The Age of Reason | Page 4

used in any sales of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware
or software or any other related product without express permission.]
*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END*

Produced by Norman M. Wolcott.

[Redactor's Note: The text is reproduced from The Writings of Thomas Paine Collected
and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway, Vol. IV 1894 - 1896. In this version the notes
are enclosed in square brackets. A Table of contents for this part has been added not
found in the printed edition.] -----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE WRITINGS
OF
THOMAS PAINE
COLLECTED AND EDITED BY
MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY
VOLUME IV.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Age of Reason
by Thomas Paine (1796)
Contents
Editor's Introduction
Part One




Chapter I
- The Author's Profession Of Faith

Chapter II
- Of Missions And Revelations




Chapter III
- Concerning The Character of Jesus Christ, And His History




Chapter IV
- Of The Bases Of Christianity




Chapter V
- Examination In Detail Of The Preceding Bases

Chapter VI
- Of The True Theology




Chapter VII
- Examination Of The Old Testament




Chapter VIII
- Of The New Testament




Chapter IX
- In What The True Revelation Consists

Chapter X
- Concerning God, And The Lights Cast On His Existence And Attributes By The Bible




Chapter XI
- Of The Theology Of The Christians; And The True Theology




Chapter XII
- The Effects Of Christianism On Education; Proposed Reforms




Chapter XIII
- Comparison Of Christianism With The Religious Ideas Inspired By Nature

Chapter XIV
- System Of The Universe




Chapter XV
- Advantages Of The Existence Of Many Worlds In Each Solar System




Chapter XVI
- Applications Of The Preceding To The System Of The Christians




Chapter XVII
- Of The Means Employed In All Time, And Almost Universally, To Deceive The
Peoples Recapitulation
Part Two Preface

Chapter I
- The Old Testament




Chapter II
- The New Testament




Chapter III
- Conclusion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION WITH SOME RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES.
IN the opening year, 1793, when revolutionary France had beheaded its king, the wrath
turned next upon the King of kings, by whose grace every tyrant claimed to reign. But
eventualities had brought among them a great English and American heart -- Thomas
Paine. He had pleaded for Louis Caper -- "Kill the king but spare the man." Now he
pleaded, -- "Disbelieve in the King of kings, but do not confuse with that idol the Father
of Mankind!"
In Paine's Preface to the Second Part of "The Age of Reason" he describes himself as
writing the First Part near the close of the year 1793. "I had not finished it more than six
hours, in the state it has since appeared, before a guard came about three in the morning,
with an order signed by the two Committees of Public Safety and Surety General, for
putting me in arrestation." This was on the morning of December 28. But it is necessary

to weigh the words just quoted -- "in the state it has since appeared." For on August 5,
1794, Francois Lanthenas, in an appeal for Paine's liberation, wrote as follows: "I deliver
to Merlin de Thionville a copy of the last work of T. Payne [The Age of Reason],
formerly our colleague, and in custody since the decree excluding foreigners from the
national representation. This book was written by the author in the beginning of the year
'93 (old style). I undertook its translation before the revolution against priests, and it was
published in French about the same time. Couthon, to whom I sent it, seemed offended
with me for having translated this work."
Under the frown of Couthon, one of the most atrocious colleagues of Robespierre, this
early publication seems to have been so effectually suppressed that no copy bearing that
date, 1793, can be found in France or elsewhere. In Paine's letter to Samuel Adams,
printed in the present volume, he says that he had it translated into French, to stay the
progress of atheism, and that he endangered his life "by opposing atheism." The time
indicated by Lanthenas as that in which he submitted the work to Couthon would appear
to be the latter part of March, 1793, the fury against the priesthood having reached its
climax in the decrees against them of March 19 and 26. If the moral deformity of
Couthon, even greater than that of his body, be remembered, and the readiness with
which death was inflicted for the most theoretical