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AMERICA’S GOD
FAITH THROUGH THE CENTURIES
from some of those who have gone before us.
1451-1506 Christopher Columbus, after seven years of trying to convince the monarchs of Europe to finance his expedition, won the support of Queen Isabella of Castille and King Ferdinand of Aragon. Columbus set sail on August 3, 1492, and after the longest voyage ever made out of sight of land, discovered the New World on October 12, 1492. In his Libro de las profecias (Book of Prophecies) Columbus wrote.
At a very early age I began to sail upon the ocean. For more than forty years, I have sailed everywhere that people go.
I prayed to the most merciful Lord about my heart’s great desire, and He gave me the spirit and the intelligence for the task; seafaring, astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, skill in drafting spherical maps and cosmology, history, chronology and philosophy.
It was the Lord who put into my mind (I could feel His hand upon me) the fact that it would be possible to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me.
There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit, because he comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures, a strong and clear testimony from the 44 books of the Old Testament, from the four Gospels, and from the 23 Epistles of the blessed Apostles, encouraging me continually to press forward, and without ceasing for a moment they now encourage me to make haste.
Our Lord Jesus desired to perform a very obvious miracle in the voyage to the Indies, to comfort me and the whole people of God. . .
No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service. The working out of all things has been assigned to each person by our Lord, but it all happens according to His sovereign will even though He gives advice.
He lacks nothing, that it is in the power of men to give hm. Oh what a gracious Lord, who desires that people should perform for Him those things for which He holds Himself responsible!
1533-1603, Queen Elizabeth I, the Queen of England from 1558 -1603, answered the question at her Coronation as to the presence of Christ in the Sacrament, by saying:
Christ was the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it,
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.
1590-1657- William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims, was elected as Governor of the Plymouth Colony in 1621. In 1607, as a result of the terrible religious persecution, which brought harm to their persons, reputations, families, and livelihoods, the pilgrims departed from their country of England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded the farewell:
Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends an familiar acquaintance…to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) wher they must learne a new language, and their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it wa by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and miserie worse than death… But these things did not dismay them for their desires were sett on ye ways of God, and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.
1649 The Maryland Toleration Act, in April 21, stated: Be it therefore…enacted…that no person or persons whatsoever within this province…professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall… henceforth be any ways troubled, molested …in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise therof…
1689 John Locke wrote on law and natural rights, in addition, he wrote paraphrases of the books of Romans, First and Second Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians, in 1695 he wrote a seldom mentioned book, A Vindication of the Reasonableness of Christianity. In it he wrote.
He that shall collect all the moral rules of the philosophers and compare them with those contained in the New Testament will find them to come short of the morality delivered by our Saviour and taught by His disciples: a college made up of ignorant but inspired fishermen…
Such a law of morality Jesus Christ has given in the New Testament, but by the latter of these ways, by revelation, we have from Him a full and sufficient rule for our direction, and conformable to that of reason. …He was sent by God: His miracles show it; and the authority of God in His precepts can not be questioned. His morality has a sure standard, that revelation vouches, and reason can not gainsay nor question; but both together witness to come from God, the great lawgiver.
To one who is persuaded that Jesus Christ was sent by God to be a King and a Saviour to those who believe in Him, all His commands become principles; there needs no other proof for the truth of what He says, but that He said it; and then there needs no more but to the inspired books to be instructed.
The Bible is one of the greatest blessings bestowed by God on the children of men. It has God for its author; salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture for its matter. It is all pure, all sincere’ nothing too much; nothing wanting.
1723-1797, Samuel Langdon, the president of Harvard University. He was invited to give an address to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in May of 1775:
We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it, By many, the Gospel is corrupted into a superficial system of moral philosophy, little better than ancient Platonism…
My brethren, let us repent and implore the divine mercy. Let us amend our ways and our doings, reform everything that has been provoking the Most High, and thus endeavor to obtain the gracious interpositions of providence for our deliverance…
May the Lord hear us in this day of trouble…We will rejoice in His salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners!
1740- a book published first in England by Thomas Dilworth, gained universal adoption in the New England schools. This book contained spelling, reading and grammar lessons, adorned with proper Scriptures. Its first lesson having words only three letters long or less, stated:
No man may put off the law of God.
The way of God is no ill way.
My joy is in God all the day.
A bad man is a foe to God.
1775- Continental Congress, less than two months after ‘the shot heard round the world’ was fired at Concord, issued a call for all citizens to fast and pray and confess their sins that the Lord God might bless the land:
And it is recommended to Christians, of all denominations, to assemble for public worship, and to abstain from servile labour and recreations on said day.
1789-1858 William Jay was the son of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1849 wrote this testimony in the introduction to one of his works:
The writer is a believer in the Diving authority of the Scriptures, he acknowledges no standard of right and wrong but the will of God, and denies the expediency of any act which is forbidden by laws dictated by Infinite Wisdom and Goodness.
This avowal will prepare the reader to find in the following pages many opinions not having the stamp of public approbation. Patriotism, honor, glory, and national prosperity, are terms to which the Christian and the mere politician attach different ideas, and estimate by different standards.
He who admits the authority of the Bible will not readily acknowledge that whatever is “highly esteemed among men” must be right, nor that which is unpopular is, of course, wrong.
1789, Congress of the United States of American, September 25 approved a resolution asking President George Washington to proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving:
Day of thanksgiving resolved. That a joint committee of both Houses be directed to wait upon the President of the United States to request that he recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness.
The initial draft of the First Amendment was made by James Madison on June 8, 1789. His wording was:
The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext infringed.
The final was: Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
On March, 1790, Benjamin Franklin wrote to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University:
Here is my Creed.
I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.
That the most acceptable service we render to Him is in doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound Religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in his Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion:
It is particular wise and good God, who is the Author and Owner of our system, that I propose for the Object of my praise and adoration.
For I conceive that He has in Himself some of those passions He has planted in us, and that, since He has given us reason whereby we are capable of observing His wisdom in the Creation, He is not above caring for us, being pleas’d with our praise, and offended when we slight Him, or neglect His glory.
I conceive for many reasons that He is a good Being, and as I should be happy to have so wise, good and powerful a Being my friend, let me consider in what manner I shall make myself most acceptable to Him.
Being mindful that before I address the Deity my soul ought to be calm and serene, free from passion and perturbation, or otherwise elevated with a rational joy and pleasure, I ought to use a countenance that expresses a filial respect, mixed with a kind of smiling that signifies inward joy and satisfaction and admiration.
O Creator, O Father, I believe that Thou are Good, and Thou are pleas’d with the pleasure of Thy children.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
By Thy Power hast thou made the glorious sun with his attending worlds; from the energy of They mighty Will they first received their prodigious motion, and by They Wisdom hast Thou prescribed the wondrous laws by which they move.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
By Thy Wisdom hast Thou formed all things, Thou has created man, bestowing life and reason, and plac’d him in dignity superior to Thy other earthly creatures.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
Thy Wisdom, Thy Power, and Thy GOODNESS are every where clearly seen; in the air and in the water, in the heavens and on the earth; Thou providest for the various winged fowl, and the innumerable inhabitants of the water; Thou givest cold and heat, rain and sunshine in their season, and to the fruits of the earth increase.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
I believe Thou hast given life to Thy creatures that they might live, and art not delighted with violent death and bloody sacrifices.
Praised be Thy Name forever.
Thou abhorrest in Thy creatures treachery and deceit, malice, revenge, intemperance and every other hurtful vice; but Thou are a lover of justice and sincerity, of friendship, benevolence and every virtue. Thou are my Friend, my Father, and my Benefactor.
Praised be Thy Name, O God, forever. Amen.
That I may be preserved from atheism and infidelity, impiety and profaneness, and in my addresses to Thee carefully avoid irreverence and ostentation, formality and odious hypocrisy. Help me, O Father.
And forasmuch as ingratitude is one of the most odious of vices, let me be unmindful gratefully to acknowledge the favours I receive from heaven…for all Thy innumerable benefits; for life and reason, and the use of speech, for health and joy and every pleasant hour, my Good God, I thank Thee.
He also wrote his own version of the Lord’s Prayer:
Heavenly Father, May all revere Thee, and become Thy dutiful children and faithful subjects. May Thy laws be obeyed on earth as perfectly as they are in heaven. Provide for us this day as Thou hast hitherto daily done. Forgive us our trespasses, and enable us likewise to forgive those that offend us. Keep us out of temptation and deliver us from evil.
Benjamin Franklin listed topics and doctrines, which he considered of vital importance, to be shared and preached:
That there is one God Father of the Universe.
That He is infinitely good, powerful and wise.
That He is omnipresent.
That He ought to be worshipped, by adoration, prayer, and thanksgiving both in pulick and private.
That He loves such of His creatures of love and do good to others; and will reward them either in this world or hearafter.
That men’s minds do not die with their bodies, but are made more happy or miserable after this life according to their actions.
That virtuous men ought to league together to strengthen the interest of virtue, in the world; and so strengthen themselves in virtue.
That knowledge and learning is to be cultivated, and ignorance dissipated. That none but the virtuous are wise.
That man’s perfection is in virtue.
1791-1872 Samuel Finley Breese Morse was not only the inventor of the Morse Code, but developed the telegraph and built the first camera in America. The first message, only four words, were sent over this new communication system which would revolutionize the world, was a verse from the Bible, found in Numbers 23:23.
“What hath God wrought!”
He wrote to his wife during those anxious days between failure and success:
The only gleam of hope, and I can not underrate it, is from confidence in God. When I look upward it calms my apprehensions for the future, and I seem to hear a voice saying: ‘If I clothe the lilies of the field, shall I not clothe you?’ Here is my strong confidence, and I will wait patiently for the direction of providence.
1794-1878 William Cullen Bryant known as the ‘Father of American Poets’ became popular for his poetry. For 50 years he was the editor in chief for the New York City Evening Post. He wrote:
The sacredness of the Bible awes me, and I approach it with the same sort of reverential feeling that an ancient Hebrew might supposed to feel who was about to touch the ark of God with unhallowed hands.
The very men who, in the pride of their investigations into the secrets of the internal world, turn a look of scorn upon the Christian system of belief, are not aware how much of the peace and order of society, how much happiness of households, and the purest of religion extending beyond their sphere…
In my view, the life, the teachings, the labors, and the sufferings of the blessed Jesus, there can be no admiration too profound, no love of which the human heart is capable too warm, no gratitude too earnest and deep of which He is justly the object.
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