“And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, / From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remember’d.” William Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day speech in “Henry V” is one of the most iconic and memorable speeches in history, and it still speaks to us today, especially as we must trust in God and fight a political battle as perilous as Henry’s physical battle.

We might not be facing a more powerful army with weapons across a battlefield, but we now in America are certainly facing the political fight of our lives this election season. This election will decide if America will descend into tyranny or have a rebirth of freedom. 

Today is, in fact, the feast of the 3rd-century brothers, cobblers, evangelizers, and holy martyrs Sts. Crispin and Crispinian (or Crispian), the anniversary of Henry V’s 1415 miraculous victory against a larger French force at Agincourt. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers” can still take heart from the example of the saints and soldiers of the past in our own fight. “All things are ready if our minds be so.”

And we have a much higher incentive to fight than Henry did. Henry V was fighting for more land, for his own personal gain.  His men were fighting for their king. But we fight for a much nobler cause still: the cause of liberty and justice for all. We fight both for our own property and families and also for our most sacred rights.

For Our VIPs: This Election Decides If Freedom of Conscience Survives

In the spirit of the Founding Fathers and all patriots, we will attain victory. Frederick Douglass said our rights depend on the cartridge box and the ballot box, and the latter must be our weapon (metaphorically speaking) this year against Democrats’ increasing tyranny. 

And so, let us read the marvelous speech that Shakespeare — himself a common man like us who had to struggle for success — penned for Henry V in the name of two cobblers whose memory has lived on long after monarchs were forgotten, and let us vow that we too will invoke God’s aid and not give up hope even against great odds.

Westmoreland: O, that we now had here / But one ten thousand of those men in England / That do no work today.

Henry V: What’s he that wishes so? / My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin: / If we are mark’d to die, we are eno[ugh] / To do our country loss; and if to live, / The fewer men, the greater share of honour. / God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. / By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, / Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; / It yearns me not if men my garments wear; / Such outward things dwell not in my desires: / But if it be a sin to covet honor, / I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: / God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honor / As one man more, methinks, would share from me / For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! / Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, / That he which hath no stomach to this fight, / Let him depart; his passport shall be made / And crowns for convoy put into his purse: / We would not die in that man’s company / That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is called the feast of Crispian: / He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, / Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, / And rouse him at the name of Crispian. / He that shall live this day, and see old age, / Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, / And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian:’ / Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. / And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.’

Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, / But he’ll remember with advantages / What feats he did that day: then shall our names. / Familiar in his mouth as household words / Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, / Be in their flowing cups freshly remember’d. / This story shall the good man teach his son; / And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by, / From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remember’d;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; / For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition: / And gentlemen in England now a-bed / Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, / And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks / That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

God bless all freedom lovers today!