The 'Jefferson Prayer' that never was, and the one that should never be forgotten ...

 The give and take of the Opinion page in the Daily Inter Lake is a barometer of the mood of the nation; it is also an exemplar of the dictum that the only opinion worth staking your name to is one that you have personally tested against the facts.

As Thomas Jefferson said, “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”

It is not by accident that I introduce Jefferson’s famous quote herein because it is another quote attributed to our third president, supposedly establishing his faith in God, which is the center of the debate in this week’s column.

Frequent letter writer Eric Knutson took offense at the oft-stated claim that Jefferson and other Founding Fathers were not Christians. He offered several quotes which seemed to suggest that Jefferson was indeed some kind of Christian (although most likely his own kind). Perhaps most compelling was his citation of Jefferson’s letter to Benjamin Rush in which he wrote: “I am a Christian in the only sense in which he [Jesus] wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others...”

However, Knutson did not stop there, but proceeded on with his argument and ended with this quote cited by the author William Federer in his book “America’s God and Country”:

“Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those to whom in Thy Name we entrust the authority of governments that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.” 

 This quote was identified by Federer as being “A National Prayer for Peace” delivered by President Jefferson on the date of his second inauguration, March 4, 1805.

Clearly, Knutson was trying to do his homework and buttress his argument with facts, but it occurred to me while reading this quote that it raised more questions than it answered. In particular, if Jefferson was publicly acknowledging Jesus Christ as his Lord at (presumably) his inaugural speech, why didn’t everyone agree that he was a professed Christian? Where was the dispute?

Of course, because there are so many inexplicable aspects of history, not all of which can be pursued by even an avid researcher, I let the matter drop with no more than a cursory thought of looking further into Jefferson’s inauguration some day.

But then the inevitable occurred. Fred Spoerl, another trusty letter writer who is also the head of the Flathead Freethought Forum, sent in a response to Mr. Knutson in which he claimed that the alleged prayer by President Jefferson was misattributed.

 “This prayer was not written or delivered by Thomas Jefferson,” Spoerl wrote. “It is in fact from the 1928 ‘United States Book of Common Prayer.’ ”

He encouraged Knutson to “always question the source and check things out for yourself.”

That seemed like good advice, and I took it myself to see if I could get to the bottom of the controversy. First, I searched for the prayer, and found it all across the Internet, attributed to President Jefferson without further explanation. Clearly, lots of people agreed with Knutson. But doing a Google search for the “1928 United States Book of Common Prayer,” I was also able to find Spoerl’s citation quite easily. The prayer book had served the Episcopal Church for 50 years until being replaced in 1978. The wording of the prayer in that book was almost identical to the one provided by Knutson, except for a few trivial changes, plus the alteration of “endow” to “endue” and the substitution of “honorable industry” for “honorable ministry.”

These last two seemed curious. “Honorable industry” seemed more likely to have been included in a prayer by President Jefferson than “honorable ministry.” Also, “endue” is rarely used now, and seemed more suited to the early 19th century than the early 20th century. It almost seemed like it might be evidence that the 1928 prayer had originated sometime earlier, perhaps even with Jefferson. Besides, as I pointed out to Mr. Spoerl, the fact that the prayer had been gathered in a “Book of Common Prayer” suggested that it had been in use for some time, and did not originate in 1928 with the publication of the book.

I thus set out on a venture to get to the bottom of the mystery. It occurred to me immediately that there should be some contemporaneous account of Jefferson’s second inaugural that would specify whether or not he had indeed spoken a prayer for the occasion. I began with a simple Google search and read President Jefferson’s inaugural speech. Of course, the prayer did not appear therein, but there was what I thought might be a clue. Namely, the speech began with the phrase “Proceeding ... to” —  which suggested that it followed on the heels of something else which Jefferson had done. There were two likely possibilities — either taking the oath of office, or leading the prayer attributed to him.

Unfortunately, I could not find any Internet account of the proceedings of the inauguration on March 4, 1805, so I was unable to test my theory. That sent me to an online newspaper archive where I researched newspaper accounts from 1805 to see if there existed some record of the day’s events. Again, that was not to be. I found several newspapers that had reprinted Jefferson’s speech, but with only a brief introductory paragraph and no further mention of what preceded or followed the speech itself.

After convincing myself that no link could be proven between Jefferson and the prayer, I decided to do a search for the prayer itself to see what provenance it might have before the 1928 “Book of Common Prayer.”

Searching the newspaper archive for the rather distinctive phrase, “Bless our land with honorable ministry,” I was able only to find a recent use of the prayer, also attributed to Jefferson, but when I instead searched for “Bless our land with honorable industry,” as it was printed in the “Book of Common Prayer,”  I made a discovery.

The Episcopal  prayer did have a precedent — not with Thomas Jefferson, but with an Episcopal bishop named Cortlandt Whitehead. A story had appeared in the Hawarden (Iowa) Independent on Oct. 22, 1896, describing a prayer being said in “Pittsburg, Pa.,” that had been “prepared” by Bishop Cortlandt Whitehead and “having a special reference to the forthcoming election.” That presumably is a reference to the 1896 presidential election between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan.

The prayer, while not an exact replica of what I will now call the “Jefferson Prayer,” is close enough that it looked like a possible precursor of it. Here it is in full:

“O, Almighty God, who art the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Sovereign Ruler of nations; who In the former times didst lead our fathers forth into a wealthy place; give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to us, their children, that we may always approve ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners. Guide, we pray thee, the people of these United States In the election which is at hand. Defend our liberties, preserve our unity, save us from lawlessness and violence, from discord and confusion, from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Fashion into one happy people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those who are or shall be entrusted with authority over us, that there may be good government at home, and peace with all the world. In the time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble suffer not our trust in thee to fail. All these things we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”  

Note that this prayer is considerably longer than the “Jefferson Prayer.” It is also more church-y, with its references to the “King of Kings” and “Sovereign Ruler of all nations.” It does also include a topical reference to “the election which is at hand,” and generally rewrites the prayer by reorganizing some components and using a few extra words.

Surely, this must be the original source of the “Jefferson Prayer,” which for some reason was later shortened and then falsely attributed to the president. Or so I thought.

But upon further examination, I was able to find one earlier version of the prayer, which gets us a bit closer to Jefferson, but not so close that we can burden the president with it.

On May 17, 1886, the prayer was printed in the Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel as a “Prayer for the Country set forth by Bishop HC Potter for use in the Diocese of New York.”

Sure enough, Potter was another Episcopalian bishop, full name Henry Codman Potter, who had a reputation as a writer and an interest in both social justice and politics. It is entirely likely that with Potter, we have found the true source of the “Jefferson Prayer,” some 81 years after its purported origin. Here, finally, it is:

“Almighty God, who in the former times leddest our fathers forth into a wealthy place, and didst set their feet in a large room, give Thy grace, we humbly beseech Thee, to us their children, that we may always approve ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners. Defend our liberties, preserve our unity. Save us from violence, discord and confusion, from pride and arrogancy, and from every evil way. Fashion into one happy people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those whom we intrust in Thy name with the authority of governance, to the end that there be peace at home, and that we keep our place among the nations of the earth. In the time of our prosperity, temper our self-confidence with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble suffer not our trust in Thee to fail. All which we ask for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.”

Obviously, it is almost identical to the “Jefferson Prayer,” so either the good bishop was a plagiarist, or the prayer has been wrongly attributed to our scholarly third president. Presumably, this is the equivalent of the bulk e-mails I get in my mailbox everyday with factual errors, wrongly attributed quotations, and generally bogus information. Again, the lesson is “check it out for yourself.” Having checked, I now believe quite firmly that the “Jefferson Prayer” was written by Bishop Potter, borrowed by Bishop Whitehead, and stolen by an unknown fan of Jefferson and Christianity, who decided the two should “meet.” Of course, I could be wrong. More research remains to be done, and it would not surprise me nearly as much as it would Mr. Spoerl if I found out that Jefferson had indeed written part or all of this prayer.

After all, while Jefferson may or may not have been an avowed Christian in the sense commonly used today, he certainly believed in “Almighty God,” and he certainly was not afraid to say so. Consider for instance the closing words of his second inaugural address, delivered that day on March 4, 1805, when the supposed “Jefferson Prayer” had been introduced.

“[As] I ... enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens have again called me... I shall need... the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”

I think these words, yes this prayer, make it clear that Jefferson did not need any help in speaking his own mind, or in acknowledging the role of God in his own life or the foundation of this country. He may not have been exactly the Christian the Mr. Knutson proposed, but nor was he simply the deist that Mr. Spoerl had wished. Instead, he believed in a God who took a hand in human affairs, who responded to human “supplications,” and whose “goodness” can “enlighten the minds” of our politicians, elected officials, and government bodies.

Amen.

That prayer, correctly attributed to the author of the Declaration of Independence, should never be forgotten.