trials, and of their ultimate success and prosperity, it will be
needful to go back a few years, and consider the motives that led these
brave men to expose themselves and their families to such severe
hardships, and to abandon their home and their kindred. A brief glance
at their previous history will suffice for this purpose.

It is well known that the Puritans were greatly dissatisfied with the
state of the Church in England at the time when James the First
ascended the throne of this country. From him they hoped for protection
and encouragement; but in this expectation they were grievously
disappointed. The conference at Hampton Court proved how little
sympathy he entertained for their party; and the convocation which was
held soon after utterly all their hopes. Already a considerable number
of these dissenters had joined themselves into what they called a
_'Church Estate,_ pledged to walk in God's ways,' and to renounce the
evil passions of the world. They had protested against the episcopal
form of church government, and declared their approval of the
discipline and the forms adopted by the Church of Geneva, and also of
that established in the Netherlands. In order to enjoy the liberty in
ecclesiastical matters which they so greatly desired, they made up
their minds to retire to Amsterdam, under their excellent and respected
pastor, John Robinson; and this project was effected by the greater
number of their party; though some were discovered before they could
embark, and were detained and imprisoned, and treated with much
severity. Ultimately, however, they all escaped, and remained
unmolested at Amsterdam and the Hague, until the year 16O8, when they
removed to Leyden with their pastor, where they resided for eleven
years, and were joined by many others who fled from England during the
early part of the reign of James.