Man's Inability

American Minute from William J. Federer

"I would rather be right than President," stated Henry Clay, who died JUNE 29, 1852.

The son of a Baptist minister, Henry Clay was elected Speaker of the U.S. House 6 times, serving in Congress over 40 years with Daniel Webster and John Calhoun. The State of Kentucky placed Henry Clay's statue in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

Struggling to hold the Union together prior to the Civil War, Henry Clay stated in 1829 to the Kentucky Colonization Society in Frankfort: "Eighteen hundred years have rolled away since the Son of God...offered Himself...for the salvation of our species...When we shall...be translated from this into another form of existence...we shall behold the common Father of the whites and blacks, the great Ruler of the Universe."

In an obituary address upon his death, Representative John C. Breckinridge recalled Henry Clay as saying: "The vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to satisfy the soul of man, has been long a settled conviction of my mind. Man's inability to secure by his own merits the approbation of God, I feel to be true."

Henry Clay concluded: "I trust in the atonement of the Saviour of mercy, as the ground of my acceptance and of my hope of salvation."

William J. Federer is a nationally recognized author, speaker, and president of Amerisearch, Inc, which is dedicated to researching our American heritage. The American Minute radio feature looks back at events in American history on the dates they occurred, is broadcast daily across the country and read by thousand on the internet.