Categories: Articles

Science and the Glory of God

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
(Psalm 19:1)

science-and-the-glory-of-god-1Several WallBuilders speakers just returned from engagements in Alaska, where they witnessed the incomprehensible wonder of the Northern Lights, the breathtaking beauty of the majestic mountain ranges, and the creative uniqueness of its wildlife. Throughout American history, those who believed Psalms 19 and explored God’s marvelous creation have had great impact on our science.

science-and-the-glory-of-god-2For example, U.S. Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury1 became known as “Father of Oceanography”2 and  “Pathfinder of the Seas”3 because of what he discovered from reading Psalm 8 and Ecclesiastes 1. When criticized for his reliance on the Bible, Maury responded:

I have been blamed by men of science, both in this country and in England, for quoting the Bible in confirmation of the doctrines of physical geography. The Bible, they say, was not written for scientific purposes and is therefore of no authority in matters of science. I beg pardon! The Bible is authority for everything it touches. . . . The Bible is true, and science is true. . . . They are both true; and when your men of science, with vain and hasty conceit, announce the discovery of disagreement between them, rely upon it: the fault is not with the Witness or His records [that is, God], but with the “worm” [sinful human] who essays [attempts] to interpret evidence which he does not understand.4

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Thomas Jefferson, a diligent student of history, observed that:

The Christian religion…is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind. 5

In fact, Jefferson said that  “Bacon, Newton and Locke . . . [are] my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced.” 6 While Locke was a Christian philosopher, both Bacon and Newton were Christian scientists. Notice the philosophy of these two.

science-and-the-glory-of-god-4Francis Bacon, known as the “Father of Modern Science,” 7 developed the process of inductive thinking and created the scientific method. He also penned several books on religion, such as On the Unity in Religion (1612), On Atheism (1612), and Of Praise (1612), as well as a translation of Biblical psalms (1625).

science-and-the-glory-of-god-5 Sir Isaac Newton as an English mathematician and scientist credited with birthing modern calculus and discovering the laws of universal gravitation. But he actually wrote more on theology than he did on science!

There are many other examples, making clear that science as we know it today would not exist had it not been for those who used the Bible to lay the foundations of modern science.

(For more information on the Bible and Science, see the commentary for Daniel 1 in The Founders’ Bible).

Endnotes

1 For information about Matthew Fontaine Maury, see: Captain Miles P. DuVal, Jr., “Matthew Fontaine Maury,” Naval History and Heritage Command, December 11, 2015; Diane Fontaine Maury Corbin, A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, 1888).
2 Howard J. Cohen, “Tributes to M. F. Maury, Pathfinder of the Seas,” Matthew Fontaine Maury (National Imagery and Mapping Agency, 2003), 4.
3 Charles Lee Lewis, Matthew Fontaine Maury: The Pathfinder of the Seas (Annapolis: The United States Naval Institute, 1927).
4 Corbin, Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury (1888), 178, “Maury’s Address at the Laying of the Corner-stone of the University of the South, on the Sewanee Mountains in East Tennessee, was delivered at the request of Bishop Otey on Nov. 30th, 1860.” See also Stephen McDowell, Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas (Charlottesville, VA: Providence Biblical Worldview University, 2011).
5 Thomas Jefferson to Moses Robinson, March 23, 1801, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, ed. Thomas Jefferson Randolph (Charlottesville: F. Carr and Co., 1829), III:463.
6 Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, January 16, 1811, The Works of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Paul Leicester Ford (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905), XI:168.
4 The Works of Francis Bacon, ed. James Spedding (London: Longmans & Co., 1870), III:509, “Preface to the De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium”; John Timbs, Stories of Inventors and Discoverers in Science and the Useful Arts (London: Kent and Co., 1860), 91, “Lord Bacon’s ‘New Philosophy”; David C. Innes, “The Novelty and Genius of Francis Bacon,” Piety and Humanity, February 11, 2010.

It Happened in March

There are two specific March “firsts” from American history that center on presidential appointments.
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On March 22, 1790, Thomas Jefferson began serving as America’s first Secretary of State under the Constitution. This appointment had been made by President George Washington and approved by the U. S. Senate in September of 1789.1 As the Secretary of State, Jefferson’s primary job to be “the president’s chief foreign affairs adviser.”2 He also took on other major responsibilities as well — such as laying out the grounds for the brand new federal capital that was to be build in Washington, DC.
it-happened-in-march-2On March 18, 1877, Frederick Douglass became the first African American confirmed by the U. S. Senate to serve in a presidential appointment.3 He had been selected by President Rutherford B. Hayes to be the Marshal of Washington, D.C  — a position established to “support the federal courts.”4 His responsibilities included serving “the subpoenas, summonses, writs, warrants and other process issued by the courts, [making] all the arrests and [handling] all the prisoners.”5 Prior to this appointment, Douglass had held various positions under previous presidents, but none had required Senate confirmation. In all, Douglass served under four Republican presidents.6

Endnotes

1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, “The Early Republic, 1784-1789,” Library of Congress, accessed on March 18, 2015; “Former Secretaries of State,” U.S. Department of State (accessed on March 18, 2015); Office of the Historian, “A Short History of the Department of State,” U.S. Department of State, accessed on March 18, 2015.
2 “Duties of the Secretary of State,” U.S. Department of State, January 20, 2009.
3 “Frederick Douglass,” White House Historical Association, accessed on March 18, 2015.
4 “History – Broad Range of Authority,” U.S. Marshals Service, accessed on March 18, 2015.
5 “History – Broad Range of Authority,” U.S. Marshals Service, accessed on March 18, 2015.
6 “People: Frederick Douglass,” National Park Service, accessed on March 18, 2015.

Women Who Shaped History

This month is Women’s History month — an excellent time to remember and celebrate some historically important women.

Abigail Adams

women-who-shaped-history-1Though her poor health kept her from receiving a formal education, Abigail rose above this, teaching herself to master several areas of study, including even learning a foreign language. She was the close confidant of her husband John Adams, who trusted her counsel and relied on her for sound military intelligence information as well as political guidance. She was an excellent business woman, a faithful wife, and a devoted mother. The first woman to live in the White House, she was the wife of one U. S. President and the mother of another. She was also a strong and outspoken Christian, leaving behind a rich legacy in her extensive personal writings.1

Florence Nightingale

women-who-shaped-history-2Born into a wealthy English family, Florence Nightingale went against society’s expectations to fulfill God’s divine call of service on her life2.  Famous for her nursing work on the battlefield, she left a legacy transforming the health standards not only in England but elsewhere. In fact, the President of the United States consulted her for advice during the Civil War. Author of 17 books and numerous articles, she worked relentlessly to better the hospital industry and health care, and to train nurses to care for the sick.3

Susanna Wesley

women-who-shaped-history-3“The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”  From her post as the mother of a busy household in the Epworth rectory, Susanna Wesley trained up a generation that would change the world.  She provided the well-regulated primary education for her 10 children that lived past infancy.4  Two of these children, John and Charles, would become influential even across the Atlantic, helping found the Methodist movement in America. She is known as the Mother of Methodism.

Endnotes

1 See for example Letters of Abigail Adams, the Wife of John Adams with an Introductory Memoir by her Grandson Charles Francis Adams, ed. Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Wilkins, Carter, and Company, 1848); Charles Francis Adams, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1876).
2 Louise Selanders. “Florence Nightingale,” Encyclopedia Britannica Online, accessed March 11, 2021.
3 “The Faith Behind the Famous: Florence Nightingale: Christian History Sampler,” Christianity Today, January 1, 1990.
4 Abel Stevens, The Women of Methodism (New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866), 13, 24-28.

*Originally published March 2016.

Religious Freedom Sunday

religious-freedom-sunday-1January 16, 1786, was the day that the Virginia Assembly adopted the Act for Establishing Religious Freedom, finally ending the official state-established church in Virginia. It provided that (1) all individuals would be free from any punishment for not conforming to state-established religious mandates, and (2) one’s religious affiliation would no longer affect the civil privileges he could enjoy 1. In short, in Virginia it legally secured religious toleration and protection for the right of religious conscience.

The Virginia Act, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777, originally failed to pass when brought before the State Assembly in religious-freedom-sunday-21779 2. James Madison later reintroduced the measure, and it was finally enacted in 1786. Jefferson considered it one of his three greatest achievements, ranking it along with penning the Declaration of Independence and establishing the University of Virginia.

This act was reflective of the attitude that had developed across much of America toward securing full religious liberty for all — an attitude later embodied in the federal Bill of Rights’ 1st Amendment to the Constitution.

Each year, in commemoration of religious freedom (one of the most important of our freedoms), the President proclaims January 16th to be Religious Freedom Day 3. Religious Freedom Sunday is commemorated the Sunday before Religious Freedom Day, and this year, Religious Freedom Sunday falls on January 11th.

Gateways to Better Education have teamed up to provide ways for Christians and churches to celebrate this important day and to participate in encouraging the free exercise of religion. But don’t stop with just celebrating Religious Freedom Day at your church, make sure the schools in your area also recognize this special holiday. (Gateways to Better Education has a guidebook to help you enlighten those in the education system about this important day.)

Happy Religious Freedom Sunday!

Endnotes

1 https://www.virginiamemory.com/docs/ReligiousFree.pdf
2 https://www.virginiamemory.com/online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/religious_freedom
3 https://religiousfreedomday.com/. See, for example, proclamations by George H.W. Bush in 1992 (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/268664); William Clinton in 1996 (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/222064); George W. Bush in 2003 (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/212361); and Barack Obama in 2011 (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/289040).

Religious Freedom Day

Protect the Right of Conscience

religious-freedom-day-1Religious Freedom Day is celebrated in America each year on January 16 — the date of the 1786 passage of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. That Virginia statute, like similar ones passed in other states, was designed to give broad protections to religious freedoms, which were subsequently enshrined at the federal level in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

The Founders viewed the First Amendment and the state measures as fully securing the inalienable rights of conscience — the right to hold specific religious beliefs and then act on and behave in accordance with those beliefs. Of all religious rights, they viewed the protection of religious conscience as the most important.

For example, Thomas Jefferson said:

religious-freedom-day-2No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.

And:

[O]ur rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God.

James Madison similarly declared:

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Government is instituted to protect property of every sort . . . Conscience is the most sacred of all property.

Sadly, in the 20th century, the rights of conscience were reduced primarily to the right of religious expression — a significant narrowing of original intent. Thus, protection was accorded to certain religious actions but no longer the motivations behind them. The U. S. Supreme Court established what it called the “Lemon Test” which protected religious expressions as long as there was no religious motivations behind them — that is, religious expressions were permitted only if they served a secular purpose and motivation. Thus the rights of conscience became largely irrelevant.

But in the 21st century, the First Amendment was narrowed even further so that the rights of religious conscience are no longer protected. Thus, if your religious conscience says that you cannot participate in a homosexual wedding, or in the funding and promotion of abortions, or if you hold religious beliefs saying that there is a difference in genders, you can be prosecuted.

So on Religious Freedom Day, let’s remember that the foundation of all of our religious liberties is the right of religious conscience. Let’s vigorously defend this right to those around us so that they, too, can recognize and protect the full scope of our religious freedoms.

* This article concerns a historical issue and may not have updated information.

Who Was Charles Carroll? Take the Quiz!

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Who in the world is Charles Carroll? Sadly, few Americans today know the answer to this question. Test your knowledge of this famous Founding Father by taking the following quiz!

  1. True or False: Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.
  2. True or False: He was present for the vote on the Declaration of Independence.
  3. True or False: He was involved with a bill for the abolition of slavery in Maryland.
  4. True or False: He helped create a major railroad company in America.
  5. How many children did Carroll have?
  6. Charles Carroll was the only signer of the Declaration to be a member of what religious group?

Charles Carroll was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, helped draft the 1776 original constitution of Maryland, and was an original United States Senator where he helped frame the Bill of Rights.

At WallBuilders, we have a vast collection of historical documents, including several handwritten letters from Charles Carroll. In an interesting one from 1825 to Charles Wharton (an Episcopal clergyman), Carroll makes a very clear statement about his personal faith, declaring:

Too much of my time & attention have been misapplied on matters to which an impartial Judge, penetrating the secrets of hearts, before whom I shall soon appear, will ascribe merit deserving recompense. On the mercy of my redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts [Ephesians 2:8-9].

 

How did you do? Check your answers below!

 

  1. True: Charles Carroll died on November 14, 1832.
  2. False: The actual vote for the Declaration of Independence took place on July 4, 1776, but Carroll was not present for the vote.
  3. True: In December 1789, Charles Carroll was on the committee in the Maryland state senate who were instructed to confer on a bill for the “gradual abolition of slavery.” Carroll reported on behalf of the committee in favor of discussing this bill, but his recommendation was ignored and the bill did not pass.
  4. True: Charles Carroll helped establish the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company in 1828.
  5. Seven
  6. Catholic

*Originally Posted: January 2, 2017

Inspiring America: Nathan Hale

inspiring-america-nathan-hale-2The year 1776 is well known in American history. Obviously, it is directly associated with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but it is also the year Nathan Hale gave his life for America. [1] A simple schoolteacher, he wanted to serve his country. [2] Military intelligence about the British was badly needed, which meant doing undercover work as a spy. [3] He volunteered for this assignment. His friends warned him that he would fail, for he did not know how to lie — often a requisite trait for a good spy. [4]

He seemed to be succeeding in his mission and was returning to the American Army, when one of his relatives turned him in to the British, who captured him on September 21, 1776.  [5] The British executed him the following day, denying his last request for a Bible to comfort him. His last words before he was hung were, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” [6]

inspiring-america-nathan-hale-3These words have inspired generations of Americans, and were regularly taught to school students. But in recent years, Nathan Hale and heroes like him have largely disappeared from American public education as well as many history books. We need to reintroduce American students (and even adults) to our forgotten heroes and thus ignite the patriotic spirit in younger generations. As children across the nation have now returned to school, help inspire a child that you know with the amazing legacy left us by those who have come before.

One way to do this is through uplifting books designed for youth. For example, Patriots, Redcoats, & Spies is an historical novel tracing the efforts of two teenage boys fighting for the American cause by carrying out a secret mission as spies. Just like Nathan Hale, these fourteen year old boys also fight hardships and discovery at every turn. Find out what happens to them in Patriots, Redcoats, & Spies!

We also have some two dozen biographies designed for young Americans in our Biographies series. Give your child — or children you know, or even yourself — a chance to learn about some of the greats in American history, including Abigail Adams, the Wright Brothers, George Washington Carver, and so many others. Get inspired with accounts of the heroes who made America great.

[1] Dictionary of American History, James Truslow Adams, editor (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940), Vol. III, p. 5.

[2] I. W. Stuart, Life of Captain Nathan Hale, The Martyr-Spy of the American Revolution (Hartford: F.A. Brown, 1856), pp. 28-44.

[3] Benson J. Lossing. Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Six, or the War of Independence; A History of the Anglo-American, From the Period of the Union of the Colonies Against the French, to the Inauguration of Washington, the First President of the United States of America (New York: Edward Walker, 1847), p. 206 note.

[4] Mrs. Maria Campbell, Revolutionary Services and Civil Life of General William Hull (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1848) p. 35. See also, Benson J. Lossing, The Two Spies: Nathan Hale and John Andre, (New York: De. Applerton and Company, 1886), p. 14.

[5] Dictionary of American History, James Truslow Adams, editor (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940),  Vol. III, p. 5. See also, I.W. Stuart, Life of Captain Nathan Hale, the martyr-spy of the American revolution (Hartford : F. A. Brown; 1856), p. 110; and George Dudley Seymour, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale, Comprising All Available Official and Private Documents Bearing on the Life of the Patriot (New-Haven: Privately Printed for the Author, The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1941), p. 158, “Colonel Greene’s Picture of Nathan Hale as a School-Teacher: Testimony of Samuel Green respecting Nathan Hale given to me [Isaac W. Stuart]; and by me taken in the historical hall January, 1847.”

[6] Dictionary of American History, James Truslow Adams, editor (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940), Vol. III, p. 5, see also George Dudley Seymour, Documentary Life of Nathan Hale, Comprising All Available Official and Private Documents Bearing on the Life of the Patriot (New-Haven: Privately Printed for the Author, The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1941), p. 310.

John Dickinson

Delegate from Pennsylvania and Delaware
Signer of the Constitution

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Even though John Dickinson served in the Congress that approved the Declaration, and Dickinson and James Wilson were both painted in Trumbull’s “The Declaration of Independence,” of the two, only Wilson signed the document. Dickinson refused to sign because he thought the act might be a bit hasty. Nevertheless, his contributions to the nation were significant. For example:

Dickinson originally represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, and when he resigned his military position in Pennsylvania, he moved to Delaware, where he served that state in the Continental Congress. He also became President, or Governor, of Delaware and then held that same position in Pennsylvania. As President of Pennsylvania, he issued a proclamation asking the people to observe the Lord’s Day and remain steadfast in their worship of God.

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After the Revolution, Dickinson became chairman of the Annapolis Convention, which was the precursor to the Constitutional Convention. When the Constitution was later written, he became a signer and then wrote letters under the pen name Fabius to advocate its passage. He died in Delaware in 1808, having been a significant influence on the formation of the United States and its government.

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The Courts and Religion: Are they Inimical?

James Wilson
Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Constitution
Original Justice of the United States Supreme Court

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James Wilson had a great influence during the American Founding but has been called “the lost Founder” because of his relative modern obscurity.

He was born to a poor family in Scotland 273 years ago today (on September 14, 1742), but managed to attend universities in Glasgow, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh. [1] At the age of 21, he immigrated to America and soon began tutoring at Philadelphia College. He studied law under John Dickinson, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence. [2] [John Dickinson was actually a signer of the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence. For additional information, please see our correction update.]

In 1768, he wrote a pamphlet arguing for American independence but it considered too radical for the times. When public opinion later shifted, it was finally published. Thomas Jefferson copied portions of it for his own use, and it is conceivable that parts of Wilson’s essay even influenced the language of the Declaration. Compare the similarity of Wilson’s writing with the wording of the Declaration:

“All men are by nature equal and free. No one has a right to any authority over another without his consent. All lawful government is founded on the consent of those who are subject to it. Such consent was given with a view to ensure and to increase the happiness of the governed above what they could enjoy in an independent and unconnected state of nature. The consequence is that the happiness of the society is the first law of every government.”  ~ James Wilson“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, …” ~Declaration of Independence

the-courts-and-religion-are-they-inimical-2Wilson served as a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, where he voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. He later was a member of the Constitutional Convention, where he signed the Constitution. [3]

Under the new federal government, President George Washington appointed Wilson as an original justice on the U. S. Supreme Court, where he served for 9 years until his death on August 28, 1798. He was buried at Christ Church in Philadelphia. [4]

Over recent years, the federal courts have become particularly unfriendly to Christianity and religious faith, but it was not that way under Justice Wilson. In fact, Wilson started America’s first organized legal training while he served on the Court, and he told students:

Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed these two sciences run into each other. . . . All [laws], however, may be arranged in two different classes. 1) Divine. 2) Human. . . . But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God. . . . Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine. [5]

Endnotes

1 Nicholas Pederson, “The Lost Founder: James Wilson in American Memory,”  Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, 22:2:3, (May 8, 2013); Robert K. Wright, Jr. and Morris J. MacGregor, Jr., “James Wilson: Pennsylvania,” Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution (Center of Military History, Washington, D.C., 1987).
2 “James Wilson,” Signers of the Declaration of Independence (2014).
3 “James Wilson, Pennsylvania,” Charters of Freedom: America’s Founding Fathers (accessed September 8, 2015).
4 L. Carroll Judson, A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (Philadelphia : J. Dobson, and Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1839), 130-131; “James Wilson, Pennsylvania,” Charters of Freedom: America’s Founding Fathers (accessed September 8, 2015).
5 James Wilson, The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), I:106 & 103-105.

Wright Type A Airplane Orville Wright

Flying High

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Henry Arnold at the controls of an aircraft in the Wright Flying School

In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed August 19th — the birthday of flight pioneer Orville Wright — as National Aviation Day.

Orville and his brother Wilbur were the pioneers of powered, controlled flight, and instituted the practice of training pilots before allowing them to fly. The Wright’s flight school was originally located in a field outside of Montgomery, Alabama (now Maxwell AFB), before relocating to a field outside of Dayton, Ohio.

Among the 119 flight students they trained was Lieutenant Henry “Hap” Arnold, who would later become the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and the only person to hold the rank of five-star General in two military branches.

Few today know that the Wright Brothers were raised in a devoutly Christian family and were themselves devout and pious. Learn about the remarkable faith and accomplishments of this duo.

Did you know?
WallBuilders Library has a collection of artifacts from American history.Here are just a few of the WWII aviation related artifacts from our library:flying-high
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