Inasmuch as
the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn,
wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests
to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has
protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and
disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our
own conscience.
Now I, your
magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little
ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12
in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one
thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims
landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving
to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."
William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony [i]
The next great Thanksgiving proclamation before you was given by our first President, George Washington, who on October 3, 1789
designated Thursday, November 26 as a National Day of Thanks after a resolution
was passed by Congress. This was made just after the creation of the United
States Constitution. Here is part of that statement from Washington.
Whereas it is the duty of all
Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be
grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and
whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to
recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and
prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal
favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to
establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of
November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of
that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good
that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering
unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the
People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation… for the civil and
religious liberty with which we are blessed…
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers
and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to
pardon our national and other transgressions … to render our national
government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of
wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and
obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as
have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and
concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and
the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all
Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.[ii]
It would be difficult to leave out
the great Thanksgiving proclamation of Abraham Lincoln in 1863 for two reasons.
One – because this was the proclamation that began the American Thanksgiving
tradition we still observe today. Two – because it was given right in the midst
of our nation’s horrible Civil War.
In it, he mentions the blessings of
“fruitful fields and healthful skies.” It reads in part:
To these bounties, which are so
constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come…
Concerning the war he added that
although the states were warring with the others, thanks could be given for the
absence of foreign aggression at such a time. Also he expressed gratitude that industry,
mining, agriculture and commerce continued to grow as well as the population.
From there we read:
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 one 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. [iii]
Finally, one which predates anything resembling the Colonies or the United States, goes back in time close
to 1,000 years before Christ, and was made by King David. God had told David that he
would not be allowed to build the temple of God which he so longed to do.
Instead, God would give that privilege to Solomon, David’s son. Before he
died, David gathered the materials for Solomon to construct it. Below is a part
of David’s great thanksgiving proclamation just before he died. This he said
and “blessed the LORD before all the congregation, and David said,”
Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel
our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power,
and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted
as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over
all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make
great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee,
and praise thy glorious name. [iv]
Our country, the United States of America, is pretty unique in its observance of this holiday that goes back since before its founding but, God's people have always been in the habit of offering, proclaiming and encouraging Thanks to God.
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. His mercy endureth forever.
[iv] 1
Chronicles 29.10-13
