Posted by
WIWB on Monday, May 18, 2009 11:07:12 PM
The Crisis ~ by Thomas Paine
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the
sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their
country; but he that stands by 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...
***
Common Sense ~ by Thomas Paine
...As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of all
government, to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know
of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a man
throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle,
which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with,
and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion
is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For
myself I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the
Almighty, that there should be diversity of religious opinions among
us: It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness. Were we all
of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter
for probation; and on this liberal principle, I look on the various
denominations among us, to be like children of the same family,
differing only, in what is called their Christian name...
...The writer of this is one of those few, who never dishonors religion
either by ridiculing, or cavilling at any denomination whatsoever. To
God, and not to man, are all men accountable on the score of religion...
...And here, without anger or resentment I bid you farewell. Sincerely
wishing, that as men and Christians, ye may always fully and
uninterruptedly enjoy every civil and religious right; and be, in your
turn, the means of securing it to others; but that the example which ye
have unwisely set, of mingling religion with politics, may be disavowed
and reprobated by every inhabitant of America.