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DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH - TRIBUTE OF CHANCELLOR KENT - ADDRESS OF THEIR SYNOD TO WASHINGTON - HIS REPLY - GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH - EARLY HISTORY - ADDRESS TO WASHINGTON - HIS REPLY - CONVENTION OF THE UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY - ADDRESS TO WASHINGTON - HIS REPLY - ADDRESS OF THE SWEDENBORGIAN CHURCHES TO WASHINGTON - HIS REPLY - ADDRESS OF THE HEBREW CONGREGATION TO WASHINGTON - HIS ANSWER - UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH - EARLY HISTORY - ADDRESS TO WASHINGTON - HIS REPLY - THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - ADDRESS IN A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1779 - ARCHBISHOP CARROLL - ADDRESS OF THE CATHOLIC CHAPLAIN ON THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS - ADDRESS OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGYMEN AND LAITY TO WASHINGTON - HIS ANSWER.
1) THE DUTCH REFORMED CHURCH
In the United States has an ancient and honorable origin, and a history replete with the achievements of piety and patriotism. It is the oldest branch of the great Presbyterian family in America, its ecclesiastical history beginning in New York as early as 1626, - almost cotemporaneous with that of the Puritans. The State of New York and its great commercial metropolis were both colonized by emigrants from Holland of this Christian faith. The Dutch Reformed was the established Church of the colony until it passed under the jurisdiction of the British in 1664, when, by an act of Parliament, the Episcopal Church was established, to whose support the Dutch Reformed and English Presbyterians, and all others, were, for almost a century, compelled to contribute.
This Church has ever been the zealous promoter of learning and the champion of civil and religious liberty. Her history is adorned with some of the brightest and most honorable names in the Christian and civic annals of the country, who, in the persons of the Livingstons and others, largely shared in the work of building up a Christian empire and establishing a free government.
The Christian, catholic spirit of the Dutch Reformed Church, in all the works of piety and patriotism, is well expressed in the Church motto, "Eendragt maakt Magt" (Union creates Strength). "Let," said Dr. De Witt, "this motto handed down to us be inscribed on all our banners and lodged in our hearts, and then let us enlist under the common banner of the Captain of our salvation, with the tribes of Israel. The word eendragt, which we translate union, is a compound one, literally signifying one pull. So let it be 'A LONG PULL, A STRONG PULL, AND A PULL ALL TOGETHER.' "
"The character of the Church," says Dr. De Witt, "has been, throughout her history, conservative and catholic, steadfastly adhering to her faith and order, and dwelling in quietness and kindness by the side of other evangelical denominations. The history of our State [New York] shows the pervading spirit of patriotism among her members, in adherence to popular rights and civil liberty, throughout the colonial annals and the Revolutionary contest."
The tribute paid by Chancellor Kent to the early Dutch settlers of the State, in his address before the New York Historical Society in 1828, will be found characteristic and just: - "The Dutch discoverers of New Netherlands (New York) were grave, temperate, firm, persevering men, who brought with them the industry, the economy, the simplicity, the integrity, and the bravery of our Belgic sires; and with those virtues they also imported the lights of the Roman civil law and the purity of the Protestant faith. To that period we are to look with chastened awe and respect for the beginning of our city, and the works of our primitive fathers, our Albani patres, atque altæ Mania Roma."
After Washington's inauguration, the Synod of this Church presented to him the following address: -
NEW YORK, October 9, 1789.
To the President of the United States.
SIR: -
The Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America embrace the occasion of their annual session, being the first since your appointment, to present you their sincere congratulations, and to join in that great and general joy testified by all descriptions of citizens on your acceptance of the highest office in the nation.
We cannot forbear expressing our gratitude to God for preserving your valuable life amidst so many dangers till this time; for inspiring you with a large portion of the martial spirit, and forming you also for the milder and more agreeable arts of government and peace; for endowing you with great virtues, and calling them into exercise by great events; for distinguishing you with honors, and giving you remarkable prudence and moderation; and for making your extraordinary talents the more conspicuous, useful, and durable, by superinducing the noble ornament of humility. Your country has, with one voice, attested your excellency by inviting you again to public life, and you have confirmed its judgment by returning to fresh scenes and toils after you had retired to the shade from the burden and heat of a long day.
Among the many signal interpositions of Divine Providence, we remark the late important change in the General Government, a change neither effected by accident nor imposed by force, but adopted in the bosom of peace, after a free and mature deliberation, and in which a people widely extended, and various in their habits, are united beyond the most raised expectations. In these respects the United States of America stand single among all the nations of the earth. Other revolutions may have been more diversified and splendid, but none more honorable to human nature, and none so likely to produce such happy effects. This government being now completely organized, and all its departments filled, we trust that God will give wisdom to its councils and justice to its administration, and that we shall at length realize those blessings which animated our hopes through a difficult and ruinous war.
To our constant prayers for the welfare of our country and of the whole human race, we shall esteem it our duty and happiness to unite our earnest endeavors to promote the pure and undefiled religion of Christ; for as this secures eternal felicity to men in a future state, so we are persuaded that good Christians will always be good citizens, and that where righteousness prevails among individuals the nation will be great and happy. Thus, while just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support.
We implore the Lord God to be your sun and shield. May your administration be prosperous. May the blessings of millions come upon you, and your name be grateful to all posterity. Above all, may you finish your course with joy, be numbered among the redeemed of the Lord, and enter into everlasting rest.
In the name and by the order of Synod.
JOHN H. LIVINGSTON,
WILLIAM LINN,
GERADUS A. KUYPERS,
PETER LOUW,
DIRCK LEFFERTS,
ISAAC ROVERETT,
RICHARD VARICK,
HENRY ROOME.
Back to topGENTLEMEN: -
I receive with a grateful heart your pious and affectionate address, and with truth declare to you that no circumstance in my life has affected me more sensibly, or produced more pleasing emotions, than the friendly congratulations and strong assurances of support which I have received from my fellow-citizens of all descriptions upon my election to the Presidency of these United States.
I fear, gentlemen, your goodness has led you to form too exalted an opinion of my virtues and merits. If such talents as I possess have been called into action by great events, and those events have terminated happily for our country, the glory should be ascribed to the manifest interposition of an overruling Providence: My military services have been abundantly recompensed by the flattering approbation of a grateful people; and if a faithful discharge of my civil duties can insure a like reward, I shall feel myself richly compensated for any personal sacrifice I may have made by engaging again in public life.
The citizens of the United States of America have given as signal a proof of their wisdom and virtue, in framing and adopting a constitution of government without bloodshed or the intervention of force, as they on a former occasion exhibited to the world of their valor, fortitude, and perseverance; and it must be a pleasing circumstance to every friend of good order and social happiness to find that our new government is gaining strength and respectability among the citizens of this country in proportion as its operations are known and its effects felt.
You, gentlemen, act the part of pious Christians and good citizens by your prayers and exertions for that harmony and good will towards men which must be the basis of every political establishment; and I readily join with you, "that, while just government protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest support."
I am deeply impressed with your good wishes for my present and future happiness, and I beseech Almighty God to take you and yours under his special care.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
2) THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CHURCH,
Bearing the name of the great Reformer, was a zealous colaborer in the cause of freedom during the Revolution. In Europe, particularly in Germany, they wield a commanding influence, and in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia, Belgium, and many of the smaller States of Germany, it is the established religion. This denomination has ever been distinguished for its zeal in learning and its devotion to the cause of civil and religious liberty. They have a greater number of colleges and universities under their care than any other Protestant denomination, and are devoted to Bible and missionary operations in every part of the world.
Among the first emigrants to Pennsylvania and the adjoining colonies, they took an active part in the great work of Christian colonization, and have since spread through almost all parts of our extending country; and wherever they have gone, schools, and all the vitalizing forces of a Christian civilization, have sprung into being. They now number a thousand congregations, with a hundred thousand members.
2.1) ADDRESS OF THE MINISTERS, CHURCH-WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN OF THE GERMAN LUTHERAN CONGREGATIONS IN AND NEAR THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, TO HIS EXCELLENCY GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
It is with inexpressible satisfaction that we, the ministers, church-wardens, and vestrymen of the German Lutheran Congregations in and near the city of Philadelphia, address your Excellency on the present occasion. The entire esteem, the exalted consideration, with which we view your character, delightfully combine with the duty we owe to this our country and the love we bear to every fellow-citizen throughout these States, in exciting us to announce the joy we entertain in your appointment to the station of President-in-Chief.
The affairs of America, in which your Excellency bore so illustrious a part from the very beginning of a most arduous contest, all along exhibited more than the symptoms of a great and general prosperity to be at length completed. The most clouded portions of our time were not without some ray of hope, and numerous occurrences, through the blessing of Divine Providence, were brilliant and eminently fortunate. The present happy crisis sheds a lustre on the past events of our Union, and it seems to be the presage of every thing desirable to come. Pleasingly do we anticipate the blessings of a wise, efficient government, equal freedom, perfect safety, a sweet contentment spreading through the whole land, irreproachable manners, with pure religion, and that righteousness which exalteth a nation.
Though as individuals we can be but very little known to you, yet as representatives, in some respect, of a numerous people in this city, and being so situated as to know well the minds of our German brethren nearly through this State, we can with some propriety come forward in this manner. It is, therefore, with assurance and pleasure we affirm that there is no body of people whatsoever that can, or ever shall, exceed those with whom we are connected, in affection for your person, confidence in your abilities, patriotism, and distinguished goodness. You are the MAN of their bosoms and veneration. On this ground may we be entitled to some excuse for what might seem to be intrusion in the midst of your numerous weighty engagements. And here permit us to subjoin that we shall never cease to address the throne of grace with the same warmth and sincerity of heart for your present and everlasting happiness as for our own.
2.1.1) ANSWER.
While I request you to accept my thanks for your kind address, I must profess myself highly gratified by the sentiments of esteem and consideration contained in it. The approbation my past conduct has received from so worthy a body of citizens as that whose joy for my appointment you announce, is a proof of the indulgence with which my future transactions will be judged.
I could not, however, avoid apprehending that the partiality of my countrymen in favor of the measures now pursued, had led them to expect too much from the present government, did not the same Providence which has been visible in every stage of our progress to this interesting crisis, from a combination of circumstances, give us cause to hope for the accomplishment of all our reasonable desires.
Thus partaking with you in the pleasing anticipation of the blessings of a wise and efficient government, I flatter myself that opportunities will not be wanting to show my disposition to encourage the domestic and public virtues of industry, economy, patriotism, philanthropy, and that righteousness which exalteth a nation.
I rejoice in having so suitable an occasion to testify the reciprocity of my esteem for the numerous people whom you represent. From the excellent character, the diligence, sobriety, and virtue, which the Germans in general who are settled in America have ever maintained, I cannot forbear felicitating myself on receiving from so respectable a number of them such strong assurances of their affection for my person, confidence in my integrity, and zeal to support me in my endeavors for promoting the welfare of our common country.
So long as my conduct shall merit the approbation of the wise and the good, I hope to hold the same place in your affections which your friendly declarations induce me to believe I possess at present; and, amidst all the vicissitudes that may await me in this mutable existence, I shall earnestly desire the continuance of an interest in your intercessions at the throne of grace.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
The Convention of the Universalist Church assembled in Philadelphia, in 1790, sent the following address to Washington: -
To the President of the United States .
SIR: -
Permit us, in the name of the Society whom we represent, to concur in the numerous congratulations which have been offered to you since your accession to the government of the United States.
For an account of our principles we beg leave to refer you to the pamphlet we have now the honor to put into your hands. In this publication it will appear that the peculiar doctrine which we hold is not less friendly to the order and happiness of society than it is essential to the perfection of the Deity.
It is a singular circumstance in the history of this doctrine, that it has been preached and defended in every age since the promulgation of the gospel; but we represent the first society professing this doctrine that have formed themselves into an independent Church. Posterity will hardly fail of connecting this memorable event with the auspicious years of peace, liberty, and free inquiry in the United States which distinguished the administration of General Washington.
We join thus publicly with our affectionate fellow-citizens in thanks to Almighty God for the last of his numerous signal acts of goodness to our country, in preserving your valuable life in a late dangerous indisposition; and we assure you, sir, that duty will not prompt us more than affection to pray that you may long continue the support and ornament of our country, and that you may hereafter fill a higher station, and enjoy the greater reward of being a king and priest to our God.
Signed in behalf and by order of the Convention.
JOHN MURRAY.
WM. EUGENE, Secretary.
2.2) ANSWER.
Back to topI thank you cordially for the congratulations which you offer on my appointment to the office I have the honor to hold in the Government of the United States.
It gives me the most sensible pleasure to find that in our nation, however different are the sentiments of citizens on religious doctrines, they generally concur in one thing; for their political professions and practices are almost universally friendly to the order and happiness of our civil institutions. I am also happy in finding this disposition particularly evinced by your Society. It is, moreover, my earnest desire that all the members of every association or community throughout the United States may make such use of the auspicious years of peace, liberty, and free inquiry with which they are now favored, as they shall hereafter find occasion to rejoice for having done.
With great satisfaction I embrace this opportunity to express my acknowledgments for the interest my affectionate fellow-citizens have taken in my recovery from a late dangerous indisposition; and I assure you, gentlemen, that, in mentioning my obligations for the effusions of your benevolent wishes in my behalf, I feel animated with new zeal that my conduct may ever be worthy of your favorable opinion, as well as such as shall in every respect best comport with the character of an intelligent and accountable being.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
3) ADDRESS FROM THE MEMBERS OF THE NEW (SWEDENBORGIAN) CHURCH AT BALTIMORE.
To George Washington, Esq.
While the nations of the earth, and the people of the United States especially, have in their various denominations paid the tribute of respectful deference to the illustrious President thereof, permit, sir, a Society, however small in numbers, yet sincere, they trust, in their attachment, to offer up, in the dawn of their institution, that mark of dutiful esteem which well becometh new associations, to the Chief Magistrate of America.
We presume not, sir, to enter into any reiterated panegyric of match- less virtues or exalted character, but, assuming causes with effects, we are led to believe that you were a chosen vessel for great and salutary purposes, and that both in your actions and in your conduct you justly stand one of the first disinterested and exemplary men upon the earth. Neither in this address can we, were it expected, enter into a detail of the profession of our faith; but we are free to declare that we feel ourselves among the number of those who have occasion to rejoice that the word literally is spiritually fulfilling; that a new and glorious dispensation, or fresh manifestation of Divine Love, hath commenced in our land, when, as there is but one Lord, so is his name becoming one throughout the earth; and that the power of Light, or truth and righteousness, is in an eminent degree universally prevailing, and even triumphing over the power of darkness; when priestcraft and kingcraft, those banes of human felicity, are hiding their diminished heads, and equality in State, as well as in Church, proportionably to merit, are considered the true criterion of the majesty of the people.
Oh, sir, could we, without being charged with adulation, pour out the fulness of our souls to the enlightened conduct of him who stands chief among the foremost of men, what a volume of truth might we deservedly offer to the name of Washington on the altar of liberty uncircumscribed! Allow us, by the first opportunity, to present to your Excellency, among other tracts, the Compendium of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation, as the readiest means to furnish you with a just idea of the heavenly doctrines.
That the Lord Jesus, whom alone we acknowledge as "the true God and eternal life," will preserve you long to reign in the hearts of the people, and lastingly to shine as a gem of the brightest lustre, a star of the first magnitude, in the unfading mansions above, is the fervent aspiration of your faithful citizens and affectionate brethren.
Done, in behalf of the members of the Lord's New Church, at Baltimore, the 22d day of January, 1793.
Teste, W. Y. DIDIER,
Sec'ypro tem.
3.1) ANSWER.
Back to topTo the Members of the Swedenborgian Church, Baltimore.
It has ever been my pride to merit the approbation of my fellow-citizens by a faithful and honest discharge of the duties annexed to those stations in which they have been pleased to place me; and the dearest rewards of my services have been those testimonies of esteem and confidence with which they have honored me. But to the manifest interposition of an overruling Providence, and to the patriotic exertions of the citizens of United America, are to be ascribed those events which have given us a respectable rank among the nations of earth.
We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart. In this enlightened age, and in this land of equal liberty, it is our boast that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest offices that are known in the United States.
Your prayers for my present and future felicity are received with gratitude; and I sincerely wish, gentlemen, that you may, in your social and individual capacities, taste those blessings which a gracious God bestows upon the righteous.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
4) ADDRESS OF THE HEBREW CONGREGATION IN NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merit, to join with our fellow-citizens in welcoming you to Newport.
With pleasure we reflect on those days of difficulty and danger when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, shielded your head in the day of battle; and we rejoice to think that the same spirit that rested in the bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel, enabling him to preside over the provinces of the Babylonish empire, rests, and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of CHIEF MAGISTRATE of these States.
Deprived as we have heretofore been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of all events) behold a government erected by the MAJESTY OF THE PEOPLE,-a government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generously affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine. This so ample and so extensive federal union, whose base is philanthropy, mutual confidence, and public virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the great God who ruleth in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, doing whatsoever seemeth him good.
For all the blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under a benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of men, beseeching him that the angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised land may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life. And when, like Joshua, full of days and full of honors, you are gathered to your fathers, may you be admitted into the heavenly paradise, to partake of the water of life and the tree of immortality.
Done and signed by the order of the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.
Signed,
MOSES SEIXAS, Warden.
NEWPORT, August 17, 1790.
4.1) ANSWER.
Back to topWhile I receive with much satisfaction your address, replete with expressions of affection and esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of citizens. The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy,-a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of the people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that those who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and to enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.
May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and, in his own due time and way, everlastingly happy.
G. WASHINGTON.
5) ADDRESS OF THE HEBREW CONGREGATION OF THE CITY OF SAVANNAH TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: -
We have long been anxious to congratulate you on your appointment by unanimous approbation to the Presidential dignity of this country, and of testifying our unbounded confidence in your integrity and unblemished virtue. Yet, however exalted the station you now fill, it is still not equal to the merit of your heroic services through an arduous and dangerous conflict, which has embosomed you in the hearts of her citizens.
Our eccentric situation, added to a diffidence bounded on the most profound respect, has thus long prevented our address; yet the delay has realized anticipation, giving us an opportunity of presenting our most grateful acknowledgments for the benedictions of Heaven through the energy of federal influence and the equity of your administration.
Your unexampled liberality and extensive philanthropy have dispelled that cloud of bigotry and superstition which has long, as a veil, shaded religion, unriveted the fetters of enthusiasm, enfranchised us with all the privileges and immunities of free citizens, and initiated us into the grand mass of legislative mechanism. By example you have taught us to endure the ravages of war with manly fortitude, and to enjoy the blessings of peace with reverence to the Deity and benignity and love to our fellow-creatures.
May the great Author of worlds grant you all happiness, an uninterrupted series of health, addition of years to the number of your days, and a continuance of guardianship to that freedom which, under the auspices of Heaven, your magnanimity and wisdom have given these States.
LEVI SHEFTAL, President,
In behalf of the Hebrew Congregation.
To the Hebrew congregation of the city of Savannah, May, 1790, Washington sent the following address: -
Back to topGENTLEMEN: -
I thank you with great sincerity for your congratulations on my appointment to the office which I have the honor to hold by the unanimous choice of my fellow-citizens, and especially for the expressions which you are pleased to use in testifying the confidence that is reposed in me by your congregation.
As the delay which has naturally intervened between my election and your address has afforded an opportunity for appreciating the merits of the Federal Government and for communicating your sentiments of its administration, I have rather to express my satisfaction than regret at a circumstance which demonstrates (upon experiment) your attachment to the former, as well as approbation of the latter.
I rejoice that a spirit of liberality and philanthropy is much more prevalent than it formerly was among the enlightened nations of the earth, and that your brethren will benefit thereby in proportion as it shall become still more extensive. Happily, the people of the United States of America have in many instances exhibited examples worthy of imitation, the salutary influence of which will doubtless extend much farther, if, gratefully enjoying those blessings of peace which, under the favor of Heaven, have been obtained by fortitude in war, they shall conduct themselves with reverence to the Deity and charity towards their fellow-creatures .
May the same wonder-working Deity who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, and planted them in the promised land, whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation, continue to water them with the dews of Heaven, and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
6) THE MORAVIAN CHURCH, - UNITAS FRATRUM - UNITED BRETHREN,
Deserve an honorable record in the story of the labors and achievements of American freedom. Rising into denominational existence at the time of the Reformation under Luther, and corresponding with him and Calvin, and other Reformers, the great apostles of religious liberty, the Moravian Church was as notable for its steadfast devotion to freedom as it has ever been for the simplicity of its Christian faith and the fervor of its piety. The various colonies, transplanted to America and principally settled in North Carolina, brought with them their ardent love of liberty, and bore an honorable part in praying and fighting for independence and freedom. They, "with other German Protestants, were firmly attached, from the commencement, to the principles which gave vitality to our Declaration of Independence" and formation to our free institutions. Evangelical and enlightened, their Church not only watered the tree of liberty with their tears, prayers, and blood, but, in their growing influence and importance as a spiritual and active body of Christians, they aided in the great work of preserving our free institutions and in perfecting our Christian civilization.
6.1) ADDRESS OF THE UNITED BRETHREN TO PRESIDENT WASHINGTON.
To his Excellency George Washington, President of the United States of America. The Address of the Directors of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen.
SIR:-
The Directors of the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, do, in the name of this Society, and in the name of all the Brethren's congregations in these United States, most cordially congratulate you on being appointed President of the United States of America.
Filled with gratitude towards God and our Saviour, unto whose goodness and kind interposition we ascribe this great and joyous event, we rely on his mercy and on the influence of his good Spirit, when we expect that your administration will prove salutary and a blessing to that nation whose unanimous voice has called you to preside over it.
We embrace this opportunity to present you a small treatise which contains an account of the manner in which the Protestant Church of the Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren, preach the gospel and carry on their missions among the heathen. You will be pleased, sir, to accept it as a token of our affection and reverence, and of the confidence we repose in you to patronize all undertakings for propagating Christianity among the heathen. Permit us at the present time to recommend in a particular manner the Brethren's mission among the Indians in the territory of the United States, which is at present at Petquotting, on Lake Erie, and in a very dangerous situation, to your kind notice and protection, and to lay before you the ardent wish and anxious desire of seeing the light of the glorious gospel spread more and more over this country, and great multitudes of poor, benighted heathen brought by it to the saving knowledge of Christ our Saviour, who gave himself a ransom for all, and who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
We fervently pray the Lord to strengthen your health, to support you daily by his Divine assistance, and to be himself your shield and great reward.
Signed in behalf of the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen, and in behalf of all the Congregations in the United States.
JOHN ABNER AUBNER,
HANS CHRN SCHWEININ,
FREDERICK PETER,
CHARLES GOTTHOLD REICHEL,
PAUL MINSTER,
DAVID ZEIRLERGER, Junior.
BETHLEHEM, July 10, 1789.
Back to topTo the Directors of the Society of the United Brethren for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen.
GENTLEMEN: -
I receive with satisfaction the congratulations of your Society, and of the Brethren's Congregations in the United States of America. For you may be persuaded that the approbation and good wishes of such a peaceable and virtuous community cannot be indifferent to me.
You will also be pleased to accept my thanks for the treatise [missionary paper] you presented, and be assured of my patronage in your laudable undertakings.
In proportion as the General Government of the United States shall acquire strength by duration, it is probable that they may have it in their power to extend a salutary influence to the aborigines in the extremities of their territory. In the mean time, it will be a desirable thing for the protection of the Union to co-operate, as far as circumstances may conveniently admit, with the disinterested endeavors of your Society to civilize and Christianize the savages of the wilderness.
Under these impressions, I pray Almighty God to have you always in his holy keeping.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
7) THE ADDRESS OF THE MINISTERS AND ELDERS OF THE GERMAN REFORMED CONGREGATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, AT THEIR GENERAL MEETING HELD AT PHILADELPHIA ON THE 10TH DAY OF JUNE, 1789.
To the President of the United States.
Whilst the infinite goodness of Almighty God, in his gracious providence over the American people of the United States of America, calls for sincerest and most cordial gratitude to Him that ruleth supremely and ordereth all things in heaven and on earth in unerring wisdom and righteousness, the happy, the peaceful establishment of the new Government over which you so deservedly preside cannot fail but inspire our souls with new and most lively emotions of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving unto his holy name.
As it is our firm purpose to support in our persons a Government founded injustice and equity, so it shall be our constant duty to impress the minds of the people intrusted to our care with a due sense of the necessity of uniting reverence to such a Government and obedience to its laws with the duties and exercises of religion. Thus we hope, by the blessing of God, to be in some measure instrumental in alleviating the burden of that weighty and important charge to which you have been called by the unanimous voice of your fellow-citizens, and which your love to your country has constrained you to take upon you.
Deeply possessed of a sense of the goodness of God in the appointment of your person to the highest station in the national Government, we shall continue in our public worship, and in all devotions before the throne of grace, to pray that it may please God to bless you, in your person, your family, and your Government, with all temporal and spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
Signed by order of the meeting,
TH. HENDEL, p . t. Præs .
F. DELLIKEN, p. t. Scriba.
7.1) ANSWER.
Back to topGENTLEMEN: -
I am happy in concurring with you in the sentiments of gratitude and piety towards Almighty God which are expressed with such fervency of devotion in your address, and in believing that I shall always find in you, and the German Reformed congregations of the United States, a conduct correspondent to such worthy and pious sentiments.
At the same time, I return you my thanks for the manifestation of your firm purpose to support in your persons a Government founded in justice and equity, and for the promise that it will be your constant study to impress the minds of the people intrusted to your care with a due sense of the necessity of uniting reverence to such a Government and obedience to its laws with the duties and exercises of religion. Be assured, gentlemen, it is by such conduct very much in the power of the virtuous members of the community to alleviate the burden of the important office which I have accepted, and to give me the occasion to rejoice in this world for having followed therein the dictates of my conscience.
Be pleased also to accept my acknowledgments for the interest you so kindly take in the prosperity of my person, family, and administration. May your devotions before the throne of grace be effectual in calling down the blessings of Heaven upon yourselves and your country.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
8) THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Contributed largely to the success of the cause of liberty and the Revolution.
"It is a curious fact," says Headley, "that in our first struggle for liberty, and in all the wars that the republic has since waged, even till now, when the North is struggling against a monstrous rebellion, Roman Catholic chaplains have sent up their prayers side by side with Protestant ones." They have presented the delightful spectacle of working together to support free institutions. The following address, delivered in a Roman Catholic church in Philadelphia, July 4, 1779, is a fair illustration of the spirit they exhibited throughout. After a Te Deum was chanted, the chaplain spoke as follows :-
GENTLEMEN: - We are assembled to celebrate the anniversary of that day which Providence has marked in his eternal decrees to become the epocha of liberty and independence to the thirteen United States of America. That Being, whose almighty hand holds all existence beneath its dominion, undoubtedly produces in the depth of his wisdom those great events which astonish the universe, and of which the most presumptuous, though instrumental in accomplishing, dare not attribute to themselves the merit. But the finger of God is still more peculiarly evident in the happy, the glorious Revolution which calls forth this day's festivity.
He hath struck the oppressors of a free people - free and peaceable - with the spirit of delusion, which always renders the wicked the artificers of their own proper misfortunes.
Permit me, my dear brethren, citizens of the United States, to address you on this occasion. It is God, the all-powerful God, who hath directed your steps when you knew not where to apply for counsel; who, when you were without arms, fought for you with the sword of eternal justice; who, when you were in adversity, poured into your hearts the spirit of courage, of wisdom, and of fortitude; and who at length raised up for your support a youthful sovereign, whose virtues bless and adorn a sensible, a faithful, and a generous nation. This nation has blended her interests with your interests and her sentiments with yours. She participates in all your joys, and this day unites her voice to yours at the foot of the altars of the eternal God to celebrate that glorious Revolution which has placed the sons of America among the free and independent nations of the earth.
We have nothing to apprehend but the anger of Heaven, or that the measure of our guilt should exceed the measure of his mercy. Let us, then, prostrate ourselves at the feet of the immortal God, who holds the fate of empires in his hands, and raises them up at his pleasure or breaks them to the dust. Let us implore him to conduct us by the way which his providence has marked out for arriving at so desirable an end; let us offer unto him hearts imbued with sentiments of love, consecrated by religion, by humanity and patriotism. Never is the august ministry of his altars more acceptable to his Divine majesty than when it lays at his feet homages, offerings, and vows so pure, so worthy of the common Parent of mankind. God will not reject our joy, for he is the author of it, nor will he reject our prayers, for they ask but the full accomplishment of his decrees that he hath manifested. Filled with this spirit, let us, in concert with each other, raise our hearts to the Eternal; let us implore his infinite mercy to be pleased to inspire the rulers of both nations with the wisdom and force necessary to perfect what it hath begun. Let us, in a word, unite our voices to beseech him to dispense his blessings upon the councils and arms of the allies, that we may soon enjoy the sweets of a peace which will cement the union and establish the prosperity of the two empires. It is with this view we shall cause the canticle to be performed which the custom of the Catholic Church hath consecrated to be at once the testimonial of public joy, a thanksgiving for benefits received from Heaven, and a prayer for the continuance of its success.
Archbishop Carroll, brother of Charles Carroll, who signed the Declaration of Independence, was able and eloquent in defence of the American cause. Those who heard him say "that when he recited the terrors, the encouragements, the distresses, and the glories of the struggle for independence," he was moved with intense emotion, and swayed the feelings of his audience with the strains of his patriotic and pious eloquence.
November, 1781.
Back to top9) ADDRESS DELIVERED BY M. PAUL BARDOLE TO CONGRESS, THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, AND THE ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA, &C. &C., WHO WERE INVITED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE MINISTER OF FRANCE TO ATTEND IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA, DURING THE CELEBRATION OF DIVINE SERVICE AND THANKSGIVING FOR THE CAPTURE OF LORD CORNWALLIS.
A numerous people assembled to render thanks to the Almighty for his mercies is one of the most affecting objects, and worthy the attention of the Supreme Being. While camps resound with triumphal acclamations, while nations rejoice in victory and glory, the most honorable office a minister of the altar can fill is to be the organ by which public gratitude is conveyed to the Omnipotent.
Those miracles which he once wrought for his chosen people are renewed in our favor; and it would be equally ungrateful and impious not to acknowledge that the event which lately confounded our enemies and frustrated their designs was the wonderful work of that God who guards our liberties.
And who but he could so combine the circumstances which led to success? We have seen our enemies push forward amid perils almost innumerable, amid obstacles almost insurmountable, to the spot that was destined to witness their disgrace; yet they eagerly sought it as the theatre of their triumph! Blind as they were, they bore hunger, thirst, and inclement skies, poured their blood in battle against brave republicans, and crossed immense regions to confine themselves in another Jericho, whose walls were fated to fall before another Joshua. It is He whose voice commands the winds, the seas, and the seasons, who formed a junction on the same day, in the same hour, between a formidable fleet from the south, and an army rushing from the north like an impetuous torrent. Who but He in whose hands are the hearts of men could inspire the allied troops with the friendship, the confidence, the tenderness, of brothers? How is it that two nations, once divided, jealous, inimical, and nursed in reciprocal prejudices, are now become so closely united as to form but one? Worldlings would say that it is the wisdom, the virtue and moderation of their chief, it is a great national interest, which has performed this prodigy. They will say, to the skill of the generals, to the courage of the troops, to the activity of the whole army, we must attribute this splendid success. Ah! they are ignorant that the combining of so many fortunate circumstances is an emanation from the All-perfect Mind, that courage, that skill, that activity, bear the sacred impression of Him who is divine.
For how many favors have we not to thank him during the course of the present year! Your union, which was at first supported by justice alone, has been consolidated by your courage, and the knot which ties you together is indissoluble by the accession of all the States and the unanimous voice of all the confederates. You present to the universe the noble sight of a society which, founded in equality and justice, secures to the individuals who compose it the most happiness which can be derived from human institutions. This advantage, which so many other nations have been unable to procure, even after ages of efforts and misery, is granted by Divine Providence to the United States; and his adorable decrees have marked the present moment for the completion of that memorable happy revolution which has taken place on this continent. While your councils were thus acquiring new energy, rapid and multiplied successes have crowned your arms in the Southern States.
On this solemn occasion we might renew our thanks to the God of battles for the success he has granted to the arms of your allies and your friends, by land and by sea, through the other parts of the globe. But let us not recall those events, which too clearly prove how much the hearts of our enemies have been hardened. Let us prostrate ourselves at the altar, and implore the God of mercy to suspend his vengeance, to spare them in his wrath, to inspire them with sentiments of justice and moderation, to terminate their obstinacy and error, and to ordain that your victories be followed by peace and tranquillity. Let us beseech him to shed on the councils of the king, your ally, that spirit of wisdom, of justice, and of courage which has rendered his reign so glorious. Let us entreat him to maintain in each of the States that intelligence by which the United States are inspired. Let us return him thanks that a faction whose rebellion he has corrected, now deprived of support, is annihilated. Let us offer him pure hearts, unsoiled by private hatred or public discussion ; and let us with one will and one voice pour forth to the Lord that hymn of praise by which Christians celebrate their gratitude and his glory.
This eloquent address was followed by a solemn anthem of praise to God.
Back to top10) ADDRESS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
We have been long impatient to testify our joy and unbounded confidence on your being called by a unanimous voice to the first station of a country in which that unanimity could not have been obtained without the previous merit of unexampled services, of eminent wisdom, and unblemished virtue. Our congratulations have not reached you sooner because our scattered situation prevented our communication, and the collecting of those sentiments which warmed every breast. But the delay has furnished us with the opportunity, not merely of presaging the happiness to be expected under your administration, but of bearing testimony to that which we experience already. It is your peculiar talent, in war and in peace, to afford security to those who commit their protection into your hands. In war you shield them from the ravages of armed hostility; in peace you establish public tranquillity by the justice and moderation, not less than by the vigor, of your government. By example, as well as by vigilance, you extend the influence of laws on the manners of our fellow-citizens. You encourage respect for religion, and inculcate, by words and actions, that principle on which the welfare of a nation so much depends, - that a superintending Providence governs the events of the world and watches over the conduct of men. Your exalted maxims, and unwearied attention to the moral and physical improvement of our country, have produced already the happiest effects.
Under your administration, America is animated with zeal for the attainment and encouragement of useful literature; she improves her agriculture, extends her commerce, and acquires with foreign nations a dignity unknown to her before. From these happy events, in which none can feel a warmer interest than ourselves, we derive additional pleasure by recollecting that you, sir, have been the principal instrument to effect so rapid a change in our political situation. This prospect of national prosperity is peculiarly pleasing to us on another account, - because whilst our country preserves her freedom and independence we shall have a well-founded title to claim from her justice the equal rights of citizenship, as the price of our blood spilt under your eyes, and of our common exertions for her defence under your auspicious conduct, - rights rendered more dear to us by the remembrance of former hardships. When we pray for the preservation of them where they have been granted, and expect the full extension of them from the justice of those States which still restrict them, when we solicit the protection of Heaven over our common country, we neither omit, nor can omit, recommending your preservation to the singular care of Divine Providence; because we conceive that no human means are so available to promote the welfare of the United States as the prolongation of your health and life, in which are included the energy of your example, the wisdom of your councils, and the persuasive eloquence of your virtues.
JOHN CARROLL,
In behalf of the Roman Catholic Clergy.
CHARLES CARROLL, of Carrollton,
DANIEL CARROLL,
DOMINICK LYNCH,
THOMAS FITZSIMONS,
In behalf of the Roman Catholic Laity.
10.1) ANSWER.
Back to topWhile I now receive with much satisfaction your congratulations on my being called by a unanimous vote to the first station of my country, I cannot but duly notice your politeness in offering an apology for the unavoidable delay. As that delay has given you an opportunity of realizing, instead of anticipating, the benefits of the General Government, you will do me the justice to believe that your testimony to the increase of the public prosperity enhances the pleasure which I should otherwise have experienced from your affectionate address.
I feel that my conduct in war and in peace has met with more general approbation than I could have reasonably expected; and I feel disposed to consider that fortunate circumstance as in a great degree resulting from the able support and extraordinary candor of my fellow-citizens of all denominations.
The prospect of national prosperity now before us is truly animating, and ought to excite the exertions of all good men to establish and secure the happiness of their country in the permanent duration of its freedom and independence. America, under the smiles of Divine Providence, the protection of a good Government, the cultivation of manners, morals, and piety, can hardly fail of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence in literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home, and respectability abroad.
As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget your patriotic part in the accomplishment of their Revolution and the establishment of their Government, or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed.
I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind concern for me. While my life and my health shall continue, in whatever situation I may be, it shall be my constant endeavor to justify the favorable sentiments you are pleased to express of my conduct. And may the members of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and still conducting themselves as the faithful subjects of our free Government, enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.