Thanksgiving Day.--The day appointed by the Civil Authority for the
rendering of thanks to God for the blessings bestowed on this land
and nation during the year. It usually partakes of the nature of a
Harvest Home Festival, prompted no doubt by the character of the
service set forth in the Prayer-book to be used on this day,
entitled, "A Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God for
the Fruits of the earth and all other Blessings of His Merciful
Providence." It is interesting to note that the first Thanksgiving
Day in America was appointed, not by the Pilgrims, as many persons
mistakenly believe, but by members of the Church of England. It was
{254} celebrated at Monhegan, off the Maine coast, near the mouth
of the Kennebec river, as far back as 1607--thirteen years prior to
the arrival of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor--and Chaplain Seymore
preached a sermon "gyving God thankes for our happy metynge and
saffe aryvall into ye countrie." The earliest Thanksgiving Day of
the Plymouth colonists was in 1621.
Theological Virtues.--The three virtues, _Faith_, _Hope_ and
_Charity_ or _Love_, as enumerated by St. Paul in the 13th chapter
of 1 Corinthians, are called Theological Virtues because they are the
gift of God and have God for their object. They may be explained as
follows:
FAITH is a gift of God, infused into our souls, whereby we firmly
believe all these things which God has revealed.
HOPE is a gift of God, which helps us to expect with confidence that
God will give us all things necessary to salvation, if we only do
what He requires of us.
CHARITY is a gift of God, whereby we love Almighty God above all
things for His sake and our neighbors as ourselves.