The Ohio Democrat. [volume] (Canal Dover, Ohio) 1840-1900, 1863-04-10
The 8Oth OF April Appointed by
the President a Day Of Fasting
and Prayer. ts
A Proclamatlon
BY THE PREsIDENT OF THE UNITED

STATES.
whereas the Senate of the United
States, devoutly recognizing the su-
preme authority and just government Of
Almighty God, in all the affairs Of men
and nations, has, by resolution, re,
quested the President to designate. and
set apart a daysfor National prayer and
humiliation
And whereas it is the duty ofnations
as well as of men, to own their depends
ence upon the overruling power of God,
to confess their sins and transgressioRs,
in humbleisorrow, yet with assured hope
that genuine repentance win lead to
mercy and pardon, and to recognize the
snblime truths announced in the Holy
Scriptures and proven by oil history that
those nations only are blessed whose God
is the Lords; .has
And, inasmuch as we know that, by
His divine law, nations, like individuals,
are subjected to punisbments and chas.
tisements In this world, may we not just.
ly fear that the awful calamity of civil
war, which now desolates the land, may
be but a punishment inflicted upon us
for our presumptuous sins, to the,need-
full end of our national reformation
as q whole peopleY We have been the
recipients Of the choicest bounties Of
Heaven. We have been preserved,
these many years, in peace and prosper.
ity. vi 'r4 to e:s
We have grown in numbers, wealth
and power; as no other nation has ever
grown. But we have forgotten God. -
We have forgotten the gracious hand
which has preserved US in peace, and
multipliad and and enriched enriched, and strength.
ened US; and we have vainly imagined,
in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that
all these blessings were produced by
sore superior wisdom and virtue of our
own. Intoxicated with unbroken sue.
cess, we have become too self>sufficient
to feel the necessity of redeeming and
preserving grace, too. proud to pray to
the God that made US
It behooves us, then, to humble our.
selves beforethe offended Power to con-
fess our national sins, and to pray fol
clemency and forgiVnesS.
Now, therefore, in compliance with
the request, and fully concurring in the
views of the Senate, / do, by this my
proclamation, designate and set apart
Thursday, the 3Oth day Of April, 1853
as day of national humiliation. fasting
and prayer. And do hereby request
all the people to abstain from theirorli
nary secular pursuits, and to unite, al
their several places of public worship
aud their respective homes, ia keeping
the day holy to the Lord, and devoted
to the humble discharge Of the religious
duties proper to that solemn occasion
All this being done in sincerity auC
truth, let US then rest humbly in tht
hope, authorized by the Divine teach
iugs, that the upited' cry Of the Natior
will be heard on high, and answered will
blessings, no less than the pardon o
our national sins, and restoration of orj
divided and suffering country to it
former happy condition of unity ant
peace. a..s.
In witness whereof / have hereuntt
set my hand and caused the seal Of tn
United States to be affixed a##0."
Done at the City of Washington thi
thirticth day Of March, i
the year of our Lord on
thousand eight hundred an
L. s. sixty.three, and ofthe indie
dendence Of the tUniteC
States the eighty.seventh.
q. .. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President.
WILLIAM Fl. SEWARD, Sec. of State