GOD 1st and 2nd!

Addendum to the post below:

2009-05-28T23:04:00.000-07:00

Tunis 1797 : Hunter Miller's Notes: THE EARLIER TRUCE

Prior to the first signature of this treaty a "truce" with Tunis had twice been arranged; on about June 15, 1796, a "truce for six months" was concluded by Famin (American State Papers, Foreign Relations, I, 554); and Cathcart writes thus of an arrangement made in 1795 at Algiers (The Captives, 233):

. . . between those dates I had several conferences with the Dey [of Algiers] and Hadgi Ally [Ambassador of Tunis at Algiers], and this day [November 8, 1795] procured a truce for the United States with Tunis for eight months, guaranteed by the Dey of Algiers, translated it and took the original to Mr. Donaldson, who kept his bed with the gout and colic.

The Turkish original of the truce of June, 1796, is in the archives of the Department of State; it has been thus translated by Doctor Kramers:

The motive of the writing of this document is as follows: On the 11th of the month of Zu'lhijJah of this year 1210, answering to the 15th of June [June 17, 1796, according to the chronological tables] according to the Greek calendar. The glory of the princes of the Christian nation, the selected chief among the community of Jesus, Washington, the present ruler of America-may his days end with blessings-being desirous and wishing to negotiate a treaty of peace in order to lay the foundations of friendship and to strengthen the sincere amity with the frontier post of the Holy War, the victorious garrison of Tunis the well-preserved, just as our friends, the other Christian Governments, have done the same with our victorious garrison, has confided the negotiations of the said treaty to his Consul Barlow, residing in Algiers, and the said Consul again teas confided the negotiations of the treaty to the French merchant, Joseph Famin, residing in Tunis the well-preserved. The said merchant has appeared in my presence and has stated and declared in general his wish and desire for a treaty between the American ruler and the Government of Tunis the well-preserved. After it has been immediately communicated and confirmed to the said merchant on what terms a treaty could be agreed to, the said merchant has communicated the stipulations of the treaty to the said Consul, and the said Consul has communicated it to his Government. Now, until the answer comes and within a limit of six months after the date of this document, security has been given. Therefore, if during the said period war vessels of our well-preserved garrison place meet at sea with ships of the said Americans they shall not hinder them or molest them in any way, but they shall be treated as friends, and immediately order has been given to our officers to let them go their way. If American ships meet with ships belonging to our well-preserved garrison place, it has been agreed between the two Governments, that they shall treat each other in a friendly way. This convention has been written and sealed and given into the hands of the said merchant, so that he may send it to its proper place. Until the arrival of the answer this convention shall be observed between the two Governments; according to it both parties shall act, and it shall be opposed in no way. Salutations. Written on the 11th of Zu'lhiJjah and the 15th June of the year 1210.

[Tughra (name sign) of Hamuda, commander (mir miran) of the frontier post of the Holy War, Tunis the well-preserved.]

- Yale Law School - The Avalon Project, The Barbary Treaties 1786-1816, Tunis 1797 : Hunter Miller's Notes.

10 months AFTER the 'Treaty of Tripoli'

2009-05-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Treaty of Peace and Friendship, Signed at Tunis August 28, 1797

(Courtesy: Yale Law School - Avalon Project)

Treaty of Peace and Friendship, signed at Tunis August 28, 1797, and, with alterations, March 26, 1799. Original in Turkish. Submitted to the Senate February 21, 1798. Resolution of advice and consent, on condition, March 6, 1798. Resubmitted to the Senate December 13, 1799. Resolution of advice and consent to altered Articles 11, 12, and 14, December 24, 1799. Ratified by the United States January 10, 1800. As to the ratification generally, see the notes. Not proclaimed (semble), but see the notes as to publication.

The following pages of Turkish are a reproduction of the articles of the original of the altered treaty; but they are arranged in left-to-right order of pagination, and of necessity the Turkish script runs length-ways of the pages. They are followed by the French translation which is written in the original document and the English translation which is in the Department of State file; after the translations is the approval of Humphreys of the treaty as first signed, and then the approval of Eaton and Cathcart of the altered treaty, as copied in the original. Following those tents is a comment on the French translation, written in 1930.

God is infinite.

Under the auspices of the greatest, the most powerful of all the princes of the Ottoman nation who reign upon the earth, our most glorious and most august Emperor, who commands the two lands and the two seas, Selim Khan I the victorious, son of the Sultan Moustafa, whose realm may God prosper until the end of ages, the support of kings, the seal of justice, the Emperor of emperors.

The most illustrious and most magnificent Prince Hamuda Pasha, Bey, who commands the Odgiak of Tunis, the abode of happiness; and the most honored Ibrahim Dey; and Suleiman, Agha of the Janizaries and chief of the Divan; and all the elders of the Odgiak; and the most distinguished and honored President of the Congress of the United States of America, the most distinguished among those who profess the religion of the Messiah, of whom may the end be happy.

We have concluded between us the present Treaty of Peace and Friendship, all the articles of which have been framed by the intervention of Joseph Stephen Famin, French merchant resident at Tunis, Charge d'Affaires of the United States of America; which stipulations and conditions are comprised in twenty-three articles, written and expressed in such manner as to leave no doubt of their contents, and in such way as not to be contravened.

ARTICLE 1.

There shall be a perpetual and constant peace between the United States of America and the magnificent Pasha, Bey of Tunis, and also a permanent friendship, which shall more and more increase.

ARTICLE 2.

If a vessel of war of the two nations shall make prize of an enemy vessel in which may be found effects, property, and subjects of the two contracting parties, the whole shall be restored; the Bey shall restore the property and subjects of the United States, and the latter shall make a reciprocal restoration; it being understood on both sides that the just right to what is claimed shall be proved.

ARTICLE 3.

Merchandise belonging to any nation which may be at war with one of the contracting parties, and loaded on board of the vessels of the other, shall pass without molestation and without any attempt being made to capture or detain it.

ARTICLE 4.

On both sides sufficient passports shall be given to vessels, that they may be known and treated as friendly; and considering the distance between the two countries, a term of eighteen months is given, within which term respect shall be paid to the said passports, without requiring the conge or document (which at Tunis is called testa), but after the said term the conge shall be presented.

ARTICLE 5.

If the corsairs of Tunis shall meet at sea with ships of war of the United States having under their escort merchant vessels of their nation, they shall not be searched or molested; and in such case the commanders shall be believed upon their word, to exempt their ships from being visited and to avoid quarantine. The American ships of war shall act in like manner towards merchant vessels escorted by the corsairs of Tunis.

ARTICLE 6.

If a Tunisian corsair shall meet with an American merchant vessel and shall visit it with her boat, she shall not exact anything, under pain of being severely punished; and in like manner, if a vessel of war of the United States shall meet with a Tunisian merchant vessel, she shall observe the same rule. In case a slave shall take refuge on board of an I American vessel of war, the Consul shall be required to cause him to be restored; and if any of their prisoners shall escape on board of the Tunisian vessels, they shall be restored; but if any slave shall take refuge in any American merchant vessel, and it shall be proved that the vessel has departed with the said slave, then he shall be returned, or his ransom shall be paid.

ARTICLE 7.

An American citizen having purchased a prize-vessel from our Odgiak, may salt our passport, which we will de liver for the term of one year, by force of which our corsairs which may meet with her shall respect her; the Consul on his part shall furnish her with a bill of sale; and considering the distance of the two countries, this term shall suffice to obtain a passport in form. But after the expiration of this term, if our corsairs shall meet with her without the passport of the United States, she shall be stopped and declared good prize, as well the vessel as the cargo and crew.

ARTICLE 8.

If a vessel of one of the contracting parties shall be obliged to enter into a port of the other and may have need of provisions and other articles, they shall be granted to her without any difficulty, at the price current at the place; and if such a vessel shall have suffered at sea and shall have need of repairs, she shall be at liberty to unload and reload her cargo without being obliged to pay any duty; and the captain shall only be obliged to pay the wages of those whom he shall have employed in loading and unloading the merchandise.

ARTICLE 9.

If, by accident and by the permission of God, a vessel of one of the contracting parties shall be cast by tempest upon the coasts of the other and shall be wrecked or otherwise damaged, the commandant of the place shall render all possible assistance for its preservation, without allowing any person to make any opposition; and the proprietor of the effects shall pay the costs of salvage to those who may have been employed.

ARTICLE 10.

In case a vessel of one of the contracting parties shall be attacked by an enemy under the cannon of the forts of the other party, she shall be defended and protected as much as possible; and when she shall set sail, no enemy shall be permitted to pursue her from the same port, or any other neighboring port, for forty-eight hours after her departure.

ARTICLE 11.

When a vessel of war of the United States of America shall enter the port of Tunis, and the Consul shall request that the castle may salute her, the number of guns shall be fired which he may request; and if the said Consul does not want a salute, there shall be no question about it.
But in case he shall desire the salute, and the number of guns shall be fired which he may have requested, they shall be counted and returned by the vessel in as many barrels of cannon powder.

The same shall be done with respect to the Tunisian corsairs when they shall enter any port of the United States.

ARTICLE 12.

When citizens of the United States shall come within the dependencies of Tunis to carry on commerce there, the same respect shall be paid to them which the merchants of other nations enjoy; and if they wish to establish themselves within our ports, no opposition shall be made thereto; and they shall be free to avail themselves of such interpreters as they may judge necessary, without any obstruction, in conformity with the usages of other nations; and if a Tunisian subject shall go to establish himself within the dependencies of the United States, he shall be treated in like manner.

If any Tunisian subject shall freight an American vessel and load her with merchandise, and shall afterwards want to unlace or ship them on board of another vessel, we will not permit him until the matter is determined by a reference of merchants, who shall decide upon the case; and after the decision, the determination shall be conformed to.

No captain shall be detained in port against his consent, except when our ports are shut for the vessels of all other nations, which may take place with respect to merchant vessels but not to those of war.

The subjects of the two contracting powers shall be under the protection of the Prince and under the jurisdiction of the chief of the place where they may be, and no other persons shall have authority over them. If the commandant of the place does not conduct himself agreeably to justice, a representation of it shall be made to us.

In case the Government shall have need of an American merchant vessel, it shall cause it to be freighted, and then a suitable freight shall be paid to the captain, agreeably to the intention of the Government, and the captain shall not refuse it.

ARTICLE 13.

If among the crews of merchant vessels of the United States, there shall be found subjects of our enemies, they shall not be made slaves, on condition that they do not exceed a third of the crew; and when they do exceed a third, they shall be made slaves. The present article only concerns the sailors, and not the passengers, who shall not be in any manner molested.

ARTICLE 14.

A Tunisian merchant who may go to America with a vessel of any nation soever, loaded with merchandise which is the production of the kingdom of Tunis, shall pay duty (small as it is) like the merchants of other nations; and the American merchants shall equally pay, for the merchandise of their country which they may bring to Tunis under their flag, the same duty as the Tunisians pay in America.

But if an American merchant, or a merchant of any other nation, shall bring American merchandise under any other flag, he shall pay six I per cent duty. In like manner, if a foreign merchant shall bring the merchandise of his country under the American flag, he shall also pay six per cent.

ARTICLE 15.

It shall be free for the citizens of the United States to carry on what commerce they please in the kingdom of Tunis, without any opposition, and they shall be treated like the merchants of other nations; but they shall not carry on commerce in wine, nor in prohibited articles; and if any one shall be detected in a contraband trade, he shall be punished according to the laws of the country. The commandants of ports and castles shall take care that the captains and sailors shall not load prohibited articles; but if this should happen, those who shall not have contributed to the smuggling shall not be molested nor searched, no more than shall the vessel and cargo; but only the offender, who shall be demanded to be punished. No captain shall be obliged to receive merchandise on board of his vessel, nor to unlace the same against his will, until the freight shall be paid.

ARTICLE 16.

The merchant vessels of the United States which shall cast anchor in the road of the Gouletta, or any other port of the Kingdom of Tunis, shall be obliged to pay the same anchorage for entry and departure which French vessels pay, to wit: Seventeen plasters and a half, money of Tunis, for entry, if they import merchandise; and the same for departure, if they take away a cargo; but they shall not be obliged to pay anchorage if they arrive in ballast and depart in the same manner.

ARTICLE 17.

Each of the contracting parties shall be at liberty to establish a consul in the dependencies of the other; and if such consul does not act in conformity with the usages of the country, like others, the government of the place shall inform his Government of it, to the end that he may be changed and replaced; but he shall enjoy, as well for himself as his family and suite, the protection of the government. And he may import for his own use all his provisions and furniture without paying any duty; and if he shall import merchandise (which it shall be lawful for him to do), he shall pay duty for it.

ARTICLE 18.

If the subjects or citizens of either of the contracting parties, being within the possessions of the other, contract debts or enter into obligations, neither the consul nor the nation, nor any subjects or citizens thereof, shall be in any manner responsible, except they or the consul shall have previously become bound in writing; and without this obligation in writing they cannot be called upon f or indemnity or satisfaction.

ARTICLE 19.

In case of a citizen or subject of either of the contracting parties dying within the possessions of the other, the consul or the vakil shall take possession of his effects (if he does not leave a will), of which he shall make an inventory; and the government of the place shall have nothing to do therewith. And if there shall be no consul, the effects shall be deposited in the hands of a confidential person of the place, taking an inventory of the whole, that they may eventually be delivered to those to whom they of right belong.

ARTICLE 20.

The consul shall be the judge in all disputes between his fellow citizens or subjects, as also between all other persons who may be immediately under his protection; and in all cases wherein he shall require the assistance of the government where he resides to sanction his decisions, it shall be granted to him.

ARTICLE 21.

If a citizen or subject of one of the parties shall kill, wound, or strike a citizen or subject of the other, justice shall be done according to the laws of the country where the offense shall be committed. The consul shall be present at the trial; but if any offender shall escape, the consul shall be in no manner responsible for it.

ARTICLE 22.

If a dispute or lawsuit on commercial or other civil matters shall happen, the trial shall be had in the presence of the consul, or of a confidential person of his choice, who shall represent him and endeavor to accommodate the difference which may have happened between the citizens or subjects of the two nations.

ARTICLE 23.

If any difference or dispute shall take place concerning the infraction of any article of the present treaty on either side, peace and good harmony shall not be interrupted until a friendly application shall have been made for satisfaction; and resort shall not be had to arms therefor, except where such application shall have been rejected; and if war be then declared, the term of one year shall be allowed to the citizens or subjects of the contracting parties to arrange their affairs and to withdraw themselves with their property.

The agreements and terms above concluded by the two contracting parties shall be punctually observed with the will of the Most High. And for the maintenance and exact observance of the said agreements, we have caused their contents to tee here transcribed, in the present month of Rabia Elul, of the Hegira one thousand two hundred and twelve, corresponding with the month of August of the (Christian year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven.

The BEY'S signature[Seal]

IBRAHIM DEY'S signature [Seal]

The AGHA SULEIMAN'S signature [Seal]

To all to whom these Presents shall come or be made known.

Whereas the Underwritten David Humphreys hath been duly appointed (commissioner Plenipotentiary by letters patent under the signature of the President and seal of the United States of America, dated the 30th day of March 1795, for negotiating and concluding a Treaty of Amity and (commerce with the Most Excellent & Illustrious Lord the Bey and Supreme (commander of the State of Tunis; whereas in conformity to the necessary authority committed to him therefor, he did constitute and appoint Joel Barlow an Agent in the business aforesaid; and whereas the annexed Treaty was in consequence thereof agreed upon, in the manner and at the time therein mentioned through the intervention of Joseph Stephen Famin invested with full Powers for the said purpose.

Now, know ye, that I David Humphreys Commissioner Plenipotentiary aforesaid, do approve and conclude the said Treaty and every article and clause therein contained, reserving the same nevertheless for the final Ratification of the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the said United States. In Testimony whereof I have signed the same with my name & affixed thereto my Seal, at the City of Madrid this fourteenth day of November 1797.

[Seal] DAVID HUMPHREYS.

Whereas the President of the United States of America, by his Letters patent, under his signature and the seal of State, dated [Seal] the 18th day of December 1798, vested Richard OBrien,

William Eaton and James Leander Cathcart, or any two of them in the absence of the third, with full powers to confer, negotiate and conclude with the Bey and Regency of Tunis, on certain alterations in the treaty between the United States and the government of Tunis, concluded by the intervention of Joseph Etienne Famin on behalf of the United States, in the month of August 1797; we the underwritten William Eaton and James Leander Cathcart (Richard O'Brien being absent) have concluded on and entered in the foregoing treaty certain alterations in the eleventh, twelfth and fourteenth articles, and do agree to said treaty with said alterations: reserving the same nevertheless for the final ratification of the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In Testimony whereof we annex our names and the Consular seal of the United States. Done in Tunis the twenty sixth day of March in the year of the Christian Era one thousand seven hundred and ninety nine, and of American Independence the twenty third.

(signed) WILLIAM EATON

JAMES LEAR CATHCART

(*) The Turkish text and the material on the French Translation has not been reproduced by the Avalon Project.

"...from the committee on schools and colleges...."

2008-07-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

[TUESDAY, December 15, 1846]

...Mr. Westcott, from the committee on schools and colleges, made the following report:

The committee on Schools and Colleges to whom was referred that part of the [Florida] Governor's Message which relates to the Public Lands granted to the state by the United States for the purpose of promoting common schools, ask leave to

REPORT: That they believe there is no diversity of opinion in the public mind in relation to the vital importance of public education. It is a question in which all parties seem to be united, and in whatever form the subject is agitated, it finds fast and zealous friends, that it is the undivided public opinion of the state, that this legislature take ground in relation to the disposition of the sixteenth sections that the school fund may be made in its fullest extent immediately operative, and a permanent system of education established. The subject has stimulated to zealous effort, all those who feel an interest, and believe in the popular institutions of our country. Yet, your committee feel assured, that if half the time, and feeling, and effort that are expended upon the questions of who shall have the offices were devoted to the great business of preparing the rising generations to occupy the soil, and sustain and advance the character of our state, incalculable good might be accomplished for the country and the human family. That among the questions which engage the attention of the public, --keep the mind in ferment,--give birth to party divisions and hostilities, too many lose sight of this most important of all public questions by engaging in the ever-exciting, and all-sorbing interest of party polities. These lands have been long neglected; thousands are growing into manhood every year, demanding education; the school fund belongs to them; it is the property of the children of the people; and it should neither be diverted from its legitimate purposes, or by improvident legislation rendered useless. On the contrary every means should be adopted to carry into effect the liberal and enlightened provisions of our constitution on the subject. A people cannot properly exercise their rights, and discharge their duties, without understanding them. In a republican government it is the duty of every citizen to have a knowledge of his rights and duties, and of the means or laws for securing the one and enforcing the other. And from this, we derive the obligation of the whole, to furnish the means of study, or in other words provide schools, where rights and duties shall be taught. Rights are natural and immutable; the result of God's universal and unchangeable laws for the government of his rational and accountable creatures. The only just end of government is to protect rights; and our government will not be just to the rising and coming generations if it does not take the proper course with this beneficent donation of the Federal Government to furnish this protection completely. If the New Testament be authority, the duties of all are imperative, to understand the doctrine of Republicanism, or the knowledge of self government; which is, to understand the rights, duties, and means of human happiness; and whatever is required of a rational being, by this sacred book, is within his capacity to attain. Education is to the republican body politic, what vital air is to the natural body, necessary to its very existence, without which it would sicken, droop and die. It is essentially important to the social state of man. The great hope for an increased prosperity of the state, lies in a well digested system of common school education. This requisite of sound policy being permanently secured, all other state questions fall into their proper places. When a people are educated, they will be governed by an enlightened self interest, which is the only security for the weal of a nation. All the {Begin deleted text}sub{End deleted text}-guards which a constitution may place round the state, cannot maintain its existence, if the whole people do not assure its continuance, and to do so, they must be properly educated. When we look at the means generally employed to lull and control the public mind, we are continually reminded of the urgent necessity of a system of common school education. The discussion of principles,--the operations of government, which should be made a sober business, is by the mere wantonness of the demagogne, degraded to the level of antics; and what should be fairly tested, is clouded in malignant representations; betraying political dishonesty, and the want of a system of popular education, for upon the latter, the former flourishes. This subject though overlooked more or less, in the din of ordinary public contestations, is the most momentous, which can engage the attention of the State. The power which gives life, and preserve, the vitality of liberty, and the forms and workings of a free polity, is the intelligence which is derived from education. All questions of party, of revenue, of currency, sink into comparative insignificance, when compared with the question of the proper security and disposition of this fund. If our children only have light, if they are brought up with their perceptions alive to the grandeur and beauty of the material world around them, if they are instructed in their duties to their fellows, to their country, and their God, we have no fears of violent popular changes or political commotions, dislocating or destroying the forms of society. Enlightened self-interest will then be the preserver of civilized polity.

Your committee believe that an immediate sale of the sixteenth sections is the wisest course to pursue, and report a bill for that purpose. The "sale must be a work of time, and therefore ought to be begun without delay," the proceeds to be consolidated into a common fund and hereafter placed under a common superintendence. Nothing great or useful has ever been accomplished without toil and sacrifice--the official duties of such superintendence will demand talent, devotedness, patience and a vast amount of hard work--a mind which is not animalized or money blinded; a mind willing to labor for the intellectual and moral good of the rising generations--because his principles and sympathies lead him that way, without the expectation of a high salary or official honor. He should possess the energy to execute, the sagacity to foresee difficulties, the courage to meet them and the perseverance to overcome them--the fact to remove prejudice and conciliate friendship--and the skill to baffle opposition and disarm hostility.

Your committee are of opinion that these lands, skillfully and honestly managed, will produce a fund of at least one million of dollars. Two paths are before us: if we enter one we may attract a while the attention of the world by a bustling show. If we take the other, we shall not win a momentary, but a lasting admiration. The foundation of State prosperity and individual happiness will be durable as time, strong as truth. Our political system will have no insidious venom preying upon the springs of life--no gangtene to be separated by the mutilation of the living parts--no convulsion to distort - no paralysis to prostrate.--but all the organs animalized by a healthy vitality, moving and acting together without jar or discord. Respectfully submitted,

JOHN WESTCOTT, Chairman.
{Begin deleted text}THOMAS K. LEONARD{End deleted text},
{Begin deleted text}JAMES E. FARRIOR,{End deleted text}
WM. D. WARD,
JOS. WOODRUFF.

Which was received, and a bill to be entitled an act to dispose of the sixteenth sections to create a common school fund and establish a permanent system of education reported by said committee was read the first time and ordered for to-morrow.

On motion of Mr Waterson seventy five copies of said bill were ordered to be printed....

[ An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera. American Memory -Library of Congress]

Gerrit Smith to President Grant, "with the sublime and christian doctrine that every man is every other man's brother and God the...", Nov. 4th, 1868

2008-03-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

GERRIT SMITH TO PRESIDENT GRANT.

Peterboro November 4th 1868.

PRESIDENT GRANT,

Honored and Dear Sir,

Pardon this letter. Pardon my irrepressible impatience to write it. I learn, to-day, that you are made President of the United States: and I cannot wait, even until to-morrow, to say to you what my whole soul urges me to say to you.

Before the Election, your exhortation to your countrymen was: "Let us have Peace!" To this exhortation, as sublime as it is concise, their reply, in the voice of the Election, is also: "Let us have Peace!" What you then asked of them, they now ask of you. What you then called on them to do, they have now put it in your power to do, and now call on you to do.

What, however, is the Peace, which you asked for, and which, in turn, you are asked for? Is it of a superficial and evanescent character? Or is it that deep and enduring Peace, whose foundations are in nothing short of nature and reason, justice and religion? The pride of race, of rank, of wealth has ever stood in the way of realizing this true Peace. The pride of race is by far the greatest of these obstacles, and it is of this one that I would speak to you.

Our New England Fathers brought much religion with them to America. Unhappily, it was more of the Jewish than of the Christian type:--for never was there a people in whom, so much as in the Jews, the pride of race was controlling, contemptuous and cruel. These Fathers saw in the American tribes only another set of heathen: and the laws of the Jews in dealing with their heathen became (more, it is true, in spirit than in letter) the laws for dealing with ours. By these laws the most learned and influential of the New England Divines insisted that the family of even King Philip should be adjudged--of that King Philip, who wept when he heard that an Indian had shed the blood of a white man. The wife of Philip was sold into slavery, and into a foreign land. These Judaized teachers and judges, instead of entering upon the case with human hearts, pored upon the bloodiest pages of the Old Testament; and, instead of imbuing themselves with the spirit of that Blessed One to whom the Samaritan was as dear as the Jew, and in whose religion "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free," set their revenge all ablaze by gazing at the worst examples of revenge.

There has never been a thorough Peace between our white man and our red man. The lack of it is, doubtless, to be traced, more or less, to this mistake of the white man in regarding himself as of the heaven-loved and heaven-favored race, and the red man as of the heaven-hated and heaven-cursed race. Perhaps, we are never to have Peace with our Indians. Perhaps, no however-just treatment of them on our part could avail to regain their confidence. There is but too much reason to fear that this confidence is lost forever; and that, in their utter distrust and undying hatred of us, they will continue to dash themselves against our superior power, until little or nothing shall remain of them. How different from all this would it have been, had we and our ancestors, instead of indulging this pride of race, cordially recognized the equality of all men in the sight of their Common Father!

Even more proudly and cruelly have we borne ourselves toward the black man than toward the red man. Very extensively has the belief obtained amongst us, that the Jewish part of our religion authorized us to make not only "a servant of servants" but property of him, and to strip him as bare of rights as is any kind of property. In that monstrous side of our religion we found, or fancied we found, that God had laid peculiarly heavy curses upon the black man.

Alas, what sorrow has come to our country from the indulgence of this murderous caste-spirit toward the black man! For many generations he has wet with his tears and blood the soil he has tilled. At length, came the War, which was the natural, if not indeed necessary, culmination of our guilty nation's sufferings--a War costing many thousands of millions of dollars and filling several hundred thousands of graves. This War is not yet ended--and, mainly, for the reason that the indulgence of this hatred of race is not yet ended. So rife and so ruling is this hatred, that murder is committed in our nation every day, if not, indeed, every hour.

Because of this hatred between races, how full of bloody contentions, for centuries, was Spain!--and how disastrous to her in all her subsequent history was the final victory of the Spaniard over the Moor! How Greeks and Turks have hated and wasted each other! And how severe and protracted has been the oppression of the Irish because they were Irish instead of English! Until the Irish and English shall know each other as men rather than as Irishmen and Englishmen, there cannot be a sound and permanent Peace between them. The treatment of the Chinese immigrants upon our Western coast comes, also, of this pride of race. How cruel and infamous that treatment!

We, often, hear even men of culture declare that, in a War between their own and another race, they would take the side of their own, be it or be it not the side of justice. How base is such a declaration! On the other hand, how beautiful is the following of justice whithersoever it leads, and the honoring of it in whatever variety or section of our grand common humanity it may be found.

The chief thing for which I took up my pen was to remind you of the deep desire of many hundred thousands, who voted for you, to have your Administration signalized by its cordial recognition of the equal rights of all races of men; by its downright and effective assertion that no man loses rights by being born in a skin of one color instead of another; and by its faithful, warm-hearted and successful endeavors to rid our country of this low and brutal antagonism of races. What your Administration shall be in other respects is of comparatively little consequence. Confident, however, may all be that, if right in this most comprehensive and vital respect, it will be right in every other essential one. No wonder that the Democratic Party was in favor of robbing the Nation's creditors. The Party, that can rob a race of all the rights of manhood, and build and maintain itself on such robbery, is, of course, capable of every other robbery, because every other is infinitely less than this sweeping one. I said that this Party was in favor of robbery--for it is, now, a Party of the past only. It was not killed by the vote of yesterday. It was killed when slavery was killed. In losing slavery, it lost its tap-root--its indispensable nourishment. Its partial resurrection was solely because of the prospect of the re-animation of slavery. The prospect of this re-animation was blighted yesterday; and this Pro-Slavery Democratic Party has, therefore, fallen back into its grave, never again to rise, nor even attempt to rise, from it. Many a "Democratic Party" there may, hereafter, be in our country--but no one of them will be a Pro-Slavery Party, and, therefore, no one of them will be like this Party, which was killed several years ago, and, which lost yesterday all hope of a resurrection. Yesterday's vote has left no room for a Pro-Slavery Party, either now or hereafter. Most emphatically true is this, if the measures and influence of your Administration shall be withering and fatal to the caste-spirit--to that spirit, which, more than all things else, begets and fosters slavery.

Entirely reasonable is the confidence that your Administration, if it maintain the equal rights of all our

[Page 2]

races of men, will not fail of responding to all the essential claims of justice. Of no wrong to the Nation's creditors will it be guilty. For universal suffrage it will be unyielding--not merely because, as the right to life, liberty and property is natural, so participation in the choice of those, at whose official disposal these possessions so largely lie, must also be a natural right; but because all have seen that nothing short of the ballot in the hands of those, who have recently emerged from slavery, can save them from being thrust back into it. The Governments, which President Johnson set up in the South, recognized no political rights in black men: and, straightway, these Governments set to work to re-enslave them. It matters not, as regards my argument, that this new slavery was not literal chattel slavery. It had none of the alleviations incident to chattel-slavery, and was, on the whole, more oppressive and cruel.

In this connexion let me add that, far above all the other good, which will come from the purging of the Nation of this malignant and cruel caste-spirit, will be the removal thereby of the greatest obstacle in the way of the Christ-Religion. For the spirit of this Religion cannot dwell in the bosom that cherishes the hatred of race. And, then, what so much as the spirit of this religion of nature and reason, justice and goodness, prepares the bosom to welcome sound political principles and cultivate sound political sentiments?

I saw, in your letter of August 1863, that you had not, in your early life, made human rights one of your studies. Nevertheless, that, in the high office to which you were chosen yesterday, you will prove yourself to be their enlightened, impartial and successful defender, I cannot doubt. For, like the martyred and immortal Lincoln, you are above the stupidity of not being able to change, and above the weakness of being ashamed to change. Indeed, whilst, in your letter to which I have referred, you say that formerly you had not been "an abolitionist--not even what could be called anti-slavery"-- you do, in the same letter, acknowledge yourself to have advanced so far as to insist on the abolition of slavery, and on there being no Peace, which permits the existence of slavery. Moreover, in another of your letters written in the same month, you reach the altitude of declaring that "Human liberty is the only foundation of human government." Better still is your recent declaration to Mr. Colfax that, in your Presidency, "we shall have the strong arm of the Executive, representing the will and majesty of a mighty people, declaring and insuring to every citizen, black or white, rich or poor, be he humble or exalted, the safeguard of the Nation, and protecting him from every wrong with the shield of our national strength." But, best of all to prove your discernment and appreciation of human rights and your fidelity to them was your acceptance of your nomination and of the righteous principles of the Republican Party. The grandest of all these principles is not No Slavery--but Universal Suffrage:--for the ballot is the mightiest protection of its possessor not only from slavery but from every other wrong. That universal suffrage is one of the principles of the Republican Party is manifest from its being set up in the District of Columbia. Had this Party as clear a Constitutional right to set up in the loyal States, all those States would, also, have been blessed with it. The acting of Congress on the question of suffrage in the disloyal States was under the Law of War--was the exercise of the right of the conqueror.

Nor in your early life did you take the lead in saving a Nation. But, when the time came for you to do so, you did so; and did so successfully, triumphantly. Nor, in early life, had you heard the call to help drive out of your country this mean and murderous antagonism of races. Since then, however, you have heard it, and have been obeying it. And, now, safely can your country rely on your wisdom and justice for what more she needs at your hands. These qualities, so eminent in you, have faithfully and fully met all the claims, which your country has, in quick succession, laid upon you. Not less faithfully and fully will they meet all her remaining claims upon you. And well, too, may she trust that He, who has brought you into the Chief Magistracy "for such a time as this", will both show yon your true work, and give you head, heart and hand to do it.

I cannot forbear saying that no small ground of my rejoicing in your election is your charitable judgment and generous treatment of the South. Warmly did I approve the easy terms on which you allowed General Lee to surrender. Your subsequent Report of the temper of the South, after a too hasty tour through it, showed that you were capable of forming a charitable judgment of even a recent foe. Far too favorable as this Report was thought to be, it, nevertheless, would have been borne out in a high degree, had not these bad men amongst the leaders of the Northern Democracy held back the South from "accepting the situation", and pushed her forward to the indecent and preposterous inversion of claiming for the conquered the right to dictate terms to the conqueror. And how monstrous these terms!--nothing less than that the Nation should again put under the feet of the wicked white men, who had taken up arms to destroy her, the forgiving and magnanimous black men, who had taken up arms to save her! No fear need be entertained that, in your undertakings or measures for peaceable and affectionate relations between the North and the South, you will lay all the blame of our Civil War on the South. Inasmuch as the North is scarcely less responsible than the South for Slavery, you will judge, and rightly too, that she is scarcely less responsible for the War, which grew out of it. Wherever there is a man who, because he became the enemy of his country, was subjected to political disabilities, there is a man whom you would have relieved of them as soon as there is proof that he has again become its friend. But, on the other hand, you will regard no man as the friend of his country, who wars upon his neighbor because that neighbor is of a race different from his own, or because that neighbor stands up for the equal rights of all the races of men.

I close my letter with saying that I like to believe that the Motto of your Administration will be: "A Man's a Man." The spirit of such a Motto pervading our land will make it a land of Peace. The white man and the black man will be at Peace with each other: the North and the South:--and this Peace, because founded in unchangeable nature instead of shifting human expediency,--in the Divine constitution of things instead of human and conventional arrangements, will be a thorough and a permanent Peace. I scarcely need add that the identifying of your Administration with the sublime and christian doctrine of the oneness of the children of men--with the sublime and christian doctrine that every man is every other man's brother and God the Common and Equal Father of them all--will not only make ours the happiest Nation on earth, but will make it to all other Nations a surpassingly grand and influential example of casting down the barriers of race and setting up in their stead the law of impartial justice and the reign of fraternal love.

With the highest respect for your virtues and the deepest gratitude for your services to our beloved country,

GERRIT SMITH.

An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera

Library of Congress - American Memory

Also See:

Biblical Quotes on Arms and Defense

GOD IN AMERICA

Original Intent

Proclamation by the Governor, "and the giving of thanks to the Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed upon us as a people", Trenton, 1878

2008-03-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR.

It is expected of the Chief Executive of this State that he should set apart a day to be devoted to family rejoicing and the giving of thanks to the Almighty for the blessings He has bestowed upon us as a people.

With this recurring season we have abundant reason to express our gratitude to the Giver of all good gifts. He has preserved to us the blessings of peace; He has granted to the husbandman in ample measure the fruits of his toil; prosperity has again commenced to smile upon our land; we have mercifully been shielded against the pestilence which has wrought such havoc among our brethren of other States, and we have good cause to thank Him, in their behalf, that the course of the seasons has been interrupted in order to bring their terrible trials to a close.

Deeply feeling our dependence upon our God, I, GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, Governor of the State of New Jersey, do hereby designate Thursday, the Twenty-Eighth Day of November, instant, as a day of public Thanksgiving and Praise unto Him for all His past mercies, and of humble prayer for a continuance of His goodness to us.

The good people of this State know that vast numbers of our fellow-citizens--once arrayed in arms against us, but now, through God's mercy, happily reunited with us--have undergone indescribable trials through the ravages of a fatal pestilence. Although the scourge is well-nigh ended, yet its consequences still press with fearful weight upon multitudes of the survivors, and still call for relief and aid beyond the power of their immediate neighbors to afford: Therefore, I suggest that in every Church, in every community of this State, arrangements be made to enable every one, according to his or her means and disposition, to offer on the approaching day of Thanksgiving, as a thank-offering to the Lord for His abundant mercies towards us, and as a pledge of our fraternal love to them, money for the relief of our unfortunate fellow-citizens of the afflicted districts of the South.

Given under my hand and seal, at the Executive Chamber, in the City of Trenton, this eighth day of November, in the [L. S.] year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the One Hundred and Third.

Geo. B. McClellan.

BY THE GOVERNOR: JOHN A. HALL, Private Secretary.

2008-03-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.

A PROCLAMATION BY THE GOVERNOR FOR A Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer.
The tender mercy and loving kindness which was vouchsafed to our fathers one hundred years ago, an acknowledgment of which induced them, in some special manner, to unitedly make confession of all past transgressions and seek "Divine Guidance" for the future, is a usage so closely connected with our national prosperity, that we, who are in the full enjoyment of the innumerable blessings which have been bequeathed unto us, should recognize the infinite goodness of him who has so mercifully ministered to our wants.

Mindful of this ancient custom, I do, by advice and with the consent of the Council, hereby appoint THURSDAY, THE 13th DAY OF APRIL NEXT, As a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer; and I earnestly recommend its religious observance throughout the state.

Let us, in public and in private, fervently pray that we may be encircled in the arms of our Heavenly Father, and be directed into paths that will "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;" that we may fully realize that the obligation continually rests upon us to acknowledge our dependence upon the Creator, and to ask of him forgiveness for our manifold sins, and divine help in the present and in the future; that he will bless and preserve our free governments with their republican institutions, to the end that the closing hours of the first century of our national existence may in some degree seem a fitting answer to the prayers of the fathers.
Given at the Council Chamber this the second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-six, and of the independence of the United States the one hundredth.

L. S.

P. C. CHENEY.

By His Excellency the Governor, with advice of Council:

B. F. PRESCOTT, Secretary of State.

A Proclamation, "In fine, that He would hasten the glorious reign of the Prince of Peace; and establish his Kingdom over all the Nations of the Earth"

2008-03-09T13:19:00.001-07:00

Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS.

By His EXCELLENCY James Bowdoin, Esq; GOVERNOUR of the Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS.

A PROCLAMATION,
For a Day of solemn Humiliation and Prayer.

UPON due consideration of the difficulties and embarrassments, in which this Commonwealth is involved, and of the signal frown of Divine Providence, in permitting a Rebellion to disturb its peace, and bring its safety into hazard: By all which GOD is manifesting his righteous displeasure against us for our many and aggravated transgressions; and does loudly admonish us of the duty of a speedy and universal repentance and reformation: And considering also, that, for the various products of the current year, for success in our honest labours and employments, for direction in our public Councils, for a happy and successful administration of Government, and for every thing necessary to our public and private happiness, we are dependant on that Being, whose providence superintends the Universe:

I have thought fit, at the desire of the two Branches of the Legislature, and with the advice and consent of the Council, to appoint, and do hereby appoint, THURSDAY the twenty-second Day of March next, to be observed as a Day of Solemn Humiliation and Prayer throughout this Commonwealth: hereby calling upon Ministers and People, in a publick and social manner, to humble themselves before Almighty GOD, by a penitent confession of their Sins, accompanied with sincere resolutions of amendment, and followed by real and general reformation: humbly beseeching Him, that He would be graciously pleased to bless the United States in Congress assembled by giving them wisdom, firmness and unanimity, in the conduct and management of our National concerns: That He would bless the Government of this Commonwealth, and direct to the best means of extricating it from its numerous embarrassments; and of speedily restoring to it peace and good order: That for this purpose, He would further succeed, and render effectual, the measures taken for suppressing the present Rebellion; and for bringing the Fomenters and Abettors of it to a sense of their duty, and to a willing submission to Constitutional Government; at the same time expressing their gratitude to the Father of Mercies for the success of those measures; and that so few lives have been lost in obtaining it: That He would give a public and patriotic spirit to persons of every rank and order, especially to such as are in civil authority: That He would endue the people with the spirit of Truth, Harmony and Concord; with a true sense of the value of the Liberties and Privileges they enjoy under our present happy Constitution; and with a disposition to regulate their conduct by the wise principles of it: That He would be pleased to bless our Husbandry, and grant us suitable Seasons for the Fruits of the Earth, and for maturing them in a plentiful harvest: That He would revive and prosper our Trade, Navigation and Fishery; and give success to all our lawful undertakings: That He would continue health to us; and prevent the spreading of any mortal, or contagious sickness: That He would put a stop to the progress of Profaneness and Impiety; and to that great dissoluteness of Manners, which, unless we reform them, threatens us with heavier evils: In fine, that He would hasten the glorious reign of the Prince of Peace; and establish his Kingdom over all the Nations of the Earth.

And I do earnestly recommend that all Labour, and unnecessary Recreation, be suspended on that Day.

Given at the Council Chamber, in BOSTON, the seventeenth Day of February, in the year of our LORD, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty--Seven, and in the Eleventh Year of the Independence of the United States of America.

JAMES BOWDOIN,

By His Excellency's Command, JOHN AVERY, jun. Secretary.

GOD save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"do solemnly swear on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God"

2008-03-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

District of Columbia, County of Washington.

I,..........of..........do solemnly swear on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God, without any mental reservation, that I will at any and all times hereafter, and under all circumstances, yield a hearty and willing support to the Constitution of the United States and to the Government thereof; that I will not, either directly or indirectly, take up arms against said Government, nor aid those now in arms against it; that I will not pass without the Lines now established by the Army of the United States, or hereafter from time to time to be established by said Army, nor hold any correspondence whatsoever with any person or persons beyond said Lines so established by said Army of the United States, during the present rebellion, without permission from the Secretary of War; also, that I will do no act hostile or injurious to the union of the States; that I will give no aid, comfort, or assistance to the enemies of the Government, either domestic or foreign; that I will defend the flag of the United States, and the armies fighting under it, from insult and injury, if in my power so to do; and that I will in all things deport myself as a good and loyal citizen.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this..........day of..........

IN accordance with what has been for centuries the pious custom of this Commonwealth...

2008-03-05T19:20:00.001-08:00

State of Connecticut

By His Excellency SIMEON E. BALDWIN GOVERNOR

A Proclamation

IN accordance with what has been for centuries the pious custom of this Commonwealth, I appoint Friday, the fourteenth day of April next, as a day of Fasting and Prayer and I recommend the people to use what thus becomes a legal holiday as, in the original sense of that word, a holy-day, to be especially consecrated to the worship and the service of God.

Given under my hand and the seal of the State, at the Capitol, in Hartford, this twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and eleven, and of the independence of the United States, the one hundred and thirty-fifth.

SIMEON E. BALDWIN.

By His Excellency's Command, MATTHEW H. ROGERS, Secretary.

"Titus Manlius", The Stand III...

2007-11-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

"In reviewing the disgusting spectacle of the French Revolution, it is difficult to avert the eye entirely from those features of it which betray a plan to disorganize the human mind itself, as well as to undermine the venerable pillars that support the edifice of civilized society. The attempt by the rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion, and to pervert a whole nation to atheism, is a phenomenon of profligacy reserved to consummate the infamy of the unprincipled reformers of France. The proofs of this terrible design are numerous and convincing.
"The animosity to the Christian system is demonstrated by the single fact of the ridiculous and impolitic establishment of the decades, with the evident object of supplanting the Christian Sabbath. The inscriptions by public authority on the tombs of the deceased, affirming death to be an eternal sleep, witness the desire to discredit the belief of the immortality of the soul. The open profession of atheism in the convention, received with acclamations; the honorable mention on its journals of a book professing to prove the nothingness of all religion; the institution of a festival to offer public worship to a courtesan decorated with the pompous title of “Goddess of Reason”; the congratulatory reception of impious children appearing in the hall of the convention to lisp blasphemy against the King of kings, are among the dreadful proofs of a conspiracy to establish atheism on the ruins of Christianity,—to deprive mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes, and to make a gloomy desert of the universe.
"Latterly, the indications of this plan are not so frequent as they were, but from time to time something still escapes which discovers that it is not renounced. The late address of Buonaparte to the Directory is an example. That unequalled conqueror, from whom it is painful to detract, in whom one would wish to find virtues worthy of his shining talents, profanely unites religion (not superstition) with royalty and the feudal system as the scourges of Europe for centuries ast. The decades likewise remain the catapulta which are to batter down Christianity."
- Alexander Hamilton, using the pseudonym "Titus Manlius", The Stand III, (From the New York Commercial Advertiser.), April 7, 1798. [The Works of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Henry Cabot Lodge (Federal Edition) (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). In 12 vols.]

This decision still STANDS....

2007-10-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

"The fact that the Founding Fathers believed devotedly that there was a God and that the UNALIENABLE RIGHTS of man were rooted in Him is clearly evidenced in their writings, from the Mayflower Compact to the Constitution itself. This background is evidenced today in our public life through the continuance in our oaths of office from the Presidency to the Alderman of the final supplication, "So help me God." . . . and the sessions of this Court are declared open by the crier in a short ceremony, the final phrase of which invokes the grace of God."
- MR. JUSTICE CLARK deliver[ing] the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court,[ABINGTON SCHOOL DIST. v. SCHEMPP, 374 U.S. 203 (1963). Page 374 U.S. 203, 212, 213] Decided June 17, 1963.

U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. v. MACINTOSH:

2007-10-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

"We are a Christian people (Holy Trinity Church v. United States. 143 U.S. 457, 470, 471 S., 12 S. Ct. 511), according to one another the equal right of religious freedom, and acknowledging with reverence the duty of obedience to the will of God. But, also, we are a nation with the duty to survive; a nation whose Constitution contemplates war as well as peace; whose government must go forward upon the assumption, and safely can proceed upon no other, that unqualified allegiance to the nation and submission and obedience to the laws of the land, as well those made for war as those made for peace, are not inconsistent with the will of God."
- Mr. Justice Sutherland, U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. v. MACINTOSH, 283 U.S. 605 (1931), Page 283 U.S. 605, 625. Decided May 25, 1931.

OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA...

2007-10-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

"As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government hath to do therewith. Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at once delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. For myself, I fully and conscientiously believe, that it is the will of the Almighty that there should be a diversity of religious opinions among us. It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness: were we all of one way of thinking, our religious dispositions would want matter for probation; and on this liberal principle I look on the various denominations among us, to be like children of the same family, differing only in what is called their Christian names."
- Thomas Paine, Vol. I, (1774-1779) [1774], OF THE PRESENT ABILITY OF AMERICA: WITH SOME MISCELLANEOUS REFLECTIONS.[The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894).]

A Guide for the Perplexed; CHAPTER XLII, By Moses Maimonides

2007-10-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

The precepts of the seventh class are the civil laws enumerated in the Section on Judgments, and part of the Section on Property. The object of these precepts is obvious. They define the ways of equity in the various transactions which must take place between man and man. Those that are engaged in such transactions must mutually promote each other’s interests; neither of the parties must strive to increase only his own profit, and that he alone should enjoy the whole benefit of the transaction. In the first place, no overcharge is permitted; only the ordinary and known rate of profit may be taken. The law fixes the limits of profits within which the transaction is valid. Even imposition in mere words [where no material harm is inflicted] is forbidden, as is well known. Next comes the law of the four kinds of bailees; the fairness of the law is evident. If one keeps the property of his neighbour for nothing, without deriving therefrom any benefit for himself, and is only obliging his neighbour, he is free from all responsibility, and if any injury is done to the property, the owner alone must bear the loss. He who borrows a thing keeps it only for his own advantage, whilst the owner lends it to him to oblige him; he is therefore responsible for everything; any loss in the property must be borne by the borrower. If one takes wages for keeping the property or pays for using it, he as well as the owner profit thereby; the losses must therefore be divided between them. It is done in this manner; the bailee pays for any loss caused through want of care, namely, when the property is stolen or lost; for this happens only when the bailee does not take sufficient precaution. The owner, on the other hand, bears such losses as cannot be prevented; namely, if by accident the animal falls and breaks its limbs, or is carried away by armed men as booty, or if it dies. The Law further ordains merciful conduct towards hired workmen because of their poverty. Their wages should be paid without delay, and they must not be wronged in any of their rights; they must receive their pay according to their work. Another instance of kindness to workmen is this: according to the regulations of this law, workmen, and even animals, must be permitted to partake of the food in the preparation of which they have been engaged. The laws which relate to property include laws concerning inheritance. They are based on the sound principle that man must not “withhold good from those to whom it is due” (Prov. iii. 27), and when he is about to die, he must not conceive ill-will against his heirs, by squandering his property, but leave it to the one who has the greatest claim on it, that is, to him who is his nearest relation, “unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family” (Num. xxvii. 11). It is clearly stated that the son has the first claim, then comes the daughter, then the brother, and then the father’s brothers, as is well known. The father must leave the right of the first-born to his eldest son, because his love for this son came first; he must not be guided by his inclination. He may not make the son of the beloved first-born before the son of the hated (Deut. xxi. 16). Thus our highly equitable Law preserves and strengthens the virtue of respecting all kinsmen, and doing well unto them, as the prophet says: “He that is cruel troubleth his own flesh” (Prov. xi. 17). The Law correctly says, “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, unto thy poor” (Deut. xv. 11). Our Sages bestow much praise upon him who is kind to his relatives, and him who marries the daughter of his sister. The Law has taught us how far we have to extend this principle of favouring those who are near to us, and of treating kindly every one with whom we have some relationship, even if he offended or wronged us; even if he is very bad, we must have some consideration for him. Thus the Law says: “Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother” (ibid. xxiii. 7). Again, if we find a person in trouble, whose assistance we have once enjoyed, or of whom we have received some benefit, even if that person has subsequently done evil to us, we must bear in mind his previous [good] conduct. Thus the Law tells us: “Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land” (ibid.), although the Egyptians have subsequently oppressed us very much, as is well-known. See how many moral lessons we have derived from these precepts. The last two precepts do not belong to the seventh class; but the discussion of the preference due to relatives as regards inheritance led us to speak of the Egyptians and the Edomites.

- (1186 A.D.) [A Guide for the Perplexed, translated from the original Arabic text by M. Friedlaender, 4th revised ed. (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1904).]

Journals of the Continental Congress, Oct. 10, 1774

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Journals of the Continental Congress, MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1774.
The Congress resuming the consideration of the letter from Boston,
Resolved unanimously, That it is the opinion of this body, that the removal of the people of Boston into the country, would be not only extremely difficult in the execution, but so important in its consequences, as to require the utmost deliberation before it is adopted; but, in case the provincial meeting of that Colony should judge it absolutely necessary, it is the opinion of the Congress, that all America ought to contribute towards recompensing them for the injury they may thereby sustain; and it will be recommended accordingly.
Resolved, That the Congress recommend to the inhabitants of the colony of Massachusetts-bay, to submit to a suspension of the administration of Justice, where it cannot be procured in a legal & peaceable manner, under the rules of their present charter, and the laws of the colony founded thereon.1
[Note 1: 1 This second resolution was carried by a majority only, as is noted in the text. Richard Henry Lee voted against it.It was probably in this debate that the motion of Ross was submitted. "I have sometimes wished, since my return, that we had fallen in, totis viribus, with the motion made by Mr. Ross, and seconded by Mr. Galloway, that this province should be left to her own discretion with respect to government and justice, as well as defence. Our provincial Congress had in contemplation some sublime conceptions, which would in that case have been rapidly carried into execution." John Adams to Edward Biddle, 12 December, 1774.]
Resolved unanimously, That every person and persons whatsoever, who shall take, accept, or act under any commission or authority, in any wise derived from the act passed in the last session of parliament, changing the form of government, and violating the charter of the province of Massachusetts-bay, ought to be held in detestation and abhorrence by all good men, and considered as the wicked tools of that despotism, which is preparing to destroy those rights, which God, nature, and compact, have given to America.
The committee brought in a draught of a letter to general Gage, and the same being read and amended, was ordered to be copied, & to be signed by the president in behalf of the Congress.

"...whose greatest interest and happiness are intended by all the laws of God and nature..."

2007-09-20T00:06:00.000-07:00

"But however great the variety and inequality of men may be with regard to virtue, talents, taste, and acquirements; there is still one aspect, in which all men in society, previous to civil government, are equal. With regard to all, there is an equality in rights and in obligations; there is that "jus aequum," that equal law, in which the Romans placed true freedom. The natural rights and duties of man belong equally to all. Each forms a part of that great system, whose greatest interest and happiness are intended by all the laws of God and nature. These laws prohibit the wisest and the most powerful from inflicting misery on the meanest and most ignorant; and from depriving them of their rights or just acquisitions. By these laws, rights, natural or acquired, are confirmed, in the same manner, to all; to the weak and artless, their small acquisitions, as well as to the strong and artful, their large ones. If much labour employed entitles the active to great possessions, the indolent have a right, equally sacred, to the little possessions, which they occupy and improve."
- James Wilson, 1791, "Lectures on Law".[The Works of James Wilson. Edited by Robert Green McCloskey. 2 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967.]

John Adams, Feb. 11, 1776 letter to Abigail Adams

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"...But the Arbiter of Events, the Sovereign of the World only knows, which Way the Torrent will be turned. Judging by Experience, by Probabilities, and by all Appearances, I conclude, it will roll on to Dominion and Glory, tho the Circumstances and Consequences may be bloody.
"In such great Changes and Commotions, Individuals are but Atoms. It is scarcly worth while to consider what the Consequences will be to Us. What will be the Effects upon present and future Millions, and Millions of Millions, is a Question very interesting to Benevolence natural and Christian. God grant they may and I firmly believe they will be happy."
- John Adams, Feb. 11, 1776 letter to Abigail Adams. [Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume: 3. Library of Congress - American Memory]

"Book of War" from the Dead Sea Scrolls [The Rule of the War]

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Col. 1 For the M(aster, the Rule of] the War. The first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial: the troops of Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the [Amalekites], Philistia, and the troops of the Kittim of Asshur. Supporting them are those who have violated the covenant. The sons of Levi, the sons of Judah, and the sons of Benjamin, those exiled to the wilderness, shall fight against them with [ . . . ] against all their troops, when the exiles of the Sons of Light return from the Wilderness of the Peoples to camp in the Wilderness of Jerusalem....
(Read rest of book here)

Now here's a good one....

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"...Self defence is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of society can abolish; this primæval principle, the immediate gift of the Creator, obliges every one to remonstrate against the strides of ambition, and a wanton lust of domination, and to resist the first approaches of tyranny, which at this day threaten to sweep away the rights for which the brave sons of America have fought with an heroism scarcely paralleled even in ancient republicks...."
- Elbridge Gerry, Observations On the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions. (Mr. Gerry signed the Declaration of Independence. Was a Delegate to the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention. Representative from Massachusetts, and later Vice-President of the U.S. under Madison.)

John Adams to Abigail Adams;

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"...Revenge, in ancient Days, you will see it through the whole Roman History, was esteemed a generous, and an heroic Passion. Nothing was too good for a Friend or too bad for an Enemy. Hatred and Malice, without Limits, against an Enemy, was indulged, was justified, and no Cruelty was thought unwarrantable.
"Our Saviour taught the Immorality of Revenge, and the moral Duty of forgiving Injuries, and even the Duty of loving Enemies. Nothing can shew the amiable, the moral, and divine Excellency of these Christian Doctrines in a stronger Point of Light, than the Characters and Conduct of Marius and Sylla, Cazsar, Pompey, Anthony and Augustus, among innumerable others. Retaliation, we must practice, in some Instances, in order to make our barbarous Foes respect in some degree the Rights of Humanity. But this will never be done without the most palpable Necessity.
"The Apprehension of Retaliation alone, will restrain them from Cruelties which would disgrace Savages.
"To omit it then would be cruelty to ourselves, our Officers and Men...."
[Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 7. Monday, June 2. 1777]

"THE GANG"

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How A Government Agency Uses The Law To Destroy Your Rights And Freedoms

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"When people impute special vices to the Christian Church, they seem to entirely forget that the world (which is the only other thing there is) has these vices much more. The Church has been cruel; but the world has been much more cruel. The Church has plotted; but the world has plotted much more. The Church has been superstitious; but it has never been so superstitious as the world is when left to itself."
- C.S. Lewis

State v. Kerner, "resistance to tyranny is obedience to God", May 11, 1921

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Pertinent quotes from this somewhat decent judicial ruling;

...The Constitution of this state, section 24, art. 1, which is entitled, "Declaration of Rights," provides, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," adding, "nothing herein contained shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons or prevent the Legislature from enacting penal statutes against said practice." This exception indicates the extent to which the right of the people to bear arms can be restricted; that is, the Legislature can prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons but no further. This constitutional guaranty was construed in State v. Speller, 86 N.C. 697, in which it was held that the distinction was between the "right to keep and bear arms" and the "practice of carrying concealed weapons." The former is a sacred right based upon the experience of the ages in order that the people may be accustomed to bear arms and ready to use them for the protection of their liberties or their country when occasion serves. The provision against carrying them concealed was to prevent assassinations or advantages taken by the lawless; i.e., against the abuse of the privilege....

...We can have no knowledge of the future except by the past, or, as Patrick Henry said, "The only light by which our feet are guided is the lamp of experience." The constitutional provision which forbids any prohibition upon the people to bear arms and use them effectively by being accustomed to their use should be strictly and stoutly maintained, for we know not when the occasion may again require the assertion of that doctrine which was once familiar throughout this country that "resistance to tyranny is obedience to God," or for the defense of person and property against mobs and violence....

Here's a good one....

2007-04-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

"Man is a cestui que trust, not a slave. His right is God-given. Its power is Divinely intrusted for the conservation of his right. All the theories of Hobbes and his utilitarian followers, which place his title to liberty in the will of the Body-politic, or by the grace of government (Hobbes' Leviathan), or of Rousseau and others, which deduce them from a real or hypothetical contract made for him by a dead ancestry or by himself, or implied from his acquiescence, are alike false and fatal to his interests. Deriving his title from God, his claim is higher than the power of all governments. His right precedes its power; and power is God-given to guard God-given right. Man is placed by God in wardship to the Body-politic as his guardian — and the guardian's power is legitimate only when it protects, and is ultra vires when it impairs the right of the man."

- John Randolph Tucker, L.L.D., "The Constitution of the United States, A Critical Discussion of its Genesis, Development, and Interpretation", 1899. (Grandson of St. George Tucker, author of "Blackstone's Commentaries", 1803. The first commentary on the Constitution of the United States).

Noah Webster, Oct. 10, 1787....

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"Legislators have ever been deemed the greatest benefactors of mankind—respected when living, and often deified after their death. Hence the fame of Fohi and Confucius— of Moses, Solon and Lycurgus— of Romulus and Numa— of Alfred, Peter the Great, and Mango Capac; whose names will be celebrated through all ages, for framing and improving constitutions of government, which introduced order into society and secured the benefits of law to millions of the human race.
"This western world now beholds an era important beyond conception, and which posterity will number with the age of Czar of Muscovy, and with the promulgation of the Jewish laws at Mount Sinai. The names of those men who have digested a system of constitutions for the American empire, will be enrolled with those of Zamolxis and Odin, and celebrated by posterity with the honors which less enlightened nations have paid to the fabled demi-gods of antiquity."
- Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, 1787.

DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS: Mr. Parsons, Jan. 23, 1788:

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“It has been objected that the Constitution provides no religious test by oath, and we may have in power unprincipled men, atheists and pagans. No man can wish more ardently than I do that all our public offices may be filled by men who fear God and hate wickedness; but it must remain with the electors to give the government this security. An oath will not do it. Will an unprincipled man be entangled by an oath? Will an atheist or a pagan dread the vengeance of the Christian's God, a being, in his opinion, the creature of fancy and credulity? It is a solecism in expression. No man is so illiberal as to wish the confining places of honor or profit to any one sect of Christians; but what security is it to government, that every public officer shall swear that he is a Christian? For what will then be called Christianity? One man will declare that the Christian religion is only an illumination of natural religion, and that he is a Christian; another Christian will assert that all men must be happy hereafter in spite of themselves; a third Christian reverses the image, and declares that, let a man do all he can, he will certainly be punished in another world; and a fourth will tell us that, if a man use any force for the common defence, he violates every principle of Christianity. Sir, the only evidence we can have of the sincerity of a man's religion is a good life; and I trust that such evidence will be required of every candidate by every elector. That man who acts an honest part to his neighbor, will, most probably, conduct honorably towards the public.”

Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, Dec. 20, 1787

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Excerpts;

...The season admitting only of operations in the Cabinet, and these being in a great measure secret, I have little to fill a letter. I will therefore make up the deficiency by adding a few words on the Constitution proposed by our Convention. I like much the general idea of framing a government which should go on of itself peaceably, without needing continual recurrence to the state legislatures. I like the organization of the government into Legislative, Judiciary & Executive. I like the power given the Legislature to levy taxes, and for that reason solely approve of the greater house being chosen by the people directly. For tho' I think a house chosen by them will be very illy qualified to legislate for the Union, for foreign nations &c. yet this evil does not weigh against the good of preserving inviolate the fundamental principle that the people are not to be taxed but by representatives chosen immediately by themselves. I am captivated by the compromise of the opposite claims of the great & little states, of the latter to equal, and the former to proportional influence. I am much pleased too with the substitution of the method of voting by persons, instead of that of voting by states: and I like the negative given to the Executive with a third of either house, though I should have liked it better had the Judiciary been associated for that purpose, or invested with a similar and separate power. There are other good things of less moment. I will now add what I do not like. First the omission of a bill of rights providing clearly & without the aid of sophisms for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against standing armies . . . Let me add that a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, & what no just government should refuse, or rest on inferences...."

Full article here.

Think that Mr. Henry just might have put it best:

2007-02-08T23:31:00.000-08:00

"Mr. Henry for it. Says that a preparation for Warr is Necessary to obtain peace--That America is not Now in a State of peace--That all the Bulwarks, of Our Safety, of Our Constitn. are thrown down, That We are Now in a State of Nature--That We ought to ask Ourselves the Question should the planns of Nonim [portatio] n & Nonexp [oratio] n fail of success--in that Case Arms are Necessary, & if then, it is Necessary Now. Arms are a Resource to which We shall be forced, a Resource afforded Us by God & Nature, & why in the Name of both are We to hesitate providing them Now whilst in Our power."
- Silas Deane's Diary, [Oct. 3, 1774]. [Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 1 AUGUST 1774 - AUGUST 1775]

Thomas Jefferson, Sept. 23, 1800 letter to Benjamin Rush...

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...I promised you a letter on Christianity, which I have not forgotten. On the contrary, it is because I have reflected on it, that I find much more time necessary for it than I can at present dispose of. I have a view of the subject which ought to displease neither the rational Christian nor Deists, and would reconcile many to a character they have too hastily rejected. I do not know that it would reconcile the genus irritabile vatum who are all in arms against me. Their hostility is on too interesting ground to be softened. The delusion into which the X. Y. Z. plot shewed it possible to push the people; the successful experiment made under the prevalence of that delusion on the clause of the constitution, which, while it secured the freedom of the press, covered also the freedom of religion, had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtaining an establishment of a particular form of Christianity thro' the U. S.; and as every sect believes its own form the true one, every one perhaps hoped for his own, but especially the Episcopalians & Congregationalists. The returning good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, & they believe that any portion of power confided to me, will be exerted in opposition to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have sworn upon the altar of god, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to fear from me: & enough too in their opinion, & this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me, forging conversations for me with Mazzei, Bishop Madison, &c., which are absolute falsehoods without a circumstance of truth to rest on; falsehoods, too, of which I acquit Mazzei & Bishop Madison, for they are men of truth....

Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, TUESDAY, December 8, 1829;

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"...In communicating with you for the first time, it is, to me, a source of unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual gratulation and devout thanks to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind; and that our country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general welfare and progressive improvement. Turning our eyes to other nations, our great desire is to see our brethren of the human race secured in the blessings enjoyed by ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in social happiness.
"Our foreign relations, although in their general character pacific and friendly, present subjects of difference between us and other Powers, of deep interest, as well to the country at large as to many of our citizens. To effect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the object of my earnest endeavors; and notwithstanding the difficulties of the task, I do not allow, myself to apprehend unfavorable results. Blessed as our country is with every thing which constitutes national strength, she is fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests. In discharging the responsible trust confided to the Executive in this respect, it is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly right, and to submit to nothing that is wrong; and I flatter myself, that, supported by the other branches of the Government, and by the intelligence and patriotism of the People, we shall be able, under the protection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be respected...."
"...Upon this country, more than any other, has, in the providence of God, been cast the special guardianship of the great principle of adherence to written constitutions. If it fail here, all hope in regard to it will be extinguished...."
"...I now commend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God, with a full reliance on his merciful providence for the maintenance of our free institutions; and with an earnest supplication, that, whatever errors it may be my lot to commit, in discharging the arduous duties which have devolved on me, will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom of your counsels."
- President Andrew Jackson

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Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, December 5, 1865;

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"...Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:
To express gratitude to God, in the name of the people, for the preservation of the United States, is my first duty in addressing you. . . . To form a more perfect Union," by an ordinance of the people of the United States, is the declared purpose of the Constitution. The hand of Divine Providence was never more plainly visible in the affairs of men than in the framing and the adopting of that instrument...."
"...Who of them will not now acknowledge, in the words of Washington, that "every step by which the people of the United States have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency?" Who will not join with me in the prayer, that the invisible hand which has led us through the clouds that gloomed around our path will so guide us onward to a perfect restoration of fraternal affection, that we of this day may be able to transmit our great inheritance, of State governments in all their rights, of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, to our posterity, and they to theirs through countless generations?
ANDREW JOHNSON.
Washington, December 4, 1865.

Letters of Delegates to Congress: James Duane's Notes for a Speech in Congress...

2006-12-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

...1st. A vigorous preparation for our common defence--for Sir, I wish we may never part with the idea that every hostile measure on our part is undertaken for and shall be conducted to our own self preservation: and that however injured and provoked the desire of conquest, of independence and much less of revenge may be banished from every American breast.
Let this be ever considered as a family quarrel, unnatural, disgraceful and ruinous into which we are innocently plunged by intolerable oppression, and which we are sincerely disposed to appease and reconcile, whenever the good providence of God shall put it in our power, consistent with the preservation of our just rights.This loyal and benevolent sentiment which to the honor of injured Americans under all her grievances so universally prevails will open the next head of debate vizt.
2dly. Whether any means of reconciliation are left in our power which we can propose with a prospect of success, and a just regard to our invaded Rights.
As to the 1st point--a vigorous preparation for our common defence....
Full page can be read here.

Letter to Florida Blanca, [The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Volume 2]

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"...At the same time he trusts that the Spanish nation will receive no inconsiderable retribution from the freedom of that commerce the monopoly of which contributed so much to strengthen and aggrandize her rival and her foe; nor can anything give more lasting satisfaction to the royal mind than the reflection of having employed those means which God has put into his hands in assisting an oppressed people to vindicate those rights and liberties which have been violated by twice six years of incessant injuries and insulted supplications; those rights which God and nature, together with the convention of their ancestors and the constitution of their country, gave to the people of the States. Instead of that protection in those rights which was the due return for sovereignty exercised over them, they have seen their defenseless towns wantonly laid in ashes, their unfortified country cruelly desolated, their property wasted, their people slain; the ruthless savage, whose inhuman war spares neither age nor sex, instigated against them; the hand of the servant armed against his master by public proclamation, and the very food which the sea that washes their coast furnishes forbidden them by a law of unparalleled folly and injustice. Proinde quasi injuriam facere id demure esset imperio uti. Nor was it enough that for these purposes the British force was exhausted against them, but foreign mercenaries were also bribed to complete the butchery of their people and the devastation of their country. And that nothing might be wanting to make the practices equivalent to the principles of this war, the minds of these mercenaries were poisoned with every prejudice that might harden their hearts and sharpen their swords against a people who not only never injured or offended them, but who have received with open arms and provided habitations for their wandering countrymen. These are injuries which the Americans can never forget. These are oppressors whom they can never again endure. The force of intolerable and accumulated outrages has compelled them to appeal to God and to the sword. The King of Spain, in assisting them to maintain that appeal, assists in vindicating the violated rights of human nature. No cause can be more illustrious, no motive more magnanimous."
- Arthur Lee, March 17, 1777

George Mason, June 11, 1788;

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"...They tell us that, if we be powerful and respectable abroad, we shall have liberty and happiness at home. Let us secure that liberty, that happiness, first, and we shall then be respectable. . . . . The security of our liberty and happiness is the object we ought to have in view in wishing to establish the union. If, instead of securing these, we endanger them, the name of union will be but a trivial consolation. If the objections be removed, if those parts which are deafly subversive of our rights be altered, no man will go farther than I will to advance the union. . . . . We wish only our rights to be secured. We must have such amendments as will secure the liberties and happiness of the people on a plain, simple construction, not on a doubtful ground. We wish to give the government sufficient energy, on real republican principles; but we wish to withhold such powers as are not absolutely necessary in themselves, but are extremely dangerous. We wish to shut the door against corruption in that place where it is most dangerous--to secure against the corruption of our own representatives. We ask such amendments as will point out what powers are reserved to the state governments, and clearly discriminate between them and those which are given to the general government, so as to prevent future disputes and clashing of interests. Grant us amendments like these, and we will cheerfully, with our hands and hearts, unite with those who advocate it, and we will do every thing we can to support and carry it into execution. But in its present form we never can accede to it. Our duty to God and to our posterity forbids it. We acknowledge the defects of the Confederation, and the necessity of a reform. We ardently wish for a union with our sister states, on terms of security, This I am bold to declare is the desire of most the people. On these terms we will most cheerfully join with the warmest friends of this Constitution. On another occasion I shall point out the great dangers of this Constitution, and the amendments which are necessary...."
.
- The Debates in the Several State Conventions, (Virginia), on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 3]

The Debates in the Several State Conventions, (Virginia), on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 3] June 18, 1788.

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“...Mr. HENRY begged gentlemen to consider the condition this country would be in if two thirds of a quorum should be empowered to make a treaty: they might relinquish and alienate territorial rights, and our most valuable commercial advantages. In short, if any thing should be left us, it would be because the President and senators were pleased to admit it. The power of making treaties, by this Constitution, ill-guarded as it is, extended farther than it did in any country in the world. Treaties were to have more force here than in any part of Christendom; for he defied any gentleman to show any thing so extensive in any strong, energetic government in Europe. Treaties rest, says he, on the laws and usages of nations. To say that they are municipal is, to me, a doctrine totally novel. To make them paramount to the Constitution and laws of the states, is unprecedented. I would give them the same force and obligation they have in Great Britain, or any other country in Europe. Gentlemen are going on in a fatal career; but I hope they will stop before they concede this power unguarded and unaltered...
.
Mr. MADISON, instead of being alarmed, had no doubt but the Constitution would increase, rather than decrease, the security of territorial rights and commercial advantages, as it would augment the strength and respectability of the country. The honorable gentleman, says he, has said we are making great innovations in extending the force of treaties. Are not treaties the law of the land in England? I will refer you to a book which is in every man's hand--Blackstone's Commentaries. It will inform you that the treaties made by the king are to be the supreme law of the land. If they are to have any efficacy, they must be the law of the land: they are so in every country. He thinks that, by the power of making treaties, the empire may be dismembered in time of peace. The king of Great Britain has the power of making peace, but he has no power of dismembering the empire, or alienating any part of it. Nay, the king of France has no right of alienating part of his dominions to any power whatsoever. The power of making treaties does not involve a right of dismembering the Union....”
.
“...Mr. HENRY, ...Sure I am, if treaties are made infringing our liberties, it will be too late to say that our constitutional rights are violated. We are in contact with two powers--Great Britain and Spain. They may claim our most valuable territories, and treaties may be made to yield them. It is easy on our part to define our unalienable rights, and expressly secure them, so as to prevent future claims and disputes. Suppose you be arraigned as offenders and violators of a treaty made by this government. Will you have that fair trial which offenders are entitled to in your own government? Will you plead a right to the trial by jury? You will have no right to appeal to your own Constitution. You must appeal to your Continental Constitution. A treaty may be made giving away your rights, and inflicting unusual punishments on its violators. It is contended that, if the king of Great Britain makes a treaty within the line of his prerogative, it is the law of the land. I agree that this is proper, and, if I could see the same cheeks in that paper which I see in the British government, (Bill of Rights), I would consent to it. Can the English monarch make a treaty which shall subvert the common law of England, and the constitution? Dare he make a treaty that shall violate Magna Charta, or the bill of rights? Dare he do any thing derogatory to the honor, or subversive of the great privileges, of his people? No, sir. If he did, it would be nugatory, and the attempt would endanger his existence....”

THE DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ON THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.....

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“...I trust, sir, that observations of this kind are not thrown out to cast a light air on this important subject, or to give any personal bias on the great question before us. I will not agree with gentlemen who trifle with the weaknesses of our country, and suppose that they are enumerated to answer a party purpose, and to terrify with ideal dangers. No. I believe these weaknesses to be real, and pregnant with destruction. Yet, however weak our country may be, I hope we never shall sacrifice our liberties. If, therefore, on a full and candid discussion, the proposed system shall appear to have that tendency, for God's sake, let us reject it! But let us not mistake words for things, nor accept doubtful surmises as the evidence of truth. Let us consider the Constitution calmly and dispassionately, and attend to those things only which merit consideration.
.
- Alexander Hamilton, Jun 20, 1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 2]

"...apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom."

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About the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:

"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result! that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of
history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always
progressed through the following sequence

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage "

Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election

Population of counties won by:

Gore: 127 millio n;

Bush: 143 million;

Square miles of land won by:

Gore: 580,000;

Bush: 2,427,000

States won by:

Gore: 19;

Bush: 29

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:

Gore: 13.2;

Bush 2.1

Professor Olson adds:

"In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by
the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly
encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off
government welfare..."

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the "complacency and apathy" phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some 40 percent of the nation's population already having reached the "governmental dependency" phase.

If the Senate grants Amnesty and citizenship to 20 million criminal invaders called illegals and they vote, then goodbye USA in less than 5 years.

Pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake, knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.

I'd Love to Change the World...

2006-10-21T16:07:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite songs growing up. Always felt it had a Godly slant to it. Particularly enjoyed the guitar solo in it. Don't entirely agree with all that it implies, but there are some Truths to be found in the words. Anyways, think it has a message in it, that is as applicable today as when it was written;
.
Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
Till there are no rich no more?
.
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
.
Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, Monopoly
.
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
.
World pollution, there's no solution
Institution, electrocution
Just black and white, rich or poor
Them and us, stop the war
.
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you

.
- Ten Years After, Lyrics; "I'd Love to Change the World", 1971.

A message that should be heeded....

2006-10-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape....."

.
- 1 Thess. 5:3

Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, 1789-1873. TUESDAY, MAY 23, 1797.

2006-10-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

“And the Senate cannot suffer the present occasion to pass, without thus publicly and solemnly expressing their attachment to the Constitution and government of their country; and as they hold themselves responsible to their constituents, their consciences, and their God, it is their determination, by all their exertions, to repel every attempt to alienate the affections of the people from the government, so highly injurious to the honor, safety, and independence of the United States.”
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- Thomas Jefferson, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, The Senate report of the committee of the draught of an address, in answer to the speech of the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress, at the opening of the session.

A SERMON ON THE WAR, BY THE Rev. ELIAS NASON

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"...Our father's God, to thee--
Author of Liberty, To thee we sing--
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light;
Protect us by thy might,
Great God our king...."
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"IN GOD IS OUR TRUST!"
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"...Give close attention to the drill. I repeat to you again, that the men you are to measure weapons with, are experienced marksmen. I have shot with them for many years. They are trained from infancy to the use of fire arms;--they have been practising especially for the last few years, and some of them have laid aside all intoxicating drink in order to secure a steady nerve....."
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PREACHED TO THE SOLDIERS AT EXETER, N. H., May 19. 1861.

The TRUE Jefferson.....

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"Dear Sir,--In some of the delightful conversations with you, in the evenings of 1798--99, and which served as an anodyne to the afflictions of the crisis through which our country was then laboring, the Christian religion was sometimes our topic; and I then promised you, that one day or other, I would give you my views of it. They are the result of a life of inquiry & reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other...."

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- Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, April 21, 1803. [The Works of Thomas Jefferson in Twelve Volumes. Federal Edition. Collected and Edited by Paul Leicester Ford].

King James Version of the Holy Bible.....

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With pertinent defense verses highlighted.

From the original Smokin' Joe -

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"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia. The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men."
- Joseph Story, 'Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States', 1840

And here it is.....

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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WAS FOUNDED UPON THE LAWS OF GOD AND NATURE.

To those whom claim the U.S.A. is not a Christian Nation.....

2006-07-29T15:46:00.000-07:00

Original Intent

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GOD IN AMERICA

The United States, since settlement by the Europeans, always has and always will be a Christian nation.

A good one from a buddy of mine....

2006-07-19T19:53:00.000-07:00

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who was better on the computer.
They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.
Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job."
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.
They moused.
They faxed.
They e-mailed.
They e-mailed with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did spreadsheets! They wrote reports.
They created labels and cards.
They created charts and graphs.
They did some genealogy reports They did every job known to man.
Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency, and Satan was faster than hell.
Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.
Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers.

Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE! "I lost everything when the power went out!"
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.
Satan observed this and became irate.

"Wait!" he screamed.
"That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"
God just shrugged and said,
JESUS SAVES

Message to the Senate....

2006-07-18T05:26:00.000-07:00

"We have to maintain inviolate the great doctrine of the inherent right of popular self-government; to reconcile the largest liberty of the individual citizen, with complete security of the public order; to render cheerful obedience to the laws of the land, to unite in enforcing their execution, and to frown indignantly on all combinations to resist them; to harmonise a sincere and ardent devotion to the institutions of religious faith with the most universal religious toleration; to preserve the rights of all by causing each to respect those of the other; to carry forward every social improvement to the uttermost limit of human perfectibility, by the free action of mind upon mind, not by the obtrusive intervention of misplaced force; to uphold the integrity and guard the limitations of our organic law; to preserve sacred from all touch of usurpation, as the very palladium of our political salvation, the reserved rights and powers of the several States and of the people; to cherish, with loyal fealty and devoted affection, this Union, as the only sure foundation on which the hopes of civil liberty rest; to administer government with vigilant integrity and rigid economy; to cultivate peace and friendship with foreign nations, and to demand and exact equal justice from all, but to do wrong to none; to eschew intermeddling with the national policy and the domestic repose of other governments, and to repel it from our own; never to shrink from war when the rights and the honor of the country call us to arms, but to cultivate in preference the arts of peace, seek enlargement of the rights of neutrality, and elevate and liberalize the intercourse of nations; and by such just and honorable means, and such only, whilst exalting the condition of the republic, to assure to it the legitimate influence and the benign authority of a great example amongst all the powers of Christendom.
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"Under the solemnity of these convictions, the blessing of Almighty God is earnestly invoked to attend upon your deliberations, and upon all the counsels and acts of the government, to the end that, with common zeal and common efforts, we may, in humble submission to the Divine will, co-operate for the promotion of the supreme good of these United States."
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- President Franklin Pierce, Dec. 4, 1854

Sign from God....

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John Tyler, President of the United States: (Excerpt)

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"In assuming responsibilities so vast, I fervently invoke the aid of that Almighty Ruler of the Universe, in whose hands are the destinies of nations and of men, to guard this Heaven-favored land against the mischiefs which, without His guidance, might arise from an unwise public policy. With a firm reliance upon the wisdom of Omnipotence to sustain and direct me in the path of duty which I am appointed to pursue, I stand in the presence of this assembled multitude of my countrymen to take upon myself the solemn obligation "to the best of my ability to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."
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"A concise enumeration of the principles which will guide me in the administrative policy of the Government is not only in accordance with the example set me by all my predecessors, but is eminently befitting the occasion.
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"The Constitution itself, plainly written as it is, the safeguard of our federative compact, the offspring of concession and compromise, binding together in the bonds of peace and union this great and increasing family of free and independent States, will be the chart by which I shall be directed.
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"It will be my first care to administer the Government in the true spirit of that instrument, and to assume no powers not expressly granted or clearly implied in its terms. The Government of the United States is one of delegated and limited powers; and it is by a strict adherence to the clearly granted powers, and by abstaining from the exercise of doubtful or unauthorized implied powers, that we have the only sure guaranty against the recurrence of those unfortunate collisions between the Federal and State authorities which have occasionally so much disturbed the harmony of our system, and even threatened the perpetuity of our glorious Union....
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"...This most admirable and wisest system of well-regulated self-government among men ever devised by human minds has been tested by its successful operation for more than half a century; and, if preserved from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand, and the exercise by the States of powers not reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come, and dispense the blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear to every patriot I shall devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that most fruitful source of danger to the harmonious action of our system, which consists in substituting the mere discretion and caprice of the Executive, or of majorities in the legislative department of the Government, for powers which have been withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our Government majorities rule; but this right is not an arbitrary or unlimited one. It is a right to be exercised in subordination to the Constitution and in conformity to it. One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights. Minorities have a right to appeal to the Constitution, as a shield against such oppression.
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"That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures may be enjoyed alike by minorities and majorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified veto upon the acts of the Legislature. It is a negative power and is conservative in its character. It arrests for the time hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation, invites reconsideration, and transfers questions at issue between the legislative and executive departments to the tribunal of the people. Like all other powers, it is subject to be abused. When judiciously and properly exercised, the Constitution itself may be saved from infraction and the rights of all preserved and protected.
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"The inestimable value of our Federal Union is felt and acknowledged by all. By this system of united and confederated States our people are permitted, collectively and individually, to seek their own happiness in their own way; and the consequences have been most auspicious. Since the Union was formed, the number of the States has increased from thirteen to twenty-eight; two of these have taken their position as members of the confederacy within the last week. Our population has increased from three to twenty millions. New communities and States are seeking protection under its ægis, and multitudes from the Old World are flocking to our shores to participate in its blessings. Beneath its benign sway peace and prosperity prevail. Freed from the burdens and miseries of war, our trade and intercourse have extended throughout the world. Mind, no longer tasked in devising means to accomplish or resist schemes of ambition, usurpation, or conquest, is devoting itself to man's true interests, in developing his faculties and powers and the capacity of nature to minister to his enjoyments. Genius is free to announce its inventions and discoveries, and the hand is free to accomplish whatever the head conceives, not incompatible with the rights of a fellow-being. All distinctions of birth or of rank have been abolished. All citizens, whether native or adopted, are placed upon terms of precise equality. All are entitled to equal rights and equal protection. No union exists between church and state, and perfect freedom of opinion is guaranteed to all sects and creeds.
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"These are some of the blessings secured to our happy land by our Federal Union. To perpetuate them, it is our sacred duty to preserve it. Who shall assign limits to the achievements of free minds and free hands under the protection of this glorious Union? No treason to mankind since the organization of society would be equal in atrocity to that of him who would lift his hand to destroy it. He would overthrow the noblest structure of human wisdom, which protects himself and his fellow-man.....
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- to U.S. Senate March 4, 1845

George Washington to George William Fairfax

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Philadelphia May 31st. 1775. Discusses matters pertaining to Fairfax's business affairs. Mentions Lexington and Concord and encloses affidavits taken after the engagement.(1) "General Gage acknowledges that the detachment under Lieutenant Colonel Smith was sent out to destroy private property; or, in other Words, to destroy a Magazine which self preservation obliged the Inhabitants to establish. And he also confesses, in effect at least, that his Men made a very precipitate retreat from Concord, notwithstanding the reinforcement under Lord Piercy; the last of which may serve to convince Lord Sandwich (and others of the same sentiment) that the Americans will fight for their Liberties and property however pusilanimous, in his Lordship's Eye, they may appear in other respects.
"From the best Accounts I have been able to collect of that affair; indeed from every one, I believe the fact, stripped of all colouring, to be plainly this, that if the retreat had not been as precipitate as it was (and God knows it could not well have been more so) the Ministerial Troops must have surrendered, or been totally cut off, For they had not arrived in Charlestown (under cover of their Ships) half an hour, before a powerful body of Men from Marblehead and Salem were at their heels, and must, if they had happened to have been up one hour sooner, inevitably intercepted their retreat to Charlestown. Unhappy it is though to reflect, that a Brother's Sword has been sheathed in a Brother's breast, and that, the once happy and peaceful plains of America are either to be drenched with Blood, or Inhabited by Slaves. Sad alternative! But can a virtuous Man hesitate in his choice?"

Tr (DLC) . Washington, Writings (Fitzpatrick), 3:290 92.1 Affidavits concerning the engagement at Lexington and Concord are printed in JCC, 2:28 44.

ORIGINS AND PRECEDENT....

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The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms Shall NOT be Infringed......
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And here is
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UNDENIABLE PROOF.

Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies

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By Edmund Burke
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22 Mar. 1775
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Works 1:464--71
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In this character of the Americans, a love of freedom is the predominating feature which marks and distinguishes the whole: and as an ardent is always a jealous affection, your colonies become suspicious, restive, and untractable, whenever they see the least attempt to wrest from them by force, or shuffle from them by chicane, what they think the only advantage worth living for. This fierce spirit of liberty is stronger in the English colonies probably than in any other people of the earth; and this from a great variety of powerful causes; which, to understand the true temper of their minds, and the direction which this spirit takes, it will not be amiss to lay open somewhat more largely.
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First, the people of the colonies are descendants of Englishmen. England, Sir, is a nation, which still I hope respects, and formerly adored, her freedom. The colonists emigrated from you when this part of your character was most predominant; and they took this bias and direction the moment they parted from your hands. They are therefore not only devoted to liberty, but to liberty according to English ideas, and on English principles. Abstract liberty, like other mere abstractions, is not to be found. Liberty inheres in some sensible object; and every nation has formed to itself some favourite point, which by way of eminence becomes the criterion of their happiness. It happened, you know, Sir, that the great contests for freedom in this country were from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient commonwealths turned primarily on the right of election of magistrates; or on the balance among the several orders of the state. The question of money was not with them so immediate. But in England it was otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens, and most eloquent tongues, have been exercised; the greatest spirits have acted and suffered. In order to give the fullest satisfaction concerning the importance of this point, it was not only necessary for those who in argument defended the excellence of the English constitution, to insist on this privilege of granting money as a dry point of fact, and to prove, that the right had been acknowledged in ancient parchments, and blind usages, to reside in a certain body called a House of Commons. They went much farther; they attempted to prove, and they succeeded, that in theory it ought to be so, from the particular nature of a House of Commons, as an immediate representative of the people; whether the old records had delivered this oracle or not. They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a fundamental principle, that in all monarchies the people must in effect themselves, mediately or immediately, possess the power of granting their own money, or no shadow of liberty could subsist. The colonies draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas and principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. Liberty might be safe, or might be endangered, in twenty other particulars, without their being much pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse; and as they found that beat, they thought themselves sick or sound. I do not say whether they were right or wrong in applying your general arguments to their own case. It is not easy indeed to make a monopoly of theorems and corollaries. The fact is, that they did thus apply those general arguments; and your mode of governing them, whether through lenity or indolence, through wisdom or mistake, confirmed them in the imagination, that they, as well as you, had an interest in these common principles.
They were further confirmed in this pleasing error by the form of their provincial legislative assemblies. Their governments are popular in a high degree; some are merely popular; in all, the popular representative is the most weighty; and this share of the people in their ordinary government never fails to inspire them with lofty sentiments, and with a strong aversion from whatever tends to deprive them of their chief importance.
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If anything were wanting to this necessary operation of the form of government, religion would have given it a complete effect. Religion, always a principle of energy, in this new people is no way worn out or impaired; and their mode of professing it is also one main cause of this free spirit. The people are Protestants; and of that kind which is the most adverse to all implicit submission of mind and opinion. This is a persuasion not only favourable to liberty, but built upon it. I do not think, Sir, that the reason of this averseness in the dissenting churches, from all that looks like absolute government, is so much to be sought in their religious tenets, as in their history. Every one knows that the Roman Catholic religion is at least coeval with most of the governments where it prevails; that it has generally gone hand in hand with them, and received great favour and every kind of support from authority. The Church of England too was formed from her cradle under the nursing care of regular government. But the dissenting interests have sprung up in direct opposition to all the ordinary powers of the world; and could justify that opposition only on a strong claim to natural liberty. Their very existence depended on the powerful and unremitted assertion of that claim. All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion. This religion, under a variety of denominations agreeing in nothing but in the communion of the spirit of liberty, is predominant in most of the northern provinces; where the Church of England, notwithstanding its legal rights, is in reality no more than a sort of private sect, not composing most probably the tenth of the people. The colonists left England when this spirit was high, and in the emigrants was the highest of all; and even that stream of foreigners, which has been constantly flowing into these colonies, has, for the greatest part, been composed of dissenters from the establishments of their several countries, and have brought with them a temper and character far from alien to that of the people with whom they mixed.
Sir, I can perceive by their manner, that some gentlemen object to the latitude of this description; because in the southern colonies the Church of England forms a large body, and has a regular establishment. It is certainly true. There is, however, a circumstance attending these colonies, which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the northward. It is, that in Virginia and the Carolinas they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is the case in any part of the world, those who are free, are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank and privilege. Not seeing there, that freedom, as in countries where it is a common blessing, and as broad and general as the air, may be united with much abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of servitude, liberty looks, amongst them, like something that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, Sir, to commend the superior morality of this sentiment, which has at least as much pride as virtue in it; but I cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these people of the southern colonies are much more strongly, and with a higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to liberty, than those to the northward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths; such were our Gothic ancestors; such in our days were the Poles; and such will be all masters of slaves, who are not slaves themselves. In such a people, the haughtiness of domination combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invincible.
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Permit me, Sir, to add another circumstance in our colonies, which contributes no mean part towards the growth and effect of this untractable spirit. I mean their education. In no country perhaps in the world is the law so general a study. The profession itself is numerous and powerful; and in most provinces it takes the lead. The greater number of the deputies sent to the congress were lawyers. But all who read, and most do read, endeavour to obtain some smattering in that science. I have been told by an eminent bookseller, that in no branch of his business, after tracts of popular devotion, were so many books as those on the law exported to the plantations. The colonists have now fallen into the way of printing them for their own use. I hear that they have sold nearly as many of Blackstone's Commentaries in America as in England. General Gage marks out this disposition very particularly in a letter on your table. He states, that all the people in his government are lawyers, or smatterers in law; and that in Boston they have been enabled, by successful chicane, wholly to evade many parts of one of your capital penal constitutions. The smartness of debate will say, that this knowledge ought to teach them more clearly the rights of legislature, their obligations to obedience, and the penalties of rebellion. All this is mighty well. But my honourable and learned friend on the floor, who condescends to mark what I say for animadversion, will disdain that ground. He has heard, as well as I, that when great honours and great emoluments do not win over this knowledge to the service of the state, it is a formidable adversary to government. If the spirit be not tamed and broken by these happy methods, it is stubborn and litigious. Abeunt studia in mores. This study renders men acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defence, full of resources. In other countries, the people, more simple, and of a less mercurial cast, judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance; here they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance; and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze.
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The last cause of this disobedient spirit in the colonies is hardly less powerful than the rest, as it is not merely moral, but laid deep in the natural constitution of things. Three thousand miles of ocean lie between you and them. No contrivance can prevent the effect of this distance in weakening government. Seas roll, and months pass, between the order and the execution; and the want of a speedy explanation of a single point is enough to defeat a whole system. You have, indeed, winged ministers of vengeance, who carry your bolts in their pounces to the remotest verge of the sea. But there a power steps in, that limits the arrogance of raging passions and furious elements, and says, "So far shalt thou go, and no farther." Who are you, that should fret and rage, and bite the chains of nature?--Nothing worse happens to you than does to all nations who have extensive empire; and it happens in all the forms into which empire can be thrown. In large bodies, the circulation of power must be less vigorous at the extremities. Nature has said it. The Turk cannot govern Egypt, and Arabia, and Curdistan, as he governs Thrace; nor has he the same dominion in Crimea and Algiers, which he has at Brusa and Smyrna. Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. The Sultan gets such obedience as he can. He governs with a loose rein, that he may govern at all; and the whole of the force and vigour of his authority in his centre is derived from a prudent relaxation in all his borders. Spain, in her provinces, is, perhaps, not so well obeyed as you are in yours. She complies too; she submits; she watches times. This is the immutable condition, the eternal law, of extensive and detached empire.
Then, Sir, from these six capital sources; of descent; of form of government; of religion in the northern provinces; of manners in the southern; of education; of the remoteness of situation from the first mover of government; from all these causes a fierce spirit of liberty has grown up. It has grown with the growth of the people in your colonies, and increased with the increase of their wealth; a spirit, that unhappily meeting with an exercise of power in England, which, however lawful, is not reconcilable to any ideas of liberty, much less with theirs, has kindled this flame that is ready to consume us.
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I do not mean to commend either the spirit in this excess, or the moral causes which produce it. Perhaps a more smooth and accommodating spirit of freedom in them would be more acceptable to us. Perhaps ideas of liberty might be desired, more reconcilable with an arbitrary and boundless authority. Perhaps we might wish the colonists to be persuaded, that their liberty is more secure when held in trust for them by us (as their guardians during a perpetual minority) than with any part of it in their own hands. The question is, not whether their spirit deserves praise or blame, but--what, in the name of God, shall we do with it? You have before you the object, such as it is, with all its glories, with all its imperfections on its head. You see the magnitude; the importance; the temper; the habits; the disorders. By all these considerations we are strongly urged to determine something concerning it. We are called upon to fix some rule and line for our future conduct, which may give a little stability to our politics, and prevent the return of such unhappy deliberations as the present. Every such return will bring the matter before us in a still more untractable form. For, what astonishing and incredible things have we not seen already! What monsters have not been generated from this unnatural contention! Whilst every principle of authority and resistance has been pushed, upon both sides, as far as it would go, there is nothing so solid and certain, either in reasoning or in practice, that has not been shaken. Until very lately, all authority in America seemed to be nothing but an emanation from yours. Even the popular part of the colony constitution derived all its activity, and its first vital movement, from the pleasure of the crown. We thought, Sir, that the utmost which the discontented colonists could do, was to disturb authority; we never dreamt they could of themselves supply it; knowing in general what an operose business it is to establish a government absolutely new. But having, for our purposes in this contention, resolved, that none but an obedient assembly should sit; the humours of the people there, finding all passage through the legal channel stopped, with great violence broke out another way. Some provinces have tried their experiment, as we have tried ours; and theirs has succeeded. They have formed a government sufficient for its purposes, without the bustle of a revolution, or the troublesome formality of an election. Evident necessity, and tacit consent, have done the business in an instant. So well they have done it, that Lord Dunmore (the account is among the fragments on your table) tells you, that the new institution is infinitely better obeyed than the ancient government ever was in its most fortunate periods. Obedience is what makes government, and not the names by which it is called; not the name of governor, as formerly, or committee, as at present. This new government has originated directly from the people; and was not transmitted through any of the ordinary artificial media of a positive constitution. It was not a manufacture ready formed, and transmitted to them in that condition from England. The evil arising from hence is this; that the colonists having once found the possibility of enjoying the advantages of order in the midst of a struggle for liberty, such struggles will not henceforward seem so terrible to the settled and sober part of mankind as they had appeared before the trial.Pursuing the same plan of punishing by the denial of the exercise of government to still greater lengths, we wholly abrogated the ancient government of Massachusetts. We were confident that the first feeling, if not the very prospect of anarchy, would instantly enforce a complete submission. The experiment was tried. A new, strange, unexpected face of things appeared. Anarchy is found tolerable. A vast province has now subsisted, and subsisted in a considerable degree of health and vigour, for near a twelvemonth, without governor, without public council, without judges, without executive magistrates. How long it will continue in this state, or what may arise out of this unheard-of situation, how can the wisest of us conjecture? Our late experience has taught us that many of those fundamental principles, formerly believed infallible, are either not of the importance they were imagined to be; or that we have not at all adverted to some other far more important and far more powerful principles, which entirely overrule those we had considered as omnipotent. I am much against any further experiments, which tend to put to the proof any more of these allowed opinions, which contribute so much to the public tranquillity. In effect, we suffer as much at home by this loosening of all ties, and this concussion of all established opinions, as we do abroad. For, in order to prove that the Americans have no right to their liberties, we are every day endeavouring to subvert the maxims which preserve the whole spirit of our own. To prove that the Americans ought not to be free, we are obliged to depreciate the value of freedom itself; and we never seem to gain a paltry advantage over them in debate, without attacking some of those principles, or deriding some of those feelings, for which our ancestors have shed their blood.

Seems there are conditions to be met....

2006-05-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

"The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment."

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- George Washington

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Well now, what do you suppose George meant by that? The TRUE George, that is....

From Justice James Wilson:

2006-05-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

James Wilson, State House Speech
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6 Oct. 1787, McMaster 143--44
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When the people established the powers of legislation under their separate governments, they invested their representatives with every right and authority which they did not in explicit terms reserve; and therefore upon every question respecting the jurisdiction of the House of Assembly, if the frame of government is silent, the jurisdiction is efficient and complete. But in delegating federal powers, another criterion was necessarily introduced, and the congressional power is to be collected, not from tacit implication, but from the positive grant expressed in the instrument of the union. Hence, it is evident, that in the former case everything which is not reserved is given; but in the latter the reverse of the proposition prevails, and everything which is not given is reserved.
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This distinction being recognized, will furnish an answer to those who think the omission of a bill of rights a defect in the proposed constitution; for it would have been superfluous and absurd to have stipulated with a federal body of our own creation, that we should enjoy those privileges of which we are not divested, either by the intention or the act that has brought the body into existence. For instance, the liberty of the press, which has been a copious source of declamation and opposition--what control can proceed from the Federal government to shackle or destroy that sacred palladium of national freedom? If, indeed, a power similar to that which has been granted for the regulation of commerce had been granted to regulate literary publications, it would have been as necessary to stipulate that the liberty of the press should be preserved inviolate, as that the impost should be general in its operation. With respect likewise to the particular district of ten miles, which is to be made the seat of federal government, it will undoubtedly be proper to observe this salutary precaution, as there the legis[la]tive power will be exclusively lodged in the President, Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States. But this could not be an object with the Convention, for it must naturally depend upon a future compact, to which the citizens immediately interested will, and ought to be, parties; and there is no reason to suspect that so popular a privilege will in that case be neglected. In truth, then, the proposed system possesses no influence whatever upon the press, and it would have been merely nugatory to have introduced a formal declaration upon the subject--nay, that very declaration might have been construed to imply that some degree of power was given, since we undertook to define its extent.

We The People.....

2006-05-16T00:32:00.000-07:00

WTP Forcing Numerous High Courts to Grapple With The Meaning of The Petition Clause
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Truth: the People are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights."
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Truth: The People instituted government "to secure these Rights," no more or less
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Truth: The People instituted written constitutions to prohibit government from doing more or less.
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Truth: The People have a Right to hold government accountable to these written constitutions.
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Truth: The People have a "Right to Petition the government for Redress" of constitutional torts.
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Truth: The People have a Right of Response from government to these Petitions for Redress.
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Truth: The People have a Right to "alter the government" when it fails to respond to such Petitions.
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Truth: The People have a Right of Enforcement of their Rights.
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Truth: The People have a Right to retain their money until their grievances are Redressed.
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The truths etched above form nothing less than the cornerstone upon which our form of governance exists and which distinguish it from every other form of government ever designed by man. Indeed, it is solely through these Founding Principles that men can peacefully enjoy their natural dominion over servant governments and keep safe the blessings of Liberty.
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No less than the United States Supreme Court and three federal Appeals Courts are now grappling with these fundamental truths in four separate cases initiated by Bob Schulz and the We The People Foundation.
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In the coming weeks, the Justices of the United States Supreme Court and the Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC, Second and Ninth Circuits will, for the first time in history, address these truths as they relate to the Petition Clause of the First Amendment.
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How the Judiciary officially confronts these crucial questions of constitutional law, Fundamental Rights and popular sovereignty will speak volumes about the condition of Freedom and ultimately, whether government of, by, and for the People exists or is merely a quaint anachronism.
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These We The People cases specifically challenge very dangerous, but widely accepted judicial doctrines that have evolved over the course of our nation's history, and which in totality, have (at least according to the Government's attorneys) removed the government beyond the accountability of the People that created it.
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Indeed, the legal issues raised in the lawsuits are profound, they have never been squarely addressed by the federal judiciary, and without question, they have the potential to alter the destiny of this nation.
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Although the We The People Foundation has been quietly shepherding these cases through the lower rungs of the federal court system over several years, the fruits of this historic litigation are soon to be realized. The issues have been clarified, the arguments refined, and the lower courts have spoken.
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The constitutional showdown for the First Amendment Right to Petition has now reached our nation's highest courts.(continued...)
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Click Here To Access The Full Update
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The Battle for Liberty and
Our Constitution Has Just Begun

If you thought it was a problem then, John, you should see us now....

2006-05-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

"The foundation of national morality must be laid in private families. . . . How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality or Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in as constant Infidelity to their Mothers?"

***

- John Adams, (Diary, 2 June 1778)

The Patriot Post, Founders Quote Daily

Citizenship in a Republic....

2006-05-07T18:31:00.000-07:00

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the geat enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worth cause; who, at the best, knows in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory or defeat."

- President Theodore Roosevelt,

Citizenship in a Republic Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris April 23, 1910

National Day of Prayer, May 2006

2006-05-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

"May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy."

- George Washington

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On 06 May 1982, Ronald Reagan offered these words: "Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength. Our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are 'one nation under God,' and our currency bears the motto, 'In God We Trust.' The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril. Yet in recent years, well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For the sake of religious tolerance, they've forbidden religious practice in the classrooms. The law of this land has effectively removed prayer from our classrooms. How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our Creator?"

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History of the National Day of Prayer1775 The First Continental Congress called for a National Day of Prayer.1863 Abraham Lincoln called for such a day.1952 Congress established NDP as an annual event by a joint resolution, signed into law by President Truman.1988 The law was amended and signed by President Reagan, to be the first Thursday in May.

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The Patriot Post's National Advisory Board and staff invite you to join us, and millions of Americans in prayer for our nation this Thursday at 1200. Link to the National Day of Prayer website for more information.

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The Patriot also offers A Common Prayer for American Patriots for all who would use it.

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INSIGHT

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"It is easy to want things from the Lord and yet not want the Lord Himself, as though the gift could ever be preferable to the Giver."

—Augustine of Hippo

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"[W]e need to pray earnestly for the power of the Holy Spirit to give us a precious revival in our hearts and among the unconverted."

—Robert E. Lee

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"I only look to the gracious protection of that Divine Being whose strengthening support I humbly solicit, and whom I fervently pray to look down upon us all."

—Martin van Buren

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"About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation."

—Will Rogers

Ye would do well to listen O' ye judges....

2006-04-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

II Chronicles 19:6, 7, 9 & 10

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And said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the LORD, who [is] with you in the judgment.

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Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do [it]: for [there is] no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.

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And he charged them, saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the LORD, faithfully, and with a perfect heart.

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And what cause soever shall come to you of your brethren that dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and judgments, ye shall even warn them that they trespass not against the LORD, and [so] wrath come upon you, and upon your brethren: this do, and ye shall not trespass.

***

You have been duly warned....

Sad but True.....

2006-04-25T20:56:00.000-07:00

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not  so bad.

Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house  in Malibu.  If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But  there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.

And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself.  And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).  We said an expert should know what he's talking about.  And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass  it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did.  But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and  complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards .. honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

God hath enjoined him to seek the continuance...

2006-04-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

"He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one that hath no
authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defense,
incurs the Guilt of self murder since God hath enjoined him to seek
the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature
to defend itself."

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From a sermon given in Philadelphia in 1747

This is worthy of our attention....

2006-04-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Homeland Security completes e-passport test at San Francisco International Airport
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has finished a three-month test at the San Francisco International Airport to evaluate the ability of RFID interrogators to read RFID inlays embedded in passports, known as e-passports. These interrogators must be rolled out by Oct. 26. All the visitors from the 27 countries in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) will have to carry e-passports and the ports of entry will have to be RFID-enabled. These e-passports will hold biographic and biometric information. The DHS is planning to use the test results to help them decide which inlays to use for the e-passports it plans to issue to U.S. citizens starting in later this year or early next year.
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ID database will become national population register
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The UK government says their ID card database will become a national population register. It will contain personal information to verify identity, and they also want to create a children's register as well. The adult population register will containing a person's name, address, date of birth and a unique ID reference number. The cut-off age is 16.
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Sprint users can track children via GPS
Sprint Nextel has become the first U.S. wireless provider to sell equipment to track children using the global positioning system. Parents will be able to track up to four cellphones using the Internet or on their own wireless device. Alerts can also be set that will warn parents when their children aren’t where they are supposed to be. Dan Gilmartin, Sprint's marketing manager, said the service could also let adults keep track of elderly parents.
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Debit card retail spending outstrips cash spending for first time
Last year, debit cards accounted for 37% of all retail spending, ahead of cash at 34% in the UK. The debit card use was up by nine percent from 2004.
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Endtime Ministries

The Ten Commandments of God....

2006-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future ... upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God."
- James Madison

American Independence

2006-04-18T00:19:00.000-07:00

American Independence

By Samuel Adams, (1722-1803)

On August 1, 1776

Abridged.

Our forefathers, 'tis said, consented to be subject to the laws of Great Britain. I will not at the present time dispute it, nor mark out the limits and conditions of their submission; but will it be denied that they contracted to pay obedience and to be under the control of Great Britain because it appeared to them most beneficial in their then present circumstances and situations? We, my countrymen, have the same right to consult and provide for our happiness which they had to promote theirs. If they had a view to posterity in their contracts, it must have been to advance the felicity of their descendants. If they erred in their expectations and prospects, we can never be condemned for a conduct which they would have recommended had they foreseen our present condition.

Ye darkeners of counsel, who would make the property, lives, and religion of millions depend on the evasive interpretations of musty parchments; who would send us to antiquated charters of uncertain and contradictory meaning, to prove that the present generation are not bound to be victims to cruel and unforgiving despotism,--tell us whether our pious and generous ancestors bequeathed to us the miserable privilege of having the rewards of our honesty, industry, the fruits of those fields which they purchased and bled for, wrested from us at the will of men over whom we have no check. Did they contract for us that, with folded arms, we should expect that justice and mercy from brutal and inflamed invaders which have been denied to our supplications at the foot of the throne? Were we to hear our character as a people ridiculed with indifference? Did they promise for us that our meekness and patience should be insulted, our coasts harassed, our towns demolished and plundered, and our wives and offspring exposed to nakedness, hunger, and death, without our feeling the resentment of men, and exerting those powers of self-preservation which God has given us?

No man had once a greater veneration for Englishmen than I entertained. They were dear to me as branches of the same parental trunk, and partakers of the same religion and laws; I still view with respect the remains of the Constitution as I would a lifeless body which had once been animated by a great and heroic soul. But when I am aroused by the din of arms; when I behold legions of foreign assassins paid by Englishmen to imbrue their hands in our blood; when I tread over the uncoffined bodies of my countrymen, neighbors, and friends; when I see the locks of a venerable father torn by savage hands, and a feeble mother, clasping her infants to her bosom, and on her knees imploring their lives from her own slaves, whom Englishmen have allured to treachery and murder; when I behold my country, once the seat of industry, peace, and plenty, changed by Englishmen to a theater of blood and misery, Heaven forgive me if I can not root out those passions which it has implanted in my bosom, and detest submission to a people who have either ceased to be human, or have not virtue enough to feel their own wretchedness and servitude!

Men who content themselves with the semblance of truth, and a display of words talk much of our obligations to Great Britain for protection. Had she a single eye to our advantage? A nation of shopkeepers are very seldom so interested. Let us not be so amused with words! the extension of her commerce was her object. When she defended our coasts, she fought for her customers, and convoyed ourships loaded with wealth, which we had acquired for her by our industry. She has treated us as beasts of burden, whom the lordly masters cherish that they may carry a greater load. Let us inquire also against whom she has protected us? Against her own enemies with whom we had no quarrel, or only on her account, and against whom we always readily exerted our wealth and strength when they were required. Were these Colonies backward in giving assistance to Great Britain, when they were called upon in 1739 to aid the expedition against Cartagena? They at that time sent three thousand men to join the British army, altho the war commenced without their consent.

But the last war, 'tis said, was purely American. This is a vulgar error, which, like many others, has gained credit by being confidently repeated. The dispute between the courts of Great Britain and France related to the limits of Canada and Nova Scotia. The controverted territory was not claimed by any in the Colonies, but by the crown of Great Britain. It was therefore their own quarrel. The infringement of a right which England had, by the treaty of Utrecht, of trading in the Indian country of Ohio, was another cause of the war. The French seized large quantities of British manufactures and took possession of a fort which a company of British merchants and factors had erected for the security of their commerce. The war was therefore waged in defense of lands claimed by the Crown, and for the protection of British property. The French at that time had no quarrel with America, and, as appears by letters sent from their commander-in-chief to some of the Colonies, wished to remain in peace with us.

The part, therefore, which we then took, and the miseries to which we exposed ourselves ought to be charged to our affection to Britain. These Colonies granted more than their proportion to the support of the war. They raised, clothed, and maintained nearly twenty-five thousand men, and so sensible were the people of England of our great exertions that a message was annually sent to the House of Commons purporting "that his majesty, being highly satisfied with the zeal and vigor with which his faithful subjects in North America had exerted themselves in defense of his majesty's just rights and possessions, recommends it to the House to take the same into consideration and enable him to give them a proper compensation."

But what purpose can arguments of this kind answer? Did the protection we received annul our rights as men, and lay us under an obligation of being miserable?

Who among you, my countrymen, that is a father, would claim authority to make your child a slave because you had nourished him in infancy?

'Tis a strange species of generosity which requires a return infinitely more valuable than anything it could have bestowed; that demands as a reward for a defense of our property a surrender of those inestimable privileges to the arbitrary will of vindictive tyrants, which alone give value to that very property.

Courage, then, my countrymen; our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty. Dismissing, therefore, the justice of our cause as incontestable, the only question is, What is best for us to pursue in our present circumstances?

The doctrine of dependence on Great Britain is, I believe, generally exploded; but as I would attend to the honest weakness of the simplest of men, you will pardon me if I offer a few words on that subject.

We are now on this continent, to the astonishment of the world, three millions of souls united in one cause. We have large armies, well disciplined and appointed, with commanders inferior to none in military skill, and superior in activity and zeal. We are furnished with arsenals and stores beyond our most sanguine expectations, and foreign nations are waiting to crown our success by their alliances. There are instances of, I would say, an almost astonishing providence in our favor; our success has staggered our enemies, and almost given faith to infidels; so we may truly say it is not our own arm which has saved us.

The hand of Heaven appears to have led us on to be, perhaps, humble instruments and means in the great providential dispensation which is completing. We have fled from the political Sodom; let us not look back lest we perish and become a monument of infamy and derision to the world. For can we ever expect more unanimity and a better preparation for defense; more infatuation of counsel among our enemies, and more valor and zeal among ourselves? The same force and resistance which are sufficient to procure us our liberties will secure us a glorious independence and support us in the dignity of free imperial States. We can not suppose that our opposition has made a corrupt and dissipated nation more friendly to America, or created in them a greater respect for the rights of mankind. We can therefore expect a restoration and establishment of our privileges, and a compensation for the injuries we have received from their want of power, from their fears, and not from their virtues. The unanimity and valor which will effect an honorable peace can render a future contest for our liberties unnecessary. He who has strength to chain down the wolf is a madman if he let him loose without drawing his teeth and paring his nails.

From the day on which an accommodation takes place between England and America, on any other terms than as independent States, I shall date the ruin of this country. a politic minister will study to lull us into security by granting us the full extent of our petitions. The warm sunshine of influence would melt down the virtue which the violence of the storm rendered more firm and unyielding. In a state of tranquillity, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union which renders our resistance formidable. When the spirit of liberty, which now animates our hearts and gives success to our arms, is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny. Ye abandoned minions of an infatuated ministry, if peradventure any should yet remain among us, remember that a Warren and Montgomery are numbered among the dead. Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, What should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plow, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom--go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!

To unite the supremacy of Great Britain and the liberty of America is utterly impossible. so vast a continent and of such a distance from the seat of empire will every day grow more unmanageable. The motion of so unwieldy a body can not be directed with any despatch and uniformity without committing to the Parliament of Great Britain powers inconsistent with our freedom. The authority and force which would be absolutely necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order of this continent would put all our valuable rights within the reach of that nation.

As the administration of government requires firmer and more numerous supports in proportion to its extent, the burdens imposed on us would be excessive, and we should have the melancholy prospect of their increasing on our posterity. The scale of officers, from the rapacious and needy commissioner to the haughty governor, and from the governor, with his hungry train, to perhaps a licentious and prodigal viceroy, must be upheld by you and your children. The fleets and armies which will be employed to silence your murmurs and complaints must be supported by the fruits of your industry.

Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able and independent men who govern with wisdom and justice. The time may come when all will be reversed; when its excellent constitution of government will be subverted; when, pressed by debts and taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an increase of revenue from every distant province in order to ease its own burdens; when the influence of the crown, strengthened by luxury and a universal profligacy of manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down every fence of liberty and rendered us a nation of tame and contented vassals; when a general election will be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and when the Parliament, the grand council of the nation, and once the faithful guardian of the State, and a terror to evil ministers, will be degenerated into a body if sycophants, dependent and venal, always ready to confirm any measures, and little more than a public court for registering royal edicts.

Such, it is possible, may some time or other be the state of Great Britain. What will, at that period, be the duty of the Colonies? Will they be still bound to unconditional submission? Must they always continue an appendage to our government and follow it implicitly through every change that can happen to it? Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of freemen as good as ourselves! Will you say that we now govern equitably, and that there is no danger of such revolution? Would to God that this were true! But you will not always say the same. Who shall judge whether we govern equitably or not? Can you give the Colonies any security that such a period will never come? No. The period, countrymen, is already come! The calamities were at our door. The rod of oppression was raised over us. We were roused from our slumbers, and may we never sink into repose until we can convey a clear and undisputed inheritance to our posterity! This day we are called upon to give a glorious example of what the wisest and best of men were rejoiced to view only in speculation. This day presents the world with the most august spectacle that its annals ever unfolded--millions of freemen, deliberately and voluntarily forming themselves into a society for their common defense and common happiness. Immortal spirits of Hampden, Locke, and Sidney, will it not add to your benevolent joys to behold your posterity rising to the dignity of men, and evincing to the world the reality and expediency of your systems, and in the actual enjoyment of that equal liberty, which you were happy when on earth in delineating and recommending to mankind?

Other nations have received their laws from conquerors; some are indebted for a constitution to the suffering of their ancestors through revolving centuries. The people of this country, alone, have formally and deliberately chosen a government for themselves, and with open and uninfluenced consent bound themselves into a social compact. Here no man proclaims his birth or wealth as a title to honorable distinction, or to sanctify ignorance and vice with the name of hereditary authority. He who has most zeal and ability to promote public felicity, let him be the servant of the public. This is the only line of distinction drawn by nature. Leave the bird of night to the obscurity for which nature intended him, and expect only from the eagle to brush the clouds with his wings and look boldly in the face of the sun.

If there is any man so base or so weak as to prefer a dependence on Great Britain to the dignity and happiness of living a member of a free and independent nation, let me tell him that necessity now demands what the generous principle of patriotism should have dictated.

We have no other alternative than independence, or the most ignominious and galling servitude. The legions of our enemies thicken on our plains; desolation and death mark their bloody career, while the mangled corpses of our countrymen seem to cry out to us as a voice from heaven.

Our Union is now complete; our Constitution composed, established, and approved. You are now the guardians of your own liberties. We may justly address you as the decemviri did the Romans, and say: "Nothing that we propose can pass into a law without your consent. Be yourselves, O Americans, the authors of those laws on which your happiness depends."

You have now in the field armies sufficient to repel the whole force of your enemies and their base and mercenary auxiliaries. The hearts of your soldiers beat high with the spirit of freedom; they are animated with the justice of their cause, and while they grasp their swords can look up to Heaven for assistance. Your adversaries are composed of wretches who laugh at the rights of humanity, who turn religion into derision, and would, for higher wages, direct their swords against their leaders or their country. Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confidence of it in the future. For my own part I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the common danger and common glory. If I have a wish dearer to my soul than that my ashes may be mingled with those of a Warren and Montgomery, it is that these American States may never cease to be free and independent.
HOME

2006 GunShowOnTheNet.com

The Hound of Heaven

2006-04-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

The following is from Gene. A fellow believer and Gunnie that has become a good friend....Thanks, bud!

The Hound of Heaven
by
Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat--and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet--
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest having Him, I must have naught beside);
But if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.
I said to dawn, Be sudden; to eve, Be soon;
With thy young skyey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover!
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged his chariot 'thwart a heaven
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet--
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat--
"Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."

I sought no more that after which I strayed
In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children's eyes
Seems something, something that replies;
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But, just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
"Come then, ye other children, Nature's--share
With me," said I, "your delicate fellowship;
Let me greet you lip to lip,
Let me twine with you caresses,
Wantoning
With our Lady-Mother's vagrant tresses'
Banqueting
With her in her wind-walled palace,
Underneath her azured daïs,
Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring."
So it was done;
I in their delicate fellowship was one--
Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies.
I knew all the swift importings
On the wilful face of skies;
I knew how the clouds arise
Spumèd of the wild sea-snortings;
All that's born or dies
Rose and drooped with--made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine--
With them joyed and was bereaven.
I was heavy with the even,
When she lit her glimmering tapers
Round the day's dead sanctities.
I laughed in the morning's eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
I laid my own to beat,
And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's gray cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
These things and I; in sound I speak--
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
The breasts of her tenderness;
Never did any milk of hers once bless
My thirsting mouth.
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noisèd Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet--
"Lo naught contents thee, who content'st not Me."

Naked I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenseless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o' the mounded years--
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Ah! must--
Designer infinite!--
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust;
And now my heart is a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever
From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mist confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
But not ere him who summoneth
I first have seen, enwound
With blooming robes, purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man's heart or life it be which yields
Thee harvest, must Thy harvest fields
Be dunged with rotten death?

Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
"And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing,
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught," He said,
"And human love needs human meriting,
How hast thou merited--
Of all man's clotted clay rhe dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms.
But just that thou might'st seek it in my arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for the at home;
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!"

Halts by me that footfall;
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstreched caressingly?
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."
Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

Attempting to assume to much control....

2006-04-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

It is not to difficult to figure out why government has worked so hard at removing God from our country. For, it would be necessary to unseat Him. If your goal is to rise above Him, assume power and sit on the throne. It should be remembered however, that this technique usually doesn't historically work out that well. There have been numerous perverse attempts by various men, or groups thereof, down throughout the ages. But, when one is blinded by pride, power and lust. It tends to make one ignorant of the facts.

The Founders of our once great nation. Understood the propensity for power to become corrupt. And they outlined a plan in order to keep it in check. Unfortunately, through carelessness, mistaken trust and other causes. We The People left off doing our DUTY. Which was to keep watch on a government becoming to powerful. And crossing the boundries placed on it and Usurping it's delegated authority.

We The People can choose to now start doing that which is right. And exercising OUR authority, which is the only one that is ultimate and legimate. At least, according to the Federalist Papers, which was the 'rules' laid out to restrain our government. Putting down, in black and white, the intentions of the Framers of Our Constitution. Or, we can continue to let it go unchecked, and face the ultimate and legitimate consequences. The choice is still ultimately ours, at least presently.

It is far easier to correct a wrong, when it is caught early on. The ability to bring about effective remedy is far more simple. For when corrupt power seats itself and digs in, thusly entrenching its position. It is far more diffcult to unseat it.

But, as indicated in our Declaration of Independence, "[A]ll experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed". And God usually gives advance notice of His anger, along with warnings for man to repent. Failure to take heed or listen to the warnings, usually brings about swift and sure punishment. Unfortunately, many of those that are innocent suffer along with the transgressors.

So, that's pretty much it, in a nutshell. We have had ample signs. More than just a few warnings. In fact, years of sign and warnings. And yet we still fail to rise up and act. Challenging the evil.
No, as long as the evil was providing jobs, credit, good and easy times - we somewhat enjoyed the benefits that evil had to offer to us.

It seems apparent, to me anyways, the days of warning are coming to an end. Soon, warnings and signs will inevitably be followed with the signs of wrath and punishment. Judging from history and by what the Lord Jesus Christ said. It's not going to be pretty. If I remember correctly, it will be the worst time ever known to mankind. Can't say that we were not warned.......

Self-Explanatory - One of Our Original Motto's...

2006-04-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Matthew 15:12-14

2006-03-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees, (Religious/Political sect at the time), were offended, after they heard this saying?
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But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath NOT planted, shall be ROOTED UP.
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Let them alone: they be BLIND leaders of the BLIND. And if the BLIND lead the BLIND, BOTH SHALL FALL INTO THE DITCH.

When Truth still prevailed....

2006-03-13T00:33:00.000-08:00

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society."

- James Madison,

(Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, Circa 20 June 1785)

The Patriot Post

Founders' Quote Daily

Words to LIVE by;

2006-02-13T02:18:00.000-08:00

Matthew Chapters 5, 6, 7 - The Sermon on the mount;
Mat 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
Mat 5:2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
Mat 5:3 Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:4 Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Mat 5:5 Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Mat 5:6 Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Mat 5:7 Blessed [are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Mat 5:8 Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Mat 5:9 Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Mat 5:10 Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you], and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great [is] your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Mat 5:26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Mat 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
Mat 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast [it] from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not [that] thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Mat 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
Mat 5:34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
Mat 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mat 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mat 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [thy] cloke also.
Mat 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Mat 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so?
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Mat 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Mat 6:2 Therefore when thou doest [thine] alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Mat 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites [are]: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mat 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great [is] that darkness!
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, [shall he] not much more [clothe] you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day [is] the evil thereof. Mat 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Mat 7:2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Mat 7:3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Mat 7:4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?
Mat 7:5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Mat 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
Mat 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Mat 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Mat 7:9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Mat 7:10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Mat 7:28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29 For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.

Don't think I care for this trend....

2006-02-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

Yahoo 'helped jail China writer'

"The media organization accused Yahoo of providing Chinese investigating organs with information that helped link Shi Tao's personal e-mail account and the text of the message to his computer."

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"We already knew that Yahoo! collaborates enthusiastically with the Chinese regime in questions of censorship, and now we know it is a Chinese police informant as well," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

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"Western internet companies have regularly been criticized for agreeing to China's strict rules governing the internet, which Communist Party leaders fear could be a tool to spread dissent.
Microsoft was criticized in June for censoring what bloggers write."

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"The companies say they have to abide by local regulations, and point out that since China is set to be the world's biggest internet market, they cannot ignore it."

Upon reading this article, the following statement was the first thing to come to my mind;

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."

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- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Has big business and media, in particular, forgotten the Founding Principles of Freedom entirely? The very Principles that have allowed them their existence? It would seem it has been lost in the dust, for the continuous quest for more 'mammon'.

Shi Tao has received TEN YEARS in PRISON for WORDS which he wrote. And from what I've heard, Chinese prisons don't have the best 'accommodations. This mad, unprincipled, quest for 'filthy lucre' is disgusting!

Say that again, Tom....

2006-02-02T02:22:00.000-08:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
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But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I hear you, Tom....

2006-01-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

"I will not believe our labors are lost. I shall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on a steady advance."

- Thomas Jefferson

(letter to John Adams, 12 September 1821)

Somehow, I think Tom might be disappointed, if he were to see US now...

And, now a message from our first President...

2006-01-26T03:06:00.000-08:00

"I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience."

- George Washington

(letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 1789)

From: The Patriot Post

Founders' Quote Daily

You know George, that is a fine sentiment! And, I for one, readily agree with it. However, George, it seems the Supreme Court of the land now has a somewhat different opinion on the matter. Yes, yes, George, of course all the various intentions of you and the other Founders are clearly defined in various different writings. Oh. yes, George they are readily available for all the people to see! I have no way of answering that question George! As I've tried to understand it myself! And, I must admit, it is very peculiar indeed!

Well, as best as I can tell. It seems apparent that the present government has become quite adverse to the way you and the others used to handle it. They just don't seem to have the same amount of zeal as you and the others had. And, even worse George, it seems they have no real concern for the welfare of the people at all! Oh no, they don't pay any attention to the Declaration, or the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights, George! In fact, you may not even recognize the documents anymore! It is even rumored the the present President called the Constitution a G*D-DAMNED piece of paper! Can you imagine that! And, you know, he has the same first name as you! Now, George, calm down! You know you can't cross over to the other side! Remember? Your dead to that life. Yes, George, maddening indeed!

When we still had Principled Presidents.....

2006-01-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

"The more profoundly we study [the Bible], and the more closely we observe its divine precepts, the better citizens we will become and the higher will be our destiny as a nation."

- President William McKinley

When will the hypocrites LISTEN!

2006-01-22T22:51:00.000-08:00

Job 40:10-14
Deck thyself now [with] majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one [that is] proud, and abase him.
Look on every one [that is] proud, [and] bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
Hide them in the dust together; [and] bind their faces in secret.
Then will I also confess unto thee that
thine own right hand can save thee.

Isaiah 27:1
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.

(Now, you don't suppose our corrupt representatives are attempting to DISARM us to protect leviathon, do you? Surely, they couldn't possibly be that foolish!)

Jeremiah 34:17
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
(Hope your taking notice you blind and deaf politicians - do YOU think YOU shall escape? He did this to His chosen people! Imagine His WRATH to those who are His enemies! As surely as YOU are His enemies - for YOU have forsaken Him and His commandments!)

Well, here's the PROBLEM! We're not going by the 'Book'....

2006-01-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place [such] over them, [to be] rulers of thousands, [and] rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens....

- Exodus 18:21

Yeah, and look what has happened to us by our NOT following the TRUTH!

Let's see now, what is typically Gods response for disobedience? Oh, yeah;

I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers....

- Jeremiah 51:23

Now I wonder, how do you 'break a person in pieces'? I don't know. But, for sure, we'll find out soon!

Going WAY back....

2006-01-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

“We are twice armed if we fight with faith.”

- Plato

History shows us...

2006-01-14T07:27:00.000-08:00

The experiences, gathered throughout the history of mankind, definitively shows that the wealthy seldom have the best interest of the people utmost in their minds or hearts! Indeed, when the opposite is displayed in any fashion, it is a rarity to be beheld with suspicion! And, can be considered as being displayed, by the rich, only out of ulterior motivation!

This from the First President of The United States of America...

2006-01-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

George Washington,
Sept. 17, 1796

Now this has strong bearing on our present day....

2006-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

Psalms 11:3

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

Interesting ongoing post on God, Guns, Glory!

2006-01-10T09:49:00.000-08:00

Link to post on God, Guns, Glory!; Jesus was not a Pacifist
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I tend to be in agreement with JJ, the author of the post. And, believe the Word of God supports this.
Exodus 15:3; The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] his name.
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Hebrews 13:8; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
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The time for peace is quickly running out. The ULTIMATE BATTLE between Good and evil is fast approaching! It would be VERY FOOLISH of us to allow ourselves to be disarmed by a perverse government. Even the Romans allowed their conquered peoples to retain the use of their swords! Adolph Hitler was well aware of this;
The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.
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Thought our CONSTITUTION spelled out quite clearly, that we are CITIZENS - NOT SUBJECTS! Any attempts by the Federal or State government to disarm American Citizens is a subversion and perversion of our CONSTITUTIONAL and GOD-GIVEN RIGHTS!

Proof positive that God is an avid Gun Supporter!....

2006-01-09T08:01:00.000-08:00

Well, THIS spells it out pretty clear.....

2006-01-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

Romans 3:10-18
10 As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 there is none that understandeth; there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They have all gone from the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one."
13 "Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of asps is under their lips,"
14 "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 destruction and misery are in their ways,
17 and the way of peace have they not known."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

I wonder WHO Paul was talking about? WHO DO YOU THINK?

The 'point' of view....

2006-01-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

The views, which are expressed in my writings, do not emanate from one that is well learned. Or, by any means, from the vantage point of an expert. Nor, from one of high moral standing. No, they come from a citizen, a father, who is concerned for the welfare of his child, and his Country, including The Republic for which it stands.

It seems evident to me that our country is WAY OFF THE COURSE of its INTENDED purposes. I am but a VOICE. Trying to use reason and logic to avert, what I and a great many others perceive as IMPENDING DISASTER! Which, I believe can ONLY be averted by the RESTORATION of our Founding Principles. Chief of which is God and our 1st and 2nd Amendments! None of which, I believe, were intended to be DISPOSED of after they had served their purposes. As it appears, to me anyways, that the aforementioned 'tenets' in our Foundation Principles were the means by which the INTENDED Purposes could be continually realized!

Where, Oh where, can they be....

2005-12-23T11:07:00.000-08:00

The sheep are readily apparent and are spread all across the country-side. The sheep-dogs are as apparent as the sheep, however the sheep-dogs are readily led astray from their duty by ANY that offers them a better meal. The wolves are in abundance and it is plain, as to their intentions upon the sheep.

It is dismaying, to behold the lack of loyalty on the part of the sheep-dogs. And, equally so, in observing of the gathering of the ravening wolves.

The real, and most important concern, however, should be for the lack of Upright and duty-bound shepherds!

You know, there was a time when....

2005-12-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

It USED to be, that the meaning of The Golden Rule was 'Do unto others as you would have done unto you'. Somehow that has been twisted into 'He who has the Gold - MAKES the RULE!

Ummmm, which do you suppose is the best meaning for the People as a whole?

The Ground on which we stand....

2005-12-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

The position I take, is not one based upon some 'Moral High Ground' of my own choosing. But rather, as with us ALL, the ground on which we stand is Gods.....

....whether we Accept, Believe and Confess Him

- OR NOT!

Well, I'll be.....Sound Familiar?

2005-12-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

GOVERNMENT CORRUPTED BY VICE

A Sermon Preached Before the Honorable Congress of the Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England Assembled at the Watertown...the 31st Day of May, 1775...
By Samuel Langdon

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And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. - ISAIAH 1:26

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Shall we rejoice, my fathers and brethren, or shall we weep together, on the return of this anniversary, which from the first settlement of this colony has been sacred to liberty, to perpetuate that invaluable privilege of choosing, from among ourselves, wise men, fearing God, and hating covetousness, to be honorable counselors, to constitute one essential branch of that happy government which was established on the faith of royal charters?

On this day the people have from year to year assembled from all our towns, in a vast congregation, with gladness and festivity, with every ensign of joy displayed in our metropolis, which now, alas! is made a garrison of mercenary troops, the stronghold of despotism. But how shall I now address you from this desk, remote from the capital, and remind you of the important business which distinguished this day in our calendar, without spreading a gloom over this assembly by exhibiting the melancholy change made in the face of our public affairs?

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We have lived to see the time when British liberty is just ready to expire,- when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation is deeply undermined and ready to tumble into ruins,- when America is threatened with cruel oppression, and the arm of power is stretched out against New England, and especially against this colony, to compel us to submit to the arbitrary acts of legislators who are not our representatives, and who will not themselves bear the least part of the burdens which, without mercy, they are laying upon us. The most formal and solemn grants of kings to our ancestors are deemed by our oppressors as of little value; and they have mutilated the charter of this colony, in the most essential parts, upon false representations, and new-invented maxims of policy, without the least regard to any legal process. We are no longer permitted to fix our eyes on the faithful of the land, and trust in the wisdom of their counsel and the equity of their judgment; but men in whom we can have no confidence, whose principles are subversive of our liberties, whose aim is to exercise lordship over us, and share among themselves the public wealth, - men who are ready to serve any master, and execute the most unrighteous decrees for high wages, - whose faces we never saw before, and whose interests and connections may be far divided from us by the wide Atlantic, - are to be set over us, as counsellors and judges, at the pleasure of those who have the riches and power of the nation in their hands, and whose noblest plan is to subjugate the colonies, first, and then the whole nation, to their will.

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That we might not have it in our power to refuse the most absolute submission to their unlimited claims of authority, they have not only endeavored to terrify us with fleets and armies sent to our capital, and distressed and put an end to our trade, - particularly that important branch of it, the fishery,-- but at length attempted, by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night, to seize and destroy one of our magazines, formed by the people merely for their security, if, after such formidable military preparations on the other side, matters should be pushed to an extremity. By this, as might be expected, a skirmish was brought on; and it is most evident, from a variety of concurring circumstances, as well as numerous depositions both of the prisoners taken by us at that time and our own men then on the spot only as spectators, that the fire began first on the side of the king's troops. At least five or six of our inhabitants were murderously killed by the regulars at Lexington before any man attempted to return the fire, and when they were actually complying with the command to disperse; and two more of our brethren were likewise killed at Concord bridge, by a fire from the king's soldiers, before the engagement began on our side. But, whatever credit falsehoods transmitted to Great Britain from the other side may gain, the matter may be rested entirely on this: that he that arms himself to commit a robbery, and demands the traveller's purse by the terror of instant death, is the first aggressor, though the other should take the advantage of discharging his weapon first, and killing the robber.

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The alarm was sudden, but in a very short time spread far and wide. The nearest neighbors in haste ran together to assist their brethren and save their country. Not more than three or four hundred met in season, and bravely attacked and repulsed the enemies of liberty, who retreated with great precipitation. But, by the help of a strong reinforcement, notwithstanding a close pursuit and continual loss of their side, they acted the part of robbers and savages, by burning, plundering, and damaging almost every house in their way to the utmost of their power, murdering the unarmed and helpless, and not regarding the weaknesses of the tender sex, until they had secured themselves beyond the reach of our terrifying arms.
That ever-memorable day, the nineteenth of April, is the date of an unhappy war openly begun by the ministers of the king of Great Britain against his good subjects in this colony, and implicitly against all the other colonies. But for what? Because they have made a noble stand for their natural and constitutional rights, in opposition to the machinations of wicked men who are betraying their royal master, establishing Popery in the British dominions, and aiming to enslave and ruin the whole nation, that they may enrich themselves and their vile dependents with the public treasures and the spoils of America.

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We have used our utmost endeavors, by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances, by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the press, - in which the dispute has been fairly stated, and the justice of our opposition clearly demonstrated, - and by the mediation of some of the nobles and most faithful friends of the British constitution, who have powerfully plead our cause in Parliament, to prevent such measures as may soon reduce the body politic to a miserable, dismembered, dying trunk, though lately the terror of all Europe. But our king, as if impelled by some strange fatality, is resolved to reason with us only by the roar of his cannon and the pointed arguments of muskets and bayonets. Because we refuse submission to the despotic power of a ministerial Parliament, our own sovereign, to whom we have been always ready to swear true allegiance, - whose authority we never meant to cast off, who might have continued happy in the cheerful obedience of as faithful subjects as any in his dominions, - has given us up to the rage of his ministers, to be seized at sea by the rapacious commanders of every little sloop of war and piratical cutter, and to be plundered and massacred by land by mercenary troops, who know no distinction betwixt an enemy and a brother, between right and wrong, but only, like brutal pursuers, to hunt and seize the prey pointed out by their masters.

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We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the Eternal King, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at his pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption, or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of his providence....Let us consider - that for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted or entirely dissolved, and that nothing but a general reformation can give good ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and the Divine Providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men....

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When a government is in its prime, the public good engages the attention of the whole; the strictest regard is paid to the qualifications of those who hold the offices of the state; virtue prevails; everything is managed with justice, prudence, and frugality; the laws are founded on principles of equity rather than mere policy, and all the people are happy. But vice will increase with the riches and glory of an empire; and this gradually tends to corrupt the constitution, and in time bring on its dissolution. This may be considered not only as the natural effect of vice, but a righteous judgment of Heaven, especially upon a nation which has been favored with the blessings of religion and liberty, and is guilty of undervaluing them, and eagerly going into the gratification of every lust....

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By all this we may be led to consider the true cause of the present remarkable troubles which are come upon Great Britain and these colonies, and the only effectual remedy.

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We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it. We have neglected and set light by the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy commands and institutions. The worship of many is but mere compliment to the Deity, while their hearts are far from him. By many the gospel is corrupted into a superficial system of moral philosophy, little better than ancient Platonism; and, after all the pretended refinements of moderns in the theory of Christianity, very little of the pure practice of it is to be found among those who once stood foremost in the profession of the gospel. In a general view of the present moral state of Great Britain it may be said, "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery," their wickedness breaks out, and one murder after another is committed, under the connivance and encouragement even of that authority by which such crimes ought be punished, that the purposes of oppression and despotism may be answered. As they have increased, so have they sinned; therefore, God is changing their glory into shame. The general prevalence of vice has changed the whole face of things in the British government.

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The excellency of the constitution has been the boast of Great Britain and the envy of neighboring nations. In former times the great departments of state, and the various places of trust and authority, were filled with men of wisdom, honesty, and religion, who employed all their powers, and were ready to risk their fortunes and their lives, for the public good. They were faithful counsellors to kings; directed their authority and majesty to the happiness of the nation, and opposed every step by which despotism endeavored to advance. They were fathers of the people, and sought the welfare and prosperity of the whole body. They did not exhaust the national wealth by luxury and bribery, or convert it to their own private benefit or the maintenance of idle, useless officers and dependents, but improved it faithfully for the proper purposes - for the necessary support of government and defence of the kingdom. Their laws were dictated by wisdom and equality, and justice was administered with impartiality. Religion discovered its general influence among all ranks, and kept out great corruptions from places of power.

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But in what does the British nation now glory? - In a mere shadow of its ancient political system, - in titles of dignity without virtue, - in vast public treasures continually lavished in corruption till every fund is exhausted, notwithstanding the mighty streams perpetually flowing in, - in the many artifices to strech the prerogatives of the crown beyond all constitutional bounds, and make the king an absolute monarch, while the people are deluded with a mere phantom of liberty. What idea must we entertain of that great government, if such a one can be found, which pretends to have made an exact counter-balance of power between the sovereign the nobles and the commons, so that the three branches shall be an effectual check upon each other, and the united wisdom of the whole shall conspire to promote the national felicity, but which, in reality, is reduced to such a situation that it may be managed at the sole of will of one court favorite? What difference is there betwixt one man's choosing, at his own pleasure, by his single vote, the majority of those who are to represent the people, and his purchasing in such a majority, according to his own nomination, with money out of the public treasury, or other effectual methods of influencing elections? And what shall we say if, in the same manner, by places, pensions, and other bribes, a minister of the crown can at any time gain over a nobler majority likewise to be entirely subservient to his purposes, and moreover, persuade his royal master to resign himself up wholly to the direction of his counsel? If this should be the case of any nation, from one seven years' end to another, the bargain and sale being made sure for such a period, would they still have reason to boast of their excellent constitution? Ought they not rather to think it high time to restore the corrupted, dying state to its original perfection?...
The pretence for taxing America has been that the nation contracted an immense debt for the defence of the American colonies, and that, as they are now able to contribute some proportion towards the discharge of this debt, and must be considered as part of the nation, it is reasonable that they should be taxed, and the Parliament has a right to tax and govern them, in all cases whatever, by its own supreme authority. Enough has been already published on this grand controversy, which now threatens a final separation of the colonies from Great Britain. But can the amazing national debt be paid by a trifling sum, squeezed from year to year out of America, which is continually drained of all its cash by a restricted trade with the parent country, and which in this way is taxed to the government of Britain in a very large proportion? Would it not be much superior wisdom, and sounder policy, for a distressed kingdom to retrench the vast unnecessary expenses continually incurred by its enormous vices; to stop the prodigious sums paid in pensions, and to numberless officers, without the least advantage to the public; to reduce the number of devouring servants in the great family; to turn their minds from the pursuit of pleasure and the boundless luxuries of life to the important interests of their country and salvation of the commonwealth? Would not a reverend regard to the authority of divine revelation, a hearty belief of the gospel of the grace of God, and a general reformation of all those vices which bring misery and ruin upon individuals, families, and kingdoms, and which have provoked Heaven to bring the nation into such perplexed and dangerous circumstances, be the surest way to recover the sinking state, and make it again rich and flourishing? Millions might annually be saved if the kingdom were generally and thoroughly reformed; and the public debt, great as it is might in a few years be cancelled by a growing revenue, which now amounts to full ten millions per annum, without laying additional burdens on any of the subjects. But the demands of corruption are constantly increasing, and will forever exceed all the resources of wealth which the wit of man can invent or tyranny impose.

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Into what fatal policy has the nation been impelled, by its public vices, to wage a cruel war with it own children in these colonies, only to gratify the lust of power and the demands of extravagance! May God, in his great mercy, recover Great Britain from this fatal infatuation, show them their errors, and give them a spirit of reformation, before it is too late to avert impending destruction! May the eyes of the king be opened to see to ruinous tendency of the measures into which he has been led, and his heart inclined to treat his American subjects with justice and clemency, instead of forcing them still further to the last extremities; God grant some method may be found out to effect a happy reconciliation, so that the colonies may again enjoy the protection of sovereign, with perfect security of all their natural rights and civil and religious liberties.

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But, alas! have not the sins of America, and of New England in particular, had a hand in bringing down upon us the righteous judgment of Heaven? Wherefore is all this evil come upon us? Is it not because we have forsaken the Lord? Can we say we are innocent of crimes against God? No, surely. It becomes us to humble ourselves under his mighty hand, that he may exalt us in due time. However unjustly and cruelly we have been treated by man, we certainly deserve, at the hand of God, all the calamities in which we are now involved.

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Have we not lost much of that spirit of genuine Christianity which so remarkably appeared in our ancestors, for which God distinguished them with the signal favors of providence when they fled from tyranny and persecution into this western desert? Have we not departed from their virtues? Though I hope and am confident that as much true religion, agreeable, to the purity and simplicity of the gospel, remains among us as among any people in the world, yet, in the midst of the present great apostasy of the nations professing Christianity, have not we likewise been guilty of departing from the living God? Have we not made light of the gospel of salvation, and too much affect the cold, formal, fashionable religion of countries grown old in vice, and overspread with infidelity? Do not our follies and iniquities testify against us? Have we not, especially in our seaports, gone much too far into the pride and luxuries of life? Is it not a fact, open to common observation, that profaneness, intemperance, unchastity, the love of pleasure, fraud, avarice, and other vices, are increasing among us from year to year? And have not even these young governments been in some measure infected with the corruption of the European courts? Has there been no flattery, no bribery, no artifices practised, to get into places of honor and profit, or carry a vote to serve a particular interest, without regard to right or wrong? Have our statesmen always acted with integrity, and every judge with impartiality, in the fear of God? In short, have all ranks of men showed regard to the divine commands, and joined to promote the Redeemer's kingdom and the public welfare? I wish we could more fully justify ourselves in all these respects. If such sins have not been so notorious among us as in older countries, we must nevertheless remember that the sins of a people who have been remarkable for the profession of godliness, are more aggravated by all the advantages and favors they have enjoyed, and will receive more speedy and signal punishment; as God says of Israel: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities."
The judgments now come upon us are very heavy and distressing, and have fallen with peculiar weight on our capital, where, notwithstanding the plighted honor of the chief commander of the hostile troops, many of our brethren are still detained, as if they were captives; and those that have been released have left the principal part of their substance, which is withheld, by arbitrary orders, contrary to an express treaty, to be plundered by the army.

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Let me address you in the words of the prophet: "O Israel! return unto the Lord thy God, for thou has fallen by thine iniquity." My brethren, let us repent and implore the divine mercy; let us amend our ways and our doings, reform everything which has been provoking to the Most High, and thus endeavor to obtain the gracious interpositions of Providence for our deliverance.
If true religion is revived by means of these public calamities, and again prevails among us, if - it appears in our religious assembles, in the conduct of our civil affairs, in our families, in all our business and conversation, - we may hope for the direction and blessing of the Most High, while we are using our best endeavors to preserve and restore the civil government of this colony, and defend America from slavery.

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Our late happy government is changed into the terrors of military execution. Our firm opposition to the establishment of an arbitrary system is called rebellion, and we are to expect no mercy, but to yield property and life at discretion. This we are resolved at all events not to do, and therefore we have taken up arms in our own defence, and all the colonies are united in the great cause of liberty.

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But how shall we live while civil government is dissolved? What shall we do without counsellors and judges? A state of absolute anarchy is dreadful. Submission to the tyranny of hundreds of imperious masters, firmly embodied against us, and united in the same cruel design of disposing of our lives and subsistence at their pleasure, and making their own will our law in all cases whatsoever, is the vilest slavery, and worse than death.

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Thanks be to God that he has given us, as men, natural rights, independent on all human laws whatever, and that these rights are recognized by the grand charter of British liberties. By the law of nature, any body of people, destitute of order and government, may form themselves into a civil society, according to their best prudence, and so provide for their common safety and advantage. When one form is found by the majority not to answer the grand purpose in any tolerable degree, they may, by common consent, put an end to it and set up another, - only, as all such great changes are attended with difficulty and danger of confusion, they ought not be attempted without urgent necessity, which will be determined always by the general voice of the wisest and best members of the community.

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If the servants of the public forget their duty, betray their trust, and sell their country, or make war against the most valuable rights and privileges of the people, reason and justice require that they should be discarded, and others appointed in their room, without any regard to formal resignation of their forfeited power.

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It must be ascribed to some supernatural influence on the minds of the main body of the people through this extensive continent, that they have so universally adopted the method of managing the important matters necessary to preserve among them a free government by corresponding committees and congresses consisting of the wisest and most disinterested patriots in America, chosen by the unbiased suffrages of the people assembled for that purpose in their several towns, countries, and provinces. So general agreement, through so many provinces of so large a country, in one mode of self-preservation, is unexampled in any history; and the effect has exceeded our most sanguine expectations. Universal tumults, and all the irregularities and violence of mobbish factions, naturally arise when legal authority ceases. But how little of this has appeared in the midst of the late obstructions of civil government! - nothing more than what has often happened in Great Britain and Ireland, in the face of the civil powers in all their strength; nothing more than what is frequently seen in the midst of the perfect regulations of the great city of London; and, may I not add, nothing more than has been absolutely necessary to carry into execution the spirited resolutions of a people too sensible to deliver themselves up to oppression and slavery. The judgment and advice of the continental assembly of delegates have been as readily obeyed as if they were authentic acts of a long-established Parliament. And in every colony the votes of a congress have had equal effect with the laws of great and general courts.

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It is now ten months since this colony has been deprived of the benefit of that government which was so long enjoyed by charter. They have had no General Assembly for matters of legislation and the public revenue; the courts of justice have been shut up, and almost the whole executive power has ceased to act; yet order among the people has been remarkable preserved. Few crimes have been committed, punishable by the judge; even former contentions betwixt one neighbor and another have ceased; nor have fraud and rapine taken advantage of the imbecility of civil powers.

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The necessary preparations for the defence of our liberties required not only the collected wisdom and strength of the colony, but an immediate, cheerful application of the wealth of individuals to the public service, in due proportion, or a taxation which depended on general consent. Where was the authority to vote, collect, or receive the large sums required, and make provision for the utmost extremities? A Congress succeeded to the honors of a General Assembly as soon as the latter was crushed by the hand of power. It gained all the confidence of the people. Wisdom and prudence secured all that the laws of the former constitution could have given; and we now observe with astonishment an army of many thousands of well-disciplined troops suddenly assembled, and abundantly furnished with all necessary supplies, in defense of the liberties of America.

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But is it proper or safe for the colony to continue much longer in such imperfect order? Must it not appear rational and necessary, to every man that understands the various movements requisite to good government, that the many parts should be properly settled, and every branch of the legislative and executive authority restored to that order and vigor on which the life and health of the body politic depend? To the honorable gentlemen now met in this new congress as the fathers of the people, this weighty matter must be referred. Who knows but in the midst of all the distresses of the present war to defeat the attempts of arbitrary power, God may in mercy restore to us our judges as at the first, our counsellors as at the beginning?

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On your wisdom, religion, and public spirit, honored gentlemen, we depend, to determine what may be done as to the important matter of reviving the form of government, and settling all necessary affairs relating to it in the present critical state of things, that we may again have law and justice, and avoid the danger of anarchy and confusion. May God be with you, and by the influences of his Spirit direct all your counsels and resolutions for the glory of his name and the safety and happiness of his colony. We have great reason to acknowledge with thankfulness the evident tokens of the Divine presence with the former congress, that they were led to foresee present exigencies, and make such effectual provision for them. It is our earnest prayer to the Father of Lights that he would irradiate your minds, make all of your way plain, and grant you may be happy instruments of many and great blessings to the people by whom you are constituted, to New England, and all the united colonies.

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Let us praise our God for the advantages already given to us over the enemies of liberty, particularly that they have been so dispirited by repeated experience of the efficacy of our arms; and that, in the late action at Chelsea, when several hundreds of our soldiery, the greater part open to the fire of so many cannon, swivels, and muskets, from a battery advantageously situated, - from two armed cutters, and many barges full of marines, and from ships of the line in the harbor -not one man on our side was killed, and but two or three wounded; when, by the best intelligence, a great number were killed and wounded on the other side, and one of their cutters was taken and burnt, the other narrowly escaping with great damage.

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If God be for us who can be against us? The enemy has reproached us for calling on his name, and professing our trust in him. They have made a mock of our solemn fasts, and every appearance of serious Christianity in the land. On this account, by way of contempt, they call us saints; and that they themselves may keep at the greatest distance from this character, their mouths are full of horrid blasphemies, cursing, and bitterness, and vent all the rage of malice and barbarity. And may we not be confident that the Most High, who regards these things, will vindicate his own honor, and plead our righteous cause against such enemies to his government, as well as our liberties? O, may our camp be free from every accursed thing! May our land be purged from all is sins! May we be truly a holy people, and all our towns cities of righteousness! Then the Lord will be our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and we shall have no reason to be afraid though thousands of enemies set themselves against us round about - though all nature should be thrown into tumults and convulsions. He can command the stars in their courses to fight his battles, and all the elements to wage war with his enemies. He can destroy them with innumerable plagues, or send faintness into their hearts, so that the men of might shall not find their hands. In a variety of methods he can work salvation for us, as he did for his people in ancient days, and according to the many remarkable deliverance granted in former times to Great Britain and New England when popish machinations threatened both countries with civil and ecclesiastical tyranny.

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May the Lord hear us in this day of trouble, and the name of the God of Jacob defend us, send us help from his sanctuary, and strengthen us out of Zion! We will rejoice in his salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. Let us look to him to fulfill all our petitions.

This sounds far to simular to our present day situation!

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Left the following comment on K.A.B.A.....

2005-12-12T23:34:00.000-08:00

...Also chasing poor Rigo were the marshals. Intriguingly, they were the only witnesses to Alpizar’s distress who concluded he posed a threat; no one else described Rigo as dangerous....(Excerpt from an article from PBS.org, linked on Keep and Bear Arms)

How can these evil servants of hell possibly think they will not answer for their MURDER? Whether in this life or the NEXT! As a man sows - so shall he reap!

(Pity is, won't be able to enjoy the justice that TRUTH will, undoubtly, mete out - lest TRUTH turn His wrath off them and onto me).

Still, the desire to break out in joyful glee, as they are roasting in the fiery pit, is almost overwhelming! (Forgive me, Lord).

Spectacles.....

2005-12-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

We are ALL but spectacles in the Great mind of God. But, individually important specs nonetheless!

What are we to do?

2005-12-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

Tyranny, in nearly all of its forms, rises almost imperceptibly. One must be keenly aware of the atmosphere surrounding them in order to perceive it with any clarity. Frequently, mistakes can be made and the ringing of the alarm bell is premature or entirely mistaken. Yet, to not continue watching for the appearance of tyranny can prove to be a deadly mistake. For however much we want to tell ourselves, it just isn't so - is the same measure of blindness that needs stripped away in order to see it clearly.

It is the duty of an American citizen, and not just patriots only, to be on the constant watch for tyranny. Especially so for the parents of the young. For, if one is not dutifully standing watch and the rising of tyranny is allowed, the ones often the most scarred are the young. Just as God, tyranny is no respecter of persons. It devours young and old, rich and poor, male and female. In addition, it is color blind as well as unbiased; in religion, politics and all of the other sorts of divisions that exist among mankind.

For those, presently keeping watch, to shirk their duty could prove disastrous to us all. However, we all have lives to live, and even military sentries and prison guards are replaced at regular intervals. It is a task in which it must not be assumed that 'somebody else' is keeping watch. It is a chore that must be shared by all! And it should be obvious to all by now that the media has long since forgotten its intended purposes and duty. One might even conclude that they are part of the subterfuge with the corruptness.

Even the slightest hint that any in government are exhibiting actions that go beyond the bounds of the law is a cause for alarm. Caution must be excersized in judgement however, due to the fact that, after all, we all are only human. That is not an excuse for intolerable behavior. It is merely an acknowledgement that we all are subject to failure, even if it be grievous. When a continual train of abuse is evident, with no protestation by any in government - THAT IS TYRANNY!

When the courts have blatantly cast aside the true Constitutional meaning of the Law and of our Rights. And refuse to listen to redress of grievances repeatedly brought before them. And indeed there be ample evidence that tyranny has risen. What is the proper course taken to correct it?

Do we declare to those whom are usurping against us the reasons for our anger? Hoping that they will have a change of heart? Or, do we do nothing and tolerate it until the pain gets to great to bear? Our Founders spelled out in distinct detail the long train of abuses for which they were declaring themselves Independent from the Crown of England. Many of the same abuses, that had caused them to rebel, are presenting themselves, yet again, in our present day government. How can this be? Surely these abuses are readily discovered and plain for all to see. Yet there seems to be no public out cry. Certainly not to the extent in which the Founders responded to simular tyranny!

That the mention of God as well as His laws can be so easily cast aside. That those laws, which are the foundations of the laws of man and of the United States are set at nought - shows total disregard of the law, of God and of man himself. One has only to surmise that if such disregard is shown for God, the Law and man - what possible interest would there be for the General Welfare?

What then can be done?

How are we to throw off this perversion of our governmental system and resume being a Constitutional Republic?