Cowper: Whom the Truth Makes Free

He is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
And all are slaves beside. There’s not a chain
That hellish foes, confederate for his harm,
Can wind around him, but he casts it off
With as much ease as Samson his green withes.
He looks abroad into the varied field
Of nature, and, though poor perhaps, compared
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,
Calls the delightful scenery all his own.
His are the mountains, and the valleys his.
And all the resplendent rivers. His to enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say—”My Father made them all!”

– William Cowper, The Winter Morning Walk
(HT: JB)

Milton Friedman on Legislating Morality


I don’t agree with everything from the Milton Friedman-U of C school of thought. In fact, there are parts even in this brief segment that I have strong reservations about.

But is anyone strong enough to disagree with his opening assertion?

There is a fundamental economic law – which has never been contradicted to the best of my knowledge – and that is that if you pay more for something, there will tend to be more of that something available. If the amount you are willing to pay for anything goes up, somehow or other, somebody will supply more of that thing.

We have made immoral behavior far more profitable. We have, in the course of the changes in our society, been establishing greater and greater incentives on people to behave in ways that most of us regard as immoral.

If this is correct, how may this insight be applied to current moral challenges?

Logos March Madness

Logos – tagging along with another March Madness – has rigged up a fun tourney that lets you vote for your favorite theologians and pastors. Here’s my brackets:I realized as I was filling out the bracket that this was basically a popularity contest, and that I was heavily favoring Reformed and pastors over evangelical and scholars. There were some pretty difficult decisions. How do you pick between Owen and Calvin?! Continue reading