Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1869-01-13
Ground TO Powder.

ny gty. Lyman ABBOTT ot NEw YORK.
\ few weeks since stood by the grave G
Thomns Paine, in the town Of New Roohel,
4 plain monument marks the site Of hs form
er home, and his final resting place. Erecte
by a few friends, it is covered with signii
cant quotations from his poliiical-rcligiou
writings As stood there and reflected o
his genius, his apparent power, aud hi- rca
weakness, | thought Of Christs strikin
prophecy and its singular historical fRlflmcni
'' On whomsoeyer this stone shall fall i, shal
grind him to powder"
Thomas Paine's early career was fall q
promise He welded a pen whose popula
power has rarely been eqAled, never perhaps
excelled His Rights Of Man, published il
England during the exciting scenes of tn
French Revolution, reached the uuparalce,
circulation of over million of copies. Iii
" Common Sense published six months be
fore the Declaration Of Independence, is sal,
to have severed the last link that bound tn
colonies to the mother country Six day
before the battle Of Trenton the first numbe
of his American Cri.isn was read at tn
head Of every regiment und first aroused, j
Is said, the dropping ardor Of the disheart
enod people When at length that indepeud
encc was secured, 10 which his various ser
Z vices in the cabinet, the field and with tn,
pen had afforded no mean conclusion, no hon
ors seemed TO triumphant Republic to,
great to be lavished on him. Gen Wash
ingtoa received him with peculiar honors al
his guest. The National Congress appropri
7 nfnI 1nnDn al aft tl,.. az.
esteem. New York presented him with
magnificent estate of three hundred acres al
New Rochelle Pennsylvania voted him {
gratuty of $4,000 New Jersey offered hin
a homestead within her borders Virgins
failed only by single vote in the attempted
appropriation to him Of tract Of land valued
at $4,000. It is doubtful says the his
torian Botta, "whether any writer ever pos.
sessed in higher degree the art Of moving
and guiding the multitude at his will" Nc
writer says Thomas Jefferson, - has exceed.
ed Paine, in familiarity OF style, in perspicui
ty of expression, happiness Of elucidation, and
in simple and unassuming language"
Such was the man, who, drinking IN tn,
irreligious philosophy of the French Hcy.
clopedists undertook in his Age of Reason,
at the end of an otherwise memorable life, tc
subyert the principles, and undermine the
authority, of the Christian religion. He did
not deny, but asserted theexistence of a God
the claims Of conscience, and the reality Of
an immortal existence beyond the grave He
simply set his lance in poise TO dcmoish the
Gross of Christ. lnyain did Benjamin Frank.
lin beseech him to repress "A work so shocking
to the religious sensbilities of mankind
Among us, said the sage, " it is not nee.
essary, as among the Iottentots, that u youth
to be raised into the company Of men should
prove his manhood by beating his mother.
Paine persisted. His " Age of Reason for
the moment outrivaled the wide spread pop
ularity of his Common Sense aud his
Rights of Man The Church of Christ
seemed for the moment to tremble under the
blow Christian men feared for the safety OF
their faith before an attack so nudacious, from
pen so powerful But the lance that struck
the Gross of Christ was sshiyered into thous-
and pieces in his hand
His assault was as poweress to move the
Rock Of Ages as the thunder storm to shake
the granite hills over whose heads its harm
less anger plays. The stone which the build
ers refused fell upon him and ground him to
powder. He is left without sect and al
most without follower. His services to
liberty have been obiterated from the memo
ry of mankind, by his assaults upon religion.
He is known 10 but few save as a representa-
tive Of the coarsest infdelity. Even the
broad-minded Quakers would not yield to his
bones resting place in their Christian burial
IL into a
But even death brought no repose. Half a