Washington County Weekend Post e-edition
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/537183
2 4 • W a s h i n g t o n C o u n t y P o s t R e t a i l • 7 - 5 - 1 5 "An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!...Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power... Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us... Is life so dear, or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but give me liberty or give me death!" Patrick Henry "To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness, which mankind now enjoys...Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government – and all blessings which flow from them – must fall with them." Jedidiah Morse "I've lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convinc- ing proofs I see of this truth: That God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it proba- ble that an empire can rise without His aid? We've been assured in the sacred writings that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that with- out His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel." Benjamin Franklin "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdom, let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek it of Him (Proverbs 2, 3). Every one shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein." Harvard: 1636 Student Guidelines "We are a Christian people...not because the law demands it, not to gain exclusive benefits or to avoid legal disabilities, but from choice and educa- tion; and in a land thus universally Christian, what is to be expected, what desired, but that we shall pay due regard to Christianity?" Senate Judiciary Committee Report, January 19, 1853 "At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments, the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged...in this age there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants." House Judiciary Committee Report, March 27, 1854 "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor." George Washington "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams "Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe." James Madison "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liber- ties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." Thomas Jefferson "Is it not that in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? – that it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? – That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?" John Quincy Adams "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." John Jay: First Chief-Justice on the U.S.Supreme Court "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine...Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." James Wilson: Original Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court "There is no dissonance in these [Legal] declarations. ...These are not individual sayings, declarations of private persons: they are organic [legal, governmental] utterances, they speak the voice of the entire people...These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." Church of the Holy Trinity v. U.S., 1892 {Unanimous Decision Declaring America a Christian Nation) Significantly, the U.S. Supreme Court cited dozens of court rulings and legal documents as precedents to arrive at this ruling; but in 1962, when the Supreme Court struck down voluntary prayer in schools, it did so without using any such precedent.