of the Creation that I behold is to me incomprehensible; but because +even this manifestation, great as it is is probably but a small +display of that immensity of power and wisdom, by which millions of +other worlds, to me invisible by their distance, were created and +continue to exist. + +It is evident that both of these questions were put to the reason of +the person to whom they are supposed to have been addressed; and it +is only by admitting the first question to be answered affirmatively, +that the second could follow. It would have been unnecessary, and +even absurd, to have put a second question, more difficult than the +first, if the first question had been answered negatively. The two +questions have different objects; the first refers to the existence +of God, the second to his attributes. Reason can discover the one, +but it falls infinitely short in discovering the whole of the other. + +I recollect not a single passage in all the writings ascribed to the +men called apostles, that conveys any idea of what God is. Those +writings are chiefly controversial; and the gloominess of the subject +they dwell upon, that of a man dying in agony on a cross, is better +suited to the gloomy genius of a monk in a cell, by whom it is not +impossible they were written, than to any man breathing the open air +of the Creation. The only passage that occurs to me, that has any +reference to the works of God, by which only his power and wisdom can +be known, is related to have been spoken by Jesus Christ, as a remedy +against distrustful care. "Behold the lilies of the field, they toil +not, neither do they spin." This, however, is far inferior to the +allusions in Job and in the 19th Psalm; but it is similar in idea, +and the modesty of the imagery is correspondent to the modesty of the +man. + +CHAPTER XI - OF THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRISTIANS; AND THE TRUE THEOLOGY. + +As to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of +atheism; a sort of religious denial of God. It professes to believe +in a man rather than in God. It is a compound made up chiefly of +man-ism with but little deism, and is as near to atheism as twilight +is to darkness. It introduces between man and his Maker an opaque +body, which it calls a redeemer, as the moon introduces her opaque +self between the earth and the sun, and it produces by this means a +religious or an irreligious eclipse of light. It has put the whole +orbit of reason into shade. + +The effect of this obscurity has been that of turning everything +upside down, and representing it in reverse; and among the +revolutions it has thus magically produced, it has made a revolution +in Theology. + +That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole +circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is +the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in +his works, and is the true theology. + +As to the theology that is now studied in its place, it is the study +of human opinions and of human fancies concerning God. It is not the +study of God himself in the works that he has made, but in the works +or writings that man has made; and it is not among the least of the +mischiefs that the Christian system has done to the world, that it +has abandoned the original and beautiful system of theology, like a +beautiful innocent, to distress and reproach, to make room for the +hag of superstition. + +The Book of Job and the 19th Psalm, which even the church admits to +be more ancient than the chronological order in which they stand in +the book called the Bible, are theological orations conformable to +the original system of theology. The internal evidence of those +orations proves to a demonstration that the study and contemplation +of the works of creation, and of the power and wisdom of God revealed +and manifested in those works, made a great part of the religious +devotion of the times in which they were written; and it was this +devotional study and contemplation that led to the discovery of the +principles upon which what are now called Sciences are established; +and it is to the discovery of these principles that almost all the +Arts that contribute to the convenience of human life owe their +existence. Every principal art has some science for its parent, +though the person who mechanically performs the work does not always, +and but very seldom, perceive the connection. + +It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences 'human +inventions;' it is only the application of them that is human. Every +science has for its basis a system of principles as fixed and +unalterable as those by which the universe is regulated and governed. +Man cannot make principles, he can only discover them. + +For example: Every person who looks at an almanack sees an account +when an eclipse will take place, and he sees also that it never fails +to take place according to the account there given. This shows that +man is acquainted with the laws by which the heavenly bodies move. +But it would be something worse than ignorance, were any church on +earth to say that those laws are an human invention. + +It would also be ignorance, or something worse, to say that the +scientific principles, by the aid of which man is enabled to +calculate and foreknow when an eclipse will take place, are an human +invention. Man cannot invent any thing that is eternal and immutable; +and the scientific principles he employs for this purpose must, and +are, of necessity, as eternal and immutable as the laws by which the +heavenly bodies move, or they could not be used as they are to +ascertain the time when, and the manner how, an eclipse will take +place. + +The scientific principles that man employs to obtain the +foreknowledge of an eclipse, or of any thing else relating to the +motion of the heavenly bodies, are contained chiefly in that part of +science that is called trigonometry, or the properties of a triangle, +which, when applied to the study of the heavenly bodies, is called +astronomy; when applied to direct the course of a ship on the ocean, +it is called navigation; when applied to the construction of figures +drawn by a rule and compass, it is called geometry; when applied to +the construction of plans of edifices, it is called architecture; +when applied to the measurement of any portion of the surface of the +earth, it is called land-surveying. In fine, it is the soul of +science. It is an eternal truth: it contains the mathematical +demonstration of which man speaks, and the extent of its uses are +unknown. + +It may be said, that man can make or draw a triangle, and therefore a +triangle is an human invention. + +But the triangle, when drawn, is no other than the image of the +principle: it is a delineation to the eye, and from thence to the +mind, of a principle that would otherwise be imperceptible. The +triangle does not make the principle, any more than a candle taken +into a room that was dark, makes the chairs and tables that before +were invisible. All the properties of a triangle exist independently +of the figure, and existed before any triangle was drawn or thought +of by man. Man had no more to do in the formation of those properties +or principles, than he had to do in making the laws by which the +heavenly bodies move; and therefore the one must have the same divine +origin as the other. + +In the same manner as, it may be said, that man can make a triangle, +so also, may it be said, he can make the mechanical instrument called +a lever. But the principle by which the lever acts, is a thing +distinct from the instrument, and would exist if the instrument did +not; it attaches itself to the instrument after it is made; the +instrument, therefore, can act no otherwise than it does act; neither +can all the efforts of human invention make it act otherwise. That +which, in all such cases, man calls the effect, is no other than the +principle itself rendered perceptible to the senses. + +Since, then, man cannot make principles, from whence did he gain a +knowledge of them, so as to be able to apply them, not only to things +on earth, but to ascertain the motion of bodies so immensely distant +from him as all the heavenly bodies are? From whence, I ask, could he +gain that knowledge, but from the study of the true theology? + +It is the structure of the universe that has taught this knowledge to +man. That structure is an ever-existing exhibition of every principle +upon which every part of mathematical science is founded. The +offspring of this science is mechanics; for mechanics is no other +than the principles of science applied practically. The man who +proportions the several parts of a mill uses the same scientific +principles as if he had the power of constructing an universe, but as +he cannot give to matter that invisible agency by which all the +component parts of the immense machine of the universe have influence +upon each other, and act in motional unison together, without any +apparent contact, and to which man has given the name of attraction, +gravitation, and repulsion, he supplies the place of that agency by +the humble imitation of teeth and cogs. All the parts of man's +microcosm must visibly touch. But could he gain a knowledge of that +agency, so as to be able to apply it in practice, we might then say +that another canonical book of the word of God had been discovered. + +If man could alter the properties of the lever, so also could he +alter the properties of the triangle: for a lever (taking that sort +of lever which is called a steel-yard, for the sake of explanation) +forms, when in motion, a triangle. The line it descends from, (one +point of that line being in the fulcrum,) the line it descends to, +and the chord of the arc, which the end of the lever describes in the +air, are the three sides of a triangle. The other arm of the lever +describes also a triangle; and the corresponding sides of those two +triangles, calculated scientifically, or measured geometrically, -- +and also the sines, tangents, and secants generated from the angles, +and geometrically measured, -- have the same proportions to each +other as the different weights have that will balance each other on +the lever, leaving the weight of the lever out of the case. + +It may also be said, that man can make a wheel and axis; that he can +put wheels of different magnitudes together, and produce a mill. +Still the case comes back to the same point, which is, that he did +not make the principle that gives the wheels those powers. This +principle is as unalterable as in the former cases, or rather it is +the same principle under a different appearance to the eye. + +The power that two wheels of different magnitudes have upon each +other is in the same proportion as if the semi-diameter of the two +wheels were joined together and made into that kind of lever I have +described, suspended at the part where the semi-diameters join; for +the two wheels, scientifically considered, are no other than the two +circles generated by the motion of the compound lever. + +It is from the study of the true theology that all our knowledge of +science is derived; and it is from that knowledge that all the arts +have originated. + +The Almighty lecturer, by displaying the principles of science in the +structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. +It is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe that we call +ours, "I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have +rendered the starry heavens visible, to teach him science and the +arts. He can now provide for his own comfort, AND LEARN FROM MY +MUNIFICENCE TO ALL, TO BE KIND TO EACH OTHER." + +Of what use is it, unless it be to teach man something, that his eye +is endowed with the power of beholding, to an incomprehensible +distance, an immensity of worlds revolving in the ocean of space? Or +of what use is it that this immensity of worlds is visible to man? +What has man to do with the Pleiades, with Orion, with Sirius, with +the star he calls the north star, with the moving orbs he has named +Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, if no uses are to follow +from their being visible? A less power of vision would have been +sufficient for man, if the immensity he now possesses were given only +to waste itself, as it were, on an immense desert of space glittering +with shows. + +It is only by contemplating what he calls the starry heavens, as the +book and school of science, that he discovers any use in their being +visible to him, or any advantage resulting from his immensity of +vision. But when be contemplates the subject in this light, he sees +an additional motive for saying, that nothing was made in vain; for +in vain would be this power of vision if it taught man nothing. + +CHAPTER XII - THE EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANISM ON EDUCATION; PROPOSED +REFORMS. + +As the Christian system of faith has made a revolution in theology, +so also has it made a revolution in the state of learning. That which +is now called learning, was not learning originally. Learning does +not consist, as the schools now make it consist, in the knowledge of +languages, but in the knowledge of things to which language gives +names. + +The Greeks were a learned people, but learning with them did not +consist in speaking Greek, any more than in a Roman's speaking Latin, +or a Frenchman's speaking French, or an Englishman's speaking +English. From what we know of the Greeks, it does not appear that +they knew or studied any language but their own, and this was one +cause of their becoming so learned; it afforded them more time to +apply themselves to better studies. The schools of the Greeks were +schools of science and philosophy, and not of languages; and it is in +the knowledge of the things that science and philosophy teach that +learning consists. + +Almost all the scientific learning that now exists, came to us from +the Greeks, or the people who spoke the Greek language. It therefore +became necessary to the people of other nations, who spoke a +different language, that some among them should learn the Greek +language, in order that the learning the Greeks had might be made +known in those nations, by translating the Greek books of science and +philosophy into the mother tongue of each nation. + +The study, therefore, of the Greek language (and in the same manner +for the Latin) was no other than the drudgery business of a linguist; +and the language thus obtained, was no other than the means, or as it +were the tools, employed to obtain the learning the Greeks had. It +made no part of the learning itself; and was so distinct from it as +to make it exceedingly probable that the persons who had studied +Greek sufficiently to translate those works, such for instance as +Euclid's Elements, did not understand any of the learning the works +contained. + +As there is now nothing new to be learned from the dead languages, +all the useful books being already translated, the languages are +become useless, and the time expended in teaching and in learning +them is wasted. So far as the study of languages may contribute to +the progress and communication of knowledge (for it has nothing to do +with the creation of knowledge) it is only in the living languages +that new knowledge is to be found; and certain it is, that, in +general, a youth will learn more of a living language in one year, +than of a dead language in seven; and it is but seldom that the +teacher knows much of it himself. The difficulty of learning the dead +languages does not arise from any superior abstruseness in the +languages themselves, but in their being dead, and the pronunciation +entirely lost. It would be the same thing with any other language +when it becomes dead. The best Greek linguist that now exists does +not understand Greek so well as a Grecian plowman did, or a Grecian +milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, compared with a plowman or a +milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect to pronunciation and idiom, +not so well as the cows that she milked. It would therefore be +advantageous to the state of learning to abolish the study of the +dead languages, and to make learning consist, as it originally did, +in scientific knowledge. + +The apology that is sometimes made for continuing to teach the dead +languages is, that they are taught at a time when a child is not +capable of exerting any other mental faculty than that of memory. But +this is altogether erroneous. The human mind has a natural +disposition to scientific knowledge, and to the things connected with +it. The first and favourite amusement of a child, even before it +begins to play, is that of imitating the works of man. It builds +bouses with cards or sticks; it navigates the little ocean of a bowl +of water with a paper boat; or dams the stream of a gutter, and +contrives something which it calls a mill; and it interests itself in +the fate of its works with a care that resembles affection. It +afterwards goes to school, where its genius is killed by the barren +study of a dead language, and the philosopher is lost in the linguist. + +But the apology that is now made for continuing to teach the dead +languages, could not be the cause at first of cutting down learning +to the narrow and humble sphere of linguistry; the cause therefore +must be sought for elsewhere. In all researches of this kind, the +best evidence that can be produced, is the internal evidence the +thing carries with itself, and the evidence of circumstances that +unites with it; both of which, in this case, are not difficult to be +discovered. + +Putting then aside, as matter of distinct consideration, the outrage +offered to the moral justice of God, by supposing him to make the +innocent suffer for the guilty, and also the loose morality and low +contrivance of supposing him to change himself into the shape of a +man, in order to make an excuse to himself for not executing his +supposed sentence upon Adam; putting, I say, those things aside as +matter of distinct consideration, it is certain that what is called +the christian system of faith, including in it the whimsical account +of the creation -- the strange story of Eve, the snake, and the apple +-- the amphibious idea of a man-god -- the corporeal idea of the +death of a god -- the mythological idea of a family of gods, and the +christian system of arithmetic, that three are one, and one is three, +are all irreconcilable, not only to the divine gift of reason, that +God has given to man, but to the knowledge that man gains of the +power and wisdom of God by the aid of the sciences, and by studying +the structure of the universe that God has made. + +The setters up, therefore, and the advocates of the Christian system +of faith, could not but foresee that the continually progressive +knowledge that man would gain by the aid of science, of the power and +wisdom of God, manifested in the structure of the universe, and in +all the works of creation, would militate against, and call into +question, the truth of their system of faith; and therefore it became +necessary to their purpose to cut learning down to a size less +dangerous to their project, and this they effected by restricting the +idea of learning to the dead study of dead languages. + +They not only rejected the study of science out of the christian +schools, but they persecuted it; and it is only within about the last +two centuries that the study has been revived. So late as 1610, +Galileo, a Florentine, discovered and introduced the use of +telescopes, and by applying them to observe the motions and +appearances of the heavenly bodies, afforded additional means for +ascertaining the true structure of the universe. Instead of being +esteemed for these discoveries, he was sentenced to renounce them, or +the opinions resulting from them, as a damnable heresy. And prior to +that time Virgilius was condemned to be burned for asserting the +antipodes, or in other words, that the earth was a globe, and +habitable in every part where there was land; yet the truth of this +is now too well known even to be told. [NOTE: I cannot discover the +source of this statement concerning the ancient author whose Irish +name Feirghill was Latinized into Virgilius. The British Museum +possesses a copy of the work (Decalogiunt) which was the pretext of +the charge of heresy made by Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, against +Virgilius, Abbot -- bishop of Salzburg, These were leaders of the +rival "British" and "Roman parties, and the British champion made a +countercharge against Boniface of irreligious practices." Boniface +had to express a "regret," but none the less pursued his rival. The +Pope, Zachary II., decided that if his alleged "doctrine, against God +and his soul, that beneath the earth there is another world, other +men, or sun and moon," should be acknowledged by Virgilius, he should +be excommunicated by a Council and condemned with canonical +sanctions. Whatever may have been the fate involved by condemnation +with "canonicis sanctionibus," in the middle of the eighth century, +it did not fall on Virgilius. His accuser, Boniface, was martyred, +755, and it is probable that Virgilius harmonied his Antipodes with +orthodoxy. The gravamen of the heresy seems to have been the +suggestion that there were men not of the progeny of Adam. Virgilius +was made Bishop of Salzburg in 768. He bore until his death, 789, the +curious title, "Geometer and Solitary," or "lone wayfarer" +(Solivagus). A suspicion of heresy clung to his memory until 1233, +when he was raised by Gregory IX, to sainthood beside his accuser, +St. Boniface. -- Editor. (Conway)] + +If the belief of errors not morally bad did no mischief, it would +make no part of the moral duty of man to oppose and remove them. +There was no moral ill in believing the earth was flat like a +trencher, any more than there was moral virtue in believing it was +round like a globe; neither was there any moral ill in believing that +the Creator made no other world than this, any more than there was +moral virtue in believing that he made millions, and that the +infinity of space is filled with worlds. But when a system of +religion is made to grow out of a supposed system of creation that is +not true, and to unite itself therewith in a manner almost +inseparable therefrom, the case assumes an entirely different ground. +It is then that errors, not morally bad, become fraught with the same +mischiefs as if they were. It is then that the truth, though +otherwise indifferent itself, becomes an essential, by becoming the +criterion that either confirms by corresponding evidence, or denies +by contradictory evidence, the reality of the religion itself. In +this view of the case it is the moral duty of man to obtain every +possible evidence that the structure of the heavens, or any other +part of creation affords, with respect to systems of religion. But +this, the supporters or partizans of the christian system, as if +dreading the result, incessantly opposed, and not only rejected the +sciences, but persecuted the professors. Had Newton or Descartes +lived three or four hundred years ago, and pursued their studies as +they did, it is most probable they would not have lived to finish +them; and had Franklin drawn lightning from the clouds at the same +time, it would have been at the hazard of expiring for it in flames. + +Later times have laid all the blame upon the Goths and Vandals, but, +however unwilling the partizans of the Christian system may be to +believe or to acknowledge it, it is nevertheless true, that the age +of ignorance commenced with the Christian system. There was more +knowledge in the world before that period, than for many centuries +afterwards; and as to religious knowledge, the Christian system, as +already said, was only another species of mythology; and the +mythology to which it succeeded, was a corruption of an ancient +system of theism. [NOTE by Paine: It is impossible for us now to know +at what time the heathen mythology began; but it is certain, from the +internal evidence that it carries, that it did not begin in the same +state or condition in which it ended. All the gods of that mythology, +except Saturn, were of modern invention. The supposed reign of Saturn +was prior to that which is called the heathen mythology, and was so +far a species of theism that it admitted the belief of only one God. +Saturn is supposed to have abdicated the govemment in favour of his +three sons and one daughter, Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune, and Juno; after +this, thousands of other gods and demigods were imaginarily created, +and the calendar of gods increased as fast as the calendar of saints +and the calendar of courts have increased since. + +All the corruptions that have taken place, in theology and in +religion have been produced by admitting of what man calls 'revealed +religion.' The mythologists pretended to more revealed religion than +the christians do. They had their oracles and their priests, who were +supposed to receive and deliver the word of God verbally on almost +all occasions. + +Since then all corruptions down from Moloch to modern +predestinarianism, and the human sacrifices of the heathens to the +christian sacrifice of the Creator, have been produced by admitting +of what is called revealed religion, the most effectual means to +prevent all such evils and impositions is, not to admit of any other +revelation than that which is manifested in the book of Creation., +and to contemplate the Creation as the only true and real word of God +that ever did or ever will exist; and every thing else called the +word of God is fable and imposition. -- Author.] + +It is owing to this long interregnum of science, and to no other +cause, that we have now to look back through a vast chasm of many +hundred years to the respectable characters we call the Ancients. Had +the progression of knowledge gone on proportionably with the stock +that before existed, that chasm would have been filled up with +characters rising superior in knowledge to each other; and those +Ancients we now so much admire would have appeared respectably in the +background of the scene. But the christian system laid all waste; and +if we take our stand about the beginning of the sixteenth century, we +look back through that long chasm, to the times of the Ancients, as +over a vast sandy desert, in which not a shrub appears to intercept +the vision to the fertile hills beyond. + +It is an inconsistency scarcely possible to be credited, that any +thing should exist, under the name of a religion, that held it to be +irreligious to study and contemplate the structure of the universe +that God had made. But the fact is too well established to be denied. +The event that served more than any other to break the first link in +this long chain of despotic ignorance, is that known by the name of +the Reformation by Luther. From that time, though it does not appear +to have made any part of the intention of Luther, or of those who are +called Reformers, the Sciences began to revive, and Liberality, their +natural associate, began to appear. This was the only public good the +Reformation did; for, with respect to religious good, it might as +well not have taken place. The mythology still continued the same; +and a multiplicity of National Popes grew out of the downfall of the +Pope of Christendom. + +CHAPTER XIII - COMPARISON OF CHRISTIANISM WITH THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS +INSPIRED BY NATURE. + +HAVING thus shewn, from the internal evidence of things, the cause +that produced a change in the state of learning, and the motive for +substituting the study of the dead languages, in the place of the +Sciences, I proceed, in addition to the several observations already +made in the former part of this work, to compare, or rather to +confront, the evidence that the structure of the universe affords, +with the christian system of religion. But as I cannot begin this +part better than by referring to the ideas that occurred to me at an +early part of life, and which I doubt not have occurred in some +degree to almost every other person at one time or other, I shall +state what those ideas were, and add thereto such other matter as +shall arise out of the subject, giving to the whole, by way of +preface, a short introduction. + +My father being of the quaker profession, it was my good fortune to +have an exceedingly good moral education, and a tolerable stock of +useful learning. Though I went to the grammar school, I did not learn +Latin, not only because I had no inclination to learn languages, but +because of the objection the quakers have against the books in which +the language is taught. But this did not prevent me from being +acquainted with the subjects of all the Latin books used in the +school. + +The natural bent of my mind was to science. I had some turn, and I +believe some talent for poetry; but this I rather repressed than +encouraged, as leading too much into the field of imagination. As +soon as I was able, I purchased a pair of globes, and attended the +philosophical lectures of Martin and Ferguson, and became afterwards +acquainted with Dr. Bevis, of the society called the Royal Society, +then living in the Temple, and an excellent astronomer. + +I had no disposition for what was called politics. It presented to my +mind no other idea than is contained in the word jockeyship. When, +therefore, I turned my thoughts towards matters of government, I had +to form a system for myself, that accorded with the moral and +philosophic principles in which I had been educated. I saw, or at +least I thought I saw, a vast scene opening itself to the world in +the affairs of America; and it appeared to me, that unless the +Americans changed the plan they were then pursuing, with respect to +the government of England, and declared themselves independent, they +would not only involve themselves in a multiplicity of new +difficulties, but shut out the prospect that was then offering itself +to mankind through their means. It was from these motives that I +published the work known by the name of Common Sense, which is the +first work I ever did publish, and so far as I can judge of myself, I +believe I should never have been known in the world as an author on +any subject whatever, had it not been for the affairs of America. I +wrote Common Sense the latter end of the year 1775, and published it +the first of January, 1776. Independence was declared the fourth of +July following. [NOTE: The pamphlet Common Sense was first +advertised, as "just published," on January 10, 1776. His plea for +the Officers of Excise, written before leaving England, was printed, +but not published until 1793. Despite his reiterated assertion that +Common Sense was the first work he ever published the notion that he +was "junius" still finds some believers. An indirect comment on our +Paine-Junians may be found in Part 2 of this work where Paine says a +man capable of writing Homer "would not have thrown away his own fame +by giving it to another." It is probable that Paine ascribed the +Letters of Junius to Thomas Hollis. His friend F. Lanthenas, in his +translation of the Age of Reason (1794) advertises his translation of +the Letters of Junius from the English "(Thomas Hollis)." This he +could hardly have done without consultation with Paine. Unfortunately +this translation of Junius cannot be found either in the Bibliotheque +Nationale or the British Museum, and it cannot be said whether it +contains any attempt at an identification of Junius -- Editor.] + +Any person, who has made observations on the state and progress of +the human mind, by observing his own, can not but have observed, that +there are two distinct classes of what are called Thoughts; those +that we produce in ourselves by reflection and the act of thinking, +and those that bolt into the mind of their own accord. I have always +made it a rule to treat those voluntary visitors with civility, +taking care to examine, as well as I was able, if they were worth +entertaining; and it is from them I have acquired almost all the +knowledge that I have. As to the learning that any person gains from +school education, it serves only, like a small capital, to put him in +the way of beginning learning for himself afterwards. Every person of +learning is finally his own teacher; the reason of which is, that +principles, being of a distinct quality to circumstances, cannot be +impressed upon the memory; their place of mental residence is the +understanding, and they are never so lasting as when they begin by +conception. Thus much for the introductory part. + +From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it +by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the christian system, or +thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but +I well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a +sermon read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the +church, upon the subject of what is called Redemption by the death of +the Son of God. After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, +and as I was going down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect +the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and +thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a +passionate man, that killed his son, when he could not revenge +himself any other way; and as I was sure a man would be hanged that +did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached such +sermons. This was not one of those kind of thoughts that had any +thing in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious reflection, +arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such an +action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. +I believe in the same manner to this moment; and I moreover believe, +that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the +mind of a child, cannot be a true system. + +It seems as if parents of the christian profession were ashamed to +tell their children any thing about the principles of their religion. +They sometimes instruct them in morals, and talk to them of the +goodness of what they call Providence; for the Christian mythology +has five deities: there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy +Ghost, the God Providence, and the Goddess Nature. But the christian +story of God the Father putting his son to death, or employing people +to do it, (for that is the plain language of the story,) cannot be +told by a parent to a child; and to tell him that it was done to make +mankind happier and better, is making the story still worse; as if +mankind could be improved by the example of murder; and to tell him +that all this is a mystery, is only making an excuse for the +incredibility of it. + +How different is this to the pure and simple profession of Deism! The +true deist has but one Deity; and his religion consists in +contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his +works, and in endeavouring to imitate him in every thing moral, +scientifical, and mechanical. + +The religion that approaches the nearest of all others to true Deism, +in the moral and benign part thereof, is that professed by the +quakers: but they have contracted themselves too much by leaving the +works of God out of their system. Though I reverence their +philanthropy, I can not help smiling at the conceit, that if the +taste of a quaker could have been consulted at the creation, what a +silent and drab-colored creation it would have been! Not a flower +would have blossomed its gaieties, nor a bird been permitted to sing. + +Quitting these reflections, I proceed to other matters. After I had +made myself master of the use of the globes, and of the orrery, [NOTE +by Paine: As this book may fall into the bands of persons who do not +know what an orrery is, it is for their information I add this note, +as the name gives no idea of the uses of the thing. The orrery has +its name from the person who invented it. It is a machinery of +clock-work, representing the universe in miniature: and in which the +revolution of the earth round itself and round the sun, the +revolution of the moon round the earth, the revolution of the planets +round the sun, their relative distances from the sun, as the center +of the whole system, their relative distances from each other, and +their different magnitudes, are represented as they really exist in +what we call the heavens. -- Author.] and conceived an idea of the +infinity of space, and of the eternal divisibility of matter, and +obtained, at least, a general knowledge of what was called natural +philosophy, I began to compare, or, as I have before said, to +confront, the internal evidence those things afford with the +christian system of faith. + +Though it is not a direct article of the christian system that this +world that we inhabit is the whole of the habitable creation, yet it +is so worked up therewith, from what is called the Mosaic account of +the creation, the story of Eve and the apple, and the counterpart of +that story, the death of the Son of God, that to believe otherwise, +that is, to believe that God created a plurality of worlds, at least +as numerous as what we call stars, renders the christian system of +faith at once little and ridiculous; and scatters it in the mind like +feathers in the air. The two beliefs can not be held together in the +same mind; and he who thinks that be believes both, has thought but +little of either. + +Though the belief of a plurality of worlds was familiar to the +ancients, it is only within the last three centuries that the extent +and dimensions of this globe that we inhabit have been ascertained. +Several vessels, following the tract of the ocean, have sailed +entirely round the world, as a man may march in a circle, and come +round by the contrary side of the circle to the spot he set out from. +The circular dimensions of our world, in the widest part, as a man +would measure the widest round of an apple, or a ball, is only +twenty-five thousand and twenty English miles, reckoning sixty-nine +miles and an half to an equatorial degree, and may be sailed round in +the space of about three years. [NOTE by Paine: Allowing a ship to +sail, on an average, three miles in an hour, she would sail entirely +round the world in less than one year, if she could sail in a direct +circle, but she is obliged to follow the course of the ocean. -- +Author.] + +A world of this extent may, at first thought, appear to us to be +great; but if we compare it with the immensity of space in which it +is suspended, like a bubble or a balloon in the air, it is infinitely +less in proportion than the smallest grain of sand is to the size of +the world, or the finest particle of dew to the whole ocean, and is +therefore but small; and, as will be hereafter shown, is only one of +a system of worlds, of which the universal creation is composed. + +It is not difficult to gain some faint idea of the immensity of space +in which this and all the other worlds are suspended, if we follow a +progression of ideas. When we think of the size or dimensions of, a +room, our ideas limit themselves to the walls, and there they stop. +But when our eye, or our imagination darts into space, that is, when +it looks upward into what we call the open air, we cannot conceive +any walls or boundaries it can have; and if for the sake of resting +our ideas we suppose a boundary, the question immediately renews +itself, and asks, what is beyond that boundary? and in the same +manner, what beyond the next boundary? and so on till the fatigued +imagination returns and says, there is no end. Certainly, then, the +Creator was not pent for room when he made this world no larger than +it is; and we have to seek the reason in something else. + +If we take a survey of our own world, or rather of this, of which the +Creator has given us the use as our portion in the immense system of +creation, we find every part of it, the earth, the waters, and the +air that surround it, filled, and as it were crouded with life, down +from the largest animals that we know of to the smallest insects the +naked eye can behold, and from thence to others still smaller, and +totally invisible without the assistance of the microscope. Every +tree, every plant, every leaf, serves not only as an habitation, but +as a world to some numerous race, till animal existence becomes so +exceedingly refined, that the effluvia of a blade of grass would be +food for thousands. + +Since then no part of our earth is left unoccupied, why is it to be +supposed that the immensity of space is a naked void, lying in +eternal waste? There is room for millions of worlds as large or +larger than ours, and each of them millions of miles apart from each +other. + +Having now arrived at this point, if we carry our ideas only one +thought further, we shall see, perhaps, the true reason, at least a +very good reason for our happiness, why the Creator, instead of +making one immense world, extending over an immense quantity of +space, has preferred dividing that quantity of matter into several +distinct and separate worlds, which we call planets, of which our +earth is one. But before I explain my ideas upon this subject, it is +necessary (not for the sake of those that already know, but for those +who do not) to show what the system of the universe is. + +CHAPTER XIV - SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE. + +THAT part of the universe that is called the solar system (meaning +the system of worlds to which our earth belongs, and of which Sol, or +in English language, the Sun, is the center) consists, besides the +Sun, of six distinct orbs, or planets, or worlds, besides the +secondary bodies, called the satellites, or moons, of which our earth +has one that attends her in her annual revolution round the Sun, in +like manner as the other satellites or moons, attend the planets or +worlds to which they severally belong, as may be seen by the +assistance of the telescope. + +The Sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve +at different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each +other. Each world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round the +Sun, and continues at the same time turning round itself, in nearly +an upright position, as a top turns round itself when it is spinning +on the ground, and leans a little sideways. + +It is this leaning of the earth (231/2 degrees) that occasions summer +and winter, and the different length of days and nights. If the earth +turned round itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level +of the circle it moves in round the Sun, as a top turns round when it +stands erect on the ground, the days and nights would be always of +the same length, twelve hours day and twelve hours night, and the +season would be uniformly the same throughout the year. + +Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, +it makes what we call day and night; and every time it goes entirely +round the Sun, it makes what we call a year, consequently our world +turns three hundred and sixty-five times round itself, in going once +round the Sun. + +The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are +still called by the same names, are Mercury, Venus, this world that +we call ours, Mars, Jupitcr, and Saturn. They appear larger to the +eye than the stars, being many million miles nearer to our earth than +any of the stars are. The planet Venus is that which is called the +evening star, and sometimes the morning star, as she happens to set +after, or rise before the Sun, which in either case is never more +than three hours. + +The Sun as before said being the center, the planet or world nearest +the Sun is Mercury; his distance from the Sun is thirty- four million +miles, and he moves round in a circle always at that distance from +the Sun, as a top may be supposed to spin round in the tract in +which a horse goes in a mill. The second world is Venus; she is +fifty-seven million miles distant from the Sun, and consequently +moves round in a circle much greater than that of Mercury. The third +world is this that we inhabit, and which is eighty-eight million +miles distant from the Sun, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of Venus. The fourth world is Mars; he is distant +from the sun one hundred and thirty- four million miles, and +consequently moves round in a circle greater than that of our earth. +The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant from the Sun five hundred and +fifty-seven million miles, and consequently moves round in a circle +greater than that of Mars. The sixth world is Saturn; he is distant +from the Sun seven hundred and sixty-three million miles, and +consequently moves round in a circle that surrounds the circles or +orbits of all the other worlds or planets. + +The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space, that +our solar system takes up for the several worlds to perform their +revolutions in round the Sun, is of the extent in a strait lirie of +the whole diameter of the orbit or circle in which Saturn moves round +the Sun, which being double his distance from the Sun, is fifteen +hundred and twenty-six million miles; and its circular extent is +nearly five thousand million; and its globical content is almost +three thousand five hundred million times three thousand five hundred +million square miles. [NOTE by Paine: If it should be asked, how can +man know these things? I have one plain answer to give, which is, +that man knows how to calculate an eclipse, and also how to calculate +to a minute of time when the planet Venus, in making her revolutions +round the Sun, will come in a strait line between our earth and the +Sun, and will appear to us about the size of a large pea passing +across the face of the Sun. This happens but twice in about a hundred +years, at the distance of about eight years from each other, and has +happened twice in our time, both of which were foreknown by +calculation. It can also be known when they will happen again for a +thousand years to come, or to any other portion of time. As +therefore, man could not be able to do these things if he did not +understand the solar system, and the manner in which the revolutions +of the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of +calculating an eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point +that the knowledge exists; and as to a few thousand, or even a few +million miles, more or less, it makes scarcely any sensible +difference in such immense distances. -- Author.] + +But this, immense as it is, is only one system of worlds. Beyond +this, at a vast distance into space, far beyond all power of +calculation, are the stars called the fixed stars. They are called +fixed, because they have no revolutionary motion, as the six worlds +or planets have that I have been describing. Those fixed stars +continue always at the same distance from each other, and always in +the same place, as the Sun does in the center of our system. The +probability, therefore, is that each of those fixed stars is also a +Sun, round which another system of worlds or planets, though too +remote for us to discover, performs its revolutions, as our system of +worlds does round our central Sun. By this easy progression of ideas, +the immensity of space will appear to us to be filled with systems of +worlds; and that no part of space lies at waste, any more than any +part of our globe of earth and water is left unoccupied. + +Having thus endeavoured to convey, in a familiar and easy manner, +some idea of the structure of the universe, I return to explain what +I before alluded to, namely, the great benefits arising to man in +consequence of the Creator having made a Plurality of worlds, such as +our system is, consisting of a central Sun and six worlds, besides +satellites, in preference to that of creating one world only of a +vast extent. + +CHAPTER XV - ADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTENCE OF MANY WORLDS IN EACH SOLAR +SYSTEM. + +IT is an idea I have never lost sight of, that all our knowledge of +science is derived from the revolutions (exhibited to our eye and +from thence to our understanding) which those several planets or +worlds of which our system is composed make in their circuit round +the Sun. + +Had then the quantity of matter which these six worlds contain been +blended into one solitary globe, the consequence to us would have +been, that either no revolutionary motion would have existed, or not +a sufficiency of it to give us the ideas and the knowledge of science +we now have; and it is from the sciences that all the mechanical arts +that contribute so much to our earthly felicity and comfort are +derived. + +As therefore the Creator made nothing in vain, so also must it be +believed that be organized the structure of the universe in the most +advantageous manner for the benefit of man; and as we see, and from +experience feel, the benefits we derive from the structure of the +universe, formed as it is, which benefits we should not have had the +opportunity of enjoying if the structure, so far as relates to our +system, had been a solitary globe, we can discover at least one +reason why a plurality of worlds has been made, and that reason calls +forth the devotional gratitude of man, as well as his admiration. + +But it is not to us, the inhabitants of this globe, only, that the +benefits arising from a plurality of worlds are limited. The +inhabitants of each of the worlds of which our system is composed, +enjoy the same opportunities of knowledge as we do. They behold the +revolutionary motions of our earth, as we behold theirs. All the +planets revolve in sight of each other; and, therefore, the same +universal school of science presents itself to all. + +Neither does the knowledge stop here. The system of worlds next to us +exhibits, in its revolutions, the same principles and school of +science, to the inhabitants of their system, as our system does to +us, and in like manner throughout the immensity of space. + +Our ideas, not only of the almightiness of the Creator, but of his +wisdom and his beneficence, become enlarged in proportion as we +contemplate the extent and the structure of the universe. The +solitary idea of a solitary world, rolling or at rest in the immense +ocean of space, gives place to the cheerful idea of a society of +worlds, so happily contrived as to administer, even by their motion, +instruction to man. We see our own earth filled with abundance; but +we forget to consider how much of that abundance is owing to the +scientific knowledge the vast machinery of the universe has unfolded. + +CHAPTER XVI - APPLICATION OF THE PRECEDING TO THE SYSTEM OF THE +CHRISTIANS. + +BUT, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the +christian system of faith that forms itself upon the idea of only one +world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shown, than +twenty-five thousand miles. An extent which a man, walking at the +rate of three miles an hour for twelve hours in the day, could he +keep on in a circular direction, would walk entirely round in less +than two years. Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and +the almighty power of the Creator! + +From whence then could arise the solitary and strange conceit that +the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his +protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in +our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an +apple! And, on the other hand, are we to suppose that every world in +the boundless creation had an Eve, an apple, a serpent, and a +redeemer? In this case, the person who is irreverently called the Son +of God, and sometimes God himself, would have nothing else to do than +to travel from world to world, in an endless succession of death, +with scarcely a momentary interval of life. + +It has been by rejecting the evidence, that the word, or works of God +in the creation, affords to our senses, and the action of our reason +upon that evidence, that so many wild and whimsical systems of faith, +and of religion, have been fabricated and set up. There may be many +systems of religion that so far from being morally bad are in many +respects morally good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and +that one necessarily must, as it ever will, be in all things +consistent with the ever existing word of God that we behold in his +works. But such is the strange construction of the christian system +of faith, that every evidence the heavens affords to man, either +directly contradicts it or renders it absurd. + +It is possible to believe, and I always feel pleasure in encouraging +myself to believe it, that there have been men in the world who +persuaded themselves that what is called a pious fraud, might, at +least under particular circumstances, be productive of some good. But +the fraud being once established, could not afterwards be explained; +for it is with a pious fraud as with a bad action, it begets a +calamitous necessity of going on. + +The persons who first preached the christian system of faith, and in +some measure combined with it the morality preached by Jesus Christ, +might persuade themselves that it was better than the heathen +mythology that then prevailed. From the first preachers the fraud +went on to the second, and to the third, till the idea of its being a +pious fraud became lost in the belief of its being true; and that +belief became again encouraged by the interest of those who made a +livelihood by preaching it. + +But though such a belief might, by such means, be rendered almost +general among the laity, it is next to impossible to account for the +continual persecution carried on by the church, for several hundred +years, against the sciences, and against the professors of science, +if the church had not some record or tradition that it was originally +no other than a pious fraud, or did not foresee that it could not be +maintained against the evidence that the structure of the universe +afforded. + +CHAPTER XVII - OF THE MEANS EMPLOYED IN ALL TIME, AND ALMOST +UNIVERSALLY, TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLES. + +HAVING thus shown the irreconcileable inconsistencies between the +real word of God existing in the universe, and that which is called +the word of God, as shown to us in a printed book that any man might +make, I proceed to speak of the three principal means that have been +employed in all ages, and perhaps in all countries, to impose upon +mankind. + +Those three means are Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, The first two +are incompatible with true religion, and the third ought always to be +suspected. + +With respect to Mystery, everything we behold is, in one sense, a +mystery to us. Our own existence is a mystery: the whole vegetable +world is a mystery. We cannot account how it is that an acorn, when +put into the ground, is made to develop itself and become an oak. We +know not how it is that the seed we sow unfolds and multiplies +itself, and returns to us such an abundant interest for so small a +capital. + +The fact however, as distinct from the operating cause, is not a +mystery, because we see it; and we know also the means we are to use, +which is no other than putting the seed in the ground. We know, +therefore, as much as is necessary for us to know; and that part of +the operation that we do not know, and which if we did, we could not +perform, the Creator takes upon himself and performs it for us. We +are, therefore, better off than if we had been let into the secret, +and left to do it for ourselves. + +But though every created thing is, in this sense, a mystery, the word +mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can +be applied to light. The God in whom we believe is a God of moral +truth, and not a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the +antagonist of truth. It is a fog of human invention that obscures +truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never invelops itself +in mystery; and the mystery in which it is at any time enveloped, is +the work of its antagonist, and never of itself. + +Religion, therefore, being the belief of a God, and the practice of +moral truth, cannot have connection with mystery. The belief of a +God, so far from having any thing of mystery in it, is of all beliefs +the most easy, because it arises to us, as is before observed, out of +necessity. And the practice of moral truth, or, in other words, a +practical imitation of the moral goodness of God, is no other than +our acting towards each other as he acts benignly towards all. We +cannot serve God in the manner we serve those who cannot do without +such service; and, therefore, the only idea we can have of serving +God, is that of contributing to the happiness of the living creation +that God has made. This cannot be done by retiring ourselves from the +society of the world, and spending a recluse life in selfish devotion. + +The very nature and design of religion, if I may so express it, prove +even to demonstration that it must be free from every thing of +mystery, and unincumbered with every thing that is mysterious. +Religion, considered as a duty, is incumbent upon every living soul +alike, and, therefore, must be on a level to the understanding and +comprehension of all. Man does not learn religion as he learns the +secrets and mysteries of a trade. He learns the theory of religion by +reflection. It arises out of the action of his own mind upon the +things which he sees, or upon what he may happen to hear or to read, +and the practice joins itself thereto. + +When men, whether from policy or pious fraud, set up systems of +religion incompatible with the word or works of God in the creation, +and not only above but repugnant to human comprehension, they were +under the necessity of inventing or adopting a word that should serve +as a bar to all questions, inquiries and speculations. The word +mystery answered this purpose, and thus it has happened that +religion, which is in itself without mystery, has been corrupted into +a fog of mysteries. + +As mystery answered all general purposes, miracle followed as an +occasional auxiliary. The former served to bewilder the mind, the +latter to puzzle the senses. The one was the lingo, the other the +legerdemain. + +But before going further into this subject, it will be proper to +inquire what is to be understood by a miracle. + +In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so +also may it be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one +thing is a greater miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, +is not a greater miracle than a mite: nor a mountain a greater +miracle than an atom. To an almighty power it is no more difficult to +make the one than the other, and no more difficult to make a million +of worlds than to make one. Every thing, therefore, is a miracle, in +one sense; whilst, in the other sense, there is no such thing as a +miracle. It is a miracle when compared to our power, and to our +comprehension. It is not a miracle compared to the power that +performs it. But as nothing in this description conveys the idea that +is affixed to the word miracle, it is necessary to carry the inquiry +further. + +Mankind have conceived to themselves certain laws, by which what they +call nature is supposed to act; and that a miracle is something +contrary to the operation and effect of those laws. But unless we +know the whole extent of those laws, and of what are commonly called +the powers of nature, we are not able to judge whether any thing that +may appear to us wonderful or miraculous, be within, or be beyond, or +be contrary to, her natural power of acting. + +The ascension of a man several miles high into the air, would have +everything in it that constitutes the idea of a miracle, if it were +not known that a species of air can be generated several times +lighter than the common atmospheric air, and yet possess elasticity +enough to prevent the balloon, in which that light air is inclosed, +from being compressed into as many times less bulk, by the common air +that surrounds it. In like manner, extracting flashes or sparks of +fire from the human body, as visibly as from a steel struck with a +flint, and causing iron or steel to move without any visible agent, +would also give the idea of a miracle, if we were not acquainted with +electricity and magnetism; so also would many other experiments in +natural philosophy, to those who are not acquainted with the subject. +The restoring persons to life who are to appearance dead as is +practised upon drowned persons, would also be a miracle, if it were +not known that animation is capable of being suspended without being +extinct. + +Besides these, there are performances by slight of hand, and by +persons acting in concert, that have a miraculous appearance, which, +when known, are thought nothing of. And, besides these, there are +mechanical and optical deceptions. There is now an exhibition in +Paris of ghosts or spectres, which, though it is not imposed upon the +spectators as a fact, has an astonishing appearance. As, therefore, +we know not the extent to which either nature or art can go, there is +no criterion to determine what a miracle is; and mankind, in giving +credit to appearances, under the idea of their being miracles, are +subject to be continually imposed upon. + +Since then appearances are so capable of deceiving, and things not +real have a strong resemblance to things that are, nothing can be +more inconsistent than to suppose that the Almighty would make use of +means, such as are called miracles, that would subject the person who +performed them to the suspicion of being an impostor, and the person +who related them to be suspected of lying, and the doctrine intended +to be supported thereby to be suspected as a fabulous invention. + +Of all the modes of evidence that ever were invented to obtain belief +to any system or opinion to which the name of religion has been +given, that of miracle, however successful the imposition may have +been, is the most inconsistent. For, in the first place, whenever +recourse is had to show, for the purpose of procuring that belief +(for a miracle, under any idea of the word, is a show) it implies a +lameness or weakness in the doctrine that is preached. And, in the +second place, it is degrading the Almighty into the character of a +show-man, playing tricks to amuse and make the people stare and +wonder. It is also the most equivocal sort of evidence that can be +set up; for the belief is not to depend upon the thing called a +miracle, but upon the credit of the reporter, who says that he saw +it; and, therefore, the thing, were it true, would have no better +chance of being believed than if it were a lie. + +Suppose I were to say, that when I sat down to write this book, a +hand presented itself in the air, took up the pen and wrote every +word that is herein written; would any body believe me? Certainly +they would not. Would they believe me a whit the more if the thing +had been a fact? Certainly they would not. Since then a real miracle, +were it to happen, would be subject to the same fate as the +falsehood, the inconsistency becomes the greater of supposing the +Almighty would make use of means that would not answer the purpose +for which they were intended, even if they were real. + +If we are to suppose a miracle to be something so entirely out of the +course of what is called nature, that she must go out of that course +to accomplish it, and we see an account given of such a miracle by +the person who said he saw it, it raises a question in the mind very +easily decided, which is, -- Is it more probable that nature should +go out of her course, or that a man should tell a lie? We have never +seen, in our time, nature go out of her course; but we have good +reason to believe that millions of lies have been told in the same +time; it is, therefore, at least millions to one, that the reporter +of a miracle tells a lie. + +The story of the whale swallowing Jonah, though a whale is large +enough to do it, borders greatly on the marvellous; but it would +have approached nearer to the idea of a miracle, if Jonah had +swallowed the whale. In this, which may serve for all cases of +miracles, the matter would decide itself as before stated, namely, Is +it more probable that a man should have, swallowed a whale, or told a +lie? + +But suppose that Jonah had really swallowed the whale, and gone with +it in his belly to Nineveh, and to convince the people that it was +true have cast it up in their sight, of the full length and size of a +whale, would they not have believed him to have been the devil +instead of a prophet? or if the whale had carried Jonah to Nineveh, +and cast him up in the same public manner, would they not have +believed the whale to have been the devil, and Jonah one of his imps? + +The most extraordinary of all the things called miracles, related in +the New Testament, is that of the devil flying away with Jesus +Christ, and carrying him to the top of a high mountain; and to the +top of the highest pinnacle of the temple, and showing him and +promising to him all the kingdoms of the world. How happened it that +he did not discover America? or is it only with kingdoms that his +sooty highness has any interest. + +I have too much respect for the moral character of Christ to believe +that he told this whale of a miracle himself: neither is it easy to +account for what purpose it could have been fabricated, unless it +were to impose upon the connoisseurs of miracles, as is sometimes +practised upon the connoisseurs of Queen Anne's farthings, and +collectors of relics and antiquities; or to render the belief of +miracles ridiculous, by outdoing miracle, as Don Quixote outdid +chivalry; or to embarrass the belief of miracles, by making it +doubtful by what power, whether of God or of the devil, any thing +called a miracle was performed. It requires, however, a great deal of +faith in the devil to believe this miracle. + +In every point of view in which those things called miracles can be +placed and considered, the reality of them is improbable, and their +existence unnecessary. They would not, as before observed, answer any +useful purpose, even if they were true; for it is more difficult to +obtain belief to a miracle, than to a principle evidently moral, +without any miracle. Moral principle speaks universally for itself. +Miracle could be but a thing of the moment, and seen but by a few; +after this it requires a transfer of faith from God to man to believe +a miracle upon man's report. Instead, therefore, of admitting the +recitals of miracles as evidence of any system of religion being +true, they ought to be considered as symptoms of its being fabulous. +It is necessary to the full and upright character of truth that it +rejects the crutch; and it is consistent with the character of fable +to seek the aid that truth rejects. Thus much for Mystery and Miracle. + +As Mystery and Miracle took charge of the past and the present, +Prophecy took charge of the future, and rounded the tenses of faith. +It was not sufficient to know what had been done, but what would be +done. The supposed prophet was the supposed historian of times to +come; and if he happened, in shooting with a long bow of a thousand +years, to strike within a thousand miles of a mark, the ingenuity of +posterity could make it point-blank; and if he happened to be +directly wrong, it was only to suppose, as in the case of Jonah and +Nineveh, that God had repented himself and changed his mind. What a +fool do fabulous systems make of man! + +It has been shewn, in a former part of this work, that the original +meaning of the words prophet and prohesying has been changed, and +that a prophet, in the sense of the word as now used, is a creature +of modern invention; and it is owing to this change in the meaning of +the words, that the flights and metaphors of the Jewish poets, and +phrases and expressions now rendered obscure by our not being +acquainted with the local circumstances to which they applied at the +time they were used, have been erected into prophecies, and made to +bend to explanations at the will and whimsical conceits of sectaries, +expounders, and commentators. Every thing unintelligible was +prophetical, and every thing insignificant was typical. A blunder +would have served for a prophecy; and a dish-clout for a type. + +If by a prophet we are to suppose a man to whom the Almighty +communicated some event that would take place in future, either there +were such men, or there were not. If there were, it is consistent to +believe that the event so communicated would be told in terms that +could be understood, and not related in such a loose and obscure +manner as to be out of the comprehension of those that heard it, and +so equivocal as to fit almost any circumstance that might happen +afterwards. It is conceiving very irreverently of the Almighty, to +suppose he would deal in this jesting manner with mankind; yet all +the things called prophecies in the book called the Bible come under +this description. + +But it is with Prophecy as it is with Miracle. It could not answer +the purpose even if it were real. Those to whom a prophecy should be +told could not tell whether the man prophesied or lied, or whether it +had been revealed to him, or whether he conceited it; and if the +thing that he prophesied, or pretended to prophesy, should happen, or +some thing like it, among the multitunic of things that are daily +happening, nobody could again know whether he foreknew it, or guessed +at it, or whether it was accidental. A prophet, therefore, is a +character useless and unnecessary; and the safe side of the case is +to guard against being imposed upon, by not giving credit to such +relations. + +Upon the whole, Mystery, Miracle, and Prophecy, are appendages that +belong to fabulous and not to true religion. They are the means by +which so many Lo heres! and Lo theres! have been spread about the +world, and religion been made into a trade. The success of one +impostor gave encouragement to another, and the quieting salvo of +doing some good by keeping up a pious fraud protected them from +remorse. + +RECAPITULATION. + +HAVING now extended the subject to a greater length than I first +intended, I shall bring it to a close by abstracting a summary from +the whole. + +First, That the idea or belief of a word of God existing in print, or +in writing, or in speech, is inconsistent in itself for the reasons +already assigned. These reasons, among many others, are the want of +an universal language; the mutability of language; the errors to +which translations are subject, the possibility of totally +suppressing such a word; the probability of altering it, or of +fabricating the whole, and imposing it upon the world. + +Secondly, That the Creation we behold is the real and ever existing +word of God, in which we cannot be deceived. It proclaimeth his +power, it demonstrates his wisdom, it manifests his goodness and +beneficence. + +Thirdly, That the moral duty of man consists in imitating the moral +goodness and beneficence of God manifested in the creation towards +all his creatures. That seeing as we daily do the goodness of God to +all men, it is an example calling upon all men to practise the same +towards each other; and, consequently, that every thing of +persecution and revenge between man and man, and every thing of +cruelty to animals, is a violation of moral duty. + +I trouble not myself about the manner of future existence. I content +myself with believing, even to positive conviction, that the power +that gave me existence is able to continue it, in any form and manner +he pleases, either with or without this body; and it appears more +probable to me that I shall continue to exist hereafter than that I +should have had existence, as I now have, before that existence began. + +It is certain that, in one point, all nations of the earth and all +religions agree. All believe in a God, The things in which they +disgrace are the redundancies annexed to that belief; and therefore, +if ever an universal religion should prevail, it will not be +believing any thing new, but in getting rid of redundancies, and +believing as man believed at first. ["In the childhood of the world," +according to the first (French) version; and the strict translation +of the final sentence is: "Deism was the religion of Adam, supposing +him not an imaginary being; but none the less must it be left to all +men to follow, as is their right, the religion and worship they +prefer. -- Editor.] Adam, if ever there was such a man, was created a +Deist; but in the mean time, let every man follow, as he has a right +to do, the religion and worship he prefers. + +-- End of Part I + + The Age Of Reason - Part II + + +Contents + + * Preface + * Chapter I - The Old Testament + * Chapter II - The New Testament + * Chapter III - Conclusion + + + +PREFACE + +I HAVE mentioned in the former part of The Age of Reason that it had +long been my intention to publish my thoughts upon Religion; but that +I had originally reserved it to a later period in life, intending it +to be the last work I should undertake. The circumstances, however, +which existed in France in the latter end of the year 1793, +determined me to delay it no longer. The just and humane principles +of the Revolution which Philosophy had first diffused, had been +departed from. The Idea, always dangerous to Society as it is +derogatory to the Almighty, -- that priests could forgive sins, -- +though it seemed to exist no longer, had blunted the feelings of +humanity, and callously prepared men for the commission of all +crimes. The intolerant spirit of church persecution had transferred +itself into politics; the tribunals, stiled Revolutionary, supplied +the place of an Inquisition; and the Guillotine of the Stake. I saw +many of my most intimate friends destroyed; others daily carried to +prison; and I had reason to believe, and had also intimations given +me, that the same danger was approaching myself. + +Under these disadvantages, I began the former part of the Age of +Reason; I had, besides, neither Bible nor Testament [It must be borne +in mind that throughout this work Paine generally means by "Bible" +only the Old Testamut, and speaks of the Now as the "Testament." -- +Editor.] to refer to, though I was writing against both; nor could I +procure any; notwithstanding which I have produced a work that no +Bible Believer, though writing at his ease and with a Library of +Church Books about him, can refute. Towards the latter end of +December of that year, a motion was made and carried, to exclude +foreigners from the Convention. There were but two, Anacharsis Cloots +and myself; and I saw I was particularly pointed at by Bourdon de +l'Oise, in his speech on that motion. + +Conceiving, after this, that I had but a few days of liberty, I sat +down and brought the work to a close as speedily as possible; and I +had not finished it more than six hours, in the state it has since +appeared, [This is an allusion to the essay which Paine wrote at an +earlier part of 1793. See Introduction. -- Editor.] before a guard +came there, about three in the morning, with an order signed by the +two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, for putting me in +arrestation as a foreigner, and conveying me to the prison of the +Luxembourg. I contrived, in my way there, to call on Joel Barlow, and +I put the Manuscript of the work into his hands, as more safe than in +my possession in prison; and not knowing what might be the fate in +France either of the writer or the work, I addressed it to the +protection of the citizens of the United States. + +It is justice that I say, that the guard who executed this order, and +the interpreter to the Committee of General Surety, who accompanied +them to examine my papers, treated me not only with civility, but +with respect. The keeper of the 'Luxembourg, Benoit, a man of good +heart, shewed to me every friendship in his power, as did also all +his family, while he continued in that station. He was removed from +it, put into arrestation, and carried before the tribunal upon a +malignant accusation, but acquitted. + +After I had been in Luxembourg about three weeks, the Americans then +in Paris went in a body to the Convention to reclaim me as their +countryman and friend; but were answered by the President, Vadier, +who was also President of the Committee of Surety General, and had +signed the order for my arrestation, that I was born in England. +[These excited Americans do not seem to have understood or reported +the most important item in Vadeer's reply, namely that their +application was "unofficial," i.e. not made through or sanctioned by +Gouverneur Morris, American Minister. For the detailed history of all +this see vol. iii. -- Editor.] I heard no more, after this, from any +person out of the walls of the prison, till the fall of Robespierre, +on the 9th of Thermidor -- July 27, 1794. + +About two months before this event, I was seized with a fever that in +its progress had every symptom of becoming mortal, and from the +effects of which I am not recovered. It was then that I remembered +with renewed satisfaction, and congratulated myself most sincerely, +on having written the former part of The Age of Reason. I had then +but little expectation of surviving, and those about me had less. I +know therefore by experience the conscientious trial of my own +principles. + +I was then with three chamber comrades: Joseph Vanheule of Bruges, +Charles Bastfni, and Michael Robyns of Louvain. The unceasing and +anxious attention of these three friends to me, by night and day, I +remember with gratitude and mention with pleasure. It happened that a +physician (Dr. Graham) and a surgeon, (Mr. Bond,) part of the suite +of General O'Hara, [The officer who at Yorktown, Virginia, carried +out the sword of Cornwallis for surrender, and satirically offered it +to Rochambcau instead of Washington. Paine loaned him 300 pounds when +he (O'Hara) left the prison, the money he had concealed in the lock +of his cell-door. -- Edifor.] were then in the Luxembourg: I ask not +myself whether it be convenient to them, as men under the English +Government, that I express to them my thanks; but I should reproach +myself if I did not; and also to the physician of the Luxembourg, Dr. +Markoski. + +I have some reason to believe, because I cannot discover any other, +that this illness preserved me in existence. Among the papers of +Robespierre that were examined and reported upon to the Convention by +a Committee of Deputies, is a note in the hand writing of +Robespierre, in the following words: + +"Demander que Thomas Paine soit decrete d'accusation, pour l'interet +de l'Amerique autant que de la France." + +[Demand that Thomas Paine be decreed of accusation, for the interest +of America, as well as of France.] From what cause it was that the +intention was not put in execution, I know not, and cannot inform +myself; and therefore I ascribe it to impossibility, on account of +that illness. + +The Convention, to repair as much as lay in their power the injustice +I had sustained, invited me publickly and unanimously to return into +the Convention, and which I accepted, to shew I could bear an injury +without permitting it to injure my principles or my disposition. It +is not because right principles have been violated, that they are to +be abandoned. + +I have seen, since I have been at liberty, several publications +written, some in America, and some in England, as answers to the +former part of "The Age of Reason." If the authors of these can amuse +themselves by so doing, I shall not interrupt them, They may write +against the work, and against me, as much as they please; they do me +more service than they intend, and I can have no objection that they +write on. They will find, however, by this Second Part, without its +being written as an answer to them, that they must return to their +work, and spin their cobweb over again. The first is brushed away by +accident. + +They will now find that I have furnished myself with a Bible and +Testament; and I can say also that I have found them to be much worse +books than I had conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the +former part of the Age of Reason, it has been by speaking better of +some parts than they deserved. + +I observe, that all my opponents resort, more or less, to what they +call Scripture Evidence and Bible authority, to help them out. They +are so little masters of the subject, as to confound a dispute about +authenticity with a dispute about doctrines; I will, however, put +them right, that if they should be disposed to write any more, they +may know how to begin. + +THOMAS PAINE. +October, 1795. + + + +CHAPTER I - THE OLD TESTAMENT + +IT has often been said that any thing may be proved from the Bible; +but before any thing can be admitted as proved by Bible, the Bible +itself must be proved to be true; for if the Bible be not true, or +the truth of it be doubtful, it ceases to have authority, and cannot +be admitted as proof of any thing. + +It has been the practice of all Christian commentators on the Bible, +and of all Christian priests and preachers, to impose the Bible on +the world as a mass of truth, and as the word of God; they have +disputed and wrangled, and have anathematized each other about the +supposeable meaning of particular parts and passages therein; one has +said and insisted that such a passage meant such a thing, another +that it meant directly the contrary, and a third, that it meant +neither one nor the other, but something different from both; and +this they have called understanding the Bible. + +It has happened, that all the answers that I have seen to the former +part of 'The Age of Reason' have been written by priests: and these +pious men, like their predecessors, contend and wrangle, and +understand the Bible; each understands it differently, but each +understands it best; and they have agreed in nothing but in telling +their readers that Thomas Paine understands it not. + +Now instead of wasting their time, and heating themselves in +fractious disputations about doctrinal points drawn from the Bible, +these men ought to know, and if they do not it is civility to inform +them, that the first thing to be understood is, whether there is +sufficient authority for believing the Bible to be the word of God, +or whether there is not? + +There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express +command of God, that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea +we have of moral justice, as any thing done by Robespierre, by +Carrier, by Joseph le Bon, in France, by the English government in +the East Indies, or by any other assassin in modern times. When we +read in the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they (the +Israelites) came by stealth upon whole nations of people, who, as the +history itself shews, had given them no offence; that they put all +those nations to the sword; that they spared neither age nor infancy; +that they utterly destroyed men, women and children; that they left +not a soul to breathe; expressions that are repeated over and over +again in those books, and that too with exulting ferocity; are we +sure these things are facts? are we sure that the Creator of man +commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure that the books that +tell us so were written by his authority? + +It is not the antiquity of a tale that is an evidence of its truth; +on the contrary, it is a symptom of its being fabulous; for the more +ancient any history pretends to be, the more it has the resemblance +of a fable. The origin of every nation is buried in fabulous +tradition, and that of the Jews is as much to be suspected as any +other. + +To charger the commission of things upon the Almighty, which in their +own nature, and by every rule of moral justice, are crimes, as all +assassination is, and more especially the assassination of infants, +is matter of serious concern. The Bible tells us, that those +assassinations were done by the express command of God. To believe +therefore the Bible to be true, we must unbelieve all our belief in +the moral justice of God; for wherein could crying or smiling infants +offend? And to read the Bible without horror, we must undo every +thing that is tender, sympathising, and benevolent in the heart of +man. Speaking for myself, if I had no other evidence that the Bible +is fabulous, than the sacrifice I must make to believe it to be true, +that alone would be sufficient to determine my choice. + +But in addition to all the moral evidence against the Bible, I will, +in the progress of this work, produce such other evidence as even a +priest cannot deny; and show, from that evidence, that the Bible is +not entitled to credit, as being the word of God. + +But, before I proceed to this examination, I will show wherein the +Bible differs from all other ancient writings with respect to the +nature of the evidence necessary to establish its authenticity; and +this is is the more proper to be done, because the advocates of the +Bible, in their answers to the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' +undertake to say, and they put some stress thereon, that the +authenticity of the Bible is as well established as that of any other +ancient book: as if our belief of the one could become any rule for +our belief of the other. + +I know, however, but of one ancient book that authoritatively +challenges universal consent and belief, and that is Euclid's +Elements of Geometry; [Euclid, according to chronological history, +lived three hundred years before Christ, and about one hundred before +Archimedes; he was of the city of Alexandria, in Egypt. -- Author.] +and the reason is, because it is a book of self-evident +demonstration, entirely independent of its author, and of every thing +relating to time, place, and circumstance. The matters contained in +that book would have the same authority they now have, had they been +written by any other person, or had the work been anonymous, or had +the author never been known; for the identical certainty of who was +the author makes no part of our belief of the matters contained in +the book. But it is quite otherwise with respect to the books +ascribed to Moses, to Joshua, to Samuel, etc.: those are books of +testimony, and they testify of things naturally incredible; and +therefore the whole of our belief, as to the authenticity of those +books, rests, in the first place, upon the certainty that they were +written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel; secondly, upon the credit we +give to their testimony. We may believe the first, that is, may +believe the certainty of the authorship, and yet not the testimony; +in the same manner that we may believe that a certain person gave +evidence upon a case, and yet not believe the evidence that he gave. +But if it should be found that the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, +and Samuel, were not written by Moses, Joshua, and Samuel, every part +of the authority and authenticity of those books is gone at once; for +there can be no such thing as forged or invented testimony; neither +can there be anonymous testimony, more especially as to things +naturally incredible; such as that of talking with God face to face, +or that of the sun and moon standing still at the command of a man. + +The greatest part of the other ancient books are works of genius; of +which kind are those ascribed to Homer, to Plato, to Aristotle, to +Demosthenes, to Cicero, etc. Here again the author is not an +essential in the credit we give to any of those works; for as works +of genius they would have the same merit they have now, were they +anonymous. Nobody believes the Trojan story, as related by Homer, to +be true; for it is the poet only that is admired, and the merit of +the poet will remain, though the story be fabulous. But if we +disbelieve the matters related by the Bible authors (Moses for +instance) as we disbelieve the things related by Homer, there remains +nothing of Moses in our estimation, but an imposter. As to the +ancient historians, from Herodotus to Tacitus, we credit them as far +as they relate things probable and credible, and no further: for if +we do, we must believe the two miracles which Tacitus relates were +performed by Vespasian, that of curing a lame man, and a blind man, +in just the same manner as the same things are told of Jesus Christ +by his historians. We must also believe the miracles cited by +Josephus, that of the sea of Pamphilia opening to let Alexander and +his army pass, as is related of the Red Sea in Exodus. These miracles +are quite as well authenticated as the Bible miracles, and yet we do +not believe them; consequently the degree of evidence necessary to +establish our belief of things naturally incredible, whether in the +Bible or elsewhere, is far greater than that which obtains our belief +to natural and probable things; and therefore the advocates for the +Bible have no claim to our belief of the Bible because that we +believe things stated in other ancient writings; since that we +believe the things stated in those writings no further than they are +probable and credible, or because they are self-evident, like Euclid; +or admire them because they are elegant, like Homer; or approve them +because they are sedate, like Plato; or judicious, like Aristotle. + +Having premised these things, I proceed to examine the authenticity +of the Bible; and I begin with what are called the five books of +Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. My +intention is to shew that those books are spurious, and that Moses is +not the author of them; and still further, that they were not written +in the time of Moses nor till several hundred years afterwards; that +they are no other than an attempted history of the life of Moses, and +of the times in which he is said to have lived, and also of the times +prior thereto, written by some very ignorant and stupid pretenders to +authorship, several hundred years after the death of Moses; as men +now write histories of things that happened, or are supposed to have +happened, several hundred or several thousand years ago. + +The evidence that I shall produce in this case is from the books +themselves; and I will confine myself to this evidence only. Were I +to refer for proofs to any of the ancient authors, whom the advocates +of the Bible call prophane authors, they would controvert that +authority, as I controvert theirs: I will therefore meet them on +their own ground, and oppose them with their own weapon, the Bible. + +In the first place, there is no affirmative evidence that Moses is +the author of those books; and that he is the author, is altogether +an unfounded opinion, got abroad nobody knows how. The style and +manner in which those books are written give no room to believe, or +even to suppose, they were written by Moses; for it is altogether the +style and manner of another person speaking of Moses. In Exodus, +Leviticus and Numbers, (for every thing in Genesis is prior to the +times of Moses and not the least allusion is made to him therein,) +the whole, I say, of these books is in the third person; it is +always, the Lord said unto Moses, or Moses said unto the Lord; or +Moses said unto the people, or the people said unto Moses; and this +is the style and manner that historians use in speaking of the person +whose lives and actions they are writing. It may be said, that a man +may speak of himself in the third person, and, therefore, it may be +supposed that Moses did; but supposition proves nothing; and if the +advocates for the belief that Moses wrote those books himself have +nothing better to advance than supposition, they may as well be +silent. + +But granting the grammatical right, that Moses might speak of himself +in the third person, because any man might speak of himself in that +manner, it cannot be admitted as a fact in those books, that it is +Moses who speaks, without rendering Moses truly ridiculous and +absurd: -- for example, Numbers xii. 3: "Now the man Moses was very +MEEK, above all the men which were on the face of the earth." If +Moses said this of himself, instead of being the meekest of men, he +was one of the most vain and arrogant coxcombs; and the advocates for +those books may now take which side they please, for both sides are +against them: if Moses was not the author, the books are without +authority; and if he was the author, the author is without credit, +because to boast of meekness is the reverse of meekness, and is a lie +in sentiment. + +In Deuteronomy, the style and manner of writing marks more evidently +than in the former books that Moses is not the writer. The manner +here used is dramatical; the writer opens the subject by a short +introductory discourse, and then introduces Moses as in the act of +speaking, and when he has made Moses finish his harrangue, he (the +writer) resumes his own part, and speaks till he brings Moses forward +again, and at last closes the scene with an account of the death, +funeral, and character of Moses. + +This interchange of speakers occurs four times in this book: from the +first verse of the first chapter, to the end of the fifth verse, it +is the writer who speaks; he then introduces Moses as in the act of +making his harrangue, and this continues to the end of the 40th verse +of the fourth chapter; here the writer drops Moses, and speaks +historically of what was done in consequence of what Moses, when +living, is supposed to have said, and which the writer has +dramatically rehearsed. + +The writer opens the subject again in the first verse of the fifth +chapter, though it is only by saying that Moses called the people of +Isracl together; he then introduces Moses as before, and continues +him as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 26th chapter. He +does the same thing at the beginning of the 27th chapter; and +continues Moses as in the act of speaking, to the end of the 28th +chapter. At the 29th chapter the writer speaks again through the +whole of the first verse, and the first line of the second verse, +where he introduces Moses for the last time, and continues him as in +the act of speaking, to the end of the 33d chapter. + +The writer having now finished the rehearsal on the part of Moses, +comes forward, and speaks through the whole of the last chapter: he +begins by telling the reader, that Moses went up to the top of +Pisgah, that he saw from thence the land which (the writer says) had +been promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that he, Moses, died +there in the land of Moab, that he buried him in a valley in the land +of Moab, but that no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day, that +is unto the time in which the writer lived who wrote the book of +Deuteronomy. The writer then tells us, that Moses was one hundred and +ten years of age when he died -- that his eye was not dim, nor his +natural force abated; and he concludes by saying, that there arose +not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom, says this +anonymous writer, the Lord knew face to face. + +Having thus shewn, as far as grammatical evidence implies, that Moses +was not the writer of those books, I will, after making a few +observations on the inconsistencies of the writer of the book of +Deuteronomy, proceed to shew, from the historical and chronological +evidence contained in those books, that Moses was not, because he +could not be, the writer of them; and consequently, that there is no +authority for believing that the inhuman and horrid butcheries of +men, women, and children, told of in those books, were done, as those +books say they were, at the command of God. It is a duty incumbent on +every true deist, that he vindicates the moral justice of God against +the calumnies of the Bible. + +The writer of the book of Deuteronomy, whoever he was, for it is an +anonymous work, is obscure, and also contradictory with himself in +the account he has given of Moses. + +After telling that Moses went to the top of Pisgah (and it does not +appear from any account that he ever came down again) he tells us, +that Moses died there in the land of Moab, and that he buried him in +a valley in the land of Moab; but as there is no antecedent to the +pronoun he, there is no knowing who he was, that did bury him. If the +writer meant that he (God) buried him, how should he (the writer) +know it? or why should we (the readers) believe him? since we know +not who the writer was that tells us so, for certainly Moses could +not himself tell where he was buried. + +The writer also tells us, that no man knoweth where the sepulchre of +Moses is unto this day, meaning the time in which this writer lived; +how then should he know that Moses was buried in a valley in the land +of Moab? for as the writer lived long after the time of Moses, as is +evident from his using the expression of unto this day, meaning a +great length of time after the death of Moses, he certainly was not +at his funeral; and on the other hand, it is impossible that Moses +himself could say that no man knoweth where the sepulchre is unto +this day. To make Moses the speaker, would be an improvement on the +play of a child that hides himself and cries nobody can find me; +nobody can find Moses. + +This writer has no where told us how he came by the speeches which he +has put into the mouth of Moses to speak, and therefore we have a +right to conclude that he either composed them himself, or wrote them +from oral tradition. One or other of these is the more probable, +since he has given, in the fifth chapter, a table of commandments, in +which that called the fourth commandment is different from the fourth +commandment in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. In that of Exodus, +the reason given for keeping the seventh day is, because (says the +commandment) God made the heavens and the earth in six days, and +rested on the seventh; but in that of Deuteronomy, the reason given +is, that it was the day on which the children of Israel came out of +Egypt, and therefore, says this commandment, the Lord thy God +commanded thee to kee the sabbath-day This makes no mention of the +creation, nor that of the coming out of Egypt. There are also many +things given as laws of Moses in this book, that are not to be found +in any of the other books; among which is that inhuman and brutal +law, xxi. 18, 19, 20, 21, which authorizes parents, the father and +the mother, to bring their own children to have them stoned to death +for what it pleased them to call stubbornness. -- But priests have +always been fond of preaching up Deuteronomy, for Deuteronomy +preaches up tythes; and it is from this book, xxv. 4, they have taken +the phrase, and applied it to tything, that "thou shalt not muzzle +the ox when he treadeth Out the corn:" and that this might not escape +observation, they have noted it in the table of contents at the head +of the chapter, though it is only a single verse of less than two +lines. O priests! priests! ye are willing to be compared to an ox, +for the sake of tythes. [An elegant pocket edition of Paine's +Theological Works (London. R. Carlile, 1822) has in its title a +picture of Paine, as a Moses in evening dress, unfolding the two +tables of his "Age of Reason" to a farmer from whom the Bishop of +Llandaff (who replied to this work) has taken a sheaf and a lamb +which he is carrying to a church at the summit of a well stocked +hill. -- Editor.] -- Though it is impossible for us to know +identically who the writer of Deuteronomy was, it is not difficult to +discover him professionally, that he was some Jewish priest, who +lived, as I shall shew in the course of this work, at least three +hundred and fifty years after the time of Moses. + +I come now to speak of the historical and chronological evidence. The +chronology that I shall use is the Bible chronology; for I mean not +to go out of the Bible for evidence of any thing, but to make the +Bible itself prove historically and chronologically that Moses is not +the author of the books ascribed to him. It is therefore proper that +I inform the readers (such an one at least as may not have the +opportunity of knowing it) that in the larger Bibles, and also in +some smaller ones, there is a series of chronology printed in the +margin of every page for the purpose of shawing how long the +historical matters stated in each page happened, or are supposed to +have happened, before Christ, and consequently the distance of time +between one historical circumstance and another. + +I begin with the book of Genesis. -- In Genesis xiv., the writer +gives an account of Lot being taken prisoner in a battle between the +four kings against five, and carried off; and that when the account +of Lot being taken came to Abraham, that he armed all his household +and marched to rescue Lot from the captors; and that he pursued them +unto Dan. (ver. 14.) + +To shew in what manner this expression of Pursuing them unto Dan +applies to the case in question, I will refer to two circumstances, +the one in America, the other in France. The city now called New +York, in America, was originally New Amsterdam; and the town in +France, lately called Havre Marat, was before called Havre-de-Grace. +New Amsterdam was changed to New York in the year 1664; +Havre-de-Grace to Havre Marat in the year 1793. Should, therefore, +any writing be found, though without date, in which the name of +New-York should be mentioned, it would be certain evidence that such +a writing could not have been written before, and must have been +written after New Amsterdam was changed to New York, and consequently +not till after the year 1664, or at least during the course of that +year. And in like manner, any dateless writing, with the name of +Havre Marat, would be certain evidence that such a writing must have +been written after Havre-de-Grace became Havre Marat, and +consequently not till after the year 1793, or at least during the +course of that year. + +I now come to the application of those cases, and to show that there +was no such place as Dan till many years after the death of Moses; +and consequently, that Moses could not be the writer of the book of +Genesis, where this account of pursuing them unto Dan is given. + +The place that is called Dan in the Bible was originally a town of +the Gentiles, called Laish; and when the tribe of Dan seized upon +this town, they changed its name to Dan, in commemoration of Dan, who +was the father of that tribe, and the great grandson of Abraham. + +To establish this in proof, it is necessary to refer from Genesis to +chapter xviii. of the book called the Book of judges. It is there +said (ver. 27) that "they (the Danites) came unto Laish to a people +that were quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the +sword [the Bible is filled with murder] and burned the city with +fire; and they built a city, (ver. 28,) and dwelt therein, and [ver. +29,] they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan, +their father; howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first." + +This account of the Danites taking possession of Laish and changing +it to Dan, is placed in the book of Judges immediately after the +death of Samson. The death of Samson is said to have happened B.C. +1120 and that of Moses B.C. 1451; and, therefore, according to the +historical arrangement, the place was not called Dan till 331 years +after the death of Moses. + +There is a striking confusion between the historical and the +chronological arrangement in the book of judges. The last five +chapters, as they stand in the book, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, are put +chronologically before all the preceding chapters; they are made to +be 28 years before the 16th chapter, 266 before the 15th, 245 before +the 13th, 195 before the 9th, go before the 4th, and 15 years before +the 1st chapter. This shews the uncertain and fabulous state of the +Bible. According to the chronological arrangement, the taking of +Laish, and giving it the name of Dan, is made to be twenty years +after the death of Joshua, who was the successor of Moses; and by the +historical order, as it stands in the book, it is made to be 306 +years after the death of Joshua, and 331 after that of Moses; but +they both exclude Moses from being the writer of Genesis, because, +according to either of the statements, no such a place as Dan existed +in the time of Moses; and therefore the writer of Genesis must have +been some person who lived after the town of Laish had the name of +Dan; and who that person was nobody knows, and consequently the book +of Genesis is anonymous, and without authority. + +I come now to state another point of historical and chronological +evidence, and to show therefrom, as in the preceding case, that Moses +is not the author of the book of Genesis. + +In Genesis xxxvi. there is given a genealogy of the sons and +descendants of Esau, who are called Edomites, and also a list by name +of the kings of Edom; in enumerating of which, it is said, verse 31, +"And these are the kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned +any king over the children of Israel." + +Now, were any dateless writing to be found, in which, speaking of any +past events, the writer should say, these things happened before +there was any Congress in America, or before there was any Convention +in France, it would be evidence that such writing could not have been +written before, and could only be written after there was a Congress +in America or a Convention in France, as the case might be; and, +consequently, that it could not be written by any person who died +before there was a Congress in the one country, or a Convention in +the other. + +Nothing is more frequent, as well in history as in conversation, than +to refer to a fact in the room of a date: it is most natural so to +do, because a fact fixes itself in the memory better than a date; +secondly, because the fact includes the date, and serves to give two +ideas at once; and this manner of speaking by circumstances implies +as positively that the fact alluded to is past, as if it was so +expressed. When a person in speaking upon any matter, says, it was +before I was married, or before my son was born, or before I went to +America, or before I went to France, it is absolutely understood, and +intended to be understood, that he has been married, that he has had +a son, that he has been in America, or been in France. Language does +not admit of using this mode of expression in any other sense; and +whenever such an expression is found anywhere, it can only be +understood in the sense in which only it could have been used. + +The passage, therefore, that I have quoted -- that "these are the +kings that reigned in Edom, before there reigned any king over the +children of Israel," could only have been written after the first +king began to reign over them; and consequently that the book of +Genesis, so far from having been written by Moses, could not have +been written till the time of Saul at least. This is the positive +sense of the passage; but the expression, any king, implies more +kings than one, at least it implies two, and this will carry it to +the time of David; and, if taken in a general sense, it carries +itself through all times of the Jewish monarchy. + +Had we met with this verse in any part of the Bible that professed to +have been written after kings began to reign in Israel, it would have +been impossible not to have seen the application of it. It happens +then that this is the case; the two books of Chronicles, which give a +history of all the kings of Israel, are professedly, as well as in +fact, written after the Jewish monarchy began; and this verse that I +have quoted, and all the remaining verses of Genesis xxxvi. are, word +for word, In 1 Chronicles i., beginning at the 43d verse. + +It was with consistency that the writer of the Chronicles could say +as he has said, 1 Chron. i. 43, "These are the kings that reigned in +Edom, before there reigned any king ever the children of Israel," +because he was going to give, and has given, a list of the kings that +had reigned in Israel; but as it is impossible that the same +expression could have been used before that period, it is as certain +as any thing can be proved from historical language, that this part +of Genesis is taken from Chronicles, and that Genesis is not so old +as Chronicles, and probably not so old as the book of Homer, or as +AEsop's Fables; admitting Homer to have been, as the tables of +chronology state, contemporary with David or Solomon, and AEsop to +have lived about the end of the Jewish monarchy. + +Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which +only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and +there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, +fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright +lies. The story of Eve and the serpent, and of Noah and his ark, +drops to a level with the Arabian Tales, without the merit of being +entertaining, and the account of men living to eight and nine hundred +years becomes as fabulous as the immortality of the giants of the +Mythology. + +Besides, the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most +horrid that can be imagined. If those accounts be true, he was the +wretch that first began and carried on wars on the score or on the +pretence of religion; and under that mask, or that infatuation, +committed the most unexampled atrocities that are to be found in the +history of any nation. Of which I will state only one instance: + +When the Jewish army returned from one of their plundering and +murdering excursions, the account goes on as follows (Numbers xxxi. +13): "And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the +congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp; and Moses was +wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over +thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle; +and Moses said unto them, "Have ye saved all the women alive?" +behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of +Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, +and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now +therefore, "kill every male among the little ones, and kill every +woman that hath known a man by lying with him; but all the women- +children that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for +Yourselves." + +Among the detestable villains that in any period of the world have +disgraced the name of man, it is impossible to find a greater than +Moses, if this account be true. Here is an order to butcher the boys, +to massacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. + +Let any mother put herself in the situation of those mothers, one +child murdered, another destined to violation, and herself in the +hands of an executioner: let any daughter put herself in the +situation of those daughters, destined as a prey to the murderers of +a mother and a brother, and what will be their feelings? It is in +vain that we attempt to impose upon nature, for nature will have her +course, and the religion that tortures all her social ties is a false +religion. + +After this detestable order, follows an account of the plunder taken, +and the manner of dividing it; and here it is that the profaneings of +priestly hypocrisy increases the catalogue of crimes. Verse 37, "And +the Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and +fifteen; and the beeves were thirty and six thousand, of which the +Lord's tribute was threescore and twelve; and the asses were thirty +thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was threescore and one; and the +persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty +and two." In short, the matters contained in this chapter, as well as +in many other parts of the Bible, are too horrid for humanity to +read, or for decency to hear; for it appears, from the 35th verse of +this chapter, that the number of women-children consigned to +debauchery by the order of Moses was thirty-two thousand. + +People in general know not what wickedness there is in this pretended +word of God. Brought up in habits of superstition, they take it for +granted that the Bible is true, and that it is good; they permit +themselves not to doubt of it, and they carry the ideas they form of +the benevolence of the Almighty to the book which they have been +taught to believe was written by his authority. Good heavens! it is +quite another thing, it is a book of lies, wickedness, and blasphemy; +for what can be greater blasphemy, than to ascribe the wickedness of +man to the orders of the Almighty! + +But to return to my subject, that of showing that Moses is not the +author of the books ascribed to him, and that the Bible is spurious. +The two instances I have already given would be sufficient, without +any additional evidence, to invalidate the authenticity of any book +that pretended to be four or five hundred years more ancient than the +matters it speaks of, refers to, them as facts; for in the case of +pursuing them unto Dan, and of the kings that reigned over the +children of Israel; not even the flimsy pretence of prophecy can be +pleaded. The expressions are in the preter tense, and it would be +downright idiotism to say that a man could prophecy in the preter +tense. + +But there are many other passages scattered throughout those books +that unite in the same point of evidence. It is said in Exodus, +(another of the books ascribed to Moses,) xvi. 35: "And the children +of Israel did eat manna until they came to a land inhabited; they did +eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." + +Whether the children of Israel ate manna or not, or what manna was, +or whether it was anything more than a kind of fungus or small +mushroom, or other vegetable substance common to that part of the +country, makes no part of my argument; all that I mean to show is, +that it is not Moses that could write this account, because the +account extends itself beyond the life time of Moses. Moses, +according to the Bible, (but it is such a book of lies and +contradictions there is no knowing which part to believe, or whether +any) died in the wilderness, and never came upon the borders of 'the +land of Canaan; and consequently, it could not be he that said what +the children of Israel did, or what they ate when they came there. +This account of eating manna, which they tell us was written by +Moses, extends itself to the time of Joshua, the successor of Moses, +as appears by the account given in the book of Joshua, after the +children of Israel had passed the river Jordan, and came into the +borders of the land of Canaan. Joshua, v. 12: "And the manna ceased +on the morrow, after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; +neither had the children of Israel manna any more, but they did eat +of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." + +But a more remarkable instance than this occurs in Deuteronomy; +which, while it shows that Moses could not be the writer of that +book, shows also the fabulous notions that prevailed at that time +about giants' In Deuteronomy iii. 11, among the conquests said to be +made by Moses, is an account of the taking of Og, king of Bashan: +"For only Og, king of Bashan, remained of the race of giants; behold, +his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the +children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four +cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man." A cubit is 1 +foot 9 888/1000 inches; the length therefore of the bed was 16 feet 4 +inches, and the breadth 7 feet 4 inches: thus much for this giant's +bed. Now for the historical part, which, though the evidence is not +so direct and positive as in the former cases, is nevertheless very +presumable and corroborating evidence, and is better than the best +evidence on the contrary side. + +The writer, by way of proving the existence of this giant, refers to +his bed, as an ancient relick, and says, is it not in Rabbath (or +Rabbah) of the children of Ammon? meaning that it is; for such is +frequently the bible method of affirming a thing. But it could not be +Moses that said this, because Moses could know nothing about Rabbah, +nor of what was in it. Rabbah was not a city belonging to this giant +king, nor was it one of the cities that Moses took. The knowledge +therefore that this bed was at Rabbah, and of the particulars of its +dimensions, must be referred to the time when Rabbah was taken, and +this was not till four hundred years after the death of Moses; for +which, see 2 Sam. xii. 26: "And Joab [David's general] fought against +Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city," etc. + +As I am not undertaking to point out all the contradictions in time, +place, and circumstance that abound in the books ascribed to Moses, +and which prove to demonstration that those books could not be +written by Moses, nor in the time of Moses, I proceed to the book of +Joshua, and to shew that Joshua is not the author of that book, and +that it is anonymous and without authority. The evidence I shall +produce is contained in the book itself: I will not go out of the +Bible for proof against the supposed authenticity of the Bible. False +testimony is always good against itself. + +Joshua, according to Joshua i., was the immediate successor of Moses; +he was, moreover, a military man, which Moses was not; and he +continued as chief of the people of Israel twenty-five years; that +is, from the time that Moses died, which, according to the Bible +chronology, was B.C. 1451, until B.C. 1426, when, according to the +same chronology, Joshua died. If, therefore, we find in this book, +said to have been written by Joshua, references to facts done after +the death of Joshua, it is evidence that Joshua could not be the +author; and also that the book could not have been written till after +the time of the latest fact which it records. As to the character of +the book, it is horrid; it is a military history of rapine and +murder, as savage and brutal as those recorded of his predecessor in +villainy and hypocrisy, Moses; and the blasphemy consists, as in the +former books, in ascribing those deeds to the orders of the Almighty. + +In the first place, the book of Joshua, as is the case in the +preceding books, is written in the third person; it is the historian +of Joshua that speaks, for it would have been absurd and vainglorious +that Joshua should say of himself, as is said of him in the last +verse of the sixth chapter, that "his fame was noised throughout all +the country." -- I now come more immediately to the proof. + +In Joshua xxiv. 31, it is said "And Israel served the Lord all the +days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that over-lived +Joshua." Now, in the name of common sense, can it be Joshua that +relates what people had done after he was dead? This account must not +only have been written by some historian that lived after Joshua, but +that lived also after the elders that out-lived Joshua. + +There are several passages of a general meaning with respect to time, +scattered throughout the book of Joshua, that carries the time in +which the book was written to a distance from the time of Joshua, but +without marking by exclusion any particular time, as in the passage +above quoted. In that passage, the time that intervened between the +death of Joshua and the death of the elders is excluded descriptively +and absolutely, and the evidence substantiates that the book could +not have been written till after the death of the last. + +But though the passages to which I allude, and which I am going to +quote, do not designate any particular time by exclusion, they imply +a time far more distant from the days of Joshua than is contained +between the death of Joshua and the death of the elders. Such is the +passage, x. 14, where, after giving an account that the sun stood +still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, at the +command of Joshua, (a tale only fit to amuse children) [NOTE: This +tale of the sun standing still upon Motint Gibeon, and the moon in +the valley of Ajalon, is one of those fables that detects itself. +Such a circumstance could not have happened without being known all +over the world. One half would have wondered why the sun did not +rise, and the other why it did not set; and the tradition of it would +be universal; whereas there is not a nation in the world that knows +anything about it. But why must the moon stand still? What occasion +could there be for moonlight in the daytime, and that too whilst the +sun shined? As a poetical figure, the whole is well enough; it is +akin to that in the song of Deborah and Barak, The stars in their +courses fought against Sisera; but it is inferior to the figurative +declaration of Mahomet to the persons who came to expostulate with +him on his goings on, Wert thou, said he, to come to me with the sun +in thy right hand and the moon in thy left, it should not alter my +career. For Joshua to have exceeded Mahomet, he should have put the +sun and moon, one in each pocket, and carried them as Guy Faux +carried his dark lanthorn, and taken them out to shine as he might +happen to want them. The sublime and the ridiculous are often so +nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately. One +step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the +ridiculous makes the sublime again; the account, however, abstracted +from the poetical fancy, shews the ignorance of Joshua, for he should +have commanded the earth to have stood still. -- Author.] the passage +says: "And there was no day like that, before it, nor after it, that +the Lord hearkened to the voice of a man." + +The time implied by the expression after it, that is, after that day, +being put in comparison with all the time that passed before it, +must, in order to give any expressive signification to the passage, +mean a great length of time: -- for example, it would have been +ridiculous to have said so the next day, or the next week, or the +next month, or the next year; to give therefore meaning to the +passage, comparative with the wonder it relates, and the prior time +it alludes to, it must mean centuries of years; less however than one +would be trifling, and less than two would be barely admissible. + +A distant, but general time is also expressed in chapter viii.; +where, after giving an account of the taking the city of Ai, it is +said, ver. 28th, "And Joshua burned Ai, and made it an heap for ever, +a desolation unto this day;" and again, ver. 29, where speaking of +the king of Ai, whom Joshua had hanged, and buried at the entering of +the gate, it is said, "And he raised thereon a great heap of stones, +which remaineth unto this day," that is, unto the day or time in +which the writer of the book of Joshua lived. And again, in chapter +x. where, after speaking of the five kings whom Joshua had hanged on +five trees, and then thrown in a cave, it is said, "And he laid great +stones on the cave's mouth, which remain unto this very day." + +In enumerating the several exploits of Joshua, and of the tribes, and +of the places which they conquered or attempted, it is said, xv. 63, +"As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of +Judah could not drive them out; but the Jebusites dwell with the +children of Judah AT JERUSALEM unto this day." The question upon this +passage is, At what time did the Jebusites and the children of Judah +dwell together at Jerusalem? As this matter occurs again in judges i. +I shall reserve my observations till I come to that part. + +Having thus shewn from the book of Joshua itself, without any +auxiliary evidence whatever, that Joshua is not the author of that +book, and that it is anonymous, and consequently without authority, I +proceed, as before-mentioned, to the book of Judges. + +The book of Judges is anonymous on the face of it; and, therefore, +even the pretence is wanting to call it the word of God; it has not +so much as a nominal voucher; it is altogether fatherless. + +This book begins with the same expression as the book of Joshua. That +of Joshua begins, chap i. 1, Now after the death of Moses, etc., and +this of the Judges begins, Now after the death of Joshua, etc. This, +and the similarity of stile between the two books, indicate that they +are the work of the same author; but who he was, is altogether +unknown; the only point that the book proves is that the author lived +long after the time of Joshua; for though it begins as if it followed +immediately after his death, the second chapter is an epitome or +abstract of the whole book, which, according to the Bible chronology, +extends its history through a space of 306 years; that is, from the +death of Joshua, B.C. 1426 to the death of Samson, B.C. 1120, and +only 25 years before Saul went to seek his father's asses, and was +made king. But there is good reason to believe, that it was not +written till the time of David, at least, and that the book of Joshua +was not written before the same time. + +In Judges i., the writer, after announcing the death of Joshua, +proceeds to tell what happened between the children of Judah and the +native inhabitants of the land of Canaan. In this statement the +writer, having abruptly mentioned Jerusalem in the 7th verse, says +immediately after, in the 8th verse, by way of explanation, "Now the +children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and taken it;" +consequently this book could not have been written before Jerusalem +had been taken. The reader will recollect the quotation I have just +before made from Joshua xv. 63, where it said that the Jebusites +dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem at this day; meaning +the time when the book of Joshua was written. + +The evidence I have already produced to prove that the books I have +hitherto treated of were not written by the persons to whom they are +ascribed, nor till many years after their death, if such persons ever +lived, is already so abundant, that I can afford to admit this +passage with less weight than I am entitled to draw from it. For the +case is, that so far as the Bible can be credited as an history, the +city of Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David; and +consequently, that the book of Joshua, and of Judges, were not +written till after the commencement of the reign of David, which was +370 years after the death of Joshua. + +The name of the city that was afterward called Jerusalem was +originally Jebus, or Jebusi, and was the capital of the Jebusites. +The account of David's taking this city is given in 2 Samuel, v. 4, +etc.; also in 1 Chron. xiv. 4, etc. There is no mention in any part +of the Bible that it was ever taken before, nor any account that +favours such an opinion. It is not said, either in Samuel or in +Chronicles, that they "utterly destroyed men, women and children, +that they left not a soul to breathe," as is said of their other +conquests; and the silence here observed implies that it was taken by +capitulation; and that the Jebusites, the native inhabitants, +continued to live in the place after it was taken. The account +therefore, given in Joshua, that "the Jebusites dwell with the +children of Judah" at Jerusalem at this day, corresponds to no other +time than after taking the city by David. + +Having now shown that every book in the Bible, from Genesis to +Judges, is without authenticity, I come to the book of Ruth, an idle, +bungling story, foolishly told, nobody knows by whom, about a +strolling country-girl creeping slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. [The +text of Ruth does not imply the unpleasant sense Paine's words are +likely to convey. -- Editor.] Pretty stuff indeed to be called the +word of God. It is, however, one of the best books in the Bible, for +it is free from murder and rapine. + +I come next to the two books of Samuel, and to shew that those books +were not written by Samuel, nor till a great length of time after the +death of Samuel; and that they are, like all the former books, +anonymous, and without authority. + +To be convinced that these books have been written much later than +the time of Samuel, and consequently not by him, it is only necessary +to read the account which the writer gives of Saul going to seek his +father's asses, and of his interview with Samuel, of whom Saul went +to enquire about those lost asses, as foolish people nowa-days go to +a conjuror to enquire after lost things. + +The writer, in relating this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, +does not tell it as a thing that had just then happened, but as an +ancient story in the time this writer lived; for he tells it in the +language or terms used at the time that Samuel lived, which obliges +the writer to explain the story in the terms or language used in the +time the writer lived. + +Samuel, in the account given of him in the first of those books, +chap. ix. 13 called the seer; and it is by this term that Saul +enquires after him, ver. 11, "And as they [Saul and his servant] went +up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw +water; and they said unto them, Is the seer here?" Saul then went +according to the direction of these maidens, and met Samuel without +knowing him, and said unto him, ver. 18, "Tell me, I pray thee, where +the seer's house is? and Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the +seer." + +As the writer of the book of Samuel relates these questions and +answers, in the language or manner of speaking used in the time they +are said to have been spoken, and as that manner of speaking was out +of use when this author wrote, he found it necessary, in order to +make the story understood, to explain the terms in which these +questions and answers are spoken; and he does this in the 9th verse, +where he says, "Before-tune in Israel, when a man went to enquire of +God, thus he spake, Come let us go to the seer; for he that is now +called a prophet, was before-time called a seer." This proves, as I +have before said, that this story of Saul, Samuel, and the asses, was +an ancient story at the time the book of Samuel was written, and +consequently that Samuel did not write it, and that the book is +without authenticity, + +But if we go further into those books the evidence is still more +positive that Samuel is not the writer of them; for they relate +things that did not happen till several years after the death of +Samuel. Samuel died before Saul; for i Samuel, xxviii. tells, that +Saul and the witch of Endor conjured Samuel up after he was dead; yet +the history of matters contained in those books is extended through +the remaining part of Saul's life, and to the latter end of the life +of David, who succeded Saul. The account of the death and burial of +Samuel (a thing which he could not write himself) is related in i +Samuel xxv.; and the chronology affixed to this chapter makes this to +be B.C. 1060; yet the history of this first book is brought down to +B.C. 1056, that is, to the death of Saul, which was not till four +years after the death of Samuel. + +The second book of Samuel begins with an account of things that did +not happen till four years after Samuel was dead; for it begins with +the reign of David, who succeeded Saul, and it goes on to the end of +David's reign, which was forty-three years after the death of Samuel; +and, therefore, the books are in themselves positive evidence that +they were not written by Samuel. + +I have now gone through all the books in the first part of the Bible, +to which the names of persons are affixed, as being the authors of +those books, and which the church, styling itself the Christian +church, have imposed upon the world as the writings of Moses, Joshua +and Samuel; and I have detected and proved the falsehood of this +imposition. -- And now ye priests, of every description, who have +preached and written against the former part of the 'Age of Reason,' +what have ye to say? Will ye with all this mass of evidence against +you, and staring you in the face, still have the assurance to march +into your pulpits, and continue to impose these books on your +congregations, as the works of inspired penmen and the word of God? +when it is as evident as demonstration can make truth appear, that +the persons who ye say are the authors, are not the authors, and that +ye know not who the authors are. What shadow of pretence have ye now +to produce for continuing the blasphemous fraud? What have ye still +to offer against the pure and moral religion of deism, in support of +your system of falsehood, idolatry, and pretended revelation? Had the +cruel and murdering orders, with which the Bible is filled, and the +numberless torturing executions of men, women, and children, in +consequence of those orders, been ascribed to some friend, whose +memory you revered, you would have glowed with satisfaction at +detecting the falsehood of the charge, and gloried in defending his +injured fame. It is because ye are sunk in the cruelty of +superstition, or feel no interest in the honour of your Creator, that +ye listen to the horrid tales of the Bible, or hear them with callous +indifference. The evidence I have produced, and shall still produce +in the course of this work, to prove that the Bible is without +authority, will, whilst it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, +relieve and tranquillize the minds of millions: it will free them +from all those hard thoughts of the Almighty which priestcraft and +the Bible had infused into their minds, and which stood in +everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his moral justice and +benevolence. + +I come now to the two books of Kings, and the two books of +Chronicles. -- Those books are altogether historical, and are chiefly +confined to the lives and actions of the Jewish kings, who in general +were a parcel of rascals: but these are matters with which we have no +more concern than we have with the Roman emperors, or Homer's account +of the Trojan war. Besides which, as those books are anonymous, and +as we know nothing of the writer, or of his character, it is +impossible for us to know what degree of credit to give to the +matters related therein. Like all other ancient histories, they +appear to be a jumble of fable and of fact, and of probable and of +improbable things, but which distance of time and place, and change +of circumstances in the world, have rendered obsolete and +uninteresting. + +The chief use I shall make of those books will be that of comparing +them with each other, and with other parts of the Bible, to show the +confusion, contradiction, and cruelty in this pretended word of God. + +The first book of Kings begins with the reign of Solomon, which, +according to the Bible chronology, was B.C. 1015; and the second book +ends B.C. 588, being a little after the reign of Zedekiah, whom +Nebuchadnezzar, after taking Jerusalem and conquering the Jews, +carried captive to Babylon. The two books include a space of 427 +years. + +The two books of Chroniclcs are an history of the same times, and in +general of the same persons, by another author; for it would be +absurd to suppose that the same author wrote the history twice over. +The first book of Chronicles (after giving the genealogy from Adam to +Saul, which takes up the first nine chapters) begins with the reign +of David; and the last book ends, as in the last book of Kings, soon, +after the reign of Zedekiah, about B.C. 588. The last two verses of +the last chapter bring the history 52 years more forward, that is, to +536. But these verses do not belong to the book, as I shall show when +I come to speak of the book of Ezra. + +The two books of Kings, besides the history of Saul, David, and +Solomon, who reigned over all Israel, contain an abstract of the +lives of seventeen kings, and one queen, who are stiled kings of +Judah; and of nineteen, who are stiled kings of Israel; for the +Jewish nation, immediately on the death of Solomon, split into two +parties, who chose separate kings, and who carried on most rancorous +wars against each other. + +These two books are little more than a history of assassinations, +treachery, and wars. The cruelties that the Jews had accustomed +themselves to practise on the Canaanites, whose country they had +savagely invaded, under a pretended gift from God, they afterwards +practised as furiously on each other. Scarcely half their kings died +a natural death, and in some instances whole families were destroyed +to secure possession to the successor, who, after a few years, and +sometimes only a few months, or less, shared the same fate. In 2 +Kings x., an account is given of two baskets full of children's +heads, seventy in number, being exposed at the entrance of the city; +they were the children of Ahab, and were murdered by the orders of +Jehu, whom Elisha, the pretended man of God, had anointed to be king +over Israel, on purpose to commit this bloody deed, and assassinate +his predecessor. And in the account of the reign of Menahem, one of +the kings of Israel who had murdered Shallum, who had reigned but one +month, it is said, 2 Kings xv. 16, that Menahem smote the city of +Tiphsah, because they opened not the city to him, and all the women +therein that were with child he ripped up. + +Could we permit ourselves to suppose that the Almighty would +distinguish any nation of people by the name of his chosen people, we +must suppose that people to have been an example to all the rest of +the world of the purest piety and humanity, and not such a nation of +ruffians and cut-throats as the ancient Jews were, -- a people who, +corrupted by and copying after such monsters and imposters as Moses +and Aaron, Joshua, Samuel, and David, had distinguished themselves +above all others on the face of the known earth for barbarity and +wickedness. If we will not stubbornly shut our eyes and steel our +hearts it is impossible not to see, in spite of all that +long-established superstition imposes upon the mind, that the +flattering appellation of his chosen people is no other than a LIE +which the priests and leaders of the Jews had invented to cover the +baseness of their own characters; and which Christian priests +sometimes as corrupt, and often as cruel, have professed to believe. + +The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the same crimes; but +the history is broken in several places, by the author leaving out +the reign of some of their kings; and in this, as well as in that of +Kings, there is such a frequent transition from kings of Judah to +kings of Israel, and from kings of Israel to kings of Judah, that the +narrative is obscure in the reading. In the same book the history +sometimes contradicts itself: for example, in 2 Kings, i. 17, we are +told, but in rather ambiguous terms, that after the death of Ahaziah, +king of Israel, Jehoram, or Joram, (who was of the house of Ahab), +reigned in his stead in the second Year of Jehoram, or Joram, son of +Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and in viii. 16, of the same book, it is +said, "And in the fifth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of +Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of +Jehoshaphat king of judah, began to reign." That is, one chapter says +Joram of Judah began to reign in the second year of Joram of Israel; +and the other chapter says, that Joram of Israel began to reign in +the fifth year of Joram of Judah. + +Several of the most extraordinary matters related in one history, as +having happened during the reign of such or such of their kings, are +not to be found in the other, in relating the reign of the same king: +for example, the two first rival kings, after the death of Solomon, +were Rehoboam and Jeroboam; and in i Kings xii. and xiii. an account +is given of Jeroboam making an offering of burnt incense, and that a +man, who is there called a man of God, cried out against the altar +(xiii. 2): "O altar, altar! thus saith the Lord: Behold, a child +shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name, and upon thee +shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon +thee, and men's bones shall be burned upon thee." Verse 4: "And it +came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, +which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his +hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him; and his hand which he +put out against him dried up so that he could not pull it again to +him." + +One would think that such an extraordinary case as this, (which is +spoken of as a judgement,) happening to the chief of one of the +parties, and that at the first moment of the separation of the +Israelites into two nations, would, if it,. had been true, have been +recorded in both histories. But though men, in later times, have +believed all that the prophets have said unto them, it does appear +that those prophets, or historians, disbelieved each other: they knew +each other too well. + +A long account also is given in Kings about Elijah. It runs through +several chapters, and concludes with telling, 2 Kings ii. 11, "And it +came to pass, as they (Elijah and Elisha) still went on, and talked, +that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, +and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into +heaven." Hum! this the author of Chronicles, miraculous as the story +is, makes no mention of, though he mentions Elijah by name; neither +does he say anything of the story related in the second chapter of +the same book of Kings, of a parcel of children calling Elisha bald +head; and that this man of God (ver. 24) "turned back, and looked +upon them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord; and there came +forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children +of them." He also passes over in silence the story told, 2 Kings +xiii., that when they were burying a man in the sepulchre where +Elisha had been buried, it happened that the dead man, as they were +letting him down, (ver. 21) "touched the bones of Elisha, and he (the +dead man) revived, and stood up on his feet." The story does not tell +us whether they buried the man, notwithstanding he revived and stood +upon his feet, or drew him up again. Upon all these stories the +writer of the Chronicles is as silent as any writer of the present +day, who did not chose to be accused of lying, or at least of +romancing, would be about stories of the same kind. + +But, however these two historians may differ from each other with +respect to the tales related by either, they are silent alike with +respect to those men styled prophets whose writings fill up the +latter part of the Bible. Isaiah, who lived in the time of Hezekiab, +is mentioned in Kings, and again in Chronicles, when these histories +are speaking of that reign; but except in one or two instances at +most, and those very slightly, none of the rest are so much as spoken +of, or even their existence hinted at; though, according to the Bible +chronology, they lived within the time those histories were written; +and some of them long before. If those prophets, as they are called, +were men of such importance in their day, as the compilers of the +Bible, and priests and commentators have since represented them to +be, how can it be accounted for that not one of those histories +should say anything about them? + +The history in the books of Kings and of Chronicles is brought +forward, as I have already said, to the year B.C. 588; it will, +therefore, be proper to examine which of these prophets lived before +that period. + +Here follows a table of all the prophets, with the times in which +they lived before Christ, according to the chronology affixed to the +first chapter of each of the books of the prophets; and also of the +number of years they lived before the books of Kings and Chronicles +were written: + +TABLE of the Prophets, with the time in which they lived before +Christ, and also before the books of Kings and Chronicles were +written: + + Years Years before + NAMES. before Kings and Observations. + Christ. Chronicles. + +Isaiah.............. 760 172 mentioned. + + (mentioned only in +Jeremiah............. 629 41 the last [two] chapters + of Chronicles. + +Ezekiel.............. 595 7 not mentioned. + +Daniel............... 607 19 not mentioned. + +Hosea................ 785 97 not mentioned. + +Joel................. 800 212 not mentioned. + +Amos................. 789 199 not mentioned. + +Obadiah.............. 789 199 not mentioned. + +Jonah................ 862 274 see the note. + +Micah................ 750 162 not mentioned. + +Nahum............... 713 125 not mentioned. + +Habakkuk............. 620 38 not mentioned. + +Zepbaniah............ 630 42 not mentioned. + +Haggai +Zechariah all three after the year 588 +Mdachi +[NOTE In 2 Kings xiv. 25, the name of Jonah is mentioned on account +of the restoration of a tract of land by Jeroboam; but nothing +further is said of him, nor is any allusion made to the book of +Jonah, nor to his expedition to Nineveh, nor to his encounter with +the whale. -- Author.] + +This table is either not very honourable for the Bible historians, or +not very honourable for the Bible prophets; and I leave to priests +and commentators, who are very learned in little things, to settle +the point of etiquette between the two; and to assign a reason, why +the authors of Kings and of Chronicles have treated those prophets, +whom, in the former part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have considered as +poets, with as much degrading silence as any historian of the present +day would treat Peter Pindar. + +I have one more observation to make on the book of Chronicles; after +which I shall pass on to review the remaining books of the Bible. + +In my observations on the book of Genesis, I have quoted a passage +from xxxvi. 31, which evidently refers to a time, after that kings +began to reign over the children of Israel; and I have shown that as +this verse is verbatim the same as in 1 Chronicles i. 43, where it +stands consistently with the order of history, which in Genesis it +does not, that the verse in Genesis, and a great part of the 36th +chapter, have been taken from Chronicles; and that the book of +Genesis, though it is placed first in the Bible, and ascribed to +Moses, has been manufactured by some unknown person, after the book +of Chronicles was written, which was not until at least eight hundred +and sixty years after the time of Moses. + +The evidence I proceed by to substantiate this, is regular, and has +in it but two stages. First, as I have already stated, that the +passage in Genesis refers itself for time to Chronicles; secondly, +that the book of Chronicles, to which this passage refers itself, was +not begun to be written until at least eight hundred and sixty years +after the time of Moses. To prove this, we have only to look into 1 +Chronicles iii. 15, where the writer, in giving the genealogy of the +descendants of David, mentions Zedekiah; and it was in the time of +Zedekiah that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, B.C. 588, and +consequently more than 860 years after Moses. Those who have +superstitiously boasted of the antiquity of the Bible, and +particularly of the books ascribed to Moses, have done it without +examination, and without any other authority than that of one +credulous man telling it to another: for, so far as historical and +chronological evidence applies, the very first book in the Bible is +not so ancient as the book of Homer, by more than three hundred +years, and is about the same age with AEsop's Fables. + +I am not contending for the morality of Homer; on the contrary, I +think it a book of false glory, and tending to inspire immoral and +mischievous notions of honour; and with respect to AEsop, though the +moral is in general just, the fable is often cruel; and the cruelty +of the fable does more injury to the heart, especially in a child, +than the moral does good to the judgment. + +Having now dismissed Kings and Chronicles, I come to the next in +course, the book of Ezra. + +As one proof, among others I shall produce to shew the disorder in +which this pretended word of God, the Bible, has been put together, +and the uncertainty of who the authors were, we have only to look at +the first three verses in Ezra, and the last two in 2 Chronicles; for +by what kind of cutting and shuffling has it been that the first +three verses in Ezra should be the last two verses in 2 Chronicles, +or that the last two in 2 Chronicles should be the first three in +Ezra? Either the authors did not know their own works or the +compilers did not know the authors. + +Last Two Verses of 2 Chronicles. + +Ver. 22. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the +word of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be +accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of +Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and +put it also in writing, saying. + +earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to +build him an house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among +you of all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and let him go +up. *** + +First Three Verses of Ezra. + +Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word +of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled, the Lord +stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a +proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, +saying. + +2. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath +given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to +build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. + +3. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and +let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of +the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in Jerusalem. + +*** The last verse in Chronicles is broken abruptly, and ends in the +middle of the phrase with the word 'up' without signifying to what +place. This abrupt break, and the appearance of the same verses in +different books, show as I have already said, the disorder and +ignorance in which the Bible has been put together, and that the +compilers of it had no authority for what they were doing, nor we any +authority for believing what they have done. [NOTE I observed, as I +passed along, several broken and senseless passages in the Bible, +without thinking them of consequence enough to be introduced in the +body of the work; such as that, 1 Samuel xiii. 1, where it is said, +"Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over +Israel, Saul chose him three thousand men," &c. The first part of the +verse, that Saul reigned one year has no sense, since it does not +tell us what Saul did, nor say any thing of what happened at the end +of that one year; and it is, besides, mere absurdity to say he +reigned one year, when the very next phrase says he had reigned two +for if he had reigned two, it was impossible not to have reigned one. + +Another instance occurs in Joshua v. where the writer tells us a +story of an angel (for such the table of contents at the head of the +chapter calls him) appearing unto Joshua; and the story ends +abruptly, and without any conclusion. The story is as follows: -- +Ver. 13. "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he +lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold there stood a man over +against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto +him and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" +Verse 14, "And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord +am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did +worship and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?" +Verse 15, "And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Josbua, Loose +thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standeth is +holy. And Joshua did so." -- And what then? nothing: for here the +story ends, and the chapter too. + +Either this story is broken off in the middle, or it is a story told +by some Jewish humourist in ridicule of Joshua's pretended mission +from God, and the compilers of the Bible, not perceiving the design +of the story, have told it as a serious matter. As a story of humour +and ridicule it has a great deal of point; for it pompously +introduces an angel in the figure of a man, with a drawn sword in his +hand, before whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and worships +(which is contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most +important embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his +shoe. It might as well have told him to pull up his breeches. + +It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit every thing +their leaders told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which +they speak of Moses, when he was gone into the mount. As for this +Moses, say they, we wot not what is become of him. Exod. xxxii. 1. -- +Author.] + +The only thing that has any appearance of certainty in the book of +Ezra is the time in which it was written, which was immediately after +the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, about B.C. 536. +Ezra (who, according to the Jewish commentators, is the same person +as is called Esdras in the Apocrypha) was one of the persons who +returned, and who, it is probable, wrote the account of that affair. +Nebemiah, whose book follows next to Ezra, was another of the +returned persons; and who, it is also probable, wrote the account of +the same affair, in the book that bears his name. But those accounts +are nothing to us, nor to any other person, unless it be to the Jews, +as a part of the history of their nation; and there is just as much +of the word of God in those books as there is in any of the histories +of France, or Rapin's history of England, or the history of any other +country. + +But even in matters of historical record, neither of those writers +are to be depended upon. In Ezra ii., the writer gives a list of the +tribes and families, and of the precise number of souls of each, that +returned from Babylon to Jerusalem; and this enrolment of the persons +so returned appears to have been one of the principal objects for +writing the book; but in this there is an error that destroys the +intention of the undertaking. + +The writer begins his enrolment in the following manner (ii. 3): "The +children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy and four." Ver. +4, "The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two." And +in this manner he proceeds through all the families; and in the 64th +verse, he makes a total, and says, the whole congregation together +was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. + +But whoever will take the trouble of casting up the several +particulars, will find that the total is but 29,818; so that the +error is 12,542. What certainty then can there be in the Bible for +any thing? + +[Here Mr. Paine includes the long list of numbers from the Bible of +all the children listed and the total thereof. This can be had +directly from the Bible.] + +Nehemiah, in like manner, gives a list of the returned families, and +of the number of each family. He begins as in Ezra, by saying (vii. +8): "The children of Parosh, two thousand three hundred and +seventy-two;" and so on through all the families. (The list differs +in several of the particulars from that of Ezra.) In ver. 66, +Nehemiah makes a total, and says, as Ezra had said, "The whole +congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and +threescore." But the particulars of this list make a total but of +31,089, so that the error here is 11,271. These writers may do well +enough for Bible-makers, but not for any thing where truth and +exactness is necessary. + +The next book in course is the book of Esther. If Madam Esther +thought it any honour to offer herself as a kept mistress to +Ahasuerus, or as a rival to Queen Vashti, who had refused to come to +a drunken king in the midst of a drunken company, to be made a show +of, (for the account says, they had been drinking seven days, and +were merry,) let Esther and Mordecai look to that, it is no business +of ours, at least it is none of mine; besides which, the story has a +great deal the appearance of being fabulous, and is also anonymous. I +pass on to the book of Job. + +The book of Job differs in character from all the books we have +hitherto passed over. Treachery and murder make no part of this book; +it is the meditations of a mind strongly impressed with the +vicissitudes of human life, and by turns sinking under, and +struggling against the pressure. It is a highly wrought composition, +between willing submission and involuntary discontent; and shows man, +as he sometimes is, more disposed to be resigned than he is capable +of being. Patience has but a small share in the character of the +person of whom the book treats; on the contrary, his grief is often +impetuous; but he still endeavours to keep a guard upon it, and seems +determined, in the midst of accumulating ills, to impose upon himself +the hard duty of contentment. + +I have spoken in a respectful manner of the book of Job in the former +part of the 'Age of Reason,' but without knowing at that time what I +have learned since; which is, that from all the evidence that can be +collected, the book of Job does not belong to the Bible. + +I have seen the opinion of two Hebrew commentators, Abenezra and +Spinoza, upon this subject; they both say that the book of Job +carries no internal evidence of being an Hebrew book; that the genius +of the composition, and the drama of the piece, are not Hebrew; that +it has been translated from another language into Hebrew, and that +the author of the book was a Gentile; that the character represented +under the name of Satan (which is the first and only time this name +is mentioned in the Bible) [In a later work Paine notes that in "the +Bible" (by which be always means the Old Testament alone) the word +Satan occurs also in 1 Chron. xxi. 1, and remarks that the action +there ascribed to Satan is in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, attributed to Jehovah +("Essay on Dreams"). In these places, however, and in Ps. cix. 6, +Satan means "adversary," and is so translated (A.S. version) in 2 +Sam. xix. 22, and 1 Kings v. 4, xi. 25. As a proper name, with the +article, Satan appears in the Old Testament only in Job and in Zech. +iii. 1, 2. But the authenticity of the passage in Zechariah has been +questioned, and it may be that in finding the proper name of Satan in +Job alone, Paine was following some opinion met with in one of the +authorities whose comments are condensed in his paragraph. -- +Editor.] does not correspond to any Hebrew idea; and that the two +convocations which the Deity is supposed to have made of those whom +the poem calls sons of God, and the familiarity which this supposed +Satan is stated to have with the Deity, are in the same case. + +It may also be observed, that the book shows itself to be the +production of a mind cultivated in science, which the Jews, so far +from being famous for, were very ignorant of. The allusions to +objects of natural philosophy are frequent and strong, and are of a +different cast to any thing in the books known to be Hebrew. The +astronomical names, Pleiades, Orion, and Arcturus, are Greek and not +Hebrew names, and it does not appear from any thing that is to be +found in the Bible that the Jews knew any thing of astronomy, or that +they studied it, they had no translation of those names into their +own language, but adopted the names as they found them in the poem. +[Paine's Jewish critic, David Levi, fastened on this slip ("Detence +of the Old Testament," 1797, p. 152). In the original the names are +Ash (Arcturus), Kesil' (Orion), Kimah' (Pleiades), though the +identifications of the constellations in the A.S.V. have been +questioned. -- Editor.] + +That the Jews did translate the literary productions of the Gentile +nations into the Hebrew language, and mix them with their own, is not +a matter of doubt; Proverbs xxxi. i, is an evidence of this: it is +there said, The word of king Lemuel, the prophecy which his mother +taught him. This verse stands as a preface to the proverbs that +follow, and which are not the proverbs of Solomon, but of Lemuel; and +this Lemuel was not one of the kings of Israel, nor of Judah, but of +some other country, and consequently a Gentile. The Jews however have +adopted his proverbs; and as they cannot give any account who the +author of the book of Job was, nor how they came by the book, and as +it differs in character from the Hebrew writings, and stands totally +unconnected with every other book and chapter in the Bible before it +and after it, it has all the circumstantial evidence of being +originally a book of the Gentiles. [The prayer known by the name of +Agur's Prayer, in Proverbs xxx., -- immediately preceding the +proverbs of Lemuel, -- and which is the only sensible, +well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, has much the +appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. The name of +Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is introduced, +together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same manner, and +nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are introduced +in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, "The words of +Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:" here the word prophecy is +used with the same application it has in the following chapter of +Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer of Agur +is in the 8th and 9th verses, "Remove far from me vanity and lies; +give me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient +for me; lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or +lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." This +has not any of the marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never +prayed but when they were in trouble, and never for anything but +victory, vengeance, or riches. -- Author. (Prov. xxx. 1, and xxxi. 1, +the word "prophecy" in these verses is translated "oracle" or +"burden" (marg.) in the revised version. -- The prayer of Agur was +quoted by Paine in his plea for the officers of Excise, 1772. -- +Editor.] + +The Bible-makers, and those regulators of time, the Bible +chronologists, appear to have been at a loss where to place and how +to dispose of the book of Job; for it contains no one historical +circumstance, nor allusion to any, that might serve to determine its +place in the Bible. But it would not have answered the purpose of +these men to have informed the world of their ignorance; and, +therefore, they have affixed it to the aera of B.C. 1520, which is +during the time the Israelites were in Egypt, and for which they have +just as much authority and no more than I should have for saying it +was a thousand years before that period. The probability however is, +that it is older than any book in the Bible; and it is the only one +that can be read without indignation or disgust. + +We know nothing of what the ancient Gentile world (as it is called) +was before the time of the Jews, whose practice has been to +calumniate and blacken the character of all other nations; and it is +from the Jewish accounts that we have learned to call them heathens. +But, as far as we know to the contrary, they were a just and moral +people, and not addicted, like the Jews, to cruelty and revenge, but +of whose profession of faith we are unacquainted. It appears to have +been their custom to personify both virtue and vice by statues and +images, as is done now-a-days both by statuary and by painting; but +it does not follow from this that they worshipped them any more than +we do. -- I pass on to the book of, + +Psalms, of which it is not necessary to make much observation. Some +of them are moral, and others are very revengeful; and the greater +part relates to certain local circumstances of the Jewish nation at +the time they were written, with which we have nothing to do. It is, +however, an error or an imposition to call them the Psalms of David; +they are a collection, as song-books are now-a- days, from different +song-writers, who lived at different times. The 137th Psalm could not +have been written till more than 400 years after the time of David, +because it is written in commemoration of an event, the captivity of +the Jews in Babylon, which did not happen till that distance of time. +"By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; yea, we wept when we +remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst +thereof; for there they that carried us away cartive required of us a +song, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion." As a man would say +to an American, or to a Frenchman, or to an Englishman, sing us one +of your American songs, or your French songs, or your English songs. +This remark, with respect to the time this psalm was written, is of +no other use than to show (among others already mentioned) the +general imposition the world has been under with respect to the +authors of the Bible. No regard has been paid to time, place, and +circumstance; and the names of persons have been affixed to the +several books which it was as impossible they should write, as that a +man should walk in procession at his own funeral. + +The Book of Proverbs. These, like the Psalms, are a collection, and +that from authors belonging to other nations than those of the Jewish +nation, as I have shewn in the observations upon the book of Job; +besides which, some of the Proverbs ascribed to Solomon did not +appear till two hundred and fifty years after the death of Solomon; +for it is said in xxv. i, "These are also proverbs of Solomon which +the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out." It was two hundred +and fifty years from the time of Solomon to the time of Hezekiah. +When a man is famous and his name is abroad he is made the putative +father of things he never said or did; and this, most probably, has +been the case with Solomon. It appears to have been the fashion of +that day to make proverbs, as it is now to make jest-books, and +father them upon those who never saw them. [A "Tom Paine's Jest Book" +had appeared in London with little or nothing of Paine in it. -- +Editor.] + +The book of Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, is also ascribed to +Solomon, and that with much reason, if not with truth. It is written +as the solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee, such as Solomon +was, who looking back on scenes he can no longer enjoy, cries out All +is Vanity! A great deal of the metaphor and of the sentiment is +obscure, most probably by translation; but enough is left to show +they were strongly pointed in the original. [Those that look out of +the window shall be darkened, is an obscure figure in translation for +loss of sight. -- Author.] From what is transmitted to us of the +character of Solomon, he was witty, ostentatious, dissolute, and at +last melancholy. He lived fast, and died, tired of the world, at the +age of fifty-eight years. + +Seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines, are worse than +none; and, however it may carry with it the appearance of heightened +enjoyment, it defeats all the felicity of affection, by leaving it no +point to fix upon; divided love is never happy. This was the case +with Solomon; and if he could not, with all his pretensions to +wisdom, discover it beforehand, he merited, unpitied, the +mortification he afterwards endured. In this point of view, his +preaching is unnecessary, because, to know the consequences, it is +only necessary to know the cause. Seven hundred wives, and three +hundred concubines would have stood in place of the whole book. It +was needless after this to say that all was vanity and vexation of +spirit; for it is impossible to derive happiness from the company of +those whom we deprive of happiness. + +To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to +objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and +that we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure +is miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but +little better: whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and +mechanical science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and +in spite of the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the +study of those things is the study of the true theology; it teaches +man to know and to admire the Creator, for the principles of science +are in the creation, and are unchangeable, and of divine origin. + +Those who knew Benjaman Franklin will recollect, that his mind was +ever young; his temper ever serene; science, that never grows grey, +was always his mistress. He was never without an object; for when we +cease to have an object we become like an invalid in an hospital +waiting for death. + +Solomon's Songs, amorous and foolish enough, but which wrinkled +fanaticism has called divine. -- The compilers of the Bible have +placed these songs after the book of Ecclesiastes; and the +chronologists have affixed to them the aera of B.C. 1O14, at which +time Solomon, according to the same chronology, was nineteen years of +age, and was then forming his seraglio of wives and concubines. The +Bible-makers and the chronologists should have managed this matter a +little better, and either have said nothing about the time, or chosen +a time less inconsistent with the supposed divinity of those songs; +for Solomon was then in the honey-moon of one thousand debaucheries. + +It should also have occurred to them, that as he wrote, if he did +write, the book of Ecclesiastes, long after these songs, and in which +he exclaims that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, that he +included those songs in that description. This is the more probable, +because he says, or somebody for him, Ecclesiastes ii. 8, I got me +men-singers, and women-singers (most probably to sing those songs], +and musical instruments of all sores; and behold (Ver. ii), "all was +vanity and vexation of spirit." The compilers however have done their +work but by halves; for as they have given us the songs they should +have given us the tunes, that we might sing them. + +The books called the books of the Prophets fill up all the remaining +part of the Bible; they are sixteen in number, beginning with Isaiah +and ending with Malachi, of which I have given a list in the +observations upon Chronicles. Of these sixteen prophets, all of whom +except the last three lived within the time the books of Kings and +Chronicles were written, two only, Isaiah and Jeremiah, are mentioned +in the history of those books. I shall begin with those two, +reserving, what I have to say on the general character of the men +called prophets to another part of the work. + +Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed to Isaiah, +will find it one of the most wild and disorderly compositions ever +put together; it has neither beginning, middle, nor end; and, except +a short historical part, and a few sketches of history in the first +two or three chapters, is one continued incoherent, bombastical rant, +full of extravagant metaphor, without application, and destitute of +meaning; a school-boy would scarcely have been excusable for writing +such stuff; it is (at least in translation) that kind of composition +and false taste that is properly called prose run mad. + +The historical part begins at chapter xxxvi., and is continued to the +end of chapter xxxix. It relates some matters that are said to have +passed during the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah, at which time +Isaiah lived. This fragment of history begins and ends abruptly; it +has not the least connection with the chapter that precedes it, nor +with that which follows it, nor with any other in the book. It is +probable that Isaiah wrote this fragment himself, because he was an +actor in the circumstances it treats of; but except this part there +are scarcely two chapters that have any connection with each other. +One is entitled, at the beginning of the first verse, the burden of +Babylon; another, the burden of Moab; another, the burden of +Damascus; another, the burden of Egypt; another, the burden of the +Desert of the Sea; another, the burden of the Valley of Vision: as +you would say the story of the Knight of the Burning Mountain, the +story of Cinderella, or the glassen slipper, the story of the +Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, etc., etc. + + +I have already shown, in the instance of the last two verses of 2 +Chronicles, and the first three in Ezra, that the compilers of the +Bible mixed and confounded the writings of different authors with +each other; which alone, were there no other cause, is sufficient to +destroy the authenticity of an compilation, because it is more than +presumptive evidence that the compilers are ignorant who the authors +were. A very glaring instance of this occurs in the book ascribed to +Isaiah: the latter part of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of the +45th, so far from having been written by Isaiah, could only have been +written by some person who lived at least an hundred and fifty years +after Isaiah was dead. + +These chapters are a compliment to Cyrus, who permitted the Jews to +return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, to rebuild +Jerusalem and the temple, as is stated in Ezra. The last verse of the +44th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th [Isaiah] are in the +following words: "That saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall +perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be +built; and to the temple thy foundations shall be laid: thus saith +the Lord to his enointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to +subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to +open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be +shut; I will go before thee," etc. + +What audacity of church and priestly ignorance it is to impose this +book upon the world as the writing of Isaiah, when Isaiah, according +to their own chronology, died soon after the death of Hezekiah, which +was B.C. 698; and the decree of Cyrus, in favour of the Jews +returning to Jerusalem, was, according to the same chronology, B.C. +536; which is a distance of time between the two of 162 years. I do +not suppose that the compilers of the Bible made these books, but +rather that they picked up some loose, anonymous essays, and put them +together under the names of such authors as best suited their +purpose. They have encouraged the imposition, which is next to +inventing it; for it was impossible but they must have observed it. + +When we see the studied craft of the scripture-makers, in making +every part of this romantic book of school-boy's eloquence bend to +the monstrous idea of a Son of God, begotten by a ghost on the body +of a virgin, there is no imposition we are not justified in +suspecting them of. Every phrase and circumstance are marked with the +barbarous hand of superstitious torture, and forced into meanings it +was impossible they could have. The head of every chapter, and the +top of every page, are blazoned with the names of Christ and the +Church, that the unwary reader might suck in the error before he +began to read. + +Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son (Isa. vii. I4), has +been interpreted to mean the person called Jesus Christ, and his +mother Mary, and has been echoed through christendom for more than a +thousand years; and such has been the rage of this opinion, that +scarcely a spot in it but has been stained with blood and marked with +desolation in consequence of it. Though it is not my intention to +enter into controversy on subjects of this kind, but to confine +myself to show that the Bible is spurious, -- and thus, by taking +away the foundation, to overthrow at once the whole structure of +superstition raised thereon, -- I will however stop a moment to +expose the fallacious application of this passage. + +Whether Isaiah was playing a trick with Ahaz, king of Judah, to whom +this passage is spoken, is no business of mine; I mean only to show +the misapplication of the passage, and that it has no more reference +to Christ and his mother, than it has to me and my mother. The story +is simply this: + +The king of Syria and the king of Israel (I have already mentioned +that the Jews were split into two nations, one of which was called +Judah, the capital of which was Jerusalem, and the other Israel) made +war jointly against Ahaz, king of Judah, and marched their armies +towards Jerusalem. Ahaz and his people became alarmed, and the +account says (Is. vii. 2), Their hearts were moved as the trees of +the wood are moved with the wind. + +In this situation of things, Isaiah addresses himself to Ahaz, and +assures him in the name of the Lord (the cant phrase of all the +prophets) that these two kings should not succeed against him; and to +satisfy Ahaz that this should be the case, tells him to ask a sign. +This, the account says, Ahaz declined doing; giving as a reason that +he would not tempt the Lord; upon which Isaiah, who is the speaker, +says, ver. 14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; +behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son;" and the 16th verse +says, "And before this child shall know to refuse the evil, and +choose the good, the land which thou abhorrest or dreadest [meaning +Syria and the kingdom of Israel] shall be forsaken of both her +kings." Here then was the sign, and the time limited for the +completion of the assurance or promise; namely, before this child +shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good. + +Isaiah having committed himself thus far, it became necessary to him, +in order to avoid the imputation of being a false prophet, and the +consequences thereof, to take measures to make this sign appear. It +certainly was not a difficult thing, in any time of the world, to +find a girl with child, or to make her so; and perhaps Isaiah knew of +one beforehand; for I do not suppose that the prophets of that day +were any more to be trusted than the priests of this: be that, +however, as it may, he says in the next chapter, ver. 2, "And I took +unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah +the son of Jeberechiah, and I went unto the prophetess, and she +conceived and bare a son." + +Here then is the whole story, foolish as it is, of this child and +this virgin; and it is upon the barefaced perversion of this story +that the book of Matthew, and the impudence and sordid interest of +priests in later times, have founded a theory, which they call the +gospel; and have applied this story to signify the person they call +Jesus Christ; begotten, they say, by a ghost, whom they call holy, on +the body of a woman engaged in marriage, and afterwards married, whom +they call a virgin, seven hundred years after this foolish story was +told; a theory which, speaking for myself, I hesitate not to believe, +and to say, is as fabulous and as false as God is true. [In Is. vii. +14, it is said that the child should be called Immanuel; but this +name was not given to either of the children, otherwise than as a +character, which the word signifies. That of the prophetess was +called Maher-shalalhash- baz, and that of Mary was called Jesus. -- +Author.] + +But to show the imposition and falsehood of Isaiah we have only to +attend to the sequel of this story; which, though it is passed over +in silence in the book of Isaiah, is related in 2 Chronicles, xxviii; +and which is, that instead of these two kings failing in their +attempt against Ahaz, king of Judah, as Isaiah had pretended to +foretel in the name of the Lord, they succeeded: Ahaz was defeated +and destroyed; an hundred and twenty thousand of his people were +slaughtered; Jerusalem was plundered, and two hundred thousand women +and sons and daughters carried into captivity. Thus much for this +lying prophet and imposter Isaiah, and the book of falsehoods that +bears his name. I pass on to the book of Jeremiah. This prophet, +as he is called, lived in the time that Nebuchadnezzar besieged +Jerusalem, in the reign of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah; and the +suspicion was strong against him that he was a traitor in the interest +of Nebuchadnezzar. Every thing relating to Jeremiah shows him to have +been a man of an equivocal character: in his metaphor of the potter +and the clay, (ch. xviii.) he guards his prognostications in such a +crafty manner as always to leave himself a door to escape by, in case +the event should be contrary to what he had predicted. In the 7th and +8th verses he makes the Almighty to say, "At what instant I shall speak +concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull +down, and destroy it, if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, +turn from their evil, I will repent me of the evil that I thought to +do unto them." Here was a proviso against one side of the case: now +for the other side. Verses 9 and 10, "At what instant I shall speak +concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant +it, if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will +repent me of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them." Here is +a proviso against the other side; and, according to this plan of +prophesying, a prophet could never be wrong, however mistaken the +Almighty might be. This sort of absurd subterfuge, and this manner +of speaking of the Almighty, as one would speak of a man, is consistent +with nothing but the stupidity of the Bible. + +As to the authenticity of the book, it is only necessary to read it +in order to decide positively that, though some passages recorded +therein may have been spoken by Jeremiah, he is not the author of the +book. The historical parts, if they can be called by that name, are +in the most confused condition; the same events are several times +repeated, and that in a manner different, and sometimes in +contradiction to each other; and this disorder runs even to the last +chapter, where the history, upon which the greater part of the book +has been employed, begins anew, and ends abruptly. The book has all +the appearance of being a medley of unconnected anecdotes respecting +persons and things of that time, collected together in the same rude +manner as if the various and contradictory accounts that are to be +found in a bundle of newspapers, respecting persons and things of the +present day, were put together without date, order, or explanation. I +will give two or three examples of this kind. + +It appears, from the account of chapter xxxvii. that the army of +Nebuchadnezzer, which is called the army of the Chaldeans, had +besieged Jerusalem some time; and on their hearing that the army of +Pharaoh of Egypt was marching against them, they raised the siege and +retreated for a time. It may here be proper to mention, in order to +understand this confused history, that Nebuchadnezzar had besieged +and taken Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoakim, the redecessor of +Zedekiah; and that it was Nebuchadnezzar who had make Zedekiah king, +or rather viceroy; and that this second siege, of which the book of +Jeremiah treats, was in consequence of the revolt of Zedekiah against +Nebuchadnezzar. This will in some measure account for the suspicion +that affixes itself to Jeremiah of being a traitor, and in the +interest of Nebuchadnezzar, -- whom Jeremiah calls, xliii. 10, the +servant of God. + +Chapter xxxvii. 11-13, says, "And it came to pass, that, when the +army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem, for fear of +Pharaoh's army, that Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem, to go (as +this account states) into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself +thence in the midst of the people; and when he was in the gate of +Benjamin a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah ... +and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the +Chaldeans; then Jeremiah said, It is false; I fall not away to the +Chaldeans." Jeremiah being thus stopt and accused, was, after being +examined, committed to prison, on suspicion of being a traitor, where +he remained, as is stated in the last verse of this chapter. + +But the next chapter gives an account of the imprisonment of +Jeremiah, which has no connection with this account, but ascribes his +imprisonment to another circumstance, and for which we must go back +to chapter xxi. It is there stated, ver. 1, that Zedekiah sent Pashur +the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to +Jeremiah, to enquire of him concerning Nebuchadnezzar, whose army was +then before Jerusalem; and Jeremiah said to them, ver. 8, "Thus saith +the Lord, Behold I set before you the way of life, and the way of +death; he that abideth in this city shall die by the sword and by the +famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to +the Clialdeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be +unto him for a prey." + +This interview and conference breaks off abruptly at the end of the +10th verse of chapter xxi.; and such is the disorder of this book +that we have to pass over sixteen chapters upon various subjects, in +order to come at the continuation and event of this conference; and +this brings us to the first verse of chapter xxxviii., as I have just +mentioned. The chapter opens with saying, "Then Shaphatiah, the son +of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of +Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, (here are more persons +mentioned than in chapter xxi.) heard the words that Jeremiah spoke +unto all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth +in this city, shall die by the sword, by famine, and by the +pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for +he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live"; [which are the +words of the conference;] therefore, (say they to Zedekiah,) "We +beseech thee, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakeneth the +hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of +all the people, in speaking such words unto them; for this man +seeketh not the welfare of the people, but the hurt:" and at the 6th +verse it is said, "Then they took Jeremiah, and put him into the +dungeon of Malchiah." + +These two accounts are different and contradictory. The one ascribes +his imprisonment to his attempt to escape out of the city; the other +to his preaching and prophesying in the city; the one to his being +seized by the guard at the gate; the other to his being accused +before Zedekiah by the conferees. [I observed two chapters in I +Samuel (xvi. and xvii.) that contradict each other with respect to +David, and the manner he became acquainted with Saul; as Jeremiah +xxxvii. and xxxviii. contradict each other with respect to the cause +of Jeremiah's imprisonment. + +In 1 Samuel, xvi., it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled +Saul, and that his servants advised him (as a remedy) "to seek out a +man who was a cunning player upon the harp." And Saul said, ver. 17, +"Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then +answered one of his servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of +Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty +man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, +and the Lord is with him; wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, +and said, Send me David, thy son. And (verse 21) David came to Saul, +and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his +armour-bearer; and when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, +(verse 23) David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul +was refreshed, and was well." + +But the next chapter (xvii.) gives an account, all different to this, +of the manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is +ascribed to David's encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his +father to carry provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th +verse of this chapter it is said, "And when Saul saw David go forth +against the Philistine (Goliah) he said to Abner, the captain of the +host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul +liveth, 0 king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose +son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the +Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head +of the Philistine in his hand; and Saul said unto him, Whose son art +thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy +servant, Jesse, the Betblehemite," These two accounts belie each +other, because each of them supposes Saul and David not to have known +each other before. This book, the Bible, is too ridiculous for +criticism. -- Author.] + +In the next chapter (Jer. xxxix.) we have another instance of the +disordered state of this book; for notwithstanding the siege of the +city by Nebuchadnezzar has been the subject of several of the +preceding chapters, particularly xxxvii. and xxxviii., chapter xxxix. +begins as if not a word had been said upon the subject, and as if the +reader was still to be informed of every particular respecting it; +for it begins with saying, ver. 1, "In the ninth year of Zedekiah +king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of +Babylon, and all his army, against Jerusalem, and besieged it," etc. + +But the instance in the last chapter (lii.) is still more glaring; +for though the story has been told over and over again, this chapter +still supposes the reader not to know anything of it, for it begins +by saying, ver. i, "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he +began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and his +mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah." (Ver. +4,) "And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth +month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, +against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against +it," etc. + +It is not possible that any one man, and more particularly Jeremiah, +could have been the writer of this book. The errors are such as could +not have been committed by any person sitting down to compose a work. +Were I, or any other man, to write in such a disordered manner, no +body would read what was written, and every body would suppose that +the writer was in a state of insanity. The only way, therefore, to +account for the disorder is, that the book is a medley of detached +unauthenticated anecdotes, put together by some stupid book-maker, +under the name of Jeremiah; because many of them refer to him, and to +the circumstances of the times he lived in. + +Of the duplicity, and of the false predictions of Jeremiah, I shall +mention two instances, and then proceed to review the remainder of +the Bible. + +It appears from chapter xxxviii. that when Jeremiah was in prison, +Zedekiah sent for him, and at this interview, which was private, +Jeremiah pressed it strongly on Zedekiah to surrender himself to the +enemy. "If," says he, (ver. 17,) thou wilt assuredly go forth unto +the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live," etc. +Zedekiah was apprehensive that what passed at this conference should +be known; and he said to Jeremiah, (ver. 25,) "If the princes +[meaning those of Judah] hear that I have talked with thee, and they +come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast +said unto the king; hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to +death; and also what the king said unto thee; then thou shalt say +unto them, I presented my supplication before the king that he would +not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. Then came +all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him, and "he told them +according to all the words the king had commanded." Thus, this man +of God, as he is called, could tell a lie, or very strongly +prevaricate, when he supposed it would answer his purpose; for +certainly he did not go to Zedekiah to make this supplication, +neither did he make it; he went because he was sent for, and he +employed that opportunity to advise Zedekiah to surrender himself to +Nebuchadnezzar. + +In chapter xxxiv. 2-5, is a prophecy of Jeremiah to Zedekiah in these +words: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the +hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire; and thou +shalt not escape out of his hand, but thou shalt surely be taken, and +delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the +king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and +thou shalt go to Babylon. Yet hear the word of the Lord; O Zedekiah, +king, of Judah, thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not die by the sword, +but thou shalt die in Peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, +the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn odours for +thee, and they will lament thee, saying, Ah, Lord! for I have +pronounced the word, saith the Lord." + +Now, instead of Zedekiah beholding the eyes of the king of Babylon, +and speaking with him mouth to mouth, and dying in peace, and with +the burning of odours, as at the funeral of his fathers, (as Jeremiah +had declared the Lord himself had pronounced,) the reverse, according +to chapter Iii., 10, 11 was the case; it is there said, that the king +of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: then he put out +the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to +Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. + +What then can we say of these prophets, but that they are impostors +and liars? + +As for Jeremiah, he experienced none of those evils. He was taken +into favour by Nebuchadnezzar, who gave him in charge to the captain +of the guard (xxxix, 12), "Take him (said he) and look well to him, +and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee." +Jeremiah joined himself afterwards to Nebuchadnezzar, and went about +prophesying for him against the Egyptians, who had marched to the +relief of Jerusalem while it was besieged. Thus much for another of +the lying prophets, and the book that bears his name. + +I have been the more particular in treating of the books ascribed to +Isaiah and Jeremiah, because those two are spoken of in the books of +Kings and Chronicles, which the others are not. The remainder of the +books ascribed to the men called prophets I shall not trouble myself +much about; but take them collectively into the observations I shall +offer on the character of the men styled prophets. + +In the former part of the 'Age of Reason,' I have said that the word +prophet was the Bible-word for poet, and that the flights and +metaphors of Jewish poets have been foolishly erected into what are +now called prophecies. I am sufficiently justified in this opinion, +not only because the books called the prophecies are written in +poetical language, but because there is no word in the Bible, except +it be the word prophet, that describes what we mean by a poet. I have +also said, that the word signified a performer upon musical +instruments, of which I have given some instances; such as that of a +company of prophets, prophesying with psalteries, with tabrets, with +pipes, with harps, etc., and that Saul prophesied with them, 1 Sam. +x., 5. It appears from this passage, and from other parts in the book +of Samuel, that the word prophet was confined to signify poetry and +music; for the person who was supposed to have a visionary insight +into concealed things, was not a prophet but a seer, [I know not what +is the Hebrew word that corresponds to the word seer in English; but +I observe it is translated into French by Le Voyant, from the verb +voir to see, and which means the person who sees, or the seer. -- +Author. + +The Hebrew word for Seer, in 1 Samuel ix., transliterated, is chozeh, +the gazer, it is translated in Is. xlvii. 13, "the stargazers." -- +Editor.] (i Sam, ix. 9;) and it was not till after the word seer went +out of use (which most probably was when Saul banished those he +called wizards) that the profession of the seer, or the art of +seeing, became incorporated into the word prophet. + +According to the modern meaning of the word prophet and prophesying, +it signifies foretelling events to a great distance of time; and it +became necessary to the inventors of the gospel to give it this +latitude of meaning, in order to apply or to stretch what they call +the prophecies of the Old Testament, to the times of the New. But +according to the Old Testament, the prophesying of the seer, and +afterwards of the prophet, so far as the meaning of the word "seer" +was incorporated into that of prophet, had reference only to things +of the time then passing, or very closely connected with it; such as +the event of a battle they were going to engage in, or of a journey, +or of any enterprise they were going to undertake, or of any +circumstance then pending, or of any difficulty they were then in; +all of which had immediate reference to themselves (as in the case +already mentioned of Ahaz and Isaiah with respect to the expression, +Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,) and not to any +distant future time. It was that kind of prophesying that corresponds +to what we call fortune-telling; such as casting nativities, +predicting riches, fortunate or unfortunate marriages, conjuring for +lost goods, etc.; and it is the fraud of the Christian church, not +that of the Jews, and the ignorance and the superstition of modern, +not that of ancient times, that elevated those poetical, musical, +conjuring, dreaming, strolling gentry, into the rank they have since +had. + +But, besides this general character of all the prophets, they had +also a particular character. They were in parties, and they +prophesied for or against, according to the party they were with; as +the poetical and political writers of the present day write in +defence of the party they associate with against the other. + +After the Jews were divided into two nations, that of Judah and that +of Israel, each party had its prophets, who abused and accused each +other of being false prophets, lying prophets, impostors, etc. + +The prophets of the party of Judah prophesied against the prophets of +the party of Israel; and those of the party of Israel against those +of Judah. This party prophesying showed itself immediately on the +separation under the first two rival kings, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. +The prophet that cursed, or prophesied against the altar that +Jeroboam had built in Bethel, was of the party of Judah, where +Rehoboam was king; and he was way-laid on his return home by a +prophet of the party of Israel, who said unto him (i Kings xiii.) +"Art thou the man of God that came from Judah? and he said, I am." +Then the prophet of the party of Israel said to him "I am a prophet +also, as thou art, [signifying of Judah,] and an angel spake unto me +by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee unto thine +house, that he may eat bread and drink water; but (says the 18th +verse) he lied unto him." The event, however, according to the story, +is, that the prophet of Judah never got back to Judah; for he was +found dead on the road by the contrivance of the prophet of Israel, +who no doubt was called a true prophet by his own party, and the +prophet of Judah a lying prophet. + +In 2 Kings, iii., a story is related of prophesying or conjuring that +shews, in several particulars, the character of a prophet. +Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and Joram king of Israel, had for a while +ceased their party animosity, and entered into an alliance; and these +two, together with the king of Edom, engaged in a war against the +king of Moab. After uniting and marching their armies, the story +says, they were in great distress for water, upon which Jehoshaphat +said, "Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may enquire +of the Lord by him? and one of the servants of the king of Israel +said here is Elisha. [Elisha was of the party of Judah.] And +Jehoshaphat the king of Judah said, The word of the Lord is with +him." The story then says, that these three kings went down to +Elisha; and when Elisha [who, as I have said, was a Judahmite +prophet] saw the King of Israel, he said unto him, "What have I to do +with thee, get thee to the prophets of thy father and the prophets of +thy mother. Nay but, said the king of Israel, the Lord hath called +these three kings together, to deliver them into the hands of the +king of Moab," (meaning because of the distress they were in for +water;) upon which Elisha said, "As the Lord of hosts liveth before +whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of +Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, I would not look towards thee nor see +thee." Here is all the venom and vulgarity of a party prophet. We are +now to see the performance, or manner of prophesying. + +Ver. 15. "Bring me," (said Elisha), "a minstrel; and it came to pass, +when the minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him." +Here is the farce of the conjurer. Now for the prophecy: "And Elisha +said, [singing most probably to the tune he was playing], Thus saith +the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches; "which was just telling +them what every countryman could have told them without either fiddle +or farce, that the way to get water was to dig for it. + +But as every conjuror is not famous alike for the same thing, so +neither were those prophets; for though all of them, at least those I +have spoken of, were famous for lying, some of them excelled in +cursing. Elisha, whom I have just mentioned, was a chief in this +branch of prophesying; it was he that cursed the forty-two children +in the name of the Lord, whom the two she-bears came and devoured. We +are to suppose that those children were of the party of Israel; but +as those who will curse will lie, there is just as much credit to be +given to this story of Elisha's two she- bears as there is to that of +the Dragon of Wantley, of whom it is said: + +Poor children three devoured be, +That could not with him grapple; +And at one sup he eat them up, +As a man would eat an apple. + +There was another description of men called prophets, that amused +themselves with dreams and visions; but whether by night or by day we +know not. These, if they were not quite harmless, were but little +mischievous. Of this class are + +EZEKIEL and DANIEL; and the first question upon these books, as upon +all the others, is, Are they genuine? that is, were they written by +Ezekiel and Daniel? + +Of this there is no proof; but so far as my own opinion goes, I am +more inclined to believe they were, than that they were not. My +reasons for this opinion are as follows: First, Because those books +do not contain internal evidence to prove they were not written by +Ezekiel and Daniel, as the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, Samuel, +etc., prove they were not written by Moses, Joshua, Samuel, etc. + +Secondly, Because they were not written till after the Babylonish +captivity began; and there is good reason to believe that not any +book in the bible was written before that period; at least it is +proveable, from the books themselves, as I have already shown, that +they were not written till after the commencement of the Jewish +monarchy. + +Thirdly, Because the manner in which the books ascribed to Ezekiel +and Daniel are written, agrees with the condition these men were in +at the time of writing them. + +Had the numerous commentators and priests, who have foolishly +employed or wasted their time in pretending to expound and unriddle +those books, been carred into captivity, as Ezekiel and Daniel were, +it would greatly have improved their intellects in comprehending the +reason for this mode of writing, and have saved them the trouble of +racking their invention, as they have done to no purpose; for they +would have found that themselves would be obliged to write whatever +they had to write, respecting their own affairs, or those of their +friends, or of their country, in a concealed manner, as those men +have done. + +These two books differ from all the rest; for it is only these that +are filled with accounts of dreams and visions: and this difference +arose from the situation the writers were in as prisoners of war, or +prisoners of state, in a foreign country, which obliged them to +convey even the most trifling information to each other, and all +their political projects or opinions, in obscure and metaphorical +terms. They pretend to have dreamed dreams, and seen visions, because +it was unsafe for them to speak facts or plain language. We ought, +however, to suppose, that the persons to whom they wrote understood +what they meant, and that it was not intended anybody else should. +But these busy commentators and priests have been puzzling their wits +to find out what it was not intended they should know, and with which +they have nothing to do. + +Ezekiel and Daniel were carried prisoners to Babylon, under the first +captivity, in the time of Jehoiakim, nine years before the second +captivity in the time of Zedekiah. The Jews were then still numerous, +and had considerable force at Jerusalem; and as it is natural to +suppose that men in the situation of Ezekiel and Daniel would be +meditating the recovery of their country, and their own deliverance, +it is reasonable to suppose that the accounts of dreams and visions +with which these books are filled, are no other than a disguised mode +of correspondence to facilitate those objects: it served them as a +cypher, or secret alphabet. If they are not this, they are tales, +reveries, and nonsense; or at least a fanciful way of wearing off the +wearisomeness of captivity; but the presumption is, they are the +former. + +Ezekiel begins his book by speaking of a vision of cherubims, and of +a wheel within a wheel, which he says he saw by the river Chebar, in +the land of his captivity. Is it not reasonable to suppose that by +the cherubims he meant the temple at Jerusalem, where they had +figures of cherubims? and by a wheel within a wheel (which as a +figure has always been understood to signify political contrivance) +the project or means of recovering Jerusalem? In the latter part of +his book he supposes himself transported to Jerusalem, and into the +temple; and he refers back to the vision on the river Chebar, and +says, (xliii- 3,) that this last vision was like the vision on the +river Chebar; which indicates that those pretended dreams and visions +had for their object the recovery of Jerusalem, and nothing further. + +As to the romantic interpretations and applications, wild as the +dreams and visions they undertake to explain, which commentators and +priests have made of those books, that of converting them into things +which they call prophecies, and making them bend to times and +circumstances as far remote even as the present day, it shows the +fraud or the extreme folly to which credulity or priestcraft can go. + +Scarcely anything can be more absurd than to suppose that men +situated as Ezekiel and Daniel were, whose country was over-run, and +in the possession of the enemy, all their friends and relations in +captivity abroad, or in slavery at home, or massacred, or in +continual danger of it; scarcely any thing, I say, can be more absurd +than to suppose that such men should find nothing to do but that of +employing their time and their thoughts about what was to happen to +other nations a thousand or two thousand years after they were dead; +at the same time nothing more natural than that they should meditate +the recovery of Jerusalem, and their own deliverance; and that this +was the sole object of all the obscure and apparently frantic writing +contained in those books. + +In this sense the mode of writing used in those two books being +forced by necessity, and not adopted by choice, is not irrational; +but, if we are to use the books as prophecies, they are false. In +Ezekiel xxix. 11., speaking of Egypt, it is said, "No foot of man +shall pass through it, nor foot of beast pass through it; neither +shall it be inhabited for forty years." This is what never came to +pass, and consequently it is false, as all the books I have already +reviewed are. -- I here close this part of the subject. + +In the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of Jonah, and +of the story of him and the whale. -- A fit story for ridicule, if it +was written to be believed; or of laughter, if it was intended to try +what credulity could swallow; for, if it could swallow Jonah and the +whale it could swallow anything. + +But, as is already shown in the observations on the book of Job and +of Proverbs, it is not always certain which of the books in the Bible +are originally Hebrew, or only translations from the books of the +Gentiles into Hebrew; and, as the book of Jonah, so far from treating +of the affairs of the Jews, says nothing upon that subject, but +treats altogether of the Gentiles, it is more probable that it is a +book of the Gentiles than of the Jews, [I have read in an ancient +Persian poem (Saadi, I believe, but have mislaid the reference) this +phrase: "And now the whale swallowed Jonah: the sun set." -- Editor.] +and that it has been written as a fable to expose the nonsense, and +satyrize the vicious and malignant character, of a Bible-prophet, or +a predicting priest. + +Jonah is represented, first as a disobedient prophet, running away +from his mission, and taking shelter aboard a vessel of the Gentiles, +bound from Joppa to Tarshish; as if he ignorantly supposed, by such a +paltry contrivance, he could hide himself where God could not find +him. The vessel is overtaken by a storm at sea; and the mariners, all +of whom are Gentiles, believing it to be a judgement on account of +some one on board who had committed a crime, agreed to cast lots to +discover the offender; and the lot fell upon Jonah. But before this +they had cast all their wares and merchandise over-board to lighten +the vessel, while Jonah, like a stupid fellow, was fast asleep in the +hold. + +After the lot had designated Jonah to be the offender, they +questioned him to know who and what he was? and he told them he was +an Hebrew; and the story implies that he confessed himself to be +guilty. But these Gentiles, instead of sacrificing him at once +without pity or mercy, as a company of Bible-prophets or priests +would have done by a Gentile in the same case, and as it is related +Samuel had done by Agag, and Moses by the women and children, they +endeavoured to save him, though at the risk of their own lives: for +the account says, "Nevertheless [that is, though Jonah was a Jew and +a foreigner, and the cause of all their misfortunes, and the loss of +their cargo] the men rowed hard to bring the boat to land, but they +could not, for the sea wrought and was tempestuous against them." +Still however they were unwilling to put the fate of the lot into +execution; and they cried, says the account, unto the Lord, saying, +"We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and +lay not upon us innocent blood; for thou, O Lord, hast done as it +pleased thee." Meaning thereby, that they did not presume to judge +Jonah guilty, since that he might be innocent; but that they +considered the lot that had fallen upon him as a decree of God, or as +it pleased God. The address of this prayer shows that the Gentiles +worshipped one Supreme Being, and that they were not idolaters as the +Jews represented them to be. But the storm still continuing, and the +danger encreasing, they put the fate of the lot into execution, and +cast Jonah in the sea; where, according to the story, a great fish +swallowed him up whole and alive! + +We have now to consider Jonah securely housed from the storm in the +fish's belly. Here we are told that he prayed; but the prayer is a +made-up prayer, taken from various parts of the Psalms, without +connection or consistency, and adapted to the distress, but not at +all to the condition that Jonah was in. It is such a prayer as a +Gentile, who might know something of the Psalms, could copy out for +him. This circumstance alone, were there no other, is sufficient to +indicate that the whole is a made-up story. The prayer, however, is +supposed to have answered the purpose, and the story goes on, +(taking-off at the same time the cant language of a Bible-prophet,) +saying, "The Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon +dry land." + +Jonah then received a second mission to Nineveh, with which he sets +out; and we have now to consider him as a preacher. The distress he +is represented to have suffered, the remembrance of his own +disobedience as the cause of it, and the miraculous escape he is +supposed to have had, were sufficient, one would conceive, to have +impressed him with sympathy and benevolence in the execution of his +mission; but, instead of this, he enters the city with denunciation +and malediction in his mouth, crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh +shall be overthrown." + +We have now to consider this supposed missionary in the last act of +his mission; and here it is that the malevolent spirit of a +Bible-prophet, or of a predicting priest, appears in all that +blackness of character that men ascribe to the being they call the +devil. + +Having published his predictions, he withdrew, says the story, to the +east side of the city. -- But for what? not to contemplate in +retirement the mercy of his Creator to himself or to others, but to +wait, with malignant impatience, the destruction of Nineveh. It came +to pass, however, as the story relates, that the Ninevites reformed, +and that God, according to the Bible phrase, repented him of the evil +he had said he would do unto them, and did it not. This, saith the +first verse of the last chapter, displeased Jonah exceedingly and he +was very angry. His obdurate heart would rather that all Nineveh +should be destroyed, and every soul, young and old, perish in its +ruins, than that his prediction should not be fulfilled. To expose +the character of a prophet still more, a gourd is made to grow up in +the night, that promises him an agreeable shelter from the heat of +the sun, in the place to which he is retired; and the next morning it +dies. + +Here the rage of the prophet becomes excessive, and he is ready to +destroy himself. "It is better, said he, for me to die than to live." +This brings on a supposed expostulation between the Almighty and the +prophet; in which the former says, "Doest thou well to be angry for +the gourd? And Jonah said, I do well to be angry even unto death. +Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou +hast not laboured, neither madest it to grow, which came up in a +night, and perished in a night; and should not I spare Nineveh, that +great city, in which are more than threescore thousand persons, that +cannot discern between their right hand and their left?" + +Here is both the winding up of the satire, and the moral of the +fable. As a satire, it strikes against the character of all the +Bible-prophets, and against all the indiscriminate judgements upon +men, women and children, with which this lying book, the bible, is +crowded; such as Noah's flood, the destruction of the cities of Sodom +and Gomorrah, the extirpation of the Canaanites, even to suckling +infants, and women with child; because the same reflection 'that +there are more than threescore thousand persons that cannot discern +between their right hand and their left,' meaning young children, +applies to all their cases. It satirizes also the supposed partiality +of the Creator for one nation more than for another. + +As a moral, it preaches against the malevolent spirit of prediction; +for as certainly as a man predicts ill, he becomes inclined to wish +it. The pride of having his judgment right hardens his heart, till at +last he beholds with satisfaction, or sees with disappointment, the +accomplishment or the failure of his predictions. -- This book ends +with the same kind of strong and well-directed point against +prophets, prophecies and indiscriminate judgements, as the chapter +that Benjamin Franklin made for the Bible, about Abraham and the +stranger, ends against the intolerant spirit of religious +persecutions -- Thus much for the book Jonah. [The story of Abraham +and the Fire-worshipper, ascribed to Franklin, is from Saadi. (See my +"Sacred Anthology," p. 61.) Paine has often been called a "mere +scoffer," but he seems to have been among the first to treat with +dignity the book of Jonah, so especially liable to the ridicule of +superficial readers, and discern in it the highest conception of +Deity known to the Old Testament. -- Editor.] + +Of the poetical parts of the Bible, that are called prophecies, I +have spoken in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' and already in +this, where I have said that the word for prophet is the Bible-word +for Poet, and that the flights and metaphors of those poets, many of +which have become obscure by the lapse of time and the change of +circumstances, have been ridiculously erected into things called +prophecies, and applied to purposes the writers never thought of. +When a priest quotes any of those passages, he unriddles it agreeably +to his own views, and imposes that explanation upon his congregation +as the meaning of the writer. The whore of Babylon has been the +common whore of all the priests, and each has accused the other of +keeping the strumpet; so well do they agree in their explanations. + +There now remain only a few books, which they call books of the +lesser prophets; and as I have already shown that the greater are +impostors, it would be cowardice to disturb the repose of the little +ones. Let them sleep, then, in the arms of their nurses, the priests, +and both be forgotten together. + +I have now gone through the Bible, as a man would go through a wood +with an axe on his shoulder, and fell trees. Here they lie; and the +priests, if they can, may replant them. They may, perhaps, stick them +in the ground, but they will never make them grow. -- I pass on to +the books of the New Testament. + +CHAPTER II - THE NEW TESTAMENT + +THE New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of +the Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation. + +As it is nothing extraordinary that a woman should be with child +before she was married, and that the son she might bring forth should +be executed, even unjustly, I see no reason for not believing that +such a woman as Mary, and such a man as Joseph, and Jesus, existed; +their mere existence is a matter of indifference, about which there +is no ground either to believe or to disbelieve, and which comes +under the common head of, It may be so, and what then? The +probability however is that there were such persons, or at least such +as resembled them in part of the circumstances, because almost all +romantic stories have been suggested by some actual circumstance; as +the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, not a word of which is true, were +suggested by the case of Alexander Selkirk. + +It is not then the existence or the non-existence, of the persons +that I trouble myself about; it is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told +in the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised +thereon, against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, +is blasphemously obscene. It gives an account of a young woman +engaged to be married, and while under this engagement, she is, to +speak plain language, debauched by a ghost, under the impious +pretence, (Luke i. 35,) that "the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, +and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee." Notwithstanding +which, Joseph afterwards marries her, cohabits with her as his wife, +and in his turn rivals the ghost. This is putting the story into +intelligible language, and when told in this manner, there is not a +priest but must be ashamed to own it. [Mary, the supposed virgin, +mother of Jesus, had several other children, sons and daughters. See +Matt. xiii. 55, 56. -- Author.] + +Obscenity in matters of faith, however wrapped up, is always a token +of fable and imposture; for it is necessary to our serious belief in +God, that we do not connect it with stories that run, as this does, +into ludicrous interpretations. This story is, upon the face of it, +the same kind of story as that of Jupiter and Leda, or Jupiter and +Europa, or any of the amorous adventures of Jupiter; and shews, as is +already stated in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' that the +Christian faith is built upon the heathen Mythology. + +As the historical parts of the New Testament, so far as concerns +Jesus Christ, are confined to a very short space of time, less than +two years, and all within the same country, and nearly to the same +spot, the discordance of time, place, and circumstance, which detects +the fallacy of the books of the Old Testament, and proves them to be +impositions, cannot be expected to be found here in the same +abundance. The New Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce +of one act, in which there is not room for very numerous violations +of the unities. There are, however, some glaring contradictions, +which, exclusive of the fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are +sufficient to show the story of Jesus Christ to be false. + +I lay it down as a position which cannot be controverted, first, that +the agreement of all the parts of a story does not prove that story +to be true, because the parts may agree, and the whole may be false; +secondly, that the disagreement of the parts of a story proves the +whole cannot be true. The agreement does not prove truth, but the +disagreement proves falsehood positively. + +The history of Jesus Christ is contained in the four books ascribed +to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. -- The first chapter of Matthew +begins with giving a genealogy of Jesus Christ; and in the third +chapter of Luke there is also given a genealogy of Jesus Christ. Did +these two agree, it would not prove the genealogy to be true, because +it might nevertheless be a fabrication; but as they contradict each +other in every particular, it proves falsehood absolutely. If Matthew +speaks truth, Luke speaks falsehood; and if Luke speaks truth, +Matthew speaks falsehood: and as there is no authority for believing +one more than the other, there is no authority for believing either; +and if they cannot be believed even in the very first thing they say, +and set out to prove, they are not entitled to be believed in any +thing they say afterwards. Truth is an uniform thing; and as to +inspiration and revelation, were we to admit it, it is impossible to +suppose it can be contradictory. Either then the men called apostles +were imposters, or the books ascribed to them have been written by +other persons, and fathered upon them, as is the case in the Old +Testament. + +The book of Matthew gives (i. 6), a genealogy by name from David, up, +through Joseph, the husband of Mary, to Christ; and makes there to be +twent eight generations. The book of Luke gives also a genealogy by +name from Christ, through Joseph the husband of Mary, down to David, +and makes there to be forty-three generations; besides which, there +is only the two names of David and Joseph that are alike in the two +lists. -- I here insert both genealogical lists, and for the sake of +perspicuity and comparison, have placed them both in the same +direction, that is, from Joseph down to David. + + Genealogy, according to Genealogy, according to + Matthew. Luke. + + Christ Christ + 2 Joseph 2 Joseph + 3 Jacob 3 Heli + 4 Matthan 4 Matthat + 5 Eleazer 5 Levi + 6 Eliud 6 Melchl + 7 Achim 7 Janna + 8 Sadoc 8 Joseph + 9 Azor 9 Mattathias + 10 Eliakim 10 Amos + 11 Abiud 11 Naum + 12 Zorobabel 12 Esli + 13 Salathiel 13 Nagge + 14 Jechonias 14 Maath + 15 Josias 15 Mattathias + 16 Amon 16 Semei + 17 Manasses 17 Joseph + 18 Ezekias 18 Juda + 19 Achaz 19 Joanna + 20 Joatham 20 Rhesa + 21 Ozias 21 Zorobabel + 22 Joram 22 Salathiel + 23 Josaphat 23 Neri + 24 Asa 24 Melchi + 25 Abia 25 Addi + 26 Roboam 26 Cosam + 27 Solomon 27 Elmodam + 28 David * 28 Er + 29 Jose + 30 Eliezer + 31 Jorim + 32 Matthat + 33 Levi + 34 Simeon + 35 Juda + 36 Joseph + 37 Jonan + 38 Eliakim + 39 Melea + 40 Menan + 41 Mattatha + 42 Nathan + 43 David +[NOTE: * From the birth of David to the birth of Christ is upwards of +1080 years; and as the life-time of Christ is not included, there are +but 27 full generations. To find therefore the average age of each +person mentioned in the list, at the time his first son was born, it +is only necessary to divide 1080 by 27, which gives 40 years for each +person. As the life-time of man was then but of the same extent it is +now, it is an absurdity to suppose, that 27 following generations +should all be old bachelors, before they married; and the more so, +when we are told that Solomon, the next in succession to David, had a +house full of wives and mistresses before he was twenty-one years of +age. So far from this genealogy being a solemn truth, it is not even +a reasonable lie. The list of Luke gives about twenty-six years for +the average age, and this is too much. -- Author.] + +Now, if these men, Matthew and Luke, set out with a falsehood between +them (as these two accounts show they do) in the very commencement of +their history of Jesus Christ, and of who, and of what he was, what +authority (as I have before asked) is there left for believing the +strange things they tell us afterwards? If they cannot be believed in +their account of his natural genealogy, how are we to believe them +when they tell us he was the son of God, begotten by a ghost; and +that an angel announced this in secret to his mother? If they lied in +one genealogy, why are we to believe them in the other? If his +natural genealogy be manufactured, which it certainly is, why are we +not to suppose that his celestial genealogy is manufactured also, and +that the whole is fabulous? Can any man of serious reflection hazard +his future happiness upon the belief of a story naturally impossible, +repugnant to every idea of decency, and related by persons already +detected of falsehood? Is it not more safe that we stop ourselves at +the plain, pure, and unmixed belief of one God, which is deism, than +that we commit ourselves on an ocean of improbable, irrational, +indecent, and contradictory tales? + +The first question, however, upon the books of the New Testament, as +upon those of the Old, is, Are they genuine? were they written by the +persons to whom they are ascribed? For it is upon this ground only +that the strange things related therein have been credited. Upon this +point, there is no direct proof for or against; and all that this +state of a case proves is doubtfulness; and doubtfulness is the +opposite of belief. The state, therefore, that the books are in, +proves against themselves as far as this kind of proof can go. + +But, exclusive of this, the presumption is that the books called the +Evangelists, and ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, were not +written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and that they are +impositions. The disordered state of the history in these four books, +the silence of one book upon matters related in the other, and the +disagreement that is to be found among them, implies that they are +the productions of some unconnected individuals, many years after the +things they pretend to relate, each of whom made his own legend; and +not the writings of men living intimately together, as the men called +apostles are supposed to have done: in fine, that they have been +manufactured, as the books of the Old Testament have been, by other +persons than those whose names they bear. + +The story of the angel announcing what the church calls the +immaculate conception, is not so much as mentioned in the books +ascribed to Mark, and John; and is differently related in Matthew and +Luke. The former says the angel, appeared to Joseph; the latter says, +it was to Mary; but either Joseph or Mary was the worst evidence that +could have been thought of; for it was others that should have +testified for them, and not they for themselves. Were any girl that +is now with child to say, and even to swear it, that she was gotten +with child by a ghost, and that an angel told her so, would she be +believed? Certainly she would not. Why then are we to believe the +same thing of another girl whom we never saw, told by nobody knows +who, nor when, nor where? How strange and inconsistent is it, that +the same circumstance that would weaken the belief even of a probable +story, should be given as a motive for believing this one, that has +upon the face of it every token of absolute impossibility and +imposture. + +The story of Herod destroying all the children under two years old, +belongs altogether to the book of Matthew; not one of the rest +mentions anything about it. Had such a circumstance been true, the +universality of it must have made it known to all the writers, and +the thing would have been too striking to have been omitted by any. +This writer tell us, that Jesus escaped this slaughter, because +Joseph and Mary were warned by an angel to flee with him into Egypt; +but he forgot to make provision for John [the Baptist], who was then +under two years of age. John, however, who staid behind, fared as +well as Jesus, who fled; and therefore the story circumstantially +belies itself. + +Not any two of these writers agree in reciting, exactly in the same +words, the written inscription, short as it is, which they tell us +was put over Christ when he was crucified; and besides this, Mark +says, He was crucified at the third hour, (nine in the morning;) and +John says it was the sixth hour, (twelve at noon.) [According to +John, (xix. 14) the sentence was not passed till about the sixth hour +(noon,) and consequently the execution could not be till the +afternoon; but Mark (xv. 25) Says expressly that he was crucified at +the third hour, (nine in the morning,) -- Author.] + +The inscription is thus stated in those books: + +Matthew -- This is Jesus the king of the Jews. +Mark -- The king of the Jews. +Luke -- This is the king of the Jews. +John -- Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews. + +We may infer from these circumstances, trivial as they are, that +those writers, whoever they were, and in whatever time they lived, +were not present at the scene. The only one of the men called +apostles who appears to have been near to the spot was Peter, and +when he was accused of being one of Jesus's followers, it is said, +(Matthew xxvi. 74,) "Then Peter began to curse and to swear, saying, +I know not the man:" yet we are now called to believe the same Peter, +convicted, by their own account, of perjury. For what reason, or on +what authority, should we do this? + +The accounts that are given of the circumstances, that they tell us +attended the crucifixion, are differently related in those four books. + +The book ascribed to Matthew says 'there was darkness over all the +land from the sixth hour unto the ninth hour -- that the veil of the +temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom -- that there was +an earthquake -- that the rocks rent -- that the graves opened, that +the bodies of many of the saints that slept arose and came out of +their graves after the resurrection, and went into the holy city and +appeared unto many.' Such is the account which this dashing writer of +the book of Matthew gives, but in which he is not supported by the +writers of the other books. + +The writer of the book ascribed to Mark, in detailing the +circumstances of the crucifixion, makes no mention of any earthquake, +nor of the rocks rending, nor of the graves opening, nor of the dead +men walking out. The writer of the book of Luke is silent also upon +the same points. And as to the writer of the book of John, though he +details all the circumstances of the crucifixion down to the burial +of Christ, he says nothing about either the darkness -- the veil of +the temple -- the earthquake -- the rocks -- the graves -- nor the +dead men. + +Now if it had been true that these things had happened, and if the +writers of these books had lived at the time they did happen, and had +been the persons they are said to be -- namely, the four men called +apostles, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, -- it was not possible for +them, as true historians, even without the aid of inspiration, not to +have recorded them. The things, supposing them to have been facts, +were of too much notoriety not to have been known, and of too much +importance not to have been told. All these supposed apostles must +have been witnesses of the earthquake, if there had been any, for it +was not possible for them to have been absent from it: the opening of +the graves and resurrection of the dead men, and their walking about +the city, is of still greater importance than the earthquake. An +earthquake is always possible, and natural, and proves nothing; but +this opening of the graves is supernatural, and directly in point to +their doctrine, their cause, and their apostleship. Had it been true, +it would have filled up whole chapters of those books, and been the +chosen theme and general chorus of all the writers; but instead of +this, little and trivial things, and mere prattling conversation of +'he said this and she said that' are often tediously detailed, while +this most important of all, had it been true, is passed off in a +slovenly manner by a single dash of the pen, and that by one writer +only, and not so much as hinted at by the rest. + +It is an easy thing to tell a lie, but it is difficult to support the +lie after it is told. The writer of the book of Matthew should have +told us who the saints were that came to life again, and went into +the city, and what became of them afterwards, and who it was that saw +them; for he is not hardy enough to say that he saw them himself; -- +whether they came out naked, and all in natural buff, he-saints and +she-saints, or whether they came full dressed, and where they got +their dresses; whether they went to their former habitations, and +reclaimed their wives, their husbands, and their property, and how +they were received; whether they entered ejectments for the recovery +of their possessions, or brought actions of crim. con. against the +rival interlopers; whether they remained on earth, and followed their +former occupation of preaching or working; or whether they died +again, or went back to their graves alive, and buried themselves. + +Strange indeed, that an army of saints should retum to life, and +nobody know who they were, nor who it was that saw them, and that not +a word more should be said upon the subject, nor these saints have +any thing to tell us! Had it been the prophets who (as we are told) +had formerly prophesied of these things, they must have had a great +deal to say. They could have told us everything, and we should have +had posthumous prophecies, with notes and commentaries upon the +first, a little better at least than we have now. Had it been Moses, +and Aaron, and Joshua, and Samuel, and David, not an unconverted Jew +had remained in all Jerusalem. Had it been John the Baptist, and the +saints of the times then present, everybody would have known them, +and they would have out-preached and out-famed all the other +apostles. But, instead of this, these saints are made to pop up, like +Jonah's gourd in the night, for no purpose at all but to wither in +the morning. -- Thus much for this part of the story. + +The tale of the resurrection follows that of the crucifixion; and in +this as well as in that, the writers, whoever they were, disagree so +much as to make it evident that none of them were there. + +The book of Matthew states, that when Christ was put in the sepulchre +the Jews applied to Pilate for a watch or a guard to be placed over +the septilchre, to prevent the body being stolen by the disciples; +and that in consequence of this request the sepulchre was made sure, +sealing the stone that covered the mouth, and setting a watch. But +the other books say nothing about this application, nor about the +sealing, nor the guard, nor the watch; and according to their +accounts, there were none. Matthew, however, follows up this part of +the story of the guard or the watch with a second part, that I shall +notice in the conclusion, as it serves to detect the fallacy of those +books. + +The book of Matthew continues its account, and says, (xxviii. 1,) +that at the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn, towards the +first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see +the sepulchre. Mark says it was sun-rising, and John says it was +dark. Luke says it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother +of James, and other women, that came to the sepulchre; and John +states that Mary Magdalene came alone. So well do they agree about +their first evidence! They all, however, appear to have known most +about Mary Magdalene; she was a woman of large acquaintance, and it +was not an ill conjecture that she might be upon the stroll. [The +Bishop of Llandaff, in his famous "Apology," censured Paine severely +for this insinuation against Mary Magdalene, but the censure really +falls on our English version, which, by a chapter- heading (Luke +vii.), has unwarrantably identified her as the sinful woman who +anointed Jesus, and irrevocably branded her. -- Editor.] + +The book of Matthew goes on to say (ver. 2): "And behold there was a +great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, +and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it" +But the other books say nothing about any earthquake, nor about the +angel rolling back the stone, and sitting upon it and, according to +their account, there was no angel sitting there. Mark says the angel +[Mark says "a young man," and Luke "two men." -- Editor.] was within +the sepulchre, sitting on the right side. Luke says there were two, +and they were both standing up; and John says they were both sitting +down, one at the head and the other at the feet. + +Matthew says, that the angel that was sitting upon the stone on the +outside of the sepulchre told the two Marys that Christ was risen, +and that the women went away quickly. Mark says, that the women, upon +seeing the stone rolled away, and wondering at it, went into the +sepulchre, and that it was the angel that was sitting within on the +right side, that told them so. Luke says, it was the two angels that +were Standing up; and John says, it was Jesus Christ himself that +told it to Mary Magdalene; and that she did not go into the +sepulchre, but only stooped down and looked in. + +Now, if the writers of these four books had gone into a court of +justice to prove an alibi, (for it is of the nature of an alibi that +is here attempted to be proved, namely, the absence of a dead body by +supernatural means,) and had they given their evidence in the same +contradictory manner as it is here given, they would have been in +danger of having their ears cropt for perjury, and would have justly +deserved it. Yet this is the evidence, and these are the books, that +have been imposed upon the world as being given by divine +inspiration, and as the unchangeable word of God. + +The writer of the book of Matthew, after giving this account, relates +a story that is not to be found in any of the other books, and which +is the same I have just before alluded to. "Now," says he, [that is, +after the conversation the women had had with the angel sitting upon +the stone,] "behold some of the watch [meaning the watch that he had +said had been placed over the sepulchre] came into the city, and +shawed unto the chief priests all the things that were done; and when +they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave +large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, that his disciples +came by night, and stole him away while we slept; and if this come to +the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. So they +took the money, and did as they were taught; and this saying [that +his disciples stole him away] is commonly reported among the Jews +until this day." + +The expression, until this day, is an evidence that the book ascribed +to Matthew was not written by Matthew, and that it has been +manufactured long after the times and things of which it pretends to +treat; for the expression implies a great length of intervening time. +It would be inconsistent in us to speak in this manner of any thing +happening in our own time. To give, therefore, intelligible meaning +to the expression, we must suppose a lapse of some generations at +least, for this manner of speaking carries the mind back to ancient +time. + +The absurdity also of the story is worth noticing; for it shows the +writer of the book of Matthew to have been an exceeding weak and +foolish man. He tells a story that contradicts itself in point of +possibility; for though the guard, if there were any, might be made +to say that the body was taken away while they were asleep, and to +give that as a reason for their not having prevented it, that same +sleep must also have prevented their knowing how, and by whom, it was +done; and yet they are made to say that it was the disciples who did +it. Were a man to tender his evidence of something that he should say +was done, and of the manner of doing it, and of the person who did +it, while he was asleep, and could know nothing of the matter, such +evidence could not be received: it will do well enough for Testament +evidence, but not for any thing where truth is concerned. + +I come now to that part of the evidence in those books, that respects +the pretended appearance of Christ after this pretended resurrection. + +The writer of the book of Matthew relates, that the angel that was +sitting on the stone at the mouth of the sepulchre, said to the two +Marys (xxviii. 7), "Behold Christ is gone before you into Galilee, +there ye shall see him; lo, I have told you." And the same writer at +the next two verses (8, 9,) makes Christ himself to speak to the same +purpose to these women immediately after the angel had told it to +them, and that they ran quickly to tell it to the disciples; and it +is said (ver. 16), "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, +into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them; and, when they saw +him, they worshipped him." + +But the writer of the book of John tells us a story very different to +this; for he says (xx. 19) "Then the same day at evening, being the +first day of the week, [that is, the same day that Christ is said to +have risen,] when the doors were shut, where the disciples were +assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst of +them." + +According to Matthew the eleven were marching to Galilee, to meet +Jesus in a mountain, by his own appointment, at the very time when, +according to John, they were assembled in another place, and that not +by appointment, but in secret, for fear of the Jews. + +The writer of the book of Luke xxiv. 13, 33-36, contradicts that of +Matthew more pointedly than John does; for he says expressly, that +the meeting was in Jerusalem the evening of the same day that he +(Christ) rose, and that the eleven were there. + +Now, it is not possible, unless we admit these supposed disciples the +right of wilful lying, that the writers of these books could be any +of the eleven persons called disciples; for if, according to Matthew, +the eleven went into Galilee to meet Jesus in a mountain by his own +appointment, on the same day that he is said to have risen, Luke and +John must have been two of that eleven; yet the writer of Luke says +expressly, and John implies as much, that the meeting was that same +day, in a house in Jerusalem; and, on the other hand, if, according +to Luke and John, the eleven were assembled in a house in Jerusalem, +Matthew must have been one of that eleven; yet Matthew says the +meeting was in a mountain in Galilee, and consequently the evidence +given in those books destroy each other. + +The writer of the book of Mark says nothing about any meeting in +Galilee; but he says (xvi. 12) that Christ, after his resurrection, +appeared in another form to two of them, as they walked into the +country, and that these two told it to the residue, who would not +believe them. [This belongs to the late addition to Mark, which +originally ended with xvi. 8. -- Editor.] Luke also tells a story, in +which he keeps Christ employed the whole of the day of this pretended +resurrection, until the evening, and which totally invalidates the +account of going to the mountain in Galilee. He says, that two of +them, without saying which two, went that same day to a village +called Emmaus, three score furlongs (seven miles and a half) from +Jerusalem, and that Christ in disguise went with them, and stayed +with them unto the evening, and supped with them, and then vanished +out of their sight, and reappeared that same evening, at the meeting +of the eleven in Jerusalem. + +This is the contradictory manner in which the evidence of this +pretended reappearance of Christ is stated: the only point in which +the writers agree, is the skulking privacy of that reappearance; for +whether it was in the recess of a mountain in Galilee, or in a +shut-up house in Jerusalem, it was still skulking. To what cause then +are we to assign this skulking? On the one hand, it is directly +repugnant to the supposed or pretended end, that of convincing the +world that Christ was risen; and, on the other hand, to have asserted +the publicity of it would have exposed the writers of those books to +public detection; and, therefore, they have been under the necessity +of making it a private affair. + +As to the account of Christ being seen by more than five hundred at +once, it is Paul only who says it, and not the five hundred who say +it for themselves. It is, therefore, the testimony of but one man, +and that too of a man, who did not, according to the same account, +believe a word of the matter himself at the time it is said to have +happened. His evidence, supposing him to have been the writer of +Corinthians xv., where this account is given, is like that of a man +who comes into a court of justice to swear that what he had sworn +before was false. A man may often see reason, and he has too always +the right of changing his opinion; but this liberty does not extend +to matters of fact. + +I now come to the last scene, that of the ascension into heaven. -- +Here all fear of the Jews, and of every thing else, must necessarily +have been out of the question: it was that which, if true, was to +seal the whole; and upon which the reality of the future mission of +the disciples was to rest for proof. Words, whether declarations or +promises, that passed in private, either in the recess of a mountain +in Galilee, or in a shut-up house in Jerusalem, even supposing them +to have been spoken, could not be evidence in public; it was +therefore necessary that this last scene should preclude the +possibility of denial and dispute; and that it should be, as I have +stated in the former part of 'The Age of Reason,' as public and as +visible as the sun at noon-day; at least it ought to have been as +public as the crucifixion is reported to have been. -- But to come to +the point. + +In the first place, the writer of the book of Matthew does not say a +syllable about it; neither does the writer of the book of John. This +being the case, is it possible to suppose that those writers, who +affect to be even minute in other matters, would have been silent +upon this, had it been true? The writer of the book of Mark passes it +off in a careless, slovenly manner, with a single dash of the pen, as +if he was tired of romancing, or ashamed of the story. So also does +the writer of Luke. And even between these two, there is not an +apparent agreement, as to the place where this final parting is said +to have been. [The last nine verses of Mark being ungenuine, the +story of the ascension rests exclusively on the words in Luke xxiv. +51, "was carried up into heaven," -words omitted by several ancient +authorities. -- Editor.] + +The book of Mark says that Christ appeared to the eleven as they sat +at meat, alluding to the meeting of the eleven at Jerusalem: he then +states the conversation that he says passed at that meeting; and +immediately after says (as a school-boy would finish a dull story,) +"So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up +into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." But the writer of +Luke says, that the ascension was from Bethany; that he (Christ) led +them out as far as Bethany, and was parted from them there, and was +carried up into heaven. So also was Mahomet: and, as to Moses, the +apostle Jude says, ver. 9. That 'Michael and the devil disputed about +his body.' While we believe such fables as these, or either of them, +we believe unworthily of the Almighty. + +I have now gone through the examination of the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; and when it is considered that the +whole space of time, from the crucifixion to what is called the +ascension, is but a few days, apparently not more than three or four, +and that all the circumstances are reported to have happened nearly +about the same spot, Jerusalem, it is, I believe, impossible to find +in any story upon record so many and such glaring absurdities, +contradictions, and falsehoods, as are in those books. They are more +numerous and striking than I had any expectation of finding, when I +began this examination, and far more so than I had any idea of when I +wrote the former part of 'The Age of Reason.' I had then neither +Bible nor Testament to refer to, nor could I procure any. My own +situation, even as to existence, was becoming every day more +precarious; and as I was willing to leave something behind me upon +the subject, I was obliged to be quick and concise. The quotations I +then made were from memory only, but they are correct; and the +opinions I have advanced in that work are the effect of the most +clear and long-established conviction, -- that the Bible and the +Testament are impositions upon the world; -- that the fall of man, +the account of Jesus Christ being the Son of God, and of his dying to +appease the wrath of God, and of salvation by that strange means, are +all fabulous inventions, dishonourable to the wisdom and power of the +Almighty; -- that the only true religion is deism, by which I then +meant and now mean the belief of one God, and an imitation of his +moral character, or the practice of what are called moral virtues; -- +and that it was upon this only (so far as religion is concerned) that +I rested all my hopes of happiness hereafter. So say I now -- and so +help me God. + +But to retum to the subject. -- Though it is impossible, at this +distance of time, to ascertain as a fact who were the writers of +those four books (and this alone is sufficient to hold them in doubt, +and where we doubt we do not believe) it is not difficult to +ascertain negatively that they were not written by the persons to +whom they are ascribed. The contradictions in those books demonstrate +two things: + +First, that the writers cannot have been eye-witnesses and +ear-witnesses of the matters they relate, or they would have related +them without those contradictions; and, consequently that the books +have not been written by the persons called apostles, who are +supposed to have been witnesses of this kind. + +Secondly, that the writers, whoever they were, have not acted in +concerted imposition, but each writer separately and individually for +himself, and without the knowledge of the other. + +The same evidence that applies to prove the one, applies equally to +prove both cases; that is, that the books were not written by the men +called apostles, and also that they are not a concerted imposition. +As to inspiration, it is altogether out of the question; we may as +well attempt to unite truth and falsehood, as inspiration and +contradiction. + +If four men are eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses to a scene, they will +without any concert between them, agree as to time and place, when +and where that scene happened. Their individual knowledge of the +thing, each one knowing it for himself, renders concert totally +unnecessary; the one will not say it was in a mountain in the +country, and the other at a house in town; the one will not say it +was at sunrise, and the other that it was dark. For in whatever place +it was and whatever time it was, they know it equally alike. + +And on the other hand, if four men concert a story, they will make +their separate relations of that story agree and corroborate with +each other to support the whole. That concert supplies the want of +fact in the one case, as the knowledge of the fact supersedes, in the +other case, the necessity of a concert. The same contradictions, +therefore, that prove there has been no concert, prove also that the +reporters had no knowledge of the fact, (or rather of that which they +relate as a fact,) and detect also the falsehood of their reports. +Those books, therefore, have neither been written by the men called +apostles, nor by imposters in concert. -- How then have they been +written? + +I am not one of those who are fond of believing there is much of that +which is called wilful lying, or lying originally, except in the case +of men setting up to be prophets, as in the Old Testament; for +prophesying is lying professionally. In almost all other cases it is +not difficult to discover the progress by which even simple +supposition, with the aid of credulity, will in time grow into a lie, +and at last be told as a fact; and whenever we can find a charitable +reason for a thing of this kind, we ought not to indulge a severe one. + +The story of Jesus Christ appearing after he was dead is the story of +an apparition, such as timid imaginations can always create in +vision, and credulity believe. Stories of this kind had been told of +the assassination of Julius Caesar not many years before, and they +generally have their origin in violent deaths, or in execution of +innocent persons. In cases of this kind, compassion lends its aid, +and benevolently stretches the story. It goes on a little and a +little farther, till it becomes a most certain truth. Once start a +ghost, and credulity fills up the history of its life, and assigns +the cause of its appearance; one tells it one way, another another +way, till there are as many stories about the ghost, and about the +proprietor of the ghost, as there are about Jesus Christ in these +four books. + +The story of the appearance of Jesus Christ is told with that strange +mixture of the natural and impossible, that distinguishes legendary +tale from fact. He is represented as suddenly coming in and going out +when the doors are shut, and of vanishing out of sight, and appearing +again, as one would conceive of an unsubstantial vision; then again +he is hungry, sits down to meat, and eats his supper. But as those +who tell stories of this kind never provide for all the cases, so it +is here: they have told us, that when he arose he left his +grave-clothes behind him; but they have forgotten to provide other +clothes for him to appear in afterwards, or to tell us what be did +with them when he ascended; whether he stripped all off, or went up +clothes and all. In the case of Elijah, they have been careful enough +to make him throw down his mantle; how it happened not to be burnt +in the chariot of fire, they also have not told us; but as +imagination supplies all deficiencies of this kind, we may suppose if +we please that it was made of salamander's wool. + +Those who are not much acquainted with ecclesiastical history, may +suppose that the book called the New Testament has existed ever since +the time of Jesus Christ, as they suppose that the books ascribed to +Moses have existed ever since the time of Moses. But the fact is +historically otherwise; there was no such book as the New Testament +till more than three hundred years after the time that Christ is said +to have lived. + +At what time the books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, +began to appear, is altogether a matter of uncertainty. There is not +the least shadow of evidence of who the persons were that wrote them, +nor at what time they were written; and they might as well have been +called by the names of any of the other supposed apostles as by the +names they are now called. The originals are not in the possession of +any Christian Church existing, any more than the two tables of stone +written on, they pretend, by the finger of God, upon Mount Sinai, and +given to Moses, are in the possession of the Jews. And even if they +were, there is no possibility of proving the hand-writing in either +case. At the time those four books were written there was no +printing, and consequently there could be no publication otherwise +than by written copies, which any man might make or alter at +pleasure, and call them originals. Can we suppose it is consistent +with the wisdom of the Almighty to commit himself and his will to man +upon such precarious means as these; or that it is consistent we +should pin our faith upon such uncertainties? We cannot make nor +alter, nor even imitate, so much as one blade of grass that he has +made, and yet we can make or alter words of God as easily as words of +man. [The former part of the 'Age of Reason' has not been published +two years, and there is already an expression in it that is not mine. +The expression is: The book of Luke was carried by a majority of one +voice only. It may be true, but it is not I that have said it. Some +person who might know of that circumstance, has added it in a note at +the bottom of the page of some of the editions, printed either in +England or in America; and the printers, after that, have erected it +into the body of the work, and made me the author of it. If this has +happened within such a short space of time, notwithstanding the aid +of printing, which prevents the alteration of copies individually, +what may not have happened in a much greater length of time, when +there was no printing, and when any man who could write could make a +written copy and call it an original by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John? +-- Author. + +The spurious addition to Paine's work alluded to in his footnote drew +on him a severe criticism from Dr. Priestley ("Letters to a +Philosophical Unbeliever," p. 75), yet it seems to have been +Priestley himself who, in his quotation, first incorporated into +Paine's text the footnote added by the editor of the American edition +(1794). The American added: "Vide Moshiem's (sic) Ecc. History," +which Priestley omits. In a modern American edition I notice four +verbal alterations introduced into the above footnote. -- Editor.] + +About three hundred and fifty years after the time that Christ is +said to have lived, several writings of the kind I am speaking of +were scattered in the hands of divers individuals; and as the church +had begun to form itself into an hierarchy, or church government, +with temporal powers, it set itself about collecting them into a +code, as we now see them, called 'The New Testament.' They decided by +vote, as I have before said in the former part of the Age of Reason, +which of those writings, out of the collection they had made, should +be the word of God, and which should not. The Robbins of the Jews had +decided, by vote, upon the books of the Bible before. + +As the object of the church, as is the case in all national +establishments of churches, was power and revenue, and terror the +means it used, it is consistent to suppose that the most miraculous +and wonderful of the writings they had collected stood the best +chance of being voted. And as to the authenticity of the books, the +vote stands in the place of it; for it can be traced no higher. + +Disputes, however, ran high among the people then calling themselves +Christians, not only as to points of doctrine, but as to the +authenticity of the books. In the contest between the person called +St. Augustine, and Fauste, about the year 400, the latter says, "The +books called the Evangelists have been composed long after the times +of the apostles, by some obscure men, who, fearing that the world +would not give credit to their relation of matters of which they +could not be informed, have published them under the names of the +apostles; and which are so full of sottishness and discordant +relations, that there is neither agreement nor connection between +them." + +And in another place, addressing himself to the advocates of those +books, as being the word of God, he says, "It is thus that your +predecessors have inserted in the scriptures of our Lord many things +which, though they carry his name, agree not with his doctrine. This +is not surprising, since that we have often proved that these things +have not been written by himself, nor by his apostles, but that for +the greatest part they are founded upon tales, upon vague reports, +and put together by I know not what half Jews, with but little +agreement between them; and which they have nevertheless published +under the name of the apostles of our Lord, and have thus attributed +to them their own errors and their lies. [I have taken these two +extracts from Boulanger's Life of Paul, written in French; Boulanger +has quoted them from the writings of Augustine against Fauste, to +which he refers. -- Author. + +This Bishop Faustus is usually styled "The Manichaeum," Augustine +having entitled his book, Contra Fsustum Manichaeum Libri xxxiii., in +which nearly the whole of Faustus' very able work is quoted. -- +Editor.] + +The reader will see by those extracts that the authenticity of the +books of the New Testament was denied, and the books treated as +tales, forgeries, and lies, at the time they were voted to be the +word of God. But the interest of the church, with the assistance of +the faggot, bore down the opposition, and at last suppressed all +investigation. Miracles followed upon miracles, if we will believe +them, and men were taught to say they believed whether they believed +or not. But (by way of throwing in a thought) the French Revolution +has excommunicated the church from the power of working miracles; she +has not been able, with the assistance of all her saints, to work one +miracle since the revolution began; and as she never stood in greater +need than now, we may, without the aid of divination, conclude that +all her former miracles are tricks and lies. [Boulanger in his life +of Paul, has collected from the ecclesiastical histories, and the +writings of the fathers as they are called, several matters which +show the opinions that prevailed among the different sects of +Christians, at the time the Testament, as we now see it, was voted to +be the word of God. The following extracts are from the second +chapter of that work: + +The Marcionists (a Christian sect) asserted that the evangelists were +filled with falsities. The Manichaeans, who formed a very numerous +sect at the commencement of Christianity, rejected as false all the +New Testament, and showed other writings quite different that they +gave for authentic. The Cerinthians, like the Marcionists, admitted +not the Acts of the Apostles. The Encratites and the Sevenians +adopted neither the Acts, nor the Epistles of Paul. Chrysostom, in a +homily which he made upon the Acts of the Apostles, says that in his +time, about the year 400, many people knew nothing either of the +author or of the book. St. Irene, who lived before that time, reports +that the Valentinians, like several other sects of the Christians, +accused the scriptures of being filled with imperfections, errors, +and contradictions. The Ebionites, or Nazarenes, who were the first +Christians, rejected all the Epistles of Paul, and regarded him as an +impostor. They report, among other things, that he was originally a +Pagan; that he came to Jerusalem, where he lived some time; and that +having a mind to marry the daughter of the high priest, he had +himself been circumcised; but that not being able to obtain her, he +quarrelled with the Jews and wrote against circumcision, and against +the observation of the Sabbath, and against all the legal ordinances. +-- Author. [Much abridged from the Exam. Crit. de la Vie de St. Paul, +by N.A. Boulanger, 1770. -- Editor.] + +When we consider the lapse of more than three hundred years +intervening between the time that Christ is said to have lived and +the time the New Testament was formed into a book, we must see, even +without the assistance of historical evidence, the exceeding +uncertainty there is of its authenticity. The authenticity of the +book of Homer, so far as regards the authorship, is much better +established than that of the New Testament, though Homer is a +thousand years the most ancient. It was only an exceeding good poet +that could have written the book of Homer, and, therefore, few men +only could have attempted it; and a man capable of doing it would not +have thrown away his own fame by giving it to another. In like +manner, there were but few that could have composed Euclid's +Elements, because none but an exceeding good geometrician could have +been the author of that work. + +But with respect to the books of the New Testament, particularly such +parts as tell us of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, any +person who could tell a story of an apparition, or of a man's +walking, could have made such books; for the story is most wretchedly +told. The chance, therefore, of forgery in the Testament is millions +to one greater than in the case of Homer or Euclid. Of the numerous +priests or parsons of the present day, bishops and all, every one of +them can make a sermon, or translate a scrap of Latin, especially if +it has been translated a thousand times before; but is there any +amongst them that can write poetry like Homer, or science like +Euclid? The sum total of a parson's learning, with very few +exceptions, is a, b, ab, and hic, haec, hoc; and their knowledge of +science is, three times one is three; and this is more than +sufficient to have enabled them, had they lived at the time, to have +written all the books of the New Testament. + +As the opportunities of forgery were greater, so also was the +inducement. A man could gain no advantage by writing under the name +of Homer or Euclid; if he could write equal to them, it would be +better that he wrote under his own name; if inferior, he could not +succeed. Pride would prevent the former, and impossibility the +latter. But with respect to such books as compose the New Testament, +all the inducements were on the side of forgery. The best imagined +history that could have been made, at the distance of two or three +hundred years after the time, could not have passed for an original +under the name of the real writer; the only chance of success lay in +forgery; for the church wanted pretence for its new doctrine, and +truth and talents were out of the question. + +But as it is not uncommon (as before observed) to relate stories of +persons walking after they are dead, and of ghosts and apparitions of +such as have fallen by some violent or extraordinary means; and as +the people of that day were in the habit of believing such things, +and of the appearance of angels, and also of devils, and of their +getting into people's insides, and shaking them like a fit of an +ague, and of their being cast out again as if by an emetic -- (Mary +Magdalene, the book of Mark tells us had brought up, or been brought +to bed of seven devils;) it was nothing extraordinary that some story +of this kind should get abroad of the person called Jesus Christ, and +become afterwards the foundation of the four books ascribed to +Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each writer told a tale as he heard +it, or thereabouts, and gave to his book the name of the saint or the +apostle whom tradition had given as the eye-witness. It is only upon +this ground that the contradictions in those books can be accounted +for; and if this be not the case, they are downright impositions, +lies, and forgeries, without even the apology of credulity. + +That they have been written by a sort of half Jews, as the foregoing +quotations mention, is discernible enough. The frequent references +made to that chief assassin and impostor Moses, and to the men called +prophets, establishes this point; and, on the other hand, the church +has complimented the fraud, by admitting the Bible and the Testament +to reply to each other. Between the Christian-Jew and the +Christian-Gentile, the thing called a prophecy, and the thing +prophesied of, the type and the thing typified, the sign and the +thing signified, have been industriously rummaged up, and fitted +together like old locks and pick-lock keys. The story foolishly +enough told of Eve and the serpent, and naturally enough as to the +enmity between men and serpents (for the serpent always bites about +the heel, because it cannot reach higher, and the man always knocks +the serpent about the head, as the most effectual way to prevent its +biting;) ["It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." +Gen. iii. 15. -- Author.] this foolish story, I say, has been made +into a prophecy, a type, and a promise to begin with; and the lying +imposition of Isaiah to Ahaz, 'That a virgin shall conceive and bear +a son,' as a sign that Ahaz should conquer, when the event was that +he was defeated (as already noticed in the observations on the book +of Isaiah), has been perverted, and made to serve as a winder up. + +Jonah and the whale are also made into a sign and type. Jonah is +Jesus, and the whale is the grave; for it is said, (and they have +made Christ to say it of himself, Matt. xii. 40), "For as Jonah was +three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of +man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But it +happens, awkwardly enough, that Christ, according to their own +account, was but one day and two nights in the grave; about 36 hours +instead of 72; that is, the Friday night, the Saturday, and the +Saturday night; for they say he was up on the Sunday morning by +sunrise, or before. But as this fits quite as well as the bite and +the kick in Genesis, or the virgin and her son in Isaiah, it will +pass in the lump of orthodox things. -- Thus much for the historical +part of the Testament and its evidences. + +Epistles of Paul -- The epistles ascribed to Paul, being fourteen in +number, almost fill up the remaining part of the Testament. Whether +those epistles were written by the person to whom they are ascribed +is a matter of no great importance, since that the writer, whoever he +was, attempts to prove his doctrine by argument. He does not pretend +to have been witness to any of the scenes told of the resurrection +and the ascension; and he declares that he had not believed them. + +The story of his being struck to the ground as he was journeying to +Damascus, has nothing in it miraculous or extraordinary; he escaped +with life, and that is more than many others have done, who have been +struck with lightning; and that he should lose his sight for three +days, and be unable to eat or drink during that time, is nothing more +than is common in such conditions. His companions that were with him +appear not to have suffered in the same manner, for they were well +enough to lead him the remainder of the journey; neither did they +pretend to have seen any vision. + +The character of the person called Paul, according to the accounts +given of him, has in it a great deal of violence and fanaticism; he +had persecuted with as much heat as he preached afterwards; the +stroke he had received had changed his thinking, without altering his +constitution; and either as a Jew or a Christian he was the same +zealot. Such men are never good moral evidences of any doctrine they +preach. They are always in extremes, as well of action as of belief. + +The doctrine he sets out to prove by argument, is the resurrection of +the same body: and he advances this as an evidence of immortality. +But so much will men differ in their manner of thinking, and in the +conclusions they draw from the same premises, that this doctrine of +the resurrection of the same body, so far from being an evidence of +immortality, appears to me to be an evidence against it; for if I have +already died in this body, and am raised again in the same body in +which I have died, it is presumptive evidence that I shall die again. +That resurrection no more secures me against the repetition of dying, +than an ague-fit, when past, secures me against another. To believe +therefore in immortality, I must have a more elevated idea than is +contained in the gloomy doctrine of the resurrection. + +Besides, as a matter of choice, as well as of hope, I had rather have +a better body and a more convenient form than the present. Every +animal in the creation excels us in something. The winged insects, +without mentioning doves or eagles, can pass over more space with +greater ease in a few minutes than man can in an hour. The glide of +the smallest fish, in proportion to its bulk, exceeds us in motion +almost beyond comparison, and without weariness. Even the sluggish +snail can ascend from the bottom of a dungeon, where man, by the want +of that ability, would perish; and a spider can launch itself from +the top, as a playful amusement. The personal powers of man are so +limited, and his heavy frame so little constructed to extensive +enjoyment, that there is nothing to induce us to wish the opinion of +Paul to be true. It is too little for the magnitude of the scene, too +mean for the sublimity of the subject. + +But all other arguments apart, the consciousness of existence is the +only conceivable idea we can have of another life, and the +continuance of that consciousness is immortality. The consciousness +of existence, or the knowing that we exist, is not necessarily +confined to the same form, nor to the same matter, even in this life. + +We have not in all cases the same form, nor in any case the same +matter, that composed our bodies twenty or thirty years ago; and yet +we are conscious of being the same persons. Even legs and arms, which +make up almost half the human frame, are not necessary to the +consciousness of existence. These may be lost or taken away and the +full consciousness of existence remain; and were their place supplied +by wings, or other appendages, we cannot conceive that it could alter +our consciousness of existence. In short, we know not how much, or +rather how little, of our composition it is, and how exquisitely fine +that little is, that creates in us this consciousness of existence; +and all beyond that is like the pulp of a peach, distinct and +separate from the vegetative speck in the kernel. + +Who can say by what exceeding fine action of fine matter it is that a +thought is produced in what we call the mind? and yet that thought +when produced, as I now produce the thought I am writing, is capable +of becoming immortal, and is the only production of man that has that +capacity. + +Statues of brass and marble will perish; and statues made in +imitation of them are not the same statues, nor the same workmanship, +any more than the copy of a picture is the same picture. But print +and reprint a thought a thousand times over, and that with materials +of any kind, carve it in wood, or engrave it on stone, the thought is +eternally and identically the same thought in every case. It has a +capacity of unimpaired existence, unaffected by change of matter, and +is essentially distinct, and of a nature different from every thing +else that we know of, or can conceive. If then the thing produced has +in itself a capacity of being immortal, it is more than a token that +the power that produced it, which is the self-same thing as +consciousness of existence, can be immortal also; and that as +independently of the matter it was first connected with, as the +thought is of the printing or writing it first appeared in. The one +idea is not more difficult to believe than the other; and we can see +that one is true. + +That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form +or the same matter, is demonstrated to our senses in the works of the +creation, as far as our senses are capable of receiving that +demonstration. A very numerous part of the animal creation preaches +to us, far better than Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their +little life resembles an earth and a heaven, a present and a future +state; and comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in +miniature. + +The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged +insects, and they are not so originally. They acquire that form and +that inimitable brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and +creeping caterpillar worm of to day, passes in a few days to a torpid +figure, and a state resembling death; and in the next change comes +forth in all the miniature magnificence of life, a splendid +butterfly. No resemblance of the former creature remains; every thing +is changed; all his powers are new, and life is to him another thing. +We cannot conceive that the consciousness of existence is not the +same in this state of the animal as before; why then must I believe +that the resurrection of the same body is necessary to continue to me +the consciousness of existence hereafter? + +In the former part of 'The Agee of Reason.' I have called the +creation the true and only real word of God; and this instance, or +this text, in the book of creation, not only shows to us that this +thing may be so, but that it is so; and that the belief of a future +state is a rational belief, founded upon facts visible in the +creation: for it is not more difficult to believe that we shall exist +hereafter in a better state and form than at present, than that a +worm should become a butterfly, and quit the dunghill for the +atmosphere, if we did not know it as a fact. + +As to the doubtful jargon ascribed to Paul in 1 Corinthians xv., +which makes part of the burial service of some Christian sectaries, +it is as destitute of meaning as the tolling of a bell at the +funeral; it explains nothing to the understanding, it illustrates +nothing to the imagination, but leaves the reader to find any meaning +if he can. "All flesh," says he, "is not the same flesh. There is one +flesh of men, another of beasts, another of fishes, and another of +birds." And what then? nothing. A cook could have said as much. +"There are also," says he, "bodies celestial and bodies terrestrial; +the glory of the celestial is one and the glory of the terrestrial is +the other." And what then? nothing. And what is the difference? +nothing that he has told. "There is," says he, "one glory of the sun, +and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars." And +what then? nothing; except that he says that one star differeth from +another star in glory, instead of distance; and he might as well have +told us that the moon did not shine so bright as the sun. All this is +nothing better than the jargon of a conjuror, who picks up phrases he +does not understand to confound the credulous people who come to have +their fortune told. Priests and conjurors are of the same trade. + +Sometimes Paul affects to be a naturalist, and to prove his system of +resurrection from the principles of vegetation. "Thou fool" says he, +"that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die." To which one +might reply in his own language, and say, Thou fool, Paul, that which +thou sowest is not quickened except it die not; for the grain that +dies in the ground never does, nor can vegetate. It is only the +living grains that produce the next crop. But the metaphor, in any +point of view, is no simile. It is succession, and [not] resurrection. + +The progress of an animal from one state of being to another, as from +a worm to a butterfly, applies to the case; but this of a grain does +not, and shows Paul to have been what he says of others, a fool. + +Whether the fourteen epistles ascribed to Paul were written by him or +not, is a matter of indifference; they are either argumentative or +dogmatical; and as the argument is defective, and the dogmatical part +is merely presumptive, it signifies not who wrote them. And the same +may be said for the remaining parts of the Testament. It is not upon +the Epistles, but upon what is called the Gospel, contained in the +four books ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and upon the +pretended prophecies, that the theory of the church, calling itself +the Christian Church, is founded. The Epistles are dependant upon +those, and must follow their fate; for if the story of Jesus Christ +be fabulous, all reasoning founded upon it, as a supposed truth, must +fall with it. + +We know from history, that one of the principal leaders of this +church, Athanasius, lived at the time the New Testament was formed; +[Athanasius died, according to the Church chronology, in the year 371 +-- Author.] and we know also, from the absurd jargon he has left us +under the name of a creed, the character of the men who formed the +New Testament; and we know also from the same history that the +authenticity of the books of which it is composed was denied at the +time. It was upon the vote of such as Athanasius that the Testament +was decreed to be the word of God; and nothing can present to us a +more strange idea than that of decreeing the word of God by vote. +Those who rest their faith upon such authority put man in the place +of God, and have no true foundation for future happiness. Credulity, +however, is not a crime, but it becomes criminal by resisting +conviction. It is strangling in the womb of the conscience the +efforts it makes to ascertain truth. We should never force belief +upon ourselves in any thing. + +I here close the subject on the Old Testament and the New. The +evidence I have produced to prove them forgeries, is extracted from +the books themselves, and acts, like a two-edge sword, either way. If +the evidence be denied, the authenticity of the Scriptures is denied +with it, for it is Scripture evidence: and if the evidence be +admitted, the authenticity of the books is disproved. The +contradictory impossibilities, contained in the Old Testament and the +New, put them in the case of a man who swears for and against. Either +evidence convicts him of perjury, and equally destroys reputation. + +Should the Bible and the Testament hereafter fall, it is not that I +have done it. I have done no more than extracted the evidence from +the confused mass of matters with which it is mixed, and arranged +that evidence in a point of light to be clearly seen and easily +comprehended; and, having done this, I leave the reader to judge for +himself, as I have judged for myself. + +CHAPTER III - CONCLUSION + +IN the former part of 'The Age of Reason' I have spoken of the three +frauds, mystery, miracle, and Prophecy; and as I have seen nothing in +any of the answers to that work that in the least affects what I have +there said upon those subjects, I shall not encumber this Second Part +with additions that are not necessary. + +I have spoken also in the same work upon what is celled revelation, +and have shown the absurd misapplication of that term to the books of +the Old Testament and the New; for certainly revelation is out of the +question in reciting any thing of which man has been the actor or the +witness. That which man has done or seen, needs no revelation to tell +him he has done it, or seen it -- for he knows it already -- nor to +enable him to tell it or to write it. It is ignorance, or imposition, +to apply the term revelation in such cases; yet the Bible and +Testament are classed under this fraudulent description of being all +revelation. + +Revelation then, so far as the term has relation between God and man, +can only be applied to something which God reveals of his will to +man; but though the power of the Almighty to make such a +communication is necessarily admitted, because to that power all +things are possible, yet, the thing so revealed (if any thing ever +was revealed, and which, by the bye, it is impossible to prove) is +revelation to the person only to whom it is made. His account of it +to another is not revelation; and whoever puts faith in that account, +puts it in the man from whom the account comes; and that man may have +been deceived, or may have dreamed it; or he may be an impostor and +may lie. There is no possible criterion whereby to judge of the truth +of what he tells; for even the morality of it would be no proof of +revelation. In all such cases, the proper answer should be, "When it +is revealed to me, I will believe it to be revelation; but it is not +and cannot be incumbent upon me to believe it to be revelation +before; neither is it proper that I should take the word of man as +the word of God, and put man in the place of God." This is the manner +in which I have spoken of revelation in the former part of The Age of +Reason; and which, whilst it reverentially admits revelation as a +possible thing, because, as before said, to the Almighty all things +are possible, it prevents the imposition of one man upon another, and +precludes the wicked use of pretended revelation. + +But though, speaking for myself, I thus admit the possibility of +revelation, I totally disbelieve that the Almighty ever did +communicate any thing to man, by any mode of speech, in any language, +or by any kind of vision, or appearance, or by any means which our +senses are capable of receiving, otherwise than by the universal +display of himself in the works of the creation, and by that +repugnance we feel in ourselves to bad actions, and disposition to +good ones. [A fair parallel of the then unknown aphorism of Kant: +"Two things fill the soul with wonder and reverence, increasing +evermore as I meditate more closely upon them: the starry heavens +above me and the moral law within me." (Kritik derpraktischen +Vernunfe, 1788). Kant's religious utterances at the beginning of the +French Revolution brought on him a royal mandate of silence, because +he had worked out from "the moral law within" a principle of human +equality precisely similar to that which Paine had derived from his +Quaker doctrine of the "inner light" of every man. About the same +time Paine's writings were suppressed in England. Paine did not +understand German, but Kant, though always independent in the +formation of his opinions, was evidently well acquainted with the +literature of the Revolution, in America, England, and France. -- +Editor.] + +The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the +greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race have had their +origin in this thing called revelation, or revealed religion. It has +been the most dishonourable belief against the character of the +divinity, the most destructive to morality, and the peace and +happiness of man, that ever was propagated since man began to exist. +It is better, far better, that we admitted, if it were possible, a +thousand devils to roam at large, and to preach publicly the doctrine +of devils, if there were any such, than that we permitted one such +impostor and monster as Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the Bible +prophets, to come with the pretended word of God in his mouth, and +have credit among us. + +Whence arose all the horrid assassinations of whole nations of men, +women, and infants, with which the Bible is filled; and the bloody +persecutions, and tortures unto death and religious wars, that since +that time have laid Europe in blood and ashes; whence arose they, but +from this impious thing called revealed religion, and this monstrous +belief that God has spoken to man? The lies of the Bible have been +the cause of the one, and the lies of the Testament [of] the other. + +Some Christians pretend that Christianity was not established by the +sword; but of what period of time do they speak? It was impossible +that twelve men could begin with the sword: they had not the power; +but no sooner were the professors of Christianity sufficiently +powerful to employ the sword than they did so, and the stake and +faggot too; and Mahomet could not do it sooner. By the same spirit +that Peter cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (if the story +be true) he would cut off his head, and the head of his master, had +he been able. Besides this, Christianity grounds itself originally +upon the [Hebrew] Bible, and the Bible was established altogether by +the sword, and that in the worst use of it -- not to terrify, but to +extirpate. The Jews made no converts: they butchered all. The Bible +is the sire of the [New] Testament, and both are called the word of +God. The Christians read both books; the ministers preach from both +books; and this thing called Cliristianity is made up of both. It is +then false to say that Christianity was not established by the sword. + +The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only +reason that can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than +Christians. They do not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they +call the scriptures a dead letter. [This is an interesting and +correct testimony as to the beliefs of the earlier Quakers, one of +whom was Paine's father. -- Editor.] Had they called them by a worse +name, they had been nearer the truth. + +It is incumbent on every man who reverences the character of the +Creator, and who wishes to lessen the catalogue of artificial +miseries, and remove the cause that has sown persecutions thick among +mankind, to expel all ideas of a revealed religion as a dangerous +heresy, and an impious fraud. What is it that we have learned from +this pretended thing called revealed religion? Nothing that is useful +to man, and every thing that is dishonourable to his Maker. What is +it the Bible teaches us? -- repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it +the Testament teaches us? -- to believe that the Almighty committed +debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this +debauchery is called faith. + +As to the fragments of morality that are irregularly and thinly +scattered in those books, they make no part of this pretended thing, +revealed religion. They are the natural dictates of conscience, and +the bonds by which society is held together, and without which it +cannot exist; and are nearly the same in all religions, and in all +societies. The Testament teaches nothing new upon this subject, and +where it attempts to exceed, it becomes mean and ridiculous. The +doctrine of not retaliating injuries is much better expressed in +Proverbs, which is a collection as well from the Gentilcs as the +Jews, than it is in the Testament. It is there said, (Xxv. 2 I) "If +thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, +give him water to drink:" [According to what is called Christ's +sermon on the mount, in the book of Matthew, where, among some other +[and] good things, a great deal of this feigned morality is +introduced, it is there expressly said, that the doctrine of +forbearance, or of not retaliating injuries, was not any part of the +doctrine of the Jews; but as this doctrine is found in "Proverbs," it +must, according to that statement, have been copied from the +Gentiles, from whom Christ had learned it. Those men whom Jewish and +Christian idolators have abusively called heathen, had much better +and clearer ideas of justice and morality than are to be found in the +Old Testament, so far as it is Jewish, or in the New. The answer of +Solon on the question, "Which is the most perfect popular govemment," +has never been exceeded by any man since his time, as containing a +maxim of political morality, "That," says he, "where the least injury +done to the meanest individual, is considered as an insult on the +whole constitution." Solon lived about 500 years before Christ. -- +Author.] but when it is said, as in the Testament, "If a man smite +thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also," it is +assassinating the dignity of forbearance, and sinking man into a +spaniel. + +Loving, of enemies is another dogma of feigned morality, and has +besides no meaning. It is incumbent on man, as a moralist, that he +does not revenge an injury; and it is equally as good in a political +sense, for there is no end to retaliation; each retaliates on the +other, and calls it justice: but to love in proportion to the injury, +if it could be done, would be to offer a premium for a crime. +Besides, the word enemies is too vague and general to be used in a +moral maxim, which ought always to be clear and defined, like a +proverb. If a man be the enemy of another from mistake and prejudice, +as in the case of religious opinions, and sometimes in politics, that +man is different to an enemy at heart with a criminal intention; and +it is incumbent upon us, and it contributes also to our own +tranquillity, that we put the best construction upon a thing that it +will bear. But even this erroneous motive in him makes no motive for +love on the other part; and to say that we can love voluntarily, and +without a motive, is morally and physically impossible. + +Morality is injured by prescribing to it duties that, in the first +place, are impossible to be performed, and if they could be would be +productive of evil; or, as before said, be premiums for crime. The +maxim of doing as we would be done unto does not include this strange +doctrine of loving enemies; for no man expects to be loved himself +for his crime or for his enmity. + +Those who preach this doctrine of loving their enemies, are in +general the greatest persecutors, and they act consistently by so +doing; for the doctrine is hypocritical, and it is natural that +hypocrisy should act the reverse of what it preaches. For my own +part, I disown the doctrine, and consider it as a feigned or fabulous +morality; yet the man does not exist that can say I have persecuted +him, or any man, or any set of men, either in the American +Revolution, or in the French Revolution; or that I have, in any case, +returned evil for evil. But it is not incumbent on man to reward a +bad action with a good one, or to return good for evil; and wherever +it is done, it is a voluntary act, and not a duty. It is also absurd +to suppose that such doctrine can make any part of a revealed +religion. We imitate the moral character of the Creator by forbearing +with each other, for he forbears with all; but this doctrine would +imply that he loved man, not in proportion as he was good, but as he +was bad. + +If we consider the nature of our condition here, we must see there is +no occasion for such a thing as revealed religion. What is it we want +to know? Does not the creation, the universe we behold, preach to us +the existence of an Almighty power, that governs and regulates the +whole? And is not the evidence that this creation holds out to our +senses infinitely stronger than any thing we can read in a book, that +any imposter might make and call the word of God? As for morality, +the knowledge of it exists in every man's conscience. + +Here we are. The existence of an Almighty power is sufficiently +demonstrated to us, though we cannot conceive, as it is impossible we +should, the nature and manner of its existence. We cannot conceive +how we came here ourselves, and yet we know for a fact that we are +here. We must know also, that the power that called us into being, +can if he please, and when he pleases, call us to account for the +manner in which we have lived here; and therefore without seeking any +other motive for the belief, it is rational to believe that he will, +for we know beforehand that he can. The probability or even +possibility of the thing is all that we ought to know; for if we knew +it as a fact, we should be the mere slaves of terror; our belief +would have no merit, and our best actions no virtue. + +Deism then teaches us, without the possibility of being deceived, all +that is necessary or proper to be known. The creation is the Bible of +the deist. He there reads, in the hand-writing of the Creator +himself, the certainty of his existence, and the immutability of his +power; and all other Bibles and Testaments are to him forgeries. The +probability that we may be called to account hereafter, will, to +reflecting minds, have the influence of belief; for it is not our +belief or disbelief that can make or unmake the fact. As this is the +state we are in, and which it is proper we should be in, as free +agents, it is the fool only, and not the philosopher, nor even the +prudent man, that will live as if there were no God. + +But the belief of a God is so weakened by being mixed with the +strange fable of the Christian creed, and with the wild adventures +related in the Bible, and the obscurity and obscene nonsense of the +Testament, that the mind of man is bewildered as in a fog. Viewing +all these things in a confused mass, he confounds fact with fable; +and as he cannot believe all, he feels a disposition to reject all. +But the belief of a God is a belief distinct from all other things, +and ought not to be confounded with any. The notion of a Trinity of +Gods has enfeebled the belief of one God. A multiplication of beliefs +acts as a division of belief; and in proportion as anything is +divided, it is weakened. + +Religion, by such means, becomes a thing of form instead of fact; of +notion instead of principle: morality is banished to make room for an +imaginary thing called faith, and this faith has its origin in a +supposed debauchery; a man is preached instead of a God; an execution +is an object for gratitude; the preachers daub themselves with the +blood, like a troop of assassins, and pretend to admire the +brilliancy it gives them; they preach a humdrum sermon on the merits +of the execution; then praise Jesus Christ for being executed, and +condemn the Jews for doing it. + +A man, by hearing all this nonsense lumped and preached together, +confounds the God of the Creation with the imagined God of the +Christians, and lives as if there were none. + +Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none +more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more +repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this +thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to +convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart +torpid, or produces only atheists and fanatics. As an engine of +power, it serves the purpose of despotism; and as a means of wealth, +the avarice of priests; but so far as respects the good of man in +general, it leads to nothing here or hereafter. + +The only religion that has not been invented, and that has in it +every evidence of divine originality, is pure and simple deism. It +must have been the first and will probably be the last that man +believes. But pure and simple deism does not answer the purpose of +despotic governments. They cannot lay hold of religion as an engine +but by mixing it with human inventions, and making their own +authority a part; neither does it answer the avarice of priests, but +by incorporating themselves and their functions with it, and +becoming, like the government, a party in the system. It is this that +forms the otherwise mysterious connection of church and state; the +church human, and the state tyrannic. + +Were a man impressed as fully and strongly as he ought to be with the +belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of +belief; he would stand in awe of God, and of himself, and would not +do the thing that could not be concealed from either. To give this +belief the full opportunity of force, it is necessary that it acts +alone. This is deism. + +But when, according to the Christian Trinitarian scheme, one part of +God is represented by a dying man, and another part, called the Holy +Ghost, by a flying pigeon, it is impossible that belief can attach +itself to such wild conceits. [The book called the book of Matthew, +says, (iii. 16,) that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape of a +dove. It might as well have said a goose; the creatures are equally +harmless, and the one is as much a nonsensical lie as the other. +Acts, ii. 2, 3, says, that it descended in a mighty rushing wind, in +the shape of cloven tongues: perhaps it was cloven feet. Such absurd +stuff is fit only for tales of witches and wizards. -- Author.] + +It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other +invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the +Creator, as it is of government to hold him in ignorance of his +rights. The systems of the one are as false as those of the other, +and are calculated for mutual support. The study of theology as it +stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded +on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; +it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and admits of no +conclusion. Not any thing can be studied as a science without our +being in possession of the principles upon which it is founded; and +as this is not the case with Christian theology, it is therefore the +study of nothing. + +Instead then of studying theology, as is now done, out of the Bible +and Testament, the meanings of which books are always controverted, +and the authenticity of which is disproved, it is necessary that we +refer to the Bible of the creation. The principles we discover there +are eternal, and of divine origin: they are the foundation of all the +science that exists in the world, and must be the foundation of +theology. + +We can know God only through his works. We cannot have a conception +of any one attribute, but by following some principle that leads to +it. We have only a confused idea of his power, if we have not the +means of comprehending something of its immensity. We can have no +idea of his wisdom, but by knowing the order and manner in which it +acts. The principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the +Creator of man is the Creator of science, and it is through that +medium that man can see God, as it were, face to face. + +Could a man be placed in a situation, and endowed with power of +vision to behold at one view, and to contemplate deliberately, the +structure of the universe, to mark the movements of the several +planets, the cause of their varying appearances, the unerring order +in which they revolve, even to the remotest comet, their connection +and dependence on each other, and to know the system of laws +established by the Creator, that governs and regulates the whole; he +would then conceive, far beyond what any church theology can teach +him, the power, the wisdom, the vastness, the munificence of the +Creator. He would then see that all the knowledge man has of science, +and that all the mechanical arts by which he renders his situation +comfortable here, are derived from that source: his mind, exalted by +the scene, and convinced by the fact, would increase in gratitude as +it increased in knowledge: his religion or his worship would become +united with his improvement as a man: any employment he followed that +had connection with the principles of the creation, -- as everything +of agriculture, of science, and of the mechanical arts, has, -- would +teach him more of God, and of the gratitude he owes to him, than any +theological Christian sermon he now hears. Great objects inspire +great thoughts; great munificence excites great gratitude; but the +grovelling tales and doctrines of the Bible and the Testament are fit +only to excite contempt. + +Though man cannot arrive, at least in this life, at the actual scene +I have described, he can demonstrate it, because he has knowledge of +the principles upon which the creation is constructed. We know that +the greatest works can be represented in model, and that the +universe can be represented by the same means. The same principles by +which we measure an inch or an acre of ground will measure to +millions in extent. A circle of an inch diameter has the same +geometrical properties as a circle that would circumscribe the +universe. The same properties of a triangle that will demonstrate +upon paper the course of a ship, will do it on the ocean; and, when +applied to what are called the heavenly bodies, will ascertain to a +minute the time of an eclipse, though those bodies are millions of +miles distant from us. This knowledge is of divine origin; and it is +from the Bible of the creation that man has learned it, and not from +the stupid Bible of the church, that teaches man nothing. [The +Bible-makers have undertaken to give us, in the first chapter of +Genesis, an account of the creation; and in doing this they have +demonstrated nothing but their ignorance. They make there to have +been three days and three nights, evenings and mornings, before there +was any sun; when it is the presence or absence of the sun that is +the cause of day and night -- and what is called his rising and +setting that of morning and evening. Besides, it is a puerile and +pitiful idea, to suppose the Almighty to say, "Let there be light." +It is the imperative manner of speaking that a conjuror uses when he +says to his cups and balls, Presto, be gone -- and most probably has +been taken from it, as Moses and his rod is a conjuror and his wand. +Longinus calls this expression the sublime; and by the same rule the +conjurer is sublime too; for the manner of speaking is expressively +and grammatically the same. When authors and critics talk of the +sublime, they see not how nearly it borders on the ridiculous. The +sublime of the critics, like some parts of Edmund Burke's sublime and +beautiful, is like a windmill just visible in a fog, which +imagination might distort into a flying mountain, or an archangel, +or a flock of wild geese. -- Author.] + +All the knowledge man has of science and of machinery, by the aid of +which his existence is rendered comfortable upon earth, and without +which he would be scarcely distinguishable in appearance and +condition from a common animal, comes from the great machine and +structure of the universe. The constant and unwearied observations of +our ancestors upon the movements and revolutions of the heavenly +bodies, in what are supposed to have been the early ages of the +world, have brought this knowledge upon earth. It is not Moses and +the prophets, nor Jesus Christ, nor his apostles, that have done it. +The Almighty is the great mechanic of the creation, the first +philosopher, and original teacher of all science. Let us then learn +to reverence our master, and not forget the labours of our ancestors. + +Had we, at this day, no knowledge of machinery, and were it possible +that man could have a view, as I have before described, of the +structure and machinery of the universe, he would soon conceive the +idea of constructing some at least of the mechanical works we now +have; and the idea so conceived would progressively advance in +practice. Or could a model of the universe, such as is called an +orrery, be presented before him and put in motion, his mind would +arrive at the same idea. Such an object and such a subject would, +whilst it improved him in knowledge useful to himself as a man and a +member of society, as well as entertaining, afford far better matter +for impressing him with a knowledge of, and a belief in the Creator, +and of the reverence and gratitude that man owes to him, than the +stupid texts of the Bible and the Testament, from which, be the +talents of the preacher; what they may, only stupid sermons can be +preached. If man must preach, let him preach something that is +edifying, and from the texts that are known to be true. + +The Bible of the creation is inexhaustible in texts. Every part of +science, whether connected with the geometry of the universe, with +the systems of animal and vegetable life, or with the properties of +inanimate matter, is a text as well for devotion as for philosophy -- +for gratitude, as for human improvement. It will perhaps be said, +that if such a revolution in the system of religion takes place, +every preacher ought to be a philosopher. Most certainly, and every +house of devotion a school of science. + +It has been by wandering from the immutable laws of science, and the +light of reason, and setting up an invented thing called "revealed +religion," that so many wild and blasphemous conceits have been +formed of the Almighty. The Jews have made him the assassin of the +human species, to make room for the religion of the Jews. The +Christians have made him the murderer of himself, and the founder of +a new religion to supersede and expel the Jewish religion. And to +find pretence and admission for these things, they must have supposed +his power or his wisdom imperfect, or his will changeable; and the +changeableness of the will is the imperfection of the judgement. The +philosopher knows that the laws of the Creator have never changed, +with respect either to the principles of science, or the properties +of matter. Why then is it to be supposed they have changed with +respect to man? + +I here close the subject. I have shown in all the foregoing parts of +this work that the Bible and Testament are impositions and forgeries; +and I leave the evidence I have produced in proof of it to be +refuted, if any one can do it; and I leave the ideas that are +suggested in the conclusion of the work to rest on the mind of the +reader; certain as I am that when opinions are free, either in +matters of govemment or religion, truth will finally and powerfully +prevail. + +-- End of Part II + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Writings of Thomas Paine Vol. IV +by Thomas Paine + diff --git a/old/twtp410.zip b/old/twtp410.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a354ff9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/twtp410.zip |