The Declaration of Independence ends with these words:
| We, therefore, the Representatives
of the united States of America, in General
Congress, Assembled, appealing
to the Supreme Judge of the world for the
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the
Name, and by Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these
United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free
and Independent States. . . . And for the
support of this Declaration, with
a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine
Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred
Honor. |
|
|
There is a Law above the law.
There is a Judge that will judge all judges.
This Supreme Judge is the Guarantor of our security. If we are on the
side of Good, those on the side of evil will be judged.
Great Americans have always believed that God is our Judge. "Providence"
is God acting as a Judge in history. America was founded on a belief in this
God.
William
Bradford wrote about God's "providence" in his "History
of Plimouth Plantation," (1620):
And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence.
There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the sea-men, of a
lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be
contemning the poor people in their sickness and cursing them daily with
grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help
to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end,
and to make merry with what they had; and if he were by any gently
reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pleased God
before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous
disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the
first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head;
and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the
just hand of God upon him….
George Washington describes his capture of Boston, 1776:
Upon their discovery of the works next morning, great preparations were
made for attacking them; but not being ready before afternoon, and the
weather getting very tempestuous, much blood was saved, and a very
important blow, to one side or the other, was prevented. That this most remarkable
interposition of Providence is for some a wise purpose, I have not a
doubt.
In his original draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson had
written:
And for the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
But the Continental Congress amended it to read:
And for the support of this declaration, with
a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we
mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred
honor.
Samuel Adams, from a speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia,
"to a very numerous audience," on August 1, 1776:
There are instances of, I would say, an almost astonishing
providence in our favor; our success has staggered our enemies,
and almost given faith to infidels; so we may truly say it is not our own
arm which has saved us. The hand of Heaven appears to have led us
on to be, perhaps, humble instruments and means in the great providential
dispensation which is completing. We have fled from the political
Sodom; let us not look back lest we perish and become a monument
of infamy and derision to the world.
Doctor Albigence Waldo was a surgeon from Connecticut, of Puritan
ancestry, who had volunteered his services to General Washington in the Fall
of 1777 and remained throughout that memorable winter with the army at
Valley Forge. This is perhaps the best account of the heroism displayed in
the darkest period of American affairs, before the French alliance assured
money, ships and troops in aid of the Revolution. It is part of a daily
diary kept by Dr. Waldo during his military service, beginning on December
12, 1777.
Dec. 24th.—Party of the 22d returned. Huts go on slowly—cold and
smoke make us fret. But man kind are always fretting, even if they have
more than their proportion of the blessings of life. We are never
easy—always repining at the Providence of an All wise and
Benevolent Being—blaming our country—or faulting our friends.
But I don't know of anything that vexes a man's soul more than hot smoke
continually blowing into his eyes, and when he attempts to avoid it, is
met by a cold and piercing wind….
On September 23, 1780, Benedict Arnold's treasonous plot was exposed. He
faced the intervention in history by a Supreme Judge of his actions:
GENERAL NATHANIEL GREENE'S ADDRESS TO THE ARMY:
TREASON of the blackest dye was
yesterday discovered.
General Arnold, who commanded at West Point, lost to every sense of honor,
of private and public obligation, was about to deliver up that important
post into the hands of the enemy. Such an event must have given the
American cause a dangerous, if not a fatal wound; but the treason has been
timely discovered, to prevent the fatal misfortune. The
providential train of circumstances which led to it affords the most
convincing proof that the liberties of America are
the object of Divine protection. At the same time that the
treason is to be regretted, the general cannot help congratulating the
army on the happy discovery.
In November, 1783, General Washington bade his army farewell. The scene
which attended Washington's farewell to the rank and file of his army at
Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, on Sunday, November 2, 1783, was
only less affecting than his formal leave-taking with his leading officers
at Fraunce's Tavern in New York a month later when Washington said:
"With a heart full of love and gratitude I must now take my leave of
you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and
happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable…. I shall be
obliged to you if each will come and take me by the hand." Many of the
officers, including Washington, wept audibly.
His much more elaborate address at Princeton, written in the third
person, is said to have been prepared by Alexander Hamilton. In tone it is
very similar to Washington's splendid letter of June 8, 1783, to the
Governors of the States with regard to the necessity of establishing a firm
and dignified Federal Government. An excerpt:
A contemplation of the complete attainment (at a period earlier than
could have been expected) of the object, for which we contended against so
formidable a power, cannot but inspire us with astonishment and gratitude.
The disadvantageous circumstances on our part, under which the war was
undertaken, can never be forgotten. The singular interpositions of
Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely
escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled
perseverance of the armies of the United States, through almost every
possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years,
was little short of a standing miracle.
The following letter, dated Princeton, New Jersey, July 15, 1783, was
written by Elias Boudinot, the president of the Continental Congress, to our
ministers plenipotentiary, Adams, Franklin and Jay, who were in Paris
negotiating the treaty of peace with Great Britain, which concluded the
Revolutionary War. It was Boudinot who signed its ratification.
A few days before this letter was written, Congress, being openly defied and
menaced by a considerable number of Pennsylvania recruits, who objected to
being discharged from the army without pay, had hurriedly adjourned from
Philadelphia to Princeton.
The sergeants describe the plan laid by these officers as of the most
irrational and diabolical nature, not only against Congress and the
council, but also against the city and bank. They were to be joined by
straggling parties from different parts of the country, and after
executing their horrid purposes were to have gone off with their plunder
to the East Indies.
However incredible this may appear, the letters from Sullivan to Colonel
Moyland, his commanding officer, from Chester and the capes, clearly show
that it was a deep-laid scheme. It appears clearly to me that next to
the continued care of Divine Providence, the miscarriage of this plan
is owing to the unexpected meeting of Congress on Saturday, and their
decided conduct in leaving the city until they could support the Federal
government with dignity.
In America, the government does not get to do whatever it wants to do. It
faces judgment from the Supreme Judge. And it faces voters whose allegiance
to God is greater than their allegiance to the govenrment.