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)

A Pilgrim Becomes a Shakespearean Star

In 1609, a fleet of English ships set out to rescue the dying colony of Jamestown, but a hurricane interrupted their journey. The Sea Venture, one of the ships, ran aground on Bermuda's jagged beach after three days of struggling to stay afloat. All the other ships made it to the shores of Virginia, except for one. A smaller ship disappeared into the ocean, carrying all its crew down with it. 

The ship's 150 passengers and crew survived and built two smaller boats to reach Jamestown, where Thomas Gates was to become the new governor. However, Stephen Hopkins, one of the passengers, challenged Gates' authority, triggering a power struggle that lasted for months, with Hopkins nearly executed for mutiny. Eventually, the survivors constructed two seaworthy vessels and made it to Jamestown, surviving over nine months on the isolated island paradise. 

Two years later, Shakespeare's play, “The Tempest”, premiered in London on November 1, 1611. The play's plot involves a shipwreck on an island and a power struggle between the leader and his subjects, including one crewmember named Stephano. The similarities between the play and the real-life story of Stephen Hopkins are not coincidental. After the Sea Venture passengers reached Jamestown, William Strachey wrote a letter detailing their ordeal, including the power struggle between Gates and Hopkins. Shakespeare likely read Strachey's account, leading many scholars to believe that Hopkins inadvertently inspired the character of Stephano in “The Tempest”, creating an unusual connection between Shakespeare and the Pilgrims of Plymouth.

*****

“Deliver me out of the mire, that I sink not: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.”

(Psalm 69:14; 1599 Geneva Bible)

The Final Salute for Captain Standish

In the autumn of 1656, Myles Standish's time was ending painfully. His legacy with the Pilgrims was both crucial and controversial. Standish had already lived in Leiden, Holland when the church of exiled English Separatists there hired him as a military leader for their new colony. As an experienced English lieutenant who valiantly fought against Spain, he seemed an ideal choice.

When they arrived in North America in 1620, Standish led the way to find a harbor for the Mayflower, identify the area’s resources, and locate possible building sites for their colony. Though he successfully kept Plymouth safe, colony leaders were worried that his fierce tactics could threaten their settlement. Standish’s New England exploits included the deadly incursions against regional tribes, fortifying Plymouth for potential threats, an armed takeover of the “lawless” and “pagan” Merrymount village, and a failed cannon attack on the northern French settlement in Penobscot Bay. However, Captain Standish proved a helpful negotiator, bringing an end to the vexing contract between Plymouth and their English investors. He also served as a longtime treasurer, road surveyor, and assistant governor. 

Standish suffered intensely in those last days from what may have been bladder cancer or kidney stones. His doctor friend, Matthew Fuller, couldn't be found in time to help. Quivering in pain, his loved ones thought it a blessing when seventy-two-year-old Myles Standish finally died on October 3, 1656, in his Duxbury home. The burial ground where he rests is now the oldest maintained cemetery in America. 

*****

“How are the mighty overthrown, and the weapons of war destroyed!”

(2 Samuel 1:26; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Samuel Gorton: A Religious Rebel Among Rebels

By late 1643, Samuel Gorton burned his bridges with the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies due to his radical religious and political beliefs. One year earlier he and his growing followers fled to Rhode Island, drawn by the religious tolerance of Roger Williams, but even Williams became alarmed at Gorton’s views. 

At his Shawomet settlement, Gorton wrote scathing letters denouncing the Massachusetts colony, and Governor John Winthrop and colony officials would take no more. They persuaded two native American leaders, caught in the crossfire of colonial disputes, to accuse Gorton of land fraud, providing Winthrop the legal grounds to dissolve Gorton’s Shawomet settlement and expand the influence of Massachusetts Bay. 

On October 3, 1643, Winthrop dispatched an ultimatum to Samuel Gorton. His people must either renounce their unorthodox beliefs, vacate the area, or face deadly consequences in order to stop the spread of their heresies. Sensing a looming attack, Gorton and his men told their families to flee while they loaded their weapons. 

When negotiations failed, Winthrop’s troops opened fire upon the building that held Gorton and his men. After days of gunfire, Gorton’s outnumbered men surrendered under the promise of safe passage to Boston and a fair trial. However, this pledge was a ruse. Upon surrendering, they were promptly imprisoned, their property confiscated, and they were swiftly condemned for their religious dissent, barely escaping execution. Samuel Gorton was yet another who discovered he was the wrong kind of religious rebel to dwell among the other rebels of New England. 

*****

“If ye bite and devour one another, take heed lest ye be consumed one of another.”

(Galatians 5:15; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Saints and Armed Sentinels: Guarding New Haven's Flocks

The New Haven Colony leaders were scrupulous in both religion and security. With the ever-present risk of hostile European seafarers or nearby native groups, they would not be caught unprepared for any unforeseen threats. They embedded sturdy barricades of tightly packed logs deep into the ground, they routinely trained their militia, and all their field workers carried muskets. 

But because the settlement was staunchly religious, leaders knew their most vulnerable time for surprise attacks was during the weekly church service. On September 1, 1640, colony leaders enacted a law requiring fully armed men to take turns guarding every side of the meetinghouse every Sunday. For security inside the building, each man must have his sword at his hip at all times, during prayers, preaching, and hymn singing. 

The system had its flaws, however, so two years later a newly created law declared that “none of the watchmen shall have liberty to sleep during the watch.” New Haven court records show hearings and steep fines for guards caught napping. After William Tuttle was found sleeping on duty, he "contritely confessed” in court “and hoped that it might be for the last time." When another citizen witnessed a guard sleeping, he entered the watch house only to find the senior guard asleep in his chair, and more guards snoring on the floor. 

Despite their imperfect system, New Haven's pastor Thomas Ruggles said the security practices continued sixty years or more "for the safety, peace, and prosperity of the plantation." 

*****

“As a shepherd searcheth out his flock, when he hath been among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them out of all places.”

(Ezekiel 34:12; 1599 Geneva Bible)

A Gruesome Coroner's Report

Rachel Ramsden of Plymouth Colony happily went on an errand for her neighbor, Alice. When she returned with the buttermilk Alice requested, there was blood on the ladder leading to a child’s sleeping loft. Four-year-old Martha was dead. The coroner’s jury reported their findings to the Plymouth Court on August 1, 1648. Alice Bishop killed her daughter.

The jury said, “We declare, that upon entering the house of Richard Bishop, we saw at the foot of a ladder... much blood.” When they climbed up to the loft, they found little Martha in her nightgown “with her throat cut..., and a bloody knife lying by the side of the child.”

In a chilling confession, Alice “confessed she did commit the aforesaid murder, and is sorry for it,” but she claimed no memory of it. She was swiftly convicted and sentenced to hang, making Alice Bishop the first woman to be executed in the colonies. The shocked community could never discover a motive.

Theories abound regarding the factors that may have contributed to Alice's actions: depression, psychosis, the Puritanical expectations of perfection, or perhaps a mother’s common stresses with all the constant physical labor in New England’s rugged frontier. Alice’s struggles may have been intensified by unresolved mourning, common among immigrants facing anxiety from the drastic changes. To this day no one knows why Martha’s young life was taken by her own mother. Two months after the jury reported their findings, Alice was hanged from the branch of a tree. 

*****

"So is it not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."

(Matthew 18:14; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Navigating Unauthorized Agreements

The Pilgrims stood at a crucial crossroads as they anxiously reviewed a letter from their financial backers. On July 1, 1620, only three weeks before their life-altering American journey, they were shocked to read that the Merchant Adventurers of London changed the terms of their agreement. The labor they now demanded, the extended length of the contract, and the portion of assets they would claim at the conclusion – it all seemed impossible. 

After a decade in self-exile in Holland, the desperate Pilgrims spent two years carefully planning the details of their migration. They had little bargaining room with their homes and belongings now liquidated to finance the expedition. One of the challenges during the negotiations was the lack of direct communication between the colonists in Holland and their London investors. The Pilgrims’ representatives, Robert Cushman and John Carver, had to broker the final details without consulting the Holland congregation. And Thomas Weston, the shady representative of the Merchant Adventurers, claimed that the substantial changes were essential to secure the funds. 

Though they wanted the best possible terms for their fellow Pilgrims, Cushman and Carver were aware of another looming reality; the longer they put off their transatlantic journey the more they risked arriving in the unforgiving winter of the rugged New World, far from any assistance. Caught in the web of negotiations, with reluctant investors and a fast-approaching departure date, the Pilgrims felt they had no choice but to accept the new agreement. 

*****

“He that hateth, will counterfeit with his lips, but in his heart he layeth up deceit. Though he speak favorably, believe him not.”

(Proverbs 26:24-25; 1599 Geneva Bible)