Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Portray John Jay

PORTRAY JOHN JAY

Have you ever given serious consideration to the Christian worldview of the Founding Fathers? How about hearing it from the nation's first Chief Justice John Jay? Did they teach you in high school that he was asked by the New York Convention to address the state of New York during the trying times of December 1776 and in that address mentioned God and having faith in God 33 times? Did they teach you in college about Mr. Jay being President of the American Bible Society? Did you learn in graduate school that there was a four hour communion service to start the Supreme Court in New York City? Have you ever heard in your church that Jay, Washington, Adams, the Senate and the House of Representatives under the Constitution met at St. Paul's Chapel on April 30, 1789 to dedicate the country's new government to God?


Phil Webster has dug deeply into the primary sources of the Founding Fathers to find out where they stood. He has heard what many have heard in classrooms, books, magazines, church sermons, news stories, etc. that all the Founders were Deists and that there was no place for God in the public square. Phil Webster has taken the time to read 25 volumes of Letters of the Delegates of Congress 1774-1789 and 34 volumes of Journals of Continental Congress. Phil's research does not come from just shooting off the hip. John Jay is just the man to present the Christian worldview of the Founders. Phil graduated from Asbury College where there were chapel services three times a week. Most students in our current society have not had that opportunity. That background helps Phil relate to the Founders attending morning and evening prayers while attending college. That background helped the Founders stay married (in the huge majority of cases). Those chapel services helped the Founding Fathers and Phil be a better husband and father. Phil also attended a believing seminary (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School). It is hard to fathom that people can attend and graduate from seminary but not believe in the Bible nor be a follower of Jesus Christ. Phil, like John Jay, believes in God's Word to be true and follows Jesus Christ.


Maryland and Delaware Troops Sacrificing Their Lives for the Continental Army August 27, 1776

Maryland and Delaware Troops Sacrificing Their Lives for the Continental Army August 27, 1776


On this day August 27, 1776 Continental Army soldiers from Delaware and Maryland lost over 500 men combined in an effort to let the Continental Army live to fight another day. The combined British Forces with Hessian mercenaries totalled about 30,000. The American side totalled between 15,000 to 20,000. Not only was the American side outnumbered, the British had control of the waterways around Long Island.


It is hard to visualize a battle happening at Brooklyn but it happened. Three very good resources are:
1. David McCullough's 1776 Illustrated Version.
2. The Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island, 1776 by Linda Davis Reno
3. The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776 by John J. Gallagher

General Washington saw the Marylanders charge the British forces six times and said: "Good God, what brave fellows we have lost this day!" Most Marylander do not know that this even happened and further do not know that Washington gave Maryland the unique priviledge of flying their flag at the same height as the United States' flag because of this.