American Prayers: From the Founding Decades of the United States of America

By Jay Carper

The world has gone insane and our only hope for a peaceful and prosperous future is a return to our spiritual roots.

Over a 9 month period, I scanned many thousands of letters, journals, newspaper articles, and government documents for the prayers of America’s founding generation. I wanted to know what they really believed about God, faith, and religion. American Prayers is the end result.

This book contains prayers excerpted from letters, journals, speeches, and government documents produced during the later decades of America’s colonial period and the early decades of the Republic. After reading these Heaven-directed petitions by Presidents, congressmen, soldiers, and citizens, no one will ever be able to tell you that America was never a Christian nation. The words of our founding generations are conclusive proof that the United States is a nation built on Christian principles, by Christians, and for Christians!

Plus: Short biographical sketches of a some of the most significant Americans from the 18th century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harold Carper
• Release date: Jan 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005867911

Jay Carper

Jay Carper lives with his wife and son in Brenham, Texas, where they are part of a small community of Torah-observant believers. His parents have been involved in ministry with the Assemblies of God and other organizations since before he was old enough to know it, and he inherited their love of the Bible and its Author. He believes that a person can only obtain eternal salvation through faith in the grace of God which was made manifest in the death and resurrection of Jesus. While searching for a deeper understanding of God’s love for His people, Jay began exploring God’s Law and the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith in the 1990s and has been an active participant in Torah-observant congregations since 2001.Connect with Jay on social media!MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/jaycarperGab: https://gab.com/carperLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/americantorah/Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/jaycarperGet updates from Jay directly in your Inbox by subscribing at http://jaycarper.com/subscribe. Be sure to whitelist his email address, jay at American Torah com.Subscribe to Jay's video channels at your favorite video sharing site:Rumble: https://rumble.com/register/JayCarper/Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/AmericanTorahYouTube: http://jaycarper.com/youtube

Book preview

American Prayers

From the founding decades of the United States of America.

Compiled and edited by Jay Carper

Copyright © 2017 by Jay Carper

www.AmericanTorah.com

All rights reserved. No part of the introduction, forward, or biographical sketches in this publication may be reproduced, stored, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Quotes taken from public domain sources remain in the public domain and may be reused in any context. Attribution and credit is appreciated.

Ebook Edition 2017.06.11

Contact Jay Carper via http://www.AmericanTorah.com for volume ordering and discount information.

For God and Country.

For America.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Various Authors 1720-1774

Benjamin Franklin

Various Authors 1774-1775

George Whitefield

Various Authors 1775-1780

George Washington

Various Authors 1781-1783

Samuel Adams

Various Authors 1783-1787

Abigail Adams

Various Authors 1787-1789

Josiah Bartlett

Various Authors 1789

Jupiter Hammon

Various Authors 1790-1792

Thomas Jefferson

Various Authors 1794-1797

John Jay

Various Authors 1797-1799

John Adams

Various Authors 1800-1804

Official Proclamations of Prayer & Fasting

End Notes

About the Author

Introduction

The United States of America was a Christian nation at its founding and remains a mostly Christian nation even today. Why does that sound so radical?

It is common today to conflate the terms nation, country, and government. These terms are closely related, but they are certainly not synonymous.

Nations are groups of people connected by common genetic, religious, linguistic, and cultural heritage.

Countries are the places where nations live.

Governments are the people and systems of law that nations erect to order and protect themselves.

For example, the English nation has existed since at least the time of the Roman Empire when they lived in the country we now call Germany. This nation migrated to the British Isles where they set up a kingdom and absorbed other Germanic and Celtic peoples. Over the centuries, the English have had a chiefdom, an absolute monarchy, a republic, and a parliamentary monarchy, yet—compared to other nations—the English have enjoyed a remarkably stable government for more than 1500 years.

Governments can be—and often are—changed like worn out clothes, but governments are not nations, and nations can only be changed by destroying the internal cohesion of the people. That must not be allowed to happen in America.

If your school years were anything like mine, the phrase separation of church and state was drilled into your head almost daily. You heard over and over again how the founders were deists, not Christians, and how the United States was founded to be a purely secular state.

You heard it until you believed it.

Except that it is not true. It is a central propaganda point of people who would destroy the national cohesion of the United States and thereby destroy the nation itself.

Certainly, some of the founders had deist tendencies. Many of them had some unorthodox theological beliefs, but most curious and intelligent people do. The word Christian describes many kinds of religious systems. Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Messianic, Evangelical, and other groups have different ideas of who God is and how He wants us to live, but they all read the Bible. They all believe in Jesus even if they use a different spelling or pronunciation and keep a different calendar. Even as their individual members believe their own dogma to varying degrees, they are all basically Christian in religion and culture.

America's Founding Fathers also came from different Christian sects, the teachings of which they accepted personally in varying degrees. But the truth is that, although they had a wide range of beliefs about God, they were all Christian in culture and ideology, and the vast majority were decidedly Christian in practice and faith, as well.

No successful candidate for political office campaigns by speaking foreign ideas in a foreign language. He speaks the language of the people he is courting. Without exception, America's earliest politicians spoke a thoroughly Christian language. Their writings and speeches expressed Christian ideas to a Christian audience using Christian terms. They were elected by Christian voters, and they represented Christian constituencies.

Although Washington, Adams, et al, were Christians—and I am going to prove it to you in this book—in the end it would not matter if an historian found testimony to the contrary signed by every signatory to the Declaration of Independence. The undeniable fact that they tailored their words to appeal to a Christian audience proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the people of the United States were a Christian nation. The American Revolution was not fought and won only by a few hundred generals and statesmen, but by millions of farmers, smiths, and soldiers. And we, their genetic, spiritual, political, and ideological heirs, are still a majority Christian nation.

When you have finished reading the prayers in this book, you will never again believe the lie that America was never intended to be a Christian nation. These prayers by George Washington, Abigail Adams, and John Jay could not have been produced by any other kind of people.

Please note that, at the time the original texts were created, the rules of English grammar and spelling were still quite fluid. I have retained the original spelling and punctuation wherever it did not cause undue confusion.

I hope that these prayers provide you with the ammunition you need to defend your Christian heritage.

But even more than that, I hope that they bless you and strengthen your faith in the Providence of our loving and awesome Creator.

Sincerely,

Jay Carper

Various Authors

1720-1774

Peter Thatcher, John Danforth, Joseph Belcher, for the Committee of the Association.

From a letter to Joseph Jenckes, Deputy Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island from 1715-1727 and Governor from 1727-1732.

October 27, 1721.¹

We hope and pray, that ancient matters (that had acrimony unhappily in them) may be buried in oblivion; and that grace and peace and holiness and glory may dwell in every part of New-England; and that the several provinces and colonies in it, may love one another with a pure heart fervently. 

●●●●●

Rev. Theophilus Pickering, a Massachusetts minister who frequently found himself at odds with his fellow clergymen.

From a lengthy rebuke of Rev. N. Rogers and Mr. D. Rogers of Ipswich.

August 9, 1742.²

I add no more, but my earnest Prayer (as Accounts stand at present) that your Heart may be kept from secret workings of Spiritual Pride, and your Head from Illusive Imaginations; and that (if the Lord will) you may have a safe and speedy Return to your Pastoral Charge at Southhold on Long-Island.

●●●●●

Dr. James Craik, a lifelong friend of Washington's.

From a letter to Colonel George Washington.

November 25, 1757.³

As reading & writing must be very troublesome to you in your present Circumstance, I shall only Pray God, who is the best of all Physicians, that he in his infinite mercy, may restore you, to your wonted health, and preserve you in the Command which is so agreeable to many…

●●●●●

Jonathan Mayhew, a Boston preacher who coined the term No taxation without representation.

From a sermon, The Snare Broken, preached in Boston.

May 23, 1766.¹

[America] will pray that you may long live in health, happiness and honor, that if there should be any occasion hereafter, as in time past, you may step in and prevent her's and Britain's ruin, when no other man could; and that, when you must, according to the common lot of men, however great and good (O may it be late!) cease to plead the cause of liberty on earth, you may in heaven, as your reward, enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God!

●●●●●

Peter Gilman, Speaker of the New Hampshire Assembly.

Spoken before the Assembly.

February 25, 1768.⁴

What remains for us at present, is to offer our daily prayer to the Governor and Lord of the universe, to avert the impending evil, and to make way for the full establishment of British liberty in every branch of it, and to quiet every colony in the enjoyment of all their civil and religious rights and privileges.

●●●●●

Phillis Wheatley, an African-born slave, living in Boston.

From To the King's Most Excellent Majesty written in response to the repeal of the Stamp Act.

1768.⁵

May George, belov'd by all the nations round,

Live with heav'ns choicest constant blessings crown'd!

Great God, direct, and guard him from on high,

And from his lead let ev'ry evil fly!

And may each clime with equal gladness see

A monarch's smile can set his subjects free!

●●●●●

Phillis Wheatley.