well during and after the Revolution, testifies to the same. Gene. ral Henry Lee, who served under him during the war, and afterward in the civil department, and who was chosen by Congress to deliver his funeral oration, says, in that oration, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in the endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere,-uniform, dignified, and commanding,-his example was edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting." Sermons and orations by divines and statesmen were delivered all over the land at the death of Washington. A large volume of such was published. I have seen and read them, and the religious character of Washington was a most prominent feature in them; and for this there must have been some good cause. Let the following extracts suffice. Mr. Sewell, of New Hampshire, says:

"To crown all these moral virtues, he had the deepest sense of religion impressed on his heart,-the true foundation-stone of all the moral virtues. He constantly attended the public worship of God on the Lord's day, was a communicant at His table, and by his devout and solemn deportment inspired every beholder with some portion of that awe and reverence for the Supreme Being, of which he felt so large a portion. For my own part, I trust I shall never lose the impression made on my own mind in beholding in this house of prayer the venerable hero, the victorious leader of our hosts, bending in humble adoration to the God of armies and great Captain of our salvation. Hard and unfeeling, indeed, must that heart be that could sustain the sight unmoved, or its owner depart unsoftened and unedified. Let the deist reflect on this, and remember that Washington, the saviour of his country, did not disdain to acknowledge and adore a greater Saviour, whom deists and infidels affect to slight and despise."

Thus spake New Hampshire. What says South Carolina? David Ramsay, the historian, says:—

Washington was the friend of morality and religion; steadily attended on public worship; encouraged and strengthened the hands of the clergy. In all his public acts he made the most respectful mention of Providence, and, in a word, carried the spirit of piety with him, both in his private life and public administration. He was far from being one of those minute philosophers who think that death is an eternal sleep, or of those who, trusting to the sufficiency of human reason, discard the light of divine revelation."

Mr. J. Biglow, of Boston, says:

"In Washington religion was a steady principle of action. After the surrender of Cornwallis he ascribes the glory to God, and orders, That divine service shall be performed to-morrow in the different brigades and divisions, and recommends that all the troops not on duty do assist at it

with a serious deportment and that sensibility of heart which the recollection of the surprising and particular interposition of Providence in our favour claims.'

To the foregoing I will only add, that Major William Jackson, aid-de-camp to Washington, in his address, speaks of the "milder radiance of religion and morality as shining in his character,' and of his being beloved and admired by the holy ministers of religion; and that Captain Dunham of the Revolution, in his oration, says of him, "A friend to our holy religion, he was ever guided by its pious doctrines. He had embraced the tenets of the Episcopal Church; yet his charity, unbounded as his immortal mind, led him equally to respect every denomination of the followers of Jesus." The Rev. Mr. Kirkland, of Boston, says, "The virtues of our departed friend were crowned with piety. He is known to have been habitually devout." We conclude with the testimony of our own Devereux Jarratt, of Virginia, whom none will suspect of flattery or low views of religion:

"Washington was a professor of Christianity and a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He always acknowledged the superintendence of Divine Providence, and from his inimitable writings we find him a warm advocate for a sound morality founded on the principles of religion, the only basis on which it can stand. Nor did I ever meet with the most distant insinuation that his private life was not a comment on his admired page.'

Nor was the belief of his piety confined to America. The Rev. Thomas Wilson, the pious son of the pious Bishop Wilson, of Sodor and Mann, thought he could make no more suitable present to General Washington than his father's family Bible in three volumes, with notes, and a folio volume of his father's works. The former was left by the will of General Washington to his friend the Rev. Bryan Fairfax, minister of Christ Church, Alexandria; the latter is, I presume, still in the Arlington library. From the latter I selected, forty-six years ago, a small volume of private and family prayers, as I have elsewhere stated

If more certain proofs of personal piety in Washington be required than these general impressions and declarations of his coevals and compatriots, founded on their observation of his public conduct, and derived from his public addresses, we proceed to furnish them. They will be taken from the testimony of those whose intimacy with his domestic habits enable them to judge, and from his own diary. As to his private devotions, of course the same kind of testimony is not to be expected as that which attests

his public observances. It may most positively be affirmed, that the impression on the minds of his family was, that when on each night he regularly took his candle and went to his study at nine o'clock and remained there until ten, it was for the purpose of reading the Scriptures and prayer. It is affirmed by more than one that he has been seen there on his knees and also been heard at his prayers. In like manner it is believed, that when at five o'clock each morning, winter and summer, he went to that same study, a portion of time was then spent in the same way. It is also well known that it was the impression in the army that Washington, either in his tent or in his room, practised the same thing. One testifies to having seen him on more than one occasion thus engaged on his bended knees. It is firmly believed that when in crowded lodgings at Valley Forge, where every thing was unfavourable to private devotions, his frequent visits to a neighbouring wood were for this purpose. It is also a fact well known to the family that, when prevented from public worship, he used to read the Scriptures and other books with Mrs. Washington in her chamber.

That there was a devotional spirit in Washington, a belief in the virtue of prayer, leading to private supplication, is also rendered most probable by his conduct as an officer in seeking to have public prayer for his soldiers, and even conducting them himself in the

absence of a minister.

At twenty-two years of age, when heading an expedition against the Indians, he was in the habit of having prayer in the camp at Fort Necessity, at the Great Meadows, in the Alleghany Mountains. His friend and neighbour, Mr. William Fairfax, of Belvoir, a few miles from Mount Vernon, and whose daughter, Lawrence, the elder brother of George Washington, married, thus writes to him while at the Great Meadows, and in the letter evinces not only his own pious disposition, but his confidence in that of the youthful Washington:-"I will not doubt your having public prayer in the camp, especially when the Indian families are your guests, that they, seeing your plain manner of worship, may have their curiosity to be informed why we do not use the ceremonies of the French, which, being well explained to their understandings, will more and more dispose them to receive our baptism and unite in strict bonds of cordial friendship."

In the year 1755, Washington was the volunteer aid-de-camp to General Braddock, and, though in danger of pursuit by the Indians, he did, on the night after the memorable defeat, in the absence of

a chaplain, himself perform the last funeral rites over the body of Braddock, a soldier holding the candle or lighted torch while the solemn words were read. For several successive years Washington was engaged in a trying contest with the Indians, and during a considerable portion of that time-according to the testimony of one of his aids, Colonel B. Temple, of King William county— he frequently, on the Sabbath, performed divine service, reading the Scriptures and praying with them when no chaplain could be had. It was during this period that a sharp correspondence was carried on between Washington and Dinwiddie, the latter being offended at the persevering importunity of the former that a chaplain might be allowed his army. At the recall of Dinwiddie, Washington addressed the following letter to the President of the Council, who was chief in the Colony until the arrival of Governor Fauquier, saying, "The last Assembly, in their Supply Bill, provided for a chaplain to our regiment. On this subject I had often, without any success, applied to Governor Dinwiddie. I now flatter myself that your honour will be pleased to appoint a sober, serious man for this duty. Common decency, sir, in a camp, calls for the services of a divine, which ought not to be dispensed with, although the world may think us void of religion and incapable of good instructions." In the year 1759 Colonel Washington was married, and until the Revolution lived at Mount Vernon. That he was interested in the affairs of the Church at this time is evident from what we have said as to the part he acted in relation to the building of Pohick Church. The Rev. Lee Massey was the minister during part of this time. His testimony was, "I never knew so constant an attendant at church as Washington. His behaviour in the house of God was ever so reverential that it produced the happiest effects on my congregation and greatly assisted me in my pulpit labours. No company ever kept him from church."

In the year 1774 he was sent as a Burgess to Williamsburg. It was at that time that a day of fasting and prayer was appointed in view of the approaching difficulties with England. The following entry in his diary shows his conduct on that occasion:-"June 1st, Wednesday. Went to church and fasted all day." In September of that year he was in Philadelphia, a member of the first Congress. In his diary he speaks of going, during the three first Sabbaths, three times to Episcopal churches, once to the Quaker, once to the Presbyterian, and once to the Roman Catholic. He was a member of Congress again the next year, and then chosen commander-inchief of our army. On the day after assuming its command he

issued the following order:-"The General requires and expects of all officers and soldiers, not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on divine service, to implore the blessings of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defence." On the 15th of May, 1776, Congress having appointed a day of humiliation, the following order is given:-"The General commands all officers and soldiers to pay strict obedience to the order of the Continental Congress, that by their unfeigned and pious observance of their religious duties they may incline the Lord and giver of victory to prosper our arms." The situation of the army not admitting the regular service every Sunday, he requires the chaplains to meet together and agree on some method of performing it at other times, and make it known to him. Such was Washington as head of the army.

As President of the United States his conduct exhibited the same faith in and reverence for religion. Not only did he regularly attend divine service in the Church of his fathers and of his choice, but he let it be understood that he would receive no visits on the Sabbath. The only exception to this was an occasional visit, in the latter part of the day, from his old friend, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Colonel Trumbull, who was confessedly one of the most pious men of the age, and who would not have sought the company of an irreligious man on the Sabbath, even though that man were President of the United States. On the subject of a strict observance of the Sabbath, we might have mentioned other proofs of it, occurring before his being elevated to the chief command of the army or first Presidency in the Republic. His private diary shows it in various places. Let one suffice. On a certain occasion he was informed on Saturday evening that the smallpox was among his servants in the valley. He set out the next morning to visit them, but notes in his diary, "Took church. on the way," thus combining duty to the poor and to his God.

His condemnation of the prevailing vices of the day deserves also to be mentioned in proof that he understood Christianity as being that "grace of God which hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world."

Not only was he addicted to no kind of intemperance, scarcely ever tasting ardent spirits or exceeding two glasses of wine,—which was equal to total abstinence in our day,--and not using tobacco in any shape, but he used his authority in the army to the utmost to put down swearing, games of chance, and drinking, and irregularities