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SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

1985

Our Pilgrim Heritage : How Religion Shaped History

Edward Hindson Liberty University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Hindson, Edward, "Our Pilgrim Heritage : How Religion Shaped History" (1985). SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations. 123. https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/sor_fac_pubs/123

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land and were pillaged by French pi­ The principle of self-governing rates. Defeated and beleaguered, they autonomy was deeply entrenched How Religion were forced to return to Europe, but in the Pilgrim mind. Robinson was their dream of freedom never died. strongly convinced that the true Chris­ The Amsterdam church eventually tian Church should be composed of Shaped grew to 300 under Johnson. He was Christian men, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and capable-under His illumi­ nation-of self-government. He be­ History lieved that no other power, civil or ecclesiastical, had the right to super­ like Abraham 0/ o/~ sede that divine calling. by Ed Hindson they had journeyed As the Thirty Years' War began to break out in Europe, the Pilgrims made rom the time the Pilgrims arrived to a land 0/ promise the historic decision to sell all their at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in seeking a city whose possessions and set sail for America. FNovember 1620, American reli­ Bringing little more than the clothes on gion was shaped by English Puritan builder and maker is God. their backs, and clutching their be­ and Separatist beliefs. Having sepa­ loved Geneva Bibles, they set sail for rated from the established Church of England. After some delay they even­ England, the first Pilgrims left their assisted by Henry Ainsworth, four rul­ tually embarked from Plymouth on the homeland for Holland as early as 1593 ing elders, three deacons, and a widow Mayflower on September 6, 1620, with in search of liberty. These fugitives who served as deaconess. In the mean­ a cargo of 102 passengers, 200 books, from religious persecution eventually time Smyth's church, which was more and Elder William Brewster's printing settleg in two communities in Amster­ Congregational in government, was press. dam. The London group was pastored growing as well. In 1608, still another Halfway across the Atlantic the by Francis Johnson and the Gains­ group came from Scrooby, England, led huge crossbeam supporting the main borough group was pastored by John by Richard Clyfton and John Robinson. mast cracked during a violent storm. Smyth. They eventually settled at Leyden, Hol­ At the point of desperation, the Pil­ In 1597 Johnson and three others land, in 1609. There Robinson became grims remembered the great iron screw actually joined an expedition to Canada their pastor and was able to purchase a of Brewster's printing press and used to establish a colony for the exiles on house, which served as a meeting place it to raise the beam back to its proper the Island of Ranae. However, they met for the Pilgrims, who valued "peace position. Spared by the providence of with rough weather, went aground on and spiritual comfort above any other God, the grateful Pilgrims continued the rocks off the coast of Newfound- riches." their two-month journey across the 24 Fundamentalist Journal With their nearest European neigh­ bors 500 miles to the south in Virginia, remaining members of the little Pilgrim g band literally clung to the frozen wil­

"::J derness for their very survival. J::'" " During that first year, their gover­ '" ::;;'" nor, John Carver, and his wife, Kather­ £ ::J ine, both died and were laid to rest side 0 E >. by side in a grave overlooking the sea. a:: The custom of the day was for another Z. '(3" governor to be appointed by the king. en0 But the Colonists, giving birth to the E ~ American spirit of free elections, chose ii: ~ their own governor-William Bradford. J::" I- [Ii In the spring, to their surprise, an 0 >. 8 ill Indian named Samoset walked into ~'" ::J ~ their settlement speaking broken En- 0 U § glish. He told them that he had learned ai .0 E ~ their language from English fishermen 0 ~ he had met along the coast. He informed "c: '";, e § them that the Indian name for the !Il ~ place was Patuxet ("little bay") and .C'" c: ~ that the previous inhabitants had died ~ >. .0 ~ four years earlier from a mysterious '" :lll plague. He also explained that their !':" nearest neighbors were the Wampa- i g noags some 50 miles to the west and !': 1J, ruled over by Chief Massasoit. c: ~ .~ Samoset eventually arranged a !':" ~ meeting between Massasoit and the Pilgrims. A peace treaty and friendly g ocean and sighted the shores of Cape mouth, would become the seedbed of relations ensued. In October 1621 d Cod in the early morning of Novem­ the American democratic spirit. Governor Bradford declared a day of s ber 9, 1620. The Pilgrims' arrival in the New public thanksgiving, modeled after the ;- Following their Scrooby Church World was not without problems. Feast of Tabernacles, and invited If Covenant, the Pilgrims wrote the May­ William Bradford's wife, Dorothy, fell Massasoit to attend. He arrived with y flower Compact while still aboard overboard and drowned while the 90 Indians bearing deer and wild tur­ 1- ship. It was a revolutionary document Mayflower was anchored some 25 keys to add to the Pilgrims' garden­ !- for its day, acknowledging no nobility miles from its ultimate destination. At grown vegetables. A joyous meal and ,r and giving each member of the com­ the time of the tragedy Bradford was games followed Elder Brewster's hum­ r- munity equal status. Thus, the begin­ exploring the shore to select the spot ble prayer of thanks. An American nings of modern democracy were laid for their settlement. When he returned tradition-Thanksgiving Day-was 0 by those who covenanted together "for to the ship he discovered that his wife begun. .e the glory of God and the advancement had been dead several days. Before the With their settlement at New Ply­ .r of the Christian faith." Their settle­ first winter passed, 47 people had died, mouth the Pilgrims laid the foundation 1. ment, originally known as New Ply- including 28 of their 48 male adults. of a new society in what was truly a n new world. Like Abraham of old, they !- had journeyed to a land of promise ,r seeking a city whose builder and maker I- is God. On these shores they estab­ e lished the principles that would make h America great for years to come. Yet ;, today, some three and a half centuries g later, we, like they, are still pilgrims passing through a temporal land, look­ e ing by faith for our eternal and heav­ n enly home. En route, we have much for 1. which to be thankful, not the least of I- which are our Pilgrim Fathers. N d II Ed Hindson, senior editor, is pro­ :r fessor of religion at Liberty University, )f Lynchburg, Virginia. He holds the d D.Litt. et Phil. from the University of Ie South Africa. November 1985 25 ..-...... -- ...... --