“At a time when our holy religion and our government are formidably assailed, by the secret and subtle artifices of foreign enemies, it is incumbent on every friend to Christianity, and to his country, to unite in opposing their insidious and wicked designs. He is unworthy the name of a Christian or a patriot, who, in such a crisis as the present, is silent or inactive. Surely the ministers of religion ought not to be considered as deviating from the duties of their profession, while they unveil those political intrigues, which, in their progress and operation, are undermining the foundations, and blasting the fair fruits of that holy religion, which they preach, and which they are under the oath of God to vindicate against every species of attack....
“I confess that I have been one of the many thousands of my countrymen, who have felt an honest esteem for, and a sincere gratitude to France, for the aid she afforded us during our war with Great Britain, and who unfeignedly rejoiced with her at the commencement of her revolution, in the prospect of her enjoying the sweets of freedom, and the blessings of an equal government. But I am not ashamed now to acknowledge, (and thousands have done the same) that this esteem, gratitude, and joy, were the offspring of ignorance. A development of the motives and designs of France, in respect to her alliance and intercourse with us, and of the real nature and object of her revolution, has produced an entire change in my own feelings and opinions. I can no longer consider her government, at any period, either under the monarchy or the republic, as having been truly friendly to the interests of the United State; . . .
“....infidelity and licentiousness are too numerous, they are yet the minority of the nation, as we will hope and are now on the decline, both in numbers and influence. The lamentable issue of the great experiment, made in France, of governing a civilized people without the aids of religion, has procured for Christianity many able advocates, and furnished many strong motives to the Christian to cherish his faith. While France, both in a political and religious view, exhibits an awful example for us to shun, we cannot but feel for her present deplorable wretchedness, and the tremendous calamities, which, in all probability, still await this profligate nation. Although the “prejudices of philosophers (philosophists) and systemists”, have been pronounced “incorrigible,” we will indulge the hope, that the uncommon afflictions and miseries which the atheistical conspirators against religion and government have brought upon France, and those under her control, will operate conviction and regret in the blindest understanding and the hardest heart; and thus all this “wrath of man” be made ultimately to “praise God.” How much soever we detest the principles and the conduct of the French, we shall most sincerely wish them well; that they may speedily enjoy the fruits of true repentance and reformation; the blessings of good government, peace, and pure Christianity. Then we will embrace them as FRIENDS; till then, we ought to hold them as ENEMIES.”
75 Boller, George Washington & Religion, p. 78. says, “In the second instance, however, we can speak with some precision. In 1789, a few months after Washington’s inauguration, Reverend Joseph Buckminster of New Hampshire sent the new President a sermon which presumably might be of particular interest to Washington as he assumed the highest office in the new federal government. It was an old sermon. It had been preached by Benjamin Stevens, pastor of the first church in Kittery, Maine, on the occasion of the death of Sir William Pepperell in 1759. . . . Washington voiced his hearty ‘approbation of the doctrine therein inculcated.’ Whether it was the humility or the conscientiousness enjoined upon men in high office that appealed to Washington we have no way of knowing. Probably it was both. In any case, the doctrine which he approved was primarily of political significance and does not enlighten us as to his attitude toward the tenets of the Christian faith.”
Paul Boller here follows the cut and paste presentation of this sermon given initially by Moncure Conway. Reverend Conway was the editor of The Works of Thomas Paine, the leading Deist of Washington’s day. Conway was quoted by Lane in The Catalogue to the Washington Library at the Boston Athenaeum, p. 194, “This letter to Dr. Buckminster is especially notable, because, though the larger part was dictated, Washington has added in his own hand his approbation of the doctrine of the discourse. It is doubtful if in all his writings similar approval of any statement of doctrine can be found. . . . The text selected for [this sermon] was from the 82nd Psalm, ‘But ye shall die like men.’ Referring to the previous part of the verse (7), ‘I have said ye are Gods,’ the preacher said that rulers might in a sense be properly so styled, because governments being appointed of God, magistrates were his representatives, He defined God as a moral governor, engaged in a great plan of wisdom and benevolence. As this world is not a state of retribution, it is requisite that these earthly Gods should be removed by Death as well as other men, in order to compleat the Plan of the Divine government. Indeed the great ends of the moral administration of God seem to require this, to suppress the progress of vice and promote virtue and goodness in the present state, but especially for the final adjustment of all things with equity.’ This, probably, is the doctrine of which Washington intimates his approval.”
Steven’s sermon, edited and summarized by Conway, is presented in such a way that one would have thought it was a sermon preached by a Deist. Nevertheless, if one is permitted actually to see the words of the sermon, it is clear that Steven’s sermon is an orthodox Christian sermon. One would never know that fact from Conway’s careful cutting and pasting of the message. Further, this method of parsing out the sections that Washington would have agreed with is not only entirely prejudicial and unscientific, it is inconsistent with the glowing affirmation that Washington wrote in his own hand. The sermon was addressed as a whole. The sermon as a whole was Christian. How could there not be Christian doctrine in view? This was a Christian funeral sermon, which as a whole was filled with Christian doctrine. The method employed here by Reverend Conway and Professor Boller is an overt act of deflection to keep the reader from knowing what Washington actually had read and approved. Astonishingly, the generally skeptical Professor Boller apparently can set aside all doubt and tell us what parts of the sermon Washington liked, although Washington’s letter did not limit his approval to any specific doctrinal teaching. We believe this approach by Conway and Boller is an expression of a method of desperation to cover over the obvious Christian views that Washington had to possess to approve this sermon.
76 “A Sermon occasioned by the death of the Honorable Sir William Pepperell, Bart. Lieutenant-General in his Majesty’s Service.” Who died at his seat in Kittery, July 6th, 1759, aged 63. Preached the next Lord’s-Day after his funeral by Benjamin Stevens, A.M. Pastor of the First Church in Kittery.
77 A Funeral Sermon. Psalm 82:7. But ye shall die like men.
As the benevolent Author of our Being, who knows our weakness, and wishes our welfare, is represented by the great Prophet of the Jews, saying to his people, O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! We have hereby plainly intimated, that serious reflections on our mortality, and the issue of things at death, would ... excite us faithfully to act the parts assigned us here, and daily solicitous to focus on the happiness of the world to come. ...
...The words are, I have said ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the most High: It follows, But ye shall die like men. ... Civil rulers are here, and in several other places in the sacred oracles, stiled Gods, not only on account of their authority and dominion, or the dignity of their character and office: but to point out the end and design for which they are exalted to power, viz. That they might in their limited sphere, imitate Him, who is the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, who governs the whole in infinite wisdom, perfect righteousness and goodness. ....Christ also says, John 10, 35 – He called them Gods to whom the Word of the Lord came, i.e. God, in his Word, has called those Gods, to whom he had delegated Power, and who were commissioned by Him, to the Office of Magistrates and Rulers....Now since in this sense civil Rulers are of God, and his Establishment and Appointment, ...they may without Impropriety be stilled Gods. But such, however dignified by Titles of Honor and Respect—And by that which is given to the sovereign Majesty of Heaven and Earth—Such, I say, however elevated their Station or extensive their Power and Usefulness, must die like other Men...
This is a Truth taught in our Text, and a Truth too evident to admit of any laboured Proof....In a Word, “The Lord Jehovah, only hath Immorality”—“He is the living God” “and an everlasting King” “His Throne remaineth from Generation to Generation while the Gods that have not made the Heavens and the Earth, even they shall perish from the Earth, and from under the Heavens.” ...
Now as the most exalted in Dignity, whatever may be their boasted Pedigree, tho’ they may lay Claim to noble, royal or divine Extraction, are Descendents of Adam: by whom “Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin;” Death passes upon them as well as others. And however they may be distinguished in other Respects, they equally share with others in the Consequences of the first Transgression: and are involved in the same general Sentence of Death, with the whole Posterity of Adam....Infinite Wisdom cannot err, nor perfect Rectitude do wrong. Farther let it be observed that Immortality here was not the Right of Mankind, not even of Adam in Innocency:... however some of them may be distinguished and exalted above the Rest of his Posterity, yet they too, in Respect of their Mortality, must be equal Sharers with the common Parent of all. ...
... this Part of the divine Government may be, to prevent an undue Trust and Dependence in Men, and to lead us to place it in Him, to whom it belongs, and on whom alone, it can be placed with Safety. As this Appointment tends to suppress the Pride of those who may arrogate Divinity to themselves, so also to check the Impiety of those who idolize such false Gods.
... It is equally apparent that his moral Administration is not perfect here, but that it extends to a future State, in which all are to be dealt with according to their respective Characters.—Here there is often one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked. But as all are to be removed hence by Death, and as Death stands in Connection with the Judgment of the great Day: Since the Great as well as the Small are to stand before the Tribunal of the universal Judge; they shall be judged in like Manner without Respect of Persons, and receive according to the deeds done in the Body. And the Kings of the Earth, and the great Men, and the rich men, and the chief Captains and mighty Men, were told, shall be struck with Terror and Amazement at the Appearance of Him that sitteth on the Throne, and the Wrath of the Lamb.
... If such Persons behave well in Life, and view Death in the Light the Gospel represents it to the Righteous; not as the End of our Being, but the Commencement of a happy Immorality: such being conformed to Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, have Reason with Thankfulness to adore that gracious Plan of Things which removes them from this World to a better; although the dark Valley of Death be the Passage thereto.— For then, instead of being abased, they shall be exalted to true Dignity. Then they shall be crowned with everlasting honors. Tho’ their Bodies lie down in the Dust and see Corruption; tho’ they mingle with the common Earth, and with the Dust of the lowest of Men; yet shall they be raised again in the Resurrection of the Just. And at the Judgment of the great Day, those who in this Life faithfully acted the Parts assigned them, shall meet with the Approbation of the universal Judge;—The unerring Discerner of true Worth—and whose Approbation is an Honor infinitely superior to the united Applause and Homage of all Mankind.—And those, who have been faithful over a few Things, shall be made Ruler over many, and enter into the Joy of their Lord.
...But before I finish, it deserves Notice, that in these degenerate Days in which too many are asham’d of Christ and his Cross, especially among those who are in high Life, he [Pepperell] consider’d the Christian Character as truly honourable.—And as he was favor’d with a Christian Education; so he made a public and open Profession of the Religion of Christ: and his regular Attendance on his holy Institutions, both in his Family, and in the House of God;—his becoming Seriousness and Gravity when engaged in solemn Acts of Worship;—and his Disposition to maintain peace and Order, and to support the Gospel, shew, that he was not insensible of the sacred Obligations of Christianity. And tho’ he ever openly avowed, and steadily adhered to his religious Sentiments, he was far from being Ostentatious in his Religion—And, I believe, abhorred the Practice of cloaking wicked and sinister Intentions under the specious Disguise of Piety. Being also firmly attached to our Ecclesiastical Constitution, and a Friend to Learning, he always treated the Ministers of the Gospel with peculiar Marks of Distinction.
... My Little Children, Be concerned to remember your Creator in the Days of your Youth; let it be your first Concern to be good: In order to which acquaint yourselves with God, with his Son Christ Jesus, and with his Gospel; and live as the Word of God directs you....and you will be Blessings in this World, and happy to all Eternity.... find Consolation in him who so tenderly sympathized with his afflicted Friends in the Days of his Flesh! – In him who is the Resurrection and the Life! – And believing in him may they have Life eternal!
...May we be taught hereby to cease from Man, and to put our Trust in and expect our Happiness from him who is the ever-living God! – the Voice of this Providence speaks aloud to all to prepare for Death; – to prepare to follow him who is gone before us.— Every instance of Mortality enforces with peculiar Energy that important Admonition of our great Instructor Jesus Christ, Be ye also ready for in such on Hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh. None we see are exempted from Death; – its Approach is intirely uncertain, it can be but at a little Distance at farthest, and is besides such an important and interesting Event, that it demands our most serious Consideration and our greatest Solicitude to prepare for it, that so it may be joyful and happy.
The life of Sir William Pepperell, as highlighted by Reverend Stevens, must have impressed Washington as well. The many striking parallels between Washington’s and Pepperell’s lives must have been the impetus for Lady Pepperell to send this sermon to Washington just before she died. Washington had made his presidential tour of the area only a short time before and had then met Reverend Buckminster, the clergyman who sent the sermon to the President. See Washington’s Diaries. We add a few other quotes from the sermon that fill out the fascinating life of Sir Pepperell.
... a just Character of Sir WILLIAM PEPPERELL; yet I shall attempt some Sketches thereof, and a brief Detail of those Services which render’d him so conspicuous both at Home and Abroad. In which Nothing, I trust, will be said, but what those who truly knew him, and are unprejudic’d, would readily subscribe to.
... So high was he in the Esteem of his Country at that important Crisis, when the Scheme was laid by the New-England Governments for the Reduction of Louis-bourg, that He was wisely made Choice of by his Excellency our Governor, and commissioned by Him, ...Every Circumstance consider’d, it was a Conquest heard of by all with Surprise, and will be transmitted to future Ages with Wonder.
It is true, there was a most remarkable Series of Providences concurring in this whole Affair, and tho’ Praise is ever to be ascrib’d to God who did marvelous Things for us, yet a grateful Memorial is due to him who was the principal Agent in obtaining this glorious Acquisition; ... he ought ever to be accounted honourable, because by him the Lord hath given Deliverance to us.
As there was so remarkable an Interposition of Heaven conspiring to bring this Enterprize to its happy Issue, so our General not only, as became an heroic spirit, was modest in Victory, but as became a Christian ever ascrib’d, even to his dying Breath, the Honor and Praise to the Lord of Hosts and the God of Armies: And as in the Undertaking and Prosecution of this important Affair, he was concern’d by Prayer and Supplication to engage the divine Blessing, and like the pious Heroes of old went forth in the Name of the Lord; so likewise did he acknowledge with Gratitude to the honor of the great Governour of the Universe, that His right Hand and his holy Arm had gotten him the Victory. He had a due Sense likewise of “the heroic Resolution, and exemplary Bravery of the Officers and Soldiers who were with him, and always estem’d it his great Honor to have commanded them.
This illustrious Undertaking being thus happily accomplished, and such important Consequences having been the Result of that Conquest of Lewisbourg; as it has already caus’d the Name of Sir William Pepperrnell to spread far and wide, so will it occasion it to be remembered with Gratitude and Respect by all succeeding Generations....It was upon this great Action’s being so bravely attempted, and so happily accomplish’d, that our gracious Sovereign conferr’d the Title and Dignity of a BARONET of Great-Britain upon our deceased Friend; —An Honor never before or since confer’d on a Native of New-England...
78 Robert Davidson, D.D., A Sermon, on the Freedom and Happiness of the United Sates of America, preached in Carlisle, on the 5th Oct. 1794. Published at the request of the Officers of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Troops of Light Horse. By Robert Davidson, D.D. Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, and One of the Professors in Dickinson College. (Philadelphia: printed by Samuel H. Smith for Robert Campbell. 1794), 29 pp. See Lane, The Washington Collection, pp. 64-65.
79 Twohig, Diaries, October 5, 1794.
80 Davidson, Sermon on the Freedom and Happiness.
81 Davidson, Sermon on the Freedom and Happiness: As a Divine Providence, then, must be acknowledged over the affairs of men; and something may be learned on this subject even from the light of nature, and the general voice of nations;—how thankful should we be for the light of revelation, by which our views are so greatly enlarged, and our thoughts are carried back to the creation and forward to the consummation of all things! For the representations which are every where given of God, in the Jewish writings, lead us to conceive of him as the creator, Preserver, and Lord of heaven and earth; as having all nations under his direction; and employing all the shining armies of heaven as his ministers, in the government of this lower world.... They had also the moral law, written by the finger of God himself, which gives a full view of all those duties which we owe to God and to one another. For the sum of the commandments is, To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, and our neighbour as ourselves.” “...in the second pace, consider the great goodness of the Divine Being to our state and nation in particular;–our high privileges; the gratitude which we owe to God for them; and the wise improvement which we ought to make of them.”
82 Ibid., ...He then added, “And as to Religion, the choicest blessing of heaven to men, and without which no nation can be truly happy;–is she not left at liberty, to display to every advantage her celestial charms, and to exert her renovating powers on the minds of men, free both from the aids and the restraints of the civil arm? What would the people of these States have or wish for more? Are not these the very objects for which our patriots bled? And to obtain which the greatest sacrifices have been made by all ranks of citizens?” ....This then brought Dr. Davidson to address the reality of the officers of the federal army worshiping in his presence along with the Commander in Chief and President, George Washington. Dr. Davidson said, “But when I look around me, and see multitudes of men in the garb of soldiers, and handling the instruments of war,—I cannot but feel the most painful emotions, and ask,—What these things mean?...These preparations are ...to teach those who will not otherwise be taught,—that we ought all to be obedient to lawful authority; that we ought to respect the government which ourselves have made, and whose protection we have enjoyed; that in a pure republic the will of the majority must be submitted to, and no lawless attempts made to weaken the energy of good government....what heart, that is not hardened into an entire insensibility, does not bleed at the thought of an unprovoked insurrection, by some of our deluded fellow-citizens, against the mildest and freest government under heaven!”
83 Ibid.
84 Cited in Lane, The Washington Collection, p. 3.
85 The Albany Centinal, 1798-06-05; vol. I; Iss. 97; p. 3.
86 Reverend Alexander Addison, An Oration on the Rise and progress of the United States of America, to the Present Crisis; and on the Duties of the Citizens. (Philadelphia: Printed by John Ormrod, no. 41, Chesnut-Street, 1798.).
87 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).
88 WGW, vol. 37, 8-29-1799. To Reverend Mason L. Weems.
89 Weems, The Philanthropist. ....it is not good for man to be alone; that alone, he is a feeble helpless wretch...that alone, he is but as a poor shipwrecked sailor cast on a desolate island, ... our associated state, we are like a great family of brothers whom God has placed together as mutual aids, ...Is it not as much a law of nature that we should love one another, as it is that the members of the body should love one another? As that the eyes should love the feet for carrying them to gaze on the dear objects of their affections? Or, that the feet should love the eyes for directing them to flowery walks to ramble in? Do the members of the body ever repine at each others perfections? Does the foot repine because the eye is quick sighted to see a thousand charming objects; because the ear with admirable nicety can distinguish enchanting sounds; or because the arms are strong and able to get an abundance of good things? No: they rejoice in each other’s perfections, as in the instruments of their own glory and happiness. In like manner ought not every member of the great body of society to rejoice in the perfections of his brother member?
...how then must it affect, how torture the soul of humanity to see us men, whom God placed here to live in love, thus dreadfully abusing our powers to curse each others existence, and to crush one another into an untimely grave! ...Thus, as in the natural body no member could be amputated without great detriment to the whole, so in the social body no class of the citizens could be taken away without great detriment to the rest. Thus has God, the common Parent, removed far from us all ground of pride on the part of the rich, and of dejection on the part of the poor, “the rich and the poor, says Solomon, meet together, the Lord is the maker of them all.”....
Thus, secure in each others protection, thus abundant and happy in the sweet rewards of their mutual labours, they can eat, drink, and rejoice together like brothers, under the shade of their own vine and fig-tree, none daring to make them afraid. O how goodly a thing it is to see a whole nation living thus together in unity! ...
O blessed land of well secured liberty, of equal laws, of moderate taxes, and of universal toleration!... O that we did but know in this our day the many felicities we enjoy under this our government, and did but love the government as we ought!
But how shall we manifest our love? By splitting into parties and mortally hating one another? No, God forbid, for a furious party spirit is the greatest judgment, the heaviest curse that can befall our country. It extinguishes loves....
“Honor all men – Love the brotherhood – Fear God – Honor the king.”
Let us, honor all men; yes, even those who differ from us in political sentiments.
To make this more easy and pleasant; Love the brotherhood.... one great political body.... Let us fear God. That is the only firm base on which the happiness of individuals, the prosperity of nations can rest securely. It is the only root from which every branch of duty can spring in full vigor, be fed and enlivened.
Wise and blessed above all nations should we be if we would but adopt such a conduct, a conduct honorable to human nature, and worthy of Christianity, which represents men to each other as children of one parent, as members of one family, journeying together through the chequer’d scenes of this transitory world, towards a region where all the distinctions of rich and poor, high and low are unknown, and where virtue alone shall be exalted and vice degraded for ever.
90 WGW, vol. 32, 10-20-1792. To Dr. William Davies Shipley.
91 Jonathan Shipley Bishop of St. Asaph, 1714-1788. Shipley’s Works, 2 vols., Reverend Jonathan Shipley. Works. 2 vols., London. 1792. Presentation copy “From the Reverend Wm. Davies Shipley Dean of St. Asaph,” the son of the author. Washington acknowledged the gift in a letter dated Philadelphia, 20 Oct., 1792. Lane, Catalogue of the Washington Collection, p. 500.
92 WGW, vol. 16, 9-8-1779. Note: The eulogium was “An Eulogium of the brave men who have fallen in the contest with Great Britain,” delivered July 5, 1779, in the German Calvinist Church in Philadelphia. A copy is in the Library of Congress.
93 WGW, vol. 37, 11-6-1781. To Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. See The Works & Life of Laurence Sterne, 2 volumes (New York: J. F. Taylor and Co., 1904). Sterne’s collection of sermons was also in Washington’s library. See Lane, Catalogue of the Washington Collection, p. 192.
CHAPTER 34
