Wednesday, November 27, 2024
by Dr. Michael Hegeman

Just last week, I discovered the name of one of my 10th great-grandparents. (And just in case you’re wondering, we each, potentially, have 4096 10th great-grandparents.) While I was researching Puritan “covenantal theology” for our Sunday morning class this last week on our own Pinnacle Congregational Covenant, I learned of a man named William Brewster who was both the author and a signatory of the Mayflower Compact and a spiritual leader of the Plymouth community. I learned that I am a direct descendant of this man and that I knew very little about him. For starters, he was aboard the Mayflower that sailed from England in 1620 and he was present at the very first Thanksgiving feast.

My elementary school years were spent just outside of Boston, and at Hillside Elementary School, I learned quite a bit about the first colonists of what became the Massachusetts Bay Colony. I remember taking trips over to modern-day Plymouth to see the commemorative stone known as Plymouth Rock and seeing the year 1620 etched indelibly on the side. What we learned in school about these early Pilgrims was: 

• They were Protestant Separatists who were unhappy with the state of the Church of England and they had sought to “purify” the church, getting themselves the nickname, “Puritans.”

• They spent some time in Holland, striving for religious freedom, before coming to the New World. (It was in Holland that the Pilgrims learned about “St. Nicholaus” who became for them Santa Claus.)

• They weren’t headed for Cape Cod; rather they were striving to reach the mouth of the Hudson River, where the Dutch were already established (as of 1614).

• Their ship got blown off course, and they landed first at the tip of Cape Cod.

• Although only one person died on the journey across the ocean, nearly half of the settlers died in the first year at “new” Plymouth. 

• The local Wampanoag Natives helped the Pilgrims to survive, teaching them how to cultivate crops, hunt, and endure the harsh climate. 

• This helped lay the foundation for the first “Thanksgiving” in 1621, where the Native people and the Pilgrims celebrated their mutual support. 

At least, this is what I learned as a kid. (This whole story is much more complicated, especially when we look more seriously at the interrelationship between the colonists and the Native peoples.)

What I learned this last week about William Brewster (1566-1644), specifically, was that he was educated in part at Cambridge University before entering dimplatic service as the assistant to the ambassador to the Netherlands. In Holland, he was exposed to the Reformed faith, and when he returned to England in the 1690s, he and his family became Puritans, separating themselves from the established and “lawful” Church of England. (Separating from the official state church was in fact illegal.) The small congregation of Puritans of which Brewster was a part sought to leave England for Holland in 1607, but doing so without official permission got them all arrested. Later, in 1608, they were able to emigrate successfully, but still did so without permission. They took refuge among other English separatists in the cities of Amsterdam and Leiden.

In the Netherlands, Brewster became a publisher of religious books, which promoted the Reformed faith, Puritan ideals, and also a deep critique of the Church of England. Some of the books, maybe written by Brewster himself, were critical of the new king of England, James the I, and especially his governing of the church. When these books came to the attention of King James, he called for an international manhunt for Brewster (1619). Although Brewster was arrested in Holland, the Dutch authorities let Brewster go, fearing that if he were extradited to England, he would certainly be put to death. In 1620, after months of planning, Brewster joined with other Puritans in their attempt to sail to America. He was able to sneak back into England, in time to join others aboard the Mayflower. He brought with him his wife Mary and two of their sons, Love and Wrestling. (Love Brewster is my 9th great-grandfather!)

William Brewster was the only university-educated member of the new colony, and he took the part of the colony's religious leader for its first 8 years and he was an unofficial adviser to the colony’s governor, William Bradford. In 1632, he received lands in nearby Duxbury where he farmed until his death in 1644. A cenotaph commemorating his honor reads, "Elder William Brewster, Patriarch of the Pilgrims and their Ruling Elder 1609–1644." William Brewster was characterized in a 1992 biography as the "Father of New England”  and a "sine qua non of the entire Pilgrim adventure, its backbone, its brain and its conscience.”

The most famous quote associated with William Brewster accompanied his signature: Hebel est omnis Adam. This translates roughly from Hebrew and Latin to “Everything of Man is but a breath” (Psalm 39:5). Brewster, in his lifetime, lost his wife, some of his children and many of his fellow Pilgrims. He knew the tentative nature of life. And he kept his faith. Brewster was present at the first Thanksgiving feast, and as the colony’s spiritual leader, we can be assured, he prayed during the feast. What he actually prayed is unknown, but a typical prayer of the time would have gone like this: 

O Lord, our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord, that as we do hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies, so our souls may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Amen.

As we come close to Thanksgiving, it is appropriate to think back to where we have come from and to consider all the trials and tribulations that brought us here. We also remember those we have lost along the way, giving thanks to God for them and the legacy they have left us. 

It’s humbling for me to consider that I have the DNA of a man like William Brewster running through my veins. I really wish I could have found one of his actual prayers to share with you, for far more important than physical DNA is the spiritual DNA that runs through us from our ancestors in the faith. 

One thing we could do this Thanksgiving is to write down a prayer and share it with our children or other family members or friends or even a stranger. Perhaps someone 13 generations from now will find the prayer and give thanks that someone once gave thanks to God for their lives…and prayed for the generations to come.  Perhaps they would say, “God’s faithfulness is known from generation to generation.” 

It’s fun for me to think that I have Love Brewster’s DNA amid my own…and even more surely to know that we have Christ’s love DNA in all of us.

As we give thanks at this time, we stand on the precipice of the holy and solemn season of Advent; so, let us come before God with cheerful hearts, hearts overwhelmed with joy, that they overflow in gratitude... until that day when we shall all sit at table together in God's eternal feast of Thanksgiving...in the community of saints...in the house of our God forever, surrounded by Christ’s faithfulness and love. Thanks be to God.