What makes the Pilgrim movement so unique is that it stands in such contrast to the coercion practiced by the State Church of England? The State (in this case King James) was the head of the Church and thus there was little religious liberty. Richard Clyfton had such pressure when pastoring in Babworth, England where…
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In the United States which has benefited so much from the legacy of the Pilgrims who came in 1620, it is hard to imagine being forced to go to the parish church or face dire consequences. We have taken for granted that the State does not enforce religious belief and thus people are free to…
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Consider for a moment the year 1820 at the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims. Daniel Webster came to Plymouth, Massachusetts and on Forefathers Day declared: …let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by…
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Thomas Faunce, born in 1646 in Plymouth, is the key individual who preserves the memory of the rock the Pilgrims stepped on when landing in Plymouth in December of 1620. The fifth of eight children, his father John arrived on the Anne in 1623 at about 15 years of age and was thus considered a…
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Conversion, or spiritual liberty, was the origin and root of why the Pilgrims came to the shores of New England. Conversion is an act of God whereby He regenerates the heart and puts His Spirit into the believer. It is an act of surrender on our part, choosing to follow the risen Lord Jesus Christ…
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Queen Mary (“bloody Mary”) killed many who believed in Christ in the 1550’s. Many leaders prayed. They translated the Bible into the language of the people. The Geneva edition came in 1560. The result of this? The Great Reformation… and in its wake, the Pilgrim Church! The Pilgrims arrived at the peak of a revival…
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To the historian cognizant of American history and its significance, 2020 does not simply mark a new decade. It marks the 400th anniversary of a tiny band of people called Pilgrims who braved an ocean to plant a church and a colony in the wilderness of New England in 1620. But why did they come? …
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The Old Colony Club is reported to be the oldest men’s club in the western hemisphere! Formed in January of 1769 by seven Plymouth men, this is its 250th year! On December 22 of that first year they first commemorated the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. Known as “Old Colony Day” and later…
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In the year 1627, William Bradford relates that the Pilgrims built a trading post to “avoid the compassing of Cape Cod and those dangerous shoals, and so make any voyage to the southward in much shorter time and with far less danger.”
It was November 21 in the year 1581 when 18 year old Henry Jacobs entered St. Mary Hall in Oxford. Not much is known about his childhood or adult life until 1596 when he began to write about separatism and breaking with the Church of England. The important thing to note is that all those…
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The British surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781 was a miracle of providential timing and intervention. It involved at least four major ingredients that had to come together in the face of potential disaster. The disasters included worthless paper money and the lack of an ability to support the troops. In addition, troops outside…
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William Bradford, second Governor and historian of the Pilgrims, began his “journal” about ten years after they landed. With providential foresight, he said the purpose of history was, “That their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrestled in going through these things in their first beginnings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding…
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John Paul Jones, known as the “father of the U.S. Navy”, was born under the name John Paul in Scotland on July 6, 1747. His fame came from the amazing battle on September 23, 1779 where he defeated the British warship Serapis against all odds in a display of Providence and valor. At 13 years…
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Christopher Jones, a businessman and part owner of the Mayflower was from Harwich, England. He probably purchased it, along with Robert Childe, Thomas Short and Christopher Nichols in 1608 when he was 38 years old. It was a typical cargo ship carrying fish, lumber, tar, wine, cognac and vinegar.
Most people think of the Pilgrims as stuffy, mournful souls who dressed in black and never smiled. The life of William Brewster quickly dispells these myths, for he was a bold leader of the Pilgrim Church. Born in 1566 or 1567 in Scrooby, England, he entered Cambridge University and became an assistant to William Davison,…
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