Saturday, 04 July 2009

• Happy July 4th!

  The Star Spangled Banner:

   

  Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
  What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
  Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
  O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
  And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
  Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
  Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
  
  On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
  Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
  What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
  As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
  Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
  In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
  'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
  
  And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
  That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
  A home and a country should leave us no more!
  Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
  No refuge could save the hireling and slave
  From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
  And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
  
  Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
  Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
  Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
  Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
  Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
  And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
  And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
  O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
  

   

   

  Quotes from our Founding Fathers:

   

  Source: http://www.wallbuilders.com/

   

  Benjamin Franklin

  Signer of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence

  [O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.

  (Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, p. 297, April 17, 1787. )

  I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that "except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

  I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.

  (Source: James Madison, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, editor (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1911), Vol. I, pp. 450-452, June 28, 1787.)

   

  James McHenry

  Signer of the Constitution

  [P]ublic utility pleads most forcibly for the general distribution of the Holy Scriptures. The doctrine they preach, the obligations they impose, the punishment they threaten, the rewards they promise, the stamp and image of divinity they bear, which produces a conviction of their truths, can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments around our institutions. Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses, and at the same time enjoy quiet conscience.

  (Source: Bernard C. Steiner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland, 1810-1920 (Maryland Bible Society, 1921), p. 14.)

   

  William Penn

  Founder of Pennsylvania

  [I]t is impossible that any people of government should ever prosper, where men render not unto God, that which is God's, as well as to Caesar, that which is Caesar's.

  (Source: Fundamental Constitutions of Pennsylvania, 1682. Written by William Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania.)

  Pennsylvania Supreme Court

  No free government now exists in the world, unless where Christianity is acknowledged, and is the religion of the country.

  (Source: Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1824. Updegraph v. Commonwealth; 11 Serg. & R. 393, 406 (Sup.Ct. Penn. 1824).)

  ________________________________________________________________________

  I'll stop there, but there are many more quotes at this website along with the original source locations. It's well documented.

   

  Happy 4th of July and may God Bless America!

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