Is There Such a Thing as Providence in History? Does it Have Application in Today's World? (Part 1)
Bill Haymin
June 05, 2006
"Did you realize that 52 of the 55 Founding Fathers who worked on the Constitution were members of orthodox Christian churches and many were even evangelical Christians? We don't hear that part of our history any more. This 1856 Maryland history textbook contains a story about George Washington that you've probably never heard. It is a story of how Washington's life hung in the balance for over two hours and how that only by the direct intervention of God was it spared.
This story of George Washington once appeared in virtually every student text in America, but hasn't been seen in the last forty years. This story deals with George Washington when he was involved in the French and Indian War as a young man only twenty-three years of age.
The French and Indian war occurred twenty years before the American Revolution. It was the British against the French; the American's sided with the British; and most of the Indians sided with the french. Both Great Britain and France disputed each others claims of territorial ownership along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; both of them claimed the same land.
Unable to settle the dispute diplomatically, Great Britain sent 2300 hand-picked, veteran British troops to America under General Edward Braddock to rout the French.
The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington ( colonel of the Virginia militia ) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne - now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1775 - only seven miles from the fort - while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.
But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding. But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.
When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught: they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine - and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indian had been shot.
There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse - he was the only officer left on horseback.
Following this resounding defeat, Washington gathered the remaining troops and retreated back to Fort Cumberland in western Maryland, arriving there on July 17, 1775.
The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:
"By the powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."
Washington openly acknowledged that God's hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.
However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 - now a time of peace - George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.
He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:
"I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle....I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."
That account appeared in American history textbooks for nearly a century and a half; today it has disappeared!
There are so many things that we no longer hear today. For example, we are now told that our Founding Fathers were atheists, agnostics, and deists; but consider this statement by Patrick Henry:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"
John Quincy Adams, in his speech on July 4th, 1837, at Newburyport, asked the crowd:
"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World. Your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day ( on the Fourth of July )?"
A very appropriate question. Why is that the Fourth of July and Christmas were our top two holidays? John Quincy Adams answered that question:
"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?"
And on he goes for the next sixty pages. John Quincy Adams stressed that the biggest victory won in the American Revolution was that Christian principles and civil government would be tied together in what he called an "indissoluble" bond. But today we hear just the opposite - today we are told that the founders wanted "separation"; that's not what he said.
Other significant Founders were outspoken about their Christian beliefs. For example, John Jay, the original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court - and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution - declared:
"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."
How long has it been since we've heard that type of statement from the Supreme Court? But was John Jay competent to offer such a statement? Yes! He was the original Chief Justice and one of the three men most responsible for our having the Constitution today - and he said that we should elect Christians for our rulers!"
( Permission was granted to reprint this article. Copyright 1993 by David Barton, from the booklet: "America's Godly Heritage", WallBuilder Press. To see more resources available go to: www.wallbuilders.com )
"History is either the record of God's overruling Hand in the affairs of men and nations, or it is the record of an on going struggle between the forces of some good and of some evil. In the latter interpretation of history, God is simply another concept of "good", or a god, while the first statement would make the assertion that God is The One True God, exerting His supreme power over all things. One cannot merely give God token recognition or a secondary place in the Universe without committing idolatry. An individual must be honest about his assertions of who he believes God is. For, these assertions not only define the individual, but they, ultimately, expose him. "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7. In man's thinking, God either is or He is not.
If God be not God, then mankind is justified in thinking that unless it becomes its own master, the world is doomed to chaos and dis-order. But, if God be God, then all things, universally, work according to justice, wisdom, and perfection, and mankind is obliged to make God its King.
For nearly all of the Twentieth Century, of the Modern Age, History has been written and studied from the secularist's standpoint. Subsequently, for one hundred years, generations have separated and literally dismissed God from History, and in effect, from their minds. For this sin of omission, nations have not escaped its adverse effects to their spiritual, social, and political development. This separation of God from His universe took place first within the hearts and minds of the Christian. Therefore, this volume and the subsequent ones to follow are developed with the Christian mainly in mind. If he has been ineffective during the Twentieth Century to make an impact upon his nation's life and standards, it is because he has lived and operated according to a sinful ambivalence towards God, with the false belief in the existence of two worlds: a secular world and a Christian world, when, in fact, there is but One God over one world"...
PROLOGUE: "Universal History Volume I. Ancient History – Law Without Liberty" (Adam – 50 B.C.), A Compilation By Katherine Dang. Copyright 2000 by Katherine Dang. To see more go to www.philomathpub.com
Americans in general, and especially American Christians, have been disconnected from the vital knowledge that will ensure our nations continuance and survival. We must re-establish the link that was forged by our early American Pilgrim and Puritan Fathers. We must re-establish the knowledge of the "Providential History of America!" We will then understand more fully our vital and significant role in directing the course of human events.
Educating ourselves and our children in the "Providential Hand of God in History", and most especially in "Americas Christian History," is extremely important and can not be over emphasized to strongly.
We will then know of the importance of making decisions predicated upon Biblical principles of Government in all fields of endeavor.
Government: 1. Direction; regulation. These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.
2. Control; restraint. Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.
3. The exercise of authority; direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies or states; the administration of public affaires, according to established constitutions, law and usages, or by arbitrary edicts. Prussia rose to importance under the government of Frederick the second.
4. The exercise of authority by a parent or householder. Children are often ruined by a neglect of government in parents. Let family government be like that of our heavenly Father, mild, gentle and affectionate.
5. The system of polity in the state; that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a nation or state is governed, or by which individual members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions; a constitution, either written or unwritten, by which the rights and duties of citizens and public officers are prescribed and defined; as a monarchial government, or a republican government. Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without the pretense of miracle or mystery, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind. J. Adams.
6.In empire, kingdom or state; any territory over which the right of sovereignty is extended.
7. The right of governing or administering the laws. The King of England vested the government of Ireland in the lord lieutenant.
8. The persons or council which administer the laws of a kingdom or state; executive power.
9. Manageableness; compliance
10. Regularity of behavior.
11. Management of the limbs or body.
( Noah Webster, an American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Facsimile First Edition. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967.
In the government of our education it is vital, living in this particular period of history, with all the competing secular beliefs, philosophies and worldviews, for Christians to be taught the hand of God in history.
The Providential view of history will give us the knowledge and awareness that we are living in the world of God, the creator of heaven and earth, and all that is therein.
The following is some aspects of understanding what the "Providence of God" is, and "His Hand in the Formation of America":
Providence: The act of providing or preparing for future use or application.
In Theology:, the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue it's existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars.
A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God Himself. ( 1828 Dictionary by NW )
The Doctrine of Divine Providence
"(T)here is a constant care of God extended to the whole Creation: That the Creature stands not in it's own strength, nor moveth merely from a principle within it self; nor is governed merely by it's fellow-creatures in a superior order, much less acteth casually, or under the necessity of any fate; but is under the daily inspection, government, care and influence of the first cause, it's Creator, who both preserveth and governeth it."
( John Collinges, D.D.,1678. Quoted from Katherine Dang in her book: "Universal History volume II, Middle History - The Law of Liberty." Copyright by Katherine Dang 2004. www.philomathpub.com Permission was granted to reprint this quote.)
The following is a example of America's Godly Heritage in the care of God as the first cause who both preserves and governs His people:
"The more thoroughly a nation deals with it's history, the more decidedly will it recognize and own an over-ruling Providence therein, and the more religious a nation will it become; while the more superficially it deals with it's history, seeing only secondary causes and human agencies, the more irreligious will it be." Rev. A. W. Foljambe, January 5, 1876
"As America approaches her two hundredth birthday, and enters into her third century as the world's first Christian Republic, it is appropriate for the American Christian to pause and ask: How did the blessings of liberty which I enjoy today come about? Did Christianity have anything to do with the American Revolution? What can I teach the next generation about the hand of God in American history?
America's Christian history has not been taught in Christian schools and colleges for over one hundred years. This fact has contributed to the rise of secularism - the "irreligious" spirit - more than any other single educational factor. With few exceptions Christian institutions teach a secular interpretation of history - not the Providential approach referred to by the Reverend Foljambe in the quotation above. As Americans and Christians have moved away from the teaching of history from its original sources they have accepted the interpretations of those who deal with history "seeing only secondary causes and human agencies." The result has been our separation of history from God as the Author of History. Ignorance, then is our enemy - ignorance of the hand of God in American history. Yet God in His infinite patience has given us these years of the Bicentennial of the War for Independence and the establishment of the Constitution of the United States of America to cause us to remember Him. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him" we are admonished in Scripture. Can we willfully disregard the voices of those historians who credit America with a Christian history? Was our emergence as a "separate and equal" nation just human history or was it the fulfillment of God's purpose as stated by the Pilgrims to "propagate and advance ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world? Can we, or should we, disregard the evidences of our Providential deliverance during the seven long years of the American Revolution? Should we credit the victory to man or to God?
To ignore the centuries of the progress of the Gospel and of Christianity's westward course is to deny the power of Christ in bringing forth liberty for the individual in both civil and religious spheres. Nor should we ignore the one hundred and fifty years of Biblical education in colonial America which produced a new standard of literacy for the world and astounded Europe with the "lucid exposition of constitutional principles" in the American State Papers. Should we continue to separate ourselves from the recognition of the Biblical principles of Christian self-government, Christian property, and voluntary Christian unity which found their ultimate protection in the United States Constitution?
The time has come to strengthen our American Christian homes and return them to their historic role of building the foundations of America's Christian character. The Biblical education of the homes of the American Revolution provided the prayerful support for our "ragged Continentals" and enabled them to win our independence from the world's greatest military power of that day.
The Ministers of the Gospel played a significant part in the American Revolution. Through the Artillery, Election and Fast Day sermons particularly, they educated the people in the Biblical principles of civil government. They did not separate American Independence in the civil sphere from American Independence in the sphere of religious liberty. The Reverend John Witherspoon, a member of the Continental Congress, in a Fast Day Sermon called for by the Continental Congress, in 1776 stated:
"It is in the man of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, useful citizen, and the invincible soldier, - God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to support and establishment of both."
But the blessings of liberty in America cannot be perpetuated unless the principles of that liberty are re-identified and re-affirmed in each generation.
This is the role of Christian schools and colleges. America's founding and establishment was the result of a people educated in Christian principles. Only a knowledge of these Biblical principles can ensure the continuance of them in the civil and religious spheres. It is our prayer that during these Bicentennial years, Christian educators will not continue to accept "irreligious" interpretations of American history. It is our prayer that Christian schools and colleges will separate from secularism and construct a truly distinctive curricula that includes America's Christian history"...
( Verna M. Hall & Rosalie J. Slater, "Preface to the American Revolution Bicentennial Edition" in The Christian History of the United States of America, Vol. I: Christian Self -Government, American Revolution Bicentennial Edition. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Education, 1975, la-lc. Permission was granted to reprint this article.
"The reader may find it of interest to know a little of how these volumes came to be published, and why they are called "Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America."
For about twenty years the compiler of these volumes searched for the fundamental reason why America embarked upon a path of socialism, and why Americans continue to travel this ever-increasing and widening road. About four years ago the answer became an obvious one; a scheduled talk before a small P-TA meeting was canceled by the Trustees of the school when they learned I was to speak on the religious nature of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It seemed to me that this incident revealed a startling fact; that Americans evidently had forgotten the Christian foundation upon which this nation is reared and the importance of its relation to the form of government established by the Constitution. We as a people, were allowing ourselves to become separated from the keystone of our national structure - our Christian heritage - through such occurrences as had happened at this small school. By omission, America had deflected into socialism. The keystone in the arch of our national structure has been loosened.
In proportion as Americans let go of faith in the absolute power of God, they have accepted the belief in an all powerful State. This is true of peoples or nations, for their idea of God determines the form of their civil, political, religious and social institutions. Communism and socialism are anti-God and anti-Christian; the battle against communism and socialism never was, and is not now, just economic and political; it is religious. Shall Christianity be taken captive?
Today, when thinking and talking in terms of civil government, our ignorance of fundamental Christian history in the founding of our country becomes at once apparent. We invariably reject or misconstrue references to the word Christian - in relation to civil governments - as being doctrinal and sectarian. Our Christian history as a nation does not involve doctrinal or sectarian views, ( that is: Sectarian: One of a sect; one of a party in religion which has separated itself from the established church, or which holds tenets different from those of the prevailing denomination in a kingdom or state. 1828 N W Dictionary) and our failure to understand this, largely contributes to the present disregard of Christianity in relation to civil government. Each religion has a form of government, and Christianity astonished the world by establishing self-government. With the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, Christian self-government became the foundation stone of the United States of America. "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." ( Psalm. 118:22, Matt. 21:42).
The history of our Christian heritage as documented in these volumes is but a small portion of the vast amount of evidence left dormant about a hundred years, awaiting the lens of an awakened America to bring it forth"...
"Whenever Christianity declined in a people's heart, "philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col.2:8), rose in its various forms.
Dr. Jedidiah Morse describes just such a time in our own history in the following excerpt from an Election Sermon delivered in Charlestown, April 25, 1799, from the Bible text, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm. 11:3).
"Our dangers are two kinds, those which affect our religion, and those which affect our government. They are, however, so closely allied that they cannot, with propriety, be separated. The foundations which support the interests of Christianity, are also necessary to support a free and equal government like our own. In all those countries where there is little or no religion, or a very gross and corrupt one, as in Mahometan ( Moslem ) and Pagan countries, there you will find, with scarcely a single exception, arbitrary and tyrannical governments, gross ignorance and wickedness, and deplorable wretchedness among the people.
To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoy. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism. I hold this to be a truth confirmed by experience. If so, it ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present Republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."
Preface to The Christian History of the United states Of America, Vol. 1: Christian Self- Government. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Education, 1975, La-Lc. Permission was granted to reprint this article.
The story of America's Christian history, and the Providential hand of God in the formation of our Republic, ( not a democracy, as has been brain washed into the minds of Americans. The word "democracy" does not appear either in the Declaration of Independence or in the U.S. Constitution instead, Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution guaranties "to every State in this Union a Republican form of government.") has been very dishonestly and conveniently obscured. People wanting to really know the true and uncensored account of America's history, can very easily find it, if they are looking in the right places.
By Bill Haymin, copyright 2006
This story of George Washington once appeared in virtually every student text in America, but hasn't been seen in the last forty years. This story deals with George Washington when he was involved in the French and Indian War as a young man only twenty-three years of age.
The French and Indian war occurred twenty years before the American Revolution. It was the British against the French; the American's sided with the British; and most of the Indians sided with the french. Both Great Britain and France disputed each others claims of territorial ownership along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; both of them claimed the same land.
Unable to settle the dispute diplomatically, Great Britain sent 2300 hand-picked, veteran British troops to America under General Edward Braddock to rout the French.
The British troops arrived in Virginia, where George Washington ( colonel of the Virginia militia ) and 100 Virginia buckskins joined General Braddock. They divided their force; and General Braddock, George Washington, and 1300 troops marched north to expel the French from Fort Duquesne - now the city of Pittsburgh. On July 9, 1775 - only seven miles from the fort - while marching through a wooded ravine, they walked right into an ambush; the French and Indians opened fire on them from both sides.
But these were British veterans; they knew exactly what to do. The problem was, they were veterans of European wars. European warfare was all in the open. One army lined up at one end of an open field, the other army lined up at the other end, they looked at each other, took aim, and fired. No running, no hiding. But here they were in the Pennsylvania woods with the French and Indians firing at them from the tops of trees, from behind rocks, and from under logs.
When they came under fire, the British troops did exactly what they had been taught: they lined up shoulder-to-shoulder in the bottom of that ravine - and were slaughtered. At the end of two hours, 714 of the 1300 British and American troops had been shot down; only 30 of the French and Indian had been shot.
There were 86 British and American officers involved in that battle; at the end of the battle, George Washington was the only officer who had not been shot down off his horse - he was the only officer left on horseback.
Following this resounding defeat, Washington gathered the remaining troops and retreated back to Fort Cumberland in western Maryland, arriving there on July 17, 1775.
The next day, Washington wrote a letter to his family explaining that after the battle was over, he had taken off his jacket and had found four bullet holes through it, yet not a single bullet had touched him; several horses had been shot from under him, but he had not been harmed. He told them:
"By the powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation."
Washington openly acknowledged that God's hand was upon him, that God had protected him and kept him through that battle.
However, the story does not stop here. Fifteen years later, in 1770 - now a time of peace - George Washington and a close personal friend, Dr. James Craik, returned to those same Pennsylvania woods. An old Indian chief from far away, having heard that Washington had come back to those woods, traveled a long way just to meet with him.
He sat down with Washington, and face-to-face over a council fire, the chief told Washington that he had been a leader in that battle fifteen years earlier, and that he had instructed his braves to single out all the officers and shoot them down. Washington had been singled out, and the chief explained that he personally had shot at Washington seventeen different times, but without effect. Believing Washington to be under the care of the Great Spirit, the chief instructed his braves to cease firing at him. He then told Washington:
"I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle....I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."
That account appeared in American history textbooks for nearly a century and a half; today it has disappeared!
There are so many things that we no longer hear today. For example, we are now told that our Founding Fathers were atheists, agnostics, and deists; but consider this statement by Patrick Henry:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!"
John Quincy Adams, in his speech on July 4th, 1837, at Newburyport, asked the crowd:
"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the World. Your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day ( on the Fourth of July )?"
A very appropriate question. Why is that the Fourth of July and Christmas were our top two holidays? John Quincy Adams answered that question:
"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?"
And on he goes for the next sixty pages. John Quincy Adams stressed that the biggest victory won in the American Revolution was that Christian principles and civil government would be tied together in what he called an "indissoluble" bond. But today we hear just the opposite - today we are told that the founders wanted "separation"; that's not what he said.
Other significant Founders were outspoken about their Christian beliefs. For example, John Jay, the original Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court - and one of the three men most responsible for the Constitution - declared:
"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."
How long has it been since we've heard that type of statement from the Supreme Court? But was John Jay competent to offer such a statement? Yes! He was the original Chief Justice and one of the three men most responsible for our having the Constitution today - and he said that we should elect Christians for our rulers!"
( Permission was granted to reprint this article. Copyright 1993 by David Barton, from the booklet: "America's Godly Heritage", WallBuilder Press. To see more resources available go to: www.wallbuilders.com )
"History is either the record of God's overruling Hand in the affairs of men and nations, or it is the record of an on going struggle between the forces of some good and of some evil. In the latter interpretation of history, God is simply another concept of "good", or a god, while the first statement would make the assertion that God is The One True God, exerting His supreme power over all things. One cannot merely give God token recognition or a secondary place in the Universe without committing idolatry. An individual must be honest about his assertions of who he believes God is. For, these assertions not only define the individual, but they, ultimately, expose him. "For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23:7. In man's thinking, God either is or He is not.
If God be not God, then mankind is justified in thinking that unless it becomes its own master, the world is doomed to chaos and dis-order. But, if God be God, then all things, universally, work according to justice, wisdom, and perfection, and mankind is obliged to make God its King.
For nearly all of the Twentieth Century, of the Modern Age, History has been written and studied from the secularist's standpoint. Subsequently, for one hundred years, generations have separated and literally dismissed God from History, and in effect, from their minds. For this sin of omission, nations have not escaped its adverse effects to their spiritual, social, and political development. This separation of God from His universe took place first within the hearts and minds of the Christian. Therefore, this volume and the subsequent ones to follow are developed with the Christian mainly in mind. If he has been ineffective during the Twentieth Century to make an impact upon his nation's life and standards, it is because he has lived and operated according to a sinful ambivalence towards God, with the false belief in the existence of two worlds: a secular world and a Christian world, when, in fact, there is but One God over one world"...
PROLOGUE: "Universal History Volume I. Ancient History – Law Without Liberty" (Adam – 50 B.C.), A Compilation By Katherine Dang. Copyright 2000 by Katherine Dang. To see more go to www.philomathpub.com
Americans in general, and especially American Christians, have been disconnected from the vital knowledge that will ensure our nations continuance and survival. We must re-establish the link that was forged by our early American Pilgrim and Puritan Fathers. We must re-establish the knowledge of the "Providential History of America!" We will then understand more fully our vital and significant role in directing the course of human events.
Educating ourselves and our children in the "Providential Hand of God in History", and most especially in "Americas Christian History," is extremely important and can not be over emphasized to strongly.
We will then know of the importance of making decisions predicated upon Biblical principles of Government in all fields of endeavor.
Government: 1. Direction; regulation. These precepts will serve for the government of our conduct.
2. Control; restraint. Men are apt to neglect the government of their temper and passions.
3. The exercise of authority; direction and restraint exercised over the actions of men in communities, societies or states; the administration of public affaires, according to established constitutions, law and usages, or by arbitrary edicts. Prussia rose to importance under the government of Frederick the second.
4. The exercise of authority by a parent or householder. Children are often ruined by a neglect of government in parents. Let family government be like that of our heavenly Father, mild, gentle and affectionate.
5. The system of polity in the state; that form of fundamental rules and principles by which a nation or state is governed, or by which individual members of a body politic are to regulate their social actions; a constitution, either written or unwritten, by which the rights and duties of citizens and public officers are prescribed and defined; as a monarchial government, or a republican government. Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without the pretense of miracle or mystery, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind. J. Adams.
6.In empire, kingdom or state; any territory over which the right of sovereignty is extended.
7. The right of governing or administering the laws. The King of England vested the government of Ireland in the lord lieutenant.
8. The persons or council which administer the laws of a kingdom or state; executive power.
9. Manageableness; compliance
10. Regularity of behavior.
11. Management of the limbs or body.
( Noah Webster, an American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Facsimile First Edition. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Christian Education, 1967.
In the government of our education it is vital, living in this particular period of history, with all the competing secular beliefs, philosophies and worldviews, for Christians to be taught the hand of God in history.
The Providential view of history will give us the knowledge and awareness that we are living in the world of God, the creator of heaven and earth, and all that is therein.
The following is some aspects of understanding what the "Providence of God" is, and "His Hand in the Formation of America":
Providence: The act of providing or preparing for future use or application.
In Theology:, the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue it's existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars.
A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God Himself. ( 1828 Dictionary by NW )
The Doctrine of Divine Providence
"(T)here is a constant care of God extended to the whole Creation: That the Creature stands not in it's own strength, nor moveth merely from a principle within it self; nor is governed merely by it's fellow-creatures in a superior order, much less acteth casually, or under the necessity of any fate; but is under the daily inspection, government, care and influence of the first cause, it's Creator, who both preserveth and governeth it."
( John Collinges, D.D.,1678. Quoted from Katherine Dang in her book: "Universal History volume II, Middle History - The Law of Liberty." Copyright by Katherine Dang 2004. www.philomathpub.com Permission was granted to reprint this quote.)
The following is a example of America's Godly Heritage in the care of God as the first cause who both preserves and governs His people:
"The more thoroughly a nation deals with it's history, the more decidedly will it recognize and own an over-ruling Providence therein, and the more religious a nation will it become; while the more superficially it deals with it's history, seeing only secondary causes and human agencies, the more irreligious will it be." Rev. A. W. Foljambe, January 5, 1876
"As America approaches her two hundredth birthday, and enters into her third century as the world's first Christian Republic, it is appropriate for the American Christian to pause and ask: How did the blessings of liberty which I enjoy today come about? Did Christianity have anything to do with the American Revolution? What can I teach the next generation about the hand of God in American history?
America's Christian history has not been taught in Christian schools and colleges for over one hundred years. This fact has contributed to the rise of secularism - the "irreligious" spirit - more than any other single educational factor. With few exceptions Christian institutions teach a secular interpretation of history - not the Providential approach referred to by the Reverend Foljambe in the quotation above. As Americans and Christians have moved away from the teaching of history from its original sources they have accepted the interpretations of those who deal with history "seeing only secondary causes and human agencies." The result has been our separation of history from God as the Author of History. Ignorance, then is our enemy - ignorance of the hand of God in American history. Yet God in His infinite patience has given us these years of the Bicentennial of the War for Independence and the establishment of the Constitution of the United States of America to cause us to remember Him. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him" we are admonished in Scripture. Can we willfully disregard the voices of those historians who credit America with a Christian history? Was our emergence as a "separate and equal" nation just human history or was it the fulfillment of God's purpose as stated by the Pilgrims to "propagate and advance ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world? Can we, or should we, disregard the evidences of our Providential deliverance during the seven long years of the American Revolution? Should we credit the victory to man or to God?
To ignore the centuries of the progress of the Gospel and of Christianity's westward course is to deny the power of Christ in bringing forth liberty for the individual in both civil and religious spheres. Nor should we ignore the one hundred and fifty years of Biblical education in colonial America which produced a new standard of literacy for the world and astounded Europe with the "lucid exposition of constitutional principles" in the American State Papers. Should we continue to separate ourselves from the recognition of the Biblical principles of Christian self-government, Christian property, and voluntary Christian unity which found their ultimate protection in the United States Constitution?
The time has come to strengthen our American Christian homes and return them to their historic role of building the foundations of America's Christian character. The Biblical education of the homes of the American Revolution provided the prayerful support for our "ragged Continentals" and enabled them to win our independence from the world's greatest military power of that day.
The Ministers of the Gospel played a significant part in the American Revolution. Through the Artillery, Election and Fast Day sermons particularly, they educated the people in the Biblical principles of civil government. They did not separate American Independence in the civil sphere from American Independence in the sphere of religious liberty. The Reverend John Witherspoon, a member of the Continental Congress, in a Fast Day Sermon called for by the Continental Congress, in 1776 stated:
"It is in the man of piety and inward principle that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, useful citizen, and the invincible soldier, - God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable, and the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to support and establishment of both."
But the blessings of liberty in America cannot be perpetuated unless the principles of that liberty are re-identified and re-affirmed in each generation.
This is the role of Christian schools and colleges. America's founding and establishment was the result of a people educated in Christian principles. Only a knowledge of these Biblical principles can ensure the continuance of them in the civil and religious spheres. It is our prayer that during these Bicentennial years, Christian educators will not continue to accept "irreligious" interpretations of American history. It is our prayer that Christian schools and colleges will separate from secularism and construct a truly distinctive curricula that includes America's Christian history"...
( Verna M. Hall & Rosalie J. Slater, "Preface to the American Revolution Bicentennial Edition" in The Christian History of the United States of America, Vol. I: Christian Self -Government, American Revolution Bicentennial Edition. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Education, 1975, la-lc. Permission was granted to reprint this article.
"The reader may find it of interest to know a little of how these volumes came to be published, and why they are called "Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America."
For about twenty years the compiler of these volumes searched for the fundamental reason why America embarked upon a path of socialism, and why Americans continue to travel this ever-increasing and widening road. About four years ago the answer became an obvious one; a scheduled talk before a small P-TA meeting was canceled by the Trustees of the school when they learned I was to speak on the religious nature of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. It seemed to me that this incident revealed a startling fact; that Americans evidently had forgotten the Christian foundation upon which this nation is reared and the importance of its relation to the form of government established by the Constitution. We as a people, were allowing ourselves to become separated from the keystone of our national structure - our Christian heritage - through such occurrences as had happened at this small school. By omission, America had deflected into socialism. The keystone in the arch of our national structure has been loosened.
In proportion as Americans let go of faith in the absolute power of God, they have accepted the belief in an all powerful State. This is true of peoples or nations, for their idea of God determines the form of their civil, political, religious and social institutions. Communism and socialism are anti-God and anti-Christian; the battle against communism and socialism never was, and is not now, just economic and political; it is religious. Shall Christianity be taken captive?
Today, when thinking and talking in terms of civil government, our ignorance of fundamental Christian history in the founding of our country becomes at once apparent. We invariably reject or misconstrue references to the word Christian - in relation to civil governments - as being doctrinal and sectarian. Our Christian history as a nation does not involve doctrinal or sectarian views, ( that is: Sectarian: One of a sect; one of a party in religion which has separated itself from the established church, or which holds tenets different from those of the prevailing denomination in a kingdom or state. 1828 N W Dictionary) and our failure to understand this, largely contributes to the present disregard of Christianity in relation to civil government. Each religion has a form of government, and Christianity astonished the world by establishing self-government. With the landing of the Pilgrims in 1620, Christian self-government became the foundation stone of the United States of America. "The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner." ( Psalm. 118:22, Matt. 21:42).
The history of our Christian heritage as documented in these volumes is but a small portion of the vast amount of evidence left dormant about a hundred years, awaiting the lens of an awakened America to bring it forth"...
"Whenever Christianity declined in a people's heart, "philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col.2:8), rose in its various forms.
Dr. Jedidiah Morse describes just such a time in our own history in the following excerpt from an Election Sermon delivered in Charlestown, April 25, 1799, from the Bible text, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm. 11:3).
"Our dangers are two kinds, those which affect our religion, and those which affect our government. They are, however, so closely allied that they cannot, with propriety, be separated. The foundations which support the interests of Christianity, are also necessary to support a free and equal government like our own. In all those countries where there is little or no religion, or a very gross and corrupt one, as in Mahometan ( Moslem ) and Pagan countries, there you will find, with scarcely a single exception, arbitrary and tyrannical governments, gross ignorance and wickedness, and deplorable wretchedness among the people.
To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoy. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism. I hold this to be a truth confirmed by experience. If so, it ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present Republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them."
Preface to The Christian History of the United states Of America, Vol. 1: Christian Self- Government. Chesapeake, VA ( www.face.net ): Foundation for American Education, 1975, La-Lc. Permission was granted to reprint this article.
The story of America's Christian history, and the Providential hand of God in the formation of our Republic, ( not a democracy, as has been brain washed into the minds of Americans. The word "democracy" does not appear either in the Declaration of Independence or in the U.S. Constitution instead, Article IV, section 4 of the Constitution guaranties "to every State in this Union a Republican form of government.") has been very dishonestly and conveniently obscured. People wanting to really know the true and uncensored account of America's history, can very easily find it, if they are looking in the right places.
By Bill Haymin, copyright 2006
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