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The FIRST CHURCH IN PLYMOUTH
1606-1901
JOHN CUCKSON
Gc 974.402 P74cu 1344025
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01115 1328
With the author's Constantats
A BRIEF HISTORY of the FIRST CHURCH IN PLYMOUTH, from 1606 to 1901, by JOHN CUCKSON, Minister.
BOSTON
GEO. H. ELLIS CO., 272 CONGRESS STREET
1902
COPYRIGHT BY JOHN CUCKSON 1902
GRO. H. ELLIS CO., PRINTERS, 272 CONGRESS ST., BOSTON
1344025
TO MRS. WARREN B. POTTER, OF BOSTON,
I dedicate these simple annals of a brave and sturdy race, in grateful acknowledgment of her loyal and generous friendship.
Goodspeed. $3.52 1-25
.
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE
vi
INTRODUCTION
ix
I. HERESY AND SCHISM I
II. THE SOJOURN IN HOLLAND
8
III. ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
19
IV. "THE WILD NEW ENGLAND SHORE"
29
V. KEEPING THE FAITH
35
VI. GAIN AND LOSS . 44
VII. STAGNATION AND REVIVAL
57
VIII. CREED, OR NO CREED ?
70
IX. BACK TO THE PAST
82
X. LIBERTY AND PROGRESS
103
Preface.
T HE venerable religious society - the First Church of Christ in Plymouth, the church of the Pilgrims and their descendants - is approaching the tercentenary of its birth. That event will be interesting not only to the parish itself, but to the outside world, for the story of heroic adventure, fortitude, and endurance, of which this church is the permanent memorial, does not belong to one age, or to one country. It has become the treasured heritage of all congregations founded upon freedom and self-government. In order, therefore, that the present generation may become better acquainted with the way in which their sturdy forefathers walked, and the principles which guided them from the beginning, and from which the church has never swerved, I have thought the occasion opportune for the putting together in brief and handy form, and as much as possible apart from the general history of Plymouth Colony, the most important items in the religious story of the Pilgrims. The main ground has been well-covered by able and scholarly men, who have studied Pil- grim history in its general bearings, and nothing new can be added to the facts, which they have ac- cumulated. All that is attempted here, is a modest summary from the larger histories, in the shape of a popular text-book for the use of the general reader, who has neither the leisure nor the inclination, to enter into a detailed study of the rarer and costlier
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volumes. The authorities which have been con- sulted are, Bradford's History of Plymouth Planta- tion 1606 to 1646, Young's Chronicles of the Pil- grims 1606 to 1624, Records of the First Church in Plymouth, Founders of New Plymouth by Rev. Joseph Hunter, Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, Hon. W. T. Davis's Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, The Dictionary of National Biography. I have read many other books on the same subject, histories and records, but they were largely compilations from original sources, or special pleas in elucidation or defense, of some preconceived theories of Pilgrim theology or church polity.
All that is wanted is a narrative faithfully and briefly told, in which the facts are left to tell their own story ; and I shall be amply satisfied, if this little book, by its clearness and accuracy, leads some of its readers, to study more completely a bit of history as rich in characters and events, interesting, romantic, and heroic, as any in the annals of our race.
JOHN CUCKSON.
FAIR HAVENS, PLYMOUTH, MASS. 1902.
[ viii ]
Introduction.
T HE story of the genesis of the Pilgrim movement, its rise in England, the flight of its founders to Holland, the perilous voyage across the Atlantic, the founding of a new colony in America, in the depth of winter, and among hostile savages, the annals of persecution, suffering and death, constitute one of the most interesting and inspiring epics in the history of religion. It began at the opening of the seven- teenth century. England had officially renounced the ecclesiastical authority of Pope Clement the Seventh and accepted that of Henry the Eighth. But, as the ideas, principles, habits of a nation, in religious matters, are not easily transplanted, the incipient Protestantism of the age was only a crude growth. The passage from the political theology of the Vatican, to the theological politics of Lam- beth Palace, was but a short step, towards the com- plete enfranchisement of the individual mind and conscience, which is the logical result of the Prot- estant principle. People who had been disciplined for ages, to mistrust their own faculties in religious thinking, were slow to leave what seemed to them like safe anchorage, and to trust their souls to the unauthorized guidance of unconventional re- formers, and their churches to the secular power. Many of them parted from the Papacy with re- luctance, and clung to Episcopacy, which at that time, was the nearest approach to it, as to the
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outer line of freedom, beyond which was nothing but chaos. Others, like the Presbyterians, Brown- ists, Anabaptists, Independents, felt and acted more courageously, and moved, as if they were marching on a road with numerous hostelries, but with no rest for their feet, short of complete liberty for the individual conscience. The reigns of Mary and Elizabeth were spotted with all sorts of heresies and schisms, and it was not strange, therefore, that the bishops of Rome, and of the New Church of England, looked upon the Reformation in Europe, and the British Isles, as an ecclesiastical Franken- stein, over which they might lose control, to the lasting harm of the Christian religion. It appeared to them, in all its crude shapes, as a many-headed monster, which they were forced to combat, even unto death, and with whatever weapons they could command.
The translation of the Scriptures into the vernac- ular, and the slow dissemination of biblical knowl- edge among the people, had led independent and vigorous minds, to read and think for themselves, and to study the Bible without gloss or comment. They brought to this study, an eager thirst for the truth, and an unwarped judgment, which no creed could inspire. To know that they were privileged to read the sacred message themselves, and with such light as God had given them, and to feel that it was their supreme duty to stand firmly by their own convictions and the dictates of conscience, gave them that moral confidence in the divineness of their
[x]
Introduction
mission, which in larger measure filled the souls of Luther, Melancthon, Calvin and Knox, when they drank of the original waters of life, and took their faith undiluted from the gospels. There was a real- ity to their convictions, when they read the clear and simple language of the Scriptures, which did not come to them as they listened to the second-hand jargon of the creeds, and at last, they were satisfied, that the teachings of the New Testament, and of the early centuries of Christian history, were in a marked degree different from the conflicting and confusing dogmas of later ages. No wonder, then, that so many of them decided to renounce " the tra- ditions of the elders," the mere husks of doctrinal controversy, and take their faith from the Gospels themselves, and their ecclesiastical polity from the book of Acts and St. Paul's Epistles. The Bible, as they understood it, thus became the charter of their religious belief, and in its exposition, they were sat- isfied that neither church nor priest held exclusive rights or privileges. Christianity as Christ and the Apostles taught it, with individual freedom of mind and conscience, and without coercion and persecu- tion, became the watchword of thousands of sturdy Protestants, on whom the light of the Reformation was dawning. And, there never has been a great religious party of Anglo-Saxons, in any generation, who set the right of private judgment and the im- perative duty of supreme loyalty to truth, more boldly in the forefront of their lives, and praised other things less in comparison with religion, than
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did our sturdy Pilgrim Fathers. False men and hypocrites crept into their ranks, but the grand old leaders, who were really conscientious and devout, and who suffered in dark days, have few equals, and no superiors, in any age of the world's history. The characteristic note of their piety was this, the sovereign importance which it attached to truth, to the secret and free intercourse of every living soul with God, and a perfect loyalty to God's will; a piety theirs, not of holy places or of sacred ritual, or of symbols that minister to the imagination - a piety personal, intimate, inward ; which each man transacts with his Maker, entering alone, as they put it, into covenant with God, through Jesus Christ. It was that lonely communion of a man with God, in which authority demands and obedience yields, and with which no stranger is permitted to meddle, which made them great, and their lives, bereft of all else, still worth living. For that, they were prepared to suffer and endure ; for that, they were contented like Abraham to follow the divine behest, going out, not knowing whither they went, singlehanded, if need be ; at all cost, with loss of home and possessions, if so be, they might better acquit them like men, and honour their integrity. Theirs was a serious and masterful religion, not to be won except by brave effort, and not to be kept, but with suffering and loss. It was a religion that gripped men by their consciences, and laid on their souls the awful man- date of Heaven, and ruled them by the voice of God.
[xii ]
Introduction
But, it may be asked, did not this intensity of faith, lead many of them into narrowness and fanaticism? Were they not uncomfortable people to live with? In the midst of mendacity, frivolity, immorality, yes : but, surrounded by veracity, courage, virtue, no. The Pilgrim was unhappy himself, and the source of unhappiness to others, in the midst of conditions which aroused his moral indignation ; but, he was contented and peaceful enough, in any environment, which harmonized with personal and public virtue. The stalwart fathers were not perfect. They lived without the light of modern science and learning. They did not, and could not, understand the Scriptures as they are understood in the twentieth century ; they had not our helps to the right interpretation of the Bible; they did less than justice, many of them, to the natural beauties of Creation, and to the innocent felicities of life; they set the stern sovereignty of God above the Father's love; but to say this, is only to say, that they did their best in a bad time. Exaggerations, limitations, mis- takes, cling to men in every age; but in spite of these, the great thing was, that they bore their testimony to the truth, and asserted their freedom, in an age, when men cared nothing for the one, and were doing their best to crush out the other. It did not occur to them to stop and parley with prudential considerations, or wait to see what loyalty to righteousness would cost them ; but they heard the divine voice, and sought to make it the
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rule of their lives, preferring the life of heroic duty with all its hard experiences, to a useless enjoyment of social respectability or self-indulgence, in which there is no moral worth whatever.
There is also another point worth remembering. Our Pilgrim Fathers not only fled from persecu- tion on account of their opinions, but also from the deadening and desolating influence of Sacerdotalism and ceremony. The creeds entered into the Book of Common Prayer. And religion among their con- temporaries had degenerated into superstitious formality. Devotional liturgies rested upon a framework of dogma, in which they did not be- lieve, and were full of phrases and ascriptions, they could not honestly repeat. It was to get rid of this, quite as much as to escape the tyranny of false opinion, that they reluctantly but resolutely for- sook the Church, and worshipped apart in the cold shadow of despised dissent.
They were not sectaries delighting in separation. For a long period they hesitated to break away from the ancient church with its prestige and noble history. They refused to organize themselves or to ordain their own ministers, until nothing else was left for them to do. The love of union and fellowship was deep and strong within them, but they felt it must be union in the midst of diversity, the fellowship of minds which cannot think alike, and not the profligate sentimentalism which on the surface, but nowhere else, looks like a love-feast of sects.
[ xiv ]
Introduction
In this respect, we have much to learn from them. Our own age, which differs so widely from theirs, is yet, in the matter of religious fellowship on a broad and catholic basis, in much the same condition. If we imagine that the evils against which they con- tended have passed away, we imagine a vain thing. The old ecclesiastical spirit of intolerance and ex- clusion, though harmless as compared with what it was three centuries ago, is with us still. Except in comparatively few minds in every church, religion is a thing of sects and creeds, and the lines of separa- tion on the score of opinion are strictly drawn. The spirit of the age is in advance of the churches, and rebukes bigotry every time it shows itself; but the barriers between one ecclesiastical sheepfold and another, are as high and as strong as ever, except in
isolated spots. The tasks which engaged our spiritual forefathers are yet unfinished, and the duties which shaped the action of Robinson, Brews- ter, Bradford, and Winslow, have lost none of their imperativeness for this generation. Love and service have not yet supplanted dogma and exclusiveness, as the foundation of fellowship, although the teach- ing of Jesus was so clear and emphatic. And the duty is incumbent upon us, of seeing when the time arrives for a great approach and reconciliation of Protestant sects, that the terms shall be so inclusive and liberal, that every succeeding generation shall delight to add a new link to the chain.
In the meantime, much light and leading may be drawn from the character and experience of those,
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who in lonely exile, and comparative freedom from prejudice and meddlesome interference, laid the foundations, broad and deep, of the civil and re- ligious liberty, upon which alone, an enlightened and durable civilization can be reared.
[ xvi ]
A BRIEF HISTORY of the FIRST CHURCH IN PLYMOUTH
CHAPTER I. Heresy and Schism.
T HE Protestant Reformation in England lacked cohesion and consistency. It did not follow any clearly defined lines, but was sporadic, breaking out here and there, in indepen- dent movements, which were not only unrelated, but often fiercely hostile to each other. One of these departures from the church established by law, began near the North East Coast, at the point where the three counties of York, Nottingham, and Lincoln, con- verged. The little towns of Gainsborough, Scrooby, and Austerfield, sheltered a group of scholarly, brave, zealous inquirers, who quietly and for conscience sake, nourished their liberty, and without knowing it, were fanning a flame, which was destined to become a beacon light of history. One John Smyth was at the head of a Brownist community at Gainsborough. William Bradford, religiously disposed from his early youth, was brooding in- tently on the signs of the times, at Austerfield. William Brewster relieved from the cares of diplomacy and court intrigue, was wrestling with the religious
[ I]
The First Church in Plymouth
problems of his day, in the quiet retreat of Scrooby
Manor. All of them were touched by the new light
which was breaking upon the religion of Scrooby England, and were cherishing a more than
1606. common interest, in the deep things of a nation's spiritual life, grave, devout men, concerned about the morals and manners of the age, and satisfied that the Church of Christ was drifting farther and farther from its Scriptural moorings. The National Church was Anti-Christ.
It had erred from the true faith of the Gospels.
Its
bishops and ordained clergy were worldly.
Its
church members were too frequently wanton and evil-livers; and beliefs which should commend themselves to the minds and consciences of men, and ought not to be accepted in any other way, were being forced upon them by laws, temporal and spiritual. What could these men do ? It was against their consciences to feign satisfaction with things as they were, and to make no protest. It was cowardly to consent to what was untrue, and crimi- nal not to raise their voices in rebuke of wickedness in high places. Their own deep needs, and the spiritual hunger of those about them, made it nec- essary for them to meet together, whenever and wherever, they could safely do so, to worship in secret, like the persecuted Covenanters of Scotland and Huguenots of France. The views they held were heretical. The protests, they felt called upon to make against the teaching and ritual of the powerful churches of their day, laid them open to
[2]
Heresy and Schism
fine and imprisonment. And, yet, the impulse to preach and to pray, and the obligation to prophesy, was irresistible. They could not be indifferent and would not be silent.
The leader in this daring movement was William Brewster (1560 ?- 1644), who belonged to a good family, received an excellent education, and was for some time at Cambridge University. After leaving College, he, probably in 1584, entered the service of William Davison, ambassador, and afterwards Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth. He was accounted a man of marked probity and practical sagacity, skilled in business affairs, and commanding the confidence of his employers. He accompanied Davison on a mission to the Netherlands in 1585, and remained in his service until 1587, when, as Bradford informs us, " he retired into the country," and at Scrooby Manor-House, where he resided, and had charge of the postal-service, he made the ac- quaintance of John Smyth, who was at the head of a Separatist community at Gainsborough (1602), and by whom he was greatly influenced, until he developed a strong personal interest in religion, and in "good preaching." Here in this historic house, which had sheltered Margaret, Queen of Scotland, Cardinal Wolsey, and Henry the Eighth, Brewster gathered about him, able and godly clergymen and laymen, lovers of freedom and haters of religious persecution, Puritans and Brownists, who found in their host an ardent and generous sympathizer. On the Lord's Day, we are told, that Brewster " en-
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The First Church in Plymouth
tertained with great love," this group of godly heretics, who without binding themselves to any formal creed or ritual, such as those by which the age was so grievously tormented, "joyned them- selves, (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellowship of ye Gospel, to walke in all his ways, made known, or to be made known, ac- cording to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them."
It soon became obvious that the little community needed a preacher and pastor, and it fell to the lot Richard Clyfton 1606. of one Richard Clyfton, some- time Vicar of Marnham in Not- tinghamshire, and later, Rector of Babworth, near Scrooby, to be- come the first shepherd of the flock. He was well known in that vicinity as a scholarly and godly man, beloved by people of varying belief, "a grave and reverend preacher." Though somewhat advanced in life, he was active and energetic, and had made himself greatly beloved, throughout the outlying towns and villages. The fact that he was a bene- ficed clergyman did not prevent him from affilia- tion with heretics, or others similarly situated, from being members or ministers of dissenting con- gregations. It is conjectured that John Robinson 1576 ?- 1625, a graduate of Cambridge, and curate in the Established Church, a man of great natural gifts and scholarly attainments joined the Scrooby com- munity in 1607. He became associated with Clyf- ton as teacher of religious doctrine, and with William Brewster, as ruling elder.
[ 4 ]
Heresy and Schism
The civil and ecclesiastical authorities were on the alert for heretics, and their attention was soon drawn to this little group of religious reformers. After the church had held together about a year, modestly exercising its independence, and doing a quiet relig- ious work, in its own way, it was suddenly scattered by relentless persecution. Prelacy was bent upon restoring such men to its fold, or harrying them out of the land. There was no safety except in recanta- tion, or in flight. They would not recant, and were forced to think of exile. Some set out for Holland, but the captain, in whose ship they had taken pass- age from Boston, betrayed them, and their leader William Brewster was imprisoned, and " bound over to the Court of Assize." In the summer of 1608, they were more fortunate. A Dutch skipper, await- ing a cargo at Hull, agreed to take them to Hol- land. They were to meet him at a spot on the coast between Hull and Grimsby, far enough away from any town. A small bark was engaged to take them to the appointed place, and at the time fixed they gathered on the shore, but owing to delay on the part of the vessel which was to carry them away, and difficulties with their own boat, the authorities were apprised of their escape, and while the men, women, children and cargo, were being embarked, they suddenly descried the approach of a great com- pany, both on horse and on foot, with bills and guns and weapons who had arrived to prevent their escape. The fugitives were thrown into confusion. Some were on board the Dutch vessel, others were
[ 5 ]
The First Church in Plymouth
on shore, families were divided, their goods were confiscated, wives were separated from their hus- bands, and children from their parents. Those on board the ship asked to be put on shore again, dreading to be torn from those they loved, and to leave their families helpless and destitute, but the captain would not yield. He weighed anchor, spread sails, and amid tears and grief inexpressible, the once united and happy families were ruthlessly torn asunder. Their cup of misery was not even then quite full. They encountered a fearful storm at sea, in which they saw neither moon nor stars, and were driven towards the coast of Norway. For fourteen days they were in peril on the sea, often expecting every moment that the vessel would founder, dis- tracted with fears, and crying unto the Lord to save them. Finally, after much anguish and suffering they arrived in Amsterdam. The fate of those that were left ashore was not less fearful. They fled from the soldiers, some making good their escape, and others, prevented by family ties, remaining to take care of the women and children. Many of them were apprehended, and hurried from one court to another, destitute, tormented, afflicted, until it was hard to know what to do with them. Women and children were homeless, friendless, forsaken, ex- posed to the cold, and fainting for lack of food. After their long misery, the sky cleared, and a way was opened for them, and in the end, as Bradford graphically tells us, "notwithstanding all these stormes of opposition, they all gatt over at length,
[6]
Heresy and Schism
some at one time and some at another, and some in one place and some in another, and mette togeather againe according to their desires, with no small rejoycing."
[7]
CHAPTER II. The Sojourn in Holland.
ing.
T HE capital of the Netherlands afforded safe shelter for persecuted fugitives, who were sober, thrifty, peaceable and law-abid- The Scrooby contingent did not, therefore, find themselves strangers in a strange land. Two Amsterdam Separatist communities from England were already settled there, one which 1608. had fled from London in 1593, pre- sided over by Francis Johnson, pastor, and Henry Ainsworth, teacher ; and the other from Gainsborough, at the head of which was their old friend John Smyth. The former was a large and flourishing church, numbering three hundred com- municants, the latter, which had existed there little more than a year, was not so strong. The fact, that Amsterdam since 1573, had harbored all sorts of heresies, and had become famous in prose and verse, as the breeding ground of schisms, was not favorable to the possibilities of unity and concord among the new settlers, who after separation and delay were at last united, with John Robinson and William Brewster at their head. The two existing congregations were not at peace among themselves. They were torn by controversies and dissensions in which the Scrooby Pilgrims had no part, but into which they might easily be drawn. It was therefore decided, that in the interests of the community, it
[8]
The Sojourn in Holland
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