C. And did not you doubt me, Thomas? When I spoke, and when you saw me, you said, “It is not possible.” Though you saw my hand, and the ring on my finger, you would not admit my presence. Then you said, “I doubt my sight.”
T. And will he, a believer in spirits, do the same?
C. He will not deny spirits, neither will he admit what he sees.
T. Why?
C. He will say, as you said, “I doubt my sight.”
T. But will a believer in revelation doubt, as I doubted?
C. A believer in revelation doubts, and will doubt, his sight as soon as an unbeliever. Both cavil with the only rule which nature has given them to determine the existence of things, and their relation to each other.
T. Who, then, are believers?
C. “Hath not God concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all?” All are unbelievers. The minister does not believe that you and I are present, and hear his speech. He does not believe what we know, that his belief is unbelief of the truth in many things: so is his unbelief a denial of the truth in other things.
The minister concluded his service, and my body was deposited in the grave. I waited to hear the benediction: “Dust unto dust is the law of nature; but the spirit must appear before the bar of God to receive the penalty of violated law,” he said, in mournful solemnity. The circle departed, saying, “he was more charitable than was to be expected. Paine was an infidel, and what could he do less than speak what he believed. He was satisfied that the deceased had no eternal life abiding in him, and it was his duty to warn his neighbors of their danger.”