President Joe Biden omitted any reference to Almighty God or Divine Providence Thursday in his annual proclamation of the quintessentially American feast of Thanksgiving.
In his own 1863 presidential proclamation instituting Thanksgiving as a national holiday, Abraham Lincoln urged his fellow Americans to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Even in the midst of the civil war, Lincoln recalled the many blessings and bounties bestowed on the nation, attributing them all to the Almighty.
Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg (Library of Congress/Getty)
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things,” Lincoln declared. “They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”
In this way, he enjoined his fellow citizens to offer up “the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings.”
And in case anyone forgets to thank Almighty God for these gifts, Lincoln also issued a warning, noting that these bounties “are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the