Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise,
    and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.

• Psalm 76:10

“Yet we remember Witherspoon more as a Founding Father than as an educator. Soon after arriving in America he began advocating liberty. On May 17, 1776, following the news from Boston, he preached one of the most important sermons in the lead-up to the Declaration of Independence. Delivered at Princeton and printed for distribution on both sides of the Atlantic, Witherspoon’s message, ‘The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men,’ was based on Psalm 76:10, and it stoked the colonies for independence. He began:

“There is not a greater evidence either of the reality or the power of religion than a firm belief in God’s universal presence and … the influence and operation of His providence. It is by this means that the Christian may be said, in the emphatical Scripture language, to walk with God, and to endure as seeing Him who is invisible.”

Witherspoon then moved to his text in Psalm 76, giving the context and explaining that verse 10 tells us God can bring good out of the ravings of one’s opponents. The Lord knows how to work everything for the good of His cause. Witherspoon continued:

“To apply it more particularly to the present state of the American colonies and the plague of war-the ambition of mistaken princes, the cunning and cruelty of oppressive and corrupt ministers, and even the inhumanity of brutal soldiers, however dreadful, shall finally promote the glory of God, and in the meantime, while the storm continues, His mercy and kindness shall appear in prescribing bounds to their rage and fury.”

• Robert J. Morgan, 100 Bible Verses That Made America

In my recent trip to visit the grandchildren, the oldest of them went with me to Nashville, to sell used books and games.  One of the books that I purchased in return was 100 Bible Verses That Made America by Robert J. Morgan.  As we approach the 250^th anniversary of the birth of the USA, I thought I would do a condensed mini-series on some of these verses, four posts per week for a few weeks – maybe not all 100 verses.

Before the quoted paragraphs from the book, the author speaks of the Presbyterian College of New Jersey (now Princeton) was in disarray.  They called a pastor from Scotland, John Witherspoon to be the new president of the college.  He did a wonderful job of getting the college going in the right direction.  Then the author gave the number of Witherspoon’s students who became part of the Continental Congress, Constitutional Convention, Congressmen, and Senators.  Then three justices of the Supreme Court, one secretary of State, one vice president, and one president, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution.

After Witherspoon finished his sermon, he said it was the first time politics had ever entered one of his sermons.  It was not only lawful, but necessary.

The quote starts with the news of Boston reaching him at Princeton, NJ.  The British evacuated Boston harbor two months before, mentioned in the Saturday afternoon post, The Miracle on Dorchester Heights.  It took time for the news to spread.  During the two months until Witherspoon’s sermon, Washington had moved his Army to New York.  The Continental Army had opened all ports to all nations except the British, and they allowed “privateers” permission to harass British vessels.

Do not get up in arms about turning a blind eye toward pirates.  In World War II, organized crime used their influence at US ports to patrol the docks to ensure there were no German spies gathering information.

While the author goes from Witherspoon’s call to his sermon, as if they were one after the other, Witherspoon had accepted the job of president of the college six and a half years before.

As I heard a pastor mention recently, we should subject ourselves to our civil authorities, but if told to violate God’s Law, a Christian is subject to a higher power in that case.  And the pastors of the colonies were saying that the British rule had crossed that line.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.