Answer to an Address from the Massachusetts Legislature: “May that being, who is powerful to save, and in whose hands is the fate of nations, look down with an eye of tender pity and compassion upon the whole of the United Colonies; may He continue to smile upon their counsels and arms, and crown them with success, whilst employed in the cause of virtue and mankind. May this distressed colony and its capital, and every part of this wide extended continent, through His divine favor, be restored to more than their former lustre and once happy state, and have peace, liberty, and safety secured upon a solid, permanent, and lasting foundation.”39
“Circular to the States,” 1783: “I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”
Proposed Address to Congress, 1789: “The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.”40
Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor…And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions…”41
(14) Biblical revelation
“Circular to the States:” “The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period, the researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, … and above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation...”42
(15) Non-deistic
To Reverend William Gordon: “No Man has a more perfect Reliance on the alwise, and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have nor thinks his aid more necessary.”43
To Brig. Gen. Thomas Nelson: “...The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this [the success of the American Revoluiton], that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations.”44
To Reverend Samuel Langdon: “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.”45
Farewell Address, 1796: “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 should labour 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 to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked 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 peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ‘Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”46
CONCLUSION
Based upon this summation of the Latitudinarian theology of the Low Church, in comparison with Washington’s beliefs, it is simply impossible to claim that Washington was a Deist. It is evident that he was an adherent of the Anglican traditional Low Church theology, which was thoroughly rejected by all Deists, and which, in turn, denied the claims of Deism.
APPENDIX TEN
Tributes to Washington
By His Contemporaries:
His Christian Faith, Striking
Appearance, and Moral Character
In this appendix, we will assemble several citations from Washington’s contemporaries. They are grouped in three sections: his Christianity, descriptions of his appearance, and summations of his character.
I. TESTIMONIES TO WASHINGTON’S CHRISTIAN FAITH BY HIS CONTEMPORARIES
William Johnson writes in George Washington The Christian:
Sermons and orations by divines and statesmen were delivered all over the land at the death of Washington. A large volume of such was published. I have seen and read them, and the religious character of Washington was a most prominent feature in them; and for this there must have been some good cause. ‘That Washington was regarded throughout America, both among our military and political men, as a sincere believer in Christianity, as then received among us, and a devout man, is as clear as any fact in our history.”1
A. Declarations of His Contemporaries
(1) Major-General Henry Lee
Major-General Henry Lee, member of Congress from Virginia, who served under him during the war, and afterward in the civil department, and who was chosen by Congress to deliver his funeral oration, Thursday, December 26, 1799, at Philadelphia, in the German Lutheran Church. He says in that oration: “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting.”2
(2) Joathan Mitchell Sewall
On Tuesday, December 31, 1799, Jonathan Mitchell Sewall delivered an oration at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at the request of the inhabitants, in which he says: “To crown all these moral virtues, he had the deepest sense of religion impresses on his heart—the true foundation—stone of all the moral virtues.
“This he constantly manifested on all proper occasions. He was a firm believer in the Christian religion; and, at his first entrance on his civil administration he made it known, and adhered to his purpose, that no secular business could be transacted with him on the day set apart by Christians for the worship of Deity.
“Though he was, from principle, a member of the Episcopal Church, he was candid and liberal in the highest degree, not only to all sects and denominations of Christians but to all religions, where the possessors were sincere, throughout the world.
“He constantly attended the public worship of God on the Lord’s Day, was communicant at His table, and, by his devout and solemn deportment, inspired every beholder with some portion of that awe and reverence for the Supreme Being of which he felt so large a portion.
“For my own part, I trust I shall never lose the impression made on my own mind in beholding in this house of prayer the venerable hero, the victorious leader of our hosts, bending in humble adoration to the God of armies, and great Captain of our Salvation. Hard and unfeeling indeed must that heart be that could sustain the sight unmoved, or its owner depart unsoftened and unedified.
“Let the deist reflect on this, and remember that Washington, the saviour of his country, did not disdain to acknowledge and adore a great Saviour, whom deists and infidels affect to slight and despise.”3
(3) Reverend John Thornton Kirkland
In a discourse on the death of Washington, delivered by the Reverend John Thornton Kirkland, minister of the New South Church, Boston, Massachusetts, December 29, 1799, he says: “The virtues of our departed friend were crowned with piety. He is known to have been habitually devout. To Christian institutions he gave the countenance of his example; and no one could express more fully his sense of the Providence of God, and the dependence of man.”4
(4) Captain Josiah Dunham
Josiah Dunham, Captain of the 16th U.S. Regiment of the Revolution, in his funeral oration pronounced at Oxford, Massachusetts, at the request of the field officers of the brigade, stationed at that place, on the 15th of January, 1800, says of him: “A friend to our holy religion, he was ever guided by its pious doctrines. He had embraced the tenants of the Episcopal Church; yet his charity, unbounded as his immortal mind, led him equally to respect every denomination of the followers of Jesus.”5
