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 did the pilgrims come from