[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Page 12793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 prayer

  The Chaplain, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, offered the following prayer:
  Almighty God, Sovereign of this Nation and Lord of our lives, we 
celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the Constitutional 
Convention in 1787, by remembering Benjamin Franklin's call to prayer 
at a time when the deliberations were deadlocked. He said, ``I have 
lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing 
proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. If 
a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable 
that an empire can rise without His aid? I believe that without His 
concurring aid we shall succeed no better than the builders of Babel. 
We shall be divided by our partial local interests; our projects will 
be confounded.''
  Gracious Lord, we join our voices with the Founding Fathers in 
confessing our total dependence on You. We believe that You are the 
Author of the glorious vision that gave birth to our beloved Nation. 
What You began You will continue to develop to full fruition, and today 
the women and men of this Senate will grapple with the issues of moving 
this Nation forward in keeping with Your vision. It is awesome to 
realize that You use people to accomplish Your goals. Think Your 
thoughts through the Senators; speak Your truth through their words; 
enable Your best for America through what You lead them to decide. You 
are our Lord and Saviour. Amen.

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