24 Reverend Clement Cruttwell was thanked for sending Bishop Wilson’s Bible (published in 1785) and his Works (published in 1781), 7-10-1795. WGW note on this date says, “Reverend Thomas Wilson’s (Bishop of Sodor and Man) Works were published in 1781, the Bishop having died in 1755. Reverend Thomas Wilson, son of Bishop, died in 1784....Washington’s copy of the Bishop of Sodor and Man’s Bible, which accompanied the Bishop’s Works, is now in the Library of Congress.” Washington bequeathed this Bible to his lifelong clergy friend, Bryan Fairfax. Washington’s will says, “To the Reverend, now Bryan, Lord Fairfax, I give a Bible in three large folio volumes, with notes, presented to me by the Right Reverend Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man.” WGW, vol. 37, Last Will and Testament. WGW note says, “Washington’s mistaken recollection that it had been presented to him by Reverend Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, was due to the fact that it had been bequeathed to him by the son of the bishop, the Reverend Thomas Wilson, Prebendary of Westminster.” We will consider Washington’s endorsement of Reverend Mason Weem’s The Immortal Mentor in a subsequent chapter. See also, WGW, vol. 32, 10-20-1792. To Dr. William Davies Shipley.
25 Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon, President of Princeton, Member of Congress, only Clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence, Presbyterian minister, was written to concerning “partial exchanges” and a written memorial, 10-8-1782; 9-8-1783.
26 Clergymen were interested in writing histories of the American Revolution, such as Reverend William Smith, 5-8-1792. But it was especially Reverend William Gordon who pursued the matter, corresponding extensively with Washington throughout the War and after: the note on 9-16-1776 (to the President of Congress); 1-23-1778; note on 4-22-1779 (to Burwell Bassett); 5-2-1780 (to Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton); 1-20-1786 (to James Mercer); 5-13-1776; 6-29-1777; 1-23-1778; 2-15-1778; 8-2-1779; 5-3-1780; 3-9-1781; 10-23-1782; 7-8-1783; 5-8-1784; 11-3-1784; 12-20-1784; 3-8-1785; 8-31-1785; 12-5-1785; 4-20-1786; 4-10-1787; 1-1-1788; 12-23-1788; 2-23-1789; 2-25-1791; 10-15-1797. Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon had a student named John Bowie who was willing to write the memoirs of Washington’s life, but Washington, at first willing, subsequently declined because, when checking his papers for this project, he “found a mere mass of confusion (occasioned by frequently shifting them into trunks and suddenly removing them from the reach of the enemy)” 3-8-1775, (to John Witherspoon).
27 Reverend Charles Inglis, 12-16-1776 (to Maj. Gen. William Heath); Reverend Jonathan Boucher see note on 5-30-1768.
28 Reverend Jacob Duché, 8-10-1783; Reverend Jonathan Boucher, 8-15-1798.
29 See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, for a listing of these.
30 WGW, vol. 26, 3-22-1783.
31 Meade, Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia, vol. I, p.22
“ ... When there was no service at the chapel or we were prevented from going, my father read the service and a sermon; and whenever a death occurred among the servants he performed the burial service himself, and read Blair’s Sermon on Death the following Sunday. Of the character and conduct of the old clergy generally I have often heard them speak in terms of strong condemnation. My father, when a young man, was a vestryman in Price George county, Virginia, but resigned his place rather than consent to retain an unworthy clergyman in the parish. Of two clergymen, however, in King George county, – the Stewarts, – I have heard my mother, who lived for some time under the ministry of one of them, speak in terms of high condemnation, as exceptions to the general rule....(Ibid., p.25)
...” I think this a proper time for some notice of the character of the sermons which were preached and the books which were read among the Episcopalians of Virginia. This was the period when the poet Cowper upbraided the clergy of the English Church with substituting morality for religion saying ‘How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, Has Plato, Tully, Epictetus preached!’ In the Church of Virginia, with the exception of Mr. Jarrett and perhaps a few others, I fear the preaching had for a long time been almost entirely of the moral kind.”
The books most in use were Blair’s Sermons, Sterne’s Works, The Spectator, The Whole Duty of Man, sometimes Tillotson’s Sermons, which last were of the highest grade of worth then in use. But Blair’s Sermons, on account of their elegant style and great moderation in all things, were most popular.”
The Washington family possessed Blair’s sermons and bought them from Parson Mason L. Weems. See Lane, The Boston Athenaeum Washington Collection, p. 503.
32 See Stephen DeCatur Jr., Private Affairs of George Washington (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Col, 1933) p. 90. See Custis, Recollections, p. 508.
33 See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, pp. 498, 502, 503.
34 A careful review of The Boston Athenaeum’s Catalogue of the Washington Collection will show the vast number of printed sermons that were part of Washington’s library.
35 See the chapter on Washington’s education.
36 Thus Parson Mason L. Weems as a book seller, or colporteur, sold sermons to the Washington family, the specific example able to be documented is Blair’s Sermons. See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, and the Washington Papers of the Library of Congress under Weems.
37 Examples of printed funeral sermons in Washington’s library include Mrs. Samuel Magaw, Benjamin Franklin, Governor James Bowdoin, Lord Pepperell. See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum.
38 WGW, vol. 32, 10-20-1792. To Dr. William Davies Shipley. “Sir: I have been honored with your polite Letter of the 23d. of May, together with the works of your late Right Reverend 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.” Reverend Jacob Duché dedicated “Stand Fast Therefore In The Liberty With Which Christ Has Made You Free” to Washington in 1775. Bishop William White dedicated Sermon on The Reciprocal Influence of Civil Policy and Religious Duty Delivered in the City of Philadelphia, the 19th day of February, 1795, Day of General Thanksgiving by William White, D.D. Bishop of the Episcopal Church, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Ormrod & Conrad.
Dedication to the President of the United States
Sir,
The liberty which I take, of sending the following Sermon from the press, with a dedication to the first Magistrate, is not from the thought, that I can, in any way, add to a reputation, so high as his, in our own country and throughout the world; but for a use, which arises out of my argument.
The relation which I have asserted of religion to civil policy, is well known to be considered as chimerical by some; while it is contemplated by others, as involved in whatever relates to the prosperity of the commonwealth. If a question should be raised, concerning the sense of the governments under which we live, it cannot be denied, that persons of the latter description may appeal to many particulars, in law and in practice, which can be defended on no other ground, than that of the propriety of the states availing itself of the religious principle in the minds of its citizens, in order to answer the purposes of its institution. When, therefore, in addition to constantly operating sanctions, we hear the voice of our country calling on us to assemble, for the express design of offering our acknowledgments to the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, for his prospering of its counsels, and of involving the continuance of his mercies; it is another sanction of the latter opinion, which the advocates of it cannot fail to notice, as being to their purpose; especially if it be aided by the reputation of those, from whose authority it proceeds.
It cannot have escaped the notice of any, that, since your elevation to the seat of supreme Executive authority, you have, in your official capacity, on all fit occasions, directed the public attention to the Being and Providence of God: And this implies a sense, as well of the relation, which nations, in their collective capacities, bear to him, their Supreme Ruler; as of the responsibility to him of earthly Governors, for the execution of the truths committed to them. Even had such acknowledgements come from any one, whose conversation or whose conduct were in opposition to the principle implied; still they might have been pleaded, as an homage to the truth, extorted by existing circumstances, or by some selfish views; at the expence of the violation of theory, or else of the crimination of the person. In the present instance, it is to my purpose to remark; and, but for this circumstance I should not now remark it; that an unimpeached sincerity of character, accompanied by the public acknowledgment of a Divine Being, not attached to station but evidenced throughout life, warrants, on every rule of evidence, a much stronger construction. We have a right, to apply the testimony of such a character, as the result of an enlightened conscience; and to think it an advantage to our cause, to pronounce, that a mind, which has embraced all the civil interests of the American people, has not overlooked the relation which they all bear, to the great truths of religion and of morals.
On this ground, Sir, I presumed, in the following discourse, delivered in your presence, to apply the summons under which we were assembled, to the doctrine which it was my object to establish: In doing which, it could not escape my recollection, that the sanction would come, with especial weight, before a Congregation, who have been witnesses of a correspondent conduct of the person, in his attendance on divine worship among them, during the frequent occasions of his temporary residence in this city, within the twenty years last past. For the truth of the construction of the act of government, the preacher only is responsible: The right of making the construction, if it be done with decency, seemed to come within his privileges as a citizen: And for any censure he might hazard, as to the propriety of the reasoning, he was willing to commit himself in that respect; considering, as he did, that the point intended to be established, was not mere matter of speculation, but involved important duties of civil rulers and equally important rights of Christian ministers: The former, as a conformity to professions brought forward to the public eye; and the latter, as giving us an opportunity to remind our civil superiors, when occasion and prospect of usefulness occur, of practicing duties, which with a view to the happiness of the civil state, they, officially and with great propriety, recommend to us and to our congregations.
From this statement of circumstances, the design, and I hope, the propriety of the Dedication, must be evident. It is, Sir, that in proof of a point, which I believe to be essential to the duties and to the felicities of public and of private life, I may, in the most explicit and pointed manner that occurs to me, avail myself of the aids which I think I discover, in the measures of your administration and in the weight of your character: A use of human authority, which cannot be objected to, as inapplicable to the subject; because it is of the essence of my argument, that, in every permanent government, civil rulers will be drawn to confess the principle asserted; either, as in the present instance, by a declaration of truths believed and felt; or, as may happen, by a compliance with what they suppose to be popular prejudices and weakness. And this is a circumstance, which I apply in proof, that my doctrine is involved in, and inseparable from social order.
The time, Sir, may come, and I believe it must come, when the doctrine here maintained will be held a much more important subject, than it has yet been, of political investigation; and when the acknowledging of it will be demonstrated by facts, to be a trait in the character of the enlightened statesman and in that of the virtuous citizen. In the event, it will be no small part of the praise of the chief magistrate of the present day, that, as the result of his own judgment and consistently with his own practice, he made acknowledgements, which are in contrariety to a theory, that sets open the flood-gates of immorality....
That you may enjoy that best reward of your present labors; and that the remainder of your life may be crowned with a measure of felicity, proportioned to the glory of the past period of it; is, Sir, the sincere wish and the devout prayer, of your respectful, affectionate and obliged humble servant,
WILLIAM WHITE
Feb. 28th, 1795.
See Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum.
39 Reverend 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. (Philadelphia: Printed by James Chattin, 1755.).
40 We saw this in the case of Uzal Ogden’s request for Washington to endorse his critique of Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason. Also, Reverend Knox mentioned above, who had written on a uniform system of education, had requested Washington’s endorsement. Washington declined in both instances. But that is what makes his endorsement of Parson Weem’s Immortal Mentor so remarkable, because it was not the practice of Washington to issue an endorsement. We will consider the Weem’s publication in a subsequent chapter.
41 For the history of the Stith family, see Meade, Old Churches, p.137-138:
William Stith was the only son of Captain John Stith, of the county of Charles City, and of Mary, a daughter of “William Randolph, gentleman,” of Turkey Island, in the adjoining county, Henrico, in the Colony of Virginia : their son William was born in the year 1689. On the death of her husband, Mrs. Stith, at the instance of her brother, Sir John Randolph, removed to Williamsburg and placed her son in the grammar-school attached to the College of William and Mary, where he pursued his academic studies and graduated. His theological studies were completed in England, where he was ordained a minister of the Episcopal Church. On his return to Virginia, in the year 1731, he was elected master of the grammar-school in the College and chaplain to the House of Burgesses. In June, 1738, he was called rector to Henrico parish, in the county of Henrico. He marred his cousin Judith, a daughter of Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, the second son of William Randolph, of Turkey Island, and resided in the parsonage on the glebe near Varina, the seat of justice for the county of Henrico. There he wrote his History of Virginia, which was printed and bound in the city of Williamsburg, at the only printing-press then in the Colony. In August, 1752, he was elected President of William and Mary College, to which he removed and over which he presided until his death, in 1755....A third married William Stith, and was the mother of Reverend Mr. Stith, the historian of Virginia, minister of Henrico, and afterward President of William and Mary College. His sister married Commissary Dawson, and he himself married Miss Judith Randolph of Tuckahoe. Another of the family married the Reverend Mr. Keith, who settled in Fauquier, and was the ancestor of Judge Marshall. ... Bishop Randolph, of the latter part of the last century, was first Archdeacon of Jersey, then Bishop of Oxford, and then of London, in all which stations he was most highly esteemed. His collection of tracts for the benefit of young students for the ministry show him to have been a Bishop of sound doctrines and of a truly catholic spirit.”
42 See the chapter entitled, “Washington the Low Churchman.”
43 WGW, vol. 36, 9-25-1798. To Reverend G. W. Snyder.
44 Twohig, The Diaries of George Washington, vol. 5, November, Sunday 8th, 1789. “It being contrary to Law & disagreeable to the People of this State (Connecticut) to travel on the Sabbath day and my horses after passing through such intolerable Roads wanting rest, I stayed at Perkins’s Tavern (which by the bye is not a good one) all day—and a meeting House being with in a few rod of the Door, I attended Morning & evening Service, and heard very lame discourses from a Mr. Pond.”
45 Twohig, Diaries, Monday October 10, 1785.
46 Twohig, Diaries, Sunday July 3, 1791. “Received, and answered an address from the Inhabitants of York town—& there being no Episcopal Minister present in the place, I went to hear morning Service performed in the Dutch reformed Church—which, being in that language not a word of which I understood I was in no danger of becoming a proselyte to its religion by the eloquence of the Preacher.” PGW vol. 6.
47 WGW, vol. 31, 3-28-1791. To Tobias Lear.
48 Ibid., vol. 3, 7-9-1771. To Jonathan Boucher.
49 Ibid., vol. 28, 7-25-1785. To David Humphreys.
50 See for example, GWP, Series 8 Miscellaneous Papers, where Washington’s extensive personal notes on various topics, such as farming, history and constitutional forms of government are copied by him from various books he had read.
51 WGW, vol. 36, 12-21-1797. To James Anderson. “If a person only sees, or directs from day to day what is to be done, business can never go on methodically or well, for in case of sickness, or the absence of the Director, delays must follow. System to all things is the soul of business. To deliberate maturely, and execute promptly is the way to conduct it to advantage. With me, it has always been a maxim, rather to let my designs appear from my works than by my expressions. To talk long before hand, of things to be done, is unpleasant, if those things can as well be done at one time or another; but I do not mean by this to discourage you from proposing any plans to me which you may conceive to be beneficial, after having weighed them well in your own mind; on the contrary, I request you to do it with the utmost freedom, for the more combined, and distant things are seen, the more likely they are to be turned to advantage.”
52 Custis writes in Recollections, pp. 162-163, “General Washington, during the whole of both his public and private life, was a very early riser; indeed, in the maternal mansion, at which his first habits were formed, the character of a sluggard was abhorred. Whether as chief magistrate, or the retired citizen, we find this man of method and labor seated in his library from one to two hours before day, in winter and at daybreak in summer. We wonder at the amazing amount of work which he performed. Nothing but a method the most remarkable and exemplary, could have enabled him to accomplish such a world of labor, an amount which might have given pretty full employment to half a dozen ordinary, and not idle men, all their lies. When we consider the volume of his official papers—his vast foreign, public, and private correspondence—we are scarcely able to believe that the space of one man’s life should have comprehended the doing of so many things and doing them so well.”
53 WGW, vol. 30, 4-1789. “I will only say, that, during and since the Session of the Convention, I have attentively heard and read every oral and printed information of both sides of the question that could readily be procured. This long and laborious investigation, in which I endeavoured as far as the frailty of nature would permit to act with candour has resulted in a fixed belief that this Constitution, is really in its formation a government of the people.” Washington’s concern for the constitutional crisis looming in America is well seen in WGW, vol. 29, 11-15-1786, To Bushrod Washington. “Among the great objects which you took into consideration at your meeting at Richmond, how comes it to pass, that you never turned your eyes to the inefficacy of the Federal Government, so as to instruct your Delegates to accede to the propositions of the Commrs. at Annapolis; or to devise some other mode to give it that energy, which is necessary to support a national character? Every man who considers the present constitution of it, and sees to what it is verging, trembles. The fabrick which took nine years, at the expense of much blood and treasure, to rear, now totters to the foundation, and without support must soon fall.” Washington’s written study notes on constitutional forms are found in The George Washington Papers of the Library of Congress, Series 8, “Miscellaneous Papers,” images 344-366.
54 As for example, the sermons by Stith, “The Nature and Extent of Christ’s Redemption” and Clark, “An Answer to the Question of Why I Am a Christian,” and the study by Berrington that have been included as illustrations in this study.
55 See, for example, Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, pp. 76-77, 132, 145, 162-163, 195.
56 Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum, p. 502.
