INTR. The exordium being concluded, I shall come more

nearer my intended purpose, viz. 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.

OF THE FIRST BEGINNINGS OF THIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE.

I.

mis.

WHEN, by the travail and diligence of some godly CHAP and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land, so in the north Impriparts, 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 urged with apparitors and pursuivants and the Commission Courts, as truly their

1 Subscription to the book of common prayer, the rites and ceremonies, and all the thirty-nine articles. See Fuller, iii. 68; Prince, p. 99.

2 This was the celebrated Court of High Commission, so called because it claimed a larger jurisdiction and higher powers than the ordinary courts of the bishops; its jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom. It was provided for by the Act of Supremacy, passed in 1559, but did not go into full operation till 1584. It was an ecclesiastical court, consisting of forty-four

persons, twelve of whom were
bishops, many more privy counsel-
lors, and the rest clergymen or civi-
lians. Its spirit and mode of pro-
ceeding seem to have been derived
from the Spanish Inquisition. The
commissioners were empowered and
directed to inquire of all heret-
ical opinions, to punish all persons
absent from church, to visit and
reform all errors, heresies, and
schisms, to deprive all persons of
ecclesiastical livings who main-
tained any doctrine contrary to the
thirty-nine articles, to examine all

20

ORIGIN OF THE PILGRIMS.

CHAP. affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, I. they bare sundry years with much patience, until they

1603. April.

1

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 burthen 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, &c. 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 estab

2

suspected persons on their oaths,
and to punish the refractory by ex-
communication, fine, or imprison-
ment, according to their discretion.
They had full authority to com-
mand all sheriffs, justices, and other
officers to apprehend and bring be-
fore them all persons that they
should see fit. Pursuivants or mes-
sengers were sent to the houses of
suspected persons with a citation
for them to appear before the com-
missioners, when they were re-
quired to answer upon oath to a
series of interrogatories, which as
Lord Burleigh said, were 66 so curi-
ously penned, so full of branches
and circumstances, as he thought
the inquisitors of Spain used not so
many questions to trap their preys."
See Strype's Annals, iii. 180;

Neal's Puritans, i. 84, 274, 285;
Hallam, i. 271.

1 I have inserted the words these and that from Prince, who quotes this passage from Bradford's MS. See his Annals, p. 100.

2 At the famous Conference at Hampton Court, held Jan. 14, 1604, James declared, "I will none of that liberty as to ceremonies; I will have one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony. -I shall make them [the Puritans] conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse. If any would not be quiet, and show his obedience, he were worthy to be hanged." In his speech at the opening of his first parliament, March 19, 1604, he "professed that the sect of Puri

THEY FORM A SEPARATE CHURCH.

I.

21

lished the reformed religion, according to the reformed CHAP. religion of King Edward the Sixth, retaining or keeping still the spiritual state of the bishops, &c. after the old manner, much varying and differing from the Reformed Churches of Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, Emden, Geneva, &c., whose Reformation is cut or shapen much nearer the first churches, as it was used in the Apostles' times.” 1

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 1602. 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 endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them.2

all respects, as in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, without hope of toleration of any other; and on the 6th of July he issued another proclamation in which he ordered the Puritan ministers either to conform before the last of November, or dispose of He themselves and families some other way; as being men unfit, for their obstinacy and contempt, to occupy such places. The consequence of this was, that before November of the next year more than three hundred ministers were ejected, silenced, or suspended, some of whom were imprisoned, and others driven into exile. Prince, pp. 107, 108, 110; Neal's Puritans, i. 432.

tans or Novelists was not to be suf-
fered in any well governed common-
wealth." In a private letter writ-
ten about the same time, he said,
"I had rather live like a hermit in
the forest, than be king over such a
people as the pack of Puritans that
overrules the lower house."
had previously written to his son in
the Basilicon Doron, "Take heed,
my son, to such Puritans, very pests
in the church and commonwealth.
I protest before the great God, that
ye shall never find with any High-
land or Border thieves greater in-
gratitude and more lies and vile
perjuries than with these fanatic
spirits."

Barlow's Sum and Substance, pp. 71, 83, 92; Calderwood, Hist. Ch. Scotland, p. 478; Hallam, i. 419.

In conformity with these views, on the 5th of March, 1604, he issued a proclamation, that the same religion, with common prayer, and episcopal jurisdiction, shall fully and only be publicly exercised, in

22

I.

JOHN ROBINSON'S CHURCH.

CHAP. And that it cost them much pains, trouble, sorrow, affliction, and persecution, and expense of their estates, &c. this ensuing history will declare.1

1606.

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 Lincolnshire, and some of Yorkshire, where they bordered nearest together. In the one of these churches, besides others of note, was Mr. John Smith,3 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 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

ford's History takes no notice of
the year of this federal incorpora-
tion; but Mr. Secretary Morton, in
his Memorial, places it in 1602.
And I suppose he had the account
either from some other writings of
Gov. Bradford, the Journals of Gov.
Winslow, or from oral conference
with them, or other of the first
planters; with some of whom
he was contemporary, and from
whence, he tells us, he received
his intelligence.' Annals, p. 100.
1 "These seem to be some of the
first in England that were brave
enough to improve the liberty
wherewith the divine author of our
religion has made us free, and
observe his institutions as their only
rule in church order, discipline, and
worship." Prince, p. 100.

2 I have substituted Lincolnshire for Lancashire, on the authority of Prince. This is most likely to be

the correct reading, as Lincolnshire borders both on Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, whilst Lancashire does not. Besides, Prince was remarkable for his accuracy, and is less likely to have made a mistake in deciphering and copying a word than Morton. He tells us, "In the passages relating to the Plymouth planters, I chiefly use Gov. Bradford's manuscript History of that Church and Colony, in folio; who was with them from their beginning to the end of his Narrative, which is now before me, and was never published." Annals, p. 99.

3 Some account of Smith, Clifton, and Robinson, is contained in Gov. Bradford's Dialogue, in a subsequent part of this volume; where I will also be found a more extended memoir of Elder Brewster, also written by Gov. Bradford.