A Prayer
BY NICHOLAS KLEIN.
OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN.
If we have any claim upon thy favor or any right to call thee father, may it be because we have not knowingly trampled upon the rights of any of thy children.
HALLOWED BE THEY NAME.
May the reverend heart find thy presence everywhere, and seek to work in harmony with the mighty forces that make for righteousness and peace.
THY KINGDOM COME.
May we speed its coming by making the acts of our legislatures accord with the eternal laws of that moral government which is supreme above the nations.
THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN.
May we prove the sincerity of our faith by practicing in senate chambers the lofty precepts which we profess in the sanctuary.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD.
We do not ask for the bread of others. Give us the bread that is ours by right of useful labor. May the claims of justice be satisfied in the laws of the land; that all may have bread, that the starving millions may be fed, not by the hand of charity, but by the labor that wears no chains and owns no master.
FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS.
Save us from that egotism which magnifies the faults of others while blinded to our own. Grant us in the name of eternal justice; grant us only that measure of liberty which we accord to the weakest of our neighbors.
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.
Grant us the moral courage to turn back upon the alluring visions of the kingdoms of this world and their glory, remembering that righteousness alone exalteth a nation.
DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
Now when the chains are being forged and the golden padlocks are being fashioned for our lips; now when men are forgetting the faith of the fathers and putting their truth in the might of armies and the majesty of fleets; now ‘ere the choice goes by forever, deliver us from the greed that takes refuge in the sanction of law, save us from the thrice accursed murder that kills in the name of the Prince of Peace.
We consecrate our hearts anew to the liberty which our fathers purchased with so great a price. Before the sacred altar of our fathers’, we pledge renewed devotion to the principles, of real justice and peace, and may America ever be a temple of justice, peace and hope to the oppressed of all the world. On that solemn day which comes to men and nations, when the seeds of our sowing shall have borne fruit in national character and the destiny shall be revealed which our hands are shaping, forbid that we shall then have to point for justification to thrones and altars founded upon the bodies and souls of our fellow men; standing before the tribunal of history, may we able to point with confidence to the fact that we have followed the golden rule of justice.
May we never covet the gold that drips with the tears of bondsmen. May we never feel strong enough to do wrong. May we do justly and love mercy and walk humbly, and to him shall be THE KINGDOM OF THE POWER AND THE GLORY, FOREVER, AMEN.