Stephen McDowell explores God's hand in the Constitutional Convention

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Stephen McDowell. Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Now, in the last podcast last week, we explored God's hand in the Constitutional Convention. And we saw how the framers of the convention, spoke of the providence of Almighty God. You could trace the finger of the Almighty in all the events leading up to the convention, through the convention, how God moved in order for these delegates to come up with this unique, Constitution that was then delivered to the states for ratification. And so this Constitution went into effect in 1789. And according to the provisions of the Constitution, we elected a new Congress. We elected a new chief executive, the president. And that president would then appoint justices to the Supreme Court, to be ratified by the Senate. Now, George Washington was unanimously elected as the first president of the new republic. Now, he was elected by electoral doors from each of the states as the Constitution prescribed. And he's the only man who's been unanimously elected. And he was unanimously elected two, times. And so he and the new Congress gathered in New York City in the spring of 1789. On April 30, Washington took the oath of office with his hand on a Bible open to Deuteronomy 28, which promises blessings or curses on a nation according to the faithful being faithful to God's word or not. And at the end of the oath, as prescribed by the Constitution, he added the words, so help me God. Then he leaned over and kissed the Bible. Every president since Washington has repeated this same appeal to God. Then Washington gave his inaugural address to Congress. And then he and others, in accordance with the official congressional resolution of April 29, which states, after the oath shall be administered to the President, the Speaker and the members of the House of Representatives will accompany him to stage Paul's Chapel to hear divine service performed by the chaplains. And so they all went to church to give thanks to God to hear an appropriate sermon. now, in Washington's inaugural address, he acknowledges the providence of God. Quoting from his address, he it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that almighty being who rules over the universe and who presides in the council of nations. 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, 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. Now, this, excerpt from his inaugural address reveals what we explored in earlier podcasts when we looked at George Washington's life. He was a man of providence. He acknowledged the providence of God, as did almost every one of the founders of America. They recognized that God is at work in history, that we, as Washington said, no people, the American people, can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand. Speaking of the hand of God which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. He recognized that God is the author of history. He's directing events of history. Every step by which they've advanced, Washington, speaking of the American people, to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And he, of course, was a part of those very significant events in guiding us through the American Revolution, through the adoption of the Constitution, God was at work. 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. So he, like the Founders, declared and recognized, we must obey and follow and give thanks to, the God of all creation. And we need to structure our lives and our nation upon his eternal rules of order and right. Because, you see, the founders recognized there is truth. We hold these truths to be self evident, as the Declaration says. And those truths emanate from the Creator. We're created in God. God created man, has a plan for man. He has a plan for nations. And it is our duty to align ourselves and our nation with those eternal rules of order which heaven decrees and which emanates from the character of God himself. So public acknowledgment and adoration of God was universally affirmed and practiced by every aspect of our government in those early years. See, our founders considered this is an indispensable element to the success of our form of government. This was the spirit of the Constitution, obeying the principles of God, that the laws of nature, written in our heart and conscience, but made clear by the revelation of Scripture. so these internal principles and rules and rights and moral character that emanate from God form the foundation, the spirit of the Constitution. In earlier podcasts, we explored the Power and form of free nations. The power and form of our constitutional form, of government in the Christian faith, provides the spirit that's necessary for our constitution to function properly. Now, all three branches of the government, both at the national and state levels, emphasize the importance of the spirit of the constitution. The laws of nature, nature's God, the moral principles of religion, morality and knowledge that flow forth from him. Now consider Christianity and the Congress. The first Congress under the constitution proposed a bill of rights on September 25, 1789. Now, in order for a number of. A number of the states to agree or ratify the constitution, they received promises that we will present, a bill of rights and incorporate these rights as part of our constitution. And so they were acting upon this promise when a set of bill of rights, which were taken from a framework that George Mason had written in, and Virginia's declaration of rights, that Madison took these and presented them to the congress. And for most of these rights was the freedom of religion and the first amendment. And so on that very same day, Congress also passed the northwest ordinance. And this northwest ordinance provided the basis for new states to come into the union. The northwest at that time would have been what are today the states of Ohio and Indiana, Illinois, that part of the country. And the northwest ordinance, states, that religion, that religious liberty is the basis, whereupon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected. And that being necessary to good government, religion, morality and knowledge shall forever be encouraged through the schools. So they're saying, you know, whatever kind of schools you have, those schools need to teach religion, morality and knowledge. Now, religion to them, true religion, as defined by Webster in his original dictionaries published in 1828, was Christianity. Christianity is true religion. So when the founders used the word religion, in their mind, this was Christianity. So religion, morality and knowledge are necessary for good government. That's the foundation of good government. And where are religion, morality and knowledge to be encouraged and taught? Well, through the schools, whatever schools that you had. Now, also on that same day, Congress passed a resolution for a national day of prayer. The journals of Congress record. Mr. Sherman justified the practice of thanksgiving on any signal event, not only as laudable one in itself. As a laudable one in itself, but as warranted by precedence in holy writ. For instance, the solemn thanksgiving and rejoicing which took place place in the time of Solomon after the building of the temple, was a case in point. This example he thought worthy of imitation. On the present occasion, when they were looking at is it proper for governments to proclaim days of prayer? And thanksgiving or prayer and fasting. Roger Sherman of Connecticut said, of course it is. We see the example in Scripture. Give an example there. At the time of Solomon and building the temple. And, of course, it was also part of the whole history of the founding of. Of the United States. As we've mentioned before, you know, the civil governments proclaimed over a thousand different times. In fact, over 1,400 times in New England alone from 1620 to 1813. Civil governments at all levels proclaim official days of prayer and fasting or prayer and thanksgiving. And at least 15 times during the American Revolution, they did the same. So this new Congress, under the new constitution and proclaiming a day of prayer, was just acting in accordance with example of scripture and their own history. So this resolution for adopting a day of prayer was unanimously adopted. And President Washington issued a proclamation for the people of the United States to thank the great Lord and ruler of the nations for enabling us to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted. He went on to say, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.

Congress established official days in prayer and fasting beginning in 1775

So here we have the proclamation for the first national day of prayer and fasting under the new U.S. constitution approved by Congress, presented by George Washington, in which it states officially that it is the duty of all nations. So it's the duty of the United States. But he declared, it's the duty of every nation to acknowledge the providence of God. Why is that? Because God is sovereign over all nations. He raises up nations. He's the Lord of all nations, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords. We have a duty, not just an obligation. It's not just okay to present such days and have such days. It's our duty to. To acknowledge the providence of God. Not just to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, but Washington also said to obey his will. It's the duty of all nations to obey his will. Because his will is truth. Because he is truth, and his will. And truth emanates from him. So it's our duty as a nation and every nation to acknowledge the providence of God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, always to give thanks. That's why they were proclaiming this day of thanksgiving and had done and did many times after this, to be grateful to him and humbly to implore his protection and favor. And so our Congress and presidents have fulfilled this duty, over 200 times, hundreds of times in our nation's history under the Constitution. As I mentioned, we have been doing that, done it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times during the colonial era and during our independence after we declared independence in 1776. And so we mentioned in some of the previous podcast how the Continental Congress established official days in prayer and fasting on the national level beginning in 1775. And these proclamations were not some bland deistic documents. They were thoroughly and overtly Christian. For example, on November 1, 1777, Congress called for a national day of thanksgiving, giving and prayer for the victory at Saratoga. In this, the people of the United States were urged to ask, quote, Jesus Christ mercifully to forgive and blot out our sins and also to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. This wasn't a deistic kind of general let's give thanks to whatever God you have in your mind. no, this was to asked Jesus Christ to forgive their sins because only Christ can forgive our sins. He is the Redeemer. Well three years later on October 18, 1780, Congress called for a day of thanksgiving and in prayer for the discovery of Benedict Arnold's plot to commit treason. As we covered in a previous podcast. Again the people were urged to ask God to cause the knowledge of Christianity to spread over all the earth. So we see in this proclamation we got it we want to go and pray that the Christian faith will spread all over the earth, which is what of course Jesus part of the commission that he gave us to disciple the nations. Now another event that occurred in 1782 that shows the Christian character of that verse of early Congress, 1782, Congress acted the role of a Bible society by officially approving the printing and distribution of what was called the Bible of the revolution, which was an American translation prepared by Robert Akin. See before our independence, the English Bibles that we sold or purchased here in America were all printed in England. England would not allow the colonists to print English copies. Now they printed copies of the Bible first in Algonquin Indian language and then also in German and the western hemisphere. Many Bibles were printed in many different Indian languages over the years. But England kept a monopoly of the English Bibles. But after we declared our independence, 1776, Congress recognized, hey, we got to have bibles. So in 1777 the Congress officially said, look, we, we approve looking for and importing English Bibles wherever we can get them. From Holland or anywhere else, because we got to have Bibles. And then after, basically, we won the war, 1782, Robert Aiken, prepared his own, version of the Bible, a translation of the Bible. He presented it to the chaplains of Congress. They read it and approved it. They then endorsed it and, and, and, and recommended Congress to do the same. And so in the, and in the front of the Aiken Bible, there is an endorsement from the Congress then assembled in which it says, whereupon resolve that the United States and Congress assembled recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States. So here the Congress, an early Congress under the articles of Confederation, 1782, that they were officially acting like a Bible society, recommending, hey, here's a Bible for the people of the United States. It's important that we have the Bible, because they understood that the Bible is the central, most important influence in the birth, growth and development of the United States. Now, in the same year that the constitution was framed, 1787, Congress urged the people to thank God for providing us the light of gospel truth. This is another Proclamation Congress proclaimed. 1787. They urged the people to thank God for providing us the light of gospel truth and to ask him to raise up from among our youth men eminent for virtue, learning and piety to his service in the church and state, to cause virtue and true religion to flourish and to fill the world with his glory. So you can see that these proclamations Congress proclaimed for days of prayer and fasting, or prayer and thanksgiving, they were specifically Christian, because the God of the Bible, the Christian faith, was that which was embraced by the American people. It was part of the life of individuals, the culture. It was reflected in our civil institutions, educational institutions, and everywhere else. In fact, in 1854, the House of Representatives passed a resolution kind of really summarizing the whole history of the relationship of Christianity to America, the American nation. And so that resolution proclaimed that the great vital element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so that Congress, they were looking back over and examining, the role that Christianity played in the history of America. And they concluded, when you look at all of the things, some of which we've covered in previous podcasts, you can't help but conclude that the great vital element of our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrine, doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we pile evidence upon evidence, things we've covered in these podcasts, we cover them in our books, you can only conclude that our nation was built upon the Christian faith. It's built upon biblical principles contained in the Bible. It was the spirit, of our nation. It was the framework of our nation. Contrary to what modern secularists would say, historians or otherwise, that we were just built upon some generic religion, or we were built upon the atheistic Enlightenment thinkers, the Greek and Roman writers, or anything else. No, the evidence is overwhelming, as the House of representatives in 1854 clearly saw, agreeing with really all that had gone before them, that the vital element in our system is belief in the doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now even recently we've had various Congresses and Presidents who've recognized the central importance of the Christian faith. President Reagan proclaimed in 1983, he proclaimed that the Year of the Bible celebrated the central role that the Bible played, in the birth, growth and development of the United States. And so we see here in our first Congress, we see George Washington acknowledging God and acting upon his faith. And you know, he was sworn in with his hand on the Bible. There are many pictures of paintings that depict Washington being sworn into office. There's one if you go in the Capitol building today, down, near the hall of columns and look up on the ceiling, there's many paintings that are important scenes in the history of America. One of the O's is Washington taking the oath of office with his hand on the Bible. And every president has taken an oath of office with his hand on the Bible. Because if you don't believe in the God of the Bible, if you don't fear God and recognize that he watches over and holds you accountable to your words, that an oath means nothing. There's no foundation for an oath of office. If you don't have a fear in the living God of the Bible. That's actually Washington mentions that in his, inaugural address. so we must fear God. And it was reflected in the chief executive, but it was also seen in the Congresses, the early Congresses under the Articles of Confederation, but also the Congress, the first Congress under the United States Constitution. The centrality of the Christian faith was evidenced in many of the things that they, had done. So in the executive branch and the legislative branch, but also within the court system in the state and the national courts. You know, both Congress and the Supreme Court began with prayer. Even until today we have chaplains in the Congress. They open their proceedings in prayer. We've had some good Bible believing chaplains in recent years as well. But the Supreme Court begins each day With a crier proclaiming the court being open. Oye, oye, oye.

Andrew Jackson: Courts have acknowledged Christianity as the established religion in America

And speaking of everyone have business come before the court. And it ends this cry, God save the United States. In this honorable court, there's a proclamation of prayer. God save the nation, save this court. Now, over the heads of the chief justices, there's a carved marble relief containing a tablet of the Ten Commandments. On one side is the majesty of law, the power of government. Allegorical figures. They're resting their arms on this tablet that contains Roman numerals 1 through 10. In a later podcast, I'm actually going to cover the Christian history tour of Washington D.C. and other sites. Ah, in America, revealing how the Christian faith is evident in our monuments, buildings and national symbols. We'll talk more about Supreme Court and all the things built within that structure that show our Christian faith. And so it opens with a prayer. And, again, as I say, we'll look more at the justices and law and other things when we look at a Christian tour of Washington D.C. but the various state courts have acknowledged Christianity over the years. The Supreme Court of the state of Maryland recognized Christianity as the established religion in America and the basis of our form of government. As early as 1799, in Runkle vs. Weinmiller, the court court stated that by our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion. So the courts have even ruled Christianity is the unofficial established religion. We have no national establishment of religion, but states, did have establishments of religion. We'll cover that in a future podcasts when we look at the concept of the separation of church and state or, or the religious Liberty and the First Amendment. In a future podcast. In 1892, in Church of the Holy Trinity versus the United States, the US Supreme Court declared these and many other matters which might be noticed add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. So the Supreme Court ruled that this America is a Christian nation, not Christian in the sense that it has a national church, state, national establishment of religion as nations in Europe had had, but Christian in a sense. It's founded upon biblical principles. Every nation is founded upon a set of principles that are rooted in what a people consider to be ultimately, what do people look to as the source of right and wrong? What's moral and immoral and just or unjust? The United States looked to the God of the Bible, looked to the Christian faith. Christianity was the source of our life, law and liberty. And so in that sense, we are founded as a Christian nation because Every nation is founded upon some religion. This is an inescapable truth. Secularism is a religion, by the way. So atheism, the atheism of communist China or Communist Russia, that's a religion. It's a religion that says, man is God, man is the ultimate authority. We look to man or some leader or group of leaders to determine what's good and evil and right and wrong. Well, that's still a faith. It's a religion. But founders of America looked to the true God, the God of the Bible. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Richmond versus Moore in 1883. Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense, and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are inferior. Emphatically Christian. In 1952, the U.S. supreme Court said, we are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a supreme being. So the court upheld our national motto and Godwig trust as constitutional in 1979, and also upheld paid chaplains in the legislative branch of government in 1983. So even modern courts, who've certainly become way more secularized than early courts, you know, when they look, the evidence is overwhelming. Look, we've got chaplains. We rely upon God, that, we are nations, put our faith and trust in God. This is a Christian nation. This is a Christian people. So state and national courts have acknowledged this many times and our, history. So we might, you know, just as we conclude here, as we've briefly taken a look at the, Christianity in America's early government, we see it expressed in the executive branch, in the legislative branch, and in the judicial branch. We've just barely touched the surface on this. But all of this can be summarized by President Andrew Jackson when he said that the Bible is the rock on which our republic rests. And so we've seen more evidence of that in this, podcast today. And we will continue to explore this, more and more in future podcasts. So if you want to learn more, Visit our website, providencefoundation.com and lots of articles, articles there, and videos. You can pick up some of our books and read them and discover for yourselves from primary sources that, we are a Christian people, that we are a people who has acknowledged the providence of God in our history. And, this, story needs to be, understood and told. So I encourage you to learn more and share with others these truths that you learn. Well, enjoyed having you with us, this week. Look forward to sharing with you more next week. Of God's hand in our history. God bless.

Christianity in America’s Early Government