Today in History, a ship had begun their journey from Plymouth, England in order to find a new land where they would be free to worship God without the restraints of the King. They originally started out in a boat called the 'Speedwell' which was not seaworthy and returned back to England.
There were two different groups on the Mayflower, actually. One of them, familiar to us, was known as the Pilgrims. The other group was called 'Strangers'. The two groups did not get along very well while sailing to the New World, but they made the trip in 2 months and 5 days.
There were about 101 people on board, half of them Pilgrims and the other half Strangers. There also was a baby born on board. The baby was named 'Oceanus'.
It was a very hard journey. But they made it, all the way across the ocean in less than 3 months! They didn't get off the ship right away, and while they were still on it, they drew up and signed the 'Mayflower Compact' an agreement which would enact just and equal laws for the good of the people of the colony.
When the Pilgrim got off the ship at their final destination, they built rough houses and shelters. The winter was extremely hard on them and at least half of them died. The ones that survived continued to build and learned how to plant seeds to grow food. The following year, they celebrated the very first Thanksgiving with all the produce they grew and invited some of their Indian friends who had helped them in settling in. In spite of all their hardships and loss, the Pilgrims were a grateful people and had no intention of ever returning to England again.
One more little thing. The Strangers were not people who professed to love God. This is important to note because there are people who teach History today, who would claim that the Pilgrims were immoral people. The reason they say this could be because of the Pilgrim's association with the Strangers on the ship. It would be easy to think that everyone on the ship had the same belief system, but that is not true in this case. What the Pilgrims believed and trusted in was very different from what the Strangers believed in. The Pilgrims, from what we can tell from the readings, were very moral, upright people, though they were not perfect. But the Strangers were very crude, rough people, who were not very moral or upright. Perhaps God used this adventure so that the Strangers would be in a place where they could see the Gospel at work in the lives of the people on board. Maybe this was the only opportunity in their lifetimes that they would have been able to hear and see the Gospel.
Links on the Mayflower:
Pilgrims Build Plymouth Colony
The Mayflower Lands
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