The Pilgrims and the Puritans celebrated two types of prayer services: fasting (and humiliation), as well as thanksgiving. As I wrote in my book, Journey of Faith: “To the Pilgrim, as well as the Puritan, everything was religious, but a prayer and fast day was called in the spring (regularly by 1694), to confess sin…
Genesis 1:28 states: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” The word “subdue,” from the Hebrew, is a word that indicates authority to steward the earth. Interestingly, we are not to take dominion over people. Also, we are accountable to God for our stewardship. The first piece of real estate was the…
The Pilgrims were a praying people. It was out of a prayerful heart that their story was born. It was in prayer that they confirmed their salvation and relationship to Jesus Christ to “reform their lives.” It was also in prayer that they consecrated themselves to one another “by a covenant of the Lord.” They…
Four hundred years ago, Edward Winslow commented on the year 1623, writing in Good News from New England (originally published in 1624), “The month of April being now come, on all hands we began to prepare for corn. And because there was no corn left before this time, save that was preserved for seed, being…
Patriots’ Day commemorates the Battle of Lexington that took place early on the morning of April 19, 1775. The day was first dubbed “Patriots’ Day” in 1894 to commemorate the battle. The Town of Lexington was established by the Parish of Cambridge Farms in 1713. However, the historic origin of what became known as Patriots’…
Thomas Weston financially backed the Pilgrims and their voyage to the shores of New England. He was attracted to the Pilgrims because they came as families under a church covenant. This, he believed, would prove to be the best atmosphere for an investment that was risky, especially since many plantations did not have an outcome…
February’s designation as “Black History Month” was inspired by Carter G. Woodson in 1915, with the first official week of celebration being held in 1926 due to both Lincoln and Douglas’ birthdays being the 12th and 14th respectively. For years I have enjoyed reading about pastors who have left a legacy of their commitment to…
Thomas Jefferson gave instructions that on his grave marker, three achievements would be noted: writer of the Declaration of Independence, “father” of the University of Virginia, and author of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. In 1992, the United States Congress established January 16 as Religious Freedom Day since “Bill No. 82” was passed…
On December 19, 1777, General Washington led 12,000 soldiers and 400 women and children to Valley Forge, about 25 miles outside of Philadelphia. Once the 1,500 huts were built, it became the fourth largest city in the colonies, with a very diverse population of free and enslaved African-American soldiers, civilians, wealthy officers, impoverished men, immigrants,…
The story of Squanto is truly amazing. William Bradford called him “a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.” Introduced to the Pilgrims by Samoset in March of 1621, his story of being captured by Thomas Hunt in 1614, being sent to Spain, gaining his freedom, learning English, and returning in…
After probably pondering the idea for weeks, on Monday, November 2, 1772, at a Town Meeting in Faneuil Hall (Boston), Sam Adams proposed “that a committee of correspondence be appointed, to consist of twenty-one persons, to state the rights of the colonies, and of this province in particular, as men, as Christians, and as subjects;…
In Great Experiment Hall in the U.S. Capitol, Allyn Cox’s mural of the First Continental Congress of 1774 shows Patrick Henry making his remarks in Carpenter’s Hall. According to John Adams, Henry spoke on September 6, saying, “Government is dissolved… We are in a State of Nature… I hope future Ages will quote our proceedings…
It was August 10, 1792, and American Ambassador Gouverneur Morris was in Paris. It was the day that the Monarchy of France would fall. Ever since July 14, 1789, when the Bastille was stormed, mob rule threatened to end the Monarchy. Once the King ordered the Swiss, who stood with their Monarch, to cease fire…
At the time of its signing, the Declaration of Independence was a “great reset.” Virtually all governments in recorded history prior to 1776 recognized few rights for people. Our Declaration, however, proclaimed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable…
The Plimoth Fort and palisade wall were built in the summer of 1622. A Benjamin Franklin aphorism published in his Poor Richard’s Almanack was, “Love your neighbor, yet don’t pull down your hedge.” This “pithy observation” of his, like many others, was derived from the wisdom literature of the Bible. The Bible’s injunction from the…