Chapter 24 | Christian History

State

Live

THE Capital of the American republic, in its consecration to virtue, Christian civilization, and the purposes of Christian legislation, is in harmony with the genius and history of the nation. Its foundations were laid with Christian services, and the blessing of God invoked. Congress, on the 16th of July, 1790, set apart one hundred square miles, on the banks of the Potomac, as the future capital. On the 15th day of April, 1791, the Hon. Daniel Carroll and Dr. David Stewart superintended the fixing of the first corner-stone of the District of Columbia, at Jones's Point, near Alexandria, where it was laid with all the Masonic ceremonies usual at that time, and a quaint address, almost all in scriptural language, delivered by the Rev. James Muir. He said, -

"Amiable it is for brethren to dwell together in unity: it is more fragrant than the perfumes on Aaron's garment; it is more refreshing than the dews on Hermon's hill! May this stone long commemorate the goodness of God in those uncommon events which have given America a name among nations. Under this stone may jealousy and selfishness be forever buried. From this stone may a superstructure arise whose glory, whose magnificence, stability, unequalled hitherto, shall astonish the world, and invite even the savage of the wilderness to take shelter under its wings."

On the 18th of September, 1793, the southeast corner-stone of the Capitol was laid by Washington, with Masonic and Christian services and military demonstrations. The commissioners delivered to the President, who deposited it in the stone, a silver plate, with the following inscription: -

"This southeast corner-stone of the Capitol of the United States of America, in the city of Washington, was laid on the 18th day of September, 1793, in the eighteenth year of American Independence, in the first year of the second term of the Presidency of George Washington, whose virtues in the civil administration of his country have been as conspicuous and beneficial as his military valor and prudence have been useful in establishing her liberties, and in the year of Masonry 5793, by the President of the United States, in concert with the Grand Lodge of Maryland, several lodges under its jurisdiction, and Lodge No. 22 from Alexandria, Virginia.

"Thomas Johnson, David Stewart, and Daniel Carroll, Commissioners; Joseph Clarke, R.W.G.M.P.T.; James Hoban and Stephen Hallate, Architects."

The site was selected by Washington, and displays his usual taste and judgment. Mrs. Adams, the wife of the President, on the 25th of November, 1800, - the month in which the President of the United States first went to Washington City, - after an amusing description of the unfinished and unfurnished mansion which had been erected, and the inconveniences of opening it, says, "It is a beautiful spot, capable of any improvement; and the more I view it the more I am delighted with it."

John Cotton Smith, a distinguished member of Congress from Connecticut, on his arrival to attend the first session of Congress held in the city of Washington, says, -

"I cannot sufficiently express my admiration of its local position. From the Capitol you have a distinct view of its fine undulating surface, situated at the confluence of the Potomac and its eastern branch, the wide expanse of that majestic river to the bend at Mount Vernon, the cities of Alexandria and Georgetown, and the cultivated fields and blue hills of Maryland and Virginia on either side of the river, the whole constituting a prospect of surpassing beauty and grandeur. The city has also the inestimable advantage of delightful water, in many instances flowing from copious springs, and always attainable by digging to a moderate depth; to which may be added the singular fact that such is the due admixture of loam and clay in the soil of a great portion of the city that a house may be built of brick made of the earth dug from the cellar: hence it a was not unusual to see the remains of a brick-kiln near the newly-erected dwelling-house or other edifice. In short, when we consider not only these advantages, but, what in a national point of view is of superior importance, the location on a fine navigable river, accessible to the whole maritime frontier of the United States, and yet easily rendered defensible against foreign invasion, and that by the facilities of internal navigation and railways it may be approached by the population of the Western States - and, indeed, of the whole nation-with less inconvenience than any other conceivable situation, we must acknowledge that its selection by Washington as the permanent seat of the Federal Government affords a striking exhibition of the discernment, wisdom, and forecast which characterized that illustrious man."

In the month of June, 1800, the archives of the Government were removed from Philadelphia to Washington; and on the 25th of November of the same year the first Congress in the present Capitol opened its session.

President Adams, in his message, made the following address to the assembled legislators of the nation: -

I congratulate the people of the United States on the assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their government; and I congratulate you, gentlemen, on the prospect of a residence not to be exchanged. It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the universe and imploring his blessing. You will consider it as the capital of a great nation, advancing with unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and in population, and possessing within itself those resources which, if not thrown away or lamentably misdirected, will secure to it a long course of prosperity and self-government. May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! In this city may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great character whose name it bears, be forever held in veneration! Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion forever flourish.

The Senate, in their address to the President, responded as follows: -

SIR: - Impressed with the important truth that the hearts of rulers and people are in the hands of the Almighty, the Senate of the United States most cordially join in your invocations for appropriate blessings upon the Government and people of this Union. We meet you, sir, and the other branch of the legislature, in the city which is honored with the name of our late hero and sage, the illustrious Washington, with sensations and emotions which exceed our power of description.

While we congratulate ourselves on the convention of the legislature at the permanent seat of government, and ardently hope that permanence and stability may be communicated as well to the Government itself as to its seat, our minds are irresistibly led to deplore the death of him who bore so honorable and efficient a part in the establishment of both. Great, indeed, would have been our gratification if his sum of earthly happiness had been completed by seeing the Government thus peaceably convened at this place; but we derive consolation from the belief that, in the moment we were destined to experience it, the loss we deplore was fixed by that Being whose counsels cannot err, and from a hope that, since in this seat of government which bears his name his earthly remains will be deposited, the members of Congress, and all who inhabit the city, with these memorials before them, will retain his virtues in lively recollection and make his patriot- ism, morals, and piety models for imitation.

We deprecate with you, sir, all spirit of innovation, from whatever source it may rise, which may impair the sacred bond that connects the different parts of this empire; and we trust that, under the protection of Divine Providence, the wisdom and virtue of the citizens of the United States will deliver our national compact unimpaired to a grateful posterity.

The President made the following reply: -

With you, I ardently hope that permanence and stability may be communicated as well to the Government itself as to its beautiful and commodious seat. With you, I deplore the death of that hero and sage who bore so honorable and efficient a part in the establishment of both. Great, indeed, would have been my gratification if his sum of earthly happiness could have been completed by seeing the Government thus peaceably convened at this place, himself the head. But, while we submit to the decision of Heaven, whose counsels are inscrutable to us, we cannot but hope the members of Congress, the officers of Government, and all who inhabit the city or the country, will retain his virtues in lively recollection, and make his patriotism, morals, and piety models for imitation.

With you, gentlemen, I sincerely deprecate all spirit of innovation which may weaken the sacred bond that connects the different parts of this nation and Government; and with you I trust that, under the protection of Divine Providence, the wisdom and virtue of our citizens will deliver our national compact unimpaired to a free, prosperous, happy, and grateful posterity.

To this end it is my fervent prayer that in this city the fountains of wisdom may be always open and the streams of eloquence forever flow. Here may the youth of this extensive country forever look up, without disappointment, not only to the monuments and memorials of the dead, but to the examples of the living, in the members of Congress and officers of Government, for finished models of all those virtues, graces, talents, and accomplishments which constitute the dignity of human nature and lay the only foundation for the prosperity or duration of empires.

The House of Representatives addressed the President as follows: -

The final establishment of the seat of national government, which has now taken place, within the District of Columbia, is an event of no small importance in the political transactions of the country; and we cordially unite our wishes with yours that this territory may be the residence of happiness and virtue.

Nor can we on this occasion omit to express a hope that the spirit which animated the great founder of this city may descend to future generations, and that the wisdom, magnanimity, and steadiness which marked the events of his public life may be imitated in all succeeding ages.

Mr. Adams responded to these sentiments of the House of Representatives in a brief sentence corresponding to their form and import.

The Capitol was enlarged by an act of Congress; and on the Fourth of July, 1851, in the presence of an immense audience, President Fillmore laid the corner-stone, and Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, delivered the commemorative oration. Beneath the stone, among other things, is deposited, in Mr. Webster's own handwriting, the following record: -

On the morning of the first day of the seventy-sixth year of the Independence of the United States of America, in the city of Washington, being the Fourth of July, 1851, this stone, designed as a corner-stone of the extension of the Capitol, according to a plan approved by the President, in pursuance of an act of Congress, was laid by

MILLARD FILLMORE,

President of the United States,

assisted by the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodges, in the presence of many members of Congress, of officers of the Executive and Judiciary Departments, - National, State and District, of officers of the army and navy, the corporate authorities of this and neighboring cities, many associations, civil, military, and masonic, - members of the Smithsonian Institution and National Institute, professors of colleges and teachers of schools in the District of Columbia, with their students and pupils, and a vast concourse of people from places near and remote, including a few surviving gentlemen who witnessed the laying of the corner-stone of the Capitol by President Washington, on the 18th day of September, A.D. 1793.

If, therefore, it shall be hereafter the will of God that this structure shall fall from its base, that its foundation be upturned, and this deposit brought to the eyes of men, be it then known that on this day the union of the United States of America stands firm, that their Constitution still exists unimpaired and with all its original usefulness and glory, growing every day stronger and stronger in the affections of the great body of the American people, and attracting more and more the admiration of the world. And all here assembled, whether belonging to public life or to private life, with hearts devoutly thankful to Almighty God for the preservation of the liberty and happiness of the country, unite in sincere and fervent prayer that this deposit, and the walls and arches, the domes and towers, the columns and entablatures, now to be erected over it, may endure forever!

GOD SAVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

DANIEL WEBSTER,

Secretary of State of the United States.

Mr. Webster, standing on the spot where Washington stood fifty-eight years before, in his address said, "This is the New World! This is America! This is Washington! And this the Capitol of the United States! And where else among the nations can the seat of government be surrounded, on any day of any year, by those who have more reason to rejoice in the blessings which they possess? To-day we are Americans, all, and are nothing but Americans. Every man's heart swells within him; every man's port and bearing become somewhat more proud and lofty as he remembers that seventy-five years have rolled away and that the great inheritance of liberty is still his, his, undiminished and unimpaired, his, in all its original glory, his to enjoy, his to protect, and his to transmit to future generations. This inheritance which he enjoys to-day is not only an inheritance of liberty, but of our own peculiar American liberty.

"And I now proceed to add that the strong and deep-settled conviction of all intelligent persons among us is that, in order to preserve this inheritance of liberty, and to support a useful and wise government, the general education of the people and the wide diffusion of pure morality and true religion are indispensable. Individual virtue is a part of public virtue. It is difficult to conceive how there can remain morality in the government when it shall cease to exist among the people, or how the aggregate of the political institutions, all the organs of which consist only of men, should be wise and beneficent and competent to inspire confidence, if the opposite qualities belong to the individuals who constitute those organs and make up that aggregate.

"If Washington actually were among us, and if he could draw around him the shades of the great public men of his own day, patriots and warriors, orators and statesmen, and were to address us in their presence, would he not say to us, 'Ye men of this generation, I rejoice and thank God for being able to see that our labors and toils and sacrifices were not in vain. You are prosperous, you are happy, you are grateful; the fire of liberty burns brightly and steadily in your hearts, while DUTY and the LAW restrain it from bursting forth in wild and destructive conflagration. Cherish liberty, as you love it; cherish its securities, as you wish to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which we labored so painfully to establish, and which has been to you such a source of inestimable blessings. Preserve the union of the States, cemented as it was by our prayers, our tears, and our blood. Be true to God, to your country, and to your whole duty. So shall the whole eastern world follow the morning sun to contemplate you as a nation; so shall all generations honor you as they honor us; and so shall that Almighty Power which so graciously protected us, and which now protects you, shower its everlasting blessings upon you and your posterity."

THE CAPITOL

Is a suggestive symbol of the political strength and growing greatness of the American republic. "Every form of noble architecture," says Ruskin, in his original and elaborate work on this subject, "is in some sort the embodiment of the polity, life, history, and religious faith of nations. In public buildings the historical purpose should be strikingly definite. There should not be a single ornament put upon great civic structures without some intellectual intention. Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man, for whatever uses, that the sight of them should contribute to his mental health, power, pleasure," patriotism, and piety.

These ends are in a high degree attained in the magnificent structure of the Capitol of the republic and the works of art which adorn its surroundings and interior finish. The structure, costing already more than seventeen millions of dollars, is, in its gradual enlargement, stateliness, and strength, a noble symbol of the growth and greatness of the republic as developed in its past history.

The paintings and statuary which adorn the rotunda and the halls of Congress are all suggestive symbols of scenes in the history of our Christian civilization, and of the triumph of our principles of civil liberty and government. The nine large paintings in the rotunda represent De Soto's Discovery of the Mississippi, the Landing of Columbus, the Baptism of Pocahontas, the Embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delft, the Landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock, the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, the Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and the Resignation of Washington at Annapolis. Groups of sculpture, representing scenes in our early Christian history and in the westward march of civilization, adorn the various parts of the Capitol, whilst similar symbols suggest Christian ideas and scenes on the eastern portico, in front of which is an area of ten acres or more, in the centre of which is a statue of Washington, large as life, and on its pedestal inscribed, "FIRST IN WAR; FIRST IN PEACE; FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRYMEN."

The Washington Monument is seen in its unfinished condition from the western portico, grouped with the romantic scenes of nature in Virginia and Maryland, Mount Vernon, and the cities of Washington and Alexandria, with their churches and the public buildings of the Government. The Washington Monument is a massive structure, the corner-stone of which was laid on the 4th of July, 1848, in the presence of the President of the United States and an immense concourse of citizens, and with masonic and Christian ceremonies. Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker of the House of Representatives, delivered a commemorative oration on Washington, in which he traced his exalted goodness and greatness to the educating influence of the Christian religion, which was followed by a consecrating prayer by Rev. J. McJilton, of which the following are the concluding sentences: -

And now, O Lord of all power and majesty, we humbly beseech thee to let the wing of thy protection be ever outspread over the land of Washington! May his people be thy people! May his God be their God! Never from beneath the strong arm of thy providence may they be removed; but, like their honored chief, may they acknowledge thee in peace and in war, and ever serve thee with a willing, faithful, acceptable service! Hear our prayer, we beseech thee, that the glory of this nation may never be obscured in the gloom of guilt; that its beauty may never be so marred by the foul impress of sin that the light of its religious character shall be dimmed. Open the eyes of the people, and let them see that it is their true interest to study thy laws, to seek thy favor, and to worship thee with a faithful worship. Teach them and deeply impress upon them the important political truth that opinions and personal feelings, private advantages and sectional interests, are all as nothing when compared with the great interest that every American has in the union of the different States of the republic. Let them know and feel that as Americans they are a common brotherhood, a single family, and that any principle or proposition that would regard the interests or advantages of the few to the detriment of the many is not American in its character, but is hostile to American institutions and must be destructive of our peace. May the watchword of the nation ever be "UNION;" and let the prayer ascend from every American heart that it may ever be preserved! May this pile, sacred in memorial to the Father of his country, be the central point of union for the North and the South, the East and the West. And when the people of every section of the land shall look upon it, or think of it, may they feel that they are Americans, fellow-citizens with the venerated Washington, and strike hands and hearts together in the pledge that every thing shall fall before the federal union of the States shall be dissolved!

Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continued help. While we acknowledge thee to be the Lord our God, and offer thee the services of our lips, may our hearts be devoted to thee, that we may bring forth the fruits of holiness in our lives and show by our deeds that we are thy faithful servants ! Be pleased to perpetuate our free government, and continue its blessings to mankind. When the men of the present generation shall have passed away, may it be firmer and stronger than it was when committed to their hands, and so may it continue, in the succession of perpetual generations, the blessing of the American people, the envy and admiration of the world. Endue us with wisdom and innocency of life, and, when we shall have served thee in our generation, may we be gathered to our fathers having the testimony of a good conscience in communion with thy Church, in the confidence of a certain faith, in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope, in favor with thee our God, and in perfect charity with all the world. All these mercies and blessings we ask in the name and mediation of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

The flag of the union and nationality of the republic which waves over the Capitol during the sessions of Congress is a symbol of Christian liberty, and has a grand historic interest and significance. Mr. Jefferson, it is said, desired this emblem of the republic to bear on its folds a profession of our national faith in the Christian religion.

The following explanation of the colors and symbolic meaning of the "Stars and Stripes" was written by a member of the old Continental Congress, to whom (with others) was committed the duty of selecting a flag for the republic: -

The stars of the new flag represent the new constellation of States rising in the West. The idea was taken from the constellation Lyra, which in the hand of Orpheus signifies harmony. The blue in the field was taken from the edges of the Covenanters' banner in Scotland, significant of the league and covenant of the United Colonies against oppression, incidentally involving the virtues of vigilance, perseverance, and justice. The stars were in a circle, symbolizing the perpetuity of the Union, the ring, like the circling serpent of the Egyptians, signifying eternity. The thirteen stripes showed, with the stars, the number of the United Colonies, and denoted the subordination of the States of the Union, as well as equality among themselves. The whole was the blending of the various flags previous to the Union flag, viz.: the red flags of the army and the white of the floating batteries. The red color, which in Roman days was the signal of defiance, denotes daring; and the white, purity.

"That flag," says Henry Ward Beecher, "has ever been the symbol of liberty, and men rejoiced in it. It went everywhere upon sea and land, carrying the tidings and the hopes of freedom to the nations of the world. Our flag means liberty; it means all that our fathers meant in the Revolutionary War; it means all that the Declaration of Independence meant; it means all that the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, for liberty, for happiness, meant. Our flag carries American ideas, American history, and American feeling. Beginning with the colonies and coming down to our times, it has gathered and stored chiefly this supreme idea, Divine right of liberty in man. Every color means liberty; every thread means liberty; every form of star and beam or stripe of light means liberty, - organized, institutional liberty, - liberty through law, and law through liberty.

"Under this flag rode Washington and his army. Before it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It cheered our armies driven from around New York, and in their solitary pilgrimage through New Jersey. This banner streamed in light over their heads at Valley Forge and at Morristown. And when the long years of war were drawing to a close, underneath the folds of that immortal banner sat Washington, while Yorktown surrendered its hosts, and our Revolutionary struggle ended in victory. It waved thus over that whole historic period, and over that period in which sat the immortal Convention that framed our Constitution. In the War of 1812 that flag still bade defiance to the imperial power of the British Empire, and waved in victory on land and sea. How glorious, then, has been its origin! How glorious has been its history! In all the world is there any other banner that carries such hope, such grandeur of spirit, such soul-inspiring truth, as our dear old American flag, - made by liberty, made for liberty, nourished in its spirit, carried in its service, and never, not once, in all the earth, made to stoop to despotism?"

The historic memories of the Capitol, the display of forensic eloquence, the great conflicts of opposing principles in politics and in the policy and views of the distinguished statesmen of the republic, living and dead, and the progress and final triumph of the principles of the fathers of the republic, constitute the chief glory of the American Capitol. The halls of Congress are associated with the most illustrious statesmen of the republic since the days of Washington, who have adorned its legislative history by their profound and masterly views of government and politics; whilst the decisions and written opinions of the judges of the Supreme Court constitute a proud memorial of the judicial learning of the nation. The archives in the Capitol are rich political treasures, worthy of a free, enlightened, Christian republic. No other nation in the history of the world, in so short a time, has elaborated such treasures of political thought, such profound views of the science of civil government, and such an amount of political and judicial learning, enunciating the truest ideas of political wisdom and of government, as are found in the archives of the Capitol. Though justice and the principles of universal freedom and of eternal right have had temporary checks and reactions, yet their progress and final triumph have been witnessed and maintained. These historic memories are the true glory of the American Capitol.

The Vice-President of the United States, when the Senate vacated its old Chamber, in 1858, for one more splendid and spacious, referred to the capital in these well-chosen words: —

"This capital is worthy of the republic. Noble public buildings meet the view on every hand; treasures of science and the arts begin to accumulate. The spot is sacred by a thousand memories, which are so many pledges that the city of Washington, founded by him and bearing his revered name, with its beautiful site, bounded by picturesque eminences and the broad Potomac, and lying within view of his home and tomb, shall remain forever the capital of the United States. Hereafter the American and stranger, as they wander through the Capitol, will turn with instinctive reverence to view the spot on which so many and so great materials have accumulated for history. They will recall the great and the good whose renown is the common property of the Union. All the States may point with gratified pride to the services in the Senate of their patriotic sons. Fortunate will be the American statesman who, in this age, or in succeeding times, shall contribute to invest the new hall to which we go with historic memories like those which cluster here.

"Let us devoutly trust that another Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and larger chamber this Constitution vigorous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the representatives of American States still united, prosperous, and free."

The attainment of the highest prosperity and true glory of the republic can be secured only by the choice of upright, moral, Christian men to administer the Government. Ours is a Christian nation, and all our civil institutions rest on the Christian religion; and hence duty demands, as does the very genius of our institutions, that all who administer the civil affairs of the nation should be men who will legislate and act in their official functions in harmony with the principles on which our institutions were founded by our Christian fathers.

"Our republic," says Dr. Lyman Beecher, "in its Constitution and laws, is of heavenly origin. It was not borrowed from Greece or Rome, but from the Bible. Where we borrowed a ray from Greece or Rome, stars and suns were borrowed from another source, - the Bible. There is no position more susceptible of proof (the proof is in this volume) than that as the moon borrows from the sun her light, so our Constitution borrows from the Bible its elements, proportions, and power. It was God that gave these elementary principles to our forefathers as the 'pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day,' for their guidance. All the liberty the world ever knew is but a dim star to the noonday sun which is poured on man by these oracles of Heaven. It is truly testified by Hume that the Puritans introduced the elementary principles of republican liberty into the English Constitution ; and when they came to form colonial constitutions and laws, we all know with what veneration and implicit confidence they copied the principles of the constitution and laws of Moses. These elementary principles have gone into the Constitution of the Union and of every one of the States ; and we have hence more consistent liberty than ever existed in all the world, in all time, out of the Mosaic code."

The Christian statesman and philosopher Thomas S. Grimké, of South Carolina, states the same fact of the harmony of our civil institutions with the Bible. "If ever," he says, "a political scheme resembled the Divine Government, it is ours, where each exists for the whole, and the whole for each. As in the planetary world, so in our system, each has its own peculiar laws; and the harmonious movement of the whole is but a natural emanation from the co-operative influence of the parts."

A Christian nation whose civil institutions thus harmonize with the Divine government should have in its seat of legislation men whose faith and official acts and private lives harmonize with the purposes and principles of a Christian government. The Bible, out of which rose the forms as well as the spirit of our civil institutions, enjoins this policy on the part of the people.

"The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." "Thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over the people to be rulers." And to designate the exalted character which civil rulers should possess, they are spoken of in the New Testament as "ministers of God for good;" "for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing." The influence of the administration of such rulers upon national virtue and prosperity is described under such emblems as these: -

"He [a Christian ruler] shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain." "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth." "Then shall thy light breakforth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring ofwater whose waters fail not. Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noonday, and the Lord shall guide thee continually."

Washington felt the importance of having all the offices filled with such men. Writing to Gouverneur Morris in 1797, he said, "The Executive branch of this Government never has suffered, nor will suffer while I preside, any improper conduct of its officers to escape with impunity." Himself one of the noblest types of a Christian ruler, he desired to see all the civil offices filled with upright, honest, able men. Each department of the Government has had those who have filled their offices as Christian men, acting in the fear of God; but a Christian people should be vigilant at all times to have the administration of their Government conducted by rulers who will rule in the fear of the Lord, and harmonize the legislation of the nation with the law of God.

The Capitol of the republic has witnessed the rites of religion in both branches of its legislature, and daily and Sabbath services have had a gracious influence in directing the deliberations of Congress and in calming the heated excitements of the hour.

The following prayers of the chaplains during the Thirty-Seventh Congress are recorded as illustrating the spirit of devotion and piety which daily was diffused through the halls of national legislation: -

TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1862.

The Chaplain, Rev. Dr. Sunderland, offered up the following prayer:

O thou that seest from thy throne all the inhabitants of the earth, by whose favor the nations flourish, as by thy frown they fall, we pray thee for succor in this our time of need, as our fathers prayed before us. . 627 Give us the foresight and the discretion of thy wisdom, that we may know what to do and wherewithal to perform it. Imbue the whole heart of the nation with a religious faith, so that none among us may profane in any wise before thee. Fill us with the solemn spirit and the awful majesty of this crisis. Let every man forbear levity, that there be no trifling Nero in the midst of burning Rome, that each may be vitally in earnest, bearing his life in his hand, and moving gravely, as a living sacrifice upon the altar of God and of country, of freedom and of religion. O thou Sovereign of our hope, prepare thy servants and the whole people to vindicate in them thy sacred cause, thine honor, and thy name, in the sight of all the generations. Amen.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8 .

O God, the most patient, we, thy servants, faint and weary with the business of the times, pray for strength and illumination to comprehend thy mighty providence. Make us not as the king which once of old bore the ark of thy covenant from among the profane to the place of its consecrated rest, the anxious instrument of thy purpose and of thy power. May we know what we are doing, and what we ought to do, in the present cause of constitutional Government and the predestined birthright of human nature. Spread out here, in the high halls of legislation, the glory of thy presence, as in the ancient Shekinah, the symbol of human faith and hope. May thy servants make despatch in their sublime and solemn duties ; and we beseech thee that when they shall come to frame a law it may be as the besom to sweep from the land those vampires which come in the night of our country's woe, to suck her life-blood at every monetary pore and fatten on her confusion and distress. From these and all other foes we pray thee to deliver us ; and, if it please thee, may our soldiers, where they lie in camp, as once it was aforetime, hear the sound of thy coming in the tops of the forest trees, to prepare themselves for the battle. May every hour be a pulse of progress to waft them on to victory. O Lord of hosts, we pray thee succor them, and give them speedy triumph, for thy name's sake. Amen.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9.

O God, who dost, as we have heard, make the very decay of nature to be but another name for her continued existence, who dost call light from the bosom of darkness, who dost make the very chaos of the universe to produce all forms of beauty and grandeur, brood, we beseech thee, by thine eternal Spirit, upon the tumultuous elements of this nation, and cause to spring from the present " winter of our discontent" a new and higher form of civilization in this land. And we beseech thee, O God, while the thunders of thy power are rocking through the mountain masses of human corruption, torn and wild with the old primordial fires of guilty passion, may the broader wing of thy salvation cover the face of the whole world, dropping its balm upon every bruised and scattered fragment of our nature. O God of truth and glory, the father and friend. of our humanity, after so many rude and bloody revolutions, we pray that thy kingdom may fully come. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 10.

O God, most high, most holy, who dost visit our iniquities upon us, we confess to thee our unworthiness, and pray for thy compassion in this time of our nation's trouble and our own. Sorely pressed by insurrection and bloody war, yet hast thou not, though with all our faults, a ministry for this people, sacred as the soul of man, and lasting as his destiny ? So will we believe, despite the hatred of rebellion at home, and the sudden bristling of that foreign arrogance which has so lately stirred the buried memories of a thousand wrongs in this ministry. We pray that we may ever keep the substance of justice, however changing may be its temporary forms. Give us that Divine instinct of equality, of equity, and of faith which clearly sees through the subtlety of eloquence and the menace of power and patiently waits the hour to strike down intrigue and oppression. Without thee we can do nothing. O God, this day inspire us afresh. For Christ's sake. Amen.

The following prayer was offered up by Dr. Sunderland, at the opening of the session of the Senate of the United States, on the first Monday of December, 1862 :-

Almighty and everlasting God, who art in heaven, while we, thy creatures, are upon earth, we come to thee in our prayers, to be directed aright this day before thee. We thank thee that thy servants are met again in the Capitol undisturbed. We thank thee that thou hast graoiously preserved them during the period of their separation, and hast brought them together in the high conclave of the nation to deliberate upon the affairs of a people greatly afflicted, but as yet not wholly destroyed, and, while we remember with the deepest reverence and humiliation that it has not pleased thee to fully answer all former supplications from this place, we yet implore thy blessing upon the Congress now convened together in their coming councils and labors. May they stand in more than Jewish reverence and in more than Roman virtue before the people. Remove far away from the body and members of the American Senate all levity of mind and of manners, all profanity and volubility of speech, and all unworthy motives and desires, to give to them influence with the people in their high avocation as conscript fathers and elders of the republic. We rejoice that the machinations of foreign intervention have been, thus far, postponed and defeated. We rejoice in that proclamation which, as we hope, has begun to inspire some salutary fear in the rebels of the South as well as also to outreach the false and lying prophets of the North. We rejoice in that terrible fiery furnace through which we are passing to test the true spirit of the people, and the real sentiments of those who have so long and so loudly cried out for the extinction of human bondage. We pray that thou wilt continue to uncover, on the one hand, the cruelties of mankind's oppressors, and, on the other, the insincerity of their philanthropy, and when our wounds and our wretchedness shall have been fully probed, we pray, gracious God, for thy cleansing and healing and sanctifying power, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The following prayer was offered up by Rev. Thomas H. Stockton, Chaplain of the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, at its opening session on the first Monday of December, 1862: -

O God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, giver of the Holy Spirit, maker of angels and of men, ruler of nations and of governments, have mercy upon us, and inspire us with all needful aid to the performance of the solemn duties which devolve upon us as a people and as legislators in this crisis of our nation. We thank thee for this reopening of Congress ; that thy servants, having visited their homes, and seen and heard the state and feeling of the country, are now returning to these halls of supreme legislation to renew their deliberations and enactments in behalf of our noble and cherished Union. We thank thee that our Government still stands in full and pristine power ; that nations abroad that might have taken advantage of any apparent weakness to aid in dividing our land and nation, so humbling our position and reducing our influence in the world, are restrained by the development and resources with which thou hast enriched and strengthened us, and which transcend our own former foolish boastings as much as they have proved to transcend the estimate of those nations and empires who have so jealously watched us from afar. We thank thee that the life of our beloved and honored President has been preserved ; that the Cabinet and Judiciary are in full union, and in harmony with the Executive, and our Legislature with both ; that our armies and navies are daily multiplying and extending their national energies and intensifying their moral aim, and that our people are becoming more convinced of the necessity of and more content with the management of our conservative and progressive war. Believing more profoundly that thou art superintending all its forms and all its issues, and bringing all things to thy own plans, and that thou wilt ultimately accomplish thy will in the promotion of the best interests of our country and of the whole world, we thank thee for the brightening prospects for the liberty of the slave, not the result of our own goodness and wisdom, but, as we trust, of thy gracious and urgent ordination. We pray for the entire abolition of the system which has involved us in so much sin and sorrow and shame, and which would be sure if continued to increase our guilt and grief forever. Yet, O Father, our common Father, we most earnestly beseech thee, of thy infinite mercy, to grant that this end may be secured, not by violence, with blood and tears and helpless cries of pain, but by repentance and faith and prudence, by forbearance and wisdom and love, with mutual concessions and consent and co-operation, followed by reconciliation and a restored Union, by perpetual peace and joy. So shall these United States by these blessings become the praise of the whole earth. We thank thee for the recent official and national recognition of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Bless, O Lord, in our land the seventh day of rest, and hallow it, and enable us, under all circumstances, to remember and keep it holy. We pray for a proclamation that will rebuke that covetousness which is idolatry and that profanity which is blasphemy and indignity to the glory of thy name. And as we are now brought in thy providence again to these halls, we pray that we may solemnly reaffirm with a whole heart thy whole law, not by the assent of hundreds of thousands, but by the amen and hosannas and hallelujahs of all our millions, shaking the continent and the heavens which are above us with the voice of praise and prayer. We pray, O Lord, that the time may soon come when the saints of the Most High shall take and convert and hold the land forever, even forever, that righteousness may spread like the morning upon the mountains, like the noon in our valleys, and like the evening upon our prairies, and when the whole circle of our Confederacy shall rejoice in the smile of Jehovah. We pray that in our conflicts just so far as thou seest right thou wilt give us victory and advancement. Be mindful, Lord, of the havoc and desolation that is falling upon the land through this war. Remember the sick and the wounded and the dying. We pray for our brethren now in arms against us. We thank thee that it is so easy for us to obey the precepts of our Redeemer, Love your enemies. We cannot cease to love them. May they soon be induced to relinquish the evil that is amongst them, and place higher value on the great principles of the charter of our independence, and show that they regard "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" as the right of all mankind, and as beyond all mere local advantages, so that there shall be a restored Union, with increased goodness, and love and glory and joy upon the earth for ever and ever.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

As the Capitol was consecrated to union, liberty, and virtue, it is proper to record, in a work like this, the act of worship and the scenes and resolutions of a great Union meeting held in its halls on the 11th of April, 1863. The President of the United States, his Cabinet, many officers of the army and navy, and a vast multitude of citizens, were present, filling the House of Representatives, the Senate Chamber, the rotunda, and the halls. It was the largest political gathering ever held in the Capitol, and its object was sanctioned by the purest patriotism and piety. Its deliberations were opened by a solemn prayer offered by Dr. Sunderland, as follows :-

Thou , everlasting and glorious Lord God, whom we are bound to acknowledge through Jesus Christ thy Son; the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the God of thy people in all generations ; the God of our fathers, and our God, and the God of our children after us: we implore thee to look down upon the hearts of this vast assemblage as now again we come unto thee for help in prayer ; and we beseech thee to add thy blessing to the deliberations of this public assemblage on this occasion. We pray thee to bless thy servants, the President and rulers and law- givers and magistrates and all the people of this land.

We pray thee especially to bless the officers and men of our army and of our navy, and do thou grant to be the arm of their strength and the power of their inspiration and their defence in the fearful day of battle; and we beseech thee, O Lord, that thou wilt make all this people, from the highest to the lowest, of one spirit, of one mind; and may we never, no, never, no, never give it up, until the cause of civil and religious liberty shall be thoroughly established, not only in our own land, but through all the earth, that the honor of thy great name and the saving help of thy power may be known among all the nations of mankind, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The following resolutions, prepared and presented by Ex-Governor Bell, of Ohio, were unanimously adopted:-

We, the people of Washington, assembled in the National Capitol, do this day resolve and proclaim :-

1. That in this hour of peril, abjuring every minor consideration, we swear allegiance to the Great Republic, one and indivisible, and rally around her constituted authorities-come life or come death-while one traitor or rebel North or South dare plot sedition, flaunt a flag, or fire a gun.

2. That we well remember and will never forget the day when, a previous Administration having given up half our priceless heritage as not to be fought for, Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United States ; when armies and navies we had none ; when open enemies were in our front, their allies in our midst, and traitors in our rear ; when the Potomac was blockaded, and the railways cut off; when patriots rushing to our relief were slain in the streets of Baltimore ; when our forts and armies were basely surrendered ; and when not only the Gulf States, but Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, were lost. How changed is now the scene ! We are deliberating in the Capitol. Mary- land stands by the flag ; Missouri and Kentucky are redeemed; Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas are soon to be added; New England is not " left out in the cold," but South Carolina and all the other Gulf States are to be " plucked as brands from the burning."

3. That more than half the battle is already fought and won. To the timid we say, Safety is in the front, and not in the rear. To advance is to save the republic, maintain our nationality, preserve our liberty, prove our manhood, challenge the respect of our enemies, and com- mend our institutions to all mankind. To retreat,to hesitate, to parley with treason, is to dismember the nation, trail our flag in the dust, assume the debts of traitors and repudiate our own, abandon our fathers, enslave our wives and children, and consign our names to eternal infamy.

4. That in this great struggle there is no middle ground for half-way men to stand upon. It is loyalty or treason, liberty or bondage, democracy or despotism, on one side free government, free homes, free schools, security, peace, and American progress, on the other the mongrel aristocrats who dream of empire, coronets, and titles of nobility, who sigh for the sympathy of the ruling classes of the Old World, to aid them to enslave the poor, oppress honest toil, and shut the light of knowledge out from the soul of man.

5. That, laying on the altar of our country all past political feuds, we here tender to the President and his Administration our confidence and admiration, for stemming the torrent of treason, allaying dissensions at home, holding at bay the enemies of freedom abroad, calling into being, as from nothing, great armies and navies, and money for their support, for striking boldly at slavery, the main-stay of the rebellion, and thus deserving and receiving the plaudits of the good and the brave of all lands, "the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God."

6. That the Congress just terminated will ever share this glory, for its unfaltering support of the President with men and money, for its foreign and internal revenue acts, for its great national currency, national loan, and national enrolment laws, and its determined and firm protest against all foreign intervention, interference, or counsel in the domestic affairs of our beloved country, for freedom in the District of Columbia, for the national homestead, Pacific railway, Agricultural Colleges, and other great measures beyond enumeration.

7. That we tender to our Union brethren of Kentucky, and to the fifteen thousand brave Union volunteers of East Tennessee now fighting in General Rosecrans's army, and to every loyal heart in all the South, our plighted faith that not one of them or their little ones shall ever be abandoned, but that, in the language of the Constitution, we " guarantee to every State of the Union a republican form of government," under the now dearer than ever flag of our fathers.

8. To our brethren in arms on land and sea we say, All hail! We will, "with our voices, our votes, and our treasure, sustain you in the trials of the camp and the dangers of the field, console your families in their fears and their privations, and willingly prepare wreaths to crown, when your service ends, the returning soldiers of freedom, defenders of the republic, and saviors of the Union."

9. That we will never despair of the American republic. In the cheering language of our greatest living friend abroad, John Bright, "We cannot believe that civilization, in its journey with the sun, will sink into endless night to gratify the ambition of the leaders of this revolt, who seek to wade through slaughter to a throne, and 'shut the gates of mercy on mankind.' We have another and far brighter vision before our gaze. Through the thick gloom of the present we see the brightness of the future as the sun in heaven. We see one vast confederation stretching from the frozen North in one unbroken line to the glowing South, and from the wild billows of the Atlantic to the calmer waters of the Pacific main ; and we see one people, and one law, and one language, and one faith, and over all this wide continent the home of freedom and a refuge for the oppressed of every race."

The District of Columbia, in which is located the Capitol of the nation, has become free territory by the abolition of slavery. On the 16th day of April, 1862, an act was passed by Congress and approved by the President, of which the following is the first section :-

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, That all persons held to service or labor within the District of Columbia by reason of African descent are hereby discharged and freed from all claim to such service and labor; and from and after the passage of this act neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime whereof the party shall be duly convicted, shall hereafter exist in said District.

This act was in harmony with the spirit and precepts of the Christian religion and with the genius and demands of the civil institutions of the nation, as well as with national justice,honor, and consistency. Lafayette expressed, in a letter published in the "Historical Magazine" of 1827, his earnest desire to see some measure of gradual emancipation in the District of Columbia adopted, and declared that "the state of slavery, particularly in that emporium of foreign visitors and European ministers, is a most lamentable drawback on the example of independence and freedom presented to the world by the United States. " His wishes and those of many of his illustrious associates in the cause of universal emancipation, as well as those of all true lovers of their country at the present time, are at length consummated, and the Goddess of Liberty which crowns the magnificent dome of the Capitol overlooks a national territory forever consecrated to freedom. The influence of this act has inspired a new life into the enterprise of the city of Washington ; and, if moral and Christian culture shall sanctify and direct the material prosperity and the political operations of all de- partments of the Government, the capital of the American re- public will yet be the seat of virtue and religion, the centre of beneficent influences to the nation, and realize the fondest hopes of Washington and the patriotic and Christian founders of this seat of civil empire.