They say the exception proves the rule. Thomas Paine was a founding father who later in life became a complete skeptic. Most of America’s founding fathers were professing Trinitarian Christians. Dozens of them had the equivalent of a seminary degree. Paine was an exception, not the rule.
Thomas Paine was not a typical Founding Father. A former Quaker who came from England, Paine proved to be an excellent writer.
He played a positive role in the American cause by writing “Common Sense,” which celebrates its 250th birthday this year. “Common Sense” was a monograph---more than an article, less than a full book---published in Philadelphia.
I’ve visited the historical marker on the street in Philadelphia where his monograph was published. Interestingly, it is across the street from the society home of Mrs. Powell, who famously asked Ben Franklin: “What kind of government have you given us, Dr. Franklin?” To which he replied, “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”
Paine lost whatever modicum of Christian faith he may have had early in life by the time he wrote “The Age of Reason” in 1793, while in anti-Christian revolutionary France. But that doesn’t mean his masterpiece, “Common Sense,” was in any way anti-Christian.
In fact, he uses the Bible to help bolster some of his anti-monarchical points.
Here are some excerpts from “Common Sense”:
“Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation, the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent circumstance.”
“In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of which was there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throw mankind into confusion.”
“Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom.”
“As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty, as declared by Gideon and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by kings.”
“In short, monarchy and succession have laid (not this or that kingdom only) but the world in blood and ashes. ’Tis a form of government which the word of God bears testimony against, and blood will attend it.”
“But where says some is the King of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal Brute of Britain. Yet that we may not appear to be defective even 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; 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.”
Later, Paine served in the patriot cause in America and continued excellent writings, by writing such things as “These are the times that try men’s souls” or writing against “sunshine patriots,” meaning friends of the cause of liberty, as long as things are going well. He also wrote an excellent paeon to the Liberty Tree.
Paine left America and went to France and seemed to ride the wave of French Revolutionary fervor. The French Revolution of 1789 not only threw off its government---the monarchy. But the revolutionaries threw off any influence of the Church.
The French Revolution proved to be ghastly in its anti-Christian elements. Thousands of people were beheaded, including church leaders and noblemen.
At the time he wrote “The Age of Reason,” Paine asked Ben Franklin to endorse it for him. The latter declined, writing, “I have read your manuscript with some attention...the consequence of printing this piece will be a great deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. He that spits into the wind, spits in his own face.”
Franklin goes on to say that if you undermine religion—which this book would do---you will undermine morality. He even reminded that Paine’s own debt to religion for his education: “And perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is, to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself.” [Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Works of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, pp. 281‑282.]
I am persuaded that Thomas Paine made a shambles of his life by the end by cutting himself off from Jesus Christ.
This was a tragic end to a man who helped galvanize so many in America to join the independence movement. When he was faithful to God, Thomas Paine retained his common sense.
Note: In my Foundation of American Liberty series on America’s Judeo-Christian roots, former U. S. Congressman Allen West voiced quotes from Paine’s “Common Sense.”
Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is the executive director of the Providence Forum, an outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries. He has written/co-written 33 books, including George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback, Ph.D.) and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.).
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