Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-07-26
For Sunday Reading. !
All Sorts of Opinions. Il

Mas Washinaton Church Member

Was Washington a Church Member.
Presbyterian lSSlnher.I
The evidence is not as conclusive as
we could wish. Mr.. Thomas Jefferson
asserted that Gouvcrneur Morris mas
often told me that Gen. Washington
believed no more of that system ihah
ne himself did" Bishop White testi
fled that while Mrs. Washington was
Il habitual communicate The genera
never received the communion in the
churches of which he WAS minister
and he could only hopc from his con
stant attendance that he was pc
/ lever in the Christian revelation. W
! Aborcrombic. whose church Washing
ton frequently attended, is quoted as
saying that he had never been q COM
municant" but was Deist.
ON the other hand, Senator Henry
tCabot Lodge d careful and competens
historian and biosraphcr Of Washing
ton, declares that it is beyond ques-
ltion that He believed in the efficacy
lof PRAYER, for he prayed regularly and
the proof is abundant that he woulo.
retire for pr2yer in times OF stress
and trial. and that He was generally
believed by his contemporaries. Win
| few exceptions, to be Il Christian
Senator Lodge also cites two EXPIRES
Sions from carefully prepared state pa
pers: The pure and benign light OF
Revelation and TIE divine author OF
our blessed religion which certainly
Indicate 4 Christian belief, altho NOT
creating any strong presumption OF
church membership.
The direct evidences of his commun-
ing are: The record of his asking per
mission 10 partale of the sacrament
with the pastor and members of the
First Presbyterian church OF Morris
town, N. j., when the army lay en-
camped near by, and his doing so on
the following sabbath; the testimony
of Major Popham, an officer with
Washington during TIE VAR. who wrote.
when 81 years old that ne attended
the same church liz New York, and
had llnelt With Washington in the re
ception of the communion: and the let
ter of Nellie GUSTS, the granddaughte,
of Mrs. Washington, to the historian
Sparks. that she had heard her mother
say that General Washington always
received the sacrament with my grand
mother before the revolution
The affirmative evidence certainly
seems stronger than the negative. yet
It scarcely justities our thinking
Washington as Ccmmunng regularly.
1t is not Improbable that upon entering
into political life he may have re-
Trained from public Identification With
the church of his youth and earlier
manhood, and thus may have given
some ground for the belief or the pare
Of the Deists OF his day that he was
enc OF their belief Perhaps too much
Was Inferred from his less frequent
attendance at church and his non OBJ
serrance of the sacrament DIR. Ash
bel Green, who was chaplain of con-
gress, and frequently dined with Wash
ington relates III his autobiography
that while he was regularly called on
TO ask \ blessing before the guests
took their seats at the table, on one
occasion "the presidents mind was
probably occupied with some interest
ing concern, and on going to the table
be began TO ask u blessing himself.
He uttered but q word or two when.
bowling to ne. he requested me to pro-
coed, which 1 accordingly did. I men
this because it SHOWS that President
Washington always asked g blessing
himself, when chaplain was not pres
ent."