• Nov. 6, 2009
Thanksgiving Reading

Each year at this time I like to spend some time reading books that remind me of what Thanksgiving is all about.  One that is a favorite of mine is, Of Plymouth Plantation: Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650.  On top of many reasons that I will list below, I like to read this each November because it is just the right length to fill up the month prior to Thanksgiving.  This month it works perfectly because the book is 26 chapters long and Thanksgiving is on the 26th!  You can read one chapter a day and finish on Thanksgiving.

It is so important to familiarize yourself with your history.  And it is not sufficient to just believe what you have heard or were taught about the people that founded our country.  Everyone has a world-view that they project onto everything they do.  So if you read your history through the lens of someone with an alternate worldview to the founders, you will be misled.  You really need to read it in their own words. 

That is why I like this particular book so much.  It is written by a man who was there and he inserts many letters written by those involved.  This book begins with the pilgrimage from England to Holland then moves from Holland to America.  You will learn the hearts of the people who made this move, the trials they went through, and the providence of God through it all.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"They cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least of making some way towards it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work."

The Mayflower Compact:  "In the name of God, Amen.  We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presnts solemnly and mutually in the prescence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and the furtherance of the ends aforesaid and by virtue thereof to enact constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general use of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.  (then it is signed and dated.)"

And finally a quote from Bradford, "And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity."

Another book I am reading (more slowly) right now is The Federalist Papers which is a compilation of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in defense of the need for our nations Constitution.  They were written at a time in our nation when it was unclear whether we would be the United States of America or we would be a collection of states or smaller confederacies with no overarching government.

It is important to know our history.  Vitally important because "The man who has no sense of history is like a man who has no ears or eyes."  I don't often quote Adolf Hitler, but in this case he made the point well.  While Hitler used peoples lack of knowledge to lead them into bondage, we can use our knowledge of history to promote freedom in our country.

Shannon

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