TXTWatsonTitle; E611| Annotations to An Apology for the Bible t1467
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by R. Watson, Bishop of Landaff. London, 1797
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BACK OF TITLE PAGE
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Notes on the B[ishop] of L[andaff]'s Apology for the Bible by
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William Blake
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[An asterisk marks a point from which Blake drew a line to
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his comment.]
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To defend the Bible in this year 1798 would cost a man his
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life
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The Beast & the Whore rule without controls t1468
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It is an easy matter for a Bishop to triumph over Paines
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attack but it is not so easy for one who loves the Bible
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The Perversions of Christs words & acts are attackd by Paine
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&also the perversions of the Bible; Who dare defend
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[them] either the Acts of Christ or the Bible
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Unperverted?
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But to him who sees this mortal pilgrimage in the light that
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I see it. Duty to [my] <his> country is the first
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consideration &safety the last
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Read patiently take not up this Book in all idle hour the
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consideration of these things is the [ent(ire)] whole
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duty of man &the affairs of life & death trifles sports of time
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<But> these considerations business of Eternity
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I have been commanded from Hell not to print this as it is
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what our Enemies wish
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[BISHOP WATSON'S PREFACE]
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PAGE [iii]. . . the deistical writings of Mr. Paine are
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circulated . . . amongst the unlearned part of the community,
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especially in large manufacturing towns; . . . this Defence of
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Revealed Religion might. . . be efficacious in stopping that
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torrent of infidelity which endangers alike the future happiness
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of individuals, and the present safety of allchristian
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states. . . .
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Paine has not Attacked Christianity. Watson has defended
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Antichrist.
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PAGE [iv]
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Read the XXIII Chap of Matthew & then condemn Paines hatred
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of Priests if you dare
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[Books by Bishop Watson] 7. The Wisdom and Goodness of God,
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in having made both RICH and POOR; a Sermon. . . .
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God made Man happy & Rich but the Subtil made the innocent
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Poor
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This must be a most wicked & blasphemous book
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LETTER I
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PAGE [1]
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If this first Letter is written without Railing &
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Illiberality I have never read one that is. To me it is all
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Daggers & Poison. the sting of the serpent is in every Sentence
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as well as the glittering Dissimulation Achilles' wrath is blunt
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abuse Thersites' sly insinuation Such is the Bishops If such is
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the characteristic of a modern polite gentleman we may hope to
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see Christs discourses Expung'd
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I have not the Charity for the Bishop that he pretends to
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have for Paine. I believe him to be a State trickster
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THE AGE OF REASON, part the second, . . . Extraordinary . .
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. not from any novelty in the objections which you have
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produced against revealed religion, (for I find little
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or no novelty in them,) . . .
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Dishonest Misrepresentation
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I give you credit for your sincerity, how much soever I
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may question your wisdom,. . . .
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Priestly Impudence
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. . . I . . . lament, that these talents have not been
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applied in a manner more useful to human kind, and more
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creditable to yourself
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Contemptible Falshood & Detraction
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I hope there is no want of charity in saying, that it would
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have been fortunate for the christian world, had your life
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been terminated before you had fulfilled your intention
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Presumptuous Murderer dost thou O Priest wish thy brothers
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death when God has preserved him
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. . . you will have unsettled the faith of thousands; . . .
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you will have given the reins to the domination of every passion,
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and have thereby contributed to the introduction of the public
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insecurity, and of the private unhappiness usually and almost
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necessarily accompanying a state of corrupted morals.
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Mr Paine has not extinguishd & cannot Extinguish Moral
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rectitude. he has Extinguishd Superstition which took the Place
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of Moral Rectitude what has Moral Rectitude to do with Opinions
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concerning historical fact
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[p 2] . . . absolution, as practised in the church of Rome,
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. . . I cannot, with you, attribute the guillotine-massacres* to
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that cause.
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To what does the Bishop attribute the English Crusade
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against France. is it not to State Religion. blush for shame
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Men's minds were not prepared . . . for the commission of .
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. .crimes, by any doctrines of the church of Rome . . .but
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by their not thoroughly believing even that religion. What may
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not society expect from those, who shall imbibe the principles of
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your book
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Folly & Impudence! [Can] <Does> the thorough belief
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of Popery hinder crimes or can the man who writes the latter
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sentiment be in the good humour the bishop Pretends to be. If we
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are to expect crimes from Paine & his followers. are we to
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believe that Bishops do not Rail I should Expect that the man
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who wrote this sneaking sentence would be as good an inquisitor
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as any other Priest
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What is conscience? . . . an internal monitor implanted in
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us by the Supreme Being, and dictating . . . what is
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right or wrong? Or is it merely our own judgment of the
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moral rectitude or turpitude of our own actions? I take the word
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(with Mr. Locke) in the latter, as in the only intelligible sense.
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Conscience in those that have it is unequivocal, it is the
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voice of God Our judgment of right & wrong is Reason I believe
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that the Bishop laught at the Bible in his slieve & so did Locke
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. . . it can be no criterion of moral* rectitude, even when
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it is certain, . . .
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If Conscience is not a Criterion of Moral Rectitude What is it?
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He who thinks that Honesty is changeable knows nothing about it
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because the certainty of an opinion is no proof. . . .
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Virtue is not Opinion
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[p 3] . . . [not] that he will, in obeying the dictates of
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his conscience, <dag>on all occasions act right.
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<dag>Always, or the Bible is false
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An inquisitor . . . a Robespierre . . . a robber . . . a
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thousand perpetrators of different crimes, may all followthe
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dictates of conscience. . .
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Contemptible Falshood & Wickedness
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. . . their conscientious composure can be no proof to
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others of the rectitude of their principles, . . .
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Virtue & honesty or the dictates of Conscience are of no
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doubtful Signification to any one
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Opinion is one Thing. Princip[le] another. No Man can
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change his Principles Every Man changes his opinions. He who
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supposes that his Principles are to be changed is a Dissembler
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who Disguises his Principles & calls that change
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if you have made the best examination you can, and yet
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reject revealed religion. . . .
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Paine is either a Devil or an Inspired man. Men who give
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themselves to their Energetic Genius in the manner that Paine
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does [is] <are> no [modest Enquirers]
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<Examiners>. If they are not determinately wrong they must be
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Right or the Bible [P 4] is false. as to [modest
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Enquirers] <Examiners in these points> they will [always
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be found to be neither cold nor hot & will] be spewed out.
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The Man who pretends to be a modest enquirer into the truth of a
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self
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evident thing is a Knave The truth & certainty of Virtue &
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Honesty i.e Inspiration needs no one to prove it it is Evident
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as the Sun & Moon [What doubt is virtuous even Honest that
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depends upon Examination] He who stands doubting of what he
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intends whether it is Virtuous or Vicious knows not what Virtue
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means. no man can do a Vicious action & think it to be Virtuous.
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no man can take darkness for light. he may pretend to do so & may
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pretend to be a modest Enquirer. but [It]<he> is a Knave
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[p 3]--I think that you are in error; but whether that error
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be to you a vincible or an invincible error, I presume not to
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determine.
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Serpentine Dissimulation
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[p 4] You hold it impossible that the Bible can be the Word
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of God, because it is therein said, that the Israelites [p 5]
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destroyed the Canaanites by the express command of God: and to
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believe the Bible to be true, we must, you affirm, unbelieve all
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our belief of the moral justice of God; . . . I am astonished
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that so acute a reasoner should . . . bring . . . forward this
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exploded . . . objection. . . . The Word of God is in perfect
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harmony with his work; crying or smiling infants are subjected to
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death in both. [p 5]
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To me who believe the Bible & profess myself a Christian a
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defence of the Wickedness of the Israelites in murdering so many
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thousands under pretence of a command from God is altogether
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Abominable & Blasphemous. Wherefore did Christ come was it not
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to abolish the Jewish Imposture Was not Christ murderd because
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he taught that God loved all Men & was their father & forbad all
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contention for Worldly prosperity in opposition to the Jewish
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Scriptures which are only an Example of the wickedness & deceit
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of the Jews & were written as an Example of the possibility of
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Human Beastliness in all its branches. Christ died as an
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Unbeliever . & if the Bishops had their will so would Paine. <see
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page 1> but he who speaks a word against the Son of man shall be
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forgiven let the Bishop prove that he has not spoken against [p
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6] the Holy Ghost who in Paine strives with Christendom as in
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Christ he strove with the Jews
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[p 6]. . . God not only primarily formed, but . . . hath
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through all ages executed, the laws of nature; . . . for the
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general happiness of his creatures, . . . you have no right, in
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fairness of reasoning, to urge any apparent deviation from moral
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justice, as an argument against revealed religion, because you do
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not urge an equally apparent deviation from it, as an argument
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against natural religion: . . .
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The Bible says that God formed Nature perfect but that Man
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perverted the order of Nature since which time the Elements are
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filld with the Prince of Evil who has the power of the air
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Natural Religion is the voice of God & not the result of
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reasoning on the Powers of Satan
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[p 6] Now, I think, it will be impossible to prove, that it
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was aproceeding contrary to God's moral justice, to
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exterminate so wicked a people
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Horrible the Bishop is an Inquisitor God never makes one man
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murder another nor one nation
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[p 7] There is a vast difference between an accident brought
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on by a mans own carelessness & a destruction from the designs of
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another. The Earthquakes
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at Lisbon &/c were the Natural result of Sin. but the destruction
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of the Canaanites by Joshua was the Unnatural design of wicked
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men To Extirpate a nation by means of another nation is as
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wicked as to destroy an individual by means of another individual
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which God considers (in the Bible) as Murder & commands that it
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shall not be done
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Therefore the Bishop has not answerd Paine
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[P 7] Human kind, by long experience; . . . .is in a
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far more distinguished situation, as to thpowers of the
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mind, than it was in the childhood of the world.
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That mankind are in a less distinguishd situation with
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regard to mind than they were in the time of Homer Socrates
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Phidias. Glycon. Aristotle &/c let all their works witness
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[the Deists]<Paine> say<s> that Christianity put a stop
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to improvement & the Bishop has not shewn the contrary
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It appears incredible to many, that God Almighty [P 8]
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should have had colloquial intercourse with our first parents; . . .
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That God does & always did converse with honest Men Paine
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never denies. he only denies that God conversd with Murderers &
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Revengers such as the Jews were. & of course he holds that the
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Jews conversed with their own [self will] <State
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Religion> which they calld God & so were liars as Christ says
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[P 8] . . . that he should have . . . become the God and
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governor of one particular nation; . . . .
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That the Jews assumed a right <Exclusively> to the benefits
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of God. will be a lasting witness against them. & the same will
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it be [of] against Christians
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[P 8] . . . when I consider how nearly man, ina savage
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state, approaches to the brute creationas to intellectual
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excellence;
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Read the Edda of Iceland the Songs of Fingal the accounts of
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North American Savages (as they are calld) Likewise Read Homers
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Iliad. he was certainly a Savage. in the Bishops sense. He
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knew nothing of God. in the Bishops sense of the word & yet he
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was no fool
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[P 9] . . . the jewish and christian dispensations mediums
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to convey to all man . . . that knowledge concerning himself,
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which he had vouchsafed to give immediately to the first.
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The Bible or <Peculiar> Word of God, Exclusive of Conscience
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or the Word of God Universal, is that Abomination which like the
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Jewish ceremonies is for ever removed & henceforth every man may
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converse with God & be a King & Priest in his own house
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I own it is strange, very strange, that he should have made
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an immediate manifestation of himself . . . but what is there
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that is not strange? It is strange that you and I are here--. . .
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that there is a sun, and moon, and stars-- . . .
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It is strange that God should speak to man formerly & not
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now. because it is not true but the Strangeness of Sun Moon or
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Stars is Strange on a contrary account
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. . . the plan of providence, in my opinion, so
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obviously wise and good, . . .
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The Bible tells me that the plan of Providence was Subverted
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at the Fall of Adam & that it was not restored till [we
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in] Christ [?made ?restoration]
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I will . . . examine what you shall produce, with as much
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coolness and respect, as if you had given the priests no
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provocation; as if you were a man of the most unblemished character,
. . .
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Is not this Illiberal has not the Bishop given himself the
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lie in the moment the first words were out of his mouth Can any
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man who writes so pretend that he is in a good humour. Is not
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this the Bishops cloven foot. has he not spoild the hasty pudding
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LETTER II
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PAGE 10
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The trifles which the Bishop has combated in the following
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Letters are such as do nothing against Paines Arguments none of
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which the Bishop has dared to Consider. One for instance, which
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is That the books of the Bible were never believd willingly by
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any nation & that none but designing Villains ever pretended to
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believe That the Bible is all a State Trick, thro which tho'
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the People at all times could see they never had. the power to
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throw off Another Argument is that all the Commentators on the
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Bible are Dishonest Designing Knaves who in hopes of a good
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living adopt the State religion this he has shewn with great
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force which calls upon His Opponent loudly for an answer. I
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could name an hundred such
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[P 11] If it be found that the books ascribed to Moses,
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Joshua, and Samuel, were not written by Moses, Joshua, and
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Samuel. . . . they may still contain a true account of real
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transactions, . . .
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He who writes things for true which none could write. but
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the actor. such are most of the acts of Moses. must either be the
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actor or a fable writer or a liar. If Moses did not write the
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history of his acts, it takes away the authority altogether it
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ceases to be history & becomes a Poem of probable impossibilities
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fabricated for pleasure as moderns say but I say by Inspiration.
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[P 11] Had, indeed, Moses said that he wrote the five first
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[P 12] books . . . and had it been found, that Moses . . . did
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not write these books; then, I grant, the authority of the whole
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would have been gone at once; . . . . [P 12]
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If Paine means that a history tho true in itself is false
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When it is attributed to a wrong author. he's a fool. But he
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says that Moses being proved not the author of that history which
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is written in his name & in which he says I did so & so
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Undermines the veracity intirely the writer says he is Moses if
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this is proved false the history is false Deut xxxi v 24 But
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perhaps Moses is not the author & then the Bishop loses his
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Author
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[P 12] . . . the evidence for the miracles recorded in the
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Bible is. . . so greatly superior to that for the prodigies
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mentioned by Livy, or the miracles related by Tacitus, as to
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justify us in giving credit to the one as the work of God, and in
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with-holding it from the other as the effect of superstition and
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imposture.
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Jesus could not do miracles where unbelief hinderd hence we
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must conclude that the man who holds miracles to be ceased puts
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it out of his own power to ever witness one The manner of a
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miracle being performd is in modern times considerd as an
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arbitrary command of the
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agent upon the patient but this is an impossibility not a miracle
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neither did Jesus ever do such a miracle. Is it a greater
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miracle to feed five thousand men with five loaves than to
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overthrow all [P13] the armies of Europe with a small pamphlet.
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look over the events of your own life & if you do not find that
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you have both done such miracles & lived by such you do not see
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as I do True I cannot do a miracle thro experiment & to
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domineer over & prove to others my superior power as neither
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could Christ But I can & do work such as both astonish &
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comfort me & mine How can Paine the worker of miracles ever
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doubt Christs in the above sense of the word miracle But how
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can Watson ever believe the above sense of a miracle who
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considers it as an arbitrary act of the agent upon an unbelieving
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patient. whereas the Gospel says that Christ could not do a
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miracle because of Unbelief
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[P 14] If Christ could not do miracles because of Unbelief
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the reason alledged by Priests for miracles is false for those
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who believe want not to be confounded by miracles. Christ & his
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Prophets & Apostles were not ambitious miracle mongers
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[P 14] You esteem all prophets to be such lying rascals,
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that I dare not venture to predict the fate of your book.
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Prophets in the modern sense of the word have never existed
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Jonah was no prophet in the modern sense for his prophecy of
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Nineveh failed Every honest man is a Prophet he utters his
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opinion both of private & public matters/Thus/If you go on So/the
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result is So/He never says such a thing shall happen let you do
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what you will. a Prophet is a Seer not an Arbitrary Dictator.
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It is mans fault if God is not able to do him good. for he gives
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to the just & to the unjust but the unjust reject his gift
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[P 15] What if I should admit, that SAMUEL, or EZRA, or . .
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.composed these books, from public records, many years
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after the death of Moses?. . . every fact recorded in them may be true,
. . .*
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Nothing can be more contemptible than to suppose Public
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RECORDS to be True Read them & Judge. if you are not a Fool.
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Of what consequence is it whether Moses wrote the Pentateuch
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or no. If Paine trifles in some of his objections it is folly to
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confute him so seriously in them & leave his more material ones
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unanswered Public Records as If Public Records were True
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*Impossible for the facts are such as none but the actor
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could tell, if it is True Moses & none but he could write it
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unless we allow it to be Poetry & that poetry inspired
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[P 16] If historical facts can be written by inspiration
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Miltons Paradise Lost is as true as Genesis. or Exodus. but the
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Evidence is nothing for how can he who writes what he has neither
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seen nor heard of. be an Evidence of The Truth of his history
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[P 17]. . . kings and priests . . . never, I believe, did
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you any harm; but you have done them all the harm you could, . .
TXTWatson17; E618|
AnnWatson17; E618|
.Paine says that Kings & Priests have done him harm from his
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birth
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LETTER III
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[P 22] Having done with . . .the grammatical evidence . . . you
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come to your historical and chronological evidence; . . .
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I cannot concieve the Divinity of the <books in the> Bible
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to consist either in who they were written by or at what time or
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in the historical evidence which may be all false in the eyes of
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one man & true in the eyes of another but in the Sentiments &
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Examples which whether true or Parabolic are Equally useful as
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Examples given to us of the perverseness of some & its consequent
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evil & the honesty of others & its consequent good This sense of
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the Bible is equally true to all & equally plain to all. none can
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doubt the impression which he recieves from a book of Examples.
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If he is good he will abhor wickedness in David or Abraham if he
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is wicked he will make their wickedness an excuse for his & so he
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would do by any other book
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[P 25] Moses would have been the wretch you represent him,
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had he acted by his own authority alone; but you may as
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reasonably attribute cruelty and murder to the judge of the land
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in condemning criminals to death, as butchery and massacre to
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Moses in executing the command of God.
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All Penal Laws court Transgression & therefore are cruelty &
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Murder
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The laws of the Jews were (both ceremonial & real) the
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basest & most oppressive of human codes. & being like all other
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codes given under pretence of divine command were what Christ
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pronouncd them The Abomination that maketh desolate. i.e State
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Religion which [P 26] is the Source of all Cruelty
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LETTER IV
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[P 29] [Suppose an unsigned contemporary] history of the reigns
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of George the first and second, . . .would any man, three or
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four hundreds or thousands of years hence, question the authority
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of that book, . . .
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Hundreds or Thousands of Years O very fine Records as if
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he Knew that there were Records the Ancients Knew Better
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[P 29] If I am right in this reasoning, . . .
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as if Reasoning was of any Consequence to a Question
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Downright Plain Truth is Something but Reasoning is Nothing
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[P 31] . . . the gospel of St. Matthew . . . was written not
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many centuries, probably . . . not a quarter of one century after
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the death of Jesus; . . .
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There are no Proofs that Matthew the Earliest of all the
AnnWatson31; E618|
Writings of the New Testament was written within the First
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Century See P 94 & 95
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[P 33] . . . you do not perfectly comprehend what is meant
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by the expression--the Word of God--or the divine authority of
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the scriptures: . . . [P 34] God . . . has interposed his more
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immediate assistance. . . .
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They seem to Forget that there is a God of This World. A
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God Worshipd in this World as God & Set above all that is calld
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God
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[P 35] You proceed to shew that these books were not written
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by Samuel, . . .
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Who gave them the Name of Books of Samuel it is not of
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Consequence
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[P 36]. . .what has been conjectured by men of judgment, . .
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.a passage from Dr. Hartley's Observations of Man.
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Hartley a Man of Judgment then Judgment was a Fool what
AnnWatson36; E619|
Nonsense
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LETTER V
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[P 48] [Solomon's] admirable sermon on the vanity of every thing
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but piety and virtue.
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Piety & Virtue is Seneca Classical O Fine Bishop
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[P 49] What shall be said of you, who, either designedly, or
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ignorantly represent one of the most clear and important
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prophecies in the Bible [Isaiah 44-45], as an historical
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compliment, written above an hundred and fifty years after the
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death of the prophet?
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The Bishop never saw the Everlasting Gospel any more than
AnnWatson49; E619|
Tom Paine
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LETTER IX
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[P 95] Did you ever read the apology for the christians, which
TXTWatson95; E619|
Justin Martyr presented to the emperor . . . not fifty years
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after the death of St. John, . . .
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A:D: 150
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. . . probably the gospels, and certainly some of
TXTWatson95; E619|
St. Paul's epistles, were known. . . .yet I hold it to be a
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certain fact, that all the books, . . .were
TXTWatson95; E619|
written, . . .within a few years after his death.
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This is No Certain Fact Presumption is no Proof
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LETTER X
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[P 108] . . . The moral precepts of the gospel. . . .
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The Gospel is Forgiveness of Sins & has No Moral Precepts
AnnWatson108; E619|
these belong to Plato & Seneca & Nero
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[P 109] Two precepts you particularize as inconsistent with
TXTWatson109; E619|
the dignity and the nature of man--that of not resenting
TXTWatson109; E619|
injuries, and that of loving enemies.
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Well done Paine
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Who but yourself ever interpreted literally. . . . Did
TXTWatson109; E619|
Jesus himself turn the othercheek when the officer of the
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high priest smothim?
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Yes I have no doubt he did
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It is evident, that a patient acquiescence under
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slight personal injuries is here enjoined; . . .
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O Fool Slight Hypocrite & Villain
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[P 117] The importance of revelation . . . apparent . . .
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by the discordant sentiments of learned and good men (for I speak
TXTWatson117; E619|
not of the ignorant and immoral) on this point.
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O how Virtuous Christ came not to call the Virtuous
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[P 118] . . . if we are to live again, we are interested in
TXTWatson118; E619|
knowing--whether it be possible for us to do any thing whilst we
TXTWatson118; E619|
live here, which may render that future life, an happy
TXTWatson118; E619|
one.--
AnnWatson118; E619|
Do or Act to Do Good or to do Evil who Dare to judge but God
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alone
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These are tremendous truths to bad men; . . . a cogent
TXTWatson118; E619|
motive to virtuous action. . . .
AnnWatson118; E619|
Who does the Bishop call Bad Men Are they the Publicans &
AnnWatson118; E619|
Sinners that Christ loved to associate with Does God Love
AnnWatson118; E619|
The Righteous according to the Gospel or does he not cast them
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off.
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[P 119] For who is really Righteous It is all Pretension
EDAnnWatson120; E620|
[P 120, last page of book]
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It appears to me Now that Tom Paine is a better Christian
AnnWatson120; E620|
than the Bishop
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I have read this Book with attention & find that the Bishop
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has only hurt Paines heel while Paine has broken his head the
AnnWatson120; E620|
Bishop has not answerd one of Paines grand objections