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diff --git a/38101.txt b/38101.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bdef95 --- /dev/null +++ b/38101.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1296 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thomas Paine, by Robert G. Ingersoll + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Thomas Paine + From 'The Gods and Other Lectures' + +Author: Robert G. Ingersoll + +Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38101] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THOMAS PAINE *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +THOMAS PAINE + +By Robert G. Ingersoll + + + + +THOMAS PAINE + +WITH HIS NAME LEFT OUT, THE HISTORY OF LIBERTY CANNOT BE WRITTEN. + +TO speak the praises of the brave and thoughtful dead, is to me a labor +of gratitude and love. + +Through all the centuries gone, the mind of man has been beleaguered by +the mailed hosts of superstition. Slowly and painfully has advanced the +army of deliverance. Hated by those they wished to rescue, despised +by those they were dying to save, these grand soldiers, these immortal +deliverers, have fought without thanks, labored without applause, +suffered without pity, and they have died execrated and abhorred. For +the good of mankind they accepted isolation, poverty, and calumny. They +gave up all, sacrificed all, lost all but truth and self-respect. + +One of the bravest soldiers in this army was Thomas Paine; and for one, +I feel indebted to him for the liberty we are enjoying this day. Born +among the poor, where children are burdens; in a country where real +liberty was unknown; where the privileges of class were guarded with +infinite jealousy, and the rights of the individual trampled beneath the +feet of priests and nobles; where to advocate justice was treason; where +intellectual freedom was Infidelity, it is wonderful that the idea of +true liberty ever entered his brain. + +Poverty was his mother--Necessity his master. + +He had more brains than books; more sense than education; more courage +than politeness; more strength than polish. He had no veneration for old +mistakes--no admiration for ancient lies. He loved the truth for +the truth's sake, and for man's sake. He saw oppression on every hand; +injustice everywhere; hypocrisy at the altar, venality on the bench, +tyranny on the throne; and with a splendid courage he espoused the +cause of the weak against the strong--of the enslaved many against the +titled few. + +In England he was nothing. He belonged to the lower classes. There was +no avenue open for him. The people hugged their chains, and the whole +power of the government was ready to crush any man who endeavored to +strike a blow for the right. + +At the age of thirty-seven, Thomas Paine left England for America, +with the high hope of being instrumental in the establishment of a free +government. In his own country he could accomplish nothing. Those two +vultures--Church and State--were ready to tear in pieces and devour +the heart of any one who might deny their divine right to enslave the +world. + +Upon his arrival in this country, he found himself possessed of a letter +of introduction, signed by another Infidel, the illustrious Franklin. +This, and his native genius, constituted his entire capital; and he +needed no more. He found the colonies clamoring for justice; whining +about their grievances; upon their knees at the foot of the throne, +imploring that mixture of idiocy and insanity, George the III, by the +grace of God, for a restoration of their ancient privileges. They were +not endeavoring to become free men, but were trying to soften the heart +of their master. They were perfectly willing to make brick if Pharaoh +would furnish the straw. The colonists wished for, hoped for, and prayed +for recon-ciliation. They did not dream of independence. + +Paine gave to the world his "Common Sense." It was the first argument +for separation, the first assault upon the British _form_ of government, +the first blow for a republic, and it aroused our fathers like a +trumpet's blast He was the first to perceive the destiny of the New +World. + +No other pamphlet ever accomplished such wonderful results. It was +filled with argument, reason, persuasion, and unanswerable logic. It +opened a new world. It filled the present with hope and the future +with honor. Everywhere the people responded, and in a few months the +Continental Congress declared the colonies free and independent States. + +A new nation was born. + +It is simple justice to say that Paine did more to cause the Declaration +of Independence than any other man. Neither should it be forgotten that +his attacks upon Great Britain were also attacks upon monarchy; and +while he convinced the people that the colonies ought to separate from +the mother country, he also proved to them that a free government is the +best that can be instituted among men. + +In my judgment, Thomas Paine was the best political writer that ever +lived. "What he wrote was pure nature, and his soul and his pen ever +went together." Ceremony, pageantry, and all the paraphernalia of +power, had no effect upon him. He examined into the why and wherefore of +things. He was perfectly radical in his mode of thought. Nothing short +of the bed-rock satisfied him. His enthusiasm for what he believed to +be right knew no bounds. During all the dark scenes of the Revolution, +never for one moment did he despair. Year after year his brave words +were ringing through the land, and by the bivouac fires the weary +soldiers read the inspiring words of "Common Sense," filled with ideas +sharper than their swords, and consecrated themselves anew to the cause +of Freedom. + +Paine was not content with having aroused the spirit of independence, +but he gave every energy of his soul to keep that spirit alive. He was +with the army. He shared its defeats, its dangers, and its glory. When +the situation became desperate, when gloom settled upon all, he gave +them the "Crisis." It was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, +leading the way to freedom, honor, and glory. He shouted to them, "These +are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier, and the sunshine +patriot, will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; +but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and +woman." + +To those who wished to put the war off to some future day, with a lofty +and touching spirit of self-sacrifice he said: "Every generous parent +should say, 'If there must be war let it be in my day, that my child +may have peace.'" To the cry that Americans were rebels, he replied: "He +that rebels against reason is a real rebel; but he that in defense of +reason rebels against tyranny, has a better title to 'Defender of the +Faith' than George the Third." + +Some said it was not to the interest of the colonies to be free. Paine +answered this by saying, "To know whether it be the interest of +the continent to be independent, we need ask only this simple, easy +question: 'Is it the interest of a man to be a boy all his life?'" He +found many who would listen to nothing, and to them he said, "That to +argue with a man who has renounced his reason is like giving medicine +to the dead." This sentiment ought to adorn the walls of every orthodox +church. + +There is a world of political wisdom in this: "England lost her liberty +in a long chain of right reasoning from wrong principles"; and there +is real discrimination in saying, "The Greeks and Romans were strongly +possessed of the spirit of liberty, but not the principles, for at +the time that they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they +employed their power to enslave the rest of mankind." + +In his letter to the British people, in which he tried to convince them +that war was not to their interest, occurs the following passage brimful +of common sense: "War never can be the interest of a trading nation any +more than quarreling can be profitable to a man in business. But to +make war with those who trade with us is like setting a bull-dog upon a +customer at the shop-door." + +The writings of Paine fairly glitter with simple, compact, logical +statements, that carry conviction to the dullest and most prejudiced. He +had the happiest possible way of putting the case; in asking questions +in such a way that they answer themselves, and in stating his premises +so clearly that the deduction could not be avoided. + +Day and night he labored for America; month after month, year after +year, he gave himself to the Great Cause, until there was "a government +of the people and for the people," and until the banner of the stars +floated over a continent redeemed, and consecrated to the happiness of +mankind. + +At the close of the Revolution, no one stood higher in America than +Thomas Paine. The best, the wisest, the most patriotic, were his friends +and admirers; and had he been thinking only of his own good he might +have rested from his toils and spent the remainder of his life in +comfort and in ease. He could have been what the world is pleased to +call "respectable." He could have died surrounded by clergymen, warriors +and statesmen. At his death there would have been an imposing funeral, +miles of carriages, civic societies, salvos of artillery, a nation in +mourning, and, above all, a splendid monument covered with lies. + +He chose rather to benefit mankind. + +At that time the seeds sown by the great Infidels were beginning to bear +fruit in France. The people were beginning to think. + +The Eighteenth Century was crowning its gray hairs with the wreath of +Progress. + +On every hand Science was bearing testimony against the Church. Voltaire +had filled Europe with light; D'Holbach was giving to the _elite_ +of Paris the principles contained in his "System of Nature." The +Encyclopedists had attacked superstition with information for the +masses. The foundation of things began to be examined. A few had the +courage to keep their shoes on and let the bush burn. Miracles began to +get scarce. Everywhere the people began to inquire. America had set an +example to the world. The word Liberty was in the mouths of men, and +they began to wipe the dust from their knees. + +The dawn of a new day had appeared. + +Thomas Paine went to France. Into the new movement he threw all his +energies. His fame had gone before him, and he was welcomed as a friend +of the human race, and as a champion of free government He had never +relinquished his intention of pointing out to his countrymen the +defects, absurdities and abuses of the English government For this +purpose he composed and published his greatest political work, "The +Rights of Man." This work should be read by every man and woman. It is +concise, accurate, natural, convincing, and unanswerable. It shows great +thought; an intimate knowledge of the various forms of government; +deep insight into the very springs of human action, and a courage that +compels respect and admiration. The most difficult political problems +are solved in a few sentences. The venerable arguments in favor of +wrong are refuted with a question--answered with a word. For forcible +illustration, apt comparison, accuracy and clearness of statement, and +absolute thoroughness, it has never been excelled. + +The fears of the administration were aroused, and Paine was prosecuted +for libel and found guilty; and yet there is not a sentiment in the +entire work that will not challenge the admiration of every civilized +man. It is a magazine of political wisdom, an arsenal of ideas, and an +honor, not only to Thomas Paine, but to human nature itself. It could +have been written only by the man who had the generosity, the exalted +patriotism, the goodness to say, "The world is my country, and to do +good my religion." + +There is in all the utterances of the world no grander, no sublimer +sentiment. There is no creed that can be compared with it for a moment. +It should be wrought in gold, adorned with jewels, and impressed +upon every human heart: "The world is my country, and to do good my +religion." + +In 1792, Paine was elected by the department of Calais as their +representative in the National Assembly. So great was his popularity in +France that he was selected about the same time by the people of no less +than four departments. + +Upon taking his place in the Assembly he was appointed as one of a +committee to draft a constitution for France. Had the French people +taken the advice of Thomas Paine there would have been no "reign of +terror." The streets of Paris would not have been filled with blood. The +Revolution would have been the grandest success of the world. The truth +is that Paine was too conservative to suit the leaders of the French +Revolution. They, to a great extent, were carried away by hatred, and +a desire to destroy. They had suffered so long, they had borne so much, +that it was impossible for them to be moderate in the hour of victory. + +Besides all this, the French people had been so robbed by the +government, so degraded by the Church, that they were not fit material +with which to construct a republic. Many of the leaders longed to +establish a beneficent and just government, but the people asked for +revenge. + +Paine was filled with a real love for mankind. His philanthropy was +boundless. He wished to destroy monarchy--not the monarch. He voted +for the destruction of tyranny, and against the death of the king. He +wished to establish a government on a new basis; one that would forget +the past; one that would give privileges to none, and protection to all. + +In the Assembly, where nearly all were demanding the execution of the +king--where to differ from the majority was to be suspected, and, +where to be suspected was almost certain death Thomas Paine had the +courage, the goodness and the justice to vote against death. To vote +against the execution of the king was a vote against his own life. This +was the sublimity of devotion to principle. For this he was arrested, +imprisoned, and doomed to death. + +Search the records of the world and you will find but few sublimer acts +than that of Thomas Paine voting against the king's death. He, the hater +of despotism, the abhorrer of monarchy, the champion of the rights +of man, the republican, accepting death to save the life of a deposed +tyrant--of a throneless king. This was the last grand act of his +political life--the sublime conclusion of his political career. + +All his life he had been the disinterested friend of man. He had +labored--not for money, not for fame, but for the general good. He had +aspired to no office; had asked no recognition of his services, but had +ever been content to labor as a common soldier in the army of Progress. +Confining his efforts to no country, looking upon the world as his field +of action, filled with a genuine love for the right, he found himself +imprisoned by the very people he had striven to save. + +Had his enemies succeeded in bringing him to the block, he would have +escaped the calumnies and the hatred of the Christian world. In this +country, at least, he would have ranked with the proudest names. On the +anniversary of the Declaration his name would have been upon the lips of +all the orators, and his memory in the hearts of all the people. + +Thomas Paine had not finished his career. + +He had spent his life thus far in destroying the power of kings, and +now he turned his attention to the priests. He knew that every abuse had +been embalmed in Scripture--that every outrage was in partnership with +some holy text. He knew that the throne skulked behind the altar, and +both behind a pretended revelation from God. By this time he had found +that it was of little use to free the body and leave the mind in +chains. He had explored the foundations of despotism, and had found them +infinitely rotten. He had dug under the throne, and it occurred to him +that he would take a look behind the altar. + +The result of his investigations was given to the world in the "Age of +Reason." From the moment of its publication he became infamous. He was +calumniated beyond measure. To slander him was to secure the thanks of +the Church. All his services were instantly forgotten, disparaged or +denied. He was shunned as though he had been a pestilence. Most of his +old friends forsook him. He was regarded as a moral plague, and at the +bare mention of his name the bloody hands of the Church were raised in +horror. He was denounced as the most despicable of men. + +Not content with following him to his grave, they pursued him after +death with redoubled fury, and recounted with infinite gusto and +satisfaction the supposed horrors of his death-bed; gloried in the fact +that he was forlorn and friendless, and gloated like fiends over what +they supposed to be the agonizing remorse of his lonely death. + +It is wonderful that all his services were thus forgotten. It is amazing +that one kind word did not fall from some pulpit; that some one did +not accord to him, at least--honesty. Strange, that in the general +denunciation some one did not remember his labor for liberty, his +devotion to principle, his zeal for the rights of his fellow-men. He +had: by brave and splendid effort, associated his name with the cause +of Progress. He had made it impossible to write the history of political +freedom with his name left out. He was one of the creators of light; one +of the heralds of the dawn. He hated tyranny in the name of kings, and +in the name of God, with every drop of his noble blood. He believed in +liberty and justice, and in the sacred doctrine of human equality. Under +these divine banners he fought the battle of his life. In both worlds he +offered his blood for the good of man. In the wilderness of America, in +the French Assembly, in the sombre cell waiting for death, he was the +same unflinching, unwavering friend of his race; the same undaunted +champion of universal freedom. And for this he has been hated for this +the Church has violated even his grave. + +This is enough to make one believe that nothing is more natural than for +men to devour their benefactors. The people in all ages have crucified +and glorified. Whoever lifts his voice against abuses, whoever arraigns +the past at the bar of the present, whoever asks the king to show his +commission, or questions the authority of the priest, will be denounced +as the enemy of man and God. In all ages reason has been regarded as the +enemy of religion. Nothing has been considered so pleasing to the Deity +as a total denial of the authority of your own mind. Self-reliance has +been thought a deadly sin; and the idea of living and dying without the +aid and consolation of superstition has always horrified the Church. By +some unaccountable infatuation, belief has been and still is considered +of immense importance. All religions have been based upon the idea that +God will forever reward the true believer, and eternally damn the man +who doubts or denies. Belief is regarded as the one essential thing. To +practice justice, to love mercy, is not enough. You must believe in +some incomprehensible creed. You must say, "Once one is three, and three +times one is one." The man who practiced every virtue, but failed to +believe, was execrated. Nothing so outrages the feelings of the Church +as a moral unbeliever--nothing so horrible as a charitable Atheist. +When Paine was born, the world was religious, the pulpit was the real +throne, and the churches were making every effort to crush out of the +brain the idea that it had the right to think. + +The splendid saying of Lord Bacon, that "The inquiry of truth, which is +the love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the +presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, +are the sovereign good of human nature," has been, and ever will +be, rejected by religionists. Intellectual liberty, as a matter of +necessity, forever destroys the idea that belief is either praise +or blame-worthy, and is wholly inconsistent with every creed in +Christendom. Paine recognized this truth. He also saw that as long as +the bible was considered inspired, this infamous doctrine of the virtue +of belief would be believed and preached. He examined the Scriptures for +himself, and found them filled with cruelty, absurdity and immorality. + +He again made up his mind to sacrifice himself for the good of his +fellow-men. + +He commenced with the assertion, "That any system of religion that has +anything in it that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true system." +What a beautiful, what a tender sentiment! No wonder the Church began to +hate him. He believed in one God, and no more. After this life he +hoped for happiness. He believed that true religion consisted in doing +justice, loving mercy, in endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures +happy, and in offering to God the fruit of the heart. He denied the +inspiration of the Scriptures. This was his crime. + +He contended that it is a contradiction in terms to call anything a +revelation that comes to us second-hand, either verbally or in writing. +He asserted that revelation is necessarily limited to the first +communication, and that after that it is only an account of something +which another person says was a revelation to him. We have only his word +for it, as it was never made to us. This argument never has been and +probably never will be answered. He denied the divine origin of Christ, +and showed conclusively that the pretended prophecies of the Old +Testament had no reference to him whatever; and yet he believed that +Christ was a virtuous and amiable man; that the morality he taught and +practiced was of the most benevolent and elevated character, and that +it had not been exceeded by any. Upon this point he entertained the +same sentiments now held by the Unitarians, and in fact by all the most +enlightened Christians. + +In his time the Church believed and taught that every word in the bible +was absolutely true. Since his day it has been proven false in its +cosmogony, false in its astronomy, false in its chronology, false in its +history, and so far as the Old Testament is concerned, false in almost +everything. There are but few, if any, scientific men who apprehend that +the bible is literally true. Who on earth at this day would pretend to +settle any scientific question by a text from the bible? The old belief +is confined to the ignorant and zealous. The Church itself will before +long be driven to occupy the position of Thomas Paine. The best minds of +the orthodox world, to-day, are endeavoring to prove the existence of +a personal Deity. All other questions occupy a minor place. You are no +longer asked to swallow the bible whole, whale, Jonah and all; you are +simply required to believe in God, and pay your pew-rent. There is not +now an enlightened minister in the world who will seriously contend that +Samson's strength was in his hair, or that the necromancers of Egypt +could turn water into blood, and pieces of wood into serpents. These +follies have passed away, and the only reason that the religious world +can now have for disliking Paine is that they have been forced to adopt +so many of his opinions. + +Paine thought the barbarities of the Old Testament inconsistent with +what he deemed the real character of God. He believed that murder, +massacre and indiscriminate slaughter had never been commanded by +the Deity. He regarded much of the bible as childish, unimportant +and foolish, The scientific world entertains the same opinion, Paine +attacked the bible precisely in the same spirit in which he had attacked +the pretensions of kings. He used the same weapons. All the pomp in the +world could not make him cower. His reason knew no "Holy of Holies," +except the abode of Truth. The sciences were then in their infancy. The +attention of the really learned had not been directed to an impartial +examination of our pretended revelation. It was accepted by most as +a matter of course. The Church was all-powerful, and no one, unless +thoroughly imbued with the spirit of self-sacrifice, thought for a +moment of disputing the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. The +infamous doctrine that salvation depends upon belief--upon a mere +intellectual conviction--was then believed and preached. To doubt was +to secure the damnation of your soul. This absurd and devilish doctrine +shocked the common sense of Thomas Paine, and he denounced it with +the fervor of honest indignation. This doctrine, although infinitely +ridiculous, has been nearly universal, and has been as hurtful as +senseless. For the overthrow of this infamous tenet, Paine exerted all +his strength. He left few arguments to be used by those who should come +after him, and he used none that have been refuted. The combined wisdom +and genius of all mankind cannot possibly conceive of an argument +against liberty of thought. Neither can they show why any one should +be punished, either in this world or another, for acting honestly in +accordance with reason; and yet a doctrine with every possible argument +against it has been, and still is, believed and defended by the entire +orthodox world. Can it be possible that we have been endowed with reason +simply that our souls may be caught in its toils and snares, that we may +be led by its false and delusive glare out of the narrow path that leads +to joy into the broad way of everlasting death? Is it possible that +we have been given reason simply that we may through faith ignore its +deductions, and avoid its conclusions? Ought the sailor to throw away +his compass and depend entirely upon the fog? If reason is not to be +depended upon in matters of religion, that is to say, in respect of our +duties to the Deity, why should it be relied upon in matters respecting +the rights of our fellows? Why should we throw away the laws given to +Moses by God himself and have the audacity to make some of our own? How +dare we drown the thunders of Sinai by calling the ayes and noes in a +petty legislature? If reason can determine what is merciful, what is +just, the duties of man to man, what more do we want either in time or +eternity? + +Down, forever down, with any religion that requires upon its ignorant +altar the sacrifice of the goddess Reason, that compels her to abdicate +forever the shining throne of the soul, strips from her form the +imperial purple, snatches from her hand the sceptre of thought and makes +her the bond-woman of a senseless faith! + +If a man should tell you that he had the most beautiful painting in the +world, and after taking you where it was should insist upon having your +eyes shut, you would likely suspect, either that he had no painting or +that it was some pitiable daub. Should he tell you that he was a most +excellent performer on the violin, and yet refuse to play unless your +ears were stopped, you would think, to say the least of it, that he +had an odd way of convincing you of his musical ability. But would his +conduct be any more wonderful than that of a religionist who asks that +before examining his creed you will have the kindness to throw away your +reason? The first gentleman says, "Keep your eyes shut, my picture +will bear everything but being seen;" "Keep your ears stopped, my music +objects to nothing but being heard." The last says, "Away with your +reason, my religion dreads nothing but being understood." + +So far as I am concerned, I most cheerfully admit that most Christians +are honest, and most ministers sincere. We do not attack them; we +attack their creed. We accord to them the same rights that we ask for +ourselves. We believe that their doctrines are hurtful. We believe +that the frightful text, "He that believes shall be saved, and he that +believeth not shall be damned," has covered the earth with blood. It has +filled the heart with arrogance, cruelty and murder. It has caused +the religious wars; bound hundreds of thousands to the stake; founded +inquisitions; filled dungeons; invented instruments of torture; taught +the mother to hate her child; imprisoned the mind; filled the world with +ignorance; persecuted the lovers of wisdom; built the monasteries and +convents; made happiness a crime, investigation a sin, and self-reliance +a blasphemy. It has poisoned the springs of learning; misdirected +the energies of the world; filled all countries with want; housed the +people in hovels; fed them with famine; and but for the efforts of a +few brave Infidels it would have taken the world back to the midnight of +barbarism, and left the heavens without a star. + +The maligners of Paine say that he had no right to attack this doctrine, +because he was unacquainted with the dead languages; and for this +reason, it was a piece of pure impudence in him to investigate the +Scriptures. + +Is it necessary to understand Hebrew in order to know that cruelty is +not a virtue, that murder is inconsistent with infinite goodness, and +that eternal punishment can be inflicted upon man only by an eternal +fiend? Is it really essential to conjugate the Greek verbs before you +can make up your mind as to the probability of dead people getting out +of their graves? Must one be versed in Latin before he is entitled to +express his opinion as to the genuineness of a pretended revelation +from God? Common sense belongs exclusively to no tongue. Logic is not +confined to, nor has it been buried with, the dead languages. Paine +attacked the bible as it is translated. If the translation is wrong, let +its defenders correct it. + +The Christianity of Paine's day is not the Christianity of our time. +There has been a great improvement since then. One hundred and fifty +years ago the foremost preachers of our time would have perished at +the stake. A Universalist would have been torn in pieces in England, +Scotland, and America. Unitarians would have found themselves in the +stocks, pelted by the rabble with dead cats, after which their ears +would have been cut off, their tongues bored, and their foreheads +branded. Less than one hundred and fifty years ago the following law was +in force in Maryland: + +"Be it enacted by the Right Honorable, the Lord Proprietor, by and with +the advice and consent of his Lordship's governor, and the upper and +lower houses of the Assembly, and the authority of the same: + +"That if any person shall hereafter, within this province, wittingly, +maliciously, and advisedly, by writing or speaking, blaspheme or curse +God, or deny our Saviour, Jesus Christ, to be the Son of God, or shall +deny the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, or the Godhead +of any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter +any profane words concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the persons +thereof, and shall thereof be convict by verdict, shall, for the first +offense, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds to be +levied of his body. And for the second offense, the offender shall be +stigmatized by burning in the forehead with the letter B, and fined +forty pounds. And that for the third offense, the offender shall suffer +death without the benefit of clergy." + +The strange thing about this law is, that it has never been repealed, +and is still in force in the District of Columbia Laws like this were in +force in most of the colonies, and in all countries where the Church had +power. + +In the Old Testament, the death penalty was attached to hundreds of +offenses. It has been the same in all Christian countries. To-day, in +civilized governments, the death penalty is attached only to murder and +treason; and in some it has been entirely abolished. What a commentary +upon the divine systems of the world! In the day of Thomas Paine, the +Church was ignorant, bloody and relentless. In Scotland the "Kirk" +was at the summit of its power. It was a full sister of the Spanish +Inquisition. It waged war upon human nature. It was the enemy of +happiness, the hater of joy, and the despiser of religious liberty. It +taught parents to murder their children rather than to allow them to +propagate error. If the mother held opinions of which the infamous +"Kirk" disapproved, her children were taken from her arms, her babe from +her very bosom, and she was not allowed to see them, or to write them a +word. It would not allow shipwrecked sailors to be rescued from drowning +on Sunday. It sought to annihilate pleasure, to pollute the heart by +filling it with religious cruelty and gloom, and to change mankind into +a vast horde of pious, heartless fiends. One of the most famous Scotch +divines said: "The Kirk holds that religious toleration is not far from +blasphemy." And this same Scotch Kirk denounced, beyond measure, the man +who had the moral grandeur to say, "The world is my country, and to do +good my religion." And this same Kirk abhorred the man who said, "Any +system of religion that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true +system." + +At that time nothing so delighted the Church as the beauties of endless +torment, and listening to the weak wailings of damned infants struggling +in the slimy coils and poison-folds of the worm that never dies. + +About the beginning of the nineteenth century, a boy by the name of +Thomas Aikenhead, was indicted and tried at Edinburgh for having denied +the inspiration of the Scriptures, and for having, on several +occasions, when cold, wished himself in hell that he might get warm. +Notwithstanding the poor boy recanted and begged for mercy, he was found +guilty and hanged. His body was thrown in a hole at the foot of the +scaffold and covered with stones. + +Prosecutions and executions like this were common in every Christian +country, and all of them were based upon the belief that an intellectual +conviction is a crime. + +No wonder the Church hated and traduced the author of the "Age of +Reason." + +England was filled with Puritan gloom and Episcopal ceremony. All +religious conceptions were of the grossest nature. The ideas of crazy +fanatics and extravagant poets were taken as sober facts. Milton had +clothed Christianity in the soiled and faded finery of the gods--had +added to the story of Christ the fables of Mythology. He gave to the +Protestant Church the most outrageously material ideas of the Deity. He +turned all the angels into soldiers--made Heaven a battlefield, put +Christ in uniform, and described God as a militia general. His works +were considered by the Protestants nearly as sacred as the bible +itself, and the imagination of the people was thoroughly polluted by the +horrible imagery, the sublime absurdity of the blind Milton. + +Heaven and hell were realities--the judgment-day was expected--books +of account would be opened. Every man would hear the charges against +him read. God was supposed to sit on a golden throne, surrounded by the +tallest angels, with harps in their hands and crowns on their heads. The +goats would be thrust into eternal fire on the left, while the orthodox +sheep, on the right, were to gambol on sunny slopes forever and forever. + +The nation was profoundly ignorant, and consequently extremely +religious, so far as belief was concerned. + +In Europe, Liberty was lying chained in the Inquisition--her white +bosom stained with blood. In the new world the Puritans had been hanging +and burning in the name of God, and selling white Quaker children into +slavery in the name of Christ, who said, "Suffer little children to come +unto me." + +Under such conditions progress was impossible. Some one had to lead +the way. The Church is, and always has been, incapable of a forward +movement. Religion always looks back. The Church has already reduced +Spain to a guitar, Italy to a hand-organ, and Ireland to exile. + +Some one not connected with the Church had to attack the monster that +was eating out the heart of the world. Some one had to sacrifice himself +for the good of all. The people were in the most abject slavery; their +manhood had been taken from them by pomp, by pageantry and power. +Progress is born of doubt and inquiry. + +The Church never doubts--never inquires. To doubt is heresy--to inquire +is to admit that you do not know--the Church does neither. + +More than a century ago Catholicism, wrapped in robes red with the +innocent blood of millions, holding in her frantic clutch crowns and +scepters, honors and gold, the keys of heaven and hell, trampling +beneath her feet the liberties of nations, in the proud moment of almost +universal dominion, felt within her heartless breast the deadly dagger +of Voltaire. From that blow the Church never can recover. Livid with +hatred she launched her eternal anathema at the great destroyer, and +ignorant Protestants have echoed the curse of Rome. + +In our country the Church was all-powerful, and although divided into +many sects, would instantly unite to repel a common foe. + +Paine struck the first grand blow. + +The "Age of Reason" did more to undermine the power of the Protestant +Church than all other books then known. It furnished an immense amount +of food for thought. It was written for the average mind, and is a +straightforward, honest investigation of the bible, and of the Christian +system. + +Paine did not falter, from the first page to the last. He gives you his +candid thought, and candid thoughts are always valuable. + +The "Age of Reason" has liberalized us all. It put arguments in the +mouths of the people; it put the Church on the defensive; it enabled +somebody in every village to corner the parson; it made the world wiser, +and the Church better; it took power from the pulpit and divided it +among the pews. + +Just in proportion that the human race has advanced, the Church has lost +power. There is no exception to this rule. + +No nation ever materially advanced that held strictly to the religion of +its founders. + +No nation ever gave itself wholly to the control of the Church without +losing its power its honor, and existence. + +Every Church pretends to have found the exact truth. This is the end of +progress. Why pursue that which you have? Why investigate when you know? + +Every creed is a rock in running water: humanity sweeps by it. Every +creed cries to the universe, "Halt!" A creed is the ignorant Past +bullying the enlightened Present The ignorant are not satisfied with +what can be demonstrated. Science is too slow for them, and so they +invent creeds. They demand completeness. A sublime segment, a grand +fragment, are of no value to them. They demand the complete circle--the +entire structure. + +In music they want a melody with a recurring accent at measured periods. +In religion they insist upon immediate answers to the questions of +creation and destiny. The alpha and omega of all things must be in the +alphabet of their superstition. A religion that cannot answer every +question, and guess every conundrum is, in their estimation, worse than +worthless. They desire a kind of theological dictionary--a religious +ready reckoner, together with guide-boards at all crossings and turns. +They mistake impudence for authority, solemnity for wisdom, and bathos +for inspiration. The beginning and the end are what they demand. The +grand flight of the eagle is nothing to them. They want the nest in +which he was hatched, and especially the dry limb upon which he roosts. +Anything that can be learned is hardly worth knowing. The present is +considered of no value in itself. Happiness must not be expected this +side of the clouds, and can only be attained by self-denial and faith; +not self-denial for the good of others, but for the salvation of your +own sweet self. + +Paine denied the authority of bibles and creeds; this was his crime, and +for this the world shut the door in his face, and emptied its slops upon +him from the windows. + +I challenge the world to show that Thomas Paine ever wrote one line, one +word in favor of tyranny--in favor of immorality; one line, one word +against what he believed to be for the highest and best interest of +mankind; one line, one word against justice, charity, or liberty, and +yet he has been pursued as though he had been a fiend from hell. His +memory has been execrated as though he had murdered some Uriah for his +wife; driven some Hagar into the desert to starve with his child upon +her bosom; defiled his own daughters; ripped open with the sword the +sweet bodies of loving and innocent women; advised one brother to +assassinate another; kept a harem with seven hundred wives and three +hundred concubines, or had persecuted Christians even unto strange +cities. + +The Church has pursued Paine to deter others. No effort has been in +any age of the world spared to crush out opposition. The Church used +painting, music and architecture, simply to degrade mankind. But there +are men that nothing can awe. There have been at all times brave spirits +that dared even the gods. Some proud head has always been above the +waves. In every age some Diogenes has sacrificed to all the gods. True +genius never cowers, and there is always some Samson feeling for the +pillars of authority. + +Cathedrals and domes, and chimes and chants--temples frescoed and +groined and carved, and gilded with gold--altars and tapers, and +paintings of virgin and babe--censer and chalice--chasuble, paten and +alb--organs, and anthems and incense rising to the winged and +blest--maniple, amice and stole--crosses and crosiers, tiaras and +crowns--mitres and missals and masses--rosaries, relics and +robes--martyrs and saints, and windows stained as with the blood of +Christ--never, never for one moment awed the brave, proud spirit of the +Infidel. He knew that all the pomp and glitter had been purchased with +Liberty--that priceless jewel of the soul. In looking at the cathedral +he remembered the dungeon. The music of the organ was not loud enough to +drown the clank of fetters. He could not forget that the taper had +lighted the fagot. He knew that the cross adorned the hilt of the sword, +and so where others worshiped, he wept and scorned. + +The doubter, the investigator, the Infidel, have been the saviors +of liberty. This truth is beginning to be realized, and the truly +intellectual are honoring the brave thinkers of the past. + +But the Church is as unforgiving as ever, and still wonders why any +Infidel should be wicked enough to endeavor to destroy her power. + +I will tell the Church why. + +You have imprisoned the human mind; you have been the enemy of liberty; +you have burned us at the stake--wasted us upon slow fires--torn +our flesh with iron; you have covered us with chains--treated us as +outcasts; you have filled the world with fear; you have taken our wives +and children from our arms; you have confiscated our property; you have +denied us the right to testify in courts of justice; you have branded us +with infamy; you have torn out our tongues; you have refused us burial. +In the name of your religion, you have robbed us of every right; and +after having inflicted upon us every evil that can be inflicted in this +world, you have fallen upon your knees, and with clasped hands implored +your God to torment us forever. Can you wonder that we hate your +doctrines--that we despise your creeds--that we feel proud to know +that we are beyond your power--that we are free in spite of +you--that we can express our honest thought, and that the whole world is +grandly rising into the blessed light? + +Can you wonder that we point with pride to the fact that Infidelity +has ever been found battling for the rights of man, for the liberty of +conscience, and for the happiness of all? + +Can you wonder that we are proud to know that we have always been +disciples of Reason, and soldiers of Freedom; that we have denounced +tyranny and superstition, and have kept our hands unstained with human +blood? + +We deny that religion is the end or object of this life. When it is so +considered it becomes destructive of happiness--the real end of life. +It becomes a hydra-headed monster, reaching in terrible coils from the +heavens, and thrusting its thousand fangs into the bleeding,%quivering +hearts of men. It devours their substance, builds palaces for God, (who +dwells not in temples made with hands,) and allows his children to +die in huts and hovels. It fills the earth with mourning, heaven with +hatred, the present with fear, and all the future with despair. + +Virtue is a subordination of the passions to the intellect. It is to +act in accordance with your highest convictions. It does not consist in +believing, but in doing. This is the sublime truth that the Infidels in +all ages have uttered. They have handed the torch from one to the other +through all the years that have fled. Upon the altar of Reason they have +kept the sacred fire, and through the long midnight of faith they fed +the divine flame. + +Infidelity is liberty; all religion is slavery. In every creed man is +the slave of God--woman is the slave of man and the sweet children are +the slaves of all. + +We do not want creeds; we want knowledge--we want happiness. + +And yet we are told by the Church that we have accomplished nothing; +that we are simply destroyers; that we tear down without building again. + +Is it nothing to free the mind? Is it nothing to civilize mankind? Is it +nothing to fill the world with light, with discovery, with science? +Is it nothing to dignify man and exalt the intellect? Is it nothing to +grope your way into the dreary prisons, the damp and dropping dungeons, +the dark and silent cells of superstition, where the souls of men are +chained to floors of stone; to greet them like a ray of light, like the +song of a bird, the murmur of a stream; to see the dull eyes open and +grow slowly bright; to feel yourself grasped by the shrunken and unused +hands, and hear yourself thanked by a strange and hollow voice? + +Is it nothing to conduct these souls gradually into the blessed light of +day--to let them see again the happy fields, the sweet, green earth, +and hear the everlasting music of the waves? Is it nothing to make men +wipe the dust from their swollen knees, the tears from their blanched +and furrowed cheeks? Is it a small thing to reave the heavens of an +insatiate monster and write upon the eternal dome, glittering with +stars, the grand word--Freedom? + +Is it a small thing to quench the flames of hell with the holy tears +of pity--to unbind the martyr from the stake--break all the chains +--put out the fires of civil war--stay the sword of the fanatic, and +tear the bloody hands of the Church from the white throat of Science? + +Is it a small thing to make men truly free--to destroy the dogmas of +ignorance, prejudice and power--the poisoned fables of superstition, and +drive from the beautiful face of the earth the fiend of Fear? + +It does seem as though the most zealous Christian must at times +entertain some doubt as to the divine origin of his religion. For +eighteen hundred years the doctrine has been preached. For more than +a thousand years the Church had, to a great extent, the control of the +civilized world, and what has been the result? Are the Christian nations +patterns of charity and forbearance? On the contrary, their principal +business is to destroy each other. More than five millions of Christians +are trained, educated, and drilled to murder their fellow-christians. +Every nation is groaning under a vast debt incurred in carrying on war +against other Christians, or defending itself from Christian assault. +The world is covered with forts to protect Christians from Christians, +and every sea is covered with iron monsters ready to blow Christian +brains into eternal froth. Millions upon millions are annually expended +in the effort to construct still more deadly and terrible engines of +death. Industry is crippled, honest toil is robbed, and even beggary is +taxed to defray the expenses of Christian warfare. There must be some +other way to reform this world. We have tried creed, and dogma and +fable, and they have failed; and they have failed in all the nations +dead. + +The people perish for the lack of knowledge. + +Nothing but education--scientific education--can benefit mankind. We +must find out the laws of nature and conform to them. + +We need free bodies and free minds,--free labor and free +thought,--chainless hands and fetterless brains. Free labor will give us +wealth. Free thought will give us truth. + +We need men with moral courage to speak and write their real thoughts, +and to stand by their convictions, even to the very death. We need have +no fear of being too radical. The future will verify all grand and brave +predictions. Paine was splendidly in advance of his time; but he was +orthodox compared with the Infidels of to-day. + +Science, the great Iconoclast, has been busy since 1809, and by the +highway of Progress are the broken images of the Past. + +On every hand the people advance. The Vicar of God has been pushed from +the throne of the Caesars, and upon the roofs of the Eternal City falls +once more the shadow of the Eagle. + +All has been accomplished by the heroic few. The men of science have +explored heaven and earth, and with infinite patience have furnished +the facts. The brave thinkers have used them. The gloomy caverns of +superstition have been transformed into temples of thought, and the +demons of the past are the angels of to-day. + +Science took a handful of sand, constructed a telescope, and with it +explored the starry depths of heaven. Science wrested from the gods +their thunderbolts; and now, the electric spark, freighted with thought +and love, flashes under all the waves of the sea. Science took a tear +from the cheek of unpaid labor, converted it into steam, created a giant +that turns with tireless arm, the countless wheels of toil. + +Thomas Paine was one of the intellectual heroes--one of the men to whom +we are indebted. His name is associated forever with the Great Republic +As long as free government exists he will be remembered, admired and +honored. + +He lived a long, laborious and useful life. The world is better for his +having lived. For the sake of truth he accepted hatred and reproach for +his portion. He ate the bitter bread of sorrow. His friends were untrue +to him because he was true to himself, and true to them. He lost the +respect of what is called society, but kept his own. His life is what +the world calls failure and what history calls success. + +If to love your fellow-men more than self is goodness, Thomas Paine was +good. + +If to be in advance of your time--to be a pioneer in the direction of +right--is greatness, Thomas Paine was great. + +If to avow your principles and discharge your duty in the presence of +death is heroic, Thomas Paine was a hero. + +At the age of seventy-three, death touched his tired heart. He died +in the land his genius defended--under the flag he gave to the skies. +Slander cannot touch him now--hatred cannot reach him more. He sleeps in +the sanctuary of the tomb, beneath the quiet of the stars. + +A few more years--a few more brave men--a few more rays of light, and +mankind will venerate the memory of him who said: + +"Any system of Religion that shocks the mind of a child cannot be a true +system;" + +"The world is my Country, and to do good my Religion." + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thomas Paine, by Robert G. 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