What are the similarities of the early church and the well-organized militia in early America? How were the needy cared for with no central government?
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[00:43:52] One of the things that people talk about… this freedom of religion… and religion, of course, is mentioned by John Adams in this quote… religion at the time John Adams mentioned that quote… the United States government was not in the welfare business at all. There were no benefactors that exercise authority handing out Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, food stamps… that was not coming from the government. As a matter of fact, the few times the government tried to do that in Washington DC, they were called out by the people… That’s not the job of government. Go read our article on Davy Crockett which you can also find at PreparingYou. Find out what Davy Crockett thought of the idea of government being in the welfare business. When he was a congressman.
Because I want you to see what context John Adams is writing this letter in. This letter he wrote on October 11, 1798. And he was writing to an officer of the Massachusetts militia. Now, people don’t understand militia today. If you went to public school you probably don’t understand a lot of things. If you’re between the ages of 17 and 45 and a citizen of the United States, you’re already a member of the militia. You don’t want to sign up for anything. That’s the law. I’m not making it up… between 17 and 45 and a citizen of the United States, you’re a member of the militia. The militia is the ones who built the first public schools in Massachusetts. That was Jefferson’s idea. He wanted to make it law, but they said we don’t need to make it a law. We’re already doing it. And so it wasn’t passed.
But the militias were built… And what of the militias? Voluntary army of people who would do these things. They’re just your neighbors doing these things. Well, anyway, he’s writing to an officer because you have a right to a well-regulated militia. That doesn’t mean a militia that’s regulated by the government. It’s regulated by you. Because you’re the government of the people, for the people, by the people.
What’s a militia? You’ve got a platoon. You’ve got four platoons and then you make a company. And then, you know, then you get several companies together and you make a battalion. But you’re supposed to be doing this from the ground up. And not just doing it… You know, go about there and fight some battle. You don’t have to carry a gun.
I mean, there’s an Oregan militia over here in White City and Eagle Point, reaches over to Grants Pass and stuff. I mean, they’ve done things like expose that the county commissioners were taking bribes. And they exposed insurance fraud. And they exposed the fact that there was a criminal hanging out with a local newspaper saying that he was one person when he was actually another. They weren’t out marching around with guns in the woods. I mean, they probably did do that sometimes… they are probably all hunters.
But the militia was the voluntary people in the community that were going to be attending to the weightier matters. What’s the weightier matters? Well, what did Christ say the weightier matters was? Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. In other words, they were out there protecting the rights of their neighbors. And, you know, if you couldn’t afford education for your kids, they were building schools and paying teachers out of their own pocket to make it available to your kids could get an education. They knew it was your responsibility as a parent, but if you couldn’t meet the grade… maybe just didn’t make enough money, maybe you were in poor health, whatever. Maybe you had some bad luck. They were out there volunteering to make it happen. This is what was making America great.
It wasn’t the Constitution. The Constitution was written to keep the government from meddling in things like this. Which is religion. Christ said… He condemned the Pharisees because they weren’t attending to the weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy, and faith. That’s part of the religion of Christ. Religion was how you took care of the needy of your society. Now those people couldn’t afford education for their kids… you helped them. You did it voluntarily… as a group. Well-organized group voluntarily helping one another. That’s the key to a free nation.
And just to get onto it really quick here, I’ll read it in the context of what he actually wrote this head of the militia: “But should the people of America once become capable of that deep stimulation towards one another and towards foreign nations which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance…” That’s where we’re at. Iniquity is coveting your neighbor’s goods. Extravagance is living beyond your means.
So anyway, we were reading this letter by John Quincy Adams to the 1st or 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Division of the militia in Massachusetts.
Now, this is not appointed from the top down. This is appointed from the bottom up. This is the militia. This is the well-organized army of the people who are already sitting down in the tens hundreds and thousands. Because they actually used tithings back then… 10 families. Now, the exact number is irrelevant. But the point is, small groups would get together. And then they connect themselves with other groups. And those groups connect themselves with other groups in an organized fashion in ranks. That’s what Christ says. That we’re supposed to sit down in ranks of 10, and ranks of 100, and ranks of 50 in order to take 5000 men and their families and organize them so that they can act as a body. But they’re organizing from the bottom up, not from the top down. They’re not like when they elected Saul… he was going to appoint them from the top. You pick them from the bottom. Now the apostles were supposed to make the people organize in this fashion. We see Peter doing the same thing. He says look out amongst yourselves, you pick the menu trust, and then we will appoint them over this business.
Now, in that particular case, that wasn’t the tens hundreds and thousands. That was the seven that you were supposed to pick that they mention both in the Old and New Testament. And they had a particular role to play. But the principle of the fact is that you had to pick them. And then we appoint them because they’re actually doing church work. They’re actually providing a service to the church so the church can do the religious—pious performance of a religious duty—which is to take care of the needy of society. That’s why Peter was asked, “What are we gonna do here, because some of the needy of society are getting neglected in Greece.” And he says, “Okay, well, we have to get funds from here to Greece sometimes when they have a real problem there. How do we do it?” Well, we pick seven men. Actually, the Old Testament says, “pick seven men, even eight.” And this is to help with these calamities where you have problems in other areas that the locals cannot meet. And you have to be able to do that. We should be doing that. We know how to do that but you aren’t sitting down in the tens hundreds and thousands yet the way you should be. Because you’re all out there following your own personal doctrines or the doctrines of some preacher you believe in rather than believe in Christ.
