Chapter 4

Time passed on. The little English colony removed, as this manuscript of William Bradford will tell you, across the Atlantic, and soon after the Huguenot family from whom I drew my name found their first settlement in what was then the New Netherlands, now New York. Both came from the same cause; both came with the same object, the same purpose,--"soul freedom," as Roger Williams well called it. Both came to found homes 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 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?

They are blended here,--their names, their interests. No man asks and no man has a right to ask or have ascertained by any method authorized by law what is the conscientious religious tenet or opinion of any man, of any citizen, as a prerequisite for holding an office of trust or power in the United States.

I think it well on this occasion to make, as I am sure you are making, acknowledgment to that heroic little country, the Lowlands as they call it, the Netherlands,--the country without one single feature of military defence except the brave hearts of the men who live in it and defend it.

Holland was the anvil upon which religious and civil liberty was beaten out in Europe at a time when the clang was scarcely heard anywhere else. We can never forget our historical debt to that country and to those people. Puritan, Independent, Huguenot, whoever he may be, forced to flee for conscience's sake, will not forget that in the Netherlands there was found in his time of need the asylum where conscience, property and person might be secure.

And now my task is done. I am deeply grateful for the part that I have been enabled to take in this act of just and natural restitution. In Massachusetts or out of Massachusetts there is no one more willing than I to assist this work; and here, sir [addressing Governor Wolcott], I fulfil my trust in placing in your hands the manuscript.

To you, as the honored representative of the people of this Commonwealth, I commit this book, in pursuance of my obligations, gladly undertaken under the decree of the Episcopal Consistorial Court of London.

ADDRESS

OF

HIS EXCELLENCY ROGER WOLCOTT.

ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR WOLCOTT.

On receiving the volume, Governor Wolcott, addressing Mr. Bayard, spoke as follows: I thank you, sir, for the diligent and faithful manner in which you have executed the honorable trust imposed upon you by the decree of the Consistorial and Episcopal Court of London, a copy of which you have now placed in my hands. It was fitting that one of your high distinction should be selected to perform so dignified an office.

The gracious act of international courtesy which is now completed will not fail of grateful appreciation by the people of this Commonwealth and of the nation. It is honorable alike to those who hesitated not to prefer the request and to those whose generous liberality has prompted compliance with it. It may be that the story of the departure of this precious relic from our shores may never in its every detail be revealed; but the story of its return will be read of all men, and will become a part of the history of the Commonwealth. There are places and objects so intimately associated with the world's greatest men or with mighty deeds that the soul of him who gazes upon them is lost in a sense of reverent awe, as it listens to the voice that speaks from the past, in words like those which came from the burning bush, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

On the sloping hillside of Plymouth, that bathes its feet in the waters of the Atlantic, such a voice is breathed by the brooding genius of the place, and the ear must be dull that fails to catch the whispered words. For here not alone did godly men and women suffer greatly for a great cause, but their noble purpose was not doomed to defeat, but was carried to perfect victory. They stablished what they planned. Their feeble plantation became the birthplace of religious liberty, the cradle of a free Commonwealth. To them a mighty nation owns its debt. Nay, they have made the civilized world their debtor. In the varied tapestry which pictures our national life, the richest spots are those where gleam the golden threads of conscience, courage and faith, set in the web by that little band. May God in his mercy grant that the moral impulse which founded this nation may never cease to control its destiny; that no act of any future generation may put in peril the fundamental principles on which it is based,--of equal rights in a free state, equal privileges in a free church and equal opportunities in a free school.

In this precious volume which I hold in my hands--the gift of England to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts--is told the noble, simple story "of Pli[~m]oth Plantation." In the midst of suffering and privation and anxiety the pious hand of William Bradford here set down in ample detail the history of the enterprise from its inception to the year 1647. From him we may learn "that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages."

The sadness and pathos which some might read into the narrative are to me lost in victory. The triumph of a noble cause even at a great price is theme for rejoicing, not for sorrow, and the story here told is one of triumphant achievement, and not of defeat.

As the official representative of the Commonwealth, I receive it, sir, at your hands. I pledge the faith of the Commonwealth that for all time it shall be guarded in accordance with the terms of the decree under which it is delivered into her possession as one of her chiefest treasures. I express the thanks of the Commonwealth for the priceless gift. And I venture the prophecy that for countless years to come and to untold thousands these mute pages shall eloquently speak of high resolve, great suffering and heroic endurance made possible by an absolute faith in the over-ruling providence of Almighty God.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

BY THE

BISHOP OF LONDON.

(Copy)

FULHAM PALACE, S.W. Oct. 16, 1897.

DEAR SIR,

I would ask you to express to the Convention of the two branches of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts my grateful thanks for the copy of their resolution of May 26, which was presented to me by Mr. Adams.[A]

I consider it a great privilege to have been associated with an act of courtesy, which was also an act of justice, in restoring to its proper place a document which is so important in the records of your illustrious Commonwealth.

I am

Yours faithfully, M. London.

H.D. COOLIDGE, Esq. Clerk of the Convention.

OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION.

Of Plimoth Plantation.

And first of y^e occasion and ind[~u]sments ther unto; the which that I may truly unfould, I must begine at y^e very roote & rise of y^e same. The which I shall endevor to manefest in a plaine stile, with singuler regard unto y^e simple trueth in all things, at least as near as my slender judgmente can attaine the same.

1. Chapter.

It is well knowne unto y^e godly and judicious, how ever since y^e first breaking out of y^e lighte of y^e gospell in our Honourable Nation of England, (which was y^e first of nations whom y^e Lord adorned ther with, affter y^t grosse darknes of popery which had covered & overspred y^e Christian worled,) what warrs & opposissions ever since, Satan hath raised, maintained, and continued against the Saincts, from time to time, in one sorte or other. Some times by bloody death and cruell torments; other whiles imprisonments, banishments, & other hard usages; as being loath his kingdom should goe downe, the trueth prevaile, and y^e churches of God reverte to their anciente puritie, and recover their primative order, libertie, & bewtie. But when he could not prevaile by these means, against the maine trueths of y^e gospell, but that they began to take rootting in many places, being watered with y^e blooud of y^e martires, and blessed from heaven with a gracious encrease; He then begane to take him to his anciente strategemes, used of old against the first Christians. That when by y^e bloody & barbarous persecutions of y^e Heathen Emperours, he could not stoppe & subuerte the course of y^e gospell, but that it speedily overspred with a wounderfull celeritie the then best known parts of y^e world, He then begane to sow errours, heresies, and wounderfull dissentions amongst y^e professours them selves, (working upon their pride & ambition, with other corrupte passions incidente to all mortall men, yea to y^e saints them selves in some measure,) by which wofull effects followed; as not only bitter contentions, & hartburnings, schismes, with other horrible confusions, but Satan tooke occasion & advantage therby to foyst in a number of vile ceremoneys, with many unproffitable cannons & decrees, which have since been as snares to many poore & peaceable souls even to this day. So as in y^e anciente times, the persecutions[2] by y^e heathen & their Emperours, was not greater then of the Christians one against other; the Arians & other their complices against y^e orthodoxe & true Christians. As witneseth Socrates in his 2. booke. His words are these;[B] _The violence truly_ (saith he) _was no less than that of ould practised towards y^e Christians when they were compelled & drawne to sacrifice to idoles; for many indured sundrie kinds of tormente, often rackings, & dismembering of their joynts; confiscating of ther goods; some bereaved of their native soyle; others departed this life under y^e hands of y^e tormentor; and some died in banishm[=e]te, & never saw ther cuntrie againe, &c._

The like methode Satan hath seemed to hold in these later times, since y^e trueth begane to springe & spread after y^e great defection made by Antichrist, y^t man of si[=n]e.

For to let pass y^e infinite examples in sundrie nations and severall places of y^e world, and instance in our owne, when as y^t old serpente could not prevaile by those firie flames & other his cruell tragedies, which he[C] by his instruments put in ure every wher in y^e days of queene Mary & before, he then begane an other kind of warre, & went more closly to worke; not only to oppuggen, but even to ruinate & destroy y^e kingdom of Christ, by more secrete & subtile means, by kindling y^e flames of contention and sowing y^e seeds of discorde & bitter enmitie amongst y^e proffessors & seeming reformed them selves. For when he could not prevaile by y^e former means against the principall doctrins of faith, he bente his force against the holy discipline & outward regimente of the kingdom of Christ, by which those holy doctrines should be conserved, & true pietie maintained amongest the saints & people of God.

Mr. Foxe recordeth how y^t besids those worthy martires & confessors which were burned in queene Marys days & otherwise tormented,[D] _many (both studients & others) fled out of y^e land, to y^e number of 800. And became severall congregations. At Wesell, Frankford, Bassill, Emden, Markpurge, Strausborugh, & Geneva, &c._ Amongst whom (but especialy those at Frankford) begane y^t bitter warr of contention & persecuti[=o] aboute y^e ceremonies, & servise-booke, and other popish and antichristian stuffe, the plague of England to this day, which are like y^e highplases in Israell, w^ch the prophets cried out against, & were their ruine; [3] which y^e better parte sought, according to y^e puritie of y^e gospell, to roote out and utterly to abandon. And the other parte (under veiled pretences) for their ouwn ends & advancments, sought as stifly to continue, maintaine, & defend. As appeareth by y^e discourse therof published in printe, An^o: 1575; a booke y^t deserves better to be knowne and considred.

The one side laboured to have y^e right worship of God & discipline of Christ established in y^e church, according to y^e simplicitie of y^e gospell, without the mixture of mens inventions, and to have & to be ruled by y^e laws of Gods word, dispensed in those offices, & by those officers of Pastors, Teachers, & Elders, &c. according to y^e Scripturs. The other partie, though under many colours & pretences, endevored to have y^e episcopall dignitie (affter y^e popish ma[=n]er) with their large power & jurisdiction still retained; with all those courts, cannons, & ceremonies, togeather with all such livings, revenues, & subordinate officers, with other such means as formerly upheld their antichristian greatnes, and enabled them with lordly & tyranous power to persecute y^e poore servants of God. This contention was so great, as neither y^e honour of God, the commone persecution, nor y^e mediation of Mr. Calvin & other worthies of y^e Lord in those places, could prevaile with those thus episcopally minded, but they proceeded by all means to disturbe y^e peace of this poor persecuted church, even so farr as to charge (very unjustly, & ungodlily, yet prelatelike) some of their cheefe opposers, with rebellion & hightreason against y^e Emperour, & other such crimes.

And this cont[=e]tion dyed not with queene Mary, nor was left beyonde y^e seas, but at her death these people returning into England under gracious queene Elizabeth, many of them being preferred to bishopricks & other promotions, according to their aimes and desires, that inveterate hatered against y^e holy discipline of Christ in his church hath continued to this day. In somuch that for fear [4] it should preveile, all plotts & devices have been used to keepe it out, incensing y^e queene & state against it as dangerous for y^e co[=m]on wealth; and that it was most needfull y^t y^e fundamentall poynts of Religion should be preached in those ignorante & superstitious times; and to wi[=n]e y^e weake & ignorante, they might retaine diverse harmles ceremoneis; and though it were to be wished y^t diverse things were reformed, yet this was not a season for it. And many the like, to stop y^e mouthes of y^e more godly, to bring them over to yeeld to one ceremoney after another, and one corruption after another; by these wyles begyleing some & corrupting others till at length they begane to persecute all y^e zealous professors in y^e land (though they knew little what this discipline mente) both by word & deed, if they would not submitte to their ceremonies, & become slaves to them & their popish trash, which have no ground in y^e word of God, but are relikes of y^t man of sine. And the more y^e light of y^e gospell grew, y^e more y^ey urged their subscriptions to these corruptions. So as (notwithstanding all their former pretences & fair colures) they whose eyes God had not justly blinded might easily see wherto these things tended. And to cast contempte the more upon y^e sincere servants of God, they opprobriously & most injuriously gave unto, & imposed upon them, that name of Puritans, which [it] is said the Novatians out of prid did assume & take unto themselves.[E] And lamentable it is to see y^e effects which have followed. Religion hath been disgraced, the godly greeved, afflicted, persecuted, and many exiled, sundrie have lost their lives in prisones & otherways. On the other hand, sin hath been countenanced, ignorance, profannes, & atheisme increased, & the papists encouraged to hope againe for a day.

This made that holy man Mr. Perkins[F] crie out in his exhortation to repentance, upon Zeph. 2. _Religion_ (saith he) _hath been amongst us this 35. years; but the more it is published, the more it is contemned & reproached of many, &c. Thus not prophanes nor wickednes, but Religion it selfe is a byword, a moking-stock, & a matter of reproach; so that in England at this day the man or woman y^t begines to profes Religion, & to serve God, must resolve with him selfe to sustaine_ [5] _mocks & injueries even as though he lived amongst y^e enimies of Religion._ And this co[=m]one experience hath confirmed & made too apparente.

_A late observation, as it were by the way, worthy to be Noted._[G]

Full litle did I thinke, y^t the downfall of y^e Bishops, with their courts, cannons, & ceremonies, &c. had been so neare, when I first begane these scribled writings (which was aboute y^e year 1630, and so peeced up at times of leasure afterward), or that I should have lived to have seene or heard of y^e same; but it is y^e Lords doing, and ought to be marvelous in our eyes! Every plante which mine heavenly father hath not planted (saith our Saviour) shall be rooted up. Mat: 15. 13.[H] I have snared the, and thou art taken, O Babell (Bishops), and thou wast not aware; thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord. Jer. 50. 24. But will they needs strive against y^e truth, against y^e servants of God; what, & against the Lord him selfe? Doe they provoke the Lord to anger? Are they stronger than he? 1. Cor: 10. 22. No, no, they have mete with their match. Behold, I come unto y^e, O proud man, saith the Lord God of hosts; for thy day is come, even the time that I will visite the. Jer: 50. 31. May not the people of God now say (and these pore people among y^e rest), The Lord hath brought forth our righteousnes; come, let us declare in Sion the work of the Lord our God. Jer: 51. 10. Let all flesh be still before the Lord; for he is raised up out of his holy place. Zach: 2. 13.

In this case, these poore people may say (among y^e thousands of Israll), _When the Lord brougt againe the captivite of Zion, we were like them that dreame. Psa: 126. 1. The Lord hath done greate things for us, wherof we rejoyce. v. 3. They that sow in teares, shall reap in joye. They wente weeping, and carried precious seede, but they shall returne with joye, and bring their sheaves, v. 5, 6._

Doe you not now see y^e fruits of your labours, O all yee servants of y^e Lord that have suffered for his truth, and have been faithfull witneses of y^e same, and yee litle handfull amongst y^e rest, y^e least amongest y^e thousands of Israll? You have not only had a seede time, but many of you have seene y^e joyefull harvest; should you not then rejoyse, yea, and againe rejoyce, and say Hallelu-iah, salvation, and glorie, and honour, and power, be to y^e Lord our God; for true and righteous are his judgments. Rev. 19. 1, 2.

But thou wilte aske what is y^e mater? What is done? Why, art thou a stranger in Israll, that thou shouldest not know what is done? Are not those Jebusites overcome that have vexed the people of Israll so long, even holding Jerusalem till Davids days, and been as thorns in their sids, so many ages; and now begane to scorne that any David should meadle with them; they begane to fortifie their tower, as that of the old Babelonians; but those proud Anakimes are throwne downe, and their glory laid in y^e dust. The tiranous bishops are ejected, their courts dissolved, their cannons forceless, their servise casheired, their ceremonies uselese and despised; their plots for popery prevented, and all their superstitions discarded & returned to Roome from whence they came, and y^e monuments of idolatrie rooted out of y^e land. And the proud and profane suporters, and cruell defenders of these (as bloody papists & wicked athists, and their malignante consorts) marvelously over throwne. And are not these greate things? Who can deney it?

But who hath done it? Who, even he that siteth on y^e white horse, who is caled faithfull, & true, and judgeth and fighteth righteously, Rev: 19. 11. whose garments are dipte in blood, and his name was caled the word of God, v. 13. for he shall rule them with a rode of iron; for it is he that treadeth the winepress of the feircenes and wrath of God almighty. And he hath upon his garmente, and upon his thigh, a name writen, The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, v. 15, 16.

Hallelu-iah.

Anno Dom: 1646.

But that I may come more near my intendmente; when as by the travell & diligence of some godly & zealous preachers, & Gods blessing on their labours, as in other places of y^e land, so in y^e North parts, many became inlightened by the word of God, and had their ignorance & sins discovered unto them, and begane by his grace to reforme their lives, and make conscience of their wayes, the worke of God was no sooner manifest in them, but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by y^e prophane multitude, and y^e ministers urged with y^e yoak of subscription, or els must be silenced; and y^e poore people were so vexed with apparators, & pursuants, & y^e comissarie courts, as truly their affliction was not smale; which, notwithstanding, they bore sundrie years with much patience, till they were occasioned (by y^e continuance & encrease of these troubls, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days) to see further into things by the light of y^e word of God. How not only these base and beggerly ceremonies were unlawfull, but also that y^e lordly & tiranous power of y^e prelats ought not to be submitted unto; which thus, contrary to the freedome of the gospell, would load & burden mens consciences, and by their compulsive power make a prophane mixture of persons & things in the worship of God. And that their offices & calings, courts & cannons, &c. were unlawfull and antichristian; being such as have no warrante in y^e word of God; but the same y^t were used in poperie, & still retained. Of which a famous author thus writeth in his Dutch co[=m]taries.[I] At the coming of king James into England; _The new king_ (saith he) _found their established y^e reformed religion, according to y^e reformed religion of king Edward y^e 6. Retaining, or keeping still y^e spirituall state of y^e Bishops, &c. after y^e ould maner, much varying & differing from y^e reformed churches in Scotland, France, & y^e Neatherlands, Embden, Geneva, &c. whose reformation is cut, or shapen much nerer y^e first Christian churches, as it was used in y^e Apostles times._[J]

[6] So many therfore of these proffessors as saw y^e evill of these things, in thes parts, and whose harts y^e Lord had touched w^th heavenly zeale for his trueth, they shooke of this yoake of antichristian bondage, and as y^e Lords free people, joyned them selves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in y^e felowship of y^e gospell, to walke in all his wayes, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensewing historie will declare.

These people became 2. distincte bodys or churches, & in regarde of distance of place did congregate severally; for they were of sundrie townes & vilages, some in Notingamshire, some of Lincollinshire, and some of Yorkshire, wher they border nearest togeather. In one of these churches (besids others of note) was Mr. John Smith, a man of able gifts, & a good preacher, who afterwards was chosen their pastor. But these afterwards falling into some errours in y^e Low Countries, ther (for y^e most part) buried them selves, & their names.