Introduction To America's Providential History Podcast And The Concept Of Civil Duties
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, Steven McDowell. Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. A couple of weeks ago, we began to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. And first we saw that we do have civil duties. We saw that God's people have been involved in politics and public affairs, ever since the beginning that we read the Old Testament.
Biblical Foundation For Civil Duties And Selecting Godly Officials Through Voting And Participation
And so many of those individuals served directly in roles of civil government and prophets spoke to civil leaders. And then we saw in the NewSong Testament that the NewSong Testament teaches we have civil duties. Jesus himself gave many civil teachings, that have impacted the Western world. So we've established the fact we have civil duties. Then we began to look at what are some of those civil duties and how can we fulfill our civil duties. The first thing we saw is that we should be involved in selecting godly officials. Election of our leaders is a big biblical idea. God told the children of Israel to choose from among themselves leaders and place them over them so that they would, uphold the law to protect our life, liberty and property. So practical ways that we mentioned that we can be involved in selecting godly leaders, we, the very minimum, need to vote. But really more than that, we need to support Godly candidates.
Educating Ourselves And Others On Biblical Government And Historical Christian Philosophers
We need to be involved in local party politics, which enables us to make sure we have good candidates on the ballot when we do vote. And if there are not any good candidates anywhere, then we ought to look to run for office for ourselves or identify those that we know that would represent us and our values and our biblical thinking and positions of governance. So I want to carry on, that story and look at other things that we can do to fulfill our civil duties. Second thing that we can do is to educate ourselves and others on biblical government and civil duties. Of course, a lot of Christians today don't recognize they have civil duties because they've never been instructed in what the Bible says are our duties in these areas. What does the Bible say about biblical government and, what we as his people, should we be involved? And of course, when you began to read about Christians in history and the advancement of liberty in the world, we quickly learn that Christians have led the way in teaching a biblical philosophy of government. Some of the great political, governmental and economic philosophers were biblical Christian men who in their writings and teachings, imparted this to others. Men like Jon Calvin, Samuel Rutherford, Jon Locke Adam Smith, Hugo Grotius, Jon Wise, William Blackstone, to name, some. These are very influential individuals and through their writings in particular, shaped the men, shaped the men who gave birth to America, shaped the men who formed our U.S. constitution and presented laws of liberty and have impacted the spread of liberty, throughout the world.
Christianity's Role In Government And Liberty: Noah Webster's Perspective And Education For Freedom
And we could examine each one of these in more detail and examine their writings. And I would encourage you to go begin to read some of the things these men wrote, and you'll begin to recognize the source of the ideas in our Declaration of independence, in our U.S. constitution and our state constitutions were developed by Christian individuals, Christian men and thinking. Noah Webster, who we met in the past, the, most influential educator in the 19th century for sure. But he said, in my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. So Webster was reflecting the understanding of about everybody in early America. The founders in America, they recognize the most important thing we can do if we want to obtain, preserve, maintain and pass on liberty, civil liberty, and governments that perform their limited function in protecting our life, liberty and property is to teach our children, what the Christian faith says about liberty, says about government.
John Witherspoon's Influence: Educating Leaders For Biblical Government And Civil Responsibilities
Without that, if we don't impart that to our children, we can never hope to be a free people. And I've mentioned in the past, we've put out a film recently called Educated for Liberty. And we explore that idea of how only biblical Christian education can produce a free, free society. And that's what produced the Free Society of America. And so Christians have been involved, for 2,000 years in advancing principles of liberty, including civil liberty, political liberty, and certainly in the birth of America, without Christian men, without pastors, there would be no United States of America. And we've explored that in, in past podcasts. An example of a man, Christian man, Christian educator, who had immense direct effect upon the United States. We've mentioned him before in past podcasts, but Reverend Jon Witherspoon, who served as president of the College of NewSong Jersey for a few decades beginning 1760s, the college of NewSong Jersey we now know as Princeton University. But here was, the man who educated the men who gave us our Declaration and gave us our Constitution. Now Witherspoon certainly trained hundreds of pastors who went and served in the pulpit ministry, but he also trained Scores and scores of men who served in the civil ministry. Witherspoon himself was directly involved in government. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress who gave us that document. He served on over 100 different, committees. But he was involved with its greatest impact was educating others in biblical government and their civil duties.
Witherspoon's Discipleship Process And Impact On James Madison And The Founding Fathers
And so people would come to study under him. And of course universities then were nothing like they are today. He at the Most maybe had 50 full time students at the largest. And it was, for him it was a discipling process. He's the chief educator, discipler, mentor, prayed with the students, governed the dissertations that they would present to help teach them how to reason, biblically. And so in this process he made a deep impact upon these individuals. Like the one gentleman from Virginia. His mother didn't want him to go to William and Mary, that college where most Virginians went to at the time. But she was, wanted him to be exposed to the ideas of this Presbyterian pastor who came over from Scotland to assume the presidency of college in NewSong Jersey. She said, that's what I want my young son to be impacted by. So young Jimmy went and studied and he at one time thought, well, I might go into the pulpit ministry and serve in that capacity. But he was so influenced by the ideas of civil liberty and governmental philosophy imparted by Jon Witherspoon that he was, went on and felt called to a ministry in the civil arena. And this man went on to become the fourth president of the United States and the chief architect of our Constitution, James Madison. Jon Witherspoon not only trained one president, he trained one vice president, 10 cabinet officers, 21 senators, 39 congressmen, 12 governors, one Supreme Court justice and one attorney general. One fifth of the signers of the Declaration of independence and 1/6 of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention, not to mention one fifth of the first Congress under that Constitution, were trained by Jon Witherspoon.
Discipling The Nation: Christian Education In Families, Churches, And Schools For Civil Duty Fulfillment
So this man literally discipled his nation as Jesus instructed us that we do. And so there's many ways that early, Christians, early pastors, early educators, trained and equipped and discipled the nation and discipled those to go fulfill their civil duties. So they were a great example to us. We need to be educated, then we need to educate others, especially where education takes place in families and the church and schools and colleges. Wherever education takes place, it's vital that we provide biblical instruction which, is going to help everyone fulfill their biblical civil duties in early America. Did it in many ways. They certainly taught theological ideas in their Sunday sermons. But many of them had, other days we had special classes where they would teach members of their church. And they always used, special occasions to preach appropriate sermons that dealt with civil duties and governmental philosophy. beginning way back in the 1630s in NewSong England, there was the tradition established, what were called election sermons every year when people were elected to office, that they would select a minister to come and preach a sermon.
Pastoral Education Through Sermons: Election, Fast Day, Thanksgiving, And Execution Sermons In Early America
He'd preach to the newly elected officials, preach to the citizens of the community. Here's what the Bible says about your duty, your civil duties, and how to fulfill them. And often these election sermons were printed and distributed among the people. And these became the political textbooks of early America. And so pastors would use these, annual opportunities to educate others in civil duties. But not just the election sermons, but there was regularly, there was fast day sermons that civil governments proclaimed days of prayer and fasting or prayer and thanksgiving regularly throughout our history and on these days that this government would recommend everybody go to church, hear an appropriate sermon and pray. And so pastors, so many of them would preach sermons, fast day sermons or Thanksgiving day sermons. Many of these also, like the election sermons, were printed, distributed, and impacted, the citizens greatly. They also had execution sermons, in the rare occasion times when individuals were convicted of a capital crime after going through the biblical safeguards, make sure the innocent weren't found guilty. And the Bible has lots of safeguards. I, did a booklet on crime and punishment and cover many of those safeguards in future podcasts. I, will talk about that subject. But, here's got a couple of sermon titles. Here's an election sermon by Mr. McKean, delivered May 28, 1800. That's an election sermon.
Consequences of Violating God's Law And The Role Of Sermons In Shaping Culture
But an example of an execution sermon is one delivered at Salem, January 14, 1796, occasioned by the execution of Henry Blackburn on that day for the murder of George Wilkinson. So in days like this, ministers would preach. Here's the consequence of violating God's law. Here's the swift execution of justice that the Bible demands. And these had been, great impact upon the populace, keeping them from committing crimes or keeping the culture of crime from rising up in the land. They did not have that. Like many places in the US Today, we have a culture of crime because we don't instill fear of violating the law. We don't execute swift justice. And so pastors would use many special occasions to preach sermons regarding civil affairs. There are many times there would be Special anniversaries and events where they would do so as well.
Taking Action: Christians Leading Social Transformation Through Involvement And Early Colonial Vision
So how can I fulfill my civil duties? Second thing is educate yourself and others on biblical government and your civil duties. Then a third point of action would be to get involved, speak and act on issues of the day, take action. So pertinent issues of the day, whatever that may be facing, we need to find what the Bible says, stand up, speak, teach, instruct those that we have input, with. See, Christians throughout history have led the way in bringing about social transformation. They've taken social action from the very beginning, but especially within the history of the United States. America was established as a free nation. Because Christians got involved in this social action, they began to act, do something. In fact, the vision for starting colonies in the NewSong World was first presented by a minister, Reverend Richard Hakluyt, who we found talked about in past podcasts. But he wrote his discourse on western planning in 1584, listing reasons why England needed to start colonies.
Establishing Colonies and Spreading the Gospel: The Role of Robert Hunt and Early Settlers
One of those primary reasons, he writes, is we shall, by planting there, enlarge the glory of the gospel and provide a safe and sure place to receive people from all parts of the world that are forced to flee for the truth of God's word. now it takes some decades for his vision to be realized. And by that time, Richard Hakluyt was getting old and couldn't make the trip. So he sent one of his disciples, Robert Hunt, to oversee the establishment of the church in the NewSong World. And when they arrived at Cape Henry In April of 1607, they went ashore, erected a cross, and Reverend. Reverend Hunt led the men in, prayer. And so we could give many, many other examples. We've touched on some of how Christians were involved in establishing America in the very beginning. From the planting of not just the first colony of Virginia, but the planning of Plymouth Colony, the planning of Massachusetts Bay, and every one of the 13 colonies, Christians were involved giving birth to that colony. It was a, social action that has had immense impact on us today because without that, there would be no English colonies.
Evangelization and Education of Native Americans: Pocahontas, Pilgrims, and John Elliot's Bible Translation
There would be no liberty and freedom as we know it. There's also Christians who were involved in transformation of the Native Americans, and they did that through evangelization and education. The reason they came to the NewSong World, one primary reason, was in the words of the Virginia charter of 1606, that they came to propagate the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and, miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. So they came to propagate the gospel. This was social action. This was action to influence those. And many were converted Navarrons and Chanko. And the most famous early convert in Virginia was Pocahontas. And there's a painting in the capital rotunda that shows the baptism of Pocahontas, proclaiming to those millions of visitors who've gone through that building. Here's one primary reason why the early settlers came to America. And if we were to look at the Pilgrims who came some 13 years later, at the end of 1620, if we learn anything about their life, we see that they were devoted deeply to God and following his will. And as their governor for 33 years, William Bradford writes in his, memoirs or history of Plymouth Plantation, he said that a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto for the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the Kingdomnomics of Christ in those remote parts of the world. So they came to propagate the gospel. And it wasn't just that they converted these Native Americans, but they also educated them how to live in liberty. And that's why many of the early converts, for example, in Jamestown colony, when the young lad was converted, they go and live in the home of a family, Christian families, so that they can learn how do I live out this newfound faith that I, have embraced?
Puritan Mission to Convert and Educate Native Americans: John Elliot's Bible and Educational Institutions
the Puritans who came in Mass in 1630, they explained they came, to win the natives to the Christian faith. So they also came for that very reason. And there's many things the Puritans did that reflect this desire of leading them to the Christian faith. One great example of this is a pastor, Reverend Jon Elliot, who had a church in the Boston area, and he worked for 40 years to evangelize the Algonquin Indians. He would preach to them, tell them the gospel. And so in order to educate them to the fullest, he, translated a Bible in their language. But in order to do that, he first had to give them a written language. They did not have a written language, of course. He had to first learn it himself. Then he developed a written language. Then he translated the Bible into the Algonquin Indian language. And this was the first Bible printed in america, printed from 1661 to 1663. This marvelous work is a reflection of Christians getting involved, fulfilling their civil duties, taking social action to, to transform these, Native Americans. This understanding of the civil duties that they had also paved the way for them to start schools and colleges, not only for the education of their own Children and generations to follow. But specifically for the education of these Native Americans who were converted.
William and Mary, Dartmouth, and the Native American Museum's Testament to Christian Influence
William and Mary had a hall, Brafferton hall, set aside for, these Native Americans who were converted to the Christian faith to educate and train them. Dartmouth College, one primary reason it was started to educate Indians and ministers, Native Americans who were converted and felt called to the ministry that would educate them to send them out as well. If you go into the Native American Museum Today in Washington D.C. up on the upper floor in one corner, there's section dealing with the influence of the Christian faith on Native Americans in the first centuries of our existence. And they have, as a nation and they have dozens and dozens of Bibles and dozens and dozens of Native American languages on display. There's at least 100 different Bibles in 100 different Native American languages that were produced in the the Americas.
Christian Social Duty and Transformation: Sam Adams, Founding Fathers, and Ministers' Political Involvement
Again reflecting their understanding of their social duty not just to convert individuals, but to educate them and truth. There in the Native American Museum in D.C. they have written on their wall. Today, the majority of Native people call themselves Christian. And so the vision for the founders of the United States of the early colonies has been so realized that today a majority of the descendants of the natives in the Americas call themselves Christians. What a powerful testimony to the fulfillment of these civil duties Christians have. As I say, they've led the way in social transformation, all spheres of social transformation. They were leaders in the birth of the United States of America. Sam Adams, the father of the American Revolution, helped guide us through our independence, was a firm Christian believer. As he wrote, I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins. Similar language could be found for who we call our Founding Fathers, who gave us the Declaration and the Constitution.
African American Pastors' Role in Biblical Transformation and Societal Impact
But it wasn't just men like Sam Adams and Jon Hancock, who were our founding fathers. But when Jon Adams was asked, well, who were the founding fathers of America? He began to list ministers. Well, you got to mention Reverend Jonathan Mayhew and Reverend Samuel Cooper, Reverend George Whitefield, Reverend Charles Chauncey. And so pastors were involved in civil duties, political duties, in education, and getting involved directly in taking social action. And it just wasn't these white European pastors. It was also African, American pastors like Reverend Absalom Jones, Reverend Richard Allen, Reverend Jon Merritt, Reverend Lemuel Hayes. They also were on the forefront of, of training and educating what the Bible had to say about all of life. Yes, about our relationship to the Lord, but then also about how do we bring about biblical transformation in society, in every aspect of, society. So we see both black and white, involved in this.
Challenging Revisionist History: Black and White Collaboration in Advancing Liberty and Paul Revere's Ride
Contrary to what the modern revisionists try to promote, that the founding fathers were a bunch of racists and, and they were, the great oppressors oppressing everybody. These white Christian European men oppressed women, they oppressed the natives, they oppressed the blacks. They, ah, founded the nation upon slavery and all this, this is an inaccurate representation of what happened, in early America, because blacks and whites worked together to advance the mission of liberty, because they understood what God had called us to do. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere launched out on his famous ride to warned the colonists the British were coming. But he wasn't the only one. He's the most famous because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem. But there's a number of writers like him that went out, went that night. William Dawes, and the African American, Wentworth Chaswell also was one of those who rode out to warn the villages and families, the British are coming. take heed, take care, be prepared. And Wentworth Chaswell himself was a justice of the peace.
Wentworth Chaswell: An African American Justice of the Peace and His Role in Independence
He was elected office in 1768. He held public office every year from 1768 to 1817. A selectman, a constable, school board, auditor, town moderator, coroner, assessor, justice, of the peace. He was an African American. So he was working along all these other men, maybe, certainly with more famous names, to help bring about, our independence, because that's part of our duties to get involved in social affairs. And that was very important, thing impacting the nation, obviously, at the time. And so when Paul Revere rode out, he went to warn not only the farmers, the British were coming, but in particular the leaders of Massachusetts, Jon Hancock and Samuel Adams, because the British in particular were looking to capture them, and he knew where to go, found them. So when he rode up into Lexington very early on the morning of the 19th, he rode to Reverend Jonas Clark's home because that's where Hancock and Adams were. Reverend Jonas Clark, by the way, he was the pastor of the church in Lexington for about 50 years. But before he became pastor, Jon Hancock's grandfather was pastor of that church.
Reverend Jonas Clark's Teachings on God-Given Rights and the Lexington Confrontation
So Jon Hancock certainly knew the church, the area. He knew Jonas Clark. And Jonas Clark had been teaching for decades, really, these principles of civil transformation and involvement in social affairs as well as theological matters. He was teaching members of his church, we have God given rights and liberties and taught them how government is to protect our God given rights and liberties and not pillage them. Not steal them. And so when the British, 800 or so soldiers marched into Lexington on the morning of April 19, 1775, they were met by about maybe 80 minute men. And right there on Lexington Greene, which really was the church lawn of Reverend Jonas Clark, they marched on the church lawn, they fired upon the colonists. They killed eight and wounded 10. And again, it wasn't just white European men that they killed. It was African, Americans like Prince Esterbrook.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord: Minutemen Led by Pastors Against British Forces
He was one of the ten that were wounded. And today there's actually a marker, honoring the work that Prince Esterbrook did. And so after the, it really wasn't a battle at Lexington could, have been. It was like a massacre. After, 20% casualties, I said eight were killed, 10 were wounded. They marched on to Concord. And there was a brief battle, brief skirmish at Concord Bridge later on the April 19th. And then when the Minutemen began to pour in from all around the territory and began to swell in numbers, the British were forced to flee back to Boston. The Minutemen followed them along the way, firing upon them. M But many of those Minutemen were led by pastors.
Pastors Leading Their Congregations in the Revolutionary War: A Sacred Duty to Defend Liberties
Reverend William Payson led a group of his men to attack the English as they retreated to Boston. Reverend Jonathan French, he left from his pulpit to go to Boston with a musket in one hand and a surgical bag in, the other. And throughout the course of the war, pastors led many of their men to go and fight in the American Revolutionary War under George Washington. Like Reverend David Avery from Vermont led 20 parishioners. Reverend Steven Farrer from NewSong Hampshire led 97 of his members of his church to go and fight. Reverend Joseph Willard led two companies of men. He was from Massachusetts. Reverend Jon Steele from Pennsylvania led 900 parishioners to go and fight against the British. We've told the story in past podcasts of Reverend Peter Muhlenberg from Virginia who led 300 of his parishioners. See, these are pastors who understood we have civil duties. We must get involved. This is where the battle is taking place. Now our God given rights or liberties are threatened and it's our responsibility to stand up because they considered their civil liberties a sacred cause. They understood this is part of fulfilling their God given mission. And so Christians were leaders in the birth of the United States.
Preview of Next Week: Continued Exploration of Civil Duties and Christian Social Transformation
Now next week we're going to continue this story. We're going to take a look other ways we can fulfill our civil duties, but also give some other ways that Christians have led the way in social transformation. Contrary to what the modern, revisionist historians, Marxist historians, say that the founders of America were leaders in the anti slavery movement, and they were leaders in the abolition of slavery as well. That, throughout the world, every nation since the fall of man, had enslaved one another. And contrary to what some think today, that Americans, originated slavery, they actually are the ones who did more than anyone else to end it.
Conclusion: Fulfilling Civil Duties, Visiting Websites, and Joining for Future Discussions
Once we gained our independence, we did so. And so next week, when you join us on this podcast, I want to explore that more, plus explore other ways that we can fulfill our civil duties. So I hope you can, join us then to learn more. I encourage you to visit Visit our website, providencefoundation.com See our film at educatedforliberty.com it's free to view. Join us, next week as we continue to explore how Christians can fulfill their civil duties.
Introduction To America's Providential History Podcast And The Concept Of Civil Duties
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, Steven McDowell. Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. A couple of weeks ago, we began to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. And first we saw that we do have civil duties. We saw that God's people have been involved in politics and public affairs, ever since the beginning that we read the Old Testament.
Biblical Foundation For Civil Duties And Selecting Godly Officials Through Voting And Participation
And so many of those individuals served directly in roles of civil government and prophets spoke to civil leaders. And then we saw in the NewSong Testament that the NewSong Testament teaches we have civil duties. Jesus himself gave many civil teachings, that have impacted the Western world. So we've established the fact we have civil duties. Then we began to look at what are some of those civil duties and how can we fulfill our civil duties. The first thing we saw is that we should be involved in selecting godly officials. Election of our leaders is a big biblical idea. God told the children of Israel to choose from among themselves leaders and place them over them so that they would, uphold the law to protect our life, liberty and property. So practical ways that we mentioned that we can be involved in selecting godly leaders, we, the very minimum, need to vote. But really more than that, we need to support Godly candidates.
Educating Ourselves And Others On Biblical Government And Historical Christian Philosophers
We need to be involved in local party politics, which enables us to make sure we have good candidates on the ballot when we do vote. And if there are not any good candidates anywhere, then we ought to look to run for office for ourselves or identify those that we know that would represent us and our values and our biblical thinking and positions of governance. So I want to carry on, that story and look at other things that we can do to fulfill our civil duties. Second thing that we can do is to educate ourselves and others on biblical government and civil duties. Of course, a lot of Christians today don't recognize they have civil duties because they've never been instructed in what the Bible says are our duties in these areas. What does the Bible say about biblical government and, what we as his people, should we be involved? And of course, when you began to read about Christians in history and the advancement of liberty in the world, we quickly learn that Christians have led the way in teaching a biblical philosophy of government. Some of the great political, governmental and economic philosophers were biblical Christian men who in their writings and teachings, imparted this to others. Men like Jon Calvin, Samuel Rutherford, Jon Locke Adam Smith, Hugo Grotius, Jon Wise, William Blackstone, to name, some. These are very influential individuals and through their writings in particular, shaped the men, shaped the men who gave birth to America, shaped the men who formed our U.S. constitution and presented laws of liberty and have impacted the spread of liberty, throughout the world.
Christianity's Role In Government And Liberty: Noah Webster's Perspective And Education For Freedom
And we could examine each one of these in more detail and examine their writings. And I would encourage you to go begin to read some of the things these men wrote, and you'll begin to recognize the source of the ideas in our Declaration of independence, in our U.S. constitution and our state constitutions were developed by Christian individuals, Christian men and thinking. Noah Webster, who we met in the past, the, most influential educator in the 19th century for sure. But he said, in my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. So Webster was reflecting the understanding of about everybody in early America. The founders in America, they recognize the most important thing we can do if we want to obtain, preserve, maintain and pass on liberty, civil liberty, and governments that perform their limited function in protecting our life, liberty and property is to teach our children, what the Christian faith says about liberty, says about government.
John Witherspoon's Influence: Educating Leaders For Biblical Government And Civil Responsibilities
Without that, if we don't impart that to our children, we can never hope to be a free people. And I've mentioned in the past, we've put out a film recently called Educated for Liberty. And we explore that idea of how only biblical Christian education can produce a free, free society. And that's what produced the Free Society of America. And so Christians have been involved, for 2,000 years in advancing principles of liberty, including civil liberty, political liberty, and certainly in the birth of America, without Christian men, without pastors, there would be no United States of America. And we've explored that in, in past podcasts. An example of a man, Christian man, Christian educator, who had immense direct effect upon the United States. We've mentioned him before in past podcasts, but Reverend Jon Witherspoon, who served as president of the College of NewSong Jersey for a few decades beginning 1760s, the college of NewSong Jersey we now know as Princeton University. But here was, the man who educated the men who gave us our Declaration and gave us our Constitution. Now Witherspoon certainly trained hundreds of pastors who went and served in the pulpit ministry, but he also trained Scores and scores of men who served in the civil ministry. Witherspoon himself was directly involved in government. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a member of the Continental Congress who gave us that document. He served on over 100 different, committees. But he was involved with its greatest impact was educating others in biblical government and their civil duties.
Witherspoon's Discipleship Process And Impact On James Madison And The Founding Fathers
And so people would come to study under him. And of course universities then were nothing like they are today. He at the Most maybe had 50 full time students at the largest. And it was, for him it was a discipling process. He's the chief educator, discipler, mentor, prayed with the students, governed the dissertations that they would present to help teach them how to reason, biblically. And so in this process he made a deep impact upon these individuals. Like the one gentleman from Virginia. His mother didn't want him to go to William and Mary, that college where most Virginians went to at the time. But she was, wanted him to be exposed to the ideas of this Presbyterian pastor who came over from Scotland to assume the presidency of college in NewSong Jersey. She said, that's what I want my young son to be impacted by. So young Jimmy went and studied and he at one time thought, well, I might go into the pulpit ministry and serve in that capacity. But he was so influenced by the ideas of civil liberty and governmental philosophy imparted by Jon Witherspoon that he was, went on and felt called to a ministry in the civil arena. And this man went on to become the fourth president of the United States and the chief architect of our Constitution, James Madison. Jon Witherspoon not only trained one president, he trained one vice president, 10 cabinet officers, 21 senators, 39 congressmen, 12 governors, one Supreme Court justice and one attorney general. One fifth of the signers of the Declaration of independence and 1/6 of the delegates of the Constitutional Convention, not to mention one fifth of the first Congress under that Constitution, were trained by Jon Witherspoon.
Discipling The Nation: Christian Education In Families, Churches, And Schools For Civil Duty Fulfillment
So this man literally discipled his nation as Jesus instructed us that we do. And so there's many ways that early, Christians, early pastors, early educators, trained and equipped and discipled the nation and discipled those to go fulfill their civil duties. So they were a great example to us. We need to be educated, then we need to educate others, especially where education takes place in families and the church and schools and colleges. Wherever education takes place, it's vital that we provide biblical instruction which, is going to help everyone fulfill their biblical civil duties in early America. Did it in many ways. They certainly taught theological ideas in their Sunday sermons. But many of them had, other days we had special classes where they would teach members of their church. And they always used, special occasions to preach appropriate sermons that dealt with civil duties and governmental philosophy. beginning way back in the 1630s in NewSong England, there was the tradition established, what were called election sermons every year when people were elected to office, that they would select a minister to come and preach a sermon.
Pastoral Education Through Sermons: Election, Fast Day, Thanksgiving, And Execution Sermons In Early America
He'd preach to the newly elected officials, preach to the citizens of the community. Here's what the Bible says about your duty, your civil duties, and how to fulfill them. And often these election sermons were printed and distributed among the people. And these became the political textbooks of early America. And so pastors would use these, annual opportunities to educate others in civil duties. But not just the election sermons, but there was regularly, there was fast day sermons that civil governments proclaimed days of prayer and fasting or prayer and thanksgiving regularly throughout our history and on these days that this government would recommend everybody go to church, hear an appropriate sermon and pray. And so pastors, so many of them would preach sermons, fast day sermons or Thanksgiving day sermons. Many of these also, like the election sermons, were printed, distributed, and impacted, the citizens greatly. They also had execution sermons, in the rare occasion times when individuals were convicted of a capital crime after going through the biblical safeguards, make sure the innocent weren't found guilty. And the Bible has lots of safeguards. I, did a booklet on crime and punishment and cover many of those safeguards in future podcasts. I, will talk about that subject. But, here's got a couple of sermon titles. Here's an election sermon by Mr. McKean, delivered May 28, 1800. That's an election sermon.
Consequences of Violating God's Law And The Role Of Sermons In Shaping Culture
But an example of an execution sermon is one delivered at Salem, January 14, 1796, occasioned by the execution of Henry Blackburn on that day for the murder of George Wilkinson. So in days like this, ministers would preach. Here's the consequence of violating God's law. Here's the swift execution of justice that the Bible demands. And these had been, great impact upon the populace, keeping them from committing crimes or keeping the culture of crime from rising up in the land. They did not have that. Like many places in the US Today, we have a culture of crime because we don't instill fear of violating the law. We don't execute swift justice. And so pastors would use many special occasions to preach sermons regarding civil affairs. There are many times there would be Special anniversaries and events where they would do so as well.
Taking Action: Christians Leading Social Transformation Through Involvement And Early Colonial Vision
So how can I fulfill my civil duties? Second thing is educate yourself and others on biblical government and your civil duties. Then a third point of action would be to get involved, speak and act on issues of the day, take action. So pertinent issues of the day, whatever that may be facing, we need to find what the Bible says, stand up, speak, teach, instruct those that we have input, with. See, Christians throughout history have led the way in bringing about social transformation. They've taken social action from the very beginning, but especially within the history of the United States. America was established as a free nation. Because Christians got involved in this social action, they began to act, do something. In fact, the vision for starting colonies in the NewSong World was first presented by a minister, Reverend Richard Hakluyt, who we found talked about in past podcasts. But he wrote his discourse on western planning in 1584, listing reasons why England needed to start colonies.
Establishing Colonies and Spreading the Gospel: The Role of Robert Hunt and Early Settlers
One of those primary reasons, he writes, is we shall, by planting there, enlarge the glory of the gospel and provide a safe and sure place to receive people from all parts of the world that are forced to flee for the truth of God's word. now it takes some decades for his vision to be realized. And by that time, Richard Hakluyt was getting old and couldn't make the trip. So he sent one of his disciples, Robert Hunt, to oversee the establishment of the church in the NewSong World. And when they arrived at Cape Henry In April of 1607, they went ashore, erected a cross, and Reverend. Reverend Hunt led the men in, prayer. And so we could give many, many other examples. We've touched on some of how Christians were involved in establishing America in the very beginning. From the planting of not just the first colony of Virginia, but the planning of Plymouth Colony, the planning of Massachusetts Bay, and every one of the 13 colonies, Christians were involved giving birth to that colony. It was a, social action that has had immense impact on us today because without that, there would be no English colonies.
Evangelization and Education of Native Americans: Pocahontas, Pilgrims, and John Elliot's Bible Translation
There would be no liberty and freedom as we know it. There's also Christians who were involved in transformation of the Native Americans, and they did that through evangelization and education. The reason they came to the NewSong World, one primary reason, was in the words of the Virginia charter of 1606, that they came to propagate the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and, miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. So they came to propagate the gospel. This was social action. This was action to influence those. And many were converted Navarrons and Chanko. And the most famous early convert in Virginia was Pocahontas. And there's a painting in the capital rotunda that shows the baptism of Pocahontas, proclaiming to those millions of visitors who've gone through that building. Here's one primary reason why the early settlers came to America. And if we were to look at the Pilgrims who came some 13 years later, at the end of 1620, if we learn anything about their life, we see that they were devoted deeply to God and following his will. And as their governor for 33 years, William Bradford writes in his, memoirs or history of Plymouth Plantation, he said that a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto for the propagating and advancing of the gospel of the Kingdomnomics of Christ in those remote parts of the world. So they came to propagate the gospel. And it wasn't just that they converted these Native Americans, but they also educated them how to live in liberty. And that's why many of the early converts, for example, in Jamestown colony, when the young lad was converted, they go and live in the home of a family, Christian families, so that they can learn how do I live out this newfound faith that I, have embraced?
Puritan Mission to Convert and Educate Native Americans: John Elliot's Bible and Educational Institutions
the Puritans who came in Mass in 1630, they explained they came, to win the natives to the Christian faith. So they also came for that very reason. And there's many things the Puritans did that reflect this desire of leading them to the Christian faith. One great example of this is a pastor, Reverend Jon Elliot, who had a church in the Boston area, and he worked for 40 years to evangelize the Algonquin Indians. He would preach to them, tell them the gospel. And so in order to educate them to the fullest, he, translated a Bible in their language. But in order to do that, he first had to give them a written language. They did not have a written language, of course. He had to first learn it himself. Then he developed a written language. Then he translated the Bible into the Algonquin Indian language. And this was the first Bible printed in america, printed from 1661 to 1663. This marvelous work is a reflection of Christians getting involved, fulfilling their civil duties, taking social action to, to transform these, Native Americans. This understanding of the civil duties that they had also paved the way for them to start schools and colleges, not only for the education of their own Children and generations to follow. But specifically for the education of these Native Americans who were converted.
William and Mary, Dartmouth, and the Native American Museum's Testament to Christian Influence
William and Mary had a hall, Brafferton hall, set aside for, these Native Americans who were converted to the Christian faith to educate and train them. Dartmouth College, one primary reason it was started to educate Indians and ministers, Native Americans who were converted and felt called to the ministry that would educate them to send them out as well. If you go into the Native American Museum Today in Washington D.C. up on the upper floor in one corner, there's section dealing with the influence of the Christian faith on Native Americans in the first centuries of our existence. And they have, as a nation and they have dozens and dozens of Bibles and dozens and dozens of Native American languages on display. There's at least 100 different Bibles in 100 different Native American languages that were produced in the the Americas.
Christian Social Duty and Transformation: Sam Adams, Founding Fathers, and Ministers' Political Involvement
Again reflecting their understanding of their social duty not just to convert individuals, but to educate them and truth. There in the Native American Museum in D.C. they have written on their wall. Today, the majority of Native people call themselves Christian. And so the vision for the founders of the United States of the early colonies has been so realized that today a majority of the descendants of the natives in the Americas call themselves Christians. What a powerful testimony to the fulfillment of these civil duties Christians have. As I say, they've led the way in social transformation, all spheres of social transformation. They were leaders in the birth of the United States of America. Sam Adams, the father of the American Revolution, helped guide us through our independence, was a firm Christian believer. As he wrote, I rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins. Similar language could be found for who we call our Founding Fathers, who gave us the Declaration and the Constitution.
African American Pastors' Role in Biblical Transformation and Societal Impact
But it wasn't just men like Sam Adams and Jon Hancock, who were our founding fathers. But when Jon Adams was asked, well, who were the founding fathers of America? He began to list ministers. Well, you got to mention Reverend Jonathan Mayhew and Reverend Samuel Cooper, Reverend George Whitefield, Reverend Charles Chauncey. And so pastors were involved in civil duties, political duties, in education, and getting involved directly in taking social action. And it just wasn't these white European pastors. It was also African, American pastors like Reverend Absalom Jones, Reverend Richard Allen, Reverend Jon Merritt, Reverend Lemuel Hayes. They also were on the forefront of, of training and educating what the Bible had to say about all of life. Yes, about our relationship to the Lord, but then also about how do we bring about biblical transformation in society, in every aspect of, society. So we see both black and white, involved in this.
Challenging Revisionist History: Black and White Collaboration in Advancing Liberty and Paul Revere's Ride
Contrary to what the modern revisionists try to promote, that the founding fathers were a bunch of racists and, and they were, the great oppressors oppressing everybody. These white Christian European men oppressed women, they oppressed the natives, they oppressed the blacks. They, ah, founded the nation upon slavery and all this, this is an inaccurate representation of what happened, in early America, because blacks and whites worked together to advance the mission of liberty, because they understood what God had called us to do. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere launched out on his famous ride to warned the colonists the British were coming. But he wasn't the only one. He's the most famous because of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem. But there's a number of writers like him that went out, went that night. William Dawes, and the African American, Wentworth Chaswell also was one of those who rode out to warn the villages and families, the British are coming. take heed, take care, be prepared. And Wentworth Chaswell himself was a justice of the peace.
Wentworth Chaswell: An African American Justice of the Peace and His Role in Independence
He was elected office in 1768. He held public office every year from 1768 to 1817. A selectman, a constable, school board, auditor, town moderator, coroner, assessor, justice, of the peace. He was an African American. So he was working along all these other men, maybe, certainly with more famous names, to help bring about, our independence, because that's part of our duties to get involved in social affairs. And that was very important, thing impacting the nation, obviously, at the time. And so when Paul Revere rode out, he went to warn not only the farmers, the British were coming, but in particular the leaders of Massachusetts, Jon Hancock and Samuel Adams, because the British in particular were looking to capture them, and he knew where to go, found them. So when he rode up into Lexington very early on the morning of the 19th, he rode to Reverend Jonas Clark's home because that's where Hancock and Adams were. Reverend Jonas Clark, by the way, he was the pastor of the church in Lexington for about 50 years. But before he became pastor, Jon Hancock's grandfather was pastor of that church.
Reverend Jonas Clark's Teachings on God-Given Rights and the Lexington Confrontation
So Jon Hancock certainly knew the church, the area. He knew Jonas Clark. And Jonas Clark had been teaching for decades, really, these principles of civil transformation and involvement in social affairs as well as theological matters. He was teaching members of his church, we have God given rights and liberties and taught them how government is to protect our God given rights and liberties and not pillage them. Not steal them. And so when the British, 800 or so soldiers marched into Lexington on the morning of April 19, 1775, they were met by about maybe 80 minute men. And right there on Lexington Greene, which really was the church lawn of Reverend Jonas Clark, they marched on the church lawn, they fired upon the colonists. They killed eight and wounded 10. And again, it wasn't just white European men that they killed. It was African, Americans like Prince Esterbrook.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord: Minutemen Led by Pastors Against British Forces
He was one of the ten that were wounded. And today there's actually a marker, honoring the work that Prince Esterbrook did. And so after the, it really wasn't a battle at Lexington could, have been. It was like a massacre. After, 20% casualties, I said eight were killed, 10 were wounded. They marched on to Concord. And there was a brief battle, brief skirmish at Concord Bridge later on the April 19th. And then when the Minutemen began to pour in from all around the territory and began to swell in numbers, the British were forced to flee back to Boston. The Minutemen followed them along the way, firing upon them. M But many of those Minutemen were led by pastors.
Pastors Leading Their Congregations in the Revolutionary War: A Sacred Duty to Defend Liberties
Reverend William Payson led a group of his men to attack the English as they retreated to Boston. Reverend Jonathan French, he left from his pulpit to go to Boston with a musket in one hand and a surgical bag in, the other. And throughout the course of the war, pastors led many of their men to go and fight in the American Revolutionary War under George Washington. Like Reverend David Avery from Vermont led 20 parishioners. Reverend Steven Farrer from NewSong Hampshire led 97 of his members of his church to go and fight. Reverend Joseph Willard led two companies of men. He was from Massachusetts. Reverend Jon Steele from Pennsylvania led 900 parishioners to go and fight against the British. We've told the story in past podcasts of Reverend Peter Muhlenberg from Virginia who led 300 of his parishioners. See, these are pastors who understood we have civil duties. We must get involved. This is where the battle is taking place. Now our God given rights or liberties are threatened and it's our responsibility to stand up because they considered their civil liberties a sacred cause. They understood this is part of fulfilling their God given mission. And so Christians were leaders in the birth of the United States.
Preview of Next Week: Continued Exploration of Civil Duties and Christian Social Transformation
Now next week we're going to continue this story. We're going to take a look other ways we can fulfill our civil duties, but also give some other ways that Christians have led the way in social transformation. Contrary to what the modern, revisionist historians, Marxist historians, say that the founders of America were leaders in the anti slavery movement, and they were leaders in the abolition of slavery as well. That, throughout the world, every nation since the fall of man, had enslaved one another. And contrary to what some think today, that Americans, originated slavery, they actually are the ones who did more than anyone else to end it.
Conclusion: Fulfilling Civil Duties, Visiting Websites, and Joining for Future Discussions
Once we gained our independence, we did so. And so next week, when you join us on this podcast, I want to explore that more, plus explore other ways that we can fulfill our civil duties. So I hope you can, join us then to learn more. I encourage you to visit Visit our website, providencefoundation.com See our film at educatedforliberty.com it's free to view. Join us, next week as we continue to explore how Christians can fulfill their civil duties.
In this episode of America's Providential History Podcast, host Stephen McDowell continues the exploration of how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. Building on previous discussions, he emphasizes the importance of selecting godly leaders, educating oneself and others on biblical government, and taking action on contemporary issues. McDowell highlights the significant role that Christian figures have played throughout American history, from the founding of the nation to social transformations, demonstrating how faith has influenced civil responsibilities. Join us as we uncover the profound connection between faith and civic engagement!
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