Revolutionary Pastors

In commemoration of the Boston Massacre John Lathrop of Old North Church preached on the subject Innocent Blood Crying to God from the streets of Boston. In the same year the Rev. Samuel Cooke, with Governor Hutchinson present as well as the Massachusetts House of Representatives preached on the text, “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”  Alice Baldwin in her book, The N. E. Clergy and the American Revolution, said of the pastors, “With a vocabulary enriched by the Bible, …(they) made resistance and at last independence and war a holy cause,” and through their influence, gave the Revolution support.

On April 18, 1775 the new governor of Boston sent detachment of soldiers first to secure the arms of the patriots at concord and second to capture three rebel leaders who were stirring up most of the trouble. On the morning of April 19, 1775 Jonas Clark, a preacher, John Hancock, his cousin, and Sam Adams, his distributor of sermons were awakened to escape the British. Adams and Hancock were visiting for the night, unaware that the British were sending troops to Lexington. Clark was asked by one of his guest if his congregation would fight if necessary. Clark, who had preached the duty of self-defense of inalienable rights for years through his sermons, responded confidently, “I have trained them for this very hour!” The shot heard round the world providentially occurred on the lawn of his church.

“Throw down your arms, you damn rebels and disperse,” was the command of the British officer.  Some started to disperse, but Captain John Parker, a deacon in Clark’s church yelled, “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they want war, let it begin here.” The British fired first and 8 men fell and died on the spot. The Americans fired back, and you know the rest of the story. Or do you? One bystander writes about Jonas Clark who was watching from the church steps. He walked up and took in his arms the head of one of the young men who had been killed. The man’s wife walked up and said, “Jonas, Jonas, look what you have done.” His reply, “Ma’am, I have no regrets, for from today the death knell of tyranny shall be heard throughout the world and the bell of liberty shall ring into eternity.”

At the Galloping Hill Bridge, during the Battle of Springfield, American artillery ran low on wadding to feed their cannons. Rev. James Caldwell, an Army chaplain who had lost his wife during the Battle of Connecticut Farms, carried a load of hymn books published by English clergyman, Issac Watts. Caldwell was heard yelling to the artillery men, “Give ‘em Watts, boys! Give ‘em Watts.”

When General George Washington asked Lutheran pastor John Peter Muhlenberg to raise a regiment of volunteers, Muhlenberg did more than agreed. After he delivered a powerful sermon from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 that concluded with these words: “The Bible tells us there is a time for all things and there is a time to preach and a time to pray, but the time for me to preach has passed away, and there is a time to fight, and that time has come now. Now is the time to fight! Call for recruits! Sound the drums!” Muhlenberg then stripped off his clerical robe, revealing the uniform of a Virginia colonel. Grabbing his musket from behind the pulpit, he donned his colonel’s hat and marched off to war. And as he did, more than 300 of his male congregants followed him.

When the war began many ministers became known as “fighting parsons.” Ministers also exerted influence in raising volunteers to join the cause. At Windsor, VT, David Avery, on hearing the news of Lexington, preached a farewell sermon, then called the people to arms and marched away with 20 men, recruiting others as they went. John Cleaveland of Ipswich is said to have preached his whole parish into the army and then to have gone himself. These preachers were known as the Black Regiment—a term describing the color of their clerical robes. Besides acting as recruiting agents, chaplains, officers and fighters, many ministers supported the war with their pens, and gave of their meager salaries to support the cause. This took character – “O where, O where have the clergy gone.”

The Christian Nature of the United States

If the atheists and progressives had their way, God would be eliminated from all facets of life. However, they are content for the moment to have God eliminated from the public forum. These same people quote the Constitution, pointing out that there is complete separation of Church and State. This is the law of the land since the Supreme Court decision in the Case of Everson vs. The Board of Education in 1947. We may argue the rationale behind the decision is flawed, but it is the law of the land. In fact, whatever the Supreme Court decides is “constitutional” is therefore “constitutional.” Yet, the intent of the Founding Fathers should matter if one is a “strict constitutionalist. The question should be asked, “Did the founding fathers want God removed from the public forum? Modernity says “yes,” but history says “no!”

God was not to be separated from the daily operation of government. How do we know this? First, prayer was a constant activity during the Continental Congress. The Constitution, itself, implicitly regards Sunday as a day of rest by excluding Sunday from the days to be counted in the period that the President has to veto a Congressional bill. And by common consent, Thanksgiving and Christmas were recognized holidays although they are now under attack in our post Christian culture.

Second, Christian mottoes on coins, currency, public buildings, and monuments were commonly accepted. “In God We Trust” was stamped on our coins of old and is etched over the south entrance to the Senate Chamber in the U.S. Capitol. Over the west entrance is engraved Annuit Coeptis, which the Colonials interpreted to mean that God had favored their undertakings. In 1782 Sam Adams and the third Congress commissioned an artist to create a national seal. The artist, William Barton of Philadelphia, suggested a 13-layered pyramid underneath an eye, which stood for the Eye of Providence. He chose the motto, Deo Favente (“with God favoring). The final version, suggested by Charles Thomson (a former Latin teacher) retained the pyramid and eye, but replaced the motto with Annuit Coeptis. His explanation for the change was that the eye over the pyramid and the motto Annuit Cœptis indicated the many “signal interpositions” or ways that Provide favored the American cause.

Third, judicial oaths ended with the phrase, "So help me God!"

Fourth, early Court decisions pronounced the place of God in the early growth of our nation. In People v. Ruggles, an 1811 Supreme Ct. of New York decision, Ruggles was indicted for calling Christ a bastard and his mother a whore. He was fined $500 and served a 3-month imprisonment term. Part of the prosecutor’s argument was that while the Constitution of the State of New York preserved the right of conscience and has allowed for the free discussion of religion, it has nevertheless left the principal engrafted in our common law that Christianity is part of the laws of the State, untouched and unimpaired. Justice James Kent said that, “Nothing could be more offensive to the virtuous part of the community, or more injurious to the tender morals of the young, than to declare such profanity lawful…We are a Christian people and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity, and not upon the doctrines or worship of those impostors [other religions].”  Basically, he said that cursing Christ is cursing the State of New York.

In Updegraph v. The Commonwealth, an 1824 Pennsylvania case, Abner Updegraph on December 12, 1821, with intent to scandalize, vilified the Christian religion by saying, “That the Holy Scriptures were a mere fable: that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies.” He was found guilty of blaspheming and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upheld it.

In Vidal v. Girard’s Executors (1844) the U.S. Supreme Ct. stated that Christianity was not to be openly and maliciously denigrated. Stephen Girard, a native of France, died in 1831 leaving $7 million dollars to the city of Philadelphia to construct an orphanage and college where the “purest principles of morality” are to be instilled. He stipulated that no clergyman or missionary shall ever hold any positions in the college nor were they allowed on campus as visitors. In allowing Philadelphia to retain the bequeath, Court pointed out that although no clergy were allowed, Christian religious principles could still be taught by laymen. In fact, the City Attorney argued, “The purest principles of morality are to be taught. Where are they found? Whoever searches for them must go to the source from which a Christian man derives his faith--the Bible. ...There is an obligation to teach what the Bible alone can teach, viz. a pure system of morality.” Justice Joseph Story, an appointee of James Madison, the major architect of the Constitution, delivered the unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court. He said, “Christianity…is not to be maliciously and openly reviled and blasphemed against…It is unnecessary for us, however, to consider the establishment of a school or college, for the propagation of…Deism, or any other form of infidelity. Such a case is not to be presumed to exist in a Christian country.” 

In Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (1892) immigration law was interpreted to an absurd degree by the U.S. Attorney’s office to accuse the church of hiring a foreigner as pastor. The Supreme Court ruled, “No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national, because this is a religious people…This is a Christian nation.” The reasoning in this case cited the above three cases.

In Davis v. Beason (1889) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against bigamy and polygamy among Mormons. Justice Stephen Field (a Lincoln appointee who also sat for the Holy Trinity Case) delivered the Court’s ruling by saying, “Bigamy and polygamy are crimes by the laws of all civilized and Christian countries….” By commenting so, he virtually declared that America was a Christian nation. Such a declaration was also made in U.S. v. Macintosh (1931) in which the reasoning said, “We are a Christian people.”

Fourth, Early Supreme Court Justices made statements and rendered opinions supporting the notion that the United States was a Christian nation. Note the following:

(1)   John Jay (the First Chief Justice) said, “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.”

(2)   James Wilson (signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) articulated, “Christianity is part of the common-law.”

(3)   Joseph Story (in his Commentaries on the Constitution) noted, “Probably, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, and of the Amendments to it…the general, if not the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State…An attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation.” He also said, “It yet remains a problem to be solved in human affairs, whether any free government can be permanent, where the public worship of God, and the support of religion, constitute no part of the policy or duty of the state in any assignable shape.”

(4)   John Marshall (who served on the Supreme Court for 34 years) was a captain during the Revolutionary War and served with Washington at Valley Forge. Later in life, while staying at a roadside tavern, he politely listened to arguments for and against the Christian religion by younger men from 6:00PM to 11:00PM. Finally one of them turned to Marshall and said, “Well, my old gentleman, what think you of these things?” Marshall then proceeded to talk for an hour answering, “every argument urged against” the teachings of Jesus. The listeners were captivated by his eloquence and energy. Some thought him a preacher and were astonished to find out he was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Atheists may try to rewrite the history of America and recreate the thoughts of the founders, but facts are facts and truth is truth. Those who suppress the truth will discover to their peril the wrath of a holy God (Rom. 1:18). God has made it plain to all that his power and divine nature is clearly seen in his creation (Rom. 1:19-20). There is no excuse for those who live on the earth God created, for his witness  abounds. In fact, Paul says that the creation makes God known, but atheists do not honor the God they know through the intricacies and beauty of creation. God therefore darkens their foolish hearts; and although they claim to be wise, they are in fact fools (Rom. 1:21-22), for it is the fool that says, “There is no God!” (Psalm 14:1)