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From
Christopher Columbus' Book of Prophecies:
"It was the Lord who put into my mind-I could feel His
hand upon me . . ..All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter,
ridiculing me...There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy
Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the
Holy Scriptures...For the execution of the journey. . . did not make use of
intelligence, mathematics, or maps. It is simply the fulfillment of what Isaiah
had prophesied.. .No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our
Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His Holy service.
..the fact that the Gospel must still be preached to so many lands in such a
short time-this is what convinces me."
The Mayflower
Compact, from William Bradford's "History of Plymouth
Plantation":
"In the name of God, Amen.
We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign
lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland,
king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God and
advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor of our king and country, a
voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these
presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another,
covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our
better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by
virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and eclual laws,
ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be
thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which
we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have
hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the
reign of our sovereign lord King James of England, France and Ireland, the
eighteenth and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
From the
"First Charter of Virginia:"
"We,
greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for the
furtherance of so noble a work, which may, by the providence of Almighty God,
hereafter tend to the glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian
religion to such people, as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of the
true knowledge and worship of God, and may in time...."
Various State
Constitutions
The Connecticut Constitution (until 1818):
"The People of this State...by the
Providence of God. . .hath the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves
as a free, sovereign, and independent State. . . and forasmuch as the free
fruition of such liberties and privileges as humanity, civility, and
Christianity call for, as is due to every man in his place and
proportion...hath ever been, and will be the tranquility and stability of
Churches and Commonwealth; and the denial thereof, the disturbances, if not the
ruin of both."
The Delaware
Constitution (1831):
"...no man ought
to be compelled to attend any religious worship..." but it recognized "the duty
of all men frequently to assemble together for the public worship of the Author
of the Universe." The following oath of office was in force until 1792: "I.
..do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only son, and in
the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; I do acknowledge the holy
scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration."
The Maryland
Constitution (until 1851):
"That, as it
is the duty of every man to worship God in such a manner as he thinks most
acceptable to him; all persons professing the Christian religion, are equally
entitled to protection in their religious liberty; wherefore no person ought by
any law to be molested...on account of his religious practice; unless, under
the color [pretense] of religion any man shall disturb the good order, peace or
safety of the State, or shall infringe the laws of morality. . .yet the
Legislature may, in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax, for the
support of the Christian religion." The Constitution of 1864 required "a
declaration of a belief in the Christian religion" for all State officers.
The
Massachusetts Constitution (until 1863):
This state Constitution included the "right" of "the
people of this commonwealth to. . . invest their Legislature with power to
authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other
bodies-politic or religious societies to make suitable provision, at their own
expense, for the institution of the public worship of God and for the support
and maintenance of public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality
in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntary."
The North
Carolina Constitution (until 1876):
"That no person who shall deny the being of God, or the
truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority of the Old or New
Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the
freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or
place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State."
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Various Colony
Declarations
New England
"The
synod of the New England churches met at Cambridge, Mass, Sept 30, 1648, and
defined the nature of civil government, the functions of the civil magistrate,
and the duties of the citizens, as follows:
I. God, the Supreme Lord and
King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over
the people, and for his own glory and the public good; and to this end hath
armed them with the power of the sword for the defense and encouragement of
them that do well, and for the punishment of evil-doers.
II. It is lawful
for Christians to accept and execute the office of magistrate when called
thereunto. In the management whereof, as they ought especially to maintain
piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of the Commonwealth,
so for that end they may lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war upon
just and necessary occasions.
III. They who, upon pretense of Christian
liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercises of it, resist
the ordinances of God,. . .may be called to account and proceeded against by
the censure of the church and by the power of the civil magistrate.
IV. It
is the duty of the people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to
pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be
subject to their authority for conscience's sake."
Massachusetts
"In the charter granted to Massachusetts, in 1640, by
Charles I., the Colonies are enjoined by 'their good life and orderly
conversation to win and invite the natives of the country to a knowledge of the
only true God and Savior of mankind, and the Christian faith which, in our
royal intention and adventurer's free possession, is the principal end of this
plantation"'
Connecticut
"In Connecticut the first organization of civil society
and government was made, in 1639, at Quinipiack, now the beautiful city of New
Haven...A constitution was formed, which was characterized as 'the first
example of a written constitution; as a distinct organic act, constituting a
government and defining its powers."' Listed below are some of the articles
which made up the constitution of Connecticut:
I. That the Scriptures hold
forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties
which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealths
as in matters of the church.
II. That as in matters which concerned the
gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public offices which
concern civil order,-as the choice of magistrates and officers, making and
repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like
nature,-they would all be governed by those rules which the Scripture held
forth to them.
III. That all those who had desired to be received free
planters had settled in the plantation with a purpose, resolution, and desire
that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.
IV.
That all the free planters held themselves bound to establish such civil order
as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance
to themselves, and their posterity according to God.'
"The governor was
then charged by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, in the most solemn manner, as to his
duties, from Deut. i. 16, 17:-'And I charged your judges at that time, saying,
Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man
and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect
persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall
not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that
is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it'. The General Court,
established under this constitution, ordered,-'That God's word should be the
only rule for ordering the affairs of government in this commonwealth"'.
New Hampshire
"In 1679, NEW HAMPSHIRE, was separated from
Massachusetts and organized as an independent province. The colonists, having
been so long a part of the Christian commonwealth of Massachusetts, constituted
their institutions on the same Christian basis. Its legislature was Christian,
and the colony greatly prospered and increased in population".
Pennsylvania
"The first legislative act, December, 1682, "announced
the ends of a true civil government. 'Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the
good of mankind is the reason and end of government, and, therefore, government
in itself is a venerable ordinance of God..."' And it is the purpose of civil
government to establish "laws as shall best preserve true 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, from
tyranny and oppression".
". . . . . But religion, as a life, as an inward
principle, though specially developed and fostered by the Church, extends its
domain beyond the sphere of technical worship, touches all the relations of
man, and constitutes the inspiration of every duty. The service of the
Commonwealth becomes an act of piety to God. The State realizes its religious
character through the religious character of its subjects; and a State is and
ought to be Christian, because all its subjects are and ought to be determined
by the principles of the Gospel. As every legislator is bound to be a Christian
man, he has no right to vote for any laws which are inconsistent with the
teachings of Scriptures. He must carry his Christian conscience into the halls
of legislation" (The Collected Writings of James Henley Thomwell, Vol. IV, p.
517).
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Past Presidents of the United States
From George
Washington's "Inaugural Speech to Both Houses of Congress," April 30,
1789:
"Such being the impressions
under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present
station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act,
my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe,
who presides in the councils of nations and whose providential aids can supply
every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and
happiness of the people of the United States a government instituted by
themselves for these essential purposes....No people can be bound to
acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more
than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to
the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some
token of providential agency. . . . 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 and since
the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the
republican model of government are justly considered as deeply, perhaps
finally, staked on the experiment...."
In Thomas
Jefferson's Second Inaugural Address of March 4, 1805, he made the following
comment:
"In matters of religion, I
have considered that its free exercise is placed by the Constitution
independent of the powers of the General Government. I have therefore
undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercise suited to it;
but have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direction and
discipline of state and church authorities acknowledged by the several
religious societies".
From Abraham
Lincoln's "Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day," March 30,
1863:
"Whereas, the Senate of the
United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of
Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution,
requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer
and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men
to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins
and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth,
announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations
only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And, insomuch as we know that, by
His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and
chastisements in this world may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of
civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon
us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as
a whole people; We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven.
We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown
in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have
forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace,
and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined,,
in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by
some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success,
we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and
preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us
then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national
sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. [. . . ]
All this being
done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by
the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high
and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and
the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy
condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my
hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President:
Abraham Lincoln.
Warren G.
Harding
It is my conviction that the
fundamental trouble with the people of the United States is that they have
gotten too far away from Almighty God.
Dwight D.
Eisenhower
The purpose of a devout and
united people was set forth in the pages of The Bible … (1) to live in
freedom, (2) to work in a prosperous land… and (3) to obey the
commandments of God… This Biblical story of the Promised land inspired the
founders of America. It continues to inspire us.
Ronald
Reagan
All are free to believe or not
believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, but those who believe must be
free to speak of and act on their belief, to apply moral teaching to public
questions… Tolerant society is open to and encouraging of all religions,
and this does not weaken us; it strengthens us… Without God, there is no
virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're
mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses
perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society and without God,
democracy will not and cannot long endure. |
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