For they were “…looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” Hebrews 11:10
Written by Dr. Marcus J. Serven
It was four hundred years ago that a group of English Separatists–later known as “the Pilgrims”–arrived in New England. They had just endured an arduous journey across the storm-tossed Atlantic Ocean. They were anxious to establish a new colony where they could worship God as the Bible dictated, raise their children with a minimum of worldly influences, and live as freemen building their own homes and businesses. With a great sense of hope they scouted out the regions around Cape Cod and chose a site for their colony that seemed to present the best situation for building a village. Edward Winslow describes it this way,
“So in the morning, after we had called on God for direction, we came to this resolution, to go presently ashore again, and to take a better view of two places which we thought most fitting for us; for we could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer, and it being now the 19th of December. After our landing and viewing of places, so well as we could, we came to a conclusion, by most voices, to set on the main land, on the first place, on a high ground, where there is a great deal of land cleared, and have been planted with corn three or four years ago; and there is a very sweet brook runs under the fill side, and many delicate springs of good water as can be drunk, and where we may harbor our shallops and boats exceedingly well; and in this brook much good fish in their seasons; on the further side of the river also much ground cleared. In one field is a great hill, on which we point to make a platform, and plant our ordinance, which will command all round about…What people inhabit here we yet know not, for as yet we have seen none. So there we make our rendezvous, and a place for some of our people, about twenty, resolving in the morning to come all ashore and to build houses.”
Edward Winslow, “Mourt’s Relation,” 37-38
Coming ashore they stepped off the shallop onto a large flat rock–which in later years would be remembered as “Plymouth Rock”–and they began the challenging task of carving a village out of the raw wilderness. In God’s providence, this site proved to have been an area which in the past had supported an Indian village. There were cleared fields and abundant resources for their future prosperity all around; but not a single Indian! They now just had to build shelters so that they could get through the cold winter months.
With an abiding hope and every expectation of God’s blessing they set about the work of constructing a stout store house, building a few small cabins, cutting lots of firewood, and stockpiling whatever food they could find for the lean months ahead. Regarding their character, Pastor John Robinson and Elder William Brewster had noted in a letter to one of their financial backers, “We are not like some, whom small things discourage, or small discontents cause to wish themselves at home again.” No, these people were made of sterner stuff! They knew that they were “Pilgrims” and they looked “forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Heb. 11:10).
Many years after the Pilgrims had established their colony, Gov. William Bradford wrote the following reflection on all that had happened:
Thus out of small beginnings greater things have grown by His hand Who made all things out of nothing; and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light enkindled here has shone to many, yea, in a sense, to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.
— William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, Ch. XI, page 226.
What can we take away from this? First of all, we can admire the determination and tenacity of the Pilgrims. They suffered greatly, but despite a multitude of trials they refused to give up. This is a great lesson for every one of us! Secondly, we can resolve to be people like them; that having settled on a godly path we forthrightly persevere in it–setting aside all distractions–and forge ahead to the end. There are, perhaps, many other lessons to draw from the Pilgrims. But these two are sufficient for the day. Like the Pilgrims let us resolve that, “We are not like some, whom small things discourage.” Instead, we are those who steadily work towards fulfilling all that the Lord has set before us.
Sources:
Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. Bulverde, TX: Published by The Vision Forum, Inc. and Mantle Ministries, 1998.
Gragg, Rod. The Pilgrim Chronicles: An Eyewitness History of the Pilgrims and the Founding of Plymouth Colony. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2014.
Windslow, Edward. Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth. Jordan D. Fiore, ed. Plymouth, MA: Plymouth rock Foundation, 1985.
Rev. Dr. Marcus J. Serven, ThM and DMin
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