“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:11-12

Thus, Peter characterizes all those who have been redeemed from their futile ways of life inherited from their forefathers, through the blood of Jesus Messiah. He describes them as strangers or exiles, since they belong, not to this present world, but to the next, and are dwelling on foreign land. Such were the “pilgrims” who forsook their homes in the Anglican Church-dominated England for the unknown regions of North America in the 1600s. As Abraham did, they left their homeland, since they sought a better country which can only be seen with the eyes of faith — a heavenly one. But in their efforts to joyfully and fruitfully reach their ultimate destination, they determined to flee the oppression of arrogant tyrants, and to find a haven in which to live as their Scripture-informed consciences dictated.

In doing so through much suffering, fear, ignorance, and death, they were enabled by the Lord to found a colony that would serve as a beacon of hope for thousands of other servants of God seeking the liberty to worship Him as led by the Spirit. Furthermore, they established a model for a pure, zealous, and effective Christian society that would be imitated by others later, for the building up of Christ’s body, and the conversion of thousands of godless pagans in the New World.

In our pagan wilderness of a western society, believers in Jesus are in a very similar situation as they were, minus the persecution. We are faced with the choice of whether to be content with worldly, selfish, ignorant, foolish, and cold western “Christianity,” or to take the great risks of taking our New Testaments seriously. This will force us to admit our sinful and ignorant failures, and venture forth to establish communities of believers that truly follow the apostles’ teaching faithfully and zealously.

Why We Western Christians Should Consider the Plymouth Pilgrims’ Example of Brave Faithfulness to the Scriptures

They Sacrificed Their Homes, Comforts, and Lives to Freely Obey the Teachings of Jesus

The Puritan Separatists from the small English village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, were prevented from practicing Christianity according to their consciences by the political and religious oppression of the English government and the Anglican Church. Thus, they left England for Holland, and then Holland for the wilds of New England in order to practice the New Testament as their consciences compelled them to. In so doing, they gave up their homes, occupations, and natural comforts for unknown dangers, trials, and temptations. Once in the Netherlands, they found that its society was corrupting their children, so for the sake of purity, they left for the wilds of the New World.

They Truly Devoted Themselves to Each Other in Brotherly Love as a Household of God

Like the first Christians in Jerusalem, the Scrooby Pilgrims were of one heart and soul (Acts 4), and they freely gave of any of their possessions to any who had need. They consistently fulfilled Jesus’s command to “love one another even as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34). They had to live like a family both in Holland and in the Plymouth Colony in order to provide for themselves for some of the time, but even if their condition was made more comfortable, they long continued their practice of brotherly love.

They Accomplished Their Goal of Establishing a Christian Community at Plymouth by God’s Grace

They experienced many and distressing set backs, hindrances, betrayals, and dangers, but they ultimately achieved their dream of a Puritan Christian colony in the New World. Among their set backs were at least one betrayal from the first main Dutch ship they paid to take them to Holland. While most of the men were able to get aboard the ship, all of the women and children were left on the English shore, as the English authorities bore down on them, and then captured them. Because these women and children were destitute and nearly helpless without their husbands, the authorities eventually took pity on them, and released them. Through various means, all of the pilgrims were graciously enabled to reach Amsterdam.

In Holland, after about 12 years of painstakingly finding means of livelihood, and engaging in the hardest and most toilsome labor, they were so beaten down from their occupations, that the elders and leaders decided they needed to leave Holland for somewhere more suited to their farming background.

In order to fund their venture to the New World, they had to partner with an English trading company, agreeing to give the company a portion of their resources and profits once they reached their destination. The final agreement was for a period of 7 years, during which they were obligated to work for this company to compensate it for its provision of transportation and supplies.

They were also forced to divide the whole community into two groups, with the majority staying in Holland with John Robinson, the main, and “official” pastor, while the rest would go to the New World. Upon their embarkment from England for New England, one of the ships started to sink, forcing the company to only take one ship, the Mayflower. It was later discovered that this was part of a deliberate plan of one of the leaders of the shipping company to deprive the pilgrims of this ship. They arrived at Cape Cod in December of 1620, during the start of winter, during which about half of them died due to poor nutrition because of their lack of food — from over 100 to barely 50. During that winter, during a large span of time, only several of them were even healthy enough to take care of their chores, and to care for the sick and dying. Among these loving and heroic brothers were a few of their chief leaders, including their head elder (William Brewster), and their military captain (Myles Standish).

They Formed a Prototype of Democratic Republicanism

Before they even landed on the Massachusetts shore, the men of the Mayflower wrote up a short constitution in the form of a covenant, or agreement, that they would form a democratic government to create laws, agree to live by them, and to enforce them. Chief among their stated goals for the colony was “the advancement of the Christian faith.” Once they had settled their community as a functioning town, they followed through with their agreement, and had a governor, along with a set of laws. Their model was then followed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which started as an initially populous city of Boston, which was immediately settled with about 700 people.

Some of Their Mistakes that Should Be Heeded By Western Christians

Although the Plymouth Pilgrims were mostly faithful to the mission and callings they believed the Lord had entrusted to them, as fallible and weak people, they still made many mistakes. Among the worst of their mistakes was their failure to diligently carry out the Great Commission to make disciples of the Native nations nearby. When you read the accounts of their interactions with the natives, hardly anything is noted about the preaching of the gospel, or the conversion of any of the natives. It’s understandable that while initial fears and hostilities would usually lead to a hindrance to preaching the gospel. However, the Pilgrims soon had friendly relations with the natives, and they barely used these relationships in any substantial way to communicate the gospel to them, so they would be saved. It was only until years later in the 1600s that any concerted effort would be made to evangelize the native tribes in that area.

A second and major flaw that the Plymouth Pilgrims possessed was their tight-fisted insistence that the Congregationalist traditions they had been taught by their pastors should never be questioned. As one example of this, take the fact that they were under the false conviction that no man who hadn’t been ordained as a “teaching pastor” had the right to distribute the bread and wine of communion. Because on their departure from Holland, their only teaching elder and pastor, John Robinson, remained behind, and the only appointed elder that went was the “ruling elder” William Brewster, the Plymouth congregation thought they had to abstain from the Lord’s Supper. Clearly, since Brewster wasn’t a teaching pastor, he couldn’t lead in the Lord’s Table. This is just one demonstration of an unbiblical tradition that kept the Pilgrims from experiencing the full enjoyment and power of their life in the Lord.

Also, later on, the Plymouth colonists, who were later subsumed under the government of Massachusetts Bay Colony, joined in the oppression of newly convinced Baptist brethren. One notable example of this persecution was the experience of Obadiah Holmes, who had changed from a Congregationalist paedobaptist, to a stalwart and zealous baptizer of only adult converts. Most of the stubborn Massachusetts Puritans never fairly considered the arguments of their Baptist brethren, but instead saw them as troublesome meddlers. What’s even more alarming is to remember that one of the main purposes of establishing both the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies was to escape the religious persecution of the Anglican Church, which denied the Puritans the right to live according to their personal convictions.

All in All, the Pilgrims Should Encourage Us to Restore and Perfect What They Built

In spite of the Pilgrims’ and Plymouth colonists’ faults, they were on to something distinctly apostolic and Christ-exalting when they journeyed to the unknown forests of the northeastern American coast to establish a new, free, and flourishing Christianly community. Just because they had a few major faults doesn’t mean that the heart of their mission was ungodly. They were seeking to obey the teachings of Jesus and the apostles as much as possible, and they sought to do it in the best way possible. We as western Christians should do the same.

We currently live in an overwhelmingly pagan, barbarous, and hostile society that is saturated with idolatry, pride, selfishness, and foolishness. We must seek to understand, delight in, and follow our New Testaments an increasing degrees, and take whatever steps necessary to do so. This means we need to separate from the ungodly thinking, attitudes, aspirations, and behaviors of most of the people around us. Then, we must be wholly and passionately devoted to working with out brethren to be the household of God that the Lord has called us to be. As the Pilgrims endeavored to, we must fulfill our calling of being a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, the salt of the earth that preserves its life, and the holy nation of God that proclaims the excellencies of our glorious King and Redeemer (1 Pe. 2).

Please join me in venturing out across the dangerous waters of the world of darkness around us to build a worthy city and household of God, which reflects the heavenly glory of the Ruler who created her, and has promised to build His assembly until we reach the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God. What are you doing today to encourage and build up your brethren toward completion in Jesus?

If the Lord wills, this article will be followed by a planned discussion on the Plymouth Pilgrims on The King’s Hand in History Podcast: