American Revolutionary War hero (1738-1789)
Such people as can be prevailed upon to believe that their reason is depraved, may easily be led by the nose, and duped into superstition at the pleasure of those in whom they confide, and there remain from generation to generation: for when they throw by the law of reason the only one which God gave them to direct them in their speculations and duty, they are exposed to ignorant or insidious teachers, and also to their own irregular passions, and to the folly and enthusiasm of those about them, which nothing but reason can prevent or restrain.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
It is altogether reasonable to conclude that the heavenly bodies, alias worlds, which move or are situate within the circle of our knowledge, as well all others throughout immensity, are each and every one of them possessed or inhabited by some intelligent agents or other, however different their sensations or manners of receiving or communicating their ideas may be from ours, or however different from each other. For why would it not have been as wise or as consistent with the perfections which we adore in God, to have neglected giving being to intelligence in this world as in those other worlds, interspersed with another of various qualities in his immense creation? And inasmuch as this world is thus replenished, we may, with the highest rational certainty infer, that as God has given us to rejoice, and adore him for our being, he has acted consistent with his goodness, in the display of his providence throughout the university of worlds.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
We must perceive by our senses, before we can reflect with the mind. Our sensorium is that essential medium between the divine and human mind, through which God reveals to man the knowledge of nature, and is our only door of correspondence with God or with man.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Induced by a sense of duty to my country, and by the application of many of my worthy friends, some of whom are of the finest characters, I have concluded to publish the following narrative of the extraordinary scenes of my captivity, and the discoveries which I made in the course of the same, of the cruel and relentless disposition and behavior of the enemy, towards the prisoners in their power; from which the state politician, and every gradation of character among the people, to the worthy tiller of the soil, may deduce such inferences as they shall think proper to carry into practice. Some men are appointed into office, in these States, who read the history of the cruelties of this war, with the same careless indifference, as they do the pages of the Roman history; nay, some are preferred to places of trust and profit by the tory influence. The instances are (I hope) but rare, and it stands all freemen in hand to prevent their further influence, which, of all other things, would be the most baneful to the liberties and happiness of this country; and, so far as such influence takes place, robs us of the victory we have obtained at the expense of so much blood and treasure.
ETHAN ALLEN
introduction, A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity
As [religious teachers] exclude reason and justice from their imaginary notions of religion, they also exclude it from the providence and moral government of God.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
That generation is all dead and passed away, yet the Son of Man has not made his appearance in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory, to judge the world, and cause the tribes of the earth to mourn; nor has he sent forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, to gather his elect from one end of heaven to the other. Since all this has not come to pass immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem, as he foretold, what character does he deserve but a false prophet, a deceiver, or an enthusiast? It is very unlike a God of truth to deceive the world in this manner. Is it like his Son to be the instrument of it? His words have passed away, but the earth has not, so that these prophecies and sayings have proved to be completely false; but though he prophesied of that day, yet he said that he did not know when it would come; even though him and his Father were one, yet the Father only knew of it!
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Most of the human race, by one means or other, are prepossessed with principles opposed to the religion of reason.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
Witchcraft and priestcraft were introduced into this world together, in its non-age; and has gone on, hand in hand together, until about half a century past, when witchcraft began to be discredited, and is at present almost exploded, both in Europe and America. This discovery has depreciated priestcraft, on the scale of at least fifty percent per annum, and rendered it highly probable that the improvement of succeeding generations, in the knowledge of nature and science, will exalt the reason of mankind above the tricks and impostures of priests, and bring them back to the religion of nature and truth; ennoble their minds, and be the means of cultivating concord, and mutual love in society, and of extending charity and good will to all intelligent beings throughout the universe; exalt the divine character and lay a permanent foundation for truth and reliance on providence; establish our hopes and prospects of immortality, and be conducive to every desirable consequence in this world, and that which is to come; which will crown the scene of human felicity in this sublunary state of being and probation; which can never be completed while we are under the power and tyranny of priests, since as it ever has, it ever will be their interest to invalidate the law of nature and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible therewith.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man
That Jesus Christ was not God is evident from his own words, where, speaking of the day of judgment, he says, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father." This is giving up all pretention to divinity, acknowledging in the most explicit manner, that he did not know all things, but compares his understanding to that of man and angels; "of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son." Thus he ranks himself with finite beings, and with them acknowledges, that he did not know the day and hour of judgment, and at the same time ascribes a superiority of knowledge to the father, for that he knew the day and hour of judgment.
ETHAN ALLEN
Reason: The Only Oracle of Man