Baptist Courier

THE CENTENNIAL OF WASHINGTON'S INAUGURAL.
The following address has been issued by the clergymen of the city of New York, through a committee representing them, calling upon the churches of the United States to hold a service of prayer at nine o'clock on the morning of April 30th next, the centennial anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States. Among the signers of this address are Dr. R. S. MacArthur, pastor Calvary Baptist Church, Dr. John Hall, pastor Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, and Wm. Hayes Ward, editor of The Independent. The President will be requested to issue a proclamation, calling upon all the citizens of the Republic to observe the 30th of April, 1889, as a day of national thanksgiving by holding appropriate religious services at the time proposed in the address:

The undersigned, on behalf of a large body of clergymen of this city, called together by the Chairman of the Executive Committee on the Centennial Celebration of the Inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States, beg leave to submit to the ministers and churches of the United States the following statement and suggestion in regard to the religious observances appropriate to the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of constitutional government in our country.

The thirtieth of April, 1889, will be the centenary of a most important event, the beginning of the free and happy government under which we live. That beginning was most auspicious. It was the Inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States. Naturally, he who was universally recognized as our first soldier and citizen, was unanimously chosen to be the first to hold the office of Chief of State. He and the eminent men whom he drew around him gave an impress to our institutions and the proceedings under them which has never been lost. It is difficult to estimate what we owe to the first administration of the General Government, which plowed its way through an unknown sea, and was exposed to cross-currents of every kind, yet held its course steadily to the end, and opened a pathway which has been followed by all its successors through the complete century. This happy beginning was not an accident, but due to causes which our fathers distinctly recognized.

When the signers of the Declaration of Independence mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in its support, it was, as they were careful to say, "with a firm reliance upon the protection of Divine Providence."

In the address which General Washington made at his inauguration, after speaking of his conflict of emotions in accepting the office, he said:

"It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplication to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge."

Not even these weighty words were not enough to satisfy the First President's sense of our dependence upon God. He renewed the subject in the closing paragraph:

"Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion that brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race in humble supplication that since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity, on a form of government for the security of their union, and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultation and the wise measures on which the success of this government must depend."
Immediately after the delivery of his Inaugural address, President Washington, with the eminent men who had taken part in the ceremonies, proceeded to St. Paul's Chapel, in Broadway, where prayers were read by one of the chaplains of Congress. The prayers offered by the father of his country, at that critical period, and re-echoed by innumerable devout hearts among the people have been answered, as the slightest review of the past century shows. Surely, then, it is our privilege to make due recognition of the fact in a public and formal manner.

On the morning of April 30th, 1789, the bells at nine o'clock summoned the people to the churches to implore the blessing of Heaven on the nation and its chosen president, so universal was the religious sense of the importance of the occasion.

We respectfully and earnestly request our fellow citizens, of every name and race and creed, in this city and throughout the entire country, following the example of our fathers, to meet in their respective places of worship, at nine o'clock, on the morning of the 30th of April, 1889, and to hold such religious services of thanksgiving and praise as may seem suitable, in view of what God has done for us and our land during the century which has elapsed since George Washington took the chair of State.

Religion and patriotism have been united among us as a people from the very beginning; may they so continue forever.