On July 4, 1776, in the old State House in Philadelphia, a group of patriotic men were gathered for the solemn purpose of proclaiming the liberty of the American colonies. From the letters of Thomas Jefferson, preserved in the Library of Congress, have been gathered considerable data concerning this portentous session.

There were several speeches. Jefferson expressed himself with great strength. The Philadelphia printer, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, quiet and calm as usual, spoke his mind with well chosen words. The delegates hovered between sympathy and uncertainty, as the long hours of the summer day crept by; for life is sweet when there is danger of losing it. The lower doors were locked and a guard was posted to prevent interruption.

According to Jefferson, it was late in the afternoon before the delegates gathered their courage to the sticking point. The talk was of axes, scaffolds, and the gibbet; when suddenly a Strong, Powerful Voice was heard:

“Gibbet! They may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land; they may turn every rock into a scaffold; every tree into a gallows; every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die! They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds, and yet from every drop that dyes the axe, a new champion of Freedom will spring to birth! The British King may blot out the Stars of God from the sky, but he cannot blot out His Words written on that parchment there. The Works of God may perish! His Words Never!

“The words of this Declaration will live in the World long after our bones are dust. To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, Freedom; but to the coward kings, these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot choose but hear….

“SIGN THAT PARCHMENT! SIGN, if in the next minute this hall rings with the clash of falling axes! Sign, by all your hope for Life or death, as men, as husbands, as fathers, brothers, sign your names to that parchment, or be accursed forever! Sign, and not only for yourselves, but for all ages, for that parchment will be the textbook of Freedom, the Bible of the Rights of Free men forever.

“Nay, do not start and whisper with surprise! It is truth! Your own hearts witness it! God proclaims it! Look at this strange band of exiles and outcasts – suddenly transformed into a people; a handful of men, weak in arms, but Mighty in God-like Faith! Nay, look at your recent achievements, your Bunker Hill, your Lexington, and then tell me, if you can, that God has not given America to be Free!

“It is not given to our poor human intellect to cling to the skies, and to pierce the Council of the Almighty One! But methinks I stand among the awful clouds, which veil the brightness of God’s Almighty Throne.

“Methinks I see the recording Angel come trembling up to that throne and speak his dread message. ‘Father, the old world is baptized in blood. Father, look with one glance of Thine Eternal Eye! Behold evermore that terrible sight – man trodden beneath the oppressor’s feet; nations lost in blood, murder, and superstition; walking hand in hand over the graves of the victims, and not a single voice of hope to man!’

“He stands there, the Angel, trembling with the record of human guilt. But hark! The voice of God speaks from out the awful cloud: ‘Let there be Light again! Tell my people, the poor and oppressed to go out from the old world, from oppression and blood, and build My Altar in the new!’

“As I live, my friends, I believe that to be His Voice! Yes, were my soul trembling on the verge of eternity, were that hand freezing in death, were this voice choking in the last struggle, I would still – with the last impulse of that soul; with the last wave of that hand; with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember this Truth – God has given America to be Free!

“Yes, as I sank into the gloomy shadows of the grave, with my last faint whisper, I would beg you to sign That Parchment – for the sake of millions whose very breath is now hushed in intense expectation, as they look up to you for those Eternal Words: ‘You Are Free’!”

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[ NOTE: The strong, powerful voice of the stranger in the balcony of the Philadelphia State House that spoke these eloquent words of encouragement on July 4, 1776 to the signers of the Declaration of Independence were none other than that of St. Violinio Germain. Proof that this statement is true can be found in The Phoenix Journals in the words of Pleiadian Starfleet Commander Gyeorgos Ceres Hatonn, and in the writings of Manly P. Hall, who was one of the reincarnations of St. Violinio Germain. -----PHB ]

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