New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-09-07
PRAYER FOR THE PRESIDENT.

Yesterday in several States upon executive
recommendation prayers were offered for the
recovery of the President The effort at
simultaneous supplicatiOn throughout the
Union, for want Of time or for other
reason, has failed but prayers will also be
offered tomorrow in several other States and
in mono of them will the suggestion of Governor
Hoyt of Pennsylvania be entirely disregardcd.
The answers which he has received from the
Governors of the different States have been rev.
erent and respectful. Ever since this great dis
aster befell the Republic the churches and
clergy have not been unmndful of that most
natural resource of humanity in sorrowful
emergencies a special application to the SUI
preme Being for protection and salutary sue
cor. Mere philosophy may find in this an evil
dence of hclplcssness and terror and argue
that according to strict construction of the
nature OF Omnipotcnce and of Omniscience,
prayer involves a logical absurdity. What is to
be, is to be, and He doeth all things well. But
the religion protested by a great'majority of the
people of tho United States expressly enioins
its professors TO ask that they may receive and
to seek that they may find. 1t recognizes a
special and benevolent interposion of the
DEITY as possible and rs probable in the hour of
distress and danger. Whatever may be thought
speculations which seek to limit the power of
the Deity have their natural result in Atheism.
The greatest of women who have written
English poetry begins one Of the most touching
of her lyrics with the lines There is no God
the foolish saith. But none there is no sorrownn
Society rs we'll as individuals may reach
point at which all human strength seems to be
weakness. There arc calamities affecting
masses which would appear to be limited only
by some law unrcVealed to the human mind
There are fatalities which our reason can assign
to nothing but fatc--a confession that their
causes are inscrutable and their consequences
unavoidable. Yet even the quiet nd submits
sive Greek, when pestilence heapcd the homes
| and the streets with dead, sought by sacrifice
and prayer the pitiful intorpositon of Jovc If
the poytheistcal religions have their gods of
| terror, they have also their gods of bcnefcence
and there has never been II people savage
enough to regard itself as independent of Di-
vine mercy and goodness. Our Nation il TRYING
the experiment of a complete severance of
Church and State There is no religion and no
divinity in the Constitution, althourb
upon several of coins we have in
scrlbcd " In God we trust" This legend WAS
adopted in an hour of great public pcrl during
which we did not cease to importune Heaven
Tor its smile upon our divided and distracted
lana. we have prayers in Congress and i'm orr
| courts OF justice. We have regularly appointed
days OF thanksgiving, rs well as days of humilia-
tion. II IS noticeable, although it is not mystic
rious, that in spite Of the Constitution. and o.
| the loose opinions of some of the men who
| framed it, the religion of the people should have
| made itself felt in the Governments There il
| nothing strange in this. 1t would have been
strange if it had been otherwise.
If great national calamity had fallen imam
us during the time in which our President had
been actively exercising the functions of his
great Office, he would undoubtedly by proclama
ton have reminded the people of that which
they protested TO believe, and of the efficacy of
prayer. But helpless upon the bed of main.
ana himself the necessary object Of supplico
| ton, 1t has been impossible for him to surocst
to the people the duty of which they have been
indirectly and unOflicially reminded. Vet
II prayer be,as Montgomery sings, the sours
sincere DESIRE" no official call was needed. II
Is the sincere desire of millions of his country
men that he may be restored to us, as strono as
ever and as capable of public usefulness No
matter how that desire may otherwise find ev
preston IL cannot do so more gracefully and
sincerely than through forms which all sensible
| men respect and which most regard as socrod
The tendency OF this weeks religious observ
ances cannot be otherwise than eievatinc In
some way the anxiety of the general mind must
find utterance. In some way the sickness of
hope deferred and the feeling of suspense must
find relief. We can do so little to helm this
suffering man, who is suffering because we
placed burdens which could not be otherwise
than weighty upon his shoulders, that in moro
weakness we can only seek the aid of a
higher than human power, and leave the issue
i'll the hands of God.
All through the morning of yesterday the
hearts of millions accompanied the President
upon his perilous journey, and hourly sought
information of his progress. Those who do not
believe that the Supreme Being works through
human agencies for good must DE left to their
unbeliefi those who think otherwise will see
the great hand in the skill of physicians. in tho