The 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Landing and the Mayflower Compact

(Receive our blog posts in your email by clicking here. If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)

WEDNESDAY, 6th September, the wind coming E.N.E., a fine small gale, we loosed from Plymouth, having been kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there dwelling; and, after many difficulties in boisterous storms, at length, by God's providence, upon the 9th November following, by break of the day we espied land, which we deemed to be Cape Cod; and so afterward it proved. And the appearance of it much comforted us, especially seeing so goodly a land, and wooded to the brink of the sea; it caused us to rejoice together, and praise God that had given us once again to see land. And thus we made our course S.S.W., purposing to go to a river ten leagues to the south of the Cape; but at night, the wind being contrary, we put round again for the bay of Cape Cod; and upon the 11th November we came to an anchor in the bay, which is a good harbour and pleasant bay, circled round, except in the entrance, which is about four miles over from land to laud, compassed about to the very sea with oaks, pines, juniper, sassafras, and other sweet wood. It is a harbour wherein a thousand sail of ships may safely ride. There we relieved ourselves with wood and water, and refreshed our people, while our shallop was fitted to coast the bay, to search for an habitation. There was the greatest store of fowl that ever we saw. — Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation in George Barrell Cheever, The Pilgrim Fathers: or, The Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, New England, in 1620 (1849)

The Pilgrims who sailed to America from England and The Netherlands in 1620 did so trusting in God to preserve them through stormy seas and an unknown wilderness. The hand of God brought them to Cape Cod on November 11, 1620 (O.S.) [November 21, N.S.], where they signed the Mayflower Compact and first stepped ashore at Provincetown Harbor.

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899).

Signing the Mayflower Compact 1620, a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1899).

The following month (December 11/21) the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Harbor — tradition locates the spot at Plymouth Rock — where they would begin to build a home, Plimoth Plantation. After a harsh first winter, assistance provided by Native Americans, and a bountiful autumn 1621 harvest, leading to a Thanksgiving celebration — the story of which is told by William Bradford, Edward Winslow and others — the Pilgrims’ story became embedded in the American consciousness (see Timothy Alden’s story of John and Priscilla Alden). It is a narrative that is challenged by some today, but the story Pilgrims’ journey in search of freedom to worship God without fear of persecution was treasured by many 19th century American Presbyterians.

"Daily the Pilgrims turned their eyes westward, hoping for a sight of the new land. They had shaped their course for the Hudson river, of which the Dutch navigators had made favorable reports. As the voyage lengthened, their longings for the land increased. They had been tossed on the sea now sixty-five days, when, on the 9th of November, the long, low coast-line of the New World gladdened their eyes. They thanked God for the sight, and took courage. On the 11th of November they dropped anchor within Cape Cod. Sixty-seven days they had passed in the ship since their final departure from England, and one hundred and twelve since the embarkation at Delft Haven. They were weary, many were sick, and the scurvy had attacked some. They might well rejoice that they had reached these shores." — Charles W. Elliott, The New England History, quoted in William Carlos Martyn, The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867)

In this quadricentennial of the Mayflower Landing and the Mayflower Compact, we remember the sacrifices and faith of the Pilgrims, the contributions of the Native Americans, and the legacy of faith and Biblical civil government which the Pilgrims brought to America, as cherished by American Presbyterians.

Pilgrim Anniversary, 22d Dec., 1842

Two hundred and twenty-two years
Have flown over Fore-fathers' rock,
Since th' era our home-love endears, —
There landed the brave little flock.

The ocean, the air and the land
Bent on them a stern winter frown,
But in faith and devotion that band,
Bold founders of empire, sat down.

The Pilgrims! a patriarch race,
Left country and kindred to find
For religion and freedom a place,
A home for th' oppressed of mankind.

The frail little Mayflower bore
The germ of a nation to rise
From East to Far West's distant shore,
And brave every clime 'neath the skies.

Ye fathers of millions,
I gaze with thrilling emotions on you,
My spirit goes back to your days,
Pure virtue, firm valor to view.

Your children now sip every stream
That waters our wide-spread domain,
Who of them so base as to dream
Descent from the pilgrims a stain. — James Lyman Merrick (1803-1866), Missionary to Persia, The Pilgrim’s Harp (1847)

Happy Thanksgiving from Log College Press!

(Receive our blog posts in your email by clicking here. If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)

J.R. Miller in The Book of Comfort (1912) writes:

Thanksgiving implies thought of God. One may be glad all the day and never think of God. Thanksgiving looks up with every breath and sees God as Father from whom all blessings come. Thanksgiving is praise. The heart is full of gratitude. Every moment has something in it to inspire love. The lilies made Jesus think of his Father, for it was he who clothed them in beauty. The providence of our lives, if we think rightly of it, is simply God caring for us….He who has learned the Thanksgiving lesson well has found the secret of a beautiful life. "Praise is comely," says the Hebrew poet. Comely means fit, graceful, pleasing, attractive. Ingratitude is never comely. The life that is always thankful is winsome, ever a joy to all who know it. The influence of an ever-praising life on those it touches is almost divine. The way to make others good is to be good yourself. The way to diffuse a spirit of thanksgiving is to be thankful yourself. A complaining spirit makes unhappiness everywhere….Thanksgiving has attained its rightful place in us only when it is part of all our days and dominates all our experiences. We may call one day in the year Thanksgiving Day and fill it with song and gladness, remembering all the happy things we have enjoyed, all the pleasant events, all the blessings of our friendships, all our prosperities. But we cannot gather all our year's thanksgivings into any brightest day. We cannot leave to-day without thanks and then thank God to-morrow for to-day and to-morrow both. To-day's sunshine will not light to-morrow's skies. Every day must be a thanksgiving day for itself. (pp. 167, 170-172) HT: Dorothy Simpson

For your Thanksgiving reading pleasure, be sure to check out the full chapter in Miller’s book titled “The Thanksgiving Lesson.” Also, you may wish to peruse William Carlos Martyn’s classic The Pilgrim Fathers of New England: A History (1867). Earlier this year we shared a post about Presbyterian Timothy Alden, Jr. ‘s account of his Mayflower ancestor John Alden’s courtship of Priscilla Mullins. We have also written about an earlier Thanksgiving celebrated by the French Huguenots in Florida in 1564. Many Thanksgiving sermons can be read here.

Pilgrim Thanksgiving.jpg

We here at Log College Press are thankful to God for the men and women of faith who have gone before us, and left us with such a rich legacy that our generation is able to rediscover through the blessings of technology. We are thankful that God has not left us without a witness to his faithfulness from generation to generation. We are thankful for the team of contributors who help Log College Press to bring the writings of earlier generations to the eyes and ears of the modern world. We are thankful for all of our readers, and all the kind expressions of support which we have received. Thank you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!

A Family Tradition Passed Down by Timothy Alden

(If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)

Many have heard of the famous Pilgrim love triangle involving Myles Standish, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. It is immortalized in the classic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish (1858).

In Longfellow’s poem, Priscilla famously says to John who is there to court by proxy on behalf of Myles:

“Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”

John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.jpg

It was Longfellow who impressed the love story that would become John and Priscilla Alden upon the American consciousness. But the story itself was first published by a descendant of theirs, Timothy Alden, Jr. (1771-1839), in 1814. Born in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Timothy went to live with his uncle at the age eight. It was his uncle who told him stories about the Alden family heritage all the way back to the Mayflower experience, Leyden and England. One of those stories involved the notable union of his direct ancestors. Alden later became a noted historian and antiquarian, the first president of Allegheny College and a Congregationalist-turned-Presbyterian minister. It was in 1814 that he published A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions in five volumes, which included the very account which inspired Longfellow’s poem. It is from the third volume that we may obtain his version of what really transpired.

Note. — The hon. John Alden was one of the pilgrims of Leyden, who came, in the May Flower, to Plymouth, in 1620. He was about twenty-two years of age, when he arrived, and was one of those, who signed the original civil compact, formed and solemnly adopted by the first adventurers at Cape Cod harbour, on the 15 of November. This was a few days previous to their finding and selecting a place for the commencement of their settlement in this western world. He was a single man and appears to have been an inmate in the family of captain Myles Standish. He was the stripling, who first leaped upon the rock, as mentioned by president Adams in a certain communication.

It is well known, that, of the first company consisting of one hundred and one, about one half died II six months after landing, in consequence of the hardships they were called to encounter. Mrs. Rose Standish, consort of captain Standish, departed this life, on the 29 of January, 1621. This circumstance is mentioned as an introduction to the following anecdote, which has been carefully handed down by tradition.

In a very short time after the decease of Mrs. Standish, the captain was led to think, that, if he could obtain Miss Priscilla Mullins, a daughter of Mr. William Mullins, the breach in his family would be happily repaired. He, therefore, according to the custom of those times, sent to ask Mr. Mullins' permission to visit his daughter. John Alden, the messenger, went and faithfully communicated the wishes of the captain. The old gentleman did not object, as he might have done, on account of the recency of captain Standish's bereavement. He said it was perfectly agreeable to him, but the young lady must also be consulted. The damsel was then called into the room, and John Alden, who is said to have been a man of most excellent form with a fair and ruddy complexion, arose, and, in a very courteous and prepossessing manner, delivered his errand. Miss Mullins listened with respectful attention, and at last, after a considerable pause, fixing her eyes upon him, with an open and pleasant countenance, said, prithee John, why do you not speak for yourself? He blushed, and bowed, and took his leave, but with a look, which indicated more, than his diffidence would permit him otherwise to express. However, he soon renewed his visit, and it was not long before their nuptials were celebrated in ample form. From them are descended all of the name, Alden, in the United States. What report he made to his constituent, after the first interview, tradition does not unfold; but it is said, how true the writer knows not, that the captain never forgave him to the day of his death.

For a few years, the subject of this article lived in Plymouth and then settled in Duxborough on a farm, which, it is a little remarkable, has remained in the possession of his descendants ever since and is one of the best in the town. He built his house on a rise of land near Eagle Tree Pond, where the ruins of his well are still to be seen.

He had four sons and four daughters, who lived to enter the marriage state, who had many children and most of whom lived to a good old age.

Timothy’s family tradition led to Longfellow’s narrative poem, and there you have the background for an American Pilgrim legend.