Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1863-04-11

A Prociamation by Tie President # III
United States oi America.

a '"'s"WuttOH Oy tHC HStubH ~ "t
United States 81 America
TVhereas, The Senate Of the United
States, devontly recognizing ,be supreme
authority and just government Of Almighty
God in all the affairs of men nnd Of nalion>,
has, 10y resolution, requested the Prcsi
dent to designate and yet apart day for
National prayer and humiliation aud,
VAereaS, It is the duty Of nnticnc, as
well as Of men, 10 own their dependence
upon the uverluling power Of g d, to con.
,ss their sins aud transgies,ions, in humble
sorrow, yet with n'suied hope that genuine
repentance will lead TO mercy aud pa, don,
aud to recogn'z, the snbIime truths an.
nouuced in the Holy Scriptures and proven
by all history, that those nations ony are
bic sed whose God is the LO d
Aud, na,nuch as we know that, Ivy His
divine law, nations, like individuals. are
subjected TO puniShments and cha, tisments
IN this world may we not justly fear that
awful calamity VI civil war, which now dies.
olaIes tie lAnd, may be but punishment
M cted upon us for our presumptuous sins,
10 he hecdful end Of our national refui MA.
ton as a,who.e P,ople? We Lave been the
recip ents of the choicest bouuties ofII eaveu
We have been preserved, these many years,
in peace aud prosperity. We have grown
in numbers, wealth, aud pO" er as no other
nation has ever grown. Bat we have for
gotten God. We have forgotten the gra
ciouS hand when preserved us in peace aud
multiplied and enriched snl strengthened
US aud We have vainly imagined, in the
deceiiuluess of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced 10y some superior
wisdom aud virtue of our own. IntOxleat.
I'd with unhro ken success, We have become
100 self suGiccut 10 feel The necessity OF re-
deemiug aud preserving grace, too proud to
pray 10 the God that made Us?
1t hrhoovrs us, then, TO humble ourselves
before the otfeuded Power, tU confess our
national sins, aud TO pray iot clemeucy and
! torgi,eUess.
Now, efore, in compliance with The
! request, aud fully coucurring in The views
Of the S.nae, d. by this my proelama-
tion designate aud sci apart Thursday, the
3Oih day of April, 1868, as day OF na.
tional humiliation, fasting aud PRAYER
Aud do hereby request all the people to
abstain on that day from their ordinary
secular pursuits, and to unite, at their sew
eral places Of public worship aud their res
pecIve homes. IN keeping the day holy 10
The Lord, and devoted TO the humble dis
charge Of the religious duties proper TO that
sOlemH occasion.
Al this being done, in sincerity and
tru h, let us then rest humbly in the hope
authorized by The Divine teachings, Tina
tne united cry Of tie Nation will be hearl
un high, aud answered with blessings n
u less than the pardon OF our ustioual sin,
aud restoration of our now vded and SUI
feriug country to its former happy cond
tion Of unity aud peace.
In witness v hereof, have hereunto Sc
my hand, and caused the seal OF The Unite
Stale to be affixed. ..
Done at The city OF Washington ihe thrtietl
day OF March, in the year of GU
Lord Que thousand eight hundred
| L. S. and xty.lbree, aud of the indep
endence of The United States Tue
eighty seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
BY the President
NM. IL. SEWARD, Secretary of State.