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shall be brought and slain before him, and (without repentance) shall, together with the beast and false prophet, be thrown into the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Rev. xix. 20. When Babylon cometh into remembrance before God, then shall the saints with the angel say, Thou art just and holy, because thou hast judged these things; for they, namely, the whore of Rome (and the prelates their adherents), have shed the blood of thy saints. Give them blood to drink; for they are worthy. Rev. xvi. 5, 6.

The exordium being concluded, I shall come more nearer my intended purpose, namely, in reference unto the church of Christ at Plymouth in New England, first begun in Old England, and carried on in Holland and at Plymouth aforesaid.

CHAPTER I.

BEGINNING OF THE PILGRIM MOVEMENT.

WHEN, by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land, so in the north parts, many became enlightened by the word of God, and had their ignorance and sins discovered by the word of God's grace, and began, by his grace, to reform their lives and make conscience of their ways, the work of God was no sooner manifest in them, but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude, and the ministers urged with the yoke of subscription, or else must be silenced; and the poor people were so vexed with apparrators and pursuivants and the Commission Courts, as truly their affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they bare sundry years with much patience, until they were occasioned, by the continuance and increase of these troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days, to see further into these things by the light of the word of God; how that not only those base beggarly ceremonies were unlawful, but also that the lordly tyrannous power of the prelates ought not to be submitted to, which those contrary to the freedom of the gospel would load and burden men's consciences with, and by their compulsive power make a profane mixture of persons and things in the worship of God; and that their offices and callings, courts and canons, etc., were unlawful and antichristian, being such as have no

warrant in the word of God, but the same that were used in Popery, and still retained; of which a famous author thus writeth in his Dutch commentaries:

"At the coming of King James out of Scotland into England, the new king," saith he, "found there established the reformed religion, according to the reformed religion of King Edward the Sixth, retaining or keeping still the spiritual state of the bishops, etc., after the old manner, much varying and differing from the Reformed Churches of Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, Emden, Geneva, etc., whose reformation is cut or shapen much nearer the first churches, as it was used in the Apostles' times."*

So many, therefore, of these professors as saw the evil of these things in these parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth, they shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and, as the Lord's free people, joined themselves, (by a covenant of the Lord,) into a church ́estate, in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all his ways, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them. And that it cost them much pains, trouble, sorrow, affliction, and persecution, and expense of their estates, etc., this ensuing history will declare.

These people became two distinct bodies or churches, in regard of distance of place, and did congregate severally, for they were of several towns and villages, some in Nottinghamshire, some in Lancashire,‡ and some of Yorkshire, where they bordered nearest together. In the one of these churches, besides others of note, was Mr. John Smith, a man of able gifts, and a good preacher, who afterwards was chosen their pastor. But these afterwards falling into some errors in the low

* The Reformed Churches shapen much nearer the primitive pattern than England; for they cashiered the bishops, with their court canons and ceremonies at the first, and left them amongst the Popish trash to which they appertain. Morton's Note.

† See pages 9 and 10.

Prince has it Lincolnshire, which is probably correct.

countries, there for the most part buried themselves and their names.*

But in this other church, which must be the subject of our discourse, besides other worthy men, was Mr. Richard Clifton, a grave and reverend preacher, who by his pains and diligence had done much good, and under God had been a means of the conversion of many; and also that famous and worthy man, Mr. John Robinson, who afterwards was their pastor for many years, until the Lord took him away by death; and also Mr. William Brewster, a reverend man, who afterwards was chosen an elder of the church, and lived with them until old age and death.

But, after these things, they could not long continue in any peaceable manner, but were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as molehills to mountains in comparison to these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapped up in prisons, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were fain to fly and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood. Yet these, and many other sharper things which afterward be

* Rev. Joseph Hunter, F. S. A., a distinguished antiquarian, says, in regard to the precise locality, that after a diligent scrutiny, he finds no place that answers this definition exactly except Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, and the principal mansion of that village, the house which had been for centuries a palace of the Archbishop of York, but which was in those days held under one of the many leases of Episcopal lands, granted by Archbishop Sandys. No spot could better answer to Bradford's description than this. And that no hesitation may remain on this point, we find a Brewster assessed to a subsidy, granted to Queen Elizabeth on the township of Scrooby-cum-Rauskill, and that in 1608, when a fine was imposed upon William Brewster, by the commissioners for ecclesiastical causes, he is described as being of Scrooby. A collateral evidence is, that the village of Austerfield, the birthplace and residence of William Bradford, is within two or three miles of Scrooby; and Bradford we know became a convert from listening to the preaching of Clyfton, who was the leading pastor of this little congregation. The soul of this small, but ever famous confederacy, says a late writer, was William Brewster. We may add, that his excellent spirit and influence were alike exhibited in WILLIAM BRadford.

fel them, were no other than they looked for, and therefore were the better prepared to bear them by the assistance of God's grace and spirit. Yet seeing themselves thus molested and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the low countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men, as also how sundry from London and other parts of the land, that had been exiled and persecuted for the same cause, were gone thither, and lived at Amsterdam, and in other places of the land.

So after they had continued together about a year, and kept their meetings every Sabbath in one place or another, exercising the worship of God amongst themselves, notwithstanding all the diligence and malice of their adversaries, they seeing they could no longer continue in that condition, they resolved to get over into Holland, as they could, which was in the year 1607 and 1608; of which more in that which followeth.

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