Not Yours to Give
This is an absoutely fascinating account from Col. Crockett's life. There is great wisdom in the words of this interaction not just for government as a country but the leading of the local fellowship.
It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means.
What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the government. So you see, that while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he.
If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right to give at all; and as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity and to any amount you may think proper. You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. 'No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity.
...
I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him - no, that is not the word - I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.
Not only the idea of it's "Not yours to give" but the humility that Crockett displayed in noticing his wrong, not trying to explain his point of view or idea. He submitted to the rebuke and repented from his ways as a congressman. The gentle rebuke brought such a great love for Mr. Bunce and a clear perspective of what led him to the point of his conviction.
where are the congressmen like this? Do they exist? I hope that they do, but it seems the majority have become professionally trained and educated to "lead" and "govern" people losing sight of the representative position they hold.
Which I guess all of this has to lead to the question, where are the pastors like these? I know some, but it seems the majority have become professionaly trained and educated to "lead" and "govern" people losing sight of the position and authority they are usurping.
-r