The Constitution of the United States is our civil covenant and it describes both the manner and extent of our federal government. Truly, the Constitution implies that the details of the Judiciary’s function were “to be worked out in practice” (O’Brien, 24), more than the other branches. The Branches of our government have certainly grown and morphed beyond their original outline because it has served the needs of the people to do so. But, the Constitution does not give the parameters for its own interpretation. The Constitution is not a document penned by a single person, but is a work of collective ingenuity. One person’s opinion of its intention in 1789 is no more binding than the notion that it is unbound from concrete principles. It means what it says. Though the Constitution is alterable and thus boundless in its limits, its words are not living organisms that morph with each new generation like subjective mutants. There are principles of governance that are stated clearly in it and are self evident when the words of the Constitution are taken at face value. The founders knew, however, that it could not serve all people in all times and built into the Constitution alterability by Amendment.
The Constitution is an outline of the federal government, its powers and principles. All modern readers pass their eyes over it with pre-conceived political sentiments and philosophical pre-suppositions; some with a reliance on the authority of history while others view it with a belief in deconstruction; forgetting all influences of tradition and history. Many believe that reason and the needs of modern man define the words of the Constitution and that it alters itself through the natural evolutionary process of our civics. What it evolves into is pre-supposed to be better than what it ceases being. Like Federalism and the party politics that grew out of the Constitution, there is no consensus as to how the fundamentals of our democracy work. Who has authority over the document that is our collective civic authority? How is that power institutionalized? Practiced? Altered? The discussion of Constitutional interpretation and judicial review are and will be focal points of disagreement and continue to be a hotbed of disunity for the citizens of the United States and their government.
Some form of judicial review is necessary to ensure that the federal government complies with its restrictions and mandates, however, that too often includes re-interpreting the Constitution’s meaning, which becomes an ad-hoc legislative act; creating new laws contrary to the process of law making outlined in the Constitution. Striking down unconstitutional laws and acts by the other branches of the government is important to our system of checks and balances but every member of our government who takes an oath to protect the Constitution is capable of interpreting and applying the Constitution, whether they reside in the Legislative, Judicial or Executive branches. Currently, the Legislative and Executive branches allow the Judiciary to have the final word on Constitutional questions, but this system is inadequate for a majoritarian government and the process needs to be reformed. Judicial review is synonymous with Constitutional interpretation and understanding the nature of interpretation teaches us about judicial review.
The plain text itself should be the foremost consideration in interpreting the Constitution, followed by the actions and statements of the bodies that created them. The interpretive process should not rely on “what do the words of the text mean in our time” (O’Brien, 78)? The words mean what they meant when they were written and if the needs of our civics have changed than those changes should be reflected via the Amendment process. But the Amendment process has always been too cumbersome and challenging for the revolutionaries in America.
Individual opinions can shed light on the Constitution’s meaning, but the nature of the Convention and Debates that formed and approved the Constitution were aimed at consolidating many opinions into one functional view. The language of the Constitution therefore satisfied several opinions and several opinions can still be satisfied by it. If an Anti-federalist and a federalist were satisfied with the same words, it should tell moderns something about the nature of its language. There is a great deal of variation within the orthodoxy of constitutional political theory. The language of the Constitution, once dealt with directly, could be clarified by reviewing the statements and acts of the state and national representative bodies that ratified and applied it. Those acts and laws that have been faithful to the original meaning of it should also be considered, but deciding on who was faithful is as challenging as agreeing on the original intent.
The clear meaning of the words should be the first and most important element of interpretation. This action is nearly impossible, given the modern tendency of stretching the vocabulary to include things that are not there. “Judicial review…is misleading, for today the term too often is synonymous with judicial activism and judicial revision…in its historic form, judicial review is protecting the Constitution through a judicial policing function whereby laws were judged against the clear meaning and original intentions of the Constitution” ( Barton, 263). Unfortunately, the Amendment Process is a difficult and strenuous task that has been subverted by easier means. Primarily by the process of altering the Constitution’s language to include modern issues, but also by discovering an obscure passage in the private letter of a founder that complies with a personal modern view and espousing it as political doctrine and sole Constitutional intention. A met-analysis of letters of the founders may yield more information but how Congress applied the Constitution in the years following its ratification is important to understanding it’s intent.
Each branch of the United States’ Government has sought to strengthen and defend its position and influence, including the Judiciary. “Consequently, if the Court ‘tested the waters’, advanced a new self-assigned power and failed to meet serious resistance, it simply consolidated its new gain. The result has been that, over a period of decades, the Court has succeeded in completely redefining its own constitutional role” (Barton, 267). This quote could describe the nature of each Branch of the U.S. Government, but the Judiciary does not answer to the ballot box. Leaving the only trumps of interpretation to the Judiciary is dangerous for Democracy in the United States. There must be new restrictions applied to its expanded powers because the current restrictions are not equitable to the task. It is necessary to have a watchman overseeing the actions of the Executive and Legislative branches, especially since the States have been rendered hopeless in doing so. But that process should not include overreach. Currently the Two parties use the Judiciary as a pawn in the power struggle of supremacy. The left should not check the right, but each Branch should stand up for what it views to be the proper application of the Constitution and a greater consensus must be reached in order to properly alter the Constitution to reflect modern political concerns. Most importantly, those changes must be made by the Amendment Process and not by judicial fiat.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
John Locke: explored and critiqued
Locke wrote his two influential political works during a time of social, religious and political upheaval in the 17th century. He lived during the English civil war, the beheading of Charles I, the Restoration and the crowning of William of Orange. In fact, “throughout his life men were but rarely unmoved by controversies of faith and of public duty” (Locke, 7). Locke was a puritan in the truest sense of the word; he desired to purify the Anglican Church and avoid schism and Protestant infighting. He was not a puritan separatist, but sought unity within Protestantism. His puritan upbringing, affirmation of the Anglican thirty-nine Articles, four years with the French Calvinist Huguenots and six years amongst the liberal-Calvinist Remonstrants in Holland, culminated in a strong desire for toleration among Protestant factions (Foster, 480-481). Locke was a theologian (Barton, 225) and as is custom among theologians, he wrote on a variety of subjects. His ideas do not fit neatly into categories of secular and sacred. Thus, to understand his political work, it must be studied in light of all his works (Reasonableness of Christianity, Essays and Notes on St. Paul’s Epistles, Letter Concerning Toleration, Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his Two Treatises on Government) and placed firmly within the long tradition of Calvinist political theory that gave rise to his thought. His ideas descend within the pale of covenant theology and Locke espoused a Christian worldview. He was not just a Christian, he was an apologist. He was not simply a Calvinist, he represented the first large step, in English puritan thought, away from the reformed faith in search of Christian principles founded on reason and not solely on revelation. He turned his back on mainstream Calvinist thought and looked forward, helping to usher in the Enlightenment.
James II ascended the throne with large amounts of support from the Tories and the Anglican Church; both the bishops in the House of Lords and the clergymen. The unwavering support came largely by the submission of the populace via the strong espousal of the divine right of kings (Dunning, 224-225); “the Duty of unresisting submission to the Lord’s anointed was kept before the English people in copious floods of sacerdotal literature” (Dunning, 224). The convocation of 1683 condemned “certain pernicious books and damnable doctrines destructive to the sacred persons of princes…among the doctrines thus condemned was that of the origin of civil government in popular contract of any sort” (Dunning, 224). This is the environment Locke found himself in. He fled abroad in 1683 when his long time friend and employer, the Earl of Shaftesbury, was accused in a plot to overthrow the King (Locke, 7). Locke did not return until the installation of William of Orange in 1689. Locke released his Treatises on Government to help justify William’s ascent (Morgan, 105-106).
Locke, like his American descendents, was concerned with the rights of Englishmen as they had long been established and handed down (Dunning 229,230) (Barton, 225)(Morgan, 105-106). “There is in Locke’s theory little that had not long been current coin in political philosophy” (Dunning, 229), it is also important to note that contrary to modern perception, Locke did not lead the espousal of republican ideals; rather the espousal of the Whig ideal of limited Monarchy (Dunning, 228).
Locke was concerned with how man knew things, epistemology, as much as what men thought. His “religion, no less and probably far more than the new science and new views of political authority deeply influenced Locke’s work” (Pearson, 247), though he was accused of being a deist by the extremely conservative Calvinist and hero of Puritan thought; John Edwards. Locke was a Christian Theologian, apologist (Locke, 8) and student of the continental magisterial reformers of the sixteenth century and their seventeenth century descendants. John Calvin sowed ideas in his institutes that grew in the minds of Beza, Holtman, Althusius, Richard Hooker and eventually Locke; which influenced the Dutch Declaration, Puritan Constitutional formulations in England, Scotland and the colonies by the “Calvinistic habit of embodying convictions in written form and working institutions” (Foster, 489). Protestant confessional documents articulated theological principles to embody their beliefs in their ecclesiastical magisteriam. In the same fashion, later Calvinist political thinkers formulated their constitutional documents to embody their beliefs in the Political Magisteriam (Foster, 489) as did Cromwell in the Instrument of Government, the Pilgrims Mayflower Compact (et.al. Eliot, 59-60, 106-118) and Locke’s involvement with the Carolina Constitution.
It is easy to define Locke’s role in political anthropology as secularizing covenant political theory; severing its ties from the firmer principles of Biblical Theology (Baker, 39). We find in Locke the turning point in Liberal Calvinist political thought. He begins what the founders of The United States perfected; the move away from explicit biblical formulations to implicit, assuming the Protestant worldview in the descendents of his thoughts. In philosophical formulations, most modern philosophers would be shocked to know “that so heavily did Locke draw from the Bible in developing his political theories, that in his first treatise on government, he invoked the Bible in one thousand three hundred and forty nine references” (Barton, 225).Without a background in the Bible and once his two Treaties on political thought are divorced from his other writings, it is easier to reconcile them with modern secular, political theory. “Both Locke and Hobbes created their theories on the bases of rational principle; neither appealed directly to tradition nor to biblical principles” (Baker, 37). The firm place of rationalism in modern political theory was founded by Hobbes and Locke (Baker, 2000) (Brogan, 79).
Without a fuller understanding of his explicit theological work, Locke’s natural law theories are confusing to modern Theocrats within Christianity, even so far as being anathema. While his influence on modern rationalistic formulations as the bedrock of political theory has descended from him and grown up into the abandonment of Meta-ethical formulations of rights. As Dr. Clayton points out, and is foundational to modern thought, it is difficult to found philosophical formulations on human nature and God because the two cannot be measured or established on empirical evidence. This gave rise to Mills Utilitarianism and is the foundational presupposition in modern political theory. Rawls states the principle; “public conceptions of justice should be, so far as possible, independent of controversial philosophical and religious doctrines…the public conception of justice is to be political, not metaphysical” (Rawls, 186) and Sandel states the application; “government should be neutral toward the moral and religious views its citizens espouse” (Sandel, 224). The modern world has firmly set philosophical subjects in sacred and secular spheres.
The covenant that God made with Adam in the Garden has no weight in formulating the nature of public utility, nor do the formulations we make about the nature of the bread and wine in Communion effect the tacit agreement we have entered into as citizens. For Locke, it did and that separates him completely from Mills and Rawls. Locke’s understanding, as a Calvinist, of the Triune God informed his formulations, whether he explicitly stated it or not, because he lived in an age when one’s religion was all encompassing and his body of work expresses his view of the world, man and man’s political economy in light of the Protestant worldview. Though he sought to unify his faith and reason, he was influenced in all areas of life and understanding by his firm knowledge of his Eternal King.
James II ascended the throne with large amounts of support from the Tories and the Anglican Church; both the bishops in the House of Lords and the clergymen. The unwavering support came largely by the submission of the populace via the strong espousal of the divine right of kings (Dunning, 224-225); “the Duty of unresisting submission to the Lord’s anointed was kept before the English people in copious floods of sacerdotal literature” (Dunning, 224). The convocation of 1683 condemned “certain pernicious books and damnable doctrines destructive to the sacred persons of princes…among the doctrines thus condemned was that of the origin of civil government in popular contract of any sort” (Dunning, 224). This is the environment Locke found himself in. He fled abroad in 1683 when his long time friend and employer, the Earl of Shaftesbury, was accused in a plot to overthrow the King (Locke, 7). Locke did not return until the installation of William of Orange in 1689. Locke released his Treatises on Government to help justify William’s ascent (Morgan, 105-106).
Locke, like his American descendents, was concerned with the rights of Englishmen as they had long been established and handed down (Dunning 229,230) (Barton, 225)(Morgan, 105-106). “There is in Locke’s theory little that had not long been current coin in political philosophy” (Dunning, 229), it is also important to note that contrary to modern perception, Locke did not lead the espousal of republican ideals; rather the espousal of the Whig ideal of limited Monarchy (Dunning, 228).
Locke was concerned with how man knew things, epistemology, as much as what men thought. His “religion, no less and probably far more than the new science and new views of political authority deeply influenced Locke’s work” (Pearson, 247), though he was accused of being a deist by the extremely conservative Calvinist and hero of Puritan thought; John Edwards. Locke was a Christian Theologian, apologist (Locke, 8) and student of the continental magisterial reformers of the sixteenth century and their seventeenth century descendants. John Calvin sowed ideas in his institutes that grew in the minds of Beza, Holtman, Althusius, Richard Hooker and eventually Locke; which influenced the Dutch Declaration, Puritan Constitutional formulations in England, Scotland and the colonies by the “Calvinistic habit of embodying convictions in written form and working institutions” (Foster, 489). Protestant confessional documents articulated theological principles to embody their beliefs in their ecclesiastical magisteriam. In the same fashion, later Calvinist political thinkers formulated their constitutional documents to embody their beliefs in the Political Magisteriam (Foster, 489) as did Cromwell in the Instrument of Government, the Pilgrims Mayflower Compact (et.al. Eliot, 59-60, 106-118) and Locke’s involvement with the Carolina Constitution.
It is easy to define Locke’s role in political anthropology as secularizing covenant political theory; severing its ties from the firmer principles of Biblical Theology (Baker, 39). We find in Locke the turning point in Liberal Calvinist political thought. He begins what the founders of The United States perfected; the move away from explicit biblical formulations to implicit, assuming the Protestant worldview in the descendents of his thoughts. In philosophical formulations, most modern philosophers would be shocked to know “that so heavily did Locke draw from the Bible in developing his political theories, that in his first treatise on government, he invoked the Bible in one thousand three hundred and forty nine references” (Barton, 225).Without a background in the Bible and once his two Treaties on political thought are divorced from his other writings, it is easier to reconcile them with modern secular, political theory. “Both Locke and Hobbes created their theories on the bases of rational principle; neither appealed directly to tradition nor to biblical principles” (Baker, 37). The firm place of rationalism in modern political theory was founded by Hobbes and Locke (Baker, 2000) (Brogan, 79).
Without a fuller understanding of his explicit theological work, Locke’s natural law theories are confusing to modern Theocrats within Christianity, even so far as being anathema. While his influence on modern rationalistic formulations as the bedrock of political theory has descended from him and grown up into the abandonment of Meta-ethical formulations of rights. As Dr. Clayton points out, and is foundational to modern thought, it is difficult to found philosophical formulations on human nature and God because the two cannot be measured or established on empirical evidence. This gave rise to Mills Utilitarianism and is the foundational presupposition in modern political theory. Rawls states the principle; “public conceptions of justice should be, so far as possible, independent of controversial philosophical and religious doctrines…the public conception of justice is to be political, not metaphysical” (Rawls, 186) and Sandel states the application; “government should be neutral toward the moral and religious views its citizens espouse” (Sandel, 224). The modern world has firmly set philosophical subjects in sacred and secular spheres.
The covenant that God made with Adam in the Garden has no weight in formulating the nature of public utility, nor do the formulations we make about the nature of the bread and wine in Communion effect the tacit agreement we have entered into as citizens. For Locke, it did and that separates him completely from Mills and Rawls. Locke’s understanding, as a Calvinist, of the Triune God informed his formulations, whether he explicitly stated it or not, because he lived in an age when one’s religion was all encompassing and his body of work expresses his view of the world, man and man’s political economy in light of the Protestant worldview. Though he sought to unify his faith and reason, he was influenced in all areas of life and understanding by his firm knowledge of his Eternal King.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Poem
Eclogue III
Charles:
I’m tired of your nonchalant attitude; this tree is coming down…
Matthias:
There is no need to raise your voice Charles, I take this very seriously and I think that you’re being too hasty in this decision. You are somehow… misrepresenting the facts and you do not understand Father’s wishes.
Charles:
You are arrogant, Matthias, extremely arrogant.
Matthias:
Charles, please, take a breath. Let’s continue to discuss this. You can’t tear down this tree after a four minute deliberation. You’ve plainly heard Father’s words. I’m sorry if I sound arrogant, but I want you to understand, in the simplest terms, what is intended…
Charles:
You are the master of intentions, are you? We have covered this. The tree is dead or at least dieing. I’m not intending to tear it down but to simply move it along the natural process more quickly. Look at the limbs…
Matthias:
That’s the point that I was going to refute before you interrupted me. The limbs and leaves can be sick while the tree itself is healthy. This tree hasn’t been properly cared for. Bugs are eating the leaves and the late frost sickened the tiny green branches, they can’t handle such an onslaught. Look at the bark; this tree is gloriously healthy, it simply wants of care.
Charles:
You’re a fool. Look at the fruit. My children couldn’t be fed on them; worms would reject such slop.
Matthias:
Charles, it hasn’t been pruned, in who knows how long. If we just prune it, so that there are fewer sickly branches, than the rest will grow strong and thus, the fruit will be more luscious.
Charles:
Matthias, if Father had intended for this tree, so far out on his property, to flourish than he would have cared for it.
Matthias:
I think what he intended was this; for us to talk calmly about it and come to a like-minded solution. That is why He sent us. He cares so much that He sends His own children to ensure the best work, it’s a great responsibility. I have several books and worked with an arborist, many years ago, but I still recall much of what he taught me. We can minister to this tree and with diligent stewardship it will continue to grow and be filled wi…
Charles:
So that’s it, smarty, you intend to “teach” the simpletons, do you? Command me about and order me around?
Matthias:
Of course not. You’ve skills with saw, clippers and axe while I know where to lay the blade to achieve the most effective use of them and achieve what Father always wished for this tree and for us.
Charles:
You are obstinate. That’s a lot of work for an old, no good tree. What if, for all our trimming and pruning, it still crumbles? It is large and in the fall the wind will beat against it and the snow in winter will bend its branches low and break them.
It does not seem worth it. Let us relieve all this tension of the natural order and eliminate it, take it down and build something out of it; something useful.
Matthias:
It was not meant to be so. It is intended to bear fruit. Father will have it pruned one way or another. He will remove you form his employment and send you on your way. He will have the hired man fulfill what is required and the hired man will eat the fruit of it’s labor at our Father’s table.
The tree is tall but the roots are deep. The wind is strong but the limbs are stronger; if we cut away the useless, lifeless branches. The snow is heavy but that is a burden it was meant to bear.
Come Charles…
Charles:
How do you condescend to know Father’s mind so thoroughly?! You arrogant Wretch! You intend on having your own way. I can’t be removed from His service, I am His son…
Matthias:
Yes, yes. How easily you forget our brother Levi!
Charles:
You compare…
Matthias:
How are you acting differently?!
Charles:
…You are an ASS!
Matthias:
Peace, brother, peace. Charles…calm yourself!
Charles:
You order me about! Shall the older brother serve the younger?!
Matthias:
WE together shall serve Father. Our talents complete the plan. We must peacefully reconcile our minds to HIS intent. This is HIS field. Look at the bigger picture. We have for too long quarreled and let our duties relapse his desire into a faint notion. His hand is barely perceived to be at work. The harvest APPEARS to fail, but we must diligently proceed and strengthen the crop of this beautiful tree. We are his workers and we must do what he has called us to do. What has he always intended? Do not think of the modern notions or consider the Almanac, daily with its predictions and suggestions. What has Father always intended for this farm and this tree?
We MUST proceed with his wishes…
Charles:
You are wiser than I. Father intended it so, yes I see it. We are lazy and I do not have a mind for such drawn out plans, but I am willing to work, though I doubt that I am fit for it. What is the best way to proceed?
Matthias:
We are fit; we were born to do it. Let us proceed…MERRILY. You lead in song and we shall clear the lifelessness from our Father’s tree.
Look, even now, there is a bird building a nest in the lower branches. …
Charles:
I’m tired of your nonchalant attitude; this tree is coming down…
Matthias:
There is no need to raise your voice Charles, I take this very seriously and I think that you’re being too hasty in this decision. You are somehow… misrepresenting the facts and you do not understand Father’s wishes.
Charles:
You are arrogant, Matthias, extremely arrogant.
Matthias:
Charles, please, take a breath. Let’s continue to discuss this. You can’t tear down this tree after a four minute deliberation. You’ve plainly heard Father’s words. I’m sorry if I sound arrogant, but I want you to understand, in the simplest terms, what is intended…
Charles:
You are the master of intentions, are you? We have covered this. The tree is dead or at least dieing. I’m not intending to tear it down but to simply move it along the natural process more quickly. Look at the limbs…
Matthias:
That’s the point that I was going to refute before you interrupted me. The limbs and leaves can be sick while the tree itself is healthy. This tree hasn’t been properly cared for. Bugs are eating the leaves and the late frost sickened the tiny green branches, they can’t handle such an onslaught. Look at the bark; this tree is gloriously healthy, it simply wants of care.
Charles:
You’re a fool. Look at the fruit. My children couldn’t be fed on them; worms would reject such slop.
Matthias:
Charles, it hasn’t been pruned, in who knows how long. If we just prune it, so that there are fewer sickly branches, than the rest will grow strong and thus, the fruit will be more luscious.
Charles:
Matthias, if Father had intended for this tree, so far out on his property, to flourish than he would have cared for it.
Matthias:
I think what he intended was this; for us to talk calmly about it and come to a like-minded solution. That is why He sent us. He cares so much that He sends His own children to ensure the best work, it’s a great responsibility. I have several books and worked with an arborist, many years ago, but I still recall much of what he taught me. We can minister to this tree and with diligent stewardship it will continue to grow and be filled wi…
Charles:
So that’s it, smarty, you intend to “teach” the simpletons, do you? Command me about and order me around?
Matthias:
Of course not. You’ve skills with saw, clippers and axe while I know where to lay the blade to achieve the most effective use of them and achieve what Father always wished for this tree and for us.
Charles:
You are obstinate. That’s a lot of work for an old, no good tree. What if, for all our trimming and pruning, it still crumbles? It is large and in the fall the wind will beat against it and the snow in winter will bend its branches low and break them.
It does not seem worth it. Let us relieve all this tension of the natural order and eliminate it, take it down and build something out of it; something useful.
Matthias:
It was not meant to be so. It is intended to bear fruit. Father will have it pruned one way or another. He will remove you form his employment and send you on your way. He will have the hired man fulfill what is required and the hired man will eat the fruit of it’s labor at our Father’s table.
The tree is tall but the roots are deep. The wind is strong but the limbs are stronger; if we cut away the useless, lifeless branches. The snow is heavy but that is a burden it was meant to bear.
Come Charles…
Charles:
How do you condescend to know Father’s mind so thoroughly?! You arrogant Wretch! You intend on having your own way. I can’t be removed from His service, I am His son…
Matthias:
Yes, yes. How easily you forget our brother Levi!
Charles:
You compare…
Matthias:
How are you acting differently?!
Charles:
…You are an ASS!
Matthias:
Peace, brother, peace. Charles…calm yourself!
Charles:
You order me about! Shall the older brother serve the younger?!
Matthias:
WE together shall serve Father. Our talents complete the plan. We must peacefully reconcile our minds to HIS intent. This is HIS field. Look at the bigger picture. We have for too long quarreled and let our duties relapse his desire into a faint notion. His hand is barely perceived to be at work. The harvest APPEARS to fail, but we must diligently proceed and strengthen the crop of this beautiful tree. We are his workers and we must do what he has called us to do. What has he always intended? Do not think of the modern notions or consider the Almanac, daily with its predictions and suggestions. What has Father always intended for this farm and this tree?
We MUST proceed with his wishes…
Charles:
You are wiser than I. Father intended it so, yes I see it. We are lazy and I do not have a mind for such drawn out plans, but I am willing to work, though I doubt that I am fit for it. What is the best way to proceed?
Matthias:
We are fit; we were born to do it. Let us proceed…MERRILY. You lead in song and we shall clear the lifelessness from our Father’s tree.
Look, even now, there is a bird building a nest in the lower branches. …
A problem with the numbers
This country is a republic, well it was designed to be a republic, and republics function on a Representative model of Government. What does this mean? What is the nature of this form of governing?
What is a reasonable ratio between the Governed and the Representatives. Should a representative know the names of his constituents? Jethro advised Moses that it should be broken down by 10s, 100s and 1000s.
Should we keep going? 5000? 10000? Surely in the modern world with easier travel and communication a far great number of people can be reached more quickly, but what should the ratio be set at?
I believe to make our current Congress and the Senate truly representative it would be too large to function. So here we come to one of my main premises; smaller local Governments are the most effective means to restrain the people, manage defense and really stay out of people's lives.
Smaller Republics that are confederated for common defense and trade is the best way to govern a population.
Not Greek republics but Christian Republics. Not secular Republics but Christian Republics. But how big? Is Washington to large an area and too heavily populated to be governed well? Should it be broken down into two republics?
The "experiment" of our current Constitution has failed and we must ask ourselves how to improve the American system of government and mature; in order to glorify God and secure our liberties.
What is a reasonable ratio between the Governed and the Representatives. Should a representative know the names of his constituents? Jethro advised Moses that it should be broken down by 10s, 100s and 1000s.
Should we keep going? 5000? 10000? Surely in the modern world with easier travel and communication a far great number of people can be reached more quickly, but what should the ratio be set at?
I believe to make our current Congress and the Senate truly representative it would be too large to function. So here we come to one of my main premises; smaller local Governments are the most effective means to restrain the people, manage defense and really stay out of people's lives.
Smaller Republics that are confederated for common defense and trade is the best way to govern a population.
Not Greek republics but Christian Republics. Not secular Republics but Christian Republics. But how big? Is Washington to large an area and too heavily populated to be governed well? Should it be broken down into two republics?
The "experiment" of our current Constitution has failed and we must ask ourselves how to improve the American system of government and mature; in order to glorify God and secure our liberties.
Put on the full Armor of God
Numbers 14:5-12 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
What we see here is Israel’s lack of faith in God to deliver them. The warning is for us and for our children.
God had destroyed Egypt and parted a sea to lead his people through the desert. Now, after telling them throughout their journey that he would deliver these pagans in to their hand and after generations of promising this land to them, they are confronted with the size and strength of the people who inhabit it and they look at the situation with eyes of flesh.
36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord.
The people were responsible for their actions, but the spies who reported falsely to Israel were the leaders God had appointed over them and their lack of faith led to a general lack of National faith. God destroyed them to show his Righteous judgment against unfaithful men and grumblers who have a greater amount of responsibility and calling. Let our leaders note this in their hearts.
25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
They feared men, instead of believing in God’s strength and resting in his promises. This is not the end of the lesson. The death of the spies was noted and it led to the proper fear, but the damage had been done and they were ordered into the wilderness. Let us understand this things and give them their proper weight.
39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.
Israel decides that maybe God was right, they are Israel after all; the anointed, and they go to fight the inhabitants of the land. These tribes, who God was going to deliver into their hands utterly defeat them. It is the same tribes and the only difference is the God factor. The same tribes that would have been delivered to them defeated them because Yahweh was not with them. Yahweh turned away and did not fight for Israel and when Yahweh does not fight for you nothing can give you victory.
Even if there is an appearance of victory as we see in Judges chapter 2.
Judges 2:1-5 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
This was our condition even has the ink was drying on the Constitution. We have to understand the if we are properly going to repent as a nation and so we can explain it to our children.
If God is Against us, whom can we turn to? The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
What we see here is Israel’s lack of faith in God to deliver them. The warning is for us and for our children.
God had destroyed Egypt and parted a sea to lead his people through the desert. Now, after telling them throughout their journey that he would deliver these pagans in to their hand and after generations of promising this land to them, they are confronted with the size and strength of the people who inhabit it and they look at the situation with eyes of flesh.
36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the Lord.
The people were responsible for their actions, but the spies who reported falsely to Israel were the leaders God had appointed over them and their lack of faith led to a general lack of National faith. God destroyed them to show his Righteous judgment against unfaithful men and grumblers who have a greater amount of responsibility and calling. Let our leaders note this in their hearts.
25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwell in the valleys, turn tomorrow and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
They feared men, instead of believing in God’s strength and resting in his promises. This is not the end of the lesson. The death of the spies was noted and it led to the proper fear, but the damage had been done and they were ordered into the wilderness. Let us understand this things and give them their proper weight.
39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. 40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that the Lord has promised, for we have sinned.” 41 But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? 42 Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. 43 For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” 44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.
Israel decides that maybe God was right, they are Israel after all; the anointed, and they go to fight the inhabitants of the land. These tribes, who God was going to deliver into their hands utterly defeat them. It is the same tribes and the only difference is the God factor. The same tribes that would have been delivered to them defeated them because Yahweh was not with them. Yahweh turned away and did not fight for Israel and when Yahweh does not fight for you nothing can give you victory.
Even if there is an appearance of victory as we see in Judges chapter 2.
Judges 2:1-5 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord.
This was our condition even has the ink was drying on the Constitution. We have to understand the if we are properly going to repent as a nation and so we can explain it to our children.
If God is Against us, whom can we turn to? The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Put on the full armor of God
2 chron 14:9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. 10 And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. 11 And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” 12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. 13 Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. 14 And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. 15 And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.
Put on the full armor of God
The Nation if Israel did not always put her faith in Yahweh even though Yahweh had a well established history of delivering her out of all her trouble. Instead of trusting in God to deliver them in battle, they relied on allegiances and treaties of mutual need with foreign powers.
God deals with this attitude and lack of faith in a very interesting way. He included these national sins in the long list of Israel’s whoring in Ezekiel 16:26.
The French influence on the early years of the United States is undeniable and unfortunate. Most people do not see it that way. The religion of reason and rationalism had a profound effect on the minds of many of our founders. It soiled them. We allied with the Frenchies against their nemesis, the English, because we did not believe we could win the war standing alone with nothing but a just and righteous God defending us and it is taught in modern Government schools that we only won the war because of the French assistance.
We sought out the Frenchies and got in bed with them instead of trusting that God would deliver us.
Now, there are allegiances that are righteous and upright but this is not an example of one of them. It was pragmatism and faithlessness. The effects of French secularism on American thought and institutions has handicapped us and eaten away at us like cancer since the 18th century and justly so.
This is national sin that keeps on keeping on. The UN, NATO, G-8; the list of groups we have whored ourselves out to is long. The water is severely muddied, however because now we are such a secularized country it’s hard to justify why these alliances are beneath us.
They are beneath us if we have any hope of putting on the full armor of God. It is beneath us if we are to restore the sovereignty of our true King, Jesus. It is beneath us if we hope to reestablish national sovereignty and it is beneath us as un-repented sin.
We must seek God’s face in this. We must repent of this ongoing sin and ask the Triune God to deliver us in his Mercy. We must detach ourselves from these entanglements and not enter into them.
God deals with this attitude and lack of faith in a very interesting way. He included these national sins in the long list of Israel’s whoring in Ezekiel 16:26.
The French influence on the early years of the United States is undeniable and unfortunate. Most people do not see it that way. The religion of reason and rationalism had a profound effect on the minds of many of our founders. It soiled them. We allied with the Frenchies against their nemesis, the English, because we did not believe we could win the war standing alone with nothing but a just and righteous God defending us and it is taught in modern Government schools that we only won the war because of the French assistance.
We sought out the Frenchies and got in bed with them instead of trusting that God would deliver us.
Now, there are allegiances that are righteous and upright but this is not an example of one of them. It was pragmatism and faithlessness. The effects of French secularism on American thought and institutions has handicapped us and eaten away at us like cancer since the 18th century and justly so.
This is national sin that keeps on keeping on. The UN, NATO, G-8; the list of groups we have whored ourselves out to is long. The water is severely muddied, however because now we are such a secularized country it’s hard to justify why these alliances are beneath us.
They are beneath us if we have any hope of putting on the full armor of God. It is beneath us if we are to restore the sovereignty of our true King, Jesus. It is beneath us if we hope to reestablish national sovereignty and it is beneath us as un-repented sin.
We must seek God’s face in this. We must repent of this ongoing sin and ask the Triune God to deliver us in his Mercy. We must detach ourselves from these entanglements and not enter into them.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
A problem with the Numbers
In 1789 a large number of the population was worried about the brake down of citizens to representitives in the Government. There were roughly 3.9 million residents at the time. There were 66 Congressmen. That is 59,000 per Congressmen.
This has got me thinking and I am going to be discussing this problem here under the title "A problem with the numbers".
There are currently 303.5 million Americans. The set number of Congressmen is 453.
?!?
That is 697,701 people to every Congressman, and the founding generation was worried?
Hm. Representitive?
This has got me thinking and I am going to be discussing this problem here under the title "A problem with the numbers".
There are currently 303.5 million Americans. The set number of Congressmen is 453.
?!?
That is 697,701 people to every Congressman, and the founding generation was worried?
Hm. Representitive?
Congress
http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance/congressional_performance
Why? In the last big election the Democrats took control. They believed it was a vote of confidence in the Democratic party, but it was really a vote of no confidence in the system and the voters are willing to try anything, why not give the democratic party a chance to lead us into utopia? We have been led to believe that the 9-'s were some kind of roaring good time and every one was better off.
The problem here, is memory. History has shown that neither of these parties can lead this country in an honest, upright way. These parties serve the system, the system that keeps them in power and live to expand its power and authority. They believe it is autonomous.
However, the people of this country are beginning to understand that there are no difference in these parties. They are big business: big government. One is going toward the cliff at 85 and the other is going 45, but both are still headed toward the abyss.
Our Representatives do not represent the interest of the commonality, they do not represent the people. They represent the machine parties and the government. They are agents of the government not representatives of their constituents.
We must remember. The list is long. There are some things we do not even know we have forgotten. The founders railed against tyranny because of the stamp act, because they were not allowed to govern themselves.
He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves ( 1 Samuel 8).
When Yahweh gave Israel a king he told them that the king would take 10% of their belongings and He called it tyranny.
We must remember to whom we owe our allegiance; Christ. We must remember true Liberty. We must repent of our ecclesiastical and national sins. We must restore the true worship of God. We must reform our civic codes and our civic and ecclesiastical magisteriums. We must continue to reform them.
It is not enough to dislike the smell in the room. We must recognize what it is and remove it.
Remember. Repent. Restore. Reform.
Why? In the last big election the Democrats took control. They believed it was a vote of confidence in the Democratic party, but it was really a vote of no confidence in the system and the voters are willing to try anything, why not give the democratic party a chance to lead us into utopia? We have been led to believe that the 9-'s were some kind of roaring good time and every one was better off.
The problem here, is memory. History has shown that neither of these parties can lead this country in an honest, upright way. These parties serve the system, the system that keeps them in power and live to expand its power and authority. They believe it is autonomous.
However, the people of this country are beginning to understand that there are no difference in these parties. They are big business: big government. One is going toward the cliff at 85 and the other is going 45, but both are still headed toward the abyss.
Our Representatives do not represent the interest of the commonality, they do not represent the people. They represent the machine parties and the government. They are agents of the government not representatives of their constituents.
We must remember. The list is long. There are some things we do not even know we have forgotten. The founders railed against tyranny because of the stamp act, because they were not allowed to govern themselves.
He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves ( 1 Samuel 8).
When Yahweh gave Israel a king he told them that the king would take 10% of their belongings and He called it tyranny.
We must remember to whom we owe our allegiance; Christ. We must remember true Liberty. We must repent of our ecclesiastical and national sins. We must restore the true worship of God. We must reform our civic codes and our civic and ecclesiastical magisteriums. We must continue to reform them.
It is not enough to dislike the smell in the room. We must recognize what it is and remove it.
Remember. Repent. Restore. Reform.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Rhetoric
Rhetoric
KINDS OF DISCOURSE
Political – Future events
Judicial – Past Events
Ceremonial – Feel good, Emotional, Flattery
THREE MODES
Pathos – Emotion created in audience.
Ethos – Persona of the speaker.
Logos – Logic of the argument.
CANONS
Invention – The develop of an argument or assertion ( see A below)
Arrangement – The order of the argument. (see B below)
Style – Understanding the audience.
Memory – Having a recall of examples; a database of information.
Delivery – How the speech is delivered.
Poem
Mama’s encyclopedia
She sits in an overgrown measured garden of carved stone
She draws a small picture no-one sees but her
When she’s finished, she’ll sit us round the campfire of time, picture in hand
She’ll tell us a tale older than soil
To put us asleep
In the tall
Soft
Grass
Inspiration
A Psalm of Life
What the heart of the young man said to the psalmist
Life is but an empty Dream! –
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.
Art is long, and time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,- act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Political Reform and Revival
Although, the modern Church is in desperate need of reformation and revival, we must begin with the recognition that we have no control over whether or not God will grant it to us ( Mother Kirk, Wilson, Douglas. P. 79).
Naming the Animals
Salvation
The hebrew words that express the idea of salvation in the Old Testament have the general sense of deliverence from physical danger or Moral distress. In such passages the Septugint, uses the Greek words that mean to save from death or dangers, as well as to preserve or to heal (Reformation Study Bible, ESV. p. 1680).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land ( Pslam 85:8,9).
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion,“Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” ( Is. 62:11).
The hebrew words that express the idea of salvation in the Old Testament have the general sense of deliverence from physical danger or Moral distress. In such passages the Septugint, uses the Greek words that mean to save from death or dangers, as well as to preserve or to heal (Reformation Study Bible, ESV. p. 1680).
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land ( Pslam 85:8,9).
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion,“Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” ( Is. 62:11).
Friday, June 13, 2008
Eclogue II
Eclogue II
Johann:
Hallo!
I am not mistaken, you are young Master Watts!
Watts:
I am.
Lord Johann?
Johann:
Indeed, how blessed am I to meet with you.
Two souls, who love to make melody; meet upon
the road; providence, providence.
You with angelic voice and I, the lord of piping.
All praise to the maker and keeper of faith!
How often have I heard your fame sung!
Let us leave this dusty road and turn into that tavern, back a bend in the road,
and praise the founder of our faith and fortunes.
Watts:
I, of course, defer to your grey head!
My mouth is dry and my legs, stout as they are, tighten to the road.
A peculiar and blessed honor, to buy so esteemed and holy a man,
a drink and sit gladdening hearts by a happy hearth!
Johann:
And such a blessing to my lineage that ale on your silver,
should comfort and cool me on so hot a day!
They crossed back with animated tongues to
‘Solomon’s Portico’, a home to wanderers and travelers.
Two famed men happy to enjoy famed brew.
Johann:
Solomon; meet Master Watts.
We’ve come to share in your hospitality and mix talents.
Solomon:
Such a scene!
Lord Johann, you are indeed welcome!
This is a tale for my table!
Sit here, by the window.
Mix Talents? Indeed!
I’ll order another keg tapped.
I have heard of young Master Watts.
I tried to see you play at Michael-mas at St. John’s Church and
again at St. Moses Cathedral, but there was no room for me
though I promised two kegs to any man who’d give up his seat.
Men cross the mountains to taste my brew, I flatter myself,
but none would budge!
Watts:
You are too kind!
At St. Calvinus feast, they served your summer ale, not a fortnight passed.
I think my voice was never so stout, nor my range so wide.
You are a prince!
Solomon:
Prince!
Me, lordly, with my beer making and hospitality?
Please, my wife has a tale or two for the both of you!
Lord Johann, are you two going to compete?
I hear, Melodious has offered high prices and honors to compete with you?
Johann:
Compete? I play for no vain-glory.
Melodious thinks he’s the very root, the first of all us poor players!
I have never desired to appease him.
I play to make the hearts of men glad.
Master Watts is of a like-mind, I have often heard.
Competition does not befit our gifts.
We are two experts whose skills will be
fulfilled in conference on the goodness of the “The Three. The One.”
Solomon:
I know the wise, when I hear them!
Bless you!
What can I fetch such esteemed men?
Watts:
A pitcher and two steaks, if the beef is fat!
Solomon:
If, indeed, young pup.
Rest, my guests.
Enjoy a cigar or fresh ground tobacco for your pipes.
If the two of you, Lord and Master of song should
converse of music here, the fame it will
bring my portico would pale my meager ale.
I once heard a very wealthy man speak of
giving up the family estate to bring the two of you to the music books
together in any music hall or barn.
The drink was brought and followed by fattened Calf and
carrots fresh picked and apples and whole vines of grapes.
Then Wedges of cheese and loafs of bread,
one would think twenty feasted!
The two gentlemen ate and laughed.
They beat upon the table as joy and thanksgiving abounded.
Arrangements were compared, tunes were written why
all the while the people came, hearing that two such famed
and Holy men sat together.
They came to see, and maybe hear, such a sight.
More were added to the party until the building bulged.
Up and down the Lane and into the highway in
both directions they thronged!
Solomon:
Lord Johann, Master Watts!
Come, we crush this ground.
There is a farmer’s field whose owner has sworn
he’ll name his first born Johann Watts if only
the two of you would come there and play and his son is seventeen!
I’ve ordered large casts rolled out there and I won’t charge a dime.
Johann:
We must play! Master Watts, clear your throat, we make melody!
Watts:
With all my heart!
It took some time for them to make their way out to the field.
The entire county, it seemed,
with cups in hand appeared from the road in every direction.
Lord Johann and Master Watts ascended a fastened cart at the end of the field.
They were hearty.
They warmed with “Bless the Man”.
They played and sang together.
They went through anthem after anthem of our commonwealth.
They called for the crowd to sing with them;
“Beneath the Blood Stained Lintel”, “Psalm 133”,
“O’ Twas a Joyful Sound to Hear”, “Old Rugged Cross” and “Amazing Grace”.
The parish players came, with drum and harp and were inspired…
The merriment was heard across the valley.
Joyous rapture proceeded while fires were lit to
carry on into the night and the
ground shook with the dancing and it was a joyful sound to hear…
As Melodious heard the tale told
He cursed them both for such a lowly act.
Wouldn’t everyone who saw them coming down the road, expect a free show?
He decided they must have been drunk and called them fools.
And he overlooked the green vein in his heart
that wondered what joy could accompany
playing to so low a crowd for free
in a field!?
Johann:
Hallo!
I am not mistaken, you are young Master Watts!
Watts:
I am.
Lord Johann?
Johann:
Indeed, how blessed am I to meet with you.
Two souls, who love to make melody; meet upon
the road; providence, providence.
You with angelic voice and I, the lord of piping.
All praise to the maker and keeper of faith!
How often have I heard your fame sung!
Let us leave this dusty road and turn into that tavern, back a bend in the road,
and praise the founder of our faith and fortunes.
Watts:
I, of course, defer to your grey head!
My mouth is dry and my legs, stout as they are, tighten to the road.
A peculiar and blessed honor, to buy so esteemed and holy a man,
a drink and sit gladdening hearts by a happy hearth!
Johann:
And such a blessing to my lineage that ale on your silver,
should comfort and cool me on so hot a day!
They crossed back with animated tongues to
‘Solomon’s Portico’, a home to wanderers and travelers.
Two famed men happy to enjoy famed brew.
Johann:
Solomon; meet Master Watts.
We’ve come to share in your hospitality and mix talents.
Solomon:
Such a scene!
Lord Johann, you are indeed welcome!
This is a tale for my table!
Sit here, by the window.
Mix Talents? Indeed!
I’ll order another keg tapped.
I have heard of young Master Watts.
I tried to see you play at Michael-mas at St. John’s Church and
again at St. Moses Cathedral, but there was no room for me
though I promised two kegs to any man who’d give up his seat.
Men cross the mountains to taste my brew, I flatter myself,
but none would budge!
Watts:
You are too kind!
At St. Calvinus feast, they served your summer ale, not a fortnight passed.
I think my voice was never so stout, nor my range so wide.
You are a prince!
Solomon:
Prince!
Me, lordly, with my beer making and hospitality?
Please, my wife has a tale or two for the both of you!
Lord Johann, are you two going to compete?
I hear, Melodious has offered high prices and honors to compete with you?
Johann:
Compete? I play for no vain-glory.
Melodious thinks he’s the very root, the first of all us poor players!
I have never desired to appease him.
I play to make the hearts of men glad.
Master Watts is of a like-mind, I have often heard.
Competition does not befit our gifts.
We are two experts whose skills will be
fulfilled in conference on the goodness of the “The Three. The One.”
Solomon:
I know the wise, when I hear them!
Bless you!
What can I fetch such esteemed men?
Watts:
A pitcher and two steaks, if the beef is fat!
Solomon:
If, indeed, young pup.
Rest, my guests.
Enjoy a cigar or fresh ground tobacco for your pipes.
If the two of you, Lord and Master of song should
converse of music here, the fame it will
bring my portico would pale my meager ale.
I once heard a very wealthy man speak of
giving up the family estate to bring the two of you to the music books
together in any music hall or barn.
The drink was brought and followed by fattened Calf and
carrots fresh picked and apples and whole vines of grapes.
Then Wedges of cheese and loafs of bread,
one would think twenty feasted!
The two gentlemen ate and laughed.
They beat upon the table as joy and thanksgiving abounded.
Arrangements were compared, tunes were written why
all the while the people came, hearing that two such famed
and Holy men sat together.
They came to see, and maybe hear, such a sight.
More were added to the party until the building bulged.
Up and down the Lane and into the highway in
both directions they thronged!
Solomon:
Lord Johann, Master Watts!
Come, we crush this ground.
There is a farmer’s field whose owner has sworn
he’ll name his first born Johann Watts if only
the two of you would come there and play and his son is seventeen!
I’ve ordered large casts rolled out there and I won’t charge a dime.
Johann:
We must play! Master Watts, clear your throat, we make melody!
Watts:
With all my heart!
It took some time for them to make their way out to the field.
The entire county, it seemed,
with cups in hand appeared from the road in every direction.
Lord Johann and Master Watts ascended a fastened cart at the end of the field.
They were hearty.
They warmed with “Bless the Man”.
They played and sang together.
They went through anthem after anthem of our commonwealth.
They called for the crowd to sing with them;
“Beneath the Blood Stained Lintel”, “Psalm 133”,
“O’ Twas a Joyful Sound to Hear”, “Old Rugged Cross” and “Amazing Grace”.
The parish players came, with drum and harp and were inspired…
The merriment was heard across the valley.
Joyous rapture proceeded while fires were lit to
carry on into the night and the
ground shook with the dancing and it was a joyful sound to hear…
As Melodious heard the tale told
He cursed them both for such a lowly act.
Wouldn’t everyone who saw them coming down the road, expect a free show?
He decided they must have been drunk and called them fools.
And he overlooked the green vein in his heart
that wondered what joy could accompany
playing to so low a crowd for free
in a field!?
The Church Militant
We are not fighting for property rights or free speech or the opportunity to carry a loaded .40 caliber pistol in our belt. We do not grovel, we do not plead for a seat at the table of ideas. We do not wish change to come to this land like so many hamburgers from the McDonald’s drive thru.
We acknowledge, like John the Baptizer, “Behold, the Lamb of God”. He is at the head of the table, and He is there ALREADY because IT IS HIS TABLE. The table is his. The Government is at odds with Christ as long as it does not recognize in fear while trembling, the Most High Throne of Christ.
When Christ is at the head of the government, it will do what it is intended to do; wield the sword of Justice and defend our homeland. Jerusalem above is free, and SHE is our mother, not the trinity of judicious, legislative and executive. This is an Idol and one that demands its tithe, our children and our fealty above any other Deity.
Our response must be the response of our forefathers; “No king but King Jesus”; no God but the wondrous and terrifying Three in One.
We, the bride of Jesus, must turn our hearts back toward the husband of our youth, the Lord of our lives. We must repent of our gender bending, our pietistic whore-mongering and our false worship.
We, the kings, prophets and priests of the High Seat of Christ, must take up the whole armor of God and arm ourselves with the wondrous two-edged sword of the Spirit and take to the work of dominion.
Civil liberties are a result of our Christian liberties, exercised in obedience to the ascended Lord, who sits at the right hand of God the Father who holds the wicked governments of this world in derision.
Repent. Restore. Reform.
We acknowledge, like John the Baptizer, “Behold, the Lamb of God”. He is at the head of the table, and He is there ALREADY because IT IS HIS TABLE. The table is his. The Government is at odds with Christ as long as it does not recognize in fear while trembling, the Most High Throne of Christ.
When Christ is at the head of the government, it will do what it is intended to do; wield the sword of Justice and defend our homeland. Jerusalem above is free, and SHE is our mother, not the trinity of judicious, legislative and executive. This is an Idol and one that demands its tithe, our children and our fealty above any other Deity.
Our response must be the response of our forefathers; “No king but King Jesus”; no God but the wondrous and terrifying Three in One.
We, the bride of Jesus, must turn our hearts back toward the husband of our youth, the Lord of our lives. We must repent of our gender bending, our pietistic whore-mongering and our false worship.
We, the kings, prophets and priests of the High Seat of Christ, must take up the whole armor of God and arm ourselves with the wondrous two-edged sword of the Spirit and take to the work of dominion.
Civil liberties are a result of our Christian liberties, exercised in obedience to the ascended Lord, who sits at the right hand of God the Father who holds the wicked governments of this world in derision.
Repent. Restore. Reform.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Naming the animals
Unrighteousness - (lack of conformity whith what is right) - is the sin of unbelief, or the lack of that righteousness which flows from Faith.
( Romans, M. Luther. p. 49)
( Romans, M. Luther. p. 49)
The role of Magistrates
Then therefore all kings are the vassals of the King of Kings, invested into their office by the sword, which is the cognisance of their royal authority, to the end that with the sword they maintain the law of God, defend the good, and punish the evil.
(Defence of Liberty against Tyrany, p. 6)
(Defence of Liberty against Tyrany, p. 6)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Inspiration
THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL
By A. Pope
1 Vital spark of heavenly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
2 Hark! they whisper; angels say,
'Sister Spirit, come away!'
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be Death?
3 The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
By A. Pope
1 Vital spark of heavenly flame!
Quit, oh quit this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying,
Oh the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!
2 Hark! they whisper; angels say,
'Sister Spirit, come away!'
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be Death?
3 The world recedes; it disappears!
Heaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
Friday, May 9, 2008
Poem
Eclogue 1
Silvanus:
John!
How came you to reside here upon the green
with wine-skin in hand drinking merrily and singing splendidly?
I far off heard your song and came to see.
Alas, I wander far from home
my stock finds no lush foliage for fodder while your sheep grow fat
all the while you sit idle in the shade
and turn happy thoughts.
John:
But such is the service of the God-man,
Who from on high; through many a peril
by his safe-conduct-markings and planning
has led me to this happy spot.
But I rest only anxiously content,
for happier spots beyond the farthest hill, yet remain.
Silvanus:
I marvel!
A wanderer? Peril? The God-man?
Truly so sweet a spot!
I am weary with my walking and heavy laden
while my sheep wander off, not to be found
and more than a few I’ve left,
under fresh mounds of earth or lame;
I left them by the roadside being too weak to carry them.
Alas, at the mighty oak I made my prayer
and saw such wondrous signs fixed at night
upon the stars; that portended much promise to no avail!
Who is it that led you here?
Where can I find such a guide?
To whom do you make supplications to find so fine a set of blessings?
The brook? The daisy or else, some footed or flying beast?
John:
The king known as: “The three. The one.”
I, there, where so many of our set have wandered
at the foot of those distant mountains, slept
when upon the first light of morn I heard
such a wondrous tune upon the wind; a voice secure and calling.
It spoke of a Garden-city and commanded me to follow
I obliged, reluctantly but stupefied, but by midday
so heartily I moved my flock along
and soon was singing a tune I’d never heard
and merrily
that welled within and poured forth upon the ripening day.
Silvanus:
You sang a tune you’d never heard?
John:
Merrily!
in the dark of night when wolves stocked my precious woolen cargo
all day across deep rivers on dangerous paths it contented my heart
all along such oasis’ as this, where now you find me
it sustained and freshened me.
The former ache of bones and discontent leapt from my countenance
and happily I found these little spots to rest
but wished, always, most ardently to begin again, the journey
to continue to the Garden-city
Silvanus:
It seems the very sweetest of all the
green earth springs forth for you.
How contented-calm your flock looks
so fat, so pure white!
Where once such darkly, blemished ewes wandered after you!
How vastly bigger your flock!
John:
I can say not but praise his name;
that fell voice upon the wind
that steady strength that lights upon my breast so keenly
that comforts and aids me.
There has been much along the way…
…all such blessing I never imagined!
Silvanus:
Yet must I go on!?
There!
My flock wanders and withers away as we speak
and wearier I grow!
Do not deny me audience with this mighty God-Man, the King.
John:
Silvanus come lie here and rest
I will to the creek, not far away
and draw water to wash you and quench your thirst
sleep, dear Silvanus, with that yearning in your breast.
I will watch your flock.
Upon the morning break; you as well will hear the wind
and we will on, together, singing a fine new tune
while come what may, we will go on toward the Garden-City
to see the King and Praise his name!
Silvanus:
John!
How came you to reside here upon the green
with wine-skin in hand drinking merrily and singing splendidly?
I far off heard your song and came to see.
Alas, I wander far from home
my stock finds no lush foliage for fodder while your sheep grow fat
all the while you sit idle in the shade
and turn happy thoughts.
John:
But such is the service of the God-man,
Who from on high; through many a peril
by his safe-conduct-markings and planning
has led me to this happy spot.
But I rest only anxiously content,
for happier spots beyond the farthest hill, yet remain.
Silvanus:
I marvel!
A wanderer? Peril? The God-man?
Truly so sweet a spot!
I am weary with my walking and heavy laden
while my sheep wander off, not to be found
and more than a few I’ve left,
under fresh mounds of earth or lame;
I left them by the roadside being too weak to carry them.
Alas, at the mighty oak I made my prayer
and saw such wondrous signs fixed at night
upon the stars; that portended much promise to no avail!
Who is it that led you here?
Where can I find such a guide?
To whom do you make supplications to find so fine a set of blessings?
The brook? The daisy or else, some footed or flying beast?
John:
The king known as: “The three. The one.”
I, there, where so many of our set have wandered
at the foot of those distant mountains, slept
when upon the first light of morn I heard
such a wondrous tune upon the wind; a voice secure and calling.
It spoke of a Garden-city and commanded me to follow
I obliged, reluctantly but stupefied, but by midday
so heartily I moved my flock along
and soon was singing a tune I’d never heard
and merrily
that welled within and poured forth upon the ripening day.
Silvanus:
You sang a tune you’d never heard?
John:
Merrily!
in the dark of night when wolves stocked my precious woolen cargo
all day across deep rivers on dangerous paths it contented my heart
all along such oasis’ as this, where now you find me
it sustained and freshened me.
The former ache of bones and discontent leapt from my countenance
and happily I found these little spots to rest
but wished, always, most ardently to begin again, the journey
to continue to the Garden-city
Silvanus:
It seems the very sweetest of all the
green earth springs forth for you.
How contented-calm your flock looks
so fat, so pure white!
Where once such darkly, blemished ewes wandered after you!
How vastly bigger your flock!
John:
I can say not but praise his name;
that fell voice upon the wind
that steady strength that lights upon my breast so keenly
that comforts and aids me.
There has been much along the way…
…all such blessing I never imagined!
Silvanus:
Yet must I go on!?
There!
My flock wanders and withers away as we speak
and wearier I grow!
Do not deny me audience with this mighty God-Man, the King.
John:
Silvanus come lie here and rest
I will to the creek, not far away
and draw water to wash you and quench your thirst
sleep, dear Silvanus, with that yearning in your breast.
I will watch your flock.
Upon the morning break; you as well will hear the wind
and we will on, together, singing a fine new tune
while come what may, we will go on toward the Garden-City
to see the King and Praise his name!
Forms: Eclogue
An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics. They were originally used as fillers between plays in roman days and are usually dialogues or monolgues. The idea is to resent to apposing views and in the end have one prevail.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Poem
Biographies
They are born near page one
where they begin to collect the bits of providence
that shapes and carves from clay; men
scoundrels, leaders; the mighty and the misfortunate
some plan vain things, others
kiss the Son
We hold their lives in our hands
turn over the moments that made them
wishing for ourselves, so much more
to be like these sainted lives
Hagiography is our weakness
but I want the truth, warts and all
to determine the measure of all men, in all ages
this is our challenge
To see the secret thoughts of men long dead
to speculate on how and why
to see them in the deep valley of the soul
and assail the mountain of immortality
I love to sit comfortably in my armchair
and judge
and live vicariously
I often dream of posterity
pouring over my own journals
deciphering my intentions
deciding my worth
But above all
after the jaunt through history
I love to sit at the deathbed
of men long asleep in Abraham’s breast
and listen to their last words
and ponder the numbering of days
They are born near page one
where they begin to collect the bits of providence
that shapes and carves from clay; men
scoundrels, leaders; the mighty and the misfortunate
some plan vain things, others
kiss the Son
We hold their lives in our hands
turn over the moments that made them
wishing for ourselves, so much more
to be like these sainted lives
Hagiography is our weakness
but I want the truth, warts and all
to determine the measure of all men, in all ages
this is our challenge
To see the secret thoughts of men long dead
to speculate on how and why
to see them in the deep valley of the soul
and assail the mountain of immortality
I love to sit comfortably in my armchair
and judge
and live vicariously
I often dream of posterity
pouring over my own journals
deciphering my intentions
deciding my worth
But above all
after the jaunt through history
I love to sit at the deathbed
of men long asleep in Abraham’s breast
and listen to their last words
and ponder the numbering of days
Comments and questions concerning Civil and Ecclesiastical Reform
1. What is the Civic Covenant? How does one enter into it? By what authority is it established? What are its blessings and curses? What are the obligations of one who has entered into this covenant?
2. What does the structure of the home teach us about our civic and ecclesiastical families? What are the similarities and differences? How does the role of mother and father coincide or enable us to understand the roles of Church and State? How has the breakdown of the roles of Fathers and Mothers contributed to the breakdown of our civic and ecclesiastical bodies? What can the study of a biblical home teach us about the nature of representative government, nurturing, discipline/punishment, protection, social class, poverty, education and maturity?
3. The natural state of man is fallen. Any body of people rather civic or ecclesiastical is made up of fallen men. Accountability is a basic and fundamental concept of human interaction within family and church structures. This concept must also be fundamental in our civic lives. Any civic government must be limited. Man must be restrained form his natural weaknesses and passions. The government must restrain the populace and the populace must restrain the government from tyranny and wickedness.
2. What does the structure of the home teach us about our civic and ecclesiastical families? What are the similarities and differences? How does the role of mother and father coincide or enable us to understand the roles of Church and State? How has the breakdown of the roles of Fathers and Mothers contributed to the breakdown of our civic and ecclesiastical bodies? What can the study of a biblical home teach us about the nature of representative government, nurturing, discipline/punishment, protection, social class, poverty, education and maturity?
3. The natural state of man is fallen. Any body of people rather civic or ecclesiastical is made up of fallen men. Accountability is a basic and fundamental concept of human interaction within family and church structures. This concept must also be fundamental in our civic lives. Any civic government must be limited. Man must be restrained form his natural weaknesses and passions. The government must restrain the populace and the populace must restrain the government from tyranny and wickedness.
The reinstitution of Liberty
From: Steve Wilkin's Calvinism, what went wrong
1. Covenant
2. The Sovereignty of God
3. Pre-eminence of the Law of God
4. Redemption by the Grace of God
5. Victory of the Gospel
1. Covenant
2. The Sovereignty of God
3. Pre-eminence of the Law of God
4. Redemption by the Grace of God
5. Victory of the Gospel
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Inspiration
Song
By Robert Browning
The year's at the Spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven -
All's right with the world!
By Robert Browning
The year's at the Spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven -
All's right with the world!
Friday, May 2, 2008
sophistry
Sophism can mean two very different things: In the modern definition, a sophism is a confusing or illogical argument used for deceiving someone. In Ancient Greece, the sophists were a group of teachers of philosophy and rhetoric.
The term sophism originated from Greek sophistes, meaning "wise-ist", one who "does" wisdom, one who makes a business out of wisdom (sophós means "wise man").
The term sophism originated from Greek sophistes, meaning "wise-ist", one who "does" wisdom, one who makes a business out of wisdom (sophós means "wise man").
Sophistry
I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother.
( Obama, March 18, 2008 10:15 AM )
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/obama_disavows.html
The Illinois senator said that Wright's appearance, including his dismissal of Obama's attempts to defuse the controversy as political posturing, "was a show of disrespect to me" and "an insult to what we've been trying to do in this campaign."
Wright, he added, is no longer "the man I met 20 years ago." "When I say I found his comments appalling, I mean it," Obama said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Anybody who has worked with me, who knows my life, who read my books, who have seen what this campaign is about will understand it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country."
( Obama, March 18, 2008 10:15 AM )
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/04/obama_disavows.html
The Illinois senator said that Wright's appearance, including his dismissal of Obama's attempts to defuse the controversy as political posturing, "was a show of disrespect to me" and "an insult to what we've been trying to do in this campaign."
Wright, he added, is no longer "the man I met 20 years ago." "When I say I found his comments appalling, I mean it," Obama said at a news conference in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Anybody who has worked with me, who knows my life, who read my books, who have seen what this campaign is about will understand it is completely opposed to what I stand for and where I want to take this country."
Poem
Epithalamium
I stood abreast the impassioned tumult
of rivers met and joined
in foam and roar
heads west, each acquiring
each lending its force to rush
downhill to fulfill the course of its first collecting
Off, here and there, great bends
small rivulet’s cast about to find their way
I watch beneath the breast-white moon
that reflects the greater light
yet in glory all its own
The stars draw their zodiac
and men cast their course
this midnight sky draws all thoughts
from earth to the celestial and bright unending, revealed
these many lights and small
one endless canvas, illumines the earth before the day
exhibits the sapphire thrown
these marvels all, float on
flow in joy, to meet
a calmer canopy, where storms shall cease
a purer sea, where all is peace
The Church Militant
The Kings and High Magistrates of this world are subservient to the throne of Christ, rather they acknowledge it or not. We are subservient to them in lieu of their honoring and obeying the Triune God.
Kings and High Magistrates are vassals. They are not autonimous. They are not above the judgment seat of the Lamb of God. We should pray that the Mercy of God would enlighten them to this fact. This is politiacl reform. Upon our knees we shall overthrow wicked Governments. The Church militant is a non-political empire that will, under the authority of Christ, transform all the Kingdoms of this world without destroying them. This does not mean that the kingdom does not encompass politics. Christ does not rule becasue we have given him our collective consent.
We shall not reign as the gentiles reign, but through service and with Love, Truth and Beauty. We are more than Conqurers in the Spirit of the Living God. We are the Warriors of Compassion and the Ministers of RECONCILIATION.
Repent. Restore. Reform.
Kings and High Magistrates are vassals. They are not autonimous. They are not above the judgment seat of the Lamb of God. We should pray that the Mercy of God would enlighten them to this fact. This is politiacl reform. Upon our knees we shall overthrow wicked Governments. The Church militant is a non-political empire that will, under the authority of Christ, transform all the Kingdoms of this world without destroying them. This does not mean that the kingdom does not encompass politics. Christ does not rule becasue we have given him our collective consent.
We shall not reign as the gentiles reign, but through service and with Love, Truth and Beauty. We are more than Conqurers in the Spirit of the Living God. We are the Warriors of Compassion and the Ministers of RECONCILIATION.
Repent. Restore. Reform.
Quotes - The right of kings and high Magistrates
...seeing all the kings of the world are under his feet, it is no marvel, if God be called the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; all kings be termed His ministers established to judge rightly, and govern justly the world in the quality of lieutenants...As if he should say, it is in my power to establish kings in their thrones, or to thrust them out, and from that occasion the throne of kings is called the throne of God.
Seeing then that kings are only the lieutenants of God, established in the Throne of God by the Lord God himself, and the people are the people of God, and that the honour which is done to these lieutenants proceeds from the reverence which is born to those that sent them to this service, it follows of necessity that kings must be obeyed for God's cause, and not against God, and then, when they serve and obey God, and not other ways.
Defence of Liberty
Junius Brutus
Seeing then that kings are only the lieutenants of God, established in the Throne of God by the Lord God himself, and the people are the people of God, and that the honour which is done to these lieutenants proceeds from the reverence which is born to those that sent them to this service, it follows of necessity that kings must be obeyed for God's cause, and not against God, and then, when they serve and obey God, and not other ways.
Defence of Liberty
Junius Brutus
Poem
New Responsibilities
A child cries
in a room behind a closed door
Where light from the window
does not denote dusk or daybreak
The house is otherwise empty
except for the man-child
clutching the arms of his chair
terrified
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Poem
Literary (Autobiographical) Review
Light was there
faintly
as through a linen curtain
drawn shut
So many words once
alive; unsettled
moving about with barely room for
one another, barely folding together enough
to make any real utterance
No civility
or reverence or love
Only harsh brutality, natural
like the first man
looking through flaming swords
Light barely perceived
illumination only enough
to penetrate all but unnoticeably
the true and utter darkness
Poem - “…the earth yields no increase without the dew of heaven” – Junius Brutus
Like Oil on Aaron’s Beard
Amidst the ripening of light upon the world
there in the small hours
The silver sheen
accumulates on all things
alive and dead, handmade, grown
natural and wild
Refreshes with a drink in spirit and flesh
bright and cool
diamonds from God’s exhale on a world, warm in bed
The still agitation of moisture
The renewal and drink of divine blessing
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Books of 2007
1. Life and Letters of Martin Luther
Preserved Smith. 423
2. Master and Commander
Patrick O' Brian. 459
3. Luther for Armchair Theologians
Steven Paulson. 208
4. The Lord's Service
Jeff Meyers. 400
5. The Guarantee of Liberty
Peter Leithart. 50
6. The Age of the Reformation
Roland H. Bainton. 186
7. For Kirk and Covenant
Doug Wilson. 228
8. Post Captain
Patrick O' Brian. 489
9. The Once and Future King
T.H. White. 439
10. Collected Lyrics
E.S.V. Millay. 252
11. Great Dream of Heaven
Sam Shepard. 142
12. Foundations of Social Order
Roushdoony. 226
13. Angels in the Architecture
Wilson/Jones. 215
14. Federal Husband
Doug Wilson. 110
15. The Puritan Dilemma
Edmund S. Morgan. 205
16. Easy Chairs, Hard Words
Douglas Wilson. 144
17. Up From Slavery
Booker T. Washington. 157
18. Wise Words
Peter Leithart. 167
19. Back to Virtue
Peter Kreeft. 195
20. Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Edmand Morris. 780
21. Orthodoxy
G.K. Chesterton. 159
22. Week-end Wodehouse
P.G. Wodehouse. 430
23. America Alone
Mark Steyn. 214
24. A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens. 122
25. Financial Peace Revisited
Dave Ramsey. 283
26. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis. 186
27. Everyman Poetry
Longfellow. 112
28. Road to Perdition
Max Collins. 302
29. Men and Ideas of the 16th Century
Hillerbrand. 124
Preserved Smith. 423
2. Master and Commander
Patrick O' Brian. 459
3. Luther for Armchair Theologians
Steven Paulson. 208
4. The Lord's Service
Jeff Meyers. 400
5. The Guarantee of Liberty
Peter Leithart. 50
6. The Age of the Reformation
Roland H. Bainton. 186
7. For Kirk and Covenant
Doug Wilson. 228
8. Post Captain
Patrick O' Brian. 489
9. The Once and Future King
T.H. White. 439
10. Collected Lyrics
E.S.V. Millay. 252
11. Great Dream of Heaven
Sam Shepard. 142
12. Foundations of Social Order
Roushdoony. 226
13. Angels in the Architecture
Wilson/Jones. 215
14. Federal Husband
Doug Wilson. 110
15. The Puritan Dilemma
Edmund S. Morgan. 205
16. Easy Chairs, Hard Words
Douglas Wilson. 144
17. Up From Slavery
Booker T. Washington. 157
18. Wise Words
Peter Leithart. 167
19. Back to Virtue
Peter Kreeft. 195
20. Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Edmand Morris. 780
21. Orthodoxy
G.K. Chesterton. 159
22. Week-end Wodehouse
P.G. Wodehouse. 430
23. America Alone
Mark Steyn. 214
24. A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens. 122
25. Financial Peace Revisited
Dave Ramsey. 283
26. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis. 186
27. Everyman Poetry
Longfellow. 112
28. Road to Perdition
Max Collins. 302
29. Men and Ideas of the 16th Century
Hillerbrand. 124
Quote
If the colonies should assume governments separately, they should be left entirely to their own choice of the forms; and if a continental constitution should be formed, it should be a congress, containing a fair and adequate representation of the colonies, and its authority should sacredly be confined to these cases, namely, war, trade, disputes between colony and colony, the post office, and the unappropriated lands of the crown, as they used to be called. (emphasis added)
Thoughts on Government
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