Don’t Just Be Right

“The Annual Register” is a publication that presents an annual overview of all the political and cultural highlights of that particular year.1

Created in 1758 and still in circulation today, it’s regarded as a primary source text for historical research.2

1781 was a landmark volume because of the significance of the events that occurred that year including Britain’s surrender to the United States. Part of what made Cornwallis’ defeat stand out was the way in which General Washington conducted both himself and his troops in the aftermath.

Two days after the capitulation took place, divine service was preformed in all the different brigades and divisions of the American army, in order to return thanks to the Almighty for the great event; and it was recommended by General Washington, to all the troops that were not upon duty, in his general orders, that they would assist at divine service “with a serious deportment, and with that sensibility of heart, which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of Providence in their favor claimed.3

In his General Orders, Washington, in addition to recommending that all troops not on duty attend a worship service, he also ordered that all prisoners be pardoned and released:

In order to diffuse the general Joy through every Breast the General orders that those men belonging to the Army who may now be in confinement shall be pardoned released and join their respective corps.4

The British Army had burned and destroyed countless properties that were not military targets, including churches.5 In addition, clergy had been targeted and there were instances of brutality on the battlefield that were not due so much to the horrors of war as they were the cruelty of certain British officers.6

Washington would not have been faulted for being less accommodating when Lord Cornwallis surrendered. Even in the context of the way prisoners of war were treated, the British were indifferent to the wellbeing of the Continental soldiers they held in custody and, while estimates vary, between eight and eleven thousand American prisoners died in prison due to neglect.7

And yet…

Washington personified a biblical approach to one’s enemy.

However belligerent and opinionated your opponent may be, there is one dimension of your platform he can never criticize, let alone disagree with, without your participation:

Your manner.

In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus says:

43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt 5:43-48)

Moral Perfection is not an attainable standard given the frailties that characterize the human condition. But the word, “perfect” in this verse is the Greek word, “teleios,” which is more accurately translated in this context as meaning “complete.”8

It’s one thing to be right, it’s another to be righteous. And you want to be righteous because in the end you don’t want to settle for merely being “good,” you want to be effective.

Perhaps that’s part of what Jesus was talking about.

Many of the criticisms that Washington and the platform he represented were never admitted into civil conversation is because of the way the purity of his conduct reinforced the integrity of his cause.

Passion can be a compelling compliment to the words you would say, but left unchecked, emotions can compromise your message in that now your listener is not paying attention to what you’re saying as much as they’re now focused on the way you’re saying it (Prov 25:11).

Don’t just be right, be righteous…

Don’t just be good, be effective.


1. “The Annual Register”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Annual_Register, accessed June 4, 2023

2. “Annual Register”, Proquest, https://about.proquest.com/en/products-services/ann_reg/, accessed June 4, 2023

3. “The New Annual Register or General Repository of History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1781”, G. Robinson, London, England, 1782, p169 (https://books.google.com/books?id=txALAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=deportment&f=false)

4. “George Washington Papers, Subseries 3G, Varick Transcripts, Letterbook 6 | General Orders”, https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/mss/mgw/mgw3g/006/006.pdf, accessed June 4, 2023

5. Referring to the Presbyterian clergy that assisted the Continental Army both spiritually and tactically, “It is not strange that their course was regarded as specially obnoxious by the British troops. Their houses were plundered, their churches often burned and their books and manuscripts committed to the flames…The church edifices were often taken possession of by an insolent soldiery and turned into hospitals or prisons, or perverted to still baser uses as stables or riding schools. The church at Newton had its steeple sawed off, and was used as a prison or guard-horse till it was torn down and its siding used for the soldiers’ huts. The church at Crumpond was burned to save its being occupied by the enemy…More than fifty places of worship through the land were utterly destroyed by the enemy during the period of the war. The larger number of these were burned, others were leveled to the ground, while others still were so defaced or injured as to be utterly unfit for use. This was the case in several of the principal cities – at Philadelphia and Charleston as well as New York. ” (“Presbyterians and the Revolution” Rev W.P. Breed, D.D., Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia, PA, 1876, p103-106 [https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/public/gdcmassbookdig/presbyteriansrev01bree/presbyteriansrev01bree.pdf])

British forces raided the town of Elizabeth on January 25, 1780 and burned the church, the home of Reverend James Caldwell, the courthouse and the Presbyterian School. (“Revolutionary War New Jersey”, https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/caldwell_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm, accessed June 4, 2023)

Saint Philip’s Church in Brunswick County, North Carolina was burned to the ground when the British invaded in 1776. Construction lasted 14 years, but it took only one day for it to be destroyed. Before it’s demise, it was considered to be one of the finest religious structures in North Carolina. (St. Philip’s Church, Brunswick Town”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Philip%27s_Church,_Brunswick_Town, accessed June 4, 2023)

Biggins Church in Charleston, South Carolina was confiscated by the British Army and used as a depot. As they retreated, they burned the church. (“Biggin Church Ruins”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biggin_Church_Ruins, accessed June 4, 2023)

6. “Banastre Tarelton”, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/people/banastre-tarleton.htm, accessed June 4, 2023

7. “Prisoners of War”, “George Washington’s Mount Vernon”, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/prisoners-of-war/, accessed June 4, 2023

8. “Telious”, Bible Study Tools, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/teleios.html, accessed June 5, 2023