If a nation expects to be ignorant and free,
in a state of civilization, it expects what
never was and never will be. ―
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
If Ye…Countrymen
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude
better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace.
We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which
feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget
that ye were our countrymen.”
-Samuel Adams (1722-1803)
What Is?
America The Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Katherine L. Bates (1859-1929)
My Life Worth Nothing To Me
Who will guard the guardians themselves?
Juvenal (l.c.55-138 CE)
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated” ― The Crisis
Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me,
if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—
the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.
Acts 20:24
