Origin of The Title
The title of the book comes from the hymn, "A Charge to Keep I Have" (1762) by Charles Wesley. Wesley's title is a paraphrase of Leviticus 8:35: keep the charge of the LORD, so that you may not die.
A painting by W.H.D. Koerner, lent to Bush, shows a horseman charging up a rugged mountain trail, followed by others. In the book, Bush says this scene "epitomizes our mission":
| “ | When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves. | ” |
The painting hung on the west wall of the Oval Office during Bush's presidency. He has explained to journalists that its title is "based upon a religious hymn. The hymn talks about serving God." The phrase "A Charge to Keep" was attached to the painting because it was used to illustrate a short story of this title by Ben Ames Williams published in 1918 by Country Gentleman magazine. According to Jacob Weisberg, Bush "came to believe that the picture depicted the circuit-riders who spread Methodism across the Alleghenies in the nineteenth century. In other words, the cowboy who looked like Bush was a missionary of his own denomination."
Read more about this topic: A Charge To Keep
Famous quotes containing the words origin of the, origin of, origin and/or title:
“The essence of morality is a questioning about morality; and the decisive move of human life is to use ceaselessly all light to look for the origin of the opposition between good and evil.”
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962)
“In the woods in a winter afternoon one will see as readily the origin of the stained glass window, with which Gothic cathedrals are adorned, in the colors of the western sky seen through the bare and crossing branches of the forest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“There are certain books in the world which every searcher for truth must know: the Bible, the Critique of Pure Reason, the Origin of Species, and Karl Marx’s Capital.”
—W.E.B. (William Edward Burghardt)
“Greatness is a light-hearted title for theatrical entertainments. Or a definition endowed on men too long dead to know that it’s been awarded.”
—Arthur Ross. Leslie (Tony Curtis)