The Age of Reason. Part the Second. Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology
Contributions
- Thomas Paine
- author
- Daniel Isaac Eaton
- publisher
Related resources
- has translation
- Siècle de la Raison, seconde partie, ou Recherches et réflexions sur la théologie vraie et fabuleuse. Traduit de l'anglais de Thomas Payne translation has paratext
Held by
Notes
The second part of Paine's controversial work on deism had a chequered publishing history. It first appeared in French in 1795, published by John Hurford Stone's English Press. However, the MS was copied by, "The printer (an Englishman) whom I employed here to print the second part… which he sent to London and sold" [see letter from Paine to Col John Fellows, 20 Jan 1797].
The printer Stone sold it to was H.D. Symonds, whose pirated version, riddled with errors, appeared around November 1795, and was rapidly superseded by Eaton's official version, which appeared in January 1796. Paine asked him to publish it as a cheap two-part edition, priced at one shilling and sixpence, and it soon became a bestseller. As a result, the evangelical Society for the Suppression of Vice, with government support, launched a series of 'private' prosecutions against booksellers, such as Thomas Williams, thereby forcing it underground.
In his preface, Paine included an account of the oppressive circumstances in which Part one had been written, with an account of his arrest and imprisonment under Robespierre during 1794. He quoted Robespierre's response to the publication of Part One, “I demand that a decree of accusation be passed against Thomas Paine, for the interests of America & France as well”.
Apart from its attack on organized religion as disempowering, Paine also argued that the Bible was not the word of God and criticized the Christian doctrine of revelation as mere storytelling. Disputes over its sale amongst London Corresponding Society affiliated booksellers led to a split within its ranks, forcing out its more evangelical members who refused to stock it. After his "Rights of Man. Part the Second', it was probably the work that caused Paine the most problems, especially following his move to the United States.