old
hand, transcend the low office of a chronicler, and hand him down in
history thus:

Thomas Paine was of Quaker origin. In this he inherited more than
paternal flesh and blood, more than family form and feature: he had
transmitted to him the principles of George Fox--principles which were,
when Mr. Paine was born, more than a hundred years old. These were a
reliance on the internal evidences of the conscience, prompting to moral
action and to the love of God. In this the shadow of Fox fell athwart
the Scriptures. The internal light was with him greater than that which
shone down on the centuries from Jesus of Nazareth. The religions, and
creeds, and opinions of the world were to be brought to the bar of
conscience for trial, and "the motions of the spirit"--not the teachings
of the Bible--were to be taken in evidence. His principles were
universal in the heart of man--not particular in any special book.

To these religious principles was added simplicity of conduct in all the
ways of life. In religious or civil affairs, whether at home or abroad,
with his fellow-man or his God, he was to obey the behests of nature,
and not of man. To avoid the extravagance of dress, to walk with
dignity and grace, to deal uprightly, to love mercy, to rely on the
light within, to train the heart to courage and the head to
understanding, became the chief aim of all the followers of Fox. The
consequence was, they never bent the knee to the forms of worship, nor
uncovered the head to the forms of fashion. To the Quaker, a virtuous,
upright, and honorable laborer was of as much consequence, in the line
of respect and the eyes of God, as the noblest lord of the realm. No
outward show, no pageantry of church or court, could awaken him to
respect. He looked within: there he felt the movings of the spirit,
there he saw the image of his God, there he went in to worship.

What must be the result of this religion? It must transmit
self-reliance, fortitude, courage, and morality to the individual, and a
sympathy for mankind which will grant the equality of rights, and
produce a contempt for outward show, for outward forms and ceremonies.
These characteristics will be transmitted to children's children, and
democracy is born into a race of men before they know it, or before they
know how or why. But here an effect must not be taken for a cause. It
was the democratic principle abroad in the world which produced the
Quaker religion, not this reli