Plymouth Plantation Quotes

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many...

May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity, &c. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the; desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.

The failure of this experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times, — that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.

And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence. There was a proud and very profane young man [aboard the Mayflower], one of the seamen, of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be contemning the poor people in their [sea]sickness, and cursing them daily with grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry with what they had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head; and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him.

Time and task were both disorienting, for if you were to remove everything from our lives that depends on electricity to function, homes and offices would become no more than the chambers and passages of limestone caves- simple shelter from wind and rain, far less useful than the first homes at Plymouth Plantation or a wigwam. No way to keep out cold, or heat, for long. No way to preserve food, or to cook it. The things that define us, quiet as rock outcrops - the dumb screens and dials, the senseless clicks of on/off switches- without their purpose, they lose the measure of their beauty and we are left alone in the dark with countless useless things.

Dear friends, know that all your beaver and books of account are swallowed up in the sea; your letters remain with me and shall be delivered if God bring me home. But what more should I say? By this we have lost our worldly goods — yet a happy loss if our souls are the gainers. There is more in the Lord Jehovah than ever we had in this world. O that our foolish hearts could be weaned from things here below, which are vanity and vexation of spirit; and yet we fools catch after shadows that fly away and are gone in a moment! . . .

That with their miseries they opened a way to these new lands; and after these hardships, with what ease other men came to inhabit them,

The received myth of the Pilgrims confuses these folk with the Massachusetts Bay Puritans who came to America about ten years later and settled about fifty miles to the north of Plymouth Plantation. So we tend to picture our band of Pilgrims dressed all in black, with high pointy hats. In reality, they were not at all enemies of ‘gay apparel’, and, except on Sundays when black dress was compulsory, mostly wore garments of russet or dark green, though the women sometimes wore quite handsome dresses of saffron or dark

...in a word, [they] did all the homely and necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren. A rare example and worthy to be remembered.

The settlers, too, began to grow in prosperity, through the influx of many people to the country, especially to the Bay of Massachusetts. Thereby corn and cattle rose to a high price, and many were enriched, and commodities grew plentiful. But in other regards this benefit turned to their harm, and this accession of strength to weakness. For as their stocks increased and became more saleable, there was no longer any holding them together; they must of necessity obtain bigger holdings, otherwise they could not keep their cattle; and having oxen they must have land for ploughing. So in time no one thought he could live unless he had cattle and a great deal of land to keep them, all striving to increase their stocks.

First I will unfold the causes that led to the foundation of the New Plymouth Settlement, and the motives of those concerned in it. In order that I may give an accurate account of the project, I must begin at the very root and rise of it; and this I shall endeavour to do in a plain style and with singular regard to the truth, — at least as near as my slender judgment can attain to it.

When this calamity fell among the passengers who were to be left here to settle, they were hurried ashore and made to drink water, so that the sailors might have the more beer and when one sufferer in his sickness desired but a small can of beer, it was answered that if he were their own father he should have none. Then the disease began to seize the sailors also, so that almost half of the crew died

§ 3. There was another most wonderful preservation vouchsafed by God unto this little knot of Christians. One Mr. Weston, a merchant of good note, interested at first in the Plymouth design, afterwards deserted it; and in the year 1622 sent over two ships, with about sixty men, to begin a plantation in the Massachuset-Bay. These beginners being well refreshed at Plymouth, travelled more northward unto a place known since by the name of Weymouth; where these Westonians, who were Church of England-men, did not approve themselves like the Plymotheans, a pious, honest, industrious people; but followed such bad courses, as had like to have brought a ruin upon their neighbours, as well as themselves.

William Bradford, when recalling the event as he wrote Of Plymouth Plantation, remembered how on that particular day the wind and waves were so violent that the crew of the Mayflower had been forced to allow the ship “to lay at hull in a mighty storm.” This meant that they shortened sail and let the ship be driven by the wind and sea. We do not know exactly what happened next. Did Howland lean over the rail to vomit and relieve seasickness? Did the ship swing wildly upward as a wave crashed into its side? Did a great cascade of seawater sweep him overboard? Bradford says that the ship experienced “a seele,” meaning it rolled or pitched, which is certainly easy to imagine in such foul weather. Whatever exactly caused it, Howland was flung over the low rail that provided some safety to those on deck; he was hurled headlong into the North Atlantic.

June 2.] Capt. Stone arrived with a small ship with cows and some salt. The governor of Plymouth sent Capt. Standish to prosecute against him for piracy. The cause was, being at the Dutch plantation,[130] where a pinnace of Plymouth coming, and Capt. Stone and the Dutch governor having been drinking together, Capt. Stone, upon pretence that those of Plymouth had reproached them of Virginia, from whence he came, seized upon their pinnace, (with the governor’s consent,) and offered to carry her away, but the Dutchmen rescued her; and the next day the governor and Capt. Stone entreated the master of the pinnace (being one of the council of Plymouth) to pass it by, which he promised by a solemn instrument under his hand; yet, upon their earnest prosecution at court, we bound over Capt. Stone (with two sureties) to appear in the admiralty court in England, etc. But, after, those of Plymouth, being persuaded that it would turn to their reproach, and that it could be no piracy, with their consent, we withdrew the recognizance.

Huddled in swamps and on remote islands, fearful that to venture back to their villages meant certain death, Indians throughout the region were unable to plant the crops on which their lives depended. By summer, they had begun to die at a startling rate. “[ C] ertainly it is strange to hear how many of late have, and still daily die amongst them,” Winslow wrote. Just about every notable sachem on the Cape died in the months ahead, including Canacum at Manomet, Aspinet at Nauset, and the “personable, courteous, and fair conditioned” Iyanough at Cummaquid. Word reached Plymouth that before he died, the handsome young sachem had “in the midst of these distractions, said the God of the English was offended with them, and would destroy them in his anger.” One village decided to send some gifts to the Pilgrims in hopes of establishing peace, but the Indians’ canoe capsized almost within sight of the plantation, and three of them drowned. Since that incident, not a single Indian from Cape Cod had dared to approach the settlement. Among the Massachusetts, the Pilgrims had earned a new name: wotawquenange—cutthroats. Standish’s raid had irreparably damaged the human ecology of the region.

Mom and Dad decided to drive out into the country to get some apple cider at Whipple’s Orchard. They asked if we wanted to come along. We said we’d rather stay home with Grandma. Then, as soon as they pulled out of the driveway, we begged Grandma to take us somewhere. “My turn! My turn! I want to visit her!” “Why, Liz, what a great choice! That’s Remember Allerton. She was your grandpa’s great-great-great-great-well, I forget exactly how many greats it was--aunt. She was one of the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower.” “Remember? What a weird name!” “That’s nothing! I know a dog named Sparkplug.” When you travel back in time, you have to put on the kind of clothes that people wore back then. If you don’t, they’ll think you’re really strange. “I have to wear three layers? I’ll bake!” “Trust me, Lenny. You’ll be happy to have them. No central heating, you know.” “Hey, I thought Pilgrims always wore black suits and big hats with buckles on them.” “Nope. They dressed like ordinary working people of their time--and they liked to wear colors, same as anybody else. Of course, on Sundays they put on their best suits and fancy collars.

The house was just one big room with a fireplace at one end. That’s where they did their cooking. It was dark inside because the windows were small. And they didn’t even have glass in them--just paper soaked in linseed oil. The floor was made of packed-down dirt. There weren’t enough chairs for everybody, so we sat down on whatever was handy. “Yikes, it’s cold in here. And--ouch!--something just bit me!” “Sorry, dear. Could be fleas. Could be lice.” “You’ve got to be kidding!

It’s a pity we have no beer for you. We ran out nearly a year ago. But you need not fear the water. It is very wholesome here.” “Pilgrim kids drank beer for breakfast?” “Back in England their water was very polluted and wasn’t safe to drink. Beer was actually healthier.

As soon as we were dressed, Grandma put on her magic hat and we all held hands and closed our eyes. She told us to take a deep breath--then, all of a sudden, everything felt different. There was a cool breeze and the air smelled woodsy. “Plymouth Plantation, here we come!” “Where we get to meet our forefathers!” “And our foremothers.” “And our foredogs.” “So we’re in Massachusetts, right?” “Northern Virginia, actually.” “Virginia? You’re kidding!” “No, dear. See this big area--from modern North Carolina all the way up to Maine? Well, back in 1621, the English called all of it Virginia. But the northern part of Virginia they called New England.

On Sunday we didn’t work at all. That was the Lord’s Day. As soon as we heard the drum beating, we knew it was time for church. We met at the house of Captain Myles Standish, the military leader of the colony. Then we lined up by threes and marched to church. Everybody in town was expected to go (even if they weren’t church members), and the service lasted all morning. Then after lunch (which they called dinner) we went back for three more hours!

Which one’s the minister?” “We don’t have one yet. Until we do, Master Brewster acts as our religious leader. He’s our ruling elder, you see.” “You know who he is, dear--he’s Love and Wrestling Brewster’s father.” “Yeah, I was wondering about them. I mean, Love is a pretty weird name, especially for a boy, but at least it’s kind of nice. But why would anyone name their kid Wrestling?” “I believe it’s short for Wrestling-with-the-Devil.” “I take it back. That definitely beats Sparkplug.

It seemed like everything we did had to do with food. As soon as breakfast was over, the women got busy cooking the mail meal of the day, which was served at noon. The rest of us went out to collect food. In the fields we gathered corn, then brought it back to the house, where we hung it up until it was needed to grind into cornmeal. “Yow! That’s a lot of salt! Why are you doing that?” “Salt dries out the fish and preserves it--so it will last through the winter.” “This is weird-looking corn--it’s all different colors!” “It’s Indian corn, child. It grows much better here than our English grains. And it will feed us through the winter.

The Puritans didn’t have anything in their worship service that wasn’t mentioned in the Bible. So there weren’t any prayer books or hymns. There wasn’t an altar with candles. There wasn’t any heat, either, so some people brought little foot warmers filled with burning coals. We kids sat with the women and were expected to keep quiet. The only time we got to open our mouths was to sing psalms and say “Amen.” “This doesn’t look like a church--it looks more like a storeroom.” “It is a storeroom. But the building isn’t important. It is the people who are the church.” “Children--hush!

In 1643, the four separate colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Plantation, Connecticut, and New Haven agreed to form an association known as the New England Confederation. This was the first attempt to unite several colonies in mutual cooperation. The governing document for that Confederation clearly stated the Christian nature of these early settlements: Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity and peace….The said United Colonies…[do] enter into a firm and perpetual league of friendship…for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the Gospel and for their own mutual safety and welfare.181 The New England Confederation was the first joint government in America, even having its own version of a Congress with elected representatives from each of the four colonies. It lasted until 1684, when Great Britain tried to force the separate colonies to become just one. The people eventually defeated that British plan and restored the independent sovereignty of each colony.

America stirred the European imagination in a way Africa and Asia never did, becoming either a creation or an extension of Europe, promising a potential harvest of souls.

concluding that America had not enjoyed Jesus’ grace, just as Acosta had done in The Natural and Moral History of the Indies (1604).46 Many a European considered America as the realm of Satan’s minions, the last place in the world to learn about the gospel and where the devil’s presence was constant.

And so we visit the past as tourists. Sometimes this is literally so, when we take in Colonial Williamsburg and Plymouth Plantation, or travel around to Civil War battlefields. But it is also true in a metaphorical sense. The past has become a strange and distant country, full of odd people and mysterious customs. And thought seeing how these people built their homes or raised their children can broaden the mind, most of us don’t go back home determined to learn how to use an axe or a hickory stick. Knowledge about those strange customs might be interesting, but it is not essential–it does not change our way of doing things. In the end we will always prefer our own land in the present. At the end of the tour there is an air-conditioned car and a comfortable hotel room waiting, complete with cable television and refrigerated food. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with enjoying the past this way–it can be a lot of fun, in fact. But it could be so much more. The thousands of people who visit Boston and have only a few days to walk the Freedom Trail, visit Fenway Park, and eat a lobster dinner cannot even scratch the surface of what the city is really like. They have not inhaled the comforting mixture of exhaust fumes and roasted cashews that hangs in the city subways on humid summer days, or learned to love the particular slant of the New England sun on a winter afternoon. The same would be true of a Bostonian on a day trip to Chicago, Tokyo, Budapest, or Khartoum. The visit would be exciting, but would not make them cosmopolitan. Becoming something more than a casual time-tourist requires a willingness to be challenged and changed, just as living in India or Ghana or Peru will upend any American’s assumptions about money and wealth. (pp 26-27)

America stirred the European imagination in a way Africa and Asia never did, becoming either a creation or an extension of Europe, promising a potential harvest of souls. Thus,

America had the infinite privilege of fulfilling her destiny and saving the world. Woodrow Wilson

God in wisedome having enriched the Savage Countries, that those riches might be attractives for Christian suters,