the alternate benefits of rain and warmth of the Sun; and that our
hopes of a plentiful harvest may not be disappointed by devouring
insects, or any other calamity:--To prosper our trade and fishery, and the
labor of our hands:--To protect our navigation from the rapacious hands of
invaders and robbers on the seas, and graciously to open a door of
deliverance to our fellow-citizens in cruel captivity in a land of
Barbarians:--To continue and confirm our civil and religious liberties;
and for that great purpose to bless and direct our great University,
and all Seminaries and Schools of education:-- To guide and succeed the
Councils of our Federal Government, as well as those of the several
States in the Union, that under their respective Constitutions they may
be led to such decisions as will establish the liberty, peace, safety,
and honor of our country:-- To inspire our friends and allies, the
Republic of France, with a spirit of wisdom and true religion, that
relying on the strength of HIS Almighty Arm, they may still go on
prosperously till their arduous conflict for a government of their own,
founded on the just and equal rights of men, shall be finally crowned
with success:--And above all, to cause the Religion of JESUS CHRIST, in
its true spirit, to spread far and wide, till the whole earth shall be
filled with HIS glory.

And I do earnestly commend that all unnecessary labor and recreation be
suspended on said day.

GIVEN at the Council-Chamber, in Boston, the Nineteenth day of February
in the year of our LORD, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Four,
and in the Eighteenth Year of the Independence of the United States of
America.

SAMUEL ADAMS.