stalked them but they never wav ered in their purpose. If these Pilgrims could stand here today and observe our troubled world with its disillusioned out look, its rebelliousness and its ero sion of traditional values, they would be not only dismayed but shocked. I am convinced that we have much to learn from them. Certain things have not changed. There is still lust, greed, hate and prejudice in the human heart. There is still persecution and war in the world. With all our multibillion- dollar complex of churches and universities we would do well to come back to the school and church in early Plymouth to see what those sturdy pioneers can teach us. First, the Pilgrims have left us an example of their deep, unwaver ing religious convictions. What were these convictions? They believed in Christ and His Kingdom. They found fulfillment in Him. They had purpose in their lives. They had encountered the liv ing Christ and they knew it. They feared neither monarch nor men, only God. Because they belonged to God they had a deep faith and confidence in themselves. They be lieved in their own dignity, were confident that their cause was just, and walked with an uprightness that only fearless and free men can display. In our day much of the world believes little or nothing. Men are broad but shallow. Agnosticism, an xiety, emptiness, meaninglessness have gripped much of our world— and even the church. Our youth are desperately searching for a pur pose and a meaning in their lives. They are searching for fulfillment
FIBER OF A NEW NAT ION ............. Emerson once said that "all his tory resolves itself. . . into the bi ography of a few stout and earnest persons." It is appropriate this year that we honor "a few stout and earnest" Englishmen who left their native land in search of freedom to worship Cod. In this day of cyn icism there are those who would try to destroy every hero and every tradition that Americans have cher ished throughout their history. Yet no amount of ridicule or cynicism can ever take away the glory of what the Pilgrim Fathers did 350 years ago. Flistorians call the Mayflower's voyage to the New World a "sur vival test" on an epochal scale. The passengers had sold their posses sions and had agreed to work for years to pay for their passage. The ship had no heat or plumbing. A main beam cracked in mid-ocean; storms raged. At one point William Bradford wrote, "The ship could not carry sail and lay drifting for days on end." But after more than two months on the North Atlantic, this amaz ing band of 102 people arrived in Massachusetts just before Christ mas, 1620. Bradford wrote in his journal, "Being thus arrived at a good harbor, and brought safely to land, they fell on their knees and blessed the Cod of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and mis eries thereof." What a Christmas that must have been! But just after Christmas a serious sickness broke out. In the first three months al most half the Pilgrims died. The seed they brought yielded only a small harvest. Hunger and illness Page 8
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