George Bancroft, History of the Colonization of the United States, Vol. 1, 17th edition.

[301] imprison wives and children for no other crime than

Chap. VIII.} 1608.

that they would not part from their husbands and fathers. They could not be sent home, for ‘they had no homes to go to;’ so that, at last, the magistrates were ‘glad to be rid of them on any terms,’ ‘though, in the mean time, they, poor souls, endured misery enough.’ Such was the flight of Robinson and Brewster, and their followers, from the land of their fathers.

Their arrival in Amsterdam, in 1608, was but the beginning of their wanderings. ‘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.’ In 1609, removing to

1609.

Leyden, ‘they saw poverty coming on them like an armed man;’ but, being ‘careful to keep their word and painful and diligent in their callings,’ they attained ‘a comfortable condition, grew in the gifts and grace of the Spirit of God, and lived together in peace and love and holiness.’ ‘Never,’ said the magistrates of the city, ‘never did we have any suit or accusation against any of them;’ and, but for fear of offending King James, they would have met with public favor. ‘Many came there from different parts of England, so as they grew a great congregation.’ ‘Such was the humble zeal and fervent love of this people towards God and his ways, and their single-heartedness and sincere affection one towards another,’ that they seemed to come surpassingly near ‘the primitive pattern of the first churches.’ A clear and well written apology of their discipline was published by Robinson, who also, in the controversy on free will, as the champion of orthodoxy, ‘began to be terrible to the Arminians,’ and disputed in the university