As we celebrate 250 years of American independence, history would inform us that the true revolution did not begin with muskets, but with a profound change in belief driven by the Bible.
When we think of American Independence, we rightly think of those intrepid individuals who put their names to the Declaration. Men who said “for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” It is oft said that these men had essentially signed their own death warrants. The signers certainly sacrificed and suffered for their stand, so it is fitting that we honor them.
Yet when no less a towering figure than John Adams, a signer and our second president, commented on the origins of the American Revolution, his answer would surprise most modern Americans. Writing to Hezekiah Niles, who planned to pen a volume on the Revolution, Adams asserted that the War for Independence was not the actual Revolution. Instead, Adams argued that the “real American Revolution” had already occurred before a single shot was fired.
Adams wrote: “The Revolution was in the Minds and Hearts of the People. A Change in their Religious Sentiments of their Duties and Obligations.” He pointed to their exchange of loyalties because of the actions of Parliament. He mentions specifically how the British government exacted taxation without representation, plotted to install the Church of England as the state, tax-supported church in all the colonies, and became an abusive parent, “willing, like Lady Macbeth, to ‘dash their Brains out.’” Consequently, “it is no Wonder if their fillial Affections ceased.” Adams explained: “This produced, in 1760 and 1761, An Awakening and a Revival of American Principles and Feelings, with an Enthusiasm which went on increasing till in 1775 it burst out in open Violence, Hostility and Fury.”
Who took the lead in sounding the alarm and shaping public opinion in Massachusetts? Adams enumerated seven patriots, two of whom were Congregational pastors in Boston: Dr. Jonathan Mayhew of West Church and Dr. Samuel Cooper of Brattle Street Church. In fact, Adams particularly pointed to Dr. Mayhew’s influential printed sermon, Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to Higher Powers. Mayhew’s nearly 50-page exposition on Romans 13:1-8 explained what the Bible has to say about government, good and bad, and how we are to respond to either sort. Adams told Niles that Mayhew’s message “was read by every Body, celebrated by Friends, and abused by Enemies.”
While Mayhew was held up as an example, he was not alone. Indeed, the influence of the patriot pastors before and during the War for Independence cannot be overstated. The reason? The basic form of regular public communication for many of the colonists was a Bible-based sermon. “The New England Sermon,” writes Yale professor and historian Harry S. Stout, “had a topical range and social influence … so powerful in shaping cultural values, meanings and a sense of corporate purpose that even television pales by comparison.” Stout continues, “The average weekly churchgoer in New England (and there were far more churchgoers than church members) listened to something like 7,000 sermons in a lifetime, totaling somewhere around 15,000 hours of concentrated listening.”
When the British crown cracked down on Boston in 1774, including the blockade of their harbor, patriot pastors took to their pulpits, painting the conflict with Britain in Biblical terms, often portraying King George III as Pharaoh and the American colonies as the Israelites. The British called these pastors the “Black Robed Regiment” because they wore black clerical robes and passionately preached Biblical sermons against British tyranny. Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, from Philadelphia: “The Clergy here of every denomination … thunder and lighten every Sabbath” against the “Oppression” of King George and the Parliament. These black-robed ministers were such a menace to the British that Brigadier Gen. Hugh Percy declared: “No body of men are so extremely injurious to peace and tranquility as the clergy. They preach sedition openly from their pulpits.”
Through their preaching, these patriot pastors helped bring about what Adams described as a “change in the religious sentiments” of the people. When war came, that same Biblical conviction fueled the courage to stand against tyranny. From their pulpits, these pastors not only made the case for independence; they also strengthened the people’s resolve to secure it.
If we are to preserve our liberty 250 years later, we need that same kind of real Revolution again. We must return to the same source of the founders’ courage and confidence: the Word of God.
