ABSTRACT

Thomas Paine seems to have become involved with the theophilanthropists about the same time as Revelliere-Lepeaux. Revelliere-Lepeaux, who claimed credit for the coup, felt strong enough to give open backing to the theophilanthropists, who obtained several former churches, including Notre Dame, for their services. ‘The principles of the Theophilanthropists’ ‘are the same as those published in the first part of “the Age of Reason” in 1793 and in the second part in 1795’. The connection between Paine’s support for the coup which brought Revelliere-Lepeaux to power, and with him the establishment of theophilanthropy, was to be driven home by James Gillray in his print ‘New Morality’. This imagines Revelliere-Lepeaux inaugurating the cult in England in a ceremony held in Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Paine’s paranoia that the foreign policy of the John Adams administration was heading for war with France was thus out of step with events.