Free, Safe, and Quiet

Freedom is precious, priceless⎯and history has proved it wise and prudent to limit the degree to which we delegate others to act for us. “There is no liberty,” said Henry Ward Beecher, “to men who know not how to govern themselves.” “I believe,” said James Madison, “there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachment… than by violent and sudden usurpations.” “The true danger,” said Edmund Burke believed “is, when liberty is nibbled away for expedients, and by parts.”

Seldom, if ever, does anything of consequence happen suddenly. There is a background and a beginning, a little giving, a little compromising, a little trading for time⎯sometimes a little concession to comfort and convenience⎯a little sacrificing of principle for some supposed personal privilege or preference. “Thank God, for the iron in the blood of our fathers,” said Theodore Roosevelt. “No country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the material prosperity which comes form thrift, from business energy and enterprise, from hard, unsparing effort in the fields of industrial activity, but neither was any nation ever yet truly great if it relied upon material prosperity alone…. Our debt is yet greater to [those who]… showed by their lives that they recognized the law of work… to win a competence for themselves and those dependent upon them.”

Freedom is among the most precious of man’s possessions, among the most precious of God’s gifts. Its preservation demands honor, reverence, and respect⎯and the acceptance of real responsibility. We recall Seneca’s voice speaking down the centuries: “… to obey God is perfect liberty; he that does this, shall be free, safe, and quiet,” ⎯free, safe, and quiet⎯these are wonderful words.