America Must Pray - Timothy Dwight

Timothy Dwight was a well educated pastor and a longtime friend of George Washington. He wrote what is thought to be the oldest hymn by an American still in common use today. Some of the lines read:

I love Your kingdom, Lord,
The church our blessed Redeemer saved.
I love Your church, O God,
Dear as the apple of Your eye.

Dwight also wrote many essays and poems that parents read to their children. Dwight challenged parents with this essay: "All the duties of Christianity are eminently solemn and venerable in the eyes of children. But none will so strongly prove the sincerity of the parent; none so powerfully awaken the reverence of the child, none so happily recommend the instruction he receives as what is given at family devotion."

Dwight lived by example. He and his family gathered daily for prayer.