And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Col 3:15
One of the great prayers of our Book of Common Prayer is our "General Thanksgiving". It was written by an English Bishop of Puritan leanings during the reign of Elizabeth I and is based upon a private prayer which she composed, supposedly upon the English victory over the Spanish Armada. When read carefully you can see clearly that it is built upon the doctrine of God in his three fold activity as Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer. We say this prayer in unison at every Morning Prayer Service while on our knees before God. Kneeling before God in prayer with our fellow man is one of the joyous benefits of being a Protestant Episcopalian. It has become traditional with me to always read aloud in Church one of the other two great proclamations of Thanksgiving at this time of year. The first is from the pen of the George Washington, our first President. The second is from the pen of William Seward, Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and was used by Lincoln to declare a "National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise." In each of the Presidential proclamations you can see the same theme of God's three fold activity being declared, and the reader being strongly encouraged to not only be thankful for God's creation, but also for our gift of freedom and to be mindful to render not only thanks, but praise as well.
I have included all three "Thanksgivings" here for you to enjoy. As an interesting note, I would like to call your attention to George Washington’s proclamation. It was issued in the year 1789, the year in which the Protestant Episcopal Church was established out of the Church of England. Good ol' George was a member of our church and we are very thankful for his service to us and the nation and to God for our life, our salvation, our country and our freedom. You can not reads this and then buy into the lie that Washington did not believe in God. On this Thanksgiving day, men of God should print these prayers and proclamations and read them to their families at the dinner table before they offer thanks to God for the bounty of their feast and their many blessings during the past year - no matter how tough it may have seemed. I'll bet you can't do it without a tear somewhere at the table ... perhaps it will be your own.
I have included all three "Thanksgivings" here for you to enjoy. As an interesting note, I would like to call your attention to George Washington’s proclamation. It was issued in the year 1789, the year in which the Protestant Episcopal Church was established out of the Church of England. Good ol' George was a member of our church and we are very thankful for his service to us and the nation and to God for our life, our salvation, our country and our freedom. You can not reads this and then buy into the lie that Washington did not believe in God. On this Thanksgiving day, men of God should print these prayers and proclamations and read them to their families at the dinner table before they offer thanks to God for the bounty of their feast and their many blessings during the past year - no matter how tough it may have seemed. I'll bet you can't do it without a tear somewhere at the table ... perhaps it will be your own.
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A General Thanksgiving from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.
ALMIGHTY God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and loving-kindness to us, and to all men; [*particularly to those who desire now to offer up their praises and thanksgivings for thy late mercies vouchsafed unto them.] We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we shew forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION
NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH 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 signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
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 enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; 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 governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase 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.
GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
(signed) G. Washington
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By the President of the United States of America.
A 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 unequaled 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 has 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 consiousness 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 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.
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 Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
for William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
