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Letter
from George Washington to the leaders of the Presbyterian
Church in Northern New England.
The
Massachusetts Centinel for December 5, 1789,
contains correspondence between George Washington and
the leaders of the Presbyterian Churches in Northern
New England regarding the omission of any reference
to the Christian religion in the Constitution. The Presbyterian
Church, among others, had expressed their concern over
the lack in the Constitution of any reference to God
or the Christian religion. Washington's response to
their letter did much to relieve them of these concerns.
According to Washington, the absence in the Constitition
of any mention of the Christian religion was very simple.
Because the "path of true piety is so plain," it required
little if any political direction. This direction was
best left to the ministers of the various religious
sects, as given through instruction, encouragement,
and the various ecclesiastical laws.
RJ&L
Religious Institutions Group
To
the MINISTERS and Ruling ELDERS delegated
to represent the Churches in Massachusetts and New-Hampshire,
which compose the first PRESBYTERY of the Eastward.
Gentlemen,
The
affectionate welcome, which you are pleased to give me to
the eastern parts of the Union, would leave me without excuse,
did I fail to acknowledge the sensibility which it awakens;
and to express the most sincere return, that a grateful
sense of your goodness can suggest.
To
be approved by the praise-worthy, is a wish as natural to
becoming ambition, as its consequence is flattering to our
self-love.
I
am, indeed, much indebted to the favourable sentiments,
which you entertain towards me, and it will be my study
to deserve them.
The
tribute of thanksgiving, which you offer to the gracious
FATHER OF LIGHTS, for his inspiration of our publick councils
with wisdom and firmness to complete the National Constitution,
is worthy of men, who, devoted to the pious purposes of
religion, desire their accomplishment by such means as advance
the temporal happiness of their fellow men. And, here, I
am persuaded, you will permit me to observe, that the
path of true piety is so plain, as to require but little
POLITICAL direction.
To
this consideration we ought to ascribe the absence of any
regulation respecting religion from the Magna Charta of
our country. To the guidance of the Ministers of the Gospel,
this important object is, perhaps, more properly committed.
It will be your care to instruct the ignorant, and to reclaim
the devious: And in the progress of morality and science,
to which our Government will give every furtherance, we
may confidently expect the advancement of true religion,
and the completion of our happiness.
I
pray the munificent Rewarder of virtue, that your agency
in this work, may receive its compensation here and hereafter.
G.
Washington.
Letter
from George Washington to the leaders of the Presbyterian
Church, in Massachusetts Centinel, December 5, 1789,
quoted in 1 Church and State in the United States,
at 536-37 (Anson Phelps Stokes 1950).
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