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beyond this rule is an inquisition. Mr. Erskine talks of his moral education; Mr. Erskine is very little acquainted with theological subjects, if he does not know there is such a thing as a sincere and religious belief that the Bible is not the word of God. This is my belief; it is the belief of thousands far more learned than Mr. Erskine; and is a belief that is every day increasing. It is not infidelity, as Mr. Erskine prophanely and abusively calls it: it is the direct reverse of infidelity. It is a pure religious belief, founded on the idea of the perfection of the Creator. If the Bible be the word of God, it needs not the wretched aid of persecution to support it; and you might with as much propriety make a law to protect the sunshine as to protect the Bible, if the Bible, like the sun, be the work of God. We see that God takes good care of the Creation he has made. He suffers no part of it to be extinguished; and he will take the same care of his word, if he ever gave one. But men ought to be reverentially careful and suspicious how they ascribe books to him as his word, which from this confused condition, would dishonour a common scribbler, and against which there is abundant evidence, and every cause to suspect imposition. Leave then the Bible to itself. God will take care of it, if he has any thing to do with it, as he takes care of the sun and the moon, which need not your laws for their better protection. As the two instances I have produced in the beginning of this letter, from the book of Genesis, the one respecting the account called the Mosaic account of the Creation; the other of the flood, sufficiently shew the necessity of examining the Bible, in order to assertain what degree of evidence there is for receiving or rejecting it as a sacred book; I shall not add more upon that subject; but in order to shew Mr. Erskine that there are religious establishments for public worship which make no profession of faith of the books called holy scriptures, nor admit of priests, I will conclude with an account of a society lately began in Paris, and which is very rapidly extending itself.

The society takes the name of Theophilanthropes, which would be rendered in English by the word Theophilanthropists, a word compounded of three Greek words, signifying God, Love, and Man. The explanation given to this word is, Lovers of God and Man, or Adorers of God and Friends of Man, adorateurs de dieu et amis des hommes. The society proposes to publish each year a volume, entitled Annee Religieuse des Theophilantropes, Year religious of the Theophilantropists; the first volume is just published, entitled a

:

YEAR RELIGIOUS OF THE THEOPHILANTHROPISTS,

OR

ADORERS OF GOD, AND FRIENDS OF MAN;

Being a collection of the discourses, lectures, hymns, and canticles, for all the religious and moral festivals of the Theophilanthropists during the course of the year, whether in their public temples or in their private families, published by the author of the Manuel of the Theophilanthropists.

The volume of this year, which is the first, contains 214 pages duodecimo.

The following is the table of contents:

1. Precise history of the Theophilanthropists. Exercises common to all the festivals.

2.

3.

Hymn, No. 1. God of whom the universe speaks. 4. Discourse upon the existence of God.

5.

6.

Ode 11. The heavens instruct the earth.

Precepts of wisdom, extracted from the book of the
Adorateurs.

7. Canticle, No. 111. God Creator, soul of nature.

8.

Extracts from divers moralists upon the nature of God, and upon the physical proofs of his existence.

9. Canticle, No. IV. Let us bless at our waking the God who gives us light.

10. Moral thoughts extracted from the Bible.

11. Hymn, No. V. Father of the universe.

12. Contemplation of nature on the first days of the spring. 13. Ode, No. VI, Lord in thy glory adorable.

14. Extracts from the moral thoughts of Confucius

15. Canticle in praise of good actions, and thanks for the works of the creation.

16. Continuation from the moral thoughts of Confucius. 17. Hymn, No. VII. All the universe is full of thy magnificence.

18. Extracts from an ancient sage of India upon the duties of families.

19. Upon the spring.

20. Thoughts moral of divers Chinese authors.

21. Canticle, No. VIII. Every thing celebrates the glory of the eternal.

22. Continuation of the moral thoughts of Chinese authors. 23. Invocation for the country.

24. Extracts from the moral thoughts of Theognis.

25. Invocation, Creator of man.

26. Ode, No. IX. Upon death.

27. Extracts from the book of the Moral Universal, upon happiness.

28. Ode, No. X. Supreme Author of Nature.

INTRODUCTION

ENTITLED

PRECISE HISTORY OF THE THEOPHILANTHROPISTS.

"Towards the month of Vendimaire, of the year 5, (Sept. 1796) there appeared at Paris, a small work, entitled, Manuel of the Theoantropophiles, since called, for the sake of easier pronunciation, Theophilanthropes (Theophilanthropists) published by C

"The worship set forth in this Manuel, of which the origin is from the beginning of the world, was then professed by some families in the silence of domestic life. But scarcely was the Manuel published, than some persons, respectable for their knowledge and their manners, saw, in the formation of a society open to the public, an easy method of spreading moral religion, and of leading, by degrees, great numbers to the knowledge thereof, who appear to have forgotten it. This consideration ought of itself not to leave indifferent those persous who know that morality - and religion, which is the most solid support thereof, are necessary to the maintenance of society as well as to the happiness of the individual. These considerations determiued the families of the Theophilanthropists to unite publicly for the exercise of their worship.

"The first society of this kind opened in the month of Nivose, year 5. (Jan. 1797,) in the street Denis, No. 34, corner of Lombard-street. The care of conducting this society was undertaken by five fathers of families. They adopted the Manuel of the Theophilanthropists. They agreed to hold their days of public worship on the days corresponding to Sundays, but without making this a hindrance to other societies to chuse such other day as they

thought more convenient. Soon after this, more societies were opened, of which some celebrate on the decadi (tenth day) and others on the Sunday: It was also resolved, that the committee should meet one hour each week for the purpose of preparing or examining the discourses and lectures proposed for the next general assembly. That the general assemblies should be called Fetes (festivals) religious and moral. That those festivals should be conducted in principle and form, in a manner, as not to be considered as the festivals of an exclusive worship; and that in recalling those who might not be attached to any particular worship, those festivals might also be attended as moral exercises by disciples of every sect, and consequently avoid, by scrupulous care, every thing that might make the society appear under the name of a sect. The society adopts neither rites nor priesthood, and it never will lose sight of the resolution not to advance any thing as a society inconvenient to any sect or sects, in any time or country, and under any govern

ment.

"It will be seen that it is so much the more easy for the society to keep within this circle, because, that the dogmas of the Theophilanthropists are those upon which all the sects have agreed, that their moral is that upon which there bas never been the least dissent; and that the name they have taken expresses the double end of all the sects, that of leading to the adoration of God and love of Man.

"The Theophilanthropists do not call themselves the disciples of such or such a man. They avail themselves of the wise precepts that have been transmitted by writers of all countries and in all ages. The reader will find in the discourses, lectures, bymus, and canticles, which the Theophilanthropists have adopted for their religious and moral festivals, and which they present under the title of Aunee Religieuse, extracts from moralists, ancient and modern, divested of maxims too severe, or too loosely conceived, or contrary to piety, whether towards God or towards man."

Next follow the dogmas of the Theophilanthropists, or things they profess to believe. These are but two, and are thus expressed, les Theophilantropes croient à l'existence de dieu et a l'immortalite de l'amie. The Theophiianthropists believe in the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul.

The Manuel of the Theophilanthropists, a small volume of sixty pages, duodecimo, is published separately, as is

29

also their catechism, which is of the same size. The principles of the Theophilanthropists are the same as those published in the first part of the Age of Reason in 1793, and in the second part in 1795. The Theophilanthropists as a society, are silent upon all the things they do not profess to believe, as the sacredness of the books called the bible, &c. &c. They profess the immortality of the soul, but they are silent on the immortality of the body, or that which the church calls the resurrection. The author of the Age of Reason gives reasons for every thing he disbelieves as well as for those he believes; and where this caunot be done with safety, the government is a despotism, and the church an inquisition.

It is more than three years since the first part of the Age and half of Reason was published, and more than a year since the publication of the second part. The bishop of Landaff undertook to write an answer to the second part; and it was not untill after it was known that the author of the Age of Reason would reply to the bishop that the prosecution against the book was set on foot: and which is said to be carried on by some clergy of the English church. If the bishop is one of them, and the object be to prevent an exposure of the numerous and gross errors he has committed in his work [and which he wrote when report said that Thomas Paine was dead] it is a confession that he feels the weakness of his cause and finds himself unable to maintain it. In this case, he has given me a triumph I did not seek, and Mr. Erskine, the herald of the prosecution has proclaimed it.

THOMAS PAINE.

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