The Didache (The Teaching) 2nd Revision

[Luke_Wilbur]

Introduction
 
"Son, if you look for the good you will find it. If you look for the bad you will find it too." This was the first moral teaching given to me by my father when I was just a boy. I have found focusing on the good has brought me comfort in troubled times. Learning the truth of good and bad starts with life experiences with family (mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, guardians etc..) friends, classmates, teachers (pastors, priests, rabbis, professors, councilors, etc), and adversaries. Truth can be further shaped with the knowledge gained from media (social platforms, news programs, radio, phone, cinema, books, etc.). In this age of coexisting rationalities between Science Theory and Spiritual Faith it can be difficult Discerning (Inferring) the Truth that comes from a Creator, or a Creative Force of Nature and other transformative ideas shared by individuals throughout our existence.  It is Self Evident that We the People were given perceptive eyes and a conscious mind to experience this very moment of what I have written and what you have are reading. It is my hope that this Connection will last as long as our memory endures and influences others to focus on the good and find Happiness.

In science, Happiness (Hedonia) depends on eliminating negative “pain and displeasure” emotions to free one self to pursue, engage, and find meaning in fundamental pleasures (food, sex) of the body that can overlap with higher-order pleasures (monetary, artistic, musical, altruistic, and transcendent pleasures) of the mind. Each one of us has a Sense (Cognitive Awareness) of the abstract concept of Happiness. And we are able to learn to apply actions based on a past experiences of pleasure in our surroundings and internally that brought us happiness to new situations.

The Objective of this essay is to give you accurate information on how to construct a healthy mental framework (thought process) based on positive moments of connection through instruction and shared enjoyment with others. I have chosen to select writings designed to stimulate and strengthen the brain's neuronal pathways as well as create new ones that light the way to finding true happiness. We all have the opportunity to experience a sense of inner peace, if there is a desire (inclination) and patience to recognize the value of it. It is my endeavor to share to the Wisdom I have gained through life experiences to solve present problems and help map a conscious Well-Being framework for future generations to access.

It is my opinion, that Consciousness is relative to our capacity to integrate information we perceive subjectively and objectively to the surroundings around us. We are all given personal freedom of Conscious to Believe that the existence of Time, Laws and Declarations are the Design of a Supernatural Creator, a Creative Force of Nature, or a mere ‘Accidental’ Truth. There are those that purpose we are all  just Avatars in a Mental Simulation. Some think everything is a mechanism of a Perfect Pattern generated by random chance. 

I hope to strip away current bias of belief and unbelief in our quest for truth to what better formulate what Happiness means by presenting testimony and definitions to you.   We will journey past the darkness of ignorance of mere opinion or guess work thinking and journey across disciplines of knowledge to assess justified reasons for spiritual illumination known as True Belief. We will search through the Ages for Wisdom of Theologians, Rabbis, Professors, Philosophers, and sacred text, oral testimony that our existence is nurtured by Transcendence, Enlightenment, Grace, and Desire of Human Beings to share stories. 

I have an idea! Take a minute and focus on the word HAPPINESS. Now put a smile on your face and meditate on nothing, but what you believe HAPPINESS to be. Do this as long as you feel that it is comfortable. Now close your eyes and focus on Happiness.

Take a break from reading and connect with a loved one or friend that is easy to talk to.  

I will leave the light on for you.

Welcome back. Do you have a better idea on what Happiness is? 

In approximately one-twentieth of a second the words you have been are attentively reading are being experienced and internally processed while other thought streams (trains of thought) are simultaneously processing time you have chosen to see and perceive. Many time memory cells make a home in your mind through a sensory register process (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Time memory cells can connect with similar cells to proliferate (multiply) a dramatic experience through a concept of time. 

For me the phrase,  "I will leave the light on for you" has a nostalgic tie to when I was young, and my parents would leave the front porch light on when I came home late at night. That episodic memory still puts a smile on my face and like many Americans connected with the advertisement slogans like the nostalgic Motel 6, "We will leave the light on for you."

Our ability to recall episodes shows and advertisement slogans have purpose. Episodic memories are formed by physical, internal contained information, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle circadian rhythms.  These natural rhythm processes respond primarily to our light/dark, sleep/awake process, and also cell oscillations manifesting as marked changes in memory acquisition and recall of previously encoded events and connected emotions that are stored in the brain.

Recreating the context that brought you Happiness will improve your memory performance of the associated emotion.  Observing my parents, I learned early on the joy of having someone give support and guidance with life decisions.  My parents only incentive was to see me happy and healthy. Their only reward was to see a smile on my face and gratitude for guidance.   An example, would be the context for the happy memory "I will leave the light on for you."  becomes incorporated with the associations and thus the path of retrieval, facilitating recall of other happy memories that had a similar context, which includes marketing slogans.  Watching people helping others in need makes me happy. The associative memory cells (neurons) of watching people helping others triggers an emotional response of happiness that gets strengthened through a process called consolidation.  In this process the labile state (Short Term Memory) of your experience is transformed into a more stable state (Long Term Memory) effect during deep sleep and meditation. Try not to immediately engage in attention-demanding tasks after learning. This impairs the consolidation of previously learned information. The memory of Happiness becomes a gift to our conscious that is not easily forgotten.

At this moment I want you to recall that fond memory of someone helping you and associate it with the concept that LOVE BRINGS HAPPINESS THROUGH THE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE OF OTHERS.

Constructing a healthy mental framework requires that we identify and then reconstruct the context of Misery (negative memories) by learning how to overcome any negative experience that is uneasy, uncomfortable, unpleasant, and or difficult with understanding Happiness. Our mental construct of Love will adapt to a world where Nature competes with a digital universe of mixed media for our time memory. We will access and engage with present and past thinkers who will give greater understanding of my self, your self, and others, and the world we live in through information literacy and science. This essay designed to make your mental framework come alive and diffuse negative events that cause worry, panic, sadness and bad habits to rise. 

The first step to changing context is to accept that certain events in life will not go your way. You need to understand yourself as interwoven with the the world outside of you that may at times cause both Joy and Misery. Though meditation (prayer) and education, one can learn to identify and negate destructive reactive behaviors connected with a particular negative memory. Traumatic negative memories and habits may be challenging and take more time overcome depending on the severity of the event or series of events which caused stress, fear, anger, and harm.  I personally have been working breaking away the bad habit of repeating the same mistakes again.  A habit is a behavior pattern of actions that bring a recognized memory and an associated emotion that is repeated both consciously and subconsciously. We should all want to identify and remove bad habits that bring us Misery and make a concerted (mutual) effort to replace bad habits with good habits that bring us joy. Our understanding of what is a healthy mental framework should be connecting with individuals social and organizational ethical frameworks that compliment a mutual Pursuit of Happiness.

Take a minute. And focus on the word CONNECTION. Now put a smile on your face and meditate on nothing, but what you believe CONNECTION to be. Do this as long as you feel that it is comfortable. Now close your eyes and focus on Connection that brings Happiness.

Take a break from reading and share happy thoughts with a loved one or friend that is easy to talk to.

Welcome back. Do you have a better idea on what Connection is? 

For Humanist, Love can be a Radiant (Aura) of Connection (Mutual Memory) experienced according to the dictates of individual conscious.

"We are family. Get up everybody and sing."

This timeless song by Sister Sledge shares an amazing message for parents and siblings connecting together in one Spirit of love and faith in each other.

"We have Spirit, yes we do, we've got Spirit, how about you?"

In Sports competition, the home-team advantage stems from a supportive home crowd that is connected to players. Spirit is defined as a collective belief in an animating force (pervading truth) of principles that keep our nation alive and unchanged in an evolving future.

Speech of Patrick Henry - June 5, 1788

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Where is the danger? If, Sir, there was any, I would recur to the American spirit to defend us;--- that spirit which has enabled us to surmount the greatest difficulties: To that illustrious spirit I address my most fervent prayer, to prevent our adopting a system destructive to liberty. 

The American Spirit is defined as a collective belief in an animating force (pervading truth) of principles that keep our nation alive and unchanged in an evolving future.

Many people like myself believe Love to be an invisible power connection with the Creator (God, Great Architect, Holy Spirit) of everything we perceive.

It is my opinion, that is possible to bridge understanding between Humanist (Materialist) and the Theist (Spiritualist) through a broad definition of the Universal Spirit of Love, meaning being in the presence and connecting with one Divine Conscious or many kindred Spirits (soul mates, manifestations) that share the same belief, cause, and/or ideal.  The wisdom of the Universal Spirit gives our heads (rational actions) and hearts (emotional actions) a way of becoming free (no attachment) of Misery (guilt, shame, persecution, torment, trauma). It is through the teachings of Love that the Universal Spirit can undo and vanquish the bad actions associated with Misery.

Take a minute. And focus on the word SPIRIT and do nothing, but breath. Now put a smile on your face and meditate on nothing, but what you believe SPIRIT to be. Do this as long as you feel that it is comfortable. Now close your eyes and focus on Connecting with a Universal Spirit that brings you Happiness.

Take a break from reading and connect with a loved one or friend that is easy to talk to.

Welcome back. Do you have a better idea on what Universal Spirit is? 

Representatives of the Thirteen original colonies wrote and passed through word of mouth tradition, that through it was through sheer will and power the our  Great Universal Spirit endowed humanity with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness as defined in the Declaration of Independence. I ask you the reader to temporarily suspend your preconception or disbelief on whether or not a Creative Force of Nature exists or how an Apostolic teaching can give understanding on how the choice of our actions can lead to Life and Happiness or Death and Misery.

Important life experiences proliferate our memory cells to help stabilize an unique emotional well being.  This is similar to data memory in computers. A close analogy would be that Artificial Intelligence is able perceive the environment, engage in decision making of whether to accumulate or discard in moments of time memory.  We store, edit, and delete information on our personal computer all the time.  Other memory cells get discarded for various reasons. 

To understand my reasoning on the topic of LOVE it is important to that I give you the reader background on the concepts of truth, virtue and the opportunity for happiness. I will be introducing and organizing relevant subject material (data) that establishes a frame of reference relating to systematic chains of thought that accurately explain the noumenon (concept) known as Virtue (Good Conduct) and how it relates to Love. It is my intention to guide you to the benefit of building strong character traits of respect and love for others without being to verbose, which might be not possible.  

In humility, I hope my essay to be an addendum to Jefferson's "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" (also known as the Jefferson Bible) and George Washington's "Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior" to best present the moral truth found in the Didache of the 12 Apostles and other works of Wisdom.  In hope of sharing my personal Happiness, I claim the right to poetic license and layout design when it comes to the Emphasis of my thoughts and feelings in defining this idea. I will cite all my work with hyper text links to support a maxim (theory).

Like Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior it is my first premise that there is a fraternal order of a true beliefs and customs that are self-evident (obvious, eternal) to finding Happiness and virtuous people of good character. We can understand the fragility of life to be self-evident. But, understanding a worthy purpose and value is unclear for many. And we must must be on guard to discern those individuals and media that attempt to dissuade us from the pursuit of true Happiness.

The focus this study on discovering Happiness is searching for true wisdom instruction on how to obtain it.  To get started on this endeavor; We must commit ourselves to NOT dishonor every gift of Wisdom that we accept as Truth. And knowing the Wisdom of Happiness is different from actually living it.  Once good advise has been found, I have tried to honor this achievement in gratitude by inspiring others to discover and share its Usefulness and practice it in daily life. Teachers in fields in education can appreciate the benefit of positive reinforcement.  An honest Social Engineer (Constitutional Framer, Lawyer) would see the benefits of a mentally happy community (society) that share the same understanding values. Those of faith would discern this as a method to reinforce the Dynamic (Generation) of Goodwill (Honor). I believe it is self evident that there is no downside to staying upbeat with positive thinking.

In this essay we will explore the mechanisms to create positive neuroplasticity (physical change to the brain) and socioplasticity (cultural change to a society) that should be studied for its benefits to the happiness of our human condition. In addition, we will look at the ability to adaptively change the expression of our social behavior (cognitive mechanisms) according to experience we have in understanding the beliefs and intentions of others. This can be done by identifying social constructs of conduct that have been created and accepted by people throughout history. In the Age of Enlightenment the United States Declaration of Independence  “the pursuit of happiness” was understood to be both a public duty and a private right by which society is governed through principles of law.

I am using President Thomas Jefferson's syllabus method used in his book "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" as a starting point to best present the historical evolution of good and bad conduct. Jefferson's book was made made by cutting out gospel wisdom passages of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject that he thought best to present the philosophical teachings of Jesus without the supernatural attention to showcase a well reasoned path to happiness in the world we live in and the hereafter.

Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson, 9 January 1816

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I too have made a wee little book, from the same materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus. it is a paradigma (theoretical opinion) of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book, and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject a more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen. 

President John Adams understood the magnitude of Jefferson's work to be separating Jesus from the Divine to Jesus the Philosopher.

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 14 November 1813

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I admire your Employment, in Selecting the Philosophy and Divinity of Jesus and Separating it from all intermixtures. If I had Eyes and Nerves, I would go through both Testaments and mark all that I understand. To examine the Mishna Gemara Cabbala Jezirah, Sohar Cosri and Talmud of the Hebrews would require the life of Methuselah, and after all, his 969 years would be wasted to very little purpose.

I will follow Jefferson's same syllabus method by adapting the modern technology of copying, cutting, and pasting a reasoned comparison of the Didache's text line by line with my life experiences, media and the Holy Word (Scripture) given by a supernatural Creative Force of Nature that has been witnessed and testified by the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. In addition, I will include other faiths, philosophy, and natural science in context to critically research a particular social teaching.

I have chosen to research based on an outline of the Didache of the 12 Apostles, because the text is honored as the 'first catechism' (articles of faith) of the Christian church.  The Didache (dee-da-ke, Greek word for teaching) of the 12 Apostles is a timeless moral compass that identifies selfless positive actions that lead to life and prosperity and negative selfish actions that lead to death and destruction. For nonChristians the Didache is a code of conduct without references to angels, prophecy and miracles. The principles of right living by the golden rule apply to everyone regardless of culture or creed. For those in Behavior Sciences and religious naturalist the Didache is a good window to understanding the evolution of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic social morality. Congruent (in harmony) to the Laws give to the Israelites through Moses, the Didache is an instruction manual that defines how to be righteous (law abiding) Christians. Over time the original Didache was replaced with revised teachings that brought about new catechisms, church schisms, reformations, and the birth of Arianism, Islam, Protestantism, Mormonism and Unitarianism. We will then contrast the Didache's principles of good conduct with British philosopher John Locke social contract theory of civil government that greatly influenced American political thought. 

My first premise is the path (mechanism) to finding Happiness is to understand, accept and develop a Cognitive Behavior (Conduct) Appetite (Desire) to being Good (Virtuous). I find optimizing Behavior to be similar to understanding the human body by developing a healthy lifestyle. Through repetition one habits will change to clear Vision (Memory, thought) of what past actions and testimonies (teachings) by others brought a true or false Sense (Cognitive Awareness) of Happiness. The first form of repetition you can share the wisdom of Hope by sharing the story (memory) how someone helped you find Optimism on your future. It is clear from my experience that people that practice goodwill live longer, happier, healthier lives.

My second premise is to understand and distinguish the balance of our desire and memory of Pleasure (Release) and Serenity (Tranquility, Peace)  with a clear vision of Virtue in our pursuit of Joy.  Throughout this essay I plan to prove that it is Virtue (Honor) that provides us the ability to be aware of a higher form of happiness than a temporary pleasurable moments to our physical Appetites (Cravings). By being Mindful (focusing) on knowledge learned on how to optimize our natural Moral Instinct (Sense, Personality Trait) to love others will bring greater happiness over our Desire (Passion, Inclination, Physical Instinct) of of temporary sensual pleasures.  It is also my position that Nature has given our brain the ability to express any form of Virtue or Pleasure( Survival (Necessity) requires. Both forms create a psychological loops, Virtue develops inner regulation of calmness and peace, Pleasure is outer sensory physical release.

My third premise that to obtain this Virtue one must learn to develop the ability to discern (reason) what actions (decisions, paths) are deemed good that bring Happiness and the bad actions that bring Misery.  It is up each one of us to choose the right path to take and face the outcome of our decision. The achievements and failures we make in life teach us the contrast of Happiness to Misery. For me, Happiness like being comfortably cool floating in clear water with a slight. And Misery is experiencing the agony of sweat boiling from hot stagnant humidity. In time, the repetition of Good (Virtuous) actions that have brought us happiness will develop into automatic habits that are done without intentional thinking. Through practice one can develop a moral sense of Joy by developing a Habit (force of will) doing good (virtuous) actions without the expectation or need to constrain the reward of pleasure. In the Hebrew Scriptures Proverbs 11: 24 One person is generous and yet grows more wealthy, but another withholds more than he should and comes to poverty.

To pursue the Truth of Happiness we must aspire to find those unique individuals we universally respect as role models (mentors) and take seriously their wisdom given that leads us away from the darkness of despair to the light of happiness. The function of a good mentor is to evaluate (judge) our mental and emotional wellbeing and to provide explicit and implicit lessons related to development of a conscious controlled balance of maintaining happiness in work and personal life. It is of equal importance to be able to connect our internal understandings of Happiness to the position to a particular role model's moral foundation. 'Practice what you preach!' is common feeling of betrayal when an mentor is caught not following the values that are being taught. We have to remember that even the best of us are only human and stumble from time to time. I know that I have made plenty of mistakes in my life. But, the wisdom that I have learned from flawed mentors like myself has been profound. One lesson I have learned is that Forgiveness (Mercy) is one of the most beautiful acts one can do to obtain happiness. In today's cancel culture forgiveness has become a rarely used function of modern communication. It is my opinion, mercy and a mutual willingness to work together through positive and negative experiences are determining factors on the outcome of finding true joy. 

The essay will also discuss how to be on guard against individuals that have a negative moral character that ruthlessly pursue their own interests, even when it negatively affects others (or even for the sake of it), while having beliefs that justify these behaviors. Psychologists understand the term 'dark traits' to include negative personality features that are linked to not giving aid to individuals in need. In psychology, the dark quintet comprises the personality traits of egoism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, sadism, spitefulness.  People with these traits tend to be callous and manipulative, willing to do or say practically anything to get their way. They have an inflated view of themselves and are often shameless about self-promotion. These individuals are likely to be impulsive and may engage in dangerous behavior—in some cases, even committing crimes—without any regard for how their actions affect others.

On my life path to happiness I have had the pleasure and honor of encountering happy mentors that have the ability to dissipate any negative feelings with their welcoming presence and positive influence.  Through keen observation these happy individuals have trained (neuro hacked) their minds to consciously Discern (Judge) what is negative and be in harmony with the positive. Through Force of Will (Will Force, Thought Force) they are able to induce (manifest) an aura (good actions, vibrations, energy) love (goodwill) and joy to the environment (people, animals, plants) around them.

I have also met persuasive mentors who can confidently look me in the eyes, while asking my interests and what will truly bring happiness (fulfillment) to my life. Through experience I have witnessed the keen ability of these individuals to predict a likely outcome based on my given response.  Some predictions by these individual were so powerful that I perceived as true and like grace (magic) that they began to initiate a self-fulfilling prophecy to me in a particular moment of uncertainty.  Interacting with these mentors can become a compelling activity for susceptive (vulnerable) people going through life transitions (new job, relocating, ending relationships, children leaving home, medical condition, death). 

In similar manner I have experienced authoritarian mentors that have the power to dictate and control both the decisions and actions I made in daily life. Through repetitive emotional conditioning a drillmaster (taskmaster, disciplinarian) has an Alpha (Dominant) Will power that totally breaks down individuality and bias experienced living in everyday in mainstream culture.  One becomes inculcated (indoctrinate, remolded) to unhesitatingly obey and NOT discuss (question, deviate) from the desired behavior (manner). An authoritarian force of will can cause one to relinquish individual responsibility for actions taken and see behavior to be a consequence of group norms and expectations. At the same time we have to recognize that fear is one of the most basic human emotions programmed into the nervous system and works like an instinct. A good authoritarian mentor teaches you a good framework (form) to confront your worst fears. A bad authoritarian mentor searches for your deepest fears on how to manipulate you and give little actionable advice on how to find happiness.

From experience the first trait I look for in a Mentor is one that can remain Calm (Centered) with expressing their feelings and actions. And intentionally cultivates a positive learning environment that supports their method of instruction. Of particular interest is learning essential life skills such as responsible decision making and emotional regulation.  Both the mentor and student should share identifiable anxieties honestly, and wholeheartedly encourage seeking of wisdom in order to be able to properly cope with them. The Mentor may not condone certain beliefs or actions the student may have learned in life. But, they need to understand the path they coming from.  And one lesson is learning to avoid life mistakes the hard way.

As you become familiar with a mentor's idea on how to find Happiness you will be able to better formulate your own method to attain a path to happiness that lies within our individual circumstances. Just like finding a proper mentor you have the right to expect from this written essay the sincerity of my purpose in pursuing happiness and evaluation of the evidence supporting it. It is my endeavor for you the reader to objectively compare my thoughts of happiness and contrast it with the wisdom of others.

Understanding happiness can also emanate from produced media (written word, oral tradition, role play, audio podcast, video stream) wisdom and instruction given by wise individuals currently living or no longer dwelling (deceased) on this plane of existence. Finding good instruction on how to truly attain happiness can be a difficult task. The need to convey our feelings and thoughts to each other in the society has been felt from time immemorial. Faced with countless different Authors, how does a truth seeker know what to look at, let alone read?  I have found in good books the author's intent (purpose) should be made clear in the introduction. I propose that the truth to happiness is eternal and not relative to the period of time you live in. But, I also do believe that the definition of happiness does evolve and can be subject to the environment that surrounds it.

There are many subtle levels of meaning to understand 'What is Reality now and back in past?" Wisdom often is modified, distorted, and scribed into something different from it original meaning. The more accepted eye witnesses accounts to a particular author and the cultural environment around a particular point of time a revelation is revealed the clearer the message will be received. Modern Anthropology uses scientific theory, taxonomy, philosophy, history, and prehistorical evidence to contrast the increasing pace of cultural change of understanding to what is the reality of a particular wisdom writing in your time to that of mine and the past. In writing this essay I have spent many hours researching translations done in the native tongue or source language to get the best representation of ideas expressed in a particular wisdom and its development throughout history.

The way that this reality is known is through one's perceptions of it through a nuanced process with respect to revelation expression of any subject or event.  We know perceptions based on evidence from one or more of the five senses can derive from a distorted revelation. Van Gogh had a color vision deficiency that was displayed in the contrast of his paintings. Hellen Keller's loss of vision and hearing gave her a different understanding of what is 'inner light' her writing. Moses had a speech impediment so he used his brother's voice to speak with the Israelites. We must then focus on the mind of an author.

A young thirteen year old George Washington translated a maxim of conduct from the French book of Manners that one must respect all in Company and Conversation. The Father of the United States taught the Nation that Enlightenment (Understanding) was found through the etiquette of proper manners (behavior). I do my best to follow his advice in all my communication. His decorum of respect for others was followed throughout his life.  After explaining this to my 13 year old son Luke, he responded that understanding happiness takes practice doing what you believe to be good.

George Washington's Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior

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 Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect, to those that are present.

It is my hope to give the same Civil (Reasonable) courtesy and respect all the individuals that I mention in this discourse. In my experience Civility leads to rich human conversations, smiles, and laughter.

The importance of Respect for others was taught to me early on through televised communication. In the 1970s millions of American parents sat their girls and boys in front of the television to watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood on Public Broadcasting System (PBS).  Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. But, I did not know that when I was a kid. I just remember Mr. Rogers, as a kind gentleman that always wore a warm cardigan sweater and blue sneakers (boat shoes). Mr. Rogers was my first television neighbor who always welcomed me every morning with, "I'm glad we're together again." He taught children like myself to love everyone.  Fred Rogers understood the importance of Civility when meeting with other Neighbors, Associates, and any anyone we come in contact with; regardless of race, nationality, religion or other distinctions.

The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

We are All Neighbors - Page 61

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If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.

It is my belief that we all have to focus on Righteous individuals like Mr. Rogers that have an instinctive desire to preserve and improve all life. The value of Collective (Sharing) Wisdom from Righteous individuals is enormous; it inspires us; it warns us; it furnishes us with names, facts and scenes from collaborative storehouse of memory. It directs our thoughts, tastes, and accomplishes tasks so intricate that individually we do not have the capacity to obtain.

No one can be coerced to search for Happiness. But, through mutual respect and Social Contract (Declaration and Constitution) Society can advocate its Citizens to be healthy and do good in their Independent Pursuit (Liberty) of obtaining the Grace (Gift) of personal Joy.  Mr. Rogers did not force me to be mindful of others, rather he gently encouraged me to focus on my Ideal of Happiness and learn to understand its opposite. 

Fred Rogers masterfully taught me to idealize myself as a special person that had the power to influence the lives of everyone I meet with either happiness or misery. This ideal (fixed purpose) led me to begin visualizing what Happiness and Misery really is.

The Pursuit of Happiness

In our pursuit for the Truth of happiness I shall begin my essay with a quote from the United States Declaration of Independence adopted by The Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Behavior Science has taught me that learning comes through observation, imitation, and modelling individuals that appear happy and successful. Every time we learn something new our mirror neuron system (network of neurons located in frontal lobe of brain) becomes active and stores that episodic information, so in the future we can act accordingly.

 The first advice of of achieving happiness comes from a distinguished American gentleman that exemplified leadership, vision and civil (virtuous) conduct throughout his life. Our nation's first President, George Washington writes a letter to his elderly mother, giving practical advice on what is really important in life.  Washington's belief that implicit happiness is not a quantifiable object or equation lost in the world.  Rather, America's first President regarded happiness to be found if understood as an internal framework mechanism (attitude) within our conscious that controls the outcome of our thoughts. Any man that can convince and train battle weary soldiers to fight for the ideal of happiness gets a seat in my campfire as guest I value and trust.

From George Washington to Mary Ball Washington, 15 February 1787

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happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a person's own mind, than on the externals in the world. 

A Neuroscientist (neurobiologist) at this point may interject and state that Happiness is just an illusion of the mind, due to a flooding of the our brain's limbic reward regions (biocircuitry) with dopamine, a feel good neurotransmitter chemical that causes a decrease in frontal cortex regulation. When when we eat food that we crave or while we have sex our dopamine system is activated, we are more positive, excited and eager to go after goals or rewards, such as food, sex, money, education,  professional, family achievements, salvation.

A person of faith would look at happiness to be more than just a frontal cortex limitation (illusion) involving higher-order executive functions that maintain; our self-control, emotions, behavioral regulation, awareness, attention, memory, bias, associative learning, which results in a suspension (interception) in judgement (reason) that distorts our perception and future actions within a network of neurons (nerve cells) containing memories that remind us what to seek out and will be rewarded. I believe it is important for us to investigate the various brain states associated with happiness and the components that relate to well-being. And contrast these associations and components of happiness with those of desire. My focus will be group of nerve cells that function as control centers affecting happiness (peace, joy, sated) and desire (motivation, arousal, hunger).

Scientist theorize that Happiness as an emotion produced by a interaction between our internal (endogenic) metabolic substances and processes that originate from within the hypothalamus, a peanut sized structure deep inside the brain and external (exogenic) factors of that activate our attentional orienting system.  When you experience Joy, happiness  floods  your body  with  a  wave  of  endorphins

I remember in school as a student my teacher posed the question on which came first, the chicken or the egg? I see a similar case, on which comes first, Happiness or Desire? It is not clear which metaphoric adjective is the cause or effect to these stimuli. Is it Spiritual (Supernatural) or Biochemical perception and response to external (surrounding) world (environment, stimuli)? Or is it a mixture of both?

Is our Conscience result of Universal thought manifestations (Spirits) from a Cosmic Creator (Hashem, Allah, God) operating on a dimensional plane outside known Creation? Is the neural activity patterns of our Conscience attention orienting system supernaturally designed (developed, coded)to be intentionally influenced by supernatural manipulation of both space and time affecting our cognitive beliefs, attitudes, behavior involving faith practices, including prayer(meditation, contemplation) and nurtured learning.

Science theorizes our conscience to result of a neurochemical identification filtering process that involves not only the evolution of perception through Natural Selection, but through a Bioalgorithm underlying our sociocognitive beliefs, attitudes, or behavior involving intentional and unintentional influence of nature including meditation and nurtured learning.  If it is the latter, then we are the product of random chance design that has evolved over time to create an organism with stereotypic burst-firing neurons that involve voluntary (deliberate) and involuntary (unintentional)  influence to internal memory, perception, understanding and imagination? 

If our conscious a result chance of Natural Selection (Biological Determinism) , that our body creates awareness, then awareness is governed by physical laws and sociocognitive learning dies (ceases to exist) along with the body in one final dream. 

If our consciousness created by a supernatural Spirit, then whether our body is governed physical laws and our consciousness (awareness) experiences death is not clear. Further, I would our Conscious (Mind) is a experiential bridge between our measurable biochemical powered brain perception and our undetectable (unmeasurable) Spirit (soul, light) from an unknown system outside time and space. This experiential bridge has unique design synaptic (brain) thought pattern (configuration) of encoded neurons and synapses memories that are incompatible with biological determinism.

The concept of Happiness gives us hope beyond explicit reason. Testimonies of happiness have been shared in wisdom storytelling and spiritual writings (symbology) in cultures since the beginning of recorded time. Through the use of metaphors (symbols) and allegories (parables, tales) our mind can grasp invisible realities (imagination) of the unmeasurable Spirit by association with experiences we have encountered in our physical environment and nurtured learning of reality throughout our lifetime. As our physical and cultural sense grow, our Personal Story (Identity) our Point of View (Frame of Reference) of this world becomes more defined. 

Monotheists and Polytheists profess (believe) that the Frame of Reference to our physical and Spiritual existence is a result of the Glory and Wonder of the Great Spirit (Creator, God, Hashem, Allah, Brahma). The Conscious Mind of the Creator emanates (radiates) waves of light, energy and sound similar the Sun we see every day. The Creator emanates Thoughts (Angels, Pure Spirits, Constructs, Messengers) manifest themselves throughout our ever expanding Universe.

One thought manifestation is known by Christians to be the Spirit of Love. It is believed that the Fruit of the Spirit of Love (Happiness, Joy, Peace, Gentleness, Goodness) is bestowed (Graced) to individuals that Pursuit (Seek, Desire) as a result virtuous deeds to frame their mind to understand and accepting Wisdom (Truth) of this Eternal construct. 

Galatians 5

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22 ...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

Thomas Jefferson believed this it can be quite difficult to see distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior with just one self. Morality is to found by observing our duty to the rules agreed upon by a social contract made with fellow citizens. The imperfection of ego allows one to share false implicit ideas of what is good is a life of self gratification. Self love leads to putting ourselves over our duty to being civil with and at times endanger others. For this reason Jefferson considered that self love should not be defined as being either moral or virtuous. Our late president went further and affirmed that through instruction and discipline one could attain virtue. Jefferson believed the primal emotional pleasure of happiness originates from the realization that that is a natural instinct to love of others. And it is my premise that this love drives our instinct to help others escape the primal emotional pain of misery. But, it is our imperfection of senses that limit our ability to understand this instinct to love with temporary rewarding and pleasurable experiences our brains are wired to seek and enjoy that with excess can impede our pursuit of happiness.

Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 13 June 1814

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Self-interest, or rather Self love, or Egoism, has been more plausibly substituted as the basis of morality. But, I consider our relations with others as constituting the boundaries of morality. With ourselves we stand on the ground of identity, not of relation; which last, requiring two subjects, excludes self-love confined to a single one. To ourselves, in strict language, we can owe no duties, obligation requiring also two parties. Self-love therefore is no part of morality. Indeed it is exactly it’s counterpart. it is the sole antagonist of virtue (goodness), leading us constantly by our propensities (inclinations) to self-gratification in violation of our moral duties to others. 

...take from man his selfish propensities, and he can have nothing to seduce him from the practice of virtue. or subdue those propensities by education, instruction, or restraint, and virtue remains without a competitor. Egoism (self-interest), in a broader sense, has been thus presented as the source of moral action. it has been said that we feed the hungry, clothe the unclothed, bind up the wounds of the man beaten by thieves, pour oil and wine into them, set him on our own beast (horse, livestock), and bring him to the inn, because we recieve ourselves pleasure from these acts. so Helvetius, one of the best men on earth, and the most ingenious advocate of this principle, after defining ‘interest’ to mean, not merely that which is pecuniary (monetary), but whatever may procure us pleasure or withdraw us from pain, [de l’Esprit. 2. 1.] says [ib. 2. 2.] ‘the humane man is he to whom the sight of misfortune is insupportable and who, to rescue himself from this spectacle, is forced to succour (aid) the unfortunate object.’ this indeed is true. but it is one step short of the ultimate question. these good acts give us pleasure: but how happens it that they give us pleasure? because nature hath implanted in our breasts a love of others, a sense of duty to them, a moral instinct in short, which prompts us irresistibly to feel and to succour (assist) their distresses; and protests against the language of Helvetius [ib. 2. 5.] ‘what other motive than self interest could determine a man to generous actions? it is as impossible for him to love what is good for the sake of good, as to love evil for the sake of evil.’ the Creator would indeed have been a bungling artist, had he intended man for a social animal, without planting in him social dispositions. it is true they are not planted in every man; because there is no rule without exceptions: but it is false reasoning which converts exceptions into the general rule. some men are born without the organs of sight, or of hearing, or without hands. yet it would be wrong to say that man is born without these faculties: and sight, hearing and hands may with truth enter into the general definition of Man. the want or imperfection of the moral sense in some men, like the want or imperfection of the senses of sight and hearing in others, is no proof that it is a general characteristic of the species. when it is wanting we endeavor to supply the defect by education, by appeals to reason and calculation, by presenting to the being so unhappily conformed (adapted) other motives to do good, and to eschew (reject) evil; such as the love, or the hatred or rejection of those among whom he lives and whose society is necessary to his happiness, and even existence; demonstrations by sound calculation that honesty promotes interest in the long run; the rewards & penalties established by the laws; and ultimately the prospects of a future state of retribution for the evil as well as the good done while here. these are the correctives which are supplied by education, and which exercise the functions of the moralist, the preacher & legislator: and they lead into a course of correct action all those whose depravity is not too  profound to be eradicated. some have argued against the existence of a moral sense, by saying that if nature had given us such a sense, impelling us to virtuous actions, and warning us against those which are vicious, then nature must also have designated, by some particular ear-marks, the two sets of actions which are, in themselves, the one virtuous, and the other vicious: whereas we find in fact, that the same actions are deemed virtuous in one country, and vicious in another. the answer is that nature has constituted utility to man the standard & test of virtue. men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits, and regimens, may have different utilities. the same act therefore may be useful, and consequently virtuous, in one country, which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced. I sincerely then believe with you in the general existence of a moral instinct. I think it the brightest gem with which the human character is studded; and the want of it as more degrading than the most hideous of the bodily deformities. I am happy in reviewing the roll of associates in this principle which you present in your letter, some of which I had not before met with. to these might be added Ld Kaims, one of the ablest of our advocates, who goes so far as to say, in his Principles of Natural religion, that a man owes no duty to which he is not urged by some impulsive feeling. this is correct if referred to the standard of general feeling in the given case, and not to the feeling of a single individual. 

A Social Disposition can be a desirable or undesirable intentional pattern of behavior (character) that can include an intentional stance (belief) and/or action that may impact other individuals or the environment around them for the better or worse. Examples of desirable dispositions; resourcefulness, curiosity, persistence, honesty, empathy, leadership, integrity, and respect. Examples of undesirable dispositions, such as selfishness, impatience, and intolerance. It is my belief that these dispositions are developed through a habit of mind under both by conscious and unconscious suggestions observed from intentional and accidental events.

Jefferson wrote to his friend, the principal author of the United States Constitution, James Madison, on his view of proper education playing a key role in safeguarding National Liberty. All Americans should take the time to study the concept of Human Rights and illuminate problems encountered in protecting them. ALL PEOPLE should learn the religious, philosophical and social customs that have evolved and enabled the Framing a Social Contract that is significant to our lives. 

To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 20 December 1787

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Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of Liberty.

 

 

 

Before you start reading further, please take the time make yourself comfortable. Relaxation will open your mind to understanding the knowledge being shared to you. Reflect on a cherished memory of people you trust and love. I have many fond memories of vacationing around the country with my parents.

One reoccurring memory I have is vacationing at Big Meadows Campground secluded in the rolling hills of Shenandoah National Park.  In my memory I am roasting the perfect marshmallow over the glowing coals of our campfire. Dad tells Mom what a good time he was having and how much he loves us. I like to now imagine a new memory of my father camping with the grandchildren he never got to meet during his time here on earth. I can clearly imagine my parents and family ancestors sitting around a campfire with sharing their thoughts of love in a safe bliss of peace. 

Every time you recall any given moment that brings you happiness, it becomes a catalyst (stimulus) to cause a biochemical synthesis (chemical reaction) that produces extra receptors (signal-receiving neurons) that are stored to the amygdala in a unique emotion long term memory (ELTM). The amygdala is functionally connected to the fusiform face area (FFA) and stimulates a visual episodic long-term memory (VLTM). The amygdala also is connected to the hippocampus and stimulates a unique spatial long term memory (SLTM). Like physical exercise, one must intend to consistently practice thinking about a Happy moment even when it is uncomfortable. Through conditioning neutral and negative stimuli can become connected to that specific long term happy memory (LTHM).

 I can imagine the Greek Empiricist (Passive Sensualist), Epicurus sitting around our campfire teaching us how to frame our intellect to seek the wisdom of what brings happiness, long life, and good fortune. Their wisdom has taught me to focus on Just (Good, Righteous) social relations. With like minded Good People I have been able to discover further path's to a peace of mind. Some of these good individuals lived at a different point of time, but their words endured the test of time. I now point the torch of wisdom to the Greek Philosopher Epicurus warning one to avoid the unhealthy risks and consequences of engaging with Corrupt (Bad, Wicked) minds in constant unrested conflict.

Principal Doctrines, 310 BC – 270 BC

Epicurus

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17. The just person enjoys the greatest peace of mind, while the unjust is full of the utmost disquietude.

Epicurus shared good wisdom. We need to guard our conscious against the suggestion of fear, hatred, selfishness, greed, self-depreciation and other negative forces, derived from surrounding ourselves chronically distressed persons or focusing on unfortunate circumstances to be the social norm. We need to train our minds gather accurate Inferences (Conclusions based on evidence and reasoning) from sources that are Just with peace of mind.

Let us imagine Aristotle's talks of reason in Lyceum (Peripatetic School, public teaching space outside the city wall of Athens) to the ears of every male citizen taking an active part in the running of the Democratic Athenian government, his method to advance the Western Civilization (Civilized Society, Refined Culture, Advanced Education). 

Plato's student, Aristotle understood that knowledge of what happiness is comes first through distinguishing and storing the memories of the pains and pleasures that come from our senses every waking moment. Through our memory we are to frame our thoughts to recall and contemplate (meditate) the pleasurable moments to override the painful ones that transpire. Try meditating on the cherished happy memory you choose earlier to relax when you are in pain, stressed, or depressed.

Metaphysics , 340 BC

Book 1, section 980a

Aristotle

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All men naturally desire knowledge. An indication of this is our esteem for the senses; for apart from their use we esteem them for their own sake, and most of all the sense of sight. Not only with a view to action, but even when no action is contemplated, we prefer sight, generally speaking, to all the other senses.The reason of this is that of all the senses sight best helps us to know things, and reveals many distinctions.

Now animals are by nature born with the power of sensation, and from this some acquire the faculty of memory, whereas others do not.

Aristotle believed virtue (good habits) to be the supporting structure for our internal framework our minds to think above our established visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile pathways to the brain. It is virtue that provides us the ability to be aware of a higher form of happiness than a temporary pleasure moments to our physical appetites (cravings).

To obtain this wisdom one must learn to develop the ability to discern (reason) what actions are deemed virtues. In time, the repetition of virtuous actions will develop into automatic habits that are done without intentional thinking. One will gain wisdom (greater understanding) to the benefits and risks of following principles (ideas) that may or may not lead to happiness. A behavior scientist would state this neuronal override is accomplished through Pavlova conditioning of amygdala neutral and negative stimuli can become connected to that specific Long Term Happy Memory (LTHM).

The Nicomachean Ethics , 340 BC

Book X - Chapter 7

Aristotle

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instead of listening to those who advise us as men and mortals not to lift our thoughts above what is human and mortal, we ought rather, as far as possible, to put off our mortality and make every effort to live in the exercise of the highest of our faculties; for though it be but a small part of us, yet in power and value it far surpasses all the rest.

 In this passage, the Greek philosopher Plato shares the meaning of happiness through conversational exchange between Plato's teacher, Socrates persuading his fellow Athenian, Cleinias to love and share wisdom. It is through this dialogue that Plato frames happiness and good fortune being found through wisdom (knowledge) of the right use of things in life. The Greek philosopher shared his truth to our reality through the Socratic Method (Prose Dialogue) of constructing social exchanges that reason (harmonize) with our independent intellect (mirror neuron system).

Euthydemus 380 BC

By Plato

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SOCRATES: Let us consider a further point. Seeing that all men desire happiness, and happiness, as has been shown, is gained by a use, and a right use, of the things of life, and the right use of them, and good fortune in the use of them, is given by knowledge,-the inference is that everybody ought by all means to try and make himself as wise as he can?

CLEINIAS: Yes, he said.

SOCRATES: And when a man thinks that he ought to obtain this treasure, far more than money, from a father or a guardian or a friend or a suitor, whether citizen or stranger-the eager desire and prayer to them that they would impart wisdom to you, is not at all dishonourable, Cleinias; nor is any one to be blamed for doing any honourable service or ministration to any man, whether a lover or not, if his aim is to get wisdom. Do you agree? 

CLEINIAS:Yes. I quite agree, and think that you are right.

SOCRATES: Cleinias, if only wisdom can be taught, and does not come to man spontaneously; for this is a point which has still to be considered, and is not yet agreed upon by you and me-   

CLEINIAS: But I think, Socrates, that wisdom can be taught

SOCRATES: Best of men, I said, I am delighted to hear you say so; and I am also grateful to you for having saved me from a long and tiresome investigation as to whether wisdom can be taught or not. But now, as you think that wisdom can be taught, and that wisdom only can make a man happy and fortunate will you not acknowledge that all of us ought to love wisdom, and you individually will try to love her?

CLEINIAS: Certainly, Socrates, he said; I will do my best.

At this point it is important to do a comparative analysis of Western European thoughts to those a continent away forming different traditions of obtaining happiness. Let us begin in the state Lu (Tengzhou, Shandong Province) just east of the green misted Taihang mountain range, known for its ancient religious worship and schools of Eastern philosophy.  

Mohist innovation culture, which is the outstanding tradition and important spiritual trait of the Chinese nation

the ancients of Chinese mythology, but he criticized the Confucian belief that modern life should be patterned on the ways of the ancients. After all, he pointed out, what we think of as "ancient" was actually innovative in its time, and thus should not be used to hinder present-day innovation

Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and one of the world's sites with the longest history of continuous religious worship. The city of Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Mozi (Mo Di, Mo-tze) was a Chinese philosopher who founded the school of Mohism philosophy of logic, rational thought and science. Mozi taught that a Righteous (Superior) Being has a unique ability to frame the mind to sacrifice self-interest and focus on respectful actions of altruism towards others. Superior beings are free from corruption and humble with their fortune. One must respect and love and mourn all that have passed through all stages of life and death. By being mindful (focusing) on knowledge learned on how altruism brings happiness over temporary pleasures.

Like Aristole, Mozi aimed at the development of morality and reason. 

Mozi developed the concept of Universal Love (兼愛; pinyin: jiān ài) arguing that there should be no degree or conditionality in love. Ancient Greeks had at least four different types of love, among which agape was unconditional, spiritual or divine love. 

 

 

 in representing the world in their paintings. 

Moral Relativism to a particular 

Aristotle provided observational arguments supporting the idea of a spherical Earth, namely that different stars are visible in different locations, travelers going south see southern constellations rise higher above the horizon, and the shadow of Earth on the Moon during a lunar eclipse is round, and spheres cast circular shadows while discs generally do not. Aristotelian physics include the structuring of the cosmos into concentric spheres, with the Earth at the centre  (center) and celestial spheres around it. The terrestrial sphere was made of four elements, namely earth, air, fire, and water, subject to change and decay. The celestial spheres were made of a fifth element, an unchangeable aether (ether). Objects made of these elements have natural motions: those of earth and water tend to fall; those of air and fire, to rise. The speed of such motion depends on their weights and the density of the medium. Aristotle argued that a vacuum could not exist as speeds would become infinite.

This understanding was accompanied by models of the Universe that depicted the Sun, Moon, stars, and unclothed eye planets circling the spherical Earth, including the noteworthy models of Aristotle (see Aristotelian physics) and Ptolemy.

Mozi 470 - 391 BC

Book 1

Self-cultivation

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...The superior men are daily more energetic in performing their duty, but weaker in their desires, and more stately in their appearance. The way of the superior man makes the individual incorruptible in poverty and righteous when wealthy; it makes him love the living and mourn the dead. These four qualities of conduct cannot be hypocritically embodied in one's personality. There is nothing in his mind that goes beyond love; there is nothing in his behavior that goes beyond respectfulness, and there is nothing from his mouth that goes beyond gentility. When one pursues such a way until it pervades his four limbs and permeates his flesh and skin, and until he becomes white-haired and bald-headed without ceasing, one is truly a sage.

Mozi was originally a follower of the teachings of Confucius, until he became convinced that Confucianism's dutiful love for the nobles, and the family patriarch, should be replaced with a wider dutiful love and respect for all.  Mozi teachings became embraced by the lower classes of society.

Mozi

Book 4

Universal Love III
 

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Whoever criticizes others must have something to replace them. Criticism without suggestion is like trying to stop a flood with another flood and put out a fire with another fire. It will surely be without worth.

Partiality is to be replaced by universality. But how is it that partiality can be replaced by universality? Now, when every one regards the states of others as he regards his own, who would attack the others' states? Others are regarded like self.

When every one regards the capitals of others as he regards his own, who would seize the others' capitals? Others are regarded like self.

When every one regards the houses of others as he regards his own, who would disturb the others' houses? Others are regarded like self.

Now, when the states and cities do not attack and seize each other and when the clans and individuals do not disturb and harm one another -- is this a calamity or a benefit to the world? Of course it is a benefit. When we come to think about the several benefits in regard to their cause, how have they arisen? Have they arisen out of hate of others and injuring others? Of course we should say no. We should say they have arisen out of love of others and benefiting others.

If we should classify one by one all those who love others and benefit others, should we find them to be partial or universal? Of course we should say they are universal.

Now, since universal love is the cause of the major benefits in the world, therefore universal love is right. And, as has already been said, the interest of the magnanimous lies in procuring benefits for the world and eliminating its calamities. Now that we have found out the consequences of universal love to be the major benefits of the world and the consequences of partiality to be the major calamities in the world; this is the reason why partiality is wrong and universality is right.

Confucius is known in China as "Master Kong" (Chinese: Kongzi) a Chinese thinker from Qufu City in the Shandong Province of Eastern China.  Confucius is the first professional teacher, writer and scholar of moral education.  He believed that human beings were naturally good and that selfish interests could be controlled by adherence to virtue.  His influence upon East Asian intellectual and social history is immeasurable. 

The Analects (Selected Passages) of Confucius recorded by his students. In the Analects of Confucius teaches that outcome is related to one's thoughts and actions. Happiness is having a positive attitude during every moment of your life under any circumstance. Wealth and honors are outside who you are  What others say about you is only a guide to how you present yourself. All of these material things fade away. 

The Analects of Confucius 

7. 述而  Shu er -  Transmitting - 475 - 221 BC

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7:15 Confucius said: "I can live with coarse rice to eat, water for drink and my arm as a pillow and still be happy. Wealth and honors that one possesses in the midst of injustice are like floating clouds."

It is said Kunlun became identified with Mount Sumeru (Meru, मेरु), Sineru or Mahāmeru) as the axis mundi in the 5th century. Mount Sumeru is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the center of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes. On the top of Mt. Meru is the symbolic home of Buddha and the 33 gods. Around Mt. Meru are the four continents in the four directions. Each of the four heavenly kings protect one direction, one continent: Vaishravana (North), Dhritarashtra (East), Virudhaka (South), Virupaksha (West).  These four kings represent the first Indian gods incorporated into the Buddhist narrative. The Four Guardian Kings came before Shakyamuni Buddha just after the Buddha achieved enlightenment under the bodhi tree. The four offered, each individually, a black bowl made of sapphire or lapis lazuli to the Buddha. The Buddha accepted the offer and the four bowls miraculously became one bowl. This is the black bowl that is typically seen in the lap of Shakyamuni in painting and sculpture.

Although we often speak of "the Buddha," there are many Buddhas with different names, forms that play multiple roles. The word "Buddha" means one who woke up," and in Buddhist doctrine, any such enlightened individual is technically a Buddha. Shakyamuni Buddha is a name given to the historical Buddha, especially in Mahayana Buddhism. So it's nearly always the case that when someone is talking about Shakyamuni, he or she is speaking of the historical figure who was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama, son of  King Suddhodana and Queen Maya of the Shakya Clan. In later life, Siddhartha renounced his royal title, became known as Shakyamuni (Sage of the Shakyas). After fighting off Mara, an evil spirit who tempted him with worldly comforts and desires, Siddhartha reached enlightenment, becoming a Buddha (Shakyamuni Budha, Gautama Buddha) at the age of 35

Buddha framed happiness to be found in all beings free of hate or violence. One should have a solid attitude of gladness. Life is a chrysalis (transformation) of existence recorded in many thoughts. Those that are beneficial have a chance to be immutable (unalterable, eternal). But, many thoughts get altered through malice and hate.

Shakyamuni Buddha

KALAMA SUTTA 563 - 400 BC

The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry

The Four Exalted Dwellings

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He lives, having pervaded (filled), with the thought of gladness, one  quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded  because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of gladness that is free of hate or malice.

It is a natural desire to want and hope for happiness, long life, and good fortune. Daoist (Taoists) believe emotions and  Yi (desires, wishes, intentions, thoughts)  are the natural meaning of Xuè (blood) and Qi (Chi, Ki, Gi, Vital Energy, Spirit, Prana, Force). Qi moves through the earth and manifests into an uncountable variation of material forms each with unique conditions. Scientist would define Qi as a type of quantum thermal (kinetic) energy of particles, atoms and molecules. Yang and Qi are believed by Daoism to be the driving forces of biological activities in the human body.  Blood is said to be is a denser form of Qi, and more Yin (feminine, nourishing, moistening) in nature. Qi is more Yang (masculine, vital, active, energetic, etheric) in nature. The Shén residing in heart and named Shén and is said to be above others and representing human spirit and in a way the Self.

Taoist (Daoist) believe that the universe is a great conduit of Qi that flows through all things. This energy is known as Dan, (Dan Tien, Elixir, Sea of Qi, Cosmic Energy). Like Cosmic Rays, Dan is the force that pervades and nourishes all things in our expanding universe.  There is a maxim where Xīn (intention, mind, heart, center, core) goes, Qi follows. At times Qi is attracted to water and gives life to a myriad things. Qi proliferates into the offspring of these new creations. A biologist would define water as a unique medium (substratum) on which living organisms can be made to grow.  

Shen (Spirit, Mind) implies our consciousness, mental functions, mental health, vitality, and our "presence." We derive our Shen Qi from the Tao, or eternal aspect of the universe and the underlying nature of everything. Shen can be centered (balanced) or uncentered (imbalanced). Daoist believe when someone has centered Shen, they can easily flow with the laws of nature and universal rhythms, and feel plenty of joy. When someone has uncentered Shen, they might experience uncontrollable emotions like sadness, depression, anxiety, or over-thinking. 

Ancient Chinese people saw the Yellow River (Huang He) as "the Mother River" and a point of convergence (joining) the essences of Qi and Shen (Divine or Inner Human Spirit, life, oneself) that produce Jing (vitality, fertility, DNA). The Yellow River originates from Bayan Har Mountains, a southern branch of the Kunlun Mountains, in the Qinghai province of Western China.  It is said that this region is the Axis Mundi (navel, center of the world, cosmic axis) connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms. In ancient times, it was believed that the Yellow River flowed from Heaven as a continuation of the Milky Way. The Kunlun Mountains are said to be the dwelling place of the gods, fabled plants and mythical creatures. It is in these Mountains that have long been seen as the origin of the Chinese civilization. 

The name China means Middle Nation" (中国 pinyin, Zhōngguó) is often interpreted as an expression of an ancient perception that the Chinese polity (or group of polities) occupied the center of the world, with other lands lying in various directions relative to it. The ancient Chinese saw Kunlun as a microcosm of order because it was known and settled. Taoist belief, the sacred landscape of Kunlun is also considered to be a medium through which people communicate with the immortals and the primeval powers of the earth. 

Outside the boundaries of the Kunlun lied foreign realms that, because they were unfamiliar and not ordered, represented chaos, death, or night. But from this center, people ventured in the four cardinal directions, making discoveries, and establishing new centers as the realms became known and settled. 

Throughout this discourse we will see similar spiritual traditions have a similar view to the Chinese way of orienting our world (human realm) through a sacred landscape (mountain, cave, tree, pillar, gate, ladder) Axis Mundi (hub, navel, center) earth portal (vortex) to something that transcends it (heaven, other worlds) that either brings happiness (prosperity) or misery (destruction).

Lao Tzu (Laozi, Lao-Tze, Old Master) was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching (Book of the Way), the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.

Tàishàng Lǎojūn (Laozi, Lord Lao of Grand Supreme, Lǐ Ěr, Boyang Li Dan) 601 - 531 BC 

Nèiguānjīng (Classic of Internal Contemplation)

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Examine and contemplate your embodiment

From emptiness without center comes causes and reasons

Steering and gathering essence and concentrating Qi

Riding with Lotus the Shén (Deity, Soul, Spirit) descends

Mixing and combining to receive life...

Laws of Heaven reflect on Earth

Inhale Yīn ­ exhale Yáng

Sort out confusion in five phases

To resonate four seasons

Eyes are Sun and Moon 

Hair is like the constellations and planets

Eyebrows are like magnificent canopy

Head is like mount Kūnlún

Lined around are imperial watchtowers

Resting place of the jīng (essence, extract, vitality) energy is the in the center of 10,000 things

Highest in human is the Ling (spirit, soul that may chime a bell using the wind, zero)

When xìng (nature, character, sexuality, humanity, form) and yuán (fate, karma, reason)  join the Dao (way, path, route, road, doctrine, principle, belief)

Man falls in love with it.

In Daoist literature happiness in life cannot be attained by forcing one's own destiny; instead, one must be receptive to the path laid for them by tiān lǐ (Heaven's law, natural order) and yuán (destiny). Daoist meditation focuses heavily on "developing the mind of intent." All of the more advanced practices are based on developing skill and clarity of this "mind of intent." 

Tàishàng Lǎojūn (Laozi, Lord Lao of Grand Supreme, Lǐ Ěr, Boyang Li Dan) 601 - 531 BC 

Nèiguānjīng (Classic of Internal Contemplation)

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Dao (ethical way, moral way) provides our role and it is known as yuán (fate, circumstance, destiny)

From this naturally follows our běn sè (distinctive qualities) and shi (type, form, pattern, style)

And that we call Xīng (Moral Nature)

This Xing assigns beings their proper places

We call this Xin (Heart, Disposition, Mind)

In Xin resides the Yi (Reason, Memory, Desires)

We call it intention (insight, visualization, image, form)

When intention manifests we call it Zhi (will, knowing, aware)

Will used without ignorance is called shén zhì (proper mind, wisdom, treasure)

Wisdom about 10,000 beings is called intelligence.

Just as this energy exists in the universe, Daoist believe it exists in people, too in special areas called Dantians (energy flow centers). There are 7 main Dantian elixir-of-life fields where "essence" and "spirit" are stored within the body. These energy centers are known as Chakras and are responsible for delivering energy into the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual bodies. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on balancing and enhancing Qi to bring the body into a state of health and vitality to maintain long life.   Qi Gong (mastery) is an ancient Chinese health care system that integrates physical postures, breathing techniques and focused intention to open vital energy blockages in the body that can manifest as disease. There are a variety of physical and emotional conditions that are thought to diminish your Qi. Among the most common causes are chronic stress and sleep deprivation.  

The three Dantians are each associated with one energy, collectively known as the three treasures.  They are:

The Lower Dantian: (Jing) located two inches below the navel, it is the source of energy which builds the physical body and allows us to develop and use Qi and Shen.

The Middle Dantian: (QI) located at the heart, it is energy created from food and air and relates to our emotions and thoughts.

The Upper Dantian: (Shen) located at a center point just higher than the eye brows, it is related to our spirit and/or consciousness. 

Shi

Tian shi Celestial Master, Heavenly Teacher is title bestowed upon Zhang Daoling and his descendants; the first Taoist religious community

Qi gong translates from Chinese to mean, roughly, to cultivate or enhance the inherent functional (energetic) essence of the human being. It can be described as a mind-body-spirit practice that improves one's mental and physical health by integrating posture, movement, breathing technique, self-massage, sound, and focused intent. 

Chi Kung is the exercise to build Chi and store it in the body. Teachers often compare this to “saving money in the bank for a rainy day.”

Qiqong is like saving and investing money. Everyday you put a little Qi in the bank, so when you’re old or sick you have a nice big savings stored up and you can use it to stay healthy, active and vibrant.

Li” (etiquette and ceremony).

Lao Tzu (Laozi, Old Master) taught his students that how to frame one's mind to seek happiness by learning from individuals with a good attitude towards life and calm actions that are open and respectful towards others free from malice or hate. 

Tao Te Ching  (Daodejing)
Classic of the Way and Virtue 

Chapter 20

Quote

Enlightenment of the absolute Tao can free a person from worries and sorrow.
How much is the difference between a respectful response and an angry response?
How great is the difference between good and evil?
What people naturally fear, one should also fear.
One’s endless desire can result in negligence of the true nature of life.
People like to pursue after excitement as if they were ascending the terrace in spring and
celebrate a sacrificial feast.
But I alone remain quiet and calm like an infant who is pure and innocent.
And I alone appeared to be lost like one who has nowhere to go.
All people have a surplus, but I alone was simple and left out like a fool.
People seemed bright and shrewd, while I seemed dull.
People like to dispute, while I alone remain quiet.
I am calm and peaceful like the boundless ocean.
I am open-hearted and free like the wind blowing high above the sky without hindrance.
Everyone thinks of themselves as capable and outstanding while I appeared unlearned.
I am the only one to be different from others for I value highly the Great Tao and joyfully act accordingly. 

Buddha Tönpa Shenrap Miwo (ston pa gshen rab) 1917 BC - 23,000 BC

Shenrap is the founder of the yungdrung (eternal)  Bön (chant, religion of Tibet). Bön developed their beliefs through folk customs and practices stretching back into Tibet's prehistory

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Virtuous means without negative actions. This is one who is committed to serve virtue through their body, speech and mind. Service means serving without holding contradictory views and properly remaining steadfast in service to virtue.

Bonpos (believer in Bon) in the existence of energetic channels in the human body, where meditation deities dwell. The tantra is based on the belief that an adept can be transformed into a specific meditation deity thanks to appropriate visualizations and energy manipulation prophecy, reveal truths, give advice, heal the sick people and livestock, exorcise evil spirits, bring good fortune. 

The Nine Ways of Bon

The Ways of the Fruit (Result)

The 5th Way of the Virtuous Lay Practitioners (gen nyen, dge, bsnyen theg pa)

Ten and the ten far- reaching attitudes (perfections)

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Ten far-reaching attitudes: The following mental factors that, when held by the force of a bodhicitta (generative power) aim and strengthened, serve as causes for attaining enlightenment:  ethical self-discipline, patience, perseverance, concentration or mental stability and wisdom or discriminating awareness, skill in means, aspirational prayer, strengthening, and compassion.

Zarathushtra 6184 BC - 551 BC

Zarathushtra composed the Ahuna Vairya (Yatha Ahu Vairyo) a sacred prayer and wisdom that if understood and implemented into daily life will provide the key to receiving blessing from the Creator and defeat evil, by doing virtuous acts such as protecting the poor with a loving mind. Buddhists would accept happiness to found in all beings free of hate and protecting those in need with love. Epicureans would accept turning away from selfish hate for altruistic love to be a higher frame of mind.

Ahuna Vairya, 1500 BC - 1000 BC

Quote

Just as the Ahu (Sovereign Lord, King) is all-powerful,
So the Ratu (Spiritual Teacher, Rabbi, Pastor, Guru) by reason (judgement) in accord with his store of Asha (Truth, Virtue, Purity),
The gifts of Vohu Mano (Loving Mind, Good Thinking ),
For works (deeds) done for the Lord of Creation in this world,
And the Kshathra (Blessing, Happiness, Power) of Ahura (God) descends indeed,
Upon him who becomes a Shepherd (Protector) to the meek (poor).

The Great Prophet Moses taught the just (virtuous) will prosper under the Creator's protective care.   

Devarim  - Deuteronomy - Second Law - Chapter 12, 1300 BC - 609 BC

Quote

Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.”

Unlike Zoroaster, the Prophet Moses taught no Dyeumorphic manifestation of abstract concepts such as Truth and Righteousness that emanate from the Creator's thoughts.  However, like Zoraster, Moses reveals the Torah (Teaching, Laws) as way for one to connect to the Creator thoughts and receive His blessings of prosperity and offspring.

Devarim  - Deuteronomy - Second Law - Chapter 12, 1300 BC - 609 BC

Quote

11. observe faithfully the Instruction—the laws and the rules—with which I charge you today.

12. And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, the LORD your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers:

13. He will favor you and bless you and multiply you; He will bless the issue of your womb and the produce of your soil, your new grain and wine and oil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to assign to you.

The Israelite King David made a declaration that the pursuit of happiness is not to be found in ideas given by corrupt minds. Happiness can be found by understanding the laws given by a Just Creator. The Israelite King believes one needs to follow the instructions revealed to Moses to connect to the Creator and receive His blessings of prosperity and offspring. David uses an analogy that like trees that need an adequate water supply to thrive and set fruit, we need to be adequately connected to the Torah given by the Creator to help us be happy, thrive, and be fruitful in all of our endeavors.

Psalms, 1407 BC - 586 BC

Chapter 1

Quote

1. Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the insolent;

rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades, and whatever it produces thrives.

Peshitta Holy Bible 

In this passage John write's a letter to a Senior,  lady member and her Christian family.  John simply states that the Truth to Happiness is the Commandment Yeshua (Jesus) gave to Love.

2 John 1 

 Christian Church

Quote

1.The Elder to The Elect lady and her children, those whom I love in the truth, but it is not I only, but also all those who know the truth, 2.Because of the truth which dwells in us and is with us for eternity. 3. May grace, mercy and peace be with us, from God The Father and from Our Lord, Yeshua The Messiah, The Son of The Father, in truth and in love. 4. I rejoiced much when I found some of your children walking in truth, according to the commandment which we have received from The Father. 5. And now I would persuade you Lady, not according to the new commandment I wrote to you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandment; this commandment is according to what you have heard from the beginning, in which you have been walking.

Concious Reason

Before he became the Architect of American Government, A young Harvard graduate, John Adams wrote to a school friend, Richard Cranch his plan to study law with James Putnam the leading lawyer of Worcester.  In this letter, Adams shared his exploration of understanding the gifts of sense, intelligence, and reason the Creator (Nature) has bestowed upon us. He found acts of kindness to be of lesser value in understanding the purpose to the design of life. 

From John Adams to Richard Cranch, 29 August 1756

Quote

But shall I dare to complain and to murmur against Providence for this little Punishment, when my very Existence, all the Pleasure I enjoy now, and all the Advantages I have of preparing for hereafter, are Expression of Benevolence that I never did and never could deserve? Shall I Censure the Conduct of that Being who has poured around me, a great Profusion (Abundance), of those good Things that I really want, because He has kept from me other Things that might be improper and fatal to me if I had them. That Being has furnished my Body with several senses, and the world around it with objects suitable to gratify them. He has made me an erect Figure, and has placed in the most advantageous Part of my Body, the sense of Sight. And He has hung up in the Heavens over my Head and Spread out in the Fields of Nature around me those glorious Shows and appearances with which my Eyes and my Imagination are extremely delighted. I am pleased with the beautiful Appearance of the Flower, and still more pleased with the Prospect of Forrest and of Meadows, of verdant (lush vegetation) Fields and Mountains covered with Flocks, but I am thrown into a kind of Transport when I behold the amazing Concave (inward curve) of Heaven sprinkled and glittering with Stars. That Being has bestowed upon some of the Vegetable species a fragrance that can almost as agreeably entertain our sense of smell. He has so wonderfully constituted (created) the Air we live in, that by giving it a particular Kind of Vibration, it produces in us as intense sensations of Pleasure as the organs of our Bodies can bear in all the varieties of Harmony and Concord (same mind). But all the Provision (gifts) that He has made for the Gratification of my senses, though very engaging Instances of Kindness, are much inferior to the Provisions for the Gratification of my nobler Powers of Intelligence and Reason. He has given me Reason to find out the Truth, and the real Design of my Existence here, and has made all Endeavors to promote that Design, agreeable to my mind, and attended (been present) with a conscious Pleasure and Complacency. On the Contrary, He has made a different Course of Life, a Course of Impiety (Abuse) and Injustice (Inequality), of Malevolence (spite) and Intemperance (excess), appear shocking and deformed to my first Reflection. He has made my Mind capable of receiving an infinite Variety of Ideas from those numerous material Objects with which we are environed (enclosed). And of retaining, compounding and arranging the vigorous Impressions which we receive from these into all the Varieties of Picture and of Figure. By inquiring into the Situation, Produce, Manufactures &c. of our own, and by travailing into, or reading about other Countries, I can gain distinct Ideas of almost every Thing upon this Earth at present, and by looking into history I can settle in my mind a clear and a Comprehensive View of the Earth at its Creation, of its various Changes and Revolutions, of its progressive Improvement, sudden Depopulation by a Deluge, and its gradual Re peopling, of the Growth of several Kingdoms and Empires, of their Wealth and Commerce, their Wars and Politics, of the Characters of their principal Leading Men, of their Grandeur and Power their Virtues and Vices, of their insensible Decays at first, and of their swift Destruction at last. In fine we can attend the Earth from its Nativity, through all the various Turns of Fortune, through all its successive Changes, through all the Events that happen on its surface, and all the successive Generations of Mankind, to the final Conflagration, when the whole Earth with its appendages shall be consumed by the furious Element of Fire.

  Conscious Liberty for All

Washington believed that when the people learn the light of truth they would discard the darkness of an concealed falsity (lie, untruth).

From George Washington to Charles Mynn Thruston, 10 August 1794

Quote

this we know, that it is not difficult by concealment of some facts, & the exaggeration of others, (where there is an influence) to biases a well-meaning mind—at least for a time—truth will ultimately prevail where pains is taken to bring it to light.

   Bolingbroke taught that History's greatest heroes individuals are endowed with a spirit of reason to restrain to bad inclinations and habits they are addicted to the most, then focus on following the will of the Creator.

Henry St John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke
Letters on the Study and the Use of History

Letter III

Quote

there can be dispute, concerning that share which I ascribe to the study of history, in forming our moral characters, and making us better men. The very persons who pretend that inclinations cannot be restrained, nor habits corrected, against our natural bent, would be the first perhaps to prove, in certain cases, the contrary. A fortune at court, or the favors of a lady, have prevailed on many to conceal, and they could not conceal without restraining, which is one step towards correcting, the vices they were by nature addicted to the most. Shall we imagine now, that the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice, the charms. If a bright and lasting reputation, the terror of being delivered over as criminals to all posterity, the real benefit arising from a conscientious discharge of the duty we owe to others, which benefit fortune can neither hinder nor take away, and the reasonableness of conforming ourselves to the designs of God manifested in the constitution of the human nature; shall we imagine, I say, that all these are not able to acquire the same power over those who are continually called upon to a contemplation of them, and they who apply themselves to the study of history are so called upon, as other motives, mean and sordid in comparison of these, can usurp on other men?

Claude Adrien Helvétius defined physical sensibility as an instinctual function of the mind to perceive then remember resemblance and differences in objects. This instinctual function also allows us to distinguish agreements or disagreements of ideas and show compassion for others in their time of need. Ideas that we take notice originate from individuals we trust and have acted to benefit our self interest. It is testimony of these trusted individuals that communicate impressions of pleasure and pain that give a basis of judging the truth of personal and public morality. It is the formation of these accepted ideas that gives us respect of others. Helvétius believed that we praise individuals that promote, support, and defend our self interest. At times the testimony individuals share with us give the illusion of honesty, but in reality stem from their personal self interest and not for our benefit. It is through our intellect that we must reason whether these testifiers are good or bad. If the the individual appears genuinely to believe that his testimony  is to our benefit, then we must look to the general interest of the people where the idea the originated.  

Helvétius explained that the concept of Liberty is the attainment of wisdom of knowledge on how to train our physical pleasure and pain instincts to remember and discern the truth to ideas and actions that make us happy or sad. Further,  he was of the opinion that the knowledge of Liberty can only be achieved  by an individual with no mental disability, paying close attention and connecting ideas that are being communicated about the subject. The more an individual discusses Liberty the greater one gains Wisdom to genuinely understand the concept of it.

Helvétius was  of the position the problem of misunderstanding Liberty was not only found in with individuals with mental conditions. Intelligent people with physical sensibility can process and adopt false ideas given by those who they trust and admire. Contextual associations can be linked to deliberative or unintentional false truths (misleading ideas) to agreed upon code (rules) of conduct made with fellow citizens by social contract. A false truth given by those that we have an instinct to love and admire can initiate a duty preserve and propagate the error.

De L'esprit, Or, Essays on the Mind, and Its Several Faculties
by Helvétius

Quote

Preface

I desire but one favor of my reader, that is, to hear, before he condemns me; to the chain that unites all my ideas together; to be my judge, and and not of my party

I say then that the Physical Sensibility and Memory, or, to speak more exactly, the Sensibility alone produces our ideas, and in effect Memory can be nothing more than one of the organs of Physical Sensibility.

This principle being laid down, I farther say, that all the operations of the Mind consist in the power we have of perceiving resemblence and difference, the agreement or disagreement, of various objects among themselves. And this power, being the Physical Sensibility itself, everything is reducible to feeling.

Through internal Understanding if others do good then you feel happy and they do bad you will feel sad

If you only yourself you will not understand what is good and bad. In a social situation someone may either say something nice or mean to you and you might react in the wrong way. If you help others you will feel happy and good about yourself 

We have a moral instinct to love and help others in their time of need.

Essay II

Of the Mind Relatively to Society

Contents

It is proposed to prove in this discourse, that the same interest which influences the judgement we form on actions, and makes us consider them as virtuous, vicious, or allowable according as they are useful, prejudicial (harmful), or indifferent, with  respect to the public, equally influences the judgment we form of ideas; that, as well in subjects of morality, as in those of  genius, it is interest alone that dictates our judgments; a truth cannot be perceived in its full context, without considering probity (honesty) and genius, relatively, 1. to an individual; 2. to a small society; 3. to a nation; 4. to different ages and countries; and to 5. the whole world.

Essay II

Of the Mind Relatively to Society

Chapter 1

Page 37

Every individual judges of things or persons, by the agreeable or disagreeable impressions he receives from them; and the public is no more than an assemblage of al the individuals; therefore it cannot fail in making its interest the rule of its decisions.

The word interest is generally confined to the the love of money; but the intelligent reader will perceive that I use it in a more extensive sense; and that I apply it in general to whatever may procure us pleasure, or exempt us from pain.

Page 38

...personal interest alone dictates the judgment of individuals; while general interest dictates that of nations; and consequently that, in the public as in individuals, it is always love and gratitude that praises, and hatred and revenge that depreciates.

...interest is the only judge of Probity and the Understanding.

Essay II

Of Probity Relatively to the Individual 

Chapter II

Page 43

...personal interest is the only and universal estimator of the merit of human actions; and therefore, that Probity, with regard to an individual is, according to my definition, nothing more than the habitude of actions personally advantageous to this individual.

Chapter III

Of the Mind, or Understanding, With Regard to an Individual

Contents

...we esteem (respect) in others, only the ideas we have interest in esteeming.

Chapter IV

Of the Necessity We Are Under of Esteeming in Others Only Ourselves

Essay i 

Chapter 1

page 49

...the desire of esteem is common to all men; though some, to the pleasure of being admired, will add the merit of contemning (disdaining) admiration; but this contempt is not real, the person admired never thinking the admirer stupid; Now if all men are fond of esteem, every one, knowing, from experience, that his ideas will appear esteemable, or contemptible to other, only as they agree or clash with their own, the consequence is, that swayed by vanity, every one cannot help esteeming in others a conformity of ideas, which assure him of their esteem; and to hate in them an opposition of ideas, as a certain indication of their hatred; or, at least, of their contempt, which is to be considered as a corrective of hatred. But suppose a person should sacrifice his vanity (excessive pride) for the love of truth, if this person be not animated with the keenest desire of information, I say, that indolence (laziness) will allow him to have, for those opinions opposite to his own, on an esteem upon trust. In order to explain what I mean by an esteem upon trust, I shall distinguish esteem into two kinds, one, which may be considered as the effect, either of diference to public opinion, or of confidence in the judgement of certain persons; and this I call esteem upon trust. 

page 50

...Whether, after forming to ourselves a vague idea of the merit of those great geniuses, their admirers, in this idea, respect the work of their own admiration; or whether pretending to be judges of such a man as Newton, they think to share in eugiums (praise) they so profusely (excessively) bestow on him. This kind of esteem, which our ignorance often obliges us to use, is, from that very circumstance, the most general. Nothing is so uncommon as to judge according to our own sentiments (opinion).  

The other kind of esteem is that which, independently of the opinions of others, is produced solely by the impression made on us by certain ideas; and therefore I call it Felt-esteem, because the only real esteem, and that which is here meant. Now, in order to prove, that indolence (laziness) allows us to grant this kind of esteem only to ideas analogous to our own, it will be suffient to observe that, as geometry sensibly proves, by the analogy of secret relations which ideas already known have with unknown ideas, we obtain a knowledge of the latter; and that, by following the progression of these analogies, we may attain the utmost perfection of a science; it follows, that ideas of no analogy with our own, would be unintelligible ideas. But it will be said, there are no ideas which have not necessarily some relation, as they would otherwise be universally unknown.

Let a manuscript work be put into the hands of seven men of genius, equally free from prepossessions (preconception) or prejudice, and let them be separately desired to mark the most striking of passages; each of them will underline different places; and if, afterwards, the approved passages be compared with the genius and temper of the approver, each will be found to have praised only the ideas analogous to his manner of seeing and perceiving; and understanding is, if I may be allowed the expression, a string that vibrates only with the unison.

...it must be acknowledged, that the only difference between the learned, or men of wit, and the common, is, that the former having a greater number of ideas, their sphere of analogies is much more extensive. If the question relates to species of wit, very different from what he is master of, the man of genius, who is, in all respects, like other men, esteems only those ideas that are analogous to his own.

Now, if superior men, entirely absorbed in their respective kinds of study, and not susceptible of a Felt-esteem, for a species of genius too different from their own, every author

Page 53

who abounds with new ideas can only expect esteem from two sorts of men; either young persons, who, by not previously adopting any opinion, have still the desire and leisure of informing themselves; or of those whose minds, being desirous of truth, and analogous to that of the author, had previously some glimpse of the existence of these ideas. But the number of such men has always been very small. This retards the progress of the human mind; and hence the extreme slowness of which every truth comes displayed to the eyes of all the world.

...It appears, from what has been just said, that most men, subject to indolence, form a perfect conception only of those ideas that analogous (comparable) to their own; that they only a Felt-esteem for no other that this kind of ideas; and hence proceeds that high opinion which ever one is, in a manner, forced to have of himself; an opinion which the moralists whould not, perhaps, have attributed to pride, had they been more thoroughly aquainted with the principles laid down. They would have been sensible, that the sacred respect and the profound admiration, which, when alone, they often feel for themselves, can be nothing more than an effect of the necessity we were

I say then that the Physical Sensibility and Memory, or, to speak more exactly, the Sensibility alone produces our ideas, and in effect Memory can be nothing more than one of the organs of Physical Sensibility.

This principle being laid down, I farther say, that all the operations of the Mind consist in the power we have of perceiving resemblence and difference, the agreement or disagreement, of various objects among themselves. And this power, being the Physical Sensibility itself, everything is reducible to feeling.

Through internal Understanding if others do good then you feel happy and they do bad you will feel sad

If you only yourself you will not understand what is good and bad. In a social situation someone may either say something nice or mean to you and you might react in the wrong way. If you help others you will feel happy and good about yourself 

We have a moral instinct to love and help others in their time of need.

Essay II

Of the Mind Relatively to Society

Contents

It is proposed to prove in this discourse, that the same interest which influences the judgement we form on actions, and makes us consider them as virtuous, vicious, or allowable according as they are useful, prejudicial (harmful), or indifferent, with  respect to the public, equally influences the judgment we form of ideas; that, as well in subjects of morality, as in those of  genius, it is interest alone that dictates our judgments; a truth cannot be perceived in its full context, without considering probity (honesty) and genius, relatively, 1. to an individual; 2. to a small society; 3. to a nation; 4. to different ages and countries; and to 5. the whole world.

Essay II

Of the Mind Relatively to Society

Chapter 1

Page 37

Every individual judges of things or persons, by the agreeable or disagreeable impressions he receives from them; and the public is no more than an assemblage of al the individuals; therefore it cannot fail in making its interest the rule of its decisions.

The word interest is generally confined to the the love of money; but the intelligent reader will perceive that I use it in a more extensive sense; and that I apply it in general to whatever may procure us pleasure, or exempt us from pain.

Page 38

...personal interest alone dictates the judgment of individuals; while general interest dictates that of nations; and consequently that, in the public as in individuals, it is always love and gratitude that praises, and hatred and revenge that depreciates.

...interest is the only judge of Probity and the Understanding.

Essay II

Of Probity Relatively to the Individual 

Chapter II

Page 43

...personal interest is the only and universal estimator of the merit of human actions; and therefore, that Probity, with regard to an individual is, according to my definition, nothing more than the habitude of actions personally advantageous to this individual.

Chapter III

Of the Mind, or Understanding, With Regard to an Individual

Contents

...we esteem (respect) in others, only the ideas we have interest in esteeming.

Chapter IV

Of the Necessity We Are Under of Esteeming in Others Only Ourselves

Essay i 

Chapter 1

page 49

...the desire of esteem is common to all men; though some, to the pleasure of being admired, will add the merit of contemning (disdaining) admiration; but this contempt is not real, the person admired never thinking the admirer stupid; Now if all men are fond of esteem, every one, knowing, from experience, that his ideas will appear esteemable, or contemptible to other, only as they agree or clash with their own, the consequence is, that swayed by vanity, every one cannot help esteeming in others a conformity of ideas, which assure him of their esteem; and to hate in them an opposition of ideas, as a certain indication of their hatred; or, at least, of their contempt, which is to be considered as a corrective of hatred. But suppose a person should sacrifice his vanity (excessive pride) for the love of truth, if this person be not animated with the keenest desire of information, I say, that indolence (laziness) will allow him to have, for those opinions opposite to his own, on an esteem upon trust. In order to explain what I mean by an esteem upon trust, I shall distinguish esteem into two kinds, one, which may be considered as the effect, either of diference to public opinion, or of confidence in the judgement of certain persons; and this I call esteem upon trust. 

page 50

...Whether, after forming to ourselves a vague idea of the merit of those great geniuses, their admirers, in this idea, respect the work of their own admiration; or whether pretending to be judges of such a man as Newton, they think to share in eugiums (praise) they so profusely (excessively) bestow on him. This kind of esteem, which our ignorance often obliges us to use, is, from that very circumstance, the most general. Nothing is so uncommon as to judge according to our own sentiments (opinion).  

The other kind of esteem is that which, independently of the opinions of others, is produced solely by the impression made on us by certain ideas; and therefore I call it Felt-esteem, because the only real esteem, and that which is here meant. Now, in order to prove, that indolence (laziness) allows us to grant this kind of esteem only to ideas analgous to our own, it will be suffient to observe that, as geometry sensibly proves, by the analogy of secret relations which ideas already known have with unknown ideas, we obtain a knowledge of the latter; and that, by following the progession of these analogies, we may attain the utmost perfection of a science; it follows, that ideas of no analogy with our own, would be unitelligible ideas. But it will be said, there are no ideas which have not necessarily some relation, as they would otherwise be universally unknown.

Let a manuscript work be put into the hands of seven men of genius, equally free from prepossessions (preconception) or prejudice, and let them be seperately desired to mark the most striking of passages; each of them will underline different places; and if, afterwards, the approved passages be compared with the genius and temper of the approver, each will be found to have praised only the ideas analogous to his manner of seeing and perceiving; and understanding is, if I may be allowed the expression, a string that vibrates only with the unison.

...it must be acknowledged, that the only difference between the learned, or men of wit, and the common, is, that the former having a greater number of ideas, their sphere of analogies is much more extensive. If the question relates to species of wit, very different from what he is master of, the man of genius, who is, in all respects, like other men, esteems only those ideas that are analogous to his own.

Now, if superior men, entirely absorbed in their respective kinds of study, and not susceptible of a Felt-esteem, for a species of genius too different from their own, every author

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who abounds with new ideas can only expect esteem from two sorts of men; either young persons, who, by not previously adopting any opinion, have still the desire and leisure of informing themselves; or of those whose minds, being desirious of truth, and analogous to that of the author, had previously some glimpse of the existence of these ideas. But the number of such men has always been very small. This retards the progress of the human mind; and hence the extreme slowness of which every truth comes displayed to the eyes of all the world.

...It appears, from what has been just said, that most men, subject to indolence, form a perfect conception only of those ideas that analogous (comparable) to their own; that they only a Felt-esteem for no other that this kind of ideas; and hence proceeds that high opinion which ever one is, in a manner, forced to have of himself; an opinion which the moralists whould not, perhaps, have attributed to pride, had they been more thoroughly aquainted with the principles laid down. They would have been sensible, that the sacred respect and the profound admiration, which, when alone, they often feel for themselves, can be nothing more than an effect of the necessity we were under a higher esteem of ourselves that for others. 

Chapter V

Page 57

Of Probity in Relation to Private Societies

Certain virtuous societies indeed frequently appear to lay aside their own interest to judge the actions of men, in conformity to the interest of the public; but in this they only gratify the passion which an enlightened pride gives them for virtue; and consequently, like all other societies, obey the law of personal interest.

... in each society private interest is the only distributor of the esteem bestowed on account of human actions.

... interest is the only judge of the merit of men's actions

Page 60

Chapter VI

Of the Means of Securing Virtue

A Prince has a thousand places to bestow; he must fill them up; and he cannot avoid rendering a thousand people happy. Here then his virtue depends only on the justice and injustice of his choice. If, when a place of importance is vacant, he gives it from friendship, from weakness, from solicitation, or from indolance, to a man of moderate abilities, preference to another of superior talents, he ought to be considered unjust, whatever praises others may bestow on his probity.

In the affair of probity, he ought to only consult and listen to the public interest, and not to men by whom he is surrounded; for personal interest too often leads him into an illusion.

In courts, this interest gives falsehood the name of prudence (wisdom), and that of stupidity to truth, which it there considered at at least as a folly, and must be considered as much.

offensive virtues will always be considered in the rank of faults.

...in the case of probity counsel is not to be taken from private connections, but only the interest of the public: he who constantly consults it will have all his acions directed either immediately to the public utility, or to the advantage of individuals, without their being detrimental to the state.

The person who succors merit in distress gives undoubtedly an example of beneficence (charity) conformable to the general interest; he pays the tax which probity imposes on riches.

Chapter VII

Of the Understanding in Relation to Particular Societies

...society weighs in the same balance of merit of not always being comformable to the general interest, them must, in consequence of this, form very different judgments of the same subjects from those of the public.

If we are under a necessity of pursuing happiness whenever we discern it, we are at least at liberty in making choice of the means for procuring our happiness. Yes, I know the answer; but then Liberty is only synonymous term for Knowledge. The more or less a person understands the law, or the more or less eligible will be his measures (discernment). But, whatever conduct be, the desire of happiness will always induce him to take those measures which appear to him the best calculated to promote his interest, his dispositions (character), his passions, and in fine, whatever accounts his happiness.

Chapter VIII

Of the Difference Between the Judgements of the Public and those of Private Societies

...societies must affix great esteem to what is called good breeding and polite conversation.

Chapter XI

On Probity in Relation to the Public 

...general interest regulates judgement formed by the public of the actions of men.

Chapter XII

Of Genius in Relation to the Public 

...the esteem of the public for the ideas of men is always proportioned to the interest people have in esteeming them

Chapter XVIII

The Principal Effects of Despotic Power

...viziers have no interest in obtaining instruction, or supporting censure; that, being taken from the body of the citizens, they, on entering into place, have no principles of justice or skill in the art of government; and cannot form clear ideas of virtue.

Chapter XX

Of Genius, Considered in Relation to Different Countries

...the interest of among all nations, is the dispenser, of the esteem granted to the ideas of men; and that of nations, always faithful to the interest of their vanity, extreem in other nations only such ideas as are analogous to their own.

Chapter XXII

...vanity rules nations as well as individuals; that every one obeys the law of interest; and if consequently each nation has such an esteem for  morality as it out to have for that science, it is because morality is still in its cradle, and seems to hitherto of no use to the world.

Chapter XXVI

...interest, as we propose to prove, is the only dispenser of the esteem and contempt affixed to the actions and ideas of men.

Essay III

Chapter III

Of the Extent of Memory

Page 202

...attention alone may engrave in the memory the subjects that, without attention, would only make insensible impressions upon us

...to judge whether a defect of memory is in men an effect of their inattention, or an imperfection in their organs, we must have recourse to experience.

The extent of memory therefore depends on the daily use made of it: secondly, on the attention with which we consider the objects we would impress upon it, and which without attention,..., would only slight traces that would be easily effaced; and thirdly, on the order in which we range our ideas. To this order we are all prodigies of memory; it consists in uniting together all our ideas, and consequently charging the memory only with such objects as by their nature, or the manner in which they are considered, preserve between them a connection sufficient to recal each other.

page 203

The frequent representations of the same objects to the memory are in a manner so many touches of the graver, which cuts them deeper in proportion to the frequency with which they are represented. 

...the sagacity (wisdom) of mind in one person, that is, the promptitude (timeliness) with which one man is struck with the force of truth (revelation), frequently depends on the analogy of that truth with the objects about which he is employed. He cannot catch it by perceiving all its connections without rejecting all the ideas that first presented themselves to his rememberance, and without turning up-side down the whole magazine of of his memory, to search for the ideas connected with that truth.

This is the reason why so many men are insensible to the exposition of certain facts, for those truths shake the whole chain of their thoughts, by awakening a great number of ideas in their minds.

under a higher esteem of ourselves that for others. 

Chapter V

Page 57

Of Probity in Relation to Private Societies

Certain virtuous societies indeed frequently appear to lay aside their own interest to judge the actions of men, in conformity to the interest of the public; but in this they only gratify the passion which an enlightened pride gives them for virtue; and consequently, like all other societies, obey the law of personal interest.

... in each society private interest is the only distributor of the esteem bestowed on account of human actions.

... interest is the only judge of the merit of men's actions

Page 60

Chapter VI

Of the Means of Securing Virtue

A Prince has a thousand places to bestow; he must fill them up; and he cannot avoid rendering a thousand people happy. Here then his virtue depends only on the justice and injustice of his choice. If, when a place of importance is vacant, he gives it from friendship, from weakness, from solicitation, or from indolance, to a man of moderate abilities, preference to another of superior talents, he ought to be considered unjust, whatever praises others may bestow on his probity.

In the affair of probity, he ought to only consult and listen to the public interest, and not to men by whom he is surrounded; for personal interest too often leads him into an illusion.

In courts, this interest gives falsehood the name of prudence (wisdom), and that of stupidity to truth, which it there considered at at least as a folly, and must be considered as much.

offensive virtues will always be considered in the rank of faults.

...in the case of probity counsel is not to be taken from private connections, but only the interest of the public: he who constantly consults it will have all his acions directed either immediately to the public utility, or to the advantage of individuals, without their being detrimental to the state.

The person who succours merit in distress gives undoubtedly an example of beneficience (charity) comformable to the general interest; he pays the tax which probity imposes on riches.

Chapter VII

Of the Understanding in Relation to Particular Societies

...society weighs in the same balance of merit of not always being comformable to the general interest, them must, in consequence of this, form very different judgments of the same subjects from those of the public.

If we are under a necessity of pursuing happiness whenever we discern it, we are at least at liberty in making choice of the means for procuring our happiness. Yes, I know the answer; but then Liberty is only synomimous term for Knowledge. The more or less a person understands the law, or the more or less eligible will be his measures (discernment). But, whatever conduct be, the desire of happiness will always induce him to take those measures which appear to him the best calculated to promote his interest, his dispositions (character), his passions, and in fine, whatever accounts his happiness.

Chapter VIII

Of the Difference Between the Judgements of the Public and those of Private Societies

...societies must affix great esteem to what is called good breeding and polite conversation.

Chapter XI

On Probity in Relation to the Public 

...general interest regulates judgement formed by the public of the actions of men.

Chapter XII

Of Genius in Relation to the Public 

...the esteem of the public for the ideas of men is alway proportioned to the interest people have in esteeming them

Chapter XVIII

The Principal Effects of Depotic Power

...viziers have no interest in obtaining instruction, or supporting censure; that, being taken from the body of the citizens, they, on entering into place, have no principles of justice or skill in the art of government; and cannot form clear ideas of virtue.

Chapter XX

Of Genius, Considered in Relation to Different Countries

...the interest of among all nations, is the dispenser, of the esteem granted to the ideas of men; and that of nations, always faithful to the interest of their vanity, exteem in other nations only such ideas as are analogous to their own.

Chapter XXII

...vanity rules nations as well as individuals; that every one obeys the law of interest; and if consequently each nation has such an esteem for  morality as it out to have for that science, it is because morality is still in its cradle, and seems to hitherto of no use to the world.

Chapter XXVI

...interest, as we propose to prove, is the only dispenser of the esteem and contempt affixed to the actions and ideas of men.

Essay III

Chapter III

Of the Extent of Memory

Page 202

...attention alone may engrave in the memory the subjects that, without attention, would only make insensible impressions upon us

...to judge whether a defect of memory is in men an effect of their inattention, or an imperfection in their organs, we must have recourse to experience.

The extent of memory therefore depends on the daily use made of it: secondly, on the attention with which we consider the objects we would impress upon it, and which without attention,..., would only slight traces that would be easily effaced; and thirdly, on the order in which we range our ideas. To this order we are all prodigies of memory; it consists in uniting together all our ideas, and consequently charging the memory only with such objects as by their nature, or the manner in which they are considered, preserve between them a connection sufficient to recal each other.

page 203

The frequent representations of the same objects to the memory are in a manner so many touches of the graver, which cuts them deeper in proportion to the frequency with which they are represented. 

...the sagacity (wisdom) of mind in one person, that is, the promptitude (timeliness) with which one man is struck with the force of truth (revelation), frequently depends on the analogy of that truth with the objects about which he is employed. He cannot catch it by perceiving all its connections without rejecting all the ideas that first presented themselves to his rememberance, and without turning up-side down the whole magazine of of his memory, to search for the ideas connected with that truth.

This is the reason why so many men are insensible to the exposition of certain facts, for those truths shake the whole chain of their thoughts, by awakening a great number of ideas in their minds.

If we are to implicitly believe that the Will of Our Creator is Natural law. Then we can implicitly believe it was the Will of the Creator to give mankind reason to decide what actions in life will bring us happiness or misery. It is the testimony of both prophets and philosophers that the path of happiness is making the choice to follow the greater good at the expense of lesser evil. It is up to government and religious leaders to properly guard Citizens with the use of reason over personal inclinations and be happy with the blessing our Creator has given. It is up to our citizen patriots to understand that the common happiness of Civil Liberty depends on the importance of individual duty in submitting to what the law and government permits, which  firmly opposes evil corruption and promotes the common good. 
Jefferson considered supreme happiness to not come from nobility or priests, but rather from having faith that Nature (Creator) has given us a sense of justice through the cherishment of others. It is also my opinion, that Jefferson also also reasoned against selfish false teachings that man bestowed aristocracy the hereditary right to govern and judge one's fate. It will be through the false teaching of fearing others without sound reason that can as a consequence destroy established law and order built by free men. 

From Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 12 June 1823

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...ours, on the contrary, was to maintain the will of the majority of the Convention, and of the people themselves. We believed with them that man was a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights, and with an innate (natural) sense of justice, and that he could be restrained from wrong, & protected in right, by moderate powers, confided to persons of his own choice, and held to their duties by dependence on his own will—we believe that the complicated organization of kings, nobles, and priests was not the wisest nor best to effect the happiness of associated man; that wisdom and virtue were not hereditary (legacy); that the trappings of such a machinery consumed, by their expense, those earnings of industry they were meant to protect, and, by the inequalities they produced, exposed liberty to sufferance. We believed that men, enjoying in ease and security the full fruits of their own industry, enlisted by all their interests on the side of law and order, habituated (became accustomed) to think for themselves and to follow their reason as their guide, would be more easily and safely governed than with minds nourished in error, and vitiated (spoiled) and debased (wicked), as in Europe, by ignorance, indigence (poverty) and oppression. The cherishment of the people then was our principle, the fear and distrust of them that of the other party. Composed, as we were, of the landed and laboring interests of the country, we could not be less anxious for a government of law and order than were the inhabitants of the cities, the strong holds of federalism. And whether our efforts to save the principles and form of our constitution have not been salutary (satisfactory), let the present republican freedom, order and prosperity of our country determine.

The Call of Duty

 

 Trust is an essential elixir for maintaining National Unity.  Our Founders understood that elected leaders must be held to the highest standards in their service to protect America's Independence and Liberty. Otherwise, leaders may lose public trust that their actions are for the common good.

The Federalist Papers : No. 57

The Alleged Tendency of the New Plan to Elevate the Few at the Expense of the Many Considered in Connection with Representation

From the New York Packet
Tuesday, February 19, 1788.

Author: Alexander Hamilton or James Madison

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 The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust. 

   

 

 Liberty: A Path To Its Recovery
by F.A. Harper

Page 44

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...it is, in fact, a main purpose of liberty that the blind are free to follow those who can see. The danger is that in the absence of liberty the blind may become authorized to lead those who can see—by a chain around their necks!

Jefferson and Washington taught the honor in focusing on the welfare of the People of all nations and religions. And to be on guard against those that pursue their own self interest and personal advantage over Civility of accepted conduct.

 Notes on the State of Virginia:
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

QUERY XVII

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Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his testimony in a Court of Justice cannot be relied on, reject it then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion, by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry, Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not free inquiry been indulged, at the era of the Reformation, the corruptions of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and new ones encouraged.

As a pastor and evangelist, Elder John Leland believed it was of the utmost importance to safeguard their individual civil rights, religious freedom. Elder John Leland preached to the Citizens of Connecticut his observations of  influence and power American Citizens bestow upon their Representatives. 

 The Rights of Conscience Inalienable, by John Leland (1791)

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I shall ask the citizens of Connecticut, whether, in the months of April and September, when they choose their deputies for the assembly, they mean to surrender to them the rights of conscience, and authorize them to make laws binding on their consciences. If not, then all such acts are contrary to the intention of constituent (appoints, elects) power, as well as unconstitutional and antiChristian.

Congress gives Washington the Power to Command the Military

George Washington to the Executive Committee of the Continental Congress, 1 January 1777

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Yours of the 31st last Month, incloses me sundry Resolves of Congress, by which I find, they have done me the honor to intrust me with powers, in my military Capacity, of the highest Nature and al〈most〉 unlimited in extent. Instead of thinking myself free’d from all civil Obligations, by this mark of their Confidence, I shall constantly bear in Mind, that as the Sword was the last Resort for the preservation of our Liberties, so it ought to be the first thing laid aside, when those Liberties are firmly established.

 President George Washington believed that Love and Humility (Subordination) were necessary factors in achieving Happiness. When a group of Continental Army soldiers overtook Independence Hall, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, President Washington wrote a letter to Congress to be Public Notice to all Citizens of the United States. The notice was written in response to soldiers demanded back pay for their services to the federal government. President Washington understood the importance of calming the soldiers. He reminded them of the obedience to their oath.  George Washington's National responsibilities and experiences as Commander-in-chief bestowed upon him the wisdom of the broader view of the proper communication to the United States institutions and more importantly, its Citizens. 

From George Washington to The States, 8 June 1783

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I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in His Holy Protection that He would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination & obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field—and finally that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do Justice, to love mercy and to demean (deprive our ego), with that charity, humility & pacific (peaceful) temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion & without a Humble Imitation of whose example in these things, we can never Hope to be a Happy Nation. 

 During the Revolutionary War, oaths of allegiance were administered to officers of the Continental Army under General Washington. These officers swore to defend the Free, Independent and Sovereign States against King George. 

Extract from the minutes, CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

Four resolutions of the Continental Congress concerning the loyalty oath.
Signed: Extract from the minutes, Charles Thomson, secretary.
Journals of the Continental Congress, 197

In Congress, February 3, 1778

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IN CONGRESS, FEBRUARY 3, 1778.

RESOLVED, THAT every officer, who holds or shall hereafter hold a commission or office from Congress, shall take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation;

“I do acknowledge the United States of America, to be Free, Independent and Sovereign States, and declare that the people thereof owe no allegiance or obedience to George the Third, King of Great-Britain; and I renounce, refuse and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him; and I do swear (or affirm) that I will to the utmost of my power, support, maintain and defend the said United States, against the said King George the Third, his heirs and successors and his and their abettors, assistants and adherents and will serve the said United States in the office of which I now hold, with fidelity, according to the best of my skill and understanding.” So help me God.

 

After the Revolutionary war, General Washington relinquished his power to serve under the Creator and the Charter of the United States Constitution. It was President Washington's hope that the Creator would bless America with Liberty and Happiness.

George Washington, December 23, 1783, Resignation Address

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Mr. President: The great events on which my resignation depended having at length taken place; I have now the honor of offering my sincere Congratulations to Congress and of presenting myself before them to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the Service of my Country.

Happy in the confirmation of our Independence and Sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable Nation, I resign with satisfaction the Appointment I accepted with diffidence (modesty). A diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which however was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude (righteousness) of our Cause, the support of the Supreme Power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven.

...The Successful termination of the War has verified the most sanguine expectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my Countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous Contest.

I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my Official life, by commending the Interests of our dearest Country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping.

Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.

In Washington's farewell address our Nation's Founding Father stressed that WE THE PEOPLE must always be on the lookout for those  individuals, organizations, and outside nations that desire to weaken our Unity of tranquility, peace, and prosperity. Furthermore, there will be always a cost (expense, debt) of gratitude to share in safeguarding a Social contract that promotes the Happiness of ALL its Citizens (WE THE PEOPLE). More importantly, we must have Respect and Admiration (Love) for All PEOPLE, Foreign and Domestic.

Transcript of President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)

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The Unity of government which constitutes you One People is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real Independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices (tricks, deception) employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your National Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium (safeguard) of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing (disapprove) whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly (displeasure) frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble (weaken) the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation (title) derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

 

 Like Bolingbroke, Blackstone wrote that it is the duty of those who Nature (Creator) and Fortune (Grace) have bestowed abilities and time to serve their country and master their understanding of its Civil Laws.  It is the power of these Civil Laws that protects all Citizens from physical and mental injury by fellow countryman and foreigners. It is the power of these Civil laws which Civil Liberty is derived.  Liberty is what is that which those that govern the land permits. 

INTRODUCTION. Of the Study, Nature, and Extent of the Laws of England.

SECTION I.

ON THE STUDY OF THE LAW.

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And, first, to demonstrate the utility of some acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the singular frame and polity of that land which is governed by this system of laws. A land, perhaps, the only one in the universe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the constitution. This liberty, rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatever the laws permit, which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action by which the meanest [small minded] individual is protected from the insults and oppression of the greatest. As therefore every subject is interested in the preservation of the laws, it is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with those at least with which he is immediately concerned; lest he incur the censure, as well as inconvenience, of living in society without knowing the obligations which it lays him under. And thus much may suffice for persons of inferior condition, who have neither time nor capacity to enlarge their views beyond that contracted sphere in which they are appointed to move. But those, on whom nature and fortune have bestowed more abilities and greater leisure, cannot be so easily excused. These advantages are given them, not for the benefit of themselves only, but also of the public: and yet they cannot, in any scene of life, discharge properly their duty either to the public or themselves, without some degree of knowledge in the laws.

All gentlemen of fortune are, in consequence of their property, liable to be called upon to establish the rights, to estimate the injuries, to weigh the accusations and sometimes to dispose of the lives of their fellow-subjects, by serving upon juries. In this situation they have frequently a right to decide, and that upon their oaths, questions of nice importance, in the solution of which some legal skill is requisite; especially where the law and the fact, as it often happens, are intimately blended together. And the general incapacity, even of our best juries, to do this with any tolerable propriety, has greatly debased their authority; and has unavoidably thrown more power into the hands of the judges, to direct, control, and even reverse their verdicts, than perhaps the constitution intended.

Yet farther; most gentlemen of considerable property, at some period or other in their lives, are ambitious of representing their country in parliament: and those, who are ambitious of receiving so high a trust, would also do well to remember its nature and importance. They are not thus honorably distinguished from the rest of their fellow-subjects, merely that they may privilege their persons, their estates, or their domestics; that they may list under party banners; may grant or withhold supplies; may vote with or vote against a popular or unpopular administration; but upon considerations far more interesting and important. They are the guardians of the English constitution; the makers, repealers, and interpreters of the English laws; delegated to watch, to check, and to avert every dangerous innovation, to propose, to adopt, and to cherish any solid and well-weighed improvement; bound by every tie of nature, of honor, and of religion, to transmit that constitution and those laws to posterity, amended if possible, at least without any derogation. And how unbecoming must it appear in a member of the legislature to vote for a new law, who is utterly ignorant of the old! 

...the science of legislation, the noblest and most difficult of any. Apprenticeships are held necessary to almost every art, commercial or mechanical: a long course of reading and study must form the divine, the physician, and the practical professor of the laws; but every man of superior fortune thinks himself born a legislator. Yet Tully was of a different opinion: “It is necessary,” says he,“for a senator to be thoroughly acquainted with the constitution; and this,” he declares, “is a knowledge of the most extensive nature; a matter of science, of diligence, of reflection; without which no senator can possibly be fit for his office.”

The Free Exercise Clause of the United States Constitution gives Citizens and legal foreign guests Liberty to reach, hold, practice and change beliefs freely according to our individual rights of conscience.  The United States government may not penalize or discriminate against an individual or a group of individuals because of their religious views, nor may it compel persons to affirm any particular beliefs.

United States Supreme Court

EPPERSON ET AL. V. ARKANSAS.
APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS.
No. 7. Argued October 16, 1968.-Decided November 12, 1968.

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The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.

Benjamin Franklin was 81 years old and nearing the end of his life when the Constitutional Convention, also known as the Philadelphia Convention, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from May 25 to September 17, 1787.  Franklin’s voice was too weak to speak, so he put a paper into James Wilson's hand to read aloud containing his reasons for assenting to the Constitution. Considering all the different points of view of Representatives at the convention, Franklin thought it was remarkable that the Constitution was a superior document of collective wisdom.

Benjamin Franklin's Final Speech

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Most men indeed as well as most sects in Religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele a Protestant in a Dedication tells the Pope, that the only difference between our Churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrines is, the Church of Rome is infallible and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain french lady, who in a dispute with her sister, said "I don't know how it happens, Sister but I meet with no body but myself, that's always in the right — Il n'y a que moi qui a toujours raison. (It's just me that always has reason)."

I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another’s throats. Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. 

 

 MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

United States Supreme Court

EVERSON v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF EWING ET AL.
APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF ERRORS AND APPEALS OF NEW JERSEY.
No. 52. Argued November 20, 1946.-Decided February 10, 1947.

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Page 8

The First Amendment, as made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth commands that a state "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . ." These words of the First Amendment reflected in the minds of early Americans a vivid mental picture of conditions and practices which they fervently wished to stamp out in order to preserve liberty for themselves and for their posterity. Doubtless their goal has not been entirely reached; but so far has the Nation moved
toward it that the expression "law respecting an establishment of religion," probably does not so vividly remind present-day Americans of the evils, fears, and political problems that caused that expression to be written into our Bill of Rights.

Whether this New Jersey law is one respecting an "establishment of religion" requires an understanding of the meaning of that language, particularly with respect to the imposition of taxes. Once again, therefore, it is not inappropriate briefly to review the background and environment of the period in which that constitutional language was fashioned and adopted.

A large proportion of the early settlers of this country came here from Europe to escape the bondage of laws which compelled them to support and attend government favored churches. The centuries immediately before and contemporaneous with the colonization of America had been filled with turmoil, civil strife, and persecutions, generated in large part by established sects determined to maintain their absolute political and religious supremacy.

With the power of government supporting them, at various times and places, Catholics had persecuted Protestants, Protestants had persecuted Catholics, Protestant sects had persecuted other Protestant sects, Catholics of one shade of belief had persecuted Catholics of another shade of belief, and all of these had from time to time persecuted Jews. In efforts to force loyalty to whatever religious group happened to be on top and in league with the government of a particular time and place, men and women had been fined, cast in jail, cruelly tortured, and killed.

Among the offenses for which these punishments had been inflicted were such things as speaking disrespectfully of the views of ministers of government-established churches, non-attendance at those churches, expressions of nonbelief in their doctrines, and failure to pay taxes and tithes to support them.

These practices of the old world were transplanted to and began to thrive in the soil of the new America. The very charters granted by the English Crown to the individuals and companies designated to make the laws which would control the destinies of the colonials authorized these individuals and companies to erect religious establishments which all, whether believers or non-believers, would be required to support and attend.'

An exercise of this authority was accompanied by a repetition of many of the old-world practices and persecutions. Catholics found themselves hounded and proscribed because of their faith; Quakers who followed their conscience went to jail; Baptists were peculiarly obnoxious to certain dominant Protestant sects; men and women of varied faiths who happened to be in a minority in a particular locality were persecuted because they steadfastly persisted in worshipping God only as their own consciences dictated.' And all of these dissenters were compelled to pay tithes and taxes to support government-sponsored churches whose ministers preached inflammatory sermons designed to strengthen and consolidate the established faith by generating a burning hatred against dissenters. These practices became so commonplace as to shock the freedom-loving colonials into a feeling of abhorrence." The imposition of taxes to pay ministers' salaries and to build and maintain churches and church property aroused their indignation.'

It was these feelings which found expression in the First Amendment. No one locality and no one group throughout the Colonies can rightly be given entire credit for having aroused the sentiment that culminated in adoption of the Bill of Rights' provisions embracing religious liberty. But Virginia, where the established church had achieved a dominant influence in political affairs and where many excesses attracted wide public attention, provided a great stimulus and able leadership for the movement. The people there, as elsewhere, reached the conviction that individual religious liberty could be achieved best under a government which was stripped of all power to tax, to support, or otherwise to assist any or all religions, or to interfere with the beliefs of any religious individual or group.

The movement toward this end reached its dramatic climax in Virginia in 1785-86 when the Virginia legislative body was about to renew Virginia's tax levy for the support of the established church. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison led the fight against this tax. Madison wrote his great Memorial and Remonstrance against the law." In it, he eloquently argued that a true religion did not need the support of law; that no person, either believer or non-believer, should be taxed to support a religious institution of any kind; that the best interest of a society required that the minds of men always be wholly free; and that cruel persecutions were the inevitable result of government-established religions.

Madison's Remonstrance received strong support throughout Virginia," and the Assembly postponed consideration of the proposed tax measure until its next session. When the proposal came up for consideration at that session, it not only died in committee, but the Assembly enacted the famous "Virginia Bill for Religious Liberty" originally written by Thomas Jefferson. 

 From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790

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The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

As the primary author of the United States Declaration of Independence , Thomas Jefferson understood the liberty of choice our Creator has given us to pursuit the wisdom of life and prosperity or suffer the evils of death and destruction. The truth of choice that the followers of religion and/or nature, universally agree upon is defined as 'self evident.' 

History shows that people evolve both physically, mentally, spiritually, and culturally. Individuals, groups, educational institutions, political parties, religions, and even nation states may resistant to change. They find comfort living in an environment they grew up in. And when the environment changes due to a human modification or disregard of a particular custom, individuals may become agitated and possibly hostile. That is why civility of clear and concise communication is important to better understand a proposed change. Jefferson knew through experience,  Activist and Politicians like himself become hypersensitive to any proposal of change. 

Proposals to Revise the Virginia Constitution:

Thomas Jefferson to “Henry Tompkinson” (Samuel Kercheval), 12 July 1816

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Some men look at Constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, & deem them, like the Ark of the Covenant, too sacred to be touched. they ascribe (attribute, accredit) to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well: I belonged to it, and labored with it. it deserved well of it’s country. it was very like the present, but without the experience of the present: and 40 years of experience in government is worth a century of book-reading: and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent & untried changes in Laws and Constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. but I know also that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. as that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. we might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors. 

 Like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington understood that Civility of Law and Order depends on the cherishment of people in all stations of life that mutually desire Happiness and understand their duty to follow the agreed upon rules to enjoy it. 

George Washington to Joshua Holmes, 2 December 1783

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The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent (wealthy) & respectable Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights & privileges, if by decency & propriety (civility) of conduct they appear to merit (be worthy) the enjoyment.

 The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland Including Some Events in His Life.
by John Leland, L. F . Greene

December 12, 1826

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Faint yet pursuing. The summer past I have spent chiefly in travelling and preaching. I have attended three Associations — the jubilee and funeral of three Presidents — as also a general meeting which lasted four days — preached eighty-one times, and seen eighty -six Baptist preachers since the first of June.

Two remarkable events have taken place the present year. Two old patriots, both of them Ex-Presidents, died on the 4th of July ; just fifty years after they signed the Declaration of Independence — John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The first aged ninety-one, the other eighty-three. Mr. Jefferson drew the Declaration of Independence ; and by his writings and administration, he has justly acquired the title of the Apostle of Liberty.

Elder Leland taught the difference between Civil and Divine government. The Function of Civil government is to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the community. The Baptist Elder believed Divine government begins the moment after death. The Christ the King honors those that based their early life on simplicity, humility and their love toward others.

The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland Including Some Events in His Life.
by John Leland, L. F . Greene

The Government of Christ a Christocracy

Published 1804

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Civil government is designed to protect the lives, liberty, and property, of the community, but the divine government is adapted to pardon the guilty, reform the heart, instruct the mind, and improve the morals of the wicked. The promotions and punishments of civil governments, are all this side of the grave, but those of the divine government, are in the succeeding world. Blood, warlike valor, and state policy, raise men to high rank in the governments on earth, but self-abasement, love to enemies, simplicity and humility, are the characteristics of those whom the King delights to honor. The great names of Alexander, Caesar, Washington, or Jefferson, will be no more regarded in the judgment day, than the names of their meanest servants, unless they possess that moral excellency which their servants do not. 

As a devout abolitionist, John Leland believed slavery to be against the Liberty of the individual pursuit (self interest) of Happiness. His Christian Faith (Belief) taught him to understand that Freedom of Liberty in the Bible meant: Freedom for All.

The Founders profound respect for our right of conscience is well-documented. 

From Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Miller, 23 January 1808

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I consider the government of the US. as interdicted by the constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. this results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise, of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the US. certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. it must then rest with the states, as far as it can be in any human authority.

James Madison's message is clear to stay away on all matters of liberty of religious conscience that are unessential to government authority.

James Madison to Jasper Adams, September 1833

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I must admit, moreover, that it may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation, between the rights of Religion & the Civil authority, with such distinctness, as to avoid collisions & doubts on unessential points. The tendency to a usurpation on one side, or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded against by an entire abstinence of the Government from interference, in any way whatever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, & protecting each sect against trespasses on its legal rights by others.

In McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky, 545 U.S. 844, it was the Supreme Court opinion that the United States was founded on a secular principle of neutrality in regards to all sincere conscious religious and atheist beliefs.

MCCREARY COUNTY v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KY.

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the principle of neutrality has provided a good sense of direction: the government may not favor one religion over another, or
religion over irreligion, religious choice being the prerogative of individuals under the Free Exercise Clause. The principle has been helpful simply because it responds to one of the major concerns that prompted adoption of the Religion Clauses.

The Framers and the citizens of their time intended not only to protect the integrity of individual conscience in religious matters, Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S., at 52–54, and n. 38, but to guard against the civic divisiveness that follows when the Government weighs in on one side of religious debate; nothing does a better job of roiling society, a point that needed no explanation to the descendants of English Puritans and Cavaliers (or Massachusetts Puritans and Baptists). E.g., Everson, supra, at 8 (“A large proportion of the early settlers of this country came here from Europe to escape [religious persecution]”).

A sense of the past thus points to governmental neutrality as an objective of the Establishment Clause, and a sensible standard for applying it. To be sure, given its generality as a principle, an appeal to neutrality alone cannot possibly lay every issue to rest, or tell us what issues on the margins are substantial enough for constitutional significance, a point that has been clear from the Founding era to modern times. 

The Free Exercise Clause is the part of the First Amendment that reads:

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Washington urged Americans to always place the interests of the nation over their political and regional affiliations.

MCCREARY COUNTY v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF KY.

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Syllabus P. 3

the Commandments being a central point of reference in the religious and moral history of Jews and Christians. They proclaim the existence of a monotheistic god (no other gods), regulate details of religious obligation (no graven images, sabbath breaking, or vain oath swearing), and unmistakably rest even the universally accepted prohibitions (as against murder, theft, etc.) on the sanction of the divinity proclaimed at the text’s beginning. 

Opinion of the Court

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In Pulaski County, amidst reported controversy over the propriety of the display, the Commandments were hung in a ceremony presided over by the
county Judge-Executive, who called them “good rules to
live by” and who recounted the story of an astronaut who
became convinced “there must be a divine God” after
viewing the Earth from the moon.

Page 4

that the Kentucky House of Representatives had in
1993 “voted unanimously . . . to adjourn . . . ‘in remembrance and honor of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Ethics’ ”;
that the “County Judge and . . . magistrates agree with
the arguments set out by Judge [Roy] Moore” in defense of
his “display [of] the Ten Commandments in his courtroom”; and that the “Founding Father[s] [had an] explicit
understanding of the duty of elected officials to publicly
acknowledge God as the source of America’s strength and
direction.” Def. Exh. 1, at 1–3, 6. 

The dissent, however, puts forward a limitation on the application of the neutrality principle, with citations to historical evidence said to show that the Framers understood the ban on establishment of religion as sufficiently narrow to allow the government to espouse submission to the divine will. The dissent identifies God as the God of monotheism, all of whose three principal strains (Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim) acknowledge the religious importance of the Ten Commandments. 

President George Washington's Farewell address emphasized that Religion and Moralism share the same objective platform in framing a civil society. Both concepts share faith (trust) in others and belief that justice and benevolence (goodwill, virtue) should be universal (equal) truth.

Washington's Farewell Address 1796

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Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it - It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.

Having just overthrown the King of England during the American Revolution, Jefferson and his political Democratic-Republican party feared Federalist desire for a strong national government would threaten the Liberty of a young Nation with a growing Federal control of power.   The American Colonist revoked their allegiance to the British Crown and the Social Contract (Laws, Rules) that bound them to it.

 Declaration of Independence
 

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The Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude (righteousness) of our intentions (desires), do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence (Will), we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

General Washington believed that it was through Divine Intervention his Continental Army was able to survive the entire Revolutionary War despite great odds favoring the enemy. He believed that the key to maintaining Divine Purpose was by following a proper code of conduct.

From George Washington to Samuel Langdon, 28 September 1789

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The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the Great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition (intervention) was so frequently manifested in our behalf—And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored. 

Washington clearly thought the United States to be similar to the Israelite Nation in gaining freedom from the bondage of a Tyrant through a union of friendship and greatness to be under the Providence of Creator to be self-evident.

From George Washington to Landon Carter, 27 October 1777

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May the same Wonder-Working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the Promised Land—whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous (clearly evident) in establishing these United States as an independent nation—still continue to water them with the Dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal (material) and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah (Yahweh).

Both Adams and Cranch were influenced by George Whitefield, a famous Oxford Graduate and Methodist preacher. In his time, he was noted to be a Christian hero of British citizens and American Colonist. Here are some selected quotes Whitefield on how our conscience becomes aware of a greater Divine Being through the selfless love of others.

Sermons
By George Whitefield

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Sermon 40. - The Holy Spirit

I say, GENERALLY: For, as God is a sovereign agent, his sacred Spirit blows not only on whom, but when and how it listens. Therefore, far be it from me to confine the Almighty to one way of acting, or say, that all undergo an equal degree of conviction: no, there is a holy variety in God's methods of calling home his elect...

How wretchedly are they mistaken, that blend the light of the Spirit with the light of conscience...

Sermon 2. - Walking With God

It is the very breath of the new creature, the fan of the divine life, whereby the spark of holy fire, kindled in the soul by God, is not only kept in, but raised into a flame...

In order to walk closely with God, his children must not only watch the motions of God's providence without them, but the motions also of his blessed Spirit in their hearts. ‘As many as are the sons [and daughters] of God, are led by the Spirit of God', and give up themselves to be guided by the Holy Ghost, as a little child gives its hand to be led by a nurse or parent. It is no doubt in this sense that we are to be converted, and become like little children.

Sermon 6. - Britain's Mercies, and Britain's Duty.

I take it for granted, further, that you need not be informed, that among the various motives which are generally urged to enforce obedience to the Divine Commands, that of Love is the most powerful and cogent. 

the fire of divine love kindles in [our] soul

The psalm to which the words of our text belong, is a pregnant proof of this; it being a kind of epitome or compendium of the whole Jewish history: at least it contains an enumeration of man signal and extraordinary blessings the Israelites had received from God, and also the improvement they were in duty bound to make of them, “Observe his statues and keep his laws.”

Sermon 29. - The Extent and Reasonableness of Self-Denial

The spirit of God will move on the face of our souls, as he did once upon the face of the great deep; and cause them to emerge out of that confused chaos...

Sermon 43. - The Almost Christian

An almost Christian, if we consider him in respect to his duty to God, is one that halts between two opinions; that wavers between Christ and the world; that would reconcile God and Mammon, light and darkness, Christ and Belial. It is true, he has an inclination to religion, but then he is very cautious how he goes too far in it: his false heart is always crying out, Spare thyself, do thyself no harm. He prays indeed, that "God's will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven." But notwithstanding, he is very partial in his obedience, and fondly hopes that God will not be extreme to mark every thing that he willfully does amiss; though an inspired apostle has told him, that "he who offends in one point is guilty of all." But chiefly, he is one that depends much on outward ordinances, and on that account looks upon himself as righteous, and despises others; though at the same time he is as great a stranger to the divine life as any other person whatsoever. In short, he is fond of the form, but never experiences the power of godliness in his heart. He goes on year after year, attending on the means of grace, but then, like Pharaoh's lean cows, he is never the better, but rather the worse for them.

If you consider him in respect to his neighbor, he is one that is strictly just to all; but then this does not proceed from any love to God or regard to man, but only through a principle of self-love: because he knows dishonesty will spoil his reputation, and consequently hinder his thriving in the world.

He is one that depends much upon being negatively good, and contents himself with the consciousness of having done no one any harm; though he reads in the gospel, that "the unprofitable servant was cast into outer darkness," and the barren fig-tree was cursed and dried up from the roots, not for bearing bad, but no fruit.

He is no enemy to charitable contributions in public, if not too frequently recommended: but then he is unacquainted with the kind offices of visiting the sick and imprisoned, clothing the unclothed, and relieving the hungry in a private manner. He thinks that these things belong only to the clergy, though his own false heart tells him, that nothing but pride keeps him from exercising these acts of humility; and that Jesus Christ, in the 25th chapter of St. Matthew, condemns persons to everlasting punishment, not merely for being fornicators, drunkards, or extortioners, but for neglecting these charitable offices, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, he shall set the sheep on his right-hand, and the goats on his left.

But to proceed in the character of an ALMOST CHRISTIAN: If we consider him in respect of himself; as we said he was strictly honest to his neighbor, so he is likewise strictly sober in himself: but then both his honesty and sobriety proceed from the same principle of a false self-love.

It is true, he runs not into the same excess of riot with other men; but then it is not out of obedience to the laws of God, but either because his constitution will not away with intemperance; or rather because he is cautious of forfeiting his reputation, or unfitting himself for temporal business. But though he is so prudent as to avoid intemperance and excess, for the reasons before-mentioned; yet he always goes to the extremity of what is lawful. It is true, he is no drunkard; but then he has no CHRISTIAN SELF-DENIAL. He cannot think our Savior to be so austere a Master, as to deny us to indulge ourselves in some particulars: and so by this means he is destitute of a sense of true religion, as much as if he lived in debauchery, or any other crime whatever. As to settling his principles as well as practice, he is guided more by the world, than by the word of God: for his part, he cannot think the way to heaven so narrow as some would make it; and therefore considers not so much what scripture requires, as what such and such a good man does, or what will best suit his own corrupt inclinations. Upon this account, he is not only very cautious himself, but likewise very careful of young converts, whose faces are set heavenward; and therefore is always acting the devil's part, and bidding them spare themselves, though they are doing no more than what the scripture strictly requires them to do: The consequence of which is, that "he suffers not himself to enter into the kingdom of God, and those that are entering in he hinders.

Thomas Jefferson himself thought that through reason one can observe a perfect design in nature organized by the power of an Ultimate Creator that was the Initial Cause that set everything into motion. This is the key tenet underlying the Declaration of Independence.

From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 11 April 1823

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I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in it’s parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a Conviction of Design, Consummate (perfect) Skill, and Indefinite Power in every atom of it’s composition. The Movements of the Heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal (pushing) and centripetal (pulling) forces, the structure of our earth itself, with it’s distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere, animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles, insects mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organised as man or mammoth, the mineral substances, their generation and uses, it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is , in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an Ultimate Cause, a Fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms.

Being a staunch defender of Conscious Liberty, Thomas Jefferson was reluctant to talk about his personal beliefs in public. His private letters reveal a man of deep moral conviction who spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the Providence and Justice of the Creator. Jefferson's writings do reveal his acceptance of a Creator and Divine Justice.

Notes on the State of Virginia:
Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

QUERY XVIII

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And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that His justice cannot sleep for ever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.—But it is impossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of history natural and civil. We must be contented to hope they will force their way into every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible,

Thomas Jefferson firmly believed that Judgment is made on the Works in one's life or lack thereof. He also could not deny Jesus works of mercy, compassion and love pointed to the something beyond the works themselves. Jefferson admired the purity of innocence of Jesus unblemished character and hoped everyone follow the virtue to his moral teachings. stripped away the supernatural and left only wisdom he accepted as a materialist Unitarian thinker.

From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 13 April 1820

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Your favor of Mar. 27. is received, and my granddaughter Ellen has undertaken to copy the Syllabus, which will therefore be enclosed. it was originally written to Dr Rush. on his death, fearing that the inquisition of the public might get hold of it, I asked the return of it from the family, which they kindly complied with. at the request of another friend, I had given him a copy. he lent it to his friend to read, who copied it, and in a few months it appeared in the theological magazine of London. happily that repository is scarcely known in this country; and the Syllabus therefore is still a secret, and in your hands I am sure it will continue so.

 

But while this Syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus in it’s true and highlight, as no impostor himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with Him in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist; He takes the side of spiritualism: He preaches the efficacy (value) of repentance towards forgiveness (mercy) , Start insertion,of sin, End, I require a counterpoise (balance) of good works to redeem it Etc. Etc. it is the innocence of his character, the purity & sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his inculcations (instilling), the beauty of the apologues (spirtual teachings, parables),in which He conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes indeed needing indulgence to Eastern hyperbolism (exaggeration).

Thomas Jefferson admired, but did not accept Jesus as the being begotten of the Creator. He  considered the Christian Trinity to be analogous to Cerberus, the three headed hound of Hades guarding the gates of the Underworld. Jefferson was greatly influenced by Joseph Priestley, a British Unitarian who rejected the Trinity and asserted the perfectibility of man through reason.

In my limited understanding I find the Trinity to be analogous to the three main parts of our brain: the cerebrum (Father with higher sensory functions), cerebellum (Son that receives and carries out instruction) and brainstem (Holy Spirit that connects the Father to the Son and everyone). It is through this system of communication our conscious is made aware. A Behavior Scientist would understand the Holy Spirit, to be a of synonym of Wisdom, a method of integrating the accumulation of knowledge, experience, and deep understanding in daily life.  Like Jefferson, Athanasius has been slandered by the followers of Arius,  a North African priest who taught that Christ was the Jewish Messiah, but not the Creator.

From Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 8 December 1822

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I have to thank you for your pamphlets on the subject of Unitarianism, and to express my gratification with your efforts for the revival of primitive Christianity in your quarter. no historical fact is better established than that the Doctrine of One God, pure and uncompounded was that of the early ages of Christianity; and was among the efficacious (effective) doctrines which gave it triumph over the polytheism of the ancients, sickened with the absurdities of their own theology. Nor was the unity of the Supreme Being ousted from the Christian Creed by the force of reason, but by the sword of civil government wielded at the will of the fanatic Athanasius. the hocus-pocus phantasm of a god like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads had it’s birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs. And a strong proof of the solidity of the primitive faith is it’s restoration as soon as a nation arises which vindicates to itself the freedom of religious opinion, and it’s eternal divorce from the civil authority. The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe is now all but ascendant in the Eastern states; it is dawning in the West, and advancing towards the South; and I confidently expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism become the general religion of the United States. The Eastern presses are giving us many excellent pieces on the subject, and Priestly’s learned writings on it are, or should be in every hand. in fact the Athanasian paradox that one is three, and three but one is so incomprehensible to the human mind that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea. he who thinks he does only deceives himself. he proves also that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder is the sport of every wind. with such persons gullibility which they call faith takes the helm from the hand of reason and the mind becomes a wreck.

I write with freedom, because, while I claim a right to believe in one god, if so my reason tells me, I yield as freely to others that of believing in three. both religions I find make honest men, & that is the only point society has any authority to look to—although this mutual freedom should produce mutual indulgence, yet I wish not to be brought in question before the public on this or any other subject, and I pray you to consider me as writing under that trust. I take no part in controversies religious or political. at the age of 80. tranquility is the greatest good of life, and the strongest of our desires that of dying in the good will of all mankind. and with the assurances of all my good will to Unitarian & Trinitarian, to Whig & Tory accept for yourself that of my entire respect.

 In Joeseph Priestly's work, Socrates and Jesus Compared, Socrates devout religious belief to help citizens and others to be good was greatly admired. He taught the one Law of Nature is to do good in return for good received; or face the penalty of being deserted by your friends in you time of need. Priestly also writes that taught of a decisive power superior to man. And Unlike Epicurus belief that the gods were unconcerned spectators of the plight of man, Socrates reasoned the gods were concerned and interceded in the affairs of man. At his trial Socrates said that he had often heard a Daemon (divine voice) who was frequently present within him. He trusted the judgement of his personal reason and the wisdom of the gods over people. During his trial,Socrates listened to his Daemon repeated commands not to make any defense to the accusations, which led to his demise against tyrants. During Socrates sentencing he pleaded a justifiable reason of vanity that he if was executed, Athens would find no other man like him. Ultimately Socrates execution made him even more famous as a martyr for morality.

To Priestly it appears that Socrates had little or no faith in the sanction of virtue in the doctrine of a future state. But, believed in the pleasure received during life and the chance of honored by the living after death. Priestly writes, "Socrates, according to Plato, generally speaks of a future state, and the condition of men in, as the popular belief, which might be true or false. Priestly does mention that Socrates taught that there was a privilege given by the gods to only a select group humans initiated in the right manner into a philosophy of meditation of a pure mind over their body to live with them. Socrates did not know whether or not he had succeeded in this endeavor or not.
 
SOCRATES AND JESUS
COMPARED
 
BY JOSEPH PRIESTLY
 
page 22
 

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"If" says he "what is said to be true, we shall in another "state die no more. In death "he says to his judges "we either lose all sense of things, or as it is said, go into some other place; and if it be so, it will be much better; as we shall be out " of the power of partial judges, and come before "those that are impartial."

 Priestly maintained Socrates theorized that the substance of man's power of thinking, or mental action may remain when the corporeal body ceases to exist. Priestly then added the Greek general belief of an afterlife during the time of Socrates could have been similar to the Jews idea of afterlife, but the record of this Future State revelation had been long lost.

Thomas Jefferson letters and essays reveal an American leader with a strong Unitarian sympathy, but a free spirited man that did not formally belong to any Unitarian congregation and regularly attended Sunday Baptist Services at the United States Capitol. Jefferson passed away one year after the founding of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) in 1825. The Sage of Monticello (Jefferson) prior letter to Doctor Benjamin Waterhouse, co-founder and professor of the Harvard Medical School and Unitarian minister at Cambridge, Massachusetts displays his affinity to the country following the moral teachings of Jesus in proper method to follow a Just Creator. 

From Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Waterhouse, 26 June 1822

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Had the Doctrines of Jesus been preached always as purely as they came from His lips, the whole civilized world would now have been Christian. I rejoice that in this blessed country of free inquiry and belief, which has surrendered it’s creed and conscience to neither kings nor priests, the genuine doctrine of one only God is reviving, and I trust that there is not a young man now living in the US. who will not die an Unitarian.

The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth
(The Jefferson Bible)
by Thomas Jefferson

XXXI. - To be Born Blind No Proof of Sin.

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AND as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Disclaimer

Romans 1

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16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

Jefferson understood the idea where a man could be both physically and morally blind. But, he rejected the Spiritual (Supernatural) part of John's testimony where Jesus used the Creator's power to give a blind man the miracle of physical sight.

John Chapter 9

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4 We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man’s eyes 7 and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So the blind man went away and washed, and came back seeing.

Great Isaiah Scroll - Chapter 42

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16: I will help the blind walk by a way that they do not know. In paths they do not know I will lead them. I will make the dark places before them light and rough places level. I will do these things and I will not abandon them.

Titus

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1:2 in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

Jefferson in the “Kingdom of Everlasting Glory.”

Jefferson wrote back a little more than a month later. He thanked King for his letter “because I believe it was written with kind intentions, and a personal concern for my future happiness." Jefferson believed our Freedom Conscience to be a sacred part of our human nature to think for ourselves. Jefferson supported all religions that supported the Freedom of giving us a choice to speak and act honestly towards all members of our society. 

Thomas Jefferson to Miles King, 26 September 1814

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 I have trust in Him who made us what we are, and knows it was not His plan to make us always unerring. He has formed us moral agents, not that, in the perfection of His state, He can feel pain or pleasure from any thing we may do: He is far above our power: but that We may promote the happiness of those with whom He has placed us in society, by acting honestly towards all, benevolently to those who fall within our way, respecting sacredly their rights bodily and mental, and cherishing especially their Freedom of Conscience, as we value our own. I must ever believe that religion substantially good which produces an honest life, and we have been authorized by One, whom you and I equally respect, to judge of the tree by it’s fruit. Our particular principles of religion are a subject of accountability to our God alone. I inquire after no man’s, and trouble none with mine: nor is it given to us in this life to know whether your’s or mine, our friend’s or our foe’s are exactly the right. nay, we have heard it said that there is not a Quaker or a Baptist, a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian, a Catholic or a Protestant in heaven: that, on entering that gate, we leave those badges of schism behind, and find ourselves united in those principles only in which God has united us all. let us not be uneasy then about the different roads we may pursue, as believing them the shortest, to that our last abode: but, following the guidance of a good conscience, let us be happy in the hope that, by these different paths, we shall all meet in the end. and that you and I may there meet and embrace is my earnest prayer: and with this assurance I salute you with brotherly esteem and respect.

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

 

 Thomas Jefferson Letter to the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut 1 January  1802. Jefferson the “wall” metaphor to refer to expunging all references to God, the Bible, and Christianity from public life. He found respecting the moral authority but not necessarily the divinity of Jesus to be the way to separate establishing legal authority from executive authority of the citizens. And judicial authority to be used only when requested by the government or its citizens.

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Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

Jesus read from the Torah and how to live in peace within a Republican form of government and still obey the Law given by Moses. 

Matthew 22

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22:21  Jesus said "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's."

22:37 “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

23:2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it.

Exodus 18

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18:13 On the next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning until evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why are you sitting by yourself, and all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”

15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 When they have a dispute, it comes to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make known the decrees of God and his laws.”

17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good! 18 You will surely wear out, both you and these people who are with you, for this is too heavy a burden for you; you are not able to do it by yourself. 19 Now listen to me, I will give you advice, and may God be with you. You be a representative for the people to God, and you bring their disputes to God; 20 warn them of the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 21 But you choose from the people capable men, God-fearing men, men of truth, those who hate bribes, and put them over the people as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 22 They will judge the people under normal circumstances, and every difficult case they will bring to you, but every small case they themselves will judge, so that you may make it easier for yourself, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will be able to go home satisfied.”

24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he had said. 25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

 

Leviticus

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19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy

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6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength.

6: 28 The secret things belong unto HaShem our G-d; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever,

Throughout history there has been a steady change on what We as a Body (People) believe as a nation. The Church as a body of all faiths has become more confederated, progressive and less moral condemning in succumbing to our human passions. Science has grown and intertwined with Church and Morality in our understanding of human Behavior that it too has become confederated by human passion.  

The Union of the States remains strong, but the Will of the People are bridled under one Federal Head under the Creator. The Church and Moralist are now Conservatives and Progressives with different ideas about Providence, Public Justice, Peace, Benevolence, and Harmony with their fellow man.  

Many scientific investigations have failed to to uproot and decompose Religion and Morality into theoretically grounded elements of pleasure, happiness, excellence, creativity, harmony, good fortune, and hope.

I plan to further the noumenon (concept) known as human wisdom of discerning the truth to what is good and bad in accordance with my understanding of finding purpose to who, what, when, and where we are.

Washington's Circular Letter of Farewell to the Army, June 8, 1783

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There are four things, which I humbly conceive, are essential to the well being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States as an Independent Power:

1st. An indissoluble Union of the States under one Federal Head.

2dly. A Sacred regard to Public Justice.

3dly. The adoption of a proper Peace Establishment, and

4thly. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly Disposition, among the People of the United States, which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity, and in some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the Community.

These are the pillars on which the glorious Fabric of our Independence and National Character must be supported; Liberty is the Basis, and whoever would dare to sap the foundation, or overturn the Structure, under whatever specious pretexts he may attempt it, will merit the bitterest execration, and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured Country.

Or are we about to Create a New Union where a pure Democracy controls our laws and customs. Or one guided by passion that rejects Divine Providence? A belief that there is no Pure Morality, only hope, ambition and fortune run by the chance of probability and fate. Will we discard a Country built by Americans that understood a Republican form of government where Providence and Morality are enjoined. 

Americans as a body  President John Adams considered the State to be composed of Religious and Moral citizens. 

From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798

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We shall have the Strongest Reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned Us by Providence. But should the People of America, once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another and towards foreign nations, which assumes the Language of Justice and moderation while it is practicing Iniquity (Wickedness) and Extravagance (luxury); and displays in the most captivating manner the charming Pictures of Candor (openness) frankness (truth) & sincerity (purity) while it is rioting in Rapine (Looting) and Insolence (Anarchy): this Country will be the most miserable Habitation in the World. Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice (Greed), Ambition;  Revenge or Gallantry (Courage), would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 

 

It is my hope to enjoin,"The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" with The Didache (dee-da-ke, Greek word for teaching) of the 12 Apostles,  the 'first recognized catechism' (articles of faith) of the Christian church. The Didache is honored as a timeless moral compass that identifies selfless positive actions that lead to life and prosperity and negative selfish actions that lead to death and destruction. The historical tradition of the Church reveals that it was Jesus brother, James The Just who wrote and  passed down a guidebook to Jews, Smaritans, Noahides, and Gentiles to understanding on the honor of being Civil to other Son's and Daughter's of the Creator of the world and the Heavens.

Over time the original Didache was replaced with revised teachings that brought about new catechisms, church schisms, reformations, and the birth of Arianism, Islam, Protestantism, Mormonism, Unitarianism, and an evolving isms from a branch of knowledge of what is good and bad. During my research I have found many concepts of happiness to connected to religion,  spirituality, philosophy, and science. The principles of right living by the golden rule apply to everyone regardless of culture or creed.

For nonChristians the The Didache of the 12 Apostles is a code of conduct without references to angels, prophecy and miracles. For those in Behavior Sciences and religious naturalist I found the Didache to a good window to understanding the evolution of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic social morality. Congruent (in harmony) to the Laws given to the Israelites through Moses, the Didache is an instruction manual Jesus gave to the Apostles (Messengers, Missionaries) that further defines how to be righteous (law abiding) Christians and gain happiness in life. All of those who with faith in a higher power will see the truth to happiness follows the same moral path of guidance. It is the degree of what is considered good and bad that is different between us all.

I ask you the reader to temporarily suspend your preconception or disbelief on whether or not a Creative Force of Nature exists or how an Apostolic teaching can give us an understanding on how the choice of our actions can lead to Life and Happiness or Death and Misery until I am finished presenting testimony of definitions of to you. It is my hope that together you the reader and I the writer strip away the bias of belief and unbelief in our quest for truth to better understanding what it means to have good moral sense in life and share the happiness when we find it.

I propose the Didache to be a great mechanism to create positive neuroplasticity (physical change to the brain) and socioplasticity (cultural change to a society) that should be studied for its benefits to the happiness of our human condition. It is my belief that our imperfect primal inclinations can subdued by striving on building virtuous habits based on reason without expectation of reward. 

The reality of happiness expands when one is able to see what is beneficial through another's eyes. My pursuit of happiness started when my Dad read me "Treasure Island" as a child. After each chapter he would tell me to close my eyes and follow my dreams. Since those moments I have traveled around this globe on many life adventures. And have been enlightened through the words of many great teachers, storytellers, grifters, false prophets, and those holy and euphoric beings whose selfless words benefit us all.

 Hindus believe that True Happiness (Supreme Bliss) can be found by a sinless follower of the Veda (Hindu Sacred Texts, Books of Knowledge) from ancient India. Vedas are also called śruti ("what is heard") literature that has been passed down by Rishi (enlightened ones, sages) after who receivedthe nature of Brahma and the instructions on the rules of conduct. this  intense meditation.  The Upanishads  (Sanskrit Upaniṣad also known as the Vedānta) are the last chapters of the Veda texts known as 'object of the highest purpose.'  Upanishad is composed of the terms upa (near) and shad (to sit), meaning “sitting down near” and connecting to a Rishi, an enlightened messenger of the Vedas that is unaffected by desire and wholly free from all cravings.  The Rishi have taught that the intensity one is meditates on Vedas determines how close the spirit is to the happiness of the Creator. Christians and Jews would look at a Rishi similar to a Righteous (Tzadik),  but not infallible spiritual masters who actively teach and perform Good Deeds (Mitzvah)  found in sacred scriptures (Bible, Tanakh). 

The Taittiriya (Sanskrit Tittiri , Partridge) consist of three Adhyāya (Chapters, Lessons) of the Yajurveda (Worship) rituals taught by the Rishi that are done before the Yajna (Sacred Fire) on the Nature (Knowledge) of Brahma (Highest Universal Principle) and  Atman (self, soul) that one can attain the eternal wisdom of joy by not being influenced by desire. The less one is exposed to desire the purer joy achieves.

There are several titles given to the Creator that relate to Hinduism's spiritual manifestations : El as the general term for God (Allah); YHWH (Tetragrammaton) is the name of the Uncreated God (Spirit); the Ruach El as the Spirit of the God; Rauch Elohim as Lord of Spirits; (Elyon) as Lord of Most High; Ruach Chokhmah as the Spirit of Wisdom; and Hashem as a being beyond reality. And the meaning of the word Torah to be the mind of the Lord (cosmic conscious),  

Ha-Navi be a human heavenly messenger, but not infallible , Sandalphon    mal’akh

Upanishads - 800 BC - 500 BC

Taittriya - The Partridge

2.8.1 – 2.8.4

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This, then, is an Evaluation of that Bliss (Joy, Happiness):
Suppose there is a young man - in the prime of life, good, learned, most expeditious, most strongly built, and most energetic. Suppose there lies this earth for him filled with wealth. 

This will be one unit of human joy (A unit of measurement for the estimation of Bliss). If this human joy be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of the man-Gandharvas (Rishi, elightened messengers), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If this joy of the man-Gandharvas be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of the divine-Gandharvas (heavenly messenger), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the divine-Gandharvas be increased a hundredfold, it is one joy of the manes (demigods) whose world is everlasting, and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the manes that dwell in the everlasting world be increased a hundredfold, it is one joy of those that are born as gods in heaven, and so also of a follower of the Vedas untouched by desires. If the joy of those that are born as gods in heaven be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of the gods called the Karma Devas (the seven demigod founders of fate), who reach the gods through Vedic rites, and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the gods, called the Karma-Devas, be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of the gods, and so also of a follower of the Vedas untarnished by desires.

If the joy of the gods be increased a hundred times, it is one joy of Indra (Lord of all beings), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of Indra be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of Brihaspati (Cosmic Guru, Sage to the Gods, teacher of wisdom to all beings) and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of Brihaspati be increased a hundred times, it is one joy of Virat (cosmic conscious of all beings and thought forms), and so also of a follower of the Vedas untarnished by desires. If the joy of Virat be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of Hiranyagarbha (Cosmic Egg, Germ of all joys), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unsullied by desires.

He that is here in the human person, and He that is there in the sun, are one. He who knows thus attains, after desisting (abstain) from this world, this self made of food, attains this self made of vital force, attains this self made of mind, attains this self made of intelligence, attains this self made of bliss.

We can see the seeds of understanding equity and justice through the leaders of the monotheistic faiths. Hillel the Elder

Shabbat 31a

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...one gentile who came before Shammai and said to Shammai: Convert me on condition that you teach me the entire Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament)  while I am standing on one foot. Shammai pushed him away with the builder’s cubit in his hand. This was a common measuring stick and Shammai was a builder by trade. The same gentile came before Hillel. He converted him and said to him: That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study.

Jesus taught that our Creator will bless us when we treat others they way we want to be treated. 

Matthew 7

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7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.

The Apostle Paul taught Christians that all believers share the same universal privilege and position under the Creator.

Galations 3

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28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 

The Prophet Mohamed taught that the Creator wants us to put aside personal self interest and be fair and impartial when dealing with people. 

An-Nisa (The Women) 

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4:135  O YOU who have attained to faith! Be ever steadfast in upholding equity, bearing witness to the truth for the sake of God, even though it be against your own selves or your parents and kinsfolk. Whether the person concerned be rich or poor, God's claim takes precedence over [the claims of] either of them.  Do not, then, follow your own desires, lest you swerve from justice: for if you distort [the truth], behold, God is indeed aware of all that you do!

It is my theory that one must know what it is to suffer to truly understand the aspects of happiness that are both agreeable and contrary to reason and or self interest. Lao Tzu (Laozi, Old Master) Tao Te Ching

Tao Te Ching  (The way of Righteousness) - 400 BC

Chapter 58

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Misery is what happiness rests upon.

Happiness is what misery lurks beneath.

America's Founding Fathers rightfully reasoned that all human beings are born equally regardless of differences in gender, skin color, wealth, health, and location. No mortal man can be compared to a God with infinite wisdom and power. The Spirit of Liberty, or more importantly the the Spirit of the Creator becomes unknown to Citizens who willingly submit their Freedom for Self-Interest.

All 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence clearly understood an individual profiting from the institution of owning another human being was morally wrong.  

Declaration of Independence

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Prudence (caution), indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient (short-term causes); and accordingly all experience hath (has) shewn (shown), that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations (wrongfully seize), pursuing invariably the same Object evinces (manifests) a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism (rule by individual or small group), it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance (allowance of wrongdoing) of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. 

 

Some of the Declaration Signers viewed Universal Liberty contrary to their self interest of personal prosperity and material happiness. Many of the Signers lived as Feudal Lords over large plantations involuntarily worked  by human Chattel (tangible property), more commonly known as the Institution of Slavery. True Liberty would be a huge expense of Plantation owners relinquishing their Right over Slaves that could be involuntarily eugenically bred and put to work like Horse and Oxen. 

President and Commander in Chief of the United States George Washington had to live with fighting for the Liberty of Colonists while being Lord over 300 slaves living in his Mount Vernon Plantation. Washington was a Freemason  gentleman that lived by law by elected legislative authority. He stated the first order would be to motion giving slaves the Right of Suffrage, meaning the right to vote for Representatives that create and amend the Constitution.

From George Washington to Robert Morris, 12 April 1786

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I give you the trouble of this letter at the instance of Mr Dalby of Alexandria; who is called to Philadelphia to attend what he conceives to be a vexatious law-suit respecting a slave of his, which a Society of Quakers in the City (formed for such purposes) have attempted to liberate. The merits of this case will no doubt appear upon trial; but from Mr Dalby’s state of the matter, it should seem that this Society is not only acting repugnant to justice so far as its conduct concerns strangers, but, in my opinion extremely impolitickly wit respect to the State—the City in particular; & without being able (but by Acts of tyranny & oppression) to accomplish their own ends. He says the conduct of this society is not sanctioned by Law; had the case been otherwise, whatever my opinion of the Law might have been, my respect for the policy of the State would on this occasion have appeared in my silence; because against the penalties of promulgated (promoting) Laws one may guard; but there is no avoiding the snares of individuals, or of private societies—and if the practice of this Society of which Mr Dalby speaks, is not discountenanced (disfavored), none of those whose misfortune it is to have slaves as attendants will visit the City if they can possibly avoid it; because by doing so they hazard their property—or they must be at the expence (& this will not always succeed) of providing servants of another description for the trip.

I hope it will not be conceived from these observations, that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who are the subject of this letter, in slavery. I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it—but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can be accomplished, & that is by Legislative authority: and this, as far as my suffrage will go, shall never be wanting.

But when slaves who are happy & content to remain with their present masters, are tampered with & seduced to leave them; when masters are taken at unawares by these practices; when a conduct of this sort begets discontent on one side and resentment on the other, & when it happens to fall on a man whose purse will not measure with that of the Society, & he looses his property for want of means to defend it—it is oppression in the latter case, & not humanity in any; because it introduces more evils than it can cure.

I will make no apology for writing to you on this subject; for if Mr Dalby has not misconceived the matter, an evil exists which requires a remedy; if he has, my intentions have been good though I may have been too precipitate (accelerate) in this address. 

Public Notice Philip Dalby

Alexandria Advertiser - March 30, 1786

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it will be necessary to inform you and the public, that there is a society established in Pennsylvania, for the purpose of aiding and assisting all those unhappy persons who are cruelly and unjustly detained in bondage, in obtaining their freedom. The society have a committee of their members who reside in Philadelphia, and whose business it is, to inquire after, and assist all who come within the line laid down by the society at their institution. This committee has council retained, and agents employed, to give them information of all such; and of the arrival of every gentleman, who has with him a slave or a waiting-man (personal servant), who is immediately tampered (interfered) with. If he proves to be well disposed (friendly), and satisfied with his station, arguments are used, and every measure taken, to disgust him with it, and to spur him on to prosecute his master for his freedom. 

Having given you the outlines of this committee, and their business, I am to inform you, that in the month of February, 1785, business called me to Philadelphia, I took with me as a waiter, a Mulatto boy, a slave for life, purchased for my use the January before, by Mr. John Nicholson, of Doctor Belt of Leesburg. The boy was soon after my arrival, accosted by some of the agents employed by the committee, and informed that a fair opportunity now presented him of procuring his liberty, if he would avail himself of it, which he for some time declined; but having been guilty of a small theft, he was apprehended, and previous to his examination brought before me. I ordered him a corporal punishment in presence of the person he had plundered, who thereupon discharged him from further prosecution. The chastisement seemed to inflame him, and he then applied to the committee for their assistance to procure his freedom. Upon hearing his relation, they very candidly informed him, that they could not render him that service, which from his complexion (appearance), they were induced to think they could. 

Thus matters rested, until I had finished my business and was preparing to set off, on my return home, when the day preceding my departure the boy was again brought before the committee, who carried him to their council, who undertaking his case that evening, served me with an habeas corpus, (summons) commanding my attendance at Judge Bryan’s chambers the next morning. Being wholly unacquainted with every kind of law proceeding, I was much at a loss how to conduct myself, or what steps were necessary for me to take on this occasion. I waited upon a gentleman of the profession, with whom I had some acquaintance, and mentioned the process which had been served upon me, my recent purchase of the boy; and that he was held by the person who sold him to me as a slave for life, under the laws of Virginia, of which State I was an inhabitant. This gentleman considered the matter as very trivial, but said that it was necessary to make a proper return to the writ (overpassing the authority normally held), and obligingly offered to accompany me the next morning to the Judge’s chambers for that purpose. 

This boy I found in slavery, and purchased him agreeable to the laws of Virginia, and have as absolute a right to his service, during life, as I have to
the use of the coat which is on my back, and have as just a right to complain, if deprived of that service, as I should have were I robbed of my coat. But behold the consequence, a set of men of whom I have no knowledge, with whom I have no connection, tell me that I must discharge him from my service—and for what, pray? Why, truly, for no other good reason, than to gratify their pride and self-love, and perhaps furnish a subject of eulogy to their characteristic meeting, and a desire to be thought better men and members of society than others. But does their conduct in this instance prove them to be so? Have they not in the most wanton and unprovoked manner seized upon my property, and run me to an expence far greater than the value of that property, in supporting my right thereto? My expences arising from my detention in Philadelphia, when the habeas corpus was first served upon me, the seeing of council, the execution of the commission for the examination of my witnesses, sending the boy up to Philadelphia, and procuring a person to take charge of him at the October term, have arisen far above fifty pounds; and my next trip cannot cost me less than twenty-five pounds, besides neglecting my other business. 

When I reflect that the point which they have assumed the decision of, is a question of right between two persons inhabiting another State, arising out of the particular laws of that State, and that business alone brought them for a short time into the State where the controversy happened, I am at a loss for a civil expression to convey my idea of their conduct, or the motives by which they appear to be influenced. To say in their justification, that it is only a matter of fact which may be inquired into by a jury as well in Pennsylvania as Virginia, is idle, and only fit to amuse the ignorant. For from the facts arise the points of law, and how can the judges of Pennsylvania undertake to say what the laws of Virginia are upon those facts? Will they in their justification say, that they could not trust the judges of Virginia with the decision of so nice a point as that of liberty? Or will they say that they have a right of hearing and determining all and every matter of controversy between the inhabitants of the State of Virginia, if any accident throws it into their power, to have their process executed. If they support the first, may we not justly conclude that they form their opinion of the Virginia judges, from a knowledge of themselves. If they entertain the latter opinion, and attempt to put it in practice, it will in all probability produce very serious consequences.

I am as much disposed to lament the hard fate of any set of men, who are doomed to groan under the galling yoke of slavery, as any of the worthy
judges, or members of the noble-minded committee; and when they can effect a general liberation of the black host, which darkens the State of Virginia, I will forget my loss, and partake with them in the joy and exultation which would result from an act so glorious, so ornamental to human kind. The fate of a memorial presented to the Virginia Assembly at their late session by the society of Quakers, praying such an act, will shew that the Legislature of that State do not yet approve of the measure. It exerted such a spirit of indignation as is not often experienced in that house,
and was with difficulty saved from being treated with the last contempt. Can it be thought that they will suffer another State to do for them what they have rejected themselves? Upon the whole, it appears to me, that the Judges of Pennsylvania have made a most insolent and daring attack upon the sovereign rights of Virginia, in taking upon themselves to hear and decide a question of right between two subjects of that State, which arises out of the particular laws of that State; and that I have been very wantonly and unjustly involved in a very heavy expence, from motives which cannot be justified, namely, to procure freedom to a person, whether by the laws of his country he be entitled to it or not. If this was not the expectation, why do the judges claim jurisdiction where they know perfectly well they have none?

Then why have they declined to bring the business forward in the State where the decision of it most properly belongs? Can it be ascribed to any other cause than that they hope to find a prejudice, a prepossession in the one court, which they have no hopes of meeting with in the other. And now let me assure you, that notwithstanding I have, at so much expence, defended this prosecution, it is not because I am an advocate for slavery, but because I considered my rights as very unjustly invaded, and because I did not conceive that I found that redress which is due to persons of every denomination, from the quarter where alone they are to look for it. I found slavery established in many of the States of America. I did not conceive, nor do I that any act of mine or of any set of private men, could have any influence upon a general establishment. 

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) played a major role in the abolition movement against slavery.  In 1775 Pennsylvania Abolition Society was formed by seven Quakers of the ten white members. 

To George Washington from Robert Morris, 26 April 1786

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I am happy to confirm what Mr Dalby will have informed you off, the Successful Issue of his Suit respecting his Slave, could any interference on my part have been useful, your letter would have commanded it, indeed I had done him before what little service I could when his Petition was before the Assembly from a perfect Conviction both of the Injustice and impolicy of the treatment he had met with. The Society which attacked him tread (walked) on popular ground, and as their Views are disinterested as to themselves, and sometimes very laudable (laudable) as to the objects of their Compassion, it is not a very pleasant thing to Attack them & this consideration deters Mr Dalby from seeking redress at Law for the Expense & trouble they have occasioned, altho I think he would meet a just determination in our Courts of Law.

From John Adams to George Churchman, 24 January 1801

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Although I have never Sought popularity by any animated Speeches or inflammatory publications against the Slavery of the Blacks, my opinion against it has always been known, and my practice has been so conformable to my Sentiment that I have always employed freemen both as Domestics and Laborers, and never in my Life did I own a Slave. The Abolition of Slavery must be gradual and accomplished with much caution and Circumspection. Violent means and measures would produce greater violations of Justice and Humanity, than the continuance of the practice. Neither Mr Mifflin nor yourselves, I presume would be willing to venture on Exertions which would probably excite Insurrections among the Blacks to rise against their Masters and imbue their hands in innocent blood

There are many other Evils in our Country which are growing, (whereas the practice of Slavery is fast diminishing,) and threaten to bring Punishment in our Land, more immediately than the oppression of the blacks. That sacred regard to Truth in which you and I were educated, and which is certainly taught and enjoined from on high, Seems to be vanishing from among Us. A general Relaxation of Education and Government. A general Debauchery as well as dissipation, produced by pestilential philosophical Principles of Epicures infinitely more than by Shews and theatrical Entertainment. These are in my opinion more Serious and threatening Evils, than even the Slavery of the Blacks, hatefull as that is. I might even Add that I have been informed, that the condition, of the common Sort of White People in Some of the Southern States particularly Viginia, is more oppressed, degraded and miserable that that of the Negroes.

These Vices and these Miseries deserve the serious and compassionate Consideration of Friends as well as the Slave Trade and the degraded State of the blacks.

The primary author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, owned over 600 African-American slaves that worked on his Monticello plantation. The retired President Thomas Jefferson foresaw the rising tension between those that considered American Liberty to be a Federal Human Right over State Regulation of Human Right according to designated types. The outcome would affect his and many Founders net working capital (NWC) and creditworthiness to money lenders.

From Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, 22 April 1820

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 justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other. of one thing I am certain, that as the passage of slaves from one state to another would not make a slave of a single human being who would not be so without it, so their diffusion (dispersal) over a greater surface would make them individually happier and proportionally facilitate the accomplishment of their emancipation (freedom); by dividing the burden on a greater number of coadjutors (assistants). an abstinence (restraint) too from this act of power would remove the jealousy excited by the undertaking of Congress; to regulate the condition of the different descriptions of men composing a state. this certainly is the exclusive right of every state, which nothing in the Constitution has taken from them and given to the general government. could congress, for example say that the Non-freemen of Connecticut, shall be freemen, or that they shall not emigrate (emigrate) into any other state?

Jefferson's letter to John Holmes was in response to the Democratic-Republican (now known as the Republican Party) Representative James Tallmadge Jr. amendment to a bill regarding the admission of the Territory of Missouri to the Union, which requested that Missouri be admitted as a free state and restrict slavery and involuntary servitude. The Tallmadge Amendment set off a fierce debate about the future of slavery and Congress's power to stem its expansion into new states.

Annals of Congress, House of Representatives

15th Congress, 2nd Session - February 16, 1819

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The House having again resolved itself into a committee  of the whole, (on the Missouri Bill.) 

The question being on the proposition of Mr. Tallmadge, to amend the bill by adding to it the following proviso : 

And provided, that the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been fully convicted; and that all children born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be Free at the age of twenty-five years

From Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 13 April 1820

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...this Syllabus is meant to place the character of Jesus in it’s true and high light, as no imposter himself, but a great Reformer of the Hebrew code of religion, it is not to be understood that I am with Him in all His doctrines. I am a Materialist; He takes the side of spiritualism: He preaches the efficacy (value) of repentance towards forgiveness of sin, I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it Etc. Etc. it is the innocence of his character, the purity & sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his inculcations (teachings), the beauty of the apologues (allegories, parable)  in which he conveys them, that I so much admire; sometimes indeed needing indulgence to Eastern hyperbole. 

Washington and Jefferson both both were slave holders. existed in many cultures, dating back to early human civilizations. Since the beginning of civilation, predating written records, and has existed in many cultures. In Pre-Columbian America the most common forms of slavery were those of prisoners of war and debtors.   Like European Colonist, Native North American tribes groups over time adopted chattel slave ownership 

North American indigenous groups over time adopted slave ownership 

Quakers increasingly became associated with antislavery activism and antislavery literature: not least through the work of abolitionist Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier. In 1833, Whittier published the antislavery pamphlet Justice and Expediency,[8] and from there dedicated the next twenty years of his life to the abolitionist cause.

Our Countrymen in Chains

John Greenleaf Whittier - 1833

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Up NOW for Freedom !—not in strife
     Like that your sterner fathers saw
The awful waste of human life—
     The glory and the guilt of war :
But break the chain—the yoke remove
     And smite to earth oppression's rod,
With those mild arms of Truth and Love,
     Made mighty through the living God !

Prone let the shrine of Moloch sink,
     And leave no traces where it stood
Nor longer let its idol drink
     His daily cup of human blood :
Bur rear another altar there,
     To truth and love and mercy given,
And Freedom's gift and Freedom's prayer
     Shall call an answer down from Heaven !

 

Prior to public service, both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were surveyors. 

different areas of colonial and frontier territories of the Virginia Coastal Plains across the Western slopes of Appalachian Mountains to the Ohio river and its tributaries.  Both gentlemen would have been aware and possibly interacted with the Algonquian (Powhatan), Eastern Siouan (Mannahoac) and Iroquoian (Cherokee) speaking Native Americans.  It was the Powhatan people living in eastern Virginia that interacted with English colony of Jamestown in 1607.  These hunter-gatherer communities composed of bands of people through kinship and marriage called a Confederation. Each village had a Council House where ceremonies and tribal meetings were held using a democratic process.  These Native Virginians would hunt animals, gather fruits and nuts from trees/vines, and pull handfuls of seeds from wild plants to obtain protein, carbohydrates, lipids and nicotine according to the particular biome they lived in.  In time seed gathering evolved to trading, and planting maize (corn), beans, squash, tobacco and other seed crops that would thrive in their environment. Eventually planting seed crops (farming )became more reliable food source and could feed more people than hunting or gathering could feed. Farming led to permanent settlements instead of small tribes that moved frequently.

The Eurasian Steppe (Great Steppe), is the  large area of flat unforested temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome of Euroasia. It stretches from Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova through Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, and Mongolia to Manchuria, with one major exclave, the Pannonian steppe or Puszta, located mostly in Hungary. The plains of North America (especially the shortgrass and mixed prairie) is an example of a steppe, though it is not usually called such. A nomad (Middle French: nomade "people without fixed habitation")[1][dubious – discuss] is a member of a community of people without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from the same areas, including nomadic hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), and tinker or trader nomads.

In the grasslands and highlands of Eurasia, the dry climate and poorer soil made it hard to make a living from growing crops.

The term Shepherd (Pastor) is frequently used as a metaphor to mean leader of the people.

Homer

Iliad

Book 1, line 245

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In earlier times I moved among men more warlike than you, [ and never did they despise me. Such warriors have I never since seen, nor shall I see, as Peirithous was and Dryas, shepherd of the people, and Caeneus and Exadius and godlike Polyphemus, and Theseus, son of Aegeus, a man like the immortals.

Shepherd of Hosts would be considered Commander (Chief) of military forces

Homer

Iliad

Book 2, line 76  

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Lord Agamemnon uprose, bearing in his hands the sceptre which Hephaestus had wrought with toil. Hephaestus gave it to king Zeus, son of Cronos, and Zeus gave it to the messenger Argeïphontes; and Hermes, the lord, gave it to Pelops, driver of horses, [105] and Pelops in turn gave it to Atreus, shepherd of the host; and Atreus at his death left it to Thyestes, rich in flocks, and Thyestes again left it to Agamemnon to bear, that so he might be lord of many isles and of all Argos

Sheep are among the first animals to have been domesticated by humans for meat, milk, skins somewhere between 11,000 and 9000 BC. 

Homer

Iliad

Book 5, line 121 

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Tydeus returned again and mingled with the foremost fighters; [135] and though afore his heart had been eager to do battle with the Trojans, now verily did fury thrice so great lay hold upon him, even as upon a lion that a shepherd in the field, guarding his fleecy sheep, hath wounded as he leapt over the wall of the sheep-fold, but hath not vanquished; his might hath he roused, but thereafter maketh no more defence, [140] but slinketh amid the farm buildings, and the flock all unprotected is driven in rout, and the sheep are strewn in heaps, each hard by each, but the lion in his fury leapeth forth from the high fold; even in such fury did mighty Diomedes mingle with the Trojans. Then slew he Astynous and Hypeiron, shepherd of the host; [145] the one he smote above the nipple with a cast of his bronze-shod spear, and the other he struck with his great sword upon the collar-bone beside the shoulder, and shore off the shoulder from the neck and from the back.

Socrates points out that like a shepherd that cares for his sheep, a ruler's primary concern should be doing what is best for his people. 

The Republic 380 BC

Book 1

Plato

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Surely the art (work) of the Shepherd seeks what is best for the sheep. What's best is achieved whenever the Shepherd's work is properly performed. And that's what I said earlier about the ruler. Both in public and private life, the ruler should seek what is best for his fellow citizens (subjects).

The Nicomachean Ethics , 340 BC

Book VII - Chapter 11

Aristotle

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...The friendship between a king and his subjects depends on an excess of benefits conferred; for he confers benefits on his subjects if being a good man he cares for them with a view to their well-being, as a shepherd does for his sheep (whence Homer called Agamemnon 'shepherd of the peoples'). Such too is the friendship of a father, though this exceeds the other in the greatness of the benefits conferred; for he is responsible for the existence of his children, which is thought the greatest good, and for their nurture and upbringing.

 These things are ascribed to ancestors as well. Further, by nature a father tends to rule over his sons, ancestors over descendants, a king over his subjects. These friendships imply superiority of one party over the other, which is why ancestors are honored. The justice therefore that exists between persons so related is not the same on both sides but is in every case proportioned to merit; for that is true of the friendship as well. The friendship of man and wife, again, is the same that is found in an aristocracy; for it is in accordance with virtue the better gets more of what is good, and each gets what befits him; and so, too, with the justice in these relations. The friendship of brothers is like that of comrades; for they are equal and of like age, and such persons are for the most part like in their feelings and their character. Like this, too, is the friendship appropriate to timocratic government; for in such a constitution the ideal is for the citizens to be equal and fair; therefore rule is taken in turn, and on equal terms; and the friendship appropriate here will correspond.

 But in the deviation-forms, as justice hardly exists, so too does friendship. It exists least in the worst form; in tyranny there is little or no friendship. For where there is nothing common to ruler and ruled, there is not friendship either, since there is not justice; e.g. between craftsman and tool, soul and body, master and slave; the latter in each case is benefited by that which uses it, but there is no friendship nor justice towards lifeless things. But neither is there friendship towards a horse or an ox, nor to a slave qua slave. For there is nothing common to the two parties; the slave is a living tool and the tool a lifeless slave. Qua slave then, one cannot be friends with him. But qua man one can; for there seems to be some justice between any man and any other who can share in a system of law or be a party to an agreement; therefore there can also be friendship with him in so far as he is a man. Therefore while in tyrannies friendship and justice hardly exist, in democracies they exist more fully; for where the citizens are equal they have much in common.

References to Shepherds and animal husbandry are found throughout sacred scriptures of the oldest faiths. Prophets, Priests, Rabbis, and Pastors are called Shepherds because they watch over and care for their congregation like those who care for livestock.  The wisdom and visions the Shepherds share to those around them reflect the daily socioeconomic world of their time period in our world history.  The life of a Shepard is tasked with all aspects of maintaining the health of domesticated animals. They keep a lookout for predators and rescue animals if they get lost or trapped. When a calf gets wounded or sick the Shepherd nurses it back to health.  An enormous amount of time is spent guiding the herd to the places of nourishment and rest.  The result is a bond of trust that keeps the herd following the shepherd. 

'In the 29th chapter of the Yasna (reverence, veneration), known as the The Cow's Lament'  found within the 17 Avestan (Zend, Scripture) Gatha (sacred hymns) the Prophet Zarathusthra (Zoroaster) creates an allegorical text on the importance of righteous Shepherding is to our survival. Zarathustra uses metaphor of the Cow soul (spirit, thought) and Ox soul to represent the female and male aspects of humanity. When a calf cries out in help its needs take priority. The Cow soul despairs over being abandoned without an adequate Shepherd to care for his and the cows protection. Their plight is our plight and the provider they seek is what we all seek; the virtuous Shepard (leader) who can lead the Creator's great herd in the pursuit happiness and prosperity.

The Cow soul invokes invokes a Dyeumorphic (Deity Characteristic, aspect, manifestation) of Ahura (Lord) Mazda (Wisdom) eminating the unbegotton Amesha (Aməša, Immortal) Spentas (thoughts, spirits) of Armaiti (Devoted Creator and Guardian) and Asha (Truth and Righteousness).    Through divine eminating Spentas (Armaiti and Asha) Ahura Mazda, identifies a proper protector, Zarathusthra as the only one fit for the job. The Ox spirit laments all the more, since he regards Zoroaster as a weakling. Ultimately he must make do with him.

Zoroaster asks Ahura Mazda through his Holy Spirit Asha to bring peace and happiness to people through Vohu (Good, Loving) and Manah (Thought, Mind). Behavior Scientist and Religious Naturalist would respect one meditating on the wisdom of promoting the mental states of peace and happiness through reason and acting in accordance with the law of the land. Zoroastrians believe that Happiness can be found by a sinless follower of Truth and Good Thoughts.

The Cow's Lament'  is recited in Ahunuvaiti, the first part of the Zoroastrian Yasna liturgy in the pavi area (inner sanctum) of a fire temple to promote happines, good health and purify the connection between the spiritual and physical worlds. The complete Ahunuvaiti is taken from Chapter 28 to Chapter 34 of the Yasna Gathas.

Ahunuvaiti Gatha, 1500 BC - 1000 BC

Yasna 29 - the Cow's Lament

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1. Unto you Creator wailed the Cow Soul (Cow Spirit), "For whom did you fashion me? Who created me? Cruelty, oppression, bloodlust, rage, and violence have fettered me; there is no Shepard (Herdsman) for me other than you. Reveal a herdsman to prepare for me the blessings of pasture." 

2. Then the Armaiti (Creator and Protector Spandarmad) contemplated with Asha (Truth and Rightousness): "An eager Shepherd (mortal Lord, Herdsman) for the Cow, will drive off violence and destruction that comes from the Liars (followers of the Lie, Angra Mainyu, Satan, Lucifer)?"

3. The Asha replied: "For the Cow there is no Shepard with aligned with truth. Those distant have no knowledge how the righteous act towards the lowly (poor in spirit, not proud).
(The Cow-Creator):" the Highest of Beings will give Wisdom to both the Ox-soul and his partner the Pregnant Cow.

4. (Asha) "The Wise (Mazda) One knows best the purposes to the actions commited already by daevas (rejected demons, evil spirits, selfish thoughts) and by mortals, and that shall be wrought hereafter. He, the Lord (Ahura), is the judge. So shall it be as He wills."

5. (Zarathustra) "To the Lord with outspread hands both my soul and that of the pregnant cow we pray. We ask the Wise One for guidance. Destruction is not for the righteous.  Is there no prospect for a just Shepard that lives among Liars. 

6. The Wise Lord (Ahura Mazda) himself, who knows the law with wisdom spoke: "There is no Righteous Shepherd found that lives according to my teachings (commands). My Armaiti has formed you for the benefit of the cattle breeder and the herdsman."

7. This Wise (One) is generous towards the welfare of the lowly in accordance with His teaching. The Wise Lord sustains the Righteous Truth by creating the cow to produce butter and milk (strength and prosperity) for those that crave nourisment. 
The Ox and Cow:  "O Good Thought who among mortals may care for us two?"

8.Eminating Vohu Manah (Good Thought, Good Mind) the Wise Lord replied: There is this one found here who alone hears holy instruction; Zarathustra Spitama: he is eager to give praises for his Creator and  recite the path the path to Truth, O Wise One, If I shall bestow on him the gift teaching with a sweetness of voice."

9. The Cow-Soul lamented: "Must I be content with the help of ineffectual voice of a powerless man for my protector, when I wish for one that is Mighty! When ever shall there be someone who shall give him (the Ox) effective help?"

10. O Ahura Mazda, and O Spenta Asha! Grant these mortals authority and power through Truth, that with the Good Mind, that they may bring the world peace and happiness, Of which, Thou, O Lord, are indeed the first possessor. 

11  [The Cow:] "Where are Truth, Good Mind, and [their] power? Know me, through the mortal one, You, O Wise One, in Your concern for the great offering. Come down to us now, O Lord, on account of our gift for those like you."

Persians began breeding sheep for wool since 6000 BC. The wild sheep found in Iran are known to have the largest phenotype (size, color, shape, etc) and chromosome (DNA) variation in the world. The mouflon (Ovis orientalis orientalis) is a subspecies of the wild sheep (Ovis orientalis) found in the Syro-Arabian desert (Kurdistan Region in the north of Iraq and Syria). This location corresponds to the zone of the initial domestication of sheep which includes many native breeds such as Hamdani, Karadi, and Awassi (the native breed of Israel)

To Jews and Christians the dove is a symbol of God's peace following judgment.

Genesis 8

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At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made

and sent out the raven; it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth.

Then he sent out the dove to see whether the waters had decreased from the surface of the ground.

But the dove could not find a resting place for its foot, and returned to him to the ark, for there was water over all the earth. So putting out his hand, he took it into the ark with him.

He waited another seven days, and again sent out the dove from the ark.

The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the waters had decreased on the earth.

He waited still another seven days and sent the dove forth; and it did not return to him anymore.

The Priestly Blessing.

Numbers 6

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22 The LORD said to Moses:

23 Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:

24 The LORD bless you and keep you!

25 The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you!

26 The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace (shalom)!

Psalm 34

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5 I sought the LORD, and he answered me, delivered me from all my fears.

6 Look to him and be radiant, and your faces may not blush for shame.

7 This poor one cried out and the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.

8 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he saves them.

The wing sun disc is a common symbol of the manifestation of the Creator in the ancient Near East

Malachi 3

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19 For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the LORD of hosts.

20 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in its wings; And you will go out leaping like calves from the stall

21 and tread down the wicked; They will become dust under the soles of your feet, on the day when I take action, says the LORD of hosts.

The dove symbolized the Creator's Holy Spirit.  Doves were thought to be not bound to terrestrial existence and were mediators between this world and heaven; 

Mark

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Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. 10 And just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my one dear Son; in you I take great delight.” 12 The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness forty days, enduring temptations from Satan. He was with wild animals, and angels were ministering to his needs.

https://www.ecatholic2000.com/athanasius/untitled-208.shtml

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moses_the_Black

The Muslims believe that a dove whispered the word of God into Muhammad’s ear.

Chapter 2.

Concerning the Posterity of Adam, and the ten Generations from him to the Deluge.

 Abel...was a lover of righteousness; and believing that God was present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue: and his employment was that of a shepherd. 

G'd displayed favour to the person bringing the offering and to the offering itself.

 he brought from the “first,” is that before enjoying the fruits of his labour himself, he wished to express his gratitude to G’d. Only after that would he use the milk and the wool for his personal consumption. He also included in the gift the best quality, seeing that not all were of the same uniform quality. The word חלב is used in that sense on the author’s book

Rabbi Joseph Kimchi explains the reason why G’d did not respond to Kayin’s gift as due to the fact that he first ate his fill before giving G’d the share we call bikkurim, the first ripe fruit we produce. Hevel, on the other hand, offered to G’d the very first of the wool his sheep had produced.

Genesis 3

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To Adam He said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it All the days of your life:

Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field;

By the sweat of your brow Shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground— For from it you were taken. For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”

 

Genesis 4

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Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gained a male child with the help of the LORD.”

She then bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the soil.

In the course of time, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil;

and Abel, for his part, brought the choicest of the firstlings of his flock. The LORD paid heed to Abel and his offering,

but to Cain and his offering He paid no heed. Cain was much distressed and his face fell.

And the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you distressed, And why is your face fallen?

Surely, if you do right, There is uplift. But if you do not do right Sin couches at the door; Its urge is toward you, Yet you can be its master.”

Hebrews 11

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1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. 2 For by it the people of old received God’s commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. 4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. 

The rewards of shepherding are well earned. Abraham rejected his family business of manufacturing idols. He chose a chose to earn his living as a nomadic Shepard.  As we see in the book of Genesis raising and selling livestock was prosperious for him.

Genesis 13

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Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

Genesis 18

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7 Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it.

8 He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate.

Like Zoraster, and Moses, King David considered the Creator to be a faithful shepherd, will never forsake His precious flock (worshippers, followers, congregation, church). 

Psalms 23 

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1 A psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me to water in places of repose;

3 He renews my life; He guides me in right paths as befits His name.

4 Though I walk through a valley of deepest darkness, I fear no harm, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff—they comfort me.

General Washington's dictatated a letter to the The Delaware Nation (Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma, Western Delaware, Lenape, Lenni-Lenape ) Chief of Staff and Personal Secretary, Robert Hanson Harrison. on understanding how Happiness can be found by understanding the teachings of Jesus Christ.  The Deleware people understood the Creator to be the Great Chief of Heaven and His Son, the Mighty Warrior Jesus Christ, to be the Rescuer of the people of all nations.

Address to the Delaware Nation, 12 May 1779

George Washington
Commander in chief 
of all the armies in the 
United States of America

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Brothers.

I am glad you have brought three of the Children of your principal Chiefs to be educated with us. I am sure Congress will open the Arms of love to them—and will look upon them as their own Children and will have them educated accordingly. This is a great mark of your confidence and of your desire to preserve the friendship between the Two Nations to the end of time—and to become One people with your Brethren of the United States. My ears hear with pleasure the other matters you mention. Congress will be glad to hear them too. You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life and above all—the religion of Jesus Christ. [Which will give you eternal life in the world to come.] These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast—that nothing shall ever be able to loose it.

Robert Harrison wrote then crossed out the following additional text to the Deleware Nation: “Which will give you eternal life in the world to come.” This text does not appear on the copies. It is possible that Washington wanted the Deleware to learn the teachings of Jesus and compare them with their legendary Sakima (Chief) Tamanend (translated means affable), who was known to be a beloved peacemaker and friend to everyone. Chief Tamanend reputedly took part in a peace meeting between the leaders of the Lenni-Lenape nation, and the leaders of the Pennsylvania colony held under a large elm tree at Shakamaxon in the early 1680s. The people of Philadelphia began to call him "Saint Tammany" and the "Patron Saint of America."

Just like King David, Christians believe the Good Shepard, Jesus taught that happiness results from being morally just in our daily actions and trusting that ultimate security rests with the Creator and secondarily with the righteous individuals that follow His commands. Religious Naturalist and Humanist can appreciate connecting to a determined individual who has compassion and is willing to give hist life for his community's salvation (deliverance) from harm, ruin, loss, and corruption.

John 10 gives reason why Christians are conscientiously opposed to accepting services that are run outside their community. Religious Naturalist and Humanist can appreciate the concern of private and public services ethical obligations to a community they are not part of. There potential ignorance in thinking that public and private contractors have the ability handle a situation that spirals out of control and damages the community.  In addition, Christians understand that Jesus has given his followers a goal of a salvation and its reward is never finished in this life. Behavior scientist can appreciate that once we complete a earthly goal, maintaining the level and starting over can be difficult. This is why the Good Shepard makes sure the sheep are genuine by listening to obeying his word. 

Jews and Muslims understand Jesus calling the Creator "Father" to signify an intimate trust that his revelations and actions while on Earth were in perfect harmony as one voice and will of the Most High. They believe the bond between the Father and His Son testified in John to be a moral relationship like Samuel reveals about the Creator favoring (loving) King David as human father would do (II Samuel 7:14 - 15, I Chronicles 22:10). From this type of reasoning of John it can be induced that to gain eternal life one must be in harmony with revelations and actions Jesus taught by authority of the Creator.

John 10

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7 So Jesus said again, “I tell you the solemn truth, I am the door for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and runs away. So the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. 13 Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep, he runs away.

14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd. 

Luke 14

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3 Jesus told this parable: 4 “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

Paul thanked the Creator for changing him from the worst of lawbreakers

1 Timothy

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12 I am grateful to the one who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me faithful in putting me into ministry, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor, and an arrogant man. But I was treated with mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and our Lord’s grace was abundant, bringing faith and love in Christ Jesus.

Just like Christians and Jews, Muslims believe that true happiness (salvation) is a goal never finished in this life. And the ultimate reward is given in the next life. The Prophet Mohamed taught one will be rewarded with happiness by being virtious following good habits taught by the authority of the Creator.

 

An-Nahl (The Bee)

16:97

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Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.

Gathering data... 

The four Vedas (knowledge) are generally known by Hindus as the oldest hymns (scriptures) taught by the Creator to Aryan (Andronovo culture) Rishi (Sages) that decended South from Kazakhstan into India. According to Hindu tradition, the first vedas are the Rigvedic hymns taught by the Indra (Creator) to Rishi Vyāsa (Veda Vyāsa, Krishna Dwaipayana). The hymns were later written down by Paila, the disciple of Rishi Vyāsa and divided into ten Mandalas (Books, Volumes).

 

The fortunes of these people have a direct co-relation of their possession of cattle. The cattle were sheltered in separate cow-pens and it was important that were cared for – “happy near us”. Their breeding in prolific numbers would have mattered as well, given that the cattle were the “wealth” of these people.

When the Indo-Aryans entered India, they brought with them a religion in which the gods were chiefly personified powers of Nature, a few of them, such as Dyaus, going back to the Indo-European, others, such as Mitra, Varuṇa, Indra, to the Indo-Iranian period. They also brought with them the cult of fire and of Soma

 

Rigvedic period, but, even if they did, the prevailingly loose boundaries of class allowed a man of nonpriestly parentage to become a priest.

he Vedas are considered to be the oldest surviving literature of India. The oldest Veda is Rig Veda.

Rig Veda
The oldest and most important of the four Vedas.

Among other features of Rigvedic religious life that were important for later generations were the munis, who  were particularly associated with the god Rudra, a deity connected with mountains and storms and more feared than loved. Rudra developed into the Hindu god Shiva, and his prestige increased steadily. The same is true of Vishnu, a solar deity

Indra Thunder god

Rudra Storm God, part oftrinity in later Hinduism

King of the Gods. The chief deity of the Rigveda, the god of weather and war as well as Lord of Svargaloka in Hinduism. Indra, also known as Śakra in the Vedas, is the leader of the Devas and the lord of Svargaloka or heaven in Hinduism. He is the deva of rain and thunderstorms. 

Indra, Agni, Soma and Varuna are most worshipped Gods in Rig Veda

books i-viii, which were the sphere of the Hotṛ or reciting priest

his is concerned with the worship of gods that are largely personifications of the powers of nature. The hymns are mainly invocations of these gods, and are meant to accompany the oblation of Soma juice and the fire sacrifice of melted butter. 

Rudra is very often associated with the Maruts (i. 85). He is their father, and is said to have generated them from the shining udder of the cow Pṛśni.
He is fierce and destructive like a terrible beast, and is called a bull, as well as the ruddy (aruṣá) boar of heaven. He is exalted, strongest of the strong, swift, unassailable, unsurpassed in might. He is young and unaging, a lord (í̄śāna) and father of the world. By his rule and univeral dominion he is aware of the doings of men and gods. He is bountiful (mīḍhvá̄ṃs), easily invoked and auspicious (śivá). But he is usually regarded as malevolent; for the hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his terrible shafts and deprecation of his wrath. He is implored not to slay or injure, in his anger, his worshippers and their belongings, but to avert his great malignity and his cow-slaying, man-slaying bolt from them, and to lay others low. He is, however, not purely maleficent like a demon. He not only preserves from calamity, but bestows blessings. His healing powers are especially often mentioned; he has a thousand remedies, and is the [57] greatest physician of physicians. In this connexion he has two exclusive epithets, jálāṣa, cooling, and jálāṣa-bheṣaja, possessing cooling remedies.

Rudra, in glory, the mightiest of the mighty, O wielder of the bolt. 

f Rudra; in vii. 46, 1 he is described by the epithets sthirádhanvan having a strong bow, kṣipréṣu swift-arrowed, tigmá̄yudha having a sharp weapon, and in vii. 46, 3 his lightning shaft, didyút, is mentioned

Rudra. They are described as ‘true’ and ‘not deceitful’, being friends and protectors of the honest and righteous, but punishing sin and guilt.

s the Soma sacrifice formed the centre of the ritual of the RV., the god Soma is one of the most prominent deities. With rather more than 120 hymns (all those in Maṇḍala ix, and about half a dozen in others) [153] addressed to him, he comes next to Ágni (i. 1) in importance. The anthropomorphism of his character is less developed than that of Indra or Varuṇa because the plant and its juice are constantly present to the mind of the poet. Soma has terrible and sharp weapons, which he grasps in his hand; he wields a bow and a thousand-pointed shaft. He has a car which is heavenly, drawn by a team like Vāyu’s. He is also said to ride on the same car as Indra. He is the best of charioteers. In about half a dozen hymns he is associated with Indra, Agni, Pūṣan, and Rudra respectively as a dual divinity. 

he exhilarating power of Soma led to its being regarded as a divine drink bestowing immortal life. Hene it is called amṛ́ta draught of immortality. All the gods drink Soma; they drank it to gain immortality; it confers immortality not only on gods, but on men. It has, moreover, medicinal powers: Soma heals whatever is sick, making the blind to see and the lame to walk. Soma also stimulates the voice, and is called ‘lord of speech’. He awakens eager thought: he is a generator of hymns, a leader of poets, a seer among priests. Hence his wisdom is much dwelt upon; thus he is a wise seer, and he knows the races of the gods.

Soma appears to be a real plant that has intoxicating properties, as well as being a god and a "life force" that permeates all animate beings.

The Rig-Veda forms the great literary memorial of the early Aryan settlements in the Punjab. The earlier hymns exhibit the Aryans on the northwestern frontiers of India, just starting on their long journey. Whatever the original homeland of the Aryans may have been, the RigVeda makes no explicit mention of regions distant from the Indian subcontinent. 

The Rig Veda - 6,000 - 3000 BC

Mandala (Book) 6

 Hymn 28 -  Cows

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I. THE Kine (cattle) have come and brought good fortune: let them rest in the cow-pen and be happy near us.
     Here let them stay prolific, many-coloured, and yield through many mornings their milk for Indra.
2. Indra aids him who offers sacrifice and gifts: he takes not what is his, and gives him more thereto.
     Increasing ever more and ever more his wealth, he makes the pious dwell within unbroken bounds.
3. These are never lost, no robber ever injures them: no evil-minded foe attempts to harass them.
     The Shepherd of the Kine lives many years with these, the Cows whereby he pours his gifts and serves the many eminations (gods).
4. The charger (charioteer) with his dusty brow overtakes them not, and never to the shambles do they take their way. These Cows, the cattle of the Righteous worshiper, roam over widespread pasture where no danger is.
5. To me the Cows seem like Bhaga (fortune), they seem Indra (King of Gods), they seem a portion of the first-poured Soma (drink).
     These present Cows, they, O ye Indra. I long for Indra with my heart and spirit.
6. O Cows, ye fatten just the worn and wasted, and make the unpleasant beautiful to look on.
     Prosper my house, ye with auspicious voices. Your power is glorified in our assemblies.
7. Crop goodly pasturage and be prolific drink pure sweet water at good drinking places.
     Never be thief or sinful man your matter, and may the dart (arrow) of Rudra still avoid you.
8. Now let this close admixture be close intermigled with these Cows,
     Mix with the Steer's prolific flow, and, Indra, with thy hero might.

 

 

Hindus believe that True Happiness (Supreme Bliss) can be found by a sinless follower of the Veda (Hindu Sacred Texts, Books of Knowledge) from ancient India. Vedas are also called śruti ("what is heard") literature that has been passed down by Rishi (enlightened ones, sages) after who receivedthe nature of Brahma and the instructions on the rules of conduct. this  intense meditation.  The Upanishads  (Sanskrit Upaniṣad also known as the Vedānta) are the last chapters of the Veda texts known as 'object of the highest purpose.'  Upanishad is composed of the terms upa (near) and shad (to sit), meaning “sitting down near” and connecting to a Rishi, an enlightened messenger of the Vedas that is unaffected by desire and wholly free from all cravings.  The Rishi have taught that the intensity one is meditates on Vedas determines how close the spirit is to the happiness of the Creator. Christians and Jews would look at a Rishi similar to a Righteous (Tzadik),  but not infallible spiritual masters who actively teach and perform Good Deeds (Mitzvah)  found in sacred scriptures (Bible, Tanakh). 

The Taittiriya (Sanskrit Tittiri , Partridge) consist of three Adhyāya (Chapters, Lessons) of the Yajurveda (Worship) rituals taught by the Rishi that are done before the Yajna (Sacred Fire) on the Nature (Knowledge) of Brahma (Highest Universal Principle) and  Atman (self, soul) that one can attain the eternal wisdom of joy by not being influenced by desire. The less one is exposed to desire the purer joy achieves.

There are several titles given to the Creator that relate to Hinduism's spiritual manifistations : El as the general term for God (Allah); YHWH (Tetragrammaton) is the name of the Uncreated God (Spirit); the Ruach El as the Spirit of the God; Rauch Elohim as Lord of Spirits; (Elyon) as Lord of Most High; Ruach Chokhmah as the Spirit of Wisdom; and Hashem as a being beyond reality. And the meaning of the word Torah to be the mind of the Lord (cosmic conscious),  

Ha-Navi be a human heavenly messenger, but not infallible , Sandalphon    mal’akh

Upanishads - 800 BC - 500 BC

Taittriya - The Partridge

2.8.1 – 2.8.4

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This, then, is an Evaluation of that Bliss (Joy, Happiness):
Suppose there is a young man - in the prime of life, good, learned, most expeditious, most strongly built, and most energetic. Suppose there lies this earth for him filled with wealth. 

This will be one unit of human joy (A unit of measurement for the estimation of Bliss). If this human joy be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of the man-Gandharvas (Rishi, elightened messengers), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If this joy of the man-Gandharvas be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of the divine-Gandharvas (heavenly messenger), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the divine-Gandharvas be increased a hundredfold, it is one joy of the manes (demigods) whose world is everlasting, and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the manes that dwell in the everlasting world be increased a hundredfold, it is one joy of those that are born as gods in heaven, and so also of a follower of the Vedas untouched by desires. If the joy of those that are born as gods in heaven be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of the gods called the Karma Devas (the seven demigod founders of fate), who reach the gods through Vedic rites, and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of the gods, called the Karma-Devas, be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of the gods, and so also of a follower of the Vedas untarnished by desires.

If the joy of the gods be increased a hundred times, it is one joy of Indra (Lord of all beings), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of Indra be multiplied a hundredfold, it is one joy of Brihaspati (Cosmic Guru, Sage to the Gods, teacher of wisdom to all beings) and so also of a follower of the Vedas unaffected by desires. If the joy of Brihaspati be increased a hundred times, it is one joy of Virat (cosmic conscious of all beings and thought forms), and so also of a follower of the Vedas untarnished by desires. If the joy of Virat be multiplied a hundred times, it is one joy of Hiranyagarbha (Cosmic Egg, Germ of all joys), and so also of a follower of the Vedas unsullied by desires.

He that is here in the human person, and He that is there in the sun, are one. He who knows thus attains, after desisting (abstain) from this world, this self made of food, attains this self made of vital force, attains this self made of mind, attains this self made of intelligence, attains this self made of bliss.

KALAMA SUTTA

The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry

The Four Exalted Dwellings

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He lives, having pervaded, with the thought of gladness, one  quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded  because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of gladness that is free of hate or malice.

 

The Father of Western Philosophy

The Nicomachean Ethics

Book X - Chapter 9

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he who is to be good must be well nurtured and trained, and thereafter must continue in a like excellent way of life, and must never, either voluntarily or involuntarily, do anything vile; and this can only be effected if men live subject to some kind of reason and proper regimen, backed by force.

Buddha taught to spread pure selfless thoughts of love without selfish want or hate

KALAMA SUTTA

The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry

The Four Exalted Dwellings

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The disciple of the Noble Ones, Kalamas, who in this way is devoid of coveting (craving), devoid of ill will, undeluded, clearly comprehending and mindful, dwells, having pervaded (dispersed), with the thought of amity (friendliness), one quarter; likewise the second; likewise the third; likewise the fourth; so above, below, and across; he dwells, having pervaded because of the existence in it of all living beings, everywhere, the entire world, with the great, exalted, boundless thought of amity that is free of hate or malice.

After reading the above I asked my son Luke how is it we find happiness? He responded, "Happiness to me is found within ourselves." My son, Luke reasoned that one should not be dependent on others to find happiness." At this point, do you the reader see happiness to be found in our love of self or love of others? Or is happiness found in a mixture of both? One should first correctly diagnose the cognitive ability of an audience to learn concepts. There are individuals with mental disabilities that suffer from the brain's ability to receive and process information to fully understand what Liberty really means. I am of the belief that the meaning of Liberty can be taught as long as the one teaching the concept correctly addresses what is needed to convey the idea so that it is not too overwhelming to gain interest. We all learn concepts through familiar knowledge and life experiences. If you share an idea an individual already understands and accepts; and then associate the known idea by contextual association to an unknown idea; new contexts and problems become linked.  At times new contextual associations concur or conflict with the ideas we know. Contextual associations can solve problems or create new ones for us solve. In logic, when two ideas are compared that are mostly different from each other, but share one or more attributes (properties, components, traits) in common, an analogy can be formed to create a new idea.

From my experience it is best to start with knowing the background of the audience you are communicating with. There are individuals with a cognitive Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with concentrating (focusing) on Ideas (topics) that they have little interest in learning.  Autism is another mental condition characterized by impaired social interactions, limited communication and repetitive behaviors that impede concentration of new ideas. Dementia is also a condition that causes a gradual decrease of cognitive memory and the ability to connect ideas that are being communicated. In addition, there are individuals that have physical visual and auditory conditions that impede communication and sharing ideas.  Traumatic brain injury (physical brain damage) located in the frontal or temporal lobes of the organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of individuals can result in confusion, memory loss, poor organizational skills, disinhibition, poor reasoning skills and judgment. Sometimes I find an individual's background through familiar life experiences. There are those that suffer from substance abuse (drug addiction) and mental disorders (or mental illnesses) are conditions that affect cognitive memory and concentration. Depression is a common mental disorder that causes people to experience a depressed mood that interferes with their interest in concentrating on ideas. Understanding the cognitive abilities of the audience your communicating, gives greater chance for acceptance of your idea.

After reading the above passages I asked my son again how he plans to find happiness. Luke reasoned, that we are not dependent on others to find happiness or misery. But, our internal understanding of happiness and misery can be refined through observation of others. "If you only interact with yourself, then you will not understand how others define happy and sad. But, if others are good to you, then you feel happy. If others are bad to you, then you will feel sad." He then asked me a question, "How can I tell whether person is good or bad?" I told him to first, observe whether the individual appears to be honest or just acting in their own self interest. Second, does the individual's ideas resemble or differ from the ones he trusts to make him him happy. Third, do any part of these new ideas protect or endanger his happiness and those he trusts. 

Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion

Henry Home, Lord Kames

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Our nature, as far as concerns action, is made up of appetites and passions which move us to act, and of the moral sense by which these appetites and passions are governed. 

...It is probable, that in the following particular, man differs from the brute creation. Brutes are entirely governed by principles of action, which, in them, obtain the name of instincts. They blindly follow their instincts, and are led by that instinct which is strongest for the time. It is meet and fit they should act after this manner, because it is acting according to the whole of their nature. But for man to suffer himself to be led implicitly by instinct or by his principles of action, without check or control, is not acting according to the whole of his nature. He is endued with a moral sense or conscience, to check and control his principles of action, and to instruct him which of them he may indulge, and which of them he ought to restrain.

The chief objects of a man’s love are his friends and relations. He reserves some share to bestow on his neighbors. His affection lessens gradually, in proportion to the distance of the object, till it vanish altogether. But were this the whole of human nature with regard to benevolence, man would be but an abject creature. By a very happy contrivance (plan), objects which, because of their distance, have little or no influence, are gathered together in one general view, and made to have the very strongest effect; exceeding, in many instances, the most lively affection that is bestowed on a particular object. By this happy contrivance, the attention of  the mind, and its affections are preserved entire, to be bestowed upon general objects, instead of being dissipated among an endless number of individuals. Nothing more ennobles (refines) human nature than this principle of action: nor is there any thing more wonderful, than that a general term which has no precise meaning, should be the foundation of a more intense affection than is bestowed, for the most part, upon particular objects, even the most attractive. When we talk of our country, our religion, our government, the ideas annexed to these general terms, are obscure and indistinct.

General terms are extremely useful in language; serving, like mathematical signs, to communicate our thoughts in a summary way. But the use of them is not confined to language: they serve for a much nobler purpose, that of exciting us to generous and benevolent actions of the most exalted kind; not confined to individuals, but grasping whole societies, towns, countries, kingdoms, nay all mankind. By this curious mechanism, the defect of our nature is amply remedied. Distant objects, other ways invisible, are rendered conspicuous (obvious): accumulation makes them great; and greatness brings them near the eye: affection is preserved, to be bestowed entire, as upon a single object. And, to say all in one word, this system of benevolence, which is really founded on human nature and not the invention of man, is infinitely better contrived to advance the good and happiness of mankind, than any Utopian system that ever has been produced by the warmest imagination.

The first thing that nature consults, is the preservation of her creatures. Hence the love of life is made the strongest of all instincts. Upon the same foundation, pain is in a greater degree the object of aversion, than pleasure is of desire. Pain warns us of what tends to our dissolution (termination): pleasure is often sought after unwarily (carelessly), and by means dangerous to health and life. Pain comes in as a monitor of our danger; and nature, consulting our preservation in the first place and our gratification in the second only, wisely gives pain more force to draw us back, than it gives pleasure to push us on.
The second principle of action is self-love, or desire of our own happiness and good. This is a stronger principle than benevolence, or love bestowed upon others: wisely so ordered; because every man has more power, knowledge, and opportunity, to promote his own good than that of others. Thus individuals are mostly left to their own care. It is agreeable to the limited nature of such a creature as man, that it should be so; and, consequently, it is wisely ordered, that every man should have the strongest affection for himself.

Fidelity (Loyalty), a third principle, is circumscribed (confined) within narrower bounds; for it cannot exist without a peculiar connection betwixt (between) two persons, to found a reliance on the one side, which requires on the other a conduct corresponding to the reliance.

Gratitude is a fourth principle, universally acknowledged.

And benevolence possesses the last place, diversified by its objects, and exerting itself more vigorously or more faintly, in proportion to the distance of particular objects, and the grandeur of those that are general. This principle of action has one remarkable quality, that it operates with much greater force to relieve those in distress, than to promote positive good. In the case of distress, sympathy comes to it said; and, in that circumstance, it acquires the name of compassion.

To some objects we have an affection, and we desire to possess and enjoy them: other objects raise our aversion (dislike), and move us to avoid them. No object can move our affection but what is agreeable, nor our aversion but what is disagreeable. 

The above-mentioned principles of action belong to man as such, and constitute what may be called the common nature of man. Many other principles exert themselves upon particular objects in the instinctive manner, without the intervention of any sort of reasoning or reflection; appetite for food, animal love, etc. Other particular appetites, passions, and affections, such as ambition, avarice, envy, etc. constitute the peculiar nature of some individuals; being distributed in different proportions. It belongs to the science of ethics, to treat of these particular principles of action.

The moral sense also, though rooted in the nature of man, admits of great refinements by culture and education. It improves gradually, like our other powers and faculties, till it comes to be productive of the strongest as well as the most delicate feelings. I will endeavour to explain in what manner this happens. Every one must be sensible of the great advantages of education and imitation. 

The moral sense not only accompanies our other senses in their gradual refinement, but receives additional strength upon every occasion from these other senses. For example, a savage inured to acts of cruelty, feels little pain or aversion in putting an enemy to death in cold blood; and consequently, will have no remorse at such an action, other than what proceeds from the moral sense acting by its native strength. But let us suppose a person of so delicate feelings, as scarce to endure a common operation of phlebotomy (drawing blood), and who cannot behold without some degree of horror the amputation of a fractured member; such a person will be shocked to the highest degree, if he see an enemy put to death in cold blood. The grating emotion thus raised in him, must communicate itself to the feelings of the moral sense, and render them more acute. And thus, refinement in taste and manners, operating by communication upon the moral sense, occasions a stronger perception of immorality in every vitious action, than what would arise before such refinement. Upon the whole, the operations of the moral sense in a savage, bear no proportion to its operations in a person possessed of all the advantages of which human nature is susceptible by refined education.

As the moral sense is the true criterion of virtue, virtue undoubtedly is confined to the human species, and cannot in any just sense be attributed to any inferior being.

If in the moral sense be involved liberty of action, there must of consequence be the highest sense or feeling of morality where liberty is greatest. Now, in judging of human actions, those actions, which are essential to the order and preservation of society, are considered to be in a good measure necessary. It is our strict duty to be just and honest. We are bound by a law in our nature, which we ought not to transgress. No such feeling of duty or obligation attends those actions which come under the denomination of generosity, greatness of mind, heroism. Justice, therefore, is considered as less free than generosity; and, upon that very account, we ascribe less merit to the former, than to the latter. We ascribe no merit at all to an action which is altogether involuntary; and we ascribe more or less merit, in proportion as the action is more or less voluntary.

Man is an active being, and is not in his element but when in variety of occupation. A constant and uniform tenor of life without hopes or fears, would soon bring on satiety and disgust. Pain therefore is necessary, not only to enhance our pleasures, but to keep us in motion.* And it is needless to observe a second time, that to complain of man’s constitution in this respect, is in other words to complain, that there is such a creature as man in the scale of being. To mention but one other thing, pain and distress have a wonderful tendency to advance the interests of society. Grief, compassion, and sympathy, are strong connecting principles, by which every individual is made subservient to the general good of the whole species.

That branch of justice which regards promises and covenants, hath also a solid foundation in human nature; notwithstanding what is laid down by our author in two distinct propositions, “That a promise would not be intelligible (understood), before human conventions had established it; and, That, even if it were intelligible, it would not be attended (addressed) with any moral obligation.” As man is framed for society, mutual trust and confidence, without which there can be no useful society, enter into the character of the human species. Corresponding to these, are the principles of veracity (truth) and fidelity (loyalty). Veracity and fidelity would be of no significancy, were men not disposed to have faith, and to rely upon what is said to them, whether in the way of evidence or engagement. Faith and trust, on the other hand, would be very hurtful principles, were mankind void of veracity and fidelity. For upon that supposition, the world, as observed above, would be over-run with fraud and deceit. If that branch of justice which restrains us from harming each other, be essential to the very existance of society, fidelity and veracity are not less essential to its well-being: for from them spring mostly the advantages that are peculiar to the social life. It is justly observed by our author, that man in a solitary state is the most helpless of beings; and that by society only he is enabled to supply his defects, and to acquire a superiority over his fellow-creatures; that, by conjunction of forces, our power is augmented; by partition of employments, we work to better purpose; and, by mutual succour, we acquire security. But, without mutual fidelity and trust, we could enjoy none of these advantages; without them, we could not have any comfortable intercourse with each other. Hence it is, that treachery is the vilest of crimes, held in utter abhorrence. It is worse than murder, because it forms a character, and is directed against all mankind; whereas murder is but a transitory (temporary) act, directed against a single person. Infidelity (disloyalty) is of the same species with treachery. The essence of both crimes is the same, to wit, breach of trust. Treachery has only this aggravating circumstance, that it turns the confidence reposed in me against the friend who trusts me. Now, breach of promise is a species of infidelity; and therefore our author has but a single choice: he must maintain either that treachery is no crime, or that breach of promise is a crime. And, in fact, that it is so, every man can bear evidence from his own feelings. The performance of a deliberate promise has, in all ages, been considered as a duty. We have that sense of a promise, as what we are strictly bound to perform; and the breach of promise is attended with the same natural stings which attend other crimes, namely remorse, and a sense of merited punishment.

Solomon repeated his former counsel in view of this limited perspective (cf. 2:24). “Do good” (v. 12) should read “enjoy themselves.” We could translate verse 13, “If any man eats and drinks and finds satisfaction in all his toil, it is a gift of God.”

Ecclesiastes 3

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10. I have observed the business that God gave man to be concerned with:

11. He brings everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity in their mind, but without man ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass.

12. Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime;

13. also, that whenever a man does eat and drink and get enjoyment out of all his wealth, it is a gift of God.

 

The Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) explained the above passage of Ecclesiastes  Solomon's the wisdom of choice and reward and punishment is found the compiled testimonies of many rather rather than one source. Individuals that fail to discern the truth of the wisdom of their deeds will not understand value to their choices. It is difficult to see the importance of repenting the evil actions committed in a material world. Those that do value their choice understand that they do not know the time and place of their demise and the importance of enjoying the gift of life each day and to do actions that are good.

Rashi

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Beautiful in its time. In its proper time, it is beautiful that reward be given for good deeds, but at the time of evil, it is appropriate for meting out punishment for evil deeds. Even [a sense of] the external world

He(Creator) has set in their heart, etc. Also the wisdom of the world that He instilled into the hearts of mankind, He did not instill it all into each one’s heart, rather a little to this one and a little to that one, in order that man should not fully grasp the workings of the Holy One, Blessed Is He, to know it; [and thereby] he will not know the day of his visitation [death] and on what he will stumble, in order that he put his heart to repent, so that he will be concerned and say [to himself], “Today or tomorrow I will die.” Therefore, ‘הָעֹלָם’ is written here defectively [i.e., without a ‘vav’], an expression of “hidden,” for if man knew that the day of his death was near, he would neither build a house nor plant a vineyard. Therefore, he says that, “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” The fact that there is a time for death is a beautiful thing, for a person optimistically says [to himself], “Perhaps my death is far off,” and he builds a house and plants a vineyard; and it is beautiful that it is concealed from people.

I know. Now, since the time of visitation [death] is concealed, that there is nothing better for man than to rejoice with his portion and to do that which is good in his Creator’s eyes, while he is yet alive.

And enjoys the good. The Torah and the commandments.

 

The Rabbi (teacher) Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. He reminded humankind that we are all equal under the Creator's eyes. We are all His Children. We must humble ourselves and cherish others before our own self interests. No truth is greater than God's Natural Law. We need to embrace this reality that our own reasoning and inclinations may not be beneficial to our Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  John 18

John 13

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13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example – you should do just as I have done for you. 16 I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Philippians 2

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3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.

Al-Baqarah (The Cow)

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177 Goodness does not consist in turning your face towards East or West. The truly good are those who believe in God and the Last Day, in the angels, the Scripture, and the prophets; who give away some of their wealth, however much they cherish it, to their relatives, to orphans, the needy, travellers and beggars, and to liberate those in bondage; those who keep up the prayer and pay the prescribed alms; who keep pledges whenever they make them; who are steadfast in misfortune, adversity, and times of danger. These are the ones who are true, and it is they who are aware of God.

Jews, Christians, and Muslims would agree with King David's teaching that People can become dependent upon their earthly leaders for guidance, and forget the Creator is the originator of all eternal wisdom and laws.

Psalms 146

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3 Do not trust in princes, in the son of men, who has no salvation.

4 His spirit leaves, he returns to his soil; on that day, his thoughts are lost.

5. Praiseworthy is he in whose help is the God of Jacob; his hope is in the Lord his God.

6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, Who keeps truth forever.

7 Who performs justice for the oppressed, Who gives bread to the hungry; the Lord sets loose the bound.

8 The Lord gives sight to the blind; the Lord straightens the bent; the Lord loves the righteous.

9 The Lord guards the strangers; He strengthens the orphan and the widow, and He perverts the way of the wicked.

10 The Lord will reign forever! Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Hallelujah!

 

Matthew 20

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25 But Jesus called them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. 26 It must not be this way among you! Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave – 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Al-Baqara (The Cow)

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2:258 (Asad) ART THOU NOT aware of that [king] who argued with Abraham about his Sustainer, (simply] because God had granted him kingship? Lo! Abraham said: "My Sustainer is He who grants life and deals death." [The king] replied: "I [too] grant life and deal death!" Said Abraham: "Verily, God causes the sun to rise in the east; cause it, then, to rise in the west!" Thereupon he who was bent on denying the truth remained dumbfounded: for God does not guide people who [deliberately] do wrong.

George Washington's first act as President of the United States was to thank the Creator for providing the citizens of the United States assistance in the Revolutionary War to gain its freedom from the power of England and its king. He considered this gratitude to be a universal sentiment of the Nation. He then asked for the Creator's blessing to make Liberty in the United States sacred.

Note. I do add parentheses ( ) to add further explanation to words that are not frequently used.

George Washington's Inaugural Address 1798

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Fellow Citizens of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Among the vicissitudes (fortunes) incident (episode) to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable (unchanging) decision, as the asylum of my declining years: a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my Country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with dispondence (discouragement), one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpractised in the duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance, by which it might be affected. All I dare hope, is, that, if in executing this task I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof, of the confidence of my fellow-citizens; and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be palliated (soothed) by the motives which misled me, and its consequences be judged by my Country, with some share of the partiality in which they originated.
Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction (blessing) may consecrate (declare sacred) to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted (established) by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted (given) to His charge (responsibility). In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential Agency (Divine Assistance). And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United Government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. 

...By the article establishing the Executive Department, it is made the duty of the President "to recommend to your consideration, such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The circumstances under which I now meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject, farther than to refer to the Great Constitutional Charter under which you are assembled; and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude (morally correct behavior), and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that as on one side, no local prejudices, or attachments; no seperate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests: so, on another, that the foundations of our National policy will be laid in the pure and immutable (permanent) principles of private morality; and the pre-eminence of a free Government, be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its Citizens, and command the respect of the world.

I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my Country can inspire: since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous (generous) policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity (happiness): Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious (favorable) smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

 

Scripture reveals that God owes man nothing. God is not unjust because He hides truth from some while revealing it to others. Hiding things from some is an evidence of God’s judgment, not His justice. That He extends mercy to any is amazing. That He extends it to those who are inadequate and totally dependent is even more incredible. Furthermore, because He hides truth from those who reject it He shows mercy to them because He will just all people by their response to the truth they have.

Matthew 11

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25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

John 17

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...“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you – 2 just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.

Saint Paul tells us after Jesus has conquered evil and death, he will relinquish his power to serve under the Creator and his Laws. The Creator will then have direct relations and share power with all of His righteous children throughout eternity.

1 Corinthians 15

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20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death. 27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. 28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Philippians 2

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3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.

The Religious naturalist would accept understaning our environment and respecting Natural laws that govern is the key to understanding our Liberty and Happiness.

Jefferson acquired John Locke's notion how Nature has transcribed into man the understanding of primal inclinations of happiness and misery that influence our actions. In the 1689 book, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke writes. 
 
Chapter III
No Innate Practical Principles

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Nature, I confess, has put into man a desire of happiness and an aversion to misery: these indeed are innate practical principles which (as practical principles ought) do continue constantly to operate and influence all our actions without ceasing: these may be observed in all persons and all ages, steady and universal; but these are inclinations of the appetite to good, not impressions of truth on the understanding.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ( Chapters 2 -3) John Locke writes that the knowledge of the truths of Nature, Happiness and Misery comes through our senses from acquired experiences that are placed into memory. In infancy sensory development begins with our innate ability to differentiate pain from pleasure, hot from cold, bitter from sweet, stench from perfume, light from dark, loud from quiet, and rough from smooth. Locke notes that as our development continues, our minds begin to acquire general abstract ideas from familiar objects and prior experienced events. Some of the abstract ideas our minds formulate are right (successful) and some are wrong (failure). Our ability to recognize right and wrong ideas is what John Locke calls "the use of reason." Acquired ideas that become more accepted by reason are given names and basic language is formed. Ideas that are shared, understood and accepted by others become undoubted truths are what John Locke defines as "maxims." Many undoubted truths not known to others are reasoned by reflecting on their own unique development experiences. Undoubted truths that are reasoned and accepted before they are known are what John Locke terms "implicit maxims.' Ideas that are shared and not understood to be accepted as true or false, assent or dissent, are considered ignorant.
 
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke

Chapter 3
No Innate Practical Principles

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I grant the existence of God is so many ways manifest, and the obedience we owe him so congruous to the light of reason, that a great part of mankind give testimony to the law of nature: but yet I think it must be allowed that several moral rules may receive from mankind a very general approbation, without either knowing or admitting the true ground of morality; which can only be the will and law of a God, who sees men in the dark, has in His hand rewards and punishments and power enough to call to account the proudest offender.

Chapter 28
Of Other Relations
 
 

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8. Divine law the measure of sin and duty. First, the Divine Law, whereby that law which God has set to the actions of men — whether promulgated to them by the light of nature, or the voice of revelation. That God has given a rule whereby men should govern themselves, I think there is nobody so brutish as to deny. He has a right to do it; we are his creatures: he has goodness and wisdom to direct our actions to that which is best: and he has power to enforce it by rewards and punishments of infinite weight and duration in another life; for nobody can take us out of his hands. This is the only true touchstone of moral rectitude; and, by comparing them to this law, it is that men judge of the most considerable moral good or evil of their actions; that is, whether, as duties or sins, they are like to procure them happiness or misery from the hands of the ALMIGHTY.

To understand how  Thomas Jefferson acquired maxim of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God we must first review Commentaries on the Laws of England  by English judge, Sir William Blackstone published in 1765.  Blackstone considered the Will of the Creative force of Nature is called Natural Law. It is the explicit Will of Natural Law that binds us to this Universe and each other. It is the implicit Will of Natural Law to protect those who choose to accept and follow what we find to be good and self evident with our life.
 
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England
Introduction
Of the Nature of Laws in General.

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This Will of his Maker is called the Law of Nature. For as God, when He created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion; so, when he created man, and endued him with free will to conduct himself in all parts of life, He laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that free will is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purpose of those laws.
 
IF man were to live in a state of nature, unconnected with other individuals, there would be no occasion for any other laws, than the law of nature, and the law of God. Neither could any other law possibly exist; for a law always supposes some superior who is to make it; and in a state of nature we are all equal, without any other superior but him who is the author of our being. But man was formed for society; and, as is demonstrated by the writers on this subject, is neither capable of living alone, nor indeed has the courage to do it. However, as it is impossible for the whole race of mankind to be united in one great society, they must necessarily divide into many; and form separate states, commonwealths, and nations; entirely independent of each other, and yet liable to a mutual intercourse. Hence arises a third kind of law to regulate this mutual intercourse, called “the law of “nations;” which, as none of these states will acknowledge a superiority in the other, cannot be dictated by either; but depends entirely upon the rules of natural law, or upon mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements between these several communities: in the construction also of which compacts we have no other rule to resort to, but the law of nature; being the only one to which both communities are equally subject: and therefore the civil law very justly observes, that quod naturalis ratio inter omnes hominess conftituit, vocatur jus gentium.

 Locke, Blackstone, Adams and Jefferson believed that a Creative Force of Nature has given us power over our body and mind to pursue or avoid sensations and reflections of pleasure and pain. John Locke believed that the Creator willed us to follow moral laws of virtue and happiness that preserve our individual selves and society from pain. Locke wrote that mankind will be rewarded if we abide by the given laws and punished if we disobey them.

In John Adams letter to Thomas Jefferson mentions Smithfield, London the location of executions of heretics and political rebels over the centuries. Scottish patriot Sir William Wallace, and Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants' Revolt, were among the many religious reformers and dissenters ended in Smithfield. It is probable that Adams, Jefferson, and the Founding Fathers of the United States may have feared they might be added to the list of martyrs. Rebellion against the failure of a monarch to properly rule by a destructive system of Colony Administration. It was Adam's hope that the Creator would support the injustice that caused the degradation of descendants of English Freemen to a state of servitude. 

John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 9 August 1816

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Promise me eternal Life free from Pain, tho’ in all other respects no better than our present terrestrial Existence, I know not how many thousand Years of Smithfield fires I would not endure to obtain it.

In fine, without the Supposition of a future State, Mankind and this Globe appear to me the most Sublime and beautiful Bubble and Bauble that Imagination can conceive.

Let us then wish for Immortality at all hazards and trust the Ruler with His Skies. I do: and earnestly wish for His Commands which to the Utmost of my Power Shall be implicitly and piously obeyed.

 

Benjamin Franklin delivered this Petition of the Continental Congress, dated October 26, 1774 and signed by fifty-one delegates to the Congress, to Britain's King George III. The petition, stated the grievances of the American provinces and asked for the King's help in seeking solutions to their new founded misery. That their actions would be considered just to the Creator who would be the final judge to every one of them.

The Petition of the Grand American Continental Congress, to the King's Most Excellent Majesty

Oct. 26 1774 letter of transmittal

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Had we been permitted to enjoy in quiet, the inheritance  left us by our forefathers, we should at this time have been peaceably, cheerfully and usefully employed in recommending  ourselves by every testimony of devotion to your Majesty, and of veneration to the state from which we derive our origin. 

But though now exposed to unexpected and unnatural scenes of distress by a contention with that nation, on whose parental guidance on all important affairs, we have hitherto with filial reverence constantly trusted, and therefore can derive no instruction in our present unhappy and perplexing circumstances from any former experience ; yet we doubt not the purity of our intention and the integrity of our conduct will justify us at that grand tribunal before which all mankind must submit to judgment.

We ask but for peace, liberty and safety. We wish not a diminution of the prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant of any new right in our favor. Your royal authority over us and our connection with Great-Britain, we shall always carefully and zealously endeavor to support and maintain.

 

King George considered the Colonist message of loyalty and attachment to his kingdom to be a farce. The Creator had blessed in England with Freedom and Bounty. Many of King's subjects gave their lives so that that the citizens of England could enjoy the greatest freedom that one could desire. King George considered the words of the rebellious criminal leaders to misrepresenting the truth about the constitution of colonies to be subordinate to Great Britain. America's Continental Congress were unlawfully taking control of British legislative, executive and judicial powers through acts of acts of violence threatening the property and lives of people loyal to the crown. The happiness of England and her subjects depended on her defending the resources the Creator had blessed them with.

King George III Speech to Parliament, October 27, 1775

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"Those who have long too successfully labored to inflame my people in America by gross misrepresentations, and to infuse into their minds a system of opinions, repugnant to the true constitution of the colonies, and to their subordinate relation to Great-Britain, now openly avow their revolt, hostility and rebellion. They have raised troops, and are collecting a naval force; they have seized the public revenue, and assumed to themselves legislative, executive and judicial powers, which they already exercise in the most arbitrary manner, over the persons and property of their fellow-subjects: And although many of these unhappy people may still retain their loyalty, and may be too wise not to see the fatal consequence of this usurpation [unlawful right], and wish to resist it, yet the torrent of violence has been strong enough to compel their acquiescence [acceptance without protest], till a sufficient force shall appear to support them.

"The authors and promoters of this desperate conspiracy have, in the conduct of it, derived great advantage from the difference of our intentions and theirs. They meant only to amuse by vague expressions of attachment to the Parent State, and the strongest protestations [insistence] of loyalty to me, whilst they were preparing for a general revolt. On our part, though it was declared in your last session that a rebellion existed within the province of the Massachusetts Bay, yet even that province we wished rather to reclaim than to subdue. The resolutions of Parliament breathed a spirit of moderation and forbearance; conciliatory propositions accompanied the measures taken to enforce authority; and the coercive acts were adapted to cases of criminal combinations among subjects not then in arms. I have acted with the same temper; anxious to prevent, if it had been possible, the effusion of the blood of my subjects; and the calamities which are inseparable from a state of war; still hoping that my people in America would have discerned the traitorous views of their leaders, and have been convinced, that to be a subject of Great Britain, with all its consequences, is to be the freest member of any civil society in the known world.

"The rebellious war now levied is become more general, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire. I need not dwell upon the fatal effects of the success of such a plan. The object is too important, the spirit of the British nation too high, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous, to give up so many colonies which she has planted with great industry, nursed with great tenderness, encouraged with many commercial advantages, and protected and defended at much expense of blood and treasure.

King George was no hero. We will see that King George's greatest failure was that he did not cherish his Subjects as equal citizens, but rather let his emotions lead him to the ignorance of considering them to be indentured caretakers of his corporate empire. Reason would have shown him that the common rights, and interests, of mankind are what all leaders should see. 

It is clear that George III learned through his instruction that there are times when one must restrain their personal inclinations of the appetite (self interest) for the greater good of the nation. This becomes evident when George III intended to marry his true love to marry Lady Sarah Lenox, the sister of the Duke of Richmond.  When the marriage was opposed by his adviser John Stuart, Earl of Bute. George immediately broke off the relationship and wrote in his journal “The interest of my country shall ever be my first care, my own inclinations shall ever submit to it; I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation and consequently must often act contrary to my passions.”  Later, King George III asked Lady Sarah to be one of the ten bridesmaids at his wedding to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It was John Stuart who designed the curriculum that shaped the future king's thoughts on history, law, and politics, relying heavily on works such as a manuscript version of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and St. John Bolingbroke's The Idea of the Patriot King (1740). 

Like King George, Thomas Jefferson was very familiar with Bolingboke's work. Much of his commonplace book follows Bolingboke's method of critical reasoning and evidence. Jefferson may have looked at Boilingbroke's words on the human inventions of gods, on his own reasoning of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Further, Jefferson's was on the same opinion of the idolatry of revering the papacy and kings.Henry St. John Bolingbroke considered any leader that put the interests of People that support him befere to him to be a hero. A hero finds virtue through a natural progression of reason to self discipline emotions. Boilingbrook correctly understood deifying human heroes that help maintain order during their lifetime is a blasphamous deception of the higheset order.  

No leader has the Divine Right to put himself above others. Bolingbroke considered this type of self idol worship to be the cause to the effect of polytheism. These type of leaders deceive even themselves to be worshiped as Divine Judges. But, in the end all of these human idols gain no power from the Creator, unlesss His Divine Will to do so. Boilingbroke does make a good point that these divine clowns betray an imperfection of our nature, being our pride, vanity, and presumption? The notion of lawgivers or a leader deceiving subjects, to be ordained by the Creator, would be known by any simpleton as using His name for personal Vanity. Any lawgiver or leader that deceives Citizens to believing thier office to be Divine and sacred should be considered false idol worship.

Jefferson most likely understood that Boilingbrook lead King George and his readers into a Sophist trap by inventing a false presumption that our happiness is dependent on good society and king. While Society does plays a significant role in a person's happiness, but is not the only factor. Monotheist would instantly point that the Prophet Abraham left the comfort of society fillled with false idol worship and found the Creator. Thomas Jefferson would have also rebuked any notion that we are always governed by laws that are always of interest to the People. Further, Jefferson would also have rebuked any duty or obligation of submission to laws that take or give away any person's right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness given by the Creator. It is my understanding that our third president would have argued that any laws enacted on personal self interest would not be ordained by the Creator in any way.

It is true that Lawmaking and governing becomes more difficult, if the People do not share the same morality, grievances and common enemies as their leaders. A Patriot must protect Liberty, whether or not it is in his interest to do so. It is all our duty protect Liberty and promote happiness for all mankind. But a good Leader must hold the highest conduct, because it is his duty to do so; a duty that he owes to The Creator by one law, and to his people by another. Both Jefferson would support the implicit idea that the Creator has given power to no particular individual, because by nature all Men are Equal; therefore, by Natural Law Power is given to the People or Multitude. At this period of time Jews, Christians, and Muslims would most likely have objected Pure Democracy by pointing to the royal bloodline of King David of the Old Testament. Britains's Royal College of Arms believes Queen Elizabeth, to bee a direct descendant of King David. Queen Elizabeth is also head of the Anglican Church.

The Idea of a Patriot King
Henry St. John Bolingbroke

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...The iniquity of all the principal men in any community, of kings and ministers especially, does not consist alone in the crimes they commit, and in the immediate consequences of these crimes: and, therefore, their guilt is not to be measured by these alone. Such men sin against posterity, as well as against their own age; and when the consequences of their crimes are over, the consequences of their example remain. I think, and every wise and honest man in generations yet unborn will think, if the history of this administration descends to blacken our annals, that the greatest iniquity of the minister, on whom the whole iniquity ought to be charged, since he has been so long in possession of the whole power, is the constant endeavor he has employed to corrupt the morals of men. I say thus generally, the morals; because he, who abandons or betrays his country, will abandon or betray his friend; and because he, who is prevailed on to act in Parliament without any regard to truth or justice, will easily prevail on himself to act in the same manner every where else. 

...In a word, will the British spirit, that spirit which has preserved liberty hitherto in one corner of the world at least, be so easily or so soon reinfused into the British nation? I think not. We have been long coming to this point of deprivation: and the progress from confirmed habits of evil is much more slow than the progress to them. Virtue is not placed on a rugged mountain of difficult and dangerous access, as they who would excuse the indolence of their temper, or the perverseness of their will, desire to have it believed; but she is seated, however, on an eminence (exalted position). We may go up to her with ease, but we must go up gradually, according to the natural progression of reason, who is to lead the way, and to guide our steps. On the other hand, if we fall from thence, we are sure to be hurried down the hill with a blind impetuosity (violent action), according to the natural violence of those appetites and passions that caused our fall at first, and urge it on the faster, the further they are removed from the control that before restrained them.

...to save or redeem a nation, under such circumstances, from perdition, nothing less is necessary than some great, some extraordinary conjuncture of ill fortune, or of good, which may purge, yet so as by fire. Distress from abroad, bankruptcy at home, and other circumstances of like nature and tendency, may beget universal confusion. Out of confusion order may arise: but it may be the order of a wicked tyranny, instead of the order of a just monarchy. Either may happen: and such an alternative, at the disposition of fortune, is sufficient to make a Stoic tremble! We may be saved, indeed, by means of a very different kind; but these means will not offer themselves, this way of salvation will not be opened to us, without the concurrence, and the influence, of a Patriot King, the most uncommon of all phenomena in the physical or moral world.

Nothing can so surely and so effectually restore the virtue and public spirit essential to the preservation of liberty and national prosperity, as the reign of such a prince.

...But let us not neglect, on our part, such means as are in our power, to keep the cause of truth, of reason, of virtue, and of liberty, alive. If the blessing be withheld from us, let us deserve, at least, that it should be granted to us. If heaven, in mercy, bestows it on us, let us prepare to receive it, to improve it, and to co-operate with it.

I mean what this institution ought to have been, whenever it began, according to the rule of reason, founded in the common rights, and interests, of mankind. On this head it is quite necessary to make some reflections, that will, like angular stones laid on a rock, support the little fabric, the model however of a great building, that I propose to raise.

So plain a matter could never have been rendered intricate and voluminous, had it not been for lawless ambition, extravagant vanity, and the detestable spirit of tyranny, abetted by the private interests of artful men, by adulation (excessive flattery) and superstition, two vices to which that staring timid (weak spirited) creature man is excessively prone; if authority had not imposed on such as did not pretend to reason; and if such as did attempt to reason had not been caught in the common snares of sophism (moral scepticism and false reasoning), and bewildered in the labyrinths of disputation (debate). In this case, therefore, as in all those of great concernment (matters of interest, the shortest and the surest method of arriving at real knowledge is to unlearn the lessons we have been taught, to remount to first principles, and take nobody's word about them; for it is about them that almost all the juggling and legerdemain (illusions), employed by men whose trade it is to deceive, are set to work.

...the notions concerning the divine institution and right of kings, as well as the absolute power belonging to their office, have no foundation in fact or reason, but have risen from an old alliance between ecclesiastical and civil policy. The characters of king and priest have been sometimes blended together: and when they have been divided, as kings have found the great effects wrought in government by .the empire which priests obtain over the consciences of mankind, so priests have been taught by experience, that the best method to preserve their own rank, dignity, wealth, and power, all raised upon a supposed divine right, is to communicate the same pretension [claim] to kings, and, by a fallacy common to both, impose their usurpations [theft] on a silly world. This they have done: and, in the state, as in the Church, these pretensions to a have been generally carried highest by those, who have had the least pretension to the divine favor.

The authors of such inventions (conceived deceptions), as were of general use to the well being (free and happy) of mankind, were not only reverenced (awe) and obeyed (submit) during their lives, but worshiped (deified) after their deaths: they became principal gods, Dii majorum gentium (the superior governing gods of this world). The founders of commonwealths, the lawgivers, and the heroes of particular states, became gods of a second class, Dii minorum gentium. All preeminence (supremacy) was given in heaven, as well as on earth, in proportion to the benefits that men received. Majesty was the first, and divinity the second, reward. Both were earned by services done to mankind, whom it was easy to lead, in those days of simplicity and superstition, from admiration and gratitude, to adoration and expectation.

I esteem monarchy above any other form of government, and hereditary monarchy above elective. I reverence kings, their office, their rights, their persons: and it will never be owing to the principles I am going to establish, because the character and government of a Patriot King can be established on no other, if their office and their right are not always held divine, and their persons always sacred.

Now, we are subject, by the constitution of human nature, and therefore by the will of the author of this and every other nature, to two laws. One given immediately to all men by God, the same to all, and obligatory alike on all. The other given to man by man, and therefore not the same to all, nor obligatory alike on all: founded indeed on the same principles, but varied by different applications of them to times, to characters, and to a number, which may be reckoned infinite, of other circumstances. By the first, I mean the universal law of reason; and by the second, the particular law, or constitution of laws, by which every distinct community has chosen to be governed.

The obligation of submission to both, is discoverable by so clear and so simple an use of our intellectual faculties, that it may be said properly enough to be revealed to us by God: and though both these laws cannot be said properly to be given by Him, yet our obligation to submit to the civil law is a principal paragraph in the natural law, which he has most manifestly given us. In truth we can no more doubt of the obligations of both these laws, than of the existence of the Lawgiver. As supreme lord over all his works, his general providence regards immediately the great commonwealth of mankind; but then, as supreme lord likewise, his authority gives a sanction to the particular bodies of law which are made under it. The law of nature is the law of all his subjects: the constitutions of particular governments are like the by-laws of cities, or the appropriated customs of provinces. It follows, therefore, that he who breaks the laws of his country resists the ordinance of God, that is, the law of his nature. God has instituted neither monarchy, nor aristocracy, nor democracy, nor mixed government: but though God has instituted no particular form of government among men, yet by the general laws of His kingdom He exacts our obedience to the laws of those communities, to which each of us is attached by birth, or to which we may be attached by a subsequent and lawful engagement.

From such plain, unrefined, and therefore, I suppose, true reasoning, the just authority of kings and the due obedience of subjects, may be deduced with the utmost certainty. And surely it is far better for kings themselves to have their authority thus founded on principles incontestable, and on fair deductions from them, than on the chimeras of madmen, or, what has been more common, the sophisms (arguments apparently correct in form but actually invalid) of knaves (ignorant). A human right, that cannot be controverted, is preferable, surely, to a pretended divine right, which every man must believe implicitly, as few will do, or not believe at all.

...A divine right in kings is to be deduced evidently from them: a divine right to govern well, and conformably to the constitution at the head of which they are placed. A divine right to govern ill, is an absurdity to assert it, is blasphemy. A people may choose, or hereditary succession may raise, a bad prince to the throne; but a good king alone can derive his right to govern from God. The reason is plain: good government alone can be in the divine intention. God has made us to desire happiness; he has made our happiness dependent on society; and the happiness of society dependent on good or bad government. His intention, therefore, was, that government should be good.

The office of kings is, then, of right divine, and their persons are to be reputed sacred. As men, they have no such right, no such sacredness belonging to them: as kings, they have both, unless they forfeit them. Reverence for government obliges to reverence governors, who, for the sake of it, are raised above the level of other men: but reverence for governors, independently of government, any further than reverence would be due to their virtues if they were private men, is preposterous, and repugnant to common sense. The spring from which this legal reverence, for so I may call it, arises, is national, not personal. 

...Nothing can be more absurd, in pure speculation, than an hereditary right in any mortal to govern other men: and yet, in practice, nothing can be more absurd than to have a king to choose at every vacancy of a throne. We draw at a lottery indeed in one case, where there are many chances to lose, and few to gain. But have we much more advantage of this kind in the other? I think not. Upon these, and upon most occasions, the multitude would do at least as well to trust to chance as choice, and to their fortune as to their judgment. But in another respect, the advantage is entirely on the side of hereditary succession; for, in elective monarchies, these elections, whether well or ill made, are often attended with such national calamities, that even the best reigns cannot make amends for them: whereas, in hereditary monarchy, whether a good or a bad prince succeeds, these calamities are avoided.

...We may lament the imperfections of our human state, which is such, that in cases of the utmost importance to the order and good government of society, and by consequence to the happiness of our kind, we are reduced, by the very constitution of our nature, to have no part to take that our reason can approve absolutely. But though we lament it, we must submit to it. We must tell ourselves once for all, that perfect schemes are not adapted to our imperfect state; that Stoical morals and Platonic politics are nothing better than amusements for those who have had little experience in the affairs of the world, 

...I think a limited monarchy the best of governments, so I think an hereditary monarchy the best of monarchies. I said a limited monarchy; for an unlimited monarchy, wherein arbitrary will, which is in truth no rule, is however the sole rule, or stands instead of all rule of government, is so great an absurdity, both in reason informed or uninformed by experience, that it seems a government fitter for savages than for civilized people.

...When monarchy is the essential form, it may be more easily and more usefully tempered with aristocracy, or democracy, or both, than either of them, when they are the essential forms, can be tempered with monarchy. It seems to me, that the introduction of a real permanent monarchical power, or any thing more than the pageantry of it, into either of these, must destroy them and extinguish them, as a greater light extinguishes a less.

I would not say God governs by a rule that we know, or may know, as well as he, and upon our knowledge of which he appeals to men for the justice of his proceedings towards them; which a famous divine has impiously advanced, in a pretended demonstration of his being and attributes. God forbid! But this I may say, that God does always that which is fittest to be done, and that this fitness, whereof neither that presumptuous dogmatist was, nor any created being is, a competent judge, results from the various natures, and more various relations of things: so that, as creator of all systems by which these natures and relations are constituted, he prescribed to himself the rule, which he follows as governor of every system of being. In short, with reverence be it spoken, God is a monarch, yet not an arbitrary but a limited monarch, limited by the rule which infinite wisdom prescribed to infinite power. 

There are limitations indeed that would destroy the essential form of monarchy; or, in other words, a monarchical constitution may be changed, under pretense of limiting the monarch.

 I will not say that the essential form of monarchy should be preserved though the preservation of it were to cause the loss of liberty.

..all the limitations necessary to preserve liberty, as long as the spirit of it subsists, and longer than that no limitations of monarchy, nor any other form of government, can preserve it, are compatible with monarchy. I think on these subjects, neither as the Tories, nor as the Whigs have thought; at least, I endeavor to avoid the excesses of both. I neither dress up kings like so many burlesque Jupiters, weighing the fortunes of mankind in the scales of fate, and darting thunderbolts at the heads of rebellious giants; nor do I strip them unclothed, as it were, and leave them at most a few tattered rags to clothe their majesty, but such as can serve really as little for use as for ornament. My aim is to fix this principle: that limitations on a crown ought to be carried as far as it is necessary to secure the liberties of a people; and that all such limitations may subsist, without weakening or endangering monarchy.

I shall be told, perhaps, for I have heard it said by many, that this point is imaginary; and that limitations, sufficient to procure good government and to secure liberty under a bad prince, cannot be made, unless they are such as will deprive the subjects of many benefits in the reign of a good prince, clog his administration, maintain an unjust jealousy between him and his people, and occasion a defect of power, necessary to preserve the public tranquility, and to promote the national prosperity.

...The limitations necessary to preserve liberty under monarchy will restrain effectually a bad prince, without being ever felt as shackles by a good one. Our constitution is brought, or almost brought, to such a point, a point of perfection I think it, that no king, who is not, in the true meaning of the word, a patriot, can govern Britain with ease, security, honour, dignity, or indeed with sufficient power and strength. But yet a king, who is a patriot may govern with all the former; and, besides them, with power as extended as the most absolute monarch can boast, and a power, too, far more agreeable in the enjoyment as well as more effectual in the operation.

...It is something to desire to appear a patriot: and the desire of having fame is a step towards deserving it, because it is a motive the more to deserve it. If it be true, as Tacitus says, contemptu famae contemni virtutem, that a contempt of a good name, or an indifference about it, begets or accompanies always a contempt of virtue; the contrary will be true: and they are certainly both true. But this motive alone is not sufficient. To constitute a patriot, whether king or subject, there must be something more substantial than a desire of fame, in the composition; and if there be not, this desire of fame will never rise above that sentiment which may be compared to the coquetry of women: a fondness of transient applause, which is courted by vanity, given by flattery, and spends itself in show, like the qualities which acquire it. Patriotism must be founded in great principles, and supported by great virtues.

...princes are easily betrayed into an error that takes its rise in the general imperfection of our nature, in our pride, our vanity, and our presumption? The bastard children, but the children still, of self love; a spurious brood, but often a favorite brood, that governs the whole family. As men are apt to make themselves the measure of all being, so they make themselves the final cause of all creation. Thus the reputed orthodox philosophers in all ages have taught, that the world was made for man, the earth for him to inhabit, and all the luminous bodies, in the immense expanse around us, for him to gaze at. Kings do no more, no, not so much, when they imagine themselves the final cause for which societies were formed, and governments instituted.

...all such men should bear constantly in mind, that the master they serve is to be the king of their country: that their attachment to him, therefore, is not to be like that of other servants to other masters, for his sake alone, or for his sake and their own, but for the sake of their country likewise.

..Attachment to a private person must comprehend a great concern for his character and his interests: but attachment to one who is, or may be a king, much more; because the character of the latter is more important to himself and others; and because his interests are vastly more complicated with those of his country, and in some sort with those of mankind. 

If he gives them those of a good reign, we may assure ourselves that they will carry, and in this case they ought to carry that applause, and those demonstrations of their confidence and affection, as high as such a prince himself can desire. Thus the prince and the people, take, in effect, a sort of engagement with one another: the prince to govern well, and the people to honor and obey him.

...when the spirit of liberty begins to flag in a free people, and when they become disposed, by habits that have grown insensibly upon them, to a base submission. But they are necessary too, even when they are easiest to be obtained; that is, when the spirit of liberty is in full strength, and a disposition, to oppose all instances of maladministration (injustice), and to resist all attempts on liberty, is universal. In both cases, the endeavours of every man who loves his country will be employed with incessant care and constancy to obtain them, that good government and liberty may be the better preserved and secured; but in the latter case for this further reason also, that the preservation and security of these may be provided for, not only better but more consistently with public tranquillity, by constitutional methods, and a legal course of Opposition to the excesses of regal or ministerial power. 

It is true that a prince, who gives just reasons to expect that his reign will be that of a Patriot King, may not always meet, and from all persons, such returns as such expectations deserve: but they must not hinder either the prince from continuing to give them, or the people from continuing to acknowledge them. United, none can hurt them: and if no artifice (cunning) interrupts, no power can defeat the effects of their perseverance. It will blast many a wicked project, keep virtue in countenance (in favor), and vice, to some degree at least, in awe. Nay, if it should fail to have these effects, if we should even suppose a good prince to suffer with the people, and in some measure for them, vet many advantages would accrue to him: for instance, the cause of the people he is to govern, and his own cause would be made the same by their common enemies. He would feel grievances himself as a subject, before he had the power of imposing them as a king. He would be formed in that school out of which the greatest and the best of monarchs have come, the school of affliction: and all the vices, which had prevailed before his reign, would serve as so many foils to the glories of it. 

Machiavel is an author who should have great authority with the persons likely to oppose me. He proposes to princes the amplification of their power, the extent of their dominion, and the subjection of their people, as the sole objects of their policy. He devises and recommends all means that tend to these purposes, without the consideration of any duty owing to God or man, or any regard to the morality or immorality of actions. Yet even he declares the affectation of virtue to be useful to princes: he is so far on my side in the present question. The only difference between us is, I would have the virtue real: he requires no more than the appearance of it.

In the tenth chapter of the first book of Discourses, he appears convinced, such is the force of truth, but how consistently with himself let others determine, that the supreme glory of a prince accrues to him who establishes good government and a free constitution; and that a prince, ambitious of fame, must wish to come into possession of a disordered and corrupted state, not to finish the wicked work that others have begun, and to complete the ruin, but to stop the progress of the first, and to prevent the last. He thinks this not only the true way to fame, but to security and quiet; as the contrary leads, for here is no third way, and a prince must make his option between these two, not only to infamy (disgrace), but to danger and to perpetual disquietude (unrest). He represents those who might establish a commonwealth or a legal monarchy, and who choose to improve the opportunity of establishing tyranny, that is, monarchy without any rule of law, as men who are deceived by false notions of good, and false appearances of glory, and who are in effect blind to their true interest in every respect

Thus far Machiavel reasons justly; but he takes in only a part of his subject, and confines himself to those motives that should determine a wise prince to maintain liberty, because it is his interest to do so. He rises no higher than the consideration of mere interest, of fame, of security, of quiet, and of power, all personal to the prince: and by such motives alone even his favourite Borgia (Cesare Borgia was the son of Pope Alexander VI ) might have been determined to affect the virtues of a patriot prince; more than which this great doctor in political knowledge would not have required of him. But he is far from going up to that motive which should above all determine a good prince to hold this conduct, because it is his duty to do so; a duty that he owes to God by one law, and to his people by another.

though Mr Locke condescended to examine those of Filmer, more out of regard to the prejudices of the time, than to the importance of the work. Upon such foundations we must conclude, that since men were directed by nature to form societies, because they cannot by their nature subsist without them, nor in a state of individuality; and since they were directed in like manner to establish governments, because societies cannot be maintained without them, nor subsist in a state of anarchy, the ultimate end of all governments is the good of the people, for whose sake they were made, and without whose consent they could not have been made. In forming societies, and submitting to government, men give up part of that liberty to which they are all born, and all alike. But why? Is government incompatible with a full enjoyment of liberty? By no means. But because popular liberty without government will degenerate into licence (permission) , as government without sufficient liberty will degenerate into tyranny, they are mutually necessary to each other, good government to Support legal liberty, and legal liberty to preserve good government.

The good of the people is the ultimate and true end of government. Governors are, therefore, appointed for this end, and the civil constitution which appoints them, and invests them with their power, is determined to do so by that law of nature and reason, which has determined the end of government, and which admits this form of government as the proper means of arriving at it. Now, the greatest good of a people is their liberty.. 

Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man: without liberty no happiness can be enjoyed by society. The obligation, therefore, to defend and maintain the freedom of such constitutions will appear most sacred to a Patriot King.

Kings who have weak understandings, bad hearts, and strong prejudices, and all these, as it often happens, inflamed by their passions, and rendered incurable by their self-conceit and presumption; such kings are apt to imagine, and they conduct themselves so as to make many of their subjects imagine, that the king and the people in free governments are rival powers, who stand in competition with one another, who have different interests, and must of course have different views: that the rights and privileges of the people are so many spoils taken from the right and prerogative of the crown; and that the rules and laws, made for the exercise and security of the former, are so many diminutions (diminishing) of their dignity, and restraints on their power.

The freedom of a constitution rests on two points. The orders of it are one: so Machiavel calls them, and I know not how to call them more significantly. He means not only the forms and customs, but the different classes and assemblies of men, with different powers and privileges attributed to them, which are established in the state. The spirit and character of the people are the other. On the mutual conformity and harmony of these the preservation of liberty depends. To take away, or essentially to alter the former, cannot be brought to pass, whilst the latter remains in original purity and vigour: nor can liberty be destroyed by this method, unless the attempt be made with a military force sufficient to conquer the nation, which would not submit in this case till it was conquered, nor with much security to the conqueror even then. But these orders of the state may be essentially altered, and serve more effectually to the destruction of liberty, than the taking of them away would serve, if the spirit and character of the people are lost.

Now this method of destroying liberty is the most dangerous on many accounts, particularly on this; that even the reign of the weakest prince, and the policy of the weakest ministry, may effect the destruction, when circumstances are favorable to this method. If a people is growing corrupt, there is no need of capacity to contrive (scheme), nor of insinuation (implication) to gain, nor of plausibility (credibility) to seduce, nor of eloquence (rhetoric) to persuade, nor of authority to impose, nor of courage to attempt (acheive). The most incapable, awkward, ungracious, shocking, profligate (wasteful), and timorous (fearful) wretches (criminal), invested with power, and masters of the purse, will be sufficient for the work, when the people are accomplices in it. Luxury is rapacious (greedy); let them feed it: the more it is fed, the more profuse it will grow. Want is the consequence of profusion (abundance), venality (selfishness) of want, and dependence of venality. By this progression, the first men of a nation will become the pensioners (funders) of the last; and he who has talents, the most implicit tool to him who has none. The distemper will soon descend, not indeed to make a deposit below, and to remain there, but to pervade the whole body.

Men are willing to excuse, not only to others but to themselves, the first steps they take in vice (wickedness), and especially in vice that affects the public, and whereof the public has a right to complain.

Old men will outlive the shame of losing liberty, and young men will arise who know not that it ever existed. A spirit of slavery will oppose and oppress the spirit of liberty, and seem at least to be the genius of the nation. Such too it will become in time, when corruption has once grown to this height, unless the progress of it can be interrupted.

orders which are proper to maintain liberty, whilst a people remain uncorrupt, become improper and hurtful to liberty, when a people is grown corrupt. To remedy this abuse, new laws alone will not be sufficient. These orders, therefore, must be changed, according to him, and the constitution must be adapted to the depraved manners of the people. 

 a free commonwealth can neither be maintained by a corrupt people, nor be established among them. 

...To preserve liberty by new laws and new schemes of government, whilst the corruption of a people continues and grows, is absolutely impossible: but to restore and to preserve it under old laws, and an old constitution, by reinfusing into the minds of men the spirit of this constitution, is not only possible, but is, in a particular manner, easy to a king. A corrupt commonwealth remains without remedy, though all the orders and forms of it subsist: a free monarchical government cannot remain absolutely so, as long as the orders and forms of the constitution subsist. These, alone, are indeed nothing more than the dead letter of freedom, or masks of liberty in the first character they serve to no good purpose whatsoever: in the second they serve to a bad one; because tyranny, or government by will, becomes more severe, and more secure, under their disguise, than it would if it was barefaced (transparent)and avowed (asserted). But a king can, easily to himself and without violence to his people, renew the spirit of liberty in their minds, quicken this dead letter, and pull off this mask.

As soon as corruption ceases to be an expedient (practical) of government, and it will cease to be such as soon as a Patriot King is raised to the throne, the panacea (remedy) is applied; the spirit of the constitution revives of course: and, as fast as it revives, the orders and forms of the constitution are restored to their primitive integrity, and become what they were intended to be, real barriers against arbitrary power, not blinds nor masks under which tyranny may lie concealed. Depravation of manners exposed the constitution to ruin: reformation will secure it. Men decline easily from virtue; for there is a devil too in the political system, a constant tempter at hand. A Patriot King will want neither power nor inclination to cast out this devil, to make the temptation cease, and to deliver his subjects, if not from the guilt, yet from the consequence, of their fall. Under him they will not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; for, by rendering public virtue and real capacity the sole means of acquiring any degree of power or profit in the state, he will set the passions of their hearts on the side of liberty and good government. A Patriot King is the most powerful of all reformers; for he is himself a sort of standing miracle, so rarely seen and so little understood, that the sure effects of his appearance will be admiration and love in every honest breast, confusion and terror to every guilty conscience, but submission and resignation in all. A new people will seem to arise with a new king. innumerable metamorphoses, like those which poets feign, will happen in very deed: and, while men are conscious that they are the same individuals, the difference of their sentiments will almost persuade them that they are changed into different beings.

But, that we may not expect more from such a king than even he can perform, 

Absolute stability is not to be expected in any thing human; for that which exists immutably exists alone necessarily, and this attribute of the Supreme Being, can neither belong to man, nor to the works of man. The best instituted governments, like the best constituted animal bodies, carry in them the seeds of their destruction:

 All that can be done, therefore, to prolong the duration of a good government, is to draw it back, on every favorable occasion, to the first good principles on which it was founded. When these occasions happen often, and are well improved, such governments are prosperous and durable. When they happen seldom, or are ill improved, these political bodies live in pain, or in languor, and die soon.

the royal mantle will not convey the spirit of patriotism into another king, as the mantle of Elijah did the gift of prophecy into another prophet. The utmost he can do, and that which deserves the utmost gratitude from his subjects, is to restore good government, to revive the spirit of it, and to maintain and confirm both, during the whole course of his reign. The rest his people must do for themselves. If they do not, they will have none but themselves to blame: if they do, they will have the principal obligation to him. In all events, they will have been free men one reign the longer by his means, and perhaps more; since he will leave them much better prepared and disposed to defend their liberties, than he found them.

...he must begin to govern as soon as he begins to reign. For the very first steps he makes in government will give the first impression, and as it were the presage of his reign; and may be of great importance in many other respects besides that of opinion and reputation. His first care will be, no doubt, to purge his court, and to call into the administration such men as he can assure himself will serve on the same principles on which he intends to govern.

A good prince will no more choose ill men, than a wise prince will choose fools. Deception in one case is indeed more easy than in the other; because a knave may be an artful hypocrite, whereas a silly fellow can never impose himself for a man of sense. And least of all, in a country like ours, can either of these deceptions happen, if any degree of the discernment of spirits be employed to choose. The reason is, because every man here, who stands forward enough in rank and reputation to be called to the councils of his king, must have given proofs beforehand of his patriotism, as well as of his capacity, if he has either, sufficient to determine his general character.

 My Lord Bacon says, that cunning is left handed or crooked wisdom. I would rather say, that it is a part, but the lowest part, of wisdom; employed alone by some, because they have not the other parts to employ; and by some, because it is as much as they want, within those bounds of action which they prescribe to themselves, and sufficient to the ends that they propose. 

 inferior wisdom or cunning may get the better of folly: but superior wisdom will get the better of cunning. Wisdom and cunning have often the same objects; but a wise man will have more and greater in his view. The least will not fill his soul, nor ever become the principal there; but will be pursued in subserviency, in subordination at least, to the other. Wisdom and cunning may employ sometimes the same means too: but the wise man stoops to these means, and the other cannot rise above them. Simulation (pretend) and dissimulation (disguise), for instance, are the chief arts of cunning: the first will be esteemed (valued) always by a wise man unworthy of him, and will be therefore avoided by him, in every possible case; for, to resume my Lord Bacon's comparison, simulation is put on that we may look into the cards of another, whereas dissimulation intends nothing more than to hide our own. Simulation is a stiletto, not only an offensive, but an unlawful weapon: and the use of it may be rarely, very rarely, excused, but never justified. Dissimulation is a shield, as secrecy is armour (ar,pr): and it is no more possible to preserve secrecy in the administration of public affairs without some degree of dissimulation, than it is to succeed in it without secrecy. Those two arts of cunning are like the alloy mingled with pure ore. A little is necessary, and will not debase the coin below its proper standard; but if more than that little be employed, the coin loses its currency, and the coiner his credit.

We may observe much the same difference between wisdom and cunning, both as to the objects they propose and to the means they employ, as we observe between the visual powers of different men. One sees distinctly the objects that are near to him, their immediate relations, and their direct tendencies; and a sight like this serves well enough the purpose of those who concern themselves no further. The cunning minister is one of those: he neither sees, nor is concerned to see, any further than his personal interests, and the support of his administration, require. If such a man overcomes any actual difficulty, avoids any immediate distress, or, without doing either of these effectually, gains a little time, by all the low artifice which cunning is ready to suggest and baseness of mind to employ, he triumphs, and is flattered by his mercenary train, on the great event; which amounts often to no more than this, that he got into it by another. The wise distress by one series of faults, and out of minister sees, and is concerned to see further, because government has a further concern: he sees the objects that are distant as well as those that are near, and all their remote relations, and even their indirect tendencies. He thinks of fame as well as of applause, and prefers that, which to be enjoyed must be given, to that which may be bought. He considers his administration as a single day in the great year of government; but as a day that is affected by those which went before, and that must affect those which are to follow. He combines, therefore, and compares all these objects, relations, and tendencies; and the judgment he makes, on an entire not a partial survey of them, is the rule of his conduct. That scheme of the reason of state, which lies open before a wise minister, contains all the great principles of government, and all the great interests of his country: so that, as he prepares some events, he prepares against others, whether they be likely to happen during his administration, or in some future time.

To espouse (support) no party, but to govern like the common father of his people, is so essential to the character of a Patriot King, that he who does otherwise forfeits the title. It is the peculiar (unusual) privilege and glory of this character, that princes who maintain it, and they alone, are so far from the necessity, that they are not exposed to the temptation, of governing by a party; which must always end in the government of a faction: the faction of the prince, if he has ability; the faction of his ministers, if he has not; and, either one way or other, in the oppression of the people. For faction [A group of people within a political organization] is to party what the superlative [highest degree] is to the positive: party is a political evil, and faction is the worst of all parties. The true image of a free people, governed by a Patriot King, is that of a patriarchal family, where the head and all the members are united by one common interest, and animated by one common spirit: and where, if any are perverse (wicked) enough to have another, they will be soon borne down by the superiority of those who have the same; and, far from making a division, they will but confirm the union of the little state. That to approach as near as possible to these ideas of perfect government, and social happiness under it, is desirable in every state, no man will be absurd enough to deny. 

If his people are united in their submission to him, and in their attachment to the established government, he must not only espouse (support) but create a party, in order to govern by one: and what should tempt him to pursue so wild a measure? A prince, who aims at more power than the constitution gives him, may be so tempted; because he may hope to obtain in the disorders of the state what cannot be obtained in quiet times; and because contending (contesting) parties will give what a nation will not. Parties, even before they degenerate into absolute factions, are still numbers of men associated together for certain purposes, and certain interests, which are not, or which are not allowed to be, those of the community by others. A more private or personal interest comes but too soon, and too often, to be superadded [add on extra], and to grow predominant in them: and when it does so, whatever occasions or principles began to form them, the same logic prevails in them that prevails in every church. The interest of the state is supposed to be that of the party, as the interest of religion is supposed to be that of the Church: and, with this pretense [deception] or prepossession [impression], the interest of the state becomes, like that of religion, a remote consideration, is never pursued for its own sake, and is often sacrificed to the other. A king, therefore, who has ill designs to carry on, must endeavor to divide an united people; and by blending or seeming to blend his interests with that of a party, he may succeed perhaps, and his party and he may share the spoils of a ruined nation: but such a party is then become a faction, such a king is a tyrant, and such a government is a conspiracy.

all the good ends of government are most attainable in a united state, and as the divisions of a people can serve to bad purposes alone, the king we suppose here will deem the union of his subjects his greatest advantage, and will think himself happy to find that established, which he would have employed the whole labor of his life to bring about.

A people may be united in submission to the prince, and to the establishment, and yet be divided about general principles, or particular measures of government. in the first case, they will do by their constitution what has frequently been done by the Scripture, strain it to their own notions and prejudices; and, if they cannot strain it, alter it as much as is necessary to render it conformable to them. In the second, they will support or oppose particular acts of administrations, and defend or attack the persons employed in them; and both these ways a conflict of parties may arise, but no great difficulty to a prince who determines to pursue the union of his subjects, and the prosperity of his kingdoms independently of all parties.

When parties are divided by different notions and principles concerning some particular ecclesiastical, or civil institutions, the constitution, which should be their rule, must be that of the prince. He may and he ought to show his dislike or his favor, as he judges the constitution may be hurt or improved, by one side or the other. The hurt he is never to suffer, not for his own sake; and, therefore, surely not for the sake of any whimsical (odd ideas), factious, or ambitious set of men. The improvement he must always desire; but as every new modification in a scheme of government and of national policy is of great importance, and requires more and deeper consideration than the warmth, and hurry, and rashness (recklessness) of party conduct admit, the duty of a prince seems to require that he should render by his influence the proceedings more orderly and more deliberate, even when he approves the end to which they are directed. All this may be done by him without fomenting division: and, far from forming or espousing a party, he will defeat party in defence of the constitution, on some occasions; and lead men, from acting with a party spirit, to act with a national spirit, on others.

...Under his reign, the opportunities of forming an opposition of this sort will be rare, and the pretenses generally weak. Nay, the motives to it will lose much of their force, when a government is strong in reputation, and men are kept in good humor by feeling the rod of a party on no occasion, though they feel the weight of the scepter on some. Such opportunities, however, may happen; and there may be reason, as well as pretenses, sometimes for opposition even in such a reign:

...Grievances then are complained of, mistakes and abuses in government are pointed out, and ministers are prosecuted by their enemies. Shall the prince on the throne form a party by intrigue, and by secret and corrupt influence, to oppose the prosecution? When the prince and the ministers are participes criminis [participants in crime], when every thing is to be defended, lest something should come out, that may unravel the silly wicked scheme, and disclose to public sight the whole turpitude (corruption) of the administration, there is no help; this must be done, and such a party must be formed, because such a party alone will submit to a drudgery (difficult work) of this kind. But a prince, who is not in these circumstances, will not have recourse to these means. He has others more open, more noble, and more effectual in his power: he knows that the views of his government are right, and that the tenor (substance) of his administration is good; but he knows that neither he nor his ministers are infallible (without fault), nor impeccable (without sin). There may be abuses in his government, mistakes in his administration, and guilt in his ministers, which he has not observed: and he will be far from imputing (charging blame) the complaints, that give him occasion to observe them, to a spirit of party; much less will he treat those who carry on such prosecutions in a legal manner, as incendiaries, and as enemies to his government. On the contrary, he will distinguish the voice of his people from the clamor of a faction, and will hearken (listen) to it. He will redress (fix) grievances, correct errors, and reform or punish ministers. This he will do as a good prince: and as a wise one, he will do it in such a manner that his dignity shall be maintained, and that his authority shall increase, with his reputation, by it.

Should the efforts of a mere faction be bent to calumniate (falsely accuse) his government, and to distress the administration on groundless pretences (false appearances), and for insufficient reasons; he will not neglect, but he will not apprehend neither, the short-lived and contemptible scheme. He will indeed have no reason to do so; for let the fautors of maladministration, whenever an opposition is made to it, affect to insinuate (imply)  as much as they please, that their masters are in no other circumstances than those to which the very best ministers stand exposed, objects of general envy and of particular malice, it will remain eternally true, that groundless opposition, in a well regulated monarchy, can never be strong and durable. To be convinced of the truth of this proposition, one needs only to reflect how many well grounded attacks have been defeated, and how few have succeeded, against the most wicked and the weakest administrations. Every king of Britain has means enough in his power, to defeat and to calm opposition. But a Patriot King, above all others, may safely rest his cause on the innocency of his administration, on the constitutional strength of the crown, and on the concurrence of his people, to whom he dares appeal, and by whom he will be supported.

To conclude all I will say on the divisions of this kind, let me add, that the case of a groundless opposition can hardly happen in a bad reign, because in such a reign just occasions of opposition must of course be frequently given, as we have allowed that they may be given sometimes, though very rarely, in a good reign; but that, whether it be well or ill grounded, whether it be that of the nation, or that of a faction, the conduct of the prince with respect to it will be the same; and one way or other this conduct must have a very fatal event. Such a prince will not mend the administration, as long as he can resist the justest (morally right) and most popular opposition: and, therefore, this opposition will last and grow, as long as a free constitution is in force, and the spirit of liberty is preserved; for so long even a change of his ministers, without a change of his measures, will not be sufficient. The former without the latter is a mere banter, and would be deemed and taken for such, by every man who did not oppose on a factious principle; that I mean of getting into power at any rate, and using it as ill, perhaps worse than the men he helped to turn out of it. Now if such men as these abound, and they will abound in the decline of a free government, a bad prince, whether he changes or does not change his ministers, may hope to govern by the spirit and art of a faction, against the spirit and strength of the nation. His character may be too low, and that of his minister too odious (repulsive), to form originally even a faction that shall be able to defend them. But they may apply to their purposes, a party that was formed on far different occasions, and bring numbers to fight for a cause in which many of them would not have listed. The names, and with the names the animosity of parties, may be kept up, when the causes that formed them subsist no longer.

Reading Boilingbroke, King George would have taken notice of Sir Robert Filmer, an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. In his work, The Natural Power of Kings, Sir  Robert considers Liberty to be the cause of action for the Fall of Adam. An example of Liberty, would be reformulating the first sentence in a contest that fits with today's culture. The Fall of the first archetype couple (Eve and Adam)  was caused not following a command given the Creator. If we believe that the Creator is Nature, then Eve and Adam went against the Law of Nature with their given Liberty of Choice; called Reason.

The Natural Power of Kings.
By the Learned Sir Robert Filmer Baronet

Quote

Since the time that School-Divinity began to flourish, there hath been a common Opinion maintained, as well by Divines, as by divers other learned Men, which affirms, Mankind is naturally endowed and born with Freedom from all Subjection, and at liberty to chose what Form of Government it please: And that the Power which any one Man hath over others, was at first bestowed according to the discretion of the Multitude.

This Tenent was first hatched in the Schools, and hath been fostered by all succeeding Papists for good Divinity. The Divines also of the Reformed Churches have entertained it, and the Common People every where tenderly embrace it, as being most plausible to Flesh and blood, for that it prodigally destributes a Portion of Liberty to the meanest of the Multitude, who magnifie Liberty, as if the height of Humane Felicity were only to be found in it, never [[3]] remembring That the desire of Liberty (choice) was the first Cause of the Fall of Adam.

...this Vulgar Opinion hath of late obtained a great Reputation, yet it is not to be found in the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Primitive Church: It contradicts the Doctrine and History of the Holy Scriptures, the constant Practice of all Ancient Monarchies, and the very Principles of the Law of Nature. It is hard to say whether it be more erroneous in Divinity, or dangerous in Policy.

...the ground of this Doctrine both Jesuites, and some other zealous favourers of the Geneva Discipline (Consistory of Geneva), have built a perillous Conclusion, which is, That the People or Multitude have Power to punish, or deprive the Prince, if he transgress the Laws of the Kingdom; witness Parsons and Buchanan: the first under the name of Dolman, in the Third Chapter of his First Book labours to prove, that Kings have been lawfully chastised by their Commonwealths: The latter in his Book De jure Regni apud Scotos, maintains A Liberty of the People to depose their Prince. Cardinal Bellarmine and Calvin, both look asquint this way.

This desperate Assertion whereby Kings are made subject to the Censures and Deprivations of their Subjects, follows (as the Authors of it conceive) as a necessary Consequence of that former Position of the supposed Natural Equality and Freedom of Mankind, and Liberty to choose what form of Government it please.

.I come now to examine that Argument which is used by Bellarmine, and is the One and only Argument I can find produced by my Author for the proof of the Natural Liberty of the People. It is thus framed: That God hath given or ordained Power, is evident by Scripture; But God hath given it to no particular Person, because by nature all Men are Equal; therefore he hath given Power to the People or Multitude.

To Answer this Reason, drawn from the Equality of Mankind by Nature, I will first use the help of Bellarmine himself, whose very words are these: If many men had been together created out of the Earth, they all ought to have been Princes over their Posterity (offspring). In these words we have an Evident Confession, that Creation made man Prince of his Posterity.  And indeed not only Adam, but the succeding Patriarchs had, by Right of Father-hood, Royal Authority over their Children. Nor dares Bellarmine deny this also. That the Patriarchs (saith he) were endowed with Kingly Power, their Deeds do testify; for as Adam was Lord of his Children, so his Children under him, had a Command and Power over their own Children; but still with subordination to the First Parent, who is Lord-Paramout over his Childrens Children to all Generations, as being the Grand-Father of his People.

I see not then how the Children of Adam, or of any man else can be free from subjection to their Parents: And this subjection of Children being the Fountain of all Regal Authority, by the Ordination of God himself; It follows, that Civil Power, not only in general is by Divine Institution, but even the Assignment of it Specifically to the eldest Parents, which quite takes away that New and Common distinction which refers only Power Universal and Absolute to God; but Power Respective in regard of the Special Form of Government to the Choice of the people.

This Lordship which Adam by Command had over the whole World, and by Right descending from him the Patriarchs did enjoy, was as large and ample as the Absolutest Dominion of any Monarch which hath been since the Creation: For Dominion of Life and Death, we find that Judah the Father pronounced Sentence of Death against Thamar his Daughter-in-law, for playing the Harlot; Bring her forth (saith he) that she may be burnt. Touching War, we see that Abraham commanded an Army of 318 Souldiers of his own Family. And Esau met his Brother Jacob with 400 Men at Arms. For matter of Peace, Abraham made a League with Abimilech, and ratify’d the Articles with an Oath. These Acts of Judging in Capital Crimes, of making War, and concluding Peace, are the chiefest Marks of Sovereignty that are found in any Monarch.

As this Patriarchal Power continued in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even until the Egyptian Bondage; so we find it amongst the Sons of Ismael and Esau. It is said, These are the Sons of Ismael, and these are their Names by their Castles and Towns [villages, and encampments], Twelve Princes of their Tribes and Families. And these are the Names of the Dukes [chiefs] that came of Esau, according to their Families and their Places by their Nations.

Some perhaps may think that these Princes and Dukes of Families were but some petty Lords under some greater Kings, because the number of them are so many, that their particular Territories could be but small, and not worthy the Title of Kingdoms; but they must consider, that at first, Kings had no such large Dominions as they have now adays; we find in the time of Abraham, which was about 300 years after the Flood, that in a little corner of Asia, 9 Kings at once met in Battail, most of which were but Kings of Cities apiece, with the adjacent Territories, as of Sodom, Gomorrha, Shinar, &c. In the same Chapter is mention of Melchisedeck King of Salem, which was but the City of Jerusalem. And in the Catalogue of the Kings of Edom, the Names of each King’s City is recorded, as the only Mark to distinguish their Dominions. In the Land of Canaan, which was but a small circuit, Joshua destroyed thirty one Kings; and about the same time, Adonibeseck had 70 Kings whose hands and toes he had cut off, and made them feed under his Table. A few years after this, Kings came to Benhadad King of Syria, and about 70 Kings of Greece went to the Wars of Troy. Cæsar found more Kings in France, than there be now Princes there, and at his sailing over into this Island, he found four Kings in our County of Kent. These heaps of Kings in each Nation are an Argument their Territories were but small, and strongly confirms our Assertion, that Erection of Kingdoms came at first only by Distinction of Families. [1 King. 20. 16.16 And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. ]

It may seem absurd to maintain, that Kings now are the Fathers of their People, since Experience shews the contrary. It is true, all Kings be not the Natural Parents of their Subjects, yet they all either are, or are to be reputed the next Heirs to those first Progenitors, who were at first the Natural Parents of the whole People, and in their Right succeed to the Exercise of Supreme Jurisdiction; and such Heirs are not only Lords of their own Children, but also of their Brethren, and all others that were subject to their Fathers: And therefore we find, that God told Cain of his Brother Abel, His Desires shall be subject unto thee, and thou shalt rule over him. Accordingly, when Jacob bought his Brother’s Birth-right, Isaac blessed him thus, Be Lord over thy Brethren, and let the Sons of thy Mother bow before thee. [Gen. 27. 29. Let peoples serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee.]

As long as the first Fathers of Families lived, the name of Patriarchs did aptly belong unto them; but after a few Descents, when the true Fatherhood it self was extinct, and only the Right of the Father descends to the true Heir, then the Title of Prince or King was more significant, to express the Power of him who succeeds only to the Right of that Fatherhood which his Ancestors did Naturally enjoy; by this means it comes to pass, that many a Child, by succeeding a King, hath the Right of a Father over many a Gray-headed Multitude, and hath the Title of Pater Patriæ.

This Ignorance of the People being admitted, it doth not by any means follow; that for want of Heirs the Supreme Power is devolved to the Multitude, and that they have Power to Rule, and Chose what Rulers they please. No, the Kingly Power escheats in such cases to the Princes and independent Heads of Families: for every Kingdom is resolved into those parts whereof at first it was made. By the Uniting of great Families or petty Kingdoms, we find the greater Monarchies were at the first erected; and into such again, as into their first Matter many times they return again. And because the dependencie of ancient Families is oft obscure or worn out of Knowledge; therefore the wisdom of All or Most Princes have thought fit to adopt many times those for Heads of Families, and Princes of Provinces, whose Merits, Abilities, or Fortunes, have enobled them, or made them fit and capable of such Regal Favours. All such prime Heads and Fathers have power to consent in the uniting or conferring of their Fatherly Right of Sovereign Authority on whom they please: And he that is so Elected, claims not his Power as a Donative from the People; but as being substituted properly by God, from whom he receives his Royal Charter of an Universal Father, though testified by the Ministry of the Heads of the People.

..every Kingdom is resolved into those parts whereof at first it was made. By the Uniting of great Families or petty Kingdoms, we find the greater Monarchies were at the first erected; and into such again, as into their first Matter many times they return again. And because the dependence of ancient Families is often obscure or worn out of Knowledge; therefore the wisdom of All or Most Princes have thought fit to adopt many times those for Heads of Families, and Princes of Provinces, whose Merits, Abilities, or Fortunes, have enobled them, or made them fit and capable of such Regal Favours. All such prime Heads and Fathers have power to consent in the uniting or conferring of their Fatherly Right of Sovereign Authority on whom they please: And he that is so Elected, claims not his Power as a Donative (donated) from the People; but as being substituted properly by God, from whom he receives his Royal Charter of an Universal Father, though testified by the Ministry of the Heads of the People.

If it please God, for the Correction of the Prince, or punishment of the People, to suffer Princes to be removed, and others to be placed in their rooms, either by the Factions of the Nobility, or Rebellion of the People; in all such cases, the Judgment of God, who hath Power to give and to take away Kingdoms, is most just: Yet the Ministry of Men who Execute Gods Judgments without Commission, is sinful and damnable. God doth but use and turn mens Unrighteous Acts to the performance of his Righteous Decrees.

In all Kingdoms or Commonwealths in the World, whether the Prince be the Supreme Father of the People, or but the true Heir of such a Father, or whether he come to the Crown by Usurpation (illegal seizure), or by Election of the Nobles, or of the People, or by any other way whatsoever; or whether some Few or a Multitude Govern the Commonwealth: Yet still the Authority that is in any one, or in many, or in all these, is the only Right and natural Authority of a Supream Father. There is, and always shall be continued to the end of the World, a Natural Right of a Supreme Father over every Multitude, although by the secret Will of God, many at first do most unjustly obtain the Exercise of it.

To confirm this Natural Right of Regal Power, we find in the Decalogue (Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1–17), That the Law which enjoys Obedience to Kings, is delivered in the terms of Honour thy Father, as if all power were originally in the Father. If Obedience to Parents be immediately due by a Natural Law, and Subjection to Princes, but by the Mediation (agency) of a Humane Ordinance (decree); what reason is there that the Laws of Nature should give place to [replace] the Laws of Men? as we see the power of the Father over his Child,  gives place, and is subordinate to the power of the Magistrate.

Because the Scripture is not favourable to the Liberty of the People; therefore many fly to Natural Reason, and to the Authority of Aristotle. 

To prove that in these words which seem to favour the Equality of Mankind, Aristotle doth not speak according to his own Judgment, but recites only the Opinion of others; we find him clearly deliver his own Opinion, that the Power of Government did originally arise from the Right of Fatherhood, which cannot possibly consist with that Natural Equality which Men dream of: for in the First of his Politiques he agrees exactly with the Scripture, and lays this Foundation of Government, The first Society (saith he) made of Many Houses is a Village, which seems most naturally to be a Colony of Families or foster-Brethren of Children and Childrens Children. And therefore at the beginning, Cities were under the Government of Kings, for the eldest in every house is King: And so for Kindred-sake it is in Colonies. And in the fourth of his Politiques, cap. 2. He gives the Title of the first and Divinest sort of Government to the Institution of Kings, by Defining Tyranny to be a Digression from the First and Divinest.

whosoever weighs advisedly these passages, will find little hope of Natural Reason in Aristotle to prove the Natural Liberty of the Multitude. Also before him the Divine Plato concludes a Commonwealth to be nothing else but a large Family. I know for this Position Aristotle quarrels with his Master, but most unjustly; for therein he contradicts his own Principles for they both agree to fetch the Orignial of Civil Government from the prime Government. No doubt but Moses’s History of the Creation guided these two Philosophers in finding out of this Lineal Subjections deduced from the Laws of the First Parents, according to that Rule of St. Chrysostom, God made all Mankind of One Man, that he might teach the World to be Governed by a King, and not by a Multitude.

The Ignorance of the Creation, occasioned several Errors amongst the Heathen Philosophers. Polybius, though otherwise a most profound Philosopher, and Judicious Historian, yet here he stumbles; for in searching out the Original of Civil Societies, he conceited, That Multitudes of Men after a Deluge, a Famine, or a Pestilence, met together like Herds of Cattle without any Dependency, until the strongest Bodies and boldest Minds got the Mastery of their Fellows; even as it is (saith he) among Bulls, Bears and Cocks.

And Aristotle himself, forgetting his first Doctrine, tells us, the first Heroical Kings were chosen by the People for their deserving well of the Multitude; either by teaching them some New Arts, or by Warring for them, or by Gathering them together, or by Dividing Land amongst them; also Aristotle had another Fancy, that those Men who prove wise of Mind, were by Nature intended to be Lords, and Govern; and those which were Strong of Body were ordained to obey, and to be Servants. But this is a dangerous and uncertain Rule, and not without some Folly; for if a Man prove both Wise and Strong, what will Aristotle have done with him? as he was Wise, he could be no Servant, and as he had Strength, he could not be a Master; besides, to speak like a Philosopher, Nature intends all things to be perfect both in Wit and Strength. The Folly or Imbecillity proceeds from some Error in Generation or Education; for Nature aims at Perfection in all her Works.

Suarez the Jusuite riseth up against the Royal Authority of Adam, in defence of the Freedom and Liberty of the people; and thus argues. By Right of Creation (saith he) Adam had only Oeconomical (household management) power, but not Political; he had a power over his Wife, and a Fatherly power over his Sons, while they were not made Free: he might also in process of Time have Servants and a Compleat Family; and in that Family he might have compleat Oeconomical Power. But after that Families began to be multiplied, and Men to be separated, and become the Heads of several Families; they had the same power over their Families. But Political Power did not begin, until Families began to be gathered together into one perfect Community; wherefore as the Community did not begin by the Creation of Adam, nor by his will alone, but of all them which did agree in this Community: So we cannot say that Adam Naturally had Political Primacy in that Community; for that cannot be gathered by any Natural Principles, because by the Force of the Law of Nature alone, it is not due unto any Progenitor, to be also King of his Posterity. And if this be not gathered out of the Principles of Nature, we cannot say, God by a special Gift or Providence gave him this Power; For there is no Revelation of this, nor Testimony of Scripture. Hitherto Suarez.

...I see no reason, but that we may call Adam’s Family a Commonwealth, except we will wrangle about Words: For Adam living 930 years, and seeing 7 or 8 Descents from himself, he might live to command of his Children and their Posterity a Multitude far bigger, than many Commonwealths and Kingdoms.

I know the Politicians and Civil Lawyers do not agree well about the Definition of a Family, and Bodin doth seem in one place to confine it to a House; yet in his Definition, he doth enlarge his meaning to all Persons under the Obedience of One and the same Head of the Family; and he approves better of the propriety of the Hebrew Word for a Family (המשפחה), which is derived from a Word that signifies a Head, a Prince, or Lord, than the Greek Word for a Family, which is derived from οɩ̂̓[Editor: illegible character, most likely οικογένεια], which signifies a House. Nor doth Aristotle confine a Family to One House; but esteems it to be made of those that daily converse together : whereas before him, Charondas called a Family Homosypioi, those that feed together out of one common Pannier. And Epimenides the Cretian, terms a Family Homocapnoi, those that sit by a Common Fire, or Smoak. But let Suarez understand what he please by Adam’s Family; if he will but confess, as he needs must, that Adam and the Patriarchs had Absolute power of Life and Death, of Peace and War, and the like, within their Houses or Families; he must give us leave at least, to call them Kings of their Houses or Families; and if they be so by the Law of Nature, what Liberty will be left to their Children to dispose of?

Aristotle gives the Lie to Plato, and those that say Political and Oeconomical Societies are all one, and do not differ Specie (appearance), but only Multitudine (multitude, many) & Paucitate (few); as if there were no difference between a Great House and a Little City. All the Argument I find he brings against them is this.

The Community of Man and Wife, differs from the Community of Master and Servant, because they have several Ends. The Intention of Nature by Conjunction of Male and Female, is Generation; but the Scope of Master and Servant, is Preservation: so that a Wife and a Servant are by Nature distinguished, because Nature does not work like the Cutlers (knife makers) of Delphos (mythological island birthplace of Apollo), for she makes but one thing for one Use. If we allow this Argument to be sound, nothing doth follow but only this, That Conjugal (joined together) and Despotical (Monarchy) Communities do differ. But it is no consequence, That therefore, Oeconomical and Political Societies do the like: for though it prove a Family to consist of two distinct Communities, yet it follows not, that a Family and a Commonwealth are distinct; because, as well in the Commonweal, as in the Families, both these Communities are found.

And as this Argument comes not home to our Point, so it is not able to prove that Title which it shews for; for if it should be granted (which yet is false) that Generation and Preservation differ about the Individual, yet they agree in the General, and serve both for the Conservation (protection and management) of Mankind; Even as several Servants differ in the particular Ends or Offices; as one to Brew, and another to Bake; yet they agree in the general Preservation of the Family. Besides, Aristotle confesses, that amongst the Barbarians (as he calls all them that are not Grecians) a Wife and a Servant are the same, because by Nature, no Barbarian is fit to Govern; It is fit the Grecians should rule over the Barbarians; for by Nature a Servant and a Barbarian is all one: their Family consists only of an Ox for a Man-Servant, and a Wife for a Maid; so they are fit only to rule their Wives and their Beasts. Lastly, Aristotle (if it had pleased him) might have remembred, That Nature doth not always make one Thing but for one Use: he knows, the Tongue serves both to Speak, and to Taste.

 But to leave Aristotle, and return to Suarez; he saith that Adam had Fatherly Power over his Sons, whilst they were not made Free. Here I could wish that the Jesuite had taught us, how and when Sons become Free: I know no means by the Law of Nature. It is the Favour I think of the Parents only, who when their Children are of Age and Discretion to ease their Parents of part of their Fatherly Care, are then content to remit some part of their Fatherly authority; therefore the Custom of some Countries do in some Cases Enfranchise the Children of inferiour Parents, but many Nations have no such Custom, but on the contrary have strict Laws for the Obedience of Children: the Judicial Law of Moses giveth full power to the Father to stone his disobedient Son, so it be done in presence of a Magistrate: And yet it did not belong to the Magistrate to enquire and examine the justness of the Cause; But it was so decreed, lest the Father should in his Anger, suddenly, or secretly kill his Son.

The Romans, even in their most Popular Estate, had this Law in force, and this Power of Parents was ratified and amplified by the Laws of the Twelve Tables, to the enabling of Parents to sell their Children two or three times over. By the help of the Fatherly Power, Rome long flourished, and oftentimes was freed from great Dangers. The Fathers have drawn out of the very Assemblies their own Sons; when being Tribunes (elected officials), they have published Laws tending to Sedition.

Memorable is the Example of Cassius, who threw his Son headlong out of the Consistory (imperial council room), publishing the Law Agraria, for the Division of Lands, in the behalf of the People; and afterwards, by his own private Judgment put him to Death, by throwing him down from the Tarpeian Rock (a steep cliff of the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Roman Forum); the Magistrates and People standing there amazed, and not daring to resist his Fatherly Authority, although they would with all their Hearts, have had that Law for the Division of Land: by which it appears, it was lawful for the Father to dispose of the Life of his Child, contrary to the Will of the Magistrates or People. The Romans also had a Law, that what the Children got, was not their own, but their Fathers; although Solon made a Law, which acquitted the Son from Nourishing of his Father, if his Father had taught him no Trade, whereby to get his Living.

Suarez proceeds, and tells us, That in Process of Time, Adam had complete Oeconomical Power. I know not what this complete Oeconomical Power is, nor how, or what it doth really and essentially differ from Political: If Adam did, or might exercise the same Jurisdiction, which a King doth now in a Commonwealth, then the Kinds of Power are not distinct; and though they may receive an Accidental Difference by the Amplitude, or Extent of the Bounds of the One beyond the Other; yet since the like Difference is also found in Political Estates, It follows that Oeconomical and Political Power, differ no otherwise, than a Little Commonwealth differs from a Great One. Next, saith Suarez, Community did not begin at the Creation of Adam. It is true, because he had no body to Communicate with; yet Community did presently follow his Creation, and that by his Will alone: for it was in his power only (who was Lord of All) to appoint what his Sons should have in Proper, and what in Common; so that Propriety and Community of Goods did follow Originally from him; and it is the Duty of a Father, to provide as well for the Common Good of his Children, as the Particular.

But let us Condescend a while to the Opinion of Bellarmine and Suarez, and all those, who place Supreme power in the Whole People; and ask them if their meaning be, That there is but one and the same power in all the people of the World; so that no power can be granted, except all the Men upon the Earth meet and agree, to choose a Governor.

An Answer is here given by Suarez, That it is scarce possible, nor yet expedient, that All Men in the World should be gathered together into One Community: It is likelier, that either never, or for a very short time, that this power was in this manner, in the whole Multitude of Men collected; but a little after the Creation, men began to be divided into several Commonwealths; and this distinct power was in each of them.

...Can they show, or prove, that ever the whole Multitude met, and divided this power which God gave them in Gross, by breaking into parcels, and by appointing a distinct power to each several Commonwealth? Without such a Compact I cannot see (according to their own Principles) how there can be any Election of a Magistrate by any Commonwealth, but by a meer Usurpation upon the priviledge of the whole World. If any think that particular Multitudes at their own Discretion, had power to divide themselves into several Commonwealths; those that think so, have neither Reason nor Proof for so thinking: and thereby a Gap is opened for every petty Factious Multitude, to raise a New Commonwealth, and to make more Commonwealths than there be Families in the World. But let this also be yielded them, That in each particular Commonwealth, there is a Distinct Power in the Multitude. Was a General Meeting of a Whole Kingdom ever known for the Election of a Prince? Is there any Example of it ever found in the Whole World? To conceit such a thing, is to imagine little less than an Impossibility. And so by Consequence, no one Form of Government, or King, was ever established according to this supposed Law of Nature.

it is true, that by Politick Humane Constitutions, it is oft ordained, that the Voices of the most shall over-rule the Rest; and such Ordinances bind, because, where Men are Assembled by an humane Power; that power that doth Assemble them, can also Limit and Direct the manner of the Execution of that Power, and by such Derivative Power, made known by Law or Custom, either the greater part, or two Thirds, or Three parts of Five, or the like, have power to oversway the Liberty of their Opposites. But in Assemblies that take their Authority from the Law of Nature, it cannot be so: for what Freedom or Liberty is due to any Man by the Law of Nature, no Inferiour Power can alter, limit or diminish; no One Man, nor a Multitude, can give away the Natural Right of another. The Law of Nature is unchangeable, and howsoever One Man may hinder Another in the Use or Exercise of his Natural Right, yet thereby No Man loseth the Right of it self; for the Right and the Use of the Right may be distinguished, as Right and Possession are often distinct. Therefore, unless it can be proved by the Law of Nature, that the Majority, or some other part, have Power to over-rule the Rest of the Multitude; It must follow, that the Acts of Multitudes not Entire, are not Binding to All, but only to such as Consent unto them.

As to the point of Proxy; it cannot be showed or proved, That all those that have been Absent from Popular Elections, did ever give their Voices to some of their Fellows. I ask but one Example out of the History of the whole World, Let the Commonwealth be but named, wherever the Multitude, or so much as the Greatest part of it consented, either by Voice or by Procuration, to the Election of a Prince. The Ambition sometimes of One Man, sometimes of Many, or the Faction of a City or Citizens, or the Mutiny of an Army, hath set up or put down Princes; but they have never tarried for this pretended Order by proceeding of the whole Multitude.

Lastly, if the silent Acceptation (approval) of a Governor by part of the People, be an Argument of their Concurring (agreement) in the Election of him; by the same Reason, the Tacit (understood) Assent of the whole Commonwealth may be maintained: From whence it follows, that every Prince that comes to a Crown, either by Succession, Conquest, or Usurpation (take without right), may be said to be Elected by the People; which Inference is too ridiculous; for in such Cases, the People are so far from the Liberty of Specification (to do, or not to do), that they want even that of Contradiction.

It is plain by an Evident Text, that it is one thing to choose a King, and another thing to set up a King over the People; this latter power the Children of Israel had, but not the former. This distinction is found most evident in Deut. 17. 15. where the Law of God saith, Him shalt thou set King over thee, whom the Lord shall choose; so God must Eligere, and the People only do Constituere. Mr. Hooker in his Eight Book of Ecclesiastical Policy, clearly expounds this Distinction; the words are worthy the citing: Heaps of Scripture (saith he) are alledged, concerning the Solemn Coronation or Inauguration of Saul, David, Solomon and others, by Nobles, Ancients, and the people of the Commonwealth of Israel; as if these Solemnities were a kind of Deed, whereby the Right of Dominion is given; which strange, untrue, and unnatural conceits, are set abroad by Seed-men of Rebellion, only to animate unquiet Spirits, and to feed them with possibilities of Aspiring unto the Thrones, if they can win the Hearts of the People; whatsoever Hereditary Title any other before them may have. I say these unjust and insolent Positions, I would not mention, were it not thereby to make the Countenance of Truth more Orient. For unless we will openly proclaim Defiance unto all Law, Equity and Reason, we must (for there is no other Remedy) acknowledg, that in Kingdoms Hereditary, Birth-right [[48]] giveth Right unto Sovereign Dominion, and the Death of the Predecessor, putteth the Successor by Blood in Seisin. Those publick Solemnities before-mentioned, do either serve for an open Testification of the Inheritor’s Right, or belong to the Form of inducing of him into possession of that thing he hath Right unto. This is Mr. Hooker’s Judgment of the Israelites Power to set a King over themselves. No doubt but if the people of Israel had had power to choose their King, they would never have made choice of Joas, a Child but of seven years old, nor of Manasses a Boy of Twelve; since (as Solomon saith) Wo to the Land whose King is a Child: Nor is it probable they would have elected Josias, but a very Child, and a Son to so wicked and Idolatrous a Father, as that his own Servants murthered him; and yet all the people set up this young Josias, and slew the Conspirators of the Death of Ammon his Father; which Justice of the People, God rewarded, by making this Josias the most Religious King, that ever that Nation enjoyed.

9.) Because it is affirmed, that the People have Power to choose, as well what Form of Government, as what Governours they please; of which mind is Bellarmine, in those Places we cited at first. Therefore it is necessary to Examine the Strength of what is said in Defence of popular Common-weals, against this Natural Form of Kingdoms, which I maintain’d. Here I must first put the Cardinal in mind of what he affirms in cold Blood, in other Places; where he saith, God when he made all Mankind of one Man, did seem openly to signifie, that he rather approved the Government of one Man, than of many. Again, God shewed his Opinion, when he endued not only Men, but all Creatures with a Natural Propensity to Monarchy; neither can it be doubted, but a Natural Propensity is to be referred to God, who is Author of Nature. And again; in a Third Place, What Form of Government God confirmed by his Authority, may be gathered by that Common-weal, which he instituted amongst the [[50]] Hebrews, which was not Aristocratical, (as Calvin saith) but plainly Monarchical.

10.) Now if God, (as Bellarmine saith) hath taught us by Natural Instinct, signified to us by the Creation, and confirmed by his own Example, the Excellency of Monarchy, why should Bellarmine or We doubt, but that it is Natural? Do we not find, that in every Family, the Government of One Alone is most Natural? God did always Govern his own People by Monarchy only. The Patriarchs, Dukes, Judges, and Kings were all Monarchs. There is not in all the Scripture, Mention or Approbation of any other Form of Government. At the time when Scripture saith, There was no King in Israel, but that every Man did that which was Right in his Own Eyes; Even then, the Israelites were under the Kingly Government of the Fathers of particular Families: For in the Consultation, after the Benjamitical War, for providing Wives for the Benjamites, we find, the Elders of the Congregation bare only Sway. [[51]] Judges 21. 16. To them also were Complaints to be made, as appears by Verse 22. And though mention be made of all the Children of Israel, all the Congregation, and all the People; yet by the Term of All, the Scripture means only all the Fathers, and not all the whole Multitude, as the Text plainly expounds it self in 2 Chron. 1. 2. where Solomon speaks unto all Israel, to the Captains, the Judges, and to every Governour, the Chief of the Fathers; so the Elders of Israel are expounded to be the Chief of the Fathers of the Children of Israel, 1 Kings 8. 12. 2 Chron. 5. 2.

t that time also, when the People of Israel begg’d a King of Samuel, they were Governed by Kingly Power. God out of a special Love and Care to the House of Israel, did choose to be their King himself, and did govern them at that time by his Viceroy Samuel, and his Sons; and therefore God tells Samuel, They have not rejected Thee, but Me, that I should not Reign over them. It seems they did not like a King by Deputation, [[52]] but desired one by Succession, like all the Nations. All Nations belike had Kings then, and those by Inheritance, not by Election: for we do not find the Israelites prayed, that they themselves might choose their Own King; they dream of no such Liberty, and yet they were the Elders of Israel gathered together. If other Nations had Elected their own Kings, no doubt but they would have been as desirous to have imitated Other Nations as well in the Electing, as in the Having of a King.

Aristotle, in his Book of Politicks, when he comes to compare the several Kinds of Government, he is very reserved in discoursing what Form he thinks Best: he disputes subtilely to and fro of many Points, and Judiciously of many Errours, but concludes nothing himself. In all those Books, I find little Commendation of Monarchy. It was his Hap to live in those Times when the Græcians abounded with several Common-wealths, who had then Learning enough to make [[53]] them seditious. Yet in his Ethicks, he hath so much good Manners, as to confess in right down words, That Monarchy is the best Form of Government, and a Popular Estate the worst. And though he be not so free in his Politicks, yet the Necessity of Truth hath here and there extorted from him, that which amounts no less to the Dignity of Monarchy; he confesseth it to be First, the Natural, and the Divinest Form of Government; and that the Gods themselves did live under a Monarchy. What can a Heathen say more?

ndeed, the World for a long time knew no other sort of Government, but only Monarchy. The Best Order, the Greatest Strength, the Most Stability, and easiest Government, are to be found all in Monarchy, and in no other Form of Government. The New Platforms of Commonweals were first hatched in a Corner of the World, amongst a few Cities of Greece, which have been imitated by very few other places. Those very Cities [[54]] were first, for many Years, governed by Kings, untill Wantonness, Ambition, or Faction of the People, made them attempt new kinds of Regiment; all which Mutations proved most Bloody and Miserable to the Authors of them; happy in nothing, but that they continued but a small time.

11.) A little to manifest the Imperfection of Popular Government, let us but examine the most Flourishing Democracy that the World hath ever known; I mean that of Rome. First, for the Durability; at the most, it lasted but 480 Years (for so long it was from the Expulsion of Tarquin, to Julius Cæsar.) Whereas both the Assyrian Monarchy lasted, without Interruption, at the least twelve hundred Years, and the Empire of the East continued 1495 Years.

For the Order of it, during these 480 Years, there was not any One setled Form of Government in Rome: for after they had once lost the Natural Power of Kings, they could not [[55]] find upon what Form of Government to rest: their Fickleness is an Evidence that they found things amiss in every Change. At the First they chose two Annual Consuls instead of Kings. Secondly, those did not please them long, but they must have Tribunes of the People to defend their Liberty. Thirdly, they leave Tribunes and Consuls, and choose them Ten Men to make them Laws. Fourthly, they call for Consuls and Tribunes again, sometimes they choose Dictators, which were Temporary Kings, and sometimes Military Tribunes, who had Consular Power. All these shiftings caused such notable Alteration in the Government, as it passeth Historians to find out any Perfect Form of Regiment in so much Confusion: One while the Senate made Laws, another while the People. The Dissentions which were daily between the Nobles and the Commons, bred those memorable Seditions about Usury, about Marriages, and about Magistracy. Also the Græcian, the Apulian, and the Drusian Seditions, filled the Market-Places, [[56]] the Temples, and the Capitol it self, with Blood of the Citizens; the Social War was plainly Civil; the Wars of the Slaves, and the other of the Fencers; the Civil Wars of Marius and Sylla, of Cataline, of Cæsar and Pompey the Triumvirate, of Augustus, Lepidus and Antonius: All these shed an Ocean of Blood within Italy and the Streets of Rome.

Thirdly, for their Government, let it be allowed, that for some part of this time it was Popular, yet it was Popular as to the City of Rome only, and not as to the Dominions, or whole Empire of Rome; for no Democratie can extend further than to One City. It is impossible to Govern a Kingdom, much less many Kingdoms by the whole People, or by the Greatest Part of them.

 

In the Book of Acts we see the body of Christ (Apostles) not follow a command given by  the High Priest (Magistrate, Head of Sanhendrin, [Supreme Court]) that no Jew to mention the name of the Rabbi (Teacher), Jesus the Christ (Savior), who hung on a tree (Crucified, Cursed by the Creator). Council Member and Rabbi Gamaliel, of Hillel Pharisee of School of Law, stood up and suggested the possiblity that the Apostles may messengers of the Creator (Hashem, Allah). All Commands of the Creator should dutifully honored. If the Council was to punish the Apostles, the Creator may go against them like he did with King Saul.

Acts 5

Quote

...the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood on us!” 29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people. 30 The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

33 Now when they heard this, they became furious and wanted to execute them. 34 But a Pharisee whose name was Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35 Then he said to the council, “Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you are about to do to these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and nothing came of it. 37 After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census, and incited people to follow him in revolt. He too was killed, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in this case I say to you, stay away from these men and leave them alone, because if this plan or this undertaking originates with people, it will come to nothing, 39 but if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them, or you may even be found fighting against God.” He convinced them, 40 and they summoned the apostles and had them beaten. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and released them. 41 So they left the council rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. 42 And every day both in the temple courts and from house to house, they did not stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Christ.

 

Hebrews and Christians believe and testify that the first recorded action In law, is a set of recorded events of disobeying the Creator and Master that led to their Fall. It is important to note that Muslims and Mormons and other faiths have different implicit accounts, which I plan to discuss. I also plan to define the fourth rational character known as the serpant, that testifies the implicit Liberty concept of Disobedience with the penalty of suffering mortal death.

Other serpants have been known to Jews and Christians. In Scripture we read an account where the Isrealite nation complains and is ungrateful for the help the Creator has given to them during their time time in the wilderness. Their complaint was the implicit Liberty concept of vanity, which is considered a violation of a command the Creator previously had given to the Israelites. The penalty of death by fiery serpant was judged upon them. Those who did not die immediately die, took responsibility for the their actions and asked for forgiveness. The Creator choose to give mercy to the remaining Isrealites. He gives Moses a remedy for the plague: craft a snake snake of fiery copper on pole and was cured the poisen snake bites.

Numbers Chapter 21
 

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4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became impatient because of the way.

5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses: 'Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.'

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7 And the people came to Moses, and said: 'We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that He take away the serpents from us.' And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he seeth it, shall live.'

9 And Moses made a serpent of brass (copper), and set it upon the pole; and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked unto the serpent of brass, he lived.

Shmuel I - I Samuel - Chapter 8

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6 And the thing was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," and Samuel prayed to the Lord.

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people, according to all that they will say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them.

8. Like all the deeds which they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt, and until this day, and they forsook Me and served other gods; so are they doing to you.

1 Corinthians 12

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12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many. 15 If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 16 And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that. 17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell? 18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided. 19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be? 20 So now there are many members, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.” 22 On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential, 23 and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity, 24 but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member, 25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another. 26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it. 27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it. 

Ephesions 4

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...live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

 

 

 

In the the city of Jerusalem (Peace, Shalem, Salaam,) there once was a temple (tabernacle, palace) to the Creator (Hashem) of the Most High.

Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 76

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2 God is known in Judah; in Israel His name is great.

3 His Tabernacle was in Salem, and His dwelling place in Zion.

We can imagine when the Creator appeared it was like a moving thunderstorm.

47:2 "Ner" is the Hebrew word for candle; the soul is the candle of God

Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 50

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2 From Zion, perfect in beauty, God appeared

(Aramaic Targum Ps. 52:2 From Zion God has shown a glorious crown.)

(The Great Isaiah Scroll Chapter 62 : Verse 3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.)

3 —let our God come and not fail to act! Devouring fire preceded Him; it stormed around Him fiercely.

4 He summoned the heavens above, and the earth, for the trial of His people.

(Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 37a - Regulations Concerning the Sabbath and Chanukkah Light -

R. Simeon.

The question, "Is it allowed to extinguish a lamp for the sake of a sick person on the Sabbath?" was propounded to Tan'hum of Navi.

...'Who is the King of Glory?' And he said: 'The Lord strong and mighty.' ... Hence did not Solomon say well: 'I praise the dead,' etc.? ... I say this: A lamp is called 'Ner,' and the soul of man is called 'Ner.' Let rather the Ner which man has made (the lamp) be extinguished, than the 'Ner' (the soul) which belongs to the Holy One, blessed is He.")

5 “Bring in My devotees, who made a covenant with Me over sacrifice!”

6 Then the heavens proclaimed His righteousness, for He is a God who judges.

7 “Pay heed, My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will arraign you. I am God, your God.

8 I censure you not for your sacrifices, and your burnt offerings, made to Me daily;

9 I claim no bull from your estate, no he-goats from your pens.

10 For Mine is every animal of the forest, the beasts on a thousand mountains.

11 I know every bird of the mountains, the creatures of the field are subject to Me.

12 Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for Mine is the world and all it holds.

 

 

In Jerusalem, King Machizedek High Priest at the tabernacle (temple) of God (Hashem) of the Most High. One of his duties was that a peacemaker of disputes. In this passage the reader is placed of scene of King Melchizedek shaing bread and wine to Abraham and his foe King Sodom to agree on terms of surrender and war reperation. King Melchizedek congratulates Abraham with blessing from the Creator of the most high who posseses (owns) everything. 

Note. I use the text color aquablue to represent the righteous and grey to represent the supernatural. Red denotes the adveraries (Satan)

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 14

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18 And Malchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine, and he was a priest to the Most High God.

19 And he blessed him, and he said, "Blessed be Abram to the Most High God, Who possesses heaven and earth.

20 And blessed be the Most High God, Who has delivered your adversaries into your hand," and he gave him a tithe from all.

21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the souls, and the possessions take for yourself."

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I raise my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, Who possesses heaven and earth.

23 Neither from a thread to a shoe strap, nor will I take from whatever is yours, that you should not say, 'I have made Abram wealthy.'

24 Exclusive of what the lads ate, and the share of the men who went with me; Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre they shall take their share."

6

Targum Jonathan on Genesis 14:18-24

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18 And Malka Zadika, who was Shem bar Noah, the king of Yerushalem, came forth to meet Abram, and brought forth to him bread and wine; and in that time he ministered before Eloha Ilaha.

19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the Lord God Most High, who for the righteous possesseth the heavens and the earth.

20 And blessed be Eloha Ilaha, who hath made thine enemies as a shield which receiveth a blow. And he gave to him one of ten, of all which he brought back.

21 And the king of Sedom said to Abram, Give me the souls of the men of my people whom thou hast brought back, and the substance take to thyself.

22 And Abram said to the king of Sedom, I have uplifted my hands in an oath before the Lord God the Most High, who for the just possesseth his possession of the heavens and the earth,

23 if from a thread to the latchet of a sandal I receive any thing of all that is thine; lest thou magnify thyself in saying, I have enriched Abram from mine own.

24 Have I not power over all the spoil?--Apart from what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, they also receiving their portion.

11

 Letter to the Hebrews Chapter 7

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7 Now this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him. 2 To him also Abraham apportioned a tithe of everything. His name first means king of righteousness, then king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, he has neither beginning of days nor end of life but is like the son of God, and he remains a priest for all time. 4 But see how great he must be, if Abraham the patriarch gave him a tithe of his plunder. 5 And those of the sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have authorization according to the law to collect a tithe from the people, that is, from their fellow countrymen, although they too are descendants of Abraham. 6 But Melchizedek who does not share their ancestry collected a tithe from Abraham and blessed the one who possessed the promise. 7 Now without dispute the inferior is blessed by the superior, 8 and in one case tithes are received by mortal men, while in the other by him who is affirmed to be alive. 9 And it could be said that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid a tithe through Abraham. 10 For he was still in his ancestor Abraham’s loins when Melchizedek met him.

 Divrei Hayamim I - I Chronicles - Chapter 1

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17 The sons of Shem:

Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

The sons of Aram:

Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

18 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber. 19 Two sons were born to Eber: the first was named Peleg, for during his lifetime the earth was divided; his brother’s name was Joktan.

20 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 22 Ebal, Abimael, Sheba, 23 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, 25 Eber, Peleg, Reu, 26 Serug, Nahor, Terah, 27 Abram (that is, Abraham).

 

Luke 3

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23 So Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years old. He was the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Matthew 5

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9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

 

The Dead sea scroll proclaims Prince Melchizedek will return Isreali prisoners to their home and property. Prince Melchizedek will announce a special Day of Atonement where he will judge and release righteous Israelis from any debt of their sins. 

The Melchizedek Document (11Q13)
Translated by James Scott Trimm

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"To proclaim the Jubilee to the captives" 

(The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, The Great Isaiah Scroll : Chapter 61 : Verse 1 The spirit of the LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, and to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners.)

(...) just as (...) and from the inheritance of Melchizedek, for (... Melchizedek) ,  who will return them to what is rightfully theirs.

He will proclaim to them the Jubilee, thereby releasing them from the debt of all their sins. He shall proclaim this decree in the first week of the jubilee period that follows nine jubilee periods.

Then the "Day of Atonement" shall follow after the tenth jubilee period, when he  shall atone for all the Sons of Light, and the people who are allotted to Melchizedek. 

(...) upon them (...) For this is the time decreed for the "Year of Melchizedek's favor", and by his might he will judge Elohim's holy ones and so establish a  righteous kingdom, …as it is written about him [Melchizedek] in the Songs of David:

"Elohim has taken his place in the council of EL; in the midst of the ELOHIM he holds judgment" 
(Ps. 82:1 A psalm of Asaph. God stands in the divine assembly; among the divine beings He pronounces judgment. )

( Ps. 50 :4-6 He summoned the heavens above, and the earth, for the trial of His people. Bring in My devotees, who made a covenant with Me over sacrifice!” Then the heavens proclaimed His righteousness, for He is a God who judges.)

(Rashi Commentary God stands in the congregation of God: to see whether they [the judges] judge fairly, and you judges, how long will you judge unjustly? ) 

Scripture also says about him [Melchizedek]:

"Over it take your seat in the highest heaven;  EL will judge the peoples" 
(Ps. 7:7 Arise, O Lord, with Your wrath; exalt Yourself with anger upon my adversaries, and awaken for me the judgment that You commanded. )

(Rashi Commentary Arise, O Lord, with Your wrath: against my enemies, such as Ishbi and his brothers and the Philistines, that I should not be delivered into their hands. exalt Yourself: boast, to show me the revenge of Your anger when You become angry with them. and awaken for me: that I should be able to execute upon them the judgment of revenge that You commanded. Now where did You command [it]? “You shall break them with an iron rod." "Then I will be an enemy to your enemies”) 

(Exod. 23:20 I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.  Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes). 

Concerning what scripture says:

"How long will you judge unjustly,  and show partiality with the wicked? 
Selah" 
(Ps. 82;2) 

the interpretation applies to Belial and the spirits predestined to him, because all 
of them have rebelled, turning from Elohim's precepts and so becoming utterly wicked. 
Therefore Melchizedek will thoroughly prosecute the vengeance required by Elohim's 
statutes. Also, he will deliver all the captives from the power of Belial, and from 
the power of all the spirits destined to him. Allied with him will be all the 
"righteous Elohim" (Isa. 61;3).

(The ...) is that whi(ch ...all) the Elohim. The visitation is the Day of Salvation that He 
has decreed through Isaiah the prophet concerning all the captives, inasmuch as Scripture says:

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, 
who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion "Your Elohim 
reigns".
(Isa. 52;7) 

This scriptures interpretation: "the mountains" are the prophets, they who were sent 
to proclaim Elohim's truth and to prophesy to all Israel. "The messengers" is the Anointed
(Messiah) of the spirit, of whom Daniel spoke:

"After the sixty-two weeks, a Messiah shall be cut off" 
(Dan. 9;26) 

The "messenger who brings good news, who announces Salvation" is the one of whom it 
is written:

"to proclaim the year of the YHWH's favor, 
the day of the vengeance of our Elohim; 
to comfort all who mourn" 
(Isa. 61;2)

This scripture's interpretation: he is to instruct them about all the periods of 
history for eternity (... and in the statutes) of the truth. (...) (.... dominion) 
that passes from Belial and returns to the Sons of Light (....) (...) by the judgment 
of Elohim, just as t is written concerning him:

"who says to Zion "Your Elohim reigns" 
(Isa. 52;7) 

"Zion" is the congregation of all the sons of righteousness, who uphold the covenant 
and turn from walking in the way of the people. "Your Elohim" is Melchizedek, who 
will deliver them from the power of Belial. 

Concerning what scripture says:

"Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; 
in the seventh month . . . " 
(Lev. 25;9)

God had foretold Abraham that his offspring would become kings of many nations.

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 17

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4 "As for Me, behold My covenant is with you, and you shall become the father of a multitude of nations. 

5 And your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will emerge from you.

God had made Abraham a powerful person, which his Hittite neighbors acknowledged 

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 23

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2 And Sarah died in Kiriath arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to eulogize Sarah and to bewail her.

3 And Abraham arose from before his dead, and he spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

4 "I am a stranger and an inhabitant with you. Give me burial property with you, so that I may bury my dead from before me."

5 And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

6 "Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God in our midst; in the choicest of our graves bury your dead. None of us will withhold his grave from you to bury your dead."

1

The Creator's initial purpose for the Citizen of Israel to be all princes and He to be their king. 

Shemot - Exodus - Chapter 19

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3 Moses ascended to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "So shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel,

4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and [how] I bore you on eagles' wings, and I brought you to Me.

5 And now, if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples, for Mine is the entire earth.

6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel."

7 Moses came and summoned the elders of Israel and placed before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

8 And all the people replied in unison and said, "All that the Lord has spoken we shall do!" and Moses took the words of the people back to the Lord.

9 And the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud, in order that the people hear when I speak to you, and they will also believe in you forever." And Moses relayed the words of the people to the Lord.

 

Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1470-1550) wrote an important commentary on Exodus 19:6

It had been G’d’s intention to make the Jewish people immortal at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai, giving them the status that Adam had enjoyed before he sinned. Alas, just as Adam had sinned and had become mortal in the Garden (gan) Eden, the Jewish people sinned with the golden calf and suffered the same fate as the first man. The disaster is documented in Exodus 33,6 “the Children of Israel had to divest themselves of their jewelry which had been given them at Mount Chorev.”

Mekhilta De-Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai
Tractate Bahodesh
Chapter XLIX:IV

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1.

A. "'But you shall be to Me (a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the Children of Israel)" (Exod. 19:6)

B. [God says,] "You shall be special to Me, engaged in My Torah, engaged in My commandments!"

2.

A. "'...a kingdom'" (Exod. 19.6)

B. R. Eliezer the son of R. Yosi ha-Galili says, "In the time to come, each and every person will have [as many] children as those who left Egypt.

C. "As it says in Scripture, 'Your sons will succeed your ancestors' (Ps. 45:17)

D. "'One might think they will be poor people.

E. "Scripture states, [however,] 'You will appoint them princes throughout the land' (Ps 45:17)

F. "One might think [they will be] princes of trade.

G. "Scripture states, [however,] '...a kingdom' (Exod. 19:6).

H. "One might think [they will be] kings of war.

I. "Scripture states, [however,] '...of priests' (Exod. 19:6).

J. "If priests-one might think [they will be] unemployed, in accordance with is said in Scripture, '...and David's sons were priests' (2 Sam. 8:18).

K. "Scripture states [however,]...and a holy nation' (Exod. 19:6)

L. "Based on this, they said: [All of] Israel was worthy to eat holy food while they had not yet made the Golden Calf. Once they made the Golden Calf, it was taken from them and given to the priests."

 

Mekhilta De-Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai
Tractate Bahodesh
Chapter XLIX: V

18. 

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B. "Then Moses reported..." (Exod. 19:9)

C. And just what had Israel said to Moses that should report before God? And what had the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses that he should report to Israel?

D. They said, "We want to hear [it] from our king! For it is not the same to hear from the mouth of the governor as it is to hear from the mouth of the king!"

E. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "I'll give them what they ask for."

F. [As it says in Scripture] "'... in order that the people may hear when I speak with you'" (Exod. 19:9).

G. They said to him, "We want to see our king! For it's not the same to both hear and see as it to hear and not see!"

H. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him "I'll give them what they requested."

I. [As it says in Scripture] "'for on the third day the Lord will come down, in the sight of all the people'" (Exod. 19:11)

J. And in the time to come, Israel will see the face of God's presence eye to eye.

K. As it says in Scripture, "For they will see eye to eye" (Isa. 52:8) And Scripture says, "This is the Lord, in whom we trusted" (Isa. 25:9)

Vayikra - Leviticus - Chapter 19

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2 Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy.

The Creator made provision for kings to rule His people in his place.

Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 17

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14 When you come to the land the Lord, your God, is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you say, "I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me,"

15 you shall set a king over you, one whom the Lord, your God, chooses; from among your brothers, you shall set a king over yourself; you shall not appoint a foreigner over yourself, one who is not your brother.

 

The Torah relates that the Kohen is to perform the judicial duty to resolve conflict and to assist in purifying skin disease or mildew. 

Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 21

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5 And the kohanim, the sons of Levi, shall approach, for the Lord, your God, has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name of the Lord, and by their mouth shall every controversy and every lesion be [judged].

 

 Rashi, in his commentary to Books of Chronicles, notes that while the priests and Levites were occupied with Torah instruction and teaching

Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 24

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8 Be cautious regarding the lesion of tzara'ath, to observe meticulously and you shall do according to all that the Levite priests instruct you; as I have commanded them, [so shall you] observe to do.

Shmuel I - I Samuel - Chapter 8

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6 And the thing was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, when they said, "Give us a king to judge us," and Samuel prayed to the Lord.

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people, according to all that they will say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from reigning over them.

8. Like all the deeds which they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt, and until this day, and they forsook Me and served other gods; so are they doing to you.

The am ha-arez in the Talmud refers to "the people of Land" to uneducated Jews, who were deemed likely to be negligent in their observance of the commandments due to their ignorance wanted a king like other nations around them.

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin

Folio 20a

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It has been taught: R. Eliezer said: The elders of the generation made a fit request, as it is written, Give us a king to judge us. But the am ha-arez acted unworthily, at it is written, That we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go before us.

1

Quran Surah Al-Baqarah - The Cow

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2:246 Have you not considered the assembly of the Children of Israel after [the time of] Moses when they said to a prophet of theirs, "Send to us a king, and we will fight in the way of Allah "? He said, "Would you perhaps refrain from fighting if fighting was prescribed for you?" They said, "And why should we not fight in the cause of Allah when we have been driven out from our homes and from our children?" But when fighting was prescribed for them, they turned away, except for a few of them. And Allah is Knowing of the wrongdoers.

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi) from 11th century France defines the word “Cohen (Kohen)” as a prince, referencing 2nd Samuel, where it states that David’s sons were chief officers  (Cohanim or Kohanim). 

Shmuel II - II Samuel - Chapter 8

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18 And Benayahu the son of Yehoyada [was over] the archers and the slingers; and David's sons were chief officers (Cohanim).

Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 45

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17 Instead of your forefathers will be your sons; you shall appoint them as princes throughout the land.

the ministers of the King where present to ascertain that the nation took their words with due respect and seriousness.

Divrei Hayamim II - II Chronicles - Chapter 17

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5 And the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave a gift to Jehoshaphat, and he had abundant riches and glory.

6 And his heart was uplifted in the ways of the Lord, and he further removed the high places and the asherim from Judah.

7 And in the third year of his reign, he sent his officers, Ben Hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

8 And with them were the Levites: Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adoniah, Tobiah, and Tob Adoniah, the Levites, and with them were Elishama and Jehoram, the priests.

9 And they taught in Judah, and with them was the scroll of the Law of the Lord and they went around throughout all the cities of Judah, and they taught among the people.

The "Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael" has traditionally been ascribed to Rabbi Ishmael.  The Mekhilta (Mekilta; a collection of rules of interpretation) is divided into nine treatises (massektot).   The Massekta de-Bahodesh (quoted as "Baḥ.")

Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael

19:6

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"And you shall be unto Me": I am not setting up any others over you, but only "Me." And thus is it written (Psalms 121:4) "He will not slumber and He will not sleep, the (sole) Keeper of Israel." "a kingdom of Cohanim": I do not crown kings from the peoples of the world, but only from you. And thus is it written (Song of Songs 6:9) "She is one, My dove, My perfect one, etc." R. Eliezer, the son of R. Yossi Haglili says: Whence is it derived that every one of Israel will have sons like those who left Egypt? From (Psalms 45:17) "In place of your fathers will be your sons." If "sons," I might think (even) the sick and the humble. It is, therefore, written (Ibid.) "You will make the princes." If "princes," I might think merchants. It is, therefore, written (here) "a kingdom." If a king, I might think that he reverts to being a conqueror. It is, therefore, written "Cohanim," "idlers" (from war), as in (II Samuel 8:18) "And the sons of David were Cohanim." Variantly: From here ("a kingdom of Cohanim") it is derived that all of Israel were fit to eat of the offerings — until they made the golden calf. Once they made the golden calf, it (i.e., the status of Cohanim) was taken from them and given to the (official) Cohanim, as it is written (Jeremiah 50:17) "A scattered sheep is Israel, harried by lions … first it was devoured by Nevuchadnezzar, king of Bavel, etc." It (Israel) is compared to a sheep. Just as a sheep, when one of its lambs is smitten, all of its lambs feel it, so, Israel, if one of them is smitten, all of them feel it. As opposed to the nations of the world. If one of them is killed, all of them rejoice in his downfall. "and a holy nation": They are called "a holy nation," as it is written (I Chronicles 17:21) "And who is like Your nation, Israel, one nation in the land," holy of holies, separate from the peoples of the world and from their abominations. "These are the things" — not less and not more; "that you shall speak to the children of Israel" — in this order.

God purposed to bless all other nations through His theocratic reign over Israel. This was a rule that God chose to administer through divinely chosen mediators who spoke and acted for God in governing functions and who were personally responsible to Him for what they did. These vice-regents were people like Moses, Joshua, the judges (including Samuel), and the kings, but God remained the real sovereign down to the end of this kingdom in history (1 Chron. 29:25). The Shekinah cloud visibly represented God’s presence as the divine ruler. This glorious cloud entered and filled the tabernacle at the inception of the kingdom

Mekhilta de - Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai

Bolingbroke wrote that on occasion, the Creator bestows His Holy Spirit on a few individuals born to do His Will through public service. These individuals have graced with superior talents (genius, knowledge, and experience) that make them distinct from the rest of society. These are individuals are endowed with a spirit of reason to cope with ambition, avarice, despair, and not let sensual pleasures run their life.

During the American revolution there were capable Patriots on both sides considered to be blessed with superior talents. The difference was the British heroes were ignorant, or had prejudice against the colonies loss of Liberty. Their British failure of reason would cause a misapplication talents that would be considered a crime in its nature and consequence of going against the Designs of Providence. Jefferson would have concluded to tip the balance in America's favor, it new leaders must use their God given talents and reason the good and welfare of the colonies, then Divine vengeance would surely fall upon Britain.

Following Bolingbroke's Spirit of Patriotism, the Declaration of Independence taught that America's citizens can hope to achieve the happiness attributed to the Creator by employing the greater good at the expense of lesser evil. It is up to government leaders to guard our people with the use of reason. It is up to our citizen patriots to understand that the common happiness of Liberty depends on the importance of individual duty in submitting to law and government, which  firmly opposes evil corruption and is grateful for the blessings of the Creator.

Is Virtue real? Or is the appearance of it good enough?

Monotheist have a much deeper implicit viewpoint than the Natural Diest Bolingbroke writes. 

On the Spirit of Patriotism
Henry St. John Bolingbroke

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.. the author of nature has thought fit mingle from time to time, among the societies of men, a few, and but a few of those, on whom he is graciously pleased to bestow a larger proportion of the the ethereal spirit than is given in the ordinary course of his providence to the sons of men. These are they who engross almost the whole reason of the species, who are born to instruct, to guide, and to preserve; who are designed to be the tutors and the guardians of human kind. When they prove such, they exhibit to us examples of the highest virtue, and the truest piety

... When these men apply their talents to other purposes, when they strive to be great and despise being good, they commit a most sacrilegious breach of trust; they pervert the means, they defeat as far as lies in them the designs of providence, and disturb in some sort the system of infinite wisdom. To misapply these talents is the most diffused, and therefore the greatest of crimes in its nature and consequence; but to keep them unexerted, and unemployed, is a crime too.  

...there are superior spirits, men who show even from their infancy, though it be not always perceived by others, perhaps not always felt by themselves, that they were born for something more, and better. 

..I have sometimes represented to myself the vulgar [common], who are accidentally distinguished by the titles of king and subject, of lord and vassal, of noblemen and peasant; and the few who are distinguished by nature so essentially from the herd of mankind, that (figure apart) they seem to be of another species, in this manner. The former come into the world and continue in it like Dutch travellers in a foreign country. Everything they meet has the grace of novelty: and they are fond alike of everything that is new. They wander about from one object to another, of vain curiosity, or inelegant pleasure. If they are industrious, they show their industry in copying signs, and collecting mottoes and epitaphs. They loiter, or they trifle away their whole time: and their presence or their absence would be equally unperceived, if caprice or accident did not raise them often to stations, wherein their stupidity, their vices, or their follies, make them a public misfortune. The latter come into the world, or at least continue in it after the effects of surprise and inexperience are over, like men who are sent on more important errands. They observe with distinction, they admire with knowledge. They may indulge themselves in pleasure; but as their industry is not employed about trifles, so their amusements are not made the business of their lives. Such men cannot pass unperceived through a country. If they retire from the world, their splendor accompanies them, and enlightens even the obscurity of their retreat. If they take a part in public life, the effect is never indifferent. They either appear like ministers of divine vengeance, and their course through the world is marked by desolation and oppression, by poverty and servitude: or they are the guardian angels of the country they inhabit, busy to avert even the most distant evil, and to maintain or to procure peace, plenty, and the greatest of human blessings, liberty.

...Reason collects the will of God from the constitution of things, in this as in other cases; but in no case does the divine power impel us necessarily to conform ourselves to this will:

...Reason deceive us not: we deceive ourselves, and suffer our wills to be determined by other motives.  

...He who considers the universal wants, imperfections, and vices of his kind, must agree that men were intended not only for society, but to unite in commonwealths, and to submit to laws. Legum idcirco omnes servi sumus, ut liberi esse possimus. And yet this very man will be seduced by his own passions, or the passions and examples of others,  

...So he who is conscious of superior endowments, such as render him more capable than the generality of men to secure and improve the advantages of social life, by preserving the commonwealth in strength and splendor, even he may be seduced to think, or to act as if he thought, that these endowments were given him for the gratification of his ambition, and his other passions; and that there is no difference between vice and virtue, between a knave [dishonest] and an honest man, but one which a prince, who died not many years ago, asserted, 'that men of great sense were therefore knaves, and men of little sense were therefore honest'. But in neither of these cases will the truth and reason of things be altered, by such examples of human frailty. It will be still true, and reason will still demonstrate, that all men are directed, by the general constitution of human nature, to submit to government; and that some men are in a particular manner designed to take care of that government on which the common happiness depends. The use that reason will make of such examples will be only this, that since men are so apt, in every form of life and every degree of understanding, to act against their interest and their duty too, without benevolence to mankind, or regard to the divine will, it is the more incumbent on those who have this benevolence and this regard at heart, to employ all the means that the nature of the government allows, and that rank, circumstances of situation, or superiority of talents, give them, to oppose evil, and promote good government; and contribute thus to preserve the moral system of the world, at that point of imperfection at least, which seems to have been prescribed to it by the great creator of every system of beings.

...the present state of Britain. That there is no profusion [abundance] of the ethereal spirit to be observed among us, and that we do not abound with men of superior genius,

...as if nature had not done her part in our age, as well as in former ages, by producing men capable of serving the commonwealth. The manners of our fore-fathers were, I believe, in many respects better: they had more probity [strong moral principles] perhaps, they had certainly more show of honor, and greater industry. But still nature sows alike, though we do not reap alike.

...Fortune maintains a kind of rivalship with wisdom, and piques herself often in favor of fools as well as knaves. Socrates used to say, that although no man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet every one thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of government.

... not the worst minister could do all the mischief he does by the misapplication of his talents alone, if it were not for the misapplication of much better talents than his by some who join with him, and the non-application, or the faint and unsteady exercise of their talents by some who oppose him; as well as the general remissness [negligence] of mankind in acquiring knowledge, and in improving the parts which God has given them for the service of the public. These are the great springs of national misfortunes. There have been monsters in other ages, and other countries, as well as ours; but they have never continued their devastation long, when there were heroes to oppose them. We will suppose a man imprudent, rash, presumptuous, ungracious, insolent and profligate, in speculation as well as practice. He can bribe, but he cannot seduce; he can buy, but he cannot gain; he can lie, but he cannot deceive.

...Corruption could not spread with so much success, though reduced into system; and though some ministers, with equal impudence [shameless] and folly, avowed it by themselves and their advocates, to be the principal expedient [advantage] by which they governed, if a long and almost unobserved progression of causes and effects, did not prepare the conjuncture.

...One party had given their whole attention, during several years, to the project of enriching themselves, and impoverishing the rest of the nation; and, by these and other means, of establishing their dominion under the government and with the favor of a family, who were foreigners, and therefore might believe, that they were established on the throne by the good will and strength of this party alone. This party in general were so intent on these views, and many of them, I fear, are so still, that they did not advert in time to the necessary consequences of the measures they abetted; nor did they consider, that the power they raised, and by which they hoped to govern their country, would govern them with the very rod of iron they forged, and would be the power of a prince or minister, not that of a party long. Another party continued sour, sullen, and inactive, with judgments so weak, and passions so strong, that even experience, and a severe one surely, was lost upon them. They waited, like the Jews, for a Messiah, that may never come; and under whom, if he did come, they would be strangely disappointed in their expectations of glory and triumph, and universal dominion. Whilst they waited, they were marked out like the Jews, a distinct race, hewers of wood and drawers of water, scarce members of the community, though born in the country. All indifferent men stood as it were at a gaze: and the few, who were jealous of the court, were still more jealous of one another; so that a strength sufficient to oppose bad ministers was not easy to be formed. When this strength was formed, and the insufficiency or iniquity of the administration was daily exposed to public view, many adhered at first to the minister, and others were since gained to his cause, because they knew nothing of the constitution of their own, nor of the history of other countries; but imagined wildly, that things always went as they saw them go, and that liberty has been, and therefore may be preserved under the influence of the same corruption. Others perhaps were weak enough to be frightened at first, as some are hypocritical enough to pretend to be still, with the appellations [titles] of Tory [Conservative Party] and Jacobite [political movement to restore Catholic Stuarts to the throne], which are always ridiculously given to every man who does not bow to the brazen image that the King has set up. Others again might be persuaded, that no fatal use at least would be made of the power acquired by corruption; and men of superior parts might and may still flatter themselves, that if this power should be so employed, they shall have time and means to stop the effects of it. The first of these are seduced by their ignorance and futility [worthlessness]; the second, if they are not hypocrites, by their prejudices; the third, by their partiality and blind confidence; the last, by their presumptions; and all of them by the mammon of unrighteousness, their private interest, which they endeavor to palliate and to reconcile as well as they can to that of the public: et caeca cupiditate corrupti [the blind desire corruption], non intelligunt se, dum vendant, et venire.

...The Dutch travellers I spoke of, men of the ordinary, or below the ordinary size of understanding, though they are called by caprice, or lifted any other way into power, cannot do great and long mischief, in a country of liberty; unless men of genius, knowledge, and experience, misapply these talents, and become their leaders. A ministerial faction would have as little ability to do hurt, as they have inclination to do good, if they were not formed and conducted by one of better parts than they: nor would such a minister be able to support, at the head of this trusty phalanx, the ignominious tyranny imposed on his country, if other men, of better parts and much more consequence than himself, were not drawn in to misapply these parts to the vilest drudgery imaginable; the daily drudgery of explaining nonsense, covering ignorance, disguising folly, concealing and even justifying fraud and corruption; instead of employing their knowledge, their elocution, their skill, experience and authority, to correct the administration and to guard the constitution.  

...such a conjuncture could not be rendered effectual to preserve power in some of the weakest and some of the worst hands in the kingdom, if there was not a non application, or a faint and unsteady exercise of parts on one side, as well as an iniquitous misapplication of them on the other: and I cannot help saying, let it fall where it will, what I have said perhaps already, that the former is a crime but one degree inferior to the latter. The more genius, industry, and spirit are employed to destroy, the harder the task of saving our country becomes; but the duty increases with the difficulty, if the principles on which I reason are true. In such exigencies it is not enough that genius be opposed to genius, spirit must be matched by spirit. They, who go about to destroy, are animated from the first by ambition and avarice, the love of power and of money: fear makes them often desperate at last. They must be opposed therefore, or they will be opposed in vain, by a spirit able to cope with ambition, avarice, and despair itself: by a spirit able to cope with these passions, when they are favored and fortified by the weakness of a nation, and the strength of a government. 

The service of our country is no chimerical, but a real duty. He who admits the proofs of any other moral duty, drawn from the constitution of human nature, or from the moral fitness and unfitness of things, must admit them in favor of this duty, or be reduced to the most absurd inconsistency. When he has once admitted the duty on these proofs, it will be no difficult matter to demonstrate to him, that his obligation to the performance of it is in proportion to the means and the opportunities he has of performing it; and that nothing can discharge him from this obligation as long as he has these means and these opportunities in his power, and as long as his country continues in the same want of his services. These obligations then to the public service may become obligations for life on certain persons. No doubt they may: and shall this consideration become a reason for denying or evading them? On the contrary, sure it should become a reason for acknowledging and fulfilling them, with the greatest gratitude to the Supreme Being, who has made us capable of acting so excellent a part, and of the utmost benevolence to mankind. Superior talents, and superior rank among our fellow creatures, whether acquired by birth, or by the course of accidents, and the success of our own industry, are noble prerogatives. Shall he who possesses them repine at the obligation they lay him under, of passing his whole life in the noblest occupation of which human nature is capable? To what higher station, to what greater glory can any mortal aspire, than to be, during the whole course of his life, the support of good, the control of bad government, and the guardian of public liberty? To be driven from hence by successful tyranny, by loss of health or of parts, or by the force of accidents, is to be degraded in such a manner as to deserve pity, and not to incur blame: but to degrade ourselves, to descend voluntarily, and by choice, from the highest to a lower, perhaps to the lowest rank among the sons of Adam; to abandon the government of men for that of hounds and horses, the care of a kingdom for that of a parish, and a scene of great and generous efforts in public life, for one of trifling amusements and low cares, of sloth and of idleness, what is it, my Lord?

.. The common, the sensual pleasures to which nature prompts us, and which reason therefore does not forbid, though she should always direct, are so far from being excluded out of a life of business, that they are sometimes necessary in it, and are always heightened by it: those of the table, for instance, may be ordered so as to promote that which the elder Cato calls vitae conjunctionem.

...Cato's virtue often glowed with wine: and the love of women did not hinder Caesar from forming and executing the greatest projects that ambition ever suggested. But if Caesar, whilst he labored to destroy the liberties of his country, enjoyed these inferior pleasures of life, which a man who labors to save those liberties may enjoy as well as he; there are superior pleasures in a busy life that Caesar never knew, those, I mean, that arise from a faithful discharge of our duty to the commonwealth.

...Newton in discovering and establishing the true laws of nature on experiment and a sublimer geometry, felt more intellectual joys, than he feels who is a real patriot, who bends all the force of his understanding, and directs all his thoughts and actions, to the good of his country. When such a man forms a political scheme, and adjusts various and seemingly independent parts in it to one great and good design, he is transported by imagination, or absorbed in meditation, as much and as agreeably as. they. and the satisfaction that arises from the different importance of these objects, in every step of the work, is vastly in his favor. It is here that the speculative philosopher's labor and pleasure end. But he who speculates in order to act, goes on, and carries his scheme into execution. His labor continues, it varies, it increases; but so does his pleasure too. The execution indeed is often traversed, by unforeseen and untoward circumstances, by the perverseness or treachery of friends, and by the power or malice of enemies: but the first and the last of these animate, and the docility and fidelity of some men make amends for the perverseness and treachery of others. Whilst a great event is in suspense, the action warms, and the very suspense, made up of hope and fear, maintains no unpleasing agitation in the mind. If the event is decided successfully, such a man enjoys pleasure proportionate to the good he has done; a pleasure like to that which is attributed to the Supreme Being, on a survey of his works. If the event is decided otherwise, and usurping courts, or overbearing parties prevail; such a man has still the testimony of his conscience, and a sense of the honor he has acquired, to soothe his mind, and support his courage.

... the noblest spectacle which God can behold, is a virtuous man suffering, and struggling with afflictions:

... governments have their periods like all things human; that they may be brought back to their primitive principles during a certain time, but that when these principles are worn out, in the minds of men, it is a vain enterprise to endeavor to renew them: that this is the case of all governments, when the corruption of the people comes to a great pitch, and is grown universal: that when a house which is old, and quite decayed, though often repaired, not only cracks, but totters even from the foundations, every man in his senses runs out of it, and takes shelter where he can, and that none but madmen continue obstinate to repair what is irreparable, till they are crushed in the ruin.

...the accession of the present family to the throne, has given the fairest opportunities, as well as the justest reasons, for completing the scheme of liberty, and improving it to perfection. But it seems to me, that, in our separate world, as the means of asserting and supporting liberty are increased, all concern for it is diminished. 

... In these countries, the people had lost the armor of their constitution: they were unclothed and defenseless. Ours is more complete than ever. But though we have preserved the armor, we have lost the spirit of our constitution: and therefore we bear, from little engrossers of delegated power, what our fathers would not have suffered from true proprietors of the royal authority. Parliaments are not only, what they always were, essential parts of our constitution, but essential parts of our administration too. They do not claim the executive power. No. But the executive power cannot be exercised without their annual concurrence.  

...It is become so easy by the present form of our government, that corruption alone could not destroy us. We must want spirit, as well as virtue, to perish. Even able knaves would preserve liberty in such circumstances as ours, and highwaymen would scorn to receive the wages and do the drudgery of pickpockets. 

.. Far from having the virtues, we have not even the vices of great men. He who had pride instead of vanity, and ambition but equal to his desire of wealth, could never bear, I do not say to be the understrapper [junior official] to any farmer of royal authority, but to see patiently one of them (at best his fellow, perhaps his inferior in every respect) lord it over him, and the rest of mankind, dissipating wealth, and trampling on the liberties of his country, with impunity. This could not happen, if there was the least spirit among us. But there is none. What passes among us for ambition, is an odd mixture of avarice [greed] and vanity. the moderation we have seen practiced is pusillanimity, and the philosophy that some men affect is sloth. Hence it comes that corruption has spread, and prevails.

... There are men among them who certainly intend the good of their country, and whom I love and honor for that reason. But these men have been clogged, or misled, or overborne by others; and, seduced by natural temper to inactivity, have taken any excuse, or yielded to any pretense that savored it. That they should rouse therefore in themselves, or in any one else, the spirit they have suffered, nay helped to die away, I do not expect. I turn my eyes from the generation that is going off, to the generation that is coming on the stage. 

... Remember that the opposition in which you have engaged, at your first entrance into business, is not an opposition only to a bad administration of public affairs, but to an administration that supports itself by means, establishes principles, introduces customs, repugnant to the constitution of our governments, and destructive of all liberty; that you do not only combat present evils, but your posterity; that if attempts to entail these evils upon you and you cease the combat, you give up the cause: and that he, who does not renew on every occasion his claim, may forfeit his right.

...The means of invading liberty more effectually by the constitution of the revenue, than it ever had been invaded by prerogative, were not then grown up into strength. 

... You owe to your country, to your honor, to your security, to the present, and to future ages, that no endeavors of yours be wanting to repair the breach that is made, and is increasing daily in the constitution, and to shut up with all the bars and bolts of law, the principal entries through which these torrents of corruption have been let in upon us. I say the principal entries; because, however it may appear in pure speculation, I think it would not be found in practice possible, no nor eligible neither, to shut them up all. As entries of corruption none of them deserve to be excepted: but there is a just distinction to be made, because there is a real difference. Some of these entries are opened by the abuse of powers, necessary to maintain subordination, and to carry on even good government, and therefore necessary to be preserved in the crown, notwithstanding the abuse that is sometimes made of them; for no human institution can arrive at perfection, and the most that human wisdom can do, is to procure the same or greater good, at the expense of less evil. There will be always some evil either immediate, or remote, either in cause or consequence. But there are other entries of corruption, and these are by much the greatest, for suffering of which to continue open no reason can be assigned or has been pretended to be assigned, but that which is to every honest and wise man a reason for shutting them up; the increase of the means of corruption, which are oftener employed for the service of the oligarchy, than for the service of the monarchy. Shut up these, and you will have nothing to fear from the others. By these, a more real and a more dangerous power has been gained to ministers, than was lost to the crown by the restraints on prerogative.

A Parliament, nay one house of Parliament, is able at any time, and at once, to destroy any corrupt plan of power. Time produces every day new conjunctures: be prepared to improve them. We read in the Old Testament of a city that might have escaped divine vengeance, if five righteous men had been found in it. Let not our city perish for want of so small a number: and if the generation that is going off could not furnish it, let the generation that is coming on furnish a greater.

Eloquence, that leads mankind by the ears, gives a nobler superiority than power that every dunce may use, or fraud that every knave may employ, to lead them by the nose. But eloquence must flow like a stream that is fed by an abundant spring, and not spout forth a little frothy water on some gaudy day, and remain dry the rest of the year. The famous orators of Greece and Rome were the statesmen and ministers of those commonwealths. The nature of their governments and the humor of those ages made elaborate orations necessary.

... Demosthenes had been neglected, in his education, by the same tutors who cheated him of his inheritance. Cicero was bred with greater advantage: and Plutarch, I think, says that when he first appeared the people used to call him, by way of derision, the Greek, and the scholar. But whatever advantage of this kind the latter might have over the former, and to which of them soever you ascribe the superior genius, the progress which both of them made in every part of political knowledge, by their industry and application, was marvellous. Cicero might be a better philosopher, but Demosthenes was no less a statesman: and both of them performed actions and acquired fame, above the reach of eloquence alone. Demosthenes used to compare eloquence to a weapon, aptly enough; for eloquence, like every other weapon, is of little use to the owner, unless he have the force and the skill to use it. This force and this skill Demosthenes had in an eminent degree. Observe them in one instance among many. It was of mighty importance to Philip to prevent the accession of Thebes to the grand alliance that Demosthenes, at the head of the Athenian commonwealth, formed against the growing power of the Macedonians. Philip had emissaries and his ambassadors on the spot to oppose to those of Athens, and we may be assured that he neglected none of those arts upon this occasion that he employed so successfully on others. The struggle was great, but Demosthenes prevailed, and the Thebans engaged in the war against Philip. 

Let us consider Tully on the greatest theatre of the known world, and in the most difficult circumstances. We are better acquainted with him than we are with Demosthenes; for we see him nearer, as it were, and in more different lights. How perfect a knowledge had he acquired of the Roman constitution of government, ecclesiastical and civil; of the original and progress, of the general reasons and particular occasions of the laws and customs of his country; of the great rules of equity, and the low practice of courts; of the duty of every magistracy and office in the state, from the dictator down to the lictor; and of all the steps by which Rome had risen from her infancy, to liberty, to power and grandeur and dominion [authority], as well as of all those by which she began to decline, a little before his age, to that servitude which he died for opposing, but lived to see established, and in which not her liberty alone, but her power and grandeur and dominion were lost? How well was he acquainted with the Roman colonies and provinces, with the allies and enemies of the empire, with the rights and privileges of the former, the dispositions and conditions of the latter, with the interests of them all relatively to Rome, and with the interests of Rome relatively to them? How present to his mind were the anecdotes of former times concerning the Roman and other states, and how curious was he to observe the minutest circumstances that passed in his own? His works will answer sufficiently the questions I ask, and establish in the mind of every man who reads them the idea I would give of his capacity and knowledge, as well as that which is so universally taken of his eloquence. To a man fraught with all this stock of knowledge, and industrious to improve it daily, nothing could happen that was entirely new, nothing for which he was quite unprepared, scarce any effect whereof he had not considered the cause, scarce any cause wherein his sagacity could not discern the latent effect. His eloquence in private causes gave him first credit at Rome, but it was this knowledge, this experience, and the continued habits of business, that supported his reputation, enabled him to do so much service to his country, and gave force and authority to his eloquence. To little purpose would he have attached Catiline with all the vehemence that indignation and even fear added to eloquence, if he had trusted to this weapon alone. This weapon alone would have secured neither him nor the senate from the poniard of that assassin. He would have had no occasion to boast, that he had driven this infamous citizen out of the walls of Rome, abiit, excessit, evasit, erupit, if he had not made it before-hand impossible for him to continue any longer in them. As little occasion would he have had to assume the honor of defeating without any tumult, or any disorder, the designs of those who conspired to murder the Roman people, to destroy the Roman empire, and to extinguish the Roman name; if he had not united by skill and management, in the common cause of their country, orders of men the most averse to each other; if he had not watched all the machinations of the conspirators in silence, and prepared a strength sufficient to resist them at Rome, and in the provinces, before he opened this scene of villainy to the senate and the people: in a word, if he had not made much more use of political prudence, that is, of the knowledge of mankind, and of the arts of government, which study and experience give, than of all the powers of his eloquence.

...They who affect to head an opposition, or to make any considerable figure in it, must be equal at least to those whom they oppose; I do not say in parts only, but in application and industry, and the fruits of both, information, knowledge, and a certain constant preparedness for all the events that may arise. Every administration is a system of conduct: opposition, therefore, should be a system of conduct likewise; an opposite, but not a dependent system.

...When two armies take the field, the generals on both sides have their different plans for the campaign, either of defense or of offense: and as the former does not suspend his measures till he is attacked, but takes them beforehand on every probable contingency, so the latter does not suspend his, till the opportunity of attacking presents itself, but is alert and constantly ready to seize it whenever it happens; and in the mean time is busy to improve all the advantages of skill, of force, or of any other kind that he has, or that he can acquire, independently of the plan and of the motions of his enemy.

...every member of either house of Parliament is a member of a national standing council, born, or appointed by the people, to promote good, and to oppose bad government; and, if not vested with the power of a minister of state, yet vested with the superior power of controlling those who are appointed such by the crown.

...they who engage in opposition are under as great obligations, to prepare themselves to control, as they who serve the crown are under, to prepare themselves to carry on the administration: and that a party formed for this purpose, do not act like good citizens nor honest men, unless they propose true, as well as oppose false measures of government. Sure I am they do not act like wise men unless they act systematically, and unless they contrast, on every occasion, that scheme of policy which the public interest requires to be followed, with that which is suited to no interest but the private interest of the prince or his ministers.

...a party who opposed, systematically, a wise to a silly, an honest to an iniquitous, scheme of government, would acquire greater reputation and strength, and arrive more surely at their end, than a party who opposed occasionally, as it were, without any common system, without any general concert, with little uniformity, little preparation, little perseverance, and as little knowledge or political capacity.

George Wythe was the first American law professor, a noted classics scholar, and a Virginia judge. The first of the seven Virginia signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence, Wythe served as one of Virginia's representatives to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention. Jefferson studied Bolingbroke's Works during his time as George Wythe's legal apprentice. Wythe remained particularly close to Jefferson, and left Jefferson his substantial book collection in his will.

We can see Jefferson was agreement with Bolingbroke on the talents and moral character of appointed Judges.

From Thomas Jefferson to George Wythe, June1776

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The dignity and stability of government in all its branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society, depend so much upon an upright and skillful administration of justice, that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive, and independent upon both, that so it may be a check upon both, as both should be checks upon that. The judges, therefore, should always be men of learning and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, calmness, coolness and attention; their minds should not be distracted with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon any man, or body of men. To these ends they should hold estates for life in their offices, or, in other words, their commissions should be during good behavior, and their salaries ascertained and established by law.

For misbehavior, the grand inquest of the colony, the house of representatives, should impeach them before the governor and council, when they should have time and opportunity to make their defense; but if convicted, should be removed from their offices, and subjected to such other punishment as shall be thought proper.

By 1771, when he advised young Robert Skipwith on his book buying, Jefferson included Bolingbroke’s Political Works in his suggested of catalogue of 30 books.

From Thomas Jefferson to Robert Skipwith, with a List of Books for a Private Library 

3 August 1771

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I sat down with a design of executing your request to form a catalogue of books amounting to about 30. 

... Peace to it’s wisdom! Let me not awaken it. A little attention however to the nature of the human mind evinces that the entertainments of fiction are useful as well as pleasant. That they are pleasant when well written, every person feels who reads. But wherein is it’s utility, asks the reverend sage, big with the notion that nothing can be useful but the learned lumber of Greek and Roman reading with which his head is stored? I answer, every thing is useful which contributes to fix us in the principles and practice of virtue. When any signal act of charity or of gratitude, for instance, is presented either to our sight or imagination, we are deeply impressed with it’s beauty and feel a strong desire in ourselves of doing charitable and grateful acts also. On the contrary when we see or read of any atrocious deed, we are disgusted with it’s deformity and conceive an abhorrence of vice. Now every emotion of this kind is an exercise of our virtuous dispositions; and dispositions of the mind, like limbs of the body, acquire strength by exercise. But exercise produces habit; and in the instance of which we speak, the exercise being of the moral feelings, produces a habit of thinking and acting virtuously. We never reflect whether the story we read be truth or fiction. If the painting be lively, and a tolerable picture of nature, we are thrown into a reverie, from which if we awaken it is the fault of the writer.

...Considering history as a moral exercise, her lessons would be too unfrequent if confined to real life. Of those recorded by historians few incidents have been attended with such circumstances as to excite in any high degree this sympathetic emotion of virtue. We are therefore wisely framed to be as warmly interested for a fictitious as for a real personage. The spacious field of imagination is thus laid open to our use, and lessons may be formed to illustrate and carry home to the mind every moral rule of life. Thus a lively and lasting sense of filial duty is more effectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics and divinity that ever were written.

... Of Politics and Trade I have given you a few only of the best books, as you would probably choose to be not unacquainted with those commercial principles which bring wealth into our country, and the constitutional security we have for the enjoyment of that wealth. In Law I mention a few systematical books, as a knowlege of the minutiae of that science is not necessary for a private gentleman. In Religion, History, Natural philosophy, I have followed the same plan in general.

 

Here is a  partial list of literary works that Jefferson recommended that apply to our  journey of discovering the Creative Force of Nature designs for Life and Happiness or Death and Misery
 

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religion.
Locke’s conduct of the mind in search of truth. 12mo. 3/
Xenophon’s memoirs of Socrates. by Feilding. 8vo. 5/
Epictetus. by Mrs. Carter. 2 v.12mo. 6/
Antoninus by Collins. 3/
Seneca. by L’Estrange. 8vo. 5/4
Cicero’s Offices. by Guthrie. 8vo. 5/
Cicero’s Tusculan questions. Eng. 3/
Ld. Bolingbroke’s Philosophical works. 5 v. 8vo. £1.5
Hume’s essays. 4 v. 12mo. 12/
Ld. Kaim’s Natural religion. 8vo. 6/
Philosophical survey of Nature. 3/
Oeconomy of human life. 2/
Sterne’s sermons. 7 v. 12mo. £1.1
Sherlock on death. 8vo. 5/
Sherlock on a future state. 5/

law

Ld. Kaim’s Principles of equity. fol. £1.1
Blackstone’s Commentaries. 4 v. 4to. £4.4
Cuningham’s Law dictionary. 2 v. fol. £3

history. antient.

Bible. 6/
Rollin’s Antient history. Eng. 13 v. 12mo. £1.19
Stanyan’s Graecian history. 2 v. 8vo. 10/
Livy. (the late translation). 12/
Sallust by Gordon. 12mo. 12/
Tacitus by Gordon. 12mo. 15/
Caesar by Bladen. 8vo. 5/
Josephus. Eng. 1.02
Vertot’s Revolutions of Rome. Eng. 9/
Plutarch’s lives. by Langhorne. 6 v. 8vo. £1.10
Bayle’s Dictionary. 5 v. fol. £7.10.
Jeffery’s Historical & Chronological chart. 15/

 

If we are to believe that the Will of Our Creator is Natural law.

INTRODUCTION. Of the Study, Nature, and Extent of the Laws of England.

SECTION I.

ON THE STUDY OF THE LAW.

The science thus committed to his charge, to be cultivated, methodized, and explained in a course of academical lectures, is that of the laws and constitution of our own country: a species of knowledge, in which the gentlemen of England have been more remarkably deficient than those of all Europe besides. In most of the nations of the continent, where the civil or imperial law, under different modifications, is closely interwoven with the municipal laws of the land, no gentleman, or at least no scholar, thinks his education is completed, till he has attended a course or two of lectures, both upon the institutes of Justinian and the local constitutions of his native soil, under the very eminent professors that abound in their several universities. And in the northern parts of our own island, where also the municipal laws are frequently connected with the civil, it is difficult to meet with a person of liberal education, who is destitute of a competent knowledge in that science which is to be the guardian of his natural rights and the rule of his civil conduct.

...Far be it from me to derogate from the study of the civil law, considered (apart from any binding authority) as a collection of written reason. No man is more thoroughly persuaded of the general excellence of its rules, and the usual equity of its decisions, nor is better convinced of its use as well as ornament to the scholar, the divine, the statesman, and even the common lawyer. But we must not carry our veneration so far as to sacrifice our Alfred and Edward to the manes of Theodosius and Justinian; we must not prefer the edict of the prætor, or the rescript of the Roman emperor, to our own immemorial customs, or the sanctions of an English parliament; unless we can also prefer the despotic monarchy of Rome and Byzantium, for whose meridians the former were calculated, to the free constitution of Britain, which the latter are adapted to perpetuate.

Without detracting, therefore, from the real merits which abound in the imperial law, I hope I may have leave to assert, that if an Englishman must be ignorant of either the one or the other, he had better be a stranger to the Roman than the English institutions. For I think it an undeniable position, that a competent knowledge of the laws of that society in which we live, is the proper accomplishment of every gentleman and scholar; an highly useful, I had almost said essential, part of liberal and polite education. And in this I am warranted by the example of ancient Rome; where, as Cicero informs us,(a) the very boys were obliged to learn the twelve tables by heart, as a carmen necessarium or indispensable lesson, to imprint on their tender minds an early knowledge of the laws and constitution of their country.

And, first, to demonstrate the utility of some acquaintance with the laws of the land, let us only reflect a moment on the singular frame and polity of that land which is governed by this system of laws. A land, perhaps, the only one in the universe, in which political or civil liberty is the very end and scope of the constitution. This liberty, rightly understood, consists in the power of doing whatever the laws permit, which is only to be effected by a general conformity of all orders and degrees to those equitable rules of action by which the meanest individual is protected from the insults and oppression of the greatest. As therefore every subject is interested in the preservation of the laws, it is incumbent upon every man to be acquainted with those at least with which he is immediately concerned; lest he incur the censure, as well as inconvenience, of living in society without knowing the obligations which it lays him under. And thus much may suffice for persons of inferior condition, who have neither time nor capacity to enlarge their views beyond that contracted sphere in which they are appointed to move. But those, on whom nature and fortune have bestowed more abilities and greater leisure, cannot be so easily excused. These advantages are given them, not for the benefit of themselves only, but also of the public: and yet they cannot, in any scene of life, discharge properly their duty either to the public or themselves, without some degree of knowledge in the laws.

All gentlemen of fortune are, in consequence of their property, liable to be called upon to establish the rights, to estimate the injuries, to weigh the accusations and sometimes to dispose of the lives of their fellow-subjects, by serving upon juries. In this situation they have frequently a right to decide, and that upon their oaths, questions of nice importance, in the solution of which some legal skill is requisite; especially where the law and the fact, as it often happens, are intimately blended together. And the general incapacity, even of our best juries, to do this with any tolerable propriety, has greatly debased their authority; and has unavoidably thrown more power into the hands of the judges, to direct, control, and even reverse their verdicts, than perhaps the constitution intended.

Yet farther; most gentlemen of considerable property, at some period or other in their lives, are ambitious of representing their country in parliament: and those, who are ambitious of receiving so high a trust, would also do well to remember its nature and importance. They are not thus honorably distinguished from the rest of their fellow-subjects, merely that they may privilege their persons, their estates, or their domestics; that they may list under party banners; may grant or withhold supplies; may vote with or vote against a popular or unpopular administration; but upon considerations far more interesting and important. They are the guardians of the English constitution; the makers, repealers, and interpreters of the English laws; delegated to watch, to check, and to avert every dangerous innovation, to propose, to adopt, and to cherish any solid and well-weighed improvement; bound by every tie of nature, of honor, and of religion, to transmit that constitution and those laws to posterity, amended if possible, at least without any derogation. And how unbecoming must it appear in a member of the legislature to vote for a new law, who is utterly ignorant of the old! 

...the science of legislation, the noblest and most difficult of any. Apprenticeships are held necessary to almost every art, commercial or mechanical: a long course of reading and study must form the divine, the physician, and the practical professor of the laws; but every man of superior fortune thinks himself born a legislator. Yet Tully was of a different opinion: “It is necessary,” says he,“for a senator to be thoroughly acquainted with the constitution; and this,” he declares, “is a knowledge of the most extensive nature; a matter of science, of diligence, of reflection; without which no senator can possibly be fit for his office.”

...where the imperial law is much cultivated, and its decisions pretty generally followed, we are informed by Van Leeuwen that “it receives its force from custom and the consent of the people, either tacitly or expressly given; for otherwise,” he adds, “we should no more be bound by this law, than by that of the Almains, the Franks, the Saxons, the Goths, the Vandals, and other of the ancient nations.” Wherefore, in all points in which the different systems depart from each other, the law of the land takes place of the law of Rome, whether ancient or modern, imperial or pontifical.

...A copy of Justinian’s pandects, being newly discovered at Amalfi, soon brought the civil law into vogue all over the west of Europe, where before it was quite laid aside, and in a manner forgotten, though some traces of its authority remained in Italy and the eastern provinces of the empire.This now became in a particular manner the favorite of the popish clergy, who borrowed the method and many of the maxims of their canon law from this original. The study of it was introduced into several universities abroad, particularly that of Bologna, where exercises were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred in this faculty, as in other branches of science; and many nations on the continent, just then beginning to recover from the convulsions consequent upon the overthrow of the Roman empire, and settling by degrees into peaceable forms of government, adopted the civil law, (being the best written system then extant,) as the basis of their several constitutions; blending and interweaving it among their own feudal customs, in some places with a more extensive, in others a more confined authority.

a Norman abbot, being elected to the see of Canterbury, and extremely addicted to this new study, brought over with him in his retinue many learned proficients therein; and, among the rest, Roger, surnamed Vacarius, whom he placed in the university of Oxford to teach it to the people of this country. But it did not meet with the same easy reception in England, where a mild and rational system of laws had been long established, as it did upon the continent; and though the monkish clergy, devoted to the will of a foreign primate, received it with eagerness and zeal, yet the laity, who were more interested to preserve the old constitution, and had already severely felt the effect of many Norman innovations, continued wedded to the use of the common law: King Stephen immediately published a proclamation, forbidding the study of the laws, then newly imported from Italy, which was treated by the monks as a piece of impiety; and, though it might prevent the introduction of the civil law process into our courts of justice, yet did not hinder the clergy from reading and teaching it in their own schools and monasteries.

From this time the nation seems to have been divided into two parties, the bishops and clergy, many of them foreigners, who applied themselves wholly to the study of the civil and canon laws, which now came to be inseparably interwoven with each other, and the nobility and laity, who adhered with equal pertinacity to the old common laws; both of them reciprocally jealous of what they were unacquainted with, and neither of them, perhaps, allowing the opposite system that real merit which is abundantly to be found in each.

But wherever they retired, and wherever their authority extended, they carried with them the same zeal to introduce the rules of the civil, in exclusion of the municipal law. This appears in a particular manner from the spiritual courts of all denominations, from the chancellor’s courts in both our universities, and from the high court of chancery before mentioned; in all of which the proceedings are to this day in a course much conformed to the civil law: for which no tolerable reason can be assigned, unless that these courts were all under the immediate direction of the popish ecclesiastics (clergy), among whom it was a point of religion to exclude the municipal (governing) law; Pope Innocent the Fourth having forbidden(l) the very reading of it by the clergy, because its decisions were not founded on the imperial constitutions, but merely on the customs of the laity. 

...a science, which distinguishes the criterions of right and wrong; which teaches to establish the one, and prevent, punish, or redress the other; which employs in its theory the noblest faculties of the soul, and exerts in its practice the cardinal virtues of the heart; a science, which is universal in its use and extent, accommodated to each individual, yet comprehending the whole community; that a science like this should ever have been deemed unnecessary to be studied in an university, is matter of astonishment and concern.

Aristotle himself has said, speaking of the laws of his own country, that jurisprudence, or the knowledge of those laws, is the principal and most perfect branch of ethics.

experience may teach us to foretell that a lawyer, thus educated to the bar, in subservience to attorneys and solicitors,(n) will find he has begun at the wrong end. If practice be the whole he is taught, practice must also be the whole he will ever know: if he be not instructed in the elements and first principles upon which the rule of practice is founded, the least variation from established precedents will totally distract and bewilder him: ita lex scripta est(o) is the utmost his knowledge will arrive at; he must never aspire to form, and seldom expect to comprehend, any arguments drawn, a priori, from the spirit of the laws and the natural foundations of justice.

The inconveniences here pointed out can never be effectually prevented, but by making academical education a previous step to the profession of the common law, and at the same time making the rudiments of the law a part of academical education. For sciences are of a sociable disposition, and flourish best in the neighborhood of each other; nor is there any branch of learning but may be helped and improved by assistances drawn from other arts. If, therefore, the student in our laws hath formed both his sentiments and style by perusal and imitation of the purest classical writers, among whom the historians and orators will best deserve his regard; if he can reason with precision, and separate argument from fallacy, by the clear simple rules of pure unsophisticated logic; if he can fix his attention, and steadily pursue truth through any the most intricate deduction, by the use of mathematical demonstrations; if he has enlarged his conceptions of nature and art, by a view of the several branches of genuine experimental philosophy; if he has impressed on his mind the sound maxims of the law of nature, the best and most authentic foundation of human laws; if, lastly, he has contemplated those maxims reduced to a practical system in the laws of imperial Rome; if he has done this, or any part of it, (though all may be easily done under as able instructors as ever graced any seats of learning,) a student thus qualified may enter upon the study of the law with incredible advantage and reputation. 

 

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

 

In Jefferson's 1817 letter to John Tyler, our nation's third president acknowledged the colonies use of Blackstone's common laws and the Will of the Creator in forming the the Republic of the United States.  But, America's use of English common law was fashioned into a system that was more relevant to a government without a king. It was the Republic's cause of ascension of the rights of citizens over being ruled by a king that made the Declaration of Independence a necessary document to frame the Constitution to new Rules of Law.

Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 17 June 1812

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On the other subject of your letter, the application of the common Law to our present situation, I deride, with you, the ordinary doctrine that we brought with us from England the Common Law rights. this narrow notion was a favorite in the first moment of rallying to our rights against Great Britain. but it was that of men, who felt their rights before they had thought of their explanation. the truth is that we brought with us the rights of men, of ex-patriated men. on our arrival here the question would at once arise, By what law will we govern ourselves? the resolution seems to have been, By that system with which we are familiar, to be altered by ourselves occasionally, and adapted to our new situation. the proofs of this resolution are to be found in the form of the oaths of the judges. 1. Hening’s stat. 169. 187. of the Governor ib. 504. in the act for a provisional government ib. 372. in the preamble to the laws of 1661.2. the uniform current of opinions and decisions, and in the general recognition of all our statutes framed on that basis. but the state of the English law at the date of our emigration, constituted the system adopted here. we may doubt therefore the propriety of quoting in our courts English authorities subsequent to that adoption, still more the admission of authorities posterior to the declaration of Independence, or rather to the accession of that king, whose reign, ab initio, was that very tissue of wrongs which rendered the Declaration at length necessary. the reason for it had inception at least as far back as the commencement of his reign. this relation to the beginning of his reign, would add the advantage of getting us rid of all Mansfield’s innovations, or civilizations of the Common law. for however I admit the superiority of the Civil, over the Common law code, as a system of perfect justice, yet an incorporation of the two would be like Nebuchadnezzar’s image of metals & clay, a thing without cohesion of parts. the only natural improvement of the common law, is thro’ it’s homogeneous ally, the Chancery, in which new principles are to be examined, concocted, and digested. but when by repeated decisions & modifications they are rendered pure & certain, they should be transferred by statute to the courts of common law, & placed within the pale of juries. the exclusion from the courts of the malign influence of all authorities after the Georgium sidus became ascendant, would uncanonise Blackstone, whose book, altho’ the most elegant & best digested of our law catalogue, has been perverted more than all others to the degeneracy of legal science. a student finds there a smattering of every thing, and his indolence easily persuades him that if he understands that book, he is master of the whole body of the law. the distinction between these, & those who have drawn their stores from the deep and rich mines of Coke Littleton, seems well understood even by the unlettered common people, who apply the appellation of Blackstone lawyers to these Ephemeral insects of the law.

Whether we should undertake to reduce the common law, our own, & so much of the English, statutes as we have adopted, to a text, is a question of transcendent difficulty. it was discussed at the first meeting of the committee of the Revised code in 1776. & decided in the negative by the opinions of Wythe, Mason & myself, against Pendleton & Tom Lee. Mr. Pendleton proposed to take Blackstone for that text, only purging him of what was inapplicable, or unsuitable to us. in that case the meaning of every word of Blackstone would have become a source of litigation until it had been settled by repeated legal decisions. and to come at that meaning, we should have had produced, on all occasions, that very pile of authorities from which it would be said he drew his conclusion, & which of course would explain it, and the terms in which it is couched. thus we should have retained the same chaos of law-lore from which we wished to be emancipated, added to the evils of the uncertainty which a new text, & new phrases would have generated. an example of this may be found in the old statutes and commentaries on them in Coke’s institute; but more remarkably in the Institute of Justinian, & the vast masses, explanatory, or supplementory of that which fills the libraries of the Civilians. we were deterred from the attempt by these considerations, added to which, the bustle of the times did not admit leisure for such an undertaking.

 

 

Locke, Bolingbroke, Blackstone, and Jefferson were well versed on Cicero, a Roman Philosopher that walked Earth 50 years before Jesus Christ.
 
Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 5 July 1814

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Cicero did not wield the dense logic of Demosthenes, yet he was able, learned, laborious, practiced in the business of the world, & honest. he could not be the dupe of mere style, of which he was himself the first master in the world.

On the Spirit of Patriotism
Henry St. John Bolingbroke

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 Cicero might be a better philosopher, but Demosthenes was no less a statesman: and both of them performed actions and acquired fame, above the reach of eloquence alone. Demosthenes used to compare eloquence to a weapon, aptly enough; for eloquence, like every other weapon, is of little use to the owner, unless he have the force and the skill to use it. This force and this skill Demosthenes had in an eminent degree.

Cicero theorized how the moral sense of law bestowed by the Creator has enabled man to discern by reason what is virtue (good) and what is vice (evil).

In The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, vol. 2 (Treatise on the Laws). Cicero defined the Law of Nature as the governing power of the Creator as both an equitable distribution of goods and discrimination of good and evil.
 

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According to the Greeks, therefore, the name of law implies an equitable distribution of goods: according to the Romans, an equitable discrimination between good and evil. The true definition of law should, however, include both these characteristics. And this being granted as an almost self–evident proposition, the origin of justice is to be sought in the divine law of eternal and immutable morality. This indeed is the true energy of nature, the very soul and essence of wisdom, the test of virtue and vice.

Marcus Cicero believed in a Actively Involved Creator (Divine Providence) over a Do Nothing Creator (Prime Mover) defined by the Greek Philosopher Epicurus that walked this earth 200 years before him. Epicurus taught that pain and death are not evil unto themselves. Cicero believed in the immortality of the soul, and the tranquility of the good after death, and the punishment of the wicked defined by Plato.

 

Epicurus also believed in divine beings, but man cannot be divine and should not expect anything good or bad to come from the gods. Epicurus taught that if one understands that he or she is not immortal, then one can be free of the fear of death and the pain caused from its coming.
 
Epicurus
Letter to Menoeceus
 

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Accustom yourself to believing that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply the capacity for sensation, and death is the privation of all sentience; therefore a correct understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life a limitless time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terrors for him who has thoroughly understood that there are no terrors for him in ceasing to live. Foolish, therefore, is the man who says that he fears death, not because it will pain when it comes, but because it pains in the prospect. Whatever causes no annoyance when it is present, causes only a groundless pain in the expectation. Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.

 Marcus Cicero agreed with Epicurus that death and pain are not evil unto themselves. But, he maintained that it was reason that links us to the Creator. It is this Provident Creator that generated man to transcend over the other creatures by reason and thought. And it is the right (successful) reason between the Creator and Man we find self evident, which we call Law.  Epicurus believed that circumstance was the Prime Mover and Natural Order of matter. While Cicero maintained that through right reasoning we can take notice of the natural link between our indestructible spirit and our Creator through natural and morally just laws that derive from loving our associates.  Epicurus taught that some outcomes happen out of necessity, others by chance, and our own through our own agency (course of action). Epicurus considered Law to be Truth as long as through Prudent Reasoning it is considered to be useful (Natural Justice and Honorable) and successful (pleasurable) to all parties (self evident). The chain of Epicurian reasoning has led us to now consider the infinite outcome reality of quantum self interest over one outcome reality of an outside Creative force of nature watching and interacting with us. It is in only the successful outcome of our decisions that those that believe in either a Provident Creator, a Prime Mover, or No God can agree.

50 years before Epicurus, a sage by the name of Aristotle tutor of Alexander the Great, argued that is through contrary outcomes that we can find Natural Justice.
 
Nicomachean Ethics
By Aristotle

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Now often one contrary state is recognized from its contrary, and often states are recognized from the subjects that exhibit them; for ( A ) if good condition is known, bad condition also becomes known, and ( B ) good condition is known from the things that are in good condition, and they from it. If good condition is firmness of flesh, it is necessary both that bad condition should be flabbiness of flesh and that the wholesome should be that which causes firmness in flesh. And it follows for the most part that if one contrary is ambiguous the other also will be ambiguous; e.g. if 'just' is so, that 'unjust' will be so too.

 
Another great orator that both born and died the same years as Aristotle (384 - 322 BC) by the name of Demosthenes led a failed revolt against Alexander the Great and took his life rather than being arrested. Demosthenes believed that unjust actions to be wicked and just actions to be good and honest. 
 
Demosthenes
Against Aristocrates Section 75
 

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The defendant, however, admitted no exception; he simply makes an outcast of any man who kills Charidemus, even though he kill him justly or as the laws permit. And yet to every act and to every word one of two epithets is applicable: it is either just or unjust. To no act and to no word can both these epithets be applied at the same time, for how can the same act at the same time be both just and not just? Every act is brought to the test as having the one or the other of these qualities; if it be found to have the quality of injustice, it is adjudged to be wicked, if of justice, to be good and honest.—But you, sir, used neither qualification when you wrote the words, “if any man kill.” You named the mere accusation, without any definition, and then immediately added, “let him be liable to seizure.” Thereby you have evidently ignored this tribunal and its usages as well as the other two.

 
Demosthenes argued that those who fail to see and act upon god given opportunities during their lifetime will be judged their denial of the divine good in them.
 
Demosthenes
Olynthiac 1 Section 11
 

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I suppose it is with national as with private wealth. If a man keeps what he gains, he is duly grateful to fortune; if he loses it by his own imprudence, he loses along with it the sense of gratitude. So in national affairs, those who fail to use their opportunities aright, fail also to acknowledge the good that the gods have given; for every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue. It is therefore our duty, men of Athens, to keep a careful eye on the future, that by restoring our prosperity we may efface the discredit of the past.

 
Demosthenes and Aristotle would have known Socrates, the Great Greek philosopher that proceeded them.

 

600 years before Socrates, Aristotle and Demosthenes, the Israelite King Solomon wrote and shared words of wisdom to his people that a perfect weight on honest scales and balances are the Creator's will.

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 11
 

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1 Deceitful scales are an abomination of the Lord, but a perfect weight is His will.

Proverbs 16

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16:9 A person plans his course,
but the Lord directs his steps.
16:10 The divine verdict is in the words of the king,
his pronouncements must not act treacherously against justice.
16:11 Honest scales and balances are from the Lord;
all the weights in the bag are his handiwork.

The Egyptian scale and balance concept of 'Ma’at' predated the Torah by 2000 years, but had a similar meaning of an active Creative Force of Nature involved in the scales and balances of Justice. Ma’at originated as a concept and evolved into belief in a goddess that was a manifestation of the Creator and Sun god, Amun Ra (Amun Re, Yamānu, Hidden One) to maintain truth, justice and natural universal order by balancing the flow of Ka (vital energy, life force, magic) from opposing powers. Ma’at is also a blatant counter force to the Egyptian term isfet (disorder). As a goddess, through the activation of the Ka (Heka) Ma’at was created by Amun Ra and opponent of Apepi  (Aapep) the giant serpent and Lord of Chaos. Egyptians had no concept of Hell after death, Judgement came to those that followed Apepi and heart was not pure during life, their punishment was to devoured by the female demon Ammit into non-existence. In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Maat represents the ethical and moral principle of truth and honor that every citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives.  The soul, ka (vital energy, and Chu (Shu, breath of life) originated on earth and were connected to immortality.

300 hundred years before Solomon, the Egyptian Royal scribe, Hunefer made a copy of the funerary Egyptian Book of the Dead for Pharaoh Seti I. 

 
Like the Creator in Judaism, Thoth gives long life on earth and the promise of eternal life in the after world to those who are just.  

Book of the Dead of Hunefer
 
Chapter CLXXXIII
Papyrus of Un'neferu

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Life is with thee, abundance is attached to thee. I offer Maat before thee; grant that I may be in the train of thy majesty like one who is on the earth. May thy name be called upon, may it be found among the just ones.
 
I have come to this god, to the city of god, to the region of old time; my soul, my ka, my Chu are in this land. The god of it is the lord of justice, the lord of abundance, the great and the venerable one, who is towed through the whole earth; he journeys to the South in his boat, and to the North driven by the winds, and his oars, to be entertained with gifts according to the command of the god, the lord of peace therein, who left me free of care. The god therein rejoices in who practices justice; he grants an old age to him who has done so; he is beloved, and the of it is a good burial and a sepulture in Ta-Tsert.
 
I have come to thee; my hands bring Maat, my heart does not contain any falsehood, I offer thee Maat before thy face, I know her; I swear by her; I have done no evil thing on earth; I have never wronged a man of his property. I am Thoth, the perfect and pure writer; my hands are pure. I have put away all evil things; I write justice and I hate evil; for I am the writing-reed of the Inviolate god, who utters his words, and whose words are written in the two earths.
 
I am Thoth, the lord of justice, who gives victory to him who is injured and who takes the defense of the oppressed, of him who is wronged in his property. I have dispelled darkness; I have driven away the storm; I have given air to Unneferu, and the sweet breezes of the North when he comes out of the womb of his mother.

 

 

The relief portrait of Hammurabi can be found in the House Gallery in the United States Capitol Building.

Hammurabi Code of Laws Stele.

 

500 hundred years before Hunefer,  the Babylonian King ,Hammurabi (Khammurabi. Awil Kurda) inscribed his code of law on a stone stele. 

The Sky god Anu (An) is considered the Chief Justice of the seven gods ( Anunnaki) who reside in the underworld and judge the fate of mankind. It was It was Ea (Enki), the god of righteousness, who proposed to the council that a mortal man should be created to serve the gods. Anu and Ea assigned the Bel Marduk (Ea's son) to oversee the decrees of Anu on the fate of mankind with his Imhullu (divine wind storm weapon). The "Bel" title became associated with the Babylonian patron god Marduk, first as "Bel Marduk", but eventually being commonly used by itself, "Bel."  Ea and his son, Lord (Bel) Marduk assigned lesser gods to oversee particular regions on earth and represent the mortals in the council of gods. Anu and Ea who bestowed on King Hammurabi the power to rule over the mortals with righteousness judgement over the wicked. 

Code of Hammurabi

Prologue 1

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When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

Bêlit means lady or mistress in Akkadian language.

Belet-Seri (also spelled Beletseri, Belit-Sheri, Belit-Tseri) in Babylonian and Akkadian mythology is an underworld goddess. The recorder of the dead entering the underworld, she is known as the "Scribe of the Earth". It is Belet-seri who keeps the records of human activities so she can advise the queen of the dead,  Erishkigal, on their final judgement. Married to Amurru, the God of Nomads, she's known as 'Queen of the Desert. She is also known as Erua. She may be the same as Gamsu, Ishtar,  Sarpanit

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Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred right (or law) am I. My words are well considered; my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those that were high; to humble the proud, to expel insolence. If a succeeding ruler considers my words, which I have written in this my inscription, if he do not annul my law, nor corrupt my words, nor change my monument, then may Shamash lengthen that king's reign, as he has that of me, the king of righteousness, that he may reign in righteousness over his subjects. If this ruler do not esteem my words, which I have written in my inscription, if he despise my curses, and fear not the curse of God, if he destroy the law which I have given, corrupt my words, change my monument, efface my name, write his name there, or on account of the curses commission another so to do, that man, whether king or ruler, patesi, or commoner, no matter what he be, may the great God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my rule, withdraw from him the glory of royalty, break his scepter, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord, who fixes destiny, whose command can not be altered, who has made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which his hand can not control; may he let the wind of the overthrow of his habitation blow, may he ordain the years of his rule in groaning, years of scarcity, years of famine, darkness without light, death with seeing eyes be fated to him; may he (Bel) order with his potent mouth the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule, the removal of his name and memory from the land. May Belit, the great Mother, whose command is potent in E-Kur (the Babylonian Olympus), the Mistress, who hearkens graciously to my petitions, in the seat of judgment and decision (where Bel fixes destiny), turn his affairs evil before Bel, and put the devastation of his land, the destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life like water into the mouth of King Bel. May Ea, the great ruler, whose fated decrees come to pass, the thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who makes long the days of my life, withdraw understanding and wisdom from him, lead him to forgetfulness, shut up his rivers at their sources, and not allow grain or sustenance for man to grow in his land. May Shamash, the great Judge of heaven and earth, who supports all means of livelihood, Lord of life-courage, shatter his dominion, annul his law, destroy his way, make vain the march of his troops, send him in his visions forecasts of the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and of the destruction of his land. May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him forthwith; may he be deprived of water above among the living, and his spirit below in the earth. May Sin (the Moon-god), the Lord of Heaven, the divine father, whose crescent gives light among the gods, take away the crown and regal throne from him; may he put upon him heavy guilt, great decay, that nothing may be lower than he. May he destine him as fated, days, months and years of dominion filled with sighing and tears, increase of the burden of dominion, a life that is like unto death. May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him rain from heaven, and the flood of water from the springs, destroying his land by famine and want; may he rage mightily over his city, and make his land into flood-hills (heaps of ruined cities). May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur, who goeth at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the field of battle, turn day into night for him, and let his foe triumph over him. May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting and war, who unfetters my weapons, my gracious protecting spirit, who loves my dominion, curse his kingdom in her angry heart; in her great wrath, change his grace into evil, and shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war. May she create disorder and sedition for him, strike down his warriors, that the earth may drink their blood, and throw down the piles of corpses of his warriors on the field; may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver him into the hands of his enemies, and imprison him in the land of his enemies. May Nergal, the might among the gods, whose contest is irresistible, who grants me victory, in his great might burn up his subjects like a slender reedstalk, cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him like an earthen image. May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother, deny him a son, vouchsafe him no name, give him no successor among men. May Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me, cause to come upon his members in E-kur high fever, severe wounds, that can not be healed, whose nature the physician does not understand, which he can not treat with dressing, which, like the bite of death, can not be removed, until they have sapped away his life.

May he lament the loss of his life-power, and may the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunaki, altogether inflict a curse and evil upon the confines of the temple, the walls of this E-barra (the Sun temple of Sippara), upon his dominion, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his troops. May Bel curse him with the potent curses of his mouth that can not be altered, and may they come upon him forthwith.

Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 50

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1 The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 Tell among the nations and let it be heard and raise a standard; let them hear and do not hide it. Say, "Babylon has been taken, Bel has been shamed, Merodach is dismayed, her images have been shamed, her idols have been dismayed.

3 For a nation has marched against her from the north; he shall make her land a desolation, and no one shall dwell therein; both man and beast have wandered, yea they have gone.

4 In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; they shall go along weeping, and they shall seek the Lord their God.

5 They shall inquire of Zion; their faces are directed hitherward. "Come and join the Lord [with] an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten."

6 My people were lost sheep, their shepherds caused them to stray, [to the] mountains [they] led them astray; from mountain to hill they went, they forgot their resting place.

7 All who found them devoured them, and their adversaries said, "We are not to blame because they sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice and the hope of their forefathers-the Lord."

8 Wander out of Babylon and go out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be like the he-goats before the flocks.

9 For behold I am arousing and bringing up upon Babylon an alliance of great nations from the north land, and they shall set themselves in array against her, from there she shall be taken; his arrows are like [those of] a mighty man who bereaves, it shall not return empty.

10 And the [land of the] Chaldeans shall become a prey; all who prey upon it shall be sated, says the Lord.

11 As you rejoice, as you jubilate, O spoilers of My heritage, as you become fat like a threshing heifer, and you neigh as strong horses,

12 your mother has been exceedingly shamed, she who bore you has been embarrassed; behold the end of the nations is desert, wasteland, and a barren plain.

13 Because of the wrath of the Lord, she shall not be inhabited, and all of her shall be desolate; whoever passes by Babylon shall be amazed and hiss about all her plagues.

14 Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrow, for she has sinned against the Lord.

15 Shout against her all around; she gave her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls are torn down, for it is the Lord's vengeance; wreak vengeance upon her: as she did, do to her.

16 Cut off a sower from Babylon and one who grasps a sickle at the time of harvest; because of the intoxicating sword, every man shall turn to his people, and every man shall flee to his land.

17 A scattered sheep is Israel which lions have driven away. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and this last one broke his bones, Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon.

18 Therefore, so said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold I visit retribution upon the king of Babylon and upon his land, as I visited upon the king of Assyria.

19 And I will return Israel to his dwelling and he shall pasture in the Carmel and the Bashan, and in Mount Ephraim and Gilead shall his soul be sated.

Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 51

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42 The sea has ascended upon Babylon; with the multitude of its waves it has been covered.

43 Her cities became desolate, a dry land and a desert, a land where no man dwells, neither does any man pass through them.

44 And I will visit retribution on Bel in Babylon, and I will take what he has swallowed out of his mouth, and nations shall no longer stream to him: even the wall of Babylon has fallen.

45 Go out of its midst, My people, and each one save his life, from the burning wrath of the Lord.

Daniel - Chapter 5
 

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18 You are the king [because] the Most High God gave your father, Nebuchadnezzar, kingdom, greatness, honor, and glory.

19 And through the greatness that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and tongues were quaking, and they feared him; whomever he wished he would slay, and whomever he wished he would let live; whomever he wished he would exalt, and whomever he wished he would humble.

20 And when his heart became haughty and his spirit was toughened so that he dealt wickedly, he was deposed from his royal throne, and the honor was removed from him.

21 And he was banished from mankind, and his heart was just like that of the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. They fed him grass like the cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of the heavens, until he realized that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of man, and whomever He wishes He sets up on it.

22 But you, his son, Belshazzar, you did not humble your heart in view of the fact that you know all this.

23 But over the Lord of heaven you exalted yourself, and the vessels of His House they brought before you, and you, your dignitaries, your queen, and your concubines drank wine in them, and you praised gods of silver and gold, copper, iron, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor know, but the God in Whose hand is your soul and all your ways - He you did not glorify.

24 Then from before Him the palm of a hand was sent forth, and it inscribed this writing.

25 And this is the writing that it inscribed: MENE MENE TEKEIL UFARSIN.

26 This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE-God has counted your kingdom and has brought it to an end.

27 TEKEIL-You were weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 UFARSIN-Your kingdom has been broken up and given to Media and Persia."

29 Then Belshazzar ordered, and they attired Daniel with purple and the golden chain on his neck, and they announced about him that he should rule over a third of the kingdom.

30 On that very night, Belshazzar, the Chaldean king, was assassinated.

Nabonidus suffered from a mental disease and insulted the Babylonian clergy by his monotheistic ideas.

4Q242 Prayer of Nabonidus

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Words of the prayer, said by Nabonidus, king of Babylonia, the great king, when afflicted

with an ulcer on command of the most high God in Tayma:

"I, Nabonidus, was afflicted with an evil ulcer

for seven years, and far from men I was driven, until I prayed to the most high God. 

And an exorcist pardoned my sins. He was a Jew from among the children of the exile of Judah, and said:

"Recount this in writing to glorify and exalt the name of the most high God."

Then I wrote this: "When I was afflicted for seven years [by the most high God] with an evil ulcer during my stay at Tayma, 

I prayed to the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood, stone and lime,

because [I thought and considered] them gods

Daniel - Chapter 6

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1 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom at the age of sixty-two.

2 It pleased Darius, and he set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, who should be in the entire kingdom.

3 And over them three viziers, one of which was Daniel, that these satraps should give them counsel, and the king should not suffer any injury.

4 Then this Daniel surpassed the viziers and the satraps because he had a superior spirit, and the king contemplated setting him up over the entire kingdom.

5 Then the viziers and the satraps sought to find a pretext against Daniel regarding the kingdom, but they could find no pretext or fault because he was trustworthy, and no error or fault was found about him.

6 Then those men said, "No pretext can be found about Daniel, but we shall find [a pretext] against him concerning the law of his God."

7 Then these viziers and satraps assembled about the king, and so they said to him: "O King Darius, may you live forever!

29 And this Daniel prospered in the time of the kingdom of Darius and in the kingdom of Cyrus the Persian.

Darius gives homage to the god Ahuramazda for protecting him

DSe, foundation tablet from Susa

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A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created the distant sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king, one king of many, one lord of many.

I am Darius, the Great King, King of Kings, the king of people all origins, the king of this great land, the son of Hystaspes, the Achaemenid, a Persian, son of a Persian, Aryran of Aryan descent.

And Darius, the king says:

By the grace of Ahuramazda  here are the peoples that I have conquered outside Persia. They obey me; they bring me tribute. What I order them to do they accomplish. They respect my law in Media, Elam, Parthia, Aria, Bactria, Segdiana, Shoramia, Drangiana, Arachosia, Sattagydia, the Macians, Gandhara, India, the Amyrgian Scythians, the Tigrakhanda Scythians, Babylonia, Assria, Arabia, Egypt, Armenia, Cappodocia, Lydia, the Greeks who guard the seas, the Scythians accross the sea, the Carians.   

Darius the King says:

Much of the harm that has been done, I transformed into good. The nations which fought among each  other, whose people killed each other, these, by the grace of Ahuramazda I ensured that their people did not kill each other any more and I reinstalled each in their own country. Presented with my decisions, they respected them so that the strong did not strike or rob the poor.

And Darius, the king says:

By the grace of Ahuramazda, many enterprises which beforehand hand not been accomplished, I made good.                                                                                               

I saw that the fortifications which once had been built at Susa had gone to ruin. But, I raised them up. They are in fact new works that I have built.

May Ahuramazda protect me, with all the gods, as well as my house and this text that been written!

This palace which I built at Susa, from afar its ornamentation was brought. Downward the earth was dug, until I reached rock in the earth. When the excavation had been made, then rubble was packed down, some 40 cubits in depth, another part 20 cubits in depth. On that rubble the palace was constructed.

In 539 B.C. the great Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon. His government was a Zoroastrian theocracy. Cyrus had a history of pretending to adopt a religion and then subverting it. King Cyrus had become popular among the residents of Babylon by posing as the one who would restore Marduk to his rightful place in the city. In Babylon his first act was to worship Marduk, claiming Marduk had sought a righteous prince and Cyrus was he. As far as the Babylonians were concerned, and evidently Cyrus concurred, Marduk was Ahuramazda. Zoroastrianism was monotheistic. Ahuramazda was the only god, but there was nothing that proclaimed that Ahuramazda was the Creator's only name. Cyrus was happy to adapt all the “Great Lords” of his empire into the one Great Lord. 

Later Cyrus mocked Marduk and had his image carted off. 

Cyrus Cylinder

The Tyranny of Nabonidus

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An incompetent person known as Nabonidus was installed to exercise lordship over his country.

He imposed upon them a counterfeit of Esagila (temple of Marduk) he made for Ur and the rest of the worship centers, unholy rituals which were improper to them. 

He put an end to the regular offerings (and) he interfered  in the worship centers.

By his own plan, he did away with the worship of Marduk, the Enil (King) of the gods,

He continually did evil against Marduk's city without interruption,

He imposed forced labor upon his people unrelentingly, ruining them all.

Enlil of the gods became extremely angry at their complaints, and their territory. 

The gods who lived within the shrines left, angry that he had made them enter into Shuanna, (a quarter of Babylon).

Angry at what [Nabonidus] had done to Babylon, Marduk, the exalted, the Enil of the gods, turned towards all the settlements and sanctuaries that were abandoned and in ruins.

The people of Sumer and Akkad had become corpses.

He was reconciled and had mercy upon them. He examined and checked all the entirety of all the lands,

he searched everywhere and then he took a righteous king, his favorite, by the hand, he called out his name: Cyrus, king of Anšan; he pronounced his name to be king all over the world.

He made the land of Gutium and all the Umman-mandanote (the Medes.) bow in submission at his feet. And Cyrus shepherded with justice and righteousness all the black-headed people, over whom he had given him victory.

Marduk, the great lord, guardian of his people, looked with gladness upon his good deeds and upright heart.

The separation of church and state and freedom of religion Cyrus’s rule caught Thomas Jefferson’s attention. 

To Thomas Jefferson
From Anne Cary Randolph Edgehill

Jan. 21 1804

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I recieved my Dear Grand Papa’s letter but it was too late to answer it’ Jefferson will not let Ellen catch him for he is now translating the history of Cyrus by Xenophon I will very gladly untertake to raise a pair of Bamtams for Monticello if you will send them to me I am very sorry to inform you that the plank house is burnt down John Hemming’s was here last night and he told us that the floor of the hall and the Music gallery was burnt up and that it was as full of plank as it could of which not one inch was saved your ice house will be full by ten oclock today I suppose you have heard of Aunt Bolling’s death Aunt Virginia is engaged to Cousin Wilson Cary and Aunt Hariet to a Mr Hackley of New York adieu My Dear Grand Papa your affectionate Grand daughter

ACR

Cyropaedia: Education of Cyrus I by Xenophon
Translated by Walter Miller

Book 3

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[3.3.49] "How would it do, Cyrus," Chrysantas then asked, "for you to get your men together, too, while yet you may, and exhort them, and see if you also might make your soldiers better men."

[3.3.50] "Do not let the exhortations of the Assyrian trouble you in the least, Chrysantas," Cyrus answered; "for no speech of admonition can be so fine that it will all at once make those who hear it good men if they are not good already; it would surely not make archers good if they had not had previous practice in shooting; neither could it make lancers good, nor horsemen; it cannot even make men able to endure bodily labor, unless they have been trained to it before.

[3.3.51] "But, Cyrus," answered Chrysantas, "it is really enough if you make their souls better with your words of exhortation." "Do you really think," returned Cyrus, "that one word spoken could all at once fill with a sense of honor the souls of those who hear, or keep them from actions that would be wrong, and convince them that for the sake of praise they must undergo every toil and every danger? Could it impress the idea indelibly upon their minds that it is better to die in battle than to save one's life by running away?

[3.3.52] "And," he continued, "if such sentiments are to be imprinted on men's hearts and to be abiding, is it not necessary in the first place that laws be already in existence such that by them a life of freedom and honor shall be provided for the good, but that upon the bad shall be imposed a life of humiliation and misery which would not be worth living?

[3.3.53] "And then again, I think, there must be, in addition to the laws, teachers and officers to show them the right way, to teach them and accustom them to do as they are taught, until it becomes a part of their nature to consider the good and honorable men as really the most happy, and to look upon the bad and the disreputable as the most wretched of all people. For such ought to be the feelings of those who are going to show the victory of training over fear in the presence of the enemy.

[3.3.54] "But if, when soldiers are about to go armed into battle, when many forget even the lessons oft learned of old, if then any one by an oratorical flourish can then and there make men warlike, it would be the easiest thing under heaven both to learn and to teach the greatest virtue in the world.

Wrong choice has its evil consequences, but as soon as one becomes wise enough to realize the folly, it is over. One is thereafter safe to learn how to replace wrong with right.

Ahunavaiti Gatha

Song 3

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6. Between these two,
the seekers of false gods did not decide correctly,
because delusion came to them in their deliberations.
Therefore, they chose the worst mind,
rushed in wrath,
and afflicted the human existence.

7. But to the person who chooses correctly,
comes endurance of body
and steadfast serenity
through strength, good mind, and righteousness.
Of all these, such a person shall be Yours,
because he has come fully out of the fiery test.

8. And when the sinners undergo their punishment,
then, O Wise One, the dominion will be realized
for them through good mind.
God, then they shall be taught
how to deliver the wrong into the hands of righteousness.

9. And may we be among those
who make this life fresh!
You, lords of wisdom,
who bring happiness through righteousness,
come, let us be single-minded
in the realm of inner intellect.

10. Then, indeed, the power of wrong
shall be shattered.
Then those who strive with good name
shall immediately be united
in the good abode of good mind
and righteousness of the Wise One.

11. If you understand the two principles
of prosperity and adversity
established by the Wise One,
which are a long suffering for the wrongful
and a lasting good for the righteous;
you shall, then, enjoy radiant happiness.

 

Cyrus Cylinder

The Prince of Peace

Quote

[23] I took up my lordly abode in the royal palace amidst rejoicing and happiness. Marduk, the great lord, /established as his fate (šimtu)\ for me a magnanimous heart of one who loves Babylon, and I daily attended to his worship.

[24] My vast army marched into Babylon in peace; I did not permit anyone to frighten the people of [Sumer] /and\ Akkad.

[25] I sought the welfare of the city of Babylon and all its sacred centers. As for the citizens of Babylon, [x x x upon wh]om henote imposed a corvée which was not the gods' wish and not befitting them,

[26] I relieved their weariness and freed them from their service. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced over [my good] deeds.

Religious Measures
[28] and in peace, before him, we mov[ed] around in friendship. [By his] exalted [word], all the kings who sit upon thrones

[29] throughout the world, from the Upper Sea to the Lower Sea, who live in the dis[tricts far-off], the kings of the West, who dwell in tents, all of them,

[30] brought their heavy tribute before me and in Babylon they kissed my feet. From [Babylon] to Aššur and (from) Susa,

[31] Agade, Ešnunna, Zamban, Me-Turnu, Der, as far as the region of Gutium, the sacred centers on the other side of the Tigris, whose sanctuaries had been abandoned for a long time,

[32] I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there,note to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings.

[33] In addition, at the command of Marduk, the great lord, I settled in their habitations, in pleasing abodes, the gods of Sumer and Akkad, whom Nabonidus, to the anger of the lord of the gods, had brought into Babylon.

 

 

Ezra 1

Quote

1 And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the Lord from the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord aroused the Spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying:

2 "So said Cyrus, the king of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea."

Ezra 7

Quote

6 This Ezra ascended from Babylon, and he was a fluent scholar in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, and the king granted him his entire request, according to the command of the Lord his God upon him.

7 And there ascended from the Children of Israel, from the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the gate-keepers, and the Nethinites to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.

8 And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

9 For on the first of the first month was the commencement of the ascent from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month, he arrived to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him.

10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to perform and teach in Israel statute and ordinance.  

 11 And this is the interpretation of the writ that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scholar, the scholar of the words of the Lord's commandments and His statutes to Israel.

12 "Artaxerxes, king of the kings, to Ezra the priest, the scholar who has mastered the Book of the Law of the God of heaven, and Ke'eneth.

13 An order is issued by me that whoever of my kingdom of the people of Israel, its priests and Levites, who volunteers to go to Jerusalem with you, may go.

14 Because of this, before the king and his seven advisors you are sent to search out Judea and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand.

King Hammurabi prayed at the temple of Siggil (Marduk) and asked his Lord (Bel) Marduk to increase the riches of Babylonia and the main temple of Sin (god of the moon and the one who created Hammurabi) called Gish-shir-gal ; reestablish the sacred city of Eridu dedicated Lord (Bel) Ea; and purify Apsu (a god encompasses all fresh drinking water) that eternally sleeps due to a spell Ea placed upon him. 

The weighing of souls method of divine determination was found in the religion of the Kingdom of Elam, which covered the present Iranian southeastern part of Kosu (Khūzestān) and Faros (Fārs).

Elamite states were among the leading political forces of the Ancient near East around 2000 BC. The "Elamites" spread their empire to west under King Chedorlaomer. The Elamites had struggled with the Assyrians for domination of Babylon. The great Babylonian dynasty of UR was brought to an end about 1950 BC by the Elamites, who destroyed the city and took its king prisoner. Many scholars believe that the Elamites empire boundaries included present day Taxila and the areas of Baluchistan and Sindh.

When an individual was living in the light and on the earth, that person was loyal to the sun god Nahhunte. As soon as a person died, the two gods, Ishine Karab (Isme-karab) and Logmal (Lakamar, Lakamal, Laḫmal, Lagamar)  would meet the individual in the realm of the shadows, and bring forth the being before Inshushinak who executed judgment on the soul. Ninsusinak (Inshushinak) was the national god of the Elamite  Emprire and judge of the dead. The Assyrians and other Akkadian-speaking people knew him as Susinak.  Nahhunte and  Inshushinak are referred to as the gods of light and darkness, in other words, the earth and the realm of the dead. In the texts of the tribunal that are left of Elam , witnesses are almost always introduced by two gods: the devotees who were the god of the sun Nahhunte and the god of shadows inshushinak. The word "devotee" means the creator of the day, which was also the god of the execution of sentences.

Encyclopedia Iranica

ELAM vi. Elamite religion

Quote

Lagamal is indeed an infernal deity, and, on the relief from Kūrāngūn, Napiriša is identifiable by his throne, formed from a human-headed serpent; he also holds as attributes of power the disk and the rod (forerunners of the orb and scepter of Western monarchies), from which gush forth the living waters. He thus seems the equivalent of Ea, Mesopotamian god of the waters...

Although many gods were associated with the cult of the dead, three played a particularly important role: Inšušinak, the weigher of souls, and his two assistants, Išnikarab and Lagamal. A few small funerary tablets (Bottéro, pp. 393-401), though very badly preserved, give some idea of the passage into the other world: The dead person, preceded by Išnikarab or Lagamal or both presents himself in the haštu (in the Akkadian texts šuttu, a synonym for haštu) before Inšušinak, who decides his fate. This scene seems to be illustrated on a number of cylinder seals, where it is commonly identified as a “presentation scene,” even though it is more probably a depiction of the last judgment (Vallat, 1989).

A few small funerary tablets (Bottéro, pp. 393-401), though very badly preserved, give some idea of the passage into the other world: The dead person, preceded by Išnikarab or Lagamal or both presents himself in the haštu (in the Akkadian texts šuttu, a synonym for haštu) before Inšušinak, the weigher of souls, who decides his fate. This scene seems to be illustrated on a number of cylinder seals, where it is commonly identified as a “presentation scene,” even though it is more probably a depiction of the last judgment (Vallat, 1989

The image below shows the god Lagamal holding the Disc and Rod

Image source: Plate 6.5, p.185. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State (Cambridge World Archaeology)

 

In the 1902 book, The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, Theophilus G. Pinches, writes that the Akkadian King Kudur-laḫmal (Kutir-Lagamar, Kudur-laḫ(gu)mal), is a translation variant of the Bible's King Chedorlaomer of Elam. The Kingdom of Elam was located in present day Iran, Northeast of Babylon and Southwest of Ur. In the 2015 book Moses and the Exodus Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence, author Gerard Gertoux states that Lagamar is an Elamite deity. The 1995 article, Theology and Worship in Elam and Achaemenid Iran, Heidemarie Koch concurs with Gertoux that the name Lagamar is found in middle Elamite texts is Akkadian in meaning the god that shows "No Mercy" that accompanies the god Ishme-karab meaning "He who grants the prayer." In the 1971 book, The Cambridge Ancient History by Geredigeerd Door, two goddesses Ishine Karab and Logmal supported the god of oaths In-Shushinak (Insusiank, Nin-Suvina(k), Su'inak) in his position as 'judge of the dead.' Lakamar appeared in the later Elam middle period. In a legal context Lagamal would be the Prosecution, Ishmekarub would the Defense, and In Insusiank would be the Judge.

The inscription is a standard one that celebrates Untash-Napirisha, king of Elam, in what is now Southwest Iran, from ca. 1275–1240 BCE. As translated, it
reads (following Dan Potts [1999]):

Quote

“I, Untash-Napirisha, son of Humban-Numena, king of Anshan and Susa, desirous that my life be continually one of prosperity, that the extinction of my lineage not be granted when it shall be judged (?), with this intention I built a temple of baked bricks, a high temple of glazed bricks; I gave it to the god Inshushinak of the Sacred Precinct. I raised a ziggurat. May the work which I created, as an offering, be agreeable to Inshushinak!”

Another temple in Chogha Zanbil complex would be a "temple of the grove" (Holy Garden, Husa. Siyan Husame) dedicated to either In-Shushinak, Lagamal, or other underworld deities. The temple of the dead would face east as the sun rises with a sculpture of In-Shushinak in the front of the gate adorned with with a copper-covered cedar bar (Potts, Archaeology of Elam). The temple of the grove would act as a transition passage of the dead spirit to separate from the body to the underworld through sacred grove of fragrant trees with edible fruits, flowering plants, sculptures, and tombs that would surround the Ziggurat. The gateway may have symbolized the entrance of the dead person into the next world.  

From the Foundations to the Crenellations 

Essays on Temple Building in the Ancient Near East  and Hebrew Bible 

Page 56

Quote

in the Middle Elamite Period, there were a number of temples dedicated to Insusinak and  another deity. These included a temple {siyan) and a high temple (kukkunum) to Napirisa ( d GAL) and Insusinak, a temple called "light of the universe" (Akk. nur kibrat) which was sacred to Napirisa ( d GAL) and/or Insusinak, a temple-of-the- grove (siyan husame) built by unknown predecessors for Insusinak and Lagamar(?) and restored by Silhak-Insusinak, and a temple (siyan) to Kiririsa and Insusinak rebuilt by Silhak-Insusinak. Similarly, during the Neo-Elamite Period, a temple of Napirisa ( d GAL) and Insusinak with glazed bricks is attested in the reign of Sutruk- Nahhunte II. 

 A tablet unearthed in 1854 by Austen Henry Layard in Nineveh reveals Ashurbanipal as an "avenger", seeking retribution for the humiliations the Elamites had inflicted on the Mesopotamians over the centuries. Ashurbanipal dictates Assyrian retribution after his successful siege of Susa:

Quote

“    Susa, the great holy city, abode of their gods, seat of their mysteries, I conquered. I entered its palaces, I opened their treasuries where silver and gold, goods and wealth were amassed... I destroyed the ziggurat of Susa. I smashed its shining copper horns. I reduced the temples of Elam to naught; their gods and goddesses I scattered to the winds. The tombs of their ancient and recent kings I devastated, I exposed to the sun, and I carried away their bones toward the land of Ashur. I devastated the provinces of Elam and on their lands I sowed salt.

Although many gods were associated with the cult of the dead, three played a particularly important role: Inšušinak, the weigher of souls, and his two assistants, Išnikarab and Lagamal.

death seems to have been the principal preoccupation of the Elamites. Most religious buildings were connected with the cult of the dead, and the principal gods were closely associated with the passage of the dead into the next world. The association of the grove with the funerary cult is certain from Aššurbanipal’s narration of the sack of Susa:

(Aynard, 1957, pp. 56-57).

Quote

Their secret groves, where no foreigner had penetrated, where no foreigner had trampled the underbrush, my soldiers entered and saw their secrets; they destroyed them by fire. The tombs of their kings, ancient and recent … I have devastated, I destroyed them, I exposed them to the sun, and I carried off their bones to the country of Aššur

https://www.ancient.eu/Ashurbanipal/

The Musée du Louvre

Department of Near Eastern Antiquities: Mesopotamia

A prism of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal recounting his campaigns against Elam and the sacking of Susa

These holy gardens were also the location where the sacrificial feast was held. In Europe they were the Celts, Germans, and Saxons, also had holy groves where they performed their religious rituals. A stele of Šilḫak-Inšušinak mentions there were nineteen  Holy gardens across the entire Elamite empire.

The one represented on the Nineveh relief is surmounted by three figures in the posture of prayer, which recalls an epithet of Kiririša: “lady of life, who has authority over the grove, the gateway, and he who prays” 

Brick with an inscription by Šilḫak-Inšušinak dedicated to the goddess Kiririša “lady of life." (published in Grillot & Vallat 1984) 

Collection    National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Museum no.    NSM A.1960.228

Catalogue:    20140524 wagensonner

CDLI no.    P464356

Quote

I, Šilḫak-Inšušinak, son of Šutruk-Naḫḫunte, beloved servant of Kiririša and Inšušinak, king of Anzan and Susa: Ḫumban-Numena has built the temple of Kiririša-of-Liyan with fired bricks, and when it was about to collapse, I restored it. With fired brick(s) I rebuilt. And for the sake of my life and those of Naḫḫunte-Utu, Ḫuteluduš-Inšušinak, Šilḫina-ḫamru-Lakamar, Kutir-ḫuban, Išnikarab-ḫuḫun, Urutuk-el-ḫalaḫume and Utu-eḫiḫi-Pinigir, for this purpose and for our continuity I bestowed it upon my deity Kiririša.

 

https://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/56-3/elamite-inscribed-brick.pdf

 

National god of the Elamite Empire and consort of the mother goddess Pinikir.

 

Inchushinak goddess: This temple, which is presented to the Goddess of Inchushinak, has 5 rooms, all of which are in a row. At the entrance to the temple, there is a crescent hinged of clay and mortar. Below the entrance to the gate of the temple, known as the "Gate Gate", there are bricks and windows that are located on either side of the gate.

serpent deities
Ninaza, Ningizzida, Tišpak, Ištaran and Inšušinak. 

http://www.livius.org/pictures/iran/susa/susa-museum-pieces/susa-dedication-to-insusinak/

https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q323897#/media/File:Sit-Shamski_bronze_model_from_Susa_0149.jpg

 

hoghaznbil was built in the early 13th century by the Elamite king "Ontas Nepiriha" near the river Dez, and was called "Dorovanes".

Choghazenbil Temple is the largest architectural work left over from the Elamite civilization ever known

The meaning of Darwin is Castle Ontash. Of course, in some of the texts, the cuneiform of this city, called "Al-Ontas", means the city of Ontash.

In the center of the city, a huge temple is built in a state of the art, which today has two floors.

This temple is called Dhiquarat, donated to two great Elamite gods, "Inchshinak" and "Nepiriha"

 

At first, Inshushinak was given the title of the father of the weak and the king of the gods, but in the 12th century BCE, he was named by the names of the great servant, the great city servant, the great temple's supporter, the patron and the nurse, and eventually in the 8th century BC The title of the protectors of the gods of heaven and earth is called. The same text that is seen on many of the bricks of Choghazanbil's writings is: "May God Almighty come near, wishing to forgive his gifts, He spoke his words." 

he Elamite (Elamite) was used by Elam people in the Elam kingdom (Between 3200 BC and 539 BC), , An agglutinative word whose language lineage is unknown. The Elam language, an isolated word, was written in three kinds of letters. The oldest one is Elam pictograms, it

assite kings often married off their daughters to the pharaoh in Egypt. In Chapter2 we saw that messengers mediated such a contract and that the girl could beanointed in Babylon as a token of her betrothal. In far-off Armenia a curious car-nelian cylinder seal was found in a grave.

We can implicitly conclude that Chedorlaomer the king of Elam was a Servant of the god Lagamar.

Abraham and Chedorlaomer: Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence
GŽrard GERTOUX

last Elamite king of
the Awan I dynasty was Kudur-Lagamar (1990-1954). Ashurbanipal, after his conquest of Elam and
Susa ransacking, exposed (in 646 BCE) the capture of the goddess Nanaya (in Uruk) by Kudur-Lagamar
which occurred around 1300 years earlier (in 1968 BCE).

 

Chedoloamer. most likely resided in the Elamite Ziggurat complex Chogha Zanbil (Dur Untash) approximately 30 km (19 mi) south-east of Susa. Chogha Zanbil is one of the few existent Ziggurats outside Mesopotamia. A Ziggurat is the largest building in the center of town and part of a multi temple complex. The Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat originally measured 105.2 m on each side and about 53 m in height, in five levels, and was crowned with a temple

Chedorlaomer’s vassal cities—Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboyim and Zoar—had become rebellious against him and it was time to exact vengeance.

https://cdli.ucla.edu/pubs/cdln/php/single.php?id=45

Kiten (Akkadian kidinnu) denotes a protective shielding power that radiates from all dieties. With legal matters the kiten of the god In-shushinak united with the ruler judge violations of the law were committed. Any Elamite breaking an agreement would forfeit the protection of In-Shushinak will be outlawed and 'he shall pass by the graven image of the god and of the king' to be executed.

https://books.google.com/books?id=FF5-7JVj4jYC&lpg=PA276&ots=Gem9XdejaO&dq="kiten" (protection)&pg=PA275#v=onepage&q="kiten" (protection)&f=false

 

Now, what was Abraham doing hanging out near the oaks of Mamre near Jerusalem when news arrived that Lot was taken captive (v. 13)?  He was in the area because he was likely a nomadic vassal to Melchizedek, king of Jerusalem. 

 

http://geekychristian.com/biblical-insights-from-archaeology/Understanding of the Elamite religion requires isolation in the Susian documentation of elements that can be compared with what is otherwise known from the Persian plateau and adjacent areas.

 

.  Tidal is a Hittite name.   The original name Tudhaliya also appears in the Ugarit archives, and in Kimron’s opinion Tidal was the same as Tudhaliya II who conquered Syria.   Onkelos translated Goyim not as a specific city but as meaning various nations; Ibn Ezra wrote likewise in his second commentary.  In other words, Tidal ruled over several peoples.  Rabbi Hertz claims that Tidal is the same as Tadgula, king of the Kurdish tribes, and Goyim is Gutium in Kurdistan.  

The gateway may have symbolized the entrance of the dead person into the next world. The one represented on the Nineveh relief is surmounted by three figures in the posture of prayer, which recalls an epithet of Kiririša: “lady of life, who has authority over the grove, the gateway, and he who prays” (Grillot and Vallat, 1984, p. 22). The gods to whom these gateways were dedicated were those most closely associated with the netherworld: Inšušinak (König, nos. 35, 36, 40), Išnikarab (König, no. 37), Lagamal (König, no. 30), and Napiriša and Inšušinak together (König, no. 79). It was also at the gateway of Inšušinak that Puzur-Inšušinak ordered the sacrifice of a sheep accompanied by chants, morning and evening (Scheil, 1902, p. 5).

Some gods, particularly Inšušinak (whose name in Sumerian means “lord of Susa”), seem to have been specifically attached to Susa or Susiana; they include Išnikarab (Išmekarab, a god, not a goddess; W. G. Lambert, 1976-80), Lagamal (Lagamar; for variant signs, see Hinz and Koch), and Manzat (W. G. Lambert, 1989).

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elam-vi

 

 

Around 1767 B.C.E, Siwe-Palar-Khuppak formed a coalition with Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon. He led this coalition against Eshnunna, conquering it and imposed direct rule from his sukkal Kudu-zulush in Susa.[2] This coalition turned against him as he attempted to expand his power into Babylon. Hammurabi, allied with Zimri-Lim, expelled the Elamite's forces from Eshnunna[2]

In a clay tablet, Siwe-Palar-Khuppak refers to himself as "Governor of Elam" and "Enlarger of the Empire". It is speculated that the tablet was made after Siwe-Palar-Khuppak's defeat by Hammurabi's coalition, and that the title "Enlarger of the Empire" refers to conquests made to west in modern Iran to offset his defeat.[

Siwe-Palar-Khuppak - universally respected father of Elam

Traces have been found on the inscribed bricks in Chaldea of a king Kudur mapula, who bears also the title of “ravager of the West.” Even nearer to the name is that of Kedar-el-Ahmar, or the red, a great hero in Arabian tradition. He was king of Elam. He appears as a settled king of great power, able to make war 2000 miles from his country, and holding other kings, among whom is the king of Babylon, under his supremacy. 

Tidal king of Goiim Tidal has been considered to be a transliteration of Tudhaliya 

In the Book of Genesis it is recorded that King Hammurabi (Amraphel) joined coalition of kings from Mesopotamia invaded Canaan and, in the process, took Lot captive. Amraphel is aligned with King Arioch (Eri-Aku),  King Chedorlaomer (Kudur-laḫmal) and King Tidal (Tudhaliya ). Like allied coalitions (ie. Desert Storm) today, it was common practice for allied tribes and city states to accompany a powerful king during their conquests.  Below is an excerpt from King Zimri-Lim of Mari.

THE CAMBRIDGE ANCIENT HISTORY
THIRD EDITION
VOLUME II
PART 1
HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE AEGEAN REGION c. 1800-1380 B.C.
EDITED BY I. E. S. EDWARDS F.B.A.
Formerly Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities, The British Museum

NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA AND SYRIA page 10

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But Zimrilim's policy was to impose his tutelage on the petty monarchs of the 'High Country', or even simply to draw them into alliance with him, rather than to annex their countries—no doubt because he had not the resources to do so. This line of conduct was fairly general.We have only to listen to the report of one of Zimrilim's correspondents:

No king is powerful by himself: ten or fifteen kings follow Hammurabi, king of Babylon, as many follow Rim-Sin, king of Larsa, as many follow Ibalpiel, king of Eshnunna, as many follow Amutpiel, king of Qatna, twenty kings follow Iarimlim, king of Iamkhad. . .. Grouping their vassals about them, the' great powers' of the time entered in their turn into wider coalitions, aiming at supremacy, but these formed and broke up as circumstances and the interests of the moment dictated.

Zimri-Lim was allied with Hammurabi in his wars against Elam, Eshnunna, and Larsa. Zimri-Lim lent troops to Hammurabi's campaigns, and although the two kept extensive diplomatic contacts, there are no records that ever met in person.

After the defeat of Elam, there was no outside force to keep the precarious balance of power between the Kings of Mesopotamia. The alliance between Zimri-Lim and Hammurabi deteriorated after Babylon's conquest of Larsa.  In 1762 BC, Hammurabi unified Babylonia, he conquered and sacked Mari (though it may be that the city had surrendered without a fight), despite the previous alliance. 

 

http://arabianprophets.com/?page_id=2158

The alliance of four states would have ruled over kingdoms that were spread over a wide area: from Elam at the extreme eastern end of the Fertile Crescent to Anatolia at the western edge of this region. Because of this, there is a limited range of time periods that match the Geopolitical context of Genesis 14. In this account, Chedorlaomer is described as the king to whom the cities of the plain pay tribute. Thus, Elam must be a dominant force in the region and the other three kings would therefore be vassals of Elam and/or trading partners.

some scholars have concluded that Abraham's family may have been Amorites, a Semitic tribe that began to migrate out of Mesopotamiaaround 2100 B.C. The Amorites' migration destabilized Ur, which scholars estimate collapsed around 1900 B.C.

 

 

 Zimri-Lim's court were the communications from the
gods. During his time. the variety of paths by which th e opinion of the gods was coaxed
multiplied dramalically, and some exceptionally creative methods were launched in

Zimri-Lim's own household. As a result of Charpin's insight, it became possible to imagine
that when kings were predisposed for it, gods readily dispensed advice in channels other
t han exti!\flicy. (Something similar occurred, for example, in the court of Esarhaddon and
Assurbanipal of Assyria and probably also in the court of Zakkur of Hamatll.) If so, then
prophecy need not origina le in a single area or period and need not follow a linear
development. hut it could burst spontaneously and periodically. whenever rulers had
doubts about the stability of their rule and whenever courtiers and administrators felt
encouraged to comment on them. Not linearity, but opportunity.
In a paper for the Birot memorial volume [FM 2], I explored the interplay between
a divine message and those who were asked to communicate it to Zimri-Lim: in the palace,
in the province, and beyond Mari's border. When they are transmitted from the palace,
mostly through his wife, his sister, and his aunt (perhaps his mother), there is a tendency
to also comment on them, frequently betraying a heightened sense of imminent danger
that must be deflected by the king. This sort of fervor seems to dissipate as we move to the
provinces, where bureaucrats dutifully (and mostly lackadaisically for that matter) transmitted
divine messages to t he king. 

Yet we have no reason to believe that Zimri-Lim, despite his drive to know the will
of god from as many sources as possible. ever felt obligated to follow the god's directives
as channeled by prophets, visionary and dreamers. In fact, there is no evidence t hat he
received their messages directly, but seemed content to ask people in diverse regional
centers to keep their ears open (A RM 26 196), or to dispatch a trusted llpilum to investigate
for him (via extispicy) oracles by Dagan of Terqa (ARM 26 199:8-9). But when
Zimri-Lim really needed to learn what god wanted of h im at any particular moment, he
turned to his resident-scholars, the b~rll-divin ers.76 And here is where I need to take a
detour.
Durand's pages in 26/1 on Mari divin ation are rich in documents as in comments.1l
When diviners inspected the innards of a sheep for signs, what they saw was no longer a
cluster of bloodied orgllns, but a tapestry of divine signs. Their perspective, therefore,
was closest to that of astrologers of later times who drew insights from the shifting
correspondences of heavenly orbs. 

https://my.vanderbilt.edu/jacksasson/files/2014/06/Sasson-About-Mari-the-Bible-RA92-1998.pdf

There were periods when Elam was allied with Mari through trade.[16] Mari also had connections to Syria and Anatolia, who, in turn, had political, cultural, linguistic and military connections to Canaan.[17] The earliest recorded empire was that of Sargon, which lasted until his grandson, Naram Sin.[

we must keep in mind the possibility, that if the Babylonian king considered that disaster had in any way overtaken his arms, he may not have recorded it at all. Then there is the fact, that the expedition was undertaken in conjunction with allies—Chedorlaomer, Tidal, and Arioch—for none of whom, in all probability, Ḫammurabi had any sympathy. The Elamite was a conqueror from a land over which the Babylonians of earlier ages had held sway, and Arioch had dominion over a neighbouring tract, to which Ḫammurabi himself laid claim, and over which, as the texts above translated show, he afterwards ruled. Ḫammurabi, moreover, claimed also the West-land—mât Amurrī, the land of Amurrū—as his hereditary possession, and he found himself obliged to aid Chedorlaomer, Tidal, and Arioch to subjugate it—indeed, it was Chedorlaomer whom the five kings had acknowledged for twelve years as their overlord, and against whom, in the thirteenth, they rebelled. It is, therefore, likely that Ḫammurabi regarded himself as having been forced by circumstances to aid Chedorlaomer to reconquer what really belonged to Babylonia, and the probability that he would cause it to be used as one of the events to date by, is on that account still less, even if the news of any success which he might have considered himself entitled to reached his own domain in time to be utilized for such a purpose.

when two tablets were referred to at the Congress of Orientalists held at Geneva in 1894 as containing the names Tudḫula, Êri-Eaku (Êri-Ekua), and another name read doubtfully as Kudur-laḫ(gu)mal, no publicly-expressed objection to their possible identification with Tidal, Arioch, and Chedorlaomer [pg 223] was made. The names were placed before the Semitic section of the Congress of Orientalists referred to, as recent discoveries, which were certain as far as they went, their identification being a matter of opinion.

spelled Eri-e-a-ku in the Babylonian cuneiform script, stood for the original Sumerian ERI.AKU, meaning "Servant of the god Aku," Aku being a variant of the name of Nannar/Sin. It is known from a number of inscriptions that Elamite rulers of Larsa bore the name "Servant of Sin

There's only one Hamor mentioned in the Bible and he was a Hivite ruler (נשיא, nasi') and father of Shechem (in Acts 7:16 Stephen equates Hamor with Ephron). When Jacob returned from Paddan-aram and wanted to settle in Canaan, he bought land from Hamor and built the altar named El-Elohe-Israel (Genesis 33:19).

At some point, Jacob's only daughter Dinah, the sister of the twelve tribal patriarchs of Israel, went to the nearby town of Shechem to visit the Hivite women. She was noticed by prince Shechem, who fell in love with her and decided to express his feelings by raping her (34:2). Still, Hamor went to Jacob to ask for Dinah as a wife for Shechem, but Jacob's sons told Hamor that he and his people would have to be circumcised for their two families to intermarry.

I was curious about this expression, especially in light of the fact that it is in this city that we find the remains of the temple of Baal Berith (“Lord of Covenant”), the chief deity of Shechem during most of the Bronze Age. 

The name Hamor is the same as the noun חמור (hamor), meaning ass or donkey, or more literal: red-one, from the root חמר (hamar III), meaning to be red:

It appears to us here at Abarim Publications that to the Hebrews the color red denoted the rudiments or principal beginnings of civilization (and see our article on the Red Sea for a discussion on how the ancients saw the color red), whereas muddy substances metaphorized the transitional phase between ignorance (water) and understanding (dry land).

or a meaning of the name Hamor, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Ass and BDB Theological Dictionary has He-Ass. Most literally, however, the name Hamor means Red One.

Note that the color red signified the first stage of human civilization, and is connected to both Israel's Hivite nemesis as to Israel's national brother Edom (from Esau, Jacob's brother).

Shechem /ˈʃɛkəm/, also spelled Sichem (/ˈsɪkəm/; Hebrew: שְׁכָם‬ / שְׁכֶם‬ Standard Šəḵem Tiberian Šeḵem, "shoulder"), was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an Israelite city of the tribe of Manasseh and the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel.[1] Traditionally associated with Nablus,[2] it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank.

Shechem first appears in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 12:6-8, which says that Abraham reached the "great tree of Moreh" at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel.[6] According to Genesis (12:6-7) Abram "built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him ... and had given that land to his descendants" at Shechem. The Bible states that on this occasion, God confirmed the covenant he had first made with Abraham in Harran, regarding the possession of the land of Canaan. In Jewish tradition, the old name was understood in terms of the Hebrew word shékém — "shoulder, saddle", corresponding to the mountainous configuration of the place.

On a later sojourn, two sons of Jacob, Simeon (Hebrew Bible) and Levi, avenged their sister Dinah's rape by "Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land" of Shechem. Shimon and Levi said to the Shechemites that, if “every male among you is circumcised, then we will give our daughters to you and take your daughters to ourselves.”[7] Once the Shechemites agree to the mass circumcision, however, Jacob's sons repay them by killing all of the city's male inhabitants.[8]

Following the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan after their Exodus from Egypt, according to the biblical narrative, Joshua assembled the Israelites at Shechem and asked them to choose between serving the god who had delivered them from Egypt, the gods which their ancestors had served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land they now lived. The people chose to serve the god of the Bible, a decision which Joshua recorded in the Book of the Law of God, and he then erected a memorial stone "under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord" in Shechem.[9] The oak is associated with the Oak of Moreh where Abram had set up camp during his travels in this area.[10]

Shechem and its surrounding lands were given as a Levitical city to the Kohathites.[11]

Owing to its central position, no less than to the presence in the neighborhood of places hallowed by the memory of Abraham (Genesis 12:6, 7; 34:5), Jacob's Well (Genesis 33:18-19; 34:2, etc.), and Joseph's tomb (Joshua 24:32), the city was destined to play an important part in the history of Israel.[citation needed] Jerubbaal (Gideon), whose home was at Ophrah, visited Shechem, and his concubine who lived there was mother of his son Abimelech (Judges 8:31). She came from one of the leading Shechemite families who were influential with the "Lords of Shechem" (Judges 9:1-3, wording of the New Revised Standard Version and New American Bible Revised Edition).[12]

A form of Ba'al-worship prevailing in Israel (Judges viii. 33), and particularly in Shechem (Judges ix. 4). The term "Ba'al" is shown by the equivalent "El-berith" (Judges ix. 46, R. V.) to mean "the God of the Covenant." In considering what the covenant (or covenants) was over which this Ba'al presided, it must not necessarily be concluded that certain definite treaties of the time were alone referred to, such as the Canaanitic league of which Shechem was the head, or the covenant between Israel and the people of Shechem (Gen. xxxiv.). The term is too abstract to have been occasioned by a single set of conditions. Moreover, the temple of the god (Judges ix. 4, 46) in Shechem implies a permanent establishment. Probably the name and the cult were wide-spread and ancient (see Baalim), though it happens to have been mentioned only in connection with the affairs of Shechem.

—In Rabbinical Literature:
The idol Baalberith, which the Jews worshiped after the death of Gideon, was identical, according to the Rabbis, with Baal-zebub, "the ba'al of flies," the god of Ekron (II Kings i. 2). He was worshiped in the shape of a fly; and so addicted were the Jews to his cult (thus runs the tradition) that they would carry an image of him in their pockets, producing it, and kissing it from time to time. Baal-zebub is called Baal-berith because such Jews might be said to make a covenant (Hebr. "Berit") of devotion with the idol, being unwilling to part with it for a single moment (Shab. 83b; comp. also Sanh. 63b). According to another conception, Baal-berith was an obscene article of idolatrous worship, possibly a simulacrum priapi (Yer. Shab. ix. 11d; 'Ab. Zarah iii. 43a). This is evidently based on the later significance of the word "berit," meaning circumcision.

“Those who were bound under the covenant having participated in this ritual became ‘sons of Hamor’ (‘sons of the ass’). The covenant of Hamor ‘was almost certainly related to Baal-Berith, who was the chief god of the city’…

 Toorn, K. Van Der, Bob Becking and Pieter Willem Van Der Horst. 1999. Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Leiden; Boston; Grand Rapids: Brill ; Eerdmans. p.143

 

And given Shechem (שכם) means “shoulder”, the expression “Hamor, father of Shechem”(חמור אבי שכם), can also be read “Hammurabi’s shoulder” (חמוראבי שכם). This expression therefore suggests that Shechem was the ally of Babylon when it formed a covenant with king Hammurabi. In fact, standing “shoulder to shoulder” is something one does in times of a deadly threat and against an enemy. And I do explain in the book how Hammurabi was motivated to make a covenant with Abraham in order to secure control over the remote Valley of Siddim. Finally, the name Dinah (דינה) is the feminine of “din” (דין), which means “law” in reference to the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, which includes the Torah (i.e. the original five books of the Old Testament).

Clearly, the Shechemites wanted to continue serving the family of “Hamor, Shechem’s father” or “Hammurabi’s shoulder” (חמוראבי שכם), which presumably could be referring to the legitimate descendants of Abraham, Hammurabi’s ally, and still referred to as the “father” of the faith to this day.

http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/30.htm

 

 Jacob's acquisition of land at Shechem (Gen. 33:19; cf. 48:22) and the connubium between the sons of Jacob and the sons of Hamor (as the Shechemites were then called) imply certain covenant agreements. Moreover, the strange name, "sons of Hamor" ( benei hamor, "sons of the ass"), who is said to be the "father of Shechem" (Gen. 34:6), seems to have something to do with covenant making. From the *Tell-el-Amarna Letters (c. 1400 B.C.E.) it is known that there was a strong Hurrian element in Shechem. The Septuagint is therefore probably correct in reading hhry ("the Horite," i.e., the Hurrian) instead of hhwy ("the Hivite") of the Masoretic Text in describing the ethnic origin of "Shechem" (Gen. 34:2); moreover, the uncircumcised Shechemites (Gen. 34:14, 24) were most likely not Semitic Canaanites (see E. A. Speiser, op. cit., 267). It is also known that the slaughtering of an ass played a role among the Hurrians in the making of a covenant. Thus, Baal-Berith or El-Berith may have been regarded by the Shechemites as the divine protector of covenants.

Did the early Israelites perhaps regard El-Berith as the God of the covenant made between YHWH and Israel? It is a noteworthy fact that Joshua, who had apparently been able to occupy the region of Shechem without force because Israelites who - many scholars believe - had never been in Egypt were already iiving there, renewed the Covenant of Sinai with all Israel precisely at Shcchem, the city sacred to El-Berith, " the God of the Covenant" (Josh. 8:30-35; 24:1-28). Therefore, even though the late Deuteronomist editor of the Book of Judges (it is conjectured by the adherents of the documentary hypothesis) considered Baal-Berith one of the pagan Canaanite Ba'alim, this term may well have been regarded in early Israel as one of the titles of YHWH.

 Other terms such as "killing an ass" sheds light on customs which prevailed in patriarchal times and later. The idiom "to kill an ass," khayaram qatalum, is not Akkadian at all, but both words occur in Hebrew and indicated the sacrifice which accompanied the oath of alliance. The connection between sacrificing as ass and concluding a covenant seems to have been preserved by the Shechemites, with whom Jacob and his sons had such unpleasant dealings (Gen. 33:19; 34:1-31). Called the Bene Hamor, "sons of the ass" (Josh. 24:32), their tribal deity was Baal-Berith, "Lord of the covenant" (Judg. 9:4). Later, at the time of Conquest the Bene Hamor of Shechem were, it seems, like the four towns of the Gibeonite confederacy (Josh 9:1ff.), added to Israel by treaty, to judge from various early references to them and their god Baal-Berith."

 

Joseph Vicek Kozar, who reads the narrative as supporting the brothers’ actions,
485
suggests that the significance of interethnic relations is substantiated by symbolic imagery
within the story. He points out that the homonym of Hamor’s name (rwmx) is donkey, an
animal that “lives among the herd but is not one of them, lacking cloven hooves and not
chewing the cud.”
486 This, coupled with the fact that “[a]t the time of Dinah’s rape, her
brothers are out with the cattle (34:5),”
487 illumines the resultant confrontation:
“The…clash of cultures (and slaughter) shows that the sons of herds and flocks cannot
conduct social intercourse with the sons of the ass. This symbolism underlies the group or
tribal nature of the events behind the story.”
488 Like Sternberg, Kozar also retrojects later
narrative concerns of Israelite interethnic relations onto the clash between the ancestral
family and the Hivites. He concludes that Dinah symbolizes Israel and Shechem
represents the larger Canaanite culture, and that the story illustrates the danger of Israel’s 

“being absorbed by the larger Canaanite culture.”
489 Douglas Earl echoes this symbolic
thinking in his own analysis, according to which “Dinah symbolizes Israel and Shechem
the nations.”
490 The narrative, Earl suggests, “serves to evoke affectually the disastrous
consequences of exogamy and mingling, and the zeal with which exogamy is to be
avoided.

Shechem’s act is evaluated as disgraceful and
unacceptable. This transfer is presented as a pretext for the text to come.”
492 The
narrator’s repeated use of )m+, furthermore, invokes a “cultic and ritual cognitive
domain”
493 (again an Israelite domain) that suggests that Shechem and the Hivites threaten
the ancestral family with their outsiders’ impurity. Finally, the continuation of the
narrative in Gen 35, in which Jacob commands his household to rid itself of its foreign
gods, strengthens the negative socioreligious associations of Shechem. Where Jacob goes
next, Bethel, stands in stark contrast: “Bethel, the place where Jacob met his God,
represents the ideal of one place, one people and one God. It is opposed to the other place,

Shechem, with alien people and alien gods, who have to be buried.”
494 Thus the Dinah
interlude is the “hinge” of the ideological reversal from the preceding narrative’s “context
of peace and mutual understanding with the Canaanites” to “a mono-ethnic position
embedded in a mono-religious position.”
495 Indeed, as van Wolde notes, in Gen 35 the
ancestral blessing undergoes a notable revision, as “the blessing of other people is not
mentioned any more,” implying that the ancestral family is now the exclusive inheritor of
the land

BAAL-BERITH

(Baʹal-beʹrith) [Owner of a Covenant; once, at Jg 9:46, El-berith, God of a Covenant].

The Baal of Shechem, whom the Israelites began worshiping after the death of Judge Gideon. (Jg 8:33) The designation “Baal-berith” may denote that this particular Baal was believed to watch the keeping of covenants.

A kind of treasury was evidently attached to the house or temple of Baal-berith at Shechem. (Jg 9:4) In connection with the grape harvest, the Shechemites apparently held a festival in honor of Baal-berith, climaxed by a kind of sacrificial meal in the temple of their god. It was in the temple of Baal-berith on the occasion of their eating and drinking and cursing Abimelech, likely under the influence of wine, that Gaal incited the Shechemites to revolt against King Abimelech. (Jg 9:27-29) Later, when threatened by Abimelech, the landowners of the tower of Shechem (Migdal-Shechem, AT) sought refuge in the vault of the house of El-berith (Baal-berith), only to perish in the conflagration when Abimelech and his men set the vault on fire.—Jg 9:46-49.

 

 

Solomon understood that being submissive to the Creator and generous to other will be blessed with long life. 

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 22
 

Quote

 

1 A name is chosen above great wealth; good favor over silver and gold.

2 A rich man and a poor man were visited upon; the Lord is the Maker of them all.

3 A cunning man saw harm and hid, but fools transgressed and were punished.

4 In the wake of humility comes fear of the Lord, riches, honor, and life.

5 Troops [and] snares are in the way of the perverse; he who preserves his soul will distance himself from them.

6 Train a child according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not turn away from it.

7 A rich man will rule over the poor, and a borrower is a slave to a lender.

8 He who sows injustice will reap violence, and the rod of his wrath will fail.

9 He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gave of his bread to the poor.

10 Banish a scorner, and quarrel will depart, and litigation and disgrace will cease.

11 He who loves one pure of heart with charm on his lips-the King is his friend.

12 The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge and He will frustrate the words of a treacherous man.

13 The lazy man says, "There is a lion outside; I will be murdered in the middle of the streets."

14 The mouth of strange women is [like] a deep pit; the one abhorred by the Lord will fall therein.

15 Foolishness is bound in a child's heart; the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

16 He who exploits a poor man to increase for himself will give to a rich man only to want.

17 Incline your ear and hearken to the words of the wise, and put your heart to my knowledge,

18 for it is pleasant that you guard them in your innards; they will be established together on your lips.

19 That your trust shall be in the Lord, I have made known to you this day, even you.

20 Have I not written to you thirds with counsels and knowledge,

21 to make known to you the certainty of the true words, to respond with words of truth to those who send you?

22 Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the poor man in the gate.

23 For the Lord will plead their cause and rob those who rob them, of life.

24 Do not befriend a quick-tempered person, neither shall you go with a wrathful man;

25 lest you learn his ways and take a snare for your soul.

26 Do not be one of those who give their hands, who stand surety for debts.

27 If you do not have what to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?

28 Do not remove an ancient boundary that your forefathers set.

29 Have you seen a man quick in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before poor men.

Hammurabi ruled as king of Babylonia

Marduk's original character is obscure but he was later associated with water, vegetation, judgment, and magic   - Religions of The Ancient Near East

Sīn /ˈsiːn/ or Suen (Akkadian: ?? Su'en, Sîn) or Nanna (Sumerian: ??? DŠEŠ.KI, DNANNA) was the god of the moon in the Mesopotamian religions of Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia.  - He is commonly designated as En-zu, which means "lord of wisdom". Sīn was also called "He whose heart can not be read" and was told that "he could see farther than all the gods". It is said that every new moon, the gods gather together from him to make predictions about the future. - Nana - Babylonian Moon God.

http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr121.htm

Utu[a] later worshipped by East Semitic peoples as Shamash, was the ancient Mesopotamian god of the sun, 

. Anu was believed to be the supreme source of all authority, for the other gods and for all mortal rulers,

The local god was Zamama, the Tammuz-like deity, who, like Nin-Girsu of Lagash, was subsequently identified with Merodach of Babylon.

Ninazu in Sumerian mythology was a god of the underworld, and of healing.

 

the divine king of the city; the
White, Wise; who broadened the fields of Dilbat, who heaped
up the harvests for Urash; the Mighty, the lord to whom come
scepter and crown, with which he clothes himself; the Elect of
Ma-ma; who fixed the temple bounds of Kesh, who made rich
the holy feasts of Nin-tu; the provident, solicitous, who provided
food and drink for Lagash and Girsu, who provided large sacrificial
offerings for the temple of Ningirsu; who captured the enemy,
the Elect of the oracle who fulfilled the prediction of Hallab, who
rejoiced the heart of Anunit; the pure prince, whose prayer is accepted
by Adad; who satisfied the heart of Adad, the warrior, in
Karkar, who restored the vessels for worship in E-ud-gal-gal; the
king who granted life to the city of Adab; the guide of E-mach;
the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior, who granted
life to the inhabitants of Mashkanshabri, and brought abundance
to the temple of Shidlam; the White, Potent, who penetrated the
secret cave of the bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from
misfortune, and fixed their home fast in wealth; who established
pure sacrificial gifts for Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na, who made his
kingdom everlastingly great; the princely king of the city, who
subjected the districts on the Ud-kib-nun-na Canal to the sway
of Dagon, his Creator; who spared the inhabitants of Mera and
Tutul; the sublime prince, who makes the face of Ninni shine; who
presents holy meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu, who cared for its
inhabitants in their need, provided a portion for them in Babylon
in peace; the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves; whose
deeds find favor before Anunit

 

By making
a persuasive art-historical case for beginning their study with our earliest
civilizations, they demonstrate the cross-cultural, cross-temporal
universality of some persistently compelling themes, such as the image of
the scales, a judicial motif attested in both ancient Mesopotamia and
ancient Egypt.2 Picked up as well in ancient Greece, the scales are hefted
aloft in the hands of embodied goddesses, who in the seventeenth century
C.E. acquired a blindfold, s

 Law Stele of Hammurabi, 

Literally thousands of clay tablets documenting legal transactions have
survived from ancient Mesopotamia. 

from around 1792 to around
1750 B.C.E. His reign is distinguished for political consolidation of
territories neighboring his city-state of Babylon, which he brought under
control through a combination of successful military engagements and the
calculated making and breaking of diplomatic treaties."

The "laws" that are probably the best known are those that seem to
offer strong parallels to the Biblical precepts of justice, and are held up as
exemplifying the principle of retributive justice, for example:
§ 196 If a freeman has blinded the eye of another freeman,
his eye shall be blinded.
§ 197 If he has broken the bone of another freeman, his bone
shall be broken.
§ 198 If he has blinded the eye of a dependent or broken the
bone of a dependent, he shall pay sixty shekels of silver.
§ 199 If he has blinded the eye of a slave of a freeman, or
broken the bone of a slave of freeman, he shall pay one-half his
value in silver.22
It is this section that generally receives the most attention from legal
and Biblical scholarship interested in ancient legal codes and covenants.23
Compare the Book of Exodus, 21:22: "If any harm follows, then you shall
give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." 

C. The Relief Sculpture
The sculpted relief depicts Shamash, the Mesopotamian sun god, seated

facing left, and king Hammurabi, who, standing, faces right.26 Shamash is
identified as a divinity by the stylized horned crown he wears and as the
sun god by the wavy-line "rays" emanating from his shoulders and the
surface detail of his footstool evoking mountainous terrain-the eastern
and western locales of his rising and setting. As sun god, Shamash is the
Mesopotamian deity of light and illumination, and by logical extension,
the god of justice who illuminates the true situation. In addition to "rays,"
his frequent attribute is a saw, with which he opens the mountains at
daybreak and sunset and with which he separates truth from falsehood.
Here, instead, he extends or displays to Hammurabi the so-called "Rod
and Ring," which occupies the center of the visual field.
Opposite the god, Hammurabi is marked by his hea

In the voice of Hammurabi, the Epilogue summarizes Hammurabi's
purpose in erecting the monument:
In order that the mighty not wrong the weak, to provide just ways
for the orphan and the widow, I have inscribed my precious
pronouncements upon my stele and set [them] before my image,
the just king, in the city of Babylon . . .. By the order of [the god]
Marduk, my lord, may my engraved design not be confronted by
someone who would remove it. May my name always be
remembered faithfully in the Esagil temple which I love. 32

Let any man who has a lawsuit come before my image, the just
king, and have my words read out loud; let him hear my precious
words, let my monument reveal to him the case. Let him see his
judgment, let his heart become soothed [reciting the following
short prayer]:
"Hammurabi, lord, who is like a father and begetter to his people,
submitted himself to the command of (the god) Marduk, his lord,
and achieved victory everywhere. He gladdened the heart of
Marduk, his lord, and he secured the eternal well-being of the
people and provided just ways for the land. "3

In one Akkadian period cylinder seal, Shamash sits enthroned before a set of scales, tipping the balance of justice (presumably) in accordance with the petitions of his worshippers, who bring an animal offering before the god (Black 1992: 182-4)

 

 throne. Shamash and his wife, Aya, had two important children. Kittu represented justice, and Misharu was law. Every morning, the gates in the East open up, and Shamash appears. He travels across the sky, and enters the gate in the West. He travels through the Underworld at night in order to begin in the East the next day

 the god Misharu, whose name means "Justice".

Holland 2009, p. 115.

The Phoenician Sydyk was equated with Roman Jupiter, and hence it has been suggested that Sydyk was connected to the worship of the planet Jupiter as the manifestation of justice or righteousness.

the Babylonian Shamash has two sons called respectively Kettu (which, like Sedeq, means "righteousness") and Misharu ("rectitude"). These two deities are mentioned also in the Sanchoniatho fragments of Philo Byblios under the names of Sydyk and Misor, as culture-heroes who have discovered the use of salt. Phoenician inscriptions have Sedeqyathan, "Sedeq gave," as a personal name, as well as combinations of Sedeq with Ramman and Melek. Fr. Jeremias thinks that Sydyk and Misor were respectively the spring and autumn sun in sun-worship and the waxing and waning moon in moon worship.

 translated as truth, equity, justice

kittu as truth

Shamas often had a special saw

Shamash the judge of heaven and earth had 
a special saw, call the shasharu.

Mesopotamian Scales circa 2350

O Sun, when though goes to rest in mid-heaven
May the bars of bright heaven speak peace to thee,
May the gateway of of heaven approach thee
May Misharu, they loving herald, direct thy pathway

Of course Babylonian and Assyrian words may not always have the same content as our words "righteousness" and "truth," but the words kittu and misharu, which we render by "righteousness" and "truth", are derived from kanu, "to be firm," and eshem, "to be straight," respectively; and judging from what was considered "right" and "true," or kittu and misharu, there is no reason for that the standard was very hight

misharu, represented the law

May Misharu, thy well-beloved servant, guide aright thy progress, so that ebarra

The West Semitic name Ammi-Saduqa is translated into Akkadian as Kitum-kittum showing an equivalence of meaning between the West Semitic ṣ-d-q  and the Akkadian kittu. Kittu was similarly paired with the god Misharu whose name is a cognate of Misor, meaning "justice".

Shamash and the mother of Misharu (god of law and order) and Kittu (god of justice). 
Aa (A, Anunit, Aya) In Near Eastern mythology (Babylonian-Assyrian), consort of the sun god Shamash, sometimes called Makkatu (mistress; queen). Originally Aa may have been a local male sun god whose gender was changed when the worship of the major sun god, Shamash, took precedence, the minor god becoming the female consort of Shamash. Her attendants were Kittu (truth) and Misharu (righteousness).

Misharu, ---, God of law. Son of Aa.

instead he became the spokesman for the nation (kemit), heavily indebtedto fairness and truth (maat in Egypt, kittu and misharu in Mesopotamia)

Truth or Right was personified and deified as the god Kittu (‘Truth’, ‘Right’; from the Akkadian root kanu. Kittu was often invoked together with the god Misharu (‘Justice’). One or both of these deities was described as ‘seated before Shamash’, i.e. Shamash’s attendant, or as ‘the minister of (Shamash’s) right hand.’ Depictions of Shamash show him holding a ring of coiled rope and a rod, objects ascribed to surveyors and therefore, when linked to rulership, denoting the act of setting things right. The Akkadian words kittu and misharu, translated into English as “truth,” “equity,” or “justice,” describe the “straightening out” of a situation whose equilibrium, put out of balance, had become “crooked.” 2

Shamash is associated with two divinities personifying justice and equity, Kittu and Misharu, which are in fact two deified conceptions of "justice", the exact meaning of which is debated.

According to D. Charpin, Hammu-Rabi of Babylon , Paris, 2003, p. 206-207, kittum would be "justice as guardian of public order", and mišarum "justice as restoration of equity"

mi-ish-ri-c(!) ish-ru-16%-6-shd. Mi-ish-ri-e I take as a plural of misharu = mishru
(ef. cpiru, epru; gimiru, gimru; Delitesch, Gram., p. 105, $45), “righteousness" (hence not of meshril, "riches," H. B. W.,
p. F88a), and dumqi, on nceount of the pardlclism, in the sense 0

The Egyptian goddess of truth and justice was Maat, who represented “the order which rules
the world through balance.” PATRICIA TURNER & CHARLES RUSSELL COULTER, DICTIONARY OF
ANCIENT DEITIES 298 (Oxford Univ. Press 2001) (2000). The Sumerian god of truth was Kittu, but,
interestingly, his job title did not include justice; that job was his brother’s, Misharu. See James W.
Bell, Sumerian Gods, Demons & Immortals Whose Names Start with “K”,
http://www.jameswbell.com/geog0050knames.html (last visited March 29, 2007). Addanari is the
Hindu goddess of truth, nature, and religion. TURNER & COULTER, supra, at 14. Shiva, among her many
other jobs, is also associated with truth. Id. at 427.

They were believed to have two offspring: the goddess Kittu, whose name means “Truth”, and the god Misharu, whose name means “Justice”. Utu’s charioteer Bunene is sometimes described as his son. Bunene was worshipped independently from Utu as a god of justice in Sippar and Uruk during the Old Babylonian Period.

n the Hebrew Bible, and Kittu in the Babylonian pantheon, who is often invoked with
Misharu.
 768 Both of these Babylonian deities are described as being seated before Shamash or the minister of
Shamash’s right hand.769 M

Shamash and his wife Sherida (Aya for Akkadians and Babylonians) had two important sons. Kittu represented justice, and Misharu was the law. Its main sanctuary was in the city of Sippar. Every morning, the eastern doors opened, and Shamash appeared. He traveled around the sky, and entered the west gate

Shamu / Kittu, Truth revealed (Shamu), Truth understood (Kittu) 
Misharu, Justice at work in view of truth, 
Dayyanu, Judgment that discerns truth 

Truth or Right was personified and deified as the god
Kittu (‘Truth’, ‘Right’; from Akk root kânu, cf. Heb root KWN). Kittu was often
invoked together with the god Misharu (‘Justice’)… One or both of these deities

were described as ‘seated before Shamash’, i.e. Shamash’s attendant, or as ‘the
minister of (Shamash’s) right hand’. . . it appears that the deity known as Kittu in
Babylonia was known further to the West under the names Išar and Ṣidqu/
Zedek—all three names having essentially the same meaning but operative in
different linguistic communities… West Semitic personal names containing the
root SDQ are attested at m

Fortress Press, 1998] 66-67). Also, the Babylonian gods Kittu “Righteousness” and Misharu “Justice”
parallel to the West Semitic gods Sedheq and Misor

In this function Shamash is associated with gods personifying justice and equality, and Kittu Misharu, who actually deifies two notions of "justice", the exact meaning of which is discussed and Dayyanu god. The Great Hymn to Shamash already explicitly mentioned the role of the god of justice, the guardian of good decisions and honest behavior and punishments of unjust and dishonest behavior:

Great Hymn to Shamash, translation MJ Seux.

 

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

 Rulers established their legacy not only by building great structures, they also passed on Wisdom Sebayt  (Teaching, Didache) to their offspring and future leaders on the concepts divinity and virtue.  The Maxims of Ptahhotep or Instruction of Ptahhotep (2500 - 2400 BC) is considered the oldest collection of wisdom literature in the world written by composed by the Vizier Ptahhotep, during the rule of King Izezi of the Fifth Dynasty.  James Henry Breasted credited Amenemope with having a profound influence on Western ethical and religious development due to his Instruction being read by the Hebrews and portions of it being included, sometimes verbatim, in various books of the Bible
 
Ptahhotep considered the heart (ka) the way to measure life, prosperity and health.  Those with the strongest heart are those that listen, understand and follow the laws given to keep order (Ma'at) in ones life.  The one who listens to to those that do not follow law and order other, but looks for only pleasures to the body will grow a weak heart and only know death, punishment and appear foolish to others. 
 
Sabayt Ptahhotep

Quote

8 (column 6, lines 3-6)
 
The one who overlooks laws is punished;
that is what is overlooked in the sight of the greedy.
It is the small-minded that seize riches,
but crime never managed to land its rewards.
Whoever says 'I snare for myself'
does not say 'I snare for my needs'.
The final part of what is right is its endurance;
of which a man says 'that is my father'
 
14 (column 7, lines 9-10)
 
Follow your heart as long as you live.
Do not make a loss on what is said,
do not subtract time from following the heart.
Harming its time is an offence to the ka.
Do not deflect the moment of every day
beyond establishing your heart.
As things happen, follow (your) heart.
There is no profit in things if it is stifled.
 
17 (column 8, lines 6-11)
 
The great of heart is the gift of god,
the one who obeys his body belongs to the enemy.
 
22 (column 9, line 13 to column 10, line 5)
 
If you wish your conduct to be good
and to save yourself from all evil,
resist the opportunity of greed.
It is a sore disease of the worm,
no advance can come of it.
It embroils fathers and mothers,
with mother's brothers.
It entangles the wife and the man,
it is a levy of all evils,
a bundle of all hatefulness.
The man endures whose guideline is Right,
who proceeds according to his paces.
He can draw up a will by it.
There is no tomb for the greedy hearted.
 
25 (column 11, lines 1-4)
 
The spirit of the correct man is the spirit that brings happiness.
 
28 (column 11, line 12 to column 12, line 6)
 
Do not have your heart too high, or it will be brought down.
 
42 (column 16, lines 3-13)

The hearer is one whom God loves.
The one whom God hates does not hear.
The heart is the creator of its master.
Do not hear from the one who does not hear.
A man's heart is his life, prosperity and health.
 
2 (column 5, lines 4-6)
 
Then the Power of this god said:
Teach him then the speech from the past
that he may provide the example for the children of the great.
May hearing enter into him, the measure of every heart.
Speak to him. For none can be born wise
 
44 (column 17, lines 4-9)

As for the fool unable to hear,
nothing can ever be done for him.
He sees wisdom as ignorance,
and what is good as what is painful.
He commits every error,
to be accused of it each day.
He lives on what one dies of,
corrupt speech is his food.
His character in this is well-known to the officials,
saying 'living death' each day.
His faults are passed over
from the sheer number of faults on him each day.

 

The Sebayt of Amenemope (Didache of Amenomope or Teaching of Amenemope) is pharonic wisdom literature thought to have been written by the Egyptian Pharoah Usermaatre Amenemope of the 21st Dynasty. This coincided during the time when the tribes of Israel first became a unified nation.  In the prologue that Amenomope considered it extremely important for a ruler to know how to properly respond to his subjects and foreigners and follow the path of prosperity in life. 

Sabayt Amenemope

Prologue

Quote

Beginning of the teaching for life,

The instructions for well-being,

Every rule for relations with elders,

For conduct toward magistrates;

Knowing how to answer one who speaks,

To reply to one who sends a message,

So as to direct him on the paths of life,

To make him prosper upon the earth;

To let his heart enter its shrine,

Steering clear of evil;

To save him from the mouth of strangers,

To let (him) be praised in the mouth of people.

It important that one seeking Sabayt pay strict attention to what is stated and learn how to control your tongue.

Teaching of Amenemope

Chapter I - The Sabayt

Quote

He says
... Give your ears, hear the sayings,

Give your heart to understand them; 

It profits to put them in your heart,

Woe to him who neglects them!

Let them rest in the casket of your belly,

May they be bolted in your heart;

When there rises a whirlwind of words,

They be a mooring post for your tongue.

If you make your life with these in your heart,

You will find it a success;

You will find my words a storehouse for life,

Your being will prosper upon earth 

Give your ears and hear what is said,

 Give your mind over to their interpretation:

The Chokhmah  (Chinukh, Didache, Teaching) Meshlei (Proverbs)  is Israelite wisdom literature thought to been written by King Solomon during his reign from 970 to 931 BCE. Solomon stressed wisdom begins with fearing our Creator. And understanding the teachings of the holy people brings insight on how to discern and respond to events around you. The knowledge you recieve it.

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 9

Quote

10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of the holy ones is understanding.

11 For with me shall your days increase, and they will add to you years of life.

12 If you have become wise, you have become wise for yourself, and if you scorn, you will bear it alone.

Similar to Amenemope,  Solomon taught that a ruler should be on guard against seductive words of flattery that can influence unwanted actions.

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 5

Quote

1 My son, hearken to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,

2 to watch [your] thoughts, and your lips shall guard knowledge.

3 For the lips of a strange woman drip honey, and her palate is smoother than oil.

4 But her end is as bitter as wormwood, as sharp as a two-edged sword.

.5 Her feet descend to death; her steps come near the grave.

6 Lest you weigh the path of life, her paths have wandered off and you shall not know.

Solomon's father David taught that our Creator is the Shepherd of Creation like he was as a boy. It is our Creator's wisdom, not human that lead to a path of righteousness during our lives. If we stay on the Creator's path no evil shall fall upon us. 

Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 23
 

Quote

 

1 A song of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He causes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

4 Even when I walk in the valley of darkness, I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff-they comfort me.

5 You set a table before me in the presence of my adversaries; You anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.

6 May only goodness and kindness pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days.

 

In ancient Egyptian beliefs, serpents were considered both protectors and enemies of the people. The cobra is most often represented as the Uraeus, the fiercely protective serpent seen guarding the foreheads of Deities, kings, and queens. East of Alexandria,  in the city of Dep the Uraeus was known as Wadjet, the serpent goddess often depicted as a cobra. The Ancient Egyptian word Wadj signifies blue and green. Wadjet is also the name for the well-known Eye of the Moon.  Indeed, in later times, she was often depicted simply as a woman with a cobra's head, or as a woman wearing the Uraeus. The Uraeus originally had been her body alone, which wrapped around or was coiled upon the head of the pharaoh or another deity. She became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt. The Uraeus was the protector of the pharaoh and was believed to spit fire at enemies from its place on the forehead.

Wadjet had a twin sister known as Nekhbet, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning of Nekheb) and later became the patron of Upper Egypt. She takes the form of woman with the head of a vulture, a woman with a vulture headdress or simply just white vulture symbolizing purity.

 

Together, they represented the Uraeus – the two ladies (nebty) protecting the pharaoh and all of Egypt. When Egypt became one, these goddesses were believed to be present during the crowning of a pharaoh and their symbols were found the front of the crown itself. In this light, her role as a protector extended to common people as well.

and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified.

Apophis (Apep) was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos (ı͗zft in Egyptian) and was thus the opponent of light and Ma'at (order/truth). He appears in art as a giant serpent. 

Teaching of Amenemope

Chapter 8 : speak no evil

Quote

Set your deeds throughout the world

That everyone may greet you;

They make rejoicing for the Uraeus,

And spit against the Apophis.

Keep your tongue safe from words of detraction,

And you will be the loved one of the people,

Then you will find your (proper) place within the temple

And your offerings among the bread deliveries of your lord;

You will be revered, when you are concealed in your grave,

And be safe from the might of God.

Do not accuse a man,

When the circumstance of (his) escape is unknown.

Whether you hear something good or bad,

Put it outside, until he has been heard;

Set a good report on your tongue,

While the bad thing is concealed inside you.

The Literature Of Ancient Egypt

The Story of Sinuhe

Quote

The crown of Upper Egypt will go northward, and the crown of Lower Egypt will go southward that they may unite and come together at the word of Your Majesty, and the cobra goddess Wadjet will be placed on your forehead. As you have kept your subjects from evil, so may Re, Lord of the Two Lands, be compassionate toward you. Hail to you. And also to the Lady of All. Lay to rest your javelin, set aside your arrow. Give breath to the breathless. Give us this happy reward, this bedouin chief Simehyet, the bowman born in Egypt.

Khnum was originally a water god who was thought to rule over all water, including the rivers and lakes of the underworld. He was associated with the source of the Nile, and ensured that the inundation deposited enough precious black silt onto the river banks to make them fertile. Khnum was similar to the the Creator's Holy Spirit as the Lord of Life of the body and the "ka" (spirit) of each newborn child.

(52) his emotions & passions are constantly in a state of arousal ;

Chapter 9 : avoid the heated 

Quote

08  and take care not to {vex}. 

09  Swift is speech when the heart is hurt,

10  more than wind {over} water.

23  If only Khnum came to him !

25  so as to knead his {states of mind}. 50

28  he causes brothers to quarrel,  

32  {he gathers himself together, crouched.}

34  A fire burns in his belly.

CHAPTER 9

Quote

 

Do not fraternize with the hot-tempered man,

Nor approach him to converse.

Safeguard your tongue from talking back to your superior,

And take care not to offend him.

Do not allow him to cast words only to entrap you,

And be not too free in your replies;

With a man of your own station discuss the reply;

And take care of speaking thoughtlessly;

When a man’s heart is upset, words travel faster

Than wind over water.

He is ruined and created by his tongue,

When he speaks slander;

He makes an answer deserving of a beating,

For his freight is damaged.

He sails among all the world,

But his cargo is false words;

He acts the ferryman in twisting words:

He goes forth and comes back arguing.

But whether he eats or whether he drinks inside,

His accusation (waits for him) outside.

The day when his evil deed is brought to court

Is a disaster for his children.

Even Khnum will straightway come against him, even Khnum will

straightway come against him,

The potter of the ill-tempered man,

For he sets families to argue.

He goes before all the winds like clouds,

He changes his hue in the sun;

He crocks his tail like a baby crocodile,

He curls himself up to inflict harm,

His lips are sweet, but his tongue is bitter,

And fire burns inside him.

Do not fly up to join that man

Not fearing you will be brought to account.

 

Chapter 10 : say what You think without injuring

CHAPTER 10

Quote

 

Do not address an intemperate man in your (unrighteousness)
Nor destroy your own mind;
Do not say to him, ‘‘May you be praised,’’ not meaning it
When there is fear within you

Do not converse falsely with a man,
For it is the abomination of God.
Do not separate your mind from your tongue,
All your plans will succeed.
You will be important before others,
While you will be secure in the hand of God.
God hates one who falsifies words,
His great abomination is duplicity

 

Chapter 11 : abuse no poor

Quote

06  his heart is misled by his belly.60

16  when the stick attains him.

Chapter 17 : do not corrupt the measure

Quote

04  nor let its belly be empty.76

09  The bushel is the Eye of Re,77

10  it abhors him who trims. 

Chapter 21 : be reticent

Quote

01  Do not say : 'Find me a strong superior, 

05  Indeed You do not know the plans of god,92

07  Settle in the arms of the god,93

11  Do not empty your belly 94 to everyone,

14  nor join with one who bares his heart.95

15  Better is one whose speech is in his belly,96

18  one does not create (it) to harm it.

Like the Egyptian concept of Ma'at (Order) and Apepi (Disorder),  In the Talmud (Tractate Berakoth Folio 5a) Jews believe that the soul of person has both a good spirit (Yezter hatov, impulse, inclination, instinct, genii) and a evil spirit (Yezter hara, impulse, inclination instinct, genii) battling for control.The problem, however, arises when one makes a willful choice to "cross over the line," and seeks to gratify the evil spirits.  Rabbi Levi explains the meaning to King David's wisdom on how to maintain Selah (balance, Ma'at) in one's life by praying to the Creator for help to transform our Yezter hara into a good force in our life.

Tractate Berakoth Folio 5a

Quote

R. Levi b. Hama says in the name of R. Simeon b. Lakish:
 
A man should always incite the good impulse in his soul to fight against the evil impulse. For it is written: Tremble and sin not.  If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him study the Torah. For it is written: 'Commune with your own heart'.  If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him recite the Shema'. For it is written:
 
'Upon your bed'. If he subdues it, well and good. If not, let him remind himself of the day of death. For it is written:
 
[ Tehillim - Psalms 5: 1 To the conductor with melodies, a song of David. 2 When I call, answer me, O God of my righteousness; in my distress You have relieved me, be gracious to me and hearken to my prayer. 3 Sons of man, how long will my honor be disgraced? [How long] will you love futility? [How long] will you constantly seek lies? 4 You shall know that the Lord has set apart the pious man for Himself; the Lord shall hear when I call out to Him. 5 Quake and do not sin; say [this] in your heart on your bed and be forever silent. 6 Offer up sacrifices of righteousness and trust in the Lord. 7 Many say, "Who will show us goodness?" Raise up over us the light of Your countenance, O Lord. 8. You gave joy into my heart from the time that their corn and their wine increased. 9 In peace together, I would lie down and sleep, for You, O Lord, would make me dwell alone in safety.]
 
'And be still, Selah'.

 

 

Proverbs
(especially the sentence literature of chs. 10ff. ) shows "a general parallelism of
thought" with Egyptian and Babylonian Instruction. 

Sebayt (Manuel de Codage transcription: sbA.yt)[1] is the ancient Egyptian term for a genre of pharaonic literature. The word literally means 'teachings' or 'instructions'[2] and refers to formally written ethical teachings focused on the "way of living truly".

he book of Proverbs was principally written by King Solomon, David’s son, around 900 BC. 

 Wisdom literature is
one of the most important classes of texts from the ancient
civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia and sufficient
examples survive to illustrate both the different national or
cultural preferences and, at the same time, the underlying
similarity of thought and expression

Helck
says, "that Proverbs 22:17-23:11 is largely dependent on the
Teaching of Amenemope is now generally accepted".27

 Erman demonstrated that the Teaching of
Amenemope was closely parallel with the portion of Proverb
sometimes subtitled "Words of the Wise" (22:17-24:22)

the belly is the home of our passions, emotions, feelings and states of arousal & rest - our sage promotes tranquility ;

He has mastered the "inner" conflict between his passions and his mind, namely between the icons of emotions and the symbols of proto-rational cognition, between "belly" and "heart".

 

 Egyptian Instructions (both pre-Demotic
and Demotic) present collections of maxims and teachings on moral living, these
max

 

 

 

 

Amun is first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2400-2300) as a local god of Thebes along with his consort Amaunet.

 

Amun as "The Obscure One" left room for people to define him according to their own understanding of what they needed him to be. A god who represented darkness could not also represent light, nor a god of water stand for dryness, etc. A god who personified the mysterious hidden nature of existence, however, could lend himself to any aspect of that existence; and this is precisely what happened with Amun.  

 

During the Twelfth dynasty, the New Kingdom the god Amun rose to prominence. In the city of Thebes. Atum was fused with Ra into Amun-Ra. 

 

. In his role as Amun-Ra, the god combines his invisible aspect (symbolized by the wind which one cannot see but is aware of) and his visible aspect as the life-giving sun. In Amun, the most important aspects of both Ra and Atum were combined to establish an all-encompassing deity whose aspects were literally every facet of creation.

 

Statue of the ram of Amun

Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

 

This life-sized statue of a ram, the sacred animal of the god Amun, was one of a pair that flanked a threshold in Taharqa’s temple at Kawa c. 680 BC. The base is carved with a hieroglyphic inscription proclaiming the king to be the son of the god Amun. A small figure of Taharqa stands protected under the ram’s chin. 

 

 

Wonderful Ethiopians
of the Ancient Cushite Empire
Drusilla Dunjee Houston

 

CHAPTER V.

PREHISTORIC EGYPT, THE LAND OF WONDERS.

 

Quote

 

Let us seek to trace who Amen-Ra was. He was originally the god of Ethiopia. Amen-Ra was Cush, the son of Ham from whom the Cushites sprang. He was not one of the oldest deities of Egypt because he was preceeded by the gods of the ages of Noah (Saturn) and Ham. About the time of the rise of Thebes his name from his worldwide conquests must have been entered into the cycle of gods; for Africans deified their dead kings. Undoubtedly descendants of the great Cush sat upon the throne of Egypt This is why his name and form appear in the 11th Dynasty and its line of kings assumed his name.

His became the predominent shrine of Egypt and its enrichment became the chief object of the Pharaohs. Amen or Cush was recognized by Egypt as its chief god. All the mummery of the world which tries to resolve the gods of old into anything else presents the height of folly. The ancients looked upon Zeus, Apollo and Osiris as persons. Amen-Ra was the Zeus of Greece, that was why they said the gods banqueted with the Ethiopians. He was the Jupiter of Rome. Zeus was king of kings because he was chief ruler in Ethiopia and over the lesser kings in his wide domains stretching from India to farther Norway. Horus, Apollo, Belus and Nimrod his son, were recognized and worshipped by all Cushite colonies. In the sculptures the Negro types of Africa are the assistants at the festivals in Amen's honor. He, himself, was of the same ancestry. In the later chapters of the Egyptian ritual his name is in the language of the Negroes of Punt.

 

Relief depicting the ram-headed Amun-ra on a shrine erected by Kushite King Taharqa in the court of the Temple of Amun built by him at Kawa in Nubia. Late Period, 25th Dynasty, 690-64 BC.

 

NUBIAN PHARAOHS AND MEROITIC KINGS
THE KINGDOM OF KUSH
NECIA DESIREE HARKLESS

 

p.16

 

Diodorus is an invaluable source on
the history of Egypt and Ethiopia. What does he say about the Ethiopians?
“Now the Ethiopians, as historians relate, were the fi rst of all men and proofs
of the statement are manifest. For they did not come into their country as
immigrants from abroad but were the natives of it and so justly bear the name
of Autochone...Th ey that dwell beneath the noonday sun were in all likelihood
the fi rst to be generated by the earth... it is reasonable to suppose that the region
which was nearest was the fi rst to bring forth living creatures. And they say that
they were taught to honor the gods and to hold sacrifi ces and processions and
festivals and other rites by which man honors the deity: and that in consequences
their piety was published abroad among all men... they state by reason of their
piety towards the deity they manifestly enjoy the favor of the gods, inasmuch as
they have never experienced rule of an invader from; for from all time they have
enjoyed a state of freedom abroad and peace with the other and though many
powerful rulers have made war upon them, not one of them succeeded in this
undertaking.”

 

Th e fi rst Ethiopians who were mentioned in the bible
were from the land of Kush (Cush), which according to the biblical tradition was a territory on
the Upper Nile, south of Egypt; it was also later known as Nubia. Kush is the name of the eldest
son of Noah and the territory inhabited by his descendants. Th e Kushites are the descendants
of Noah who produced the sons: Shem, Ham, and Japhet, each with their own language, clan,
and nation. According to Gen. 9:18, the three sons peopled the rest of the earth, which was
indicative of the unity of humanity in the ancient mind. Ham’s son, Cush, went to Ethiopia;
his son, Mizraim, went to Egypt; Canaan went to Canaan; Phut (Pwnt) went to Punt, which in
Egyptian records, the fabulous land on the East coast of Africa, source of myrrh (which included
present-day Somaliland, perhaps also Arabia. 

 

 e Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of religious texts written by early Christians, known
as Gnostics, who were excluded from the church as heretics. It is an invaluable source of Coptic
lore, buried since 400AD in Nag Hammadi near Luxor in Egypt and discovered in 1945. Th e 
NUBIAN PHARAOHS AND MEROITIC KINGS
17
Apocalypse of Adam (v.5), one of the Nag Hammadi tracts cast a new light in the treatment of
the fl ood biblical genealogy.
“And God will say to Noah- whom all generations will call DeucalonBehold
I have protected you in the ark. Th erefore I will give the earth to you
and your son.”
“Th en Noah will divide the whole earth among his sons Ham and Japhet and
Shem. He will then say to them, “My sons listen to my words. I have divided
the earth among you. But serve Him with all the days of your life. Let not your
seed depart from the face of the Almighty.”
“Th en others from the seed of Ham and Japhet will come
Four thousand men, and enter another land and sojourn with those who come
from the eternal knowledge. Th en the seed of Ham and Japhet will form twelve

kingdoms of another people.”3

 

 

 

 

 

Th e strength of the Ethiopians or Kushites was detested to such a great degree, the prophet
Isaiah, an agent of Yahweh (God), issued a proclamation to all:
Disaster! Land of the whirring locust
beyond the rivers of Cush,
who send ambassadors by sea,
in little reed- boats across the waters!
NECIA DESIREE HARKLESS
18
to a nation tall and bronzed,
a mighty and masterful nation.33

 

We are told in the Old Testament when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
Solomon concerning the name of the lord; she came to him with questions. Kings 10:11
Th e queen, who was a virgin and pure, learning about the history of the world, heard of
Solomon’s wisdom and was curious to see what she had heard about, set on a long journey
from Axum to Jerusalem, in those days when land and sea were not controlled by easy
transportation. She proved his wisdom both material and spiritual.
4. And God gave her what she desired... and this gift was a conception of Menelik I, the
son of Solomon who is from the tribe of Judah, the descendant of Abraham, and this
Menelik was to rule after her, hence the motto “Th e conquering Lion of the Tribes of
Judah” which motto is the basis of the country’s faith and key to their ancestry. I Kings
10:1-13
5. We are told in the New Testament that our Lord ...has praised her journey she made to
hear the Wisdom of Solomon. Luke 11: 13.

 

The Temple of Wadi es-Sebua
“Es Sebua (“Th e Lions”) was the third temple built by Rameses II ninety- three moles from
Aswan. Part of the temple is cut from rock. Rameses II dedicated the temple to Re- Harakhte
and to Amun as he considered he was a god, by this time. He also worshiped in the temple. Th e
entrance to the temple was formed by an avenue of Sphinxes (from which es-Sebua derives its
name) that led up to the south pylon before which stood two colossal statues of Rameses II. At
the far end of the sanctuary and above the solar bark on which the beetle-headed Re-Harakhte,
the solar god is seated under a canopy while he is seated under a canopy while he is being adored
on the left by the king and on the right by three baboons. Below is a niche that still shows traces
of the three chiseled statues of the temples. Th ree principal gods are painted over the picture of
St. Peter.92

 

Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1457) also campaigned in Nubia. Th utmose III, her youthful coregent
and stepson supplanted her. Th e Queen ruled as a king with ceremonial beard and a fi rm
hand for twenty years. Th e temple built at Deir el Bahri was the outstanding monument of her
reign. Th e walls display her important trading expedition to Punt. However, it was Th utmose
III who extended the Egyptian frontier to the foot of the Holy Mountain at Gebel Barkal at the
Fourth Cataract in his 47th regal year. His victory stele at Napata marked his triumph and the
extent of the Egyptian frontier and in his temple of Amun-Re, he could boast of his satisfaction
in both Egypt and Asia.

 

Amenhotep IV (Akhnaten) (1352-1336) was a coregent with his father, Amenhotep the III,
during his later reign. Amenhotep changed his name during his reign to Akhnaten, signifying
his new devotion to the Sun god Aten, which was in confl ict with the Th eban god Amun, and
the priesthood. Th e center of government remained at Th ebes while Akhnaten moved to Amarna
with his beautiful wife Nefertari, and the adherents to the new religion that was a forerunner of
Monotheism. Akhnaten built a temple at Karnak in honor of Aten. Th e gains made abroad were
gradually diminished by lack of attention on the home front. Th e agreement of the factions of
Aten and Amun seem to have begun under Semenekhara (1335-1332), who was coregent with
Akhnaten for a short period. He was succeeded by Tutankhamon (1332-23) who was successful
in returning the splintered worship of Amun to Th ebes. Th e death of Tutankhamon while still
a youth made a place for an elderly noble named Ay (1323-1319) who legitimized his claim by
marrying the widow of the deceased

 

Alara’s prayer preserved in the Kawa VI relief refl ects his piety and his
belief in the providence of the God Amun:
O benefi cent god, swift, who calls upon him, look
Upon my sister for me, a women born with me in one womb.
Act for her (even) as you have acted for him [Alara] that acted
For you , as a wonder, unpremeditated, and not disregarded by refl ective people. For
you put a stop to him that plotted evil against me after you set me up as king

 

A stela from Kawa, now located in the Ny Carlsberg Glypotek in Copenhagen, shows Alara
making off erings to the god. Th e temple B at Kawa depicts the earliest post new Kingdom
temple and affi rms that Alara was the fi rst signifi cant restorer of the Nubian Amun cult. Th e
fi rst surviving sculptures of the dynasty are a series of ram sphinxes of heavy cut stone placed
by Kashta by its pylon when he enlarged the mud-brick temple of Alara (B800) at Jebel Barkal. 

 

Kashta’s legitimacy as king was established through the installation of Alara’s sister as princess
of Amun, which created the justifi cation for royal succession and facilitated the shared concepts
of traditional Kushite practice with Egyptian concepts of kingship. 

 

Kashta was married to his sister Pebtatma indicated by her Abydos stela. Her roles are also
given as Sistrum-player of Amen Re, King of the Gods, King’s sister, king’s daughter, mother of
the Divine Adoratrice (Amenerdis I). Kashta was affi rmed king by the priests of Amun when he
arrived in Th ebes. Adams posits that there was no suggestion of military activity connected with
this visit.

 

Pianhki (Piye) : conqueror and deliverer
It was Pianhki, the son of Kashta, who completed the submission of Egypt. Th e Sandstone
Stela of Piye (747 B.C.) records that Pianhki was appointed by Amun as lord of the Th rones of
the Two Lands. Pianhki’s mother was Pebatma; sister was “Sistrum-player of Amun Re, King
of the Gods and Mother of the Divine Adoratrice (Amenerdis I). Pianhki married Tabiry, sister
of Kashta. Pianhki’s daughter was Shepenwepet II whom he installed when he became king, as
God’ Wife of Amun Elect. His other daughters were Tabekenamun, Naparaye and Arty. His
brother, Prince Pakartror, was buried at Abydos with the Kushite Royal wives of Kashta and
Pianhki. Pianhki also had three sons: Khaluit, Taharqa and Piye-Har.
Pianhki’s genius as titular King of Egypt, liturgical wizard in the synthesis of Egyptian
and Kushite concepts of order as priest, and military might as general is captured in his Great
Triumphal Stela from the Gebel Barkal Temple of Amun in the year 727 B.C. which is now in
Cairo. 

 

Pianhki (Piye) : conqueror and deliverer
It was Pianhki, the son of Kashta, who completed the submission of Egypt. Th e Sandstone
Stela of Piye (747 B.C.) records that Pianhki was appointed by Amun as lord of the Th rones of
the Two Lands. Pianhki’s mother was Pebatma; sister was “Sistrum-player of Amun Re, King
of the Gods and Mother of the Divine Adoratrice (Amenerdis I). Pianhki married Tabiry, sister
of Kashta. Pianhki’s daughter was Shepenwepet II whom he installed when he became king, as
God’ Wife of Amun Elect. His other daughters were Tabekenamun, Naparaye and Arty. His
brother, Prince Pakartror, was buried at Abydos with the Kushite Royal wives of Kashta and
Pianhki. Pianhki also had three sons: Khaluit, Taharqa and Piye-Har.

 

It has been noted in recent studies of horse skeletons from el Kurru by Bokonyi (1993) and
the textual evidence of use of horses in Kushite warfare indicates that the fi nest horses used in
contemporary Egypt and Assyria were bred and exported from Nubia.
Th is splendid large stela of pink granite with a rounded top has a lunette relief which gives
a pictorial summary of the event in the text that describes his wars fought under the protection
of Amun bringing him the victory he envisioned. At the left of the lunette is Amun sitting on
the throne with Mut the goddess standing behind Amun and Pianhki standing before him.
King Namlot, of Hermopolis, is leading a horse in front of Pianhki shaking a sistrum in order
to pacify him. 

 

Pianhki in the tradition of the pharaohs donated his tribute of war to the god
NECIA DESIREE HARKLESS
130
Amun which was vast:
“a mass of copper or turquoise as large as yourself, fi nest horses, gold, silver, lapislazuli,
property of all kinds, suits of apparel made of byssus of every quality, and
couches and coverlets of linen, and anti perfume, vases of unguent, metal vessels
or gold ornaments for the neck, crowns for your head, gold vases for ceremonies
of purifi cation, precious inlaid stones...”

 

At Kawa, Pianhki added a colonnaded forecourt where his stelae could be erected and pylons
to the temple of Amun and built a paved processional road. On the walls of the temple, the
ancient thirty-year Sed festival is depicted showing the king restoring his powers. At Kurru, he
is entombed in a pyramid with subterranean chamber accessed by a stairway, and his wife Tabiry
is buried nearby. Th e horses that he loved were buried as well at Kurru with elaborate trappings
of silver and gold. Th e reign of the conqueror lasted 30 years.
Pianhki is also remembered from the Sandstone Stela by his speech:
‘Th e Son of Re, lord of Diadems, “beloved of Amun,
Pi(anh)ki says:
Amun of Napata has granted me to be ruler of every foreign country.
He to whom I say, you are chief, he is to be chief.
He to whom I say ‘You are not king !’ he is not King .
Amun in Dominion (Th ebes) has granted me to be ruler of Black-land.
...Gods make a king, men make a king,
But it is Amun who has made me
Th e earliest throne name of Pianhki, as Lord of Two Lands was indicative of his godship
and kingship.

 

Shabataka assumed the reign of the Kingdom of Kush and Egypt, following the death of his
father. His attested wife was Arty, a daughter of Pianhki. Shabataka was enthroned at Th ebes
in the great temple of Amun. His titulary included “Whose appearances -endure, Beloved of
Ptah and Beloved of Amun.
Th is ‘shadowy king’ falls through the cracks of history as so little has been found to affi rm his
reign. Th e Karnak Nile level record, year three of Shabataka, records that he arrived at Th ebes,
the compound of Amun on the fi fth day of the fi rst month of summer in his third regal year. 

 

============================

 

Hedjkheperre Setepenre Shoshenq I  (reigned c. 943–922 BC)—also known as Sheshonk or Sheshonq I is presumed to be the Shishak (Shishak, Shishaq or Susac) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Sheshonq I was the son of Nimlot A, Great Chief of the Ma, and his wife Tentshepeh A, a daughter of a Great Chief of the Ma herself. The Meshwesh (often abbreviated in ancient Egyptian as Ma) were an ancient Libyan tribe of Berber origin from beyond Cyrenaica. According to Egyptian hieroglyphs, this area is where the Libu and Tehenu inhabited. 

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 3

 

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1 And Solomon became allied by marriage to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had completed building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.

2Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days.

3And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father; only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places.

4And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that (was) the great high place; a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.

5In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I shall give you."

6And Solomon said, "You have done Your servant David my father great kindness, as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as (it is) this day.

7And now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father; and I (am but) a little child; I do not know (how) to go out or come in.

8And your servant (is) in the midst of Your people which you have chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

9Give (therefore) Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this Your great people?"

10And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

11And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life; neither have you asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked the life of your enemies; but have asked for yourself understanding to discern judgment.

12Behold, I have done according to your word; behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there was none like you before you, nor after you shall any arise like you.

13And I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like you all your days.

14And if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David did walk, then I will lengthen your days."

All humans have been given the knowledge of good and evil. Our Creator bestowed Solomon the gift discerning whether the actions of others are good or evil. In return, the Creator had only the request that Solomon keep His statutes and My commandments.

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 5

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9 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceedingly much, and largeness of heart, as the sand that (is) on the seashore.

10 And Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

11 And he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the nations round about.

12 And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five.

13 And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that (is) in Lebanon and to the hyssop that springs out of the wall, and he spoke of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of the creeping things, and of the fishes.

14 And they came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard his wisdom. 

 Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 9

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3 And the Lord spoke to him: "I have heard your prayer and your petition, which you have petitioned before Me. I have consecrated this Temple which you have built to place My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart shall be there at all times.

4 As for You, if you go before Me, as David your father went wholeheartedly and with uprightness to do in accordance with all that I have commanded you [and] you will keep My statutes and laws.

5 I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever as I have spoken to David your father, saying: A man will not fail you upon the throne of Israel.

6 But if you and your children turn away from following Me, and you will not adhere to My commandments and My statutes, which I have placed before you, but go and worship other gods and bow before them.

7 Then I will cut Israel off, from the land which I have given to them, and this house which I have made sacrosanct for My Name will I dismiss from My presence, and Israel shall be for a proverb and a byword among all nations.

8 And this Temple [which] is exalted, [shall become forlorn] and every passerby shall be astounded and will hiss, and they will say: "Why has the Lord done this to this country and to this Temple?"

9 They will be told, "Because they abandoned the Lord, their God, Who delivered their forefathers out of the Land of Egypt; and took hold of other gods and bowed to them and served them. Therefore, has the Lord brought all this retribution upon them. "

Ecclesiastes is presented as an autobiography of "Kohelet" (or "Qoheleth", meaning "Gatherer", but traditionally translated as "Teacher" or "Preacher"). Kohelet's story is framed by voice of the narrator, who refers to Kohelet in the third person, praises Solomon's wisdom, but reminds the reader that wisdom has its limitations and is not man's main concern. 

One reason the Kohelet is identified as Solomon is that at one time Solomon was the king of Israel, and Ecclesiastes 1:1 identifies the Preacher as “king in Jerusalem.” Also in agreement with Ecclesiastes 1:1, Solomon was a “son of David.”

Kohelet - Ecclesiastes - Chapter 1

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1 The words of Koheleth son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, said Koheleth; vanity of vanities, all is vanity.

3 What profit has man in all his toil that he toils under the sun?

4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth endures forever.

 Abraham Lincoln quoted Ecclesiastes 1:4 in his address to the reconvening Congress on December 1, 1862, during the darkest hours of the American Civil War

President Abraham Lincoln

Second Annual Message
December 1, 1862

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On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted. In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that paper, I now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called "compensated emancipation."

A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability. "One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider and estimate this ever-enduring part.

 

Egyptian influence on Israel was particularly strong in the reign of Solomon who became the son-in-law to an Egyptian Pharaoh. 

It has been suggested that Neterkheperre or Netjerkheperre-setepenamun Siamun was the unnamed pharaoh of the Bible who gave in marriage his daughter to king Solomon in order to seal an alliance between Israel and Egypt. Neterkheperre was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the Twenty-first dynasty. He built extensively in Lower Egypt for a king of the Third Intermediate Period and is regarded as one of the most powerful rulers of the 21st Dynasty after Psusennes I. Netjerkheperre-Setepenamun, means "Divine is The Manifestation of Ra, Chosen of Amun" while his name means 'son of Amun (also Amon, Ammon, Amen).'

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 9

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16 Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had gone up and conquered Gezer and burnt it with fire, and slayed the Canaanites who inhabited the city; and he gave it as a gift to his daughter, Solomon's wife.

King  Solomon incorporated the teachings of Israel  Egypt's Vizier Ptahhotep on how to keep good moral sense when making decisions.

Ecclesiastes 10

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10:2 A wise person’s good sense protects him, 

but a fool’s lack of sense leaves him vulnerable.

 

10:3 Even when a fool walks along the road he lacks sense,

and shows everyone what a fool he is.

 

10:4 If the anger of the ruler flares up against you, do not resign from your position, 

for a calm response can undo great offenses.

 

10:5 I have seen another misfortune on the earth: 

It is an error a ruler makes.

10:6 Fools are placed in many positions of authority, 

while wealthy men sit in lowly positions.

Scripture presents Solomon had access to Egyptian and Babylonian literature.

King Solomon's actions caused Israel to fall from the Creator's grace.

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 11

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1 King Solomon loved many foreign women and the daughter of Pharaoh; Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites.

2 Of the nations about which the Lord had said to the Children of Israel, "You shall not go (mingle) among them and they shall not come among you, for certainly they will sway your heart after their dieties." To these did Solomon cleave to love [them]

3 And he had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart.

4 And it was at the time of Solomon's old age, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not whole with the Lord, His God, like the heart of David his father.

5 And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 And Solomon did what was displeasing to the Lord, and he was not completely devoted to the Lord as was David his father. 

7 Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab on the mountain that is before Jerusalem and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.   

8 And so he did for all of his alien wives who offered incense and slaughtered sacrifices to their deities.

9 And the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had digressed from the Lord, God of Israel, Who had appeared to him twice.

10 And had commanded him pertaining this matter, not to follow other gods; however, he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.

11 And the Lord said to Solomon, "For as this has been with you, and you have not observed My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and I shall give it to your servant.

12 However, in your days I will not do this, for the sake of David your father; from the hands of your son I shall tear it.

13 But I shall not tear the entire kingdom away from you; one tribe I shall grant to your son for the sake of David My servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen.

14And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad, the Edomite; he was of the royal lineage in Edom.

15And it was when David was in Edom that Joab, the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain, since he had slain every male in Edom.

16For Joab and all of Israel remained [stationed] there for six months until he had killed every male in Edom.

17Adad fled, he and some Edomite men, of his father's servants with him, to go to Egypt; Hadad being yet a small child.    

18And they set out from Midian and came to Paran, and they took men with them from Paran and they arrived in Egypt and came before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, He granted him a home and assigned him sustenance and gave him land.

19And Hadad pleased Pharaoh very much so that he gave him in marriage the sister of his wife, the sister of Tachpenes, the queen.

20And the sister of Tachpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tachpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house, and Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's children.

21Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army had died. And Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Give me leave, and I shall go to my country."

22And Pharaoh said to him, "What do you lack with me that you desire to go to your country?" And he said, "Nevertheless, give me leave."

23And God raised up against him an adversary, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had fled from Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, his master.

24And he assembled men around him, and he became commander over a battalion when David slew them, and they went to Damascus and settled there and ruled in Damascus.

25 And he was an adversary to Israel all of Solomon's days with the evil that was caused by Hadad, and he detested Israel and ruled over Aram.

26 And Jeroboam the son of Nabat an Ephraimite of Zeradah, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow; he was Solomon's servant, he raised his hand against the king.

27And this was the matter [concerning] which he raised his hand against the king; Solomon built up the Millo and closed up the breach of the city of David, his father.

28 And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw this young man, that he was a diligent worker, and he appointed him in charge of all the burdens of the House of Joseph.

29And it came to be at that time when Jeroboam had left Jerusalem, that Ahijah, the Shilonite, the prophet, found him on the way, and he was wearing a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field.

30And Ahijah grasped the new garment that was upon him and tore it into twelve pieces.

31And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for so has the Lord, the God of Israel, said, "I shall tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hands and I shall give you the ten tribes.

32But he will have one tribe, for My servant David's sake and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen of all the tribes of Israel.

33Since they have deserted Me and have prostrated themselves to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the children of Ammon, and they have not walked in My ways, to do what is right in My eyes to keep My statutes and judgments as did David his father.

34However, I will not take any part of the kingdom away from him but I will make him a king all the days of his life for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose, for he kept My commandments and My statutes.

35However, I will take the kingdom away from his son and will give it to you, the ten tribes

36And his son I shall give one tribe so that David My servant may have a kingdom before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I chose for Myself to place My name there.

37And I shall take you, and you shall rule over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

38And it will be, if you heed all that I shall command you and will walk in My ways and do what is righteous in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commandments as did David My servant, and I shall be with you and build for a lasting dynasty as I have built for David My servant, and I shall give Israel to you.

39And I shall afflict David's descendants because of this, but not for all times."

40Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt to Shishak, the king of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until Solomon's death.    

Kohelet - Ecclesiastes - Chapter 12

While Solomon did pay for his transgressions here on earth, his last word of wisdom does offer hope for his possible Salvation.

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1 And remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of evil come, and years arrive, about which you will say, "I have no desire in them."

2 Before the sun, the light, the moon, and the stars darken, and the clouds return after the rain.

3 On the day that the keepers of the house tremble, and the mighty men are seized by cramps, and the grinders cease since they have become few, and those who look out of the windows become darkened.

4 And the doors shall be shut in the street when the sound of the mill is low, and one shall rise at the voice of a bird, and all the songstresses shall be brought low.

5 Also from the high places they will fear, and terrors on the road, and the almond tree will blossom, and the grasshopper will drag itself along, and sexual desire will fail, for man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about in the street.

6 Before the silver cord snaps, and the golden fountain is shattered, and the pitcher breaks at the fountain, and the wheel falls shattered into the pit.

7 And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, Who gave it.

8 "Vanity of vanities," said Koheleth; "all is vanity."

9 And more [than this], Koheleth was wise, he also taught knowledge to the people; he listened and sought out, he established many proverbs.

10 Koheleth sought to find words of delight and properly recorded words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like well-fastened nails with large heads, given from one shepherd.

12 And more than they, my son, beware; making many books has no end, and studying much is a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the matter, everything having been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man.

14 For every deed God will bring to judgment-for every hidden thing, whether good or bad.

 

Shishak, Shishaq or Susac (Hebrew: שישק, Tiberian: [ʃiʃaq], Ancient Greek: Σουσακίμ, translit. Sousakim) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.

Sheshonq I campaign against the Kingdom of Judah and his sack of Jerusalem is contained in the Hebrew Bible (1 Kings 14:25 and 2 Chronicles 12:1-12).

According to these books of the Hebrew Bible, Shishak had provided refuge to Jeroboam during the later years of Solomon's reign, and upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam became king of the tribes in the north, which became the Kingdom of Israel. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign (commonly dated ca. 926 BCE[2]), Shishak swept through the Kingdom of Judah with a powerful army of 60,000 horsemen and 1,200 chariots, in support of his ally Jeroboam, the king of Israel. According to 2 Chronicles 12:3, he was supported by the Lubim (Libyans), the Sukkiim, and the Kushites ("Ethiopians" in the Septuagint). Shishak took away treasures of the Temple of Yahweh and the king's house, as well as shields of gold which Solomon had made;[3] Rehoboam replaced them with brass ones.

According to Second Chronicles,

Egyptian military conquests against Assyria and Israel, aided by Ethiopians are recorded in
the Books of Kings, Acts, and the Chronicles. Mention is made of an Ethiopian army assisting
Shishak ( Sheshonk) who ruled Egypt during the reign of Rehoboam, the King of Judah and the
Son of Solomon. Shishak’s army swept across the land of Judah, with twelve hundred chariots and
sixty thousand men, leaving in his wake fi re and destruction. Th e people of Lubim and Sukkim,
and the Ethiopians are further described as a host with many horses and chariots. Subduing the
Judeans in the south, Shishak continued north to Jerusalem, taking away the treasures of the king
which included all of the gold shields which Solomon had made.31

Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 14

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21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon ruled in Judah; forty-one years of age was Rehoboam when he became king and seventeen years he reigned in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen to place His Name there out of all the tribes of Israel, and his mother's name was Naamah the Amonitess.

22 And Judah did what displeased the Lord, and they angered Him more than their forefathers had done with their sins that they sinned.

23 And they, too, built for themselves high places, monuments and trees for idol worship on every high hill and under every green tree.

24 And also adultery was in the land; they did as all the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Children of Israel.

25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak, the king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem.

26 And he took the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace, and he took everything; and he took all the golden shields that Solomon had made.

Divrei Hayamim II - II Chronicles - Chapter 12

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1 Now it came to pass when Rehoboam's kingdom was established and when he became strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

2 And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak the king of Egypt marched against Jerusalem, for they had betrayed the Lord.

3 With a thousand and two hundred chariots and with sixty thousand horsemen, and there was no number to the people who came with him from Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Cushites.

4 And he seized Judah's fortified cities, and he came until Jerusalem.

5 And Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "So said the Lord: You have forsaken Me; so I too have forsaken you in the hand of Shishak."

6 And the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and they said, "The Lord is just."

7 And when the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves; I shall not destroy them, but I shall grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath will not be poured out in Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

8 For they will be his slaves, and they will know My service and the service of the kingdoms of the lands.

9 And Shishak, the king of Egypt, marched against Jerusalem, and he took the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace; everything he took, and he took the golden shields that Solomon had made.

 

 

 

 

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

The Breath of the Father (Holy Spirit) is an supernatural living force known by the movement by which he reveals the eternal Living Word to us and disposes us to welcome him in faith

Origen

De Principiis (Book I)
Chapter 3. On the Holy Spirit

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Of the existence of the Holy Spirit no one indeed could entertain any suspicion, save those who were familiar with the law and the prophets, or those who profess a belief in Christ. For although no one is able to speak with certainty of God the Father, it is nevertheless possible for some knowledge of Him to be gained by means of the visible creation and the natural feelings of the human mind; and it is possible, moreover, for such knowledge to be confined from the sacred Scriptures. But with respect to the Son of God, although no one knows the Son save the Father, yet it is from sacred Scripture also that the human mind is taught how to think of the Son; and that not only from the New, but also from the Old Testament, by means of those things which, although done by the saints, are figuratively referred to Christ, and from which both His divine nature, and that human nature which was assumed by Him, may be discovered.

Now, what the Holy Spirit is, we are taught in many passages of Scripture, as by David in the fifty-first Psalm, when he says, And take not Your Holy Spirit from me; and by Daniel, where it is said, The Holy Spirit which is in you. And in the New Testament we have abundant testimonies, as when the Holy Spirit is described as having descended upon Christ, and when the Lord breathed upon His apostles after His resurrection, saying, Receive the Holy Spirit; and the saying of the angel to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the declaration by Paul, that no one can call Jesus Lord, save by the Holy Spirit. In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was given by the imposition of the apostles' hands in baptism. From all which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit. Who, then, is not amazed at the exceeding majesty of the Holy Spirit, when he hears that he who speaks a word against the Son of man may hope for forgiveness; but that he who is guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit has not forgiveness, either in the present world or in that which is to come!

The Spirit of God, therefore, which was borne upon the waters, as is written in the beginning of the creation of the world, is, I am of opinion, no other than the Holy Spirit, so far as I can understand; as indeed we have shown in our exposition of the passages themselves, not according to the historical, but according to the spiritual method of interpretation.

Some indeed of our predecessors have observed, that in the New Testament, whenever the Spirit is named without that adjunct which denotes quality, the Holy Spirit is to be understood; as e.g., in the expression, Now the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace; and, Seeing you began in the Spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? We are of opinion that this distinction may be observed in the Old Testament also, as when it is said, He that gives His Spirit to the people who are upon the earth, and Spirit to them who walk thereon. For, without doubt, every one who walks upon the earth (i.e., earthly and corporeal beings) is a partaker also of the Holy Spirit, receiving it from God. My Hebrew master also used to say that those two seraphim in Isaiah, which are described as having each six wings, and calling to one another, and saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts, were to be understood of the only-begotten Son of God and of the Holy Spirit. And we think that that expression also which occurs in the hymn of Habakkuk, In the midst either of the two living things, or of the two lives, You will be known, ought to be understood of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. For all knowledge of the Father is obtained by revelation of the Son through the Holy Spirit, so that both of these beings which, according to the prophet, are called either living things or lives, exist as the ground of the knowledge of God the Father. For as it is said of the Son, that no one knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him, the same also is said by the apostle of the Holy Spirit, when He declares, God has revealed them to us by His Holy Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God; and again in the Gospel, when the Savior, speaking of the divine and profounder parts of His teaching, which His disciples were not yet able to receive, thus addresses them: I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now; but when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, has come, He will teach you all things, and will bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you. We must understand, therefore, that as the Son, who alone knows the Father, reveals Him to whom He will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals God to whom He will: For the Spirit blows where He lists. We are not, however, to suppose that the Spirit derives His knowledge through revelation from the Son. For if the Holy Spirit knows the Father through the Son's revelation, He passes from a state of ignorance into one of knowledge; but it is alike impious and foolish to confess the Holy Spirit, and yet to ascribe to Him ignorance. For even although something else existed before the Holy Spirit, it was not by progressive advancement that He came to be the Holy Spirit; as if any one should venture to say, that at the time when He was not yet the Holy Spirit He was ignorant of the Father, but that after He had received knowledge He was made the Holy Spirit. For if this were the case, the Holy Spirit would never be reckoned in the Unity of the Trinity, i.e., along with the unchangeable Father and His Son, unless He had always been the Holy Spirit. When we use, indeed, such terms as always or was, or any other designation of time, they are not to be taken absolutely, but with due allowance; for while the significations of these words relate to time, and those subjects of which we speak are spoken of by a stretch of language as existing in time, they nevertheless surpass in their real nature all conception of the finite understanding.

I am of opinion, then, that the working of the Father and of the Son takes place as well in saints as in sinners, in rational beings and in dumb animals; nay, even in those things which are without life, and in all things universally which exist; but that the operation of the Holy Spirit does not take place at all in those things which are without life, or in those which, although living, are yet dumb; nay, is not found even in those who are endued indeed with reason, but are engaged in evil courses, and not at all converted to a better life. In those persons alone do I think that the operation of the Holy Spirit takes place, who are already turning to a better life, and walking along the way which leads to Jesus Christ, i.e., who are engaged in the performance of good actions, and who abide in God.

at the time of the flood, when all flesh had corrupted their way before God, it is recorded that God spoke thus, as of undeserving men and sinners: My Spirit shall not abide with those men for ever, because they are flesh. By which, it is clearly shown that the Spirit of God is taken away from all who are unworthy. In the Psalms also it is written: You will take away their spirit, and they will die, and return to their earth. You will send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created, and You will renew the face of the earth; which is manifestly intended of the Holy Spirit, who, after sinners and unworthy persons have been taken away and destroyed, creates for Himself a new people, and renews the face of the earth, when, laying aside, through the grace of the Spirit, the old man with his deeds, they begin to walk in newness of life. And therefore the expression is competently applied to the Holy Spirit, because He will take up His dwelling, not in all men, nor in those who are flesh, but in those whose land has been renewed. Lastly, for this reason was the grace and revelation of the Holy Spirit bestowed by the imposition of the apostles' hands after baptism. Our Saviour also, after the resurrection, when old things had already passed away, and all things had become new, Himself a new man, and the first-born from the dead, His apostles also being renewed by faith in His resurrection, says, Receive the Holy Spirit. This is doubtless what the Lord the Saviour meant to convey in the Gospel, when He said that new wine cannot be put into old bottles, but commanded that the bottles should be made new, i.e., that men should walk in newness of life, that they might receive the new wine, i.e., the newness of grace of the Holy Spirit. In this manner, then, is the working of the power of God the Father and of the Son extended without distinction to every creature; but a share in the Holy Spirit we find possessed only by the saints. And therefore it is said, No man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 

whereas he who has been deemed worthy to have a portion of the Holy Spirit, and who has relapsed, is, by this very act and work, said to be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Let no one indeed suppose that we, from having said that the Holy Spirit is conferred upon the saints alone, but that the benefits or operations of the Father and of the Son extend to good and bad, to just and unjust, by so doing give a preference to the Holy Spirit over the Father and the Son, or assert that His dignity is greater, which certainly would be a very illogical conclusion. For it is the peculiarity of His grace and operations that we have been describing. Moreover, nothing in the Trinity can be called greater or less, since the fountain of divinity alone contains all things by His word and reason, and by the Spirit of His mouth sanctifies all things which are worthy of sanctification, as it is written in the Psalm: By the word of the Lord were the heavens strengthened, and all their power by the Spirit of His mouth. There is also a special working of God the Father, besides that by which He bestowed upon all things the gift of natural life. There is also a special ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to those upon whom he confers by nature the gift of reason, by means of which they are enabled to be rightly what they are. There is also another grace of the Holy Spirit, which is bestowed upon the deserving, through the ministry of Christ and the working of the Father, in proportion to the merits of those who are rendered capable of receiving it. This is most clearly pointed out by the Apostle Paul, when demonstrating that the power of the Trinity is one and the same, in the words, There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. From which it most clearly follows that there is no difference in the Trinity, but that which is called the gift of the Spirit is made known through the Son, and operated by God the Father. But all these works that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every one severally as He will.

 God the Father bestows upon all, existence; and participation in Christ, in respect of His being the word of reason, renders them rational beings. From which it follows that they are deserving either of praise or blame, because capable of virtue and vice. On this account, therefore, is the grace of the Holy Ghost present, that those beings which are not holy in their essence may be rendered holy by participating in it. Seeing, then, that firstly, they derive their existence from God the Father; secondly, their rational nature from the Word; thirdly, their holiness from the Holy Spirit — those who have been previously sanctified by the Holy Spirit are again made capable of receiving Christ, in respect that He is the righteousness of God; and those who have earned advancement to this grade by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, will nevertheless obtain the gift of wisdom according to the power and working of the Spirit of God. And this I consider is Paul's meaning, when he says that to some is given the word of wisdom, to others the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit. And while pointing out the individual distinction of gifts, he refers the whole of them to the source of all things, in the words, There are diversities of operations, but one God who works all in all. Whence also the working of the Father, which confers existence upon all things, is found to be more glorious and magnificent, while each one, by participation in Christ, as being wisdom, and knowledge, and sanctification, makes progress, and advances to higher degrees of perfection; and seeing it is by partaking of the Holy Spirit that any one is made purer and holier, he obtains, when he is made worthy, the grace of wisdom and knowledge, in order that, after all stains of pollution and ignorance are cleansed and taken away, he may make so great an advance in holiness and purity, that the nature which he received from God may become such as is worthy of Him who gave it to be pure and perfect, so that the being which exists may be as worthy as He who called it into existence. For, in this way, he who is such as his Creator wished him to be, will receive from God power always to exist, and to abide forever. That this may be the case, and that those whom He has created may be unceasingly and inseparably present with Him, Who IS, it is the business of wisdom to instruct and train them, and to bring them to perfection by confirmation of His Holy Spirit and unceasing sanctification, by which alone are they capable of receiving God. In this way, then, by the renewal of the ceaseless working of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in us, in its various stages of progress, shall we be able at some future time perhaps, although with difficulty, to behold the holy and the blessed life, in which (as it is only after many struggles that we are able to reach it) we ought so to continue, that no satiety of that blessedness should ever seize us; but the more we perceive its blessedness, the more should be increased and intensified within us the longing for the same, while we ever more eagerly and freely receive and hold fast the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But if satiety should ever take hold of any one of those who stand on the highest and perfect summit of attainment, I do not think that such an one would suddenly be deposed from his position and fall away, but that he must decline gradually and little by little, so that it may sometimes happen that if a brief lapsus take place, and the individual quickly repent and return to himself, he may not utterly fall away, but may retrace his steps, and return to his former place, and again make good that which had been lost by his negligence.

The Great Isaiah Scroll - Digital Dead Sea Scrolls

Chapter 6

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Verse 1
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw my Lord sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and the skirts of his robe filled the temple.

Verse 2
Seraphs stood above him, each with six wings. With two they covered their face, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

Verse 3
They called to each other: 'Holy, holy is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.'

Verse 4
The foundations of the thresholds shook when they called, and the house was full of smoke.

 Verse 5
Then I said, 'Woe is me! for I am lost; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips. [In]deed my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'

Verse 6
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal in his hand, which he had taken fr[o]m the [altar] with tongs.

The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, volume 2

Expansions of the "Old Testament" and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Work

The Ascension of Isaiah

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16 And he took me up into the sixth heaven, and there were none on the left, nor a throne in the middle, but all (were) of one appearance, and their praise (was) equal.

17 And (strength) was given to me, and I also sang praises with them, and that angel also, and our praise was like theirs.

18 And there they all named the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all with one voice,

19 but it was not like the voice of the angels who (were) in the five heavens, 

20 nor (was it) like their speech, but there was a different voice there, and there was much light there.

21 And then, when I was in the sixth heaven, I thought that light which I had seen in the five heavens darkness.

22 And I rejoiced and praised the One who has graciously given such light to those who await His promise.

The Septuagint 

 In the midst of two living creatures you will be known 

The Greek translation was in circulation among the Alexandrian Jews who were fluent in Greek, the common language in Egypt at the time, but not in Hebrew.

Chavakuk - Habakkuk LXX - Chapter 3

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2. O Lord, I have heard of your renown and paid reverence; O Lord, I considered your works and was astonished. You will be known in the midst of two living creatures; you will be recognized when the years draw near; you will be displayed when the right time comes; you will remember mercy when my soul is troubled with wrath.

Caesarious of Arles interpreted the two creatures t be the Old and New Testaments in the midst of which Christ is known spiritually.

Roberts interpreted the two creatures to be the cherubim of the ark

Chavakuk - Habakkuk - Chapter 3

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2. O Lord, I heard a report of You; I feared, O Lord, Your deed. In the midst of the years, revive it; in the midst of the years, let it be known. In anger You shall remember to have mercy.

Seraphim Wings
by Holicia
Watch
Digital Art / 3-Dimensional Art / Abstract

Chavakuk - Habakkuk - Chapter 3
 

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3 God came from Teman; yea, the Holy One from Mt. Paran, with everlasting might. His glory covered the heavens and His splendor filled the earth.

4 And there was a brightness like the light; they had rays from His hand, and there was His strength hidden.

Tractate Pesachim: Chapter 1

Regulations concerning the removal of leaven from the house on the eve of Passover and the exact time when this must be accomplished.

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By the light of a candle." The Rabbis taught: Search for leavened bread must not be made by the light of the sun, of the moon, or of a flame of fire, but only by the light of a candle; because the light of a candle is efficient for search, and although we have no actual foundation for this regulation, still we are given a hint to that effect in the passage [Exod. xii. 19]: "Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses," and it is written [Genesis xliv. 12]: "And he searched, at the eldest he began," while [in Zephaniah i. 12] it is written: "And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem through with lights (candles)"; [Proverbs xx. 27] it is also written: "A lamp of the Lord is the soul of man, searching all the inner chambers of the body." (Hence as it is written in the first quotation "it shall not be found," and in the latter quotations searching is mentioned in connection with lights (candles), the hint is derived from those passages.)

Under what circumstances shall search not be made by the light of the sun? Shall we say in the case of a court? Did not Rabha say, that in a court no search need be made, because the crows consume what leavened bread may be found there? In the case of a balcony? Did not Rabha say, that on a balcony one may search by the light of the balcony itself? The injunction against using the light of the sun is applied to a window of a room, namely: At the window proper search may be made by the light entering through the window, but at the sides this cannot be relied on and a candle must be procured in order to conduct a proper search.

Not even a flame of fire may be used? Did not Rabha say, referring to the passage [Habakkuk iii. 4]: "And (his) brightness was like the sunlight; rays streamed forth out of his hand unto them: and there was the hiding of his power." "The righteous as compared with the Shekhina appear as the light of a candle to a bright flame; and concerning the benediction to be made at the close of the Sabbath-day which is pronounced over a light, he said, that a bright flame is more conducive to the efficient fulfilment of that duty?" (Why then should a flame not be permitted for the search?) Said R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak: "A candle may be applied to a hole or a crack in the wall, whereas a flame cannot be moved to such a place."

 

Wisdom

Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 29

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28 The hidden things belong to the Lord, our God, but the revealed things apply to us and to our children forever: that we must fulfill all the words of this Torah.

1 Kings 3

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7 And now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of David my father; and I (am but) a little child; I do not know (how) to go out or come in.

8 And your servant (is) in the midst of Your people which you have chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

9 Give (therefore) Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge this Your great people?"

10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

11 And God said to him, "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life; neither have you asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked the life of your enemies; but have asked for yourself understanding to discern judgment.

12 Behold, I have done according to your word; behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart; so that there was none like you before you, nor after you shall any arise like you.

By referring to Jonah the same way He referred to the Queen of the South, Jesus strongly supported the view that Jonah was a historical person. The Queen of the South was the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1-13). She came from the Arabian Peninsula that for the Jews was the end of the earth (cf. Jer. 6:20; Joel 3:8). She visited Jerusalem because of reports about Solomon’s great wisdom that had reached her ears. The something greater than Solomon was Messiah, the embodiment of divine wisdom. The queen would join the Ninevites in condemning the unbelievers of Jesus’ day because they failed to acknowledge one with greater wisdom than Solomon, as well as one with a greater message than Jonah. Jesus was greater than Solomon in His wisdom, wealth, and works.

Matthew 12

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12:42 The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, something greater than Solomon is here!

Luke 10

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10:21 On that same occasion Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will. 10:22 All things have been given to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.”

John 14

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14:15 “If you love me, you will obey 34  my commandments. 35  14:16 Then 36  I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate 37  to be with you forever – 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, 38  because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides 39  with you and will be 40  in you.

14:18 “I will not abandon 41  you as orphans, 42  I will come to you. 43  14:19 In a little while 44  the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 14:20 You will know at that time 45  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys 46  them is the one who loves me. 47  The one 48  who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal 49  myself to him.”

14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) 50  said, 51  “what has happened that you are going to reveal 52  yourself to us and not to the world?” 14:23 Jesus replied, 53  “If anyone loves me, he will obey 54  my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. 55  14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey 56  my words. And the word 57  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

14:25 “I have spoken these things while staying 58  with you. 14:26 But the Advocate, 59  the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you 60  everything, 61  and will cause you to remember everything 62  I said to you.

John 16

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16:5 But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’  16:6 Instead your hearts are filled with sadness 14  because I have said these things to you. 16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. 16:8 And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong concerning sin and righteousness and judgment – 16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 21  16:10 concerning righteousness, 22  because 23  I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; 16:11 and concerning judgment, 24  because 25  the ruler of this world 26  has been condemned. 27 

16:12 “I have many more things to say to you, 28  but you cannot bear 29  them now. 16:13 But when he, 30  the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide 31  you into all truth. 32  For he will not speak on his own authority, 33  but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you 34  what is to come. 35  16:14 He 36  will glorify me, 37  because he will receive 38  from me what is mine 39  and will tell it to you. 40  16:15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit 41  will receive from me what is mine 42  and will tell it to you. 43  16:16 In a little while you 44  will see me no longer; again after a little while, you 45  will see me.” 46 

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, 47  ‘In a little while you 48  will not see me; again after a little while, you 49  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 50  16:18 So they kept on repeating, 51  “What is the meaning of what he says, 52  ‘In a little while’? 53  We do not understand 54  what he is talking about.” 55 

16:19 Jesus could see 56  that they wanted to ask him about these things, 57  so 58  he said to them, “Are you asking 59  each other about this – that I said, ‘In a little while you 60  will not see me; again after a little while, you 61  will see me’? 16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, 62  you will weep 63  and wail, 64  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, 65  but your sadness will turn into 66  joy. 16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress 67  because her time 68  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being 69  has been born into the world. 70  16:22 So also you have sorrow 71  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. 72  16:23 At that time 73  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, 74  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 75  16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, 76  so that your joy may be complete.

 

The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, has become the Spirit of Jesus

Acts 16

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16:6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the message in the province of Asia. 16:7 When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia,  but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to do this,

1 CORINTHIANS 2

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2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature,  but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. 2:7 Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 2:9 But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”   2:10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 2:12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 2:13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 8  2:14 The unbeliever 9  does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2:15 The one who is spiritual discerns 10  all things, yet he himself is understood 11  by no one. 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? 12  But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Galatians 4

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4:6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls  “Abba! Father!” 4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are 11  a son, then you are also an heir through God.

Revelation 11

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3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” 4 (These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. 6 These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want. 7 When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. 8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified. 9 For three and a half days those from every people, tribe, nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate, even sending gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and tremendous fear seized those who were watching them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!” So the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them. 13 Just then a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART ONE
THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

SECTION TWO
THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

CHAPTER THREE
I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

ARTICLE 8

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687 "No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." Now God's Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ, his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of himself. The Spirit who "has spoken through the prophets" makes us hear the Father's Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and disposes us to welcome Him in faith. The Spirit of truth who "unveils" Christ to us "will not speak on his own." Such properly divine self-effacement explains why "the world cannot receive [him], because it neither sees him nor knows him," while those who believe in Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them.

688 The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:

- in the Scriptures he inspired;

- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses;

- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists;

- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;

- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;

- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;

- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;

- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation.

I. THE JOINT MISSION OF THE SON AND THE SPIRIT

689 The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God.10 Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world. In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him.

690 Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness.11 When Christ is finally glorified,12 he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory,13 that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him.14 From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:

The notion of anointing suggests . . . that there is no distance between the Son and the Spirit. Indeed, just as between the surface of the body and the anointing with oil neither reason nor sensation recognizes any intermediary, so the contact of the Son with the Spirit is immediate, so that anyone who would make contact with the Son by faith must first encounter the oil by contact. In fact there is no part that is not covered by the Holy Spirit. That is why the confession of the Son's Lordship is made in the Holy Spirit by those who receive him, the Spirit coming from all sides to those who approach the Son in faith.15

 

TEACHINGS OF PRESIDENTS OF THE CHURCH: GORDON B. HINCKLEY

CHAPTER 7: THE WHISPERINGS OF THE SPIRIT

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1.The Holy Ghost is the Testifier of Truth, who can teach [us] things [we] cannot teach one another.

2.  As we direct and teach under the influence of that Spirit, we shall bring spirituality into the lives of those for whom we are responsible. …

… Sweet are the fruits of teaching done under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They feed the spirit and nourish the soul.

Listen to the promptings of the Spirit. Be humble. You may be led to someone by the hand of the Lord because of your spirit, your attitude, your feeling, your humility.

3. “And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11–12).

That is the way it is. There is a still, small voice. It comes in response to prayer. It comes by the whispering of the Spirit. It may come in the silence of the night.

4. How do we know the things of the Spirit? How do we know that it is from God? By the fruits of it. If it leads to growth and development, if it leads to faith and testimony, if it leads to a better way of doing things, if it leads to godliness, then it is of God. If it tears us down, if it brings us into darkness, if it confuses us and worries us, if it leads to faithlessness, then it is of the devil.

God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost.” (D&C 121:26.)

The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. That Spirit is real. To those who have experienced its workings, the knowledge so gained is as real as that which is acquired through the operation of the five senses.

5. How do you keep the Spirit of the Lord with you at all times?” Well, you live worthy of it; you live worthy of the Spirit of the Lord. That is what you do. And you will have it. … Just live right. Stay away from the sleaze. Stay away from pornography. Stay away from these things that pull you down. The books you read, the magazines you read, the videos you look at, the television programs you look at, the shows you go to, all have an effect on you and will do if you subject yourself to the influence of those titillating kinds of things which are designed to make you poor and somebody else rich. Stay away from them.

The First Book of Nephi
Chapter 10

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17 And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek Him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.

The Book of Mosiah
Chapter 3

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19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, and puts off the natural man and becomes a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and become as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord sees fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Doctrine and Covenants
Section 11

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10 Behold, thou hast a gift, or thou shalt have a gift if thou wilt desire of me in faith, with an honest heart, believing in the power of Jesus Christ, or in my power which speaketh unto thee;

11 For, behold, it is I that speak; behold, I am the light which shineth in darkness, and by my power I give these words unto thee.

12 And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit.

13 Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;

14 And then shall ye know, or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive.

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 9

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10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and the knowledge of the holy ones is understanding.

By personifying wisdom Solomon was able to illustrate two things about it in these verses, both of which concern the guidance that is available in wisdom (understanding, insight). Wisdom is available everywhere (vv. 2-3) and to anyone (v. 5). It does not take a superior intellect to be wise in the biblical sense.

As Creator, God counted wisdom most important. Wisdom is older than the universe, and it was essential in its creation. Nothing came into existence without wisdom. Wisdom leads to joy because creation produces joy (vv. 30-31) both for the Creator and for the creature. God made and did nothing without wisdom. Therefore it is very important that we obtain it. That is the point.

Mishlei - Proverbs - Chapter 8

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1 Will not wisdom call out, and understanding give forth its voice?

2 At the top of the heights upon the road; at the crossroads she stands.

3 Beside the gates, at the entrance of the roof, at the entrance of the portals she cries,

4 "To you, O men, I call, and my voice [is] to the children of man.

5 O simpletons, understand cunning, and you fools, give understanding to your heart.

6 Hearken for I will speak noble things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things.

7 For my palate shall utter truth, and wickedness is an abomination of my lips.

8 All the sayings of my lips are with righteousness; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

9 They are all true to the understanding one, and straight to those who find knowledge.

10 Take my discipline and not silver; knowledge is chosen above gold.

11 For wisdom is better than pearls; all desirable things cannot be compared to it.

12 I am wisdom; I dwelt [beside] cunning, and the knowledge of devices I will find.

13 Fear of the Lord is to hate evil, haughtiness, pride, the way of evil, and a perverse mouth; [these] I hate.

14 I have counsel and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have might.

15 Kings reign with me, and rulers legislate righteousness.

16 Through me princes govern, and nobles, yea, all judges of righteousness.

17 I will love those who love me, and those who seek me eagerly will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me, powerful wealth and charity.

19 My fruit is better than gold-yea than fine gold- and my produce [is better] than choice silver.

20 In the way of righteousness I will go, in the midst of the paths of justice.

21 There is substance to give inheritance to those who love me, and I will fill their treasuries.

22 The Lord acquired me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old.

23 From the distant past I was enthroned, from the beginning, of those that preceded the earth.

24 I was created when there were yet no deeps, when there were no fountains replete with water.

25 I was created before the mountains were sunk, before the hills;

26 when He had not yet made the land and the outsides and the beginning of the dust of the earth.

27 When He established the heavens, there I was, when He drew a circle over the face of the deep;

28 when He made the skies above firm, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep;

29 when He gave the sea its boundary, and the water shall not transgress His command, when He established the foundations of the earth

30 I was a nursling beside Him, and I was [His] delight every day, playing before Him at all times

31 playing in the habitable world of His earth, and [having] my delights with the children of man.

32 And now, my children, hearken to me, and fortunate are those who observe my ways.

33 Hearken to discipline and become wise, and do not put it to naught.

34 Fortunate is the man who listens to me to watch by my doors day by day, to watch the doorposts of my entrances.

35 For he who has found me has found life, and he has obtained favor from the Lord.

36 But he who sins against me robs his soul; all who hate me, love death."

Matthew 12

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12:22 Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus 29  healed him so that he could speak and see. 30  12:23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?” 12:24 But when the Pharisees 31  heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, 32  the ruler 33  of demons!” 12:25 Now when Jesus 34  realized what they were thinking, he said to them, 35  “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, 36  and no town or house divided against itself will stand. 12:26 So if 37  Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 12:28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you. 12:29 How else can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. 12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  12:31 For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy,  but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Revelation 11

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3 And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.” 4 (These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) 5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths and completely consumes their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, they must be killed this way. 6 These two have the power to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the time they are prophesying. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they want. 7 When they have completed their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. 8 Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city that is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified. 9 For three and a half days those from every people, tribe, nation, and language will look at their corpses, because they will not permit them to be placed in a tomb. 10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate, even sending gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. 11 But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and tremendous fear seized those who were watching them. 12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them: “Come up here!” So the two prophets went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them. 13 Just then a major earthquake took place and a tenth of the city collapsed; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

I remember in my youth thinking that God was this immense indestructible being of power with an incomprehensible plan. In the beginning God manifested Himself into a Spirit form that created all things in the Universe. At a point of time the  Spirit of God created human life in His image with attributes to see, hear, communicate, an survive in the natural world.  When God's Spirit wanted to be known to humans they feared His power, but understood the truth to His words. For a period of time the The Spirit of God choose to interact with humans who both feared and worshiped him.  The Spirit of God would come in different forms. And for a period of time Through his Spirit God manifested himself into a human form into the womb of a  Holy virgin woman known as Mary. It is testified that the child of God and man was named Jesus, who lived and interacted with mankind for 33 years. When the mortal Jesus was ready to begin His ministry as a teacher to humankind the Spirit of God came upon him in the form of a dove.  From the Heavens, the Creator graced some human witnesses hear and bear testimony to His statement of pleasure with the righteous actions of Jesus, His human son. It was during this moment that  In time some mortal zealots who associated themselves with the Creator, but did not know or hear Him speak, perceived His son Jesus as a threat to their power over the people. The mortal zealots condemned and put Jesus to death. To let humans witness and give testimony that Jesus human form truly died, Roman guards were placed in front of Jesus tomb to make sure no one stole his corpse.  For three days the tomb was not disturbed. At that moment, the Spirit of God that creates life, resurrected Jesus dead mortal corpse to an imperishable living immortal Spirit.

Origen

De Principiis (Book I)
Chapter 2. On Christ.

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according to the expression of Solomon: The Lord created me — the beginning of His ways, and among His works, before He made any other thing; He founded me before the ages. In the beginning, before He formed the earth, before He brought forth the fountains of waters, before the mountains were made strong, before all the hills, He brought me forth. He is also styled First-born, as the apostle has declared: who is the first-born of every creature. The first-born, however, is not by nature a different person from the Wisdom, but one and the same. Finally, the Apostle Paul says that Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Let no one, however, imagine that we mean anything impersonal when we call Him the wisdom of God; or suppose, for example, that we understand Him to be, not a living being endowed with wisdom, but something which makes men wise, giving itself to, and implanting itself in, the minds of those who are made capable of receiving His virtues and intelligence. If, then, it is once rightly understood that the only-begotten Son of God is His wisdom hypostatically existing.

And therefore we must believe that Wisdom was generated before any beginning that can be either comprehended or expressed. And since all the creative power of the coming creation was included in this very existence of Wisdom (whether of those things which have an original or of those which have a derived existence), having been formed beforehand and arranged by the power of foreknowledge; on account of these very creatures which had been described, as it were, and prefigured in Wisdom herself, does Wisdom say, in the words of Solomon, that she was created the beginning of the ways of God, inasmuch as she contained within herself either the beginnings, or forms, or species of all creation.

Wisdom was the beginning of the ways of God, and is said to be created, forming beforehand and containing within herself the species and beginnings of all creatures, must we understand her to be the Word of God, because of her disclosing to all other beings, i.e., to universal creation, the nature of the mysteries and secrets which are contained within the divine wisdom; and on this account she is called the Word, because she is, as it were, the interpreter of the secrets of the mind. And therefore that language which is found in the Acts of Paul, where it is said that here is the Word a living being, appears to me to be rightly used. John, however, with more sublimity and propriety, says in the beginning of his Gospel, when defining God by a special definition to be the Word, And God was the Word, and this was in the beginning with God. Let him, then, who assigns a beginning to the Word or Wisdom of God, take care that he be not guilty of impiety against the unbegotten Father Himself, seeing he denies that He had always been a Father, and had generated the Word, and had possessed wisdom in all preceding periods, whether they be called times or ages, or anything else that can be so entitled.

The Apostle Paul says, that the only-begotten Son is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature. And when writing to the Hebrews, he says of Him that He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person. Now, we find in the treatise called the Wisdom of Solomon the following description of the wisdom of God: For she is the breath of the power of God, and the purest efflux of the glory of the Almighty. Nothing that is polluted can therefore come upon her. For she is the splendour of the eternal light, and the stainless mirror of God's working, and the image of His goodness. Now we say, as before, that Wisdom has her existence nowhere else save in Him who is the beginning of all things: from whom also is derived everything that is wise, because He Himself is the only one who is by nature a Son, and is therefore termed the Only-begotten.

But the image of the Son of God, of whom we are now speaking, may be compared to the second of the above examples, even in respect of this, that He is the invisible image of the invisible God, in the same manner as we say, according to the sacred history, that the image of Adam is his son Seth. The words are, And Adam begot Seth in his own likeness, and after his own image. Now this image contains the unity of nature and substance belonging to Father and Son. For if the Son do, in like manner, all those things which the Father does, then, in virtue of the Son doing all things like the Father, is the image of the Father formed in the Son, who is born of Him, like an act of His will proceeding from the mind.

so after some such fashion is the Father to be supposed as having begotten the Son, His own image; namely, so that, as He is Himself invisible by nature, He also begot an image that was invisible. For the Son is the Word, and therefore we are not to understand that anything in Him is cognisable by the senses. He is wisdom, and in wisdom there can be no suspicion of anything corporeal. He is the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world; but He has nothing in common with the light of this sun. Our Saviour, therefore, is the image of the invisible God, inasmuch as compared with the Father Himself He is the truth: and as compared with us, to whom He reveals the Father, He is the image by which we come to the knowledge of the Father, whom no one knows save the Son, and he to whom the Son is pleased to reveal Him. And the method of revealing Him is through the understanding. For He by whom the Son Himself is understood, understands, as a consequence, the Father also, according to His own words: He that has seen Me, has seen the Father also.

But since we quoted the language of Paul regarding Christ, where He says of Him that He is the brightness of the glory of God, and the express figure of His person, let us see what idea we are to form of this. According to John, God is light. The only-begotten Son, therefore, is the glory of this light, proceeding inseparably from (God) Himself, as brightness does from light, and illuminating the whole of creation. For, agreeably to what we have already explained as to the manner in which He is the Way, and conducts to the Father; and in which He is the Word, interpreting the secrets of wisdom, and the mysteries of knowledge, making them known to the rational creation; and is also the Truth, and the Life, and the Resurrection, — in the same way ought we to understand also the meaning of His being the brightness: for it is by its splendour that we understand and feel what light itself is. And this splendour, presenting itself gently and softly to the frail and weak eyes of mortals, and gradually training, as it were, and accustoming them to bear the brightness of the light, when it has put away from them every hindrance and obstruction to vision, according to the Lord's own precept, Cast forth the beam out of your eye, renders them capable of enduring the splendour of the light, being made in this respect also a sort of mediator between men and the light.

to show that the Son of God, who was in the form of God, divesting Himself (of His glory), makes it His object, by this very divesting of Himself, to demonstrate to us the fullness of His deity. 

the Son of God, divesting Himself of His equality with the Father, and showing to us the way to the knowledge of Him, is made the express image of His person: so that we, who were unable to look upon the glory of that marvellous light when placed in the greatness of His Godhead, may, by His being made to us brightness, obtain the means of beholding the divine light by looking upon the brightness.

the Son of God, though placed in the very insignificant form of a human body, in consequence of the resemblance of His works and power to the Father, showed that there was in Him an immense and invisible greatness, inasmuch as He said to His disciples, He who sees Me, sees the Father also; and, I and the Father are one. And to these belong also the similar expression, "The Father is in Me, and I in the Father."

Let us see now what is the meaning of the expression which is found in the Wisdom of Solomon, where it is said of Wisdom that it is a kind of breath of the power of God, and the purest efflux of the glory of the Omnipotent, and the splendour of eternal light, and the spotless mirror of the working or power of God, and the image of His goodness. These, then, are the definitions which he gives of God, pointing out by each one of them certain attributes which belong to the Wisdom of God, calling wisdom the power, and the glory, and the everlasting light, and the working, and the goodness of God. He does not say, however, that wisdom is the breath of the glory of the Almighty, nor of the everlasting light, nor of the working of the Father, nor of His goodness, for it was not appropriate that breath should be ascribed to any one of these; but, with all propriety, he says that wisdom is the breath of the power of God. Now, by the power of God is to be understood that by which He is strong; by which He appoints, restrains, and governs all things visible and invisible; which is sufficient for all those things which He rules over in His providence; among all which He is present, as if one individual. And although the breath of all this mighty and immeasurable power, and the vigour itself produced, so to speak, by its own existence, proceed from the power itself, as the will does from the mind, yet even this will of God is nevertheless made to become the power of God.

Let us now examine the expression, Wisdom is the purest efflux of the glory of the Almighty; and let us first consider what the glory of the omnipotent God is, and then we shall also understand what is its efflux. As no one can be a father without having a son, nor a master without possessing a servant, so even God cannot be called omnipotent unless there exist those over whom He may exercise His power; and therefore, that God may be shown to be almighty, it is necessary that all things should exist.

 Wisdom, through which God is called omnipotent, has a share in the glory of the Almighty. For through Wisdom, which is Christ, God has power over all things, not only by the authority of a ruler, but also by the voluntary obedience of subjects. And that you may understand that the omnipotence of Father and Son is one and the same, as God and the Lord are one and the same with the Father, listen to the manner in which John speaks in the Apocalypse: Thus says the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. For who else was He which is to come than Christ? And as no one ought to be offended, seeing God is the Father, that the Savior is also God; so also, since the Father is called omnipotent, no one ought to be offended that the Son of God is also called omnipotent. For in this way will that saying be true which He utters to the Father, All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now, if all things which are the Father's are also Christ's, certainly among those things which exist is the omnipotence of the Father; and doubtless the only-begotten Son ought to be omnipotent, that the Son also may have all things which the Father possesses. And I am glorified in them, He declares. For at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father. Therefore He is the efflux of the glory of God in this respect, that He is omnipotent— the pure and limpid Wisdom herself — glorified as the efflux of omnipotence or of glory. And that it may be more clearly understood what the glory of omnipotence is, we shall add the following. God the Father is omnipotent, because He has power over all things, i.e., over heaven and earth, sun, moon, and stars, and all things in them. And He exercises His power over them by means of His Word, because at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, both of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. And if every knee is bent to Jesus, then, without doubt, it is Jesus to whom all things are subject, and He it is who exercises power over all things, and through whom all things are subject to the Father; for through wisdom, i.e., by word and reason, not by force and necessity, are all things subject. And therefore His glory consists in this very thing, that He possesses all things, and this is the purest and most limpid glory of omnipotence, that by reason and wisdom, not by force and necessity, all things are subject. Now the purest and most limpid glory of wisdom is a convenient expression to distinguish it from that glory which cannot be called pure and sincere. But every nature which is convertible and changeable, although glorified in the works of righteousness or wisdom, yet by the fact that righteousness or wisdom are accidental qualities, and because that which is accidental may also fall away, its glory cannot be called sincere and pure. But the Wisdom of God, which is His only-begotten Son, being in all respects incapable of change or alteration, and every good quality in Him being essential, and such as cannot be changed and converted, His glory is therefore declared to be pure and sincere.

 And this is the idea conveyed by John when he says that God is light. Now His wisdom is the splendour of that light, not only in respect of its being light, but also of being everlasting light, so that His wisdom is eternal and everlasting splendour. If this be fully understood, it clearly shows that the existence of the Son is derived from the Father but not in time, nor from any other beginning, except, as we have said, from God Himself.

But wisdom is also called the stainless mirror of the ἐνέργεια or working of God. We must first understand, then, what the working of the power of God is. It is a sort of vigour, so to speak, by which God operates either in creation, or in providence, or in judgment, or in the disposal and arrangement of individual things, each in its season. For as the image formed in a mirror unerringly reflects all the acts and movements of him who gazes on it, so would Wisdom have herself to be understood when she is called the stainless mirror of the power and working of the Father: as the Lord Jesus Christ also, who is the Wisdom of God, declares of Himself when He says, The works which the Father does, these also does the Son likewise. And again He says, that the Son cannot do anything of Himself, save what He sees the Father do. As therefore the Son in no respect differs from the Father in the power of His works, and the work of the Son is not a different thing from that of the Father, but one and the same movement, so to speak, is in all things, He therefore named Him a stainless mirror, that by such an expression it might be understood that them is no dissimilarity whatever between the Son and the Father. How, indeed, can those things which are said by some to be done after the manner in which a disciple resembles or imitates his master, or according to the view that those things are made by the Son in bodily material which were first formed by the Father in their spiritual essence, agree with the declarations of Scripture, seeing in the Gospel the Son is said to do not similar things, but the same things in a similar manner?

For there is no other second goodness existing in the Son, save that which is in the Father. And therefore also the Saviour Himself rightly says in the Gospel, There is none good save one only, God the Father, that by such an expression it may be understood that the Son is not of a different goodness, but of that only which exists in the Father, of whom He is rightly termed the image, because He proceeds from no other source but from that primal goodness, lest there might appear to be in the Son a different goodness from that which is in the Father. Nor is there any dissimilarity or difference of goodness in the Son. And therefore it is not to be imagined that there is a kind of blasphemy, as it were, in the words, There is none good save one only, God the Father, as if thereby it may be supposed to be denied that either Christ or the Holy Spirit was good. But, as we have already said, the primal goodness is to be understood as residing in God the Father, from whom both the Son is born and the Holy Spirit proceeds, retaining within them, without any doubt, the nature of that goodness which is in the source whence they are derived. And if there be any other things which in Scripture are called good, whether angel, or man, or servant, or treasure, or a good heart, or a good tree, all these are so termed characteristically, having in them an accidental, not an essential goodness. But it would require both much time and labor to collect together all the titles of the Son of God, such, e.g., as the true light, or the door, or the righteousness, or the sanctification, or the redemption, and countless others; and to show for what reasons each one of them is so given.

Proverbs 25

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26 Like a muddied spring and a polluted well,

so is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.

 

Matthew 3

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3:16 After 27  Jesus was baptized, just as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove 31  and coming on him. 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.” 

 

[wiley]

From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 8 December 1818

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I know not how to prove physically that We Shall meet and know each other in a future State; Nor does Revelation, As I can find give Us any positive Assurance of Such a felicity. My reasons for believing, it, as I do, most undoubtedly, are all moral and divine.

I believe in God and in his Wisdom and Benevolence: and I cannot conceive that Such a Being could make Such a Species as the human merely to live and die on this Earth. If I did not believe a future State I Should believe in no God. This Universe; this all; this Το Παν; would appear with all its Swelling Pomp, a boyish Fire Work.

And if there be a future State Why Should the Almighty dissolve forever all the tender Ties which Unite Us So delightfully in this World and forbid Us to See each other in the next?

 Πάν (Pan) the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs.

From Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 15 August 1820

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let me turn to your puzzling letter of May 12. on matter, spirit, motion Etc. it’s croud of scepticisms kept me from sleep. I read it, & laid it down: read it, and laid it down, again, and again: and to give rest to my mind, I was obliged to recur ultimately to my habitual anodyne, ‘I feel: therefore I exist.’ I feel bodies which are not myself: there are other existences then. I call them matter. I feel them changing place. this gives me motion. where there is an absence of matter, I call it void, or nothing, or immaterial space. on the basis of sensation, of matter and motion, we may erect the fabric of all the certainties we can have or need. I can conceive thought to be an action of a particular organisation of matter, formed for that purpose by it’s creator, as well as that attraction is an action of matter, or magnetism of loadstone. when he who denies to the Creator the power of endowing matter with the mode of action called thinking shall show how he could endow the Sun with the mode of action called attraction, which reins the planets in the tract of their orbits, or how an absence of matter can have a will, and, by that will; put matter into motion, then the materialist may be lawfully required to explain the process by which matter exercises the faculty of thinking. when once we quit the basis of sensation all is in the wind. to talk of immaterial existences is to talk of nothings. to say that the human soul, angels, God, are immaterial, is to say they are nothings, or that there is no god, no angels, no soul. I cannot reason otherwise: but I believe I am supported in my creed of materialism by Locke, Tracy, & Stewart. at what age of the Christian church this heresy of immaterialism this masked atheism crept in, I do not know. but a heresy it certainly is. Jesus taught nothing of it. he told us indeed that ‘God is a spirit,’ but he has not defined what a spirit is, nor said that it is not matter. and the ancient fathers generally, if not universally, held it to be matter: light and thin indeed, an ethereal gas; but still matter. Origen says ‘Deus reapse corporalis est; sed graviorum tantum corporum ratione. incorporeus.’ [God is in very fact corporeal, but, by reason of so much heavier bodies, incorporeal]   Tertullian ‘quid enim deus nisi corpus?’ and again ‘quis negabit deum esse corpus? etsi deus spiritus, spiritus etiam corpus est, sui generis in sua effigie.’ St Justin Martyr ‘το θειον φαμεν ειναι αςωματον· ουκ ὁτι αςωματον·—επειδη δε το μη κρατειςθαι ὑπο τινος, του κρατειςθαι τιμιωτερον εςτι δια τουτο καλουμεν αυτον αςωματον.’ and St Macarius, speaking of angels, says ‘quamvis enim subtilia sint, tamen in substantiâ, formâ et figurâ, secundum tenuitatem naturae eorum, corpora sunt tenuia.’ and St. Austin, St Basil, Lactantius, Tatian, Athenagoras and others, with whose writings I pretend not a familiarity, are said by those who are, to deliver the same doctrine. turn to your Ocellus d’Argens 97. 105. and to his Timeaus 17. for these quotations. in England these Immaterialists might have been burnt until the 29. Car. 2. when the writ de haeretico comburendo was abolished: and here until the revolution, that statute not having extended to us. all heresies being now done away with us, these schismatists are merely atheists, differing from the material Atheist only in their belief that ‘nothing made something,’ and from the material deist who believes that matter alone can operate on matter.  Rejecting all organs of information therefore but my senses, I rid myself of the Pyrrhonisms with which an indulgence in speculations hyperphysical and antiphysical so uselessly occupy and disquiet the mind. a single sense may indeed be sometimes deceived, but rarely; and never all our senses together, with their faculty of reasoning. they evidence realities; and there are enough of these for all the purposes of life, without plunging into the fathomless abyss of dreams & phantasms. I am satisfied, and sufficiently occupied with the things which are, without tormenting or troubling myself about those which may indeed be, but of which I have no evidence. I am sure that I really know many, many, things, and none more surely than that I love you with all my heart, and pray for the continuance of your life until you shall be tired of it yourself.

https://books.google.com/books?id=tvhKDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT80&ots=Qxx8kFfKmp&dq=Deus reapse corporalis est%3B sed graviorum tantum corporum ratione. incorporeus&pg=PT80#v=onepage&q=Deus reapse corporalis est; sed graviorum tantum corporum ratione. incorporeus&f=false

Jefferson uses the writings of Origen to support his argument that human soul, angels, God have a material existence. In his work De Principlis (Book 1) Chapter 1.,  Origen properly distinguishes our Creator from a shadow or image that has no lasting substance. He then correctly states the Creator is incomprehensible and cannot be measured. He considers the Spirit of God to be an intellectual existence and source of natural world. Origen further defines this Divine Intellect to be one species within itself; and without the properties of matter that would impede its movements and operations within the laws of Nature. Origen proposes a second argument, that the Creator consists of composite of all matter and is bound within the limits of a material body that exists in all of His Creation.  As a naturalist, Jefferson accepts this reasoning that is our Creator is made up of a composition of all elements in His creation.

 

Using Plato's logic that everything that becomes or changes must do so owing to some cause; for nothing can come to be without a cause.

The traditional view has been that God is timeless in the sense of being outside time altogether; that is, he exists but does not exist at any point in time and he does not experience temporal succession. 

God alone has causal power

Torah explains that before Creation there was only God and nothing else as is seen in the highest Name the letter "Yud". When it came time for Creation the want and will of God to Create a universe which meant expansion of the Holy Name the Holy Name Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey how this Creation came about by G-D's use of the 10 Sefirot would be too great a task to explain here but basically we find "And God said let there be..."

The Creation made no change in the Creator God was, is and always will be but the Creation is available to those Created as an order always vivified by God since God must know the Creation in order to keep it as it is, yet allow for His change according to his will. The body sees a Creation while the soul sees only The Infinite One God.

Having the gift from God, "the Freedom to choose" to serve God and always do God's Will here on earth makes us partners in creation. Being that God's Will was revealed to the People of Israel on Mount Sinai and spread to the world in the Torah we have Freedom to choose to do so. If a human does the opposite of God's Will it is in God's realm to alter the cosmic plan of Creation that He Himself devised, that He Himself wants but since nothing exists but God, including the universe and this "nothing" is not above the knowledge that "nothing is too hard for God" and "Our wisdom is not His Wisdom", it is a fundamental theme in Torah that we must do God's will yet we have Freedom to serve or not and if we go against God's will, it is still a lack on our part as partners with God here on earth but this itself is God's Will and will not upset the cosmic original plan.

 They regard God as a creative agent in the sense that his activity presupposes nothing outside of him, not even matter.

everything that becomes or changes must do so owing to some cause; for nothing can come to be without a cause. — Plato in Timaeus

Origen argues against a composite God, unless before the beginning there was a composition of elements. He then proposes an idea the God may not be invisible to himself.

Like the Jefferson the Naturalist and Origen the Christian Philosopher, the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities believe that there is a Creator of the Universe.  Their mistake is that they try to comprehend the Creator by likening Him to creatures.

 

 who is the Lord, and Power to the Truth of His Living Word and Breath of eternal life through His Grace of selfless Love.

the breath of God which disperses His life-force, His energy and His intentions/mind. It is Yahweh's Spirit which is is omnipresent, but also can be directed in specific ways for specific purposes. It is not His actual Person (which remains incorporeal and outside of the physical dimension) that manifests itself in the world, or which comes to dwell in the hearts and lives of His people.

Origen

De Principiis (Book I)
Chapter 1. On God.

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 It is the custom of sacred Scripture, when it wishes to designate anything opposed to this gross and solid body, to call it spirit, as in the expression, The letter kills, but the spirit gives life, where there can be no doubt that by letter are meant bodily things, and by spirit intellectual things, which we also term spiritual. 

in respect that the Holy Spirit is an intellectual existence and subsists and exists in a peculiar manner, whereas medicine is not at all of that nature.

God is a Spirit, and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And observe how logically He has joined together the spirit and the truth: He called God a Spirit, that He might distinguish Him from bodies; and He named Him the truth, to distinguish Him from a shadow or an image. For they who worshiped in Jerusalem worshiped God neither in truth nor in spirit, being in subjection to the shadow or image of heavenly things; and such also was the case with those who worshiped on Mount Gerizim.

 Having refuted, then, as well as we could, every notion which might suggest that we were to think of God as in any degree corporeal, we go on to say that, according to strict truth, God is incomprehensible, and incapable of being measured. For whatever be the knowledge which we are able to obtain of God, either by perception or reflection, we must of necessity believe that He is by many degrees far better than what we perceive Him to be.

Our eyes frequently cannot look upon the nature of the light itself — that is, upon the substance of the sun; but when we behold his splendor or his rays pouring in, perhaps, through windows or some small openings to admit the light, we can reflect how great is the supply and source of the light of the body. So, in like manner. the works of Divine Providence and the plan of this whole world are a sort of rays, as it were, of the nature of God, in comparison with His real substance and being. As, therefore, our understanding is unable of itself to behold God Himself as He is, it knows the Father of the world from the beauty of His works and the comeliness of His creatures. God, therefore, is not to be thought of as being either a body or as existing in a body, but as an uncompounded intellectual nature, admitting within Himself no addition of any kind; so that He cannot be believed to have within him a greater and a less, but is such that He is in all parts Μονάς, and, so to speak, ῾Ενάς, and is the mind and source from which all intellectual nature or mind takes its beginning.

But mind, for its movements or operations, needs no physical space, nor sensible magnitude, nor bodily shape, nor color, nor any other of those adjuncts which are the properties of body or matter. Wherefore that simple and wholly intellectual nature can admit of no delay or hesitation in its movements or operations, lest the simplicity of the divine nature should appear to be circumscribed or in some degree hampered by such adjuncts, and lest that which is the beginning of all things should be found composite and differing, and that which ought to be free from all bodily inter-mixture, in virtue of being the one sole species of Deity, so to speak, should prove, instead of being one, to consist of many things. That mind, moreover, does not require space in order to carry on its movements agreeably to its nature, is certain from observation of our own mind. For if the mind abide within its own limits, and sustain no injury from any cause, it will never, from diversity of situation, be retarded in the discharge of its functions; nor, on the other hand, does it gain any addition or increase of mobility from the nature of particular places.

for we human beings are animals composed of a union of body and soul, and in this way (only) was it possible for us to live upon the earth. But God, who is the beginning of all things, is not to be regarded as a composite being, lest perchance there should be found to exist elements prior to the beginning itself, out of which everything is composed, whatever that be which is called composite. Neither does the mind require bodily magnitude in order to perform any act or movement; as when the eye by gazing upon bodies of larger size is dilated, but is compressed and contracted in order to see smaller objects. The mind, indeed, requires magnitude of an intellectual kind, because it grows, not after the fashion of a body, but after that of intelligence. For the mind is not enlarged, together with the body, by means of corporal additions, up to the twentieth or thirtieth year of life; but the intellect is sharpened by exercises of learning, and the powers implanted within it for intelligent purposes are called forth; and it is rendered capable of greater intellectual efforts, not being increased by bodily additions, but carefully polished by learned exercises. But these it cannot receive immediately from boyhood, or from birth, because the framework of limbs which the mind employs as organs for exercising itself is weak and feeble; and it is unable to bear the weight of its own operations, or to exhibit a capacity for receiving training.

 I do not perceive, however, who shall be able to describe or state what is the color of the mind, in respect of its being mind, and acting as an intelligent existence. Moreover, in confirmation and explanation of what we have already advanced regarding the mind or soul— to the effect that it is better than the whole bodily nature — the following remarks may be added. There underlies every bodily sense a certain peculiar sensible substance, on which the bodily sense exerts itself. For example, colors, form, size, underlie vision; voices and sound, the sense of hearing; odours, good or bad, that of smell; savours, that of taste; heat or cold, hardness or softness, roughness or smoothness, that of touch. Now, of those senses enumerated above, it is manifest to all that the sense of mind is much the best.

And if you should ask of me what is my opinion regarding the Only-begotten Himself, whether the nature of God, which is naturally invisible, be not visible even to Him, let not such a question appear to you at once to be either absurd or impious, because we shall give you a logical reason. It is one thing to see, and another to know: to see and to be seen is a property of bodies; to know and to be known, an attribute of intellectual being. Whatever, therefore, is a property of bodies, cannot be predicated either of the Father or of the Son; but what belongs to the nature of deity is common to the Father and the Son. Finally, even He Himself, in the Gospel, did not say that no one has seen the Father, save the Son, nor any one the Son, save the Father; but His words are: No one knows the Son, save the Father; nor any one the Father, save the Son. By which it is clearly shown, that whatever among bodily natures is called seeing and being seen, is termed, between the Father and the Son, a knowing and being known, by means of the power of knowledge, not by the frailness of the sense of sight.

 if any one lay before us the passage where it is said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, from that very passage, in my opinion, will our position derive additional strength; for what else is seeing God in heart, but, according to our exposition as above, understanding and knowing Him with the mind? For the names of the organs of sense are frequently applied to the soul, so that it may be said to see with the eyes of the heart, i.e., to perform an intellectual act by means of the power of intelligence.

The ad 543 Synod of Constantinople was a local synod convened to condemn Origen and his views, which was accompanied by an edict of Justinian I in 543 or 544. It was then ratified by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553.

THE ANATHEMAS AGAINST ORIGEN (1) 
The Fifth Ecumenical Council 
The Second Council of Constantinople 
A.D. 553

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VIII

If anyone shall not acknowledge that God the Word, of the same substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and who was made flesh and became man, one of the Trinity, is Christ in every sense of the word, but [shall affirm] that He is so only in an inaccurate manner, and because of the abasement, as they call it, of the intelligence; if anyone shall affirm that this intelligence united to God the Word, is the Christ in the true sense of the word, while the Logos is only called Christ because of this union with the intelligence, and e converso that the intelligence is only called God because of the Logos: let him be anathema.

Shemot - Exodus - Chapter 25

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18 And you shall make two golden cherubim; you shall make them of hammered work, from the two ends of the ark cover.

19 And make one cherub from the one end and the other cherub from the other end; from the ark cover you shall make the cherubim on its two ends.

20 The cherubim shall have their wings spread upwards, shielding the ark cover with their wings, with their faces toward one another; [turned] toward the ark cover shall be the faces of the cherubim.

21 And you shall place the ark cover on the ark from above, and into the ark you shall place the testimony, which I will give you.

22 I will arrange My meetings with you there, and I will speak with you from atop the ark cover from between the two cherubim that are upon the Ark of the Testimony, all that I will command you unto the children of Israel.

 

Shemot - Exodus - Chapter 40

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34 And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.

35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan.

36 When the cloud rose up from over the Mishkan, the children of Israel set out in all their journeys.

37 But if the cloud did not rise up, they did not set out until the day that it rose.

38 For the cloud of the Lord was upon the Mishkan by day, and there was fire within it at night, before the eyes of the entire house of Israel in all their journeys.

 

Bamidbar - Numbers - Chapter 7

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89 When Moses would come into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the voice speaking to him from the two cherubim above the covering which was over the Ark of Testimony, and He spoke to him.

Iyov - Job - Chapter 33

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4 The spirit of God made me, and the breath of the Almighty keeps me alive.

5 If you can, answer me; set up before me and stand.

6 Behold I am like your mouth to God; I was also formed out of clay.

7 Behold my awe will not terrify you, and my coercion will not weigh heavily upon you.

8 You spoke but in my hearing, and the voice of [your] words I have heard.

9' I am innocent without transgression; I am clean, and I have no iniquity.

10 Behold He finds pretenses against me; He considers me His enemy.

11 He puts my feet into the stocks; He watches all my ways.'

12 Behold this. 'You are not right,' I will answer you, for God exceeds man.

13 Why do you contend[argue] with Him because He does not answer any of his matters?

14 For God answers in one way and in two, to one who does not see it.

15 In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls upon men, in the slumbers on the bed.

16 Then He opens the ear of men, and with their chastisement [punishment] He seals [them].

17 To restrain man from a deed; and He covers haughtiness [arrogance] from man.

18 He withholds his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.

19 And he is chastised[punished] with pain on his bed, and most of his bones, [since he is] strong.

20 And his living spirit causes him to abhor[disgust] food, and his soul choice morsels.

21 His flesh is consumed from sight, and his bones are dislocated to unsightliness.

22 And his soul approaches the pit, and his life to the destroyers.

23 If there is an angel over him, an intercessor, one out of a thousand, to declare for a man his uprightness,

24 He is gracious to him, and He says, 'Redeem him from descending to the pit. I have found ransom.'

25 His flesh is more tender than in childhood; he will be restored to the days of his youth.

26 He entreats [prays to] God and placates Him, and He sees His countenance [appearance] in prayer, and He requites [reciprocates] man [according to] his righteousness.

27 He makes a row of men and says, 'I sinned, and I perverted what was straight, but I did not profit.'

28 He redeemed his soul from perishing in the pit, and his living spirit shall see the light.

29 Behold God does all these, twice or thrice with man.

30 To bring back his soul from the pit to be enlightened with the light of life.

Iyov - Job - Chapter 34
 

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9 For he said, 'A man derives no benefit when he desires [to go] with God.'

10 Therefore, men of understanding, hearken to me; far be it for God [to commit] wickedness or for the Almighty to [commit] injustice.

11 For He recompenses man for his deed, and according to man's way He causes him to find.

12 Surely God does not condemn and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

13 Who gave Him a charge over the earth, and who disposed the entire world?

14 If He puts His heart to it, His spirit and His soul He would gather in to Himself.

15 All flesh would perish together, and man would return to the dust.

Iyov - Job - Chapter 35

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11 Who teaches us [more] than the beasts of the earth, and Who makes us wiser than the birds of the skies?'

12 There they cry out and He does not answer, because of the pride of the wicked.

13 Indeed, God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty see it.

14 Surely you who say [that] you do not see Him should present your case before Him and wait for Him.

Iyov - Job - Chapter 36
 

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5 Behold God is great and will not despise; He is great in strength of heart.

6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but He gives the poor their right.

7 He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, and with kings on the throne He seats them to eternity and they are exalted.

8 And if they are bound with chains, are caught with ropes of poverty,

9 He tells them their deed and their transgressions, for they increase.

10 He opens their ears to discipline and commands that they repent of iniquity.

11 If they understand and worship [Him], they will complete their days with goodness and their years with pleasantness.

12 And if they do not take heed, they will pass away by the sword and perish because of lack of knowledge.

13 But the wicked of heart bring about wrath; they do not beg mercy when He binds them.

14 Their soul shall die by strangulation, and their living spirit among the profligate[wasteful].

No one can understand how or why He deals with nature as He does

God’s dwelling place in the spiritual realm of the heaven of heavens is filled with “unapproachable light” 

Iyov - Job - Chapter 36

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26 Behold God is great and we do not know; the number of His years is unfathomable.

27 For He increases drops of water; they pour rain into His cloud.

28 That the heavens drip; yea, they drip because of a great man.

29 Or will one understand the spreading of a cloud, the darkness of His pavilion?

30 Behold He spread His rain over it, and He covered the roots of the sea.

31 For He judges the nations therewith; He gives food to one who has many [children].

32 Over the clouds He covers the rain, and He commands it through one who prays.

 

The "silver cord" joins a person's physical body to its spirit body

consciousness permanently withdraws from the physical body never to return again

Ecclesiastes 12

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6 Before the silver cord is snapped

and the golden bowl is broken,

And the pitcher is shattered at the spring,

and the pulley is broken at the well,

7 And the dust returns to the earth as it once was,

and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

8 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,

all things are vanity!

The Bible describes that a Righteous Spirit (Saint, Child of God) is similar to an angel that eternal, indestructible, shines bright white like the sun. But God will give a righteous spirit the authority to judge nations. In the end, the Righteous Spirit will receive the truth and power of God.

Isaiah (Yeshayahu) prophesied that a righteous servant with an outward marred appearance would be exalted by the Creator as his right hand man. The servant's abasement (shame and humiliation) is given by those who considered him struck down by God.  These oppressors condemn God's servant to suffer and death. Without opposition, He received and accepted his persecutions as an intercession for the sins of many.  In the end, the Righteous Servant was rewarded with fruit of peace and a spirit as bright as a star in the Heavens. And many people saved from sin and death.

The Great Isaiah Scroll

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Chapter 52 :

Verse 13
See, my servant will prosper, and he will be exalted and lifted up, and will be very high.

Verse 14
Just as many were astonished at you-so was he marred in his appearance, more than any human, and his form beyond that of the sons of humans-

Verse 15
so will he startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for what had not been told them they will see; and what they had not heard they will understand.

Chapter 53 

Verse 1
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

Verse 2
For he grew up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground; he had no form and he had no majesty that we should look at him, and had no attractiveness that we should desire him.

Verse 3
He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces and we despised him, and we did not value him.

Verse 4
Surely he has borne our sufferings, and carried our sorrows; yet we considered him stricken, and struck down by God, and afflicted.

Verse 5
But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

Verse 6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each of us, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Verse 7
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Verse 8
From detention and judgment he was taken away-and who can even think about his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living, he was stricken for the transgression of my people.

Verse 9
Then they made his grave with the wicked, and with rich people his tomb-although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Verse 10
Yet the LORD was willing to crush him, and he made him suffer. Although you make his soul an offering for sin, and he will see his offspring, and he will prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will triumph in his hand.

Verse 11
Out of the suffering of his soul he will see light, and find satisfaction. And through his knowledge his servant, the righteous one, will make many righteous, and he will bear their iniquities.

Verse 12
Therefore will I allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong; because he poured out his life to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for their transgressions.

Yechezkel - Ezekiel - Chapter 2

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2 Now the spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and it stood me on my feet, and I heard what was being spoken to me.

Yechezkel - Ezekiel - Chapter 3

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14 And a wind lifted me and took me, and I went, embittered in the wrath of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord became strong upon me.

15 And I came to the exiled, to Tel Aviv, who dwelt by the river Chebar, and I dwelt where they were dwelling, and I sat there seven days bewildered among them.

Daniel - Chapter 7

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13 I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him.

14 And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.

Daniel - Chapter 12

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1 Now at that time, Michael, the great prince, who stands over the children of your people, will be silent, and it will be a time of distress that never was since a nation existed until that time, and at that time, your people will escape, everyone who is found inscribed in the book.

2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken-these for eternal life, and those for disgrace, for eternal abhorrence.

3 And the wise will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who bring the multitudes to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.

Wisdom 3

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1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. 2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, 3 And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4 For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. 5 And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. 6 As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. 7 And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 8 They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever. 9 They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he hath care for his elect. 10 But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord. 

Matthew 13

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36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world and the good seed are the people of the kingdom. The poisonous weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 As the poisonous weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everything that causes sin as well as all lawbreakers. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears had better listen!

Matthew 22

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23 The same day Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to him and asked him, 24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and father children for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children he left his wife to his brother. 26 The second did the same, and the third, down to the seventh. 27 Last of all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her.” 29 Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the scriptures or the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 Now as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living!” 33 When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.

The phrase will overshadow is a reference to God’s glorious presence at work

Luke 1

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28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. 30 So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! 31 Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not been intimate with a man?” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God.

Luke 20

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34 So Jesus said to them, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are regarded as worthy to share in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. 36 In fact, they can no longer die, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, since they are sons of the resurrection. 37 But even Moses revealed that the dead are raised in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live before him.” 

Metaphorically the daylight hours represented the Father’s will. Jesus was safe as long as He did the Father’s will. For the disciples, as long as they continued to follow Jesus, the Light of the World, they would not stumble. Walking in the night pictures behaving without divine illumination or authorization. Living in the realm of darkness (i.e., evil) is dangerous (cf. 1 John 1:6).

John 11

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8 The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?” 9 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If anyone walks around in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Acts 9

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1...Saul, still breathing out threats to murder the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he was going along, approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 So he said, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting! 6 But stand up and enter the city and you will be told what you must do.” 7 (Now the men who were traveling with him stood there speechless, because they heard the voice but saw no one.) 8 So Saul got up from the ground, but although his eyes were open, he could see nothing. Leading him by the hand, his companions brought him into Damascus. 9 For three days he could not see, and he neither ate nor drank anything.

10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he replied, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 Then the Lord told him, “Get up and go to the street called ‘Straight,’ and at Judas’ house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he may see again.” 13 But Ananias replied, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call on your name!” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

Romans 8

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5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 11 Moreover if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

1 Corinthians 15

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20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man. 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death. 27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. 28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

1 Corinthians 15

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39 All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another. 15:40 And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another. 15:41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.

42 It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – 52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen,

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! 58 So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

The “man” of whom Paul spoke in the third person was himself (cf. vv. 7-9). He referred to himself this way probably out of reluctance to speak of this matter. Moreover he wanted to minimize the effect of boasting, which citing such a spectacular experience would have produced.

Paul could not tell (did not know) whether God had transported him physically into the third heaven (cf. Acts 8:39; 1 Thess. 4:17) or whether his experience had been a vision (cf. Gen. 15:12-21; Ezek. 1:1). The third heaven probably represents the presence of God. It could be a technical description of God’s abode above the cloudy heavens overhead and beyond the farthest reaches of space that man can perceive. “Paradise”

2 Corinthians 12

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Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) 4 was caught up into paradise and heard things too sacred to be put into words, things that a person is not permitted to speak. 

2 Corinthians 4

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2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God. 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5

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23 Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Hebrews 4

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12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is unclothed and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

Seven Spirits of God (the seven principal angels of God?). That is, they communicate to Christ all that transpires. The Lamb is omniscient as well as omnipotent.

Amesha Spenta is a Zoroastrian meaning 'furthering, strengthening, bounteous, holy'.

1. Vohu Manah -Middle Persian -'Good Mind' - Vahman or Bahman of cattle (and all animal creation) 
2. Asha Vahista - Middle Persian - 'Supreme Truth - Ardwahisht of fire (and all other luminaries) 
3. Kshathra Vairya - Middle Persian - 'Excellent Dominion' - Shahrevar of metals (and minerals) 
4. Spenta Armaiti - Middle Persian - 'Benign Thought' - Spendarmad of earth 
5. Haurvatat - Middle Persian - 'Perfection' - Hordad or Khordad of water 
6. Ameretat - Middle Persian - 'Deathlessness' - Amurdad of plants 
7. Ahura Mazda - Middle Persian - the guardian of humankind

Chakras

Chakras, otherwise knows as the energy centers of the human body, have the function of grounding spiritual energies into the physical plane. There are seven chakras altogether, and these are:

The Root Chakra –is our connection to the earth and the physical plane and a symbol of our basic survival needs (location: base of the spine)

The Second Chakra –is representative of our creative and procreative urges and drives, including sexuality (location: the genitals)

The Third Chakra –is the energy center for power and manifestation (location: solar plexus)

The Fourth Chakra – is the energy center for love, both human and divine (location: heart)

The Fifth Chakra – is the center for expression and communication (location: throat)

The Sixth Chakra – is the center for our psychic powers (location: third eye just above and between the eyebrows)

The Crown Chakra – otherwise known as he 1,000 petaled lotus flower is our connection with the Cosmic or the divine (location: top of the head)

In the New Testament, the Greek term "Dynamis" (translated by some as "Virtues") suggests a class of exalted spiritual beings; perhaps parallel to the "chief Princes" (Sar rishown) in the Old Testament, of which the Archangel Michael is stated to be one (Daniel 10:13)

Seven Virtues

Faith is belief in the right things (including the virtues!).
Hope is taking a positive future view, that good will prevail.
Charity is concern for, and active helping of, others.
Fortitude is never giving up.
Justice is being fair and equitable with others. 
Prudence is care of and moderation with money.
Temperance is moderation of needed things and abstinence from things which are not needed.

In physics, there is absolute frame of reference when it comes to light or any object moving in space. And simultaneous observations of light or any object to not have identical viewpoints. Only light has a constant speed. Other objects speed is variable.

1 Timothy 6

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14 to obey this command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ 15 – whose appearing the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time. 16 He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

Revelation 1

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1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must happen very soon. He made it clear by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who then testified to everything that he saw concerning the word of God and the testimony about Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near!

4  From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “he who is,” and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood 6 and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father – to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen.

7  (Look! He is returning with the clouds,

and every eye will see him,

even those who pierced him,

and all the tribes on the earth will mourn because of him.

This will certainly come to pass! Amen.)

Revelation 2

1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the following:

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“This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has a firm grasp on the seven stars in his right hand – the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands: 2 ‘I know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. 

Revelation 3

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“This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a reputation that you are alive, but in reality you are dead.

Revelation 4

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 5 From the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, were burning in front of the throne 6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Revelation 5

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6 Then I saw standing in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb that appeared to have been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

[Wisdom 8

1 Indeed, she spans the world from end to end mightily

and governs all things well.

2 Her I loved and sought after from my youth;

I sought to take her for my bride*

and was enamored of her beauty.

3 She adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God;

even the Ruler of all loved her.

4 For she leads into the understanding of God,

and chooses his works.

5
If riches are desirable in life,

what is richer than Wisdom, who produces all things?d

6
And if prudence is at work,

who in the world is a better artisan than she?

7
Or if one loves righteousness,

whose works are virtues,

She teaches moderation and prudence,

righteousness and fortitude,*

and nothing in life is more useful than these.

8
Or again, if one yearns for wide experience,

she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come.

She understands the turns of phrases and the solutions of riddles;

signs and wonders she knows in advance

and the outcome of times and ages.]

Revelation 7

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13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These dressed in long white robes – who are they and where have they come from?” 14 So I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, 17 because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 1

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9 I, John, your brother and the one who shares with you in the persecution, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 11 saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches – to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

Revelation 1

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12 I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me, and when I did so, I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was dressed in a robe extending down to his feet and he wore a wide golden belt around his chest. 14 His head and hair were as white as wool, even as white as snow, and his eyes were like a fiery flame. 15 His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword extended out of his mouth. His face shone like the sun shining at full strength. 17 When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, 18 and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! 19 Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things. 20 The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation 21

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5 And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.” 6 He also said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.”

To the people of many ancient civilizations, the planets were thought to be deities

He has used his observations of their movements to shape his beliefs in his gods, whose stability and everlasting power were manifested in the stars and planets. Thus, �The sky was a text from which one could get information if one were skilled at asking the right questions� (2). unclothed-eye astronomical observations and calculations by ancient civilizations were used to develop their religious practices and integrate them into everyday life. This was seen in the gods that they worshipped, the structure of their places of worship, how they buried their dead, when they celebrated religious festivals, in telling what the future held, and how the reigns of their rulers were justified.

 the Catholic Church supported the Big Bang theory even before most cosmologists did. This "day without yesterday" was seen as being consistent with the creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) as described in the Book of Genesis.

"[Galileo] was convinced that God has given us two books, the book of Sacred Scripture and the book of Nature. And the language of Nature -- this was his conviction -- was mathematics, so it is the language of God, a language of the Creator. The surprising thing is that this invention of our human intellect is truly key to understanding Nature, that Nature is truly structured in a mathematical way, and that our mathematics, invented by our human mind, is truly the instrument for working with Nature, to put it at our service, to use it through technology."

Greek astronomers employed the term asteres planetai (ἀστέρες πλανῆται), "wandering stars",to describe those star like lights in the heavens that moved over the course of the year, in contrast to the asteres aplaneis (ἀστέρες ἀπλανεῖς), the "fixed stars", which stayed motionless relative to one another. The five bodies currently called "planets" that were known to the Greeks were those visible to the unclothed eye: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

An Incorporeal existence is without a physical body, presence or form that can readily observed or measured. In science there exists and incorporeal substance known as dark matter and an incorporeal force known as dark energy causing our visible universe to spread out.  Right now mankind is creating an artificial super intelligence in hopes of re-engineering our known universe and answering our most profound question of why do we exist. 

Many creatures in nature use chemical pheromones to communicate. One cell bacteria communicates energy sources with other bacteria.

the soul as emphatically more definitive than the scientific concept. It's considered the incorporeal essence of a person, and is said to be immortal and transcendent of material existence.

the idea of a self that is founded on the soul and extends beyond the physical and could survive after the body dies.

A soul has no extension. It is an 'immaterial particular', to use an old-fashioned philosophical term. It does, of course, have characteristics, properties. It has thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and so on.

Origen

De Principiis (Book I)

Chapter 7. On Incorporeal and Corporeal Beings

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All souls and all rational natures, whether holy or wicked, were formed or created, and all these, according to their proper nature, are incorporeal; but although incorporeal, they were nevertheless created, because all things were made by God through Christ, as John teaches in a general way in his Gospel, saying, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. The Apostle Paul, moreover, describing created things by species and numbers and orders, speaks as follows, when showing that all things were made through Christ: And in Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and in Him: and He is before all, and He is the head. He therefore manifestly declares that in Christ and through Christ were all things made and created, whether things visible, which are corporeal, or things invisible, which I regard as none other than incorporeal and spiritual powers. But of those things which he had termed generally corporeal or incorporeal, he seems to me, in the words that follow, to enumerate the various kinds, viz., thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, influences.

when it is said that all things were made by Him, and that in Him were all things created, both things in heaven and things on earth, there can be no doubt that also those things which are in the firmament, which is called heaven, and in which those luminaries are said to be placed, are included among the number of heavenly things. And secondly, seeing that the course of the discussion has manifestly discovered that all things were made or created, and that among created things there is nothing which may not admit of good and evil, and be capable of either, what are we to think of the following opinion which certain of our friends entertain regarding sun, moon, and stars, viz., that they are unchangeable, and incapable of becoming the opposite of what they are? Not a few have held that view even regarding the holy angels, and certain heretics also regarding souls, which they call spiritual natures

We think, then, that they may be designated as living beings, for this reason, that they are said to receive commandments from God, which is ordinarily the case only with rational beings. I have given a commandment to all the stars, says the Lord. What, now, are these commandments? Those, namely, that each star, in its order and course, should bestow upon the world the amount of splendor which has been entrusted to it. For those which are called planets move in orbits of one kind, and those which are termed ἀπλανεῖς[stars] are different. Now it manifestly follows from this, that neither can the movement of that body take place without a soul, nor can living things be at any time without motion. And seeing that the stars move with such order and regularity, that their movements never appear to be at any time subject to derangement, would it not be the height of folly to say that so orderly an observance of method and plan could be carried out or accomplished by irrational beings? In the writings of Jeremiah, indeed, the moon is called the queen of heaven. Yet if the stars are living and rational beings, there will undoubtedly appear among them both an advance and a falling back. For the language of Job, the stars are not clean in His sight, seems to me to convey some such idea.

And now we have to ascertain whether those beings which in the course of the discussion we have discovered to possess life and reason, were endowed with a soul along with their bodies at the time mentioned in Scripture, when God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars also, or whether their spirit was implanted in them, not at the creation of their bodies, but from without, after they had been already made. I, for my part, suspect that the spirit was implanted in them from without; but it will be worth while to prove this from Scripture: for it will seem an easy matter to make the assertion on conjectural grounds, while it is more difficult to establish it by the testimony of Scripture.

If the soul of a man, which is certainly inferior while it remains the soul of a man, was not formed along with his body, but is proved to have been implanted strictly from without, much more must this be the case with those living beings which are called heavenly. For, as regards man, how could the soul of him, viz., Jacob, who supplanted his brother in the womb, appear to be formed along with his body? Or how could his soul, or its images, be formed along with his body, who, while lying in his mother's womb, was filled with the Holy Ghost? I refer to John leaping in his mother's womb, and exulting because the voice of the salutation of Mary had come to the ears of his mother Elisabeth. How could his soul and its images be formed along with his body, who, before he was created in the womb, is said to be known to God, and was sanctified by Him before his birth? Some, perhaps, may think that God fills individuals with His Holy Spirit, and bestows upon them sanctification, not on grounds of justice and according to their deserts; but undeservedly. And how shall we escape that declaration: Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid! or this: Is there respect of persons with God? For such is the defense of those who maintain that souls come into existence with bodies. So far, then, as we can form an opinion from a comparison with the condition of man, I think it follows that we must hold the same to hold good with heavenly beings, which reason itself and scriptural authority show us to be the case with men.

The following is the statement of the Apostle Paul: The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. To what vanity, pray, was the creature made subject, or what creature is referred to, or how is it said not willingly, or in hope of what? And in what way is the creature itself to be delivered from the bondage of corruption? Elsewhere, also, the same apostle says: For the expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. And again in another passage, And not only we, but the creation itself groans together, and is in pain until now. And hence we have to inquire what are the groanings, and what are the pains. Let us see then, in the first place, what is the vanity to which the creature is subject. I apprehend that it is nothing else than the body; for although the body of the stars is ethereal, it is nevertheless material. Whence also Solomon appears to characterize the whole of corporeal nature as a kind of burden which enfeebles the vigour of the soul in the following language: Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity. I have looked, and seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity. To this vanity, then, is the creature subject, that creature especially which, being assuredly the greatest in this world, holds also a distinguished principality of labour, i.e., the sun, and moon, and stars, are said to be subject to vanity, because they are clothed with bodies, and set apart to the office of giving light to the human race. And this creature, he remarks, was subjected to vanity not willingly. For it did not undertake a voluntary service to vanity, but because it was the will of Him who made it subject, and because of the promise of the Subjector to those who were reduced to this unwilling obedience, that when the ministry of their great work was performed, they were to be freed from this bondage of corruption and vanity when the time of the glorious redemption of God's children should have arrived.

There is no nature, then, which may not admit of good or evil, except the nature of God — the fountain of all good things — and of Christ; for it is wisdom, and wisdom assuredly cannot admit folly; and it is righteousness, and righteousness will never certainly admit of unrighteousness; and it is the Word, or Reason, which certainly cannot be made irrational; nay, it is also the light, and it is certain that the darkness does not receive the light. In like manner, also, the nature of the Holy Spirit, being holy, does not admit of pollution; for it is holy by nature, or essential being. If there is any other nature which is holy, it possesses this property of being made holy by the reception or inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not having it by nature, but as an accidental quality, for which reason it may be lost, in consequence of being accidental. So also a man may possess an accidental righteousness, from which it is possible for him to fall away. Even the wisdom which a man has is still accidental, although it be within our own power to become wise, if we devote ourselves to wisdom with the zeal and effort of our life; and if we always pursue the study of it, we may always be participators of wisdom: and that result will follow either in a greater or less degree, according to the desert of our life or the amount of our zeal. For the goodness of God, as is worthy of Him, incites and attracts all to that blissful end, where all pain, and sadness, and sorrow fall away and disappear.

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 27

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4 And make for me tasty foods as I like, and bring them to me, and I will eat, in order that my soul will bless you before I die."

Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 4

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15 And you shall watch yourselves very well, for you did not see any image on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire.

16 Lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves a graven image, the representation of any form, the likeness of male or female,

17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heaven,

18 the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters, beneath the earth.

19 And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, which the Lord your God assigned to all peoples under the entire heaven, and be drawn away to prostrate yourselves before them and worship them.

Yehoshua - Joshua - Chapter 5

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13 And it was when Joshua was in Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and saw, and, behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are you for us, or for our adversaries?

14 And he said, No, but I am the captain of the host of the Lord; I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and prostrated himself, and said to him, What does my lord say to his servant?

15 And the captain of the Lord's host said to Joshua, Remove your shoe from your foot; for the place upon which you stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

Psalms 33

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6 By the Lord’s decree the heavens were made;

and by the breath of his mouth all the starry hosts.

7 He piles up the water of the sea;

he puts the oceans in storehouses.

8 Let the whole earth fear the Lord!

Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him!

9 For he spoke, and it came into existence,

he issued the decree, and it stood firm.

10 The Lord frustrates the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans of the peoples.

11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages.

12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.

13 The Lord watches from heaven;

he sees all people.

1 Kings 22

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19 And he said, "Therefore, listen to the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord seated on His throne, and all the host of heaven were standing by Him on His right and on His left.

20 And the Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab so that he will go up and fall in Ramoth-Gilead?' One said in this manner and another one said in that manner.

21 And a certain spirit came forth and stood before the Lord and said, 'I will entice him,' and the Lord said to him 'How?'

22 And he said, 'I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' And He said, 'You will entice and you will prevail. Go forth and do so.'

23 And now, behold the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours, whereas the Lord spoke evil concerning you."

2 Kings 21

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1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just like King Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the stars in the sky and worshiped them. 

Job 1

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6 Now the day came when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord – and Satan also arrived among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” And Satan answered the Lord, “From roving about on the earth, and from walking back and forth across it.” 8 So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Isaiah 24

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21 At that time the Lord will punish

the heavenly forces in the heavens

and the earthly kings on the earth.

22 They will be imprisoned in a pit,

locked up in a prison,

and after staying there for a long time, they will be punished.

23 The full moon will be covered up,

the bright sun will be darkened;

for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule

on Mount Zion in Jerusalem

in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor.

The Great Isaiah Scroll

Chapter 45 : 

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Verse 12 I myself made the earth and humanity I created upon it. My own hand stretched out the skies; I commanded all [their host].

The Queen of Heaven is probably a reference to the goddess known as Ishtar in Mesopotamia, Anat in Canaan, and Ashtoreth in Israel. She was the goddess of love and fertility.

Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 7

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17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The sons are gathering wood, the fathers are kindling fire, and the women are kneading dough to make star shaped cakes for the queen of the heaven and to pour libations to other gods, in order to provoke Me.

19 Are they provoking Me? says the Lord. Are [they] not [provoking] themselves for the shame of their faces?

Storm Dove Anger Love
Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 23

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18 For who stood in the council of the Lord and will see and hear His word? He who hearkened to His word and listened.

19 Behold a storm from the Lord has gone forth [with] fury, yea, a whirling storm, on the heads of the wicked it shall rest.

20 The Lord's anger shall not return until He executes it and until He fulfills the plans of His heart. At the end of days, you shall consider it perfectly.

21 I did not send the prophets yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.

22 And if they stood in My council, they should have let My people hear My words, so that they bring them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

23 Am I a God from near, says the Lord, and not a God from afar?

24 Can a man hide in secret places that I should not see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? says the Lord.

25 I heard what the prophets said, those who prophesy in My name falsely, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed."

26 How long [will this be]? Is it in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? But they are prophets of the deceit of their hearts,

27 Who think to cause My people to forget My name with their dreams that they tell, one to another, as their forefathers forgot My name through Baal.

28 The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream, and who has My word, let him tell My word as truth. What has the straw to do with the wheat? says the Lord.

29 Is not My word so like fire? says the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters a rock?

30 Therefore, behold I am against the prophets, says the Lord, those who steal My words from one another.

31 Behold I am against the prophets, says the Lord, those who train their tongues and say, "He says,"

32 Behold I am against those who prophesy with false dreams, says the Lord, and they tell them and mislead My people with their falsehoods and with their bewilderment, but I neither sent them nor commanded them, and they have not availed this people, says the Lord.

33 Now if this people or the prophet or priest asks you, saying, "What is the burden of the Lord?" And you shall say to them, "What burden? And I will forsake you, says the Lord."

34 And the prophet and the priest and the people who will say, "The burden of the Lord," I will visit retribution upon that man and upon his household.

35 So shall you say each one to his friend and each one to his brother, "What did the Lord reply?" or "What did the Lord speak?"

Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 31

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34 So said the Lord, Who gives the sun to illuminate by day, the laws of the moon and the stars to illuminate at night, Who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of Hosts is His name.

Yirmiyahu - Jeremiah - Chapter 44

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15 And all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods and all the women standing [in] a great assembly, and all the people dwelling in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,

16" The word that you spoke to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to you.

17 But we will do everything that has emanated from our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour libations to her, as we did, we, our forefathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and we were sated with bread, and we were well, and we saw no evil.

18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring libations to her, we lack everything, and we have been consumed by the sword and by famine.

19 And when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour libations to her, did we make her cakes in her image without our husbands, or pour out libations to her?"

20 And Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, to the women, and to all the people who answered him a word, saying,     

21 "The incense that you burnt in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them and did it not enter His heart?

22 And He could no longer bear because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations that you committed, and your land became waste and desolation and a curse, without an inhabitant as this day.

23 Because you burnt incense and because you sinned against the Lord, and you did not hearken to the voice of the Lord, and you did not walk in His Law and in His statutes and in His testimonies; therefore, this evil has befallen you as of this day."

24 And Jeremiah said to all the people and to all the women: Hearken to the word of the Lord, all of Judah that is in the land of Egypt.

25 So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You and your wives; as you have spoken with your mouth, so have you fulfilled with your hands, saying, "We will surely execute our vows, as we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour libations to her." You shall surely fulfill your vows and you shall surely execute your vows.

26 Therefore, hearken to the word of the Lord, all of Judah dwelling in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by My great name, said the Lord, that My name shall no longer be called by the mouth of any man of Judah, saying, "As the Lord God lives," throughout the land of Egypt.

27 Behold, I visit upon them for evil and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine until they are completely destroyed.

 

 "prince of Persia" is the "guardian spirit of the kingdom." George Otis says that Daniel 10 is "a well-defined case of an evil spiritual being ruling over an area with explicitly defined boundaries

Asmodeus is a powerful demon or fallen angel. His name means “Creature of Judgment”. Asmodeus is more present in Persian and Arabic lore, than Jewish or Christian.

Daniel 10

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12 Then he said to me, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words. 13 However, the prince of the kingdom of Persia was opposing me for twenty-one days. But Michael, one of the leading princes, came to help me, because I was left there with the kings of Persia. 14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to future days.”

Sikkuth, your king,” probably refers to Sakkut, the Assyrian war god also known as Adar. “Kiyyun, your images,” probably refers to the Assyrian astral deity also known as Kaiwan or Saturn. Amos evidently ridiculed these gods by substituting the vowels of the Hebrew word for “abomination,” (shiqqus) in their names.[85] “The star of your gods [or god]” probably refers to the planet Saturn that represented Kiyyun. 

Israel had turned from the Creator to idolatry, and her high priest had helped her do so.

Amos - Chapter 5

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8 He Who made the Pleiades and Orion and turns darkness into morning, and day He darkens as night; He Who calls the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of the earth, the Lord is His Name.

9 Who strengthens the robbed upon the strong, and the robbed shall come upon a fortress.

10 They hated him who reproves them in the gate, and they despise him who speaks uprightly.

11 Therefore, because you have trodden on poor, and the burden of grain you take from him, houses of hewn stone you have built but you shall not dwell therein, precious vineyards you have planted, but you shall not drink their wine.

13 Therefore, the prudent at that time shall keep silent, for it is a time of evil.

14 Seek good and not evil in order that you live, and so the Lord God of Hosts shall be with you, as you said.

15 Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate; perhaps the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore, so said the Lord God of Hosts, the Lord: In all the city squares lamentation, and in all streets they shall say, "Alas! Alas!" and they shall meet the plowman with mourning and lamentation with those who know to wail.

17 And in all vineyards [there shall be] lamentation, for I will pass in your midst, said the Lord.

18 Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord. Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light.

19 As if a man flees from the lion and the bear meets him, and he comes to the house and leans his hand on the wall, and a serpent bites him.

20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness and not light, even very dark, with no brightness in it.

21 I hate, I reject your festivals, and I will not smell [the sacrifices of] your assemblies.

22 For if you offer up to Me burnt- offerings and your meal-offerings, I will not accept [them], and the peace offerings of your fattened cattle I will not regard.

23 Take away from Me the din of your songs, and the music of your lutes I will not hear.

24 And justice shall be revealed like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

25 Did you offer Me sacrifices and meal-offerings in the desert forty years, O house of Israel?

26 And you shall carry Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, Kochav your god, which you have made for yourselves.    

27 And I will exile you beyond Damascus, said He Whose Name is the Lord God of Hosts.

 

Tobit 3

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7 * On that very day, at Ecbatana in Media, it so happened that Raguel’s daughter Sarah also had to listen to reproaches from one of her father’s maids.

For she had been given in marriage to seven husbands, but the wicked demon Asmodeus* kept killing them off before they could have intercourse with her, as is prescribed for wives. The maid said to her: “You are the one who kills your husbands! Look! You have already been given in marriage to seven husbands, but you do not bear the name of a single one of them.

Tobit 6

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14 But Tobiah said to Raphael in reply, “Brother Azariah, I have heard that she has already been given in marriage to seven husbands, and that they have died in the bridal chamber. On the very night they approached her, they would die. I have also heard it said that it was a demon that killed them.
15 So now I too am afraid of this demon, because it is in love with her and does not harm her; but it kills any man who wishes to come close to her. I am my father’s only child. If I should die, I would bring the life of my father and mother down to their grave in sorrow over me; they have no other son to bury them!

In both of these contexts, the heavenly hosts are God’s holy angels who dwell in God’s presence.

Basically, the word host refers to a great number of individuals or to an army. Modified by the word heavenly, hosts becomes a great number of angelic beings forming a celestial army under God’s command. There is a suggestion of rank and orderliness, of companies and divisions within that heavenly army. The heavenly hosts were created by God and are controlled by God.

Zephaniah 1

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3 I will totally destroy man and beast; I will totally destroy the fowl of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the earth, says the Lord.

4 And I will stretch out My hand over Judah and over all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of the idolatrous priests with the ancillary priests,

5 and those who prostrate themselves on the roofs to the host of the heavens, and those who prostrate themselves who swear by the Lord and swear by their king,

Acts 7

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39 Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him, but pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go in front of us, for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt – we do not know what has happened to him!’ 41 At that time they made an idol in the form of a calf, brought a sacrifice to the idol, and began rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘It was not to me that you offered slain animals and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, was it, house of Israel? 43 But you took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images you made to worship, but I will deport you beyond Babylon.’ 44 Our ancestors had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as God who spoke to Moses ordered him to make it according to the design he had seen. 45 Our ancestors received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors, until the time of David. 46 He found favor with God and asked that he could find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says,

49 ‘Heaven is my throne,

and earth is the footstool for my feet.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is my resting place?

50 Did my hand not make all these things?

Acts 17

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1. After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 Paul went to the Jews in the synagogue, as he customarily did, and on three Sabbath days he addressed them from the scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead, saying, “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large group of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women. 

Ephesians 2

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1 And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest…

Colossians 1

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1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.

1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son He loves, 

1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by Him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through Him and for Him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in Him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that He Himself may become first in all things.

1:19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in the Son

1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of His cross – through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Philippians 2

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5 For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

6 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

7 but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, having been born in the likeness of men; and found in fashion as a man,

8 he humbled himself, having become obedient even to death, and the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also highly exalted him and gave him a name that is above every name,

10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in the heavens and those on the earth and those under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Acts of Paul
From "The Apocryphal New Testament"
M.R. James-Translation and Notes
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924

Chapter 2

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5 And when Paul entered into the house of Onesiphorus, there was great joy, and bowing of knees and breaking of bread, and the word of God concerning abstinence (or continence) and the resurrection; for Paul said:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are they that keep the flesh chaste, for they shall become the temple of God.

Blessed are they that abstain (or the continent), for unto them shall God speak.

Blessed are they that have renounced this world, for they shall be well-pleasing unto God.

Blessed are they that possess their wives as though they had them not, for they shall inherit God.

Blessed are they that have the fear of God, for they shall become angels of God.

6 Blessed are they that tremble at the oracles of God, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are they that receive the wisdom of Jesus Christ, for they shall be called sons of the Most High.

Blessed are they that have kept their baptism pure, for they shall rest with the Father and with the Son.

Blessed are they that have compassed the understanding of Jesus Christ, for they shall be in light.

Blessed are they that for love of God have departed from the fashion of this world, for they shall judge angels, and shall be blessed at the right hand of the Father.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy and shall not see the bitter day of judgement. Blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they shall be well- pleasing unto God and shall not lose the reward of their continence (chastity), for the word of the Father shall be unto them a work of salvation in the day of his Son, and they shall have rest world Without end.

The Acts of Paul

Chapter 5

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Verily, God is one, and there is no God beside him: one also is Jesus Christ his Son, whom we . . . this, whom thou preaches, did we crucify, whom expect in great glory, but you say that he is God and Judge of the living and the dead, the King of the ages, for the in the form of man.

The Acts of Paul

III

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4 For I delivered unto you in the beginning the things which I received of the HOLY apostles which were before me, who were at all times with Jesus Christ: 5 namely, that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary WHICH IS of the seed of David ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, the Holy Ghost being sent forth from heaven from the Father unto her BY THE ANGEL GABRIEL, 6 that he (JESUS) might come down into this world and redeem all flesh by his flesh, and raise us up from the dead in the flesh, like as he hath shown to us in himself for an example. 7 And because man was formed by his Father, 8 therefore was he sought when he was lost, that he might be quickened by adoption. 9 For to this end did God Almighty who made heaven and earth first send the prophets unto the Jews, that they might be drawn away from their sins. 10 For he designed to save the house of Israel: therefore he conferred a portion of the Spirit of Christ upon the prophets and sent them unto the Jews first (or unto the first Jews), and they proclaimed the true worship of God for a long space of time. 11 But the prince of iniquity, desiring to be God, laid hands on them and slew them (banished them from God, Laon MS.), and bound all flesh by evil lusts (AND THE END OF THE WORLD BY JUDGEMENT DREW NEAR).

12 But God Almighty, who is righteous, would not cast away His own creation, BUT HAD COMPASSION ON THEM FROM HEAVEN, 13 and sent His Spirit into Mary IN GALILEE, [14 Milan MS. and Arm.: WHO BELIEVED WITH ALL HER HEART AND RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST IN HER WOMB, THAT JESUS MIGHT COME INTO THE WORLD,] 15 by that flesh whereby that wicked one had brought in death (had triumphed), by the same he should be shown to be overcome. 16 For by his own body Jesus Christ saved all flesh [AND RESTORED IT UNTO LIFE], 17 that he might show forth the temple of righteousness in his body. 18 In whom (or whereby) we are saved (Milan, Paris: in whom if we believe we are set free).

 

Origen

De Principiis (Book II)

Chapter 1. On the World

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our one body is provided with many members, and is held together by one soul, so I am of opinion that the whole world also ought to be regarded as some huge and immense animal, which is kept together by the power and reason of God as by one soul. This also, I think, is indicated in sacred Scripture by the declaration of the prophet, Do not I fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord; and again, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool; and by the Savior's words, when He says that we are to swear neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool. To the same effect also are the words of Paul, in his address to the Athenians, when he says, In Him we live, and move, and have our being. For how do we live, and move, and have our being in God, except by His comprehending and holding together the whole world by His power? And how is heaven the throne of God, and the earth His footstool, as the Savior Himself declares, save by His power filling all things both in heaven and earth, according to the Lord's own words? And that God, the Father of all things, fills and holds together the world with the fullness of His power, 

If now, in the course of our discussion, it has been ascertained that these things are so, it seems to follow that we next consider the nature of corporeal being, seeing the diversity in the world cannot exist without bodies. It is evident from the nature of things themselves, that bodily nature admits of diversity and variety of change, so that it is capable of undergoing all possible transformations, as, e.g., the conversion of wood into fire, of fire into smoke, of smoke into air, of oil into fire. Does not food itself, whether of man or of animals, exhibit the same ground of change? For whatever we take as food, is converted into the substance of our body. But how water is changed into earth or into air, and air again into fire, or fire into air, or air into water, although not difficult to explain, yet on the present occasion it is enough merely to mention them, as our object is to discuss the nature of bodily matter. By matter, therefore, we understand that which is placed under bodies, viz., that by which, through the bestowing and implanting of qualities, bodies exist; and we mention four qualities — heat, cold, dryness, humidity. These four qualities being implanted in the ὕλη, or matter (for matter is found to exist in its own nature without those qualities before mentioned), produce the different kinds of bodies. Although this matter is, as we have said above, according to its own proper nature without qualities, it is never found to exist without a quality. And I cannot understand how so many distinguished men have been of opinion that this matter, which is so great, and possesses such properties as to enable it to be sufficient for all the bodies in the world which God willed to exist, and to be the attendant and slave of the Creator for whatever forms and species He wished in all things, receiving into itself whatever qualities He desired to bestow upon it, was uncreated, i.e., not formed by God Himself, who is the Creator of all things, but that its nature and power were the result of chance. And I am astonished that they should find fault with those who deny either God's creative power or His providential administration of the world, and accuse them of impiety for thinking that so great a work as the world could exist without an architect or overseer; while they themselves incur a similar charge of impiety in saying that matter is uncreated, and co-eternal with the uncreated God. According to this view, then, if we suppose for the sake of argument that matter did not exist, as these maintain, saying that God could not create anything when nothing existed, without doubt He would have been idle, not having matter on which to operate, which matter they say was furnished Him not by His own arrangement, but by accident; and they think that this, which was discovered by chance, was able to suffice Him for an undertaking of so vast an extent, and for the manifestation of the power of His might, and by admitting the plan of all His wisdom, might be distinguished and formed into a world. Now this appears to me to be very absurd, and to be the opinion of those men who are altogether ignorant of the power and intelligence of uncreated nature. 

But that we may believe in the authority of holy Scripture that such is the case, hear how in the book of Maccabees, where the mother of seven martyrs exhorts her son to endure torture, this truth is confirmed; for she says, I ask of you, my son, to look at the heaven and the earth, and at all things which are in them, and beholding these, to know that God made all these things when they did not exist. In the book of the Shepherd also, in the first commandment, he speaks as follows: First of all believe that there is one God who created and arranged all things, and made all things to come into existence, and out of a state of nothingness. Perhaps also the expression in the Psalms has reference to this: He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. For the words, He spoke, and they were made, appear to show that the substance of those things which exist is meant; while the others, He commanded, and they were created, seem spoken of the qualities by which the substance itself has been molded.

Matthew 5

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5:33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to an older generation, 41  ‘Do not break an oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 42  5:34 But I say to you, do not take oaths at all – not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, 5:35 not by earth, because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, 43  because it is the city of the great King. 5:36 Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black. 5:37 Let your word be ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’ More than this is from the evil one. 

The Shepard of Hermas

The First Book of HERMAS

VISION I.

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6 Lady, said I, will you convince me? No, said she: but hear the words which I am about to speak unto you. God who dwells in heaven, and has made all things out of nothing, and hath multiplied them for his holy church's sake, is angry with you

Tehillim - Psalms - Chapter 33
 

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8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

9 For He said and it came about; He commanded and it endured.

 

Origen

De Principiis (Book II)

Chapter 2. On the Perpetuity of Bodily Nature

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On this topic some are wont to inquire whether, as the Father generates an uncreated Son, and brings forth a Holy Spirit, not as if He had no previous existence, but because the Father is the origin and source of the Son or Holy Spirit, and no anteriority or posteriority can be understood as existing in them; so also a similar kind of union or relationship can be understood as subsisting between rational natures and bodily matter. And that this point may be more fully and thoroughly examined, the commencement of the discussion is generally directed to the inquiry whether this very bodily nature, which bears the lives and contains the movements of spiritual and rational minds, will be equally eternal with them, or will altogether perish and be destroyed.

that any other nature than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can live without a body, the necessity of logical reasoning compels us to understand that rational natures were indeed created at the beginning, but that material substance was separated from them only in thought and understanding, and appears to have been formed for them, or after them, and that they never have lived nor do live without it; for an incorporeal life will rightly be considered a prerogative of the Trinity alone. As we have remarked above, therefore, that material substance of this world, possessing a nature admitting of all possible transformations, is, when dragged down to beings of a lower order, molded into the crasser and more solid condition of a body, so as to distinguish those visible and varying forms of the world; but when it becomes the servant of more perfect and more blessed beings, it shines in the splendor of celestial bodies, and adorns either the angels of God or the sons of the resurrection with the clothing of a spiritual body, out of all which will be filled up the diverse and varying state of the one world. But if any one should desire to discuss these matters more fully, it will be necessary, with all reverence and fear of God, to examine the sacred Scriptures with greater attention and diligence, to ascertain whether the secret and hidden sense within them may perhaps reveal anything regarding these matters; and something may be discovered in their abstruse and mysterious language, through the demonstration of the Holy Spirit to those who are worthy, after many testimonies have been collected on this very point.

https://archive.org/details/sevenecumenicalc00perc/page/318

In post-Resurrection, Anathema (excommunication) was a Christian and Jewish sanction of God's displeasure with a person(s) because of their heresy of false teaching with established beliefs of the faithful. According to Titus 3:10 a divisive person should be warned twice before separating from him. Their were 15 teachings that the council fathers found heretical in Origen's discourse.

 

THE ANATHEMAS AGAINST ORIGEN (1) 
The Fifth Ecumenical Council 
The Second Council of Constantinople 
A.D. 553

I

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If anyone assert the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be anathema.

II

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If anyone shall say that the creation of all reasonable things includes only intelligence without bodies and altogether immaterial, having neither number or name, so that there is unity between them all by identity of substance, force and energy, and by their union with and knowledge of God, the Word; but that no longer desiring the sight of God, they gave themselves over to worse things, each one following his own inclinations, and that they have taken bodies more or less subtile, and have received names, for among the heavenly Powers there is a difference of names as there is also a difference of bodies; and thence some became and are called Cherubims, others Seraphims, and Principalities, and Powers, and Dominations, and Thrones, and Angels, and as many other heavenly orders as there may be: let him be anathema.

III

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If anyone shall say that the sun, the moon, and the stars are also reasonable things, and that they have only become what they are because they turned towards evil: let him be anathema.

IV

If anyone shall say that the reasonable creatures in whom the divine love had grown cold have been hidden in gross bodies such as ours, and have been called men, while those who have attained the lowest degree of wickedness have shared cold and obscure bodies and are become and called demons and evil spirits: let him be anathema.

V

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If anyone shall say that a psychic condition has come from an angelic or archangelic state, and moreover that a demoniac and a human condition has come from a psychic condition, and that from a human state they may become again angels and demons, and that each order of heavenly virtues is either all from those below or from those above and below: let him be anathema.

VI

If anyone shall say that there is a twofold race of demons, of which the one includes the souls of men and the other the superior spirits who fell to this, and that of all the number of reasonable beings there is but one which has remained unshaken in the love and contemplation of God, and that that spirit is become Christ and the king of all reasonable beings, and that he has created all the bodies which exist in heaven, on earth, and between heaven and earth; and that the world which has in itself elements more ancient than itself, and which exist by themselves, viz: dryness, damp, heat and cold, and the image to which it was formed, was so formed, and that the most holy and consubstantial Trinity did not create the world, but that it was created by the working intelligence which is more ancient than the world, and which communicates to it its being: let him be anathema.

VII

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If anyone shall say that Christ, of whom it is said that he appeared in the form of God, and that he was united before all time with God the Word, and humbled himself in those last days even to humanity, had (according to their expression) pity upon the divers falls which had appeared in the spirits united in the same unity (of which he himself is part), and that to restore them he passed through divers classes, had different bodies and different names, became all to all, an Angel among Angels, a Power among Powers, had clothed himself in the different classes of reasonable beings with a form corresponding to that class, and finally has taken flesh and blood like ours and is become man for man; [if anyone says all this] and does not profess that God the Word humbled himself and became man: let him be anathema.

Philippians 2

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2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort provided by love, any fellowship in the Spirit, 1  any affection or mercy, 2  2:2 complete my joy and be of the same mind, 3  by having the same love, being united in spirit, 4  and having one purpose. 2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition 5  or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. 2:4 Each of you should be concerned 6  not only 7  about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. 8  2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, 9 

2:6 who though he existed in the form of God

did not regard equality with God

as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, 

by looking like other men,  

and by sharing in human nature. 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

 

 

VIII

If anyone shall not acknowledge that God the Word, of the same substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost, and who was made flesh and became man, one of the Trinity, is Christ in every sense of the word, but [shall affirm] that he is so only in an inaccurate manner, and because of the abasement, as they call it, of the intelligence; if anyone shall affirm that this intelligence united to God the Word, is the Christ in the true sense of the word, while the Logos is only called Christ because of this union with the intelligence, and e converso that the intelligence is only called God because of the Logos: let him be anathema.

IX

If anyone shall say that it was not the Divine Logos made man by taking an animated body with a rational spirit (anima rationalis) and VOEPA, that he descended into hell and ascended into heaven, but shall pretend that it is the NOUS which has done this, that NOUS of which they say (in an impious fashion) he is Christ, properly called, and that he is become so by knowledge of the Monad: let him be anathema.

X

If anyone shall say that after the resurrection the body of the Lord was ethereal, having the form of a sphere, and that such shall be the bodies of all after the resurrection; and that after the Lord himself shall have rejected his true body and after the others who rise shall have rejected theirs, the nature of their bodies shall be annihilated: let him be anathema.

XI

If anyone shall say that the future judgment signifies the destruction of the body and that the end of the story will be an immaterial [false appearance?] and that thereafter there will no longer be any matter, but only spirit: let him be anathema.

XII

If anyone shall say that the heavenly Powers and all men and the Devil and evil spirits are united with the Word of God in all respects, as the NOUS which is by them called Christ and which is in the form of God, and which humbled itself as they say; and [if anyone shall say] that the kingdom of Christ shall have an end: let him be anathema.

XIII

If anyone shall say that Christ [i.e., the NOUS] is in no wise different from other reasonable beings, neither substantially nor by wisdom nor by his power and might over all things but that all will be placed at the right hand of God, as well as he that is called by them Christ [the NOUS], as also they were in the feigned pre-existence of all things: let him be anathema.

XIV

If anyone shall say that all reasonable beings will one day be united in one, when the hypostases as well as the numbers and the bodies shall have disappeared, and that the knowledge of the world to come will carry with it the ruin of worlds, and the rejection of bodies as also the abolition of [all] names, and that there shall be finally an identity ... of the hypostasis; moreover, that in this pretended apocatastasis, spirits only will continue to exist, as it was in the feigned pre-existence; let him be anathema.

XV

If anyone shall say that the life of the spirits shall be like to the life which was in the beginning while as yet the spirits had not come down or fallen, so that the end and the beginning shall be alike, and that the end shall be the true measure of the beginning; let him be anathema.

[wiley]

Code of Hammurabi

Prologue 2

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Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase, enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur; who reestablished Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu; who conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the name of Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord who daily pays his devotions in Saggil; the royal scion whom Sin made; who enriched Ur; the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal;

Hammurabi referred to himself as a white king who knew of Shamash (Utu), son of the moon god Sin, and god of the Sun. Shamash was known for riding his sun chariot all day watching enforcing justice, and teaching morality and truth to mortals. Shamash established and guarded the cities of Sippara  and Larsa. He then made the temple dedicated to him like Heaven. Shamash clothed the gravestones of his Malkat (Queen and consort) with green representing the resurrection of nature. With the help of Shamash, Hammurabi was able to restore and bring water to the ancient city of Uruk; raise the temple of E-Anna (Inanna, Istar), Queen of Heaven (twin sister of Shamash), perfectly depicted the beauty of the sky god Anu and the warrior and reproduction goddess Nana (Nanaya), who guard the kingdom of Babylon and reunited the people of the city of Isin. 

Code of Hammurabi

Prologue 2

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the white king, heard of Shamash, the mighty, who again laid the foundations of Sippara; who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green; who made E-babbar great, which is like the heavens, the warrior who guarded Larsa and renewed E-babbar, with Shamash as his helper; the lord who granted new life to Uruk, who brought plenteous water to its inhabitants, raised the head of E-anna, and perfected the beauty of Anu and Nana; shield of the land, who reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin;

Like the god Shamash bringing green life over death to Babylon, the Creator brought green life over death to Israel. Most Jewish scholars believe this to be prophecy of when Israel will rise to power over those that control it.

Yechezkel - Ezekiel - Chapter 17

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24. And all the trees of the field will recognize that I, the Lord, have lowered the high tree, have raised aloft the low tree; that I have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree blossom. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will accomplish it."

Hammurabi donated to money to the temple of E-gal-mach and protected the cities he controlled. He considered himself to be brother of the war god Zamama (Zababa, Ashtabi) protector of the city of Kish . Hammurabi glorified Zamama's temple E-me-te-ursag and established farms around the city of Kish. He also increased the treasury of the temple of the warrior god Nana (Nanaya) and the Temple Harsagkalama dedicated to the love and war goddess, Inanna, (Inana, Ishtar), daughter of the sky god Anu, and mother of the warrior goddess Nanaya 

Code of Hammurabi

Prologue 3

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who richly endowed E-gal-mach; the protecting king of the city, brother of the god Zamama; who firmly founded the farms of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with glory, redoubled the great holy treasures of Nana, managed the temple of Harsagkalama;

King Hammurabi used the a grave metaphor to define the destruction and subjection of his enemy. He increased the power of the city of Cuthah.

Code of Hammurabi

Prologue 3

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the grave of the enemy, whose help brought about the victory; who increased the power of Cuthah; made all glorious in E-shidlam, the black steer, who gored the enemy; beloved of the god Nebo, who rejoiced the inhabitants of Borsippa, the Sublime; who is indefatigable for E-zida; 

According to the Tanakh, Cuthah was one of the five Syrian and Mesopotamian cities from which Sargon II, King of Assyria, brought settlers to take the places of the exiled Israelites.  These settlers would later be known as "Cuthim" in Hebrew and as "Samaritans" to the Greeks. The Assyrian King advisers marginalized God of the Israelites from the Creator of all mankind to just a regional God with power to kill unrespectful settlers. The Samaritans incorporated the Creator into their former pantheon of gods.

2 KINGS 17

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17:24 The king of Assyria brought foreigners from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 17:25 When they first moved in, they did not worship the Lord. So the Lord sent lions among them and the lions were killing them. 17:26 The king of Assyria was told, “The nations whom you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land, so he has sent lions among them. They are killing the people because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.” 17:27 So the king of Assyria ordered, “Take back one of the priests whom you deported from there. He must settle there and teach them the requirements of the God of the land.”  17:28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria went back and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to worship the Lord.

17:29 But each of these nations made its own gods and put them in the shrines on the high places that the people of Samaria had made. Each nation did this in the cities where they lived. 17:30 The people from Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the people from Cuth made Nergal,  the people from Hamath made Ashima, 17:31 the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire as an offering to Adrammelech and Anammelech, 56  the gods of Sepharvaim. 17:32 At the same time they worshiped the Lord. They appointed some of their own people to serve as priests in the shrines on the high places.  17:33 They were worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their own gods in accordance with the practices of the nations from which they had been deported.

In modern history, like the Cuthim,  the Yoruba African slaves were coerced to accept the Catholic faith in Cuba. The masked their ancestral belief by syncretizing (combing) their Orisha (Orichás, orixá) spirits with the human form of Catholic saints.

In the picture below King Hammurabi 'The Lawgiver' and 'Unifier of Babylonia' raises his right arm in worship. Detail of a votive monument. Limestone. Old Babylonian Period, reign of Hammurabi, 1792-1750 BCE. From Sippar, Iraq. The British Museum, London.  In the book, The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia, Theophilus G. Pinches writes that inscription is dedicated for the saving of his life. In this he bears the title (incomplete) of “King of Amoria” (the Amorites), lugal Mar[tu], Semitic Babylonian sar mât Amurrî 

Theophilus Goldridge Pinches M.R.A.S. (1856 – 6 June 1934 Muswell Hill, London), was a pioneer British assyriologist and staff member of the Egyptian and Assyrian Department, British Museum, he gave assistance to scholars including Abraham Sachs and taught at London University. It was largely due to his "painstaking work" during his time as assistant keeper at the British Museum between 1895 and 1900, that many pieces acquired by the museum were joined together again.  He also translated some Babylonian tablets which related to the Battle of the Vale of Siddim and was one of the editors of The Babylonian and Oriental Record from 1886. In 1890, Pinches discovered and published the correct reading of the name of Gilgamesh, instead of Izdubar.

CUNEIFORM TEXTS FROM BABYLONIAN TABLETS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM PART 51 MISCELLANEOUS TEXTS EDITED BY C. B. F. WALKER

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In the course of preparing the first volume of the Catalogue of the Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum, the late Dr H. H. Figulla copied almost all of the tablets there identified as coming from the Nuzi area or from Kassite Babylonia.

During the period 1892-8 T. G. Pinches was partly engaged in cataloguing and copying the tablets of the second Spartoli collection, which are believed mostly to have derived from Babylon. His copies of the astronomical tablets of this collection were published by A. J. Sachs in Late Babylonian Astronomical and Related Texts (Providence, 1955), and some of the economic and literary tablets have been recopied and published by other scholars, in the present series and elsewhere.

Below is one plate that Pinches transcribed.

Any scholar who attempted a translation between any two languages knows that it is never a straightforward matter of linguistic equivalence. In Pinches Plates 45 -  65 transcription and translation of Spartoli III, 2: Spartol; II, 987: Spartoli I, 58; and Spartoli II, 962. Spartoli III, 2 contains the names of Rudbula (Tidal), of Eri-aku's son, Durmah-ilani, and Kudur-lahmil (Chedorlaomer) we can see that there is no clear method of translation, but linguistic artifacts can be found that give us clues to understanding. The more linguistic artifacts in the data we find, the clearer the translation becomes.

Jefferson would completely understand how even present translations can be changed to make the work more popular with foreign readers.

Francois André Michaux to Thomas Jefferson, 10 August 1810

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editors’ translation
Paris 10 August 1810

Sir
In the letter I had the honor to write you shortly after my arrival in France, I expressed my gratitude for the considerable favor you did me by facilitating my return to Europe with all my collections. Thanks to your kindness, I am now able to send you the beginning of my work on the large plants of North America, and especially those of the United States. I sincerely hope, Sir, that this work merits your approval and above all that you will think it might contribute to the education of farmers and woodsmen, classes of men so useful and numerous in your country. To make this work more popular I thought it might be advantageous to replace all the botanical designations with common names in the American edition, changes that I have marked in the copy I am sending to Mr. S. Bradford, a Philadelphia bookseller, for the translation. I am also sending him, from Paris, the colored plates to be used in this same edition. If, on the contrary, no bookseller in the United States finds it worthwhile to translate it, the French edition will be suspended after the completion of the history of walnut trees, and I will regret that the unhappy times in which we live are opposed to an enterprise that could have been of some use, and might have contributed to making rural life in America more pleasant.

I am with Respect
Sir Your very humble and very obedient servant
F. Andre Michaux

In translating the second Spartoli collection Theophilus Pinches identifies the names Tudḫula, Êri-Eaku, and Kudur-laḫ(gu)mal to be names   Tidal, Arioch, and Chedorlaomer that are given in Genesis with Abraham.

The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia

by Theophilus Goldridge Pinches

pg 224

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when two tablets were referred to at the Congress of Orientalists held at Geneva in 1894 as containing the names Tudḫula, Êri-Eaku (Êri-Ekua), and another name read doubtfully as Kudur-laḫ(gu)mal, no publicly-expressed objection to their possible identification with Tidal, Arioch, and Chedorlaomer was made. The names were placed before the Semitic section of the Congress of Orientalists referred to, as recent discoveries, which were certain as far as they went, their identification being a matter of opinion.

The first document is Sp. III. 2, and contains all three names—or, rather, the names Tudḫula (Tidal), Êri-Eaku's son Durmaḫ-îlāni, and Kudur-laḫmal. The first portion of this text refers to the gods: 

The reverse begins with a reference to Elam, and some one (perhaps the king of that country) who “spoiled from the city Aḫḫê (?) to the land of Rabbātum.” Something was made, apparently by the same personage, into heaps of ruins, and the fortress of the land of Akkad, and “the whole of Borsippa(?)” are referred to. At this point comes the line mentioning Kudur-laḫmal, supposed to be Chedorlaomer. It reads as follows—

“Kudur-laḫmal, his son, pierced his heart with the steel sword of his girdle.”

The Old Testament In the Light of The Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia

by Theophilus Goldridge Pinches

pg 227

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How far the record which they contain may be true is with our present knowledge impossible to find out. The style of the writing with which they are inscribed is certainly very late—later, in all probability, than the Persian period, and the possibility that it is a compilation of that period has been already suggested. That it is altogether a fiction, however, is in the highest degree improbable. If we have in the three names which these two tablets contain the Babylonian prototypes of Tidal, Arioch, and Chedorlaomer, they must refer to the events which passed between the first and thirty-first years of the reign of Amraphel or Ḫammurabi, in which it would seem that both Durmaḫ-îlāni and Tudḫula attacked and spoiled Babylon, cutting the canals so that the town and the temple were both flooded. Both of these royal personages, who, be it noted, are not called kings, were apparently killed by their sons, and Kudur-laḫmal seems to have been a criminal of the same kind, if we may judge from the words “Kudur-laḫmal, his son, pier(ced?) his heart with the steel sword of his girdle.” That three royal personages, contemporaries, should all dispose of their fathers in the same way seems, however, in the highest degree improbable. It also seems to be in an equal degree impossible that (as has been suggested) the tablets in question should refer to Tidal, Arioch, and Chedorlaomer

In Volume 7, The Doorway Papers,  The Hidden Things of God's Revelation,  Arthur C. Custance also point sout Umman-Mandu by using the controversial Spartoli tablets found in mutilated form by Pinches. 

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We should not close this survey of kingly names, however, without making some reference to what are sometimes referred to as the Spartoli Tablets. These tablets were first translated and reported upon by Pinches. They were found in a very mutilated form, two of them being entirely unbaked and one baked possibly in recent times by the Arabs who found them. In spite of their incompleteness, considerable portions of the text of each could be translated. When this was done, to the surprise and delight of Pinches, there appeared the names (in their original form) of Chedorlaomer, Arioch, and Tidal. Besides these names were details which seemed to refer to the events which transpired in Babylonia when the Elamites established their sovereignty over the country. Included in this information is the observation that Chedorlaomer had hired mercenaries under Tidal who were neither Elamites nor Babylonians but were referred to as the Umman-Mandu. The Mandu appear not infrequently in cuneiform texts, and they have been identified variously as the Medes or, by Sayce as the Scythians, but virtually always as Indo-Aryans. This would seem to bear out the suggestion which was made earlier that the Goiim were indeed Indo-Europeans. It is also most remarkable to find a tablet with the names of three of the kings.

So confirmatory of Scripture were these tablets that the Higher Critics jumped on them and did everything in their power to deliberately suppress the significance of them. They pointed out that they were so mutilated as to be worthless, that they were cast in a literary form which suggested poetry rather than history, that they were dated very late (Driver suggested 300 B.C. (35)) , and that there were many phrases which were almost unintelligible even where the signs themselves were clear enough, and finally that the names of the kings were sometimes miss-spelled!

In the book, Abraham and Chedorlaomer: Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence,  Author Gerard Gertoux abstract expands on Custance and Pinches work

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Historians consider the biblical account about Chedorlaomer's campaign against Sodom as a pious fiction. However, the Gospels refer to it as a real story, which is even described as essential to faith (Heb 7:1). According to the chronology drawn from the Masoretic text, Abraham's departure from Ur and his arrival in Canaan are dated in 1963 BCE when Abraham was 75 years old. The revolt of Transjordan kings against Chedorlaomer occurred in the 13th year of his dominion and the following year (1954 BCE) he was slaughtered by Abraham. A chronological reconstruction based on synchronisms shows that among dynasties from Sumerian lists the 3rd and last Elamite king of the Awan I dynasty was Kudur-Lagamar (1990-1954). The Spartoli tablets (c. 650 BCE) describe this famous attack of Babylonia by a coalition of evil kings named Kudur-KUKUmal, king of Elam, Tudḫula, king of Gutium, and Eri-Aku [king of Larsa]. This coalition of kings (Sumer, Larsa, Gutium) united under Kutur-Lagamar is quite likely, because all these kings were vassals or allies of the king of Elam (and Akkad) at that time, moreover, they came from neighboring regions. The route of Chedorlaomer and the description of his actions show that this king came to this region near Egypt in order to maintain control over this new land trade route. This ambitious project had to have worried Amenemhat I (1975-1946) because southern Canaan was a big source of supply. In order to protect Egypt, Amenemhat I built the "Walls of the Ruler". In addition, the first Execration Texts against Canaan appear at this time. One can notice that the area of Sodom is called Šutu[m] in execration texts (then Moab after 1800 BCE).

Abram with 318 soldiers retaliated with a surprise night attack and recovered Lot and the possessions the victorious kings had taken. 

National Gallery of Art

Antonio Tempesta
Florentine, 1555 - 1630
Abraham makes the enemies flee who hold his nephew
161

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 14
 

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1 Now it came to pass in the days of Amraphel the king of Shinar, Arioch the king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and Tidal the king of Goyim.

2 That they waged war with Bera the king of Sodom and with Birsha the king of Gomorrah, Shineab the king of Admah, and Shemeber the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

3 All these joined in the valley of Siddim, which is the Dead Sea.

4 For twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and for thirteen years they rebelled.

5 And in the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and they smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim.

6 And the Horites in their mountain Seir, until the plain of Paran, which is alongside the desert.

7 And they returned and came to Ein Mishpat, which is Kadesh, and they smote the entire field of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.

8 And the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah and the king of Admah and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, came forth, and they engaged them in battle in the valley of Siddim.

9 With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam and Tidal the king of Goyim and Amraphel the king of Shinar and Arioch the king of Ellasar, four kings against the five.

10 Now the valley of Siddim was [composed of] many clay pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and they fell there, and the survivors fled to a mountain.

11 And they took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they departed.

12 And they took Lot and his possessions, the son of Abram's brother, and they departed, and he was living in Sodom.

13 And the fugitive came and he told Abram the Hebrew, and he was living in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshkol and the brother of Aner, who were Abram's confederates.

14 And Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, and he armed his trained men, those born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and he pursued [them] until Dan.

15 And he divided himself against them at night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them until Hobah, which is to the left of Damascus.

16 And he restored all the possessions, and also Lot his brother and his possessions he restored, and also the women and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom came out toward him, after his return from smiting Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, to the valley of Shaveh, which is the valley of the king.

18 And Malchizedek the king of Salem brought out bread and wine, and he was a priest to the Most High God.

19 And he blessed him, and he said, "Blessed be Abram to the Most High God, Who possesses heaven and earth.

20 And blessed be the Most High God, Who has delivered your adversaries into your hand," and he gave him a tithe from all.

21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the souls, and the possessions take for yourself."

22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I raise my hand to the Lord, the Most High God, Who possesses heaven and earth.

23 Neither from a thread to a shoe strap, nor will I take from whatever is yours, that you should not say, 'I have made Abram wealthy.'

24 Exclusive of what the lads ate, and the share of the men who went with me; Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre they shall take their share."

 

Many scholars believe during the time of King Hammurabi, Abraham, ‘father of the faithful Hebrews, Christians, and Muslims' is said to have migrated with his family from Ur of the Chaldees to Haran, the chief city and commercial capital of Mesopotamia, and then into Palestine. The Biblical World notes that some of the Mari tablets use words from the Amorite tribes that are also found in Abraham's story, such as his father's name, Terah, and his brothers' names, Nahor and Haran (also ironically the name for their destination). From these artifacts and others, some scholars have concluded that Abraham's family may have been Amorites, a Semitic tribe that began to migrate out of Mesopotamia around 2100 B.C. The Amorites' migration destabilized Ur, which scholars estimate collapsed around 1900 B.C.

 

It is now the prevailing view among both Assyriologists and Old Testament scholars that King Hammurabi and King Amraphel of Shinar are the same person. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia a partial clue to transformation of the name Hammurabi into the Hebrew form Amraphel is furnished by the explanation of the name in a cuneiform letter as equivalent to Kimta-rapashtu (great people or family). On this basis "'am" = "Kimta" and "raphel" = "rapaltu" = "rapashtu." Shinar  is a general synonym for the region of Babylonia (Mesopotamia).

The Expository Times identifies King Arioch of Ellasar of Genesis with King Eri-Aku (Eri-E-kua, servant of the moon god E-kua, Aku [Sin]) of Larsa. It is known that  Eri-aku, king of Larsa was conquered by King Hammurabi (Amraphel), and later became subject to him. The city of Ellasar (Sumerian name Ararwa, Arauruwa, now known as Senqara) was known as Larsa a city of ancient Babylonia (Chaldea). The city was at first governed by its own kings, but became a part of the Babylonian empire some time after the reign of Hammurabi. In the article, Light on Scriptural Texts From Recent Discoveries, author William Hayes Ward states that the translation from the Semitic Rim-Sin to Akkadian is Eri-Agu or Eri-Aku. The Mari letters throw light are the dealings of Hammurabi with with Rim-Sin of Larsa, in the early and middle periods of his reign. He was not always, as the letters reveal the two neighboring kingdoms co-existed for thirty years on excellent terms, and standing in alliance of mutual defense. 

https://www.scribd.com/document/248006684/Rama-of-Larsa-libre

THE CAMBRIDGE ANCIENT HISTORY
THIRD EDITION
VOLUME II
PART 1
HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND THE AEGEAN REGION c. 1800-1380 B.C.
EDITED BY I. E. S. EDWARDS F.B.A.
Formerly Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities, The British Museum

EVENTS OF HAMMURABI'S REIGN page 179

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Two agents of Hammurabi, he writes, who have long been residing in Mashkan-shapir have now arrived back in Babylon. ' Four men of Larsa, riding on asses, came with them; I learned their business, and this is the message they were sent with.' Rim-Sin had formerly written to Hammurabi proposing that each should go to the other's aid with his army and river-boats in case of attack upon either. But it was now revealed that Rim-Sin was a shifty associate—'as touching the soldiers you are always writing to me about, I have heard [a report] that the enemy has set his face towards a different land, and that is why I did not send my soldiers'—nevertheless, he went on, if the enemy turns again upon either of us let us give each other aid. 

In 1880 Book, The Chaldean Account of Genesis, George Smith speculates that the Semetic Chedorlaomer is translated to Kudar Lagamar, meaning 'servant of a god of Elam.

The Chaldean Account of Genesis

George Smith

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We learn from Genesis xiv. that the cities of the plain were among the conquests of Chedor-laomer and his allies, and there is some reason for thinking that the history of Chedor-laomer's campaign may have been derived from the Babylonian state archives. At all events Amraphel or Amarpel, the king of Sumir, is mentioned first, although Chedor-laomer was the paramount sovereign and the leader of the expedition. The expedition must have taken place during the period when, as we learn from the inscriptions. Babylonia was subject to the monarchs of Elam, though subordinate princes were ruling over the states into which it was divided at the time. Though the name of Chedorlaomer has not been found, Laomer or Lagamar appears as an Elamite god, and several of the Elamite kings bore names compounded with Kudur " a servant," as Kudur-Nankhunte, " the servant of the god Nankhunte," Kudur-Mabug," the servant of Mabug," and the like. Arioch, king of Ellasar, which probably stands for al Larsa, " the city of Larsa," has the same name as Eri-Acu ("the servant of the moon-god"), the son of the Elamite monarch Kudur-Mabug, who reigned over Larsa during his father's lifetime, and was eventually overthrown by the Cossaean conqueror Ehammuragas.

[wiley]

From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 8 December 1818

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I know not how to prove physically that We Shall meet and know each other in a future State; Nor does Revelation, As I can find give Us any positive Assurance of Such a felicity. My reasons for believing, it, as I do, most undoubtedly, are all moral and divine.

I believe in God and in his Wisdom and Benevolence: and I cannot conceive that Such a Being could make Such a Species as the human merely to live and die on this Earth. If I did not believe a future State I Should believe in no God. This Universe; this all; this Το Παν; would appear with all its Swelling Pomp, a boyish Fire Work.

And if there be a future State Why Should the Almighty dissolve forever all the tender Ties which Unite Us So delightfully in this World and forbid Us to See each other in the next?

 Πάν (Pan) the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs.

http://www.eliohs.unifi.it/testi/700/bolingbroke/letterIII.htm

[191] there can be dispute, concerning that share which I ascribe to the study of history, in forming our moral characters, and making us better men. The very persons who pretend that inclinations cannot be restrained, nor habits corrected, against our natural bent, would be the first perhaps to prove, in certain cases, the contrary A fortune at court, or the favors of a lady, have prevailed on many to conceal, and they could not conceal without restraining, which is one step towards correcting, the vices they were by nature addicted to the most. Shall we imagine now, that the beauty of virtue and the deformity of vice, the charms . If a bright and lasting reputation, the terror of being delivered over as criminals to all posterity, the real benefit arising from a conscientious discharge of the duty we owe to others, which benefit fortune can neither hinder nor take away, and the reasonableness of conforming ourselves to the designs of God manifested in the constitution of the human nature; shall we imagine, I say, that all these are not able to acquire the same power over those who are continually called upon to a contemplation of them, and they who apply themselves to the study of history are so called upon, as other motives, mean and sordid in comparison of these, can usurp on other men?

[wiley]

As a child, I visited the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.  There I met David, a sculpture created in marble by the famous Renaissance artist Michelangelo. David is described in the Bible as the annointed king favored by the Creator to rule the Tribes of Israel and Judah.  I remember imagining an18-foot-tall marble block with a crack being transformed into a masterpiece before my eyes.  The tour guide spoke to the crowd,

"The great artist Michaelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni was said to chip off any piece of marble that was not part of his picture in his head."  I contemplated whether God gave Michelangelo vision of and the talent to make this beautiful representation of man.  King David was considered to be a rigteous prophet, priest, and saint. Even aiethest and agnostics appreciate the depiction of this legendary king. I thought to myself, how does an artist have the ability to represent an implicit idea given written in two thousand year old blblical testimony to an explicit image understood by everyone? 

During my years at Saint James Catholic school in Falls Church, Virginia I remember with great fondness lighting votive candles during Confession. I  was only supposed to light just one. But there so many rows of white candles with flames sparkling cobolt blue and ruby red colored glass. Soft irececcent shadows color dance up the wall to a biblical painting or sculpture. It is hypnotic.  This was my first connection to art and the beginning of what I define as a implicit sense. Is it possible for individuals to build a deep emotional connection with these works of art?

 

I have encountered many people who have had a religious experiences my lifetime.    I do understand why there are many monotheists that consider artist depictions of people or animals to be idolatry.  

 I have gained a greater connection in literature. A good author like J.R. Tolkien can grab a reader in seconds.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat; it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

I found the Bible to be an even more proufound

Is it possible to diefying a being that is not the Creator that is impossible to be depicted. In today's age of 3 Dimensional modeling it is difficult to discern idolatry in a multiplayer game my son is addicted to.

In High School, I read about NASA sending out the Voyager Spacecraft with a message on human culture represented on a golden disc.

Someday I would love to learn the art myself. But, I am at peace just understanding it.   In my context sculpture,  canvas or book to is talisman to the thoughts, emotions, and imagination of many individuals.  In painting, I start with black and move to color that represent an inclination of an emotion that I perceive. I will apply the same process to my written work until a narrative comes to mind. I will use quotes of other authors have discussed the subject that supports my thesis (understanding) what is Truth. 

[Luke_Wilbur]

 Macrobius says, a settled opinion among them all; and they held it to be the only true wisdom, for the soul, while united with the body, to look ever toward its source, and strive to return to the place whence it came. Among the fixed stars it dwelt, until, seduced by the desire of animating a body, it descended to be imprisoned in matter. Thenceforward it has no other resource than recollection, and is ever attracted toward its birth-place and home. The means of return are to be sought for in itself. To re-ascend to its source, it must do and suffer in the body.

It was the serpent, which, personified as Ahriman, was the Evil Principle of the religion of Zoroaster.

In the Gathas, which are the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and are attributed to the prophet himself, angra mainyu is not yet a proper name.[n 1] In the one instance in these hymns where the two words appear together, the concept spoken of is that of a mainyu ("mind", "spirit" or otherwise an abstract energy etc.)[n 2] that is angra ("destructive", "chaotic", "disorderly", "inhibitive", "malign" etc, of which a manifestation can be anger). In this single instance—in Yasna 45.2—the "more bounteous of the spirits twain" declares angra mainyu to be its "absolute antithesis".[1]

A similar statement occurs in Yasna 30.3, where the antithesis is however aka mainyu, aka being the Avestan language word for "evil". Hence, aka mainyu is the "evil spirit" or "evil mind" or "evil thought," as contrasted with spenta mainyu, the "bounteous spirit" with which Ahura Mazda conceived of creation, which then "was".

The aka mainyu epithet recurs in Yasna 32.5, when the principle is identified with the daevas that deceive humankind and themselves. While in later Zoroastrianism, the daevas are demons, this is not yet evident in the Gathas: Zoroaster stated that the daevas are "wrong gods" or "false gods" that are to be rejected, but they are not yet demons.[2] Some have also proposed a connection between Angra Mainyu and the sage Angiras of the Rigveda.[3][4] If this is true, it could be understood as evidence of a religious schism between the deva-worshiping Vedic Indo-Aryans and early Zoroastrians.

In Yasna 32.3, these daevas are identified as the offspring, not of Angra Mainyu, but of akem manah, "evil thinking". A few verses earlier it is however the daebaaman, "deceiver"—not otherwise identified but "probably Angra Mainyu"[1]—who induces the daevas to choose achistem manah—"worst thinking." In Yasna 32.13, the abode of the wicked is not the abode of Angra Mainyu, but the abode of the same "worst thinking". "One would have expected [Angra Mainyu] to reign in hell, since he had created 'death and how, at the end, the worst existence shall be for the deceitful' (Y. 30.4)

[Luke_Wilbur]

14:12 
And why should we not rely upon Allah while He has guided us to our [good] ways. And we will surely be patient against whatever harm you should cause us. And upon Allah let those who would rely [indeed] rely."

Hillel the Elder taught the way of life was to bring merit to oneself by building a relationship Creator and care your neighbors in this world before it is too late. Otherwise, one's soul will not be worthy of the world to come.

Pirkei Avot 1:14

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(14) He [Rabbi Hillel] used to say: If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, then when?

 

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37 Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate asked, “What is truth?”

The Great Isaiah Scroll Chapter 11 :

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Verse 1
A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Verse 2

The spirit of the LORD will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and mig[h]t, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

Verse 3

His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by appearances, nor decide by what he hears,

Verse 4

but with righteousness he will obtain justice for the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the land. He will strike the land with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips the wicked will be killed.

Verse 5
Righteousness will be the belt around his waist and faithfulness the belt around his loins.

 

John 14

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15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. 16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever – 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will not see me any longer, but you will see me; because I live, you will live too. 20 You will know at that time that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. 21 The person who has my commandments and obeys them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.”

22 “Lord, ” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. 24 The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “I have spoken these things while staying with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you.

 

Al-Baqara (The Cow)

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2:87 (Asad) For, indeed, We vouchsafed unto Moses the divine writ and caused apostle after apostle to follow him; [70] and We vouchsafed unto Jesus, the son of Mary, all evidence of the TRUTH, and strengthened him with holy inspiration. [71] [Yet] is it not so that every time an apostle came unto you with something that was not to your liking, you gloried in your arrogance, and to some of them you gave the lie, while others you would slay?

2:88 (Asad) But they say, "Our hearts are already full of knowledge." [73] Nay, but God has rejected them because of their refusal to acknowledge the TRUTH: for, few are the things in which they believe. 

2:90 (Asad) Vile is that [false pride] for which they have sold their own selves by denying the TRUTH of what God has bestowed from on high, out of envy that God should bestow aught of His favour upon whomsoever He wills of His servants: [75] and thus have they earned the burden of God's condemnation, over and over. And for those who deny the TRUTH there is shameful suffering in store.

 

 

Mohamed prayed to the Creator to show him the path of truth. He did not want to go want to go the false way given by those who have rejected the Creator and His teachings.  

Al-Fatiha (The Opening)
 

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1:6 Guide us the straight way.

1:7 The way of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed Thy blessings, not of those who have been condemned [by Thee], nor of those who go astray!

Mohamed's revelation shows us two highways (paths), the good and the bad. and he choose is the one he wants and he will be asked about the one that he choose on the day of Judgment

Quran Balad 90

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90:8 (Have We not given him two eyes, 

90:10 and shown him the two highways [of good and evil]?

Mohamed used the metaphor of two angels (demands, receivers) of his concious (nature) to explain intuitive and reflective reasoning. But, in the twilight of death comes the truth we avoid.

Quran Qaf 50

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50:17 (Asad) [And so,] whenever the two demands [of his nature] come face to face, contending from the right and from the left,

50:18 (Asad) not even a word can he utter but there is a watcher with him, ever-present.

50:19 (Asad) And [then,] the twilight of death brings with it the [full] truth  that [very thing, O man,] from which thou wouldst always look away!

Mohamed explained that the Creator has given humans free will to choose to follow (light) or reject (dark) what is good. The ones that do not seek the Creator can never be forced to believe that He exists and the truth He has given. Those that act to coerce a non believer go against the Freedom the Creator has given. But, those interested in finding the Creator can be guided to the path of truth through the power of prayer.

Al-Baqara (The Cow) 

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2:115 (Asad) And God's is the east and the west: and wherever you turn, there is God's countenance. Behold, God is infinite, all-knowing.

2:142  THE WEAK-MINDED among people will say, "What has turned them away from the direction of prayer which they have hitherto observed?" [116] Say: "God's is the east and the west; He guides whom He wills onto a straight way."

2:256 (Asad) THERE SHALL BE no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the RIGHT WAY from [the WAY of] error: hence, he who rejects the powers of evil and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give WAY: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing.

2:257 (Asad) God is near unto those who have faith, taking them out of deep darkness into the light - whereas near unto those who are bent on denying the truth are the powers of evil that take them out of the light into darkness deep: it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide.

 

 

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

Matthew 6,  85 CE

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25 ... I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t He clothe you even more, you people of little faith? 31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But above all pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 So then, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

[wiley]

The Chinvat Bridge [ʧinva:t] (Avestan Cinvatô Peretûm, "bridge of judgement" or "beam-shaped bridge")[1] or the Bridge of the Requiter[2] in Zoroastrianism is the sifting bridge[3] which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. All souls must cross the bridge upon death. The bridge is guarded by two four-eyed dogs. A related myth is that of Yama, the Hindu ruler of Hell who watches the gates of Hell with his two four-eyed dogs.

The Bridge's appearance varies depending on the observer's asha, or righteousness. 

Yasna 71

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As thou dost desire, O holy (one)! so shalt thou be, holy shalt thou-cause (thy) soul to pass over the Chinvat Bridge; holy shalt thou come into Heaven. Thou shalt intone the Gatha Ushtavaiti, reciting the salvation hail.

All of the dead Children of Israel will awaken to witness the righteous be blessed by the Creator with eternal life and the wicked be damned to suffering.

Daniel 12, 603 BC - 165 BC

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2. Many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence (misery).

3. And the knowledgeable will be radiant like the bright expanse of sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.

In II Kings the Creator physically transported the Prophet Elijah (Yahweh is my God) alive to Shamayim (Heaven) in a fiery chariot to an uknown place in Heaven. Some scholars believe 

His flesh and His own spirit and its spirit to the God who gave and wha

 the Spirit of God in the Lord's work was carried to an unknown place and he lived there as we have:

Elijah did not die

In this fire vehicle

God had transported him physically into the third heaven

Heaven is specifically called God’s dwelling place (Deuteronomy 26:15). The apostle Paul calls this heaven the “third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:2)—showing, as noted, that there are two others. It’s described as the “third” because, being in the spirit realm, it is beyond the other two, which are in the physical realm.

Shamayim also meant "sky", the atmosphere, as it does in modern English. The blue dome of the sky was called the raqia, and was believed to be a solid shield between the atmosphere and the true heaven where God lived.[dubious – discuss] Heaven was the realm of God, earth of mankind,

"Bosom of Abraham" refers to the place of comfort in the Biblical Sheol (or Hades in the Greek Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures from around 200 BC

II Kings 2

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1. When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha had set out from Gilgal. 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Bethel.” “As the LORD lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.  3 Disciples of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.” 4 Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” “As the LORD lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went on to Jericho. 5 The disciples of the prophets who were at Jericho came over to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.” 6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you,” he said, and the two of them went on. Fifty men of the disciples of the prophets followed and stood by at a distance from them as the two of them stopped at the Jordan. 8 Thereupon Elijah took his mantle and, rolling it up, he struck the water; it divided to the right and left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry land. 9 As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let a double portion of your spirit pass on to me.” 10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” he said. “If you see me as I am being taken from you, this will be granted to you; if not, it will not.” 11 As they kept on walking and talking, a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “Oh, father, father! Israel’s chariots and horsemen!” When he could no longer see him, he grasped his garments and rent them in two. 13 He picked up Elijah’s mantle, which had dropped from him; and he went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Taking the mantle which had dropped from Elijah, he struck the water and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” As he too struck the water, it parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.

While the majority Muslims believe that Jesus was not Crucified (Salabūhu) , nor Killed (Qatalnā) but was Raised (Tawaffaytanī) in body and spirit by the Creator (An - Nisa 4 : 157 - 158,  Al-Ma'ida 5:117).

[Luke_Wilbur]

Born    551 BC
Zou, Lu, Zhou Kingdom (present-day Nanxinzhen, Qufu, Shandong, China)
Died    479 BC 

Confucius

 

 Zhu Xi stated that Analects is the records of Confucius's first- and second-generation pupils.

The Analects (Selected Passages) of Confucius 

雍也 - Yong Ye - 475 - 221 BC

子曰：“雍也可使南面。
Yong Ye:    
The Master said, "There is Yong (forever , permanence) "" - he might occupy the place of a prince."

[6:11] The Master said: “Hui was indeed Worthy (Righteous, Sage)! With a single bamboo bowl of rice and gourd-cup of water he lived in a back alley. Others could not have endured his misery, but Hui never changed from his happy disposition. Hui was a worthy indeed!”

Buddha taught spreading pure selfless thoughts of love without selfish want or hate to all living beings.

[6-23] 子曰。知者樂水、仁者樂山。知者動、仁者靜。知者樂、仁者壽。

[6:23] The Master said: “The wise enjoy the sea, the Jen (humane, compassionate) enjoy the mountains. The wise are busy, Jen are tranquil (peaceful). The wise are happy, the Jen are eternal."

6:28 Tzu Kung asked: "Suppose there were a ruler who benefited the people far and wide and was capable of bringing salvation to the multitude, what would you think of him? Might he be called jen?"

The Master said, "Why only jen? He would undoubtedly be a sage. Even Yao and Shun would have had to strive to achieve this. Now the jen man, wishing himself to be established, sees that others are established, and, wishing himself to be successful, sees that others are successful. To be able to take one's own feelings as a guide may be called the art of jen."

7:6 Confucius said: "Set your aspirations on the Tao, hold to virtue, rely on your jen, and relax in the study of the arts."

7:15 Confucius said: "I can live with coarse rice to eat, water for drink and my arm as a pillow and still be happy. Wealth and honors that one possesses in the midst of injustice are like floating clouds."

7:33 Confucius said: "I dare not claim to be a sage or a man of jen. But I strive for these without being disappointed, and I teach without becoming weary. This is what can be said of me."

9:28 Confucius said: "The wise are not confused, the jen are not anxious, the brave are not afraid.

[12:1] Yan Yuan asked about the meaning of humaneness. The Master said, “To completely overcome selfishness and keep to propriety is humaneness. If for a full day you can overcome selfishness and keep to propriety, everyone in the world will return to humaneness. Does humaneness come from oneself, or from others?”

12:22 Fan Chih asked about the meaning of jen.
Confucius said "love others." He asked about the meaning of "knowledge."
The Master said, "Know others." Fan Chih couldn't get it.
The Master said, "If you put the honest in positions of power and discard the dishonest, you will force the dishonest to become honest."
Fan Chih left and seeing Tzu Hsia said, "A little while ago I saw the Master and asked him about 'knowledge,' and he told me, "Put the honest in positions of power and discard the dishonest, and you will force the dishonest to be honest." What did he mean?"

12:24 Tseng Tzu said: "The Superior Man uses his refinement to meet his friends, and through his friends develops his jen.

15:8 Confucius said: "The determined shih and the man of jen will not save their lives if it requires damaging their jen. They will even sacrifice themselves to consummate their jen."

15:32 Confucius said: "If your wisdom can grasp it, but your jen is incapable of maintaining it, even though you have grasped it, you will certainly lose it. If your wisdom grasps it and your jen is sufficient to maintain it, but you don't manifest it, the people will not revere you. If your wisdom grasps it, your jen is sufficient to maintain it, and you manifest it but don't act according to propriety, you are still not perfect."

15:33 Confucius said: "The Superior Man cannot act within the framework of lesser wisdom, but he can handle major affairs. The inferior man cannot handle major affairs, but he can act within the framework of lesser wisdom."

17:6 Tzu Chang asked Confucius about jen. Confucius said, "If you can practice these five things with all the people, you can be called jen."
Tzu Chang asked what they were.
Confucius said, "Courtesy, generosity, honesty, persistence, and kindness. If you are courteous, you will not be disrespected; if you are generous, you will gain everything. If you are honest, people will rely on you. If you are persistent you will get results. If you are kind, you can employ people."

19:19 Yang Fu, having been appointed Minister of Righteousness by the Meng clan, consulted with Tseng Tzu. Tseng said, "When those in power lose their sense of justice, the people will scatter from them, and it will be a long time before they return. When you are aware of their suffering, then you should be sorrowful, never joyful."

19:22 Kung Sun Ch'ao of Wei asked Tzu Kung: "From whom did Confucius get his learning?"
Tzu Kung said, "The Tao of King Wen and King Wu (the legendary sage-kings of antiquity) has not yet sunk into the ground. The Worthies have assimilated the major points, and the less-than-worthy have assimilated the minor points. There is no place where the Tao of Wen and Wu does not exist, so how could the Master not learn it? Why would he need to get it from a certain teacher?"