To return to the pinnace left sunk near Damariscove. Some of the fishing boats’ captains said it was a pity that so fine a vessel should be lost, and sent them word that if they would bear the expense, they would show them how to float her, and let them have their carpenters to mend her. They thanked them, and sent men for the purpose and beaver to defray the cost. So they got coopers to trim I know not how many tons of casks, and having made them tight and fastened them to her at low water, they buoyed her up, and hauled her ashore with many hands in a convenient place where she could be worked at; and then set several carpenters to work at her, and others to saw planks, and at last fitted her, and got her home. But it cost a great deal of money to recover her, and to buy rigging and sails for her, both now and when she lost her mast before; so she proved an expensive vessel to the poor plantation. So they sent her home, and with her Lyford sent his last letter in great secrecy; but the party entrusted with it gave it to the Governor.

The winter passed in their ordinary pursuits, without any special matter worth noting,—except that many who before stood somewhat aloof from the church, now seeing Lyford’s unjust dealing and malignity, came forward and were made members, stating that it was not out of dislike of anything that they had stood off so long, but a desire to fit themselves better for such a state; and that they now saw that the Lord called for their help.

And so these troubles produced an effect on several here quite contrary to what their adversaries had hoped; and it was recognized as a great work of God, to draw men to him by unlikely means, and such as, in reason, might have been calculated to alienate them. And thus I shall end this year.

CHAPTER VI

Oldham and Lyford expelled—Lyford’s Past—Reply of Settlement to Adventurers’ Charges—Support from friendly group of Adventurers—Loss of two ship-loads of cargo—Captain Standish in England: 1625.

At the spring of the year, about the time of their elections, Oldham came back again, and, though his sentence forbade his return without obtaining leave, his effrontery and the ill counsel of others led him to ignore it, and at the same time to give rein to his unruly passion beyond all reason and decency, so that some strangers who came with him were ashamed of his outrage, and rebuked him, but all reproofs were but as oil to the fire, and enflamed his anger the more. He called them all good-for-nothings, and a hundred rebels and traitors, and I know not what. So they locked him up till he was tamer, and then he was made to pass down a line of guards, each of whom was ordered to give him a thump on the breech with the butt-end of his musket. Then he was conveyed to the water-side, where a boat was ready to take him away, and they bid him go and mend his manners.

Whilst this was going on Mr. William Pierce and Mr. Winslow came up from the shore, having arrived from England; but the others were so busy with Oldham that they never saw them until they thus came upon them. They told them not to spare either him or Lyford, for both had behaved villainously. But to make an end of Oldham I will here briefly relate what befell him in the future. After the removal of his family, he encountered difficulties and about a year afterwards, towards winter, he sailed for Virginia; but it pleased God that the ship was in great danger, and he and the other passengers despaired of life, many resorting to prayer and the examination of their consciences and confession of such sins as burdened them. Mr. Oldham then made a free and ample confession of the wrongs he had done to the people and the church here saying that, as he had sought their ruin, so God had now met with him and might destroy him; aye, and he feared they all fared worse on account of his presence. He prayed God to forgive him, and made vows that if the Lord spared his life, he would repent. This I learned by reliable report of some who are still living at the Bay, and themselves shared the dangers of the shoals of Cape Cod and heard his very words. It pleased God to spare their lives, though they lost their voyage; and ever after Oldham behaved decently to them, acknowledging the hand of God to be with them. He seemed to respect them honestly, and so far made his peace with them that after a time he had liberty to come and go at his pleasure. He went afterwards to Virginia, and there fell very ill; but he recovered and came back again to his family at the Bay, and lived there till many people had come over. At length, going trading in a small vessel among the Indians, and being weakly manned, upon some quarrel they knocked him on the head with a hatchet, so that he fell down dead and never spoke again. Two little boys that were related to him were saved, though injured, and the vessel was recovered from the Indians by another inhabitant of the Bay of Massachusetts. Oldham’s death was in fact one cause of the subsequent Pequot war.

Now as to Mr. Lyford. His time having expired, his sentence was to be carried out. He was so far from fulfilling their hopes of amendment, that he had doubled his offence, as shown. But behold the hand of God upon him, wherein the Psalmist is verified (Psa. vii, 15): He hath made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the pit he made. He thought to bring disgrace upon them but instead he discloses his own shame to all the world. When he was confronted with his second letter, his wife was so stirred by his doings that she could no longer conceal her grief, and opened her mind to one of the deacons and some of her friends, and later to Mr. Pierce, on his arrival. She said that she feared some great judgment of God would fall upon the family, because of her husband; and now that they were about to remove she feared she would fall into the Indians’ hands and be defiled by them as he had defiled other women, recalling God’s threatened judgment upon David (II Sam. xii, 11): I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour. Then she disclosed how he had wronged her, and that he had a bastard by another woman before they were married. She had had some inkling of it when he was courting her, and told him what she had heard rumoured; but he not only stiffly denied it, but to satisfy her took a solemn oath; so she consented to marry him. Afterwards she found it was true, and reminded him of his oath; but he prayed her to pardon him, and pleaded that otherwise he would not have won her. And yet even after this she could keep no maid-servant but he would be meddling with them, and sometimes she had taken him in the act. The woman was a respectable matron, of good behaviour all the while she was here, and spoke out of the sorrow of her heart, sparingly, but circumstantially. What seemed to affect her most was his easy repentances, followed by a speedy return to the old paths.

This was all borne out by the reports of Mr. Winslow and Mr. Pierce on their return. Mr. Winslow informed them that they had had the same trouble with Lyford’s friends in England as with himself and his friends here,—his adherents crying out that to deal thus with a minister and a godly man was a great scandal, and threatening to prosecute them for it. So it was all referred to a further meeting of most of the adventurers there, who agreed to choose two eminent men as arbitrators. Lyford’s faction chose Mr. White, a counsellor at law; the others chose the Rev. Mr. Hooker, the minister. In the meantime God in His providence had disclosed Lyford’s evil career in Ireland to some friends of the company, who made it known to Mr. Winslow, and mentioned two godly witnesses who would testify upon their oath. The fact was, that when Lyford was in Ireland, he had wound himself into the esteem of several worthy reformers, who, burdened with the ceremonies in England, found greater liberty of conscience there. Amongst them were the two men who gave evidence; and amongst others there was an honest young man who intended to marry, and had set his affection on a certain girl who lived there. But preferring the fear of God to all other things, before he suffered his affection to run too far he resolved to take Mr. Lyford’s advice and judgment about the girl,—since he was the minister of the place,—and so spoke of it to him. He promised to inform him faithfully, but wished to get to know her better first, and have some private talk with her. In conclusion he recommended her highly to the young man as a very fit wife for him. So they were married. But some time afterwards the woman was much troubled in mind and afflicted in conscience, and did nothing but weep and mourn; and it was long before her husband could find out the cause. But at length she told him,—praying him to forgive her,—that Lyford had overcome her and defiled her before marriage. The circumstances I forbear; suffice it, that though he satisfied his lust upon her, he endeavoured to hinder conception. The young husband then took some godly friends with him to confront Lyford with this charge. At length he confessed it with a great deal of seeming repentance and sorrow, but he was forced to leave Ireland, partly for shame and partly for fear of further punishment; and so, coming to England, unhappily he was hit upon as a suitable minister for the colony and sent out to them. The arbitrators with great gravity declared that his recent offences there gave them cause enough to deal with him as they had done; but these disclosures made him unfit ever to bear ministry any more, what repentance soever he should pretend.