林肯總統因著對神的感恩,發表了【感恩節宣言】,內容提到:
今年秋天遍地丰收,富庶的大地,湛藍的天空都是神的祝福,然而我們却很容易忘記,
這一切的恩典從何而來.神時時看顧我們的需要,然而我們却習慣性的無視於神的能力,
衪能改變我們冰冷的心,使我們的心變得非常柔軟,衪的能力超乎我們的想像..........,
這些美好事并非人力或是任何有限之力所能做到的,而是出於最高 神的思典.
衪對我們的罪惡感到憤怒,但最終仍賜下憐憫和恩典給我們.
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【原文】
The year that is drawing towards its close,
has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.
To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source
from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature,
that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart
which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity,
which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression,
peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained,
the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere
except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted
by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength
from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough,
the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines,
as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp,
the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength
and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things.
They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins,
hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly,
reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who
are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe
the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father
who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions
justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence
for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those
who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which
we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal
the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes
to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony 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 third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth." Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863.
我在這裡請差遣我:
1863年亞伯拉罕·林肯感恩節宣言
建立依靠全能上帝之心和謙卑痛悔之靈是每個國家和個人當盡的責任；他們當存著這樣一個堅定的盼望：真誠的懺悔將帶來憐憫和寬恕；他們當認識聖經裏所宣告的，並被歷史所證實的一個至高真理，那就是：尊崇上帝的國家必蒙祝福。
我們都知道按著這位至高者神聖的律法，不管是國家還是個人，我們都本應當受到懲罰和整治。難道我們不相信這場使土地荒涼、性命失喪的內戰之災是對我們放肆之罪的懲罰嗎？作為一個國家、一個民族，我們當悔改在上帝面前。
我們曾經接受過來自天上的豐盛祝福；我們享受了多年的和平和昌盛；我們在人數、財富和國力上的增長都是其他任何的國家所無法相比的。
然而，我們卻忘記了上帝。我們忘記了那曾保守我們和平，那使我們人數加增，又賜予我們財富與力量的恩手，我們被心中的虛假所欺騙，以為所有的這些祝福都來自於我們自己超人的智慧和美德。我們如此陶醉於不斷的成功，沉迷于自我滿足，以致不再向那創造我們的上帝禱告。
我認為我們應該做的是：全地美國人民當以莊嚴、恭敬和感恩的心，同聲合一地承認上帝的作為。因此，我懇請全美各地的每一位公民，包括那些旅居海外的美國人，把十一月的最後一個星期四作為“感恩節”來慶祝，讚美我們那居在天上的仁慈之父。
Abraham Lincoln （亞伯拉罕·林肯 總統）于1863年10月
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