March 6, 2008
I continue to study The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, by Reverend Benjamin F. Morris (1864) http://www.americanvision.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1818&HS=1. Recently, I read about the founding of the Massachusetts Colony. I am struck by Pilgrim’s attitude toward liberty. They clearly linked their concept of liberty to morality and religious principles. I concluded that they believed the purpose for liberty was that it allows his followers to advance his kingdom, both individually and collectively as a community. When the king of England, Charles II, wanted to revoke the colony’s charter in 1660, historian George Bancroft noted in their written response that they had the “right in the sight of God and man, to be governed by rulers of their own choosing…” They went on to write, “Submission would be an offense against the majesty of Heaven. Blind obedience to the pleasure of the king (of England) cannot be without great sin, and incurring the high displeasure of the King of kings.” Bancroft concluded that these colonists, stood firm against the governing tyranny as an act of obedience to God. They considered their Christian faith and civil rights as an inseparable union between Christianity and civil liberty. I find it disturbing that the first colony to be established on fundamental, historical, biblical Christianity is the first state to establish homosexual marriage contrary to God’s revealed will (Romans 1:18-32).
Christianity – not paganism, “religious neutrality,” or secularism – produced freedom and justice in America. Americans have lost the knowledge of the great work God performed forming this nation and the deep connections between Christianity and civil government. Many of us who contribute to this blog, desire to provide our readers with a vision of the truth – the Lord’s hand in our history and the crucial, foundational place Christianity held in our civil government and public life.
Charles J. Patricoff
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