Author: John Page 156 of 166

Romans 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”

As the Constitutional Convention ended in 1787, a major concern remained about the possibility of State ratification.  In order to promote this one-of-a-kind document, three Founding Fathers began publishing a series of essays to explain its wisdom.  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay writing under the pseudonym ‘Publius’ authored 85 essays that better reveal the intent of the Constitution than any other source.  Their writings, now consolidated in The Federalist Papers, make clear that the Constitutional architects understood human nature from a Biblical basis.

Sin and dispute were recognized as man’s natural state.  In Federalist Number 10, Madison wrote: “So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities that where no substantial occasion presents itself the most frivolous and fanciful distractions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.” Indeed, the Founders saw that “the latent causes of faction are thus sown into the nature of man.”  This faction is so fundamental, that it could at best only be controlled: “The inference to which we are brought is that the causes of faction cannot be removed and that relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”

The form of government as created by the Constitution took these important truths into account such that “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”  In Federalist Number 51, Madison further describes the need for such a structure.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.  If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.  In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this:  you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

It was these fundamental truths upon which the American government was formed.  They were Biblical truths known to Founding Fathers and to the majority of the colonial citizens.  It was an argument that the Federalist authors knew would resonate with the population to support the need for a “well-constructed Union” that could “break and control the violence of faction.

The entirety of the Constitution was founded on this basic Biblical truth about the nature of man.  As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we drift away from a Biblical basis.  As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we ignore the truths about human nature from which we cannot escape.  As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we ignore reality and cling to fantasy.  As we drift away from a Constitutional basis, we diverge from this foundational truth that has allowed our government such success over the decades.  PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD RETURN TO THE BIBLICAL BASIS OF OUR WELL-CONSTRUCTED UNION.

Psalm 127:1 “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it:  except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

The Founding Fathers saw the Lord’s hand at work in building the structure of their government through the US Constitution.  As they stepped away from their time as a part of the Constitutional Convention 226 years ago yesterday, they sensed that the Lord had guided them throughout those sweltering four months in Philadelphia.

James Madison: “It is impossible to consider the degree of concord which ultimately prevailed as less than a miracle.”

George Washington: The Constitution “will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.”

Alexander Hamilton “For my own part, I sincerely esteem it a system which, without the finger of God, never could have been suggested and agreed upon by such a diversity of interests.”

The exceptional American experiment was not in vain because it was the Lord who had built the house.  Yet, this experiment is failing because we are drifting away from the building plans and the builder Himself.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICANS WOULD CLING TO THE FOUNDATIONAL ASPECTS OF OUR NATION.  Our national labour will be in vain if we do not.

Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:  for it was founded upon a rock.”

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made news by conducting foreign policy via an op-ed in The New York Times.  In the midst of an opinion piece oozing with hypocrisy and errantly equating individual equality in God’s eyes with equality among institutions, Putin made a bold assertion not supported by history – America is unexceptional.  Alexis de Tocqueville would disagree:

“I have expressed enough to characterize Anglo-American civilization in its true colors.  This civilization is the result (and this is something we must always bear in mind) of two quite distinct ingredients which anywhere else have often ended in war, but which Americans have succeeded somehow to meld together in wondrous harmony; namely the spirit of religion and the spirit of liberty.”

While de Tocqueville saw these concepts at cross-purposes in his European homeland, he saw them “intimately linked together in joint reign over the same land” in America.  To him, this harmony and the land that enjoyed it was truly exceptional.

Importantly, the source of our exceptionalism is more fundamental than even these concepts.  It comes from two foundations, one built upon another.  The first is the foundation of the universe, the Lord Himself.  We can be exceptional as a nation only as much as we are a reflection of Him as individual citizens and as a society.  The second is the foundation of the nation, the US Constitution.  When the Constitutional Convention ended 226 years ago this week, on September 17, 1787, the Founding Fathers had created a foundational document that enshrined Biblical principles and translated them into a governmental structure.  These two foundations are exceptional in their own right, allowing America to be exceptional as well.

Sadly though, Putin may be partially right for a reason that would be foreign to him.  It’s not that exceptionalism is errant and dangerous, but that it is waning in America.  Indeed, it is waning because we have drifted from our exceptional foundations.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICA WOULD RETURN TO THE EXCEPTIONAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE LORD AND THE CONSTITUTION.  As the wise man builds his house upon a steady foundation, so too would a wise and exceptional nation hold tight to its steady foundation.  Anything else would be unexceptional.  It will fail when the rain descends, and the floods come, and the winds blow.

Matthew 22:36-40 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  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.”

Alexis de Tocqueville recognized America as a unique nation that had placed these Biblical priorities into action.  Nineteenth Century Americans were motived by their love of God so that they loved others.  They used their freedoms to develop community not contention.  They used their freedoms to extend a hand of help instead of grasping for personal excess.  They used their freedoms to build institutions instead of destroying them.

“In the United States, therefore, it was never intended for a man in a free country to have the right to do anything he liked; rather, social duties were imposed upon him more various than anywhere else.”

“I must say that I have seen Americans making great and sincere sacrifices for the common good and a hundred times I have noticed that, when needs be, they almost always gave each other faithful support.”

The America so admired by de Tocqueville was the result of Christian principles that guided priorities away from selfishness and towards the Supreme and society.  These priorities manifested themselves in a nation that was a model for others to follow.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD PROPERLY PRIORITIZE GOD AND OTHERS OVER OURSELVES.  Faithful support of others and sincere sacrifices, as a part of our social duties, can produce the common good for our nation that we so desperately need.

Psalm 144:15 “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian and political philosopher, marveled at the United States he observed first-hand in the middle of the 19^th Century.  It was a nation characterized by Christianity and citizenship, duty and devotion, freedom and forward-thinking.  It was a nation that had uniquely combined Christian principles into its core fabric, and was prospering in an amazing and fantastic way.

As described in Democracy in America, de Tocqueville saw the “triumph of an idea” in action.

“Christianity has therefore maintained a strong sway over the American mind and – something I wish to note above all – it rules not only like a philosophy taken up after evaluation but like a religion believed without discussion.”

“It is religion which has given birth to Anglo-American societies: one must never lose sight of that; in the United States, religion is thus intimately linked to all national habits and all the emotions which one’s native country arouses; that gives it a particular strength.”

Christianity of days past in America was treated with conviction and not just as a waning cultural artifact.  As a result, it impacted the national spirit and produced peace and prosperity.  It also produced a harmonious, helpful, and happy society.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD ALLOW OUR CONVICTIONS TO HAVE A STRONG SWAY OVER OUR LIVES.  We need the particular strength of a society whose God is the Lord.