The importance of Christian sermons in George Washington’s life has been entirely overlooked by recent scholars. Moreover, the full extent of Washington’s interest and reading of Christian sermons has never been sufficiently explored. This oversight is unfortunate since it leaves an incomplete understanding of Washington’s spirituality. The evidence presented throughout this book makes it clear that Washington read, purchased, received, and commented on sermons.
The authors advocating that Washington was a Deist have arbitrarily limited Washington’s theological comments and interaction with his sermon collection to only two such messages. But the fact is that there were so many, we cannot possibly do justice to all of them in this study. The best we can do, for now, is to outline the most salient sermons and attempt to show how they relate to Washington’s life and faith. We here provide a “Summary of Washington’s Most Important Sermons.” We have catalogued them in terms of their relevance to Washington’s life, and, where possible, we have included his comments on the sermons.
It should be noted that during the colonial era, printed sermons of leading Christian clergymen were a major means of communication. In a sense, they were like the mass media of the day. John Locke was quoted by many during the founding era. Why? Because he was quoted in sermons. Dr. Donald S. Lutz, co-author (along with Dr. Charles Hyneman) of a ground-breaking study on how the Bible was the most quoted and cited source during the founding era, made this observation about the printed sermon of George Washington’s day. Says Dr. Lutz:
During the founding era, the late 1700’s, there were no magazines, newspapers had a very small circulation, there was no television, there was no internet, what did people do for entertainment? They would read pamphlets. Now, of all the pamphlets published during the last part of the 1700’s, more than 80% of them were reprinted sermons.1
Washington certainly was not alone in his hobby of collecting and reading printed sermons.
CATEGORIZING THE SERMONS WASHINGTON COLLECTED
There are several ways to organize and summarize the major sermons in Washington’s life. For the sake of convenience, these sermons will be presented here in outline form. In a few instances some of the sermons will appear more than once in the following list, because there are various significant features that need to be highlighted. This summary is merely representative and is therefore not complete.
1. Sermons Washington received and thanked the author for
a. Samuel Miller: “A Sermon, preached in New-York, July 4th, 1793. Being the Anniversary of the Independence of America: at the Request of the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order. By Samuel Miller, A.M. One of the Ministers of the United Presbyterian Churches, in the city of New-York.” Washington wrote on 8-29-1793, “Sir: It is but a few days since that I had the pleasure to receive your polite letter of the 4 instant, which accompanied the Sermon delivered by you on the 4 of July, and I beg you will accept my best thanks for the attention shewn in forwarding the same to me.”2
a. Ezra Stiles: “The United States elevated to Glory and Honor. A Sermon, preached before His Excellency Jonathan Trumbull, Esq. L.L.D. Governor and Commander in Chief, and the Honorable the General Assembly of the state of Connecticut, convened at Hartford, at the Annual Election, May 8th, 1783. By Ezra Stiles, D.D. President of Yale-College. New-Haven: printed by Thomas & Samuel Green.” Washington wrote on 2-23-1787, “Sir: I have the pleasure to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th. Instant and likewise one of the 9th. of November handed to me by the Revd. Mr. Morse together with your election Sermon for which I beg you will accept of my best thanks.”3
c. Uzal Ogden: The identification of these sermons or theological articles are unclear. Washington wrote on 7-6-1789, “Your letter of the 12th of June, which was duly received, should have had an earlier acknowledgment and best thanks have been rendered to you for your politeness in sending me the first number of a new periodical publication which accompanied it, had not my late indisposition prevented. I must now beg your acceptance of my thanks for this mark of attention, and assure you that it always gives me peculiar pleasure to afford every proper encouragement to useful publications, but as I have not been able (from the multiplicity of business which has crowded upon me since my recovery) to peruse the work which you sent me, I cannot, with propriety give it that testimony of my approbation which you desire, and which I dare say it deserves.”4
d. Isaac Story: “A Discourse, delivered February 15, 1795, at the Request of the Proprietors’ Committee; as preparatory to the Collection, on the national Thanksgiving, the Thursday following, for the Benefit of our American Brethren in Captivity at Algiers. By Isaac Story, A.M. Pastor of the Second Congregational Society in Marblehead. Printed by Thomas C. Cushing, Salem.” “A Sermon, preached February 19, 1795, (from Ecclesiastes 9:18.) being the Federal Thanksgiving, appointed by our beloved President, the Illustrious George Washington, Esq. By Isaac Story, A.M. Pastor of the Second Congregational Society in Marblehead. Printed by Thomas C. Cushing, Salem.” Reverend Story had written, “Deign most respected Sire, to accept of the enclosed, as one of the sermons was composed in obedience to your requisition.—please to accept them as a pledge of my veneration for your person and public administrations. I acknowledge myself a federalist and that I rejoice in the privileges of our excellent constitution. May the blessings of it be preserved, notwithstanding the machination of foreigners and foes within, be increased and handed down in their utmost extent to the latest posterity. While the old officers of government are dropping off around you, may you be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved. Long may you sway the scepter of our government, long reign in the hearts of every sincere Patriot, and at some far distant period leave this earthly dominion for a crown of glory which fadeth not away. And when you take your ascension may the reins of government like Elijah’s mantle drop into the hands of a worthy successor. I am your most obedient and devoted servant, Isaac Story.” Washington wrote on 4-14-1795 a brief note of thanks to Reverend Isaac Story, of Marblehead, Mass., for the sermons that he sent.5
e. Jeremy Belknap: “A Sermon, delivered on the 9th of May, 1798, the Day of the national Fast, recommended by the President of the United States. By Jeremy Belknap, D.D. Minister of the Church in Federal-Street, Boston. Printed by Samuel Hall, Boston. 1798.” Washington wrote on 6-15-1798, “Your favour of the 29th Ulto. accompanying the Discourse delivered on the day recommended by the President of the U States to be observed for a Fast, was received in the usual course of the Mail, from Boston…For the Discourse, which you were so obliging as to send me, and for the favourable sentiments with which it was accompanied, I pray you to accept the best thanks.”6
f. “Shipley’s Works by Reverend Jonathan Shipley, Anglican Bishop of St. Asaph. Shipley. 2 vols. London, 1792.”7 When his son, Dr. William Davies Shipley, sent his father’s sermons to him. Washington wrote:
“Sir: I have been honored with your polite Letter of the 23d. of May, together with the works of your late Right Revd. father Lord bishop of St. Asaph, which accompanied it. For the character and sentiments of that venerable Divine while living, I entertained the most perfect esteem, and have a sincere respect for his memory now he is no more. My best thanks are due to you for his works, and the mark of your attention in sending them to me; and especially for the flattering expressions respecting myself, which are contained in your letter.”8
2. Sermons dedicated to Washington to which he made no comment
a. Jacob Duché: “The Duty of Standing fast in our spiritual and temporal Liberties, a Sermon preached in Christ-Church, July 7th, 1775.”9
b. William White: “A sermon on the reciprocal Influence of Civil Policy and Religious Duty. Delivered in Christ Church, in the City of Philadelphia on Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795, being a Day of General Thanksgiving.”10
3. Sermons he received that he said he hadn’t read yet
a. Unknown sermon. Mentioned to Tobias Lear on 3-28-1791.11
b. Samuel Langdon: “The Republic of the Israelites an Example to the American States. A Sermon, preached at Concord, in the state of New-Hampshire; before the Honorable General Court at the annual Election. June 5, 1788. by Samuel Landon, D.D. Pastor of the Church in Hampton-Falls. Exeter: printed by Lamson and Ranlet.” In this letter of 9-28-1789, Washington says, “Sir: You will readily believe me when I assure you that the necessary attention to the business in which I have been lately engaged is the sole cause of my not having sooner acknowledged the receipt of your letter of the 8th. of July, and made a proper return for your politeness in sending me the Sermon which accompanied it. You will now, Sir, please to accept my best thanks for this mark of attention, as well as for the friendly expressions contained in your letter. The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf. And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored.”12
c. Jedidiah Morse: 5-26-1799. “Revd. Sir: I thank you for your Sermon ‘Exhibiting the present dangers, and consequent duties of the Citizens of the United States of America’ which came to hand by the last Post: and which I am persuaded I shall read with approbating pleasure, as soon as some matters on which I am engaged at present, are dispatch’d.”13
d. William White: 5-30-1799. Washington wrote, “The Sermon on the duty of Civil obedience as required in Scripture, which you had the goodness to send me, came safe a Post or two ago; and for which I pray you to accept my grateful acknowledgments. The hurry in which it found me engaged, in a matter that pressed, has not allowed me time to give it a perusal yet: but I anticipate the pleasure and edification I shall find when it is in my power to do it.”14
4. Sermons he possessed that were illustrative of his education and faith
a. Offspring Blackhall: 1717. “The Sufficiency of a Standing Revelation in General, and of the Scripture Revelation in particular. Both as to the Matter of it, and as to the Proof of it; and that new Revelations cannot reasonably be desired, and would probably be unsuccessful. In eight Sermons, preach’d in the Cathedral-Church of St. Paul, London; at the Lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq; in the Year 1700.” Childhood textbook signed by Washington and in his library.15
b. William Stith: 1753. “The Nature and Extent of Christ’s Redemption. A Sermon preached before the General Assembly of Virginia: at Williamsburg, November 11th, 1753. by William Stith, A.M. President of William and Mary College. Published at the request of the House of Burgesses.” Signed by Washington.16
c. William Gordon: “The Separation of the Jewish Tribes, after the Death of Solomon, accounted for, and applied to the present Day, in a Sermon preached before the General Court, on Friday, July the 4th, 1777. Being the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independency. By William Gordon. Pastor of the Third Church in Roxbury. Boston: Printed by J. Gill, Printer to the General Assembly.” 7-4-1777. A sermon dedicated to Washington by a Revolutionary War historian, and one of Washington’s closest correspondents throughout the War to the end of his life.17
d. Samuel Stanhope Smith: “A Discourse on the Nature and Reasonableness of Fasting, and on the existing Causes that call us to that Duty. Delivered at Princeton, on Tuesday the 6th January, 1795. Being the Day appointed by the Synod of New York and New-Jersey, to be observed as a General Fast, by all the Churches of their Communion in those States; and now published in Compliance with the Request of the Students of Theology and Law in Princeton. By Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D. Vice-President and Professor of Moral Philosophy and Divinity, in the College of New-Jersey. Philadelphia: printed by William Young, 1795.” Smith was the tutor of G. W. P. Custis at Princeton. This sermon reveals the Christian faith of the man under whom Washington insisted that his young grandson, George Washington Parke Custis study.18
e. Abiel Leonard: “A Prayer Composed for the Spiritual Benefit of the soldiery in the American army to assist them in their private devotions, and recommended to their particular use. Cambridge, 1775.” Leonard’s prayer is found here as appendix 6. Leonard was one of Washington’s favorite chaplains. See the chapter on “George Washington the Soldier.”
f. Samuel Miller: “A Sermon, preached in New York, July 4th, 1793. Being the Anniversary of the Independence of America: at the Request of the Tammany Society, or Columbian Order. By Samuel Miller, A.M. One of the Minister of the United Presbyterian Church, in the city of New York.”19 This Masonic sermon shows the Christian character of the Masonic Order in Washington’s day.
g. Uzal Ogden: “A sermon delivered at Morris-Town, on Monday December 27, 1784, it being the Festival of St. John the Evangelist, before the Fraternity of Free and Accepted masons, of Lodge No. 10, in the State of New-Jersey.”20 Masonic sermon. Shows the Christian and anti-Deist spirit of the Masonic Order in Washington’s day.
h. Joel Barlow: “An Oration, delivered at the North Church in Hartford, at the Meeting of the Connecticut Society of the Cincinnati, July 4th, 1787. In Commemoration of the Independence of the United States.”21 It shows the spiritual nature of the Order of the Cincinnati, Washington’s military order of honor for the officers of the Revolutionary War. It also shows either a pre-Deist, or pre-Atheist, or secret Deist or Atheist.
5. Sermons he did not have but were significant to his life
a. Samuel Davies: “Religion and patriotism the constituents of a good soldier. A sermon preached to Captain Overton’s Independent Company of Volunteers, raised in Hanover County, Virginia, August 17, 1755. By Samuel Davies, A.M. Minister of the Gospel there.”22 This was the first sermon to take notice of Washington in the aftermath of Braddock’s defeat. Davies suggested that Washington’s providential deliverance was perhaps a harbinger of significance service for the nation.
b. Bryan Fairfax: “He that Believeth On Me Hath Everlasting Life.” No Date. This was reproduced with permission from a printed version by the Virginia Historical Society. This sermon was written by one of Washington’s closest lifelong friends. He was also the pastor of his church in Alexandria for a time. It shows a clear belief in the biblical doctrine of eternal life through faith in Christ’s redeeming work on the cross for sinners, that in turn results in good works. It is included here as appendix 7.
6. Sermons for which Washington paid “compliments” to the author
a. The unique distinction of having this honor goes to Dr. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale for his two sermons entitled, “Nature and Tendency of Infidel Philosophy.”
7. Sermons which Washington said he read with pleasure
a. Israel Evans: A discourse delivered on the 18th day of December, 1777, the day of public thanksgiving, appointed by the Honourable Continental Congress, by the Reverend Israel Evans, A.M. Chaplain to General Poor’s brigade. And now published at the request of the general and officers of the said brigade, to be distributed among the soldiers, gratis.”23 Washington responded on 3-13-1778. “I have read this performance with equal attention and pleasure, and at the same time that I admire, and feel the force of the reasoning which you have displayed through the whole, it is more especially incumbent upon me to thank you for the honorable, but partial mention you have made of my character; and to assure you, that it will ever be the first wish of my heart to aid your pious endeavours to inculcate a due sense of the dependance we ought to place in that all wise and powerful Being on whom alone our success depends; and moreover, to assure you, that with respect and regard, I am, etc.”24
b. Uzal Ogden: “A sermon on practical religion. By the Reverend Uzal Ogden, of Sussex County, New-Jersey. [Four lines of Scripture texts] Number I.” [Chatham, N.J.]25 Washington responded on 8-5-1779 “Revd. Sir: I have received, and with pleasure read, the Sermon you were so obliging as to send me. I thank you for this proof of your attention. I thank you also for the favourable sentiments you have been pleased to express of me. But in a more especial mannr. I thank you for the good wishes and prayers you offer in my behalf. These have a just claim to the gratitude of Revd. Sir, Yr., etc.”26
c. Alexander Addison: “Observations on the Speech of Albert Gallatin, in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the Foreign Intercourse Bill. (Washington [Penn.].”27 Washington replied, “I pray you, Sir, to accept my thanks for the Pamphlet you had the goodness to send me…and for the Gazette containing an Oration delivered at the Town of W. on the day recommended by the President to be observed as a General Fast. Both of these productions I have read with equal attention & satisfaction:”28
d. William Linn: “A Discourse on national Sins: delivered May 9, 1798.” Washington responded on July 4th 1798, “I recd. With thankfulness your favor of the 30th ult. inclosing the discourse delivered by you on the day recommended by the president of the U. States, to be observed as a general Fast. – I have read them both with pleasure—and feel grateful for the favorable Sentiments you have been pleased to express in my behalf.”29
e. Jedidiah Morse: “A Sermon preached at Charlestown, November 29, 1798, on the Anniversary Thanksgiving in Massachusetts. With an Appendix, designed to illustrate some Parts of the Disourse; exhibiting proofs of the early existence, progress, and deleterious effects of French intrigue and influence in the United States.”30 Washington replied on 2-28-1799, “Reverend Sir: The letter with which you were pleased to favour me, dated the first instant, accompanying your thanksgiving Sermon came duly to hand. For the latter I pray you to accept my thanks. I have read it, and the Appendix with pleasure; and wish the latter at least, could meet a more general circulation than it probably will have, for it contains important information; as little known out of a small circle as the dissimination of it would be useful, if spread through the Community. With great respect etc.”31
8. Sermons upon which Washington offered his prayers or wished for their success
a. Nathaniel Whitaker: 1777. “An Antidote Against Toryism. Or the Curse of Meroz, in a Discourse on Judges 5th 23.”32 Washington wrote, “…For the honour of the dedication, I return you my sincere thanks, and wish most devoutly that your labour may be crowned with the success it deserves.”33
b. Masons L. Weems: “The Philanthropist.” Reverend M. L. Weems, The Philanthropist; or A Good Twelve Cents Worth of Political Love Power, for the Fair Daughters and Patriotic Sons of America. Dedicated to that great Lover and Love of his Country, George Washington, Esq (Alexandria: John & James D. Westcott, 1799). Washington responded on 8-29-1799 “Revd Sir: I have been duly favored with your letter of the 20th. instant, accompanying “The Philanthropist.” For your politeness in sending the latter, I pray you to receive my best thanks. Much indeed is it to be wished that the sentiments contained in the Pamphlet, and the doctrine it endeavors to inculcate, were more prevalent. Happy would it be for this country at least, if they were so. But while the passions of Mankind are under so little restraint as they are among us. and while there are so many motives, and views, to bring them into action we may wish for, but will never see the accomplishment of it. With respect etc”34
c. Mason L. Weems: The Immortal Mentor. Mason L. Weems, The Immortal Mentor; or Man’s Unerring Guide to a Healthy, Wealthy and Happy Life. In Three Parts. By Lewis Cornaro, Dr. Franklin, and Dr. Scott. Philadelphia: Printed for the Reverend Mason L. Weems, by Francis and Robert Bailey, no. 116 High-Street, 1796. Washington wrote to Weems on 7-3-1799, “For your kind compliment—“The Immortal Mentor,” I beg you to accept my best thanks. I have perused it with singular satisfaction; and hesitate not to say that it is in my opinion at least, an invaluable compilation. I cannot but hope that a book whose contents do such credit to its title, will meet a very generous patronage.
Should that patronage equal my wishes, you will have no reason to regret that you ever printed the Immortal mentor. With respect I am Reverend Sir, Your most obedient Humble Servant, George Washington.”35 (emphasis in the original.)
d. Jedidiah Morse. 2-28-1799. (see Washington’s remarks above in 7.e.)
9. Sermons upon which Washington directly commented on the doctrine that they contained
