Cotton Mather | blogsense-by-barb

Tags

Anne Bradstreet, Cotton Mather, George Washington, God's design, ingratitude, society, William Bradford

The Reverend Robert Hunt gives thanks with other English settlers at Cape Henry, Virginia in April 1607.

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore
the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men
more than those of the United States.
Every step by which they have advanced
to the character of an independent nation
seems to have been distinguished
by some token of providential agency …”

George Washington, First Inaugural Address

When the first boats touched ground in the New World, their immediate response was GRATITUDE to GOD. Whether Jamestown or Plimouth, they were grateful for safe arrival for those who survived.

Their focus was not on their losses but on their success. Even through the hardships of those first years, the settlers were compelled to acknowledge the hand of a Sovereign God in their early literature, poetry, and the education of their young. The literary works of Early Americans like William Bradford (1590 – 1657), Gov of Plymouth Colony, Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), Poet & homemaker, and Cotton Mather (1663-1728) Clergyman and scientist, clearly reflect the prominent place given to God in early American culture.

It was understood that …

without God’s intervention in the crossing, none would have survived.

Without His provision through that first and subsequent winters, none would have flourished.

Without God’s sovereign help, the colonies of the New World would never have made it to the Revolutionary period, to break free from Britain, and to thrive in this experiment of self-rule and grow into the most generous, most gracious, most compassionate, yet most powerful nation on earth.

This was God’s design. The impoverished are not capable of offering material help to others, but the FREEDOMS born in AMERICA, created a society that was highly productive, creative, and innovative. These freedoms allowed individuals to create wealth which was shared generously with many other nations making AMERICA the giving-est nation in the world! God blessed America with vast resources so we could share with a needy, oppressed world, not join them in their oppression!

Time issue of April 8, 1966

BUT somewhere along the line, we started taking credit for our success. Prayer was removed from schools, and God was declared DEAD. Those who worship God were told to keep it to themselves and not “force” others to endure such silliness.

The “capstone” was the legalization of murder … the murder of unborn children. A scan through history will reveal that NO CULTURE that killed its young survived long. Respect for LIFE is a vital moral, ethical, legal, and social marker of the health of a nation. Today, not only are we aborting unborn children, but there is a HOT debate about the killing of babies born alive. Many are simply okay with this because … well, who wants to allow unwanted (or inconvenient) babies to live? Many also believe euthanasia, (the PC label is “mercy killing” – but it is killing nonetheless) is acceptable.

How quickly America forgot her heritage, her roots, her raison d’être. How quickly we allowed our history to be perverted and twisted into fiction that serves the political good of those in power. How quickly we blame God when tragedy strikes, but how quickly we push His wisdom away when it doesn’t FEEL good.

God is surely NOT DEAD, and He is not blind to the ingratitude the fills our airways, our markets, and our homes. The sobering thing is that He will not wait forever for us to return to Him … He is very much involved in what is happening in AMERICA today. The hardships in our nation and our world are supposed to turn us to Him, to remind us that He is bigger than we are, smarter than we are, and knows BETTER than we do how to “save the world!”

When was the last time you said THANK YOU to GOD for anything?

RELATED ARTICLES: