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CHAPTER III.

OF THEIR SETTLING IN HOLLAND, AND THEIR MANNER
OF LIVING AND ENTERTAINMENT THERE.

III.

BEING now come into the Low Countries, they saw CHAP. many goodly and fortified cities, strongly walled, and guarded with troops of armed men. Also they heard 1608. a strange and uncouth language, and beheld the different manners and customs of the people, with their strange fashions and attires; all so far differing from that of their plain country villages, wherein they were bred and born and had so long lived, as it seemed they were come into a new world. But those were not the things they much looked on, or long took up their thoughts; for they had other work in hand, and another kind of war to wage and maintain. For though they saw fair and beautiful cities, flowing with abundance of all sorts of wealth and riches, yet it was not long before they saw the grim and griseled' face of poverty coming on them like an armed man, with whom they must buckle and encounter, and from whom they could not fly. But they were armed with faith and patience against him and all his encounters;

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THE PILGRIMS IN AMSTERDAM.

CHAP. and though they were sometimes foiled, yet by God's

III.

assistance they prevailed and got the victory.

1608. Now when Mr. Robinson, Mr. Brewster, and other principal members were come over, (for they were of the last, and stayed to help the weakest over before them,) such things were thought on as were necessary for their settling and best ordering of the church affairs. And when they had lived at Amsterdam about a year, Mr. Robinson, their pastor, and some others of best discerning, seeing how Mr. John Smith and his company was already fallen into contention with the church that was there before them, and no means they could use would do any good to cure the same; and also that the flames of contention were like to break out in that ancient church itself, (as afterwards lamentably came to pass); which things they prudently foreseeing, thought it was best to remove before they were any way engaged with the same; though they well knew it would be much to the prejudice of their outward

'Neal, Hist. of N. England, i. 76, falls into an error when he speaks of "the flames of contention having broken out in Mr. Smith's church." Belknap, Amer. Biog. ii. 157, follows it when he says, "these people (Sunith and his congregation) fell into controversy, and were soon scattered;" and Francis Baylies, Memoir of Plymouth, i. 11, repeats it when he says, "some dissensions happening amongst them, (Smith's people) the church was dissolved." This error arises from their not being aware of, or not attending to, the fact of the existence of another congregation of Separatists at Amsterdam, which had been established many years before Smith settled there; who went over to Holland, as ap

pears from page 22, only a short time before Robinson. The contention was not among the members of Smith's congregation, but between his church and "the church that was there before them," "that ancient church," namely Johnson's, mentioned in the note on page 24. Baylie, in his Dissuasive, p. 16, Hornius, Hist. Eccles. p. 232, and Neal, Hist. Puritans, i. 437, err in saying that Smith set up his church at Leyden ; whereas it was to avoid him and his company that Robinson removed to that city. Cotton, in his Way of Cong. Churches, p. 7, says, "I understand by such as lived in those parts at that time, Smith lived at Amsterdam, and there died, and at Leyden in Holland he never came."

REMOVAL TO LEYDEN.

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III.

estate, both at present and, in likelihood, in the future; CHAP. as indeed it proved to be.

2

For these and some other reasons they removed to 1609. Leyden,' a fair and beautiful city, and of a sweet situation, but made more famous by the university wherewith it is adorned, in which of late it had been by so many learned men; but wanting that traffic by sea which Amsterdam enjoyed, it was not so beneficial for their outward means of living and estates. But being now here pitched, they fell to such trades and employments as they best could, valuing peace and their spiritual comfort above any other riches whatsoever; and at length they came to raise a competent and comfortable living, and with hard and continual labor. Being thus settled, after many difficulties, they continued many years in a comfortable condition, enjoying much sweet and delightful society and spiritual comfort together, in the ways of God, under the able ministry

3

1 "By several passages in Gov. Bradford's manuscript it seems as if they began to remove to Leyden at the end of 1608." Prince, p. 120. The distance from Amsterdam to Leyden is about 38 miles.

The university of Leyden was established in 1575, the year after the memorable siege of that place. The Prince of Orange, wishing to reward the citizens for their constancy and valor, gave them the choice of two privileges either an exemption from taxes, or a university; they chose the latter. It has been at times one of the most celebrated in Europe; and from its reputation the city itself was called the Athens of the West, and the North Star of Holland. Among its distinguished professors and scholars were Arminius, Episcopius, Grotius, Lipsius, Junius, Vossius, Descartes, Scaliger, Salma

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INCREASE OF THE CHURCH.

CHAP. and prudent government of Mr. John Robinson and III. Mr. William Brewster, who was an assistant unto him 1609 in the place of an elder, unto which he was now called 1617. and chosen by the church; so as they grew in knowledge and other gifts and graces of the spirit of God; and lived together in peace, and love, and holiness. And many came unto them from divers parts of England, so as they grew a great congregation. And if at any time any differences did arise or offences broke out, (as it cannot be but that sometimes there will, even amongst the best of men), they were ever so met with and nipped in the head betimes, or otherwise so well composed, as still love, peace, and communion was continued, or else the church purged of those that were incurable and incorrigible, when, after much patience used, no other means would serve ; which seldom comes to pass.

Yea, such was the mutual love and reciprocal respect that this worthy man had to his flock, and his flock to him, that it might be said of them, as it was once said2 of that famous emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and the people of Rome, that it was hard to judge whether he delighted more in having such a people, or they in having

It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of Robinson's congregation; yet we may approximate to it. Gov. Bradford tells us, in his Dialogue, that in Johnson's church, "at Amsterdam, there were about three hundred communicants; and for the church of Leyden, they were sometimes not much fewer in number." Edward Winslow says, in his Brief Narrative, that "the difference of number was not great" between those who remained at Leyden and those who embarked for America. Now we know that

120 set sail from England in the Mayflower and Speedwell. Of these 101 arrived at Plymouth in the Mayflower in 1620; 36 came in the Fortune, in 1631; 60 in the Ann, in 1623; 35, with their families, in the Mayflower, in 1629; and 60 in 1630;-making in all more than 300, including the "families." We have the names of those who came in the first three ships; and also a list of the persons in the Colony in May, 1627.

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2 Golden Book, &c.- - Morton's Note.

JOHN ROBINSON'S CHARACTER.

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such a pastor. His love was great towards them, and chap. his care was always bent for their best good, both for soul and body. For, besides his singular abilities in 1609 divine things, wherein he excelled, he was able also to 1617. give direction in civil affairs,' and to foresee dangers and inconveniences; by which means he was very helpful to their outward estates; and so was every way as a common father unto them. And none did more offend him than those that were close and cleaving to themselves, and retired from the common good; as also such as would be stiff and rigid in matters of outward order, and inveigh against the evils of others, and yet be remiss in themselves, and not so careful to express a virtuous conversation. They, in like manner, had ever a reverent regard unto him, and had him in precious estimation, as his worth and wisdom did deserve; and although they esteemed him highly whilst he lived and labored amongst them, yet much more after his death,2 when they came to feel the want of his help, and saw, by woful experience, what a treasure they had lost, to the grief of their hearts and wounding of their souls; yea, such a loss as they saw could not

It has been the practice of the Independent or Congregational clergy, both in Old and New England, from the earliest times, to take an interest and part in public affairs. The prominent and efficient agency which they exercised in the infancy of our colonial settlements is well known; Cotton, Hooker, and Davenport shared at least an equal power with Winthrop, Haynes, and Eaton in moulding the civil polity of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The services of Increase Mather in obtaining the second charter of Massachusetts are recorded in her history; and the patriotic exertions

of Mayhew, Chauncy, and Cooper,
before and during the Revolution,
will never be forgotten. The Con-
gregational clergy were found, at
that time, almost to a man, on the
side of their country's independ-
ence; and they have ever been the
earnest and consistent advocates of
"liberty with order." See Hutch-
inson's Mass. i. 34, 419; Trum-
bull's Connecticut, i. 91, 99; Bacon's
and Kingsley's Hist. Discourses at
New Haven; Tudor's Life of Otis,
pp. 140-155.

2 Mr. Robinson died at Leyden,
March 1st, 1625. He was about
50 years old. Prince, p. 237.

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