American Education: Curriculum for a Constitution

by Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater

One of the modem myths, due to our ignorance of history, is that the educational level of our pre-Constitutional period was very low. Consequently it follows that most Americans believe the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written by and were representative of only a small minority of educated men. On the contrary, the educational level of our pre-Revolutionary population was considerably higher than our national level of education today.

At the time of the Declaration of Independence the quality of education had enabled the colonies to achieve a degree of literacy from “70% to virtually 100%.” This was not education restricted to the few. Modern scholarship reports “the prevalence of schooling and its accessibility to most segments of the population.”

How did American education produce such a remarkable people--even before we became a nation? The answer begins with the predominance of the Bible in American life and learning.

Dr. Lawrence A. Cremin in his study of American education from 1607 to 1789 credits the high quality of American education to the Bible, “the single most important cultural influence in the lives of Anglo-Americans,” The Bible, states Dr. Cremin, “contained the means to salvation, the keys to good and evil, the roles by which to live, and the standards against which to measure the conduct of prince and pastor.” From the time of the Pilgrims and Puritans, men had set the standard of God's Word before them to measure the tyranny and despotism of their times. American life began with the flight of men, women and children who sought civil and religious liberty—a vision inspired by the Bible. The New World was to be the habitation of liberty and law. Literacy—the first promise of education—has always been associated with the Bible.

The schools taught a classical education built upon the Bible. The primary purpose of the early colleges was to turn out Christian men who knew God's Word thoroughly and could reason from its principles to civil government, economics, and all national concerns.

When our republic was established and we began our first years as a new nation, it became important to clearly distinguish those aspects of curriculum which would help us maintain both the character and the conscience which would perpetuate our form of government under the Constitution.

Christians have allowed this Christian Republic to deteriorate into a socialistic democracy, and we have put our religious and civil liberties in jeopardy.

As has been shown briefly, America's form of civil government is the product of the Bible in the hands of the individual, and the individual endeavoring with the Lord's help, to live every aspect of his life in accordance with the precepts given, which were summed lip in the two commandments of our Lord. It has also been shown we have failed to maintain the quality of education practiced by the Founding Father generations, and the failure to do so has undermined our capacity for self­ government with union.

American Christians should earnestly begin to learn the Biblical principles of government which made us a Christian Republic, and the events which made us this unique nation under the Providence of God, and humbly beseech God to withhold His Hand.

Let us, as Individuals, and as a nation, rededicate ourselves to the restoration of the home—as a nursery of character—for all—adults as well as children. Let us restore home as the educational center for learning Christian self-government with union, so that we may carry out this principle into all avenues of our nation and thus restore the efficacy of our Constitution. Home is the first sphere of government.

Lastly, let us pray that some pastors in America today will be willing to study their pastoral heritage. For it was the pastors of Colonial and Revolutionary America who led our nation in forming both the character for Christian self-government with union, and the Constitution.

If American Federalism—Christian self-government with union, the State and the Nation—is to work effectively, we must have the restoration of Biblical and governmental leadership from our clergy we once had. Oh, that our present day pastors would preach the quality of sermons preached by our Founding Father pastors in their election sermons, fast day sermons, weekly lectures, artillery sermons, as well as their Sunday sermons!

© Used with permission of Foundation for American Christian Education, http://face.net

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1. Verna M. Hall and Rosalie J. Slater, The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America (Foundation for American Christian Education, San Francisco, 1983), pp. 26-37.
2. Ibid., p. 39.
3. Ibid., p. 39.
4. Ibid., pp.40-41.

AMERICA’S CHRISTIAN HISTORY: It’s Distinctives and Importance

Excerpts from an Address By Verna M. Hall, December 1980

There is indeed a stirring in the land—the Lord’s stirring of His people for the preservation and rebuilding of America—the world’s first Christian Republic. It is like unto Haggai 1:14, “And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedeck, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” Matthew Henry, the colonial clergy’s commentator says of this passage, “When God has work to do, he will either find or make men fit to do it, and stir them up to it.”

Learning and teaching America’s Christian history and education is GOD’S WORK, as we will show you — it is not just an academic course, an interesting study, a personal theory or idea. IT IS THE LORD’S WORK, which is why it is so important for God’s people to KNOW it, and why it is so dangerous for them to continue to ignore it, which they have done now for at least a hundred years. God’s people have indeed been tempting God, and it is an exceedingly dangerous business.

There are God’s people who are concerned about the economic situation of our nation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned about the moral situation of our nation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned with the consequences of public education—and well they should be. There are God’s people who are concerned about our governmental situation—and well they should be. There are those who are concerned about the rapidly growing socialist influence around the world, etc., and well they should be. But dangerous as these issue areas are to the well-being of our nation, they are still only the secondary areas of concern—they are but the effect of not dealing with the primary area—which might be summed up as American Christians deliberately forgetting God’s Hand in the establishment and formation of the nation—America.

There is another very large group of God’s people in this nation who are not dealing with this primary area, and it is composed of those who are not at all concerned about the condition of America, or who have very little sense of responsibility for it, who are only interested in one phase of Christianity—that of evangelism. All important as the Great Commission is, it is not to preclude the practical living of the Biblical principles of life and government. It is not to preclude God’s people from remembering God's hand in this nation's history.

WHY THIS IS THE LORD’S WORK

A moment ago I told you that teaching and learning America’s Christian history was important because it is the Lord’s work. All Christian ministries are the Lord’s work—what is distinct, or more important about this activity?

Let me answer by saying the omission of this subject is a sin of omission on the part of God’s people, and has accounted for the failure of our ever-increasing and widening Christian activities to make an impact upon our nation’s life and standards. Likewise did the understanding and constant remembrance of this fact by the founding father generations make a positive impact upon all aspects of life—including government.

To illustrate: Using the business graph technique, consider the amount of money which has been expended on Christian activities during the last fifty years. The amount is exceedingly great—in the billions, and the number of crusades, radio and TV stations, book stores, publication houses, magazines, churches, schools, (audio tapes, video tapes, tracts, bulletins, mailings, etc.) all have an enviable percentage increase for this period. But consider the status of our nation during that same period. All areas have declined which should have shown the effect of this expenditure of funds for Christian activities—home life, morals, business standards and ethics, economics, and government. Not one of these areas is of the quality of fifty years ago. Why has not God honored all of this expenditure for His ministries?

Participating in giving back to American Christians a knowledge of the providence of God in America’s history is the most important evangelical, educational, economic and political activity in which you can be engaged. With this knowledge restored, the wonderful Christian ministries now in operation, can have their desired effect — but without it the gap between Christian activities and their effect upon our social, civil, economic life as a nation will grow wider and wider.

By contrast, consider the same type of business graph for the period in our nation’s history from 1750 to 1800. The expenditure for the outreach of Christian activities was minimal when compared to the last fifty years, but note the effect of Christian principles on all phases of life! It was in this period that God brought forth the world’s first Christian Republic; established the greatest degree of freedom for the individual, home, church and school from the state for the first time in mankind’s history! The Christians must have been doing something right during that period which we are not doing today, and I submit that it is in this one area primarily, that of remembering God’s Hand in our history.

Our nation is not in trouble because of the aggressive activity of socialists, liberals, communists, one worlders, Trilateralists, world bankers, etc. — it is this way because of the failure of American Christians to remember, and value, the Christian History of their nation and the biblical principles of their government... their failure to value what it cost to produce the freedom they take so much for granted.

When one knows something of what is going on governmentally— the abuses of our system, local, state and national— it is very easy to become convinced that the negative forces are the aggressor and the cause of our problems; but the contrary is true—they are but filling the places which should have been occupied by those understanding Biblical principles of government and economics. Those we call the offenders are merely filling the places of leadership in all fields of endeavor, which have been given them by the default of the Christians. This has been going on for over a hundred years; is it any wonder that Biblical principles of our history and government, of economics and education are not in control in our country?

This is a very important point to understand as we enter into the matter of learning what God’s purpose is for America. Otherwise, we will seem to be “not on target”, whereas, if one will admit that our nation’s problems have been caused by American Christians ignoring what we will be studying—then you can see what I said before—this educational activity becomes the most important evangelical, political activity in which you can be engaged. I have dwelt on the point of motive for teaching and learning America’s Christian history, because over the years we have found there are two basic reasons why American Christians do not know this subject, and resist learning it and supporting such activity financially:

1. They are not interested in the subject of history or government, and feel to be studying it is to take away from Bible study (more important Bible doctrines such as salvation, separation, sanctification, etc.) or church activities (Sunday School, Neighborhood Witness, anti-abortion demonstrations, etc.); they feel this subject is secular and therefore should separate from it. 
2. They are interested in government but feel they should spend their time waking people up to the issues because the situation is so serious. They do not see that studying history, even America’s Christian history, is going to do anything about the situation now. It will take too long.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS REGARDING HISTORY

“The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them” (Psalms 78:9-11).

Matthew Henry says of this passage: “Our forgetfulness of God’s works is at the bottom of our disobedience to his laws.” Noah Webster describes “bottom”: “The foundation or ground work of any thing, as of an edifice, or of any system or moral subject; the base, or that which supports any superstructure.”

The American Christians’ forgetting God’s works, God’s actions (God’s Providence) in the forming of America, is at the bottom, or base of our national problems. As we forgot we began to disobey His laws in the field of government—individually and collectively; we allowed and furthered socialism with all the sinful aspects of it we see in our nation today.

If we will accept the responsibility for our nation’s situation, and see that our forgetting God’s works, God’s actions, God’s Providence is the primal cause, then the repenting of this sin of omission, coupled with the willingness to learn what God has done—the events of our history—will begin, with the Lord’s blessing, the restoring and rebuilding of our nation. But the individual American Christian’s activity must be TWOFOLD—it is not enough to repent, be sorry. The proof of the genuineness of the repentance lies in the second step—the willingness to take the time to learn. This is always the Christian’s stumbling block—willingness to change his way of life. Here is where the character struggle lies. Here is where the battle for the survival of America and all she stands for in relation to the Gospel—here, in the character of American Christians, is the battleground for the survival of America.

Now let us look at Hosea. “For Israel hath forgotten his maker, and building palaces” (Hosea 8:14). The phrase “forgotten his Maker” is of importance to us, for it applies to America Christians — they have forgotten their Maker as Americans.

G. Campbell Morgan, commenting on this phrase tells us there is a different meaning to the word “forget”. He says men cannot forget God. “They can deny Him, but in so doing they are still remembering Him. Men do not forget God intellectually…The Hebrew word means quite simply, to MISLAY. Israel hath mislaid his Maker. You know what it is to mislay something. You have not forgotten it, but you have mislaid it.” Rev. Morgan goes on to say: “After Moses had led Israel through all the difficulties — what is the one grave peril he warns them against: Forgetting God—to mislay God—to be oblivious of.” Moses saw Israel down the coming years, and he knew its supreme peril would be that God should be mislaid, regarding the events by which God had brought them out of bondage.

To emphasize this point a bit more. If a piece of paper were to be handed to all the clergy in the country with the instructions to list the providential events in the Old Testament times, by and large they all could do it well. But if they were handed another piece of paper with instructions to list some providential events leading to the establishment of America and her Constitution — only a very few would be able to do so.

If the clergy cannot do it, can we expect (nominal) Christians to do it? But two hundred years ago the clergy could do this, and did it for the edification of the people. They published such (Thanksgiving, Election, and Artillery) sermons so the people could study them… [The end of Miss Hall’s address has been lost. Nonetheless, its theme is well taken. Therefore, we have taken the liberty, with permission of the Foundation for American Christian Education, to provide an appropriate conclusion to this section on the place of the Bible in history from The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America.—ed.]

SERMONS AS POLITICAL PAMPHLETS¹

Modern scholarship has established the fact that the many sermons of our pastors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were dissertations on government—individual self-government. They were not political, in our modern sense of the word, but governmental. For a people Biblically educated it was thought right and proper to seek first God’s direction, learn His truths to determine how men should govern themselves individually and collectively. “The annual ‘Election Sermon’—a perpetual memorial, continued down through the generations from century to century—still bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”² Election day in the colonies was celebrated by long governmental sermons delivered by pastors and printed for circulation throughout the colonies. Many were sent to England.

American Federalism, the practice of self-government at every level of society and government, could not have been learned apart from the study of the Bible. Therefore the history of the Bible and the history of American liberty are inseparable.

There were, in addition to the Sunday and Fast Day sermons, different types, all contributing to the education of the public. Today there is “a famine in the land … of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11)—a famine of instruction in Biblical principles of government. Oh that we might raise up pastors like our Colonial clergy willing to restore the foundations of American Federalism—Christian Self-Government with Union.

ELECTION SERMONS

These were given at the seat of government in answer to the request of either the House of Representatives or the Council upon the election of the Governor’s Council. These sermons were many pages in length and dealt with the subject of character and civil government, showing that both areas must conform to God’s Word.

Consider an excerpt from the Election Sermon of May 26, 1742 by Nathaniel Appleton, Pastor of the First Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, preached before His Excellency William Shirley, Esq. Governour, His Honor the Lieutenant Governor, The Honourable His Majesty’s Council, and House of Representatives. Rev. Appleton’s text was from Psalms 72:1–3, “Give the King thy judgments, O God, and thy Righteousness unto the King’s Son. He shall Judge thy People with Righteousness, and thy Poor with Judgment. The Mountains shall bring Peace to the People, and the little Hills by Righteousness.”

“But then if we consider the moral Law as delivered in Thunders and Lightnings from Mount Sinai, and then written upon Tables of Stone, to denote the Perpetuity of it; and if we consider the particular Precepts under these general Laws, recorded up and down in the sacred Scriptures, we shall find such Precepts of Wisdom, such Rules of Justice, Truth and Goodness laid down, as are a sufficient Directory for us in every Station of Life, whether private or Publick, whether in natural, civil, or sacred Authority. And most certainly, there are no such Maxims of Wisdom, Justice and Goodness to be found anywhere, as in the holy Scriptures. “And now these are the Judgments of God that are given to us as well as unto the Nation of Israel; for they are founded upon the Nature and Relation of Things, and are of universal and perpetual Obligation. They are Precepts & Rules that God in his infinite Wisdom has judged most proper and suitable for such Beings as we, who perfectly knows our Frame, and what Sort of Laws are proper for us to be govern’d by. These are Judgments and Laws that Length of Time, or Changes of Circumstances don't alter the Nature of, nor weaken our Obligation to them. These Laws are founded upon Truth, and Justice and Goodness, and so are Immovable as the Mountains, and Immutable as God himself.

“So that for God to give his Judgments to Kings and Rulers, is to give them a clear Understanding of those Rules of moral Government, that he has laid down in his Word, and that they may learn from the Word of God, what is right and just, true and good, and that they may frame their Notions of these Things, not merely from their own Reason, nor from the Morals of the Heathen, but from the Oracles of god, which give us the clearest, the fullest and the most refined Notions of moral Vertues, and fix our Obligations to them upon their Proper Basis, viz. The Authority of God. (p. 11–12) …

“I have but one Law-Book that I shall pretend to recommend to your careful perusal, and that is the Holy Bible, which contains the Laws, Statutes, and Judgments, the Reports and Records of the King of Heaven: There you will find that God has given us, as we are told, right Judgments, and true laws, good Statutes & Commandments. (Neh. 9:13) O then, Let all your private Counsel, and all your publick Pleas, be such as agree with these Divine statutes.” (p. 54) …

“Before I shut up, I must entreat you to spare me a Word to the body of the people very briefly. And here let me say, That as the Judgments, and the Righteousness of God are necessary to make good Rulers and good Ministers, so are they to make a good People. The same Rules that will teach, and the same Righteousness and Grace that will dispose and enable Rulers to govern aright, are as necessary to direct and dispose you to submit to the Government over you. And the same Laws that empower some to rule, demand Subjection and Obedience from you.…

“And here I would observe, that we have always set up for a religious People, and have gloried in it. I pray God that we may by all our Carriages make it more and more evident that this Character does belong unto us. And that the great Awakenings that have been of late, and are still among People, may issue in such a sober, humble, obedient, regular Carriage, as may give us more and more Occasions for Thanksgivings to God upon this Account. And let me tell you, that Subjection to Authority is such a very considerable Article in Christianity, that there is no pretending to be Christians, much less reformed Christians without it.” (p. 58)

Prologue by the editors:
This stirring sermon excerpt exemplifies how Americans routinely applied the Scriptures to ordinary life, as a means to make the Great Commission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ successful upon every possible societal foundation, so that whether they ate or drank, or whatever they did, early American Christians did all they did for the glory of God. No areas of life were neutral, not even table manners. Contemporary Americans are horribly ignorant of this great heritage.

Since the early 1980s, when both Jerry Nordskog and Ron Kirk became acquainted with Verna Hall, Rosalie Slater, and this great Christian legacy, this ignorance seems to have grown exponentially. The need for the revival of the knowledge of God’s Providence in Christian history ought to be clear to those with even a small inkling of what the Gospel requires in stewardship over foundation institutions such as the home, church, education, and civil liberty and justice. At this very moment—as these words are being written—the House of Representatives has passed the onerous, unconstitutional, and historically watershed bill known as Cap and Trade. If Christians do not now respond to the call to get Biblical wisdom as to the foundations of civilization may very well be destroyed, and the passage often cited by the Foundation for American Christian Education may become our common lament: “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3).

Let us not further squander nearly four hundred years of American heritage, with the prospect of perhaps another century to pass before we might recover our once common liberty. Rather, at this time when we ordinarily celebrate America’s Christian liberty in the form of our Declaration of Independence and of the successful defense of the ancient rights of Englishmen through the following long War of Independence, may we solemnly reflect on this great heritage, and seek each one our rightful contribution to its recovery, for the sake of the Gospel and the glory of our God.

Permission to republish by Foundation for American Christian Education (http://face.net/).

1. Hall, Verna M., Slater, Rosalie J.: The Bible and the Constitution of the United States of America. San Francisco : Foundation for American Christian Education, 1983, pp. 22-24 
2.  Hall, Verna M., The Christian History of the American Revolution. San Francisco : Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976, p. 191.

The Christian Roots of Our Constitution by Verna M. Hall

The Legacy & Treasury of Verna M. Hall

...Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; ...
(Deuteronomy 4:6b–9, from the parting counsels of Moses; compared to the American Constitution by Noah Webster, p. 102)

The 2000 Journal of the Foundation for American Christian Education, Vol. viii, is a special tribute to Verna M. Hall.

In an age of disregard of our fundamental principles of law, we seem to have only a faint realization that we are a government of laws upheld by the character and integrity of the individuals who hold office. Therefore, we are especially blessed to have so many splendid articles in this our first millennial issue of the F.A.C.E. Journal. Indeed, Dr. Gary Amos, of Regent University, kindly acknowledges the publication of the sources of English common law in Verna Hall’s two volumes of The Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America: Christian Self-Government and Christian Self-Government with Union. Thus, with the method of Biblical reasoning, the Principle Approach, in this century many have recovered what Dr. Amos refers to as our “long-neglected keys to learning.”

We know how few, if any law schools today teach Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England. We therefore encouraged Dr. Amos to fully write his Guide to Understanding Blackstone, so that it could be an available resource to law schools, lawyers, and particularly to students at all levels of learning American Constitutional government. In fact, as Stephen McDowell, President of The Providence Foundation, states, “next to the Holy Bible, America’s Constitution is the most important document ever written for the benefit of mankind.” Rev. McDowell then indicates that in the two hundred years since the United States Constitution went into effect, “over 175 nations have adopted constitutions mostly modeled on that of America.”

Those of us privileged to study and work with Verna Hall have come more and more to value her willingness to be called of the Lord to restore to American Christians those specific avenues of research which led our Colonial ancestors to establish Christian self-government. Today such recognition is critical, for America has lost the leadership of its pastors in teaching the relationship of Biblical law to our Constitution. Let us pray that the rising generations of Christianly-educated students will provide the Constitutional leadership needed in this nation. But this will require that we, the adult inheritors of liberty with law, can once again accept the call to research and record our study of ‘the most important document ever written for the benefit of the government of mankind.’ Again this would be a testimony to Verna Hall’s obedience to the Lord’s call upon her life and learning.

In 1986, we became aware of a major exhibit of the Oregon Historical Society: “Magna Carta to the Constitution—Liberty under the Law.” In its announcement it stated, “The exhibition will feature the original Magna Carta from Lincoln Cathedral, England, and an international collection of rare documents and historic artifacts tracing the Great Charter’s influence on the development of a free form of government in the United States. It is Oregon’s gift to the nation in celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.” The exhibit was the vision of Paul Parker from England, who had earned a master’s degree in history at Oxford. He was a native of Lincoln, England, where one of the four surviving copies of Magna Carta was housed in Lincoln Cathedral. He and his American wife, Gail, were the major influence in bringing forth this exhibit. A sixty-four page book which shares the exhibit’s name, Magna Carta to the Constitution: Liberty under the Law was published by Magna Carta in America and Graphic Arts Center Pub. Co., Portland, Oregon, ©1986, Paul St. John Parker.

It was our delight to travel with Verna to the exhibit because Portland, Oregon had been her home for many years. She was encouraged to see a whole class of students with their teacher come in and take notes in anticipation of deeper study. It is wondrous that in God’s Love He gave Verna a glimpse of the effect of teaching the story of Magna Carta and its influence on our American Constitution. We are grateful for our legacy and treasury of Verna M. Hall and the availability through her publications of the individuals who most influenced the forming of America’s Biblical constitution. One of her unpublished speeches is presented here.

The Christian Roots of Our Constitution
by Verna M. Hall Co-founder, Foundation for American Christian Education

The record of America as a Christian nation resides in the documented history of her founding. This record has been deliberately obscured in order to deprive the American of his Christian heritage of individual liberty. The rediscovery of the Christian foundation of our country and its form of government can restore Christian Leadership to America. But in order to return America to Christianity, this knowledge must be the background of every individual engaged in the education of American youth—parents, clergymen, and educators.

The Principles of America’s Constitution

It is now clearly apparent that if we would preserve both liberty of conscience and civil freedom for every individual in America, we must begin to understand the principles upon which our American Christian Constitution is constructed. Today there are vast amounts of literature flooding the country, and, in an effort to keep abreast of the times, individuals spend a large proportion of each week reviewing many publications and books. But there are still too few efforts to pursue, either individually, in families, or in study groups, positive programs for learning the principles of America’s Constitutional form of government. Once the individual becomes informed and aware of the dangers confronting our nation, it then becomes critically important to take effective action to reconstruct and rebuild Constitutional liberty. This cannot be accomplished by merely uncovering the problem. Human knowledge and human reason are not able to provide the insight and wisdom needed. Unless the American understands his Christian history and the Christian principles of his Constitutional form of government, he is not equipped to assume his unique, God-ordained responsibility in meeting today’s challenge to the freedom of mankind.

Once again, as in the founding period of our nation, we must reunite our knowledge of the Holy Scriptures—the great political textbook of the patriots– with the history of America and its Constitution. The battle today is for men’s hearts and souls. It is not a battle for men’s minds. The mind will believe what the heart accepts. The battle can be won only in the conscience, the character, and the life of the individual American. This is the primary battleground, an internal battleground, as it has always been throughout the centuries as Christianity has worked its way ever westward in its march around the world, bringing with it wherever accepted, the only true freedom for the individual.

This is why the battle is not primarily economic or political, but solely for the survival of Christianity. Only as the American Christian remembers that America can never be separated from the chain of Christianity moving ever westward, will he understand how to defeat socialism which has permeated every avenue of our once Christian way of life. As long as he believes the battle is primarily political, economic, or military, he will be ignorantly a tool for the advance of socialism.

The Tree of Liberty must be nourished with our attention to what constitutes the Constitution. This has to do with conscience and character, and we must—in the home, church, and school—restore Christian conscience and Christian character as the keystone to the foundation of liberty and freedom.

As Christian educators in all fields, and at all grade levels—from the consecrated kindergarten teacher to the Doctor of Theology in a University or Seminary; from the teacher of the alphabet to the professor of zoology—as these educators draw upon their own love of Christ and country they will discover many new ways in which to build a living curriculum from the Christian treasury of the founding of our nation. And in turn, as the student sees his own relationship to Christianity and to America he can be helped to put into practice Christianity’s own form of government—Christian self-government. It then follows, that a generation so educated would begin to restore this nation to its original course and purpose. We submit that there is no other way—any other method is but expediency.

Christian Form

Why is the Constitution of the United States of America a Christian document setting forth the Christian form of civil government? Simply because its nature and essence, its structure and framework are to be found in the Word of God, the Holy Bible. This does not mean that we have a Theocracy, but it does give us a Christian republic. There have been many republics in the history of government, both before and after the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, but only the United States of America can claim to have been founded as a Christian Republic.

Internal From the time the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth, until the memorable day of September 17, 1787 when the Constitution was formed, the Bible was the political textbook of the colonists. In the Bible they found the principles of government, both ecclesiastical and civil. It is true that some aspects of our Christian Republic had been developing in England and some areas of Europe, but it was not until the Pilgrims crossed the wide ocean in their frail craft, that in God’s time-table of events, the true base of government was implemented. For with the signing of the Mayflower Compact, the power of government was recognized as internal instead of external. The power of government—sovereignty, was seen to be within the individual as he yielded to the authority of God through Christ in his life; and from this position civil government could be delegated to different spheres of activity—but the power of sovereignty always remains with the God-governed individual, and this is Christian self-government.

The counterfeit of this primal point is unfortunately prevalent today among the conservatives—the belief that self-government means man’s government of himself without regard for God or Christ, without regard for the Bible as the standard of political reference.

To understand where the power or sovereignty of government resides, is a leading point in understanding America’s Christian Constitution. Unless this point is accepted, the Constitution becomes like other constitutions, and government is treated as a force, an entity outside the individual, against which he must forever war or contend. This is essentially the European or Asian concept of government.

Where a people believe the power of government to reside determines whether they believe that man exists for the state or that the state exists for man. If it is believed that the power resides in the government, and a people dislikes what the government is doing, they resort to mob action such as we are seeing all over the world, and sadly to relate, in our own country as well. We are but reaping the harvest of false teaching and education concerning the history of our country and its form of government.

When our founding fathers were approaching the Revolutionary War, in 1765— two hundred years ago—they could have resorted to the kind of mob action we are experiencing today, but they did not. They were tempted to do so, of course, and small disturbances took place, but Richard Frothingham, in his Rise of the Republic tells us,

On the day the new acts went into effect, there was posted under ‘Liberty Tree,’ in Boston, a paper calling on the ‘Sons of Liberty’ to rise and fight for their rights, and saying that they would be joined by legions. This incident drew from James Otis, the moderator of a meeting held in the town on that day, a spirited denunciation of mobs. He said, that were the burdens of the people ever so heavy, or their grievances ever so great, no possible circumstances, though ever so oppressive, could be supposed sufficient to justify private tumults and disorders, either to their consciences before God, or legally before men; that their forefathers, in the beginning of the reign of Charles I, for fifteen years together, were continually offering up prayers to their God, and petitions to their king for redress of grievances, before they would betake themselves to any forcible measures; that to insult and tear each other in pieces was to act like madmen.

This speech was printed in the newspapers, and was heartily indorsed. “Our cause,” it was said, “is a cause of the highest dignity; it is nothing less than to maintain the liberty with which Heaven itself has made us free. I hope it will not be disgraced in any colony by a single rash step. We have constitutional methods of seeking redress, and they are the best methods.” . . . Aiming to avoid any thing like insurrection, and repelling the idea of revolution, they unfurled their banner under the noble aegis of law. They hoped to build up their cause on the foundation of an intelligent public opinion. This was a new and an American method of political agitation. (Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America, Vol. i: Christian Self-Government, compiled by Verna M. Hall. San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1960, p. 304–5)

To the colonists, civil government was understood to be a mirror of the people’s ability to be self-governed; to show forth how little or how much self-government they lived.

As we consider the form of government our Constitution sets forth, we find that it has three essential elements: 1) Representation, 2) Three branches—legislative, judicial, and executive, and 3) The Dual aspect of the state and the nation. Upon these pillars is erected the superstructure of our state and national constitutions. And because these elements did not originate with an external government, but are the Biblical admonitions to the individual desiring to live the life of a Christian, we find these pillars of government in every aspect of our American life.

As we understand that these elements find their roots in Scripture, we can unequivocally state that the Constitution of the United States of America is the Christian form of civil government. The determining fact, we submit, is not whether Christians formed the Constitution, but whether the form is Christian according to the Word of God.

Let us first consider representation. Our Scriptural authority and stipulation for this governmental activity is Deuteronomy 1:13–15, wherein we are told that Moses was instructed by the Lord God, to

Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. . . . So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

We find that this was the text chosen by the Rev. Thomas Hooker May 31, 1638, for a lecture leading the way to the first written constitution in America, that of Connecticut. Rev. Hooker states that the doctrine found in this text is: 1) That the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God’s own allowance. 2) The privilege of election which belongs unto the people, therefore, must not be exercised according to their humors, but according to the blessed will and law of God. 3) They have the power also to set the bounds of the power and place unto which they call them.

The second element or pillar is that of the three branches of government—legislative, judicial, and executive.

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King;... 

(Isaiah 33:22)

When the individual Christian prays to know and to do God’s will, he figuratively legislates, judges, and executes. Thus he literally fulfills the three functions of government by carrying out God’s purpose in his life. Can we expect these three governmental actions to operate correctly in the civil, external sphere, if we as individual Christians do now know the source from which they were derived? The power of the judicial, executive, and legislative branches of our government—at all delegated levels—resides in the individual Christian as he allows Christ to rule his life—not in the individuals who staff the offices.

The usurpation of power we now see in Washington has come about through the default of Christian Americans, in their Conscience and Character—not because of any aggressiveness of any elected or appointed officials.

Our dual form of government, the national-federal structure, is little understood today—witness the whole matter of states rights, civil rights, Congressional re-apportionment. All of these situations have come about because of our failure to understand and live the Biblical principle involved—the two commandments of our Lord, when asked by the lawyer, which is the greatest commandment of all:

Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

The individual’s relation to God and to man are hereby stated, and for the Christian there must be consistency in his behaviour, whether he is dealing with one neighbor, or infinite millions. Both commandments must be lived by each Christian and in their stated sequence—in extension they become the national-federal concept of our Constitution, self-government with union. For our nation, they become the Monroe Doctrine.

We submit these facets of our Constitution as illustrative of its Christian nature and form.

Home

If the premise we have submitted be accepted, that government is but a mirror of the people’s ability to govern themselves, where is the first sphere? It is the home. It is there where the foundations of Christian character are laid; where Christian self-government is learned and practiced. Here, too, the American Christian has lost by default—not by the aggressiveness of progressive education.

If Christian parents will but reclaim their Biblical parental authority and restore the family altar, they will also rekindle the watch fires of Christian patriotism and government.

Seminaries

Because for over a hundred years our seminaries have not been teaching the Bible as America’s political textbook, because the Christian history of America is not taught, we are not receiving the same leadership from the clergy of today as did the people of the founding generation from their clergy. Therefore, we are challenging those who have anything to do with our Christian colleges and seminaries, to look at the curricula and see if it is preparing our young clergymen to once again assume their proper role of responsibility for this nation’s government: a leadership from the Pulpit. And again, in this so important area, we are losing by default—it is not the aggressiveness of modernism, liberal theology, or secular education in our seminaries—it is the American Christian’s failure to remember Christ—His Story of America and her form of government.

May we suggest, that the simple elementary answer to our concern with socialism today, is to, first, restore the unity of the Bible and the Constitution. This unity begins with Christian education in the home where the love of Christ and country are learned. It is strengthened by the Bible-based Christian church, and it is extended and made practical in the Bible-based Christian School, College, and Seminary. There is no other way. To restore Christian Constitutional government and the vitality of our American Christian heritage, the Bible must be our chart of life and our supreme statute book of government.

It then follows, that there will be restored to this nation the internal government of God as the conscience and character of the individual, through salvation in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Robert Winthrop warned in 1848:

All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private, moral restraint.

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 by the bayonet.