Thomas Paine (1737- 1809) was one of the most active and prolific radicals in18th century and19th century. Perhaps he is "the first person who regards revolution as the only reason for his existence". He wrote and fought for the independence of the United States from Britain, encouraged the abolition of slavery, helped form the Pennsylvania Constitution, advocated the reorganization of the British government, advocated the abolition of the death penalty, participated in the French legislature, and "formulated the first modern welfare state" and other activities. During his lifetime, he directly influenced the politics of the United States, Britain and France (even created the name "United States of America"). Long after his death, his works are still the main documents for freedom and human rights all over the world. However, what is the relationship between the famous authors of Common Sense, Crisis, Human Rights, Rational Age and sometimes even the infamous authors?

In Thomas Paine: A Free Preacher, Jack Flachmann wrote that there is not enough evidence to answer this question clearly: "For a long time, people have questioned whether Paine is a mason. There is no conclusive evidence for either statement. The exact date of his joining is unknown, and there is no specific branch. Nevertheless, it is still common to attribute members of aid associations to Paine. In the 1990s, some American associations tended to publish Paine's list of famous freemasons. An example is the information brochure issued by the Oregon State Hotel: "The members of the Pantheon include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. "The websites of various * * * aid societies keep making similar remarks about Paine and * * * aid societies.

In the transatlantic * * * and the Communists: Thomas Paine and the revolutionary era, Bernard Vincent devoted a chapter to "Thomas Paine, the aid society and the American revolution" and explained why people tend to regard him as a member of the aid society from several aspects:

When I read Thomas Paine's biography, I was curious about this fact from the beginning. Suddenly, in just a few weeks or months, Paine, like a magician, stepped onto the American literary and political stage from his vague and monotonous life as a tailor and tax collector in England, and became one of the important figures in the revolutionary movement when he was nearly forty years old. How can a person who is almost a loser in his own country know the most famous people in the colony so quickly and even become their friends in many cases? How to explain his rapid rise and sudden glory? There is a hypothesis (mentioned several times) that Paine became a member of the * * * Economic Association. He first got help from some branches or members in the United States, and then in Britain and France.

However, due to the lack of conclusive evidence, Vincent opposed this view. To be sure, both Washington and Franklin were members of the aid society, but they did not support Paine's statement equally.

The assertion that Paine is a freemason is also based on his writing "The Origin of Freemasonry" after returning to the United States from England and France between 1803 and 1805. For some people, Paine's curiosity about * * * aid society and his decision to write articles about * * * aid society are enough to prove that he is a member. However, Vincent rejected this reasoning:

Paine was so interested in * * * aid society that at the last moment of his life, that is, 1805, he wrote a long article entitled "The Origin of * * * aid society". But this does not prove that Paine is a member more than any other details or facts we know. There is no indication that he is a full member of Britain, the United States or France. When asked about Paine's membership, the United Hotel in England can only answer: "Since there is no record of his membership, it can only be assumed that he is not a member."

Although Paine himself is not necessarily a member, he must have several close friends. For example, in order to escape the accusation of sedition, Paine fled England and settled in France. He lives in Nicola de bonneville with his family. Samuel Edwards described Bonneville as an "active member of the Aid Society". He "believed that the principles and objectives of the Aid Society, if applied to diseases in the world, would bring peace and prosperity to all countries." "The relationship between these two people is very close. From 1797 to 1802, Paine lived in bonneville. Finally, his wife and son followed Paine to America. Frackmann believes that during Paine's life in Paris, bonneville introduced him to the philosophy and theology of the aid society.

William M. Van der Weyde also mentioned Paine's * * * economic association in Life and Works of Thomas Paine, and stressed that these friendships are not evidence that he belongs to the Brotherhood: "Paine is an interesting and highly directional author of the paper on the origin of * * * economic association. However, although many of his friends are undoubtedly members of the cult, there has never been conclusive evidence that Paine is a member of the aid society. " Similarly, Moncure Daniel Conway put forward that "Paine's close relationship with Nicolas de Bonneville and Charles Francois Dupuis in Paris-their works are full of * * * economic thoughts-fully illustrates his * *. 18 10, after Payne's death, bonneville's widow published his Origin of Freemasonry, although she omitted some passages in the book that might be regarded as contempt for Christianity. Most of them were fixed in a print of 18 18. The central premise of Paine's book The Origin of * * * Aid Society is that the order of * * * Aid Society "is a religious relic of ancient Druidism; Just like the Magi in Persia and the priests in Heliopolis in Egypt, they are all priests of the sun. "The idea of druidism was not started by Paine, but further developed by others after him. However, according to Paine, the origin of this druid is the true and deepest secret of the aid society, from which all the rituals and secrets hidden by masons extend:

Fear is the natural source of secrets. When any new religion transcends the old religion, the professors of the new religion become the persecutors of the old religion ... When Christianity transcends Druids ... Druids become the targets of persecution. This will naturally force those of them who are loyal to the original religion to meet secretly in strict secrecy. Their safety depends on it. A false brother may destroy many of them; In the remains of Druidism, an institution was thus preserved. In order to avoid the name of Druidism, it adopted the name of Mei Sen, and used this new name to perform Druidism ceremonies and ceremonies.

Albert G. Mackey, the author of * * * Aid Society, joked that Paine "by the way, he knows as little about * * * Aid Society as he knows about Druidism". He called the article "frivolous" and Paine was "just a pure scientist on the topic he thought he wanted to discuss". Indeed, it is obvious from the origin of the * * * Economic Association that Paine is not very proficient in this craft, although this fact does not prove that he was not a member when he founded this craft. However, Paine's overall tone shows that he is an outsider, trying to evaluate things in the order, not its members, which shows more than anything that he was not a member when he wrote the origin of the * * * economic association. For example, Paine drew a conclusion after referring to some statements made by george smith, a provincial master in Kent, in The Use and Abuse of Freemasonry (1783):

Sometimes, in writing and conversation, people will inadvertently reveal an expression, which will reveal what they want to hide, and so will Smith, because in the same chapter, he said, "Druids use Greek letters when they are committed to writing." I dare to assert that the most perfect rituals and ritual remains of Druidism are preserved in the existing masons' customs and rituals. " "My brothers," he said, "may be able to find them more accurately than I can freely explain to the public." "This is the confession of a stonemason, who has no intention of letting the public understand that stonemason is the legacy of Druidism. ...

These words are not from the mouth of a stonemason, but from the mouth of a person who guesses the secrets that the stonemason knows and may inadvertently reveal. Paine is an outsider. He mistook Smith's personal guess for unintentional confession. If Paine was not the master of American life when he wrote this article, would he be an apprentice or a colleague? It's hard to say how curious Paine was about the origin and philosophy of the aid society, so that he wrote an article about the Brotherhood seriously and began to study for a degree in handicrafts, but he didn't wait until he finished his thesis. This is a particularly difficult case, because in the book The Origin of Freemasons, Paine thinks that freemasons can get information about the origin of the Brotherhood, while other freemasons know nothing about it. His article begins like this:

* * * Freemasonry is divided into three grades or degrees. 1. Apprentice. 2. workers. 3. master. New apprentices can only use some symbols and signs, as well as some steps and vocabulary. Through these, masons can get to know each other without being discovered by people who are not masons. Workers are not much better than new apprentices in masonry. Only in the living room of the master can all the knowledge about the origin of masonry be preserved and hidden.

Although Thomas Paine's theory that aid society originated from Druidism may make modern aid society sound strange or even rude, it is best to put it in the historical background. First of all, it should be remembered that in England, Druidism is sometimes idealized as a noble representative of pure and primitive Celtic culture, which is misunderstood and vilified by the Romans.

Secondly, it is worth remembering that the early members of the aid society often mentioned the cultural connection or blood relationship with the ancient Druids. The most prominent example is Dr. William Stuckley, a member of the Royal Society and one of the most outstanding intellectuals of the Brotherhood. Stukeley spent decades studying Stonehenge (which was considered as a relic of Druidism at that time). He thought that the * * * Aid Society he founded in 172 1 represented some relics of ancient Stonehenge. Scholar Steven Brock explained: "A learned gentleman like Stukeley thinks that the history, forms and ceremonies of freemasonry are directly related to the distant primitive world, and it looms in the imagination of educated British people, which is expected to make them understand the nature of God and the world more deeply."

Indeed, the Charter of the English Congress of 1723 records that "some people think that there are still some good masonry relics ... long before the Romans invaded the island, as a Celtic colony, ancient Gauls and ancient Britons built Celtic buildings. 1730 A paper on * * * aid to society was reprinted in the Constitution of the Great Lodge in 1738, arguing that people can "find something, at least like bricks and stones" in the Druid tradition "within a reasonable time interval". 1769, Willings Calcott summoned the druids to defend the secret ceremony of the aid society, and the druids would punish anyone who "announced or profaned their secrets". William Hutchinson proudly wrote in the book "Spirit of Economic Association" published in 1775: "We ... boldly say that we have retained more rituals and teachings of Druidism than other places in the world; When we entered the first stage of masonry engineering, many of their religious ceremonies were preserved so as not to be forgotten, otherwise they would sleep forever. In the same year, William Preston wrote: "It is said that druidism retains many usages similar to masons; But due to the time, we can't know their main contents exactly. "

These are just a few examples. Therefore, scholars of * * * Economic Association realized that historians must ignore any direct historical connection between masons and druids, and they also realized that quite a few early craftsmen expressed and appreciated the cultural similarities between the two traditions. Thomas Paine's article, no matter what defects it has, should be viewed against this background.

If he starts studying for a degree, Paine may want all the knowledge they provide, and will wait until he obtains this knowledge before finishing his thesis. More likely, at the time of writing this article, he was not a member of the Muslim Brotherhood at all, but wrote as an outsider, although he had close partners in this group.

David harrison speculated in an article about Paine published at today's aid conference: "If Paine really joined the aid conference, it should be during the American Revolution. His life was the center of the social elite at that time. His close relationship with Franklin, Washington, lafayette and Monroe shows that he undoubtedly knows that they are members of the * * * Aid Society. " But Paine's "The Origin of * * * Aid Society" shows that he did not join the * * * aid society at that time, although he was closely related to these people. Many years later, about 1803- 1805, he still wrote as an outsider.

Although Paine may not be a member of the * * * Aid Committee, his thoughts are in line with the principles of the * * * Aid Committee in all aspects. For example, in The Age of Reason (The Origin of the * * * Economic Association may be considered as a part of it at first), Paine explained his religious beliefs:

I only believe in one god, that's all; I hope to have happiness beyond this life. I believe that people are equal. I think the responsibility of religion lies in upholding justice, loving kindness and striving to make our compatriots happy.

These words, can be said to be part of the * * * aid association, prompting the historian Joseph Newton Fort of the * * * aid association to write to Paine:

Thomas Paine … Although not a beautiful student, he left us an article about the origin of the * * * Economic Association. This great patriot was the first person to put forward the name "America". He is not a skeptic, but believes in "a religion that everyone agrees with", that is, the immortality of God, responsibility and soul.

Similarly, Vincent concluded in his book "The Party in the Atlantic" that although Paine "may never have joined any specific fraternity, he still actively sympathized with the Masonic Movement and its philosophy."

Although Voltaire became an American student shortly before his death, there is no evidence that Paine became an American student between the creation of The Origin of Free Masonry and the death of 1809 a few years later. He certainly wasn't * * when he wrote that article, and there is no evidence that he joined a fraternity. However, although "Pantheon of * * * Aid Society" may not hold Thomas Paine, this influential and controversial figure still keeps in touch with * * * Aid Society, only because of his close friendship with some fraternity members and his intriguing article on the origin of * * * Aid Society.

Reference:

[1] Wikipedia entry: Thomas Paine

[2] Shay Afsai, Essays of Freemasons in Thomas Paine and the Question of Joining the Brotherhood (http:// Freemasons y.org/pdf/2010 _ 04 _ sample _ article.pdf). "