- man, and Winslow stood out as those of burning and shining lights in a
congregation where all were earnest and zealous. But, as in all human institutions, there came a change. Not suddenly, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, error crept in. The purity of the faith was threatened by foreign error. The young folks growing up, who had but a dim recollection of the native land where they had unconsciously borne witness for the truth, were showing an undue appreciation of the delights of the world.
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After many a solemn consultation, it was resolved that the little church
should be transplanted, if possible, to the virgin soil of America, where it
would have room to grow and spread, unhampered by any of the restrictions
by which it was, in the very nature of things, hedged in in Leyden.
In 1617, when Virginia had already been settled for several years, and the Dutch had successfully colonized a considerable portion of New England, Robert Cushman and John Carver were sent to England to try and obtain from James I. a patent, granting to the Scrooby Puritans lands in North Virginia, with the assurance of religious liberty. A whole year was consumed in unsatisfactory negotiations; and finally, the deputies from Holland were compelled to be content with a private message from James, that he would connive at the settlement in America of their brethren, though he could not give them his public sanction. On the strength of this, however, a patent was obtained from the Virginia Company in 1619, granting to a certain Mr. John Wincob—who was to be a kind of lay figure in the transaction, taking no active share in the matter—some lands on the Hudson. As the Dutch were already in possession on either side of that river, the Pilgrim Fathers endeavored to obtain, in addition, some sanction from them for their presence among them, but they were entirely unsuccessful; and it was finally agreed that one hundred members of the congregation, many of them women and children, should embark, under the care of Brewster as their spiritual pastor, and Carver as their civil governor, and, take their chance
THE MAYFLOWER AT NEW PLYMOUTH
