"A general Dissolution of Principles and Manners will more surely overthrow the Liberties of America than the whole force of the Common Enemy,"
"While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their Virtue they will be ready to surrender their Liberties to the first external or internal invader. ... If Virtue and Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great Security."
- - - Samuel Adams
"While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their Virtue they will be ready to surrender their Liberties to the first external or internal invader. ... If Virtue and Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great Security."
- - - Samuel Adams
from THE CITY OF GOD,
Book 2, "Gods and people indifferent to virtue",
section 20 "Of the kind of happiness and life truly delighted in by those who inveigh against the Christian religion"
But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us?
This is our cocern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes.
Let the poor court the rich for a living, and that under their protection they may enjoy a sluggish tranquility; and let the rich abuse the poor as their dependants, to minister to their pride.
Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure.
Let no severe duty be commanded, no impurity forbidden.
Let kings estimate their prosperity, not by the righteousness, but by the servility of their subjects.
Let the provinces stand loyal to the kings, not as moral guides, but as lords of their possesions and purveyors of their pleasures; not with a hearty reverence, but a crooked and sevile fear.
Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man's property, than of that done to one's own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let every one with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him.
Let there be a plentiful supply of public prostitutes for every one who wishes to use them, but specially for those who are too poor to keep one for thier private use.
Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description: in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit, dissipate.
Let there be everywhere heard the rustling of dancers, the loud, immodest laughter of the theater; let a succession of the most cruel and the most voluptuous pleasures maintain a perpetual excitement. If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it, let him be silenced, banished, put an end to.
Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preseve it when once possessed. Let them be worshipped as they wish; let them demand whatever games they please, from or with their own worshippers; only let them secure that such felicity be not imperilled by foe, plague, or disaster of any kind.
What sane man would compare a republic such as this, I will not say to the Roman empire, but to the palace of Sardanapalus, the ancient king who was so abandoned to pleasures, that he caused it to be inscribed on his tomb, that now that he was dead, he possessed only those things which he had swallowed and consumed by his appetities while alive? If these men had such a king as this, who, while self-indulgent, should lay no severe restraint on them, they would more enthusiastically consecrate to him a temple and a flamen than the ancient Romans did to Romulus.
Book 2, "Gods and people indifferent to virtue",
section 20 "Of the kind of happiness and life truly delighted in by those who inveigh against the Christian religion"
But the worshippers and admirers of these gods delight in imitating their scandalous iniquities, and are nowise concerned that the republic be less depraved and licentious. Only let it remain undefeated, they say, only let it flourish and abound in resources; let it be glorious by its victories, or still better, secure in peace; and what matters it to us?
This is our cocern, that every man be able to increase his wealth so as to supply his daily prodigalities, and so that the powerful may subject the weak for their own purposes.
Let the poor court the rich for a living, and that under their protection they may enjoy a sluggish tranquility; and let the rich abuse the poor as their dependants, to minister to their pride.
Let the people applaud not those who protect their interests, but those who provide them with pleasure.
Let no severe duty be commanded, no impurity forbidden.
Let kings estimate their prosperity, not by the righteousness, but by the servility of their subjects.
Let the provinces stand loyal to the kings, not as moral guides, but as lords of their possesions and purveyors of their pleasures; not with a hearty reverence, but a crooked and sevile fear.
Let the laws take cognizance rather of the injury done to another man's property, than of that done to one's own person. If a man be a nuisance to his neighbor, or injure his property, family, or person, let him be actionable; but in his own affairs let every one with impunity do what he will in company with his own family, and with those who willingly join him.
Let there be a plentiful supply of public prostitutes for every one who wishes to use them, but specially for those who are too poor to keep one for thier private use.
Let there be erected houses of the largest and most ornate description: in these let there be provided the most sumptuous banquets, where every one who pleases may, by day or night, play, drink, vomit, dissipate.
Let there be everywhere heard the rustling of dancers, the loud, immodest laughter of the theater; let a succession of the most cruel and the most voluptuous pleasures maintain a perpetual excitement. If such happiness is distasteful to any, let him be branded as a public enemy; and if any attempt to modify or put an end to it, let him be silenced, banished, put an end to.
Let these be reckoned the true gods, who procure for the people this condition of things, and preseve it when once possessed. Let them be worshipped as they wish; let them demand whatever games they please, from or with their own worshippers; only let them secure that such felicity be not imperilled by foe, plague, or disaster of any kind.
What sane man would compare a republic such as this, I will not say to the Roman empire, but to the palace of Sardanapalus, the ancient king who was so abandoned to pleasures, that he caused it to be inscribed on his tomb, that now that he was dead, he possessed only those things which he had swallowed and consumed by his appetities while alive? If these men had such a king as this, who, while self-indulgent, should lay no severe restraint on them, they would more enthusiastically consecrate to him a temple and a flamen than the ancient Romans did to Romulus.
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indespensable supports....Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintaned without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of the religious principle." - George Washington's farewell address.
The Chebar
Judeo/Christian Studies, News & You!
Judeo/Christian Studies, News & You!
Religion and America
Could America become like this?
"God's will be done; to him I resign--in him I confide. Do the like. Any other philosophy applicable to this occasion is delusive. Away with it."--
John Jay, first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, in a letter to his wife, Sally Jay, April 20, 1794, reprinted in The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston (New York, NY: Burt Franklin, 1970), vol. 4, p. 7.
