Free America's Prophet by Bruce Feiler Page B

of liberty, peace, and tranquility, into a state of bondage, persecution and distress; but on the contrary, had wrought out a very glorious deliverance for them…and was now, by his kind providence, leading them to the good land of Canaan, which he gave them by promise.
    By contrast, these two popular treatises never quote Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, or Bacon, the pantheon of Enlightenment thinkers.
    The pace of Mosaic references seemed to escalate as independence drew closer. On May 17, 1776, the Reverend George Duffield, speaking to a Philadelphia audience that included John Adams, also compared George III to Egypt’s pharaoh. The Reverend Jonathan Mayhew, preaching a week later in Boston, declared monarchy “unbiblical” and said: “If any miserable people” in Europe seek refuge from their slavery, “O let them find one in America.” The Reverend Samuel West, addressing the Massachusetts legislature a few days later, praised Jethro’s advice to Moses that he lead Israel by appointing a council of leaders. The seeds of promise first hinted at by Columbus in 1492 and planted by William Bradford in 1620 finally appeared to be reaching full flower in 1776. Like Moses, the country was prepared to stand up to the most powerful force in the world and declare, “Let my people go.”
    “I think what’s important about all this language,” Safford said, “is that these leaders were using the Bible to convince themselves they were free. They’re not that biblically pure; often they’re not that religious. But they’re using these stories to build the case that they’rejustified in standing up to the Crown. You’re individuals, they’re saying to the colonists. You’re children of God. You’re no longer subject to the king.”
    “So you don’t think this reliance on the Exodus is unusual, or over-the-top?”
    “The founders were otherworldly to a great degree,” he said, “but generally they were hugely influenced by rationalism and pragmatism. For them, this whole notion of deliverance was a practical matter. They weren’t looking for the freedom of Christ in the next world, they were looking for the freedom of Moses in this world.”
    “So they wanted the story to be true.”
    “It certainly seems that way. John Adams sailed multiple times to Europe. Benjamin Franklin did the same. They were willing to risk everything because they believed in something. And what they believed is that you should sacrifice your own fat and happiness for something far greater than yourselves. That is an Old Testament narrative. You risk. You don’t look back, or you’ll end up a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife.”
    “Do you believe,” I said, “that Bradford could have gotten on that ship, or Duché could have crossed out the name of that king—”
    He cut me off. “The only reason they could have done that is because they had a narrative larger than their own lives. A narrative of God delivers me through the Red Sea. A narrative that if you’re lost in exile, you can remain holy. A narrative of life is stronger than death, love is more powerful than hate. If you do not have a narrative larger than the world gives you, you’re just going to get sucked up by the world.
    “Whether or not the Bible is true,” he continued, “is insignificant, compared to Are you going to live by the narrative you find there? The Pilgrims, George Whitefield, even Benjamin Franklin I would say,trusted the narrative. They believed God would deliver them. They never sank into the pure limitations of rationalism, that the world was only what they could perceive. They always seem to be fueled by a reality they couldn’t see. And because of them, that narrative became America’s narrative.”
     
    PHILADELPHI’S HISTORIC DISTRICT has grown since I first visited in high school and now covers one square mile around Independence Hall. There’s a sign marking the spot where the first edition of Common Sense was printed. The house where