**Previously recorded by Phyllis Schlafly // September 2012 **
Yesterday, September 16, is the anniversary of the day in 1620 that 102 Pilgrims set sail in the ship called the Mayflower for a frightening 66-day journey of 2,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. These brave adventurers encountered storms so rough at sea that the beam supporting the main mast of the Mayflower cracked and had to be propped back in place with a great iron screw. During the long and dangerous voyage, one man died and a mother gave birth to her baby.
The Pilgrims had intended to land in Virginia, but their ship was blown off course and they landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. By that time, it was November, the start of a harsh New England winter. Half of those who survived the ocean trip died during that first bitter winter. But the ones who lived started a settlement in the New World. Governor Bradford wrote, “Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth.” Governor Bradford later described these brave men and women as people who “cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations … for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world.”
We can be proud of the courageous Pilgrims who were some of the founders of our great nation. They didn’t come for an easy life. They didn’t expect any government to take care of them. They came for religious liberty and to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are grateful to these founding fathers of America.
