King, Samuel Ward (1786-1851) Proclamation. By His Excellency Samuel Ward King [day of Thanksgiving]

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BY HIS EXCELLENCY,

SAMUEL WARD KING,

GOVERNOR, CAPITAL GENERAL, AND COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE STATE OF RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS,

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS the General Assembly of the State aforesaid, on the fifth day of November instant, passed the following Resolutions, to wit :
Resolved, That Thursday, the twenty-fourth day of November instant, be set apart as a day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise to Almighty God ; and that it be recommended to the people of Rhode-Island, abstaining, on that day, from all unnecessary labor and unbecoming recreation, to assemble in their places of public worship, and to render unto the Father of their spirits, and the Giver of all their blessings, the tribute of devout and grateful hearts ; to thank Him for the services which He hath vouchsafed to us during the year which has passed ; for the goodness which hath crowned the year with plenty, and for the mercy which has averted the pestilence that walketh in darkness ; for His gracious care of the welfare of our common country, in preserving to her the blessings of peace with other nations, and of permitting her to enjoy, under the operation of equal and popular systems of government, the varied social happiness which springs from freedom, regulated by law. And as a people to whom has been bequeathed by venerated ancestors, a rich legacy of civil and religious liberty, to acknowledge, with fervent gratitude, that the lines are fallen to us in pleasant places - that we have, indeed, a goodly heritage - for here was put forth the first great experiment of complete freedom in religious concernments - here was struck the first blow in the revolutionary contest with Great Britain, and here has been maintained, and triumphantly maintained, by the unaided vigor of our people, the first controversy, since the adoption of the American Constitution, with the spirit of licentiousness and anarchy. Chastened by the trials through which we have been called to pass, and remembering the mercy which hath delivered us from peril, it becometh us as a people, to lift up the voice of thanksgiving and praise to Him who as graciously interposed to help and to save us ; and especially doth it become us, knowing that unless the Lord keep the City, the watchman waketh but in vain, to invoke him to continue his watchful care over us, and to plant in all hearts the spirit of social concord, a deeper love for the imperishable principles of temperate freedom, a truer reverence for the wisdom of the Just. While invoking the blessings of the Almighty God upon all the social interests and ties with which we have to do, let us beseech Him to forgive us all our sins, negligences and ignorancies, and through faith in Jesus Christ, to grant us in this world knowledge of his truth, and in the world to come life everlasting.
Resolved also, That his Excellency the Governor, be requested to issue his Proclamation, to make known the foregoing resolutions to the good people of this State.
I do therefore, pursuant to the above recited Resolution, issue this my Proclamation, to make known the same, that the good people of this State may conform thereto.
Given under my hand and the Seal of said State, at Providence, this seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, and of Independence the sixty-seventh.
SAMUEL WARD KING.

BY HIS EXCELLENCY'S COMMAND :
HENRY BOWEN, Sec'ry.