The Long Quote

SCRIPTURE: Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well. Proverbs 23:23 NIV

QUOTE: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” – George Washington’s Farewell Address to Congress, September 19, 1796

THOUGHT: Sometimes, you just need the whole quote. I could have cut it down, but I just wanted to let George speak to his country again (and this, of course, is still only a paragraph of his final address as he left the presidency).

Especially note this: “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

Now, as then, people want to believe it’s possible to be moral without being religious, and it’s possible to even be immoral or amoral and still be ethical and respected and build a nation that is both good and solid. Washington stated flatly that national morality cannot prevail devoid of religious principle. There is a distinct difference between separating church and state and separating religious principle and state.

As I have tried to live into Proverbs 23:23, a verse the Lord brought to me in a unique way in April 2020, I have been very aware that I had to buy wisdom, instruction and insight into the milieu that surrounds us. I’ve paid for an annual subscription to The Epoch Times, which I commend to you as well, as a place where journalists are still trying to get to the bottom of what is propaganda and what is truth in our media and public discourse. In order to counter the cancelling they’ve received from social media sources, they’ve started a television channel which airs their video reporting – also a part of a subscription. I’ve read several books (here let me say I am indebted to our senior pastor, Ed Reynolds, for his suggestions) including The Harbinger I and II, by Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, and currently We Will Not Be Silenced, by Erwin Lutzer, who for 36 years pastored The Moody Church. I have tried to remember the wisdom of Solomon: sometimes to understand a matter fully, rather than shake my head and moan, I have to pay for truth with money, with time, with reading that I’d rather not do and skepticism that I wish I didn’t have to indulge in.

If you’ve been reading along these past couple of weeks, you know I’ve used a quote from a Founding Father each day. These quotes have somehow been refreshing to me. To understand more about the original intent and beliefs that drove us to war against an intolerant and corrupt king on an English throne helps me feel a little more steady in a world gone crazy. Yes, we have always been an imperfect people, living in an imperfect world, but there was enough virtue in public life 250 years ago that George Washington would fight and inspire others to do so, then become president for two terms, then choose not to run again, although he could have, because he didn’t want to die in office and cause future generations of Americans see the presidency as a lifetime appointment.

This man, imperfect though he was (and he actually said later in the Address: I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend.), believed that religious belief was necessary to sustain our country. Washington asked the profound question at which I feel a shiver: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?

PRAYER: Oh God, throughout history you have used imperfect people to accomplish your will. It’s why I read Scripture and trust it, trust you, find a place for my own imperfect life there. Thank you that you promise to continue the good work you have started in each of us – we don’t know the outcome of all the dangling threads today, but someday you will show us the finished work of art. In the meantime, do your will in us. On earth as in heaven.