The conclusion, I think, must irresistibly force itself upon your minds that these reputed faults do not constitute the real head and front of Thomas Paine's offending. There must be something else. What is it? Would you have the mystery solved? If so, read his, "Age of Reason." Read it carefully, thoughtfully, critically; read it with your Bibles open before you; read it in connection with the ablest refutations that have been attempted against it. Do this, and the mystery will be solved. You will then know why Thomas Paine has been so bitterly assailed. Two champions meet in the arena of debate. One of them, is overwhelmed. Smiles and groans announce his discomfiture, while shouts of applause reward the triumph of his rival. Then one of them grows angry, and stung with madness, drops the sword of argument and seizes in its stead the bludgeon of malice with which to assail his adversary. But which one does this, the successful or the defeated antagonist? I have somewhere read that "the bird that soars on pinions strong and free and is not hit by the marksman's bullet is not discomposed'"--that "_it is the wounded bird that flutters!_" That Thomas Paine was not the poor, drunken, immoral wretch that priestly virulence represents him to have been, is dearly shown by the esteem in which he was held by those who knew him best. Would Dr. Franklin have retained the friendship of a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Lord Erskine have defended against the government of England, a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Bishop Watson have crossed swords in theological disputation with a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Napoleon Bonaparte, when in the zenith of his fame, have invited to his table a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would France's greatest women, Roland and De Stael, have stooped to pay the tribute of praise to a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would President Jefferson have offered a national ship to bear to his home a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would Washington have acknowledged as one of the most potent factors in achieving American Independence, the pen of a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Would the Congress of the United States and the National Convention of France have bestowed gifts and conferred, honors upon a poor, drunken, immoral wretch? Impossible! Every fact connected with his public life refutes these charges made against his private character.