From Friends of Derek J. Howell:
On this Thanksgiving, please take a moment and reflect how at one time in America elected servants publicly thanked God for the rich blessings we have in America. Below is an example of a Thanksgiving Day proclamation that was issued by John Hancock. John Hancock, you may recall, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He later became governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where he used his influence to ensure Massachusetts ratified the United States Constitution.
Would you join with me this Thanksgiving Day in sharing John Hancock’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation with your family? Please also join me in prayer before partaking of the delicious food we have been blessed with this holiday. Let us repent, confess our sins and “implore the further continuance of the Divine Protection, and Blessings of Heaven upon” Harford County, the State of Maryland and these United States of America. God bless you and your family on this Thanksgiving Day 2013.
Derek J. Howell, State Senate Candidate – District 34
By His EXCELLENCY
John Hancock, Esq.
GOVERNOR of the COMMONWEALTH
of Massachusetts.
A PROCLAMATION,
For a Day of Public Thanksgiving.
In consideration of the many undeserved Blessings conferred upon us by GOD, the Father of all Mercies; it becomes us not only in our private and usual devotion, to express our obligations to Him, as well as our dependence upon Him; but also specially to set a part a Day to be employed for this great and important Purpose:
I HAVE therefore thought fit to appoint, and by the advice and consent of the Council, do hereby accordingly appoint, THURSDAY, the seventeenth of November next, to be observed as a Day of Public THANKSGIVING and PRAISE, throughout this Commonwealth:—Hereby calling upon Ministers and People of every denomination, to assemble on the said Day—and in the name of the Great Mediator, devoutly and sincerely offer to Almighty God, the gratitude of our Hearts, for all his goodness towards us; more especially in that HE has been pleased to continue to us so a great a measure of Health—to cause the Earth plentifully to yield her increase, so that we are supplied with the Necessaries, and the Comforts of Life—to prosper our Merchandise and Fishery—And above all, not only to continue to us the enjoyment of our civil Rights and Liberties; but the great and most important Blessing, the Gospel of Jesus Christ: And together with our cordial acknowledgments, I do earnestly recommend, that we may join the penitent confession of our Sins, and implore the further continuance of the Divine Protection, and Blessings of Heaven upon this People; especially that He would be graciously pleased to direct, and prosper the Administration of the Federal Government, and of this, and the other States in the Union—to afford Him further Smiles on our Agriculture and Fisheries, Commerce and Manufactures—To prosper our University and all Seminaries of Learning—To bless the virtuously struggling for the Rights of Men—so that universal Happiness may be Allies of the United States, and to afford his Almighty Aid to all People, who are established in the World; that all may bow to the Scepter of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and the whole Earth be filled with his Glory.
And I do also earnestly recommend to the good People of this Commonwealth, to abstain from all servile Labor and Recreation, inconsistent with the solemnity of the said day.
Given at the Council-Chamber, in Boston, the fifth Day of October, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-One, and in the sixteenth Year of the Independence of the United States of America.
JOHN HANCOCK.
By his Excellency’s Command,
JOHN AVERY, jun. Sec’y
GOD save the Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS!!
It’s great to see our public officials still believe in fairy tales. Hancock was ignorant. Howell is a sheep and is clamoring for votes from the rest of the flock. All thanks should go to the people that have sacrificed for our freedom. How many more years is it going to take before we believe in each other instead of some guy in the sky?
One would think pandering is a sin. Whether it’s God, Jehovah, Yaweh, Thor, Zeus, Buddha, Ra, Zul or the Flying Spaghetti Monster the ability of people to take – on faith – the existence of some deity in an otherworldly plane while being so cruel to those who are tangibly right in front of them is baffling. Why are all gods filled with grace and beneficence while so many of their creatures are filled with malice towards all who think differently? Answer – because God, like so many things, is a man made creations designed to subjugate the masses. Don’t thank god today, thank a stranger for not killing you on sight. It is merely the ability to coexist on some level that keeps humanity going. Its also hard to take seriously the musings of people who codified the ownership of their fellow “children of God”
qui est Deus refers to pandering. Might one not be inclined to believe Ye Candidate Howell himself doth seek to pander to the masses, especially those to our right, on this most “American” of holidays
It seems that Howell likes to cheery-pick his quotes…..how about emphasizing this one, “And I do also earnestly recommend to the good People of this Commonwealth, to abstain from all servile Labor and Recreation, inconsistent with the solemnity of the said day.”
Hancock was mistaken on the whole “abstain from labor or recreation” thing, but the “give thanks to God” part was spot on. The title of this sill commentary should be, “While you work or shop today, just make sure that you give thanks to God because he made this all possible”. It’s amazing how the religious are unwilling to accept the theory of evolution and yet their ideologies have evolved right before there eyes.
What Howell fails to understand is that not everyone believes what he believes. He also doesn’t understand that the “elected servants” who choose not to publicly thank “god” do so because they realize that not everyone shares their beliefs and to publicly thank their “god” would be likely to turn away those citizens who don’t believe. Religion on its face is divisive unless everyone believes the same thing. Believe what you want, but don’t use it as a political device to belittle your opponents for not believing what you do, unless of course you believe that anyone who doesn’t believe in “your god” is unfit for public office. Sounds like a religious test to me….isn’t that unconstitutional? Yep….article VI paragraph 3.
Thank you Derek for providing a historical piece of writing that We The People can ponder and enjoy on such a significant day to our nation.
The year that is drawing towards 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 even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
Lincoln used religion just as politicians like Howell use it today…to win votes.
Thank you for reading my post. I hope many readers enjoyed and shared a little bit of American History, John Hancock’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table. However to those whom made the hostile comments toward God and accused me of using religion to get votes, I would enjoy sitting down with you and discussing the importance Christianity played in the founding of America as well as my own personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact I personally invite you to a men’s Bible study breakfast on 12/14/13 at Perry Hall Baptist Church beginning 7:30 am where I’ll conclude a 3 part Bible study I wrote. On that day we will look at being a Christian in America and examine 4 types of government presented in the Bible (self government, family government, church government and civil government). For more information or to contact me please visit my website http://www.VoteForHowell.com. Thank you.
Come read the bible with me at my MEN’S bible study and you will see that this nation is a Christian nation and THE Jesus has chosen America to be the one true superpower….unless of course you are a woman, a jew, a muslim, a believer of any faith except christianity, or a non-believer. In that case, I have no use for you as you will most certainly burn in hell. Anyone that calls out my religious bigotry here on the dagger will have their posts censored and removed so as not to draw attention to my true intentions…to win the christian vote…God bless (except you heathens).
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” — Epicurus
A specious argument, 5-Iron. As it is written, “God in the beginning created human beings and made them subject to their own free choice. If you choose, you can keep the commandments; loyalty is doing the will of God.” (Sirach 15:14-15, New American Bible, revised edition) It is always in your power to choose to do right, or to turn away from God and do wrong. Why is this, you may ask? Because God, in His love for you, doesn’t compel your love, devotion, and obedience; that would be despotism. To paraphrase an old song, He wants you to want Him. When the choice is in your hands, this is not malevolence on the part of God.
Or you could remove God(s) from your entire post and you will see that the result is the same. There is no need for God(s) in any of your explanation. There is no reason to believe that a God(s) exists. Even the lack of an explanation does not provide a reason to believe that a God(s) exists. Howell knows this, but is banking on the rest of the flock to blindly follow “the word or God” and vote him into office. I’m assuming he, just like the church, already has you in his pocket.
Original Observer — Isaiah 34:7 KJV. Let’s just agree to disagree. I have no issue with believers and their good works but firmly believe that one does not need to have faith to do good deeds. A firm moral compass is in all humans; whether they stick to it, believer or non-believer alike, is where free will takes over.
Wow, Five Iron, that citation is so random, I don’t know what to make of it. And FTS, I can’t say I’ve ever heard of this Howell gentleman before this post; it would be a stretch to conclude that Mr. Howell already has me “in his pocket,” to borrow your phrase. And as Mr. Howell is a candidate for Senate in District 34, he doesn’t even represent my district; so it’s immaterial to the election whether I’m “in his pocket.” However, I submit that without religion, specifically, without the Judeo-Christian influence on American tradition and jurisprudence, we would have no basis for knowing what is right and what is wrong. After all, we all agree it is wrong to take a life, especially an innocent life. But before a moral relativism crept across the land, there was basic agreement on what constituted human life. Now a human life has degenerated into whatever someone chooses to say it is. That is no basis for a system of right and wrong. That, I submit, is a moral compass not only gone haywire, but totally destroyed.
Hold on there a second partner, I made no mention of you “being in his pocket” so not sure where your vitriol is coming from. That reference to Isaiah shows that your book was written by man, same as the Torah, same as the Qu’ran, not God. Your “moral relativism” is IMHO, progress (women no longer treated as chattel, slavery being morally reprehensible, beware the cloven hoof and other nonsense). Fatness and Unicorns in the reference I quoted is IN the Bible….either there is a serious inability to linguistically translate the lord’s word into English…or just possibly these items were written by people who barely were able to figure out bronze, fire and hygiene. The lack of “faith” isn’t what causes people to lose their moral compass. Apparently murder (Cain and Abel) happened to the “first” family and they were speaking, according to Genesis, directly to God. You would think that if anyone on Earth would be on the straight and narrow, those two, whose parents were booted out of the so called Garden of Eden after speaking to both God and Satan (another overhyped loser) would spend their whole lives prostrate in awe of their creator. Like all other “gods” , Zeus, Neptune, Saturn, Ra, ad nauseum, they eventually will turn into a joke or a cartoon. That day can’t come soon enough so civilization can move forward.
@Five Iron –
Who are you trying to convince of your atheism the Dagger audience or yourself?
Just remember the witch trials, the basics of religion at that time.