New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-03
THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
A NEW HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

~. R,se os Other New England Settlements, tho
History of Congregationalism and the Creeds OF
the Period BY JOHN A. goodwin. eVo' PIP
ILL.,, e62. Boston Ticknor d Co.
The authors justification for this work, as stated
N the preface is that so far as the general reader
is concerned there is not in print any one volume
which tells The story Of the Pilgrim Fathers with
near approach to completeness and accuracy
This may appear o bold assertion in view OF the
number of books purporting to give the history OF
our national genesis, but Mr.. Goodwin proceeds to
yindicate his position by q brief analysis OF the
principal works partially wholly occupied with
the subject The fact that the full text OF Brad
fords Journal (confusingly mscalled Mounts Rela-
ton was not accessible until Dr.. Dexter published
it in 1865, has an important bearing on the accu-
rscy of all the precedent historical publications
Bradford and Winslow must always be the pillars
of Pilgrim history, and when the student passes
beyond their chronological scope he finds the work
of research increasingly heavy and unremuneratve.
Mr. Goodwin had undoubtedly studied his sub
ject as thoroughly as was possible. No material
seems to have been overlooked by him, and II ne
cannot lay claim to the title of discovercr he is
certainly entitled to praise fer the palnstaklng
and exhaustive inquest which has enabled him 10
change at least many Of the lights in the picture
and to present what is on the whole, the moso
Trustworthy, complete and consistent view OF the
Pilgrims. His plan is eminently judiclous lie
goes back to the beginnings OF the migratory
movement which eliminated in the voyage OF the
Mayfower, and gives vivid sketch OF tne doineS
at Scrooby. This affords an opening for an equally
interesting and important consideration OF the
religious tenets of the Scrooby worshippers and
enables the author TO set forth his contention that
the Pilgrims were not Puritans at ALL but
Brownists, or as they were also called Separatists
However well established this fact may be, MIR.
Goodwin is certainly justified in asserting that
American as well as English writers have COM
monty ignored it, employing the term Puritan In
differently for Plymouth and Boston colonists.
The most recent illustration of this, indeed, comes
to us in a work which Mr. Goodwin could not have
seem namely, Doyle's Puritan Colonies, published
at the end of 1887 Now Doyle is a conscientious
writer and always goes to the original authorities,
yet he deliberately puts aside even while stating
the sccarian distinction referred TO- brief quota
tion will show his method: If, then, we would
enter into the spirit Of New-England history, we
must clearly understand what is implied III the
name Puritan. One may disregard In
England, during the sixteenth and in the carrier
part of the seventeenth century, the Puritan was
often marked of from the Separatists. IDENTICAL
or nearly So in their doctrine in their views about
ritual and in their moral CODE they differed IN
their attitude toward the Established Church Inc
Separatists hostile to the Church, not only as
corrupt but as being in principle at variance WIN
the right order Of things as laid down In Scripture
The conforming Puritan was willing to remain
within the Church if it could be purged from what
he regarded as the abuses bequeathed to it by
Rome Each of these classes bore its part In the
settlement of New-England. In their new home
tba 1ief;u had
disappears" Mr.. Goodwin contends that the dis
appearance of the distinction between BrowMsts
or Separatists and Puritans is fiction which has
misled most of the historians of New-England;
that in fact the distinction not only remained but
that it gave to the whole history of New-Plymouth
a popularity dividing that colony clearly from
Massachusetts, and Connecticut and to some ex-
tent, though less sharply, from Rhode Island.
One of the strong points brought out in Mr.
Goodwins scholarly work is the difference be-
tween the Pilgrim Fathers in fact and in tradition,
as regards this central religious question They
were not the Puritans of Restoration caricature
They were not sour-faced, snuflng, bigoted, mar
row zcaots They were emphatically not perse-
cutors of other faiths than their own. On the
contrary, liberation their principle and it was
Loyalty maintained until the Quaker movement
and even then the Plymouth laws were far less
severe than those oil MASSACHUSETTS,, Winc uurihS
the witch-mania the Pilgrim colony kept itself
free from tic stain of innocent blood. Roger
Williams who, like Carlyle, was tbeologically
speaking, gey i'll to live VII" always got on bet
ter with Plymouth than with any other colony;
and after his exile continued on the friendllcst
terms with her authorities, Bradford and Wins
low and Winthrop and Standsh and the rest
The truth, shown categoricaly by Mr. Goodwin is
that the Spirit of Plymouth was liberal and far In
advance of the Puritan spirit; and it is evident
that the historian who ignores this distinction Is
incapable Of estimating the growth of New-Eng-
land rightly. Nowhere has the practical effect OF
Plymouth Congregationasm in modifying the
many strong prejudices of the period been SO
clearly exhibited as in this work, moreover. and
the preliminary sketch Of the sojoWn in Holland
brings into full relief the influence which the
broad and lofty teachings of John Robinson exer-
cised upon the religious positions taken and held
at Plymouth
Had that noble pastor and teacher been per-
mitted to join his flock in the New World it cannot
be doubted that the spirit OF liberation would have
been still more developed at Plymouth, for some
of the Pilgrim leaders presently showed tendency
to follow the Puritan models rather than their
own tendency which Robinsons presence would
have checked at the outset. What was really
liberal IN religion at that time would not neces-
sarily be so regarded to-day Then scarce any one
questioned the right of the community TO prescribe
the devotional exercises of its members or at the
least 70 insist that all should worship in way
Plymouth sometimes insisted rigidly and sometimes
less rigidly upon general church attendance but
the citizens were not dragooned into following any
particular form of worship, and indeed for many
years the majority of the colonists were compelled
en- 40 fhor rda od min Mr. lxyn
has drawn very pleasing picture of the infant
colony, whose first winter was so scourgcd by |
disease that when the spring came half the little
community had disappeared. A wise Indian policy |
at this time of great service, probably nval- |
liable, for had the surrounding tribes united
against the newcomers while the latter were still
so feeble the preSnmption must be that the colony