As we approach Independence Day, I wanted to share some soundbytes from The Federalist newsletter.

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come." -- Samuel Adams

Wow! He is talking about Jesus Christ. The entire newsletter is awesome and really puts you back into your seat. Here is another section,

Adams believed, as we do, that liberty and virtue are inseparable: "Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals." And, "As long as the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.... If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security."

He is talking about morals and virtue, words that have lost meaning these days. What did they mean back when he said them? Go to the 1828 Dictionary,

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VIRTUE, n. vur'tu. [L. virtus, from vireo, or its root. See Worth.] The radical sense is strength, from straining, stretching, extending. This is the primary sense of L. vir, a man.]

1. Strength; that substance or quality of physical bodies, by which they act and produce effects on other bodies. In this literal and proper sense, we speak of the virtue or virtues of plants in medicine, and the virtues of drugs. In decoctions, the virtues of plants are extracted. By long standing in the open air, the virtues are lost.

2. Bravery valor. This was the predominant signification of virtus among the Romans.

Trust to thy single virtue.

[This sense is nearly or quite obsolete.]

3. Moral goodness; the practice of moral duties and the abstaining from vice, or a conformity of life and conversation to the moral law. In this sense, virtue may be, and in many instances must be, distinguished from religion. The practice of moral duties merely from motives of convenience, or from compulsion, or from regard to reputation, is virtue, as distinct from religion. The practice of moral duties from sincere love to God and his laws, is virtue and religion. In this sense it is true,

That virtue only makes our bliss below.

Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to truth.

4. A particular moral excellence; as the virtue of temperance, of chastity, of charity.

Remember all his virtues.

5. Acting power; something efficacious.

Jesus, knowing that virtue had gone out of him, turned - Mark 3.

6. Secret agency; efficacy without visible or material action.

She moves the body which she doth possess,

Yet no part toucheth, but by virtue's touch.

7. Excellence; or that which constitutes value and merit.

- Terence, who thought the sole grace and virtue of their fable, the sticking in of sentences.

8. One of the orders of the celestial hierarchy.

Thrones, dominations, princedoms, virtues, powers.

9. Efficacy; power.

He used to travel through Greece by virtue of this fable, which procured him reception in all the towns.

10. Legal efficacy or power; authority. A man administers the laws by virtue of a commission.

In virtue, in consequence; by the efficacy or authority.

This they shall attain, partly in virtue of the promise of God, and partly in virtue of piety.

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MOR'ALS, n. plu. The practice of the duties of life; as a man of correct morals.

1. Conduct; behavior; course of life, in regard to good and evil.

Some, as corrupt in their morals as vice could make them, have been solicitous to have their children virtuously and piously educated.

What can laws do without morals?

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So looking at our nation today it is easy to see where our freedom has gone.

"but when once they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader"

We have lost virtue, and we have surrendered. It is about submission. "Virtue is nothing but voluntary obedience to truth" Obey the truth or you will be a slave.

"...Our enemies have made it an object, to eradicate from the minds of the people in general a sense of true religion and virtue, in hopes thereby the more easily to carry their point of enslaving them."

I would add here that true religion is that which Jesus spoke of, not what an institution says it is. God continues to work through the church because it is filled with disciples that are submitted to the Holy Spirit. Not every man that goes to church or leads a church is following the will of God, only God can judge that.

So my challenge is that you examine yourself, and look at where you are disobedient to truth. And Jesus is the Truth.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me