Psalm 65 Te decet hymnus (read it online)
Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving
Day Proclamation, 1863:
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 cannot fail to penetrate and soften 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 provoke
their aggressions, 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 theater of military conflict; while that theater 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 defense have not arrested the plow,
the shuttle, or the ship; the ax 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
battlefield, 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 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,
tranquility, and union.
. . .
Abraham Lincoln
Prayer of
Thanksgiving:
Accept, O
Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have
done for us.
We thank you for the splendor of the whole
creation,
for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,
and for the
mystery of love.
We thank you
for the blessing of family and friends, and for
the loving
care which surrounds us on every side.
We thank you
for setting us at tasks which demand our best
efforts, and
for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy
and delight
us.
We thank you
also for those disappointments and failures
that lead us
to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.
Above all,
we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the
truth of his
Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast
obedience,
by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,
through
which he overcame death; and for his rising to life
again, in
which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.
Grant us the
gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and
make him
known; and through him, at all times and in all
places, may
give thanks to you in all things. Amen.
(“The Great Thanksgiving”
from Book of Common Prayer, 1979)
Doxology
(Old Hundredth [how most people know it] or Tallis Canon)
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
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