A Beacon of Hope
There were 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower... only 41 of them were Pilgrims, religious dissenters called Separatists, who had fled religious persecution in England. They sought a new life in America where they could freely practice their religion. The rest of the passengers, called "strangers" by the Pilgrims, included merchants, craftsmen, skilled workers, indentured servants, and several young orphans. All were common people. About one-third of them were children.
The Pilgrims had organized the voyage. William Brewster and the other Pilgrim leaders had secured the right to settle on land claimed by the Virginia Company near the mouth of the Hudson River. To raise money for the voyage the Pilgrims signed a contract with a group of London stockholders. In return the stockholders would share in the profits of the planned colony. The Pilgrims had rounded up the "strangers" to increase the chances of success for their enterprise.
The 3,000-mile voyage across the Atlantic lasted more than two months. When they finally sighted land on November 9, 1620, the captain of the Mayflower knew right away that they were at Cape Cod, far north of their destination. The captain headed the Mayflower southward, but dangerous sand bars and heavy seas forced them to turn back. The Mayflower finally dropped anchor in a harbor at the tip of Cape Cod. Rather than chancing more days at sea, the Pilgrims decided to stay.
That decision caused problems straight away. According to William Bradford (who later wrote an account of the Pilgrims' experiences) several "strangers" made "discontented and mutinous speeches." They apparently argued that, since the Cape Cod area was outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, its rules and regulations no longer applied. The troublemakers threatened to do as they pleased "for none had power to command them," wrote William Bradford. Three thousand miles from home, a real crisis faced the colonists even before they stepped ashore.
Imagine the situation: over 100 people, cut off from any government, with an imminent uprising brewing. Only staunch determination would help the Pilgrims land and establish their colony. If they didn't work as a group, they could all die in the wilderness.
The Pilgrim leaders realized that they needed a temporary government authority. Back home, such authority came from the king. Isolated as they were in America, it could only come from the people themselves. Aboard the Mayflower, by necessity, the Pilgrims and "Strangers" made a written agreement or compact among themselves.
Their covenant began, “In the name of God, Amen.” Today, we know their agreement as the Mayflower Compact... it was likely composed by William Brewster and was signed by nearly all the adult male colonists, including two of the indentured servants. The format of the Mayflower Compact is very similar to the written agreements used by the Pilgrims to establish their Separatist churches in England and Holland. This pattern of church self-government served as a model for political self-government in the Mayflower Compact... God most certainly had a hand in the formation of this country.
The colonists had no intention of declaring their independence from England when they signed the Mayflower Compact. In the opening line of the Compact, both Pilgrims and "Strangers" refer to themselves as "loyal subjects" of King James. The rest of the Mayflower Compact is very short. It simply bound the signers into a "Civil Body Politic" for the purpose of passing "just and equal Laws... for the general good of the Colony." But those few words expressed the idea of self-government for the first time in the New World.
It's good thing the colonists found a way to work together as nearly half of them died that first brutal winter… they needed each other to survive in this New World. That first year, the burgeoning nation would see its first peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the local indigenous people, the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag shared with them their understanding of agriculture, hunting, and fishing, skills they would need to endure far from the resources of England. Nearly a year after landing, they set aside a time of thanksgiving for a successful harvest which lasted for four days. This involved 53 Pilgrims and 90 of the Wampanoag tribe, including their chief, Massasoit.
399 years later, that experiment in self-government is still ongoing, but Americans are blessed to live in the freest and most prosperous nation on earth... and it is still a beacon of hope for so many in this world. This Thanksgiving, I hope you can take the opportunity to enjoy the many wonderful pleasures of American life, including family, faith, and friends... and don't forget that during this holiday season that there are still those in need to reach out to. For several years now, our Thanksgivings are more like potluck dinners with many friends from church coming together with a sumptuous fare… this year, I’m bringing smoked turkey breasts, fried chicken drumsticks, pumpkin bisque, homemade cranberry sauce, and a veg dish of leeks and asparagus with pinenuts, all sautéed in duck fat and finished with lemon zest and juice… and that’s just from me. With so many good cooks involved, this year’s dinner will be epic… I wish you could all be here with us. Also invited are many international students from Duke University who get to experience something truly exceptional in this world, an American Thanksgiving from those who are truly thankful.
I look at scenes like this and wonder what it might have been like for the first settlers in such places. They were faced with formidable challenges and hardship, not just with mysterious indigenous people, but with unfamiliar and often dangerous wildlife, and weather they were quite unaccustomed to... all of this while they rebuilt their lives from scratch... and we think we have it hard in a country with so much opportunity? We have much to be thankful for... praise God from whom all blessings flow.
On October 3, 1863, in Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation to make the 4th Thursday of every November a National Day of Thanksgiving, he asked the nation 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.” That’s timeless advice for today, too.
Have a happy Thanksgiving… let it be a moment of grace!
If you would like to know more of the early history of America from the very writings of those who lived it, may I suggest The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel: www.amazon.com/The-Light-Glory-Peter-Marshall/dp/0800750543
This image of sunrise over the surf at Topsail Beach on North Carolina's Outer Banks gives hope for a grand day after a night of vicious thunderstorms.
A Beacon of Hope
There were 102 passengers aboard the Mayflower... only 41 of them were Pilgrims, religious dissenters called Separatists, who had fled religious persecution in England. They sought a new life in America where they could freely practice their religion. The rest of the passengers, called "strangers" by the Pilgrims, included merchants, craftsmen, skilled workers, indentured servants, and several young orphans. All were common people. About one-third of them were children.
The Pilgrims had organized the voyage. William Brewster and the other Pilgrim leaders had secured the right to settle on land claimed by the Virginia Company near the mouth of the Hudson River. To raise money for the voyage the Pilgrims signed a contract with a group of London stockholders. In return the stockholders would share in the profits of the planned colony. The Pilgrims had rounded up the "strangers" to increase the chances of success for their enterprise.
The 3,000-mile voyage across the Atlantic lasted more than two months. When they finally sighted land on November 9, 1620, the captain of the Mayflower knew right away that they were at Cape Cod, far north of their destination. The captain headed the Mayflower southward, but dangerous sand bars and heavy seas forced them to turn back. The Mayflower finally dropped anchor in a harbor at the tip of Cape Cod. Rather than chancing more days at sea, the Pilgrims decided to stay.
That decision caused problems straight away. According to William Bradford (who later wrote an account of the Pilgrims' experiences) several "strangers" made "discontented and mutinous speeches." They apparently argued that, since the Cape Cod area was outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, its rules and regulations no longer applied. The troublemakers threatened to do as they pleased "for none had power to command them," wrote William Bradford. Three thousand miles from home, a real crisis faced the colonists even before they stepped ashore.
Imagine the situation: over 100 people, cut off from any government, with an imminent uprising brewing. Only staunch determination would help the Pilgrims land and establish their colony. If they didn't work as a group, they could all die in the wilderness.
The Pilgrim leaders realized that they needed a temporary government authority. Back home, such authority came from the king. Isolated as they were in America, it could only come from the people themselves. Aboard the Mayflower, by necessity, the Pilgrims and "Strangers" made a written agreement or compact among themselves.
Their covenant began, “In the name of God, Amen.” Today, we know their agreement as the Mayflower Compact... it was likely composed by William Brewster and was signed by nearly all the adult male colonists, including two of the indentured servants. The format of the Mayflower Compact is very similar to the written agreements used by the Pilgrims to establish their Separatist churches in England and Holland. This pattern of church self-government served as a model for political self-government in the Mayflower Compact... God most certainly had a hand in the formation of this country.
The colonists had no intention of declaring their independence from England when they signed the Mayflower Compact. In the opening line of the Compact, both Pilgrims and "Strangers" refer to themselves as "loyal subjects" of King James. The rest of the Mayflower Compact is very short. It simply bound the signers into a "Civil Body Politic" for the purpose of passing "just and equal Laws... for the general good of the Colony." But those few words expressed the idea of self-government for the first time in the New World.
It's good thing the colonists found a way to work together as nearly half of them died that first brutal winter… they needed each other to survive in this New World. That first year, the burgeoning nation would see its first peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the local indigenous people, the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag shared with them their understanding of agriculture, hunting, and fishing, skills they would need to endure far from the resources of England. Nearly a year after landing, they set aside a time of thanksgiving for a successful harvest which lasted for four days. This involved 53 Pilgrims and 90 of the Wampanoag tribe, including their chief, Massasoit.
399 years later, that experiment in self-government is still ongoing, but Americans are blessed to live in the freest and most prosperous nation on earth... and it is still a beacon of hope for so many in this world. This Thanksgiving, I hope you can take the opportunity to enjoy the many wonderful pleasures of American life, including family, faith, and friends... and don't forget that during this holiday season that there are still those in need to reach out to. For several years now, our Thanksgivings are more like potluck dinners with many friends from church coming together with a sumptuous fare… this year, I’m bringing smoked turkey breasts, fried chicken drumsticks, pumpkin bisque, homemade cranberry sauce, and a veg dish of leeks and asparagus with pinenuts, all sautéed in duck fat and finished with lemon zest and juice… and that’s just from me. With so many good cooks involved, this year’s dinner will be epic… I wish you could all be here with us. Also invited are many international students from Duke University who get to experience something truly exceptional in this world, an American Thanksgiving from those who are truly thankful.
I look at scenes like this and wonder what it might have been like for the first settlers in such places. They were faced with formidable challenges and hardship, not just with mysterious indigenous people, but with unfamiliar and often dangerous wildlife, and weather they were quite unaccustomed to... all of this while they rebuilt their lives from scratch... and we think we have it hard in a country with so much opportunity? We have much to be thankful for... praise God from whom all blessings flow.
On October 3, 1863, in Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation to make the 4th Thursday of every November a National Day of Thanksgiving, he asked the nation 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.” That’s timeless advice for today, too.
Have a happy Thanksgiving… let it be a moment of grace!
If you would like to know more of the early history of America from the very writings of those who lived it, may I suggest The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel: www.amazon.com/The-Light-Glory-Peter-Marshall/dp/0800750543
This image of sunrise over the surf at Topsail Beach on North Carolina's Outer Banks gives hope for a grand day after a night of vicious thunderstorms.