Like everything else, words and dictionaries change meanings over time. To better understand our first U.S. President's definite acknowledgment of God in his letter to Pennsylvania's Speaker of the House, one must understand his use of the capitalized title he used for God ... "Providence". I have witnessed in my 88 years the gradual changing of English word meanings since my youth. For instance, the word 'vulgar' once meant common but now is used to mean 'nasty'. To speak or write my thoughts as accurately as I can, my years have bred in me an appreciation for the oldest dictionaries available to me. Since I can't seek them out in libraries, I use the oldest one I have which is 65 years old which I bought in my early twenties in Seminary. It is Webster's 7th addition since 1916. This 'Collegiate Dictionary' is old but defines words more nearly to their original meanings than newer versions. This is important because our Founding Fathers used words like 'Providence', capitalized, meaning 'God' during their lifetimes. Orthodox Jews still dare not speak the word God or write it except as G_D. Even the word Jehovah, translated from the Hebrew word YHVH or JHVH, which is unpronounceable, needs three added vowels to pronounce it... YAHOVEH. This may be the reason many early Americans referred to God as 'Providence' with a Capital 'P', a title for God.
My old worn and tattered Webster's defines the word 'Providence' as, The act of God providing and preparing for us by Divine guidance and care through prudence and good habits. God perceived of as guiding men through his prescience, loving care or intervention. I combined four sentences into two.
I give that introduction to clarify Washington's use of this common reference to Jehovah God 231 years ago in America, since that word is seldom used today.
This Article From FOX News
George Washington's Letter On God
And The Constitution Surfaces
A letter on God and the Constitution written by George Washington is up for sale after spending decades in a private collection.
The letter to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania House, is signed Sept. 7, 1788, and praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
Written a week after Washington told Alexander Hamilton that he would likely accept calls to assume the presidency, the letter came at a time when the Constitution was under attack. Some states wanted to hold a second Convention that may have undermined the Constitution.
“It would seem from the public Gazettes that the Minority in your State are preparing for another attack of the – now – adopted Government; how formidable it may be; I know not,” Washington wrote. “But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavors of the well meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis.”
The letter praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution The letter praises God for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution (The Raab Collection)
The letter, which is priced at $140,000, is up for sale at Ardmore, Pa.-based historical document dealer The Raab Collection.
“Washington, who was the General in Chief of the Continental Army during the war and President of the Constitutional Convention makes a remarkable statement in this powerful letter: his victory in battle and his stewardship over the Convention that led to our Constitution came with the guiding influence of a higher power,” said Nathan Raab, President of the Raab Collection, in a statement.
The letter was written to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania Constitution. (The Raab Collection) The letter was written to Richard Peters, speaker of the Pennsylvania Constitution. (The Raab Collection) Washington artifacts have attracted plenty of attention in recent memory. A lock of the founding father’s hair, for example, was recently sold at auction for $35,000.
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My Comment:
Our First President's reference to God, the Constitution, and "the honest endeavors of the well meaning part of the People of this Country" testifies clearly that though much has changed, one thing that has not is the obnoxious presence of the hellion element always opposed to God and the Constitution. And, thank God there are also still more courageous, Constitutional and God loving patriots standing firmly for right.
“But that Providence which has hitherto smiled on the honest endeavors of the well meaning part of the People of this Country will not, I trust, withdraw its support from them at this crisis.”
It is part and parcel of the same old Luciferic Battle Of The Ages between good and evil. RB
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