2020 is about to leave us but before it does let's spend some time talking about one last anniversary date

and a very significant anniversary is occurring this year. It is the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's landing. Of course this

takes us back to Old England and back to King James the First. King James the

first was very much against religious dissenters who would be against the Church of

England. He demanded of his subjects unity. And of course we have the Puritans who were not willing

to go along with King James, but within that umbrella group of the Puritans,

there was another group called the Separatists.

They advocated a total and full separation from the Church of England.

They saw no way to reform the church from within,

so they simply withdrew and were called separatists. It was time to start afresh, they argued.

Well, King James did not want them in his land,

and eventually these separatists left England

and made their way to Holland and settled at Leiden.

They were there for about 10 years,

but they soon realized that this was not a good solution.

It was only a temporary solution.

They were concerned that they would lose their English culture

in their English heritage. They might even lose their English culture in their English heritage.

They might even lose their English language.

They could see that that upcoming generation and generations to come might simply assimilate

into the Dutch culture.

So they petitioned the king for a settlement

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