James Madison And The Cruciality of Free Exercise of Our Duty To The Creator.
By Leonardo Johnson
“If Men were angels, no government would be necessary.” this is a famous quote from James Madison, Jr. (1751-1836) regarding the risks and threats of men in political power without checks and balances. James Madison Jr. born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia was the eldest son to his parents—Nelly Conway Madison and James Madison. Little did they know that their son would hold an influential role in the founding of the United States of America.
Sir Chevalier De La Luzerne, French minister to the United States “regarded (James Madison) as the man of the soundest judgment in Congress.” With Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, James Madison penned, The Federalist Papers, advocating and defining the constitution to the people. Together, they successfully promoted the ratification of the United States Constitution. James Madison’s efforts in the drafting and ratifying of the United States Constitution earned him the title, “Father of the Constitution.”
Furthermore, James Madison served as the Fourth President of the United States and successfully led the nation through the War of 1812. Guided with biblical principles, James Madison was a remarkably influential founding father of the American nation. James Madison understood the desperate deceitfulness and wickedness of man, which impelled him to elucidate the cruciality in the separation of governmental powers and the free exercise of our duty to our Creator.
"James Madison understood the desperate deceitfulness and wickedness of man, which impelled him to elucidate the cruciality in the separation of governmental powers and the free exercise of our duty to our Creator."
“The accumulation of all powers [of government]…in the same hands…[is] the very definition of tyranny,” Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers. The Bible warns that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV). James Madison understood the biblical teaching that man is sinful and inherently evil. His application of this knowledge led to the advocation of a government that was strong enough to keep in check men’s passions but yet capable of restraining itself. He believed in a government, whose powers are limited by a constitution, separated among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and furthermore divided and balanced among the national and state level. He saw to it that political power was not held in the hands of one or by everyone. Rather political power was separated to provide check and balances against men’s wickedness. Through the biblical view that Men is inherently sinful, James Madison advocated the separation of powers in government.
James Madison realized that one’s worship to the Creator should be left to one to decide.
“That Religion or the duty we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, being under the direction of reason and conviction only, not of violence or compulsion, all men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of it according to the dictates of Conscience.”
James Madison saw to it that the Bill of Rights was ratified along to the Constitution. Among the Bill of Rights was the establishment clause which stated, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" James Madison was a strong advocate of the above amendment. He endorsed the institutional separation of the Church and State. He believed that the government should not establish a state church or give preference to a particular religion or denomination. James Madison understood that it was meaningless to force true worship. True worship is a matter of the heart and personal will.
James Madison believed that every man had a duty to fulfill to our Creator.
“The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate.…what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator…Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe” - James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments (1785).
James Madison believed that Men’s duty to God was key to his duties to his country. He understood that the source of government’s authority comes from the Governor of the Universe and that the Law of God is higher than the law of man. James Madison advocated that the free exercise of our duties to our Creator is crucial to the development of a free society.
James Madison advocated the separation of government powers and the free exercise of religion. Guided by the biblical understanding that men are inherently flawed, James Madison understood the dangers of leaving men with political powers unchecked. He supported the free exercise of religion so that one might be able to truly fulfill their personal obligations to the Creator from the heart. James Madison might be disappointed, yet not surprised to see the diminishing influence of biblical values in public life today. Man’s nature is indeed inherently sinful, and the diminishing influence of biblical values are a testimony to this fact.
Footnotes:
Federalist Papers No. 51 https://billofrightsinstitute.org/founding-documents/primary-source-documents/the-federalist-papers/federalist-papers-no-51/
The Life of James Madison https://www.montpelier.org/learn/the-life-of-james-madison
James Madison The Nationalist 1780-1787 by Irving Brant
Federalist Papers No. 47 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed47.asp
Madison’s Amendments to the Declaration of Rights, [29 May–12 June 1776] https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0054-0003
James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions43.html
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