National Affairs: Prayers & Proclamations

At Albany last week Rev. Kenneth Brakeley Welles of Westminster Presbyterian Church opened a session of the New York State Assembly thus:

"Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, from whom alone cometh wisdom and power, grant unto us wise laws and fewer of them. . . . Amen."

Legislators loudly applauded.

Meanwhile in Manhattan the American Church Monthly (Episcopal) disclosed that Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt, good Episcopalian, had cribbed most of his 1930 Thanksgiving Day proclamation from the Protestant Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. The Governor's proclamation which had at the time been highly praised by Protestant and Catholic clergy declared (left-hand column): "Let the people . . . . . . . pray to Almighty God who has given us this good land for our heritage that we may prove ourselves" a "people mindful of His favor and glad to do His will ; that He may bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning and pure manners, that He may save us from violence, discord and confusion. .

Episcopal prayer "For Our Country": "Almighty God who hast given us this good land for our 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 honourable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, confusion. . . . . . . .

Governor Roosevelt, embarrassed, admitted he used the prayer book as his "model."