America Must PrayBy Dr. Mal Couch Public prayer, spiritual publications of poems and music, have always been a part of America, until recently. There are forces now trying to silence the Christian spiritual heritage of open and free expression to our God that made this nation great. Each week I’ll add some historical tidbits as how Christian expression and public prayer was a vital part of our nation’s blessing. We may not fully know of the spiritual state of all the men we examine, but we do know none of them were fearful of prayers to the God of the Bible in the public setting. If you are a pastor or Sunday school teacher, please print off these little bits of our history and share them with others. Chief Justice John Marshall By the 1830s America was growing. It had been through several wars and had survived. With freedom came an implicit understanding for most people of the need to turn to God through prayer. This fact made an impression on Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall. It was said of him that he balanced his public duties with a deep, private belief in God. But Marshall was more than just a praying justice. It was said that he had indisputably the most important influence in the formation of the Supreme Court. Marshall was a writer and he became the biographer of Washington. He reinforced the idea of Washington’s Christian virtues and piety. Marshall began his prayers each evening with the famous: "Now I lay me down to sleep …" While this prayer was well-known and simple it was yet profound. The Chief Justice did not mind calling out to the Lord with these simple lines. Marshall had his own struggles. He was extremely devoted to his wife, Martha, who was an invalid for most of their forty-two years of marriage. Marshall often knelt at her bedside while he prayed for her, and with her! It was at this time that the French literary author, Alexis de Tocqueville, came to America to find out what made this nation tick. He traveled the length and breadth of the land and came to the conclusion: The religious (Christian) atmosphere of the country was the first thing that struck me on arrival in the United States. The longer I stayed in the country, the more conscious I became of the important political consequence resulting from this novel situation. In France I had seen the spirits of Christianity and of freedom almost always marching in the opposite directions. In America I found them intimately linked together in joint reign over the same land. My longing to understand this phenomenon increased daily. |