28. Examples of the use of the word “benediction” include:
28.1 To THE MINISTERS, ELDERS, DEACONS, AND MEMBERS OF THE REFORMED GERMAN CONGREGATION OF NEW YORK New York, November 27, 1783. Disposed, at every suitable opportunity to acknowledge publicly our infinite obligations to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for rescuing our Country from the brink of destruction; I cannot fail at this time to ascribe all the honor of our late successes to the same glorious Being. And if my humble exertions have been made in any degree subservient to the execution of the divine purposes, a contemplation of the benediction of Heaven on our righteous Cause, the approbation of my virtuous Countrymen, and the testimony of my own Conscience, will be a sufficient reward and augment my felicity beyond anything which the world can bestow.
28.2 To THE MILITIA OFFICERS OF THE CITY AND LIBERTIES OF PHILADELPHIA Philadelphia, December 12, 1783. While the various Scenes of the War, in which I have experienced the timely aid of the Militia of Philadelphia, recur to my mind, my ardent prayer ascends to Heaven that they may long enjoy the blessings of that Peace which has been obtained by the divine benediction on our common exertions.
28.3 To THE STATE SOCIETIES OF THE CINCINNATI Mount Vernon, in Virginia, October 31, 1786. Highly approving as I do, the principles on which the Society is now constituted; and pleased to find, so far as I have been able to learn from reiterated enquiries, that it is acceptable to the good people of the United States in general; it only remains for me to express the sense I entertain of the honor conferred by the last General Meeting in electing me their President, and too implore in future the benediction of Heaven on the virtuous Associates in this illustrious Institution.
28.4 To ANNIS BOUDINOT STOCKTON Mount Vernon, August 31, 1788. I hope that you and yours may have the enjoyment of your health, as well as Mrs. Washington and myself: that enjoyment, by the divine benediction, adds much to our temporal felicity.
29. Examples of Washington’s use of the word “beseech” as a synonym for prayer:
29.1 GENERAL ORDERS Head Quarters, Moore’s House, Saturday, November 27, 1779. The Honorable the Congress has been pleased to pass the following proclamation. RESOLVED, That it be recommended to the several states, to appoint Thursday, the 9th of December next, to be a day of public and solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God for his mercies, and of prayer for the continuance of his favor and protection to these United States; to beseech him that he would be graciously pleased to influence our public councils, and bless them with wisdom from on high, with unanimity, firmness, and success; that he would go forth with our hosts and crown our arms with victory; that he would grant to his church the plentiful effusions of divine grace, and pour out his holy spirit on all ministers of the gospel; that he would bless and prosper the means of education, and spread the light of christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth; that he would smile upon the labours of his people and cause the earth to bring forth her fruits in abundance; that we may with gratitude and gladness enjoy them; that he would take into his holy protection our illustrious ally, give him victory over his enemies, and render him signally great, as the father of his people and the protector of the rights of mankind; that he would graciously be pleased to turn the hearts of our enemies, and to dispense the blessings of peace to contending nations; that he would in mercy look down upon us, pardon our sins and receive us into his favor, and finally, that he would establish the independence of these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue, and support and protect them in the enjoyment of peace, liberty and safety.
29.2 FAREWELL ADDRESS, September 19, 1796, ...Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my Country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that after forty five years of my life dedicated to its Service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the Mansions of rest.
APPENDIX FOUR
George Washington’s “Daily Sacrifice Prayers” or “The Spurious Prayers”
Long after George Washington’s death, a series of hand-written prayers were found in his personal effects. When these came to public attention in 1891, a debate ensued over their authenticity. Questions debated in this context included:
(1) Did Washington write them?
(2) Did Washington copy them?
(3) Did Washington use them if they had been written by another and given to him?
Because these questions cannot be answered with finality, we have chosen not to use the “Daily Sacrifice” prayers as part of our argument. Instead, we have employed what we have termed “a minimalist facts approach.” We have relied only on evidence that is indisputable. But we have included them here since they have been used so frequently in the debate over Washington’s Christianity.
For the background to this discussion, we begin by citing the historical summation from Washington historian, Rupert Hughes. Hughes refused to call these prayers “The Daily Sacrifice Prayers” of Washington. Instead he called them “the Spurious Prayers.” His summation of the background of these controversial “Daily Sacrifice” prayers of Washington seems accurate enough so we begin by quoting it. Rupert Hughes writes,
In 1891, there appeared at an auction in Philadelphia, among a mass of relics offered for sale by Washington’s descendents, a little manuscript book found at Mount Vernon and promptly assumed to be in his autograph. It was also decided that he wrote it when he was about twenty.
Save for one newspaper at the time, nobody seems to have questioned its authenticity and no protest has been made against enshrining it as “without exception the most hallowed of all his writings.” Yet there is really every reason to cast this document out as not only the work of some other hand than Washington’s, but as a writing that could hardly have been written by anybody during his lifetime. The Reverend W. Herbert Burk, in a privately printed edition of the manuscript, describes it as a confirmation of the story of Washington’s prayers at Valley Forge…
Their first publisher, Stan V. Henkels, said of the little memorandum book, “This gem is all in the handwriting of George Washington, when about twenty years old, and is without exception, the most hallowed of all the writings. It is neatly written on twenty-four pages of a little book about the size of the ordinary pocket memorandum.”
Mr. Burk describes their discovery:
“By the merest accident Mr. Henkels discovered this document. While making arrangements for the sale, he came across a dilapidated trunk, which Mr. Washington assured him contained only papers of no value, papers which had been rejected by authorities of the Smithsonian Institute when offered for exhibition. In looking them over he came across this document and recognized at once what he considered the penmanship of Washington. His judgment was substantiated by other experts, to whom the manuscript was submitted.
“Mr. W.E. Benjamin, the well-known New York dealer, purchased the manuscript for twelve hundred and fifty dollars, and by him it was sold to the late Reverend Charles Frederick Hoffman, D.D. Naturally the discovery and sale of such an important manuscript of Washington attracted considerable attention and in the columns of the New York Evening Post the authenticity of the manuscript was challenged. It is not my purpose to revive the controversy. Where experts disagree a layman’s opinion counts for little. Able experts declare the prayers were written by Washington. One says they were written by a Washington. Another, they are ‘written in the unformed hand of the great patriot. It is well-known fact that Washington between the years 1755 and 1763 changed his hand from the angular to the round formation.’
“The ultimate judgment must be based on the chirography, for there are no a priori arguments to prove that Washington did not write them.
“What disposition Dr. Hoffman made of the manuscript I have been unable to discover. In Dr. Potter’s Washington a Model in his Library and Life is the following statement: ‘The Reverend Dr. Chas. F. Hoffman has lately purchased “Washington’s Prayers,” The MSS. [manuscripts] containing morning and evening prayers for various days of the week. He has under consideration, for the benefit of young men and others, a division of this very valuable manuscript, forming a sermon every page, for deposit in the fire-proof libraries of St. Stephen’s College, Hobart College, Trinity College, and the University of the South, each institution to have also a complete free circulation of the whole work.”
“An analysis of this first prayer shows that it is made up almost entirely of sentences from the Prayer Book, and the other prayers are drawn largely from the same source. Almost every part of the Prayer Book has been laid under contribution, showing that the author was very familiar with its entire contents.
“While the Prayer Book is undoubtedly the source of the prayers, the question of this authorship is not determined. Dr. Lyman Abbott and Prof. Upham attributed them to Washington.
“No proof can be given that these prayers were composed by Washington, but, on the other hand, no proof had been produced to show that they were not his work. Professor Lucien M. Robinson is of the opinion that they are taken from some collection of prayers, but has not yet been able to confirm his opinion. I think this is very probable, and have endeavored to discover their source, but so far the search has been in vain. At present, the question is an open one, and its settlement will depend on the discovery of the originals, or upon the demonstration that they are the work of Washington.”
These being the arguments in favor of the prayers, the arguments against them may be considered, without dwelling over much on their discovery in a neglected old trunk whose contents, as Mr. Henkels confesses, “had been rejected by the authorities of the Smithsonian Institute when offered for exhibition.”1
Below are these disputed prayers that some scholars claim were in Washington’s own handwriting, while other scholars disagree.
THE DEBATED “DAILY SACRIFICE” PRAYERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON
Sunday Morning...
Almighty God, and most merciful father, who didst command the children of Israel to offer a daily sacrifice to thee, that thereby they might glorify and praise thee for thy protection both night and day; receive, O Lord, my morning sacrifice which I now offer up to thee; I yield thee humble and hearty thanks that thou hast preserved me from the dangers of the night past, and brought me to the light of this day, and the comforts thereof, a day which is consecrated to thine own service and for thine own honor.
Let my heart, therefore, Gracious God, be so affected with the glory and majesty of it, that I may not do mine own works, but wait on thee, and discharge those weighty duties thou requirest of me; and since thou art a God of pure eyes, and wilt be sanctified in all who draw near unto thee, who doest to regard the sacrifice of fools, or hear sinners who tread in the courts, pardon, I beseech thee, my sins, remove them from thy presence, as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits of thy son Jesus Christ, that when I come into thy temple, and compass thine altar, my prayers may come before thee as incense; and as thou wouldst hear me calling upon thee in my prayers, so give me grace to hear thee calling on me in thy word, that it may be wisdom, righteousness, reconciliation and peace to the saving of my soul in the day of the Lord Jesus. Grant that I may hear it with reverence, receive it with meekness, mingle it with faith, and that it may accomplish in me, Gracious God, the good work for which thou has sent it. Bless my family, kindred, friends and country, be our God & guide this day and for ever for his sake, who lay down in the Grave and arose again for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sunday Evening...O Most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful & loving father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt, in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day. I have called on these for pardon and forgiveness of sins, but so coldly & carelessly, that my prayers are become my sin and stand in need of pardon. I have heard thy holy word, but with such deadness of spirit that I have been an unprofitable and forgetful hearer, so that, O Lord, tho’ I have done thy work, yet it hath been so negligently that I may rather expect a curse than a blessing from thee. But, O God, who are rich in mercy and plenteous in redemption, mark not, I beseech thee, what I have done amiss; remember I am but dust, and remit my transgressions, negligences & ignorances, and cover them all with the absolute obedience of thy dear Son, that those sacrifices which I have offered may be accepted by thee, in and for the sacrifice Jesus Christ offered upon the cross for me; for his sake, ease me of the burden of my sins, and give me grace that by the call of the Gospel I may rise from the slumber of sin unto newness of life. Let me live according to those holy rules which thou hast this day prescribed in thy holy word; make me to know what is acceptable in thy sight, and therein to delight. Open the eyes of my understanding, and help me thoroughly to examine myself concerning my knowledge, faith and repentance. increase my faith, and direct me to the true object Jesus Christ the way, the truth and the life, bless, O Lord, all the people of this land, from the highest to the lowest, particularly those whom thou hast appointed to rule over us in church & state. continue thy goodness to me this night. These weak petitions I humbly implore thee to hear accept and ans. for thy Dear Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday Morning...O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before Thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and hast given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body & soul. Direct my thoughts, words, and work, wash away my sins in the immaculate Blood of the Lamb, and purge my heart by thy holy spirit from the dross of my natural corruption, that I may with more freedom of mind and liberty of will serve thee, the ever living God, in righteousness and holiness this day, and all the days of my life. Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel; give me repentance from dead works; pardon my wanderings, & direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation; teach me how to live in thy fear, labour in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments; make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber, but daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends and kindred, and unite us all in praising and glorifying Thee in all our works begun continued, and ended when we shall come to make our last account before thee blessed saviour, who hath taught us to pray our Father, &c.
The authenticity of these written prayers continues to be strongly debated
Monday Evening...Most Gracious Lord God, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, I offer to Thy Divine Majesty my unfeigned praise and thanksgiving for all Thy mercies towards me. Thou mad’st me at first and hast ever since sustained the work of thy own hand; thou gav’st thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of salvation, upon my repentance and sincerely endeavouring to conform my life to his holy precepts and example. Thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance, and to move me to it by thy spirit and by thy word, by thy mercies; and by thy judgments: out of a deepness of thy mercies, and my own unworthiness, I do appear before at this time; I have sinned and done very wickedly, be merciful to me, O God, and pardon me for Jesus Christ sake: instruct me in the particulars of my duty, and suffer me not to be tempted in the particulars of my duty, and suffer me not to be tempted above what thou givest me strength to bear. Take care, I pray thee of my affairs and more and more direct me in the truth, defend me from my enemies, especially my spiritual ones. Suffer me not to be drawn from thee, by the blandishments of the world, carnal desires, the cunning of the devil, or deceitfulness of sin. Worm in me thy good will and pleasure, and discharge my mind from all things that are displeasing to thee, of all ill will and discontent, wrath and bitterness, pride & vain conceit of myself, and render me charitable, pure, holy, patient and heavenly minded. Be with me at the hour of death dispose me for it, and deliver me from the slavish fear of it, and make me willing and fit to die whenever thou shalt call me hence. Bless our rulers in church and state. Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, Jesus Christ. Pity the sick, the poor, the weak, the needy, the widows and fatherless, and all that mourn or are broken in heart, and be merciful to them according to their several necessities. Bless my friends and grant me grace to forgive my enemies as heartily as I desire forgiveness of Thee my heavenly Father. I beseech Thee to defend me this night from all evil, and do more for me than I can think or ask, for Jesus Christ sake, in whose most holy name and Words, I continue to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name….
Tuesday Morning...O Lord our God, most mighty and merciful father, I, thine unworthy creature and servant, do once more approach Thy presence. Though not worthy to appear before Thee, because of my natural corruptions, and the many sins and transgressions which I have committed against Thy Divine Majesty; yet I beseech Thee, for the sake of Him in whom Thou are well pleased, the Lord Jesus Christ, to admit me to render Thee deserved thanks and praises for Thy manifold mercies extended toward me, for the quiet rest & repose of the past night, for food, raiment, health, peace, liberty and the hopes of a better life through the merit of thy dear son’s bitter passion. and O kind father continue thy mercy and favour to me this day, and ever hereafter; prosper all my lawful undertakings; let me have all my direction from thy holy spirit, and success from thy bountiful hand. Let the bright beams of thy light so shine into my heart, and enlighten my mind in understanding thy blessed word, that I may be enabled to perform thy will in all things, and effectually resist all temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. preserve and defend our rulers in church & state. bless the people of this land, be a Father to the fatherless, a Comforter to the comfortless, a Deliverer to the captives, and a Physician to the sick. Let Thy blessing be upon our friends, kindred and families. Be our Guide this day and forever through Jesus Christ in whose blessed form of prayer I conclude my weak petitions—Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name….
Tuesday Evening...Most gracious God and heavenly Father, we cannot cease, but must cry unto Thee for mercy, because my sins cry against me for justice. How shall I address myself unto thee, I must with the publican stand and admire at they great goodness, tender mercy, and long suffering towards me, in that thou hast kept me the past day from being consumed and brought to nought. O Lord, what is man, or the son of man, that thou regardest him; the more days pass over my head, the more sins and iniquities I heap up against thee. If I should cast up the account of my good deeds done this day, how few and small would they be; but if I should reckon my miscarriages, surely they would be many and great. O, blessed Father, let thy son’s blood wash me from all impurities, and cleanse me from the stains of sin that are upon me. Give me grace to lay hold upon his merits; that they may be my reconciliation and atonement unto thee,—That I may know my sins are forgiven by His death and passion. Embrace me in the arms of thy mercy; vouchsafe to receive me unto the bosom of Thy love, shadow me with Thy wings, that I may safely rest under Thy protection this night; And so into Thy hands I commend myself, both soul and body, in the name of Thy son, Jesus Christ, beseeching Thee, when this life shall end, I may take my everlasting rest with Thee in Thy heavenly kingdom. Bless all in authority over us, be merciful to all those afflicted with Thy cross or calamity, bless all my friends, forgive my enemies and accept my thanksgiving this evening for all the mercies and favors afforded me;
