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The Constitution
- Our Inspired Heritage
By Robert
S. Dunn
Our form
of government has become preeminent amongst those in the world,
and it is our Constitution which has helped bring this nation
to a position almost unrivaled in the last 200 years.
Our Constitution
is enhanced by a Bill of Rights, whereby the rights and liberties
of individuals and states are protected. The
greatest impact felt on our government in recent years is a phrase
that is not found in either founding document- the phrase “separation
of Church & State.”
The power
of this phrase can be best illustrated by a well-known author
and his discussion with a U.S. Congressman. In
this discussion regarding the importance of religious values
in public affairs, the congressman stated, “We know they are
important; we just can not do anything about it.”
“Why not?” inquired
the author.
“Well, we
just can’t!” Why? “Because of ‘separation of church and state’-
we can’t have religious values in public affairs!”
“Separation
of church and state--where is that found,” asked the author. “It’s in the Constitution; the Constitution won’t let us do it.”
“That is
not in the Constitution,” the author stated.
“Yes it
is.”
“No it is
not.” They went back and forth until the author gave him his
copy of the Constitution. He
then asked him to find the phrase for him. The
Congressman replied that he would be happy to and went immediately
to the First Amendment, read it, reread it, and became very embarrassed. “I
can’t believe this,” he exclaimed! “In
law school they always taught us that is what the First Amendment
said.” Asked the author, you’ve never read the Constitution for yourself? “We
were never required to read it in law school, the Congressman
replied. We studied case law” (which is the interpretation of another as
to what the Constitution says.)
Original
Intent
Therein
lays the great dilemma we now have in America. The
words “separation”, “church”, or “state” do not appear in the
First Amendment, or in any founding document. But
many, when they learn that these words are not there, respond
with, “Well, isn’t that what the First Amendment really means? Is not that the original intent of the Framers?” The
First Amendment simply states that “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of a religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise there of.”
So, what
did the Framers of the Constitution mean by this? When one examines the Founding Fathers’ discussions on this subject
in the Congressional Records from June 7 to Sept. 25, 1789, they
clearly and succinctly explain that all they wanted to do was
to preclude what they had experienced in Great Britain.
They did not want, by the establishment of the Federal Government,
one single denomination in exclusions of all others, Catholic,
Anglican, or another. No
national church!
In the original
version of the First Amendment proposed by the Senate on 3 September
1789, the language was “Congress shall not make any law establishing
any religious denomination.” The
second version stated “Congress shall make no law establishing
any particular denomination. This wording is important because
by their definition “religion” was interchangeable with “denomination.” Although
the Founding Fathers did not want a single denomination to rule
America, they did expect Biblical principles and values to remain
integral.
Fisher Ames
was the founding father who offered the final wording of the
First Amendment. He wrote
an article for a national magazine in 1801 in which he expressed
his concern that as more and more books were introduced into
the classroom, that the Bible might someday drift to the back
of the classroom. He
warned that this could never be allowed in America and that the
Bible must always remain the number one textbook in our schools.
He urged:
“Why
then, if these new books for children must be retained, as they
will be, should not the Bible regain the place it once held as
a school book?”(1)
Fisher Ames
concluded by stressing that the Bible was the source of sound
morality and behavior in America, and that we must never let
it be separated from the classroom. Clearly,
the use of the Bible did not violate Fisher Ames’ view of the
First Amendment, and he was the Founding Father who provided
the wording for the First Amendment.
As George
Washington noted in his Farewell Address, which is considered
the greatest political address ever given, “of all the habits
and dispositions which lead to political prosperity, religion
and morality are indispensable supports. In
vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should
labor to subvert these great pillars.”
Now George
Washington was a Constitutional expert! He
was the president of the convention that framed the Constitution. He
was President of the U.S. who called for and oversaw the formation
of the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment. For
over a century his “Farewell Address” was printed as a separate
textbook and was required reading by students, but in the last
40 years it has not been seen in most history text books. It
could well be because of the 12 warnings given that would be
vital to the survival of America, four were religious in nature.
Now, Washington
continued with another warning, equally strong, reminding Americans
that they should reject any tenet which asserted that one could
be moral without religion. That
had been the premise of the French Revolution, and it had produced
a blood bath of executions and slaughters. In
America we knew better.
Washington
explained:
“Whatever
may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds
... reason and experience both forbid us
to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle.” We
have but to look at the nation’s Capitol over the recent years
to recognize how true this is.
Warnings
for the Future
Founding
Father Benjamin Rush was not only a signer of the Declaration
of Independence, he served in three presidential administrations;
under Presidents John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. He
was a great policy maker and was considered America’s leading
educator! He was the first founding father to call for
free public schools under the constitution. In
an educational policy paper that he authored in 1791, Rush gave
a dozen reasons why the Bible would never be taken out of schools. He warned that an explosion of crime would
be the result in doing so(2). Benjamin
Rush knew that if religious standards were removed, there would
be no restraints on misbehavior.
As George
Washington also warned in
his 'Farewell Address', “Where is the security for property,
for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation
desert?” I cannot read
of a car jacking, school shooting, purse snatching, driveway
robbery, etc. without thinking of what a prophetic utterance
this was. I got into
a discussion with an RISD administrator some years back when
the first rash of drive-by shootings occurred. His
solution was that for these kids to choose to do the right thing,
they must be educated or all would be lost. I
explained to him that I disagreed. I
used the example of the “Tail Hook” incident, a party sponsored
by senior U.S. Naval personnel, as proof that there had to be
something more. For there
were no better educated group of young men and women than these
aviators who were graduates of Annapolis and other colleges. Yet all of this education did not keep them
from acting the part of “sexual primitives.” School
officials and others are now in a state of shock that so many
of the young people involved in the current rash
of murders and shootings are some of the brightest and best educated
students, many from affluent homes. Clearly
something else is sorely lacking.
Background
of the Founding Fathers
How inspired
the Founding Fathers were! But
what was their background and where did they get their ideas
for our Constitution? Five
were ordained ministers, and over 70% were acknowledged Christians. They were educated in schools like Harvard ,Yale and Princeton
which had some interesting
and very high requirements to be able to attend. For
example such as Harvard’s:
“Let every
student be plainly instructed and earnestly consider well the
main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus which
is eternal life, (John 17:3), and therefore to lay Christ in
the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and
learning.” (then the
specifics to help attain this goal were given); “everyone shall so exercise himself in the reading of the scriptures
twice a day, that he shall be ready to give such an account of
his proficiency therein.”
Amazing! The primary purpose for attending Harvard
was to know God and Jesus Christ and each student was to know
and study the scriptures.
Yale required
that “seeing God is the giver of all wisdom, every scholar, besides
private or secret prayer. . . shall be present morning and evening
at public prayer”. Yale
placed an emphasis on prayer; public and private! Princeton,
which produced over one third of the 200 plus Founding Fathers,
had its founding statement as follows: “Cursed be all learning
that is contrary to the cross of Christ.”
106 of the
first 108 colleges and 123 of the first 126 colleges were founded
on religious principles. Until
the early 1900s it was most unusual to have as a college president,
one who was not a minister. I
have learned from my studies of the history of our country’s
founding, that Christianity was not only the core of education
at the time of the Founding Fathers, it had been the basis of
education since the time the first public education law in America
was passed in 1642 by the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Experience
of the Early Settlers
This law
proceeded from the experiences of the early settlers who, while
intensely religious for the most part, were concerned about the
civil atrocities which had occurred in Europe under the banner
of Christianity (the Inquisition, the Crusades, etc.). These
settlers believed that such atrocities had occurred because the
average person did not have access to the word of God, for access
had been limited to only civil and religious leaders. They
believed that if the average person could have read the scriptures
and known for themselves what they said, the people would have
never allowed the civil governments to do what they did.
So, with
the memory of these European atrocities
still fresh in their minds, to preclude any such repetition in
America, they passed in 1642 “The Old Deluder Satan Act”--
the first public school law in America. The law began:
“It being
one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from
the knowledge of the scriptures, as in former times...”
They believed
that Satan’s primary intent was to keep people out of the scriptures
and thereby cause them to tolerate bad behavior by a lack of
knowledge of God’s will. But,
those settlers were unwilling to allow that to happen in America. The
law explained that when fifty families were gathered into an
area, a teacher was to be acquired; and when one hundred families
had gathered, a grammar school was to be built “to instruct youths,
so far as they may be fitted for the university.”
They were
concerned about illiteracy, but not for the reasons which would
cause concern today. Their
concern was that if one could not read,
then he would not know the word of God or the laws of the State. This
meant that if the legislature passed a law which contradicted
the word of God, then the people, unable to read and therefore
unknowledgeable of the scriptures, might not stop the law.
We were
at the time of the Revolution, the most literate citizenry in
the world. We have now been able to work our way down
to fifth or sixth! When
I was much younger I had a concept of our forebears as some sort
of uneducated rabble with a few great leaders. I
used to wonder to whom Thomas Paine sold all of his pamphlets.
The Federalist
Papers corrected my misunderstanding. They had been printed and dispersed for the purpose of explaining
to the people of the new United States why they needed a federal
constitution. A law professor in Alabama requires all of his students (enrolled as
they are in graduate level legal studies) to read the Federalist
Papers. They regularly return complaining about the
difficulty of that book. The
professor would nod sympathetically, “I understand. This
book was not written for someone of your educational level; this
book was written for the common, average, upstate New York farmer of 1787! Perhaps
someday you’ll attain the educational level of those New York
farmers.”
Intent of
the Founding Fathers
The Founding
Fathers strove to ensure that the Christian principles which
had formed the basis of education prior to the Revolution would
continue after their passing. For
that reason, in the midst of the
Constitutional Convention, they repassed the The Northwest Ordinance. This was a very important piece of legislation that had been originally
passed under the Articles of Confederation which the states had
used to govern themselves after the Revolutionary war and prior
to the Constitution.
The Northwest
Ordinance set forth the provisions whereby territories could
become states in the union. This act was signed back into
law by George Washington on Aug. 7, 1789. It
is important to note that they passed the Northwest Ordinance
in the midst of the time that they were working on the
First Amendment. The reason to understand the significance
of this event is that Article III stipulated that for a territory
to become a state, their schools must teach religion and
morality as well as knowledge. It
is unbelievable to think that the Founding Fathers required something
by law that they thought would have violated the First Amendment,
which they had passed at exactly the same time, As
an example of the impact of this law, the State Constitution
of Ohio as passed January 1, 1802 stated that:
“Religion,
morality, and knowledge, being essentially necessary to good
government, and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means
of education shall be forever encouraged in this state.”
This was
in basically every state constitution for the next 80 plus years.
But why
did the Founding Fathers feel that religion and morality was
essential to good government? Because
they understood the great challenge of our lives is the mastery
by our spirit and intelligence over the appetites of the body. They
understood this conflict very well.
Noah Webster,
whose name we know because of its association with the dictionaries
which bear his name, was
not only an educator, but a Founding Father. He
was a soldier during the Revolution, spent 9 terms in the Connecticut
Legislature, 3 terms in the Massachusetts Legislature and four
terms as a judge. He was one of the first to call for the Constitutional Convention
and was personally responsible for Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution. Noah Webster
believed the Bible and Christianity to be vital to American Government
and education, because he understood that there were only two
ways to control behavior. He explained:
“There are two
powers only which are sufficient to control men and secure
the rights of individuals in a peaceable administration. These
are the combined force of religion and law and the force of
fear of the bayonet.”(3)
Robert Winthrop,
a later Speaker of the House, explained the same principle in
these words:
“Men, in
a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within
them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God,
or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or the bayonet.”(4)
In today’s
society it is the police .38 special or the 9mm. In a self-governing country, people who can govern themselves are
an absolute necessity. In
our nation, where one is presumed innocent until proven guilty,
there are not enough policemen to put on every block to insure
that we obey the law. This is why Thomas Jefferson stated that Christianity
was the best friend of government. He explained as follows:
“The precepts
of philosophy laid hold of actions only. But Jesus pushed
his scrutinies into the heart of man, erected His tribunal
in the region of the thoughts, and purified the waters
at the fountain head.”(5)
Where the
law says “Don’t kill”, in Matthew 5 Jesus says, “Don’t get angry;
don’t hate.” Clearly
if you prevent the anger and hate, you have prevented the murder. Where
the law says “don’t commit adultery”, Jesus says, “Don’t lust
in your heart.” If you
control the lust, you have controlled the adultery. The
Founders pointed out that only religion could stop crime before
it started, because all crime comes out of the heart, and if
you can’t control the heart, you can’t control crime. This
is why Christian principles were so valuable to government. As President John Adams, explained:
“We have
no government armed with power capable of contending with human
passions unbridled by morality and religion . . .Our constitution
was made only for a moral and religious people. It
is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”(6)
This is
an ominous statement when we consider the assault that religion
has been under in our country and the resulting impact on so
many of our citizens. We can now see clearly the harbinger of this
relatively new assault as we witness great numbers of men and
women in business, government and education abuse their privilege
and betray the trust given to them with a devastating impact
upon society!
Patrick
Henry, who is so well remembered for his “give me liberty or
give me death” speech also made the following statement:
“It cannot
be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation
was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions
but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For
this very reason people of other faiths have been afforded asylum,
prosperity, and freedom to worship here." (7)
One may
disagree with what the Founding Fathers meant, but those who
are honest cannot deny what they said!
An incident
during the Revolution revealed the educational philosophy of
George Washington. In
1779 a group of Delaware Chiefs came to see Washington for the
purpose of having some of their youth to be trained in America’s
schools. Washington assured
the chiefs that “Congress would look upon them as their own children”. He
then commended the Delaware chiefs for their decision to bring
their children to America’s schools. He said:
“You do well
to wish to learn our arts and our ways of life, and above all,
the religion of Jesus Christ. These
will make you a greater and happier people than you are; Congress
will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention.”(8)
According
to George Washington, what would these youth learn in American
schools “above all”? The
religion of Jesus Christ!
Many have
wanted to know where the Founders got their ideas for the Constitution. The University of Houston conducted a study
over 10 years that examined 15,000 writings from the Founding
Era. The researchers isolated 3,154 direct quotes
made by the Founders and identified the source of these quotes. 34% of the quotes came directly out of the
Bible. Another 60% came
indirectly from the Bible from sources such as Baron Charles
de Montesquieu, Sir William Blackstone, and John Locke. These
were men who had used the Bible to arrive at their own conclusions.
Early Court
Decisions
The question
begs then, did the Supreme Court recognize the United States
as a Christian nation? Well,
in 1892 the US Supreme Court made this ruling in a case. (Church
of The Holy Trinity vs. The United States.)
“No purpose
of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation,
state or national, because this is a religious people. This
is a Christian nation.”
There were
87 different historical precedents that the Court used to support
its conclusions and it could have used many more. I
will take the time to cite only one. In
1811 a case (People vs. Ruggles) came to the Court that dealt
with a man who had gone into a fit of profanity. It
was not a moment of anger or temporary loss of control, for he
had taken the time to write it out and distribute it. It maliciously and capriciously attacked Jesus Christ in the vilest
of terms. The Court explained
the problems with his writings: an attack on Jesus Christ was
an attack on Christianity; and an attack on Christianity was
an attack on the foundation of the country; therefore, an attack
on Jesus Christ was an equivalent to an attack on the country! The
man was sentenced to 3 months in prison and a fine of $500.00
( a princely sum in those days) for attacking the country by
attacking Jesus Christ.
I think
that it is very interesting that John Jay, the first Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court and one of the three men most responsible
for the Constitution itself, said that “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.”(9) One would
think that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and one of
the Key Founders would know the intent of the Framers of the
Constitution as a whole, as well as the meaning of the First
Amendment!
The Turning
Point
But how
did we get to where we are today? Because, the Supreme Court
in its 1962 decision to remove school prayer, although historical
precedent and the “Original Framer’s intent” was the blueprint
in shaping any Court decisions, for the first time in
its history the Court used none of these criteria. With
no historical or legal base the Court simply made an announcement; “We’ll
not have prayers in schools anymore; it's unconstitutional.”
Remember,
when the Court declares something "unconstitutional" they
mean that if the Framers of the Constitution were here now, they
would be opposed to it. After
its pronouncement the Court sat back and waited to see what would
happen. In that 1962
case the Court redefined the meaning and application of a single
word: “church.” For
170 years prior to that case, the word “church”, as used
in the phrase “separation of church and state,” was defined to
mean a federally established denomination.” However
in 1962, the Court explained that the word “church” would now
mean “a religious activity in public.”(10) This was the turning
point in the interpretation of the First Amendment. The
First Amendment would no longer just ban the establishment of
a federal denomination, it now would prohibit religious activities
in a public setting.
Thus the
guiding principles of the previous 167 years were ignored and
a statement from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists,
was lifted out of context and used to justify their decision.
The Danbury Baptists had heard a rumor that the Congregational
Church was going to be made the National Church of America. They
were also concerned that the guarantee of “free exercise of religion” as
it appeared in the First Amendment might suggest that this was
a government granted right instead of an inalienable right from
God. Attempting to put
their minds at rest, Jefferson assured them that the free exercise
of religion was an inalienable right and would not be meddled
with by the Government. Jefferson
pointed out to them that there was a ”wall of separation between
church and state”(11) to insure that the government would never
interfere with religious activities. Today,
all that is heard of Jefferson’s letter is the phrase, “a wall
of separation between church and state,” without either the context,
or the explanation given in the letter, or its application by
earlier courts. It is worth noting that while Jefferson served
as President of the United States, he also served as President
of the Washington D.C. Schools. In
his official school board capacity, he required as textbooks,
the Bible and the Watts Hymnal 12, ten of which hymns are included
in our current hymn book.
But, in
its 1963 ruling, the Court banned the Bible from the classroom. Recall that The Founders relied on the Bible,
early textbooks quoted the Bible and used it as part of the alphabet;
and earlier Supreme Court cases ruled that a school must teach
religion and the Bible. Therefore
on what possible basis could the Court have used to justify their
ruling? In its written decision, the Court noted that:
“If portions of the New Testament
were read without explanation, They could be and...had been psychologically
harmful to the child.”(13)
Amazing! Reading the Bible causes brain damage!
For the
second time in a year the Court made a statement lacking both
historical and legal precedent. Again,
the Court simply made a new announcement of policy; “in
essence no more Bible reading in schools.”
Yet, Thomas
Jefferson justified the use of the Bible in the classroom as
follows:
“I have always said, and always
will say, that the studious perusal
of the sacred volume will make us better citizens.”(14)
Jefferson
also wrote that “had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always
as pure as they came from his lips, the whole civilized world
would now have been Christian. I
rejoice that in this blessed country of free inquiry and belief,
which has surrendered its creed and conscience to neither king
nor priest, the genuine doctrine of one God is reviving, and
trust that there is not a young man in the United States who
will not die a Christian
. . . the doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend all to the
happiness of man. 1) That there is only one God and he, all
perfect. 2) that there is a future state of rewards and punishments.
3) That to love God, with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thy
self is the sum of religion.”(15) This
is not bad for someone who has been mischaracterized as a non
Christian!
As we approach
the 4th of July, I am reminded of an excerpt from President John
Quincy Adams’ speech given on July 4, 1837 at Newburyport. He 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?” A
very appropriate question. Why
was it that the 4th of July and Christmas were our top two holidays? He answered the question as follows;
“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.
The Impact
We are now
reaping the beginning of the whirlwind as our government has
succeeded in ever exempting religious principles and references
from our public institutions. The
Court has ruled that even a copy of the Ten Commandments cannot
be displayed in public schools because “if the posted copies
of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will
be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps
to venerate and obey the commandments. This
is not a permissible objective.”(16) This is an incredible ruling! You can’t let kids see the Ten Commandments,
things like “don’t kill”, “don’t steal.” I
wonder if the victims at Columbine H.S. and others of the schools
which have suffered these
tragedies, would have wished that their perpetrators might have
had the opportunity to have seen the Ten Commandments on a daily
basis and possibly been influenced by them? By
the way, these commandments that the Supreme Court thought should
be excluded from public institutions, James Madison, the chief
architect of the Constitution said of, “we have staked the future
of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far
from it. We have staked
the future of all of our political institutions upon the
capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according
to the Ten Commandments.”(17)
The Church's
Position
Much background
has been covered this day about the foundation of America’s government
but what is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's
position regarding the Constitution, the Founding Fathers and
Divine Intervention? By
December 1833 the Latter Day Saints were suffering terribly from
their persecutors in Missouri. They
had been driven from their homes, their household furniture,
clothing, livestock and other personal property taken. In
response to much prayer, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a
revelation on December 13 explaining among other things that
they should importune for redress. As recorded in the 101st section of the Doctrine & Covenants
beginning with the 76th verse we read:
76. And again I say unto you,
those who have been scattered by
their enemies, it is my will that
that they should continue to impor-
tune for redress, and redemption,
by the hands of those who are
placed as rulers and are in au-
thority over you.
77. According to the laws and
constitution of the people, which
I have suffered to be established,
and should be maintained for
the rights and protection of all
flesh, according to just and holy
principles
78. That
every man may act
in doctrine
and principle pertain-
ing to futurity, according to the
moral agency which I have given
unto him, that every man may
be accountable for his own sins
in the day of judgment.
79. Therefore,
it is not right,
that any man should be in
bondage one to another.
80. And
for this purpose have
I established the Constitution of
this land, by the hands of wise
men whom I raised up unto this
very purpose, and redeemed the
land by the shedding of blood.
By this
revelation, we as Latter Day Saints know beyond a shadow of doubt
that our Constitution was an inspired document. That the men
involved in its creation here on earth were wise men whom the
Lord himself raised up for this very purpose. Some
of us may fail to appreciate the importance of this, but if these
events had not transpired, there would have been no restoration
of the Gospel and the purposes of the Lord would have been frustrated
-at least for then!
Elder M.
Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
spoke at a military sponsored “prayer breakfast” on February
9, 1999. He focused on the First Amendment as he stated:
“The principles
and philosophies upon which our constitutional law is based are
not simply the result of the best efforts of a remarkable group
of brilliant men. They
were inspired by God, and the rights and privileges guaranteed
in the Constitution are God given, not man derived. No
nation or people that reject God or his commandments can prosper
or find happiness.
To remove
the influence of religion from public policy simply because some
are uncomfortable with any degree of moral restraint is like
the passenger on the sinking ship who removes his life
jacket because it is restrictive and uncomfortable.”
One may
easily learn that from the early establishment of the Church
to the present, The Prophets and apostles have born their testimony
to the sacred nature of the Constitution! Joseph
Smith stated the "Constitution of the United States is a
glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It
is a heavenly banner." President
George Albert Smith in April 1948 General Conference expressed
his feelings this way: "to me the Constitution of the United
States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as
the Ten Commandments . . ."
But we have
witnessed in the last few decades an unrelenting assault on our
Founding Fathers. Many efforts have been made to denigrate their
character. But why, one
might ask? Because if
their character can be successfully assassinated, then what ever
they had to say on any subject can be trivialized or ignored.
Yet, what kind of men were they really? The incident in the St. George Temple involving
President Wilford Woodruff, the 4th President of the Church gives
us the best answer. As
he personally recorded in his journal:
“I will here
say that two weeks before I left St. George, the spirits of the
dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem
them. Said they, “you have had the use of the Endowment
House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done
for us. We laid the foundation
of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from
it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God.”
"These were
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited
on me for two days and two nights. I
thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had
been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The
thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that
heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends
and relatives."
"I straightway
went into the baptismal font and called upon Brother McAllister
to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence,
and fifty other eminent men, making 100 in all, including John
Wesley, Columbus, and others. I
then baptized him for every President of the United States, except
three, and when their cause is just, somebody will do the work
for them.” - September 6, 1877.
This is
the only recorded incident of departed spirits being permitted
to pass through the veil and request the saving ordinances. If
these had not been righteous men, they would never have been
granted this privilege. Each
was ordained to the office of Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood
and four were ordained High Priests. Those four were George Washington,
Benjamin Franklin, Christopher Columbus and John Wesley.
President
Ezra Taft Benson stated that the War in Heaven continues on earth
today. He explains and warns on page 279 in his wonderful book, “An
Enemy Hath Done This”:
“Brethren,
if we had done our homework and were faithful, we could step
forward at this time and help save this country. The
fact that most of us are unprepared to do it is an indictment
that we will have to bear. The longer we wait, the heavier
the chains, the deeper the blood, the more the persecution, and
the less we can carry out our God-given mandate and worldwide
mission. The war in heaven
is raging on earth today. Are
you being neutralized in the battle?”
The Prophet
Joseph in July 1840 most soberly prophesied that, "even
this nation shall be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces
and tumbling to the ground, and when the Constitution is upon
the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the
nation shall lean, and they shall bear the Constitution away
from the very verge of destruction.”
“Verily I
say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do
many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the
power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves . .
.”(D&C 56:27-28)
I am so
grateful to be an American and to have been born at a time when
the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was on the
earth. I know that the Restored Gospel is true and that our nation
was preserved and saved for us in these latter days. I
challenge each of you to educate yourselves, your children and
your grandchildren about the foundation of our country. Many
do not want us to know. There
is a significant movement afoot to eliminate the teaching of
all history before 1850. When you tear the people away from the knowledge
of how and why this nation was founded, it is then easier to
steer it in another direction much different from what our Founders
intended. We cannot protect our foundations if we do
not know what they are! Four
years ago in New Jersey, the State house passed and sent to the
Senate a bill requiring that students should recite the Pledge
of Allegiance and the first 56 words of the Declaration of Independence. This
has started a political furor. The
teacher's union has attacked this legislation as inappropriate,
not the way to teach patriotism, cheap jingoism, etc. The
feminist organizations have joined in on a similar note, as have
others. The bill still
remains bottled up in committee in the state senate. Then
last year the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California ruled
that requiring students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance was
unconstitutional. It is now being appealed to the Supreme Court. In
light of the most recent Court decisions, it is obvious our very
way of life has been and is under assault.
The charge
that the Reverend Matthias Burnet made to the citizens in his
day is as timely for us today. He
stated:
“Finally,
ye... Whose high prerogative it is, to . . . invest with office
and authority, or to withhold them, and in whose power it is
to save or destroy your country, consider well the important
trust . . .which God . . . has put into your hands. To
God and posterity you are accountable for them . . . Let not
your children have reason to curse you for giving
up those rights, and prostrating those institutions which your
fathers delivered to you.”(18)
It is my
prayer that when I receive my transfer to the other side of the
veil, that among other things, I will not be ashamed to be in
the presence of these great men who were our Founding Fathers. That
when I am giving my stewardship report on my efforts to have
preserved the Constitution and our liberties, I do not have to
hang my head in shame, that I will have been tried in the balance
and not found wanting. This is my prayer for each of us.
_________________________
End Notes
(1) Fisher
Ames - Bible in the Classroom. Notices of the Life & Character
of Fisher Ames (Boston: T.B. West & Co. 1809, pp. 134-135.)
(2) Benjamin
Rush - Policy Paper “In Defense of The Bible As A School Book” p.93,
Benjamin Rush, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (Philadelphia: Printed
by Thomas and William Bradford, 1806) pp. 93-94.
(3) Noah
Webster - Verna hall, A Christian History of the American Revolution
(San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education,
1967) preface, p. 12.
(4) Robert
Winthrop- “...men must be controlled.” Addresses & Speeches
on Various Occasions (Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co,, 1852)
p.172 from his “Either By the Bible or the Bayonet.”
(5) Thomas
Jefferson - “The Precepts of Philosophy.” “The Life of Thomas
Jefferson” Mack & Andrus; p. 265, 1834.
(6) President
John Adams- “We Have No Power.” The works of John Adams, 2nd President of the U.S. By Charles Francis
Adams; p.229, 10/11/1798.
(7) Patrick
Henry- “It Can not Be Emphasized Too Strongly.” God’s Providence
in American History by Steve C. Dawson, p1:5, 1998.
(8) George
Washington- Delaware Chiefs. The Writings of Washington by John
C. Fitzpatrick, p.55, 1932.
(9) John
Jay - “Providence has Given to Our People.” The Correspondence & Public Papers of
John Jay 1794 - 1826 Henry P. Johnson, ed. Vol. 4, p.393, 10/12/1816.
(10) Supreme Court - “No Prayer.” 6/25/1962,
Engel vs. Vitale.
(11) Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury
Baptists- Jefferson’s Writings by Merrill P. Patterson, p.510
January 1, 1802
(12).President Thomas Jefferson- President
of Washington DC Schools, Records of The Columbus Historical
Society - Washington DC, 1897, p. 119-170.
(13) Supreme Court Bans the Bible,
Abington vs. Schremp & Murray vs. Curlett June 17, 1963.
(14) Thomas Jefferson - “I Have Always
Said . . . ” Last words
of Saints & Sinners by Herbert Lockyer (Grand Rapids: Kregel,
1969) p. 98.
(15) Thomas Jefferson - “Had the Doctrines
of Jesus.” Letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse Bergh 15:383 (1822)
(16) Supreme Court - Ban on Ten Commandments;
Case of Stone vs. Graham, 1980.
(17) James Madison - “We Have Staked.” Liberty,
Cry Liberty, p.23-33, 1939 by Harold K. Lane.
(18)Reverend Mathias Burnett - “Finally
Ye.” Mathias Burnett,
D.D. Pastor of the First
Church in Norwalk, An Election sermon, Preached at Hartford,
on the Day of the Anniversary Election, May 12, 1803 (Hartford:
Printed by Hudson & Goodwin, 1803) p. 26-27.
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