Self-Governing Individuals Are Necessary for a Self-Governing Society | Eastern North Carolina Now

    But the sermon would be remembered for the term he used to coin the Puritan experiment - "A city upon a Hill." These words would not only inspire the Puritans that traveled with him, but they would also be used by American presidents hundreds of years later to yet again inspire Americans to greatness. These were the words that Winthrop delivered to his fellow Puritans as they were ready to disembark from the ship: "For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world." Indeed when people vow to live according to religious principles and devote themselves to promoting their faith, they invite scrutiny. They place themselves under a microscope, where all too often those who are looking through the lens are looking to find criticism.

    In 1638, a colony was established in New Haven, in what is now Connecticut, by Reverend John Davenport and Theophilus Easton. A year later, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, often called the world's first written constitution, was adopted. It read, in part: "For as much as it hath pleased Almighty God by the wise disposition of His Divine Providence so to order and dispose of things that we the inhabitants and residents...; and well knowing where a people are gathered together the Word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such a people there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require."

    The same John Winthrop who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony would also lead the first American experiment in establishing a federation. In 1643, he organized the New England Confederation. He wrote that the aim of the colonists of Plymouth, New Haven, Massachusetts, and Connecticut was "to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties of the gospel thereof in purities and peace."

    In 1683, Rhode Island was established by Christians. Their charter, the Rhode Island Charter of 1683, began with these words: "We submit our person, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all those perfect and most absolute laws of His as given to us in His Holy Word." In 1681, a charter was granted to William Penn, a Quaker, to establish the colony of Pennsylvania. King Charles II granted him a large tract of land in America to repay debts the king owed to Penn's father. (As it turns out, the tract of land would also include Delaware). Penn wanted to start a colony where Quakers like himself could live without persecution. He printed advertisements about his colony in six different languages and sent them across Europe. Quakers, Mennonites, Lutherans, Dunkards (Church of the Brethren), Amish, Moravians, Hugenots (French Protestants), Catholics, and Jews from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and Holland began were attracted to his colony. In 1701, he drafted the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges which gave un unprecedented amount of control to the People in their government. It read, in part: "All persons who profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, shall be capable to serve this government in any capacity, both legislatively and executively."

    William Penn was inspired by 1 Thessalonians 4:9 when he established Pennsylvania. ("But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.") To emphasize his plan to have a place where Christians would work together, he planned and named their city "Philadelphia," which is Greek for "City of Brotherly Love." His concept was that religion is not to be limited to a Sunday ceremonial ritual, but should be an integral aspect of everyday life, demonstrated by working with others in love and respect.

    Perhaps William Penn was inspired by the Puritans. The Puritans believed that religion should form the foundation of their society, in government, education, and work ethic. The Puritan work ethic placed a high moral value on doing a good job because work has such high intrinsic value. To the Puritan, all of life was to be lived in relation to God, a principle which gave sacred significance to every activity. Work was valued as a vital part of their service and worship to God, and they took the Bible seriously when it said: 'And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.' (Colossians 3:17) Just as the Israelites were instructed to work six days and then rest on the seventh (Exodus 20: 9-10), the Puritans regarded work and worship as a lifestyle of obedience to God.

    From the first colony at Jamestown to the colonies in Massachusetts to the Pennsylvania colony, the Bible was used as the inspiration and the rule of life and governance in the settlements. The evidence of the profound effect of God's word and teachings of Jesus Christ on our early Americans and early leaders is overwhelming.

    [Other English colonies would spring up all along the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Georgia. As more and more people arrived in the colonies, European countries realized a greater stake in the New World. Disputes arose over territory. By the 1700s, the countries with the largest presence were England and France. Eventually, the two great nations fought the French and Indian War (1754-1763). England won and took control of Canada, as well as retaining control of all the English colonies along the eastern coast - the thirteen colonies. (It is the debt from this war that the King and Parliament passed on to the colonists through taxation schemes, inspiring the protests "No Taxation Without Representation !"). We know how the rest of American history plays out.]

    We've enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we forget how and why we are able to so enjoy it in the first place. Men and women crossed the Atlantic not to find fertile fields and enjoy successful harvests, but rather to secure liberty for their souls. And specifically, the freedom they were seeking when they established their colonies and their charters was the freedom to worship freely and to live as they wanted to, according to God's laws.

    The Founding of Our Country Rests on a Simple Truth --

    The founding and settling of our great country rests on a simple truth. People flocked from all over the world in search of the freedom to establish colonies where they could openly live and govern themselves according to their religious dictates. They didn't come here to have Sunday service with their family. They came here for the freedom to incorporate the teachings of the Bible intimately in their everyday life, everyday speech, everyday conduct, everyday worship, and in their very government. The Bible even inspired them in the manner in which to establish their communities. Our earliest settlers, the Pilgrims and Puritans, in particular, carried the secret to successful self-government with them across the Atlantic. Their greatest contribution was the notion that only a religious and moral people could be trusted to govern themselves successfully. Only a religious and moral people could be trusted with liberty.

    Our children are taught in school that the Pilgrims were a group of stoic, starched creatures in black and white clothes with shiny buckled black shoes and hats who had a successful harvest which inspired them to share their bounty with the Indians, who had helped them become successful farmers. They are the group that gave us Thanksgiving. Our children are never taught the real legacy of the Pilgrims. The truth is that they were devout, hard-working, family-loving, persevering people who were committed to establishing a successful colony based on self-government and religious freedom.

    The Pilgrims were part of the Puritan movement (a separatist movement, from the Church of England). They became spiritually aware when the printed English Bible became available. They could read the gospel of Jesus Christ firsthand and not have to wait to hear scripture read in the Church, headed by the King of England. This relatively small band of men, women, and children had a strong desire to serve God as they saw fit, free from the Church of England and the religious policies of the King. Being identified as "separatists" or "purists" made them potential traitors to the Crown and made them outcasts. In order to exercise religious freedom, they would have to leave England, settle in Holland (perhaps one of the only places they could be free from persecution) for eleven years, and eventually make their way back to England to commission a ship to take them to the New World. They faced many trials and tribulations along the way, including imprisonment. Finally, the Pilgrims were able to commission two ships to take them to the New World, one being the Mayflower. Shortly after departing, however, the second ship took on a leak and had to return to England. As a result, not all of the Pilgrims were able to make the journey.

    When the Mayflower finally reached the coast of Massachusetts, in 1620, the Pilgrims and members of the crew signed a compact, the Mayflower Compact, before departing the ship. The Compact expressed their desire to be rid of British law and to establish a form of self-government based on just and equal laws and for the advancement of the Christian faith. In the New World, government would be established to serve their interests and they would be masters of their government, unlike in England, where the government was the master of the people who exist to serve the interests of government.

    The Pilgrims ordered their society on eternal truths, including faith, morality, justice, mercy, and education. In fact, there is an enormous granite monument erected in Plymouth, MA, to memorialize their dependence on these truths. The monument is called "The National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth, MA." It is also referred to as "The Pilgrim's Monument" or the "Matrix of Liberty."

    The "Matrix of Liberty" is structured and built to show the interdependence of these truths. The center of the monument is a giant women holding a Bible and pointing to the Heavens. She is Faith. At each of the four corners of the base of the monument is a pillar, representing Morality, Law, Education, and Liberty. The pillars have a certain order, starting with Morality and ending with Liberty.

    Looking at the monument in sequential fashion, one can understand the ordered foundation of the Pilgrim society.

    Faith - She is pointing to God because her faith is in the God of the Bible and in Jesus Christ. She is holding the Geneva Bible which is open, indicating that she is actively reading it. She has a star on her forehead to signify that she has wisdom, which comes from the Bible. She believes in Jesus Christ, who was sent to Earth to set man free. The first pillar is faith. Faith is necessary for all the other pillars.

    Morality - The statue is of a woman with no eyes, holding a Bible. She has no eyes to signify that morality is an internal characteristic. Morality means the "heart is right." To achieve morality, the heart must be transformed according to the word of God.

    Law - The statue is of a woman holding the scales of justice. There must be some degree of order in society and order is established by a set of laws. Laws are based on God's law. They protect and promote goodness and punish and prevent evil. Hence, law must be morally just. She is holding the scales of justice to indicate that the law applies equally to everyone. Laws must be fair and equitable. Punishment, for example, must be in set in fair relation to the offense. Finally, society should be merciful, just as God offers mercy and grace.

    Education - The statue is of a mother teaching her children. She is holding an open Bible and pointing to the Ten Commandments. Parents should educate and train their children in morality and religion so that they will grow up to be responsible citizens, capable of maintaining a free and ordered society.

    Liberty - The statue is of a chiseled warrior, carrying a sword and draped in the skin of a lion. The lion's head is draped over his shoulder. He is called "Liberty Man." The sword represents strength and the lion represents tyranny. The man is strong because he has faith and is moral. He has been educated and has defeated tyranny because his laws are strong and just. If all the other pillars are promoted in society, its people can be trusted with their self-government and will be strong enough to pass on liberty to the next generation. In other words, Liberty Man is the result of obeying the "Matrix of Liberty."

    The so-called "Matrix of Liberty," and the values and priorities it represents, is the real legacy of the Pilgrims. Not the black and white dress or suit with the shoes with the black buckle. Not the hair up in a bun with a white kerchief or the turkey feast. Yet no one celebrates this. Public schools only teach about the successful harvest, and not the successful formula for self-government and religious liberty.

    The Pilgrims were British subjects looking for religious liberty, yet with the Mayflower Compact, they devised a special formula to protect all liberty. The Compact created a system of self-government for their colony but the key was in effective individual self-government. Together, it was a special formula. At the core of that formula is the recognition that only a religious and moral people can be entrusted with the responsibility of securing so great a gift as Liberty. This is America's Christian heritage. Our Christian heritage is the reason we have a government system centered around the individual, bound to protect his sovereign rights, and sufficiently limited in order that people can govern their lives and organize their communities according to appropriate values. Our Christian heritage is inextricably connected to our founding principles. [The word "principle," deriving from a Latin root, means "first things"]

    We see how American leaders throughout our history have acknowledged and emphasized the importance of this heritage. We see how the belief in America's Providential destiny inspired almost all of our great patriots and fighting men and women.

    Take Nathan Hale, for example. Nathan Hale (1755-1776) was a young school teacher when the Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775 at Concord and Lexington. Nathan's friend witnessed the siege of Boston and wrote a letter in which he said: "Our holy religion, the honor of our God, a glorious country, and a happy constitution is what we have to defend." Soon after receiving that letter, Hale joined his five brothers and they fought for America's independence in the Revolutionary War. He quickly rose to the rank of captain.

    Hale fought under General George Washington in New York at the time British General William Howe was building up his troops on Long Island. Washington took his army onto Manhattan Island. At the battle of Harlem Heights, he asked for a volunteer to go on a spy mission behind enemy lines and it was Hale who stepped forward. For a week, he went unnoticed and gathered information on the position of British troops. While trying to return to the American side, however, he was captured. Because of the notes and incriminating papers that Hale on his person, the British immediately knew he was a spy. Howe ordered the 20-year-old Nathan Hale to be hanged without a trial.

    Widely regarded as America's first spy, patriot Nathan Hale was hanged on September 22, 1776. As a last request, he asked for a Bible and some paper to write letters to his loved ones. He was denied the Bible but was able to write letters. The British read what he wrote and in an act of cruelty, destroyed them. It was told that they didn't want future Americans to know what a truly devout and honorable man he was. Before he gave his life for his country, he made a short speech which ended with these famous words: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

    George Washington himself believed that America was under the divine protection of Providence and was destined to win its revolution against Great Britain. During the war, he wrote to Reverend William Gordon: "No man has a more perfect reliance on the all-wise and powerful dispensations of the Supreme Being than I have, nor thinks His aid more necessary." He issued General Orders on May 2, 1778 to his troops, instructing that "While we are zealously performing the duties of good Citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion. To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian. The signal Instances of providential Goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labours with complete Success, demand from us in a peculiar manner the warmest returns of Gratitude and Piety to the Supreme Author of all Good."

    When his army, the Continental Army, disbanded on June 14, 1783, Washington wrote a letter - an "Earnest Prayer" - to the governors of the thirteen states. In that letter, he said: "The task is now accomplished. I now bid adieu.... I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that he 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 characteristics 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."

    After serving two terms as our nation's first president, Washington delivered a heart-felt farewell address (1796), offering words of wisdom for the country he loved and devoted his entire life: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them."

    President Calvin Coolidge would later offer these words about our great General and first President: "Washington was the directing spirit, without which there would have been no independence, no Union, no Constitution, and no republic. . . . We cannot yet estimate him. We can only indicate our reverence for him and thank the Divine Providence which kept him to serve and inspire his fellow man."

    John Jay, author of five of the Federalist Papers and the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty and as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." Jay referred to the United States without hesitation as a "Christian nation."

    Our second president, John Adams, also a co-author of the Declaration of Independence and important founding patriot, believed just as strongly as Washington in the importance of religion and morality in maintaining the integrity of the nation that was so thoughtfully created. On June 21, 1776, he wrote: "Statesmen may plan for liberty, but it is religion and morality which alone can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in great measure, than they may change their rulers and their forms of government but they will never obtain lasting liberty."

    In a letter to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts
on October 11, 1798, President John Adams wrote these famous words: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

    What Adams was saying was not theological or religious but pragmatic. He was declaring that religion is necessary to maintain national morality; not that it's some mystic force that favors believers over non-believers. Adams was advising future Americans how to continue to secure their liberty and happiness. "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion," George Washington once wrote. "Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

    When Thomas Jefferson ran for president in 1799, Jedidiah Morse preached an insightful Election Sermon on the importance of religion. Morse (1761-1826) was a member of the clergy, an educator, and the father of Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph and the Morse Code. In his Sermon, he asked what would happen if the religious foundations were destroyed:

    "Our dangers are of two kinds - those which affect our religion and those which affect our government. They are, however, so closely allied that they cannot, with propriety, be separated. The foundations which support the interest of Christianity are also necessary to support a government like our own, designed to protect freedom and equality.....

    To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief or the corruption of its doctrine, or the neglect of its institutions, the same proportion of the people will recede from the blessings of genuine freedom and experience the miseries of complete despotism. I hold this to be a truth confirmed by experience. If so, it follows that all efforts made to destroy the foundations of our holy religion will ultimately tend to subvert our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."

    There was a time when the laws of God were taken into consideration in US courts. In 1802, Judge Nathaniel Freeman delivered the following charge to the Massachusetts Grand Juries: "The laws of the Christian system, as embraced by the Bible, must be respected as of high authority in all our courts, and it cannot be thought improper for the officers of such government to acknowledge their obligation to be governed by its rule..... Our government, originating in the voluntary compact of a people who in that very instrument profess the Christian religion, it may be considered, not as the republic Rome was, a pagan republic, but as a Christian republic."

    There was also a time when children were taught about American's founding values and in particular, how religious principles are linked to liberty. Noah Webster (1758-1843) was an American lexicographer, textbook author, political writer, and editor. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education." In his public school textbook History of the United States, published in 1832, he included:

    "Almost all the civil liberty now enjoyed in the world owes its origin to the principles of the Christian religion. It is the sincere desire of the writer that our citizens should early on understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament or the Christian religion.
    The religion which has introduced civil liberty is the religion of Christ and his Apostles, which enjoins humility, piety, and benevolence; which acknowledges in every person a brother or a sister, and a citizen with equal rights. This is genuine Christianity, and to this we owe our free constitutions of government.

    The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws.... All the miseries and evils which men suffer from - vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war - proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."

    Of course, when Webster was referring to the biblical basis of civil liberty, he was referring to Luke 10:27 ("You shall love... your neighbor as yourself.")

    Robert Winthrop, a lawyer who served as the Speaker of the US House from 1847-49, delivered an address to that body in which he talked about the foundation on religion that was needed to forge the moral strength needed to support our free institutions and our nation:

    "The voice of experience and the voice of our own reason speak but one language.... Both united in teaching us that men may as well build their houses upon the sand and expect to see them stand, when the rains fall and the winds blow and the floods come, as to found free institutions upon any other basis than that of morality and virtue, of which the Word of God is the only authoritative rule and the only adequate sanction.