The Story of the World Vol. 1: Ancient Times

I recently finished reading The Story of the World Volume1: Ancient Times (Revised) by Susan Wise Bauer, and I thought I would give my own little review.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book. First, I would like to say that I greatly enjoyed reading it. For those who don’t know about it, this is the first volume of four of a chronological history series for elementary children. It’s written in a conversational story-type style to appeal to young children. I think Bauer definitely succeeds in this area, and I think most children would be engaged by the book. To my knowledge, the bulk of this history program is contained in the activity books that accompany the four volumes. I have never looked at the activity book, but it’s supposed to contain discussion questions, map work, projects and resources for additional reading. It may be that the additional resources would alleviate some the concerns that I discuss below.

Volume 1 covers the earliest nomads to the last Roman emperor, or from 7000 BC to 476 AD. Biblical history in the book is rather sparse and mentions Abraham, Joseph, Moses, a little about Jesus, the destruction of the temple and persecution of early Christians. I have to admit that my own knowledge of ancient history outside of the Bible is very poor. So, as far as the accuracy of the book I can say little. My first concern though was the story of Abraham. Bauer says “The book of Genesis, in the Bible, tells us about Abram:” (and then the rest of the chapter is blocked off indicating that what follows has its source in the book of Genesis.) She begins the story about Terah leaving Ur because he was afraid the city would be attacked by Gutian invaders. She goes on to say that after Terah’s death, Abraham considered asking the moon god (or some other gods) for advice on what to do. To her credit, she has a note in an appendix stating that the Bible is ambiguous about whether Terah left Ur at Abraham’s prompting due to God’s calling or if he left the city prior to that. I was bothered by this chapter in the book because she presents the story as if this is what the Bible says. It’s even “blocked off” as being the story from Genesis. But what she did was present the biblical story mixed with her speculation and presented it as fact. Frankly, this didn’t set well with me. I thought it was unnecessary. It’s not that what she said about Terah was not plausible and consistent with what was going on during that time; it’s that her version of the story was presented as fact coming from the Bible.

In reading the rest of the book, I was somewhat leery because I wasn’t sure what was fact and what was her speculation in the other areas of history that I knew little about. I understand, however, that the style of the book lends itself to generalizations because it’s meant to be understood by young children. Anytime you generalize a story for a child, it is likely that truth will become distorted because of the necessary simplification. I also understand that in all of history, the ancient times period is most likely to consist of speculation due to the amount (or lack thereof) of information that we have available. Also, I know that it would be tedious to be constantly saying in a book for a young child, this “may have happened” or “this could be true”, etc. However, I thought the way she presented the Abraham story was unnecessary and misleading.

However, my biggest issue with this volume is the lack of a biblical worldview. This is not a criticism of the author because, if I understand correctly, she wrote the book(s) to appeal to both Christian and secular audiences. The author is a Christian, and some have said that the book is too Christian in that it calls some religious stories “myths” while claiming the resurrection of Jesus is true. So maybe in that sense, it has somewhat of a biblical worldview. But, as I mentioned above, the biblical history included in the book is rather sparse. I personally want a history program that integrates the Bible with the rest of history, and the “ancient times” period is, of course, the time to do this! After having read this book, I happened upon a discussion thread from My Father’s World classical Christian curriculum about why they don’t use the first volume of the Story of the World series. They do, however, use volumes 2-4. In her answer to the question “why do you use SOTW Volume 2, but not Volume 1?”, I agree with the administrator in her desire to present history from a Biblical perspective:

More from Marie….
I was thinking about this question again last night while I was laying in bed. (Isn’t that a great time of quiet for thinking?)

I realized that the question really is:

Why do we use the Bible as the main resource book vs. Story of the World Volume 1 in Creation to the Greeks? Keep in mind that Creation to the Greeks is a study of ancient history.

1. Why not use the most accurate, most ancient “original document” available? That is the Bible.

2. As a Christian and a parent, I ask myself, what would God want my kids to know about the ancient history period? He has made it very clear to us….he gave us a great history book that is full of action, intrigue, motives both good and evil, and even His interpretation of events and people. If we lay a foundation so that our kids can see God at work in history, then we can go on and study other years of history from a correct perspective.

3. From a life-changing point of view, I want my kids to be immersed in the life-changing word of God. Why not spend a whole year hearing God’s incredible words to mankind?

So now let’s rephrase the original question: why don’t we use Story of the World Volume 1 as a supplement, like the other books in the package?

1. Most of the information in Story of the World Volume 1 is already contained in other books we use. We want to keep the cost down, so we don’t duplicate info. For example, Ancient World is a wonderful, colorful book providing easy-to understand information as well as many color illustrations about ancient Egypt, Israel, Assyria, the Hittites, the Babylonians, etc.

2. We use Streams of Civilization as a resource for parents and for advanced students so that they can understand history from a Christian perspective. Were there cave men? (You’d be surprised at the answer!) How did we get different races after the flood if there was only Noah and his family? We don’t read every page–just the relevant information. Story of the World doesn’t contain that type of information.

Note: We do use Story of the World Volume 2 and beyond in our other history years. The author has a wonderful storytelling style that makes history come alive! If your kids are like mine, they won’t grow up hating history!!!!

Motivation for Godly Living

I’m currently rereading the book The Practice of Godliness by Jerry Bridges with a small group of ladies from my church. In the first chapter of the book, Bridges talks about devotion to God being the motivation for godly living. He says:

Devotion to God, then is the mainspring of godly character. And this devotion is the only motivation for Christian behavior that is pleasing to God.

This motivation is what separates the godly person from the moral person, or the benevolent person, or the zealous person. The godly person is moral, benevolent, and zealous because of his devotion to God. And his life takes on a dimension that reflects the very stamp of God.

It is sad that many Christians do not have this aura of godliness about them. They may be very talented and personable, or very busy in the Lord’s work, or even apparently successful in some avenues of Christian service, and still not be godly. Why? Because they are not devoted to God. They may be devoted to a vision, or to a ministry, or to their own reputation as a Christian, but not to God.

This really struck me when I read it. It made me ask what is my motivation for serving God? Am I devoted to God wholeheartedly all of the time? These are soul-searching questions. I pray that as I grow as a Christian I will become more devoted to God and everything that I do will truly be for His glory and not driven by some other self-serving motivation.

Bridges goes on to say that devotion to God is a desire for God that comes forth from a fear of God coupled with a realization of God’s love for us in the cross of Christ. The fear of God for a Christian is “veneration and honor, reverence and awe” and focuses on the “majesty, holiness, and transcendent glory of God.” Bridges says that “only the God-fearing Christian can truly appreciate the love of God.” That is so true. Not until you begin to see who God is will you see your sin for what it is. And not until you see how awful your sin is, will you see how immensely God demonstrated his love towards us in the sacrifice of his son on the cross.

As I read this book, I couldn’t help but think of churches where the gospel is not clearly preached or not preached at all. I thought of Joel Osteen’s motivational “sermons” about “living your best life now”, where God presumably exists for man’s benefit. I’ve never went away from one of Osteen’s messages reflecting on the “majesty, holiness and transcendent glory of God”. I thought of seeker churches where any method imaginable is used to lure people to a worship service (how can an unbeliever worship?), music is more about entertainment (”man, wasn’t the band rockin’ today!”) than worshiping a holy God, and messages bearing catchy, and sometimes lewd, suggestive titles consist of “shock jock preaching” in an attempt to be “relevant”. And then I hear of “testimonials” from such churches along the lines of “my husband is coming to church for the first time now”, “I’m reading my Bible every day”, “my marriage has been saved”, “I’ve gotten help for my porn addiction”, etc. Such testimonials are then given as evidence that all of the above is somehow justified because people are “coming to know God ” and their lives are “changed”. Even on the last episode I listened to of “Way of the Master” (Jan 18th), there was such a testimonial from someone about Joel Osteen’s ministry.

Now I don’t know if these people are saved or not. I don’t know any of them personally, and I don’t know their motivations. But I do know this: someone can’t be saved unless they hear the gospel. The true gospel. So how do we account for “changed” lives when God’s Word has not been preached to these people? (I could go into how many a Mormon can testify to a changed life, but then this would be super long.) This is where the “motivation for godliness” comes in, which is the main purpose of this post.

Proverbs 13:15 says “the way of transgressors is hard.” Sin has consequences that many do not want to face. Most people don’t want their marriages falling apart. Most people have no desire to lose their job over their porn addiction. Most people don’t want the ruin that sin can bring into their lives. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says

 

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (NAS)

People can feel bad about their sin for the very reason that it’s not working out for them. This is a very self-centered sorrow. People want answers. They want to know how to be happy. In general, they want a happy marriage. Some, in listening to the “prosperity gospel”, want riches, blessings and whatever benefits they can squeeze out of God. Some will go to church to try to “get help” because their lives are a mess. Some will serve heavily in a church in order to do something significant in their lives. The list could go on. It could be endless. But the bottom line is this: any motivation apart from glorifying God is self-focused and not pleasing to God. You won’t glorify God in everything you do unless you’re devoted to him. And you can’t be devoted to him if you don’t know who He is, who you are in his sight, and what He did on the cross. You can’t be a Christ-follower if you don’t know what that even means.

We were created to glorify God. We can live our lives to God’s glory or we can live for ourselves. Living for God’s glory has its benefits (although it doesn’t promise to make you rich!) and living for self has it’s consequences. Trying to live a godly “changed” life because one wants the “benefits” is not living for God’s glory. It’s living for self.

A person doesn’t have to be neck-deep in heresy and false teaching to be lost. Sometimes, you can only have your feet wet in some half-truths and deceptions and that little bit will blind you to who God is and it will lead you to think you’re living for God, when in fact, you’re going in the opposite direction. One day God will say to you “I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.”

So to any who happen to come upon this post, what is your motivation for godly living? Are you a Christ-follower because you fear God and love God, or do you just want to make your life better? Are you devoted to God? Bridges ends chapter 2 of his book with this description of devotion to God:

This is devotion to God–the fear of God, which is an attitude of reverence and awe, veneration and honor toward Him, coupled with an apprehension deep within our souls of the love of God for us, demonstrated preeminently in the atoning death of Christ. These two attitudes complement and reinforce each other, producing within our souls an intense desire for this One who is so awesome in His glory and majesty and yet so condescending in His love and mercy.

Preschool Homeschooling

I wanted to post about some of the things that I do with my preschool daughter in “homeschooling”. I know that many people search the web for homeschooling info, so I thought this might be useful to somebody. Except for Bible, we don’t do everything on this list every day.

Bible (in addition to Bible or Story Bible reading)

Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland

Foundation Verses by Children Desiring God Ministires

Baptist Catechism

Reading (After systematically going through the letters for the past 7 months or so and learning their sounds, we now use the following):

The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading with the letter/magnet board

Explode the Code Primers (Get Ready, Get Set, Go for the Code)

Bob Books

www.starfall.com

Pre-Handwriting and Fine Motor Skills

Kumon Workbooks (my daughter LOVES these!)

Counting/Number Recognition

Number flashcards

Stacker Pegs by Lauri Toys (BTW, my 19-month old son LOVES these! He likes to build towers. Lauri has many nice toys.)

Counting aloud (right now we’re trying to get to 30)

Other: Coloring numbers, counting out stickers, finding the right chapter on a page in the Bible, finding a particular checkout aisle at the store, etc…

Other

Books, Books, Books!, Do-A-Dot Art, drawing, coloring, stamping, painting, board games, lacing, puzzles, etc..

Addressing One Another in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

Bob Kauflin has a great post on his blog Worship Matters about addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. He shares about a message he gave entitled “Spirit-Filled Singing”:

My first point was “Spirit-filled singing is to each other,” and based on Eph. 5:19Ephesians 5:19 [19]addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, (ESV) where Paul says we’re “addressing one another.” You’d think in a passage about singing praise to God that Paul would begin with God. He doesn’t. The first focus of our singing Paul mentions is not God, but one another. Col. 3:16Colossians 3:16 [16]Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (ESV) fills this idea out and says that we’re “teaching and admonishing one another.” This shows us that one of the primary aims of corporate worship is meant to be building each other up, not simply having our own personal encounter with God.

I know at my church where I’m heavily involved in the music, I tend to favor songs that have some substance to them in the lyrics. I’m not really against “simple” songs, however some (if not many) praise choruses just don’t say much of anything about God or what He has done for us, and, as a result, we don’t say very much to one another when we sing them as a congregation. Kauflin says

If the songs we’re singing are primarily subjective, and focused on how we feel, what we’re doing, or some other subjective element, we’re not going to have much to say to each other.

Read full post here.

Santa and the Tomato

Tonight we watched The Polar Express with our 3-year old daughter. At the end of the movie where Santa is seen with his huge bag of presents on his sleigh, she says something along the lines of “they’re pulling Santa and the big tomato.” We told her that it was Santa’s big bag of presents. She says “I’d like it to be a tomato.” “Okay, honey.”

Getting Paid to Go to Church

How would you feel if your church scored 100% (or even a low percentage) by a non-Christian?

From Times Online

December 19, 2007

Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times

Non-Christians are to be paid £30 a time to go to church under a new research programme to find out why more people do not practise the Christian faith.

The new “mystery worshipper” scheme will be modelled on the “mystery shopper” schemes used by researchers to guage the service offered by hotels, shops and other branches of the service industry.

The project could even result in a church “league table” where churches are ranked according to the percentage they score out of a possible total of 98 points.

While the intention is to keep this league table as a secret internal document, it would almost certainly be made public by someone who stood to benefit from the exposure, creating ecclesiastical parallels with schools and universities in the religious firmament.

The research organisation Christian Research has commissioned the company Retail Maxim to send mystery worshippers in unannounced to judge the sermon, welcome, atmosphere, warmth, comfort and appearance of churches around the country.

First to be assessed were churches in Telford, subject to a recent pilot. Early next year, mystery worshippers will visit churches in the West Midlands.

The scheme mirrors that run by the satirical Christian website ShipofFools, the main difference being that ShipofFools uses volunteers who are Christian.

Christian Research wants non-Christians to assess the churches because, in common with increasing numbers of church leaders, the organisation wishes to find out what does and does not work for the reluctant churchgoer. Christian Research is working with ShipofFools to promote the project.

According to the 2001 Census, more than seven in ten people in England consider themselves Christian. But a recent church census by Christian Research found that fewer than one in ten of the population actually go to church.

Benita Hewitt, executive director of Christian Research, who recently joined the organisation from a commercial research background, said: “I worked for many years with retailers and hotels where mystery shopping is quite natural. I am going to bring some of those research techniques into researching the Church.”

The non-church goers will be experienced mystery shoppers who are used to assessing the service offered by hotels, shops and restaurants.

The Telford pilot involved a range of denominations and styles of service from Anglo-Catholic to a service involving a “lot of people lying on the floor and being healed.”

The results had been “amazingly positive”, she said.

Mrs Hewitt, whose background is in commercial research, said it was essential that the churches gained an insight into how they were viewed from the “outside-in” by non-churchgoers.

She said: “We have had some of our mystery worshippers saying that they were really amazed by what they found - by the atmosphere and the welcome before the service, when they went in and after the service and the fellowship.

“It was all so far from their expectations that they had before they came in - often based on childhood when they saw the church as a boring experience where you were made to feel guilty.”

Stephen Goddard, co-editor of the Christian website Ship of Fools, and founder of the concept of Mystery Worshipper, said they were working with Christian Research on the initiative.

He said: “I think it is a terrific idea.” He said two of the Telford churches scored 100 per cent, which shocked him. “We did not send in soft, tame mystery worshippers, we sent in people possibly with an axe to grind against the church,” he said.

“What came out of it was their surprise at how much the church has moved forward from their experience as children.”

Ministering God’s Word to One Another

This past week I went to a ladies meeting at a neighboring church. A husband and wife were speaking about a recent crisis they had been through involving a terrible accident in which the husband was severely injured. His wife spoke at some length about her experience through the whole ordeal and shared how the providence and grace of God had provided for them and carried them through the crisis. She recalled how at one point the only thing she could do was call out to God for help. She remembered at that time looking out the window at the beautiful snow-capped mountains of Utah. She said the verse that immediately came to her mind was in Psalm 121: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” It was so beautiful and moving to see an instance of the Holy Spirit ministering God’s Word to one of his children. But what also struck a chord with me is the fact that I had my daughter memorize that exact verse last week. That verse hadn’t had a profound effect on me until I heard this woman talk about how it ministered to her life in a real and concrete way.

I’ve had this same experience several times. It’s been through talking to other Christians, listening to sermons and reading books. A verse or passage that I may have read several times will at once speak to me through the experience of another person to whom the Holy Spirit has ministered that particular Word. I’m sure this has happened in reverse too! It makes me think about how important the body of Christ is in this particular area: the ministering of God’s Word to one another. God did not intend for there to be lone-ranger Christians. We need one another. As Paul says in Colossians 3:16:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Jesse Tree

Well, Thanksgiving has past and the Advent season is soon to begin. The word advent means “coming” or “arrival”. While traditions in churches vary, the season of Advent is predominantly celebrated as a time of hope and anticipation. It is both a commemoration of the first coming of Christ, as well as an anticipation of the second coming of Christ. On the western liturgical calendar, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. In churches that formally celebrate Advent, each Sunday a candle is lit that has a specific meaning, such as faith, hope, love or joy. A fifth candle is usually lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to represent the birth of Christ. There are usually specific Scripture reading/devotions for each Sunday.

I have never been part of a church that celebrates Advent, so my knowledge of how it’s done is pretty much limited to what I wrote above. However, last year our family celebrated Advent at home, and it was truly a very rewarding experience. Before I describe what we did, I want to say a few words about Christmas traditions. We all have our own Christmas traditions. They may include certain family events, gift-giving, special meals, specific ways to decorate a Christmas tree, a reading of the Christmas story, etc. So many Christmas traditions have a “family” focus or even a secular focus (e.g. Santa) and not a “Christ” focus. And while we Christians all know the “true meaning of Christmas”, most of our time is often spent during the Christmas season finishing our Christmas shopping and eating cookies, while far less time is spent on anticipating the actual focus of the Christmas Day celebration-the birth of Christ! Of course, there isn’t anything wrong with gift-giving and eating good food or any of the other traditions, but in our family we wanted to start a Christmas tradition that focused the season on it’s true meaning.

So, last year we made a Jesse Tree to celebrate the Advent season. The Jesse tree gets it name from Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. (ESV)” While there are various resources on the web for making a Jesse Tree with corresponding daily Scripture readings, we followed the outline in the book Disciplines of a Godly Family by Kent & Barbara Hughes. We had twenty-five Advent readings beginning December 1st and ending on Christmas Day. The readings covered biblical history chronologically from creation to the birth of Christ. Major events in the Old Testament were covered, including various prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Each reading was accompanied by a ornament decorated with an appropriate symbol to hang on the Jesse Tree.

Our tree consisted of a bare branch from our backyard. We placed it in a large vase and filled the vase with sand from our daughter’s sandbox. Our daughter was only 2 and 1/2 at that time, so I made the ornaments myself out of cardstock and yarn. I used my magnificent artistic abilities (Ha!) to draw the symbols. Our daughter had a great time hanging the ornaments on our Jesse Tree. I’m hoping this year that she will get more out of the Scripture readings! Here’s a photo:

There are many different ways to make a Jesse Tree, and it can be as elaborate as one wants to make it. While I intend to use my same ornaments this year, I anticipate our children making the ornaments in the future. What a great project! I can’t say enough about how wonderful a Christmas tradition this is to commemorate the birth of Christ.

A Puritan Prayer for Thanksgiving

O MY GOD,

Thou fairest, greatest, first of all objects,
my heart admires, adores, loves thee,
for my little vessel is as full as it can be,
and I would pour out all that fullness before thee in ceaseless flow.

When I think upon and converse with thee ten thousand delightful thoughts spring up,
ten thousand sources of pleasure are unsealed,
ten thousand refreshing joys spread over my heart,
crowding every moment of happiness.

I bless thee for the soul thou hast created,
for adorning it,
sanctifying it,
though it is fixed in barren soil;
for the body thou hast given me,
for preserving its strength and vigor,
for providing senses to enjoy delights,
for the ease of freedom of my limbs,
for hands, eyes, ears that do thy bidding;
for thy royal bounty providing my daily support,
for a full table and overflowing cup,
for appetite, taste, sweetness,
for social joys of relatives and friends,
for ability to serve others,
for a heart that feels sorrows and necessities,
for a mind to care for my fellow-men,
for opportunities of spreading happiness around,
for loved ones in the joys of heaven,
for my own expectation of seeing thee clearly.

I love thee above the powers of language to express, for what thou art to thy creatures.

Increase my love, O my God, through time and eternity.

— Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, 1975

Early Thanksgiving Reflections - A Short History

Of the 102 Pilgrims that landed in Plymouth, MA in 1620, only half survived the first winter. With the help of an English-speaking Native American, Squanto, the remaining Pilgrims were able to reap a bountiful harvest in the fall of 1621. They held a harvest feast for three days to celebrate and rejoice. While this celebration was not technically called a “thanksgiving” feast, it was clear that they recognized God’s goodness in providing them with a plentiful harvest. Pilgrim Edward Winslow writes in Mourt’s Relation:

“our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

In the Pilgrims third year, the land was stricken with a severe drought. The Pilgrims held a day of prayer and fasting. Governor William Bradford writes in Of Plymouth Plantation:

I may not here omit how, notwithstand all their great pains and industry, and the great hopes of a large crop, the Lord seemed to blast, and take away the same, and to threaten further and more sore famine unto them. By a great drought which continued from the third week in May, till about the middle of July, without any rain and with great heat for the most part, insomuch as the corn began to wither away though it was set with fish, the moisture whereof helped it much. Yet at length it began to languish sore, and some of the drier grounds were parched like withered hay, part whereof was never recovered. Upon which they set apart a solemn day of humiliation, to seek the Lord by humble and fervent prayer, in this great distress. And He was pleased to give them a gracious and speedy answer, both to their own and the Indians’ admiration that lived amongst them. For all the morning, and the greatest part of the day, it was clear weather and very hot, and not a cloud or any sign of rain to be seen; yet toward evening it began to overcast, and shortly after to rain with such sweet and gentle showers as gave them cause of rejoicing and blessing God. It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in that abundance as that the earth was thoroughly wet and soaked and therewith. Which did so apparently revive and quicken the decayed corn and other fruits, as was wonderful to see, and made the Indians astonished to behold. And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving.

After the crops were saved by the God-given rain, Governor Bradford made an official thanksgiving proclamation in 1623:

Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.