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The John Robinson 
 
 Memorial Tablet. 
 
 Leyden, Holland, July 24, 1891. 
 

 PROCEEDINGS AT THE UNVEILING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 John Robinson Memorial Tablet 
 
 IN LEYDEN. HOLLAND, JULY 24, I891, 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
 
 NATIONAL COUNCIL OF, CONGREGATIONAL 
 CHURCHES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BOSTON : 
 Thomas Todd, Printer, Congregational House, i Somerset St. 
 
 1891. 
 
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THE 
 
 JOHN ROBINSON MEMORIAL TABLET. 
 
 On Friday, July 24, 1891, a bronze tablet in 
 honor of Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the church 
 of the Pilgrim Fathers during their residence in 
 Leyden, Holland, 1 608-1 620, was unveiled in that 
 city. It had been erected by the National Coun- 
 cil of the Congregational Churches of the United 
 States of America, in accordance with the action 
 of the Council on the subject at its session in 
 1877, at Detroit. A committee representing the 
 Council had charge of the exercises. 
 
 Early in the afternoon a procession was formed 
 at the Hotel du Lion d' Or, and moved to the 
 St. Peter's Church, on the outer wall of which is 
 the tablet, and opposite to which is the site of the 
 dwelling in which Pastor Robinson lived and the 
 Pilgrims were accustomed to worship. The pro- 
 cession was headed by Rev. C. R. Palmer, D.D., 
 and Rev. Morton Dexter, representing the Com- 
 mittee of the National Council, and Principal A. 
 
M. Fairbairn, D.D., representing the invited guests. 
 On arriving at the church, where a large company 
 had assembled — including delegations from the 
 International Council of Congregational Churches 
 which had just closed its sessions in London, the 
 Congregational Union of England and Wales, Yale 
 University and Mansfield College, Oxford, and also 
 many of the citizens of Leyden, not less than seven 
 hundred in all — the dedication exercises were held. 
 
 Among those present were Rev. F. A. Noble, 
 D.D., Rev. A. U. Ross, D.D., President W. F. 
 Slocum, Rev. T. T. Munger, D.D., Rev. Burdett 
 Hart, D.D., Rev. I. C. Meserve, G. Henry Whit- 
 comb, Esq., Samuel Holmes, Esq., and the Hon. S. 
 R. Thayer, United States Minister at the Hague, 
 from the United States ; Rev. Alexander Mackennal, 
 D.D., Rev. John Brown, D.D, Rev. D. B. Hooke, 
 Rev. G. S. Barrett, Rev. J. W. Harrison, and Mr. 
 Henry Spicer, from England ; and Rev. Thomas 
 Roseby, LL.D., Principal A. Gosman, and Mr. 
 Josiah Mullens, from Australia, as well as repre- 
 sentatives of the city of Leyden, its Ecclesiasti- 
 cal Commissioners, its University, various religious 
 bodies, and the military regiments there stationed. 
 
 As Prof. G. E. Day, D.D., the Chairman of the 
 Committee of the National Council, was unable to 
 be present. Rev. C. R. Palmer, D.D., acted in his 
 behalf. At the appointed hour, two o'clock. Dr. 
 Palmer, accompanied by his daughter, Miss Edith 
 B. Palmer, Rev. Morton Dexter, and Rev. Alexander 
 Mackennal, D.D., ascended the platform, and called 
 the gathering to order. Mr. Dexter then read the 
 
following historical statement, which had been pre- 
 pared by Professor Day : 
 
 For the information of the company present, the fol- 
 lowing statement is made concerning the tablet in memory 
 of the Rev. John Robinson, now about to be unveiled. 
 
 For the last twenty-six years the inscription, " On this 
 spot lived, taught, and died John Robinson, 1611-1625," 
 has marked the site of the dwelling of the revered pastor 
 of the first settlers of New Engjand ; but beyond this, it 
 has been felt that some fuller expression of the honor in 
 which his name is held by the numerous churches in the 
 United States which accept the principles of ecclesiastical 
 polity which he maintained and defended, is due to his 
 memory. Accordingly, at the meeting of the National 
 Council of the Congregational Churches of the United 
 States in Detroit in 1877, the following resolution was 
 adopted : 
 
 Resolved, that the Council heartily accept the suggestion of the 
 fitness and propriety of looking forward to the erection in some suit- 
 able place in the city of Leyden, Holland, of a monument to the 
 memory of John Robinson, whose name will ever head the list of 
 the pastors of the Congregational churches of the United States, 
 and that a committee of seven be appointed to take measures thereto, 
 with full power, when they shall see the way clear, to go forward and 
 erect the same as a tribute to his memory. 
 
 The Committee consisted of the Rev. Drs. H. M. Dex- 
 ter, S. C. Bartlett, and G. E. Day, and Messrs. Alpheus 
 Hardy, A. S. Barnes, E. W. Blatchford, and S. S. Smith. 
 The places of Messrs. Hardy, Barnes, and Smith, subse- 
 quently made vacant by death or resignation, were filled 
 by the appointment of the Rev. Drs. J. K. McLean, C. R. 
 Palmer, and W. A. Robinson. Dr. Dexter, to whose warm 
 interest in the proposed memorial its successful execution 
 is largely due, died in November, 1890, only a short time 
 before the final arrangements were completed, and was 
 
succeeded by his son, the Rev. Morton Dexter, who was 
 appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the Committee. 
 
 The time required for determining the kind of monu- 
 ment to be erected, and for setthng several connected 
 questions, far exceeded what was originally anticipated. 
 Many of the plans proposed were found to be impractica- 
 ble or open to serious objections ; but, after a special visit 
 to Leyden by two members of the Committee, it was finally 
 decided that a bronze tablet occupying the niche or recess, 
 about seven feet high by six wide, on the outside of that 
 part of St. Peter's Church directly opposite the site of 
 Robinson's dwelling, would exactly meet the conditions 
 required. It would indicate in general the place of his 
 burial, and at the same time be near to the place where 
 the Pilgrim Fathers assembled for religious worship and 
 to the famous University, to the privileges of which he 
 was admitted, and on the records of which his name may 
 now be seen. 
 
 To the application made to the Ecclesiastical Com- 
 missioners in charge of the church buildings in Leyden 
 for permission to place the proposed tablet in this recess, 
 a courteous and favorable answer was returned, coupled 
 only with the reasonable condition that the inscription 
 should be submitted for their approval. 
 
 The tablet, which was cast in bronze, together with 
 the raised letters, in one solid piece — the largest, with 
 a single exception, ever made in America — is the work of 
 the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co., of New York. 
 
 In accordance with a suggestion of Mr. A. S. Barnes, 
 a figure of such a vessel as that in which the Pilgrim 
 Fathers were borne to New England stands at the head 
 of the tablet, with the inscription, "The Mayflower, 1620." 
 The inscription itself, which covers, so far as the space per- 
 mits, the most important points in the life of Robinson, 
 and his connection with the first settlers of New England 
 

 1^ H ^viOi^A-.xii: 
 
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5 
 
 and the Congregational churches of the United States, is 
 as follows : 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 REV. JOHN ROBINSON, M.A. 
 
 PASTOR OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH WORSHIPING OVER AGAINST 
 
 THIS SPOT, A.D. 1609-1625, WHENCE AT HIS PROMPTING 
 
 WENT FORTH 
 
 THE PILGRIM FATHERS 
 
 TO SETTLE NEW ENGLAND 
 IN 1620. 
 
 BURIED UNDER THIS HOUSE OF WORSHIP, 4 MAR. 1625 
 AET- XLIX YEARS. 
 
 IN MEMORIA AETERNA ERIT JUSTUS. 
 
 ERECTED BY THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE CONGREGATIONAL 
 CHURCHES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 A.D. 1891. 
 
 The fund in payment for the tablet and its erection 
 in Leyden was raised by the voluntary subscription of 
 pastors and members of Congregational churches in the 
 United States. 
 
 By vote of the Committee a special invitation to attend 
 the exercises at the unveiling of the tablet has been ex- 
 tended to all universities and theological seminaries in 
 sympathy with Congregationalism, to the members of the 
 International Council of Congregational Churches in Lon- 
 don, to the Congregational Union of England and Wales 
 and other gentlemen in Great Britain, to the Ecclesiastical 
 Commissioners having charge of the church buildings in 
 Leyden, to the magistrates and pastors of the city, the 
 professors and students of the Leyden University, and to 
 the citizens of Leyden generally. To the Rev. Charles 
 
R. Palmer, D.D., pastor of the First Congregational Church 
 in Bridgeport, Conn., has been assigned the duty of com- 
 mitting this monument to the memory of Robinson and the 
 Pilgrim Fathers to the care of the authorities in Leyden, 
 and of explaining the grounds on which the memory of 
 Robinson and the Pilgrim Fathers is cherished by the 
 Congregational churches in all parts of the world. 
 
 Rev. Alexander Mackennal, D.D., one of the 
 representatives of the International Congregational 
 Council, then offered the following prayer: 
 
 Almighty God, the God of our fathers and the God 
 of us their children, we beseech Thee to look upon us as 
 we are gathered here today, and to fill our hearts with 
 thoughts of Thy goodness and with gratitude for the 
 men whom Thou hast given to us. O Thou who Thy- 
 self art Love, and out of whose love comes eternal right- 
 eousness, we bless Thee for the men of old who have 
 been Thy servants — interpreters of Thy holy will, inter- 
 preting to the churches which have come to them the 
 mind, the authority, the rule of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 Especially we beseech Thee as we are gathered here to- 
 day as the spiritual children of Thy servant whose name 
 is upon our lips and in our hearts, that we may be filled 
 with the spirit that animated him, the spirit of loyalty to 
 Jesus Christ, fidelity to conscience, and a profound devot- 
 edness to Thy holy will. Give to us also, we beseech 
 Thee, the sweetness which characterized him, so that 
 while we witness to the truth we may witness to the 
 truth of love. Make us zealous for the honor of Thy 
 name and the glory of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the 
 world, and for the unity of Thy people. And grant that, 
 as a result of this gathering today, the fellowship of Thy 
 servants in Christ Jesus may be more fully apprehended ; 
 and, as we apprehend the fellowship of Christ Jesus, let 
 
all other fellowships disappear, let all names become un- 
 known but the name of Him Whom we trust, Whom we 
 love, and Whom we serve — even the name of Christ Jesus 
 our Lord — for Whom we bless Thee, Thine unspeakable 
 gift — in Whose words we further pray : 
 
 Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy 
 name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, 
 as it is done in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
 Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass 
 against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us 
 from evil ; for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and 
 the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 Dr. Palmer next announced the formal unveil- 
 ing of the tablet, and Miss Palmer at once let fall 
 its canvas covering, revealing it to sight, although 
 still partly hidden by the three national ensigns 
 which drooped above it. Meanwhile a military 
 riband in attendance played the appropriate air, 
 Integer Vitce. Miss Palmer then raised the Dutch 
 flag to the top of its pole, the band giving the 
 Dutch national anthem," Wien Neerlandsch Bloed ;'" 
 next the American flag — its staff being in the 
 center and higher than the others — while the 
 band played "The Star Spangled Banner;" and 
 finally the English flag, while the band rendered 
 " God Save the Queen," the assembly applauding 
 jheartily. 
 
 Dr. Palmer then announced that the remain- 
 ing ceremonies would be held within the church, 
 and the procession was re-formed as before and 
 entered the building, the band again playing Integer 
 VitcB, which the organ within took up as the pro- 
 
cession appeared. After the audience had seated 
 itself, the following familiar hymn, by the late 
 Rev. Leonard Bacon, D.D., was sung by the con- 
 gregation, the organ accompanying : 
 
 O God, beneath Thy guiding hand 
 
 Our exiled fathers crossed the sea ; 
 And when they trod the wintry strand, 
 
 With prayer and psalm they worshiped Thee, 
 
 Thou heardst, well pleased, the song, the prayer ; 
 
 Thy blessing came ; and still its power 
 Shall onward through all ages bear 
 
 The memory of that holy hour. 
 
 Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God 
 Came with those exiles o'er the waves ; 
 
 And where their pilgrim feet have trod, 
 The God they trusted guards their graves. 
 
 And here Thy name, O God of love. 
 
 Their children's children shall adore, 
 Till these eternal hills remove. 
 
 And spring adorns the earth no more. 
 
 Dr. Palmer then ascended the pulpit and deliv- 
 ered the following address : 
 
 My Cojmtryinen, Brethren of England, Representatives of 
 the Chnrehes, the University, the City of Ley den ; Ladies 
 and Gentlemen; most heartily do I greet you. 
 
 Heaven smiles upon us today ! The fair and peaceful 
 morning, the soft and genial air, the cloudless sky, the 
 bright sunshine, bespeak the favor of Providence under 
 which we have assembled to celebrate the performance 
 
of a filial duty and to honor the memory of a great and 
 good man. Beneath the ensigns of three nations, repre- 
 senting widely separate homes ; with one heart and con- 
 scious of the sympathy of multitudes that are far away, 
 we unite in these simple services of commemoration and 
 dedication, under the benediction of the God of our 
 fathers, the God of their children. 
 
 Standing where we do, on a spot so historic in this 
 famous city, on the soil of this illustrious Commonwealth, 
 thoughts of the past come unbidden. Remembrance of 
 the changes and the conflicts through which the evolu- 
 tion of Western Civilization has marched enchains us. 
 To many stirring recollections the special purpose of our 
 assembling forbids expression. But of one movement we 
 cannot help speaking — a mighty movement, the thrust of 
 which has given direction to the history of nearly four cen- 
 turies — the persistent, the ever intensifying and expand- 
 ing struggle of men for personal liberty. The primary 
 impulse of this movement was religious. It was the logi- 
 cal outcome of that insurrection of the human conscience 
 which we call the Reformation. That which conscience 
 demands, no power, ecclesiastical or political, provincial 
 or imperial, autocratic, aristocratic, or democratic, can for- 
 ever withhold. The wills of individual men may be sub- 
 dued ; their hearts may be broken ; their lives may be 
 embittered or extinguished ; generations may be bound 
 in fetters or led to the slaughter ; nationalities may be 
 extirpated ; but the moral sense of mankind is irrepres- 
 sible. It triumphs at last and reigns. A monk's asser- 
 tion, against Pope and Emperor, of the rightful independ- 
 ence of the human soul in matters of religion, made 
 necessary in due sequence a reconstruction of society, of 
 which the end is not yet. The awakening in men and 
 women of the sense of personal right, and of convictions 
 of public duty, put enough passion into their hearts, and 
 iron into their blood, to make them heroes ; to render 
 
lO 
 
 them intolerant of wrong, and to mass them against the 
 most formidable intrenchments of injustice, however de- 
 fended. The development of the spirit thus generated 
 has overturned, or brought to terms, the thrones of 
 Europe, and filled America with free peoples. The world 
 has become too wise to attempt to suppress it. 
 
 In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the seeds of liberty 
 which a divine enlightenment had been scattering broad- 
 cast in England for fifty years began to germinate, to take 
 root and to grow. Nowhere can these seeds be discov- 
 ered so readily as in the convictions of the advanced 
 Puritans. Their watchword was reformation, but the real 
 outcome of their conflict with repressive power was to be 
 religious and political freedom for untold myriads. We 
 are bound to remember this day the particular shape this 
 conflict assumed. Hundreds and thousands of Christian 
 people, in whose hearts there burned a passionate desire 
 for a spiritual church and an unadulterated gospel, felt 
 constrained to renounce the national church of England. 
 They believed the further reformation of religion to be 
 imperatively needful. Hopeless of seeing this effected 
 within the national church — because the Episcopal party, 
 who could promote it, would not, and the Puritan party, 
 Presbyterian in its preferences, who would promote it, 
 could not, and the two parties were in irreconcilable 
 antagonism — they resolved upon "reformation without 
 tarrying for any." They separated themselves from the 
 church by law established, and at the cost of everything 
 which men hold dear, organized, by covenant with God and 
 each other, what we know as Congregational churches, 
 on what they conceived to be New Testament principles. 
 Like other third parties, they were subject to ill will from 
 both sides. They offended the party within the church 
 which was zealous for further reformation, no less than 
 the opposite party who believed reformation had already 
 gone too far. To go forth, therefore, was to challenge 
 
II 
 
 well-nigh universal execration. The step exposed them 
 to be hunted as malefactors, to be persecuted, imprisoned, 
 plundered, banished, executed. But forth they went, and 
 the future vindicated their self-sacrifice and their faith. 
 They became by the act the vanguard of advancing 
 Christendom, Their heroic struggles, their unconquer- 
 able resolution in all this experience, make the period 
 forever memorable. Nor did they struggle, dare, and en- 
 dure, to no purpose. Posterity owes to them what it 
 enjoys of religious liberty. Those Separatist commun- 
 ions were the pioneer free churches. By them was it 
 distinctly perceived that a man's right to a sacrament was 
 grounded not in his citizenship, but in his character and 
 his confession of Christ. By them was definitely asserted 
 the right of Christian men to freedom of faith and wor- 
 ship. By them was confidently claimed the non-dependence 
 of the churches organized by Christian men and women 
 upon priest or prelate, magistrate. Parliament or Lords in 
 Council, Miter or Crown. In the end of the sixteenth 
 century these rights were asserted. In the end of the 
 seventeenth, they were extorted from reluctant rulers. 
 In the end of the eighteenth, there stood secure, beyond 
 the seas, free churches in free States. In the closing 
 decade of the nineteenth, men are agitating for the Fed- 
 erative Union of Free Churches ; holding Ecumenical 
 Councils of Free Churches ; and looking hopefully for 
 the reunion of Christendom upon democratic principles. 
 To the Christian peoples belongs the future ; to the 
 flocks, not to the would-be keepers, nor yet to the wolves. 
 And of this majestic, resistless movement of the Chris- 
 tian world toward the liberty which is in Christ, we see 
 the beginnings in that heaven-inspired separation of three 
 hundred years ago ! 
 
 In the autumn months of 1575, when this movement 
 was but incipient, a man was born, destined in his less 
 than fifty years of life to play an important part at the very 
 
12 
 
 center of it — John Robinson, the pastor of the Pilgrim 
 Church. His birthplace, it is believed, was Gainsborough- 
 upon-Trent, in Northwestern Lincolnshire, in which town 
 the family enjoyed some local prominence. Of his par- 
 ents, his childhood, his youth, we know nothing. His first 
 distinct emergence is in his matriculation as a student in 
 Corpus Christi College, in Cambridge, when he must have 
 been close upon seventeen years of age. His name is still 
 legible upon the college register. There he spent the 
 years from the autumn of 1592 to 1600, taking successively 
 the degrees of B.A. and M.A., and in 1599 winning a fel- 
 lowship. Naturally enough his university life was by no 
 means apart from the fierce discussions of this time. We 
 know from various sources a good deal of the excitements 
 which entered into it. Cambridge was full of Puritanism, 
 and the disputes about it waxed hotter as the years went 
 on. His sympathies led him into the Puritan party, and 
 we know something of the men with whom these sympa- 
 thies would ally him. Doubtless here the substratum of 
 his theological opinions was deposited ; but there is abun- 
 dant evidence that they grew with his growth, expanded 
 with his knowledge, and received ever fresh accretions 
 while he lived. His years of academic study and disci- 
 pline were laborious and fruitful, and made of him for his 
 time a ripe scholar and a close rcasoner. 
 
 When he left Cambridge, in 1600, he became engaged 
 in the work of the ministry in or near Norwich, very prob- 
 ably as a curate. His Puritanism was so pronounced that 
 the bishop of the diocese, who had been the master of 
 Corpus Christi College during Robinson's residence, and 
 knew him well, suspended him ; and upon his continuing 
 to preach in Norwich to a congregation of Puritan wor- 
 shipers, subjected him "to great disturbance and afflic- 
 tion," ' and excommunicated his followers. He strongly 
 preferred to retain his place in the national church, and, 
 
 ' Ainsworth. 
 
13 
 
 as he himself tells us, long resisted the conviction that 
 his position was untenable. But in 1603 James I suc- 
 ceeded Elizabeth, and in the course of a year the situation 
 became distinctly worse. In 1604 he saw no alternative 
 but separation at any cost, and went to Cambridge to re- 
 sign his fellowship and cast in his lot with those to whom 
 reformation was dearer than the church of their fathers, 
 than home or country, estate or life. To do this, he natu- 
 rally went northward. At Gainsborough, his native town, 
 centered the most considerable body of Separatists in the 
 kingdom. Its members were drawn from a large area, 
 extending into three counties. It had been organized 
 some two years before, its members covenanting together 
 "to walk in His ways, made known or to be made known 
 unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatever it 
 should cost them." Here Robinson found Brewster, and 
 others of the Pilgrim Fathers of the future, and here he 
 made the acquaintance of the estimable woman who after- 
 wards became his wife, Bridget White. In 1606 the church, 
 having become so large as to be too conspicuous, and sub- 
 ject to persecution from every side, divided into two for 
 greater convenience and safety. The majority retained 
 the organization, and in the same year removed to Amster- 
 dam. The rest became the historic church at Scrooby, 
 meeting there in William Brewster's house. Richard Clyf- 
 ton was chosen pastor, and John Robinson teacher, of 
 this body. For a year these devoted and resolute souls, 
 in spite of many cruel hardships, baffled the malice of 
 their enemies, but at last saw no hope but in emigration 
 to Holland, and upon this they resolved. The plan was 
 easier to conceive than to execute. Their opponents had 
 as little disposition to suffer them to depart in peace, as 
 to let them alone. It were untimely to rehearse here the 
 long story of their exodus. Their repeated attempts to 
 migrate in a body, their arrest in each, their harsh treat- 
 ment, their detentions, their perils, their sufferings, their 
 
14 
 
 losses, it is painful to recall. At length, in couples, in 
 small groups, or one by one, the fugitive church evaded 
 pursuit, and gathered in Amsterdam in 1608. But their 
 difficulties were not yet over. The refugees collected in 
 that city were many, and among them there were already 
 discernible discordant elements. Robinson and his friends 
 foresaw the coming conflicts, and felt that for themselves 
 and their company Amsterdam was not the place. They 
 resolved upon another removal, " even though it should be 
 to the prejudice of their outward estate." Wise were 
 they in this new sacrifice, and happy was its sequel. In 
 1609 they made application to the authorities of the city 
 of Leyden for permission to settle there, "to the num- 
 ber of one hundred, or thereabouts." On the 12th of 
 February this application was granted, and in that spring 
 season the removal was effected. Clyfton electing to 
 remain in Amsterdam, Robinson became the leader and 
 afterward the pastor of the church. At last, then, in 
 Leyden — "a fair city," "of a sweet situation," they 
 thought it ; a city at that time of a hundred thousand 
 inhabitants — we see the hunted church, with none to 
 molest or make afraid, locate themselves as best they 
 could, and address themselves to the task of making a 
 living by industry, and of governing their households in 
 the fear of God. This task was the harder that most of 
 them had been agriculturists, and now had trades to learn. 
 But they were full of faith and of energy, and gradually 
 their sterling worth won appreciation, and they found 
 well-wishers and friends. In this and in their political 
 'obscurity was their safety. In January, 161 1, Robinson 
 and others purchased the house v^hich then stood oppo- 
 site this edifice, and when possession was acquired, made 
 it the home of his family and the meeting-place of the 
 church. In the spacious grounds in the rear of it, more- 
 over, were built twenty-two cottages for his fellow exiles. 
 In this situation he studied, wrought, and faithfully min- 
 
15 " 
 
 istered for the remainder of his hfe, and here were pre- 
 pared for their great adventure the goodly company of 
 stout hearts and devout spirits who in 1620 set out for 
 the founding of New England. Before that date the 
 church was above three hundred in number, and in the 
 archives of Leyden is the record that no complaint had 
 ever been lodged against any one of them. 
 
 Upon his church, upon the community of Leyden, 
 upon his generation, and through the Pilgrim Fathers 
 upon the future of New England and of the United 
 States, and eveji upon the England which had driven 
 him from her shores but which he never ceased to love, 
 John Robinson made an enduring, an indelible impression 
 — an impression not rationally to be accounted for save 
 in one way: it must have been the impress of a grand 
 personality, grand in its moral, its intellectual, its spiritual 
 resources. Of what sort was this pastor of the Pilgrims .-' 
 What do we know of the man, of his make-up, his char- 
 acteristic spirit, his gifts, his power } 
 
 No likeness of him exists ; no description of his per- 
 sonal appearance. Not a single sermon of his has come 
 down to us. Yet in the testimonies of Bradford and 
 Winslow ; in various utterances of friends and foes ; in 
 these three volumes of his collected works which we are 
 this day to present to the University of Leyden, we have 
 no limited means of taking the measure of the man 
 as he was. In this University founded in the year in 
 which he was born, yet already renowned when he came 
 hither, he became affiliated September 5, 161 5; and in 
 it he gained a high reputation as a theologian and an 
 enviable repute as a man. In public disputation, after 
 the fashion of the day, he was the chosen champion of 
 Orthodoxy against Episcopius, and won laurels for his 
 cause and distinguished honor for himself. By his preach- 
 ing and his publications he became widely known in 
 Holland and in England, and his reputation has endured. 
 
• i6 
 
 Competent critics have mentioned his " Essays, or Obser- 
 vations, Divine and Moral," in connection with the more 
 famous "Essays" of Bacon, as "weighty with thought, rich 
 in knowledge of mankind . . . sparkling with a kind of 
 grave wit, and admirable for the best qualities of style." 
 Of his controversial works, one of these critics — Dr. 
 Leonard Bacon — recorded this judgment: "They show 
 great familiarity with the Scriptures, great common sense 
 in interpretation, a habit of logical exactness and acute- 
 ness, a practical ability in dealing with the profoundcst 
 themes in theology." Such facts would indicate to us 
 one ranking among the leaders of men in intellectual 
 power and culture. All the testimony points the same 
 way. In the opinion of his Anglican opponents he was 
 "a man of excellent parts, and the most learned, polished, 
 and modest spirit that ever separated from the Church of 
 England." His friends and followers naturally speak still 
 more positively. Bradford says he was " a man not easily 
 to be paralleled." Winslow says "he was much esteemed 
 and reverenced of all who knew him, and his abilities were 
 acknowledged both of friends and strangers." Mr. Mot- 
 ley, in his " Life of John of Barneveld," says of Robinson, 
 " He was a man of learning, eloquence, and lofty intel- 
 lect." Beyond question this was the conviction of his 
 contemporaries, and must be accepted as the verdict of 
 history. He must be credited with a vigorous understand- 
 ing ; with solidity of judgment, strong common sense, un- 
 usual aptitude for affairs ; with well-disciplined powers, 
 with scholarly culture and accomplishments, with extraor- 
 dinary intellectual honesty, with both readiness and self- 
 control. Nor was this all. This large-minded man was 
 also large-hearted — a loving and a love-winning man. 
 " He was much beloved of his people, and as loving was 
 he unto them." ' His care of them was most paternal 
 and most comprehensive. He was wholly devoted to their 
 
 ' Bradford. 
 
17 
 
 religious interests, and "helpful of their outward estates." 
 He had a benign and gentle spirit, great amenity of man- 
 ners, and singular tact. He was sociable, affable, and 
 conciliatory. He had a remarkable skill in harmonizing 
 differences and settling disputes. He added to a tender 
 conscience, and an acute moral sense, unusual consider- 
 ateness of the scruples of others. In his day controversy 
 was merciless, and its masters were unsparing in personal 
 vituperation and abuse ; controversy was a public duty, 
 and enlisted men's passions like internecine war. But 
 forcible as are Robinson's controversial works, one is 
 struck with their comparative freedom from the wrath 
 and bitterness so characteristic of the period. Evidently 
 he loved not strife and debate, and never lost, when borne 
 into them, the temperance, the deliberateness, the loyalty 
 to truth and the remembrance of charity which lifted 
 him above all merely personal contests. Bradford tells us 
 of Robinson : " He was never satisfied in himself until he 
 had searched any cause or argument he had to deal in to 
 the bottom ; and we have heard him sometimes say to his 
 familiars ' that many times, both in writing and in dispu- 
 tation, he knew he had sufficiently answered others, but 
 not himself.' He was ever desirous of any light, and the 
 more able, learned, and holy, persons were, the more he 
 desired to confer and reason with them." 
 
 His most imposing virtue, perhaps, was his catholicity — 
 his large tolerance. In this he outran his time. Dr. Bush- 
 nell declares him two whole centuries in advance of his 
 age. The statement seems scarcely extravagant. He was 
 a Separatist on principle ; or, as he says, " on most sound 
 and irresistible convictions ;" and yet, contrary to the ori- 
 ginal Separatist theory, advocated putting a wide differ- 
 ence between renouncing a falsely organized church, and 
 renouncing the ministers and members thereof, who were 
 in the judgment of charity Christian people. He saw no 
 reason to withhold private and unofificial communion with 
 
these, or to disallow the hearing of godly ministers preach 
 and pray in their own pulpits in the national church. He 
 also favored full communion with the Reformed churches 
 of France and Holland, and the interchange of members 
 with them. And this large catholicity grew upon him to 
 the end. If this does not seem to us a very wonderful 
 liberality, it was extremely wonderful in its own day, and 
 in its wide contrast with the Church of England itself. 
 It was the recognition of this contrast which made Mr. 
 Motley say of Robinson's Farewell Address to the Pil- 
 grim Fathers, that "for loftiness of spirit and breadth of 
 vision it has hardly a parallel in that age of intolerance." 
 Nor was this liberality of Robinson a mere sentiment. 
 It was a matter of principle. He instilled it into the 
 minds of his people. He urged it upon their hearts and 
 consciences. He infixed it there as an abiding conviction. 
 They carried it with them to Plymouth. It became char- 
 acteristic of the Plymouth Colony as contrasted with that 
 of Massachusetts Bay. Not among them was Roger Wil- 
 liams forbidden to worship, or banished the soil. Not 
 among them were enacted the New England Tragedies. 
 History abundantly attests this abiding fruitage from the 
 magnanimity of John Robinson, and his wise and most 
 Christian counsels. 
 
 It is a mark of the greatness of this venerable man, 
 that while the sturdiness of the convictions, and the reck- 
 lessness of cost or sacrifice under the stress of convictions, 
 which made him a Separatist, are beyond question, he has 
 been distinctly recognized as one of the most conserva- 
 tive of Separatists, and as the reformer of Separatism. He 
 was free from fanaticism. He never fell into, he never 
 sympathized with, the extravagances into which many 
 good men among his contemporaries were led. So far as 
 the Separatists, by reason of the force of the impulse to 
 which they had yielded, tended to extremes, he was dis- 
 tinctively a reactionary. If in the earlier years of his 
 
19 
 
 ministry he was led by the intensity of his convictions 
 into any narrowness of view, it is apparent that every 
 year led him further from everything of the kind, and 
 that by the force of the better reason he carried men 
 with him into the enlargement he himself had experienced. 
 And to him more than to any other man of his age is 
 traceable that ultimate development of true liberality and 
 charity toward all, which is the glory of modern Congre- 
 gationalism. 
 
 What Robinson's religious character was appears from 
 the testimony of those who knew him best, from the rever- 
 ence in which he was held of all his people and the good 
 report he obtained of those among whom he sojourned, 
 and from his writings, especially his "Essays," and his 
 letters. In this way we learn that he was characterized 
 by a profound and spiritual piety ; an intense loyalty to 
 Christ as in all things his Master and Lord ; singular 
 reverence for the Scriptures as the rule of faith and con- 
 duct ; an unconquerable trustfulness, giving him courage, 
 fortitude, and assurance of the future ; strong religious 
 affections and unfailing sympathies ; openness, frankness, 
 transparent sincerity ; an abhorrence of cant, pretense, and 
 indirection ; an exemplary walk and a scrupulous vigilance 
 of himself ; and his saintly spirit shone ever more brightly 
 until the last. His decisive personal influence was largely 
 founded in his conspicuous righteousness, fidelity, and 
 disinterestedness. 
 
 Doubtless many of us will recall, at this point, an esti- 
 mate of John Robinson by one of the most competent 
 and careful students who ever investigated his history. 
 It is the tribute of him who of all men, could the desires 
 of his brethren have been gratified, should have lived to 
 stand here today and dedicate a memorial in which he 
 was so deeply interested. I mean my distinguished and 
 lamented kinsman. Dr. Henry Martyn Dexter. It were a 
 grave omission not to repeat in this hour his well-consid- 
 
20 
 
 ered and most forceful words: "That [John Robinson] 
 was a good man, whose lustrous character was dimmed 
 by no stain of indiscretion, roughened by no hardness of 
 spirit ; who forsook all to follow what to him was Christ ; 
 who had large faculties, and used them at his best discre- 
 tion well for God and his fellows ; and who deserves the 
 world's grateful and unqualified respect — no faithful stu- 
 dent of his life and writings will deny. . . . Piety, learning, 
 energy, catholicity, and faith in the future, in the first 
 generation of the seventeenth century, would have saved 
 any man from mediocrity. The final judgment of devout 
 scholars must decide they made John Robinson great." 
 
 The time came, as we all know, when Robinson and 
 Brewster were convinced that duty to themselves, their 
 children, and the kingdom of Christ, demanded the under- 
 taking of a new emigration, to a land where they could 
 be Englishmen and yet be free ; where they could perpet- 
 uate their own traditions, their own language, their own 
 faith ; and where, please God, they might " lay some good 
 foundation, or at least make some way thereunto, for the 
 propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of 
 Christ in those remote parts of the world — yea, though 
 they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others 
 for the performing of so great a work." Dr. Bush n ell 
 calls these adventurous spirits " great in their unconscious- 
 ness ; " aye, but they were also great by reason of that of 
 which they were conscious, the inspiration of a great task, 
 the prompting of a great calling, the dim but fascinating 
 presentiment of a destiny of transcendent import to man- 
 kind. Into the history of that immortal adventure we 
 cannot go at this time ; but it is part of John Robinson's 
 record that he incited, promoted, counseled, and directed 
 it, from its inception to its execution, and hoped to join 
 the colony in due time, until he was summoned to a better 
 inheritance above. 
 
21 
 
 When, two hundred and seventy-one years ago this 
 very week, the 22d of July, he returned to his home 
 yonder, not without sadness of heart, after witnessing the 
 embarkation at Delftshaven, he doubtless felt that much 
 remained to be done here, and he had visions of a home 
 beyond the seas. But anxieties, hopes deferred and at 
 length rebuffed, domestic sorrows, and many discourage- 
 ments awaited him, to chasten, but never to break his 
 dauntless spirit. In less than five years his ministry was 
 ended, for God took him. Unlooked for came the last 
 messenger, but he was not unready. On the 4th of March, 
 1625, followed by the congregation, the ministers of the 
 city, the University, and a sympathizing community, his 
 remains were borne to their resting place beneath this 
 ancient church, " amid lamentations for the loss that not 
 alone his own communion, but all the churches of Christ 
 had sustained." Yet although his life was ended, his 
 work had but begun, and the abiding fame of it was un- 
 suspected of men. Not only has that fame continued — 
 its splendor has increased with every generation. And 
 now at length we, descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, 
 proud of their blood and their faith, messengers of five 
 thousand churches and of uncounted Christian citizens in 
 the Great Republic, are here to call to remembrance his 
 inestimable services to Truth, to Liberty, to Civilization, to 
 Christ's Eternal Kingdom, and by this tablet, which we 
 are now solemnly to dedicate, to perpetuate that remem- 
 brance to coming generations. Fitly will it stand here, 
 a silent but eloquent memorial, telling to listening pos- 
 terity its story of faith and patience, of fortitude and 
 magnanimity, of heroism and triumph ! Yet it will not 
 be John Robinson's grandest monument. That is the 
 Great Republic itself, spanning the Western Continent, 
 rising conspicuous among the nations, cherishing the ex- 
 alted consciousness that in its broad area, and in its 
 
intense life, civil and religious freedom far transcend- 
 ing the fathers' aspirations reigns universal, unassailable, 
 enthroned in the hearts of ever-multiplying millions. 
 
 We do not wonder if Leydeners love their fair and 
 famous city. We do not wonder if they take pride in 
 their renowned University, itself a monument of the hero- 
 ism of their fathers, and of an almost miraculous deliver- 
 ance from their ruthless besiegers. But they must indulge 
 us in the cherishing of a deep and tender interest in these 
 scenes so familiar to them, which we can hardly imagine 
 that they share. We come hither as to a venerated shrine. 
 We find sacredness in these streets, and take pleasure in 
 these stones. Here our fathers in a time of sorest need 
 found a welcome refuge ; a respite from cruel persecu- 
 tions ; an opportunity to house their hunted families and 
 earn the bread their country denied them ; liberty to labor, 
 to love, to worship, and to learn ; to fulfill their vocation of 
 Christ ; to gather wisdom, and energy, and courage for 
 their great mission over the wide Atlantic to New Eng- 
 land's rugged shore. Not without regrets did they leave 
 this "goodly and pleasant resting place," but the beckon- 
 ing of their destiny they could not resist. Dear and lov- 
 ing were the friends they left here, to meet them next in 
 heaven. Tenderly they remembered Leyden. And here 
 the dust of Robinson remains. These memories endear 
 to us, and will endear to our posterity, the very name of 
 Leyden. Long may its ancient towers salute the sun that 
 rises, and be gilded by the sun that sets ! Long may it 
 flourish, foster learning, and rejoice ! Happy and honor- 
 able be its future years ! Often shall the western breezes 
 bear to it the benisons of the children of the Pilgrims ! 
 
 In closing, there come to me recollections of the part- 
 ing counsels of Robinson, spoken over yonder' the night 
 before the embarkation. I seem to catch the lingering 
 
 ' Uncertain, but probable. 
 
23 
 
 echoes of the words reported to us by Winslow. Let us 
 listen for a moment : " I charge you, before God and his 
 blessed angels, to follow me no further than I have fol- 
 lowed Christ ; and if God shall reveal anything to you by 
 any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it 
 as ever you were to receive any truth by my ministry. 
 For I am very confident the Lord hath more truth and 
 light yet to break forth out of his Holy Word. . . . But 
 withal take heed what you receive for truth, and well ex- 
 amine and compare it with other Scripture before you 
 receive it. For it is not possible that the Christian world 
 should come so lately out of such thick anti-Christian 
 darkness, and the full perfection of knowledge break forth 
 at once." Such was the spirit of this man of God, this 
 apostle of liberty, this leader of his age ; so radical and so 
 conservative ; so modest, so hopeful, so cautious. Wise be- 
 yond his generation, or his century, indeed ! * Wise enough 
 to counsel even us, his remote ecclesiastical descendants ; 
 bidding us to be fixed in faith, free in the thinking which 
 faith inspires, hospitable to the truth which God reveals 
 through faith-inspired thought, tenacious of truth approved 
 through past experience of its spiritual force. What can 
 we counsel better than this in our own place and time } 
 The words in which he indicated to the Pilgrim Fathers 
 their path across the ocean into the fateful future — the 
 path which was to prove to them the way of greatness and 
 of glory — still indicate to us the way into a future of ever 
 expanding and ever brightening enlightenment, and in- 
 spire us with assured expectation of still grander triumphs 
 of Christianity and of human freedom, and a larger, fuller, 
 richer life for ourselves and for our posterity ! 
 
 To Dr. Palmer's address, although delivered in 
 English, unwavering attention was given to the end. 
 When he had concluded, Rev. F. A. Noble, D.D., 
 
24 
 
 took his place in the pulpit, and offered the dedi- 
 catory prayer in these words : 
 
 Almighty and most merciful God, our Heavenly Father, 
 in the name which is above every name we draw nigh unto 
 Thee, that we may acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, 
 and render thanks for all Thy manifold loving-kindnesses. 
 In all, and over all, Thy wisdom is manifest in the varying 
 providences in which the world has been set forward in 
 truth and in righteousness. Thou dost call great men and 
 they answer Thee, and great events turn upon the issues 
 which Thou Thyself hast determined. He whom we call 
 the Father of the Faithful heard Thy voice and did Thy 
 bidding. The great law-giver became Thy ser\^ant, and 
 the leader of Thy chosen people out of their bondage into 
 liberty, and through his lips came the commandments for 
 the moral government of mankind. Through all ages the 
 apostles and prophets have beheld the visions Thou hast 
 placed before them, and have fallen into obedience to Thy 
 divine will. We thank Thee for all of them, for the brave 
 words they have spoken, and for the brave deeds they have 
 done. Especially do we thank Thee for the gift of this 
 man whose memory is to be perpetuated in part by the 
 tablet unveiled today, in the midst of the community where 
 so much of his life was lived, where so many of his words 
 were spoken, where so much of his self-denial was prac- 
 ticed, and where he illustrated the grace of God in Christ 
 so eminently. We thank Thee for the rare endowments 
 which Thou gavcst him ; for all the intellectual capabilities ; 
 for his moral qualities ; for his spiritual insight and over- 
 sight ; for his apprehension of the truth ; for his fidelity to 
 conscience ; for his patience ; for his love, and for his wise 
 and sweet shepherding of the souls which came within the 
 circle of his speech and influence. We thank Thee for 
 those particular qualities he possessed by which he was en- 
 
25 
 
 ablecl to become the leader of the people out into a larger 
 place ; by which he could discern the needs of the times ; 
 by which he could do the work committed to his hands, 
 so that in after centuries those who came after him should 
 see that he was the inspirer and organizer of the great 
 religious movement which was to include all mankind in 
 its benefits ; whereby he could withhold his followers, even 
 though he himself had passed away, from giving his name 
 to the body he had called into existence, that all glory 
 might be given to Him who is Head of the Church, so 
 that the name of Christ might still be the name above 
 every name. We beseech Thee to receive at our hands 
 the dedication of this tablet which we bring in consecra- 
 tion to this great man's memory, and through him to the 
 Lord Jesus Christ who called him into His precious service. 
 Grant that we today in our own behalf, and in behalf of 
 those we represent, may catch such inspiration from this 
 service that Christ shall seem nearer and dearer to us, and 
 it shall be a greater joy to work in the service of Christ, 
 to witness for the truth, and to aid in winning souls into 
 His kingdom. Grant that we may feel how empty this 
 ceremony would be if in unveiling this tablet — that the 
 memory of this great servant of Jesus Christ may have 
 further perpetuation — we did not come into completed 
 consecration to the service of our Lord. May we catch 
 his spirit today ; may it be within us to work with the 
 spirit in which he wrought. May his mind, in so far as 
 it was a mind in Christ, be in us, and may we plant our- 
 selves in a firm footing on the truths he apprehended and 
 which were so precious to him. May the Word of God be 
 the word of man, and may we hold the truths fast and 
 be prompt to receive any new light which shall break forth 
 from the Word of God, and so may this body of Christians, 
 which worships and works in the Congregational way, be 
 quickened and brought into higher loyalty to Christ. We 
 thank Thee for this hour, and we thank Thee that Thou 
 
26 
 
 didst put it into the hearts of Thy servants to accompHsh 
 this pious work. Help us to cherish the memory of those 
 whom Thou hast called away from us, to remember those 
 who have thus wrought, those who are unable to be with 
 us, but who are with us in spirit ; and help them to feel 
 that wherever they are, they have helped to bear witness 
 to the truth. May Thy Spirit descend upon us, and grant 
 that in all our hearts there may be such a working of the 
 Divine Spirit that we may be called into loyalty to Jesus 
 Christ ; that conscience may have new dominion over us ; 
 and that we may work with new heart to bring all men 
 everywhere into the faith and fellowship of the Son of 
 God. We ask it in the name of Him who loved us with 
 infinite love, and who gave Himself to die for us on the 
 cross, and who is the risen Redeemer. May He pour in 
 His Divine Spirit upon our lives, that we may work day 
 by day and live in Him and in the Spirit, to Whom be 
 praise evermore. Amen. 
 
 Dr. Palmer then formally consummated the 
 dedication of the tablet in the following sentences: 
 
 Now, therefore, we, Samuel C. Bartlett, Eliphalet W. 
 Blatchford, George E. Day, Morton De.xter, John K. Mc- 
 Lean, Charles Ray Palmer, and William A. Robinson, by 
 authority to us intrusted, in the name of the National 
 Council of the ConoREGATioNAL Churches in the 
 United States of America — delegates from the Con- 
 gregational Union of England and Wales and from the 
 International Council of Congregational Churches lately 
 assembled in London, together with representatives of 
 Yale University, the University of Leyden, and Mansfield 
 College in Oxford, present and assisting — do solemnly 
 set apart and dedicate this Bronze Tablet, which we have 
 erected, to the perpetuation of the venerable and sacred 
 
27 
 
 memory of the erudite scholar, the devoted minister, the 
 saintly man, whose name it bears — John Robinson, M.A., 
 the Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, the projector and spirit- 
 ual father of the Plymouth Colony ; and we declare this 
 dedication duly and irrevocably accomplished. And for 
 the grace vouchsafed to that blessed man, and to our 
 forefathers, and to us their descendants and fellow ser- 
 vants — to God Almighty, the Father, the Son, the Holy 
 Ghost, we give praise now and evermore ! Amen, 
 
 Turning: to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners 
 of the city of Leyden, he also addressed them 
 thus : 
 
 To the Honorable, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. 
 
 Gentlemen : This tablet, which we have brought 
 from our far away home and dedicated to the perpetual 
 remembrance of John Robinson, we now take pleasure in 
 committing to your honorable keeping. We heartily thank 
 you for the gracious permission to erect it here. We 
 thank you also for the kindly sympathy with us in our 
 filial purpose, manifested by your presence with us today. 
 To you, and to your successors forever, we now convey 
 and deliver this memorial in which we feel so deeply 
 interested, assured that our trust is by you cordially 
 accepted, and that it will be safe in your hands. Receive 
 with it, gentlemen, assurances of the highest considera- 
 tion on the part of ourselves and of the churches and 
 institutions we have the honor to represent ; and also of 
 our best wishes and our prayers for the peace and prog- 
 ress of the churches of Leyden, and of all the churches 
 of this ancient and honorable realm. 
 
28 
 
 Several responses to this address were then 
 made. The first speaker was Mr. E. van den 
 Brandeler, who spoke in Dutch as follows: 
 
 Very Reverend Gentlemen : The Ecclesiastical Com- 
 mission of the Netherlandish Reformed Church, which 
 I have the honor to represent on this occasion, tender to 
 you their thanks for the manner in which you have per- 
 formed an act of filial regard, in doing which neither 
 pains nor expense have been spared. You have not been 
 deterred by the distance from crossing the ocean and com- 
 ing to us in order to devote this hour to an impressive 
 ceremonial. We are proud to see this elegant and at the 
 same time simple monument which adorns our church. 
 Tell it far and wide, gentlemen, on your return to the 
 New World, that in the Netherlands, also, hearts beat at 
 the memory of John Robinson. He was a great man, who 
 bravely strove for his faith, and labored with unsparing 
 self-sacrifice to promote the religious welfare of his con- 
 gregation. It is appointed to man once to die. Even 
 great men die ; but the memory of the righteous is blessed 
 forever. The Ecclesiastical Commission regard it as a 
 sacred duty to hold this monument in honor, and gladly 
 take it under their protection. 
 
 The next speaker was the Burgomaster of the 
 city of Leyden, Mr. E. M. De Laat de Kanter. 
 He also spoke in Dutch, and as follows: 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : The celebration in which we 
 here unite has rather a religious than a civil character, yet 
 it is not exclusively religious. It commemorates the time 
 when the Pilgrim Fathers settled in Leyden, and the wel- 
 come they received from the authorities and citizens. All 
 this has not been forgotten, but is gratefully remembered 
 by their posterity. The visits so often made to the old 
 
29 
 
 memorial stone show that the memory of all this survived 
 in their hearts. The sphere of our city government is 
 different from that of the Ecclesiastical Commission. All 
 that we, on our part, can do, is to see that the memorial 
 tablet is treated with proper regard by our people. There 
 is no reason to fear the contrary. We are living no longer 
 in a time of religious animosity, when men hate and despise 
 each other for differing in opmion. I am reminded by this 
 occasion of the time of persecution which made the coming 
 of your ancestors to this land both desirable and neces- 
 sary. It is not so very long — not more than half a cen- 
 tury — since the principle of entire religious freedom has 
 been recognized. At heart it was held by our people, but 
 the abolition of the laws which interfered with it was 
 forgotten. It was only when dissenters were persecuted 
 more on account of the law than on account of their opin- 
 ions, that those laws were abolished. And now I assure 
 you that, so far as it depends upon the executive authority 
 of the city of Leyden, the memorial tablet shall be safe with 
 us. If the memory of Robinson was honored by us before, 
 it will be none the less now that this monument is erected. 
 As you return to your own country, present to your people 
 the assurance that we shall ever think of you, your pos- 
 terity, and your ancestors, with respect. The memory of 
 the Pilgrim Fathers has now once more been revived by 
 this memorial tablet. In Leyden it shall be safe. 
 
 The representative of Leyden University, Prof. 
 A. Kuenen, D.D., spoke first in Dutch. Said he: 
 
 In the name of the Leyden University, which in the 
 absence of the Rector Magnificus I have the honor to 
 represent, I thank the Committee for having invited us 
 to be present at this ceremony. In doing so they have 
 met a wish which we cherished ; perhaps I ought to say 
 they have recognized what we might claim as a right. 
 
30 
 
 Wherever honor is paid to the memory of John Robinson, 
 the Leyden University may not be wanting. The orator 
 of the day has reminded us that Robinson, although the 
 years of his college life had long passed, was registered 
 here at his own request as a student in theology. His 
 object certainly was not simply to enjoy the privileges 
 which were then accorded to the members of the Univer- 
 sity. No; it was because he was heartily in sympathy 
 with the view of Christian truth which was zealously and 
 ably defended by the majority of its professors, and wished 
 to share in their scientific life. It is testified of him that 
 he took part also in the controversy of those days. Sev- 
 eral of the Leyden professors were among his friends, and 
 when, in 1625, his remains were buried in this very church 
 edifice, representatives of the University were among the 
 mourners. 
 
 Since that sorrowful day more than two centuries and 
 a half have passed ; but yet — we have the evidence of it 
 before us — John Robinson is living on in the grateful 
 remembrance not only of his spiritual descendants, but of 
 the whole North American people. We esteem it a priv- 
 ilege to join by our presence in the beautiful tribute now 
 paid to his memory. Opinions and forms pass away, but 
 the principle represented so well by Robinson and his con- 
 gregation remains eternally true, and claims our entire 
 sympathy. For conscience' sake they left their native 
 country and sought refuge here. They made every sacri- 
 fice for the liberty of serving God in accordance with their 
 own convictions, and therefore they receive only what is 
 their due in the place of honor they hold in the period of 
 history anterior to the existence of the North American 
 Republic. The memorial tablet, consecrated by a grateful 
 posterity to their leader, Robinson, honors and adorns our 
 city. But beyond this it may be added that in Leyden, 
 which owes its flourishing state and its University to its 
 struggle for freedom, and in near proximity to the Univer- 
 
31 
 
 sity whose vital principle is and will ever be liberty, this 
 monument has found its appropriate place. 
 
 And now, having spoken in Dutch, as became the 
 representative of a Dutch university, I beg to add a few 
 words in English : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : When you have gone back to 
 America, tell your countrymen that the citizens of Leyden 
 and the members of its University are proud to possess in 
 the midst of us the monument you have dedicated today, 
 and that we like to consider it as a pledge of the future 
 lasting friendship of both the countries — America and our 
 Fatherland — whose early history, as that monument testi- 
 fies, is so closely identified. Tell them that we say that 
 in that monument we have a pledge of hearty cooperation 
 in the common love for civil and religious freedom. 
 
 The closing speaker was Rev. A. M. Fairbairn, 
 D.D., principal of Mansfield College, Oxford Uni- 
 versity, England. His address was as follows: 
 
 It is as a connecting link between Holland and Amer- 
 ica that I am called to stand here. The American people 
 are still English, and for the English people Holland has 
 done many services of the kind she rendered when she 
 gave to John Robinson a home. Your victory was ours ; 
 if defeat had come to you in the struggle with Spain, 
 we could never have prevailed. The event which distin- 
 guished your town and founded your University, your 
 delivery from your city's great besiegement, saved our 
 freedom. On your soil, though for our common good, our 
 Sidney shed his blood. Here, when once you had won your 
 freedom, you gave a hospitable home to all who had need. 
 Our fugitives learned from your Mennonites the principles 
 of the toleration they returned to teach to their own people. 
 Our Ames, your Amesius, forsook his own home, took part 
 
32 
 
 in your high debate at Dordt, and settled as professor at 
 Francker. Later Thomas Goodwin and Phihp Nye found 
 here a home, and learned the principles of freedom and 
 independency which they returned to argue for in the 
 Westminster Assembly. Your hospitable welcome was 
 not denied to the men who found the England of the 
 Commonwealth an uncongenial home, while your Salma- 
 sius in stately Latin defended our king and accused our 
 people, and our Milton in still statelier Latin defended 
 our people and accused our king. Here, too, came our 
 Scotch Covenanters and waited through evil days for the 
 brighter times that were to dawn. On the walls of your 
 library stands a tablet which tells that the dust lies here 
 of John, Earl of Loudoun, one who contended and suf- 
 fered much in our stern Northern wars. In the same 
 period Gilbert Burnet, later a prelate of the English 
 Church, helped to make a happier home for your William 
 and our Mary, and to prepare your prince to become our 
 king. And near his court lived a quiet scholar, John 
 Locke, who used the leisure of his exile to write certain 
 letters on toleration, which did much to create a broader 
 freedom in our land. And in the century that followed, 
 when to our fathers the English universities were closed, 
 the learning that enabled Lardner to write his Credibility 
 of the Gospel History, and Neale his History of the Puri- 
 tans, was obtained here. 
 
 Our peoples, then, have lived in closest terms of inter- 
 course. You have been generous in your hospitality to 
 our persecuted men and causes ; and it is to me a proud 
 privilege to be allowed to stand here and confess our 
 obligations. Long may our peoples, our faiths, and our 
 churches live together in holy and beautiful friendship, 
 and be united in their common and faithful service of 
 freedom, civil and religious ! By these we stand, and the 
 name we have this day honored sanctions and consecrates 
 our common and mutual love ! 
 
33 
 
 At the end of these addresses the audience 
 sang Mrs. Hemans' hymn : 
 
 The breaking waves dashed high 
 
 On a stern and rock-bound coast, 
 And the woods against a stormy sky 
 
 Their giant branches tossed ; 
 And the heavy night hung dark 
 
 The hills and waters o'er, 
 When a band of exiles moored their bark 
 
 On the wild New England shore. 
 
 Not as the conqueror comes, 
 
 They, the true-hearted, came ; 
 Not with the roll of the stirring drums. 
 
 And the trumpet that sings of fame ; 
 Not as the flying come. 
 
 In silence and in fear — 
 They shook the depths of the desert gloom 
 
 With their hymns of lofty cheer. 
 
 Amidst the storm they sang. 
 
 And the stars heard and the sea ; 
 And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang 
 
 To the anthem of the free. 
 The ocean eagle soared 
 
 From his nest by the white wave's foam. 
 And the rocking pines of the forest roared — 
 
 This was their welcome home ! 
 
 What sought they thus afar .'' 
 
 Bright jewels of the mine .'' 
 The wealth of seas, the spoils of war .-• 
 
 They sought a faith's pure shrine ! 
 Aye, call it holy ground, 
 
 The soil where first they trod ! 
 They have left unstained what there they found — 
 
 Freedom to worship God. 
 
34 
 
 After the singing, Dr. Palmer concluded the 
 exercises with the benediction. 
 
 The Committee of the National Council can- 
 not close its report without putting on record an 
 expression of its appreciation of the valuable assist- 
 ance rendered by Professor J. F. Weir, of the School 
 of the Fine Arts in Yale University, in the selec- 
 tion of the style of the tablet and the design of 
 the " Mayflower ; " by Mr. E. F. Aucaigne, connected 
 with the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co., of New York, 
 in his intelligent and sympathetic superintendence 
 of the construction and shipping of the tablet ; and 
 by Mr. F. de Stoppelaer, of the famous publishing 
 house of E.J. Brill, of Leyden, through his manifold, 
 unwearied, and indispensable cooperation in respect 
 to the reception, erection, and dedication of the 
 memorial. 
 
 For the Committee. 
 
 George E. Day. 
 Charles Ray Palmer. 
 Morton Dexter. 
 
Subscribers to the John Robinson Memorial Fund. 
 
 Mr. Eugene F. Aucaigne, New York 
 
 Mr. Henry Baldwin, New York . . . . 
 
 Prof. Simeon E. Baldwin, Nav Haven^ Conn. . 
 
 Mr. A. S. Barnes's children, by Dr. Charles R. Palmer, 
 
 Bridgeport, Conn. ...... 
 
 Hon. E. W. Blatchford, Chieago, III. 
 
 Brooklyn (N. Y.) Congregational Club, by Richard 
 
 S. Barnes, Treas. ...... 
 
 Hon. Peter Burns, Syracuse, NY. 
 
 Mr. Samuel B. Capen, Boston, Mass. . . » . 
 
 Clinton (Conn.) Congregational church, by Rev. 
 
 Thomas A. Emerson ...... 
 
 Connecticut Congregational Club, by L. W. Ripley, 
 
 Treas. (to complete the sum of $400 contributed 
 
 by members of the Club) . 
 Dea. Alexander L. Cummock, Lowell, Mass 
 Rev. E. Curtis, Buffalo, NY. ... 
 
 Mr. Frederick A. Cushman, Neiv York . 
 Mr. Charles W. Cushman, Philadelphia, Penn. 
 Prof, and Mrs. James D. Dana, Netv Haven, Conn. 
 Prof. George E. Day, Neiv Haven, Conn. 
 Mr. George Denison, yamaica Plain, Mass. 
 Prof. Franklin B. Dexter, Neiv Haveti, Conn 
 *Rev. Henry M. Dexter, D.D., Boston, Mass., by 
 
 Rev. Morton Dexter . . . 
 Mr. Thomas Doane, Charlestowti, Mass. 
 Dea. John Dunn, Syracuse, NY. . 
 Rev. Henry Fairbanks, D.D., .57. jtohnslmry, Vt 
 Mr. Edward Ferris, New York 
 Rev. Frank S. Fitch, Buffalo, N Y. 
 Mrs. William Fitch, Neiv Haven, Conn. . 
 
 $10.00 
 
 6.00 
 
 25.00 
 
 500.00 
 100.00 
 
 200.00 
 10.00 
 
 40.00 
 
 10.00 
 5.00 
 5.00 
 5.00 
 
 25.00 
 
 100.00 
 
 2.00 
 
 25.00 
 
 500.00 
 10.00 
 
 5.00 
 50.00 
 
 5.00 
 10.00 
 25.00 
 
36 
 
 J. H 
 
 Glastonbury (Conn.) Congregational church, by W 
 
 S. \Mlliams ...... 
 
 Rev. William E. Griffis, D.D., Boston, Mass. . 
 
 Mr. W. C. Hamilton, Fond dii Lac, Wis. 
 
 Mr. Hamilton A. Hill, Boston, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Reuben Hutchinson, Lowell, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Leonard A. Jenkins, New York 
 
 Mr. E, A. Jewell, LLartford, Conn. . 
 
 Mr. Charles L. Lovering, Taunton, Mass. 
 
 Dea. Sevvell G. Mack, Lowell, Mass. 
 
 Mr. Roland Mather, Hartford, Conn. 
 
 New York Congregational Club, by Dea 
 
 Washburne, Treas. 
 Rev. E. M. Packard, Syracuse, JV. V. 
 Rev. A. F. Pierce, Middletown, N. Y. 
 Rev. William A. Robinson, D.D., LLomer, N. Y. 
 Mrs. Sarah B. ^A. Robinson and daughters. Wash 
 
 ington, D.C. . 
 Dea. Jacob Rogers, Loivell, Mass. . 
 Rev. A. Hastings Ross, D.D., Fort LLuron, Mich. 
 Rev. Edward A. Smith, LLartford, Conn. . 
 Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Mrs. Susan M. Sturges, Mansfield, O. 
 Mr. Ezekiel H. Trowbridge, Neiu LLaven, Conn. 
 Rev. George Leon Walker, D.D., LLartford, Conn 
 Mr. Stephen A. Walker, LLartford, Conn. . 
 Prof. Williston Walker, LLartford, Conn. . 
 Wethersfield (Conn.) Congregational church, by Rev 
 
 Wm. H. Teel 
 
 Mr. G. Henry Whitcomb, Worcester, Mass. 
 Mr. William H. White, Loivell, Mass. 
 
 $50.00 
 25.00 
 20.00 
 20.00 
 10.00 
 25.00 
 50.00 
 25.00 
 10.00 
 50.00 
 
 200.00 
 
 5.00 
 
 5.00 
 
 10.00 
 
 10.00 
 10.00 
 25.00 
 15.00 
 25.00 
 1. 00 
 25.00 
 100.00 
 25.00 
 25.00 
 
 20.00 
 10.00 
 10.00 
 
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