Mary Ball Washington was a devout
Christian who taught her son George the importance of prayer and the
reading of the Scriptures by the personal example of the manner in
which she lived.
Washington's public and private papers
contain more than a hundred written prayers. His personal aides may
have been the authors of a number of public prayers attributed to
him. Those prayers were explicitly Christian in nature. He would
never have signed or uttered a prayer without agreeing with the
sentiment of the document.
He often added personal prayers which
were drawn up by his aides. Washington affixed his signature to a
letter composed by Alexander Hamilton to Comte de Rochambeau on
February 26, 1781. The letter declared: “This repetition of advices
justifies a confidence in their truth” to which General Washington
adds “which I pray God may be confirmed in its greatest extent.”
General Lewis of Augusta County,
Virginia provides a reliable testimony to General Washington's
personal prayer life in a letter dated December 14th 1855.
General Lewis testifies of a conversation between General Washington
and Continental Army General Robert Porterfield which occurred
shortly before General Washington's death. Porterfield's duties as
brigade inspector resulted in frequent interaction with General
Washington. Porterfield recounted his personal experiences at Valley
Forge and the New Jersey campaign. Porterfield went to Washington's
private quarters in an emergency and found the Commander-in-chief on
his knees in prayer. After confiding with Alexander Hamilton
concerning the occasion, Hamilton replied to General Porterfield:
“such was his constant habit.”
George Washington acquired the habit
for times of personal prayer and supplication early in life.
Washington's biographer, E.C. M'Guire noted that sources were still
alive when he wrote his biography.
Colonel B. Temple was an aide to
General Washington whom M'Guire quotes concerning recollections of
events during the French and Indian Wars.
Washington would read the Bible to his
troops and lead them in prayer when a chaplain wasn't available.
Temple declared to M'Guire that:
“...on sudden and unexpected visits into his [General Washington's] marquee, he has, more than once, found him on his knees at his devotions.”
Washington frequently used Biblical
phrases having had an extensive knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures.
This is not an inconsequential fact but strong evidence of his
Christianity. General Washington had a strong tender affection for
Marquis de Lafayette whom he loved as if his actual son. The General
made seven separate references to passages from the Bible in a
personal letter to Lafayette. No aide was the author of this
correspondence.
Washington used nine Biblical allusions
when composing a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode
Island. His personal correspondence contains over 200 phrases from
the Holy Scriptures and allusions to passages found in the Bible.
Among his favorite passages of
Scripture is Micah 4:4 which he often quoted:
“But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken.”
In April 1789, Washington declared:
“The blessed Religion revealed in the Word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity.”
He spoke of the infallible Bible as the
Word of God as only a Christian would proclaim.
Deists do not believe the doctrines of
depravity of humankind, the revelation of God through the Holy
Scriptures, nor effectual personal prayer to Divinity.
At the end of the American War for
Independence, General Washington sent a “Circular to the States”
which contained a protracted list of blessings upon the fledgling
nation. The letter ends: “and above all, the pure and benign light
of Revelation.”
“Revelation,” in the era in which Washington
lived meant only one thing: The Holy Bible! Furthermore, it
specifically meant the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the New
Testament.
As
stated before, deists do not believe that the Bible is the revelation
of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, a deist would never utilize a
capital R when using the word revelation.
Critics
of George Washington's Christian faith present the matter of his
church attendance. Prior to the American War for Independence,
Washington and his family may have attended church perhaps once a
month. A round trip to and from the Anglican Pohick Church of which
Washington was a member required a three hour journey. The rural
parish church was about nine miles from his home. An available
Anglican minister would hold divine services about once a month.
George
Washington had close personal relationships with various clergymen
before, after, and throughout the American War for Independence.
Washington would correspond with and graciously open his home for
visitation to more than a hundred ministers.
Washington
was always keen to faithfully observe the sabbath and refused to
perform work except for writing personal letters to friends.
Furthermore, he gave his personal staff and servants the day off to
attend church services. Whenever he and his family did not attend
church; Washington chose to assemble the members of his family and
read a sermon aloud while leading them in devotions.
Throughout
the war, the General insisted that officers and men under his command
attend Divine services. Upon receiving command of the Continental
Army, Washington issued his first General Order on July 4, 1775.
“The General most earnestly requires, and expects, a due observance of those articles of war, established for the Government of the army, which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness [the first of a number of orders he would issue concerning these vices]; and in like manner requires and expects , of all officers, and soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine Service, to implore the blessings of heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense.”
Washington
made the effort to attend church himself but was not always able to
do so when no service was in camp. Biographer E. C. M'Guire declared
that:
“one of his secretaries, Judge Harrison, has often been heard to say, that 'whenever the General could be spared from camp, on the Sabbath, he never failed riding out to some neighboring church, to join those who were publicly worshiping the Creator.'”
Throughout
his presidency, George Washington was accompanied by his wife Martha
who worshiped with him on Sunday mornings. President Washington's
secretary, Tobias Lear declared:
“While President, Washington followed an invariable routine on Sundays. The day was passed very quietly, no company being invited to the house. After breakfast, the President read aloud a chapter from the Bible, then the whole family attended church together.”
Lear
recounts what happened after returning from church. In the afternoon
Washington was inclined to write his personal correspondence:
“...while Mrs. Washington frequently went to church again, often taking the children with her. In the evening, Washington read aloud to the family some sermon or extracts from a book of religious nature and everyone went to bed at an early hour.”
There
was a year in which the Washington's did not attend Divine Services
after the President retired to Mount Vernon. Apparently, the
Washington's switched their attendance to Christ Church in Alexandria
which began having weekly worship services. George Washington's
adopted daughter Nelly Custis testified:
“He [Washington] attended the church at Alexandria when the weather and roads permitted a ride of ten miles. In New York and Philadelphia [when he was President] he never omitted attendance at church in the morning, unless detained by indisposition...No one in church attended to the service with more reverential respect. My grandmother, who was eminently pious, never deviated from her early habits. She always knelt. The General, as was then the custom, stood during the devotional parts of the service.”
The
controversy concerning Washington's Christian beliefs arouse after
his death. Accusations were made that he never partook of the Lord's
Supper.
It was
the custom in colonial Virginia to offer the Holy Sacrament of
Communion only at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide (Pentecost
Sunday). It was not uncommon for many Anglicans to receive communion
only once a year.
Furthermore,
Bishop William Meade explained:
“...there was a mistaken notion, too prevalent both in England and America, that it was not so necessary in the professors religion to communicate [receive communion] at all times, but that in this respect persons might be regulated by their feelings...Into this error of opinion and practice General Washington may have fallen.”
Nellie
Custis granddaughter of Washington wrote of her childhood at Mount
Vernon.
“On Communion Sundays he [Washington] left the church with me, after the blessing, and returned home, and we sent the carriage back for my grandmother [Martha].”
Throughout the Colonial era,
Communion services were as long as the worship service which
Washington attended. It was not unusual for two thirds of a
congregation to leave an Anglican church before the Communion Service
commenced.
In a
letter dated December 14, 1855, General S. H. Lewis of Augusta
County, Virginia quoted General Porterfield declaring:
“...he had known General Washington personally for many years ...I saw him myself on his knees receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.”
Dr.
James Richards followed Reverend Timothy Johnes as pastor when
General Washington was in Morristown, New Jersey during the winter
encampment of 1778-79. Dr. Richards recounts:
“...the report that Washington did actually receive the Communion from the hands of Dr. Johnes was universally current during that period, and so far as I know, never contradicted. I have often heard it from the members of Dr. Johnes family, while they added that a note was addressed by Washington to their father, requesting the privilege.”
Consequently, Washington was a communicant in the Presbyterian Church
while the Continental Army was encamped in Morristown.
Reverend
Alexander Hamilton, great-grandson of General Washington's aide tells
of events which occurred during the Hamilton family reunion. Reverend
Hamilton wrote of the reunion which occurred in New York City in
1854. Continental Army General Phillip Schyler's daughter was
Alexander Hamilton's ninety-six year old widow. Mrs. Hamilton made it
a special endeavor to accompany her seven year old great-grandson to
visit St. Paul's Church in New York City. She has something special
to tell the child and other members of her family. She wanted the boy
to remember her recollections concerning her experience while
receiving Holy Communion in 1789. After arriving at St. Paul's she
told the boy that she had been present in the church on the
inauguration day of the first president of the United States. She was
present in St. Paul's when President Washington received communion.
She clearly impressed upon the child's mind that she personally
witnessed President Washington receive Holy Communion so that he
would be able to tell others.
Reverend
Alexander Hamilton remembered her own words:
“If anyone ever tells you that George Washington was not a communicant of the Church, you say that your great grandmother told you to say that she had knelt at this chancel rail at his side and received with him Holy Communion.”
There
are at least 270 recorded times when George Washington used the word
Providence. He
utilized the term Providence referring
indirectly to Almighty God. It is perfectly clear from his
correspondence and records that Washington did not speak of a vague
ethereal impersonal deity. His personal world view concerning deity
was consistent with the God of the Bible. The Deity which George
Washington worshiped intervened personally on behalf of the soldiers
of the Continental Army and the American cause of independence. He
viewed God as the God of ancient Israel as recorded in the Old
Testament.
Washington
wrote to a Hebrew congregation of Savannah, Georgia:
“May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land – whose Providential Agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent Nation – still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”
On
October 19, 1777, Washington wrote a letter to Major-General Israel
Putnam soon after the victory of Saratoga:
“Should Providence be pleased to crown our arms in the course of the campaign with one more fortunate stroke...I trust all will be well in His good time.”
Mary
Thompson is a research specialist at Mount Vernon. Peter Lillback
quotes Mary Thompson in his book Sacred Fire
concerning George Washington's spirituality.
“I would think that God and Providence are synonymous in Washington's mind. When you look at a number of the letters, it becomes obvious that he feels Providence...is involved in what happens in the world...When I found [in researching Washington's religious beliefs] ...was that this was a man who believed that God took an active interest in people's lives...and that's not the belief of a Deist.”
George
Washington's practice and religious views were influenced by the
Anglican culture of colonial Virginia. It is crystal clear that
George Washington was a devout believer in Orthodox Christianity.
This essay is edited and condensed from Peter Marshall's book The Light and the Glory, Appendix Two "The Christian Faith of George Washington"
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