A Life in the Soul
Illustration★★★A generation fond of pleasure, disinclined towards serious thought, and shrinking from hardship, even if it may be swiftly reached, will find it difficult to imagine the temper, courage and manliness of the emigrants who made the first Christian settlement of New England. For a man to give up all things and fare forth into savagery, in order to escape from the responsibilities of life, in order, that is, to serve the devil, “whose feet are bound by civilization,” is common. Giving up all things in order to serve God is a sternness for which prosperity has unfitted us.
Some regard the settling of New Plymouth as the sowing of the seed from which the crop of Modern America has grown. .. . For all the Mayflower’s sailing there is, perhaps, little existing in modern England or America “accord- ing to the Primitive Patern in the Word of God.” It would be healthful could either country see herself through the eyes of those pioneers, or see the pioneers as they were. The pilgrims leave no impression of personality on the mind.
They were not “remarkable.” Not one of them had compelling personal genius, or marked talent for the work in hand. They were plain men of moderate abilities, who, giving up all things, went to live in the wilds, at unknown cost to themselves, in order to preserve to their children a life in the soul.
The point
The Mayflower pilgrims sacrificed all to preserve their spiritual faith and Christian settlement, demonstrating true commitment to God over comfort.