wnd/2009/05/97244/ How Prayer Has Sustained the Republic William J. Federer In 1746, when French Adm. d’Anville sailed for New England, commanding the most powerful fleet of the time – 70 ships with 13,000 troops – intending to recapture Louisburg, Nova Scotia, and destroy from Boston to New York, all the way to Georgia. Massachusetts Gov. William Shirley declared a Day of Prayer and Fasting, Oct. 16, 1746, to pray for deliverance. In Boston’s Old South Meeting House, the Rev. Thomas Prince prayed: “Send Thy tempest, Lord, upon the water … scatter the ships of our tormentors!” Historian Catherine Drinker Bowen related that as he finished praying, the sky darkened, winds shrieked and church bells rang “a wild, uneven sound … though no man was in the steeple.” A hurricane subsequently struck the French fleet. With 4,000 sick and 2,000 dead, including Adm. d’Anville, French Vice Adm. d’Estournelle threw himself on his sword. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote “Ballad of the French Fleet”
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 05:24:08 +0000
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