In Hoc Anno Domini

a place to discuss anything of interest to owners of M151 jeeps

Moderators: rickf, raymond, Mr. Recovery

Post Reply
User avatar
raymond
Major General
Major General
Posts: 3425
Joined: November 26th, 2007, 8:29 pm
Location: God's country, Clarksville Mo.

In Hoc Anno Domini

Unread post by raymond » December 24th, 2018, 11:45 am

Time for my annual posting of this famous Wall Street Journal Editorial. It was written by Vermont Royster and published every year on Christmas Eve since 1949. A horrible war had just ended and it appeared a new totalitarian state was itching to have another world war. The words stay the same but the meaning for me changes every year. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Merry Christmas.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-hoc-ann ... 1545593917
When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage.

And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?

Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter’s star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.


And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Raymond


"On the day when crime puts on the apparel of innocence, through a curious reversal peculiar to our age, it is innocence that is called on to justify itself." Albert Camus

User avatar
rickf
General
General
Posts: 19740
Joined: November 26th, 2007, 1:28 pm
Location: Pemberton, NJ.

Re: In Hoc Anno Domini

Unread post by rickf » December 24th, 2018, 1:57 pm

And a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

csmith
Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Posts: 2083
Joined: July 20th, 2009, 11:49 pm
Location: Va. Beach & NC Outer Banks

Re: In Hoc Anno Domini

Unread post by csmith » December 29th, 2018, 8:29 pm

Always a great read!
1976 M151A2 4 Color Cammo Mutt, aquired August 09
1976 or 7? M151A2 "Miss Sandy" Driver, aquired May 2010
Former owner M151A2 "Miss Saigon" Vietnam Rescue Sold Sept 09
Fond appreciation for the M151 Breed!!

Post Reply