In their flight they had left their houses , their goods , and their means of livelihood . They were strangers in a strange land , among a people of different language and customs . They were forced to resort to new and untried occupations to earn their bread . Middle-aged men , who had spent their lives in tilling the soil , had now to learn mechanical trades . But they cheerfully accepted the situation and lost no time in idleness or repining . Though often pinched with poverty , they thanked God for the blessings which were still granted them and found their joy in unmolested spiritual communion . " They knew they were pilgrims , and looked not much on those things , but lifted up their eyes to heaven , their dearest country , and quieted their spirits ." --Bancroft , pt . 1 , ch . 12 , par . 15 .
In the midst of exile and hardship their love and faith waxed strong . They trusted the Lord ' s promises , and He did not fail them in time of need . His angels were by their side , to encourage and support them . And when God ' s hand seemed pointing them across the sea , to a land where they might found for themselves a state , and leave to their children the precious heritage of religious liberty , they went forward , without shrinking , in the path of providence . God had permitted trials to come upon His people to prepare them for the accomplishment of His gracious purpose toward them . The church had been brought low , that she might be exalted . God was about to display His power in her behalf , to give to the world another evidence that He will not forsake those who trust in Him . He had overruled events to cause the wrath of Satan and the plots of evil men to advance His glory and to bring His people to a place of security . Persecution and exile were opening the way to freedom .
When first constrained to separate from the English Church , the Puritans had joined themselves together by a solemn covenant , as the Lord ' s free people , " to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made known to them ." --J . Brown , The Pilgrim Fathers , page 74 . Here was the true spirit of reform , the vital principle of Protestantism . It was with this purpose that the Pilgrims departed from Holland to find a home in the New World . John Robinson , their pastor , who was providentially prevented from accompanying them , in his farewell address to the exiles said :
" Brethren , we are now erelong to part asunder , and the Lord knoweth whether I shall live ever to see your faces more . But whether the Lord hath appointed it or not , I charge you before God and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ . If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His , be as ready to receive it as ever you were to receive any truth of my ministry ; for I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word ." --Martyn , vol . 5 , p . 70 .
" For my part , I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed churches , who are come to a period in religion , and will go at present no farther than the instruments of their reformation . The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw ; . . . and the Calvinists , you see , stick fast where they were left by that great man of God , who yet saw not all things . This
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