4 July 2019, Anno Domini (the 243rd year of American Independence)
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UTwhoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. (James 1:25)
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Fthe Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)
Two hundred and forty-three years ago, the courageous Founding Fathers executed a bill of separation and independence from the Monarchy of Great Britain termed the ‘Declaration of Independence.” More than merely political freedom, the Declaration proclaimed a wider freedom encompassing all aspects of human liberty, but especially of personal Liberty and self-defense. These two issues were salient concerns in the minds of those who had suffered much religious persecution as well as unfair burdens imposed by a large standing army of their oppressor. The Declaration of Independence established, in legal terms, the continuing principles of the Pilgrims of the ‘Mayflower Pact.’
The Declaration of Independence is our foremost founding document even taking precedent over the U.S. Constitution adopted on June 21, 1788. The Declaration of Independence clearly and unmistakably set forth the rights of men as derived from the Grace of God and not government. Those principles have guided our Republic from the moments of its inception until the modern era during which time our spiritual and political memories of injustices that led to the American Revolution, as well as the Providential Hand that guided their endeavors, have begun to fade from the collective memories of our people.
Hear the words of the oft-quoted Alexis de Tocqueville on the Spirit of America which he witnessed on his visit here in 1831. In describing the American populace, de Tocqueville wrote:
. . . . they brought with them into the New World a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it a democratic and republican religion. Christianity contributed powerfully to the establishment of a democracy and a republic (to which all laws apply equally without exception to every citizen, JLO), and from the earliest settlement of the emigrants, politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved.
. . . . there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation on the earth.
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of Liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.
Alexis de Tocqueville, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, 1831
What an amazing tribute to the Christian influence on the America of our Founding Fathers contrasted to the emerging depravity we witness in our society today. We must turn back to the God of our Fathers if we will enjoy the blessings of Liberty and the benefits of Divine Providence upon this fair land.
For,
Anglican Orthodox Church
JERRY L. OGLES
Presiding Bishop
JLO:pma
One Nation, Under God will result in Liberty and Justice for all
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The Anglican Church, being founded on the principal of one nation, one church, holds patriotism and true love of country in great regard. It is quite interesting that the majority of the Founding Fathers were members of the Church of England and transferred their national church identity to what became the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. Like Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer, they saw the need for a national church. Not a captive arm of the government, but a link to God for the people of the nation.
We hold our Independence Day dear to our hearts and it is one of our religious feasts or holidays. A proper Red Letter Day!
The Independence Day Propers are found on Page 263-264.
Independence Day.
[July 4.]
The Collect.
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ETERNALGod, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.
The Epistle comes from the Tenth Chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy beginning at the Seventeenth Verse:
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HE LORDyour God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: he doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen..
Today’s Gospel started in the Fifth Chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew beginning at the Forty-Third Verse:
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ESUSsaid, Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
