CONGREGATIONALISM
In our land and century religious toleration is taken for granted. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Congregationalists live together in friendly relations. It is hard for any age to imagine the difficulties of its predecessors. All communions, to some extent, cooperate in good works and are loyal to a common flag. We have not reached agreement in belief but we have learned that each man must be free to believe what he will. How little we -realize the long struggle which purchased our freedom!
The story of this struggle' as definitely related to Congregationalism begins with Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). She was an enlightened and liberal [sic] monach but personal religion meant very little to her and the political uses of the church meant much. By the "Act of Uniformity" she made compulsory the use of the Book of Common Prayer by every religious assembly. Narrow-minded ecclesiastics followed the matter with zeal and before long it was almost impossible to hold an unauthorized meeting or "conventicle" without arrest. The "Act of Supremacy" by which the King became the head of the church was a declaration of independence for the nation. The other mark of the Puritans was their endeavor to order all human conduct down to its least detail in accordance with the will of God.
In 1567 many of these Puritans withdrew from the churches of England and were known as "Separatists." In 1851, these Separatists under the leadership of Robert Browne went into voluntary exile and established themselves at Middleburg, Holland. From time to time colonies of Separatists went from London to Holland to enjoy freedom of worship. These people had fled to Holland on account of the fact that the Dutch people at that early -day had learned the lesson of religious freedom. The Dutch were free and willing others should be free.
In 1606 Separatists founded a church at Scrooby, Scotland, under the leadership of John Robinson. In 1609 the Scrooby church 'moved to Leyden, Holland, twenty-five miles from Amsterdam, where they lived until the year 1620.
These Scrooby people were unhappy in their new home. They had been farmers in England. Holland was a commercial country. "They were homesick and poor. There seemed no future before them in a land which was not their own. Their Puritan Sabbath was hard to keep in a continental country. There was always stirring in them the desire to extend the faith which they had learned, and to worship God in full freedom. So they decided to go to America. After three years preparation they were ready for the journey.
Certain men in England entered into partnership with the Leyden Company to procure ships and supplies for the voyage and settlement. A patent was obtained from the Virginia Company, which had already founded a colony at Jamestown in 1607. Two, vessels, the "Speedwell" and the "Mayflower," were secured. About the middle of JUly, 1620, they sailed from Delfthaven, Holland, to Southampton, England, whence they were to embark for America.
Attempting to sail from Southampton, the "Speedwell", a crazy craft of only sixty tons, sprang a leak and had to be abandoned. But the little "Mayflower," the most famous ship in history, as someone has called it, bore them safely across the sea. Burdened and anxious but unfaltering in their purpose to do God's will they drew near to their Promised Land.
The first landing was at what is now Provincetown on the very tip of Cape' Cod. It was-not at all where they intended to go. Their patent called- for a location hundreds of miles farther south. But they were worn with the journey and winter was drawing on so they had to make some quick decisions. The first was to settle in that region whether they had a legal right to do So or not. The next was to draw up a constitution for the government of their colony. Here it is the famous "Mayflower Compact," signed in the, Cabin of the "Mayflower" by forty-one men. In that compact were the beginnings of American Democracy as well as of American Congregationalism.
They coasted around the Bay, spending a Sunday at Clark's Island, where they "rested according to the commandment," and finally concluded to settle at a place which they called "Plymouth." At the end of ten years (1630), Plymouth Colony was a compact established community of three hundred people, with its future fairly secure.
So, in the Providence of God, out of Roman Catholicism, out of Anglican conformity, out of Puritan protest, out of the heart of England, had come a sturdy band of pioneers, to build the foundations of a new faith, to bequeath to us a noble heritage, to mould the new republic of the west. They were very human folk, but they 'made a beginning remarkable in its vision and power. Beginnings last. Although many potent forces have entered into American life since their day, we must give a primary place to these early deeds .and thoughts of the Pilgrim company. Especially must Congregationalism recognize with reverent gratitude that whatever it has been able to accomplish is rooted in the early adventure of faith.