Great disposer of all human events – 1x
Great Disposer of Human Events – 1x
Great Governor of universe – 2x
Great Power – 1x
Great ruler of events – 5x
Greater and more Efficient Cause – 1x
Greater and More Efficient Cause – 1x
Greatest & Best of Beings – 1x
Heaven – 133x
Infinite Wisdom – 1x
Lord and giver of all victory – 1x
Lord and ruler of Nations – 1x
Lord of Hosts – 1x
Omnipotent Being – 1x
Overruling Providence – 1x
Ruler of Nations – 2x
Ruler of the Universe – 5x
Sovereign arbiter of nations – 1x
Superintending Providence – 4x
Supreme architect – 1x
Supreme author of all good – 1x
Supreme Being – 7x
Supreme dispense of every good – 1x
Supreme ruler of nations – 1x
Supreme ruler of the universe – 2x
That being who – 3x
So what shall we say about Washington’s alleged use of Deist titles for God? The problem with this objection is that there is no list of what are “Deist” titles for God.79
GEORGE WASHINGTON’S USE OF THE TERM “DIVINE”
To this remarkable list of titles for “deity,” we must also summarize Washington’s use of the word “Divine.” Washington’s understanding of this word is fairly broad. It refers to God’s help as seen in such phrases as: divine providence (19x), Knights of Divine Providence (3x), divine protection (5x), divine interposition (4x), divine aid (2x), divine government (1x), the divine arm (1x).
It refers directly to God in the phrases: Divine Author (2x), Divine Being (1x), Divine Benefactor (1x), and Divinity (1x).
Washington uses it to refer to God’s nature in phrases, such as: divine will (2x), divine purposes (1x), divine goodness (1x), divine grace (1x), divine attribute [forgiveness] (1x), and divine favor (5x).
God’s work is in view when he uses the word as follows: divine benediction (3x), divine blessing (2x), divine wisdom (1x), divine source of light (1x), and in the sight of the divinity (1x).
He uses the word divine in the sense of “theology” when he employs phrases such as: questions human and divine (1x), obligations divine and human (1x), sanction of divinity (1x), and a point of divinity (1x).
He also uses the word in terms of supernatural knowledge: spirit of divination (3x), no divining (1x), and to divine (3x).
Finally, he uses the word in the sense of the worship of the church or its clergy: divine service (21x), divine worship (2x), services of a divine (1x), and that venerable divine (1x).
The point to be understood here is that Washington did not avoid the use of the word God, but instead, had a profoundly rich, theological vocabulary that suggested a vast range of the Christian faith’s beliefs and practices in regard to God. When one remembers he was a military officer, a farmer, and a politician, and not a clergyman or theologian, this is truly astonishing. Washington’s vocabulary for Deity is not that of a Deist, but of a devout eighteenth century Anglican Christian.
THE COMPATIBILITY AND CONSOLATION OF RELIGION AND REASON
Washington’s view of God and religion was definitely impacted by the eighteenth century’s renewed emphasis on human reason and philosophy. But in his mind, they were viewed as entirely complementary. Thus, we find in Washington the phrases “reason and religion,”80 “reason, religion, and philosophy,” or “religion and philosophy,”81 Washington speaks of his philosophy as that “mild philosophy”82 that is concerned with “human happiness.”83 He believed his faith had a rational basis.84 He evaluated human conduct and decisions in terms of moral certainty.85
Religion was closely connected to reason and philosophy, as can be seen from an excerpt of his letter to Martha Washington’s nephew, Burwell Bassett, April 25, 1773. After the death of Bassett’s daughter, Washington wrote to console him:
...the ways of Providence being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, nor to be counteracted by the utmost efforts of human power or wisdom, resignation, and as far as the strength of our reason and religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will, is what we are to aim...86
Having offered comforting words, he added the assurances of a reasonable religion, namely that God knows what he is doing and that it is our job to submit cheerfully to his will.
Similarly, he wrote his friend David Humphreys, after the loss of the latter’s parents:
I condole with you on the loss of your Parents; but as they lived to a good old age you could not be unprepared for the shock, tho’ it is painful to bid an everlasting adieu to those we love, or revere. Reason, Religion and Philosophy may soften the anguish of it, but time alone can eradicate it.87
For Washington, reason and religion were not mortal enemies. In a time of grief, he counseled his great general, Henry Knox, on March 2, 1789:
But [it ]is not for man to scan the wisdom of Providence. The best he can do, is to submit to its decrees. Reason, religion and Philosophy, teaches us to do this, but ‘tis time alone that can ameliorate the pangs of humanity, and soften its woes.88
Again, to Washington, reason, religion, and philosophy were allies.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION
Washington distinguished between “natural and revealed religion,” and could thus speak of the “blessed religion revealed in the Word of God.” The first phrase comes from his letter to Marquis de Chastellux:
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.89
In a 1789 unpublished letter he had written and considered sending to Congress, Washington said:
