Who influenced the Declaration of Independence?

Meet Rev. John Wise

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MEET REV. JOHN WISE

You know that Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence but do you know the man who inspired the foundational concepts of freedom in the Declaration?

Meet Rev. John Wise (1652-1725), one of the six most influential persons in shaping American beliefs that led to independence. Wise was a clergyman in Massachusetts in the late 1600s and early 1700s. He was an “impressive preacher and a forceful writer.”

A Wallbuilders article states, “In 1772, leading patriots reprinted two of Wise’s works (which were distributed by Sons of Liberty, along with others) to reintroduce core Biblical principles of government to the thinking citizens of that day. The first printing sold so fast that a second reprint was quickly issued, and many of the points made by Wise in that work subsequently appeared four years later in the language of the Declaration of Independence.

As historian Benjamin Franklin Morris affirmed in 1864:

[S]ome of the most glittering sentences in the immortal Declaration of Independence are almost literal quotations from this [1772 reprinted] essay of John Wise….It was used as a political text-book in the great struggle for freedom.”

A Baptist Press article states, “What Wise said was so forward-thinking and so appropriate to the time leading up to the Revolution that when his books were reprinted in 1772, they quickly sold out and were reprinted again.” In these works, Wise demonstrated from the Bible that:

— God created all men equal and every man must be acknowledged by the state as equal to every man.

— The end of all good government is to promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights: his life, liberty, estate, honor, etc.

— The consent of the governed is the only legitimate basis for government.

— Taxation without representation is tyranny.

“What is significant is that many of Wise’s Bible-based concepts and some of the phrasing was picked up by leading patriots and is even found in our Declaration of Independence.” Although Wise died in 50 years before the revolution, his words inspired America’s founding document.

Decades later in 1926 when President Calvin Coolidge delivered a speech on the 150^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he similarly acknowledged:

[T]hese thoughts [in the Declaration] can very largely be traced back to what John Wise was writing in 1710. He said, “Every man must be acknowledged equal to every man.” Again, “The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in all his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, and so forth”….His works were reprinted in 1772 and have been declared to have been nothing less than a textbook of liberty for our Revolutionary fathers.

And that ladies and gentlemen is why America became great. Because God’s word inspired the men who wrote our founding documents. Look at this verse:

“When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;
    when the wicked rule, the people groan.” - Proverbs 29:2

Christian ministers like Wise and scores of others, greatly inspired the Founders through their sermons, writings and bold witness to the truth of God’s word.

I love America, but you and I have to admit, that we’ve seen a moral decline in Americans in recent years. Politicians don’t have any answers. Well, I suggest that they do what our Founders did — Listen to Bible-believing preachers, then do what the Bible says. It worked for the signers of the Declaration.

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Our second President John Adams said, “It (July 4th) ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. "It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

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