2007 Issue 4-5 - The First Charter of Virginia: Seedbed for the Nation - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - The First Charter of Virginia: Seedbed for the Nation - Counsel of Chalcedon

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The First Charter ofVirginia Seedbedfor the NationIIerbeTt tv Titus I D } lvIarch 6, 2 7

We gather this evening justone-half mile from historicJamestown Island, Virginia,to celebrate the 37Sthanniversary year of HenricusColledge (1619), Inc.

While it was not tintil July 31,1619, that the Colledge wasauthorized by the VirginiaGeneral Assembly, t is mostfitting to commemorate itsbirth on April 9 1994. Fortomorrow, April 10, is the388th anniversary day of theFirst Charter authorizingthe founding of the colony ofVirginia.

Without the founding of thecolony, there would obviouslyhave been no college. But theconnection between the two isfar closer than that. Both werefounded with the single purposeof winning the native peoples ofVirginia to Christ.

The 1606 Charter was securedfrom King James I by thefounders of the London andPlimouth companies ~ t omakeHabitation, Plantation, and todeduce a colony of our peopleinto that part of Americacommonly called Virginia, andother parts and Territories inAmerica either appertainingto us, or which are not nowactually possessed by anyChristian Prince or People ...

After describing a geographicalarea stretching from theAtlantic to the Pacific coasts,and on a line south to theCarolinas and north as far asMaine, the Charter turned tothe founders' pUrpose and theKing's acceptance of it:

We, greatly o m ~ e n d i n gandgraciously accept ing of, their:Desires for the Furtherance ofso noble a Work, w:p.ich may,by the Providence of AlmightyGod, hereafter tend to theGlory of his Divine Majesty,in propagating of ChristianReligion to such People, as

yet live in Darkness andmiserable Ignorance of thetrue Knowledge and Worship of

God, and may in time bring theInfidels and Savages, living inthose parts to human Civility,and to a settled and quietGovernment.-[1]

So the expressed purpose,and the only one written inthe Charter, was to establishcolonies in the new World as aChristian evangelical wi tnessto the native peoples. And itwas pursuant to that purposethat the Virginia GeneralAssembly, in 1619 authorizedthe establishment of HenricusColledge.

Two days after the Assemblyacted to create the Colledge,it set forth its purpose as

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~ l a y i n ga surer foundation ofthe oonversion of the Indiansto Christian Religion." To thatend, the Assel11bly requiredthat eaoh oity, borough,and plantation "obtain unto

thel11selves by just means acertain nUl11ber of the natives'children to be educated bythel11 in true religion and civilecourse of life .."

Finally the Assel11bly expressedthe hope that from these nativechildren S0111e would be "fitted[so that] fr0111 thence theymay be sente to that worke ofconversion" of thei r own people.[2]

Less than three years after

the Virginia Assel11bly acted,the bui lding of the Colledgewas underway on a large tractof land in the new settlementof Henrioo, just up the Jal11esRiver fr0111 the Jamestowncolony. But it was cut short,never to be o0111pleted at itsoriginal site, eventually to bedevolved into the College of'VilliaIll and Mary in 1693.

While this effort to take thegospel to the native Al11erioanpeople failed, and while thegeneral effort to Chr istianizethel11 also l11et with littlesuooess, the purpose of Virginiacolony and Henricus Colledgerel11ains as a testal11ent thatAmerioa as a nation owes herbirth to the Great Con1111ission.

The Great Con1111issionJust before Jesus ascendedinto heaven to the Father, Hegave these instructions to theChurch:

Go ye ..and teach all nations,baptizing thenl in the nal11e ofthe Father, and of the on, and ofthe Holy Ghost: Teaching thenlto observe all things whatsoeverI have oon1111anded you: and 10,I anl with you always, even untothe end of the world. Amen.(Matthew 18:19 20)

Popularly known as the GreatCon1111ission, this passagehas inspired and motivated

M ahing the Nations GhTist s isdples

Christians throughout theoenturies to take the gospel ofChrist to all nations. Christianliterature is paoked withtestimonies of l11issionariespenetrating a I ~ o f fjungles,

climbing high 111ountQins,enduring hot deserts, andsurviving icy terrain undergreat haTdship and withincredible saorifioe, even oftheir very lives.

Not only have Christiansdefied the elel11ents, but theyhave taken the gospel l11essageinto nations against the lawsand the desires of the leadersof those nations. They havepreached and taught, printedand dissel11inated-and even

snluggled - the 'Vord of God inviolation of the rules.

By what authority haveChristians done these things?Does the end justify the l11eans?God forbid Christ has "allpower . .in heaven and in earth(Matthew 28:18) and, therefore,the Churoh has authority fr0111the King of Kings to take thel11essage of Christ to all nations.She need obtain consent fr0111no earthly ruler.

Paul's missionary journeysin the R0111an El11pire areillustrative of this overarchingauthority. At no tit11e didhe or his c0111panions seekpen11ission fr0111 any oivil rulerto take the gospel l11essage toany area. That authority CaI11eexclusively fr0111 God throughthe Holy Spirit (E.g., Acts 13and 14).

Nor were Paul and hiso0111panions deterred by

charges that the gospel l11essageviolated R0111an law (E.g., Acts16:19-22), including the ohargethat he had violated the sal11elaw by which Christ had beenoharged and convioted, namely,that there was only one king,Caesar (Aots 17:7 and John19:12, 15-16).

No wonder they were aooused ofturning the world upside, down(Acts 17:6). The very act of

The li'iTSt Oha'rteT qf V lrgin'ia

taking the gospel l11essage intoa nation without pen11issionwas considered illegal, beoausethe nations' leaders claiInedall power and authority forthel11selves.

But Jesus had taught theearly Churoh well. Paul andhis l11issionary brethrenrel11el11bered to render untoCaesar only that whiohbelonged to Caesar (Luke20:25). And they knew that Godhad prOVided through the HolySpirit the power to live thattruth in a hostil e politioal world(Aots 4:18-20, 23-33; 5:27-29,40-42).

Afte r all, the Lord Jesus Christ

was now at the right hand ofthe Father and the nations wereunder His oon1111and as thePsah11ist testified;

Why do the heathen rage,and the people iInagine a vainthing? The kings of the earthset thel11selves, and the rulerstake counsel togethelj againstthe Lord and against 11isanointed, saying Let us breaktheir bands asunder, and oastaway their oords fr0111 us. Hethat sitteth in the heavens shalllaugh; the Lord shall have thel11in derision ... (Psah11s 2:1-4).

All the Churoh needed to dowas aot upon this pr0111ise and,by the Providenoe of God, thenations would be hers:

Ask of l11e, and I shall givethee the heathen for thineinheritanoe, and the utten110stparts of the earth for theypossession Psah11 2:8).

In the first oentury after Christ,the Churoh asked and the Lordgave, for by the fourth oenturyeven the l11ighty R0111an Enlpirehad bowed her knee to theLord. [3]Colonies for Christ

Thirteen hundred years later,the Church was on the l11arohagain, this tit11e aoross thel11ighty Atlantic Ocean into theNew'Vorld. Ready to endure

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The irst Cha rter of VirgInia

hardship and to risk their livesand fortunes, Christian peoplesettled along the coast northto Massachusetts and south toGeorgia.

The 1606 Virginia Charterprovided ample authorityfor all these various colonialenterprises, as they allwere undertaken within thegeographic area set forth in thatdocument. t is instructive tonot, however, that all but one ofthe original thirteen coloniesfound as its purpose the GreatCommission.

On November 11, 1620, thePilgrims penned the MayflowerCompact acknowledging thatthey had undertaken for theGlory of God, and Advancementof the Christian faith, andthe Honour of our King andCountry, a Voyage to plant thefirst Colony in the northernParts of Virginia [4]

Nine years later, the Puritansobtained permission fromKing Charles to found theMassachusetts Bay colonywith the following statement ofpurpose:

[W]hereby our said Peoplemay be soe religiously,peaceablie, and civillygoverned, as their good Lifeand orderlie Conversation maiewynn and incite the Natives ofCountry, to the Knowledge andObedience of the on ie trueGod and Sauior of Makinde,and the Christian faith, whichin our Royall intencon, and theAdventurers free Profession,is the principall Ende of thisPlantation 5]

In 1632, the Lord Baltimore,a roman Catholic, obtainedfrom King Charles a Charterfor Maryland. That Charter,like the ones before it, recitedthat the colonial enterprisewas animated with a laudable,and pious zeal for extendingthe Christian Religion .in aCountry hitherto uncultivatedand partly occupied by Savages,having no knowledge of the

Divine Being [6]

Even the Rhode Island andProvidence Plantations Charterof 1663, obtained by RogerWilliams recited as its purpose,

not just the desire for religiousfor himself and his fellowsettlers, but the gaining overand conversione of the pooreignorant Indian natives tothe sincere professione andobedience of the [Christian]faith and worship [7]

In the same year the Carolinaswere chartered and eightyears later, Pennsylvania. Inboth documents, the colonistsrecited their desire to propagatethe Christian religion by theirexample of civil order and loveof God.

These Charters accounted forseven of the original thirteencolonies. Of the remainingsix, five - Connecticut,New Hampshire, New Jersey,Delaware, and Georgia-werecarved out of territories ofthree of the six, MassachusettsBay, Pennsylvania, and theCarolinas. Only New York,which traced its origin tothe 1633 Charter of the NewNetherlands, did not rest on theGreat Commission, althoughthe original charter included aparagraph urging the colonists

to find out ways and meanswhereby they may support a .Minister that thus the serviceof God and zeal for religion notgrow cooL. .

So whether it was the Anglicansof Virginia, the Puritans ofNew England, the Catholics ofMaryland, the Presbyterians of

the Carolinas, the Separatist ofRhode Island or the Quakersof Pennsylvania-relianceupon Christ's commissionto the church united themall. This is, first of all,significant historically andeschatalogically, becauseit provides indisputabledocumentary evidence that thereal purpose for the colonizingof America was a missionaryone, to extend the Christian

faith to a people that did notknow God.

Undoubtedly, many who cameto America were not motivatedby this noble purpose. And,

because of hardship and ofnative resistance to the gospelmessage, those who came withthat purpose oftentimes failedto carry it out.

NotWithstanding the failuresof men - and they are far toonumerous to list here - Godhas honored the dedicationof America's e arly foundersby sending revival to Americageneration after generation andby establishing her as a greatestmissionary nation that theworld has ever know.

But the recitation of the GreatCommiss ion is also importantpolitically and legally, for it hasprOVided the only foundationupon which the United Statesof America may claim itslegitimacy as a nation.

Christian Civil Governme nt

In contrast with the earlymissionary efforts of Pauland the other apostles, themissionary outreach to Americathrough the Colonial Chartersdid not seek to evangelizethe native peoples solely byindividual conversion throughthe presentation of Christ aspersonal Savior.

Rather, the colonist sought towin the Indians to Christianityby es tablishin g civil societieson Biblical principles, expectingthat by the Providence of Godthrough their example of asettled and quiet government,

the native pe oples wouldbecome convinced to livein like manner. The 1606Virginia Charter was the firstto establish this as the primarymethod of evangelizing theIndians. Upon landing in thenorthern parts of Virginia, thePilgrims put that method intooperation with the MayflowerCompact:

In the name of God, Amen.

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The F irst Charter o Virginia

the theological basis for it. Asthe Scriptures affirmed theright of believers to associateand covenant to form a church,so the people have a right toassociate and covenant to forma civil government. They putthat theology into practicewith the Mayflower Com pact,forming a local self-governingcolony before disembarkingfrom the Mayflower. [15]

So the claim of royalprerogative in colonialAmerica was checkmated.Local legislative assemblieswith power to govern becamecommonplace throughoutthe Englis h colonies. The

1618 Ordinances for Virginialed the way, establ ishing twocouncils. One of the councilswas to be composed of menappointed by the King, withexecutive and judicial power.But legislative power wasconferred on the GeneralAssembly, composed of the firstcouncil and two Burgessesout of every Town, Hundred, orother particular Plantation, tobe respectfully chosen by theInhabitants [16]

Future Charters would includ eprovisio n for at least onebranch of the local legislativeassembly to be elected fromthe governed, although localself-government did not comewithout a struggle. [17]

By the mid-seventeenthcentury, however, covenantself-government began topredominate in Virginiaand in New England, as bestevidenced by the FundamentalOrders of Connecticut of 1639,heralded by modern students ofAmerican history as the oldesttruly political Constitution inAmerica. [18]

The Preamble to that documentprovides irrefutable evidence ofthe Biblical origin of covenantself-government in America:

For as much as it hath pleasedAlmighty God by the wisedisposi tion of his divine

providence so to order anddispose of things that we arenow dwelling upon the Riverof Connectecotte and wellknowing where a people aregathered together the word ofGod requires that to maintainthe peace and union of sucha people there should be anorderly and decent Governmentestablished according to Goddo therefore associate andconjoin ourselves to be as onePublic State to maintain andpreserve the liberty and purityof the Gospel of our LordJesus [19]

So the right self-government byconsent of the governed became

established in America throughthe local legislative bodiesunder each of the colonialcharters. Those bodies, in turn,were commissioned by thepeople to govern in accordancewith the laws of God, as theywere enforceable in the civilorder.

William Penn developed thispoint in his 1682 Frame ofGovernment of Pennsylvania.Quoting from 1 Timothy 1:8-9and Romans 13:, the Prefaceto that document affirmed theduty of the civil magistrate torule according to law was apart of religion itself, a thingsacred in its institution andend. [20]

As for the end of civilgovernment, Penn claimedthat whatever the form ofgovernment - monarchy,aristocracy, or democracy- good government exis ted

where the laws rule, and itspeople are a party to thoselaws. f the rule of law didnot prevail, then there wouldbe tyranny, oligarchy, orconfusion. [21]

Lesser Civil MagistratesThis Biblical understandingof the purpose of governmentreinforced the 1606 VirginiaCharter commitment to thepreservation of the rightsof Englishmen. With thatcommitment firmly established

in the Charters , and with localrepresentative assembliesfirmly in place, the stagewas set for the momentousencounters between theAmerican colonist and theEnglish Parliament whichwould lead eventually to theindepen dence of the UnitedStates of America.

f there was a battle cry ofthe Amer ican Revolution,it was no taxation withoutrepresentation. From 1765,when the Stamp Act Congresscalled for the repeal of certaintaxes impo sed by Parliamenton the colonies, to 1776,when the Congress declar ed

America's independence,America's leaders claim ed that,as Englishmen, they couldbe taxed only by their localrepresentative in assemblies.

John Adams and others tracedthis right first to the MagnaCarta, the thirteenth centurycharter that had become thefountain head of the rightsof Englishmen. [22] Later,when Adams and his fellowpatriots claimed that the rightof the people to be taxed bytheir representatives was notonly one of the rights of anEnglishman, but a right of thepeople in all free governments.[23]

t was one thing to claim theright, it was quite another toact upon that claim. Withoutquestion, the Americancolonists could have refus ed topay any tax levied upon themby the English Parliament. Inrefusing to pay such a tax, theywould have made the sameappeal as had the early Churchin Acts 5:29: We ought to obeyGod and not men.

But disobedience was not thesame as armed resistance.To take up arms against acivil ruler was not covered bythe example of the Churchchronicled in the Book of Acts.

Adams sought supportelsewhere and found it in a

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sixteenth century politioaltraot, Vindioiae ContraTyrannos written by a FrenchHuguenot. Drawing on JohnCalvin's exegesis of Romans13 where Calvin denied tothe individual the right to

resist an ungodly ruler, butgranted such right to a Hlessermagistrate, the Vindioiaewas utilized in Anlerioa tosupport the proposition that thecolonial assemblies, as lessermagistrates, had the right tocall people to armed resistanoeto English tyranny. [24]

Had the colonist not formedthese local assel11blies as theirpreferred l11eans for carryingout the Great Conl111ission,this clainl would not havebeen possible. The Deolarationof Independenoe oould nothave been written, for it wasinsoribed by men who aotedon behalf of the people as theirrepresentatives. And without aclah11 of right to take up an11Sto resist George III and theEnglish Parliament, the peoplewould not have rallied to therevolutionary oause.

Conclusion

When the founders of Virginiawrote the 1606 Charter,they could not have knownthe events that would unfoldin the next 170 years. Bythe Providenoe of God theyaoted in such a way as to laythe seedbed for Al11erioanindependenoe and liberty. Ifthat independenoe and libertyis to be preserved, we nUlstreturn to the godly prinoiples ofthe Great Conu11ission lest GodWithdraw His graoe and l11ercyfrol11 us.

A1 ticle originally publishedin 'Tlw Forecast, Vol. 1, No . .14Ap1'i115, 1994. Reprinted 'l.q ithpenn1:ssioft.

1 Richard L . Pe1TY, e d i t O l ~SOU-Toes of U T LiberNes(Ohicago; Illinois, ABA.FC)1tndation, 1978), pp. 39-40.(HeTeinajte1' cited as SouToes.)

1I1cJ,k,ing the Nations Gh1 ist's Diseiples

2. Sus(xrl,1I1yra Kingsln(1)',edit01; Records qf the VirfJir/,iaCompa11;Yof London, \lof. 3(Wt.xshington D.C.: Govermnenf:Printing Q{fi.ce, 1933), pp. 161,. 1 6 S ~ 6 6 .

3. lVill Durant Caesa?' andChrist; (Ne'w York, N J ~Shnonand Schuster, 1944), pp. 6 4 6 ~64.

4. SOU1-oes, p. 60.

5. Sources, p. 95.

6. Sou:rces, p. ,lOS.

7. Sou,Tces, p. 169.

8. Sources, p. 60.

9. Sources, pp. 93-94.

.10. See Ruben 0. Alva:rado,Viotoria/s Ne 1.J()World Orde1;

(Jontra Mundurn no. 2, HTinte1'1992, pp. 2 ~ 9 .

.1.1. Sov.:roes, pp 6 3 ~ 6 4 ,note.'5.

.12. Sources, pp 6 . 3 ~ 6 4 ,.169.

13. Ibid, p. 44.

14. Souroes, pp. 3 7 ~ 3 847-48,. 52-53.

15. 80tlrOes, p. 57.

16. Sou/rces pp. 5 2 ~ 5 3 .

1Z See e.g., S01trCes, pp .76-81.

,18. Sources, p .1.15.

.19. SouToes, p .120.

20. Sou1'oes, pp. 209-10

21. Ibid., p. 210.

22. Sou1'oes, p. 10.

23. Ibid., pp. 275, 287

24. D o u l ~ l ( ; ( , sI(elly, TheID'lne'l-genoe qf.lAbe1t;yin theModern Hl()1 ld (Phi.llipsbu,Tg, NJ:P&R Publishing, .1992), pp. 2 9 ~30, 4 4 ~ 4 7 1 3 2 ~ 3 3 .

The Fi1 st ChaTte1 q f Vir.ginia

About the Author

Herb Titus has ta/ll,ght} o n s t i t n t i ) n : . a l l a R . ~ \OO'1nmon

la 1.R. ,and other subjects fornelJ.r{ry tlU:1

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2007 Issue 4-5 - The First Charter of Virginia: Seedbed for the Nation - Counsel of Chalcedon