a full half of their number were buried on the shoulder of the hill which overlooks the bay. Their graves were placed in the roadway, so that, effaced by the tramp of feet, they might not reveal to the Indians the heavy loss. Spring found the survivors weak and burdened but undaunted. In April the "Mayflower" sailed away home, but not a soul went with her save her crew. The First The story of the early years at Plymouth cannot be told in detail here. Their Governor, John Carver, was of the company who died the first year. William Bradford succeeded him and continued for thirty years. He wrote an account of the colony, which, lost from sight for many decades, was found in England, finally restored to America, and has been published by the Massachusetts Legislature. William Brewster, though unordained, acted practically as pastor. Rev. John Lyford, sent over by their English partners, proved of no account and they got rid of him as soon as they could. John Robinson, to their great grief, did not live to reach America, but many others of the Leyden colony came. The colonists had in the main friendly relations with the Indians, though Captain Myles Standish had to deal with them rather strenuously at times. They had frequent reenforcements from the old world, some of whom proved liabilities rather than assets. Through it all at the end of ten years (1630), Plymouth Colony was a compact established community of three hundred people, with its future fairly secure. The Heritage So, in the Providence of God, out of Roman Catholicism, out of Anglican conformity, out of Puritan protest, out of the heart of England, had come a sturdy band of pioneers, to build the foundations of a new faith, to bequeath to us a noble heritage, to mould the new republic of the west. They were very human folk, but they made a beginning remarkable in its vision and power. Beginnings last. Although many potent forces have entered into American life since their day, we must give a primary place to these early deeds and thoughts of the Pilgrim company. Especially must Congregationalism recognize with reverent gratitude that whatever it has been able to accomplish is rooted in that early adventure of faith. QUESTIONS 1. When did Puritanism begin and what was its nature? 2. What was the "Act of Uniformity "? 3. Outline the course the Protestant Reformation had taken. 4. What was "Separatism "? 5. What English kings and prelates persecuted the Separatists? 6. Describe Parish as related to "Gathered Churches." 7. Name five men especially associated with the earliest beginnings of Congregationalism. 8. Give a brief sketch of each one's relation to the movement. 9. Tell something of the Scrooby Church. 10. Who was John Robinson and what were his characteristics? 11. Name two contemporaries of Robinson. 12. Why did the Puritans desire to leave Holland? 13. Describe their journey to America. 14. What was the "Mayflower Compact "? 15. Where was first permanent settlement made? 16. Tell something of the first year at Plymouth. 17. State briefly the political and religious importance of the Puritan movement. CHAPTER II DEVELOPMENT IN A NEW LAND Isolation of the The hopeful view of Plymouth Colony with which the last chapter closed would probably have seemed to indifferent observers of their day rather absurd. The external circumstances were not particularly cheering. Three hundred people, well led, but isolated in a great wilderness across a stormy ocean, with the mother country largely hostile to their whole program, with no certainty of further immigration to strengthen their numbers, with the natural tendency of strong-minded people to split up into factions, with a heavy burden of debt, with the danger from Indians, with the rigor of the climate, the hardness of the soil, and the struggles with disease - on the whole, it was not an encouraging prospect for the little colony at Plymouth. James I Proves Fortunately, as so often in the Providence of God, the unexpected happened. The stubbornness of the English crown and the stupidity of the English hierarchy proved to be a great help in the making of America. While James I was on his way up to London to ascend the throne of England in 1603, seven hundred and fifty clergymen of the Church of England, Puritan in their views, had ventured to address him with a petition looking toward a further reformation of the national church. They thought the king, with his Scotch Calvinistic training, would surely favor such mild changes as the abolition of the sign of the cross and the requirement of cap and surplice, or the revision of a few passages in the Prayer Book. For any change in doctrine or government in the church they did not ask. But James proved to be a sort of Rehoboam. He declared that he would make the Puritans "conform themselves, or harrie them out of the land, or else do worse." As a result perhaps three hundred and fifty ministers were driven from their parishes. Archbishop In 1633, the eighth year of James' successor, Charles I, William Laud was elevated to the archbishopric. There had been strict Anglicans in the archiepiscopal chair before, but none whose strictness had proved so costly to the church of England. Laud not only felt it his duty to persecute nonconformists, but apparently found a brutal joy in doing it. In the case of one author, an extreme critic of the established order, Laud gave thanks to God that the Star Chamber had sentenced the offender to degradation from the ministry and life imprisonment, besides a fine of £10,000, to which was added the pillory, the loss of both ears, the slitting of his nose, and branding on the cheeks with "SS" (sower of sedition). Free speech was not yet an accomplished fact in England! Thomas Hooker In parishes where the minister was nonresident, ignorant, incompetent or obnoxious a state of affairs evidently not at all infrequentit had at this time become customary to permit a Puritan preacher, usually an ordained priest of the established church, to "lecture " Sunday afternoons on some theme of morals or religion. Against these lectureships Archbishop Laud, to whom only uniformity of worship mattered, set himself. |