Further thoughts from Lincoln

Washington, D.C.

September, 1862

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true; that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

(Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler.)

Found in Lincoln papers after his death, 
never intended for publication.

September 17, 1862:  Sharpsburg, MD

on fighting older battles

Fellow-Countrymen: ...

   

  ..."On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. ....... Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.  

  One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, ......These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. ... 

                                                   ....To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, ...

           ...while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.  ...

                                             ... Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. ... 

                                                        ...Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. ...

                                                                                         ... It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, ...

... but let us judge not, ... 

... that we be not judged.  ...

• The prayers of both could not be answered. 
• That of neither has been answered fully. 
• The Almighty has His own purposes. 

'Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.'  

...

 Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."    

(Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address Saturday, March 4, 1865)

 Lincoln is quoting (Matthew 18:7)

    

on being educated

"No man who worships education has got the best out of education; no man who sacrifices everything to education is even educated." ...... "What is wrong is a neglect of principle; and the principle is that without a gentle contempt for education, no gentleman's education is complete."

The Superstition of School by G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

on faith and increasing levels of uncertainty

In Sunday school a few days ago,

 I shared with the class, a thought that,

as I age, 

I have increasing levels of uncertainty.   

This increasing level of uncertainty is not an expression of doubt 

or lack of faith ,  

I am uncertain this thought was well understood or received.  

I know that my increasing level of uncertainty

is a sign of my increased awareness of my own ignorance.  

This increasing level of uncertainty drives my hunger to become more.

 I have faith that their is much more to learn and know. 

 This leads me to further develop my ability to do.

On taking Literature seriously

THE CASE FOR THE EPHEMERAL

Street Art Washington D.C.

"I cannot understand the people who take literature seriously; but I can

love them, and I do. Out of my love I warn them to keep clear of this

book. It is a collection of crude and shapeless papers upon current or

rather flying subjects; and they must be published pretty much as they

stand. They were written, as a rule, at the last moment; they were

handed in the moment before it was too late, and I do not think that our

commonwealth would have been shaken to its foundations if they had been

handed in the moment after. They must go out now, with all their

imperfections on their head, or rather on mine; for their vices are too

vital to be improved with a blue pencil, or with anything I can think

of, except dynamite.

Their chief vice is that so many of them are very serious; because I had

no time to make them flippant. It is so easy to be solemn; it is so hard

to be frivolous. Let any honest reader shut his eyes for a few moments,

and approaching the secret tribunal of his soul, ask himself whether he

would really rather be asked in the next two hours to write the front

page of the  Times, which is full of long leading articles, or the

front page of  Tit-Bits, which is full of short jokes. If the reader

is the fine conscientious fellow I take him for, he will at once reply

that he would rather on the spur of the moment write ten  Times

articles than one  Tit-Bits  joke. Responsibility, a heavy and cautious

responsibility of speech, is the easiest thing in the world; anybody can

do it. That is why so many tired, elderly, and wealthy men go in for

politics. They are responsible, because they have not the strength of

mind left to be irresponsible. It is more dignified to sit still than to

dance the Barn Dance. It is also easier. So in these easy pages I keep

myself on the whole on the level of the  Times: it is only occasionally

that I leap upwards almost to the level of  Tit-Bits." 

(ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, G. K. CHESTERTON)

two men, two republics, one nation and her dead.

Robert E. Lee (note Union Uniform)

"If we could read the secret history of our enemies, 

we could find in each man's sorrow and suffering 

enough to disarm all hostility."  

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

(Driftwood, 1857)

Virginia Declaration of Rights

May 15, 1776 The Republic of Virginia is declared with the adoption of the Virginia Declaration of Rights by the Virginia Conventions.  

“A declaration of rights made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full and free convention; which rights do pertain to them and their posterity, as the basis and foundation of government.

SECTION I. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

The men who created this document helped give birth a new Nation of 13 independent republics.

John Parke Custis (1754–1781) married Eleanor Calvert on February 3, 1774. They purchase and move to Abingdon Plantation. This plantation is on Arlington Heights Virginia. In the future this plantation will overlook The District of Columbia;  home of the the capital of the United State of America.  John Custis is the son of Martha Washington and the adopted son of George Washington. This plantation along with George Washington’s papers are inherited by his daughter Mary Anna Randolph Custis  who married Robert E. Lee.  

At the outbreak of the American Civil War or as the Southern State prefer to call it “The War Between the States”, Robert E. Lee is offered Command of all the Union Forces by Abraham Lincoln.  Robert E. Lee declines the offer and resigns his commission.  He becomes a military advisor to newly formed Confederate State of America.

May 1861 Union Forces capture Arlington Heights to prevents its being used by Confederate

Montgomery C. Meigs 

 forces to fire on Washington D.C. Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, quartermaster general for the Union Forces, uses the newly capture plantation to create a “Potters Field” to bury the unclaimed dead of the Union Forces.  Over the next decade he continues to see that the plantation is used as an honored burial ground to insure that the Lee’s again never enjoy the use of their home.  

Out of one man's sense of loyalty and another one's sense of duty and enmity a sacred place is created for the nation they both loved

Maybe Abraham Lincoln stated it best when he dedicated another military cemetery. 

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

... and I must add I have hope that President Lincoln was addressing the great loss on either side of the Mason Dixon line;   both parties paid a terrible price for this conclusion, 

"By the end of 1901 all the Confederate soldiers buried in the national cemeteries at Alexandria, Virginia, and at the Soldiers' Home in Washington were brought together with the soldiers buried at Arlington and reinterred in the Confederate section. Among the 482 persons buried there are 46 officers, 351 enlisted men, 58 wives, 15 southern civilians, and 12 unknowns. They are buried in concentric circles around the Confederate Monument, ...."

To this Day, Arlington Plantation, holds a renewed nations honored dead.  

Arlington House

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/The-Battle-of-Arlington.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preamble_to_the_United_States_Constitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia#Statehood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_(plantation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abingdon_(plantation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee#Marriage_and_family
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/visitorinformation/MonumentMemorials/Confederate.aspx

On his first views of Hell

Gustave Dore illustration  Paradise Lost Book I

Nine times the Space that measures Day and Night 

To mortal men, he with his horrid crew 

Lay vanquisht, rowling in the fiery Gulfe 

Confounded though immortal:...

... But his doom 

Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought 

Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 

Torments him;...

... round he throws his baleful eyes 

That witness'd huge affliction and dismay 

Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate: 

At once as far as Angels kenn he views 

The dismal Situation waste and wilde, 

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round 

As one great Furnace flam'd,...

... yet from those flames 

No light, but rather darkness visible 

Serv'd only to discover sights of woe, 

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades,...

John Martin, Paradise Lost - Satan on the Burning Lake (Book 1)

... where peace 

And rest can never dwell,... 

... hope never comes 

That comes to all; ...

...but torture without end 

Still urges, ...

... and a fiery Deluge, fed 

With ever-burning Sulphur unconsum'd: 

(John Milton: Paradise Lost, Book I: 50-69)

Goethe, On Proverbs and Reflections

"Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action."

"Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error."

Sprüche in Prosa (Proverbs in Prose, 1819) 

"Very often when we have found ourselves forever separated from 

what we had intended to achieve, we have already, on our way, found something else worth desiring."

Maxims and Reflections (1833)

Author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe

... his death as a minor side note.

Saturday April 28th 1849.   This morning I understand that the Party of Indians who passed here on the 20th inst.  Under the Little Chief attacted Wanship's party somewhere on Ogdon's Fork and killed some (& amongst the rest the lad which we took prisoner in the Utah Valley on the 5th of March. [crossed out])  They also killed some 40 horses and took the rest   The Little Chief and one of his men were also killed.

To day the Legion was organized according to the appointment last Sunday.  There was two Regiment formed one of horse & one foot constituting the First & Second Cohorts.

Daniel H. Wells Major General.	Willard Snow   Major 1 B. 1 R. 1 C.
J. M. Grant   Brigr Gen First Cohort	Ira Eldrege   do   2 B. 1 R. 1 C.
H. S. Eldredge   do   do   Second   Do.	A. Lytle   - do 1 B 2 R. 2 C.
John S. Fulmer   Col 1st R. 1st C.	H. Herriman – do 2 B. 2 R. 2 C.
John Scott   Col 1st R. 2 C.

There was Companies organized.  I fell into 2 C. 2 B. 1 R. 1 C.  Benjm F. Johnson Capt   Having the honor of being first Lieut my-self.  This is rising some in the world.  Because when the Legion was organized in 1840 I held the office of Second Leut whereas I am now promoted a little.

One circumstance took place today which I never saw before   John Pack & John D. Lee were each put in nomination for Majors by regular authority & both most contemptestously hissed down.  When any person is thus duly nominated I never before knew the people to reject it   But on this occasion it appears that they are both a perfect stink in every body's nose   The reasons of which is not needful to relate.

To day about two o'clock P. M. Alvin Horr, one of the Presidents of the Eleventh Quorum to which I belong, died of Dropsey.  He had been afflicted a long time & came here from the bluffs for his health leaving his family

(Journal of Hosea Stout)

Memories of Momma

When I was a kid I didn't have a cell, laptop, internet, XBox, or Wii, but I wanted a TRS-80.  I didn't have a bike, or a curfew.  My toys were the outside world, rain or shine. I could not eat what Mamma did not make. I would have liked to tell my Momma "no" but she was not home.   It was a not a good life... and I survived.

No one would say my Mom was a saint, but she was not a devil.   She was a girl that married too young and grew up with her children, I grew to love me Mom.  

On being a cracked pot

English bluebells in spring of Ashbridge Park, Hertfordshire. (photo: UK Garden Photos/Flickr, cc by-nc-nd 2.0)

“Back in the days when pots and pans could talk, which indeed they still do, there lived a man. And in order to have water, every day he had to walk down the hill and fill two pots and walk them home.

One day, it was discovered one of the pots had a crack, and as time went on, the crack widened. Finally, the pot turned to the man and said, ‘You know, every day you take me to the river, and by the time you get home, half of the water’s leaked out. Please replace me with a better pot.’

And the man said, ‘You don’t understand. As you spill, you water the wild flowers by the side of the path.’ And sure enough, on the side of the path where the cracked pot was carried, beautiful flowers grew, while other side was barren.

‘I think I’ll keep you,’ said the man."

(Keven Kling)

http://blog.onbeing.org/post/19950139131/the-story-of-the-cracked-pot-by-trent-gilliss 

On "The Spit of the Soldiers"

The whipping was the first deed of the soldiers.

The crucifixion was the third. (No, I didn’t skip the second. We’ll get to that in a moment.) Though his back was ribboned with wounds, the soldiers loaded the crossbeam on Jesus’ shoulders and marched him to the Place of a Skull and executed him.

We don’t fault the soldiers for these two actions. After all, they were just following orders. But what’s hard to understand is what they did in between. Here is Matthew’s description:

Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified. The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and they all gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head. After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Matt. 27:26–31 NCV)

The soldiers’ assignment was simple: Take the Nazarene to the hill and kill him. But they had another idea. They wanted to have some fun first. Strong, rested, armed soldiers encircled an exhausted, nearly dead, Galilean carpenter and beat up on him. The scourging was commanded. The crucifixion was ordered. But who would draw pleasure out of spitting on a half-dead man?

Spitting isn’t intended to hurt the body—it can’t. Spitting is intended to degrade the soul, and it does. What were the soldiers doing? Were they not elevating themselves at the expense of another? They felt big by making Christ look small.

Allow the spit of the soldiers to symbolize the filth in our hearts. And then observe what Jesus does with our filth. He carries it to the cross.

Through the prophet he said, “I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting” (Isa. 50:6 NIV). Mingled with his blood and sweat was the essence of our sin.

God could have deemed otherwise. In God’s plan, Jesus was offered wine for his throat, so why not a towel for his face? Simon carried the cross of Jesus, but he didn’t mop the cheek of Jesus. Angels were a prayer away. Couldn’t they have taken the spittle away?

They could have, but Jesus never commanded them to. For some reason, the One who chose the nails also chose the saliva. Along with the spear and the sponge of man, he bore the spit of man.

The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.

From He Chose the Nails: What God Did To Win Your Heart 

Copyright (Thomas Nelson, 2000) Max Lucado

on meeting Patricius (St. Patrick)

On celebration of the day we dedicate to St. Patrick, an early Roman Catholic Bishop, who served in Ireland,  I would like to post a letter attributed to him.  In this letter he shares his testimony and some of his works.  He writes in humility of his love for the Irish and of some of his converts who become martyrs for the faith.

"

A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus

Part I
1

I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that "all that I am," I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He himself testifies that this is so. I never would have wanted these harsh words to spill from my mouth; I am not in the habit of speaking so sharply. Yet now I am driven by the zeal of God, Christ's truth has aroused me. I speak out too for love of my neighbors who are my only sons; for them I gave up my home country, my parents and even pushing my own life to the brink of death. If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them still look down on me. I Cor. 15:10 Phil. 2:30

2

I myself have composed and written these words with my own hand, so that they can be given and handed over, then sent swiftly to the soldiers of Coroticus. I am not addressing my own people, nor my fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but those who are now become citizens of demons by reason of their evil works. They have chosen, by their hostile deeds, to live in death; comrades of the Scotti and Picts and of all who behave like apostates, bloody men who have steeped themselves in the blood of innocent Christians. The very same people I have begotten for God; their number beyond count, I myself confirmed them in Christ.

3

The very next day after my new converts, dressed all in white, were anointed with chrism, even as it was still gleaming upon their foreheads, they were cruelly cut down and killed by the swords of these same devilish men. At once I sent a good priest with a letter. I could trust him, for I had taught him from his boyhood. He went, accompanied by other priests, to see if we might claw something back from all the looting, most important, the baptized captives whom they had seized. Yet all they did was to laugh in our faces at the mere mention of their prisoners.

4

Because of all this, I am at a loss to know whether to weep more for those they killed or those that are captured: or indeed for these men themselves whom the devil has taken fast for his slaves. In truth, they will bind themselves alongside him in the pains of the everlasting pit: for "he who sins is a slave already" and is to be called "son of the devil." Jn. 8:34, 44 (O.L.)

5

Because of this, let every God-fearing man mark well that to me they are outcasts: cast out also by Christ my God, whose ambassador I am. Patricides, they are, yes and fratricides, no better than ravening wolves devouring God's own people like a loaf of bread. Exactly as it says: "the wicked have scattered your law, 0 Lord," which in these latter days he had planted in Ireland with so much hope and goodness; here it had been taught and nurtured in God's sight. Eph. 6.-20 Acts 20.-29 Ps. 14:4 Ps. 119.126

Part II
6

I do not overreach myself, for I too have my part to play with "those whom he has called to himself and predestined" to teach the gospel in the midst of considerable persecutions "as far as the ends of the earth, even if the enemy reveals h's true envy through the tyranny of Coroticus, who fears neither God nor the priests whom he has chosen and to whom he has given the highest divine power, namely that "those whom they bind on earth are bound in heaven." Rom. 8:30 Matt. 16:19

7

Accordingly, I beseech especially you "holy and humble in heart," that it is unlawful to flatter men like these, nor should you eat or drink in their company, neither should anyone feel any obligation to receive alms from such men; not until the time comes when they do penances so harsh that their tears pour out to God, and that they agree to free those servants of God and the baptized handmaids of Christ. For these did he die, for them was he crucified. Dan. 3:87

8

"The Almighty turns away from the gifts of wicked men." "He who offers sacrifice from the goods of the poor, is like a man who sacrifices a son in the sight of his own father." "Those riches," it is written, "which he has gathered in unjustly will be vomited out of his belly." "And now the angel of death comes to drag him away. He will be mauled by angry dragons, killed by the serpent's tongue. Moreover, everlasting fire is consuming him." So, "Woe to those who feast themselves on things that are not their own." Or, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul?" Ecclus. 34:19-20 Job 20.15-16, 26 Hab. 2:6 Matt. 16.-26

9

It would take too long to discuss or argue every single case, or to sift through the whole of the Law for precise witness against such greed. Sufficient to say, greed is a deadly deed. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. You shall not murder. A homicide may not stand beside Christ. Even "He who bates his brother is to be labeled murderer." Or, "He who does not love his brother dwells in death." therefore how much more guilty is he, who has stained his own hands in the blood of the sons of God, those very children whom only just now he has won for himself in this distant land by means of our feeble encouragement. Rom. 13:9 Exod. 20:13, 17 I Jn. 3:15, 14

Part III

10

Could I have come to Ireland without thought of God, merely in my own interest? Who was it made me come? For here "I am a prisoner of the Spirit" so that I may not see any of my family. Can it be out of the kindness of my heart that I carry out such a labor of mercy on a people who once captured me when they wrecked my father's house and carried off his servants? For by descent I was a freeman, born of a decurion father; yet I have sold this nobility of mine, I am not ashamed, nor do I regret that it might have meant some advantage to others. In short, I am a slave in Christ to this faraway people for the indescribable glory of "everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord." Acts 20.22 Rom. 6.-23

11

And if my own do not want to know me, well and good, "a prophet is not honored in his own country." Indeed, perhaps we are not "from the same sheepfold," or possibly we do not have "one and the same Father for our God." As he says, "He who is not with me, is against me" and he who "does not gather with me, scatters." We are at cross purposes: "One destroys; another builds." "I do not seek things that are mine." Not by my grace, but it is God "who has given such care in my heart," so that I should be among "the hunters or fishers" whom God foretold "in those final days." Jn. 4:44 Jn. 10:16 Eph. 4:6 Matt. 12:30 Ecclus. 34:23 I Cor. 13:5 11 Cor. 8:16

12

They are jealous of me. What am I to do, Lord? How bitterly they despise me! just see how your sheep are torn apart and despoiled, and by those gangsters I have named, bound to the last man by the inimical mind of Coroticus. Far away from the love of God is the man who betrays my Christians into the hands of the Scotti and Picts. "Ravenous wolves" have gulped down the Lord's own flock, which was flourishing in Ireland and tended with utmost care. Now I have lost count how many sons and daughters of the kings of the Scotti have become monks and virgins of Christ. For which reason, "may these injuries done to the just not find favor in your sight," even "to the lowest depths of hell may you not be pleased."

13

Which of the saints would not refuse to feast and decline the company of such men? See how they have filled their houses with the spoils of dead Christians? Why, they devote their lives to plunder! Miserable men, they have no idea how they feed poison, food that surely kills, to their friends and even to their own children; just as Eve never realized that she was handing out certain death to her own man, her husband. It is always the same with those who do evil: they labor long only to yield death as their everlasting punishment.

14

Roman Christians in Gaul behave quite differently: it is their custom to send holy, capable men to the Franks and other nations with several thousand soldiers so as to redeem Christian prisioners, yet YOU would rather kill or sell them on to a far-off tribe who know nothing of the true God. You might as well consign Christ's own members to a whorehouse. What kind of hope can you have left in God? Can you still trust someone who says he agrees with you? Do you listen still to all those flatterers who surround you? God alone will judge. For it is written, "Not only those who do evil, but also all those who agree with them, are to be

15

For myself, I do not know "what I shall say," or how "I may speak anymore" of those who are dead of these children of God-whom the sword has struck down so harshly, beyond all belief. For it Is written, "Weep with those that weep, and again "If one member grieves, then all members should grieve together." Because of this, the whole Church "cries out and for its sons and daughters" who so far have not been killed by the sword. For they have been taken far away and abandoned in a land where sin abounds, openly, wickedly, impudently; there freeborn men are sold, Christians are reduced to slavery, and worst of all among the most worthless and vilest apostates, the Picts. Jn. 12:49 Rom. 12:15 1 Cor. 12:26 Matt. 2:18,- Jer. 31:15

16

Because of all this, my voice is raised in sorrow and mourning. Oh, my most beautiful, my lovely brethren and my sons "whom I begot in Christ," I have lost count of your number, what can I do to help you now? I am not worthy to come to the help of God or men. "We have been overwhelmed by the wickedness of unjust men," it is as if "we had been made outsiders." They find it unacceptable that we are Irish. But it says "Is it not true that you all have but one God? Why then have you, each one of you, abandoned your own neighbor?" I Cor. 4:15 Ps. 65:3 Ps. 69:8 Eph. 4:5, 6 MaL 2:10

Part IV

17

And therefore I grieve for you, how I mourn for you, who are so very dear to me, but again I can rejoice within my heart, not for nothing "have I labored," neither has my exile been "in vain."

And if this wicked deed, so horrible, so unutterable, had to happen, thanks be to God, as men, believing and baptized, you have left this world behind for paradise. I can see you all clearly: you have set out for where "there will be no more night," "no more lament, neither death."

"There your hearts will leap, like calves let free from the tether, and you will trample down the wicked underfoot, and they will be like dust under your feet."

 Phil. 2:16 Apoc. 22:5, 21:4 MaL 4:Z 3

18

Therefore will you reign with the apostles and the prophets and all the martyrs. You will attain the eternal kingdoms. just as he testifies, exactly as he declares: "They will come from East and the West, and they will rest with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." "While outside howl the dogs, the poisoners, the homicides," and "Their fate, with liars and perjurers, is the lake of everlasting fire." Where, says the Apostle, not without reason, "The 'Just man will scarcely be saved, yet the sinner and the flagrant lawbreaker, where shall he stand?"

Matt. 8:11 Apoc. 22:15 Apoc. 21:8 I Pet. 4:18

19

And so, now you, Coroticus-and your gangsters, rebels all against Christ, now where do you see yourselves? You gave away girls like prizes: not yet women, but baptized. All for some petty temporal gain that will pass in the very next instant. "Like a cloud passes, or smoke blown in the wind," so will "sinners, who cheat, slip away from the face of the Lord. But the just will feast for sure" with Christ. "They will judge the nations" and unjust kings "they will lord over" for world after world. Amen. Wisd. 5:14 Ps. 68:2, 3; 3:8

20

I bear witness before God and his angels that this will come about, just as he has revealed my lack of learning. To repeat: these are not my words, but God's own words-and the apostle's and the prophets', which I have merely chiseled out in Latin: and they have never lied. "He who is found to have believed will be saved; but he who did not believe will be condemned, God has spoken." Mk. 16:15, 16

21

My chief request is that anyone who is a servant of God be ready and willing, to carry this letter forward; may it never be hidden or stolen by anyone, but rather, may it be read aloud before the whole people-Yes, even when Coroticus himself is present.

May God inspire these men sometime to come to their senses in regard to God again, so that they may repent, however latter day, of their grave crimes, namely homicide against the brothers of the Lord, and that they free these baptized women whom they have taken, so that then they may deserve to live to God and be made whole once more, here, now and for eternity.

Peace to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.  

AMEN."

( The Confession of St. Patrick.)
http://books.google.com/books?id=EM0CAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA45&dq=the+confessions+of+st.+patrick&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-UZjT_uIM-WriALOs9WjDw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=the%20confessions%20of%20st.%20patrick&f=false

on meeting Cornelius

“Cornelius

Cornelius was an officer in the Roman army. Both Gentile and bad guy. He ate the wrong food, hung with the wrong crowd, and swore allegiance to Caesar. He didn’t quote the Torah or descend from Abraham. Uncircumcised, unkosher, unclean. Look at him.

Yet look at him again. Closely. He helped needy people and sympathized with Jewish ethics. He was kind and devout. “One who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:2 NKJV). Cornelius was even on a first-name basis with an angel. The angel told him to get in touch with Peter, who was staying at a friend’s house thirty miles away in the seaside town of Joppa. Cornelius sent three men to find him.

Peter, meanwhile, was doing his best to pray with a growling stomach. He saw a vision of a sheet that contained enough unkosher food to uncurl the payos of any Hasidic Jew. Peter absolutely and resolutely refused. “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean” (v. 14 NKJV).

But God wasn’t kidding about this. He three-peated the vision, leaving poor Peter in a quandary. Peter was pondering the pigs in the blanket when he heard a knock at the door. At the sound of the knock, he heard the call of God’s Spirit in his heart. “Behold, three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them” (vv. 19–20 NKJV).

“Doubting nothing” can also be translated “make no distinction” or “indulge in no prejudice” or “discard all partiality.” This was a huge moment for Peter.

Cast of Characters - Lost & FoundMuch to his credit, Peter invited the messengers to spend the night and headed out the next morning to meet Cornelius. When Peter arrived, he confessed how difficult this decision had been. “You know that we Jews are not allowed to have anything to do with other people. But God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit” (v. 28 CEV). Peter told Cornelius about Jesus and the gospel, and before Peter could issue an invitation, the presence of the Spirit was among them, and they were replicating Pentecost—speaking in tongues and glorifying God.

And us? We are still pondering verse 28: “God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit.”

In our lifetimes you and I are going to come across some discarded people. Tossed out. Sometimes tossed out by a church. And we get to choose. Neglect or rescue? Label them or love them? We know Jesus’ choice. Just look at what he did with us.”

 (Encounters with the Living God, Max Lucado ; Copyright  Thomas Nelson 2012)

On giving advice to our children

   

 I have found the best way to give advice

 to your children is to find out what they want

 and then advise them to do it. 

Harry S. Truman
Interview with Edward R. Murrow,
CBS Television (27 May 1955)

   

(March of Dimes, January 13, 1950)

on Virtue, Knowledge and Disagreement

"I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue,

 unexercised and unbreathed, 

that never sallies out and sees her adversary, 

but slinks out of the race 

where that immortal garland  is to be run for, 

not without dust and heat."  .....

"Where there is much desire to learn, 

here of necessity will be much arguing,

 much writing, many opinions; 

for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making."

(John Milton, Areopagitica)