(August 27, 1749–March 6, 1812) was President of the College of William and Mary, 1777–1812; presided over the first convention of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1785; and was elected first Bishop of the dioceses, 1790. His “Eulogy on George Washington” was published in 1800.
On February 19, 1795, Bishop Madison responded to President George Washington’s call for a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer by preaching a sermon, later published, entitled Manifestation of the Beneficence of Divine Providence towards America—a Discourse, Delivered on Thursday the 19th of February, 1795, Being the Day Recommended by the President of the United States, for General Thanksgiving and Prayer:
Brethren, there are few situations more interesting to the human race than that which the people of America this day presents.
The temples of the living God are everywhere, throughout this rising empire, this day, crowded, I trust, with worshipers, whose hearts, impressed with a just and lively sense of the great things, which He hath done for them, pour forth, in unison, the grateful tribute of praise and thanksgiving … for the history of nations doth not exhibit a people who ever had cause to offer up to the Great Author of every good the most fervent expressions of gratitude and thanksgiving.
Let, my brethren, the sons of irreligion, wrapped in their dark and gloomy system of fatality, refuse to open their eyes to the great luminous proofs of providential government, which America displays; let them turn from a light, which their weak vision cannot bear; but let the righteous, let those who trust God, who can trace in that good and glorious being the relations of father, friend, and governor, let them with eagle eyes look up to that full blaze of salvation, which he hath vouchsafed to this new world.1350