Whereas a joint Committee of both Houses of Congress has waited on the
President of the United States, and requested him to "recommend a
day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the people
of the United States with religious solemnities, and the offering of fervent
supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States,
His blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace:" --
And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge
and revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to
his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions
in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their
past offences, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action:
And whereas, when our own beloved Country, once, by the blessing of
God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil
war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible
visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as
a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray
for His mercy, -- to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though
most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for
the re-establishment of law, order and peace, throughout the wide extent
of our country; and that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty,
earned under His guidance and blessing, by the labors and sufferings of
our fathers, may be restored in all its original excellence: --
Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do appoint
the last Thursday in September next, as a day of humiliation, prayer and
fasting for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly recommend
to all the People, and especially to all ministers and teachers of religion
of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep
that day according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all
humility and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer
of the nation may ascend to the Throne of Grace and bring down plentiful
blessings upon our Country.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the Seal
of the United States to be affixed, this 12th, day of August A.D. 1861,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the 86th.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.