The Woman's Cause is Man's

Tennyson wrote a long, epic poem called The Princess. Within it, there is a section where the prince is trying to woo the princess, after she had failed in her experiment at starting a feminist girls-only school. The prince made this speech. I came across it while I was studying for the GRE Lit. in English exam in the Norton Anthology of E. L. (major authors one-vol. edition). It represents a high-flown but well-conceived view of male-female complementarity and points out that the way to stop sexist oppression or victimization in society by either gender, is through a harmonious marriage. Marriage is where one supports the other, the other protects the one. And together, because they are different, their union makes more progress than they could on their own. This kind of lifestyle means more than feminist or chauvinist theorizing, protesting, litigating, or book-writing (although Tennyson did write a book).

'Blame not thyself too much,'I said, 'nor blame
Too much the sons of men and barbarous laws;
These were the rough ways of the world till now.
Henceforth thou hast a helper, me, that know
The woman's cause is man's: they rise or sink
Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free:
For she that out of Lethe scales with man
The shining steps of Nature, shares with man
His nights, his days, moves with him to one goal,
Stays all the fair young planet in her hands--
If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,
How shall men grow? but work no more alone!
Our place is much: as far as in us lies
We two will serve them both in aiding her--
Will clear away the parasitic forms
That seem to keep her up but drag her down--
Will leave her space to burgeon out of all
Within her--let her make herself her own
To give or keep, to live and learn and be
All that not harms distinctive womanhood.
For woman is not undevelopt man,
But diverse: could we make her as the man,
Sweet Love were slain: his dearest bond is this,
Not like to like, but like in difference.
Yet in the long years liker must they grow;
The man be more of woman, she of man;
He gain in sweetness and in moral height,
Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world;
She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care,
Nor lose the childlike in the larger mind;
Till at the last she set herself to man,
Like perfect music unto noble words;
And so these twain, upon the skirts of Time,
Sit side by side, full-summed in all their powers,
Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be,
Self-reverent each and reverencing each,
Distinct in individualities,
But like each other even as those who love.
Then comes the statelier Eden back to men:
Then reign the world's great bridals, chaste and calm:
Then springs the crowning race of humankind.
May these things be!'
Sighing she spoke 'I fear
They will not.'
'Dear, but let us type them now
In our own lives, and this proud watchword rest
Of equal; seeing either sex alone
Is half itself, and in true marriage lies
Nor equal, nor unequal: each fulfils
Defect in each, and always thought in thought,
Purpose in purpose, will in will, they grow,
The single pure and perfect animal,
The two-celled heart beating, with one full stroke,
Life.'
And again sighing she spoke: 'A dream
That once was mind! what woman taught you this?'

Notes from Church campout

Here's my first post here in a long time... this Sunday my family and I went to the HoFCC church campout at Metzler park somewhere down by Molalla. It's an hour and a half drive and it was hard to sleep in the van. Anyway, Nathan Garvey preached from the story of how Absalom met his death at the hand of Joab and his men in 2 Sam. 19.

Nathan focused on the consistent pride and arrogance of both Absalom and Joab.

"Pride is rebellion against, and unbelief in, God's sovereign will.
Humility is obedience to, and trust in, God's sovereign will."

"Until we understand the effect and consequences of our pride, we'll never understand the value and significance of the cross."

Books I've added to my library recently:

Ibsen, Henrik. Four Major Plays
Cawley, A.C. (ed.) Everyman and Medieval Miracle Plays
Willey, Basil. The Seventeenth Century Background
Albee, Ernest. A History of English Utilitarianism
O'Neill, Eugene. The Later Plays of Eugene O'Neill
Smith, Henry Nash. Virgin Land: the American West as symbol and myth
Marlow, Christopher. The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus
Bunyan, John. The Pilgrim's Progress

Latest theological reading:

John Calvin, Institutes 3.19 "Christian liberty"
Institutes 4.13 "Vows"

Martin Luther, "Introduction to Romans"
Treatise on Christian Liberty

Futility

Psalm 78 has a terrible warning. Speaking of the Hebrews in the desert of Zin, it says,

32 In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

33 So he ended their days in futility
and their years in .

Futile days pass when no great purpose commands them. The years they constitute are terrifying when they are ended and nothing left but God's wrath. Save me from them. Remove the back-brace of unbelief.

Genesis 16 - Hagar

Since returning from Journey to the Heart in early April, I have had a project. The project is to scrawl out the "book of the Law" (Genesis through Deuteronomy) in composition notebooks. Today's chapter was Genesis 16, about Sarai's maidservant Hagar, whom she gave to Abram to produce a child, since God had closed up Sarai's womb.

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."

Abram was the man who believed God's promise of a son from his own body, so that God credited his faith as righteousness, in chapter 15. He, at age 85, went along with the idea.

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

Hagar got 'uppity' around Sarai, because even though her was to build a family though her son, Sarai herself would be the last of her line, supplanted by Hagar.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her . 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."

6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

So Hagar fled. I don't know what Sarai wanted (except a child), but she is ruining one thing after another.

7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my Sarai," she answered.

9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."

One question has been rolling around in my brain like a rock since dinner-time: Why did God have pity on Hagar?

You might say God was showing his kindness and faithfulness to Abram's descendants (Ishmael). But it shows me that God is not a petty tribal deity in the book of Genesis. He takes note of the helpless everywhere, and -- reveals himself. Does he always? I don't know, because I only have my own experience and what's recorded in the Bible. God must somehow show his glorious attributes in everything he does, and the helpless should know that he is their shield.

He was a shield for Hagar, even though she was an Egyptian slave woman. He was a shield for Job, who lived in the land of Uz. He was worshiped by Melchizedek, king of Salem, and by Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. There was nothing even special about Abram: he came from the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).

So does God still love the Arabs (Ishmaelites)? Yes, God still loves the Arabs.


Question 2: Why did the angel tell Hagar to go back to Sarai?

Bringing her back under authority, even a cross old lady, was part of God's mercy.


Here's the rest of the angel's message.

11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael, ^[a]
for the LORD has heard of your misery.

12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward ^[b] all his brothers."

I don't get what's so desirable about being a wild donkey. Maybe it ensures that, like Esau, you won't stay under anyone's domination. (By the way, Ishmael means 'God hears'.)

I like the next part especially.

13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen ^[c] the One who sees me." 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi ^[d] ; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

P.S.

15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Constant love needs an eternal end

Nehemiah 9:32-33

"Now therefore, O our God, the great, mighty and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love, do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes--the hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings and leaders, upon our priests and prophets, upon our fathers and all your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today. In all that has happened to us, you have been just; you have acted faithfully, while we did wrong."

Eliz. Barret Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love's sake only. Do not say

I love her for her smile--her look--her way

Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought

A sense of ease on such a day

--

For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may

Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought,

May be unwrought so. Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheek dry,--

A creature might forget to weep, who bore

Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

But love me for love's sake, that evermore

Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

We love because He first loved us

Elizabeth Barret Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese XII

Indeed this very love which is my boast,

And which, when rising up from breast to brow,

Doth crown me with ruby large enow

To draw men's eyes and prove the inner cost,--

This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,

I should not love withal, unless that thou

Hadst set me an example, shown me how,

When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,

And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak

Of love even, as good thing of my own:

Thy soul hath sn@tched up mine all faint and weak,

And placed it by thee on a golden throne,--

And that I love (O soul, we must be meek--)

Is by thee only, whom I love alone.

Copper price graphs

Graphics:

From London Metals Exchange website, http://www.lme.co.uk/dataprices_pricegraphs.asp

Price graph with values: copper, Jan. 1 2001-Nov. 21 2006, 3 months buyer contract.

Price graph with values: copper, Jan. 1-Nov. 21 2006, 3 months buyer contract.

Copper 3-months buyer contracts on LME

Current reading

Right now I'm reading:

Reclaiming Surrendered Ground by Jim Logan

The New Testament (last read 1 Thess.)

I pray that out of his glorious riches, He may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19

This morning I go in for my CLA exam. Two ninety-minute tests today, and three tests tomorrow. If you read this, pray that I will be calm during the tests, and remember the important things, and manage time well. Today's tests are partly composed of hand-written essays (legal memoranda), which are a great challenge. But why should I worry? It's for my good, whether I pass or not.

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Distant friendship and internet discourse

I've been intrigued by the Rebelution's new post about cell phone use and misuse, since I can speak philosophically from much experience with related subjects. I commented thus:

In one way, ubiquitous cell phone use decreases responsible independency: if you're always asking someone else's opinion, you won't make judgment calls on your own.

I don't use a cell phone, although my parents do. I've never had txting; I ran the IM run-around the last year I did debate, mostly to communicate with my partner who lived too far away to visit often. It became addicting, and I'm glad to leave it alone (as I'm sure you are too, Brett). Lonely people use IM like they do email to look for affirmation and companionship; they don't really want to give it unless it is necessary for the above goal, or to imitate the manners of others. The other time I've used it was when I spent a month teaching English in China, and welcomed real-time conversations with someone familiar (my family and a couple friends).

Forums (or should it be fora?) are useful when limited by subject matter. HSD is fine while you are competing in the league, as long as you keep a Christian spirit. To incessantly te controversy corners turns is a distortion of the perspective of the original forum... which was to facilitate preparation for speaking, not an end in itself.

However, the main danger of discoursing with unbelievers (or those like them) on matters of moral significance is not that you will assimilate ungodly ideas, although that does happen. The first and main danger is of tracing ungodly patterns of speech and heart. The ideas can be resisted by willpower and bullying. The attitudes are created by willpower and bullying. You can't win as long as these are your constant companions. The same thing goes for friends met in other conTEXTs. "...[Y]ou may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared." (Prov. 22:25)

Other purposes for communication make online messaging useful. My dad uses a Cabinet Makers Association forum to exchange tips for woodworking.

The advantage of letter-writing comes from having more time to think of what to say, learning to ask important questions, anticipating needs, and putting more thought into the words.
Read the diary of John Quincy Adams and the letters among his family while he was in his teens.

Email loops, in my experience, are more on point than forums or chat rooms, because they preserve the letter-writing form rather than the tavern-style forum. This is at least partly because list participants don’t have a specific location to give the illusion of face-to-face colloquialism. Did I just liken an online forum to a tavern? A prettier comparison is the committee meeting or conference call, but the real prototype is the Socratic restroom graffiti dialogue (an ancient Mediterranean tradition).

An email list is also useful because it is subject-oriented. If you read Scott Turow’s autobiographical novel One L, you find Harvard Law School in the 1970s an extremely competitive environment. The only way for spoiled egos to gain recognition is by excelling at legal knowledge, so students give themselves heart and soul to extra research, outlines, and study groups.

In the same way, reading email from fellow enthusiasts of bird watching or Biblical Greek, cooking or cabinet making, literature or law, microbiology or Milton, Middle East or Middle Ages, mechanics or mathematics, monetary policy or music, will bring vitality to problems in that area of life. You will spend half an hour researching the deductibility of business expenses because someone asked about it. If the question were instead found in the back of your textbook, you would have guessed at it and flipped to the answer. Learning has a social element you can’t replace, which is why my distance-learning paralegal classmates and I started a Yahoo group.

Having friends to email only when I’m thinking on a certain topic is useful, but at the same time, it would be wrong to call someone a friend with whom I don’t share many good things of life. How can I meet an Internet friend’s needs when he is neglecting his family to talk with me? I would thus make the costliest friends those under my own roof with whom I do owe a duty of care. I’d then say befriend those in my neighborhood and church, where I know I can give to them physically as well as spiritually.

Social life has a learning element. Will you learn of good or ill? With fellow disciples of Jesus, discuss those interests that feed the spirit rather than the flesh. Also discuss those topics that will make you more valuable to your employer. Hobbies are wonderful when they involve family, as G.K. Chesterton points out in his Autobiography (ch. 2). The house should always be bigger on the inside than on the outside. But as Chesterton wrote also in Heretics (ch. 17),

What we really desire of any man conducting any business is that the full force of an ordinary man should be put into that particular study … We do not in the least wish that our particular law-suit should pour its energy into our barrister’s games with his children, or rides on his bicycle, or meditations on the morning star. But we do, as a matter of fact, desire that his games with his children, and his rides on his bicycle, and his meditations on the morning star should pour something of their energy into our law-suit.

A man’s love for God should pour out into his work as he serves an earthly master – or teacher. Thus, there is nothing better than for a man to find satisfaction in his life’s work. Side interests ought to make one more useful rather than less useful. Social life should contribute to both godliness and contentment, thereby producing great gain.

Countrysides I've visited

I've been to the United States, Mexico, and China.












create your own visited country map




These are the states I've visited. Most of them rolled by on a family road trip in 1997. We were homeless for five months.











create your own personalized map of the USA

Hymnody

Quit pounding sand over the puposelessness and worldliness of popular Christian music, and visit Christopher Alexander's blog Hymnody to learn standards of good music and the history of musical trends in Western Civilization and Christendom.

Coplas (Kingston Trio)

Yet another song from the Kingston Trio. This version of a Mexican courting song is absurdly entertaining to hear.

Coplas

Chile verde me pediste. Chile verde te dare.
Vama nos para la huer ta con al la te lo cortare.
(Tell them what it means then)
"You want green peppers?(Si!) I'll give you green peppers.
Come out to the garden." ("Coplas!")

Chorus:
Lai, lai, lai, lai, hum de lai, lai, lai, hum de lai, lai, lai,
lai. Lai, lai, lai, hum de lai, lai, lai, hum de lai, lai, lai

Dice que los de fu casa. Ninguno me puede ver.
Diles que no basta el agua que al cabo lahan do beber.
"Tell your parents not to muddy the water around us." ("Porque?")
"They may have to drink it soon!" ("Coplas!")

Chorus

La mula que yo mente la monto hoy mi compadre.
Eso a mi no me importa pues yo la mon te primero. ("Oivey!")
"Ah, so! You are surprised I speak your language.
You see, I was educated in your country… at U. C. R. A." ("Coplas!")

Chorus

La noche que me case. No pudde dormirme un rato.
Por estar toda la noche corriendos detras de un gato. (Meow!)
Me dejiste que fue un gato. Que entro por tu balcon.
Yo no visto gato prieto con sombrero y pantalon!
"On my wedding night, I did not sleep a wink. ("Porque?")I
spent the whole night chasing a cat that had come in over the balcony…. (Meow!)
wearing a sombrero and long pants!" ("Coplas!")

Desert Pete

This song was recorded in the late 1950s by folk revivalists the Kingston Trio. It is my favorite out of their "Greatest Hits v. 2", which me and my brother have listened to about ten times last week. "Desert Pete" might seem conducive to Kierkegaardian fideism, but is actually very close to reality. See, e.g., Elijah and the widow at Zarephath in 1 Kings 17. You can drink the last drop and lose your soul, or believe the gospel, give your life now and receive living water. Just leave a bottle for the next traveller to prime the pump. The well is not a mirage.

Desert Pete

I was travelin' west to Buckskin on my way to a cattle run,
'cross a little cactus desert under a hot blistering sun.
I was thirsty down to my toenails, stopped to rest me on a stump,
but I tell you I just couldn't believe it when I saw that water pump.

I took it to be a mirage at first. It'll fool a thirsty man.
Then I saw a note stuck in a bakin' powder can.
"This pump is old," the note began, "but she works. So give 'er a try.
I put a new sucker washer in 'er. You may find the leather dry.

Chorus:
You've got to prime the pump. You must have faith and believe.
You've got to give of yourself 'fore you're worthy to receive.
Drink all the water you can hold. Wash your face, cool your feet.
But leave the bottle full for others. Thank you kindly, Desert Pete.

Yeah, you'll have to prime the pump, work that handle like there's a fire.
Under that rock you'll find some water I left in a bitters jar.
Now there's just enough to prime it with, so don't you go drinkin' first.
You just pour it in and pump like mad, buddy, you'll quench your thirst.

Chorus

Well, I found that jar, and I tell you, nothin' was ever prettier to my eye
and I was tempted strong to drink it 'cause that pump looked mighty dry,
but the note went on, "Have faith, my friend, there's water down below.
You've got to give until you get. I'm the one who ought to know.

So I poured in the jar and started pumpin' and I heard a beautiful sound
of water bubblin' 'n' splashin' up out of that hole in the ground.
I took off my shoes and I drunk my fill of that cool refreshin' treat.
I thanked the Lord, and I thanked the pump, and I thanked old Desert Pete.

Chorus

You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band

If You're Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)

I remember down in Houston
We were puttin' on a show
When a cowboy in the back stood up and yelled, "Cotton-Eyed Joe"
He said, "We love what you're doin' boys don't get us wrong
There's just somethin' missin' in your song"

So we dusted off our boots and put our cowboy hats on straight
Them Texans raised the roof when Jeff opened up his case
You say y'all wanna two-step you say ya wanna doe-si-doe
Well, here's a fiddlin' song before we go

Chorus:
If you're gonna play in Texas,
You gotta have a fiddle in the band.
That lead guitar is hot, but not for "Lousiana Man".
So rosin up that bow for "Faded Love" and let's all dance.
If you're gonna play in Texas,
You gotta have a fiddle in the band.

Emanations of Beauty

Why does physical beauty affect the mind? Because it is an emanation of the spiritual excellence of Christ.

Jonathan Edwards, "EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST", 1723. Works of Jonathan Edwards Online, eds. Harry S. Stout, Kenneth P. Minkema, Caleb J.D. Maskell, 2005-. http://edwards.dev.oho.com/ref/9191/e/p/1

§108. EXCELLENCY OF CHRIST. When we behold a beautiful body, a lovely proportion, a beautiful harmony of features of face, delightful airs of countenance and voice, and sweet motion and gesture, we are charmed with it; not under the notion of a corporeal, but a mental beauty. For if there could be a statue that should have exactly the same, could be made to have the same sound, and have the same motions precisely, we should not be so delighted with it; we should not fall entirely in love with the image, if we knew certainly that it had no perception or understanding. The reason is, we are apt to look upon this agreeableness, these airs, to be emanations of perfections of the mind, and immediate effects of internal purity and sweetness. Especially it is so, when we love the person for the airs of voice, countenance and gesture; which have much greater power upon us, than barely colors and proportion of dimensions. And 'tis certainly because there is an analogy between such a countenance and such airs, and these and those excellencies of the mind-a sort of I know not what in them, that is agreeable and does consent with such mental perfections-so that we cannot think of such habitudes of mind without having an idea of them at the same time.

Nor can it be only from custom, for the same dispositions and actings of mind naturally beget such kind of airs of countenance and gesture; otherwise, they never would have come into custom. (I speak not here of the ceremonies of behavior, but of those simple and natural motions and airs.) So it appears, because the same habitudes and actings of mind do beget airs in general the same, amongst all nations in all ages.

And there is really likewise an analogy, or consent, between the beauty of the skies, trees, fields, flowers, etc. and spiritual excellencies; though the agreement be more hid and requires a more discerning, feeling mind to perceive it than the other. These have their airs too, as well as the body or countenance of man, which have a strange kind of agreement with such and such mental beauties. This makes it natural in such frames of mind to think of them, and fancy ourselves in the midst of them. Thus there seems to be love and complacency in flowers and bespangled meadows; this makes lovers delight so much in them. So there is a rejoicing in the green trees and fields, [and] majesty in thunder, beyond all other noises whatever.

Now we have shown [No. 104], that the Son of God created the world for this very end, to communicate himself in an image of his own excellency. He communicates himself properly only to spirits; and they only are capable of being proper images of his excellency, for they only are properly beings, as we have shown. Yet he communicates a sort of a shadow or glimpse of his excellencies to bodies, which (as we have shown) are but the shadows of being, and not real beings. He who by his immediate influence gives being every moment and by his Spirit actuates the world, because he inclines to communicate himself and his excellencies, doth doubtless communicate his excellency to bodies, as far as there is any consent or analogy. And though beauty of face and sweet airs in man are not always the effect of the corresponding excellencies of mind, yet the beauties of nature are really emanations, or shadows, of the excellencies of the Son of God.

So that when we are delighted with flowery meadows and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we only see the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ; when we behold the fragrant rose and lily, we see his love and purity. So the green trees and fields, and singing of birds, are the emanations of his infinite joy and benignity; the easiness and naturalness of trees and vines [are] shadows of his infinite beauty and loveliness; the crystal rivers and murmuring streams have the footsteps of his sweet grace and bounty. When we behold the light and brightness of the sun, the golden edges of an evening cloud, or the beauteous bow, we behold the adumbrations of his glory and goodness; and the blue skies, of his mildness and gentleness. There are also many things wherein we may behold his awful majesty: in the sun in his strength, in comets, in thunder, in the towering thunder clouds, in ragged rocks and the brows of mountains. That beauteous light with which the world is filled in a clear day, is a lively shadow of his spotless holiness and happiness, and delight in communicating himself.

And doubtless this is a reason that Christ is compared so often to those things and called by their names; as, the sun of righteousness, the morning star, the rose of Sharon and lily of the valleys, the apple tree amongst the trees of the wood, a bundle of myrrh, a roe, or a young hart. By this we may discover the beauty of many of those metaphors and similes, which to an unphilosophical person do seem so uncouth.

In like manner, when we behold the beauty of man's body in its perfection, we still see like emanations of Christ's divine perfections, although they do not always flow from the mental excellencies of the person that has them. But we see far the most proper image of the beauty of Christ, when we see beauty in the human soul.

Corol. 1. From hence 'tis evident that man is in a fallen state, that he has naturally scarcely anything of those sweet graces, which are an image of those which are in Christ; for no doubt, seeing that other creatures have an image of them according to their capacity, so all the rational and intelligent part of the world once had according to theirs.

Corol. 2. There will be a future state, wherein man will have [those graces] according to his capacity. How great a happiness will it be in heaven, for the saints to enjoy the society of each other! For if one may see so much of the loveliness of Christ in those things which are only shadows of being (with what joy are philosophers filled in beholding the aspectable world), how sweet will it be to behold the proper images and communications of Christ's excellencies in intelligent beings, having so much of the beauty of Christ upon them as Christians shall have in heaven. See No. 112.

Quotes from the '70s

Bona fide obligation of contracts

Strong, J. (maj. op.) Olcott v. Fond du Lac County, 83 U.S. 678, 690 (1872)
This court has always ruled that if a contract when made was valid under the constitution and laws of a State, as they had been previously expounded by its judicial tribunals, and as they were understood at the time, no subsequent action by the legislature or the judiciary will be regarded by this court as establishing its invalidity. Such a rule is based upon the highest principles of justice. Parties have a right to contract, and they do contract in view of the law as declared to them when their engagements are formed. Nothing can justify us in holding them to any other rule.

Limitations of a republican State

Miller, J. (maj. op.), Citizens' Saving & Loan Ass'n v. Topeka 87 U.S. 655, 662-63 (1874)
It must be conceded that there are such rights in every free government beyond the control of the State. A government which recognized no such rights, which held the lives, the liberty, and the property of its citizens subject at all times to the absolute disposition and unlimited control of even the most democratic depository of power, is after all but a despotism. It is true it is a despotism of the many, of the majority, if you choose to call it so, but it is none the less a despotism. It may well be doubted if a man is to hold all that he is accustomed to call his own, all in which he has placed his happiness, and the security of which is essential to that happiness, under the unlimited dominion of others, whether it is not wiser that this power should be exercised by one man than by many. The theory of our governments, State and National, is opposed to the deposit of unlimited power anywhere. The executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches of these governments are all of limited and defined powers.

There are limitations on such power which grow out of the essential nature of all free governments. Implied reservations of individual rights, without which the social compact could not exist, and which are respected by all governments entitled to the name. No court, for instance, would hesitate to declare void a statute which enacted that A. and B. who were husband and wife to each other should be so no longer, but that A. should thereafter be the husband of C., and B. the wife of D. Or which should enact that the homestead now owned by A. should no longer be his, but should henceforth be the property of B.

Tax for private use is theft

Miller, J. (op. cit.)
To lay with one hand the power of the government on the property of the citizen, and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuals to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes, is none the less a robbery because it is done under the forms of law and is called taxation. This is not legislation. It is a decree under legislative forms. Nor is it taxation.

Courts are not the guardians of unenumerated rights

Clifford, J. (diss. op.) Citizens' Saving & Loan Ass'n v. Topeka
Courts cannot nullify an act of the State legislature on the vague ground that they think it opposed to a general latent spirit supposed to pervade or underlie the constitution, where neither the terms nor the implications of the instrument disclose any such restriction. Such a power is denied to the courts, because to concede it would be to make the courts sovereign over both the constitution and the people, and convert the government into a judicial despotism.

Should history textbooks instill "a sense of pride"?

This L.A. Times commentary makes the grade.

PC textbooks full of skewed history

California has tinkered with the past in a foolish attempt to make students feel good about themselves.

By Diane Ravitch, DIANE RAVITCH is a historian of education at New York University, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn."
May 16, 2006

TWENTY YEARS AGO, I was invited by then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig to join a committee to revise California's history curriculum. Over 18 months, we produced a document that added more time for the study of American and world history and called for the teaching of the dramatic controversies that make historical study engaging and honest.

Immediately, however, a wide variety of religious, racial and ethnic groups demanded changes in the document to recognize and honor their history. Blacks, Jews, Native Americans, conservative Christians, Arabs, atheists, Armenians, Poles and others lined up to complain at public hearings about references to their groups.

What made their complaints powerful is that California, unlike any other state, has mandated by law since 1976 that instructional materials used in the schools must provide positive portrayals of specified groups.

When it comes to males and females, for instance, the Legislature decreed that "equal portrayal must be applied in every instance." That means, among other things, that an equal number of male and female characters must be depicted in "roles in which they are mentally and physically active, being creative, solving problems … " and that male and female characters in textbooks must show a "range of emotions (e.g. fear, anger, tenderness.)"

California's textbooks and other materials must instill a "sense of pride" in students' heritages and may not include "adverse reflection" on any group. Cultural or lifestyle differences may not be portrayed as "undesirable." Members of minority groups must be shown "in the same range of socioeconomic settings" as those in the majority.

And it's not just gender and ethnicity that is "protected." Older people, people with disabilities and people who pursue various occupations have been written into the law.

So it's not surprising that in recent months gays and lesbians have stepped forward to demand a place at the state's capacious table. They too want their roles to be portrayed positively in textbooks purchased by the state. And frankly, they've got a point. In view of the state's broad inclusion of every other group in its list of those deserving such treatment, the state has no principled reason to exclude any new claimant.

Just a few months ago, Hindu organizations appeared before the state Board of Education complaining that they were offended by references to their religion in the history textbooks — including descriptions of the caste system and depictions of the treatment of women (one group wanted a reference to the fact that women had "fewer" rights in ancient India changed to say that women had "different" rights). Even though scholars insisted that the historical references were accurate, the organizations objected that their religion had been subjected to an "adverse reflection."

Because of its social-content guidelines, California will never see an end to these rancorous debates about who wins recognition in the textbooks. And each time, whatever California decides will have a huge effect. Because California contains nearly 12% of U.S. school enrollment, every major textbook publisher tailors its products to meet the state's specifications and then sells that product in other states.

It is time to recognize that the problem is not the nature of the group demanding inclusion, but the fact that the state has arrogated the power to dictate how textbooks should be written.

The state's social-content guidelines should be abolished. They put the state Board of Education into the absurd position of deciding which facts are historically accurate and which should be included or excluded, a responsibility for which it is manifestly unqualified. The guidelines are an open invitation to interest groups to politicize textbooks.

Telling publishers that their books must instill pride only guarantees a phony version of feel-good history. Publishers, as a result, bend over backward to be positive, whether writing about the genocidal reign of Mao Tse-tung (presumably to avoid offending his admirers) or the unequal treatment of women in Islamic societies (to avoid offending Muslims).

Certainly, textbooks should accurately portray society in all its complexity. But to impose contemporary political requirements on how the events are portrayed only ensures that the history we teach our students is inaccurate and dishonest. History books have already grown larger and duller to accommodate every group's demands.

What the state should expect of publishers is that they produce books that are as honest and accurate as possible. Such narratives would be far likelier to instill humility, a recognition of human folly, an understanding of conflict and differences and a sense of our common humanity rather than a sense of pride.