---
title: 'The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Man: John Witherspoon on the Story of American Independence'
type: video
hasMedia: true
requiresPurchase: false
authors:
- 'Jonathan Master'
date: 2026-06-23
collection: 'Dead Presbyterians Society'
subcollection: 'Season 3'
topics:
- 'American Presbyterian and Reformed History'
- 'Colonial Presbyterian History'
- 'Citizenship and Government'
- 'Politics'
- 'United States'
- 'War and Peace'
- 'Providence'
scriptures:
- 'Psalms 76'
- 'Mark 2'
- 'Hebrews 13'
url: https://confessional.org/dead-presbyterians-society/season-3/the-dominion-of-providence-over-the-passions-of-man-john-witherspoon-on-the-story-of-american-independence
---

# The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Man: John Witherspoon on the Story of American Independence

In this episode, we explore John Witherspoon’s famous sermon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men. Preached in 1776 amid the growing struggle for American independence, Witherspoon reflects on God’s sovereign rule over human affairs, showing how even conflict, suffering, and the ambitions of men ultimately serve His purposes. Along the way, he calls Christians to trust God’s providence, pursue personal holiness, and labor faithfully for the good of both church and nation.

[Watch](https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1202864387)

## Transcript

We're approaching a very significant anniversary in the history of the United States of America, but it's important to remember that these were times of great uncertainty. No one knew what the outcome would be, but one truth was very clear, that the wrath of man would bring praise to God. God is sovereign over all things, and we need to remember this at all times.

Greetings from the past. Welcome to Dead Presbyterian Society. I'm Jonathan Master.

I serve as president of Greenville Seminary. This year marks a very special anniversary in the history of the United States of America. We're coming up on July 4th, where we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and we're going to devote our next two episodes, this one and a special episode on July 4th, to the founding of the United States of America.

The story of American independence, whatever you think of it, whatever you think of the decisions made on both sides of that conflict, is a story of God's providence unfolding through history. Events moved forward, large decisions were made, people stepped in a path that would ultimately lead them to greater liberty and freedom. From a human perspective, it was a moment of uncertainty and of great risk, particularly leading up to that war of independence.

And yet, of course, God was in control. We know this. God is sovereign in all the events of history.

Through the actions of men, through tension and resistance and resolve, God was carrying out his purposes. What appeared fragile was upheld by God's hand. His will was being accomplished.

And that's the major point that John Witherspoon seeks to make in his sermon, which he preached before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, in May, before July 1776, his sermon was entitled, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men. And in that sermon, he reminds us that the events surrounding America's war for independence were not random or uncontrolled.

They were governed by a sovereign God, a sovereign God who restrains, directs, and uses all things to his glory. Now John Witherspoon lived in the midst of the very tensions that gave rise to the American War for Independence. He was a minister of the gospel primarily.

He was a leader in the church, but he was also an active participant in the public and political life of the nation. He was president of the College of New Jersey, and he was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He stood at the intersection of theology and politics.

He saw the spiritual realities of scripture, and he also looked hard at the unfolding events in the world around him. And he spoke with conviction about the providence of God in working out all things according to his plan. Now let's pause for a moment and look at the life of John Witherspoon.

He was a colossal figure in early American Presbyterianism, and indeed in early American political life. He was born on February 5th, 1723 in East Lothian, Scotland. He was raised in a devout Presbyterian home.

His father was a minister in the Church of Scotland, and he was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he graduated in 1735. He was later awarded a Doctorate of Divinity from the University of St. Andrews in 1764. He himself, like his father, was ordained in the Church of Scotland, and he served in several congregations before he was called to be the president of Princeton, what would become Princeton University, then the College of New Jersey.

And that's where he left. He left Scotland in 1768 to become the sixth president of the College of New Jersey. He did a number of things at the college.

He instituted a number of reforms in the curriculum, and he mentored really a generation of students, including notably, particularly as we think about American independence, notably James Madison, and he helped shape the theological identity of early American Presbyterianism. He served as moderator of the first General Assembly in 1789. Now, along the way, he became an advocate for American independence from Great Britain.

He served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress. He signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was the only active clergyman to become a signer of the Declaration.

He also signed the Articles of Confederation, and he served in significant ways in contributing to American political philosophy. He is remembered as a pastor, and an educator, and one of America's founding fathers. He died on November 15, 1794 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Now, the context for this sermon is striking. It was delivered on May 17, 1776, so a few months before the signing of the Declaration, and the Second Continental Congress appointed a nationwide day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And they called the American colonies on this day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer to seek the Lord's blessing, because they were in a time of great uncertainty, and they knew they needed the Lord's help in the approaching conflict, but they also needed the Lord's wisdom as they made consequential decisions that would affect the life of a nation.

So John Witherspoon, who was at that time the president of the College of New Jersey, preached in Princeton his sermon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men. He dedicated the sermon to John Hancock, who was the president of the Congress, and he expressed the highest esteem for his personal character and public conduct. The published edition of the sermon opens with a brief advertisement written by an unknown and an openly critical author who accuses Witherspoon of stirring rebellion, so this is a controversial sermon.

However, what Witherspoon actually preached was less about rebellion against Britain and more about God's working, God's dealings with his people, and how it is that Christians were to understand the providence of God in uncertain times. Now, the text for the sermon was Psalm 76, 10, "...surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Witherspoon in the sermon really aims to expand on that and to illustrate that all the disorderly passions of men shall end up being to the praise of God. Now he applies that directly to Christians in the colonies at that time by saying this, "...the ambition of mistaken princes, the cunning and cruelty of oppressive and corrupt ministers, and even the inhumanity of brutal soldiers, however dreadful, shall finally promote the glory of God.

And in the meantime, while the storm continues, his mercy and kindness shall appear in prescribing bounds to their rage and fury." So Witherspoon is going to try to show in this sermon how the wrath of man praises God and then the duties that men have in the midst of a crisis where the wrath of man is being poured out and then specific applications of those duties to the time in which he lived. So we'll begin with how the wrath of man praises God, which is really Witherspoon's primary point. He writes, "...it is the duty of every good man to place the most unlimited confidence in divine wisdom." In other words, we are to fully put our trust in God, no matter what the circumstances are, and believe that he has great purposes for everything he does.

And Witherspoon articulates this by first describing the way in which the wrath of man praises God, "...as it is an example and illustration of divine truth, and clearly points out the corruption of our nature, which is the foundation stone of the doctrine of redemption." In other words, this is the point he's trying to make. True Christianity, biblical Christianity, begins with a deep and settled conviction about sin and depravity. In other words, you can't really understand the Bible's message of salvation without understanding the Bible's message of sin, and the wrath of man exposes in great detail, in vivid detail, this truth about depravity.

Witherspoon quotes the Lord in Mark 2, "...the whole have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." In other words, what Jesus is saying is that men need to know they are sinners in order to be called to repentance. And Witherspoon highlights the fact that as the wrath of man is being displayed through injustice, through cruelty, through brutality, that highlights something that gives God glory, namely the total depravity of man.

Nowhere is our corruption more plainly seen than when the wrath of man breaks forth in what he calls oppression, cruelty, and blood. From the first act of violence between Cain and Abel, to the wars that fill the pages of history, one thing we can say, those wars, those acts of cruelty, those murders display the glory of God. And they display the glory of God by displaying the depravity of man.

And he paints a picture of war and the cruelties of war. A mother brings a child into the world through suffering, devotes years to raising him only to see him in the fullness of his strength and youth suddenly taken away by the violence of war. Battlefields are filled with dead and dying men.

And there's great grief that accompanies that. And what an illustration this is. Every time we think of war, every time we think of these great acts of violence, what an illustration that is of the depravity of man.

But secondly, he says the wrath of man displays the glory of God by the correction and improvement of God's children. Here's what he writes. The wrath of man praiseth God as it is the instrument in his hand for bringing sinners to repentance, for the correction and improvement of his own children.

Now, this doesn't mean that this is the intention of those who are inflicting the suffering. No, their intention may be to do harm. In fact, it certainly is to do harm.

But God, in his mysterious providence, uses the harm that is inflicted to bring men to repentance, to cause them to look at eternal things, to cause them to understand the nature of their own sin and their great need of a Savior and their need to do business with God. And Witherspoon writes that in a particular way, public calamities such as war have a powerful tendency to alarm those who were previously living in security and to humble those who were previously proud. They press upon men, not only in themselves but in all that is dear to them, they press upon them these truths that God is in control and God needs to be dealt with and they need to think carefully about spiritual things.

When God's judgments are on the earth, Witherspoon observes, particularly we see this in the scriptures, the inhabitants of the world are taught something about not only depravity but about righteousness. And he gives numerous examples in the history of Israel when repeated afflictions are brought upon the people and they're brought upon the people to lead them to repentance. But when those afflictions are taken away in times of comfort and ease, how easy it is, how natural it is for men to simply forget about God and forget about their need for repentance.

And so in this way, suffering becomes a means of grace, turning the heart from passing things, ephemeral things, to the living God. And then thirdly, he says, the wrath of man promotes the glory of God by just promoting God's glory, by showing God's control and sovereignty and glory. Here's what he writes, the wrath of man praises God as he sets bounds to it or restrains it by his providence and sometimes makes it evidently a mean of promoting and illustrating his glory.

In other words, Witherspoon knew that no matter how cruel men were, God governed all things. He set limits to it. He restrained men when they could have gone too far.

He confounds the counsel of the wicked. How often does God do that in the scriptures? He confounds the counsel of the wicked and even turns their designs against themselves. The things that they intended for evil, God intended for good.

He permits opposition to rise only so far. He sets the boundaries of that kind of evil. So what appears to be disorder is actually under divine control.

And what is intended for harm often is redirected for good. I want to take a break from our episode to speak to you directly. One of the great joys of Dead Presbyterian Society has been hearing from you, our listeners and our viewers.

You are people who are as interested in 18th and 19th century American Presbyterianism as we are here at Greenville Seminary. This is an exciting time of year at the seminary. It's a time when we graduate a class of students.

These are men who are going out from us and serving Christ and serving his church throughout the world as pastors. It's also a time when we're getting ready to welcome in a new group of students. And by God's grace, it looks to be a large group of students this year.

We rejoice in seeing all these men and welcoming them to Greenville. It's also the end of our fiscal year. This is when our budget year ends.

And because of the growth in our student body, we have an increased need this year. And so we come to you asking if you might consider giving to the work at Greenville Seminary. You can go to gpts.edu slash give.

And there's a page there that will answer some of your questions. If you have other questions, feel free to reach out to us. And whether or not you can give to us financially, please pray for us.

The work we're doing here at the seminary is important work. It's valuable work. It's work that the Lord has seen fit to bless.

And we look forward to what he will do in the coming year. Witherspoon observes that persecution, particularly persecution of Christians, has often advanced the very cause that it sought to destroy. Here's what he writes.

The spirit of obstinacy in man, those are his words, works in such a way that opposition strengthens resolve. Witherspoon points to the Reformation as a wonderful example of this. Here's what he writes.

At the time of the Reformation, when religion began to revive, nothing contributed more to facilitate its reception and increase its progress than the violence of its persecutors. Their cruelty and the patience of the sufferers naturally disposed men to examine and weigh the cause to which they adhered with so much constancy and resolution. We might remember perhaps Tertullian's famous words.

The blood of the martyrs is as the seed of the church. Oftentimes, God uses oppression and difficulty and persecution in order to grow his people and to cause it to, in a sense, work for the growth of Christians and the growth of Christ's church. So because of this, Witherspoon says, Christians have duties in the crisis in which they're involved.

And this, I think, applies not just to 1776 and the events there that Witherspoon was speaking to, but really to our own lives today. We know today that God is in control, that God is providentially ordering all things, that the wrath of man will give praise to God. And so we have duties that we have to perform when we're in a time when the great wrath of man is being displayed.

We know it's for God's glory. First duty, he says, is this concern for your own salvation. Quote, In the first place, I would take every opportunity on this occasion and from this subject to press every hearer to a sincere concern for his own soul's salvation.

Remember, this is one of the purposes of suffering. This is one of the reasons why God allows calamity, why God allows persecution, because it wakes us up and causes us to look at eternal things. Concern for your own salvation.

He warns his hearers against resting on outward religious observance alone. Many of the people who would have heard these sermons would have been engaged in religious activities. That would have been part of their life.

That was part of their culture in so many ways. And yet he says, no, we must go beyond this. You must look at your own salvation, at your own dealings with the Lord Jesus Christ.

You need to receive Christ as he is offered in the gospel. You need to turn from yourself. You need to turn to Christ.

Salvation is by grace, through faith alone, and all are called to repentance. Secondly, he says, one of our duties is to praise God for the favors he has already bestowed upon us. Here's what he writes.

From what has been said upon this subject, you may see what ground there is to give praise to God for his favors already bestowed on us, respecting the public cause. Now, again, he's speaking in a particular situation about the ways in which God had blessed the people who were living in those colonies that became the United States of America. And he wants to point to the many ways God had already blessed them.

Yes, they were going through a time of trial. Yes, they were experiencing great violence. Yes, they were experiencing tyranny.

But he says, hasn't God blessed us in many ways as well? Here's what he writes. Through the whole frame of nature and the whole system of human life, that which promises most performs the least. The flowers of finest color seldom have the sweetest fragrance.

The trees of quickest growth or fairest form are seldom of the greatest value or duration. Deep waters move with the least noise. Men who think most are seldom talkative.

And I think it holds as much in war as in anything that every boaster is a coward. This is the nature of how things can go. Success can often lead to being cut down quickly.

But he says, we don't want to boast, but we do want to thank God for all the blessings he's given. We don't have a misplaced confidence, but we do want to have gratitude. It reminds Witherspoon's hearers, it reminds us, that what appears strong and impressive is often unreliable.

But true strength, true strength rooted in gratitude is quiet and steady and dependent upon God. That's what he wants for his hearers. And then thirdly, he says, we need to trust God for help in this coming conflict.

He writes, from what has been said, you may learn what encouragement you have to put your trust in God and hope for his assistance in the present important conflict. This encouragement, of course, rests on Witherspoon's conviction that the cause was just, that the cause was right. There was a clear concern, Witherspoon thought, for truth and for liberty and for righteousness.

And so in that context, we can look to the Lord with confidence for help. He puts it this way. If your cause is just, you may look with confidence to the Lord and entreat him to plead it as his own.

Now he calls for humility here. He calls for repentance. He calls for continued dependence upon God.

The outcome of the coming conflict, which he believed was just, would not be secured by human strength alone. It would depend upon a people who trusted in the Lord, who sought his favor, and who remained mindful that success in such a cause, if it were to come, would only come from the hand of God. And so then he gives specific applications of these broader duties.

And we'll go through these things more quickly, because they are more contextual. They are more applicable to his own day and his own situation. First, he says we have to have a zeal for the glory of God.

Whatever we do, we have to have a zeal for the glory of God and the good of others. He writes, Suffer me to recommend to you an attention to the public interest of religion. Or in other words, zeal for the glory of God and the good of others.

He calls them to personal responsibility and to public responsibility. Each individual has to care about the character of the nation. Each individual has to look and see how he can be used to build up a greater zeal for the Lord in this coming nation.

He writes, When manners of a nation are pure, when true religion and internal principles maintain their vigor, the attempts of the most powerful enemies to oppress them are commonly baffled and disappointed. So look to the zeal for God. Then he says that Christians need to devote themselves to works of industry.

He writes, I exhort all those who are not called to go into the field, he's talking about the battlefield, to apply themselves with the utmost diligence to works of industry. Now what he's trying to do here is to say, if this nation is going to be blessed by God at all, if it is going to succeed, if it is going to have God's hand upon it, then first of all, we need to be zealous for God, but we also need to work hard. We need to be wise in our lives.

Industry, therefore, he writes, is a moral duty of the greatest moment, absolutely necessary to national prosperity and the sure way of obtaining the blessing of God. Ordinary labor becomes an expression of faithfulness, contributing both to the outward strength of the nation and the inward formation of its people. And along with that, his third application is that families need to be frugal in their expenses.

Have, quote, a frugality in your families and every other article of expense. He goes on to be specific temperance and meals, moderation and decency and dress furniture and equipage. He explains further, this certainly implies not only abstaining from acts of gross intemperance and excess, but a humility of carriage of restraint and a moderation in your desires.

Again, he's tying all this into public well-being and receiving the blessing of God. He knew that God was sovereign over all that would happen. And if God would bless, he would bless in these ways.

The health of a nation is shaped by the lives of its people. By their pursuit of moderation, by their pursuit of humility and self-control. And then that becomes an essential part of the nation's character.

As we think about this, of course, our context is very different than Witherspoon's. We look back with gratitude on Witherspoon and many, many others who go before us. And yet we're left with questions that press upon us today, even in a very different context.

The first question is this, I think this is the primary question that comes out of this sermon. In what ways does our understanding of the sovereignty of God encourage us in our duties today? Isn't it the case that all the duties that Witherspoon outlines are duties that we too should carry out. We should be thoughtful about our own spiritual standing.

We should be zealous for the glory of God. We should be thankful to God. We should count our blessings because the Lord has given them to him.

He is the source of them. We should look even at the evil acts done in the world and say that points to the depravity of man, which ultimately points to the glory and holiness of God. What are your duties today knowing these things? Secondly, we might ask, how do we see the hand of God in the history of our nation, but not just our nation, other nations as well? God is sovereign over the whole earth and Witherspoon knew this.

He preached this. And so it's not just the case that in the history of America, but in the history of all nations, God has been sovereign. We need to give thanks to God.

We need to look at what his sovereignty is teaching us, what his purposes might teach us. And in our own American context, we might ask, are we using the freedoms that God has given to us, has entrusted to us to pursue righteousness? Or are we using these merely to serve ourselves? Do we labor for the good of our nation and ultimately for the glory of God? Do we recognize that the strength of a nation rests not only in its power, but in its character? Witherspoon ends this momentous sermon with a prayer. And in this prayer, he gathers all these themes together.

Here's what he prays. God grant that in America, true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that the unjust attempts to destroy the one may in the issue tend to support the establishment of both. We celebrate because God has been at work.

We celebrate ultimately because God is in control. That Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we celebrate with the hope that what we have received will always be joined to truth, to faith, and to people who live under the sovereign rule of God.