Democracy Unveiled, Or, Tyranny Stripped of the Garb of Patriotism

'Twas thence concluded, by Rousseau,
That all refinement did but go
To alter nature's simple plan,
And scoundrelize the creature man.--

From whence he madly theoriz'd
That man were best unciviliz'd
Like those philosophers, who prate
Of Innocence in savage state.

E'en took in in his crazy noddle,
A savage was perfection's model;
And nature without cultivation,
The ne plus ultra of creation.

Anticipated, happy dealing,
When mankind, rul'd by social feelings,
Would be perfected, sans a flaw,
Without the Tyranny of Law.

From such sagacious theorizing,
Was formed a plan of his devising,
By which, society destroy'd
Perfection might be unalloy'd....

With other things, which mark the fiend,
That means are sanction'd by the end;
And if some good end we would further,
No matter if the means are murther!

That in this philosophic era,
A God is found a mere chimera,
By priests created, but for wildering
Fools, ignoramuses and children.

The would of mind may be explor'd
By lights, which matter can afford,
And Power Omnipotent must bend,
To what a worm can comprehend;

That by some accidental clatter,
Of pristine, crude, chaotic matter,
(But how, an Atheist only knows)
This beauteous universe arose.

That there is nothing like reality
In future life and immortality;
When death our thread of life shall sever,
We go to rest, and sleep forever.

No, this poem is not written about the 21st Century.  It comes from a book called "Democracy Unveiled", written in 1805 against the American Democrats and the French Revolutionaries.  But the similarities to what we experience today are uncanny.

18th Century Gallery by J. O. B.

Onfray de Breville (also known as J. O. B.) was a French painter of the late 1800s-early 1900s.  The pictures are delightful, but better yet is the accuracy of the uniforms.  Uniform accuracy is very rare in art.  I hope that God will raise up some Christian historical artists (who paint accurate uniforms!)  Perhaps these paintings, or those in my other galleries will inspire a Christian artist.

The first painting is of Braddock's army on the march.  A sick George Washington rides in the wagon.

The next painting is of the Battle of the Monongahela.  Washington tries to rally the panicked soldiers with no success.

The last painting is not of the French and Indian War at all, but of the Battle of Fontenoy (1745).  It depicts the final action which secured the French victory: the charge of the elite Maison du Roi into the British column.

Rushdoony on the Quakers

Studying the 18th Century will quickly expose one to the glorification of the Quakers.  It seems as though the Quakers were ahead of their times, tolerant, wise, and kind to all.  But R. J. Rushdoony sums them up much better:

"Now Hannah Whitall Smith was not representative of American Christianity, nor its women; she was a Quakeress, of a sect which believes in the inner light, a spark of divinity in every person.  Quakers represent a heretical strain, despite their great respectability with the American left.  At about the same time that I read Hannah Whitall Smith, I read George Fox's Journal, and a life of James Naylor, co-founder of the Quakers.  Naylor allowed himself to be hailed like Christ, and Fox, as I recall it, as he approached an English town (Litchfield?), went into a wild "prophetic" frenzy and denounced it as a bloody city for no reason at all."--from pg. 149, Institutes of Biblical Law volume 3

Announcing a New Blog!

I am pleased to announce that my brother Aidan has started a blog!  It is titled "Mountains Were Moved".  Check it out at www.mountainsweremoved.blogspot.com!  I'm looking forward to seeing what is put up next!