layeth up the depth in store-houses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him: For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever. To him who alone doth great wonders; &c. To him that by wisdom made the heavens; &c. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters; &c. To him that made great lights; &c. The sun to rule by day; &c. The moon and stars to rule by night; &c. Who giveth food to all flesh; for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalm cxlv. 3-9, 10, 15-17. "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and Psalm lxv. 6-13. "Who by his strength setteth fast the mountains, being girded with power: Who stilleth the noise of the sea, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people: They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens; thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice; thou visitest the earth, and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; thon preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it; thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof; thou crownest the year shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the vallies also are covered over with corn: they shout for joy, they also sing." Psalm xcv. 3-6. "For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship, and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Psalm c. 3. "Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." Psalm cii. 25, 26, 27. “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Psalm civ. is exactly such a Psalm as you represented the nineteenth to be: it is wholly filled up with the great works of creation and providence, and would have been far more fit for your purpose than the nineteenth Psalm: but as it is about three times as long as that is, I must only quote a little specimen. Ver. 24-31. "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches: so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good; thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust; thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works." Psalm cxxxvi. 1, 4-9, 25. "O give gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The Lord is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, and thy saints shall bless thee. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works." Psalm cxlvi. 5-9. "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help; whose hope is in the Lord his God; who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that therein is; who keepeth truth forever; who executeth judg ment for the oppressed; who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous. The Lord preserveth the stranger; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down." Psalm cxlvii. 4-9, IC-18. "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power, his understanding is infinite: who covereth the heavens with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens who cry. He giveth snow like wool, he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word and melteth them: he causeth the winds to blow, and the waters flow." Psalm cxlviii. 1-13. "Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him all his angels: praise ye him all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him all ye stars of light, praise him ye heavens of heavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name. of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created. He hath also established them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps; fire and hail; snow and vapour : stormy wind fulfilling his word: mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars; beasts and all cattle: creeping things, and | vail; though they roar, yet can they not pass flying fowl: kings of the earth, and all people: over it? But this people hath a revolung princes, and all judges of the earth: both and a rebellious heart, they are revolted and young men and maidens; old men and chil-gone. Neither say they in their heart, let us dren: let them praise the name of the Lord; for his name alone is excellent: his glory is above the earth and heaven." Psalm cl. 1, 2, 6. "Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah." Isaiah xl. 15, 17, 22, 26, 28. "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing: and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity. It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their hosts by number: he calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding." Isaiah xlii. 5. "Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it: he that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein;" &c. Isaiah xliv. 24. "Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone: that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself." Isaiah xlv. 12, 18. "I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth, and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else." Isaiah xlviii. 13. Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens; when I call upon them, they stand up together." Isaiah lxiv. 8. " But now, O Lord, thou art our Father: we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." Jeremiah v. 22, 23, 24. "Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it; and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not pre now fear the Lord our God that giveth rain, both the former and the latter in his seasons: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest." Jeremiah x. 6, 7, 11, 12, 13. "Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord; thon art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations! for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee. Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens: He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he ut tereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures." Jeremiah xiv. 22. "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? Art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee; for thou hast made all these things." Jeremiah xxxii. 17. "Ah Lord God! behold thou hast made the heaven and the earth, by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." After reading these passages, (consisting of more than an hundred verses) which I have collected only out of three books of the sacred scriptures, and could have added many more out of them alone, our readers will judge for themselves, what they ought to think of the following assertions in your book: “The account (of the creation) however, is harmless; and this is more than can be said of many other parts of the Bible. When we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible 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 every thing that is cruel. We scarcely meet with any thing, a few phrases excepted, but what deserves either our abhorrence, or our contempt, till we come to the miscellaneous parts of the Bible. 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." The Bible, Mr. Paine, appears exactly dif ferent to me from what it does to you; and therefore if I was to give advice to men, it would be different from yours, which runs thus, "In fine, do we want to know what God is? Search not the book called the scripture, | against that book, than to bring forth out of which any human hand might make, but the its treasures, some of those sublime truths scripture called the creation." which are therein revealed. The perfections of the Diety fill up a very considerable part of that sacred volume; therein we read of his eternity, self-existence, self-sufficience, independence, immensity, majesty, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, unchangeableness, holiness, goodness, justice, truth, &c. My advice would be, "Whoever would wish to know God, his perfections, character and works, and the way of life and happiness, search the scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation, which no human hand could possibly have made; for bad men could never have formed such a book, which condemns them, their principles, works, and ways, in almost every page, and which treats in the sublimest manner of God, and his attributes; and good men would never have attempted to deceive their fellow creatures. So that on all hands, you may be perfectly assured that it cannot be the work of men. And you will find those internal marks as you read, that will prove it not to be the word of a demon, but the book of God, which if you read, ex-be, and the causer of being, containing the past, perience, and practice, you cannot fail of being holy here, and happy hereafter." As the sky appears full of stars, so the scriptures are full of passages relating to God, his attributes, perfections, character, works and ways; his wisdom, power, goodness, love, mercy, grace and truth are all plainly revealed therein. And therefore your assertions are about as absurd as mine would be if I should assert, contrary to reason and common sense, that there is neither fish in the sea, beasts on the land, fowls in the air, men on earth, nor sun, moon, planets, nor stars in the firmament above us. I am with respect, Yours, &c. LETTER V. SIR: I am sorry to find that you are determined not to receive the Bible as your rule of faith, even though it should appear ever so worthy of attention. Your words are these, "Did the book called the Bible, excel in purity of ideas and expression, all the books that are 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 any thing 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." Any person that had never read the Bible, that should happen to read your account of it, believing you to be a man of sense, and that had a regard for truth, would imagine it to be a very weak, senseless, absurd, ridiculous, and wicked performance, not fit to be read, much less to be regarded. A book containing scarcely a single hint respecting the great Creator, his perfections, or works. But as it appears to me, precisely in the contrary light, I shal! attempt to confute some of the slanders you have uttered against this most valuable of all books. There are a thousand beauties in the Bible, and the more these are examined, the brighter they shine. And I do not know a more effectual way to refute what you have written It would be an amazing piece of work to collect and transcribe all the passages of scripture that refer to God and his perfections. In the Hebrew original he has ten names, which are all highly expressive of his being, perfections, or character. As El, Elvi, Elvaim, El-shaddai, El-sabbaoth, Ehejah, Jah, Jehovah, and Adonia. The great name JEHOVAH, which signifies, the being who is, who was, and shall present, and future tense, is said to be men tioned in the Hebrew Bible more than four thousand times, besides all the other names, some of which are frequently used. Judge then whether the Christian system of faith, which takes in the whole Bible, approaches quite so near to Atheism, as you imagine! You say, "as to the Christian system of faith, it appears to me as a species of Atheism, a sort of religious denial of God. It is a compound made up of manism, 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 orb of reason into the shade." But I shall easily confute the idea of the Bible (which is the Christian system of faith) being a species of Atheism, by bringing forth a specimen of what it teaches respecting God, and his perfections. And as to what you say of the Redeemer eclipsing the divine character, we Christians believe, know, and experience the direct reverse. We can say with St. Paul, "for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. iv. 6. "Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person," &c. Heb. i. 3. And St. John speaks of Christ as "the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." St. John i. 9. And says, "the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Ver. 14. And Jesus himself (whom you allow to be a virtuous and amiable man, and therefore certainly would not lie) said, “I am the light of the world, he that followeth me, shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." St. John viii. 12. And again, "as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John ix. 5. And again," Yet a little while is the light with you: (meaning himself) walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." St. John xii. 35, 36, 46. | From all which you see, that neither Christ nor his apostles imagined that he came to be a dark body between man and his Maker. But I am afraid we must be obliged to rank you (notwithstanding your great political knowledge with them) "that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight." Isaiah v. 20, 21. mighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known unto them." If you had known any thing of the Hebrew language, and had considered the vast import of this great and dreadful, yet glorious name JEHOVAH, which is mentioned so many thousand times in the original Scriptures, and which I have before explained, I can hardly think that you would have represented the Bible as a book leading to Atheism. For whenever the word JEHOVAH occurs, it is as much as though it was said, The Great Supreme Being, who is, was, and shall be, the cause of being: and it is evident, that where this idea is kept in view, there cannot be the smallest tendency towards Atheism. But the Christian system of faith is founded upon this, and keeps it constantly in sight. Therefore Christianity is not even an approximation to Athe ism. For my own part, I find myself so sinful, ignorant, and weak, that I rejoice to have a mediator between the pure and holy God and me; one who can instruct me, and can introduce me into the presence of God. And if the mediator, or days man, be both God and When God gave his law from Mount Sinai, man in one person, (as I believe) I think it is he enforced the second commandment with all the better; for in that case, he knows the these words, "For I JEHOVAH thy God am a mind of God perfectly, and the wants and jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the faweakness of man, and can lay his hands on thers upon the children, unto the third and both parties. I am not ashamed to own, that fourth generation of them that hate me;" this view of the mediatorial plan, appears in mind, them that hate me. This clause you my sight, highly reasonable and proper, and left out, and then said, "It is however necesis to me a source of great joy and comfort.sary to except the declaration that says, that If you call this a shade, I can say that "I sat down under his shadow with great delight; and his fruit was sweet to my taste." This man whom you despise, is to me " as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." Isaiah xxxii. 2. That is, he is every thing to my soul that it needs, either for safety, comfort, health or refreshment. For thou (O Lord) hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." Isaiah xxv. 4. A shadow to screen from the burning heat of the sun in summer, or in sultry climes, is sometimes a very desirable refreshment; and in this sense I am willing to allow, that Christ is compared to the most refreshing shade. And I can heartily pray with David, " From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever; I will trust in the covert of thy wings." Psalm 1xi. 2-4. God visits the sins of the fathers upon the chil dren. It is contrary to every principle of moral justice. Is it not contrary to both truth and moral justice for you to leave out the character of those children upon whom God visits the iniquity of their fathers, even those who hate their Creator, and then reprobate one of the most righteous declarations that ever were made? If you had ever read with the least attention the 18th chapter of Ezekiel, you would have the satisfaction of finding that God never meant to visit the sins of wicked parents upon virtuous children. For he there declares, that if a son "seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth and doeth not the like, but hath executed my judgments, and walked in my statutes: he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." But that God visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, is evident to a demonstration even in the French Revolution: for the dreadful crimes of the barbarous Louis XIV. especially his bloody persecutions against the innocent Protestants, perpetrated through the instigation of the wicked priests of that age, have been evidently But in order further to evince, that the visited upon his descendents, and the priests Christian system of faith, or the Bible, is not and nobles of the late kingdom of France. a species of Atheism, I shall quote a few pas- For it does not appear from any thing that I sages which speak of the divine perfections. have seen, that their own personal crimes When Moses asked God what his name was, have comparatively deserved such severe rethat he might tell the children of Israel, God taliation as they have met with; but as they informed him that his name was EHEJAH; continued to approve in some measure of the which significs, I WILL BE THAT I WILL BE. deeds of their fathers, and did not repent, and See the Hebrew text of Exod. iii. 14. Only change their lives, God, after giving them a the Great First cause could say, I WILL BE. long space for repentance, hath at last made He is therefore, self-existent and independent. inquisition for innocent blood, and hath eviExod. vi. 2, 3. "And God spake unto dently visited their fathers' iniquities upon Moses, and said unto him, I am JEHOVAH: them. And who may charge him with injusand I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- tice? He will go on to fulfil his threatenings, cob, by the name of El-shaddai, or God Al-whatever you or any other may object to | their moral justice. But it is certain that no injustice is found with him: for "Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Psalm lxxxix. 13, 14. Since then we may see with our eyes, the awful visitations of God upon this generation, far beyond, in a comparative light, what their own iniquities have deserved, (for they never shed such torrents of innocent blood themselves, but their fathers did) and as we know that God is just, and this is evidently his work, and it is plain that he is now visiting the sins of their fathers upon them, we must conclude that the awful declaration made so long ago is just. And as we see it punctually fulfilled to this day, it will infallibly prove that it was made by God himself, since he continues to execute it. And thus we have a powerful evidence of the truth of the Scripture, the divine legation of Moses, the authenticity of his mission, &c. from that very declaration by which you meant to overthrow the whole, by excepting against it as contrary to every principle of moral justice. And thus your most powerful weapons are turned against your cause. For no weapon formed against God's truth shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise up to censure, judge, and condemn divine revelation, shall be selfcondemned: "So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves: all that see them shall flee away. And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing." Psalm lxiv. 8, 9. only this one good passage in tnem, we that Levit. xix. 2. Deut. iv. 39. "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that JEHOVAH he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else." Deut. vi. 4, 5. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. vii. 9, 10. 66 'Know, therefore, that the Lord thy God he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him to a thousand generations. And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them; he will not be slack to him that hateth him; he will repay him to his face." Deut. x. 12-18. "And now Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, who regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment." Exod. xxxiv. 5-7. "And JEHOVAH descended in a cloud, and stood with him (Moses) there, and proclaimed the name of JEHOVAH.. In all these passages, and many more of And JEHOVAH passed by before him and pro- the same kind, with which the books of Mcses claimed JEHOVAH, JEHOVAH God, merciful and abound, the character of God is drawn in the gracious, long suffering, and abundant in sublimest manner, such as at first could ongoodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou-ly be done by divine revelation All this sands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation." In this passage, besides the names of God and several of his divine perfections, we are informed of something which the great book of creation could never have taught us if we had studied it a thousand years, and yet it was of vast importance that we should be informed of it. And that is, that God could pardon iniquity, transgression, and sin, or as the Hebrew words more properly might be rendered crookedness or perverseness, rebellion and missing the mark. This is what reason, unenlightened by revelation, could never have obtained; as is evident by all the heathen philosophers, those great and good men among the heathen, who remained utterly at a loss in this important matter. They clearly saw that men had sinned, and were not in the state in which God made the human species at first; but whether or not it was possible for man to be brought again into his Maker's favour, they could not determine. So that if the books of Moses had does not in the least tend to Atheism, nor do these passages merit either our hatred or contempt. But what does that man merit who uses his popular talents to render divine revelation ridiculous, and teaches men to despise the great things of God's law, and would intimate that the Christian system is much the same as Atheism, though it is well known to contain all the pure principles of Deism, and many excellent things in which Deism is deficient? I could easily multiply passages out of the law of Moses, that set forth the character of God, and his perfections, in the most glorious and amiable point of light; and I beg such of my readers as are not acquainted with the Bible, not to think that in any instance I have exhausted those treasures that are more valuable than mountains of gold and rocks of diamonds; for I have but given a specimen. I should make this collection of scriptures much larger, but for fear of swelling the work too much; and I should not have made it so large, if I could have thought of any other way to confute the assertions you have made, That the scriptures, except Job, and the 19th Psalm, contain little or nothing respecting the |