June 17 is the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Since it is so very important in America’s history, I have prepared the history of it below so that you can have the opportunity to celebrate it.  (And besides that, I live on Bunker Hill Road at the intersection of it and Victory Lane in Midland, Texas.)

Battle of Bunker Hill

“Don’t Shoot Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes!” commanded Colonel William Prescott, repeating the order of General Israel Putnam, JUNE 17, 1775.

Colonel William Prescott’s men were in the center redoubt located on Breed’s Hill, adjacent Bunker Hill, guarding the north entrance to Boston Harbor.

Samuel Swett wrote in his History of Bunker Hill, that as the 2,300 British soldiers advanced: “The American marksmen are with difficulty restrained from firing. Putnam rode through the line, and ordered that no one should fire till they arrived within eight rods. Powder was scarce and must not be wasted. They should ‘not fire at the enemy till they saw the whites of their eyes.’ The same orders were reiterated by Prescott at the redoubt.”

Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed March 20, 1942: “Our Army is a mighty arm of the tree of liberty. It is a living part of the American tradition, a tradition that goes back to Israel.

Putnam, who left his plow in a New England furrow to take up a gun and fight at Bunker Hill.”

General Putnam

At the beginning of the battle, a stray musket ball from a British gun killed an American soldier, resulting in other soldiers running away. To stop the confusion, Colonel William Prescott climbed on top of the wall of the fortification, stood upright and walked back and forth, rallying his men.

Colonel Prescot

When British General Thomas Gage saw Prescott through his telescope, he asked a local loyalist, Abijah Willard, who happened to be Prescott’s brother-in-law, if Prescott had enough courage to fight. Willard replied: “Prescott is an old soldier, he will fight as long as a drop of blood is in his veins.” Another recorded Willard’s statement as: “As to his men, I cannot answer for them, but Colonel Prescott will fight you to the gates of hell.”

Historian George Bancroft wrote that at the redoubt in the center of battle: “No one appeared to have any command but Colonel Prescott. His bravery could never be enough acknowledged and applauded.”

British General Gage had no respect for the rag-tag Americans, resulting in him pridefully committing the serious mistake of ordering a direct assault. British General William Howe had intended to unleash an artillery bombardment from field pieces on the Americans prior to the British advance, but providentially for the Americans, the British brought the wrong caliber ammunition. They had six pounder cannons but nine pound shot. As a result, British artillery was not able to soften the resistance.

General Howe ordered some 2,300 British soldiers to fix bayonets, and in their wool uniforms, charge in the hot sun up the hill covered with fences and uneven rows of uncut grass.  The British muskets were such poor weapons that they fought by charging forward with their long, sharp bayonetts.

Twice the Americans repelled them, but the third time they ran out of gunpowder. Over 1,000 British were killed or wounded in this first major action of the Revolutionary War. There were nearly 500 American casualties, including the notable Dr. Joseph Warren.

Dr. Joseph Warren Killed in Battle

Amos Farnsworth, a corporal in the Massachusetts Militia, made this entry in his diary immediately after the Battle of Bunker Hill, JUNE 17, 1775: “We within the entrenchment, having fired away all ammunition and having no reinforcements were overpowered by numbers and obliged to leave. I did not leave the entrenchment until the enemy got in. I then retreated ten or fifteen rods. Then I received a wound in my right arm, the ball going through a little below my elbow, breaking the little shellbone. Another ball struck my back, taking a piece of skin about as big as a penny. But I got to Cambridge that night. Oh the goodness of God in preserving my life, although they fell on my right and on my left! O may this act of deliverance of thine, O God, lead me never to distrust thee; but may I ever trust in thee and put confidence in no arm of flesh!”

The British then burned the nearby town of Charlestown.

Daniel Webster declared at the Bicentennial Celebration at Plymouth Rock, December 22, 1820: “In New England the war of the Revolution commenced. I address those who saw the burning spires of Charlestown; who beheld the deeds of Prescott, and heard the voice of Putnam amidst the storm of war, and saw the generous Warren fall, the first distinguished victim in the cause of liberty. It would be superfluous to say, that no portion of the country did more than the States of New England to bring the Revolutionary struggle to a successful issue.”

This same day as the Battle of Bunker Hill, 300 miles away in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress drafted George Washington’s commission as commander-in-chief, for which he refused a salary. Washington wrote to his wife, Martha: “Dearest It has been determined in Congress, that the whole army raised for the defense of the American Cause shall be put under my care, and that it is necessary for me to proceed immediately to Boston to take command. I shall rely therefore, confidently, on that Providence which has heretofore preserved, and been bountiful to me.”

Yale President Ezra Stiles wrote May 8, 1783: “Every patriot trembled till we had proved our armor, till it could be seen, whether (we) could face the enemy with firmness. They early gave us the decided proof of this, in the memorable Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775). This instantly convinced us, and for the first time convinced Britons themselves, that Americans both would and could fight with great effect. Whereupon Congress put at the head of this spirited army, the only man, on whom the eyes of all Israel were placed (George Washington). This American JOSHUA was raised up by God, and divinely formed by a peculiar influence of the Sovereign of the Universe, for the great work of leading the armies to liberty and independence.”

Less than a month after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Continental Congress proclaimed a Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, as John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, July 12, 1775: “We have appointed a Continental fast. Millions will be upon their knees at once before their great Creator, imploring His forgiveness and blessing; His smiles on American Council and arms.”

Georgia’s Provincial Congress also passed a motion, July 5, 1775: “That this Congress apply to his Excellency the Governor requesting him to appoint a Day of Fasting and Prayer throughout this Province, on account of the disputes subsisting between America and the Parent State.”

Georgia’s Royal Governor James Wright replied July 7, 1775: “Gentlemen: I have taken the request made by the Provincial Congress, and must premise, that I cannot consider that meeting as constitutional; but as the request is expressed in such loyal and dutiful terms, and the ends proposed being such as every good man must most ardently wish for, I will certainly appoint a Day of Fasting and Prayer to be observed throughout this Province.”

Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull wrote to General Washington, July 13, 1775: “The Honorable Congress have proclaimed a Fast to be observed by the inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this continent, to stand before the Lord in one day, with public humiliation, fasting, and prayer, to deplore our many sins, to offer up our joint supplications to God, for forgiveness, and for his merciful interposition for us in this day of unnatural darkness and distress. They have, with one united voice, appointed you to the high station you possess. The Supreme Director of all events hath caused a wonderful union of hearts and counsels to subsist among us. Now therefore, be strong and very courageous.

May the God of the armies of Israel shower down the blessings of his Divine Providence on you, give you wisdom and fortitude, cover your head in the day of battle and danger, add success, convince our enemies of their mistaken measures, and that all their attempts to deprive these Colonies of their inestimable constitutional rights and liberties are injurious and vain.”

On July 19, 1775, the Journals of the Continental Congress recorded: “Agreed, That the Congress meet here tomorrow morning, at half after 9 o’clock, in order to attend divine service at Mr. Duche’s Church; and that in the afternoon they meet here to go from this place and attend divine service at Doctor Allison’s church.”

On July 20, 1775, General Washington issued the order: “The General orders this day to be religiously observed by the Forces under his Command, exactly in manner directed by the Continental Congress.

It is therefore strictly enjoined on all Officers and Soldiers to attend Divine Service; And it is expected that all those who go to worship do take their Arms, Ammunition and Accoutrements, and are prepared for immediate action, if called upon.

Ron

It says in the Bible: Isiah 41:10 (NLT)

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

Many people who think they have faith in God are actually dominated by fears and doubts—overwhelmed by the circumstances of their lives. Are you? What is it that makes you anxious today? Is there something you fear you’ll never achieve or receive.

Understand, genuine faith means realizing God wants to provide His very best for you and will not let you miss it as you walk with him. True, sometimes what He perceives as best for you is different from what you do. But take heart, the One who created you ultimately knows what will truly satisfy your soul—even better than you do.

So let go of whatever you fear you will never have or accomplish. He is faithful to provide. And if God does not give you what your heart presently desires, it is because He has something far better planned for you.

Ron

Did everything happen just by accident or was it on purpose?  This has perplexed man through all history. Following are some of the conclusions by many of the great thinkers and scientists through out modern history that I have compiled for you. What do you think?

Cambridge biochemist Rupert Sheldrake, author of Morphic Resonance: The Nature of Formative Causation, 2009, remarked in his TEDx Talk “The Science Delusion” at Whitechapel, January 12, 2013: “As (ethnobotanist) Terence McKenna used to say, ‘Modern science is based on the principle: Give us one free miracle and we’ll explain the rest.’ And the one free miracle is the appearance of all the matter and energy in the universe, and all the laws that govern it, from nothing in a single instant.

It takes faith for an atheist to believe that by chance nothingness produced everything in an instant; that unguided random accidents created all things, from the unimaginably complicated DNA molecule to all that is beautiful, including selfless love, a baby’s giggle, the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Beethoven and the intelligence to appreciate them.

What about fractals? In geometry, these are intricate shapes made up of miniature renditions of that same shape, made up of even smaller versions, repeating in infinity, with each having very slight differentiations, so each is both the same yet unique.

Nobel Prize winning physicist Eugene Wigner wrote in “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences,” 1960: “It is difficult to avoid the impression that a miracle confronts us here, or the two miracles of the existence of laws of nature and of the human mind’s capacity to divine them.”

Wigner continued: “The enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and there is no rational explanation for it.”

Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in quantum electrodynamics, wrote in The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen–Scientist (NY: BasicBooks, 1998): “Why nature is mathematical is a mystery. The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle.”

Galileo Galilei stated:  “The laws of nature are written by the Hand of God in the language of mathematics.”

God created everything with rules. He is an eternal, perfect, all powerful, all-knowing Being, who is completely just, with order, laws, and rules. If you do not believe in a God who created everything with rules, then you are left with believing all things came from nothing. If all things came from nothing, then eventually all things will return to nothing, therefore your life is meaningless, just the result of millions of mindless mistakes.

C.S. Lewis stated in The Oxford Socratic Club, 1944: “If I swallow the scientific cosmology as a whole, then not only can I not fit in Christianity, but I cannot even fit in science. If minds are wholly dependent on brains, and brains on biochemistry, and biochemistry — in the long run — on the meaningless flux of atoms, I cannot understand how the thought of those minds should have any more significance than the sound of the wind in the trees.”

Oxford mathematician John C. Lennox wrote in God’s Undertaker – Has Science Buried God, 2007: “Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not rejoicing in the absence of evidence. The apostle Paul says what many pioneers of modern science believed — that nature itself is part of the evidence for the existence of God.”

Lennox continues: “To the majority of those who have reflected deeply and written about the origin and nature of the universe, it has seemed that it points beyond itself to a source which is non-physical and of great intelligence and power.”

Adam Sandage, widely regarded as one of the fathers of modern astronomy for which he won the Nobel Prize (and was one of my best friends) is in no doubt: ‘God to me is the explanation for the miracle of existence – why there is something rather than nothing.’”

Albert Einstein told William Hermanns in an interview:  “I observe the laws of nature. There are not laws without a lawgiver.”

Sir William Blackstone wrote in Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1768:  “When the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing,  He impressed certain principles upon that matter, certain laws of motion, to  which all movable bodies must conform, not left to chance, but guided by  unerring rules laid down by the great Creator. ” 

Eric Metaxas wrote in “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God,” March 25, 2015: “Today there are more than 200 known parameters necessary for a planet to support life — every single one of which must be perfectly met, or the whole thing falls apart. The odds against life in the universe are simply astonishing. Yet here we are, not only existing, but talking about existing. What can account for it? Can every one of those many parameters be perfect by accident? At what point is it fair to admit that science suggests that we cannot be the result of random forces?”

Metaxas continued: “Doesn’t assuming that an intelligence created these perfect conditions require far less faith than believing that a life-sustaining Earth just happened to beat the inconceivable odds to come into being? There’s more. The fine-tuning necessary for life to exist on a planet is nothing compared with the fine-tuning required for the universe to exist at all. The greatest miracle of all time, without any close seconds, is the universe. It is the miracle of all miracles, one that ineluctably points with the combined brightness of every star to something—or Someone— beyond itself.

Sir Isaac Newton wrote in Principia, 1687: “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. Order and life in the universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I call the ‘Lord God.’”

G.K. Chesterton wrote in The Everlasting Man, 1925: “Nobody can imagine how nothing could turn into something. Nobody can get an inch nearer to it by explaining how something could turn into something else. It is really far more logical to start by saying ‘In the beginning God created heaven and earth’ even if you only mean ‘In the beginning some unthinkable power began some unthinkable process.’ For God is by its nature a name of mystery, and nobody ever supposed that man could imagine how a world was created any more than he could create one.”

English poet William Cowper’s wrote: “Nature is but a name for an effect, Whose cause is God.”

Einstein wrote: “Behind each cause is still another cause. Yet, only one thing must be remembered: there is no effect without a cause, and there is no lawlessness in creation.”

Albert Einstein stated further: “As I observe the Laws of Nature, there are not Laws without a Lawgiver”

Danish poet Hans Christian Andersen put it this way: “The whole world is a series of miracles, but we’re so used to them we call them ordinary things.”

Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Ron

It says in the Bible: 1John 3:1 
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God.

No one  loves you more intimately and unconditionally than God does. He created you to be in relationship with Him—to glorify Him, have fellowship with Him, and be His beloved child forever. 

He wants you to know how deeply and unconditionally He cares for you. There is nothing you could ever do to surprise or disappoint Him because He knows all things and is never shocked by your actions. Although He does not approve of sin, and may urge you to repent of ungodly behavior, He will always invite you back into His presence and accept you when you repent (1 John 1:9).

Therefore, when you do stumble, always remember you have an Advocate before the Father—Jusus Christ—who hears your prayers for forgiveness and cares when you are hurting. God may discipline you when you yield to temptation, but He will never withhold His love from you. You are His child. This truth never changes. And because He is righteous, loving, and steadfast, He will certainly never fail you.

Ron 

You hear much about the men of the American Revolution, but there were many women who were deeply involved. In fact, many believe we never would have won that war without those women. Below I have referenced many of them. You can look on Google to read about the whole story of each one.

Women of The American Revolution

Courageous women have always played a vital role in American history. Addressing the Daughters of the American Revolution, April 19, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge stated: “The importance of women in the working out the destiny of mankind is well known. As there were fathers in our Republic so there were mothers. By their abiding faith they inspired and encouraged the men; by their sacrifice they performed their part in the struggle out of which came our country.”

“We read of the flaming plea of Hanna Arnett, which she made on a dreary day in December, 1776, when Lord Cornwallis, victorious at Fort Lee, held a strategic position in New Jersey. A group of Revolutionists, weary and discouraged, were discussing the advisability of giving up the struggle.  Casting aside the proprieties which forbade a woman to interfere in the counsels of men, Hannah Arnett proclaimed her faith. In eloquent words, which at once shamed and stung to action, she convinced her husband and his companions that righteousness must and will win.”

Women followed the American army to Valley Forge, enduring the freezing 1777. Over 2,500 soldiers perished from hunger, typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, and pneumonia, but also an estimated 500 women died there too. “We have been told of the unselfish devotion of the women who gave their own warm garments to fashion clothing for the suffering Continental Army during that bitter winter at Valley Forge. The burdens of the war were not all borne by the men. Referred to as “camp followers,” these women were organized by Martha Washington, Lucy Knox, wife of Colonel Henry Knox, and Caty Greene, wife of General Nathanael Greene.

To help the Continental Army, they scavenged for supplies, cooked food, washed clothes, formed sewing circles to knit and mended ragged uniforms and blankets, and cared for sick and dying soldiers. One of the ladies, Mrs. Westlake, described Martha Washington: “I never in my life knew a woman so busy from early morning until late at night as was Lady Washington, providing comforts for the sick soldiers.

Esther DeBerdt Reed, wife of officer Joseph Reed, and Sarah Franklin Bache, daughter of Benjamin Franklin, organized “The Ladies of Philadelphia” and raised $300,000 for General Washington to buy warm clothes for American troops.

During the Revolution, many, like Lucy Knox, left their Loyalist British families who sailed for England, never to see them again, in order to join their patriotic American husbands on military assignments in shifting encampments. Lucy and Colonel Henry Knox did not have a permanent home till they were married 20 years later.

“Many have heard of Molly Pitcher, whose heroic services at the Battle of Monmouth helped the sorely tried army of George Washington!” Molly Pitcher is generally believed to be Mary Ludwig Hays. When her husband enlisted, she became one of the “camp followers.”

During the intense heat of the battles, these women would go from trench to trench, carrying pitchers of water to the parched soldiers. These women also carried a continuous supply of water to those loading the cannons. Water was needed to cool and clean the hot barrels of the cannons between shots, using a soaked end of a long ramrod. If this was not done, the cannons would soon overheat and become useless.

At the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher was bringing water to soldiers, while her husband manned one of the cannons. When her husband collapsed from heat stroke, Molly took his place swabbing and loading the cannon for the rest of the battle. A British cannonball flew between her legs, tearing off part of her skirt. Molly straightened up and uttered, “Well, that could have been worse,” and resumed loading the cannon.

As Soldier Joseph Plumb Martin described: “A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that “it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.”

Hearing of her courage, General George Washington commended “Molly Pitcher” (Mary Ludwig Hays) issuing her a warrant as a non-commissioned officer. She was known as “Sergeant Molly.”

A similar story is that of Margaret Cochran Corbin, wife of artilleryman John Corbin. On November 16, 1776, John Corbin, along with 2,800 Continental soldiers, defended Manhattan’s Fort Washington, which was being attacked by 9,000 Hessian mercenary troops. Margaret Corbin was bringing water to swab the cannon, when her husband was killed. She immediately took his place at the cannon, and helped return fire. Seriously wounded in her arm, Margaret Corbin, or “Captain Molly,” was the first woman in U.S. history to be awarded a military pension.

When the men of Pepperell, Massachusetts, went off to war, Prudence Cummings Wright and Sarah Shattuck formed their own militia of women to protect the remaining townspeople – “Mrs. David Wright’s Guard.” Their weapons were everything from muskets to farm tools.

Women managed homesteads while their husbands fought. They worked the farms, raised families, and defended against Indians stirred up by the British to attack. Women raised money for suffering soldiers, organized resistance protests, boycotted British-made products, which meant going back to using their old spinning wheels. Women engaged in the riskier roles as messengers, scouts, saboteurs, or spies, the punishment for which, if caught, was hanging.

In addition to well-known names, such as Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Dolley Madison, and Deborah Read Franklin, there were:

Catherine “Kate” Moore Barry, the “Heroine of the Battle of Cowpens,” who rode through the back trails of South Carolina to warn of approaching British troops and round up militia, including her husband, to join General Daniel Morgan for the Battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781.

16-year-old Sybil Ludington, on the night of April 26, 1777, rode 40 miles through Putnam and Dutchess Counties waking up patriots to join the militia, led by her father, Colonel Henry Ludington. Sybil delivered the urgent warning that the British had burned Danbury, Connecticut, and were fast approaching.

Lydia Darragh, a Quaker, had her home commandeered by British officers for weeks. During their meetings, Lydia would hide in a closet under the stairs and listen through the walls. Hearing their plans, Lydia made notes on small pieces of paper and sewed them into button covers on her son’s coat, instructing him to go to General Washington’s camp at Whitemarsh. Her intelligence saved the Americans from a surprise British attack.

22-year-old Deborah Champion, in September 1775, disguised as an old woman wearing a silk hood and an oversized bonnet, risked her life to ride from New London, Connecticut, to Boston, passing several British checkpoints. Deborah was delivering an urgent message from her father, Henry Champion (the Continental Army’s commissary general), to General George Washington, hiding the important papers under the bodice of her linsey-woolsey dress.

Anna Smith Strong was an integral part of the Culper Spy Ring, which gathered information for General Washington, 1778-1781. Robert Townsend, pretending to be a loyalist, learned of British troops movements around New York and told tavern owner Austin Roe, who got it to Abraham Woodhull. Woodhull was signaled by  Anna Smith Strong, when she hung her laundry outside to dry on a clothesline in pre-arranged configurations, since Caleb Brewster was waiting in a cove to take the information across Long Island Sound to Major Ben Tallmadge and General Washington.

Hot tempered Nancy Hart had her cabin searched by six British soldiers. They shot her prized turkey and ordered her to cook it. While serving the soldiers wine, she discreetly passed their stacked muskets through a crack in the wall to her daughter outside. When the soldiers finally noticed what she was doing, she pointed one of the guns at them saying that she would shoot the first one who moved, which she promptly did. Nancy held the rest at gun point till her husband arrived. She insisted they be hung. In 1912, a railroad construction worker grading land near the old Hart cabin found a neat row of six skeletons…..one tough young lady.

Deborah Samson Gannett, after being freed from being an indentured servant on a farm, bound her chest to hide her breasts, dressed as a man, and enlisted in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shurtliff. Deborah served three years, being injured several times, but refused medical attention for fear of being found out. It was not until she became deathly ill of fever that the doctor discovered her identity. She was honorably discharged. In 1792, Deborah received back pay, and in 1805, Congress granted her a pension as a war veteran.

Martha Bratton, wife of Colonel William Bratton, blew up a cache of gunpowder to keep it from the British. When questioned, she proclaimed, “It was I who did it!” A British officer held a reaping hook to her throat, demanding she confess where her husband was, but Martha refused to tell. When a battle was taking place right outside her home, Martha extinguished the fire in the fireplace and put her little son up the chimney to keep him from being hit by stray gunfire.

Nancy “Nanyehi” Ward was a Cherokee in eastern Tennessee. The Cherokee had sided with the British during the French and Indian War, and again during the Revolution. But Nancy hated the British. Nanye’hi learned that the British had incited her tribe to attack a nearby American settlement. She took the risk of freeing American prisoners so they could warn their village, one of whom, Lydia Bean, was expecting to be burned to death the next day. While captives, Lydia Bean and Nanye’hi reportedly traded cooking advice, such as making butter.

The Ladies of Havana, Cuba are credited with saving the American Revolution. They donated their own gold and jewelry, estimated at several million dollars, and sent it to help General Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. Their story is seldom told are even known about by most Americans. Those that know consider it Divine Intervention. The message that the “Ladies of Havana” sent with their contribution was: “So the American mothers’ sons are not born as slaves.” Washington reportedly threw his hat in the air when he heard the news of their gift.

(The Continental Army had borrowed every penny that it could and was now totally destitute. The Revolution was finished. However, it is my opinion that it was not the Will of God that the Revolution stop right then and there.  God put it into the hearts and minds of the Ladies of Havanna to sell their jewelry and their rings and their financial assets of gold and send all the proceeds to save the Continental Army.  Otherwise, there would have been no more America and it would never have evolved to the nation that we are today.)

General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau wrote in his “Daily Memoirs” (Library of Congress): “The joy was enormous when it was received, the money from Havana: The contribution of 800,000 silver pounds and more which helped stop the financial bankruptcy (of the Revolutionary Army) and raised up the moral spirit of the Army that had began to dissolve.”

Historian Stephen Bonsal wrote in When the French Were Here (Doubleday, Doran & Co.,1945): “The millions that were supplied by the ladies of Havana, may, with truth, be regarded as the ‘bottom dollars’ upon which the edifice of American independence was erected.”

On January 2, 1952, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 3-cent stamp in Philadelphia to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Betsy Ross. Born a day earlier, January 1, 1752, to a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Betsy was the 8th of 17 children. Betsy apprenticed as a seamstress and fell in love with upholsterer John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector at Christ Church and nephew of Declaration signer, George Ross. John and Betsy eloped, as Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage. They were married by the last colonial Governor of New Jersey William Franklin, the son of Ben Franklin.

John and Betsy Ross attended Christ’s Church with: George Washington, Robert Morris, Francis Hopkins, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. The Ross’ pew, number 12, was next to a column adjoining George Washington’s pew number 56 and not far from Ben Franklin’s pew number 70. During the Revolution, John Ross died when a munitions depot he was guarding blew up.

Shortly after, in June 1776, General Washington reportedly asked Betsy Ross to sew an American Flag. With the Continental Congress meeting in Pennsylvania, Betsy Ross also made a flag for the Pennsylvania navy ensign, which had 7 red stripes and 6 white stripes, as well as a commissioning pennant with 13 red-and-white stripes. Betsy Ross and her family continued to make U.S. flags for 50 years. They were the ones used to honor our nation and the designe still used today.

To continue the heroic legacy of the women in the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890, and incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1896. Its motto is: “God, Home, and Country.”

Voicing the sentiment of the courageous, patriotic women of the Revolution, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband, September 16, 1775: “And unto Him who mounts the whirlwind and directs the storm, I will cheerfully leave the ordering of my lot and whether adverse or prosperous days should be my future portion, I will trust in His right Hand to lead me safely through! I need not say how sincerely I am your affectionate, Abigail Adams.”

Ron

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It is acknowledged by all those who really understood the Civil War that if this great general had not been killed when he was by his own sentry, the South would have for sure won that war. And that this country would still be divided into two entities. Even though I have always loved and favored the South. I must acknowledge that it was for sure the will of God that America still remain as one country through history. Below, I have set out what happened for you to see. Do read it so that you will understand what happened and how:

“Stonewall” Jackson

During the Civil War, on March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer.

Lincoln stated: “Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and Whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a Day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State.”

Lincoln’s National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer was observed April 30, 1863.

Just Two days later, a freak accident occurred which altered the entire course of the war. One of the South’s very best generals was accidentally shot by his own men.

Lt. General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was considered one of the greatest tactical commanders in history. He refused to let his men give ground at the First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, standing there “like a stonewall.”

Often outnumbered, sometimes 2 to 1, Jackson successfully fought the Shenandoah Valley Campaign:

• Battles of McDowell, May 8, 1862;

• Front Royal, May 23, 1862;

• Winchester, May 25, 1862;

• Port Republic, June 9, 1862;

• Seven Days Battles, June 25-July 1, 1862;

• Second Battle of Bull Run, August 28-30, 1862;

• Antietam, September 17, 1862.

• Fredericksburg, December 11-15,
• Chancellorsville, April 30-May 2, 1863.

Stonewall Jackson wrote to Colonel Thomas T. Munford, June 13, 1862: “The only true rule for cavalry is to follow the enemy as long as he retreats.”

Jackson advised General John D. Imboden (Robert Underwood and Clarence C. Buel, eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 vols. New York: Century Co., Vol.2, p. 297): “Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number.

The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible.”

The day after Lincoln’s Day of Fasting was observed, April 30, 1863, the Battle of Chancellorsville began, May 1, 1863. Outnumbered two to one, Stonewall Jackson’s 60,892 Confederate troops successfully attacked the flank of 133,868 Union troops. The Union suffered a devastating 17,197 casualties to the Confederate 13,303.

At the end of the day, May 2, 1863, Jackson surveyed the field and returned to camp at twilight. Suddenly, one of his own men shouted, “Halt, who goes there,” and without waiting for a reply, a volley of shots were fired.

Two bullets hit General Jackson’s left arm and one hit his right hand. Several men accompanying him were killed, in addition to many horses. In the confusion that followed, Jackson was dropped from his stretcher while being evacuated. His left arm was mangled, became infected, and had to be amputated.

General Robert E. Lee wrote to Jackson: “Could I have directed events, I would have chosen for the good of the country to be disabled in your stead.”

General Lee sent the message through Chaplain B.T. Lacy: “He has lost his left arm but I my right. Tell him that I wrestled in prayer for him last night as I never prayed for myself.”

Jackson’s injuries resulted in him contracting pneumonia. Growing weaker, Jackson said, May 10, 1863: “It is the Lord’s Day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday.”

A few moments before he died, as he was losing consciousness, Jackson said: “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees.”

Jackson had previously told General John D. Imboden (“Stonewall Jackson at the Battle of Bull’s Run,” New York Times, May 3, 1885): “My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter when it may overtake me. That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.”

Many Civil War historians speculate what would have happened if Stonewall Jackson had not been shot. He most certainly would have been at the Battle of Gettysburg two months later, which conceivably would have resulted in a Confederate victory, changing the entire outcome of the war.

Jackson’s death was difficult to reconcile, as he was exemplary in faith and virtue. He did not fight to defend slavery, but rather he fought to defend his home state of Virginia from the war of Northern Federal aggression. Jackson was personally against slavery, having arranged to free the slaves he inherited from his wife’s estate. Beginning in 1855, Jackson participated in civil disobedience every Sunday by teaching a Colored Sunday School class at the Lexington Presbyterian Church. This was against the law, as a Virginia statue forbade teaching slaves to read, especially after Nat Turner’s rebellion. Nevertheless, Jackson regularly taught both slaves and free blacks, adults and children, to read the Bible.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated, September 17, 1937: “I came into the world 17 years after the close of the war between the states. Today there are still many among us who can remember it. It serves us little to discuss again the rights and the wrongs of the long 4-years’ war. We can but wish that the war had never been. We can and we do revere the memory of the brave men who fought on both sides.  

But we know today that it was best for the generations of Americans who have come after them, that the conflict did not end in a division of our land into two nations.

I like to think that it was the will of God that we remain one people.”

Ron

It says in the Bible:  Psalm 37:5 NIV 

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and he shall bring it to pass.”

When a difficult decision arises, the natural response is to examine the consequences you can anticipate. You weigh how challenging the choice will prove, your ability to manage it, and whether it is worth the trouble.

This is all fine until the Lord directs you to step out in absolute faith. When He does, you can expect that the obstacles will appear greater than you can handle and that defeat is sure unless He intervenes. That is the very nature of faith—you must trust Him rather than yourself or your resources.

Is such a decision before you today? Do you sense the Father calling you to take a difficult path? Remember that God has the very best plan for you and there are astounding rewards you cannot possibly anticipate when you submit to Him.

So, don’t miss His best because of what you can or cannot see concerning your choice. Rather, obey God, leave the consequences to Him, and expect Him to work powerfully on your behalf.

Ron

This Duel was fought between Alexander Hamilton and Aron Burr. Following is a brief history of both participants:

Alexander Hamilton:

Alexander Hamilton was born in the British West Indies on the Island of Nevis, either in the year 1755 or 1757, and grew up on the Island of St. Croix.

Since Alexander Hamilton’s parents were not legally married, he was not permitted to attend the Anglican academy, resulting in him being tutored at a private school by a Jewish headmistress.

Hamilton worked for merchants till, at the age of 17, he sailed to Massachusetts in 1772 to attend Elizabethtown Academy. He was studying at Columbia College in New York when the Revolutionary War started.

Alexander Hamilton fought in the Battle of White Plains and the Battle of Trenton. He served four years as aide-de-camp to General George Washington. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Alexander Hamilton led a bayonet attack at night capturing Redoubt No. 10 which helped the Continental Army win the Battle of Yorktown, October 19, 1781.

During the Revolution, Alexander Hamilton wrote “The Farmer Refuted,” February 23, 1775, stating: “The Supreme Being gave existence to man, together with the means of preserving and beautifying that existence, and invested him with an inviolable right to personal liberty and personal safety. The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

Hamilton concluded: “Good and wise men, in all ages have supposed that the Deity, from the relations we stand in to Himself, and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind. This is what is called the law of nature dictated by God himself.”

In 1781, Hamilton helped U.S. Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris start the Bank of North America, the first private commercial bank in the United States. It served as the nation’s first de facto central bank, bringing stability to the fledgling nation’s finances after the fiat Continental currency became worthless, as the saying went, “not worth a continental.” This was vital to allow the United States to carry on international trade, as well as to project strength which discouraged other countries from restarting hostilities. Franklin and Jefferson were among the Bank’s founding shareholders. The Bank later merged to form the First Bank of the United States.

In June of 1784, Hamilton also founded The Bank of New York (Mellon) to provide money for the city’s shipping industry. The Bank also loaned money to the Federal government to pay salaries of the U.S. Congress. In 1792, the Bank of New York, the Bank of North America, and the First Bank of the United States were the first shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, which moved in 1796 to Wall Street.

Alexander Hamilton helped write the U.S. Constitution, stating at the Constitutional Convention, June 22, 1787: “Take mankind as they are, and what are they governed by? Their passions. There may be in every government a few choice spirits, who may act from more worthy motives. One great error is that we suppose mankind is more honest that they are.”

After the Constitution was written, Hamilton helped convinced the States to ratify it by writing The Federalist Papers with James Madison and John Jay. Of the 85 Federalist Papers, Hamilton wrote 51.

Alexander Hamilton wrote of the Constitution in his Letters of Caesar, 1787: “Whether the New Constitution, if adopted, will prove adequate to such desirable ends, time, the mother of events, will show. 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.”

In 1789, Alexander Hamilton became the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury — his statue is at the south entrance of the Treasury building in Washington, DC.

In 1790, Hamilton proposed The First Bank of the United States assume the role as the nation’s central bank. It covered the Revolutionary War debt of the states, established a mint, and imposed a federal excise tax.

In 1790, Hamilton pushed Congress to have ships, called Revenue Cutters, to collect revenue, confiscate contraband, and guard the coasts from piracy. This was the beginning of the U.S. Coast Guard, which freed almost 500 Africans from slavery. Being opposed to slavery, Hamilton and John Jay founded the New York Manumission Society which successfully helped pass legislation in 1799 to end New York’s involvement in the slave trade.

Alexander Hamilton served as Senior Officer of the United States Army during a threatened war with France in 1799. Hamilton condemned the French Revolution’s attempt to overthrow Christianity, as it was: “(depriving) mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes, and to make a gloomy desert of the universe. The praise of a civilized world is justly due to Christianity; war, by the influence of the humane principles of that religion, has been stripped of half its horrors. The French renounce Christianity, and they relapse into barbarism; war resumes the same hideous and savage form which it wore in the ages of Gothic and Roman violence.”

In 1780, Alexander Hamilton married Elizabeth Schuyler, the daughter of Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler who had served in the Continental Congress. Elizabeth Hamilton co-founded New York City’s first private orphanage.

Aaron Burr:

Burr had fought in the Revolution, was elected to the New York State Assembly, 1784-1785, and was appointed New York State Attorney General. In 1791, Burr ran a campaign to unseat Senator General Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s father-in-law.

When Burr won, it created a political rift with Hamilton. In 1796, Burr lost in his bid to become the President of the United States, running against both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Witnessing the beginning stages of the formation of political parties, George Washington warned in his Farewell Address, 1796, of the divisive “danger of Parties”: “And of fatal tendency to put, in the place of the delegated will of the Nation, the will of a party; often a small but artful and enterprising minority by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People and to usurp for the themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State. Let me now warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of Party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its roots in the strongest passions of the human mind. Domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension … has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”

New York badly needed a clean water supply to prevent malaria outbreaks. Under the pretense of establishing a water company, Aaron Burr solicited investors, but secretly he changed the company’s charter in 1799 to found the Bank of the Manhattan Company (JP Morgan Chase). This allowed him to compete with Hamilton’s Bank of New York.

In September 1799, John Church, whose wife was the sister of Hamilton’s wife, accused Burr of taking a political bribe from the Holland Company to influence state legislators to allow aliens to own land in New York. Burr challenged John Church to a duel where both fired and missed.

In the Presidential election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received the same number of electoral votes – 73. Originally, in Presidential elections, the candidate receiving the most electoral votes was elected President, and the candidate receiving the second most votes was elected Vice-President. Alexander Hamilton used his influence to cause a vote to switch in favor of Jefferson, thus dashing Burr’s ambitions to be President. Burr instead became Vice-President.

In 1801, a supporter of Burr named George Eacker spoke at Columbia University, denigrating Hamilton. Alexander Hamilton’s 19-year-old son, Philip Hamilton, ran into George Eacker outside a play at New York’s Park Theater. Defending his father’s honor, their encounter became a screaming, hostile confrontation, ending with the challenge of a duel. They met on November 22, 1801, and, using John Church’s pistols, they fired at each other, resulting in George Eacker killing Philip Hamilton.

Burr was responsible for using the New York social club Tammany Hall, named for the Lanape Indian Chief Tamanend, for political purposes. It became a notorious Democrat political machine known for graft and corruption. The election of 1800 was also the beginning of the “winner-take-all” policy, where whoever was the winner of the state’s popular vote would get all of the states electoral votes, thus effectively usurping the votes of each individual Congressional district.

When Jefferson was running for reelection in 1804, Hamilton threatened to withdraw from the Federalist Party if it considered any support of Burr. When it became clear that Jefferson was not going to have Burr as his running-mate for a second term, Burr decided to run for Governor of New York. Alexander Hamilton again used his influence to have Burr defeated. Hamilton considered Burr a political opportunist, declaring: “I feel it is a religious duty to oppose his career.”

Aaron Burr took offense, and as both had been involved in duels before, he challenged Hamilton to a duel.

Considered the most infamous duel in American history, they met on the morning of July 11, 1804, at the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey, the same location where Hamilton’s son, Philip was killed in a duel 3 years earlier.

Using John Church’s pistols, Hamilton (being a gentleman) intentionally fired into the air. Burr took deadly aim, then shot and mortally wounding Hamilton in the stomach.

Hamilton requested Episcopal minister Dr. John Mason give him the Lord’s Supper, but Dr. Mason refused as his church principle was to “never to administer the Lord’s Supper privately to any person under any circumstances.” Dr. Mason did, though, affirm that the Lord’s Supper was not a requirement for salvation, to which Hamilton replied that his request was just a testimony of his faith: “I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The duel ended Hamilton’s life.

It also ended Burr’s career, as he was immediately ostracized from American politics. Burr, now out of politics, contrived of a plan to take control over part of the Louisiana Territory and Mexico. When his plan came to light, Burr was indicted on charges of conspiracy and treason in 1807. He fled the United States in 1808 and lived in Europe for many years.

In 1798, Hamilton had written (The Works of Alexander Hamilton, NY, 1851, pg 676): “Americans rouse; be unanimous, be virtuous, be firm, exert your courage, trust in Heaven, and nobly defy the enemies both of God and man!”

Ron

Uncommon Sense

It says in the Bible:  Proverbs 9:10 NIV   

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Common sense will not suffice in your situation.  So, no matter how tempted you are to draw a conclusion about your circumstances before seeking God, don’t do it.  Without the Lord’s point of view, you can only make a faulty assessment of what is happening to you.

A good example of this was when the king of Aram sent his massive army to capture the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-19).  Filled with fear because of the horses and chariots arrayed against them, Elisha’s servant Gehazi asked, “Master!  What shall we do?  Elisha responded by calmly praying that God would open Gehazi’s eyes.  Immediately, Gehazi perceived the spiritual reality—the Lord’s heavenly battalions were standing ready to defend Elisha.  The victory was already won. 

Likewise, there are influences in your situation that you cannot see—spiritual forces that almighty God has set in motion on your behalf.

So don’t rely on your natural eyes or pass judgment on your situation.  You will draw the wrong conclusion.  Rather, look to Him and for understanding and allow Him to lead you to triumph.

Ron 

Since Harvard is all in the news these days, I thought the following would be very pertinent: You may find it hard to believe, but Harvard’s declared purpose was: “To train a literate clergy.” This was consistent with 106 of the first 108 schools in America, which were all founded on Christianity.

Ten of the twelve presidents of Harvard prior to the Revolutionary War were ministers. Fifty percent of the 17th-century Harvard graduates became ministers. Harvard College was founded in “In Christi Gloriam” as its founders believed: “All knowledge without Christ was vain.” In 1692, the motto of Harvard was: “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” — “Truth for Christ and the Church”. Just look at the history of its founding as I have set out below:

The Founding of Harvard

John Harvard’s grandfather lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and was an associate of Shakespeare’s father. His father was a butcher and owner of Queen’s Head Inn and Tavern. John Harvard was born in London and baptized on November 29, 1607, in the old St. Savior’s Parish near the London Bridge, present-day Southwark Cathedral. Most of his family died when a plague swept England in 1625.

The same year, Muslim Corsair pirates sailed up the Thames River and raided England. Giles Milton wrote White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa’s One Million European Slaves 2004:

In the book he recorded that the Islamist pirates attacked the coast of Cornwall, captured 60 villagers at Mount’s Bay and 80 at Looe. They attacked Lundy Island in Bristol Channel and raised the standard of Islam. By the end of 1625, over 1,000 English subjects were sent to the slave markets of Sale, Morocco.

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford wrote that in 1625, the Pilgrims sent back to London two ships of filled with dried fish and beaver skins to trade, and one was captured by the Turks: “Two fishing ships with codfish and 800 lbs. of beaver, as well as other furs, to a good value from the Pilgrims’ plantation went joyfully home till they were well within the England channel. But even there she was unhapply taken by a Turkish man-of-war and carried off to Saller Morocco where the captain and crew were made slaves.

Thus all their hopes were dashed and the joyful news they meant to carry home was turned to heavy tidings. In the other big ship Captain Myles Standish arrived at a very bad time. A plague very deadly in London. And now with their first ship taken by the Turks, It turned out that all trade was dead.”

John Harvard’s mother and surviving brother died not long after from the plague, leaving John the entire family estate. John is believed to have attended the grammar school at St. Savior’s, where the rector, Nicholas Morton, diligently prepared him for acceptance into Cambridge, an amazing achievement for someone of the commoner class.

John Harvard entered Cambridge’s Emmanuel College, known for its Puritan views, the same school where Connecticut founder Rev. Thomas Hooker attended. John Harvard received his bachelor’s degree in 1632 and his master’s degree in 1635. He was later memorialized by a stained glass window in Emmanuel College chapel there.

A classmate of John Harvard at Emmanuel College was John Sadler. Sadler became London’s town clerk, a Member of Parliament, and private secretary to Oliver Cromwell. John Sadler’s sister was Ann, with whom John Harvard fell in love. Harvard married Ann Sadler at St. Michael the Archangel Church in 1636, the same year that Harvard College at Cambridge was founded in Massachusetts.

During this time after the Renaissance and Reformation, there was a “Hebrew Revival” among Protestant and Catholic scholars. They studied the history of ancient Israel, especially the first 400 year period in the Promised Land before Israel got its first king, Saul. I have written about this amazing 400 hear period before. It was the first republican form of government in world history. The scholars in Europe and America studied it closely. It was from its history that “self government” on both sides of the Atlantic were eventually instituted.

The scholars of that day studied the self-governing ancient Hebrew republic; the Hebrew language; Jewish historian Josephus; the Jerusalem Talmud 2nd century A.D.; the Babylonian Talmud 4th century A.D.; Jewish philosopher Maimonides; and Rabbinic literature; all to learn about that amazing 400 year period of the Jewish government.

Claude Fleury wrote in The Manners of the Ancient Israelites, 1681: “The Israelites were perfectly free. They enjoyed the liberty cherished by Greece and Rome. Such was the purpose of God.”

E.C. Wines wrote in Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews, 1853 (NY: Geo. P. Putnam & Co., 1853): “Of those great ideas, which constituted the basis of the Hebrew state, the most important was liberty. The Hebrew people enjoyed as great a degree of personal liberty, as can ever be combined with an efficient and stable government.”

In England, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge taught Hebrew. In America, Harvard students were required to study Hebrew. In 1685, Harvard had a commencement address delivered in the Hebrew language.

Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, and other early American colleges had requirements for students to learn Hebrew. Yale has Hebrew letters on its Coat-of-Arms.

In 1722, Harvard hired Judah Monis, its first full-time Hebrew instructor, who published A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue, 1735 – the first Hebrew textbook published in North America.

President Thomas Jefferson stated in his Second Inaugural, March 4, 1805: “I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as ISRAEL of old.”

Harvard President Samuel Langdon stated June 5, 1788: “The ISRAELITES may be considered as a pattern to the world in all ages of government on republican principles.”

In 1637, John and Ann Harvard sailed for Massachusetts where he took “the freeman’s oath.” And he served as a teaching elder. At age 31, Reverend John Harvard contracted tuberculosis and died on September 14, 1638.  Having no male heir, John left half of his 1,600 pound estate to Harvard at Cambridge, along with a library of over 400 volumes. John Harvard’s library included books by Homer, Plutarch, Aquinas, Bacon, Calvin, and Luther, Bible commentaries, volumes in Hebrew and Greek.

The General Court of Massachusetts Bay voted in 1639 to rename the College at Cambridge after John Harvard. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in America. On the wall by the old iron gate at Harvard University’s main campus entrance, and also noted in Harvard Divinity School’s catalog, is the statement of Harvard’s founders:

“After God had carried us safe to New England, and we had builded our houses, provided necessaries for our livelihood, rear’d convenient places for God’s worship, and settled the Civil Government: One of the next things we longed for, and looked after was to advance Learning and to perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches, when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust. And as we were thinking and consulting how to effect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard, a godly gentleman and a lover of learning there living amongst us, to give the one half of his estate towards the erecting of a college and all his Library.”

Harvard’s declared purpose was: “To train a literate clergy.” This was consistent with 106 of the first 108 schools in America, which were founded on Christianity.

Ten of the twelve presidents of Harvard prior to the Revolutionary War were ministers. Fifty percent of the 17th-century Harvard graduates became ministers. Harvard College was founded in “In Christi Gloriam” as its founders believed: “All knowledge without Christ was vain.” In 1692, the motto of Harvard was: “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” — “Truth for Christ and the Church”.

The word “Veritas” on the college seal referenced divine truth, and was embedded on a shield, which can be found on Memorial Church, Widener Library, and numerous Harvard Yard dorms. The shield has on top two books facing up and on the bottom a book facing down, symbolizing the limits of reason and the need for God’s revelation.

Ron