On This Day in Church History
A real event from the story of the church on each calendar day, told with its setting and what came of it, and quoted word for word from sources published before 1931.
The Mayflower Compact
November 11, 1620 · Cape Cod, Massachusetts
The setting
The Pilgrims were English separatists who had lived in exile in Leiden for years and sailed on the Mayflower to worship freely. Their patent covered Virginia, not New England, and some passengers said that once ashore no one had the right to command them.
The story
The ship reached Cape Cod after a long, hard crossing. William Bradford, later the colony's governor, wrote that when they reached harbor they fell on their knees and blessed God for bringing them safely over the ocean.
Before going ashore, the men drew up and signed an agreement, dated November 11, 1620 (Old Style). They bound themselves together before God into a "civil body politic" that would make just and equal laws for the general good, and they promised to obey them.
“solemnly & mutualy in yᵉ presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick”
“they fell upon their knees & blessed yᵉ God of heaven, who had brought them over yᵉ vast & furious ocean”
What happened next
They chose John Carver, "a man godly & well approved amongst them," as governor. Bradford wrote that within two or three months half the company died that winter. The colony survived, and the compact became an early American example of self-government under God.
Why it matters: Faith and the hard work of living together go hand in hand.
Source: William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Massachusetts edition, 1898), Book 1, Chapters 9–10; Book 2 (1620). Public domain.
Church Family Tree
One church, many branches →
Nine eras of church history, a family tree of the major traditions, and how the Pentecostal revival, fed by many Protestant streams, produced the Assemblies of God.
Other days
October 16
Latimer and Ridley: "Play the Man"
1555 · Oxford, England
October 19
Disaster at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall
1856 · London, England
October 20
Wesley and the Wednesbury Mob
1743 · Wednesbury and Walsall, England
October 24
First Communion on Aniwa
1869 · Aniwa, New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
October 28
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge
312 · Rome, Italy
October 29
The Last Diary Entry of James Hannington
1885 · Busoga, near Uganda
October 31
Luther's Ninety-Five Theses
1517 · Wittenberg, Germany
November 5
The Patons Land on Tanna
1858 · Tanna, New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
November 6
Jonathan Edwards Writes "A Faithful Narrative"
1736 · Northampton, Massachusetts
November 10
"Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?"
1871 · Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika
November 11
The Mayflower Compact
1620 · Cape Cod, Massachusetts
November 12
Müller Opens His Second Orphan House
1857 · Ashley Down, Bristol, England
November 14
Samuel Seabury Consecrated America's First Bishop
1784 · Aberdeen, Scotland