The First Prayer of the Continental Congress

September 7, 1774

Amid fear and rising tensions, delegates from across the Colonies arrived in Philadelphia on September 4, 1774, to convene the First Continental Congress. Before tackling the weighty issues of the day, they acted on a motion by Thomas Cushing from Massachusetts to begin their business with prayer.

Samuel Adams nominated a local Anglican pastor, Jacob Duché, to lead in prayer, and the delegates agreed. About the same time, a rumor swept through Philadelphia, which later proved untrue, that Boston was being shelled by British cannons. So the next morning when the delegates assembled in Carpenter’s Hall for the agreed- upon prayer, they were tense and confused. In that room were such icons as George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Patrick Henry.

Duché opened his Anglican prayer book to the prescribed reading for the day, and the delegates instantly sensed the selection of scripture was providential—Psalm 35: “Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. . . . Let those be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my life; let those be turned back and brought to confusion who plot my hurt” (vv. 1, 4).

Duché then led in a powerful prayer, lasting about ten minutes, which has been called “the most famous prayer of the American Revolution.” [1] He said, in part:

O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings and Lord of lords, who dost from Thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires, and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee . . . .

Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored; and truth and justice, religion and piety prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and the vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior.[2]

According to accounts, many of the delegates were in tears, and some were on their knees.[3] It was as though the Lord Himself had come down into the room to receive the prayers of the frightened but determined revolutionaries. Duché’s prayer so braced the Continental Congress that he henceforth started each day’s session in prayer, becoming, in effect, America’s first Congressional chaplain.

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[1] Kevin J. Dellape, America’s First Chaplain: The Life and Times of the Reverend Jacob Duché (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2013), xiii.

[2] Office of the Chaplain, “First Prayer of the Continental Congress, 1774,” United States House of Representatives, https://chaplain.house.gov/archive/continental.html.

[3] Dellape, America’s First Chaplain, 2.