Our time of reviewing Common Sense is now coming to an end. Towards the end of his writing, Paine writes, "A goverment of our own is our natural right: and when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affiars, he will become convinced that it is infinitely wiser and safer, to form a Constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust such an interesting event to time and chance." He is right even today, because the state of human and civil government affiars in our nation is indeed precarious today. Just as Paine called for a Constitution to be penned in a deliberate manner, should we not at least take the time to see what vestiages of that Constitution still remain viable and then determine the best ways in which to rectify the situation if what we find is unacceptable. For Paine, the failure to act when action was needed was nothing more than apathy or blindness.
So, where do we go from here. First, I say that we must find common agreement among each other with Paine's declaration, "where, say some, is the king of America? I'll tell you, friend, he reigns above...let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine law, the Word of God...For as in abolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king." The first step cannot be external to the indvidual, we must return to our dependence and recognition of God and His Word as the foundation of our society and law. Until that step is taken, man has no reason for individual responsibility, which is further translated into a failure of responsibility in every other sphere of life including family, church, occupation and civil government. Until the individual bends his will and affections to God, there is no reason to expect that society at large will reflect values that differ. Displaced from Christianity, the individual and society will run ragged from being constantly pounded by the throes of a culture tearing itself awy from its foundation as it unsuccessfully tries to integrate secular humanism into itself. As this happens, and it already has, the following words of Paine will be a hollow hope. "As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of government to protect all conscientious professors thereof, and I know of no other business which government has to do therewith." And yet today, the business of civil government is nothing more than to harass, attack and litigate those that hold religion as not only their faith, but more importantly, their practice.
Paine's book was a book not only designed to touch on the politics of his day, but to emphasize the type of government and people that were the aim of revolution. There is no doubt that given the current place and future trajectory of the United States, Paine would have seen that his words, warnings, cautions and hopes, while striking the chord that was needed at the time of writing, faded in the ears of a people who became satiated and apathetic. If the book is truly common sense, then it is sense that is practical in any age and at any time. But a people who failed to watch over a civil government that tramples their rights and disregard their own obligations and responsibilties are certainly in no place to take advantage of sound counsel. The responsibility for change thus falls not on the government to save us, but to individuals, then families and churches and communities before real change can ever be seriously affected.
No comments:
Post a Comment