Tocqueville

Understanding the Sovereign Monarchy of God and the Blessed Democracy of Man

Robert McCreight on May 14, 2018

When we pray, bow our heads and recognize the sovereign monarchy of God we may miss the subtle message that through His divine power, grace and wisdom, invested in our nation’s founders, they by and large reckoned the emerging system known as democracy would be recognized as a blessed revolution in human affairs. Perhaps the accounts of historians and experts would draw attention to the various religious dispositions of the founders shaping a Constitution at Philadelphia and overlook what the psalmist says clearly has stated in Psalm 103:19 “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” In effect, by designing a fledgling system of government which rested on the good will, education, integrity and core beliefs of its authors the founders were simply doing so with full regard for God’s sovereign monarchy and its relationship to the new way of governing they had fashioned.  Democracy dies in the chaos of disbelief and the elevation of man.

The foreign observer Alexis de Tocqueville noted there were profound religious schisms in Europe and their leaders held deep doubts that the private choices of ordinary citizens would overtake the centuries of fleshly monarchies and somehow establish an unexpected system of governance. His concerns about materialism, religious fanaticism, invidious personal aggrandizement and property ownership were well defined.  He seemed to grasp that the sheer power of genuine religious belief underpinned a fragile and nascent democracy. In fact, it can be said de Tocqueville reasoned that the concept of responsible democracy actually drew its breath from the notion that rendering sovereignty to God was separate and justified because it enabled a rendering of trust in a government managed by men. In many ways there was substantial trust among the people by 1800 in the new nation that heavenly providence was integral to, and may influence,  the minds of clay their leaders possessed. The mutual dependence and necessity of state security and religious belief was sacrosanct with de Tocqueville and helped him see the virtues of separating Church and State. Respect for diverse beliefs, along with safeguarding that diversity, appeared essential to any claim that democracy was demonstrably different that any other form of government before.

This brings us full circle to the idea that democracy itself is a blessed form of governance. It underwent struggles, hardships and deep wounds with slavery, civil war, Jim Crow, two world wars, and a 45 year battle with Godless and rapacious communism. It remains far from perfect even today. We should remember the blessings of democracy began with our first President who, despite resentful criticisms, was a steadfast believer that a sovereign God extended his blessings to a new government that granted a scope of freedom never before seen. Some observers have noted Washington engaged in daily personal devotions on his knees with an open Bible because he believed God guided the creation of the United States. In Michael Novaks’ acclaimed book Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of our Country the author claims Washington believed God favored the cause of liberty and that leaders should  beseech God to “interpose” his action on behalf of the new nation. He also called for public thanksgiving acknowledging the many ways God had blessed Americans in its earliest history including evidence of God’s providence in  the Battle of Long Island in 1776. During that war with Britain he took time for prayer, established chaplains for the Continental Army, forbade his troops from uttering blasphemies or profanity and called on them to conduct themselves as Christian soldiers because the people demanded it.[1]  We therefore bask in a God blessed climate of liberty that fuels our respectful recognition that only a sovereign God could make this all possible.

So we understand better that God’s sovereign and holy monarchy provides a heavenly foundation for a system of governance which rests on the prayerful integrity of democracy’s blessed leaders. To deny that fact is to deny our own existence  and ignores the reality of the prophet Isaiah who reminds us that God [Isaiah 40:23] “who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness” guarantees that our relationship to a heavenly sovereign can deliver blessings to a democracy rooted in the flesh. Without a sovereign Lord our democratic dreams surely evaporate.

Robert McCreightRobert McCreight  spent 28 years with the federal government and with the U.S. Army​, has taught graduate school, is retired and now does freelance writing.

[1]https://probe.org/george-washington-and-religion…also see   Michael Novak and Jana Novak, Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of our Country (NY: Basic Books, 2006).–

  1. Comment by Ted R. Weiland on May 18, 2018 at 9:50 am

    America was once great but not for the reason most people believe it was. In fact, quite the opposite – a classic case of Isaiah 5:20, calling evil good and good evil.

    Yahweh, God of the Bible, blesses nations (makes them great and prosperous) when they look to Him as their sovereign and thus His moral law as the standard for government and society, per Deuteronomy 4:4-8, 28:1-14, etc. Consequently, America’s greatness was the result of the 17th-century Christian Colonial governments of, by, and for God established upon His unchanging moral law:

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835: “They [the 17th-century Colonials] exercised the rights of sovereignty; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was due only to God. Nothing can be more curious and, at the same time more instructive, than the legislation of that period; it is there that the solution of the great social problem which the United States now presents to the world is to be found [in perfect fulfillment of Deuteronomy 4:5-8, demonstrating the continuing veracity of Yahweh’s law and its accompanying blessings, per Deuteronomy 28:1-14].

    “Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in 1650. The legislators of [New Haven] Connecticut begin with the penal laws, and … they borrow their provisions from the text of Holy Writ … copied verbatim from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.…” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2 vols. (New York: NY: The Colonial Press, 1899) vol. 1, pp. 36-37)

    On the other hand, Yahweh curses nations who reject His sovereignty and replace His law with their own man-made surrogates. Thus, America began to be cursed (by God’s long suffering only incrementally at first) when the 18th-century founders replaced the 17th-century Colonial governments with their own humanistic government of, by, and for the people based upon capricious Enlightenment traditions. Without repentance for these sins of sedition our complicity therein, it was inevitable that America would find herself teetering on the precipice of moral depravity and destruction.

    For more regarding these two polar opposite forms of government, see Chapter 3 “The Preamble: WE THE PEOPLE vs. YAHWEH” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/biblelaw-constitutionalism-pt3.html.

    Then find out how much you REALLY know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar and receive a complimentary copy of the 85-page “Primer” of “BL vs. USC.”

  2. Comment by Ted R. Weiland on May 18, 2018 at 9:51 am

    America was once great but not for the reason most people believe it was. In fact, quite the opposite – a classic case of Isaiah 5:20, calling evil good and good evil.

    Yahweh, God of the Bible, blesses nations (makes them great and prosperous) when they look to Him as their sovereign and thus His moral law as the standard for government and society, per Deuteronomy 4:4-8, 28:1-14, etc. Consequently, America’s greatness was the result of the 17th-century Christian Colonial governments of, by, and for God established upon His unchanging moral law:

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835: “They [the 17th-century Colonials] exercised the rights of sovereignty; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was due only to God. Nothing can be more curious and, at the same time more instructive, than the legislation of that period; it is there that the solution of the great social problem which the United States now presents to the world is to be found [in perfect fulfillment of Deuteronomy 4:5-8, demonstrating the continuing veracity of Yahweh’s law and its accompanying blessings, per Deuteronomy 28:1-14].

    “Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in 1650. The legislators of [New Haven] Connecticut begin with the penal laws, and … they borrow their provisions from the text of Holy Writ … copied verbatim from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.…” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 2 vols. (New York: NY: The Colonial Press, 1899) vol. 1, pp. 36-37)

    On the other hand, Yahweh curses nations who reject His sovereignty and replace His law with their own man-made surrogates. Thus, America began to be cursed (by God’s long suffering only incrementally at first) when the 18th-century founders replaced the 17th-century Colonial governments with their own humanistic government of, by, and for the people based upon capricious Enlightenment traditions. Without repentance for these sins of sedition our complicity therein, it was inevitable that America would find herself teetering on the precipice of moral depravity and destruction.

    For more regarding these two polar opposite forms of government, see Chapter 3 “The Preamble: WE THE PEOPLE vs. YAHWEH” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective.” Click on my name, then our website. Go to our Online Books page, click on the top entry, and scroll down to Chapter 3.

    Then find out how much you REALLY know about the Constitution as compared to the Bible. Take our 10-question Constitution Survey in the right-hand sidebar and receive a complimentary copy of the 85-page “Primer” of “BL vs. USC.”

  3. Comment by Ted R. Weiland on May 18, 2018 at 9:54 am

    Democracies and Republics are merely two different forms of man doing what is right in his own eyes, per Judges 21:25.

    Judges 21:25 is what today is commonly known as humanism, aka We the Peopleism:

    “…Constitutionalists insist the United States government is a republic, not a democracy, but they never stop to consider that the two are virtually the same regarding sovereignty.

    “Christian Constitutionalists further insist republics are Biblical. However, because republics (like democracies) rely upon the majority vote of the people for the selection of their leaders, rather than upon Yahweh’s choice (as per Deuteronomy 17:15), republics are not anymore Biblical than are democracies. Both democracies and republics culminate in a government of, by, and for the people rather than a government of, by, and for Yahweh. The same is true with other issues voted upon by the people: ultimately the majority’s will is exalted over Yahweh’s will.

    “As demonstrated in Chapter 3, both republican and Christian governments are ultimately theocracies. As a result, they are incompatible and hostile to each other. A republic looks to the people as its sovereign; a Christian theocracy looks to Yahweh. The very definition of a sovereign, or supreme ruler, excludes simultaneous sovereigns.”

    For more, see Chapter 7 “Article 4: Republic vs. Theocracy” of free online book “Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective” at http://www.bibleversusconstitution.org/BlvcOnline/biblelaw-constitutionalism-pt7.html.

  4. Comment by G13Man on August 11, 2019 at 9:08 pm

    no government would pass this test
    God even let the Israel have government !
    We are doomed individually with out God
    until he comes back !

The work of IRD is made possible by your generous contributions.

Receive expert analysis in your inbox.