sed indifferently as a granary for the public stores, and as a
fortress for the defense of the colony from any incursions of the
hostile tribes.

In this primitive chapel, Brewster was accustomed to lead the devotions
of the Pilgrims and their families, every 'Lord's Day' morning and
afternoon;[*] and also on any other occasion of their assembling
together. But as they were in continual expectation of the arrival of
the venerated John Robinson, to resume his office of regular pastor of
the flock, they had not taken any measures to gratify their ardent
desire of hearing the _'blessed sermon'_ three times en every Lord's
Day, from some holy man entirely devoted to the service of God. The
addresses occasionally delivered to the congregation by Brewster, or by
any other of the ruling elders who might preside at a meeting, were
called _'discourses'_ not sermons; and the interpretation of certain
portions of Scripture, which was sometimes undertaken by any member of
the congregation who felt equal to it, was called _'prophesying.'_
These were the only modes of spiritual instruction employed by the
first settlers, until they procured clergymen from England, or
appointed ministers from among their own elders; and these means were
highly valued by the settlers, who had abandoned home, and kindred, and
the comforts of civilized life, for no other motive than to secure to
themselves the privilege of worshipping God according to their own
ideas of what was good and profitable to their souls. The talents and
the elevated piety of William Brewster rendered him both a very
valuable teacher, and also, in the eyes of the Puritans, an efficient
substitute for their expected pastor.

[Footnote: The Puritans never used the names _Sunday_ or _Sabbath._
They objected is the first as savoring of Paganism and to the second as
pertaining to Judaism; and yet they enforced the observance of the
Christian's day of rest with almost Mosaic strictness.]

On the present mournful occasion he addressed the congregation, in a
very impressive manner, on the heavy loss they had sustained in the
death of their valued President; and exhorted them to remember and to
imitate his piety, his charity, and his exemplary patience and self-
denial, under the trying circumstances that had marked the period of
his brief government. These circumstances had become less painful, it
is true, since their friendly intercourse with the Wampanoges, and the
genial change in