Happy Thanksgiving!!

The history of Thanksgiving.

"The Mayflower Compact. In 1580, in the little town of Norwich, England, Robert Brown and a few followers broke away from the puritans and founded the first congregation of Independents, known later as Congregationalists. Norwich was noted for its guilds, especially the Guild of St. George. All these guilds were self-governing bodies. Robert Brown absorbed many democratic ideas from his knowledge of them. Being anxious to lead their own religious lives, his congregation moved to Holland, then a land of religious freedom. Other congregations followed them. One of the ost prosperous was that in Leyden, Holland. Its members, called Pilgrims, set sail for America in 1620. The Pilgrim ship Mayflower failed to reach the land granted to the congregation in a charter from the Virginia Company, then one of the great trading companies. The charter was of no value in the place where the Pilgims finally decided to land, and they were without any government. At this crisis their wise leaders calledtogether in the crowded cabin of the Mayflower . "We must build homes," they said. "The Indians may be unfriendly. We must band together, and work for the common good. We must be agreed upon the course we take."
On November 21, 1620, the Pilgrims wrote out their decision, there in the Mayflower cabin. In it they agreed to make laws and to obey them, to abide by what the majority decided, and to select leader to enforce their decisions. This agreement, which all signed, is the famous Mayflower Compact, and it has been called the beginning of democracy in America. The Pilgrims were the first Europeans who were given the opportunity to express politically the ideals and doctrines of their Chritian heritage."

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

In the name of God. Amen. We whose names are underwritten . . . do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politick, for our better ordering by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most mete and convenient for the general good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

"Many other examples could be given to show that the right of self-government existed in practically every American colony from its very foundation. Faith in government "by the people" was handed down from father to son as a priceless heritage. The parentage of this political faith can be claimed by the medieval guilds. The American colonists, merchants, as well as religious adventurers, were torch-bearers lighting a new fire of political freedom in the New World. Each colony became a little commonwealth, self-governing in most of the affairs of everyday life."


One year later...the Pilgrims had endured hardships but had managed to survive, in a large part due to the help of Squanto, an Indian who taught the Pilgrims how to fish, grow corn, and farm the land. At the end of their first year, the Puritans held a "harvest feast" celebrating the fruits of their farming efforts. The feast honored Squanto and their friends, the Wampanoag Indians. The feast was followed by three days of "thanksgiving" celebrating their good fortune.

So, we have Thanksgiving, in which we give Thanks most of all to Almighty God, who gives us the Freedom that we have, to worship Our One and Only Loving Creator!

Psalm 95:2--Let us come before him with Thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.

God bless America!
Jeremiah