November 20, 2023

Thanksgiving to God

As we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday this year, let’s remember the original gratefulness to God that has always been the spirit of the oldest of all American holidays.

Congress recommends a day of . . . thanksgiving and praise so that the people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts . . . and join . . . their prayers that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to forgive our sins and . . . to enlarge His kingdom which consists in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Continental Congress, 1777 —Written by Signers of the Declaration Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee)

I appoint...a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God... to ask Him that He would...pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would...spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth;...and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue. (Governor Thomas Jefferson, 1779)

I...appoint...a day of public thanksgiving and praise...to render to God the tribute of praise for His unmerited goodness towards us...by giving to us...the Holy Scriptures which are able to enlighten and make us wise to eternal salvation...And to pray that He would forgive our sins and...cause the religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be known, understood, and practiced among all the people of the earth. (Governor John Hancock, 1790)