Advancing the Kingdom of Christįourth, the pilgrims hoped to advance the gospel: …most heavie to be borne was that many of their children, by these occasions, and the great licentiousness of youth in the countrie, and the manifold temptations of the place, were drawn away by evill examples into extravagante & dangerous courses, getting the raines off their neks, & departing from their parents. Specifically, Bradford described the laments and sorrows… Third, the parents feared their children would be in danger of becoming degenerated and corrupted. The group began to think it better to move to a more advantageous and, if possible, a less dangerous place. The result would be that many would be tempted to leave. While they generally bore their difficulties cheerfully and with courage, they were concerned that in growing older they would be less able to sustain the hard labor required of them in Holland. Second, they believed they were in danger of scattering (p. Yet, sensing dangers in their present conditions, they began to consider the possibility of moving to another place. Even though other dissenters in England chose to endure prison there, the Pilgrims chose to bear the difficulties of life in Holland in order to enjoy the “ordinances of God in their puritie, and the libertie of the gospell with them” (p. The Hardness of Life in Hollandįirst, Bradford describes the hardness of the place-the discouragements of the “great labor and hard fare, with other inconveniences which they underwent & were contented with” (p. 15) they resolved to flee to Holland, and after a short time in Amsterdam they settled in Leiden where they lived and worshipped in relative peace.īut why leave Leiden? Why leave comfortable homes, food, and church for the risks of a transatlantic voyage and the uncertainties of trying to live in a wilderness? Bradford gives four reasons: 1. 14)Įxperiencing the “diligence & malice of their adversaries,” (p. Bradford, after describing the previous persecutions of the church since the first breaking out of the light of the gospel in England, wrote of how the Pilgrims struggled to endure greater afflictions and molestations in the early seventeenth century:īut after these things they could not long continue in any peaceable condition, but were hunted & persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as flea-bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. The small band of Christians had fled from England to Holland in 1608 because they had continued to suffer increasing persecution.

The reasons the Pilgrims left Leiden in 1620 after having lived there for twelve years are enlightening. William Bradford, their leader and first governor of Plymouth Plantation provided the reasons in Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation (printed by Wright & Potter, Boston, 1899), which he originally wrote in his own hand. Why the Pilgrims left the comforts of Leiden for the uncertainties of the American wilderness is less well known. Most Americans are generally familiar with the difficulty of their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, their arrival, and their terrible first winter in the wilderness of Massachusetts (by spring, half of them were dead). With colorful fall leaves and children drawing pictures of the Pilgrims who landed in New England in 1620, the American celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday is often people’s favorite meal of the year.īut what of the Pilgrims? Next year will be the four hundredth year since the small group of English Puritan dissenters left their homes in Leiden, Holland, for America. Being together and thankfully celebrating the blessings we enjoy by the providence of God. The tastes of well-prepared food and drink.

Families and friends joined together around the table.

Where were the pilgrims from