The Age Of Reason

“I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life.”

Only one paragraph separates this sentence from the previous quotation. This is the first item in Paine’s statement of faith. It is important because Paine often was (and is) mistaken for an atheist. Furthermore, while Paine does not dwell on the subject of a possible afterlife, he does mention it here and then returns to it in the book’s final pages. These twin pillars of Paine’s Deistic faith—belief in a single Creator God and hope of eternal existence—constitute broad points of agreement with traditional monotheistic religions, the specific tenets of which Paine otherwise detests.

“A thing which everybody is required to believe, requires that the proof and evidence of it should be equal to all, and universal; and as the public visibility of this last related act was the only evidence that could give sanction to the former part, the whole of it falls to the ground, because that evidence was never given.”

The “last related act” refers to the Christian story of Christ’s ascension into Heaven, and the “former part” of the story is Christ’s resurrection. Two things are important here. First, Paine’s use of the word “required” reminds readers that he is challenging not only a particular faith but one that for centuries has had the sanction of government. Paine’s book, therefore, is not an academic exercise comparing two religious dogmas that stand on equal ground in relation to one another. It is, in part at least, a revolutionary challenge to what he regards as an age-old system of coercion. Second, Paine uses the word “evidence” three times in one sentence, which shows that his own faith rests on what he can observe, as well as what he reasonably can infer from his observations.

“In many things, however, the writings of the Jewish poets deserve a better fate than that of being bound up, as they now are, with the trash that accompanies them, under the abused name of the Word of God.”

Paine believes that the Old Testament prophets were actually poets and musicians who had no ability to predict the future. He argues, in fact, that “poet” was the original meaning of the word “prophet” in Hebrew. This is significant because, in Paine’s view, the misidentification of ancient Jewish poets as prophets invalidates both the Old and New Testaments, the latter of which contains purported fulfilled prophecies of the coming of Jesus Christ.

“It has set up a religion of pomp and revenue in pretended imitation of a person whose life was humility and poverty.”

“It” is the Christian church, which Paine regards as a fraud invented to dazzle and plunder the masses. The “person,” of course, is Jesus Christ. Here in Part 1, Paine expresses deep admiration for Christ’s character, though he does not believe Christ to have been the Son of God. Later in the book, after reviewing the New Testament in detail, Paine concludes that Jesus Christ probably never existed even as a historical figure, asserting that the entire Christian story is fabricated.

“THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CREATION WE BEHOLD: And it is in this word, which no human invention can counterfeit or alter, that God speaketh universally to man.”

On occasion, Paine highlights his most earnest declarations by presenting them in all capital letters. This particular declaration contrasts Paine’s belief in simple Deism, i.e. one Creator God, with other religions rooted in ancient texts. The key word here is “universally,” for Paine believes that the God who created the universe would reveal His existence and His laws to all human beings equally, not to a select group that fancies itself a “chosen” people.

“That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is the true theology.”

The “true theology,” by which Paine means Deism, is one of the book’s major themes. Paine describes astronomy as “chief” among the sciences, and he describes science as “the study of the works of God.” In Paine’s “true theology,” therefore, astronomy supplants ancient texts and becomes the only pathway to God. Long before biology, chemistry, and physics came to dominate the natural sciences, astronomy and the study of motion did indeed produce many of the world’s most famous scientific figures, and yet many of these astronomers regarded themselves not only as scientists but as natural philosophers whose observations and discoveries gave glory to God.

“The best Greek linguist that now exists does not understand Greek so well as a Grecian plowman did, or a Grecian milkmaid; and the same for the Latin, compared with a plowman or a milkmaid of the Romans; and with respect to pronunciation and idiom, not so well as the cows that she milked.”

This observation on the inaccessible nature of ancient or “dead” languages concludes on a humorous note, but it is part of Paine’s broader critique of Christian education. Paine regards the study of these “dead” languages as useless, for true knowledge—scientific knowledge—can only be conveyed in one’s own modern language. This is the point, for Paine believes that the Christian churches promote the study of dead languages precisely because church authorities fear the spread of knowledge.

“There may be many systems of religion that so far from being morally bad are in many respects morally good: but there can be but ONE that is true; and that one necessarily must, as it ever will, be in all things consistent with the ever existing word of God that we behold in his works.”

The first line of this sentence represents one of Paine’s few concessions to the religions he criticizes, in this case Christianity. The key here is Paine’s insistence that truth must be consistent with God’s observable universe. This serves as a preview of the ensuing chapter, where Paine argues against religious mysteries, miracles, and prophecies.

“It is a duty incumbent on every true deist, that he vindicates the moral justice of God against the calumnies of the Bible.”

Paine regards the Bible (by which he means the Old Testament, though he would apply the same critique as well to the New) as not only false but blasphemous. In Paine’s view, the God who created the universe could never have behaved as the God of the Old Testament is represented as behaving. This sentence reminds readers that Paine, far from being an atheist, sees himself as carrying out a religious and ethical mission in defense of the Almighty.

“The evidence I have produced, and shall still produce […] to prove that the Bible is without authority, will, whilst it wounds the stubbornness of a priest, relieve and tranquillize the minds of millions: it will free them from all those hard thoughts of the Almighty which priestcraft and the Bible had infused into their minds, and which stood in everlasting opposition to all their ideas of his moral justice and benevolence.”

“Evidence” is essential to Paine’s beliefs. If he cannot observe it in God’s Creation, then it has no place in his religion. The Bible’s (or Old Testament’s) lack of “authority” stems in part from its uncertain authorship and in part from its “hard” depiction of the Almighty, whom “millions” feel to be just and benevolent but whom priests and their sacred texts characterize as angry and vengeful. This quotation also reminds readers of Paine’s broader purpose in writing the book, which is to “relieve and tranquillize” the anxious masses who once believed in this doctrine and now feel as if they have nowhere to place their faith and nothing to provide moral guidance.

“The probability however is, that it is older than any book in the Bible; and it is the only one that can be read without indignation or disgust.”

Here Paine refers to the Book of Job, where he finds the sort of thoughtful reflections lacking in the rest of the Old Testament. This convinces Paine that the Book of Job actually does not belong with the Bible, for this evidence of “a mind cultivated in science” shows that the Book of Job probably had a non-Jewish author (100). On the whole, common bigotry is strikingly absent from most of Paine’s writings, but he, like many others who believed themselves enlightened (and were so in many other respects), does betray an occasional hint of anti-Semitism.

“To be happy in old age it is necessary that we accustom ourselves to objects that can accompany the mind all the way through life, and that we take the rest as good in their day. The mere man of pleasure is miserable in old age; and the mere drudge in business is but little better; whereas, natural philosophy, mathematical and mechanical science, are a continual source of tranquil pleasure, and in spite of the gloomy dogmas of priests, and of superstition, the study of those things is the study of the true theology.”

Here Paine combines Biblical analysis with Deistic advocacy. Throughout Part 2, Chapter 1, Paine examines the Old Testament’s historical and chronological evidence in order to cast doubt on the book’s authenticity. When he arrives at the Book of Ecclesiastes, supposedly written by Solomon, he finds “the solitary reflections of a worn-out debauchee” (102). Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He lived life entirely for pleasure, and when he reached an advanced age, he was miserable. Paine sees a moral in Solomon’s story: “Divided love is never happy” (103). Paine then uses this moral as an opportunity to champion Deism by celebrating its superior utility to people of advanced age.

“The New Testament compared with the Old, is like a farce in one act, in which there is not room for very numerous violations of the unities. There are, however, some glaring contradictions, which, exclusive of the fallacy of the pretended prophecies, are sufficient to show the story of Jesus Christ to be false.”

The phrase “violations of the unities” refers to the historical and chronological inconsistencies Paine uncovered in the Old Testament. These “violations” are less “numerous” in the New Testament because the New Testament tells a story that unfolds in one main place over a very short period of time. To debunk the New Testament, therefore, Paine focuses on “glaring contradictions,” particularly among the four authors of the Gospels. Paine also refers to “pretended prophecies,” which will be the primary subject of Part 3.

“Those who rest their faith upon such authority put man in the place of God, and have no foundation for future happiness; credulity, however, is not a crime, but it becomes criminal by resisting conviction.”

The “authority” to which Paine refers is the early Christian church, whose bishops, according to Paine, compiled the New Testament and declared it the word of God by vote. This is how they “put man in the place of God.” By suggesting that Christians “have no foundation for future happiness” and that “credulity [...] becomes criminal by resisting conviction,” Paine both undermines Christianity and proselytizes on behalf of Deism.

“The only sect that has not persecuted are the Quakers; and the only reason that can be given for it is, that they are rather Deists than Christians.”

Paine, whose father was a Quaker, adopted the central tenet of Quakerism: belief in an “inner light.” Though Paine does not use this phrase as part of his argument for the “true theology” of Deism, the “inner light” refers to the same divine original: a single Creator God who implanted His moral law on the hearts of all human beings equally. Quakers also practiced what they preached, including freedom of conscience and pacifism. The Quakers who emigrated to the American colonies in the late 17th and early 18th centuries founded Pennsylvania, maintained peace and harmony with local native tribes, opposed chattel slavery, allowed women to serve as religious leaders, and never established an official state church.

“It has been the scheme of the Christian church, and of all the other invented systems of religion, to hold man in ignorance of the Creator, as it is of Government to hold man in ignorance of his rights.”

Paine argues that religious and civil authorities have conspired to deprive the masses of both knowledge and freedom. This has been the theme of all Paine’s major writings dating to Common Sense (1776), though most of these writings denounce ecclesiastical privilege as part of a broader assault on government tyranny. Only Age of Reason poses a direct and deliberate challenge to Christianity as a faith.

“The principles of science lead to this knowledge; for the Creator of man is the Creator of science; and it is through that medium that man can see God, as it were, face to face.”

This statement is perhaps the clearest evidence that Paine’s Deism is the religion of science. The modern world tends to regard science and religion as separate domains, their practitioners motivated by different questions and governed by different principles. In Paine’s mind, however, science and religion are inseparable, for science alone brings us closer to the true God.

“As in my political works my motive and object have been to give man an elevated sense of his own character, and free him from the slavish and superstitious absurdity of monarchy and hereditary government, so in my publications on religious subjects my endeavors have been directed to bring man to a right use of the reason that God has given him [...].”

Paine seldom makes reference to his earlier and more famous writings. This lengthy sentence, however, represents the clearest statement of what Paine regards as the connection between his political and religious ideas. In short, he is fighting a war of liberation on two fronts. Man must be made “free” from political slavery under Europe’s old governments. At the same time, he must be “unshackled” from lying Christian dogmas and the churches that perpetuate them. While modern readers might be inclined to think of these as two different wars, in Paine’s era the civil and ecclesiastical authorities reinforced one another. Separation of church and state first occurred during Paine’s lifetime in the United States, and even by the time of his death in 1809, some states had not formally disestablished their churches. In the Western world of Paine’s day, many sects and religions received official toleration, but few enjoyed genuine freedom of conscience.

“When we behold the mighty universe that surrounds us, and dart our contemplation into the eternity of space, filled with innumerable orbs revolving in eternal harmony, how paltry must the tales of the Old and New Testaments, profanely called the word of God, appear to thoughtful man!”

Throughout the book, Paine celebrates celestial observation as a source of both reverence for God and knowledge of the scientific laws that govern God’s Creation. For an unconventional revolutionary such as Paine, astronomy also offers predictability and order. He contrasts the beauty of the Heavens with what he regards as the ugly lies of the Old and New Testaments, whose writers have denigrated the Almighty by associating Him with so much violence, cruelty, and supernatural showmanship that it amounts to blasphemy.

“The world has “walked in darkness” for eighteen hundred years, both as to religion and government, and it is only since the American Revolution began that light has broken in.”

The phrase “walked in darkness” appears as part of a larger passage in the Book of Isaiah. In the Book of Matthew, the same phrase appears as part of the same passage, albeit truncated and distorted so as to seem prophetic. Paine therefore uses the phrase in sarcastic exasperation over what he regards as the fraud of Christianity, perpetrated on the credulous masses who knew no better until the late 18th century. This sentence also highlights Paine’s broader tendency to hail the American Revolution, in which he played a critical role, as the dawn of an enlightened era. In this context, it is worth noting that the overwhelming majority of Americans in the early 19th century (when Part 3 was published) would have agreed with Paine’s assessment of government, but that same overwhelming majority—at least among those who fueled the Second Great Awakening—rejected Paine’s critique of revealed religion.

“Poor ass! Let it be some consolation amidst all thy sufferings, that if the heathen world erected a bear into a constellation, the Christian world has elevated thee into a prophecy.”

Here Paine makes light of a claim in the Book of Matthew that Jesus’s entrance into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey had been foretold in the Old Testament’s Book of Zechariah. This line illustrates the irreverent tone that characterizes nearly all of Paine’s writings, as does the subsequent accusation that Christian writers have “perverted and distorted” original Jewish meanings: “Even the poor ass must not be a Jew-ass but a Christian-ass. I wonder they did not make an apostle of him, or a bishop, or at least make him speak and prophecy” (194).

“For my own part, I do not believe there is one word of historical truth in the whole book.”

The “whole book” refers specifically to the Book of Matthew, which Paine finds filled with more false claims of prophecy than the other three books of the Gospels combined. In a larger sense, the “whole book” also might refer to the Gospels as a whole or even the entire New Testament, for later in Part 3 Paine expresses doubt that Jesus Christ ever lived in the first place. The “whole book” likely does not include the Old Testament, for Paine uses that book’s historical narratives to establish chronology and evaluate authenticity.

“HE THAT BELIEVES IN THE STORY OF CHRIST IS AN INFIDEL TO GOD.”

This is the final sentence of Part 3, Section 4, where it also appears entirely in capital letters. It is Paine’s most adamant statement of opposition to the New Testament. Much like Christianity, which seeks the salvation of souls and which Paine professes to detest, this emphatic declaration has a proselytizing purpose, for it attempts to draw readers away from revealed religion and toward Deism.