The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-04-10
National Prayer and Humiliation.
A PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The following is the text of President
L1NcoLN's proclamation, briefly referred to
in our dispatches
Whereas, The Senate of the United
States devontly recognizing the supreme
authority and just government of Almighty
God in all the affairs of men and of ma
tions, has, by a resolution, requested the
President to designate and set apart day
for national prayer and humiliation; and
Whereas, 1t is the duty of nations, as
we'll as of men, to own their dependence
upon the over-ruling power Of God, to
confess 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
truths announced in the Holy Scriptures
and proven by all history, that those ma
tions only are blessed whose God is the
Lord; - ...........- ...|
And, inasmuuch as we know that, by
His divine law, nations, like individuals,
are subjected to punishments and chas-
tisements in this world, may we not justly
fear that the awful calamity of civil war,
which now desOlates the land, may be but
punishment inflicted upon US for our pre-
sumptious sins, to the needfnl end of our
national reformation as a whole people !?
We have been the recipients of the choic-
est bounties of Heaven. We have been
preserved, these many years, in peace and
prosperity. We have grown in num-
bers, wealth and power as no other
nation has ever grown. But we have
forgotten our God We have forgotten
the gracious hand which preserved us
in peace, and multiplied and enriched
and strengthened US and we have vainly
| imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts
that all these blessings were produced by
own. Intoxicated with unbroken success,
we have become too gselfsufficient to feel
the necessity of redeeming and preserving
grace, too pround to pray to the God that
made, us! sYsi ....s.. ...ti1aT I'D -5aac. i1G 4
;oi L behooves US, then, to humble our
selves before the offended Power, to con-
fess our national sins, and to pray for
clemency and forgiveness. ..,o.-t srg,
=. Now, therefore, in compliance with the
request, and fully concurring in the views
Of the Senate, l do by this my proclama-
ton designate and set apart Thursday, the
30th day of April, 1863, as a day Of ma
tional humiliation, fasting and prayer. And
Edo hereby request all the people to alb
stain on that day from their ordinary secu-
lar pursuits, and to unite, at their several
places of public worship at their respective
homes, lin keeping the day holy to the Lord,
anddevoted to the humble discharge OF
the. religious; duties proper to that solemn
occasion. o..anat nr.'.n ...l agf, seg
All this being, done in sincerity and
truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope,
authorized by the Divine teachings, that
tile united cry Of the nation will be heard
on % high, and answered with blessings, no
+. less than the pardon Of our national sins,
and restoration of our now divided and
81 suffering country to its former happy con-
dition. of unity and peace. Is ,- Z,
In witness whereof i have hereunto set
ny my hand, and caused the, seal of the United
States to be affixed. t,fs"r+5,, .,aa.f ssa
Done at the City of Washington this thirteenth
~ day of March, in the year Of our Lord one
J. L.s. thousand eight hundred and sixty-three,