No, that’s fine... any other rare exceptions you’d like to post, I’m up for it. I’ll see your Jefferson and raise you a Washington any day.(of course, a reply may have to wait until tomorrow).
By the way... care to comment on the entire piece or are you just here to cherry pick (speaking of Washington) as usual?
You lose on your Washington:
Historian Barry Schwartz writes: "George Washington's practice of Christianity was limited and superficial because he was not himself a Christian... He repeatedly declined the church's sacraments. Never did he take communion, and when his wife, Martha, did, he waited for her outside the sanctuary... Even on his deathbed, Washington asked for no ritual, uttered no prayer to Christ, and expressed no wish to be attended by His representative." [New York Press, 1987, pp. 174-175]
Paul F. Boller states in is anthology on Washington: "There is no mention of Jesus Christ anywhere in his extensive correspondence." [Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1963, pp. 14-15]
The following quote from an octogenarian who had seen Washington when a boy in an incident illustrating Washington’s habit of prayer-—
New Haven, February 18, 1860
“To the Editors of the Evening Post”
“MR. PRINTER—In 1796, I heard the farmer referred to narrate the following incident. Said he, ‘When the British tropps held possession of New York, and the American army lay in the neighborhood of West Point, one morning at sunrise I went forth to bring home the cows. On passing a clump of brushwood, I heard a moaning sound, like a person in distress. On nearing the spot, I heard the words of a man at prayer. I stood behind a tree. The man came forth: it was George Washington, the captain of the Lord’s host in North America.’
“This farmer belonged to the Society of Friends, who, being opposed to the war on any pretext, were lukewarm, and, insome cases, opposed to the cause of the country. However, having seen the general enter the camp, he returned to his own house. ‘Martha,’ said he to his wife, ‘we must not oppose this war any longer. This morning I heard the man George Washington send up a prayer to Heaven for his country, and I know it will be heard.’
“This farmer dwelt between the lines, and sent Washinton many items concerning the movements of the enemy, which did good service to the good cause.
“From this incident we may infer that Washington rose with the sun to pray for his country, he fought for her at meridian, and watched for her in the silent hours of the night.
“Every editor of a newspaper, magazine or journal between Montauk Point and Oregon, if he has three drops of american blood in his veins, should publish this anecdote on the 22nd of February (Washington’s Birthday) while woods grow and waters run. This day I enter on my eighty-eighth year.
“Grant Thorburn Sr.”