Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-03-30
Ground to Powder.
BY REV. LYMAN ABBOTT, OF NEW YORK.

A few weeks since I stood by the
grave of Thomas Paine, in the town
of New Rochelle. A plain monument
marks the site of his former home
and his final resting place. Erected
by few friends, it is covered with
significant quotations from his politi
cal-religious writings. As I stood
there and reflected on his genius, his
apparent power, and his real weak.
ness, | thought of Christ's striking
prophecy and its singular historical
tulfillment: "On whomsoever this stone
shall fall it shall grind him to pow
der"
Thomas Paine's early career was
full of promise. He welded a pen
whose popular power has rarely been
equalled, never perhaps excelIed.-
His Rights of Man, published in Eng
land during the exciting scenes of the
French Revolution, reached the unpar,
alleled circulation of over a million
of copies. His Common Sense" pub
lished six months before the Declara
tlon OF independence, is said to have
severed the last link that bound the
colonies to the mother country. Six
days before the battle of Trenton the
first number of his american Crisis
was read at the head of every regi
ment, and first aroused, it is said, the
dropping ardor of the dishearteneC
people. When at length that inde
pendence was secured, to which his
various services in the cabinet, the
field and with the pen had afforded
no mean conclusion, no honors seem
ed to a triumphant Republic too great
to be lavished on him. Gen. Wash
ington received him with peculiar hon
ors as his guest. The National Con
gress appropriated $4,000 as a testi
monial of the nations esteem. New
York presented him with a magnifi
cent estate of three hundred acres a
New Rochelle. Pennsylvania voteC
him gratuity Of $500. New Jer
sey offered him a homestead within
her borders. Virginia failed only by
single vote In the attempted appro
priatiOn to him of a tract of land val
ued at $20,000 at is doubtful
says the historian Botta. "whether any
writer ever possessed in a higher de
gree the art OF moving and guiding
the multitude at his will" "No wri
ter" says Thomas Jefferson, "has ex
ceeded Paine, in familiarity of style
in perspicuity Of expression, happines:
Of calculation, and in sim pie and un
assuming language"
Such was the man, who, drinking
in the irreligious philosophy of the
French Encyclopedias, undertook il
his Age of Reason" at the end of al
otherwise memorable life, to subver
the principles, and undermine the au
thority, of the Christian religion
He did not deny, but asserted the ex
istence OF God, the claims Of con
science, and the reality of an immor
tai existence beyond the grave. Fl,
simply set his lance in poise to demol
ish the Cross of Christ. In vain diC
Benjamin Franklin beseech him to re
press work so shocking to the reli
glOus sen5ibilities ofmankind. canon,
us, said the sage, "it is not necessa
ry, as among the Hottentots, that
, youth to be raised into the compan,
Of men should prove his manhood b,
beating his mother" :" Paine persist
ed. His Age of Reason" for the me
ment outrivaled the wide spread pop
ularity Of his Common Sense" an
his "Rights of Man." The Church O
Christ seemed for the moment t
, tremble under the blow. Christia
men feared for the safety of their fait
before an attack so audacious, from
+ pen so powerful. But the lance tha
: struck the Cross of Christ was shiy
cred into thousand pieces in hi
> hand.
His assault was as powerless t
I move the Rock of Ages as the thur
I der storm to shake the granite hill
. over whose heads its harmless ange
plays. The stone which the builder
r refused fell upon him and ground hir
to powder. He is left without sec
+ and almost without a follower. hi
services to liberty have been obliter;
g ted from the memory of mankind, b
r his assaults upon religion. He
:. known to but few save as a represel
tative of the coarsest infdelity. Eve
q the broad-minded Quakers would nc
: yield to his bones a resting place i
+ their Christian burial ground. Il
was inferred upon his own farm. b
7 even death brought no repose. Hal
I a century ago, from his violated tom
p his remains were removed to Englan,
!. An enthusiastic friend anticipated ft
. them there warm welcome. But nor
K was so poor as to do them reverenc
Dispersed, as by the judgments of A
mighty God, not even the place c
E, their final burial has history recorde
v His works have well nigh disappea
IS ed from literature, his memory fro
f fame, his very bones from their grav
It And the name and life of Thorn;
n Paine remain a monumental testim
IS NAL to the truth of the prophecy &c
" whomsoever it shall fall it shall grin
d him to powder"
s. As | reflected On the moral of tE
ar life and death | found myself tracil
lv its parallel in other lives and in 9th
e. epochs. What has become of all Il
,e faces and forms of philosophic thoug
at which were in league against Jes1
n while he lived? Herodian, Sadduce
re Pharisee, these are not idle name
h. bnt represent classes and thinker
who in their day controlled their 4
,e ton. But they and their syster
= have perished from the very memo
40 of mankind. Herculaneum and POI
IN peii We're not SO completely whelme
o.t.o, &c looI 4Lo.rrbf ho,