2
ward to the time when it will revo­ which should have been the firm
lutionize public opinion at least on friend of the people, seeking to give
th at people the light for which they
religious questions.
An address delivered by Rev. W. E.
Copeland, at U nity C hurch, Salem .
In the la-t p art of the eighteenth were agonizing, instead the firm
Oregon, Sunday, Ja n u a ry 30, in .honor
century there was a ferm ent in the allies of ty ran n y , taking away all
of th e 162d anniversary of th e birth of
th e g reat “ A postle of Religious and
civil and religious world. Doubts light and assisting to rivet their
Political L ib e rty ” . Paine h picture,
of the divine right of kings th re a t­ chains. We have seen liberty h u n t­
w reathed w ith ’ivy, hung behind the
ened destruction to European ed from C hristian Africa, Asia, and
HpeaKCi & defile.
m onarchies. Doubts of pope, council Europe, welcomed by Moslem
Again we have come to the b irth ­
bishops, or even a book to dictate Africa and Asia, taken by Moslems
day of Thom as Paine, and in ac­
belief and practice threatened the to Spain and there m ade to shed
cordance with a custom , which I
destruction
of
the
churches. such light as to draw all men to
adopted early in my m inistry, I de­
Doubts of vested rights became the southw estern corner of Europe.
vote the evening of the Sunday
belief in property for all the people, We have seen the scholars of the
nearest his b irth d ay to a mem orial
and we have the French Revolution world basking in the light of truth
service, m ainly as a protest against
confiscating all property to the shed abroad in Infidel Moslem
orthodoxy; which never learns an y ­
state. D oubts of church and creed schools. We have seen the light
thing, and which, despite all the
culm inated the belief in reason,and shining brighter, as though the sun
books published d ir e c tly proving
in F rance the churches were closed, had risen, and then we have wit­
the contrary, still repeats the same
a i d all over Christendom a long nessed the church in the name of
old falsehoods about Paine, which
step was taken tow ards entire re­ religion, in the name of C hrist, de­
have not the slightest foundation in
stroying those schools, driving
And let me in the beginning say, ligious freedom. C enturies of op­
fact. I t has been s a il th a t lies,'
pression, in which both state and those learned teachers away from
spoken in the pulpit, and covered th a t so far as we can learn from the
church, priests and nobles bad S pain; we have seen the inquisition
with glittering rhetoric are made to writings of Paine, even from the
joined, at last bore bitter fruit and rear its dread walls, and priests of
pass for tru th . Never has there much condemned “ Age of Reason” ,
the meek and lowly Jesus standing
been a statem ent m ade which the never read b y th o s e loudest in its in one common ruin down went all in dungeons by the side of men,
established instutions. There was
speaker did not believe to he true. condem nation, he was not nearly
whose only crim e was th a t they
Above all else, I value truth, and I so radical in his religious ideas as to he a clean state, in which new
dared think for them selves, and in
have never given any adherence to m any nowadays quite respected custom s and new beliefs were to be
This
destruction
of the name of religion, to rtu re their
th a t church doctrine th a t a lie for even in the church. The position, w ritten.
captives with m alignity and cruel-
the glory of God or upbuilding of which he assum ed toward the bible, church and state was not due to
I fcy not surpassed by the most
the church is justifiable. P ut it is is that taken today by the higher the Infidels of the eighteenth
savage nations. We have witness­
a common occurance every year to criticism. He used blunt language century, but to the bishops and
ed b ru tal gladiatorial shows in
hear preachers in orthodox church-, and came to his c inclusions by the priests, the k irn s and nobles of the
which Christians were killed for the
cs repeat the old stories about - use of plain common sense, while fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,
delight of heathen, more brutal auto
Paine, which have again and again th e modern critics, some of them who had denied to the common
da fe’s in which Christian was killed
been proved to he false. In this teachers in evangelical colleges, people either privileges or rights,
preachers
in evangelical treating them like mere beasts of for the delight of brother Christians.
age, when a most careful study ofl some
We have seen the fighters, who had
his life,
made
by com petent churches, use more polished lan ­ the field. At last the people rose
no tim e or desire to study, taken
students, shows him to have been guage and base th eir conclusions and in a sea of blood washed out
from their homes in the various
one of the great men of h is time, j on a very careful study of the book, the strifes and barbarism s of the
stales of Europe and banded into
when it has been conclusively prov­ and of the tim es in whi°h the book past. Once roused, the canaille,
the crusades, th a t th u s they too
ed th a t he was a man of tem perate was w ritten. T h at higher c riti­ as the nobles had called them , let­
m ight see some of the light still
habits and good m orals, when com­ cism, which has found its way into ting loose all the anim al ferocity,
burning in B yzantinne, and might
petent witnesses declare th a t he the studies of so m any clergymen so long sm ouldering, involved in
one common ruin, castle and j meet with em ancipated infidels.
died calm ly and with no fear, we esteemed orthodox and has effected
From which crusade, started by
are still pointed to that “ blasphem ­ their sermons, comes to precisely church, and forever ended the dark
papacy to rivet the chains of ortho­
ing, drunken Tom Paine, whose the same conclusions at which ages, when blind obedience bad
N either Paine been dem anded and given. In doxy upon the people, the crusaders
deathbed of horror should warn all P aine arrived.
came home in large m easure freed
sinners to repent.’’ I recently read nor those accepting the higher c rit­ those dark ages, noble and priest
from the old superstitions and big­
an interesting story of how a man icism reject the bible; but they do bad vied with each other in cru sh ­
otry, and the first blow was struck
under hypnotic influence saw, in­ assert their liberty; neither by ing into a common desolation the
at the tyranny of the old church.
stead of a gloomy ruin, a beautiful pope, council, or book will they per­ people, so when th e opportunity
home peopled by interesting ten­ m it their freedom of conscience to came, the people overthrew’ their Infidel dogs were found to he fai
an ts; in this case the reverse is true be abridged. P aine lias been fol­ oppressors and revenged themselves superior in knowledge; in chivalric
courtesy, in m ilitary prowess, in all
and a noble, honorable, reverential, lowed by many others, am ong them for centuries of ty ran y .
Paine and others like him, not which m eant true knighthood, it
patriot, u n d er the hypnotic in ­ some of the most devout and pious
fluence of orthodoxy, which still re­ of m odern tim es in their protest lu'ing mere anim als but men, well was found th at men could be good
places the real with the im aginary against slavery to the letter of any aware of n atu re’s great law of re tri­ fighters, well versed in m ilitary
and compels m ultitudes to believe book. The bible is made to stand bution, counselled care in doing m ethods and •r yet be scholars and
It was found th a t In ­
lies to be the tru th , is made to seem on its own m erits and is no longer away with the ol<l isms, of w hich gentlem en.
the most loathsom e of hum an kind. bolstered up by the doctrines of some were precious and deserved fidel Moslems wore more Christian
Because Thom as Paine, more than verbal inspiration; when becoming careful treatm ent. We have w atch­ than Greek C hristians and the cru­
an y other one man in the last two the friend and not tin* m aster, it ed the course of the river of civil saders returned to Europe with new
centuries, is the incarnation of civil does more for hum an progress than and religious liberty and seen ideas about religion, which worked
and religious liberty, we honor ever before.
barbarism succeeded by jinpereal- m ightily in the coming centuries to
his b irth d ay as we do no other re­ It is a noticeable result of the long isnj, im perealism by feudalism, arouse th a t civil and religious lib­
form er and moreover, because we continued efforts in favor of Free- feudalism by m ilitarism , m ilitarism erty which was to do so much
would register a protest against the thought, th a t now the bible can be by industrialism , each step a gain for the civilization of the world.
in g ratitu d e which forgets his in­ freely discussed, and that the dis­ though taken in blood and terrible We have watched the renaissance,
estim able services to the American cussions are read bv scholarly suffering for hum anity. We have the revival of learning, when once
become allied more the power of the heathep pre­
people.
clergymen in all denom inations. seen C hristianity
vailed over the pow-er of the Chris­
A service in honor of Paine is a As I have already indicated, the with the church and made a teach­
tian , when Greek literatu re was
fitting conclusion to my course of higher criticism finds its way into er of separation or caste, dividing
more eagerly sought th an monkish
lectures on the “ Course of the River m ultitudes of evangelical studies; men from men. We have seen
legends or even the bible itself, and
of Civil and Religious Freedom ,” the poison, as it is called by the those, who should have lieen faith­
wc have noted how in every Euro­
for Paine and those who agree with bigoted, has infected a great m ul­ ful shepherds, guarding the flocks
pean nation arose men who^e chain-
him , are the full outcome of the titude of religious teachers and is en tru sted to their care, changed to
had been struck off by those giant
work of centuries, exerted to secure continually gaining new converts, ravening wolves devouring the
for hum anity entire liberty. AU, so th at we can confidently look for­ sheen. We have seen the church, intellects of ancient Greece, wh< -
T hom as P aine.
the battling» and contests frequent­
ly involving death to m any, have
been made, th a t Free!bought m ight
trium ph. Paine, V oltaire, Inger­
soll and a great host of others hear
the honorable title of Freethinkers
or Infidels. An Infidel is alw ays
brainy and intelligent; som tim es
they may be harsh in their words,
peculiar in their acts, hut as a
class you will find them honest,
good citizens, good husbands and
fathers. You can tru st their in ­
tegrity; they will not cheat: they
will not take advantage of their
neighbors distress; depending on
their own m erits and not the
m erits of another for salvation.
T heir characters are pretty sure to
have much in them which compels
adm iration and call for im itation.