Delaware State journal and statesman. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1855-1870, 1863-04-03
OFFICIAL.



WHEREAS the Senate ofthe United States
devoutly recognising the Supreme Authori
ty and just Government of Almighty God,
in all the affairs Of men and of nations, has
by resolution, requested the President to
designate and set apart duy for National
prayer and humiliation:
And whereas it is the duty Of nations, as
well as of men, TO own their dependence
upon the over-ruling power of God, to con-
Tess their sins and transgressions, in humble
sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to- mercy and pardon,
and to recognise the sublime truth, announc.
ed in the Holy Scriptures and proven BY all
history, that those nations only are blessed
whose God is the Lord
And, insomuch as we know that, by His
| divine law, nations, like individuals, are sub
jected to punishments and Establishments in
this world, may we not justly fear that the
awful calamity Of civil war, which now des-
olates the land, may be but u punishment
inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins,
to the needful end Of our national reiornia.
ton as a whole People2 We have been
the recipients Of the choicest bounties of
Heaven. We have been preserved, these
many years, in peace and prosperity. 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 preserved us in
peace, and multiplied and enriched and
strengthened us and we have vainly ina
gined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts,
that all these blessings were produced by
some superior wisdom and virtue of our
own. Intoxicated with unbroken success,
we have become too self-suliicient to feel
nI rah I'M nI vttt,
grace, too proud TO pray TO the God that
made us
1t behOoves us. then, TO humble ourselves
before the offended Power, TO confess our
national sins, and to pray for clemency and
forgiveness
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 Both
day of April, 1863, as a day OF national hu-
initiation, fasting, and prayer. And | do
hereby request all the People to abstain on
that day from their ordinary secular pur-
suits, and to unite, at their several places Of
public worship and their respective homes,
in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and
devoted to the humble discharge of the re-
ligious duties proper to that solemn occa-
sion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth,
let US then rest humbly in the hope, author
ized by the Divine teachings, that the united
cry OF the Nation will be heard on high, aud
answered with blessings, no less than the
pardon of our national sins, and restoration
of our now divided and suffering country 10
its former happy condition OF unity and
peace.
In witness whereof, have hsreunto set
my hand, and caused the seal of the United
States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this thir-
tieth day of March, in the year Of
our Lord one thousand eight hun
L. : dred and sixty-three, aud OF the in-
dependence of the United States
the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM ii. SEWARD,
Secretary of State.