A RESOLUTION

 

1Recognizing April 30, 2013, as "National Fast Day" in honor of 
2the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's 
3Proclamation Appointing a National Fast Day.

4WHEREAS, The following proclamation was made by President
5Abraham Lincoln on March 30, 1863:

6"A Proclamation.

7Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly
8recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of
9Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by
10a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart
11a day for National prayer and humiliation.

12And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to
13own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to
14confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet
15with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and
16pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the
17Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations

1only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

2And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations
3like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements
4in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of
5civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a
6punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the
7needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We
8have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We
9have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity.
10We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation
11has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the
12gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and
13enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in
14the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were
15produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
16Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-
17sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving
18grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

19It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended
20Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency
21and forgiveness.

22Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully
23concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my
24proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of
25April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and
26prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on
27that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at
28their several places of public worship and their respective
29homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the
30humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn

1occasion.

2All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest
3humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the
4united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered
5with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins,
6and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to
7its former happy condition of unity and peace.

8In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
9the seal of the United States to be affixed.

10Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March,
11in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
12three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty
13seventh.

14By the President: Abraham Lincoln

15William H. Seward, Secretary of State."

16therefore be it

17RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives recognize April
1830, 2013, as "National Fast Day" in honor of the 150th
19anniversary of Lincoln's Proclamation.