e at their usual places of worship,
or wherever they may be, to confess and to repent of their manifold
sins, to implore the compassion and forgiveness of the Almighty, that,
if consistent with His will, the existing rebellion may be speedily
suppressed, and the supremacy of the Constitution and laws of the United
States may be established throughout all the States; to implore Him, as
the Supreme Ruler of the world, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer
us to be destroyed by the hostility or connivance of other nations, or by
obstinate adhesion to our own counsels which may be in conflict with His
eternal, purposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of the nation
to know and do His will, humbly believing that it is in accordance with
His will that our place should be maintained as a united people among the
family of nations; to implore Him to grant to our armed defenders, and
the masses of the people, that courage, power of resistance, and endurance
necessary to secure that result; to implore Him in His infinite goodness
to soften the hearts, enlighten the minds, and quicken the conscience of
those in rebellion, that they may lay down their arms, and speedily return
to their allegiance to the United States, that they may not be utterly
destroyed, that the effusion of blood may be stayed, and that unity and
fraternity may be restored, and peace established throughout all our
borders.

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the `United States,
cordially concurring with the Congress of the United States, in the
penitential and pious sentiments expressed in the aforesaid resolutions,
and heartily approving of the devotional design and purpose thereof, do
hereby appoint the first Thursday of August next to be observed by the
people of the United States as a day of national humiliation and prayer.

I do hereby further invite and request the heads of the Executive
Departments of this Government, together with all legislators, all judges
and magistrates, and all other persons exercising authority in the land,
whether civil, military, or naval, and all soldiers, seamen, and marines
in the national service, and all other loyal and law-abiding people of the
United States, to assemble in their preferred places of public worship on
that day, and there to render to the Almighty and merciful Ruler of the
Universe, such homage and such confessions, and to offer to Him such
supplications as the Congress of the Unite