husband's funeral pile: fhe had only of Reafon, the author confidently re attempted, for the innovating minifter turns to the charge. Without deign had prevented the execution of her de-ing to give a diftant rejoinder to hi fign, and was infenfible to all tears, refpondents, Mr. Paine boldly afferts proteftations, and intreaties. The that, though he wrote the former par queen could have pardoned his two when he could procure neither bible former offences, but this was confider- nor teftament to refer to, he produced a ed as fo grofs an injury to the fex, and work, which no bible believer, though fo directly contrary to all the cuftoms of writing at his eafe, and with a library antiquity, that it called for immediate of church books about him, can refute: juftice. "What!" cries the queen, he tells his antagonists,. that they muft "not fuffer a woman to burn herfeif return to their work, and fpin their when he has a mind! A very pretty cobweb over again, the first being minifter truly; a poor woman cannot brushed away by accident. This is argo peaceably and throw herself into the rogant language; and much more of fire but he muft intermeddle; very the fame kind will be found in the fine indeed the fex are to be very courfe of the work. We add too, withprettily tutored no doubt, they must be out apprehenfion of being charged with reftrained from entertaining their fe- unfairnefs, that Mr. P.'s language is male friends now and then with a roaft- often not only arrogant, but fcurrilous; ed acquaintance! I fentence the crimi- for we cannot give a fofter appellation nal at the bar, for his injurious treat- to the epithets which he often bestows ment of the fex, to be banished my upon perfons and writings, which, beprefence for ever. ing commonly held facred, ought at leaft to be treated with decent refpect. All this, however, does not invalidate Mr. P.'s claim to attention from the public, when he condefcends to argue ; · nor does it leffen our obligation, as literary purveyors, to report faithfully the fubftance of his objections. Truth can only be difcovered by unreftrained refearch and free difcuffion; and, in all queftions that admit of difpute, it is only by attending to the reafoning or evidence on both fides, that reafon can determine what is true. Without attempting to foreftall the replies, which will doubtless be speedily furnished by able advocates on the fide of revelation, a we fhall therefore prefent our readers with an analyfis of this Second Part of the Age of Reafon.

Takupi had been hitherto filent, and began to fpeak only to fhew the fincerity of his refignation; "I acknowledge," cried he, my crime; and fince I am to be banished, I beg it may be to fome ruined town, or defolate village in the country I have governed." His requeft appearing reafonable, it was immediately complied with, and a courtier had orders to fix upon a place of banishment anfwering the minifter's defcription. After fome months fearch, however, the inquiry proved fruitlefs; neither a defolate village, nor a ruined town was found in the whole kingdom. "Alas!" faid Takupi to the queen, how can that country be ill governed, which has neither a defolate village nor a ruined town in it?" The queen perceived the juftice of his remark, and received the minifter into more than former favour.

"The bible differs from all other antient writings, with refpect to the nature of the evidence neceffary to establish it's authenticity. Euclid's elements of geometry are believed on their own demon ftrative proof, independant of their au thor: the Iliad has the fame merit, whoever was the author: but the books afcribed to Mofes, Samuel, &c. are N T E.

* See our Magazine, for October, 1794, page, 318.

books

books of teftimony, and teftify things naturally incredible. Our belief in the facts related in thefe books muft therefore depend, firft, upon our certainty that these books were written by the perfons whose names they bear; and next, upon the credit we give their teftimony: there can be no fuch thing as forged or anonymous teftimony to things naturally incredible. We credit the antient hiftorians, as far as they relate things probable and credible and no farther. The degree of evidence neceffary to eftablish a belief of things naturally incredible must be far greater, than that which obtains our belief of probable things.

Of the books called the five books of Mofes there is no affirmative evidence that Mofes was the author: they are altogether written in the manner of another perfon fpeaking of Mofes. Mofes would not have written of himself, that he was meek above all men. Numb. xii, 3. In Deuteronomy the hiftorian introduces Mofes as fpeaking, then refumes the history, and at laft gives an account of the death, funeral, and character of Moses. The writer fays, that no man knoweth the fepulchre of Mofes unto this day; this narrative was therefore written long after the time of Mofes. The account of the ten commandments given Duet. v, differs materially from that given Exod. xx. The inhuman law, Deut. xxi, 18-21, is not in Exodus,

have been borrowed from the firft book of Chronicles, where it occurs verbatim, chap. i. ver. 43. The book of Genefis then was not written earlier than the time of Saul, and is probably not older than the book of Chronicles, and is an anonymous book of stories.

According to the fcripture account, Mofes was the firft who carried on wars on the fcore of religion; and, under that mask, committed unexampled atrocities. When the army returned from a plunderng excurfion, he gave them orders to go back and butcher the boys, maffacre the mothers, and debauch the daughters. See Numb. xxxi, 13. &c. Compare. ver 37, &c.-The account of the eating of manna, Exod. xvi, 34. extends beyond the life of Mofes. Com pare Joshua, v, 12.

The book of Joshua is a hiftory of rapine and murder. It was not written by Jofhua; for Jofhua is fpoken of in the third perfon :-ch. xxiv, 31, speaks of the days of the elders after Joshua, Chap. x, 14, implies, that the event happened long before the hiftory was. written: there was no day like that before it, nor after it.' The tale of the fun ftanding ftill is a fable that detects itself. Such a circumftance could not have happened without being known to all the world: one half would have wondered why the fun did not rife, and the other why it did not fet; and the tradition of it would have been univerfal; whereas there is not a nation in the world that knows any thing about it.-A diftant time is fuppofed, ch. viii. 28. 29, in the phrafe unto this day: compare ch. x, 27; xv, 63.

In the book of Genefis, ch. xiv, 14, Abraham is faid to have purfued the enemies of Lot to Dan: but there was no fuch place as Dan, till that name was given by the Danites to Laish, after The book of Judges is anonymous: the death of Sampson, that is 331 years it's hiftory includes a space of 306 after the death of Mofes, or, according years. It was not written till after to another account, twenty years after Jerufalem was taken,, which was in the Joshua: the writer of Genefis muft time of David; for ch. i,7, the writer therefore have been some perfon, who mentions this event. Compare Josh. lived after Laith took the name of Dan. xv, 63; 2 Sam. v, 1; 1 Chron. xiv, -In Gen. xxxvi, 31, after the hiftorian 4. The book of Ruth is an idle, had enumerated the kings of Edom, it bundling ftory, told nobody knows is faid, and thefe are the kings that by whom. reigned in Edom before there reigned any king over the children of Ifrael; an expreffion which could not have been ufed, till after the first king had reigned in Ifrael. This paffage appears to Hib. Mag. Jan. 1796.

In the first book of Samuel, the ftory of Saul, Samuel, and the affes, ch. ix, ver. 10, &c. is related as an ancient ftory at the time the book was written; for the term feer, by which Samuel is C

defcribed

The book of Esther is anonymous, and has much appearance of being fabulous.

defcribed, is faid to be the name, before total is faid, as in Ezra, to be 42,360, time uled for prophet: confequently, but appears, upon cafting up, to be only Samuel did not write the book, and the 31,089. book is without authenticity. In 1 Sam. xviii, the ftory of the witch of Endor fpeaks of Samuel, as conjured up after he was dead. The hiftory of thefe books comprizes the life of Saul and David, to forty-three years after

*Samuel.

The books of Kings and Chronicles are anonymous, and as we know nothing of the writer or of his character, it is impoffible to know what degree of credit to give to the matters related therein. Like all other ancient hiftories, they appear to be a jumble of fable and fact, of probable and improbable things. The two books of Kings are little more than a hiftory of affaili nations, treachery, and wars. For inftances of cruelty, fee 2 Kings, ch. x, and xv. The two books of Chronicles are a repetition of the fame crimes. The flory in thefe and the preceding books is confuled and contradictory. Compare 2 Kings 1, 8, with viii, 16. The extraordinary story 1 Kings xiii, 2, &c., is not found in Chronicles. The fame may be obferved of the ftories of Elijah, 2 Kings, ii, 11, &c. 21, &c. Thele two hiftorians agree in taking no notice of the men ftyled prophets, except Ifaiah in the reign of Hezekiah and Jeremiah; ye: the fcripture prophets flourithed between the years 862 and 607 before Chrift, and the hiftory of thefe books comes down to the year 588 before Chrift. Whence comes this filence concerning men of so much importance? The book of Genefis being written, as fhown above, after Chronicles, is not older than 588 years before Chrift.

In Esra the three firli verfes are the fame with the two laft in Chronicles; whence appears the confufed and mutilated manner in which the books were put together. See to the fame purpofe, 1 Sam. xiii, 5; Joshua v, 13, &c. Ezra and Nehemiah probably wrote the portions of the Jewith hiftory afcribed to them but they are not to be relied upon; for in Ezra's lift of the tamilies returned from Babylon, the fum total is fid to be 42,360, but is in fact only

818; and of Nehemiah's lift the fum

The book of Job carries no internal evidence of being an Hebrew book: the compofition is not in the Hebrew manner; the character of Satan, and his conference with God, do not correfpond to any Hebrew idea. The writer was a man of science, and therefore not a Jew. It is probable, that this book is the oldeft in the bible.

The Palms are a collection from different fong-writers, who lived at different times. The 137th could not have been written till more than 400 years after David. Some of the pfalms at moral, others revengeful; and the greater part relates to certain local circumftances, with which we have nothing to do.

The book of Proverbs is also a collection: the 31ft chapter contains the proverbs of Lemuel, a king, but not of Judah or Ifrael, therefore a gentile. Some of thofe afcribed to Solomon, were not collected till 250 years after his death. Chap. xxv, 1.

The book of Ecclefiaftes is written as the folitary reflections of a worn out debauchee. Solomon, was witty, of tentatious, diffolute, and at laft melancholy; he lived faft, and died tired of the world at the age of 58 years.

The Song of Solomon is an amorous paftoral, which wrinkled fanaticism has called divine.

The books called the Prophets are fixteen in number. Ifaiah's prophefy is a wild and incoherent comp ofition. The hiftorical part, from the 36th to the 37th chapters inclufive, begins and ends abruptly, without connection; the other parts are equally unconnected with each other. The latter part of the 44th chapter, and the beginning of the 45th, could only have been written by fome perfon who lived at leatt 150 years atter Ifaiah. The prediction ch. vii. 14. refers wholly to Ahaz, and was intended to promife the defeat of his enemies; instead of which they fuc

ceeded

ceeded in their enterprize, and took Jerufalem. See 2 Chron. xxviii.

prediction Ezek. xxix, 11, was never fulfilled. The ftory of Jonah treats altogether of the gentiles, and was probably written by a gentile, as a fable, to satirize the character of a bibleprophet. The remaining prophets are unworthy of diftinct notice,

Jeremiah lived in the time when Nebuchadnezzar befieged Jerufalem; and there is reafon to suspect that he was a traitor in his intereft. His prognoftication, chap. xviii, 7-10, fhews his equivocal character. The hiftorical In the NEW TESTAMENT, the firft parts are confused, and appear to be a ftory of the miraculous conception clafrude medley of unconnected anecdotes. fes with many pagan fables. It is an The two accounts of Jeremiah's impri- uncontrovertible pofition, that, though fonment in chap. xxxvii, and xxxviii, a ftory may be falfe notwithstanding are different and contradictory. The flory of Nebuchadnezzar's befieging Jerufalem is begun anew, nearly in the fame words, ch. xxxix, and ch. lii, af ter it had been the fubject of feveral preceding chapters. See a fimilar confufion, 1 Sam. ch. xvi, and xvii. Jeremiah, chap. xxxviii, ver. 17, &c. ftrongly prevaricates at the requeft of Zedekiah. In chap. xxxiv he predicts, that Zedekiah fhall die in peace and receive funeral honours; whereas, in ch. lii, 10, it is related, that the king of Babylon made him prifoner, put out his eyes, and kept him in prifon to the day of his death. Jeremiah was taken into favour by Nebuchadnezzar: fee ch. xxxix, 12.

The Jewish prophets, or feers, undertook to predict what would happen with reference to things then paffing, as the event of a battle or journey; they attached themselves to different parties, and prophecied for the one and againft the other, (fee 1 Kings, ch. xiii, and 2 Kings, ch. iii,) commonly iffuing their predictions in verfe. Other prophets dealt in dreams and vifions.

I

The books of Ezekiel and Daniel were written after the Babylonith captivity began, and probably by the perfons whofe names they bear. They wrote vifions or dreams, to conceal their meaning from their enemies, and convey intelligence or projects for the recovery of their country, to their friends. An ancient correfpondence, thus purpofely difguited, it is now fruitlefs to attempt to decypher. Scarcely any thing can be more abfurd, than to fuppofe that men fituated as Ezekiel and Daniel were fhould employ their time and thoughts about what was to happen to other nations, a thousand or two thousand years afterwards. The

the agreement of all it's parts, the difagreement of the parts prove that the whole cannot be true. The genealogies of Jefus by Matthew and Luke differ effentially: Matthew gives by name twenty-eight generations from David, through Jofeph to Chrift; Luke gives forty-three generations by name, from Chrift through Jofeph up to David, and only the two names of David and Jofeph are alike in the two lifts.

Concerning the authenticity of the gofpels, whether they were written by the perfons to whom they are afcribed, is uncertain: there is no direct proof on this point, for or againft. The prefumption, however, is, that they are impofitions. The difordered ftate of the hiftory, the filence in one book on matters related in the other, and the difagreement found among them, imply that they are the productions of fome unconnected individuals, many years after the events, and not the writings of men living intimately together, as the apofiles did. In relating the story of the miraculous conception, Mathew fays, the angel appeared to Jofeph, Luke fays, to Mary. The ftory of Herod destroying the children is told only by Mathew: no provifion is made for John, who ftaid behind under two years of age; yet he was not deftroyed. None of the writers give the infcription on the crois exactly in the fame words; whence it is probable they were not prefent at the fcene, Mark fays, Jefus was crucified at the third hour; John, at the fixth. Peter, the only apoftle prefent, curfed and fwore, faying, I know not the man. The extraordinary circumstances, faid by Matthew (ch. xxvii, 51-53)to have attended the crucifixion, are not mentioned by the

C 2

other