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| In 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams proposed this image for the Great Seal of the United States. The image depicts Pharaoh’s army drowning as Moses closes the Red Sea upon them, while the pillar of fire guides God’s chosen people. The motto suggests that Moses’ actions (and those of the American Revolutionaries) were sanctioned by God. Source: Library of Congress. |
men and women –
all saw in British actions grounds for armed resistance.
In fact, not only was it right for colonists to resist British "tyranny,"
to hear the preachers, it would actually be sinful not to pick up guns.
They latched on to Parliament's 1766 Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had sovereignty over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
You see, for the ministers, this phrase took on the air of blasphemy.
These were fighting words – not only because they violated principles of representative government but even more because they violated the logic of their fundamental Presbyterian belief of sola Scriptura ("Scripture alone"),
and God's exclusive claim to sovereignty "in all cases whatsoever."
You see, from the first colonial settlements, Americans – especially New England Americans – were accustomed to constraining all power and granting absolute authority to no mere human being.
For Presbyterian and Reformed colonists, these ideas were tied up with their historic, covenant theology.
At stake was the preservation of their identity as a covenant people.
Not only did Parliament's claims of control “in all things whatsoever” represent tyranny, they also represented idolatry.
For colonists to honor those claims would be tantamount to forsaking God and abdicating their national covenant pledge to "have no other gods" before them.
So, to the question as to who determines whether government is "moral and religious",
In the Revolutionary era, the answer was simple: the individual.
The political and religious connotations were so closely intertwined that it was virtually impossible for colonists to separate them.
Throughout all the colonies, the preachers goaded, consoled, and impelled colonists forward in the cause of independence.
The pulpit served as the single most powerful voice to inspire the colonists.
For most American ministers and many in their congregations, the religious dimension of the war was precisely the point of revolution.
Would our faith be so strong
that if we were confronted with a proclamation of someone declaring sovereignty over us in all cases whatsoever, would we be moved to do anything about it?
Well, we are here today, so we can thank God that there were some who were moved to proclaim that God has exclusive claim to sovereignty in all cases whatsoever.
And, there can be no mere human beings who have absolute authority over us.
And, so let us remember that there was a time when religious beliefs greatly affected political and social issues.
