Robinson’s Earnest Request for Sanctuary

John Robinson’s church in Nottinghamshire could no longer tolerate the continual government harassment. Authorities demanded church leaders either conform or lose their pastoral positions. Church members were constantly under surveillance, and considered as criminals. They faced arrests, fines, and even threats of execution for unauthorized church meetings. “They could no longer continue in that condition,” said William Bradford. 

After countless secret meetings, they planned to escape to Holland, where there “was freedom of religion for all,” and many Separatist families who were “persecuted for the same cause” in England were already living there. After some frightful failed attempts to leave, many church members finally reached the safety of Holland. 

On December 2, 1609, Pastor Robinson petitioned Leiden officials, asking permission to move his church there. About one hundred people  requested “to come to live in this city by the first of May,” Robinson said, “without being a burden in the least to anyone.” It was a difficult decision for Leiden’s officials. They were under pressure from King James, who said the religious fugitives were in violation of English law, should not be allowed sanctuary in Holland, and should be surrendered into English custody. 

Two months later, Pastor Robinson received an answer from Leiden officials. The letter said they “refuse no honest persons entry to come and have their residence” so long as they “behave themselves honestly, and submit to all the laws." So Pastor Robinson moved his desperate flock to Leiden, where they lived ten years before their famous Mayflower voyage. 

*****

“Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are delivered.”

(Psalm 124:7; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Mary Dyer Sentenced to Death – Again.

In 1635 Mary and William Dyer sailed from England to America. Within a few years, the two conservative Puritans began shifting their religious views. They were drawn toward the controversial antinomian movement, downplaying the importance of outward morality and giving prominence to God's loving forgiveness instead.

After spending a few more years again in England, Mary returned to America as a Quaker. Their emphasis on a direct relationship with God, even receiving messages from him apart from the Bible or ministers, was anathema to the Puritans. Colony leaders created strict laws against Quakerism to prevent the heresy from spreading.

When Mary came back to Boston, they immediately arrested her and ordered her to leave. She refused, denouncing their harsh religious laws. In 1659 she was sent to the gallows, but while the noose was around her neck, she was given a reprieve and forced out of the colony. Enraged all the more by the torturous punishments given to fellow Quakers, Mary returned with a vengeance and was again arrested and sentenced to death.

Standing on the ladder, with a noose around her neck, people begged her to reconsider her views. Instead, Mary reprimanded the leaders for such immoral laws, declaring that she could not recant but would remain obedient to God's will and "abide faithful to the death." Unable to sway her, on June 1, 1660, the ladder was removed and Mary Dyer hung until she died. Soon after, the colony began reevaluating its laws regarding the Quakers. 

*****

“He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: surely to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself, to walk with thy God.”

(Micah 6:8; 1599 Geneva Bible)

"Bloody Mary" Takes the Throne

Queen Mary of England, daughter of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, detested her father’s break with the Catholic Church and quickly returned the kingdom to the Roman faith after she was crowned. Growing up sickly and depressed, her childhood was made more miserable by her father's harsh treatment and his refusal to allow Mary to see her mother. It is no surprise that during her youth she refused to recognize her father as the rightful leader of the English Church. 

After the death of her Protestant brother, King Edward VI, and a controversial nine-day reign of her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, Mary ascended the throne at age 37. Though her father executed numerous people for their religious leanings, Mary far surpassed him in number and cruelty, earning her the nickname “Bloody Mary.” The executions began less than two years after she took the throne, and before she died at age 42, nearly 300 more were killed for their Protestant faith and hundreds more fled the kingdom. 

John Foxe’s book recounting Mary’s persecutions was a major influence on the Pilgrims of Plymouth. William Bradford, in the first pages of his journal, spoke of Foxe’s account of “those worthy martyrs and confessors which were burned in Queen Mary’s days and otherwise tormented.” 

Though she ruled as queen since the previous July, it was on this day, October 1, 1553, that Mary was crowned the Queen of England, ushering in the horrors that would last throughout her reign. 

* * * * *

“These things have I said unto you, that ye should not be offended.  They shall excommunicate you, yea, the time shall come, that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service.” 

(John 16:1-2; 1599 Geneva Bible)

“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great marvel.” 

(Revelation 17:6; 1599 Geneva Bible)