Before we all sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and rush out to the stores to take advantage of Black Friday deals, perhaps it would be proper to reflect on the very first Thanksgiving declaration issued by President Lincoln, recognizing the last Thursday in November as a day to give "praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens" and to "fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union." The year that is drawing toward 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 the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever...(Read Full Post)