He brought sight to millions who were blind.

Stephen McDowell

 

We have a calling in life. It is a divine calling. We are first called to God, to become His child and part of His family. Next we have a calling in the earth as part of mankind’s mission to rule or take dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28). The amelioration of mankind is part of this cultural mandate; that is, we are to work to elevate mankind, to bring advancement to man and make his life better. God gives us unique gifts and skills to help us accomplish our unique task in life.

Os Guinness defines calling as “the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to his summons and service.”^[i] The call of God impacts all areas of life and work, not just our religious life. Fulfilling our calling 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 arts, and preserve truth through government and law.

Historically, Christians have led the way in each of these areas. As these men and women have been faithful to fulfill the call on their lives and utilize the talents God gave them, they have contributed greatly in taking dominion over the earth and extending God’s purposes and government in this world.^[ii] The people that God has used have come from diverse backgrounds and many, like Louis Braille, had to overcome great obstacles. But they all embraced their calling and persevered.

The Story of Louis Braille

Even as a blind boy, Louis Braille felt called for a purpose. God had a mission for him. His mission was to make it possible for blind people all over the world to have their own books and their own libraries. These books would bring light to the dark eyes of the blind. He had experienced this darkness for most of his life.

When this mission was growing in his mind, it seemed a remote dream since most blind persons were ignored or looked down upon by society. Through history past, the blind stumbled through life generally alone on a terrifying road. Some shelters were built for the blind by Christians as early as the 4^th century, and medieval convents and monasteries usually had an almshouse for unfortunate people. However, most blind did not benefit from this charity. Many were locked up in mental institutions and some used as freak show attractions. Most wandered on their own in the streets. Some were used by con artists to collect hand-outs in the streets, promising to provide for them through these collections but pocketing most of the money for their own use. The blind were cut off from education, apprenticeship, job training, and any sort of normal life. They lived in darkness, not only physical but also mental, having little opportunity to gain knowledge.

When Louis was a boy there was one school for the blind in Paris that had been started by Valentin Hauy some years before. While it provided useful verbal instruction in the academic disciplines as well as training in music, it was very limited in self-teaching tools for the blind. The school only had three books that the blind could “read.” These large volumes contained pages of raised letters in Latin. The books could only have short discourses since each page could only contain a few sentences, and it took great time and effort for the blind to “read” them.

As a boy, Louis hoped someone would come up with a way for the blind “to see.” But there seemed to be no one. God inspired him with a vision. The Scripture became a source of inspiration. He remembered the words spoken by Father Palluy from the book of Genesis, the first chapter: “Then God said, Let there be light; and the light began.” Louis thought that God surely wanted the light to shine for everyone, even those who lived in physical darkness.

His Life

Louis Braille was born in the small village of Coupvray, France, some 20 miles east of Paris, in 1809. As devout Catholics, his parents had him baptized, hoping to keep him protected from all the dangers that existed for youth in the world at this time.

His father produced all kinds of leather goods in his local harness shop. When Louis was three years old he accidently jabbed an awl in his eye when he was trying to punch a hole in a leather strap in his father’s workshop. The cut became infected and spread to his other eye, blinding him in both eyes. Over time he learned to not only get around his family’s house and yard with the help of a cane, but could travel by himself to the nearby village. His heightened senses enabled him to learn much about his small world. Louis had an insatiable desire to learn; he even wanted go to school like the other boys and girls, but how could a blind boy keep up with those who could see?

With the encouragement of his family and the local Catholic priest, Father Jacques Palluy, Louis entered the local school and quickly excelled. While learning many things, Louis still could not read any of the books in the school or in the church library. Father Palluy gave him a book, whose pages Louis would often feel, but what he earnestly wanted was to be able to read a book on his own instead of having to ask his sister or parents to read to him. But how could he who was blind ever be able to read?

One day Father Palluy came to visit Louis and answered that question. He had learned of a school for the blind in Paris that had developed a way for the blind to read. They had books designed for that purpose. And he would help him enroll and get a scholarship.

At age ten, Louis was the youngest student at the National Institute for Blind Youth, but he quickly excelled. Yet, he had to wait one year before he was allowed to “read” one of the three books for the blind that were in the library. It did not take him long to read these and a few other available pamphlets. While better than not being able to read at all, the technique then in use was slow and very limiting. Large raised letters of the Latin alphabet used by those who could see only lifted the darkness a little for the blind. Louis thought there must be a better way.

He hoped the leader of the school, a professor, or someone would invent a new system of reading for the blind. None of those who could see had a vision to do so. As Louis pondered this hope, he began to think that perhaps he could be the one to fulfill the dream that he believed God put in his heart. But he was only a teenager. How he could accomplish what others older and wiser than he had not?

His desire to read books like other youth only grew. He could not escape the vision. There was work that needed to be done. He would seek to fulfill the mission of God. He would do all he could to make it possible for blind people everywhere to have their own books and their own libraries. He would make his life count and find a way to enable the blind to have books. He would help bring great light to those who lived in darkness. He would seek to fulfill his calling.

Finding a solution was not easy. He pondered it day and night. The fingers were the eyes of the blind. The few books he had read were by feeling raised letters on paper. But this was slow, and the blind could not write using this method, so it was very limiting. How could he produce an alphabet that would enable the blind to quickly and easily read with their fingers but also write to others? He experimented with many things, looking for a code.

Help came when he learned that a Captain Barbier had invented a code during the war that soldiers used in the dark to communicate with one another. His system of “night-writing,” called sonography, enabled orders to be sent that could be read with the fingers without use of any light, which might alert the enemy.

Unfortunately, Barbier’s “night-writing” was very limiting as it was based upon sounds, not letters, and used a pattern of dashes and dots that were rather complex, and hence was useful to send only simple messages. But it helped point Louis in the right direction.

In the months that followed, Louis worked on devising a code that the blind could use to read and write. It consumed his spare time, while at school in Paris or during the summer break at home in Coupvray. He carried with him a writing board and pointed tool where he could make pinpricks on paper, experimenting with hundreds of combinations of dots and dashes. His fingers became extremely sensitive, able to “read” with the slightest touch.

He patiently endured failure after failure, often forgetting to eat as he worked on the problem. A new code began to emerge where each letter could fit under the fingertips, thus enabling him to move quickly across the page, just as the eyes move along reading sentences. After three years of almost constant effort, he finally developed a system that worked well. He could write pages quickly and easily and read them back with his fingers, just about as fast as eyes can read.

While over the years he would make some changes to improve his code (he removed use of dashes for dots only), the basics were there. The code, which would later be called Braille in honor of the inventor, was based upon a tiny cell of six raised dots that was two lines wide and three lines deep.

1   .   .   4

2   .   .   5

3   .   .   6

 

Each letter had a unique raised dot pattern within this cell, as seen here:

Louis, a fifteen-year-old boy, had created a system of reading for the blind that would one day rank him as one of the greatest of inventors. Yet, as is often the case with inventions, it would take many years before this light-giving tool would be recognized and used on a wide scale. In fact, Louis would see limited use of his Braille system during his life. Many even worked against the dispersal of his code.

Some teachers at the school for the blind resisted implementing the Braille dot system because it would require them to learn the method in place of how they had been teaching for years. The French Ministry of the Interior stated the government favored no changes at the school. Consequently the administrators of the Institute worried if they did embrace Braille’s dots they may lose their government funding and would have to rely on meager donations. The leader of the Institute for the Blind, Dr. Pignier, was supportive of Louis and his dots, but said they “will have to go on teaching the embossed-letter reading until we have permission otherwise from the government.”^[iii]

While Louis fought for use of his method, he continued his studies in all areas, especially music, in particular the organ. He became so proficient he was praised by noted composer Felix Mendelssohn and was hired as the organist at a nearby small church. In accepting the meager-paying job, he was showing a blind person could hold a position of importance.

At age 19 he was chosen to be an apprentice teacher at his school, the first blind student to be hired. During this time he began work on a book that explained his six-dot cell method of teaching reading and writing. It would be written using his dot cell alphabet, and hence readable by blind as well as those with sight, and was entitled: Method of Writing Words, Music and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them.

He hoped it would help sway the government and others to embrace his system. But year after year the government rejected Dr. Pignier’s requests to make the dot system the official method of reading and writing at the Institute. Louis’ system would be able to save almost any blind person from being ignorant, but few could see its importance.

Some of those few who strongly embraced the Braille system were the blind students at the Institute. At age 25 Louis was appointed to a professorship at the Institute, along with two other blind teachers. (He taught at the Royal Institution from 1834 to 1839.) All three used the dot cell method and the students excelled. Louis himself increased his reading speed up to 2500 dots per minute.

Over time Braille and his students were able to give demonstrations of rapid reading and writing with the dot system, which brought much praise, even from the French King Louis Philippe. Even so, most still could not see the great importance of Braille’s invention.

In his 30s, Louis was diagnosed with consumption (likely tuberculosis), which had been afflicting him for many years and would take his life in his prime years. Yet even with declining health, he continued to fight for his dot-system against those who opposed it. One of those men, Dr. Armand Dufau, was appointed the new director at the institute where Louis taught. He directed that the Braille dot-system not be used in the classrooms. Even more devastating, Dr. Dufau ordered all of the books that Louis had transcribed into dots to be burned. But Louis relied on God and continued in his calling.

Louis and his students protested and remained resolute until Dr. Dufau reversed his position on banning the Braille code. Their continued efforts eventually brought about acceptance of the Braille method in the school of the blind, and much later in France and nations around the world. They also helped open the Institute to girls for the first time.

Louis went on to invent, with another blind man Pierre Foucault, a machine that would print raised dots on paper. This printing method, called raphigraphy, enabled the blind to read and write any- thing. Blind and sighted persons could now send messages that both could read. This machine was a primitive version of the typewriter.

Although it was slow, Braille’s dot-system gradually spread. It would forever change the life of the blind. No matter how many obstacles got in his way, Louis acted upon his life mission, his calling. He could see the forest in the seed, while most people could not. In his short life he saw small advances in the use of his dot-system, but it would take generations for Braille’s work to have its fullest impact. Louis never lost heart. Likewise, we should continue to pursue the call of God on our lives. God calls. We obey. He brings the increase in His time, which is often not as we hope or expect. As with Louis, when God calls us, we can have faith that he will provide, naturally or supernaturally, everything needed to accomplish the mission.^[iv]

Throughout his life, Louis Braille was provided all he needed to accomplish his calling: the friendship and guidance of a minister, loving and supportive parents, a scholarship to the blind school, a role as teacher and professor, and contacts with many influential people.

Tuberculosis eventually took Braille’s life at age 43. His Christian faith remained evident on his deathbed. To lamenting friends he said: “Please do not fear for me. I am quite content. God simply must be telling me that my work here is finished.”^[v] As the end approached he asked to receive Holy Communion. He is reported to have said: “God was pleased to hold before my eyes the dazzling splendours of eternal hope. After that, doesn’t it seem that nothing more could keep me bound to the earth?”^[vi]

He died on January 6, 1852, two days after his 43^rd birthday, having fulfilled his calling. A friend, Hippolyte Coltat, later entered in his diary: “Louis Braille [had] delivered up his pure soul to the hands of God.”^[vii] Louis was buried in a simple grave in his hometown at Coupvray. Little notice was taken of the death of Louis Braille because his invention had not yet spread widely. This has been true of many other creators and inventors. It would take many decades for the world to see the significance of his work.

After his death a few crusaders produced the Lord’s Prayer in dots in five different languages. The Book of Psalms was printed in the six-dot type facings, and prayer books were produced to be used for chapel services. The Scottish missionary to China, W.H. Murray, used the Braille system to translate writings into Chinese so the blind there could read. Over time the American Bible Society produced the Bible in Braille in dozens of languages.

Today the Braille system is accepted as the universal language by which the blind can read and write. A great variety of books are now available in Braille. It took over 100 years, but on June 20, 1952, France honored her influential son by removing Louis Braille’s body from the simple grave in Coupvray and reinterring it in the Pantheon in Paris. This man who could not see is now universally recognized for bringing light and “sight” to millions who are blind. The impact of his fulfilled calling will continue for generations.

 

 

 

End Notes

[i] Os Guinness, The Call, Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998.

[ii] For scores of examples see, Stephen McDowell, Transforming Nations through Biblical Work, Charlottesville: Providence Foundation, 2018.

[iii] Anne E. Neimark, Touch of Light, The Story of Louis Braille, New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1970, p. 141. This is one of innumerable examples supportive of keeping government out of education.

[iv] There are many such examples in the Bible. For example, as Jesus approached Jerusalem just prior to His crucifixion he told His disciples to go into the nearby village and they would find a colt that they were to bring to Him (Matt. 21), and if anyone questioned them they were to say the Lord had need of it. Here was a supernatural provision for the fulfillment of prophecy and Christ’s mission. Jesus even provided for unjust government taxes in a supernatural way, telling Peter he would find a coin in the mouth of a fish (Matt. 17:27).

[v] Neimark, p. 176.

[vi] https://www.christiantoday.com/article/blind-but-now-i-see-the-christian-legacy-of-louis-braille/122911.htm

[vii] Neimark, p. 178

Click Here for PDF download.

 

Compiled by Stephen McDowell

Introduction

The evidence of the Christian Foundation of America is great. The Providence Foundation has presented much of this in our books and publications, including America’s Providential History, America a Christian Nation, Building Godly Nations, and others. Many other people have written on the topic as well. But the material is so vast that it would take myriads of books to even present a good introduction. In this Providential Perspective we add more to the evidence with words of some of the people who gave birth to this nation — words that these men wanted their posterity to remember them by.

In their Last Will and Testaments, many of our Founders testified of their strong Christian faith. Some who were devout Christians, as seen in other writings and actions, made little or no mention of this in their wills (for example Roger Sherman), while others who had written little of their Christian beliefs during their life proclaimed their strong faith in this last testament. Some wills are very explicit in showing their reliance upon Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; others reflect their reverence for God briefly — using such terms as “In the name of God” (George Washington) and “By permission of Almighty God” (James McClurg). Many declared in language similar to Josiah Bartlett, Signer of the Declaration: “Firstly I commit my Soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author.”

The following are excerpts of some of the Founding Fathers’ wills that express their Christianity. While these are from the time of American independence and the early years of our republic, we could have examined many of those who colonized America. For example, John Smith, leader in early Virginia, stated in his will:

First I commend my soule into the handes of Allmightie God my maker hoping through the merites of Christ Jesus my Redeemer to receave full remission of all my sinnes, and to inherit a place in the everlasting kingdome.

The wills of leading women in early America also reveal the Christian faith of our Founders. Mary, the mother of George Washington, stated in her will:

In the name of God! Amen. I, Mary Washington, . . . do make and publish this, my last will, recommending my soul in the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind.

(These quotes have been taken from copies of the wills in our files, most made available by courtesy of WallBuilders. These wills may be obtained from various state and county archives; and some from historical societies and documents.)

Samuel Adams (1722-1803)

Signer of the Declaration, Father of the Revolution, Governor of Massachusetts

In the name of God. Amen. . . . Principally & first of all, I commend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.

Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer (1723-1790)

Signer of the Constitution, Maryland

In the Name of God Amen. I Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer . . . commend my Soul to my blessed redeemer.

Richard Stockton (1731-1781)

Signer of the Declaration, New Jersey

And as my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument, and may probably be particularly impressed with the last words of their father, I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian Religion, such as the Being of God, the universal defection and depravity of human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Saviour, the necessity of the operations of the divine Spirit; of divine Faith, accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the divine Providence: but also, in the bowels of a father’s affection, to exhort and charge them, that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the Christian system, is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state; that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially; even in this life; that as Almighty God hath not been pleased in the holy Scriptures to prescribe any precise mode in which he is to be publickly worshipped, all contention about it generally arises from want of knowledge or want of virtue. I have therefore no particular advice to leave with my children upon this subject, save only that they deliberately and conscientiously, in the beginning of life, determine for themselves, with which denomination of Christians they can, the most devoutly and profitably worship God; that after such determination they statedly adhere to such denomination without being given to change; and without contending with or judging others who may think or act differently upon a matter so immaterial to substantial virtue and piety. That distinguished abilities, stations and authority are only desireable as occasions of doing greater private and public good, but that their footsteps being invariably masked with envy and opposition, make them enemies to private peace, and therefore unless public life is evidently pointed out by divine providence it should rather be avoided than coveted.

John Dickinson (1732-1808)

Signer of the Constitution, Revolutionary General, Delaware

Rendering Thanks to my Creator for my Existence and Station among his works, for my Birth in a Country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying Freedom, and for all
his other Kindnesses, to him I resign Myself, humbly confiding in his Goodness, and in his Mercy through Jesus Christ, for the Events of Eternity.

Christopher Gadsden (1724-1805)

Member of First Continental Congress, Revolutionary General, South Carolina

My Soul with humble submission and confidence in the merits of my blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, I hope in the last trying moment to resign with chearfulness, to that
Almighty and Merciful being who gave it.

John Blair (1732-1800)

Signer of the Constitution, Supreme Court Justice, Virginia

After commending my soul to God, the Universal Creator, and trusting that he will exercise towards it the same beneficent care and protection, for which I have such abundant reason, in the course of a fully long life, to thank him with earnest devotion: and that he will thro the merits of a crucified Saviour, raise up my body at the last day to partake, in union with my soul; of endless life and bliss.

John Jay (1745-1829)

Member of First and other Continental Congresses, First Supreme Court Chief Justice, author of The Federalist, New York

Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for his manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by his beloved Son. He has been pleased to bless me with excellent parents, with a virtuous wife, and with worthy children. His protection has accompanied me through many eventful years, faithfully employed in the service of my country; and his providence has not only conducted me to this tranquil situation, but also given me abundant reason to be contented and thankful. Blessed be his holy name. While my children lament my departure, let them recollect that in doing them good, I was only the agent of their Heavenly Father, and that he never withdraws his care and consolations from those who diligently seek him.

Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814)

Signer of the Declaration, Massachusetts

I am constrained to express my adoration of the Supreme Being, the author of my existence, in full belief of his Providential Goodness and his forgiving mercy revealed
to the World through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state acknowledging with grateful remembrance the happiness I have enjoyed in my passage through a long life.

George Mason (1725-1792)

Constitutional Convention, Father of the Bill of Rights, Virginia

My soul I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercy’s are all over his works, who hateth nothing that he hath made, and to the Justice and Wisdom of whose Dispensations I willingly and chearfully submit humbly hopeing from his unbounded mercy and benevolence, thro the Merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins.

Philip Livingston (1715-1778)

Signer of Declaration, New York

In the name of God Amen. . . . First I do resign my soul to the Great Most Mighty and Most Merciful God who gave it in hopes thro mercy alone by the merits of Jesus Christ to have joyfull Resurrection to life Eternal.

John Langdon (1741-1819)

Signer of Constitution, Governor New Hampshire

First: I commend my Soul to the infinite mercies of God in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, who died and rose again, that he might be the Lord of the dead, and
of the living; and my body I commit to the earth, to be interred in a decent manner, at the discretion of my Executors hereinafter named, professing to believe and hope in
the joyful Scripture doctrine of a resurrection to eternal life.

Henry Knox (1750-1806)

General in Revolution, Secretary of War

First, I think it proper to express my unshaken opinion of the immortality of my Soul or mind; and to dedicate and devote the same to the Supreme head of the Universe — To that great and tremendous Jehovah — who created the Universal frame of Nature, Worlds and Systems in number infinite, and who has given intellectual existence to
the rational beings of each globe, who are perpetually migrating and ascending in the scale of mind according to certain principles always founded on the great basis of
morality and virtue — to this awfully sublime Being do I resign my spirit with unlimited confidence of his mercy and protection.

John Hall

Member of Continental Congress

I recommend my Soul to God who made me hopeing for his mercy and forgiveness of all my sins through the merits and mediation of our blessed saviour Jesus Christ.

Elias Boudinot (1740-1821)

President of Congress under Articles of Confederation, Member of the First Congress under the Constitution from New Jersey, Director of U.S. Mint

I do therefore improve so good an Opportunity of repeating the profession I have made for more than Sixty Years, and which by the free grace of God, thro’ Jesus Christ and by the continued influences of his holy Spirit has been strengthened & confirmed by the most happy Experiences, founded on solid grounds, and by a thorough examination & Enquiry into the divine Scriptures thro’ that long period, and in which I hope, under the same blessed influences, to finish my mortal life, I mean that of a firm, unfeigned & prevailing belief in one sovereign, omnipotent & eternal Jehovah, a God of infinite Love & Mercy, “who hath delivered us from the powers of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption thro his blood, even the forgiveness of Sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. and He is before all things and by him all things consist” and who ever has been and still is reconciling a guilty world unto himself, by his Righteousness & atonement, his death & his Resurrection, thro whom alone Life & Immortality have been brought to 1ight in his gospel, and by the all powerful influences of his holy Spirit, is daily sanctifying, enlightening & leading his faithful people into all necessary Truth. And as it has pleased a holy & sovereign God to favour me with the Continuance of one only Child, to whom I do most cordially wish & pray for the best & greatest possible good in time & Eternity; I do in the most solemn manner, as in the presence of the one only great & glorious God, The Father the Son and the holy Spirit, and in view of an approaching Eternity, beseech & intreat her, to make the fear & the love of God, the great objects of her constant attention & pursuit. And in a particular manner that she will, by a persevering inquiry into, and a thorough knowledge of the Spirit of Power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which she has been so long, and I trust thro’ divine mercy, savingly acquainted with, endeavour to cherish & increase the like Temper, disposition & usefulness in life, as are therein so clearly & plainly taught [& impressed?] and which generally speaking, consist in an universal benevolence, meekness, self denial, deep contrition for sin & unfeigned love to our Brethren, with an habitual of lively faith in & dependence upon our Lord Jesus Christ as the only atonement for our Sins, and the source of every blessing. . .

John Hart (1711-1779)

Signer of the Declaration, New Jersey

Thanks be given unto Almighty God therefore, and knowing that is appointed for all men once to die and after that the Judgment, do make & ordain this my last Will and
Testament . . . First and principally I give & recommend my Soul into the Hands of Almighty God who gave it and my Body to the Earth to be buried in a decent and
Christian like manner . . . not doubting but to receive the same again at the General resurrection by the mighty power of God and as touching all such Temporal Estate
wherewith it hath pleased Almighty God to bless me in this life.

William Samuel Johnson (1727-1819)

Signer of the Constitution, Connecticut

I give and bequeath to the first of my grandsons who shall apply himself to the study of divinity and take Holy Orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church my Polyglot Bible the two Hebrew Bibles and Hebrew Psalter which my father used, Bates’ translation of the Pentateuch Hanes Hebrew Psalms Grabis Septuagint and an interleaved Greek Testament.

Peter Muhlenberg (1746-1807)

Minister, Revolutionary General, Member of First National Congress, Pennsylvania

Principally and first of all I recommend my immortal Soul into the hands of God who gave it and my Body to the Earth to be buried in a decent christian like manner . . . And as to such worldly Goods and Estate wherewith God has been pleased to bless me in this life I give and dispose of it in the following manner.

Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

Orator of the Revolution, First Continental Congress, Governor Virginia

This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.

Gabriel Duval (1752-1844)

Congressman from Maryland, U.S. Supreme Court Justice

I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty who gave it in humble hopes of his mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ.

John Morton (1724-1777)

Signer of the Declaration, Pennsylvania

With an Awful Reverence to the Great Almighty God Creator of all mankind, I John Morton of Ridley in the County of Chester in the province of Pennsylvania, being sick
and weak in Body but of sound mind & memory, thanks be given to almighty God for the same, and for all other his mercies and favours, and considering the certainty of
death & the uncertainty of the time thereof, do for the settling such Temporal Estate as it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life make this my last Will and Testament as followeth.

Henry Middleton (1717-1784)

First and Second Continental Congresses, South Carolina

In the Name of God Amen. I Henry Middleton . . ., being in declining state of Health, but of sound and disposing Mind and Memory (Thanks be to God for the Same) do
make and declare this Instrument of Writing to be my last and only Will and Testament in Manner following, that is to say, first and principally I commend my
Soul to God the Author and Giver of Life, hoping for a blessed Immortality through the Merits and Mediation of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785)

Governor of Connecticut, Minister, trusted counselor of Washington during the war

Principally and first of all, I bequeath my Soul to God the Creator and giver thereof; and body to the Earth, to be buried in decent christian burial at the discretion of my Executors hereafter named, nothing doubting but that I shall receive the same again at the General Resurrection thro’ the power of Almighty God; believing and hoping for eternal life thro’ the merits of my dear, exalted Redeemer Jesus Christ.

Philip Schuyler (1733-1804)

Member of Continental Congress from New York, Revolutionary General, New York Senator in first Congress

In the name of God, Amen. I, Philip Schuyler . . . being by the mercy of the Father of all mankind of sound and disposing mind and memory, do make this my last will and
Testament. . . To the great Omnipotent Just and merciful Sovereign who directs the destinies of created beings, I humbly submit, that of my Soul, relying for the pardon of
my sins on his free grace, thro the mediation of the blessed Redeemer of mankind.

David Ramsay (1749-1815)

Member of Congress under Articles of Confederation, physician, author of history of Revolution, South Carolina

I give my Soul to God in the hope of his Mercy through the Merits & intercession of his Son Jesus Christ & my body to the Grave there to be kept till the resurrection day agreeable to the hopes inspired by Gods holy word contained in the Bible the best of Books & given by divine inspiration for the Salvation of the fallen race of Adam.

Rufus Putnam (1738-1824)

Revolutionary General, New York Congressman, founder of Marietta, Ohio, Surveyor-general of U.S., member of Constitutional convention of Ohio.

First, I give my soul to a holy Sovereign God who gave it, in humble hope of a blessed immortality, through the atonement and righteousness of Jesus Christ and the
sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. My Body I commit to the Earth to be buried in a decent Christian manner, In full belief that this body shall by the mighty power of God
be raised to life at the Last day, “for this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.”

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746-1825)

Signer of the Constitution, Revolutionary General, South Carolina

To the eternal immutable and only true God be all honour and Glory now and forever Amen!

Eliphalet Dyer (1721-1807)

Member of First and many early Continental Congresses, Connecticut Judge

Whereas it has pleased God in his good Providence to bestow upon me considerable worldly estate & property, and calling to mind my own frailty & mortality & hope and
trust in the fear of God.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Seventh President of the United States

First, I bequeath my body to the dust, whence it come, and my soul to God who gave it: hoping for a happy immortality through the atoning merits of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Saviour of the world.