Blog - Watchmen on the Wall

Lost Episode for February 22

February 23, 2012

On February 22, 1756, future Founding Father John Adams made the following entry in his diary:

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God. In this commonwealth, no man would impair his health by gluttony, drunkness, or lust; no man would sacrifice his most precious time to cards or any other trifling and mean amusement; no man would steal, or lie, or in any way defraud his neighbor, but would live in peace and good will with all men ; no man would blaspheme his Maker or profane his worship; but a rational and manly, a sincere and unaffected piety and devotion would reign in all hearts. What a Utopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”*

Founder John Adams envisioned the perfect society having the Bible as its basis. That is a lost episode in American history.

*Source Citation: L.H. Butterfield, ed., Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, 4 vols., (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1961), 3:9.

Lost Episode for February 21

February 22, 2012

On February 21, 1825, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson Smith, the son of a friend, Thomas Jefferson gave the admonition:

“This letter will to you be as one from the dead. The writer will be in the grave before you can weigh its counsels. Your affectionate and excellent father has requested that I would address to you something which might possibly have a favorable influence on the course of life you have to run and I too as a namesake feel an interest in that course. Few words will be necessary, with good dispositions on your part. Adore God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor as yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered be the Portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss.”

Jefferson’s biblically sound advice is another lost episode in American history.

Thomas Jefferson Randolph, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Memoir, Correspondence and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 4 vols., (Boston: Grey and Bowen, 1830), 4:413.

Lost Episode for February 20

February 20, 2012

On February 20, 1784, George Washington wrote his trusted friend, Major General Henry Knox, from Mount Vernon:

“I feel now, however, as I conceive a wearied traveler must do who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burden on his shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which all the former were directed; and from his housetop is looking back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he escaped the quicksands and mires which lay in his way; into which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human events could have prevented his falling [Jude 1:24].”*

Though he faced a hail of bullets on numerous occasions, Washington was never wounded and believed that God providentially protected him so that he could return home to enjoy his beloved Mount Vernon. Washington’s acknowledgement is another lost episode in American history.

*Source Citation: Jared Sparks, ed., The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages, and Other Papers, Official and Private, Selected and Published from the Original Manuscripts, with a Life of the Author, 12 vols. (Boston: American Stationer’s Company, 1837), 9:22. Bracketed item added.

Lost Episode for February 19

February 19, 2012

On February 19, 1795, Bishop James Madison, President of William and Mary, responded to President George Washington’s call for a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer by preaching a sermon entitled “Manifestation of the Beneficence of Divine Providence towards America,” which was later published. In this message, Madison declared:

“Suppose, my brethren, when our forefathers here first rested the soles of their feet…the guardian Angel of America, free, independent, and holding an eminent rank among the nations of the earth; had shewn them her sons and daughters, numerous as the stars of heaven, assembled in the houses of their God, and with one voice, offering up their grateful incense of adoration, praise and thanksgiving, ‘for the great things he hath done for them’[Psalm 126:2]…”

Bishop Madison’s message on the National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer is another lost episode in American history.

*Source Citation: Bishop James Madison, Manifestation of the Beneficence of Divine Providence towards America – a Discourse, Delivered on Thursday the 19th of February, 1795, Being the Day Recommended by the President of the United States, for General Thanksgiving and Prayer, (Richmond: Thomas Nicolson, 1795), as found in Ellis Sandoz, ed., Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols., (Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund, 1998), 2:1313. Bracketed item added.

Lost Episode for February 18

February 18, 2012

While speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on February 18, 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared:

“Our Founding Fathers prohibited a Federal establishment of religion, but there is no evidence
that they intended to set up a wall of separation between the state and religious belief itself.

The evidence of this is all around us. In the Declaration of Independence, alone, there are no fewer than four mentions of a Supreme Being. “In God We Trust” is engraved on our coinage. The Supreme Court opens its proceedings with a religious invocation. And the Congress opens each day with prayer from its chaplains.

The schoolchildren of the United States are entitled to the same privileges as Supreme Court
Justices and Congressmen. Join with me in persuading the Congress to accede to the overwhelming desire of American people for a constitutional amendment permitting prayer in our schools.”*

President Reagan’s argument for a restoration of prayer in public schools is a lost episode in American history.

*Source Citation: David R. Shepherd, ed., Ronald Reagan: In God I Trust (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1984), 133. Watch the entire speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=megjv7GATEM.

Lost Episode for February 22

Lost Episode for February 21

Lost Episode for February 20

Lost Episode for February 19

Lost Episode for February 18

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