Lawmakers Seek National Day of Prayer

Pardon the length, but this tells us a lot about why our country became great. THIS whould be a great resolution for today:

(Senator James Harlan of Iowa, whose daughter married President Lincoln's son Robert, introduced this Resolution in the Senate on March 2, 1863. The Resolution asked President Lincoln to proclaim a national day of prayer and fasting. The Resolution was adopted on March 3, and signed by Lincoln on March 30.)

Washington, D. C.
March 30, 1863
By the President of the United States of America.
Abraham Lincoln

A Proclamation.

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

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, 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 the Holy Scriptures 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 chastisements 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 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.

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

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

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

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

--By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

 

Many other "not so great" countries also observe prayer and or are Christian majority States. That's not why we are a great country in the world.

There are 3 key ingredients that made us great.

The reason why we are a great country is because of our ability at having created the greatest military might the world has ever known. This is what keeps us alive. What makes us great, is the capitalistic principals of business. Capitalism is what has allowed us all to live in such luxury compared to third-world countries. And finally what keeps our capitalistic community working is the Christian ethic of right and wrong. A this ethic keeps our military powers in check and prevents us from doing wrong to other countries as well as our own population. This ethic is what keeps our capitalistic principals alive. It uses our legal system under the key saying of Christ, the golden rule, to maintain these checks.

Without any one of these 3 key components, we would not be The Great Nation. They work in concert.

 

THIS is what made our country great!

Blessings,
Sue