The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-03-14
TOM PAINE.

| IerrlD& 70 INC anne celeDrdtion IL
this city, carried the idea that Paine did
not believe IN God, or a further state
Of existence.
VIII you be kind enough to publish
the enclosed extract transcribed from
page 26S of Paine's theological writings
q I" The idea of future state was a uni
versal idea to sall nations except the
Jews, at-sls4 time aud long before Jesus
were born sit had been sublimely treat
ed of By Cicero, In his book on old age
by Plato Socrates, Xenophou and other
of the ancient Theologists, whom the
abusive Christian Church calls Heather.
Xenophon represents the elder Cyrus as
speaking after this manner" think not
my dearest children, that when depart
from you l shall be no more, but remem-
Der that my soul, while 1 live among
you, was invisible to you, yet by my ao-
tions you were sensible that it existed
in his body:-believe it therefore exist
ing still, though it be still unseen. How
quickly would the honor of illustrious
men perish after death, if their souls per-
formed nothing to preserve their fame.
" For my own part says Paine l
could never think that the soul while
in mortal body lives, but when depart
ed from it dies, or that its consciousness
is lost wher it is discharged out of an un-
conscious habitation. But when it is
freed from all corporeal alliance it is then
that it truly exists'' .ae-5
As to his belief in God, Paine says:
believe in one God and no more" +"
Yours, - L.
COMMENTS.
We could, had we been called upon
have furnished further evidence of the
fact that Paine believed in God, and
therefore instead of disputing that point
will add to the testimony in favor of
L,'sn position. Doct. james R. Man
ley-who attended Paine in his last i'll
ness-in letter dated October 2. 1909,
says:
g I recollect being with him at night,
watching; he was very apprehensiye of
speedy dissolution, and suffered great
distress of body, and perhaps efmind,
for he vas waiting the event Of an ap-
plication to the Society Of Friends, for
permission that his corpse might be de-
posted III their grave ground, and had
TSazbsSetts aelfoS tif5t-ti ec-tllest might
! be refused,) when he remarked in these
words think can say what they
make Jesus Christ to say-My God, My
God, why hast thou forsaken me 2''
Inasmuch as the character of Tom
Paine has been pointed to as worthy of
imitation, and inasmuch as his birth day,
IN the eye of his admirers, is worthy of
public observance, we deem it strictly
in the line of our duty as journalists, to
make some extracts from history, illus
trative of the personal habits and char
acter of this man, whom few Germans,
and still fewer native citizens, delight to
honor.
In testimony of the character of Tom
Paine, we shall introduce vaaious wit
nesses, to wit: Paine's ardent follow
er and disciple, and-until near the
close of life-intimate friend, Robert
Carver PA Paine's Biographer, DR.. Cheet-
ham ;-Paine's Physician, Doct. Man.
ley Grant Thorburn, still living in
Connecticut and finally Tom Paine
himself
PAINE's CHARACTER.
Grant Ihorburn, now S3 years of age,
in letter dated e Winsted, Connecti-
cut, Feb. ls, 1885," says:
And as there is but step between
me and death, owe it to generations
yet to come, to tell what [ saw and
heard of Thomas Paine. Perhaps there
lives not man on earth, who traced him
from his cradle to his grave, except my
self Carver and 1 Eere felloW-laborers
in the same shop. Paine and Carver
4 were born IN the same town in England.
Paine and 1 boarded with Carver.
often heard Carver, his wife, and Paine,
as we four sat by the FIRE on winter
night, rehearse the items of his life. 1
think he was the worst member of the
body polite l ever met in all my jour
ney through life. He married a respect
able lady, who died eleven months there
after, in consequence of brutal treat
ment He then marriid daughter of
the Collector of the Port of Lewis; af-
ter three years she obtained divorce
for like treatment.
Paine, on his return from France,
was unable to find lodgings. Carver
took him in for an old acquaintance
sake He died at Greenwich, of deliri-
um tremens, in 1909.
Carver, in letter which he wrote to
Paine himself, says:
You have written well on just and
righteous principles, and dealt them out
to others but totally deny them in
practice yourself; and for my part, I
6elie0e yow 1lever possessed them.
Doct. Manley-Paine's last physi-
cian-says of him as follows:
During the whole course ofhis. illness,
his petulenco, vanity, and self-wiil were
SO excessive, that he of all others should,
from motives of policy, have been indu-
ced to keep term with Christians, as his
temper was as TO preclude the possibii-
ty of his enjoying the sincerity of friend
ship, and none but they and the beet of
them, too,) could passess charity suff-
eient to cover its manfsold imperfee-
tions.
Cheetham, the biographer, says:
His Paine's) conduct towards his
wife was sufficient to blast the memory
of a man even in all other respect vir-
tuous; but Paine had no good qualities.
Incapable of friendship, he was vain,
envious, malignant in France coward
Ily, and everywhere tyrannical., In his
private dealings he was unjust, never
thinking of paying for. what he contract