The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a New World where men should be free. Columbus is given credit for the discovery of that New World, but it remained for Thomas Paine to so imbue the hearts of men with the desire for freedom; religiously, mentally and spiritually, that they were willing to sacrifice life and all they possessed in order to obtain it. In this he was a worthy disciple of Paracelsus who fought for medical freedom; Agrippa who labored for the freedom of Science, while Luther risked his life for religious liberty.

Thomas Paine, nonsectarian Philosophic Initiate, Brother of all mankind; Member of the Order of the Rose, and L’Ordre du Lis and of the Great, or World Council, was born in England, January 29, 1737. At a very early age he became interested in literary work and showed an intense interest in the rights and liberties of his fellow men.

He was not yet twenty-one when he joined a group composed principally of French and English citizens who were seeking a means to bring about this freedom. Among this group were members of the Royal houses of both France and England, it being the thought of these men that such freedom might be established within the forms of governments as they then existed.

When the Revolution in America became a fact in 1774, Paine immigrated to the United States. Shortly after his arrival, he became editor of the Pennsylvania Magazine. It was not long before he recognized that freedom was impossible under the Governments as they existed and he openly advocated separation and independence.

Inspired by the prophecy of Isaiah and the instructions he had amongst the Brethren in Europe, he started to write his book, Common Sense, putting heart and soul in all he advocated, and this became the incentive of the leaders for American freedom. But for Paine and his fiery leadership, America would not have been able to throw off the shackles of Europe, at least not at that early date.

Paine not alone advocated American Independence; he likewise suggested the formation of the Federal Union of the various States; proposed the abolition of negro slavery, believing it inconsistent for white men to seek freedom while they held the colored man in serfdom.

Besides these principal doctrines for the freedom of man, he made the ideals of human brotherhood real; proposed the education of the poor at public expense; suggested a republic of nations without one nation interfering with the rights of other nations, in the manner that individual families live within a state; and advocated the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.

Paine was a truly great statesman, a born patriot and a philosopher second to none. He, like Franklin, Lincoln, Pike and others, was not in any sense a churchman and this led to the accusation that he was an atheist. Only little minds ignorant of truth so believe.

Paine was a truly spiritual man, a man closer to God than the millions who attended church regularly. Paine felt, and unceasingly made effort accordingly, what the mass professed but actually knew nothing about. His religion was in the heart; his efforts were to make manifest that which he felt within the heart, not by mere profession, but by acts.

The ancestry of Paine was sectarian, like that of Franklin and others. They were Quakers and used to hardship, oppression and taxation beyond reason. The schooling he had was slight, his difficulties were many and these caused him to think, and by thinking, to find solutions for the problems confronting his (and the) people. Like Lincoln, he was forced to seek means of study; to actually be his own instructor.

The coffeehouses in England were the breeding places for some of the greatest institutions of which England is so proud: The Royal Society, the idea of the Great Museums of Ashmole, The Masonic organizations, even the philosophy underlying the Knights of the Garter, though few are aware of this.

Strange as it must appear to those who hold the erroneous idea that Paine was an atheist, his career as a writer and an advocate of human freedom in all its phases had its birth in defending the Quakers in these same coffeehouses, even going to the length of frequently occupying the pulpits in their chapels. Aye, what an age was in the making! The Wesleys were attacking the Church as a whole and calling upon men to live as they professed to believe.

Gibbon was writing his history, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, showing therein the cause of the rise and fall of Nations and how they might avoid it, to which none give heed even unto this day.

Burke was holding forth in the House of Commons.
Boswell was breaking forth in his own way.
David Hume was holding forth on philosophy.
Romney and Gainsborough were engaged in founding the first real school of art.
The Herschels were searching the heavens for comets.
Captain Cook was sailing the seas in search for continents.

Horace Walpole was setting up a printing press at Strawberry Hill, while a mighty band of men who had long been spiritually free, if not politically so, were gathering secretly, laying plans for men’s moral and spiritual freedom. And to these last belonged Thomas Paine, studying with them, planning and preparing; and into this group there silently entered a stranger from a foreign land, Franklin, the Friend.

They were immediately cognizant of the spirit which held sway within each other; they recognized the abilities possessed by each other; they knew what each must do. They became great friends. Franklin recognized the genius of Paine, his part to play in the coming Immortal drama of the freedom of man now held so cheaply by the millions.

They held meetings in the secret places of the Order of the Rose, the one group of free men in all London, and Franklin was inducted as such. Franklin urged Paine to go to America, gave him letters of introduction and on November 30, 1774, Paine set foot on American soil; Paine, the agent or Ambassador of the spirit Isaiah, who was to make manifest that which Isaiah had written: the Freedom of Man in a new World.

Paine was the first to coin the phrases: The American Nation, and The United States of America. He was their father in spirit and fact. To establish both, or to help make possible their establishment, it was necessary for him to awaken the colonists to a realization of their problem, which was to be free from the mother country, possible only in independence.

To achieve this need, Paine gave the people Common Sense, which took them as by storm and aroused them to action, with the result that six months thereafter the Declaration of Independence was written and the revolution—the revolt against injustice and tyranny—not actually against England, followed.

What honor to Paine? The cry of treason on many sides; the later accusation of Atheist on the other. All in all there was one bright spot; the Legislature of Pennsylvania voted Paine an honorarium of three thousand dollars, and the University of Pennsylvania awarded him the degree of Master of Arts. As for the rest, defamation and vilification, but Paine continued to follow a clearly outlined path and it is questionable if he actually was aware of what was being said.

When independence was declared, Paine enlisted as a private, was quickly made aide-de-camp to General Greene and took an active part in various battles, but his work as a writer and awakener of the people was not yet finished. Late in 1776, he published The American Crisis, wherein he clearly indicated the dangers ahead and warned all that now was at hand the time that would try men's souls. The intent and purpose of the booklet was to arouse the courage of the despondent soldiers. Washington immediately recognized its worth and ordered the pamphlet read by the head of every regiment. Issue after issue of The American Crisis followed to help keep up the courage of the army.

Following this, Paine started a subscription list for the purpose of feeding the army that was now well-nigh starving. He personally headed this list with every cent he possessed—fifty dollars. The subscription finally amounted to more than a million and a half. It is now admitted that this alone averted disaster and supported the army until money was received from France at the request of Franklin.

Perhaps no one ever was more fully en rapport with the Immortal spirit (not in a Spiritualistic sense) than our own George Lippard, a later member of the Great Council to which Paine belonged, and it is well to listen to what he had to say, because it is based on historical truth, not on fancy or fiction:

“That book of Common Sense said strange and wonderful things. Listen to it for a moment: ‘But where, say some, is the King of America? I tell you, friend, he reigns above [does this sound like atheism?], and does not make havoc of mankind like the Royal brute of Britain.

“‘Yet that we may not appear to be defective in earthly honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the Charter; let it be brought forth, placed on the Divine Law, the Word of God [does an atheist recognize a Divine Law, a Word of God?]; let a crown be placed thereon by which the world may know that so far as we approve of monarchy, that in America the law is king. For as in absolute government the king is law, so in free countries, the law ought to be king, and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished and scattered among the people whose right it is.’

“Was not that bold language from a little man in a brown coat, to a great King, sitting there in his Royal halls, at once a tyrant and pope to America? Listen to Common Sense again: ‘A greater absurdity cannot be conceived than that three millions of people should be running to their sea coast every time a ship arrives from London, to know what portion of liberty they shall enjoy.’

“And again, here is a paragraph for George of England to give to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to read in all churches after the customary prayers for the Royal family: ‘No man,’ says Common Sense, ‘was a warmer wisher for a reconciliation than myself before the fatal 19th of April, 1775,’ the day of the massacre of Lexington, ‘But the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England forever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his People, can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter and composedly sleep with their blood on his Soul.’

“Listen to the manner in which this great work concludes: ‘... Independence is the only bond that can tie us together.... Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct, and let none other be heard among us than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind and of the free and independent states of America [this term here first used].’

“Need I tell you... that this work, cutting into small pieces the cobwebs of kingship and courtiership, the pitiful absurdity of America being for one hour dependent upon Great Britain, struck a light in every American bosom, was in fact the great cause and forerunner of the Declaration of Independence.

“Now let us follow this man in the brown coat, this Thomas Paine, through the scenes of the Revolution. In the full prime of early manhood he joins the army of the Revolution. He shares the crust and the cold with Washington and his men. He is with those brave soldiers on the toilsome march, with them by the campfire, with them in the hour of battle. And why is he with them? Is the day dark, has the battle been bloody, do the American soldiers despair? Hark! That printing press yonder, that printing press that moves with the American host in all its wanderings, is scattering pamphlets through the ranks of the army. Pamphlets written by the author-soldier, Thomas Paine, writing sometimes on the head of a drum, or by the midnight fire, or amid the corpses of the dead; pamphlets that stamp great hopes and greater truths in plain words upon the Souls of the Continental Army.

“Tell me, was not that a sublime sight, to see a man of genius, who might have shone as an orator, a poet, a novelist, following with untiring devotion the footsteps of the Continental Army? Yes, in the dark days of ’76, when the soldiers of Washington tracked their footsteps on the soil of Trenton, in the snows of Princeton, there, first among the heroes and patriots, there, unflinching in the hour of defeat, writing his Crisis by the light of the campfire, was the author-hero, Thomas Paine.

“Yes, look yonder: behold the Crisis read by every corporal in the army of Washington, read to the listening group of soldiers; look what joy, what hope, what energy, gleams over those veteran faces, as words like these break on their ears: ‘These are the times that try men's Souls. The summer soldiers and the sunshine patriots will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph [this is true in all affairs of life].’

“Do not words like these stir up the blood? Yet can you imagine their effect, when read to groups of starved and bleeding soldiers, by the dim watchfire, in the cold air of the winter dawn? Such words as these stirred up the Continentals to the attack on Trenton; and there in the dawn of glorious morning George Washington, standing sword in hand, over the dead body of the Hessian, Ralle, confessed the magic influence of the author-hero, Thomas Paine.

“Now, let us change the scene. Come with me over three thousand miles of waves, come with me to Paris. Come with me, past yon heap of rocks and burnt embers; the ruins of the Bastille. Come with me, through these scattered crowds who murmur in the streets. Hush! Hold your breath as you enter this wide hall. What see you now? A splendid chamber; splendid, because encircled with the architectural trophies of four hundred years—a splendid chamber, crowded by one dense mass of human beings. Here—and there—wherever you look, you see nothing but that wall of human faces. Does not the awful silence that broods here, in this splendid salon, strike your hearts with an impression of strange omen? Tell me, oh tell me, and tell me at once, what means the horror that I see brooding and gathering over this wall of faces? Listen!

“Here in this hall the people of France have gathered. They have come from the fair valley of Provence and Dauphine, from the wilds of Bretagne, from the palaces and huts of Paris, the people have gathered to try a great criminal. That criminal, sits yonder in the felon’s seat, a man of respectable appearance, sitting there, with a woman of strange loveliness by his side—sitting there, with the only unclouded brow in all this vast assemblage!

“That criminal is Louis Capet. He is to be tried here today, for treason to the people of France! And when you look upon the mild-visaged man, sitting there, with the beautiful woman by his side, and feel inclined to pity him, to weep for that tender woman; as you see the lowering looks of this vast crowd directed to the pair; as you feel that this awful silence brooding and gathering on every side speaks a terror, a horror more to be feared than the loudest words, then, as pity, sympathy, gather over your hearts, then I pray you, in the name of God, to remember, that this man here sits clothed with the groans, the tears, the blood of fifteen million people; yes, that the mildly beautiful pearls, that rise and fall, with every pulsation of that woman's bosom, if transformed into their original elements, would flood the wide hall with two rivers; a river of tears and a river of blood! For now, as the great question is about to be decided, shall Louis, the Traitor-King, live or die, let us for a moment, I beseech you, look at the great moral, the great truth of this scene.

“Ah, is it not a sublime sight, this that breaks upon our eyes; a king on trial for treason to his people? For ages and ages these kings have waded up to thrones through rivers of blood; yes, built their thrones upon islands of dead bodies, centered in those rivers of blood, and now, the cry of vengeance [always a crime, therefore an evil], rising from fifteen millions up to God, has pierced the eternal ear and called his vengeance down!

“Hark! at this moment as the vote is about to be taken, a man short in stature, yet with a bold brow, rises yonder, rises and pleads for the life of the Traitor-King. Yes, with outstretched hands, and earnest voice, a gleaming eye, that man pleads for the life of Louis of France. ‘Let us not’ he exclaims, ‘stain our glorious cause even with the blood of a king! all punishments of death are abhorent in the eyes of God [how deep was the respect of God in this man's heart?] Let us tell to the world that we found this king guilty of treason, treason to his people. But that we scorn to take his guilty life! Punish-ment by death is a libel on God and man; let us spare the Traitor-King! Let us remember that this government with its ocean of crimes, had one redeeming trait!

“‘It was this king who gave Arms and men to Washington in the war of the American Revolution. Let, then, these United States be the safeguard and asylum of Louis Capet. There, far removed from the miseries and crimes of royalty, he may learn that the system of government consists not in kings but in the people.’

“Ah, that man, who stood there alone in the breathless hall, with such mighty eloquence warming over his lofty brow? That man was one of that illustrious band who had been made citizens of France—France the redeemed and new born! Yes, with Macintosh, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson and Washington, he had been elected a citizen of France. With these great men he hailed the era of the French Revolution as the dawn of God's Millennium [where justice, not murder, should reign as in new-born America]. He had hurried to Paris, urged by the same deep love of man that accompanied him in the dark hours of the American Revolution, and there, there pleading for the Traitor-King, alone in that breathless hail he stood, the author-hero, Thomas Paine.

“We have seen Thomas Paine standing alone in the judgment hall of the French nation—even amid that sea of scowling faces—for the life of King Louis [the man, who, for all his evils, had smiled upon, and helped to save America]. We have seen him with Washington, Hamilton, Macintosh, Franklin and Jefferson, elected a citizen of France. With these great men, he hailed the dawn of the French Revolution [as he had hailed the American], as the breaking of God’s millennium; as the first great effort of man to free himself from the lash and chain since the crucifixion of the Savior.

“But soon the dawn was overcast; soon the light of burning rafters flashed luridly over scenes of blood; soon all that is grotesque, or terrible, or loathsome in murder, was enacted in the streets of Paris. The lantern posts bore their ghastly fruit; the streets flowed with crimson rivers; the life-blood of ten thousand hearts, down even to the waters of the Seine.

“Lafayette and Paine, and all the heroes were gone from the councils of France, and in their place, in the place of Poetry, Enthusiasm and Eloquence for freedom and justice, spoke a mighty orator—King Guillotine. For eleven months Thomas Paine lay sweltering in jail. Let us go to the prison, even to the Palace Prison of the Luxemburg. It is high noon. A band of eighty, clustered around that prison door, silently await their fate. Here amid white-haired old men, here amid trembling women, all watching for the coming of the death-messenger—here, silent, stern, composed, stands the author-hero, Thomas Paine.

“At last, the jailor opens the gates and shrieks: ‘Go forth, young and old; go forth, all! For Catiline Robespierre is dead!’”

Besides all that he did, he left a priceless legacy to the men of all nations who love their Freedom and seek to keep it, in words that should be burned into the consciousness of all men:

“He who would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression. For if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

Such was our Brother Thomas Paine! Philosopher, Author, Soldier, Pleader against all injustice, even to the guilty; Member of the Great Council of the Fraternitas Rosæ Crucis that first met in America, in the city of Philadelphia; Father of American Freedom; Lover of His Fellow Men—Immortal.

Thomas Paine passed to the sphere where only those who made themselves free are admitted, June 8, 1809.

Return to Previous Page