Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Liberty

'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower
Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume;
And we are weeds without it.  All constraint
Except what wisdom lays on evil men,
Is evil; hurts the faculties, impedes
Their progress in the road of science; blinds
The eyesight of discovery; and begets,
In those that suffer it, a sordid mind
Bestial, a meagre intellect, unfit
To be the tenent of noble man's form.
- William Cowper Compendium p.741

May we think of freedom, not as the right to do what we please, but as the opportunity to do what is right.   -Peter Marshall

1 comment:

EJN said...

The flower that fades is not because of the water of liberty but because of the rotten soil of enmity. Mans internal rebellion and outward acts of defiant obstinacy shriveled the flower that once bloomed so upright. The water of liberty has been restored to us by way of fount in-which He says take and drink.
Love Me!