I Cannot Tell a Lie
Ruth Ann Stites, Staff Writer
On a family vacation many years ago, we visited Mount Vernon. I remember many things from that trip including visiting George and Martha Washington’s tomb. On December 14, 1799, President Washington died. The following year Mason Locke Weems (Parson Weems) published his myth-making biography, The Life of Washington. Many tales in the book have been judged to be apocryphal, including the story of young George, his new hatchet, and his father’s cherry tree.[1] The true importance of Weems’ work was building a national hero myth for our first president: “Weems stands at the forefront of Washington’s long, steady transformation into an American icon, and studying his work and its reception reveals a great deal about the American public and its relationship with its national heroes.”[2] His legend makes our first president our virtuous president.[3]
But what did Washington really think about virtue? This quote expresses his view on the topic in a letter to his nephew, “…a good moral character is the first essential in a man…It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous.”[4] Or again, in a letter to Alexander Hamilton, “ Still I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain (what I consider the most enviable of all titles) the character of an honest man.”[5] And, finally, from his Farewell Address to the nation at the end of his second term as president, Washington exhorted the new country to virtue, “It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”[6]
How has America and her people stood up to that high value? Not well—political scandals, even leveled at the first president himself, have continued to be part of our national life.[7] Other scandals are so well known they have instantly recognizable names like Teapot Dome, Watergate, and the Iran-Contra Affair.[8] For all our longing to be a virtuous people, Americans have not escaped the blight of Adam’s “old nature” (Rom. 5:12).
Psalm 5 draws a bleak picture of many people’s lack of virtue (Ps. 5:4-6, 9-10). While the unrighteous attack the virtuous, the righteous one has a refuge, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly…. But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple” (Ps. 5:3, 7).
We enter the house of the Lord through prayer as our refuge and our sanctuary even as King David found so many years ago. He knew, as did the prophet Jeremiah in later years, that, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23). In another Psalm David wrote, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (Ps. 122:1). As Cross Disciples it is a great refreshment to come into the house of the Lord every morning just as David did.
Reflection Questions:
- Who are the heroes of history you admire? What about these persons make them worthy of the title of hero? Do you use them as role models for your life?
- In your own country, what lack of virtue do you see in modern politics and society? What do you do about these problems and the people causing them? Do you respond to their actions as David did?
- We often speak of the church building as the house of the Lord. Do you see prayer as entering the greater “house of the Lord” in heaven? Does it change your attitude toward prayer to think of prayer in that context?
(Photo description and credit: The spire of Central United Methodist Church on Dickson St. in Fayetteville. I snapped this shot from the Ventures office some years ago. Photo taken by R.A. Stites.)
[1] George Washington and the Cherry Tree (U.S. National Park Service)
[2] Parson Weems | George Washington’s Mount Vernon
[3] I found another interesting article on the topic of Washington’s virtuous leadership at George Washington Leadership Lessons for Today | Integris Performance Advisors.
[4] To George Steptoe Washington – Sunday, December 05, 1790 | George Washington’s Mount Vernon
[5] George Washington to Alexander Hamilton – Thursday, August 28, 1788 | George Washington’s Mount Vernon
[6] Farewell Address (1796) | Constitution Center (see link to the full address). In their summary of his speech the importance of virtue is made clear, “For the American republic to survive, the American people and their elected leaders had to commit to lives of civic republican virtue—valuing reason over passion and the public good over private self-interest.”
