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Reason v. Revelation? Part Two

In my last post, “Reason v. Revelation? Part One,” was introduced the debate of whether or not the Founders relied upon, or at least believed in, direct, divine revelation. The question we are asking is “Did or didn’t the Founders base their political beliefs and our founding documents on the basic principles of the Bible or not?” Let me begin answering that question with a quote from Samuel Adams, the “Father of the American Revolution.”

The Rights of the Colonists as Christians – These may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the great Lawgiver and head of the Christian Church: which are to be found closely written and promulgated in the New Testament. (1)

Here, the Father of the American Revolution says that our rights come from God, and may be BEST understood by reading and carefully studying the words of Jesus, as recorded in the New Testament. The Founding Fathers certainly used their reason, but they did not rely upon man’s reason ALONE; they relied heavily upon Biblical principles, as the quotes I shall present will unequivocally demonstrate.

Some may object: “Samuel Adams was most probably an orthodox Christian, so of course he would say such a thing. But the more important Founding Fathers like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, who were more than likely religious rationalists, did not hold that same views as the orthodox Founders like Sam Adams.”

Such an argument has many blatant falsehoods. (1) What Founder can be more important than Sam Adams, the “father of the American Revolution”?* (2) We shall see what the other named Founders believed about revelation, that this argument is largely false, (3) and hence we shall find that several of the individuals named were NOT rationalists, and (4) allow me to point out that MOST of the Founding Fathers were most likely orthodox Christians. Now, when I say “orthodox,” I do not mean that that Founder(s) agreed with any particular denomination’s creed, but rather with the doctrines which are clearly written in the Bible. I think that these “basic doctrines” are best delineated in the Apostles’ Creed. The writings of the Founding Fathers (ahem, THEIR writings, not the analysis of some scholar, either secular humanist or evangelical), and may be easily searched for key words online, in order to substantiate this claim. I have an “online library” of such rare writings of theirs (a library which is being continually expanded, so be sure to bookmark this great resource): The Founders’ Bookshelf. This collection is the result of 4+ years of hunting for the Founders writings online, as they are hardly available to the average citizen (such as myself) and not for convenient use. Here, however, their writings may be viewed and studied by any American at his or her own convenience.

*Some of the Founding Fathers named above, such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin certainly did contribute to the Founding Era in important ways, but there are many more Founding Fathers that contributed much more than those two men, but Americans never hear of them often or learn about them, and the modern public (reads: government-regulated) school system is largely to blame. The public school system is the evangelism center for secular humanism, and so the least Christian of the Founders have been emphasized at the expense of other Founders such as Benjamin Rush, George Mason, John Jay, William Livingston, Elias Boudinot, Johnathan Trumbull, Sr., and many others. It must also be pointed out that many of the Founders disagreed vehemently with those two men (especially with Jefferson) on many important points. So, just because Jefferson or Franklin said something about the Founding Era or their fellow Founders, or the Constitution doesn’t necessarily make their words pure gold. I will discuss this in the future on my Meet the Founding Fathers blog.

But back to the Sam Adams quote. Was Sammy Adams the only one to hold such a belief? Did the less “orthodox” Christian Founders disagree? Not his cousin John Adams:

The GENERAL PRINCIPLES on which the fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which that beautiful assembly of young men could unite, and these principles only could be intended by them in their address, or by me in my answer. And what were those GENERAL PRINCIPLES? I answer, the general principles of Christianity, in which all those sects [the Roman Catholics, Quakers, Presbyterians, Methodists, Moravians, and Universalists] were united, and the GENERAL PRINCIPLES of English and American liberty, in which all those young men united, and which had united all parties in America, in majorities sufficient to assert and maintain her independence. Now I will avow, that I then believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature and our terrestrial, mundane system. (2)

This statement makes you think twice about the assertion that the Founders rejected the Bible and embraced “reason” instead. Is this statement by Adams isolated? Did he express different positions as he grew older, and began to more seriously doubt several basic tenets of Christianity? It is worth pointing out that the above quote comes from a letter written to Thomas Jefferson in 1813, 13 years before Adams passed away. Here are some other quotes from Adams on the subject of revelation, the Bible, and American government:

“Thus we are equally obliged to the Supream [sic] Being for the Information he has given us of our Duty, whether by the Constitution of our Minds and Bodies or by a supernatural Revelation. For an instance of the latter let us take original sin. Some say that Adams sin was enough to damn the whole human Race, without any actual Crimes committed by any of them. Now this Guilt is brought upon them not by their own rashness and Indiscretion, not by their own Wickedness and Vice, but by the Supream Being. This Guilt brought upon us is a real Injury and Misfortune because it renders us worse than not to be, and therefore making us guilty upon account of Adams Delegation, or Representing all of us, is not in the least diminishing the Injury and Injustice but only changing the mode of conveyance.” (3)

“No Priest nor Pope has any Right to say what I shall believe, and I will not believe one Word they say, if I think it is not founded in Reason and in Revelation. Now how can I judge what My Bible justifies unless I can read my Bible. … “A Man who can read, will find in his Bible, in the common sermon Books that common People have by them and even in the Almanack [sic] and News Papers, Rules and observations, that will enlarge his Range of Thought, and enable him the better to judge who has and who has not that Integrity of Heart, and that Compass of Knowledge and Understanding, which form the Statesman.” (4)

“The gallant Struggle in America, is founded in Principles so indisputable, in the moral Law, in the revealed Law of God, in the true Constitution of great Britain, and in the most apparent Welfare of the Nation as well as the People in America, that I must confess it rejoices my very Soul.” (5)

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region, should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. Every member would be obliged in Concience [sic] to temperance and frugality and industry, to justice and kindness and Charity towards his fellow men, and to Piety and Love, and reverence towards almighty God. In this Commonwealth, no man would impair his health by Gluttony, drunkenness, or Lust-no man would sacrifice his most precious time to cards, or any other trifling and mean amusement-no man would steal or lie or any way defraud his neighbour [sic], but would live in peace and good will with all men-no man would blaspheme his maker or prophane [sic] his Worship, but a rational and manly, a sincere and unaffected Piety and devotion, would reign in all hearts. What a Eutopia [sic], what a Paradise would this region be. ” (6)

“Gilbert Livingston, who took the Reflection to himself and his Party and grew warm, ‘Nothing says he mortifies me so much in the misconduct in France and America too, as to see that the Fools are all playing the Game into the hands of that Mr. John Adams.’

‘Why?’ Said Benson to Livingston who it seems is a serious Man. ‘Mr. Adams reads the Scriptures and there he finds that Man is as stupid as the Wild Asses Colt. He believes what he reads and infers his necessary Consequences from it. That is all. Mr. Adams is not to blame. He did not write the Scriptures, He only reads and believes.’ ” (7)

John Adams didn’t agree with everything in the Bible, but did he think that it’s principles were contrary or alien to the form of government that the Founders established? Hardly. Here are what some other Founding Fathers had to say about revelation, and the role of the Bible in American government:

SAMUEL ADAMS
“A PROCLAMATION FOR A DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. FORASMUCH as the occasional meeting of a People for the exercise of Piety and Devotion towards God, more especially of those who enjoy the Light of Divine Revelation, has a strong tendency to impress their minds with a sense of Dependence upon HIM and their Obligations to HIM.

I have thought fit, according to the ancient and laudable Practice of our renowned ancestors, to appoint a day of Public Thanksgiving to God, for the great benefits which HE has been pleased to bestow upon us, in the Year past.”
~Thanksgiving Proclamation by Massachusetts Governor Samuel Adams, Oct. 14, 1795; The Writings of Samuel Adams, volume 4

ALEXANDER HAMILTON
Opinions, for a long time, have been gradually gaining ground, which threaten the foundations of religion, morality, and society. An attack was first made upon the Christian revelation, for which natural religion was offered as the substitute. The Gospel was to be discarded as a gross imposture, but the being and attributes of GOD, the obligations of piety, even the doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments, were to be retained and cherished.

In proportion as success has appeared to attend the plan, a bolder project has been unfolded. The very existence of a Deity has been questioned and in some instances denied. The duty of piety has been ridiculed, the perishable nature of man asserted, and his hopes bounded to the short span of his earthly state. DEATH has been proclaimed an ETERNAL SLEEP; “the dogma of the immortality of the soul a cheat, invented to torment the living for the benefit of the dead.” Irreligion, no longer confined to the closets of conceited sophists, nor to the haunts of wealthy riot, has more or less displayed its hideous front among all classes.

Wise and good men took a lead in delineating the odious character of despotism, in exhibiting the advantages of a moderate and well-balanced government, in inviting nations to contend for the enjoyment of national liberty. Fanatics in political science have since exaggerated and perverted their doctrines. Theories of government unsuited to the nature of man, miscalculating the force of his passions, disregarding the lessons of experimental wisdom, have been projected and recommended. These have everywhere attracted sectaries, and everywhere the fabric of government has been in different degrees undermined.~“Fragment on the American Revolution” (unknown date of authorship; estimated to have been authored in the 1790s); The Works of Alexander Hamilton, ed. by Henry C. Lodge, vol. 8

JAMES WILSON
That law, which God has made for man in his present state; that law, which is communicated to us by reason and conscience, the divine monitors within us, and by the sacred oracles, the divine monitors without us. This law has undergone several subdivisions, and has been known by distinct appellations, according to the different ways in which it has been promulgated, and the different objects which it respects.
As promulgated by reason and the moral sense, it has been called natural; as promulgated by the holy scriptures, it has been called revealed law.

As addressed to men, it has been denominated the law of nature; as addressed to political societies, it is has been denominated the law of nations.

But it should always be remembered, that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same divine source: it is the law of God.

Nature, or, to speak more properly, the Author of nature, has done much for us; but it is his gracious appointment and will, that we should also do much ourselves. What we do, indeed, must be founded on what he has done; and the deficiencies of our laws must be supplied by the perfections of his. Human law must rest its authority, ultimately, upon the authority of that law, which is divine.

Of that law, the following are maxims — that no injury should be done — that a lawful engagement, voluntarily made, should be faithfully fulfilled. We now see the deep and the solid foundations of human law.

Those parts of natural philosophy, which more immediately relate to the human body, are appropriated to the profession of physick [sic].

The law eternal, the law celestial, and the law divine, as they are disclosed by that revelation, which has brought life and immortality to light, are the more peculiar objects of the profession of divinity.

The law of nature, the law of nations, and the municipal law form the objects of the profession of law. The Works of the Honorable James Wilson, L.L.D.; vol. 1, pp. 104-105 –”Lectures on Law”

[H]ow shall we, in particular instances, learn the dictates of our duty, and make, with accuracy, the proper distinction between right and wrong; in other words, how shall we, in particular cases, discover the will of God? We discover it by our conscience, by our reason, and by the Holy Scriptures. The law of nature and the law of revelation are both divine: they flow, though in different channels, from the same adorable source. It is, indeed, preposterous to separate them from each other. The object of both is — to discover the will of God — and both are necessary for the accomplishment of that end.
~The Works of the Honorable James Wilson, L.L.D.; vol. 1, page 120

GEORGE WASHINGTON
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 researches of the human mind, after social happiness, have been carried to a great extent, the Treasures of knowledge, acquired by the labours of Philosophers, Sages and Legislatures, through a long succession of years, are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the Establishment of our forms of Government; 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. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a Nation, and if their Citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be intirely their own.
~The Writings of George Washington, ed. by Fitzpatrick, “Circular to the States” (26:485)

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, besides it is time for the age of Knight-Errantry and mad-heroism to be at an end. Your young military men, who want to reap the harvest of laurels, don’t care (I suppose) how many seeds of war are sown; but for the sake of humanity it is devoutly to be wished, that the manly employment of agriculture and the humanizing benefits of commerce, would supersede the waste of war and the rage of conquest; that the swords might be turned into plough-shares, the spears into pruning hooks, and, as the Scripture expresses it, “the nations learn war no more.”

~ Letter to Francois Jean, Comte de Chastellux, April 25, 1788 (manuscript from Library of Congress)

If the blessings of Heaven showered thick around us should be spilled on the ground or converted to curses, through the fault of those for whom they were intended, it would not be the first instance of folly [34] or perverseness in short-sighted mortals. 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. Should, hereafter, those who are intrusted [sic] with the management of this government, incited by the lust of power and prompted by the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable, and if I may so express myself, that no Wall of words, that no mound of parchmt. can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other.

~proposed address to Congress, April ?, 1789; Writings of Washington, ed. by Fitzpatrick (30:301-302)

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
We should remember the character which the Scripture requires in Rulers, that they should be men hating covetousness. This Constitution will be much read and attended to in Europe, and if it should betray a great partiality to the rich will not only hurt us in the esteem of the most liberal and enlightened men there, but discourage the common people from removing to this Country.
~speech on the floor of the Constitutional Convention, Friday, August 10; from Madison’s “Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787″<

JAMES MADISON
It is impossible for any man of candor to reflect on this circumstance [the creation of the US Constitution] without partaking of the astonishment. It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.
~Federalist #37

ELIAS BOUDINOT
He wrote the pamphlet “The Age of Revelation” in rebuttal to Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason.”

FOUNDING DOCUMENTS
And each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz:
I do believe in one God, the creator and governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.
~ Pennsylvania Constitution, Article XVI, Section 10 (1776) (drafted by, among others, influential Founding Father Benjamin Franklin)

Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust, before taking his seat, or entering upon the execution of his office, shall take the following oath, or affirmation, if conscientiously scrupulous of taking an oath, to wit: … ” I, A B. do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”

And all officers shall also take an oath of office.
~Delaware Constitution, Article 22 (1776) (drafted by, among others, Declaration-signers Thomas McKean and George Reed)

… [A]nd they [members of the state house of representatives] shall be of the Protestent [sic] religion…
~Georgia Constitution, Article VI (1777)

That no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this State.
~North Carolina Constitution, Article XXXII (1776)

And that whenever fifteen or more male persons, not under twenty-one years of age, professing the Christian Protestant religion, and agreeing to unite themselves In a society for the purposes of religious worship, they shall, (on complying with the terms hereinafter mentioned,) be, and be constituted a church, and be esteemed and regarded in law as of the established religion of the State, and on a petition to the legislature shall be entitled to be incorporated and to enjoy equal privileges. That every society of Christians so formed shall give themselves a name or denomination by which they shall be called and known in law, and all that associate with them for the purposes of worship shall be esteemed as belonging to the society so called. But that previous to the establishment and incorporation of the respective societies of every denomination as aforesaid, and in order to entitle them thereto, each society so petitioning shall have agreed to and subscribed in a book the following five articles, without which no agreement fir union of men upon presence of religion shall entitle them to be incorporated and esteemed as a church of the established religion of this State:

1st. That there is one eternal God, and a future state of rewards and punishments.

2d. That God is publicly to be worshipped [sic].

3d. That the Christian religion is the true religion<

4th. That the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are of divine inspiration, and are the rule of faith and practice.

5th. That it is lawful and the duty of every man being thereunto called by those that govern, to bear witness to the truth.
~South Carolina Constitution, Article XXXVIII (1778)

And each member, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe the following declaration, viz. “I ____ do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Diverse, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration, and own and profess the protestant religion.”
~Vermont Constitution, Chapter II, Section IX (1777)

The governor shall be chosen [annually]; and no person shall be eligible to this office, unless at the time of his election, he shall have been an inhabitant of this commonwealth for seven years next preceding; [and unless he shall at the same time, be seised [sic] in his own right, of a freehold within the commonwealth of the value of one thousand pounds; and unless he shall declare himself to be of the Christian religion.] …

[Any person chosen governor, lieutenant governor, councillor [sic], senator or representative, and accepting the trust, shall before he proceed to execute the duties of his place or office, make and subscribe the following declaration, viz.–”I, A. B., do declare, that I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth; and that I am seised [sic] and possessed, in my own right, of the property required by the constitution as one qualification for the office or place to which I am elected.”
~Massachusetts Constitution, Chapter II, Section I, Article II; Chapter VI, Article I (1780) (drafted by, among others, John and Samuel Adams)

The Founders believed in revelation and reason without the Bible? Hardly. The Founders thought that Christianity and the Bible were incompatible with civil government? Don’t think so.

In spite of this mountain of glaring evidence above, it will probably be objected by some that the basic ideas of law, nature, God, etc, are still compatible with “theistic rationalism,” or (if I understand the implied definition correctly), accepting the existence of God, but rejecting direct revelation and the seemingly “irrational” Scriptures (the miraculous, Jesus’ divinity and atonement, the Trinity, etc.). It is true that there were some Founders whose beliefs do line up with this definition (Jefferson, probably Franklin, John Adams, and James Wilson). But this was not the overall view of the Founders.

This post is long enough already, and I think I have made my point by now.

My next post will be “Thoughts on Reason, Revelation, and the Bible.” It will explain my ideology and logic on this point, and therefore help explain why I believe that the Founders had a Biblical concept of government, and that, though they did heavily rely upon reason (and it is purely Scriptural to do so, as I will show in my next post), they did not place man’s reason above God’s law (in GENERAL; Jefferson’s writings show that he believed reason was above the Bible, though he believed the Bible was a great, if not the best, book).

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