I received a newsletter, the (Providence) Forum gazette, written by Dr. Peter A. Lillback, who recently authored the book George Washington’s Sacred Fire. Lillback indicated that found among Washington’s school papers, still preserved, was the following poem which Washington had meticulously copied poem.
This poem expresses the sentiments of many of the people in the era of the Founding Fathers of this nation.
This poem expresses the sentiments of many of the people in the era of the Founding Fathers of this nation.
On Christmas Day
Assist me, Muse divine to sing the morn,
On which the Saviour of mankind was born;
But oh! what numbers to the theme can rise?
Unless kind angels aid me from the skies?
Methinks I see the tunefull Host descend,
Hark, by their hymns directed on the road,
The gladsome Shepherds find the nascent God!
And view the infant conscious of His birth.
Smiling bespeak salvation to the earth!
For when the important era first drew near
In which the great Messiah should appear
And to accomplish His redeeming love.
Resign a while His glorious throne above.
Beneath our form every woe sustain
And by triumphant suffering fix His reign
Should for lost man in tortures yield His breath,
Dying to save us from eternal death!
Oh mystick Union! Salutary grace!
Incarnate God our nature should embrace!
That Deity should stoop to our disguise!
That man recovered should regain the skies!
Dejected Adam! From thy Grave ascend
And view the Serpent’s Deadly Malice end,
Adoring bless th’ Almighty’s boundless grace
That gave His Son a ransome for thy race!
Oh never let my soul this Day forget,
But pay in grateful praise her annual debt
To Him whom ‘tis my trust I shall [adore]
When time and sin and death [shall be no more.]
About Washington’s education, Lillback comments, “Clearly the youthful Washington learned to value our Judeo-Christian heritage …
Lillback further adds, “So while many are now dreaming of a white Christmas, I’m dreaming of a “Washington Christmas” for America’s future – an America where open expression of our Judeo-Christian heritage in the public square is not considered politically incorrect or inconsistent with the founding of our nation, but is embraced as a legitimate expression of our American heritage. . . .”
Have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas! May God bless you and may He continue to bless America. Drive carefully . . .
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