Pastor of the Pilgrims, John Robinson: 100 Bible Verses That Made America

On this episode of Our American Stories, what role did the Bible play in shaping America? According to Robert J. Morgan, author of 100 Bible Verses That Made America, it was central, especially for early leaders like Pastor John Robinson, who used scripture to guide the Pilgrims toward their historic journey. Here's Morgan with the story.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people you to share. Another story is Robert Morgan, who's
the author of one hundred Bible verses that made America,
defining moments that shaped our enduring foundation of faith. Let's
take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
After King Henry the eighth severed ties with Rome and
appointed himself the head of the Church of England in
fifteen fifty three, three groups of Protestants emerged. First the Anglicans,
who continued within the traditions of their church. Secondly the Puritans,
who wanted to work within Anglicanism to reform and to

(00:53):
purify it, And third separatists and dissenters, who were determined
to establish their own ends pendant congregations. Over the next
one hundred years or so, the Puritans and the separatists
faced extreme pressure from the English crown, and this compelled
many of them to flee their country. One of these

(01:14):
men was named John Robinson born in fifteen seventy six.
He had gotten his education at Cambridge, which was a
hot bed of Puritanism. It was the intellectual center of
the Puritan movement, and during his studies there, John Robinson
adopted the belief system of the Puritans. After graduation, he

(01:35):
became the pastor of Saint Edward's Church in Norwich, England.
But King James the First put so much pressure on
the Puritans that Robinson found it impossible to continue being
a pastor. As a result, he began meeting with other
separatists in the home of William Brewster in the village
of Scruby. There was also a sixteen year old who

(01:56):
worshiped with the same small congregation, and his name was
William Bradford. John Robinson became the spiritual leader of this
group and the pastor of this informal church. But it
was the church that met in this house which contained
the seeds of the United States of America. When these

(02:18):
Christians faced the eminent possibility of imprisonment, they had to
make a very hard decision. John Robinson, William Brewster, William Bradford,
and the others left their native land of England and
emigrated to Holland. John Robinson began pastoring his congregation, which
was now in the Dutch city of Leiden. The church

(02:40):
flourished and tripled in size there, but these dissenters grew
concerned at how easily their children were being assimilated into
the Dutch culture. They were strangers in the land. Somehow,
an idea arose in their hearts to emigrate to the
New World, where they could establish a colony to freely
pursue their English customs while retaining religious liberty. It was

(03:06):
a breathtaking idea. With the exception of Jamestown, no English
colony had survived in the New World, and Jamestown was
hardly an exception. It was a disaster. Of the thirty
six hundred settlers sent to Jamestown, three thousand of them
had perished. Going to the New World must have seemed

(03:27):
to these dissenters like colonizing the moon. Yet they felt
compelled to go. They said, it is not with us
as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or
small discontentments caused to wish themselves home again. As William

(03:47):
Bradford would later write, they knew they were pilgrims. Their
beloved pastor John Robinson was heartbroken when he realized he
couldn't leave the bulk of his congregation to travel with
these pilgrims. He hoped to join them later, but death
kept him from fulfilling his dream. Unable to go himself,

(04:08):
Robinson led his church in a very emotional send off.
About one hundred and twenty five members signed up for
the first voyage, with the rest planning to come later.
Robinson proclaimed the Day of Solemn Humiliation, on which he
delivered a passionate sermon based on Ezra chapter eight, verse

(04:29):
twenty one, which is about Ezra leading the remnant of
Jews from exile to the promised land. Robinson's text apparently
encompassed the paragraph from verses twenty one to twenty three,
which says, then I proclaimed a fast there at the
river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our

(04:51):
God to seek from him the right way for us
and our little ones and all our possessions. For I
was ashamed to REQUI west of the King and escort
of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy
on the road, because we had spoken to the King
saying the hand of our God is upon all those

(05:12):
for good who seek him, but his power and his
wrath are against those who forsake him. So he fasted
and entreated our God for this, and he answered our prayer.
After his sermon, Robinson led the congregation in powering our
prayers to the Lord. Then he traveled with the pilgrims

(05:37):
to the harbor, where the reverend pastor, it has said,
fell down on his knees, and they all with him,
with watery eyes, commended them with the most fervent prayers
to God. From deafshaven. The pilgrims sailed to Southampton, where
they boarded a creaky little ship called the Mayflower. This

(05:58):
group of pilgrims ended up upon Cape cod and established
the Mayflower Compact. They went on to establish the city
of Boston and began building homes in churches and schools,
including Harvard University. They wanted to establish a nation based
on Biblical Judeo Christian values. Nothing like this had ever

(06:21):
been done before in history, and it was their love
for liberty and freedom that paved the way for the
values that were later incorporated into the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of the United States. The Great Puritan Migration,
led by John Winthrop, occurred between sixteen thirty and sixteen forty,

(06:44):
resulting in the establishment of the Massachusetts Bake Colony. But
before the Puritans were there there were the Separatists, the
Pilgrims who came to Plymouth Rock on Cape Cod aboard
the Mayflower in sixteen twenty and the search of freedom
and for the sake of the Gospel.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Greg Hangler. And a special thanks to Robert Morgan,
who's the author of one hundred Bible verses that made America,
defining moments that shaped our enduring foundation of faith, the
story of the Pilgrims, the story of the real founders
of this country. Here on our American Story plee habib

(07:29):
here and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to
Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,
or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed
or want to hear again can be found there daily again.
Please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts,

(07:50):
the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It
helps us keep these great American stories coming.