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Consider
these words from George Washington, the Father of our Nation, in his farewell speech on September
19, 1796:
"It is impossible
to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion
and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained
without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle."
Was George Washington a Christian?
Consider these words from his personal prayer book: "Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work.
Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more
in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain
the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled
with the knowledge of thy son, Jesus Christ."
James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution
of the United States, said this: "We have staked the whole
future of our new nation, not upon the power of government; far from it. We have staked the future of all our political constitutions
upon the capacity of each of ourselves to govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."
Consider these words by John Adams, our second
president, who also served as chairman of the American Bible Society.
In an address to military leaders he said, "We have
no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our
constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
How about our first Supreme Court
Justice, John Jay? He stated that when we select our national leaders, if we are to preserve our
Nation, we must select Christians. "Providence has given to our people the choice
of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian Nation to select and prefer Christians
for their rulers."
John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, was the
sixth U.S. President. He was also the chairman of the American Bible Society, which he considered
his highest and most important role. On July 4, 1821, President Adams said,
"The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government
with the principles of Christianity."
Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President
of the United States reaffirmed this truth when he wrote, "The foundations of our society and our government rest so much
on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically
universal in our country."
In 1782, the United
States Congress voted this resolution: "The Congress of the United States recommends and
approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools."
William Holmes McGuffey is the author of the McGuffey
Reader, which was used for over 100 years in our public schools with over 125 million copies sold until it was stopped in
1963. President Lincoln called him the "Schoolmaster of the Nation." Listen to these word of Mr. McGuffey: "The Christian
religion is the religion of our country. >From it are derived our nation, on the character of God, on the great moral Governor
of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions. From no source has the author drawn
more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology."
Of the first 108 universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including
the first, Harvard University, chartered in 1636. In the original
Harvard Student Handbook, rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study
the Scriptures: "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life
and studies, is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore
to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."
James Madison,
the primary author of the Constitution of the United States, said this: "We
have staked the whole future of all our political constitutions upon the capacity of each of ourselves to
govern ourselves according to the moral principles of the Ten Commandments."
Ridley Barron
Senior Pastor
GracePointe Church
912-393-3601
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants,
nine were farmers and large plantation owners: men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence
knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader
saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was
forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His
possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties
of Dillery Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken
over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,
and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The
enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their
13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than
a year he lived in forests and caves, returning to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died
from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution.
These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but
they valued liberty more. Standing tall and straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of the declaration, with
firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our
sacred honor."
They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary
War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but
we shouldn't. So take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much
to ask for the price they paid.
Remember:
Freedom is never free!
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