INDEPENDENCE DAY
The Declaration of Independence of the American colonies from Great Britain was based upon high moral principles, invoking the Name of God in supporting its purpose. History testifies that the signers embarked upon a course that pitted the world’s newest nation against the world’s first global empire, commanding the largest military force yet assembled. If wealth and might and numbers determine the outcome of contesting nations, surely England would have prevailed. As the Founding Fathers of the New World were God-respecting men differing with a despotic monarch heading the world’s leading Christian Kingdom, it may be seen that the sovereign God honored the higher moral stand of the two, ultimately bringing victory to the smaller human force, and launching the United States of America with patriotic fervor for principles that continue to evoke heartfelt admiration to this very day.
John Hancock, seemingly true to the phonetic of his name, signed this document in largest of script, like a rooster heralding the morning sun, that King George not need spectacles to read it. Others may not have modeled Mr. Hancock’s boldness in script or character, but they were all men of unspeakable courage in things that God holds dear.
Consider their cost of patriotism:
Nine Signers died of wounds or hardships during the Revolutionary War. Five were captured or imprisoned, in some cases with brutal treatment. The wives, sons, and daughters of others were killed, jailed, mistreated, persecuted, or left penniless. One was driven from his wife’s deathbed and lost all his children. The houses of twelve Signers were burned to the ground. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Every Signer was proscribed as a traitor; every one was hunted. Most were driven into flight; most were at one time or another barred from their families or homes. Most were offered immunity, freedom, rewards, their property, or the lives and release of loved ones to break their pledged word or to take the King’s protection. Their fortunes were forfeit, but their honor was not. No Signer defected, or changed his stand, throughout the darkest hours. Their honor, like the nation, remained intact. (Fehrenbach, Greatness to Spare, 1968)
Consider also their calibre and high call to service in the nation they heroically launched:
Those whom the war did not kill or injure lived beyond the normal span. Only a very few left public life or fell into obscurity. Half of all Signers served after the Revolution as president, state governors, state legislators, United States senators or representatives. Many found their way to the state and Federal benches. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became President in turn, and little Elbridge Gerry died in a coach on his way to the Senate, as Vice President under James Monroe. (Fehrenbach, Greatness to Spare, 1968)
Founding of the United States of America truly began with the Declaration of Independence in faith to separate from ungodly tyranny, and with the cost of lives the Lord holds most precious, even his saints. The reward to honor was building of the world’s pre-eminent Christian nation upon laws harshly learned from the extraordinary power abuses of King George and a waning British Empire. Respect for the individual and rights of working men purchased by America’s Founding Fathers and their faithful, patriotic followers produced, in time, the most powerful work economy the world had ever witnessed, and ordinary citizens who marshalled more power and glory than kings of history. Truly, this nation was founded as a work of the Lord, led by a sacred priesthood, fearless instruments in His hand, and invincible on the high ground of God’s own leading.
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