“Honor Thy Father”
“Honor Thy Father”
In recent years
there have been numerous attempts to delegitimize the United States' founding
based as some have claimed it was rooted in class struggle and racism. Both
Howard Zinn and journalist Nicole Hannah-Jones, are guilty of historical
malpractice. Without attempting to consolidate sources, they made up their
thesis before their research. Nonetheless, they convince their followers to
question the origin of the United States. They are right to question events in
the past, as there are many warts, and no person ought to ignore the United
States' sins. Does this mean its citizens reject its past? Do the children
reject their parents after being wronged? Reverend William Ives Budington
provides a sermon that answers these difficult questions. The United States
origins come from Christianity, but as the bible requires, the child must
always respect their father and father's care.
Reverend Budington
was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1815. He studied at the Andover Seminary
and later preached at the First Church in Charleston, Massachusetts.[1]
His sermon, Our Puritan Fathers, our Glory, is in stark contrast with the
1619 Project. Nicole Hannah-Jones depicts the origins of the United States in
the following way,
An America in which racism is so
deeply rooted in every event and every time period that these changes are
simply not to be believed. It was not just that blacks were no more free after
the Revolutionary War then before it. The Revolutionary War was fought
specifically to keep blacks in chains. The Founders didn’t just fail to apply
the constitutions revolutionary principles to blacks, they enshrined slavery.[2]
The founders did struggle to answer slavery, and many all too many
remained enslaved after the war. However, ample time was given to study all the
primary sources regarding the cause of the Revolutionary war.
It is clear that
the 1619 Project does not provide any positive outcomes from the founding of
the United States, but Reverend Budington differs from its origin story. He
states, “But New England takes her origin from the ripened maturity of Old
England. She sprang from the patriotism of a freedom-loving people, and the
religion of a reforming church. Her roots strike into all that is purest and
noblest and best in England-into the deepest piety of her ministry.”[3]
This quote may sound as if it comes from hagiographical work, but the father needs
to care for the child to earn that respect. “Just as nature teaches the father
to love his son, so it prompts the father to love his son.”[4]
The United States
struggled deeply with that “peculiar institution,” and arguably, it let go of
its Christian roots. All too many people found the institution detestable,
while other religious leaders found the souls of slaves equal to those of their
masters. John Wesley decried the institution in his thoughts on slavery, “Hence
if their food was not prepared, they are sometimes called to labour again,
before they can satisfy their hunger. And no excuse will avail. If they are not
in the field immediately, they must expect to feel the lash. Did the Creator
intend, that the noblest creatures in the visible world, should live such a
life as this! Are these thy glorious works, Parent of Good?”[5] It
is almost as if Nicole Hannah-Jones purposefully left out these voices. How is
it that the United States outright accepted slavery if slaves like Nat Turner
fought back with violence or Christian broke apart over the issue long before
the country?
The institution of slavery, the Iran-Contra Affair, the neglect of Jewish refugees during World War II are shameful and deserve fair criticism. The most jingoistic citizen needs to acknowledge such events. However, these events do not cancel out the Puritans' attempt to establish a moral society-one that established religious institutions that later became Harvard and Yale. Institutions that taught its citizenry to be moral and upstanding, but even the most upstanding person has their warts. Reverend Budington lived in an auspicious time, one that did not guarantee the future of the republic. The question of slavery was brewing in congress, but it was brewing since the inception of the Constitution. Reverend Budington witnessed the fight against slavery, but he also saw the opportunities of a great republic. If he saw the benefit of honoring thy father, then so should its Christian followers.
Bibliography
Forman, Seth. “The 1619 Project:
Believe Your Lying Eyes.” Acad. Quest. 33, 2020: 299–306.
In memoriam, William Ives Budington, D.D. New York: A.C.
Armstrong & Son, 1880.
Wesley, John. Thoughts Upon Slavery. London: Printing House.
1778.
[1] In
memoriam, William Ives Budington, D.D, (New York: A.C. Armstrong & Son,
1880), 1.
[2] Seth Forman, “The 1619 Project: Believe Your Lying Eyes,” Acad. Quest. 33, 2020, 305.
[3] Budington,
William Budington, Our Puritan fathers, our glory: a sermon preached in
commemoration of the 220th anniversary of the founding of the First church in
Charlestown, Mass., Sunday, (Charlestown: McKim & Cutter, 1852), 6.
[4] Ibid., 4.
[5] John Wesley, Thoughts
Upon Slavery, (London: Printing House. 1778), 25.
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