, 1877-02-24

ration, and cried, destroy the king but
spare the man" And they said this
cannot be Thomas Paine, the author Of
Common Sense and the Rights of Man -
but he answered by voting against the
execution Of the French king at the per,
il OF his own life. In this he incurred
the dispcasure of the then ruling fac
tion, and was imprisoned and condemned
TO death, but WAS saved hv means Of TN
accident which in the case Of n Chris
tian would have been considered mira.
Gle, and evidence OF divine favor His
cell door was marked for execution, but
was open at The time and marked ON the
wrong side, and when the cXccutiunrr
came was closed and the mark on the in.
side
His religious creed has been lut little
understood; it was to do good, love
mercy and strive to make Others happy.
=
No one can say that he did not follow it
strictly. His Age OF Reason" was un.
answcrable, and the only recourse left
the hircling priests was to break the force
ot his arguments by snndering and
bIackening bis character His argu.
ments could not be answered, for they
were self evident propositions stated in
plain English. An attempt to answer
required a statement, and a bare state
mnt carried conviction aud was danger
Gus, and it is likely that Watson's Apol
ogy has made more i iidcls than Chris.
tians for that very reason. He was com.
PEELED to state the position Of Paine he.
fore attempting an answer Here was
reduced the sublime ot Bolirgbrokc and
the learning Of the philosophers to plain
common sense English. He surely went
through the Bible rs man would 80
through wood with an axe on his
shoulder and tell trees. There they lie,
and the priests have endrnyored in vain
to rcplant them. They stick them in the
ground, but they will never grow.
But the ass could kick the dead lion
and they found abundance Of means
to slonder the dead. Cheetpm Shndcr.
cd the living and the deaf in his life
Of Paine for slandering the living he
was sued ndiudgment recovered against
him, but the dead deist he could SANDER
with impunity, and the sniveling priests
have fastened it aud none have resent
ed. The silly servant girl of Will
itz Hicks, Il Quaker preacher, was
used as a convenient witness.
Although this woman when cross ques-
toned concerning The matte. evadcd and
refused to answer. Although Mr.. Hicks
declares that she could not possibly have
been in Paine's house mt the time she il |
represented to have been there. Al. |
though Mr.. Hicks declares that She was |
not of the intelligence or character to
enlist Mr.. Paine in u conversation upon |
snch subject or upon any subject what
ever and although she is contradictcd |
and impeached by a dozen respectable
witnesses in almost every particular of
her story, yet the Christian world has
cIung to the idea and gloated over the
imaginary horrors of his death bed, his
poverty, misery and recantat0n hoping
thereby to destroy the value Of his un-
answerable argument; but in this they
are mistaken for an argument like nm
arrow sent from cross bow goes with
as great force waen shot by puny
child as by the most sincwy arm.
in conclusion believe justice will yet
be done to the memory of Thomas Paine
When the chains upon mental freedom
shall be forever shattered, and men shall
learn to think for themselves and shall |
learn more Of Paine, and his work and
his self-sacrificing devotion to the good
OF his fellow men they will learn to love
him and recognize his merit. He gave
the best energies of his life for the good
ofman and prosperity will not forget him.
lie lighted the fires Of oflibcrty and the
sons of liberty will rise and call him
blessed. A better day is coming-the
days OF persecution of intolerance and
superstition will soon be over When a
man will not be measured by what he |