pleased to favor them that went, then they also should endeavor to help over such as were poor and ancient, and willing to come." * The volunteers for the first adventure were in the minority, and in consequence, Mr. Brewster, the ruling elder, and assistant to the pastor, was appointed to take the ministerial oversight of the emigrants, both during the passage and in the colony, till either Mr. Robinson or some pastor from England should arrive. The property and effects of such as were about to embark were now sold, and the produce, with the contributions of those who remained, was thrown into a common stock, out of which the expenses of the ship, the outfit, and the voyage were to be defrayed. A vessel of sixty tons, called the Speedwell, was purchased in Holland, in which Mr. Cushman and Mr. Carver, who had negotiated the affairs of the society with the Virginia Company, with Mr. Weston, an English merchant, sailed for London, to make the final arrangements with the company and with the Merchant Adventurers, who had offered the settlers a loan, on sufficiently hard terms, for seven years, and also to hire another ship for freight, to accompany the Speedwell across the Atlantic.‡ The conditions having been mutually agreed on betwixt the company, the merchants and the Leyden agents returned with the two vessels to Delft Haven, the port of Leyden. On their arrival, all needful preparations were speedily made; and on the twenty-first day of July, 1620, the whole congregation met for humiliation and prayer, when Mr. Robinson preached, with deep emotion, from Ezra viii. 21, 22: "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him." * Winslow's Brief Narrative, in Young's Chronicles, p. 383. † Young's Chronicles, pp. 77, 78. "Every person above sixteen was to be counted as ten pounds in the capital stock; and the merchant adventurer' who advanced one hundred pounds in England was to receive, at the end of seven years, as much of the profits of the colony as did ten of its hard-toiling founders; and this in addition to a share of the land they had brought under cultivation, and the buildings they had raised. The colonists were not even allowed the liberty possessed at the present day by a Valachian serf or a Spanish slave, to work two days in the week for themselves individually; but were compelled by their agreement to toil untiringly for seven years, and always for the benefit of the company." Memoirs of the Pilgrims at Leyden, by George Sumner, p. 61. Vide also Young's Pilgrims, pp. 81–85. He closed his discourse with appropriate and judicious counsels to the following effect: Parting Advice. "We are now ere long to part asunder, and the Lord knoweth whether ever he should live to see our faces again. But whether the Lord had appointed it or not, he charged us before God and his blessed angels, to follow him no further than he followed Christ; and if God should reveal any thing to us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry; for he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word. He took occasion also miserably to bewail the state and condition of the Reformed churches, who were come to a period in religion, and would go no further than the instruments of their reformation. As, for example, the Lutherans, they could not be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; for whatever part of God's will he had further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it. And so also, saith he, you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them; a misery much to be lamented; for though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them; and were they now living, saith he, they would be as ready and willing to embrace further light, as that they had received. Here also he put us in mind of our church covenant, at least that part of it whereby we promise and covenant with God, and one with another, to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from his written Word; but withal exhorted us to take heed what we received for truth, and well to examine and compare it and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth before we received it. For, saith he, it is not possible the Christian world should come so lately out of such thick antichristian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge should break forth at once. "Another thing he commended to us was, that we should use all means to avoid and shake off the name of Brownist, being a mere nickname and brand, to make religion odious, and the professors of it, to the Christian world. And to that end, said he, I should be glad if some godly minister would go over with you before my coming; for, said he, there will be no difference between the unconformable ministers and you, when they come to the practice of the ordinances out of the kingdom. And so advised us, by all means, to endeavor to close with the godly party of the kingdom of England, and rather to study union than division, viz. how near we might, possibly, without sin, close with them, than in the least measure to affect division or separation from them. And be not loath to take another pastor or teacher, saith he: for that flock that hath two shepherds is not endangered, but secured by it." * After the solemnities of the day were closed, the members of the church who were to remain at Leyden "feasted us that were to go," observes Mr. Winslow, "at our pastor's house, being large: where we refreshed ourselves, after tears, with singing of psalms, making joyful melody in our hearts, as well as with the voice, there being many of the congregation very expert in music: and indeed it was the sweetest melody that ever mine ears heard. After this they accompanied us to Delph's Haven, where we were to embark, and there feasted us again; and after prayer performed, by our pastor, where a flood of tears was poured out, they accompanied us to the ship, but were not able to speak one to another, for the abundance of sorrow to part. But we only going aboard (the ship lying to the quay and ready to set sail, the wind being fair), we gave them a volley of small shot and three pieces of ordnance, and so, lifting up our hands to each other, and hearts for each other to the Lord our God, we departed, and found his presence with us in the midst of our manifold straits he carried us through." * * Winslow's Narrative, in Young's Chronicles, p. 396. Mr. Sumner doubts whether Mr. Robinson delivered such a discourse as that described in the text; or, at least, whether the extract now given contains an authentic statement of his advice. I see no reason to doubt either. Mr. Robinson, as a faithful pastor, would not be likely to part with his friends without preaching a farewell discourse; and the parting advice, as given by Mr. Winslow, bears undoubted marks of genuineness, being so thoroughly characteristic of Mr. Robinson's sentiment and spirit. Mr. Sumner demurs to Mr. Winslow's admissibility as a witness, because he wrote his Narrative twenty-six years after the event, and because he was sent to England as the advocate of the Pilgrims in New Plymouth, against their accusers in the mother country. But surely a more competent witness could not be found, though his reminiscences extend over twenty-six years. He was one of Mr. Robinson's flock, at Leyden, having lived "three years under his ministry"; he was present at the service, and heard the discourse, and, as an honest witness, does not pretend to give the advice verbatim, but simply the substance of his remarks; but states that, "amongst other wholesome instructions and exhortations, he. Mr. Robinson, used these expressions, or to the same purpose." Besides, the "Brief Narrative," by Mr. Advocate Winslow, is written in a calm, simple, truthful style, and contains a statement of facts respecting the parting services at Leyden, confirmed in all points by Governor Bradford in his "History of Plymouth Colony"; why, therefore, should these few recollections of a discourse delivered under very peculiar circumstances, and such as were calculated to impress it deeply on the memory, be suspected as the creations of fancy ? Neal, and other historians, have given the parting advice in the first person, and as if taken verbatim from a copy of the address. This is unjust to Mr. Winslow, as he makes no pretension to such verbal accuracy. Among the spectators on this memorable morning of July 22d, 1620, were many Christian friends from Amsterdam and neighboring towns. They hastened to mingle their prayers and tears with those of the Pilgrim Fathers on their departure. It was an affecting scene, and, as the vessel was lessening in the distance, the hearts of the spectators, both from Leyden and Amsterdam, were uplifted in fervent prayers for the pilgrim voyagers. They retired to their respective homes, filled with the "joy of grief," and blessing God that their companions and friends had found grace to embark in so good and righteous a cause as that of founding a Christian colony in the remote wildernesses of the Atlantic. The Pilgrims had a prosperous voyage to Southampton, where the Mayflower was awaiting them. While completing their preparations, the affectionate and devoted pastor despatched a letter of counsel and advice to his beloved friends, on their conduct towards each other, and the course they should pursue in a foreign land. "LOVING CHRISTIAN FRIENDS, 66 " I do heartily and in the Lord salute you, as being those with whom I am present in my best affections, and most earnest longings after you, though I be constrained for a while to be bodily absent from you. I say constrained, God knowing how willingly, and much rather than otherwise, I would have borne my part with you in this first brunt, were I not by strong necessity held back for the present. Make account of me, in the mean while, as of a man divided in myself with great pain, and as (natural bonds set aside) having my better part with you. And though I doubt not but in your godly wisdom you both foresee, and resolve upon that which concerneth your present state and condition, both severally and jointly, yet have I thought it but my duty to add some further spur of provocation to them that run well already; if not because you need it, yet because I owe it in love and duty. " And first, as we are daily to renew our repentance with our God, especially for our sins known, and generally for our unknown sins and trespasses, so doth the Lord call us in a singular manner, upon occasions of such difficulty and danger as lieth upon you, to a both more narrow search, and careful reformation of our ways in his sight; lest he, calling to remembrance our sins forgotten by us, or unrepented of, take advantage against us, and in judgment leave us for the same to be swallowed up in one danger or other. Whereas, on the contrary, sin being taken away by earnest repentance, and the pardon thereof from the Lord sealed up unto a man's conscience by his Spirit, great shall be his security and peace in all dangers, sweet his comforts in all distresses, with happy deliverance from all evil, whether in life or in death. "Now next after this heavenly peace with God and our own consciences, we are carefully to provide for peace with all men, what in us lieth, especially with our associates; and for that end, watchfulness must be had, that we neither at all in ourselves do give, no, nor easily take offence, being given by others. Woe be unto the world for offences; for although it be necessary (considering the malice of Satan and man's corruption) that offences come, yet woe unto that man, or woman either, by whom the offence cometh, saith Christ, Matt. xviii. 7. And if offences in the unseasonable use of things in themselves indifferent be more to be feared than death itself, as the Apostle teacheth, 1 Cor. 4TH S. - VOL. I. 18 |