(January 4, 1745\u2013April 19, 1813), was a physician, educator and philanthropist. He was a member of the Continental Congress, 1776\u201377, and signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1774, he helped found and was president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. He helped found and was vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society; was a principal promoter of the American Sunday School Union; and a member of the Abolition Society. He also served as the Surgeon General of the Continental Army, 1777\u201378; helped to write the Pennsylvania Constitution, 1789\u201390; and was Treasurer of the U.S. Mint, 1797\u20131813. In 1783, Dr. Benjamin Rush helped found Dickinson College and joined the staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1786, he established the first free medical clinic.<\/p>\n
On December 30, 1776, while serving with the Continental Army in New Jersey, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote to Virginia Representative Richard Henry Lee requesting 2,000 to 3,000 pounds to be sent to George Washington for the war effort:<\/p>\n
Let not this matter be debated and postponed in the usual way for two or three weeks; the salvation of America, under God, depends upon its being done in an instant.1285<\/p>\n
In 1786, Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic,<\/i> in which he stated:<\/p>\n
The First remark that I shall make upon this subject is that an education in our own is to be preferred to an education in a foreign country. The principle of patriotism stands in need of the reinforcement. \u2026 <\/p>\n
I proceed, in the next place, to inquire what mode of education we shall adopt so as to secure to the state all of the advantages that are to be derived from the proper instruction of the youth;<\/p>\n
and here I beg leave to remark that the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid on the foundation of religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.<\/p>\n
Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mohamed inculcated upon our youth than to see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is that of the New Testament.<\/p>\n
It is not my purpose to hint at the arguments which establish the truth of the Christian revelation. My only business is to declare that all its doctrines and precepts are calculated to promote the happiness of society and the safety and well-being of civil government.<\/p>\n
A Christian cannot fail of being a republican \u2026 for every precept of the Gospel inculcates those degrees of humility, self-denial, and brotherly kindness which are directly opposed to the pride of monarchy. \u2026 <\/p>\n
A Christian cannot fail of being useful to the republic, for his religion teaches him that no man \u201cliveth to himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
And lastly a Christian cannot fail of being wholly inoffensive, for his religion teaches him in all things to do to others what he would wish, in like circumstances, they should do to him.1286<\/p>\n
In his work, A Plan for Free Schools,<\/i> 1787, Dr. Benjamin Rush counseled:<\/p>\n
Let the children \u2026 be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.1287<\/p>\n
On July 9, 1788, in a letter to Elias Boudinot regarding a parade in Philadelphia, Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:<\/p>\n
The Rabbi of the Jews locked arms of two ministers of the Gospel was a most delightful sight. There could not have been a more happy emblem.1288<\/p>\n
On July 13, 1789, in a letter to Jeremy Belknap, Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:<\/p>\n
The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effectual means of extirpating Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools.1289<\/p>\n
While serving as the treasurer of the U.S. Mint, Dr. Benjamin Rush stated in his work, Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical,<\/i> published in 1798:<\/p>\n
I know there is an objection among many people to teaching children doctrines of any kind, because they are liable to be controverted. But let us not be wiser than our Maker.<\/p>\n
If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into all the world would have been unnecessary. The perfect morality of the Gospel rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted has never been refuted: I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God.1290<\/p>\n
In Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical,<\/i> Dr. Benjamin Rush explained:<\/p>\n
Christianity is the only true and perfect religion, and that in proportion as mankind adopts its principles and obeys its precepts, they will be wise and happy.1291<\/p>\n
In contemplating the political institutions of the United States, I lament that we waste so much time and money in punishing crimes and take so little pains to prevent them. We profess to be republicans, and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government, that is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible.<\/p>\n
For this Divine book, above all others, favors that equality among mankind, that respect for just laws, and those sober and frugal virtues, which constitute the soul of republicanism.1292<\/p>\n
In an essay entitled, \u201cA Defense of the Use of the Bible as a School Book,\u201d included in his 1798 work, Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical,<\/i> Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote:<\/p>\n
[T]he Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life. \u2026 [It] should be read in our schools in preference to all other books from its containing the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public temporal happiness.1293<\/p>\n
Dr. Benjamin Rush stated:<\/p>\n
Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind.1294<\/p>\n
Dr. Benjamin Rush described himself:<\/p>\n
I have been alternately called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe all power \u2026 will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man. He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.1295<\/p>\n
During his final illness, Benjamin Rush wrote to his wife:<\/p>\n
My excellent wife, I must leave you, but God will take care of you. By the mystery of Thy holy incarnation; by Thy holy nativity; by Thy baptism, fasting, and temptation; by Thine agony and bloody sweat; by Thy cross and passion; by Thy precious death and burial; by Thy glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Ghost, blessed Jesus, wash away all my impurities, and receive me into Thy everlasting kingdom.1296<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(January 4, 1745\u2013April 19, 1813), was a physician, educator and philanthropist. He was a member of the Continental Congress, 1776\u201377, and signed the Declaration of Independence. In 1774, he helped found and was president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. He helped found and was vice-president of the Philadelphia Bible Society; … Continue reading “RUSH,
\nBENJAMIN”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}