Subject: Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Proclamation of the President of the United States – Abraham Lincoln, 1863
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
William H. Seward,_Secretary of State
Scriptural Selection
Psalms 95:1-7 (to .)
O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Psalms 147:7-15,20 Praise
Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
Praise ye the Lord.
Solo: “Sing With Grace in Your Heart”
Golden Text: Ps 26:6,7
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
Responsive Readings: I Chron 16:8-11, 24, 27, 29-32, 34, 36 And all
Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.
Declare his glory among the heathen: his marvellous works among all nations.
Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
And all the people said, Amen, and praised the Lord.
Lesson Sermon -
The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, read alternatively.I
Col. 4:2
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Neh. 8:1, 3, 6, 10, 12
And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.
And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.
And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.
I Thess. 5:5 (to :), 16-18 (to :)
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day:
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks:
I Thess. 3:12
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
6:17-18
"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go.
140:7-12
Not materially but spiritually we know Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence of our God.
58:14-16
With additional joys, benevolence should grow more diffusive.
518:15-19
The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good.
15:26-30
Self-forgetfulness, purity, and affection are constant prayers. Practice not profession, understanding not belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and they assuredly call down infinite blessings.
II
Lev. 22:29
And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.
Ps. 100:2 (to :), 4
Serve the Lord with gladness:
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Jonah 1:1-3
Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
183:21-23
Divine Mind rightly demands man's entire obedience, affection, and strength. No reservation is made for any lesser loyalty.
3:12, 22
The Divine Being must be reflected by man,--else man is not the image and likeness of the patient, tender, and true, the One "altogether lovely;" but to understand God is the work of eternity, and demands absolute consecration of thought, energy, and desire.
Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
4:3-5
What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds.
III
Ps. 50:14, 15
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Jonah 1:4 the, 5, 10, 12, 15-17
the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
241:1 (only)
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth."
540:11
In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin.
405:30
Belief in material suffering causes mortals to retreat from their error, to flee from body to Spirit, and to appeal to divine sources outside of themselves.
6:3-7
Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the sinner. God is not separate from the wisdom He bestows. The talents He gives we must improve.
IV
Ps. 116:16 (to ;), 17
O Lord, truly I am thy servant;
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
Jonah 2:1, 2, 7-9 (to 1st .), 10
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed.
And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 3:1-3 (to 1st .)
And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
16:2-4
The highest prayer is not one of faith merely; it is demonstration.
568:1 (only)
Innocence and Truth overcome guilt and error.
2:4-11, 15-17
Are we benefited by praying? Yes, the desire which goes forth hungering after righteousness is blessed of our Father, and it does not return unto us void.
God is not moved by the breath of praise to do more than He has already done, nor can the infinite do less than bestow all good, since He is unchanging wisdom and Love.
Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness attains the demonstration of Truth.
V
Luke 4:14 (to :)
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee:
Luke 17:12-19
And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
94:20
Of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God thanks,--that is, to acknowledge the divine Principle which had healed him.
372:29-5
If pride, superstition, or any error prevents the honest recognition of benefits received, this will be a hindrance to the recovery of the sick and the success of the student.
If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in darkness as to the physical exemption which Christianity includes, then we must have more faith in God on this subject and be more alive to His promises.
249:1, 8-9
Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.
Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be."
vii:1-2
To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings.
VI
Ps. 107:21, 22
Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Mark 16:15 Go
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Col. 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
4:5-16
To keep the commandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
The habitual struggle to be always good is unceasing prayer. Its motives are made manifest in the blessings they bring,--blessings which, even if not acknowledged in audible words, attest our worthiness to be partakers of Love.
37:22-25
It is possible,--yea, it is the duty and privilege of every child, man, and woman,--to follow in some degree the example of the Master by the demonstration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness.
79:31-3
Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us. We have strength in proportion to our apprehension of the truth, and our strength is not lessened by giving utterance to truth.
354:20
If our words fail to express our deeds, God will redeem that weakness, and out of the mouth of babes He will perfect praise. The night of materiality is far spent, and with the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and to speak the new tongue.
570:14-18, 23-24
Millions of unprejudiced minds--simple seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert--are waiting and watching for rest and drink. Give them a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences.
Those ready for the blessing you impart will give thanks.
Benediction
Psalms 69:30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Hymn 73
Based on the Dutch of Abraham Rutgers
Glory, honor, praise and pure oblations
Unto God the Lord belong;
Come into His presence with thanksgiving,
Come before Him with a song.
In His hand is all the power of nations,
Sing to Him, ye joyous congregations,
Psalms of gratitude and praise
Unto God the Father raise.
God is Mind and holy thought is sending;
Man, His image, hears His voice.
Every heart may understand His message,
In His kindness may rejoice.
Lo, He speaks, all condemnation ending,
Every true desire with Love's will blending;
Losing self, in Him we find
Joy, health, hope, for all mankind.
Hymn 150
William P. McKenzie
In mercy, in goodness, how great is our King;
Our tribute, thanksgiving, with glad hearts we bring.
Thou art the Renewer, the Ancient of Days,
Who givest, for mourning, the garment of praise.
We thank Thee for work in the wide harvest field,
For gladness that ripens when sorrow is healed;
Made strong with Thy goodness that meets every need,
We gather the fruit of the Sower's good seed.
Dear Father and Saviour, we thank Thee for life,
And courage that rises undaunted by strife,
For confident giving and giving's reward,
For beauty and love in the life of our Lord.
Hymn 283
From the German of Joachim Neander
Praise we the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.
Let us extol Him with joyous and loving endeavor;
Come let us sing,
Praising our God and our King,
Should we be silent? Ah, never.
Praise we the Lord, who our footsteps still holdeth
from sliding;
Daily He campeth about us, protecting and guiding;
E'en while we sleep
Watch doth He tenderly keep;
Ever new mercies providing.
Praise we the Lord with a joyous and glad adoration;
Lo, unto them that believe there is no condemnation;
Now will we raise
Songs of thanksgiving and praise,
Christ is become our salvation.
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