[ The 
 
 IkST CHURCH 
 IN PLYMOUTH 
 
 J.-Si;j;^SSSvvS^';^5SN 
 
 1606 1 901 
 
 JOHN CUCKSON 
 
 it.:^i^B^ 
 
PRINCETON, N. J. ^f^ 
 
 Purchased by the 
 Mrs. Robert Lenox Kennedy Church History Fund. 
 
 ivisum 2. A... J.,Q.^ I 
 
 Di 
 
 Section 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY of t/ie FIRST 
 CHURCH IN FLYMOUTH, from 
 1606 to 1901,^^ John Cvckson, Minister. 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 Geo. H. Ellis Co., 272 Congress Street 
 
 1902 
 
Copyright 
 
 ; V John C uckson 
 
 1902 
 
 GBO. H. KLLIS CO., PRINTERS, 272 CONGRBSS ST., BOSTOM 
 
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. 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTBR FAGB 
 
 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 4+ 
 
 VII. Stagnation and Revival 57 
 
 VIII. Creed, or No Creed ? 70 
 
 TX. Back to the Past 82 
 
 X. Liberty and Progress 103 
 
Preface, 
 
 THE 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 
 
 [vin 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 volumes. The authorities which have been con- 
 sulted are, Bradford's History of Plymouth Planta- 
 tion j6o6 to 1646^ Youngs 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. 
 
 [ V"' ] 
 
Introduction. 
 
 THE 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 
 thmkmg, 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 
 
 [ix] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 outer line of freedom, beyond which was nothmg 
 but chaos. Others, like the Presbyterians, Brown- 
 ists Anabaptists, Independents, felt and acted more 
 courageously, and moved, as if they were marchmg 
 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 ot 
 England, looked upon the Reformation m 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 th?m, 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 tor 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 divmeness ot their 
 
1 iitrodnction 
 
 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 
 
 [xi] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 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. 
 
 [xH] 
 
1 ntroduction 
 
 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 
 
 [xiii] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 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] 
 
I ntroductlon 
 
 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, 
 
 [XV] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 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. 
 
 THE 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 ofYork, 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 
 
•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 
 
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 ?-i 644), 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- 
 
 [3] 
 
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 
 
 of one Richard Clyfton, some- 
 Richard Clyfton time Vicar of Marnham in Not- 
 1606. 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] 
 
M e r e s y 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 
 bv 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, afllicted, 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." 
 
 C7] 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Sojourn in Holland. 
 
 THE capital of the Netherlands afforded 
 safe shelter for persecuted fugitives, who 
 were sober, thrifty, peaceable and law-abid- 
 ing. The Scrooby contingent did not, therefore, 
 find themselves strangers in a strange land. Two 
 Separatist communities from England 
 Amsterdam 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 
 
 would be better to retire from the scene of so much 
 ungodly strite, and to seek a home elsewhere, more 
 favorable to their religious development. On the 
 1 2th of February 1609, they obtained permission 
 from the authorities of Leyden to settle there, and 
 on the ist of May they removed thither. Amster- 
 dam was the centre of bustling commerce, while 
 Leyden, though possessing great manufact- 
 Leyden uring industries, especially, the spinning 
 1600. and weaving of cloth, was above all else 
 academic. Its famous university opened in 
 1575, attracted students from foreign lands, and 
 continued, through the fame of such professors as 
 Lipsius,Vossius, Heinsius, Gronovius, Hemsterhuis, 
 Ruhuken, Valckenaer, Scaliger, Descartes, and Boer- 
 haave, to be an intellectual power in Europe. Here, 
 the problems of learning, of philosophy, of theol- 
 ogy, and biblical exegesis, were discussed with abso- 
 lute freedom, and before an audience sufficiently 
 large and interested, to produce at times unusual 
 excitement. 
 
 When the Pilgrims arrived in Holland, they were 
 without a pastor. Clyfton felt the infirmities of ad- 
 vancing years a sufficient obstacle to emigration. 
 
 Still, John Robinson and William 
 'John Robinson Brewster, who were the last of the 
 1600. original flock to reach Amsterdam, 
 
 remained with them. The former 
 was elected, and publicly ordained to be their min- 
 ister, the latter was chosen as their elder. The 
 society numbered about one hundred members, and 
 
 [9] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 steadily increased to three hundred. There were 
 three deacons, two of whom, were John Carver and 
 Samuel Fuller. After a while, they purchased a 
 large dwelling, which in 1611 was used as pastor's 
 residence and meeting-house. It stood under the 
 shadow of the belfry tower of St. Peter's Church, 
 and in the rear of it, twenty-one cottages were 
 erected for poor emigrants. 
 
 The Pilgrims commended themselves by their 
 devoutness and high character to the citizens of 
 Levden, who showed them great consideration, and 
 would have emphasized this respect still more, but 
 for the fear of offending England. The magistrates 
 of the city were wont to contrast their peaceable 
 demeanour with the strifes and quarrels of refugees 
 from other nations. " These English " said they, 
 " have lived among us now these twelve years, and 
 yet we never had any suit or accusation come 
 against any of them." They were of the type of 
 citizens adding strength and quality to any com- 
 munity. Their pastor, was first and last a preacher 
 and teacher, and concerned himself with his proper 
 function, not turning aside to alien issues however 
 tempting, but laboring incessantly to build up the 
 lives of his flock, on the truths and principles of 
 the Gospel, and in all the ways of pure and godly 
 living. He was not contentious, except where the 
 vital interests of sound doctrine were concerned, 
 and when error w^as calculated to sap the foundation 
 of public morals. Now, and then, as in the con- 
 troversy on i\.rminianism he entered into scholastic 
 
 [10] 
 
Ihe Sojourn in Holland 
 
 disputes. The old controversy between Arniinius 
 and Gomarus had been revived in Leyden, under 
 new leaders. The two professors, Polyander and 
 Episcopius, were in hot dispute on the nature of 
 God's power and purpose in creation, and in 
 human history. Polyander was the champion of 
 Calvinism, which at the close of the i6th century 
 was dominant in Holland; and Episcopius, the 
 successor of Arminius in the chair of theology at 
 Leyden, was the defender of the anti-Calvinistic 
 school of opinion, which not only created the Re- 
 monstrant Church in Holland, but pervaded much 
 of the neo-Protestantism of England. 
 
 The Calvinistic position on this question is set 
 forth in Calvin's Instituiio Christian<£ Religionis, 
 written in early manhood, but subject to constant 
 revision in later life, and may be briefly stated. 
 
 1. Man was made in the image of God. Adam 
 fell from this state, and involved the race in his 
 fall. 
 
 2. Redemption from this state is by the incarna- 
 tion of God in Jesus Christ. But until a man is 
 united to Christ, so as to partake of him, there is no 
 salvation. Through faith, and by the secret and 
 special operation of the Holy Spirit, the believer 
 after repentance, and newness of life, receives as- 
 surance and justification. His sins are forgiven, he 
 is accepted of God. This assurance rests upon the 
 divine choice of man to salvation, and this falls back 
 on God's eternal sovereign purpose whereby he has 
 predestined some to eternal life, while the rest of 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 mankind are predestined to condemnation and eter- 
 nal death. 
 
 3. The external aids to union with Christ, are the 
 church and its ordinances, especially the sacrament. 
 The Church universal is the multitude gathered from 
 all nations, who agree in one common faith ; and 
 wherever the word of God is sincerely preached, 
 and the sacraments are duly administered, accord- 
 ing to Christ's institute, there beyond doubt is a 
 church of the living God. 
 
 The Arminian contention as stated by Simon 
 Episcopius is as follows : — 
 
 1. The decree of God is, when it concerns his 
 own actions absolute ; but when it concerns man's, 
 conditional, i. e., the decree relative to the Saviour 
 to be appointed, and the salvation to be provided is 
 absolute, but the decree relative to the persons 
 saved or condemned is made to depend on the 
 acts — belief and repentance in the one case, unbe- 
 lief and impenitence in the other — of the persons 
 themselves. 
 
 2. The Providence or orovernment of God while 
 sovereign is exercised in harmony with the nature 
 of the creatures governed, i. e., the sovereignity of 
 God is so exercised as to be compatible with the 
 freedom of man. 
 
 3. Man is by original nature, through the assist- 
 ance of divine grace, free, able to will and perform 
 the right ; but is in his fallen state, of and by him- 
 self, unable to do so ; needs to be regenerated in all 
 his powers before he can do what is good and pleas- 
 ing to God. 
 
 [12] 
 
The Sojourn in Holland 
 
 4. Divine grace originates, maintains and perfects 
 all the good in man, so much so that he cannot, 
 though regenerate, conceive, or will, or do any good 
 thing without it. 
 
 5. The saints possess by the grace of the Holy 
 Spirit, sufficient strength to persevere to the end in 
 spite of sin and flesh, but may so decline from 
 sound doctrine as to cause divine grace to be inef- 
 fectual. 
 
 6. Every believer may be certain or assured of 
 his own salvation. 
 
 7. It is possible for a regenerate man to live 
 without sin.* 
 
 This controversy, which in a variety of ways re- 
 peats itself in the later history of the Pilgrims, 
 ended, as such debates usually end, with both sides 
 claiming the victory. The exiles were proud of 
 their champion, and were satisfied that he had come 
 out of the conflict triumphantlv, and had " non- 
 plussed " his opponent ; and others, who were not 
 biassed as to the issue, freely admitted that Robin- 
 son had borne himself with courage, and courtesy, 
 and skill, and learning, against one of the ablest dis- 
 putants of the age. Indeed, he was in every 
 respect a remarkable man, scholarly yet modest; 
 liberal, yet free from the extravagant license of his 
 age ; religiously earnest and strenuous, yet destitute 
 of anything like narrowness and bigotry; conserva- 
 tive as to the faith and principles of the New 
 Testament, though averse to creeds and dogmas 
 
 * Bricannica Encyclopaedia Article Arminius Vol II. 
 ['3] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 having no sure foundation in the Gospels, and 
 properly belonging to later ages ; clinging to the 
 truth of the past, as it was held in his day, the com- 
 monly accepted Augustinian theology with Calvin- 
 istic emendations, but eager to keep himself, and 
 the church over which he presided, open to the 
 new light, which ever breaks forth from the word 
 of God. His growth was not stunted, but pro- 
 gressive ; and though he wrote many books and 
 pamphlets, more or less critical, nothing that he 
 ever wrote so completely expressed his mind and 
 character, and revealed his true attitude towards the 
 fundamental principles of the Christian religion, as 
 the noble address to the departing Pilgrims, in 
 which he warned them against stagnation of thought, 
 and finality of belief, and the baneful tendency to 
 build tabernacles on some mountain of theological 
 speculation — one for Luther, one for Calvin, and 
 one for Arminius. His mind was of the type 
 which resists foreclosure, lies open to the light, and 
 adjusts itself to whatever truth of nature or of life 
 presents satisfactory credentials ; which is always 
 broad enough, to do justice to opinions, it cannot 
 wholly share. Not owning allegiance to any stereo- 
 typed creed, he refused to set the seal of his author- 
 ity upon any compendium of divinity, or final 
 theological statement, however small, for the use 
 of his followers ; and so the Scrooby covenant, 
 simple, positive, practical, undogmatic, remained, in 
 Holland, and later in New England, the only com- 
 pass by which the fathers guided themselves through 
 
 [14] 
 
The S o j o u r n in Holland 
 
 the turbid waters of religious controversy, by which 
 they were so frequently surrounded. It was the 
 all-sufficient rule of faith and practice at Scrooby, 
 at Amsterdam, at Leyden, at Plymouth, and is to 
 this day, at the end of three centuries, an adequate 
 bond of Christian fellowship. 
 
 It is impossible to do justice to the powerful in- 
 fluence of John Robinson upon the Pilgrims. 
 He swayed the minds of men like Brewster, 
 Bradford, Carver and Winslow, who in many re- 
 spects were his equals, as with magic. He com- 
 manded their confidence and respect, while he was 
 near them, and when the ocean divided him from 
 them, they kept his name and character in unfad- 
 ing remembrance. The spirit and polity of the 
 church in Plymouth owed its continued existence to 
 him, and preserved its integrity during the first try- 
 ing years of American exile, through his sagacious 
 counsel, and against the subtle blandishments of the 
 Adventurers in London, and the dislike and sus- 
 picion of the unmitred prelates of Salem. The 
 Church was Separatist in Leyden, and remained 
 Separatist and independent through its long struggle 
 in the wilderness of New England. It stood alone, 
 and held its own, maintaining friendly relations with 
 kindred communities, but always jealously guard- 
 ing its freedom, in all matters pertaining to the 
 liberty of the individual conscience, and the abso- 
 lute right of self-government. 
 
 And, in the annals of that time, when civil and 
 religious liberty was only beginning to be under- 
 
 ['5] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 stood, the temper and attitude of this Httle com- 
 munity and its pastor were remarkable. It is true 
 that more than a hundred years before the Pilgrims 
 sailed from Holland, Sir Thomas More had written 
 his Utopia, or ideal of a State, in which he had de- 
 clared that Utopus the founder, had made a law, 
 that every man might be of whatever religion he 
 pleased, and might endeavour to draw others to it, 
 by force of argument, and by amicable and modest 
 ways ; but those who used reproaches or violence 
 in their attempts were to be condemned to banish- 
 ment. Nevertheless, this view of religious tolera- 
 tion was looked upon in that age, as it is in many 
 quarters even now, as altogether visionary and im- 
 practicable, and he who taught it, one of the seren- 
 est and most beautiful souls in history, was only 
 like a voice crying in the wilderness. Not until 
 the years 1644 and 1647 when John Milton issued 
 his " Areopagitica, or speech for the liberty of un- 
 licensed printing," and Jeremy Taylor published 
 his " Liberty of Prophesying," more than twenty 
 years after the Mayflower started on her eventful 
 voyage, was there any attempt in England to set 
 forth the true principles of civil and religious lib- 
 erty. Yet, the exiles at Leyden were illustrating 
 ideas and principles, learned in the hard school of 
 persecution and suffering, to which later generations 
 have added little, and from which they have had lit- 
 tle to take away. It was enough for them, that they 
 recognized the sufficiency of Scripture, the validity 
 of reason and conscience under divine control, the 
 
 [16] 
 
The Sojourn in Holland 
 
 spiritual authority of Jesus Christ, the plain teach- 
 ing of the Gospels, and the necessity to salvation, 
 ot personal godliness. Practical loyalty to their 
 great spiritual Head, was what concerned them 
 most, and made them such rigid disciplinarians, in 
 matters of conduct and character. Vice was the 
 worst heresy with which they had to deal. They 
 were less careful, all through their history, that 
 their followers should agree or disagree with their 
 views, than that they should walk justly and cir- 
 cumspectly, and live pure and upright lives. John 
 Calvin set himself to purify the State, and estab- 
 lish the government of Geneva, upon a Christian 
 basis, stamping out vice and crime, and ruling 
 shameless iniquity with a rod of iron. And the 
 Pilgrim Fathers thoroughly believed in the feasi- 
 bility of a Christian Republic, in which pure living 
 was, in the Apostolic sense, equivalent to sound 
 doctrine, and personal righteousness the best proof 
 of salvation. 
 
 This accounts, in large measure, for the compara- 
 tive absence among them, of pitiful wrangling about 
 words, which characterized so many of their con- 
 temporaries, and the concentration of their energy 
 and enthusiasm upon the growth of Christian morals 
 and manners, in their community. Sinners of the 
 obdurate type always gave them the greatest trouble, 
 and neither wealth, social status, nor any other con- 
 sideration, could save such from their stern con- 
 demnation. All who wished to enter their society, 
 or stay there, must not by their conduct or bearing, 
 
 [•7] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 bring reproach upon the community. They were 
 resolved, that the church should set the style of 
 living for. the world, and not the world for the 
 church. "They came as near the primitive pattern 
 of the first churches, as any other churches of these 
 latter times, hath done, according to their rank and 
 quality."* 
 
 * Bradford, First Church Records. 
 
 [i8] 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Across the Atlantic. 
 
 THE English element in the Leyden Con- 
 gregation, never seemed to outgrow the 
 feeling, that though in the enjoyment of 
 larger liberty, and security from cruel oppression, 
 they were sojourners in a strange land. They 
 hoped, almost against hope, that some change 
 for the better would take place, either dynastic or 
 ecclesiastical, which would enable them to return to 
 their homes in England. But, the change never 
 came, and as early as 1617, they contemplated 
 emigration to America. Leyden did not provide 
 as manv opportunities for such work as they could 
 do, as Amsterdam. Some were skilled mechanics, 
 others quickly picked up handicrafts of one sort or 
 another, but quite a number were unskilled, and 
 at their wit's end to know how to earn a hving. 
 The old world was evervwhere, becoming too 
 narrow and contracted for its teeming populations, 
 and a refuge was needed from oppression and star- 
 vation. And, as the Pilgrims brooded over their 
 hardships, and daily wrestled with the hard problem 
 of existence, the vision of life in some distant 
 colony under the British Crown, was not without 
 its fascinations. They were strong, thrifty, daring, 
 and, if only means of transportation could be found, 
 the goodness of God and their own enterprise 
 might be trusted to do the rest. Tidings had 
 
 [19] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 reached them, of the fitting out of commercial ex- 
 peditions from England, to her various colonies, 
 and their only hope seemed to lie, in being able to 
 join one of these. They, therefore, sent John 
 Carver and Robert Cushman to London, to nego- 
 tiate a scheme, which had been carefully prepared, 
 by which they might be transported to America. 
 London was the centre of commercial enterprise, 
 and adventurous companies were investing their 
 wealth in opening up new fields of business, and 
 laying the foundations of that commercial suprem- 
 acy which was to put the world under trib- 
 ute. They took with them a document, which 
 was evidence of their loyalty and good faith, signed 
 by John Robinson and William Brewster, setting 
 forth in seven articles, the conditions to which they 
 would pledge themselves, in starting out on the 
 projected enterprise. Their purpose, at least in its 
 inception was not purely religious. They had 
 struggled with hopeless poverty long enough, and 
 longed to improve their material condition, as the 
 preliminary to higher and nobler things. They 
 wanted to earn an honest competency for them- 
 selves and their children. Carver, and Brewster, 
 soon found that in London they had to deal witl 
 men of the world, accustomed to drive hard bar- 
 gains, into which heroic and benevolent motives 
 did not enter. The Virginia Company, and other 
 combinations, existed only for trade^^and commerce, 
 under charters of the Privy Council. They were 
 composed of Merchant Adventurers, and as the 
 
 [20] 
 
Across the Atlantic 
 
 loan which the Pilgrims required tor seven years, 
 and were prepared to negotiate, was subject to grave 
 risks, and depended upon the industry and thrift 
 of the borrowers, it was accompanied with hard 
 conditions. Necessity, however, knows no choice. 
 The bargain was completed. 
 
 On the return of the emissaries, the members 
 of the church at Leyden were invited to volunteer 
 for the expedition, with the understanding, that if a 
 majority agreed to go to America, their pastor would 
 accompany them, but, otherwise, Brewster was to 
 lead them to the Promised Land. To Robinson's 
 regret, the majority did not approve of the expedi- 
 tion. Their hearts failed them, and it was left to a 
 minority of the community, to win an exalted and 
 enviable place in history. 
 
 The chosen company quickly set about making 
 urgent plans for their departure. Some were in 
 London, negotiating for a vessel and cargo, and all 
 necessary equipments for the voyage. Others were 
 busy at Leyden, securing another vessel to take 
 them to England, and making such domestic ar- 
 rangements as the occasion required. When every- 
 thing was ready, the church set apart July 21st 1620, 
 as a day of humiliation and prayer, and assembled in 
 their meeting-house. John Robinson preached to 
 them from the text. Then I proclaimed a fast there^ 
 at the river Ahava^ that we might humble ourselves 
 before God^ to seek of him a straight way for us^ and 
 for our little ones^ and for all our substance. Ezra 
 Fill. 21. 
 
 [21] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 He also delivered an address, and among other 
 wholesome instructions and exhortations, Winslow 
 tells us, " he used these expressions, or to the same 
 purpose : 
 
 " We are now ere long to part asunder and the 
 Lord knoweth whether ever he should live to see 
 our faces again. But whether the Lord had ap- 
 pointed it or not, he charged us before God and his 
 blessed angels, to follow him no further than he fol- 
 lowed Christ ; and if God should reveal anything to 
 us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to 
 receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his 
 ministry; for he was very confident the Lord had 
 more truth and light yet to break forth out of his 
 holy word. He took occasion also miserably to be- 
 wail the state and condition of the Reformed 
 Churches, who were come to a period in religion, 
 and would go no further than the instruments of 
 their Reformation. As, for example, the Luther- 
 ans, they could not be drawn to go beyond what 
 Luther saw ; for whatever part of God's will he had 
 further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will 
 rather die than embrace it. And so also, saith he, 
 you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them ; 
 a misery much to be lamented : for though they 
 were precious shining lights in their times, yet God 
 had not revealed his whole will to them ; and were 
 they now living saith he, they would be as ready 
 and willing to embrace further light as that they had 
 received. Here also he put us in mind of our 
 church covenant, at least that part of it whereby we 
 
Across the Atlantic 
 
 promise and covenant with God, and one with 
 another, to receive whatever Hght or truth shall be 
 made known to us from his written word ; but 
 withal, exhorted us to take heed what we received 
 for truth, and well to examine it, and compare it, 
 and weigh it, with other Scriptures of truth, before 
 we received it. For, saith he, it is not possible the 
 Christian world should come so lately out of such 
 thick anti-christian darkness, and that full perfection 
 of knowledge should break forth at once." * 
 
 On the following day the emigrants went on 
 board the Speedwell^ a small vessel which was to 
 take them to England ; and set sail from Delft- 
 haven, parting sorrowfully with the fair city, which 
 had given them such hospitable shelter, and with 
 the dear friends from whom they were separating it 
 might be for life, and started on their way with a 
 prosperous wind, and a parting salute. " We gave 
 them " writes Winslow "a volley of small shot, and 
 three pieces of ordnance ; and so lifting up our 
 hands to each other, to the Lord our God, we de- 
 parted and found his presence with us." 
 
 The Speedwell soon reached Southampton, where 
 xki^ May flow erixom. London awaited her, with some of 
 their company, and a trans-atlantic cargo on board. 
 
 Negotiations and arrangements with the Advent- 
 urers dragged slowly, and delayed the expedition, 
 to the sore perplexity and regret of the Pilgrims. 
 In the midst of this delay William Brewster re- 
 ceived an official letter of farewell from John 
 
 * Hypocrisie Unmasked by Edward Winslow. 
 [^3l 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 Robinson to the departing company, full of wise 
 counsel and encouragement, as to their civil and 
 religious duties and obligations, and commending 
 them to the providence of God. 
 
 On the 15th of August 1620, the Mayflower 
 and Speedwell started on their voyage across the 
 Atlantic. Whether the latter ship was unsea- 
 worthy, or her master's courage was not equal to 
 the task, will never be known ; but the craft leaked, 
 put into Dartmouth and then into Plymouth for 
 repairs, and was finally abandoned and sold. After 
 the loss of a month of very precious time, the May- 
 flower, with Thomas Jones as captain, sailed alone 
 on the 1 6th of September. She carried 102 pas- 
 sengers, and was bound for the Virginia Colony. 
 At the outset, she was further delayed, by stress of 
 weather, but eventually the winds were favorable, 
 and she started out on her long and perilous voy- 
 age. These brave men and women 
 The Mayflower impelled by a grand ideal, which 
 1620. had hitherto led them from one 
 
 city of refuge to another, broke 
 away from earthly supports, and flung themselves 
 with absolute confidence, on the guidance and pro- 
 tection of God. They knew not what fate awaited 
 them, or on what shore they might be cast, but 
 carried in their breasts the hope of a better country, 
 in which they might be free, virtuous, and con- 
 tented. No ship ever bore a costlier freight. The 
 ocean never carried on its heaving, restless bosom a 
 charge so loaded with the higher destinies of man- 
 
 [24] 
 
Across the Atlantic 
 
 kind. Now in sunshine and then in cloud ; one 
 day scudding before a favouring breeze, and the 
 next labouring in the trough of the sea ; at this 
 moment, cowed with fear, at that, exultant with 
 hope ; the exiles trusted themselves to the change- 
 fill winds and the treacherous deep, nourishing in 
 their daring hearts, the unwritten charter of a gov- 
 ernment, founded upon law and liberty, and des- 
 tined, though they knew it not, to afford shelter 
 and protection to millions, who like themselves, 
 should seek refuge from tyranny and starvation. 
 
 A voyage of sixty-seven days, more than twice 
 the average length ofa passage at that time, brought 
 the Mayjiozucr to Cape Cod. Two days afterwards, 
 anchor was cast in the quiet 
 Cape Cod Novem- waters of Provincetown Har- 
 ber 20th 1620. hour, and with gratitude to 
 Almighty God for safe deliver- 
 ance from the perils of the sea, the Pilgrims, not 
 forgetting the past, and not despairing of the future, 
 turned their faces trustfully and bravely, to the 
 difficulties and dangers, which awaited them in the 
 unknown wilderness on shore. The night before 
 setting foot on American soil, they met in the ship's 
 cabin, to settle the preliminary problem of statesman- 
 ship, by signing a bond or agreement, to regulate 
 their government, and to hold 
 T:ne Compact them together in peace and 
 
 Novr 2 1 St 1620. good-will. On their own respon- 
 sibility, they had come together 
 years before as a separate church, undogmatic and 
 
 [25] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 self-governing, with officers and ordinances of their 
 own free choice ; and, now, they were to be welded 
 into a civil commonwealth equally free, authoritative, 
 democratic. The form of the Compact was as 
 follows — 
 
 " In y* name of God, Amen. We whose names 
 " are under-written, the loyall subjects of our dread 
 " Soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, 
 "of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, de- 
 " fender of the faith, etc., having undertaken for the 
 "glory of God, and advancement of the Christian 
 " faith, and honour of our King and country, a 
 " voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern 
 " parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly 
 "and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of 
 "another, covenant and combine ourselves together 
 " in a civil body politic, for our better ordering and 
 " preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; 
 " and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame 
 "such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, con- 
 " stitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall 
 " by thought most meet and convenient for the 
 " general good of the colony ; unto which we 
 "promise all due submission and obedience. In 
 " witness where of we have hereunder subscribed 
 "our names, at Cape Cod the ii* of November 
 " (" old style ") in the year of the reign of our sover- 
 "eign lord. King James, of England, France and 
 " Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty- 
 " fourth. Anno Domini 1620 
 
 [z6] 
 
Across the Atlantic 
 
 Mr. 
 
 John Carver 
 
 8 
 
 Mr 
 
 . William Mullins 
 
 5 
 
 << 
 
 William Bradford 
 
 2 
 
 << 
 
 William White 
 
 5 
 
 (< 
 
 Edward Winslow 
 
 5 
 
 ♦' 
 
 Richard Warren 
 
 I 
 
 ft 
 
 William Brewster 
 
 6 
 
 << 
 
 John Howland 
 
 
 <( 
 
 Isaac Allerton 
 
 6 
 
 (< 
 
 Stephen Hopkins 
 
 8 
 
 Cap 
 
 t. Myles Standish 
 
 2 
 
 << 
 
 Edward Tilly 
 
 4 
 
 Mr. 
 
 John Alden 
 
 I 
 
 <( 
 
 John Tilly 
 
 3 
 
 <( 
 
 Samuel Fuller 
 
 2 
 
 (< 
 
 Francis Cook 
 
 2 
 
 << 
 
 Christopher Martin 
 
 4 
 
 (( 
 
 Thomas Rogers 
 
 2 
 
 (( 
 
 John Ridgdale 
 
 2 
 
 < < 
 
 Thomas Tinker 
 
 3 
 
 (< 
 
 Edward Fuller 
 
 3 
 
 (( 
 
 Thomas Williams 
 
 
 *« 
 
 John Turner 
 
 3 
 
 (( 
 
 Gilbert Winslow 
 
 
 (( 
 
 Francis Eaton 
 
 3 
 
 (( 
 
 Edmund Margeson 
 
 
 (< 
 
 James Chilton 
 
 3 
 
 <( 
 
 Peter Brown 
 
 
 (( 
 
 John Crackston 
 
 2 
 
 << 
 
 Richard Britteridge 
 
 
 (( 
 
 John Billington 
 
 4 
 
 <( 
 
 George Soule 
 
 
 (( 
 
 Moses Fletcher 
 
 I 
 
 << 
 
 Richard Clarke 
 
 
 (( 
 
 John Godman 
 
 I 
 
 <( 
 
 Richard Gardiner 
 
 
 (( 
 
 Degory Priest 
 
 1 
 
 (< 
 
 John Allerton 
 
 
 
 
 
 <( 
 
 Thomas English 
 
 
 
 
 
 (( 
 
 Edward Dotey 
 
 
 
 
 
 (< 
 
 Edward Leister 
 
 
 John Carver, a man godly and well-approved 
 among them, was chosen the Governor of the Col- 
 ony for that year. The embryo Commonwealth 
 had thus completed its outfit. William Brewster, 
 though unordained, and, therefore, not permitted to 
 administer the communion, was able to conduct re- 
 ligious worship, teach doctrines, and give spiritual 
 comfort to the sick and dying. Governor Carver 
 stood guarantee for the sovereignty of law and 
 order. Myles Standish was captain and military 
 commander. Necessity had driven them to or- 
 ganize a church to meet the spiritual exigencies of 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 their situation : and, now, necessity compelled 
 them to enter into a civil compact, to protect them 
 against the incipient rebellion, which in faint mut- 
 terings had been heard on the voyage, and which 
 in all probability would express itself in louder tones 
 ashore. The Pilgrims were not philosophers, or 
 theorists, elaborating methods of civil and religious 
 government according to any preconceived plans ; 
 but men with the statesman's special gift of meet- 
 ing emergencies as they arise in the growth of a 
 community. In doing this, they had chiefly their 
 own wants to consider, and " so after they had pro- 
 vided a place for their goods, a common store, 
 (which was long in unlading for want of boats, 
 foulness of winter weather, and sickness of diverce) 
 and begun some small cottages for their habitation, 
 as time would admitte, they mette, and consulted of 
 lawes and orders, both for their civill and military 
 government, as y^ necessitie of their condition did 
 require, still adding thereunto as urgent occasion in 
 several! times, and as cases did require." 
 
 [28] 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "The Wild New England Shore." 
 
 AFTER several expeditions on the coast, in 
 search of a suitable landing-place, and a final 
 settlement, accompanied with grave danger, 
 both on sea and land, the Pilgrims sounded Ply- 
 mouth harbor, and discovered it was fit for ship- 
 ping. They went inland for several miles, and 
 found cornfields and running 
 Dec: joth 1620, brooks. " Pines, walnuts, beech, 
 Plymouth. ash, birch, hazel, holly, asp, sas- 
 
 safras in abundance, and vines 
 everywhere, cherry trees, plum trees," flourished. 
 " ]\lany winter herbs, as strawberry leaves, sorrel, 
 yarrow, carvel, brooklime, liverwort, water cresses, 
 great store of leeks and onions, and an excellent 
 strong kind of flax and hemp," were abundant. 
 Wild-fowl of various kinds frequented the shore; 
 skate, cod, turbot, herring, mussels, crabs, and lob- 
 sters, abounded in the waters along the coast. The 
 beautiful bay, with its islands and headlands, shone 
 resplendent in its wintry sheen. Surely, this was a 
 good place to dwell in, and it was natural enough, 
 that the weather-beaten and weary wanderers should 
 offer special Thanksgiving to the good God, who 
 had v/orked such deliverance for them. 
 
 The early years of the settlement in Plymouth 
 were largely taken up with the bare struggle for ex- 
 istence. The first winter was particularly tryino:^ 
 
 [29] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 and between January and the end of March, no less 
 than twenty-one of those who signed the Compact, 
 succumbed to its severities. The poor exiles were 
 encompassed with dangers. They had to protect 
 themselves, as best they could, against the intense 
 cold, the inclemencies of a hard winter, the ravages 
 of disease, the wily attacks of treacherous Indians, 
 and the machinations of the meaner sort among 
 themselves. But, the new Church, and the embryo 
 State, nursed in persecution, borne through storm 
 and tempest, independent yet co-operant, were 
 firmly established. They had survived every vicis- 
 situde, and their foundations were secure ; and from 
 this point onward, our history is concerned with the 
 rise and development of organized religion in the 
 Colony. 
 
 The first public building to be erected was a large 
 house, twenty-feet square, which was used for 
 storage and public worship ; but shortly after its 
 
 completion, it took fire, and 
 The Common House was burnt to the ground. In 
 yanuary 1620. the month of April " whilst 
 
 they were bussie with their 
 seed," Governor Carver was taken suddenly ill, 
 and died, leaving a widow who soon followed him. 
 The death of the first Governor was a severe loss 
 to the community. He was not only a deeply relig- 
 ious man, but had won their esteem and endeared 
 himself to them, by long and patient service and 
 sacrifice. He was sagacious, skilled in practical 
 affairs, and upright in all his dealings. He was 
 
 [30] 
 
"The Wild New England Shore" 
 
 succeeded in office by William Bradford, with Isaac 
 Allerton, as assistant. 
 
 In the month of November 162 1, the depleted 
 ranks of the colonists were partly filled up by the 
 unexpected arrival of the Fortune^ and thirty-five 
 persons were added to the plantation. The summer 
 of 1622, saw the erection of the Fort. Bradford 
 writes, " they builte a fort with good timber, both 
 
 strong and comly, which was of good 
 The Fort defence, made with a flatte rofe and 
 1622. batilments, on which their ordnance was 
 
 mounted, and where they kepte constante 
 watch, especially in time of danger. It served them 
 also for a meeting-house, and was fitted accordingly 
 for that use." 
 
 Here on the summit of Burial Hill, the Pilgrims 
 perpetuated the church founded in England under 
 the ministration of Elder Brewster. The ecclesiasti- 
 cal polity of the church was copied, with slight 
 modifications, from that provided by Guillaume 
 Farel and John Calvin, for the Reformed Churches 
 of France. The church universal consisted of those, 
 of every nationality, who accepted the fundamentals 
 of the Christian faith, preached from the Scriptures, 
 and administered the sacraments. 
 The permanent officers of the church, were 
 
 1. The pastor, whose duty it was to preach, and 
 to preside over the discipline of the church, to ad- 
 minister the sacraments, and to admonish and exhort 
 the members. 
 
 2. A teacher, or teachers, who explained and in- 
 
 [31] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 terpreted the Scriptures, and inculcated the truth 
 therein revealed, as it was made known to them 
 from time to time. 
 
 3. Certain devout and experienced men, known 
 as deacons, who were to attend to the material in- 
 terests of the church, and to relieve the poor. 
 
 The election of the officers in the church was 
 vested in the people, and those duly chosen and 
 called, were ordained by the laying on of the hands 
 of the pastors. The Sacraments were Baptism and 
 the Lord's Supper. Baptism was administered only 
 to such infants, as whereof one parent, at the least, 
 was of some church. The Lord's Supper was ad- 
 ministered by a duly ordained clergyman to mem- 
 bers of the church. 
 
 The Pilgrims had long felt, what Richard Baxter 
 afterwards declared in 1680, that two things had 
 wrought incalculable mischief to the church, firstly, 
 insisting upon creed, and making more fundamentals 
 than God ever made ; and secondly, the imposition 
 of creeds and statements upon unwilling and un- 
 believing minds. In these two respects, therefore, 
 they departed from other churches, and laid down 
 principles which gave them a unique position in 
 their time — they had no creed, and repudiated per- 
 secution as the handmaid of piety. 
 
 For several years the Church at Plymouth was 
 without a pastor. It lived upon the truths which 
 John Robinson had taught, with such care and learn- 
 ing, and broke the bread of life in the way which 
 exile had made so precious. On the Lord's day, 
 
 [32] 
 
"The Wild New Kngland Shore" 
 
 the people gathered in the meeting-house, sang the 
 psalms, had the Scriptures read and explained, and 
 joined in prayers, which flowed spontaneously from 
 grateful hearts, and were born in the depth of an ex- 
 perience, which had made the goodness and mercy 
 of God, and the blessings of his daily providence, 
 the most real and vital of all convictions. They 
 knew that they were the humble instruments of 
 God for good, and that their successes and failures, 
 joys and sorrows, losses and gains, were included in 
 his immediate purpose, and were to be accepted 
 without murmur or complaint. 
 
 Though far away from England, and apparently 
 remote from interference, their ways and doings were 
 reported to the British authorities, both civil and 
 ecclesiastical, who worked through the Adventurers 
 in London. The prelates of Episcopacy kept in 
 touch with religious movements in the colonies, and 
 were not slow to interfere, whenever and wherever, 
 they felt called upon to do so. Bigotry has far- 
 reaching tentacles, and upon the strength of reports, 
 which came to them through commercial channels, 
 the authorities in England complained of the laxity 
 of religious life at Plymouth. It was alleged that 
 the church was split up into factions, to which the 
 colonists replied, that there was never any contro- 
 versy or opposition among them, either public or pri- 
 vate. It was charged that family duties were neg- 
 lected on the Lord's day, to which the accused 
 responded, that they allowed no such thing, but 
 condemned it, both in themselves, and in others. 
 
 [33] 
 
l^he First Church in Plymouth 
 
 They were denounced for neglect of both the Sacra- 
 ments, to which they answered, " the more is our 
 grief, that our pastor is kept from us, by whom we 
 might enjoy them, for we used to have the Lord's 
 Supper every Sabbath, and Baptism as often as there 
 was occasion of children to baptize." Finally, it was 
 urged against them, that their children were not cat- 
 echised, or taught to read. This complaint was also 
 false, " for diverse take pains with their owne as they 
 can ; indeede we have no common schoole for want 
 of a fitt person, or hitherto, means to maintain one; 
 though we desire now to begine." 
 
 [34] 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Keeping the Faith. 
 
 IT Is obvious that behind the complaints as to 
 the rehgion of the Colonists, was the hidden 
 purpose to bring back the Separatists into full 
 communion with Episcopacy. The epistles of 
 pious concern, issued by the Adventurers, were soon 
 followed bv actions more transparent. One John 
 Lyford, a clergyman, was sent over to shepherd the 
 destitute flock. He was expected to ingratiate him- 
 self into the good opinion of the church, to dis- 
 guise his purpose, and by coaxing, wheedling, or 
 Jesuitical posing, to overcome the prejudices of the 
 people against prelatic usages and customs. The 
 Pilgrims, though wanting a settled minister, had not 
 been accustomed to having one chosen for them, 
 and looked upon the experiment with suspicion. 
 Although John Lyford tried hard to hoodwink 
 them, by simulating a respect and affection he did 
 not feel, they would have none of him. Mortified 
 by defeat, he sought to injure the church, in Eng- 
 land, by secretly sending false reports of its condition, 
 so as to provoke intervention. His letters were 
 intercepted and his dissembling exposed. He re- 
 mained in the Colony for some time, engaging in 
 various intrigues and causing much annoyance ; but 
 his character had gone, and disappointed, and dis- 
 credited, he finally left for Virginia, where he sick- 
 ened and died. 
 
 [35] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 In the summer of 1625, Miles Standish went to 
 London in the interests of the Colony. He could 
 not have chosen a more inauspicious season for his 
 mission, for at this time the country was in a state 
 of commotion over the absolutism of Charles the 
 First, and the tyranny of his prelates. Besides, the 
 Plague was prevalent in the city. Business was 
 practically suspended, and people were in no mood 
 to consider Colonial affairs. He, therefore, returned 
 without having accomplished his purpose. His 
 arrival was received with joy, although he was the 
 bearer of sad news. King James was dead. Prince 
 Maurice, the head of the Dutch Government, dur- 
 ing the residence of the Pilgrims in Leyden, had 
 also passed away. Robert Cushman the tried and 
 faithful friend of the Colonists had died at the early 
 age of forty-five. And last, though not least, their 
 beloved pastor John Robinson had gone to that 
 rest which remained for the people of God. He 
 was taken in the prime of manhood, at the age of 
 forty-nine, afflicted with ague, and worn no doubt 
 with anxieties and cares, incidental to his position, 
 and induced in large measure by the Puritan faction, 
 which gave him continual annovance. He died on the 
 I'' of March 1625, and on the 4*, was buried in the 
 vaults of St. Peter's Church. He lived the life of a 
 saint, was deeply respected bv his own people, and 
 friends of learning in Leyden, and died a martyr to 
 the cause he loved. 
 
 The Plymouth Church continued to retain its 
 convictions, and its sturdy independence, during the 
 
 [36] 
 
Keeping the Faith 
 
 years it was without a pastor, desiring none of the 
 imported clergymen sent bv the Adventurers, whether 
 of Episcopal or Puritan leanings, and heeding not 
 the veiled rebukes and supercilious airs of the Salem 
 fraternity. It was Separatist, and was neither to be 
 bribed nor driven from its steadfast allegiance to the 
 true ideal of liberty and independence. 
 
 In 1629, there arrived in the "Talbot" one 
 Ralph Smith, a clergyman whose ecclesiastical status 
 when he boarded the ship, was a matter of con- 
 jecture. He was thought to be a Separatist, and 
 Matthew Cradock, Governor in England of the 
 
 Massachusetts Colonv, sent a mes- 
 Ralph Stnith sage to Endicott of Salem, concerning 
 1620, him, " that unless he be conformable 
 
 to our Government, you suffer him 
 not to remain within the limits of our grant." Crad- 
 ock's suspicions were well-founded, and Smith, 
 upon inquiry, was compelled to accept the alterna- 
 tive of being shipped back to England, in the 
 " Lion's Whelp," or of seeking quarters where his 
 views would meet with more favour than Salem ac- 
 corded to them. He fled to Nantasket, and after 
 struggling for some time in poverty, he persuaded 
 the captain of a Plymouth vessel, to take him and 
 his family on board, and convey them to the freer 
 Colony. He was received by the Pilgrims some- 
 what cautiously, but after close investigation was 
 welcomed, and finally ordained the first minister of 
 the church in Plymouth. Although a man of ordi- 
 nary abilities, and it was said, not equal to Brewster 
 
 [37] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 as a preacher, he served the church acceptably for 
 five or six years. During three years of his minis- 
 try he was assisted by Roger Williams who arrived 
 in America on the 5* of February 1631, and had 
 been commended to the Colony by Governor Win- 
 throp. On his arrival, he was invited to temporarily 
 fill the pulpit of the Reverend John Wilson of Bos- 
 ton, who was about to make a visit to England. 
 Roger Williams graduated from Pembroke College, 
 Cambridge, in 1626, and took orders in the church 
 in 1629, serving as chaplain to Sir William Masham. 
 The Anglican Liturgy proved distasteful to him, and 
 the persistent attentions of Archbishop Laud drove 
 him out of the land. He sailed from Bristol in 
 England on the V^ of December 1630. The hope 
 of finding liberty of conscience, and a field for his 
 unquestioned ability and character in Boston, turned 
 out to be delusive. In April 1 631, he accepted an 
 appointment as preacher or teacher, at Salem. This 
 change brought him no advantage. In matters 
 ecclesiastical, Boston and Salem were too closely 
 identified, and after a few months, he removed to 
 Plymouth, where he remained for nearly three years. 
 He appears to have been an eccentric genius, able, 
 scholarly, but of unsound judgment. Here, as else- 
 where his pronounced views, and personal idiosyn- 
 crasies led him into trouble with the Puritan section, 
 and not being able to smother his convictions at the 
 behest of his worldly interests, the Plymouth church 
 reluctantly parted with him. His principal conten- 
 tions were, that the King had no right to grant the 
 
 [38] 
 
Keeping the Faith 
 
 Colony's charter, that even casual attendance at the 
 services of the Church of England was a sin, and 
 that any interference whatever with the right of 
 private judgment was an injustice to the individual 
 and the community. These, and some minor ex- 
 travagances of his, were intolerable to the Puritan 
 faction, and finally ended in his banishment from 
 the Bay Colony. 
 
 The local scattering of the Colonists led to the 
 foundinor of new churches in and around Plymouth. 
 " Those that lived on their lots on y*" other side 
 of y"" bay (called Duxberie) they could not long 
 bring their wives and children to y'^ publick wor- 
 ship and church meetings here, 
 T^he Duxbury and with such burthen as growing 
 Church l6j2. to some competente number, they 
 sued to be dismissed, and so they 
 were dismiste, about this time, though very un- 
 willingly." 
 
 Shortly afterwards, and for similar reasons, an- 
 other body, living at Green's harbour, Marshfield 
 split off from the parent church, and set up on 
 its own account. These defec- 
 The Marshfield tions greatly weakened the re- 
 Church l6j2. sources of the Plymouth church, 
 and were viewed with alarm, and, 
 yet, nothing could be said against them. 
 
 In 1633, Bradford resigned the Governorship 
 after twelve years' service, and Edward Winslow 
 succeeded him. Seven assistants were chosen, and 
 that was the number of the Governor's Council 
 ever afterwards. 
 
 [39] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 The Bay Colony had never taken very kindly to 
 the Plymouth Separatists, and veiled suspicion and 
 dislike soon ripened into meddlesome interference. 
 The Puritan and the Pilgrim had many things in 
 common, but one or two vital principles, on which 
 they differed, kept them apart. The Puritan was 
 conservative, accommodating, obsequious to the 
 powers that be, and inclined to furbish up the old 
 weapons, which had been used against hims^, for 
 use against others. The Pilgrim was radical. He 
 had broken with the past, even to a greater extent 
 than he could realize, and was making a new ex- 
 periment, civil and ecclesiastical. He was more 
 tolerant than the Puritan, both in matters of opin- 
 ion and conduct, and wore a more gracious mien. 
 About this time, the feeling between them was 
 neither pleasant nor safe. Strictures on the re- 
 ligious attitude of the Pilgrims were passing into 
 efforts to divert their trade, and to trespass on 
 their territory, which met with resistance, ending 
 in bloodshed. 
 
 In 1634, Governor Winslow went to England on 
 colonial business, and before sailing, accepted a com- 
 mission for the Bay Colony, which required him to 
 appear before the King's Commissioners for Planta- 
 tions. Here he was brought face to face with Arch- 
 bishop Laud, who could not resist the opportunity 
 of venting his wrath upon the representative of the 
 Plymouth settlement, about whose sayings and do- 
 ings he had been duly informed by the Puritans. 
 Winslow was accused of taking part in Sunday 
 
 [40] 
 
Keeping the Faith 
 
 services, and of conducting civil marriages. The 
 Governor admitted the charges, and pleaded exten- 
 uating circumstances ; but Laud was not to be ap- 
 peased, and committed the bold Separatist to the 
 Fleet Prison, where he remained for seventeen 
 weeks, when he was released, and permitted to re- 
 turn to America, wounded in his conscience by the 
 cruel wrong done to him, and impoverished by legal 
 expenses. 
 
 In the year 1636, Ralph Smith resigned his pas- 
 torate, and was succeeded by the Rev. John Reyner, 
 a quiet, godly man, who seems to have pursued the 
 
 even tenour of his way, doing his 
 'John Reyner duty modestly and efficiently, and 
 l6j6. commending himself to the good-will 
 
 and affection of his flock, whom he 
 served faithfully for eighteen years. About two 
 years after his ordination, the Rev. Charles Chaun- 
 cey a graduate, and tor some time a professor, of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, drifted towards Plym- 
 outh, and preached so acceptably, that he was in- 
 vited to become co-pastor with Mr. Revner. He 
 had been vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire, and came 
 into disfavour, by characterizing Laud's sacerdotal 
 regulations as " idolatrous." He was brought be- 
 fore the Court of High Commission in 1630, and 
 again in 1634, when he was suspended from the 
 ministry, and imprisoned. On the 6''' of February 
 1636, he petitioned the Court to be allowed to sub- 
 mit, and after listening to one of Archbishop Laud's 
 admonitions to penitent heretics, he was released on 
 
 [41] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 payment of costs. He never forgave himself, for 
 what he called his " scandalous submission," and be- 
 fore leaving for America in 1637, he wrote a "Re- 
 tractation," which was published in London in 1641. 
 After acting as Reyner's assistant for three years, he 
 developed anabaptist ideas, contending for immer- 
 sion as against sprinkling. Scripture was on his 
 side, but the American climate and personal health 
 and comfort, were against him. The church evi- 
 dently did not consider the question a vital one, and 
 was willing that he should dip or sprinkle, as occa- 
 sion might require. But, it was obviously a matter 
 of principle with him, and to the deep regret of the 
 Parish, he left Plymouth to take charge of the church 
 at Scituate. He held his pulpit there, for some time, 
 and when contemplating a return to his former 
 charge at Ware, in England, the Trustees of Har- 
 vard College, offered him the Presidency of that 
 seat of learning. He accepted the offer, and be- 
 came the second President of the College. 
 
 The colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and 
 Connecticut, had been looking for some time towards 
 federation. It was felt that their mutual interests 
 and protection would be furthered by union, and in 
 1643, ^^^y entered into a Confederation known as 
 " The United Colonies of New England." This 
 union no doubt gave strength to the Colonies in 
 their relations with the mother-country, and pro- 
 vided for the better administration of law, and more 
 adequate defence in case of war. But, it gave to 
 the Massachusetts Colony a preponderating power, 
 
Keeping the Faith 
 
 and reacted unravourably upon the liberalism of Ply- 
 mouth. In every union of independent organiza- 
 tions something must be sacrificed. Corporations, 
 like individuals acquire characteristics, which differ- 
 entiate them from other bodies ; but, when they 
 sink themselves in federation, these original quali- 
 ties are either modified or entirelv lost. Plymouth 
 Colony was unique. It represented heroic history 
 and traditions in which no other colony could share. 
 Its ideals of liberty, self-reliance, and manliness, 
 were its own. From the first, it had carved out an 
 independent course for itself, and had pursued that 
 course, with unflinching loyalty and determination. 
 Now, the age of chivalry and romance was coming 
 to an end. The old Colony had fought a good 
 fight and finished its course. It had stood out 
 bravely for the widest conception then known, of 
 civil and religious liberty, preserving the independ- 
 ence and integrity of the State, bridling religious 
 intolerance, and offering an asylum for brave and 
 honest men, who had been cast out by Prelacy and 
 Puritanism. Henceforth, it was to form a minor 
 part in a union with forces against which it had long 
 contended. The heroes who had stood faithfully 
 by it, were one by one failing under the weight of 
 years, and stood ready to sing their nunc ditnittis. 
 Its name was to be relinquished; its career com- 
 pleted ; and its wonderful history merged into the 
 annals of secondary events. 
 
 [43] 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Gain and Loss. 
 
 IN order to rightly understand the trend of later 
 incidents in the history of the church, it may be 
 well to observe, at this point, that the com- 
 munity was divided into two sections — the church, 
 and the precinct or Parish. The former consisted 
 of those, who on entering into religious fellowship, 
 made confession of their faith, and supported the 
 confession by a distinct experience of a moral and 
 spiritual new-birth, or conversion, proof of which 
 had to be publicly declared, first in the presence of 
 the pastor and elders, and then before the congrega- 
 tion and communicants. The latter were members, 
 who attended public worship and paid their taxes, 
 but were not so closely and formally affiliated. 
 These two bodies, distinct yet related, ruled the 
 church, and appear to h-ave stood in the same posi- 
 tion to each other, on all ecclesiastical questions, as 
 do the Senate and House of Representatives to-day, 
 on political issues. The church represented a kind 
 of spiritual aristocracy, or inner circle of advanced 
 piety. The Parish consisted of a large body of de- 
 vout men and women, who were by no means rigid 
 as to doctrines or forms, but were attached to the 
 institution. Neither could act independently on 
 important matters, without the concurrence of the 
 other. In the election or dismissal of a minister, 
 for example, the initiative was taken by the church ; 
 
 [+4] 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 but the action of the church had to be sustained by 
 the vote of the Parish. Not unnaturally, the one 
 came to stand for everything that was conservative 
 in the life of the Society, and the other for every- 
 thing that was progressive ; this, enforcing rules and 
 disciplines, that, chafing under what is regarded as 
 undue restraints. Friction was inevitable. The 
 tendency of the church was to become rigid and 
 narrow, and as its records show, to bear hard on 
 neglect of worship and the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper, frowning upon the most innocent forms of 
 self-indulgence and pleasure, as upon the wiles of 
 Satan. The tendency of the Parish, on the other 
 hand, was to slacken ecclesiastical discipline, to 
 assert personal liberty, and while sound enough as 
 to essentials, and the need of pure and upright liv- 
 ing, was liberal in its construction of non-essentials. 
 Elder Brewster held the two in gracious equilib- 
 rium ; but after his death, there does not seem to 
 have been anyone with equal authority and tact, t-o 
 suppress inevitable jealousies and dissensions. I'he 
 old regime had its defects, but it was not without 
 its compensating advantages. It was, spiritually, 
 dogmatic and imperious, but it set the stamp 
 of sacredness upon the church and its life, and em- 
 phasized the distinction between the standards of 
 living within its jurisdiction, and those commonly 
 accepted in the outside world, and in secular con- 
 cerns. It was determined to lead the world, and 
 not to be led by it, to dictate the type of character 
 in the church, and not permit what was intended to 
 
 [45] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 be a Christian Commonwealth to shrink into the 
 smaller proportions of a mere secular corporation, 
 moulded by public opinion, whether religious or 
 not, and subject like any other secular concern to 
 the laws of the State, a condition into which so 
 many congregational churches have fallen, and are 
 still falling. 
 
 About the year 1643, ^^^ migratory movements 
 of families in and around Plymouth led to another 
 loss in the church. The tendency to go farther 
 afield in search of a better livelihood, threatened 
 the extinction of the Pilgrim society, and when 
 a number of members living in or near Nauset 
 (Eastham) sought separation, it was feared that the 
 parent body would not hold together. A pro- 
 posal was made, but not carried, that the church 
 should be transplanted to Nauset. It was finally de- 
 cided to establish a new society in that region. Re- 
 luctantly and painfully, the 
 The Eastham Church old parish parted with her 
 l6dj—d. children, fearing dissolution 
 
 by disintegration, but taking 
 to herself the consolation that in her poverty many 
 were being made rich. Her venerable leaders, who 
 had piloted her through many a storm, were either 
 old and decrepit, or had one by one laid the bur- 
 den down, and gone to their reward ; and their 
 children driven by hard necessity to seek a living 
 elsewhere, were leaving the mother-church, weak 
 and deserted, — the Niobe of civil and religious 
 liberty in New England — a pathetic and oft re- 
 peated story in ecclesiastical history. 
 
 [46] 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 On the 1 6''' of April 1644 William Brewster 
 died. He more than any man 
 William Brewster was entitled to be called the 
 died 1644. Founder of the Pilgrim Church. 
 
 It originated in his house at 
 Scrooby, he sacrificed everything for it : and for 
 years after the settlement in Plymouth, he was 
 practically both minister and elder, officiating twice 
 each Lord's Day. He had left home and family, 
 suffered imprisonment and persecution, wandered 
 in fear and much trembling, turned the hands once 
 used to delicate service to hard manual labor, 
 thrown in his lot with the poor and despised of 
 this world, shared their perils by sea, and their toils 
 and sufferings on land, never faltering in his pur- 
 pose, and never wavering in his love and loyalty to 
 the little flock, of which he was the patient and 
 tender shepherd. How poor and mean are the 
 sacrifices any of us are called upon to make for the 
 cause of right and liberty, in our day, compared 
 with the thirty-six years of heroic service, which 
 this man gave, for the things we so often treat with 
 cold indifference ! Firm as a rock, he clung to his 
 noble purpose, and when his followers were in great- 
 est peril and perplexity, worn and almost hopeless, 
 through care and suffering, he kept a stout heart, 
 and bade them be of good cheer. Although of 
 frugal habits himself, not drinking anything but 
 water, until within a short time of his death, and 
 then medicinally, he was charitable to others, and 
 unsparing in his service of the sick and destitute. 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 Bradford writes of him " For his personal abilities, 
 he was qualified above many : he was wise and dis- 
 crete, and well-spoken, having a grave and deliber- 
 ate utterance, of a very cheerful spirite, very sociable 
 and pleasante among his friends, of an humble and 
 modest mind, of a peaceable disposition, under- 
 vallewing himself and his own abilities, and 
 sometime over-vallewing others, inoffensive and 
 innocent in his life and conversation, which gained 
 him y^ love of those without, as well as those 
 within ; yet he would tell them plainely of their 
 faults and evills, both publickly and privately, but 
 in such manner as usually was well-taken from 
 him. He was tender-hearted and compassionate, 
 of such as were in miserie, but espetially of such 
 as had been of good estate and ranke, and were 
 fallen into want and poverty, either for goodness 
 and religion's sake, or for y^ injury and oppres- 
 sion of others ; he would say of all men these de- 
 served to be pitied most. And none did more 
 offend and displease him, than such as would 
 hautily and proudly carry and lift up themselves, 
 being rise from nothing, and having little els in 
 them, to commend them, but a few fine cloaths, or 
 a little riches more than others." 
 
 Until his death, his hand was never lifted from 
 Pilgrim history. He shaped the counsels of his 
 colleagues, helped to mould their policy, safeguarded 
 their liberties, and kept in check tendencies towards 
 religious bigotry and oppression. He tolerated 
 differences, but put down wrangling and dissen- 
 
 [48] 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 sion, promoting in every way within his power, the 
 strength and cleanness of private and public life. 
 
 In 1648 the first church was built. It was situ- 
 ated behind Bradford's lot, and facing Leyden St., 
 and like every first church, 
 The First Meeting however modest, was raised 
 House 164.8. with becoming pride and joy. 
 
 Seven years before, an ordi- 
 nance had passed the General Court " that no in- 
 junction should be put on any church, or church 
 member, as to doctrine, worship, or discipline, 
 whether for substance or circumstance, besides 
 the command of the Bible." This might mean 
 much or little, for justification of oppression was 
 easily found in the Scriptures, but on the lips of 
 those who had suffered greatly, and so often, for 
 conscience sake, it meant a good deal. It meant 
 that although men met for worship under one roof, 
 it was not to be expected that they should think or 
 feel alike ; but whether or not, they were to enjoy 
 such freedom, as was not to be found in any other 
 church of their time. 
 
 The next decade brought great changes in the 
 personnel of the Pilgrims. In October 1646, 
 Winslow, against the advice of his compatriots, 
 accepted a second mission to England. His last 
 trip on a similar errand had proved disastrous to 
 him : but, now, England was on the eve of a revo- 
 lution, and the men who tormented him ten years 
 before, were no longer in power. Laud had been 
 sent to the scaffold on the charge of having 
 
 [49] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 attempted to disturb the foundations of Church 
 and State, and Cromwell was commencing the 
 famous struggle, which was to end in the death of 
 Charles the First, and the establishment of a Pro- 
 tectorate. Marston Moor and Naseby had already 
 been fought and won, and the victor was quelling 
 the revolt of the army. In the midst of this strife 
 Winslow reached England. He found his old ene- 
 mies either dead or powerless, and their places were 
 filled by men favourable to the Colonies. His com- 
 mission was soon executed ; but the dramatic scenes 
 and incidents around him proved too fascinating. 
 While anxious to return to his family, he neverthe- 
 less prolonged his stay, and eventually was induced 
 to take service under Cromwell. He was engaged 
 in diplomatic action on several important commis- 
 sions, and was finally sent with others, in charge of 
 a fleet for the capture of the Spanish West Indies. 
 The expedition failed, but redeemed its fame some- 
 what, by the successful conquest of Jamaica. 
 Winslow caught a fever in this expedition, from 
 which he never recovered. He died and was 
 buried at sea on May 8* 1655. He was Gover- 
 nor in 1633, 1636, and 1644, 
 Edward Winslow and always proved himself a 
 died 16^^. nian of exceptional ability and 
 
 character, giving the best years 
 of his life to the service of the Colony. He 
 came with the Pilgrims in 1620, was one of the 
 party sent to prospect along the coast, subscribed 
 his name to the compact, and in 1623 while on a 
 
 [50] 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 mission to England published an account of the 
 settlement and struggles of the Plymouth Colony 
 under the title of " Good News for New England, 
 or a relation of things remarkable in that Planta- 
 tion." He further published a tract in 1646 en- 
 titled "Hypocrisie Unmasked; by a true relation 
 of the proceedings of the Governor of Massachu- 
 setts against Samuel Groton, a notorious Disturber 
 of the Peace," which is chiefly remarkable for an 
 appendix giving an account of preparations in Ley- 
 den for removal to America, and the substance of 
 John Robinson's address to the Pilgrims on their 
 departure from Holland. 
 
 In the year 1656, the Colonv lost its militarv 
 commander, Myles Standish, who was born in 
 
 Lancashire, about 1584, proba- 
 Myles Standish bly from the Duxbury branch of 
 died 16^6. the Standish family. He was a 
 
 unique and romantic figure in the 
 history of the Colony. His military career com- 
 menced before 1603, when he obtained a lieuten- 
 ant's commission in the British army, and fought in 
 the wars against the Netherlands and Spain. He 
 joined the Pilgrims at Leyden, when the project o^ 
 emigration to America was pending, not so much 
 from religious sympathy, however, as from a 
 taste for military adventure. He embarked with 
 the Pilgrims on the Mayflower^ and on their arrival 
 at Cape Cod, took command of the exploring par- 
 ties. Afterwards, in February 1621, he was elected 
 military captain of the Colony. With a very small 
 
 [51] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 force, he protected the settlers against Indian incur- 
 sions, until all danger from that quarter was at an 
 end. When the settlers were made peaceably secure 
 in their rights and possessions, and further exploits, 
 adventures, and hair-breadth escapes were no longer 
 possible, Standish retired to his estate at Duxbury, 
 on the north side of Plymouth Bay, frequently 
 acting as Governor's assistant, and from 1644 ^o 
 1649 serving as Treasurer to the Colony. He was 
 twice married, and had four sons and a daughter. 
 In religious matters he v/as non-committal. He 
 never belonged to the Pilgrim church, and though 
 descended from a Catholic family, there is no evi- 
 dence that he was a Catholic himself. .He did 
 noble service for the Colony, and practically settled 
 the question, whether the Anglo-Saxon or the native 
 Indian, was to predominate in New England. He 
 died on the 3''^ of October 1656, and was borne 
 to his grave amid the grateful sorrow of his com- 
 rades. Art and poetry have invested his memory 
 with undying honour. A monument stands on 
 what was his estate at Duxbury, and Longfellow and 
 Lowell have wreathed his fame in romantic verse. 
 
 Next summer. May 9'^ 1657, Bradford sank to 
 his rest, more from sheer debility than from any 
 
 chronic disease. His work was 
 William Bradford done. Born in 1590, and early 
 died 16^7. committing himself religiously 
 
 to reform, he bore the burden 
 and heat of the day, from the inception of the 
 Pilgrim movement to its absorption in the Union 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 of the New England Colonies. He sprang from 
 sturdy Yorkshire stock, living in Austerfield, and 
 though not possessed of a University training, Hke 
 some of his friends, he acquired more culture than 
 most men of his station, and was well read, in 
 history, philosophy, and religion. His mind took 
 ari earlv bias in the direction of theological and 
 biblical studies, and when quite young, he began to 
 attend the ministry of the Rev. Richard Clyfton, 
 vicar of Babworth. In spite of the jeers and taunts 
 ot his tamilv and friends, he joined the Separatist 
 movement at Scrooby, and never regretted the step 
 he took. His fresh enthusiasm induced him to 
 throw in his lot with the Pilgrims. He accompanied 
 them in all their wanderings, bravely sharing their 
 trials, sufferings, and privations. On the death of 
 Carver, he became the second Governor of Plymouth 
 Colony. A patent was granted to him in 1629, by 
 the Council of New England, vesting the Colony in 
 trust to him, his heirs, associates, and assigns, con- 
 firming their title to a tract of land, and conferring 
 the power to frame a constitution and laws ; but 
 eleven years later, he transferred this patent to the 
 General Court, only reserving to himself, the allot- 
 ment conceded to him, in the original division of 
 land. His reputation as chief magistrate was marked 
 by honesty and fair dealing, alike in his relations 
 with the Indians tribes, and his treatment of recalci- 
 trant colonists. His word was respected, and 
 caused him to be trusted. His will was resolute in 
 every emergency, and yet everybody knew that his 
 
 [53] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 clemency, and even charitable consideration, might 
 be counted upon, whenever it could be safely exer- 
 cised. The church was always dear to him. He 
 enjoyed its faith and respected its institutions, and 
 up to the hour of his death, confessed his delight in 
 its teachings and its simple services. Governor 
 Bradford was twice married, at Leyden in 1613 to 
 Dorothy May, who was accidentally drowned in Cape 
 Cod harbour, on the 17'^ of December 1620; and 
 again, on the 14* of August 1623, to Alice Car- 
 penter, widow of Edward Southworth. By his first 
 wife, he had one son, and by his second, two sons 
 and a daughter. He was the author of many 
 pamphlets, some in prose, others in verse. The 
 only work published in his lifetime was " A Diary 
 of Occurences during the first year of the Colony," 
 written jointly with Edward Winslow, and published 
 in England in 1622. He left many manuscripts, 
 letters and chronicles, verses, and dialogues, which 
 are the principal authorities for the early history of 
 the Colony. The book, by which he will be best 
 remembered is the manuscript " History of Ply- 
 mouth Plantation," which at one time was deposited 
 in the " New England Library," but was afterwards 
 lost, and was supposed to have been carried away 
 by some one during the war with England. It was 
 not until 1855, that certain passages in " Wilber- 
 force's History of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 in America," printed in 1846, professing to quote 
 from " a Manuscript History of Plymouth in the 
 Fulham library," revealed the whereabouts of the 
 
 [54] 
 
Gain and Loss 
 
 precious document. These quotations were identi- 
 fied as being similar to extracts from Bradford's 
 History made by earlier annalists. The story of 
 the recovery of that manuscript cannot be better told 
 than in the words of the Hon. George F. Hoar, the 
 venerable Senator of Massachusetts, who during a 
 visit to England, was instrumental in having the 
 book returned. After procuring an introduction to 
 the Lord Bishop of London, he was invited to Ful- 
 ham Palace, which for a thousand years has been an 
 Episcopal residence. The bishop received him with 
 great courtesy, holding in his hand the invaluable 
 manuscript. Whereupon the following conversation 
 occurred. 
 
 " My lord, I am going to say something, which 
 you may think rather audacious. I think this book 
 ought to go back to Massachusetts. Nobody knows 
 how it got over here. Some people think it was 
 carried off by Governor Hutchinson, the Tory 
 Governor ; other people think it was carried off by 
 British soldiers, when Boston was evacuated, but in 
 either case, the property would not have changed. 
 Or, if you treat it as booty, in which last case, I 
 suppose by the law of nations, ordinary property 
 does change, no civilized nation in modern times, 
 applies that principle to the property of libraries, 
 and institutions of learning." 
 
 " Well," said the bishop, " I did not know that 
 you cared anything about it." 
 
 "Why," said I, "if there were in existence in 
 England, a history of King Alfred's reign for thirty 
 
 [55] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 years, written by his own hand, it would not be 
 more precious in the eyes of Englishmen, than this 
 manuscript is to us." 
 
 " Well," said he, " I think myself, it ought to go 
 back, and if it had depended on me, it would have 
 gone back before this. But, the Americans who 
 have been here — many of them have been com- 
 mercial people — did not seem to care much about 
 it, except as a curiosity. I suppose I ought not to 
 give it up, on my own authority. It belongs to me 
 in my official capacity, and not as private or personal 
 property. I think I ought to consult the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and indeed " he added, " I 
 think I ought to speak to the Queen about it. We 
 should not do such a thing behind Her Majesty's 
 
 back." '^ 
 
 In due form, and through the cordial offices of 
 Ambassador T. F. Bayard the book was returned to 
 the safe custody of the State of Massachusetts. 
 
 * Senator Hoar's speech at the presentation of the book to Governor Wolcott, 
 May 24th, 1897. 
 
 [56] 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Stagnation and Revival. 
 
 THE year 1665 was remarkable for two 
 things — a falling off of interest in religion, 
 so that ministers could not obtain support, 
 and the churches were in financial straits, and the 
 influx of Quakers. The former was probably caused 
 by a too stringent ecclesiasticism. The Puritan 
 ideal, which had been kept under wholesome re- 
 straint in Plymouth Colony, was spreading through 
 the state, and contracting the sympathies of both 
 clergy and laity. Religion with all its irksome re- 
 strictions was becoming too much of a burden. It 
 lacked sweetness and light. Rigid and sour-visaged 
 piety became oppressive, and created in the minds 
 of many, a disposition to turn from hard conven- 
 tionalism to the sincere, joyous, though often irrev- 
 erent zeal of unclassified prophets and prophetesses. 
 Unordained zealots were preferred to learned minis- 
 ters, and noisy worship in the open air to the deco- 
 rous service in the Church. The Rev. John Reyner 
 had resigned his pulpit in 1654, to the regret of his 
 parish, and for thirteen years, the old church was 
 without a settled pastor, and dependent upon Elder 
 Cushman, and temporary supplies. The town 
 seems to have been given up to ecclesiastical confu- 
 sion, in which whoever was disposed might prophesy. 
 The attempt of the English Parliament to regulate 
 the church on rigid Presbyterian principles had pro- 
 
 [57] 
 
The First Church In Plymouth 
 
 duced a set of Evangelistic revivalists, under the 
 leadership of George Fox, whose followers, num- 
 bered by thousands, were drawn from the lower 
 middle class, and from the outer 
 George Fox edge of all the sects. They de- 
 
 and the Quakers, spised the deadness and formal- 
 ism of the established faith, and 
 were disturbed by its apparent inability to touch the 
 springs of moral character. Affecting a rugged plain- 
 ness of attire, and an equally rugged directness of 
 speech, they succeeded in making themselves obnox- 
 ious. They were filled with a boisterous enthusiasm, 
 sometimes grotesque and even gross. In a way, 
 v/hich nobody quite understood, these visionaries 
 and fanatics threw the corporate life of the Puritan 
 and other churches into complete disorder. The 
 old meeting-houses were deserted, and crowds 
 flocked to listen, in the open air, to these seven- 
 teenth century wearers of camel's hair and the leath- 
 ern girdle. George Fox, the Founder of the Eng- 
 lish Society of Friends, had his followers in America, 
 and though efforts were made to keep them out of 
 the Colony, they persisted, defying the law and the 
 magistrates, and apparently caring nothing for fines 
 and imprisonment. One Humphrey Norton, claim- 
 ing to be a prophet, came to Plymouth in 1657, and 
 opened his tirade of abuse, which created a commo- 
 tion. He was arrested, and the Court ordered him 
 to leave the Colony, the under-marshal taking him 
 to Assonet, near Rhode Island. He soon returned, 
 however, bringing with him, John Rouse, a fiery 
 
 [58] 
 
Stagnation a n tl 1^ e \m v a 1 
 
 zealot, like himself. These two, proclaimed and 
 declaimed, and disturbed the orderly serenity of the 
 old town. They were apprehended and committed 
 to prison. In the course of the trial and afterwards, 
 they addressed the Governor and Court, in language 
 which displayed the character of their minds, and 
 unsettled the dignity of the grave assembly. The 
 movement soon died out, and left no permanent 
 traces of its existence. 
 
 The objection to an ordained ministry with a 
 salary, w^hich had led to the resignation of pastor 
 Reyner, and had been one of the causes of the long 
 interregnum in the ministerial succession, seems to 
 have been overcome in 1669, when the Rev. John 
 Cotton, son of the famous minister of the First 
 Church in Boston, was invited to take charge of 
 the vacant pulpit. He was a man of 
 John Cotton scholarly tastes and habits, somewhat 
 l66g. decided in his convictions, diligent 
 
 and faithful in his pastoral duties. He 
 had become greatly interested in the Indians and 
 their religious education, and understood their 
 language and spiritual needs, revising the last edi- 
 tion of their Bible, and teaching them to pray in 
 their own tongue. M'' Cotton's care for the spir- 
 itual interests of his parish was constant. Meet- 
 ings were organized for religious instruction, the 
 children of the Parish were regularly catechised, 
 and great efforts were made to restore the old and 
 influential life of the church, which had suffered dur- 
 ing the vacancy in the pastorate. The meeting-house 
 
 [59] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 was falling to pieces through neglect and decay, 
 and it was decided to build a new one, larger and 
 handsomer than the last. The new structure was 
 
 erected at the head of 
 The Second Meeting- Town Square, and all that 
 House l68j. we know about it, is, that 
 
 it had " an unceiled Gothic 
 roof, diamond glass, with a small cupola and bell." 
 It served the purposes of the time, and became the 
 active centre of ethical and spiritual power. 
 
 The disposition to break away from the mother 
 church, for one reason or another, continued. In 
 1694, M' Isaac Cushman had been invited to 
 minister to the religious necessities of a small society 
 which had been formed at Plympton, then part of 
 the town of Plymouth. M' Cotton contended 
 that he ought not to enter the ministry irregularly, 
 and without first being ordained to the office of 
 ruling elder, by the church. This led to one of 
 those feuds, which beginning on a small scale, and 
 within a limited area, soon assumes, disturbing pro- 
 portions. Families took sides, and bitter recrimina- 
 tions followed ; and in the end, the minister served 
 as a scape-goat, and though innocent himself, and 
 fortified by ecclesiastical usage, was sacrificed to 
 what was called the good of the church, which has 
 ever been, and still is, a hackneyed apology for 
 congregational meanness. This controversy con- 
 tinued for about three years, increasing in virulence, 
 until M"" Cotton tendered his resignation in the in- 
 terests of harmony, probably sharing the moral 
 
 [60] 
 
Stagnation and Revival 
 
 indignation of Plautus against those who had in- 
 jured his reputation — without, perhaps, daring to 
 utter it. 
 
 Homines qui gestant, quique ascultant crimina 
 
 Si meo arbitratu liceat, omnes pendeant, 
 
 Gestores linguis, auditores auribus. 
 
 That (rumour notwithstanding) he was not guilty 
 of anything worse than speaking his mind with too 
 much freedom and veracity, is obvious from the 
 fact, that he had a large and influential following in 
 the church, took another pulpit at Charleston, 
 South Carolina, and when he died in 1699, was 
 buried with respect and honour, by his old parish- 
 ioners, who erected a monument over his grave. 
 
 In the year 1698, another branch of the First 
 Church was established at Plympton. This was the 
 fourth church which had gone away 
 The Ply??ipton from the old parish, to suit the 
 Church l6()8, convenience of people living at a 
 distance from the centre of the 
 town, and like all previous departures, it weakened 
 the resources and diminished the strength of the 
 parent society. Still, the church bravely held up 
 its head, and went on its way, in the dauntless spirit 
 of its Founders. 
 
 The next step was to appoint a successor to M"^ 
 Cotton, and the Rev. Ephraim Little was ordained 
 pastor, after a short probation. He was not a man 
 of scholarly and studious habits, like so many of 
 his predecessors, but was possessed of consider- 
 able natural gifts, and of executive ability beyond 
 
 [61] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 the average, making up in devoted service, and 
 large-hearted benevolence, what 
 Ephratm Little he lacked in conventional ac- 
 i6qQ- quirements — a good and faithful 
 
 minister, painstaking in his work, 
 and tenderly solicitous of the needs of the sick and 
 poor. He ministered to the church for twenty 
 years, winning and keeping the esteem and affection 
 of his people, and never growing weary in well-do- 
 ing, until failing health compelled him to relinquish 
 his duties. During his later ministry, there came 
 another birth ecclesiastical, and a church was 
 founded at the North end of the town, known as 
 
 Jones River Parish, afterwards 
 The Kingston Kingston. One wonders how a 
 Church IJ IJ . church, never very strong, either in 
 
 wealth or numbers, could survive 
 these repeated defections. But, one of its domi- 
 nating ambitions was to spread the truth, and 
 proclaim the humane Gospel of Jesus Christ ; and 
 the faithful souls, who stood by it through all 
 its trials, were comforted by the thought, that 
 every new society was not only a jewel in its 
 crown of rejoicing, but witnessed to its increase 
 of faith, and the extension of the kingdom of 
 righteousness. 
 
 On the 23"^ of November 1723, M' Little was 
 called to his rest, at the age of 84. His grave is on 
 Burial Hill, by the side of so many good town's- 
 folk whose temporal and spiritual interests he so 
 faithfully tended. 
 
 [6z] 
 
Stasjnation and Revival 
 
 For five years the church was without a settled 
 pastor, the pulpit being supplied for some time, by 
 neighboring ministers. It was too weak to offer 
 any great material inducements to clergymen seek- 
 ing settlements, and this difficulty was considerably 
 enhanced, by the somewhat fastidious tastes of the 
 community, in the matter of choosing a minister. 
 It had enjoyed the services of many able and learned 
 men, scholars and preachers, who loved their pro- 
 fession for its honour and usefulness, and not for its 
 worldly advantages, and was not, therefore, easily 
 satisfied. 
 
 On the 29''' of July 1724, the Rev. Nathaniel 
 Leonard was ordained to the long vacant pulpit. 
 His advent on the scene was 
 Nathaniel Leonard shortly marked by stirring 
 I72d. movements in the stagnant 
 
 pools of religious conventiona- 
 lism, and there was a return to something like the 
 fierv zeal of the Quaker Revival. A considerable 
 number of people were again dissatisfied with the 
 cold dignified regime of a learned ministry and 
 ancient customs. They sighed, as religious people 
 do, at regular intervals, for something more demon- 
 strative and sensational. Not heeding the quiet 
 processes of growth with which Nature perfects her 
 creations they conclude that things which make no 
 noise must be dead. 
 
 In the midst of this rising tide of religious fervour 
 came another exodus of church members. Twenty- 
 five persons, in good and regular standing, formed 
 
 [63] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 a new church at Manomet Ponds, and the ranks of the 
 faithful were once more depleted. 
 T^he Manomet Depressed by the loss, and probably 
 Church IJjS. desiring to recruit its strength, the 
 church against the conviction of 
 many of its staid members, threw in its lot, with one 
 of those periodic convulsions, which ushered in 
 " The Great Awakening." People were called upon 
 to give oral proof of their conversion. It was not 
 enough to be a Christian by baptism, or formal affili- 
 ation with the church, but every Christian by pro- 
 fession was expected to give the precise date and 
 circumstance of an inward and spiritual change, and 
 to be able to say something about it, to shout in 
 chorus, if nothing better could be done. Pure liv- 
 ing must be supplemented by vigorous hallelujahs, 
 and more or less frantic gesticulations. 
 
 In the year 1743, one Andrew Croswell, an itin- 
 erant preacher, visited the town, determined to take 
 the kingdom by violence. All true disciples were 
 invited to stand up and be counted. Regular mem- 
 bers of the church, who were living quiet and devout 
 lives, were told that their righteousness was only as 
 filthy rags, and people to whom religion was a slow 
 spiritual growth, and who had never been accus- 
 tomed to sound the loud timbrel, to whom " the 
 unconscious was the alone complete," were classified 
 among the unconverted. Shallow zealots, often 
 ignorant and inexperienced, were invited to testify, 
 as if anything they could say about the higher and 
 holier life, was worth listening to. Hysterical 
 
 [64] 
 
Stag; nation and Revival 
 
 women and phenomenal children took to declama- 
 tion and prophecy, and the whole town was thrown 
 into a state of wild commotion. 
 
 It was not long before the sober element in the 
 community began to ask. questions. There was an 
 awakening of the intellect as well as of the emotions. 
 What is called "a revival " is very apt to provoke 
 scepticism, 
 
 M' Leonard seems to have been captivated, and 
 carried away, by the excitement. His attitude on 
 this matter caused disaffection and indifference in 
 the parish. Zealous observers of ordinances, and 
 regular attendants at public worship, showed their 
 disapproval of his action, by neglecting their relig- 
 ious duties. At last, the disaffection ripened into 
 revolt. IVP Josiah Cotton, whose deeply spiritual 
 character was not to be questioned, invited the min- 
 ister to call a meeting of the Parish to discuss the 
 following questions : — 
 
 1. "Whether a sudden and short distress, and as 
 sudden joy, amounts to the repentance described 
 and required. (2 Corinthians VII 9-1 1) 
 
 2. Whether the judging and censuring others as 
 unconverted, against whose lives and conversation 
 nothing is objected, be not too pharisaical, and 
 contrary to the rule of charity, prescribed in the 
 Word, and a bold intrusion into the Divine prerog- 
 ative. 
 
 3. Whether that spirit which leads us off from 
 the Scriptures, or comparatively to undervalue them, 
 be a good spirit : as for instance, the disorder and 
 
 [65] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 confusion in our public meetings, contrary to the 
 Scripture rule (i Corinthians XIV) the breaking in 
 upon the order and religion of families, by fre- 
 quent unseasonable evening lectures, without Script- 
 ure precept, or example (except an extraordinary 
 case). 
 
 4. Women and children teaching and exhorting 
 in the public assemblies, contrary to the apostolical 
 direction. Many other things might be mentioned 
 but are omitted. But, inasmuch as it has been 
 publicly suggested, that three-fourths of this church 
 are unconverted, we would humbly move, that we 
 may meet together, in order to know v/hether they 
 are in charity with one another, and also, that the 
 admission of members, may not be too hastily 
 pushed on, till we are better satisfied concerning the 
 spirit that stirs up people to their duty herein." 
 Whether M' Leonard deemed it prudent to keep 
 all this inflammable material out of a church meeting, 
 or did not wish to be drawn into a personal contro- 
 versy, is not known ; but the questions were not 
 submitted to a public meeting. 
 
 M' Cotton, however, was bent upon forcing an 
 issue. He, and eighty others like minded, decided 
 to seek separation from the church. They petitioned 
 for dismissal, and their request was granted, and in 
 1744, a new church was formed, to be called The 
 Third Church and Congregation in Plymouth. The 
 new community erected a place of worship in King 
 Street, now Middle Street. 
 
 The year 1744 was noticeable on account of a 
 
 [66] 
 
Sta[Tnation and Revival 
 
 visit to Plymouth of the great English Revivalist the 
 Rev. George Whitefield, one of the most eloquent 
 pulpit orators of his time. While acting as servitor 
 
 at Pembroke College, Oxford, 
 George Whitefield he came under the influence 
 and the of John and Charles Wesley. 
 
 Methodists iy44. His zeal and piety induced the 
 
 Bishop of Gloucester to ordain 
 him deacon in 1736, hut so great was his power as a 
 preacher, that he w-as sent on an Evangelistic tour, 
 and drew vast multitudes to hear him. Wesley in- 
 vited him to go to Georgia as a missionary. He 
 accepted the call, and arrived in America on the 
 17'^ of May 1738, only to remain, however, for 
 a very brief period. He returned to England to 
 receive priest's orders, and to secure contributions 
 towards his work in Georgia. During his absence 
 from his native land, Wesley had diverged some- 
 what from Calvinism, and this change led White- 
 field to withdraw from the Wesleyan communion. 
 He returned to America in 1744, and commenced 
 his preaching itinerary. It does not appear, that he 
 owned any great gift of thought, or wide range of 
 knowledge, or scholarship. He had none of the 
 philosophic genius of Jonathan Edwards, or the 
 organizing gift of John Wesley. His success as 
 a preacher was due to his great elocutionary and 
 dramatic power, a phenomenal voice, and a spiritual 
 magnetism, which attracted attention, and held it. 
 He subdued men to serious thought by his stern 
 denunciations of sin, and captivated their hearts, by 
 
 [67] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 his searching pathos. His visit to Plymouth, at 
 this time, was doubtless intended, like his later visit 
 in 1754, as an antidote to the Arminianism, which 
 had taken firm root in the community, and was 
 thought to have wrought much mischief. He 
 preached several times, and always to crowded 
 congregations. 
 
 The old meeting-house, which had stood for 
 more than sixty years, resisting wind and weather, 
 
 and a stroke of lightning, was 
 The Third Meeting- in poor condition, and the so- 
 House 1744 ciety resolved to erect a new 
 
 structure on the same spot. 
 The building was quickly reared, and the opening 
 service was conducted by the pastor, with great re- 
 joicing. 
 
 In 1744-5 the church lost by death the last of its 
 ruling elders, Mr. Thomas Faunce. He had held 
 this responsible position for many years, and had 
 shared with the minister the care and supervision 
 not only of the material, but the spiritual interests 
 of the community. The office of a ruling elder 
 was next in importance to that of the minister, and 
 was always held by a person of good education 
 and accredited moral and religious standing. Mr. 
 Faunce stood in few respects, if any, behind his 
 eminent predecessors, in the exercise of his sacred 
 office. 
 
 In the autumn of 1755, owing to increasing 
 physical weakness, Mr. Leonard was compelled to 
 resign his ministry. His resignation was accepted 
 
 [68] 
 
Sta2;nation and Revi\^al 
 
 on condition that his services should be maintained 
 until the settlement of his successor. Then fol- 
 lowed an interregnum of several years, in which the 
 society made unsuccessful efforts to obtain a suitable 
 pastor. 
 
 [69] 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 THE Rev: Chandler Robbins D.D. was 
 called to the Plymouth Church, and or- 
 dained in 1760. He was the son of the 
 Rev. Philemon Robbins, and a graduate of Yale 
 College. By birth and educa- 
 Chandler Robbins tion his tendencies were towards 
 lydo I'igid Calvinism, which though 
 
 firmly rooted in Connecticut, 
 was subject to attacks from ministers and laymen in 
 Massachusetts. The spirit of the age was against 
 it. The air was charged with scepticism both as to 
 its reasonableness and Scriptural authority. John 
 Robinson's injunction, that the Pilgrims and their 
 descendants, should keep their minds open to new 
 revelation was on the eve of a severe test. Mr. 
 Robbins set himself to check the rising tide of 
 liberalism in Plymouth, always bearing himself 
 with becoming dignity, selfrespect, and courtesy, 
 towards those who differed from him ; but resolutely 
 bent upon stemming the waves which threatened 
 his headland of faith. There is something pathetic 
 in the way men stubbornly resist the inevitable 
 tides of thought. Argument is of no avail, per- 
 suasion does not count, facts are brushed aside. 
 The old dogmas must be retained at all hazards, if 
 not in substance, then in form, and new trenches 
 must be dug around the assaulted citadels. Mr. 
 
 [70] 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 Robbins addressed himself to the task in good 
 earnest, and began to tighten the cords of behef, 
 and against all the traditions of Pilgrim history, to 
 encircle the community with doctrinal defences. In 
 1772, he introduced for consideration a number of 
 attached articles affecting affiliation with the church. 
 The door of the Half-way Covenant, opened some 
 years before, must be closed, and admission to the 
 church be through the wicket-gate of special election. 
 Article VI raised the question " whether it be the 
 opinion of the church, that the half-way practice of 
 owning or entering into covenant, which has of 
 late years been adopted by this church, be a Script- 
 ural method — or a practice warranted by the word 
 ot God, and so to be persisted in," On the one 
 side it was urged, that children born of visible be- 
 Hevers, and baptized in infancy, were properly and 
 truly members of the visible church, and, therefore, 
 might claim the privileges of church, members, when 
 they arrived at adult age, and so by owning the 
 covenant, it is not to be understood, that they qual- 
 ified themselves thereby for the privileges of the 
 covenant — they had a right to them before — 
 but it is needful that they should acknowledge what 
 their parents did for them. 
 
 On the other hand, it was pleaded, that Baptism 
 and the Lord's Supper, are both seals of the cove- 
 nant, viz, the Covenant of Grace. And that, con- 
 sequently, they who had a right to one seal, had a 
 right also to the other, and yet, they had no right 
 from the word of God, to make a distinction be- 
 
 [71] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 tween the two seals, as if one was more holy than 
 the other — that would be a dangerous tendency to 
 put aside what God had joined together.* This 
 dispute, arising out of neglect of the Lord's Sup- 
 per, divided the parish so seriously, that it was not 
 deemed expedient, in the interests of unity and 
 peace, to proceed further with it. The issue was a 
 technical one, and since men and women of unques- 
 tioned probity, and exemplary Christian character, 
 were arrayed on both sides, it was not deemed ad- 
 visable to push it to an extremity. 
 
 It was natural that the church should unite with 
 the town in support of the independence of the col- 
 onies. Discontent with taxes and exactions had 
 long been rife in the breasts of Plymouth merchants, 
 and James W. Warren and Isaac Lothrop chosen 
 to represent the town in the Provincial Congress 
 were instructed to support any movement of the 
 colonies against British oppression. Dr. Robbins 
 advocated resistance and independence, and the 
 town was put in a state of defence. Many obnox- 
 ious royalists felt uncomfortable and retired. Dur- 
 ing the Revolution, the community suffered from 
 the suspension of trade and commerce, and the fear 
 of invasion, and in i-'-vS— 9, there was great distress, 
 so that the people, tarough their selectmen, had to 
 petition his Excellency Jonathan Trumbull Esq., 
 Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in- 
 Chief, in and over the State of Connecticut, and the 
 Honorable Council of said State, for the absolute 
 
 *The First Church Records. 
 [7^ 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 necessities of life. M' James Warren writing to 
 Jonathan Trumbull, urged immediate aid " Many 
 of the inhabitants of the town, who have been used 
 to an affluent living have been for weeks destitute 
 of bread, which, in addition to their peculiar suffer- 
 ings from a total loss of their chief dependence for 
 a subsistence, renders their case truly pitiable."'^ 
 Starvation did not, however, weaken their loyalty to 
 libertv, for when in the year 1775, General Gage 
 proposed to locate the " Queen's Guards " at Plym- 
 outh, and the opinion of M"" John Watson was 
 asked as to the wisdom of this step, the latter re- 
 plied, " It is mv opinion that it will not be prudent 
 to bring your company here, for the people are in a 
 state of great excitement and alarm." " Will they 
 fight ?" asked the Captain of the Guards. "Yes" 
 replied John Watson, "like devils." In 1783, the 
 conflict was brought to a close, and the town re- 
 sumed its wonted activities, and set to work to 
 repair the ravages of eight years of war. 
 
 The Third Church and Congreo-ation settled in 
 King Street in 1744, came to an end in 1776, and 
 returned to the ancient fold thereby strengthening 
 the forces of liberalism in the community. 
 
 The religious controversy was silenced but not 
 settled. On the ii^*" of December 1794, a meeting 
 of the precinct was convened to hear a report from 
 a committee, of which D"^ Robbins was chairman, 
 relating to certain proposed alterations in the disci- 
 pline and practice of the church, which committee 
 
 * Trumbull Papers. Collections of the Mass. Historical Society. 
 [73] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 was to meet a committee of the church to discuss 
 the question and to report. The report of the 
 church committee is as follows — 
 
 " The committee appointed, whereof the pastor 
 was chairman, was not of so conciliatory and accom- 
 modating a nature as your committee were sincerely 
 desirous might take place. In respect to the first 
 Article, that the children of baptized parents of 
 sober life and conversation, and professing their 
 belief in the Christian Religion should be admitted 
 to baptism, the committee of said church would not 
 agree to any qualified sense whatever, nor were the 
 committee of the church so far to extend the terms 
 of admission into its communion as to embrace all 
 persons of sober life and conversation though un- 
 feigned believers in the Christian Religion, unless 
 they would subscribe to certain articles of faith, 
 which have indeed been the subject of dispute, 
 among Christians of great eminence and piety, but 
 which were never heard of as a term of communion 
 amongst the Apostles and primitive Christians. 
 Nothing more could be obtained on this head, than 
 that baptism may be administered by a neighbour- 
 ing minister. Upon the whole your committee 
 are constrained to lament the narrow policy of the 
 church, in excluding from its communion, many 
 exemplary Christians, merely on account of their 
 different conceptions of some points of doctrine, 
 about which learned and good men, have enter- 
 tained a great variety of opinions, and this cir- 
 cumstance is more especially a source of regret, at 
 
 [74] 
 
 i 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 this enlightened period, when the principles of civil 
 and religious liberty are almost universally under- 
 stood and practised. For whatever stress some 
 persons may be disposed to lay on matters of 
 mere speculation, the benevolent genius of the 
 Gospel, will teach its votaries, amidst all their 
 differences of opinion, to exercise mutual candour 
 and indulgence, that they may if possible, preserve 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."''' Not- 
 withstanding this report, which represented the feel- 
 ing of a large section of the church, D' Robbins 
 again raised the issue in 1795, in the shape of a 
 creed, as a test to Christian fellowship. He formu- 
 lated a Calvinistic Confession of Faith and insisted 
 that subscription to it, should be made the test of 
 fellowship. A creed in the First Church, and 
 among descendants of the Pilgrims was an innova- 
 tion. Neither John Robinson nor his successors, 
 had ever proposed anything of the kind. The Pil- 
 grims had their religious beliefs, to which they 
 clung tenaciously, but it never occurred to them, to 
 imitate their oppressors, and try to inflict upon 
 others the stigmas, penalties, and disabilities, from 
 which they had themselves escaped, at great cost. 
 Such a step must not be allowed to pass unchal- 
 lenged. The liberals, therefore contemplated a 
 second departure from the church. Their respect 
 for the personal character of D' Robbins forbade 
 any action inside the church, which would seriously 
 affect his position. They contemplated a division 
 
 * Records of The First Church. 
 
 [75] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 and the establishment of a new society. Wiser 
 counsels, however, prevailed, and the creed was 
 tolerated for a little while. But, when on June 30* 
 
 1799, D'' Robbins died, after thirty-nine years of 
 faithful service, the desire for more liberal preaching 
 revived. An opportunity presented itself for the 
 election of a pastor answering to the progressive 
 spirit of the age, and to the needs of a majority in 
 the church and the precinct. A large number of 
 people who considered themselves both orthodox 
 and evangelical, but not Calvinistic, and who had sat 
 uneasily under the ministry of D' Robbins, felt that 
 they were entitled to some consideration in the 
 choice of a minister, and, therefore, combined to 
 choose some one in harmony with their needs and 
 principles. The choice fell upon M' James Ken- 
 dall, who graduated at Harvard in 1796, and was a 
 tutor at the College, when called to Plymouth. 
 
 He was elected by a considerable 
 yames Kendall majority in the church, and an over- 
 
 1800. whelming majority in the precinct. 
 Unlike so many Congregational 
 
 Churches, at this time and after, the First Church 
 resisted Calvinism so completely, that there was no 
 ground left for dispute or litigation. The Church 
 and the Parish were of one mind, and the forces of 
 opposition were in a minority. The change thus 
 wrought was more in the nature of growth than rev- 
 olution. It had come slowly, imperceptibly, as the 
 morning gently scattering the mists of night, as the 
 opening spring giving new energy to a sleeping 
 
 [76] 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 world. The Church and its new minister were well 
 within the lines of Evangelical Congregationalism, 
 and certainly more in harmony with the spirit of the 
 Forefathers, than those who resisted the change. 
 It is wrongly supposed that Unitarianism had some- 
 thing to do with the division ; but liberalism did 
 not take that form until twenty years later. At the 
 time Dr. Kendall was ordained, neither Channing, 
 Emerson or Parker had spoken the words, which 
 lifted so many New England churches from their 
 moorings. No : the change in the Plymouth 
 Church came from within, and not from without, 
 was a growth of the divine spirit in the human 
 heart, and not a sudden conversion. The records 
 of the church give no indication of bitterness of feel- 
 ing, or angry resentment. The theological transi- 
 tion from Dr. Robbins to Dr. Kendall was placid, if 
 not pleasant, and when in September 1800, the un- 
 satisfied minority sought separation, it was not with 
 any evident signs of ill-will, although the intellectual 
 and social cleavage was pronounced. 
 
 The following extracts from the Records of the 
 First Church, indicate the spirit which actuated 
 those who remained, and those who went out. On 
 the ly*"" of September 1800, the following petition 
 signed by fifteen men and thirty-five women was 
 presented to a meeting of the church. 
 
 "We request that all the members, male and 
 female that wish to be dismissed from their relation 
 to the First Church in Plymouth, and that any 
 male or female desiring hereafter a dismission from 
 
 [77] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 either church, to join the other, be dismissed if 
 recommended to the other." 
 
 The meeting adjourned for a week to consider 
 the question, not desiring to do anything, or to 
 permit anything to be done, hastily. 
 
 " The church agreeable to adjournment met on 
 the following week, at the house of the pastor, 
 when the petitioners explained their meaning in 
 the clause respecting the dismission of members 
 from one church to the other, hereafter, with a 
 recommendation. They said, they had nothing 
 further in view, by injecting the clause, than that 
 the removal of relations from one church to the 
 other in future, be regulated according to the usual 
 practice of this, and other Congregational churches 
 in New England. They also reUnquish their pre- 
 tended claim to the church furniture, being con- 
 vinced that it was given to the First Church, the 
 present members are not exclusively entitled to it, 
 and therefore, had no right to the disposal of it. 
 They asked only for the privilege of using it, a cer- 
 tain time, till it was convenient for them to furnish 
 their own table."* The following petition and 
 resolutions were then presented. 
 
 " We the subscribers being members of the First 
 Church of Christ in Plymouth, request to be dis- 
 missed, and establish in a church estate among our- 
 selves, by the name of the Third Church in 
 Plymouth. 
 
 Resolved, That the petitioners be dismissed from 
 
 * Records of the First Church. 
 [78] 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 their special relation to the First Church of Christ 
 in Plymouth, in order to be set off into a distinct 
 church by the name of the Third Church of Christ 
 in Plymouth, agreeable to their request. The vote 
 was passed in the affirmative unanimously. 
 
 The church further voted, That they have the 
 privilege of using the furniture at their communions 
 for two years. 
 
 The meeting then closed as usual, and dissolved 
 in harmony. May the great Head of the church 
 smile upon these transactions that they may con- 
 tribute to the more rapid advancement of his king- 
 dom among us ! " "^ 
 
 So ended, amicably and peacefully, although not 
 without deep feeling, the first separation in the 
 church, into which dogmatic differences had entered. 
 Both parties, those who stayed, and those who left, 
 acted conscientiously and loyally. The old First 
 Church was firmly convinced that it was supported 
 in its action bv the authority of Scripture and the 
 traditions of Pilgrim history. 
 
 The seceders applied to the General Court for in- 
 corporation as the Third Congregational Society in 
 Plymouth, pleading the inadequacy of one church to 
 meet the needs of the town, (the second church 
 being at Manomet) and their inability to co-operate 
 with their late co-religionists through lack of agree- 
 ment and sympathy. 
 
 The charter was granted, and in 1802, Deacon 
 John Bishop with his fellow-seceders were incor- 
 
 * Records of the Fiist Church. 
 
 [79] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 porated as a distinct society. Before taking steps 
 to erect a church building they petitioned the town 
 for a lot on Training Green. 
 T^he Third Church a committee was appointed to 
 of Christ in take the matter into considera- 
 
 Ply?nouth l8oi. tion and to report. After de- 
 liberation, they decided, in view 
 of the contemplated sale of the whole of Training 
 Green, that it was inexpedient at this time. "To 
 comply with the request of the applicants by grant- 
 ing a lot, for the purpose mentioned, would in the 
 opinion of your committee, not only preclude the 
 Town under whatever circumstances, it may be, 
 from opposing the prosecution of that object ; but 
 would sanction the separation of a small number 
 of persons, on principles which do not appear to be 
 substantial and well-founded. If religious societies 
 are to be split up into divisions, merely for a variance 
 of sentiment in certain polemic speculations, about 
 which the greatest and best men in all ages of the 
 Christian Church have differed, each Christian must 
 consecrate his own dwelling, as his sanctuary, for 
 scarcely two of the best informed Christians can be 
 found precisely to agree on every controversial 
 point." * 
 
 A church was erected on the westerly side of 
 Training Green, and the Rev. Adoniram Judson 
 was settled as the first pastor. Later on, two 
 churches sprung from the new society, one at Eel 
 River in 1814, andthe Robinson church in 1830. 
 
 *Town Records -vide Hon. W. T. Davis's Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth. 
 
 [80] 
 
Creed, or no Creed? 
 
 On the 5th of May 1870, the name of the Third 
 Church was changed to " The Church and Society 
 of the Pilgrimage," and a Church Manual was 
 printed, which appropriated all the ministers and 
 deacons of the First Church down to 1801, and set 
 up an unwarranted claim to be the first and oldest 
 church in America, although on the 14th of No- 
 vember of the same year, the Church of the Pil- 
 grimage adopted new Articles of Faith, with a new 
 covenant, and rules of government. 
 
 [81] 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Back to the Past. 
 
 THE Creed of 1795, the real cause of dis- 
 sension in the First Church, still remained 
 to be dealt with. That had been the apple 
 of discord in the community, and would remain 
 a disturbing factor, unless some action was taken 
 upon it. A creed in such a church, and with such 
 a history, was a dangerous anachronism. The creed 
 in question was a strongly Calvinistic statement of 
 faith, and was intended to rule out of fellowship, 
 all who could not subscribe to it. Its fundamental 
 propositions were in substance the following, 
 
 I. The apostacy and total depravity of human 
 nature by sin. 
 
 1. Salvation purchased by the atoning blood of 
 Christ. 
 
 3. The absolute necessity of regeneration by the 
 supernatural agency of the Holy Spirit. The 
 sovereignty of divine grace in the conversion of 
 sinners. 
 
 4. The true and proper deity of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the only meritorious ground of justification 
 before God. 
 
 5. Eternal happiness for the elect : eternal misery 
 for the rest. 
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers may have believed these 
 dogmas, wholly or in part, but they never put them 
 into a creed, or made belief in them essential to 
 
 [82] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 Christian fellowship. The simple covenant still in 
 use at the First Church satisfied their requirements. 
 
 It is, therefore, not surprising, that after the death 
 of Dr. Robbins, the community rebelled against the 
 new instrument, and quietly resolved to get rid of 
 it; and on the 9th of July 1820, "a meeting was 
 called to consider the expediency of altering the 
 terms or conditions of becoming members of the 
 church, and enjoying Christian privileges, in order 
 to render them more conformable to the require- 
 ments of the Gospel, more agreeable to apostolic 
 practice, and more in accordance with the usage of 
 this church for 175 years. It appeared that in 1795 
 a departure from the ancient usage of the church 
 was introduced by adopting a written creed or con- 
 fession, which was thought to be a condition of ad- 
 mission to Christian ordinances, and not promotive 
 of the increase and prosperity of the church. That 
 it was, in fact a departure from the practice of this 
 church from the time of our forefathers, and from 
 the first principle of Protestantism — which is a suf- 
 ficiency of Holy Scripture for all the purposes of 
 faith and practice. Instead, therefore, of continuing 
 to make a public acknowledgment of this creed, a 
 condition of enjoying Christian fellowship and com- 
 munion in future, it was voted unanimously to re- 
 turn to the former practice of this church, in this 
 respect, and adopt the covenant made use of by the 
 church previous to the year i795."'"'' 
 
 It is interesting to observe, how both parties to 
 
 * Records of the First Church. 
 
 [83] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 this controversy, those who accepted the creed, and 
 those who rejected it, appealed to Scripture, and 
 especially to the Gospels, in support of their con- 
 flicting opinions. Both claimed to be evangelical. 
 The triumphant majority stoutly held, that neither 
 the creed itself was scriptural, nor the use of it. 
 Its dogmas were not known, when the earlier 
 scriptures were penned ; and not until many cen- 
 turies after the death of Jesus and his apostles did 
 theological belief and conformity to opinion become 
 a condition of discipleship, or of enjoyment of 
 Christian ordinances. 
 
 Once again, the old Church stood out in splendid 
 isolation, and beneath an open sky, without any 
 ecclesiastical affiliation or dogmatic bonds. Its 
 faith was as great as ever, its teachings were unim- 
 paired, its ordinances were intact, its work was un- 
 restricted, and its first principles were in the way of 
 fulfilment. It was still in spirit and in truth, the 
 Church of the Pilgrims, the pure shrine to which the 
 children of the ancient fathers gathered for worship. 
 
 That the controversy ended as it did, was due in 
 large measure, to the tact, urbanity, and refinement 
 of Dr. Kendall. He was by nature and habit, free 
 from the passions and prejudices which heat and 
 disturb less finely tempered minds. Strength and 
 sweetness were so blended in his character, that the 
 tempests of the soul, in which other men delight, 
 and which so often lift them from their feet, left him 
 serene and firm. The passing disturbance soon sub- 
 sided, and the two churches settled down to their 
 
 [84] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 separate functions, the Church of the Pilgrimage 
 priding itself upon its lovaltv to Calvinistic teaching, 
 so far as the spirit of the age would permit it to do 
 so ; and the First Church adhering to the principles 
 of non-subscription to creeds and articles, and open- 
 ness to more scientific knowledge of Scripture and 
 religious philosophy, in accordance with the true 
 spirit of Protestantism and the practice of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers ; the former remaining in the Congre- 
 gationalist body, the latter becoming more liberal, 
 and finally joining the Unitarian movement, which 
 at that time, differed but little from the advanced 
 wing of modern Congregationalists. 
 
 On the lo* of April 1831, the last religious ser- 
 vice was held in the old Meeting-House, which had 
 stood for eighty-seven years. D' Kendall preached 
 from the text Haggai II, 3. "Who is left among 
 you that saw this house in her first glory ? And 
 now do you see it?" It was decided to take the 
 edifice down, and to build another, larger and more 
 in keeping with the improved taste, and broader out- 
 look of the times. The new building was in course 
 of construction about eight months, and on the 14'^ 
 of December 1 831, was dedicated to " the worship 
 and service of God." The opening sermon was 
 
 preached by the Rev D"" 
 The Fourth Meeting- Kendall, from Ezra VI 16. 
 House 18 J I " And the children of Israel, 
 
 the priests and the Levites, 
 and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept 
 the dedication of this house of God with joy." The 
 
 [85] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 sermon dealt among other things with the unique 
 catholicity" of John Robinson and the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, and with the desire of their heirs to per- 
 petuate the same liberality and freedom from re- 
 ligious persecution. " May these sacred walls " 
 said he, " never reverberate with licentious opinions, 
 the shouts of fanaticism, nor the denunciations of 
 bigotry." The new building was a handsome and 
 commodious structure, for the place and the time, 
 and like the one which preceded it, was the gather- 
 ing-place of descendants of the Pilgrims, who met 
 on different occasions, to express their veneration 
 for the forefathers. Its walls echoed to the voices 
 of many famous men, who continued to do honour 
 to the founders of the republic, on the spot which 
 their fame had glorified ; and among the regular at- 
 tendants at the services there, were many families 
 claiming direct descent from the Pilgrims. 
 
 The church maintained its ancient ordinances, and 
 continued to participate in the ordination and 
 installation of ministers of other Congregational 
 churches. Narrow restrictions were removed from 
 the administration of Baptism and the Lord's Sup- 
 per, in which Christians of any name or creed were 
 permitted to participate. As early as 1804, Bap- 
 tists, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians, partook 
 of communion in the Church. The Records relate 
 that on the 12* of October 1804, Joanna Winslow 
 and Mary Warren, Episcopalians of Scituate, sought 
 permission to join in the communion of the First 
 Church, and their request v/as cordiallv received 
 and granted. 
 
 [86] 
 
 i 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 On the 15* of June 1837, a meeting of the 
 parish was held, to consider the best means of further 
 promoting the prosperity of the church, and it was 
 voted unanimously to adopt the following profession 
 and declaration, " Believing the Scriptures of the Old 
 and New Testaments to contain the word of God, 
 and to be the only and sufficient rule of faith and 
 practice ; it is my (or our) sincere desire and purpose 
 of heart, in professing this belief, in joining this 
 church, and partaking of the ordinances of the 
 Gospel, by the aid of his grace — to live by the 
 faith of the Son of God, and thus to walk in all his 
 commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blame- 
 less." It was made optional with the applicant, to 
 manifest his or her assent to this profession, either 
 in public, or to the pastor, in private, and by so 
 doing, the person was received, and declared to be, 
 a member in full communion with the church. 
 " This form being so much in harmony with the 
 simplicity that was in Christ, and so conformable to 
 the primitive practice of the church, it is hoped and 
 believed will tend to remove from the minds of 
 sincere and devout persons, every reasonable objection 
 against joining the church, and availing themselves 
 of the satisfaction and benefit of enjoying the 
 Christian ordinances. May this harmonious pro- 
 ceeding of the brethren, be followed by the favour 
 and blessing of the great head of the Church, and 
 result in the prosperity of our spiritual Zion." * 
 
 It was to be expected that the liberal attitude of 
 
 * Records of the First Church. 
 
 [87] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 the church would lay it open to some popular mis- 
 representation. The denial of Calvinistic theology 
 was equivalent in the minds of illiterate persons, to 
 the rejection of Scripture, and all the more so, after 
 the society had formally affiliated itself with the 
 Unitarians, although D"" Channing and the leaders 
 of the Unitarian movement regarded the dogmas of 
 the trinity, man's natural depravity, and atonement 
 by blood, not only as unreasonable in themselves, 
 but unscriptural. The point upon which the early 
 Unitarians were wont to lay stress was the un-- 
 scriptural character of the dogmas, against which 
 they protested. The time had not yet come, when 
 they were to take other and broader ground, and to 
 maintain, that doctrines which were intrinsically and 
 logically unbelievable were not to be accepted, 
 whether in the Bible or out of it. For the moment, 
 they were willing to use the weapons of the Refor- 
 mation, and to contend for the Scriptural basis of 
 their beliefs. They were met with persistent mis- 
 understanding and abuse from people, who would 
 not, or could not see, that the issues at stake were 
 to be settled by learning and fair judgment, and not 
 by passion and prejudice, and that a man might 
 believe or deny dogmas without being morally the 
 better or the worse. Speculative opinions were 
 impersonal things, and he might be a good Trini- 
 tarian, or a good Unitarian, without in any degree 
 gaining or losing caste as a Christian. There was 
 no moral merit in affirmation, and no culpability in 
 denial. The questions at issue between the churches 
 
 [88] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 were to be settled by critics and scholars, and not 
 by appeals to ignorant zeal and prejudice. 
 
 There were good Christians in the world, and in 
 the church, long before dogmas were promulgated, 
 or creeds were invented. The old First Church 
 was pledged by its history to this truth, and was 
 among the earliest communities to recognize the 
 fact, which is fast becoming a simple truism, that 
 Christianity is a type of life, and not a collection of 
 opinions : discipleship to the great master of the art 
 of living, and not scholarship in a theological 
 academy. It is a temper and disposition of the 
 mind and heart, which may exist under this doctrine 
 or that, under one name or another. There is some 
 portion of it in every church, and no church con- 
 tains the whole of it — a beautiful truth which is 
 doing so much to efface the lines between the sects, 
 and to bring people together, who despite their 
 inevitable differences of belief, ought to live in one 
 fold, and under one shepherd. 
 
 No one was better able to illustrate and champion 
 this return to the primitive simplicity and inclusive- 
 ness of the First Church, at the opening of the nine- 
 teenth century, than D' Kendall. He was a man 
 of generous and dispassionate judgment, of inflexible 
 integrity, of gentle and kindly affections. His very 
 presence rebuked passion and disarmed prejudice, 
 and opponents might challenge his opinions, but 
 could not dispute his Christian character. His 
 preaching and pastoral work won for him the es- 
 teem and love of his own people, and of others not 
 
 [89] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 of that fold. He became identified with the best Vik 
 of the town, and endeared himself to citizens gener- 
 ally, by his readiness to serve them in any capacity 
 within his power. 
 
 After he had been pastor for thirty-eight years, 
 the congregation, with that kindness and courtesy 
 which always marked the treatment of its minis- 
 ters, persuaded him to accept the aid of an associate 
 pastor. The Rev George W. Briggs, of Fall River, 
 a graduate of Brown University, and a young minis- 
 ter of great promise, was invited to take this posi- 
 tion. He accepted the call, and 
 George W. Briggs was installed on the 24'^ of 
 18 j8 M^-y 1838. The appointment 
 
 was satisfactory, since there was 
 very much in common between the two ministers. 
 For fifteen years, they worked together in brotherly 
 harmony, the elder always giving his full sympathy 
 and support to the younger, and the latter regarding 
 his senior with something like filial respect and affec- 
 tion. " I look back through all those years " said 
 D' Briggs, in 1859, "to find my memory thronged 
 with precious and beautiful remembrances of un- 
 varying kindness. I can recall no word or look ; I 
 do not believe that he could recall a thought, which 
 was not worthy of a father's love towards an unduly 
 valued child. I relied upon his loving interest as 
 upon the daily sunlight. In that relation, at least, 
 he seemed incapable of a selfish or jealous thought. 
 He turned the hearts of his people toward me, and 
 never held them back." * In 1853,0'' Briggs re- 
 
 * Sermon o Dr Kendall, March 20th, 1859. 
 [90] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 signed his pastorate to take charge of the First Con- 
 gregational Society in Salem. His resignation was 
 accepted with deep regret by the parish, which em- 
 bodied its feeling in a resolution containing the fol- 
 lowing words " We shall ever cherish a grateful 
 recollection of the harmonious relations which have 
 existed between yourself and the parish for fifteen 
 years, and our best wishes and prayers attend you in 
 your new field." 
 
 The effort to find a suitable successor to D' 
 Briggs was not an easy matter. M"" Henry S. 
 Myrick, a graduate of Harvard was appointed May 
 the 19^ 1853, but the connection was dissolved 
 April 8'^ 1855. The Rev. G. S. Ball was installed 
 on March i" 1856, but his relation with the parish 
 ceased in April 1857. 
 
 At last, the Church was fortunate enough to 
 secure the services of the Rev. Edward H. Hall, 
 son of Rev. E. B. Hall D.D. of Providence, and 
 a graduate of Harvard. He accepted the call in 
 December 1858, and was duly installed. 
 
 His ministry opened at a time 
 Edward H. Hall when the anti-slavery forces 
 18^8 were gathering for battle. The 
 
 war of words which had pro- 
 ceeded with increasing bitterness for some years 
 was about to ripen into a momentous conflict. 
 Lincoln and Douglas were champions in opposite 
 camps, and their debates, which were both numer- 
 ous and ably conducted, prepared the way for a 
 clear understanding of the issues which were being 
 
 [91] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 forced upon the country. " There is no way " said 
 Lincoln " of putting an end to the slavery agitation 
 amongst us, but to put it back upon the basis 
 where our fathers placed it, — no way but to keep 
 it out of our new territories — to restrict it forever 
 to the old States where it now exists. Then the 
 public mind will rest in the belief that it is in the 
 course of ultimate extinction." * The other way 
 was to recognize slavery as part of the economic 
 and industrial order, to allow it to remain where it 
 was, and to prevent its extension over other States. 
 
 In the midst of this agitation, the venerable pas- 
 tor who for nearly sixty years had been a tower of 
 strength to the church, and had gone in and out 
 among his people as a beloved friend and helper, was 
 called to his rest. He died on the 17* of March 
 1859, in the 90'^ year of his age. During twenty- 
 one years of his ministry, there had been several 
 associate pastors, but he preached occasionally, until 
 the last year of his life, and preserved unimpaired 
 the confidence and affection, which had sustained 
 him through an exceptionally long and pleasant 
 pastorate. " The funeral services were held in the 
 Church, on the afternoon of Sunday the 2.0*, and 
 all the churches and places of business of the town 
 were closed, in token of the general feeling of re- 
 spect and affection throughout the community." t 
 
 National events were moving with great rapidity, 
 and converging to a crisis; and when in April 1862, 
 
 * Lincoln-Douglas Debates, page 155. 
 t Records of the First Church. 
 
 [9-] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 in consequence of the open Rebellion ot the Southern 
 States against the United States Government, lovers 
 of union and liberty gathered around the national 
 flag, the First Church and its minister, were as loyal 
 as their predecessors had been in Revolutionary times. 
 Minister and people threw themselves heartily into 
 the conflict. On the a8"^ of August 1862, M^ 
 Hall announced that he had been elected Chaplain 
 of the 44* Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, 
 and had resolved to accept the appointment. " At 
 this time," he wrote, " when all our duties lie in one 
 direction, and when each one is called upon to render 
 what service he is able, to the great cause, I feel sure 
 that you will approve of my decision to accept the 
 place." 
 
 An informal meeting of the Parish was held at 
 the church, on the 31^^ of August, and the follow- 
 ing resolutions were adopted unanimously : — 
 
 " That it gives us sincere regret, that the minis- 
 terial relations of our pastor with this people are dis- 
 turbed, and that we are to lose the ministrations of 
 one so able, devoted, and affectionate, and whose 
 labours have for us, been so valuable and inter- 
 esting. 
 
 That we appreciate the motives, and respect the 
 convictions of duty, which prompt him to devote 
 his strength and best efforts to the sacred cause of 
 our country, at this season of affliction and peril. 
 
 That it is the unanimous desire of the Parish, that 
 the pastoral relations of M"" Hall with the people 
 shall remain unbroken ; and that the Parish Com- 
 
 [93] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 mittee be instructed to request him to withdraw his 
 resignation, and to offer him leave of absence for 
 nine months." 
 
 The resignation was withdrawn, and arrangements 
 were made for the supply of the pulpit, during the 
 absence of the minister. Throughout six months 
 of this absence the pulpit was supplied by the Rev: 
 Charles W. Buck. 
 
 In answer to the call of duty, the pews were in 
 no respect behind the pulpit. Then, and afterwards, 
 quite a number of the young men of the church, 
 volunteered to serve their country in the war, 
 and upheld the traditions of the community. 
 
 On June the 28* 1 863, the pastor resumed his con- 
 nection with the church, and received an enthusiastic 
 welcome from his parishioners and friends. 
 
 It Vv^ill be remembered, that at different periods 
 in the history of the church, attempts were made to 
 modify the original covenant, to meet the fluctua- 
 tions of changing opinion. Not one of the changes 
 made, was in any respect an improvement upon the 
 original, and it is a remarkable illustration of the 
 liberality and foresight of the ancient fathers, that 
 more than 250 years after the first covenant was 
 formed, the church should hark back to it, as to the 
 ideal bond of Christian fellowship. A church 
 meeting was held, to consider this matter, on Sunday 
 Dec: 20* 1863, and it was unanimously resolved, 
 to go back to the primitive covenant of the church, 
 {vide Church Records Vol. I page 4). 
 
 It may be worth while to notice at this point, 
 
 [94] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 the slow and imperceptible change, which at this 
 time was creeping over the churches, in no way- 
 affecting the fundamental principles of Congrega- 
 tionalism, but tending more and more to make 
 membership a simple question of owning or renting 
 pews. The ruling elder and his authority had long 
 since ceased to be. Deacons were rapidly giving 
 way to parish committees. Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper, the observance of which was once so indis- 
 pensable to communion, and the neglect of which 
 was accompanied with reproofs and penalties, had 
 become optional, like attendance at public worship. 
 The era of ecclesiastical authority in Congregation- 
 alism was drawing to a close. The churches were 
 in the way of becoming democratic corporations 
 consisting of groups of people, with little in com- 
 mon as to religious belief, and owning pews or sit- 
 tings, which might be occupied by the proprietors 
 themselves, or rented to others, and which were 
 sometimes owned bv absentees who had become 
 members of other churches, or had given up going 
 to church altogether, but apparently enjoyed the 
 right to a voice and a vote in the affairs of a church, 
 in which they had ceased to have any other interest. 
 Congregationalism was making its appeal to the re- 
 ligious instincts of its adherents, to the honour and 
 enthusiasm of its people, and was willing to do so, 
 despite the fact that its principles were liable in the 
 hands of non-religious men to misuse and abuse. 
 
 The First Church harmonized the largest liberty 
 with the warmest religious enthusiasm, and its affairs 
 
 [95] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 continued, as of old, to be directed by men who re- 
 mained in its fellowship, and attended its services, 
 because they enjoyed its religious privileges, for 
 themselves and their families. 
 
 On Saturday June i^' 1867 the Rev: E. H. Hall 
 resigned the pulpit, and shortly after settled in 
 Worcester. His resignation was accepted with sin- 
 cere expressions of regret. 
 
 In October 1869, a call was given to the Rev: 
 Frederick N. Knapp, who graduated from Harvard 
 College in 1843, ^^ enter the Divinity School, and 
 
 afterwards settled at Brook- 
 Frederick N. Knapp Hne. He left Brookline in 
 1860 '^'^SS-> ^^^ account of ill- 
 
 health. On the 21'' of July 
 1 861, he joined the Sanitary Commission, becom- 
 ing Assistant Secretary to the Eastern Division, and 
 Superintendent of the Special Relief Department. 
 " He was the personal friend of General Grant and 
 President Lincoln, and when Grant visited Plym- 
 outh, he made M' Knapp's house his stopping-place. 
 While in the Sanitary Commission, fifty thousand 
 wounded and sick soldiers passed through his hands, 
 and received aid from him. After the war, he de- 
 voted a year to writing a history of the Special Re- 
 lief Department of the Commission, and its war 
 work. In 1866, he became principal of a military 
 School at Eagleswood, N.J." * His ministry in 
 Plymouth afforded scope for his scholarly attain- 
 ments, and for the manifestation of a generous and 
 
 *In Memoriam Frederick N. Knapp i88g. 
 [96] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 kindly disposition. His experience on the Sanitary- 
 Commission had brought him into close touch with 
 suffering in all its forms, and gave to his work in a 
 country parish, a wide range ot personal sympathy 
 and tender helpfulness. He was accessible to every- 
 body needing friendly counsel or help, regardless of 
 church or creed. Nature had endowed him with a 
 bright, cheerful, happy disposition, which became 
 contagious wherever he moved. He never ceased 
 to think and act for others, and countless deeds of 
 thoughtful kindness still serve to keep his memorv 
 fresh in the hearts of those who loved him. His 
 Christianity was not confined to the pulpit, or to 
 pastoral cares, but pervaded his social duties, and the 
 obligations of citizenship. There was no institution 
 in the town, educational, philanthropic, social, in 
 which he did not feel a close personal interest. He 
 was strongly identified with the education of the 
 young, and during the five years of his ministry, 
 and until his death in 1889, he conducted a success- 
 ful school for boys. He was also Chairman of the 
 School Committee for several years. The Grand 
 Army departed from its usual custom in his case, 
 and conferred upon him the unique distinction of 
 being the only honorary member in the country. 
 
 His position as pastor of the First Church was 
 relinquished in October 1874, but he retained a 
 warm affection for the church, and attended its 
 ministrations to the close of his life. His death 
 came suddenly on January ii^*" 1889, in his sixty- 
 eighth year. He died as he had lived, cheerfully, 
 
 [97] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 peacefully, hopefully, leaving behind him a wife, 
 who shared his spirit, and supported him loyally, in 
 all his varied labors, and a family of children, who 
 cherish their father's memory as a rich inheritance. 
 On the day of the funeral, factories shut down, the 
 public schools were dismissed at an early hour, at 
 eleven o'clock all places of business were closed, and 
 the church bells tolled. There was a private ser- 
 vice at the home, conducted by his friends the Rev^ 
 C. P. Lombard, R. N. Bellows, of Walpole, and 
 George W. Briggs D.D. of Cambridge. This was 
 followed by a service in the Church, which was at- 
 tended by a throng of personal friends, and repre- 
 sentatives of the various military and benevolent 
 associations, and conducted by the Rev^ C. P. Lom- 
 bard, C. Y. De Normandie, George E. Ellis D.D., 
 Thomas Hill D.D., and George W. Briggs D.D. 
 Such tributes of popular esteem had not been given 
 to any minister in the town, since the death of the 
 venerable D"" Kendall, who like M"" Knapp, was 
 everybody's friend. 
 
 On the 22""^ of June 1878, M"" E. Q. S. Osgood 
 was invited to take charge of the parish. He was 
 
 then a student at the Divinity 
 E. ^ S. Osgood School, Cambridge. On the 11'^ 
 1878 of July, he accepted the call, and 
 
 was ordained on the 10* of Octo- 
 ber following. He brought to his work the fresh- 
 ness and enthusiasm of early manhood, and de- 
 voted himself assiduously to the Sunday School, and 
 work among the young people. Himself, the son 
 
 [98] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 of a clergyman, the venerable D"^ Osgood, of Co- 
 hasset, he was not unacquainted with the duties and 
 responsibilities of a minister's life, and by his dili- 
 gence and benevolent activity, he soon won for 
 himself, the esteem and affection of his people. 
 The women of the church, always loyal and faithful 
 friends of the ministers, were among his willing and 
 energetic supporters. At a Fair, held in the month 
 of August 1879, they raised $1000 for the benefit 
 of the parish. In 1880, M'' Osgood's health de- 
 clined, and that made rest and change essential to 
 the further continuance of his labours, and in April 
 
 1 88 1, leave of absence was given to him, and he 
 went to Europe as tutor of a private pupil, and 
 with the sincere good wishes of his parishioners. 
 
 During the minister's absence, the Rev: John H. 
 Heywood, formerly of Louisville, Kentucky, occu- 
 pied the pulpit and discharged pastoral duties, in 
 such a way, as to make his services memorable to 
 the church, and the community. 
 
 M' Osgood returned to Plymouth in September 
 
 1882, and resumed his duties. 
 
 In the Spring of 1885, a branch of the Women's 
 Auxiliary Conference was established in the church, 
 for the purpose of elevating and strengthening the 
 interest of women in parish work, and in mission- 
 ary enterprise. Committees were formed for the 
 study of the Liberal Faith, for the development 
 of intellectual interest in its beliefs and history, 
 and for the cultivation of social and philanthropic 
 activities. 
 
 [99] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 The Rev M' Osgood closed his pastorate Octo- 
 ber ii"** 1885, and from that time until April 1887, 
 the pulpit was supplied by various ministers, with- 
 out regular settlement. 
 
 On the 18'^ of January 1888, the Hon. Arthur 
 Lord, chairman of the Parish Committee, com- 
 municated the desire of the congregation, to the 
 Rev: Charles P. Lombard minister of the Second 
 Congregational Society, at Athol, Mass : that he 
 should become their minister, for three years. The 
 call was accepted, and M' Lombard entered upon 
 his duties on April i^' 1888. He commended him- 
 self to the confidence and affection of the church, 
 
 and on the 21^' of November 
 Charles P Lombard 1890, at the Annual Parish 
 1888 Meeting, he was confirmed in 
 
 his office as settled minister 
 of the church. He laboured faithfully and earnestly 
 for the good of the parish and community, and by his 
 courtesy and good-will, did much towards develop- 
 ing friendly relations between the various religious 
 bodies in the town, encouraging closer intercourse 
 where that was possible, and exchange of hospitality. 
 Union Thanksgiving Services were established 
 among the Protestant sects, and sometimes union 
 services were held for the development of a stronger, 
 and more enthusiastic religious life, in the whole 
 community. 
 
 In the summer of 1892, the second session of the 
 school of Applied Ethics was held in the town, and 
 the following clergymen and laymen delivered ser- 
 
 [100] 
 
Back to the Past 
 
 mons or addresses, in the church, on Sundays, — July 
 17"', Professor C. H. Toy, of Cambridge; the 24''^, 
 NP Bernard Bosanquet, of London ; August 7''', Rev. 
 W. H. Johnson, of Wihnington ; the 14"', D' 
 Emil G. Hirsch, Jewish Rabbi, of Chicago. The 
 church which had stood for about sixty years, was 
 very much in need of repairs, and the sum of $2,500 
 was raised for that purpose, and the w^ork was begun 
 in September. When it was nearly finished, and 
 the church was almost ready for the re-opening 
 services, the fine old building took fire, and was 
 burned to the ground, on Tuesday evening, Nov- 
 ember the 22°^ 1892. There was universal sympathy 
 with the parish, not merely in the town, and imme- 
 diate neighbourhood, but throughout New England. 
 Not only was a familiar landmark removed, but a 
 church home had gone, around which many historic 
 associations clustered, and in which, many per- 
 sonal and family memories were centred. From 
 its impressive tower, the old Paul Revere bell had 
 daily recorded the flying hours. Within its walls 
 the voices of statesmen, poets, preachers, men of 
 letters had been heard, men, who on special occa- 
 sions, such as forefathers day, had delivered speeches 
 and orations, in commemoration of historic events, 
 of more than local interest. It was, moreover, the 
 shrine of Pilgrim history, to which the faithful of 
 our own land, and sympathetic visitors from abroad, 
 gathered to do reverence to the only existing symbol 
 of a great historic past. The ground on which it 
 stood, was hallowed by the prayers of many genera- 
 
 [lOl] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 tions, sanctified by the joys and sorrows of more 
 than two centuries of worshippers. The old church 
 was thus like a sentinel standing day and night at 
 the foot of Burial Hill, to guard the honoured dust 
 of the forefathers. 
 
 [lOZ] 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 Liberty and Progress. 
 
 WHEN the first shock of surprise and 
 sorrow had passed, the congregation 
 quickly determined that the fifth edifice 
 should soon be reared, to perpetuate Pilgrim history. 
 A voice came to them from the past, speaking in 
 language their hearts well understood, 
 
 " If, as some have done 
 Ye grope tear-blinded in a desert place, 
 And touch but tombs — look up ! Those tears will run 
 Soon in long rivers down the lifted face, 
 And leave the vision clear for stars and sun." 
 
 In the meantime, the churches of different denom- 
 inations — Universalist, Baptist, Congregationalist, 
 Methodist — kindly offered the temporary use of 
 their edifices, to the homeless parish. The first 
 service, after the fire, was held in the Universalist 
 Church, on the afternoon of Sunday December the 
 4'^ On the 19''', a parish meeting was held in 
 Standish Hall, and the first five thousand dollars 
 was subscribed, towards the building of a new 
 church. The movement was taken up with en- 
 thusiasm, by young and old, and every society in 
 the parish applied all its resources, towards acquiring 
 funds for the erection of a new house. The whole 
 church was dominated by one purpose, that of rais- 
 ing enough money to rear an edifice of stone, strong 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 and durable, a fitting temple for the liberal faith, 
 and an enduring monument to the ancient fathers, 
 and the brave days of old. 
 
 On the 19* of June 1893, ^ parish meeting was 
 held, to consider plans of the proposed new church. 
 After several meetings, and much discussion, it was 
 decided to accept those of Mess'^ Hartwell, Rich- 
 ardson, and Driver, of Boston. The architecture 
 is of the English-Norman type, and bears some 
 resemblance to the ancient church at Scrooby. At 
 its front is a central tower, the entrance to Vv^hich is 
 through a series of receding arches, leading to a 
 memorial vestibule, in which will be placed windows 
 and. tablets. The tower contains a belfry, in which 
 the town bell cast by Paul Revere in 1 801, is placed, 
 and which hung in the old church, ringing the nine 
 o'clock curfew for three generations, and on the night 
 of the fire, sounding the alarm, just before it fell 
 among the burning ruins. The main edifice is built 
 of seam-faced granite, with Ohio sandstone trim- 
 mings. In the lower part of the building, under the 
 church, are a vestry and Sunday School. A memo- 
 rial window was presented by the Society of May- 
 flower descendants of New York, to be placed in 
 the chancel of the church, representing the " Sign- 
 ing of the Compact " in the cabin of the Mayflower ; 
 and later on, another memorial window was placed 
 in the north end, by a sister of M"^ Edward G. 
 Walker, representing " John Robinson delivering 
 his farewell address to the departing pilgrims," — 
 appropriate and handsome memorials. The New 
 
 [104] 
 
I.ibertv and Proerress 
 
 England Society, in the city of New York, gave 
 its cordial support to the movement. The Hon: 
 Elihu Root, the president, in his address Decem- 
 ber 22"'^ 1894, said "We have set our hands to 
 another and somewhat different work, somewhat 
 graver in its responsibility and more lasting in its 
 results, than words which vanish into air. As you 
 all know, in the winter before the last, the First 
 Church in Plymouth was destroyed by fire, the 
 church of the first congregation in New England, 
 of the Society which was organized in Holland, and 
 gathered in the cabin of the " Mayflower," and 
 with prayer and faith endured the hardships of that 
 first cold long winter — the church of Brewster, 
 and Bradford, and Winslow and Carver. A new 
 building is to be erected. It will stand where the 
 old one stood, on the slope of Burial Hill. Faith- 
 ful sons of New England have resolved, that the 
 new edifice shall be a fitting memorial, of the noble 
 hearts, and great events, for which it will stand ; 
 that it shall be shaped by that perfect art, which 
 best comports with grave simplicity, and that it 
 shall express, in form more enduring than the 
 words of countless banquets, the fidelity of the 
 sons of the Pilgrims to the memory of their fathers. 
 This Society in its annual meeting has authorized 
 its President to appoint a Committee to take charge 
 of our part of this labour of affection and venera- 
 tion, and I now announce the members of that 
 Committee : Cornelius N. Bliss, J. Pierpont Mor- 
 gan, Joseph H. Choate, Horace Russell, and the 
 President." 
 
 [105] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 The Building Committee held large views of the 
 proposed structure, and resolved that the memorial, 
 about to be reared, should be in keeping with the 
 noble history and traditions of the Church, even if 
 it had to be built by slow degrees. They ventured 
 upon a great trust, and as it happened nobly. The 
 Hon: Arthur Lord, M""- William S. Kyle, and M" 
 F. B. Davis attended a meeting of the National Con- 
 ference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches 
 held in Saratoga September 1894, and presented the 
 claims of the Plymouth Church. A resolution was 
 adopted at the Conference commending the Church 
 to the general public, and appointing a Committee 
 to raise funds. 
 
 The corner-stone of the new edifice was laid on 
 Monday June 29* 1896, with suitable ceremonies, 
 and in the presence of a throng of glad and grateful 
 friends, who rejoiced to see the opening fulfilment 
 of their heart's desire. The Hon: Arthur Lord, 
 President of the Pilgrim Society, and chairman of the 
 Parish Committee, commenced the proceedings with 
 an address, in which he said : — 
 
 " On this hill-side, rich in memories, associations 
 and history, we meet today, to lay the corner stone 
 of the First Church in Plymouth, and the first 
 church in America. Behind us, rises the hill, where 
 rest in peace the dead of by-gone generations ; be- 
 fore us stretches, the first street of the Pilgrims, 
 once bordered by their simple dweUings, once echo- 
 ing to the tread of their weary feet ; and beyond, 
 lies the sea, now sparkling in the sunlight of June, 
 
 [106] 
 
Liberty and Progress 
 
 but whose dark waters in that stormy December 
 reflects the white sail of the Mayflower. All 
 around us is historic ground. It witnessed the 
 humble beginnings of a great people. It was the 
 cradle of a mighty nation ; the rude yet tender 
 home of civil and religious liberty, which, elsewhere, 
 seemed but a scholar's idle dream. 
 
 The inestimable privilege of such environment 
 comes not alone. By its side, there ever stands 
 the graver forms of duty and responsibility, and 
 sometimes in their silent train, there comes in the 
 lifetime of a generation, the great opportunity, not 
 bidden perchance, but ever welcomed. Another 
 generation, three quarters of a century ago, entered 
 upon the work of commemorating the great events 
 of Pilgrim History, of marking and adorning the 
 localities peculiarly interesting to every American, 
 of collecting and preserving each memento of the 
 Pilgrims, which the hand of time had spared. Mon- 
 ument and statue, hall and rock, attest their labours. 
 
 To this generation, came the duty and the oppor- 
 tunity to erect upon the ruins of the old church, a 
 memorial, simple yet enduring, to the religious life 
 of its founders, the last and best of the great me- 
 morials to the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Built of gran- 
 ite from the rocky hillsides of Massachusetts, of 
 stone from the quarries of that other Massachusetts 
 on the banks of the Ohio, it is no less firm and 
 enduring than they. In its stately tower shall hang 
 the bell which Revere cast, whose tones, as in other 
 days, again will mark the fleeting hour, will call to 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 duty, and will sound the dread alarm. The carved 
 tablets in its open vestibule shall tell the Pilgrim 
 name and story to the thousands as they pass. The 
 rays of the setting sun falling softly through its 
 stained windows, shall gild with a new radiance the 
 pictured forms and faces of the leaders of the Pilgrim 
 band. 
 
 Of such a memorial, more appropriate, interest- 
 ing, and suggestive than any other, we lay the 
 corner stone. Long may it stand, sustaining, ele- 
 vating, and inspiring the life and thought of this 
 community, its portals ever open to the " new light 
 yet to come." Long may it stand, to impress upon 
 the minds and hearts of the generations yet unborn, 
 the lesson of the lives and labours and faith, of its 
 Pilgrim founders ; those lives heroic, those labours 
 triumphant, that faith sublime, which lifted them 
 above every doubt, sustained them in every peril, 
 and under whose benign influence the sea lost its 
 terrors, the wilderness its fears, and sickness and 
 death could not their souls dismay." This address 
 was followed by a speech from M'- Edwin D. Mead, 
 Editor of the JSfew England Magazine, and after the 
 singing of a hymn the Hon: Charles Francis Adams, 
 President of the Massachusetts Historical Society y was 
 introduced. He said, among other things, bearing 
 upon the occasion : — 
 
 " We are so accustomed to look upon all things 
 American, as new, that it requires some forcible 
 reminder, such as this, to make us realize what 
 an antiquity has gathered upon Plymouth. Yet 
 
 [io8] 
 
Liberty and Progress 
 
 the fact is, as I have stated. When the church, 
 the unbroken succession of which you are, first 
 gathered at Scrooby, and again at Delfthaven on 
 the deck of the Speedwell, of the two most widely 
 read books in all English Literature, our King 
 James' Bible, had been only nine years issued 
 from the press, while the other, the precious first 
 quarto of Shakespeare, did not see the light until 
 three years later. Of this Society, therefore, Amer- 
 ican though it be, it may truthfully be said, that it 
 antedates not only the literature, theology, science, 
 and law, of the modern world, but it has outlived 
 most of the philosophies and dynasties, and not a 
 few of the nationalities, which existed at its birth. 
 It is among the world-venerable things. When 
 John Robinson addressed his farewell discourse to 
 the little band of Pilgrims, on that day of solemn 
 humiliation in July 1620, Kepler, Galileo, Bacon, 
 Harvey, Milton, Descartes, were either still doing 
 their work, or, as yet, unheard of in the world ; the 
 house of Stuart was freshly seated on the English 
 throne ; Oliver Cromwell, a youth of twenty-one, 
 had not yet undergone his change of heart ; Gus- 
 tavus Adolphus had won no name in arms ; Riche- 
 lieu was not a Cardinal, nor a very potter at his 
 wheel, had he begun his momentous work on 
 plastic France. Poland was still a power, and the 
 barrier of civilization against the Turk. We re- 
 gard that famous victory won by Sobieski under 
 the walls of Vienna, which marked the culmination 
 and decline of the Ottoman Empire, as so remote, 
 
 [ 109] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 that it seems of another world than ours ; yet it 
 happened more that sixty years after the unnoticed 
 Speedwell weighed its anchor at Delfthaven ; and 
 John Robinson had already been four years in his 
 grave, before Sobieski was born. Thus, as I have 
 said, this church has seen dynasties, philosophies, 
 theologies and nations, decay and disappear, and yet 
 others rise to take their place. 
 
 " The drift of the maker is dark ; an Isis hid by the veil, 
 Who knows the ways of the world, how God will bring 
 them about ? " 
 
 These names I have mentioned, are names great 
 in the world's annals ; the events, I have referred 
 to, are indisputably memorable. It seems strange 
 to compare this religious society — a simple church 
 in a provincial Massachusetts town — it seems 
 strange, I say, to weigh the formation of this so- 
 ciety in the scale of human events, against such 
 names and such events, as I have recalled. So 
 doing is suggestive of exaggeration, of hyperbole, 
 almost of bathos. And yet in truth, as a factor in 
 human events, it outweighs that among them, 
 which is to be reckoned most and greatest. When 
 the society which is met here today, first gathered 
 on the Speedwell's narrow deck, its great mission 
 was to bear to a new continent, and there implant, 
 the germs of civil and religious liberty. In all 
 seriousness I ask, was the passage of the Red Sea, 
 by the children of Israel ; was the founding of 
 Rome by Romulus and Remus : was the crossing 
 
 [no] 
 
Liberty and Progress 
 
 of the Atlantic by Columbus, was any one of these, 
 a human event more pregnant with great conse- 
 quence ? 
 
 Centuries have rolled by since your society was 
 organized. Your pastors and teachers exhorted you 
 in mid-Atlantic, in Provincetown, and in yonder 
 bay, from the deck of the Mayflower; again they 
 preached the word in " the first house for common 
 use" the erection of which was begun on the 4*'' of 
 January 1621 ; again, in the old Fort, with the 
 cannon on its roof, on Burial Hill; again in the 
 Meeting-House of 1648, from which a bell first 
 here knoll'd to church ; again, in the second house 
 of 1683 ; and, yet again, in the third, of 1744. It 
 is an honourable succession — Brewster, Reyner, 
 Cotton, Little, Leonard, Robbins, Kendall, Hall, 
 Knapp, Osgood, and Lombard — and that the line 
 will long stretch out admits not of question in the 
 mind of any descendant of the Pilgrims. Here 
 shall the church edifice stand, and here let it con- 
 tinue to stand, looking out at that distant sea-line 
 from which nearly three centuries ago, the May- 
 flower slowly loomed up in December, and under 
 which its white sails as slowly disappeared in the 
 following April ; but whether this, the fifth and most 
 elaborate of its edifices, continues to shelter the 
 church, or in turn gives way to another, the church 
 itself will, like the poet's brook, go on forever ; 
 and so long as it goes on, it will stand in far greater 
 degree than any other association in the land, for 
 those principles of civil and religious freedom, which 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 it was its mission to bring to America. And truly 
 the seed it has sown did not fall by the way- 
 side, nor among the thorns, nor upon stony ground 
 where it was scorched, nor did the fowls of the air 
 come and devour it; but it fell on good ground, 
 and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased, 
 not thirty-fold, nor sixty, nor yet a hundred, but by 
 the thousand and myriad, until it has multiplied and 
 covered the land as with a mantle of snow." 
 
 After Prayer by the Rev : Charles P. Lombard, 
 pastor of the church, a hymn was sung, and the 
 proceedings came to an end. 
 
 The first service in the New Kendall Hall was 
 held on April 25*'' 1897, and Sunday services con- 
 tinued to be held there until the dedication of the 
 Church on Thursday December 21'* 1899. After 
 
 several years of patient wait- 
 The Fifth Meeting- ing, labour, anxiety, incessant 
 House l8gg and unremitting activity, in 
 
 which the ojficers of the 
 Church, IVLess''^ Arthur Lord, William S. Kyle, 
 W. W. Brewster and James D. Thurber, and 
 all the Committees of men and women took 
 part, the completed church building was in im- 
 mediate prospect. D' Hale, the Hon: John D, 
 Long, and the Hon : Winslow Warren had issued 
 a circular letter to friends of the cause, that the 
 money to pay for the completion of the building 
 might be obtained before the work was done, and 
 when at a social gathering in Kendall Hall, Febru- 
 ary 24*^ 1899, it was announced that a friend who 
 
 [112] 
 
Liberty and Progress 
 
 did not wish to have his name disclosed, had given 
 $15000 to the building fund, the audience rejoiced, 
 and sang the doxology. The work went on, and 
 was finished, and glad eyes and grateful hearts were 
 delighted, when the doors were flung wide open tor 
 the service of dedication. The order of exercises 
 was as follows : — 
 
 ORGAN VOLUNTARY 
 
 Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah Handel 
 
 CHORUS 
 
 The breaking waves dashed high Mrs Hemans 
 
 INVOCATION 
 Rev: Charles P. Lombard, Pastor 
 
 SCRIPTURE READING 
 Rev: Eugene R. Shippen, First Parish Dorchester (1630) 
 
 PRAYER OF DEDICATION 
 Rev: Edward Everett Hale D.D. 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL HYMN 
 
 Written for the dedication of the Fourth Meeting-House December 14th 1831 
 by Rev : John Pierpont. 
 
 I . The winds and waves were roaring : 
 
 The Pilgrims met for prayer ; 
 And here their God adoring. 
 
 They stood, in open air. 
 When breaking day they greeted. 
 
 And when its close was calm. 
 The leafless woods repeated 
 
 The music of their psalm. 
 
 ["3] 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 2. Not thus, O God, to praise Thee, 
 
 Do we, their children, throng : 
 The temple's arch we raise thee 
 
 Gives back our choral song. 
 Yet, on the winds that bore Thee 
 
 Their worship and their prayers. 
 May ours come up before Thee 
 
 From hearts as true as theirs! 
 
 3. What have we, Lord, to bind us 
 
 To this, the Pilgrims' shore ! — 
 Their hill of graves behind us. 
 
 Their watery way before. 
 The wintry surge, that dashes 
 
 Against the rocks they trod. 
 Their memory, and their ashes — 
 
 Be Thou their guard, O God ! 
 
 4. We would not. Holy Father, 
 
 Forsake this hallowed spot. 
 Till on that shore we gather 
 
 Where graves and griefs are not : 
 The shore where true devotion 
 
 Shall rear no pillared shrine. 
 And see no other ocean 
 
 Than that of love divine, — 
 
 Read by Rev. E. J. Prescott, First Church, Salem (l62p) 
 
 SERVICE OF DEDICATION 
 Minister and People 
 
 ANTHEM 
 ** I have surely built thee an house " . . . W. O. Wilkinson 
 
 ADDRESS 
 His Excellency, Roger Wolcott, LL. D. Governor of the 
 
 Commonwealth 
 
 ["4] 
 
Liberty and Progress 
 
 ADDRESS 
 Rev : Francis G. Peabody, D.D., Harvard University 
 
 SOLO 
 
 By Mr. I. F. Botume 
 
 The Lord is my Light Alitson 
 
 ADDRESS 
 Rev : James Eells, First Church Boston (1630) 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Rev : James De Normandie, D.D., First Religious Society \v 
 
 RoxBURY (163 1) 
 
 ADDRESS 
 Rev : S. A. Eliot, Secretarx American Unitarian Association 
 
 HYMN 
 
 Written for this service. 
 
 Let the organ roll its music, and the song of praise arise. 
 Unto God who crowns endeavor, and rewardeth sacrifice. 
 Who has poured His holy spirit into mighty men and wise. 
 Whose souls are marching on. 
 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah. 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah. 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah^ 
 Their souls are marching on. 
 
 Let us sing the Faith triumphant that has ruled the raging sea. 
 That has swept upon the storm-wind to a land of Hberty, 
 That has bowed the gloomy forests and has reared a nation free. 
 Whose soul is marching on. 
 
 Chorus : 
 
 With the Mighty Dead behind us, and a waiting world before, 
 Let us lift the torch they carried to the God whom we adore. 
 To His holy name be praises and the glory evermore, 
 Whose power is marching on. 
 
 ["5j 
 
The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah. 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah. 
 Glory, glory, hallelujah, 
 His power is marching on. 
 
 BENEDICTION 
 
 On July I** 1900, the Rev: Charles P. Lombard 
 resigned his position as minister of the Parish, to 
 take effect in September. He had served the 
 church diligently and faithfully for more than 
 twelve years, and was respected and beloved 
 throughout the community ; but the state of his 
 health compelled him to seek rest and change. A 
 farewell reception was given to him, and to his wife, 
 on September 27*, when their parishioners and 
 friends expressed appreciation of their past services 
 and good wishes for the future, accompanied with a 
 gift of $700. M"" and M'' Lombard sailed for Italy 
 on the 6* of October, to remain abroad a year. 
 
 To the great regret of the congregation M"^ James 
 D. Thurber, who for more than twenty-five years 
 had acted as clerk of the Parish declined to be re- 
 nominated, feeling that the time had come when 
 someone else should have an opportunity of render- 
 ing special service to the church, and carrying on 
 with energy and enthusiasm the work which had 
 been so freely given in the past. 
 
 Although the building itself was complete, its 
 equipment was not quite perfect. A beautiful organ 
 had been provided, but the chancel was unfurnished. 
 A communion table and chairs and a baptismal font, 
 
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Liberty and Progress 
 
 were greatly needed. Two handsome carved oak 
 chairs were presented by a lineal descendant of 
 Elder Brewster. A massive oak table to match the 
 chairs, and a piece of the step of the ancient church 
 at Delfthaven were also given. M"" Chandler 
 Robbins of New York gave two bronze tablets in 
 memory of D"^ Robbins and D"" Kendall, which were 
 placed near the gallery at the north end of the 
 church. A legacy of ^250 was bequeathed which 
 was applied to the purchase of suitable stair-railings. 
 Two bronze tablets were attached to the buttress of 
 the tower near the front entrance to the church, one 
 of which bears the following incription. " The 
 Church of Scrooby, Leyden and the Mayflower 
 gathered on this hill-side in 1620, has ever since 
 preserved unbroken records and maintained a con- 
 tinuous ministry, its first covenant being still the 
 basis of its fellowship. In reverent memory of its 
 Pilgrim Founders this Fifth Meeting-House was 
 erected AD, MDCCCXCVII." 
 
 Provision was made in the vestibule for placing 
 on the marble wall, the First Covenant of the 
 Church, and other historic records deserving special 
 remembrance, and in due time the generosity of 
 friends will no doubt permit the carrying out of 
 these and other plans, which will serve as mile 
 stones to mark the way along which the Pilgrims 
 and their descendants have travelled. 
 
 My W'ork is now done. Without entering too 
 fully into the religious history of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, I have endeavored to trace their steps, and 
 
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The First Church in Plymouth 
 
 to bring into convenient compass, the record of a 
 church, which is without parallel in its loyalty to 
 truth and liberality of view, and to show that the 
 after history of the church was the logical sequence of 
 the principle which forbade persecution, and incul- 
 cated the Protestant doctrines of liberty of thought 
 and the rights of conscience. That, for which the 
 Pilgrims stood, the church still stands, viz. (i) loy- 
 alty to truth, hostility to every kind of mental tort- 
 ure and oppression ; (2) fealty to conscience, be 
 the consequences what they may; (3) aversion to 
 creeds and articles as tests of Christian fellowship, 
 and the enjoyment of Christian ordinances, on the 
 ground that an honest man cannot make himself 
 believe anything he pleases ; that it is therefore 
 wicked to drive him by threats and penalties, actual 
 or implied, to dissemble his thoughts and disguise 
 his opinions ; (4) the identity of righteousness with 
 salvation, intellectual righteousness which cares su- 
 premely for the simple truth, and moral righteous- 
 ness which will not parley with sin. The world 
 never reared a set of men more conscientious and 
 fearless in their doings, more hardy, simple, unos- 
 tentatious in their manners. May their fortitude 
 continue to rebuke our cowardice ; their thrift re- 
 proach our effeminate luxury ; their hardihood con- 
 demn our supineness and lassitude ; their breadth 
 and catholicity of religious sentiment put to scorn 
 the petty narrowness and littleness of our day. It 
 is a proud thing to be their spiritual heirs, to possess 
 their principles, and to cherish their heroic deeds as 
 our best inheritance. 
 
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 Date Due 
 
 
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