Our Christian Heritage – William Livingston
William Livingston (1723-1790) was one of the ratifiers of the Constitution. He was 61 years old when he signed it. He served as the governor of New Jersey, an office he held for fourteen years. He was a former Brigadier General in the militia.
In 1772,Livingston took in Alexander Hamilton who was sixteen years old at the time. He made it possible for Hamilton to attend King’s College (now Columbia University).
Livingston published articles defending the Christian faith, many being published in the Independent Reflector. This is an excerpt from No. 46:
“I believe the Old and New Testaments without any foreign comments or human explanations….I believe that he who feareth God and worketh righteousness will be accepted of Him…I believe that the virulence of some…proceeds not from their affection to Christianity, which is founded on too firm a basis to be shaken by the freest inquiry, and the Divine Authority of which I sincerely believe without receiving a farthing for saying so.”
Back to The Truth Manifesto.
I’m currently doing research on Livingston.
I’m wondering how “Christianity” defines for you. In those very writings Livingston seems to reject orthodox Trinitarian doctrine which puts him outside of the label “Christian” for many conservative Christians of his day and today.
Lots of things have changed between now and then. Understandings of “orthodoxy” have not. And Livingston was not “orthodox.”
1Well the proof is in the pudding and I see no proof of what you allege. Just an opinion.
The main fact is that the nation was founded on biblical principles and beliefs. Livingston plainly had a strong belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as is evidenced by his writings and witnesses of his day. Whether he believed in the Trinity is a theological discussion, not a moral or political one. The Truth Manifesto, though focused on some issues of theology itself, focuses mainly on the moral and political climate in the United States from a biblical perspective as well as the basic beliefs of the founders and great Americans who supported those biblical principles. Some were Christians (good majority of them). Some were not. But truth is truth by virtue of what it is, not by who says it. Ultimately, this is about the Truth. Now, if he got it wrong on the Trinity, then he was wrong. Period. But I haven’t seen evidence to say that’s case.
2“But I haven’t seen evidence to say that’s case.”
I document it on my blogs.
“The main fact is that the nation was founded on biblical principles and beliefs. ”
This is the realm of “opinion” and not “truth.”
3Not really. I don’t know you from Adam, don’t know where you get your research from and therefore, you as a source is anything but reliable.
As far as whether or not this nation was founded on biblical principles, it’s based on fact, not liberal wishful think of people who want to try and change history. Quite a difference.
4Hi Prez,
Based on no. 46, Livingston believed in inerrancy, which happens to be most important, and his statement rejecting free inquiry attacks the Deists, and rationalists of the day.
Livingston did write he “had no faith in the Athanasian Creed” which promoted the Trinity. It appears to be public knowledge unitarians attacked the Creed precisely because of the Trinity.
However, I cannot find he directly attacked the Trinity, and he obviously took communion. It could be, as John Jay did, Livingston was neutral on the Trinity.
You are correct, the framers did establish this nation on Biblical principles. The entire system of Republican Government: separation of powers (based on John Calvin’s human depravity), representative government (taken from Calvin’s Geneva, and the Dutch Constitutions), the social covenant, not of John Locke, but based on God’s Covenant with Israel, i.e. I Samuel 15, through the reformation, and consent of the governed, written all throughout Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, and brought to light by the Protestant Reformation.
“Since this New World led to such paramount developments of government, the locus of the underlying root is not unimportant. Systemic features such as limited terms, balance of powers, citizen nullification, and interpositional magistracies were at the heart of New World government, all concepts that were popularized by the Reformation. One hundred years prior to the American Revolution, most of the major ideas were set, and they did not originate properly from Enlightenment social contract thought so much as from Buchanan/Rutherford’s social covenant, ensconced in its distinctly Biblical moorings.”
-David W. Hall, Senior fellow at The Kuyper Institute in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Most of the framers were orthodox anyway. Check out my blog. I have some good information on the framers.
In the Lord
OFT
5Thank you for clearing that up oh so eloquently and precisely. That, of course, takes me back to my original claim being correct. And I’ll check out that blog soon.
Blessings.
6