During this period, scarcely a day elapsed, in which they did not meet, and turn their attention to the principles of the "Age of Reason," which the Author controverted, and the young gentleman defended. In this controversy, no undue advantage was taken, on either side. An inadvertent expression each was at liberty to recall; and the ground was abandoned, when it was fairly found to be no longer tenable. The various arguments, to which these colloquial debates gave birth, were occasionally committed to writing, which, being collected together, and augmented with additional observations, now stand embodied in the little Treatise to which this account is prefixed.

The young gentleman, finding that the Author's attachment to Revelation was not to be shaken, recalled the " Age of Reason," under avowed suspicions, that the arguments it contained, were more vulnerable, than, when he lent it, he had been induced to believe. Shortly afterwards, these Remarks were published, as already stated; but, that the form in which they appeared might not create surmises,

calculated to excite unpleasant feelings, nothing of conversation or dialogue was retained. They were addressed immediately to the Author of the "Age. of Reason," then alive, in the same manner as they are now presented to the world.

The young gentleman, who is now in eternity, and, therefore, cannot be affected by this relation, continued, for some time, to waver in uncertainty. He had embraced infidelity; and he hesitated to abandon the object of his choice, though he candidly con fessed, he was unable either to defend its principles, or to avert the consequences to which they must Inevitably lead. In this state of fluctuation, his mind continued, for some time; his attachment growing less and less sanguine; until his suspicions were. transferred from the Bible to the "Age of Reason," and his confidence in Thomas Paine was happily exchanged, for a more pleasing confidence in the authenticity of Divine Revelation.

When this alteration in his views had taken place, he did not hesitate to acknowledge, that his design,

B

in lending the "Age of Reason" to the Author, was, under the hope, that he should be successful in proselyting him to the principles of infidelity; but that, being disappointed in his expectation, his mind became perplexed; and he soon found that his attempt had produced an effect exactly the reverse of what he had intended. Shortly afterwards, he was taken ill; and, after languishing for some months, in a decline, his mortal remains were carried to the "house appointed for all living." This change, and this conviction, which the Author believes accompanied him to his death, he attributed, almost exclusively, to the causes which have been assigned; which, awakening his mind to deliberate reflection, directed it to explore those distant issues and consequences, which infidelity does not instruct its rotaries or victims to survey.

It is a possible case, that many may, at this moment, be precisely in the situation of the above young gentleman, when he lent the "Age of Reason" to the Author. The pride of intellect finds gratification in deviating from the creed of the vulgar,

without adverting to those awful realities, which eternity only can unfold. Sanctioned by the professions, and fascinated with the conduct, of the sprightly, the daring, the profligate, and the gay, it is much to be feared, that multitudes renounce Revelation, and embrace infidelity, without fairly examining the principles of either. In the former, they had nothing, but a nominal assent, to lose; and the latter they embrace, rather to ensure a fashionable countenance, than from any sincere conviction that they are acting a rational part.

Independently of the additions which have been made, in this edition, on some occasions a change of words has been introduced, to render sentences more expressive, and to give distinctness and perspicuity to those ideas which were intended to be conveyed. In most other respects, the arguments remain in the same connexions in which they originally appeared, except where, on re-examination, more mature reflection has dictated the necessity of an alteration.

Of late, the poison of infidelity has been so copiously administered, as to call for legislative interference; and, to prevent its baneful effects,

every antidote is necessary. Should the republication of this little volume, produce in any one, an effect, similar to that which has been mentioned, the Author will rejoice to find that it has not been reprinted in vain.

February, 1820,