ought to be. And this we are abundantly taught in the primitiue patterne of churches, as well as any other things. And they doe as much conduce to spirituall fruitfullnes.

We had thought to haue giuen you some of their cheefe grounds breefly, from the Scriptures, of what they hold & practisse; but time will not now suffer vs; and they haue been partly touched before in this discourse, and are sufficiently handled in many books, by diuerse excelente-men, both learned, godly, and very judicious, as any these later times have afforded, to which we referre you.

Only this we comende vnto your consideration, that vpon examenation, you shall find the scriptures which they lay their grounds vpon, to be taken in their proper, true, and natiue, genuine sence; agreeing with the best and most godly expossitors, viz., most of those shineing lights that God hath reased vp in the Reformed Churches & before; without straining, wresting or writhing of them, as some others seeme to doe in their forced interpretations; so full of obscurity, as they darken that which shines clear enough in the text it selfe, as might be showne in many instances if time would permite.

But we will here cease, and put an end to this conference, desireing the Lord to guid you in his trueth, and establish you in the same, vnto the ende of your dayes, and that you may help to propagate the same, to the generations to come, till the coming of the Lord.

YONG-MEN.

We humbly thanke you for this labour of your loue, and paines you haue taken for our infformation. We conffes wee shall be able hereby more groundedly to discerne of the differences of all those fore-recited wayes. And we hope the Lord will help vs to trye all things, and hold that which is good. 2. Thes. 5. 21. And wee craue the continuance of your prayers for vs that so we may doe; and so doe humbly take our leaue.

μόνῳ σοφῷ θεῷ, διὰ Ἰησοῦ χριςοῦ ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· αμήν.

ROM. 16. 27.

ΤΕΛΟΣ.

Some observations of God's merciful dealing with us in this wilderness, and his gracious protection over us these many years. Blessed be his name.

Firma fides turris est fortissima.

In this wilderness we lived have here,
In happy peace this four and thirty year,†
Amongst a people without God or Law,

Or fear of aught that might keep them in awe.
Their government, if any such there be,

Is nothing else but a mere tyranny.

*The following clause occurs in Governor Bradford's last will, which was presented for probate 3d June, 1657, the month following his death:

"I commend unto your wisdom and discretion some small books written by my own hand to be improved as you shall see meet. In special I commend to you a little book with a black cover, wherein there is A Word to Plymouth, A Word to Boston, and A Word to New England, with sundry useful verses.'

In Volume III, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., First Series, pp. 77-84 (issued in 1794), is published, what Dr. Belknap calls, "A Descriptive and Historical Account of New England in verse; from a MS. of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony." It was a fragment. Dr. Belknap thus introduces the verses: "The following lines, having some relation to the soil, the productions, and the history of the country, are now first printed on that account, and not for any poetical beauties to be discovered in them. They may afford some entertainment; and as they seem to be within the views of the Society, they are submitted to the public." The original manuscript, in the fragmentary form in which it was published, was recovered among some Belknap papers which

†This shows that Bradford is here writing in the year 1654. — ED.

Some customs they have, and skill* pretend,
Yet lust's their law and will's their utmost end,
For the strongest the weaker still oppress,
They may complain but seldom find redress.
Their Lords the chiefest men seek for to please,

By them to grab the rest with greater ease.

Their lands, their goods, daughters, or wives, they'll take,
And keep and use them for their pleasures sake,

were presented to the Society by Miss Elizabeth Belknap, in March, 1858, a notice of which will be found in a report to the Society on that donation, in the Proceedings for that month, at page 317.

In 1838 there was published in Volume VII., Third Series of the Collections, at pages 27, 28, the lines entitled, "Of Boston in New England," and "A Word to New England"; prefixed to which the Publishing Committee, after referring to the earlier published verses, say: "Of a like strain are the lines that follow, and as, from the reference to them in the Governor's will, of which we subjoin an extract, they were by him commended to preservation, we rescue them from the original manuscript, where for more than one hundred and sixty years they have remained in obscurity."

In the Cabinet of the Historical Society is a small quarto volume containing an early transcript of these several pieces by Governor Bradford, of which mention is made in his will. I recite them in the order in which they appear. First is "A Word to New Plymouth," which, so far as I am aware, has never been published, and is now printed here. Then follows "A Word to New England," and "Of Boston in New England," which are published as above named. Then comes a piece called "Epitaphium Meum," which was printed by Morton in his Memorial, at pages 264, 265, of Judge Davis's edition; but omitting, very properly, some quotations from Scripture, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The concluding verses are entitled "Some observations of God's merciful dealing with us in this wilderness; and his gracious protection over us these many years. Blessed be his name." This is the piece printed by Dr. Belknap, in a fragmentary form, in 1794, above referred to, and to which he prefixed a title of his own; the first part, consisting of seventy-nine lines, being wanting. As these can now be supplied from this early transcript, the whole has been printed here. Some omissions and errors in the part before printed have been corrected by collation with the original manuscript, as well as with the early copy.

Prefixed to these verses of Bradford, in the little volume referred to, is a much longer piece, also in verse, on the subject of the religious sects which abounded in England and on the Continent during the period of the Long Parliament. The first part of it is wanting. I am not sure that this was penned by Bradford, and it is of little historical importance. It is possible that the little book, which has been bound within, I should say, twenty-five years, may be part of a Commonplace Book, in which the verses of different authors were collected by its owner. At the foot of the page which concludes the "Epitaphium Meum," is written in the same handwriting as that of the body of the book, "Johannis Williss Hick Libour Ano Dom 1657"; and at the end of the book is this: "Liber meus Ano Dom 1657 John Willette." The name is written, in both cases, in the same hand, with great clearness. The date is the year of Bradford's death.

As the verses here printed are not taken entirely from Bradford's own manuscript, I have thought it best to modernize the spelling of the whole. Ed.

*In the MS. this word looks like still.

Or else dispose of them to such they will,

As their covetous humor will fulfill.

And if that any do their force oppose,

In great danger they go their lives to loose.
Their weakest neighbours they sought to invade,
Sans cause, and when some slaughter they have made,
And Captives (with pillage) have torn away,
The rest (poor wretches) do without delay,

As now subdued, sue for peace and submit

To such hard terms as their new Lords think fit;

And them with gifts and yearly tribute please,

If they will live in any peace or ease.

When as these things I deeply think upon,

I

may admire that we have lived so long
Among these folks so brutish and savage,
Without tasting of their Indian's rage.
It is God's goodness and only mercy,
That hath us kept from their fierce cruelty;
For else long before this we might have been
Made as miserable as any have been seen.
Hitherto through grace we have lost no blood,
But rather by them often have found good;
Nor woman wronged in her chastity
By any of them, through Gods great mercy.
He that kept Abraham in that heathen land,

And Isaac whilst in Gera he remained,

And caused that their wives should not wronged be By those great Princes, in their chastity,

He only it is that hath kept us here

'Mongst these rude men, who Law nor God do fear; And hath upon their hearts put such a dread,

As they of us have rather stood afraid.

When we came first we were in number small,
Not much above a hundred in all

And in a number we did here arrive,

Ano Dom

1620

And by God's mercy were all brought alive.

But when we came, here was no house, nor town,
Nor certain place we knew where to sit down.

Some forth were sent to seek a place fitting,
Where we might harbour and make our dwelling.
But in a place where one cold night they lay,
They were assaulted about break of day
By these Indians with great clamour loud,
Whose arrows fell like to a dropping cloud.

Yet none were hurt, though some had clothes shot through,
But them repelled from this their rendezvous,
And with their muskets made them fly & run,

So that long after none at us would come.
But now sharp winter storms come us upon,
So here we made our habitation;

And till such time as we could houses get,
We were exposed to much cold and wet,
With such disease as our distempers bred,
So that within the space of three months tide
The full half of our weak company died,
And the condition of the rest was sad,
But the Lord compassion on them had,

And them again to health and strength restore,
And cheered them up with courage as before,

And hath enabled them for to go on
And with comfort the work to lead along;
And many of them still there be

And some their children's children married see.*

Famine once we had, wanting corn and bread,
But other things God gave us in the stead,
As fish and ground nuts, to supply our strait,
That we might learn on providence to wait;
And know by bread man lives not in his need,
But by each word that doth from God proceed.
But a while after plenty did come in,
From his hand only who doth pardon sin.
And all did flourish like the pleasant green,
Which in the joyful spring is to be seen.

* All the preceding lines are wanting in the original manuscript of these verses as now extant; having disappeared before the manuscript came into the possession of Dr. Belknap, seventy-six years ago. The early transcript to which I have before referred supplies the missing lines. - ED.