PRESIDENT WASHINGTON


The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:1-3, NIV)


It is impossible to account for the creation of the universe, without the agency of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to govern the universe without aid of a Supreme Being. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being.

Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to.

George Washington
(Maxims of Washington,
edited by John F. Schroeder)

PRESIDENT ADAMS


And the government will be on his shoulders. (Isaiah 9:6, NIV)


We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.

John Adams

PRESIDENT LINCOLN


The fear of the Lord -- that is wisdom. (Job 28:28, NIV)


Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.

I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.

I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side.

I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.

Perhaps a man's character was like a tree, and his reputation like its shadow; the shadow is what we think of it, the tree is the real thing.

In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.

Stand with anybody that stands RIGHT. Stand with him while he is right and PART with him when he goes wrong.

Abraham Lincoln
(quotes collected by Bill Weiss)

PRESIDENT CARTER


Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." (Luke 24:36, NIV)


To me personally, Jesus bridges the tremendous chasm between human beings and the seemingly remote and omnipotent God the Creator. The more I learn about Jesus, the more complex and challenging are his teachings, and the more closely connected are God the Father and God the Son. It really comforts and satisfies me to equate the almighty Creator with the humble but perfect Jesus, and to remember that "God is love."

Jesus' intriguing and often delightful experiences are fascinating, and they offer examples of how to deal with our afflictions and concerns in a reassuring and joyful way. They give us priorities or standards for living. Almost any of our most exalted ideals can be explained, clarified, and expanded by what Jesus said and did. Jesus' teachings can help to put us at peace with both our Creator and our neighbors.

Jimmy Carter
(Living Faith)

PRESIDENT REAGAN


Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12, NIV)


The fact that they could not resolve the issue of when life begins was a finding in and of itself. If we don't know, then shouldn't we morally opt on the side of life? If you came upon an immobile body and you yourself could not determine whether it was dead or alive, I think that you would decide to consider it alive until somebody could prove it was dead. You wouldn't get a shovel and start covering it up. And I think we should do the same thing with regard to abortion.

Ronald Reagan
(News conference,
January 19, 1982)