The Founders on Religion: A Book of Quotations

277 Pages·2005·0.73 MB·English

by  James H. Hutson

The
on
FOUNDERS RELIGION
A Book of uotations
Q
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The
on
FOUNDERS RELIGION
A Book of uotations
Q
(cid:2)
JAMES H. HUTSON,
Editor
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2005 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12033-1 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-691-12033-1 (cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The founders on religion : a book of quotations / [compiled by]
James H. Hutson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12033-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-691-12033-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Religion—Quotations, maxims, etc. 2. Statesmen—United States—
Quotations. I. Hutson, James H.
PN6084.R3F68 2005
200—dc22
2005015974
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Palatino with Bauer Bodoni Display
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
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Preface ix
Founding Generation Members Quoted in This Volume xxi
ANote on the Texts xxv
The Quotations
Addiction 1
Afterlife 5
Age 12
America 15
American Revolution 17
Animals 19
Atheism 20
Bible: Value of 23
Bible: Accuracy of the Text 26
Bible: Exegesis of 31
Bible: Old Testament 33
Bible: Revision of 36
Calvinism 38
Catholicism 40
Catholicism: Jesuits 44
Chaplains 46
Children 48
Christianity 55
Christianity: Christian Nation 59
Church and State 60
Clergy 66
vi Contents
Communion 70
Conscience: see Liberty of Conscience 70
Consolation 70
Constitution of the United States 76
Creeds 79
Crime and Punishment 82
Death 84
Deism 86
Divorce 87
Ecumenicism 90
Education 94
Episcopalians 96
Faith 99
Fast and Thanksgiving Days 100
God 103
Grief 111
Hell 115
Indians: see Native Americans 116
Islam 116
Jesus 121
Jews 126
Law 132
Liberty of Conscience 134
Marriage 138
Millennium 140
Miracles 141
Missionary and Bible Societies 142
Morality 146
Native Americans 149
New England 154
Contents vii
Oaths 154
Patriotism 156
Paul, the Apostle 157
Persecution 158
Plato 161
The Poor 163
Prayer 163
Presbyterians 171
Proclamations: see Fast and Thanksgiving Days 172
Profanity 172
Prophecy 173
Providence 176
Quakers 183
Reason 186
Religion, Freedom of: see Liberty of Conscience 189
Religion: Propensity of Humans for 189
Religion: Social Utility of 190
Republicanism 194
Rights 196
Sabbath 198
Sin 200
Slavery 206
Trinity 215
Unitarianism 220
Universalism 221
Virgin Mary 223
War 224
Women 230
Suggestions for Further Reading 235
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Preface
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In recent years “quote books” about religion and the Found-
ing Fathers have appeared with regularity. Since they have
not been published by the mainstream press, they have es-
caped the notice of most scholars and a considerable sector
of the reading public.
The quote books have been compiled by pious citizens
with conservative religious views who are distressed by
what they see as the pernicious secularization of American
life, caused in their view by an unremitting and illegitimate
campaign to banish Christianity from all areas of the public
arena as well as from the writing and teaching of American
history. The perceived purging of Christianity from the
history of the Founding Period has seemed to the evangeli-
cal and conservative religious community to be particularly
unconscionable, because its members consider that the re-
markable success of this country’s republican experiment in
government, launched in 1776 and constitutionalized in
1787, can be attributed in large measure to the religious con-
victions of the Founders. They believe that, if these convic-
tions can be revived and restored as guiding principles in
American public life, the nation can be healed of the host of
social ills that afflict it.
What better way to prove that the Founders were
grounded in and instructed by Christian principles than by
calling the most important of them to the witness stand and
letting them testify in their own words to the importance of
Christianity in their lives? All quote book compilers employ
this strategy, invariably focusing on Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Franklin, Adams, and a handful of lesser luminar-
ies, culling statements from their writings that attest to the