The brotherhood of the free By Chuck Baldwin

Image via Wikipedia

By Chuck Baldwin

One of my all-time favorite pieces of literature is this section from Friedrich Schiller‘s William Tell:

“By this fair light which greeteth us, before

Those other nations, that, beneath us far,

In noisome cities pent, draw painful breath,

Swear we the oath of our confederacy!

A band of brothers true we swear to be,

Never to part in danger or in death!

“We swear we will be free as were our sires,

And sooner die than live in slavery!

“We swear, to put our trust in God Most High,

And not to quail before the might of man!”

Another personal favorite is the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V:

“This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered.

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he today that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother, be he ne’er so vile.

This day shall gentle his condition.

“And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

Schiller and Shakespeare called it “Band of Brothers.” The Apostle Peter called it “Brotherhood.” (I Peter 2:17) Call it what you will: without it, no cause will prevail. And that is one of the biggest problems we face in America today: there is very little brotherhood among brothers.

No, not all brothers are part of the brotherhood. The Scripture acknowledges this in Proverbs 18:24, “There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” And again in Proverbs 27:10, “Better is a neighbor that is near than a brother afar off.” A brother that doesn’t “stick close” is certainly not part of the brotherhood. Neither is a brother that is “afar off.”

EXCERPT

via The brotherhood of the free.

Related articles

• The Art of the Epic Battle (omnivoracious.com)
• My brotherhood.. (lachicalove.wordpress.com)
• Band of Brothers by Stud : HQ images (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Friday night movie: The First of the Few (1942) (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
• Hey Grimes, what’s up dude? by Dr. Jimmy T (Gunny) LaBaume (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
• The New Islamists: Muslim Brotherhood Leader Rises as Egypt’s Decisive Voice (nytimes.com)
• On Reading Dennis Glover’s “The art of great speeches: and why we remember them” (clubtroppo.com.au)
• Libya’s Muslim Brotherhood faces the future (nation.com.pk)
• ‘Band of Brothers’ soldier Lynn Compton dies aged 90 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Band of Brothers hero dead at 90 (hollywood.com)

About these ads