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Now I want to quote for you something I'm sure most of you
have never read. I think it will be surprising and shocking! It's
not an imaginary proclamation. It's real!
It is:
"By the President of the United States of America:
A P R O C L A M A T I O N
"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 ...'"
Before going farther, CAN YOU IMAGINE THE U.S. CONGRESS
making such a request? Shocking? IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Continuing:
"And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all
times, to acknowledge and revere the Supreme Government of God;"
Can you believe it? The President of the United States
saying we should revere the Supreme Government of GOD! Now
continue:
"... to bow in humble submission to His chastisements; to
confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in 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 offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and
prospective actions.
"And whereas, when our own beloved Country, once by the
blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted
with faction and war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize
the hand of God in their 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; ... 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 ----- 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 ... 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