The First Continental Congress P6

Last week I ended with the prayer in the First Continental Congress, all the favorable comments on what many called a remarkable prayer and Samuel Adams calling it “Providential.”

Significantly, when the Book of Common Prayer had been written in 1662 under King Charles II, the designated reading on September 7 of each year was Psalm 35 (other passages assigned for that day and studied in Congress that morning included Amos 9, Matthew 8, and Psalm 36). The fact that Psalm 35 had been attached to that particular day well over a century earlier affirmed to the Founders that God indeed knew what they would face at that time, thus confirming to them that He was watching over them.

The “Father Abraham” sermon, so often preached by Whitefield, encouraging unity among Christians was put into practical effect at the First Congress. It changed the atmosphere from one of distrust and disagreement into one of understanding cooperation. The walls between them came crashing down. Seventy years later, the great Daniel Webster, often referred to as the “Defender of the Constitution,” reminded the US Supreme Court of the Christian unity manifested on that morning.

More on this next week for another American Moment.

Sourced From The American Story: The Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton.