Afternoon Afflatus . . .

"Ecclesiastical History of New-England" by Cotton Mathers:

"Nor would I have you to mistake in the point of your own liberty. There is a liberty of corrupt nature, which is affected both by men and beasts, to do what they list; and this liberty is inconsistent with authority, impatient of all restraint; by this liberty, Sumus Omnes Deteriores [we are inferior]; ‘tis the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent against it. But there is a civil, moral, a federal liberty, which is the proper end and object of authority; it is a liberty for that only which is just and good; for this liberty you are to stand with the hazard of your very life."