Continental Congress (June 12, 1775) less than two months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, where "the shot heard 'round the world" was fired, declared Thursday, July 20, 1775, as a Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer:
<As the Great Governor of the World, by his supreme and universal Providence, not only conducts the course of nature with unerring wisdom and rectitude, but frequently influences the minds of men to serve the wise and gracious purposes of His indispensable duty, devoutly to acknowledge His superintending Providence, especially in times of impending danger, and public calamity, to reverence and adore his immutable Justice, as well as to implore his merciful Interposition for our deliverance.
This Congress, therefore, considering the present critical, alarming and calamitous state of these Colonies, do earnestly recommend, that Thursday, the Twentieth of July next, be observed by the Inhabitants of all the English Colonies on this Continent, as a day of public HUMILIATION, FASTING, AND PRAYER, that we may with united hearts and voices, unfeignedly confess and deplore our many sins and offer up our joint supplications to the All-wise, Omnipotent and merciful Disposer of all Events, humbly beseeching Him to forgive our iniquities, to remove our present calamities, to avert the desolating judgments with which we are threatened, and to bless our rightful Sovereign King George the IIId. and inspire him with wisdom to discern and pursue the true interest of all his subjects -
that a speedy end may be put to the civil discord between Great Britain and the American Colonies, without further effusion of blood and that the British nation may be influenced in regard to the things that belong to her peace, before they are hid from her eyes-
that these Colonies may be ever under the care and protection of a kind Providence, and be prospered in all their interests-
that the divine Blessing may descend and rest upon all our civil Rulers, and upon the Representatives of the people in their several Assemblies and Conventions,
that they may be directed to wise and effectual measures for preserving the Union and securing the just Rights and Privileges of the Colonies-
that virtue and true religion may revive and flourish throughout our land-
and that America may soon behold a gracious interposition of Heaven for the redress of her many grievances, the restoration of her invaded Rights, a reconciliation with the parent State, on terms constitutional and honorable to both-and that her civil and religious Privileges may be secured to the latest posterity.
And it is recommended to Christians of all denominations to assemble for public worship and to abstain from servile Labour and Recreations of said day.
By order of the Congress, John Hancock, President.> 1775CC001
On June 17, 1775, John Adams wrote to his wife about the Continental Congress' decision to declare a Day of Public Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer:
<We have appointed a Continental fast. Millions will be upon their knees at once before their great Creator, imploring His forgiveness and blessing; His smiles on American Council and arms.> 1775CC002
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1775CC001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Continental Congress, June 12, 1775. The Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1905), Vol. II, p. 87. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 3. Verna M. Hall, Christian History of the American Revolution-Consider and Ponder (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 506. Lucille Johnston, Celebrations of a Nation (Arlington, VA: The Year of Thanksgiving Foundation, 1987), pp. 75- 76.
1775CC002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Continental Congress, June 17, 1775, John Adams in a letter to his wife, Abigail Adams. Charles Francis Adams (son of John Quincy Adams and grandson of John Adams), Familiar Letters of John Adams with his wife Abigail Adams-during the Revolution (NY: Hurd and Houghton, 1876), p. 66. Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1950, revised one-volume edition, 1964), p. 83. Familiar letters of John Adams to his wife Abigail Adams, During the Revolution with a Memoir of Mrs. Adams, by Charles Francis Adams (Houghton Mifflin Company, The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1875), p. 66.