342 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. painful separation, Mr. Robinson, as a father in Israel, wrote a most affectionate and faithful letter to the adventurers ; which they received at Southampton, and read to the whole company, to their great comfort and encouragement. In addressing them, he says, " I am present in my best affec- tions and most earnest, longings after you. God knows how willingly and much rather than otherwise, I would have borne my first part in this first brunt, were I not held back by strong necessity. Make account of me in the mean time, as a man divided, in himself with great pain, having my better part with you. And though I doubt not of your godly wisdom, I think it my duty to add some words of advice ; if not because you need it, yet because I owe it in love and duty." He then proceeds to give them the most affectionate and salutary instructions. He urges them to repentance for all known sins, and generally for all that are unknown, lest God should swallow them up inhis judgments. He then exhorts them to exercise a holyjealousy and serious watchfulness over their own hearts ; to avoid giving or receiving offences ; to cultivate forbearance and love one towards another ; and to manage all their affairs with discretion, and by mutualagreement. He urges them to have a proper regard for the general good ; to avoid "as a deadly plague, all private respect for themselves;" and to shew a due respect and obedience to the magistrates whom they should elect to rule over them. He observes, " that he would not so far wrong their godly minds as to think them heedless of other things, which he could say ;" and concludes by expressing hisearnest and incessant prayers toGod for them..' Mr. Robinson intended to accompany the remainingpart the late voyage, the severity of the weather, and the want of the necessaries of life, occasioned a sad mortality, and swept away half the colony ; and of those who remained alive, notabove six or seven at a time were capable of helping the rest. But as the spring returned, they began to recover; and, receiving some fresh supplies from England, they maintained their station, and laid the foundation of one of the noblest settlements in America, which afterwards proved a comfortable asylum for protestant nonconformists under all their oppressions. Mr. Brewster shared the fatigues and hardships of the infant colony with the utmost bravery. He was not an ordained minister ; but being a man of considerable learning, eminent gifts, and great piety, he preached to them about sevenyears, till they could provide themselves with a pastor. He was held in the greatest respect both by the magistrates and the people; and after suffering much in the cause of the Redeemer, he died in peace, April 18, 1648, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.--Morton's Memorial, p. 117, 118.-Nears New England, vol. i. p. 211, 212.-Neal's Puritans, vol. ii. p, 122. - Morse and Pdrish's New England, p. 7-9. Morton's Memorial, p. 6-9.
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