Your fifth letter begins with stating the importance of the concession of Thomas Paine, that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are genuine. You triumph, and think it a silent acknowledgment of the reality of the prophecies mentioned in those books. Stop, my Lord, your _alma-mater_ surely has not taught you to draw such conclusions. In a genuine book there may be contained incredible events, as in Tacitus, Suetonius, and almost all existent histories. It is your duty to prove that the prophecies there related are not among those popular stories which are apt to gain general credit, whether they are or are not forgeries written after the events. Before we know when Jeremiah wrote, and what is the meaning of the writings under his name, no man is warranted to triumph at the testimony of the Jews after the captivity; since it is a point, in which all parties agree; that their canon and books were compiled at that period, and nobody ever questioned the credulity of the Jews. You proceed to state your notions of the history of the Old Testament; it is all a matter of opinion; and, as you do not support it by any proofs, we must still continue to regard the contradictions and impostures contained in the Old Testament as proofs of its having been the work of ignorant fanatics. I pass over your effusions: that metaphysical disquisitions teach us the limits of our faculties, I strenuously maintain; and if you mean nothing else, we are agreed. That our notions of time and place are not the bugbears which the scholastics would persuade us, is to me unquestionable; that both in science and religion we affix no ideas to many words, I grant; that certainty in philosophical disquisitions is not easily found, I also allow; but, that a man tired with the arduous task of reasoning, of discerning between truth and falsehood, should seek in polemics or superstition a consolation for his ignorance, I consider as a proof of the impaired state of his faculties; he is like the thirsty traveller, who, burnt by the scorching sun, seeks to relieve his distress by drinking of the first water he meets, without regarding its purity. Your acknowledgment that it is possible even for a Bishop to err in matters of religion, gives me real pleasure. To consider our creed as a matter that admits of doubt, is a great step in the road of truth. You say, "May God forgive him that is in an error." Your wish is humane; but, if God be the Creator of mankind, he cannot be offended at the conclusions we may draw, after having employed the faculties he has given us. I wish too that mankind should forgive them that are in an error; but, I hope, they will recollect the long sway of superstition, and its danger to mankind; may they decide in favour of that system which is conformable to reason, and has the greatest tendency to improve society!