The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1863-04-09

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.

~ Il
HAereas, the Senate Of the United
States, devoutly recognizing the supreme
authority and just government OF Al
mighty God, in all the affairs Of men and
of nations, has, by resolution, requested
the President to designate and set apart
a day for national prayer aud humila-
ton;
And whereas it is the duty o. nations,
as we'll as of men, to own their dependence
upon the overruling 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 recognize the sublime truth
announced in the Holy Scriptures and
proven by all history, that those nations
only are blessed whose God Is the Lord !;
And iYasmuch as we know that, by
His divine law nations, like individuals,
are subjected to punishnIents and chas-
tisements in this world, may we not justly
fear that the awful calamity of civil war,
which now desolatcs the land, may be but
punishment inflicted upon us for our
presumptuous sins, to the needful end of
our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been the recipients Of the choic-
est boumties Of. Heaven. We have been
preserved, these many years, III peace and
prosperity. We have grown III numbers,
wealth, and power as no other nation has
ever grown. But we have forgotten the
gracious hand which preserved Us in peace
and multiplied and enriched and strength
ened US and we have vainly imagined, in
the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all
II 4 l1.,c
superior wisdom aud virtue of our own
intoxicated with unbroken success, we
have become too self-suiicient 20 feel the
necessity of redeeming and preserving
grace, too proud to pray to the God that
made US a.
1t behooycs US, then, TO humble oui
selves before the offended Power, to con-
fess our national sins, and to pray for
clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the
request, aud fully concurring in the views
of the Senate, L do. by this my proclama-
t,on, designate, and Sc: apart THURSDAY,
the S0th day of APRIL, 1863, as day of
national humiliation, fasting, and prayer
And | do hereby request all the people
TO abstain on that day from their ordinary
secular pursuits, aud to unite, at their
several llces OF public worship, and their
respective homes, in keeping the day holy
to the Lord, and devote to the humble
discharge OF the religious duties proper to
that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and
truth, let us then rest hunibly in the hope
authorized by the Divine teachings, that
the united cry of the nation will be heard
on high, and answered with blessings, no
.ess than the pardon of our national sins,
and restoration or our now divided and
suffering country to its former happy con-
dition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, have hereunto set
my hand. and caused the seal OF the Uni
ted States to be affixed.
Done at the city of~W ashington this
thirtieth day Of March, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight
r.. s. hundred and sixty three, AMI of
the independence of the United
States the eiyhty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WnLIAa II. SEWARD, Secretary Of State.