Category: This Christian Nation

The New Rule of Law

by Debra Conley

Little is known about the Boston Massacre of 1768 by the majority of American history students. Yes, we learn that Redcoats shot Boston citizens and that there was return fire, but to this day, no one knows who fired first. However, most students don’t learn the Christian principle that settled the matter. True, the British government had given orders to the soldiers in the colonies to collect severe taxes, to enforce the laws of England, and the wishes of the King. It is no secret that these British soldiers were hated, even though most of them were probably just carrying out orders as good soldiers do.

Some background on the Boston Massacre gives better perspective. In response to the famous Boston Tea Party, the British enacted a Port Bill  designed to starve Boston of its commerce and thereby force the colonists to repent, pay the tax, and submit to British enforcement. When tensions rose over the blockade, shots were fired in King Street, and eight British soldiers were in jail for murder. However, if no one knew the origin of the shots, and if shots were fired both ways, who was truly guilty? These were the thoughts of John Adams, then an attorney in Boston, who agreed to defend the British soldiers. Yes, he would defend them and angry Bostonians wanted to know why.

Here is a great testament to our system of justice, founded upon the biblical principles of the equal position of man before Almighty God. Adams told the people of Boston that if they intended, in their new country, to adopt the principle that a man was innocent until proven guilty, rather than by a single King’s decree they so despised, then they were bound to show the world that their system was the better. He also cleverly read from Britain’s own law that stated, better it be that all those on trial be acquitted though guilty than one innocent person be wrongly convicted. How could a Christian community think otherwise, he argued? Adams secured a verdict of 6 innocent and 2 on involuntary manslaughter from the jury by proving that there was insufficient evidence of their lone guilt. The soldiers were freed and a new respect for law and order restored the peace in Boston.

The Brainerd Brothers

by Debra Conley

The Brainerd brothers David and John have been nearly lost to our history. Only a stone monument, a lone building at Yale University, bears the name of two great men of faith. These 18^th Century men were quite possibly the catalysts for bringing Christianity to the majority of Native Americans.

David Brainerd (1718-1747) trained in theology and quickly felt a desire to follow in the footsteps of the great missionary to the Indians, John Eliot (1604-1690). It was Eliot who composed the first Bible in the language of the Algonquian Indians and was dubbed the “apostle to the Indians.” Brainerd assumed a life in the woods among the tribes near Albany, New York. Later he would preach in the Delaware Valley, again assuming the tribal life. In one year, he recorded seventy-seven baptisms and throughout his ministry led many to Christ. It was Brainerd’s efforts that opened the door for future ministries among the Indian tribes in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. His dedication was so great that he neglected his own health, often giving his time and efforts without basic necessities. His short life of 29 years became a testament to his love of the Word and the desire to share it.

It was John who was appointed by the Scottish Society to take his brother’s place among the Delaware tribes. At one point, he convinced tribes from as far away as Wyoming to move closer to his northeast ministry. He formed a school, worked to establish the family unit, but eventually became discouraged when few souls were converted. John did not continue to live among the tribes as his brother David had, but faithfully worked to establish funds and train future missionaries to work with various tribes in the northeast. Haddam, Connecticut, houses a small memorial and museum to the memory of these two great missionaries.

Dependence on God

by Debra Conley

When the Continental Congress of 1774 met to begin the formation of a free republic, they didn’t rely on their business acumen, on their well-known faces, or on their own merits as great orators. They relied on prayer and the guidance of God, and historical records confirm this. John Adams described how at the first meeting, the first order of business was to request that a minister of solid reputation be invited to open the deliberations with prayer, not with great speeches or people-pleasing platitudes, but with humble requests for God’s guiding hand in all their deliberations.

It was Reverend Jacob Duche of Philadelphia’s Christ Church who was called. Although a few, according to Adams, objected to the particular religion of the minister, in the end, all agreed that it was the prayer that was necessary. Adams continues to describe the prayer’s effect by saying that he had never seen such a pronounced response from an audience even at church. The attitude of the entire group changed, says Adams. They understood the 31^st Psalm read by Duche and took heed as he applied the words to the group: “In you, O Lord, we put our trust; let us not be ashamed (v.1), and in verse 5 that they commit their spirit to the Lord, adding “be Thou our rock for a house of defense to save us”(v2). Thus, says Adams (and so did Washington) the whole assembly bowed in humble guidance to the Lord’s leading.

What became of that prayerful beginning need not be retold. Jacob Duche admonished the men of that Congress of 1774, as described by Webster:

“Some were kneeling, some standing, but all praying, and looking toward Heaven for wisdom and counsel in this hour of doubt, anxiety, and responsibility; Washington, Henry, and others kneeling, and all invoking wisdom from above.”

Another curious bit of history rarely told is that this same Continental Congress passed a motion (on July 15, 1775) that required them to attend divine service as a body (all of them together), sometimes twice a day!

What God wrought from that humble prayer beginning He can restore if men of God will lead and will seek His guidance on their knees.

Chief Justice John Jay

by Debra Conley

Literally forgotten among our founding fathers is our first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Jay. In selecting Mr. Jay, President Washington carefully considered men who were fully qualified both in law and the newly written Constitution, but who also were sound in the moral ground Washington saw as necessary for justice to be administered properly.

John Jay is best known outside his role of Chief Justice as the author “Publius” in The Federalist Papers, a work in which Jay, Madison, and Hamilton provided history with the inner thoughts and decisions which formed the U.S. Constitution and many of our government practices. It was through these letters, responses to questions, and essays that we find many of our “original intent” ideas.

Religiously, it was Jay who expressed the most opposition to any one particular religion being used for prayer or devotions in the Continental Congress or otherwise. It was his firm belief that freedom to worship as one chose was the foundation they sought to create and that the Congress should “make no law” or practice to take sides one way or another. Errant historians often use this part of Jay’s history to argue that he was not religious or that he was a Deist. Quite the contrary, Jay was very active in church affairs, often writing church policy and defending the practice of religious freedom for all. His son William was founder of the American Bible Society, still in existence today, and for which John Jay became one of the early Presidents.

In his early years, Jay responded to the Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason, criticizing it for the deistic approach to the problems of the colonies and Paine specifically for his departure from the truth of the Word. Jay showed his belief in the Providence that God had provided in this newly formed nation even before it became official. In an 1811 letter to his friend John Bristed, Jay remarks on the success of the United States because of its moral compass: “If we believe there is no God there could be no moral obligations, and I do not see how society can subsist without them.”