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Our Covenant for America's Second 400 Years
(From Book: America, Return to God )

The Assembly 2007

In the name of God, Amen. (1) We humble ourselves before the divine Author of our individual and national existence (2), and ask Him to provide a safe journey for us and our children through our nation's next four hundred years. (3) Almighty God rules over the universe. He is the Lord of our bodies and our minds.(4) He presides in the councils of nations. (5)

He is the great Provider of all public and private good. 6 That was, that is, or that will be. (7) Throughout our history He has been our constant friend. (8) Humbly we approach His throne with praise for the wonders which He has done and with gratitude for His glorious light of the gospel, whereby, through the merits of the gracious Redeemer, we may ourselves become the heirs of God's eternal glory. (9) We commit to Him that our first and principal desire is to assist our families and neighbors to come to the true worship of God as He is revealed in the Bible. (10)

We acknowledge that the Bible is itself the government of the People, by the People, and for the People.(11) We remain convinced that the only legitimate purpose of government is to promote the welfare of mankind. (12) and to secure God-given rights, (13) therefore, we should choose leaders who entirely love and will promote the common good. (14) Our public officials need to be a praying people and a prayed-for people.(15)

We ask the God of Wisdom, the Great Governor of the World, to encourage our leaders to create laws that would honor Him and be in keeping with His Word. (16) We recognize that our blessings of liberty cannot be preserved unless we firmly adhere to (17) the foundations of our national policy which were laid in the enteral rules which God Himself ordained. (18) When we as individuals are not influenced by those moral principles, we look in vain for public virtue. (19) Recognition of the Supreme Being has always been the first and most basic expression of Americanism, (20) but even those who do not believe in God receive the blessings of our nation's settled and quiet Government,(21) because God's fundamental principles of liberty formed the basis on which our nation's laws were erected. (22)

We realize, however, that we are a nation of differing and often competing faiths, a body politic comprised of freemen, rather than a religious dictatorship imposed upon the unwilling. (23) The manner in which we carry out the duty we owe to our Creator can be directed only by reason and conviction, and not by force or violence. (24)

Our citizenship duties are to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.(2 5) Bigotry is simply inconsistent with our declaration (26) that Creator God made all men equally free, endowed with inherent rights for the enjoyment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (27). These truths are self-evident and need no other proof, (28) and we will not, and can not, sell these gifts from God, or give them away.(29)

We depend solely upon the Great Arbiter of the Universe by whom empires, rise and fall, (30) and the Invisible Hand (31) which has given us the choicest bounties of Heaven. We recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nationsonly are blessed whose God is the Lord. We humble ourselves before God’s power, confess our national sins, and pray for His forgiveness,(32) Lord, we sing "In God Is our Trust" to you in a united chorus.(33) Grant us a new birth of freedom in You, so that our government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth, (34) but shall continue as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. (35)

All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ.

Notes:

l. Bradford. William, MAYFLOWER COMPACT (November I l, 1620)
2. Second Continental Congress, DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES AND NECESSITY OF TAKING UPARMS (July6,1775)
3. Ezra 8:31
4. Jefferson, Thomas VIRGINIA STATUTE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (January 16,1786)
5. Washington, George, WASHINGTON’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS (April 30, l789)
6. Washington, George. WASHINGTON’S FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS (April 30, l789)
7. WASHINGTON'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION (October 3, 1789)
8. BENJAMIN FRANKIN'S REQUEST FOR DAILY PRAYER IN CONGRESS, Recorded in James Madison's notes (June 28, 1787)
9. Jefferson, Gov. Thomas, PROCLAMATION APPOINTING A DAY OF THANKSGIVINGAND
PRAYER (November 11, 1779)
1O. SECOND CHARTER OF VIRGINIA (May23, 1609) and ORDINANCEF ORV IRGINIA (July 24,162l)
11. Wycliffe, John, GENERAL PROLOGUE OF THE WYCLIFFET RANSLATION OF THE BIBLE (1382)
12. Second Continental Congress, DE CLARATION OF THE CAUSESAND NECESSITY OF TAKING UP ARMS (July 6, 1775)
13. Jefferson, Thomas, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4th,1776 )
14. ROBINSON, JOHN "LONG LETTER'' TO THE SPEEDWELL-MAYFLOWECRO MPANY
(July 27, 1620)
15. Pory, John, PROCEEDINGOS F THE FIRSTA MERICANL EGISLATURE (J uIy30, l619)
16. Rev. Mr. Duche, lST Resolution of the Continental Congress Sept. 6, 1774); and Dickinson, John ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION (Novembe15 ,1777)
17. Mason, George THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS,  Art. l5 (June 12, 1776); and THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE. Art. 3 (July 13.1787)
I 8. Washington, George, WASHINGTON'S FIRSTI NAUGURAL ADDRESS (April 30,1789)
19. ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGEW ASHINGTONP, RESIDENT OF THEU NITEDS TATES (May7, 1789); and WASHINGTONS' FAREWELL ADDRESS (September19,1796)
20. Ford, Gerald, Proclamation 4338- National Day of Prayer, 1974, quoting president Dwight D. Eisenhower
21. FIRST CHARTER OF VIRGINIA (April10,1606)
22. THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE (July13, 1787)
23. ROBINSON, JOHN "LONG LETTER'' TO THE SPEEDWELL-MAYFLOWER COMPANY (July 27, 1620)
24. Mason, George, THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Art. 16( June 12, 1776)
25. Mason, George, THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Art. 16( June 12, 1776)
26. Quock Walker v. Nathaniel Jennison, J. Cushing, Massachusetts, 183)
27. Mason, George, THE VIRGINIAD ECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Art. 16( June 12, 1776); DECLARAIION AND RESOLVE OF THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, Art1, (Octobe14 .1774)
28. Jefferson, Thomas, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE (July 4th, 1716)
29. Mason, George, THE VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, Art. 16( June 12, 1776)
30. ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON,  PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (May 7,1789)
3I. ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (May 5, 1789)
32. Lincoln, Abraham PROCLAMATION OF a day of humiliation, fasting and prayer, (March 30, 1863)
33. The National Anthem (last stanza), Adopted By Congress, (March 3, l93l)
34. Lincoln, Abraham The Gettysburg Address, (November 19, 1863)
35. Pledge of Allegiance Adopted By Congress (June 14,1954)

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