Greeting
It is my privilege today to convey greetings from the fellow believers of my home church south of here in Moscow, Idaho. I am also privileged to be here with you today to not only participate in the activities of the Appleseed shoot, but to worship the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please stand and pray together with me.
Opening Prayer
Father in heaven, we now come into Your presence with purposeful intent to worship You in truth and Spirit, having our eyes and ears open as only You can do. Receive us we pray, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, forgive us our sins and trespasses, and cause us to leave this place transformed by Your grace and power, for we ask it in His name. Amen.
Sermon Introduction
Judges 10:6-14
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.”
This is perhaps one of the most severe passages in all of the Scriptures. To our contemporary ears it sounds most offensive. It challenges our perception of Who God is. We are used to a God Who comes and grants mercy and grace at our beckoning call and on our terms. This passage teaches us, among other things, that this is not the case. While He is indeed gracious and full of mercies, He grants these mercies on His terms, not ours.
This passage illustrates the principle declared by God in Genesis 6:3 that, “My Spirit will not always strive with man…” Further, the New Testament writer of the letter to the Hebrews declares (confirming the content of Psalm 95) that we are obliged to avoid a similar hardness that the Israelites demonstrated, saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation…” (Hebrews 3:7 ff).
We have a peculiar proclivity to fall into an assumption that the historical past was somehow very different than the present time we live in. We are particularly prone to this when we examine our own nation’s history. For instance, we somehow believe that the colonists who founded this nation somehow had their sustenance just ‘rolling in’ and had leisure to pursue such high goals as independence from the British tyranny. We also have the mistaken notion that the society and culture of the time was almost perfected in purity. While in many ways we can argue that they were superior in their era than we are by comparison in our times, they also had sins and faults of their own.
The first of the citations I want to present to you comes from Samuel Davies. Pastor Davies is significant in one respect because he was Patrick Henry’s pastor as a young man. Davies’ ministry, in a most obvious way, helped shape Henry’s beliefs and character. These excerpts come from a sermon delivered early in the French and Indian War.
“God has distinguished us with a religion from heaven; and hitherto we have enjoyed the quiet and unrestrained exercise of it; he has condescended to be a God to our nation, and to honour our cities with his gracious presence, and the institutions of his worship, the means to make us wise, good, and happy….
“But now the scene is changed; now we begin to experience in our turn the fate of the nations of the earth. Our territories are invaded by the power and perfidy of France; our frontiers ravaged by merciless savages, and our fellow-subjects there murdered with all the horrid arts of Indian and Popish torture…
“These calamities have not come upon us without warning. We were long ago apprised of the ambitious schemes of our enemies, and their motions to carry them into execution; and had we taken timely measures, they might have been crushed before they could have arrived at such a formidable height. But how have we generally behaved in such a critical time? Alas! our country has been sunk in a deep sleep; a stupid security has unmanned the inhabitants: they could not realize a danger at the distance of two or three hundred miles; they would not be persuaded that even French Papists could seriously design us an injury; and hence little or nothing has been done for the defense of our country, in time, except by the compulsion of authority. And now, when the cloud thickens over our heads, and alarms every thoughtful mind with its near approach, multitudes, I am afraid, are still dissolved in careless security, or enervated with an effeminate, cowardly spirit.
“We have also suffered our poor fellow-subjects, in the frontier counties, to fall prey to blood-thirsty savages, without affording them proper assistance, which, as members of the same body politic, they had a right to expect…they are left to shift for themselves.”
(Notice Davies concern that they had failed to love their neighbors by responding to their calamities in a more earnest and timely manner, and his expressed concern about the apathy of the populace. Nothing new here, is there?)
“We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners: God proclaims that we are such by his judgments now upon us, by withering fields and scanty harvests, by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war.
“Pass over the land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct, and what do you see? What do you hear? You see the gigantic forms of vice braving the skies, and bidding defiance to heaven and earth, while religion and virtue are obliged to retire, to avoid public contempt and insult: you see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all the man within them: you hear the swearer venting his fury against God and man, trifling with that name which prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest devil in hell trembles and groans: you see Avarice hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest Craft planning her schemes of unlawful gain, and Oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the poor, you see Prodigality squandering her stores, Luxury spreading her table, and unmanning her guests: Vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth, regardless of God and our country, or time and eternity; Sensuality wallowing in brutal pleasures, and aspiring, with inverted ambition, to sink as low as her four-footed brethren to the stall: you see cards more in use than the Bible, the backgammon table more frequented than the table of the Lord, plays and romances more read than the history of the blessed Jesus…
“Therefore, my brethren, as we have all rebelled, let us all join in unanimous repentance and a thorough reformation. Not only your eternal salvation requires it, but also the preservation of your country, that is now bleeding with the wounds you have given it by your sins.”
(This is what Davies considered the preeminent problem: rebellion against God. Who is responsible, “them” or “you”? What did he offer as a solution?)
“Dissolve and melt in penitential sorrow at his feet; and he will tell you, “Arise, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.”
“Then away to Jesus, away to Jesus, ye whose consciences are loaded with guilt; …fly (flee) to Jesus on the wings of faith…”
“…I need not tell you that it is of great importance for this end that you should be at peace with God and your own conscience, and prepared for your future state… A stupid carelessness about our welfare through an immortal duration beyond the grave is very unbecoming a man, or a Christian. The most important periods of our existence, my brethren, lie beyond the grave…”
The second citation comes from Pastor Samuel Langdon.
(Langdon first speaks of the unlawful acts and oppression of the British and the justifiable response of the colonists to aggression.)
“We have lived to see the time when British liberty is just ready to expire; when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation, is deeply undermined and ready to tumble into ruins--when America is threatened with cruel oppression, and the arm of power is stretched out against New England, and especially against this colony, to compel us to submit to the arbitrary acts of legislators who are not our representatives, and who will not themselves bear the least part of the burdens which, without mercy, they are laying upon us.
“That we might not have it in our power to refuse the most absolute submission to their unlimited claims of authority, they have not only endeavored to terrify us with fleets and armies sent to our capital, and distressed and put an end to our trade, particularly that important branch of it, the fishery, but at length attempted, by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night, to seize and destroy one of our magazines, formed by the people merely for their own security; if, as after such formidable military preparation on the other side, matters should not be pushed to an extremity. By this, as might well be expected, a skirmish was brought on; and it is most evident, from a variety of concurring circumstances, as well as numerous depositions, both of the prisoners taken by us at that time, and our men then on the spot only as spectators, that the fire began first on the side of the king's troops. At least five or six of our inhabitants were murderously killed by the regulars at Lexington, before any man attempted to return the fire, and when they were actually complying with the command to disperse; and two more of our brethren were likewise killed at Concord Bridge by a fire from the king's soldiers, before the engagement began on our side. But whatever credit falsehoods transmitted to Great Britain from the other side may gain, the matter may be rested entirely on this--that he that arms himself to commit a robbery, and demands the traveler's purse, by the terror of instant death, is the first aggressor, though the other should take the advantage of discharging his pistol first and killing the robber.
“The alarm was sudden; but in a very short time spread far and wide; the nearest neighbors in haste ran together to assist their brethren, and save their country. Not more than three or four hundred met in season, and bravely attacked and repulsed the enemies of liberty, who retreated with great precipitation.
“That ever-memorable day, the nineteenth of April, is the date of an unhappy war openly begun, by the ministers of the king of Great Britain, against his good subjects in this colony, and implicitly against all the colonies. But for what? Because they have made a noble stand for their natural and constitutional rights, in opposition to the machinations of wicked men, who are betraying their royal master, establishing Popery in the British dominions, and aiming to enslave and ruin the whole nation, that they may enrich themselves and their vile dependents with the public treasures, and the spoils of America.”
(Langdon goes on to insist that they had not been rash, indeed they had pursued a peaceable resolve to the problems. The responses by the British had been more vigorous oppressions.)
“We have used our utmost endeavors, by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances--by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the press, in which the dispute has been fairly stated, and the justice of our opposition clearly demonstrated--and by the mediation of some of the noblest and most faithful friends of the British constitution, who have powerfully pleaded our cause in Parliament--to prevent such measures as may soon reduce the body politic to a miserable, dismembered, dying trunk, though lately the terror of all Europe. But our king, as if impelled by some strange fatality, is resolved to reason with us only by the roar of his cannon, and the pointed arguments of muskets and bayonets. Because we refuse submission to the despotic power of a ministerial Parliament, our own sovereign, to whom we have been always ready to swear true allegiance--whose authority we never meant to cast off--who might have continued happy in cheerful obedience, as faithful subjects as any in his dominions--has given us up to the rage of his ministers, to be seized at sea by the rapacious commanders of every little sloop of war and piratical cutter, and to be plundered and massacred by land by mercenary troops, who know no distinction betwixt an enemy and a brother, between right and wrong; but only, like brutal pursuers, to hunt and seize the prey pointed out by their masters.”
(He remains adamant in his declaration of God’s sovereignty, and insists that sin is what corrupts both governments and people.)
“We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the ETERNAL KING, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at His pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption; or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states, by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of His providence. To this our text leads us; and though I hope to be excused on this occasion from a formal discourse on the words in a doctrinal way, yet I must not wholly pass over the religious instruction contained in them.
“Let us consider--that for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted, or entirely dissolved; and that nothing but a general reformation can give ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored, by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and that Divine Providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men.
“The Jewish government, according to the original constitution which was divinely established, if considered merely in a civil view, was a perfect republic. The heads of their tribes, and elders of their cities, were their counselors and judges…. Counselors and judges comprehend all the powers of that government, for there was no such thing as legislative authority belonging to it, their complete code of laws being given immediately from God by the hand of Moses. And let them who cry up the divine right of kings consider, that the only form of government which had a proper claim to a divine establishment, was so far from including the idea of a king, that it was a high crime for Israel to ask to be in this respect like other nations; and when they were thus gratified, it was rather as a just punishment of their folly, that they might feel the burdens of court pageantry, of which they were warned by a very striking description, than as a divine recommendation of kingly authority.
“In this chapter (referring to his sermon text from Isaiah) the prophet describes the very corrupt state of Judah in his day, both as to religion and common morality; and looks forward to that increase of wickedness which would bring on their desolation and captivity. [Isaiah said that] they were a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that were corrupters, who had forsaken the Lord; and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. The whole body of the nation, from head to foot, was full of moral and political disorders, without any remaining soundness. Their religion was all mere ceremony and hypocrisy; and even the laws of common justice and humanity were disregarded in their public courts. They had counselors and judges, but very different from those at the beginning of the commonwealth. Their princes were rebellious against God, and the constitution of their country, and companions of thieves, giving countenance to every artifice for seizing the property of the subjects in their own hands, and robbing the public treasury. Every one loved gifts, and followed after rewards; they regarded the perquisites more than the duties of their office; the general aim was at profitable places and pensions; they were influenced in every thing by bribery; and their avarice and luxury were never satisfied, but hurried them on to all kinds of oppression and violence, so that they even justified and encouraged the murder of innocent persons to support their lawless power, and increase their wealth. And God, in righteous judgment, left them to run into all this excess of vice to their own destruction, because they had forsaken Him, and were guilty of willful inattention to the most essential parts of that religion which had been given them by a well-attested revelation from heaven.
“By all this we may be led to consider the true cause of the present remarkable troubles which are come upon Great Britain and these colonies; and the only effectual remedy.
“We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it. We have neglected and set light by the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy commands and institutions. The worship of many is but mere compliment to the Deity, while their hearts are far from Him.”
(The remedy that Langdon suggests is, of course, to return to the Gospel of Christ.)
“The pretense for taxing America has been that the nation contracted an immense debt for the defense of the American colonies; and that as they are now able to contribute some proportion toward the discharge of this debt, and must be considered as part of the nation, it is reasonable they should be taxed; and the Parliament has a right to tax and govern them in all cases whatever by its own supreme authority. Enough has been already published on this grand controversy, which now threatens a final separation of the colonies from Great Britain…”
“Would not a reverend regard to the authority of divine revelation, a hearty belief of the gospel of the grace of God, and a general reformation of all those vices which bring misery and ruin upon individuals, families, and kingdoms, and which have provoked heaven to bring the nation into such perplexed and dangerous circumstances, be the surest way to recover the sinking state, and make it again rich and flourishing?
“But, alas! Have not the sins of America, and of New England in particular, had a hand in bringing down upon us the righteous judgments of Heaven? Wherefore is all this evil come upon us? Is it not because we have forsaken the Lord? Can we say we are innocent of crimes against God? No, surely; it becomes us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, that He may exalt us in due time. However unjustly and cruelly we have been treated by man, we certainly deserve, at the hand of God, all the calamities in which we are now involved… Have we not departed from these virtues? Though I hope and am confident that as much true religion, agreeable to the purity and simplicity of the gospel, remains among us as among any people in the world, yet in the midst of the present great apostasy of the nations professing Christianity, have not we likewise been guilty of departing from the living God? Have we not made light of the gospel of salvation, and too much affected the cold, formal, fashionable religion of countries grown old in vice and overspread with infidelity? Do not our follies and iniquities testify against us? Have we not, especially in our seaports, gone much too far into the pride and luxuries of life? Is it not a fact open to common observation that profaneness, intemperance, unchastity, the love of pleasure, fraud, avarice, and other vices, are increasing among us from year to year? And have not even these young governments been in some measure infected with the corruptions of European courts? Has there been no flattery, no bribery, no artifices practiced, to get into places of honor and profit, or carry a vote to serve a particular interest, without regard to right or wrong? Have our statesmen always acted with integrity and every judge with impartiality, in the fear of God?
Our late happy government is changed into the terrors of military execution. Our firm opposition to the establishment of an arbitrary system is called rebellion, and we are to expect no mercy but by yielding property and life at discretion. This we are resolved at all events not to do; and therefore, we have taken arms in our own defense, and all the colonies are united in the great cause of liberty.”
“Let us praise our God for the advantages already given us over the enemies of liberty; particularly, that they have been so dispirited by repeated experience of the efficiency of our arms; and that in the late action at Chelsea, [***] when several hundreds of our soldiery, the greater part open to the fire of so many cannon, swivels, and muskets from a battery advantageously situated, from two armed cutters, and many barges full of marines, and from ships of the line in the harbor, not one man on our side was killed, and but two or three wounded; when, by the best intelligence, a great number were killed and wounded on the other side, and one of their cutters was taken and burned, the other narrowly escaping with great damage.”
So what are we to take with us from these two men? There is a substantial consistency between them, is there not?
First, we should note that all wars and conflicts are inherently religious. By this I mean that when nations and peoples have issues which cannot seemingly be resolved by peaceable means, it is because of irreconcilable differences in fundamental world view concepts. Every man has religious commitments to what he believes to be fundamental, absolute truth, and he holds these as such whether or not he ascribes this to Deity or other sources. Faith commitments are inescapable; it is only a matter of where that faith is placed. Davies’ and Langdon’s recognition of this nature of conflict may not correspond identically circumstantially to our situation today, but it is nonetheless true in principal.
Second, both men declare that sin and rebellion against God is that which undermines and undoes both nations and people. These acts against God may be subtle or overt, but they lead to corruption of both the people and their institutions. The only effective solution to this is repentance and a return to the Gospel of Christ in all of its applications.
Third, both men see the importance of the interdependence of the members of their society. There is a clear understanding that they must take adequate action to preserve not only their own interests, but also those of their neighbors. To avoid this is both disgraceful and immoral. This is a simple application of loving your neighbor as yourself. Complacency is a sinful indifference to the situation of your neighbor.
These men and their compatriots were patient and careful men. They expended tremendous effort in attempting to resolve their difficulties without resorting to armed conflict. More than one historian has referred to them as “reluctant revolutionaries”, a term I am not entirely satisfied with, but one that indicates the sort of character that the Scriptures advocate. They fought the ‘soft’ war for some time before conceding that separation was inevitable.
Both men testify to the fact that they all must place their hope and trust in the hands of a sovereign and almighty God for the outcome of the conflicts. Neither supposes any guaranty of a favorable outcome. They submit to the fact that whatever God does is right. Yet both hold forth a faithful hope for His clemency and the success of their efforts. Both men insisted on looking into the mirror of the Word of God and acknowledging the image that was reflected back to them.
So, friends, how are we doing by comparison? Most of us are here today because we believe we have a stake in the preservation of our nation. And we do. But how will that be accomplished? Do we hear the Word of God and respond to it as it instructs us? Or are we preoccupied with other things; the things that Davies and Langdon spoke against? Our nation is in a downward spiral, and how will it be saved? I submit to you that our nation will be saved only if Christ will save it, and He will only bless those who hear and do. Let us not add further injury to our situation by continuing to harden our hearts. Let us not further anger Him by our disobedience and sins. May we hear His words today, believe, and obey them. May He hear our heartfelt repentance, and answer as only He can, from heaven.
Amen.
Closing Prayer/Benediction
Psalm 20
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice: Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.
It is my privilege today to convey greetings from the fellow believers of my home church south of here in Moscow, Idaho. I am also privileged to be here with you today to not only participate in the activities of the Appleseed shoot, but to worship the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Please stand and pray together with me.
Opening Prayer
Father in heaven, we now come into Your presence with purposeful intent to worship You in truth and Spirit, having our eyes and ears open as only You can do. Receive us we pray, for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, forgive us our sins and trespasses, and cause us to leave this place transformed by Your grace and power, for we ask it in His name. Amen.
Sermon Introduction
Judges 10:6-14
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and ye cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.”
This is perhaps one of the most severe passages in all of the Scriptures. To our contemporary ears it sounds most offensive. It challenges our perception of Who God is. We are used to a God Who comes and grants mercy and grace at our beckoning call and on our terms. This passage teaches us, among other things, that this is not the case. While He is indeed gracious and full of mercies, He grants these mercies on His terms, not ours.
This passage illustrates the principle declared by God in Genesis 6:3 that, “My Spirit will not always strive with man…” Further, the New Testament writer of the letter to the Hebrews declares (confirming the content of Psalm 95) that we are obliged to avoid a similar hardness that the Israelites demonstrated, saying, “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the day of provocation…” (Hebrews 3:7 ff).
We have a peculiar proclivity to fall into an assumption that the historical past was somehow very different than the present time we live in. We are particularly prone to this when we examine our own nation’s history. For instance, we somehow believe that the colonists who founded this nation somehow had their sustenance just ‘rolling in’ and had leisure to pursue such high goals as independence from the British tyranny. We also have the mistaken notion that the society and culture of the time was almost perfected in purity. While in many ways we can argue that they were superior in their era than we are by comparison in our times, they also had sins and faults of their own.
The first of the citations I want to present to you comes from Samuel Davies. Pastor Davies is significant in one respect because he was Patrick Henry’s pastor as a young man. Davies’ ministry, in a most obvious way, helped shape Henry’s beliefs and character. These excerpts come from a sermon delivered early in the French and Indian War.
“God has distinguished us with a religion from heaven; and hitherto we have enjoyed the quiet and unrestrained exercise of it; he has condescended to be a God to our nation, and to honour our cities with his gracious presence, and the institutions of his worship, the means to make us wise, good, and happy….
“But now the scene is changed; now we begin to experience in our turn the fate of the nations of the earth. Our territories are invaded by the power and perfidy of France; our frontiers ravaged by merciless savages, and our fellow-subjects there murdered with all the horrid arts of Indian and Popish torture…
“These calamities have not come upon us without warning. We were long ago apprised of the ambitious schemes of our enemies, and their motions to carry them into execution; and had we taken timely measures, they might have been crushed before they could have arrived at such a formidable height. But how have we generally behaved in such a critical time? Alas! our country has been sunk in a deep sleep; a stupid security has unmanned the inhabitants: they could not realize a danger at the distance of two or three hundred miles; they would not be persuaded that even French Papists could seriously design us an injury; and hence little or nothing has been done for the defense of our country, in time, except by the compulsion of authority. And now, when the cloud thickens over our heads, and alarms every thoughtful mind with its near approach, multitudes, I am afraid, are still dissolved in careless security, or enervated with an effeminate, cowardly spirit.
“We have also suffered our poor fellow-subjects, in the frontier counties, to fall prey to blood-thirsty savages, without affording them proper assistance, which, as members of the same body politic, they had a right to expect…they are left to shift for themselves.”
(Notice Davies concern that they had failed to love their neighbors by responding to their calamities in a more earnest and timely manner, and his expressed concern about the apathy of the populace. Nothing new here, is there?)
“We and our countrymen are sinners, aggravated sinners: God proclaims that we are such by his judgments now upon us, by withering fields and scanty harvests, by the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war.
“Pass over the land, take a survey of the inhabitants, inspect into their conduct, and what do you see? What do you hear? You see the gigantic forms of vice braving the skies, and bidding defiance to heaven and earth, while religion and virtue are obliged to retire, to avoid public contempt and insult: you see herds of drunkards swilling down their cups, and drowning all the man within them: you hear the swearer venting his fury against God and man, trifling with that name which prostrate angels adore, and imprecating that damnation, under which the hardiest devil in hell trembles and groans: you see Avarice hoarding up her useless treasures, dishonest Craft planning her schemes of unlawful gain, and Oppression unmercifully grinding the face of the poor, you see Prodigality squandering her stores, Luxury spreading her table, and unmanning her guests: Vanity laughing aloud and dissolving in empty, unthinking mirth, regardless of God and our country, or time and eternity; Sensuality wallowing in brutal pleasures, and aspiring, with inverted ambition, to sink as low as her four-footed brethren to the stall: you see cards more in use than the Bible, the backgammon table more frequented than the table of the Lord, plays and romances more read than the history of the blessed Jesus…
“Therefore, my brethren, as we have all rebelled, let us all join in unanimous repentance and a thorough reformation. Not only your eternal salvation requires it, but also the preservation of your country, that is now bleeding with the wounds you have given it by your sins.”
(This is what Davies considered the preeminent problem: rebellion against God. Who is responsible, “them” or “you”? What did he offer as a solution?)
“Dissolve and melt in penitential sorrow at his feet; and he will tell you, “Arise, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you.”
“Then away to Jesus, away to Jesus, ye whose consciences are loaded with guilt; …fly (flee) to Jesus on the wings of faith…”
“…I need not tell you that it is of great importance for this end that you should be at peace with God and your own conscience, and prepared for your future state… A stupid carelessness about our welfare through an immortal duration beyond the grave is very unbecoming a man, or a Christian. The most important periods of our existence, my brethren, lie beyond the grave…”
The second citation comes from Pastor Samuel Langdon.
(Langdon first speaks of the unlawful acts and oppression of the British and the justifiable response of the colonists to aggression.)
“We have lived to see the time when British liberty is just ready to expire; when that constitution of government which has so long been the glory and strength of the English nation, is deeply undermined and ready to tumble into ruins--when America is threatened with cruel oppression, and the arm of power is stretched out against New England, and especially against this colony, to compel us to submit to the arbitrary acts of legislators who are not our representatives, and who will not themselves bear the least part of the burdens which, without mercy, they are laying upon us.
“That we might not have it in our power to refuse the most absolute submission to their unlimited claims of authority, they have not only endeavored to terrify us with fleets and armies sent to our capital, and distressed and put an end to our trade, particularly that important branch of it, the fishery, but at length attempted, by a sudden march of a body of troops in the night, to seize and destroy one of our magazines, formed by the people merely for their own security; if, as after such formidable military preparation on the other side, matters should not be pushed to an extremity. By this, as might well be expected, a skirmish was brought on; and it is most evident, from a variety of concurring circumstances, as well as numerous depositions, both of the prisoners taken by us at that time, and our men then on the spot only as spectators, that the fire began first on the side of the king's troops. At least five or six of our inhabitants were murderously killed by the regulars at Lexington, before any man attempted to return the fire, and when they were actually complying with the command to disperse; and two more of our brethren were likewise killed at Concord Bridge by a fire from the king's soldiers, before the engagement began on our side. But whatever credit falsehoods transmitted to Great Britain from the other side may gain, the matter may be rested entirely on this--that he that arms himself to commit a robbery, and demands the traveler's purse, by the terror of instant death, is the first aggressor, though the other should take the advantage of discharging his pistol first and killing the robber.
“The alarm was sudden; but in a very short time spread far and wide; the nearest neighbors in haste ran together to assist their brethren, and save their country. Not more than three or four hundred met in season, and bravely attacked and repulsed the enemies of liberty, who retreated with great precipitation.
“That ever-memorable day, the nineteenth of April, is the date of an unhappy war openly begun, by the ministers of the king of Great Britain, against his good subjects in this colony, and implicitly against all the colonies. But for what? Because they have made a noble stand for their natural and constitutional rights, in opposition to the machinations of wicked men, who are betraying their royal master, establishing Popery in the British dominions, and aiming to enslave and ruin the whole nation, that they may enrich themselves and their vile dependents with the public treasures, and the spoils of America.”
(Langdon goes on to insist that they had not been rash, indeed they had pursued a peaceable resolve to the problems. The responses by the British had been more vigorous oppressions.)
“We have used our utmost endeavors, by repeated humble petitions and remonstrances--by a series of unanswerable reasonings published from the press, in which the dispute has been fairly stated, and the justice of our opposition clearly demonstrated--and by the mediation of some of the noblest and most faithful friends of the British constitution, who have powerfully pleaded our cause in Parliament--to prevent such measures as may soon reduce the body politic to a miserable, dismembered, dying trunk, though lately the terror of all Europe. But our king, as if impelled by some strange fatality, is resolved to reason with us only by the roar of his cannon, and the pointed arguments of muskets and bayonets. Because we refuse submission to the despotic power of a ministerial Parliament, our own sovereign, to whom we have been always ready to swear true allegiance--whose authority we never meant to cast off--who might have continued happy in cheerful obedience, as faithful subjects as any in his dominions--has given us up to the rage of his ministers, to be seized at sea by the rapacious commanders of every little sloop of war and piratical cutter, and to be plundered and massacred by land by mercenary troops, who know no distinction betwixt an enemy and a brother, between right and wrong; but only, like brutal pursuers, to hunt and seize the prey pointed out by their masters.”
(He remains adamant in his declaration of God’s sovereignty, and insists that sin is what corrupts both governments and people.)
“We must keep our eyes fixed on the supreme government of the ETERNAL KING, as directing all events, setting up or pulling down the kings of the earth at His pleasure, suffering the best forms of human government to degenerate and go to ruin by corruption; or restoring the decayed constitutions of kingdoms and states, by reviving public virtue and religion, and granting the favorable interpositions of His providence. To this our text leads us; and though I hope to be excused on this occasion from a formal discourse on the words in a doctrinal way, yet I must not wholly pass over the religious instruction contained in them.
“Let us consider--that for the sins of a people God may suffer the best government to be corrupted, or entirely dissolved; and that nothing but a general reformation can give ground to hope that the public happiness will be restored, by the recovery of the strength and perfection of the state, and that Divine Providence will interpose to fill every department with wise and good men.
“The Jewish government, according to the original constitution which was divinely established, if considered merely in a civil view, was a perfect republic. The heads of their tribes, and elders of their cities, were their counselors and judges…. Counselors and judges comprehend all the powers of that government, for there was no such thing as legislative authority belonging to it, their complete code of laws being given immediately from God by the hand of Moses. And let them who cry up the divine right of kings consider, that the only form of government which had a proper claim to a divine establishment, was so far from including the idea of a king, that it was a high crime for Israel to ask to be in this respect like other nations; and when they were thus gratified, it was rather as a just punishment of their folly, that they might feel the burdens of court pageantry, of which they were warned by a very striking description, than as a divine recommendation of kingly authority.
“In this chapter (referring to his sermon text from Isaiah) the prophet describes the very corrupt state of Judah in his day, both as to religion and common morality; and looks forward to that increase of wickedness which would bring on their desolation and captivity. [Isaiah said that] they were a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil-doers, children that were corrupters, who had forsaken the Lord; and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. The whole body of the nation, from head to foot, was full of moral and political disorders, without any remaining soundness. Their religion was all mere ceremony and hypocrisy; and even the laws of common justice and humanity were disregarded in their public courts. They had counselors and judges, but very different from those at the beginning of the commonwealth. Their princes were rebellious against God, and the constitution of their country, and companions of thieves, giving countenance to every artifice for seizing the property of the subjects in their own hands, and robbing the public treasury. Every one loved gifts, and followed after rewards; they regarded the perquisites more than the duties of their office; the general aim was at profitable places and pensions; they were influenced in every thing by bribery; and their avarice and luxury were never satisfied, but hurried them on to all kinds of oppression and violence, so that they even justified and encouraged the murder of innocent persons to support their lawless power, and increase their wealth. And God, in righteous judgment, left them to run into all this excess of vice to their own destruction, because they had forsaken Him, and were guilty of willful inattention to the most essential parts of that religion which had been given them by a well-attested revelation from heaven.
“By all this we may be led to consider the true cause of the present remarkable troubles which are come upon Great Britain and these colonies; and the only effectual remedy.
“We have rebelled against God. We have lost the true spirit of Christianity, though we retain the outward profession and form of it. We have neglected and set light by the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His holy commands and institutions. The worship of many is but mere compliment to the Deity, while their hearts are far from Him.”
(The remedy that Langdon suggests is, of course, to return to the Gospel of Christ.)
“The pretense for taxing America has been that the nation contracted an immense debt for the defense of the American colonies; and that as they are now able to contribute some proportion toward the discharge of this debt, and must be considered as part of the nation, it is reasonable they should be taxed; and the Parliament has a right to tax and govern them in all cases whatever by its own supreme authority. Enough has been already published on this grand controversy, which now threatens a final separation of the colonies from Great Britain…”
“Would not a reverend regard to the authority of divine revelation, a hearty belief of the gospel of the grace of God, and a general reformation of all those vices which bring misery and ruin upon individuals, families, and kingdoms, and which have provoked heaven to bring the nation into such perplexed and dangerous circumstances, be the surest way to recover the sinking state, and make it again rich and flourishing?
“But, alas! Have not the sins of America, and of New England in particular, had a hand in bringing down upon us the righteous judgments of Heaven? Wherefore is all this evil come upon us? Is it not because we have forsaken the Lord? Can we say we are innocent of crimes against God? No, surely; it becomes us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand, that He may exalt us in due time. However unjustly and cruelly we have been treated by man, we certainly deserve, at the hand of God, all the calamities in which we are now involved… Have we not departed from these virtues? Though I hope and am confident that as much true religion, agreeable to the purity and simplicity of the gospel, remains among us as among any people in the world, yet in the midst of the present great apostasy of the nations professing Christianity, have not we likewise been guilty of departing from the living God? Have we not made light of the gospel of salvation, and too much affected the cold, formal, fashionable religion of countries grown old in vice and overspread with infidelity? Do not our follies and iniquities testify against us? Have we not, especially in our seaports, gone much too far into the pride and luxuries of life? Is it not a fact open to common observation that profaneness, intemperance, unchastity, the love of pleasure, fraud, avarice, and other vices, are increasing among us from year to year? And have not even these young governments been in some measure infected with the corruptions of European courts? Has there been no flattery, no bribery, no artifices practiced, to get into places of honor and profit, or carry a vote to serve a particular interest, without regard to right or wrong? Have our statesmen always acted with integrity and every judge with impartiality, in the fear of God?
Our late happy government is changed into the terrors of military execution. Our firm opposition to the establishment of an arbitrary system is called rebellion, and we are to expect no mercy but by yielding property and life at discretion. This we are resolved at all events not to do; and therefore, we have taken arms in our own defense, and all the colonies are united in the great cause of liberty.”
“Let us praise our God for the advantages already given us over the enemies of liberty; particularly, that they have been so dispirited by repeated experience of the efficiency of our arms; and that in the late action at Chelsea, [***] when several hundreds of our soldiery, the greater part open to the fire of so many cannon, swivels, and muskets from a battery advantageously situated, from two armed cutters, and many barges full of marines, and from ships of the line in the harbor, not one man on our side was killed, and but two or three wounded; when, by the best intelligence, a great number were killed and wounded on the other side, and one of their cutters was taken and burned, the other narrowly escaping with great damage.”
So what are we to take with us from these two men? There is a substantial consistency between them, is there not?
First, we should note that all wars and conflicts are inherently religious. By this I mean that when nations and peoples have issues which cannot seemingly be resolved by peaceable means, it is because of irreconcilable differences in fundamental world view concepts. Every man has religious commitments to what he believes to be fundamental, absolute truth, and he holds these as such whether or not he ascribes this to Deity or other sources. Faith commitments are inescapable; it is only a matter of where that faith is placed. Davies’ and Langdon’s recognition of this nature of conflict may not correspond identically circumstantially to our situation today, but it is nonetheless true in principal.
Second, both men declare that sin and rebellion against God is that which undermines and undoes both nations and people. These acts against God may be subtle or overt, but they lead to corruption of both the people and their institutions. The only effective solution to this is repentance and a return to the Gospel of Christ in all of its applications.
Third, both men see the importance of the interdependence of the members of their society. There is a clear understanding that they must take adequate action to preserve not only their own interests, but also those of their neighbors. To avoid this is both disgraceful and immoral. This is a simple application of loving your neighbor as yourself. Complacency is a sinful indifference to the situation of your neighbor.
These men and their compatriots were patient and careful men. They expended tremendous effort in attempting to resolve their difficulties without resorting to armed conflict. More than one historian has referred to them as “reluctant revolutionaries”, a term I am not entirely satisfied with, but one that indicates the sort of character that the Scriptures advocate. They fought the ‘soft’ war for some time before conceding that separation was inevitable.
Both men testify to the fact that they all must place their hope and trust in the hands of a sovereign and almighty God for the outcome of the conflicts. Neither supposes any guaranty of a favorable outcome. They submit to the fact that whatever God does is right. Yet both hold forth a faithful hope for His clemency and the success of their efforts. Both men insisted on looking into the mirror of the Word of God and acknowledging the image that was reflected back to them.
So, friends, how are we doing by comparison? Most of us are here today because we believe we have a stake in the preservation of our nation. And we do. But how will that be accomplished? Do we hear the Word of God and respond to it as it instructs us? Or are we preoccupied with other things; the things that Davies and Langdon spoke against? Our nation is in a downward spiral, and how will it be saved? I submit to you that our nation will be saved only if Christ will save it, and He will only bless those who hear and do. Let us not add further injury to our situation by continuing to harden our hearts. Let us not further anger Him by our disobedience and sins. May we hear His words today, believe, and obey them. May He hear our heartfelt repentance, and answer as only He can, from heaven.
Amen.
Closing Prayer/Benediction
Psalm 20
The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee; send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion; remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice: Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright. Save, Lord: let the king hear us when we call.
Amen.
