When he wasn’t fighting battles on Christmas,28 he was celebrating Christmas like other Christians.
CHRIST’S EXEMPLARY LIFE
In his classic Circular Letter to the States (June 8, 1783), Washington prayed that God “would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”29 Thus, Washington affirmed that Jesus was loving, humble, and peace loving (pacific) and worthy of imitation.
CHRIST’S TEACHING
The Two Great Commandments
Jesus gave two great commandments to his people: to love God and to love one’s neighbor as themselves (Mark 12:30-31). Our first president affirmed this when he wrote to his adopted grandson, George Washington Parke Custis on December 19, 1796: “...you are well acquainted with my sentiments on this subject, and know how anxious all your friends are to see you enter upon the grand theatre of life, with the advantages of a finished education, a highly cultivated mind, and a proper sense of your duties to God and man...”30
In these two illustrations, Washington’s childhood school papers show that he was taught the mathematical method of how to find the date of Easter in any given year, past or future.
Even his math training reflected his ecclesiastical and christian education
Also, he wrote to Reverend Bryan, Lord Fairfax (January 20, 1799): “The favourable sentiments which others, you say, have been pleased to express respecting me, cannot but be pleasing to a mind who [sic] always walked on a straight line, and endeavoured as far as human frailties, and perhaps strong passions, would enable him, to discharge the relative duties to his Maker and fellow-men, without seeking any indirect or left handed attempts to acquire popularity.”31
The Golden Rule
At Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where Washington worshiped and maintained a pew, you can see on the reredos the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule as taught by Jesus Christ states: “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12). Washington not only said those words at church, he tried to live by them. He wrote, for example, to Mr. Chichesters (April 25, 1799): “I should have hoped, that upon the principle of doing as one would be done by, they would not have been injured by my Neighbours.”32
Acquaintance with other teachings of Jesus
In George Washington’s writings, he used phrases that come from various aspects of the teachings of Christ, which we have already seen in earlier chapters.33 Some examples of these are: The wise man counting the cost, the “jot or tiddle,” widow’s mite, millstone hung to the neck, repent and be forgiven, take up my bed and walk, heavy laden, wheat and tares, stumbling block, lead into temptation, good and faithful servant, war and rumors of war.
CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION.
As a devout Anglican, Washington affirmed Jesus’ death for sinners every time he attended church. As Washington used his prayer book for daily prayers during the Passion Week, he would have prayed as follows:
Good Friday.34
The Collects.
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. ...
The Collect from the First Day of Lent is to be read every day
in Lent after the Collect appointed for the Day.
The First day of Lent, Commonly called Ash-Wednesday.
The Collect.
Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A RECOGNITION OF HIS RESURRECTION
In 1768, Easter fell on April 3rd. Washington’s diary for that date says, “Went to Pohick church and returnd to Dinner.”35 The prayers that Washington said that day from The Book of Common Prayer affirm a hearty belief in the resurrection of Christ.
Easter-Day.
At Morning Prayer, instead of the Psalm, O come, let us sing, &c. these Anthems shall be sung or said.
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast; Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. 5:7 Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin : but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 6:9...
The Collect.
Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that, as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
The Gospel reading was John 20, which declares how Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to His disciples. It includes the passage where Thomas earns the moniker “Doubting Thomas” because he declared he wouldn’t believe the Resurrection until he actually touched the risen Jesus.
Easter was an important part of Washington’s early education. In his mathematical school papers, after dealing with surveying, measuring, and gauging, he writes of the cycle of the sun and how to determine the exact date of Easter in any given year.36
9. AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE GOSPEL
We will not develop the Gospel section here, since this will be the focus of the next chapter. But there we will see that Washington’s writings refer to:
a. The reality of and the way to heaven
b. God’s judgment upon sin and the pains of hell
c. Man’s spiritual nature and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Man’s spiritual nature and need of the Holy Spirit is especially seen in Washington’s General Orders for November 27, 1779, that declared Congress’s day of thanksgiving:
RESOLVED, That it be recommended to the several states, to appoint Thursday, the 9th of December next, to be a day of public and solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for his mercies, and of prayer for the continuance of his favor...that he would grant to his church the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out his Holy Spirit on all ministers of the gospel; that he would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth....”37
This theology of “the plentiful effusions of divine grace” and of pouring “out his Holy Spirit” reflected the Christian understanding of Pentecost. Washington’s experience with the book of prayer in the military resulted in his participation in a Pentecost Sunday service.
We know from Washington’s diary entry for June 2, 1754, that there was a prayer service that he attended as a soldier. He wrote, “Two or three families of the Shawanese and Loups arrived: We had prayers at the Fort.”38 There were several reasons for this prayer service. First, they just had finished the fort the day before, according to the entry. Second, he saw the arrival of the Indians, and may have remembered his friend George Fairfax’s instruction to not to forget prayers, especially when Indians were present. And finally, June 2nd in 1754 was a Sunday and fell precisely seven Sundays after Easter, which we know was on April 14th in that year. This meant this Sunday was Whitsunday, or Pentecost Sunday. The prayer that Washington and his fellow soldiers prayed that day said,
God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort, through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.39
Since no chaplain had been provided for these soldiers, as seen in Washington’s frequent appeals for the provision of one, Washington, as the commanding officer, likely followed the ancient Virginia custom of the officer in charge leading the prayers for the men. Thus, Washington would have on this day led the Pentecost Sunday prayer service with its cry for the work of the Holy Spirit. He would have also read the great biblical texts from The Book of Common Prayer that teach the coming of the Holy Spirit: the Epistle reading being Acts 2 and the Gospel reading being John 14.
d. The difference between true and false religion
As we saw in the last chapter on Washington and the doctrine of Providence, Washington spoke sometimes of “true religion” or the “true spirit of Christianity.” Implied in that is the notion that there are the false practices of so-called Christians. Here is one of those quotes: “While just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.”40
e. The importance of faith versus unbelief
On August 20, 1778, George Washington wrote to Thomas Nelson, Jr., wherein he noted how God was helping the American cause in the war. He said that God’s hand was so obvious that Americans would be ingrates if we didn’t recognize it. He wrote: “The Hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more wicked that has not gratitude to acknowledge his obligations...”41
f. The need for justification before God
