Though by profession a Protestant, she was much attached to many of the distinguishing doctrines and practices of the papacy, and she bore a special hatred to the Puritans, not only because of their differing so much from her in their religious views, but also because of the sentiments they hesitated not to avow on the subject of civil liberty. The oppression of the government was driving them, in fact, to scrutinize the nature and limits of civil and ecclesiastical authority, and to question the right of carrying it to the extent to which the queen and the bishops were determined to push it. The popular voice was becoming decidedly opposed to a rigorous exaction of conformity with the royal ordinances respecting the ceremonies. Parliament itself became imbued with the same spirit, and showed an evident disposition to befriend the Puritans, whose cause began to be associated with that of civil and religious liberty. The bishops, however, and most of the other dignified clergy, supported the views of the queen. Whitgift, in particular, who was made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1583, vigorously enforced conformity. The Court of High Commission compelled many of the best ministers of the Established Church to relinquish their benefices, and to hold private meetings for worship as they best could, very inferior and worthless men being generally put into their places. But the principles which, for a time, he had boldly advocated, were destined to survive his abandonment of them in England, as well as to flourish in a far-distant region, at that time almost unknown. From that time forward the Puritans became permanently divided into two bodies the Nonconformists, constituting a large majority of the body, and the Separatists. The former saw evils in the Established Church, and refused to comply with them, but, at the same time, acknowledged its merits, and desired its reform; the latter denounced it as an idolatrous institution, false to Truth and to Christianity, and, as such, fit only to be destroyed. Eventually the two parties became bitterly opposed to each other; the former reproached the latter with precipitancy; the latter retorted the charge of a base want of courage. The accession of King James gave new hopes to the Puritans, but these were soon completely disappointed. That monarch, though brought up in Presbyterian principles in Scotland, no sooner crossed the border than he became an admirer of the prelacy, and, although a professed Calvinist, allowed himself to become the easy tool of the latitudinarian sycophants who surrounded him. Having deceived the Puritans, he soon learned to hate both them and their doctrines. His pedantry having sought a conference with their leaders at Hampton Court, scenes took place there which were as amusing for their display of the dialectics of the monarch as they Still, the suppression of the Puritans was found a vain attempt. During Elizabeth's long reign their numbers steadily increas-were unsatisfactory to the Puritans in their ed. The services they rendered to the country may be estimated by the verdict of an historian who has been justly charged with lying in wait, through the whole course of his history, for an opportunity of throwing discredit upon the cause of both religion and liberty, and who bore to the Puritans a special dislike. Mr. Hume says, "The precious spark of liberty had been kindled and was preserved by the Puritans alone."* results. "I will have none of that liberty as to ceremonies; I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion in substance and in ceremony. Never speak more on that point, how far you are bound to obey."* And verily it was a point on which such a monarch as James I. did not wish to hear anything said. The conference lasted three days. The king would bear no contradiction. He spoke much, and was greatly applauded by his flatter The aged Whitgift said, "Your majesty speaks by the special assistance of God's Spirit." And Bishop Bancroft exclaimed, on his knees, that his heart melted for joy "because God had given England such a king as, since Christ's time, has not been."† As a body, the Puritans studiously avoid-ers. ed separation from the Established Church. What they desired was reform, not schism. But towards the middle of Elizabeth's reign, a party arose among them that went to an extreme in their opposition to the "Churchmen," and refused to hold communion with a Church whose ceremonies and government they condemned. These were the Independents, or Brownists, as they were long improperly called, from the name of one who was a leading person among them for a time, but who afterward left them and ended his days in the Established Church. The congregation which Brown had gathered, after sharing his exile, was broken up and utterly dispersed. * Hunie's History of England, vol. iii., p. 76. The Parliament was becoming more and more favourable to the doctrines of the Pu-ritans; but the hierarchy maintained its own views, and was subservient to the of the Puritans with little ceremony. "I will make In the second day's conference his majesty spoke them conform, or I will harry them out of the land,. or else worse." Only burn them, that's all."Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court, p. 71, 83. + Barlow's Sum and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court, p. 93, 94. Lingard, ix., p. 32. . Neal's History of the Puritans, iii., p. 45. CHAPTER II. . wishes of the monarch. Conformity was rigidly enforced by Whitgift's successor, Bancroft. In 1604, three hundred Puritan RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE FOUNDERS OF ministers are said to have been silenced, imprisoned, or exiled. But nothing could check the growth of their principles. The Puritan clergy and the people became arrayed against the Established Church and the King. The latter triumphed during that reign, but very different was to be the issue in the following. So hateful to the court were the people called Brownists, Separatists, or Independents, that efforts were made, with great success, to root them out of the country. Some remains of them, however, outlived for years the persecutions by which they were assault ed. In the latter. years of Elizabeth, a scattered flock of these Separatists began to be formed in some towns and villages of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and the adjacent borders of Yorkshire, under the pastoral care of John Robinson, a man who has left behind him a name admitted, even by his bitterest enemies, to be without reproach. This little church was watched and beset day and night by the agents of the court, and could with difficulty find opportunities of meeting in safety. They met here or there, as they best could, on the Sabbath, and thus strove to keep alive the spirit of piety which united them: They had become " enlightened in the Word of God," and were led to see, not only that "the beggarly ceremonies were monuments of idolatry," but also "that the lordly power of the prelates ought not to be submitted to." Such being their sentiments, no efforts, of course, would be spared to make their lives miserable, and, if possible, to extirpate them. At last, seeing no prospect of peace in their native land, they resolved to pass over to Holland, a country which, after having successfully struggled for its own independence and for the maintenance of the Protestant faith, now presented an asylum for persons of all nations when persecuted on account of their religion. After many difficulties and delays, a painfully interesting account of which may be found in their annals, they reached Amsterdam in 1608. There they found many of their brethren who had left England for the same cause with themselves. The oldest part of these exiled Independents was the church under the pastoral care of Francis Johnson. It had emigrated from London about the year 1592. There was also a fresh accession composed of a Mr. Smith's people. Risk of collision with these induced Mr. Robinson and his flock to retire to Leyden, and there they established themselves. NEW-ENGLAND.-PLYMOUTH COLONY. THE arrival of Mr. Robinson's flock in Holland was destined to be the beginning only of their wanderings. "They knew that they were PILGRIMS, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."* "They saw many goodly and fortified cities, strongly walled and guarded with troops and armed men. Also, they heard a strange and uncouth language, and beheld the different manners and customs of the people, with strange fashions and attires; all so far differing from that of their plain country villages, wherein they were bred and born, and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come into a new world. But those were not the things they much looked on, or that long took up their thoughts; for they had other work in hand," and " saw before long poverty coming on them like an armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter, and from whom they could not fly. But they were armed with faith and patience against him and all his encounters; though they were sometimes foiled, yet by God's assistance they prevailed and got the victory." On their removal to Leyden, as they had no opportunity of pursuing the agricultural life they had led in England, they were compelled to learn such trades as they could best earn a livelihood by for themselves and their families. Brewster, a man of some distinction, who had been chosen their ruling elder, became a printer. Bradford, afterward their governor in America, and their historian, acquired the art of dying silk. All had to learn some Handicraft or other. But, notwithstanding these difficulties, after two or three years of embarrassment and toil, they "at length came to raise a competent and comfortable living, and continued many years in a comfortable condition, enjoying much sweet and delightful society, and spiritual comfort together in the ways of God, under the able ministry and prudent government of Mr. John Robinson and Mr. William Brewster, who was an assistant unto him in the place of an elder, unto which he was now called and chosen by the church; so that they grew in knowledge, and other gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and lived together in peace, and love, and holiness. And many came unto them from divers parts of England, so as they grew a great congregation." As for * See Governor Bradford's History of Plymouth Colony. † Governor Bradford's History of New-England, It has been calculated from data to be found in other histories of that colony, that so much had Mr. II. " They saw that, although the people generally bore all their difficulties very cheerfully and with a resolute courage, be Mr. Robinson, we are told that the people | where they might have liberty and live had a great affection for him, and that "his comfortably, they would then practise as love was great towards them, and his care as they did. was always bent for their best good, both for soul and body. For, besides his singular abilities in divine things, wherein he excelled, he was able also to give direc-ing in the best of their strength, yet old tion in civil affairs, and to foresee dangers and inconveniences; by which means he was every way as a common father unto them." Not only so; besides writing several books and preaching thrice a week to his own flock, Mr. Robinson entered warmly into the Arminian controversy, which was raging during his residence at Leyden, and disputed often with Episcopius and other champions of the Arminian side.* Although they had begun to enjoy some degree of comfort in Holland, still they did not feel themselves at home there. Accordingly, they began to agitate the question of removing to some part of America. Their reasons for thinking of such a step, as stated in the words of their own historian, gives us new proof of the extraordinary character of this simple-hearted and excellent flock. age began to come on some of them; and their great and continual labours, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it before the time; so as it was not only probably thought, but apparently seen, that within a few years more they were in danger to scatter by necessity pressing them, or sink under their burdens, or both; and, therefore, according to the divine proverb, that a wise man seeth the plague when it cometh, and hideth himself, so they, like skilful and beaten soldiers, were fearful either to be entrapped or surrounded by their enemies, so as they should neither be able to fight nor fly; and, therefore, thought it better to dislodge betimes to some place of better advantage and less danger, if any could be found. III. "As necessity was a taskmaster over them, so they were forced to be such I. "And, first, they found, and saw by not only to their servants, but, in a sort, to experience, the hardness of the place and their dearest children; the which, as it did country to be such, as few in comparison a little wound the tender hearts of many a would come to them, and fewer that would loving father and mother, so it produced, bide it out and continue with them. For also, many sad and sorrowful effects. For many that came to them could not endure many of their children, that were of best the great labour and hard fare, with other dispositions and gracious inclinations, havinconveniences which they underwent and ing learned to bear the yoke in their youth, were contented with. But though they and willing to bear part of their parents' loved their persons, and approved their burden, were oftentimes so oppressed with cause, and honoured their sufferings, yet their heavy labours, that although their they left them, as it were, weeping, as Or- minds were free and willing, yet their bodpah did her mother-in-law Naomi; or as ies bowed under the weight of the same, those Romans did Cato in Utica, who de- and became decrepit in their early youth; sired to be excused and borne with, though the vigour of nature being consumed in the they could not all be Catos.† For many, very bud, as it were. But that which was though they desired to enjoy the ordinan- more lamentable, and of all sorrows most ces of God in their purity, and the liberty heavy to be borne, was, that many of their of the Gospel with them, yet, alas! they children, by these occasions, and the great admitted of bondage with danger of con- licentiousness of the youth in the country, science, rather than endure those hard- and the manifold temptations of the place, ships; yea, some preferred and chose pris- were drawn away by evil examples into exons in England rather than liberty in Hol-travagant and dangerous courses, getting land, with those afflictions. But it was thought that if a better and easier place of living could be had, it would draw many, and take away these discouragements; yea, their pastor would often say that many of those that both writ and preached against them, if they were in a place Robinson's church increased, that it had three hundred" communicants" before any of them embarked for America. * Besides the testimony of Winslow in his "Brief Narrative," which might be suspected of being partial, we have that of the celebrated Professor Hornbeck, in his "Summa Controversiarum Religionis," respecting Mr. Robinson, whom he calls "Vir ille (Johannes Robinsonus), gratus nostris, dum vixit, fuit, et theologis Leidensibus familiaris et honoratus." t See Plutarch's Life of Cato the Younger. the reins on their necks, and departing from their parents. Some became soldiers, others took them upon far voyages by sea, and others some worse courses, tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of their parents and dishonour of God; so that they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted. IV. "Lastly (and which was not the least), a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ in these remote * Quoted from the Geneva version. parts of the world; yea, though they should be but as stepping-stones unto others for performing of so great a work." Besides these reasons, mentioned by Governor Bradford in his History of Plymouth Colony, the three following are adduced by Edward Winslow, who also was one of its founders: 1. Their desire to live under the protection of England, and to retain the language and the name of Englishmen. 2. Their inability to give their children such an education as they had themselves received. And, 3. Their grief at the profanation of the Sabbath in Holland. One of them, to help the undertaking, lent the sum of £300, without interest, for three years, and this was afterward repaid. This advance must have been a seasonable encouragement, for a hard bargain had to be struck with some London merchants, or "adventurers," as they are called by the colonial historians, in order to raise what farther money was required. At length two ships, the Speedwell of sixty, and the Mayflower of a hundred and eighty tons, were engaged, and everything else arranged for the departure of as many as the ships could accommodate. Those went who first offered themselves, and Brewster, the ruling elder, was chosen their spiritual guide. The other leading men were John Carver, William Bradford, Miles Standish, and Edward Winslow. Mr. Robinson stayed behind, along with the greater part of the flock, with the intention of joining those who first went at some future time, should such be the will of God. A solemn fast was observed. Their beloved pastor afterward delivered a farewell charge, which must be regarded as a remarkable production for those times.* + Such were the considerations that induced the Pilgrims to send over to England a deputation, with the view of ascertaining what kind of reception their project might meet with from the king, and whether the London Company, or, as it was most commonly called, the Virginia Company, would sanction their settling as a colony on any part of its possessions in America. With all his detestation of the Independents, the king felt rather gratified than otherwise at the prospect of extending colonization, that being an object in which he had long felt an interest. Many years before this This charge is related in Edward Winslow's "Brief Narrative." It is here subjoined in the lanhe had encouraged colonization in the guage in which it is given by that author, from Highlands and Western Islands of Scot-whom alone it became known to the world: land, and the North of Ireland has long been indebted for a prosperity and security, such as no other part of that island has enjoyed, to the English and Scotch plantations which he had been at great pains to form on lands laid waste during the desolating warfare of his predecessor, Elizabeth, with certain Irish chieftains in those parts. To extend the dominions of England he allowed to be "a good and honest motion." On his inquiring what trade they expected to find in the northern part of Virginia, being that in which they thought of settling, they answered, "Fishing;" to which the monarch replied, with his usual asseveration, "So God have my soul, 'tis an honest trade; 'twas the apostles' own calling." But as the king wished to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, the delegates were recommended not to press the matter, but to trust to his connivance rather than to look for his formal consent. This they resolved to do, rightly concluding that, "should there be a purpose to wrong us, though we had a seal as broad as the house-floor, there would be found means enough to recall it." * The Virginia Company showed the most favourable dispositions. They said "the thing was of God," and granted a large patent, which, however, proved of no use. "We are now ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether ever he should live to see our faces again. But whether the Lord had appointed it or not, he charged us before God and his blessed angels to follow him no farther than he followed Christ; and if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of His, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any truth by his mintruth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word. istry; for he was very confident the Lord had more He took occasion, also, miserably to bewail the state and condition of the Reformed Churches, who were come to a period in religion, and would no farther go than the instruments of their reformation. As, for example, the Lutherans, they could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; for whatever part of God's will He had farther imparted and revealed unto Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And so also, saith he, you see the Calvinists, they mented; for though they were precious shining lights stick where he left them, a misery much to be lain their times, yet God hath not revealed his whole will to them; and were they now living, saith he, they would be as ready and willing to embrace farther light as that they had received. Here, also, he put us in mind of our church covenant, at least that part of it whereby we promise and covenant with. God and one another, to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from his written Word; but, withal, exhorted us to take heed what we it, and weigh it with other scriptures of truth before received for truth, and well to examine and compare we received it. For saith he, it is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. "Another thing he commended to us was, that we should use all means to avoid and shake off the name of Brownist, being a mere nickname and brand to make religion odious, and the professors of it, to the * See Robertson's History of Scotland, chap. viii. Christian world. And to that end, said he, I should The reader will remember that the whole Atlan-be glad if some godly minister would go over with atic coast was then called Virginia by the English. Edward Winslow's Brief Narrative. D you before my coming; for, said he, there will be no difference between the unconformable [nonconform All things being now ready, the emigrants, | fixed, at last, on the spot now bearing the after being "feasted at the pastor's house, name of the town where they had received for it was large," by those who were to the last hospitalities of England. There remain behind, and having been "refreshed they landed on the 11th of December, old after their tears by the singing of psalms," style, or the 22d of December, according set out for Delft-haven, where the ships to the new; and to this day the very rock then lay. There they were again "feast- on which they first planted their feet at ed," and prayer having been made, they landing is shown to the passing stranger were accompanied on board by their as a cherished memorial of that interesting friends, but " were not able to speak to one event. On that rock commenced the colanother for the abundance of sorrow to onization of New-England. part." The wind being favourable, they were soon on their way. We, On the day of the arrival of the Mayflower in Cape Cod harbour, the following They left Holland on the 22d of July, document was signed by all the male heads 1620, followed by the respect of the peo- of families, and unmarried men not attachple among whom they had lived. Wins-ed to families represented by their respectlow tells us that the Dutch, on learning ive heads. that they were about to leave their country, urged them much to settle in Zealand, or, if they preferred America, to seek a home for themselves on the Hudson, within the territory discovered by the navigator who gave his name to that river while in their service, and which they therefore claimed, and had resolved to colonize. But the liberal inducements then offered to the emigrants could not alter their purpose of settling in a country which should be under the government of their native land. "In the name of God, Amen. whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunder subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sover A few days brought them safely to Southampton, in England. On learning that the captain of the smaller of the two vessels was unwilling to prosecute so long a voyage in her, after having put back, first to Dartmouth and then to Plymouth, they were compelled to send the Speedwell, with part of the company, to London, and it was not until the 6th of September that the Mayflower finally sailed with a hundred passengers. The voyage proved long and boisterous. One person died and a child was born, so that the original number reached the coast of America. On the 11th of November they entered the har-eign lord, King James, of England, France, bour of Cape Cod, and after having spent fully a month in looking about for a place that seemed suitable for a settlement, they and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620." Here may be said to have been the first attempt made by an American colony to ing, but who had not actually separated from the frame a constitution or fundamental lawChurch] ministers and you, when they come to the the seminal principle, as it were, of all practice of the ordinances out of the kingdom. And that wonderful series of efforts which have so advised us by all means to endeavour to close with been put forth in the New World towards the godly party of the kingdom of England, and rather to study union than division, viz., how near we fixing the foundations of independent, volmight possibly, without sin, close with them, than in untary self-government. John Carver was the least measure to effect division or separation from chosen governor of the colony, and to asthem. And be not loath to take another pastor or sist him in administering its affairs, a counteacher, saith he; for that flock that hath two shep-cil of five, afterward increased to seven, herds is not endangered, but secured by it." Such is the remarkable farewell address, as reported by Winslow. "Words," says Prince in his "Annals," speaking of it, "almost astonishing in that age of low and universal bigotry which then prevailed in the English nation; wherein this truly great and learned man seemed to be the only divine who was capable of rising into a noble freedom of thinking and practising in religious matters, and even of urging such an equal liberty on his own people. He labours to take them off from their attachment to him, that they might be more entirely free to search and follow the Scriptures." members, was appointed. After selecting what they considered to be the best spot for a settlement, as the ship's boat could not come close to the water's edge, they suffered much in their health by having to wade ashore. The few intervals of good weather they could catch, between snow and rain, they spent in erecting houses; but before the first summer came round, nearly half their number |