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               [Illustration: G. L. Brown. S. Schoff.

       LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS AT PLIMOUTH 11th. DEC. 1620.]




                                THE
                           SIN AND DANGER
                                 OF
                             SELF-LOVE
                             DESCRIBED,
                                IN A
                               SERMON
                              PREACHED
                 AT PLYMOUTH, IN NEW-ENGLAND, 1621,
                                 BY
                          ROBERT CUSHMAN.

                    WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.

                              BOSTON:
                     PUBLISHED BY CHARLES EWER,
        AND FOR SALE BY CROCKER & BREWSTER, SAMUEL G. DRAKE,
              LITTLE & BROWN, JAMES MUNROE & COMPANY,
                BENJAMIN PERKINS, AND JAMES LORING.

                           DEC. 22, 1846.




                        BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH,
                                 BY
                          HON. JOHN DAVIS,

  LATE JUDGE OF THE U. S. DISTRICT COURT, MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT.


ROBERT CUSHMAN, the author of the preceding discourse, was one
of the most distinguished characters among that collection of
worthies, who quitted England on account of their religious
difficulties, and settled with Mr. _John Robinson_, their pastor
in the city of Leyden, in Holland, in the year 1609. Proposing
afterwards a removal to America in the year 1617, Mr. Cushman and
Mr. John Carver, (afterwards the first Governor of New-Plymouth)
were sent over to England, as their agents, to agree with the
Virginia Company for a settlement, and to obtain, if possible, a
grant of liberty of conscience in their intended plantation, from
King James.

From this negotiation though conducted on their part with great
discretion and ability, they returned unsuccessful to Leyden, in
May 1618. They met with no difficulty indeed with the Virginia
Company, who were willing to grant them sufficient territory, with
as ample privileges as they could bestow: but the pragmatical
James, the pretended vicegerent of the Deity, refused to grant
them that liberty in religious matters, which was their principal
object--when this persevering people finally determined to
transport themselves to this country, relying upon James's promise
that he would _connive_ at, though not expressly _tolerate_ them;
Mr. Cushman was again dispatched to England in February 1619, with
Mr. William Bradford, another of the company, to agree with the
Virginia Company on the terms of their removal and settlement.

After much difficulty and delay, they obtained a patent in the
September following, upon which part of the Church at Leyden, with
their Elder Mr. Brewster determined to transport themselves as
soon as possible. Mr. Cushman was one of the agents in England to
procure money, shipping and other necessaries for the voyage, and
finally embarked with them at South-Hampton, August 5th, 1620.
But the ship, in which he sailed, proving leaky, and after twice
putting into port to repair, being finally condemned as unfit to
perform the voyage, Mr. Cushman with his family, and a number of
others were obliged, though reluctantly, to relinquish the voyage
for that time and returned to London. Those in the other ship
proceeded and made their final settlement at Plymouth in December
1620, where Mr. Cushman also arrived in the ship Fortune from
London, on the 10th of November 1621, but took passage in the
same ship back again, pursuant to the directions of the merchant
adventurers in London, (who fitted out the ship and by whose
assistance the first settlers were transported) to give them an
account of the plantation.[A] He sailed from Plymouth December
13th, 1621, and arriving on the coast of England, the ship, with
a cargo, valued at 500l. sterling, was taken by the French. Mr.
Cushman, with the crew, was carried into France; but arrived in
London in the February following. During his short residence at
Plymouth, though a mere lay character, he delivered the preceding
discourse, which was printed in London in 1622, and afterwards
re-printed in Boston in 1724. And though his name is not prefixed
to either edition, yet unquestionable tradition renders it certain
that he was the author, and even transmits to us a knowledge of
the spot where it was delivered. Mr. Cushman, though he constantly
corresponded with his friends here, and was very serviceable to
their interest in London--never returned to the country again, but
while preparing for it was removed to a better, in the year 1626.
The news of his death and Mr. Robinson's arrived at the same time
at Plymouth, by Captain Standish, and seem to have been equally
lamented by their bereaved and suffering friends there. He was
zealously engaged in the prosperity of the plantation, a man of
activity and enterprise, well versed in business, respectable in
point of intellectual abilities, well accomplished in scriptural
knowledge, an unaffected professor, and a steady sincere practiser
of religion. The design of the following discourse was to keep up
the noble flow of public spirit, which perhaps began then to abate,
but which was necessary for their preservation and security.

[Footnote A: It seems to be a mistaken idea that Mr. Cushman
started in the smaller vessel, which put back on account of its
proving leaky. This mistake has arisen from the fact that Mr. C.
was left in England in 1620, and did not come over in the Mayflower
with the first emigrants. The fact is that Mr. Cushman procured
'the larger vessel,' the Mayflower, and its pilot at London and
left in that vessel; but in consequence of the unsoundness of the
smaller vessel, the Speedwell, it became necessary that part of
the pilgrims should be left behind, and consequently Mr. Cushman,
whom Gov. Bradford called 'the right hand with the adventurers,'
and who 'for divers years had managed all our business with them to
our great advantage,' was selected as one who would be best able
to keep together that portion of the flock left behind. Although
Mr. Cushman did not come over in the Mayflower, yet such was the
respect for him among those who did come, that his name is placed
at the head of those who came in that ship, in the allotment of
land at a time when he was not in New England.
                                                           N. B. S.]

After the death of Mr. Cushman, his family came over to New
England. His son, Thomas Cushman, succeeded Mr. Brewster, as ruling
elder of the Church of Plymouth, being ordained to that office
in 1649. He was a man of good gifts, and frequently assisted in
carrying on the public worship, preaching, and catechising. For it
was one professed principle of that Church, in its first formation,
'to choose none for governing Elders, but such as were able to
teach.' He continued in this office till he died, in 1691, in the
eighty-fourth year of his age.




                      LETTER FROM JUDGE DAVIS.


                                           BOSTON, DEC. 21, 1846.

DEAR SIR:

Having communicated to me your intention