“The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations.“
Letter from John Adams to Hezekiah Niles, February 13, 1818,
The Works of John Adams, Vol. X, ed. Charles Francis
In the battle for liberty across our land, there are many who believe that liberty can be restored by a mere grasp of the text of the U.S. Constitution. Actually, we must recover the philosophy of civil government held by our founders. To do that means understanding the sources of their thinking. Careful research reveals that the Bible, as well as Blackstone, Locke, and Montesquieu were seminal.
One other often overlooked source was the multitude of sermons preached during the years preceding Independence. The colonial pulpits supplied the theological superstructure necessary for independence in the 13 colonies. Without those sermons, the colonists would never have been able to support independence from Great Britain.
Teach the Children:
- To build a house, one must first build the foundation. The basis of our Constitutional Republic was established upon the foundations laid by the preachers of the colonial period.
- They taught the first stone laid was this: to be truly free, a people must be self-governed, obeying God’s Law from the heart.
- They taught the second stone laid was this: a civil government existed for the purposes set forth in the Word of God.
- Upon these two stones, the rest of the entire building depended.
“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” 2 Peter 1:3 KJV