Who were the Pilgrims?

by William T. Davis

The story of the attempted departure of the Pilgrim church in the autumn of 1607, the treachery of the captain who was to take them on board his vessel at Boston, their detention and imprisonment, and their final arrival at Amsterdam, is a familiar one. Why their departure should have been interfered with, when the penalty of the offense of Separatism was banishment, many are unable to understand. But the King had issued a proclamation against emigration to the English colony of Virginia without a royal license, and a suspicion was entertained, either real or feigned, that such was the destination of the Scrooby band. It was intended at first to make Amsterdam their home, but the dissensions in the congregation of Smith, which they feared might become contagious, induced them to remove in 1609 to Leyden, and that place for eleven years they made their residence.

In Leyden, then, from 1609 to 1620, the Pilgrims lived, joined at various times by William White, Isaac Allerton, Samuel Fuller, Degory Priest, and Edward Winslow, from London, Robert Cushman from Canterbury, George Morton from York, and John Carver and other exiles from various parts of England. Of these, Winslow, a man probably of university education, or at least of liberal culture, the son of Edward Winslow, of Droitwich, in Worcester, joined the Pilgrims not many years before their embarkation for America. He married in Leyden, in 1618, Elizabeth Barker, of Chester, England, and became, as is well known, one of the staffs and supports of the Plymouth Colony. At a subsequent period he was appointed by Cromwell one of the three commissioners to determine the value of English ships destroyed by the King of Denmark, and afterward a member of the commission to accompany Admiral Penn and General Venable on the expedition against Hispaniola. While engaged in this enterprise he died, and was buried at sea.

Miles Standish also joined the Pilgrims at Leyden, probably not on account of any religious affinity, but because his bold and adventurous nature was tempted by the enterprise on which they were about to embark. His great-grandfather was a younger brother of the house of Standish of Dokesbury Hall, of which it is believed John Standish, knighted by Richard the Second, was the founder. Compelled to seek his fortune, he chose the profession of arms, and served with the troops sent by Elizabeth to assist the Dutch against the arms of Spain. During the armistice, which began the year of the arrival of the Pilgrims in Leyden, he fell in with some of their number, and finally cast in his lot with them.

Richard Clyfton having concluded to remain in Amsterdam, John Robinson was chosen pastor, and at his house, probably, the congregation met on the Sabbath. If they had any church, its situation is unknown. The house of Mr. Robinson, on Clock Alley, in the rear of St. Peter’s Church, was 156 feet west of Heeren Street, and had a frontage of 25 feet 6 inches, and a depth of 75 feet. Here he lived from the 5th of May, 1611, the date of the deed of the premises, until his death, in 1625. The records of the church of St. Peter show that he was buried under its pavement, and that the sum of nine florins was paid for the right of burial. This sum only secured a place of deposit for the term of seven years, and it is probable that at the end of that time either his coffin was removed to an unknown grave, or his ashes were scattered in the burial of others. Robinson was connected with the University of Leyden, one of whose professors, Arminius, died about the time of his arrival. Episcopius followed Arminius in the support of his peculiar doctrines, and Robinson, as a man of recognized ability and learning, was selected to defend the tenets of old Calvinism in discussions with that eminent scholar. But though an earnest opponent of Arminian doctrines, he felt no sympathy with those acts of the Synod of Dort which resulted in the death of Barneveldt and the imprisonment of Grotius, the story of whose escape, as told by Motley, is as full of interest as the most stirring fiction or drama. In addition to ministrations in his church, he took on himself also the labors of authorship. He published in 1610 A Justification of Separation from the Church, a copy of which, once belonging to Governor Bradford, and containing his autograph, may be seen in the Plymouth Registry of Deeds. Of Religious Communion appeared in 1614; Apologia Justa et Necessaria, in 1619; and a Defense of the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort, in 1624, the year before his death. His posthumous publications were Essays and Observations, Divine and Moral, in 1628; and a Treatise on the Lawfulness of Learning of the Ministers in the Church of England, in 1634. A sweet and liberal spirit pervaded his life, and the community of men and women chastened by his teachings had no room in their hearts for that bigotry with which by the ignorant they have been credited, but from which their whole career, shaped and directed in obedience to his teachings, was always free. A spirit of charity, toleration, and love characterized the Plymouth colonists, purified as they had been by the fires of persecution and the hardships of exile, until overrun by the narrower Puritan spirit of Massachusetts Bay, the harshness and severity of which, however, it served to mitigate and soften.

Brewster, obliged like the rest to seek some occupation for a livelihood, at first engaged in teaching the English language to students in the university. Being familiar with the Latin, the language of the schools and the court at that day, he was eminently fitted for the task. He afterward opened a publishing house, being assisted with capital by Thomas Brewer, an Englishman, who was a member of the university. Of course, under the circumstances, he engaged in the publication of books in the advocacy of Church reform, destined for circulation in England. In 1616 he published a commentary in Latin on the Proverbs of Solomon, by Cartwright, with a preface by Polyander. There are three copies of this work in Plymouth, one owned by the First Church, one by William Hedge, Esq., and another by the Pilgrim Society. In 1618 he published A Confutation of the Remish Translation of the New Testament, also by Cartwright, without, however, the name of the publisher on the title-page. When the Remish (Romish) translation appeared, Secretary Walsingham requested Cartwright to undertake its refutation, and sent him one hundred pounds to aid him in his work. Archbishop Whitgift, learning what Cartwright was doing, prohibited his proceeding further. Cartwright at first desisted, but afterward perfected the work as far as the fifteenth chapter of Revelation. The manuscript lay many years neglected, until at last, defaced and worm-eaten, it came into the hands of Brewster, and was given by him to the world. A copy also of this work is in the library of the Pilgrim Society. A treatise in Latin on the true and genuine religion, and Ames’s reply to Grevinchovius on the Arminian controversy, also in Latin, followed, and other works, which fully occupied his time until his departure for New England.

The appearance of these books did not fail to alarm King James, who gave orders to Sir Dudley Carleton, English Ambassador at the Hague, to prevent their further publication, and if possible to secure the arrest of the publishers. Brewster was sought for, but at that time was in England engaged in negotiations with the Virginia Company, and could not be found. Brewer was arrested, but being a member of the university, was, under its charter, exempted from the liability of being sent to England. He consented, however, to go of his own accord, the university making it a condition of his going that he should be treated as a free man and not a prisoner, that he should be well used, and after his examination be suffered to return without charge to himself. He was afterward discharged, and the abandonment by Brewster of his business in anticipation of his departure prevented further trouble.

But the Pilgrims were not destined to remain in Holland. Their residence there had begun at the beginning of the twelve years’ truce between Holland and Spain, and it was not unreasonably feared that a renewal of hostilities might result in the triumph of Philip, and a persecution of the little band more serious than any they had before encountered. They were also gradually losing their identity among strange people with strange language and habits, with whom, like a river flowing to the sea, they might be merged and lost. Having determined, then, to leave Leyden, their place of destination became the subject of serious and prolonged discussion. Virginia, however, was decided upon, and arrangements were at once made for their departure. It is unnecessary to trace their progress further; the story of their voyage is a familiar one. The little band, which disappeared from the eyes of the world, as what is mortal in man enters the valley of the shadow of death, has like his risen spirit emerged into a glorious immortality. The manor-house where they worshipped has gone to ruin; their sanctuary in Leyden is unknown; of the little house on the hill in Plymouth where their first prayers in the New World were uttered, no relic remains; but the little one has become a thousand, and wherever in this happy land a modest tower or spire rears its head above the trees, there may be found a Scrooby church.

Transcriber’s Notes

New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.