Anglican Orthodox Church
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDING BISHOP
PO Box 128
Statesville, N.C. 28687
(704) 873-8365
FOURTH OF JULY IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD THE 2019th
INDEPENDENCE DAY LETTER
“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:25 (KJV)
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:36 (KJV)
Two hundred and forty-three years ago, the courageous Founding Fathers executed a bill of separation and independence from the Monarchy of Great Britain termed the ‘Declaration of Independence.” More than merely political freedom, the Declaration proclaimed a wider freedom encompassing all aspects of human liberty, but especially of personal Liberty and self-defense. These two issues were salient concerns in the minds of those who had suffered much religious persecution as well as unfair burdens imposed by a large standing army of their oppressor. The Declaration of Independence established, in legal terms, the continuing principles of the Pilgrims of the ‘Mayflower Pact.’
The Declaration of Independence is our foremost founding document even taking precedent over the U.S. Constitution adopted on June 21, 1788. The Declaration of Independence clearly and unmistakably set forth the rights of men as derived from the Grace of God and not government. Those principles have guided our Republic from the moments of its inception until the modern era during which time our spiritual and political memories of injustices that led to the American Revolution, as well as the Providential Hand that guided their endeavors, have begun to fade from the collective memories of our people.
Hear the words of the oft-quoted Alexis de Tocqueville on the Spirit of America which he witnessed on his visit here in 1831. In describing the American populace, de Tocqueville wrote:
“ . . . . they brought with them into the New World a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it a democratic and republican religion. Christianity contributed powerfully to the establishment of a democracy and a republic (to which all laws apply equally without exception to every citizen, JLO), and from the earliest settlement of the emigrants, politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved.
“ . . . . there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its utility, and its conformity to human nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation on the earth.
“The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of Liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.” Alexis de Tocqueville, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, 1831.
What an amazing tribute to the Christian influence on the America of our Founding Fathers contrasted to the emerging depravity we witness in our society today. We must turn back to the God of our Fathers if we will enjoy the blessings of Liberty and the benefits of Divine Providence upon this fair land.
“Prenez en Gré”
In Christ Alone during TRINITY,
Jerry L. Ogles D. D.
JERRY L. OGLES,
Presiding Bishop
Anglican Orthodox Church
A Worldwide Communion
