Clean Transcript

An Election Sermon

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• Proverbs 29 and verse 2. Let me make a few introductory remarks before I begin. First of all, I'm going to be preaching a sermon today by Pastor Gad Hitchcock. It was preached May 24, 1774 in Massachusetts. The first part of this message is not Gad Hitchcock's sermon. I simply am going to be preaching it as him, just to give you the historical significance of the election sermons. When I get to the reading of the scripture the second time, that is when his original message will begin. Secondly, let me point out, because of time constraints, I could not preach the entire message that he brought. So that meant I had to cut some of it down, but I tried to keep the continuity of the message.

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• Thirdly, only in one or two places I added a word only for clarification. That is, I only added a word that would speak in reference to the text.

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• Fourthly, let me point out that we must listen very carefully because our forefathers were highly educated men and the people they preached to were highly educated as well. And then fifthly, I want you to understand and see the straightforwardness and the biblical teaching and preaching these men did. No wonder our country was founded on such a biblical basis.

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• Now let me tell you just a moment, for a moment, a thing or two about Gad Hitchcock. Gad Hitchcock was born in Western Massachusetts in 1718. He was educated for the ministry at Harvard University. He was called to serve as the first pastor of a newly organized congregational church in Pembroke, which is on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1746, the West Precinct erected a meeting house and they asked Pastor Hitchcock, who was an outspoken patriot and a tremendous preacher, to be their pastor. Pastor Hitchcock served this congregation for 55 years until his death. After he died, the pastor was George Barstow, who came there in 1803 and he served the congregation until his death in 1826. Now, the interesting thing about this message is when Gad Hitchcock was asked to preach this election sermon, he did not know that he was going to be preaching to General Thomas Gage, who had just been appointed governor of Massachusetts by King George III. Nor did he know that General Thomas Gage, who came there with a shipload of British troops to straighten out the rebellious colonists.

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• So here Gad Hitchcock now has been asked to preach this sermon and all of a sudden here General Thomas Gage, the new governor and shiploads of British troops are here as well. And as you will hear, he certainly did not flinch or hold back because of who was in his congregation. So Gad Hitchcock of Pembroke, Massachusetts preached this message before the Council and the House of Representatives on May the 25th, 1774.

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• Now the scripture says in Proverbs 29 in verse 2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." I'm most honored to be here today. One of the intents of the election sermon is to originate a means whereby our people can be effectually educated as to the nature and duties of civil government. Election sermons will have a tradition that spans many years into the future. Hopefully, the election sermon will have an influence upon our country which will never fall into disuse. An election sermon is a sermon that is preached on the mornings of a general election in a township or in a city.

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• Now the purpose of these election sermons, which incidentally were ordered by the state legislatures, the purpose of these election sermons were basically five-fold. Number one, to instruct the people on the biblical foundations of social order. Number two, to declare the true nature and the legitimate functions of civil government. Number three, the duties of the citizens under God. Number four, the duties of the civil magistrates under God. Number five, the biblical qualifications which ought to be true for those who are fit for leadership.

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• It is the common belief that a nation well instructed in biblical politics will be preserved from tyranny and the common corruption in nations which ignore God's laws. Thus, our election sermons are preached, printed, and distributed widely through the colonies. They are often the object of discussion for many weeks thereafter. These sermons expose the tyranny of King George and the English Parliament. They reveal that the King and the Parliament are usurping authority which belongs to God alone, and most importantly, they teach the people how to respond to such usurpations. Listen to a quote from Samuel Cook's sermon preached in 1770. He says, "Rulers are appointed to be ministers of God for good. The people have a right to expect this from them and to require it, not as an act of grace, but as their reasonable due."

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• It is the express or implicit condition upon which they were chosen and continued in public office that they attend continually upon this very thing. In justice to the people, and in thankfulness to God, they must either sustain it with fidelity or resign the office. This kind of preaching provokes the charges that ministers are preaching politics instead of the gospel. We reply that we are indeed preaching the gospel, for the gospel teaches that there is one King whom men should worship and serve, and one law which ought to be honored by all men as well as all nations.

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• All of God's Word is good news. All of God's Word should be obeyed by everyone, including rulers. God's Word is to be applied to every sphere of life, including the sphere of government. Many tend to think of rulers as gods and treat rulers as if they sat upon God's throne. Such thought and action are nothing less than a denial of God's sovereignty and are contrary to Scripture.

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• I foresee and fear that a major problem will arise in our beloved country. I fear that our nation shall turn away from the election sermon. Consequently, we will become a nation of ignorant and uneducated people as to the responsibilities of civil government. We will not know what we owe the government, nor will we know what the government owes to us. Due to our ignorance, we will either become apathetic or rebellious.

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• In our apathy, we will think that nothing can be done, so there is no use in trying. And in our rebellion, we will not care whether things change or not. A covenant-breaking people are not going to be given covenant-keeping rulers. Even when God moves upon godly men to run for office, we will scorn them. We will not vote for them, follow them, or support them. Men desire leaders like themselves. We will have immoral, childish leaders because we will have become a nation of immoral, childish people. We will desire rebellious leaders because we are rebellious people. We will not want a biblical, godly leadership because we will not want to be a biblical, godly people.

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• Election sermons are as much a part of the stately and imposing ceremonies as the election itself. The ablest divines of the colony are invited to deliver them. Not as a mere compliment to religion, nor are they listened to simply with a quiet decorum and respectful attention which is accorded in ordinary worship, but with a deep interest of those seeking light and instruction. Our preachers do not confine themselves to a dissertation on doctrinal truths, nor mere exhortation to godly behavior.

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• We grapple with the great question of the rights of man, and especially the rights of the colonists in their controversy with the mother country. In listening to and reading our discourses, we desire that our people come to possess a thorough knowledge of the origin, nature, character, and end of all true government. We're not interested in dealing with empty or high-sounding phrases like liberty and equality. We wish to demonstrate the very foundations of society, show what the natural rights of man are, and how those rights become modified when men gather into communities, how all laws and regulations are designed to be for the good of the governed, that the object of concentrated power is to protect, not invade personal liberty.

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• And when it fails to do this, and oppresses instead of protects, assails instead of defending rights, resistance becomes lawful, yea, obligatory. Our election sermons are regarded as the political pamphlets of the day. Thus, the thorough indoctrination of the people in the duties and powers of government, the reciprocal obligations resting on them and the mother country, are reduced to a system. We must remember that God is upon His throne. No matter the circumstances, no matter the situation, God rules sovereignly and supremely. Therefore, we must not now or ever give up in despair. Just as surely as God judges and destroys nations, so He revives and blesses them. The same God who judged Israel also restored them.

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• And He restored them in response to the prayers and labors of a very small minority who set their hearts to honor Him. If we desire our nation's restoration, what must we do? First, we must repent of our own sin and the sins of our nation. Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, and others not only confess their own personal sin, but the sins of the nation as well.

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• Secondly, we must devote ourselves to true Christian education in our lives, training a generation wise in the things of God. Thirdly, we must give ourselves to the preaching of the gospel, teaching all things that Christ has commanded. The people will never desire godly leaders until they desire God. Fifthly, we must pray. Our God delights in bringing victory out of what appears to be certain defeat. Now is the time to seek Him, fast and pray, and beg God to turn to us again. Samuel Langdon, in one of his election sermons in 1775, said this, "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

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• The enemy has reproached us for calling on His name and professing our trust in Him. They have made a mock of our solemn fasts and every appearance of serious Christianity in the land. On this account, by way of contempt, they call us saints, that they may keep themselves at the greatest distance from this character. Their mouths are full of horrid blasphemies, cursing and bitterness, and then all the rage of malice and barbarity.

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• And may we not be confident that the Most High, who regards these things, will vindicate His own honor and plead our righteous cause against such enemies of His government as well as our liberties. Oh, may our camp be free from every accursed thing. May our land be purged from all its sins. May we be truly a holy people in all of our town's cities of righteousness. Only when God's people are devoted to righteousness in public and in private can we have any confidence that God will fight for us. Let us, therefore, humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways, that God may hear our cries from heaven and turn and heal our lands. Now, in Proverbs 29, verse 2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."

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• This is the observation of a wise ruler relative to civil government and the different effects of its administration according as it is placed in good or bad hands. And it having been preserved in the sacred oracles, not without providential direction, equally for the advantage of succeeding rulers and other men of every class and society, it will not be thought improper by any who have a veneration for revelation that the instruction of princes to make it the subject of our present consideration, especially as our civil rulers, in acknowledgment of a superintending providence, have invited us into this temple this morning to ask counsel of God in respect to the great affairs of this anniversary and the general conduct of government. Accordingly, I shall take occasion from it to make a few general remarks on the nature and end of civil government, point out some of the qualifications of rulers, and then apply the subject to the design of our assembling together.

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• The people mentioned, that is in Proverbs 29 and verse 2, are already a body politic. Civil government is already established among them. The measures which rulers pursue are generally good or bad, promotive of the public happiness, or the contrary, as they are in their moral character. Whether righteousness is to be restricted merely to the venue of justice, or considered as comprehensive in the entire character of piety and religion, where it is said, as in the place before us, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice." It may justly be affirmed that many such character are by far the fittest, other accomplishments being equal, to be entrusted with the civil interest of a community, and the people are the most likely to feel the salutary effects of government and be happy in their administration. Religious rulers are, in every view, blessings to society. Their laws are just and good, their measures mild and humane, and their example morally engaging.

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• Veneration for the authority of the supreme ruler of the world prevailing in our hearts is the most effectual security of affection to the public, which is a qualification absolutely indispensable." Let me pause. Did you hear what Gad Hitchcock just said? It's absolutely necessary that the ruler be a believer. He continues, "The vices of a ruler pervert the due exercise of his authority to the disadvantage of the community and mark his public conduct with oppression and ruin."

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• And we are not to think it strange if the people fall into perplexity and mourning in consequence. The safety of society greatly depends on the good disposition of rulers and the regard they have to the equity in their measures of government. If they rule in the fear of God, they will make His laws their pattern in framing and executing their own. In such a government, rulers have their distinctive powers assigned them by the people who are the only source of civil authority on earth, with the view of having them exercised for the public advantage. And in proportion as this worthy end of their investiture is kept in sight and prosecuted, the bands of society are strengthened and its interests promoted.

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• But if it be overlooked and disregarded, and another set up as the object of their pursuit, we will suppose it should be but by one of the supreme branches, or indeed by a single member of any, who happens to be of the leading influence and great abilities, it will go far into making a schism in the body. Calamity and distress may be expected in a measure to ensue.

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• We need not pass the limits of our own nation of sad instances of this, whether or how far it has been exemplified in any of the American colonies, whose governments in general are nearly copies of the happy British original, by the operation of ministerial unconstitutional measures, or the public conduct of some among ourselves, is not for me to determine. It is, however, certain that the people mourn.

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• May God turn their mourning into joy and comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. Rulers are under the most sacred ties to consult the good of society. It is the only grand design of their appointment. For the promotion of this valuable end, they ordained of God and clothed with authority by men. But it has been objected that the doctrine which teaches that the people are the source of civil authority, and that they may lawfully oppose those rulers who make ill use of it, is likely to be attended with the worst of consequences, occasioned disturbance, revolutions in the states, and render the situation of rulers perpetually unsafe and dangerous. If the rulers are of the latter character mentioned in our text, that is, wicked, the safety of the community forbids any attempt or disposition to make their situation easy.

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• And I trust the objection is without force in regard to those of the former, that is, righteous. It is altogether unreasonable to suppose a number of persons, by a free and voluntary contract, should give up themselves their families and estates so absolutely into the hands of any rulers as not to make a reserve of the right of saving themselves from ruin. And if they should, the bargain would be void as counteracting the will of heaven and the powerful law of self-preservation. It must be granted that the people have a right in some circumstances, or they have no right in any, to oppose their rulers. There is no medium.

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• A sober and rational inquiry into the consequences of each supposition is the best method to determine on which side the truth lies. Now listen carefully. If it be true that no rulers can be safe where the doctrine of resistance is taught, it must be true that no nation can be safe where the contrary is taught. If it be true that this disposes men of turbulent spirits to oppose the best rulers, it is as true that the other disposes princes of evil minds to enslave and ruin the best and most submissive subjects. If it be true that this encourages all public disturbance and all revolutions whatsoever, it is true that the other encourages all tyranny and all the most intolerable persecutions and oppressions imaginable.

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• The end of government certainly requires men of such righteous dispositions and sentiments to rule over the people. Prerogative itself is not a power to do anything it pleases, but a power to do some things for the good of the community in such cases as promulgated laws are not able to provide for it. On these principles, it is reasonable to expect that His Excellency who is lately appointed to the government of this province, and of whose candor and moderation we have heard with pleasure, will enter on the duties of this high station with honor to himself and advantage to the public, and make the happiness of the people the great object of his administration, which is the surest way to conciliate their affections and establish his own authority. We wish His Excellency much of the divine presence and guidance.

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• the supports of religion, and the plaudits of his final judge. The ancient advice dictated to Moses by the priests of Midian and approved of God is admirably calculated, civil fathers, for your direction on this occasion. It is a significant compendium of the qualifications of the persons whom you ought to favor in your suffrages. "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over you." The present situation of our public affairs requires good degrees of knowledge, firmness of spirit, patriotism, and the fear of God in those who stand at the helm and guide the state. They should be men able to investigate the sources of our evils, point out adequate remedies, and then have resolution and public spirit to apply them.

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• Did you hear what he just said? I'm stopping his sermon to make a comment. Listen carefully to this again. The present situation of our public affairs, that is what they were going through in 1774, requires a good degree of knowledge, firmness of spirit, patriotism, and the fear of God in those who stand at the helm and guide the state, that is the civil rulers. They should be men able to investigate the source of our evils, point out adequate remedies, and that have resolution and public spirit to apply them.

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• He continues, "Our danger is not visionary, but real. Our contention is not about trifles, but about liberty and property. And not ours only, but those of posterity to the latest generations. And every lover of mankind will allow that these are important objects, too inestimably precious and valuable enjoyments to be treated with neglect or tamely surrendered. For however some few I speak it with regret and astonishment, even from among ourselves, appear sufficiently disposed to ridicule the rights of America and the liberties of its subjects."

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• His plain, St. Paul, who was a good judge, had a very different sense of them. He was on all occasions for standing fast, not only in the liberties which Christ had made him free from the Jewish law of ceremonies, but also in that liberty with which the laws of nature, the land of the Roman state, had made him free from oppression and tyranny. If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed in executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges, and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me.

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• Our continued complaints, our repeated humble but fruitless unregarded petitions and remonstrances, and if I may be allowed the sacred illusion, our groanings which cannot be uttered, or at once indications of our sufferings and the feelings since we have of them. Let the Governor and his Chair of State hear it. We not only mourn but with groanings which cannot be uttered, and all because the wicked rule. The castle cannot shelter him from that scorching thunderbolt. Families are divided.

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• Brother is arrayed against brother. Friend against friend. Society is cut loose from its moorings, and hate and consternation reign on every side, and all because the wicked bear rule. King George may say that the evils that produce the state of things are imaginary, but I tell you, and I tell the tyrant to his face, it's because the wicked bear rule. We think we're injured. We believe we're denied some of these privileges enjoyed by our fellow subjects in Great Britain, which have not only been insured us by royal charter, but which we have a natural independent right to.

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• And it bears harder on our spirits when we recollect the deep and wrought affection we have always had for the parent state, our well-known loyalty to our sovereign, and our unremitting attachment to his illustrious house, as well as the ineffable toils, hardships, and dangers which our fathers endured, unassisted but by heaven, in planting this American wilderness and turning it into a fruitful field. But in such circumstances, we place great confidence in the wisdom and patriotism of our civil rulers.

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• Our eyes are fixed on them. And under the smiles of heaven, we expect a redress of our grievances by their instrumentality, or at least that they will not be wanting in anything in their power consistent with the duties of their station to affect it. We sincerely hope and trust the elections of this day will turn on men who shall be disposed in their proper department to restore and establish our rights. Men acquainted with the several powers vested in this honorable board and determined with persevering spirit to assert and uphold them. Men, in every view, friendly to the constitution of government in this province and resolved to maintain it undiminished and entire.

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• You will please remember, gentlemen, that in this weighty affair, you do not act merely for yourselves. You act for the whole community. Every member has an interest in this transaction. But above all, suffer me to remind you that you act for God and under His inspection, by whose providence this trust is committed to you, and that you must one day give an account to Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire for the motives of your conduct.

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• But while we are disposed to assert our rights and hold our liberties sacred, let us not decline from our former temper and despise government, but may we always be ready to esteem and support it in its truest dignity and majesty. Let us respect and honor our civil rulers as much as possible, lighten their burdens by a cheerful obedience to their laws, without which the great end of government, that is the public safety and happiness, cannot be promoted. Under the pressing, drawing weight of our public troubles and difficulties, our hearts, though perplexed, have not fainted.

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• We wait for the salvation of God. It is better to put trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. Let us go on to trust in Him till God Himself rise to save us. Let us not divide and crumble into parties on little irregularities, which, however aggravated by some, are in our circumstances almost unavoidable. But may we have that wisdom which is profitable to direct and distinguish between what has and what has not, a tendency to remove our burdens and prolong our just rights and liberties.

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• Especially, let us be on our guard against the spirit of licentiousness, which is the reproach of true liberty and has been the overthrow of free governments. By whatever titles and characters we may be distinguished in the limited governments of this world, let it bear on our hearts that we are all subjects of the divine universal government which is administered in righteousness and must shortly render an account of our conduct under it to God the judge of all. If this important consideration was duly impressed on the minds of all ranks and orders of men, it would lead us to acquire and cultivate the spirit of the gospel which is a spirit of love and benevolence, and beget a conduct which, while it ripens us through grace for immortality and glory, would be

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• greatly promotive of the present benefit of human society. And when, by the efficacious influence of the Blessed Spirit, our rational and immortal part is established in its just supremacy, when our appetites and passions are subject to its authority and our desires regular, modest, and just, shall our righteousness go forth as brightness, and our salvation as a lamp that burneth. Amen.

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• Now, that is the end of his sermon. And Roy, if you'll mark the time, but I don't want to stop there. I hope you listened well to what was said in his sermon.

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• Now his preaching was a little different from mine. Do you know why this man just simply spoke the truth and did not show you chapter and verse, chapter and verse, chapter and verse over and over? You know why he did that? Because back then everyone already knew those truths. They were not only well-rounded in Scripture, they were well-grounded in a lot of the ancient writings. They already knew Samuel Rutherford's book, Lex Rex. They already knew Vindiciae contra Tyrannos, that is a vindication of liberty against tyrants. They already knew Thomas Comber's book, A Christian View of the Civil Magistrate. And so this man then was able just simply to lay out the truth to these people.

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• May I ask you, was not I right in the introduction when I was speaking as Gad Hitchcock, when I said I fear that if these election sermons ever cease, we will degenerate into an ignorant people full of apathy and rebellion. The average American, I'm going to go further, the average Christian knows nothing of the biblical teaching on civil government. They know nothing of what government owes us or what we owe government. If you were to ask the average individual today, what does the government owe you?

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• They would say a welfare check and social security and retirement. Government doesn't even owe you any of those. Not according to the Bible. All the government owes us is justice and to protect us by punishing the wicked. We have indeed degenerated into what Gad Hitchcock was fearful of. I find it amazing as I study history that those pastors train their people so thoroughly that the people were one with their pastors, not only in understanding, but also in attitude and determination.

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• Let me just go over this little bit of information with you. Everyone in here has heard of the shot heard around the world. You remember the first shot fired at Lexington and Concord. And there are those men assembled on the Village Green to confront the English invaders. But you know what most people do not know is that Village Green was actually right in front of a church. It was a church yard. The pastor of that church was Jonas Clark. The night before, John Hancock and Sam Adams had to get out of Boston, and they fled there and spent the night with Jonas Clark. They were up late during the night, and their question to Jonas Clark was this. They knew the English were coming. But their question, Jonas Clark, was this. Will your men fight? Jonas Clark assured them that his men would fight.

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• Here's what he said, "I have taught them and trained them for this very hour." Do you know who the leader of that resistance was? Who's their pastor? Who's their pastor? When those men assembled on that green, they knew that some of them would not walk off that green. There were five killed that day. One of the strongest wrestlers in Lexington was killed. He had vowed that he would never run from a British ball or a British bayonet, and he did not.

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• And he was not only shot through, but bayoneted as well. One old gray-headed man was killed, and he fell on the church steps. Are you listening? Where he was running to get more powder for the men. Guess where the ball and powder were stored? In the church building.

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• Now do you see why Gad Hitchcock was saying, there comes a time when resistance isn't only lawful, yea, he says it is obligatory. We're obligated to defend our lives, our families, our posterity. God does indeed lay down the qualifications for rulers. He does indeed lay down the fact that He instituted civil government. But He also laid down the limitations of that government. Government is not sovereign. Government is not supreme. Only God is sovereign. Only God is supreme. All authority is limited and confined by the sovereign God of the universe.

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• I don't care if it's a husband. I don't care if it's a pastor. I don't care if it's a government. I don't care if it's a state. I don't care if it's a nation. All is limited and confined and bounded by the sovereignty of God. Picture in your mind Gad Hitchcock standing before British General Thomas Gage with hundreds of red coat soldiers surrounding the newly appointed Governor of Massachusetts. Picture that in your minds and picture Gad Hitchcock saying to the General, "The castle cannot shelter you from the coming thunderbolt. Let the governor in his chair hear it."

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• King George may say that the evils that we are experiencing in this country are imaginary, but I will tell you and I will tell the tyrant to his face it's because of the wicked bear rule. Now I want you to picture a modern day pastor at a presidential inauguration. Do you know why we're in the mess we're in in this country? Because we don't have the preachers that we had in 1774, 1775, 1776. We don't have the men who know the truth, and therefore they cannot communicate the truth. May God raise up real, genuine men.

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• Before we have prayer and dismiss, are there any questions or comment, you might have a question. Janet, I knew you would. Go ahead. Can we not assume that George was wicked towards his own subjects in England as well as to the colonists? I mean, he wasn't just in England and unjust toward the colonies, was he? Well, he was more unjust toward the colonies. What was unjust toward the colonies was this. Most people do not realize that George III was king of England, but he was also king of Georgia, king of South Carolina, king of North Carolina, king of Virginia. In other words, each of the colonies had their own royal charter, their own royal constitution. In that, George III had already agreed to certain rights and privileges. Now what is happening is George III is allowing Parliament to try to make laws that would govern the American colonies. Well, the colonies had their own legislatures. The colonies were never under Parliament in any measure, in any way whatsoever. And then for Parliament to come around and say, well, you're going to give us this stamp tax, or you're going to give us this tax or that tax, the colonies said, you're mistaken.

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• We're not giving you anything. You have no authority over us. So although Parliament did have authority in England, it had no authority in America. And what George III was doing was allowing Parliament to usurp authority on the colonies. And it was not the amount of the tax, it was the principle of the tax. Our forefathers fought over a few pennies. But they realized that if Parliament was allowed to pass laws that would affect them, it would make all of their own legislatures and all of their laws null and void. In other words, they would just simply be slaves to Parliament.

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• They would not be free, independent people. And they were not going to put up with that at all. Henry? Was there any separation of powers like there came to be in this country? Like the king, was the king over the Parliament? No, no. You see, that is why the English Revolution took place under Cromwell. See, Charles I and some of those kings claimed to rule by divine right. Okay. Also, those kings who claimed to rule by divine right, many times the parliament was nothing more and nothing less than a rubber stamp in their hand. And they called and they assembled Parliament only at their pleasure and whenever they wanted something so it would look like the nobles and the rulers were behind the king. And that was it. It was just simply a rubber stamp. After the English Civil War, when Cromwell, of course, defeated Charles I and those, then Parliament actually became something. Of course, there were periods of time even after Charles II came back on the throne, it was kind of hither and yon.

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• But now, basically speaking, the King or the Queen of England is nothing more than a figurehead. They have no real power. The Parliament is now the real power in England. Parliament had no authority at all over the colonies. That was the real bone of contention. Okay, Janet. What I was trying to ascertain, because my knowledge of history is limited, was that we can't assume that everything in England was just and they had a good government there that was only for the colonists. Right, right. No, not everything was just in England is right.

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• George III did things there. And, of course, you remember William Pitt the Elder who warned Parliament and the British throne, what they were doing was wrong and wicked and it was going to be destructive of the relationship. So there were men there who cried out against the actions as well, but they were powerless to basically stop them. Anyone else? I just wish it were possible that I could invite Gad Hitchcock here to preach. Or Jonas Clark or Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg or some of those old men who really preached. Let me tell you, I know I've told you in time past, but Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was a pastor in Dunmore County, Virginia. He's the man who said that he was going to preach a sermon that afternoon on Sunday afternoon on the duties that men owe to God and their country. And so when three o'clock came and it was time to preach, the building was packed. People were standing. People were standing outside. And he took his text from the book of Ecclesiastes chapter three.

  #57 | 45:11 to 46:48 | cleaned

• "There's a time to fight." And he preached a sermon that day, burning with patriotic fervor, and when he got through, of course, he had on that long flowing black robe that all the preachers wore back then. And when he got to the end of his message, he had already had a young boy come up to the front was sitting there with a drum. When he got to the end of his message, he reached up and he pulled off that long, flowing black robe. He jerked it off. And as he jerked it off, there he stood in full military uniform. And he said, "The time to preach has passed. The time to fight has come." And he pointed to the young boy who started drumming for recruits.

  #58 | 46:49 to 47:35 | cleaned

• And that afternoon, he recruited 300 men. And he marched off at the head of those men as their military leader and went to George Washington at Yorktown and helped him defeat Cornwallis.

  #59 | 47:35 to 47:54 | cleaned

• Now, I was a preacher. Took 300 of the men from his community and marched off to war. And defending his actions, and I don't have the quote in front of me, but here's what he said. He said, "So far from believing that I was wrong, I believe that I am right." He said, "Shall I sit still while the best blood in this country is spilling? God forbid."

  #60 | 47:57 to 48:24 | cleaned

• If America should lose, do you think that I should be safe? Heavens, no. And would you not rather fight like a man than die like a dog? Were I a bishop, even a Lutheran one, I would immediately feel it was my duty under God to do so. And brother, he let her fly. And God used him and those 300 men to help defeat General Cornwallis. What a rich history we have. And remember this, all history is God's history.

  #61 | 48:27 to 49:09 | cleaned

• And I want to tell these young people something here. Don't think that history is just dates and names and places. Let me tell you what real history is. History is nothing less than the eternal decrees of God coming to pass in time. So if you want to know something about God, you study history. Not only study the Word of God, but you study the acts of God in time, because He is the sovereign, providential ruler over everything, and He brings His eternal decrees to pass in time, and thus we know them as history. Let's pray.

  #62 | 49:10 to 49:52 | cleaned

• Father, thank You once again for Your love and Your grace to us. Lord, we do pray that You raise up men like Gad Hitchcock and Jonas Clark. Raise up men, Father, like Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, and Father, I pray that you will give us wisdom to study and to learn the truth and give us grace to apply it. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

  #63 | 49:53 to 50:20 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T16:52:54Z