104

VIII.

Nov.

THE PILGRIMS AT CAPE COD.

CHAP. God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all perils 1620. and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. And no marvel if they were thus joyful, seeing wise Seneca was so affected with sailing a few miles on the coast of his own Italy, as he affirms he had rather remain twenty years in his way by land, than pass by sea to any place in a short time; so tedious and dreadful was the same to him.1

But here I cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half amazed at these poor people's condition; and so I think will the reader too, when he well considers the same. For having passed through many troubles, both before and upon the voyage, as aforesaid, they had now no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain and refresh them, no houses, much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour. It is

escaped from the perils of the deep,
approaching the shore precisely
where the broad sweep of this most
remarkable headland presents al-
most the only point at which for
hundreds of miles she could with
any ease have made a harbour, and
this perhaps the very best on the
seaboard, I feel my spirit raised
above the sphere of mere natural
agencies. I see the mountains of
New England rising from their
rocky thrones. They rush forward
into the ocean, settling down as
they advance; and there they range
themselves a mighty bulwark around
the heaven-directed vessel. Yes,
the everlasting God himself stretches
out the arm of his mercy and his
power in substantial manifestation,
and gathers the meek company of
his worshippers as in the hollow
of his hand." Edward Everett's
Address at the Cape Cod Centennial

2

Celebration at Barnstable, Sept. 3, 1839, p. 45.

1 Seneca says, in his 53d Epistle, that he set out to sail only from Parthenope (Naples) to Puteoli, (Pozzuoli,) and to get thither the sooner, launched out into the deep in a direct course to Nesis, (Nisida,) without coasting along the shore. This beautiful letter, which is well worth reading, may be found in Thomas Morrell's translation of the Epistles, i. 184, (London, 1786, 2 vols. 4to.)

2 "The nearest plantation to them is a French one at Port Royal, who have another at Canada; and the only English ones are at Virginia, Bermudas, and Newfoundland; the nearest of these about five hundred miles off, and every one incapable of helping them." Prince, p. 180.

THE PILGRIMS AT CAPE COD.

105

VIII.

Nov.

recorded in Scripture as a mercy to the Apostle and CHAP. his shipwrecked company, that "the barbarians showed them no small kindness" in refreshing them. But 1620. these salvage barbarians, when they met with them, Acts (as after will appear,) were readier to fill their sides xxviii. 2. full of arrows, than otherwise. And for the season, it was winter; and they that know the winters of that country, know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to violent storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search out unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? and what multitudes there might be of them they knew not. Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes. For which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to the heavens) they could have little solace or content in respect of any outward objects. For summer being done, all things stand for them to look

2

1 Grahame says, i. 191, that "the intense severity of their first winter in America painfully convinced the settlers that a more unfavorable season of the year could not have been selected for the plantation of their colony." But it was not the season which they selected. They sailed from England at a very proper and favorable time, in the beginning of August, and might reasonably expect to arrive on the American coast by the middle of September, in ample season to build their houses and provide for the winter. But being obliged to put back twice, and then meeting with head winds, and having a boisterous passage of sixty-four days, they lost two months, and arrived just as the winter set in. The

winter was more severe than they
had been accustomed to, but it was
unusually mild for this country and
climate. Dudley says, in his Let-
ter to the Countess of Lincoln,
written in 1631, that the Plymouth
colonists "". were favored with a
calm winter, such as was never
seen here since." See Mass. Hist.
Coll. viii. 37. Wood, too, who
was here in 1633, and published
his New England's Prospect in
1634, says, p. 5, (ed. 1764.) that
"the year of New Plymouth men's
arrival was no winter in com-
parison."

2 In the MS. the word is com-
pany, manifestly an error of the
pen. Morton, copying the same
passage into his Memorial, p. 35,
reads it country, as in the text.

106

THE PILGRIMS AT CAPE COD.

CHAP. upon with a weather-beaten face; and the whole VIII. country being full of woods and thickets, represented 1620. a wild and salvage hue. If they looked behind them,

Nov.

there was the mighty ocean which they had passed,
and was now as a main bar and gulf to separate them
from all the civil parts of the world. If it be said
they had a ship to succour them, it is true; but what
heard they daily from the master and company but
that with speed they should look out a place with
their shallop, where they would be at some near dis-
tance; for the season was such as he would not stir
from thence until a safe harbour was discovered by
them, where they would be and he might go without
danger; and that victuals consumed apace, but he
must and would keep sufficient for himself and com-
pany
for their return. Yea, it was muttered by some,
that if they got not a place in time, they would turn
them and their goods on shore, and leave them. Let
it be also considered what weak hopes of supply and
succour they left behind them, that might bear up their
minds in this sad condition and trials they were under,
and they could not but be very small. It is true, in-
deed, the affections and love of their brethren at Ley-
den were cordial and entire; but they had little power
to help them, or themselves; and how the case stood
between them and the merchants at their coming
away, hath already been declared. What could now
sustain them but the spirit of God and his grace? 1

1

"Divers attempts had been made to settle this rough and northern country; first by the French, who would fain account it a part of Canada; and then by the English; and both from mere secular views. But such a train of crosses accom

panied the designs of both these nations, that they seem to give it over as not worth the planting: till a pious people of England, not allowed to worship their Maker according to his institutions only, without the mixture of human cere

THE PILGRIMS AT CAPE COD.

107

VIII.

Nov.

xxvi.

May not and ought not the children of these fathers CHAP. rightly say, "Our fathers were Englishmen, which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish 1620. in this wilderness. But they cried unto the Lord, Deut and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity." And let them therefore praise the Lord because he is good, and his mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been thus redeemed of the Lord show how he hath delivered them from the

hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness, out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness and his wonderful works before the children of men.1

Of the troubles that befell them after their arrival,

monies, are spirited to attempt the settlement, that they might enjoy a worship purely scriptural, and leave the same to their posterity." Prince, p. 98.

"Whether Britain would have had any colonies in America, if religion had not been the grand inducement, is doubtful. One hundred and twenty years had passed, from the discovery of the northern continent by the Cabots, without any successful attempt. After repeated attempts had failed, it seems less probable that any should undertake in such an affair, than it would have been if no attempt had been made." Ilutchinson's Mass. i. 3.

1 Milton, in his treatise on Reformation in England, written in 1641, thus alludes to the persecution and exile of our New England fathers. "What numbers of faithful and freeborn Englishmen and good Christians, have been constrained to forsake their dearest home, their friends and kindred, whom nothing

but the wide ocean, and the savage
deserts of America, could hide and
shelter from the fury of the bishops.
O if we could but see the shape of
our dear mother England, as poets
are wont to give a personal form to
what they please, how would she
appear, think ye, but in a mourning
weed, with ashes upon her head,
and tears abundantly flowing from
her eyes, to behold so many of her
children exposed at once, and thrust
from things of dearest necessity,
because their conscience could not
assent to things which the bishops
thought indifferent? Let the astrol-
oger be dismayed at the portentous
blaze of comets, and impressions
in the air, as foretelling troubles
and changes to states; I shall be-
lieve there cannot be a more ill-
boding sign to a nation, (God turn
the omen from us!) then when the
inhabitants, to avoid insufferable
grievances at home, are enforced
by heaps to forsake their native
country." Prose Works, i. 37,
(Symmons's ed.)

5,7.

Psalm

cvii. 1, 2,

4, 5, 8.7

108

Νον.

THE MAYFLOWER AT CAPE COD.

CHAP. with sundry other particulars concerning their transVIII. actings with the merchants adventurers, and many 1620. other passages not so pertinent to this present discourse, I shall refer the reader to New England's Memorial, and unto Mr. Bradford's book, where they are at large penned to his plentiful satisfaction."