TRAVEL WITH THE PILGRIM FATHERS
The Promise and Price of Religious Freedom
By Ian Cooper
Day One. 128 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978 1 846 254 775
The history and culture of the United States cannot be understood without the Puritans and the original Puritans were the Pilgrims who in 1620 arrived off the coast of what is today Massachusetts.
Most of them came from Lincolnshire, via the Netherlands, because of the increasing hostility of the Crown and the established church towards Puritanism. This group also considered the Church of England to be beyond reformation and wanted nothing to do with it. They found that conditions in the Netherlands were no more congenial to the worship and conduct of church life that they believed the Bible prescribed, so the decision was made to migrate to the new world.
In this volume of the admirable Travel With series, Ian Cooper tells the remarkable story of the Pilgrims. As with the rest of the series, the format is a travelogue, which follows the story of the Pilgrims’ journey from Old England to New England. The challenges and suffering experienced was great, as a handful of Puritans and others established the Plymouth Colony. Cooper takes the story well into the later 17th century and up to the American Revolution. In addition to the historical account and abundant pictures there is information on visiting the various sites, including well-designed maps.
Having been brought up in Massachusetts I can heartily recommend this book, both as a helpful companion when visiting New England and as an excellent introduction to this remarkable group of Christians, whose persevering faithfulness through many ‘dangers, toils and snares’ changed the world for good in a way they never could have imagined and is a continuing example for God's people today.
