Download The Crack in in the Liberty Bell LATEST.p65

The Crack in the Liberty Bell - a prophetic marker in time!
Only by the divine hand of Providence or extreme coincidence could
an ordinary bell made to honor the Quaker religious beliefs in God go on
to become a worldwide symbol of Liberty and Freedom. While the
Liberty Bell remains a symbol of the Liberties and Freedoms we cherish
as a nation, few understand its history, religious background, or profound
implications for the destiny of the country and perhaps the world. From
the biblical inscription on its side, to its evacuation by wagon, breakdown
and transfer in the center of Bethlehem and secure storage in Zion during
the war, to its crack at high noon in celebration of George Washington’s
birthday, it would appear that God had a plan for the bell and the country.
And those gifts of Liberty and Freedom, gifts from God that rang out on
July 8th of 1776 with the Declaration of Independence and the “Miracle
at Philadelphia” from the Liberty Bell still reverberate to our present day.
However, if we as a nation do not come to terms with God’s hand in our
country’s history, then we stumble blindly into the future potentially to our peril.
The history of the Liberty Bell began in the middle 1600’s in England with William Penn, an Anglican who
became a Quaker Minister. As a student at Oxford, one afternoon he was wandering the streets of London
when at one of the “docks he saw a ship being loaded for a voyage to the American colony, and he had what
he later described as an ‘opening of joy,’ a moment of religious insight.”1 This and other life experiences would
shape the life of William Penn and lead him into becoming a Quaker.
King Charles II attempted to silence ministers outside of the state Church of England. He issued a series
of antireligious Acts that prevented Quakers and others from freely expressing their religious beliefs. The
Quaker Act of 1662 “required people to swear an oath of allegiance to the King, which Quakers did not do
out of religious conviction.”2 The Act of Uniformity of 1662 “required the use of all the rites and ceremonies in
the Book of Common Prayer in church services.”3 The Conventicle Act of 1664 “forbade religious assemblies
of more than five people outside the auspices of the Church of England.”4 The Five Mile Act of 1665 “forbade
clergymen from living within five miles of a parish from which he had been banned, unless they swore an oath
never to resist the king, or attempt to alter the government of Church or State.”5 The net effect of the last Act
was to drive ministers safely outside of London and other cities before the bubonic plague hit. By odd coincidence
or hand of Providence the bubonic plague or Black Death struck London in 1665. In September of the
following year, the city of London was almost completely destroyed by “The Great Fire of London.” Through
divine protection or good luck, William Penn was not affected by the bubonic plague outbreak of 1665 that
took the lives of many in London.
A few years later, William Penn attended a Quaker meeting in Cork, Ireland that would have a profound
effect on his life and the future United States. “He later said of his experience, ‘the Lord visited me with a
certain sound and testimony to his Eternal word.’”6 Soon after Penn’s religious experience, he decided to
become a Quaker [Children of Light, Friends of Truth]. After being jailed numerous times for practicing his
religious beliefs, he became convinced that he would not be able to change the political climate of persecution
and killing of Quakers at home or in New England. He embarked on what he said was a “Holy Experiment.”
William Penn worked to create a society based on freedom of religion for everybody who believed in
God. Believing “that God intended all men to [honor God and] live in harmony and mutual toleration, Penn
hoped to achieve these conditions in Pennsylvania.”7 “True religion does not draw men out of the world but
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enables them to live better in it and excites their endeavors to mend it,” he stated. Penn’s experiment was to
establish a place where people could have freedom of conscience, equal rights for men and women, equal
rights for other races with a written constitution to protect those rights. This experiment would, as he prophetically
predicted, become the “seed of a nation.” He wrote,
My God that has given it to me through many difficulties, will, I believe bless and make it the “seed
of a nation.” I shall have a tender care to the government, that it be well laid at first....For my country
I eyed the Lord in obtaining it; and more I was drawn inward to look to Him, and to owe it to his
hand and power than to any other way. I have so obtained it, and desire to keep it that I may not be
unworthy of His love; but do that which may answer his kind providence and serve his Truth and
people; that an example may be set up to the nations. There may be room there, but not here
[England] for such an holy experiment.8
It was perhaps a miracle in itself that William Penn was able to convince King Charles II to sign a charter
to establish a colony in America. The King granted the Charter of Pennsylvania in 1681. In honor of Penn’s
father, a former admiral, the King suggested the name of Pennsylvania, which meant, “forest of Penn.” Penn
chose the name of its city, Philadelphia, in Greek means “City of brotherly love.” In a letter to “the Kings of the
Indians in America” and those already residing in Pennsylvania in 1681, he wrote:
My Friends—There is one great God and power that hath made the
world and all things therein, to whom you and I, and all people owe
their being and well-being, and to whom you and I must one day give
an account for all that we do in this world; this great God has written his
law in our hearts, by which we are taught and commanded to love and
help and do good to one another, and not to do harm and mischief one
unto another. Now this great God hath been pleased to make me
concerned in your parts of the world, and the king of the country where
I live has given unto me a great province, but I desire to enjoy it with
your love and consent, that we may always live together as neighbours
and friends, else what would the great God say to us, who hath made
us, who has made us not to devour and destroy one another, but live
soberly and kindly together in the world?
Now I would have you well observe, that I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustice that
has been too much exercised towards you by the people of these parts of the world, who have
sought themselves, and to make great advantages by you, rather than be examples of justice and
goodness unto you; which I hear hath been matter of trouble to you and caused great grudgings and
animosities, sometimes to the shedding of blood, which has made the great God angry; but I am not
such man as is well known in my own country. I have great love and regard toward you, and I desire
to win and gain your love and friendship by a kind just, and peaceable life; and the people I send are
of the same mind, and shall in all things behave themselves accordingly; and if any thing shall offend
you or your people, by an equal of just men on both sides, that by no means you may have just
occasion of being offended against them ...I am your loving friend, William Penn.9
William Penn wished to establish a government to “promote the Glory of God” and “to serve the truth and
the people of the Lord, that an example be set to the nations”10 of the world. “He had been educated under the
influence of the gospel. He had studied the origin of government, the nature of civil liberty, and the rights of man,
in light of the pure word of God, and formed the purpose of founding a Christian empire on the free and
peaceful precepts of Christianity. ...Finding no place in Europe to try the experiment of Christian government,
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he resolved to seek it in America.”11 God is over all earthly governments. So Penn appropriately put God over
the new government, which he felt he was divinely guided to establish. Like clay in a potter’s hand, God
molded the life of William Penn, and events in his life, to help establish the early foundation of the future
Republic.
Under those religious freedoms, Philadelphia would go on to become one of the largest, and most
prosperous cities, in the colonies. It was to be the garden prepared for a new birth of Freedom, not only for the
thirteen colonies but for the world. It would be the place that Freedom, and Liberty, sprouted, and “the seed
of a nation” grew strong. It was from this city that the Liberty Bell rang out Freedom, and God’s word,
throughout the Land.
“If men will not be governed by God, they will be ruled by tyrants.”
— William Penn (1644-1718) Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania
William Penn’s “Holy Experiment” would turn out to be an overwhelming set of challenges. He attempted
to build Pennsylvania into a Godly state built on Biblical values, and law, a virtual heaven on earth. He believed
as did the Indians in the area, that a direct relationship with God could be achieved through any heart that is
open; no minister, or church, was necessary. Initially, Penn had to deal with thousands settlers that were
already living in the territory. He worked with the local Indian tribes, and negotiated the purchase of land,
rather than taking it by force. He created pamphlets advertising the climate and opportunities in Pennsylvania,
which attracted many Dutch, German, English, Scottish, Swedish, and French settlers. Each group brought
their own skills, crafts, industry, and culture. Philadelphia was a planned city that he designed in a grid pattern
with tree-lined streets. The charter of laws he developed, ensured “that all criminals shall have the same
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privileges of witnesses and council as their prosecutors.” He worked to establish a governmental structure, free
elections, and fair jury trials. He oversaw the colony’s first, and second Constitution, which supported provisions
for the electorate to make changes through the amendment process.
One of Penn’s biggest diplomatic challenges was the changing political landscape in England. He spent
most of his time dealing with politics, trade issues with France, taxes for the British militia, money problems,
and preventing his charter from being revoked by the crown. All told, out of the thirty-two years of his life after
the Charter of Pennsylvania was approved in 1681, “Penn had spent a total of about four years in the colony,
which he had created.”12
William Penn signed the Charter of Delaware, known as the Charter of Privileges in October of 1701,
which transferred power over to the Pennsylvania Assembly. This third Constitution provided for a system of
checks-and-balances. It would become the basis of the State of Pennsylvania’s Constitution, and later, the
Constitution of the United States. Soon after it’s signing, Penn departed for London in November to prevent a
revoke of the charters. His farewell words to the colony were, “I bless you in the name and power of the Lord;
and may God bless you with his righteousness, peace, and plenty, all the land over. Oh that you would eye God
in all, through all, and above all the works of his hand.”13 Below is an excerpt from the Charter of Privileges:
WILLIAM PENN, Proprietary and Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania and Territories
thereunto belonging, To all to whom these Presents shall come, sendeth Greeting.......
FIRST
BECAUSE no People can be truly happy, though under the greatest Enjoyment of Civil Liberties, if
abridged of the Freedom of their Consciences, as to their Religious Profession and Worship: And
Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience, Father of Lights and Spirits; and the Author as
well as Object of all divine Knowledge, Faith and Worship, who only doth enlighten the Minds, and
persuade and convince the Understandings of People, I do hereby grant and declare, That no
Person or Persons, inhabiting In this Province or Territories, who shall confess and acknowledge
One almighty God, the Creator, Upholder and Ruler of the World; and professes him or themselves
obliged to live quietly under the Civil Government, shall be in any Case molested or prejudiced, in
his or their Person or Estate....
AND that all Persons who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World, shall be
capable [notwithstanding their other Persuasions and Practices in Point of Conscience and Religion]
to serve this Government in any Capacity, both legislatively and executively, he or they solemnly
promising, when lawfully required....FOR the well governing of this Province and Territories, there
shall be an Assembly yearly chosen, by the Freemen thereof, to consist of Four Persons out of each
County, of most Note for Virtue, Wisdom and Ability.14
William Penn would never again see his colony of Pennsylvania. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1712,
and eventually died on July 30th of 1718. During his life, God had only shared with him what he needed to
know at the time. His early religious experiences not only shaped his spiritual development, they helped him
focus on his future tasks in America. An unseen hand made sure he was born into a family, whose father was
owed a debt from the King. From his early religious experiences, Biblical training, education on Government
and the nature of Civil Liberty, to his time in jail for practicing his religion, all prepared him, and groomed him,
for his work in America. Penn’s crowning achievement, which was Gods plan for America, established that the
Law of Liberty [God’s Law] as the foundation of early government, and legal system in Pennsylvania. The
foundation he laid in Pennsylvania was that laws of Government could not be in violation of divine laws or force
citizens to violate their Liberty of Conscience [following Gods Law]. He wrote:
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“The free and uninterrupted exercise of our consciences in that way of worship we are most clearly
persuaded God requires us to serve Him in, without endangering undoubted birthright of English
freedom.”15 “By Liberty of Conscience, we understand not only a mere Liberty of the Mind, in
believing or disbelieving this or that principle or doctrine; but ‘the exercise of ourselves in a visible
way of worship, upon our believing it to be indispensably required at our hands, that if we neglect it
for fear of favor of any mortal man, we sin and incur divine wrath.”16
Editors Note: The meaning of words like religion, liberty, and others, has changed over the years
to where their meaning today, no longer reflects the meaning of when they were originally used in
speech, or written word. Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines religion and liberty as,
RELIGION: Religion, in its most comprehensive sense, includes a belief in the being and perfections
of God, in the revelation of his will to man, in man’s obligation to obey his commands, in a state of
reward and punishment, and in man’s accountableness to God; and also true godliness or piety of
life, with the practice of all moral duties. It therefore comprehends theology, as a system of doctrines
or principles, as well as practical piety; for the practice of moral duties without a belief in a divine
lawgiver [God of Israel, Old and New Testament] and without reference to his will or commands, is
not religion.
LIBERTY: Religious liberty, is the free right of adopting and enjoying opinions on religious subjects,
and of worshiping the Supreme Being according to the dictates of conscience, without external
control.
William Penn’s “Holy Experiment,” long term, would be God’s “Holy Experiment” in time for the future
United States of America. An experiment to see if a united people, under God, could self govern themselves as
a nation, and abide by the Word, and Law, of the Old and New Testament. But before Gods gift of Liberty,
and Freedom, could ring out across the land, the country’s citizens, 475,000 in 1720, up to 1,5000,00017 by
1760, would have to be made worthy of those gifts. They would need to be made spiritually clean; they would
need to repent of their sins. For the spirit of God, and country (Spirit of 76), to occupy the hearts, and minds,
of virtually all of its citizens, would require a miracle. And so it was.
“The original Christian fervor of the first settlers had long since died away, and sense of call to come here,
and put the Gospel into practice, and create a society with liberty, and justice for all every soul, that had begun
to ebb.”18 With increased prosperity, many citizens had become less focused on their personal worship, and
the Word of God, which was the main reason they, or their forefathers, originally came to America. What was
needed throughout thirteen colonies was a spiritual revival, a spiritual reawakening in God. Jonathan Edwards,
a Preacher out of North Hampton, Massachusetts noted:
There is a strange alteration almost all over New England amongst young people: by a powerful
invisible influence on their minds, they have been brought to forsake, in a general way, as it were at
once, those things of which they were extremely fond, and in which they seemed to place the
happiness of their lives, and which nothing before could induce them to forsake; as their frolicking,
vain company-keeping, night-walking, their mirth and jollity, their impure language, and lewd songs.
In vain did ministers preach against those things before, in vain were laws made to restrain them, and
in vain was all the vigilance of magistrates and civil officers; but now they have almost every where
dropt them as it were of themselves. And there is great alteration amongst old and young as to
drinking, tavern-haunting, profane speaking, and extravagance in apparel. ... Some that are wealthy,
and of a fashionable, gay education; some great beaus and fine ladies, that seemed to have their
minds swallowed up with nothing but the vain shows and pleasures of the world.19
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What was needed through out the Colonies was purification. Citizens need to repent of their past sin, and
wrong doings to God. Many had fallen away from the Word, turning instead to pursuit of money and worldly
pleasures. For where “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [& liberty].”
2 Corinthians 3:17 RSV The spirit that descended upon the Thirteen Colonies could only be described as the
Holy Spirit, as a great majority of citizens were driven to repentance for their sins. By the tens of thousands,
men, women, children, slaves, and even Indians made public declarations of their faith. Citizens were drawn to
the Word of God in the Bible. As if by miracle, long running disputes were peacefully settled. Many pastors,
and preachers of the day, were dumbfounded by the profound change in society. This supernatural force
dramatically transformed American society up and down the eastern seaboard. With a lack of words to
adequately describe this supernatural event in time, history would incompletely record it as the Great [Spiritual]
Awakening or later as The First Great Awakening [1730-1770]. Without this great spiritual awakening in God,
there would never have been a Revolutionary War. Jonathan Edwards, one of the preachers during the Great
Awakening wrote of the profound effect the revival had on his parishioners:
“And now they are transformed into another sort of people. …The Lord’s Day is more religiously
and strictly observed. And much has been lately done at making up differences, confessing faults
one to another, and making restitution; probably more within two years, than was done in thirty
years before. It has been undoubtedly so in many places. And surprising has been the power of this
spirit, in many instances, to destroy old grudges, to make up long-continued breaches, and to bring
those who seemed to be in a confirmed irreconcilable alienation, to embrace each other in a sincere
and entire amity. Great numbers under this influence have been brought to a deep sense of their own
sinfulness and vileness…The sins of their life have been extraordinarily set before them; and they
have had a great sense of their hardness of heart, their enmity against that which is good, and
proneness to all evil; and also of the worthlessness of their own religious performances, how unworthy
of God’s regard were their prayers, praises, and all that they did in religion. It has been a common
thing, that persons have had such a sense of their own sinfulness, that they have thought themselves
to be the worst of all, and that none ever was so vile as they. And many seem to have been greatly
convinced that they were utterly unworthy of any mercy at the hands of God…
Multitudes in New England have lately been brought to a new and great conviction of the truth and
certainty of the things of the gospel; to a firm persuasion that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, and the
great and only Saviour of the world; and that the great doctrines of the gospel touching reconciliation
by his blood, and acceptance in his righteousness, and eternal life and salvation through him are
matters of undoubted truth.”20
The Great Awakening started around 1730, and finally broke loose in public, around 1734 with the fireand-brimstone sermons of Jonathan Edwards out of North Hampton, Massachusetts. Other preachers would
soon follow. George Whitefield, who led the revival that swept across the British Isles, arrived in America in
1740. He preached the Gospel from New Hampshire [Maine] to Georgia, traveling by horseback. He preached
over 32,000 sermons over the course of twenty years or 4-5 sermons per day, rain or shine. In Boston, he
drew crowds of 20,000. He was banned from many established churches, so his sermons were often given
outside. “The Episcopalian, Dr. Cutler, accosted Whitefield on a Boston street with the words, ‘I am sorry to
see you here,’ to which the undaunted Wakefield replied, ‘So is the Devil!’”21
The spirit of God that was spoken through the words of these preachers during the Great Awakening,
men like George Whitefield, and others, completely changed, and transformed, the lives of many people
throughout the colonies. Whitefield influenced many of the future Founding Fathers, men like Samuel Adams,
Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and others. “Whitefield addressed a throng of 15,000 listeners in Philadelphia
when the city’s entire population was estimated at 12,000.”22 So powerful was the message he preached, it
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was said that even people from miles away from where he spoke were converted. History would bestow on
Whitefield the unofficial title of “Father of the Revolution.” The Gospel swept through the colonies by way of
other preachers, such as William Cooper, Charles Chauncy, Jonathan Mayhew, Joseph Bellamy and Samuel
Davies. Jonathan Mayhew was the man John Adams credited, as most responsible for the American Revolution.
These men not only preached the Gospel, they preached on the biblical basis of government, on unity as
Christians rather than separate religious groups, on the Bible as the basis of law, on truth and national destiny.
George Whitefield, when visiting Philadelphia was often a guest of Benjamin Franklin, with Franklin publishing
his journal, and sermons. Franklin wrote in his autobiography the effect these men had on citizens of Philadelphia:
It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants. From being
thoughtless or indifferent about religion, it seem’d as if all the world were growing religious, so that
one could not walk thro’ the town in an evening without hearing Psalms sung in different families of
every street.23
Benjamin Franklin later wrote in his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette,
“what vast improvement have our old men seen … [William Penn] had done this by his Wisdom
[God’s Word & gift]; and has drawn multitudes of people of various Nations, even out of the
innermost parts of Europe. …Orpheus [figure from Greek mythology, “the father of songs”] is said
to have built a city by his music … but the sweetest of all sounds is Liberty; and wholesome Laws
with good Government make the most enchanting Harmony.”24
After enough citizens had repented of their sins, and turned to God, the Thirteen Colonies were now
worthy to receive Gods gift of Liberty, and Freedom. By the year 1751, Philadelphia had grown, it had spread
out to where the town needed a bigger bell to announce news and call meetings; it had been 50-years since
William Penn had issued the Charter of Privileges turning over control of civil government. To commemorate
the 50 year anniversary of the transfer of powers, and as a tribute to Pennsylvania’s Quaker heritage, the
Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned a new bell. It was ordered from Whitechapel Foundry in London in
1751. They paid 150 Pounds, 13 shillings, 8 pence for the cost of the bell including shipping and insurance.
There was at the time, politics, and personal biases involved with the purchase of the bell. Some in the assembly
did not like William Penn. It has been speculated by some historians that the date 1752 was chosen rather than
1751 and Pensylvania spelled with one “n” in opposition to the Penn family. Also, a mistake was made in the
original contract for the bell. The word “Province” was incorrectly spelled “povince.” The biblical verse for the
bell was chosen by a man named Isaac Norris, a Quaker. The original inscription on the bell read:
BY order of the Assembly of the povince of
Pensylvania for the State house in the City of
Philad 1752
Proclaim Liberty thro’ all the
Land to all the inhabitants
thereof Levit. XXV.10.
Perhaps God had other plans for the bell when it arrived in Philadelphia in September of 1752. With great
anticipation, the public assembled in Independence Square to hear the new bell. The bell cracked the first time
it was rung. The Pennsylvania Assembly decided to send the bell back to Whitechapel Foundry in England for
recasting. As Providence would have it, by coincidence or circumstance, there was no room on Captain
Richard Budden’s ship. So the bell was left on the docks in Philadelphia.
To become a symbol of Liberty, and Freedom, for the future Untied States, American hands should cast
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the new bell. Rather than ship the bell back to England, two local men, John Pass, and John Stow, were hired
to recast the bell. It was recast and publicly rung in March of 1753. The townspeople of Philadelphia did not
like the sound of the new bell; it was speculated that too much copper was added. So John Pass, and John
Stow, recast the bell yet a second time, adding some silver to the mixture. This third [trinity] bell or third
generation bell was hung in the State House [Independence Hall] steeple in June of 1753, referred to as the
State House Bell. The inscription on the recast bell read:
Proclaim LIBERTY throughout
all the Land unto all the
inhabitants thereof Lev.
XXV.V X.
By order of the ASSEMBLY of
the Province of
PENSYLVANIA for the State
House in Philad
Pass and Stow
Philad
MDCCLIII
Still, not everyone in Philadelphia was completely happy with the sound of the bell. In fact, enough of the
townspeople, and Assembly members, were unhappy with the sound of the bell that the Pennsylvania Assembly
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decided to order another bell from Whitechapel Foundry in March of 1754. The new bell arrived in May of
1754, and the townspeople did not like it’s sound, any better than the bell cast by John Pass and John Stow.
So the bell cast by Pass and Stow bell remained in the State House steeple.
The State House Bell was frequently heard by the townspeople of Philadelphia. The bell was rung to
announce meetings, and special events. The bell was rung to announce of the British tax acts. In fact, the bell
was rung so often that in 1772, a number of the townspeople living around the State House petitioned the
Assembly to stop the constant ringing of the bell.
The State House Bell that hung high in the State House steeple, overshadowed many significant events in
the country’s founding history. It rang on December 27, 1773 to call citizens to the State House shortly after
the Boston Tea Party. The bell tolled on June 1st and 18th, 1774 in sympathy to those in Boston who suffered
under the British closure of their port. It summoned the delegates of the first Continental Congress in 1774, and
second Continental Congress in 1775. It rang April 25, 1775 calling together eight thousand citizens after the
battle of Lexington, and Concord. It presided over the editing and signing of the Declaration of Independence.
And on July 8th of 1776, the bell rang out to announce the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
On July 4th, 1777, the State House Bell [Independence Hall Bell] proudly rung out in celebration of the
country’s first year of American Independence. John Adams in a letter to his daughter, put into words what he
experienced that evening. He wrote:
Yesterday being the anniversary of American Independence, was celebrated here [Philadelphia]
with a festivity and ceremony becoming the occasion. ...I walked most of the evening, and I think it
was the most splendid illumination I ever saw; a few surly houses were dark, but the lights were very
universal. Considering the lateness of the design, and the suddenness of the execution, I was amazed
at the universal joy and alacrity that was discovered, and at the brilliancy and splendor of every part
of this joyful exhibition. I had forgot the ringing of the bells all day and evening, and the bonfires in the
streets, and the fireworks played off. Had General Howe been there in disguise, or his master, this
show would have given them the heartache.25
By September of 1777, the British were close to taking Philadelphia. The bell was removed from the
State House steeple, and secured. It was hidden from the ever watchful eyes of the local Tories and British
spies. Fellow colonists did not want the bell falling into enemy hands, where it could be melted down, and cast
into cannon balls, used against the Continental Army. The bell was covered with hay, and potato sacks, and
moved by wagon, to Allenstown, Pennsylvania. It “rattled and bumped along the rutted, muddy road to Bethlehem
... when its great weight finally broke the wagon just as the train reached the center of Bethlehem. The diary of
the Moravian congregational in Bethlehem;”26
The whole of the heavy baggage of the army, in a continuous train of 700 wagons, direct from camp,
arrived under escort of 200 men, commanded by Colonel [William] Polk of North Carolina. They
encamped on the south side of the Lehigh [river] and in one night destroyed all our buckwheat and
the fences round the fields. The wagons, after unloading, returning to Trenton for more stores.
Among the things brought were the church bells from Philadelphia and the wagon in which was
loaded the State House Bell, broke down in the street and had to be unloaded.27
“Oh come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, Oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold
Him, Born the King of Angels! ... O come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.” And to Bethlehem they did come;
with the Independence Hall Bell, and wagon, after wagon of injured soldiers. The small town had become a
military hospital. “Before that week was ended, two hundred wagons arrived with more refugees, and wounded”
along with the dead, and dying.28 The name of Bethlehem, as town the bell’s evacuation wagon broke down in,
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to the town of Bethlehem as a military hospital was more than a random coincidence. It was all part of the
birthing process of a great nation.
“We Have No King, But King Jesus!”
— Continental Soldiers, the Battle-cry of Freedom
The choice of the town of Bethlehem was not by accident. God wanted the country to understand the
connection to his Son Jesus Christ, and that respect, and glory, be given. The country was now a nation of
believers, raised up by the First Great Awakening. Many of those believers consecrated the ground with their
blood, fighting for what they believed in. They fought for the right of Liberty of Conscience. They fought for the
right to worship their God, who was born in Bethlehem many years earlier. In support of their cause, the future
nation was given divine assistance. As part of His divine plan, God was the spirit, and the reason, for the
country’s creation and Her existence. Prophetically, in the words that William Penn had written, the reason for
the country’s existence was “to serve the truth and the people of the Lord, that an example be set to the
nations” of the world. The country was established to “promote the Glory of God” through the teachings of His
Son Jesus Christ.
The State House Bell continued its journey by wagon to Allenstown, where it was hidden in the basement
under the floor of the Old Zion Reformed Church. This was not an entirely safe place to store the bell during the
war. British troops turned many churches into stables to protest the religious basis for the rebellion. However,
God had the bell secure under his protection. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
LORD from Jerusalem [Jesus].” Isaiah 2:3 RSV
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes
peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God
reigns.” Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see
the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem;
for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his
holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God.”
— Isaiah 52:7-10 RSV
The transportation of the bell, the wagon’s breakdown, and transfer in the
center of Bethlehem, and secure storage in Zion, has religious, prophetic, and
metaphoric connotations, for the destiny of the nation. “The LORD will reign for
ever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!.” Psalm 146:10
RSV In subtle, and not so subtle ways, God was also using the bell to call the
country’s attention to the sacred document, the Declaration of Independence,
signed a little over a year earlier. More than a social compact between a nation,
and their God, Declaration of Independence was the mission statement for the
future country. The Declaration of Independence was a divinely inspired document
that set the cornerstone of human government based on the laws of the Old and
New Testament. God would later use that same State House Bell [Independence
Hall Bell] that overshadowed events in the Continental Congress, to remind the
country once again, of Her unfinished business of slavery.
God was the spiritual force that was behind the bell’s creation [trinity bell],
its safe deliverance, and the timing of it’s eventual crack. It was the same spiritual
force that was behind the country’s “First Great Awakening.” It was the same
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spiritual force that was behind the “Spirit of 76,” which was the spirit of God and country. It was the driving
force behind raising up men to be the protectors of their country. It was the unseen hand that was behind the
miracles, and coincidences, many of the Founding Fathers, and others, experienced [& later wrote about]
during the war. And it was the spiritual force behind the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution at
“Miracle at Philadelphia,” and Bill of Rights. God was “The Original Intent,” behind the creation, and existance
of the Republic. The Redeemer, born under the star of Bethlehem protected by Zion whose teachings “laid the
cornerstone of human government [for the United Sates, which was built] upon the first precepts of Christianity?”29
Of this spiritual force behind the Republic, George Washington simply stated that “the ways of Providence
being inscrutable, and the justice of it not to be scanned by the shallow eye of humanity, not to be counteracted
by the utmost efforts of human power and wisdom, resignation, and, as far as the strength of our reason and
religion can carry us, a cheerful acquiescence to the Divine Will is what we are to aim.” “The propitious smiles
of Heaven” Washington warned, “can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order
and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the
destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on
the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”30
The “Spirit of 76” was about a people, and country, united in their belief in God, who had willingly agreed
to form a government under the Laws of God, and be bound, by those laws. “All men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights [God given]; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights [God given], governments are instituted among men.
...And for the support of this Declaration [Independence], with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine
Providence, we [freely elected representatives] mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our
sacred Honor [to God].” “The highest glory of the American Revolution” was as John Quincy Adams stated,
“It connected in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with those of Christianity.”31
For those with the eyes to see, and for those with the ears to hear, and for those with the intellect to
understand, the coincidences surrounding the State House Bell was more than a subtle message God was
attempting to communicate to the country. It was a loudly rung 2080 lb message. God would use the bell over,
and over again, throughout the years, ringing out the same message. And for those who are listening, and for
those who understanding that history is God’s province, they will still hear God’s message being rung loudly
through the bell; even in our present day.
“Return, O faithless children, says the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city
and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.”
— Jeremiah 3:14 RSV
Soon after the war had subsided, in June of 1778, the State House Bell [Independence Hall Bell] was
returned to Philadelphia. It was placed in storage for seven years until the State House steeple could be rebuilt.
It was then re-hung in the State House in 1785. By odd coincidence, the State House, which later known as
Independence Hall, construction on the building was started in 1732, the same year George Washington was
born. Years later, George Washington would preside over the Constitutional Convention [“Miracle at
Philadelphia”] in that very building. And it would be in ringing in celebration of Washington’s birthday, the later
named Liberty Bell would give up it’s last glory-breathed tone.
The bell was rung to call members to the Philadelphia Convention from May to September of 1787, who
labored on the Constitution. That bell that hung high in the tower, called Congressional members together who
worked on the Bill of Rights in 1791. The State House Bell [Independence Hall Bell] was part of the “Miracle
at Philadelphia.” It was from this city established by William Penn, Philadelphia that Gods gift Liberty and
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Freedom rang out by the State House Bell [Independence Hall Bell] throughout the land.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who
has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens. ‘”I know your
works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut; I know that you
have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will
make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie--behold, I will
make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you. Because you
have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on
the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast what you have,
so that no one may seize your crown. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my
God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city
of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new
name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
— Revelation 3:7-3:13 RSV
Philadelphia was perhaps God’s choice for the nation’s capital, as it was for many years. But some men
driven by power, and prestige, opted to move the capital. It was moved to New York City in 1789 and
temporarily back to Philadelphia in 1790. Through a Congressional compromise, Washington D.C., known as
“New Rome,” or the “Federal City,” was chosen as the nation’s capital, with the District of Columbia founded
in July of 1790. Perhaps God was sending a message to those men in Congress on their decision to move the
nation’s capital from Philadelphia, and use of occult symbolism. If so, then the plague that shook Philadelphia,
the nation’s largest city and the nation’s capital to its foundation was not just a random coincidence of nature.
The yellow fever epidemic of 1793, known as “The Great Plague,” forced a complete evacuation of government
offices from the city. The outbreak would return again in 1797, 1798, and 1799. The nation’s capital would
remain in Philadelphia until federal buildings could be constructed to accommodate various governmental
branches, which were completed in the early 1800’s. The Independence Hall Bell would remain in the City of
Brotherly Love; God had not deemed it time for the bell to make its mark upon the world. The bell would
quietly remained in the city that God chose to bring forth “the seed” of a new nation, in the city that likely should
have been the nation’s capital.
On July 4th, 1826, the State House Bell, and bells across the country, rang in joyous celebration of the
50-year anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Later that day however, unknown to
many because of the speed news traveled, bells tolling in mourning the deaths of former Presidents John
Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The odd coincidence in the timing of the deaths of the two men most responsible
for Declaration of Independence should have sounded warning bells, like the Independence Hall Bell ringing
across the land. “The number 50 in Biblical numerics denotes a ‘Jubilee,’ the year in which all debts public and
private are released and once again liberty is proclaimed throughout the land.”32 God’s law requires that every
50 years [Jubilee] all slaves be released, any debt be forgiven, the fields lie fallow and any sins be renounced.
It is said that God grants special graces to those who follow His law and start with a clean slate. “The number
50 in Biblical numerics denotes a “Jubilee” and is comprised of 5 [the number of grace] times 10 [the number
of law] or 10 commandments. So, the Jubilee year for the country was 1826 or on 50th anniversary of the
signing of the Declaration of Independence. Clearly the slaves were not released, and a country, does not
violate divine laws with impunity.”33
The inscription on the side of Independence Hall Bell from Leviticus 25:10, “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout
all the Land unto all the inhabitants thereof:” was missing an important part of the verse relating to the number
50, and slavery. The full Bible verse reads:
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“And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its
inhabitants; [proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: KJV]
it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return
to his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you; in it you shall neither sow, nor reap what
grows of itself, nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to
you; you shall eat what it yields out of the field. ‘In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his
property. ...You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your
God. ‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and perform them; so you will
dwell in the land securely.’”
— Leviticus 25:10-13, 17-18 RSV
Beyond the odd coincidence of the timing in the death of Adams, and Jefferson, exactly on the 50th
anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, most citizens took little notice. The coincidence
was seen by many as a reaffirmation of the founding documents, and God’s blessing upon the nation. A few
however, had a guarded concern with the Providential coincidence. John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of
the United States, made note of the “strange and very striking coincidence” of his fathers, and Jeffersons
passing. He considered very strange indeed that his father, and author of the Declaration if Independence,
should have died on the documents 50th anniversary, considered biblically a Jubilee Year for the new Republic.
“The time, the manner, the coincidence with the decease of Jefferson, are visible, and palpable marks, of
Divine”35 he wrote in his diary. John Quincy Adams was young enough to have witnessed God’s hand in the
Revolutionary War, and was now old enough, and wise enough, to take serious note of the “strange and very
striking coincidence” connected to the Declaration. He understood the divine hand involved in the war, and the
country’s founding documents [sacred document]. He stated:
Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of
the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first
precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the
prophecies announced directly from heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest
Hebrew prophets 600 years before?36
The new Republic was the slow, unfolding of a divine plan. God would use the Independence Hall Bell to
remind the country that “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year.” The Independence Hall Bell would be an
instrument used by God to proclaim His blessings of Liberty, and Freedom, throughout the land.
The city of Philadelphia decided to purchase the building, and land, from the State of Pennsylvania in
1816, after they learned that the property was to be subdivided. By the year 1828, the City Council decided
to replace the State House in Philadelphia with a new steeple, clock, and bell. The old State House Bell was
moved to a different part of the new tower, and a new 4,000-pound bell, cast by John Wilbank was put in its
place. Part of the contract with John Wilbank was to remove, and dispose, of the “old bell.” By hand of God,
or odd twist of fate, the clock tower bell disappeared, but the old State House Bell remained. Wilbank had not
disposed of the “old bell,” so the city of Philadelphia went to court, and sued John Wilbank, for not removing,
and disposing, of the bell. The judge ordered a compromise, perhaps a divinely ordained compromise, where
Wilbank would pay court costs and the city would keep the bell. The Independence Hall Bell would be
considered “on loan” from John Wilbank.
With the new 4,000-pound bell in the State House steeple, the old State House Bell soon fell out of favor.
The old State House Bell did toll in July of 1834, mourning the death of Marquis de Lafayette, the French
nobleman who fought in the Revolutionary War with George Washington. The following year however, all
would change. For what ever God’s purpose, John Marshall, and George Washington, two fellow Virginians,
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two of the staunchest supporters of the Constitution, and Union, would forever be linked in time to the bell. By
odd coincidence or hand of Providence, Chief Justice John Marshall, “America’s greatest Chief Justice,” and
arguably, one of the finest legal minds the nation has ever produced, died July 6, 1835 while visiting Philadelphia.
“The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and Religion are identified. It
would be strange indeed, if with such a people, our institutions did not presuppose Christianity, and
did not often refer to it, and exhibit relations with it. Legislation on the subject is admitted to require
great delicacy, because freedom of conscience and respect for our religion both claim our most
serious regard.”37
— Chief Justice John Marshall (1755-1835)
On July 8th, 1835, on the exact month, and day, the Independence Hall Bell
rang out to call citizens for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence;
the bell tolled in mourning the death of John Marshall. Marshall, and Washington,
were both humble patriots who led by example. For Marshall, “humility” he wrote “is
our best legacy of his character.” Of his character, John Adams stated, “My gift of
John Marshall to the people of the United States was the proudest act of my life.”38
As Supreme Court Justice, he strengthened the Judicial as a third branch of
Government, and helped, settle many Constitutional questions of the day. He helped
shape American Constitutional law, and rebuffed threats of secession, and claims of
state sovereignty. His position on the court, and his anti-slavery beliefs, put him at odds with many in the south,
like Thomas Jefferson; in a word, he helped cement the union. The old State House Bell [Independence Hall
Bell] is believed to have first cracked, tolling in mourning Marshall’s death. While the bell’s tone was said to
have changed, it would still be rung to celebrate many other events over many years. The bell’s final crack
would occur ringing in celebration of Washington’s birthday.
For the bell that was ordered to honor the Quaker religious beliefs in God, and honor, the 50th anniversary
of William Penn’s transfer of the Charter of Privileges, this was now the second time the [Trinity] bell or third
generation bell had cracked. The first bell ordered from Whitechapel Foundry cracked in September of 1752,
when it was first rung in Independence Square. In another odd coincidence, it was also exactly 50 years from
when the Independence Hall bell was re-hung in the State House steeple after the war that the second crack
occurred..
John Marshall, and George Washington, had been near neighbors from birth, friends and associates. It
was Washington who employed Marshall to survey the Western part of the territory. Marshall commanded the
third Virginia Regiment during the war and like Washington was personally driven to acquire military knowledge.
During the Revolutionary War, he served under Washington at the Battle of Brandywine, Germanstown and
suffered through the winter at Valley Forge. He fought under Washington at Manmouth then on to the Hudson.
Marshall also gave the official eulogy address at George Washington’s funeral, and wrote, five books on
George Washington. Both men had love of country, and fear of God, and respect for the Constitution. Both
men spent most of their adult lives in service to God and country. How fitting then for two purveyors, and
protectors, of Liberty, and Freedom, fellow patriots, and friends from Virginian, to be eternally linked in time to
a national symbol of Liberty, and Freedom.
The Independence Hall Bell by now had become just an “old bell,” of which not many people took
notice. That was until the name “Liberty Bell” appeared in The Anti-Slavery Record in February of 1835. The
publication was put out by a Boston abolitionist organization published by R.G. Williams for the American AntiSlavery Society. It was reprinted again in 1837 by the New York Anti-Slavery Society. The slavery issue was
polarizing the country at that time, war was declared on Mexico, and Manifest Destiny had taken hold, with the
14
westward expansion under way. The name
“Liberty Bell” resonated with many Americans
at that time and came into common use around
1839.
Liberty Bell Specifications
Circumference at lip – 12 feet
Circumference at crown – 7 feet 6 inches
Diameter at lip – 3 feet 10 inches
Thickness at lip 3 inches
Height from lip to crown – 3 feet
Length of drilled crack – 24 and a half
inches
Length of visible fractures 28 inches.
Weight – 2080 lbs.
The Liberty Bell, it was said strikes, the
note of E flat. “A metallurgical analysis of
the Liberty Bell shows the composition to
be approximately 70% copper, 25% tin,
2% lead, 1% zinc, .25% arsenic and .20%
silver with trace amounts of gold,
magnesium, nickel and antimony.”39
As the anniversary of George Washington’s
birthday approached in 1846, the “Christ
Church was claimant to the exclusive ringing of
the bells, because Washington attended that
church when in Philadelphia.”40 For this service,
they wanted to charge the city of Philadelphia
thirty dollars for performing the “illustrious deed” of ringing the church bell. The political quagmire finally broke
when the Legislature finally announced that “the old Bell in the State House be employed in ringing the honors,”
“the old bell ...should be struck through the day.”41
By February 12th of 1846, a thin crack had begun to affect the sound of the Liberty Bell [old State House
Bell]. The Mayor of Philadelphia requested the bell be rung to commemorate George Washington’s birthday.
The bell was repaired by cutting a slot along the length of the hairline crack. Two metal pegs were inserted in
the slot to prevent the two sides of the bell from vibrating against each other. As scheduled, the Liberty Bell was
rung in celebration of Washington’s birthday the morning of February 22nd of 1846. The bell rang that morning
until noon, then cracked, never to be heard again. The Philadelphia Public Ledger reported the cracking of the
bell, February 26, 1846:
“The old Independence Bell rang its last clear note on Monday last in honor of the birthday of
Washington and now hangs in the great city steeple irreparably cracked and dumb. It had been
cracked before but was set in order of that day by having the edges of the fracture filed so as not to
vibrate against each other ... It gave out clear notes and loud, and appeared to be in excellent
condition until noon, when it received a sort of compound fracture in a zig-zag direction through one
15
of its sides which put it completely out of tune and left it a mere wreck of what it was.”
This third generation, or [trinity] bell, rang out its last clear notes in tribute to George Washington, Father
of the Country. The Liberty Bell, formally the State House & Independence Hall Bell was left irreparably
cracked, and dumb. But even in its cracked, and broken form, the bell’s God given message was one that
could not be silenced forever. The bell would yet again, ring out to proclaim God’s blessing of Liberty, and
Freedom, across the land. It is perhaps note worthy to mention significance of the number three with the third
crack in the third [Trinity] bell. The number three represents the Holy Trinity, it also a mark of divine completeness,
and perfection.
The bell cracked a few months shy of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The numbers 50, and 70, both have Biblical significance. Slavery was a violation of the spirit of the Declaration
of Independence, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And at the Constitutional Convention,
George Mason has warned that “[Slaves] bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be
rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects,
Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.” Slavery was a violation of God’s law, and this,
would not be allowed to continue indefinitely. The Liberty Bell’s crack at high noon was the last warning to the
country of unfinished business by Providence. “The number 70 in Biblical Numerics denotes the [punishment
&] ‘restoration of Israel.’”42 Eventually, the sin of slavery, which was a transgression against divine law would
be removed from the land.
“All the leading priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the
abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in
Jerusalem to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its
sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.”
— 2 Chronicles 36:14,21 RSV
The country had fallen away from the Word of God in other ways besides slavery. Abraham Lincoln, in
declaring a day of national fasting, prayer, and humiliation, on March 30, 1863 said:
It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of
God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow. Yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy
Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.; And,
insomuch as we know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments
and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which
now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the
needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these
many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other
nation has ever grown. But we have forever God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which
preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined,
in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom
and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to
feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. If
behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offending Power, to confess our national sins and
to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”43
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God had given the country the First Great Awakening before the Revolutionary War, and the Second
Great Awakening (1790-1840), and still as a country, they were not worshiping God, and following His
commandments. As Jesus shed his blood for our sins, so to would those in the United States shed their blood
in atonement for their sins. God would purify the country once again and God’s gift of Liberty, and Freedom,
would ring out throughout the land. And after the Civil War, He would yet again, give the country the gift of a
Third Great Awakening
“When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, for
nothing.”
— Exodus 19:2 RSV
“The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Thus says the LORD, the God of
Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage, saying, ‘At the end of six years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew
who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you must set him free from your service.’But
your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. You recently repented and did what was
right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in
the house which is called by my name; but then you turned around and profaned my name when
each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire,
and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves. Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have
not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; behold, I proclaim
to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, says the LORD. I will make you a horror
to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
— Jeremiah 34:12-17 RSV
More important than the timing of when the bell cracked is the symbology of what the bell represents.
Bells represent and symbolize union or unity with God. They are rung at weddings to attest to God’s covenant
of marriage, and often printed on wedding invitations, over the bride, and groom. The heaven sent sound is
often heard by those who have had near death experiences, they describe beautiful music, harmonic mystical
tones, and bells. Bells are rung at funerals. They are rung at Mass when the host is raised toward heaven at the
point where the host and wine are transubstantiated into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It
has been suggested by some that it was through the Liberty Bell, and symbolically what it represents, that God
was sending a message to the country, a reminder of the new covenant with mankind through the crucifixion of
His Son Jesus Christ. Divine patience has its limits, and the bell’s crack, would be last warning message to the
country of their transgression against the Law.
The cracking of the bell at high noon on Washington’s birthday was prophetic in another way relating to
George Washington. The subsequent Civil War, or “Second Peril,” matched the vision Washington was shown
by an Angelic visitor at Valley Forge back in 1777. The following is an excerpt of George Washington’s vision
of the “Second Peril:”
Again, I heard the mysterious voice say, ‘Son of the Republic’, the end of the century cometh, look
and learn.’At this the dark shadowy angel turned his face southward, and from Africa I saw an illomened spectre approach our land. It flitted slowly over every town and city of the latter. The
inhabitants presently set themselves in battle array against each other. As I continued looking I saw
a bright angel, on whose brow rested a crown of light, on which was traced the word Union,’
bearing the American flag which he placed between the divided nation, and said, “Remember ye are
brethren.” Instantly, the inhabitants, casting from them their weapons became friends once more,
and united around the National Standard.44
17
The slavery issue, and the Civil War [Second Peril], which George Washington was so accurately shown,
threatened to break the young republic in two. The cracking of the Liberty Bell was a sign to the country that
God had decided it was time for America to abandon its slavery beginnings. A moral earthquake had awakened,
and would soon be settled on the battlefield in war. Below is a brief excerpt from an anti-slavery publication in
1851, titled The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom in Boston:
There is a Providence; men in wrath and in folly may make alien or enemies of one of another; we
cannot alienate Providence, or, except by iniquity or faithlessness, turn the course of Providence to
work our injury. The slavery agitation will at last be settled. Under Divine Providence, it will be
settled by human instrumentality. Should the ambition of this individual, gazing after the seals of
office,—or ararice of that , grasping greedily, nervously catching after the means of wealth,—lead
such to combine and, by force of power settle with out reference to the laws of God, and the rights
of man, this great question of the human race,—the settlement will soon be broken up again,. And
though their plans might be so cunningly laid, that wealth and office should be theirs upon the completion
of their arrangements, they can not long enjoy them. They cannot stop the revolution of the earth
upon its axis, and the revolution of the moral world will bear them to oblivion.45
— The Liberty Bell, by Friends of Freedom in Boston, 1851.
“A moral earthquake had awakened the slumber of ages. The spirit-stirring notes that pealed out
from Independence Hall, proclaiming ‘LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE LAND TO ALL THE
INHABITANTS THEREOF,’ and causing the most humble to lift up his head with higher hopes and
nobler aspirations, were yet echoing through every nook and corner of the land. The revolutionary
struggle, in which was involved the great principles of human rights, was still fresh in the minds of all
from the least unto the greatest. The magnanimous spirit that then prevailed to a great extent throughout
the country.”46
— William Douglas, A black leader from Philadelphia writing about the bell in 1862.
For six long years the North, and South, struggled to decide if the Union would be maintained. Lincoln
said, “American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God... He now wills to remove,”
and He did. The turning point of the Civil War was on July 4th, if 1863 with the Union victory of Gettysburg,
and Vicksburg. When word filtered in on the 6th that Vicksburg had fallen to the Union forces, most could not
help but take note of God’s hand in the choice of July 4th for the dual victories. Below is a first hand account
of the Independence Day celebrations in Philadelphia, July 4th of 1863, by Winfield Scott Hancock:
THE SPIRIT OF “76 AND THE FIRST PRAYER IN CONGRESS
“As we stood in Independence Square yesterday, and listened to the echoing peals of the State-House
bell, the following beautiful poem—perhaps we might call prophecy—from the men of a well know citizen,
recurred to our mind, and, amid the new associations of the hallowed place seemed invested with new meaning
and beauty. It was sent for publication by Mrs. J.B. Leedom:”47
No self was there when the solemn prayer
Arose from the patriot band
Who stood in the night for God and the right
Of freedom throughout the land,
When the old bell toll’d on the summer air
The spirit of Justice heard the prayer.
Fervent yet low were the words that flew
From heart to heart that day,
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And hand grasped hand as the patriot band
Prepared them for the fray,
And the old bell toll’d so loud and clear,
Our lives for our country we know no fear.
From mountain and dell, at the sound of that bell
Came the hardy children of toil;
From valley and glen sprang the sturdy old men
and the youth left the plough in the soil.
When the old bell rung, over the mountains afar
The children of peace became veterans in war.
Firm as a rock, the meet the shock
Of England’s serried band,
And back from the coast they scattered the host.
Of the foeman from out the land,
And the old bell rang through the summer trees.
As the “Star Spangled Banner” was flung to the breeze.
The Tones that fell from that liberty bell
Shall sweep over land and sea,
Till the sceptre and crown shall tumbel down.
And the nations all are free,
And the old bell spirit shall ring through the world
Till the banner of Christ be alone unfurled.48
In his Gettysburg address, Abraham Lincoln said, “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the
people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Lincoln would attempt to bind up the
nation’s wounds from the war, “with malice toward none, with
charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see
the right.”
The Liberty Bell would play an important role in the nation’s
healing process. In an effort to help rebuild, and reunite a nation,
divided by war around a National Standard, for thirty years,
from 1885 to 1915, the bell made a number of national tours. It
toured under a large banner that read “1776 Proclaim Liberty.”
The Liberty Bell was that National Standard that helped
reestablish the Union. On a special Liberty Bell railroad flat car,
the bell went to the World’s Industrial, and Cotton, Centennial
Exposition in New Orleans. It went to the International
Exposition in Atlanta, to Boston for the celebration of Bunker
Hill Day, to St. Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition,
literally from coast to coast, and many stops, in between. It
even survived a train wreck on the way to Charleston in 1902.
It went to San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in
1915, after 500,000 California school children petitioned
Philadelphians to send the bell to the exposition. Through many
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cities the bell passed, it was greeted by crowds waving flags, bands, and gun salutes. The Liberty Bell had truly
become a National Standard for the country.
The Liberty Bell has also played a role in more recent events in both American, and World history. The
Liberty Bell was a symbol used by the women’s suffrage movement, supporting voting rights for women. Susan
B. Anthony used it as a backdrop on July 4th of 1876, as she read “The Declaration for the Rights of Women.”
On “D-Day,” June 6th of 1944 as American troops were dying by the thousands on the shores of Normandy
attempting to liberate France from the grips of German occupation, the sound of the Liberty Bell rang out
across the land by radio. The mayor of Philadelphia struck the bell with a rubber mallet in support of the
troops, one strike for each letter in the word “LIBERTY.” Forty years later, President Ronald Reagan would
stand on those same French shores. In an emotional speech, Reagan said, “the men of Normandy had faith that
what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them
mercy on this beachhead—or in the next. It was the deep knowledge—and pray God we have not lost it.”49
As a tribute to the role the Liberty Bell has played in world history, and to coincide with the 60th anniversary
of the Normandy D-Day invasion, the French government commissioned a duplicate of the Liberty Bell to be
made. The Liberty Bell was scanned by laser to determine its exact dimensions and an exact replica was made
without the crack, called the Normandy Liberty Bell. The new bell was rung on the shores of Normandy on
June 6th of 2004 to honor the troops who died during the Normandy invasion.
For the country’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976, the bell was moved to the Independence Hall Pavilion.
On April 6th of 2001, “a man wielding a ...[hand-held sledgehammer] struck the Liberty Bell at least four
times... leaving an imprint on the lip of the ...symbol of freedom.” A local student recounted to the AP reporter,
“I just seen a man yelling out ’God lives on!’ then he just started banging on the Liberty Bell.”50 The man who
attacked the bell at the Independence Hall Pavilion was Mitchell Guilliatt, a self-described wanderer from
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Nebraska. At his court hearing, he said he was motivated by the words on the bell. In ringing the Liberty Bell
announcing ’God lives on!,’ Mitchell was proclaiming the source of the country’s blessing of Liberty, and
Freedom. He was sending a loudly rung 2080 lb message to the country, one that William Penn would have
agreed with in spirit, but not in action. Mitchell said, “we are all one body in Christ and God is the judge over
all of us.”51
Guilliatt’s ringing of the Liberty Bell, announcing “God lives on” to the country was in April of the same
year that the attack on the World Trade Centers, and Pentagon occurred. It was on a Friday which immediately
preceded Holy Week, and Easter. In spring, specifically the month of April is considered a time of rebirth.
Perhaps the real message to the country was that the United States needs a rebirth in the Son of the living God,
from whom the blessings of Liberty and Freedom flow. The Liberty Bell was moved to a more secure location
in the Liberty Bell Center in October of 2003 where it remains today.
As a national symbol of Liberty, and Freedom, the Liberty Bell
has inspired many worldwide. With all the twists and turns in the history
of the Liberty Bell, it truly is a miracle the bell has survived to present
day. The striking coincidences around the inscription on the Bell, the
timing of the crack, the symbology of the bell, and connections to
George Washington, are truly astounding. If God was attempting to
send one single message to the country, and perhaps the world, through
the Liberty Bell, that message would simply be for its citizens to follow
the divine laws, live virtuous lives like Jesus Christ, and to proclaim
“The law of Liberty,” which is God’s Word, and gift of Liberty
throughout the Land. For where “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom [& liberty].” 2 Corinthians 3:17
RSV Because, as John Adams stated, “It is [only upon] religion, and
morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom
[& liberty] can securely stand.”
“But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and
perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he
shall be blessed in his doing. So speak and so act as those who
are to be judged under the law of liberty.”
— James 1:25, 2:12 RSV
In hindsight of the American Revolution, an English cleric by the name of Charles Caleb Colton noted,
“Liberty is the highest blessing a nation can enjoy; that it must be first deserved before it can be enjoyed,”
“Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must rise themselves to Liberty: it is a blessing that must be
earned before it can be enjoyed.” The founding fathers considered Liberty, and Freedom, to be a gift from
God, a gift which must be earned by obedience to God’s Word, and by living a virtuous life. William Penn, and
the Founding Fathers, believed that in life, every person was accountable to Christ for their actions. They
wanted Liberty of Conscience, or “Soul Liberty,” a term coined by Christian minister, and founder of Providence
Plantations [Rhode Island], Roger Williams. Which was to worship God as their conscience, and their religion
[Christianity] dictated. So strongly did they believe in the right of “Liberty of Conscience,” they were willing to
die for God, and country. They also understood that free will is not the right to do as one chooses, “free will is
the liberty to choose what is right”52 according to God’s [Old and New Testament] law. This religious drive for
“Liberty of Conscience” was the Liberty, and Freedom, they bore the responsibility of supporting, as many
others have done over the years. It was, and still remains, a timeless struggle for man in his search for the face
of God, and his struggle for Liberty of Conscience, and the Liberty to choose what is right, according to God’s
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Law.
“A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America
than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous [moral and ethical principles
contained in the Bible] they cannot be subdued; but when they lose their virtue they will be ready to
surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. How necessary then is it for those
who are determined transmit the blessings of liberty as a fair inheritance to posterity. ..If virtue and
knowledge [Gospel] are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their
great security.”
—Samuel Adams (1722–1803) Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman
On a symbolic level, the Liberty Bell is “on loan” from the Wilbank’s family as our Liberties, and Freedoms,
are on loan from the last generation that fought, and died, to protect them. It is now up to our generation to
defend, and protect that jewel of liberty, and to pass it on to the next generation. Patrick Henry warned, “guard
with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing
will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”53 “If ye love
wealth better than liberty,” warned Samuel Adams, “the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest
of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the
hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our
countrymen.” Daniel Webster echoed a similar sentiment as the Founding Fathers that, “God grants liberty only
to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.”
“A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has
given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the religion of ignorance that tyranny begins.” “Any society
that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
— Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Statesman, Scientist, Inventor, Printer and Philosopher
The story of the Liberty Bell is as much about our future, as it is about our past. The hand of God in our
country’s founding, early struggles, history of the bell, and “Spirit of 76” was all forged into the emblematic
symbolism that is the Liberty Bell. Its symbolism and stunning coincidences fit with a larger pattern of American
Providentialism, or the hand of God, in shaping, and moving, American history. The Liberty Bell has been
preserved for us in time as a symbol of God’s gift of Liberty and Freedom. The Liberty Bell has also been
preserved as a message to us, a message of our responsibilities to God in following His law. As a symbol of the
Liberties, and Freedoms, we enjoy, it is a message that should not be taken lightly. For in the end, we will all be
judged, including our country under “the Law of Liberty” [God’s law].
The gift of Liberty, and Freedom, that rang out from Independence Hall was truly a revolutionary idea in
the recorded history of mankind. Forged into the Liberty Bell, and preserved in time, was a God given message
that the rights of man, and blessings of Liberty come from God, not from man, or government. The truth of
God’s Word that rang out across the land, “Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the
inhabitants thereof,” was a message not just for the United States, but for the entire world. Even today, over
two hundred and fifty years after the Liberty Bell rang out its first glory-breathed tones, Liberty still remains a
revolutionary, and dangerous idea, in most countries around the world. Especially in Democracies, and in
countries suffering under the yoke of oppression. As it was in the day the Liberty Bell was first hoisted up in the
Independence Hall steeple, the United States stands alone as the last vestige of human Liberty left on the face
of the earth. A refuge of safety, where Liberty is recognized as a gift from God, where the rights of man come
from God, not from government, and where government [based on the Old and New Testament] is instituted
among men to protect those rights. It is now up to our generation to share with the next our responsibilities to
God for His continued blessings, and give thanks, for His gift of Liberty; so from every mountain top, spread
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God’s Word and “Let Freedom Ring.”
Poem by WILLIAM ROSS WALLACE, The Liberty Bell.
A sound like a sound of thunder rolled,
And the heart of a nation stirred—
For the bell of Freedom, at midnight tolled,
Through a mighty land and was heard.
And the chime still rung
From its iron tongue
Steadily swaying to and fro;
And to some it came
Like a breath of flame—
And to some a sound of wo.
Above the dark mountain, above the blue wave
It was heard by the fettered, and heard by the brave—
It was heard in the cottage, and heard in the hall—
And its chime gave a glorious summons to all—
The sabre was sharpened—the time-rusted blade
Of the Bond started out in the pioneer’s glade
Like a herald of wrath: And the host was arrayed!
Along the dark mountain, along the blue wave
Swept the ranks of the Bond—swept the ranks of the Brave;
And a shout as of waters went up to the dome.
When a star blazing banner unfurled,
Like the wing of some Seraph flashed out from its home,
Uttered freedom and hope to the world.
O’er the hill-top and tide its magnificent fold,
With a terrible glitter of azure and gold,
In the storm, in the sunshine, and darkness unrolled.
It blazed in the valley—it blazed on the mast—
It leaped with its Eagle abroad on the blast;
And the eyes of whole nations were turned to its light;
And the heart of the multitude soon
Was swayed by its stars, as they shone through the night
Like an ocean when swayed by the moon.
Again and through the midnight that Bell thunders out,
And banners and torches are hurried about:-A shout as of waters! a long-uttered cry!
How it leaps, how it leaps from the earth to the sky!
From the sky to the earth, from the earth to the sea,
Hear a chorus re-echoed, “The People are Free!”
That old Bell is still seen by the Patriot’s eye,
And he blesses it ever, when journeying by;
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Long years have passed o’er it, and yet every soul
Will thrill in the night to its wonderful roll;
For it speaks in its belfry, when kissed by the blast,
Like a glory-breathed tone from the mystical Past.
Long years shall roll o’er it, and yet every chime
Shall unceasingly tell of an era sublime
More splendid, more dear than the rest of all time.
O yes! If the flame on our altars should pale,
Let its voice but be heard, and the Freeman shall start
To rekindle the fire, while he sees on the gale,
All the stars, and the stripes of the Flag of his heart! 54
Quotes of Interest
“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people
whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country
who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not
suffer a man to be chosen onto any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.”
—Samuel Adams (1722–1803) Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman
“Liberty considers religion as the safeguard of morality, and morality as the best security of law and
the surest pledge of the duration of freedom.”
— Alexis de Toqueville (1805-1859) French Author
“For whoever shall design to impair, pervert or undermine either of them [two grand pillars of
English liberty & Fundamental Vital Privileges], do strike at the very Constitution of our Government,
and ought to be prosecuted and punished with the utmost zeal and rigour. To cut down the banks
and let in the sea, or to poison all the springs and rivers in the kingdom, could not be a greater
mischief; for this would only affect the present age, but the other will ruin and enslave all our posterity.”
— William Penn (1644-1718) Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania
“Liberty, not communism, is the most contagious force in the world.”
— Earl Warren (1891-1974), Governor of California and Supreme Court Justice
“When governments fear the people there is liberty. When the people
fear the government there is tyranny.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the United
States
“A diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of liberty..”
— James Madison (1751-1836) Father of the Consitituion, 4th
President of the United States
“Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.”
— George Washington (1732-1799) Father of the Country, 1st
President of the United States
“As piety and virtue support the honor and happiness of every community,
they are peculiarly requisite in a free government. Virtue is the spirit of a
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republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition. If
they are impious ... all is lost.”
— Samuel Cooper (1725-1783) Pastor of the Patriots
“Those who won our independence... valued liberty as an end and as a means. They believed liberty
to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.”
— Louis D. Brandeis (1856–1941) Supreme Court Justice
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) Third President of the United States
“The bells in this tower ring out forever the praises of Almighty God and His blessed Mother.”
— The National Shrine, Grotto of Lourdes in Emmitsburg PA outside Gettysburg
“To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil
freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now
enjoys. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are
diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, or the corruption of
its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion
will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine
freedom [& liberty], and approximate the miseries of complete
despotism. All efforts to destroy the foundations of our holy religion,
ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and
happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown,
our present Republican forms of government, and all the blessings
[God given] which flow from them, must fall with them.”
— Jedediah Morse (1761-1826) Father of American Geography
& Educator, “Election Sermon” given at Charlestown, MA, April
25, 1799
“In every age liberty’s progress has been beset by its natural enemies: by ignorance and superstition,
by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s
craving for food.”
— Lord Acton (1834-1902) English Historian, [John Acton]
“He is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere and active in promoting true and
undefiled religion, and who set himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and
immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I scruple not [do not hesitate] to
call him an enemy to his country.”
— John Witherspoon (1722-1794) Educator, Economist, Minister, Writer and Founding Father
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When a people lose their history, they lose a part of who they are.
Reclaim your heritage; pass this on to a friend or family member.
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Copyright © 2008 Michael A. Shea - All Rights Reserved
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