"Judge Paine was a firm believer in the divine origin of the Christian religion. He gave full credence to the scriptures, as a revelation from God, designed to instruct mankind in a knowledge of their duty, and to guide them in the way to eternal happiness." 

Robert Treat Paine

Schooled with religious upbringing, Paine was balanced and bred.

Speaking the law, he argued too often....or so it was said.

 

 

I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Savior and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears.    Robert Treat Paine, The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, Stephen Riley and Edward Hanson, editors (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992), Vol. I, p. 48, March/April, 1749.

[W]hen I consider that this instrument contemplates my departure from this life and all earthly enjoyments and my entrance on another state of existence, I am constrained to express my adoration of the Supreme Being, the Author of my existence, in full belief of his providential goodness and his forgiving mercy revealed to the world through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state, acknowledging with grateful remembrance the happiness I have enjoyed in my passage through a long life . .  

Will of Robert Treat Paine   Military Chaplain   

        Robert Treat Paine worked as a full-time Congregationalist clergyman, among other occupations, prior to signing the Declaration of Independence.  Later he left Congregationalism and Calvinism and embraced Unitarianism as an alternative denomination within Protestant Christianity.  Robert G. Ferris (editor), Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, published by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: Washington, D.C. (revised edition 1975), page 115-116.    

        Paine led his class at Boston Latin School and entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen.  In addition to his study of the law, he devoted time to the subject of theology, which tended to enlarge his views of Christianity and to confirm his belief of its truth.  For a time after graduation he taught school, prepared himself for the ministry, and served as chaplain to the troops in a military expedition to the north in 1755.  B. J. Lossing, Signers of the Declaration of Independence, George F. Cooledge & Brother: New York (1848) [reprinted in Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, WallBuilder Press: Aledo, Texas (1995)], pages 37-38.   

 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

 II Peter 1:5

        He was admitted to the bar in 1757 and commenced practice in Boston.  As a friend of John Adams and John Hancock, he early became involved in the patriot movement.  He was delegate to the state convention at Boston in 1768, member of the colonial house of representatives in 1773, delegate to the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775, and member of the Continental Congress 1774-1776.

 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

 Psalm 16:6       

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    Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, New York: William Reed & Co. (1856), pages 112-119 http://www.colonialhall.com/painert/painert.php      http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Robert_Treat_Paine    Paine, Robert Treat. The Papers of Robert Treat Paine. Edited by Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992.

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Adams and Liberty   Robert Treat Paine

      Ye sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought,

       For those rights, which unstained from your Sires had descended,

       May you long taste the blessings your valour has brought,

       And your sons reap the soil which their fathers defended.

 'Mid the reign of mild peace,

May your nation increase,

With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece;

   And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

In a clime, whose rich vales feed the marts of the world,

   Whose shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion,

The trident of Commerce should never be hurled,

   To incense the legitimate powers of the ocean.

But should pirates invade,

Though in thunder arrayed,

Let your cannon declare the free charter of trade.

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway,

   Had justly ennobled our nation in story,

'Till the dark clouds of faction obscured our young day,

   And enveloped the sun of American glory.

But let traitors be told,

Who their country have sold,

And bartered their God for his image in gold,

   That ne'er will the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood,

   And Society's base threats with wide dissolution;

May peace like the dove, who returned from the flood,

   Find an ark of abode in our mild constitution

But though peace is our aim,

Yet the boon we disclaim,

If bought by our sov'reignty, justice or fame.

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

'Tis the fire of the flint, each American warms;

   Let Rome's haughty victors beware of collision,

Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms,

   We're a world by ourselves, and disdain a division.

While with patriot pride,

To our laws we're allied,

No foe can subdue us, no faction divide.

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

Our mountains are crowned with imperial oak;

   Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourished;

But lone o'er our nation submits to the yoke,

   Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourished.

Should invasion impend,

Every grove would descend,

From the hill-tops, they shaded, our shores to defend.

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

Let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm;

   Lest our Liberty's growth should be checked by corrosion;

Then let clouds thicken round us; we heed not the storm;

   Our realm fears no shock, but the earth's own explosion.

Foes assail us in vain,

Though their fleets bridge the main,

For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain.

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

Should the Tempest of War overshadow our land,

   Its bolts could ne'er rend Freedom's temple asunder;

For, unmoved, at its portal, would Washington stand,

   And repulse, with his Breast, the assaults of the thunder!

His sword, from the sleep

Of its scabbard would leap,

And conduct, with its point, every flash to the deep!

   For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

 

Let fame to the world sound America's voice;

   No intrigues can her sons from their government sever;

Her pride is her Adams; Her laws are his choice,

   And shall flourish, till liberty slumbers forever.

Then unite heart and hand,

Like Leonidas' band,

And swear to the God of the ocean and land;

   That ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves.

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Robert Treat Paine  

The Massachusetts Historical Society