The Legacy of The Pilgrims
Why are the Pilgrims remembered at Thanksgiving?
Every year on the fourth Thursday of November, America observes Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving commemorates a day when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) for their first harvest in Plymouth Colony.
It can seem odd that the Pilgrims are remembered above all other early colonists in America.
The Pilgrims were not the first European colony to have a harvest inside the borders of the United States of America.
The first attempt at a colony in the US was the San Miguel de Gualdape colony in Georgia. It was created in 1526 AD and only lasted four months, so it probably did not have a harvest.
However, Saint Augustine, Florida was founded in 1565 AD and is still thriving. It had a harvest fifty-six years before the one in Plymouth Colony.
The Pilgrims were not even the first English colony to have a harvest inside the borders of the United States of America.
The two failed attempts at establishing an English Colony in 1585 AD and 1587 AD on Roanoke Island in North Carolina appear to have had a harvest. It is certain that the James Town colony in Virginia had a harvest after it was founded in 1607 AD, some thirteen years before the Pilgrims arrived.
Plymouth Colony was not the most successful English colony in the US.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony, found seven year later in 1628 AD by the Puritans, eventually merged with Plymouth Colony in 1692 AD. Plymouth Colony ceased to exist, the Pilgrims faded into history, while Massachusetts Bay Colony went on to become one of the original thirteen states of the United States.
So, it is obvious that the Pilgrims are not remembered for being first to reap a harvest in the US or for being the most successful in creating a colony in the US.
The reason that the Pilgrims are remembered with a national holiday is the legacy that they left behind.
Their legacy began before they ever set foot on the New World.
The Mayflower was blown off course by a storm causing the Pilgrims to land hundreds of miles north of their original destination. They were too low on supplies to continue to their original destination, so they had no choice but start their colony where they had landed in the area of Cape Cod.
However, the land patent and charter that they had received did not apply to the area of Cape Cod. So, they had no governing document for their colony.
In order to prevent anarchy and chaos from prevailing, which would have surely destroyed their colony with in a few months, they formed the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact provided for self-governance of the colony as a democratic republic through voting among all free men. It was signed by all forty-one free men on November 21, 1620 AD.
(The 28 women, and the 33 men that had not been granted free man status, were not allowed to vote or sign the Mayflower Compact.)
The Mayflower Compact allowed the creation of an executive branch in the form of the Plymouth Colony governor, and a legislative/judicial branch in the form of the General Court. The Governor and the General Court were elected by all the free men.
The Governor had a cabinet of seven Assistants that were appointed by the General Court. The Governor and Assistants then appointed a Constable to rule over each town. They also appointed Messengers to carry out the rest of the duties of the executive branch like publishing announcements, conducting land surveys, and law enforcement.
The General Court created laws based on the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) and English Common Law by majority vote within the General Court. These laws included the death penalty for the following crimes: murder, treason, witchcraft, arson, rape, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and striking or cursing one's own parents.
Cruel and unusual punishment was prohibited, so the death penalty was carried out by hanging or firing squad. Lesser crimes could be punished by flogging or shaming. Shaming began with either the guilty being placed in the stocks or their clothing being marked to identify their crime. After this, they would face public shame and humiliation for the duration of their sentence.
Jails only existed a places to hold the accused until their trial, or until their punishment was given, if they were found guilty. There were no long term prisons.
In 1636 AD, The General Court created the first legal code in North America. This legal code included a bill of rights that protected basic rights of all colonists, including the right to a trial before a jury of their peers.
In that same year, the General Court also created a disabled veterans fund to take care of veterans, who had became disabled during the time of their service.
In 1641 AD, the General Court created a Body of Liberties to protect the rights of people, who were unable to perform public services.
The General Court also had the power to raise taxes as well as authorize and keep a registry of all real estate transactions. The General Court divided all land in the colony into six mile by six mile townships to ensure that even the most rural areas had a local governing authority.
The General Court was also the top appeals court of the Colony. There were local courts in each township, but the accused had the right to appeal to the General Court, if found guilty of a criminal charge, or if they lost a civil suit. A jury of twelve freemen were selected to decide manners in the local court with a judge overseeing the trial.
The General Court could also call a Grand Enquist, composed of freemen, to see if there was enough sworn testimony to warrant a trial for very serious charges, similar to a Grand Jury.
So the contractual form of government between the governed and the governing became the basis for all modern democratic republics. The ideas first instituted by the Pilgrims were soon copied in nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony and then the other English Colonies in North America.
The Mayflower Compact is the basis of the constitution of the United States and each state. The Pilgrims also established the system of checks and balances provided by a three branch form of government. They also established the hierarchy of government jurisdiction that went from the most rural township to the government over the entire political state.
So, the first legacy of the Pilgrims was the basic form of the government and laws of the United States.
The Pilgrims did not just create townships, but also the structure of those townships. Each township was the community of a single congregation that met together in the same church building each week. Each congregation was self-governing as well.
When a community began, there was absolutely no concept of the separation of church and state as people today might think.
The church building was the center of the township, often literally. The same building was also the public school building during the week. It was also the town hall where people met to discuss community affairs. It also served the site of social functions like dances. Lastly, it was also the place where all other community business was conducted such as voting.
Not only that, but the pastor of the congregation was usually also the school master during the week. He also frequently appointed as the Constable of the township in rural communities.
For all intents and purposes, the most influence member of these communities was the local pastor. School curriculum and government policy were largely shaped by his sermons. He was consulted for advice on such matters. Rarely were these things formulated without his approval.
Even when a community grew larger and started having separate buildings for different functions, the teachers, government officials, and all other members of the same community still attended the same congregation together.
When a community got too large to meet as a single congregation, then a second congregation would typically be started in the most populated portion of the township and another church building built. People typically were members of the nearest congregation in these cases. In effect, the township now contained two communities, not just one.
Eventually, as a township became urbanized it might have many churches inside of it, but families still typically would be members of the nearest congregation. Each of these congregations would be their own community.
Eventually, these urbanized townships would join together to form a single city. However, inside that city, there would still be a number of communities. Each of these community still centered around a congregation that met together each week in the same place of worship.
This congregationalist model was copied by other colonies as the main means to create new communities. This pattern for creating communities established by the Pilgrims was used by pioneers as the United States continued to expand.
(For example, The Mountain View Church in Washington County, Arkansas, had also been the school. Our pews had fold up desks on the back of them. It was also the polling place and was where all governance of the Mountain View township had been conducted.)
So, the second legacy of the Pilgrims was the congregationalist model that became the standard for forming communities across the United States.
The Pilgrims were not just satisfied with creating Christian congregations for the European colonists, but were very active in efforts to bring Native Americans into the House of Truth. They sought to show the goodness of the Father of Truth to them, with the belief that the Native Americans would come to repentance once they understood His goodness.
The Pilgrims soon got their chance to bring the Good News to a Native American in a rather unexpected way.
They had spent the winter in the Mayflower, since they had arrived too late to build adequate shelter ashore. Not long after they began building their first settlement on the site of an abandoned Native American village, a Native American named Samoset boldly walked into their settlement and greeted them with, "Welcome, Englishmen!". He then asked if he could have some beer.
Samoset had learned English from English fishermen. He had traveled with them from his native land in modern Maine to Cape Cod. He had come to meet with Massasoit, the Sachem of the Wampanoags. When he learned about the Mayflower, he decided to meet the Pilgrims once they came onshore.
Samoset explained to the Pilgrims that the abandoned village had been named Patuxet. He told them of how a great plague had killed everyone in Patuxet. He then told them about Squanto (Tisquantum), the only survivor of the Patuxet.
Samoset spent the night with the Pilgrims and promised to return with Squanto as well as Massasoit,
Squanto and Massasoit were hesitant to meet the Pilgrims at first. After all, their previous encounters with Englishmen had not gone well. Still, Samoset was able to convince Squanto and Massasoit to meet with the Pilgrims.
When they arrived, Squanto spoke the Pilgrims in very good English. He explained to them about how he had came to speak such good English and be so familiar with English customs.
Captain John Smith had to return to England with one of the fishing ships. He left instructions for Captain Thomas Hunt to head to Spain to sell the dried fish, when the ship was full. However, Captain Hunt decided to enslave some of the Native Americans and sell them as well.
So, Captain Hunt invited twenty of Patuxet villagers to his ship to discuss trade in 1614 AD. Then kidnapped them. Captain Hunt tried to sell them as slaves in Spain, but some Monks figured out what he had done and forced him to give the Native Americans to them for free.
The Monks then educated the Native Americans in Christianity (as they understood it) and helped them go to England, with the hope that they could find voyage back to their native land. In England, Squanto learned English and eventually found voyage as a guide for Captain Robert Gorges.
When they arrived in area of Cape Cod, Massasoit avenged the earlier treachery of Captain Hunt by massacring the party sent by Captain Gorges. He then brought Squanto back into his village in 1619 AD.
However, Squanto and Massasoit found the Pilgrims to be quite different from the other Englishmen that they had met. So, Wampanoags and Pilgrims soon formed a mutually beneficial treaty in 1621 AD.
Not long after that, Samoset boarded a north bound English fishing ship and returned to his native land in modern Maine. He may came into the House of Truth later.
Squanto remained with the Pilgrims and taught them how to survive in the New World, while they taught him more about the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ). He also acted as their translator to Wampanoags as well as their guide and advisor. This helped the Pilgrims tell the Wampanoags the Good News in their own language.
Among those that heard the Good News translated by Squanto was Hobbamock. He came to live among the Pilgrims not long after Squanto.
Squanto died about a year later in late November from disease, but expressed with his last words the expectation to go to meet the Father of Truth in Heaven.
Hobbamock continued to live with the Pilgrims until he died in 1642 AD. During that time, he helped the Pilgrims tell the Good News to the Wampanoags in their own language.
Massasoit was still somewhat mistrustful of the Pilgrims until March of 1623 AD, when he became violently ill.
Edward Williams, who had became friends with Massasoit, and had learned to speak some of the language of the Wampanoags, came to Massasoit at once upon hearing of his illness. Massasoit was blind from the illness. He was so close to death, that both he and his people had given up all hope of recovery. (Many of the Wampanoags and people from related tribes had died from this disease.)
When his friend Edward Williams arrived, Massasoit cried out that he would never again see him again. However, this leader of Plymouth Colony prayed for wisdom and then comforted Massasoit. He told Massasoit that he would see him again.
Williams then gave Massasoit a little bit of medicine, and scraped out some stuff from the inside of his mouth. Within 30 minutes, Massasoit could see again. Then Williams gave him chicken soup and nursed him back to health.
Massasoit was convinced that the Pilgrims were really his friends and loved him. He allowed the Pilgrims to teach the children of Wampanoags English and other things that the Pilgrim children learned in their schools. He soon came into the House of Truth.
Massasoit eventually had his sons Wamsutta and Metacomet given the names of Alexander and Philip, which came from the Book of Truth (The Bible). He named his first daughter, "Amie", which means "friend" to signify his friendship with the Pilgrims. He named his second daughter "Sarah", after the wife of Abraham (Abram) in the Book of Truth.
This program of the Pilgrims bringing medical help, education, and helping the Wampanoags come into the House of Truth continued until shortly after the death of Massasoit in 1661 AD.
All during this time, the Pilgrims did not try to force the Wampanoags to change their culture. The Pilgrims had not came to preach English culture to the Native Americans, but the Good News about the Man of Truth.
The Wampanoags made their own changes to their culture. They changed what they learned was displeasing to the Father of Truth to what was pleasing to Him. They adopted whatever from the Pilgrims that they found useful. They retained everything else from their old culture that they found fitting and useful.
They came to live in the House of Truth as Wampanoags, not English people.
The Wampanoags were well prepared by the Pilgrims to come into the House of Truth in greater numbers by the time that Thomas Hooker arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 AD. He began making efforts to reach the Wampanoags as well, but was hindered by the language barrier. However, he lead an effort to build upon the pattern that the Pilgrims had established in reaching the Native Americans.
He was soon joined by his former student John Eliot at the end of 1631 AD.
Eliot soon began expanding the efforts of Hooker to reach the Native Americans with even greater zeal, but also found the language barrier hard to overcome. He longed to preach to the Native Americans in their own language and produce a translation of the Book of Truth in their own language for them to read for themselves. Little did he know, that things were already being put in place for him to realize both of these dreams.
That same year Richard Callicott came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as well.
Callicott began taking in orphaned Native American boys and raising them in his household, where he taught them about the Man of Truth.
Among those was John Sassamon (Wussausmon), who seems to have have already came into the House of Truth through the efforts of the Pilgrims. Sassamon retained his Native American language as he learned English.
Soon Sassamon was teaching John Eliot his native language, while Eliot help Sassamon improve his English. Eliot also taught Sassamon a much deeper understanding about the Man of Truth.
Soon, Sassamon was translating for Eliot when Eliot preached to the Wampanoags and related tribes.
By 1636 AD, Harvard College (today Harvard University) in Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded for the expressed purpose of raising up missionaries to teach the Good News to the Native Americans, and to provide them with an English education.
In 1637 AD, Cockenoe came into the house of Callicott after being orphaned at age seven during the Pequot War. He became very proficient in both English and several related Native American languages.
Soon, he was helping Eliot translate the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, a few other verses, and some tracts that Eliot could read to the Native Americans.
In 1646 AD, Eliot made his first attempt to preach a sermon in the Wampanoag language himself. Two of the listeners who came into the House of Truth under the preaching of Eliot was Job Nesuton and James Printer.
Soon, he began to establish praying towns for Wampanoags, Massachusetts, and other Native Americans that came into the House of Truth through his efforts.
He did this to protect them from the growing number of colonists that would not accept these Native Americans as equals. He hoped that these Native Americans would be accepted as equals, if enough differences were removed. He also recognized that Native Americans who had individual deeds to property, would have legal protection from losing that property to greedy colonists.
In most of these towns, these Native American Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) were eventually forced to adopt more and more of the Puritan customs by the Puritan authorities. However, the Wampanoag on Martha's Vineyard continued to make their own changes to their culture as they saw fit. Eliot was able to follow the pattern set by the Pilgrims there.
For the most part, this plan worked. In time, the Native American children were sitting next to the Colonist children in the same schools. They both began to adapt to each other to begin forging a new identity as Americans.
Soon, with the help of Cockenoe, Sassamon, and Nesuton, John Eliot was able to create the Eliot Bible in the Massachusetts language. James Printer did the actual printing using the first printing press in the United States at the Harvard Indian College.
By 1655 AD, they had printed the Gospel of Matthew, Genesis, and the Psalms in the Algonquin language. By 1661 AD, they had printed the entire Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament).
By 1663 AD, they printed the entire Book of Truth. One thousand copies were made and distributed to Native Americans and missionaries.
The Wampanoag and other tribes were now able to carry on the work of preaching the Good News to Native Americans and teaching each other how to live in line with the Book of Truth themselves.
In 1665 AD, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, a Wampanoag from Martha's Vineyard who came into the House of Truth through the efforts of Eliot, became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard.
By the time that John Eliot died in 1690 AD, the majority of the Native Americans from the Wampanoags and related tribes in the area of Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony had come into the House of Truth. Many of them became missionaries to other Native American tribes as well.
So, Hooker, Callicott, Eliot and their Native American brothers built upon the pattern for reaching Native Americans established by the Pilgrims. They took in orphans and expanded education, to the point of Native Americans became equal to them in all matters.
Other missionaries continued to follow the pattern established by the Pilgrims in dealing with Native Americans in other colonies. These included Jonathan Edwards, George Duffield, Azariah Horton, and David Brainerd.
Jonathan Edwards, leader of the First Great Awakening, was instrumental in getting Azariah Horton and David Brainerd appointed as missionaries. Many considered their zeal for preaching the Man of Truth - but not English culture - to the Native Americans to be extreme.
They thought that it was so extreme, that David Brainerd had been expelled from Yale for his views. (Yale had also been started for the same reasons as Harvard by this time.)
David Brainerd then went an lived among the Delaware tribe that he preached to in 1742 AD. In many ways, he adapted to their culture. This was a radical departure from the path prescribed by the mainstream leadership, but it was right in line with the pattern established by the Pilgrims.
He kept a journal about his experience. After he died in 1746 AD, Jonathan Edwards published his journal. This set off a flurry of missionary activity that has spread across the world.
This included missionaries to the Native Americans until the formation of the government of the United States in 1787 AD. These missionaries include John Brainerd (brother of David), Jonathan Edwards (who had not previous worked as a missionary), George Duffield, Charles Beatty, Elihu Spencer, John Martin, William Richardson, and Samuel Kirkland.
Not only were European Americans inspired by the journal of David Brainerd, but also Native Americans like Samson Occom became missionaries as well. This had always been the goal of the Pilgrims in their efforts.
The fulfillment by David Brainerd of the pattern established by the Pilgrims in reaching Native Americans became the basis of missionary work, not just for these Colonial American missionaries, but for missionaries around the world.
Many of these missionaries to Native Americans were very influential on George Washington.
Washington had been inspired by the sermons of Jonathan Edwards during the First Great Awakening. Azariah Horton was pastor to the his Revolutionary Army when they were quartered near Bottle Hill. Samuel Kirkland had helped Washington get the co-operation of the Iroquois against the British in the Revolutionary War. George Duffield had served as a chaplain under Washington in the Revolutionary War.
Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War, was likewise influenced by the missionaries that followed the pattern for treatment of Native Americans first developed by the Pilgrims.
Together, Washington and Knox worked out a six point plan for the United States government to send people to bring Native Americans into the House of Truth based on the pattern created by the Pilgrims. They began implementing their plan with The Five Civilized Tribes.
So, the third legacy of the Pilgrims was creating the pattern used by Americans to perform missionary work. This pattern is still being followed today.
So, the Pilgrims left behind a legacy of that shaped many of the things that has made America great - or even possible. It is no wonder that they are remembered each year at Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, the Pilgrims also left a fourth legacy.
The Pilgrims did not develop the skills needed to thrive as a colony on their own. This forced them to allow the Strangers to join their colonies as well.
The Strangers were the worst kind of immigrants - Europeans! Even though they came from the same continent as the Pilgrims, they did not have the same motivations as the Pilgrims in coming.
The Pilgrims worked hand in hand with the Native Americans to become something unique and different - Americans. The Pilgrims left Europe to make America into some thing better than Europe.
The Pilgrims envisioned a country that would serve as a city on a hill that the entire world could look to as an example of how a society prospered when it lived by laws based on the Law of Truth. They did not just come to escape persecution in Europe, but to escape the moral corruption in Europe that came from European thinking.
The Strangers on the other hand came to America to benefit from the efforts of the Pilgrims. They sought to oppress the Native Americans, take their land, and in some cases, even exterminate them. They wanted to make America into Europe.
The Strangers envision a country where they could do things in the same manner as Europeans did, but somehow still get the benefits that came from doing the things that Pilgrims did. They did not come to escape persecution in Europe, but to spread the moral corruption to America that came from European thinking.
These Strangers did not just work in the commercial realm of Plymouth Colony, but became involved in the government, education, and even the religious realms as well. Though they were the minority at first, they still had influence that created division.
The Strangers set the pattern followed by later European immigrants, who also came over for the wrong reasons.
These later European immigrants came here to get bigger, better, newer stuff. They have sought to make America into Europe through a subtle influence.
Through their influence most Americans do not even really understand the meaning of liberty. They do not know what they are celebrating on Independence Day. Those following the pattern set by the Strangers have brought about the disintegration of Thanksgiving, so that Americans are no longer remembering the legacy of the Pilgrims!
So, Pilgrims and Strangers set a pattern of division that has defined so much of American history and American life.
It has caused there to be a political division into a two party system.
It has caused division over slavery that lead to the first American Civil War. It caused division over the treatment of Native Americans, with one party making fair treaties with Native Americans, only to have those same treaties broken when the other party came into power. It caused division over the treatment of African Americans, with one party working to give them the right to vote and civil rights, while the other party worked to deny African Americans these rights. It caused division over the treatment of women, with one party seeking to give them the right to vote and equal pay for equal work, while the other party sought to deny them those things. It caused division over the rights of unborn children, with one party seeking to give them the right to be born, while the other party sought to protect the serial killers, who viciously murdered them in the womb. It has caused division over marriage, with one party seeking to define marriage as it is in the Book of Truth, while the other party works to make Americans live like they were married in Sodom. It has caused a division over Israel, with one party working build up the Impossible Country as a blessing to the human race, while the other party works to tear down Israel as a curse to the human race.
One party wants to restore the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) as the American Spirit, while the other party is given over to the Spirit of Anti-Jewism and the Spirit of Anti-Christ.
Basically, there has been a continual struggle between those with an agenda to do the will of the Father of Truth and those with an agenda to do the will of the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil). These two cannot exist in peace for long periods of time.
This division has lead to attempts to bridge the divide with compromise. This compromise has lead so many Americans to fall for the Great Deception. So, instead of answering the call of 911 with repentance, America experienced a loss of power since that time.
So, the fourth legacy of the Pilgrims is that they sowed the seeds that will eventually lead to the death of America.
The Pilgrims also left a legacy of taking action to resist evil, instead of living in compromise. They recognized that they had reach a time for civil disobedience. They showed the evidence of faith when they left behind every comfort of the Old World to face the hardships of starting over in the New World.
The Pilgrims then suffered much persecution to create a legacy that made America great. Patriots who love America will in like manner will have to experience the refining fire that the Pilgrims experienced to make America great again.
That is the greatest legacy of the Pilgrims.
Those who follow the greatest legacy of the Pilgrims, will one day have their hunger and thirst for righteousness filled by the Father of Truth (Matthew 5:6).
Since they will suffer to follow the Man of Truth in this world, then they will reign with the Man of Truth in the world to come (2 Timothy 2:12). They will reign as priests and kings on this Earth under the Man of Truth, to ensure that neither religion nor government can be corrupted with compromise (Revelation 5:8-10). They will reign a thousand years on this Earth with the Man of Truth (Revelation 20:6).
After that, a Renewed Heaven and Earth, where only righteousness exists, will replace the current Heaven and Earth as they have longed for (2 Peter 3:10-13). They will then have their hunger and thirst for righteousness filled as they reign with the Man of Truth forever (Revelation 22:3-5).
So, follow in the legacy of the Pilgrims by coming into the House of Truth. Like the Pilgrims, you will suffer hardship for following the Man of Truth (2 Timothy 3:12). Like the Pilgrims, that hardship is the price of admission for a new life in a new world (1 Peter 4:12-14).
However, like the Pilgrims, you will also leave a legacy to those who come after you (2 Corinthians 12:14).
You begin to create that legacy when you surrender control of your life to the Man of Truth, because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Come into the House of Truth!
Every year on the fourth Thursday of November, America observes Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving commemorates a day when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Father of Truth (YHVH aka God aka THE LORD) for their first harvest in Plymouth Colony.
It can seem odd that the Pilgrims are remembered above all other early colonists in America.
The Pilgrims were not the first European colony to have a harvest inside the borders of the United States of America.
The first attempt at a colony in the US was the San Miguel de Gualdape colony in Georgia. It was created in 1526 AD and only lasted four months, so it probably did not have a harvest.
However, Saint Augustine, Florida was founded in 1565 AD and is still thriving. It had a harvest fifty-six years before the one in Plymouth Colony.
The Pilgrims were not even the first English colony to have a harvest inside the borders of the United States of America.
The two failed attempts at establishing an English Colony in 1585 AD and 1587 AD on Roanoke Island in North Carolina appear to have had a harvest. It is certain that the James Town colony in Virginia had a harvest after it was founded in 1607 AD, some thirteen years before the Pilgrims arrived.
Plymouth Colony was not the most successful English colony in the US.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony, found seven year later in 1628 AD by the Puritans, eventually merged with Plymouth Colony in 1692 AD. Plymouth Colony ceased to exist, the Pilgrims faded into history, while Massachusetts Bay Colony went on to become one of the original thirteen states of the United States.
So, it is obvious that the Pilgrims are not remembered for being first to reap a harvest in the US or for being the most successful in creating a colony in the US.
The reason that the Pilgrims are remembered with a national holiday is the legacy that they left behind.
Their legacy began before they ever set foot on the New World.
The Mayflower was blown off course by a storm causing the Pilgrims to land hundreds of miles north of their original destination. They were too low on supplies to continue to their original destination, so they had no choice but start their colony where they had landed in the area of Cape Cod.
However, the land patent and charter that they had received did not apply to the area of Cape Cod. So, they had no governing document for their colony.
In order to prevent anarchy and chaos from prevailing, which would have surely destroyed their colony with in a few months, they formed the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact provided for self-governance of the colony as a democratic republic through voting among all free men. It was signed by all forty-one free men on November 21, 1620 AD.
(The 28 women, and the 33 men that had not been granted free man status, were not allowed to vote or sign the Mayflower Compact.)
The Mayflower Compact allowed the creation of an executive branch in the form of the Plymouth Colony governor, and a legislative/judicial branch in the form of the General Court. The Governor and the General Court were elected by all the free men.
The Governor had a cabinet of seven Assistants that were appointed by the General Court. The Governor and Assistants then appointed a Constable to rule over each town. They also appointed Messengers to carry out the rest of the duties of the executive branch like publishing announcements, conducting land surveys, and law enforcement.
The General Court created laws based on the Law of Truth (Torah aka The Law) and English Common Law by majority vote within the General Court. These laws included the death penalty for the following crimes: murder, treason, witchcraft, arson, rape, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and striking or cursing one's own parents.
Cruel and unusual punishment was prohibited, so the death penalty was carried out by hanging or firing squad. Lesser crimes could be punished by flogging or shaming. Shaming began with either the guilty being placed in the stocks or their clothing being marked to identify their crime. After this, they would face public shame and humiliation for the duration of their sentence.
Jails only existed a places to hold the accused until their trial, or until their punishment was given, if they were found guilty. There were no long term prisons.
In 1636 AD, The General Court created the first legal code in North America. This legal code included a bill of rights that protected basic rights of all colonists, including the right to a trial before a jury of their peers.
In that same year, the General Court also created a disabled veterans fund to take care of veterans, who had became disabled during the time of their service.
In 1641 AD, the General Court created a Body of Liberties to protect the rights of people, who were unable to perform public services.
The General Court also had the power to raise taxes as well as authorize and keep a registry of all real estate transactions. The General Court divided all land in the colony into six mile by six mile townships to ensure that even the most rural areas had a local governing authority.
The General Court was also the top appeals court of the Colony. There were local courts in each township, but the accused had the right to appeal to the General Court, if found guilty of a criminal charge, or if they lost a civil suit. A jury of twelve freemen were selected to decide manners in the local court with a judge overseeing the trial.
The General Court could also call a Grand Enquist, composed of freemen, to see if there was enough sworn testimony to warrant a trial for very serious charges, similar to a Grand Jury.
So the contractual form of government between the governed and the governing became the basis for all modern democratic republics. The ideas first instituted by the Pilgrims were soon copied in nearby Massachusetts Bay Colony and then the other English Colonies in North America.
The Mayflower Compact is the basis of the constitution of the United States and each state. The Pilgrims also established the system of checks and balances provided by a three branch form of government. They also established the hierarchy of government jurisdiction that went from the most rural township to the government over the entire political state.
So, the first legacy of the Pilgrims was the basic form of the government and laws of the United States.
The Pilgrims did not just create townships, but also the structure of those townships. Each township was the community of a single congregation that met together in the same church building each week. Each congregation was self-governing as well.
When a community began, there was absolutely no concept of the separation of church and state as people today might think.
The church building was the center of the township, often literally. The same building was also the public school building during the week. It was also the town hall where people met to discuss community affairs. It also served the site of social functions like dances. Lastly, it was also the place where all other community business was conducted such as voting.
Not only that, but the pastor of the congregation was usually also the school master during the week. He also frequently appointed as the Constable of the township in rural communities.
For all intents and purposes, the most influence member of these communities was the local pastor. School curriculum and government policy were largely shaped by his sermons. He was consulted for advice on such matters. Rarely were these things formulated without his approval.
Even when a community grew larger and started having separate buildings for different functions, the teachers, government officials, and all other members of the same community still attended the same congregation together.
When a community got too large to meet as a single congregation, then a second congregation would typically be started in the most populated portion of the township and another church building built. People typically were members of the nearest congregation in these cases. In effect, the township now contained two communities, not just one.
Eventually, as a township became urbanized it might have many churches inside of it, but families still typically would be members of the nearest congregation. Each of these congregations would be their own community.
Eventually, these urbanized townships would join together to form a single city. However, inside that city, there would still be a number of communities. Each of these community still centered around a congregation that met together each week in the same place of worship.
This congregationalist model was copied by other colonies as the main means to create new communities. This pattern for creating communities established by the Pilgrims was used by pioneers as the United States continued to expand.
(For example, The Mountain View Church in Washington County, Arkansas, had also been the school. Our pews had fold up desks on the back of them. It was also the polling place and was where all governance of the Mountain View township had been conducted.)
So, the second legacy of the Pilgrims was the congregationalist model that became the standard for forming communities across the United States.
The Pilgrims were not just satisfied with creating Christian congregations for the European colonists, but were very active in efforts to bring Native Americans into the House of Truth. They sought to show the goodness of the Father of Truth to them, with the belief that the Native Americans would come to repentance once they understood His goodness.
The Pilgrims soon got their chance to bring the Good News to a Native American in a rather unexpected way.
They had spent the winter in the Mayflower, since they had arrived too late to build adequate shelter ashore. Not long after they began building their first settlement on the site of an abandoned Native American village, a Native American named Samoset boldly walked into their settlement and greeted them with, "Welcome, Englishmen!". He then asked if he could have some beer.
Samoset had learned English from English fishermen. He had traveled with them from his native land in modern Maine to Cape Cod. He had come to meet with Massasoit, the Sachem of the Wampanoags. When he learned about the Mayflower, he decided to meet the Pilgrims once they came onshore.
Samoset explained to the Pilgrims that the abandoned village had been named Patuxet. He told them of how a great plague had killed everyone in Patuxet. He then told them about Squanto (Tisquantum), the only survivor of the Patuxet.
Samoset spent the night with the Pilgrims and promised to return with Squanto as well as Massasoit,
Squanto and Massasoit were hesitant to meet the Pilgrims at first. After all, their previous encounters with Englishmen had not gone well. Still, Samoset was able to convince Squanto and Massasoit to meet with the Pilgrims.
When they arrived, Squanto spoke the Pilgrims in very good English. He explained to them about how he had came to speak such good English and be so familiar with English customs.
Captain John Smith had to return to England with one of the fishing ships. He left instructions for Captain Thomas Hunt to head to Spain to sell the dried fish, when the ship was full. However, Captain Hunt decided to enslave some of the Native Americans and sell them as well.
So, Captain Hunt invited twenty of Patuxet villagers to his ship to discuss trade in 1614 AD. Then kidnapped them. Captain Hunt tried to sell them as slaves in Spain, but some Monks figured out what he had done and forced him to give the Native Americans to them for free.
The Monks then educated the Native Americans in Christianity (as they understood it) and helped them go to England, with the hope that they could find voyage back to their native land. In England, Squanto learned English and eventually found voyage as a guide for Captain Robert Gorges.
When they arrived in area of Cape Cod, Massasoit avenged the earlier treachery of Captain Hunt by massacring the party sent by Captain Gorges. He then brought Squanto back into his village in 1619 AD.
However, Squanto and Massasoit found the Pilgrims to be quite different from the other Englishmen that they had met. So, Wampanoags and Pilgrims soon formed a mutually beneficial treaty in 1621 AD.
Not long after that, Samoset boarded a north bound English fishing ship and returned to his native land in modern Maine. He may came into the House of Truth later.
Squanto remained with the Pilgrims and taught them how to survive in the New World, while they taught him more about the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ). He also acted as their translator to Wampanoags as well as their guide and advisor. This helped the Pilgrims tell the Wampanoags the Good News in their own language.
Among those that heard the Good News translated by Squanto was Hobbamock. He came to live among the Pilgrims not long after Squanto.
Squanto died about a year later in late November from disease, but expressed with his last words the expectation to go to meet the Father of Truth in Heaven.
Hobbamock continued to live with the Pilgrims until he died in 1642 AD. During that time, he helped the Pilgrims tell the Good News to the Wampanoags in their own language.
Massasoit was still somewhat mistrustful of the Pilgrims until March of 1623 AD, when he became violently ill.
Edward Williams, who had became friends with Massasoit, and had learned to speak some of the language of the Wampanoags, came to Massasoit at once upon hearing of his illness. Massasoit was blind from the illness. He was so close to death, that both he and his people had given up all hope of recovery. (Many of the Wampanoags and people from related tribes had died from this disease.)
When his friend Edward Williams arrived, Massasoit cried out that he would never again see him again. However, this leader of Plymouth Colony prayed for wisdom and then comforted Massasoit. He told Massasoit that he would see him again.
Williams then gave Massasoit a little bit of medicine, and scraped out some stuff from the inside of his mouth. Within 30 minutes, Massasoit could see again. Then Williams gave him chicken soup and nursed him back to health.
Massasoit was convinced that the Pilgrims were really his friends and loved him. He allowed the Pilgrims to teach the children of Wampanoags English and other things that the Pilgrim children learned in their schools. He soon came into the House of Truth.
Massasoit eventually had his sons Wamsutta and Metacomet given the names of Alexander and Philip, which came from the Book of Truth (The Bible). He named his first daughter, "Amie", which means "friend" to signify his friendship with the Pilgrims. He named his second daughter "Sarah", after the wife of Abraham (Abram) in the Book of Truth.
This program of the Pilgrims bringing medical help, education, and helping the Wampanoags come into the House of Truth continued until shortly after the death of Massasoit in 1661 AD.
All during this time, the Pilgrims did not try to force the Wampanoags to change their culture. The Pilgrims had not came to preach English culture to the Native Americans, but the Good News about the Man of Truth.
The Wampanoags made their own changes to their culture. They changed what they learned was displeasing to the Father of Truth to what was pleasing to Him. They adopted whatever from the Pilgrims that they found useful. They retained everything else from their old culture that they found fitting and useful.
They came to live in the House of Truth as Wampanoags, not English people.
The Wampanoags were well prepared by the Pilgrims to come into the House of Truth in greater numbers by the time that Thomas Hooker arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 AD. He began making efforts to reach the Wampanoags as well, but was hindered by the language barrier. However, he lead an effort to build upon the pattern that the Pilgrims had established in reaching the Native Americans.
He was soon joined by his former student John Eliot at the end of 1631 AD.
Eliot soon began expanding the efforts of Hooker to reach the Native Americans with even greater zeal, but also found the language barrier hard to overcome. He longed to preach to the Native Americans in their own language and produce a translation of the Book of Truth in their own language for them to read for themselves. Little did he know, that things were already being put in place for him to realize both of these dreams.
That same year Richard Callicott came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as well.
Callicott began taking in orphaned Native American boys and raising them in his household, where he taught them about the Man of Truth.
Among those was John Sassamon (Wussausmon), who seems to have have already came into the House of Truth through the efforts of the Pilgrims. Sassamon retained his Native American language as he learned English.
Soon Sassamon was teaching John Eliot his native language, while Eliot help Sassamon improve his English. Eliot also taught Sassamon a much deeper understanding about the Man of Truth.
Soon, Sassamon was translating for Eliot when Eliot preached to the Wampanoags and related tribes.
By 1636 AD, Harvard College (today Harvard University) in Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded for the expressed purpose of raising up missionaries to teach the Good News to the Native Americans, and to provide them with an English education.
In 1637 AD, Cockenoe came into the house of Callicott after being orphaned at age seven during the Pequot War. He became very proficient in both English and several related Native American languages.
Soon, he was helping Eliot translate the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, a few other verses, and some tracts that Eliot could read to the Native Americans.
In 1646 AD, Eliot made his first attempt to preach a sermon in the Wampanoag language himself. Two of the listeners who came into the House of Truth under the preaching of Eliot was Job Nesuton and James Printer.
Soon, he began to establish praying towns for Wampanoags, Massachusetts, and other Native Americans that came into the House of Truth through his efforts.
He did this to protect them from the growing number of colonists that would not accept these Native Americans as equals. He hoped that these Native Americans would be accepted as equals, if enough differences were removed. He also recognized that Native Americans who had individual deeds to property, would have legal protection from losing that property to greedy colonists.
In most of these towns, these Native American Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) were eventually forced to adopt more and more of the Puritan customs by the Puritan authorities. However, the Wampanoag on Martha's Vineyard continued to make their own changes to their culture as they saw fit. Eliot was able to follow the pattern set by the Pilgrims there.
For the most part, this plan worked. In time, the Native American children were sitting next to the Colonist children in the same schools. They both began to adapt to each other to begin forging a new identity as Americans.
Soon, with the help of Cockenoe, Sassamon, and Nesuton, John Eliot was able to create the Eliot Bible in the Massachusetts language. James Printer did the actual printing using the first printing press in the United States at the Harvard Indian College.
By 1655 AD, they had printed the Gospel of Matthew, Genesis, and the Psalms in the Algonquin language. By 1661 AD, they had printed the entire Renewed Covenant (B'rit Chadashah aka The New Testament).
By 1663 AD, they printed the entire Book of Truth. One thousand copies were made and distributed to Native Americans and missionaries.
The Wampanoag and other tribes were now able to carry on the work of preaching the Good News to Native Americans and teaching each other how to live in line with the Book of Truth themselves.
In 1665 AD, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, a Wampanoag from Martha's Vineyard who came into the House of Truth through the efforts of Eliot, became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard.
By the time that John Eliot died in 1690 AD, the majority of the Native Americans from the Wampanoags and related tribes in the area of Massachusetts Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony had come into the House of Truth. Many of them became missionaries to other Native American tribes as well.
So, Hooker, Callicott, Eliot and their Native American brothers built upon the pattern for reaching Native Americans established by the Pilgrims. They took in orphans and expanded education, to the point of Native Americans became equal to them in all matters.
Other missionaries continued to follow the pattern established by the Pilgrims in dealing with Native Americans in other colonies. These included Jonathan Edwards, George Duffield, Azariah Horton, and David Brainerd.
Jonathan Edwards, leader of the First Great Awakening, was instrumental in getting Azariah Horton and David Brainerd appointed as missionaries. Many considered their zeal for preaching the Man of Truth - but not English culture - to the Native Americans to be extreme.
They thought that it was so extreme, that David Brainerd had been expelled from Yale for his views. (Yale had also been started for the same reasons as Harvard by this time.)
David Brainerd then went an lived among the Delaware tribe that he preached to in 1742 AD. In many ways, he adapted to their culture. This was a radical departure from the path prescribed by the mainstream leadership, but it was right in line with the pattern established by the Pilgrims.
He kept a journal about his experience. After he died in 1746 AD, Jonathan Edwards published his journal. This set off a flurry of missionary activity that has spread across the world.
This included missionaries to the Native Americans until the formation of the government of the United States in 1787 AD. These missionaries include John Brainerd (brother of David), Jonathan Edwards (who had not previous worked as a missionary), George Duffield, Charles Beatty, Elihu Spencer, John Martin, William Richardson, and Samuel Kirkland.
Not only were European Americans inspired by the journal of David Brainerd, but also Native Americans like Samson Occom became missionaries as well. This had always been the goal of the Pilgrims in their efforts.
The fulfillment by David Brainerd of the pattern established by the Pilgrims in reaching Native Americans became the basis of missionary work, not just for these Colonial American missionaries, but for missionaries around the world.
Many of these missionaries to Native Americans were very influential on George Washington.
Washington had been inspired by the sermons of Jonathan Edwards during the First Great Awakening. Azariah Horton was pastor to the his Revolutionary Army when they were quartered near Bottle Hill. Samuel Kirkland had helped Washington get the co-operation of the Iroquois against the British in the Revolutionary War. George Duffield had served as a chaplain under Washington in the Revolutionary War.
Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War, was likewise influenced by the missionaries that followed the pattern for treatment of Native Americans first developed by the Pilgrims.
Together, Washington and Knox worked out a six point plan for the United States government to send people to bring Native Americans into the House of Truth based on the pattern created by the Pilgrims. They began implementing their plan with The Five Civilized Tribes.
So, the third legacy of the Pilgrims was creating the pattern used by Americans to perform missionary work. This pattern is still being followed today.
So, the Pilgrims left behind a legacy of that shaped many of the things that has made America great - or even possible. It is no wonder that they are remembered each year at Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, the Pilgrims also left a fourth legacy.
The Pilgrims did not develop the skills needed to thrive as a colony on their own. This forced them to allow the Strangers to join their colonies as well.
The Strangers were the worst kind of immigrants - Europeans! Even though they came from the same continent as the Pilgrims, they did not have the same motivations as the Pilgrims in coming.
The Pilgrims worked hand in hand with the Native Americans to become something unique and different - Americans. The Pilgrims left Europe to make America into some thing better than Europe.
The Pilgrims envisioned a country that would serve as a city on a hill that the entire world could look to as an example of how a society prospered when it lived by laws based on the Law of Truth. They did not just come to escape persecution in Europe, but to escape the moral corruption in Europe that came from European thinking.
The Strangers on the other hand came to America to benefit from the efforts of the Pilgrims. They sought to oppress the Native Americans, take their land, and in some cases, even exterminate them. They wanted to make America into Europe.
The Strangers envision a country where they could do things in the same manner as Europeans did, but somehow still get the benefits that came from doing the things that Pilgrims did. They did not come to escape persecution in Europe, but to spread the moral corruption to America that came from European thinking.
These Strangers did not just work in the commercial realm of Plymouth Colony, but became involved in the government, education, and even the religious realms as well. Though they were the minority at first, they still had influence that created division.
The Strangers set the pattern followed by later European immigrants, who also came over for the wrong reasons.
These later European immigrants came here to get bigger, better, newer stuff. They have sought to make America into Europe through a subtle influence.
Through their influence most Americans do not even really understand the meaning of liberty. They do not know what they are celebrating on Independence Day. Those following the pattern set by the Strangers have brought about the disintegration of Thanksgiving, so that Americans are no longer remembering the legacy of the Pilgrims!
So, Pilgrims and Strangers set a pattern of division that has defined so much of American history and American life.
It has caused there to be a political division into a two party system.
It has caused division over slavery that lead to the first American Civil War. It caused division over the treatment of Native Americans, with one party making fair treaties with Native Americans, only to have those same treaties broken when the other party came into power. It caused division over the treatment of African Americans, with one party working to give them the right to vote and civil rights, while the other party worked to deny African Americans these rights. It caused division over the treatment of women, with one party seeking to give them the right to vote and equal pay for equal work, while the other party sought to deny them those things. It caused division over the rights of unborn children, with one party seeking to give them the right to be born, while the other party sought to protect the serial killers, who viciously murdered them in the womb. It has caused division over marriage, with one party seeking to define marriage as it is in the Book of Truth, while the other party works to make Americans live like they were married in Sodom. It has caused a division over Israel, with one party working build up the Impossible Country as a blessing to the human race, while the other party works to tear down Israel as a curse to the human race.
One party wants to restore the Spirit of Truth (Ruach HaQodesh aka The Holy Spirit aka The Holy Ghost) as the American Spirit, while the other party is given over to the Spirit of Anti-Jewism and the Spirit of Anti-Christ.
Basically, there has been a continual struggle between those with an agenda to do the will of the Father of Truth and those with an agenda to do the will of the Father of Lies (HaShatan aka Satan Aka The Devil). These two cannot exist in peace for long periods of time.
This division has lead to attempts to bridge the divide with compromise. This compromise has lead so many Americans to fall for the Great Deception. So, instead of answering the call of 911 with repentance, America experienced a loss of power since that time.
So, the fourth legacy of the Pilgrims is that they sowed the seeds that will eventually lead to the death of America.
The Pilgrims also left a legacy of taking action to resist evil, instead of living in compromise. They recognized that they had reach a time for civil disobedience. They showed the evidence of faith when they left behind every comfort of the Old World to face the hardships of starting over in the New World.
The Pilgrims then suffered much persecution to create a legacy that made America great. Patriots who love America will in like manner will have to experience the refining fire that the Pilgrims experienced to make America great again.
That is the greatest legacy of the Pilgrims.
Those who follow the greatest legacy of the Pilgrims, will one day have their hunger and thirst for righteousness filled by the Father of Truth (Matthew 5:6).
Since they will suffer to follow the Man of Truth in this world, then they will reign with the Man of Truth in the world to come (2 Timothy 2:12). They will reign as priests and kings on this Earth under the Man of Truth, to ensure that neither religion nor government can be corrupted with compromise (Revelation 5:8-10). They will reign a thousand years on this Earth with the Man of Truth (Revelation 20:6).
After that, a Renewed Heaven and Earth, where only righteousness exists, will replace the current Heaven and Earth as they have longed for (2 Peter 3:10-13). They will then have their hunger and thirst for righteousness filled as they reign with the Man of Truth forever (Revelation 22:3-5).
So, follow in the legacy of the Pilgrims by coming into the House of Truth. Like the Pilgrims, you will suffer hardship for following the Man of Truth (2 Timothy 3:12). Like the Pilgrims, that hardship is the price of admission for a new life in a new world (1 Peter 4:12-14).
However, like the Pilgrims, you will also leave a legacy to those who come after you (2 Corinthians 12:14).
You begin to create that legacy when you surrender control of your life to the Man of Truth, because you believe that the Father of Truth raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Come into the House of Truth!
Labels: America, History, Native Americans, Pilgrims, Thanksgiving
posted by The House Of Truth @ November 28, 2019
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