More than 200 years ago, there was a feeling among many European  Christians that this new land—the new world and rich, new continent—was indeed the fulfillment of prophecy.  They saw the promise of a new nation where the Christian faith would shape the land.   The Puritans saw worship as the means by which of all life should be shaped. America was seen as The Elect Nation of God by which God’s Kingdom would break into this world.

    The First Great Awakening (~1730-1750) only fed that fiery expectation further.  Jonathan Edwards said, “In the Great Awakening, colonists quit their bickering.”  The Great Awakening had an unprecedented melding effect and shaped and encouraged the notion of an “Elect Nation,”  a special country with a special purpose in God’s plan for the earth. 

   The biblical models of liberty and freedom (not the French versions) inspired the people to defend the dream of a land unspotted by tyranny.  The pious Christians set their hearts on freedom and would not be compromised. The Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia, poised upon the fateful decision that would proclaim independence of the American Colonies from Britain.  It was Sunday, May 17, 1776. 

   There was only one minister of the gospel among the members of Congress who were soon to risk their lives, fortunes and honor in the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  His name was John Witherspoon, President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and he preached a sermon on that day calling attention to the disorders in human society, the corruption of human nature, the plague of war, the ambition of princes, and the violence that fills the pages of history.  But it soon became clear that the preacher was not speaking about the sins of the British.  He was warning against the deceptive sinfulness of the hearts of the American patriots who were his audience.

   In Witherspoon’s mind, we spiritually lose the battle if we only demonize the enemy without taking full responsibility for our own sinfulness in the process.   Witherspoon believed that in order for a government to be just, it must be complicated.  He compared solid government to a great and complex knot with ropes leading out in all directions.   As a Calvinist and a Presbyterian, Witherspoon took for granted the basically-sinful nature of all individuals, and he knew that each would tug at that knot—motivated by self-interest—in the attempts to unravel it in his or her own benefit.    The image of government that he taught in his lectures—and sermons—was like that knot.  The web of relationships among a nation must allow all  individuals to pull in the direction of their own self-interests, and as a result, only make the great knot at the center tighter, more solid. 

America is NOT the new Jerusalem, but don’t be fooled by the world.  It was not founded in the image of the French Revolution, nor were the French Humanist Philosophers the main influence in the shaping of our government. America was founded on Christian hopes of a new life in a new land where worship was free and where God was acknowledged above all other powers.

There is no greater patriotism than to hold to that same acknowledgement today.