1. One of the of

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AMERICA'S CHRISTIAN HERITAGE 5/13/2018

Today in this modern world it seems so odd to bring up the subject of Christianity when talking about problems in our government and nation. However Christianity was the prime thought in almost every area in the thinking of our forefathers. I. CHAPLAINS WERE PLACED IN MAJOR AREAS OF GOVERNMENT. A. Congress;

1. One of the first acts of the American Congress after declaring Independence was to appoint Chaplains to open the daily meetings of Congress in prayer. 2. Three Chaplains were appointed; a. Rev. Jacob Duche.

b. Rev. Patrick Allison, a Baptist. c. Rev. William White an Episcopal. B. Continental Army.

C. Chaplains were provided for the various hospitals.

II. NATIONAL DAYS OF PRAYER AND FASTING WERE CALLED

A. Throughout the war with Britain, the American Congress frequently declared days of fasting and prayer to beseech God for His aid and assistance in their struggle for freedom. B. On June 1,1774 England passed the Boston Port Bill;

1. It was intended to shut down all commerce into this country.

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2. England believed they could starve the townspeople into submission. a. No raft was permitted to come into the docks

b. The wheels of commerce were stopped. c. The poor were deprived of employment.

d. The rich were cut off from their usual resources. e. Business was suspended.

f. Bells were muffled, and tolled from morning to night. g. Flags were kept at half-mast.

h. The streets were dressed in mourning.

i. Public building and shops were draped in black. 3. Committees of Correspondence spread the news by letter through all the colonies. 4. Some of the colonies began to respond by calling for days of fasting and prayer. Among those who responded were;

a. Massachusetts

b. Connecticut c. Virginia 5. Thomas Jefferson penned the resolve in Virginia; "To invoke the divine interposition to give to the American people one heart and one mind to oppose by all just means every injury to American rights." 6. Large congregations filled the churches. 7. A historian stated; "In Virginia the members of the House of Burgesses assembled at their place of meeting; went in procession, with the speaker at their head, to the church and listened to a discourse.

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C. Throughout our history as a nation some 200 National Days of Prayer and Fasting have been called.

III. OUR FOREFATHERS KNEW THE IMPORTANCE OF SCRIPTURES. A. In the book, The Bible of the Revolution, Robert Dearden and Douglas Watson wrote:

"Revolutionary America without Bibles presented and impossible situation. In no country in the world was the Good Book then so relied upon. Faith in Divine Providence and the consolation and guidance of Holy Writ were necessary to all patriots in the struggle for Liberty. Before the rupture with the mother country, the Colonies had depended largely for their literature upon England, and entirely so for their Bibles in their native tongue. The Revolutionary War stopped importation, and at length the situation reached such an acute state that the Chaplain of Congress, the Rev. Patrick Allison, DD., placed before that body a petition praying for immediate relief. The memorial was assigned to a special committee which weighed the matter with great care, and on September 11, Y1T!, it reported: "That the use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great that your committee refer the above to the consideration of Congress, and if Congress shall not think it expedient to order the importation of types and paper, the Committee recommend that Congress will order the Committee of Congress to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different parts of the States of the Union. "Whereupon it was resolved according to direct said Committee to import 20,000 copies of the Bible." B. The above mentioned action was so important because;

1. The Committees report to import 20,000 Bibles took place on September 11,1777 the same day that the Battle of Brandywine took place. 2. The Battle of Brandywine claimed the lives of 1200 Americans.

3. Congress was meeting within earshot of the cannon fire of the battle. 4. They sought the Word of God for leadership and encouragement.

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IV. THE MIRACLES OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY ARE ASTOUNDING! A. The winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge was horrible.

1. Army troops had no clothes to cover their nakedness.

2. The Army had no blankets to lie on. 3. The soldiers had no tents to sleep under.

4. Washington stated; "For the want of shoes their marches through frost and snow might be traced by blood from their feet, and they were almost as often without provisions as with them." 5. In a letter to Congress dated December 23,1777 Washington wrote; "Men are confined to hospitals, or in farmers' houses for want of shoes. We have this day no less than two thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine men in camp unfit for duty, because they are barefoot and otherwise naked."

6. About one third of all of Washington's troops were unfit for service, and this number increased as winter progressed. 7. Lafayette wrote; "They had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes, The army frequently remained whole days without provisions. One soldier's meal on a Thanksgiving Day declared by Congress was a half a gill of rice and a tablespoonful of vinegar!" 8. A Dr. Waldo wrote about their horrible condition; "There comes a soldier, his bare feet are seen through his worn out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the tattered remains of an only pair of stockings; his breeches are not sufficient to cover his nakedness, his shirt hanging in strings, his hair disheveled, his face meager. His whole appearance pictures a person forsaken and discouraged. He comes and cries with an air of wretchedness and despair, "I am sick, my feet lane, by legs are sore, my body covered with this tormenting itch." B. It was Washington's character that sustained the army but it was Washington's faith which sustained him. His trust was in God completely!