It is not because there is any thing contained in this paragraph repugnant to Christianity, or even false in science, that I stop to comment upon it. If Mr. Paine had not founded "the simple profession of Deism, on the structure of the universe, as exhibited to the eye,” I should have passed by it without a reflection. But when this "exhibition to the eye" demands the interposition of the telescope, and the telescope was not discovered till the world was at least six thousand years old, what becomes of "the true theology?" What of" the simple profession of Deism?" What of the volume of the starry heavens which "man is invited to imitate?" Or is this another "canonical book of Deism?" And had all the world before the invention of the Telescope, been living in ignorance of the truths, which the discovery of the various satellites confers? truths upon which depend the morality and religion of mankind! These are the absurdities of Mr. Paine-these the sublime inconsistencies of Deism.

"The sun is the center round which those six worlds or planets revolve at different distances therefrom, and in circles concentric to each other. Each world keeps constantly in nearly the same tract round itself, in nearly an upright position, as a top turns round itself when it is spinning on the ground, and leans a little sideways.

It is the leaning of the earth (23 degrees) that occasions summer and winter, and the different lengths of days and nights. If the earth turned round itself in a position perpendicular to the plane or level of the circle it moves in around the sun, as a top turns round when it stands erect on the ground, the days and nights would be always of the same length, twelve hours day and twelve hours night, and the seasons would be uniformly the same throughout the year.

Every time that a planet (our earth for example) turns round itself, it makes what we call day and night, and every time it goes entirely round the sun, it makes what we call a year: consequently, our world turns three hundred and sixty five times round itself in going once round the sun.”

In these paragraphs Mr. Paine has betrayed, not only an

ignorance of the language of science, but of science itself. The planets do not revolve round the sun in circular, but in elliptical orbits. This was as easy to tell as error, and, therefore, has no excuse when he was professing, to declare the truth.

The last paragraph exhibits a specimen of that logick, with which Mr. Paine attacks Religion. The "consequently" does not follow from the premises. Because the "turning round itself (better revolving on its axis) of our earth, makes what we call a day and night, and going round the sun makes what we call a year:" it does not follow "consequently," that our world turns three hundred and sixty-five times round itself in going once round the sun." It is a truth derived from observation, and not from reasoning; in the same manner as the existence of our blessed Saviour, the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, are not questions of reasoning, but matters of fact.

"The names that the ancients gave to those six worlds, and which are still called by the same names, are, Mercury, Venus, the world that we call ours, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. They appear larger to the eye than the stars, being many millions of miles nearer to our earth than any of the stars are. The planet Venus is that which we eall the Evening star, and sometimes the Morning star, as she happens to set after, or rise before, the sun, which, in either case, is never more than three hours."

The sun, as before said, being the center, the planet, or world nearest the sun, is Mercury; his distance from the sun is thirty-four million. miles, and he moves round in a circle always at that distance from the sun, as a top may be supposed to spin round in the track in which a horse goes in a mill. The second world is Venus; she is fifty-seven million miles distant from the sun, and, consequently, moves round in a circle much greater than that of Mercury. The third world is that which we inhabit, and which is eighty-eight million miles distant from the sun, and, consequently, moves round in a circle greater than that of Venus. The fourth world is Mars; he is distant from the sun one hundred and thirtyfour million miles, and, consequently, moves round in a circle [greater than that of our earth. The fifth is Jupiter; he is distant from the sun five

hundred and fifty-seven million miles, and, consequently, moves round in a cirele greater than that of Mars. The sixth world is Saturn; he is distant from the sun seven hundred and sixty-three million miles, and, consequently, moves round in a circle that surrounds the circles and orbits of all the other worlds or planets.

"The space, therefore, in the air, or in the immensity of space that our solar system takes up for the several worlds to perform their revolutions in round the sun, is of the extent in a straight line of the whole diameter of the orbit or circle, in which Saturn moves round the sun, which being double his distance from the sun, is fifteen hundred and twenty six millions of miles, and its circular extent, is nearly five thousand million, and its globical content, is almost three thousand five hundred million times, three thousand five hundred million square miles.

In the first of these paragraphs we discover an error of the same kind with that into which Mr. Paine fell concerning the Jewish Prophets. Because he found a single line of poetry, among many thousand lines of prose; no, he did not find even that line, as he has quoted it—he inferred, that the Author of the whole book was a Poet, and his compositions, Poetry. So, here, because he knew that Jupiter and Venus appeared larger to our eyes than the fixed stars, he inferred, that all the planets did so too; whereas some are smaller than the fixed stars; and some are almost invisible to the naked eye; and all the satellites or moons that attend them, quite so.

"If it should be asked how man can know these things? I have one plain answer to give, which is, that man knows how to calculate an eclipse, and also how to calculate to a minute of time when the planet Venus, in making her revolutions round the sun, will come in a strait line between our earth and the sun, and will appear to us about the size of a large pea passing across the surface of the sun. This happens but twice in an hundred years, at the distance of about eight years from each other, and has happened twice in our time, both of which were foreknown by calculation. It can also be known when they will happen again, for a thousand years to come, or to any other portion of time. As therefore,

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man could not be able to do these things, if he did not understand the solar system, and the manner in which the revolutions of the several planets or worlds are performed, the fact of calculating an eclipse, or a transit of Venus, is a proof in point, that the knowledge exists; and as to a few thousands, or a few million miles, more or less, it makes scarcely any difference, in such immense distances.

Mr. Paine's answer to the question, "how man can know these things," (meaning the distances of the planets from the sun) betrays a gross ignorance not only of the science of astronomy, but also of the history of it. Thales, is said to have "calculated an eclipse" and he, assuredly, knew nothing of those distances; so that "the fact of calculating an eclipse is no proof that the knowledge (still meaning the distances of the planets from the sun) exists." And Mr. Paine, who declares, that the "true Theology" consists in an acquaintance with the structure of the universe, should have explained to us, why that structure was so obscurely revealed, that many ages past away before mankind acquired the slightest knowledge of it; and, consequently, according to his own doctrine, before they acquired any knowledge of the "true theology." Had he lived to the present hour, the volume of his Religion must have gone into a new and more correct edition, for the structure of the solar system, or the distances of the planets from the sun, &c. are better understood now, than they were in his time; notwithstanding what he says about that," word of God," publishing itself from one end of the earth to the other; and that it cannot be altered." Such are the absurdities into which man falls when he ventures to speculate on subjects with which he has but a superficial acquaintance!

I make no objection to the numerical statements of the distances of the planets from the Sun, they being such as were received in the time of Mr. Paine.*

"By this easy progression of ideas, the immensity of space will appear to be filled with systems of worlds; and that no part of space lies at waste, any more than part of the globe of earth and water is left unoccupied.