Founding Issues
Bible

See Also: Holy Writings

  1. "The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed." - Patrick Henry, William Wirt, "Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry", (Philadelphia: James Webster, 1818), p. 402; see also George Morgan, Patrick Henry (Philadelphia & London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1929), p. 403.

  2. "For nearly half a century, I have anxiously and critically studied the Bible and I still scarcely ever take it up that I do not find something new. Were you to ask me to recommend the most valuable book in the world, I should fix on the Bible as the most instructive both to the wise and the ignorant. Were you to ask me for one book affording the most rational and pleasing entertainment to the enquiring mind, I would still stay the Bible. And should you ask again about the best philosophy, or the most interesting history, I would still urge you to look into your Bible. I would make it, in short, the alpha and omega of knowledge." - Elias Boudinot

  3. "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." - John Jay

  4. "Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited ... What a Utopia! ¨C What a paradise would this region be!" - John Adams

  5. "The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society. . . . All of the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from them despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." - Noah Webster

  6. "The first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I have myself for many years made it a practice to read the Bible once every year. I have always endeavored to read it with the same spirit and with the same temper of mind which I now recommend to you. That is, with the intention and desire that it may contribute to my advance in wisdom and virtue." - John Quincy Adams

  7. "I Believe the Bible to be the written word of God & to Contain in it the whole Rule of Faith & manners; I consent to the Assemblys Shorter Chatachism as being Agreable to the Reveal¡¯d Will of God & to contain in it the Doctrines that are According to Godliness. I have for some time had a desire to attend upon the Lords Supper and to Come to that divine Institution of a Dying Redeemer, And I trust I¡¯m now convinced that it is my Duty Openly to profess him least he be ashamed to own me An Other day; I humbly therefore desire that you would receive me into your Communion & Fellowship, & I beg your Prayers for me that Grace may be carried on in my soul to Perfection, & that I may live answerable to the Profession I now make which (God Assisting) I purpose to be the main End of all my Actions." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Treat Paine, 1749

  8. "Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. LEVITICUS 25:10" - The Bible verse inscribed by the United States Founding Fathers on the "Liberty Bell" of "Independence Hall" in Philadelphia where the Declaration and Constitution were created.

  9. "[T]hat the use of the Bible is so universal, and its importance so great ... your Committee recommend that Congress will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different ports of the States of the Union." - Congressional Committee Report presented September 11, 1777 in response to a request on July 7, 1777 that Congress import or print more Bibles for Americans in response to a British embargo that created a shortage of Bibles in America. Committe members were Founding Fathers Daniel Roberdeau, John Adams, and Jonathan Smith. Congress ordered the Bibles imported based on the report.

  10. "May every citizen in the army and in the country have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, ¡°Him that honoreth me I will honor, but he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed¡± [I Samuel 2:30]." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, "Father of the American Revolution", Samuel Adams, "The Writings of Samuel Adams", Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G. P. Putnam¡¯s Sons, 1904), Vol. IV, p. 189, Samuel Adams article signed ¡°Vindex¡± in Boston Gazette on June 12, 1780.

  11. "[T]he Bible. ... [is] a book containing the history of all men and of all nations and ... [is] a necessary part of a polite education." - United States Founding Father, President of the Continental Congress, U.S. Diplomat, Selected as Delegate to Constitutional Convention, Henry Laurens, "The Papers of Henry Laurens", George C. Rogers, Jr., and David R. Chesnutt, editors (Columbia, S. C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1980), Vol. VIII, pp. 426-427, to James Lawrenson on August 19, 1772.

  12. "The reflection and experience of many years have led me to consider the holy writings not only as the most authentic and instructive in themselves, but as the clue to all other history. They tell us what man is, and they alone tell us why he is what he is: a contradictory creature that seeing and approving of what is good, pursues and performs what is evil. All of private and of public life is there displayed. ... From the same pure fountain of wisdom we learn that vice destroys freedom; that arbitrary power is founded on public immorality." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, Penman of the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris, "Collections of the New York Historical Society for the Year 1821", (New York: E. Bliss and E. White, 1821), p. 30, from ¡°An Inaugural Discourse Delivered Before the New York Historical Society by the Honorable Gouverneur Morris on September 4, 1816.¡±

  13. "The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts." - United States Founding Father, Original Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Co-author of the "Federalist Papers", John Jay, "John Jay: The Winning of the Peace. Unpublished Papers 1780-1784", Richard B. Morris, editor (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1980), Vol. II, p. 709, to Peter Augustus Jay on April 8, 1784.

  14. "The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society; the best book for regulating the temporal [secular] concerns of men." - United States Founding Father, Revolutionary War soldier, Legislator, Noah Webster, "The Holy Bible ... With Amendments of the Language" (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833), p. v.

  15. "Bibles are strong entrenchments. Where they abound, men cannot pursue wicked courses." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, James McHenry, Bernard C. Steiner, "One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland", (Baltimore: Maryland Bible Society, 1921), p. 14.

  16. "[T]he Holy Scriptures. ... can alone secure to society, order and peace, and to our courts of justice and constitutions of government, purity, stability, and usefulness. In vain, without the Bible, we increase penal laws and draw entrenchments [protections] around our institutions." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, James McHenry, Steiner, One Hundred and Ten Years of Bible Society Work in Maryland (Baltimore: Maryland Bible Society, 1921), p. 14.

  17. "All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible." - United States Founding Father, Revolutionary War soldier, Legislator, Noah Webster, "History of the United States", (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 339, sec. 53.

  18. "We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, "The Papers of James Madison", Henry D. Gilpin, editor (Washing- ton: Langtree & O¡¯Sullivan, 1840), Vol. II, p. 985, June 28, 1787. Speech at Constitutional Convention for requesting that prayer open every secession.

  19. "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. ... Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, James Wilson, "The Works of the Honourable James Wilson", Bird Wilson, editor (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, pp. 104-106, ¡°Of the General Principles of Law and Obligation.¡±

  20. "In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes, and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be Republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government; that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, Essays, p. 112, ¡°Defense of the Use of the Bible as a School Book.¡±

  21. "[O]ur citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion." - United States Founding Father, Revolutionary War soldier, Legislator, Noah Webster, "History of the United States", (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), p. 6.

  22. "Every person who shall be chosen a member of either house, or appointed to any office or place of trust ... shall ... make and subscribe the following declaration, to wit: "I, __________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration."" - Delaware Constitution, 1776, The writing of this Constitution was directed by United states Founding Fathers and Signers of the United States Constitution, George Reed and Richard Bassett, "Dictionary of American Biography", s.v. ¡°George Read.¡±, "Dictionary of American Biography", s.v. ¡°Richard Bassett.¡±, "The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America (Boston: Norman and Bowen, 1785), pp. 99-100, Delaware, 1776, Article 22.

  23. "Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness, and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Constitution, John Dickinson

  24. No candidate shall be admitted into the College ... unless he shall be able to render into English ... the Gospels from the Greek. ... It is also expected that all students attend public worship on Sundays." - Entrance requirements, Columbia College, This was originally King's Collage. It was renamed after the Revolutionary War and in 1787, United States Founding Father, and Signer of the Constitution, William Samuel Johnson was appointed its first president, "Columbia Rules" (New York: Samuel Loudon, 1785), pp. 5-8.

  25. "[T]here was no anarchy. ... [T]he people of the North American union, and of its constituent States, were associated bodies of civilized men and Christians in a state of nature, but not of anarchy. They were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct." - United States Founding Father, Sixth President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, "An Address Delivered at the Request of the Committee of Ar- rangements for the Celebrating the Anniversary of Independence at the City of Washington on the Fourth of July 1821 upon the Occasion of Reading The Declaration of Independence", (Cambridge: Hilliard and Metcalf, 1821), p. 28.

  26. "I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Saviour and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears." - United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Robert Treat Paine, "The Papers of Robert Treat Paine", Stephen T. Riley and Edward W. Hanson, editors (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992), Vol. I, p. 48, March/April, 1749.

  27. "The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating [extinguishing] Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools. [T]he Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life. ... [It] should be read in our schools in preference to all other books from its containing the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public temporal happiness."
    - Benjamin Rush, United States Founding Father, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, "Letters of Benjamin Rush", L. H. Butterfield, editor (Princeton, New Jersey: American Philosophical Society, 1951), Vol. 1, p. 521, to Jeremy Belknap on July 13, 1789. "Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical", (Philadelphia: Thomas and Samuel F. Bradford, 1798), pp. 94, 100, "A Defence of the Use of the Bible as a School Book."

Party of 1776 - "No King but King Jesus" - www.partyof1776.net