white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple," etc. That this is a representation of what was to take place before the resurrection, is manifest from this, that it was under the sixth seal, and before the opening of the seventh; and the events of the seventh seal will be accomplished before the resurrection. But in this same scene, taking place thus before the resurrection, the inspired apostle saw those who had come out of great tribulation, and who had washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, standing before the throne of God, and serving him day and night in his temple; which implies both existence and sensibility.

Chap. 14: 13, " And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." These blessed persons were the dead, and not those who are raised from the dead; for these last are alive. And they, dead as they are, are said to rest from their labors, and their works are said to follow them; i. e. the effects of their works follow them, in that they receive the reward of them. But this could not be truly said of them if they were in a state of insensibility, and were dead in both soul and body.

I know not how to reconcile these sacred passages, with a torpid state of all souls from death to the general resurrection.

SHORT COMMENTS ON NEW TEXTS.

1. "What is the amount of all his prayers, but an attempt to make the Almighty change his mind, and act otherwise than he does. It is as if he were to say, thou knowest not so well as I." -Thomas Paine.

This, according to Mr. Paine, is the amount of all prayers to the Deity. But he tells us, that "he hopes for happiness beyond this life." Therefore he is not sure of it, he barely hopes for it, and thinks it "probable." And how does he hope to attain to that happiness? Doubtless, by the gift of that "one God," in whose existence he professes a belief. And if he should pray that one God to bestow this gift upon him, which he is not sure that he will, would Mr. Paine herein tell the Almighty, "thou knowest not so well as I ?" Mr. Paine tells us, "I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy." It is then, ac

cording to him, a religious duty to endeavor to make our fellowcreatures more happy than God has made them. And is not this as really saying to God, "thou knowest not so well as I," as it would be to pray God, that he would permit and assist us to accomplish the happiness of others, which is, or ought to be the object of our endeavor? When Mr. Paine published his Age of Reason, he doubtless did it to instruct his fellow creatures, i. e. to communicate more instruction to them than God had communicated. But what is this, on his principle, but saying, “thou knowest not so well as I," how much instruction men ought to have? Whenever Mr. Paine spoke, or had his speech read, in the National Convention, it was doubtless to give some information, or to persuade the Convention to adopt some measure which it had not adopted; i. e. he endeavored to give information, which God had not given, and to lead that body into a measure, into which God had not led them; or, in one word, he attempted to bring to pass an event which God had not brought to pass. And what is this, on the principle quoted above, but saying to the Almighty, "thou knowest not so well as I?" Whenever a person applies to a physician, or uses any medicine to cure him of any disease; whenever the husbandman clears his land of trees, brushes or weeds; whenever he ploughs or hoes it; whenever he mows the grass, reaps the grain, or gathers the fruits of his trees; as in all these cases something is done or attempted to be done different from what God has done, the agent says to God, on the forementioned principle, "thou knowest not so well as I." In short, this principle equally forbids all human action, as it forbids us to pray. For whenever Mr. Paine, or any other man, writes, speaks, walks, or acts in any form, he brings to pass, or attempts to bring to pass, something which God had not already brought to pass. Therefore, as Mr. Paine would avoid the impiety of saying to God, "thou knowest not so well as I;" he must, in future, be as torpid as a serpent in winter; and at the same time, ought severely to repent of his past impiety, in that he has ever done a single action.

2. "The Creator has made nothing in vain."

This is very frequently asserted by Mr. Paine.

But has not the Creator made death, sickness, pain, sorrow, disappointment, mortification, bereavement, affliction, storms, shipwrecks, earthquakes, inundations, drought, famine, and desolation? For what end has he made these things? For the happiness of man? How does this appear on Mr. Paine's principles? Would not man have been as happy in the world without as with them? Or if he should say, they were made to subserve the hap

piness of man in the future state; how does this appear? Some reason must be given for this. Here conjectures ought not to be advanced by so zealous an advocate for reason as Mr. Paine. Nor will they be received in this age of reason. If these things were not made for the happiness of man, it seems they must have been made in vain, which is contrary to my text; or they must have been made for the misery of man. If this be admitted, what will Mr. Paine, on his principles, say, to vindicate that benignity and goodness of God which he everywhere so highly celebrates? 3.The true deist's religion consists in contemplating the power, wisdom, and benignity of the Deity in his works, and in endeavoring to imitate him in everything moral, scientifical, and mechanical."

Mr. Paine's true deist doubtless contemplates all the works of God. How then does he contemplate the forementioned works, death, sickness, etc.? Does he contemplate them with complacency? In order to this, he must view them as designed to subserve the purposes of goodness. But how does he know, that they do subserve these purposes? Or does he contemplate them with abhorrence? Then, doubtless, he contemplates the author of them with the same abhorrence. And is this the religion of a true deist? The true deist's religion is said to consist partly, “in endeavoring to imitate the Deity in everything moral." Now the infliction of death, calamity, sickness and misery on mankind, is a part of the moral conduct of the Deity. Therefore, the true deist, to act up to his religion, must imitate the Deity in this, and must kill every man within his reach. And is every true deist a man of science? This is something new. This is trumping high. Indeed I had been wont to think, that some deists, as well as some christians, are destitute of science. But to imitate the Deity in everything scientifical, requires very great science indeed. From the measure of science, which Mr. Paine has shown himself to possess, I should conclude, that even he is not capable of this. It is a favorite doctrine of his, that "the immensity of space is filled with systems of worlds;" i. e. immensity is exhausted, and therefore limited, and infinity is finite. Another doctrine of Mr. Paine is, that "all our knowledge of science is derived from the revolutions of the planets."

But arithmetic is a science; geometry is a science; astronomy, or a distribution of the stars into constellations, is a science; and all these sciences were known to the ancients, though they were ignorant of the true revolutions of the planets. And Mr. Paine must be extremely deficient in science, as well as history, to believe, that addition or subtraction were not, or could not be known

in the world, till the revolutions of the planets were found out. Another demonstration of Mr. Paine's attainments in science he has given in this proposition, that "trigonometry, when applied to the construction of figures drawn by a rule and compass, is cailed geometry." If Mr. Paine had imitated the Deity in everything scientifical, he would surely have become possessed of more science than he did possess, when he wrote his Age of Reason.

4. "It is from the sciences, that all the mechanical arts, that contribute so much to our earthly felicity and comfort, are derived." And does Mr. Paine believe, that mankind never knew how to make shoes, tili they were acquainted with the sciences? and that the Indians derive from the sciences, their skill in making baskets and knot bowls?

5. "A thing which every body is required to believe, requires, that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal." But is not every body required to believe, that Thomas Paine wrote the Age of Reason? and is the evidence of this equal to all? "A small number of persons," perhaps not so many as "eight or nine," may have seen him write it. These are introduced as proxies for the whole world, to say, they saw it, and all the rest of the world are called upon to believe it. But as "Thomas did not believe the resurrection, and, as they say, would not believe, without having occular and manual demonstration himself; so neither will I," believe that Paine wrote the Age of Reason. Thus, on the principle here advanced, we are not rationally obligated to believe anything, of which we have not the evidence of sense.

6. "It is impossible for us now to know, that the books," (of the Evangelists) "were written by the persons whose names they bear." Is it possible for us now to know, that the reputed works of Virgil, Tully and Horace, were written by those men? Let Mr. Paine tell us on what evidence he believes this, and I will produce as great or greater evidence, that the gospels were written by the men whose names they bear. Besides, that the gospels were really written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is not so important, as that the accounts they contain be true. the facts related in the gospels really took place as related, christianity is true; though the gospels were first published anonymously, and afterward, by mistake, the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were affixed to them. The gospels certainly were extant at, or very near the time, in which their reputed authors lived; and if the accounts they contain be fictitious, why was not this proved by the virulent enemies of christianity, as, on

If

this supposition, might most easily have been done? And, in particular, why was it not proved, that the gospels were not written by the men whose names they bear? Here, if it were proper, might be introduced the numerous attestations to many of the most important facts of the gospel, collected from heathen authors, by Grotius, Lardner, etc.

7. "What is this world of twenty-five thousand miles extent, to the mighty ocean of space, and the Almighty power of the Creator?" Answer. What is a system of ever so many worlds, to an infinite ocean of space, or to the infinite power of the Creator? Any system of worlds, however large, is still finite; and finite bears no proportion to infinite. Any finite system no more exhausts infinite space, or infinite power, than a single world does. So that the objection which Mr. Paine makes to a small system, still attends his own supposed system, however large.

8. "The word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, any more than obscurity can be applied to light. The God in whom we believe, is a God of moral truth, and not a God of mystery or obscurity. Mystery is the antagonist of truth. It is the fog of human invention, that obscures truth, and represents it in distortion. Truth never envelopes itself in mystery; and the mystery, in which it is at any time enveloped, is the work of its antagonist, and never of itself."

Mr. Paine here tells us, that "the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth." What mystery there may be in Mr. Paine's sense of moral truth, I cannot say. But that there is a God, existing from eternity to eternity, and the first cause of all things, is a moral truth, in the same sense, that the trinity, the incarnation of the Son of God, the hypostatical union, etc. supposing them to be truths, are moral truths. And Mr. Paine will not deny, that there is mystery in the divine existence, and especially in his acting as a first cause; for he says expressly, "it is incomprehensibly difficult for man to conceive what a first cause is." Therefore Mr. Paine was strangely forgetful, or he never would have asserted, that the word mystery cannot be applied to moral truth, and especially without great forgetfulness he would not have asserted, that "God is not a God of mystery." "Mystery is the fog of human invention." And is the incomprehensible mystery of a first cause, "the fog of human invention?" And does not the truth, that there is a first cause, " envelope itself in mystery?" If not, who envelopes it in mystery? For, by Mr. Paine's concession, it is enveloped in mystery. In my text Mr. Paine says, as quoted above, "mystery is the antagonist of truth;" and, in the latter part of the text, he says, "the mysVOL. II.

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