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The New England Pulpit and the American Revolution: When American Pastors Preached Politics, Resisted Tyranny and Founded a Nation on the Bible
The diminishing light of civil liberty in this land is linked directly to the lack of preaching on it in today’s pulpits. Dr. Alice Baldwin’s wonderful book is a welcome antidote to this problem, should we be willing to take it.
Dr. Baldwin illustrates how the preachers of the early American era thought and practiced just the opposite as today. Mountains of research in colonial sermons, tracts, pamphlets, and other publications, reveals how the pulpits of colonial America rang constantly on all aspects of the public square: good rulers, good laws, good forms of government, and the blessings of liberty. We especially hear of those choice values of biblical order that became the battle cries of American independence.
Commenting on the classic paraphrase of “life, liberty, and property,” Baldwin proclaims,
“No one can fully understand the American Revolution and the American constitutional system without a realization of the long history and religious associations which lie behind these words; without realizing that for a hundred years before the Revolution men were taught that these rights were protected by divine, inviolable law.”
Covering the entire revolutionary era, she concludes that the central force behind it all was the pulpit’s application of the Word of God to politics and government. She says, “It must not be forgotten, in the multiplicity of authors mentioned, that the source of greatest authority and the one most commonly used was the Bible.” And she proves that “from the law of God they derived their political theories.”
It is long past time to recover the great and powerful preaching of our founding era—a time when pastors did not fear to preach politics, resist tyranny, and found their governments on the Bible. Dr. Baldwin’s nearly-forgotten book is a powerful resource toward that end. We recommend it to every pastor and every Christian in hope that they follow the example of its subject matter even more.
Dr. Baldwin illustrates how the preachers of the early American era thought and practiced just the opposite as today. Mountains of research in colonial sermons, tracts, pamphlets, and other publications, reveals how the pulpits of colonial America rang constantly on all aspects of the public square: good rulers, good laws, good forms of government, and the blessings of liberty. We especially hear of those choice values of biblical order that became the battle cries of American independence.
Commenting on the classic paraphrase of “life, liberty, and property,” Baldwin proclaims,
“No one can fully understand the American Revolution and the American constitutional system without a realization of the long history and religious associations which lie behind these words; without realizing that for a hundred years before the Revolution men were taught that these rights were protected by divine, inviolable law.”
Covering the entire revolutionary era, she concludes that the central force behind it all was the pulpit’s application of the Word of God to politics and government. She says, “It must not be forgotten, in the multiplicity of authors mentioned, that the source of greatest authority and the one most commonly used was the Bible.” And she proves that “from the law of God they derived their political theories.”
It is long past time to recover the great and powerful preaching of our founding era—a time when pastors did not fear to preach politics, resist tyranny, and found their governments on the Bible. Dr. Baldwin’s nearly-forgotten book is a powerful resource toward that end. We recommend it to every pastor and every Christian in hope that they follow the example of its subject matter even more.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1928
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80 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 31, 2016
Alice Baldwin demonstrates the power and authority the preachers of New England had upon the American colonies in the one hundred years leading up to the American Revolution. The book is meticulously researched and argued.
The book was originally published in 1928, but was seemingly forgotten, until recently republished by American Vision. Baldwin's credentials are impressive, having received a Ph.D from the University of Chicago and teaching at Duke University. The bibilography is 26 pages long. Baldwin clearly did her research.
Reading this book is a whirlwind review of what New England preachers believed and taught their congregations-all the political teaching would shock modern churchmen. It is the pastors that taught the political philosophy to their congregants which later manifested itself in the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress, and the United States Constitution.
Liberty was praised as being given by God, and those that would take it away ought to be opposed even to the point of death. It is at this point that contemporary Christians simply cannot fathom that such a thing could be a biblical idea. We've obviously fallen far in our understanding of law, liberty, and opposition to tyranny. Aren't we to submit to the governing authorities? Aren't we to be meek and use non-violence to oppose injustice?
In the conclusion, Baldwin writes, "Probably the most fundamental principle of the American constitutional system is the principle that no one is bound to obey an unconstitutional act... No single idea was more fully stressed, no principle more often repeated, through the first sixty years of the eighteenth century, than that governments must obey law and that he who resisted one in authority who was violating that law was not himself a rebel but a protector of law." p. 212
This shocks our sensibilities, and seems quixotic in its idealism. But imagine what would happen today, if the governor of your state were to refuse to obey federal laws on abortion, taxes, eminent domain, drug laws, etc.? The church would condemn such a governor as a rebel and accuse him of sedition and lawlessness. But the Bible teaches something quite different, and quite in opposition. Not only that, but our nation was founded upon the opposite perspective.
This book will awaken its readers into realizing how the church has lost its saltiness and has allowed the state to become tyrannical. This is a book that needs to be read widely--especially by pastors. Highly, highly recommended.
The book was originally published in 1928, but was seemingly forgotten, until recently republished by American Vision. Baldwin's credentials are impressive, having received a Ph.D from the University of Chicago and teaching at Duke University. The bibilography is 26 pages long. Baldwin clearly did her research.
Reading this book is a whirlwind review of what New England preachers believed and taught their congregations-all the political teaching would shock modern churchmen. It is the pastors that taught the political philosophy to their congregants which later manifested itself in the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress, and the United States Constitution.
Liberty was praised as being given by God, and those that would take it away ought to be opposed even to the point of death. It is at this point that contemporary Christians simply cannot fathom that such a thing could be a biblical idea. We've obviously fallen far in our understanding of law, liberty, and opposition to tyranny. Aren't we to submit to the governing authorities? Aren't we to be meek and use non-violence to oppose injustice?
In the conclusion, Baldwin writes, "Probably the most fundamental principle of the American constitutional system is the principle that no one is bound to obey an unconstitutional act... No single idea was more fully stressed, no principle more often repeated, through the first sixty years of the eighteenth century, than that governments must obey law and that he who resisted one in authority who was violating that law was not himself a rebel but a protector of law." p. 212
This shocks our sensibilities, and seems quixotic in its idealism. But imagine what would happen today, if the governor of your state were to refuse to obey federal laws on abortion, taxes, eminent domain, drug laws, etc.? The church would condemn such a governor as a rebel and accuse him of sedition and lawlessness. But the Bible teaches something quite different, and quite in opposition. Not only that, but our nation was founded upon the opposite perspective.
This book will awaken its readers into realizing how the church has lost its saltiness and has allowed the state to become tyrannical. This is a book that needs to be read widely--especially by pastors. Highly, highly recommended.
February 20, 2019
Where has our nation gone? Where are the pastors who will boldly speak the truth from the pulpit? Prior to the American Revolution, sermons were preached from the pulpit to exhort men to think biblically about their freedom and how that plays out in the government. Preachers called men to take up their arms and fight for their God-given rights to freedom.
July 22, 2018
Very good read. Shows how instrumental the Church was in influencing the Revolution and Founding
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews