Christianity and Agnosticism: Reviews of some Recent Attacks on the Christian Faith. London: SPCK, 1904.
It may well, indeed, be doubted whether people are generally aware how slight, as a matter of fact, is the evidence accessible to them, or to any one, on which the most confident conclusions of history and of science may rest. As to history, I will mention only one example, which seems to be particularly striking. Probably there is hardly any book of history which is received with more unquestioning acquiescence than the writings of Thucydides. They are our only contemporary authority for some of the most interesting, most instructive, and most important occurrences in civilised history; and, as written by an historical genius of the first order, they hold a foremost place in the history of human thought. Now what is the evidence accessible to us that this work was written by that Thucydides to whom all the world confidently ascribes it? I cannot discover, after inquiry among some of our best living scholars, that there is any mention at all of Thucydides having written this book until more than two hundred years after he died. The fact is not mentioned by the historian who narrates the subsequent history--Xenophon; and the very first extant notice of the history of Thucydides is by Polybius. Now Thucydides died about the year 400 B.C., and Polybius was born about the year 204 B.C. Polybius seems to have written his history towards the close of his life, and he died in the year 122 B.C. It will be seen, therefore, that we are much under the mark in saying that his testimony is more than two hundred years after the death of Thucydides. This silence is all the more remarkable, as we have works, like Aristotle's Politics, in which it might have been expected that so great an historical writer would have been referred to. But there does not seem to be any such reference to him extant. Now, a single fact of this kind--and several others of the same sort might be adduced--affords a striking commentary on the rigidness with which we are not unfrequently called on to adduce direct and explicit evidence to our sacred books from contemporary writers. But what is important for our present purpose is to point out that here is an instance in which the most confident historical judgments are rested upon very slight external evidence. --pp. xvii-xix.
English classical scholar. Read more about Wakefield here. Note: We have doubts about claims of Wakefield's Unitarianism.
WORKS
Evidences of Christianity: or a collection of remarks intended to display the excellence, ... of the christian religion. By Gilbert Wakefield. The second edition, much enlarged. London: printed for the author; and sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinson; and J. Deighton, 1793. x,[3],6-227,[1] pp.
An Essay on Inspiration; Considered Chiefly with Respect to the Evangelists. Warrington: printed by William Eyres, for the author, and sold by J. Johnson, London, 1781. xv,[1],144 pp.
Presbyterian minister and mathematician. Read more about Walker
here.
WORKS
The Duty and character of a national soldier represented in a sermon preached, January 2, 1779. At the High Church in Hull, before the Nottinghamshire militia, commanded by Lord George Sutton, on the delivery of the colours to the regiment. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1779. 38 pp.
The Religious Faith of Great Statesmen. From Herald of Gospel Liberty, February 21, 1929. Profiles of William E. Gladstone, John Bright, William Wilberforce, President Abraham Lincoln and President Woodrow Wilson.
Wallace, Daniel B.
(b. 1952)
Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary (has taught there for more than 28 years) and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. Read about Wallace here. Website.
Video presentation. J. Warner Wallace Lectures on the Evidence for Christianity . Uploaded December 9, 2012. "Cold-case detective J. Warner Wallace, and author of Cold-Case Christianity, presented this lecture via Skype at Reasonable Faith Belfast on Monday, 3rd December 2012. He talks about the nature of evidence, possibility and reason, the chain of custody for the New Testament documents, and much more. The lecture is about an hour (with great visuals), followed by about 30 minutes of Q&A."
"Pick Your Jury Carefully Before Making A Case", posted February 27, 2013.
You can have a great case but lose miserably if you don't have the right jury. That's why prosecutors and defense attorneys have come to specialize (or hire experts) in jury selection. Both sides are looking for jurors who are not biased against some aspect of their case; better yet, each side would like to fill the jury with people who are inclined to agree with their position, even before they start the trial. A lot of effort is expended trying to figure out which twelve people (from the larger jury pool) should be selected. We use surveys and questionnaires and we ask important questions of each juror as we try our best to sort through the candidates, looking for presuppositional biases that may hurt our chances. No one wants to present a criminal case to a group that hasn't been carefully screened, questioned and examined. If we aren't careful to assemble the right jury, our efforts to articulate and argue the case will be meaningless.
"Ten Principles When Considering Alleged Bible Contradictions." Posted May 20, 2014. There are times when similar variations (or alleged 'contradictions') are observed in the Biblical accounts. It's our job, as Christian Case Makers, to apply a few simple investigative principles to determine whether or not these differences impact the reliability of the accounts. I want to offer a few investigative principles and filters for investigating these alleged Bible contradictions. These principles are not outrageous or unusual. They're not specific to the Bible. They're not Christian tricks or devices used to cover up inadequacies. They are straightforward tools and approaches useful when examining any ancient document or piece of evidence. If we objectively examine the Scriptures with these principles in mind, we'll not only grow in our understanding of the Bible, but we'll better comprehend and resolve the difficulties.
"Can You Trust Christianity is True If You Haven't Examined the Alternatives? ." Posted May 26, 2014. Anchorapologetics.com.
... "While it may be helpful to examine a particular alternative worldview on occasion to show its inadequacies or errors, these deficiencies fail to establish Christianity as factual. How can you trust Christianity is true if you haven't examined all the alternatives? The case for the Christian worldview must first be made affirmatively even if no other claim is examined negatively. If there's enough evidence to reasonably infer Christianity is true, we needn't look any further. The affirmative case will either stand or fall on its own merit, even if we're unable to examine any other 'suspect'."
Abstract: In this Cold-Case Christianity video broadcast / podcast, J. Warner makes a case for the eyewitness status of the New Testament Gospel accounts. Is it appropriate to evaluate these accounts as eyewitness statements? Were they intended to be read in this manner? Jim provides several reasons to accept the accounts as eyewitness testimony.
"Investigating Easter: Is The Resurrection A Late Legend?." Posted March 23, 2016.
"As I've demonstrated in Cold-Case Christianity (Chapters 11 and 13), the earliest accounts of the apostles, as recorded by their own students, include all the miraculous deeds attributed to Jesus, including the Resurrection. Cold-case detectives have to deal with the issue of legend more than other types of detectives. . . . In order for the Resurrection of Jesus to be a late legend, the story would have to be both late and a legend. It is neither."
The Doctrine of Grace; or, the office and operations of the Holy Spirit vindicated from the insults of infidelity, and the abuses of fanaticism: In three books. By William Lord Bishop of Gloucester. The second edition. London: printed for A. Millar, and J. and R. Tonson, 1763. xxiv, 259,[1]pp.
A Critical and Philosophical commentary on Mr. Pope's Essay on man. In which is contain'd a vindication of said essay from the misrepresentations of Mr. de Resnel, the French translator, and of Mr. de Crousaz, the commentator. By Mr. Warburton. London: Printed for John and Paul Knapton, 1742. xx, 188 pp. 17 cm. (8vo)
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 636 pp. Volume 1 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 760 pp. Volume 2 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 823 pp. Volume 3 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 727 pp. Volume 4 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 608 pp. Volume 5 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 538 pp. Volume 6 of 7.
The Works of the Right Reverend William Warburton. London: Printed by J. Nichols, and sold by T. Cadell, 1788. 458 pp. Volume 7 of 7. Notes: Volumes 6-7 have continuous pagination and register./ 'A discourse, by way of a general preface to the quarto edition of Bishop Warburton's works' by Richard Hurd was published in 1794 to accompany this work./ Reproduction of original from the British Library.
Unitarianism incapable of vindication, a reply to the Rev. James Yates's Vindication of Unitarianism by Ralph Wardlaw. Andover, [Mass.]: Published and for sale by Mark Newman. Flagg and Gould, Printers, 1817. 351 pp. 25 cm.
On Miracles. Edinburgh: A. Fullarton, 1852. 318 pp.; 19 cm.
"The Authority & Inspiration Of The Scriptures". The essay was originally published in the Westminster Teacher, Sept. 1889. "Christianity is often called a book-religion. It would be more exact to say that it is a religion which has a book. Its foundations are laid in apostles and prophets, upon which its courses are built up in the sanctified lives of men; but Christ Jesus alone is its chief cornerstone. He is its only basis; he, its only head; and he alone has authority in his Church. But he has chosen to found his Church not directly by his own hands, speaking the word of God, say for instance, in thunder-tones from heaven; but through the instrumentality of a body of apostles, chosen and trained by himself, endowed with gifts and graces from the Holy Ghost, and sent forth into the world as his authoritative agents for proclaiming a gospel which he placed within their lips and which is none the less his authoritative word, that it is through them that he speaks it. It is because the apostles were Christ's representatives, that what they did and said and wrote as such, comes to us with divine authority. The authority of the Scriptures thus rests on the simple fact that God's authoritative agents in founding the Church gave them as authoritative to the Church which they founded. All the authority of the apostles stands behind the Scriptures, and all the authority of Christ behind the apostles. The Scriptures are simply the law-code which the law-givers of the Church gave it."
The Person of Christ according to the New Testament. Pub. 1892, by the American Sunday School Union, Philadelphia, Pa. Philadelphia, Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., 1950. xiii, 575 pp. port. 24 cm. Contents: Person of Christ: Historical Christ. Person of Christ according to the New Testament. The Christ that Paul preached. The Emotional life of our Lord. Jesus' alleged confession of sin. The humanitarian Christ. The "Two Natures" and Recent christological speculation. Christless christianity.--Pt. 2. The work of Christ as Redeemer: Redeemer and redemption. The chief theories of the atonement. Modern theories of the atonement. Christ our sacrifice. The New Testament terminology of redemption. The essence of christianity and the cross of Christ.
The End of the Incarnation. "A sermon preached in the chapel of Princeton Theological Seminary on October 9, 1892 from the text: For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent me; and this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all that He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. John 6:38-39."
"Now this subordinate relation in which Jesus thus pervasively represents Himself to have stood to the Father, so as to have been sent by Him, must be a matter either of nature or of arrangement. It must be either essential or economic. It must find its account and origin either in the necessity of nature or else in the provisions of a plan. But side by side with this perfectly pervasive proclamation of His subordination to the Father, in the whole matter of the incarnation itself, and the purpose or 'will' that lies behind that incarnation and gives it its justification and its philosophical account, there runs an equally pervasive assertion by Jesus Himself and by His historian as well, of His essential equality and oneness with God. He was not only in the beginning with God: He was God. He is the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father. To have seen Him is to have seen the Father also. He draws and receives from Thomas, the worshipping cry, 'My Lord and my God.' He declares to the Jews, 'I and the Father are One.' It seems to be clear, therefore, that the subordination in which the Father is recognized as greater than He, prescribing a 'will' for Him to come into the world to perform, is economic, not essential; a matter of arrangement, not of necessity of nature."
Incarnate Truth. From Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, vol. 2, Edited by John E. Meeter, published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1970. originally from Princeton Sermons, 1893, pp. 94-114.
The Risen Jesus. Preached in the Chapel of Princeton Seminary on the text of 2 Ephesians 2:8, somewhere between 1910-1913. "Christianity is a 'historical religion,' and a 'Christianity' wholly unrelated to historical occurrences is just no Christianity at all. Religion, -- yes, man may have religion without historical facts to build upon, for man is a religious animal and can no more escape from religion than he can escape from any other of his persistent instincts. He may still by the grace of God know something of God and the soul, moral responsibility and immortality. But do not even the heathen know the same? And what have we more than they? We may still call by the name of 'Christianity' the tattered rags of natural religion which may be left us when we have cast away all the facts which constitute Christianity, -- the age-long preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of God; the Incarnation of the Son of God; His atoning death on the Cross; His rising again on the third day and His ascension to heaven; the descent of the Spirit on the Pentecostal birthday of the Church. But to do so is to outrage all the proprieties of honest nomenclature. For 'Christianity' is not a mere synonym of 'religion,' but is a specific form of religion determined in its peculiarity by the great series of historical occurrences which constitute the redemptive work of God in this sinful world, among which occurrences the resurrection of Christ holds a substantial and in some respects the key position."
Revelation and Inspiration. (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 2000) The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield, Volume I. New York: Oxford University Press, 1932.
"The Real Problem of Inspiration." The Presbyterian and Reformed Review, n. 14, April 1893.
"Let it not be said that thus we found the whole Christian system on the doctrine of plenary inspiration. . . . Were there no such thing as inspiration, Christianity would be true, and all its essential doctrines would be credibly witnessed to, as in the generally trustworthy reports of the teaching of our Lord and of His authoritative agents in founding the Church, preserved in the writings of the apostles and their first followers, and in the historical witness of the living Church. Inspiration is not the most fundamental of Christian doctrines, nor even the first thing we prove about the Scriptures. It is the last and crowning fact as to the Scriptures. These we first prove authentic, historically credible, generally trustworthy, before we prove them inspired. And the proof of their authenticity, credibility, and general trustworthiness would give us a firm basis for Christianity, prior to any knowledge on our part of their inspiration, and apart, indeed, from the existence of inspiration. The present writer, in order to prevent all misunderstanding, desires to repeat here what he has said on every proper occasion. . . . Without any inspiration we could have had Christianity; yea, and men could still have heard the truth, and through it been awakened, and justified, and sanctified, and glorified." --Quote from "Immense Weight of Evidence for the Biblical Doctrine," pp. 208-209.
Christology and Criticism. Oxford University Press, 1929. 459 pages. Buy this book here. Baker Pub Group, 2000 edition here.
Works of Benjamin B. Warfield. Baker Book House, January 1978). 5120 pages. Buy this book here.
The Baptized Turk, or, A narrative of the happy conversion of Signior Rigep Dandulo, the onely son of a silk merchant in the Isle of Tzio, from the delusions of that great impostor Mahomet, unto the Christian religion and of his admission unto baptism by Mr. Gunning at Excester-house Chappel the 8th of November, 1657 / drawn up by Tho. Warmstry. London: Printed for J. Williams, T. Garthwait ... and Henry Marsh, 1658. [16], 150 [i.e. 158] pp.
Warneck, Gustav
(1834-1910)
German missiologist.
WORKS
[Gegenseitigen Beziehungen zwischen der modernen Mission und Cultur. English] Modern missions and culture: their mutual relations/ by Dr. Gustav Warneck, translated from the German by Thomas Smith, D.D. New edition. Edinburgh: James Gemmell, 1888. xxiv, 375 pp.; 21 cm. Notes: Includes introduction by translator. Translation of: Die gegenseitigen Beziehungen zwischen der modernen Mission und Cultur.
Warren, Joseph
(17411-1775)
American doctor and patriot. Died at Battle of Bunker Hill. Read about Warren here and here.
WORKS
An Oration delivered March 5th, 1772: At the request of the inhabitants of the town of Boston; to commemorate the bloody tragedy of the fifth of March, 1770. / By Joseph Warren; [Three lines in Latin from Virgil] Boston: Printed by Edes and Gill, by order of the town of Boston, 1772. 18, [2] pp.; 24 cm. (8vo)
If you, with united zeal and fortitude, oppose the torrent of oppression; if you feel the true fire of patriotism burning in your breasts: if you, from your souls, despise the most gaudy dress that slavery can wear; if you really prefer the lonely cottage (whilst blest with liberty) to gilded palaces, surrounded with thr ensigns of slavery, you may have the fullest assurance that tyranny, with her whole accursed train, will hide their hideous heads In confusion, shame, and despair--if you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same Almighty Being who protected your pious and venerable forefathers--who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often made bare his arm for their salvation, will still be mindful of you, their offspring.
May this Almighty Being graciously preside in all our councils. May he direct us to such measures as he himself shall approve, and be pleased to bless. May we ever be a people favored of God. May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum ot the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth, until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin!
An Oration delivered March 6, 1775: at the request of the inhabitants of the town of Boston; to commemorate the bloody tragedy of the fifth of March, 1770. / By Dr. Joseph Warren; [One line from Virgil in Latin]. Newport, Rhode Island: Reprinted and sold by S. Southwick, in Queen Street, 1775. 22, [2] pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
In Provincial Congress, at Watertown, April 26, 1775. To the Inhabitants of Great Britain. From The Journals of each Provincial Congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775: and of the Committee of Safety, with an appendix, containing the proceedings of the county conventions-narratives of the events of the nineteenth of April, 1775-papers relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other documents, illustrative of the early history of the American revolution. Dutton and Wentworth, Printers to the state, 1838. 778 pp. Also here.
... "We sincerely hope, that the Great Sovereign of the Universe, who hath so often appeared for the English nation, will support you in every rational and manly exertion with these colonies, for saving it from ruin, and that, in a constitutional connection with our mother country, we shall soon be altogether a free and happy people."
n.g. An Elegy, occasion'd by the death of Major-General Joseph Warren, : who fell fighting in defence of the glorious cause of his country, at Charlestown, in New-England, on the memorable 17th day of June, 1775. [Watertown, Mass.]: Printed and sold [by Benjamin Edes] in Watertown, near the bridge, 1775. 1 sheet ([1] p.)
American author, historian and playwright. Read more about Warren here and here.
WORKS
History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution; Interspersed with biographical, political and moral observations. Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring, for E. Larkin, No. 47, Cornhill, 1805. 3 vol. 21 cm. Volume 1 of 3. Volume 2 of 3. Volume 3 of 3. Text-searchable.
It is no singular circumstance that a zeal for religion, or rather for a particular mode of worship, should disgrace the Christian system, by the wild fanaticism of its real or pretended votaries. It has been observed, that this was the pretext for the licentious conduct of the London Associators: their cry was religion; forgetful among the most ferocious deeds of cruelty, that the religion they ostensibly pretended to defend, was interwoven with the most rational morality, and the most fervent piety.
The same illiberal spirit of superstition and bigotry, has been the pretext for establishing inquisitions, for Smithfield fires, for massacres, wars, and rivers of human blood poured out on the earth, which groans beneath the complicated crimes of man. Thus, mistaken ideas of religion have often led the multitude to deeds [222] of cruelty and madness, enkindled the fury of the assassin to murder the monarch amidst his guards, or the hapless maid in her devotional closet. The ignorant, the artful, or the illiberal children of men, have often brought forward the sacred name of religion, to sanction the grossest absurdities, to justify the most cruel persecutions, and to violate every principle of reason and virtue in the human mind.
It is a melancholy truth, that the Christian world too generally forgets that the mild spirit of the gospel dictates candor and forgiveness towards those who are dissentient in opinion. The example of the good Samaritan was recorded, to impress the cultivation of the benevolent affections towards all mankind, without restriction to neighbour or to country: and the sword of Peter was ordered into its scabbard, by the founder of that code of rational and just sentiment, productive of order and peace in the present stage of weakness and error.
The mild virtues of charity and brotherly kindness, are the distinguishing characteristics of this benign religion: yet it is not less humiliating than wonderful, when we calmly reflect, that mankind have seemed to delight in the destruction of their fellow-beings, from the earliest records of time to the present struggles of America, to maintain their rights at the point [223] of the sword, against a nation long inured to the carnage of their own species.
Wartick, J. W.
(Fl. 21st century)
Christian apologist. Read about Wartick here. Website here.
The First American President. Read more about Washington here.
WORKS
W. R. Miller, compiler. George Washington: His Christian Faith in His Own Words. 162 pp. Word document. Primary source documentation of his attendence at church and service as a Christian. Washington's writings include his recommendations for chaplains to serve in the army, his promotion of Christianity through Thanksgiving proclaimations and General Orders to his troops and in other public addresses. This essay includes testimony from his daughter, Eleanor (Nelly) Parke Custis Lewis (1779-1852) regarding Washington's religious beliefs.
W. R. Miller, compiler. George Washington: Advocate of Prayer and Worship, in His Own Words. 58 pp. Word document. Companion piece to the above compilation, these records come from Washington's diaries, general orders as Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and proclamations as President of the United States. This documents his personal prayer life, and his recommendations of prayer to God for his troops, and for the American nation.
D. C. Garrett. George Washington: He Was a Christian and a Communicant. Morning Oregonian (Portland, OR), Issue 11,602. Thursday, February 17, 1898; pg. 7, Column A. Corrections: Garrett refers to Sewall of New Hampshire as "Newhall" and Dr. Berrian as "Dr. Berlen."
Bring on the Prayerbook. Arguments from W. A. Cruffet, Rebecca S. Price and Wm. F. Carne regarding Washington's Christianity. Washington Post, July 20, 1903, p. 10.
Philip Slaughter. The History of Truro Parish in Virginia. Published by George W. Jacobs & Company, Publishers, Philadelphia, 1907. 1908 edition here. Published by G.W. Jacobs & Co., 1908. 164 pp.
WASHINGTON AS A CHURCH-GOER
In a popular work entitled "The True George Washington," by the late Paul Leicester Ford, the brilliant author devotes a few pages only to a subject which demands a far more accurate and sympathetic treatment than is given to it, namely, Washington's religious training and habits. Referring to Washington's services as a Vestryman, it is acknowledged that he was "Quite active in Church affairs;" but in touching these the author not only repeats all the traditional errors which, for lack of authentic data, have been made by previous writers on this subject, but he falls into a number of new and strange ones, and becomes involved in a most curious labyrinth of inaccuracies. All these the foregoing pages will correct.
W.M. Clark. Colonial Churches: A Series of Sketches of Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia, with Pictures of Each Church. Published by Southern churchman co., 1907. 319 pages.
"At a Vestry held for Truro Parish October 25, 1762," so the old vestry book states, it was "Ordered, that George Washington Esqr. be chosen and appointed one of the Vestrymen of this Parish, in the room of William Peake, Gent, deceased." And the court records show that "At a Court held for the County of Fairfax, 15th February, 1763, George Washington Esqr. took the oaths according to Law repeated and subscribed the Test and subscribed to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England in order to qualify him to act as a Vestryman of Truro Parish.
These numerous oaths and subscriptions, which the law was explicit in requiring of every vestryman, are not without interest in this connection. The well-known test oath was in these words: "I do declare that I do believe there is not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or in the elements of Bread and Wine at or after the Consecration thereof by any person whatsoever." For the subscription to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England there was no formula prescribed by law. The other oaths, too long to be reproduced here, are to be found in the Statutes at Large of England, First of George I., stat. 2, c. 13, and may also be seen, with slight errors in transcription, in Bishop Meade's Old Churches, &c., Vol. II., p. 4.
--p. 110.
William Montgomery Brown. The Church for Americans ...: Revised and Enlarged 10th edition. Published by T. Whittaker, 1899. 501 pp. Washington a Communicant.
Letter to Burwell Bassett, August 28, 1762 . The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources , 1745-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor.
"I was favoured with your Epistle wrote on a certain 25th of July when you ought to have been at Church, praying as becomes every good Christian Man who has as much to answer for as you have; strange it is that you will be so blind to truth that the enlightning sounds of the Gospel cannot reach your Ear, nor no Examples awaken you to a sense of Goodness; could you but behold with what religious zeal I hye me to Church on every Lords day, it would do your heart good, and fill it I hope with equal fervency; ..."
"All Officers, non-commissioned Officers and Soldiers are positively forbid playing at Cards, and other Games of Chance. At this time of public distress, men may find enough to do in the service of their God, and their Country, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality."
"The Hon. Continental Congress having been pleased to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment, with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third pr month?The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment are directed to procure Chaplains accordingly; persons of good Characters and exemplary lives?To see that all inferior officers and soldiers pay them a suitable respect and attend carefully upon religious exercises. The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger?The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country."
GENERAL ORDER RESPECTING THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH DAY IN THE ARMY AND NAVY
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, November 15, 1862
The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for men and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the divine will demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.
The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. --At this time of public distress,-- adopting the words of Washington in 1776, --men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.-- The first general order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended:
The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Washington's Prayer Before Battle. Before the Battle of Chatterton Hill in White Plains. A recollection by Nathaniel B. Valentine. Published in Daily Inter Ocean, February 11, 1895, p. 5.
General Orders, May 2, 1778The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor.
General Orders, June 30, 1778The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor.
AMERICAN INTELLIGENCE. GENERAL WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ORDERS to the ARMIES of the UNITED STATES. Rocky Hill near Princeton, Nov. 2, 1783. Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser (London, England), Wednesday, December 24, 1783; Issue 985.
"The disadvantegeous circumstances on our part, under which the war was undertaken, can never be forgotten. The singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition, were such as could scarely escape the attention of the most unobserving, while the unparelleled perseverance of the armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement, for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle."
Cary T. Grayson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library. Program for Centennial Anniversary of George Washington's Inauguration, 30 Apr. 1889. The body of this service was compiled by Dean Hale of Davenport, Iowa, at the request of the Bishop of that Diocese. We are also indebted to Bishop Perry for historical quotations.
American Citizens;
Greeting:-
ON THE MORNING of April 30, A. D. 1789, the church-bells throughout the land summoned the people to prayer in view of the induction into office of the Father of his Country as President of the United States. The simple ceremonies attending this noteworthy event took place at the City Hall, New York, which then occupied the site on Wall Street where the Treasury now stands. This building, a stately structure of composite architecture, was fitted up for the occasion with suitable adornments; and from the gallery looking out on Wall Street, the oath of office was administered to the President in the presence of a vast concourse of people. Proceeding to the Senate Chamber, Washington delivered to both Houses of Congress his Inaugural Address, a document abounding in evidences of a deep religious feeling, such as might be expected from the Christian and Churchman the Father of his Country was. At the close of the public exercises of the inauguration, the President, attended by the members of both Houses of Congress and the whole assemblage of spectators, proceeded on foot to St. Paul's Chapel, in Broadway, where the Te Deum was sung, and the Church's prayers were said by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Samuel Provoost, the first Bishop of New York, and one of the Chaplains of Congress. Thus piously, and in humble recognition of an over-ruling Providence, was inaugurated our first President.
George Washington to Congress, April 30, 1789/First Inaugural Address, 30 April 1789: Introduction: here; Original: here and here; Transcription: here and here and here and here
Letter to General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches/George Washington to Presbyterian Church General Assembly, May 1789: here; Transcript: here
George Washington to Virginia Baptists General Committee/Letter to the General Committee of the United Baptist Churches in Virginia, May 10, 1789: here; Transcript: here
Letter to George Mason, July 6, 1789. The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources , 1745-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor.
John C. Fitzpatrick, editor. Address to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, October 9, 1789.. The Writings of George Washington, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1932, Vol. XXX, p. 432 n.
"You, Gentlemen, act the part of pious Christians and good citizens by your prayers and exertions to preserve that harmony and good will towards men which must be the basis of every political establishment; and I readily join with you that 'while just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.'
I am deeply impressed with your good wishes for my present and future happiness--and I beseech the Almighty to take you and yours under his special care.
G. Washington."
"The tribute of thanksgiving, which you offer to the gracious Father of Lights, for his inspiration of our publick councils with wisdom and firmness to complete the National Constitution, is worthy of men, who, devoted to the pious purposes of religion, desire their accomplishment by such means as advance the temporal happiness of their fellow men. And, here, I am persuaded, you will permit me to observe, that the path of true piety is so plain, as to require but little political direction.
"To this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any regulation respecting religion from the Magna Charta of our country, to the guidance of the Ministers of the Gospel, this important object is, perhaps, more properly committed. It will be your care to instruct the ignorant, and to reclaim the devious: And in the progress of morality and science, to which our Government will give every furtherance, we may confidently expect the advancement of true religion, and the completion of our happiness.
"I pray the munificent Rewarder of virtue, that your agency in this work, may receive its compensation here and hereafter."
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 labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men & citizens. The mere Politican, equally with the pious man ought to respect & to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private & 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 & experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of Free Government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric.
... Observe good faith & justice towards all Nations. Cultivate peace & harmony with all--Religion & morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great Nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a People always guided by an exalted justice & benevolence.
From Works of Fisher Ames. Eulogy on Washington. Delivered, at the request of the legislature of Massachusetts, February 8, 1800. "Our liberty depends on our education, our laws, and habits, ... it is founded on morals and religion, whose authority reigns in the heart, and on the influence all these produce on publick opinion, before that opinion governs rulers."
Justice Joseph Story. An Eulogy on General George Washington: written at the request of the inhabitants of Marblehead, and delivered before them on the second day of January, A.D. 1800. / By Joseph Story, A.B. ; [Two lines in Latin from Tacitus] Salem, Mass.: Printed by Joshua Cushing, County Street, Salem, 1800. 24 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
James Wallis, Oration on George WashingtonPart 1, Part 2
Testimony of Washington, and of the Congress of 1776, in favor of the special Providence of God and the Bible. Providence: Printed by R. Cranston, 1836. 12 pp.; 20 cm. "The following compilation from the writings of Washington, and the Journals of the Congress of 1776, was delivered before the young men of Richmond Street congregation, in Providence, on the evening of February 22nd, 1826."
Hartford, Nov. 30. Connecticut Courant, November 30, 1789. Address of the Trustees of Dartmouth College to the President of the United States, with the President's response.
Interesting Documents. Philadelphia Recorder, January 31, 1829, p. 179. Address of the Trustees of Dartmouth College to the President of the United States, with the President's response.
James Abercrombie. Washington Not a Communicant. The New-York Evangelist, March 17, 1887, p. 2, col. D. Reprint of letter from Magazine of American History, June 1885.
Washington Not a Communicant. The New-York Evangelist, October 4, 1888, p. 7, col. D. Ref. to Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. 5.
First "First lady." Read more about Martha Washington here.
WORKS
Benson John Lossing. Martha Washington. New York: J.C. Buttre, 1861. 24 pp.
Waterland, Daniel
(1683-1740)
English theologian.
WORKS
A Vindication of Christ's divinity, being a defense of some Queries, relating to Dr. Clarke's scheme of the H. Trinity, in answer to a clergy-man in the country. By Daniel Waterland. Cambridge: printed for Corn. Crownfield: and are to be sold by James Knapton, and Robert Knaplock, London, 1719. [26], 494 pp.
English divine. (TM): Richard Watson (1737-1816), not to be confused with the Methodist theologian of the same name, was an Anglican theologian and scholar. He was a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, was appointed a professor of chemistry and later of divinity at Trinity. From 1782 until his death, he served as the Bishop of Llandaff.
The Oxford biography says of him: "A student of mathematics before he turned his hand to chemistry, Watson came fresh to the study of religion on his appointment as regius professor of divinity in 1771. He then applied himself not to theology or patristics but to biblical study of the New Testament....In his six volumes of Theological Tracts (1785), which reprinted twenty-four extracts from nineteen writers for 'young persons of every denomination' (1.v), he included works by a number of dissenters, even some Unitarians, insisting that he 'did not at all consider the quarter from whence the matter was taken, but whether it was good, and suited to my purpose' (1.xix). His aim was to establish the truth of Christianity and defend his young readers 'from that contagion of Infidelity which is the disgrace of the age' (1.ix); his target was deists not dissenters...Twice in his career he came forward as a defender of the Christian faith: in 1776 his Apology for Christianity addressed Gibbon's sceptical account of the growth of Christianity in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire; twenty years later his Apology for the Bible (1796) responded to the second part of Thomas Paine's deist Age of Reason, published in 1795. While his rejoinder to Gibbon was relaxed and courteous that to Paine was urgent and anxious; the debate was no longer an intellectual exercise but a crucial defence of the political and social order."
An Apology for Christianity, in a series of letters, addressed to Edward Gibbon, ... By R. Watson, ... Also, remarks on the two last chapters of Mr. Gibbon's History, of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. In a letter to a friend. Dublin: printed for W. Watson, W. Whitestone, W. Colles, W. Wilson, T. Walker, C. Jenkin, W. Hallhead, J. Exshaw, and J. Beatty, 1777. [4],304 pp.
An Apology for the Bible.
(TM): The first of these two short books by Watson is a response to Edward Gibbon's treatment of the rise of Christianity in his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776); the second is a response to Thomas Paine's coarse but popular attack on Christianity in The Age of Reason (1794-95). Both of Watson's works combine considerable learning with graceful rhetoric. He treats Gibbon with the respect due to a scholar of high standing, a compliment that Gibbon appreciated and returned in some correspondence that passed between them in November of 1776. With Paine, Watson allows himself a more remonstrating tone.
Watson had a clear sense of the limitations of the genre in which he was writing, and in a note to the fifth (1791) edition of his Apology for Christianity he expresses "an earnest wish, that those who dislike not this little Book, will peruse larger ones on the same subject." His six volume Collection of Theological Tracts(1785; 2nd ed. 1791) gives some indication of where he hoped his readers would go.
News. The True Briton, issue 1009. Monday, March 21, 1796. 3rd column, middle.
"We admire the talents and learning of the Bishop of LANDAFF, but we cannot but think that in his late publication he has committed two gross errors--First, in addressing his work to so contemptible a being as THOMAS PAINE; and secondly, in the choice of a title, An apology for the Christian Religion is surely an improper expression, as apology invariably implies a something which is not perfectly right, and which therefore requires some kind of excuse--Nor is the expression, we apprehend, to be justified by the practise of the early writers on Christianity, who made use of the word [apologia]; for that term evidently signifies a defence, and is by no means synonimous with the English word Apology.--Besides the cases are not at all similar; an expression which might be expedient and proper, at a time when but a very small part of mankind had adopted the Creed of Christianity, whould now, for obvious reasons, be extremely improper and unbecoming.--HIS MAJESTY, we understand, when the Work was presented to him, expressed his surprize at the Title."
LETTER V. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. February 1797. p. 91.
LETTER VI.. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. June 1797. p. 281.
LETTER VII. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. August 1797. p. 384
LETTER VIII.. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. September 1797. p. 427
From the BISHOP of LANDAFF to THOMAS PAINE. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. October 1797. p. 490.
LETTER X. . From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption.v. 20 November 1797. p. 531.
LETTER XI. From The Arminian magazine: consisting of extracts and original treatises on universal redemption, v. 20. December 1797. p. 582.
English Christian hymnwriter, theologian and logician. Read more about Watts at CCEL.
WORKS
Works available at the Post-Reformation Digital Library.
Sermons on Various Subjects, Divine and Moral: Designed for the Use of Christian Families, as Well as for the Hours of Devout Retirement. William Baynes and Son, Paternoster Row; and H.S. Baynes, Edinburgh, 1826. 844 pp.
A Rational Defence of the Gospel, from Sermons on Various Subjects, Divine and Moral. London: William Baynes and Son, 1826, pp. 298-99.
Thus I have endeavoured to answer those objections against the gospel, which are pretended to arise from the truths or doctrines of it: and before I proceed to answer those cavils which are raised against it, because of the professors of it, I must finish the present Discourse with a word or two of improvement.
Use 1. If this be a gospel not to be ashamed of, then study it well: learn the truths and doctrines of it thoroughly,?truths and doctrines which St. Paul, so wise, and so great a man, did not blush to profess, and preach, and die for. Value it as he valued it: the more you know it, the more you will esteem it: and the better you are acquainted with all the glorious articles of it, the less you will be ashamed of it: the divine harmony of the whole will cast a beauty and lustre on every part.
Use 2. Furnish yourselves with arguments for it daily, that you may profess it without shame, and defend it without blushing: this is a day of temptation, and you know not what conversation you may be called into by Divine Providence; you know not what cavils you may meet with to assault your faith and attack Christianity. Be ready, therefore, to give reasons of the hope that is in you, and to make a just and pertinent reply to gainsayers, and convince those, if possible, that are led away captive by the wiles of the devil to forsake Christ and his. gospel. Let not every turn of wit, or sleight of argument and sophistry, make you waver in your faith. It is a gospel that will bear the trial of reasonings and reproaches. It has something in itself that is divine, and therefore it is able to support the professors of it against an army of cavillers.
The Duties of an American citizen: Two discourses, delivered in the First Baptist Meeting House in Boston, on Thursday, April 7, 1825, the day of public fast. 2nd edition. Boston: J. Loring, 1825. 48 pp.; 24 cm. Note(s): "Since the publication of the first edition of the preceding sermons, a few ideas have been suggested to the author, which rather than alter the text, he begs leave to throw together in the form of an appendix."-- P. [35]-36.
Occasional Discourses, including several never before published. Boston, Mass.: James Loring, 1833. 376 pp.; cm.
Also here. "This book features selected discourses from Francis Wayland. Wayland discusses a wide range of philosophical topics, including morality, duties of the American citizen, education, and many more. The discourses presented in this book were originally delivered 1823-1832."
The Government of Christ considered and applied: A sermon preached at Boston, in the audience of His Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq; the Honourable His Majesty's Council; and the Honourable House of Representatives of the province of the Massachusetts. May 31, 1738. Being the anniversary for the election of His Majesty's Council for the province. / By John Webb, M.A. and Pastor of a church in Boston. Boston in New-England: Printed by J. Draper, printer to His Excellency the governour and Council, for N. Procter, at the Bible and Dove in Fish-Street, and S. Eliot in Cornhill, 1738. [4], 39, [3] pp.; 22 cm. (8vo).
The Young-man's duty, explained and pressed upon him: In a sermon from Eccl. XII. 1. preached to a society of young men, on a Lords?Day evening: and now published at their request. / By John Webb, A.M. ; Recommended by the Reverend Increase Mather, D.D The second edition. [Two lines from I. Kings] Boston: Printed by S. Kneeland, for D. Henchman, at the corner shop over against the Brick Meeting-House, 1725. [2], ii, 33, [1] pp.
Webster, Daniel
(1782-1858)
American statesman. Read more about Webster here and here and here. Inscription by Mr. Webster for his monument:
"Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.
Philosophical argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this Globe, has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith that is in me; but my heart has assured, and reassured me, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Divine Reality.
The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. The whole history of man proves it."
WORKS
The Christian Ministry and the Religious Instruction of the Young. From The Works of Daniel Webster, Volume 6. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851. 54 pp. A Speech delivered in the Supreme Court at Washington, on the 20th of February, 1844, in the case of Francois Fenelon Vidal, John F. Girard, and others, Complainants and Appellants, against The Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens of Philadelphia, the Executors of Stephen Girard, and others, Defendants.
Commentary On Christianity and the state constitution of Massachusetts. Extract from The Works of Daniel Webster, 1851.
Mr. Webster's Remarks at the Meeting of the Suffolk Bar, on Moving the Resolutions Occasioned by the Death of the Hon. Mr. Justice Story. Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1805. 13 pp.
"The bed of death brings every human being to his pure individuality; to the intense contemplationof that deepest and most solemn of all relations, the relation between the creature and his Creator. Here it is that fame and renown cannot assist us; that all external things must fail to aid us; that even friends, affection, and human love and devotedness, cannot succor us. This relation the true foundation of all duty, a relation perceived and felt by conscience and confirmed by revelation, our illustrious friend, now deceased, always acknowledged. He reverenced the Scriptures of truth, honored the pure morality which they teach, and clung to the hopes of future life which they impart. He beheld enough in nature, in himself, and in all that can be known of things seen, to feel assured that there is a Supreme Power, without whose providence not a sparrow falleth to the ground. To this gracious being he trusted himself for time and for eternity; and the last words of his lips ever heard by mortal ears were a fervent supplication to his Maker to take him to himself."
Mr. Justice Story. Preface, Contents pages, and extract, pp. 532-534, from Great Speeches and Orations of Daniel Webster, with an Essay on Daniel Webster as a Master of English Style, by Edwin J. Whipple. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1879.
Qualifications for Public Office. Introduction by David Barton: "Daniel Webster persuasively reasons for the peoples' right to establish qualifications for their elected officials and acknowledges the importance of Massachusetts' 'respect and attachment to Christianity.'"
"Qualifications for Public Office. From The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Volume 5 of 18. Boston: Little, Brown, 1903. 284 pp.; 25 cm.
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. 625 pp. Vol. 13 of 18. Front Matter. Extract.
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. 625 pp. Volume 13 of 18. Importance of History. Extract. Address before the New
York Historical Society. February 23, 1852.
"And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion; if we and they shall live always in the fear of God, and shall respect his commandments; if we and they shall maintain just moral sentiments, and such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life, we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country; and if we maintain those institutions of government and that political union exceeding all praise as much as it exceeds all former examples of political associations, we may be sure of one thing -- that while our country furnishes materials for a thousand masters of the historic art, it will be no topic for a Gibbon, it will have no decline and fall. It will go on prospering and to prosper. But if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity."
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. 625 pp. Volume 13 of 18. Autobiographical papers. Extract.
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. 625 pp. Volume 13 of 18. Extracts with Preface, Contents, Mr. Webster's Last Will, Inspiration by Mr. Webster for his Monument,
On Christianity. From "A Eulogy on Daniel Webster delivered before the Students of Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., Dec. 29, 1852," by Prof. Edwin D. Sanborn, who said: "A few months before his decease while sitting with him alone, by his own fireside, I heard him discourse most eloquently upon the great truths of Christianity and the proper method of teaching them."
Webster: "Last Sabbath, I listened to an able and learned discourse upon the evidences of Christianity. The arguments were drawn from prophecy, history, and internal evidence. They were stated with logical accuracy and force; but, as it seemed to me, the clergyman failed to draw from them the right conclusion. He came so near the truth that I was astonished that he missed it. In summing up his arguments, he said the only alternative presented by these evidences is this: Either Christianity is true, or it is a delusion produced by an excited imagination. Such is not the alternative, said the critic; but it is this: The Gospel is either true history, or it is a consummate fraud; it is either a reality, or an imposition. Christ was what He professed to be, or He was an impostor. There is no other alternative. His spotless life, His earnest enforcement of the truth, His suffering in its defence, forbid us to suppose that He was following an illusion of a heated brain."
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. Vol. 16 of 18. Letters Hitherto Uncollected. Contents. Confession of Faith to Rev. Thomas Worcester. Plus, "The Observance of the Sabbath" to Charles W. Ridgely, "Sunday Schools" to Professor Pease, "Christianity" to the Rev. Kingston Goddard, Index. Extracts.
The Writings and Speeches of Daniel Webster. National edition. Boston, 1903. Vol. 18 of 18. Contents. Letters.
A Funeral oration occasioned by the death of Ephraim Simonds, of Temp[l]eton, Mass.: a member of the senior class in Dartmouth College, who died at Hanover, N.H., June 18th, 1801, æt [i.e. at] 26. Hanover: Dartmouth Press, 1855. 10 pp.; 22 cm.
Samuel M. (Samuel Mosheim) Schmucker. The Life, Speeches, and Memorials of Daniel Webster, containing his most celebrated orations, a selection from the eulogies delivered on the occasion of his death, and his life and times. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1881. 552 pp., [1] leaf of plates: port.; 21 cm.
A Discourse, delivered at Plymouth, December 22, 1820, in commemoration of the first settlement of New-England. 2nd ed. Boston: Wells and Lilly, 1821. 55, [1] pp.: port.; 21 cm.
"Of the motives which influenced the first settlers to a
voluntary exile, induced them to relinquish their native
country, and to seek an asylum in this then unexplored
wilderness, the first and principal, no doubt, were connected
with Religion. They sought to enjoy a higher
degree of Religious freedom, and what they esteemed
a purer form of Religious worship; than was allowed
to their choice, or presented to their imitation, in the
old world. The love of Religious Liberty is a stronger
sentiment, when fully excited, than an attachment
to civil or political freedom. That freedom which the
conscience demands, and which men feel bound by their
hopes of salvation to contend for, can hardly fail to be
attained. Conscience, in the cause of Religion, and
the worship of the Deity, prepares the mind to act, and
to suffer beyond almost all other causes. It sometimes
gives an impulse so irresistible, that no setters of power
or of opinion can withstand it. History instructs us
that this love of Religious liberty, a compound sentiment
in the breast of man, made up of the clearest sense of right, and the highest conviction of duty, is able to look the sternest despotism in the face, and with means apparently most inadequate, to shake principalities
and powers."
Interesting Letter from Daniel Webster. Christian Advocate (1866-1905); Jul 8, 1875; pg. 210. Webster on Sunday Schools. "The sabbath-school is one of the great institutions of the day. It leads our youth in the path of truth and morality, and makes them good men and useful ciizens. As a school of religious instruction it is of inestimable value. As a civil institution it is priceless. It has done more to preserve our liberties than grave statesmen and armed soldiers. Let it then be fostered and preserved until the end of time."
How Scholars are Made. The Youth's Companion (1827-1929); Dec 11, 1851; pg. 132. "As a man is in all circumstances under God the master of his own fortunes, so he is the former of his own mind. The Creator has so constituted the human intellect, that it can only grow by its own action, and by its own action it will certainly and necessarily grow."
Origin of Mythology. Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, New Haven. Memoirs (1810-1816); January 1, 1810.
Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel Explained and Defended. Third Edition. Portland, 1811. 50 pp. Text-searchable here with introduction. Published in The Panoplist and Missionary Magazine.
But let us examine this scheme of religion on other grounds. It is the principle of our religion, and of all true religion, that there is a God of infinite perfection, who is the Author of whatever has been created. This Being is man's Creator and, of course, his sovereign Ruler; and if his Sovereign Ruler, He has a right to give laws to man for his government. From God's sovereignty, or his character as Creator and Governor of the universe, results necessarily his right to the supreme reverence of all the rational beings he has created; and from this sovereignty, and from the perfection of His nature, as well as from His benevolence to man, in creating him, and supplying him with all the means of happiness, results God's right to man's highest love and gratitude. For nothing is more obvious than that supreme excellence is entitled to the first place in our esteem. Our first class of duties then respects our Maker, our Preserver, our Benefactor, and Redeemer. These duties, I apprehend, are dictated by reason and natural religion, as well as commanded in the Scriptures. They result necessarily from our relation to the Supreme Being, as the head of the universe.
In the next place, men are made for society. Our natural propensities lead us to associate with each other; and society is necessary to the continuation of the species, as well as to our improvement, protection, and happiness. From this association of men, and the various interests involved in it, result numerous social duties, which we comprise under the general term, morality. These constitute the second class of the duties of men. This distribution of our duties is precisely that which Moses has made in the Ten Commandments, which were originally divided and engraved on two tables. The first table contained our duties to God; the second our duties to each other; and this distribution is expressly recognized by our Savior, who declares that the first and great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the mind; and that the second, which is like to it, is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Letters to a young gentleman commencing his education: to which is subjoined a brief history of the United States. . New-Haven, 1823. 335 pp.
"In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character. . . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country."--pp. 18-19.
An American Dictionary of the English Language, intended to exhibit, I. The origin, affinities and primary signification of English words, as far as they have been ascertained: II. The genuine orthography and pronunciation of words, according to general usage or to just principles of analogy: III. Accurate and discriminating definitions, with numerous authorities and illustrations: to which are prefixed an introductory dissertation on the origin, history and connection of the languages of Western Asia and of Europe and a concise grammar of the English language. New York: S. Converse, (New Haven [Conn.]: (Hezekiah Howe), 1828. Extract. Full edition online here with search engine.
"The United States commenced their existence under circumstances wholly novel and unexampled in the history of nations. They commenced with civilization, with learning, with science, with constitutions of free government, and with that best gift of God to man, the christian religion."
"When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, just men who will rule in the fear of God. The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be sqandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws." --pp. 336-337.
Philology. The Knickerbocker; or New York Monthly Magazine (1833-1862); April 1836; pg. 347.
A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects. 1st edition New York; New Haven, 1843. 381 pp. Also here and here. Contents: Revolution in France / The rights of neutral nations / Dissertation on the supposed change of temperature in modern winters / Origin of the first Bank of the United States / Letter from General Washington, respecting the last campaign in the Revolution / Correspondence with Mr. Madison, respecting the origin of the present constitution / Origin of the Copy-right Laws of the United States / Vindication of the Treaty with Great Britain, in 1795 / Origin of Amherst College in Massachusetts / Address on agriculture / A letter to the Honorable Daniel Webster / Answer of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts to the Governor's address / A letter to Rev. Samuel Lee, D.D., Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge / Reply to a letter of David McClure, Esq. / Letter to a young gentleman commencing his education / Form of association for young men / Modes of teaching the English language / Origin of the Hartford Convention in 1814 / Brief history of political parties / State of English philology, or results of many years' researches.
"In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed."
Brief History of Political Parties. Extract from A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects. 1st edition New York; New Haven, 1843, pp. 316-337.
State of English Philology. Extract from A Collection of Papers on Political, Literary, and Moral Subjects. 1st edition New York; New Haven, 1843, pp. 338-373.
Noah Webster Papers. Writings on Politics and History. On Sufferage. Unpublished, undated. Source document: New York Public Library. Because of the unevenness of reproduction, some pages are duplicated at different settings for the sake of legibility.
"In correcting public evils, great reliance is placed on schools.-- But schools no more make statesmen than human learning makes christians. Literature & scientific attainments have never prevented the corruption of government. Knowledge derived from experience & from the evils of bad measures may produce a change of measures to correct a particular evil. But learning & sciences have no material effect in subduing ambition & selfishness, reconciling parties or subjecting private interest to the influence of a ruling preference of public good."
Sequel: The Credibility of the Resurrection of Christ, Upon the Testimony of the Apostles, Being a Sequel to Two Letters in the Weekly Miscellany, No. 121, 122 -- upon The Fitness of the Witnesses.
London: printed, and are to be sold by J. Wilford, 1735. [8],39,[1] pp.
Duty of Keeping the Whole Law. A discourse on St. James II. 10, 11. Wherein are inserted some incidental remarks upon the deists. London: printed for J. Pemberton; and C. Rivington, 1730. viii, 31,[1]pp.
Two Sermons upon the Sabbath giving a scripture history of the institution; ... Preached at Ware in Hertfordshire. London: printed for Deputy John Clarke; and W. Russel, 1751. [4],27,[1] pp.
Nature of Justice and Moral Honesty, Shewn in two sermons preached at Ware in Hertfordshire. London: printed for the author, and sold by W. Russell, 1754. [4],32 pp.
The Nature, Causes and Designs of God's Judgments. Set forth in a sermon preached at Ware, in Hertfordshire, on Friday, February 6, 1756, being the fast day. London: printed for J. Brotherton,
1756. [8], 30 pp.
The Sin of Being Ashamed of Our Religion, explained from Mark VIII. 38. A sermon preached July 10, 1737, at Kingston upon Thames. London: printed by C. Jephson, for J. Clarke; and E. Littleton,
1737. [4],27,[1] pp.
Remarks on the Divine Legation of Moses, &c. in several letters. By the author of the miscellany. London: printed for T. Cooper, 1739. vi,58 pp.
Church of England cleric and theologian. Read about Wesley here and here.
WORKS
An Address To The Clergy, 1756.
February 6, 1756. The Works of the Rev. John Wesley; With the last corrections of the author,, vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan Conference Office 1872), pp. 480-500. Posted at Library of Historical Apologetics, March 15, 2012.
(TM): "John Wesley's 1756 Address to the Clergy should be required reading for all aspiring pastors -- and apologists, and philosophers, and biblical scholars."
West, Gilbert
(1703-1756)
Author.
WORKS
Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
By Gilbert West, Esq. To which are added, observations on the conversion and apostleship of St. Paul. In a letter to Gilbert West, Esq; by the Right Honourable George Lord Lyttelton. London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1785.
xxiv,403,[1] pp.
West, Samuel
(1731-1807)
Clergyman. Read more about West here. Disclaimer: West taught doctrine that became Unitarianism.
WORKS
Christ the Grand Subject of the Gospel ministry: A Sermon Preached at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. Samuel West, to the pastoral office over the Church of Christ in Needham. April 25th 1764. / By Samuel West, A.M. Pastor of the church in Dartmouth; To which are annexed, the charge by his father, the Reverend Mr. Thomas West, of Rochester. And the right hahd [sic] of fellowship, by the Rev. Mr. Balch, of Dedham. Boston: Printed by Samuel Kneeland in Queen-Street, MDCCLXIV. [1764]. [4], 28 pp.; 19 cm. (8vo).
"Our obligation to promote the public good extends as much to the opposing every exertion of arbitrary power that is injurious to the state as it does to the submitting to good and wholesome laws. No man, therefore, can be a good member of the community that is not as zealous to oppose tyranny, as he is ready to obey magistracy.
... "If magistrates are ministers of God only because the law of God and reason points out the necessity of such an institution for the good of mankind, it follows, that whenever they pursue measures directly destructive of the public good, they cease being God's ministers, they forfeit their right to obedience from the subject, they become the pests of society, and the community is under the strongest obligation of duty both to God and to its own members, to resist and oppose them, which will be so far from resisting the ordinance of God that it will be strictly obeying his commands.
A Sermon Preached before the Honorable Council, and the Honorable House of Representatives, of the colony of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England. May 29th, 1776. Being the anniversary for the election of the Honorable Council for the colony. By Samuel West, A.M. Pastor of a church in Dartmouth. [Fifteen lines of Scripture texts] Boston: Printed by John Gill, in Queen-Street, 1776
70, [2] pp.
An Anniversary sermon, preached at Plymouth, December 22d, 1777: In grateful memory of the first landing of our pious New-England ancesters [sic] in that place, A.D. 1620. / By Samuel West, A.M. Pastor of the church in Dartmouth. [Eight lines of Scripture texts] Boston: Printed, by Draper and Folsom, at their printing-office, at the corner of Winter-Street, 1778. 79, [1] pp.; 20 cm. (4to).
Essays on liberty and necessity: in which the true nature of liberty is stated and defended; and the principal arguments used by Mr. Edwards, and others, for necessity, are considered. / By Samuel West, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in New-Bedford. Boston: Printed by Samuel Hall, in Cornhill, MDCCXCIII. [1793]. 54, [2] pp.; 19 cm. (4to) Part 1. Part 2. 1795. 96 pp.
An Essay on Moral Agency: containing, remarks on a late anonymous publication, entitled, An examination of the late Reverend President Edward's Enquiry on freedom of will. New-Haven: Printed by Thomas and Samuel Green., 1772. x, [1], 12-255, [1] p. ; 20 cm. (4to and 8vo)
Westcott, Brooke Foss
(1825-1901)
Biblical scholar and bishop of Durham.
WORKS
The Gospel of the Resurrection: Thoughts on its relation to reason and history / by Brooke Foss Westcott. 7th edition. London: Macmillan, 1891. xxxvi, 307 pp.; 18 cm.
(TM): This popular work by the great 19th century textual scholar makes the argument for the resurrection in an interesting way. Westcott, who is well aware of (though not persuaded by) critical attacks on the authenticity of the texts of the gospels, builds his argument at first from information in the Pauline epistles, since he knows that even his most radical critics will find it difficult to cavil at this evidence. Only then does he turn to the gospels, arguing that the account we have in them is in perfect accordance with the account Paul gives in the opening verses of I Corinthians 15.
Westminster Assembly
WORKS
Westminster Confession of Faith. The confession of faith, together with the larger and lesser catechismes.
Composed by the reverend Assembly of Divines, sitting at Westminster, presented to both Houses of Parliament. Again published with the scriptures at large, and the emphasis of the scriptures in a different character. To which is annexed two sheets of Church-government with the scriptures at large. The fourth edition, conform [sic] to the first original copy diligently compared, all escapes corrected, and more exact and correct then any that has been printed since. [Glasgow]: Printed at London, for the Company of Stationers, anno 1658. And re-printed and Glasgow, by Robert Sanders, printer to the city and university, and are to be sold in his shop,
1675. [14], 4, [4], 295, [7] pp.
"The humble advice of the Assembly of Divines, now by authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster. Concerning a larger catechism, presented by them lately to both houses of Parliament, with the proofs thereof at large out of the scriptures. The second edition. Glasgow, by Robert Sanders, printer to the city and university and are to be sold in his shop. 1675.", has a separate title page. Register and pagination are continuous./ Includes index.
Reasons for the Christian's Hope. Sermon published in Ft. Wayne Evening Sentinel, January 28, 1903. Simon Greenleaf's Testimony of the Evangelists is cited.
Objection 1. That miracles are contrary to all our experience of God's dealings with man, and that, as it is only on the testimony of those who professed to be eye-witnesses (the New Testament writers) that we receive our accounts of them, our belief must rest on an insecure foundation, since it is more likely that the testimony of others should be false than that wonders should take place which are contrary to our experience of what happens in the world before our own eyes.
Answer. The fallacy of this argument is, that it is based on the assumption that whatever may be true in a limited sense, must also be true taken universally.
Now this assumption is wholly without foundation. It is quite true that there is much testimony which cannot be relied on; but it is quite another thing to say that in a case of this kind no testimony can be relied on. On the contrary, we are compelled to rely on testimony for a great many things we believe, in ordinary life, every day.
Then again the expression, "contrary to experience," is a very ambiguous and vague one. Contrary to whose experience, or to what kind? If we refuse to believe anything contrary to the individual experience of anyone of us -- in that case, one who has never seen the sea must disbelieve all he hears and reads of it; then again, the Eastern king would be quite right, on this assumption, in declaring his disbelief that water could become solid; and a man born blind would be quite justified in refusing to believe that anyone could find out the shape, or size, or smoothness, or roughness, of an object without touching it. All these things are, respectively, quite as much out of the range of the experience of the persons in question, as miracles are out of the range of ours.
But we are not therefore justified in refusing to believe them; we must remember that the experience of the best-informed of human beings must be limited, and that we are quite unable rightly to judge of what things may or may not be impossible, under circumstances out of the range of that experience.
The ground on which we believe the whole Bible history, and the authenticity of the originals from which the Old and New Testaments were translated into our modern languages, is exactly the same ground on which the untravelled believe in the existence of foreign countries, and on which nineteen twentieths of mankind believe in the Copernican system (those facts about the earth, sun, and stars which only a very advanced mathematician can test for himself) -- namely, the uncontradicted testimony of a number of independent witnesses. And we could not have a better foundation for our belief; for those who are opposed to each other on a variety of points -- whether in respect of science, history, travels, or other subjects -- will always be ready and eager to sift each other's evidence, and test, in the severest manner, each other's statements. Any facts which can stand such a sifting must be firmly fixed indeed.
It is on such grounds as those, that all our belief in any history must be founded, unless we have enjoyed opportunities of research only granted to a very few. And yet no one is thought unduly credulous in giving full credence to the main facts in the histories, ancient and modern, of the best-known countries. And what holds good as to these, really holds good in a far higher degree as to Scripture narrative; for no history, ancient or modern (as we remarked before), has ever been subjected to severer or more searching tests. The body of uncontradicted testimony, therefore (that is, of testimony which no one has been able, with the utmost efforts, to invalidate) is infinitely greater in this case, than that which supports any of the histories and ancient records of other countries which no sane person ever thinks of doubting.
Whately, Richard
(1787-1863)
Anglican Archbishop of Dublin. Expert in logic and rhetoric. Read more about Whately here. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911 edition: "While he was at St Alban Hall (1826) the work appeared which is perhaps most closely associated with his name - his treatise on Logic, originally contributed to the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, in which he raised the study of the subject to a new level. It gave a great impetus to the study of logic throughout Great Britain."
The Christian duty of educating the poor. A Discourse / delivered in St. Patrick's Cathedral, 24th November, 1844, in behalf of the National School of Clondalkin. Dublin: W. Curry, Jun., and Co., 1845. 31 pp.
Essays on Some of the Peculiarities of the Christian religion. Oxford: Printed by W. Baxter, for John Murray, London, 1825. [3], vi-xvi, 285 pp. Contents: On a future state.--On the declaration of God in his Son.--On love towards Christ as a motive to obedience.--On the practical character of revelation.--On the example of children as proposed to Christians. Also here.
Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte. 9th edition, revised and enlarged. London: J. W. Parker, 1849. 62 pp. Also here. HTML version here. (TM): In this delightful spoof, published while Napoleon was still alive, Whately turns Hume's skeptical doubts regarding miracles against reports of the career of Napoleon?with devastating results. In the Preface to the edition linked here, Whately gleefully reports that some readers took this spoof to be seriously recommending universal skepticism. The real point, of course, is that Hume's extreme skepticism, consistently applied, leads to absurd results.
Historic doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte. Extract. Introductory background remarks by James Kiefer. In 1819 (while Napoleon was a prisoner on St. Helena, and two years before Napoleon's death), Richard Whately, then teaching at Oxford, published a short work called Historic Doubts Relative To Napoleon Buonaparte. In it, he applied the methods of Hume and others to show that Hume's arguments undermined considerably more than just the case for miracles and other aspects of Christian belief.
A Lawyer's Study of the Bible: its answer to the questions of today. New York, Fleming H. Revell, 1919. 229 pp. 20 cm.
Wheeler, Lee S.
(20th century)
WORKS
Famous Infidels Who Found Christ: A Narrative of Their Experiences, Together With Portions of Their Published Works Vindicating the Truth of Christianity. Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park. Washington, D. C., 1931.
Disclaimer: Caution is warranted regarding Wheeler's use of William Miller, who was marginally responsible for the founding of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Wheelock, Eleaszar
(1711-1779)
American educator, clergyman and founder of Dartmouth College. Read more about Wheelock here and here.
WORKS
Liberty of Conscience, or, No King but Christ, in his church: A Sermon, preached at Dartmouth-Hall, November 30th, 1775; being the day appointed by the Honourable Congress of the province of New-Hampshire, to be observed as a general thanksgiving throughout that province / by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, D.D. President of Dartmouth-College; [Three lines of Scripture texts]. Hartford: Printed by Eben. Watson, near the Great-Bridge, [1776]. xi, [1], [13]-31, [1] pp.; 18 cm. (8vo)
The Elements of Morality, including Polity. London, 1845. Volume 1 of 2, 403 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 420 pp. 22 cm.
The Elements of Morality, including Polity. New York: Harper & brothers, 1856. Volume 1 of 2. 402 pp. Text-searchable.
Whiston, William
(1667-1752)
English divine and mathematician. Read more about Whiston here. Disclaimer: Whiston is considered to be a proponent of Arianism.
WORKS
Works of Flavius Josephus with a life written by himself translated by Whiston. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Christian Classics Ethereal Library,
2000. At CCEL. Antiquities of the Jews -- War of the Jews -- Life of Flavius Josephus, autobiography -- Josephus's Discourse to the Greeks concerning Hades -- Flavius Josephus against Apion.
The Testimony of Phlegon vindicated: or, an account of the great darkness and earthquake at our Savior's passion, described by Phlegon. ... By William Whiston, M.A. London, 1732. 58 pp. Cited by Elias Boudinot, The Age of Revelation.
A New Theory of the earth from its original, to the consumation of all things. Wherein the creation of the world in six days, the universal deluge, and the general conflagration, as laid down in the holy scriptures, are shewn to be perfectly agreable to reason and philosophy... By William Whiston, M. A. Professor of the mathematics in the University of Cambridge. The sixth edition, to which is added an appendix, containing a new theory of deluge. London: printed for J. Whiston and B. White, at Mr. Boyle's head in Fleet-street. 1755. [4]-94-[2]-478 p., 10 pl., [2] pp.: fig.; in-8.
With Ralph Wedgwood. Primitive Christianity: The Constitutions or decrees of the Holy Apostles; being the commandments or ordinances given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ, for the establishment and government of His kingdom on the earth. London, Simpkin, Marshall, 1851. 40 pp. Essay on the constitutions or decrees of the Holy Apostles. Also here.
Mr. Whiston's primitive New Testament. Part I. containing the four Gospels, with the Acts of the Apostles. Part II. containing XIV. Epistles of Paul. Part III. containing VII. catholick Epistles. Part IV. containing the Revelation of John Stamford and London : printed for the author, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, 1745. [314],16,[2]p.; 8^(0).
A Collection of Ancient Monuments Relating to the Trinity and Incarnation, and to the history of the fourth century of the church. Publish'd by Will. Whiston, M.A. London: printed for the author in Cross-steeet [sic], Hatton-Garden; and are to be sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster. A.D., 1713. 248 pp.; 8^(0) Also issued as part of: 'Three essays', London, 1713.
The Accomplishment of scripture prophecies. Being eight sermons preach'd at the cathedral church of St. Paul, in the year MDCCVII. at the lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esq; with an appendix. ... By William Whiston, .. . printed at the University-Press; for Benj. Tooke, London, 1708. [8],300p. ; 8^(0)
A Funeral sermon, on the death of the Reverend George Whitefield who died suddenly at Newbury-Port, in Massachusetts-Bay, on Sabbath morning, about six o'clock, September 30, 1770, preached in Salem, on Wednesday the 17th of October following. Salem: [Mass.]: Printed and sold by Samuel Hall, in the Main Street., 1770. 38, [2] pp. ; 21 cm. (8vo)
An Antidote against Toryism. Or The Curse of Meroz in a discourse on Judges 5th 23, by Nathaniel Whitaker D.D. Pastor of the Presbyterian congregation in Salem, state of Massachusetts-Bay. Published at the desire of many who heard it. Dedicated to his excellency, General Washington. [Five lines of Scripture text]
Whitby, Daniel
(1638-1726)
Church of England clergyman and author.
WORKS
Six Discourses by Daniel Whitby. 1st American edition
Worcester, Mass. Printed at the press of and for Isaiah Thomas, 1801. 412 pp. ill. 21 cm.
A Representation of the Nature of true religion; Addressed to a lady to which is added a short explanation of the end and design of the Lord's Supper, taken from a treatise on that subject printed at London for W. Johnston, 1760. 1st American from the London edition of 1793. 24 pp. 1st American from the London edition of 1793. Utica [N.Y.] Seward and Williams, 1807. Notes: "First published in the year 1697," with title: A Lady's religion, and intended for the use of Lady Howard, by a Divine of the Church of England.--Pref.
White, Thomas
(1628-1698)
Bishop of Peterborough. Learn more about White here.
Episcopal bishop serving Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia. Chaplain of the Continental Congress and later as chaplain to the U.S. Senate. Learn about White here and here
A Sermon on the reciprocal influence of civil policy and religious duty. Delivered in Christ Church, in the city of Philadelphia, on Thursday, the 19th of February, 1795, being a day of general thanksgiving. By William White, D.D. Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 36 pp. 19 cm. (8vo)
Persecution the Christian's Lot. A sermon, preached on Monday afternoon. September 14th, 1741. In the High-church-yard of Glasgow. Glasgow; printed: and sold in the Gallowgate printing-house, and by Robert Smith, 1741. 28 pp.
Observation on the birth of Christ, the duty of all Christians; or the true way of keeping Christmas. A sermon preach'd at Bristol. London: printed for C. Whitefield, in the year, 1740. 21,[1] pp.
The Character and Qualifications of good rulers, and the happiness of their administration, represented in a sermon preach'd before the General Assembly of the colony of Connecticut, at Hartford, on the day of their anniversary election, May 9th, 1745. N. London [i.e. New London, Conn.]: Printed & sold by Timothy Green, printer to the gov. & Comp., 1745. [4], 40 pp.; 15 cm. (8vo)
A Letter to the Reverend Mr. George Whitefield; by way of reply to his answer to the college testimony against him and his conduct. By Edward Wigglesworth, D.D. Professor of divinity in said college. To which is added, the Reverend president's answer to the things charg'd upon him by the said Mr. Whitefield, as inconsistences. [Six lines from II. Corinthians] Boston, N.E.: Printed and sold by T. Fleet, at the Heart and Crown in Cornhill, 1745. 61,[2],5 pp.; 40. The final five pages consist of the Reverend President's answer, signed at end: Edward Holyoke.
Wijnpersse, Dionysius van de
(1724-1808)
WORKS
A Proof of the True and Eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ; against modern attacks. Philadelphia: Printed by William Young, Bookseller, no. 52, Second-Street, corner of Chesnut-Street., United States; Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, 1796. v, [2], 14-198 pp.; 15 cm. (12mo).
Wilberforce, William
(1759-1833)
British philanthropist, statesman and slavery abolitionist. Read more about Wilberforce here, here and here.
The Correspondence of William Wilberforce / edited by his sons, Robert Isaac Wilberforce and Samuel Wilberforce. London, 1840. Volume 1 of 2. 436 pp.
Volume 2 of 2. 545 pp.
The Duty of a people that have renewed their covenant with God. Opened and urged in a sermon preached to the Second Church in Boston in New-England, March 17. 1679.[/]80. after that church had explicitly and most solemnly renewed the ingagement of themselves to God, and one to another. Boston, Printed by John Foster, 1680. 14 pp.
English theologian. Founder of Rhode Island. Read more about Williams here.
WORKS
The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for cause of conscience: discussed in a conference between truth and peace: who, in all tender affection, present to the High Court of Parliament, (as the result of their discourse) these, (among other passages) of highest consideration. Narragansett Club, 1867. 425 pp. Volume 3 of Publications of the Narragansett Club. Also here. 1848 edition.
The Bible in Court or, Truth vs. error; a brief for the plaintiff. Dearborn, Mich., Dearborn book concern, 1925. 284 pp. 20 cm. "Published at the request of the men's Bible class of Calvary Presbyterian church of Detroit, Michigan."
Division I. The Authenticity of the Scriptural Record, with a discussion of the Book of Mormon.
"It may be stated with the utmost confidence that the Book of Mormon, as an authentic document, would have no legal standing in a court of law, if the issue were properly raised, and, while we have not the time to discuss it here, the same thing may be said of the Koran, the book of Mohammedan faith."
An Historic Defence of experimental religion: in which the doctrine of divine influences, is supported by the authority of scripture, and the experience of the wisest and best men in all ages and countries. In two volumes. London, printed for the author, by W. Taylor; published by T. Heptinstall; and W. Button; sold also by M. Priestley (late Trapp); Matthews, Johnson; and Knott, 1795. Volume 1 of 2, 139 pp. Volume 2 of 2. 267 pp.
Infant Salvation, an essay, to prove the salvation of all who die in infancy: with answers to objections. Written with a particular view to the consolation oe [sic] bereaved parents. London, printed for W. Button; sold also by Matthews; Terry; Ash; Darton and Co: Taylor. James, Bristol; Luckman, Coventry; and Nettleton, Plymouth, 1793. 47 pp.
Reasons for Faith Reasons for faith in revealed religion; opposed to Mr. Hollis's Reasons for scepticism; in a letter to that gentleman. By Thomas Williams. London, printed for T. Heptinstall, 1796. 47 pp.
An Essay on the Principles of Circumstantial Evidence illustrated by numerous cases. 5th English ed. (1902) / with American notes by George E. Beers and Arthur L. Corbin. Boston, Mass.: Boston Book Co., 1905. xiii, 448 [i.e. 686] pp.; 24 cm. Also here.
The Evidences of Christianity: stated in a popular and practical manner, in a course of lectures, delivered in the Parish Church of St. Mary, Islington. 4th ed. rev. and improved. Boston : Crocker and Brewster; New York: J. Leavitt, 1838. 2 vol.; 23 cm. Volume 1 of 2. Volume 2 of 2. 1832 edition, Volume 1 of 2.
The Works of James Wilson, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: being his public discourses upon jurisprudence and the political science, including lectures as professor of law, 1790-2 / edited by James De Witt Andrews. CHAPTER XI. "OF CITIZENS AND ALIENS". Vol. 2. Chicago, 1896. 2 vols.
The Works of James Wilson, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: being his public discourses upon jurisprudence and the political science, including lectures as professor of law, 1790-2 / edited by James De Witt Andrews. CHAPTER XII. "OF THE NATURAL RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS". Vol. 2. Chicago, 1896. 2 vols.
The Works of James Wilson, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States: being his public discourses upon jurisprudence and the political science, including lectures as professor of law, 1790-2 / edited by James De Witt Andrews. CHAPTER VI. "OF CRIMES, AFFECTING SEVERAL OF THE NATURAL RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS" . Vol. 2. Chicago, 1896. 2 vols.
Wilson, James
(1751-1799)
Presbyterian minister.
WORKS
The Utility of the Scriptures of the Old Testament: A Discourse delivered at the opening of a session of the Presbytery of Baltimore, held in Alexandria, September 27, 1797. / By James Wilson A.M. one of the members of said presbytery; Copy-right secured. Alexandria [D.C.]: Printed for the author by Thomas and Westcott, Royal-Street, between the coffee house and post office, M,DCC,XCVIII. [1798]. 61, [3] pp.; 23 cm. (8vo)
The Book of Daniel. Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Wilson, Robert Dick
(1856-1930)
American linguist and Presbyterian scholar. Professor of Semitic Philology in Princeton Theological Seminary. Read more about Wilson here and in the biographies listed below.
Studies in the Book of Daniel: A Discussion of the Historical Questions. New York: G. P. Putnam?s Sons, 1917. Also here and here. Includes an extensive discussion from the argument from silence.
With Oswald T. Allis. Studies in the Book of Daniel. Volume 2 of 2. New York: Revell, 1938.
Scientific Biblical Criticism. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton, 1919 [190]-240 pp.; 24 cm. Reprinted from the Princeton Theological Review, Vol. XVII, No. 2, April, 1919./ Includes bibliographical references.
Is the Higher Criticism Scholarly? Clearly attested facts showing that the destructive "assured results of modern scholarship" are indefensible. Philadelphia, The Sunday school times Company, 1922. 62 pp. Also here, text-searchable.
The Radical Criticism of the Psalter. London: Victoria Institute, 1927. 27 pp. Read in the authors absence at the 702nd ordinary general meeting of the Victoria Institute./ Includes response by James William Thirtle./ Includes bibliographical references.
Henry Coray. The Incomparable Wilson: The Man Who Mastered Forty-Five Languages And Dialects. Microsoft Word document. This biography was written by the Reverend Henry W. Coray, author of the biographies in Valiant for the Truth. He is pastor of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary.
Archaeological Dictionary; or, Classical Antiquities of the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, Alphabetically Arranged: Containing an Account of their Manners, Customs, Diversions, Religious Rites, Philosophy, Festivals, Oraclse, Laws, Arts, Engines of War, Weights, Measures, Money, Medals, Computation and Division of Time, Chronological Terms, Heresies in the Primitive Church, &c. &c. The second edition, with considerable additions. London: printed for D. Ogilvy, and J. Speare, J. Johnson, J. Wallis, J. Deighton, H. Gardner, B. White and Son, T. Vernor and J. Hood, S. Hayes, and J. Binns, at Leeds, 1793. viii, [486] pp.; 8^(0)
Wilson, President Woodrow
(1856-1924)
President. Read more about President Wilson here and here and here
Woodrow Wilson: Address on the Translation of the Bible Into English, 7 May 1911. [Extract from Congressional Record of August 13, 1912]. Address of Hon. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey in the Auditorium, Denver, Colo. on The Occasion of the Tercentenary Celebration of the Translation Of the Bible into the English Language, May 7, 1911.
And so it seems to me that we must look upon the Bible as the great charter of the human soul-as the "Magna Charta" of the human soul. You know the interesting circumstances which gave rise to the Magna Charta. You know the moving scene that was enacted upon the heath at Runnymede. You know how the barons of England, representing the people of England-for they consciously represented the people of England-met upon that historic spot and parleyed with John, the King. They said, "We will come to terms with you here." They said, "There are certain inalienable rights of English-speaking men which you must observe. They are not given by you, they can not be taken away by you. Sign your name here to this parchment upon which these rights are written and we are your subjects. Refuse to put your name to this document and we are your sworn enemies. Here are our swords to prove it."
The franchise of human liberty made the basis of a bargain with a king. There are kings upon the pages of Scripture, but do you think of any king in Scripture as anything else than a mere man? There was the great King David, of a line blessed because the line from which should spring our Lord and Savior, a man marked in the history of mankind as the chosen instrument of God to do justice and exalt righteousness in the people.
But what does this Bible do for David? Does it utter eulogies upon him? Does it conceal his faults and magnify his virtues? Does it set him up as a great statesman would be set up in a modern biography? No; the book in which his annals are written strips the mask from David, strips every shred of counterfeit and concealment from him and shows him as indeed an instrument of God, but a sinful and selfish man, and the verdict of the Bible is that David, like other men, was one day to stand naked before the judgment seat of God and be judged not as a king but as a man. Is not this the book of the people? Is there any man in this Holy Scripture who is exempted from the common standard and judgment? How these pages teem with the masses of mankind. Are these the annals of the great? These are the annals of the people-of the common run of men.
... Do you wonder, therefore, that when I was asked what my theme this evening would be I said it would be "The Bible and Progress"? We do not judge progress by material standards. America is not ahead of the other nations of the world because she is rich. Nothing makes America great except her thoughts, except her ideals, except her acceptance of those standards of judgment which are written large upon these pages of revelation. America has all along claimed the distinction of setting this example to the civilized world-that men were to think of one another, that governments were to be set up for the service of the people, that men were to be judged by these moral standards which pay no regard to rank or birth or conditions, but which assess every man according to his single and individual value. This is the meaning of this charter of the human soul. This is the standard by which men and nations have more and more come to be judged. And so the form has consisted in nothing more nor less than this-in trying to conform actual conditions, in trying to square actual laws with the right judgments of human conduct and more than liberty.
That is the reason that the Bible has stood at the back of progress. That is the reason that reform has come not from the top but from the bottom. If you are ever tempted to let a government reform itself, I ask you to look back in the pages of history and find me a government that reformed itself. If you are ever tempted to let a party attempt to reform itself, I ask you to find a party that ever reformed itself.
A tree is not nourished by its bloom and by its fruit. It is nourished by its roots, which are down deep in the common and hidden soil, and every process of purification and rectification comes from the bottom-not from the top. It comes from the masses of struggling human beings. It comes from the instinctive efforts of millions of human hearts trying to beat their way up into the light and into the hope of the future.
... You may remember that allegorical narrative in the Old Testament of those who searched through one cavern after another cutting the holes in the walls and going into the secret places where all sorts of noisome things were worshipped. Men do not dare to let the sun shine in upon such things and upon such occupations and worships. And so I say there will be no halt to the great movement of the armies of reform until men forget their God, until they forget this charter of their liberty. Let no man suppose that progress can be divorced from religion or that there is any other platform for the ministers of reform than the platform written in the utterances of our Lord and Savior.
America was born a Christian nation. America was born to exemplify that devotion to the elements of righteousness which are derived from the revelations of Holy Scripture.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a very simple thing to ask of you. I ask of every man and woman in this audience that from this night on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great book of revelations-that if they would see America free and pure they will make their own spirits free and pure by this baptism of the Holy Scripture.
Gov. Woodrow Wilson Criticizes Some of Present Day Hymns. Grand Forks Daily Herald, October 3, 1911. "The governor favored more direct teaching from the Bible and also the singing of the old psalms. This brought him to a criticism of some present-day hymns, which he said contained neither poetry nor sense."
Life and the Bible. Text of Governor Woodrow Wilson's message in Dallas, October 28, 1911. Printed in Bible Society Record, 1924. Presented with the permission of the American Bible Society Archives.
Gov. Wilson Given Rousing Reception. Dallas Morning News, October 29, 1911, p. 1. Also "Wilson Praises Texas for Commission Form," p. 2. and "Gov. Wilson Speaks at Baptist Church; Delivers Address on 'Life and the Bible' at Tercentenary," p. 5. Speech at the First Baptist Church, Dallas, before a crowd of 5,000.
"It is a striking thing that the Bible does not display men as right merely because they have obeyed the Ten Commandments. There are rather the triumphs of men who have tried to approximate what God has revealed as right. The Bible has its pictures of right and wrong, showing what men must live for, or die, for they shall surely die, as they did die, when wrong is done."
The beauty about the Bible is that it is the most wholesome, the most perfectly symmetrical, the least morbid picture of life and motives of men in the world. Almost every other book has a streak of morbidness in it, but this book is wholesome and sweet and natural and naif from cover to cover. Here are no dull moralizings; here is the life of man set forth as it was simply lived from generation to generation. I take it that the problem which you would all study for the Sunday school is the biographies and the histories of the Old Testament and of the New. I suppose that the Epistles of the New Testament are for the perusal of those who are mature, because in the Epistles is set forth, as it were, the philosophy of the whole thing, the thoughtful reflection based upon the providence of God and the revelation of His Son. The Epistles constitute the theology of the Bible, and the rest of it constitutes the experience of mankind in contact with Divine Providence.
The reassuring thing about the Bible is that its biographies are not like any other biographies that you know of. Take up almost any biography outside of the Bible and the writer tries to make a hero of the man he is writing about. No writer in the Bible tries to make a hero out of mere human stuff. There isn't a character of the Bible-there isn't a character even amongst those who are picked out by the Bible itself, by the special representatives and ambassadors of God, whose life is not displayed as full of faults and shortcomings and natural slips from the way of virtue. It were a matter of despair to those of us who have come after, if the Bible had represented these persons as unimpeachable in character and unexceptional in their conduct, because the theme of the Bible, so far as it is a biography, is the theme of the discovery of itself by the human soul, is the theme of the slow "come on" which each man and woman may gain for himself or herself under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
After all, we fight not with flesh and blood, but with unseen forces, most of which are within ourselves. The Bible says: "Let no man say he was tempted of God, for God tempteth no man." I am inclined to add: "Let no man say that he was tempted of the devil," for the devil never comes into any man's soul except by his permission and invitation.
I am sorry for the men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and of the pleasure. It is one of the most singular books in the world, for every time you open it some old text that you have read a score of times suddenly beams with a new meaning. Evidently the mood and thought of that day, bred by the circumstance that you cannot analyze, has suddenly thrown its light upon that page and upon that passage, and there springs out upon the page to you something that you never saw lie upon it before. There is no other book that I know of of which this is true; there is no other book that yields its meaning so personally, that seems to fit itself so intimately to the very spirit that is seeking its guidance. And so when we teach our children we do not teach them, I hope, dogmatically. We must not try to make them read the Scripture as we read it, but merely try to bring them into such contact with the Scripture that it will yield its meaning to their hearts and to their minds. Make it their companion, make it their familiar text book, and the rest will take care of itself.
I am the more interested in it because it is an association of young men who are Christians. I wonder if we attach sufficient importance to Christianity as a mere instrumentality in the life of mankind. For one, I am not fond of thinking of Christianity as the means of saving individual souls. I have always been very impatient of processes and institutions which said that their purpose was to put every man in the way of developing his character. My advice is: Do not think about your character. If you will think about what you ought to do for other people, your character will take care of itself. Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig. The only way your powers can become great is by exerting them outside the circle of your own narrow, special, selfish interests. And that is the reason of Christianity. Christ came into the world to save others, not to save himself; and no man is a true Christian who does not think constantly of how he can lift his brother, how he can assist his friend, how he can enlighten mankind, how he can make virtue the rule of conduct in the circle in which he lives. An association merely of young men might be an association that had its energies put forth in every direction, but an association of Christian young men is an association meant to put its shoulders under the world and lift it, so that other men may feel that they have companions in bearing the weight and heat of the day; that other men may know that there are those who care for them, who would go into places of difficulty and danger to rescue them, who regard themselves as their brother's keeper.
The Bible is the word of life. I beg that you will read it and find this out for yourselves, - read, not little snatches here and there, but long passages that will really be the road to the heart of it. You will find it full of real men and women not only, but also of the things you have wondered about and been troubled about all your life, as men have been always; and the more you read the more it will become plain to you what things are worth while and what are not, what things make men happy, - loyalty, right dealing, speaking the truth, readiness to give everything for what they think their duty, and, most of all, the wish that they may have the approval of the Christ, who gave everything for them, - and the things that are guaranteed to make men unhappy, - selfishness, cowardice, greed, and everything that is low and mean. When you have read the Bible you will know that it is the Word of God, because you will have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty.
I am very much honored, and might say, touched, by this beautiful address that you have just read, and it is very delightful to feel the comradeship of spirit which is indicated by a gathering like this.
You are quite right, sir, in saying that I do recognize the sanctions of religion in these times of perplexity with matters so large to settle that no man can feel that his mind can compass them. I think one would go crazy if he did not believe in Providence. It would be a maze without a clue. Unless there were some supreme guidance we would despair of the results of human counsel. So that it is with genuine sympathy that I acknowledge the spirit and thank you for the generosity of your address.
IT is a very wholesome and regenerating change which a man
undergoes when he "comes to himself." It is not only after periods of recklessness or infatuation, when he has played the spendthrift or the fool, that a man comes to himself. He comes to himself after experiences of which he alone may be aware: when he has left off being wholly preoccupied with his own powers and interests and with every petty plan that centers in himself;
when he has cleared his eyes to see the world as it is, and his own true place and function in it.
... What every man seeks is satisfaction. He deceives himself so long as he imagines it to lie in self-indulgence, so long a she deems himself the center and object of effort.
His mind is spent in vain upon itself. Not in action itself, not in "pleasure," shall it find its desires satisfied, but in consciousness of right, of powers greatly and nobly spent. It comes to know itself in the motives which satisfy it, in the zest and power of rectitude. Christianity has liberated the world, not as a system of ethics, not as a philosophy of altruism, but by its revelation of the power of pure and unselfish love. Its vital principle is not its code, but its motive. Love, clear-sighted, loyal, personal, is its breath and immortality. Christ came, not to save Himself, assuredly, but to save the world. His motive, His example, are every man's key to his own gifts and happiness. The ethical code he taught may no doubt be matched, here a piece and there a piece, out of other religions, other teachings and philosophies. Every thoughtful man born with a conscience must know a code of right and of pity to which he ought to conform; but without the motive of Christianity, without love, he may be the purest altruist and yet be as sad and as unsatisfied as Marcus Aurelius.
Christianity gave us, in the fullness of time, the perfect image of right living, the secret of social and of individual well-being; for the two are not separable, and the man who receives and verifies that secret in his own living has discovered not only the best and only way to serve the world, but also the one happy way to satisfy himself. Then, indeed, has he come to himself. Henceforth he knows what his powers mean, what spiritual air they breathe, what ardors of service clear them of lethargy, relieve them of all sense of effort, put them at their best. After this fretfulness passes away, experience mellows and strengthens and makes more fit, and old age brings, not senility, not satiety, not regret, but higher hope and serene maturity.
pp. 134-137.
"What a wonderful manual of everyday life is the Bible. Every day that I live I am more convinced of its everlasting truths. Especially do I have an opportunity of studying both the weaknesses and the virtues of men by observing them in trials at the courthouse. In the Bible are shown both the way of life and the way to life.
"Did you ever think how much of the enduring literature of the world has its base in the Word of God? The other night I was reading the story of the prodigal son, and when I reached the passage, 'When he came to himself,' I was reminded that President Wilson got his text for the book, 'When a Man Comes to Himself,' from that phrase.
A History of the American People; illustrated with portraits, maps, plans, facsimiles, rare prints, contemporary views, etc. New York: Harper & Bros., 1902. 5 v. : ill., facsims., maps (11 folded), ports.
A History of the American People, enlarged by the addition of original sources and leading documents of American history, including narratives of early explorers, grants, charters, concessions, treaties, revolutionary documents, state papers, proclamations and enactments; illustrated with contemporary views, portraits, facsimiles and maps selected from rare books and prints. New York, London, Harper & Bros., 1918. 10 vols. fronts., illus. (incl. facsims.) ports., maps (part fold.) 22 cm. "Limited to 400 sets and signed by the author. Set no. 266"
Alvin C. York. Sgt. Alvin C. York's Diary. DECEMBER 25th 1918 -- "I think President Wilson is one of the greatest Presidents America has ever had. There is much that could be said about him as a great man. There is his great leadership of the nation. There is the way he understood all about the war and what we were all fighting for. The Germans, too. But the greatest thing about him was his spiritual side. He believed in God."
Cary T. Grayson. The Religion of Woodrow Wilson, [after 3 Feb. 1924]. "Mr. Wilson was one of the most devout of our Presidents. His religion was marked by constant and regular prayer, not a formality but a sincere outpouring of his spirit and supplication for divine guidance. He read his Bible consistently every day, meditated on what he read, and sought to put into action the teachings of the Scripture. He was an habitual church attendant and an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. Even in Paris he often attended church though the pressure was so great upon him that he was forced to violate his usual rule and work upon Sundays either in his office or in conference."
Commentaries on the laws of the ancient Hebrews: with an introductory essay on civil society and government. New York, G.P. Putnam, 1853. 639 pp. Also here. 1861 edition.
The social compact, says the objection, is anti-christian ; negatively atheistic; infidelity's battering-ram. How does this statement tally with the fact, that since the doctrine of the popular sovereignty has gained so general a prevalence, society has been steadily advancing in religion, morals, science, letters, art, jurisprudence, philanthropy, refinement, and whatever else constitutes the true dignity and happiness of man? The social, moral, and religious progress of our race, has never been so conspicuous, as during the last half century. The world has never before been so active in doing good. The zeal of science, the activity of commerce, the comprehensive and far-reaching enterprises of capital, are rivaled by the ardor, the energy, and the breadth of its benevolent undertakings. Philanthropy has sought out the lurking places of vice, shame, want, and misery, and is intent on elevating all the most degraded members of society in their physical, intellectual, and moral condition. And religion, awaking as from the slumber of centuries, and catching her inspiration from ancient prophecy, has started upon the sublime and glorious enterprise of evangelizing the world. Surely this does not look as if the canker of irreligion were at work in the very heart of our social systems, in the very frame and texture of our political organizations. Where is there less of infidelity, where more of spiritual religion, where a higher reverence for law, than in the great North American republic? Yet here the social compact is the only recognized basis of civil society.
As it respects the terrible scenes of the French revolution, it was not the theory of the social compact, it was not the doctrine of the popular sovereignty, that produced them. It was the depraved heart of the nation. It was the formal abrogation of the Christian religion. It was the deification of human reason. It was the writings of a Diderot and a Voltaire, not those of a Locke or a Sidney, that wrought the mischief. The truth is, it is in no case the government that makes the manners, but always the manners that make the government. The real nature of a government can never be known from the name it bears; for, as the people are, such, by an inevitable law, will the government be, call it by what title you will.
Alexander Hamilton Vinton, 1807-1881. The Religious Theory of Civil Government: A Discourse delivered before His Excellency George N. Briggs, governor, His Honor John Reed, lieutenant governor, the honorable Council, and the legislature of Massachusetts, at the annual election, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 1848. Boston: Dutton and Wentworth, printers to the State, 1848.
46 pp.
Thoughts on Slavery, rebutted by other thoughts on the same subject: being a review of a pamphlet issued from the press of Daniel Bixby & Co.--Lowell, Mass. 1848. Lowell [Mass.]: Published by Milton Bonney, 1849. 44 pp.; 23 cm.
Plymouth colony founder. Read more about Winslow here.
WORKS
Caleb Johnson, transcriber. Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Part I. London: 1622. "In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc....Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant, and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names; Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France and Ireland eighteenth and of Scotland fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620."
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others? necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality. We must delight in each other; make others' conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "may the Lord make it like that of New England." For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God's sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God's worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.
And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. "Beloved, there is now set before us life and death, good and evil," in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, and to love one another, to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his ordinance and his laws, and the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, and worship other Gods, our pleasure and profits, and serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.
Therefore let us choose life,
that we and our seed may live,
by obeying His voice and cleaving to Him,
for He is our life and our prosperity.
Excerpts from "A Model of Christian Charity." 1630.
"It rests now to make some application of this discourse."
1. For the persons. We are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ, in which respect only though we were absent from each other many miles, and had our employments as far distant, yet we ought to account ourselves knit together by this bond of love, and live in the exercise of it, if we would have comfort of our being in Christ.
2ly for the work we have in hand. It [our task] is by a mutual consent, through a special overvaluing providence and a more than an ordinary approbation of the Churches of Christ, to seek out a place of cohabitation under a due form of Government both civil and ecclesiastical. In such cases as this, the care of the public must oversway all private respects, by which, not only conscience, but mere civil policy, does bind us. For it is a true rule that particular Estates cannot subsist in the ruin of the public.
3ly The end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord; the comfort and increase of the body of Christ, whereof we are members; that ourselves and posterity may be the better preserved from the common corruptions of this evil world, to serve the Lord and work out our Salvation under the power and purity of his holy ordinances. ...
With Richard S. Dunn, James Savage (1784-1873), James Savage, Laetitia Yeandle. The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649. Abridged edition. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996. 799 pp. pp.: ill.; 23 cm.
Abstract I: For 350 years Governor John Winthrop's journal has been recognized as the central source for the history of Massachusetts in the 1630s and 1640s. Winthrop reported events--especially religious and political events--more fully and more candidly than any other contemporary observer.
Abstract II: This abridged edition of Winthrop's journal, which incorporates about 40 percent of the governor's text, with his spelling and punctuation modernized, includes a lively Introduction and complete annotation. It also includes Winthrop's famous lay sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," written in 1630. As in the fuller journal, this abridged edition contains the drama of Winthrop's life - his defeat at the hands of the freemen for governor, the banishment and flight of Roger Williams to Rhode Island, the Pequot War that exterminated his Indian opponents, and the Antinomian controversy. Here is the earliest American document on the perpetual contest between the forces of good and evil in the wilderness - Winthrop's recounting of how God's Chosen People escaped from captivity into the promised land. While he recorded all the sexual scandal - rape, fornication, adultery, sodomy, and buggery - it was only to show that even in Godly New England the Devil was continually at work, and man must be forever militant.
Orator and statesman. Read more about Winthrop here.
WORKS
Addresses and Speeches on Various Occasions. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1852. "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."
"Two remarkable little books of some eighty or ninety pages that were issued from the Boston press in 1772 require a word of notice because of their hearty welcome. Two editions were called for within the year, and more than a thousand copies of the second were bespoken before it went to press. They had originally been put forth, the first in 1707, The Churches Quarrel Espoused: or a Reply In Satyre to certain Proposals made, etc. (the Massachusetts "Proposals of 1705"), and the second in 1717, A Vindication of the Government of the New England Churches, Drawn from Antiquity; Light of Nature; Holy Scripture; the Noble Nature; and from the Dignity Divine Providence has put upon it. In 1772 their author, the Rev. John Wise, a former pastor of the church in Ipswich, Massachusetts, had been dead for over forty years. In his day, he had regarded the "Proposals" as treasonable to the ancient polity of Congregationalism, and had attacked what he considered their assumptions, absurdities, and inherent tyranny. His books were forceful in their own day, serving the churches, persuading those of Massachusetts to hold to the more democratic system of the Cambridge Platform, and largely affecting the character of the later polity of the New England churches. The suffering colonist of 1772, smarting under English misrule, turned to the vigorous, clear, and convincing pages wherein John Wise set forth the natural rights of men, the quality of political obligation, the relative merits of government, whether monarchies, aristocracies, or democracies, and the well developed concept that civil government should be founded upon a belief in human equality. In his second attempt to defend the Cambridge Platform, Wise had advanced to the proposition that "Democracy is Christ's government in Church and State." [John Wise, Vindication, Edition of 1717, p. 84].
President Calvin Coolidge, Speech on the Occasion of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: "Rev. Thomas Hooker of Connecticut as early as 1638, when he said in a sermon before the General Court that-'The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people...'The choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by God's own allowance.'
"This doctrine found wide acceptance among the nonconformist clergy who later made up the Congregational Church. The great apostle of this movement was the Rev. John Wise, of Massachusetts. He was one of the leaders of the revolt against the royal governor Andros in 1687, for which he suffered imprisonment. He was a liberal in ecclesiastical controversies. He appears to have been familiar with the writings of the political scientist, Samuel Pufendorf, who was born in Saxony in 1632. Wise published a treatise, entitled "The Church's Quarrel Espoused," in 1710, which was amplified in another publication in 1717. In it he dealt with the principles of civil government. His works were reprinted in 1772 and have been declared to have been nothing less than a textbook of liberty for our Revolutionary fathers.
"While the written word was the foundation, it is apparent that the spoken word was the vehicle for convincing the people. This came with great force and wide range from the successors of Hooker and Wise, It was carried on with a missionary spirit which did not fail to reach the Scotch-Irish of North Carolina, showing its influence by significantly making that Colony the first to give instructions to its delegates looking to independence. This preaching reached the neighborhood of Thomas Jefferson, who acknowledged that his 'best ideas of democracy' had been secured at church meetings.
"That these ideas were prevalent in Virginia is further revealed by the Declaration of Rights, which was prepared by George Mason and presented to the general assembly on May 27, 1776. This document asserted popular sovereignty and inherent natural rights, but confined the doctrine of equality to the assertion that "All men are created equally free and independent." It can scarcely be imagined that Jefferson was unacquainted with what had been done in his own Commonwealth of Virginia when he took up the task of drafting the Declaration of Independence. But these thoughts can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was writing in 1710. He said, "Every man must be acknowledged equal to every man." Again,
"The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, and so forth . . . ." And again, "For as they have a power every man in his natural state, so upon combination they can and do bequeath this power to others and settle it according as their united discretion shall determine." And still again, "Democracy is Christ's government in church and state." Here was the doctrine of equality, popular sovereignty, and the substance of the theory of inalienable rights clearly asserted by Wise at the opening of the eighteenth century, just as we have the principle of the consent of the governed stated by Hooker as early as 1638.
"When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature's God and should close in the final paragraphs with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence. Coming from these sources, having as it did this background, it is no wonder that Samuel Adams could say "The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from heaven."
"No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period.
... "If there is any one thing among us that is established beyond question, it is self-government--the right of the people to rule. If there is any failure in respect to any of these principles, it is because there is a failure on the part of individuals to observe them. We hold that the duly authorized expression of the will of the people has a divine sanction. But even in that we come back to the theory of John Wise that "Democracy is Christ's government." The ultimate sanction of law rests on the righteous authority of the Almighty.
The Word of God for Abraham and Today. London: Westminster Chapel, 1959. Pbk. 20 pp. Given at Westminister Chapel, London, Wednesday, 17th June, 1959./ Includes bibliographical references.
Alan R. Millard & D.J. Wiseman, eds. "Abraham Reassessed". Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives. Leicester: IVP, 1980. Hbk. ISBN: 0851117430. pp. 139-156.
Witherspoon, John
(1723-1794)
Reverend. Read more about Witherspoon here and here and here.
Ellis Sandoz, editor: ... "Witherspoon eschewed politics in America until 1774, but after that he steadily participated, directly and indirectly, in the leading events of the day. In 1776 he was elected to the Continental Congress in time to urge adoption of the Declaration of Independence and to be the only clergyman to sign it. To the assertion that America was not ripe for independence he retorted: 'In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe, but rotting.'
"Witherspoon served intermittently in Congress until 1782 and was a member of over a hundred legislative committees, including two vital standing committees, the Board of War and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the latter role, he took a leading part in drawing up the instructions for the American peace commissioners who concluded the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war in September 1783. He later served in the New Jersey legislature and was a member of that state's ratifying convention for the Constitution in 1787.
"Witherspoon has been called the most influential professor in American history, not only because of his powerful writing and speaking style--and he was carefully attended to on all subjects, both here and abroad--but also because of his long tenure at Princeton. His teaching and the reforms he made there radiated his influence across the country. He trained not only a substantial segment of the leadership among Presbyterians but a number of political leaders as well. Nine of the fifty-five participants in the Federal Convention in 1787 were Princeton graduates, chief among them James Madison (who, among other things, spent an extra year studying Hebrew and philosophy with Witherspoon after his graduation in 1771). Moreover, his pupils included a president and a vice-president of the United States, twenty-one senators, twenty-nine representatives, fifty-six state legislators, and thirty-three judges, three of whom were appointed to the Supreme Court. During the Revolution, his pupils were everywhere in positions of command in the American forces.
"Witherspoon's The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men caused a great stir when it was first preached in Princeton and published in Philadelphia in 1776, about a month before he was elected to the Continental Congress on June 22. He reminds his auditors that the sermon is his first address on political matters from the pulpit: ministers of the Gospel have more important business to attend to than secular crises, but, of course, liberty is more than a merely secular matter."
The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Man. A Sermon, preached at Princeton, on the 17th of May, 1776. Being the general fast appointed by the Congress through the United Colonies. To which is added, an address to the natives of Scotland, residing in America. By John Witherspoon. The second edition, with elucidating remarks. [Glasgow]: Philadelphia, printed: Glasgow re-printed; sold by the booksellers in town and country, 1777. 54 pp. Editor "S.R." responds throughout Witherspoon's Sermon and Address. Advertisement: "It hath been frequently said, by many persons of the best intelligence, that the unhappy commotions in our American colonies, have been considerably promoted, if not primarly agitated, by clerical influence: and none of that order have had a greater share of it ascribed to them than Dr. Witherspoon, though not credited by many of his favourites in this country. The following Sermon and Address, however, will fully justify the allegation, and silence the doctor's friends."
Text-searchable here.
"Thus I have stated to you, though very briefly, the principles on which I think the American cause ought to be pleaded, and on which it ought to be espoused and supported, by every lover of justice and of mankind. But though the general plea in justice were less clear than it is, there is a light in which the conduct of the opposers of it has always appeared to me unreasonable and ungenerous to the highest degree. That resistance to Great-Britain has been determined on, in the most resolute manner, through all the colonies, by a vast majority, is not only certain, but undeniable. In the beginning of the controversy, some writers, with an impudence hardly to be paralelled, called the fact in question, attempted to deceive the people in this country, and effectually deceived the people of England, by making them believe, that it was only a few factious and violent men that had engaged in the contest. It is not very long since a writer had the courage to assert, that, 'nine tenths of the people of Pennsylvania were against independence.' The falsehood of such misrepresentations is now manifest, and indeed was probably known from the beginning, by those who desired to have them believed. Taking-this for granted, then, for an inconsiderable minority, whether natives or strangers,to set themselves in opposition to the public councils, is contrary to reason and justice, and even to the very first principles, of the social life."
The Absolute Necessity of Salvation through Christ. A Sermon, preached before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in the High Church of Edinburgh, on Monday, January 2. 1758. By John Witherspoon. To which is subjoined a short account of the present state of the Society. Edinburgh: printed for W. Miller, 1758. [2], 90 pp.
Trial of Religious Truth by its moral influence. A Sermon, preached at the opening of the synod of Glasgow and Air, October 9th, 1759. By J. Witherspoon, Glasgow: printed for James Wilken, in Paisley, 1759. 45,[1] pp.
Ecclesiastical characteristics: or, The arcana of church policy Being an humble attempt, to open the mystery of moderation. Wherein is shewn, a plain and easy way of attaining to the character of a moderate man, as at present in repute in the Church of Scotland. [Philadelphia]: London: Printed, Philadelphia: Re-printed, by William and Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee-House. The 7th edition. Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, 1767. 60 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
Christian Magnaminity; A Sermon, preached at Princeton, September, 1775--the Sabbath preceeding the annual commencement; and again with additions, September 23, 1787. To which is added, an address to the senior class, who were to receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Princeton [N.J.]: Printed by James Tod., United States; New Jersey; Princeton, 1787. iv, 44 pp.; 21 cm. (8vo)
Part 1 and Part 2.
Varnum Lansing Collins, 1870-1936, editor. Lectures on moral philosophy. Also here. Princeton, N.J.; Princeton university press, 1912. xxix, [2], 144 pp. 21 cm.
Varnum Lansing Collins, 1870-1936. President Witherspoon. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1925. 2 vol.: ill.; 25 cm.
The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D. L.L.D. late president of the college, at Princeton New-Jersey. To which is prefixed an account of the author's life, in a sermon occasioned by his death, by the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, of New York: In three volumes. Vol. I[-III] Philadelphia: Printed and published by William W. Woodward, no. 17, Chesnut near Front Street, 1800. 3 volumes; 22 cm. (8vo).
The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D. L.L.D. late president of the college, at Princeton New-Jersey. To which is prefixed an account of the author's life, in a sermon occasioned by his death, by the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers, of New York: In four volumes. Second edition. Philadelphia: Printed and published by William W. Woodward, no. 17, Chesnut near Front Street, 1800. 4 volumes; 22 cm. (8vo).
Volume 1. 566 pp. v.1: A funeral discourse by the Rev. Dr. John Rodgers of New York (Matthew 25:21) (v.1, p. 9-43) -- An essay on justification, to which if prefixed a letter to the Rev. James Hervey -- Treatise on regeneration (John 3:3) (v.1, p. 115-173) -- In which is shewn wherein this change doth properly and directly consist and what are its principal evidences and fruits : Wherein the change in regeneration doth properly and directly consist -- The second part of this change -- The effects of regeneration with some of the principal evidences of its sincerity -- A more particular inquiry into what properly constitutes the sincerity of the change -- Of the steps by which this change is accomplished : There must be a discovery of the real nature of God -- There must be a discovery of the infinite glory of God -- There must be a conviction of sin and danger -- Of the degree of sorrow for sin in true penitents -- Acceptance of salvation through the cross of Christ -- How the believer recovers peace of conscience -- How the christian is governed in his daily conversation -- Conclusion -- All mankind by nature under sin (Romans 3:23) (v.1, p. 267-285) -- The sinner without excuse before God (Psalm 130:3) (v.1, p. 285- 299) -- Hope of forgiveness with God (Psalm 130:4) (v.1, p. 299-315 ) -- The nature of faith (John 3:23) (v.1, p. 315-331) -- Christ's death a proper atonement for sin (1 John 2:2) (v.1, p. 331-349) -- The love of Christ in redemption (Revelation 1:5) (v.1, p. 349-371) -- Redemption the subject of admiration to the angels (1 Peter 1:12) (v.1, p. 371-387) -- Glorifying in the cross (Galatians 6:14) (v.1, p. 387-407) -- The world crucified by the cross of Christ (Galatians 6:14) (v.1, p. 387-407) (v.1, p. 407-425) -- Fervency and importunity in prayer (Genesis 32:26) (v.1, p. 447-465) (v.1, p. 465-481) -- Obedience and sacrifice compared (1 Samuel 15:22) (v.1, p. 481-503) -- The secutiry of those who trust in God (Proverbs 18:10) (v.1, p. 503-529) -- The nature and extent of visible religion (Matthew 5:16) (v.1, p. p. 529-551) -- The happiness of the saints in heaven (Reve.ation 7:15) (v.1, p. 551-569)
Volume 2. 586 pp. v.2: The object of a christian's desire in religious worship (Exodus 33:18) (v.2, p. 9-23) -- The glory of Christ in his humiliation (Isaiah 63:1) (v.2, p. 23-43) -- The deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13) (v.2, p. 43-87) -- The believer going to God as his exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4) (v.2, p. 87-107) -- The Christian's disposition under a sense of mercies received (Psalm 116:7) (v.2, p. 107-132) -- A view of the glory of God humbling to the soul (Job 42:5, 6) (v.2, p. 132-157) -- An inducement to come to Christ (Revelation 3:17) (v.2, p. 157-167) -- Trust in God (Isaiah 1:10) (v.2, p. 187-203) -- On the purity of the heart (Proverbs 30:7-9) (v.2, p. 203-219) -- Seeking a competency in the wisdom of providence (Proverbs 30:8) (v.2, p. 219-229) -- The danger of prosperity (Proverbs 30:9) (v.2, p. 229-239) -- The danger of adversity (Proverbs 30:9) (v.2, p. 229-239) -- On the religious education of children (Mark 10:13-16) (v2, p. 249-265) -- Devotedness to God (Psalm 116:16) (v.2, p. 265-275) -- The righteous scarcely saved and the wicked certainly destroyed (1 Peter 4:18) (v.2, p2. 275-289) -- The yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:30) (v.2, p. 289-303) -- The glory of the Redeemer in the perpetuity of his work (Psalm 72:17) (v.2, p. 303-321) -- The petitions of the insincere unavailing (Psalm 66:18) (v.2, p. 321-339) -- The absolute necessity of salvation through Christ (Acts 4:12) (v.2, p. 339-369) -- An inquiry into the scripture-meaning of charity -- The trial of religious truth by its moral influence (Matthew 7:20) (v.2, p. 385-415) -- v.5: The charge of sedition and faction against good men, especially faithful ministers, considered and accounted for (Acts 17:6) (v.2, p. 415-453) -- Prayer for national prosperity and for the revival of religion, inseparably connected (Isaiah 51:9) (v.2, p. 453-385) -- Seasonable advice to young persons (Psalm 1:1) (v.2, p. 485-509) -- Ministerial character and duty (2 Corinthians 4:13) (v.2, p. 509-555) -- The success of the gospel entirely of God (1 Corinthians 3:5, 6, 7) (v.2, p. 569-586)
Volume 3. 592 pp. v.3: A pastoral letter from the Synod of New York and Philadelphia -- The dominion of providence over the passions of men (Psalm 76:10) (v.3, p. 9-17) -- Delivered at a public thanksgiving after peace (Psalm 3:8) (v.3, p. 61-87) -- Christian magnanimity (1 Thessalonians 2:12) (v.3, p. 87-101) -- An address to the students of the senior class -- A serious inquiry into the nature and effects of the stage -- A letter respecting play actors -- A serious apology for the ecclesiastical characteristics -- The history of a corporation of servants -- Lectures on moral philosophy -- Lectures of politics -- Relation of parents and children -- Relation of master and servant -- Of civil society: Of the different forms of government -- Of the law of nature and nations -- Of making peace -- Of jurisprudence -- Of the sanction of the moral laws -- Contracts -- Of the marks and signs of contracts -- Of oaths and vows -- Of the use of symbols in contracts -- Of the value of property -- Rights of necessity and common rights -- Recapitulation -- Lectures on eloquence, of figurative speech, of figures.
Volume 4. 475 pp. v.4: Introductory lecture on divinity : Letters on education -- Letters on marriage -- Address to the inhabitants of Jamaica and other West India Islands in behalf of the College of New Jersey -- An essay on money, as a medium of commerce, with remarks on the advantages and disadvantages of paper admitted into general circulation -- Speech in the Synod of Glasgow when I was accused of being the author of the ecclesiastical characteristics -- An humble supplication to such of the nobility and gentry of Scotland as are elders of the church and members of the General Assembly -- Speech in the General Assembly on the transportation of Dr. C___ -- Letter sent to Scotland for the Scots magazine -- Ignorance of the British with respect to America -- Reflections on the present state of public affairs and on the duty and interest of America in this important crisis -- Thoughts on American liberty -- On the controversy about independence -- On conducting the American Controversy -- Arisides -- Part of a speech in Congress on the conference proposed by Lord Howe -- Speech in Congress on the convention with General Burgoyne -- Speech in Congress on a motion for paying the interest of loan-office certificates -- Part of a speech in Congress on the finances -- Part of a speech in Congress upon the confederation -- Speech in Congress on the appointment of plenipotentiaries -- On the proposed market in General Washington's camp -- Address to General Washington -- Memorial and manifesto of the United States of North America -- On the contest between Great Britain and America -- On the affairs of the United States -- Observations on the improvement of America -- Supplication of J. R ____ -- Recantation of Benjamin Towne -- A description of the state of New Jersy -- A few reflections on the Federal City -- On the Georgia Constitution -- The Druid, originally published in numbers periodically.
Abstract: Matthew 25:21 (v.1, p. 9-43) ; John 3:3 (v.1, p. 115-173) ; Romans 3:23 (v.1, p. 267-285) ; Psalm 130:3 (v.1, p. 285- 299) ; Psalm 130:4 (v.1, p. 299-315 ) ; John 3:23 (v.1, p. 315-331) ; 1 John 2:2 (v.1, p. 331-349) ; Revelation 1:5 (v.1, p. 349-371) ; 1 Peter 1:12 (v.1, p. 371-387) ; Galatians 6:14 (v.1, p. 387-407) ; Galatians 6:14 (v.1, p. 387-407) (v.1, p. 407-425) ; Genesis 32:26 (v.1, p. 447-465) (v.1, p. 465-481) ; 1 Samuel 15:22 (v.1, p. 481-503) ; Proverbs 18:10 (v.1, p. 503-529) ; Matthew 5:16 (v.1, p. p. 529-551) ; Revelation 7:15 (v.1, p. 551-569) -- v.2: Exodus 33:18 (v.2, p. 9-23) ; Isaiah 63:1 (v.2, p. 23--43) ; Hebrews 3:13 (v.2, p. 43-87) ; Psalm 43:4 (v.2, p. 87-107) ; Psalm 116:7 (v.2, p. 107-132) ; Job 42:5, 6 (v.2, p. 132-157) ; Revelation 3:17 (v.2, p. 157-167) ; Isaiah 1:10 (v.2, p. 187-203) ; Proverbs 30:7-9 (v.2, p. 203-219 ; Proverbs 30:8 (v.2, p. 219-229) ; Proverbs 30:9 (v.2, p. 229-239) ; Proverbs 30:9 (v.2, p. 229-239) ; Mark 10:13-16 (v2, p. 249-265) ; Psalm 116:16 (v.2, p. 265-275) ; 1 Peter 4:18 (v.2, p2. 275-289) ; Matthew 11:30 (v.2, p. 289-303) ; Psalm 72:17 (v.2, p. 303-321) ; Psalm 66:18 (v.2, p. 321-339) ; Acts 4:12 (v.2, p. 339-369) ; Matthew 7:20 (v.2, p. 385-415) ; Acts 17:6 (v.2, p. 415-453) ; Isaiah 51:9 (v.2, p. 453-385) ; Psalm 1:1 (v.2, p. 485-509) ; 2 Corinthians 4:13 (v.2, p. 509-555) ; 1 Corinthians 3:5, 6, 7 (v.2, p. 569-586) -- v.3: Psalm 76:10 (v.3, p. 9-17) ; Psalm 3:8 (v.3, p. 61-87) ; 1 Thessalonians 2:12 (v.3, p. 87-101)
The Works of the Rev. John Witherspoon, D.D. L.L.D. late president of the college, at Princeton New-Jersey. Extract from 2nd edition, 1802, Volume 4. On the Georgia Constitution.
Should Christians - Or Ministers - Run For Office?. Introduction by David Barton: "Founding Father John Witherspoon's sagacious rebuttal to the 1777 Georgia Constitution's provision forbidding clergymen from serving in the Georgia legislature."
With John M. Mason. On Liberality in religion : Taken from the Christian's magazine, edited by the Rev. Dr. Mason of New York; together with An inquiry into the Scripture meaning of charity. Portland, [Me.]: A. Lyman, J. M'Kown). Maine; Portland, 1811. 40 pp.
English naturalist and geologist. Read about Woodward here.
WORKS
Of the Wisdom of the antient Egyptians, &c; A Discourse concerning their arts, their sciences, and their learning, their laws, their government, and their religion, with occasional reflections upon the state of learning among the Jews, and some other nations. London, Printed by W. Bowyer and J. Nichols, 1777. 102 pp., 28 cm.
The Natural history of the earth illustrated, enlarged, and defended. London: Printed and sold by Tho. Edlin, 1726. [9] p., 169 p.; [14] p., 163 p., [1] p. ; 20 cm. Also here. Note(s): Issued in 2 parts. Part 2 has special t.p.: The natural history of the earth illustrated, and inlarged: as also defended, and the objections against it, particularly those lately publish'd by Dr. Camerarius, answered. London, 1726./ Translation of: Naturalis historia telluris. Written originally in Latin; and now first made English by Benj. Holloway; to which are added, physical proofs of the existence of God, his actual incessant concurrence to the support of the universe, and of all organical bodyes, vegetables, and animals, particularly man; with several other papers, on different subjects, never before printed; by John Woodward.
Scientific Aspects of Christian Evidences. New York, Appleton, 1898. 362 pp. Limits of scientific thought.--The paradoxes of science.--God and nature.--Darwinism and design.--Mediate miracles.--Beyond reasonable doubt.--Newly discovered external evidences of Christianity.--The testimony of textual criticism.--Internal evidences of the early date of the four gospels.--Positive results of the cumulative evidence. Note(s): "This volume is an elaboration of the Lowell Institute Lectures, delivered in Boston in 1896."--Pref.
