Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-04-27

By Ia. Hsrd'nt Of de Unfiss F'a''' Of

By the tTsEidsHt Of ths United etat's q
America!
WHEREAS the Senate Of the United States,
deVoutly recognizing the Supreme Author
ity and Just government Of Almighty God,
in all the affairs Of men and of nations
has, by resolution, requested the Presi-
dent to designate and set apart day for
National prayer and humiliation,
And whereas it is the duty Of nations,
as well IS of men, to own their dependence
upon the overruling power Of God; to con-
fess their sins and transgressions; in hum
BILE sorrow, yet with assured hope that gen
uine 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
are only blessed where God is the Lord
And, insomuch as we know, that by His
divine law, nations, like individuals, are
subjected to punishments and chastise-
/ ments in this world, may we not justly
fear that the awful calamity Of civil war
which now desolstes the land, may be but
q punishment inflicted upon US for our pre-
sumptuous sins, to the needful end Of our
national reformation as q whole People
We have been recipients Of the choicest
bounties from Heaven. We have been pre-
served, 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 u.s. and we
have vsinly imagined, in the deceitfulness
| of our hearts, that all these blessings were
produced by some superior wisdom and
virtue Of our own. Intoxicated with uu-
broken success, 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 ourselves
be fore the offended Power, to confess our
national sins, and TO pray for clemeney
and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the
request, and fully concurring in the views
of the Senate, do, by this, my proclama-
ton, designate and set apart Thursday
the Both day Of April, 1868, as the day Of
national humiliation, fasting and prayer
And do hereby request all the People tC
abstain on that day from their ordinary
secular pursuits, and to unite at their sew
eral places Of public worship and their re-
spectiVe homes, in keeping the day holy tC
the Lord, and devoted to the humble dis
J charge Of the religious duties proper t.
that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity snC
truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope
. authorised by the Divine teachings tina
the united cry Of the Nation will be heard
on high, and answered with blessings, NJ
less than the pardon Of our national sins
and restoration Of our now divided snC
suffering country to its former happy con
dition Of unity and peace.
, In witness whereof, have hereunto Sc
: my hand and caused theseal Of the Unite'
I States to be affixed.
Done at the City Of Washington, thi
thirteenth day Of March, in tn
: year Of our Lord one thousan
r.. S. eight hundred and siIty-three
and Of the independence Of tn
United States the eighty-seventh
By the President
9 ABRAHAM LINCOLN.