revolutionary prayer and humiliation
17 - 03/26 /13:06
Months before adopting the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago, the Continental Congress called upon God.
The Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill battles were already history. The Continental Congress had sent their Olive Branch Petition to King George, and been rejected. A formal break from England was inevitable. What did the Continental Congress do to prepare the colonies and themselves?
Saturday, March 16, 1776—Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, adopted a proclamation drafted by William Livingston, a delegate from New Jersey; published in the Philadelphia Gazette March 20,1776.
The Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill battles were already history. The Continental Congress had sent their Olive Branch Petition to King George, and been rejected. A formal break from England was inevitable. What did the Continental Congress do to prepare the colonies and themselves?
Saturday, March 16, 1776—Congress, assembled in Philadelphia, adopted a proclamation drafted by William Livingston, a delegate from New Jersey; published in the Philadelphia Gazette March 20,1776.
With the “Liberties of America … imminently endangered,” Livingston’s proclamation established “that Friday, the Seventeenth day of May next” be “a day of HUMILIATION, FASTING and PRAYER.”
The Continental Congress believed it was “the indispensable duty of these hitherto free and happy colonies, with true penitence of heart, and the most reverent devotion, publickly to acknowledge the over-ruling providence of God; to confess and deplore our offences against Him; and to supplicate His interposition for averting the threatened danger, and prospering our strenuous efforts in the cause of freedom, virtue, and posterity.”
Congress pressed Americans, “with united hearts,” to “confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and, by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease His righteous displeasure, and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ (emphasis added), obtain His pardon and forgiveness; humbly imploring His assistance to frustrate the cruel purposes of our unnatural enemies; and by inclining their hearts to justice and benevolence, prevent the further effusion of kindred blood.”
This religious proclamation contained martial hopes. Should England fail to incline its heart, the Continental Congress appealed to “the God of Armies” to “animate our officers and soldiers with invincible fortitude, to guard and protect them in the day of battle, and to crown the continental arms, by sea and land, with victory and success.”
Blessings of liberty were floridly expressed too, and the proclamation concluded with a call to treat this special day in May as a Sabbath: “It is recommended to Christians of all denominations, to assemble for public worship, and abstain from servile labor on the said day.”
Having adopted Livingston’s proclamation, the Continental Congress took one final action: “Resolved, that the foregoing resolve be published,” concluding the plea with “GOD save the PEOPLE.”
Here’s a snapshot of our Founders’ worldview—embracing both the spiritual and penitential. Without apology they called upon the Almighty, applying Christian faith to public affairs. ~
Blessings,
Dan Nygaard