{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-1:thomas-paine",
  "slug": "thomas-paine",
  "title": "Thomas Paine",
  "subtitle": "With His Name Left Out, the History of Liberty Cannot be Written",
  "excerpt": "The lecture that restored Thomas Paine to the pantheon of American founders — a rehabilitation of the man whose name had been erased by decades of pious slander.",
  "year": 1870,
  "volume": 1,
  "category": "Lecture",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/thomas-paine/",
  "wordCount": 8742,
  "body": "TO speak the praises of the brave and thoughtful dead, is to me a labor\nof gratitude and love.\n\nThrough all the centuries gone, the mind of man has been beleaguered by\nthe mailed hosts of superstition. Slowly and painfully has advanced the\narmy of deliverance. Hated by those they wished to rescue, despised\nby those they were dying to save, these grand soldiers, these immortal\ndeliverers, have fought without thanks, labored without applause,\nsuffered without pity, and they have died execrated and abhorred. For\nthe good of mankind they accepted isolation, poverty, and calumny. They\ngave up all, sacrificed all, lost all but truth and self-respect.\n\nOne of the bravest soldiers in this army was Thomas Paine; and for one,\nI feel indebted to him for the liberty we are enjoying this day. Born\namong the poor, where children are burdens; in a country where real\nliberty was unknown; where the privileges of class were guarded with\ninfinite jealousy, and the rights of the individual trampled beneath the\nfeet of priests and nobles; where to advocate justice was treason; where\nintellectual freedom was Infidelity, it is wonderful that the idea of\ntrue liberty ever entered his brain. .\n\nPoverty was his mother—Necessity his master.\n\nHe had more brains than books; more sense than education; more courage\nthan politeness; more strength than polish. He had no veneration for\nold mistakes—no admiration for ancient lies. He loved the truth for\nthe truth's sake, and for man's sake. He saw oppression on every hand;\ninjustice everywhere; hypocrisy at the altar, venality on the bench,\ntyranny on the throne; and with a splendid courage he espoused the cause\nof the weak against the strong—of the enslaved many against the titled\nfew.\n\nIn England he was nothing. He belonged to the lower classes. There was\nno avenue open for him. The people hugged their chains, and the whole\npower of the government was ready to crush any man who endeavored to\nstrike a blow for the right.\n\nAt the age of thirty-seven, Thomas Paine left England for America,\nwith the high hope of being instrumental in the establishment of a free\ngovernment. In his own country he could accomplish nothing. Those two\nvultures—Church and State—were ready to tear in pieces and devour the\nheart of any one who might deny their divine right to enslave the world.\n\nUpon his arrival in this country, he found himself possessed of a letter\nof introduction, signed by another Infidel, the illustrious Franklin.\nThis, and his native genius, constituted his entire capital; and he\nneeded no more. He found the colonies clamoring for justice; whining\nabout their grievances; upon their knees at the foot of the throne,\nimploring that mixture of idiocy and insanity, George the III., by the\ngrace of God, for a restoration of their ancient privileges. They were\nnot endeavoring to become free men, but were trying to soften the heart\nof their master. They were perfectly willing to make brick if Pharaoh\nwould furnish the straw. The colonists wished for, hoped for, and prayed\nfor reconciliation They did not dream of independence.\n\nPaine gave to the world his \"Common Sense.\" It was the first argument\nfor separation, the first assault upon the British form of government,\nthe first blow for a republic, and it aroused our fathers like a\ntrumpet's blast.\n\nHe was the first to perceive the destiny of the New World.\n\nNo other pamphlet ever accomplished such wonderful results. It was\nfilled with argument, reason, persuasion, and unanswerable logic. It\nopened a new world. It filled the present with hope and the future\nwith honor. Everywhere the people responded, and in a few months the\nContinental Congress declared the colonies free and independent States.\n\nA new nation was born.\n\nIt is simple justice to say that Paine did more to cause the Declaration\nof Independence than any other man. Neither should it be forgotten that\nhis attacks upon Great Britain were also attacks upon monarchy; and\nwhile he convinced the people that the colonies ought to separate from\nthe mother country, he also proved to them that a free government is the\nbest that can be instituted among men.\n\nIn my judgment, Thomas Paine was the best political writer that ever\nlived. \"What he wrote was pure nature, and his soul and his pen ever\nwent together.\" Ceremony, pageantry, and all the paraphernalia of\npower, had no effect upon him. He examined into the why and wherefore of\nthings. He was perfectly radical in his mode of thought. Nothing short\nof the bed-rock satisfied him. His enthusiasm for what he believed to\nbe right knew no bounds. During all the dark scenes of the Revolution,\nnever for one moment did he despair. Year after year his brave words\nwere ringing through the land, and by the bivouac fires the weary\nsoldiers read the inspiring words of \"Common Sense,\" filled with ideas\nsharper than their swords, and consecrated themselves anew to the cause\nof Freedom.\n\nPaine was not content with having aroused the spirit of independence,\nbut he gave every energy of his soul to keep that spirit alive. He was\nwith the army. He shared its defeats, its dangers, and its glory. When\nthe situation became desperate, when gloom settled upon all, he gave\nthem the \"Crisis.\" It was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night,\nleading the way to freedom, honor, and glory. He shouted to them, \"These\nare the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier, and the sunshine\npatriot, will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country;\nbut he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and\nwoman.\"\n\nTo those who wished to put the war off to some future day, with a lofty\nand touching spirit of self-sacrifice he said: \"Every generous parent\nshould say, 'If there must be war let it be in my day, that my child\nmay have peace.'\" To the cry that Americans were rebels, he replied: \"He\nthat rebels against reason is a real rebel; but he that in defence of\nreason rebels against tyranny, has a better title to 'Defender of the\nFaith' than George the Third.\"\n\nSome said it was not to the interest of the colonies to be free. Paine\nanswered this by saying, \"To know whether it be the interest of\nthe continent to be independent, we need ask only this simple, easy\nquestion: 'Is it the interest of a man to be a boy all his life?'\" He\nfound many who would listen to nothing, and to them he said, \"That to\nargue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine\nto the dead.\" This sentiment ought to adorn the walls of every orthodox\nchurch.\n\nThere is a world of political wisdom in this: \"England lost her liberty\nin a long chain of right reasoning from wrong principles\"; and there\nis real discrimination in saying, \"The Greeks and Romans were strongly\npossessed of the spirit of liberty, but not the principles, for at\nthe time that they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they\nemployed their power to enslave the rest of mankind.\"\n\nIn his letter to the British people, in which he tried to convince them\nthat war was not to their interest, occurs the following passage brimful\nof common sense: \"War never can be the interest of a trading nation any\nmore than quarreling can be profitable to a man in business. But to\nmake war with those who trade with us is like setting a bull-dog upon a\ncustomer at the shop-door.\"\n\nThe writings of Paine fairly glitter with simple, compact, logical\nstatements, that carry conviction to the dullest and most prejudiced. He\nhad the happiest possible way of putting the case; in asking questions\nin such a way that they answer themselves, and in stating his premises\nso clearly that the deduction could not be avoided.\n\nDay and night he labored for America; month after month, year after\nyear, he gave himself to the Great Cause, until there was \"a government\nof the people and for the people,\" and until the banner of the stars\nfloated over a continent redeemed, and consecrated to the happiness of\nmankind.\n\nAt the close of the Revolution, no one stood higher in America than\nThomas Paine. The best, the wisest, the most patriotic, were his friends\nand admirers; and had he been thinking only of his own good he might\nhave rested from his toils and spent the remainder of his life in\ncomfort and in ease. He could have been what the world is pleased to\ncall \"respectable.\" He could have died surrounded by clergymen, warriors\nand statesmen. At his death there would have been an imposing funeral,\nmiles of carriages, civic societies, salvos of artillery, a nation in\nmourning, and, above all, a splendid monument covered with lies.\n\nHe chose rather to benefit mankind.\n\nAt that time the seeds sown by the great Infidels were beginning to bear\nfruit in France. The people were beginning to think.\n\nThe Eighteenth Century was crowning its gray hairs with the wreath of\nProgress.\n\nOn every hand Science was bearing testimony against the Church. Voltaire\nhad filled Europe with light; D'Holbach was giving to the élite\nof Paris the principles contained in his \"System of Nature.\" The\nEncyclopedists had attacked superstition with information for the\nmasses. The foundation of things began to be examined. A few had the\ncourage to keep their shoes on and let the bush burn. Miracles began to\nget scarce. Everywhere the people began to inquire. America had set an\nexample to the world. The word Liberty was in the mouths of men, and\nthey began to wipe the dust from their knees.\n\nThe dawn of a new day had appeared.\n\nThomas Paine went to France. Into the new movement he threw all his\nenergies. His fame had gone before him, and he was welcomed as a friend\nof the human race, and as a champion of free government.\n\nHe had never relinquished his intention of pointing out to his\ncountrymen the defects, absurdities and abuses of the English government\nFor this purpose he composed and published his greatest political work,\n\"The Rights of Man.\" This work should be read by every man and woman.\nIt is concise, accurate, natural, convincing, and unanswerable. It shows\ngreat thought; an intimate knowledge of the various forms of government;\ndeep insight into the very springs of human action, and a courage that\ncompels respect and admiration. The most difficult political problems\nare solved in a few sentences. The venerable arguments in favor of\nwrong are refuted with a question—answered with a word. For forcible\nillustration, apt comparison, accuracy and clearness of statement, and\nabsolute thoroughness, it has never been excelled.\n\nThe fears of the administration were aroused, and Paine was prosecuted\nfor libel and found guilty; and yet there is not a sentiment in the\nentire work that will not challenge the admiration of every civilized\nman. It is a magazine of political wisdom, an arsenal of ideas, and an\nhonor, not only to Thomas Paine, but to human nature itself. It could\nhave been written only by the man who had the generosity, the exalted\npatriotism, the goodness to say, \"The world is my country, and to do\ngood my religion.\"\n\nThere is in all the utterances of the world no grander, no sublimer\nsentiment. There is no creed that can be compared with it for a moment.\nIt should be wrought in gold, adorned with jewels, and impressed\nupon every human heart: \"The world is my country, and to do good my\nreligion.\"\n\nIn 1792, Paine was elected by the department of Calais as their\nrepresentative in the National Assembly. So great was his popularity in\nFrance that he was selected about the same time by the people of no less\nthan four departments.\n\nUpon taking his place in the Assembly he was appointed as one of a\ncommittee to draft a constitution for France. Had the French people\ntaken the advice of Thomas Paine there would have been no \"reign of\nterror.\" The streets of Paris would not have been filled with blood The\nRevolution would have been the grandest success of the world. The truth\nis that Paine was too conservative to suit the leaders of the French\nRevolution. They, to a great extent, were carried away by hatred, and\na desire to destroy. They had suffered so long, they had borne so much,\nthat it was impossible for them to be moderate in the hour of victory.\n\nBesides all this, the French people had been so robbed by the\ngovernment, so degraded by the church, that they were not fit material\nwith which to construct a republic. Many of the leaders longed to\nestablish a beneficent and just government, but the people asked for\nrevenge.\n\nPaine was filled with a real love for mankind. His philanthropy was\nboundless. He wished to destroy monarchy—not the monarch. He voted for\nthe destruction of tyranny, and against the death of the king. He wished\nto establish a government on a new basis; one that would forget the\npast; one that would give privileges to none, and protection to all.\n\nIn the Assembly, where nearly all were demanding the execution of the\nking—where to differ from the majority was to be suspected, and, where\nto be suspected was almost certain death Thomas Paine had the courage,\nthe goodness and the justice to vote against death. To vote against\nthe execution of the king was a vote against his own life. This was\nthe sublimity of devotion to principle. For this he was arrested,\nimprisoned, and doomed to death.\n\nSearch the records of the world and you will find but few sublimer acts\nthan that of Thomas Paine voting against the kings death. He, the hater\nof despotism, the abhorrer of monarchy, the champion of the rights\nof man, the republican, accepting death to save the life of a deposed\ntyrant—of a throneless king. This was the last grand act of his\npolitical life—the sublime conclusion of his political career.\n\nAll his life he had been the disinterested friend of man. He had\nlabored—not for money, not for fame, but for the general good. He had\naspired to no office; had asked no recognition of his services, but had\never been content to labor as a common soldier in the army of Progress.\nConfining his efforts to no country, looking upon the world as his field\nof action, filled with a genuine love for the right, he found himself\nimprisoned by the very people he had striven to save.\n\nHad his enemies succeeded in bringing him to the block, he would have\nescaped the calumnies and the hatred of the Christian world. In this\ncountry, at least, he would have ranked with the proudest names. On the\nanniversary of the Declaration his name would have been upon the lips of\nall the orators, and his memory in the hearts of all the people.\n\nThomas Paine had not finished his career.\n\nHe had spent his life thus far in destroying the power of kings, and\nnow he turned his attention to the priests. He knew that every abuse had\nbeen embalmed in Scripture—that every outrage was in partnership with\nsome holy text. He knew that the throne skulked behind the altar, and\nboth behind a pretended revelation from God. By this time he had found\nthat it was of little use to free the body and leave the mind in\nchains. He had explored the foundations of despotism, and had found them\ninfinitely rotten. He had dug under the throne, and it occurred to him\nthat he would take a look behind the altar.\n\nThe result of his investigations was given to the world in the \"Age of\nReason.\" From the moment of its publication he became infamous. He was\ncalumniated beyond measure. To slander him was to secure the thanks of\nthe church. All his services were instantly forgotten, disparaged or\ndenied. He was shunned as though he had been a pestilence. Most of his\nold friends forsook him. He was regarded as a moral plague, and at the\nbare mention of his name the bloody hands of the church were raised in\nhorror. He was denounced as the most despicable of men.\n\nNot content with following him to his grave, they pursued him after\ndeath with redoubled fury, and recounted with infinite gusto and\nsatisfaction the supposed horrors of his death-bed; gloried in the fact\nthat he was forlorn and friendless, and gloated like fiends over what\nthey supposed to be the agonizing remorse of his lonely death.\n\nIt is wonderful that all his services were thus forgotten. It is amazing\nthat one kind word did not fall from some pulpit; that some one did\nnot accord to him, at least—honesty. Strange, that in the general\ndenunciation some one did not remember his labor for liberty, his\ndevotion to principle, his zeal for the rights of his fellow-men. He\nhad, by brave and splendid effort, associated his name with the cause\nof Progress. He had made it impossible to write the history of political\nfreedom with his name left out He was one of the creators of light; one\nof the heralds of the dawn. He hated tyranny in the name of kings, and\nin the name of God, with every drop of his noble blood. He believed in\nliberty and justice, and in the sacred doctrine of human equality. Under\nthese divine banners he fought the battle of his life. In both worlds he\noffered his blood for the good of man. In the wilderness of America, in\nthe French Assembly, in the sombre cell waiting for death, he was the\nsame unflinching, unwavering friend of his race; the same undaunted\nchampion of universal freedom. And for this he has been hated; for this\nthe church has violated even his grave.\n\nThis is enough to make one believe that nothing is more natural than for\nmen to devour their benefactors. The people in all ages have crucified\nand glorified. Whoever lifts his voice against abuses, whoever arraigns\nthe past at the bar of the present, whoever asks the king to show his\ncommission, or questions the authority of the priest, will be denounced\nas the enemy of man and God. In all ages reason has been regarded as the\nenemy of religion. Nothing has been considered so pleasing to the Deity\nas a total denial of the authority of your own mind. Self-reliance has\nbeen thought a deadly sin; and the idea of living and dying without the\naid and consolation of superstition has always horrified the church. By\nsome unaccountable infatuation, belief has been and still is considered\nof immense importance. All religions have been based upon the idea that\nGod will forever reward the true believer, and eternally damn the man\nwho doubts or denies. Belief is regarded as the one essential thing. To\npractice justice, to love mercy, is not enough. You must believe in\nsome incomprehensible creed. You must say, \"Once one is three, and three\ntimes one is one.\" The man who practiced every virtue, but failed to\nbelieve, was execrated. Nothing so outrages the feelings of the church\nas a moral unbeliever—nothing so horrible as a charitable Atheist.\n\nWhen Paine was born, the world was religious, the pulpit was the real\nthrone, and the churches were making every effort to crush out of the\nbrain the idea that it had the right to think.\n\nThe splendid saying of Lord Bacon, that \"the inquiry of truth, which is\nthe love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the\npresence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it,\nare the sovereign good of human nature,\" has been, and ever will\nbe, rejected by religionists. Intellectual liberty, as a matter of\nnecessity, forever destroys the idea that belief is either praise\nor blame-worthy, and is wholly inconsistent with every creed in\nChristendom. Paine recognized this truth. He also saw that as long as\nthe Bible was considered inspired, this infamous doctrine of the virtue\nof belief would be believed and preached. He examined the Scriptures for\nhimself, and found them filled with cruelty, absurdity and immorality.\n\nHe again made up his mind to sacrifice himself for the good of his\nfellow-men.\n\nHe commenced with the assertion, \"That any system of religion that has\nanything in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system.\"\nWhat a beautiful, what a tender sentiment! No wonder the church began to\nhate him. He believed in one God, and no more. After this life he\nhoped for happiness. He believed that true religion consisted in doing\njustice, loving mercy, in endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures\nhappy, and in offering to God the fruit of the heart. He denied the\ninspiration of the Scriptures. This was his crime.\n\nHe contended that it is a contradiction in terms to call anything a\nrevelation that comes to us second-hand, either verbally or in writing.\nHe asserted that revelation is necessarily limited to the first\ncommunication, and that after that it is only an account of something\nwhich another person says was a revelation to him. We have only his word\nfor it, as it was never made to us. This argument never has been and\nprobably never will be answered. He denied the divine origin of Christ,\nand showed conclusively that the pretended prophecies of the Old\nTestament had no reference to him whatever; and yet he believed that\nChrist was a virtuous and amiable man; that the morality he taught and\npracticed was of the most benevolent and elevated character, and that\nit had not been exceeded by any. Upon this point he entertained the\nsame sentiments now held by the Unitarians, and in fact by all the most\nenlightened Christians.\n\nIn his time the church believed and taught that every word in the Bible\nwas absolutely true. Since his day it has been proven false in its\ncosmogony, false in its astronomy, false in its chronology, false in its\nhistory, and so far as the Old Testament is concerned, false in almost\neverything. There are but few, if any, scientific men who apprehend that\nthe Bible is literally true. Who on earth at this day would pretend to\nsettle any scientific question by a text from the Bible? The old belief\nis confined to the ignorant and zealous. The church itself will before\nlong be driven to occupy the position of Thomas Paine. The best minds of\nthe orthodox world, to-day, are endeavoring to prove the existence of\na personal Deity. All other questions occupy a minor place. You are no\nlonger asked to swallow the Bible whole, whale, Jonah and all; you are\nsimply required to believe in God, and pay your pew-rent. There is not\nnow an enlightened minister in the world who will seriously contend that\nSamson's strength was in his hair, or that the necromancers of Egypt\ncould turn water into blood, and pieces of wood into serpents. These\nfollies have passed away, and the only reason that the religious world\ncan now have for disliking Paine is that they have been forced to adopt\nso many of his opinions.\n\nPaine thought the barbarities of the Old Testament inconsistent with\nwhat he deemed the real character of God. He believed that murder,\nmassacre and indiscriminate slaughter had never been commanded by\nthe Deity. He regarded much of the Bible as childish, unimportant and\nfoolish The scientific world entertains the same opinion. Paine attacked\nthe Bible precisely in the same spirit in which he had attacked the\npretensions of kings. He used the same weapons. All the pomp in the\nworld could not make him cower. His reason knew no \"Holy of Holies,\"\nexcept the abode of Truth. The sciences were then in their infancy. The\nattention of the really learned had not been directed to an impartial\nexamination of our pretended revelation. It was accepted by most as\na matter of course. The church was all-powerful, and no one, unless\nthoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, thought for a\nmoment of disputing the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The\ninfamous doctrines that salvation depends upon belief—upon a mere\nintellectual conviction—was then believed and preached. To doubt was\nto secure the damnation of your soul. This absurd and devilish doctrine\nshocked the common sense of Thomas Paine, and he denounced it with\nthe fervor of honest indignation. This doctrine, although infinitely\nridiculous, has been nearly universal, and has been as hurtful as\nsenseless. For the overthrow of this infamous tenet, Paine exerted all\nhis strength. He left few arguments to be used by those who should come\nafter him, and he used none that have been refuted. The combined wisdom\nand genius of all mankind cannot possibly conceive of an argument\nagainst liberty of thought. Neither can they show why any one should\nbe punished, either in this world or another, for acting honestly in\naccordance with reason; and yet a doctrine with every possible argument\nagainst it has been, and still is, believed and defended by the entire\northodox world. Can it be possible that we have been endowed with reason\nsimply that our souls may be caught in its toils and snares, that we may\nbe led by its false and delusive glare out of the narrow path that leads\nto joy into the broad way of everlasting death? Is it possible that\nwe have been given reason simply that we may through faith ignore its\ndeductions, and avoid its conclusions? Ought the sailor to throw away\nhis compass and depend entirely upon the fog? If reason is not to be\ndepended upon in matters of religion, that is to say, in respect of our\nduties to the Deity, why should it be relied upon in matters respecting\nthe rights of our fellows? Why should we throw away the laws given to\nMoses by God himself and have the audacity to make some of our own? How\ndare we drown the thunders of Sinai by calling the ayes and noes in a\npetty legislature? If reason can determine what is merciful, what is\njust, the duties of man to man, what more do we want either in time or\neternity?\n\nDown, forever down, with any religion that requires upon its ignorant\naltar the sacrifice of the goddess Reason, that compels her to abdicate\nforever the shining throne of the soul, strips from her form the\nimperial purple, snatches from her hand the sceptre of thought and makes\nher the bond-woman of a senseless faith!\n\nIf a man should tell you that he had the most beautiful painting in the\nworld, and after taking you where it was should insist upon having your\neyes shut, you would likely suspect, either that he had no painting or\nthat it was some pitiable daub. Should he tell you that he was a most\nexcellent performer on the violin, and yet refuse to play unless your\nears were stopped, you would think, to say the least of it, that he\nhad an odd way of convincing you of his musical ability. But would his\nconduct be any more wonderful than that of a religionist who asks that\nbefore examining his creed you will have the kindness to throw away your\nreason? The first gentleman says, \"Keep your eyes shut, my picture\nwill bear everything but being seen;\" \"Keep your ears stopped, my music\nobjects to nothing but being heard.\" The last says, \"Away with your\nreason, my religion dreads nothing but being understood.\"\n\nSo far as I am concerned, I most cheerfully admit that most Christians\nare honest, and most ministers sincere. We do not attack them; we\nattack their creed. We accord to them the same rights that we ask for\nourselves. We believe that their doctrines are hurtful. We believe\nthat the frightful text, \"He that believes shall be saved and he that\nbelieveth not shall be damned,\" has covered the earth with blood. It has\nfilled the heart with arrogance, cruelty and murder. It has caused\nthe religious wars; bound hundreds of thousands to the stake; founded\ninquisitions; filled dungeons; invented instruments of torture; taught\nthe mother to hate her child; imprisoned the mind; filled the world with\nignorance; persecuted the lovers of wisdom; built the monasteries and\nconvents; made happiness a crime, investigation a sin, and self-reliance\na blasphemy. It has poisoned the springs of learning; misdirected the\nenergies of the world; filled all countries with want; housed the people\nin hovels; fed them with famine; and but for the efforts of a few\nbrave Infidels it would have taken the world back to the midnight of\nbarbarism, and left the heavens without a star.\n\nThe maligners of Paine say that he had no right to attack this doctrine,\nbecause he was unacquainted with the dead languages; and for this\nreason, it was a piece of pure impudence in him to investigate the\nScriptures.\n\nIs it necessary to understand Hebrew in order to know that cruelty is\nnot a virtue, that murder is inconsistent with infinite goodness, and\nthat eternal punishment can be inflicted upon man only by an eternal\nfiend? Is it really essential to conjugate the Greek verbs before you\ncan make up your mind as to the probability of dead people getting out\nof their graves? Must one be versed in Latin before he is entitled to\nexpress his opinion as to the genuineness of a pretended revelation\nfrom God? Common sense belongs exclusively to no tongue. Logic is not\nconfined to, nor has it been buried with, the dead languages. Paine\nattacked the Bible as it is translated. If the translation is wrong, let\nits defenders correct it.\n\nThe Christianity of Paine's day is not the Christianity of our time.\nThere has been a great improvement since then. One hundred and fifty\nyears ago the foremost preachers of our time would have perished at\nthe stake. A Universalist would have been torn in pieces in England,\nScotland, and America. Unitarians would have found themselves in the\nstocks, pelted by the rabble with dead cats, after which their ears\nwould have been cut off, their tongues bored, and their foreheads\nbranded. Less than one hundred and fifty years ago the following law was\nin force in Maryland:\n\n\"Be it enacted by the Right Honorable, the Lord Proprietor, by and with\nthe advice and consent of his Lordship's governor, and the upper and\nlower houses of the Assembly, and the authority of the same:\n\n\"That if any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly,\nmaliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curse\nGod, or deny our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to be the Son of God, or shall\ndeny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead\nof any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter\nany profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the persons\nthereof, and shall thereof be convict by verdict, shall, for the first\noffence, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds to be\nlevied of his body. And for the second offence, the offender shall be\nstigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B, and fined\nforty pounds. And that for the third offence the offender shall suffer\ndeath without the benefit of clergy.\"\n\nThe strange thing about this law is, that it has never been repealed,\nand is still in force in the District of Columbia. Laws like this were\nin force in most of the colonies, and in all countries where the church\nhad power.\n\nIn the Old Testament, the death penalty is attached to hundreds of\noffences. It has been the same in all Christian countries. To-day, in\ncivilized governments, the death penalty is attached only to murder and\ntreason; and in some it has been entirely abolished. What a commentary\nupon the divine systems of the world!\n\nIn the day of Thomas Paine, the church was ignorant, bloody and\nrelentless. In Scotland the \"Kirk\" was at the summit of its power. It\nwas a full sister of the Spanish Inquisition. It waged war upon human\nnature. It was the enemy of happiness, the hater of joy, and the\ndespiser of religious liberty. It taught parents to murder their\nchildren rather than to allow them to propagate error. If the mother\nheld opinions of which the infamous \"Kirk\" disapproved, her children\nwere taken from her arms, her babe from her very bosom, and she was\nnot allowed to see them, or to write them a word. It would not allow\nshipwrecked sailors to be rescued from drowning on Sunday. It sought to\nannihilate pleasure, to pollute the heart by filling it with religious\ncruelty and gloom, and to change mankind into a vast horde of pious,\nheartless fiends. One of the most famous Scotch divines said: \"The Kirk\nholds that religious toleration is not far from blasphemy.\" And this\nsame Scotch Kirk denounced, beyond measure, the man who had the moral\ngrandeur to say, \"The world is my country, and to do good my religion.\"\nAnd this same Kirk abhorred the man who said, \"Any system of religion\nthat shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system.\"\n\nAt that time nothing so delighted the church as the beauties of endless\ntorment, and listening to the weak wailings of damned infants struggling\nin the slimy coils and poison-folds of the worm that never dies.\n\nAbout the beginning of the nineteenth century, a boy by the name of\nThomas Aikenhead, was indicted and tried at Edinburgh for having denied\nthe inspiration of the Scriptures, and for having, on several\noccasions, when cold, wished himself in hell that he might get warm.\nNotwithstanding the poor boy recanted and begged for mercy, he was found\nguilty and hanged. His body was thrown in a hole at the foot of the\nscaffold and covered with stones.\n\nProsecutions and executions like this were common in every Christian\ncountry, and all of them were based upon the belief that an intellectual\nconviction is a crime.\n\nNo wonder the church hated and traduced the author of the \"Age of\nReason.\"\n\nEngland was filled with Puritan gloom and Episcopal ceremony. All\nreligious conceptions were of the grossest nature. The ideas of crazy\nfanatics and extravagant poets were taken as sober facts. Milton had\nclothed Christianity in the soiled and faded finery of the gods—had\nadded to the story of Christ the fables of Mythology. He gave to the\nProtestant Church the most outrageously material ideas of the Deity.\nHe turned all the angels into soldiers—made heaven a battlefield, put\nChrist in uniform, and described God as a militia general. His works\nwere considered by the Protestants nearly as sacred as the Bible\nitself, and the imagination of the people was thoroughly polluted by the\nhorrible imagery, the sublime absurdity of the blind Milton.\n\nHeaven and hell were realities—the judgment-day was expected—books of\naccount would be opened. Every man would hear the charges against him\nread. God was supposed to sit on a golden throne, surrounded by the\ntallest angels, with harps in their hands and crowns on their heads. The\ngoats would be thrust into eternal fire on the left, while the orthodox\nsheep, on the right, were to gambol on sunny slopes forever and forever.\n\nThe nation was profoundly ignorant, and consequently extremely\nreligious, so far as belief was concerned.\n\nIn Europe, Liberty was lying chained in the Inquisition—her white bosom\nstained with blood. In the New World the Puritans had been hanging\nand burning in the name of God, and selling white Quaker children into\nslavery in the name of Christ, who said, \"Suffer little children to come\nunto me.\"\n\nUnder such conditions progress was impossible. Some one had to lead\nthe way. The church is, and always has been, incapable of a forward\nmovement. Religion always looks back. The church has already reduced\nSpain to a guitar, Italy to a hand-organ, and Ireland to exile.\n\nSome one not connected with the church had to attack the monster that\nwas eating out the heart of the world. Some one had to sacrifice himself\nfor the good of all. The people were in the most abject slavery; their\nmanhood had been taken from them by pomp, by pageantry and power.\nProgress is born of doubt and inquiry.\n\nThe church never doubts—never inquires. To doubt is heresy—to inquire\nis to admit that you do not know—the church does neither.\n\nMore than a century ago Catholisism, wrapped in robes red with the\ninnocent blood of millions, holding in her frantic clutch crowns and\nscepters, honors and gold, the keys of heaven and hell, trampling\nbeneath her feet the liberties of nations, in the proud moment of almost\nuniversal dominion, felt within her heartless breast the deadly dagger\nof Voltaire. From that blow the church never can recover. Livid with\nhatred she launched her eternal anathema at the great destroyer, and\nignorant Protestants have echoed the curse of Rome.\n\nIn our country the church was all-powerful, and although divided into\nmany sects, would instantly unite to repel a common foe.\n\nPaine struck the first grand blow.\n\nThe \"Age of Reason\" did more to undermine the power of the Protestant\nChurch than all other books then known. It furnished an immense amount\nof food for thought. It was written for the average mind, and is a\nstraightforward, honest investigation of the Bible, and of the Christian\nsystem.\n\nPaine did not falter, from the first page to the last. He gives you his\ncandid thought, and candid thoughts are always valuable.\n\nThe \"Age of Reason\" has liberalized us all. It put arguments in the\nmouths of the people; it put the church on the defensive; it enabled\nsomebody in every village to corner the parson; it made the world wiser,\nand the church better; it took power from the pulpit and divided it\namong the pews.\n\nJust in proportion that the human race has advanced, the church has lost\npower. There is no exception to this rule.\n\nNo nation ever materially advanced that held strictly to the religion of\nits founders.\n\nNo nation ever gave itself wholly to the control of the church without\nlosing its power, its honor, and existence.\n\nEvery church pretends to have found the exact truth. This is the end of\nprogress. Why pursue that which you have? Why investigate when you know?\n\nEvery creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every\ncreed cries to the universe, \"Halt!\" A creed is the ignorant Past\nbullying the enlightened Present.\n\nThe ignorant are not satisfied with what can be demonstrated. Science is\ntoo slow for them, and so they invent creeds. They demand completeness.\nA sublime segment, a grand fragment, are of no value to them. They\ndemand the complete circle—the entire structure.\n\nIn music they want a melody with a recurring accent at measured periods.\nIn religion they insist upon immediate answers to the questions of\ncreation and destiny. The alpha and omega of all things must be in the\nalphabet of their superstition. A religion that cannot answer every\nquestion, and guess every conundrum is, in their estimation, worse than\nworthless. They desire a kind of theological dictionary—a religious\nready reckoner, together with guide-boards at all crossings and turns.\nThey mistake impudence for authority, solemnity for wisdom, and bathos\nfor inspiration. The beginning and the end are what they demand. The\ngrand flight of the eagle is nothing to them. They want the nest in\nwhich he was hatched, and especially the dry limb upon which he roosts.\nAnything that can be learned is hardly worth knowing. The present is\nconsidered of no value in itself. Happiness must not be expected this\nside of the clouds, and can only be attained by self-denial and faith;\nnot selfdenial for the good of others, but for the salvation of your own\nsweet self.\n\nPaine denied the authority of bibles and creeds; this was his crime, and\nfor this the world shut the door in his face, and emptied its slops upon\nhim from the windows.\n\nI challenge the world to show that Thomas Paine ever wrote one line,\none word in favor of tyranny—in favor of immorality; one line, one\nword against what he believed to be for the highest and best interest\nof mankind; one line, one word against justice, charity, or liberty,\nand yet he has been pursued as though he had been a fiend from hell. His\nmemory has been execrated as though he had murdered some Uriah for his\nwife; driven some Hagar into the desert to starve with his child upon\nher bosom; defiled his own daughters; ripped open with the sword the\nsweet bodies of loving and innocent women; advised one brother to\nassassinate another; kept a harem with seven hundred wives and three\nhundred concubines, or had persecuted Christians even unto strange\ncities.\n\nThe church has pursued Paine to deter others. No effort has been in\nany age of the world spared to crush out opposition. The church used\npainting, music and architecture, simply to degrade mankind. But there\nare men that nothing can awe. There have been at all times brave spirits\nthat dared even the gods. Some proud head has always been above the\nwaves. In every age some Diogenes has sacrificed to all the gods. True\ngenius never cowers, and there is always some Samson feeling for the\npillars of authority.\n\nCathedrals and domes, and chimes and chants.—temples frescoed and\ngroined and carved, and gilded with gold—altars and tapers, and\npaintings of virgin and babe—censer and chalice—chasuble, paten\nand alb—organs, and anthems and incense rising to the winged and\nblest—maniple, amice and stole—crosses and crosiers, tiaras\nand crowns—mitres and missals and masses—rosaries, relics and\nrobes—martyrs and saints, and windows stained as with the blood of\nChrist—never, never for one moment awed the brave, proud spirit of the\nInfidel. He knew that all the pomp and glitter had been purchased with\nLiberty—that priceless jewel of the soul. In looking at the cathedral\nhe remembered the dungeon. The music of the organ was not loud enough\nto drown the clank of fetters. He could not forget that the taper had\nlighted the fagot. He knew that the cross adorned the hilt of the sword,\nand so where others worshiped, he wept and scorned.\n\nThe doubter, the investigator, the Infidel, have been the saviors\nof liberty. This truth is beginning to be realized, and the truly\nintellectual are honoring the brave thinkers of the past.\n\nBut the church is as unforgiving as ever, and still wonders why any\nInfidel should be wicked enough to endeavor to destroy her power.\n\nI will tell the church why.\n\nYou have imprisoned the human mind; you have been the enemy of liberty;\nyou have burned us at the stake—wasted us upon slow fires—torn\nour flesh with iron; you have covered us with chains—treated us as\noutcasts; you have filled the world with fear; you have taken our wives\nand children from our arms; you have confiscated our property; you have\ndenied us the right to testify in courts of justice; you have branded us\nwith infamy; you have torn out our tongues; you have refused us burial.\nIn the name of your religion, you have robbed us of every right; and\nafter having inflicted upon us every evil that can be inflicted in this\nworld, you have fallen upon your knees, and with clasped hands implored\nyour God to torment us forever.\n\nCan you wonder that we hate your doctrines—that we despise your\ncreeds—that we feel proud to know that we are beyond your power—that\nwe are free in spite of you—that we can express our honest thought, and\nthat the whole world is grandly rising into the blessed light?\n\nCan you wonder that we point with pride to the fact that Infidelity\nhas ever been found battling for the rights of man, for the liberty of\nconscience, and for the happiness of all?\n\nCan you wonder that we are proud to know that we have always been\ndisciples of Reason, and soldiers of Freedom; that we have denounced\ntyranny and superstition, and have kept our hands unstained with human\nblood?\n\nWe deny that religion is the end or object of this life. When it is so\nconsidered it becomes destructive of happiness—the real end of life.\nIt becomes a hydra-headed monster, reaching in terrible coils from the\nheavens, and thrusting its thousand fangs into the bleeding, quivering\nhearts of men. It devours their substance, builds palaces for God, (who\ndwells not in temples made with hands,) and allows his children to\ndie in huts and hovels. It fills the earth with mourning, heaven with\nhatred, the present with fear, and all the future with despair.\n\nVirtue is a subordination of the passions to the intellect. It is to\nact in accordance with your highest convictions. It does not consist in\nbelieving, but in doing. This is the sublime truth that the Infidels in\nall ages have uttered. They have handed the torch from one to the other\nthrough all the years that have fled. Upon the altar of Reason they have\nkept the sacred fire, and through the long midnight of faith they fed\nthe divine flame.\n\nInfidelity is liberty; all religion is slavery. In every creed man is\nthe slave of God—woman is the slave of man and the sweet children are\nthe slaves of all.\n\nWe do not want creeds; we want knowledge—we want happiness.\n\nAnd yet we are told by the church that we have accomplished nothing;\nthat we are simply destroyers; that we tear down without building again.\n\nIs it nothing to free the mind? Is it nothing to civilize mankind? Is it\nnothing to fill the world with light, with discovery, with science?\nIs it nothing to dignify man and exalt the intellect? Is it nothing to\ngrope your way into the dreary prisons, the damp and dropping dungeons,\nthe dark and silent cells of superstition, where the souls of men are\nchained to floors of stone; to greet them like a ray of light, like the\nsong of a bird, the murmur of a stream; to see the dull eyes open and\ngrow slowly bright; to feel yourself grasped by the shrunken and unused\nhands, and hear yourself thanked by a strange and hollow voice?\n\nIs it nothing to conduct these souls gradually into the blessed light of\nday—to let them see again the happy fields, the sweet, green earth, and\nhear the everlasting music of the waves? Is it nothing to make men wipe\nthe dust from their swollen knees, the tears from their blanched\nand furrowed cheeks? Is it a small thing to reave the heavens of an\ninsatiate monster and write upon the eternal dome, glittering with\nstars, the grand word—Freedom?\n\nIs it a small thing to quench the flames of hell with the holy tears of\npity—to unbind the martyr from the stake—break all the chains—put\nout the fires of civil war—stay the sword of the fanatic, and tear the\nbloody hands of the Church from the white throat of Science?\n\nIs it a small thing to make men truly free—to destroy the dogmas of\nignorance, prejudice and power—the poisoned fables of superstition, and\ndrive from the beautiful face of the earth the fiend of Fear?\n\nIt does seem as though the most zealous Christian must at times\nentertain some doubt as to the divine origin of his religion. For\neighteen hundred years the doctrine has been preached. For more than\na thousand years the church had, to a great extent, the control of the\ncivilized world, and what has been the result? Are the Christian nations\npatterns of charity and forbearance? On the contrary, their principal\nbusiness is to destroy each other. More than five millions of Christians\nare trained, educated, and drilled to murder their fellow-christians.\nEvery nation is groaning under a vast debt incurred in carrying on war\nagainst other Christians, or defending itself from Christian assault.\nThe world is covered with forts to protect Christians from Christians,\nand every sea is covered with iron monsters ready to blow Christian\nbrains into eternal froth. Millions upon millions are annually expended\nin the effort to construct still more deadly and terrible engines of\ndeath. Industry is crippled, honest toil is robbed, and even beggary is\ntaxed to defray the expenses of Christian warfare. There must be some\nother way to reform this world. We have tried creed, and dogma and\nfable, and they have failed; and they have failed in all the nations\ndead.\n\nThe people perish for the lack of knowledge.\n\nNothing but education—scientific education—can benefit mankind. We\nmust find out the laws of nature and conform to them.\n\nWe need free bodies and free minds,—free labor and free\nthought,—chainless hands and fetterless brains. Free labor will give us\nwealth. Free thought will give us truth.\n\nWe need men with moral courage to speak and write their real thoughts,\nand to stand by their convictions, even to the very death. We need have\nno fear of being too radical. The future will verify all grand and brave\npredictions. Paine was splendidly in advance of his time; but he was\northodox compared with the Infidels of to-day.\n\nScience, the great Iconoclast, has been busy since 1809, and by the\nhighway of Progress are the broken images of the Past.\n\nOn every hand the people advance. The Vicar of God has been pushed from\nthe throne of the Caesars, and upon the roofs of the Eternal City falls\nonce more the shadow of the Eagle.\n\nAll has been accomplished by the heroic few. The men of science have\nexplored heaven and earth, and with infinite patience have furnished\nthe facts. The brave thinkers have used them. The gloomy caverns of\nsuperstition have been transformed into temples of thought, and the\ndemons of the past are the angels of to-day.\n\nScience took a handful of sand, constructed a telescope, and with it\nexplored the starry depths of heaven. Science wrested from the gods\ntheir thunderbolts; and now, the electric spark, freighted with thought\nand love, flashes under all the waves of the sea. Science took a tear\nfrom the cheek of unpaid labor, converted it into steam, created a giant\nthat turns with tireless arm, the countless wheels of toil.\n\nThomas Paine was one of the intellectual heroes—one of the men to whom\nwe are indebted. His name is associated forever with the Great Republic.\nAs long as free government exists he will be remembered, admired and\nhonored.\n\nHe lived a long, laborious and useful life. The world is better for his\nhaving lived. For the sake of truth he accepted hatred and reproach for\nhis portion. He ate the bitter bread of sorrow. His friends were untrue\nto him because he was true to himself, and true to them. He lost the\nrespect of what is called society, but kept his own. His life is what\nthe world calls failure and what history calls success.\n\nIf to love your fellow-men more than self is goodness, Thomas Paine was\ngood.\n\nIf to be in advance of your time—to be a pioneer in the direction of\nright—is greatness, Thomas Paine was great.\n\nIf to avow your principles and discharge your duty in the presence of\ndeath is heroic, Thomas Paine was a hero.\n\nAt the age of seventy-three, death touched his tired heart. He died\nin the land his genius defended—under the flag he gave to the skies.\nSlander cannot touch him now—hatred cannot reach him more. He sleeps in\nthe sanctuary of the tomb, beneath the quiet of the stars.\n\nA few more years—a few more brave men—a few more rays of light, and\nmankind will venerate the memory of him who said:\n\n\"ANY SYSTEM OF RELIGION THAT SHOCKS THE MIND OF A CHILD CANNOT BE A TRUE\nSYSTEM;\"\n\n\"The world is my Country, and to do good my Religion.\"\n"
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