And every man a scribe by trade:

To write the love, of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the whole upon a scroll,

Be spread from sky to sky.”

It seems that your mind is of such “a mathematical, and philosophical a cast, that the divinity of Moses makes no impression upon you; and that I will not be offended when you say, that you rate me higher, as a Legislator, than you do Moses, because you have me present with you for examination;” <​that​> a Moses derives his chief authority from prescription and the lapse of time: you can not however say, but we are both right: it being out of the power of man to prove us wrong. It is no mathmatical problem, and can therefore get no mathematical solution.”

Now, Sir, to cut the matter short, and not da[l]ly with your learned ideas, for fashion’s sake, you have here given your opinion, without reserve, that revelation, the knowledge of God, prophetic visions, the truth of eternity can not be solved as a mathematical problem. The first question, then, is:— what is a mathematical problem? And the natural answer is, a statement, proposition, or question, that can be solved ascertained unfolded or demonstrated, by knowledge, facts, or figures: for “mathematical” is an adjective derived from [1 Greek word] (gr.) meaning in English, learning or knowledge: “Problem” is derived from probleme, French; or problema Latin, Italian and <​or​> Spanish, and in each language, means a question or proposition, whether true or false. “Solve” is derived from the Latin verb solvo, to explain or answer: one thing more, in order to prove the work as we proceed; it is necessary to have witnesses, two or three of whose testimonies, according to the laws or rules of God and man, are sufficient to establish any one point.

Now, two for the questions: How much are one and one? Two. How much is one from two? one. [p. 3[a]]