The Book of Books (7 page)
Authors: Melvyn Bragg
Then there was the Geneva Bible, much loved, conveniently priced and sized, the portable sustenance of the faith for generations. That too held on and was not entirely supplanted until the middle of the century.
St Jerome, after the years spent turning the Bible into the Latin current in his day at the end of the fourth century, encountered equally harsh opposition which embittered him. He would have been pleased that Thomas Hobbes, the seventeenth-century English philosopher, in his book
Leviathan
quotes the Bible only in the Latin of St Jerome and disdained the King James Version. Many of the educated preferred what they had studied at university. The beauties of the new Bible's prose were to be discovered, admired and then loved rather later.
Leviathan
quotes the Bible only in the Latin of St Jerome and disdained the King James Version. Many of the educated preferred what they had studied at university. The beauties of the new Bible's prose were to be discovered, admired and then loved rather later.
It was the will of James I that made the book happen. It was the poetry of it and a civil war in the kingdoms of Britain and a purposeful and valiant push west across the Atlantic to America that embedded it.
âThe scholars who produced this masterpiece are mostly un-known and unremembered,' wrote Sir Winston Churchill,
not, as it turns out, correctly. âBut they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking people of the world.'
not, as it turns out, correctly. âBut they forged an enduring link, literary and religious, between the English-speaking people of the world.'
And a scholar's voice, that of Professor Albert Stanborough Cook, of Yale University in the 1920s: âNo other book has penetrated and permeated the hearts and speech of the English race as has the Bible.'
Finally, from the historian Lord Macaulay: âIf everything else in our language should perish, it would alone suffice to show the whole extent of its beauty and power.'
Now, 1611, it was done and out in the world. It would help create new worlds and be part of the rise and fall of empires. It would be crucial in shaping America, its faith, its democracy and its language. All this potential was compact in dangerously crowded, small ships which set off from ports in the west of England to find and found a New England, which they did, Bibles in hand, God's English their guide.
CHAPTER SIX
THE MAYFLOWER AND THE COVENANT
T
here is something of the Ark about the
Mayflower
. On 6 September 1620, 102 people set off from Plymouth in Devon on the south coast of England. This boat, the
Mayflower
, was ninety feet long and twenty-five feet wide. Today you can see a full-scale replica berthed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a thing of beauty, gleaming, perfect: and very small.
here is something of the Ark about the
Mayflower
. On 6 September 1620, 102 people set off from Plymouth in Devon on the south coast of England. This boat, the
Mayflower
, was ninety feet long and twenty-five feet wide. Today you can see a full-scale replica berthed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a thing of beauty, gleaming, perfect: and very small.
In 1620 it leaked, stank, bulged with people and furniture, livestock and stores and forced its way across the storm-stricken North Atlantic for sixty-six days. To imagine that small vessel in the turbulence of a Northern Atlantic late autumn is to be reminded of Noah. When the Flood came to drown the earth, God told Noah to build a wooden ark, and in this he put the birds and the beasts and men and women who would survive the Flood and begin God's work on earth once more.
Thirty-five of those on board the
Mayflower
would have embraced the comparison and sought strength from it. These thirty-five believed that they were God's favoured people, heirs to the Israelites of the Old Testament. They had entered into a covenant with each other and with God who expected greater service from them than from anyone else. Their religion was based on Calvinism: they were Separatists, they were the Elect. It is likely that most of
them took the Geneva Bible, and their reading of the Bible told them so.
Mayflower
would have embraced the comparison and sought strength from it. These thirty-five believed that they were God's favoured people, heirs to the Israelites of the Old Testament. They had entered into a covenant with each other and with God who expected greater service from them than from anyone else. Their religion was based on Calvinism: they were Separatists, they were the Elect. It is likely that most of
them took the Geneva Bible, and their reading of the Bible told them so.
Like the King James Version, it was largely based on the work of Tyndale. When the King James Version took over, which it did in a few years, there was not much that was new. The disturbing marginal notes had gone. But the Separatists would then ink in their own marginal notes. They were the âChosen' and they watched every step they took. Few groups in history can have taken their calling with such fearless seriousness. It was those qualities as much as their faith which put their stamp on the language, the constitution and the morality of America. These people of the book were the crucible in the making of the new nation. They made it as a tribute to the book.
They also made it, as they saw it, through God's providence. The following is one of the only known primary source accounts of the journey of the
Mayflower
, written by William Bradford in his
Of Plymouth Plantation
. The extract begins when the
Mayflower
finally set sail successfully, having been beaten back to Plymouth by violent storms:
Mayflower
, written by William Bradford in his
Of Plymouth Plantation
. The extract begins when the
Mayflower
finally set sail successfully, having been beaten back to Plymouth by violent storms:
September 6. These troubles being blown over, and now all being compact together in one ship, they put to sea again with a prosperous wind, which continued divers days together, which was some encouragement unto them; yet according to the usual manner many were afflicted with sea sickness. And I may not omit here a special work of God's providence.
There was a proud and very profane young man, one of the seamen, of a lusty, able body, which made him the more haughty; he would always be condemning the poor people in their sickness, and cursing them daily with grievous execrations, and did not let to tell them, that he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end, and to make merry with what they
had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him.
had; and if he were by any gently reproved, he would curse and swear most bitterly. But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. Thus his curses light on his own head, and it was an astonishment to all his fellows, for they noted it to be the just hand of God upon him.
In this next extract, besides once more showing the hardships of the voyage, a more benevolent God is revealed:
And as for the decks and upper works they would caulk them as well as they could, and though with the working of the ship they would not long keep staunch, yet there would otherwise be no great danger, if they did not overpress her with sails. So they committed themselves to the will of God, and resolved to proceed. In sundry of these storms the winds were so fierce, and the seas so high, as they could not bear a knot of sail, but were forced to hull, for divers days together. And in one of them, as they thus lay at hull, in a mighty storm, a lusty young man (called John Howland) coming upon some occasion above the gratings, was, with a seele of the ship thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards, which hung overboard, and ran out at length; yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again, and his life saved; and though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after, and became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth.
Finally at their destination, they had no doubt what must be done before all else: âBeing thus arrived in a good harbour and
brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.'
brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.'
After sixty-six days, after one death and one birth, they had landed near what they called Plymouth Rock. On rocky ground they built their church. They faced a winter of which one of their number wrote: âthey that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate place, full of wild beasts and wild men â and what multitudes there might be of them, they knew not.'
By the end of that first winter, half of them had died.
They were woefully unprepared for the task of settlement. The author Bill Bryson has written: âYou couldn't have had a more helpless group of people to start a new society. They brought all the wrong stuff, they didn't really bring people who were expert in agriculture or fishing. They were coming with a lot of faith and not a great deal of preparation.' These people had travelled before â to the Netherlands where they had sought refuge for their godly task. But in that country there was a language and an economy with which they were familiar.
They saw alien peoples and the uncultivated wilderness. Yet it was their destination and they sturdily called it âNew England'. Out of this desert walked their saviour. He was an Indian, Tisquantum, nicknamed Squanto. The settlers would have had every justification for adding his appearance to the calendar of miracles. His knowledge, intelligence and kindness got them through that winter and beyond.
Squanto had been kidnapped by English sailors fifteen years
before and taken to London where he was trained to be a guide and an interpreter for the fishermen who regularly travelled the 3,000 miles across the North Atlantic to bring back rich hauls from the teeming, scarcely harvested seas of the North Atlantic and Cape Cod. Squanto escaped, and trekked back to his tribe. He found it all but wiped out by one of the European diseases that were to bring successive plagues to the Native Americans. He travelled on and you might feel justified in saying, âGod alone knows how,' he ended up next to the same rock as the helpless colonists from Devon. As Bill Bryson notes: âHe taught them not only which things would grow but also how to fertilise corn seed by adding little pieces of fish â the fish would rot and actually fertilise the seed â and he taught them how to eat all kinds of things from the sea.'
before and taken to London where he was trained to be a guide and an interpreter for the fishermen who regularly travelled the 3,000 miles across the North Atlantic to bring back rich hauls from the teeming, scarcely harvested seas of the North Atlantic and Cape Cod. Squanto escaped, and trekked back to his tribe. He found it all but wiped out by one of the European diseases that were to bring successive plagues to the Native Americans. He travelled on and you might feel justified in saying, âGod alone knows how,' he ended up next to the same rock as the helpless colonists from Devon. As Bill Bryson notes: âHe taught them not only which things would grow but also how to fertilise corn seed by adding little pieces of fish â the fish would rot and actually fertilise the seed â and he taught them how to eat all kinds of things from the sea.'
He spoke English and helped the settlers to reach a balance of accommodation with the tribes whose lands they had moved in on. Some of the settlers thought it beyond mere good fortune and saw it as providence. This
was
the Promised Land and God had held out His hand to them.
was
the Promised Land and God had held out His hand to them.
Charles I had succeeded his father, James, in 1625. His increasing encouragement of Catholic practices drove out more and more colonists and Separatists. The King badly underestimated the historical and the visceral fear of Roman Catholics. The Pope was considered to be the literal Antichrist: his Church the Empire of Evil, his mission satanic. By 1640, scores of ships had brought over a community of about 25,000 in and around new Plymouth. They came largely from the east of England â especially Lincolnshire, Essex, Kent and London â and the Midlands, particularly Nottinghamshire. Overwhelmingly, they came to stay and they dug in.
They were proud to be English. The place names alone show that: a small selection includes Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich,
Boston, Hull, Bedford, Falmouth and Plymouth, of course. This was evidence of homesickness perhaps, but also a determination to keep the connection and hold faith with the faith of those they had left behind. It was a new baptism, but also an assertion of their Englishness. There were many who came for reasons other than a search for a place in which to plant a purer Puritan faith. But for many generations it was the religious self-exiles who dominated. By the time the make-up of the population of the New World had grown and changed and its history been forged in godliness, slaughter, injustice and risk, it was these founding Puritans and Separatists who had put down their mark. Their covenant with each other through their faith in the teaching and in the language of the Bible had made its harsh Protestant character the first draft of the new America.
Boston, Hull, Bedford, Falmouth and Plymouth, of course. This was evidence of homesickness perhaps, but also a determination to keep the connection and hold faith with the faith of those they had left behind. It was a new baptism, but also an assertion of their Englishness. There were many who came for reasons other than a search for a place in which to plant a purer Puritan faith. But for many generations it was the religious self-exiles who dominated. By the time the make-up of the population of the New World had grown and changed and its history been forged in godliness, slaughter, injustice and risk, it was these founding Puritans and Separatists who had put down their mark. Their covenant with each other through their faith in the teaching and in the language of the Bible had made its harsh Protestant character the first draft of the new America.
There was something else going on, more profound and, I think, difficult to grasp in our age. There grew with increasing force in seventeenth-century England, among the Puritans, the belief, frightening to these faith-filled souls, that âGod was leaving England'.
In this, as in so much about the seventeenth century, I am indebted to Christopher Hill. Here is a quotation with which he opens the chapter called âGod Is Leaving England', in his book
The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution
. He begins with a reference, one of many, taken from the Old Testament.
The English Bible and the Seventeenth-Century Revolution
. He begins with a reference, one of many, taken from the Old Testament.
âThe Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.' The land referred to was now thought to be England. The fear was growing that the threat of Catholicism and the Antichrist was not being countered with sufficient rigour. Charles's court flirted with Catholicism and it was becoming dangerously drawn back into its orbit.
In Europe the Thirty Years War between Protestants and Catholics was swinging perilously and savagely against the Protestants. England refused to get involved. Just as Israel had faced the larger powers of Egypt and Babylon, so England now faced the far greater powers of France and Spain. The Puritans thought that their country was not alive to the danger. Why did King Charles not take up arms against the Catholics? God would not stay with people who did not deserve Him.
In 1622, John Brinsley, in his influential
The Third Part of the True Watch
, wrote: âThe withdrawing of the Lord's precious presence from his church is both an evident sign of his displeasure and a manifest threatening of his departure.' England needed to repent its sins. Preacher after preacher called out, but in vain. A verse of one new hymn ran:
The Third Part of the True Watch
, wrote: âThe withdrawing of the Lord's precious presence from his church is both an evident sign of his displeasure and a manifest threatening of his departure.' England needed to repent its sins. Preacher after preacher called out, but in vain. A verse of one new hymn ran:
Preserve this hopeless place
And our disturbed state
From those that have more wit than grace
And present counsels hate.
And our disturbed state
From those that have more wit than grace
And present counsels hate.
Less than a decade later, in 1631, Thomas Hooker, in a sermon called âThe Danger of Desertion', left no one in any doubt. âAs sure as God is God, God is going from England . . . Stop him at the town's end and let not thy God depart . . . God makes account that New England still be a refuge . . . a rock and a shelter for his righteous ones to run to.'
Which they did; the hundreds turned into thousands. There were those who remained to continue the fight in the Puritan cause in the Civil War and to see their triumphant victory and the Protestant âCommonwealth' under Oliver Cromwell. This seemed to promise to reunite New and Old England for ever. But before that, the decisive transatlantic shift, the flight which was to create
the character of America, had been made. The dreadful warning, that âGod is leaving England', had been heeded and taken literally. And as a consequence the New World was founded on the rock of a tough, Bible-bound, deep-thinking Protestantism.
the character of America, had been made. The dreadful warning, that âGod is leaving England', had been heeded and taken literally. And as a consequence the New World was founded on the rock of a tough, Bible-bound, deep-thinking Protestantism.
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