The Pilgrim Path---Joshua 24: 14, 15 

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

We just want to make certain that we never allow ourselves to become independent of God.

September 5, 1774, Philadelphia: Fifty-six men came from all thirteen colonies. A strong sense of unity knit them. What they were arranging would lead to a charge of treason in the eyes of those who lead Great Britain. If they were afraid, they concealed it incredibly well. They knew they needed God’s help. The first meeting brought the suggestion of ongoing prayer from “some” clergy in the opening of the assembly. Initially this met with resistance---only because of their varied backgrounds (Anabaptists, Episcopalians, Quakers, Congregationalist, and Presbyterians). The question was probably, “who will pull this lot together?”

The much-respected Samuel Adams said something to this effect, “I could hear a prayer from any man of genuine virtue. I am a visitor to Philadelphia, but I have learned the Rev. Mr. Jacob Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, would well fit our need for the task at hand. I move he be asked to read prayers to the Congress tomorrow morning.” The motion passed. Rev. Duche appeared the next morning in pastoral robes. A message also arrived with word of dreadful probability that Boston had been bombarded and several inhabitants murdered by British soldiers…

Rev. Duche read from Psalm 35,

“Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for mine help. Draw out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul; let them be turned back and brought to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be as chaff before the wind; and let the angel of the LORD chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery; and let the angel of the LORD persecute them…And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; it shall rejoice in his salvation. All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him…”----John Adams said, “I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.”

Rev. Duche then prayed an “extemporaneous prayer” ---most unusual for Episcopalians of the era. The “core” of the petition was quickly written by several present:

“Be Thou present O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that the Oder, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people. Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seeth expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior, Amen.”

“If God be for us, who can be against us? The enemy (the British Army) has reproached us for calling on His name and professing our trust in Him. They have made a mock of our solemn fasts and every appearance of serious Christianity in the land…May our land be purged from all its sins! Then the LORD will be our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble, and we will have no reason to be afraid though thousands of enemies set themselves against us round about” (Rev. Samuel Lanagdon, President of Harvard College, in an address to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, May 31, 1775).

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat,

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;

O be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!

Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me;

As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory! Glory, hallelujah!

Glory! Glory, hallelujah!

Glory! Glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)

Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ Our Risen LORD, Pastor Jason