Independence Day

Pastor William, the old preacher, made it a practice to visit the local school one day a week. He walked into the 4th grade class, where the children were studying the states, and asked them how many states they could name. They came up with about 40 names.  Pastor William jokingly told them that in his day students knew the names of all the states.

One lad raised his hand and said, 'Yes sir, but in those days there were only 13 states.

On Friday we will be celebrating Independence Day. Here is the Wikipedia definition.
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. 
Today, many argue the history of our great nation. I didn't have to go very far when looking for quotes from some of our founding fathers explaining why we needed to be independent from Great Britain and the restricted religious atmosphere. Here are some of those quotes.

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly that this great nation was founded -- not by religionists -- but by Christians . . . on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." -- Patrick Henry 

"Do not let anyone claim to be a true American who attempts to remove religion from politics." -- George Washingtion, in his Farewell Address. 


"May every citizen in the army and in the country have a proper sense of Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, 'Him that honoreth Me, I will honor, but he that despiseth Me shall be lightly esteemed'" (I Samuel 2:20). -- Samuel Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

"We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -- John Adams, our second president, in an address to military leaders. 



"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the Gift of God. That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever." -- Thomas Jefferson 

"The man must be bad indeed who can look upon the events of the American Revolution without feeling the warmest gratitude towards the great Author of the Universe whose divine interposition was so frequently manifested in our behalf. And it is my earnest prayer that we may so conduct ourselves as to merit a continuance of those blessings with which we have hitherto been favored." -- George Washington in a Sept. 28, 1789 letter to the Rev. Samuel Langdon 

"The teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally - I do not mean figuratively, I mean literally - impossible for us to figure to ourselves what life would be if these teachings were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards toward which we with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves." -- Theodore Roosevelt 

I am aware that Theodore Roosevelt was not a founding father, but his statement rings true in today's society.

There were so many quotes that I could have easily filled a book with them. It's easy to see what our founding fathers had in mind when they formed our Constitution. If they were to see what was going on in our country today they would be deeply grieved. If you are interested in more examples, they are easily found on the Internet. I am aware that not everything on the Internet is factual, but these quotes that I have given can be verified by other sources. You can also find people who want to discredit God from the history of the United States. There will come a day when they are convinced of God's hand upon our founding fathers. I want to leave with a quote from George Washington in his farewell address.

"It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." -- George Washingtion in his Farewell Address. 

Much love, Dennis