THE PROMINENT ROLE OF THE BIBLE IN WASHINGTON’S LIFE
Following a common tradition, a Washington family Bible recorded his birth and baptism.4 He ordered Bibles for his children with their names printed on them in gold.5 He ordered a large family Bible.6 His stepson’s training included the Greek New Testament.7 He had Theodore Beza’s (a famous Protestant reformer) Latin Bible in his library that contained his late teenage signature.8 His children’s school textbooks often addressed biblical themes (as did his own childhood textbooks).9
Washington took the oath of office on a Bible from the Masonic Hall in New York City. When he did so, he also kissed it and added to the constitutional language, the phrase, “So help me God” as every subsequent president has done.10 The idea, given to him by Reverend John Rogers, to provide the entire Revolutionary soldiers with the newly printed Aiken’s American Bible pleased him.11
He told Charles Thomson that he read the first part of his translation of the Septuagint that Thomson had sent to him.12 His name was at the head of subscribers of an evangelical study Bible named, Brown’s Self-Interpreting Bible,13 which we will consider in the next section of this chapter.
He inherited an English bishop’s Bible, which he bequeathed to Bryan Fairfax,14 his childhood and adult friend and fellow fox-hunter, who also became his pastor in later life when he began worshipping in Alexandria. Bryan Fairfax’s friendship with Washington survived Fairfax’s outspoken Tory sympathies, his assumption of the title of Eighth Lord of Cameron after the War, and the establishment of the Constitution. Fairfax was ordained as an Anglican minister. A printed sermon by Fairfax, at about the time he was Washington’s pastor, is thoroughly orthodox and points to the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ’s death on the cross.15 The sermon in its entirety is in the Appendix.
While he was president, Washington read a chapter from the Bible to his family before the family went to church on Sundays, according to his personal secretary Tobias Lear’s records.16 There are many anecdotes of Washington seen reading his Bible in devotions by those who were with him in his home or in his military quarters.17 The Bible was open at his bedside as he died, with his wife Martha at his side. Mrs. Washington’s grandson, who lived at Mount Vernon, says: ‘In that last hour, prayer was not wanting at the throne of grace. Close to the couch of the sufferer, resting her head upon that ancient book, with which she had been wont to hold pious communion a portion of every day for more than half a century, was the venerable consort [Mrs. Washington] absorbed in silent prayer.’18
WASHINGTON’S ENDORSEMENT OF BROWN’S SELF-INTERPRETING BIBLE
Paul Boller writes, “In 1792, when the ‘Self-Interpreting Bible’ of John Brown of Haddington, a Scotch Presbyterian, was published in New York, the list of subscribers was headed by ‘George Washington, Esq. President of the Untied States of America.’ The John Brown Bible had a wide circulation in the United Sates, but we have no way of knowing what use Washington made of his own copy.”19 George Washington was one of more than a hundred investors in the book—making its publishing possible by subscribing to it. While we do not know how extensively Washington used this Bible, we do know some very important things that Boller chose not to reveal if he was aware of them. First, we must understand how evangelical and biblically focused Brown’s Bible was. To demonstrate this, we must let the book speak for itself. So, consider the title page and the first introductory remarks:
The Self-Interpreting Bible Containing The Sacred Text Of the Old and New TESTAMENTS Translated from the Original Tongues, and with the former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised. To which are annexed, MARGINAL REFERENCES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, AN EXACT SUMMARY OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS, A PARAPHRASE ON THE MOST OBSCURE OF IMPORTANT PART AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENTS OF EACH CHAPTER EXPLANATORY NOTES, AND EVANGELICAL REFLECTIONS by the late Reverend John Brown Minister of the Gospel at Haddington Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me, John v. 39 – To him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, Acts X. 43. Where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator, Heb. 9:16. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Reverend 13:8. New York: Printed by Hodge and Campbell And sold at their respective book stores [1792]
The Providence of God is particularly manifested in the preservation of the Holy Scriptures. To the Jews were committed the Oracles of God, and so faithful have they been to this sacred truth, that when copies of the law of the prophets were transcribed, they not only diligently compared the one with the other, but even counted the number of the letters in each and compared the numbers.
Like manner, Christians have always manifested the greatest care, not only when they transcribed, but also when they translated the Scriptures into their respective languages.
…to…enable every serious reader to judge for himself what doctrine ought to be believed and what duties practiced by the Christian; are the avowed aims of this publication.
In the copious INTRODUCTION, the principal proofs of the Divine authority of the Old and New testaments, and the rules necessary to promote the profitable perusal of the oracles of God therein contained, are largely exhibited. The connected scheme of the HEBREW LAWS, and their evangelical signification, and of the fate of nations, narrated or predicted in Scripture, as subservient to the glorious work of our redemption,—together with the large CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX,—form a summary of the most celebrated labours of the learned world on these diversified subjects. An accurate attention thereto will, through the blessing of God, greatly assist in searching the Scriptures with success.
The CONTENTS of the Sacred books, and their respective chapters, are an accurate, full, and explicatory interpretation of their subject.—Properly attending to these, the reader must discern of whom, or of what the HOLY GHOST there speaks, and understand that passage accordingly.…
In our SAVIOUR’S delightful discourses and the epistles of his inspired messengers, our holy religion is most delineated; and there the explication is peculiarly extensive, and attempts to exhibit the substance of…learned and expensive commentaries, in a manner which, attending to the beautiful connectedness, unfolds the scope and meaning of the SPIRIT OF GOD….
But, as every Protestant must allow the Scripture itself to be its own best interpreter – as God, to oblige men to a diligent search of his word, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, has seldom fully unfolded any of his more important truths in one particular passage – the uncommon collection of parallel scriptures, such as not to be found any where else that I know of, has formed the most laborious, and will … be found by far the most valuable, part of the work.…I can truly say, that my labour, in collecting the parallel texts in this work, has afforded me much more PLEASANT INSIGHT into the oracles of God than all the numerous commentaries which I ever perused.
Thus we may listen to and converse with God, and lay our consciences open to the inspired arrows of our…REDEEMER;—we find his words, and eat them, to the joy and health of our soul; we hide them in our heart, that we may not sin against him; we become mighty in the Scriptures, and expert in handling this sword of the SPIRIT, in opposition to every enemy of our soul: in fine, we are made wise unto salvation; are…instructed in righteousness, and perfectly furnished for every good work. May the Lord himself prosper it for these ends!
J. Brown
There is no question, then, that this Bible was an evangelical study Bible. It is impossible to believe that the sitting president of the United States would be identified as the leading subscriber of such a Bible without his support. And as Boller notes, when convenient for his argument, Washington did not choose to support everything he was asked to endorse.20
But a second important matter to observe here as well is that many other subscribers are listed to this work. Conspicuous by their absence are the known Deists of the day, such as Thomas Paine, Ethan Allen, Elihu Palmer, and closet atheists such as Joel Barlow, who did not subscribe to its publication. Even the soft Deists like Thomas Jefferson did not affix their names to the subscription pages. The Christian, yet Unitarian-leaning, John Adams also did not subscribe.
But Washington clearly identified himself with the biblically committed evangelicals of his day by subscribing to Brown’s Bible at the strategic time of his first term in office. Should it be said Washington did so for political motivations, let us not forget that Washington was unanimously elected to the presidency twice. Appeasing the evangelical vote was not a concern in either of his elections.
Simply put, how can Washington be construed as a Deist, given his open admission of interest in Christianity? Interestingly, for a discussion that we will have in a later chapter, Washington’s Bible still exists. It is kept on visible display at the Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia. The real question, however, is whether Washington ever got around to reading a Bible, since owning a Bible and reading a Bible are two different things? The answer is a resounding yes, as we will now see as we consider Washington’s biblical literacy.
WASHINGTON’S DOCTRINE OF SCRIPTURE
George Washington, even though not a theologian, had a theological doctrine of scripture. This is most important since, by definition, a Deist denied the Christian doctrine of written revelation. God was a distant and remote Creator, and had never communicated with his creation. In Deism, there was no doctrine of scripture, because there was no scripture.
Yet Washington referred to the Bible and its teachings in a variety of ways that reflected his own commitment to Christian teaching on the doctrine of scripture. Washington’s theology of scripture included such concepts as scripture, the Word of God, revealed religion, benign light of revelation, heaven-ordained rules, the precepts of heaven, Holy Writ, and so on. Each of these titles reflected his doctrine of scripture and his reverence for the scriptures. Here we consider a few examples, wherein we emphasize the key phrases in context.
• He referred to both Christianity and the Bible, as we would expect from a Christian, calling the scriptures the Word of God. Note his astute point about how the Bible’s teaching on man’s sinfulness impacts both church and government: “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.”21 (emphasis ours)
• In his First Inaugural Address (1789), he said this: “We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: (emphasis ours)”
To his mostly-Christian hearers that meant the rules found in the Bible. The best summary of them can be found in the Ten Commandments. (Don’t forget that he attended church regularly, where the copy of the Ten Commandments—from Exodus 20—would be read aloud, as a congregation from the colonial churches’ rerodos).
• In a letter to Marquis de Chastellux, April 25[-May 1], 1788, Washington indirectly called the Bible “revealed religion.” He wrote: “For certainly it is more consonant to all the principles of reason and religion (natural and revealed) to replenish the earth with inhabitants, rather than to depopulate it by killing those already in existence…”22 (emphasis ours)
God tells man in the beginning of the Bible to be fruitful and fill the earth with inhabitants (Genesis 1:28). This is an allusion to that principle, which comes from revealed religion. During this period in history, the leaders of the deistic side of the Enlightenment were challenging the whole notion of revealed religion, insisting there was only natural religion. Washington, however, following historic Christian teaching, believed in both revealed and natural religion.
• In his Circular to the States (June 8, 1783), as commander in chief, the general contrasted superstition with revealed religion. He wrote: “Here [in the United States], [the citizens] are not only surrounded with every thing which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness, than any other Nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly, than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances, under which our Republic assumed its rank among the Nations; 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, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; the free cultivation of Letters, the unbounded extension of Commerce, the progressive refinement of Manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had ameliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of Society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.”23 (emphasis ours)
This is an outstanding passage. Washington is saying that the United States owes its political happiness to several strands that have come together. But “above all” the greatest of these strands is “the pure and benign light of Revelation”—another way of his describing the scriptures. Therefore, when we have had such an auspicious start as a nation, we have only ourselves to blame if we are not a free and happy people.
• Another phrase he used to describe what is found in the Bible is: “the precepts of Heaven.”24 (emphasis ours) Here is what he wrote in another letter to Marquis de Lafayette, July 25, 1785, “I stand before you as a Culprit: but to repent and be forgiven are the precepts of Heaven: I do the former, do you practice the latter, and it will be participation of a divine attribute.”25
Because he has been remiss in corresponding in a timely manner with his friend, he confesses that he is a “Culprit.” In a friendly way, the general reminds Lafayette of one of the key points of the Christian religion: repentance leads to forgiveness, according to “the precepts of Heaven,” and so when people forgive the penitent they do what God does.
• We also find these phrases in Washington’s writings as well: “as the Scripture expresses it,”26 “strictly warranted by the scriptures,”27 “the wonders recorded in Holy Writ,”28 and “strong as proof of Holy Writ in confirmation of it.”29 Scriptural teaching not only gives promises,30 but is also plain31 and makes true religion32 possible.
To summarize Washington’s writings, then, the Bible was the Word of God, the scriptures, or Holy Writ. Since revelation was available, man was not limited to natural religion alone, but he also possessed revealed and true religion. The scriptures expressed the precepts of heaven, offered heaven’s eternal and ordained rules of order and right, recorded wonders, warranted conduct, provided strong proof and confirmation as well as promises, all the while being plain in its basic truths.
Although Washington operated only in the English Bible, he read a portion of the English translation of the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). He had a Latin Bible in his library from school days, and had his son trained by an Episcopal clergyman in the reading of the Greek Testament. He approved of the Bible being given to his soldiers.
It is thus clear that he did not approve of the Deist rejection of the Christian claim that the Bible is divine revelation. It is also evident why he felt no personal incongruity as president in subscribing to an explicitly evangelical study Bible. What we will see next is that Washington’s doctrine of scripture was matched with Washington’s personal knowledge of scripture. He affirmed biblical doctrines and was also very biblically literate.
Washington’s name appeared prominently on this new evangelical study Bible as its most illustrious sponsor
BELIEF IN ORIGINAL SIN
George Washington believed in the biblical doctrine of original sin. He wrote to his nephew Lund Washington on December 17, 1778: “I see so many instances of the rascallity of Mankind, that I am almost out of conceit of my own species; and am convinced that the only way to make men honest, is to prevent their being otherwise, by tying them firmly to the accomplishmt of their contracts.”33
Washington believed in a doctrine critical to a proper understanding of man: original sin. “It is vain to exclaim against the depravity of human nature on this account; the fact is so, the experience of every age and nation has proved it and we must in a great measure, change the constitution of man, before we can make it otherwise. No institution, not built on the presumptive truth of these maxims can succeed.”34
In a letter to Bartholomew Dandridge, dated December 18, 1782, Washington is discussing how to deal with “a most consummate villain”—one Mr. Posey: “The most hardened villain, altho’ he Sins without remorse, wishes to cloak his iniquity, if possible, under specious appearances…”35 As Washington’s intended speech to Congress said, “The best institutions may be abused by human depravity.”36
EXAMPLES OF WASHINGTON’S BELIEF IN THE CREATOR
Here are just a few samples of Washington referring to the Creator or the biblical doctrine of creation:
In a letter to John Parke Custis, January 22, 1777 (7.53), he writes, “…I do not think that any officer since the creation ever had such a variety of difficulties…”37
In a letter to Brigadier General Thomas Nelson, August 20, 1778, Washington pens, “…the strangest vicissitudes that perhaps ever attended any one contest since the creation…”38
To the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, December 13, 1783, the general wrote to extol their work of scientific investigation, which would benefit society at large: “The field of investigation is ample, the benefits which will result to Human Society from discoveries yet to be made, are indubitable, and the task of studying the works of the great Creator, inexpressibly delightful.”39
On November 28, 1796, the president wrote this to his adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis: “The assurances you give me of applying diligently to your studies, and fulfilling those obligations which are enjoined [i.e., through scripture] by your Creator and due to his creatures, are highly pleasing and satisfactory to me.”40
