In William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, what are two examples of biblical allusions?

William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation is the account of the English Puritan's exile from England, their life in what is now Holland, the voyage to America, and their first two decades in America from 1621 to 1647.  Although many writers in the 17th and early 18th centuries used parts of Bradford's manuscript in their own works, the first book wasn't published until 1841.

Your question points to a central element in the way Puritan's perceived the world--in simple terms, God is present in every aspect of life, no matter how seemingly insignificant.  As Bradford recounts the history of the Puritan experience, God infuses his text just as God infuses the Puritan life (note, the Puritan God is an Old Testament God): every incident or event affecting the Puritans is either the result of God's intervention or, in some cases, Satan's.  In fact, in the opening chapter, Bradford comments on the Puritan's experience in England:

. . . what wars and oppositions . . . Satan hath raised, maintained and continued against the Saints, from time to time, in one sort or another. (I:3)

When we consider divine intervention, we need to remember that Satan, God's adversary, is as present in the Puritan belief system as God is and far more dangerous.  Bradford's use of "Saints," which he uses throughout the narrative, refers to the Puritans as a new kind of biblical "Chosen People."

A wonderful example of Bradford's belief in God's intervention comes in Chapter IX, during the voyage to America, when he describes a young sailor--"a proud and very profane young man"--who constantly abuses the Puritans, especially those who were ill or seasick, and this young man rejoices in the possibility that he will be able to throw their dead bodies overboard.  God, however, has other plans for this man:

But it pleased God before they came half seas over, to smite this young man with a grievous disease, of which he died in a desperate manner, and so was himself the first that was thrown overboard. (IX:58)

Bradford tells us that the man's fellows "noted it to be the just  hand of God upon him," a detail that reinforces not only the intervention of God but also that the man's death has created a "teaching example" of God's power to the non-Puritan group.  More important, perhaps, this incident proves that the Puritans are under God's special protection.

God's intervention comes into play--this time in a positive sense-later in the voyage when a young sailor is swept into the sea during a storm.  In the Puritan belief system, God is omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (everywhere at once), and, in this instance, God saves a man:

. . . but it pleased God that he [the sailor] caught hold of the top-sail halyards . . . (though he was several fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope. . . . and his life saved. . . .  (IX:124)

In addition to linking God and events, Bradford alludes to the Bible in order to help his readers understand events that may seem abstract.  When the Puritans finally reach the shores of America, they are troubled by the lonely wilderness that confronts them, as well as what that wilderness might be hiding (read, Indians, whom the Puritans viewed as savages).  Bradford notes that

Neither could they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes. . . . (IX:125)

Bradford's allusion is to Deuteronomy 34:1-4; NIV 2011 in which Moses, at the end of guiding the tribes of Israel in the desert for 40 years, is allowed by God to ascend Mount Pisgah (actually, Mount Nebo) in order to see the Promised Land.  The allusion works to subtly remind the reader that the Puritan experience in America began with what seemed to be insurmountable difficulties and, at the same time, remind them that America is their Promised Land.

What are two examples of biblical allusions in History of Plymouth Plantation and their purpose?

In his History of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford objects to the behavior of a Mr. Robinson, who has dealings with the Native Americans that Bradford does not like, such as trading them guns. Bradford alludes to the apostle Paul when he condemns Robinson's religious beliefs as "French" and apart from the true faith. Bradford writes:

The Apostle Paule would have none to follow him in any thing but wherin he follows Christ, much less ought any Christian or church in ye world to doe it.

Bradford, as is typical of early Puritan settlers, was not seeking religious pluralism and toleration in colonizing North America: he was seeking freedom to worship in a different way from the Church of England. He was perfectly willing to impose religious conformity on all the people in his colony, believing his version of Christianity to be the same, true, "primitive" Christianity practiced by Paul. He says that he is enforcing purity just as Paul did and leans into Paul as a respected authority.

Second, Bradford opens his account of the year 1643 by noting the death of William Brewster. He mentions that Brewster survived many of the sufferings involved with establishing the new colony. Bradford then alludes to Thessalonians and Peter, both books of the Bible, writing,

It is a manifest token (saith ye Apostle, 2. Thes: 1. 5, 6, 7.) of ye righeous judgmente of God that you may be counted worthy of ye kingdome of God, for which ye allso suffer; seing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them yt trouble you: and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when ye Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels. 1. Pet. 4. 14.

Bradford states in the first reference that because Brewster suffered, as all the early colonists did, this has made him worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Bradford then cites Peter to show how Brewster has been rewarded for his faithfulness after death. He is now able to see the Lord Jesus with his angels. Brewster's story is part of the overarching narrative of suffering and redemption that reveals how Bradford understood the colonizing of the New World by the Puritans.

What are two examples of biblical allusions in History of Plymouth Plantation and their purpose?

In chapter three, Bradford alludes to the "Moyses & ye Isralits when they went out of Egipte [sic]" as a parallel to the Separatists leaving England, and then staying in Leyden (the Netherlands) in their quest to free themselves of the imposition of the English Anglican religion. The Separatists also believed themselves to be God's chosen people and were confident that they would eventually be delivered to a new Zion in the American colonies because He would oversee their safe passage and "free" them.

In chapter four, Bradford recalls that even after a decade in Leyden, the Separatists were not permanently safe from religious persecution, and he draws a biblical parallel in the words: "according to ye devine proverb, y t a wise man seeth ye plague when it cometh, & hideth him selfe, Pro. 22. 3 [sic]." The Dutch had ongoing conflict with Spain, and Bradford and his contemporaries knew that moving on to the American colonies was inevitable. Bradford implies that staying in Europe would mean fending off Catholicism and Anglicans (a "plague" to his people) for the foreseeable future and that God's will is for the Separatists to establish their Zion in the New World.