On this day in 1740, Patriot Elias Boudinot is born in Philadelphia. Interestingly, his father was Benjamin Franklin’s neighbor and friend.

Boudinot was a colonel in the Continental Army, and president of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1783. As such, he was a signatory of the Treaty of Paris, which ended hostilities with Britain.

He also studied law at what is now Princeton University in office of Richard Stockton. Stockton was his brother-in-law and a asigner of the Declaration of Independence.

Next, Boudinot represented New Jersey in the House of Representatives and was director of the US Mint under Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.

The Whole of this Business

Finally, Boudinot served as president of the American Bible Society at its founding in 1816 until his death in 1821. Americans committed to the word of God and to ending slavery founded the Society with the purpose of distributing Bibles.

So, in his letter of acceptance, he wrote:

“I am so convinced that the whole of this business is the work of God himself, by his Holy Spirit, that even hoping against hope I am encouraged to press on through good report and evil report, to accomplish his will on earth as it is in heaven. So apparent is the hand of God in this disposing the hearts of so many men, so diversified in their sentiments as to religious matters of minor importance, and uniting them as a band of brothers in this grand object that even infidels are compelled to say, ‘It is the work of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes!’ Having this confidence, let us go on and we shall prosper.”

Clearly, Elias Boudinot and his childhood neighbor Benjamin Franklin believed “the hand of God” “governs in the affairs of men.”