by Stephen McDowell

According to the National Commission on Excellence in Education, America is “A Nation at Risk.” The 1980s report stated: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”[1] The consequences of this poor performance are not only declining knowledge but also declining morality, both of which are necessary for a free and prosperous nation. The mediocrity is primarily due to a state monopolized educational system that has rejected its Christian foundation, replacing it with a secular ideology that teaches man is the ultimate authority and source of truth.

Contrary to the belief of many educrats, the underlying problem is not financial but ideological. We have replaced a Christian philosophy with a secular philosophy of education. The Apostle Paul warns us: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ” (Col. 2:8).

A man-centered worldly philosophy brings captivity while a Christian philosophy liberates. America became the most free and prosperous nation the world has known due to its Christian education, which passed on principles of truth, liberty, and creativity for centuries. Over time this Christian education was supplanted by secularism. The content of school textbooks reflect this change.

Early American Textbooks

The Bible was the central text for early American education. Theological catechisms were very popular, with over 500 different ones used in colonial times. John Locke observed in 1690 that children learned to read by following “the ordinary road of Hornbook, Primer, Psalter, Testament and Bible.”[2] Hornbooks were the most widely used tool for teaching reading in seventeenth century America. A hornbook was a flat piece of wood with a handle, upon which a sheet of printed paper was attached and covered with transparent animal horn to protect it. A typical hornbook had the alphabet, the vowels, a list of syllables, the invocation of the Trinity, and the Lord’s Prayer. Some had a pictured alphabet.

The first reading primer designed for the American colonies was the New England Primer. First published in Boston around 1690, it was the most prominent schoolbook for about 100 years, selling over 5 million copies. It taught the alphabet with a rhyme, like this 1777 Primer:

  A  In Adam’s Fall
We sinned all.
  B  Heaven to find
The Bible Mind.
  C  Christ crucify’d
For sinners dy’d.
  D  The Deluge drown’d
The Earth around…[3]

Noah Webster’s “Blue Backed Speller” would become the most influential textbook of the era after its publication in 1783. Selling over 100 million copies during the next century, its premise was that “God’s word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.” It included a moral catechism, large portions of the Sermon on the Mount, a paraphrase of the Genesis account of creation, and numerous moral stories. Students would read such things as:

“God will forgive those who repent of their sins, and live a holy life.”
“Examine the Scriptures daily and carefully, and set an example of good works.” [4]

First published in 1836, The McGuffey Readers shaped national morals and thinking more than any book besides the Bible. Written by minister and professor William Holmes McGuffey, they sold over 122 million copies in 75 years and are still used today in some private schools. McGuffey wrote in the Preface to the Fourth Reader:

From no source has the author drawn more copiously, in his selections, than from the sacred Scriptures. For this, he certainly apprehends no censure. In a Christian country, that man is to be pitied, who at this day, can honestly object to imbuing the minds of youth with the language and spirit of the Word of God. [5]

Other prominent textbooks from early America were thoroughly Christian as well.

The contrast of biblical education in early America with today’s secular education is evident when comparing the definition of words from Webster’s original dictionary published in 1828 with modern dictionaries. Webster used thousands of Scriptural references and defined words biblically. Modern dictionaries give humanistic definitions.

Consider, for example, the word immoral. In his original definition of this word Webster wrote: “Every action is immoral which contravenes any divine precept, or which is contrary to the duties men owe to each other.”[6] To Webster, divine precept was the standard to judge immorality. Today, the standard is quite different, as reflected in the definition of immoral in modern dictionaries. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines immoral as “not in conformity with accepted principles of right and wrong behavior.”[7] The standard for immoral behavior today has become what the consensus of the population thinks. Man, rather than God, has been declared the judge of right and wrong conduct. Man becomes his own god.

Modern Secular Texts

Modern textbooks have been completely sanitized of their early overtly Christian content. Many people have documented this change, but none so thoroughly as Professor Paul C. Vitz in a government funded study he conducted in the 1980s on whether bias exists in public school textbooks. His study clearly showed bias and censorship exists, and the nature of the bias is clear: “Religion, traditional family values, and conservative political and economic positions have been reliably excluded from children’s textbooks.”[8]

Vitz wrote that while the bias may not be deliberate, a “secular and liberal mindset appears to be responsible.”[9] And he points out that the bias is primarily manifested by exclusion. As an example, “sixty representative social studies textbooks were carefully evaluated” and “none of the books covering grades 1 through 4 contain one word referring to any religious activity in contemporary American life.” [10]

While these social studies texts mention the family, “the idea that marriage is the origin and foundation of the family is never presented. Indeed, the words marriage, wedding, husband, wife, do not occur once in these books.”[11] It is not surprising why so many Americans today reject the biblical view of the family.

The social studies texts frequently presented “role models” but “not one contemporary role model is conservative and male.” High school U.S. history texts almost completely ignored major religious events of the past 200 years and there was “constant omission of reference to the large role that religion has always played in American life.”[12] This was true for elementary texts as well. In one second grade history book, 30 pages were given to the Pilgrims but they were “described entirely without any reference to religion.”[13] At the end of the first year they observed a day of Thanksgiving but no mention is made of the fact that they gave thanks to God.

Christian bias via exclusion continues in current textbooks. For example, one recent history text quotes the Mayflower Compact: “We whose names are under-written … do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politick.” What was omitted from this important historical document? Their clear Christian motive: “for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colonie in the Northern parts of Virginia.”[14]

Bias is not only expressed by exclusion but also by changing the meaning of a text or writing. One U.S. History Advanced Placement textbook summarizes the Second Amendment as, “The people have the right to keep and bear arms in a state militia,” which is an inaccurate meaning of the amendment which clearly states, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”[15] This same text says the First Amendment gives us a “separation of church and state,” failing to explain this amendment does not separate God from government or religious ideas from public life. Rather, it acknowledges a jurisdictional separation between the institution of civil government and the institution of the church.

Misrepresenting motives is another means of bias. Under the heading “Roots of American Government,” a popular seventh-grade Houghton Mifflin Social Studies textbook expounds: “Enlightenment thinkers in the American Colonies were excited. Here they were, the first people in history to have the chance to create an entirely new government based on Enlightenment Principles.” However, America was not created by Enlightenment thinkers on Enlightenment ideas, but according to John Adams, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were … the general principles of Christianity.”[17] This is confirmed in a study done on the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on the political ideas of the Founding Fathers. Professor Donald Lutz conducted an exhaustive ten-year research of about 15,000 political documents of the Founders’ Era, recording every reference our Founders made to other sources. By far, the most quoted source of their political ideas was the Bible, 34% of citations, and about 50% of the other citations came from men with a biblical worldview.[18]

Some texts teach direct lies, like a high school history textbook published by Pearson that teaches Trump is mentally ill and his supporters are racists.[19] In other texts the Founders of America are often presented as atheists, agnostics, or secularists who wanted no religious influence in public life, when in fact, all but a couple of the Signers of the Declaration and two or three members of the Constitutional Convention were orthodox Christians who believed the foundation of free nations rests on the Christian faith.[20]

To counter the bias in textbooks and the secularization of American education, we must provide our children an education rooted in truth, having a philosophy, methodology, and curriculum that is Christian. Private or home schools are the best means to do so. For those who have no option but government schools, supplemental teaching of truth should occur at home. For the good of the nation, we must also work to transform our current worldly system of education, which brings bondage, to a Christian system, which will liberate individuals and in turn the nation at large.

____
Stephen McDowell, co-founder and President of the Providence Foundation, has trained people from 100 countries to apply Biblical truth in all spheres of life. He has consulted with government officials, assisted in writing political documents and starting political parties, and aided in starting Christian schools and Biblical worldview training centers. He has authored and co-authored over 40 books, videos, and training courses including Liberating the Nations and America’s Providential History. Stephen’s books and writings have been translated into 18 languages and distributed to millions of people. To learn more: providencefoundation.com

 

[1] Stephen McDowell, Restoring America’s Christian Education, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 1999, p. 1.
[2] The Pageant of America, Ralph Henry Gabriel, editor, New Haven: Yale University Press, Vol. 10, 1928, p. 258.
[3] The New England Primer, Boston: Printed by Edward Draper, 1777. Reprinted by WallBuilders, 1991.
[4] Noah Webster, The Elementary Spelling-Book, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1880, pp. 101, 121.
[5] William McGuffey, The Eclectic Fourth Reader, originally printed in 1838, republished by Mott Media, 1982, p. x.
[6] Definition of immoral, Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828, republished in facsimile edition by Foundation for American Christian Education, San Francisco, 1980.
[7] Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, David B. Guralnik, editor, Nashville: The Southwestern Company, 1969.
[8] Paul C. Vitz, Censorship, Evidence of Bias in Our Children’s Textbooks, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Books, 1986, p. 1.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Vitz, p. 3.
[13] Vitz, p. 18.
[14] https://wallbuilders.com/revisionism-identify-childrens-textbooks/#
[15] https://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/17991-common-core-approved-textbooks-rewrite-second-amendment
[16] A More Perfect Union, Houghton Mifflin Social Studies, 1991, p. 82.
[17] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor, Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1850-1856, Vol. X, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813.
[18] Donald Lutz, “The Relative Influence of European Writers on Late 18th Century American Political Thought,” American Political Science Review, LXXVIII (1984), p. 189-197. See also Stephen McDowell, The Bible: America’s Source of Law and Liberty, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2015, Chapter 8, “The Changing Nature of Law in America.”
[19] https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/04/15/pearson-high-school-history-textbook-teaches-trump-is-mentally-ill-and-his-supporters-are-racists
[20] For the Christian faith of the Founders see: David Barton, Original Intent; M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company; John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution; Stephen McDowell, The Bible: America’s Source of Law and Liberty; William Federer, America’s God and Country.

Click Here for PDF document.

By Stephen McDowell

 

(The following is taken from the booklet The Biblical Family: Instrument of Godly Transformation, which can be ordered from our bookstore.)

 

The family is God’s chief instrument of Biblical transformation. It is God’s primary tool for extending His kingdom — His government — in the earth. Children are arrows or weapons that God gives the family to prepare to shoot into the culture and the future (Psalm 127:4). If the family is faulty, the fulfillment of the mission wanes and the nation will decline.

There are numerous signs of decay in the American culture. The most disturbing is the breakdown of the family. In 1960, 72% of adults were married. Today it is about 50%. In 1960, 65% of those filing taxes were married and 35% were unmarried; today, 39% are married, and 61% unmarried. In 1980, 18% of children were born outside of marriage; today over 40% are born outside of marriage.[1] Today, only 32% of people think premarital sex is wrong; 69% thought so in 1969.

Added to this is the progressively successful attempt by homosexual activists with the support of some government officials (mostly unelected liberal judges) to redefine marriage as no longer a union between a man and a woman, but between any two people who “love” each other.

Reversing the decay of the family is of primary importance because as the family goes, so goes the nation. If the family declines, the nation declines. The reasons to preserve the family are many. The family provides moral, social, and material stability to a nation. For example, intact family life is a great antidote for poverty. “In 2009, the poverty rate for children in married-couple families was 11.0 percent, the poverty rate in female-headed households was 44.3 percent.”[2] Kids raised in a traditional two-parent family are less likely to have behavioral problems, to drop out of school, to have a child outside of wedlock, to decline in their socioeconomic status, to be involved in drugs and gangs, and to commit crimes.[3]

But the most important reason to preserve the Biblical family is that the family is God’s instrument of advancing His purposes in the earth, and if it is faulty then its ability to fulfill its mission will diminish. The family is becoming less an instrument of God’s kingdom and more an instrument of man’s kingdom. Many Christian families, who are to prepare their children to advance God’s kingdom, have instead given the enemy their greatest weapon (their children) who has armed them and used them against us (the nation and liberty).

Mission of the Family

The family is a divine institution and the basic building block of society. From the beginning, God communicated the central importance of the family and its mission when He said:

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule [have dominion, KJV]… over all the earth.” … [M]ale and female He created them. And … God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule [have dominion] … over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:26-28).

Man, as male and female, was created to bear the image of God. Hence, the Godhead (Father, Son, and Spirit) is a picture of the family. God created man and woman to live in union together (Gen. 2:18, 22-24), reflecting in some sense the “family” of the Godhead. God has been a Father from eternity.

After God created man and woman (the family), He gave the family a mission. It included: one, to rule or have dominion over God’s creation and two, to be fruitful and multiply. The Bible teaches that God created the earth for mankind (Ps. 115:16; Gen. 1:28), and His original creation was very good (Gen. 1:31). Fulfilling the original creation commission (or cultural mandate) is no small task, nor is it only spiritual or personal in nature. To do so requires us to use all our resources to express His image and likeness on the earth. Fulfilling this mandate requires us to discover truth through sciences, apply truth through technology, interpret truth through humanities, implement truth through commerce and social action, transmit truth through education, and preserve truth through government and law.[4]

After creation and before the events of the temptation and disobedience of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, there was a rebellion against God among some of the angels (2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6), which included Satan, the prince of demons (Is. 14:12-15). God cast Satan and the fallen angels (demons) to the earth. Since that time Satan and his cohorts have sought to undermine God’s purposes and His rule. In his pride and desire to be equal with God, which was his original sin, Satan has sought to set up his own kingdom on the earth and usurp the rule of God and God’s vice-regents (that is, mankind, who God called to rule with Him).

Satan uses many tactics to try to destroy the work of God, including lying (John 8:44), deception (Rev. 12:9), murder (John 8:44; Ps. 106:37), temptation (Matt. 4; Gen. 3; Job 1:7-2:7), and accusation (Zech. 3:1). He seeks to cause people to turn away from God and destroy themselves (John 10:10). He hates God’s people and wants to destroy them, and hence attacks them in many ways (2 Cor. 4:4; Gal. 4:8).

He ultimately hates God and has been working to undermine God’s plan in creation. He seeks to destroy mankind, and he also seeks to keep man from accomplishing his mission of taking dominion and multiplying. Throughout history Satan has been working to seize control of God’s earth. God’s redeemed people, through His divine institution of the family, are called to be vice-regents ruling with Him and doing battle with the usurper Satan. To be effective in this battle, God told the family to be fruitful and multiply, which in part means to have children. Children trained in the ways of God are our greatest weapon in the battle against Satan.

After man fell, God initiated His plan for redemption and restoration of all things.[5] God’s plan to extend His kingdom and defeat Satan has and will primarily be accomplished through the family (the natural family and also the family of God). God created the family in the beginning as the basic institution to accomplish His purposes. When fallen man filled the earth with evil and violence, God sent a flood and started over with a family, Noah and his household (Gen. 7:1 ff).

God’s plan involved His making a covenant with Abraham to bless the nations of the earth through his family (Gen. 12 ff). Abram and his family obeyed God and left their pagan homeland to start a new nation. The covenant nation of Israel, through whom God gave to all mankind His Law-Word and the Messiah, was comprised of the descendants of Abraham, that is, his family. When Christ, who was part of both a heavenly and earthly family, came to earth, He gave birth to a new family, a spiritual family comprised of the redeemed, the family of God.

Paul views the redeemed (the church) as a family (1 Tim. 5:1-2). God is our heavenly Father (Eph. 3:14), and we are sons and daughters to Him (2 Cor. 6:18). We are also brothers and sisters with other believers in the family of God (Mt. 12:49-50; 1 John 3:14-18). But this does not replace the natural earthly family, but reinforces its importance. God’s promises are for us and our family (Acts 2:39; 16:31-33). God moves among entire families, for example, the households of Cornelius (Acts 10), Lydia (Acts 16:15), the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:31-34), Crispus (Acts 18:8), and Stephanas (1 Cor. 1:16).

God advanced His kingdom among the Gentiles under the New Covenant through families. The Gospel spread into Europe through families (e.g. Acts 16:14-15, 40). While Paul preached in synagogues, in the markets, and in the gates of cities, the church regularly gathered in homes, where entire households formed the nucleus of the emerging church. Christian families trained their posterity to know God and advance His purposes in the earth.

If the family is weakened, then the means to fulfill our Godly mission is weakened. We must resist every attempt to undermine the family, including direct attacks, such as homosexuals seeking to redefine the family, or increased immorality leading to unmarried people living together, but also the indirect actions of modern man that undermine the family, such as: no fault divorce, state education (which usurps parental influence), social security (one does not need the family to help in old age if the government assumes the role of provider and care), and the welfare state (government provides needs, replacing the role of the family).

Understanding the Mission as Context for Building Godly Families

Understanding God’s overarching mission for man gives the proper context for training our children and building Godly families. To summarize, with the Fall, man lost the ability to effectively carry out his Biblical mission. Mercifully, God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, triumphed over sin and death, and restored to man the ability to effectively fulfill his original mission of being fruitful and ruling over the earth (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Eph. 1:15-23). From the moment Christ Jesus set foot in the earth, there has been no end to the increase of His kingdom (Luke 1:33). He is the King over the earth and all creation. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:14-15). “For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations” (Psalm 22:28). The center of God’s purpose is not our salvation, but His kingdom.

He commissioned His church (the regenerate) to bring His kingdom (rule) to earth as it is in heaven. This is to be done not merely by individuals but through the divine institutions of family, church, and state. As the primary and first created institution, the family is the chief and most effective means for accomplishing this task. The family’s primary mission, then, is to extend the righteous rule of Jesus Christ over the whole earth.

With man’s fall Satan took control of the earth from man, who God had commissioned as His steward. Satan continues to try to control God’s earth, even after his defeat through Christ’s redemptive and restorative work. We are called to be Christ’s emissaries to take back that which the usurper stole. The family is the chief instrument that Christ has been using and will use to reclaim every square inch of His earth. This is the reason why the fight today in America and other nations over the definition of marriage and the family is so important.

 

—

 

To learn more about the family order The Biblical Family, Instrument of Godly Transformation.

 

Sections of the booklet include:

The Christian Idea of the Family

The Family’s Purpose and Responsibilities

The Commandments and the Family

The Family Is Responsible to Prepare Children as Instruments for Transformation

Biblical Education

Education Is Primarily the Responsibility of the Family, Who Can Delegate Aspects of It to Others

The Education of John Quincy Adams

The Philosophy, Methodology, and Content of Education Should Be Biblical

Biblical Education Advances God’s Kingdom with Good Fruit

Christian Education Will Pass the Baton to Future Generations

The Family Has the Right to Own and Govern Property

The Power of the Christian Family

Raising Kingdom Kids

 

 

 

 

———————————————————–

 

[1] CDC: U.S. Fertility Rate Hits Record Low for 2nd Straight Year; 40.7% of Babies Born to Unmarried Women. http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/cdc-us-fertility-rate-hits-record-low-2nd-straight-year-407-babies

[2] Ron Haskins, co-director of the Center for Children and Families at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.

[3] W. Bradford Wilcox, “Even for Rich Kids, Marriage Matters,” http://family-studies.org/even-for-rich-kids-marriage-matters/. For benefits of marriage also see: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/337706/lets-marry-kathryn-jean-lopez

[4] See Stephen McDowell, “Fulfilling the Cultural Mandate,” in Building Godly Nations, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2003, pp. 3-20.

[5] For more on God’s plan for man and his mission in the earth see Stephen McDowell, The Kingdom of God, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2012.

The Decline of America Due to the Decay of the Family and the Abdication of Its Responsibility to Educate the Next Generation

Stephen McDowell

 

The family is God’s chief instrument of dominion. It is God’s primary tool for extending His kingdom — His government — in the earth. Children are arrows or weapons that God gives the family to prepare to shoot into the culture and the future (Psalm 127:4). If the family is faulty, the fulfillment of the mission wanes and the nation will decline.

There are numerous signs of decay in the American culture. The most disturbing is the breakdown of the family. In 1960, 72% of adults were married. Today it is about 50%. In 1960, 65% of those filing taxes were married and 35% were unmarried; today, 39% are married, and 61% unmarried. In 1980, 18% of children were born outside of marriage; today over 40% are born outside of marriage. Today, only 32% of people think premarital sex is wrong; 69% thought so in 1969.

In the recent elections, for the first time voters in three states (Maryland, Maine, Washington) approved homosexual marriage. Before this, voters had rejected such initiatives every time (in 32 states). Nationwide polls show that 60% of the populace believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. While it is good a majority believe this, it should be an overwhelming majority considering: 1) this has been the overwhelming view of mankind since recorded history,  2) numerous studies show there are detrimental effects on children raised in homosexual families, 3) the Bible is clear on the definition of family. Added to this is the fact that no more than 3.7% of the population is homosexual. Why then has this small minority been able to force their views upon so many Americans today? Why is the family breaking down so rapidly in recent decades?

One primary reason is that the secularists have been very effective at taking control of state schools and educating the American citizenry with their relativistic, immoral, statist ideas. Christians have been greatly impacted as well: 75% of youth raised in Christian homes who attend secondary public schools lose their faith (about 25% who go to Christian schools, and 15-20% of homeschoolers lose their faith). And for Christians going to secular colleges, somewhere between 71-88% deny the faith by the time they graduate (with about 50% denying their faith who attend Christian colleges). Considering that most Christians send their children to state schools, it’s no wonder we have decaying families. And remember, as the family goes so goes the nation.

The Christian family, with the arrows (children) it shoots, is becoming less an instrument of God’s kingdom and more an instrument of man’s kingdom. We have given the enemy our greatest weapon (our children), and he has armed them and used them against us (the nation and liberty). This explains why so many people have embraced socialistic governmental ideas, and why the culture is decaying. It also reveals the great need for Biblical worldview education.

Reformation leader Martin Luther warned:

“I am afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”

Nineteenth century theologian A.A. Hodge presciently observed:

“I am as sure as I am of the fact of Christ’s reign that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief, and of anti-social, nihilistic ethics, individual, social, and political, which this sin-rent world has ever seen.”

To learn more: see this free presentation on “The Family and Christian Education: the Means of Transforming America and the Nations”

 

This Biblical Worldview University presentation includes:

• The family’s Biblical mission, purpose, and responsibilities
• The importance of education for liberty and prosperity
• The Biblical model of education
• Biblical education was central to America’s great liberty, prosperity, virtue, and justice.
• Numerous examples from American history
• How to receive a truly liberal arts education

 

. . .

 

A Discourse Delivered before the Ladies of the Mt. Vernon Association of the Union, at Pohick Church, Truro Parish, Fairfax County, Virginia on the Thirtieth Day of May, 1886

by Philip Slaughter, D.D., Historiographer of the Diocese of Virginia

 

Daniel Webster said: “America furnished the character of Washington, and if she had done nothing more, she would deserve the respect of mankind.’’

James Russell Lowell said:

“Virginia gave us this imperial man—This unblemished gentleman:—What can we give her back but love and praise?’’

I trust that I shall not be deemed presumptuous if I add: the Colonial Church gave Washington to Virginia, to America, and to the world; and if she had done nothing else she would deserve well of the country and of mankind. He was born in her bosom, baptized at her altar, trained in her catechism, worshipped in her courts, and was buried with her offices. She signed him with the sign of the cross, in token that he should not be ashamed of the faith of Christ crucified, but manfully fight under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end. By this sign he conquered—not only the independence of his country—but he conquered himself, thus realizing the proverb of Solomon, “He who ruleth his own spirit, is better than he who taketh a city.’’ Such a man’s character is worthy of study…. [I]t is not my intention to recount Washington’s weary wanderings in the wilderness, nor to rehearse the dramas of the French War and the American Revolution, “the battles, sieges, fortunes  that he passed, and his hairbreadth ‘scapes in the imminent deadly breach.’’ It is enough to say, in the words of Chief Justice Marshall, that he did more than any other man, and as much as any one man could do, to achieve our independence. Nor shall I attempt to expound the Constitution, over whose making he presided as master-workman…. According to Bancroft, “Without him the Union would never have been formed,’’ and the grand discovery of ‘89, a machine of self-government, would never have been put in motion. Nor will I speak of his election to the Presidency, except to say that he did not climb into the presidential chair by crooked ways; nor did he, like a supple serpent, insinuate himself into it from below; but he descended into it from above, like an eagle to his eyrie, as if sent from Heaven in answer to the unanimous prayers of the people. Rather will I describe how gladly and how gracefully he came down from the mount, turning his sword into a ploughshare, and returning to the shade of his old oaks; not blinded by gifts, not retiring on a pension, for Washington had thanks and nought beside, save the “all-cloudless glory to free his country.’’ Such a character is worthy of thoughtful study. No amount of treatment can exhaust its interest. . . .

Lord Brougham [said] Washington “was the greatest man of this, or of any, age. The veneration in which his name is held, will be a test of the progress the human race has made’’. . . .

When it was determined to run up the Washington Monument to a height overtopping all other monuments, as Washington surpasses other men, it became necessary to deepen and widen the foundation to enable it to bear the superadded weight. So it seems to me that we must seek a broader and firmer foundation for his colossal character than the shifting sands of earth. After the best study of which I am capable, I am convinced that the bed-rock upon which it rests is Faith. Not faith like that of Timoleon in the fickle Goddess, Fortune, nor like that of Mohammed in a fixed fate, nor like that of Napoleon in his star. Not faith like that of some modern scientists in an unreasoning, unmoral force at the back of, or inhering in, physical phenomena, and evolving out of them, by mechanical motion and chemical affinities, all moral phenomena — but faith in a personal God who created the heavens and the earth, and who made man after His own image, who upholds all things by the word of His power, watches over them with His parental providence, and blesses them with His super-abounding bounty. But he was not a mere natural religionist, believing that God had only written His name and attributes  in an alphabet of stars upon the blue pages of heaven, and in picturesque illustrations upon the green pages of earth, and in mysterious characters upon the table of the human heart. He believed that God no longer dwelt in a light inaccessible which no man can approach unto and survive the vision, but that He had manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, and that, instead of being blinded and blasted by the vision, we can look with delight upon the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In fine, he believed in the Bible and in the Apostles’ Creed as the best summary of the faith, and in the Catechism as one of the best expositions of those duties to God and to our neighbor, which he exemplified in his daily life. All which propositions will be proved and illustrated in the progress of this discourse.

It will be interesting to trace Washington’s Christian character to its first germination and to observe the influence of its surroundings upon its development. . . .

Washington was of the cavalier stock, renowned in English story. But limiting our view to the paternal root of the family in Virginia, we find John Washington a planter, a burgess, and commander of the county of Westmoreland in 1658, and giving his name to the parish in which he lived, the first instance of the appropriation of the name to any place in America.

But, what is more to our purpose, we have a summary of his Christian creed in his own words, viz.: “Being heartily sorry for my past sins, and earnestly desiring forgiveness of the same from Almighty God through the merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour and Redeemer, I trust to have full forgiveness of all my sins and be assuredly saved, and at the general resurrection my soul and body shall rise with joy.’’

Lawrence, son of this John and his wife, Anne Pope, married Mildred Warner. . . . Augustine, son of Lawrence and Mildred (born 1694), married (March 6th, 1730) for his second wife, Mary Ball, of Lancaster. Around White Chapel church, in St. Mary’s parish, Lancaster, there are many tombstones, most of which are inscribed with the name Ball, and epitaphs attesting, in the words of one of them, that they “died in steadfast faith in Christ, and in the hope of a joyful resurrection.’’ They were the descendants of William Ball, the first of the family in Virginia. One of the family, as early as 1729, petitioned the General Assembly that the county courts should “provide for the instruction of a certain number of young gentlemen, Virginians born, in Divinity.’’ Seven of them were vestrymen of the parish,. . . . Such was the maternal stock from which our Washington sprang. In the family Bible (still extant) is the following entry:

“George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary, his wife, was born ye 11th [old reckoning] day of February, 1731-2, about 10 in the morning, and was baptized the 3d of April following, Mr. Beverly Whiting and Capt. Christopher Brooks, Godfathers, and Mrs. Mildred Gregory, Godmother.’’

It was the good fortune of Washington to have in his father a man of sense, who took special pains, both by precept and example, to train his son in moral habits and to teach him religious principles. Even if we do not accept literally what have been called (without evidence) the myths of Mason Weems, yet some of them are supported by other testimony, as the diagram on which seed was sown, which, when coming up, spelled in green letters “George Washington,’’ to teach him that Providence, and not chance, ruled in nature.

It was his misfortune to lose his father when the son was but ten years of age;  but that Providence which he ever devoutly acknowledged gave him in his elder brother, Lawrence, a wise counselor. Lawrence inherited Mt. Vernon, which he called after the admiral of that name, with whom he served in the expedition against Carthagena. Lawrence was educated at Oxford, but, having a military turn, he entered the army. George often visited him at Mt. Vernon, and when his health failed accompanied him to the West Indies. Lawrence often rehearsed for George the story of his life in arms, and the latter greedily devoured his discourse. It was thus that his military genius was awakened. He practiced feats of arms with the old soldiers whom Lawrence attracted around him, developing that robust manhood and skill in fence which was an unconscious preparation for the great part he was to play in the dramas of the French War and the American Revolution.

But it was the peculiar felicity of Washington to have a devout Christian mother, the greatest blessing God gives to man. Some one has said that behind every great man is a great woman, his mother. And that sagacious observer, the First Napoleon, said, “the future of a child is the work of his mother.’’ The mother presides. . .  over the spring of life. She is indeed the spring whence the stream flows, and has the power of giving it a direction which will issue in Paradise or in perdition. . . .

The mother of Washington was an old-fashioned Virginia matron, with strong common sense, great administrative talent, fearing God and having no other fear, a firm believer in the righteousness of the rod; and yet those qualities were blended with a kindness whose overflow was only restrained by a sense of duty, so that Lawrence Washington, of Choptank, a cousin and schoolmate of George, said that he did not know whether he was more impressed with awe by her dignity or with sensibility to her softer qualities.

It was to this Christian woman, who, by precept and example, commanded her children and her household after her to keep the ways of the Lord, that Divine Providence committed the early training of a man of whom Gladstone has lately said: “He is the purest figure in history.’’ And she laid the foundation of his character with stones from the brook which “flowed fast by the oracles of God.’’ Wakefield, the family seat, . . . is between Bridge’s and Pope’s creeks, which last gave the name to Pope’s Creek Church, in which the family worshipped and Washington was baptized. Even the sexton of the church had something to do with his education, he having been the teacher in an old field school in which our hero learned the rudiments of grammar and arithmetic.

One of his schoolmates, Lewis Willis. . ., tells a characteristic story of him. He says that while the other lads were playing bandy or ball George was generally behind the door ciphering. His ciphering-book (so called) is now at Mt. Vernon.

The Bible and the Prayer-book were text-books in those primitive times. I remember in my childhood to have heard a very old gentleman, who was a contemporary of Washington, say that in the last century proficiency in the Bible was a test of scholarship; that a man who had only read half the Bible was only half educated; but that Washington was well educated, he having read and studied both the Old and the New Testaments.

It was while under the influence of his mother and pastor at Pope’s Creek Church, and afterwards at the Washington farm, opposite Fredericksburg, that he formed those habits of daily reading the Bible, of habitual attendance at public worship, of keeping holy the Sabbath day, which characterized his whole life, as is attested by his wife, by Mr. and Miss Custis, inmates of his house, and by his brother officers in the army. It was then, too, that he was indoctrinated in those duties toward his neighbor so clearly set forth in the Catechism — such as honoring his father and mother; obeying the civil authority; bearing no malice in his heart; hurting no one by word or deed; being true and just in all his dealings; keeping his hands from picking and stealing; his tongue from evil speaking, lying and slandering; his body in temperance, soberness, and chastity; not coveting other men’s goods; learning and laboring truly to get his own living, and to do his duty in that state of life unto which it should please God to call him.

One of the earliest illustrations we have of the impress made upon his mind by these teachings, is in some rules of conduct drawn up by him, and still extant in his own handwriting. Here are three of them: “When you speak of God or of His attributes, let it be seriously and with reverence.’’  “Labour to keep alive in the heart that spark of celestial fire called Conscience.’’  “Honour and obey your parents, whatever may be their condition.’’  This last rule was put to a severe test when, with the ship in view and his baggage aboard, he sacrificed, at his mother’s command, his passionate wish to enter the navy as a midshipman. This is a signal instance of the consequences which sometimes flow from a single act of obedience. Had he disobeyed his mother and gone to sea, humanly speaking, the course of history might have been reversed, and this colossal America of ours, with her head whitened by the snows of Canada and her feet in the land of flowers, stretching her right hand to the Atlantic and her left hand to the Pacific to welcome to her bountiful bosom the refugees from all climes, might never have been set free.

Among the influences which are powerful factors in the development of minds and morals, are books; and we long to know more of the contents of the family library. Besides the Bible and the Prayer-book, we know that he had, and read with his mother, “Discourses upon the Common Prayer,’’ and Sir Matthew Hale’s “Contemplations — Moral and Divine;’’ the latter of which is still preserved at Mt. Vernon, and bears the marks of diligent reading. “A precious document,’’ says Irving. “Let those who wish to know the moral foundation of his character, consult its pages. Its admirable maxims sank deep into the mind of George, and were exemplified in his conduct through life.’’

Having imbibed from Hobby, the sexton and head of the “old field’’ school, the contents of his cranium, and spent some time with his brother at Mt. Vernon, he went back to Wakefield, then owned by his brother Augustine, where he attended a school of a higher grade under Mr. Williams, and in two years perfected himself in the art of surveying.

Returning to Mt. Vernon, he found himself in a social circle of high-bred men and accomplished women. Not far from Mt. Vernon was Gunston, the seat of the Masons, a family which has contributed so many eminent men to the councils of the country, and among them, the great author of the “Bill of Rights.’’ Nearer still was Belvoir, the seat of the Hon. William Fairfax, a soldier and a man of letters, whose daughter was the wife of Lawrence Washington…. Here, too, he met Thomas Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the princely plantation, “The Northern Neck,’’ including all the land between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, from their mouths to their head-springs in the mountains, amounting to five million acres. Lord Fairfax was an old soldier, and a scholar who had contributed some papers to the elegant pages of the “Spectator.’’

By these associations Washington’s views were enlarged, and his manners and tastes refined. Lord Fairfax, a man nearly sixty, took a fancy to the youth of 16 years of age, and induced him to accompany him to his rustic “Greenway Court’’ in the valley of Virginia. From this centre they explored his vast domain in the wilderness, and Washington, for a doubloon a day became a surveyor of the trackless wilds, recording in his diary his arduous and romantic adventures. At Greenway Court, he tells us, he studied the history of England, and regaled himself with the papers of the Spectator, and in chasing the wild deer to the music of his Lordship’s hounds. This was in 1748. In the records of the county of Culpeper may be seen to this day the following entry: July 20th, 1749 — George Washington, gentleman, produced a commission from the president of William and Mary College, appointing him surveyor of this county, which was received; and thereupon “took the usual oaths to his majesty’s person and government, and took and subscribed the abjuration oath and test, and then took the oath of surveyor, according to law.’’

In 1751 he accompanied his brother, Lawrence, who was in consumption, to Barbadoes. Here he caught the small-pox, which left its impress upon his face for life. Lawrence returned home and died the 26th day of July, 1752, aged 34…. Although but 20 years old, George was left executor of his brother’s will, and after the death of his wife and daughter, inherited his estate, including Mt. Vernon. And now began that active career in the field and in council, which lasted almost to the day of his death. His first commission was an Embassy to the French and Indians in the North West, in which he incurred many perils by land and by water in the wilderness, and from the heathen. At 22 years of age, he was first lieutenant colonel and then commander of the Virginia forces. His friend, William Fairfax, wrote to him, “I will not doubt your having public prayer in camp, especially when the Indians are present.’’ Washington had a sharp correspondence with Gov. Dinwiddie, occasioned by the latter’s delay in sending him a chaplain. To Gov. Fauquier, who succeeded Dinwiddie, he repeats his complaint of the latter, saying: “The law provides for a chaplain to our regiment; common decency demands it. I flatter myself you will appoint a sober, serious man for the duty.’’ In the absence of a chaplain he conducted prayers in camp himself, at Fort Necessity, at the Great Meadows, and in the Alleghanies. This is attested by his aid, Col. Temple. When Braddock was killed, Washington read the burial service by the light of a torch, and writing of the battle to his brother, he said: “By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me, and yet escaped unhurt.’’ In 1758 the reduction of Fort Duquesne terminated the campaign and the military career of Washington, who resigned his commission, and was married at the “White House,’’ 6th January, 1759. He now took his seat in the House of Burgesses. The speaker (Robinson), by order of the house, returned thanks to him for his distinguished military services to the colony. Washington rising to reply, blushed, trembled, and could not utter a word. The speaker relieved his embarrassment by saying pleasantly: “Sit down, Mr. Washington. Your modesty equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I can command.’’ While Washington was in public life it was easy to feel his spiritual pulse; its beatings were indicated in all the public documents he issued. But after his marriage, except when the General Assembly was in session, he was enjoying otium cum dignitate at Mt. Vernon, until the independence bell began to ring. This is just the interval during which links are wanting in the chain of evidence. But luckily, I have lately found them in the old vestry book of Truro, which has been lost to public view from time immemorial, and which enables us to supply the missing links. This precious record discloses the fact that, during this interval, he and George Mason, and the Fairfaxes, Alexander Henderson, and the McCartys, and others, were active official Church workers, busily engaged in building those historic edifices known as Payne’s and Pohick churches, in sending their friend and neighbor, Lee Massey, to England for orders, and in buying a glebe, or fitting up a rectory with all comfortable appurtenances for their pastor. It is pleasing to see how punctual he was at the vestry meetings, having been first made a vestryman in October, 1762. In 1763, with George W. Fairfax as his associate, he was church warden. . . .  [A recounting of his many acts of official church service follows in Slaughter’s original discourse.]

But now men began to scent the smoke of battle from afar, and conventions and congresses were the order of the day. In 1774 the House of Burgesses, of which he was a member, appointed a day of fasting and prayer, and we find at that date this entry in his private diary: “Went to church and fasted all day.’’ In September of the same year he was in Philadelphia, a member of the First Congress, and he says in his journal of the first three Sundays that he went three times to Episcopal churches and once to the Presbyterian, Quaker, and Roman Catholic churches, that being the first opportunity he had of observing some of these modes of worship. On taking command of the army in 1775 he issued an order requiring of “all officers and soldiers punctual attendance on divine service, to implore the blessing of Heaven on the means used for our safety and defence.’’ In 1776, Congress having set apart a day of humiliation, he commanded a strict obedience to the order of Congress that “by unfeigned and pure observance of their religious duties they might incline the Lord and giver of victory to prosper our arms.’’ He sternly forbade, on pain of the lash, gambling, drunkenness, and profane swearing — “wicked practices,’’ he said, “hitherto but little known in the American army’’ — and he adds: “We can have but little hope of the blessing of God if we insult Him by our blasphemies, vices so low and without temptation that every man of sense and character detests them.’’

He describes the bloodless evacuation of Boston and the surrender of Burgoyne as signal strokes of “that divine providence which has manifestly appeared in our behalf during our whole struggle.’’ In 1778, after the battle of Monmouth, he tells his mother “all would have been lost but for that bountiful providence which has never failed us in the hour of distress.’’ To General Nelson he says; “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.’’

In 1781 he wrote to General Armstrong: “The many remarkable interpositions of the divine government in our deepest distress and darkness have been too luminous to suffer me to doubt the issue of the present contest.’’

When peace was proclaimed in April, 1783, he issued an order from Newburgh commanding the chaplains with the army “to render thanks to God for His overruling the wrath of man to His own glory and causing the rage of war to cease.’’ He calls it a “morning star heralding in a brighter day than has hitherto illumined this Western hemisphere.’’  “Thrice happy are they who have done the meanest office in creating this stupendous fabric of freedom and empire, and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.’’ On June 18th he issued a letter to the Governors of the States, which concludes with the “earnest prayer that God may have you and the States over which you preside in His holy protection; that He would incline the citizens to obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States in general, and particularly for those who have served in the field; that He would be pleased to dispose them to do justice, to love mercy,  and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, without an humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.’’

In his Farewell Address to the army, November 2d, 1783, he gives them his benediction and invokes for them “Heaven’s choicest favours both here and hereafter.’’ In resigning his military commission to Congress, he says: “In this last act of my official life I consider it my indispensable duty to commend the interests of our dear country to the protection of Almighty God and those who have the superintendence of them to His holy keeping.’’

In his Farewell Address to the people of the United States, which the British historian Alison pronounced “unequalled by any composition of uninspired wisdom,’’ he said words which have been quoted all around the globe: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who shall labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume would not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of a peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.’’

In a letter to Mr. Smith, of Connecticut, who had applauded his services, he replied: “To the Great Ruler of Events, and not to any services of mine, I ascribe the termination of our contest for liberty. I never considered the fortunate issue of any measure adopted by me in the progress of the Revolution in any other light than as the ordering of Divine Providence.’’

To these might be added many like confessions of faith from his private letters and from nearly every public document issued by him from the beginning to the close of his career, as soldier and statesman; there is nothing like it in the history of Christendom.

Now let us look for a moment at the impressions made by his daily life on those who were nearest to him, in his home, in his parish, in the field, and in the councils of the country. I hold in my hand a catalogue of nearly two hundred funeral sermons and orations, etc., delivered on the occasion of his death. Many of them I have read, and from them a volume of testimonials could be collected illustrating his Christian creed and character. A few citations from this cloud of witnesses must suffice.

General Harry Lee said: “First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen—sincere, humane, pious. The finger of an overruling Providence, pointing at Washington as the man designed by Heaven to lead us in war and in peace, was not mistaken. He laid the foundations of our policy in the unerring principles of morality based on religion.’’

Major Jackson, his aid, speaks of the radiance of religion shining in his character and of his being beloved by the ministers of religion. The Honorable Mr. Sewall, of New Hampshire, said: “To crown all his virtues, he had the deepest sense of religion. He was a constant attendant on public worship and a communicant at the Lord’s table. I shall never forget the impression made by seeing this leader of our hosts bending in this house of prayer in humble adoration of the God of Armies and the author of our salvation.’’ The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, of Boston, said: “He was known to be habitually devout.’’ His pastor, Rev. Lee Massey, trusted and beloved by George Mason and George Washington, testifies: “He was the most punctual attendant at church I have ever known. No company ever prevented his coming, and his behaviour was so reverential as to greatly aid me in my labors.’’ Bishop Meade, who was intimate at Mt. Vernon and with Mr. Massey’s family, says they affirmed that “Washington was a communicant.’’ We have seen that he chose a pew next to the communion table; and Miss Custis, a member of the family, attests that “her grandmother, Mrs. Washington, told her often that General Washington always communed with her before the Revolution.’’ G.W.P. Custis, Washington’s ward and a member of the family, says, in his printed reminiscences: “Washington was a strict and decorous observer of the Sabbath. He always attended divine service in the morning, and read a sermon or some portion of the Bible to Mrs. Washington in the afternoon. On Sunday,’’ Mr. Custis says, “there were no visitors to the President’s house except relations, and Mr. Speaker Trumbull (Mr. Trumbull was a devout Christian) in the evening; so that if the bell rang the porter knew it to be the `Speaker’s bell,’ as it was called.’’ To this statement of Mr. Custis, his editor, Lossing, thoroughly versed in the family history, appends this note: “Washington was a member in full communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church.’’ The doubt which has been expressed by some persons on this point has arisen, I think, from the conceded fact that he did not always commune, as attested by Bishop White, while Congress sat in Philadelphia, and by Miss Custis as to Alexandria, after services ceased at Pohick Church. In explanation of this fact I would suggest that it was the custom of the Colonial Church only to administer the communion at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and the people fell into the habit of limiting their communion to these occasions. The canons of the English Church only required the communion to be administered three times a year. This is made probable by the express declaration of General Porterfield to General Samuel Lewis, both of whom were known by many persons now living to have been men of spotless truth: “General Washington was a pious man, a member of the Episcopal Church. I saw him myself on his knees receive the Lord’s Supper at Philadelphia.’’ Porterfield, being brigade inspector, often waited on Washington in the army, and going once without warning to Washington’s headquarters, he says: “I found him on his knees at his morning devotions.’’ He added: “I was often in Washington’s company under very exciting circumstances and never heard him swear or profane the name of God in any way.’’

And now as to his habits in New York. Major Popham, a Revolutionary officer much with Washington, and whose high character is attested by Bishop Meade and Dr. Berrien, of Trinity Church, New York, in a letter to Mrs. John A. Washington, of Mt. Vernon, affirms that he attended the same church with Washington during his Presidency. “I sat in Judge Morris’ pew, and I am as confident as a memory now laboring under the pressure of 87 years will serve, that the President often communed, and I had the privilege of kneeling with him. My elder daughter distinctly remembers hearing her grandmamma, Mrs. Morris, mention the fact with pleasure.’’. . . .

He is known, as a general rule, to have spent an hour every morning and evening in reading the Bible and in private meditation and prayer. His prayers, often audible, were overheard by members of the family, and his aids, Col. Temple, and Gen. Knox, and Gen. Porterfield, and his nephew and private secretary, Robert Lewis, attest his habits in this particular — unquestionable evidence of the firmness of his faith and the reality of his communion with God.

Of those who have most thoroughly studied Washington’s history, having access to the family papers and leaving no source of intelligence unexplored, are Bancroft, Sparks, Irving, Lossing, Marshall, Bishop Meade, Dr. McGuire, and Winthrop; and we will let them sum up the conclusions they have reached.

Bancroft says: “Washington was from his heart truly and deeply religious. His convictions became more intense from the influence of the great events of his life upon his character. We know from himself that he could not but feel that he had been sustained by the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human things. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and belonged decidedly to the party of moderation.’’

Sparks says: “He was Christian in faith and practice, and he was habitually devout. He was charitable and humane; liberal to the poor, kind to those in distress. His reverence for religion was seen in his example, in his public communications, and in his private writings.’’

Chief Justice Marshall, his fellow-soldier and his biographer, says: “He was a sincere believer in the Christian faith, and a truly devout man.’’

Lossing says: “He was a member in full communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and a vestryman of Truro and Fairfax Parishes.’’

Irving says: “Washington attended church every Sunday, when the weather and roads permitted. His demeanor was reverential and devout. He and his wife were both communicants.’’

And R.C. Winthrop, who was orator at the laying of the corner-stone of the Monument, and also at its dedication, says: “True to his friends, true to his country, and to himself; fearing God, believing in Christ, no stranger to private devotion, or to the holiest offices of the Church to which he belonged; but ever gratefully acknowledging a divine aid and direction in everything he attempted, and in everything he accomplished. What epithet, what attribute, could be added to that consummate character to commend it as an example above all other characters in human history?’’

Lavater, who had made a profound study of physiognomy, says: “A man’s looks, words and actions are the alphabet which spells character.’’ We have heard Washington’s words, and seen his actions by the light of history. His person was as majestic as his character. He was six feet two inches high in his prime, and strength and grace were blended in his figure. Stuart, who painted his portrait so often, says there were features in his face totally different from any he had ever seen. Hiram Powers, the American sculptor, told me in his studio in Florence that he had compared the head of Washington with all the antique busts in the galleries, and it surpassed them all. Moustier, the French minister, describing him at his inauguration, said: “Nature, which had given him the talent to govern, distinguished him from all other men by his appearance. He had the look and the figure of a hero.’’ The wife of Mr. Adams, speaking of him as he appeared to a woman’s eye on the same occasion, said: “He looks a temple made by hands divine.’’

Washington was a Mason,1 and if we apply to his character in a moral sense, the rules applied by that order to his monument, we shall find it square, level and plumb. Its distinguishing features were a sense of duty and self-control. His passions were by nature strong, and yet, in general, he had complete mastery of them. He ruled his own spirit as men harness electricity and steam, and make them do their work. He struck the golden mean between extremes. He was a Virginian, but not a sectionalist. He was an American, and yet, like Socrates, a citizen of the world. He was an Episcopalian, and yet, to use his own words, he always “strove to prove a faithful and impartial patron of genuine vital religion’’ wherever found; and he so demeaned himself that all Christians honored and revered him. The Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, and Methodists sent him addresses of confidence and admiration, and the Baptist University at Providence, Rhode Island, conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. Bishops Coke and Asbury (Methodist) visited him at Mt. Vernon, 1785, and Dr. Coke records in his diary: “He is a plain country gentleman, polite and easy of access, and a friend of mankind. I was loath to leave him, for I greatly love and esteem him, and if there was not pride in it I would say, we are surely kindred spirits, formed in the same mould.’’ Socially he was intimate with P.E. Bishop White, and the R.C. Bishop Carroll, and his pastors, Drs. Griffith and Massey, and the Rev. Bryan Fairfax. He seems to have lived in a serene atmosphere above the clouds of sectarian jealousy, sectional hate, and national pride, which so obscure our vision, and hide from us the boundless landscape of truth.

In considering Christian character it is not fair to make the prevailing type of religion in one generation a Procrustean bed, to which men of past generations must be fitted, before they are recognized as Christians. Time and place weigh heavily upon all men. To be born in a particular degree of latitude is to be an American or a Chinaman. To be born in a particular epoch is to have the dominant opinions and manners of that epoch. If Washington had been born in Paris, or Napoleon in America, the outcome of each might have been very different from their history as it is written. So the type of religion varies with time and place. Between St. Augustine at one end of the scale and John Bunyan at the other, there are many degrees, and all within the limits of saving faith. The inward spiritual grace was the same, but the outward expression of it in the life varied with time and circumstance. . . .

Here again, I think, our Hero struck the golden mean. For in commending to his countrymen morality he warned them against the error of supposing that morality could live long unless it was rooted in religious principle. He was not a metaphysician, but a man of action all his life. So he added to his faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity. His first wish, he said, “is to see the whole world at peace, and its inhabitants one band of brothers, striving who should contribute most to the happiness of mankind.’’

When commanding a company at Alexandria in his youth, a warm contest took place for the Assembly between a Mr. Ellzey and G.W. Fairfax. Washington, the friend of Fairfax, said something offensive to Mr. Payne. . . Payne resented it by knocking Capt. Washington down with his cane. The latter, next morning, sent a letter to Payne, which, instead of being a challenge, as was anticipated, was a magnanimous acknowledgment that he was in the wrong, and they were ever after fast friends. Later in life he forbade La Fayette’s challenging a British officer to fight a duel, and by pleasant raillery laughed him out of the notion.

During the Revolution, he directed one of his agents (Peake) to keep one corn-house for the use of the poor, and instructed his steward (Lund Washington) never to allow the poor to go from his house hungry, and directed him to spend $250 of his money per annum in charity. He gave the use of several farms to the homeless; established a charity school at Alexandria; gave $10,000 to what is now Washington and Lee University; educated young men at college; made provisions for orphans, and for aged and infirm servants.

Let no one suppose that I am trying to paint a perfect portrait. Humanum est errare. The sun has its spots. And those whose taste leads them to look at these through magnifying glasses, must allow us the liberty of rather rejoicing in the light and warmth and bliss in which he bathes all nature. There is but one spotless page in history; it is that which records the life and death of the spotless Lamb of God.

Neither let it be suspected that we deem the authority of Washington needed to buttress Christianity. As well might it be said that the satellites which the sun attracts around him, and which reflect his light, uphold that great luminary. The sun is self-poised, and shines by his own light, and so does Christianity. They both uphold their satellites instead of being supported by them. If Washington, and Henry, and Marshall, and Mason, and the Lees and Randolphs, and George Nicholas and Archy Cary, and Pendleton and Nelson, and Page and other stars in the Colonial Church constellation, bring the laurels they reaped in the fields of their fame and lay them as humble offerings upon the altar of Christ, we gratefully accept the offerings, but give the glory where it is due.

…[W]hen [Shakespeare] enunciates the “king-becoming graces,’’ — Justice, Verity, Temperance, Stability, Purity, Perseverance, Mercy, Humility, Devotion, Patience, Courage, Fortitude, — it seems to me like a presentiment and a prophecy of our “king of men’’ by universal suffrage. For to possess these qualities is to be a king, whether called so or not; and if Washington had sat for the portrait, it could not have been more true to the life.

Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, has been called the Monarch of Mountains, “crowned long ago with a diadem of snow.’’ It seems to me to be a fitting symbol of the man, who, by common consent, has been crowned “king of men.’’ What could be purer than a crown of driven snow, “fanned and bolted o’er and o’er,’’ by all the winds of heaven? Under the microscope, each particle of snow is a six-rayed star, and when the sunlight falls from heaven upon them, each star shines, and all of them  together glow with a radiance which surpasses infinitely the lustre of all the jewels which glitter on all the crowned heads on earth. No one who has ever seen the sun rise or set on the Alps, will ever forget the beauty and the glory of that splendid transfiguration. Thus are the character and career of Washington “diademed with rays divine.’’

And so I conclude with Tennyson’s imitation of the motto on the crest of the Washingtons — Virtus sola nobilitas.

Howe’er it be, it seems to me,

‘Tis only noble to be good;

Kind hearts are more than coronets,

And simple faith, than Norman blood.

 

*  *  *

ENDNOTES

1 Masonry was much different in Washington’s day than today. While joining a local lodge as a young man, he was not active most of his life. On September 25, 1798, Washington wrote a reply letter to Rev. G.W. Snyder, who thought he presided over a Masonic Lodge, stating: “The fact is, I preside over none, nor have I been in one more than once or twice within the last thirty years.’’ (The Writings of George Washington, by Jared Sparks, Vol. XI, Boston: Russell, Shattuck, and Williams, 1836, p. 315.)

 

Women have played a great, yet, often unheralded role in the birth of America and advancement of liberty. Since men have filled most positions of leadership in society, they generally are more visible when events of history are examined. While not occupying as prominent a public role, women and mothers have, nonetheless, filled a vital role that  cannot be duplicated.

Most mothers in early America saw their most crucial role in society was to form the character of the next generation. They thought thatmen, in general, may lead the nation, but that they were the ones who would train the leaders. This  was primarily carried out in the home.

John Adams wrote in a letter to his wife, Abigail:  “I think I have some times observed to you in conversation, that upon examining the biography of illustrious men, you will generally find some female about them, in the relation of mother, or wife, or sister, to whose instigation a great part of their merit is to be ascribed.’’ (The Christian History of the American Revolution, Verna Hall, compiler, p. 74)

Speaking of famous men in history, Major Spalding said,  “I have never known, and never read of one—no, not one!—who did not owe high standing, or a great name, to his mother’s blood, or his mother’s training.’’ (Ibid.)

People have debated in recent years whether women can compete with men in public life. Certainly they can, but let us never forget that no one can compete with a mother in the home—no one can fill her place. As more mothers have left the home in recent years, through choice or necessity, our nation has experienced more and more problems, for those who can best form the character of the next generation are having less and less input into the lives of their children—those who are the next generation. Neither the state, nor the school,  nor even the church can effectively replace mom or dad in the home.

There have been many women who have contributed significantly to the well-being and advancement of America in the public sphere without neglecting their primary role as wives and mothers. One of these women was Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), who became America’s first poet while remaining a dedicated Puritan wife and mother. Another was Martha Washington, who walked by the side of the Father of our country in all trials and triumphs with “uncomplaining endurance, and continual, unnoted self-sacrifice.’’

Many women stand out in the Revolutionary period. To mention a few: Lydia Darrah was a devout Quaker who risked her life to warn George Washington and the American troops of British plans to secretly attack them. She was successful and the troops were saved from likely defeat, and the possible termination of the war. Abigail Adams was a tremendous support and inspiration to her husband, John, who played a leading part in the struggle for independence and who served as our second President. Abigail also played a central role in the training of her son, John Quincy Adams, who served America in many capacities, including that of our sixth President.

The most notable female author and intellectual of the 18th century was Mercy Otis Warren. Many of her writings were published, including History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution.  She wrote this work with a desire to be of use to the newly formed American republic. She thought a principal responsibility of her writings was “to form the minds, to fix the principles[,] to correct the errors, and to beckon by the soft allurements of love, as well as the stronger voice of reason, the young members of society (peculiarly my charge), to tread the path of true glory….’’ (Warren’s History, reprinted by Liberty Classics, p. xvii.)

In her writings, Mercy Warren not only saw an opportunity to benefit her country, but to also fulfill her role as a mother—“to cultivate the sentiments of public and private virtue in whatever falls from her pen.’’ (ibid.) She agreed with the common sentiment of her day that history should train people, especially young people, in “public and private virtue.’’ (Ibid., p. xxi.)

Many other women could be mentioned who contributed significantly to the development of America, both inside and outside of the home. This Providential Perspective contains some ideas and stories that help communicate the role of women, and the courage and determination they have displayed, in the growth of our nation. We began with a speech given by the great Christian statesman, Daniel Webster.

 

* * * * * * * *

Remarks to the Ladies of Richmond

Daniel Webster, October 5, 1840

Ladies,—I am very sure I owe the pleasure I now enjoy to your kind disposition, which has given me the opportunity to present my thanks and my respects to you thus collectively, since the shortness of my stay in the city does not allow me the happiness of calling upon those, severally and individually, from members of whose families I have received kindness and notice. And, in the first place, I wish to express to you my deep and hearty thanks, as I have endeavored to do to your fathers, your husbands, and your brothers, for the unbounded hospitality I have received ever since I came among you. This is registered, I assure you, in a grateful heart, in characters of an enduring nature. The rough contests of the political world are not suited to the dignity and the delicacy of your sex; but you possess the intelligence to know how much of that happiness which you are entitled to hope for, both for yourselves and for your children, depends on the right administration of government, and a proper tone of public morals.  That is a subject on which the moral perceptions of woman are both quicker and juster than those of the other sex. I do not speak of that administration of government whose object is merely the protection of industry, the preservation of civil liberty, and the securing to enterprise of its due reward. I speak of government in a somewhat higher point of view; I speak of it in regard to its influence on the morals and sentiments of the community. We live in an age distinguished for great benevolent exertion, in which the affluent are consecrating the means they possess to the endowment of colleges and academies, to the building of churches, to the support of religion and religious worship, to the encouragement of schools, lyceums, and athenaeums, and other means of general popular instruction. This is all well; it is admirable; it augurs well for the prospects of ensuing generations. But I have sometimes thought, that, amidst all this activity and zeal of the good and the benevolent, the influence of government on the morals and on the religious feelings of the community is apt to be overlooked or underrated. I speak, of course, of its indirect influence, of the power of its example, and the general tone which it inspires.

“Mothers… work, not upon the canvas that shall perish, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last for ever, and which is to bear, for good or evil, throughout its duration, the impress of a mother’s… hand.’’–Daniel Webster

A popular government, in all these respects, is a most powerful institution; more powerful, as it has sometimes appeared to me, than the influence of most other human institutions put together, either for good or for evil, according to its character. Its example, its tone, whether of regard or disregard for moral obligation, is most important to human happiness; it is among those things which most affect the political morals of mankind, and their general morals also. I advert to this, because there has been put forth, in modern times, the false maxim, that there is one morality for politics, and another morality for other things; that, in their political conduct to their opponents, men may say and do that which they would never think of saying or doing in the personal relations of private life. There has been openly announced a sentiment, which I consider as the very essence of false morality, which declares that “all is fair in politics.’’ If a man speaks falsely or calumniously of his neighbor, and is reproached for the offence, the ready excuse is this:—“It was in relation to public and political matters; I cherished no personal ill-will whatever against that individual, but quite the contrary; I spoke of my adversary merely as a political man.’’ In my opinion, the day is coming when falsehood will stand for falsehood, and calumny will be treated as a breach of the commandment, whether it be committed politically or in the concerns of private life.

It is by the promulgation of sound morals in the community, and more especially by the training and instruction of the young, that woman performs her part towards the preservation of a free government. It is generally admitted that public liberty, and the perpetuity of a free constitution, rest on the virtue and intelligence of the community which enjoys it. How is that virtue to be inspired, and how is that intelligence to be communicated? Bonaparte once asked Madame de Stael in what manner he could best promote the happiness of France. Her reply is full of political wisdom. She said, “Instruct the mothers of the French people.’’  Mothers are, indeed, the affectionate and effective teachers of the human race. The mother begins her process of training with the infant in her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, its first mental and spiritual pulsations. She conducts it along the impressible years of childhood and youth, and hopes to deliver it to the stern conflicts and tumultuous scenes of life, armed by those good principles which her child has received from maternal care and love.

If we draw within the circle of our contemplation the mothers of a civilized nation, what do we see?  We behold so many artificers working, not on frail and perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, moulding and fashioning beings who are to exist for ever. We applaud the artist whose skill and genius present the mimic man upon the canvas; we admire and celebrate the sculptor who works out that same image in enduring marble; but how insignificant are these achievements, though the highest and the fairest in all the departments of art, in comparison with the great vocation of human mothers!  They work, not upon the canvas that shall perish, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last for ever, and which is to bear, for good or evil, throughout its duration, the impress of a mother’s plastic hand.

I have already expressed the opinion, which all allow to be correct, that our security for the duration of the free institutions which bless our country depends upon habits of virtue and the prevalence of knowledge and of education. The attainment of knowledge does not comprise all which is contained in the larger term of education. The feelings are to be disciplined; the passions are to be restrained; true and worthy motives are to be inspired; a profound religious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality inculcated, under all circumstances. All this is comprised in education. Mothers who are faithful to this great duty will tell their children, that neither in political nor in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience and of duty; that in every act, whether public or private, he incurs a just responsibility; and that in no condition is he warranted in trifling with important rights and obligations. They will impress upon their children the truth, that the exercise of the elective franchise is a social duty, of as solemn a nature as man can be called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every free elector is a trustee, as well for others as himself; and that every man and every measure he supports has an important bearing on the interests of others, as well as on his own. It is in the inculcation of high and pure morals such as these, that, in a free republic, woman performs her sacred duty, and fulfills her destiny. The French, as you know, are remarkable for their fondness for sententious phrases, in which much meaning is condensed into a small space. I noticed lately, on the title-page of one of the books of popular instruction in France, this motto:—“Pour instruction on the heads of the people! you owe them that baptism.’’  And, certainly, if there be any duty which may be described by a reference to that great institute of religion,—a duty approaching it in importance, perhaps next to it in obligation,—it is this.

I know you hardly expect me to address you on the popular political topics of the day. You read enough, you hear quite enough, on those subjects. You expect me only to meet you, and to tender my profound thanks for this marked proof of your regard, and will kindly receive the assurances with which I tender to you, on parting, my affectionate respects and best wishes.

The Works of Daniel Webster, Vol 2 (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1854), pp. 105-108.

 

* * * * * * *

 

A Good Lady and Her Two Sons

From Annals of the American Revolution, by Jedidiah Morse, 1824.

The female part of our citizens contributed their full proportion in every period, towards the accomplishment of the revolution. They wrought in their own way, and with great effect. An anecdote which we have just seen in one of our newspapers, will explain what I mean.

A good lady—we knew her when she had grown old—in 1775, lived on the sea-board, about a day’s march from Boston, where the British army then was. By some unaccountable accident, a rumour was spread, in town and country, in and about there, that the Regulars were on a full march for the place, and would probably arrive in three hours at farthest. This was after the battle of Lexington, and all, as might be well supposed, was in sad confusion—some were boiling with rage and full of fight, some with fear and confusion, some hiding their treasures, and others flying for life. In this wild moment, when most people, in some way or other, were frightened from their property, our heroine, who had two sons, one about nineteen years of age, and the other about sixteen, was seen by our informant, preparing them to discharge their duty. The eldest she was able to equip in fine style—she took her husband’s fowling-piece, “made for duck or plover,’’ (the good man being absent on a coasting voyage to Virginia) and with it the powder horn and shot bag; but the lad thinking the duck and goose shot not quite the size to kill regulars, his mother took a chisel, cut up her pewter spoons, and hammered them into slugs, and put them into his bag, and he set off in great earnest, but thought he would call one moment and see the parson, who said well done, my brave boy—God preserve you—and on he went in the way of his duty. The youngest was importunate for his equipments, but his mother could find nothing to arm him with but an old rusty sword; the boy seemed rather unwilling to risk himself with this alone, but lingered in the street, in a state of hesitation, when his mother thus upbraided him.  “You John H*****, what will your father say if he hears that a child of his is afraid to meet the British, go along; beg or borrow a gun, or you will find one, child—some coward, I dare say, will be running away, then take his gun and march forward, and if you come back and I hear you have not behaved like a man, I shall carry the blush of shame on my face to the grave.’’  She then shut the door, wiped the tear from her eye, and waited the issue; the boy joined the march. Such a woman could not have cowards for her sons. Instances of refined and delicate pride and affection occurred, at that period, every day, in different places, and in fact this disposition and feeling was then so common, that it now operates as one great cause of our not having more facts of this kind recorded. What few there are remembered should not be lost.  Nothing great or glorious was ever achieved which woman did not act in, advise, or consent to.

Jedidiah Morse, Annals of the American Revolution (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1968. Reprint of original, first published in 1824.), p. 233.

 

* * * * * * * *

A Letter from a Lady of Philadelphia

From The Women of the American Revolution, by Elizabeth F. Ellet, 1849. (in Hall, p. 74)

A letter found among some papers belonging to a lady of Philadelphia, addressed to a British officer in Boston, and written before the Declaration of Independence, reads, in part:

“I will tell you what I have done. My only brother I have sent to the camp with my prayers and blessings. I hope he will not disgrace me; I am confident he will behave with honor, and emulate the great examples he has before him; and had I twenty sons and brothers they should go. I have retrenched every superfluous expense in my table and family; tea I have not drunk since last Christmas, nor bought a new cap or gown since your defeat at Lexington; and what I never did before, have learned to knit, and am now making stockings of American wool for my servants; and this way do I throw in my mite to the public good. I know this—that as free I can die but once; but as a slave I shall not be worthy of life. I have the pleasure to assure you that these are the sentiments of all by sister Americans. They have sacrificed assemblies, parties of pleasure, tea drinking and finery, to that great spirit of patriotism that actuates all degrees of people throughout this extensive continent. If these are the sentiments of females, what must glow in the breasts of our husbands, brothers, and sons! They are as with one heart determined to die of be free. It is not a quibble in politics, a science which few understand, that we are contending for; it is this plain truth, which the most ignorant peasant knows, and is clear to the weakest capacity—that no man has a right to take their money without their consent. You say you are no politician. Oh, sir, it requires no Machiavelian head to discover this tyranny and oppression. It is written with a sunbeam. Every one will see and know it, because it will make every one feel; and we shall be unworthy of the blessings of Heaven if we ever submit to it…. Heaven seems to smile on us; for in the memory of man, never were known such quantities of flax, and sheep without number. We are making powder fast, and do not want for ammunition.’’

 

* * * * * * * *

America’s First Black Poet, Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753-1784) was the first significant black writer in America, and her book of poems (1773) was probably the first book published by a black American. Her accomplishments are even more admirable when we consider her circumstances in life.

Phillis came as a slave to America from Africa in 1761, at about the age of eight. When she arrived she knew no English and was frail. While she quickly learned English, and much more, she remained frail all her life. Phillis was purchased by John and Susanna Wheatley who incorporated her into their family. Susanna and her daughter, Mary, tutored her in the Bible, English, Latin, history, geography and Christian principles. Phillis learned quickly and acquired a better education than most women in Boston had at the time.

Phillis began writing poetry at age twelve and many of her poems reflect her strong Christian faith. Due to the Wheatley’s influence and example, she had become a sincere Christian. At the age of 18, Phillis joined the Old South Congregational Church. She was not only glad to be a Christian, but was also proud to be an American. God was her first priority, followed by herself and the Wheatley family.

Shortly after her first book of poems was published in 1773 (this was accomplished primarily by the help of the Wheatleys, who had encouraged her in her writing for years), she was given her freedom by Mr. Wheatley. In her short life she gained much renown and met many famous people, including George Washington, about whom she had written a poem.

The following poem reveals Phillis Wheatley’s providential view of life, recognizing God’s hand in her own circumstances and history.

On Being Brought From Africa to America

by Phillis Wheatley

 

‘TWAS mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.

Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

“Their colour is a diabolic die.’’

Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,

May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.

By Stephen McDowell

 

In the 1980s The National Commission on Excellence in Education issued a report entitled “A Nation at Risk.’’ In that report they stated: “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.’’

Why are we a nation at risk today? One primary reason is due to the mediocre educational performance that exists today that results from the state monopoly of education where the anti-christian, man-centered religion of humanism is preached 5 days a week to 40-50 million of our youth, which is leading them and our nation into bondage.

This man-is-god religion (where man is the source of right and wrong and there are no absolutes) is also predominant in the market place of ideas—in the media, movies, television, and arts.

Johnny is in trouble today.

Johnny is in trouble—not because he is playing hooky from school, but because he is attending school.

Some of the most negative influences that young Americans can face today are found in public schools. In the past few decades this has exponentially worsened. In 1940 the top offenses in public schools were chewing gum, talking in class, unfinished homework, and running in the halls. In 1980 the top offenses were drugs, drunkenness, assault, murder and rape.

While at school, Johnny not only is confronted with drugs, immorality and violence, but he is also receiving a second rate education. From 1963-1980 Scholastic Aptitude Test scores dropped consistently each year (since 1980 they increased slightly for a few years and then began dropping again). The average verbal scores of the SAT dropped over 50 points and the average math scores dropped over 35 points.

As a result of decreasing literary skills, college textbooks are being rewritten at a lower grade level so that the students can understand them. Most newspapers and magazines are written at about a sixth grade level which is now the reading level of the average American. [To compare the literacy level of today with early America, read the Federalist Papers, which were written for farmers and other common citizens in New York. Today’s college graduates find them difficult.]

“But how can this be?’’ you may ask, “for Johnny is getting better grades than ever.’’ This is true, which makes the problem even worse, for many young people do not know how little they are learning.

Take for example, the young man who graduated as valedictorian from his Washington, D.C. high school yet was refused admission to George Washington University because his SAT scores were so low (320 on the verbal, which was the bottom 13% nationally of high school seniors; and 280 on the math, which was the bottom 2%). Due to his excellent grades he understandably considered himself a superior student, yet in the words of the dean of admissions of George Washington University, “He’s been deluded into thinking he’s gotten an education.’’

He, like many others in our public education system, has been conned. Grade inflation has only contributed to hiding the crisis that faces our public schools today.

Many Americans have been deluded into thinking they have gotten an education. They may not be functionally illiterate (though tens of millions are), but way too many are culturally and morally illiterate.

What is the problem?

Educational leaders acknowledge that there are problems with our public schools. Most of their suggested solutions involve spending more money (or in centralizing education). In the past few decades, however, the public education system has dramatically increased its expenditures—in 1950 $8.8 billion was spent on education in America; in 1985, $261 billion; in 1990, $353 billion; and in 1992, $445 billion. Elementary and high schools spent $274 billion in 1992-93. After adjusting for inflation, spending was up 40% in the 10 years since 1982-1983. Well over $5000 per student per year is spent (on the average) in secondary public education. [Washington D.C. schools spend almost $10,000 per child, but is near the bottom of all cities nationally in academics.] Yet with all this spending, the educational skills of our students have decreased.

Lack of money is not the problem in our public schools. The problems have not been due to a lack of financial resources, but of spiritual resources. The problem is with the philosophy that forms the foundation of education in America. Colossians 2:8 is very insightful in this matter:

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.’’

There are two basic philosophies — that which is according to the world, and that which is according to Christ. A worldly or humanistic (man-centered) philosophy always brings captivity or bondage, while a Christian philosophy brings liberty.

A worldly educational philosophy has controlled our public schools for some time. The result is bondage. For example, there are at least 40 million American adults who are functionally illiterate—they cannot read a want ad, a job application form, a label on a medicine bottle, or a safety sign at a work place. That is bondage! A vast majority of these people went to school enough to supposedly learn how to read. A more recent study has shown that 90 million American adults are unable to function in society due to lack of basic educational skills.

It has been said that the philosophy of education in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. The direction our nation has been going in recent decades is a result of the training those governing America have received in the schools in the past. Noah Webster knew the importance of educating youth.

Webster has been called the father of American scholarship and education. He affected the course of education in early America more than any other person. His blue-backed speller sold over 100 million copies from 1783 through the 1800s, and was designed to allow individuals to be self-taught. Webster spent over 26 years working on his dictionary, the first exhaustive dictionary of the English language. He was the first person to do extensive etymological research, mastering 28 languages during this study and writing of the dictionary. Besides his speller, he wrote a grammar, a reader, a U.S. History, and other textbooks. He translated his own version of the Bible, helped to start a college, started the first magazine in America, and started a newspaper. He was one of the first persons to publicly promote a constitutional convention in the 1780s. He secured copyright legislation on the state and national levels, served in civil government in many capacities, and wrote on a wide variety of topics. During his astoundingly productive life he also lovingly raised seven children. We would do well to listen to him.

Noah Webster wrote in the March, 1788, American Magazine: “the education of youth [is] an employment of more consequence than making laws and preaching the gospel, because it lays the foundation on which both law and gospel rest for success.’’

Is this true or heresy? It depends upon how you define education. It is certainly not true based upon modern views of education. Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language defines education as:

“1. the process of educating especially by formal schooling; teaching; training.  2. knowledge, ability, etc. thus developed.  3. a) formal schooling. b) a kind or stage of this: as, a medical education. 4. systematic study of the methods and theories of teaching and learning.’’

However, if we looked at how Webster defined education in his original dictionary published in 1828, we would readily agree with his statement. In this dictionary, Webster defined words biblically and generously used scriptural references. [Webster wouldn’t recognize the dictionary that bears his name today.] His definition was:

“Education – The bringing up, as a child; instruction; formation of manners. Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations. To give children a good education in manners, arts and science, is important; to give them a religious education is indispensable; and an immense responsibility rests on parents and guardians who neglect these duties.’’1

To Webster, the central goal of education was to train youth in the precepts of Christianity. He stated, “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.’’2

We can see why such education lays the foundation for the success of the Gospel and the making of good laws, for only a people of good character and ideas can preserve religious and civil liberty. It was such a people that gave birth to liberty throughout the world. In Webster’s United States History book, he has a chapter on the U.S. Constitution. In there is a section with the heading, Origin of Civil Liberty, which contains this:

“ Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion… The religion which has introduced civil liberty, is the religion of Christ and his apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother, or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government…’’ 3

How we educate the next generation will determine how our nation is governed in the next generation. This is why education of youth is of utmost importance.

From a Nation at Risk to a Nation on the Rise

The answer to our being a nation at risk is having a new generation of well trained and educated youth and adults – those who are knowledgeable of the truth and know how to think biblically. True knowledge (or knowledge of the truth) brings liberty, while ignorance produces bondage.

William Penn wrote in the Preface to The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania (1682):

“That… which makes a good constitution, must keep it, viz: men of wisdom and virtue, qualities, that because they descend not with worldly inheritances, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of youth.’’4

The father of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams, wrote in a letter October 4, 1790 to John Adams, then vice-president of the United States:

“Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in the art of self-government, without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.’’5

 

Benjamin Franklin said: “A nation of well informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.’’

Therefore, to go from a nation at risk to a nation on the rise, we need knowledgeable, well trained and educated youth. This requires parents and teachers who understand the importance of educating youth and who are willing to assume the responsibility and pay the price necessary to produce a new generation of Americans. The cost will involve time, effort, and money (though it doesn’t necessarily require much money).

Those who have sought to do this not only hold the future of the children in their hands, but the future of our nation. As parents have given up their responsibility to educate their children, the state has assumed it. The state has failed to educate properly.  The solution is for parents to take back that which belongs to them.

According to the Bible it is primarily the responsibility of fathers and mothers to educate their children. Ephesians 6:1-4 says that fathers are to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Greek word for nurture means to tutor, to personally have input into a child. Fathers should personally be involved in training and educating their children.

God has put within mothers the natural vocation to teach. Proverbs 1:8 says: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching’’ (NIV).

Daniel Webster spoke of the eternal impact of mothers: “…the mothers of a civilized nation…[work], not on frail and perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, moulding and fashioning beings who are to exist for ever…. They work, not upon the canvas that shall perish, or the marble that shall crumble into dust, but upon mind, upon spirit, which is to last for ever, and which is to bear, for good or evil, throughout its duration, the impress of a mother’s …hand.’’6

Mothers in early America understood and fulfilled their primary mission. This is summarized by the inscription on The Pilgrim Mother statue in Plymouth, Massachusetts: “They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nations perish.’’

Parents have the right and the responsibility to govern the education of their children. They can delegate aspects of it to others, but they are still responsible.  This was certainly the philosophy of  colonial Americans.

Churches and the private sector have a role in education as well. They can establish schools which will allow parents to supplement their children’s education and which will be a means of providing for the indigent in the community.

Education in Early America

Education in early America was much different than that of today, in form and results. Most education was done by the home or church. This is where the ideas and character were implanted in our founders. Such training produced one of the greatest group of men—in thought and character—of all  time.

Samuel Blumenfeld says:  “Of the 117 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, one out of three had had only a few months of formal schooling, and only one in four had gone to college.  They were educated by parents, church schools, tutors, academies, apprenticeship, and by themselves.’’7

They were a product of a system of education much different than today.

What was education in early America like?

1. Education was centered in the home.

Almost every child in America was educated. At the time of the Revolution, the literacy level was virtually 100% (even on the frontier it was greater than 70%). John Adams said to find someone who couldn’t read was as rare as a comet. The colonists had a Christian philosophy of education—they felt everyone should be educated, because everyone needed to know the truth for themselves.

Tutors were at times hired to supplement education.  Ministers were most often the tutors. Many of the founders of America had ministers as tutors including Jefferson, Madison, and Noah Webster. Those that went to colleges would have been instructed by ministers.

2. First schools were started by the church.

The first school in New England was the Boston Latin School. It was started in 1636 by Rev. John Cotton to provide education for those who were not able to receive it at home.

For centuries, most schools were Church schools, started by the major Christian sects. Some of these schools charged moderate tuition fees, but generally taught the children of the poor for free.

3. First common (public) schools were thoroughly Christian.

Massachusetts Education Laws:

In 1642 the General Court enacted legislation requiring each town to see that children were taught, especially “to read and understand the principles of religion and the capital laws of this country…’’8

The “Old Deluder Satan’’ Act of 1647 stated: “It being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures…’’ The General Court went on to order any town with 50 families to hire a teacher, and those that increased to 100 families to set up a school to prepare youth for the university. 9

Grammar School at Dorchester, MA:    Rules adopted by town meeting in 1645 required the schoolmaster “to commend his scholars and his labors amongst them unto God by prayer morning and evening, taking care that his scholars do reverently attend during the same.’’  The schoolmaster  examined each student at noon on Monday to see what he had learned from the Sabbath sermon. On Friday afternoon at 2:00, he was to catechize them “in the principles of Christian religion.’’10

As time went on private schools flourished more than common schools (especially as the Puritan influence in common schools decreased). The Christian community saw the private schools were more reliable. “By 1720 Boston had far more private schools than public ones, and by the close of the American Revolution many towns had no common schools… at all.’’11

Most of the schools in the Middle and Southern Colonies were church schools. Public schools in the Middle Colonies were found only in the cities, and they were still in a minority. There were no public schools in the Southern colonies until 1730 and only five by 1776. Remember, the colonies has a literacy level (both quantity and quality) equal to or greater than that of today with our tens of thousands of schools and hundreds of billions of dollars supporting state education.

4. Character of teachers

To reveal the character of the teachers in early America many examples could be given, from Ezekiel Cheever (1614-1708) a schoolmaster for 70 years in New England, to Noah Webster, Emma Willard, and many ministers. We will briefly examine one, Nathan Hale.

Hale taught school in East Haddam, Connecticut after he graduated from Yale College in the fall of 1773 at age 18. After 4 or 5 months at this country schoolhouse, he accepted the position of mastership of a private school in New London. He wrote to friends: “I love my employment.’’ In July, 1775 he resigned to accept a commission in the Colonial Army.

During the early years of the Revolutionary War, information of the position and strength of the British troops was vitally needed by the American forces. Someone was needed to disguise themselves and travel behind the enemy lines to attempt to obtain this data. Captain Nathan Hale volunteered for this hazardous service because he saw it as an opportunity to serve his country and further the cause of liberty.

Disguised as a civilian, Hale passed into Long Island and observed the position, strength, and movement of the British army. As he was attempting to return, he was captured, carried before Sir William Howe, where he confessed his rank in the American army and his purpose, which the papers he was carrying confirmed. Orders were immediately given for Hale to be executed the next morning as a spy.

One historian writes: “The order was accordingly executed in a most unfeeling manner, and by as great a savage as ever disgraced humanity.  A clergyman, whose attendance he desired, was refused him; a bible for a moment’s devotion was not procured, though he requested it. Letters, which on the morning of his execution, he wrote to his mother, and other friends, were destroyed; and this very extraordinary reason given by the provost marshal, `that the rebels should not know that they had a man in their army, who could die with so much firmness.’ ‘’12

Unknown to those around him, and without a single friend to offer him the least consolation, Hale ascended the gallows on the morning of September 22, 1776, offering these words as his dying observation: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.’’13

This courageous young man saw the value of liberty, and was motivated by its light.  “Neither expectation of promotion nor pecuniary reward, induced him to this attempt.  A sense of duty, a hope that he might in this way be useful to his country, and an opinion which he had adopted, that every kind of service necessary to the public good, became honourable by being necessary, were the great motives which induced him to engage in an enterprize, by which his connexions lost a most amiable friend, and his country one of its most promising supporters.’’14

This is the type of character teachers in early America possessed. This same type of character is needed by teachers today. Teachers today may not have to physically give up their life for the cause of liberty, but they should inspire those they teach to see the necessity of doing all they can to preserve our God given liberty and rights.

5. Apprenticeship or college

Up until age 8, almost all colonial youth were taught at home. At around this age, some had tutors to supplement their education and some attended schools. At around age 13-15, the young men would be apprenticed at some trade (often at home) or some few would attend college.

6. Colleges and Universities

106 of the first 108 colleges were started on the Christian faith. By the close of 1860 there were 246 colleges in America. Seventeen of these were state institutions; almost every other one was founded by Christian denominations or by individuals who avowed a religious purpose.15  Many  of the state colleges were Christian as well.

Harvard College, 1636

The following report on Harvard College, from “New Englands First Fruits’’ published in 1643, reveals the purpose for it’s establishment:

“After God had carried us safe to New England, and wee had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our liveli-hood, rear’d convenient places for Gods worship, and settled the Civil Government: One of the next things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning, and perpetuate it to Posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches, when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust.’’16

An Original Rule of Harvard College:

“Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternall life, (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.’’17

William and Mary, 1691

The College of William and Mary was started mainly due to the efforts of Rev. James Blair in order, according to its charter of 1691, “that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary of ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in good letters and manners, and that the Christian religion may be propagated among the Western Indians to the glory of Almighty God.’’18

Yale University, 1701

Yale University was started by Congregational ministers in 1701, “for the liberal and religious education of suitable youth… to propagate in this wilderness, the blessed reformed Protestant religion…’’19

Princeton, 1746

Associated with the Great Awakening, Princeton was founded by the Presbyterians in 1746. Rev. Jonathan Dickinson became its first president, declaring, “cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ’’20  To help raise funds for the college in England, a General Account was prepared that stated “the two principal Objects the Trustees had in View, were Science and Religion. Their first Concern was to cultivate the Minds of the Pupils, in all those Branches of Erudition, which are generally taught in the Universities abroad; and to perfect their Design, their next Care was to rectify the Heart, by inculcating the great Precepts of Christianity, in order to make them good Men’’21 .

University of Pennsylvania, 1751

Ben Franklin had much to do with the beginning of the University of Pennsylvania. It was not started by a denomination, but its laws reflect its Christian character. Consider the first two Laws, relating to the Moral Conduct, and Orderly Behaviour, of the Students and Scholars of the University of Pennsylvania (from 1801):

“1. None of the students or scholars, belonging to this seminary, shall make use of any indecent or immoral language: whether it consist in immodest expressions; in cursing and swearing; or in exclamations which introduce the name of GOD, without reverence, and without necessity.

“2. None of them shall, without a good and sufficient reason, be absent from school, or late in his attendance; more particularly at the time of prayers, and of the reading of the Holy Scriptures.’’22

Columbia, 1754

In 1754, Samuel Johnson became the first president of Columbia (called King’s College up until 1784). In that year he composed an advertisement announcing the opening of the college. It stated:

“The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach and engage the Children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve him, in all Sobriety, Godliness and Righteousness of Life, with a perfect Heart, and a willing Mind; and to train them up in all virtuous Habits, and all such useful Knowledge as may render them creditable to their Families and Friends…’’23

Dartmouth, 1770

Congregational pastor Eleazar Wheelock (1711-79) secured a charter from the governor of New Hampshire in March, 1770, to establish a college to train young men for missionary service among the Indians. The college was named after Lord Dartmouth of England who assisted in raising funds for its establishment. Its Latin motto means: “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.’’  The first students met in a log cabin and when weather permitted Dr. Wheelock held morning and evening prayers in the open air.24

Some other colleges started before America’s Independence include: Brown, started by the Baptists in 1764; Rutgers, 1766, by the Dutch Reformed Church; Washington and Lee, 1749; and Hampden-Sidney, 1776, by the Presbyterians.

7. Textbooks

The Bible and its principles were the focal point of education. In 1690, John Locke said that children learned to read by following “the ordinary road of Hornbook, Primer, Psalter, Testament and Bible.’’25

The New Haven Code of 1655 required that children be made “able duly to read the Scriptures… and in some competent measure to understand the main grounds and principles of Christian Religion necessary to salvation.’’26

a. The Bible was the central text.

John Adams reflected the view of the founders in regard to the place of the Bible in society when he wrote:

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region, should take the Bible for their only law-book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited!… What a Utopia; what a Paradise would this region be!’’  John Adams, Feb. 22, 1756. 27

b. Hornbooks

Hornbooks had been  used to teach children to read from as far back as 1400 in Europe. They came to America with the colonists and were common from the 1500s – 1700s. A hornbook was a flat piece of wood with a handle, upon which a sheet of printed paper was attached and covered with transparent animal horn to protect it.  A typical hornbook had the alphabet, the vowels, a list of syllables, the invocation of the Trinity, and the Lord’s Prayer. Some had a pictured alphabet.

c. Catechisms

Catechisms  were used extensively in early education in America. There were over 500 different catechisms according to Increase Mather. The most widely used catechism was one which the Puritans brought with them from England, The Foundation of Christian Religion gathered into sixe Principles, by William Perkins. Later, the  Westminster Catechism became the most prominent one.

d. The New England Primer

Another important educational book was the New England Primer, which was first published in Boston around 1690 by devote Protestant Benjamin Harris. It was the most prominent schoolbook for about 100 years, and was frequently reprinted through the 1800s. It sold over 3 million copies in 150 years. The rhyming alphabet is its most characteristic feature.

From a 1777 Primer, the alphabet was taught with this rhyme:

A  In Adam’s Fall

We sinned all.

B  Heaven to find

The Bible Mind.

C  Christ crucify’d

For sinners dy’d.

D  The Deluge drown’d

The Earth around.

E  Elijah hid

By Ravens fed.

F  The judgment made

Felix afraid.

G  As runs the Glass,

Our Life doth pass

H My Book and Heart

Must never part. . . .

 

It is easy to see its Christian character. The Primer underwent various modifications over the years.

e. Webster’s Blue-Backed Speller

Webster’s speller was first published in 1783 and sold over 100 million copies during the next century. It was the most influential textbook of the era and was written to instill into the minds of the youth “the first rudiments of the language and some just ideas of religion, morals, and domestic economy.’’ Its premise was that “God’s word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.’’ It included a moral catechism, large portions of the Sermon on the Mount, a paraphrase of the Genesis account of creation, and numerous moral stories.

f. The McGuffey Readers

Written by minister and university professor William Holmes McGuffey, the McGuffey Readers “represent the most significant force in the framing of our national morals and tastes’’ other than the Bible.28 First published in 1836, they sold over 122 million copies in 75 years and are still used today in some schools. McGuffey wrote in the Preface to the Fourth Reader:

“From no source has the author drawn more copiously, in his selections, than from the sacred Scriptures. For this, he certainly apprehends no censure. In a Christian country, that man is to be pitied, who at this day, can honestly object to imbuing the minds of youth with the language and spirit of the Word of God.’’29

While there were many other textbooks (especially in the 1800s), the ones just mentioned were some of the most important.

Education in Religion was central to our Founders

We have already given quotes of Noah Webster, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Franklin, Penn, and Daniel Webster, and could talk quite sometime of the Biblical view America’s founders had of education. We will look at only a few more comments.

Benjamin Rush was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; a professor of medicine, making many contributions in that field in practice and writing; a leader in societies for the abolition of slavery; president of various Bible and medical societies; a principal founder of Dickenson College; and a leader in education. Concerning education he wrote:

“I proceed, in the next place, to enquire what mode of education we shall adopt so as to secure to the state all the advantages that are to be derived from the proper instruction of youth; and here I beg leave to remark that the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this, there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.’’30

Gouverneur Morris, a signer of the Constitution, wrote:  “Religion is the only solid basis of good morals; therefore, education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man towards God.’’31

Fisher Ames said “the Bible [should] retain the place it once held as a school book. Its morals are pure, its examples captivating and noble. The reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.’’32

Northwest Ordinance, 1787 (1789):  “Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.’’

The type of education that shaped our Founders character and ideas was thoroughly Christian. It imparted Christian character and produced honest, industrious, compassionate, respectful, and law-abiding men. It also imparted a Biblical world-view and produced people who were principled thinkers.

This was reflected in the constitutions and laws of our states and nation. America was established as the first constitutional federal republic in history. Christian principles of self-government, union, virtue, the value of the individual, and recognition of God-given inalienable rights to life, liberty and property are incorporated in our nation’s fabric. Christian economic principles of individual enterprise, private property rights, and the free market formed the foundation of our prosperity as a nation.

In early America, the people made the laws and the churches made the people. Their ideas and character were shaped by Christianity.

Example of George Washington

What type of men were produced by the biblical education of colonial America? A brief look at George Washington will help answer that.

Most Americans are familiar with some aspects of Washington’s life and the important role he played in the history of America. One historian said he was the American Revolution, due to his overwhelming influence in winning the war. He played a vital role in forming the Constitution and as our first President he started our nation on the right path. He certainly was a man of Christian character.

One historian said he was “unquestionably the greatest man that the world has produced in the last one thousand years.’’

How was Washington trained and educated? By his father, mother, and brother primarily.  Only very briefly did he attend a nearby school and he never went to college.

His strength was his character. Following is an incident that reveals this:

Washington endeavored “to impress upon the soldiers under his command a profound reverence for the name and the majesty of God, and repeatedly, in his public orders during the Revolution, the inexcusable offense of profaness was rebuked.’’

“On a certain occasion he had invited a number of officers to dine with him. While at table one of them uttered an oath. General Washington dropped his knife and fork in a moment, and in his deep undertone, and characteristic dignity and deliberation, said, `I thought that we all supposed ourselves gentlemen.’ He then resumed his knife and fork and went on as before. The remark struck like an electric shock, and, as was intended, did execution, as his observations in such cases were apt to do. No person swore at the table after that. When dinner was over, the officer referred to said to a companion that if the General had given him a blow over the head with his sword, he could have borne it, but that the home thrust which he received was too much—it was too much for a gentleman!’’33

Washington was not very loud or talkative but he was very commanding in his words and presence. Historian E.L. Magoon said that Washington emanated a presence about him like no other person; and his words certainly carried a great force.  It has been said that the value and force of words depends upon who stands behind them; that is, upon the character of him who utters them. Washington’s character, instilled in him through a godly education, was the source of his strength and greatness.

America today is crying out for leaders—men of character and full of truth. We need to go from a nation at risk to a nation on the rise. We need to bring Godly reform. To accomplish this, we must have a revolution. Thankfully, a revolution is occurring, for millions of parents are assuming their responsibility to govern the education of their children, whether in church schools, or in private schools, or at home. This should produce in us hope for our future.

In summary, what can we do? It is not enough to simply restore prayer to public schools. This will not lead us out of bondage. For  the present public educational system is the “Philistine cart’’ (1 Chron. 13) that produced the bondage in the first place. It is not God’s method for training the future generations, but it is the world’s (or man’s) method. It needs to be completely dismantled. Here’s what we can do:

1. Parents must assume the responsibility to govern the education of their children. They must participate, even if they send them to school.

2. Churches and private schools can provide support for parents and education for those who are not receiving it at home.

3. Businesses can be involved via apprenticeship programs.

4. Everyone can work to restore a Christian philosophy and methodology to education in America.

5. New Christian colleges can be started.

6. We should work to privatize public education.

These are a few steps we can take to lead our nation out of bondage into liberty – out of Egypt and into the promised land.

I encourage you parents to continue to work on that imperishable canvas of your child’s heart and mind, and to you teachers, upon those that have been entrusted to your care.  The destiny of our nation is at stake!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

END NOTES

1.  An American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, originally published in 1828. Reprint by the Foundation for American Christian Education, 1980.

2. Letter to David McClure, October 25, 1836. Letters of Noah Webster, Harry R. Warfel, editor, New York: Library Publishers, 1953, p. 453.

3. Noah Webster, History of the United States, New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833, pp. 273-274.

4. Sources of Our Liberties, edited by Richard L. Perry, Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1978, p. 211.

5. The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams, by William V. Wells, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1865, Vol. 3, p. 301.

6. The Works of Daniel Webster, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1854. Vol. 2, p. 107.

7. Samuel Blumenfeld, NEA–Trojan Horse in American Education.

8. Richard Morris, editor, Significant Documents in United States History, Vol. 1, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1969, p. 19.

9. Ibid., p. 20.

10. The Pageant of America, Ralph Henry Gabriel, editor, New Haven: Yale University Press, Vol. 10, 1928, p. 258.

11. Blumenfeld.

12. Jedidiah Morse, Annals of the American Revolution, first published 1824, reissued 1968 by Kennikat Press, p. 260.

13. George Bancroft, History of the United States of America, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1879, Vol. 5, p. 408.

14. Morse, p. 260.

15. The Pageant of America, p. 315.

16. Ibid., p. 256.

17. Mark Beliles and Stephen McDowell, America’s Providential History, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 1989, p. 110.

18. Francis Simkins et al, Virginia: History, Government, Geography, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964, pp. 48-49.

19. B.F. Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States of America, Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864, p. 239.

20. Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States, New York: Hunt & Eaton, 1895, p. 244.

21. The Pageant of America, p. 306.

22. Ibid., p. 307.

23. Ibid., p. 309.

24. Ibid., p. 312.

25. Ibid., p. 258.

26. Ibid.

27. The Earliest Diary of John Adams, ed. L.H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1966, 1:9.

28. Beliles and McDowell, p. 108.

29. William McGuffey, The Eclectic Fourth Reader, originally printed in 1838, republished by Mott Media, 1982, p. x.

30. Benjamin Rush, Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, Early American Imprints, 1786.

31. The Life of Governeur Morris by Jared Sparks, 1832, Vol. 3, p. 483.

32. Works of Fisher Ames, originally published in 1854, reprinted by Liberty Classics, 1983.  Vol. 1, p. 12.

33. William Johnson, George Washington the Christian. Reprinted by Mott Media, Milford, MI, 1976.