Why They Came: Pilgrim Character

What kind of character did the Pilgrim Church embrace?  It is apparent that Pastor Robinson and William Brewster did embrace and teach good character.  In addition it is clear that they demonstrated it as an example as well. When the Pilgrim Church emigrated from Amsterdam to Leyden, they had to ask permission from the civil…

Why They Came: Betrayal

Almost immediately after their conversion, the Pilgrims were persecuted by “the profane multitude.”  Bradford then writes “Seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men.”  Persecution, and eventually…

The Pilgrim Church Service

The Pilgrim or Separatist church began in the home but focused on the exaltation and presence of Christ.  The revival of “hearth and home” in England was nurtured by families who had access to own the Geneva translation of the Bible in their own tongue.  Fathers would read from the Scriptures in the morning and…

Why They Came: Rhetoric Matters

The doctrine of discovery was built on pride, aggression, and disrespect of others.  It condoned methods of aggression for the “end” of “conversion.”  But there was another movement, a remnant, born of true revival, that was arising as well.  In that movement, true conversion was sought, one from the heart and voluntary.  Though not as…

Why They Came: Church by Coercion

What makes the Pilgrim movement so unique is that it stands in such contrast to the coercion practiced by the State Church of England?  The State (in this case King James) was the head of the Church and thus there was little religious liberty.  Richard Clyfton had such pressure when pastoring in Babworth, England where…

Why They Came: Let us not Forget

Consider for a moment the year 1820 at the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims.  Daniel Webster came to Plymouth, Massachusetts and on Forefathers Day declared: …let us not forget the religious character of our origin.  Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion.  They journeyed by…

Why They Came: Conversion

Conversion, or spiritual liberty, was the origin and root of why the Pilgrims came to the shores of New England.  Conversion is an act of God whereby He regenerates the heart and puts His Spirit into the believer.  It is an act of surrender on our part, choosing to follow the risen Lord Jesus Christ…

Interesting Providences: Bradford Manuscript

William Bradford, second Governor and historian of the Pilgrims, began his “journal” about ten years after they landed.  With providential foresight, he said the purpose of history was, “That their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrestled in going through these things in their first beginnings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding…

William Brewster and the Pilgrim Press

Most people think of the Pilgrims as stuffy, mournful souls who dressed in black and never smiled.  The life of William Brewster quickly dispells these myths, for he was a bold leader of the Pilgrim Church.  Born in 1566 or 1567 in Scrooby, England, he entered Cambridge University and became an assistant to William Davison,…

Family: What made Plymouth Unique

Historian and Director Emeritus of the Pilgrim Society Peggy Baker has noted, “Family is at the heart of the Pilgrim story….that makes Plymouth Colony unique amid a sea of other settlements – English, Dutch, French, and Spanish alike – that were almost exclusively masculine… The Separatist movement, from its earliest beginnings, was built around strong…