4th of July Considerations

“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams
(To the Officers of the First Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Massachusetts Militia, October 11, 1789. Adams Papers, Microfilm, reel 119 Library of Congress.)

“Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.” – Benjamin Franklin
(Burton Stevenson, The Home Book of Quotations – Classical & Modern (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1967), p.265.)

“No human society has ever been able to maintain both order and freedom, both cohesiveness and liberty apart from the moral precepts of the Christian Religion applied and accepted by all the classes. Should our Republic ever forget this fundamental precept of governance, men are certain to shed their responsibilities for licentiousness and this great experiment will then surely be doomed.” – John Jay
(Address to the American Bible Society, May 9, 1822, in The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, Vol. 4, p.484.)

“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage . . . Before any man can be considered a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.” – James Madison
(James Madison, A Memorial and Remonstrance (Washington DC: Library of Congress, Rare Book Collection, delivered to the General Assembly of the State of Virginia. 1785).)

“True religion affords to Government its surest support.” – George Washington
(To the synod of the Reformed Dutch Church of North America, October 1789, Washington Papers, Library of Congress.)

“Religion and Morality are the essential pillars of Civil society.” – George Washington
(Letter to the Clergy of Different Denominations Residing in the near the City of Philadelphia, March 3, 1797.)

“From the day of the Declaration . . . they (the American people) were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct.” – John Quincy Adams
(John Wingate Thornton, The Pulpit of the American Revolution 1860 (New York: Burt Franklin, 1860, 1970), p.xxix.)

Jeremiah 18:1-10
   God told Jeremiah, "Up on your feet! Go to the potter's house. When you get there, I'll tell you what I have to say." So I went to the potter's house, and sure enough, the potter was there, working away at his wheel. Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot.
   Then God's Message came to me: "Can't I do just as this potter does, people of Israel?" God's Decree! "Watch this potter. In the same way that this potter works his clay, I work on you, people of Israel. At any moment I may decide to pull up a people or a country by the roots and get rid of them. But if they repent of their wicked lives, I will think twice and start over with them. At another time I might decide to plant a people or country, but if they don't cooperate and won't listen to me, I will think again and give up on the plans I had for them.

Comments

[Jim]

I love reading the words of our founding fathers. They got it. It saddens me when I see just how far we have strayed from their vision. It reminds me of the the ripples a rock makes when thrown into a lake. The largest and strongest ripples are at the point of impact and get weaker and weaker as time goes on, until there is finally, no ripple at all. Rock, impact, ripple. Where do we fit in?

[Ruth Hunt]

What a great service this weekend. The medley of songs and spoken words were very impacting. Thank you for standing firm to your belief in providing us the oppurtunity to pledge the allegence to our flag because we do need Christ back in America again!He is the foundation that we(the American citizens) need to make our country strong. Thank you!