Part Three: The Motto of the American Revolution

After an extended absence, I shall now briefly resume the discussion on the subject of whether or not the United States was founded as a Christian nation. After reviewing the definition of a Christian nation (and which definition applies in our case), and the biblical cause of our American Revolution, we shall now examine the motto of the American Revolution.

We know that the Revolution had many mottoes, such as "Don't Tread on Me," "Join or Die," and "Liberty or Death." These were all popular slogans that the Patriots would use to summarize their cause. But there was another motto, equally important, and yet greatly over-looked in our history books, and in the examination of the history of our Revolution:

NO KING BUT KING JESUS!

The significance of this Revolutionary slogan is more fully realized in light of some history of the phrase. The slogan itself seems to have been a takeoff of John 19:15, which records that when the chief priests of the Jews were presuring Pilate to crucify Jesus as a rebel to Rome, and Pilate replied, "Shall I crucify you King?" they replied, "We have no king but Caesar!" Matthew Henry (author of the famed Commentaries on the Bible, which were highly instrumental in the conversion of Rev. George Whitefield) turned the last cry around, to say, "No King but King Jesus!" Henry explained:

Away with them [fleshly lusts], away with them; crucify them, crucify them; for like Barnabas, they are robbers, they are murderers, they are enemies to our peace; we will not have them to reign over us; no, no, we know them to well; we have no king but Jesus. (1)

However, it was not during the American Revolution that this slogan, "No King but King Jesus" was used. It was the motto of the Fifth Monarchy Rebellion, which sought to rid England of her monarchy in the (failed) hopes that the millenium (the 1,00-year reign of Christ) would soon arrive. While their expectations may have been mistaken, nevertheless, their legacy of subjection to the commandments of Christ, rather than the commandments of an absolutist monarch, would be passed on to the Revolutionary generation of America. They explained:

It is every man's duty to SEARCH the scriptures for himself, to learn from them the mind of Christ, for his own salvation, and not to receive IMPLICITLY the doctrines which men teach, or the creed of the civil magistrate. The meanest [most humble or common] subject in the state subject in the state has as good a right to judge, in the matters of religion, for himself, as the prince on the throne. The civil magistrate has no MORE RIGHT to dictate a religious creed to his SUBJECTS, than they have a RIGHT to dictate a religious creed to HIM. By being placed at the head of the civil state, to give law to the subjects of the state, he is not therefore placed at the head of the church, to give law to the body of Christ. If he ever assumes this character and power, he transgresses the just limits of his authority, which is CIVIL, not RELIGIOUS; invades the dominions of ANOTHER prince; and arrogantly claims the power of giving laws to another community, that knows, and ought to know, NO king but Jesus. (emphasis original) (2)

Some preached sermons declaring this message (for instance, Rev. Henry Haggar's No King But Jesus: or The Walls of Tyrannie Razed, and the foundation of Monarchy discovered to the view of all that desire to see it, wherein is undeniably proved that no King is now the Lord's Annointed but Jesus, etc., etc., from 1652), (3) while others were brutally martyred (4).

However, the message was passed on through such religious groups as the Dissenters, Separatists, and Puritans, who came to American for the very purpose of seeing fulfilled in America what they could not accomplish in England. It is no coincidence that the hotbed of the Revolution was Puritan New England. However, as Mark Noll says in his Religion and American Politics,

Nor was New England altogether unique. As suggested by the example of a 1765 Philadelphia Presbyterian crowd calling, "No King but King Jesus" ... The fact that there were plenty of "secular" political treatises that never referred to the covenant, to Antichrist, or to the liberty of grace -- and, conversely, plenty of "religious" discourses that altogether ignored politics -- in no way undercuts this point. (5)

"No King but King Jesus" and similar phrases were similar cries among the Patriots. So strongly was this sentiment voiced, and from so early a time, that it was even brought up in a session of the British Parliament. On April 26, 1774, when the House of Commons was debating a bill concerning how the British government should regulate the government of Massachusetts,

Sir Richard Sutton read a copy of the letter, relative to the government of America, from a governor in America, to the board of trade, shewing that, at the most quiet times, the dispositions to oppose the laws of this country were strongly ingrafted in them, and that all their actions conveyed a spirit and wish for independence. If you ask an American who is his master? he will tell you he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ. I do believe it, and it is my firm opinion, that the opposition to the measures of the legislature of this country, is a determined prepossession of the idea of total independence. (6)

Sermons, such as the one by Peter Powers, Jesus Christ the True King and Head of Government (1778) were preached, and a song was written by the distinguished New-England musician and composer William Billings, called Independence. It's words read:

The states, O Lord, with songs of praise shall in Thy strength rejoice,
And blest with Thy salvation raise to Heav'n their cheerful voice.
To the King they shall sing Hallelujah.
Thy goodness and Thy tender care have all our fears destroy'd,
A covenant of peace Thou mad'st with us confirmed by Thy word,
A covenant Thou mad'st with us and seal'd it with Thy blood.
To the King they shall sing Hallelujah.
And all the continent shall sing: down with this earthly King,
No King but God.
To the King they shall sing Hallelujah.
And the continent shall sing: God is our rightful King, Hallelujah.
And the continent shall sing: God is our gracious King, Hallelujah.
They shall sing to the King, Hallelujah.
God is the King, Amen,
The Lord is His name, Amen. (7)

The American Revolution was not a religious movement per se. That is not what I am arguing. However, it was meant to advance certain social and political principles that were grounded in the Bible. The crucial point around which the argument of the Patriots hinged was the fact that law came from God, and not from man. This concept, a purely biblical one, was the concept upon which our government was founded. You can see the evidence for yourself here, on a post I wrote selecting writings of the Founders on this subject.

As we can see, the Revolution was not a movement to free man from the shackles of Christianity or government, but rather to free man from the bonds of un-scriptural political rule. The purpose of the American Revolution was not to establish equality among classes, races, or between the rulers and the ruled, nor was it started to advance a radical socialist agenda. The purpose of the American Revolution was to show to the world that societies can be both free and successful, but not unconditionally. For this reason, the Founders stressed virtue and morality and order, because they knew that only a "moral and religious people" could sustain a free form of government. (8)

As we continue our series of investigations, we will look into this more thoroughly. Stay tuned for information about the government that our Founding Fathers created after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.