The Pilgrims and Human Sacrifice Among the Wampanoag Tribe
Paul Jehle talks about human sacrifice in Plymouth colony in the 1600s.
The following legend is taken from the Scott Corbett’s book, Cape Cod’s Way: An Informal History of Cape Cod (New York: Thomas Crowell 1955). The information can be found in the Plymouth archives.
Once upon a time the old village of Monument nestled under the side of a hill near the Manomet River. That hamlet has now become the village of Bourne, and the canal has swallowed up the river as part of its route. The feeling of altitude, unusual on the Cape, remains, and somehow on a black night the spot reminds me of the Catskills in one of their pleasantly spooky moods. The village of Bourne is still a place where, on a murky, whispering evening, it is easy … to imagine what the frightful scene must have been like the night Richard Bourne called down the wrath of God on the Indians to stop their barbarous human sacrifices.
It was during this time [mid-1600s] that Richard Bourne was doing his good work among the Indians. His efforts met with great success, but apparently he had to cure the heathens of a few bad habits first. The legend of Richard Bourne and the Indian sacrifices involves a large rock north of the Bourne fire tower which was once called Sacrifice Rock, and later Chamber Rock. Tradition says it was here that the Indians offered sacrifices, sometimes human.
On one occasion, Bourne chanced upon the scene in the midst of a ritual of torture and death, and gave them a horrified warning to stop. When they would not, he called the wrath of God down upon them. A bolt of lightning instantly split the rock, killing an impressive number of Indians. After a home demonstration of that magnitude, the survivors must have been ready for speedy conversion to Christianity. At any rate, the first meetinghouse built for Indians in Plymouth County stood at the base of Indian Burial Hill in Bournedale and was well attended. Thomas Tupper, one of the “ten men of Saugus” who settled Sandwich, had charge of the meetinghouse. In 1696 he was preaching to one hundred and eighty Indians there.
NOTES:
Reverend Richard Bourne was born in 1610 in Barnstable, County Devonshire, England and died on September 18th, 1682 in Sandwich, Massachusetts. He came to Plymouth Mass about 1635. His ancestry traces back to Sir John Bourne, Secretary of State to Queen Mary (1553-1558). Richard, aged 24, left England, coming by way of St. Kitts & Barbados, arriving in America January 1st, 1635. He stayed with his brother Henry in Scituate Mass. Richard was one of the earliest settlers of Shawmee, Mass, later incorporated in 1637 as Sandwich, Mass. (Part of Sandwich became Bourne, Mass. in 1884.)
Richard Bourne had many interests but his work with the Indians is probably the most outstanding. The continued peace with the Indians was due more to his efforts than to the military forces. He learned the Indian language and began his work about 1658. He was ordained pastor of the Indian Church at Mashpee in 1670. Richard purchased at his own expense 16 square miles as a permanent home for the Mashpee Indians. He translated the Lords Prayer into the Indian language — copies are available at the Aptucxet Trading Post near Bourne. In 1919 Indians were still living on the land given them by Richard.
Thomas Tupper II was born at Sandwich, Mass., in 1638 and died in 1706. He became a freeman at the age of 20. He served on a jury in 1664, was an Exciseman in 1677 and Town Constable in 1669. He was a Selectman for 14 years, Town Clerk for 10 years, Deputy to General Court at Plymouth for 11 years. A Representative to the Court of Boston and in 1680 was appointed Lieutenant of the Military Company in Sandwich, becoming Captain in 1690. He had strong religious convictions and for many years was a Missionary among the Indians.
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
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After 40 years of intense study and world-wide ministry, Dr. Francis Schaeffer completed his crowning work of scholarship – to present profound truths in simple film language. Dr. Schaeffer’s brilliant analysis of the past and predictions for current trends have proven so uncannily accurate that this amazing series still feels contemporary almost three decades after its initial release. Ultimately, Schaeffer concludes that man’s only hope is a return to God’s Biblical absolute, the truth revealed in Christ through the Scriptures.
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The Four Keys to the Millennium (Book)
Foundations in Biblical Eschatology
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All Christians believe that their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day return. Although we cannot know the exact time of His return, what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of the signs of His coming (Mat. 24)? How are we to interpret the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:19)? Should we expect a time of great tribulation and apostasy or revival and reformation before the Lord returns? Is the devil bound now, and are the saints reigning with Christ? Did you know that there are four hermeneutical approaches to the book of Daniel and Revelation?
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The Real Jesus: A Defense of the Historicity and Divinity of Christ (DVD)
Who is the Real Jesus?
Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the “historical Jesus” — a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.
Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regrettably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.
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Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
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The Abortion Matrix: Defeating Child Sacrifice and the Culture of Death (DVD)
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Is there a connection between pagan religion and the abortion industry?
This powerful presentation traces the biblical roots of child sacrifice and then delves into the social, political and cultural fall-out that this sin against God and crime against humanity has produced in our beleaguered society.
Conceived as a sequel and update to the 1988 classic, The Massacre of Innocence, the new title, The Abortion Matrix, is entirely fitting. It not only references abortion’s specific target – the sacred matrix where human beings are formed in the womb in the very image of God, but it also implies the existence of a conspiracy, a matrix of seemingly disparate forces that are driving this holocaust.
The occult activity surrounding the abortion industry is exposed with numerous examples. But are these just aberrations, bizarre yet anomalous examples of abortionists who just happen to have ties to modern day witchcraft? Or is this representative of something deeper, more sinister and even endemic to the entire abortion movement?
As the allusion to the film of over a decade ago suggests, the viewer may learn that things are not always as they appear to be. The Abortion Matrix reveals the reality of child-killing and strikes the proper moral chord to move hearts to fulfill the biblical responsibility to rescue those unjustly sentenced to death and to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 24:11,12; 31:8,9).
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Running Time: 195 minutes
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