"The Lord has more truth yet to break forth out of His holy word. Luther and Calvin were great and shining lights in their times, yet they penetrated not into the whole counsel of God. I beseech of you, remember it, that you be ready to receive whatever truth shall be made known to you."
Who will attempt to deny that God, through him, spake words pregnant with a meaning that men at that age did not understand?
A prosperous wind soon wafted them across the North sea and they sighted the coast of England. After considerable delay at Southampton, Dartmouth, and Plymouth, the Mayflower started early in September on her long and lonely voyage from the old world to the new. After a boisterous voyage of sixty-three days they espied land, and in two days more cast anchor in the harbor of Cape Cod.
How truthful the lines,
"The heavy clouds hung dark
The woods and waters o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore!"
It was a bleak-looking and discouraging coast which lay before them. Nothing met the eye but low sand-hills, covered with stunted trees down to the margin of the sea. At first no suitable locality for a settlement could be found; but at length they selected a spot where the soil appeared to be good, with "delicate springs of water." On December 22, 1620, the pilgrims landed—stepping ashore upon a huge boulder of granite, which is still preserved as a memorial of that event. The cold was so excessive that the spray froze upon their clothes till they resembled men cased in armor. They had been badly fed on board the ship, which, together with exposure, caused sickness to prevail among them. Every second day a grave had to be dug in the frozen ground. The care of the sick and the burying of the dead, sadly hindered their work; but the building of their little town went on. When Spring arrived there were only fifty survivors, and these were sadly enfeebled and dispirited. Upon an eminence beside their town they erected a structure which served a double purpose. The upper story was used for a fort, in which were placed six small cannon. The lower story served for a meeting-house and school-house.
The pilgrims had already drawn up and signed in the cabin of the Mayflower, a document forming themselves into an organized government, to which they unanimously promised obedience. Under this constitution they elected John Carver to be their first governor. It is true they acknowledged King James, but they left no very large place for his authority.
Landing of the Pilgrims.