How different
would our country be if our Congress had such a chaplain as this, and if the
members thereof knelt in prayer as these men did?
WASHINGTON KNEELS
DURING PRAYER
The first of September, 1774, Washington left home for
Philadelphia as a member from Virginia of the First Continental Congress about
to meet in that city. It met on the fifth. The first two days were spent in
organizing and arranging preliminaries, when it was proposed that the sessions
should be opened with prayer. The Rev. Jacob Duche’, an Episcopal
clergyman, was invited to officiate. The first morning, September 7, 1774, he
read the thirty-fifth psalm, which begins as follows:
"Plead my cause, O Lord, with them
that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
"Take hold of shield and buckler,
and stand up for mine help.
"Draw out also the spear, and stop
the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation."
After the
Psalm, Mr. Duche’ offered the following prayer: "O Lord our
Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who dost from
Thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth, and reignest with power supreme
and uncontrolled over all kingdoms, empires and governments; look down in mercy
we beseech Thee, on these American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of
the oppressor, and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be
henceforth dependent only on Thee; to Thee they have appealed for the
righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance
and support which Thou alone canst give; take them, therefore, Heavenly Father,
under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in council, and valor in the field;
defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries, convince them of the
unrighteousness of their cause; and if they still persist in their sanguinary
purposes, O let the voice of Thine own unerring justice sounding in their
hearts constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in
the day of battle. Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of
this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest
foundation, that the scene of blood may be speedily closed, that order,
harmony, and peace, may be effectually restored; and truth and justice,
religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst Thy people. Preserve the
health of their bodies and the vigor of their minds; shower down on them and
the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient
for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to
come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy
Son, our Saviour. Amen."
JOHN ADAMS'S LETTER
John Adams, in
a letter to his wife on the day following, thus describes the scene:
"You must
remember this was the morning after we heard the horrible rumor of the cannonade
of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if
heaven had ordained that psalm to be read on that morning. After this Mr. Duche’ unexpectedly
to everybody struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of
every man present. Episcopalian as he is, Doctor Cooper himself never prayed
with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so
eloquent and sublime, for America, for the Congress, for the province of
Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It had an excellent
effect upon everybody here."
"Washington was kneeling, and Henry, and Randolph, and Rutledge,
and Lee, and Jay, and by their sides there stood, bowed in reverence, the
Puritan patriots of New England.”1
Christ, not
man, is King!
Dale
1) William J.
Johnson, George Washington, The Christian (New York, NY: The Abingdon Press,
1919), p. 63-6.
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