"I arrived in Baltimore, 30th of October, and you can have no idea of
the agitation which my arrival occasioned. From New Hampshire to
Georgia (an extent of 1,500 miles), every newspaper was filled with
applause or abuse.

"My property in this country has been taken care of by my friends, and
is now worth six thousand pounds sterling, which, put in the funds,
will bring about L400 sterling a year.

"Remember me in affection and friendship to your wife and family, and
in the circle of your friends.--Thomas Paine"

A man in those days worth $30,000 was not a pauper. That amount would
bring an income of at least $2,000. Two thousand dollars then would be
fully equal to $5,000 now. On the 12th of July, 1809, the year in
which he died, Mr. Paine made his will. From this instrument we learn
that he was the owner of a valuable farm within twenty miles of New
York. He was also owner of thirty shares in the New York Phoenix
Insurance Company, worth upward of $1,500. Besides this, some personal
property and ready money. By his will he gave to Walter Morton and
Thomas Addis Emmet, a brother of Robert Emmet, $200 each, and $100 to
the widow of Elihu Palmer. Is it possible that this will was made by a
pauper, by a destitute outcast, by a man who suffered for the ordinary
necessities of life?

But suppose, for the sake of argument, that he was poor, and that he
died a beggar, does that tend to show that the Bible is an inspired
book, and that Calvin did not burn Servetus? Do you really regard
poverty as a crime? If Paine had died a millionaire, would Christians
have accepted his religious opinions? If Paine had drank nothing but
cold water, would Christians have repudiated the five cardinal points
of Calvinism? Does an argument depend for its force upon the pecuniary
condition of the person making it? As a matter of fact, most
reformers--most men and women of genius--have been acquainted with
poverty. Beneath a covering of rags have been found some of the
tenderest and bravest hearts. Owing to the attitude of the churches
for the last fifteen hundred years, truth telling has not been a very
lucrative business. As a rule, hypocrisy has worn the robes, and
honesty the rags. That day is passing away. You can not now answer a
man by pointing at the holes in his coat. Thomas Paine attacked the
church when it was powerful; when it had what is called honors to
bestow; when it was the keeper of the public conscience; wh