The Caucasian., 1907-02-05

cate Ill thc lives of many sinful men
whom GOD ut times has cSed for GER
tain purposes. stud. for instance. the
life OF Thomas Paine. Most OF the
present generation never think OF
Thomas Paine except as bldsphemeF
and an enemy of Jesus. When we rnen-
ton his name there rises before Us his
book. The AGE OF Reason" which has
done rs much damage as any book
ever penncd by man, if not more
When Mr.. Paine went to his friend
Benjamin Franklin and placed the
manuscript of his book in his hands
for him to criticiSe before it was pub
lished, NJ" Franklin read the manu-
script and then wrote to Thomas Paine
the following letter:
Franklin to Paine.
Dear Sir-I will not enter into any dis
cusson Of your principles. though YOU
seem to desire it. At present l shall only
give my opinion that, though your reason
fngs are subtle and may prevail with
some readers. vet you will not succeed so
as to change the general sentiments of
mankind upon that subject. and the con-
sequence Of printing this piece will be
great deal of odiun drawn upon yourself.
mischief to you and no benefit to others.
l would advise you, therefore, not to at
tempt to Unchain the tiger, but to burn
this piece before it is seen by any other
PEI on. If men are so wicked with re-
ligion what would they be without it"
He that spits against the wind spits in
his own face B. FRANKLIN.
Reasonable ana f0-~criul letter that.
But Paine would l. ed the warning.
He sent forth his ...4 Of Reason on
its mission Of spiritual aud moral and
pAySical destruction. That book brought
down d hurricane Of odium upon Thorn
as Paine. We hardly ever think Of
him except us the infidel, the bias
phemer and the enemy of society. But
amid YOUR eXc0ria tons of this book do
you recall the fact that Paine the in
fidel was also Paine. one of the great
leaders and most powerful factors in
the struggle for American liberty: In
tIfe darkest days which preceded the
preparation of the Declaration of m
dependence his pen was busy. He
published Il book at that time called
Common Sense" 1t was plea for
national independence. 1t was written
in simple lauguage and was read every
where Dare any man, facing the his
torical facts. declare that God did not
forge out of the blaSphemous pen of Il
scoffing infideI q golden wand to guide
the American people into Independence
hall of Old Philadelphia:
Arnold as Fighter.
Study the life of Benedict Arnold.
We deritie and eXcOriatc that name.
We say: Arnold? Oh yes there is
one Arnold's name which We all hate.
and that is the name of Arnold the
traitor" But Benedict Arnold did not
attempt to betray West Point until
1179. or until the Revolutionary war
was half over During all the Aprelim
mary struggle and during the three.
years of carnage his was a name to
con lure with. and no man was brayer.
no man truer to the American flag
than he. We find the same apparent
incOngrllity in the character of Cath
crime the Great of Russia. whom his
tory regards as one of the greatest
and wisest rulers Russia ever had, al
though her own heart was a selfish
heart of stone and her evil domestic
life the symbol of all that is base and
impure.
Study the life of Napoleon Bona
parte. Who will say that even his
cruel, selfish life was not used by God
as means of ultimate good? Nine.
de Stael denounced his inhumanities in
these words: Far from gaining assur-
ance in meeting BoRaparte oftener. he
intimidated me daily more and more.
I confusedly felt that no emotion of
the heart could possibly take effect up
on him. He looks upon a human being
as fact or as thing, but not as
fellow creature. He does not hate any
more than he loves. There is nothing
for him but himself All other beings
are SO many ciphers. The force of his
will lies in the imperturbable calcula-
ton of his selfishness" And yet this
man, thus characterized by the far
sighted Frenchwoman. this selfish
monster, this human Frankenstein. who
conquered and betrayed millions Of
homes with no more compunction than
q cook would break few eggs to
make an omeiet for breakfast, was the
man who stopped the horrors Of the
French revolution and demolished the
guillotine with one stroke of his sword.
Dare we state that God does not at
times use even the sins of his Jehus
for a good purpose?
In your life and mine we may be DO
ing good in way. We may be helping
some men. We may be giving employ
ment to the poor. We may be kind to
some people But a good deed here
and there does not make US children of
God Jehu was able to avenge the
death of Naboth. In the rumbling of
his chariot wheels we can see the tall
gaunt form of Elijah the Tishbite
bending over bleeding corpse and
pointing his condemning finger at the
cringing and covering king and queen
while he says, Thus saith the Lord
In the place where dogs licked the
blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy
blo0d-even thine" And of Jazebel