Happy Thanksgiving
will sing of the Lord’s great love forever” declared the psalmist, “with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.” It is a duty to give thanks to the Lord, it is right and it is good and it is a longstanding and sacred tradition in our country, acknowledged by an institutionalized day set apart for such thanksgiving.
Christopher Columbus gives thanks to God in the New World
As soon as he stepped ashore in the New World in 1492, Christopher Columbus set aside a day for himself and his sailors to give thanks for their discovery. A full century later Sir Francis Drake did the same on the shores of California with his crew of Englishmen. The settlers of Jamestown, Virginia set aside a day of thanksgiving for their survival from famine and war in the autumn of 1619. Two years later in 1621, Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts Bay held the most famous of all such observances when a bounteous harvest prompted him to proclaim a special day “to render thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings.” Then again, in 1777, amidst our War of Independence, the Continental Congress set aside a day for thanksgiving and praise for our victory at the battle of Saratoga. It was the first time all the colonies took part in such an event on the same day.
Pilgrims and Indians giving thanks together in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Although the exact date of the first American thanksgiving observance is uncertain, we know by accounts that it followed the tradition of the English Harvest dinners which the pilgrims had observed back home. These purposeful gatherings in turn were derived from the ancient traditions of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament.
An artist’s depiction of Christ preaching while at The Temple for the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7)
Giving thanks to our Divine Provider, noting His instances of specific care and broad mercy, and giving glory to God for such faithfulness to His promise is a crucial tenet of our Christian faith. Commands to render praise unto our God and encouragements to recount His deeds appear everywhere in the Scriptures, and have been solemnly heeded by the church age after age.
The First Thanksgiving, 1621, Plymouth, Massachussetts
Most recently, we have collectively been beneficiaries of a great mercy—the hope of being spared the imposition of four more years of regimented and relentless tyrannies from the Marxist religion while being granted a new national leadership exceedingly more favorable to Christian causes. For this we offer our praises to the God of Providence.
The Puritan minister Thomas Watson wrote of the Christian necessity of gratitude:
“A godly man expresses thankfulness in every duty, he does so in every condition. He will be thankful in adversity as well as prosperity: ‘In everything give thanks’. A gracious soul is thankful and rejoices that he is drawn nearer to God, though it be by the cords of affliction. When it goes well with him, he praises God’s mercy; when it goes badly with him, he magnifies God’s justice. When God has a rod in His hand, a godly man will have a psalm in his mouth. The devil’s smiting of Job was like striking a musical instrument; he sounded forth praise: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ When God’s spiritual plants are cut and bleed, they drop thankfulness; the saints’ tears cannot drown their praises.”
Thomas Watson (c. 1620–1686)
Thanksgiving Day, 1858 from Harper’s Weekly
On Thanksgiving Day, the remnant of God still gathers nationally to give thanks to Him who does all things well, and to remember, as He has charged, His deeds amongst our heritage. We recall those intrepid settlers who—having survived that first, harsh winter that wiped out half their numbers—came together in praise and opened their stores to those Indian neighbors with whom they had established community. Governor Winslow recounted the feast in a letter to his friends back in England thus:
“Our harvest being gotten, our governor sent four men on fowling, so that we might, after a special manner, rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king, Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted; and they went out and killed five deer; which they brought to the plantation, and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”
Edward Winslow (1595-1655)
First Thanksgiving in Plymouth, 1621
Image Credits: 1 Christopher Columbus (wikipedia.org) 2 First Thanksgiving (wikipedia.org) 3 Feast of Tabernacles (wikipedia.org) 4 First Thanksgiving (wikipedia.org) 5 Thomas Watson (wikipedia.org) 6 Harper’s Weekly Thanksgiving, 1858 (wikipedia.org) 7 Edward Winslow (wikipedia.org) 8 First Thanksgiving (wikipedia.org)
