Scripture, Fisher Ames, And The Soul Of A Republic

Start with the soul, not the slogans. We open in prayer and move straight into Scripture that tests our assumptions: a wedding feast spurned, a coin stamped with Caesar, a resurrection misunderstood. The questions are as modern as taxes and as eternal as worship. What belongs to the state, what belongs to God, and what happens when a people forgets the difference? From Psalm 27’s courage to Proverbs 6’s hard-won wisdom, we map how inner life shapes public life.

We then shift to a vivid portrait of duty through a Civil War Medal of Honor citation, reminding us that freedom is stewarded by sacrifice. That sets the table for Fisher Ames’ scorching analysis of the French Revolution. Ames contrasts violent upheaval with American liberty grounded in morals, religion, education, and dispersed property. His words read like a dispatch to the present: inflamed factions, envy masquerading as justice, and the state tempting citizens with plunder. The warning is clear—republics rot from the inside when virtue is mocked and restraint is treated as weakness.

Our throughline is simple and demanding: rights without character degrade into license. We challenge a common talking point by insisting that the Second Amendment means little if the First isn’t lived out in truth and love. Arms without virtue become tools of vice; freedom without formation frays communities and families. The path forward looks old and fresh at once—prayer, repentance, Scripture in the home, courage in public, and a renewed respect for the limits that make liberty durable. If this resonates, share it with a friend, leave a review, and subscribe so we can keep building a people capable of keeping freedom. What anchors your liberty?

Transcript

Welcome, Thanks, And Prayer

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well wherever y'all are, and whatever part of the day you're in. Sure do appreciate you joining me, giving me a little bit of your time and attention, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully y'all are getting to listen to it with someone else. And for those of y'all who continue to share the podcast with others, tell others about it. Thank you for those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast. Thank you very much. Very grateful for your prayers. Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, Father, and your Son Jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love and your mercy, your grace, and your forgiveness of sins through the merit of your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the blessings that we take for granted, Father. Everything from heat and electricity to clean water to drink and shower with and clothes to wear, food to eat.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Thank you most of all for those people that you put in our lives. Too many of them that we take far too much for granted. Forgive us when we give time to things as opposed to people, Father.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

When we put our priorities in front of yours, when we conform to the world instead of conforming our actions and our deeds with your priorities, your commands, your desires. Help us to truly follow your Son Jesus Christ, to follow his commandments, to love you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Guide our steps. Thank you for those who listen to the podcast and share it. Please be with them, be with their families, surround them with your angels, protect them from evil of any kind. Bless the marriages of those who are married. Guide those who have children and raising them to know you and your son Jesus Christ. Be with our leaders in the state and in the pulpit. Please give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Be with their wives and their children. Be with our military, law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, those who go out in the cold, in the dark, and the rain, snow, ice, sweet.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Keep them safe and bring them home safe, Father Please.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

And those who work on our electricity and our roads and everything else.

Marriage Verses And Cultural Tension

SPEAKER_00 2:57

And guide my words here, Father Place, in your son's name we pray. Amen. Marriage verses for today one Corinthians eleven, seven through nine.

Parables, Taxes, And Resurrection

Psalms, Proverbs, And Moral Warnings

SPEAKER_01 3:12

For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man. For indeed man was not created for the woman's sake, but woman for the man's sake. That definitely is not politically correct today, is it? Scripture, daily scripture for today, Matthew twenty two, verse one through thirty three. Jesus also told them other parables. He said the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. When the banquet was ready he sent his servants to notify those who are invited. But they all refused to come. So he sent other servants to tell them The feast has been repaired. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet. But the guests he invite had invited ignored them and went their own way. One to his farm, another to his business, others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them. The king was furious. He sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. And he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren't worthy of the honor. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see. So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests he noticed a man who wasn't wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. Friend, he asked, how is it that you are here without wedding clothes? But the man had no reply. Then the king said to his aides, bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Then the Pharisees met together to plot how to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested. They sent some of their disciples along with the supporters of Herod to meet with him. Teacher, they said, We know how honest you are, you teach the way of God truthfully. You are impartial and you don't play favorites. Now tell us what you think about this. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus knew their evil motives. You hypocrites, he said, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for the tax. When they handed him a Roman coin, he asked, Whose picture and title are stamped on it? Caesar's, they replied. Well then, he said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God. His reply amazed them, and they went away. That same day Jesus was approached by some Sadducees, religious leaders who say there is no race resurrection from the dead. They posed this question Teacher, Moses said if a man dies without children, his brother should marry the widow, and have a child who will carry on the brother's name. Well, suppose there were seven brothers, the oldest one married and then died without children, so his brother married the widow. But the second brother also died, and the third brother married her. This continued with all seven of them. Last of all the woman also died. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her. Jesus replied, Your mistake is that you don't know the scriptures, and you don't know the power of God. For when the dead rise they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the angels in heaven. But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead, haven't you ever read about this in the scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So he is the God of the living, not the dead. When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching. Psalm twenty seven six. The Lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The one thing I ask of the Lord, the thing I seek most, is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord's perfections and meditating in his temple, for he will conceal me there when trouble comes. He will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock, then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. Proverbs six twenty through twenty six. My son, obey your father's commands and don't neglect your mother's instruction. Keep their words always in your heart, tie them around your neck. When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light. Their corrective discipline is the way to life. It will keep you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman. Don't lust for her beauty. Don't let her coy glances seduce you.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

For a prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man's wife will cost you your life. For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light, their corrective discipline is the way to life.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

We have this wonderful word of God that gives us so much guidance in life. And yet, at least for me, so often, I have ignored it. Right? And then we wonder why we stumble or we get mad at God when we're the ones that didn't pay attention to him. To begin with, the worst heartaches, pain in my life that I have ever dealt with, folks, have absolutely come because I ignored what God clearly said to do or not to do.

Medal Of Honor Spotlight

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Edgar A Brass Brass Sergeant US Civil War.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Kilo Company, eighth Iowa Infantry, U.S. Army, April eighth, eighteen sixty five, Spanish Fort Alabama.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Capture of Flag.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Accredited to Wapello Luisa County, Iowa, not awarded posthumously, presented july eighth, eighteen sixty five by Lieutenant J. Lyon, Assistant Inspector General of the sixteenth Army Corps at parade. Born october sixth, eighteen forty one, Jefferson County, Iowa, died june twenty fourth, nineteen twenty three, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, buried Evergreen Cemetery twenty Tac N one slash two Tac nine Tac one Fort Laud Lauderdale, Florida. Don't you know that man saw a lot? Born in eighteen forty one, died in nineteen twenty three. Edgar A.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Brass or Bros.

France, Faction, And Liberty

SPEAKER_01 11:28

So we're gonna read a little bit more of Fisher Ames today. We're gonna go back into his the works of Fisher Ames. I think this is out of volume two, and it's a eulogy he wrote on Washington and delivered at the request of the legislature of Massachusetts, february eighth, eighteen hundred. And we're it's a pretty lengthy eulogy, as you would expect for Washington. We're just gonna read a little bit of it. Thus it clearly appears that in its origin, its character, and its means, the government of that country is revolutionary. That is not only different from, but directly contrary to every regular and well ordered society. Talking about the French Revolution. Actually, I'm going to come back up here and start one paragraph before y'all forgive me. The genuine character of that revolution is not even yet so well understood as the dictates of self preservation require it should be. The chief duty and care of all governments is to protect the rights of property and the tranquility of society. The leaders of the French Revolution from the beginning excited the poor against the rich. This has made the rich poor, but it will never make the poor rich. On the contrary, they were used only as blind instruments to make those leaders masters, first of the adverse party and then of the state. Thus the powers of the state were turned round into a direction exactly contrary to the proper one, not to preserve tranquility and restrain violence, but to excite violence by the lure of power and plunder and vengeance. Thus all France has been and still is as much the prize of the ruling party as a captured ship, and if any right or possession has escaped confiscation, there is none that has not been liable to it. Tell you what, folks, if that doesn't describe the modern American left to you in a nutshell, it should. Just look at Minnesota right now, well look at any of a half a dozen different leftist cities, Muslim cities across the nation. Thus it clearly appears that in its origin, its character, and its means, the government of that country is revolutionary, that is, not only different from, but directly contrary to every regular and well ordered society. It is a danger similar in its kind and at least equal in degree to that with which ancient Rome menaced her enemies. The allies of Rome were slaves, and it cost some hundred years efforts of her policy in arms to make her enemies her allies. Nations at this day can trust no better to treaties. They cannot even trust to arms unless they are used with a spirit and perseverance becoming the magnitude of their danger. For the French Revolution has been from the first, hostile to all right and justice, to all peace and order in society, and therefore its very existence has been a state of warfare against the civilized world, and most of all against free and orderly republics, for such are never without factions, ready to be the allies of France and to aid her in the work of destruction. Accordingly, scarcely any but republics have they subverted. Such governments by showing in practice what republican liberty is, detect French imposture and show what their pretexts are not. To subvert them, therefore they had besides the facility and faction affords the double excitement of removing a reproach and converting their greatest obstacles into their most efficient auxiliaries. Who then on careful reflection will be surprised that the French and their partisans instantly conceived their desire and made the most powerful attempts to revolutionize the American government? But it will hereafter seem strange that their excesses should be excused as the effects of a struggle for liberty, and that so many of our citizens should be flattered while they were insulted with the idea that our example was copied and our principles pursued. Nothing was ever more false or more fascinating. Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, our habits, to which even prejudices yield, on the dispersion of our people on farms, and on the almost equal diffusion of property. It is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all those produce on public opinion, before that opinion governs rulers. Here liberty is restraint. There it is violence. Here it is mild and cheering, like the morning sun of our summer brightening the hills and making the valleys green. There it is like the sun when his rays dart pestilence on the sands of Africa. American liberty calms and restrains the licentious passions, like an angel that says to the winds and troubled seas be still. But how has France how has French licentiousness appeared to the wretched citizens of Switzerland and Venice? Do not their haunted imaginations, even when they wake, represent her as a monster, with eyes that flash wild fire, hands that hurl thunderbolts, and a voice that shakes the foundation of the hills. Excuse me. She stands, and her ambition measures the earth. She speaks, and an epidemic fury seizes the nations.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Sorry. Got something down the wrong pipe.

Faith As America’s Foundation

SPEAKER_01 18:06

There's a lot here. I think you can read through this pretty clearly and see a lot of the similarities between the French reign of terror, the French Revolution, and the modern American left. There's quite a lot, just like there is in the 1920s and 30s. In Nazi Germany, you look at the fact that we have the left going into churches now, and that won't end well, folks. But what's the difference here? The difference is the fact that we were founded as Fisher Ames. You've got to remember again, this is one of the framers of our Bill of Rights, the guy that worded the establishment clause. It's founded on morals and religion. That's the foundation of our liberty. That's the foundation of our nation. So often you hear people on the conservative side, so-called conservative, talk about the fact that the Second Amendment was that's the major difference. But folks, the Second Amendment without a First Amendment, particularly the people that follow the principles of Christ, that's nothing more than the Nazi stormtroopers or the Red Guard in China or anything else. You just got a bunch of armed people with little to no morals. It's not a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

The Second Amendment, in and of itself, does us no good if it's not founded on those principles of Christ, just like our nation.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

If you are looking for a family-friendly middle grade read, uh if you would check out the Countryside series, I would appreciate it. If you enjoyed, if you'd leave a review for the first or second book in the series, that would be great. And if you feel like you're getting something out of the podcast on a semi-regular basis, if you would leave a Review of that somewhere online, Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever it is that you listen. And if you have five or ten dollars that you can donate to the podcast on a month monthly basis, there's a link at the bottom of the show notes where you can do that. I would very much appreciate that. It helps a lot. You can also listen to the podcast on YouTube now if you would rather listen to it there, or if you know somebody that would.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Book Plugs And Support

Closing Prayer And Blessing

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not to temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thy and is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. God bless y'all, God bless your families, God bless your marriages. If you're married, God bless your nation, wherever you are around the world listening. God bless America. We'll talk to y'all again real soon, folks. Looking forward to it.