The previous post left the narrative in September 1620, with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, sailing toward Virginia. So, who were some of the people involved with the Separatist movement? It might help to know some of the personalities and hearts of the people before continuing the basic history. There were 3 prominent people in the Separatist movement, as it began in Scrooby. Let’s meet them.
First was William Brewster. William Brewster was, actually, the only Pilgrim to have held a position in so-called English “society.” He was not at the top, but, according to America’s Providential History by Beliles and McDowell, he served as a “confidential secretary to a prominent member of Queen Elizabeth’s court” (pg. 59). After that role, Brewster returned to Scrooby as Postmaster and the “overseer of a gentleman’s estate in the area” (pg. 60). He had tried to reform the Church of England from within by good solid, Bible preaching preachers in the local churches. He even paid them out of his own pocket (ibid)! Queen Elizabeth had preferred that churches read “government-approved ‘homilies’” rather than actual, Bible preaching (ibid). The Church continued to be less flexible and, when it finally rejected the right of the people to hear “unauthorized” preachers (such as the ones Brewster brought in), Brewster made his decision (ibid). It was, then, time for him to separate from the Church and get with like-minded Christians to form a more Bible-based congregation . . . thus the beginning of the Separatists. Once they arrived in America, during the first year, the Pilgrims did not have a pastor. Brewster stepped into that role for the time. William Bradford said of Brewster’s evangelistic gift, “He did more in this behalf in a year than many do in all their lives” (ibid).
The next influential person of the Separatist movement is John Robinson. Robinson served as the Separatists pastor in Holland and, possibly, had more direct influence than anyone else. He laid the Biblical foundation in the people’s hearts and minds, preparing them for righteous living, but also the Biblical principles of individual liberty. This, ultimately, served as the foundation of what would become the United States of America. Robinson was trained as a clergyman in the Church of England. He was let go from his first pastorate because he would not conform to the church’s strict requirements. Robinson had a genuine passion for the Bible and struggled with the ungodliness in the church. He stated, “. . . had the truth been in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, Jer. XX.9, I had never broken those bonds . . . wherein I was so straitly tied, but had suffered the light of God to have been put out in mine own unthankful heart by other men’s darkness” (ibid). Soon, Robinson left the Church of England to join the Separatists that met in William Brewster’s Scrooby home.
The third individual we will hit on today is William Bradford. Bradford served as Plymouth’s governor for 33 years. He also wrote History of Plymouth Plantation, heralded by some to be the “first great literary work of America” (pg. 61). Prior to getting to Plymouth, though, Bradford knew, as a young teen, that the Church of England was not Biblical and he chose to remove himself from it. While he knew the church was not following the Bible, he was fond of the Scriptural preaching of Rev. Richard Clyfton at the church in Bobworth. As soon as Clyfton left the church, so did Bradford, following him to the Separatists in Scrooby (pg. 61). It was 1602 when Bradford started in the Separatist church in Scrooby. He went with the group to Holland in 1608, and then 12 years later, he continued on with an even smaller group to America. In talking about the group he was with, Bradford wrote, in Of Plymouth Plantation, “. . . their desires were set on ye ways of God, & to enjoy his ordinances; but they rested on his providence, & knew whom they had believed” (pg. 62).
After being at sea for 66 days, the Mayflower landed at America. However, they were blown off course and landed in the wrong place. They had intended to end up in Virginia, but landed at Cape Cod Bay, later dubbed Plymouth by John Smith. They opted to stay and settle themselves there. Had this group of Pilgrims and colonists arrived years earlier, they would have been met by Patuxet Indians and would have had no place to settle. The Patuxet Indians had murdered many Anglos who landed on those shores. In 1617, a plague wiped all of them out, with one exception: Squanto. Because of this mystery illness, neighboring tribes were scared to come to the area “for fear that some great supernatural spirit had destroyed” the Patuxet (pg. 69). Perhaps by the “Divine Hand of Providence” it is that the Pilgrims arrived at this place, at this time?
As this group did what they could to survive their first winter in the new land, they dwindled in number. Bradford describes how about half of the group died in that first winter. Things were difficult. Of the ones that survived, many were sick and unable to work. Bradford describes it, “and of these in ye time of most distress, there was but 6 or 7 sound persons, who, to their great commendations be it spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toyle and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and unclothed them . . . and all this willingly & cheerfully, without any grudging in ye least, shewing herein their true love unto their friends & bretheren. A rare example & worthy to be remembered” (pg. 73). He goes on to describe how, by March 16th of that year, an Indian named Samoset came to them that spoke in broken English. He introduced them, to Squanto, who’s English was better. Squanto’s role is quite significant in the Thanksgiving story, so let’s look at him for a moment.
Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation” (ibid). Here is a portion of his story . . . ask yourself, coincidence? Or is it possible Divine Providence played a role?
As previously mentioned, Squanto was part of the Patuxet Indian tribe. In 1605, he was captured by an English explorer and taken to England. He was there for 9 years and learned to speak English. In 1614, Captain John Smith took him back to New England. Unfortunately, he was captured again and sold into slavery in Spain. As Beliles and McDowell attribute it, “providentially,” he was bought by some friars for the purpose of rescuing him. Those friars introduced Squanto to Christianity (ibid). He eventually ended up back in England where he stayed until 1619, when he got a way back to his home (New England). As he arrived back home, he found that his entire tribe had been killed by a plague and he was the lone survivor. Squanto ended up joining a nearby tribe and stayed with them until the spring of 1621. Once he met the Pilgrims, he taught them to plant corn and tend it, how to fish, and other things (pg. 74). He, also, served as a mediator between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians so they understood each other and everything remained peaceful.
Later that year, the surviving Pilgrims had harvested a food supply that was fully sufficient to sustain them through the second winter at Plymouth. It was this realization of provision (God’s providence) and the help they received from Squanto that Governor Bradford declared a day of Thanksgiving and invited the Wampanoag Indians (the adopted tribe of Squanto). Chief Massasoit and 90 of the tribe’s men joined the Pilgrims in this first Thanksgiving celebration. It was such a pleasant time that Massasoit and his men stayed for three days eating, visiting, and playing with the Pilgrims.
The reason the Pilgrims had such a day was to give thanks to God – to “acknowledge their utter dependence upon Him for their existence” (ibid). They clearly relied on God in times of lack and gave Him credit and thanks in times of abundance.
Nowhere in the Pilgrims’ story is there any violence or theft of land, or even spreading of disease for that matter. It’s all around them in the groups that were in conquest for material gain. Not in the Pilgrims’ journey, though. There is, however, evidence of Godly men who simply wanted to live righteously, without persecution from their government or anyone else. They wanted freedom to worship and live as they believed the Bible teaches. They arrived, accidentally (. . . or maybe providentially?), at Plymouth – in an area that was already devoid of inhabitants, thus no altercations with the natives. They were assisted by a native who had been away, not by choice of course, but was spared certain death from the plague. He came back and was able to speak English to help the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims and Indians got along and helped each other out and celebrated the first Thanksgiving together. It sure seems like the liberals and revisionists are completely wrong in their laments. The things they are whining against simply cannot be pegged to the Pilgrims. It, also, seems very apparent that the hand of God was on this group of people, putting pieces into place in his sovereignty, to give us the foundation on which to build the greatest nation the world has ever known.
As leftists usually try to take God out of everything, they always whine about how the founders were not all devout Christians and we are not a Christian nation. This is not the time or place to debate that (though I’m sure you know my response). However, I want to challenge someone to explain to me how Thanksgiving can exist apart from God. We’ve established that violence, theft, barbarism, disease, etc. were not part of the Pilgrims story, or the first Thanksgiving. If one should want to remove God from this, though, it can’t be done. It is an occasion of giving thanks. Without God in the mix, one would have to answer, giving thanks for what? To whom? Why? We can’t thank ourselves. We can’t thank our neighbors or any other human. We can’t thank the planet, or any other soul-less, heartless object. We simply cannot attribute the things of which we are thankful to anything other than someone that is beyond us and above us . . . God. The day simply does not exist apart from God.
As the Pilgrims did, I hope that we can have full reliance on God in our lack, but thank Him and credit Him in our abundance.
Happy Thanksgiving!
