Peter A. Lillback - George Washingtons Sacred Fire

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Secular historians ignore George Washingtons ward Nelly Custis, who wrote that doubting his Christian faith was as absurd as doubting his patriotism. But they cannot ignore this mountain of evidence suggesting Washingtons religion was not Deism, but just the sort of low-church Anglicanism one would expect in an eighteenth century Virginia gentleman. His sacred fire lit Americas path toward civil and religious liberty.

George Washingtons actions as a soldier and statesman made republican government a reality and shaped the American understanding of liberty as a divine blessing and a sacred trust. Washingtons actions were, in no small measure, the products of his character. Washingtons character, as Peter Lillback shows in George Washingtons Sacred Fire, was deeply informed by his Christian faith. Dr. Lillback buries the myth that Washington was an unbelieverat most a Deistunder an avalanche of facts. He demonstrates that our founding fathers commitment to kindling and nurturing the sacred fire of liberty, far from reflecting a rejection of Christian beliefs, flowed directly from them.

An enlightening, engaging, and long overdue correction of the falsehood that Washington lacked faith.

For several decades, there has been a consensus among academics that George Washington was not really a Christian, but instead was a Deist. Peter Lillbacks work demolishes this conventional wisdom. He provides comprehensive evidence and penetrating arguments which demonstrate that Washington was indeed a consistent Christian and in particular that his religious beliefs were those typical of a devout low-church Episcopalian in eighteenth-century Virginia. This volume will enable todays Christians to refute the current falsehoods being propagated about the faith of this greatest of Americas founding fathers and to speak a truth that has great meaning in the historical and cultural debates of our own time.

History is a powerful tool. Used to press an agenda in the guise of recording facts it can yield dangerous results. These results are the more nefarious because the means of handling the facts appear so neutral. Hence the confusion about Americas founding fathers. For generations George Washington has been portrayed as an Enlightenment Deist. This view helps reduce the likelihood of a strong Christian influence in early America, which in turn helps promote the cause of secularism today. Peter A. Lillback has given us a nearly exhaustive reckoning with the true Washington, who turns out to be no Deist at all, but a professing Christian, a humble yet zealous follower of Christ. This volume will move the reader as well as persuade him that Americas first president was also a premier man of God, whose religion was quite contrary to that of Thomas Paine or Lord Shaftesbury. Neither his life nor his leadership make any sense apart from his commitment to the church and to biblical faith. We praise Dr. Lillback for the enormous labor, a labor of love to be sure, but a giant effort dedicated to the truth. We owe it to his thorough research and engaging polemics to give a hearing to George Washingtons Sacred Fire. When we do, we will discover, in the bargain, that we have here history as it ought to be.

The reconstruction of the private religious convictions of a public leader is always a most tricky and complicated historical task. In English history, the figure of Oliver Cromwell has proved enigmatic, as historians have sought to co-ordinate his private statements and actions with his public deeds as army general and then Lord Protector. In George Washington, American history has its own Cromwell: a leader of such enormous stature, and who arouses such passionate emotions, that it is difficult to separate the facts from the fiction. For a long time it has been assumed that this founding father was a man of the Enlightenment, a Deist; yet, with this book, Dr Lillback seeks to challenge that, and marshals awesomely detailed evidence that another category, that of a broadly orthodox Anglicanism, provides a more accurate way of setting Washingtons religious convictions in context. Whether one agrees or disagrees, it is clear this book is a significant and serious challenge to the typical historiography which can clearly no longer be taken for granted.

GEORGE WASHINGTONS SACRED FIRE

Copyright 2006 by Peter Lillback. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 0-9786052-5-X (hardback)
ISBN: 0-9786052-6-8 (paperback)

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are from the King James version of the Bible (KJV).

Cover and Interior Design by Roark Creative: www.roarkcreative.com
Cover Photo: Corbis Images

All illustrations included are used by permission. Detailed credit list is included in the Endnotes.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006904008

Printed in the United States of America by Dickinson Press
2006First Edition

Providence Forum Press
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www.providenceforum.org

George Washingtons Sacred Fire was a spark of an idea that first glimmered in my heart over twenty years ago. Somehow, it never was extinguished even though it flickered in the winds of pressing duties and weightier concerns. But over the last ten years, and then especially so in the last two, the spark became a flame and finally George Washingtons Sacred Fire was ablaze and ready to shed its light on the debate over Washingtons religious faith.

The fuel for a fire is the sine qua non of its existence. And so the many friends, institutions, and libraries that have assisted in this work have been the very fuel for