• He wrote to Reverend Jonathan Boucher (his stepson’s old tutor in happier days) (August 15, 1798): “What will be the consequences of our Arming for self defence [against a potential invasion by France], that Providence, who permits these doings in the Disturbers of Mankind; and who rules and Governs all things, alone can tell. To its all powerful decrees we must submit, whilst we hope that the justice of our Cause if War, must ensue, will entitle us to its Protection.”9
And examples like these, as is true of virtually all these points, abound. While the language may sound a bit impersonal, this was a common way that orthodox Christian teachers and leaders referred to God in America at the time. For example, no one doubts the orthodoxy of the devout Presbyterian clergyman, Reverend Dr. John Witherspoon, the president of the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University). Congress declared that May 17, 1776, should be a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer. Reverend Witherspoon preached a sermon at the College entitled “The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men.” He said, “...we give praise to God, the Supreme Disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf...”10 This is just a sample of the way eighteenth century American Christians spoke. To interpret Washington’s language as that of a Deist, means that Reverend Dr. Witherspoon would also have to be classified as a Deist. That, of course, would be absurd. Thus, this argument is both erroneous and illogical.
4. THE DEITY OF CHRIST
The climax of George Washington’s great Circular Letter to the state governments on June 8, 1783, at the conclusion of the war, when he was hanging up his sword, notes that without a humble imitation of “the Divine Author of our blessed religion,” we could never hope to be a “happy nation.”11 Here Washington is speaking about Jesus Christ.
Washington, of course, had subscribed to the doctrines of the church when he assumed the role of a vestryman. In so doing, he affirmed his belief in the second article of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Anglican Church. That article reads as follows:
II. Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very man.
The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.12
Furthermore, Washington used the title (referring to Jesus) of “the great Lord and Ruler of Nations.” To Washington’s largely Christian audience, this had reference to Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16) [Emphasis in the original]. The Bible says of Mary, “she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations” (Revelation 12:5, KJV). In that light, note what Washington declared in his Thanksgiving Proclamation of October 3, 1789: “And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly...”13 Similarly, Washington said in his Sixth Annual Address to Congress (November 19, 1794): “Let us unite, therefore, in imploring the Supreme Ruler of nations, to spread his holy protection over these United States...”14 Washington also refers to Christ when he speaks of “the Divine Author of light and felicity.”15
5. GOD’S SELF-REVELATION IN THE SCRIPTURES AND IN NATURE
Consider these statements from George Washington about the Word of God. (Keep in mind, much of this has been covered in Chapter 13 on “Washington and the Bible.”)
• In a message he prepared for Congress in April 1789, the new President wrote, “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.” 16
• 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...”17 God tells man in the beginning of the Bible to be fruitful and fill the earth with inhabitants (Gen. 1:28). This is an allusion to that principle, which comes from revealed religion. (Note that at that point in history, the leaders of the deistic side of the Enlightenment were challenging the whole notion of revealed religion.)
• In the famous Circular Letter that he wrote to the States, resigning as commander in chief, the General contrasted superstition with revealed religion. He wrote: “...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 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.”18
This last quote 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 describing the scriptures. Therefore, he goes on to say, 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.
6. THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION
Washington affirmed his belief in what the Bible says about the Creator and his creation. Here are just a few samples:
• In a letter to John Parke Custis, January 22, 1777, he writes, “...I do not think that any officer since the creation ever had such a variety of difficulties...”19
• 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...”20
• 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.”21
• To Doctor James Anderson, July 25, 1798, President Washington observes, “...a man was not designed by the All wise Creator to live for himself alone...”22
• From a draft of his farewell address, enclosed in Washington’s letter to Alexander Hamilton, May 15, 1796, read, “That as the allwise dispensor of human blessings has favored no Nation of the Earth with more abundant, and substantial means of happiness than United America, that we may not be so ungrateful to our Creator; so wanting to ourselves; and so regardless of Posterity, as to dash the cup of beneficence which is thus bountifully offered to our acceptance.”23
And, as in virtually all these points, we could cite example after example of this.
7. MANKIND’S SINFULNESS
Like almost every founding father, George Washington believed in the doctrine of original sin. He believed that man was sinful; he believed in human depravity. We do not pursue this here, since we addressed it in a previous chapter. Let this single instance then illustrate our point:
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.24
8. GOD’S SAVING WORK IN CHRIST
As we summarize this aspect of Washington’s experience, we wish to point especially to the teachings of the Book of Common Prayer that Washington used throughout his life for worship.
HIS BIRTH
In the Christian understanding, men are incapable of saving themselves, so God provided his son for mankind’s redemption. As an Anglican, Washington celebrated Christmas, which on some occasions included attending church that day, where he would have read prayers acknowledging the historic Christian faith in Christ and the Gospel.25 The service continued with readings from Hebrews 1 and John 1 (included in this endnote), Bible passages which affirm that Jesus Christ, whose birth is celebrated at Christmas, was divine.26
Another example of Washington’s worship at Christmas is on December 25, 1770. This year Christmas fell on a Tuesday. His entry for this date says, “Went to Pohick Church and returnd to Dinner.”27 Christmas Sundays in the Anglican tradition were also Sundays when the Lord’s Supper was celebrated.
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
