Gregg Frazer is Still Wrong about the Founders
by Bill Fortenberry
I mentioned in an article
published in January that I had confronted Christian historian Gregg Frazer
about his insistence that Thomas Jefferson never referred to Jesus as the
Christ, and I provided a link to Gregg’s admission that I was “right about
Jefferson using the word ‘Christ’ a couple of times.” I had hoped that, after making this
admission, Gregg would refrain from making the same claim in the future, but
that hope did not come to fruition.
On March 6th of this year, Gregg spoke at the Shepherds’ Conference at Grace Community Church on the topic of “One Nation Under God: Today's Church and the Shocking Truth About the Founding of America.” About half an hour into his presentation, Gregg said:
Now, first of all, I want to point out “Jesus of Nazareth.” That was a way of emphasizing the humanity of Jesus. They didn’t talk about Jesus Christ. They didn’t talk about Christ. It was just Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth to emphasize His humanity.
The men that Mr. Frazer is referring to here are the founding fathers whom he identifies as the key founders of our nation. This list includes Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson and George Washington. These are the men who supposedly never referred to Jesus as Christ, and yet, when we put Frazer’s claim to the test, we find that history records each of them using the name of Christ at least once and often more than once.
I’ll skip Jefferson’s references to Christ in this article since I wrote about them already in January, and I will begin instead with Benjamin Franklin. In Frazer’s book, The Religious Beliefs of America’s Founders, he specifically referenced Franklin’s written defense of Samuel Hemphill, and he claimed that, in this defense, Franklin “attacked the orthodox image of God.” However, in that same defense which Frazer apparently claims to have read, we find Franklin making the following statements about Jesus Christ:
Now the surest way to find out the End and Design of the Christian Revelation, or what View the Author of it had in coming into the World, is, to consult the Revelation itself. And he himself (the great and glorious Author) tells us, he came to call Sinners to Repentance; that is, not only to a hearty Concern for Sin, but to an actual Amendment and Reformation of what was amiss in their Conduct. And Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of Mankind, elsewhere gives us a full and comprehensive View of the Whole of our Religion, and of the main End and Design of the christian Scheme, when he says, thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind, and thy Neighbour, as thyself, and he plainly tells us, that these are the most necessary and essential parts of God’s Law, when he adds, on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets…
It wou’d be needless to quote any more Texts of Scripture to this Purpose; they are to be found in almost every Page of the New Testament. So that upon the whole, it may justly be concluded, that the main Design and ultimate End of the christian Revelation, or of Christ’s coming into the World, was to promote the Practice of Piety, Goodness, Virtue, and Universal Righteousness among Mankind, or the Practice of the moral Duties both with Respect to God and Man, and by these Means to make us happy here and hereafter. All the Precepts, Promises, Threatnings, positive Institutions, Faith in Jesus Christ, and all the Peculiarities and Discoveries in this Revelation tend to this End; and if God gives a Revelation to Mankind at all, it is this, and this only that can make it worthy of him…
Has Hemphill any where deny’d the Benefits of our Redemption by Christ, or the Assistances of the holy Spirit to all good Men in the Work of their Sanctification…?
But Hemphill is charg’d with denying the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ, and that too for preaching the Laws of Christ. Let us then consider what the Scripture Doctrine of this Affair is, and in a Word it is this: Christ by his Death and Sufferings has purchas’d for us those easy Terms and Conditions of our Acceptance with God, propos’d in the Gospel, to wit, Faith and Repentance: By his Death and Sufferings, he has assur’d us of God’s being ready and willing to accept of our sincere, tho’ imperfect Obedience to his reveal’d Will; By his Death and Sufferings he has atton’d for all Sins forsaken and amended, but surely not for such as are wilfully and obstinately persisted in. This is Hemphill’s Notion of this Affair, and this he has always preach’d; and he believes, ’tis what no wise Man will contradict.
Franklin’s defense of Samuel Hemphill is so inundated with references to Christ that we could fill several pages with them, but I will let these suffice to prove that Frazer knows for a fact that Benjamin Franklin had no objection to referring to Jesus as the Christ. For him to claim otherwise is extremely erroneous.
And Mr. Frazer is also lying when he includes John Adams in the list of founders who “didn’t talk about Christ.” On page 111 of his own book, Frazer actually provides a quote of the following entry from John Adams’s diary:
Major Greene this Evening fell into some conversation with me about the Divinity and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. All the Argument he advanced was, "that a mere creature, or finite Being, could not make Satisfaction to infinite justice, for any Crimes," and that "these things are very mysterious [sic]." Thus mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity. (Diary Entry, February 13, 1756)
It is not possible for Frazer to have been unaware of this quote when he claimed that Adams did not mention the name of Christ, for it is in his own citation in his own book. And this is nowhere near the only reference that John Adams made to Jesus Christ. His writings are replete with them. For example, the very next diary entry after the one quoted by Mr. Frazer includes this statement:
Very often shepherds that are hired to take care of their masters’ sheep go about their own concerns and leave the flock to the care of their dog. So bishops, who are appointed to oversee the flock of Christ, take the fees themselves but leave the drudgery to their dogs, that is, curates and understrappers. (Diary Entry, February 15, 1756)
Less than a month later, Adams mentioned Christ in another entry in his diary, and once again, this entry was actually quoted by Frazer in his book:
The great and Almighty author of nature, who at first established those rules which regulate the world, can as easily suspend those laws whenever his providence sees sufficient reason for such suspension. This can be no objection, then, to the miracles of Jesus Christ. (Diary Entry, March 2, 1756)
And in a letter that Frazer quotes on page 120, Adams again mentioned the name of Christ:
Priestley ought to have given us a sketch of the religion and morals of Zoroaster, of Sanchoniathon, of Confucius, and all the founders of religions before Christ, whose superiority would, from such a comparison, have appeared the more transcendent. (Letter to Jefferson, December 25, 1813)
Once again, these are just a few examples taken from a list of quotes that covers several pages. And once again, there is no way that Frazer could have been ignorant of these quotes when he said that the key founders did not use the name of Christ.
We do not have as many records of the writings of the remaining men on Frazer’s list, but even so, we still have records of each of them referring to Jesus as the Christ. For example, James Madison once wrote to William Bradford that:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; & I wish you may give in your evidence in this way. (Letter to William Bradford, September 25, 1773)
As for Alexander Hamilton, we know that Dr. John Mason was present with him just before his death, and he attested to the fact that he shared the Gospel with Hamilton and that Hamilton assured him that he was already a Christian. According to Dr. Mason, Hamilton said:
I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It should be noted here that, in his book, Mr. Frazer does admit that Hamilton was a Christian at the time of his death. However, he failed to make that distinction in his lecture when lumping Hamilton in with those whom he claimed did not speak of Christ.
Gouverneur Morris also referred to Jesus as Christ when he wrote:
I must mention that Thomas Paine is in prison, where he amuses himself with publishing a pamphlet against Jesus Christ. I do not recollect whether I mentioned to you, that he would have been executed along with the rest of the Brissotines, if the adverse party had not viewed him with contempt. I incline to think that, if he is quiet in prison, he may have the good luck to be forgotten. (Letter to Jefferson, January 21, 1794)
There are two recorded instances of James Wilson referring to Jesus as Christ, but both of them are cases in which he was quoting someone else. He was quoting these men with approval, but the fact still remains that these are not his own words. Thus, if Mr. Frazer wanted to accuse any of the key founders of never using the name of Christ, then he should focus on Wilson, but of course, James Wilson isn’t very well known and limiting the condemnation to him alone wouldn’t sell as many books. In any case, here are the two quotes from James Wilson:
“In this point,” says my Lord Bacon, “the rule holdeth, which was pronounced by an ancient father, touching the diversity of rites in the church; for finding the vesture of the queen in the psalm (who prefigured the church) was of divers colours; and finding again that Christ’s coat was without a seam, concludeth well, in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit.” (Lectures on Law)
“All infidels”—these are the expressions of my Lord Coke in the report of Calvin’s case—“all infidels are perpetual enemies; the law presumes not that they will be converted; between them, as with the devils, whose subjects they are, and the christian, there is perpetual hostility; and can be no peace;”—for he fortifies the favourite sentiment by a pleonasm: he goes farther—he attempts to fortify it by the language, tortured surely, of christianity itself. “Quae autem conventio Christi ad Belial; aut quae pars fideli cum infideli. [trans. And what agreement, pray, is there of Christ toward Belial; or what part has the faithful person in common with the infidel?]” (Lectures on Law)
And finally, we come to George Washington, and even in his writings, we discover a reference to Jesus as the Christ as well as a reference to Him as being divine. The reference to Jesus as Christ is found in a speech that Washington gave before the chiefs of the Delaware Indians in which he said:
You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast, that nothing shall ever be able to loose it. (Speech to the Delaware Chiefs, May 12, 1779)
Washington’s reference to Jesus as being divine comes from a letter that he sent to the governors of the states:
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. (Letter to the Governors, June 18, 1783)
Thus, we can clearly see that history records each of the eight of Frazer’s key founders referred to Jesus as the Christ at least once and some of them did so quite often. We can also see that Frazer knew about many of these instances because he referenced them in his own book on the founders. For Mr. Frazer to claim that these men did not use the name of Christ is very poor history. I hope that he will find the courage to admit his fault and refrain from making this claim in future presentations.
On March 6th of this year, Gregg spoke at the Shepherds’ Conference at Grace Community Church on the topic of “One Nation Under God: Today's Church and the Shocking Truth About the Founding of America.” About half an hour into his presentation, Gregg said:
Now, first of all, I want to point out “Jesus of Nazareth.” That was a way of emphasizing the humanity of Jesus. They didn’t talk about Jesus Christ. They didn’t talk about Christ. It was just Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth to emphasize His humanity.
The men that Mr. Frazer is referring to here are the founding fathers whom he identifies as the key founders of our nation. This list includes Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, James Wilson and George Washington. These are the men who supposedly never referred to Jesus as Christ, and yet, when we put Frazer’s claim to the test, we find that history records each of them using the name of Christ at least once and often more than once.
I’ll skip Jefferson’s references to Christ in this article since I wrote about them already in January, and I will begin instead with Benjamin Franklin. In Frazer’s book, The Religious Beliefs of America’s Founders, he specifically referenced Franklin’s written defense of Samuel Hemphill, and he claimed that, in this defense, Franklin “attacked the orthodox image of God.” However, in that same defense which Frazer apparently claims to have read, we find Franklin making the following statements about Jesus Christ:
Now the surest way to find out the End and Design of the Christian Revelation, or what View the Author of it had in coming into the World, is, to consult the Revelation itself. And he himself (the great and glorious Author) tells us, he came to call Sinners to Repentance; that is, not only to a hearty Concern for Sin, but to an actual Amendment and Reformation of what was amiss in their Conduct. And Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of Mankind, elsewhere gives us a full and comprehensive View of the Whole of our Religion, and of the main End and Design of the christian Scheme, when he says, thou shalt love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy Soul, and with all thy Mind, and thy Neighbour, as thyself, and he plainly tells us, that these are the most necessary and essential parts of God’s Law, when he adds, on these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets…
It wou’d be needless to quote any more Texts of Scripture to this Purpose; they are to be found in almost every Page of the New Testament. So that upon the whole, it may justly be concluded, that the main Design and ultimate End of the christian Revelation, or of Christ’s coming into the World, was to promote the Practice of Piety, Goodness, Virtue, and Universal Righteousness among Mankind, or the Practice of the moral Duties both with Respect to God and Man, and by these Means to make us happy here and hereafter. All the Precepts, Promises, Threatnings, positive Institutions, Faith in Jesus Christ, and all the Peculiarities and Discoveries in this Revelation tend to this End; and if God gives a Revelation to Mankind at all, it is this, and this only that can make it worthy of him…
Has Hemphill any where deny’d the Benefits of our Redemption by Christ, or the Assistances of the holy Spirit to all good Men in the Work of their Sanctification…?
But Hemphill is charg’d with denying the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ, and that too for preaching the Laws of Christ. Let us then consider what the Scripture Doctrine of this Affair is, and in a Word it is this: Christ by his Death and Sufferings has purchas’d for us those easy Terms and Conditions of our Acceptance with God, propos’d in the Gospel, to wit, Faith and Repentance: By his Death and Sufferings, he has assur’d us of God’s being ready and willing to accept of our sincere, tho’ imperfect Obedience to his reveal’d Will; By his Death and Sufferings he has atton’d for all Sins forsaken and amended, but surely not for such as are wilfully and obstinately persisted in. This is Hemphill’s Notion of this Affair, and this he has always preach’d; and he believes, ’tis what no wise Man will contradict.
Franklin’s defense of Samuel Hemphill is so inundated with references to Christ that we could fill several pages with them, but I will let these suffice to prove that Frazer knows for a fact that Benjamin Franklin had no objection to referring to Jesus as the Christ. For him to claim otherwise is extremely erroneous.
And Mr. Frazer is also lying when he includes John Adams in the list of founders who “didn’t talk about Christ.” On page 111 of his own book, Frazer actually provides a quote of the following entry from John Adams’s diary:
Major Greene this Evening fell into some conversation with me about the Divinity and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. All the Argument he advanced was, "that a mere creature, or finite Being, could not make Satisfaction to infinite justice, for any Crimes," and that "these things are very mysterious [sic]." Thus mystery is made a convenient Cover for absurdity. (Diary Entry, February 13, 1756)
It is not possible for Frazer to have been unaware of this quote when he claimed that Adams did not mention the name of Christ, for it is in his own citation in his own book. And this is nowhere near the only reference that John Adams made to Jesus Christ. His writings are replete with them. For example, the very next diary entry after the one quoted by Mr. Frazer includes this statement:
Very often shepherds that are hired to take care of their masters’ sheep go about their own concerns and leave the flock to the care of their dog. So bishops, who are appointed to oversee the flock of Christ, take the fees themselves but leave the drudgery to their dogs, that is, curates and understrappers. (Diary Entry, February 15, 1756)
Less than a month later, Adams mentioned Christ in another entry in his diary, and once again, this entry was actually quoted by Frazer in his book:
The great and Almighty author of nature, who at first established those rules which regulate the world, can as easily suspend those laws whenever his providence sees sufficient reason for such suspension. This can be no objection, then, to the miracles of Jesus Christ. (Diary Entry, March 2, 1756)
And in a letter that Frazer quotes on page 120, Adams again mentioned the name of Christ:
Priestley ought to have given us a sketch of the religion and morals of Zoroaster, of Sanchoniathon, of Confucius, and all the founders of religions before Christ, whose superiority would, from such a comparison, have appeared the more transcendent. (Letter to Jefferson, December 25, 1813)
Once again, these are just a few examples taken from a list of quotes that covers several pages. And once again, there is no way that Frazer could have been ignorant of these quotes when he said that the key founders did not use the name of Christ.
We do not have as many records of the writings of the remaining men on Frazer’s list, but even so, we still have records of each of them referring to Jesus as the Christ. For example, James Madison once wrote to William Bradford that:
I have sometimes thought there could not be a stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful departments and are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ; & I wish you may give in your evidence in this way. (Letter to William Bradford, September 25, 1773)
As for Alexander Hamilton, we know that Dr. John Mason was present with him just before his death, and he attested to the fact that he shared the Gospel with Hamilton and that Hamilton assured him that he was already a Christian. According to Dr. Mason, Hamilton said:
I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It should be noted here that, in his book, Mr. Frazer does admit that Hamilton was a Christian at the time of his death. However, he failed to make that distinction in his lecture when lumping Hamilton in with those whom he claimed did not speak of Christ.
Gouverneur Morris also referred to Jesus as Christ when he wrote:
I must mention that Thomas Paine is in prison, where he amuses himself with publishing a pamphlet against Jesus Christ. I do not recollect whether I mentioned to you, that he would have been executed along with the rest of the Brissotines, if the adverse party had not viewed him with contempt. I incline to think that, if he is quiet in prison, he may have the good luck to be forgotten. (Letter to Jefferson, January 21, 1794)
There are two recorded instances of James Wilson referring to Jesus as Christ, but both of them are cases in which he was quoting someone else. He was quoting these men with approval, but the fact still remains that these are not his own words. Thus, if Mr. Frazer wanted to accuse any of the key founders of never using the name of Christ, then he should focus on Wilson, but of course, James Wilson isn’t very well known and limiting the condemnation to him alone wouldn’t sell as many books. In any case, here are the two quotes from James Wilson:
“In this point,” says my Lord Bacon, “the rule holdeth, which was pronounced by an ancient father, touching the diversity of rites in the church; for finding the vesture of the queen in the psalm (who prefigured the church) was of divers colours; and finding again that Christ’s coat was without a seam, concludeth well, in veste varietas sit, scissura non sit.” (Lectures on Law)
“All infidels”—these are the expressions of my Lord Coke in the report of Calvin’s case—“all infidels are perpetual enemies; the law presumes not that they will be converted; between them, as with the devils, whose subjects they are, and the christian, there is perpetual hostility; and can be no peace;”—for he fortifies the favourite sentiment by a pleonasm: he goes farther—he attempts to fortify it by the language, tortured surely, of christianity itself. “Quae autem conventio Christi ad Belial; aut quae pars fideli cum infideli. [trans. And what agreement, pray, is there of Christ toward Belial; or what part has the faithful person in common with the infidel?]” (Lectures on Law)
And finally, we come to George Washington, and even in his writings, we discover a reference to Jesus as the Christ as well as a reference to Him as being divine. The reference to Jesus as Christ is found in a speech that Washington gave before the chiefs of the Delaware Indians in which he said:
You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do every thing they can to assist you in this wise intention; and to tie the knot of friendship and union so fast, that nothing shall ever be able to loose it. (Speech to the Delaware Chiefs, May 12, 1779)
Washington’s reference to Jesus as being divine comes from a letter that he sent to the governors of the states:
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation. (Letter to the Governors, June 18, 1783)
Thus, we can clearly see that history records each of the eight of Frazer’s key founders referred to Jesus as the Christ at least once and some of them did so quite often. We can also see that Frazer knew about many of these instances because he referenced them in his own book on the founders. For Mr. Frazer to claim that these men did not use the name of Christ is very poor history. I hope that he will find the courage to admit his fault and refrain from making this claim in future presentations.