Shoulder To Shoulder #1256 -- 9/13/21 ---- "The Tale of Two Systems" (Pt 12 -- System Two and Its Origin: The Founders' Other Primary Resources -- Pt 7)
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We Fight the Good Fight of Faith"
SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement
Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics
selected to motivate people to be strong students of the Word
and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ.
It is a personal letter of encouragement to you, written solely
to help "lift up hands that hang down".
"The world
will not be destroyed by those who do evil,
but by those who watch them without doing anything."
-- Albert Einstein
“There is a common, worldly kind
of Christianity in this day,
which many have, and think they have -- a cheap
Christianity
which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice, which
costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” –
J. C. Ryle
"Now
these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica,
for they received the word with great eagerness, examining
the
Scriptures daily to see whether these things were
so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)
Shoulder To Shoulder #1256 -- 9/13/21
Title: "The Tale of Two Systems" (Pt 12 -- System Two and
Its Origin: The Founders' Other Primary Resources -- Pt 7)
My Dear Friend and Fellow Kingdom Builder:
Greetings this time from Yuma, AZ, where we have made a final
trip to do more work on our "new" house. Great progress has
been made, thanks to an outstanding building remodeling
contractor named Sheldon. Only in his mid 40's, he already has
over 20 years of experience as a painter, builder, plumber, and
electician. His painting skills demonstrated in our house was
spotless. This past week he installed vinyl flooring and
replaced bathroom fixtures.
Twenty years ago last Saturrday was a day when the most severe
judgment since World War II was meted out on America. I call it
a judgment because throughout the Bible we see undeniable
evidence that God used violence, natural disasters, and climate
extremes to get man's attention of either impending or current
judgment. I see September 11, 2001, as one of those occsions.
Memories of the day still vividly linger. Frankly, I rarely
watch the video footage most news outlets use to remind us of
that day. I don't need them to remember. It is too painful for
me -- imagining what must have been going through the minds of
the people trapped in those two collapsing towers as they went
down -- wondering what those on Flight 93 must have been
thinking, knowing they had only minutes . . . and then seconds .
. . left to live -- imagining the scrambling as Pentagon
personnel scramble to rescue their compatriots from raging fires
-- and wondering what thoughts and emotions flooded the mind of
our President as he sat in Airforce One, the only plane left in
the air across the entire United States.
Jo Ann and I were still "sleeping late" in bed watching the news
when Charles Gibson noted that there was a fire in the first
tower. He was noting that the NYC Fire Department had no
equopment that could reach that high -- when across the screen
of our little TV the second plane streaked directly into the
side of the second tower. My thoughts preceded Gibson's
declaration -- "This is an attack!" I think probably
everybody who saw it immediately knew it was an intentional act.
But what about the message God was trying to send us? Was He
using terrorist action to say something to us? Clearly He had
spoken in the past to Israel through wars, pestilence, and
disasters. Why not now? Could He be speaking to us for some
reason? Surely there was reason enough. After all, we had
become no different from Sodom and Gomorah; only the era was
different. The heart condition was the same.
Apparently we didn’t pay attention. Read again what God
prophesied over Israel. It seemed He was now saying it to us:
“Thus says the Lord GOD, 'It is not for your sake, O
house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name,
which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I
will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been
profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their
midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,'
declares the Lord GOD, 'when I prove Myself holy among you in
their sight'.” (Ezek 36:22-23)
After twenty years, not only has America not morally and
spiritually changed, but we have become worse. I keep wondering
when God will pull out a bigger hammer and chisel in His
unrelenting efforts to draw us back to Himself. While many will
disagree, -- perhaps you may -- but as I continue studying the
history of America's founding, I am constantly and increasingly
convinced that America is truly the most "exceptional nation" in
the history of mankind, apart from Israel, of course.
When you consider what drove pilgrims from Europe to seek a
place of freedom on an entirely different and distant continent,
when you research the profound impact the Judeo-Christian values
had in the minds of our founders, and when you release your
curiosity to explore history's glowing record of the role the
Bible played in our founding, it becomes clear that God had a
plan for America unlike any other. We have been examing that
reality for almost three months now.
I never intended to address this subject for such a long time
when I wrote the first installment on July 5th, 2021. But, here
we are, still probing into our past to better understand what
brought us into existence -- and the "why" of it. So, today, I
want to introduce you to other members of the "Black Robe
Regiment" who made dramatic impacts on the minds of our Founding
Fathers. We'll do that -- right after you consider . . .
THIS 'N' THAT:
+ An Extraordinary Resource: -- I have found
scores of very useful resources for preparing my sermons and my writing
disciplines, but one of the very best websites for keeping up to date
with archaeological discoveries as they relate to the Bible is http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org.
They have excellent reports on ongoing discoveries, but also have free
PDF downloadable booklets on many topics. Just this week I download
over a dozen that interested me. Check it out.
QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:
> "There is not a single instance in history, in which civil
liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore
we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the
conscience into bondage." -- John Witherspoon, sixth president of Princeton, signer of Declaration of Independence
> "All civil rulers, as such, are the ordinance and ministers
of God; and they are all, by the nature of their office, and in their
respective spheres..." -- Jonathan Mayhew, Prominent pre-American Revolution pastor from Boston who greatly impacted the shaping of our nation.
> "The knowledge of God and his truths have from the
beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to those
parts of the earth where some degree of liberty and political justice
were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to
struggle, from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust
decisions of usurped authority." -- John Witherspoon, sixth president of Princeton, signer of Declaration of Independence
> "Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. It
degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes; it damps
their spirits; it suppresses art; it extinguishes every spark of noble
ardor and generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it; it
makes naturally strong and great minds feeble and little, and triumphs
over the ruins of virtue and humanity." -- Jonathan Mayhew, Prominent pre-American Revolution pastor from Boston who greatly impacted the shaping of our nation.
> "There is a time for all things; a time to preach and a
time to pray, but those times have passed away; there is a time to
fight, and that time has come! -- General Peter Muhlenberg, Revolutionary War pastor and Major General in Continental Army
> "People are not usually deprived of their liberties all at
once, but gradually, by one encroachment after another, as it is found
they are disposed to bear them." -- Jonathan Mayhew, Prominent pre-American Revolution pastor from Boston who greatly impacted the shaping of our nation.
THE ESSENE'S OF BRITAIN:
The more we study history, including biblical history, the more
we see how certain things of the past strangely apply to the
present. Last week during a Bible study, our attention was
drawn to a particular group of people who had existed during the
time of Christ and the First Century Christians. In many ways
it seemed to me that the parallels between them and the Pilgrims
was uncanny in their similarities. These were people -- a
particular segment of people, actually -- who found it necessary
to break away from both the culture and the religion of their
day because of corruption, repression, and tyranny. This were the very
things that drove the Pilgrims from their homelands to a new
land on a far away continent.
The Essene's were a group of Levites who were ancient
"Puritans" of their day, believing their religious and cultural
traditions had been corrupted by the godless influence of
Alexander the Great's Greek Hellenism. Around 150 BC a group of them Levitical priesthood decided
to leave the corrupted culture because the priesthood had
essentially been "bought off" by a Hellenistic King, Antiochus
Ephinanese.and had become highly corrupted by that Hellenistic
world view. The end result was that both the political mechanism and the
religious establishment came under the control of that same
Hellenistic king.
The Essene's were so compelled by what was wrong, and by what could be, that they chose to separate themselves
away from the rest of the political and religious culture in
order to create an alternative -- one that would accomplish five
things ----
1) Isolate themselves from the Hellenistic world view,
2) Restore the biblical world view (value system) of their
heritage.
3) Preserve the sacred texts that had been the foundation
of their world.
4) Train a new generation for the corrupted priesthood,
"after the order of Melchizedek".
5) Restore a culture of righteousness and justice to their
culture.
Things were so bad that their decision to separate both from the
culture and from the corrupt religious system that they went out into the "desert" and created a
community of opportunity that would be faithful to God. In a very real sense they wanted a "new beginning" that
restored the biblical world view that had been shaped in their
ancestors as Moses led them out of the wilderness.
Their first priority was to return to and live by "Every
word that comes from the mouth of God", and not by bread alone/ They chose to diligently
mold their lifestyle after the Torah. The second priority was to
preserve the scriptures themselves -- the Torah --- and try to shape
their culture around its teachings. Their third priority was to teach the
new generation to do the same thing.
In the Essene community was a room called, "The Scriptorium"
where archaeologists discovered two large clay writing tables
and many ink wells, all today located in a museum in Amman,
Jordan. It was here that the scriptures were studied, preserved,
and transcribed into more copies, each one meticulously accurate
to the original scrolls.
A second room, a "study room" with benches all around the
walls with an open space in the center of the room for a teacher to sit or stand as he
read or explained the scriptures to those seated around the
benches along the walls. These were practices that had been forbidden in Jerusalem,
and the teachings they received were almost entirely from a
now-corrupted high priest and his underlings.
Because the purpose of the Essenes was singular, their
lifestyles were simple, hard, and often inconvenient. They
devoted themselves to the scriptures, even though their
lifestyles were often hard and difficult. Local adversaries
opposed them, laughed, and scorned them.
Living in the desert, their greatest need was, or course,
water. So, they spent years creating a water supply route from
springs up in the mountains of Judea down along the cliff sides
and through hand hewn tunnels to the new place where they
lived. It was a long, painful, and arduous project -- a
necessary project in order to have life-giving water available
to both satisfy their own thirst, provide moisture for their
crops, and energy for their industry.
What was it, then, that caused them to pay such a heavy
price? It was their goal of creating a culture that lived "by
every word that comes from the mouth of God" -- in other words,
a culture built on the Judeo-Christian principles of the Bible. They
separated themselves out from the Hellenistic culture in
Jerusalem -- a culture that had corrupted both their society and
their religion -- because God had told them, "Prepare My way in
the desert." And for over 200 years the Essenes spent their energies
trying to carry out God's purposes for a renewed way of life --
an opportunity to start over and return to God's purpose.
The parallels between the Essene's of ancient Israel 2,000 years
ago and the founders of America 250 years ago are uncanny -- and,
therefore, significant. The two things that prompted the first pilgrims
to flee to a new land and a new opportunity were the pollution and the
corruption of the Church of England. They came in waves; they came in
droves. While there were many adventurers and explorers, the bulk of
both the Puritans and the Separatists came because of what they saw and
despised both in the culture and in the Church.
Once they arrived, they also began developing a moral lifestyle and a
Christian religious structure that were more in keeping with the Bible
than what they had known in Europe. You know the story well. From the
very beginning, the vast majority of leaders and "movers and shakers"
were either clergymen or others who had a firm understanding of biblical
teachings. They logically sought out those models of character and
governance in the writings of others. Cicero, Plato, Locke,
Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the like -- and the Bible -- were the
literary resources to which they went.
And, of course, they listened to and read the sermons of numerous members of "The Black Robe Regiment"
and those who preceded them. Ultimately, these brave and brilliant men
of the cloth did what the Essene's did -- they separated themselves
from the tyranny and corruption of both the government and the church.
CONTINUING OUR
LOOK:
I must reiterate again that not every "Black Robe Regiment" pastor
was involved militarily in the Revolution. Some were -- many were,
actually; but the greatest benefit of the clergy patriots to the cause
of our independence was two-fold ---- they preached truth from the
pulpit, including biblical principles regarding countless issues
relating to the political process, AND they led by personal example. In
addition, as we have already seen -- and will again today -- many of
them were men who were powerfully influential in the worlds of
academics, politics, and publishing.
You and I live in a culture where we are not called to pick up a rifle
and defend the cause against a tyrannical enemy -- although that could
happen . . . might happen . . . in the not too distant future. So, it's
hard for us to imagine a pastor urging his parishioners to grab their
guns, bid their loved ones farewell, and march en masse to fight an
occupying army on home soil. For that reason, it's often difficult for
us to tie biblical righteousness together with patriotism.
One reason for that is because it has been nearly a century and a half
since anyone in this country had to do so. The Civil War is a distant
memory to most of us. As a result, for the most part we are woefully
ignorant of the Bible's teachings about things like taxation, forms of
government, sanctity of life, treason, selection of judges, or
corruption.
We know about some of them theologically, but have difficulty
understanding how -- and why -- the pastors of the Revolution were able
to merge their roles as clergy and fighter with ease. Their very lives
were at stake -- ours are not. The closest thing we have in comparison
is recognizing those preachers who feel God calling them in the military
chaplaincy. My best man was one of those guys -- and he did both
exceptionally well.
So, keep that in mind as you struggle linking military action, political
controversies, and biblical truth together. They do, indeed, connect.
It's just that our own experiences and modern history have disconnected
them from each other.
Alice Baldwin is one of the more
articulate and thorough Twentieth Century historians to write
about the role of the clergy in
New England life in general and
their role in the American
Revolution in particular. In her
book, he New England Clergy
and the American Revolution
(pub 1928), she makes the
following observation in the
book's introduction:
"That is the purpose of
this study: first, to make clear
the similarity, the identity of
Puritan theology and fundamental
political thought; second, to
show how the New England clergy
preserved, extended, and
popularized the essential
doctrines of political
philosophy, thus making familiar
to every church-going New
Englander long before 1763 not
only the doctrines of natural
right, the social contract, and
the right of resistance but also
the fundamental principle of
American constitutional law,
that government, like its
citizens, is bounded by law and
when it transcends its authority
it acts illegally."
Her primary point, it seems to
me, is that -- and this is a thought
entirely foreign to most pastors
and historians today -- it may
well be that the best place and
the best way to truly understand
the social, moral, and political
issues that were facing the
colonists in the 18th Century as
they struggled under the tyranny
of King George III was to hear it
explained through the mouths of
educated and informed theologians
who understood both the cultural
and the biblical ramifications.
This is, for the most part,
something with which we are seldom
blessed today in our culture.
So, recognizing the danger of "beating a good horse to death", let me
point out an assortment of still more courageous members of "The Black Robe Regiment"
and the contributions they made to the establishment of a new nation
where freedom flowed and religion reigned. Let's start with . . .
+ Rev.
Jonathan Mayhew: (1720-1766) -- Jonathan
Mayhew’s sermons were described as
both “seditious” and a “catechism
of the Revolution.” From
Martha's Vineyard, he was a Congregational pastor of the Old West Church
in Boston. Dying prior to the signing of the Declaration of
Independence by a decade, he didn't live to see the fruits of his
sermons, yet they were nonetheless a powerful influence on the
Founders.
Mayhew graduated from Harvard College in 1744 and from the University of
Aberdeen (Scotland) in 1749. His theology was extremely liberal -- so
much so that, when he was to be ordained minister of the West Church in
Boston in 1747, only two ministers showed up for the first ordaining
council. It was necessary, therefore, to call for a second council.
You and I would almost certainly take issue with his belief that Jesus
was a subordinate to God rather than an equal part of the Trinity. Nor
would we likely agree that salvation was achieved by being good. His
preaching was so liberal and so often unscriptural that his church was
unofficially known as the first Unitarian Congregational church in New
England, even though it was never officially Unitarian. He preached the
strict unity of God, the subordinate nature of Christ, and salvation by
character.
His theology was clearly out of the ordinary and far away from
mainstream theology. However, he was one of the most powerful voices in
New England for separating from Great Britain, fighting against
taxation, and exposing tyranny and corruption within the Anglican Church
and the Cdrown. His sermons fearlessly addressed major political and
social issues the colonists were facing at that time. He bitterly
opposed the Stamp Act, and, as noted below, he urged the necessity of a
union that would unite the colonies as one in order to secure colonial
liberties.
While William Tennent, John Wise, and others preached on social and
political issues decades earlier, it was. Mayhew who was the first
clergyman to begin systematically preaching about resistance to
England’s tyranny, urging people to take action. In fact, his 1750
sermon Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission helped form the basis of an early motto of the American Revolution:“Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.”
In that sermon Mayhew attacked recent efforts to portray Charles as a
martyred monarch. As with most clergymen of the day, Mayhew preached
from a manuscript. He began this particular sermon by noting just how
ancient and right the liberties of Britain were, asserting that they
were "originally and essentially free" before being abused and corrupted. He then went on for over forty pages giving one historical example after another, and then declaring that there was an "essential rightness" to the execution of an English king when he infringed on those traditional British liberties.
Frequently called on to preach annual "Election Sermons", his more
famous sermons included his 1750 and 1754 election sermons that promoted
American rights as opposed to British control. He powerfully spoke
for the cause of liberty and the right and duty to resist tyranny.
Another famous sermon was "The Snare Broken", delivered in 1766.
Even though his theology went far astray from the traditional doctrinal
beliefs, his bold unflinching attacks against the tyranny of England
made him one of the most beloved patriot preachers of the era.
The vigor of Mayhew’s sermon established his reputation. It was
published not only in Boston, but also in London in 1752 and again in
1767. In Boston, John Adams remembered long afterward that Mayhew’s
sermon, “was read by everybody.” Some would say later that this
sermon was the first volley of the American Revolution, setting forth
the intellectual and scriptural justification for rebellion against the
Crown.
His final published sermon marked the
rescinding of the Stamp Act.
Larry Witham described Mayhew's
mannerisms and sermon content in
his book, A City Upon A Hill.
He wrote, . . .
"As a rule, Mayhew, donned
in black robe and wig, preached
without gesture or drama. He
followed the plain style and
ended with an application. In
his subdivisions that day,
Mayhew gave his audience six
meanings of liberty, with the
greatest emphasis on 'civil
liberty.' Nations differ in
their degree of liberty, Mayhew
preached. Liberty came by
'common consent,' and a country
without liberty suffered not
just tyranny, but enslavement.
"For the essence of
slavery consists in being
subjected to the arbitrary
pleasure of others…. As, for
example, a Mother-country &
her Colonies. While she is free,
it is [supposedly] that her
colonies may be kept in a state
of real slavery to her. For if
they are to possess no property,
nor to enjoy the fruits of their
own labor, but by the mere
precarious pleasure of the
Mother, or a distant
legislature, in which they
neither are, nor can be
represented; this is really
slavery, not civil liberty."
Other books by Witham include The Measure of God, Where Darwin Meets the Bible, and By Design: Science and the Search for God.
Resistance to the Stamp Act by the colonists was both extensive and well
organized -- to the point that the Acts was eventually repealed. When
Mayhew saw how powerful the stand of unity really was in its opposition,
he wrote to James Otis, stating, “You have heard of communion [i.e.,
unity] of the churches….[W]hile I was thinking of this,…[the]
importance of a communion [unity] of the colonies appeared to me in a
strong light.”
(James Otis was a highly respected political activist opposing British
Parliament's actions, and is responsible for the catch phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny." He
was a dedicated mentor to a number of leading patriots including John
Hancock and Sam Adams. The phrase quickly became the basic Patriot
position.)
Because of such broad support, Mayhew subsequently recommended
that they address key issues by sending circulars to all the other
colonies, spelling out the details of the issues. His idea actually
became a reality through what became known as the Committees of
Correspondence, which distributed news flashes and educational materials
among the various colonies in an effort to achieve unity in both
thinking and action.
Jonathan Mayhew’s influence in many political areas was significant,
apparently much more so than his many errant theological views. John
Adams described him as one of several people “most conspicuous, the most ardent, and influential” in the “awakening and revival of American principles and feelings” that led to our independence.
Mayhew's influence in shaping the thinking of our founding fathers was
so significant that twenty-five years following his death, the following
rhyme was quoted in Harvard's Commencement address in 1792:
While Britain claim'd by laws our rights to lead,
And faith was fetter'd by a bigot's creed.
Then mental freedom first her power display'd
and call'd a MAYHEW to religion's aid.
For this great truth, he boldly led the van,
That private judgment was the right of man.
Memoir of the Life and Writings of Rev. Jonathan Mayhew,
D.D.: Pastor of the West Church and Society in Boston, from June, 1747,
to July, 1766, by Alden Bradford (1838, C.C. Little & Company, Boston)
Then there's . . .
+ Rev. Peter Muhlenberg:
-- John Peter Gabriel
Muhlenberg, a Lutheran pastor, is probably one of the best
known of the thousands of revolutionary preachers who lived
because of one particular story which I'll relate shortly.
Muhlenberg was of German descent, born to Pennsylvanians parents Anna
Maria and Henry Muhlenberg in Trappe, Pennsylvania. At the appropriate
age, he was sent, together with his brothers, Frederick Augustus and
Gotthilf Henry Ernst to Halle, Germany in 1763. Halle, of course, is a
significant city in the life of Martin Luther. He and his brothers were
educated in Latin at the Francke Foundations.
After he left school in 1767 to become a sales assistant in Lübeck,
Germany, and also did military service for a short time in the British
60th Regiment of Foot. and briefly in the German dragoons,where he
earned the nickname “Teufel Piet” That same year, 1767, he returned to
Philadelphia where he was given a classical education from the Academy
of Philadelphia.
He was ordained in 1768 and served as pastor of a Lutheran congregation
in Bedminster, New Jersey, before moving to Woodstock, Virginia. He was
married to Anna Barbara "Hannah" Meyer in 1770 and together they had six
children.
Muhlenberg and his wife went to England in 1772 where he
was ordained into the priesthood of the Anglican Church, even though he
served a Lutheran congregation. The Anglican Church was, of course,
the official state church of England, so when he then returned to the
colonies and settled in Virginia, he was required to be ordained as an
Anglican in order to serve a church there.
Muhlenberg also was involved politically and, among other things in
Virginia, he led the Committee OF Safety and Correspondence for Dunmore
County, and was then elected to the House of Burgesses in 1774. He was a
delegate to the First Virginia Convention.
The British threat to squelch opposition to King George III's rule grew
more serious, and those "rebellious colonists" were becoming a greater
and greater threat to the King. Citizens, of course, grew
more and more alarmed. Finally,
on January 21st, 1776, at the Lutheran Church in Woodstock, Virginia,
things came to a head for Muhlenberg. His great nephew described it
during the mid-19th Century when writing a biography on Muhlenberg's
life.
He stated that Muhlenberg quoted from the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, verse eight,
-- “To everything, there is a season…”. When he came to verse eight, “a time of war, and a time of peace,” he declared, “And this is the time of war,”
After concluding his
sermon, he stood in full view of
the congregation, threw off his
clerical robe to reveal the
uniform of an officer in the
Continental Army, then marched to
the back of the church. He then
ordered the drum to beat for
recruits, and within thirty
minutes, 162 men had kissed their wives goodbye, walked down the aisle,
and stood with Muhlenberg. By the end of the experience, over 300 of
his own
parishioners joined him, and the
group became the Eighth Virginia
Brigade, camping at Valley Forge,
and fighting in the battles of
Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth,
Stonypoint, and Yorktown.
Muhlenberg's troops saw major fignting during the American Revolution.
He commanded the First Brigade in Lafayette's Light Division at the
Siege of Yorktown, where the Brigade was part of the Corps of Light
Infantry, consisting of five light infantry companies of Massachusetts,
five companies from Connecticut, five companies from New Hampshire, and
one company each from Rhode Island and New Jersey.
Under Muhlenberg's command, they held the right flank and manned the two
trenches built to move American cannons closer to Cornwallis’ defenses.
The battalion commanded by French Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Joseph
Sourbader de Gimat led the night bayonet attack that stormed Redoubt No.
10 on October 14, 1781. When the war finally ended in 1783, he was
promoted to Major General and settled in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania, still seen as a pastor.
Following the end of the war, Muhlenberg was elected in 1784 to the
Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and on
October 31st was elecred to serve as Vice-President of the Council.
That position today would be that Lieutenant Governor, on October 31,
1787.
His term as Vice-President ended oddly. According to the October 14th,
1788 minutes of the Executive Council, Muhlenberg apparently left
Philadelphia without tendering his resignation. A messenger was sent
after him. Returning with the resignation, the Council then met at
Benjamin Franklin‘s home, President of the Council, and chose David
Redick succeed Muhlenberg.
Muhlenberg was elected to the 1st Congress as an at-large
representatives from Pennsylvania, while his brother Frederick (also a
reputable pastor) was the Speaker of the House. He then served in
Congress as a Republican during the 3rd Congress 1793–1795 and 5th
Congress 1799–1801 for the 1st district. He was then elected by the
legislature to the U.S. Senate in February 1801 but resigned on June 30
of that same year. President Thomas Jefferson then appointed him as the
supervisor of the revenue for Pennsylvania in 1801 and customs
collector for Philadelphia in 1802, a position in which he served until
his death in 1807.
As you read more in-depth accounts of Muhlenberg's life, it seems
evident that, in spite of his fame and prestige as both a military and a
political leader during the days of the Revolution, he never lost his
conviction that he was, first and foremost, a pastor. He died in
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania on his 61st birthday, October 1, 1807.
He is buried at the Augustus Lutheran Church in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
Then we can't overlook the "spy catcher", . . .
+ Reverend Samuel West:
(1729-1807) -- Samuel West was another Congregational pastor with
strong leanings toward Unitarianism. His impact on the Revolution took
place both in civilian circles as a pastor and also in the military
world as a Chaplain. He was born on March 3, 1729 in Yarmouth, the son
of physician Sackfield West. Born and raised on the family farm, local
minister Joseph Green mentored West. He graduated from Harvard in 1754,
a classmate to John Hancock. After a period of time as a schoolmaster
in Falmouth, MA, he felt called to the ministry and began preaching at
First Congregational Church in Plymouth. He was ordained there as
official pastor in 1761.
However, perhaps one of his greatest contributions to the American
Revolution as as an army chaplain. As early as the Spring of 1775, some
two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, some
of the leaders in Massachusetts suspected they had a traitor in their
midst. Repeatedly meetings and decisions of the Sons of Liberty were
revealed to General Thomas Gage, the military leader of the British
army.
The spy would inform Gage where the rebel militias were stockpiling guns
and powder in case of a confrontation with the Royal Army troops
stationed in Boston. When General Gage attempted to confiscate the
weapons, fighting broke out on April 19, 1775. The attempts to expose
the spy proved unsuccessful and when the fighting began, all efforts
were postponed during the colonial army’s siege of Boston. It was not
until ten months later that the mystery was finally solved -- thanks to
Continental Army chaplain Reverend Samuel West of Acushnet.
Since he had become pastor there in 1760, Rev. West preached the Gospel
to the people of the Congregational Church Society of Dartmouth for
decades after being called on to pastor the congregation in 1760. As
many local pastors of the day, West might have drilled with the local
militia which was made up of every able-bodied man between the ages of
16 and 60. All were required to serve in the village militia by
colonial law.
His and other family histories and official records indicate that West
was filled with patriotism, and that he volunteered to serve as
chaplain to the local men who had joined the new Continental Army right
after the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.
An 1865 article in Harper’s Magazine described West as “. . .an
ardent patriot from the beginning of the difficulties with England, and
was unsparing in his denunciations of those who were unwilling to come
out on the side of their country. Immediately after the Battle of Bunker
Hill he joined the army to do what he could as a minister to keep up
the courage of the soldiers and to promote their welfare.”
While serving with the Continental Army in Boston during the summer of
1775, finds Rev. West serving with the Continental Army troops,
espionage was being carried on by both sides as they tried to find some
military advantage to break the siege. That August, a young woman from
Boston walked into the Newport, Rhode Island bakery owned by Godfrey
Wenwood, unknowingly beginning the unraveling of the spy mystery. Most
scholars agree that the woman was Mary Butler, a "fancy lady" in Boston and the current mistress of Massachusetts Provincial Congress member Dr. Benjamin Church.
Dr. Church, who was a friend to many Sons of Liberty who were now
leading the revolution, was the “medical director” or Surgeon General of
the Continental Army. Church had alredybeen suspected of being a
British spy, but his ruse as a fervent patriot convinced leaders that it
was impossible to believe.
Educated at Harvard, Church had trained in medicine in England before
settling in Boston and opening a practice. Born in Newport in 1734, he
was the well-to-do descendant of King Philip’s War hero Colonel Benjamin
Church of Little Compton; well bred and educated, it was natural that
royal officials and later, British officers, should be on his list of
regular patients in the city.
Without going into the details that sound like a great TV mystery plot,
General Washington recruited three recommended men who knew something
about encryption techniques. One of them was Samuel West along with
two other men, Colonel Elisha Porter; and state Committee of Safety
member Elbridge Gray.
Within days, the deciphered letters were completed, Church was
imprisoned in Connecticut, and the Revolution proceeded. Rev. Samuel
West eventually returned home from the siege of Boston to resume his
pastoral duties. He returned to the city in May of 1776 to deliver an
“election day sermon” to the Massachusetts Council and House of
Representatives, affirming the right of Christian men to resist
tyrannical rulers, even to the point of armed rebellion to protect their
God-given rights.
Now pastoring again in Boston, he preached a sermon on May 29, 1776, in
which he insisted that there was a moral and religious justification for
the colonies to rebel against Great Britain. He preached the sermon to
the House of Representatives and Council of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, saying, among other things, . .
“Thus we see that both reason and revelation perfectly agree in
pointing out the nature, end, and design of government, viz., that it is
to promote the welfare and happiness of the community; and that
subjects have a right to do everything that is good, praiseworthy, and
consistent with the good of the community, and are only to be restrained
when they do evil and are injurious either to individuals or the whole
community; . . .
". . . Reason and
revelation, we see, do both teach us that our obedience to rulers is not
unlimited, but that resistance is not only allowable, but an
indispensable duty in the case of intolerable tyranny and oppression. . .
."
West also said, . . .
"Our obligation to promote the
public good extends as much to the
opposing every exertion of
arbitrary power that is injurious
to the state as it does to the
submitting to good and wholesome
laws. No man, therefore, can be a
good member of the community that
is not as zealous to oppose
tyranny, as he is ready to obey
magistracy."
Reverend West went on to say, . .
“If
magistrates are ministers of God
only because the law of God and
reason points out the necessity of
such an institution for the good
of mankind, it follows, that
whenever they pursue measures
directly destructive of the public
good, they cease being God’s
ministers, they forfeit their
right to obedience from the
subject, they become the pests of
society, and the community is
under the strongest obligation of
duty both to God and to its own
members, to resist and oppose
them, which will be so far from
resisting the ordinance of God
that it will be strictly obeying
his commands.”
Later, West would help draft
the first state constitution of Massachusetts, and would also serve as a
delegate to the federal Constitutional Convention, using his
considerable intellectual skills to help shape the future of the new
nation.
Next, we certainly cannot overlook "the fighting chaplain", . . .
+ Rev. James Caldwell:
-- James Caldwell was born
at Cub Creek in Charlotte County, Virginia, in 1734. He graduated from
Princeton in 1759, and was ordained the pastor of the First Presbyterian
Church of Elizabethtown in 1762. Caldwell served with the Third
Battalion of Company No. 1, New Jersey Volunteers during the
Revolutionary War, and was also Commissary to all the troops in New
Jersey, directing the provision and distribution of supplies to all
fighting units in New Jersey. He was known as the “fighting parson.”
Descendant of French
Huguenot protestant Christians who
had fled to Scotland and Ireland
during the 16th and 17th
Centuries, Rev. James Caldwell had
been raised as a Scotch-Irish
Presbyterian. Because of his
unabashed patriotism, he became
known as the "Fighting Chaplain"
and a key leader in the "Black
Robe Regiment", as the British
called the colonial clergy. When
conflict broke out in 1775,
thirty-one of his members became
commissioned officers; and
fifty-two were privates. During the War, at least 40 of his men served as line officers.
Caldwell spoke fiercely and strongly from
the pulpit about the biblical
principles of liberty, just war,
and resisting tyranny, but he also
served as a chaplain in the army,
and because of his ability to
organize well, became the
Assistant Commissary General,
supplying troops with everything
from weaponry to food and
clothing.
On June 6, 1780, General Knyphausen crossed over from Staten Island into
New Jersey with six to seven thousand German soldiers. The goal was to
reach Morristown, where the Rebels had their quarters and supplies. On
the seventh, Knyphausen’s command marched to Elizabethtown where he
drove the Rebel soldiers back. Stephan Popp, a Hessian soldier present
at this time, wrote that they “marched close to Springfield, burned
down many houses on the way and destroyed very much. On our side many
were also killed and wounded.”[2]
The American fighters retreated by way of Connecticut Farms. The
Hessian soldiers set fire first to the house of Deacon Caleb Wade, and
then the Presbyterian Church where Caldwell pastored. (They also set
fire to other buildings.) Caldwell moved his family to the parsonage at
Connecticut Farms (now Union), New Jersey so that they might enjoy a
safer life. Unfortunately, the move to safety was short-lived.
According to the June 14th, 1780 New-Jersey Journal, Caldwell's wife, Hannah, “with a babe of eight months, and one of three years old, with the housekeeper and a little maid, were left." The housekeeper, according to Larry Gerlach's New Jersey in the American Revolution, 1763-1783: A Documentary History, was Catherine Benward and the “little maid” was Abigail Lennington.
The Journal report continued; "Mrs.
Caldwell having dressed herself, and put her house in order, retired
into a back room[….]One of the barbarians advancing around the house,
took the advantage of a small space, through which the room was
accessable [sic], and fired two balls into that amiable lady, so well
directed that they ended her life in a moment.” Hannah's body was
then partially stripped of her clothing and the house was ransacked
before it was set ablaze. Reports indicated that eleven other houses
were also burned down. A Hessian soldier named Popp recorded in his
diary that three boats of wounded Englishmen and Germans were brought
back to New York the following day. Another Hessian soldier was more
precise and reported over 300 Hessian troops were either killed or
wounded in the battle.
The British, having suffered a humiliating defeat, regrouped and at the
end of the month, advanced to Elizabethtown, Connecticut Farms and
Springfield again. Under Knyphausen's command, and with heavy
artillery, they pushed the Americans back to Springfield, but not
without encountering heavy losses again. It was at Springfield on June
23rd, 1780 that the Americans ran out of paper wadding to load the
bullets into their weapons.
By this time, the
British and German-Hessian troops encountered the Continental
Army, outnumbering them nearly 5 to 1. The battle was fierce and
extended into many hours. Due to its longevity and ferocity, the
patriot army began to run short of paper wadding for their guns. Wadding
was needed to hold the gunpowder and musket ball in place and it was
usually made of paper.
Hearing the cries of his men for more wadding, Caldwell rode back to his
church and grabbed a stack of hymnals. They tore out the pages and
used the paper for wadding. As they readied themselves for the next
attack by British troops, Caldwell is to have said, "Give 'em Watts,
boys! Give 'em Watts!", referring to revered hymn writer Isaac Watts
(1674–1748). The Continental Army held off the British, who finally
turned and left the army of patriots with a victory for freedom aided by
Isaac Watts hymnals.
Caldwell’s
heroism and ingenious creativity didn't set well. The English and
Hessians charged the American troops with bayonets, chasing them out of
Springfield. They then, on the orders of the commanding general,
plundered the now unihabited Springfield and set it on fire. A Hessian
soldier recorded in his diary, “The first fire was set by the English
in the beautiful Reformed Church, which, with its steeple, soon was
destroyed by the flames, because it was built mostly of wood.
Springfield, of sixty or seventy buildings mostly of wood, in a period
of half an hour was laid entirely in ashes. Six American men, whose
legs had been shot off, unfortunately were burned to death in a house.”[
(A Short Parenthetical: Watts was, as was his father, a
nonconformist, and an English Christian hymn writer, theologian and
logician. His father was jailed numerous times for his stance against
certain governmental policies and laws. A prolific and popular hymn
writer with over 750 hymns to his credit, Watts' work was part of
evangelization, where traditional religious believe was translated from
church ritual and form into deep personal relationships with Christ. He
was recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody".
Characterized as a blend of subjective feelings and objective doctrine,
many of his hymns remain in use today as some of the most favorite and
often sung hymns ever written. Some of the English hymnals even todday
contain nothing but Watts' hymns. I remember years ago both in Trinidad
(1969) and Jamaica (1995) we sang from hymnals containing many Watts
hymns.)
In retaliation against Caldwell, the British burned
his church down in January 1780.
That June, while responding via
horseback to the alarm that the
British were nearby, he turned
around and rode back to ask his
wife and family to go with him to
safety at the camp. She declined,
and was later shot and instantly killed
by a British sniper who had been sent back for
that specific purpose.
Nearby friends were
able to retrieve her body before
the British then burned his home
to the ground. Caldwell overheard
the news from the conversation of
two soldiers, raised a flag of
truce, went home and buried his
wife, and then returned to the
battle at Springfield, MA.
Caldwell was inexplicably shot to death by an American soldier in
November, 1781. It is still a mystery as to how it happened, but
speculations remain high.
Moving on, we last of all consider a pastor who, as far as we know,
never fired a shot during the Revolutionary War, namely . . .
+ John Witherspoon: (1723-1794) -- Rev.
John Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He
was born in Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland, as the eldest child of the
Reverend James Alexander Witherspoon and Anne Walker, a descendant of
John Welsh of Ayr and reportedly John Knox, although that has not been
unequivocally proven. He attended the Haddington Grammar School, and
received an MA degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1739. Instead
of pursuing a vocation, he stayed at the university and studied for a
divinity degree. Then he received an honorary doctor's degree in
divinity in 1764 by the University of St. Andrews.
Witherspoon eventually became a Presbyterian (Church of Scotland) pastor
at his place of birth Beith, Ayrshire and served there from 1745 to
1758. It was there that he married Elizabeth Montgomery of Craighouse.
They had ten children, but only five survived to adulthood. Then he
served from 1758 to 1768 as the minister of the Laigh Kirk, Paisley (Low
Kirk).
Witherspoon rose to prominence within the Church of Scotland as an
Evangelical opponent of the Moderate Party. During his only two
pastorates covering a span of 33 years, he wrote three well-known
theological works, the most widely received, his satire debunking the
philosophy of Francis Hutcheson, "Ecclesiastical Characteristics",
written in 1753.
Then Witherspoon, after rejecting earlier attempts, and at the
passionate urging of Benjamin Rush and Richard Stockton, came to America
in 1768 to become the sixth president of the College of New Jersey
(later to become Princeton University. No one could have anticipated
the powerful outcome of his tenure as president because, while at
Princeton, he ended up training many of the men who later established
America as an independent nation. For example, through his role as an
educator, there were 478 graduates during his tenure as President.
Of these, at least 86 became active in civil government. This included
one US president, one vice-president, 10 cabinet members, 21 senators,
39 congressmen, 12 governors, a Supreme Court justice, and one Attorney
General of the United States. This does not include untold numbers of
others who held local and state offices.
As a matter of fact, one-sixth of the delegates of the Constitutional
Convention and nearly one-fifth of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, and one-fifth of the members of the first federal Congress
that framed the Bill of Rights were graduates of the College of New
Jersey, many of them while Witherspoon was President.
Witherspoon had been suspicious of the power of the British Crown for a
long time. He recognized that the increasing centralization of
government under King George III, the progressive ideology of the King's
colonial authorities, and the establishment of Episcopacy authority was
a serious threat to the freedoms and liberties the colonists had
enjoyed in the past.
One thing that especially alarmed Witherspoon was the the way the
British Crown was increasingly interfering in the local and colonial
affairs. In the past the Crown had pretty much maintained a "hands off"
policy, and acknowledged that those areas were inder the jurisdiction
of the American authorities. But, when the Crown began granting
additional authority to its personally appointed Episcopacy over Church
affairs, it was more than that Presbyterian Scot could stomach.
As a result, Witherspoon quickly began to support the Revolution. In
early 1774 he joined the Committee of Correspondence and Safety. He
also began to preach out against the Crown and in favor of
independence. One of his most famous and explosive sermons came in 1776
when he preached "The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men". The sermon was
quickly published in many news editions and as a result he was elected
to the Continental Congress as part of the New Jersey delegation.
Almost immediately the President of the Continental Congress, John
Hancock, appointed Witherspoon to the position of Congressional
Chaplain. In July 1776, the Presbyterian preacher voted to adopt the
Virginia Resolution for Independence. When one of the delegates objected
that the country was not yet ready for independence, Witherspoon,
according to tradition, replied that it "was not only ripe for the measure, but in danger of rotting for the want of it."
He was not immune to the sorrows of the war, for his son, Major James
Witherspoon, was killed during the Battle of Germantown in 1777. Known
for his diligence and hard work, Witherspoon served in Congress from
June 1777 until November 1784 as one of its most influential members and
a dtireless workhorse for liberty.
While Witherspoon may not have preached as many sermons as other members of the "Black Robe Regiment"
had done, his pastoral role in the halls of academia was no less
influential to the founding of our nation. More than a few historians
agree that Witherspoon was probably the single most influential figure
among our Founding Fathers in the development of the United States'
national character.
Witherspoon is probably best known for being the only ordained minister
who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and also the only
college president to sign the Declaration. However, there were more
than a dozen signers who held degrees in theology. Nonetheless,
Witherspoon was elected to the Continental Congress and served on over
l00 congressional committees. He is said to have had more influence on
the monetary policies found in the Constitution than any other
individual.
As a delegate from New Jersey to the Second Continental Congress Witherspoon was a signatory to the July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence,
then later helped draft the Articles of Confederation, helped organize
the executive departments, helped shape public policy, drew up the
instructions for the peace commissioners, fought against the flood of
paper money, and opposed the issuance of bonds if they were not
amortized. And finally, he supported the ratification of the
Constitution.
In addition Witherspoon also served twice in the New Jersey Legislature,
and strongly supported the adoption of the United States Constitution
during the New Jersey ratification debates.
When American forces neared the College of New Jersey campus in November
of 1777, Witherspoon closed and evacuated the campus. During the
ensuing battle, Nassau Hall, which was then the main building, was
severley damaged and almost destroyed. As the result, all of his papers
and personal notes were lost. After the war he was personally
responsible for its reconstruction, costing him extreme personal and
financial difficulty.
Still not done in serving his country, he was elected to a one-year term
in the New Jersey Legislative Council in 1780, representing Somerset
County. Then, at the age of 68, he married a 24-year-old widow, with
whom he had two more children., making him the father of twelve
children. Due to eye injuries, Witherspoon was blind by 1792. He died
in 1794 on his farm, Tusculum, near the edge of Princeton, and is buried
in Princeton Cemetery along Presidents Row in Princeton Cemetery. Soon
after his death an inventory of his possessions showed that he owned "two slaves ... valued at a hundred dollars each".
John Witherspoon, as did many founders and members of the "Black Robe Regiment"
gave all that they had and spent their last ounces of wisdom,
influence, and energy in helping bring freedom and independence to a new
nation. Just as then, it appears now that we, too, are in a . . .
PRECARIOUS POSITION:
America is in the most precarious position we've been in since
the Civil War with our greatest enemy not being China, Russia,
or terrorist threats. Our greatest danger is from within. We have never been more
polarized and fragmented since those days when brother fought
against brother. We are divided ethnically, morally, economically, politically,
and spiritually. The division is glaring, deep, and very
dangerous. Just as scripture repeatedly declares, "A house
divided against itself cannot stand" (Mk 3:24).
Our solution will not be found in economic rebound, elections,
or education. It will be found only where it has always been
found -- in a moral renovation and a spiritual awakening. It is
useless to angrily debate the political divides, because
that is not where the solution will be found.
Recently I ran across the story of former U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft the night before he was sworn in as AG. His
father was struggling to get up out of his chair and Ashcroft
assured him it wasn't necessary for him to stand up. The elderly and feeble Ashcroft said, "I'm not getting up to
stand; I'm getting up to kneel."
That's where our problems will be solved. It is clearly true
that, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a shameful
disgrace to all the people" (Prov 14:34).
It is also true that, if we will repent and seek God's face (II
Chron 7:14), "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you
shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and
from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new
spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your
flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within
you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My
judgments and do them" (Ezek 36:25-27).
Are you ready yet to get up so you can kneel?
FINALLY:
By now I'm sure you have gotten my point ---- that America became a
nation . . . and particularly a nation founded on the Judeo-Christian
principles found in the Bible , , , due to a great extent to the
diligent research into the long history of legal documents and
governmental forms, and the preaching and teaching of the clergy. Both
Anglican and Protestant pastors and evangelists preached on the issues
of the day facing the colonists during times of great duress.
While a small minority of pastors urged the colonies to remain loyal to
England (Loyalist pastors), the overwhelming majority of them preached
from the pulpit, both pointing out the sins and human violations of the
Crown and also directing the people to scriptures that revealed
governing principles God had put in place for nations to follow.
Very few churches were without pastors for particularly long periods of
time. Some pastors actually pastored multiple congregations at the same
-- thus named circuit riders. When they stood in the pulpits to
preach, they preached from hearts and minds full of truth. Today that
is often not the case. Many pastors stand in the pulpits and preach,
while other pulpits remain empty. In many mainline denominations
churches are merging or being closed.
It is a far cry from days of the American Revolution when church houses
were packed and new churches were being planted because of need and
demand. Today too many see no need and, instead, demand that churches
close their doors You don't have to be WOKE or an atheist to try to
close the doors of a church. Simply be anti-Jesus.
While during the days of the "Black Robe Regiment" pulpits were
filled with men who were filled with truth, today, too many pulpits are
empty, and those that are filled are filled with pastors who are empty
---- empty of courage, empty of truth, -- and empty of the Holy Spirit.
In describing the plight of 19th Century England, Charles Spurgeon
wrote, "If shepherds paid attention to what they preach and how they preach, churches wouldn't be empty like this."
Is it too much to ask that today's pastors concentrate on the
message of the Gospel of Christ instead of "you can improve yourself"
and "God wants everybody rich" and "If you're not healed, you either
don't have enough faith, or you have sin in your life!"? Is it too much
to ask that pastors actually do understand -- and preach -- that
Christians are to literally be "salt" and "light" providing moral and
spiritual influence to the culture? Is it to much to ask that pastors
teach the people that while they are to be "insulated" from the world,
they are not to be "isolated"?
I would think not.
In His Bond,
By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,
Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11
Life Unlimited Ministries
LUMglobal
Copyright September, 2021
"A
fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I
took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and
hope." -- Charles F. McKoy
"If Jesus had preached the same
message that many ministers preach today, He would never
have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill
"The time will come when
instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the Church will
have clowns entertaining the goats." --
Charles H. Spurgeon
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