Transcript

Stephen McDowell looks at the Christian faith of John Quincy Adams

>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. In the last number of podcasts, we began to look at the faith of some of the presidents of the United States. We examined George Washington, our first president, Jon Adams, our second, Thomas Jefferson iii, James Madison iv. And I'm not going to cover in the upcoming podcast every one of the, presidents, just, some of them. And so today we're going to look at our sixth president, Jon Quincy Adams. Jon Quincy Adams lived from 1767 to 1848. He was the sixth president of the United States, and he was the son of our second president, Jon Adams. Now, the great majority of his life was spent in public education, and this began when he was 14 years old. And it could begin so early because he received a biblical education from his mom and dad. And actually, next podcast, I'm, going to talk a little bit about the education of Jon Quincy Adams and the role that Abigail played. His public service began at the age of 14 when he received a congressional diplomatic appointment as secretary to the Ambassador of the Court of Catherine the Great in Russia. During his life, he served as foreign ambassador to England, France, Holland, Prussia and Russia. He was Secretary of State, a member of the United States Senate. He was President of the United States. And then after his presidency, he served 18 years as a member of the House of Representatives. And he died, in the United States Capitol on February 23, 1848. His last words were, this is the last of Earth. I am content. Now, he could be content because he faithfully discharged his duties as a public servant, and his devout Christian faith prepared him to face the eternal hereafter. You know, shortly after his death, there's a series of letters that Jon Quincy Adams had written from Russia to his son on the Bible and its teachings. A series of these letters that he wrote were printed as a little book, and they underwent many different publications and printings. They were widely distributed throughout, America, and they were received with great enthusiasm. And the book, as I said, underwent many different printings and editions. and that book, these letters, had to do with the importance of the Bible. And in next week's podcast, I'll, read some, excerpts from some of the letters, these nine letters that Adams was giving advice to his, son. And this publication is a great demonstration of the Christian faith of Jon Quincy Adams. You can probably find, copies, of that, that were printed from the mid-1800s for. Not too expensive if you want to begin to look for some of those. But I want to just look at some words and actions of Jon Quincy Adams that reflect his devout Christian faith. You know. One, for many years Jon Quincy Adams was a member of the American Bible Society and he served as one of the vice presidents. You know, our founding fathers started many Bible societies on the local, state level. A lot of these joined together, in the first quarter of the 1800s to form the American Bible Society. And a lot of our, political founding father served as in the leadership of these Bible societies, founded these Bible societies. And as I said, Jon Quincy was a member of the American Bible Society and one of the vice presidents. In 1830, he wrote a letter to that body stating in part the distribution of Bibles. If the simplest, if not the least efficacious of the means of extending the blessings of the Gospel to the remotest corners of the earth, Truth for the comforter is in the sacred volume and among the receivers of that million of copies distributed by the society. Who shall number the multitudes awakened thereby with good will to man in their hearts and with the song of the Lamb upon their lips. The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures and must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than that they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. And all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God there. That very end. He's quoting, scripture. So you see, Jon Quincy Adams certainly, approved and encouraged the propagation of the gospel. He understood the importance of the mission of the Christian faith and the role the Bible played in transmitting this truth that will change men and change society. Now Adams attended church throughout his life, including, while he was serving in government as president and Congress, because he went to many services in the Capitol and other public buildings in Washington D.C. you know, one of the first public meeting in the United States Capitol building before the Congress met there in 1800 was, were church meetings, church services. And this occurred throughout the 19th century. Adams attended church services in many places while living in Washington D.C. including various locations in the Capitol building. In his diary for, October 23, 1803, he wrote, attended public service at the Capitol, where Mr. Ratoon, an Episcopalian clergyman from Baltimore, preached a sermon. And then again in his diary entry of, October 30, 1803, he writes, religious service is usually performed on Sundays at the treasury office and at the Capitol. I went both forenoon and afternoon to the treasury in 1827, while President Adams attended a service in the House chamber in the US Capitol to listen to Harriet Livermore. she was an evangelical female minister. And he sat on the steps leading up to her feet because he could not find a free chair. I found that interesting. Here it is. The president is going to the. To the U.S. capitol building in the House chamber of the Capitol in 1827 to hear this female preacher minister, and I believe she was the first female preacher, to speak in the Capitol building. And when he got there, the room was so crowded, there wasn't a free chair. So he had to sit on the steps leading up to the stage. People said, hey, doesn't matter if you're president or not. If you want to seat, you better get here earlier. Because they were all filled. You can understand the different image view that people had of, their civil servants than we might have today, because they actually, as Jesus taught, thought they are to be our servants. That they are God's servants first, but then our servants to represent us in the seat of government. In Jon Quincy Adams diary of February 2, 1806, he recorded, several of the ladies went to pay visits. I rode with them to the Capitol for the purpose of attending church. But I found there was no preaching at the House of Representatives. And the courthouse below was so crowded that I could not get within the room. Now, when he was talking about the courthouse below, the Supreme Court met in the Capitol building, from the beginning, all the way up to 1935, when the current Supreme Court building was open. And so there's no preaching in the House chambers. So he went down to the courtroom because they had church meetings in many different rooms, during his presidency and during the 19th century. But it was so crowded, he couldn't even get in the room. It was packed for this, church, service. Obviously, these people didn't believe in the modern concept of the separation of church and state. They had no problem. Sure, let's have church meetings in public buildings, in the Capitol and everywhere else. Of course, they had been doing that in the States from the very beginning because the meeting house was also the legislative house. They often worked for the same same building. Now, Jon Quincy also records in his diary of attending a four hour Presbyterian service conducted in the War Office on January 29, 1804, and the last Sunday of his life, February 20, 1848, he attended public worship at the Capitol in the morning and at St. Jon's Church in the afternoon. So throughout his life, Jon Quincy attended church. He did it at home, he did it in traditional church buildings, he did it in Capitol buildings, and, all kinds of different public facilities, during his lifetime. Now, and as I, mentioned, another thing indicating his Christian faith was he served as vice president of the American Bible Society and he was a member of the Massachusetts Bible Society because he believe everybody needs to have access to the Bible, the most important and valuable thing. In fact, as we've discussed in past podcasts, it's the reason schools were started, teach people to be able to read the Bible. Colleges were started for one reason, to teach ministers and others to be knowledgeable of the Scriptures, because without that, you can't hope to build a free society.

John Quincy Adams said Christianity produced the public morality necessary for civil freedom

Now, in an oration delivered on July 4, 1837, he stated, is it not that in the chain of human events the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior, that it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets 600 years before? See, Jon Quincy Adams, like most all of our founding fathers, had a providential view of history. They understood God is the author of history. God has a plan and purpose for history. History has a beginning. History is going somewhere. It's marching in a logical cause and effect way where God is the ultimate cause and then what's in the heart of the man is secondary cause. It's moving in a direction fulfilling God's plan and purpose to liberate man, really what God is after. And we have talked about this in past podcasts. We write about it in various books, including America's Providential History. But Jon Quincy Adams was expressing this providential understanding that you can't understand the birth and purpose of the United States if you don't understand what God is doing. From the very beginning, God had a plan and a purpose. The Scripture speaks about it, the prophets prophesied about it. Jesus came and he was the focal point of all of history and introduced his liberty, his Messianic kingdom when he came. And that the outworking of all those events in Christian history, was a nation birthed in liberty and Christian self government, the United States of America. He saw the uniqueness of the Declaration of Independence and it was linked to what Christ had done and it was linked to God's plan for mankind. this is ah, so valuable for us to understand today that we used to teach this in our schools and colleges. For the most part we don't anymore. And this is one of the primary reasons for the secularization of America is the secularization of history. And failing to understand what Jon Quincy Adams was talking about. In this July 4th oration from 1837, Adams spoke of the Christian faith of the American people. Writing the people of the North American Union and of its constituent states 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. So he recognized the Christian foundation of America, that they embraced the law of God in their civil laws. They embraced the laws of the gospel to direct their action, their character, their morality, which of course your morality determines what civil society considers to be just and right laws that he recognized. The source of early America for their civil and moral laws came from the Bible, the laws of God and the law of Christ. Jon Quincy Adams said that Christianity produced the public morality necessary for civil freedom. Because Christianity affects the heart, he writes, human legislators can undertake only to prescribe the actions of men. They acknowledge their inability to govern and direct the sentiments of the heart. The very law styles it a rule of civil conduct, not of internal principles. It is one of the greatest marks of divine favor that the legislator gave them. Rules not only of action, but for the government of the heart. This is the unique thing about the Christian faith and why America is birthed in liberty. Because Christianity gives us guidelines of how to live. External action, that's the Ten Commandments, contains the moral principles of how society should live. But Christianity also transforms the heart. Jesus gives us a new nature, a new heart, a heart that wants to obey and do what's right. He writes his law on our heart. And both of those. Having the law written on our heart and having an external standard of how to conduct, our lives and how civil society should function is essential for freedom, for liberty. And it's essential to be empowered to want to obey those laws. And that's what only Christianity does. No other ideology, no other religion, no other thinking or faith or worldview does it. Only the Christian faith. That's why only Christianity can and have, has given birth to free societies and gave birth to the United States. Adams writes again three points of doctrine, the belief of which forms the foundation of all morality. The first is the existence of a God. The second is the immortality of the human soul. And the third is a future state of rewards and punishments. Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these articles of faith. And that man will have no conscience. He will have no other law than that of, the tiger or the shark. The law of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous or happy. So again, he's pointing out it's not just enough to have some kind of external constraint imposed upon you by force of the sword. that is not enough to build a free society. And tyrants have tried that and still try it all the time. Where, of course, those tyrants are the source, of what they consider to be moral behavior. But the Christian faith has those external constraints. But it empowers man from within. It instills Christian self government in the heart of man, so that they gladly obey. Recognizing this is good for God. It's good for me, good for mankind, good for society. Jon Quincy Adams also expressed his faith in his poetry. He wrote many things, gave many speeches, and he wrote poetry. He wrote a hymn for the celebration of the Fourth of July in 1831 in Quincy, Massachusetts. Just some of the stanzas in this poetry again reflect his Christianity. Ah, he writes, sing to the Lord a song of praise Assemble ye who love his name Let congregated millions raise triumphant glories Loud acclaim from earth's remotest regions Come, Come greet your Maker and your king with harp, with timbrel and with drum his praise Let hill and valley sing Go forth in arms Jehovah reigns their graves Let foul oppressors find Bind all their sceptred kings in chains Their peers with iron fetters bind Then to the Lord shall praise Ascend then all mankind with one accord and freedom's voice Till time shall end in pealing anthems Praise the Lord. He obviously, had read the Psalms and understood the Psalms and the Scripture. Because it certainly reminds you one of those, Psalms of David and Asaph and others. Jon Quincy Adams, said it's shameful to be ignorant of the Bible. Writing to a man of liberal education, the study of history is not only useful and important, but altogether indispensable in regard to the history contained in the Bible. It is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. In other words, he's saying, just because you have knowledge of the Bible and understand the Bible doesn't mean we ought to praise you. In fact, everybody ought to know the Bible. And if you're ignorant of it, it's true. Shameful. So he is saying that most of modern academia, are in that shameful condition because most of modern educators, whether it be in secondary schools, public schools, colleges, most of them are ignorant of the Bible. They don't know it. And that's why when historians or political philosophers read Patrick Henry's Give me liberty or Give me death speech or read Jon Locke's Second Treatise on Civil Government, they might say, ah, you know, the script. The founders, they weren't so devout men. They didn't really quote Scripture or anything else because they're ignorant. They don't know that Patrick Henry referenced at least 12 scriptures in that, that speech he gave. And that there are over a thousand references to Scripture and Locke's Second Treatise. But, but they didn't put in parentheses the source of that quote because they understood everybody knows this is Scripture because, the early Americans didn't live in that shameful situation of being ignorant of the Bible. And certainly our founding fathers didn't. George Washington and everyone else were thoroughly aware of the Scripture. Probably more so than most seminarians, today, because they studied the Scripture, they read the Scripture. They were taught thousands of hours of sermons that they listened to, in their lifetime. They are very knowledgeable of it. As Jon Quincy Adams says, is not so much praiseworthy to be acquainted with the Bible as it is shameful to be ignorant of it. This is a very important concept for us to understand today and for those who educate, anyone in America, that the most important thing to be, to understand, to be educated is in the Bible. It's the moral principles, it's the civil law, because our Western civilization's law is built upon principles of the Bible. But you can't understand literature in the Western world if you don't understand the Bible. You can't understand hundreds of idioms in the English language that came directly, from the Bible.

The laws of nature and of nature's God is found in our founding covenant

the Bible has affected everything. And most people don't know it because they're ignorant of it and ignorant of our providential history. Jon Quincy Adams said, he wrote elsewhere, he said the laws of nature and of nature's God of course presupposes the existence of a God, the moral ruler of the universe and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and of government. Now you of course have heard that phrase before. The laws of nature and of nature's God is found in our founding covenant, the Declaration of Independence. We're celebrating 250 years of our nation and it's the Declaration of the United States of America for the first time in that document which was approved on July 4th, 1776 that marked the beginning of this covenant, nation. And Jefferson in his draft of that and in the final copy appeals to the laws of nature and nature's God. Now that as anything in the Declaration were really not new ideas that Jefferson came up with, he was just stating ideas that permeated the thinking of the founders and all Americans. And so this idea of the laws of nature, nature's God, a well established meaning the laws of nature was the revelation of God in his creation and the conscience of man. The laws of nature's God was the specific revelation of God in the scriptures. And so when you speak of the laws of nature and nature's God, as Jon Quincy Adams said it presupposes the existence of a God, the moral you ruler of the universe. And a rule of right and wrong, of what is just and unjust binding upon man, all men by the way. It's not just men who agree with it. These are principles emanate from how the universe functions at the the creator of the universe, the Almighty, built into the fabric of the universe. All men are bound to uphold and obey them and when they don't, they suffer consequences. But these preceded all institutions of human society and government. Jon Quincy Adams expressed trust in Christ for the future life when he wrote my hopes of a future life are all founded upon the gospel of Christ. And I cannot cavil or quibble away the whole tenor of his conduct by which he sometimes positively asserted and at other countenances his disciples. And asserting that he was God. And so clearly Jon Quincy Adams said his future life was founded upon the gospel of Christ. he embraced Jesus's declaration and the declaration of his disciples that Christ was God. Jon Quincy Adams also said the Ten Commandments are the foundation of civil government. Writing the law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal as well as a mutual moral and religious code, laws essential to the existence of men in society, and most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of laws. So he is pointing out something here which I wish every pastor, every Christian would understand. That the law given from Sinai, I.e. the Mosaic Law summarized by the Ten Commandment, was a civil and municipal as well as a moral and religious code. So when we read the Bible, we can't just read it as a religious book given us pious platitudes of how to live. it's that, but much more. It's also a civil code, laws essential to the existence of men in society and any nation that really, he said, most of which have been enacted by every nation which ever professed any code of law. So nations in the western world as codes of law were enacted that produced liberty. They came from the Bible. There was an understanding. In past podcasts we talked some about that with Patrick's Libregs Leggy Moise book from the law of Moses or King Alfred's code of law, and on and on and on. Certainly the early civil laws in America and the American colonies came directly from the Bible. They recognized this is a code of how we live in civil society as well as a moral, personal, religious code. Jon Quincy Adams also wrote. Vain indeed would be the search among the writings of profane antiquity to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis for morality as this decalogue lays down. Of course, the decalogue is the Ten Commandments. So vain indeed would be the search among the writings of profane antiquity to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis for morality as the, the Ten Commandments. So you recognize the Ten Commandments is different, unique among any laws, any ancient laws, because there's nothing like it as far as, protecting the God given rights of man, of showing man how he ought to live, of recognizing the value of the individual and honoring God and parents and so forth.

John Quincy Adams believed in the divine nature of the holy Scriptures

Ah, now some people, you know, may bring up, well, wasn't Jon Quincy Adams associated with the Unitarian Church? And I talked about that when I talked about Jon Adams, his father, Unitarianism, and because in his later years Adams was associated with the Unitarian Church. Yet Unitarianism at this time was much different because than it is today. for one, it was firmly rooted in the Bible. Adams believed in the divine nature of the holy Scriptures and the assertion that Christ was God. And Unitarians were described in the theological dictionary of 1823 in these words in common with other Christians they confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And in one word, they believe all that the writers of the NewSong Testament, but particularly the four evangelists, have stated concerning him. In the previous quotes, that I gave from Adams. We certainly see. He believed in the divine nature of the holy Scriptures. He believed in the assertion that Christ was God. And this was in its early stages. This was typical of the Unitarians. It was only later that they cast aside basic, fundamental, Christian theology. And then later on merge with universalists. Such that today they don't really believe much of anything. Certainly they don't believe in the divine nature of the Scriptures, the divinity of Christ or other, things. And so, you know, Jon Quincy Adams professed a belief, orthodox belief in Christ, his atoning work and who God was. He displayed it in his actions. You know them by their fruits. and all that he did in his service in civil society, his service to end slavery. he believed, had a providential view of history, believed God had a unique destiny for America. and he felt that, this nation would play an important role in the advancement of liberty for all mankind. And we read that in his July 4th oration. When he talked about the importance of the purpose of America. And that you can't understand America's purpose without understanding God, what God was doing in the world. And why he sent his, son Jesus. So Adams clearly spoke of the individuality of America as it fit into God's plan for the nations. And the spread of Christianity throughout the earth in history. Now, in his. When he was inaugurated president on March 4, during, He was served two terms as president. On March 4, 1825, in his inaugural, inaugural address, Jon Quincy Adams said. And knowing that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh. But in vain. He's quoting Scripture. And knowing that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh, but in vain. With fervent supplications for his favor to his overruling providence. I commit with humble but fearless confidence. My own fate and future destinies of my country. And so Jon Quincy Adams, clearly expressed in his words and actions. A belief in the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith. He had an understanding of God's plan and purpose for man. He worked in so many different ways to advance that purpose in that area where God had called him. Now, next week you might ask, well, how did such a man like Jon Quincy Adams. How was he prepared? How was he educated? And I'm going to explore that and look at the education briefly of Jon Quincy Adams and the role that Abigail Adams played in his life in developing his character and knowledge and worldview that helped shape what he did. I'll read some excerpts from the letters that Jon Quincy wrote to his son on the Bible to further give you insight into his, his belief in the scriptures and belief in Christianity. And Jon Quincy Adams, not only did he serve two terms as president but he also after he's the only president after serving as President that went back and served in the House of Representatives. So he was elected and during that period of of many years working in the House of Representatives that he took up the cause of anti slavery, that he recognized that God wants all men to live free and that it's time that all the nation liberate slaves. A number of the states had done so already as we've discussed in past podcasts but he believed the nation at large should do that and that sparked a lot of his work during that time frame. Jon Quincy Adams, as I said, attended church in the Capitol and many public buildings in, in Washington D.C. and next week when we look at his education I'll mention some more examples of Jon Quincy Adams at church in the Capitol and how he ended his life in that very building where he served for so many years. So Jon Quincy Adams is a great example of the fruit of providing a biblical Christian education. It was his biblical Christian education imparted to him primarily by his father and his mother at a young age and then through his own studies he was taught to be self taught as our founding fathers were. They were autodidacts, they were self educated in so many ways and they were prepared to live in liberty. They were received an education for liberty. And by the way we need this today. We need Americans to receive some of the same type of education that Jon Quincy Adams and the founding fathers did. That we needed everyone to be educated to understand how to live in liberty, to have the worldview and the character of necessary to live free. And in light of that I would encourage you to take a look at our film, our new film, Educated for Liberty. It's free. You can go to educatedforliberty.com look at this film and use it and share it with everyone that you know and churches and schools and others to help encourage the transmission of being biblical Christian education and parents assuming that right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. Encourage churches to support parents in that work and to look at what does it mean? What type of education is necessary for people to live free? And if you want to learn more about the Providence foundation and take a look at some of our books and articles and other things, go to Providence. next week, as I said, we're going to look a little bit at the education of Jon Quincy Adams. What produced this very significant, productive, individual. So I hope you can join us then. So God bless you.