“We need to get away, often, from the human standpoint, and to come up into communion with Him who sitteth supreme above the water-floods, and who sees times, and laws, and governments change, in the continued repose of His own eternal serenity. It does us good to let our troubled spirits take refreshment and rest in the bosom of God, while we are commending to Him both rulers and people, and asking Him to stay public tumults, and to rebuke violence in high places, and low places; to ride on every whirlwind and direct every storm.”

For today, we would ask you to consider the following sermon from 1856, on the great subject of prayer for those in civil authority. I have edited this somewhat for length. To read the full sermon, click here. Emphasis has been added to selected portions of the text below, particularly with those in mind who may have but a few minutes to look this over.

A SERMON ON PRAYER FOR RULERS,

delivered in the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago.

Sabbath Morning, June 8, 1856,

by Rev. R.W. Patterson, pastor of the church.

(Chicago, 1856).

1 Timothy 2:1-4

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.“

The duty of prayer is one which is much insisted upon in the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle, in the words just read, exhorts that, first of all, as a primary duty, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made. And he would not have a part only of our fellow creatures chosen as the objects of our petitions at the throne of the Heavenly grace. He calls upon us as believers in the universal Supremacy and Providence of God, to remember in our intercessions all men, of every class, whether they be friends, enemies or strangers. And he names, as specially entitled to our sympathies and supplications, kings, and all that are in authority, or in stations of preeminence. Then, he assigns reasons for compliance with this precept, which are of the most weighty character. The passage might well be made the foundation of a discourse touching the great duty of prayer and thanksgiving in general; but it calls our attention, in particular, to the importance of prayer for those of our fellow-men, to whose hands civil and political power is entrusted. And this special topic, always appropriate for our serious consideration, appears to press itself upon our thoughts and hearts with peculiar urgency at the present time.

Let me, therefore, invite your attention this morning, to the DUTY of prayer for rulers, and for all who possess political power, and to SOME REASONS for an earnest performance of this duty, especially in the present circumstances of our beloved country.

I. The Word of God habitually recognizes the rule of kings as proper to be regarded with reverence and submission in ages of the world when the monarchical form of government was almost everywhere established, and when the general condition of human society scarcely admitted of any freer and more desirable system of government. It is, of course, not to be inferred from this recognition of royal authority, that the right of kings is affirmed by a Divine sanction, as a right to be maintained in all the more advanced stages of social and civil progress in human history. The Bible does not meddle directly with existing forms of civil government. It authorizes civil rule in some form as an “ordinance of God,” but leaves it to human prudence and to the orderings of Divine Providence, together with the silent working of revealed principles in the minds and hearts of men, to determine, from time to time, what particular form of government shall be established and sustained for the benefit of each Commonwealth or Nation. When, therefore, the Apostles exhort their readers to “be subject to the higher powers,” to “honor the king,” and to “pray for kings and for all that are in authority,” they only point out the fit application, in formerly existing circumstances, of the great principle, that it is the duty of Christian people to respect, and commend to God in their supplications, the men who are providentially entrusted with the political rule and supremacy under which they live. These precepts are in principle and spirit, but not in a literal sense, applicable to us, under the republican form of government which God has providentially secured to us. We may respect and pray for kings, only as rulers remote from us, to whose hands are committed the public and civil interests of other nations. The general principle which has been defined as involved in the Scriptural precepts touching this subject, would require us to reverence, and remember before God, as our own rulers, those whom we ourselves, as a people, have placed in authority, and, with them, all the sovereign citizens, in whose hands the civil power ultimately resides. “The powers that be” and “are ordained of God,” in our country, are the people, and those persons whom the people select to rule over them under the guidance of the Constitution and laws already established. We may, then, regard our text as enjoining upon us the frequent presentation of earnest petitions to the God of Nations in behalf of all those in our land who possess and exercise civil authority in any form, but especially for those who are actually appointed to rule over us. This duty is already recognized, no doubt, with more or less distinctness, by every person among us who believes that God hears prayer. But it may be useful to notice a few points at which difficulty, or positive error, is liable to arise in some minds with respect to what is implied in the offering of prayer for those who possess civil authority. Let me then say,

1. That we are not required to prayer for the sovereign people, or for our rulers, in any such form or manner as would imply a sanction of their mistakes or wicked doings. God’s requirements are not in conflict with each other. His laws are supreme. No majorities among communities; no action of public legislators; no decisions of judicial courts; no decrees of supreme executives, can make that to be lawful and right which GOD ALMIGHTY has forbidden; or that to be wrong and unlawful which He has required. “We ought,” said the Apostles to the Jewish rulers, “to obey God, rather than man;” (Acts 5:29; see also Acts 4:18-20; Daniel 3:13-18.) thus affirming the principle, that where we must either disobey God or men, we ought always to prefer allegiance to our Infinite Make, and consent, if need be, to suffer the penalties of unrighteous human laws. And we read in the Word of God heavy condemnation against “the throne of iniquity which frameth mischief by a law,” and against those men who “gather themselves together against the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.” Now we know that God never contradicts Himself. “He cannot deny Himself.” He does not, therefore, require us to pray for the success of either people or rulers in their efforts to carry out and establish false principles. He abhors wrong and injustice, and would spurn from His mercy seat any invocation of help for those who would so legislate, or so administer laws, as to make war upon the truth or upon the rights of men. It may even be our duty to pray that the wicked counsels of those who are in authority should be turned into foolishness, like the counsel of Ahithophel. “We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” And every petition we offer to the Most High should consist with a supreme concern for the ultimate triumph of our Redeemer’s Kingdom of peace and righteousness, and for the triumph of true Christian liberty throughout the earth. It is our duty to pray that our rulers, and all the people, may be restrained from wrong-doing, and not prospered in any selfish designs or mistaken devices. “The voice of the people is” not “the voice of God.” For all men are fallible, and liable to be selfish and passionate, and wicked. Rulers are not infallible, but are often arbitrary, unjust and oppressive; and they can only be the objects of God’s gracious benediction, so far as they acknowledge, in practice, the great law of impartial love, and the Supremacy of Him who sits on the Throne of Universal Dominion. It may, therefore, be our duty to pray against their policy and measures, while we pray for their persons and for the renovation of their characters. The early Christians prayed for their persecutors who were in power, but never for the success of their malignant designs.

2. Again : It is obvious, that the precept which we are considering, does not imply any obligation to submit passively to wrong and injustice on the part of our rulers, where legitimate modes of relief are available to the suffering subjects. We may not speak evil of rulers, as such. We may not despise their authority, even when it is wielded against the right. We may not, on Christian principles, resist the powers which God has evidently ordained.

3. It is almost needless to remark, after what has been said, that the shaping of our petitions for those who possess civil authority, whether they be citizens or constituted rulers, must be determined by the particular features of the case as it stands before us. It is of course our duty to pray for the personal good of every man, whether he occupy one station or another in life. But besides this, it is our duty to pray for those who possess civil authority, with special reference to their official trusts and responsibilities.

II. We are now brought to notice some reasons why it becomes us to pray for all who possess authority, whether as free citizens or as official rulers, and especially at the present time.

1. And the first consideration which I would suggest is an obvious one, but still one of fundamental importance. God teaches us to expect that He will hear and answer appropriate prayer for public, as well as for private interests. This is implied in the very fact that we are required to offer petitions for those who are in authority. The precept contained in our text in relation to this subject only follows the tenor of many precepts in the Old Testament, having the same general end in view. Thus the Psalmist exhorted all saints to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” And Jehovah counseled His people, by the prophet Jeremiah, to “seek the peace of the city whither they had been carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it.” But why pray for such interests but because God has the hearts of kings, and of all men, in His hands, and turns them as the rivers of water, whithersoever He will? He may not see it wise to do all the particular things which we ask in relation to the public weal; but He is never sought in vain, by those who honor His supremacy and rightly trust in Him.

2. Let me remark further, that prayer for those who possess and exercise civil power, is specially adapted to fit us for our duties in time of trial and public conflict. When we commune only with our own hearts and with the minds of our fellow-creatures, we surely give place to feelings which have their origin in the depravity of our common nature. Left to ourselves, we cease to support even right principles from right motives; our passions gain the mastery over our conscience and our benevolence; and we forget to love the wrong-doer as a creature of God, and to think of him as an instrument of Providence, while we indulge a sinful indignation against his person, and against all who sympathize with him. We need to get away, often, from the human standpoint, and to come up into communion with Him who sitteth supreme above the water-floods, and who sees times, and laws, and governments change, in the continued repose of His own eternal serenity. It does us good to let our troubled spirits take refreshment and rest in the bosom of God, while we are commending to Him both rulers and people, and asking Him to stay public tumults, and to rebuke violence in high places, and low places; to ride on every whirlwind and direct every storm. It helps us to exercise forbearance and possess our souls in patience, and to take our steps with discretion, to feel that we are allying ourselves more and more with the Infinite One, whose counsels run from all eternity past into all eternity to come. It was this that enabled all the ancient worthies to be calm in times that tried men’s souls, and to sustain with holy firmness the unchangeable principles for which they lived and died. Prayer to GOD ALMIGHTY for those who are in authority, reminds us that they are but men, and must die as soon as He shall breathe upon them; and that they, and we, and the whole nation, are in His hands, like clay in the hands of the potter. And this ought to fill us with solemn concern for all who bear responsibilities as God’s instruments and agents, in positions involving official trust.  Habitual intercession with God for those who are in authority, prepares us to recognize with hearty thanksgiving, their good acts and wise measures, and to deplore their mistakes and public offenses more in grief than anger. The man who prays much for his rulers cannot be their personal enemy, however he may feel bond to expose their errors, or to withstand their unrighteous measures. And the meek spirit which true prayer begets and cultivates, always tends to turn away wrath, even in those who are accustomed to make passion and caprice their supreme lawgiver in seasons of excitement and conflict.

3. Think, in the next place, of the preciousness of the interests that are at stake in the wise, or unwise, administration of our public affairs.

Never before was there a nation with such an ancestry, and such an early history; with such a social and political life, and such a progressive development, as those which distinguish and make proud the people of this great confederacy. What a treasure of national memories have we, to quicken the pulsations of our hearts on every glance at the past! What an inheritance of constitutional liberty and unfettered religion have our fathers left us, as the fruit of their sacrifices and blood! What a present of actually achieved greatness and power, and of advancing prosperity, and self-development, do we live in! What a future of enlargement and glory seems to have been almost ensured to us!

4. Let it not be said, that our interests as a people are not in special peril. Let it not be said, that the bonds which cement us together are too strong to be sundered; or that God will not forsake us after having done so much for us. We are environed by peculiar perils. The history of the world proves to us that general ignorance and corruption among the people are fearful causes of deterioration and decay in any nation,—that luxury and intemperance beget weakness,—that pride and self-sufficiency presage disaster,—and that expansion of territory and the consequent rapid multiplication of diverse interests, are liable to cause great commonwealths to fall by their own weight. And the Word of God assures us that the nation and people that will not serve Jehovah SHALL PERISH—so that ungodliness may be set down as a sure cause of destruction to any persistently wicked nation.

Now, the question is, who but God can so preside in this conflict of opposing interests and principles, as to save us from the horrors of internecine war, and establish our civil and religious freedom on a basis that can never be shaken? Who but God can give us all the wisdom and forbearance, combined with due moral decision, which we need in this critical process? Who but God can save us from hasty and destructive adventures on either side, in our sectional strifes, and open the eyes of the blind ere it be too late to retrace their downward steps? Who but God can give to the Church the needful moderation, as the great conservator of peace and of true boldness in times of peril?

There is hope in prayer. God can show us how to dispose peacefully of present issues, and how to inaugurate a policy that shall in the end take away from our nation all our chief occasions of fear, and make every bondman civilly and spiritual free. Let us, therefore, seek His face. Let us plead with Him for all our rulers and for all the people. Let us look to Him for those interpositions by which the foundations of our glorious Union may be established on the basis of true and changeless principles, and its arches be made as firm as the vault of heaven. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”—1 Timothy 2:1-4

[emphasis added]

A sermon on prayer for rulers, delivered in the Second Presbyterian Church in Chicago, on Sabbath morning, June 8, 1856 – Patterson, R. W. (Robert Wilson), 1814-1894.

Clarence Macartney’s Pulpit Comments upon Machen’s Suspension from the Ministry:

Comments by Dr. C.E. Macartney on the Suspension of Dr. J. Gresham Machen from the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church.  Made at the Morning Service at the First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, June 7, 1936.

            The moderator elected this time at the General Assembly is Dr. Masters, an able moderator and the most conservative we have had since two moderators well known to this congregation.

            Dr. Machen seems to have a great many enemies.  When Senator _________ nominated Grover Cleveland the second time for the Presidency in the Democratic Convention at Chicago, he brought the throng to their feet with his historic utterance, “We love him for the enemies he has made,” so although Dr. Machen has a great many enemies he has not a few friends who love him and respect him for the kind of enemies he has made.

            The General Assembly suspended Dr. Machen from the ministry of the Presbyterian Church.  He is not suspended from the Communion of the Church but he is stripped of all the prerogatives of a minister.  He cannot perform any of the duties of his office within the Presbyterian Church until such time as he shall obey the mandate of the General Assembly of 1934.  Since he will never do that it means the withdrawal from the Church of Dr. Machen.

            Having been his classmate at Princeton and knowing him much better perhaps than some of his enemies, I am glad in this public way to testify my affection for him, my confidence in the purity of his character and the sincerity of his motives, my admiration for his pre-eminent scholarship, his superb intellect, and his clear discernment of the unbelief and apostasy which is spreading within the Christian Church, and my deep regret and sorrow that such a man should be lost to the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.  At other crises in the history of the Church notable figures have been suspended from the ministry or voluntarily have withdrawn from the Communion of the Church because they were charged with unbelief, but here we have a man suspended from the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church who is known throughout the world as a fearless and able defender of the Faith of the Gospel.  The suspension of Dr. Machen from the Ministry of our Church will do him no injury; it will only increase his influence and add to the far-flung echo of his voice.  He is suspended from the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America but few if any will think of him as suspended from the Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He Was OP, RP, EP and RPCES

That tag line will bring back for some of our readers the famous Dameron and Jones song. Others, not so blessed, will draw a blank. The Rev. Richard W. Gray was the living expression of that song:  “We’ve been OP, BP, and RPCES. What we’ll be next is anybody’s guess.”

Richard Willer Gray was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 6, 1911. After the age of 12 he lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until moving to attend Wheaton College, from 1930-1934. Following graduation from Wheaton, he received the M.Div. at Westminster Theological Seminary, in 1937. In 1936, a year before graduation from Westminster, he married Emily MacDonald. To this marriage, three children were born. Their son Richard is himself a PCA pastor, serving in Florida.

Rev. Gray was ordained by the Presbytery of New Jersey on May 18, 1937 and installed as pastor of the Covenant OPC church of East Orange, New Jersey. He served this church from 1937 until 1945. Resigning that post, he then answered a call to serve Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, in Bridgeton, New Jersey [now New Hope OPC], serving there from 1946-1949. His third pastorate was with the Calvary Presbyterian Church of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, which at that time was an independent church. Rev. Gray served this church from 1949 to 1958, and during these same years he was also the editor of a magazine, The Witness, a publication widely utilized by OPC, BPC and Reformed Presbyterian congregations. In April of 1958, Dr. Gray transferred his credentials to the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod, leading his independent congregation into this denomination. By way of two later denominational mergers, the Willow Grove congregation is today a part of the PCA.

Pictured below, the building occupied by the Calvary OPC church of Bridgeton, New Jersey, where Rev. Gray served from 1946-1949.

As editor of The Witness, Rev. Gray had a pulpit which effectively reached a number of Presbyterian denominations, and the magazine in turn allowed Dr. Gray to eventually become the leading voice in the eventual merger of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod [1833-1965] and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church [1961-1965]. The denomination resulting from that merger, the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod [1965-1982], eventually was received into the Presbyterian Church in America, in 1982.

[This coming Sunday, June 16, we will feature Dr. Gray’s sermon delivered before the Synod on the occasion of the RP/EP merger in 1965. His sermon was titled, “Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going?”]

Rev. Gray never saw the merger of the RPCES with the PCA. Following the merger of the RPC,GS and the EPC, he had continued as pastor of the Calvary Presbyterian Church of Willow Grove until 1975. At that time he answered a call to serve as the founding pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Coventry, Connecticut. It was while serving as pastor of this church that the Lord called him to his final reward. He died on February 28, 1979.

Apart from his pastoral duties at the above four churches, Dr. Gray participated in a wide variety of denominational and intellectual activities. At various times he:

Edited a Christian magazine (The Witness)
Taught courses at a seminary
Was active in the establishment of four branch churches
Started the Christian Counseling Center of Willow Grove
Was active in the establishment of Christian schools
Wheaton College awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in 1959
Served on the Board of Directors of National Presbyterian Missions; Quarryville Home; and Covenant College
Served as a chief architect of the union of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Moderator of the 148th Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (1970)
Frequent moderator of denominational committees, regional presbyteries, and synodical reports
Founded the Christian Counseling Service in Coventry, Connecticut
Presided over the Evangelical Ministerial Association of greater Hartford

The people who fell under Dick Gray’s ministry were as diverse and varied as his multi-faceted personality, yet all found common ground in his infectious enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God.

From a young counselee: “I thank God for the vast help that Dr. Gray has been in my life. I came to him in desperate anxiety. He allowed me to expose all that was ugly and frightful. He was both utterly trustworthy and wisely insightful. God used him to lead me into the health and maturity and objectivity about myself which now is a part of my abundant and joy-filled life.”

From a ministerial colleague: “Although in God’s providence Dick and I were working on the most recent church problem from different sides of it, I want you to know that that in no way diminished my admiration and esteem for him as one of the God-given leaders to the RP Church. I  particularly appreciated his openness to new ideas and his willingness to encourage the young ministers. At the same time, no one could question his concern for the welfare of the churches and his tireless energy on their behalf.”

From a former elder and long-term friend: “[Dick] had a capacity for concentration and single-mindedness that was maddening, and a capacity for empathy that was healing. He could have written books of great significance, if he had the patience. He was one of only several individuals it was my privilege to know who had the mind of an intellectual explorer, a discoverer of principles, relationships between what are too often labeled ‘spiritual’ and ‘intellectual.’ He thought and wanted others to think, and this caused him undeserved difficulties because thinking is painful. He shunned superficial statements that would have won him acceptance among those believers who limit orthodoxy to set phrases. He bore the risk of being considered not Biblical enough, in order to be truly Biblical.”

Words to Live By:
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him, for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work; this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.” (Eccl. 5:18-20)

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn

Q. 85. What doth God require of us, that we may escape His wrath and curse, due to us for sin?

A. To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.

Scripture References: Acts. 20:21. Mark 1:15. John 3:18.

Questions:

1. Is it possible for us to escape the wrath of God by anything we can do of ourselves?

No, it is impossible for the Bible says, “all our righteousness are as filthy rags” Isa. 64:6).

2. How can we say then that God requires certain things of us?

We can say this because although God appoints that these duties are necessary, He in turn enables us to perform them. That is, it is God that works in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:12,13).

3. Why does God require “faith in Jesus Christ” of the sinner?

He requires faith in Jesus Christ because there is no other way to salvation. We are taught this very plainly in Acts 4:12.

4. Why does God require “repentance unto life” of the sinner?

He requires repentance unto life because it is the fruit of believing in Him.

5. Why does God require the “diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption” of the sinner?

He requires the diligent use of these outward means because the neglect of those means would be, in essence, proof of no faith or repentance having taken place in us. These are the ways in which the benefits of redemption are communicated to us.

6. Are you saying then that these three things God requires of us are an important part of salvation?

Yes, they are a part of salvation and evidences of it (2 Thess. 2:13).

THE FINALITY OF THE GOSPEL
“Do you really believe that a person can be saved apart from Jesus Christ?” was the question asked of a candidate of the ministry. The answer given was theologically sound, that no one can be saved apart from Jesus Christ. “Well, then”, said the old minister of the Gospel, “Be sure that you never forget it and preach as if you believe it!” Afterwards I heard the veteran minister tell the young minister that he felt so many people do not really believe in the finality of the Gospel. What he meant was that if people really believed it, they would be more about their Master’s business of witnessing for Jesus Christ.

We are busily engaged, or should be busily engaged, in preaching the only message that—when believed—can enable man to escape the wrath and curse of God. The Bible teaches, as so ably pointed out by Charles Hodge in 1855, that:

(1) “Nothing on this earth is sufficient to save man apart from Christ;
(2) Faith in Jesus Christ is necessary:
(3) God commanded the Gospel to be preached to all nations as the means of saving people.”

And yet so very many people go through day after day without f.elling those they meet that Jesus Saves!

This bellef in the Finality of the Gospel seems to be missing today in so many circles of the church. There seems to be more of a concern for the things of this world than a concern for the souls of men. All of us need to stop and think once more of the teaching of the Bible regarding the way of salvation. We need to be moved once again as men were moved in another day when they sang,

“Where will you spend eternity
Those years that have no end?
Will it be ‘Where the angels sing?
Will it be with the glorious King?
What a sublime and solemn thing! A solemn thing!”

There is no other way to be saved! Theologically speaking we know this to be true. We know the Bible says, “Except ye be converted … ” it person cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That is the final ‘Word. There is no other way. Do we really believe it? If so, time is fleeing! We must be up and about our Master’s business!

Published by The SHIELD and SWORD, INC.
Dedicated to instruction in the Westminster Standards for use as a bulletin insert or other methods of distribution in Presbyterian churches.

Vol. 6, No. 2. (February 1967)

Rev. Leonard T. Van Horn, Editor.

We are pleased to have guest author Dr. David W. Hall back with us today in another of the Election Day Sermon series. We are also pleased to announced that many of these messages have been gathered into a book which will soon be available. The book is titled TWENTY MESSAGES TO CONSIDER BEFORE VOTING. Commending this new volume, Rev. Joel Beeke writes that “The eighteenth century was an age of revolution, and the pulpits of American churches were not silent on issues of national import. David Hall allows us to hear again the vigorous voices of our forefathers, who distinguished between church and state yet called for civil government that fears the Lord and turns away from evil. This book is must reading for our critical times.”

“The Republic of the Israelites, An Example to the American States”
by Samuel Langdon (June 5, 1788)

Samuel Langdon (1723-1797) graduated from Harvard in 1740 (along with Samuel Adams). After serving as a chaplain and as a pastor, Langdon became Harvard’s President in 1774, two years before the Declaration. He also was a delegate to the New Hampshire state convention in 1788. His sermon, “The Republic of the Israelites, An Example to the American States,” drawing heavily on the Old Testament and preached as an election day sermon to the New Hampshire legislature in 1788, is an example of the vitality of Calvinism at the founding of America.

Calvinistic and Old Testament (OT) themes are prominent in Langdon’s sermon. In good Calvinistic form, he spied a full-blown republic in the OT. He maintained that “the national senate was instituted for the assistance of Moses as captain-general and judge of the nation, and this was a plain intimation that in all succeeding times such a senate was necessary for the assistance of the supreme magistrate.” Langdon also based the appointment of courts and effective judicial administration on OT models.

He continued: “A government, thus settled on republican principles, required laws; . . . But God did not leave a people, wholly unskilled in legislation, to make laws for themselves: he took this important matter wholly into his own hands, and beside the moral laws of the two tables, which directed their conduct as individuals, gave them by Moses a complete code of judicial laws.” In many respects, this formulation was hardly changed at all from the Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641.

Similar to the post-Reformation tracts by Calvin’s disciples, Langdon traced the contested history of republican evolution, arguing that Greek models of government paled in comparison to the Hebrew originals. Even the pinnacle of Greek republicanism was “far from being worthy to be compared with the laws of Israel, as to the security of life, liberty, property, and public morals.” While elective power belonged to the people, Langdon affirmed, in good Calvinistic style, that such power “is delegated by them to every magistrate and officer; and to the people all in authority are accountable, if they deviate from their duty, and abuse their power.” Even the president depended upon “the choice of the people for his temporary and limited power” and was subject to impeachment for misconduct.

Langdon concluded by summoning the New Hampshire legislature in tones Calvin could have used to the Genevan Council of Two Hundred. He asked them to preserve religion and heed the revelation from heaven. If that were done, New England would continue her glory. In conclusion this American Farel warned, “if our religion is given up, all the liberty we boast of will soon be gone; a profane and wicked people cannot hope for divine blessings, but it may be easily foretold that ‘evil will befall them in the latter days.’ While I thus earnestly exhort you to religion, it must be understood as equally an exhortation to every branch of morality; for without this all religion is vain.” That is how most American founders understood separation of church and state, and many of these seeds had been previously tended in Genevan gardens.

Between the Great Awakening in the 1740s and the Declaration of 1776, the pulpit in America was also prominent in shaping American notions of liberty, a liberty which was rooted in a divinely created order. We cannot fully understand these early orations on this vital topic without understanding their biblical framework. These sermons were not only proclaimed but were also frequently published as pamphlets and distributed to civil magistrates and ministers.[1] The numerous, annual occasions of these public discourses provide a rich resource for direct political insights into the period. These also carried commercials for a larger theological message.[2]

As part of his conclusion, Langdon opined:

Examples are better than precepts; and history is the best instructor both in polity and morals. I have presented you with the portrait of a nation, highly favoured by Heaven with civil and religious institutions, who yet, by not improving their advantages, forfeited their blessings, and brought contempt and destruction on themselves. If I am not mistaken, instead of the twelve tribes of Israel, we may substitute the thirteen States of the American union, and see this application plainly offering itself, viz., That as God in the course of his kind providence hath given you an excellent constitution of government, founded on the most rational, equitable, and liberal principles, by which all that liberty is secured which a people can reasonably claim, and you are impowered to make righteous laws for promoting public order and good morals; and as he has moreover given you by his Son Jesus Christ, who is far superior to Moses, a complete revelation of his will, and a perfect system of true religion, plainly delivered in the sacred writings; it will be your wisdom in the eyes of the nations, and your true interest and happiness, to conform your practice in the strictest manner to the excellent principles of your government, adhere faithfully to the doctrines and commands of the gospel, and practice every public and private virtue.

As one of the “improvements, he applied: “The power in all our republics is acknowledged to originate in the people: it is delegated by them to every magistrate and officer; and to the people all in authority are accountable, if they deviate from their duty, and abuse their power. Even the man, who may be advanced to the chief command of these United States, according to the proposed constitution; whose office resembles that of a king in other nations . . . even he depends on the choice of the people for his temporary and limited power, and will be liable to impeachment, trial, and disgrace for any gross misconduct. On the people, therefore, of these United States it depends whether wise men, or fools, good or bad men, shall govern them; whether they shall have righteous laws, a faithful administration of government, and permanent good order, peace, and liberty; or, on the contrary, feel insupportable burdens, and see all their affairs run to confusion and ruin.”

This sermon is available in printed form in both my 1996 Election Day Sermons, as well as in Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998). A summary of this classic sermon, with references to Supreme Court citations of it, is accessible online at: http://www.belcherfoundation.org/moral_law.htm. A dramatic summation is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDx2mWm7JuQ.

By Dr. David W. Hall, Pastor
Midway Presbyterian Church

Taken from Twenty Messages to Consider Before Voting

[1] For more on the tradition of these early homilies, see my Election Day Sermons (Oak Ridge, TN: Kuyper Institute, 1996), 9-26.

[2] Several collections of political sermons exist. A variety of libraries contain some of the great manuscripts. If one can locate a copy of John Wingate Thornton’s The Pulpit of the American Revolution (Boston, 1860), more of these early sermons can be reviewed. Others are contained in Frank Moore’s The Patriot Preachers of the American Revolution (1860), Bernard Bailyn’s Pamphlets of the American Revolution (Cambridge, MA, 1965), and in two recent releases by Liberty Press in Indianapolis: American Political Writing during the Founding Era, 1760-1805, Charles S. Hyneman and Donald S. Lutz, editors (1983) or Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730-1805, Ellis Sandoz, editor (1991). One would also do well to consult Harry S. Stout’s The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England (New York: Oxford, 1986) or Donald Weber’s Rhetoric and History in Revolutionary New England (New York, 1988).