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Unclean Lips

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When you take an inventory of all the individuals who have earned a prominent position in our nation’s history, it’s inevitable that you find in each one of them a character flaw of some sort.

  • George Washington is the father of our country, yet he was a slaveowner.
  • John Witherspoon was a powerful preacher, the President of the University of New Jersey (Princeton), and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Yet, he was a slaveowner as well.
  • Gouvernor Morris wrote the Preamble of the Constitution and spoke more on the Convention floor more so than any other delegate.1 While his faith in God isn’t something you could easily define as orthodox, he belonged to a denomination that believed in a Triune God and his approach to government was obviously informed by a biblical worldview.2 And yet, Morris was involved in several illicit affairs, including those with married women.3

How do you reconcile the way in which history honors these men with the fact that they were fundamentally flawed at some level?

We don’t honor Witherspoon because he owned slaves anymore than we honor Moses for murdering an Egyptian. We don’t respect Morris because he was an adulterer anymore than we applaud David for being in the same category and then went as far as having Bathsheba’s husband killed.

Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution represent a brilliant approach to human rights and the structure of government. We don’t evaluate either one of them according to the character flaws of the men who wrote them. Rather, we evaluate them according to the substance of the documents themselves.

In a similar fashion, we don’t honor these men because of the inconsistencies that exist between the doctrine they subscribed to and the way that same doctrine failed to manifest itself in their approach to certain issues. Instead, we honor them because of the sacrifices they made to champion those principles that resulted in the freedoms and the rights we’re able to enjoy today.

When the prophet Isaiah was first commissioned by God, Isaiah is in the Lord’s Presence and instantly becomes aware of how he compares to the standard of God’s Perfection.

He says…

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Is 6:5)

Anyone who believes themselves to be “qualified” to be used by God in any capacity is inevitably humbled once confronted by the depravity that characterizes themselves along with every member of the human race.

What makes sin so toxic isn’t just the sin itself as much as it’s Who you’re sinning against (Is: 40:12-14; 45:9-10). When you take an honest inventory of Who God is, the idea that a human being would have the audacity to disobey Him or to rebel against Him is unconscionable, and yet…

…that’s what we do all day, every day (Rom 3:23).

It’s not the instrument, but rather than One working in and through that instrument that produces the results that are worthy of our respect and admiration. We applaud our Founding Fathers, not because they were beyond reproach, but because of their willingness to obey and be used by God in a crucial moment when compromise or rebellion would’ve been a far easier path to take.

The assessment that concludes that our Founding Fathers were wrong in the way they viewed certain topics, is neither inaccurate nor inappropriate.

But to dismiss what they accomplished, assuming that any dirt on their hands soils the integrity of the Truth they proclaimed or the substance of the sacrifices they made is to invoke a standard that is not only nonsensical, it is also hypocritical.

1. “Christianity and the Constitution”, John Eidsmoe, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 1987, 2003, p179
2. Ibid, p189
3 “National Endowment for the Humanities”, “The Confessions of Gouverneur Morris: An interview with Melanie Randolph Miller”, https://www.neh.gov/article/confessions-gouverneur-morris, accessed March 21, 2026

John Witherspoon

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John Witherspoon was President of the College of New Jersey from 1768 – 1794.1 During his tenure as President, the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton) would require their students to focus on their relationship with Christ as a crucial part of their daily routine…

Every student shall attend worship in the college hall morning and evening at the hours appointed and shall behave with gravity and reverence during the whole service. Every student shall attend public worship on the Sabbath…Besides the public exercises of religious worship on the Sabbath, there shall be assigned to each class certain exercises of their religious instruction suited to the age and standing of the pupils…and no student belonging to any class shall neglect them.2

This was not a casual “chapel” exercise. This was an intentional discipline that all students were expected to adopt that would then become their philosophical starting point for every other intellectual pursuit.

You see that disposition reflected in a sermon he preached entitled, “Glorying in the Cross” where he elaborates on Galatians  6:14:

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Gal 6:14 [KJV])

Moral Philosophy is that branch of Science which treats of the principles and laws of Duty or Morals. It is called Philosophy, because it is an inquiry into the nature and grounds of moral obligation by reason, as distinct from revelation.’

Hence arises a question, is it lawful, and is it safe or useful to separate moral philosophy from religion? It will be said, it is either the .same or different from revealed truth; if the same, unnecessary — if different, false and dangerous.

An author of New England,- says, moral philosophy is just reducing infidelity to a system. But however specious the objections, they will be found at bottom not solid. If the Scripture is true, the discoveries of reason cannot be contrary to it; and therefore, it has nothing to fear from that quarter. And as we are certain it can do no evil, so there is a probability that it may do much good. There may be an illustration and confirmation of the inspired writings, from reason and observation, which will greatly add to their beauty and force.5

He makes the point that the cross is something to be celebrated and prioritized above everything else. He refers to Paul’s resume, as far as him being extremely intelligent when it came to the Word of God and having an intellectual pedigree that could’ve been used to secure a very prestigious position within Jewish culture (Phil 3:1-6). But just as Paul chose to disregard all of his credentials in favor of the cross (Phil 3:7), Witherspoon encourages his listeners to do the same by subordinating everything to that Reality.

At one point in his sermon, he says:

Accursed be all that learning which disguises or is ashamed of the cross of Christ…Accursed be all that learning which is not made subservient to the honour and glory of the cross of Christ.3

This is the academic climate that characterized Witherspoon’s tenure as university President. Consider the way that environment influenced the way his university students would then process themselves and the world around them. Everything would be aligned with however the subject matter was addressed in Scripture. The Bible was the Supreme Authority and the Ultimate Ideal.

This is significant given the way many of Witherspoon’s students would go on to occupy influential positions in government. James Madison being especially noteworthy, given his role in introducing a list amendments to the Constitution which would later be referred to as the Bill of Rights.

In addition, Witherspoon’s influence would be felt in the context of…

12 members of the Continental Congress
5 delegates to the Constitutional Convention
1 president of the United States (James Madison [also referred to as the “Father of the Constitution“)
1 vice president of the United States
28 U.S. senators
49 members of the U.S. House of Representatives
12 governors
3 Supreme Court justices4

He saw reason as something that promoted religion in the way it confirmed the Bible and added to the its beauty and force (see sidebar). It didn’t compete with revelation and wherever it attempted to do so, it was reevaluated as an idea that needed to be either dismissed or altered in order to ensure its consistency with the Perfect Wisdom as articulated in the Word of God.

This was the philosophical starting point for many of those who contributed significantly to the structure and design of our government and the Constitution. However resolved some may be in dismissing the role Christianity had in shaping the Founders approach to liberty and politics, their arguments are revealed as being more passionate then they are principled once an objective inventory is taken, not only of the men who comprised the Constitutional Convention, but also those who influenced them.

1. “John Witherspoon”, David Walker Woods, Fleming H. Revell Company, London, England, 1906, p74, 135
2. “The Laws of the College of New Jersey”, Isaac Collins, Trenton, NJ, 1794, p28-29
3. “The Works of John Witherspoon”, John Witherspoon, HardPress, Miami, FL, 2017, LOC 2,081
4. “John Witherspoon: Educating for Liberty”, George H. Nash, February 19, 2024, Action Institute, https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-34-number-1/john-witherspoon-educating-liberty, accessed November 30, 2025
5. “Lectures on Moral Philosophy”, John Witherspoon, D.D., L.L.D., Edited under the Auspices of The American Philosophical Association by Varnum Lansing Collins, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1912