Get the book, Prayers and Presidents - Inspiring Faith from Leaders of the PastAlbert J. Beveridge wrote in
The Life of John Marshall (Boston and New York, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919, Vol. IV, The Building of the Nation, 1815-1835, p. 70):
"John Marshall's daughter makes this statement regarding her father's religious views:
'He told me that he believed in the truth of the Christian
Revelation...during the last months of his life he read Alexander Keith on
Prophecy,
where our Saviour's divinity is incidentally treated, and was
convinced by this work, and the fuller investigation to which it led,
of the supreme divinity of our Saviour.
He determined to apply
to the communion of our Church, objecting to communion in private,
because he thought it his duty to make a public confession of the
Saviour.'"
Albert J. Beveridge continued in
The Life of John Marshall (referencing Bishop William Meade's
Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, 2 Vols., Richmond, 1910, Vol. 2, p. 221-222):
"He
attended (Episcopal) services. Bishop William Meade informs us, not
only because 'he was a sincere friend of religion,' but also because he
wished 'to set an example.'
The Bishop bears this testimony:
'I can never forget how he would prostrate his tall form before the
rude low benches, without backs, at Coolspring Meeting-House (Leeds
Parish, near Oakhill, Fauquier County) in the midst of his children and
grandchildren and his old neighbors.'
When in Richmond,
Marshall attended the Monumental Church where, says Bishop Meade, 'he
was much incommoded by the narrowness of the pews...
Not finding
room enough for his whole body within the pew, he used to take his
seat nearest the door of the pew, and, throwing it open, let his legs
stretch a little into the aisle.'"
John F. Dillon wrote in
John
Marshall-Life, Character and Judicial Services-As Portrayed in the
Centenary and Memorial Addresses and Proceedings Throughout the United
States on John Marshall Day, 1901 (Chicago: Callaghan & Company, 1903):
"John
Marshall Day, February 4, 1901, was appropriately observed by
exercises held in the hall of the House of Representatives, and
attended by the President, the members of the Cabinet, the Justices of
the Supreme and District courts, the Senate and House of
Representatives, and the members of the Bar of the District of
Columbia...
The
program, prepared by a Congressional committee acting in conjunction
with committees of the American Bar Association and the Bar Association
of this District, was characterized by a dignity and simplicity
befitting the life of the great Chief Justice..."
After
an invocation delivered by John Marshall's great-grandson, Rev. Dr.
William Strother Jones of Trenton, N.J., Chief Justice Fuller made
introductory remarks:
"The August Term of the year of our Lord
eighteen hundred of the Supreme Court of the United States had
adjourned at Philadelphia... However, it was not until Wednesday,
February 4th, when John Marshall...took his seat upon the Bench..."
U.S. Attorney General Wayne MacVeagh then stated:
"The centennial anniversary of the entrance by John Marshall into the office of Chief Justice of the United States...
Under
his forming hand, instead of becoming a dissoluble confederacy of
discordant States, became a great and indissoluble nation, endowed
with...the divine purpose for the education of the world...securing to
the whole American continent 'government of the people, by the people,
and for the people'...
Venerating the Constitution...as 'a sacred
instrument'...we have lived to see...such generous measures of
political equality, of social freedom, and of physical comfort and
well-being as were never dreamed of on the earth before...
Let us, on this day of all days...acknowledge that nations cannot live by bread alone...
We
have heretofore cherished, the Christian ideal of true national
greatness; and our fidelity to that ideal, however imperfect it has
been, entitled us in some measure to the divine blessing, for having
offered an example to the world for more than an entire generation of
how a nation could marvelously increase in wealth and strength and all
material prosperity while living in peace with all mankind...
We
all believe that the true glory of America and her true mission in the
new century...is what a great prelate of the Catholic Church has
recently declared it to be: to stand fast by Christ and his Gospel; to
cultivate not the Moslem virtues of war, of slaughter, of rapine, and
of conquest, but the Christian virtues of self-denial and kindness and
brotherly love...
Then we may some day hear the benediction:
'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren
ye have done it unto me'...
The true mission of nations as of men is to promote righteousness on earth...
and
taking abundant care that every human creature beneath her starry
flag, of every color and condition, is as secure of liberty, of justice
and of peace as in the Republic of God.
In cherishing these
aspirations...we are wholly in the spirit of the great Chief Justice;
and...so effectually honor his memory." (Dillon, Vol. 1, p. 7-42)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray gave an address the same day in Virginia:
"Gentlemen
of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and of the City of
Richmond: One hundred years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United
States, after sitting for a few years in Philadelphia, met for the first
time in Washington, the permanent capital of the Nation; and John
Marshall, a citizen of Virginia, having his home in Richmond, and a
member of this bar, took his seat as Chief Justice of the United
States...
Chief Justice Marshall was a steadfast believer in the
truth of Christianity as revealed in the Bible. He was brought up in
the Episcopal Church; and Bishop Meade, who knew him well, tells us
that he was a constant and reverent worshipper in that church, and
contributed liberally to its support, although he never became a
communicant.
All else that we know of his personal religion is
derived from the statements (as handed down by the good bishop) of a
daughter of the Chief Justice, who was much with him during the last
months of his life.
She said that her father told her he never
went to bed without concluding his prayer by repeating the Lord's
Prayer and the verse beginning, 'Now I lay me down to sleep,' which his
mother had taught him when he was a child;
and that the reason
why he had never been a communicant was that it was but recently that
he had become fully convinced of the divinity of Christ, and he then
'determined to apply for admission to the communion of our church
objected to commune in private, because he thought it his duty to make a
public confession of the Saviour and, while waiting for improved
health to enable him to go to the church for that purpose, he grew
worse and died, without ever communing.'" (Dillon, Vol. 1, p. 42, 47,
88)
New Hampshire Supreme Court Judge Jeremiah Smith gave an address:
"And
this brings us to what is...the great distinguishing feature in
Marshall s life; the real secret of his extraordinary success...that is
his high personal character...
John Marshall was pre-eminently
single minded. His whole life was pervaded by an overpowering sense of
duty and by strong religious principle. A firm believer in the
Christian religion, his life was in accord with his belief." (Dillon,
Vol. 1, p. 162)
American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred Charles E. Perkins, nephew of Harriet Beecher Stowe and President of the Connecticut Bar Association stated:
"As
a man, Marshall appears to have been as near perfection in
disposition, habits, and conduct as it is possible for a mortal man to
be...He had no vices and, I may almost say, no weaknesses.
In spite of his eminent talents, his high positions, and his great reputation, there was no tinge of conceit...
His charities were constant and great. He bore no malice toward those who offended or injured him.
He was a sincere Christian and believed in and obeyed the commands of the Bible." (Dillon, Vol. 1, p. 330)
U.S. Rep. William Bourke Cockran addressed the Erie County Bar Association, Buffalo, New York:
"Aside
from the establishment of Christianity, the foundation of this
republic was the most memorable event in the history of man...
And
if the foundation of this government be the most momentous human
achievement of all the centuries, then clearly the appointment of John
Marshall to the Chief Justiceship of the United States was the first
event of the last century no less in the magnitude of its importance
than in the order of its occurrence." (Dillon, Vol. 1, p. 404-405)
U.S. Senator and former Maryland Governor William Pinkney Whyte stated:
"Would
you not call a man religious who said the Lord's Prayer every day?
And the prayer he learned at his mother's knee went down with him to
the grave.
He was a constant and liberal contributor to the support of the Episcopal Church.
He
never doubted the fact of the Christian revelation, but he was not
convinced of the fact of the divinity of Christ till late in life.
Then,
after refusing privately to commune, he expressed a desire to do so
publicly, and was ready and willing to do so when opportunity should be
had. The circumstances of his death only forbade it...
He was
never professedly Unitarian, and he had no place in his heart for
either an ancient or a modern agnosticism." (Dillon, Vol. 2, p. 2-3)
U.S. Rep. Horace Binney of Pennsylvania stated that Marshall:
"...was a Christian, believed in the gospel, and practiced its tenets." (Dillon, Vol. 3, p. 325)
Nathan Sargent, former Commissioner of Customs, wrote in
Public Men and Events from 1817 to 1853
(Philadelphia, 1875, Vol. 1, p. 299), that Marshall's "name has
become a household word with the American people implying greatness,
purity, honesty, and all the Christian virtues."
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