This Fourth of July: Confirm Thy Soul in Self-Control

by Paul G. Kengor
http://www.visionandvalues.org/2011/06/this-fourth-of-july-confirm-thy-soul-in-self-control/

The founders of this remarkable republic often thought and wrote about the practice of virtue generally and self-control specifically, two things long lost in this modern American culture of self. Thomas Jefferson couldn’t avoid a reference to one of the cardinal virtues—prudence—in our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, which, incidentally, ought to be a must-read for every American every Fourth of July (it’s only 1,800 words). Our first president and ultimate Founding Father, George Washington, knew the necessity of governing one’s self before a nation’s people were capable of self-governance. As Washington stated in his classic Farewell Address, “’Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”

An excellent short read for this National Holiday. It should be a required subject in all institutions of learning, if not the pulpits.

My favorite quote

Virtue must be continuously reinforced by the culture.

Upon reflection, I have to reply to my own thread. Self control for human beings is impossible. It is possible only when one is submitted to Jesus as Lord and Master and then it is still subject to human nature's influences. There is no perfection this side of Heaven.