- ings of God's Word. In the convention which
framed the constitution of New Jersey, he amazed the other delegates by his technical knowledge of administration and led in their constructive labors; he assisted in the overthrow of William Franklin, the royal governor; was elected to the Continental Congress, and in the critical hour spurred on the lagging members who hesitated to take the fatal step of authorizing their president and secretary to sign and issue the Declaration of Independence. With solemn emphasis he declared:
"For my own part, of property I have some, of reputation
more. That reputation is staked, that property is
pledged on the issue of this contest; and although these
gray hairs must soon descend into the sepulchre, I would
infinitely rather that they descend thither by the hand of
the executioner, than desert at this crisis the sacred
cause of my country."
The word "God" occurs but once in that
famous document. Jefferson wrote it with a
small "g." Witherspoon was the solitary
clergyman among the signers; neither he nor
his neighbor, friend, and supporter, Richard
Stockton, of Morven, who was a member of his
church, set their hands the less firmly to sign
the paper. Finally, Witherspoon was a mem-
