1     WGW, vol. 30, 6-20-1773.

2     G.W.P. Custis, Recollections, p. 477

3     Ellis, His Excellency, p. 151.

4     Boller, George Washington & Religion. In fact, it is the only work that is cited in the article on Religion in the Washington Biographical Companion written by the University of Virginia Professor, Frank E. Grizzard, Jr., the editor of the Washington Papers.

5     Ibid., p. 114.

6     Ibid., p. 111. Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. writes on pp. 270-71, “Although Washington often wrote about the intervention of Providence in human affairs, he only rarely mentioned his beliefs about an afterlife. When a friend named a son after him, Washington wrote to express the hope that ‘he will live long to enjoy it, long after I have taken my departure for the world of Spirits.” On the eve of his leaving Mount Vernon for Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention, he confided in Robert Morris of his internal conflict about whether to become involved again in a public life: ‘My first remaining wish being, to glide gently down the stream of life in tranquil retirement till I shall arrive at the world of sperits.’ When his mother died in August 1789, at the age of 83, he wrote to console his sister, Betty, expressing the ‘hope that she is translated to a happier place.’ To another he referred to being ‘translated to a happier clime.’ How literally Washington meant these references to a ‘happier clime’ and a ‘land of Spirts’ is unclear. Certainly there is a detached and almost fatalistic tone about them. In short, he did believe in immortality, but it is unclear whether he held the classical version of one’s life and deeds living on in the effects and memory of subsequent generations or the more literal land of spirits, so totally ‘other worldly’ as to be unknowable and hence not worth troubling oneself over. The mention of a happier clime and meeting in the future indicates that he leaned more in favor of some sort of literal afterlife.”

7     Thomas Paine, Age of Reason, Part II. Paine explains the rational basis for belief in immortality as follows:

That the consciousness of existence is not dependent on the same form or the same matter is demonstrated to our senses in the works of the creation, as far as our senses are capable of receiving that demonstration. A very numerous part of the animal creation preaches to us, far better that Paul, the belief of a life hereafter. Their little life resembles an earth and a heaven—a present and a future state, and comprises, if it may be so expressed, immortality in miniature.

The most beautiful parts of the creation to our eye are the winged insects, and they are not so originally. They acquire that form and that inimitable brilliancy by progressive changes. The slow and creeping caterpillar-worm of today passes in a few days to a torpid figure and a state resembling death; and in the next change comes forth in all the miniature magnificence of life, a splendid butterfly. No resemblance of the former creature remains; everything is changed; all his powers are new, and life is to him another thing. We cannot conceive that the consciousness of existence is not the same in this state of the animal as before; why then must I believe that the resurrection of the same body is necessary to continue to me the consciousness of existence hereafter?

In the former part of the Age of Reason I have called the creation the only true and real word of God; and this instance, or this text, in the book of creation, not only shows to us that this thing may be so, but that it is so; and that the belief of a future state is a rational belief, founded upon facts visible in the creation; for it is not more difficult to believe that we shall exist hereafter in a better state and form than at present, than that a worm should become a butterfly, and quit the dunghill for the atmosphere, if we did not know it as a fact.

8     “True religion is a system of moral theism, which Herbert elaborates in five propositions: (1) there is a supreme God; (2) this supreme God ought to be worshipped; (3) virtue joined with piety is the best method of divine worship; (4) vices and crimes and all sorts of wickedness must be expiated by repentance; and (5) there is reward or punishment after this life. The practice of true religion is supposed to result in eternal life, and all our cognitive faculties have been designed to this end. This explains the two main parts of Herbert’s philosophy: a theory of knowledge and a philosophy of comparative religion.” From www.thoemmes.com/encyclopedia/herbert.htm. See also, www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/chirbury/chirbio.htm.

9     As to Thomas Jefferson’s belief in immortality, consider, theamericanrevolution.org/ipeople/tjeff.asp. “In another strictly private communication to Dr. Rush, made in his first term as president, Jefferson revealed his own religious opinions. He believed in God and immortality ...” For Benjamin Franklin’s belief in immortality and the resurrection of the body, consider the following: The epitaph that Franklin wrote for himself, but which was not used reads, “The body of Benjamin Franklin, printer, like the cover of an old book, its contents torn out and stripped of its lettering and gilding, lies here, food for worms. But the work shall not be lost; for it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant edition, revised and corrected by the Author.” See www.fi.edu/franklin/timeline/epitaph.html.

10   Washington wrote in his Diary on February 12, 1785, “Received an Invitation to the Funeral of Willm. Ramsy, Esqr. Of Alexandria, the oldest Inhabitt. Of the Town; and went up. Walked in a procession as a free mason, Mr. Ramsay in his life being one, and now buried with the ceremonies and honors due to one.” Jackson, Twohig, Diaries of George Washington.

11   GWP Series 4. General Correspondence. 1697-1799 Pennsylvania Grand Lodge Masons to George Washington, December 27, 1796, image 438.

12   Ibid., Series 2 Letterbooks George Washington to Pennsylvania Grand Lodge Masons, January, 1797 Letterbook 40 Image 257.

13   Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, III, p. 499.

14   On this text, Chief Justice Hale wrote: “Most certainly the wise consideration of our Latter End, and the employing of our selves, upon that Account ... renders [this] life the most contenting and comfortable life in the World. For as a Man... [He] takes his opportunity to gain a stock of Grace and Favour with God, [he] has made his peace with his Maker through Christ Jesus, [he] has done a great part of the chief business of his life, and [he] is ready upon all occasions, for all conditions whereunto the Divine Providence shall assign him, whether of life or death, or health or sickness, or poverty or riches... If God lend him longer life in this World, he carries on his great business to greater degrees of perfection, with ease, and without difficulty, trouble, or perturbation: But if Almighty God cut him shorter, and call him to give an account of his Stewardship, he is ready... Blessed is that Servant whom his Master when he comes shall find so doing. As thus this Consideration makes Life better, so it makes Death easie. 1. By frequent consideration of Death and Dissolution, he is taught not to fear it; he is, as it were, acquainted with it afore-hand, by often preparation for it....2. By frequent consideration of our Latter end, Death becomes to be no surprise unto us.” Sir Matthew Hale, Contemplations Moral and Divine (London: Printed for William Shrowsbery at the Bible in Duke-Lane, and John Leigh at Stationers-Hall, MDCLXXXV), pp. 5-6.

15   WGW vol. 2, 10-20-1761. To Richard Washington.

16   We discussed this text in the chapter on Washington’s childhood education. See Lane, The Washington Collection, p. 52.

17   Custis, Recollections, p. 21.

18   WGW, vol. 27, 7-10-1783, To George William Fairfax.

19   For example, WGW, vol. 32, 3-6-1793. To Reverend Bryan Fairfax, “I thank you for your kind condolence on the Death of my Nephew. It is a loss I sincerely regret, but as it is the will of Heaven, whose decrees are always just and wise, I submit to it without a murmur.” See WGW vol. 35, 3-30-1796. To Tobias Lear. Washington recognized how difficult it was to bring consolation to a grieving family. He actually expresses this sentiment by quoting from a Christian sermon by Reverend Laurene Sterne: WGW, vol. 16, 9-8-1779. To Reverend Hugh Henry Brackenridge. “Sir: I have to thank you for your favor of the 10th of August, and your Eulogium. [WGW 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.] You add motives to patriotism, and have made the army your debtor in the handsome tribute which is paid to the memory of those who have fallen in fighting for their country. I am sensible that none of these observations can have escaped you, and that I can offer nothing which your own reason has not already suggested on this occasion; and being of Sterne’s opinion, that “Before an affliction is digested, consolation comes too soon; and after it is digested, it comes too late: there is but a mark between these two, as fine almost as a hair, for a comforter to take aim at.” I rarely attempt it, nor shall I add more on this subject to you, as it would only be a renewal of sorrow, by recalling a fresh to your remembrance things which had better be forgotten.” (Emphasis added.)

20   WGW, vol. 32, 4-9-1793. To Reverend Bryan Fairfax. “Dear Sir: At One o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday next, I mean to pay the last respect to my deceased Nephew, by having the funeral obsequies performed. If you will do me the favor to officiate on the occasion, it will be grateful to myself, and pleasing to other friends of the deceased. No sermon is intended, and but few friends will be present: for these dinner will be ready at half after two Oclk, at which I should be happy and shall expect to see you.”

21   Ibid., vol. 30, 9-13-1789 to Elizabeth Washington Lewis. “My dear Sister: Colonel Ball’s letter gave me the first account of my Mother’s death. Since that I have received Mrs. Carter’s letter, written at your request, and previous to both I was prepared for the event by some advices of her illness communicated to your Son Robert.

Awful, and affecting as the death of a Parent is, there is consolation in knowing, that Heaven has spared ours to an age, beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily strength as usually falls to the lot of fourscore. Under these considerations and a hope that she is translated to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives to yield due submission to the decrees of the Creator. When I was last at Fredericksburg, I took a final leave of my Mother, never expecting to see her more.”

22   Ibid., vol. 37, 9-22-1799. To Burgess Ball.

23   Ibid., vol. 32 4-9-1793. To Reverend Bryan Fairfax.

24   From the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:

When they come to the Grave, while the Corps is made ready to be laid into the earth, the Priest shall say, or the Priest and Clerks shall sing: Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay.

In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly displeased?

Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.

Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts: shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour for any pains of death, to fall from thee.

Then, while the earth shall be cast upon the body by some standing by, the Priest shall say,

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

Then shall be said or sung,

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: Even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours. Reverend 14.13.

Then the Priest shall say,

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord have mercy upon us

Another book found in Washington’s library when he died was the 1744 edition of The Sick Man Visited: And Furnished with Instructions, Meditations, and Prayers, for putting him in mind of his Change; for supporting him under his Distemper; and for preparing him for, and carrying him through, his last conflict with Death by Nathanael Spinckes, Late Prebendary of Sarum. Printed in London. We cannot be sure to what extent Washington ever used this particular book. But its message certainly was relevant because of the many serious illnesses that Washington had that nearly took his life at various times: Small pox in Barbados, a serious illness just before Braddock’s defeat; the illness connected with his “grim King” reference. One illness was so severe that he wrote to his Pastor/Physician Reverend Charles Green, “Reverend Sir: Necessity (and that I hope will Apologize for the trouble I must give you), obliges me to ask the favour of a visit; that I may have an opportunity of consulting you on a disorder which I have linger’d under for three Months past. It is painful to me to write, Mr. Carlyle will say the rest, I shall only add, that I am with very great esteem, ...”(WGW, vol. 2, 11-13-1757. To Reverend Charles Green. See also WGW, vol. 2, 8-26-1761. Washington also survived two very severe illnesses while President (a case of near fatal pneumonia, a near fatal abscess on his thigh). Having lost her first husband, and her two children, death was never far from the mind of Martha Washington either, as she experienced many illnesses as well. (WGW, vol. 27, 7-10-1783. To George William Fairfax. Washington wrote, “Mrs. Washington enjoys an incompetent share of health; Billious Fevers and Cholic’s attack her very often, and reduce her low; at this moment she is but barely recovering from one of them; at the same time that she thanks Mrs. Fairfax and you for your kind suggestion of Doctr. James’s Annaliptic Pills, she begs you both to accept her most Affectionate regards; she would have conveyed these in a letter of her own, with grateful acknowledgements of Mrs. Fairfax’s kind remembrance by Mr. Lee, if her health would have allowed it.” The prayers from Spinkes include: “A Prayer for Patience and Resignation to the Divine Will”, “A Prayer for a Sanctifies Use of Sickness,” “A Prayer for Victory over Death.” pp. 187-188, 289.

Washington’s words describing Lord Fairfax were nearly as true of himself: “Lord Fairfax (as I have been told) after having bowed down to the grave, and in a manner shaken hands with death, is perfectly restored, and enjoys his usual good health, and as much vigour as falls to the lot of Ninety.”(WGW, vol. 11, 3-11-1778. To George William Fairfax. Thus an intrepid recognition of his own mortality is evident throughout Washington’s writings. The letters of the twenty-three year old soldier spoke of “almost certain death”, (WGW, vol. 1, 7-18-1755. To Mrs. Mary Washington; to Robert Dinwiddie.) and humorously noted the report of “a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech.” (WGW, vol. 1, 7-18-1755. To John Augustine Washington) We find the older Washington using the imagery of “wearied traveler” (WGW, vol. 27, 2-20-1784. To Maj. Gen. Henry Knox; 3-2-1797.) and “pilgrim”(WGW, vol. 10, 1-23-1778. To Reverend William Gordon) en route to a “haven of hope” (WGW, vol. 10, 1-23-1778. To Reverend William Gordon.) or a “haven of security and rest.”(WGW vol. 21, 3-26-1781. To Maj. Gen. John Armstrong.

vol. 36, 3-2-1797. To John Luzac.) Washington, mindful that his pilgrimage would one day end, wrote to John Francis Mercer on September 26, 1792:

If nothing impeaching my honor, or honesty, is said, I care little for the rest. I have pursued one uniform course for three score years, and am happy in believing that the world have thought it a right one: of it’s being so, I am so well satisfied myself, that I shall not depart from it by turning either to the right or to the left, until I arrive at the end of my pilgrimage.(WGW vol. 32, 9-26-1792. To John Francis Mercer)

25   WGW, vol. 26, 4-5-1783. To Marquis de Lafayette.

26   Ibid., vol. 30, 9-8-1789. To Dr. James Craik. vol. 32, 9-21-1792. To Tobias Lear.

27   See Lane note re: Lathrop, Lane, Washington Collection, Boston Athenaeum p. 119.

28   WGW, vol. 30, 6-22-1788.

29   John Lathrop, “Discourse Before the Humane Society in Boston” (1787), p. 33.

30   WGW vol. 35, 1-12-1797. To Benjamin Walker. “It would be a singular satisfaction to me to learn, who was the Author of these letters; and from what source they originated. [Note: So far as is known the “singular satisfaction” of discovering who wrote the spurious letters was denied Washington.]”; WGW, vol. 2, February, 1757. To the right Honorable John, Earl of Loudoun: General and Commander in Chief of All His Majesty’s Forces in North America; and Governor and Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Most Antient Colony and Dominion of Virginia February, 1757, “We, the Officers of the Virginia Regiment, beg leave to congratulate your Lordship on your safe arrival in America; and to express the deep sense We have of His Majesty’s great Wisdom and paternal care for His Colonies, in sending your Lordship to their protection at this critical Juncture. We likewise beg leave to declare our singular satisfaction and sanguine hopes, on your Lordships immediate appointment over our Colony; as it in a more especial manner Entitles Us to your Lordships patronage.” WGW vol. 23, 1-29-1782. To Philip Schuyler. “Every information tending to prove that the affairs respecting the Grants may be speedily and happily accommodated, gives me singular Satisfaction. I will flatter myself, both the Articles of intelligence you have recd. are well grounded, ...”; WGW, vol. 27, 12-13-1783. To the Trustees and Faculty of the University of the state of Pennsylvania. “I experience a singular satisfaction in receiving your congratulations on the establishment of Peace and the security of those important interests which were involved in the fate of the War.” WGW, vol. 30, 8-28-1788. To George Richards Minot. “I will only add that I always feel a singular satisfaction in discovering proofs of talents and patriotism, in those who are soon to take the parts of the generation, [Minot was then 30 years of age] which is now hastening to leave the stage,...”