Rev. Jacob Duché, on September 7, 1774, at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia, at the opening of the First Continental Congress, after reading Psalm 35, offered an extemporaneous prayer that was immediately recognized as one of the most powerful devotional scenes of the early American Revolution. On the occasion of our 250th anniversary as a nation, I share this prayer with you today: O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from t