PROCLAMATION BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved 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 has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken 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 before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. [March 30, 1863] COMPARE TO OBAMAs Thanksgiving Day proclamation last year in which he left God OUT -- completely! President Obama did not include any reference to God during his weekly address titled, “On Thanksgiving, Grateful for the Men and Women Who Defend Our Country.” His remarks were void of any religious references although Thanksgiving is a holiday traditionally steeped in giving thanks and praise to God. The president said his family was “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.” For many Americans, though, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on how blessed and thankful they are. The president said the “most American of blessings” is the “chance to determine our own destiny.”
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 21:17:07 +0000
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