this prosecution was not instituted for the purposes of persecution; but, Gentlemen, I hope to make it clear to you, that it is for persecuting purposes the prosecution is instituted for the purpose of persecution on a mere difference of opinion. Gentlemen, the Attorney-General has told you, that Christianity did not stand in need of the assistance of the secular arm. And, if Christianity does not stand in need of his interference, is it not gross presumption in him to come into this Court to protect it! If he believes it to be of divine origin, is it not extremely presumptuous in him to defend it? This conduct, Gentlemen, furnishes a strong proof that the present Attorney-General, like many of the law officers of the crown before him, feels it necessary to hold up the terrors of prosecution against free enquiry on this most important of all subjects. Gentlemen, the Attorney-General has stated to you, that it is an offence against the common law of the land to revile Christianity. Gentlemen, what is Christianity? The articles of the Christian church expressly státe, that the Christian God is composed of three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the doctrine of the Trinity is the first, the most essential, and the most indispensible doctrine of Christians; yet those who do not believe in that doctrine, those who have openly disavowed it, those who have, in the words of the Attorney-General, reviled this religion have not only not been punished, but are protected by the statute law of the land. Gentlemen, the AttorneyGeneral has told you, that my trial has been delayed, and he has put the causes of this delay on my shoulders: but he is not justifiable in doing so. Why was not this trial brought on after the Easter sittings? It might have been brought on then with as little inconvenience as now; it is true, that other causes were fixed for trial before it, but it is equally true that it is now put out of its order, and takes precedence of one hundred previous causes; it might have been brought before you, Gentlemen, at all events, in the beginning of last June. But the Attorney-General has said, that I took advantage of the forms of law, and that I traversed. I did, Gentlemen, traverse for one short term, by which, the hearing of the case was postponed from January to April, but the Crown has ever since lain by. Gentlemen of the Jury, the AttorneyGeneral has confidently called for your verdict of guilty, because he says, it is manifest I have offended God. If this were the mere charge against me-if he could only hope to snatch a verdict of guilty, by saying to impartial men that in the publication of this work I have offended my God, I should

have nothing to fear-I could not doubt of the protecting verdict of honest men. How can he prove-why should he say, that in this act I have offended my God? why should he thus presumptuously come between me and my Creator? He cannot, in this instance, make guilt apparent-for here guilt exists in the mind alone, and that mind tells me that I have not given offence to God, by giving publicity to what I consider a moral and a useful work, by extending the field of fair enquiry, into which every man might enter. Gentlemen, the Attorney-General again told you, that by the obligation of your oath you were bound to find me guilty. What is this but to shut up the avenues of justice, and to confound my defence? This, Gentlemen, is not candid. He also said that he did not mean to excite prejudice against me; but what was his address but an endeavour, from beginning to end, to stir latent prejudices, which must necessarily, if excited, militate against my defence? Gentlemen, I shall, I trust, be able to shew you, that there is not one immoral expression in the entire of this publication, unless they are quotations from that book which it labours to refute. Here, Gentlemen, are twelve copies of the publication, which, if it be your wish, I shall send up to your box. You will read it with candour, and I have not a doubt, that when every word it contains is freely and fairly considered, ample justice will be done.

I wish every word I state to be deliberately examined, I do nothing under-hand, I wish every thing to be open, and for this purpose have copies of the Age of Reason ready to hand up to you. My Lord (addressing the Bench) I presume there can be no objection to my doing so?

Chief Justice. The copy produced in evidence will be laid before the Jury if they desire it.

Mr. Carlile.-I can gain nothing, my Lord, by placing improper books in the hands of the Jury. I wish each of the Jury to have one, in order that they may be thoroughly acquainted with the nature of the work.

Chief Justice.-I have no desire to prevent your proceeding in that line which you may think best calculated for your defence.

Mr. Carlile.-I wish, my Lord, that each Juror should be satisfied.

Chief Juctice.-So do I. But I cannot allow books to be thus put in without consent. The publication proved in evidence shall be sent to the Jury. I must not suffer any thing to be done here on this occasion, which may hereafter

be drawn into a dangerous or improper precedent. I am willing to allow you any thing which I can legally allow you for the purpose of assisting your defence, but nothing beyond that.

Mr. Carlile.--Then, my Lord, I understand you to give me leave to hand a few copies to the Jury. They are exactly the same as that proved in evidence.

Chief Justice.-Yes, if the Jury wish it; but it is an irregular thing.

Mr. Carlile.-My Lord, the whole charge against me is founded on a difference of opinion, and I wish the Jury to examine deliberately with me, as they go along.

Chief Justice.-Nothing can properly be submitted to the Jury in this way, without their particular desire. It would not be correct so to do. As, however, that may be allowed, they can be so allowed only at the desire of the parties.

(The Jury hesitated to have the work, though some copies of it were ready to be handed up to them.)

Mr. Carlile.-Gentlemen, the book which I now hold in my hand, and which forms the subject of this prosecution, is entitled, "The Theological Works of Thomas Paine.' have already stated my motives for publishing it, which were of the best and purest description, namely to promote morality and free discussion on every subject. In a short preface to the work, I have stated my reasons for its publication, and I shall read it, in order that they may not be mistaken.

"In presenting to the public the Theological Works of THOMAS PAINE, against which so senseless a clamour has hitherto been raised, the Publisher is actuated by but one simple motive, namely, an enquiry after truth. The very numerous enquiries for the AGE OF REASON Since the re-appearance of the Political Works, have been to the Publisher an irresistable inducement to bring forth the present edition. From the applications which have been made to him, he is completely convinced, that the minds of his fellow-citizens are fully and adequately prepared to discuss the merits and demerits of the system of religion which forms so prominent a feature in the establishments of the country. He fully anticipates the senseless and unmeaning charges of "impiety " and " blasphemy," that will be exhibited against him by the ignorant and the interested; by the bigot and the hypocrite: to these, however, he is perfectly indifferent, satisfied as he is that his object is to arrive at the truth, and to promote the interests of fair and honest discussion.

The publisher flatters himself that the present collection will

be republished from time to time, so as to defeat the hopes and wishes of those whose object it has been to suppress them. He confidently anticipates, that when free discussion on all subjects, whether political or theological, literary or scientific, shall be tolerated, that then, and then only, will the human mind, by progressive improvement, arrive at that state, which may be deservedly termed the AGE OF REASON."

Gentlemen, my only reason for publishing the works of Mr. Paine has been an anxious and sincere desire to promote the cause of truth and free discussion. I am convinced in my own mind, that they are calculated to improve morality by promoting inquiry; that they tend to exalt our notions of the Deity; and lead us to a belief of his excellence and love for man. These were my motives for republishing his works, and these are motives which produce a satisfaction. within me, that no prosecution, that no persecution, will be able to destroy. I consider the publication as essential to the interest and welfare of the country, and having acted under that impression, I stand acquitted of all the malicious intention imputed to me by my persecutors. Gentlemen, I now proceed to call your attention to the work, which, is divided into Three Parts, and is called " The Age of Reason, Part the First, being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, by Thomas Paine."-It commences thus;

"It has been my intention, for several years past to publish my thoughts upon religion; I am well aware of the difficulties that attend the subject, and from that consideration, had reserved it to a more advanced period of life. I intended it to be the last offering I should make to my fellow citizens of all nations, and that at a time when the purity of the motive that induced me to it, could not admit of a question, even by those who might disapprove the work.”

Gentlemen, Mr. Paine was nearly 60 years of age when he wrote the paragraph I have just read to you. He was then in France, it was at the period of the French revolution, when he could not be sure of his existence for a single day; and when, having written under such circumstances, he must certainly be entitled to the praise of sincerity, and of a thorough conviction of the rectitude of his intentions.

"The circumstance that has now taken place in France of the total abolition of the whole national order of priesthood, and of every thing appertaining to compulsive systems of religion, and compulsive articles of faith, has not only precipitated my intention, but rendered a work of this kind exceedingly necessary, lest, in the general wreck of superstition, or false systems of government, and false theology,

we lose sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that is

true.

"As several of my colleagues, and others of my fellow citizens of France, have given me the example of making their voluntary and individual profession of faith, I also will make mine; and I do this with all that sincerity and frankness with which the mind of man communicates with itself."

Gentlemen, the author now proceeds to give you his creed, a creed that must completely refute all the loose and indecent charges which have been so often made against the character of Mr. Paine. This is his creed :

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

"I believe the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavouring to make our fellow creatures happy.

"Butlest it should be supposed that I believe many other things in addition to these, I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the things I do not believe, and my reasons for not believing them.

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.'

Gentlemen, my sentiments are in unison with those of Mr. Paine, and I have honesty and boldness enough, even in times like the present, to declare they are so.

"I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happines of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe.

"It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has produced in society. When a man has so far corrupted and prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the commission of every other crime. He takes up the trade of a priest for the sake of gain, and, in order to qualify himself for that trade, he begins with a perjury. Can we conceive any thing more destructive to morality than this?

"Soon after I had published the pamphlet," COMMON SENSE," in America, I saw the exceeding probability that a revolution in the system of government would be followed by a revolution in the system