162 PROGRESS IN RELIGION. [CHAP. XII. 



with no less than five printing-offices, a fact which reflects the 

 more credit on the Puritans, because at the same period (1724) 

 there were no less than thirty-four counties in the mother country, 

 Lancashire being one of the number, in which there was no 

 printer.^ 



When the Pilgrim Fathers were about to sail in the May 

 flower from Leyden, a solemn fast was held before they embarked, 

 and their pastor, Robinson, gave them a farewell address, in 

 which these memorable words are recorded : 



&quot; I charge you, before God and his blessed angels, that you 

 follow rne no further than you have seen me follow the Lord 

 Jesus Christ. The Lord has more truth yet to break forth out 

 of his holy word. For my part, I can not sufficiently bewail 

 the condition of the reformed churches, who are come to a period 

 in religion, and will go at present no further than the instruments 

 of their first reformation. The Lutherans can not be drawn to 

 go beyond what Luther saw. Whatever part of His will our 

 good God has imparted and revealed unto Calvin, they will die 

 rather than embrace it. And the Calvinists, you see, stick fast 

 where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not 

 all things. This is a misery much to be lamented ; for, though 

 they were burning and shining lights in their times, yet they 

 penetrated not into the whole counsel of God : but, were they 

 now living, they would be as willing to embrace further light as 

 that which they first received. I beseech you to remember it ; 

 it is an article of your church-covenant, that you will be ready to 

 receive whatever truth shall be made known unto you from the 

 written word of God. Remember that and every other article 

 of your most sacred covenant.&quot; 



It may be said that the spirit of progress, the belief in the 

 future discovery of new truths, and the expansion of Christianity, 

 which breathes through every passage of this memorable dis 

 course, did not characterize the New England Independents any 

 more than the members of other sects. Like the rest, they had 

 embodied their interpretations of Scripture in certain fixed and 

 definite propositions, and were .but little disposed to cherish the 

 * Macaulay, History of England, vol. i. p. 392, who cites Nichols. 



