Lost Episode for January 23

Watchman On The Wall

In a letter to fellow Founding Father John Adams on January 23, 1807, Benjamin Rush wrote:

“By renouncing the Bible, philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral subjects. Our Saviour in speaking of it calls it the “Truth” in the abstract. It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. It contains a faithful representation of all its follies, vices, and crimes. All systems of religion, morals, and government not founded upon it must perish, and how consoling the thought – it will not only survive the wreck of these systems but the world itself. ‘The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.’ [Matthew 16:18]*

Founder Benjamin Rush’s belief that the Bible is an essential foundation for enduring government is a lost episode in American history.

*Source Citation: L.H. Butterfield, ed., Letters of Benjamin Rush, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1951), 2:936. Bracketed item added.