1 00:00:04,879 --> 00:00:10,240 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:15,720 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:24,600 And today, I'd like us to reach back into history and ponder the understanding of 4 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:31,300 Thanksgiving that we have back into colonial America. We have a Christian background to our 5 00:00:31,300 --> 00:00:38,259 American Constitution, and it all began, at least on this continent, with the colonial period. 6 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:45,039 And as Thanksgiving approaches, and perhaps it'll be the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but 7 00:00:45,039 --> 00:00:53,780 nevertheless, close enough for us to ponder the constitutional background of our American 8 00:00:53,780 --> 00:00:59,280 Constitution that began on this continent, anyway, during the colonial period. That is when 9 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:07,560 our founding fathers came and established the 13 colonies on this continent, and has given us 10 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:16,859 the great, rich Christian tradition of the founding of our republic, and most importantly, the composing 11 00:01:16,859 --> 00:01:25,239 and the hammering out under the fire and angst of the Revolutionary War, the American Constitution. 12 00:01:25,239 --> 00:01:32,920 Oh, what a rich tradition we have been given as Americans. And Thanksgiving is a proper time for 13 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:39,540 us to go to God, who is sovereign over all, who is providential over the fates and states of mankind, 14 00:01:39,540 --> 00:01:45,959 and who has given us this constitutional republic, and we owe him a great Thanksgiving. 15 00:01:46,519 --> 00:01:51,260 Dear listener, I want to impress this upon you as nothing else here today. If you get nothing else 16 00:01:51,260 --> 00:01:57,980 from this, I want you to come on Thanksgiving morning to give thanks to God for what he has 17 00:01:57,980 --> 00:02:04,680 done for us, for what he has given us here in the United States of America. I find that Americans 18 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:13,159 in general, and I hope it's not you, but we have, to a great extent, a thankless population 19 00:02:13,159 --> 00:02:18,139 on the American continent. Everybody thinks they're owed more. Everybody thinks what they have, 20 00:02:18,139 --> 00:02:24,599 they deserve. Everybody thinks that God owes them a measure of something rather than giving thanks 21 00:02:24,599 --> 00:02:29,759 for what God has graciously given us. And what I like to tell people around this time of year, 22 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:37,780 during the period of Thanksgiving, is that a thankful heart is full of grace, while a thankless heart 23 00:02:37,780 --> 00:02:45,300 is holy base. I hope you remember that. I find this has helped me, humbled me many times when I 24 00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:51,520 understand indeed, that as the Bible seems to reflect to us, a thankful heart is full of grace, but a 25 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:59,479 thankless heart is holy base. And so I hope that during this period of Thanksgiving, this Thanksgiving 26 00:02:59,479 --> 00:03:07,939 holiday that we celebrate, the genuinely American religious holiday, Thanksgiving, that you celebrate 27 00:03:07,939 --> 00:03:16,740 Thanksgiving as indeed more than family, food, and football. I love all three of those, family, 28 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:23,780 food, and football. And they're all abundant on Thanksgiving day, aren't they? But where is faith 29 00:03:23,780 --> 00:03:30,360 in all of this? Faith, family, food, and football. Indeed, are we prepared to give thanks to the living 30 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:36,800 God of the Bible, who has indeed bestowed upon us all of these things, in particular, our American 31 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:43,379 Constitution, because it does have a Christian background to it, and it all began in colonial 32 00:03:43,379 --> 00:03:49,039 America. So let's launch into this understanding of the Christian background to the American 33 00:03:49,039 --> 00:03:56,520 Constitution, which began during the colonial period in America. Now, prior to the convening of 34 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:04,659 the Constitutional Convention in 1787, our founding fathers studied and absorbed the constitutions of 35 00:04:04,659 --> 00:04:11,319 the respective colonies of the new nation. Those 13 colonies had each been founded on unique 36 00:04:11,319 --> 00:04:18,660 individual charters and principles. Massachusetts and Connecticut were their Puritan and Yankee ingenuity. 37 00:04:18,819 --> 00:04:26,240 Maryland, established by the Calverts as a haven for Roman Catholics. Pennsylvania, chartered to 38 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:34,939 openness and toleration. Pennsylvania, chartered to William Penn, who was a Quaker. Rhode Island, 39 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:41,319 which became a haven for heretic and outcast alike. And then, in short, while each colony was founded 40 00:04:41,319 --> 00:04:48,139 upon unique individual charters and principles, they all had this one thing in common. They expressly, 41 00:04:48,300 --> 00:04:55,279 overtly acknowledged the Christian religion and the Christian God of the Bible as the source and goal of 42 00:04:55,279 --> 00:05:01,720 their respective colonies' principles and structure. The first charter of Virginia, for example, 43 00:05:02,180 --> 00:05:03,939 said this, and I quote, 44 00:05:03,939 --> 00:05:10,600 We, greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for furtherance of so noble a work, 45 00:05:10,980 --> 00:05:17,319 which may, by the providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of His divine majesty 46 00:05:17,319 --> 00:05:23,100 in propagating of the Christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable 47 00:05:23,100 --> 00:05:31,819 ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God. Indeed, Virginia was chartered as a colony, 48 00:05:31,959 --> 00:05:37,300 not only to prosper the colonists and the kingdom of England, but also to spread the gospel. 49 00:05:38,420 --> 00:05:44,980 The Constitution of Connecticut, as well, held forth several articles which would be controversial 50 00:05:44,980 --> 00:05:50,600 in today's political climate. For example, article number one from the Constitution of Connecticut 51 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:57,300 said this, that the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men 52 00:05:57,300 --> 00:06:03,480 in all duties which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealth 53 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:11,300 as in matters of the church. Article 2, that as in matters which concern the gathering and ordering of a church, 54 00:06:11,300 --> 00:06:18,860 so likewise in all public offices which concern civil order, as the choice of magistrates and officers, 55 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:24,800 making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, 56 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:30,680 they would all be governed by those rules which the Scriptures hold forth to them. 57 00:06:30,899 --> 00:06:33,720 Oh, can we get by with that today? 58 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:40,360 It must be questioned whether the courts of modern Connecticut would put up with what colonial Connecticut 59 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:45,379 incorporated into the orders of the general court of the commonwealth of Connecticut. 60 00:06:45,379 --> 00:06:52,199 That is, that God's word should be the only rule for ordering the matters of government in this commonwealth. 61 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:52,759 Unquote. 62 00:06:54,259 --> 00:06:58,959 Oh, dear listener, would any court or federal or state or order such a thing today? 63 00:06:58,959 --> 00:07:00,120 Well, of course not. 64 00:07:00,819 --> 00:07:07,819 Instead of genuine humility and gratitude before Almighty God for having given such a rich resource 65 00:07:07,819 --> 00:07:15,259 for self-governance and Republican principles, as is found in the Bible and the centuries of Christian tradition, 66 00:07:16,060 --> 00:07:22,199 modern socialist courts are filled with shame and arrogance towards the Bible, isn't it? 67 00:07:22,620 --> 00:07:25,040 And towards our rich heritage in Christianity. 68 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:35,019 There is a conscious effort to expunge as swiftly as possible all reference to and reliance upon that text and tradition of the Bible. 69 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,680 So, do not be distracted from the real issue in this struggle, dear listener. 70 00:07:40,339 --> 00:07:48,959 The Ten Commandments will begin to reappear in our courthouses when the law of God is written upon the hearts of the men and women who serve there. 71 00:07:48,959 --> 00:07:56,879 So, do not despair because a few symbols, that is, granite monuments and pledges and mottos, are being challenged. 72 00:07:57,879 --> 00:08:07,500 These are all faith symbols, which every culture fashions to express the source and foundation upon which rests the law which governs them. 73 00:08:07,879 --> 00:08:14,220 The more pagan and degenerate our land becomes, the more pagan and degenerate will become our symbols. 74 00:08:14,220 --> 00:08:26,019 Our culture is in the process of cleansing the land of our Christian symbols precisely because this land has already substantially cleansed her soul of her Christian principles. 75 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:33,960 Dear listener, understand that first comes the reality in the soul and the symbol follows. 76 00:08:34,759 --> 00:08:43,399 The symbols are seen as a threat and embarrassment today because they no longer represent what we are in our national soul. 77 00:08:43,399 --> 00:09:03,059 The cross, the creche, the scriptures are all a shame and a threat to a secular culture because they are a visible reminder of the biblical Christian values and principles that we have abandoned in a mad pursuit of an ugly, death-dealing secularism or paganism even. 78 00:09:03,980 --> 00:09:06,419 But it was not so with our founding fathers. 79 00:09:06,419 --> 00:09:19,120 In the colonial period, as we celebrate Thanksgiving here this year, in the colonial period, we remember, we see the substantial effects of the First Great Awakening upon the Thirteen Colonies. 80 00:09:20,039 --> 00:09:28,100 For example, as the gospel swept through the young nation, she experienced the truth that in Christ, all men are brothers. 81 00:09:28,100 --> 00:09:38,320 As Peter Marshall and David Manuel put it in their book, The Light and the Glory, a book I highly recommend to you, The Light and the Glory. 82 00:09:38,539 --> 00:09:41,019 And when they talk about this period, they say, and I quote, 83 00:09:41,019 --> 00:10:11,000 Now, dear listener, this message of egalitarianism, true biblical egalitarianism, 84 00:10:12,019 --> 00:10:15,679 This message found its way into the fabric of the church's makeup. 85 00:10:16,500 --> 00:10:18,820 It was adopted and practiced there. 86 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:24,879 And then again, as Marshall and Manuel say in their book, The Light and the Glory, and I quote, 87 00:10:24,879 --> 00:10:41,860 Here then was the seed of democracy, which would be embodied in the Constitution of the United States, 88 00:10:41,860 --> 00:10:51,960 of the political understanding that all men were equally entitled to vote, and that, in the sight of God, a farmer was as good as King George. 89 00:10:52,279 --> 00:10:54,860 For God was no respecter of persons. 90 00:10:54,860 --> 00:10:59,139 His laws applied equally to all men, unquote. 91 00:10:59,139 --> 00:11:07,899 Here we begin to see, in the colonial period, in America, as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, 92 00:11:07,899 --> 00:11:15,919 we begin to see a profound distinction beginning to emerge upon the distant shores of the American continent. 93 00:11:16,820 --> 00:11:21,779 Despite the long tradition of English rights, and there was a long tradition here, 94 00:11:22,179 --> 00:11:29,340 there was still an entrenched class system of royalty and nobles commoner that was centuries old. 95 00:11:29,340 --> 00:11:34,159 And although the commoner had his rights, he knew his place and station, 96 00:11:34,279 --> 00:11:37,980 and only rarely did he have opportunity to improve that station. 97 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:45,279 But in America, due to the power of Christianity in leveling the playing field for all men, 98 00:11:45,279 --> 00:11:53,820 that same commoner had every chance to succeed as the noble, only limited by his skills, intelligence, and energy. 99 00:11:54,539 --> 00:11:59,240 And additionally, his vote in the meeting house counted every bit as much as the highborn or the Richmonds. 100 00:12:00,059 --> 00:12:05,299 He could stand in that same meeting house, and as long as he did it decently and in order, 101 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:11,980 his voice and opinion could express itself freely on any subject at hand. 102 00:12:11,980 --> 00:12:19,000 So, not only did a great ocean and time and distance separate England from her child, America, 103 00:12:19,220 --> 00:12:25,539 but increasingly so did that child's institutions and colonial constitutions separate her. 104 00:12:26,519 --> 00:12:33,159 Every colonial considered himself a good English subject, but slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, 105 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:39,460 that colonist became conscious of the fact that he was far more independent of England 106 00:12:39,460 --> 00:12:43,259 than England ever suspected she was of him. 107 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:50,799 This intuitive, implicit liberty was strengthened in the first generation born in the colonies, 108 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:57,179 most of whom had never known anything but Republican democracy in its purest town-meeting form. 109 00:12:57,539 --> 00:12:58,379 Oh, what a day. 110 00:12:59,340 --> 00:13:03,340 The American colonist knew to his toenails several liberties, 111 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:07,259 of which his continental counterpart was unaware. 112 00:13:07,259 --> 00:13:12,440 Things like, for example, complete freedom of movement. 113 00:13:13,100 --> 00:13:21,059 Yes, in England, you were restricted oftentimes by the class system from moving from shire to shire, 114 00:13:21,179 --> 00:13:28,980 from county to county in England, because you were bound to your lord, perhaps, or to your manor. 115 00:13:29,340 --> 00:13:32,379 There was a class system in place that restricted your movement. 116 00:13:32,379 --> 00:13:37,659 The colonists also knew freedom of expression through the town hall. 117 00:13:38,159 --> 00:13:43,539 There was a place in London in the parks where you could speak freely, 118 00:13:43,659 --> 00:13:52,159 but mostly you were censored in your particular village or shire from speaking as freely as the American could across the pond. 119 00:13:52,159 --> 00:13:58,580 There was also direct representation in the colonies, in colonial legislatures. 120 00:13:58,779 --> 00:14:01,480 Direct representation, not indirect representation. 121 00:14:01,919 --> 00:14:08,720 Later would come the House of Commons, in which the commoner would have a voice in electing his representative. 122 00:14:08,940 --> 00:14:12,840 But for now, in America, in the colonial legislatures, 123 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:19,340 he had a representative directly elected by him and his fellow townsmen. 124 00:14:19,340 --> 00:14:26,860 And also, in America, there was a freedom of religion with no established religion, except for Virginia. 125 00:14:27,159 --> 00:14:28,860 That was the one great exception. 126 00:14:29,399 --> 00:14:30,820 But of course, the Church of England. 127 00:14:32,039 --> 00:14:37,940 Anglicanism was the established religion in England, whereas in the American colonies, 128 00:14:37,940 --> 00:14:43,580 there was a freedom of religion unseen and unknown all over the continent of Europe. 129 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,919 And this would be endemic to our founding, endemic to the establishment of our constitution, 130 00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:52,960 constitution in the First Amendment, most notably. 131 00:14:53,559 --> 00:14:58,720 And then also, one other distinction that you had here was a trial by jury, 132 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:04,279 a trial by your peers you were judged by, rather than in England by a judge. 133 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:09,879 A judge held your fate in his hands, heard the evidence, made his decisions based upon what he heard, 134 00:15:09,879 --> 00:15:19,419 and he was always partial to the crown, always partial to the parliament, and not to the defendant, in most cases, but not so in America. 135 00:15:19,639 --> 00:15:28,899 In fact, the founding fathers made a point of, and you find this in the first of 10 amendments to the constitution, 136 00:15:29,299 --> 00:15:35,840 that a trial by jury, a jury of your peers, and a final decision by juries, too, was established. 137 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:41,539 So, this was a strong point in the colonies, unseen in England. 138 00:15:41,980 --> 00:15:52,399 Well, imagine, then, the Englishman's consternation, when British policy began to shift towards laying an increasing burden 139 00:15:52,399 --> 00:15:56,320 upon this prosperous offspring of Mother England. 140 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:02,299 And imagine the colonist's consternation, too, because he had all these liberties he'd grown up with, 141 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:03,879 and suddenly they were being restricted. 142 00:16:04,879 --> 00:16:11,500 It began to happen in the mid-18th century, when the tyrant King George III asserted his authority 143 00:16:11,500 --> 00:16:14,539 over what he saw as a cow ready for the milking. 144 00:16:14,879 --> 00:16:17,220 That is, the American colonies. 145 00:16:17,340 --> 00:16:18,000 And he did. 146 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:19,000 And so did Parliament. 147 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:25,360 And so, the outrage, for example, of the Townsend Acts of 1767, 148 00:16:25,639 --> 00:16:28,919 which imposed duties on glass and tea and paper and so on, 149 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:32,639 everything the colonists used, right on down to the smallest farmer and workman. 150 00:16:33,519 --> 00:16:34,779 And they were all passed. 151 00:16:34,879 --> 00:16:39,559 The Townsend Acts were all passed without the consent or vote of a single colonist. 152 00:16:39,559 --> 00:16:48,460 And so, also, we see the outrage of the Stamp Act of 1765 that required a stamp of the British Crown 153 00:16:48,460 --> 00:16:53,100 to be placed on every legal document produced in America, 154 00:16:53,519 --> 00:16:59,840 despite the fact that the British Crown had little or nothing to do with the day-to-day life of the colonist 155 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:02,899 and his economic and local legislature, 156 00:17:02,899 --> 00:17:08,680 and who, in turn, had no representative across the wide sea to speak for him in Parliament, 157 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,559 where all of these tyrannies were being perpetrated. 158 00:17:12,700 --> 00:17:19,339 And so, dear listener, the outrage of the rough and arrogant British troopers, too, 159 00:17:19,740 --> 00:17:22,240 regularly quartered in colonial homes, 160 00:17:22,779 --> 00:17:24,980 and they were given to taking whatever they wanted, 161 00:17:25,079 --> 00:17:27,579 including colonial horse, silver, and maiden. 162 00:17:27,579 --> 00:17:32,940 And so, the outrage of redress for these and other monstrous grievances 163 00:17:32,940 --> 00:17:38,000 were routinely ignored and scoffed at by the ministers and judges of the Crown. 164 00:17:38,460 --> 00:17:39,880 What were the colonists to do? 165 00:17:40,539 --> 00:17:44,240 Justice became as much an orphan as many of the children of the colonies 166 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:46,279 were orphans whose fathers were in jail, 167 00:17:46,839 --> 00:17:49,460 maybe impressed into British Navy far at sea, 168 00:17:49,460 --> 00:17:52,740 or maybe these colonial fathers who were in their graves 169 00:17:52,740 --> 00:17:57,059 because of preemptory sentences passed down by judges 170 00:17:57,059 --> 00:18:01,000 accountable only to the king and not to the commoner. 171 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:04,359 What were the colonists to do, dear listener? 172 00:18:04,819 --> 00:18:08,059 Was not a Christian to be obedient to proper authority? 173 00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:10,619 Oh, this was exhorted upon them constantly. 174 00:18:11,220 --> 00:18:13,180 This verse from the Bible, for example, 175 00:18:13,839 --> 00:18:17,880 George III and all of his ministers and the Parliament as well 176 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,880 reminded people of Romans 13, 1 and 2, 177 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,960 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, 178 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:26,559 for there is no authority except from God, 179 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,579 and those that exist have been instituted by God. 180 00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:32,420 Therefore, he who resists the authorities 181 00:18:32,420 --> 00:18:34,559 resists what God has appointed, 182 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:36,980 and those who resist will incur judgment." 183 00:18:36,980 --> 00:18:40,819 Now, if this were the only Scripture 184 00:18:40,819 --> 00:18:44,859 that spoke to proper rule and authority of the magistrate and government, 185 00:18:45,140 --> 00:18:47,819 then we would be consigned to bear tyranny 186 00:18:47,819 --> 00:18:50,779 no matter what our circumstances and opportunities. 187 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:55,160 It would be fallen, sinful man who would dictate government. 188 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:57,380 It's often the case anyway. 189 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:00,880 And then it would be the Christian would never be able to speak 190 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,519 to issues like justice and mercy, 191 00:19:02,839 --> 00:19:04,180 the proper limits of power, 192 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:07,619 and the duties and qualities of both prince and subject. 193 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,799 Instead, our founding fathers were completely familiar 194 00:19:11,799 --> 00:19:13,700 with the body of material 195 00:19:13,700 --> 00:19:16,579 that bore upon these and other topics 196 00:19:16,579 --> 00:19:20,279 developed over centuries of thought and practice, 197 00:19:20,279 --> 00:19:22,180 and we Americans should be too. 198 00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:24,119 It's time to go back to the books. 199 00:19:24,839 --> 00:19:26,160 Burn the midnight oil. 200 00:19:26,380 --> 00:19:27,779 Understand these things 201 00:19:27,779 --> 00:19:30,579 because our founders were intimately familiar 202 00:19:30,579 --> 00:19:32,099 with not only their Bibles, 203 00:19:32,559 --> 00:19:36,079 but also with other deeply Christian men and philosophers 204 00:19:36,079 --> 00:19:39,700 who had bent their talents to reflecting on these subjects. 205 00:19:39,700 --> 00:19:42,220 They were men like Montesquieu, 206 00:19:42,220 --> 00:19:43,819 Samuel Wutherford, 207 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:45,099 Algernon Sidney, 208 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:45,660 and of course, 209 00:19:45,940 --> 00:19:47,299 Mr. John Locke, 210 00:19:47,759 --> 00:19:50,259 considered the philosopher of the Revolution. 211 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,059 These men developed the idea 212 00:19:53,059 --> 00:19:56,160 that not only was there explicit obedience 213 00:19:56,160 --> 00:19:57,259 expected of the subject, 214 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:00,079 but also an implied contract 215 00:20:00,079 --> 00:20:03,519 existed between magistrate and subject. 216 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,539 Locke called it the social contract. 217 00:20:06,539 --> 00:20:10,859 This social contract implied implicit 218 00:20:10,859 --> 00:20:12,900 in every relationship in government. 219 00:20:13,140 --> 00:20:15,400 This social contract existed 220 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:18,880 between him and those who exercised rule. 221 00:20:19,420 --> 00:20:23,140 Consequently, king, legislature, and judge 222 00:20:23,140 --> 00:20:25,759 must follow the commandment of the scriptures, 223 00:20:26,259 --> 00:20:28,960 one of which stated in 2 Samuel 23, 224 00:20:29,619 --> 00:20:31,920 he that ruleth over men must be just, 225 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:34,400 ruling in the fear of God, unquote. 226 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,779 Oh, listen, oh, modern magistrates, 227 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,720 those in federal and state governments today, 228 00:20:41,099 --> 00:20:43,779 he that ruleth over man must be just, 229 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,319 ruling in the fear of God, 230 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,779 none of which exist, I submit to you, 231 00:20:48,819 --> 00:20:51,640 with most of those in government today. 232 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:54,279 It is widely acknowledged 233 00:20:54,279 --> 00:20:57,859 that the ruler who violated this contract, 234 00:20:58,039 --> 00:20:59,619 implicit social contract, 235 00:20:59,740 --> 00:21:02,380 between magistrates and subject, 236 00:21:02,380 --> 00:21:05,380 those who violated this contract, 237 00:21:05,559 --> 00:21:08,140 forfeited their right to the obedience 238 00:21:08,140 --> 00:21:10,319 and loyalty of the subject. 239 00:21:11,119 --> 00:21:12,819 Even good King James I, 240 00:21:13,019 --> 00:21:14,519 who was no friend to democracy, 241 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,079 he noted, and I quote him, 242 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:17,859 a king ceases to be a king 243 00:21:17,859 --> 00:21:19,579 and degenerates to a tyrant 244 00:21:19,579 --> 00:21:21,180 as soon as he leaves off 245 00:21:21,180 --> 00:21:24,180 to rule according to his laws, unquote. 246 00:21:24,180 --> 00:21:31,059 Oh, if only George III had listened 247 00:21:31,059 --> 00:21:33,759 to his predecessor, King James. 248 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,359 But instead, George III added, 249 00:21:37,779 --> 00:21:39,359 as Thomas Jefferson articulated 250 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,519 in the Declaration of Independence, 251 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,819 a long train of abuses and usurpations 252 00:21:44,819 --> 00:21:47,720 pursuing invariably the same object 253 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,460 evinces a design to reduce them 254 00:21:50,460 --> 00:21:52,099 under absolute despotism. 255 00:21:52,099 --> 00:21:54,839 It is their right, it is their duty 256 00:21:54,839 --> 00:21:56,660 to throw off such government 257 00:21:56,660 --> 00:21:58,359 and to provide new guards 258 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,140 for their future security, unquote, 259 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:03,119 from the Declaration of Independence. 260 00:22:04,299 --> 00:22:06,019 Jefferson did not pen this 261 00:22:06,019 --> 00:22:08,599 in an intellectual and biblical vacuum. 262 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:11,440 His readers knew precisely 263 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:12,359 whence his thought. 264 00:22:13,140 --> 00:22:14,960 Resistance to tyrants, for example, 265 00:22:15,019 --> 00:22:16,819 was a well-established doctrine 266 00:22:16,819 --> 00:22:18,240 in civil philosophy. 267 00:22:18,779 --> 00:22:20,000 Understand that today, 268 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,720 those of you who cow in the face of tyranny, 269 00:22:23,079 --> 00:22:24,339 resistance to tyrants 270 00:22:24,339 --> 00:22:26,220 was a well-established doctrine 271 00:22:26,220 --> 00:22:27,619 in civil philosophy 272 00:22:27,619 --> 00:22:29,019 at the time of the Revolution. 273 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,539 Samuel Rutherford, for example, 274 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,279 in his book, Lex Rex, observes, 275 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:35,019 and I quote him, 276 00:22:35,539 --> 00:22:38,180 he who resisteth the man who is the king, 277 00:22:38,839 --> 00:22:40,980 commanding that which is against God, 278 00:22:41,180 --> 00:22:42,039 killing the innocent, 279 00:22:42,259 --> 00:22:44,420 resisteth no ordinance of God, 280 00:22:44,819 --> 00:22:46,240 but an ordinance of Satan. 281 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,000 For a man commanding unjustly 282 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,460 and ruling tyrannically 283 00:22:50,460 --> 00:22:51,940 hath in that 284 00:22:51,940 --> 00:22:55,059 no power from God, unquote. 285 00:22:56,059 --> 00:22:57,700 Now, King George III 286 00:22:57,700 --> 00:22:59,259 amply fit this description, 287 00:22:59,980 --> 00:23:01,500 and Jefferson made this clear 288 00:23:01,500 --> 00:23:02,839 in his Bill of Particulars 289 00:23:02,839 --> 00:23:04,720 in the Declaration of Independence, 290 00:23:04,839 --> 00:23:05,240 didn't he? 291 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,079 The catalog of wrongs is daunting 292 00:23:08,079 --> 00:23:09,519 and takes up the large bulk 293 00:23:09,519 --> 00:23:10,359 of the Declaration 294 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:11,380 when you read it, 295 00:23:11,859 --> 00:23:13,299 even though the opening paragraphs 296 00:23:13,299 --> 00:23:14,200 are usually quoted 297 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:15,099 and not much else. 298 00:23:15,099 --> 00:23:17,539 Now, Jefferson does this 299 00:23:17,539 --> 00:23:19,440 because the candid world 300 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:20,440 to which he addressed 301 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:21,119 the Declaration 302 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:22,480 would have expected 303 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,079 a biblical and philosophical rationale 304 00:23:25,079 --> 00:23:26,880 for the serious matter 305 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:27,700 of rebellion. 306 00:23:28,460 --> 00:23:30,160 If it could be demonstrated 307 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:31,099 that King George III 308 00:23:31,759 --> 00:23:33,740 was not ruling over men justly, 309 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:35,079 but rather ruling, 310 00:23:35,500 --> 00:23:36,759 I'm sorry, 311 00:23:37,299 --> 00:23:38,819 if the Declaration 312 00:23:38,819 --> 00:23:39,920 could demonstrate 313 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:40,960 that George III 314 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:42,660 was not ruling over men justly, 315 00:23:42,819 --> 00:23:43,900 ruling in the fear of God, 316 00:23:43,900 --> 00:23:45,559 that America's case 317 00:23:45,559 --> 00:23:46,579 was made. 318 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:49,200 And so, 319 00:23:49,579 --> 00:23:51,579 besides providing posterity 320 00:23:51,579 --> 00:23:52,240 with a set 321 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:53,920 of inspirational prose, 322 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:55,779 the Declaration 323 00:23:55,779 --> 00:23:57,519 accomplishes its goal 324 00:23:57,519 --> 00:23:59,099 of making the argument 325 00:23:59,099 --> 00:24:00,119 for separation 326 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:01,319 from the mother country. 327 00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:02,740 And so, 328 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:04,299 Jefferson could look to God 329 00:24:04,299 --> 00:24:05,180 for his justification 330 00:24:05,180 --> 00:24:06,380 of America's cause, 331 00:24:06,980 --> 00:24:07,720 as he put it, 332 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:09,099 appealing to the 333 00:24:09,099 --> 00:24:10,480 supreme judge of the world 334 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:11,559 for the rectitude 335 00:24:11,559 --> 00:24:12,299 of our intentions, 336 00:24:12,980 --> 00:24:13,980 do in the name 337 00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:15,319 and by authority 338 00:24:15,319 --> 00:24:16,079 of the good people 339 00:24:16,079 --> 00:24:16,900 of these colonies 340 00:24:16,900 --> 00:24:18,380 solemnly publish 341 00:24:18,380 --> 00:24:18,980 and declare 342 00:24:18,980 --> 00:24:20,980 that these united colonies 343 00:24:20,980 --> 00:24:21,559 are, 344 00:24:21,759 --> 00:24:22,480 and of right, 345 00:24:22,839 --> 00:24:23,460 ought to be, 346 00:24:23,819 --> 00:24:26,019 free and independent states. 347 00:24:26,259 --> 00:24:26,700 Unquote. 348 00:24:26,859 --> 00:24:27,980 From the Declaration 349 00:24:27,980 --> 00:24:29,119 of Independence. 350 00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:30,680 And so, 351 00:24:30,779 --> 00:24:31,319 we discover 352 00:24:31,319 --> 00:24:32,579 that in everything 353 00:24:32,579 --> 00:24:34,599 from the colonial charters 354 00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:36,059 and constitutions 355 00:24:36,059 --> 00:24:37,480 to the very Declaration 356 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:38,980 of Independence itself, 357 00:24:39,559 --> 00:24:40,460 penned on the eve 358 00:24:40,460 --> 00:24:41,160 of the revolution, 359 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:42,960 the Christian religion 360 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:44,519 suffused 361 00:24:44,519 --> 00:24:45,420 the thought 362 00:24:45,420 --> 00:24:46,339 and souls 363 00:24:46,339 --> 00:24:47,079 of the men 364 00:24:47,079 --> 00:24:47,619 who made them. 365 00:24:48,759 --> 00:24:49,039 So, 366 00:24:49,140 --> 00:24:49,500 dear listener, 367 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:50,660 to divorce God 368 00:24:50,660 --> 00:24:51,779 from our institutions 369 00:24:51,779 --> 00:24:52,500 today, 370 00:24:53,099 --> 00:24:54,359 as is being done 371 00:24:54,359 --> 00:24:55,140 apace, 372 00:24:55,619 --> 00:24:56,819 and to expunge 373 00:24:56,819 --> 00:24:57,980 the memory of God 374 00:24:57,980 --> 00:24:58,720 and his book 375 00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:00,940 is only to pull out 376 00:25:00,940 --> 00:25:01,660 from underneath 377 00:25:01,660 --> 00:25:02,720 our collective feet 378 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:04,500 the very foundation 379 00:25:04,500 --> 00:25:05,880 that causes us 380 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:06,519 to stand 381 00:25:06,519 --> 00:25:07,039 as a country. 382 00:25:08,059 --> 00:25:08,740 In fact, 383 00:25:08,900 --> 00:25:09,740 what we hope 384 00:25:09,740 --> 00:25:10,480 to demonstrate 385 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:11,299 indeed 386 00:25:11,299 --> 00:25:12,880 is that 387 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,119 there is a close 388 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:14,559 connection 389 00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:16,039 between biblical principles 390 00:25:16,039 --> 00:25:18,660 and preceding charters 391 00:25:18,660 --> 00:25:20,960 with our Constitution. 392 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:22,319 To say, 393 00:25:22,420 --> 00:25:23,440 God is nowhere mentioned 394 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:24,039 in the text 395 00:25:24,039 --> 00:25:24,880 of the Constitution, 396 00:25:25,059 --> 00:25:25,619 blah, blah, blah, 397 00:25:25,619 --> 00:25:27,660 is really only 398 00:25:27,660 --> 00:25:28,240 a canard. 399 00:25:28,759 --> 00:25:29,299 The Constitution 400 00:25:29,299 --> 00:25:30,859 itself is intimately 401 00:25:30,859 --> 00:25:31,599 connected with 402 00:25:31,599 --> 00:25:32,279 the atmosphere 403 00:25:32,279 --> 00:25:33,279 in which it was created 404 00:25:33,279 --> 00:25:34,839 and it was not made 405 00:25:34,839 --> 00:25:35,599 in a vacuum. 406 00:25:36,019 --> 00:25:36,819 Oh, dear listener, 407 00:25:36,980 --> 00:25:38,099 as you celebrate 408 00:25:38,099 --> 00:25:39,059 Thanksgiving this year, 409 00:25:39,420 --> 00:25:40,700 I hope that you do 410 00:25:40,700 --> 00:25:41,819 indeed give thanks 411 00:25:41,819 --> 00:25:42,339 not only 412 00:25:42,339 --> 00:25:44,240 for the food 413 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:45,339 and the family 414 00:25:45,339 --> 00:25:46,480 and the football 415 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:48,119 that you enjoy 416 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:49,640 on Thanksgiving Day, 417 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,140 but also for the faith 418 00:25:51,140 --> 00:25:52,240 that you enjoy 419 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:52,940 and the freedom 420 00:25:52,940 --> 00:25:53,420 you have 421 00:25:53,420 --> 00:25:54,059 to exercise 422 00:25:54,059 --> 00:25:54,720 that faith 423 00:25:54,720 --> 00:25:56,000 and indeed 424 00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:56,799 the foundation 425 00:25:56,799 --> 00:25:57,500 upon which 426 00:25:57,500 --> 00:25:58,640 our constitutional 427 00:25:58,640 --> 00:25:59,819 republic was made 428 00:25:59,819 --> 00:26:00,619 and that is 429 00:26:00,619 --> 00:26:01,220 the Bible 430 00:26:01,220 --> 00:26:02,299 and the gospel 431 00:26:02,299 --> 00:26:03,720 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 432 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:05,440 This has been 433 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:06,579 Pastor David Bass 434 00:26:06,579 --> 00:26:07,559 at New Geneva 435 00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:09,779 Orthodox Presbyterian Church. 436 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:11,339 We are located 437 00:26:11,339 --> 00:26:12,559 in Idaho Falls 438 00:26:12,559 --> 00:26:14,599 and we celebrate 439 00:26:14,599 --> 00:26:16,660 our Holy Sabbath worship 440 00:26:16,660 --> 00:26:19,259 at 10 a.m. 441 00:26:19,299 --> 00:26:20,039 on Sunday. 442 00:26:20,519 --> 00:26:21,519 We're located 443 00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:23,299 at 101 4th Street 444 00:26:23,299 --> 00:26:24,079 on the corner 445 00:26:24,079 --> 00:26:25,119 of 4th and Boulevard 446 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,440 and you can call us 447 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:28,640 for further information 448 00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,359 at area code 449 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:35,140 208-523-0196 450 00:26:35,140 --> 00:26:36,200 and you can 451 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,240 give me some feedback 452 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:39,640 perhaps on this message 453 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:41,039 or find out 454 00:26:41,039 --> 00:26:41,900 further information 455 00:26:41,900 --> 00:26:42,940 about our Bible studies, 456 00:26:43,039 --> 00:26:43,460 our websites, 457 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:44,359 all these kinds 458 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:45,019 of great things 459 00:26:45,019 --> 00:26:46,099 at area code 460 00:26:46,099 --> 00:26:49,779 208-523-0196. 461 00:26:49,779 --> 00:26:51,559 We'll see you next time. 462 00:26:51,559 --> 00:26:52,400 We'll see you next time. 463 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:53,400 We'll see you next time.