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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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THANKSGIV'ING, ppr. Rendering thanks for good received.
THANKSGIV'ING, n. The act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies.
The act of rending thanks, or expressing gratitude for favors or
mercies.
Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. 1 Tim. iv. 4. In the thanksgiving before meat. Shak. And taught by thee the Church prolongs A public acknowledgment or celebration of divine
goodness; also, a day set apart for religious services, specially to
acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from
calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his
bounties.
* In the United States it is now customary for the President by proclamation to appoint annually a day (usually the last Thursday in November) of thanksgiving and praise to God for the mercies of the past year. This is an extension of the custom long prevailing in several States in which an annual Thanksgiving day has been appointed by proclamation of the governor. | ||||||||