For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land.

Deuteronomy 8:7

On a warm, hazy July morning in 1620, three barges floated down a canal in Holland. They were on their way from Leyden to the seaport town of Delftshaven. In the distance was a large, stone windmill with its white sails slowly turning. Field crickets chirped in the low, green fields that lined the canal. Everyone stood, silently watching. They were saying goodbye to Holland, for the time to leave had finally come. They were beginning their long journey to the New World.

Who were these people? Where were they going, and why were they leaving Holland? Were these people like those who had gone to Jamestown? Or were they different?

They would come to be known as Pilgrims. Unlike the Jamestown settlers, they were people of God from the beginning. These Christians were serious about living in obedience to God. They sought His will in everything they did, and He guided them every step of their way.

———

The Church of England was England’s national church. It was a Protestant Church run by the House of Bishops. The head of this Church was the English monarch. During the 1600s, many people believed that reform was needed in this Church. They wanted everything to be run according to the Bible. They desired the worship services to include Bible reading and personal prayers. They wished to do away with many of the rituals used by the Church.

Two groups of people sought these changes. The first group remained loyal to the Church but wanted to purify it from within. They were called the Puritans. The second and smaller group was called Separatists. They believed the Church would not change, so they “separated” themselves from it and began their own worship services.

The House of Bishops dealt with the Puritans by keeping them from holding positions of authority within the Church. The Separatists, however, were more of a threat. If other groups joined them in leaving the Church of England, the Bishops would lose control of the Church. They did not want this to happen, so they persecuted the Separatists by breaking up their worship services and throwing them in jail.

In the village of Scrooby, England, lived a young Separatist named William Bradford. He had become an orphan when he was very young and had been raised by an aunt, uncle, and grandparents. At the age of twelve he had given his life to Christ and had joined the small group of Separatists. His relatives were so upset that they threatened to disown him if he didn’t come back to the Church of England. But in a letter to them he said that keeping his conscience clear and obeying God’s Holy Bible had to come first in his life, even ahead of their wishes for him.

His relatives did disown him when he was fourteen, so Separatist William Brewster took him into his home.

Finally, the persecution of the Separatists became so bad that they decided to leave England. Bradford’s congregation traveled to Holland, where they could worship in peace. But life in the new country was very hard. As poor immigrants, the Separatists had to work twelve to fifteen hours a day. Their children were unhappy and often tempted by worldly values. The Separatists sought the Lord’s guidance.

“I’m beginning to think God wants us to leave Holland and go to the New World,” said Bradford.

“I think you’re right, William,” replied Pastor John Robinson. “But there is more to it than just going there.”

“What do you mean, Pastor?” asked Bradford.

“Well, I believe God is telling us to go, but He is sending us for a special reason. He wants us to build a living temple for the Lord in the new land. It is to be a spiritual temple. Our lives are to shine as His Light in a dark world.”

“I am sure you are right, Pastor,” replied Bradford.

God’s plan for America continued. He was guiding these Separatists, and they were hearing His call.

But getting across the Atlantic was not easy. They needed money to pay for the ship and the voyage. They needed food supplies to last them until they could harvest a crop. In addition, they needed a fishing vessel so they could set up a trade in the New World. Where would they find the funds?

They found them through a London merchant named Thomas Weston. Weston represented a group of adventurers in London who had heard about the Separatists and wanted to help them. The Separatists entered an agreement with the adventurers. The agreement said that the adventurers would loan the Separatists money to buy their supplies, and in exchange the Separatists would work for seven years to pay back their loans.

The Separatists sold their houses and prepared for the journey. They bought an old freighter named the Speedwell. This ship would pick them up at Delftshaven and take them to Southampton, England. There they would join a larger ship named the Mayflower. Since the Speedwell was too small to take everybody, Pastor Robinson and some of the congregation chose to remain behind. William Brewster, an elder, became acting pastor until Robinson could join them.

The time came to leave. Robinson declared a day of fasting and prayer to prepare them spiritually for the journey. At the end of the day, they enjoyed a farewell dinner together, singing hymns and psalms. The next morning, they boarded the barges which would take them to Delftshaven.

As the barges floated down the canal, Bradford stood and looked back at the broad, low fields near Leyden. He watched the windmills turning in the breeze.

“Dorothy, we are today starting a pilgrimage to a distant land,” he said to his wife. “We are now Pilgrims following our Lord.”

“I know, William,” Dorothy replied. “And God will bless that which we are about to do.”

They reached Delftshaven and boarded the Speedwell. On July 22, 1620, the ship headed to Southampton, England, to join the Mayflower. The Mayflower carried about eighty “strangers,” people who were not Separatists. Some shared the Separatists’ feelings about the Church of England, but others were going to the New World for adventure and riches. None of the passengers were Gentlemen.

It was time to leave. Suddenly, Thomas Weston barged in, carrying a contract in his hand.

“Elder Brewster, your people must sign this contract!” Weston ordered as he shoved the document into Brewster’s hand.

Brewster read it, and then replied calmly: “We will not sign it, sir. You have changed the terms. We will not agree to this.”

“You’ll be sorry!” Weston snapped. “Be gone with all of you! I’ll not loan you any more money to buy supplies!”

With that, Weston stormed off the ship. He returned to London, refusing to settle the Separatists’ final debts. They had to sell many casks of butter to repay their suppliers.

On August 5, 1620, the Speedwell and Mayflower finally set sail for the New World. But the Speedwell began leaking, and both vessels returned to port twice. The first time, they headed back to Southampton. The second time, they returned to Plymouth and sold the leaky freighter. Everyone crowded onto the Mayflower.

Why had God let this happen? Bradford recorded in his journal that God had a reason for this. When they couldn’t fix the Speedwell’s leaks, twenty passengers decided not to accompany them to America. God was sifting out those who were fainthearted. Like Gideon’s army in ancient Israel, God needed only a small number of brave and strong people who intended to do His will.

For seven weeks the Pilgrims huddled in the damp and dark space below decks. (This was an area about the size of a volleyball court.) Often the hatches had to be battened down because of the stormy weather. Their living space smelled bad because of the bilge water and lack of fresh air. They could eat only dried fish and beans, and no one could cook when they were in storms because of the danger of fire. The children had no place to play. Yet the Pilgrims did not complain. They trusted God.

And God was taking care of them. Only two lives were lost during the entire trip. One was a sailor who did not like the Pilgrims and mocked them when they were seasick. He delighted in telling them how much he looked forward to feeding their dead bodies to the fish. But this sailor suddenly came down with a mysterious fever. The sailor died within a single day, and no one else caught the fever! After that, the crew did not mock the Pilgrims anymore. A servant named William Butten also died. He had refused to drink the sour lemon juice which prevented scurvy. This disobedience cost him his life.

Another passenger almost lost his life. This was John Carver’s servant, John Howland.

“I can’t stand it down here, sir,” Howland complained. “It stinks. I must get some fresh air!”

“You may not leave,” Carver replied. “The captain has forbid any of us from going topside. It’s too dangerous in this storm.”

But finally, Howland could stand it no longer. He decided to climb the ladder and go onto the main deck anyway. It was a nightmare outside! Howland had never seen anything like it. Violent winds shrieked, tearing at the masts and sails. Stormy, black clouds covered the sky. Huge waves crashed over the small ship, making it roll from side to side. Raindrops beat the deck and stung Howland’s face.

All of a sudden, the ship seemed to drop out from beneath him. Howland was plunged into the icy water. Instantly, the frightened man blindly reached out. Amazingly, a line from one of the ship’s masts happened to be trailing in the water. The rope twirled around Howland’s wrist. He grabbed it and hung on with all his might. When he was finally hauled aboard the Mayflower, the poor man’s skin had turned blue from the cold. Howland soon recovered, but he never again stuck his head above the deck until invited to do so.

During another storm, giant waves tossed the Mayflower from side to side. The ship rolled so far over on her side that the alarmed passengers feared she would go under. The lantern in the space between the decks swung sharply from side to side. Suddenly, a loud boom thundered through the ship.

“What was that?” Elizabeth Winslow asked her husband as she tried to calm a screaming child. “It sounded terrible!”

“Watch out, everyone!” a sailor warned as he dashed down the ladder. “The crossbeam that supports that main mast has cracked! It could give way any minute!”

The men swarmed around it, trying to lift it back into place. They could not budge it. From the look on the captain’s face, the Pilgrims knew the situation was very serious.

“We must pray, Captain,” announced William Bradford. “God can save us.”

And pray they did. All at once, Brewster got an idea.

“My printing press!” he exclaimed. “I have a large iron screw in my printing press! That screw could hold up the beam. It’s on board somewhere. We must find it!”

The screw Brewster wanted was the large one used to press type with ink onto pages of paper. That was why the machine was called a printing press. The men began a frantic search for the press.

“I’ve found it!” someone yelled.

The men hauled the screw into place and began turning it.

“Slowly now,” Brewster directed. “It must meet the beam.”

The wood groaned and creaked. Slowly, the huge screw lifted the beam back into place. The sailors and Pilgrims joined together to praise God.

Later, the Pilgrims questioned Captain Jones.

“Captain,” John Carver asked, “should we go on? Can the Mayflower make it to America?”

“Yes,” Jones answered thoughtfully, “I think she can make it. We’re closer to the New World than to England anyway. She’s still sound in the water. She can get us there.”

These troubles on board the Mayflower united the Separatists and the “strangers.” God knew they would need to be united. Many hardships awaited them on the other side of the ocean.

———

“Land ho! Land ho!” shouted the sailor from the crow’s nest. Everyone rushed up to the main deck to catch a first glimpse of the new land. They saw a long stretch of coastline covered with dune grass and scrub pine. The date was November 9, 1620.

“Captain, the fishermen call this place Cape Cod,” announced the pilot. “But we’re not far off course. We can turn south and be at the Hudson River in just a few days.”

But strong headwinds and fierce tides made going south treacherous and almost impossible. After two days, the Pilgrims began to wonder what was happening.

“Is it possible God doesn’t want us to sail down to the Hudson?” Winslow asked.

“It may be,” replied Bradford.

“Perhaps He has blown us off course on purpose,” added Brewster. “Perhaps He wants us to remain here.”

After much prayer and discussion, the Pilgrims instructed Captain Jones to sail north along the edge of Cape Cod. On November 11, they dropped anchor in a sheltered harbor at the tip of Cape Cod, a place they named Provincetown.

But now a new problem arose.

“If we settle here,” Bradford said thoughtfully, “we’ll no longer be under the authority of the Virginia Company. Since we don’t have a charter from any one else, we’ll be under the authority of no one.”

“William is right,” Winslow quickly agreed. “We need some form of government. We don’t want rebellion on our hands.”

The Pilgrim leadership agreed that they had to act quickly. That same afternoon the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact. This was the first written example of constitutional government formed on American soil. It was also the first time since the children of Israel in the Sinai wilderness (except for the Protestant Reformation) that free and equal men had created a new society based on Biblical principles. One of these principles was that all men are created equal in the sight of God. A second was that a government can only govern people who agree to submit to it. These two important principles became cornerstones of American constitutional government.

———

The Pilgrims had begun their journey by kneeling on the dock at Delftshaven to ask God’s blessing. They now ended it on the sands of Cape Cod, kneeling to thank Him for the blessing of safe passage.

With winter storms howling around the tip of the Cape, the Pilgrims turned their eyes toward heaven. Behind them was the mighty ocean they had just crossed. Before them lay a wild and savage land. What could sustain these people now but the Spirit of God and His grace?