(February 5, 1723\u2013November 15, 1794), was an American Revolutionary patriot and clergyman. Born in Scotland, being a descendant of John Knox on his mother\u2019s side, John Witherspoon\u2019s influence as an educator was widely felt in America. He signed the Declaration of Independence and was a member of the Continental Congress. He was a primary proponent of separation of powers insisting on inclusions to check and balance the power of government. He served on over 120 Congressional committees, including: the Board of War, the Committee on Secret Correspondence, or Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Clothing for the Army.<\/p>\n
As president of Princeton University, 1768\u201394, he graduated 478 students who directly shaped America, including: James Madison, who served eight years as Secretary of State and eight years as U.S. President; Aaron Burr, Jr., who was a U.S. Vice-President; 3 U.S. Supreme Court justices; 10 Cabinet members; 13 state governors; 21 U.S. Senators; 39 U.S. Representatives; and 114 ministers.606 Through his students, John Witherspoon\u2019s views were reflected in our Constitution, as 9 (one-sixth) of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention were graduates of Princeton University: Gunning Bedford Jr. of Delaware; David Brearley of New Jersey; William Richardson Davie of North Carolina; Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey; William Churchill Houston of New Jersey; James Madison of Virginia; Alexander Martin of North Carolina; Luther Martin of Maryland; and William Paterson of New Jersey.607<\/p>\n
On May 17, 1776, the same day the Continental Congress declared a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, Reverend John Witherspoon delivered a sermon at Princeton University entitled \u201cThe Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men,\u201d in which he stated:<\/p>\n
While we give praise to God, the Supreme Disposer of all events, for His interposition on our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of, an arm of flesh. \u2026 <\/p>\n
If your cause is just, if your principles are pure, and if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts.<\/p>\n
What follows from this? That he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and undefiled religion, and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. <\/p>\n
Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country.608<\/p>\n
It is in the man of piety and inward principle, that we may expect to find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen, and the invincible soldier.\u2014God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one, may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.609<\/p>\n
John Witherspoon championed against \u201ctyranny of conscience,\u201d citing:<\/p>\n
There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. \u2026 If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage. \u2026 [Governments are to] defend and secure rights of conscience in the most equal and impartial manner. \u2026 610<\/p>\n
John Witherspoon continually crusaded for freedom, not only by circulating a letter urging ministers to support independence,611 but also by publishing a sermon beseeching Scotsmen to insist on their \u201cancient rights\u201d against Britain, entitled:<\/p>\n
\u201cAddress to the Natives of Scotland residing in America.\u201d612<\/p>\n
In his \u201cPastoral Letter,\u201d he explained:<\/p>\n
Universal profligacy makes a nation ripe for divine judgements and is the natural means of bringing them to ruin; reformation of manners is of the utmost necessity in our present distress.613<\/p>\n
As a convention delegate from the colony of New Jersey, Rev. Witherspoon argued in favor of separation from England, declaring:<\/p>\n
Gentlemen, New Jersey is ready to vote for independence. In our judgement, the country is not only ripe for independence, but we are in danger of becoming rotten for the want of it, if we delay any longer!614<\/p>\n
After the peace treaty was negotiated with England, John Witherspoon delivered his \u201cThanksgiving Sermon,\u201d entreating Americans to live for:<\/p>\n
The Glory of God, the public interest of religion and the good of others, [as] civil liberty cannot be long preserved without virtue. [A Republic] must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty.615<\/p>\n
An insight into John Witherspoon\u2019s convictions can be gleaned from the sermons he presented while pastor of Laigh Kirk in Paisley, Scotland, from 1757 to 1768, which included:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Absolute Necessity of Salvation through Christ.\u201d616;<\/p>\n
\u201cInquiry into the Scripture Meaning of Charity,\u201d which he described as \u201can ardent and unfeigned love to others and a desire of their welfare, temporal and eternal \u2026 [with] the deepest concern for their dangerous state.\u201d617;<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trial of Religious Truth by Its Moral Influence,\u201d using the text \u201cBy their fruits ye shall know them.\u201d618;<\/p>\n
John Witherspoon\u2019s beliefs can be seen in his statements:<\/p>\n
The character of a Christian must be taken from Holy Scriptures \u2026 the unerring standard.619<\/p>\n
Fly also for forgiveness to the atoning blood of the great Redeemer \u2026 620<\/p>\n
Press every hearer to a sincere concern for his own soul\u2019s salvation.621<\/p>\n
The doctrine of divine Providence is very full and complete in the sacred oracles.622<\/p>\n
In his Lectures on Divinity,<\/i> Witherspoon enumerated:<\/p>\n
Religion is the grand concern of us all \u2026 the salvation of our souls in the one thing needful.623<\/p>\n
In regards to man\u2019s need for redemption, Reverend John Witherspoon explained:<\/p>\n
The corruption of our nature \u2026 is the foundation-stone of the doctrine of redemption. Nothing can be more absolutely necessary to true religion, than a clear conviction of the sinfulness of our nature and state. \u2026 <\/p>\n
Men of lax and corrupt principles take great delight in speaking to the praise of human nature, and extolling its dignity, without distinguishing what it was at its first creation, from what it is in its present fallen state. But I appeal from these visionaries\u2019 reasonings to the history of all ages, and the inflexible testimony of daily experience. (C)andid attention, either to past history or present state of the world, but above all, the ravages of lawless power, ought to humble us in the dust. \u2026 <\/p>\n
The evil of sin appears from every page of the sacred oracles. \u2026 The history of the world is little else than the history of human guilt. \u2026 <\/p>\n
Nothing is more plain from scripture, or better supported by daily experience, than that man by nature is in fact incapable of recovery without the power of God specially interposed.624<\/p>\n
In reflecting on \u201cconscience,\u201d Reverend John Witherspoon delineated:<\/p>\n
There remains so much of God written on the conscience of even the most profligate. \u2026 <\/p>\n
It pleased God to write his law upon the heart of man at first. And the great lines of duty, however obscured by their original apostasy, are still so visible as to afford an opportunity of judging what conduct and practice is or is not agreeable to its dictates.<\/p>\n
Such authority hath natural conscience still in man that it renders those \u2026 inexcusable in the sight of God (Rom. 1:20\u20132:14). But it is of importance in the present argument to observe, that every one is able to pass a far surer judgement on the moral character of another, than his own. The pollution of the heart brings a corrupt bias on the judgement, in the man\u2019s own case. \u2026 In determining the character of others, this bias is less sensibly felt.625<\/p>\n
A course advertisement for Reverend John Witherspoon\u2019s classes at Princeton University read:<\/p>\n
The President has also engaged to give Lectures twice in the Week, on the following Subjects (1) On Chronology and History, civil as well as sacred; a Branch of Study, of itself extremely useful and delightful, and at present in the highest Reputation in every Part of Europe, (2) Critical Lectures on the Scripture, with the Addition of Discourses on Criticism in general; the several Species of Writing, and the fine Arts, (3) Lectures on Composition, and the Eloquence of the Pulpit and the Bar.626<\/p>\n
With prophetic insight as to our country\u2019s growth, John Witherspoon commented to his friend, Rev. Ashabel Green:<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be surprised if you see a turnpike all the way to the Pacific Ocean in your lifetime.627<\/p>\n
John Adams, after attending church at the College of New Jersey, wrote:<\/p>\n
Heard Dr. Witherspoon all Day. A clear, sensible, Preacher.628<\/p>\n
Reverend John Witherspoon, who had lost two sons in the Revolutionary War, was the epitome of a patriot.629 After his wife died in October of 1789, he re-entered politics, heading up a committee in the New Jersey legislature to abolish slavery.630 Following John Witherspoon\u2019s death, John Adams admired him as:<\/p>\n
A true son of liberty. So he was. But first, he was a son of the Cross.631<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(February 5, 1723\u2013November 15, 1794), was an American Revolutionary patriot and clergyman. Born in Scotland, being a descendant of John Knox on his mother\u2019s side, John Witherspoon\u2019s influence as an educator was widely felt in America. He signed the Declaration of Independence and was a member of the Continental Congress. He was a primary proponent … Continue reading “WITHERSPOON,
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