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Subject: Christian Wills
From: KEVIN4VFT
To: Separation of Church & State
Date: 4/21/99
In article <19990419015136.22581.00002321@ng146.aol.com> edarr1776@aol.com (EDarr1776) writes:
>Justice Brewer claimed that, by law, wills in the U.S. made
mention of God,
>or somesuch.
No, his argument at this point was based on custom rather than laws, (although he cited
both). Here is the paragraph:
If we pass beyond these matters to a view of American life, as expressed by its laws,
its business, its customs, and its society, we find everywhere a clear recognition of the
same truth. Among other matters note the following: The form of oath universally
prevailing, concluding with an appeal to the Almighty; the custom of opening sessions of
all deliberative bodies and most conventions with prayer; the prefatory words of all
wills, "In the name of God, amen;" the laws respecting the observance of the
Sabbath, with the general cessation of all secular business, and the closing of courts,
legislatures, and other similar public assemblies on that day; the churches and church
organizations which abound in every city, town, and hamlet; the multitude of charitable
organizations existing everywhere under Christian auspices; the gigantic missionary
associations, with general support, and aiming to establish Christian missions in every
quarter of the globe. These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of
unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian
nation. In the face of all these, shall it be believed that a congress of the United
States intended to make it a misdemeanor for a church of this country to contract for the
services of a Christian minister residing in another nation?
[143 U.S. 457, 471]
>I noted: >>Fifth, wills in 1892 and wills now are not
prefaced
>with religious lines such as Brewer suggested. Where in the world did he get
>that? <<<
>
He might have gotten it from our nation's Treaty with Great Britian, Concluded At
Paris, September 3, 1783; Ratified By Congress, January 14, 1784; Proclaimed, January 14,
1784, which ended the War for Independence, and which begins,
IN the name of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity.
(Treaty With Great Britain, Harvard Classics (1910), Vol.43, p.185)
>Kevin said: >>My assumption is that Justice
Brewer and the justices who
>signed on
>to his opinion were aware of what the law was in 1892, and you are not.
>Certainly not without your posting some facts.>>
>
>You assume wrong. I've checked the law, I've checked the wills.
Just for
>good measure, I had the Library of Congress assemble about 50 representative
>wills of prominent people from the District of Columbia who died in 1891 or
>1892. Far more than a majority of them lacked the language Brewer claimed
>was in all of them.
But some of them did include that language. Many more at the time the Constitution
was ratified contained the language Brewer spoke of. And I suppose that it's "just
too bad" that your buddy at the Library of Congress will not extend that same
courtesy to any readers of this Board -- especially Theocrats who want to verify your
claim -- and so we're all going to just have to take your word for it.
Perhaps Justice Brewer was thinking about statements in the wills of the Founding Fathers,
such as these:
First and principally, I commit my Soul unto Almighty God.
DAVID BREARLEY, SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION
To the eternal and only true God be all honor and glory now and forever. Amen!
CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION
Principally and first of all, I recommend my soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and
my body I commit to the dust relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all
my sins.
SAMUEL ADAMS SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
My soul I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are all over
His works, who hateth nothing that He hath made, and to the justice and wisdom of whose
dispensations I willingly and cheerfully submit, humbly hoping from His unbounded mercy
and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins.
GEORGE MASON, FATHER OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth
in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other
kindnessess, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy
through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.
JOHN DICKINSON, SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION
l resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty who gave it in humble hopes of his mercy
through our Savior Jesus Christ.
GABRIEL DUVALL, SELECTED AS DELEGATE TO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, U. S. SUPREME COURT
JUSTICE
[T]hanks be given unto Almighty God therefore, and knowing that it is appointed for all
men once to die and after that the judgment, [Hebrews 9:27] . . . principally, I
give and recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God who gave it and my body to the
earth to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner . . . to receive the same again
at the general resurrection by the mighty power of God.
JOHN HART, SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give
them one which will make them rich indeed
PATRICK HENRY
Unto Him who is the author and giver of all good, I render sincere and humble thanks for
His manifold and unmerited blessings, and especially for our redemption and salvation by
his beloved Son.... Blessed be his holy name.
JOHN JAY, ORIGINAL CHIEF-JUSTICE U.S. SUPREME COURT
With an awful reverence to the Great Almighty God, Creator of all mankind, being sick and
weak in body but of sound mind and memory, thanks be given to Almighty Cod for the Same.
JOHN MORTON, SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
I am constrained to express my adoration of the Supreme Being. the Author of my existence,
in full belief of His Providential goodness and His forgiving mercy revealed to the world
through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state.
ROBERT TREAT PAINE, SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
Firstly I commit my Soul into the hands of God, its great and benevolent author, JOSIAH
BARTLETT, SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
And as my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument and may
probably be particularly impressed with the last words of their father, I think it proper
here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the
Christian religion, such as the being of God, the universal defection and depravity of
human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased
by the blessed Saviour, the necessity of the operations of the Divine Spirit; of Divine
faith accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the Divine
Providence: but also, in the bowels of a father's affection, to exhort and charge them
that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the
Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that an be enjoyed in this
mortal state.
RICHARD STOCKTON, SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION
Perhaps Justice Brewer was reflecting on the fact that over the nearly half century he
served his country on the bench he had seen a marked decline in the Christian faith in
America, including statements like the Founders had made in their wills, and he hoped by
his opinion in Holy Trinity and his university lectures which made up his book, The
United States: A Christian Nation, to reverse that trend.
Justice Brewer surely knew what Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Friedman stated in
his History of American Law:
Shakespeare's will begins with the words: "In the name of God Amen . . . I commend
my soul into the hands of God my creator . . . and my body to the earth whereof it is
made." The will of Henry Simpson, executed in Maine in 1648, begins as follows:
"In the name of God Amen. I, Henry Simpson . . . Doe make this my last will and
testament . . . . First commending my soule to God that gave it . . . And my body to
Christian buriall."
Thousands of colonial wills have survived. They shed a great deal of light on colonial
society.
(NY: Simon & Schuster, 1973, p. 59)
> >I can only conclude that Brewer's practice at the time
did not include wills,
>though he certainly should have seen many of them during his days as a notary
>in Kansas.
To say nothing of his tenure as Judge of the Probate and Criminal Court, and his service
for 46 years in various judicial capacities, including the First Judicial District of
Kansas, the Kansas Supreme Court (1870-1884) and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
>Wills are legal documents, not religious ones.
Once again, we are forced to take Ed's word for it, for he never gives us any footnotes.
Webster (1829) defines "will" as:
8. Testament; the disposition of a man's estate, to take effect after his death. Wills
are written, or nuncupative, that is, verbal. Blackstone.
Black's Law Dictionary (4th ed.) cites the case of Occidental Life Ins.
Co. v. Powers, 114 A.L.R. 531 to establish the fact that
The common usage the world over is to employ the words "will,"
"testament," and "last will and testament" as exactly synonymous.
Our Bibles contain two parts: the "Old Testament" and the "New
Testament." They contain the disposition of God's estate to those who have been
adopted into His Household. That the "will" was religious long before it was
simply "legal" (i.e., secular) is attested by Blackstone, well known for his
influence on the Founding Fathers (as evidenced by their own wills, above, and other
examples of their laws based on Biblical revelation):
Antiquity of Wills. -- Testaments are of very high antiquity. We find them in
use among the ancient Hebrews. . . . But (to omit what Eusebius and others have related of
Noah's testament, made in writing and witnessed under his seal, whereby he
disposed of the whole world) I apprehend that a much more authentic instance of the early
use of testaments may be found in the sacred writings, [Gen. c. 48 {sic.: should be
"l"}] wherein Jacob bequeaths to his son Joseph a portion of his inheritance
double to that of his brethren: which will we find carried into execution many hundred
years afterwards, when the posterity of Joseph were divided into two distinct tribes,
those of Ephraim and Manasseh, and had two several inheritances assigned to them; whereas
the descendants of each of the other patriarchs formed only one single tribe, and had only
one lot of inheritance.
II:491-92
A man's children or nearest relations are usually about him on his death-bed, and are the
earliest witnesses of his decease. They become therefore generally the next immediate
occupants, till at length in process of time this frequent usage ripened into general law.
And therefore, also, in the earliest ages, on failure of children, a man's servants born
under his roof were allowed to be his heirs; being immediately on the spot when he died.
For, we find the old patriarch Abraham expressly declaring, that "since God had given
him no seed, his steward Eliezer, one born in his house, was his heir." [Gen. xv, 3.]
II:12-13
I don't have my old law school text on wills, otherwise I'm sure I could quote more on
the religious origin of the will/testament.
Don't substitute Ed's wishful thinking for facts.
>Brewer should have known
>this, apparently didn't, and that calls into question much of the other
>bluster he offers.
Talk about "bluster." Ed's footnoteless assertions would make Brewer and
Blackstone turn over in their graves.
>Ed
Get the facts, Ed.
Kevin C.
The Ten
Commandments in American History
---------------------------------------------
And they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and sit under their Vine & Fig Tree.
Micah 4:1-7
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