The Black Robe Regiment

Founder's Quote Daily

"A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable."

–Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, 1817

American Minute for January 31st

Anglican minister Jacob Duche' was born JANUARY 31, 1738. He was pastor of Christ Church in Philadelphia. As recorded in the Journals of the Continental Congress, their first official act after receiving news that British troops had attacked Boston was to request that Rev. Jacob Duche' open Congress in prayer: "Tuesday, September 6, 1774. Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Duche' be desired to open the Congress tomorrow morning with prayers, at the Carpenter's Hall, at 9 o'clock." On September 7, 1774, Rev. Mr. Duche' arrived at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, and read Psalm 35, which the Anglican Common Prayer Book had as the Psalter for that day: "Plead my cause, Oh, Lord, with them that strive with me, fight against them that fight against me. Take hold of buckler and shield, and rise up for my help. Draw also the spear and the battle-axe to meet those who pursue me; Say to my soul, 'I am your salvation.' Let those be ashamed and dishonored who seek my life; Let those be turned back and humiliated who devise evil against me." After reading the prescribed prayer for the day, Rev. Duche' proceeded to pray extemporaneously: "Be Thou present, O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people... Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the millions they here 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 Saviour, Amen." John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail: "Mr. Samuel Adams...moved that Mr. Duche', an Episcopal clergyman might be desired to read Prayers to Congress tomorrow morning...Accordingly, next morning [Mr. Duche'] appeared with his clerk and in his pontificals, and read several prayers in the established form, and read the collect for the seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must remember, this was the next morning after we heard the horrible rumor of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seem as if heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning. After this, Mr. Duche', unexpectedly to every body, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess, I never heard a better prayer, or one so well pronounced...with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime, for America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here. I must beg you to read that Psalm." The Journals of Congress recorded Congress' appreciation to Rev. Mr. Duche': "Wednesday, September 7, 1774, 9 o'clock a.m. Agreeable to the resolve of yesterday, the meeting was opened with prayers by the Rev. Mr. Duche'. Voted, That the thanks of Congress be given to Mr. Duche'...for performing divine Service, and for the excellent prayer, which he composed and delivered on the occasion." On July 7, 1775, Rev. Duch addressed the First Battalion of the City of Philadelphia in his church. His sermon, published at his request, was titled "The Duty of Standing Fast in Our Spiritual and Temporal Liberties" and began with the text Galatians, chapter 5, "Stand fast, therefore, in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free": "If spiritual liberty calls upon its pious votaries to extend their views far forward to a glorious hereafter, civil liberty must at least be allowed to secure, in a considerable degree, our well-being here. And I believe it will be no difficult matter to prove, that civil liberty is as much the gift of God in Christ Jesus as the former, and consequently, that we are bound to stand fast in our civil as well as our spiritual freedom... I trust it will be no difficult matter to satisfy your consciences with respect to the righteousness of the cause, in which you are now engaged...[Heaven will not] discourage us from 'standing fast' in that liberty, wherewith Christ (as the great providential Governor of the world) hath made us free...Stand Fast by an undaunted courage and magnanimity. Stand Fast by a steady constancy and perseverance...Even so, grant, thou great and glorious God, that to thee only we may look, and from thee experience that deliverance, which we ask, not for any merits of our own, but for the sake and through the merits of the dear Son of thy love, CHRIST JESUS, our Lord!" On May 17, 1776, the Journals of Congress recorded that Rev. Jacob Duche' was appointed the First Chaplain of Congress: "Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Duche' be appointed chaplain to Congress, and that he be desired to attend every morning at 9 O'Clock." Fiercely preaching the "righteousness of the cause," Rev. Duche's church was very influential at the beginning of America's Independence, as it was the first Anglican Church in America to stop praying for the King. On July 4, 1776, after the Second Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, Rev. Duche' walked across the square to his church and convened a special meeting of his Vestry. He then took the church's large Anglican Book of Common Prayer from the pulpit, crossed out all references to the King of England and replaced them with "the United States of America." After the Continental Army's heavy losses at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, the British occupied Philadelphia and imprisoned Rev. Duche'. During the brutal winter at Valley Forge, 1777, where over 2,000 of Washington's 12,000 men became sick and died, Rev. Duche' became discouraged. He disappointed the country by urging surrender, sailed for England, and only returned to Philadelphia in 1792, where he died in 1798.