United States Congress (May 1854) in the Thirty-Fourth Congress assembled, Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts being Speaker of the House, passed a resolution in the House which declared:
<Whereas, The people of these United States, from their earliest history to the present time, have been led by the hand of a kind Providence, and are indebted for the countless blessings of the past and present, and dependent for continued prosperity in the future upon Almighty God; and whereas the great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it eminently becomes the representatives of a people so highly favored to acknowledge in the most public manner their reverence for God: Therefore,
- Resolved. That the daily sessions of this body be opened with prayer.
- Resolved. That the ministers of the gospel in this city are hereby requested to attend and alternately perform this solemn duty.> 1854US002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1854US002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Congress, May of 1854, a Resolution passed in the House of Representatives. Benjamin Franklin Morris, The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 327-328. Stephen McDowell and Mark Beliles, "The Providential Perspective" (Charlottesville, VA: The Providence Foundation, P.O. Box 6759, Charlottesville, Va. 22906, January 1994), Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 7.