The First Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series of his
Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr with the Heathen Natives of
this land, written and brought to pass bitter things against his own Covenant
people in this wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst of
his judgments he hath remembered mercy, having remembered his Footstool in the
day of his sore displeasure against us for our sins, with many singular
Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion, and regard; reserving many of our Towns
from Desolation Threatened, and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially
of late with many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them,
without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been sensible of, if
it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed, It certainly bespeaks our
positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure disappointed or
destroyed; and fearing the Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of
his returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as not standing
before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading him with our Complaints in the
time of pressing Afflictions:
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th
day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for
such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be
Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have
been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as
a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it
to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly
and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being persuaded by the mercies of
God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and souls as a living
and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.
-Date: June 20, 1676
-By: Governing council of Charlestown,
Massachusetts
*
President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
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,
tranquillity and Union.
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 are blessed
whose God is the Lord.
- Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation October
3, 1863
Once, when my feet were bare, and I had not the means of
obtaining shoes I came to the chief of Kufah in a state of much dejection, and
saw there a man who had no feet. I returned thanks to God and acknowledged his
mercies, and endured my want of shoes with patience
- Sadi, The
Gulistan
Do not get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged
and give up, For we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate
time.
- Galatians 6:9
For flowers that bloom about our feet; For tender
grass, so fresh, so sweet; For song of bird, and hum of bee; For all things fair
we hear or see, Father in heaven, we thank Thee!
-Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while
others praise Him for putting roses among
thorns."
-Anonymous
Since the Pilgrims observed the initial
Thanksgiving holiday in 1621, this occasion has served as a singular expression
of the transcending spiritual values that played an instrumental part in the
founding of our country.
One hundred and twenty years ago, in the midst
of a great and terrible civil conflict, President Lincoln formally proclaimed a
national day of Thanksgiving to remind those "insensible to the ever watchful
providence of almighty God" of this Nation's bounty and greatness. Several days
after the dedication of the Gettysburg battlefield, the United States celebrated
its first national Thanksgiving.
Every year since then, our Nation has
faithfully continued this tradition. The time has come once again to proclaim a
day of thanksgiving, an occasion for Americans to express gratitude to their God
and their country.In his remarks at Gettysburg, President Lincoln referred to
ours as a Nation "under God."
We rejoice in the fact that, while we have
maintained separate institutions of church and state over our 200 years of
freedom, we have at the same time preserved reverence for spiritual beliefs.
Although we are a pluralistic society, the giving of thanks can be a true bond
of unity among our people. We can unite in gratitude for our individual freedoms
and individual faiths. We can be united in gratitude for our Nation's peace and
prosperity when so many in this world have neither.
As was written in the
first Thanksgiving Proclamation 120 years ago, "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." God has blessed America and her people, and it is
appropriate we recognize this bounty.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan,
President of the United States of America, in the spirit of the Pilgrims,
President Lincoln, and all succeeding Presidents, do hereby proclaim Thursday,
November 24, 1983, as a National Day of Thanksgiving, and I call upon Americans
to affirm this day of thanks by their prayers and their gratitude for the many
blessings upon this land and its people.
-Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
1983
-By: Ronald Reagan
