It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dep=
endence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgr=
essions in humble sorrow, yet, with assured hope that genuine repentance wi=
ll lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced =
in the Holy Scripture and proven by all history, that those nations are ble=
ssed whose God is the Lord.
We know that by His divine law, nations, like =
individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. =
May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desol=
ates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous si=
ns, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? =
We h=
ave been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been pr=
eserved 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 us, and we have vainly imagined, i=
n the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced b=
y some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken su=
ccess, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeemin=
g and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It has =
seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gra=
tefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole America=
n people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the Uni=
ted States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in f=
oreign lands, to set apart the observe the last Thursday of November as a d=
ay of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the =
heavens.
~~
The Proclamation of the Firs=
t Thanksgiving
I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, here=
by, appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which=
I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens wherever they may then b=
e as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God the beneficent Creato=
r and Ruler of the Universe.
=
And I do farther recommend to my fellow=
-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themsel=
ves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and =
supplications to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimab=
le blessings of Peace, Union, and Harmony throughout the land, which it has=
pleased him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our poster=
ity throughout all generations.
&nbs=
p;
Abraham Lincoln
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.=
net
"Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!"
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