The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your
poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
by Emma Lazarus, New York City, 1883
This was a misappropriation or secularization of Jesus's words:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28-30. KJV
Our land has been the Earthly "Promised Land" for Millions of people struggling to be live in freedom, and to worship their Creator without government interference; A feat never achieved to this extent anywhere in the world before, or since. But, to borrow the words of the Redeemer of Mankind, The Son of Jehovah; And to give it a social slant, or an economic connotation is shallow to say the least, or opportunistic to call it by its proper name.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden"
Jesus refers to his Kingdom to come, not a Heaven on Earth, with all its flaws and corruptions. Of course, this land was blessed by God, so that His faithful could find a "haven" from the persecution of Kings, Feudal Lords, and Religious (zealous) Tyrants, such as the Popes of Rome.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Revelation 12:6.
The Pilgrims came to America fleeing the persecutions of the Tyrannical Church of England(begun by Henry VIII, because of a dispute with the Pope of Rome), only to be "followed here" by the Puritans, who were Church of England "Reformers", but tyrannical never the less.
The Lord wants "His" faithful people to prepare themselves for the Kingdom that he will establish soon, not by man's efforts, not by man's "enlightened" standards; But by accepting his Graceful Sacrifice on the cross.
Anything that man devises is sub-standard to God. In a world of imperfection this is the best nation under the heavens because, The Lord willed it that way. There is nothing inherently benevolent in mankind; Without the assistance and guidance of God.
What I see here is an Image. A pretty ideal made of brick and copper. Yet, the ideals that it personifies are humanistic and secular. Nowhere is there a mention of the Creator, but, there is mention of "Mother Liberty". Is that the same Ms. Liberty that exemplified the French Revolution?
The Guillotine, the assassination of the King and Queen of France? The one that brought mayhem and Chaos to an all time high? The "Madame Liberte" that attempted to remove all semblance of Christianity from France? And produced the carnage, that is called the French Revolution?
God has blessed America. Not Mother Liberty, or Madame Liberte!
Everything else is an Image of the Lord's Creation.
I call it Identity theft, when you try to attribute The Lord's providential blessing to anything else.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exodus 20:4-6.
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