On this day we remember the Founding Fathers’ declaration of independence from Britain — and their deeper acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as King and the true source of liberty. True independence is an illusion; we are either servants of God or slaves to sin. This post explores the etymology of “independence,” the biblical call to stand fast in the liberty Christ gives us, the armor of God, and how the American founding (with its parallels to the Exodus and Psalm 107) serves as a shadow pointing to the Gospel and God’s deliverance.
True Liberty is in Christ — No one is truly independent. We are either servants of righteousness or servants of sin (Romans 6:16-23; John 8:31-36). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1).
Founding Fathers’ Faith — They declared Jesus as King, linked the Declaration to the Gospel, and saw America’s birth as connected to the Redeemer’s mission (quotes from Samuel Adams, John Quincy Adams, and others).
Etymology of Independence — From Latin “not hanging from” another — we are called to stand upright in Christ (the Door), not bow to earthly tyrants or systems.
Psalm 107 Connection — The Declaration of Independence has 1,348 words, matching the gematria of Psalm 107:43. This psalm of deliverance, thanksgiving, and God’s mercy was frequently applied by Pilgrims, Founders, and early Americans to their own Exodus-like journey.
America as a Biblical Type — Parallels to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt (pillar of fire, wilderness trials, cries to the Lord), with Founding Fathers seeing Providence, miracles, and the spread of the Gospel as central to the Revolution.
Stand in the Armor of God — To remain free, we must put on the full armor (Ephesians 6), the new man in Christ, and walk in truth, righteousness, faith, and the Word — not our own strength.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness — Rooted in Scripture: Christ is our Life, Liberty, and true Happiness/Blessedness. The Declaration points back to the Creator who endows these rights.
Call to Devotion — Echoing John Adams and the psalmist: Give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and wonderful works of deliverance.
On this day in 7/2/1776, the Continental Congress voted for independence from Great Britain. John Adams thought that this day would be celebrated as America’s birthday for it was on this day that we chose to be free.
“It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.”
John Quincy Adams linked the Declaration of Independence to the Gospel.
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day [the Fourth of July]?” “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?” (John Quincy Adams – Fourth of July speech at Newburyport, Massachusetts 1837}
On this day, the Founding Fathers of the United States declared Jesus as King.
“We have this day restored the Sovereign, to Whom alone men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and..from the rising to the setting sun, may His Kingdom come.” {Samuel Adams speaking to the Continental Congress 7/4/1776}
Independence
Independence comes from the Latin ‘in’ which means not or without and ‘dependentia’ which means to hang down or be suspended from. It has the sense of dependence as something hanging down from a higher point or another entity. The words pendant (jewelry hanging from a chain), pendulum (a weight hanging from a fixed point), and pending (hanging in limbo waiting for resolution) display this imagery.
Not “hanging down from something else” means you are no longer suspended from, attached to or reliant upon an external support. Independence has the sense then of “standing” on one’s own feet. Not “hanging from” a parent, king, empire, master or system.
The problem with independence is that it is not truly possible, its an illusion. No man is ever truly independent. We are either dependent upon God and serve Him or we are servants of sin and unrighteousness.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Man can be free as servants of God or “free” from God and slaves to sin.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
The French and American Revolutions of the 1700s display this concept. The French Revolution for Independence was “independence” from God leading to the “Reign of Terror” (death). The American Revolution for Independence was turning to God which led to blessing.
The only way to truly stand in “independence” from this world system is in Christ, serving Him.
Gal 5:1 Stand fast {στήκω ‘steko’} therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast {στήκω ‘steko’} in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
1Co 16:14 Let all your things be done with charity
Scripture declares that he that thinks he stands needs to take heed lest he fall (1 Corinthians 10:12). We don’t stand by our works or knowledge, we stand only by faith (2 Corinthians 1:24) in the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1) which is given by the grace of God (Romans 5:2).
If we are to stand, we must put on the armor of God
Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Col 3:11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Col 3:13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
Col 3:14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Trying to stand, or be independent, by our power leads to being brought down.
Psa 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psa 20:8 They are brought down (כרע ‘kara’) and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.
The word for bowed down in Hebrew is כרע ‘kara.’ It means to bend down on the knees, the kneel before another. “Independence” apart from God always leads to slavery.
The phrase “stand upright” in Hebrew is עוד ‘ud’ it literally means to see the door and connect to it. The door is Christ (John 10:7). Interestingly, Independence Day occurs on the 4th of July. The fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet is ד ‘dalet’ which means a door.
Shadows of Messiah
In the Presidents Code it is revealed that the Declaration of Independence is a parable of God’s Word. The Declaration of Independence was the document which gave birth to the United States, in correspondence with the Word of God which brought forth creation (Psalm 33:6; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:10; Hebrews 1:2-3, 10; 11:3). The Declaration itself refers back to creation proclaiming that the rights of man come forth from the Creator who created all men equal.
For more on this see: Shadows of Messiah – The Declaration of Independence
Psalm 107
The Declaration of Independence consists of 1348 words which is equal to the numerical value of Psalm 107:43.
Psa 107:43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
Psalm 107 is about the deliverance the Lord gives His people and the thanks we owe to Him. Indeed, in the words of John Adams, July 4th ‘ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.’
Psa 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psa 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
Psa 107:3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Psa 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Psa 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psa 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Psa 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Psa 107:17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Psa 107:19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
Psa 107:33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Psa 107:34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
Psa 107:35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
Psa 107:36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;
Psa 107:37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
Psa 107:38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
Psa 107:39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
Psa 107:40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
Psa 107:41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
Psa 107:42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
Psa 107:43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
Psalm 107 was applied thematically by the Pilgrims and by early Americans to their struggles. The beginning of the Psalm alludes back to the Exodus from Egypt which early Americans applied to themselves typologically.
Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin proposed that the seal of the United States be a portrayal of this deliverance with the pillar of fire in the center of the seal dividing Israel from Egypt, or light from darkness.
“Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America.” – July 4, 1776, Journals of Continental Congress
Benjamin Franklin proposed
“Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open Chariot, a Crown on his Head and a Sword in his Hand. Rays from a Pillar of Fire in the Clouds reaching to Moses, to express that he acts by Command of the Deity. “Motto, Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
Thomas Jefferson also suggested allegorical scenes. For the front of the seal: children of Israel in the wilderness, led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
John Adams wrote in his diary about the Boston Tea Party and connected it back to the Exodus from Egypt.
“Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea. This Morning a Man of War sails. This is the most magnificent Movement of all. There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire. The People should never rise, without doing something to be remembered — something notable And striking.”
“I apprehend it was absolutely and indispensably so … To let it be landed, would be giving up the Principle of Taxation by Parliamentary Authority, against which the Continent have struggled for 10 years, it was loosing all our labour for 10 years and subjecting ourselves and our Posterity forever to Egyptian Taskmasters — to Burthens, Indignities, to Ignominy, Reproach and Contempt, to Desolation and Oppression, to Poverty and Servitude.”
In a letter to his wife (5/17/1776) Adams wrote about a sermon he heard called “a Parallel between the Case of Israel and that of America, and between the conduct of Pharaoh and that of George.”
“I have this morning heard Mr. Duffield upon the signs of the times. He ran a parallel between the case of Israel and that of America, and between the conduct of Pharaoh and that of King George…”
“Jealousy that the Israelites would throw off the government of Egypt made him issue his edict that the midwives should cast the children into the river and the other edict that the men should make a large revenue of bricks without straw,”
“When I consider the great Events which are passed, and those greater which are rapidly advancing, and that I may have been instrumental of touching some Springs, and turning some small Wheels, which have had and will have such Effects, I feel an Awe upon my Mind, which is not easily Described.”
“He concluded that the course of events indicated strongly the design of Providence that we should be separated from G. Britain,”
In 1776 Samuel Sherwood wrote “The Church’s Flight into the Wilderness: An Address on the Times, containing Some very interesting and important Observations on Scripture Prophecies” in which he portrayed the American colonies/church as the woman (Revelation 12) fleeing into the “howling wilderness” of America. God plants and protects His “choice vine” or church there amid persecution by the “dragon”/tyranny (associated with British oppression and the Antichrist). Liberty is “planted here” and flourishes despite attacks; the colonies represent the providential refuge and growth of true religion and freedom in the wilderness.
Connecticut Pastor Nicholas Street wrote in April 1777 in a sermon titled “The American states acting over the part of the children of Israel in the wilderness, and thereby impeding their entrance into Canaan’s rest: or, The human heart discovering itself under trials”
“Thus we are acting over the like sins with the children of Israel in the wilderness, under the conduct of Moses and Aaron, who was leading them out of a state of bondage into a land of liberty and plenty in Canaan. Again, we are ready to marvel at the unreasonable vileness and cruelty of the British tyrant and his ministry, in endeavouring to oppress, enslave and destroy these American States, who have been some of his most peaceable and profitable subjects; and yet we find the same wicked temper and disposition operating in Pharaoh king of Egypt above 3000 years ago …“
Samuel Langdon in 1778 wrote a sermon called “The Republic of The Israelites An Example To The American States,” in which he said “When first the Israelites came out from the bondage of Egypt, they were a multitude without any other order than what had been kept up, very feebly, under the ancient patriarchal authority,”
“God commanded him (Moses) to bring 70 men, chosen from among the elders and officers, and present them at the tabernacle; and there he endued them with the same spirit which was in Moses, that they might bear the burden with him. Thus a senate was evidently constituted, as necessary for the future government of the nation, under a chief commander. And as to the choice of this senate, doubtless the people were consulted, who appear to have had a voice in all public affairs from time to time, the whole congregation being called together on all important occasions: The government therefore was a proper republic.”
Langdon said “instead of the 12 tribes of Israel, we may substitute the 13 states of the American union.”
George Washington was likened to Moses with preachers drawing parallels between the two. The Jewish congregation of Beth Shalome in Virginia even changed a traditional prayer for the success of the government to put an acrostic of Washington’s name in the middle lines {Inventing the American Moses}.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Themes from Psalm 107 were frequently applied to Americans struggle in the War for Independence. The Continental Army’s suffering at Valley Forge was seen as fulfilling this portion of Scripture (Psalm 107:5).
Psa 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
They cried to the Lord for deliverance. Washington and Congress regularly proclaimed days of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, as well as days of thanksgiving for deliverances. Chaplains preached to the troops, urging reliance on God. At Valley Forge, services were held Washington wrote to chaplains thanking them for ministering and emphasizing dependence on the “all-wise and powerful Being, on whom alone our success depends.” He frequently credited “Divine Providence” or “interpositions of Providence” for turning points, supplies arriving, or survival. {Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army rely on God in the American Revolution}
Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Washington and others described several events as miracles from God. The fog at the Battle of Brooklyn/Long Island in August of 1776 and the storms and ice which helped Washington at Trenton and Princeton were seen as God’s “wonderful works.”
Washington wrote: “the singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement, for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing Miracle.” {Farewell Orders to the Armies – November 2, 1783}
Washington saw the unity that came from the war as a miraculous victory.
“It is not the meaning nor within the compass of this Address, to detail the hardships peculiarly incident to our Service, or to discribe the distresses which in several instances have resulted from the extremes of hunger and nakedness, combined with the rigors of an inclement season. Nor is it necessary to dwell on the dark side of our past affairs. Every American Officer and Soldier must now console himself for any unpleasant circumstances which may have occurred, by a recollection of the uncommon scenes in which he has been called to act, no inglorious part; and the astonishing Events of which he has been a witness—Events which have seldom, if ever before, taken place on the stage of human action, nor can they probably ever happen again. For who has before seen a disciplined Army formed at once from such raw materials? Who that was not a witness could imagine, that the most violent local prejudices would cease so soon, and that Men who came from the different parts of the Continent, strongly disposed by the habits of education, to despise and quarrel with each other, would instantly become but one patriotic band of Brothers?” {Farewell Orders to the Armies – November 2, 1783}
George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation alludes to Psalm 107’s theme of trials, deliverance and thanksgiving to God.
“Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also to smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war for the defence and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties… It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor…”
Nicholas Street in his 1777 sermon “The American states acting over the part of the children of Israel in the wilderness.” compared Americans to rebellious Israelites in the wilderness whose sins impeded progress toward “Canaan’s rest.”
Psa 107:17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Psa 107:19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psalm 107:23-31 was used specifically by the Pilgrims
“May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice and looked on their adversity,” . . . “Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good: and his mercies endure forever.” “Yes, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirst, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness and his wonderful works before the sons of men.” (William Bradford -Of Plymouth Plantation).
“Psalm 107 has been called the “Pilgrim’s Psalm” because it was particularly meaningful to the small group of English settlers who crossed the ocean in the Mayflower to establish Plymouth Plantation in 1620 in the New World. The psalm powerfully and aptly describes the many dangers, toils, and snares that that small group of settlers went through when they arrived at their new home in America. Governor William Bradford and his history of the foundation of the colony in Plymouth explicitly and in detail referred to Psalm 107. Here’s what he wrote: “May not the descendants of these founding fathers rightly say, ‘Our fathers were Englishmen who came over the great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord and he heard their voice and he looked on their adversity.’… Let them therefore praise the Lord because he is good and his mercies endure forever.”
The pilgrims had wandered in a spiritual desert, some of them had been put in a literal prison for their faith. They had been in a literal wilderness in the New World. Many of them that first winter had died of dreadful diseases and had endured the terrors of the North Atlantic crossing, all of those things. Psalm 107 seemed to speak directly to them, for it speaks of God’s deliverance in four specific conditions. If you look at the psalm in verses 4-9, it’s travelers lost in a desert, the first case study. The second, prisoners locked up for their crimes, verses 10-16. Third, sick people drawing near to death, verses 17-22, and the fourth case study is people in deadly peril in a storm at sea.
The lessons of this psalm, however, transcend the Mayflower Pilgrim’s experience in establishing a foothold in America. Actually, it’s written in a very different context, it is written in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms. Psalm 105, 106, and 107, those three form a trilogy focused on the circumstances of the Jews in being called as sons of Abraham, their time in the desert, and then in the Promised Land, their sinfulness resulting in their exile, and then their restoration from exile. We can see that they should be banded together because they all begin with the same language, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.” They all have that same pattern, so they should be taken together. Psalm 105, 106, and 107.
Psalm 105 speaks of Israel’s experience from the establishing of God’s covenant with Abraham, his mighty deliverance of them from Egypt through the Exodus, to the Israelite’s entrance into the Promised Land. Psalm 106 traces out Israel’s gross unfaithfulness and sinfulness in the sight of the Lord that led to their expulsion from the Promised Land in exile in Babylon. Then Psalm 107 speaks of the Lord’s amazing kindness in redeeming Israel and restoring them from that exile back to the Promised Land. Though Psalm 107 celebrates the Lord’s redeeming of Israel from exile, it also mentions specific trials that people face constantly day after day in every generation from which the Lord rescues and redeems his people.” {Those in Peril Should Call on the Lord | Psalm 107 Part 1}
Patriots
The English word patriot comes from the Latin word ‘patriota’ which means fellow countryman and comes from the Greek word ‘patrios’ which means ‘of one’s father’ which traces back further to the Hebrew word פטר ‘pater’ speaking of giving birth. Patriots are ‘brethren’ who come forth from the same ‘father.’ As seen in a previous tidbit, the Father of the Patriots of the United States is the LORD.
The patriots believed they were the vine planted in the wilderness spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah.
Isa 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
The patriarchs of the United States believed they were ‘God’s American Israel,’ a vine planted in the wilderness spoken of by the Prophets (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21)
Psa 80:15 And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
In 1630, prior to the departure of the ship Abrella for America with Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop and his fellow Puritans aboard, the young Puritan minister John Cotton preached a stirring farewell message taken from 2 Samuel 7:10:
I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed….
Go forth … with a publick spirit … have a tender care … to your children, that they doe not degenerate as the Israelites did….
In 1630 historian Edward Johnson, writing of those early Puritan and Pilgrim settlers, often made reference to them as being Israel:
…the Lambe is preparing his Bride … yee the ancient Beloved of Christ, whom he of old led by hand from Egypt to Canaan through that great and terrible Wildernesse.
…you the Seed of Israel both lesse and more, the rattling of your dead bones is at hand, Sinewes, Flesh and Life: at the Word of Christ it comes.
…you People of Israel gather together as one Man, and together as one Tree. Ezekiel 37 and 23.31
Then judge all you … whether these poore New England People, be not the forerunners of Christ’s Army, and the marvelous providences which you shall now heare, be not the very Finger of God, and whether the Lord hath not sent this people to Preach in this Wildernesse, and to proclaime to all Nations, the neere approach of the most wonderful workes that ever the Sonnes of men saw. Will not you believe that a Nation can be borne in a day [Isa. 66:8 – a Scripture that can only be fulfilled in Israel]?”
“That especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen, may remember his marvelous works (Psal. 105.5-6.) in the beginning and progress of the planting of New England, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth; how that God brought a vine into this wilderness; that he cast out the heathen and planted it; and he also made room for it, and he caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land; so that it hath sent forth its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river. (Psal. 80.8-9.) And not only so, but also that He hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habitation, and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance, (Exod. 15.13.) in respect of precious gospel-enjoyments. So that we may not only look back to former experiences of God’s goodness to our predecessors, (though many years before) and so have our faith strengthened in the mercies of God for our times.” {Nathaniel Morton -New England’s Memorial}
During the foundation of the United States, the most prominent preacher of the period, Ezra Stiles said the following.
… I have assumed the text only as introductory to a discourse upon the political welfare of God’s American Israel, and as allusively prophetic of the future prosperity and splendor of the United States.”
“Already does the new constellation of the United States begin to realize this glory. It has already risen to an acknowledged sovereignty among the republics and kingdoms of the world. And we have reason to hope, and, I believe, to expect, that God has still greater blessings in store for this vine which his own right hand hath planted, to make us high among the nations in praise, and in name, and in honor. The reasons are very numerous, weighty, and conclusive…”
Our degree of population is such as to give us reason to expect that this will become a great people…. This will be a great, a very great nation…. Should this prove a future fact, how applicable would be the text, when the Lord shall have made his American Israel high above all nations which he has made, in numbers, and in praise, and in name, and in honor!” {Ezra Stiles – The United States Elevated to Glory and Honor}
The Lord Jesus applied these prophecies to a nation that would come forth bearing the fruits of Kingdom of God.
Mat 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain man, a house master, who planted a vineyard and placed a hedge around it; and he dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. And he rented it to vinedressers and left the country.Isa. 5:1, 2
Mat 21:34 And when the season of the fruits came, he sent his slaves to the vinedressers to receive his fruits.
Mat 21:35 And the vinedressers, taking his slaves, they beat this one, and they killed one, and they stoned another.
Mat 21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first. And they did the same to them.
Mat 21:37 And at last he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.
Mat 21:38 But seeing the son, the vinedressers said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance.
Mat 21:39 And taking him, they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Mat 21:40 Therefore, when the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?
Mat 21:41 They said to Him, Bad men! He will miserably destroy them, and he will rent out the vineyard to other vinedressers who will give to him the fruits in their seasons.
Mat 21:42 Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, “A Stone which the builders rejected, this One became the Head of the Corner? This was from the Lord, and it is a wonder in our eyes?”
Mat 21:43 Because of this I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you, and it will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
The men who founded this country believed they were, at least in part, a fulfillment of these words. Men such as Ezra Stiles, who was the most influential preacher during the time period of the Founders spoke of the United States as “God’s American Israel” and referred to them specifically as the vine which God’s right hand hath planted in direct reference back to Psalm 80. Stiles was reiterating the belief of earlier preachers such as John Cotton, Nathaniel Morton and Cotton Mather who referred to the men who left Europe to seek religious freedom in America as God’s vineyard in the wilderness.
This belief was not relegated only to preachers however. Jonathan Trumbull, for example, spoke of the God of the Armies of Israel showering down His blessings upon George Washington. Thomas Jefferson stated upon Washington’s death “verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel.”
Further displaying the belief of the Founders that they were Israel, or at least like unto Israel, is the original seal of the United States which depicted the War for Independence with the imagery Moses leading Israel across the Red Sea as Pharaoh was drowned. More on this below.
Bringing forth the fruits of Kingdom of God is the role that America was/is to fulfill. No single nation has spread the Gospel more than the USA.
Samuel Adams, the “Father of the American Revolution”, spoke of this idea in the State House in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776.
“He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.”
The problem is that when believers fled from Europe to escape religious persecution, there was also those from the side of darkness that came along with them to escape that same religious intolerance. There has always been this power struggle in this country between those who wish to worship the LORD according to the dictates of their hearts versus those who hate Him and wish to bring about a new world of antichrist.
This dichotomy is further seen in the etymology of the word America. It is interesting to note that the word ‘America’ traces back to the Hebrew word עמל ‘amal’ which means to work, a laborer. This word has various translations from labor, toil and being weary to pain, misery and perverseness/wickedness. Such is this nation. From the beginning there were those who desired to use this nation as a conduit to the ‘new order of the ages’ and the kingdom of the beast versus those who wished to use this country as a conduit to share the Gospel and lead man unto the Kingdom of Heaven.
עמל ‘amal’ comes from the root על ‘al’ which means to be yoked. Who are we going to be yoked with? Christ or the beast? The Word or lawlessness? The Constitution or dictates of tyrants? Liberty IN God or liberty FROM God? What message do we wish to share with the world? Amazingly the word for shoe/sandal/being shod with the Gospel/message (Ephesians 6:15) is נעל ‘na’al’ which comes from על ‘al.’
The fruits of the Kingdom only come forth from the Vine, Jesus Christ (John 15:1-10) revealing God’s love. Love is the foundation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, documents based on the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31) of treating others as you want to be treated. The Lord Jesus said that the “Golden Rule” is the encapsulation of the Word of God which is love (Matthew 22:35-40). It was Jesus who the Founders proclaimed as King of the United States.
Mat 21:43 Because of this I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken from you, and it will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it.
This is the role that America was/is to fulfill. No single nation has spread the Gospel more than the USA/America. The problem is that when believers fled from Europe to escape religious persecution, there was also those from the side of darkness that came along with them to escape that same religious intolerance. There has always been this power struggle in this country between those who wish to worship God according to the dictates of their hearts versus those who hate Him and wish to bring about a new world of antichrist.
In Hebrew the word for father (which is the source of the word Patriot) is a picture of a vine.
Joh 15:1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in Me not bearing fruit, He takes it away; and each one bearing fruit, He prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 You are already pruned because of the Word which I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, unless it remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from Me you are not able to execute, nothing.
Joh 15:6 Unless one remains in Me, he is cast out as the branch and is dried up; and they gather and throw them into a fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you, whatever you desire you will ask, and it shall happen to you.
Joh 15:8 In this My Father is glorified, that you should bear much fruit; and you will be disciples to Me.
Joh 15:9 As the Father loved Me, I also loved you; continue in My love.
Joh 15:10 If you keep My commandments you will continue in My love, as I have kept My Father’s commandments and continue in His love.
The Pillar, which is another form of אב ‘av’ is linked to the Root
Isa 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance{H4678matstsebeth a monumental stone; also the stock of a tree: – pillar, substance.} is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed(Gal 3:16) shall be the substance(H4678 ROOT) thereof.
Rom 11:16 Now if the firstfruit is holy, so also the lump. And if the root is holy, so also the branches.
See Olive Tree studyFellow countryman in Hebrew is the word אח ‘ach’ which also means ‘brother.’
Gen 13:8 And Abram said to Lot, Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are men, brothers.
Exo 2:13 And he went out on the second day, and, behold, two men, Hebrews, were fighting. And he said to the guilty one, Why should you strike your neighbor?
Rom 12:10 in brotherly love to one another, loving fervently, having gone before one another in honor;
1Th 4:9 Now as to brotherly love, you have no need for me to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.
1Pe 2:17 honor all, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Patriotism is brotherly love, designed to bring people together.
Psa 133:1 A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold! How good and how pleasant is the living of brothers, even in unity.
Biblically, unity comes through the Word. In the natural, unity amongst patriots/countryman is through the Constitution. The Greek word for brotherly love is φιλαδελφία ‘philadelphia.’ Is it any surprise that the Constitution was written in Philadelphia?
The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna Hall pg 11
“He (Jesus Christ) gives them (disciples) a bond of union, – by which they should always be linked to Him and to each other in the principle of love…It is instructive that the characteristic mark of Christianity should thus be asserted by its Founder to consist, not in any formulary or sings, but in the love which asserts the brotherhood of man. The apologists of the first century delighted in appealing to the striking fact of the common love of Christians, which was a new thing in the history of mankind; and while the Church has sometimes forgotten the characteristic, the world never has. By their love for each other, for mankind, and for God, is it known or denied that men who call themselves Christians are really Christ’s disciples.”
This was the same love that the Patriots who founded the United States based their ideology upon.
John Quincy Adams wrote “The God in whose name they spoke had taught them, in the revelation of the Gospel, that the only way in which man can discharge his duty to Him is by loving his neighbor as himself, and doing with him as he would be done by; respecting his rights while enjoying his own, and applying all his emancipated powers of body and mind to self-improvement and the improvement of his race.” {The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna Hall pg 19}
John Witherspoon in his Fast Day Sermon of May 17, 1776 wrote
“Upon the whole, I beseech you to make wise improvement of the present threatening aspect of public affairs and to remember that your duty God, to your country, to your families, and to yourselves is the same. True religion is nothing else but and inward temper and outward conduct suited to your state and circumstance in Providence at any time. And as peace with God and conformity to Him, adds to the sweetness of created comforts while we possess them, so in times of difficulty and trial, it is in the man of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier, – God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.” {The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna Hall pg 22}
The Government of the Patriots is based upon the Word.
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg VIII
“Whence, then, did the ideas basic to American government originally emanate, and to what source must we look for a simple clarification of its original purpose? To ask these questions should be to answer them. The New Testament is the wellspring from which our political thought derives and the idealistic goal of that thinking was a political and social system actively conductive to Christian practise. As the contemporary historian of Plymouth Plantation wrote, the motive of those who sailed on the Mayflower was their ‘great hope and inward zeal…for propagating and advancing the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world.’”
The basis of freedom/liberty
Joh 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg XIII
“As Men we have God for our King, and are under the Law of Reason: as Christians, we have Jesus the Messiah for our King, and are under the Law reveal’d by him in the Gospel.” {John Locke – The Reasonableness of Christianity}
“…And Reason, which is that Law, teaches all Mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions…” {John Locke – Of Civil Government}
In the previous tidbit on the flag it is seen that as believers, our citizenship is in Heaven. Our King is Christ Jesus . This is what the founders of the United States believed as well. This is why they made the Constitution, to keep power from being centralized and tyranny from forming over the people where their King would continue to be Christ Jesus and not a man. All men, regardless of race, creed or government position, would be ruled by one law, just as all men are under one Heavenly Law.
“…The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty…’The Rights of the Colonists as Christians’…may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.” {Samuel Adams – Rights of the Colonists}
The Natural Law
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 366
“The natural liberty of main is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 367
“In short, it is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or any number of men, at the entering into society, to renounce their essential natural rights, or the means of preserving those rights; when the grand end of civil government, from the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property. If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.” {Samuel Adams – Rights of the Colonists}
“Thus the Law of Nature stands as an Eternal Rule to all Men, Legislators as well as others. The Rules that they make for other Men’s Actions, must, as well as their own, and other Men’s Actions, be conformable to the Law of Nature, i.e. to the Will of God, of which that is a Declaration, and the fundamental Law of Nature being the preservation of Mankind, no Human Sanction can be good, or valid against it.” {John Lock – Of Civil Government pg 94}
His Will is His Word
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 366
“Governors have no right to seek and take what they please; by this, instead of being content with the station assigned them, that of honorable servants of the society, they would soon become absolute masters, despots, and tyrants.”
John Locke
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 51
“Locke, in particular, was the authority to whom the Patriots paid greatest deference.” {C. Edward Mosheim – A History of American Political Theories}
Locke wrote that all men are naturally in a ‘state of perfect freedom’ and ‘a State also of Equality.’ He defined this liberty by the ‘Golden Rule of ‘do unto others as ye would have them do unto you.’ As all men are equal and in a state of liberty, so we must treat one another with love if we wish to receive the same.
“And Reason, which is that Law, teaches all Mankind, who will be consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his Life, Health, Liberty, or Possessions. For Men being all the Workmanship of one Omnipotent, and infinitely wise Maker: All the Servants of one Sovereign Master, sent into the World by his Order, and about his Business, they are his Property, whose Workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another’s Pleasure.”
Locke defines the Law of Nature as the Torah
“that great Law of Nature, whoso sheddeth Man’s Blood, by Man shall his Bloode be shed.” (Genesis 9:6)
“Every offence that can be committed in the State of Nature, may in the State of Nature be also punished equally, and as far forth as it may, in a Commonwealth.” (Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:21)
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 71
“The Law, that was to govern Adam, was the same, that was to govern all his Posterity, the Law of Reason.
“Adam was created a perfect Man, his Body and Mind in full possession of their Strength and Reason, and so was capable, from the first Instant of his Being to provide for his own Support and Preservation, and govern his Actions according to the Dictates of the Law of Reason which God had implanted in him…But his Offspring having another way of entrance into the World, different from him, by a natural Birth, that produced them ignorant and without the use of Reason, they were not presently under that Law, for no body can be under a Law, which is not promulgated to him; and this Law being promulgated or made known by Reason only, he that is not come to the Use of his Reason, cannot be said to be under this Law; and Adam’s Children, being not presently as soon as born under this Law of Reason, were not presently free. For Law, in its true Notion, is no so much the Limitation as the direction of a free and intelligent Agent to his proper Interest, and prescribes no farther than is for the general Good of those under that Law: Could they be happier without it, the Law, as an useless thing, would of itself vanish; and that ill deserves the name of Confinement which hedges us in only from Bogs and Precipices. So that, however it may be mistaken, the end of Law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge Freedom. For in all the states of created Beings capable of Laws, where their is no Law, there is no Freedom. For Liberty is to be free from Restraint and Violence from others; which cannot be, where there is no Law. But Freedom is not, as we are told, A Liberty for every Man to do what he lists: (For who could be free, when every other Man’s Humour might domineer over him?) but a Liberty to dispose, and order as he lists, his Person, Actions, Possessions, and his whole Property, within the Allowance of those Laws, under which he is, and therein not to be subject to the Arbitrary Will of another, but freely follow his own.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 94
“Thus the Law of Nature stands as and Eternal Rule to all Men, Legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for other Men’s Actions, must, as well as their own, and other Men’s Actions, be conformable to the Law of Nature, i.e. to the Will of God, of which that is a Declaration, and the fundamental Law of Nature being the preservation of Mankind, no Human Sanction can be good, or valid against it.“
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 282A
“…still there is the great and perpetual law of self-preservation, to which every natural person or corporate body hath an inherent right to recur. This being the law of the Creator, no human law can be of force against it…” {Samuel Adams – Boston Gazette 3/29/1773}
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna Hall pg 1 Excerpts from The Rise of the Republic of the United States – Richard Frothingham
“This nation has in its keeping ‘the last word in human political institutions,’ – the Republican form of Government…that transformation of society, which began when Christianity – the basis of the good, permanent, and progressive in modern civilization – first appeared in the world. At that time, social order rested on the assumed natural inequality of men. The individual was regarded as of value only as he formed a part of the political fabric, and was able to contribute to its uses, as though it were the end of his being to aggrandize the State. This was the pagan idea of man. The wisest philosophers of antiquity could not rise above it. Its influence imbued the pagan world. The State regarded as of paramount importance, not the man, but the citizen whose physical and intellectual forces it absorbed…This low view of man was exerting its full influence when Rome was at the height of its power and glory. Christianity then appeared with its central doctrine, that man was created in the Divine image, and destined for immortality; pronouncing, that, in the eye of God, all men are equal. This asserted for the individual an independent value. It occasioned the great inference, that man is superior to the State, which out to be fashioned for his use. This was the advent of a new spirit and a new power in the world. The struggle between the pagan and Christian elements was severe…Its {paganism/socialism} embodiment in arbitrary power, both in ecclesiastical and political affairs, continued to oppress and benumb the intellect, until the Reformation roused a spirit of activity in the bosom of the Church. The new life thus started in the domain of religion soon communicated itself to other provinces…There then rose, above the low level of a corrupt political world, a class of thinkers who grasped the idea that the State ought to exist for man; that justice, protection, and the common good, ought to be the aim of government…Among them were John Milton, imbued with the very spirit of the Reformation, who defended the noble thesis, that freedom is the native right of man, and gave the world a mighty and still unsurpassed plea for liberty of utterance; John Locke…was so successful in catching and expressing the liberal spirit of his age, in his work on Civil Government, that it became the platform of a great political party, and gradually widened out into an influence that operate far beyond the thought or theory of its adherents…”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 316
“inculcated by the school of Locke, that the freedom of a people under government is to have standing rules to live by, so that the government may be one of laws, and not of men.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 63
“The Natural Liberty of Man is to be free from any superior Power on Earth, and not to be under the Will or legislative Authority of Man, but to have only the Law of Nature for his Rule…But Freedom of Men under Government, is, to have a standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the legislative Power erected in it it; a Liberty to follow my own Will in all things, where that Rule prescribes not; and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of another Man.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 248A
“The utopian schemes of levelling, and a community of goods, are as visionary and impracticable as those which vest all property in the Crown are arbitrary, despotic, and in our government, unconstitutional.” {Samuel Adams 1768}
“Government is instituted to protect property of every sort…This being the end of government” {James Madison ‘Property’ 1792}
Election Sermon – Phillips Payson 5/27/1778
Gal 4:26 but the Jerusalem from above is free, who is the mother of us all;
Gal 4:31 Then, brothers, we are not children of a slave woman but of the free woman.
Pursuit of happiness is defined as freedom
“…Next to liberty of heaven is that which the sons of God, the heirs of glory, possess in this life, in which they are freed from the bondage of corruption, the tyranny of evil lusts and passions, described by the apostle ‘by being made free from sin, and becoming the servants of God.’…therefore all good men, all true believers, in a special sense are children of the free woman, heirs of the promise. This religious or spiritual liberty must be accounted the greatest happiness of man, considered in a private capacity…Hence a people formed upon the morals and principles of the gospel are capacitated to enjoy the highest degree of civil liberty, and will really enjoy it, unless prevented by force or fraud…”
“The voice of reason and the voice of God both teach us that the great object or end of government is the public good. Nor is there less certainty in determining that a free and righteous government originates from the people, and is under their direction and control; and therefore a free, popular model of government – of the republican kind – may be judge the most friendly to the rights and liberties of the people, and the most conducive to the public welfare…”
“The inhabitants of large and opulent empires and kingdoms are often entirely lost to a sense of liberty, in which case they become an easy prey to usurpers and tyrants. Where the spirit of liberty is found in its genuine vigor it produces its genuine effects; urging to the greatest vigilance and exertions, it will surmounts great difficulties; (so) that it is no easy matter to deceive or conquer a people determined to be free. The exertions and effects of this great spirit in our land have already been such as may well astonish the world; and so long as it generally prevails it will be quiet with no species of government but what befriends and protects it…”
“The baneful effects of exorbitant wealth, the lust of power, and other evil passions, are so inimical to a free, righteous government, and find such as easy access to the human mind, tat it is difficult, if possible, to keep up the spirit of good government, unless the spirit of liberty prevails in the state. This spirit, like other generous growths of nature, flourishes best in its native soil. It has been engrafted, at one time and another, in various countries; in America it shoots up and grows as in its natural soil. Recollecting our pious ancestors, the first settlers of the country…we may say, in the most literal sense, we are children, not of the bond woman, but of the free.”
“The slavery of a people is generally founded in ignorance of some kind or another; and there are not wanting such facts as abundantly prove the human mind may be so sunk and debased, through ignorance and its natural effects, as even to adore its enslaver, and kiss its chains. Hence knowledge and learning may well be considered as most essentially requisite to a free, righteous government.”
“Despotism and tyranny want nothing but wealth and force, but liberty and order are supported by knowledge and virtue.”
Liberty IN the law
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 262
“There is a twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil or federal). The first is common to man with beasts and other creatures. By this, man as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists: it is a liberty to evil as well as to good. This liberty is incompatible and inconsistent with authority, and cannot endure the least restraint of the most just authority. The exercise and maintaining of this liberty makes men grow more evil, and in time to be worse than brute beasts: omnes sumus licentia deteriores. This is that great enemy of truth and peace, that wild beast, which all the ordinances of God are bent against, to restrain or subdue it.
The other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be termed moral, in reference to the covenant between God and man, in the moral law, and the politic covenants and constitutions, amongst men themselves. This liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot subsist without it; and it is a liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest. This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard (not only of your goods, but) of your lives, if need be. Whatsoever crosseth this is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority; it is of the same kind of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” {John Winthrop – Little Speech on Liberty 1645}
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna Hall pg 27 excerpts from The Puritans and their Principles – Edwin Hall
“It is remarkable how men of comprehensive views, and free from sectarian bias, have agreed with regard to THE REPUBLICANISM OF CHRISTIANITY. ‘Christianity,’ says Montesquieu, ‘is a strange to despotic power.’ ‘The religion,’ says De Tocqueville, ‘which declares that all are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citizens are equal in the eye of the law. Religion is the companion of liberty in all its battles and all its conflicts; the cradle of its infancy and the divine source of its claims.’ The friends of liberty in France are accustomed to speak in enthusiastic commendation of the REPUBLICANISM of the Scriptures.’ The Abbe’ de la Mennais, acknowledged as one of the most powerful minds in Europe, little as he regards Christianity as a revelation from God, familiarly speaks of its Author as ‘THE GREAT REPUBLICAN.’ Our own De Witt Clinton said, ‘Christianity, in its essence, its doctrines, and its forms, is republican.’
“The tendency of the true Gospel principles is to bring the most absolute despotism under the limits of law; to imbue limited monarchies more and more with the spirit of popular institutions; to prepare the people to govern themselves; and finally to establish everywhere the spirit and the reality, if not the very forms of a republic.
“Let us turn once more to the republican features of the churches organized by the Apostles. These churches had officers, which were to be regarded and observed, in their proper sphere, as much as the officers of any other republic. But the manner of their ruling was to to be as ‘Lords over God’s heritage’; ‘Whosoever will be chief among you’, said the Saviour, ‘let him be your servant.’
“The Apostles themselves gave several striking illustrations of their regard for popular rights. The first public act of the Church, after our Lord’s ascension, was the choice of an Apostle in the place of Judas. Peter stands up in the midst of the disciples – the number of names together was about on hundred and twenty – and proposes the matter. The election is made by the body of the Church…
“The accurate historian Mosheim thus states the conclusions to which his own mind came after a most thorough investigation. ‘In these primitive times,…the highest authority was in the people, or the whole body of Christians; for even the Apostles themselves inculcated by their example, that nothing of moment was to be done or determined but with the knowledge and consent of the brotherhood.’…’The people did everything that is proper for those in whom the supreme power of the community is vested.’
Freedom
There are two different types of freedom in the Hebrew language. There is freedom within the confines of the family, and there is also freedom from family and masters. We can choose to be free from our Lord and slaves to sin, or we can choose to be free from sin and death and servants/sons to our Lord. Those who want to be free from the Torah are free from righteousness, but slaves to sin.
Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
The Word is only bondage to those walking in the flesh, it is a stronghold and place of refuge to those walking in the Spirit
Pro 10:29 The way of Jehovah is strength (stronghold, place of refuge) to the upright, but ruin (object of terror, a breaking) is to doers of iniquity.
There are a handful of Hebrew words that are translated as freedom/free/liberty in the Scriptures.
The first is חנם ‘chinam.’ It comes from the root חן ‘chen’ which is commonly translated as grace. Literally it means a camp.
A similar Hebrew word is translated as freedom. דּרור ‘deror’ meaning a free flowing or liberty. This comes from the root דר ‘dar’ meaning a generation or the circle of the family or the cyclical process of life. Again we see freedom being linked to the family. In the year of Jubilee when the flowing shofar was sounded, man was re-united with his family and land.
Lev 25:9 And you shall let a ram’s horn resound, a signal in the seventh month, in the tenth of the month; in the day of atonement, let a ram’s horn pass throughout all your land;
Lev 25:10 and you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year. And you shall proclaim liberty in the land to those living in it; it shall be a jubilee to you. And you shall return every man to his possession; yea, you shall turn back each to his family.
Another Hebrew word translated as freedom is נקה ‘naqah.’ It means to be drawn close, as in an infant drawn to its mother’s breast. It suggests an innocency. This is the freedom of those who are freed from the bondage of sin. This is true freedom in Messiah.
Another Hebrew word translated as freedom is חפש ‘chapash.’ It means freedom from a master. This is the freedom that we have when we disregard the Word of God. This is the freedom that unregenerate man wants. They want freedom from the Master.
The word for liberty in Hebrew is רחב ‘rachab’ which literally means a wide open space. Scripture defines this space as the Word.
Psa 119:44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
Psa 119:45 And I will walk at liberty {רחב ‘rachav’}: for I seek thy precepts.
Psa 119:96 I have seen an end to all perfection; Your command is exceedingly broad {רחב ‘rachav’}.
James called the Word the ‘law of liberty’
Jam 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jam 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jam 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jam 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
When are we FREE? When he enlarges/makes free our heart
Psa 119:32 I will run the way of Your Commands, for You shall enlarge (רחב ‘rachav’) my heart.
Eze 36:26 And I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give to you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
Eze 11:19 And I shall give to them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the stony heart out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh,
Eze 11:20 so that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments, and do them. And they shall be to Me for a people, and I will be to them for God.
This occurs when we come to Christ and He leads us in the Truth, which is His Word.
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
His disciples know the truth
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Disciples are those who are yoked to Messiah. The word disciple comes from the Hebrew word למוד ‘limmud’ meaning one who is yoked to an elder ox.
His disciples know the truth because they are walking therein.
Isa 8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
Where the Spirit is, there if freedom. When the Spirit is poured out on us, according to Ezekiel, we are led to walk in the Word
2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
We are set free to serve the Lord
1Pe 2:16 as free, and not having freedom as a cover of evil, but as slaves of God;
The English word ‘free’ traces back to two different Hebrew words. פרע ‘para’ which means to break free and be unrestrained. This is the word used in reference to Israel when they ‘broke free’ from the commands of God and made a golden calf (Exodus 32:25). The Apostle Paul said that this ‘freedom’ in reality brought slavery (Galatians 4:24).
The other Hebrew word which the English word ‘free’ traces back to is פרק ‘paraq’ which means to be freed or saved from a yoke of slavery (Daniel 4:27).
We are delivered from the yoke of slavery to serve God and be yoked with Him
Lev 26:13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Pilgrims
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 182
“The Pilgrim wanted liberty for himself and his wife and little ones, and for his brethren, to walk with God in a Christian life as the rules and motives of such a life were revealed to him from God’s Word.” {Pilgrim Republic – John Goodwin}
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 25, 27
“…’the Church of England’ was not at all a church in any New Testament meaning of the word, but was (as their experience had proved) a positively anti-christian institution. Having arrived at this conclusion, they could no longer be Puritans merely, waiting and protesting in the hope of a new reformation to be made by national authority in the National Church. They found incumbent on them a personal duty of reformation – even of church reformation – ‘without tarrying for any.’…assuming their rights ‘as the Lord’s free people’, became, by their covenant with each other and with God, a church of Christ, and determinately ‘shook off the yoke of antichristian bondage.’ They had caught from the Bible the idea of a church independent alike of the pope and the queen, independent of Parliament as well as of prelates, and dependent only on Christ. It was their mission to work out and organize that idea..” {Genesis of the New England Churches – Leonard Bacon}
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 352
“And so it was that out of rare public virtue grew our great republican government…It was said to a people trained under Christian influences, who habitually looked upward in every form of supplication, that the spirit which actuated the United Colonies ‘was as much from God as the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, and was introductory to something great and good to mankind.’” {Richard Frothingham – The Rise of the Republic}
Civil Government based on the Word of God
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 393
“Fayle not in prosecution of the Worke, for your Lord Christ hath furnished you with able Pilots, to steere the Helm in a godly peaceable, Civil Government also, then see you make choyce of such as are sound in Profession and Confession, men fearing God and hating bribes; whose Commission is not only limitted with the commands of the second Table, but they are to looke to the Rules of the first also…”
Daniel Webster ‘A Discourse delivered at Plymouth 12/22/1820
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 246
“a government and a country were to commence, with the very first foundations laid under the divine light of the Christian religion…Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment…Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens..”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 248B
“…In the laws of Connecticut, as well as in all those of New England, we find the germ and gradual development of that township independence which is the life and mainspring of American liberty of the present day…” {De Tocqueville}
“Fundamental Orders of Connecticut” (‘first constitution)
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 250
“That Charter of public rule was a document far in advance of anything the world had ever seen, in its recognition of the origin of all civil authority as derived, under God, from the agreement and covenant of the whole body of the governed.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 251
“…the form of civil government here established was simply an extension to the domain of secular affairs of the principles already adopted in religious matters – the mutual covenant and agreement of those associated, as under God the ultimate law.”
Deu 1:13 Give wise and understanding men, and those known to your tribes, and I will appoint them rulers over you.
“I. That the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance.
II. The privilege of election which belongs unto the people, therefore, must not be exercised according to their humors, but according to the blessed will and law of God.
III. They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates, it is their power, also, to set the bounds of the power and place unto which they call them.
…And lastly. As god hath spared our lives, and given us them in liberty, so to seek the guidance of God, and to choose in God and for God.” {Excerpts from History of the First Church in Hartford 1633-1883 – George Leon Walker}
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 253
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
“Forasmuch as it has pleased the Almighty God by the wise disposition of his divine prudence so to order and dispose of things that we the inhabitants and residents of Windsor, Hareford and Wethersfield are no cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the River of Conectecotte and the lands thereunto adjoining; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require; do therefore associated and conjoin ourselves to be as on Public State or commonwealth; and do, for ourselves and successors and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time hereafter, enter into combination and confederation together, to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus which we now profess, as also the discipline of the Churches, which according to the truth of the said gospel is now practiced amongst us; as also in our civil affairs to be guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders and decrees as shall be made, ordered and decreed…”
Qualifications for citizenship
“..according to the rule of the word of God; which choice shall be made by all that are admitted freemen and have taken the Oath of Fidelity…”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 262A
From the Great Law, first Legislative Act in the Colony
“Whereas the glory of the Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God, and forasmuch as it is principally devised and intended by the Proprietary and Governor and freemen of Pennsylvania and territories thereunto belonging, to make and establish such laws as shall best preserve truth Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, Caesar his due, and the people their due…”
The Revolution was brought about to protect freedom in order to propagate the Gospel.
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 348
“The measure was urged as necessary to insure permanency to the civil and religious institutions of the colonies, as essential to their material prosperity, in order to secure fair scope for the industrial energies of the land, – as vital to the expansion of American ides over the continent, and to the creation of an opening for the spread of the Gospel, – as the only escape from tyranny, and the only guaranty of that government which is ‘an ordinance of Heave to restrain the usurpation of wicked men, to secure to all the enjoyment of their natural rights, and to promote the highest political interests and happiness of society.’ It was urged that independence ‘was the path of empire, glory, liberty, and peace,’ and that labor in such a cause was labor on the side of Providence.”
Colonists envision a country founded on ‘The Christian idea of Man.’ 349, 359
“The Declaration embodied the doctrine of the fundamental equality of the race, and thus clothed abstract truth with vitalizing power. Its mighty sentences aver as self-evident ‘that all men are created equal: that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as shall to them seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.’
“This American theory, expressed, ‘in words the memory of which can never die.’ It includes far more than it expresses; for by recognizing human equality and brotherhood, and the individual as the unit of society, it accepts the Christian idea of man as the basis of political institutions.”
The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America – Verna M. Hall pg 372
“The highest glory of the American Revolution, said John Quincy Adams, was this: it connected, in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity…” {The Pulpit of the American Revolution – J. Wingate Thornton}
We Hold These Truths…
When Thomas Jefferson penned the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” he was declaring the government of this country to be founded in the rights declared in the Holy Scriptures.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
The Scriptures define Jesus Christ as our Life.
Joh 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Christ is our Happiness. The Hebrew word for happy is אשר ‘asher.’
Psa 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed {אשר ‘asher’}.
Jefferson borrowed the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness’ from John Locke who defined it as the foundation of liberty.
“The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action, and from a necessary compliance with our desire, set upon any particular, and then appearing preferable good, till we have duly examined whether it has a tendency to, or be inconsistent with, our real happiness: and therefore, till we are as much informed upon this inquiry as the weight of the matter, and the nature of the case demands, we are, by the necessity of preferring and pursuing true happiness as our greatest good, obliged to suspend the satisfaction of our desires in particular cases.” {John Locke – Concerning Human Understanding}
Jesus is our Liberty (John 8:31-32; Galatians 5:1, 13-14). He is also our Happiness. In Hebrew, the word for happy is אשר ‘asher.’
Psalms 72:17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed {אשר ‘asher’}.
Thomas Jefferson borrowed the phrase ‘pursuit of happiness’ from John Locke who defined it as the foundation of liberty.
“The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty. The stronger ties we have to an unalterable pursuit of happiness in general, which is our greatest good, and which, as such, our desires always follow, the more are we free from any necessary determination of our will to any particular action, and from a necessary compliance with our desire, set upon any particular, and then appearing preferable good, till we have duly examined whether it has a tendency to, or be inconsistent with, our real happiness: and therefore, till we are as much informed upon this inquiry as the weight of the matter, and the nature of the case demands, we are, by the necessity of preferring and pursuing true happiness as our greatest good, obliged to suspend the satisfaction of our desires in particular cases.” {John Locke – Concerning Human Understanding}
In an Election Sermon given in 1778, Phillips Payson connected this pursuit of happiness with Heavenly Jerusalem whose citizenship is given through Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20; Colossians 1:13).
“…Next to liberty of heaven is that which the sons of God, the heirs of glory, possess in this life, in which they are freed from the bondage of corruption, the tyranny of evil lusts and passions, described by the apostle ‘by being made free from sin, and becoming the servants of God.’…therefore all good men, all true believers, in a special sense are children of the free woman, heirs of the promise. This religious or spiritual liberty must be accounted the greatest happiness of man, considered in a private capacity…Hence a people formed upon the morals and principles of the gospel are capacitated to enjoy the highest degree of civil liberty, and will really enjoy it, unless prevented by force or fraud…” {Election Sermon – Phillips Payson 5/27/1778 on Galatians 4:26, 31}
Galatians 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Galatians 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
George Washington defining the concept of the ‘pursuit of happiness’ as walking in the footsteps of Messiah.
“I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another…and finally that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”
Washington, like a number of his contemporaries, associated the pursuit of happiness with virtue.
“There exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” {George Washington – First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789}
Thomas Jefferson also defined the pursuit of happiness as virtue.
“The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue.” {Thomas Jefferson to M. Correa de Serra 1814}
Jefferson defined the pursuit of happiness as virtue in a letter to William Short on 10/13/1819. John Adams spoke in similar terms.
“Statesmen…may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand…. The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty.”
In his Inaugural address, Adams stated that virtue can only come from the Creator.
“And may that Being who is supreme over all, the Patron of Order, the Fountain of Justice, and the Protector in all ages of the world of virtuous liberty, continue His blessing upon this nation and its Government and give it all possible success and duration consistent with the ends of His providence.”
John Winthrop spoke of this concept of liberty/freedom in God versus liberty from God in 1645. Winthrop is famous for his vision of America being a “city upon a hill” shining the light of the Gospel to the world.
“There is a twofold liberty, natural (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil or federal. The first is common to man with beasts and other creatures. By this, man as he stands in relation to man simply, hath liberty to do what he lists: it is a liberty to evil as well as to good. This liberty is incompatible and inconsistent with authority, and cannot endure the least restraint of the most just authority. The exercise and maintaining of this liberty makes men grow more evil, and in time to be worse than brute beasts: omnes sumus licentia deteriores. This is that great enemy of truth and peace, that wild beast, which all the ordinances of God are bent against, to restrain or subdue it.
The other kind of liberty I call civil or federal; it may also be termed moral, in reference to the covenant between God and man, in the moral law, and the politic covenants and constitutions, amongst men themselves. This liberty is the proper end and object of authority, and cannot subsist without it; and it is a liberty to that only which is good, just, and honest. This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard (not only of your goods, but) of your lives, if need be. Whatsoever crosseth this is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority; it is of the same kind of liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free…” {John Winthrop – Little Speech on Liberty 1645}
Related studies:
Shadows of Messiah – The Declaration of Independence
Daily Tidbits 1/12/12 – Freedom
littleguyintheeye@gmail.com
Little Guy in the Eye 