copyright, 1997-Apocalypse Productions
Part 4-The United States-1781 to 1860
HISTORY QUIZ-Who or what are the above pictures?-
(Click pictures for answers.)For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.-Isaiah 33:22
THE TWO PRESIDENT ADAMS'
Many people do not realize that the Christian virtues upon which America was built did not end with the founding fathers and George Washington. The second President of the United States, John Adams, put his view of our Christian heritage quite simply.
"Our Constitution was designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."
President John Adams would be the first president to live in the White House. His faith in Jesus Christ was truly one of the greatest hallmarks of his presidency. It was President John Adams who said,
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net."
In the closing days of his life, President John Adams would write a letter to his son, John Quincy Adams, in which he said,
"It is essential, my son, in order that you may go through life with comfort to yourself, and usefulness to your fellow creatures, that you should form and adopt certain rules and principles, for the government of your own conduct and temper. It is in the Bible, you must learn them, and from the Bible how to practice them. Those duties are to God, to your fellow creatures, and to yourself."
His son would take this message to heart and would one day become the only man in America to become president whose father was a president. President John Quincy Adams gives us an insight into his heart of hearts with the following diary entry.
"May I never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings received through life at His hands, never repine at what He has denied, never murmur at the dispensations of Providence, and implore His forgiveness for all the errors and delinquencies of my life!"
John Quincy Adams was our sixth president and the son of John Adams, our second chief executive. In those days, as opposed to today, our public officials were not ashamed to declare their belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian heritage of our nation. He once admitted:
"There are two prayers I love to say--the first, the Lord's Prayer, because the Lord taught it. The other is what seems to be a child's prayer: "Now I lay me down to sleep." I have been repeating it every night for many years past; I say it yet, and I expect to say it my last night on earth if I am conscious. But I have added a few words to the prayer {for Jesus' sake, amen}, so as to express my trust in Christ and also to acknowledge that what I ask, I ask as a favor and not because I deserve it."
THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING
It was during the terms of both President Adams' that the second great awakening took place, just at the turn of the 1800's. Just preceding this great event in American history, in 1799, one of America's great statesmen, Patrick Henry, went to his heavenly reward. A little-known part of Patrick Henry's legacy to the American people are these words penned on the back of his Stamp Act resolves:
"Whether this will prove a blessing or a curse, will depend upon the use our people make of the blessings which a gracious God hath bestowed on us. If you are wise, they will be great and happy. If they are of a contrary character, they will be miserable. Righteousness alone can exalt them as a nation. Reader, whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others."
This is indeed a far cry from the policies of our current administration. It would be truly wonderful to see our nation turn in repentance back to the God of heaven as it did in the early 1800's during the Second Great Awakening. Strangely enough, this great move of God began at, of all places, Yale University.
Timothy Dwight was born on this day in 1752. President of Yale in 1795, and the instrument used to begin the Second Great Awakening, he observed:
"Perhaps no one who has persisted in his efforts to gain eternal life was ever finally deserted by the Spirit of grace."
Varying greatly from the view of church and state held by many in government and ecclesiastical positions today, Dwight's view of our nation and its Christian heritage was quite outspoken.
"Religion and liberty are the meat and the drink of the body politic. Withdraw one of them and it languishes, consumers, and dies. Without religion we may possibly retain the freedom of savages, bears, and wolves, but not the freedom of New England. If our religion were gone, our state of society would perish with it, and nothing would be left."
Dr. Dwight was not alone in his view of America. Unlike today, with public education's bias against Christianity, many educators of that day shared this view. One of them was another great American by the name of Noah Webster who stated,
"The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
Dr. Jedediah Morse, minister and "the father of American geography" assessed the decision the country faced at this time, and faces still, two centuries later.
"To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present Republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."
It was with the help of men such as these that God would stop the moral decay happening in the United States just following their victories in the Revolutionary War. The Second Great Awakening would steer our nation back into a godly path once again. A path that would finally lead to war, as Christian America freed their slaves during the long and bloody Civil War. Today the unborn face the same danger as the slaves did over 100 years ago, as over 4,000 a day are killed by a multi-billion dollar abortion industry. What will God have to do to bring our nation back from this moral precipice. Only time will tell.
GODLY LEADERSHIP
Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, understood what it meant to have to face and deal with God's chastening in his life.
"We who are frequently visited by this chastening rod, have the consolation to read in the Scriptures that whomsoever He chasteneth He loveth, and does it for their good to make them mindful of their mortality and that this earth is not our abiding; and afflicts us that we may prepare for a better world, a happy mortality."
It was not only presidents who believed in God however. Even our Supreme court was much closer to God in our nation's earlier years than they are today. For instance, on May 13, 1824, former Chief Justice, John Jay, addressed the American Bible Society of which he was president:
"By conveying the Bible to the people, we thereby enable them to learn that our gracious Creator has provided for us a Redeemer, that this Redeemer has made atonement for the sins of the whole world, and thereby reconciling the Divine justice with the Divine mercy, has opened a way for our redemption and salvation; and that these inestimable benefits of the free gift and grace of God, not of our deserving, nor in our power to deserve."
Our founding fathers love for God's word was a wonder to behold also. John Adams, when writing to Thomas Jefferson, said the following:
"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world. it contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen."
James Henry, the Secretary of War under Presidents George Washington and John Adams, stated in 1800,
"Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time. They therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
While many historical revisionists are out there today trying to remove God and His sovereign plan from our history books, in times past even foreigners who traveled to our shores could tell the godly attitude of our early forefathers. On July 29, 1805 the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville was born. In considering America, he once stated,
"I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion, for who can search the human heart, but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions."
In fact, our early law books, a far cry from the legal system today, were so replete with references to God's holy word that at least one legal student was saved by merely studying for the bar. He would ultimately give up a promising legal career to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Charles G. Finney was the most inspired, and inspiring, evangelist in the first half of the 19th century. He taught that salvation was only the beginning of religious experience and that the proper test of love of God lay in overcoming one's self-interest and acting in a benevolent manner toward all humankind. The converts, preached Finney, began a new life in which
"they have no separate interests. They set out with a determination to aim at being useful in the highest degree possible."
DANIEL WEBSTER
Our current situation in America today reminds me of some words of warning by another of our American ancestors. His name was Daniel Webster. His words were indeed prophetic when, in 1823, he said the following:
"If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is going to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and His word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy; if the evangelical volume does not reach every hamlet, the pages of a corrupt and licentious literature will; if the power of the Gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land, anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness, will reign without mitigation or end."
Webster was a lawyer, senator, and Secretary of State. He was also an early leader in the Whig party, and one of the greatest orators in American history. His feelings on Christianity were very outspoken also.
"Moral habits cannot be safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits."
In 1825, the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument was laid, fifty years after that battle. Twenty thousand attended the ceremonies, among them the Marquis de Lafayette who eschewed the pavilion for distinguished guests and sat with the other veterans of the War of Independence. Declared the guest speaker, Daniel Webster:
"Let our object be, our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. And by the blessing of God, may that country itself become a vast and splendid monument, not of oppression and terror, but of Wisdom, of Peace, and of Liberty, upon which the world may gaze with admiration forever!"
American statesman Daniel Webster was one American who had a fascinating view of God and country,
"I shall stand by the Union, and by all who stand by it. I shall do justice to the whole country in all I say, and act for the good of the whole country in all I do. I mean to stand upon the Constitution. I need no other platform. I shall know but one country. The ends I aim at shall be my country's, my God's, and Truth's. I was born an American; I will live an American; I shall die an American; and I intend to perform the duties incumbent upon me in that character to the end of my career."
One evening, enjoying a dinner with friends, Daniel Webster was asked what was the most important thought that ever occupied his mind. It was a startling question, and he took a moment before replying:
"The most important thought that ever occupied my mind, was that of my individual responsibility to God!"
Webster was not only one of America's best know orators, but also one of the best lawyers and statesmen of his day. While speaking in 1837 of the Constitution, he stated:
"I regard it as the work of the purest patriots and wisest statesmen that ever existed, aided by the smiles of a benignant Providence; for when we regard it as a system of government growing out of the discordant opinions and conflicting interests of thirteen independent States, it almost appears a Divine interposition in our behalf. The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever."
THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
There is a interesting story that occurred in 1833. A Wyandot Indian named William Walker wrote a letter to the Christian Advocate and Journal in which he described his encounter with four Indians, three Nez Perces and one Flathead, who had traveled east 3,000 miles to Saint Louis, because…
"The white people away toward the rising sun had been put in possession of the true mode of worshipping the Great Spirit; they had a Book containing directions."
Would it not be grand if today, so many of our highly educated masses could latch on to this simpler yet powerful truth. God's word can change lives. It was not only native Americans that understood the importance of this either. Many of our leaders also understood the importance of the power of the Holy Scriptures. In his preface to "The History of the United States", Noah Webster writes:
"The brief exposition of the constitution of the United States, will unfold to young persons the principles of republican government; and it is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament of the Christian religion."
Even our early lawmakers had a deeply held understanding of our nation in relationship to our God. Daniel Webster, who was chosen by resolution of the Senate, as one of the five greatest senators in U.S. history, put it very well, when he proclaimed,
"Our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. Whatever makes men Christians, makes them good citizens."
Let us all pray for the time when we, as a nation, will turn back to the faith of our fathers. It is still so surprising how little people really study the history of our nation and how deeply Christian its founders were. For instance, in Philadelphia where it faces Independence Hall, is the beloved symbol of America's freedom, the Liberty Bell. In its brief service it was rung for joy and for sorrow. It pealed in celebration of the Declaration of Independence, and it broke while mourning the passing of Chief Justice John Marshall in July 1835. Inscribed on its base are these words from Leviticus 25:10.
Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.
It was so much plainer in days gone by, when our people were much humbler and nobler. God help us all to turn back to the time when our leaders and citizenry alike knelt before the feet of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. William Henry Seward was born on May 16, 1801. Secretary of State under Lincoln during the Civil War, he would arrange the purchase of Alaska in 1867. As vice-president of the American Bible Society, he declared in 1836:
"I know not how long a republican government can flourish among a great people who have not the Bible, but this I do know: that the existing government of this country never could have had existence but for the Bible. And, further, I do in my conscience believe that if at every decade of years a copy of the Bible could be found in every family in the land, its republican institutions would be perpetuated."
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA
Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.- Psalms 72:11
Godless men have taken the United States Constitution and corrupted it beyond measure and therein lies one of the keys to the problems we are facing today. The scripture even gives a reference to the basis of this problem in....
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.- Judges 21:25
During this period of Israel's history they were being ruled by the judges. It is also interesting to note that this was one of the most evil times in that nation's history. America has been through a similar experience as, over the past few decades, judges in our land have short-circuited the democratic process and passed many judgments which have greatly changed the moral climate of our great nation.
The presence of a liberal media has also helped to create our current situation. While I am sure there are many godly people in the media, they seem to be in the vast minority as it seems to be ruled by those who oppose godly principles, as can be seen in the fruits of their labors, the movies and television programs of today. This is a far cry from what the leaders in this industry once believed.
In 1838, one of the most influential members of the print media was editorialist John L. O'Sullivan. He summed up the general optimism then prevalent in the country, and in the process coined the term "Manifest Destiny" when he wrote,
"The far-reaching, the boundless future will be the era of American greatness. In its magnificent domain of space and time, the nation of many nations is destined to manifest to mankind the obedience of divine principles; to establish on earth the noblest temple ever dedicated to the worship of the Most High."
Quite a different view of America's future from that held by most media pundits today, don't you think? This was also true of our national leaders at this time, just a little over a century ago. President Andrew Jackson died in 1845. When one of his friends asked if he was at peace with God, he responded:
"Sir, I am in the hands of a merciful God. I have full confidence in his goodness and mercy. The Bible is true. I have tried to conform to its spirit as near as possible. Upon that sacred volume I rest my hope for eternal salvation, through the merits and blood of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
Now Andrew Jackson had his shortcomings, as we all do, but it is always good to look back at a time when the leaders of our country were not ashamed to express their belief in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a topic that is becoming more and more politically incorrect as time goes on.
I find it interesting to note that one sign of a nation turning from God is that they elect ungodly leaders. This too is a part of God's judgment against us at the present, I am sure. I am reminded of a time when our nation, and its leaders were much closer to God than we are at this present hour. For instance, President John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary on July 11, 1846:
"I enter upon my eightieth year, with thanksgiving to God for all the blessings and mercies which His providence has bestowed upon me throughout a life extended now to the longest term allotted to the life of man; with supplication for the continuance of those blessings and mercies to me and mine, as long as it shall suit the dispensations of His wise providence, and for resignation to His will when my appointed time shall come."
U.S. PRESIDENTS SPEAK OUT ON AMERICA'S GODLY HERITAGE!
"May I never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings received through life at His hands, never repine at what He has denied, never murmur at the dispensations of Providence, and implore His forgiveness for all the errors and delinquencies of my life!"-John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
"I rely upon Him who holds in His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite strength for the task and to avert from our country the evils apprehended from the heavy calamity which has befallen us."-Millard Fillmore (1850-1853)
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