Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1862-02-06
Prayers in the U. 8. Senate.

1Idy CTS IL Iu6 ". p. OSudCe.
We give below several of the prayers
delivered by the Rev. Byron Sunderland,
Chaplain of the U. S. Senate. Aside from
the deep and fervid pity which character
ize these invocations, they will be admired
for their vigor and terseness of style
They are also models of brevity. Some
preachers that we know of hereabouts,
will keep a congregation standing during
prayer, until body and mind becomes wea-
ried and the temper soured.
TUESDAY JANUARY l, 1862.
The Chaplain, Rev. DR.. Sunderland,
offered up the following prayer
Oh, God, the most patient, we Thy
servants faint and weary with the business
of the times, pray for strength aud illumi-
nation to comprehend Thy mighty provi-
dence. Make US not as the king which
once of old bore the ark of Thy covenant
from among the profane to tho place of
its consecrated rest, the anxious instrument
of Thy purpose and of Thy Power. May
we know what we are doing, and what we
ought 10 do in the present cause of consti.
tutional government and the predertined
birlh-right of human nature. Spread out
here in the high halls of legislation, the
the glory of Thy presence, as in the ancient
Shechinah, the symbol of human faith and
hope. May Thy servants make dispatch
in their sublime and solemn duties; and
we beseech Thee, that when they shall
come to frame law, it may be as the be-
som to sweep from the land those vam
pires which come in the nig ght Of our coun-
try's woe, to suck her life-blood at every
monetary pore, and fat:en on her confu-
sion and distress. From these, and all
other foes, we pray Thee to deliver us;
and if it please Thee may our soldiers,
where they lie in camp, as once it was
aforetime, hear the sound of Thy coming
in The tops of the forest trees, to prepare
themselves for the battle. May every
hour be pulse of progress to wait them
on to victory. Oh, Lord Of hosts, we pray
Thee succor them, and give them speedy
trinmph-for Thy names sake. Amen
THURSDAY JANUARY, 9.
Oh, God! Who dost, as we have heard,
make the very decay Of nature to be bat
another name for her continued existence,
Who dost call light from the bosom of
darkness, Who dost make the very chaos
Of the universe to produce all forms of
beauty and grandeur, brood, we beseech
Thee, BY Thine eternal spirit, upon the tu-
mulluous elements of this nation, and
spring from the present "winter of our dis
content" a new and higher form of civiliza-
tion in this land. And we beseech Thee,
Oh, God, while the thunders of Thy pow
er are rocking through the mountains
masses Of human corruption, torn and
wild with the old primordial fires of guilty
passion, may the broader wing of Thy sal
vation cover the face of the whole world, |
dropping its balm upon every bruised and |
scattered fragment of our nature. Oh,
God of truth and glory, the father and
friend of our humanity, after so many rude
and bloody revolutions, we pray that thy
kingdom may fully come. Through Jesus
Christ. Amen.
FRIDAY JANUARY, 10.
Oh, God, most high, most holy, Who
dost visit our iniquities upon us, we con-
fess to Thee our unworthiness, and pray
for Thy compassion in this time of our ma
tion's trouble and our own. Sorely press
ed by insurrection and bloody war, yet |
hast Thou not, though with all our faults,
a minority for this people; sacred as the
soul of man and lasting and his destiny
So will we believe, despite the hatred of
rebellion at home and the sudden bristling
of that foreign arrogance which has SO
lately stirred the buried memories of a
thousand wrongs in this ministry. We
pray that we may ever keep the substance
of Justice, however changing may be its
temporary forms. Give US that divine in
stinct of equality, of equity, and of faith,
which clearly sees through the subtlety of
eloquence and the means of power, and
patiently waits the hour to strike down
intrigue and oppression. Without Thee
we can do nothing. Oh, God, this day |
insnire us afresh For Christ's sake-