The Pilgrims BEFORE the Mayflower

Embarkation of the Pilgrims

 

White–capped, big-eyed, buckled hats and shoes, black clothes, Bible in hand – those are the Pilgrims…or are they? Who was it that was willing to endure threats, surveillance, fines, imprisonment, exile, homelessness, financial hardship, sickness, along with an uncertain journey of great peril and an unplanned landing, looming mutiny, harsh winter, and the great unknown? Who would survive that? Why would you subject your own person let alone your wife and children to such? 

COLONIZATION

The idea of a New World settlement was not novel or even specific to our Pilgrims in question. Others had gone before. Roanoke had met some mysterious defeat. Jamestown, founded about thirteen years prior, was continuing in its struggle for gold and glory. Even some like-minded Pilgrim believers had ventured to Jamestown earlier only to be met by disease and death for most.  Others had tried landing near what is now the more Northern Canadian areas. Disease, natives, scandals, dishonesty – whatever the case – those before had not succeeded in creating a permanent home. Natives had lived across the land but fighting amongst each other, kidnappings and disease had not helped their people to thrive and survive. The slave trade brought by men of ill-repute certainly had not advanced a society. It seemed colonization was hopeless, yet the race was still heightened amongst leading countries like England, Spain and The Netherlands. Someone would gain a foothold, but who would it be?

ESCAPE FROM ENGLAND

Rising out of the Reformation Era which sought to purify the Church of England from its corrupt structure were reformers like John Huss, John Wycliffe and yet one other who was also born as “John” in England in 1575.  The Geneva Bible, its study and memorization, was the focus in John Robinson’s home. He grew to attend Cambridge University, and there he committed himself completely to the Scriptures alone for his life. Initially, he joined in with the ideas of many Puritans who understood that the church was a corrupted source of truth, but through further study, he eventually rejected the state-ordered church completely and all of its man-driven authority through the King and bishops and began to preach that man should have freedom of conscience and religious liberty. Under James I of England, this was heresy, but it truly was like a fire shut up in his bones that he couldn’t escape. A newly formed congregation met first at William Brewster’s home and among them was the young teen, William Bradford. An earlier group of like-minded believers had previously escaped to Amsterdam where there was more religious freedom. Similarly, Robinson, Brewster and their congregation decided follow. But of course, that was easier said than done. They walked the 60 miles to the port, and then, after making it that far, the ship captain betrayed them to the authorities. They were imprisoned for a month. On their 2^nd try, half of them, the women and children, were caught and put in prison again. After subsequent effort, they successfully escaped England.

LIFE WITH THE DUTCH

Life with the Dutch, however, was not all that they desired. They settled in Leiden for a dozen or so years, with John Robinson continuing his leadership, setting up a print shop, and writing and producing literature about the errors of the state church. Because this was not their home culture, making a living and raise a family was challenging. After many years, naturally their own children began to follow the ways of the more worldly and free-thinking Dutch society, much to the concern of their parents. The idea of war with Spain and fear of losing their one jewel in the Netherlands, freedom of worship, also spurred some to grasp at the idea of moving to the New World where there would be complete religious freedom and a culture of their own to shape and grow. Young John Carver and Robert Cushman were tasked with negotiating safe passage from the King, acquiring the appropriate terms for land in the New World, and procuring finances to support such a venture. A small group of Saints would enlist to go, and a large, unified group gathered on barges in Leiden to go down the river, seeing them off at the port at Delfts Haven. Notable painter Johannes Vermeer illustrated a landscape called the View of Deft, and no doubt this is the picture those on the journey saw as they pulled up to the docks. Vermeer, himself believed that man created the world we live in and would continue to make his own reality. In direct contrast, these Pilgrims continued on in their journey believing God and acknowledging that He was preparing each step forward. Another famous painter, Rembrandt, also lived there at the time. History tells of the onlookers who observed this famous departure, and perhaps Rembrandt himself was also witness. 

DEPARTURE

At the river dock, the group spent the night at the Pilgrim Father’s church that had first been constructed in 1417. The next day they rose to hear Pastor Robinson give a stirring sermon and say many tearful goodbyes. In fact, William Bradford and young wife Dorothy left behind their three-year-old son until it was safe for him to follow. Tragically, young John never saw his mother again. Dorothy, while the Mayflower was docked at Plymouth, fell overboard and could not be saved.  When you visit the Rotunda at our nation’s capital, you can see the emotional departure visualized in the painting Embarkation of the Pilgrims, where Mr. Brewster is holding his Bible, Governor Carver is kneeling, and Pastor Robinson is holding out his hands exhorting the company to follow the truths of God’s Word and elect leaders that most importantly would follow God.

John Robinson said aboard the Speedwell:

Lastly, whereas you are become a body politic, using amongst yourselves civil government, let your wisdom and godliness appear not only in choosing such persons as do entirely love and will promote the common good, but also in yielding unto them all due honor and obedience in their lawful administrations; not beholding in them that ordinariness of their persons, but God’s ordinance for your good.

They loaded the Speedwell and sailed to join the Mayflower. They would not go without much struggle before they even set off across the Atlantic. Details later would reveal the numerous factors that almost sunk the whole endeavor. From their financier defaulting on his initial terms to the sabotaging of their purchased boat, the Speedwell, many did not want to see success for these Saints.   John Robinson and the others would stay and venture on later, and….well, you know the rest of the story. The Speedwell continued to leak forcing everyone to pack into the five-foot mid-floor space on the Mayflower. In fact, 9 of the pilgrims, including Robert Cushman, ended up staying in England and not even getting aboard.

THE VOYAGE

Leaving for the Virginia colony, now late into the storm season on September 6, 1620, the ship included 18 adult women, three of whom were with child, 46 Saints, the crew and others who had been enlisted for their contribution to building a new society. Of the Saints that Brewster led, 16 were men, 11 women, and 19 were children. The first victim would be, according to the Saints, the judgment of God as the vile sailor whose ceaseless berating was cut short when he succumbed to a sickness and agonizing death.  Most others also suffered through disease, severe nausea, and lack of proper ventilation and nourishment. During the angry storms, violent waves, and squalls, records describe the captain tightening the masts and stern with hopes of riding out the tempest. Ride they did, and miraculously, sixty-six days later, they landed in November of 1620 at Cape Cod, having been blown significantly off course. With their Virginia Charter now null and void, Brewster worked to avoid a mutinous attitude amongst the Strangers and urged everyone to come together in agreement for the ultimate survival of the work. Only half of the folks survived, with four being women. Elizabeth Hopkins had given birth to a baby boy, Oceanus they called him, while voyaging the Atlantic. Susana White, whose husband would die aboard the Mayflower, welcomed Peregrine. Mary Allerton endured the still-born birth of her child. These mothers are remembered in stone where it is inscribed “They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nation’s perish.”  

SURVIVAL

The passengers lived aboard the boat over the winter while they tried to carve out a home on the New World’s shore, but finally, by April of 1621, the Mayflower was ready to sail back to England and the remnant Pilgrims, as recorded in William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, had established a working compact “in the name of God, Amen” to advance the Christian religion in this New World. So, in their buckle shoes and Pilgrim hats they signed the first self-governing document in this New World. The truth rising from biblical principle, that they had this God-given freedom through well-designed laws, would be their safeguard from mutiny and chaos and lay the groundwork for the ensuing Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution.

PILGRIMS BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER

Some in that initial exodus from the Church of England chose to stay and fight for freedom in England. Others remained in Holland, yet some others dispersed amongst the Mennonites, the Dutch Reformed and similar groups. In years to come, inspired by the providential success of the Pilgrims, numerous other boats would fill with those who would brave the seas and venture to the new land. But it was the Pilgrims before the Mayflower and their burning love for God’s Word that laid the foundation to build a country unlike any other. Pastor Robinson himself died, just a few years after the Mayflower, never making it to the New World. His son, Isaac, sailed the ocean and made a lasting impression in the colonies continuing the stand for religious liberty.  A free country under God – Amen!

 

Of course, we, looking back, reap the benefits of those gone before. That intensely determined group of 102 Mayflower passengers were the ones to survive not only the harrowing transatlantic voyage, but those that endured successfully planted a firm foot on Plymouth Rock. Even more notable is their small remnant that lived beyond the first winter of death to actually grow a society that would eventually thrive and plow out a way for countless multitudes to come. So, what was different? Why were they successful? As one historian reported, it was like a fire shut up in their bones that could not be extinguished. From the depths of their very souls, it was a yearning for religious liberty that undoubtedly moved the hand of Almighty God to securely create a sustaining “city on a hill.” Today, this example built with blood, sweat and tears and constant faith in the God of the Bible is now ours to preserve. Perhaps it is high time that we don a black cloak, white cap or black hat, grasp God’s Word and without wavering plant a firm foot on truth lest the light be extinguished from the city on the hill.

 

LESSONS LEARNED

 

Revisionist history paints a different story than one told in original manuscripts like those of Pastor John Robinson and the classic Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. A discerning reader will clearly understand the following truths:

1. Many other explorers and would-be settlers apart from the Pilgrim voyagers came to the New World with diverse goals and moral directives.
2. The slave trade business abounded worldwide, and the New World was not exempt.
3. Early 15^th and 16^th century Western Hemisphere exploration proved there had been Indigenous people groups inhabiting those land areas. Records testify that some lived by a goodly nature while yet others were controlled by pagan wickedness.
4. Squanto, the friend of the Pilgrims, was himself a product of the slave trade, yet irrefutably overcame those evil intentions and was a “special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations” as recorded by William Bradford.
5. Others tried, but it was this group, the Mayflower passengers, seeking freedom to worship, who, after documented years of persecution, imprisonment, hardship, sickness, and for some even death, saw the providential hand of God prepare the way, orchestrate the landing, mediate the foundational structure, provide the on-site support of friendly indigenous people and give strength of survival to many.

The Pilgrims were not of perfect character, as none are, and nearly saw to their own destruction in the new settlement through a “communistic plan of life” as Bradford described. Through wisdom of leadership and a more industrious plan focused on personal responsibility, they transformed their society. God blessed their efforts with a rich harvest in 1623. By 1650, Bradford had written:

 

Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work…

 

Thus, out of small beginnings greater things have been produces by His hand that made all things of nothing, and give being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise…