When the pilgrims landed in Plymouth on December 26, 1620, they also arrived under the responsibility to those who had invested in their new world venture – Thomas Weston and a group of London merchants and bankers called the Merchant Adventures. Originally hoping to land in Virginia with the plan to establish plantations from which trade could be established, the change of plans to settle further north in Plymouth, Massachusetts due to prevailing winds not only changed their plans but challenged their faith in God.  It was during this first winter than fifty-three of the 102 souls that left England in September of 1620 perished. Of those who survived, many were virtually incapacitated and unable to work because of the famine resulting in starvation and disease.

On 9 November 1621, a ship — the Fortune arrived in Cape Cod harbor with Robert Cushman — a representative of the Merchant Adventurers and a well-respected deacon. The Plymouth colonists were downcast. Their beloved Governor John Carver had died the previous spring. The fall harvest had not been good, and the Fortune brought them only meager supplies. With 35 new mouths to feed, the winter looked bleak. The compelling task facing Robert Cushman was to secure the colonists’ signatures to the 10 articles of agreement that were not signed the year before. The continued support of the Merchant Adventurers depended on it. On December 9, 1621, the first anniversary Sunday of the Pilgrim landing in Plymouth, Robert Cushman gave a sermon are quintessential statements of Pilgrim belief. Cushman’s sermon entitled “The Sin and Danger of Self-Love.”  It is a message we need to hear again today.

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