Throughout his history, Bradford's references to the Old Testament are far more frequent than his references to the New Testament ( about 70 percent to 30 percent). Account for the disparity. The first Pilgrims to come to America were the Puritans who were seeking land in the New World to escape religious prosecution in Europe. The basis of their beliefs was based on righteousness and sovereignty of God. Puritans were also more partial to the teachings of the Old Testament. Their views of the Old Testament affected their views of salvation. This can be seen in William Bradford’s writings when a young man was thrown over board the ship in a storm and manages to hold onto a topsail halyard, “but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyard.”(Bradford 72) The young man (Howland) later became a member of the church because he believed God intentionally helped him stay alive. The Puritans believed that they had to live strictly to the divine law of the Old Testament in their lives or they would be punished. The believed that their role in society was to be a chosen people called to create a New Jerusalem. They saw themselves as the Israelites struggling to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls in the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament, as they were trying to build a collapsed religion. Religion was an enormous part of their daily life and every occurrence that happened was thought to be brought about because of God. Nehemiah struggled to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and looked to God every step of the way, so did Bradford