For the future welfare of the settlement, it was essential that all the colonists-Leideners and Strangers alike-learn to live together as best they could. This nonjudgmental attitude did not come naturally to the Leideners. As Separatists, they considered themselves godly exceptions to the vast, unredeemed majority of humankind. A sense of exclusivity was fundamental to how they perceived themselves in the world. And yet there is evidence that Robinson's sense of his congregation as an autonomous enclave of righteousness had become considerably less rigid during his twelve years in Holland.
( Nathaniel Philbrick )
[ Mayflower: A Story of Courage, ]
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