THANKSGIVING
WHY DID YE PILGRIMS COME?
By: Author Unknown - 11/23/2004

"If God preserves my life, I will cause a boy that driveth a plow to know more of the Scriptures than the pope," vowed William Tyndale who spent much of his life in exile, translating the Bible from the original languages to make it available for the common man. An angry King Henry VIII had him burned at the stake.

But that was before the King decided to divorce himself from his wife. Since the Church did not recognize divorce, the King simply set up his own Church of England and appointed himself its Pope. As a PR campaign, he encouraged the reading of Tyndale's Bible. Such is life under capricious Kings!

Evil men do not good ministers make, and many of the King's subjects soon saw need for "purifying" the church. When Henry died in 1547 his son Edward actually encouraged these reformers, but he only lasted six years. Then his sister Mary ascended to the throne and everything changed. Thousands of "Puritans" fled for their lives. Others she had burned at the stake-286 of them in a mere five years. Most of those who fled went to Geneva. Calvin had already been there; under his influence the city had become one of the most educationally and religiously advanced in the world. There these wonderful Puritans came to better understand the Biblical principles of civil liberty.

Elizabeth, who was next to reign in England, was at first more tolerant and many reformers returned- with new energy for promoting Bible reading and reforming corruption. Soon Elizabeth called a halt with her 1562 Articles of Religion which prohibited further church reform.

Now, had you been a "reformer," believing your church to be corrupt and unbiblical, what would you have done? What confidence could you have in a church founded by a philandering king? There were two possibilities for those English saints: some would wait for opportunities to promote changes that would return the church to "purity;" others would separate from the Church altogether.

Those Puritans who would work for reform would become the second group to settle in Massachusetts, just 10 years behind. They would come with the intention of setting up the Church of England, reformed, as a shining example to the world. They would still hold to the idea of a state church, but they would soon learn that men must be free to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience. Their descendants would write into the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ." guaranteeing that the government would not try to control churches. (That's freedom OF religion, not FROM religion. The Founders would tell you that a lack of attention to religious principles would destroy a nation. Book of Mormon prophets would say so too.)

Meanwhile, those Puritans who would not tolerate corruption in the church eventually separated. By 1580 the "Separatist" movement was well established.

Many of the Separatists gathered in the little town of Scrooby in northern England. In 1606 they wrote a covenant, the first to affirm self-government for a church. William Brewster, who would become their pastor in America, and William Bradford, who would be their governor for 33 years, were among them.

Soon persecution intensified, making their former afflictions "but as fleabitings in comparison." Safety in Holland was a 14-day voyage away, but getting there was a great problem "for though it was made intolerable for them to stay, they were not allowed to go; the ports were shut against them, so that they had to seek secret means of conveyance, to bribe the captains of ships, and give extraordinary rates for their passages.

"Often they were betrayed, their goods intercepted, and thereby were put to great trouble and expense." On one occasion a captain loaded everyone on board at night, then stole their possessions and put them off the ship to be imprisoned for a month.

On another occasion a ship was secured and the women and children were sent to meet it on a smaller boat while the men traveled by land. The small boat was grounded, in sight of the ship. While awaiting the tide to free the boat, the ship captain sent his own boat to pick up the first group of men, who had arrived on the shore. Then "the captain espied a large body of horse and foot, armed with bills and guns and other weapons,-for the country side had turned out to capture them." He "weighed anchor, hoist sail, and away! The poor men already aboard were in great distress for their wives and children left thus to be captured..."

Once in Holland the Separatists were well treated, though city life was difficult for these men who were farmers by nature. There were few converts to their church. "But of all the sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of the children, influenced by. . . . the great licentiousness of the young people of the country, and the many temptations of the city, were led by evil example into dangerous courses, getting the reins off their necks and leaving their parents."

After a decade in Holland, these good people became Pilgrims
to spread the gospel to the new world and, even more,
to save their children!

You know the rest of the story - a 66 day voyage "in a space no larger than a volleyball court." The Mayflower Compact. A harsh winter which only half survived. Providential help from friendly Indians. The ship embarking for England in April without a single Pilgrim aboard. The welcomed arrival of new settlers, and the consequential second starvation winter. The First Thanksgiving. The founding of a new nation. And through it all

"they found ye Lord to be with them in all their ways,
and to blesse their outgoings & incomings,
for which let his holy name have ye praise
for ever, to all posteritie."

May ye Lord bless ye this Thanksgiving and for ever as ye make sacrifices for the love of ye posteritie.

Happy Holiday!