The American Soul
The American Soul
Sacred Time: Giving God Your First Fruits
What captivates your attention daily? While most of us readily admit that our spiritual life deserves priority, our actual time allocation often tells a different story. This thought-provoking episode challenges us to examine the disparity between what we claim to value and where we invest our hours.
Jesse Cope delivers a powerful wake-up call about our digital distractions, asking pointed questions about how much time we dedicate to streaming services, social media scrolling, mobile games, and sports compared to prayer and scripture reading. The message hits home: our calendar and screen time reveal our true priorities far more accurately than our intentions.
Drawing from Matthew 16, we explore Jesus's paradoxical teaching that "whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This foundation helps us understand authentic discipleship as a path requiring genuine sacrifice—something increasingly countercultural in our comfort-oriented society.
The episode gains remarkable perspective through stories of Medal of Honor recipients from the Civil War through Vietnam, whose extraordinary sacrifices highlight how misaligned our modern priorities often become. These accounts seamlessly connect to historical accounts of early Christian martyrs who faced death for their faith, reminding us that Christians continue to face persecution globally today.
Rather than offering simple solutions, this episode confronts us with what Jesus called the question of a lifetime: "Who do you say that I am?" Your answer fundamentally shapes everything else—including how you'll spend the next 24 hours. Join us for this challenging examination of what truly deserves your precious time and attention.
The American Soul Podcast
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Hey folks, this is Jesse Cope, back with another episode of the American Soul Podcast. Hope y'all are doing well, wherever y'all are and whatever part of the day you're in. I do appreciate y'all joining me, giving me a little bit of your time, a little piece of your day. I will try and use it wisely. Hopefully it'll give us some extra tools for our toolbox. Hopefully it will draw us all a little bit closer to God and Jesus Christ and our nation as well. For those of y'all who continue to share the podcast and tell others about it, thank you so much, very grateful for that. For those of y'all who continue to pray for me and for the podcast, thank you. And for those of y'all who continue to come back day after day, very grateful for that. And for those of y'all who are new, hope y'all enjoy it. Hope you get something out of it. Hope you come back.
Speaker 1:Father, thank you for today. Thank you for you, father, and your Son, jesus Christ and your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love, mercy, grace and forgiveness, for all the many blessings you bestow upon us each day, the ones we acknowledge and the ones we don't, for whatever reason. Forgive us our sins, father. Please Forgive us our greed and our selfishness, our pride, our arrogance, our judgment of others, our words and actions, our cowardice and our unbelief. Help us to help those that have less than we do. Help us to help our country turn back to you. Be with our leaders. Give them wisdom and courage and a strong faith. Help them to rule in fear of you and not man. Be with our military and our law enforcement, our firefighters. Give them wisdom and courage and strong faith as well. Keep them safe. Bring them home safe to their family. Be with those, father, who are being persecuted around the world because they follow your Son, jesus Christ, those who live in places where it's not safe to read your word, where it's not safe to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and share the good news. Please help us to be more concerned about doing your will than we are about pleasing men. Help us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, not here on earth. Help us to care for the widow and the orphan, the poor and the need to do so with actions and not merely words. Thank you for all those who are listening to the podcast today. Father, be with them. Be with their families, guide them, surround them with your angels. Protect them from evil of any kind. Help us to do your will. Father, in God, my word chair, in your son's name, we pray, amen.
Speaker 1:Have you made time for God today? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to read his word? Have you made time to pray? What did you do yesterday? What did you do the day before that?
Speaker 1:How much time did you give to Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu, or your phone scrolling your phone, youtube or TikTok, instagram, facebook, snapchat? How much time did you give to all of those things? How much time did you give to games on your phone or on your computer or on your gaming station? How much time did you give to sports? And if you can say, well, I didn't give any time to sports yesterday, okay, good, you know whatever, but if you still gave six, seven hours, whatever over the weekend, folks, it kind of equals out right. Like, be honest with yourself. Look at your last week, look at your last month, year, five years, 10 years what are you giving your time to?
Speaker 1:If you're married, right, and you want the spouse that follows their roles we talk about these every once in a while uh, really, black and white. It's not hard to figure out 1 Corinthians 7, titus 2, 1 Peter 3, ephesians 5, hebrews 13, 4, proverbs 5, 19, song of Solomon all places you can go and look and see your roles and responsibilities as either a husband or a wife. Hey, have you ever even looked at them? Do you even know? You know, so often we hear people, people talk about you. Go to these like self-help seminars or or whatever. You know these places where you're trying to get yourself going, feel like you've been kind of in a quagmire, feel like you've kind of been stuck and we need to make some goals. You know you've got to have a plan and that's great and that's true. But is your plan god's plan? You know you go to these marriage counseling seminars, for example. If you're married and your marriage is struggling, they're telling you all this stuff and a lot of it's good, but is it lining up with God? Do you know? Do you even know? If somebody came up and told you what your roles and responsibilities were as a husband or a wife, would you even know if they were telling the truth? Based on what? If you say, yeah, I know what my role is. Based on what? Based on the world Based on Hollywood, based on movies and TV, because I got to tell you, folks, that's probably the worst place to get your instruction.
Speaker 1:I was reading a book recently and it was a Christian book and it really was. It's a good book, talked a lot about God and that relationship with Jesus Christ. It was a fiction book but a couple of the characters were getting married and it was talking about this kind of indirectly, these roles and responsibilities. And I got to tell you, folks, they didn't get it 100% right. They had their priorities way out of line and this was supposed to be a Christian fiction book.
Speaker 1:And I'm not a priest, I'm not a pastor, folks, I'm not a theologian, but I can read the Bible, I can go in and look and see what it tells me to do. Now, do I always do that? No, even though I've read it constantly for years now. No, and that's probably worse on me than on those of y'all that don't read. Maybe I don't know, but I can still tell you what my roles are as a husband, what my roles are as a husband. You know the point is, folks, if you want your spouse to follow their roles, you better make sure that you're following yours. And either way, whether you're married or not married, we better make sure that we're doing the best we can to follow God's role for us each day. And you say, well, I don't cope, I don't know what that is. How do I figure that out? Read the Bible. Read it every day, literally. Read it religiously, study it, think about it. I struggle with that A lot of times. I read and I get through it and I close it and I move on and I don't really stop to think about what I've read. Right, matthew 16.
Speaker 1:Pharisees test Jesus. Probably not the best idea, right? The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Jesus. They asked him to show them a sign from heaven, but he replied to them when it is evening, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning there will be a storm. Today, for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah. And he left them and went away, and the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread. And Jesus said to them Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They began to discuss this among themselves, saying he said that because we did not bring any bread. But Jesus, aware of this, said and how many large baskets full you picked up. How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Then they understood that he did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, peter's confession of Christ.
Speaker 1:Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea, philippi, he was asking his disciples who do people say that the Son of man is? And they said Some say John the Baptist and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them but who do you say that I am? Simon? Peter answered you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him Blessed are you, simon, barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Then he warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ. Jesus foretells his death.
Speaker 1:From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying God forbid it. Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter Get behind me. Satan, you are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interests. But man's Discipleship is costly. Then Jesus said to his disciples If anyone wishes to come after me, he must decide himself and take up his cross and follow me. Then Jesus said with his angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly, I say to you. There are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Discipleship is costly, folks.
Speaker 1:My pastor that I've talked about on here a number of years ago said if you're not suffering for following Christ, if there's not something in your life that you would rather do a different way, do an easier way. Not be doing, because Christ calls you to the hard path, to the narrow path, he said. Then I question whether you're really following Jesus Christ at all. Right, deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Christ. Whoever wishes to save his life will lose. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What does it profit if we gain the entire world? If somebody today gave you the keys to the entire world, gave you every single ounce of gold and silver and platinum and everything else on this world, but you lost your soul. This world's going to go away, folks. Our soul isn't. And when this world goes away, we're going to spend eternity in one of two places. There's no purgatory in the Bible. You're not going to find it anywhere. There's no third option. You're either going to go to hell or you're going to go to heaven and it's solely based on whether you choose to put your faith in Jesus Christ Right.
Speaker 1:He asks who, peter? Who are you? Who do you say that I am? And Peter said Christ, the son of the living God. Who do you claim that Jesus Christ is? That's a huge, huge. That's the question of your entire life, folks. There's nothing else that matters in your life more. I will side note here your marriage who you choose to marry, is second to that. Nothing else comes close to the first and nothing else comes close to the first and nothing else comes close to the second, the first. So who do you say Jesus Christ is? I say, I tell you on the podcast, not as often as I should probably.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ is the son of God, the risen son of God. He died for my sins and yours. God raised him from the dead. He is my Lord and Savior. He is who I am. I don't follow him. Well, folks, if you're looking for somebody perfect, I'm not your guy. I can point you to him. I'm talking about him right now Christ, but I'm not him. But I strive to Christ, but I'm not him, but I strive to. He's the only hope that I have, folks, and he's the only hope that you have, whether you acknowledge that or not. Verse 18 here I say to you that you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I can't help. But here, stop for just a second and tell you.
Speaker 1:If anybody's telling you that their church is the only way to Jesus Christ, to God, to eternal life, they're lying to you. They're not doing you a favor. They're not teaching you the gospel of Christ. They're making up stuff that's not in scripture. You won't find that anywhere in scripture. There's no denomination, no Protestant, no Orthodox, no Catholic denomination listed in the Bible as the sole way or even anything to do with salvation and eternal life. They're telling you something that is untrue. It is a lie. Whether they know it or not, I can't tell you, but I can tell you that it isn't true. Do not let that affect your decisions for God and Jesus Christ. Mary's not going to save you, joseph isn't going to save you. Peter's not going to save you. Paul's not going to save you, none of the apostles, no famous pope or priest or pastor is going to save you. Jesus Christ alone, pastor, is going to save you, jesus Christ alone.
Speaker 1:11 of the Pharisees. The teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. How can we be aware of something, folks, if we don't even know what to be aware of? Right, and this goes back to earlier, when you're talking about marriage and somebody comes and says hey, this is your role, this is your responsibility, how do you even know if that's true or not If you're not reading the Bible? If we don't read the Bible each day, if we're not looking for that knowledge, that wisdom, that truth, in order to be able to discern fact from fiction maybe it's friction too how are we going to know? How are we going to know if somebody's telling us something that's true or not? We're not going to.
Speaker 1:Why do you think there's so much that the public school system in America has been so easily deceived, about history or biology, for example? We threw out the book of truth. We threw out God's word. Kids don't know, they're not reading that anymore. Okay, well, this guy looks like a guy, talks like a guy, but he says he's a woman. Well, maybe he is Really. Well, our founders talk constantly about Christian principles as the basis for our laws. Of course, we wouldn't know that anyway, because we don't read it. But if we did, somebody comes along and says no, they didn't, how would we know? How would we know? You get back to Benjamin Franklin's comment. He didn't have to explain the quotes in the Bible in America because people read the Bible, they were biblically literate. Explain the quotes in the Bible in America because people read the Bible, they were biblically literate. But he had to explain it in Europe and France and England because people didn't understand his comments that he used about the Bible.
Speaker 1:Alright, we're going to flip over to Medal of Honor Winners for a minute. This is Peter T Anderson. Us Civil War Rank Private, highest rank, brevet, Captain Bravo Company, 31st Wisconsin Infantry, us Army. March 19, 1865, action place Minnetonville, north Carolina. Entirely unassisted, brought from the field an abandoned piece of artillery and saved the gun from falling into the hands of the enemy. Accredited to Wioda, lafayette County, wisconsin. Not awarded. Posthumously presented June 16, 1865, born September 4, 1847, darlington, lafayette County, wisconsin, united States. Died July 26, 1907, storm Lake, iowa, united States. Newell Cemetery, newell, iowa, united States. Peter T Anderson. Let's see Richard A Anderson.
Speaker 1:Richard A Anderson, vietnam War Lance Corporal Echo Company, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, reinforced Fleet Marine Force. Action Date August 24, 1969, place, quang Tri Province, republic of Vietnam, citation as follows for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, while serving as an assistant team leader with Company E in connection with combat operations against an armed enemy. While conducting a patrol during the early morning hours, lance Corporal Anderson's reconnaissance team came under a heavy volume of automatic weapons and machine gun fire from a numerically superior and well-concealed enemy force. Although painfully wounded in both legs and knocked to the ground during the initial moments of the fierce firefight, lance Corporal Anderson assumed a prone position and continued to deliver intense suppressive fire in an attempt to repulse the attackers. Moments later, he was wounded a second time by an enemy soldier who had approached to within eight feet of the team's position. Undaunted, he continued to pour a relentless stream of fire at the assaulting unit, even while a companion was treating his leg wounds. Observing an enemy grenade land between himself and the other Marine, lance Corporal Anderson immediately rolled over and covered the lethal weapon with his body, absorbing the full effects of the detonation.
Speaker 1:By his indomitable courage, inspiring initiative and selfless devotion to duty, lance Corporal Anderson was instrumental in saving several Marines from serious injury or possible death or possible death. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the US Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country, accredited to Houston, harris County, texas. Awarded posthumously presented September 15, 1971, the White House. Presented by Vice President Spiro T Agnew to his family. Born April 16, 1948, washington DC, united States. Died August 24, 1969, republic of Vietnam. Buried Forest Park Cemetery MH332571, lawndale, Texas, united States.
Speaker 1:I have pictures of these men in the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website if you're interested in looking One more. That was Richard A Anderson. This is Richard A Anderson. This is Richard B Anderson. Richard Betty Anderson.
Speaker 1:Private First Class World War II Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines, 4th Marine Division. Action date February 1st 1944. Place Roe Island, oof Kwajalein Atoll, marshall Islands. Citation as follows For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty, while serving with the 4th Marine Division during action against enemy Japanese forces on Roe Island, kwajalein Atoll, marshall Islands, 1 February 1944. Entering a shell crater occupied by three of the Marines, pfc Anderson was preparing to throw a grenade at an enemy position when it slipped from his hands and rolled toward the men at the bottom of the hole Within sufficient time to retrieve the armed weapon and throw it, pfc Anderson fearlessly chose to sacrifice himself and save his companions by hurling his body upon the grenade and taking the full impact of the explosion. His personal valor and exceptional spirit of loyalty in the face of almost certain death were in keeping with the highest traditions of the US Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Credited to Washington, awarded, posthumously Presented Seattle Washington. Awarded, posthumously Presented Seattle Washington. Presented by Rear Admiral JA Taffender, commandant 13th Naval District, to his parents. Born June 26, 1921. Tacoma, pierce County, washington, united States. Died February 1, 1944, roe Island, marshall Islands. Buried New Tacoma Cemetery. Tacoma, washington, united States. Richard B Anderson. Richard A Anderson. Peter T Anderson.
Speaker 1:Civil War, vietnam War, world War II. Do you get the feeling, folks, that we've got our priorities a little bit out of line today? Do you get the feeling that we're a little too concerned with things that we shouldn't be concerned with at all and not near concerned enough with things that ought to matter to us every day? Not near concerned enough with things that ought to matter to us every day? Do you get the feeling at all of how short your life is, the fact that you have no idea whether you'll make it home from work today, driving down the road or anything else. Do you get the feeling of how much these people have sacrificed for our nation? How many men gave their lives, their sons, their brothers, their fathers? How many women gave their husbands, their sons, their brothers, their fathers, their sons, their brothers, their fathers? Do you not get the feeling that we are way off base as a nation today? You should, you should, just, I don't know what else to say. Today, folks Try and remember those names, perhaps a little bit more than all the other names that we've got crammed in our heads.
Speaker 1:We're going to get back into the book of martyrs, fox, the Fifth Persecution, commencing with Severus, ad 192. Severus, having been recovered from a severe fit of sickness by a Christian, became a great favor of sickness by a Christian, became a great favor of the Christians in general. But the prejudice and fury of the ignorant multitude prevailing, obsolete laws were put in execution against the Christians. The progress of Christianity alarmed the pagans and they revived the still calumny of placing accidental misfortunes to the account of its professors, ad 192. Yet, though persecuting malice raged, yet the gospel, shone with resplendent brightness and, firm as an impregnable rock, withstood the attacks of its boisterous enemies with success. Pertullian, who lived in this age, informs us that if the Christians had collectively withdrawn themselves from the Roman territories, the empire would have been greatly depopulated.
Speaker 1:Victor, bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom in the first year of the 3rd century AD 201. Leonidas, the father of the celebrated Origen, was beheaded for being a Christian. Many of Origen's hearers likewise suffered martyrdom, particularly two brothers named Plutarchus and Serenus. Another Serenus, heron and Heraclides, were beheaded. Reas had boiled pitch, poured upon her head and was then burnt, as was Marcella, her mother. Potaminia, the sister of Reas, was executed in the same manner as Reyes had been, but Bacillus, an officer belonging to the army and ordered to attend her execution, became her convert. Basilidus, being an off as an officer required to take a certain oath, refused saying that he could not swear by the roman idols as he was a christian. Struck with surprise, the people could not at first believe what they heard, but he had no sooner confirmed the same. Then he was dragged before the judge, committed to prison and speedily afterward beheaded.
Speaker 1:Arrhenius, bishop of Lyons, was born in Greece and received both a polite and a Christian education. It is generally supposed that the account of the persecutions at Lyons was written by himself. Persecutions at Lyons was written by himself. He succeeded the martyr Othinus as bishop of Lyons and ruled his diocese with great propriety. He was a zealous opposer of heresies in general and about AD 187 he wrote a celebrated tract against heresy. Victor, the bishop of Rome, wanting to impose the keeping of Easter there in preference to other places. It occasioned some disorders among the Christians In particular. Arrhenius wrote him a synodical epistle in the name of the Gaelic churches. This zeal in favor of Christianity pointed him out as an object of resentment to the emperor, and in AD 202 he was beheaded, the persecutions now extending to Africa.
Speaker 1:Many were martyred in that quarter of the globe, the most particular of whom we shall mention Perpetua, a married lady of about 22 years. Those who suffered with her were Felicitas, a married lady, big with child at the time of her being apprehended, and Revocatus revocatus, catchman of Carthage and a slave. The names of the other prisoners destined to suffer on this occasion were Saturninus, secundulus and Satur. I know I'm murdering these names, folks, I'm so sorry. On the day appointed for their execution, they were led to the amphitheater. Saturninus and Ravacanus were ordered to run the gauntlet between the hunters or such as had the care of the wild beasts as had the care of the wild beasts, the hunters being drawn up in two ranks they ran between and were severely lashed as they passed. Felicitas and Perpetua were stripped in order to be thrown to a mad bull, which made his first attack on Perpetua and stunned her. He then darted at Felicitas and gored her dreadfully, but not killing them. The executioner did that office with a sword. Revocatus and Satur were destroyed by the wild beasts. Saturninus was beheaded and Secundulus died in prison. These executions were in the year 205, on the 8th day of March. Speridus and 12 others were likewise beheaded, as was Andocles.
Speaker 1:In France, asclepius, bishop of Antioch, suffered many tortures, but his life was spared. Cecilia, a young lady of good family in Rome, was married to a gentleman named Valerian. She converted her husband and brother, who were beheaded, and the maximus, or officer who led them to execution becoming their convert, suffered the same fate. Officer who led them to execution becoming their convert, suffered the same fate. The lady was placed naked in a scalding bath and, having continued there a considerable time, her head was struck off with a sword, ad 222. Callistus, bishop of Rome, was martyred, ad 224. But the manner of his death is not recorded. An urban bishop of Rome met the same fate, ad 232.
Speaker 1:I know this stuff seems dark, but we need to know it. We need to know this, just like the Medal of Honor winners, a lot more than we need to know the names of athletes or statistics, or singers or songwriters, and hopefully it will help strengthen our own faith. We need to realize also that there are people around the world that are being murdered simply because they follow Jesus Christ. You look at Syria right now, where the Muslims are going door to door, killing Christians, nigeria. Look at the persecutions in China under communism. For people that worship Jesus Christ, for people that worship Jesus Christ, it's important to pray for these people, to encourage our leaders to do all they can to help these people and to understand our own history in America and as Christians. We'll read one more section here.
Speaker 1:The sixth persecution under Maximus Maximinus. Maximinus, ad 235. Ad 235 was in the time of Maximinus, I think, and Cappadocia. The president Saraminus did all he could to exterminate the Christians from that province. The principal persons who perished under this reign were Pontianus, bishop of Rome. Antares, a Grecian, his successor, who gave offense to the government by collecting the acts of the martyrs Amacus and Quiridus, roman senators with all their families, and many other Christians. Simplicius, senator Calipotus, a Christian minister, thrown into the Tiber. Martina, a noble and beautiful virgin. And Hippolytus, a Christian prelate, to a wild horse and dragged till he expired. During this persecution raised by Maximinus, numberless Christians were slain without trial and buried indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes 50 or 60 being cast into a pit together without the least decency. The tyrant Maximinus, dying AD 238, was succeeded by Gordon Gordian, during whose reign and that of his successor, philip, the church was free from persecution for a space of more than 10 years. But AD 249, a violent persecution broke out in Alexandria at the instigation of a pagan priest, without the knowledge of the emperor. We'll try and get into that more on the next one.
Speaker 1:Two little bits of history to share today. We go over this usually in the fall, but it's good to read it every once in a while. Again, president Abraham Lincoln, march 30, 1863, national Fast Day called citizens to rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. We're divided as a nation today, folks Make no mistake, and it has everything to do with Jesus Christ. Everything goes back to him, william W Bennett, confederate chaplain in the Civil War, talking about the spiritual renewal that made its way through all of General Robert E Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, northern Virginia, up to January 1865, it was estimated that nearly 150,000 soldiers had been converted during the progress of the war and it was believed that fully one-third of all the soldiers in the field were praying men and members of some branch of the Christian church. You have to wonder, or at least I did when I read that little comment, if that wasn't a side effect of the Civil War. Was drawing people back to God and Jesus Christ, really both in the North and the South, but in this case just thinking about the South. All right, last little bit history of the rise, progress and termination of the American Revolution. Mercy Otis Warren, we're going to keep going in Volume 1, chapter 1. Note 1.
Speaker 1:The reader's curiosity may be gratified by the pursual of a few particulars relative to the Plymouth settlers from their earliest memorials. 101 persons left Holland, all of whom arrived at Plymouth in the month of December 1620. From the sufferings and hardships they sustained, more than half their number died before the end of March 1621. On the borders of a forlorn wilderness, without any governmental restrictions, they thought it necessary to adopt some measures for order and subordination. They voluntarily, on their arrival at Cape Cod, entered into covenant for this necessary purpose. It was a short code but replete with rules of equity and authority sufficient to maintain peace among themselves and their infant state. Forty-one persons affixed their names to the instrument, but at the end of four months only twenty of them were living. These were John Carver, their first governor, william Bradford, the second, and Edward Winslow, the third.
Speaker 1:Prince's chronology, where may be found most of the particulars extent relative to the first settlers at Plymouth. Captain Miles Standish, who had been an experienced military officer in the Netherlands. Richard Warner, eminently useful in the establishment of the new colony. He lived only to the year 1628. The estates first purchased of the natives by Winslow, warren and Bradford remain in the hands of their posterity to this day Warren at Plymouth, bradford at Duxboro and Winslow at Marshfield. John Alden, samuel Fuller, william Brewster, isaac Allerton, stephen Hopkins, gilbert Winslow, peter Brown, richard Gardner, john Howland, francis Cook, john Billington, francis Eaton, edward Dottie, george Soule, edward Leister.
Speaker 1:Reading this, if you're familiar with the Peanuts, right, charlie Brown, they did a Thanksgiving episode back in the 70s, I think on the Mayflower, and you hear these names in that episode, names in that episode, and you just have to wonder how successful a left has been in convincing us that we just need to make movies and books especially when you're talking about children just for entertainment, with no real morals, or making them with morals that are actually immorals, and we've gone away from putting these little tidbits of truth into entertainment, which again allows for revisionist history. When you don't know history, then somebody can come along and tell you what it is, even though it isn't right, or what it isn't, and you'll believe that it is. Several weeks elapsed after their arrival at Plymouth before they saw any of the natives. About the middle of March, an Indian chief named Samuelset appeared and abruptly exclaimed Welcome, english. This Indian had formerly been a prisoner to some Europeans and had learnt a little of their language. To some Europeans and had learnt a little of their language by him. They found that a pestilence had raged among the bordering nations, that it swept them all off within the limits of Cape Cod and Braintree Bay Two or three years before. This was corroborate by the vast number of graves and sepulchre mounds and holes they had observed in which the dead were interred and all the grounds they had explored. Samoset informed them that Massasoit was a neighboring chief who held jurisdiction over several other tribes. This induced the English to send him a friendly message by Samoset, which was faithfully delivered. The great Satcham soon came forward in an amicable manner and entered into a treaty of peace with this handful of strangers.
Speaker 1:In the next autumn, an addition of 35 persons from the laden congregation arrived at Cape Cod. They soon found their associates at Plymouth, patient, pious and contented though they could set nothing on their board but a lobster, cold water and a scanty pittance of Indian bread Of the entertainment of their countrymen recently arrived to share with them the difficulties and dangers of planting settlements in the wilderness, at a vast distance from the civilized world and surrounded by hordes of hostile nations of terrific form and barbarous manners. New England Memorial. I think we'll stop there for today, folks. We'll get into chapter two On the next. That's what we're going into. God bless y'all. God bless your families. God bless your marriages. God bless America. God bless your nation. Wherever you are around the world listening, we'll talk to y'all again real soon. Folks Looking forward to it.