We who have lived so long in this soft age of the twentieth century's between-war years can scarcely appreciate the sacrifices and hardships of America's Pilgrim pioneers, and the faith and fortitude with which they surmounted a myriad of formidable obstacles in their freedom-quest migration to America and colonization of New England.
History recorded one of its most intriguing chapters of the intrepid spirit of God-dedicated men answering the call of destiny when the Pilgrim Fathers, who had first sought temporary refuge in Holland, rode the briny deep in their 180-ton wooden sailing bark to the then ice-coated wilderness of our New England shores.
The Bradford Manuscript History
We are greatly indebted to one of their own number for the highlights here presented, which are largely based upon the manuscript history written by Captain (later Governor) William Bradford, who sailed with his fellow Englishmen on the monumental voyage of the Mayflower in 1620. Bradford's history recounts not only the vicissitudes of ocean journey but also the preliminary experiences of the Pilgrims prior to their embarkation from England and Holland, and records in gripping human-interest manner the story of the privations and achievements of the early Plymouth plantation from the year 1620 to 1637.1 The original manuscript found its way back to England and was not returned to its homeland until more than two hundred years after its writing.
May 26, 1897 was a memorable occasion for New England when Bradford's historic manuscript, which had been legally transferred back to Massachusetts by the decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London the previous month, was officially presented to the governor of the Commonwealth. Feature addresses by the Honorable George F. Hoar, senator from Massachusetts in the United States Congress; the Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, the first American ambassador to Great Britain, to whom the London Court had delivered the manuscript for transportation to America; and His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott of Massachusetts highlighted the ceremonies.
Senator Hoar in his address referred to the manuscript as "the only authentic history of what we have a right to consider the most important political transaction that has ever taken place on the face of the earth." He appraised it as "the most precious manuscript on earth, unless we could recover one of the four gospels as it came in the beginning from the pen of the Evangelist." Eloquently he asserted, "Our temple covers a continent, and its porches are upon both the seas. Our fathers knew the secret to lay, in Christian liberty and law, the foundations of empire."—WILLIAM BRADFORD, History of Plymouth Plantation, pp. xxxix, xlvi,
Ambassador Bayard ably paid tribute to the Pilgrims who sought an asylum "where they could worship God according to their own conscience and live as free men. They came to these shores, and they have found the asylum, and they have strengthened it, and it is what we see to-day,—a country of absolute religious and civil freedom,—of equal rights and toleration." And then he dramatically added: "And is it not fitting that I, who have in my veins the blood of the Huguenots, should present to you and your Governor the log of the English emigrants, who left their country for the sake of religious freedom?"—Ibid., p. lxvi.
Governor Wolcott gave reverent testimony to the achievements of the Pilgrim Fathers in the historic words found on the back cover of this issue of THE MINISTRY.
It is to the mute pages of Bradford's memorable document so highly praised by illustrious men that we now turn for a few stimulating glimpses into the character of these hardy Pilgrim pioneers.
Bradford's manuscript begins in the setting of the gross darkness of popery, which had covered and overspread the Christian world, and the wars of oppression that followed, and the struggle of true Christians to bring the church of God back to its primitive purity, to revive the liberty and the beauty of the earliest Christian faith. With a few strokes of his facile pen he emerges from the spiritual conflict, stained with the blood of Christian martyrs, into the sacrificial triumph of faith and fortitude over the pride and ambition, over the persecuting perversity of evil men. Ultimately, as the ancient prophet-apostle on the isle of Patmos had foretold, God led His pilgrim band to this place of victory and freedom in the new world.
A God-covenanted Fellowship
From page 13 of his manuscript reprint we take our first character glimpse of the early Pilgrim Fathers. They were men whose hearts "the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth," who "shook off the yoke of anti-Christian bondage" to become "the Lord's free people," and "joined themselves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all his ways, made known or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensewing history will declare."
The particular church with which we are concerned was a little congregation of independents from the English village of Scrooby, who, under the distinguished pastorate of John Robinson, were forced to flee to the Netherlands for religious freedom and later formed the nucleus of the Pilgrim church of America. John Robinson, their remarkable pastor, was their spiritual anchor in their haven of rest in Holland. Bradford's comment on the persecutions and problems they overcame to reach their Dutch asylum was simply, "And though they were sometimes foyled, yet by God's assistance they prevailed and got ye victorie."—Ibid., p. 22.
Ever motivated by the supreme importance of their spiritual life, they left Amsterdam after about a year of residence and moved to Leyden because they felt it was a better location for their faith, although it was not so propitious for their outward means of livelihood. To them spiritual peace was more priceless than the riches of earth.
At Leyden they enjoyed spiritual freedom and sweet fellowship in the ways of God under the intrepid leadership of John Robinson, their pastor, and William Brewster, their elder. Theirs was a fellowship of love's holiness. Of their mutual love and reciprocal respect, Bradford says, it was hard to tell whether the congregation had more delight in such a pastor as Robinson or whether the pastor had the more delight in such a congregation.
A man of wondrous worth and wisdom, Robinson molded the spiritual destiny of these Pilgrims who were reviving the spirit of primitive Christianity. They left the imprint of their integrity upon the Hollanders, who sought to employ them because of their honesty and diligence. The Dutch people would trust the poor among them when they wanted money, because of their exemplary lives and "how careful they were to keep their word." And as the time of their departure neared, the magistrates of the city of Leyden paid them this tribute: "These English, said they, have lived amongst us now this 12. years, and yet we never had any sute or accusation came against any of them."—Ibid., p. 27.
The Spirit of Primitive Christianity
Bradford, himself, thus writes of their exemplary character: "I know not but it may be spoken to ye honour of God, 8: without prejudice [14] to any, that such was ye true pietie, ye humble zeale, & fervant love, of this people (whilst they thus lived together) towards God and his waies, and ye single hartednes Sc. sinceir affection one towards another, that they came as near ye primativ patterne of ye first churches, as any other church of these later times have done, according to their ranke, p. 26.
Robinson was looked upon as a champion of truth and recognized as such by the Dutch people themselves. But the period of the Pilgrims sojourn in Holland was coming to a close. The Spaniard's war drums were sounding again. Economic hardships were pressing in upon them. Their situation was becoming increasingly difficult. They feared for their children, who were more inclined to yield to the worldly influences about them as they faced the growing hardships of the Christian way—hardships so severe that some of their brethren across the channel had even chosen to remain in the prisons of England rather than risk the accompanying rigors of freedom elsewhere.
Their Call of Destiny
An undaunted hope and inward zeal for the advancement of the gospel stirred these Pilgrim Fathers into the dream of finding in some remote part of the world an asylum of freedom, a haven of rest from persecution, and a place where their missionary endeavor could help build the kingdom of God on earth.
They debated whether they should choose some area of this country or embark to more fertile regions of the hot climates of Guiana, where they could hope for perpetual spring and the rich, fruitful bounty of nature. Fearing possible merciless treatment from the Spaniards, and the threat of tropical diseases, which Bradford said "would not so well agree with our English bodies," they determined with some trepidation to find their freedom's refuge in some area of North America, possibly in the northern part of the Virginia colony, where they could be off to themselves and less likely to incur renewed persecution from other English folk who had migrated to this continent.
"All great & honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages. It was granted ye dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible."—Ibid., p. 34.
That these men right from the beginning possessed the courage answerable to their subsequent heroic achievements, there was little doubt.
In lodging their formal written request for the consent of the London company to migrate to the New World, Robinson and Brewster added these memorable words: "We are well weaned ... from the delicate milk of our mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land; the people are industrious and frugal. We are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virture whereof we hold ourselves straitly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole. It is not with us as with men whom small things can discourage."—GEORGE BANCROFT, History of the United States of America, p. 202.
Bradford wrote of the interminable frustrations that caused their hopes to be "long delayed by many rubs that fell by the way."
Space does not permit even a brief recounting of the difficulties encountered with their merchant friends who proposed to transport them to America. After interminable delays the business transactions seemed complete.
Bradford in more detail recalls the perplexities confronted in preparing for their arduous journey in order that "their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrastled in going throug these things in their first beginings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding all their weaknesses 8c infirmities." —Ibid., p. 71.
At length, after much travail, all things were in readiness. The small ship, the Speedwell, bought and fitted in Holland, was to take the Leyden group from the Netherlands to England and their rendezvous with the Mayflower.
John Robinson, on the day of "solleme humiliation" prior to their departure, took as his text Ezra 8:21. A good part of the day was spent discussing this text and their need of humbling themselves before God. The rest of the time was spent "in powering out prairs to ye Lord with great fervencie, mixed with abundance of tears." They were pained at parting, "But they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."—Ibid., p. 72.
The last night before embarking from DeIfshaven "was spent with litle sleepe by ye most, but with freindly entertainmente 8c christian discourse, and other reall expressions of true christian love." As they boarded the ship the next day "truly dolfull was ye sight of that sade and mournfull parting; to see what sighs and sobbs and praiers did sound amongst them, what tears did gush from every eye."—Ibid., p. 73. Even some of the Dutch strangers that stood on the shore could not refrain from tears. Many of them would never meet again in this world.
Pastor Robinson and his people fell upon their knees as their beloved leader "with watrie cheeks commended them with most fervente praiers to the Lord and to his blessing." With many tears and final embraces they took leave of one another. They hoisted sail, and a favorable wind brought them quickly to Southampton, where they found the bigger ship, the Mayflower, lying ready for journey, together with the rest of their company ready to sail.
John Robinson's Farewell Letter
To the believers Robinson wrote: "And first, as we are daly to renew our repentance to our God, espetially for our sines known, and generally for our unknowne trespasses, so doth ye Lord call us in a singuler maner upon occasions of shuch difficultie k danger as lieth upon you, to a both more narrow search F.: carefull reformation of your ways in his sight."—Ibid., p. 79. He admonished that all sin be taken away by earnest repentance, so that the Lord would give them His sweet comfort in their distress and provide a "happy deliverance from all evil." Next to making certain of their peace with God, he asked them to provide for peace with all men and not so easily take offence. They were not to be offended at the doings of men or at the providences of God, for, said he, "if taking of offence causelesly or easilie at men's doings be so carefuly to be avoyded, how much more heed is to be taken yt we take not offence at God him selfe, which yet we certainly doe so ofte as we doe murmure at his providence in our crosses, or beare impatiently shuch afflictions as wherwith he pleaseth to -visite us. Store up therefore patience against ye evill day, without which we take offence at ye Lord him selfe in his holy Sc just works."Ibid.. pp. 80, 81.
Although they first set sail from the coast of England on August 5, 1620, the distressing delays caused by the unseaworthy smaller vessel, which developed leaks, were enough to discourage men of lesser heart. With good hope they put to sea the second time after the boat repairs had been made in Dartmouth harbor, and tragically enough had to turn back again after putting nearly three hundred miles of ocean between them and Land's End. Although they could not detect any special leak, the general weakness of the ship seemed apparent, so they put into Plymouth harbor and decided to abandon the small ship and take what they could on the larger one, as time was running out and it was getting late in the season.
The spirit of these pioneers again shines forth in the comment of Bradford: "The Lord by this work of his providence thought these few too many for the great work he had to do."Ibid., p. 85. And thus, like Gideon's band, He thinned them out. On September 6 the doughty Pilgrims put to sea for the third time, never to be turned back again ere they had anchored off the shores of the New World.
Undaunted
No dangers could appall the dauntless Pilgrim hopefuls. "The little band, not of resolute men only, but wives, some far gone in pregnancy, children, infants, a floating village, yet in all but one hundred souls, went on board the single ship, which was hired only to carry them across the Atlantic; and on the sixth day of September, 1620, thirteen years after the first colonization of Virginia, two months before the concession of the grand charter of Plymouth, without any warrant from the sovereign of England, without any useful charter from a corporate body, the Pilgrims in the 'Mayflower' set sail for the New World, where the past could offer no favorable auguries!
"But these Christian heroes of a grander venture than the classic voyage which Virgil has sung of old iEneas, "Trojae qui primus al) oris fato profugus, Lavinaque refit Litora," unawed by the abounding perils of the sea and land, unchilled by the desertion of their comrades, kept on their solitary way and 'bated no jot of heart or hope.' . " . . . these men and women and children knew nothing of the sea: they only knew that ships sailed, and too often did not return; they had seen the sea, even along the coasts of England and Holland. lashed into fury. To trust themselves upon it on an uncertain voyage to a wilderness harbor' was no gala undertaking; yet serenely they accepted the situation, thankful to God for civil rights and untrammelled liberty to hymn his praises."—Wm. CARLOS MARTYN, The Pilgrim Fathers of New England, pp. 79, 80.
O Exile of the wrath of kings!
O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty!
The refuge of divinest things,
Their record must abide in thee!
—JULIA WARD HOWE., Our Country
At Cape Cod
After landing at Cape Cod on the eleventh day of November—which marked the armistice in their battle with the ocean—"they fell upon their knees fi blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast gc furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles fi miseries thereof, againe to set their feete on ye firme and stable earth, their proper elemente."— BRADFORD, History, p. 94.
What a different landing those early Pilgrims had compared with what awaited the modern voyagers of the Mayflower II. There were no friends on the shore to welcome them. No hotels announcing their comforts with neon lights. There were no homes in which they could refresh themselves, much less towns to which they could resort for health and comfort. It was winter. In winter's violent weather it is dangerous to travel to known places, and much more so to search an unknown coast for a suitable location. "What could they see," wrote Bradford, "but a hidious Sc desolate wildernes, full of wild beasts 8c willd men?"—Ibid., p. 95. They turned their eyes heavenward for the solace they could not find in any outward objects. This alone assuaged the forebodings of that wild and savage view of their winter land without homes. Behind them was the mighty ocean, before them the untamed resources and dangers of an unknown country. Naught else could sustain them in their many trials but the Spirit of God and His grace. Significantly, Bradford paraphrased the words of Deuteronomy 26:5 and 7, and Psalm 107:15, 8.
Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, etc. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endureth forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men.—Ibid.,, pp. 96, 97.
Finding Their Permanent Home
The urgency of the situation required all possible speed in finding a suitable location. Several sorties were made. While the large shallop was being mended, Captain Miles Standish, on November 15, led sixteen well-armed men to survey the land in the Cape Cod area. They brought back some Indian corn, which greatly encouraged the hearts of their brethren.
More corn and beans that the Indians had stored were found on the first trip in the shallop. This provided them with seed for the coming year, for which they later reimbursed the Indians. Bradford's comment was, "But the Lord is never wanting unto his in their greatest needs; let his holy name have all ye praise."
It was December 6 when they again set out in their little shallop with ten of their principal men and some seamen. The weather was cold and the spray of the sea froze on them like glass. Each night they would build a barracade about the heighth of a man, start a fire in the center of it, and sleep around the fire while a sentinal stood guard. On this trip they experienced their first attack by Indians, which they repulsed successfully without loss or hurt. "Afterwards they gave God sollamne thanks g: praise for their deliverance."—Ibid., p. 104.
They had as a pilot a Mr. Coppin, who had been in the country before, and he directed them toward Plymouth harbor. At sea that afternoon they broke their rudder, and it was all two men could do to steer the boat with oars; but their pilot bade them to be of good cheer for he saw the harbor. When they put up their sail, the mast broke in three pieces and fell overboard, but by God's mercy they were delivered and managed to make the harbor. Misfortune dogged them, only to be accepted and overcome. Under the lee of a small island they spent the night in safety. But "though this had been a day and night of much trouble and danger unto them," wrote Bradford, "yet God gave them a morning of comfort and refreshing (as usually he doth to his children), for the next day was a fair sunshiny day."—Ibid., p. 106.
They sounded the harbor and found it fit for shipping, and ashore the cornfields indicated the land was habitable. Sheer "necessity made them glad to accept it."—Ibid., p. 106.
By their landing here they proclaimed a message for the world:
Oh. we are weary pilgrims; to this wilderness we bring
A church without a Bishop, a State without a King.
—Anonymous, "The Puritan's Mistake"
They returned to the ship where the good news of their find brought great rejoicing, and on December 15 the Mayflower weighed anchor and arrived at the harbor the next day.
Down to the Plymouth Rock, that had been to their feet as a doorstep
Into a world unknown,—the corner-stone of a nation!
—LONGFELLOW
"The Courtship of Miles Standish"
It was Christmas Day, A.D. 1620, that they began to erect their first Pilgrim house on New England soil.
Venturing for God
What lessons of faith and courageous adventure for truth and right are spelled out for us in the lives of these Pilgrim heroes!
Can we too dare the unknown and achieve new conquests for our God? Are we brave and dedicated enough to voyage away from stagnant religions. shackeled by the unholy norms of pseudo-philosophies and by the domineering spirit of the issues of our day, toward a new world of freedom and loyalty in Christ Jesus? Can we envision the deeper realities of the Spirit—justice, mercy, truth, liberty, and brotherhood? Can we too in simple trust and faith launch our Christian vessel upon the tumultuous sea of modern events with a lifted horizon of a church under full sail toward the birth of a new world? Or are we still content to abide in our little denominational harbor of safety and satiety, hoping that others may be brave enough to dare all the elements of wrath and the hazardous voyage of global conquests for God?
On the stormiest sea of life the Master of men fashioned the good ship of grace and proved it could weather all the storms of evil. He calls to the spiritual mariners of today, "Sail on and on and on, until the conquests of the Christian way have built the colonies of heaven on every shore in every country of every land." Then life's setting sun shall find the voyage ended, the conquests won, and there shall be but a few hours more until the dawn of the eternal day!
We who have lived so long in this soft age of the twentieth century's between-war years can scarcely appreciate the sacrifices and hardships of America's Pilgrim pioneers, and the faith and fortitude with which they surmounted a myriad of formidable obstacles in their freedom-quest migration to America and colonization of New England.
History recorded one of its most intriguing chapters of the intrepid spirit of God-dedicated men answering the call of destiny when the Pilgrim Fathers, who had first sought temporary refuge in Holland, rode the briny deep in their 180-ton wooden sailing bark to the then ice-coated wilderness of our New England shores.
The Bradford Manuscript History
We are greatly indebted to one of their own number for the highlights here presented, which are largely based upon the manuscript history written by Captain (later Governor) William Bradford, who sailed with his fellow Englishmen on the monumental voyage of the Mayflower in 1620. Bradford's history recounts not only the vicissitudes of ocean journey but also the preliminary experiences of the Pilgrims prior to their embarkation from England and Holland, and records in gripping human-interest manner the story of the privations and achievements of the early Plymouth plantation from the year 1620 to 1637.1 The original manuscript found its way back to England and was not returned to its homeland until more than two hundred years after its writing.
May 26, 1897 was a memorable occasion for New England when Bradford's historic manuscript, which had been legally transferred back to Massachusetts by the decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London the previous month, was officially presented to the governor of the Commonwealth. Feature addresses by the Honorable George F. Hoar, senator from Massachusetts in the United States Congress; the Honorable Thomas Francis Bayard, the first American ambassador to Great Britain, to whom the London Court had delivered the manuscript for transportation to America; and His Excellency Governor Roger Wolcott of Massachusetts highlighted the ceremonies.
Senator Hoar in his address referred to the manuscript as "the only authentic history of what we have a right to consider the most important political transaction that has ever taken place on the face of the earth." He appraised it as "the most precious manuscript on earth, unless we could recover one of the four gospels as it came in the beginning from the pen of the Evangelist." Eloquently he asserted, "Our temple covers a continent, and its porches are upon both the seas. Our fathers knew the secret to lay, in Christian liberty and law, the foundations of empire."—WILLIAM BRADFORD, History of Plymouth Plantation, pp. xxxix, xlvi,
Ambassador Bayard ably paid tribute to the Pilgrims who sought an asylum "where they could worship God according to their own conscience and live as free men. They came to these shores, and they have found the asylum, and they have strengthened it, and it is what we see to-day,—a country of absolute religious and civil freedom,—of equal rights and toleration." And then he dramatically added: "And is it not fitting that I, who have in my veins the blood of the Huguenots, should present to you and your Governor the log of the English emigrants, who left their country for the sake of religious freedom?"—Ibid., p. lxvi.
Governor Wolcott gave reverent testimony to the achievements of the Pilgrim Fathers in the historic words found on the back cover of this issue of THE MINISTRY.
It is to the mute pages of Bradford's memorable document so highly praised by illustrious men that we now turn for a few stimulating glimpses into the character of these hardy Pilgrim pioneers.
Bradford's manuscript begins in the setting of the gross darkness of popery, which had covered and overspread the Christian world, and the wars of oppression that followed, and the struggle of true Christians to bring the church of God back to its primitive purity, to revive the liberty and the beauty of the earliest Christian faith. With a few strokes of his facile pen he emerges from the spiritual conflict, stained with the blood of Christian martyrs, into the sacrificial triumph of faith and fortitude over the pride and ambition, over the persecuting perversity of evil men. Ultimately, as the ancient prophet-apostle on the isle of Patmos had foretold, God led His pilgrim band to this place of victory and freedom in the new world.
A God-covenanted Fellowship
From page 13 of his manuscript reprint we take our first character glimpse of the early Pilgrim Fathers. They were men whose hearts "the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth," who "shook off the yoke of anti-Christian bondage" to become "the Lord's free people," and "joined themselves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all his ways, made known or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensewing history will declare."
The particular church with which we are concerned was a little congregation of independents from the English village of Scrooby, who, under the distinguished pastorate of John Robinson, were forced to flee to the Netherlands for religious freedom and later formed the nucleus of the Pilgrim church of America. John Robinson, their remarkable pastor, was their spiritual anchor in their haven of rest in Holland. Bradford's comment on the persecutions and problems they overcame to reach their Dutch asylum was simply, "And though they were sometimes foyled, yet by God's assistance they prevailed and got ye victorie."—Ibid., p. 22.
Ever motivated by the supreme importance of their spiritual life, they left Amsterdam after about a year of residence and moved to Leyden because they felt it was a better location for their faith, although it was not so propitious for their outward means of livelihood. To them spiritual peace was more priceless than the riches of earth.
At Leyden they enjoyed spiritual freedom and sweet fellowship in the ways of God under the intrepid leadership of John Robinson, their pastor, and William Brewster, their elder. Theirs was a fellowship of love's holiness. Of their mutual love and reciprocal respect, Bradford says, it was hard to tell whether the congregation had more delight in such a pastor as Robinson or whether the pastor had the more delight in such a congregation.
A man of wondrous worth and wisdom, Robinson molded the spiritual destiny of these Pilgrims who were reviving the spirit of primitive Christianity. They left the imprint of their integrity upon the Hollanders, who sought to employ them because of their honesty and diligence. The Dutch people would trust the poor among them when they wanted money, because of their exemplary lives and "how careful they were to keep their word." And as the time of their departure neared, the magistrates of the city of Leyden paid them this tribute: "These English, said they, have lived amongst us now this 12. years, and yet we never had any sute or accusation came against any of them."—Ibid., p. 27.
The Spirit of Primitive Christianity
Bradford, himself, thus writes of their exemplary character: "I know not but it may be spoken to ye honour of God, 8: without prejudice [14] to any, that such was ye true pietie, ye humble zeale, & fervant love, of this people (whilst they thus lived together) towards God and his waies, and ye single hartednes Sc. sinceir affection one towards another, that they came as near ye primativ patterne of ye first churches, as any other church of these later times have done, according to their ranke, p. 26.
Robinson was looked upon as a champion of truth and recognized as such by the Dutch people themselves. But the period of the Pilgrims sojourn in Holland was coming to a close. The Spaniard's war drums were sounding again. Economic hardships were pressing in upon them. Their situation was becoming increasingly difficult. They feared for their children, who were more inclined to yield to the worldly influences about them as they faced the growing hardships of the Christian way—hardships so severe that some of their brethren across the channel had even chosen to remain in the prisons of England rather than risk the accompanying rigors of freedom elsewhere.
Their Call of Destiny
An undaunted hope and inward zeal for the advancement of the gospel stirred these Pilgrim Fathers into the dream of finding in some remote part of the world an asylum of freedom, a haven of rest from persecution, and a place where their missionary endeavor could help build the kingdom of God on earth.
They debated whether they should choose some area of this country or embark to more fertile regions of the hot climates of Guiana, where they could hope for perpetual spring and the rich, fruitful bounty of nature. Fearing possible merciless treatment from the Spaniards, and the threat of tropical diseases, which Bradford said "would not so well agree with our English bodies," they determined with some trepidation to find their freedom's refuge in some area of North America, possibly in the northern part of the Virginia colony, where they could be off to themselves and less likely to incur renewed persecution from other English folk who had migrated to this continent.
"All great & honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages. It was granted ye dangers were great, but not desperate; the difficulties were many, but not invincible."—Ibid., p. 34.
That these men right from the beginning possessed the courage answerable to their subsequent heroic achievements, there was little doubt.
In lodging their formal written request for the consent of the London company to migrate to the New World, Robinson and Brewster added these memorable words: "We are well weaned ... from the delicate milk of our mother country, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land; the people are industrious and frugal. We are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virture whereof we hold ourselves straitly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole. It is not with us as with men whom small things can discourage."—GEORGE BANCROFT, History of the United States of America, p. 202.
Bradford wrote of the interminable frustrations that caused their hopes to be "long delayed by many rubs that fell by the way."
Space does not permit even a brief recounting of the difficulties encountered with their merchant friends who proposed to transport them to America. After interminable delays the business transactions seemed complete.
Bradford in more detail recalls the perplexities confronted in preparing for their arduous journey in order that "their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrastled in going throug these things in their first beginings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding all their weaknesses 8c infirmities." —Ibid., p. 71.
At length, after much travail, all things were in readiness. The small ship, the Speedwell, bought and fitted in Holland, was to take the Leyden group from the Netherlands to England and their rendezvous with the Mayflower.
John Robinson, on the day of "solleme humiliation" prior to their departure, took as his text Ezra 8:21. A good part of the day was spent discussing this text and their need of humbling themselves before God. The rest of the time was spent "in powering out prairs to ye Lord with great fervencie, mixed with abundance of tears." They were pained at parting, "But they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits."—Ibid., p. 72.
The last night before embarking from DeIfshaven "was spent with litle sleepe by ye most, but with freindly entertainmente 8c christian discourse, and other reall expressions of true christian love." As they boarded the ship the next day "truly dolfull was ye sight of that sade and mournfull parting; to see what sighs and sobbs and praiers did sound amongst them, what tears did gush from every eye."—Ibid., p. 73. Even some of the Dutch strangers that stood on the shore could not refrain from tears. Many of them would never meet again in this world.
Pastor Robinson and his people fell upon their knees as their beloved leader "with watrie cheeks commended them with most fervente praiers to the Lord and to his blessing." With many tears and final embraces they took leave of one another. They hoisted sail, and a favorable wind brought them quickly to Southampton, where they found the bigger ship, the Mayflower, lying ready for journey, together with the rest of their company ready to sail.
John Robinson's Farewell Letter
To the believers Robinson wrote: "And first, as we are daly to renew our repentance to our God, espetially for our sines known, and generally for our unknowne trespasses, so doth ye Lord call us in a singuler maner upon occasions of shuch difficultie k danger as lieth upon you, to a both more narrow search F.: carefull reformation of your ways in his sight."—Ibid., p. 79. He admonished that all sin be taken away by earnest repentance, so that the Lord would give them His sweet comfort in their distress and provide a "happy deliverance from all evil." Next to making certain of their peace with God, he asked them to provide for peace with all men and not so easily take offence. They were not to be offended at the doings of men or at the providences of God, for, said he, "if taking of offence causelesly or easilie at men's doings be so carefuly to be avoyded, how much more heed is to be taken yt we take not offence at God him selfe, which yet we certainly doe so ofte as we doe murmure at his providence in our crosses, or beare impatiently shuch afflictions as wherwith he pleaseth to -visite us. Store up therefore patience against ye evill day, without which we take offence at ye Lord him selfe in his holy Sc just works."Ibid.. pp. 80, 81.
Although they first set sail from the coast of England on August 5, 1620, the distressing delays caused by the unseaworthy smaller vessel, which developed leaks, were enough to discourage men of lesser heart. With good hope they put to sea the second time after the boat repairs had been made in Dartmouth harbor, and tragically enough had to turn back again after putting nearly three hundred miles of ocean between them and Land's End. Although they could not detect any special leak, the general weakness of the ship seemed apparent, so they put into Plymouth harbor and decided to abandon the small ship and take what they could on the larger one, as time was running out and it was getting late in the season.
The spirit of these pioneers again shines forth in the comment of Bradford: "The Lord by this work of his providence thought these few too many for the great work he had to do."Ibid., p. 85. And thus, like Gideon's band, He thinned them out. On September 6 the doughty Pilgrims put to sea for the third time, never to be turned back again ere they had anchored off the shores of the New World.
Undaunted
No dangers could appall the dauntless Pilgrim hopefuls. "The little band, not of resolute men only, but wives, some far gone in pregnancy, children, infants, a floating village, yet in all but one hundred souls, went on board the single ship, which was hired only to carry them across the Atlantic; and on the sixth day of September, 1620, thirteen years after the first colonization of Virginia, two months before the concession of the grand charter of Plymouth, without any warrant from the sovereign of England, without any useful charter from a corporate body, the Pilgrims in the 'Mayflower' set sail for the New World, where the past could offer no favorable auguries!
"But these Christian heroes of a grander venture than the classic voyage which Virgil has sung of old iEneas, "Trojae qui primus al) oris fato profugus, Lavinaque refit Litora," unawed by the abounding perils of the sea and land, unchilled by the desertion of their comrades, kept on their solitary way and 'bated no jot of heart or hope.' . " . . . these men and women and children knew nothing of the sea: they only knew that ships sailed, and too often did not return; they had seen the sea, even along the coasts of England and Holland. lashed into fury. To trust themselves upon it on an uncertain voyage to a wilderness harbor' was no gala undertaking; yet serenely they accepted the situation, thankful to God for civil rights and untrammelled liberty to hymn his praises."—Wm. CARLOS MARTYN, The Pilgrim Fathers of New England, pp. 79, 80.
O Exile of the wrath of kings!
O Pilgrim Ark of Liberty!
The refuge of divinest things,
Their record must abide in thee!
—JULIA WARD HOWE., Our Country
At Cape Cod
After landing at Cape Cod on the eleventh day of November—which marked the armistice in their battle with the ocean—"they fell upon their knees fi blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast gc furious ocean, and delivered them from all ye periles fi miseries thereof, againe to set their feete on ye firme and stable earth, their proper elemente."— BRADFORD, History, p. 94.
What a different landing those early Pilgrims had compared with what awaited the modern voyagers of the Mayflower II. There were no friends on the shore to welcome them. No hotels announcing their comforts with neon lights. There were no homes in which they could refresh themselves, much less towns to which they could resort for health and comfort. It was winter. In winter's violent weather it is dangerous to travel to known places, and much more so to search an unknown coast for a suitable location. "What could they see," wrote Bradford, "but a hidious Sc desolate wildernes, full of wild beasts 8c willd men?"—Ibid., p. 95. They turned their eyes heavenward for the solace they could not find in any outward objects. This alone assuaged the forebodings of that wild and savage view of their winter land without homes. Behind them was the mighty ocean, before them the untamed resources and dangers of an unknown country. Naught else could sustain them in their many trials but the Spirit of God and His grace. Significantly, Bradford paraphrased the words of Deuteronomy 26:5 and 7, and Psalm 107:15, 8.
Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, etc. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endureth forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness, and his wonderful works before the sons of men.—Ibid.,, pp. 96, 97.
Finding Their Permanent Home
The urgency of the situation required all possible speed in finding a suitable location. Several sorties were made. While the large shallop was being mended, Captain Miles Standish, on November 15, led sixteen well-armed men to survey the land in the Cape Cod area. They brought back some Indian corn, which greatly encouraged the hearts of their brethren.
More corn and beans that the Indians had stored were found on the first trip in the shallop. This provided them with seed for the coming year, for which they later reimbursed the Indians. Bradford's comment was, "But the Lord is never wanting unto his in their greatest needs; let his holy name have all ye praise."
It was December 6 when they again set out in their little shallop with ten of their principal men and some seamen. The weather was cold and the spray of the sea froze on them like glass. Each night they would build a barracade about the heighth of a man, start a fire in the center of it, and sleep around the fire while a sentinal stood guard. On this trip they experienced their first attack by Indians, which they repulsed successfully without loss or hurt. "Afterwards they gave God sollamne thanks g: praise for their deliverance."—Ibid., p. 104.
They had as a pilot a Mr. Coppin, who had been in the country before, and he directed them toward Plymouth harbor. At sea that afternoon they broke their rudder, and it was all two men could do to steer the boat with oars; but their pilot bade them to be of good cheer for he saw the harbor. When they put up their sail, the mast broke in three pieces and fell overboard, but by God's mercy they were delivered and managed to make the harbor. Misfortune dogged them, only to be accepted and overcome. Under the lee of a small island they spent the night in safety. But "though this had been a day and night of much trouble and danger unto them," wrote Bradford, "yet God gave them a morning of comfort and refreshing (as usually he doth to his children), for the next day was a fair sunshiny day."—Ibid., p. 106.
They sounded the harbor and found it fit for shipping, and ashore the cornfields indicated the land was habitable. Sheer "necessity made them glad to accept it."—Ibid., p. 106.
By their landing here they proclaimed a message for the world:
Oh. we are weary pilgrims; to this wilderness we bring
A church without a Bishop, a State without a King.
—Anonymous, "The Puritan's Mistake"
They returned to the ship where the good news of their find brought great rejoicing, and on December 15 the Mayflower weighed anchor and arrived at the harbor the next day.
Down to the Plymouth Rock, that had been to their feet as a doorstep
Into a world unknown,—the corner-stone of a nation!
—LONGFELLOW
"The Courtship of Miles Standish"
It was Christmas Day, A.D. 1620, that they began to erect their first Pilgrim house on New England soil.
Venturing for God
What lessons of faith and courageous adventure for truth and right are spelled out for us in the lives of these Pilgrim heroes!
Can we too dare the unknown and achieve new conquests for our God? Are we brave and dedicated enough to voyage away from stagnant religions. shackeled by the unholy norms of pseudo-philosophies and by the domineering spirit of the issues of our day, toward a new world of freedom and loyalty in Christ Jesus? Can we envision the deeper realities of the Spirit—justice, mercy, truth, liberty, and brotherhood? Can we too in simple trust and faith launch our Christian vessel upon the tumultuous sea of modern events with a lifted horizon of a church under full sail toward the birth of a new world? Or are we still content to abide in our little denominational harbor of safety and satiety, hoping that others may be brave enough to dare all the elements of wrath and the hazardous voyage of global conquests for God?
On the stormiest sea of life the Master of men fashioned the good ship of grace and proved it could weather all the storms of evil. He calls to the spiritual mariners of today, "Sail on and on and on, until the conquests of the Christian way have built the colonies of heaven on every shore in every country of every land." Then life's setting sun shall find the voyage ended, the conquests won, and there shall be but a few hours more until the dawn of the eternal day!
