The first part, of the first of these paragraphs, has been already answered in page 123 &c. When the Christian has proved that God revealed his will to man in human language, (and it is a question of history and criticism, and not of religion) he then infers, that the means which God elected for the revelation of his will, are, by that very election, proved to be adequate to the end contemplated. But human reason and experience also establish its adequacy, When Mr. Paine puts words into the mouth of the Christian, he ought, on a subject so important as religion, to have told us in what sense they were used, or where they might be found. That it formed no part of Jesus Christ's design" to publish himself, the glad tidings to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other," is clear from the confined circuit of his preaching, and the previously declared limitation of this ministry, by himself. Whether the passage to which Mr. Paine alluded, was of the same nature with the phrase "every where," now in use, and which means every where in a particular country: or whether the whole world meant, what it means in the Septuagint translation of the Bible, and frequently in Josephus Judea only; or whether, by that common figure of speech, called synecdoche, the preaching of Christ was put for the preaching of all his disciples, is of no consequence. That the "glad tidings" which Christ published, will be published "to all nations, from one end of the earth unto the other," I have no more doubt than I have of my own existence. The little spark kindled in Judea, has already illuminated almost all one quarter of the world, and is shedding its rays over the remaining three with every day increasing brightness. The woods of Canada, the burning plains of Africa, the remote regions of India, the scattered islands of the Pacific, and the icy rocks of Greenland, are all receiving the "glad tidings." The light of salvation has reached them all; and the whole world will soon be under its mild radiance. And this was the prediction of Jesus.

Where Mr. Paine found, in the sacred volume, a belief,

that the earth was "flat like a trencher," I know not. Where its true figure is described, I do know. In the 98th. Psalm, it is called "the round world.”:

Jesus Christ, Mr. Paine says, "could speak but one language," but this opinion is grounded upon a denial of the divinity of his character: and thus Mr. Paine ingeniously argues in a circle; videlicit: "Jesus Christ could speak but one language where a knowledge of several hundred was required," and therefore he could not be divine; Jesus Christ was not divine, and, therefore, "could speak but one language." Sorry logick! but worthy of the cause in which it is employed

One of the first proofs of their high commission, that the Apostles gave to their unbelieving auditors assembled at Jerusalem from all parts of the world, was that of addressing each person in his vernacular tongue. Parthi ans, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia; in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia; in Egypt and in the parts of Lybia about Cyrene, and Strangers of Rome, Jews and Proselytes, Cretes and Arabians." If twelve Fishermen, the Followers of Jesus, could, without education, discourse freely in all these tongues, it is a little too much to affirm, that Jesus himself could speak "no other language but Hebrew;" or that the want of an acquaintance with other tongues, would be an impediment to the diffusion of the Gospel.

The objection to translations has already been obviated in page 126. One word more may be said upon it here. The imperfection of language consists in its insignificancy; in the want of a correspondence between the idea and the sound expressing it. Hence the difficulty of definition. No man ever mistook a dog for a cat: but he who shall attempt to describe them to one who never saw either, will find it impossible to do it with such precision and perspicuity, that when that other is introduced to both, he may pronounce with unerring certainty, this is the dog, and that is the cat.' If Religion consisted in a description of

sensible objects, not common to all mankind, there would be an extreme difficulty in conveying the meaning of ma ny of its terms from one people to another, and an almost insuperable impediment to the universal diffusion of it. But, instead of this, it deals entirely, or almost entirely, in abstractions, with which all men are, or easily may, be made acquainted, and that without liability to mistake. Mercy, truth, love, justice, gratitude, obedience, faith &c. may, in their leading acceptations, and those are the most important acceptations, be made known, to a savage islander of the South sea or the Indian ocean, as well as to the refined inhabitant of Europe; whilst an attempt to describe to him an elephant, or a rhinoceros, would entirely fail without graphical illustration. It is perhaps unfortunate, that what may be so easily apprehended, may also by the subtlety of logick, the refinements of metaphysicks, and the distinctions of philosophy, be rendered more obscure, than the most palpable truths in nature.

"

If, when Mr. Paine said, "besides the art of printing was wholly unknown at the time Christ lived," he meant, that that circumstance was unfavorable to the diffusion of his doctrine, he ought to have remembered, that it was a great security against the corruption of it. See page 1301 &c. An error that creeps into a printed book, belongs to the whole edition of it; and if accident should destroy all other editions, there is no possibility of correcting it. In manuscript copies, each copy is like an edition; and when they are greatly multiplied, and independent of each other, it is impossible, morally speaking, for them to suffer any material corruption.

"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 ends 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.

Y

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 bis 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 Scriptures, which any human hand might make, but the Scrip-ture called the creation."

Here we have conclusions without argument, and declamation without meaning. The imperfection of human language, which is the subject of the first paragraph, has. been already answered in pages 123 &c. Little, therefore,. need be said upon it in this place.

When Mr. Paine had finished this parade about the adaptation of adequate means to the accomplishment of particular ends, or the non-accomplishment of those ends, he should have followed it up by some unexceptionable: examples of failure in the use of human language, as a "means of unchangeable and uniform information;" or, if that were not practicable, as I think it is not, he should.

have candidly reasoned from the fact of "unchangeable and uniform information," with which any page of History would have supplied him, to the adequacy of the means; that is, to the adequacy of human language &c The Christian does not maintain, that God "manifests himself” in human language, but his will, that will which is the foundation of morality and religion; and that morality and religion which is derivable from no other source. I challenge any Deist to answer this question; whether he conscientiously believes, that the meaning of the ten commandments, which are acknowledged on all sides to have existed for nearly four thousand years; and which have been translated into the Greek and Latin, and almost every modern tongue, have, or have not, the same meaning now that they had when they were first delivered? There is not one of them that dares to deny it; and these are the word of God. But to proceed with this subject, to Mr. Paine's second paragraph. If the Creation speaketh an universal language," man, certainly, has not yet learnt the first characters of it. If it be "an ever existing original, which every man can read," there is no man living that can understand it. If "this word of God, which can neither be forged nor counterfeited (copia verborum) reveals to man, all that is necessary for man to know of God;" why then neither morality nor religion is necessary to be known by man. Man is a libertine See pages 10-12.

166

How much more satisfactory than all this florid declamation, would have been the evidence of one single duty derived from nature. If Mr. Paine, contemplated power in the immensity of the Creation, what did he contemplate in the imperfections of the noblest part of it, man? If he contemplated wisdom in the unchangeable order by which the incomprehensible whole is governed, what did he contemplate in the disorder occasioned by earthquakes, by hurricanes, an epizooty or a plague? If he contemplated munificence in the abundance which fills the earth; what did he contemplate in unsparing famines? If he contemplated mercy in his not withholding abundance from the