Why the Mayflower Voyage?
The reasons for embarking upon the Mayflower in a perilous voyage across the ocean to establish Plymouth Plantation in the first place is laid out in metaphorical terms by Bradford through quoting another man of referred to only once and simply as Mr. Perkins, a holy man. Bradford writes that Perkins preached words that daily experience for Pilgrims confirmed to be true:
“Religion has been amongst us these thirty-five years; but the more it is disseminated, the more it is condemned by many. Thus, not profanity or wickedness, but Religion itself is itself byword, a mocking stock, and a matter of reproach; so that in England at this day the man or woman who begins to profess religion and to serve God, must resolve within himself to sustain mocks and injuries as though he lived among the enemies of religion.”
Pilgrims
The very concept of being a Pilgrim is situated entirely within metaphorical terms. The harrowing journey across the sea to a New World is placed within an entirely religious reckoning and outside the non-sacred boundaries of mere exploration:
“So they left that good and pleasant city, which had been their resting place for nearly twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.”
Traveling Condition
The conditions by which people traveled from England and back again are given horrifically literal reality through metaphorical description by Bradford:
“There were so many that they were packed together like herrings.”
Imagine spending months aboard a ship on a cruise that made you feel more like a tiny slimy fish packed tightly into a container and you begin to get an idea of just how much freedom from religious persecution—whether real or merely perceived—meant to the Pilgrims.
Religious Persecution
Of course, it is important—profoundly important—to realize that the Pilgrims were not just on the receiving end of persecution, whether real or merely perceived. They could give as well as they got, as indicated by Bradford’s less than subtle conception of Catholicism:
“Satan has seemed to follow a like method in these later times, ever since the truth began to spring and spread after the great defection of that man of sin, the Papal Antichrist.”
The problem here, of course, is that Bradford may not actually have intended this statement to be entirely metaphorical.
Biblical Metaphors
It should likely come as little surprise that a great deal of the metaphorical language engaged by the author is filled with allusions to scripture and stories and events of the Bible, especially stories of events involving a pilgrimage of one sort or another. The reader who is familiar with Bible stories is certainly going to enjoy an advantage over the reader for whom these references will require consultation of footnotes or independent study:
“And thus, like Gideon's army, this small number was divided, as if the Lord thought these few too many for the great work He had to do.”
