A comparison of the French and English versions, sentence by
sentence, proved to me that the translation sent by Lanthenas to
Merlin de Thionville in 1794 is the same as that he sent to Couthon
in 1793. This discovery was the means of recovering several
interesting sentences of the original work. I have given as footnotes
translations of such clauses and phrases of the French work as
appeared to be important. Those familiar with the translations of
Lanthenas need not be reminded that he was too much of a literalist
to depart from the manuscript before him, and indeed he did not even
venture to alter it in an instance (presently considered) where it
was obviously needed. Nor would Lanthenas have omitted any of the
paragraphs lacking in his translation. This original work was divided
into seventeen chapters, and these I have restored, translating their
headings into English. The "Age of Reason" is thus for the first time
given to the world with nearly its original completeness.

It should be remembered that Paine could not have read the proof of
his "Age of Reason" (Part I.) which went through the press while he
was in prison. To this must be ascribed the permanence of some
sentences as abbreviated in the haste he has described. A notable
instance is the dropping out of his estimate of Jesus the words
rendered by Lanthenas "trop peu imite, trop oublie, trop meconnu."
The addition of these words to Paine's tribute makes it the more
notable that almost the only recognition of the human character and
life of Jesus by any theological writer of that generation came from
one long branded as an infidel.

To the inability of the prisoner to give his work any revision must
be attributed the preservation in it of the singular error already
alluded to, as one that Lanthenas, but for his extreme fidelity,