"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
"When the Congress first met, Mr. Cushing made a motion that it should be opened with prayer . . . Mr. Samuel Adams arose and said he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a gentleman of piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his country. He . . . had heard that Mr. Duche . . . deserved that character and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche . . . might be desired to read prayers to the Congress . . . . After (he read several prayers), Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present."
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Source: John Adams, Margaret A. Hogan (2007). “My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams”, p.165, Harvard University Press
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