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Is it nothing to free the mind? Is it nothing to civilize mankind? Is
it nothing to fill the world with light, with discovery, with science?
Is it nothing to dignify man and exalt the intellect. Is it nothing to
grope your way into the dreary prisons, the damp and dropping dungeons,
the dark and silent cells of superstition, where the souls of men are
chained to floors of stone; to greet them like a ray of light, like the
song of a bird, the murmur of a stream, to see the dull eyes open and
grow slowly bright; to feel yourself grasped by the shrunken and unused
hands, and hear yourself thanked by a strange and hollow voice? Is it
nothing to conduct these souls gradually into the blessed light of day--
to let them see again the happy fields, the sweet, green earth, and hear
the everlasting music of the waves? Is it nothing to make men wipe the
dust from their swollen knees, the tears from their blanched and
furrowed cheeks? Is it a small thing to reave the heavens of an
insatiate monster and write upon the eternal dome, glittering with
stars, the grand word liberty? Is it a small thing to quench the thirst
of hell with the holy tears of piety, break all the chains, put out the
fires of civil war, stay the sword of the fanatic, and tear the bloody
hands of the church from the white throat of progress? Is it a small
thing to make men truly free, to destroy the dogmas of ignorance,
prejudice, and power, the poisoned fables of superstition, and drive
from the beautiful face of the earth the fiend of fear?

It does seem as though the most zealous Christians must at times
entertain some doubt as to the divine origin of his religion. For
eighteen hundred years the doctrine has been preached. For more than a
thousand years the church had, to a great extent, the control of the
civilized world, and what has been the result? Are the Christian nations
patterns of charity and forbearance? On the contrary, their principal
business is to destroy each other. More than five millions of
Christians are trained and educated and drilled to murder their fellow-
Christians. Every nation is groaning under a vast debt incurred in
carrying on war against other Christians, or defending itself from
Christian assault. The world is covered with forts to protect
Christians from Christians, and every sea is covered with iron monsters
ready to blow Christian brains into eternal froth. Millions upon
millions are annually expended in the effort to construct still more
deadly and terrible engines of death. Industry is crippled, honest toil
is robbed, and even beggary is taxed to defray the expenses of Christian
murder. There must be some other way to reform this world. We have
tried creed and dogma, and fable, and they have failed--and they have
failed in all the nations dead.

Nothing but education--scientific education--can benefit mankind. We
must find out the laws of nature and conform to them. We need free
bodies and free minds, free labor and free thought, chainless hands and
fetterless brains. Free labor will give us wealth. Free thought will
give us truth. We need men with moral courage to speak and write their
real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the very
death. We need have no fear of being too radical. The future will
verify all grand and brave predictions. Paine was splendidly in advance
of his time, but he was orthodox compared to the infidels of today.

Science, the great iconoclast, has been very busy since 1809, and by the
highway of progress are the broken images of the past. On every hand
the people advance. The vicar of God has been pushed from the throne of
the Caesars, and upon the roofs of the Eternal city falls once more the
shadow of the eagle. All has been accomplished by the heroic few. The
men of science have explored heaven and earth, and with infinite
patience have furnished the facts. The brave thinkers have aided them.
The gloomy caverns of superstition have been transformed into temples of
thought, and the demons of the past are the angels of today.

Science took a handful of sand, constructed a telescope, and with it
explored the starry depths of heaven. Science wrested from the gods
their thunderbolts; and now, the electric spark freighted with thought
and love, flashes under all the waves of the sea. Science took a tear
from the cheek of unpaid labor, converted it into steam, and created a
giant that turns with tireless arm the countless wheels of toil.

Thomas Paine was one of the intellectual heroes, one of the men to whom
we are indebted. His name is associated forever with the great
republic. He lived a long, laborious, and useful life. The world is
better for his having lived. For the sake of truth he accepted hatred
and reproach for his portion. He ate the bitter bread of neglect and
sorrow. His friends were untrue to him because he was true to himself
and true to them. He lost the respect of what is called society, but
kept his own. His life is what the world calls failure, and what
history calls success.

If to love your fellow-men more than self is goodness, Thomas Paine was
good. If to be in advance of your time, to be a pioneer in the
direction of right, is greatness, Thomas Paine was great. If to avow
your principles and discharge your duty in the presence of death is
heroic, Thomas Paine was a hero.

At the age of 73, death touched his tired heart. He died in the land
his genius defended, under the flag he gave to the skies. Slander can
not touch him now; hatred can not reach him more. He sleeps in the
sanctuary of the tomb, beneath the quiet of the stars. A few more
years, a few more brave men, a few more rays of light, and mankind will
venerate the memory of him who said:

"Any system of religion that shocks the mind of a child can not be a
true system. The world is my country, and to do good my religion."

The next question is: Did Thomas Paine recant? Mr. Paine had
prophesied that fanatics would crawl and cringe around him during his
last moments. He believed that they would put a lie in the mouth of
death. When the shadow of the coming dissolution was upon him, two
clergymen, Messrs. Milledollar and Cunningham, called to annoy the dying
man. Mr. Cunningham had the politeness to say: "You have now a full
view of death; you can not live long; whoever does not believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, will assuredly be damned." Mr. Paine replied: "Let
me have none of your popish stuff. Get away with you. Good morning."
On another occasion a Methodist minister obtruded himself. Mr. Willet
Hicks was present. The minister declared to Mr. Paine that "unless he
repented of his unbelief he would be damned." Paine, although at the
door of death, rose in his bed and indignantly requested the clergyman
to leave the room. On another occasion, two brothers by the name of
Pigott sought to convert him. He was displeased, and requested their
departure. Afterward, Thomas Nixon and Capt. Daniel Pelton visited him
for the express purpose of ascertaining whether he had, in any manner,
changed his religious opinions. They were assured, by the dying man
that he still held the principles he had expressed in his writings.

Afterward, these gentlemen, hearing that William Cobbet was about to
write a life of Paine, sent him the following note: I must tell you now
that it is of great importance to find out whether Paine recanted. If
he recanted, then the Bible is true--you can rest assured that a spring
of water gushed out of a dead dry bone. If Paine recanted, there is not
the slightest doubt about that donkey making that speech to Mr. Baalam--
not the slightest--and if Paine did not recant, then the whole thing is
a mistake. I want to show that Thomas Paine died as he has lived, a
friend of man and without superstition, and if you will stay here I will
do it.

"New York, April 21, 1818.--Sir: Having been informed that you have a
design to write a history of the life and writings of Thomas Paine, if
you have been furnished with materials in respect to his religious
opinions, or rather of his recantation of his former opinions before his
death, all you have heard of his recanting is false. Being aware that
such reports would be raised after his death by fanatics who infested
his house at the time it was expected he would die, we, the subscribers,
intimate acquaintances of Thomas Paine since the year 1776, went to his
house. He was sitting up in a chair, and apparently in full vigor and
use of all his mental faculties. We interrogated him upon his religious
opinions, and if he had changed his mind, or repented of anything he had
said or wrote on that subject. He answered, "Not at all," and appeared
rather offended at our supposition that any change should take place in
his mind. We took down in writing the questions put to him and his
answers thereto, before a number of persons then in his room, among whom
were his doctor, Mrs. Bonneville, etc. This paper is mislaid and can
not be found at present, but the above is the substance, which can be
attested by many living witnesses.--Thomas Nixon, Daniel Pelton"

Mr. Jarvis, the artist, saw Mr. Paine one or two days before his death.
To Mr. Jarvis he expressed his belief in his written opinions upon the
subject of religion. B.F. Haskin, an attorney of the City of New York,
also visited him, and inquired as to his religious opinions. Paine was
then upon the threshold of death, but he did not tremble, he was not a
coward. He expressed his firm and unshaken belief in the religious
ideas he had given to the world.

Dr. Manly was with him when he spoke his last words. Dr. Manly asked
the dying man, and Dr. Manly was a Christian, if he did not wish to
believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and the dying philosopher
answered: "I have no wish to believe on that subject." Amasa
Woodsworth sat up with Thomas Paine the night before his death. In 1839
Gilbert Vale, hearing that Woodsworth was living in or near Boston,
visited him for the purpose of getting his statement, and the statement
was published in The Beacon of June 5, 1830, and here it is:

"We have just returned from Boston. One object of our visit to that
city was to see Mr. Amasa Woodsworth, an engineer, now retired in a
handsome cottage and garden at East Cambridge, Boston. This gentleman
owned the house occupied by Paine at his death, while he lived next
door. As an act of kindness, Mr. Woodsworth visited Mr. Paine every day
for six weeks before his death. He frequently sat up with him and did
so on the last two nights of his life. He was always there with Dr.
Manly, the physician, and assisted in removing Mr. Paine while his bed
was prepared. He was present when Dr. Manly asked Mr. Paine if he
wished to believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He said that
lying on his back he used some action and with much emphasis replied:
'I have no wish to believe on that subject.' He lived some time after
this, but was not known to speak, for he died tranquilly. He accounts
for the insinuating style of Dr. Manly's letter by stating that that
gentleman, just after its publication, joined a church. He informs us
that he has openly proved the doctor for the falsity contained in the
spirit of that letter, boldly declaring before Dr. Manly, who is still
living, that nothing which he saw justified the insinuations. Mr.
Woodsworth assures us that he neither heard nor saw anything to justify
the belief of any mental change in the opinions of Mr. Paine previous to
his death; but that being very ill and in pain, chiefly arising from the
skin being removed in some parts by long lying, he was generally too
uneasy to enjoy conversation on abstract subjects. This, then, is the
best evidence that can be procured on this subject, and we publish it
while the contravening parties are yet alive, and with the authority of
Mr. Woodsworth.--Gilbert Vale"

A few weeks ago I received the following letter, which confirms the
statement of Mr. Vale:

"Near Stockton, Cal., Greenwood Cottage, July 9. 1877.--Col. Ingersoll:
In 1812 I talked with a gentleman in Boston. I have forgotten his name;
but he was then an engineer of the Charleston navy yard. I am thus
particular so that you can find his name on the books. He told me that
he nursed Thomas Paine in his last illness and closed his eyes when
dead. I asked him if he recanted and called upon God to save him. He
replied: No; he died as he had taught. He had a sore upon his side,
and when we turned him it was very painful, and he would cry out, 'O
God!' or something like that. 'But,' said the narrator, 'that was
nothing, for he believed in a God.' I told him that I had often heard
it asserted from the pulpit that Mr. Paine had recanted in his last
moment. The gentleman said that it was not true, and he appeared to be
an intelligent, truthful man. With respect, I remain, etc., Philip
Graves, M.D."

The next witness is Willet Hicks, a Quaker preacher. He says that
during the last illness of Mr. Paine he visited him almost daily, and
that Paine died firmly convinced of the truth of the religious opinions
that he had given to his fellow-men. It was to this same Willet Hicks
that Paine applied for permission to be buried in the cemetery of the
Quakers. Permission was refused. This refusal settles the question of
recantation. If he had recanted, of course there would have been no
objection to his body being buried by the side of the best hypocrites in
the earth. If Paine recanted, why should he denied "a little earth for
charity?" Had he recanted, it would have been regarded as a vast and
splendid triumph for the gospel. It would, with much noise and pomp and
ostentation, have been heralded about the world.

Here is another letter:

"Peoria, Ill., Oct. 8, 1877.--Robert G. Ingersoll--Esteemed Friend: My
parents were Friends (Quakers). My father died when I was very young.
The elderly and middle-aged Friends visited at my mother's house. We
lived in the City of New York. Among the number I distinctly remember
Elias Hicks, Willet Hicks, and a Mr. -- Day, who was a bookseller in
Pearl St. There were many others whose names I do not now remember.
The subject of the recantation of Thomas Paine of his views about the
Bible in his last illness, or any other time, was discussed by them in
my presence at different times. I learned from them that some of them
had attended upon Thomas Paine in his last sickness, and ministered to
his wants up to the time of his death. And upon the question of whether
he did recant there was but one expression. They all said that he did
not recant in any manner. I often heard them say they wished he had
recanted. In fact, according to them, the nearer he approached death
the more positive he appeared to be in his convictions. These
conversations were from 1820 to 1822. I was at that time from ten to
twelve years old, but these conversations impressed themselves upon me
because many thoughtless people then blamed the society of Friends for
their kindness to that "arch-infidel," Thomas Paine. Truly yours, A.C.
Hankenson"

A few days ago I received the following:

"Albany, N.Y., Sept. 27, 1877.--Dear Sir: It is over twenty years ago
that, professionally, I made the acquaintance of John Hogeboom, a
justice of the peace of the County Rensselaer, New York. He was then
over seventy years of age, and had the reputation of being a man of
candor and integrity. He was a great admirer of Paine. He told me he
was personally acquainted with him, and used to see him frequently
during the last years of his life in the City of New York, where
Hogeboom then resided. I asked him if there was any truth in the charge
that Paine was in the habit of getting drunk. He said that it was
utterly false; that he never heard of such a thing during the lifetime
of Mr. Paine, and did not believe anyone else did. I asked him about
the recantation of his religious opinions on his deathbed, and the
revolting deathbed scenes that the world heard so much about. He said
there was no truth in them; that he had received his information from
persons who attended Paine in his last illness, and that he passed
peacefully, as we may say, in the sunshine of a great soul. Yours
truly, W.J. Hilton"

The witnesses by whom I substantiate the fact that Thomas Paine did not
recant, and that he died holding the religious opinions he had published
are:

1. Thomas Nixon, Capt. Daniel Pelton, B.F. Haskin. These gentlemen
visited him during his last illness for the purpose of ascertaining
whether he had, in any respect, changed his views upon religion. He
told them that he had not.

2. James Cheetham. This man was the most malicious enemy Mr. Paine
had, and yet he admits that "Thomas Paine died placidly, and almost
without a struggle."--Life of Thomas Paine, by James Cheetham.

3. The ministers, Milledollar and Cunningham. These gentleman told Mr.
Paine that if he died without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, he
would be damned, and Paine replied: "Let me have none of your popish
stuff. Good morning."--Sherwin's Life of Paine, page 220.

4. Mrs. Hedden. She told these same preachers, when they attempted to
obtrude themselves upon Mr. Paine again, that the attempt to convert Mr.
Paine was useless; "that if God did not change his mind, no human power
could."

5. Andrew A. Dean. This man lived upon Paine's farm, at New Rochelle,
and corresponded with him upon religious subjects.--Paine's Theological
Works, page 308.

6. Mr. Jarvis, the artist with whom Paine lived. He gives an account
of an old lady coming to Paine, and telling him that God Almighty had
sent her to tell him that unless he repented and believed in the blessed
savior he would be damned. Paine replied that God would not send such a
foolish old woman with such an impertinent message.--Clio Rickman's Life
of Paine.

7. William Carver, with whom Paine boarded. Mr. Carver said again and
again that Paine did not recant. He knew him well, and had every
opportunity of knowing.--Life of Paine, by Vale.

8. Dr. Manly, who attended him in his last sickness, and to whom Paine
spoke his last words. Dr. Manly asked him if he did not wish to believe
in Jesus Christ. and he replied: "I have no wish to believe on that
subject."

9. Willet Hicks and Elias Hicks, who were with him frequently during
his last sickness, and both of whom tried to persuade him to recant.
According to their testimony Mr. Paine died as he lived--a believer in
God and a friend to man. Willet Hicks was offered money to say
something false against Paine. He was even offered money to remain
silent, and allow others to slander the dead. Mr. Hicks, speaking of
Thomas Paine, said: "He was a good man. Thomas Paine was an honest
man."

10. Amasa Woodsworth, who was with him every day for some six weeks
immediately preceding his death, and sat up with him the last two nights
of his life. This man declares that Paine did not recant, and that he
died tranquilly. The evidence of Mr. Woodsworth is conclusive.

11. Thomas Paine himself. The will of Mr. Paine, written by himself,
commences as follows: "The last will and testament of me, the
subscriber, Thomas Paine, reposing confidence in my Creator, God, and in
no other being, for I know of no other, nor believe in any other," and
closes with these words: "I have lived an honest and useful life to
mankind. My time has been spent in doing good, and I die in perfect
composure and resignation to the will of my Creator, God."

12. If Thomas Paine recanted, why do you pursue him? If he recanted he
died in your belief. For what reason, then, do you denounce his death
as cowardly? If upon his death-bed he renounced the opinions he had
published, the business of defaming him should be done by infidels, not
by Christians. I ask Christians if it is honest to throw away the
testimony of his friends, the evidence of fair and honorable men, and
take the putrid words of avowed and malignant enemies? When Thomas
Paine was dying he was infested by fanatics, by the snaky spies of
bigotry. In the shadows of death were the unclean birds of prey waiting
to tear, with beak and claw, the corpse of him who wrote the "Rights of
Man," and there lurking and crouching in the darkness, were the jackals
and hyenas of superstition, ready to violate his grave. These birds of
prey--these unclean beasts--are the witnesses produced and relied upon
to malign the memory of Thomas Paine. One by one the instruments of
torture have been wrenched from the cruel clutch of the church, until
within the armory of orthodoxy there remains but one weapon--Slander.

Against the witnesses that I have produced there can be brought just
two--Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale. The first is referred to in the
memoir of Stephen Grellet. She had once been a servant in his house.
Grellet tells what happened between this girl and Paine. According to
this account, Paine asked her if she had ever read any of his writings,
and on being told that she had read very little of them, he inquired
what she thought of them, adding that from such an one as she he
expected a correct answer.

Let us examine this falsehood. Why would Paine expect a correct answer
about his writings from one who read very little of them? Does not such
a statement devour itself? This young lady further said that the "Age
of Reason" was put in her hands, and that the more she read in it, the
more dark and distressed she felt, and that she threw the book into the
fire. Whereupon Mr. Paine remarked: "I wish all had done as you did,
for if the devil ever had any agency in any work, he had in my writing
that book."

The next is Mary Hinsdale. She was a servant in the family of Willet
Hicks. The church is always proving something by a nurse. She, like
Mary Roscoe, was sent to carry some delicacy to Mr. Paine. To this
young lady Paine, according to his account, said precisely the same that
he did to Mary Roscoe, and she said the same thing to Mr. Paine.

My own opinion is that Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale are one and the
same person, or the same story has been, by mistake, put in the mouths
of both. It is not possible that the identical conversation should have
taken place between Paine and Mary Roscoe and between him and Mary
Hinsdale. Mary Hinsdale lived with Willet Hicks, and he pronounced her
story a pious fraud and fabrication.

Another thing about this witness. A woman by the name of Mary Lockwood,
a Hicksite Quaker, died. Mary Hinsdale met her brother about that time
and told him that his sister had recanted, and wanted her to say so at
her funeral. This turned out to be a lie.

It has been claimed that Mary Hinsdale made her statement to Charles
Collins. Long after the alleged occurrence Gilbert Vale, one of the
biographers of Paine, had a conversation with Collins concerning Mary
Hinsdale. Vale asked him what he thought of her. He replied that some
of the Friends believed that she used opiates, and that they did not
give credit to her statements. He also said that he believed what the
Friends said, but thought that when a young Roman she might have told
the truth.

In 1818 William Cobbett came to New York. He began collecting material
for a life of Thomas Paine. In this way he became acquainted with Mary
Hinsdale and Charles Collins. Mr. Cobbett gave a full account of what
happened in a letter addressed to The Norwich Mercury in 1819. From
this account it seems that Charles Collins told Cobbett that Paine had
recanted. Cobbett called for the testimony, and told Mr. Collins that
he must give time, place, and circumstances. He finally brought a
statement that he stated had been made by Mary Hinsdale. Armed with
this document, Cobbett, in October of that year, called upon the said
Mary Hinsdale, at No. 10 Anthony Street, New York, and showed her the
statement. Upon being questioned by Mr. Cobbett she said that it was so
long ago that she could not speak positively to any part of the matter;
that she would not say that any part of the paper was true; that she
had never seen the paper, and that she had never given Charles Collins
authority to say anything about the matter in her name. And so in the
month of October, in the year of grace 1818, in the mist of fog and
forgetfulness, disappeared forever one Mary Hinsdale, the last and only
witness against the intellectual honesty of Thomas Paine.

A letter was written to the editor of The New York World by the Rev.
A.W. Cornell, in which he says:

"Sir: I see by your paper that Bob Ingersoll discredits Mary Hinsdale's
story of the scenes which occurred at the death bed of Thomas Paine. No
one who knew that good old lady would for one moment doubt her veracity,
or question her testimony. Both she and her husband were Quaker
preachers, and well known and respected inhabitants of New York City.

"Ingersoll is right in his conjecture that Mary Roscoe and Mary Hinsdale
were the same person. Her maiden name was Roscoe and she married Henry
Hinsdale. My mother was a Roscoe, a niece of Mary Roscoe, and lived
with her for some time.--Rev. A.W. Cornell, Harpersville, N.Y."

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