Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Please give me a President who Prays


I hear the hue and cry of the Left (Socialists, Liberals, Progressives, Democrats, whatever) over the audacity of the Governor of Texas not only attending, but leading a prayer service called “The Response.”  Burdened as I am with a love of our history, I recalled an episode where one of the Founding Fathers who popular mythology brands as non-religious, stood up and his faith changed the direction of a country if not the world.   

In her book "Miracle at Philadelphia; The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787" Catherine Drinker Bowen tells the story of a deadlocked Constitution Convention.  The delegates had come to loggerheads over how the various States would be represented.  Big States of course didn't want to come under the sway of the smaller ones while the small States didn't want to be overwhelmed by the larger ones.  Chaos had reigned for several weeks until Benjamin Franklin who had not spoken much at the Constitutional Convention stood up and addressed these remarks to the President of the Convention George Washington: 

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights to illuminate our understandings?"

Bowen explains: Franklin here reminded the Convention how at the beginning of the war with England, the Continental Congress had had prayers for divine protection - and in this very room, "Our prayers, Sir, were heard," said Franklin, "and they were graciously answered.  All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a Super-intending providence in our favor.  To that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity.  And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? . . . . I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth - that God governs in the affairs of man." 

If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground unseen by him, Franklin continued, was it probable an empire could rise without his aid?  "I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.  We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word to future ages.  And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing governments of human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, and conquest."   

"I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of heaven and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service." 

A delegate from Georgia - William Few, described that morning of June twenty-eighth as "an awful and critical moment.  If the Convention had then adjourned, the dissolution of the union of the states seemed inevitable."

The motion by Franklin was defeated largely because there were no funds to pay clergy, however ministers did attend to the convention at no cost.  Jonathan Dayton (NJ) recorded that after the renewed focus on God “We assembled again; and . . . every unfriendly feeling had been expelled, and a spirit of conciliation had been cultivated.”  

A motion by Edmund Jennings Randolph (VA) for the entire group to attend a special day of prayer on July 4th was passed.  In his book “The Myth of Separation” David Barton reports:

“. . . the entire Convention assembled in the Reformed Calvinistic Church and heard a sermon by Rev. William Rogers.” 

The newly found sense of cooperation resulted in “The Great Compromise” our bicameral legislature consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate.  

In our current on-going disaster they have tried everything else – surely prayer couldn’t hurt. 

Is it any wonder then that Governor Rick Perry thought that our Nation could benefit from prayer? 



I know who I’m voting for in 2012.  

Miracle At Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May - September 1787        The Myth of Separation: What Is the Correct Relationship Between Church and State?

12 comments:

  1. Not to try to out-eloquent you, but "Ditto."

    ReplyDelete
  2. People, by nature, resist change. That is why the atheists could not eliminated God from every aspect of our culture all at once (they would have preferred to do that). Rather, it has been a gradual course that is probably working on 50+ years now, accomplished just a little at a time while God fearing Christians in this country remained "tolerant" because they just didn't want to take on the battle. Well, we cannot be tolerant any longer. What seems like a long time for us is but just a heartbeat for God. Thankfully, He is a patient and merciful God and has spared this country for the sake of His believers who still put their faith in Him but I wonder for how much longer He will remain patient. To your post I say... Amen.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amigo,
    Nicly done. Ditto here too!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ted V,

    I think maybe God has been dropping some pretty big hints for us to quit letting evil have its way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice writeup.

    Does anyone ever recall that whenever Bill Clinton had a scandal hanging over his head, the media spared no film in getting shots of him and his bible leaving the church?
    Oddly, the "athiests" out there never made a peep about it.

    Obama gets a pass from the athiests because all his sermons began with "god-damn".

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you all for your visit and kind comments. It is amazing isn't it how the right guy, in the right place, at the right time can change the world?

    Yet the wrong guy, in the wrong place, at the wrong time can gum something up as badly as our President has?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Common Sense,

    I'm Peppermint. I don't know if you know me or not I used to blog on TH. Now, I'm on Wordpress. Here is my link http://pepperhawkfarm.wordpress.com/ just in case you want to come by. I have the most frustrating time getting onto blogspot. Don't know why though. So I'm logged in with my Google account and my screen name is CzechMerlin on there. Whew.

    Anyway, to get to your very nice article. I love any kind of history and when someone writes about a particular historical moment like the one you wrote, I find it fascinating.

    I hate the way the Socialists/Commies/Progressives try to change our historical beginnings and "try" to tell everyone that God was not involved and that these Founding Fathers of ours were not God fearing men who prayed. They were and I like that. God is there to help us through every challenge we have in life.

    And I very much liked Rick Perry's prayer day along with the Concerned Women of America group who helped on the project.

    Aren't we women great? LOL!

    Good article, CS.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Peppermint, You are very kind. Thank you for your visit. Please come back.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I would like to offer my two cents. I will come out of my shell, and admit that I am agnostic.

    I would just like to say, that people who critcize men such as Governor Perry don't do so because they're atheist, or agnostic. They do it because they're intolerant a##holes.

    Just because a man believes in something different than I do, does not make him less of a man.

    Maybe one day Bill Maher and the other super liberal douches will realize that believing in god does not make you a moron. It just makes you a religious person, and I'm here to say, that's not a bad thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. JOB - Thank you for the visit and your post. Since we Christians typically don't tackle people and force them to read the Bible - we should get a pass from those who don't share our belief.

    Come back and visit.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You all get a pass. I have nothing but respect for people who believe in Jesus, god, or whatever else.

    That's what infuriates me about super-libs. How can someone call another person an idiot just for believing in a higher power. A persons beliefs are their beliefs.

    Just for the record, I do take my daughter to church every Sunday. I will let her decide for herself what to believe in.

    Keep up the good work. You have a good blog here. I'm looking forward to future (friendly) debates. If I wanted ignorant name-calling, I would post on that mud-fellows blog.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you for your kind comments - you will find passion here and more than an occasional argument. We generally try and be civil to each other. You are welcome.

    I lost patience a long time ago with personal attacks by the name callers and rock throwers.

    I do delete the occasional comment that is uncivil or hateful and will continue to do so.

    ReplyDelete