MIrror Glass Darkly(weekender): VIrginia Consitution of 1776, Solzhenitsyn, and Witness Lee(on the Christian Inner Life)

Virginia Constitution of 1776

Whereas George the third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and elector of Hanover, heretofore
intrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in this government, hath endeavoured to prevent,
the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by putting his negative on laws the most
wholesome and necessary for the public good:
By denying his Governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless
suspended in their operation for his assent, and, when so suspended neglecting to attend to them
for many years:
By refusing to pass certain other laws, unless the persons to be benefited by them would
relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the legislature:
By dissolving legislative Assemblies repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly
firmness his invasions of the rights of the people:
When dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political
system without any legislative head:
By endeavouring to prevent the population of our country, and, for that purpose, obstructing, the
laws for the naturalization of foreigners:
By keeping among us, in times of peace, standing armies and ships of war:
By effecting to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power:
By combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their
pretended acts of legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences:For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate
for us in all cases whatsoever:
By plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our
people:
By inciting insurrections of our fellow subjects, with the allurements of forfeiture and
confiscation:
By prompting our negroes to rise in arms against us, those very negroes whom, by an inhuman
use of his negative, he hath refused us permission to exclude by law:
By endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of
existence:
By transporting, at this time, a large army of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of
death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy
unworthy the head of a civilized nation:
By answering our repeated petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries: And finally, by
abandoning the helm of government and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection.
By which several acts of misrule, the government of this country, as formerly exercised under
the crown of Great Britain, is TOTALLY DISSOLVED.

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Alexander Solzhenitsyn, from One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

"Look, boys, it's wolf eat wolf here.  That's the law of the tundra, you know?  But you can stay alive here, too.  The ones who don't, that's the ones who lick stuff out of bowls, the ones who trust the doctors to save their skins, the ones who squeal on us."

That was very fine for squealers, but it wasn't true.  They were the ones who really made out.  Made out on other people's blood.

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Witness Lee on Christian Conduct:

I recall a story of two brothers, both Christians, who had a
rice paddy. Rice paddies need to be irrigated. Their paddy was
halfway up a hill; others were lower down. In the great heat of
the day they drew water and filled their paddy. In the evening
they went to sleep. But while they were sleeping, the farmer
lower down the hill dug a hole in the irrigation channel sur-
rounding the brothers’ field and let all the water f low into his
field. The next morning the brothers saw what had happened,
but they said nothing. Again they filled the channels with
water. The following day they saw that their field had been
emptied again, but they still did not say anything. They were
Christians and felt that they should endure in silence. This
happened every day for a week. Some people suggested that
they stand guard in their field at night to catch the thief and
beat him. They did not say a word in response; they just
endured because they were Christians.
 

According to the human concept, they should have been
walking joyfully, happily, and victoriously because they were
enduring in silence, even after drawing water daily and
having it stolen so many times. But strangely enough, even
though they drew water every day and remained silent while
others stole it, they did not have peace in their hearts. They
then went to see a brother with some experience in the Lord’s
work and said, “We do not understand why we have no peace
after enduring for seven or eight days. Christians should
endure and allow others to steal from them, but we do not
have peace in our hearts.” This brother was very experienced.

He said, “You have not done enough, nor have you endured
enough. You should f irst f ill the f ield of the person who has
stolen your water. Then you can f ill your own f ield. Go and
try this, then see whether you will have peace within.” They
both agreed. The next day they got up earlier than usual and
f illed the f ield of the person who had stolen their water,
before f illing their own f ield. Strangely enough, they became
more and more joyful as they f illed that person’s f ield. When
they came to f ill their own f ield, they had peace in their
hearts. They were at peace with the thought of allowing that
person to steal their water. After two or three days of doing
this, the person who had stolen their water came to apologize,
saying, “If this is Christianity, I want to hear about it.”

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