sunday edition #11

from president lincoln's 1863 thanksgiving proclamation...

"the year that is drawing toward 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 can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God...

...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 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 imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union."

what a beautiful picture of thanksgiving's purpose and a somewhat disheartening reminder of our current government's decline from acknowledging the values upon which we were founded. this address is as relevant today as it ever was 148 years ago. 

image via deviantart