Journey of Cross and Quill

Bojangles

O GOD With Goodness All Thy Own

O GOD with goodness all thy own
In mercy cause thy face to shine;
So shall thy ways on earth be known,
Thy saving health and power divine:
O let the gladdening nations sing,
And praise thy name with hallowed mirth,
For thou of righteousness art King,
And rulest all the subject earth.

O let the people praise the Lord;
The people all thy praise express;
And earth her plenty shall afford,
And God yea, our own God, shall bless;
Our God his blessing shall bestow;
His power, his goodness, shall appear;
And all the ends of earth shall know
And worship him with holy fear.

Taken from Poems of Religion and Society by John Quincy Adams

The Defending Your Faith Family Conference in Branson, Missouri this year was phenomenal. For four days we were blessed to hear from Ken Ham of (Answers in Genesis, Doug Phillips of Vision Forum, and Voddie Baucham of Voddie Baucham Ministries. I say blessed because it is indefinitely true that we as a couple and as a family walked away strengthened and empowered to stand against the onslaught that is secular humanism.

The works of these groups are often criticized and ridiculed, its message often viewed as foolishness by those of “enlightened” society. To those who view the world through the Christian worldview such “foolishness” is the only correct lens and indeed, this conference confirmed that which I already know as truth. Let the world say what it may. What it has to offer I view as incomprehensible and the only “blind faith” that exists.

Over the course of the next few weeks I hope to review the material taken from the conference and reiterate that information in my blog so that those who missed out can be blessed. I am also working on my first piece for the blog American Creation. Time to delve into John Locke!

Tuesday, I’m heading on a jet plane along with my husband to Branson, Missouri for the Defending Your Faith in a Secular World conference and a well deserved vacation sans ankle biters. We’ll be gone through Saturday evening. This will be my last post until then.

I look forward to writing more on the influence of Christianity on Western Civilization and contributing to the American Creation blog upon my return. Until then I intend to let loose and recharge!

See you then!

13 important works you’ve probably never read

1. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville Volume 1 and Volume II

2. Two Treatises on Government by John Locke

3. Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone

4. The Spirit of Laws by Charles de Secondat Montesquieu

5. The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes:Volume 6

6. The Papers of James Madison

7. Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical by Benjamin Rush

8. A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful by Edmund Burke

9. The Works of the Reverand John Witherspoon

10. History of the United States by Noah Webster

11. William Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation

12. Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States

13. The Jubilee of the Constitution by John Quincy Adams

I have been invited and have accepted the honor of being a contributor to American Creation, a blog dedicated to promoting discussion, debate and insight into the religious aspects of America’s founding. This is a topic near and dear to my heart and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to contribute. As a majority of its contributors either hold PhD.s or are graduate students I am excited to sit at the feet of the masters and gain a little insight into their combined wisdom.

I mentioned before that I am putting off classes until January so that I can fully concentrate on getting my son off to a great start in homeschooling. I call this year, Kindergarten A. After discussing it with my husband we have decided to concentrate mainly on the essentials (reading, writing, math) this year and next year we will be implementing the Noah Plan using the kindergarten curriculum (thus Kindergarten B). My oldest turns six-years-old in September and is eager to learn to read and write. However, he is still emotionally delayed and so an extra year in kindergarten will serve him well. Meanwhile this fall I will begin self-study in the Principle Approach and begin preparing for teaching the Noah Plan.

During the fall semester last year I wrote a paper entitled The Influence of Christianity on Western Civilization and it has proved a popular subject. A majority of visitors to this blog have been looking for information pertaining to this topic. As the paper covered a broad area with little individual details I have decided to break each subject into parts in order to cover Christianity’s influence more thoroughly.

How I love history!

Our family is leaving Thursday morning to attend a campout through Sunday morning with a large group of geocachers and so I will be absent from my blog most likely until Monday.

As we approach the celebration of Independence Day, I encourage you to read the Declaration Of Independence in addition to John Quincy Adam’s 1837 Fourth of July Oration.

God bless you and yours this weekend and keep safe.

Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the hungry will be fed, the naked clothed. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the stranger will be sheltered, the prisoner visited, and the sick ministered unto. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and Temperance will rest upon a surer basis than any mere private pledge or public statute. Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the peace of the world will be secured by more substantial safeguards than either the mutual fear, or the reciprocal interest, of princes or of people.

Diffuse the knowledge of the Bible, and the day will be hastened, as it can be hastened in no other way, when every yoke shall be loosened, and every bond broken, and when there shall be no more leading into captivity . . . The world, which seems to outgrow successively all other books, find still in this an ever fresh adaptation to every change in its condition and every period in its history. Now, as a thousand years ago, it has lessons alike for individuals and for nations; for rulers and for people; for monarchies and for republics; for times of stability and for times of overthrow; for the rich and the poor; for the simplest and the wisest men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand, when the rains fall, and the winds blow, and the floods come, as to found free institutions upon any other basis than that morality and virtue, of which the Word of God is the only authoritative rule, and the only adequate sanction.
All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.
It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must support the State. And never more loudly than at this moment have these institutions of ours called for such support . . .

The Bible: Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions

Thirteen quotes of Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (1779-1845)

1. Let the American youth never forget, that they possess a noble inheritance, bought by the toils, and sufferings, and blood of their ancestors; and capacity, if wisely improved, and faithfully guarded, of transmitting to their latest posterity all the substantial blessings of life, the peaceful enjoyment of liberty, property, religion, and independence.

2. The constitution of the United States is to receive a reasonable interpretation of its language, and its powers, keeping in view the objects and purposes, for which those powers were conferred. By a reasonable interpretation, we mean, that in case the words are susceptible of two different senses, the one strict, the other more enlarged, that should be adopted, which is most consonant with the apparent objects and intent of the Constitution.

3. A good government implies two things; first, fidelity to the objects of the government; secondly, a knowledge of the means, by which those objects can be best attained.

4. Men, to act with vigour and effect, must have time to mature measures, and judgment and experience, as to the best method of applying them. They must not be hurried on to their conclusions by the passions, or the fears of the multitude. They must deliberate, as well as resolve.

5. How much more do they deserve our reverence and praise, whose lives are devoted to the formation of institutions, which, when they and their children are mingled in the common dust, may continue to cherish the principles and the practice of liberty in perpetual freshness and vigour.

6. Without justice being freely, fully, and impartially administered, neither our persons, nor our rights, nor our property, can be protected. And if these, or either of them, are regulated by no certain laws, and are subject to no certain principles, and are held by no certain tenure, and are redressed, when violated, by no certain remedies, society fails of all its value; and men may as well return to a state of savage and barbarous independence.

7. The truth is, that, even with the most secure tenure of office, during good behavior, the danger is not, that the judges will be too firm in resisting public opinion, and in defence of private rights or public liberties; but, that they will be ready to yield themselves to the passions, and politics, and prejudices of the day.

8. It should therefore be difficult in a republic to declare war; but not to make peace.

9. It is important also to consider, that the surest means of avoiding war is to be prepared for it in peace.

10. And it is no less true, that personal security and private property rest entirely upon the wisdom, the stability, and the integrity of the courts of justice.

11. There is little need of commentary upon this clause. No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind.

12. On the other hand, the duty imposed upon him to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will “preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.” The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people.

13. Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit, and intelligence of the citizens. They fall, when the wise are banished from the public councils, because they dare to be honest, and the profligate are rewarded, because they flatter the people, in order to betray them.

Joseph Story: Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, 1833.