In his book “Seedtime of the Republic,” Cornell University historian Clinton Rossiter traces six individuals that he considers the most influential thought leaders of the American Revolution. Two happened to be political leaders but even more interestingly four were pastors or ministers of the Gospel. Among the pastors, Mr. Rossiter lists Rev. John Wise, whose pulpit and pen provided some of the most insightful thoughts in America’s founding document. Some of these thoughts became the very cornerstone of our Republic. It is interesting, according to historian David Barton, every single right set forth in the Declaration of Independence had been preached from a pulpit prior to 1763 (Barton). Take, for instance, Rev. John Wise who was mentioned above. This is a piece of a sermon he gave at Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, circa 1700;
“The first human subject and original of civil power is the people…and when they are free, they may set up what species of government they please. The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all, and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, etc., without injury or abuse done to any” (Harris).
Sound familiar? It should. Check out the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence;
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Powerful words from a group of individuals who, when putting pen to paper in essence, signed their death warrant. What kind of words are these I wonder? What does this all mean? What “truths” are “self-evident”? Are all men created equal? Is there a Creator? What are rights? Are they unalienable? If what makes up our founding documents came from biblical principles and were actually sermons given by pastors, shouldn’t Christian voices be heard in regards to politics? They were certainly heard at its founding. The Declaration of Independence is an amazing document. In our culture today I’d guess that this document is rarely read. People have developed their own view of government, whether it be communist or socialist, alt-right or conservative, everyone has their own political point of view. As we gauge the political landscape and look at the voices being heard in the public square, I certainly do not hear a lot of Christian voices. Should Christian voices be heard? What role should Christians play in politics?
It was Karl Marx who said:
“take away the heritage of a nation and they are easily persuaded.”
This statement is eerily similar to Psalms 11:3;
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
It is my argument that our educational system has done us a disservice in regards to understanding our founding documents and where they came from. It is often argued that the Founding Fathers were Deists and not Christian. Although I couldn’t disagree more with that sentiment, what I want to look at is not what they were, but what they produced and where did they get their ideas. If the ideas are inherently Christian, are we not doing a disservice as Christians in promoting and defending them? Doesn’t 1 Peter 2:13–14 tell us to be subject to the governing who “punish those who do evil, and promote the good”? (emphasis mine) If we, as citizens of the United States have a role to play in the election of the governing, shouldn’t we propose God-fearing men? Of course, all of this goes out the window if you think Christians should not have a say in politics. But were does this sentiment come from? Is it from God, or possibly the Founding documents themselves? Let's investigate both and see what they have to say on the matter.
A couple of political science professors from the University of Houston and Louisiana State University did a great piece called, “The Origins of American Constitutionalism.” In this piece, they researched over 15,000 quotes and writings used by our Founding Fathers in the making-up of our Founding documents. They traced back the quotes used in these writings and found the Bible to be the most cited work by a long-shot. The second most quoted individual was a Christian Theologian named John Locke who spent half of his life writing Christian Apologetics. The third most quoted person was an English Lawyer named William Blackstone, who the great preacher Charles Finney accredits for his salvation. Interesting that a man going to study law (Finney) could come away as a Christian. If that doesn’t tell you the kind of work Blackstone was writing about, I don’t know what would. The point I’m trying to make is this; whether you like it or not America was founded on strong Christian moorings (Lutz).
“We are a nation of laws,” exclaimed President Obama in 2014 (National Archives). Not only are we a nation of laws we are a nation established on laws. The first law professor of the University of Pennsylvania, signer of the Declaration of Independence as well as The Constitution, and known by his peers as “the Father of the Constitution” James Wilson, wrote in his Lectures on Law, that all law comes from God;
“how shall we, in particular instances, learn the dictates of our duty, and make, with accuracy, the proper distinction between right and wrong; in other words, how shall we, in particular cases, discover the will of God? We discover it by our conscience, by our reason, and by the Holy Scriptures. The law of nature and the law of revelation are both divine: they flow, though in different channels, from the same adorable source. It is, indeed, preposterous to separate them from each other. The object of both is — to discover the will of God — and both are necessary for the accomplishment of that end (Hall).
As the great James Wilson told us in his lecture; “it is impossible to separate the law of nature and divine law.” God must remain in the equation. Returning to the “Origins of the Constitution,” as the Bible was the most cited source in the making up of the Constitution; so was Moses often quoted (Lutz 140–142). In the Bible, Moses had given us 613 commandments in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament reduced them to two; “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30–31). Interesting Jesus did not reduce the laws to one but to two. In our society too often we focus on left and right and we have forgotten that there is an up and a down. Jesus gave us the vertical dimension to “love the Lord our God” and then the horizontal to “love our neighbors”; without the first, you cannot have the second (Zacharias). I would argue that the most important sentence in the history of mankind regardless if you want to argue that it was written by man or by God is that “God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27). Without this biblical foundation, what is mankind? What value do we hold in the universe without this ascribed value? We certainly are not created equal without this presupposition. We do not have values and rights without this point of reference. The Founding Fathers saw this, and on this holds the basis for our entire law system. I agree wholeheartedly with James Wilson that these two laws are indeed brother and sister, they cannot be separated.
Let's take an example from our everyday lives. Abortion is a political hot-button issue we face. Is it right to murder an unborn child? Gertrude Himmelfarb in her insightful book; “Road to Modernity” made an interesting observation about American Enlightenment compared to the French Enlightenment. For the French, reasoning was supreme. For the Americans, moral reasoning was supreme. It's not reason and intellect that is the epitome of man, but moral reasoning, the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. With one of the major on-going debates we have right now in this country, tell me, how will the cries of those who are not even allowed the privilege to be born be heard if not for those who love truth to stand up for them? Life and death (abortion) is a moral issue, not a political one. Again, we return to the laws of nature and the laws of man. If not grounded on a biblical worldview (man made in the image of God) then man has no value, no purpose, no meaning. Why not die in the womb if we are but to die later in this life? But if man has value, has purpose and meaning, and is created by God with certain unalienable rights such as LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then we as Christians must be heard.
Clearly, this nation was founded on strong biblical principles. The fact that we live in a Constitutional Republic means that it is up to the individual citizen to keep it that way. God did not call us to separate from culture but to speak out and to shape culture. It is the role of the citizen and in our case the Christian citizen to get involved in politics and to keep American secure upon its biblical moorings. Isaiah 1:26 says, And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said; “silence in the face of evil is evil itself”. Your lack of a vote is indeed a vote. Inaction is action. To not decide is to decide. It was not Pharaoh that made the difference for the Egyptians, it was Joseph in Pharaoh’s palace. It was not a Persian Monarch that made the difference, it was Daniel, who had the ear of the King. Proverbs 14:34 states; Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. The days of Jesus were dark. But from Saul to Paul the message of the Gospel went out and changed the course of history. Yes, it is important that the Christian voice is heard. It is important that truth is heard. This includes the political spheres were God’s divine law and man’s laws are administered.
Barton, David. “Locke’s Two Treatises of Government And The Constitution.” Wallbuilders, 2 Feb. 2017. https://wallbuilderslive.com/lockes-two-treatises-of-government-the- declaration-was-based-largely-on-it/
Lutz, Donald S. “The Origins of American Constitutionalism.” (Baton Rouge: Louisiana University Press, 1988), pp. 140–142.
Hall, Kermit, and Mark David Hall, editors. “Of The Law of Nature.” Collected Works of James Wilson, by James Wilson, Liberty Fund, Indianapolis , 1804, p. 509.
Harris, Gordon. “The Rev. John Wise of Ipswich.” Historic Ipswich, 12 Jan. 2014, historicipswich.org/2014/01/12/john-wise/.
Himmelfarb, Gertrude. The Roads to Modernity: the British, French, and American Enlightenments. Vintage Books, 2008.
National Archives and Records Administration, “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Immigration.” National Archives and Records Administration, 20 Nov. 2014, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/20/remarks-president-address-nation-immigration.
Rossiter, Clinton. “Seedtime of the Republic.” Harcourt, Brace and World , 1953.
UShistory.org “The Declaration of Independence: Full Text.”, Independence Hall Association, 4 July 1995, www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/.
Wommack, Andrew. “Christians and Politics.” YouTube, 9 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=XGGoSruldkM.
Zacharias , Ravi. “Thoughtful Insights on Politics” . YouTube, 12 Apr. 2017, www.youtube.com/ watch?v=SoSsfEo630U&t=683s.
