150 years ago--Opening ceremonies for the Centennial International Exhibition in Philadelphia include a long opening prayer

On May 10, 1876, the Centennial International Exhibition, officially the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine, opened in Philadelphia. Running through November 10, 1876, the exposition celebrated the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. The opening ceremonies on May 10, before an audience estimated at 100,000, included the following prayer by Methodist Episcopal Church Bishop Matthew Simpson. Lengthy prayers, like lengthy political speeches, seem to have been the norm in those days. Like underwater watches in 1878, electronic amplification "had not even been invented," so speakers could be difficult to hear for those in the audience who were too far away.

Were such a prayer to be delivered today, the speaker would probably be denounced as a "Christian nationalist." As reported by The New York Times, May 11, 1876:

...The venerable Bishop arose and lifting his hands offered a prayer, which, unfortunately, was not audible to a thousandth part of the immense throng. All that appeared was a tall, gray headed gentleman, with his eyes and hands lifted to heaven, standing apparently silent and absorbed at the front of the stage. The prayer was occasionally interrupted by voices from distant points in the crowd; but, except for these, there was silence while the Bishop prayed. The prayer was as follows:

Almighty and everlasting God, our Heavenly Father: Heaven is Thy throne and the earth Thy footstool. Before Thy Majesty and holiness the angels veil their faces, and the spirits of the just made perfect bow in humble adoration. Thou art the creator of all things, the preserver of all that exist, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers. The minute and the vast, atoms and worlds, alike attest the ubiquity of Thy presence and the omnipotence of Thy sway.

Thou alone art the sovereign ruler of nations. Thou raiseth up one and casteth down another, and Thou givest the kingdoms of the world to whomsoever Thou wilt. The past, with all its records, is the unfolding of Thy counsels and the realization of Thy grand designs. We hail Thee as our rightful ruler, the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only true God, blessed forevermore.

We come on this glad day, O Thou God of our fathers, into these courts with thaksgiving, into these gates with praise. We bless Thee for Thy wonderful goodness in the past, for the land which Thou gavest to our fathers, a land veiled from the ages, from the ancient world, but revealed in the fullness of time to Thy chosen people, whom Thou didst lead by Thine own right hand through the billows of the deep, a land of vast extent, of towering mountains and broad plains, of unnumbered products and of untold treasures.

We thank Thee for the fathers of our country, men of mind and of might, who endured privations and sacrifices, who braved multiplied dangers rather than defile their consciences, or be untrue to their God, men who laid on the broad foundations of truth and justice the grand structure of civil freedom.

We praise Thee for the closing century, for the founders of the Republic, for the immortal Washington and is grand associates; for the wisdom with which they planned, and the firmness and heroism which, under Thy blessing, led them to triumphant success. Thou wast their shield in hours of danger, their pillar of cloud by day, and their pillar of fire by night. May we, their sons, walk in their footsteps and imitate their virtues.

We thank Thee for social and national prosperity and progress, for valuable discoveries and multiple inventions, for labor-saving machinery relieving the toiling masses, for schools free as the morning light, for the millions of the rising generation; for books and periodicals scattered like leaves of autumn over the land, for art and science, for freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, for a church unfettered by the trammels of state.

Bless, we pray thee, the President of the United States and his constitutional advisers, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Senators and Representatives in Congress, the Governors of our several Commonwealths, the officers of the Army and the Navy, and all who are in official position throughout our land. Guide them, we pray Thee, with counsels of wisdom, and may they ever rule in righteousness. We ask Thy blessing to rest upon the President and members of the Centennial Commission, and upon those associated with them in the various departments, who have labored long and earnestly, amid anxieties and difficulties, for the success of this enterprise.

May Thy special blessing, O Thou God of all the nations of the earth, rest upon our national guests, our visitors from distant lands. We welcome them to our shores, and we rejoine in their presence among us, whether they represent thrones or culture or research, or whether they come to exhibit the triumphs of genius and art, in the development of industry and in the progress of civilization. Preserve thou them, we beseech Thee, in health and safety, and in due time may they be welcomed by loved ones again to their own, their native lands.

Let Thy blessing rest richly on this Centennial Celebration. May the lives and health of all interested by precious in Thy sight. Preside in its assemblies. Grant that this association in effort bind more closely together every part of our great Republic, so that our Union may be perpetual and indissoluble. Let its influence draw the nations of earth into a happier unity. Hereafter we pray Thee, may all disputed questions be settled by arbitration, and not by the sword, and may wars forever cease among the sons of men.

May the new century be better than the past. More radiant with the light of true philosophy, warmer with the emanations of a world-wide sympathy. May capital, genius, and labor be freed from all antagonism by the establishment and application of such principles of justice and equity as shall reconcile diversified interests and bind in imperishable bands all parts of society.

We pray Thy benediction, especially on the women of America, who for the first time in the history of our race, take so conspicuous a place in a national celebration. May the light of their intelligence, purity, and enterprise shed its beams afar, until in distant lands, their sisters may realize the beauty and glory of Christian freedom and elevation. We bseech Thee, Almighty Father, that our beloved Republic may be strengthened in every element of true greatness, until her mission is accomplished by presenting to the world an illustration of the happiness of a free people, with a free church, in a free State, under laws of their own enactment, and under rulers of their own selection, acknowledging supreme allegiance only to the King of King and Lord of Lords. And as Thou didst give to one of its illustrious sons first to draw experimentally the electric spark from heaven, which has since girdled the globe in its celestial whispers of "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good will to men," so to latest time may the mission of America, under divine inspiration be one of affection, brotherhood, and love for all our race. And may the coming centuries be filled with the glory of our Christian civilization.

And unto Thee, our Father, through Him whose life is the light of men, will we ascribe glory and praise, now and forever.

The "amen" was faintly echoed by the vast congregation, and instantly there came from the orchestral stage a grand burst of music which thrilled and stirred the thousands and thousands of listeners to their hearts' depths. A thousand voices accompanied by organ and orchestra, were singing Whittier's "Centennial Hymn." The words of the opening lines --

"Our Father's God! from out whose hand
The centuries fall like grains of sand,
We meet to-day."--

echoed through the air.