228 Bradford, William
viewed from afar, from a distance that turns the story
into material for meditation. This, perhaps, hints to
why Bradford first entered this information into his
journal. Writing about the events distanced them
from the writer and allowed him to assume the role
not of a writer per se but of a meditative spectator.
What was being watched in this history was the
unveiling of the power of God, not the establish-
ment of a community of pilgrims. It is fitting here to
remember that the first promise the pilgrims made
to themselves was that they would be a city on a hill,
something the whole world could watch. Bradford’s
book is his attempt to make sure that promise was
fulfilled for posterity.
Matthew Horn
suFFerinG in Of Plymouth Plantation
England during the late 1500s and early 1600s
was in religious turmoil. The Church of England
had separated from Roman Catholicism but still
maintained many practices that looked very much
like old Catholic rituals. Also, although the English
no longer looked to the pope for ultimate religious
authority, the English monarch and the archbishop
of Canterbury claimed such an authority for them-
selves. People in England who did not approve of the
direction the Church of England was taking began
either to push for further reform while remaining in
the church or to band together in small congrega-
tions or sects in order to move out from the church.
William Bradford and his community belonged
to this latter group. For them, the Bible was the
ultimate and sole authority in religious matters, and
it was to be read and interpreted by individuals for
themselves. These people wanted to break with the
official church, and they knew such a break would be
difficult, for the Bible proclaimed that all who lived
in a genuinely godly way in this world would be
persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). However, it also told
them that God would completely deliver them from
the fire of persecution (Isaiah 43:2) and that those
who are persecuted because of righteousness would
inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10). It
even said that God himself would bring suffering to
the lives of his children to help them grow in grace
(Hebrews 12:4–11).
Bradford and his group were therefore expecting
persecution on all fronts. This is reflected in Brad-
ford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, which immediately
develops as major themes the notions of suffering
for faith and of successfully enduring that suffer-
ing. In the first chapter, Bradford’s narrative points
out that Satan was attacking the work of the earlier
reformers in England by diluting their work and
that he (Satan) was now stirring the corrupt clergy
against truth-seeking congregations like the one
Bradford had joined. But corrupt clergy was only
one of Satan’s tools: He could use anyone who was
not fully endeavoring to imitate God’s holiness. This
includes religiously indifferent law officials or mer-
chants. Thus, in the second chapter, Bradford tells
of how a treacherous sea captain betrays them to the
magistrates as they seek passage to Holland and of
how, a year later, the law officers arrest at least half of
the group as the congregation seeks a second escape.
Evil men will be described throughout the narrative
to highlight this sort of persecution.
Suffering also comes from a more subtle enemy:
the circumstances caused by the pilgrims’ struggle
to survive economically. This is seen in Plymouth
Plantation’s experiences caused by intense pressures
of its property management, its commitments to its
financiers, and its trading with Native Americans,
but it is first seen in the pilgrims’ stay at Holland and
Leyden (as described in chapters 3 and 4). Here the
world creeps into the life of the holy congregation,
causing some to turn away after material gain, some
to age prematurely through overwork, and some to
lose their children to the city’s alluring heathenism.
This convinces the pilgrims that although they are
not in physical danger from the authorities, their
faith is still in enough danger to justify a move to the
Americas, where they can isolate themselves from
the corroding influences of an unholy civilization.
Underlying these accounts of persecution is the
idea that for their own good, God is allowing his
children to suffer. This is the view taken especially
for horrific events such as the storms at sea that
the pilgrims endure during their travels to Hol-
land and to America, and the sickness and famine
they experience in the New World. The operative
phrases here are “It pleased the Lord” and “general
visitation,” both alluding to God’s plans and doings.