Our Declaration

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Schmid's History of Pietism

I found a Hoenecke graphic being used by NPH for displaying this book online, so I offered to post the right picture when they fixed it. NPH said, "Fourth of July weekend. Feel free to scan the cover on your own." I did.

The History of Pietism, by Heinrich Schmid, translated by James L. Langebartels. Northwestern Publishing House. Click here to order. $40.50. 400 pages with index.

From the same translator - The Complete Timotheus Verinus, by Loescher - also about Pietism.

Potential audience: Any pastor or informed layman will gain from studying this book. If Pietism is a new topic, additional background reading may help, such as:

1. The Means of Grace in Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant.
   
2. Zwingli, Calvin, Pietism in Thy Strong Word.

Schmid compiled the great Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, a book commonly used by ALC clergy. Click here. That particular book gave orthodox Lutheran quotations from a whole range of European authors, on each area of systematic theology. No UOJ can be found in the book.

Introduction
The introduction of Pietism describes how the princes took over control of the Lutheran Church after the Reformation. Although this caesaropapism was a problem, I have difficulty seeing this as a prime cause for Pietism's growth.

Another cause, also mentioned, was the tendency toward scholasticism, disputing minor philosophical points without mining the Scriptures. This problem prevails today, with Lutheran clergy arguing over non-essentials while ignoring the apostasy around them.

The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) disrupted Europe and added to the problems of the Lutheran Church. The Peace of Westphalia established the principle of the ruler's faith determining the Christian confession of all his subjects: Cuius regio, eius religio.

Spener
Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) created the movement called Pietism, which grew from two things done by its founder. One was the establishment of Colleges of Piety (collegia pietatis), cell groups or conventicles, to promote the Christian faith. The second was his piggy-back introduction to Arndt's True Christianity, Pia Desideria.

As Otto Heick wrote, Spener was the first union theologian. Schmid gives plenty of evidence of Spener's deliberate leadership in creating conventicles, which were almost identical to that urged by the Reformed leader Labadie. What Labadie suggested became Spener's program. "Thus the only means Spener taught for curing the conditions in the church had its root in the Reformed church!" (Schmid, p. 304)

August Hermann Francke
Francke (1663-1727) began the second generation of Pietism, greatly encouraged by Spener. The saddest pages of Schmid record how little the Scriptures were studied. Future ministers were not trained in exegesis at this time, so Francke's circle filled a void. They were also quite earnest in serving the needs of the poor, so Pietism at this stage still had a positive influence, although conflicts were growing.

Francke was appointed to teach at Halle University, which quickly became the center of Pietism in Europe. In the next generation, Halle became Unitarian. Many of the key Lutheran leaders in America came from Halle: Muhlenberg, Hoenecke, etc.

Valentin Ernst Löscher
Löscher (1673-1749) changed the doctrinal discussions by defending Lutheran orthodoxy against the errors of Pietism. His Timotheus Verinus is worth studying to see how Pietism degenerated.

Why Read This Book?
Pietism is not light reading. The book is more of an encyclopedia of the various early movements of Pietism and their leaders.
Those who pay attention to hymn authors will say "Ah!" when they see certain names. Since all the Lutheran groups in America were profoundly influenced by Pietism, all pastors should study this work and keep it as a reference.

Pastor Langebartels has done a fine job translating this book. He and NPH are to be commended for this effort in providing it in English.

I will write more for future adult study classes in Pietism. Use the Pietism label to find what has already been posted on Ichabod.

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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Schmid's History of Pietism":

For what it is worth, I heartily recommend all three of the books mentioned by Dr. Jackson in this blog entry. NPH's first printing of Timotheus Verinus was 1998, but by the time this title came to my attention in 2003, it was unavailable. I understand that some folks petitioned NPH to reprint it, which they did in 2006, followed shortly thereafter by publication of Langebartel's translation of Schmid's work on Pietism.

I've read Timotheus Verinus, and scanned Schmid's Pietism -- though I haven't given Pietism a close read. Schmid's Doctrinal Theology, however, is what made me a Lutheran. Browsing a used bookstore many years ago -- still a pop-church Evangelical, though by then a bit disenfranchised -- I saw the title, Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. I was intrigued, because I didn't realize there was a such a thing as Lutherans who were "Evangelical," but more importantly, that such were Evangelicals with a fully-worked-out system of theology (something that pop-church Evangelicals are still waiting for). I didn't realize the significance when I bought it, but that copy was the Second English edition -- the final English edition to be printed before Schmid's death. Beginning with the Third edition, the editors (Hay and Jacobs) began redacting content -- though, as the editors pointed out, most Lutherans probably wouldn't miss the redacted material. I think the Augsburg Publishing House reprint from back in the 1960's was from the Third or Fourth edition.

Anyway, Dr. Jackson, I look forward to your future posts regarding Schmid's Pietism. Will you be doing a video commentary, such as your overview series on the Book of Concord?

Freddy Finkelstein

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GJ - That is a good idea, to do more on video with Pietism. Perhaps with Verinus, too.

The Fourth of July

The Fourth of July was enlivened by the resignation of Sarah Palin, who will now be free to travel and speak throughout the US, no longer held captive by the paradoxically large land mass and small population State of Alaska.

Palin's team lost to a man whose executive experience was nil, whose citizenship was debatable, and whose ideology was extreme Left. He even referred to "my Muslim faith" in an interview. Palin has inspired virulent hatred against every member of her family and constant attacks on her ability to govern, often by journalists who should have been glad she went back to Alaska.

Yesterday we finally got some relief from the Michael Jackson hagiographies. Palin owned all the news coverage by resigning when the senior journalists were partying at Martha's Vinyard and other luxury venues.

Our situation in America reminds me of Imperial Russia, when people overthrew the government of the Tsar because they suspected he was a agent of the Germans. This happened during WWI.

Queen Victoria is to blame. She married her first cousin and had a bunch of children who married into the royal families of Europe and afflicted some of them with hemophilia, a failure of the blood to clot properly. Her granddaughter married the future Tsar of Russia, and the heir presumptive, the only male child, had hemophilia.

There are two theories about the influence of Rasputin, the mad monk. One is that he stopped the Tsar's family from giving the British miracle drug, Aspirin, to their son. Aspirin would have made the disease far worse, so the boy got better. The other theory attributes special powers to Rasputin, who was famous for bewitching women.

Rasputin drank heavily and spouted a lot of information in taverns. Apparently German agents used his rants to inform their leaders. Increasingly, Russia suspected the Tsar. They also thought the Tsar's wife was having an affair with Rasputin.

Meanwhile, a paid German agent, Lenin, was shipped by the Germans into Russia with a pile of gold. The goal was to replace the Tsar with their agent and take Russia out of WWI. That plan worked too well, and Lenin became the new Tsar. His men murdered the Tsar's entire family, who were defenseless.

How many millions of Russians died from Lenin and Stalin? The truth is being acknowledged now. Mao murdered even more of his own people, but we seldom hear of the deliberate Chinese slaughter. Some estimate that 40 to 100 million Chinese were killed by Mao, to maintain his power.

The US government now controls the financial system and General Motors, itching to dominate medical care (14% of the GNP). The House of Representatives passed a bill, with GOP help, which will multiply all energy costs and reduce America to the economic status of Bosnia. I wonder when Americans will remember why we have an Independence Day. We turned away from the bad leadership of Bush-McCain to be held in bondage by the Anointed (by Oprah) One.



Anonymous has left another ignorant comment on your post "The Fourth of July":

Spoken like a true right-wing fanatic.

Proof please, of Lenin being an agent of the Kaiser?

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GJ - Many history buffs have read To the Finland Station, about Lenin being smuggled into Russian by the Germans. Here is a summary from World Net Daily. Imperial Germany wanted to close down their second front. Lenin signed the treaty soon after taking power.

This well known episode should remind readers that complicated enterprises are state-sponsored, requiring large sums of money and special expertise.

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Kenneth J. Schmidt has left a new comment on your post "The Fourth of July":

The fact that the Germans put Lenin on a sealed train back to Russia to help destabilize the Kerensky Regime is something that every high schooler should know. No historians deny it as a fact of history.