May 27, 2013 at 6:07 am, by Carl

George Washington’s Prayer

 

When my family visited Mt. Vernon in 2007, we got to participate in the laying of the wreath at the grave of President and Mrs. Washington.  This prayer as written below was used in that ceremony and I was given the copy that the National Park Historians used.  The link I have provided has a slightly different version preserved that switches the wording to third person.  In either case, in honor of Memorial Day, I thought it apt to share it with you.

 

 

I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks [sic] of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.