Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-04-22
WHOLE NUMBER 56g
National Fast Day.---The President's Proc
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National Fast Day.---The Presidents Proc
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By tbe President of the GRited 5Stategl Of
Amcrtca a
PBocLAM1rtoN.
5UIEEEAss The Senate Of the URlted
States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme
Authority and just Government Of AZ
mighty God in all the. affairs Of men and
nations, has, by a arssOluti0n requested
the President to designate and set apart
a day for National prayer and hamilia-
ton:
And whereas, it is the duty Of nations,
as well as Of men, to own their depeh-
dance upon the OverruIing power Of God,
to confess their sins and transgressioas,
in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope
that genuine repentance viii lead to mer-
cy and pardon, and to recognize the sui
lime truth, announced in the Holy Scrip
lures and proven by all history, thattkOse
nations only are blessed whose God is
the lord: s ie1etDfaE
And inasmuch as We know that BY
His Divine law, nations, like individuals,
are subjected to punishments and eBas-
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 as for
our presumptous sins, to the nsedfuf end
Of our national reformation as whole
people? We have been the recipients
of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We
have been preserved, these many years,
in peaceiand prosperity. Wehavs 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 rs in
peace, and multiplied, and enriched, and
strengthened US; and We had 7ainly i'm
/ agined in the deceitfuIness of our hearts,
that all these blessings were produced by
some superior wisdom and virtue Of our
own. Intoxicated with uubrOken sue
cess, We have become too sslf-suf5cient
to feel the necessity Of redeeming and
preserving grace. too proud to pray to
the God that made u.s.
1t behooYes us then, to humble cur
selves before the offended Power, to con-
fess our nationol sins, and to pray for
clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance NTH the
request, and fully lyeoneurring in the views
of the Senate, I do; by this my prOclama-
ton, design-te and set apart Thursday,
the Both day of April, 1863, asa day Of
national humiliation, fasting and prayer.
And I do hereby request all the people
to abstain on that day from their ordina-
ry secular pursuits, and tounite, at their
several places of worship and their res
Iseetive homes, in keeping the day holy
Ito the Lord. and devoted to the humble
discharge Of the religious duties proper
the solemn occasion
All this being done, in sincerity and in
truth, let us then rest humbly in the
hope authorized by the Divine teachings,
that the united cry of the nation viii be
heard on high, and answered With bles-
sings, no less than the pardon of our na-
tional sins, and the restoration of our
now divided and suffering country to its
former happy condition of unity and
peace.
In witness whereof I have hereunto
set my hand, and caused the seal of the
/ United States to be affixed
Done at the City of Washington on this
thirtieth day of March, in the year
Of our Lord one thousand eight
t[L. $. hundred and sixty-three, and the
independence of the United States
the eighty seventh.
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President.
Wd. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.