The Prayer That Influenced the First Continental Congress

Whether or not America was ever a “Christian nation,” there can be no doubt that she has a unique spiritual and moral heritage, which makes it all the sadder to see the ongoing downfall. The following is from American Minute, Sept. 1, 2015: “The First Session of the Continental Congress opened the beginning of September in the year 1774 with prayer in Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia. Threatened by the most powerful monarch in the world, Britain’s King George III, America's founding fathers heard Rev. Jacob Duche begin by reading Psalm 35, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer’s ‘Psalter’ for that day September 7, 1774: ‘Plead my cause, Oh, Lord, with them that strive with me, fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of buckler and shield, and rise up for my help. Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me.’ Then Rev. Jacob Duche prayed: ‘Be Thou present, O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the 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 and our Saviour, Amen.’”

(Friday Church News Notes, October 23, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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