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THE PURITAN
IN
ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
BY


EZRA HOYT BYINGTON, D.D.
MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CHURCH HISTORY.
MBMitb an SJtratuction
BY
ALEXANDER       McKENZIE, D.D.
MINISTER OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE.


BOSTON:
ROBERTS BROTHERS.
I896.




cc)0
Copyright, 1896,
BY EZRA H. BYINGTON.
~niberift Wress:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
t5'i 
@Q0 rv Nc:R
' 3   j




Preface.


T     HIS book has had a natural growth. It had its
origin in a paper, which I read before one of our
historical societies, on WILLIAM PYNCHON, a Puritan,
who came to New England in I630, and who published
a book, some twenty years later, which was much talked
about. In preparing that paper I found it necessary
to read the works of Mr. Pynchon, and the replies to
them. The discussions relating to those volumes were
found to be connected with the progress of opinion
in England, and with the history of the Westminster
Assembly. It was only by tracing the history to its
sources, that I was able to gain an adequate knowledge of the opinions and the influence of that leading
Puritan.
As other historical papers have been called for, from
time to time, I have followed the same topical method,
because I found it the most fruitful method in the study
of New England history. One topic led naturally to
another, so that I have prepared papers on The Origin
and Development of Puritanism in England; The Two
Earliest Colonies in New England; The Social and
Family Life of the Pilgrims and Puritans; Their Min



Viii


PREFACE.


isters and Modes of Worship; Their Religious Opinions; and The Working of the Union of Church and
State, in their Second Century. The fathers of New
England have left a large number of journals, and narratives, and histories, with many theological treatises,
and discussions, and pamphlets. The literature which
has come down from the English Puritans is also abundant. So that there is no lack of fresh materials for
the historical student. No other pioneers, of whom I
have any knowledge, have left Materials so rich and
abundant, for those who would study their history.
One needs to get their point of view, if he would do
justice to them, and he can get their point of view
only through their writings.
Two of these papers were published, some time ago,
in the "'Andover Review."  Others have been read before a number of historical societies, and before students, in colleges and seminaries. They have all been
rewritten, and reconstructed, so as to bring them into
connection with each other.  New topics have been
introduced, with the purpose of covering, so far as
practicable, within our limits of space, the whole field
of the history of our forefathers.
I am under great obligations to a number of recent
authors, who have cast new light upon the history of
the:uritans. John Richard Green, in his "History of
the English People," has shown the origin and the meaning of Puritanism, better than any of the earlier English
histor ans. Douglass Campbell, in his two volumes on
"'; The Puritan in Holland, England, and America," has




PREFACE.


ix


proved that the influences which moulded the Puritan
party came, not only from England, but from the Dutch
Republic, and from the other Protestant nations on the
continent. One needs to correct some of his extreme
statements by referring to Macaulay, and especially to
Motley; but, rightly used, his work is of great value.
Dr. Henry M. Dexter, in his monumental work on
" Congregationalism as seen in its Literature," has uncovered the abundant materials for the history of our
fathers, and has shown us how to use them. Andnot to mention other recent volumes of great value —
Professor Williston Walker, in his book on " The Creeds
and Platforms of Congregationalism," has made a rich
and original contribution to our history.
This book, in its present form, is offered to the
public, in the hope that it may contribute toward a
fuller knowledge and appreciation of our forefathers,
who, under the limitations of a pioneer life, in the seventeenth century, laid the foundations of this free and
progressive nation.
EZRA HOYT BYINGTON.


FRANKLIN STREET, NEWTON, MASS.
March 31, I896.




I




Contents.
PAGE
I. LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO.....     XXV
II. SOME IMPORTANT DATES IN PURITAN HISTORY.         XXXi
III. INTRODUCTION, BY ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D.D.        XXXv
I.
THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.
Estimate of the Puritans by Macaulay; Hallam; Hume; Carlyle.Numbers who came to New England.
-    I. Our forefathers to be understood by the history of
the struggle in England. -Beginnings of the Reformation with Wyclif. -Translation of the Bible.
-Lollards..........                         5
II. English reformation under Henry VIII.; political,
- Growth of principles of the Reformation..  9
III. Prayer Book of Edward VI.-Queen Mary's persecution..............  i
IV. Elizabeth: a Protestant Queen; her Moderation;
acts of Supremacy, and of Uniformity. -Rise of
the Puritan Party; grounds of dissent, not doctrines but forms and vestments.......        12
V. Mildness of the Church in the early years of the
Queen.- Court of High Commission. - The religio purissima.- The London ministers silenced;
severe penalties. - Patience of the Puritans. -
Whitgift becomes Archbishop, I583....  6
VI. Success of the Archbishop.- Censorship of the
press. -The Bible read by the People.. 20




Xll


CONTENTS.


PAGE
VII. The Separatists. -Robert Browne; his principles.
- Persecution of the Brownists. - Martyrdom of
Barrowe; Greenwood; Penry....... 2I
VIII. The Martin-Mar-prelate tracts; humor. - Influence
of the tracts; replies to them...... 28,-/IX. Growth of Puritanism; causes of growth.-Weakness of Protestantism in Europe; its perils at that
time................     30
X. James the First. -Millenary petition.- Hampton
Court Conference; rejection by the King and the
Prelates.......35..-^XI. The great age of Puritanism; political elements in
the contest.............-L
XII.  Why it became political.- Arbitrary claims of the
King advocated by the Prelates. - Character of
James. - New Claims for Episcopacy.- Laud.Calvinism. - Love of Freedom......            39
XIII. First Parliament.-The King levies customs and
taxes. - The Puritans have a majority of the Commons; demand redress of grievances: Pym; Eliot;
Wentworth; Coke; Archbishop Abbott.... 45
XIV. The Pilgrim    Fathers.-The Thirty Years War.The French alliance..... 49
XV. The Pilgrims from North England, Gainsborough,
and Scrooby.- The old Manor House. - Persecution of the people; their condition and spirit;
escape to Holland; Amsterdam; Leyden; their
employments; reasons for another removal; voyage
to Plymouth...........                       51
XVI.   Charles the First. - Laud. - Tendencies toward
Rome. - Parliament.- No grants of money without redress of grievances. - Petition of Right. -
Puritans stand for the people. - Tyranny of
Charles. - Laud becomes Archbishop. - Observance of Sunday. - Milton's Lycidas.... 58
XVII. Causes of the so-called narrowness of the Puritans. 68
XVIII. The Puritan migration; despair of good government
at home; early settlements in New England. 69




CONTENtTS.


Xiil


PAGE
XIX. The Political struggle in England. - Ship-money. -
Hampden's great trial.- The Scottish War. - The
Short Parliament. - Long Parliament. - Wentworth and Laud in the Tower. - Death of Pym
and Hampden; mistakes of their successors;
failure of the effort to abolish the Monarchy and
the Established Church; reasons for the failure. 72,, — XX. Final estimate of the Puritans; their limitations.The Age. - The Puritans compared with the
Dutch; their merits; defenders of liberty; their
culture and manners: Lord Essex; John Milton;
Hutchinson; Winthrop. - The Puritan ministers.
Puritan homes. -Settlement of Massachusetts
in the best age of Puritanism....... 76
II.
THE PILGRIM      AND THE      PURI-TAN: WHICH?
The Province of Massachusetts of I691 included two colonies, -the old
Colony of Plymouth and that of Massachusetts Bay. - Which had most
to do in moulding the people of New England?
I. Earlier historians of New England gave the precedence
to the Puritans; later writers to the Pilgrims...85
II. The Old Colony founded I620; the Puritan Colony
I628...............     86
III. The Pilgrims Separatists; Puritans Non-Conformists.
- Winthrop's greeting to the Church of England. 87
IV. The Pilgrims from humble stations in life; their occupations. -The Puritans from upper middle classes  89
V. The Pilgrims were already exiles, and came to find a
place of refuge.-The Puritans came to found a
NEW   England, where they could enjoy liberty in
Church and State........... 91
VI. The Pilgrims first on the ground; had already framed
their institutions; the democratic state; the free
Church. - The Puritans were guided by their example. - Dr. Samuel Fuller...94




xiv


CONTENTS.


PAGE
VII. The Puritans moulded the social institutions of the
Colonies. -- Influence of Holland. - Aristocracy in
Massachusetts. - Union of Church and State.. 98
VIII. The Puritans richer and more numerous; and more
enterprising; vigorous growth of their Colony.. 101
IX. The Puritans the intellectual leaders; their Ministers
compared with those of the Pilgrims.- Harvard
College. - The literature from the Puritans... 03
X. The Puritans the leaders in New England Confederacy. -- The Cambridge Platform.... I07
XI. In respect to Legislation, both Colonies made laws too
severe; both used cruel punishments; both punished
Quakers and Witches. -The Pilgrims were more
merciful and just in the execution of the laws.. log
XII. Conclusion.-The Pilgrims were gentle; tolerant;
merciful. -The Puritans more vigorous; enterprising; powerful............ I 2
III.
THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.
The Puritan ministers the best representatives of the Puritans.
I. In sympathy with the Puritan spirit; had been moulded
by persecution; their courage; their opportunities. 1I8
II. They were men of education and culture; graduates
from the great universities; had been ministers in
the Church of England; their knowledge of the
classics; of literature; of the original languages of
the Bible; their large libraries....... 120
III. Their dignity of character and their manners; wore the
gown and bands in the pulpit; their general refinement; Mrs. Stowe's sketch of their manners: Parson Lothrop; Dr. Samuel Hopkins..... 25
IV. Support of the ministers voluntary in Boston; a tax
by authority of law elsewhere; salary and " settlement;" amount of the salary; how collected; the




CONTENTS.


XV


PAGE
ministers farmers; President Edwards' cows; ministerial hospitality in the olden time...  130
V. Dwellings of the ministers; furniture; dress; food;
log-houses; the old well-sweep; thatched roofs;
house of Mr. Whitfield in Guilford, Conn.; pewter
platters; no forks; not much butcher's meat; fish
and game; rye and Indian bread; hasty pudding;
little tea, and no coffee; beer and cider; wine and
spirits; no drunkenness......... 135
VI. The early meeting-house the central buildin g in the
town: the pulpit; sounding-board, benches, gallery;
log meeting-houses; frame buildings; pointed roof
with belfry in the centre; Hingham meeting-house
now in use; origin of the Puritan church architecture; origin of "pews;" "dignifying" the seats;
third style of New England meeting-house; Old
South Church in Boston; meeting-houses never
lighted except by the sun; objections to candles as
tending to Popery; no means of warming in winter. 139
VII. Methods of public worship: laws required attendance;
smoking within two miles forbidden; Saturday night;
morning service at nine o'clock; summoned by beating of the drum; the pulpit with the two ministers; seats for ruling elders and deacons; order of
services; requests for prayer; opening prayer; exposition of the chapter; singing by the congregation; the tunes used; hymn-books; no instrumental
music; style of church music. - Music taught in
Harvard College. - Decline of music in the second
and third generations. - The influence of the ministers in the revival of music. - Singing by "note or
by rote." - Style of preaching. - Length of sermons; the hour-glass; subjects. - Origin of written
sermons.- The administration of the Sacraments.
- The contributions. - Church business, and dismission " before the setting of the sun ".... 47
VIII. Mid-week lectures; habits of the people in attending
them. —Lectures of John Cotton and John Norton,




CONTENTS.


PAGE
"Milk for Babes." -Religious instruction of the
young. - Visiting the sick. - Pastoral work... I56
IX. The churches which they founded: the first church at
Plymouth; at Salem; at Boston. -Officers; ordination; pastor and teacher; ruling elders; deacons. -
A minister limited to his parish....... 158
X. Mistakes of the Puritan ministers. -Readiness to correct errors. - Changes they adopted in the reading
of the Scriptures; in their religious services; changes
in respect to funerals; changes in the celebration of
marriage; changes from the use of numerals for the
months and days of the week. -Fast Day and
Thanksgiving for Good-Friday and Christmas.. 162
XI. Their progressive spirit. -The suffrage limited by a
religious test. - Connecticut Colony without such
a test. - The test removed in Massachusetts.No religious test at Plymouth. - Case of Roger
Williams: his arrival in the Colony; preaching in
Salem; in Plymouth; in Salem again; denounces
the churches, and the charter; banished by the General Court; real reasons for the sentence; the sentence revoked.....              1. 68
XII. The persecution of the Quakers a great blot upon the
good name of the Puritans; less severe than in England; the good sense of the people arrested it in the
course of a few years.- The Quakers punished for
disorder, not for their religion. -The delusion in
respect to witchcraft thirty years later, the worst
thing in their history, but soon over. - Origin of the
delusioinin New England; in Old England; in Germany. - Part which ministers had in it; the ministers the first to discover the sin and folly of putting
to death those suspected of witchcraft..    174
XIII. The government of their churches: independent at
first; the need of fellowship; Synod at Cambridge;
Cambridge Platform; Plan for Ecclesiastical Councils; their powers; influence of the Platform... 77
XIV. The right of private judgment; the spirit of inquiry;
independence of the Puritans....... I8




CONTENTS.


xvii


IV.
WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.
The leaders among the Puritans: Winthrop, Dudley, Endicott, Sir
Henry Vane, Governor Bradford, Brewster, Winslow.
PAGE
I. William Pynchon; less known than the others. - The
Pynchon family came to England with William the
Conqueror; a wealthy and honorable family for six
hundred years. - W. Pynchon came to Massachusetts with Governor Winthrop in I630; member of the
Board of Assistants of the Colony for twenty years;
a man of business; a fur-trader of great wealth;
founder of the first church in Roxbury....  86
II. Settlement of Springfield: reasons for it; the pioneers
go  in  I635..............  I88
III. Pynchon and his company.- Agawam. - Plan of the
village. - A minister secured. - Settlements in
Connecticut............. 9
IV. A   new  government: Pynchon the magistrate. -
Records of his court. - A case of witchcraft. —
Municipal regulations.- Dealings with the Indians.
-The Bay Path............95
V. Mr. Pynchon's book: its subject; protest of the General Court; the book burned; its author summoned
to retract; Mr. Norton appointed to reply to the
book; causes of the commotion.....     200
VI. Analysis of the argument; remarkable learning which
it displays; discussion of Hebrew and Greek texts;
quotes Augustine to prove that Christ died a voluntary death.......... 204
VII. John Norton of Ipswich; his learned reply. -Mr.
Pynchon's answer to the Court.......          208
VIII. Pynchon is placed under bonds; retires from Massachusetts and settles in England; defended by Sir
Henry Vane............ 210
IX. Mr. Pynchon in England: list of his theological
works; incidents of his closing years; death in
Wraysbury near Windsor Castle; result of his theological discussions in New England..... 214
b




XViii


CONTENTS.


V.
THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.
Home the creation of the Puritan; reasons why.
PAGE
I. Illustrations of Puritan life: Mrs. Hutchinson's life
of her husband, Col. Hutchinson; his delicate physical organization; love of nature, of music, and fine
art; his conjugal affection; his love of the military
art; services during the Civil War; imprisonment
and death. -John Milton: tract on Education; love
of beauty; the model Puritan. - A Puritan Mother 22
II. Letters of Governor Winthrop and his wife; his personal history; Margaret Tyndal, his third wife; letter
from his father; Winthrop's letters; replies from
Mrs. Winthrop; voyage of Mrs. Winthrop to New
England; reception by the people; spirit of all these
letters............... 226
III. Numerous Journals of the Pilgrims; and Puritans. 232
IV. Characteristics of their life; influences from the seventeenth century; belief in Witchcraft; cruel punishments in England........ 233
V. The Colony at Plymouth: they were pioneers; rough
life in the new country; struggles fora bare subsistence; danger from the Indians....... 236
VI. The Massachusetts Colony; sufferings of the early
years. -Rhode Island.- Connecticut. -New Hampshire.-The first wind-mill in Boston. -The first
water-mill. - Modes of travelling..... 239
VII. The Courtship of Miles Standish, a picture of life at
Plymouth in 1624; Priscilla Mullins; Standish; John
Alden; the marriage; the company gathered at the
marriage............        242
VIII. Common schools for the people at Plymouth; Massachusetts; Connecticut.- Salaries of the first school\masters..........247
IX. Legislation as affecting social life.- The Blue Laws,
invention of Samuel Peters; sumptuary laws; the




CONTENTS.


xix


PAGE
laws milder than those in New York, or Virginia, or
England; number of capital crimes; laws against
Quakers; soon repealed; juries refuse to convict
of witchcraft after I692.- Body of Liberties.Tendency of Legislation to Democracy...     25
X. Meaning of the prefix Mr., Goodman, Goodwife. - A
thief lost the title of Mr......... 256
XI. Dress in the Colonial Period. -The Simple Cobbler
of Agawam complains of extravagance. - Laws to
prohibit extravagance.- Inventory of the clothing
of Elder Brewster..........                  258
XII. Domestic furniture. - Inventory of Governor Winthrop's furniture.- That of Martha Coytmore..260
J   XIII. Amusements.-The Puritans enjoyed their religion.
- Loved the new country. - A hearty social life.
The first Harvest Festival at Plymouth; not religious.
-Training days.-Judge Sewall's dinner parties.
-" Mixt dances and unlawful gaming" of the
young people..........262
XIV. Intercourse with the French Catholics. -La Tour and
the learned Friar; entertained by Governor Winthrop - The Sunday dinner at the Governor's.The Jesuit Missionary, Druillette. - His visit to
the Apostle Eliot; they discourse concerning their
work for the Indians. - Governor Bradford provides a "fish dinner" on Friday for the Jesuit. 265
XV. Results of Puritan training upon the eighth generation. - English families decay after a few generations.- The Puritan type persistent. - Ancestors
of Ralph Waldo Emerson; of President Adams;
Hawthorne; Longfellow; James Russell Lowell.Members of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society who have died within three years, a majority
of Puritan descent, such as Phillips Brooks, Francis
Parkman, Judge Aldrich, Leverett Saltonstall, Dr.
A. P. Peabody, Dr. A. A. Miner, and Robert C.
W inthrop...........27




XX


CONTENTS.


VI.
RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS OF NEW
ENGLAND.
PAGE
I. The Puritans first of all, Protestants; appealed to the
Bible; justification by faith; sanctity of the Lord'sday. --- Sermons of a theological character..  282
II. Reformed branch of the Protestant Church; Calvinists; Exalted the Sovereignty of God.... 284
III. Their interest at first in Church polity. - Why?.. 285
IV. Later, t'eir interest in doctrine. -The first Catechisms,
— Strongly Calvinistic. - Candidates for Church
membership required to state their views in theology.
- Church Creeds.-The first Synod, I637.- Mr.
Pynchon's book.........       286
V. The Cambridge Synod; recommends the Westminster
Confession.............. 291
VI. Thomas Shepard: life in England; escapes in disguise
to America; pastor at Cambridge. - He teaches the
decrees: freedom of the will; the fall; imputation;
limited atonement; faith the gift of God.... 292
VII. John Norton: "The Orthodox Evangelist;" decrees;
freedom; unity of the race: grace of God; parable
of the Prodigal Son; saving faith; justification. -
Thomas Hooker: the great preacher, and practical
theologian; a free will; inability to good; power of
the Holy Spirit; motives to repentance.... 295
VIII. Willard's Body of Divinity: election and reprobation;
all mankind sinned in Adam; the Person of Christ;
satisfaction of God's justice; inability to good; passive regeneration; the work of the Spirit.... 302
IX. The Half-Way Covenant; Synod of I662 accepts the
new departure; opposition to the decision; effect
upon the churches. - Decline of piety. - Trust in
ordinances and forms. - Spread of Arminianism. 305
X. The Reforming Synod: its statements in respect to
the decline of morality and religion; appeal for a
reformation; seconded by the General Court.. 314




CONTENTS.


xxi


PAGE
XI. Adoption of the Savoy Confession; its present authority.- Council of I865....... 319
XII. Practical results of the older Calvinism; a remarkable
type of religious character. - A democratic tendency.
-Transmission of a vigorous type of manhood.. 321
XIII. Other results of High Calvinism: small number in the
Churches; comparison with the present time.. 324
XIV. Declension of the Puritan Churches.- Statements of
Thomas Prince; Whitefield; the younger Edwards.
-Spread of Arminianism......326
XV. The Edwardean theology: a new style of preaching;
revivals of religion; missionary enterprises.-The
New England theology.........  330
VII.
THE CASE OF REVEREND ROBERT BRECK, OF
SPRINGFIELD.
The beginning of the second century in New England a period of transition. The study of a single life of a past generation shows us the manners, opinions, and institutions of the people.
I. Springfield one hundred and sixty years ago. - Prosperity of the Connecticut Valley... 337
II. Church and State.- Four qualities required of ministers. - Methods of calling and settling pastors.. 338
III. Robert Breck in early life; in college; as a candidate
for the ministry; called to Springfield; opposition of
the neighboring pastors........342
IV. Replies to the charges. -Asks to be judged by his
sermons, not by reports. - Declines the call... 345
V. The people not satisfied.-The ministers advise
against renewing the call. - Mr. Breck returns, and
attempts to adjust the difficulties..... 348
VI. The Church renews the call. - Mr. Breck goes to Boston for advice; is examined and approved in Boston;
and accepts the call......... 350




xxii


CONTENTS.


PAGE
VII. A Council called for his ordination. -Doubts about
its legality. -Judges summoned to Springfield.. 352
VIII. Meeting of the Council; a remonstrance presented;
evidence in support of the remonstrance; the proceedings interrupted by the arrest of Mr. Breck,
who was taken from the Council to the Court House;
he is sent into Connecticut, gives bail, and returns
to Springfield; the Council completes the examination and adjourns......... 356
IX. The case brought before the General Court, which
decides that the Council is a legal Council. —The
Council again meets and ordains Mr. Breck... 362
X. Efforts to secure judicial action to remove Mr. Breck. 364
XI. Work of the young minister; growth of the Church;
forty-eight years of usefulness; testimony of his
associates...........,..                      366
VIII.
THE RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND.
BRUNSWICK, MAINE.
Northern New England settled in the eighteenth century. - Difference
between the older and the newer churches.
I. First preaching in Brunswick: the first meeting-house;
its environment............ 373
II. The first ministers: Rutherford; Dunlap; Miller.. 374
III. Records of the Parish......... 375
IV. The connection of Church and State; reasons why it
was unfavorable to the Church...      376
V. Differences among the people in regard to Church government: Congregationalism vs. Presbyterianism. -
The east end vs. the west end of the town. -The
Lord's Supper; how administered. - Baptism.The style of church music........ 378




CONTENTS.                       xxiii
PAGE
VI. Habits of the people: all went on foot to the church;
the saddle and pillion; no stoves in the meetinghouses; tunes used in the choir; hymn-books.. 380
VII.  The ministers of those days. - Samuel Eaton. - Genuine manhood. - Use of liquors....... 381
VIII.   Religious teachings: instruction of children.... 383
IX.  Methods of pastoral visiting. —Journal of an old
minister.- Revivals of religion.... 384
X.   Permanent qualities of their religious life. - Relation
of that century to the nineteenth....... 386
INDEX...............      391




I
I




List of Authorities Referred to.
ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS. Three Episodes of Massachusetts
History. Boston. I892.
AINSWORTH, H. The Book of Psalmes, Englished, both in prose
and metre. Amsterdam. I612.
AMONG MY BOOKS. James Russell Lowell.
BACON, LEONARD. Genesis of the New England Churches. 1874.
BACON, LORD, Works. Montagu Edn.
BANCROFT'S History of the United States. 6 vols. 1876.
BAY PSALM BOOK. Cambridge. I640.
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA. 51 vols. 1844-1895.
BLISS, GEORGE. Historical Address. Springfield. 1828.
BLUE LAWS: False and True. J. Hammond Trumbull. 1876.
BOSTON NEWS LETTER, published from. 1704.
BOSTON, Memorial History of. 4 vols.
BOWDOIN COLLEGE, History of.
BRADFORD, W. History of Plymouth Plantation. Printed from
the Original Manuscript, for the Mass. Hist. Soc. I856.
BROWNE, ROBERT. A treatise of reformation without Tarrying
for Anie. 1582.
BRUNSWICK, History of. 1878.
CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE. i648.
CAMPBELL, DOUGLASS. The Puritan in Holland, England, and
America. 2 vols. 1892.
CANNE, J. Necessitie of Separation from the Church of England.
I634.
CONGREGATIONAL QUARTERLY. 20 vols. I859-1878. Boston.
CONNECTICUT VALLEY, History of the.




xxvi   LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO.


CONTEMPORARY REVIEW. 1892.
COTTON, JOHN. The Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and Power
thereof; according to the Word of God. London. I644.
COTTON, JOHN. The Way of the Churches of New England.
I645.
COTTON, JOHN. Milk for Babes.
COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH. Boston. I859.
CUMBERLAND ASSOCIATION. Centennial Pamphlet. I891.
DEXTER, HENRY M. Congregationalism as seen in its Literature.
I880.
DEXTER, HENRY M. As to Roger Williams. I876.
DEXTER, MORTON. The Story of the Pilgrims. 1894.
DUNNING, A. E. Congregationalists in America. I894.
DWIGHT, SERENO E. Life of President Edwards.
EDWARDS, JONATHAN, President.  Inquiry Concerning Qualifications for Full Communion.
EDWARDS, JONATHAN, D.D. Works.
ELECTION SERMONS. Massachusetts. 1668-I669-1670.
ELLIS. The Puritan Age and Rule.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 9th ed. Articles on Education;
Quakers; and Witchcraft.
FEL., J. B. The Ecclesiastical History of New England. 2vols.
Boston. I862.
FISHER, GEORGE E., Professor. History of the Christian Church.
1887.
FISKE, JOHN. The Beginnings of New England. I890.
FOXE, JOHN. The Book of Martyrs.
FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY. History of England from the Fall of
Cardinal Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada. I2
vols.
GARDINER, S. R. History of England from the Accession of
James I.
GENERAL HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT. Rev. Samuel Peters. 1781.
GENERAL LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS.
GOODWIN, JOHN A. The Pilgrim Republic. I888.
GREEN, J. R. History of the English People. 4 vols. I878.
GREENLEAF'S, Ecclesiastical Sketches.
HALLAM, HENRY. The Constitutional History of England.
HARLOW'S Address at Cape Elizabeth.




LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO.


xxvii


HEREDITARY GENIUS. Galton.
HILL, HAMILTON A. History of the Old South Church. Boston.
2 vols. I888.
HOLLAND, Dr. J. G. History of Western Massachusetts.
HOOD'S Music in New England.
HOOKER, THOMAS. The Soul's Vocation. I638.
HOOKER, THOMAS. A Survey of the Summe of Church-Discipline. I648.
HOOKER, THOMAS. The Saints Dignitie and Dutie.
HOOKER, THOMAS. The Unbeliever's Preparing for Christ.
HOOKER, RICHARD. The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity.
JEFFERSON'S Notes in Virginia.
JOHNSON, EDWARD. The Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's
Saviour. I654.
LECHFORD, T. Plain Dealing. I642.
LIFE OF COLONEL HUTCHINSON. By his widow.
LONGFELLOW, H. W., Life and Letters of. 2 vols.
MACAULAY, T. B. History of England. 4 vols.
MARTIN-MAR-PRELATE; Tracts. I588-89.
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S COLLECTIONS.
MATHER, RICHARD. Church Government and Church Covenant
discussed. I643.
MATHER, COTTON. Ratio Disciplinae Fratrum Nov-Anglorum.
I726.
MATHER, COTTON. Magnalia Christi Americana. I702.
MILTON, JOHN. Lycidas.
MINISTER'S WOOING. Mrs. H. B. Stowe.
MORRIS, HENRY. History of the First Church in Springfield,
Mass. 1875.
MORTON, NATHANIEL. New England Memorial.
MOTLEY. United Netherlands.
MOURT'S Relation; or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth.
I865. Edited by Dr. H. M. Dexter.
NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINISTERS OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY. Answer to the same. Letter to the Author
of the Answer. Three Pamphlets. Boston. I736-37.
NATIONAL CONGREGATIONAL COUNCIL, Debates and Proceedings. 1865.
NEAL, S. D. History of the Puritans. 4 vols. I732.




XXviii  LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO.


NEW ENGLAND'S FIRST FRUITS. London. 1643.
NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER.
NEW ENGLAND PRIMMER.
NORTON, JOHN. A Discussion of the Sufferings of Christ. Reply
to Pynchon. 1653.
NORTON, JOHN. The Orthodox Evangelist. 1654.
OLD TOWN FOLKS. Mrs. H. B. Stowe.
PALFREY, J. G. History of New England. 5 vols.
PORTER, NOAH. New England Meeting-Houses. Article in New
Englander. I883.
PRINCE, THOMAS. A Chronological History of New England in
the Form of Annals. 1736.
PROVINCE LAWS. Massachusetts. Vols. I.-III.
PURITANISM IN THE OLD WORLD AND IN THE NEW. Rev. J.
Gregory. New York. I896.
PYNCHON, WILLIAM. The Meritorious Price of our Redemption,
Justification, etc. I650.
PYNCHON, WILLIAM.    Manuscript Records.  Springfield City
Library.
RAVENSCROFT. The Psalter. 1621.
RECORDS OF THE CHURCH IN ROXBURY. Record Commissioners
report. Roxbury. 6. i88o.
RECORDS OF THE COLONY OF CONNECTICUT.
RECORDS OF THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
RECORDS OF THE COLONY OF PLYMOUTH.
RESULTS OF THE SYNODS OF 1662 AND 1669, in the Magnalia.
ROBINSON, JOHN. Works. 3 vols. I85I.
SCARLET LETTER. Nathaniel Hawthorne.
SEWALL, SAMUEL, Diary of, I674-I729. Mass. Hist. Society
Publications. 2 vols.
SHEPARD, THOMAS. Works. 3 vols. 1855.
SIMPLE COBBLER OF AGAWAM. Nathaniel Ward. I647.
SOME OLD PURITAN LOVE-LETTERS. Twichell. 1893.
SPRAGUE, WILLIAM B. Annals of the American Pulpit. Vols. I.-I I.
STODDARD, S. An Appeal to the Learned. I709.
STRYPE, J. Workes. [Whitgift.]
TARBOX, INCREASE N. Art. on the Pilgrims. Collections of
the Old Colony Hist. Soc.
THE PILGRIM FATHERS. Rev. John Brown. New York. I895.




LIST OF AUTHORITIES REFERRED TO.          XXix
TRACY, JOSEPH. The Great Awakening. 1841.
TWICHELL, JOSEPH H. John Winthrop. 1892.
WADDINGTON, J. Congregational Martyrs. IS6r.
WALKER, WILLISTON. Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism. 1893.
WALKER, WILLISTON. A History of the Congregational Churches.
1894.
WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH, AND CATECHISMS.
WHITEFIELD, GEORGE. Journals, and Life.
WILLARD, SAMUEL. A Compleat Body of Divinity. 1726.
WINSLOW, E. Brief Narration. 1622.
WINTHROP, JOHN. Journal of Transactions in the Settlement of
Massachusetts. 1790.
WINTHROP, R. C. Life and Letters of John Winthrop. 2 vols.
1864-67.
YOUNG, ALEXANDER. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers. I84I.








Some Important Dates in Puritan
History.
1324 John Wyclif born. Died 1384.
1380 Wyclif's New Testament.
1525 Tyndale's New Testament.
1531 Henry the Eighth acknowledged as Supreme Head of the
Church of England.
I535 Coverdale's Bible.
1547 Edward the Sixth ascends the throne.
1553  Mary becomes Queen.
1555  Persecution of Protestants begins.
1558  Elizabeth becomes Queen.
--- -Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity.
I564  The name Puritan first used.
I565 The Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, imprisoned for Nonconformity.
1572 Massacre of St. Bartholomew.
I575 John Robinson born.
I58o  Separatist Church in Norwich under Robert Browne.
1583  Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Ecclesiastical Commission receives new powers.
Two Puritans hung for Non-conformity.
I588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada.
1588-89 Martin Mar-prelate tracts.
1593 Barrowe, Greenwood, and Penry publicly executed for their
Non-conformity.
I602 The Separatist Church at Gainsborough.
1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth. James the First ascends the
throne. Millenary Petition.




xxxii IMPORTANT DATES IN PURITAN HISTORY.


I604  Hampton Court Conference.
i605  Three hundred Ministers expelled from their parishes for
N on-conformity.
I6o6  Church formed at Scrooby.
I607-08 The Pilgrims removed to Amsterdam.
I6o9 The Pilgrims Settled at Leyden.
I6 I Authorized Version of the Bible.
I618 Thirty Years War begun.
I620  The Pilgrims land at Plymouth.
1621  Death of Governor Carver. Bradford chosen Governor.
1625  Charles the First ascends the throne.
I628 Endicott lands at Salem, with a colony.
1629 A Charter granted for the Massachusetts Company.
Agreement to settle in Massachusetts signed, in Cambridge,
by Winthrop and others.
-  Re-enforcements sent to Salem, with Higginson.
Puritan Church formed at Salem, August 6.
I630 Governor Winthrop arrives in Massachusetts with a large
colony of Puritans.
-  Boston settled. First General Court in Massachusetts.
I633 Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury.
I635  First Settlement in Connecticut.
I636 Harvard College founded.
I637 The first Massachusetts Synod.
-  The case of John Hampden tried, in England.
1639 The Constitution of Connecticut adopted.
I64o  The Long Parliament met.
-   -- The Bay Psalm Book, printed.
I643-48  Westminster Assembly.
-   Confederacy of the colonies of New England.
1644 Death of Elder Brewster.
I646-48  Cambridge Synod. Platform of Church Government.
I649 Execution of Charles the First.
i65r Hugh Parsons tried in Springfield for Witchcraft.
I653 Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector.
1656-62 Persecution of the Quakers.
i658 Death of Cromwell.. —   The Savoy Synod adopts a Confession of Faith.
I660 The Restoration of the Stuarts.




IMPORTANT DATES IN PURITAN HISTORY. XXxiii


I662 The Boston Synod adopts the Half-Way Covenant.
1673 The first Church organized in Maine, at York.
The Act of Uniformity re-enacted in England.
I679 The Reforming Synod.
I68o The Synod adopts the Savoy Confession.
I691-92 Witchcraft in Salem and elsewhere.
I69I Charter of the Province of Massachusetts.
1 701 Yale College founded.
I7o8 The Saybrook Platform adopted.
1709 The General Association of Connecticut Ministers organized.
I7I6 Yale College located at New Haven.
1727 Jonathan Edwards ordained, Northampton.,
1734-40 The Great Awakening.
1738  The Methodists appear in London.
1740 Whitefield preaches in New England.
1750 Jonathan Edwards dismissed from Northampton.
1754 Edwards' Work on The Freedom of the WIJl
1758 Death of President Edwards.
I762 Church in Bennington, Vt., organized.
I769 Dartmouth College founded.


c








Introduction.


BY ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D.D.
THE design of this book is a large one. While
many books have been written about the Puritans,
a continued study of the men and their work is demanded, and will have an ample reward.  The time
seems to have come when they can be studied intelligently and impartially; and there is good reason
to believe that the better they are known, and the
more accurately their work is estimated, the more
thorough will be the admiration which is the result.
It is difficult for one to set himself back two or
three centuries, and there rightly to judge the events
which are around him. Yet it is the grateful and
patriotic duty of every person in this country to gain
for himself a distinct knowledge of the forces which
made the beginning of our national life. We shall be
helped to carry on the incomplete work, if we know
the method and meaning of its origin. The very word
origin presents a broad and inviting field for research.
Whence came the name Puritan? " The Church of the
Purity" is an old phrase; and if the name grew out of
an ancient sneer, as has been suggested, it is well to
know by what means, and by what men, it has justified




xxxvi


INTROD UCTION.


itself, and changed a term of scorn to one of honor.
Where shall the study of the Puritans begin? Certainly
not on the coast of Massachusetts. Nor can it begin in
England; nor in Holland. We are led back to events
which concerned the entire history of Europe, as we
follow the Puritan idea towards its inception. But what
period of modern history is more helpful, and what
historic line can be more clearly traced than this, as it
runs in its unbroken way? It is not strange, but it is
interesting to mark that the best account we have had of
the earlier Puritanism is given by an English historian.
The fine pages of John Richard Green are as instructive
as they are delightful. It is a very full and compact
sentence in which he describes the transition into
which Puritanism was carried: " It ceased from the long
attempt to build up a kingdom of God by force and
violence, and fell back on its truer work of building up
a kingdom of righteousness in the hearts and consciences
of men." It is sincere and enlightened testimony which
he gives, that Puritanism had made the mass of Englishmen "i serious, earnest, sober in life and conduct, firm
in their love of Protestantism and of freedom.... The
history of English progress since the Restoration, on its
moral and spiritual sides, has been the history of Puritanism." Surely there is room for diligent study, and
no study is more essential here, and at this time, than
that which makes us wise in our past that we may be
prudent in our future.
There are several questions of interest which arise
when the mind turns to this subject. One of these,




IN TROD UCTION.


XXXVii


and one of the largest, is suggested by the first part
of the title of the work now before us, - Puritanism
in England. What was this? What was its relation
to the government and to the Church of England?
What was England then, in itself and in its relation
to the continent? There were three parties in the
Church: those who were content with things as they
were; those who were discontented, but proposed to
remain where they were and work out such reforms
as were possible; and those who boldly came out, and
made a new start according to what they believed to be
an older and a better way. Which was the better of
the two plans of reformation, which has proved the
more effectual, is a question for the student of history,
especially the student of English and American history.
But this was not purely an English movement, even
in its immediate working.  We have always recognized the influence of their life in Holland upon
those who sought refuge there from the persecution in
England. That Leyden offered not merely hospitality
and freedom, but the best school in the world for the
training of men in the principles of liberty, and in endurance for the sake of liberty, is beyond question.
The siege of Leyden was too near to have lost its
influence over any who walked through the streets and
among the houses where men and women had starved
and died for freedom, or who looked across the fields
over which ships had sailed bringing them bread. But
of late there is an attempt greatly to magnify the influence of the Dutch upon the English. That the large




Xxxviii


INTRODUCTION.


numbers who came from Holland, and were associated in
many ways with the English, were of great service, not
merely in their handicrafts, but in their knowledge of religious liberty, should be promptly acknowledged. But to
what extent this influence made Puritans into exiles, and
then into Pilgrims, is a question to be calmly considered.
The connection between the Plymouth and the
Massachusetts Colony, in men, in spirit, in method,
in result, again calls for careful study. It is only by
a comprehensive view of these separate, yet allied,
movements that justice can be done to either Colony.
Nothing can be settled by setting one point against
another point. The two spheres of life must be compared, and this will be to the advantage of both.
It will be long before men agree upon the wisdom
and justice of the Puritan polity in general, as it was
developed here in Massachusetts. That the policy was
narrow and strict may be at once admitted. Whether
it could have been more lenient and flexible is a fair
inquiry. It has been answered in various ways. In the
spirit of our own times it is easy to say that a more liberal method of legislation would have been practicable,
and in all respects better. On the other hand, some
deference must be paid to the integrity and justice of
the men who were in charge of affairs at that time.
They were not weak, and they were not bigots. They
had not made themselves exiles that they might prepare
an arena where all kinds of beliefs might disport themselves. They had come three thousand miles, at a great
cost of money and of feeling, that they might here




INTROD UCTION.


X XXIX


make a better England according to their own convictions of that which was true and right. While, as the
work of sensible men, their movement had a commercial
quality, they weighed " the greatness of the work in regard of the consequence, God's glory and the Church's
good." If others would join them in their enterprise,
they were welcome. How far they should tolerate men
and women who had different views of truth and duty,
and allow them to teach their contrary opinions, in those
early and critical days, may be still an open question.
It is very likely that a wider toleration would have been
less perilous than they supposed.  They seem to have
interfered with no person's opinions except in so far as
these interfered with the things which they deemed
essential to the safety of the Colony.  If their rules
were strict, banishment to Rhode Island does not
seem to have been severe. Perhaps it was well that
there was near at hand a pleasanter place than this
eastern coast. Perhaps Utopia must always have its
supplemental Narragansett.
It is not the province of an introduction to discuss
these matters.  There are many things of less import which are of interest in connection with the
Puritans. These relate to the manner of their life
here; their method of government; their churches
and forms of worship; their homes and their domestic
concerns; their books and schools; their charities and
their sports; and all which made up their daily life.
There is abundance of material for many interesting
pages which will make curious and instructive reading.




xl


INTRODUCTION.


But for all these things the reader must turn to the
chapters from which he has been too long detained.
I am confident that he will find here the results of
honest and patient study, presented in an attractive
way, with a style remarkably clear and strong; so that
he is taken from chapter to chapter along pleasant paths,
with an increasing knowledge of the Puritan and of all
which the name stands for, and with a growing and
abiding admiration of the ancestry to which every
American owes so much. It will encourage the faithful study of a book like this to remember that the
permanence and extension of the Puritan work depend
upon us and those who shall come after us. We have a
wonderful opportunity, but it is entirely in keeping with
our wonderful history. It will encourage us still further
if we can believe the generous prophecy of John Richard
Green in his History of the English People: "In the
centuries that lie before us, the primacy of the world
will lie with the English People. English institutions,
English speech, English thought, will become the main
features of the political, the social, and the intellectual
life of mankind..... In the days that are at hand, the
main current of that people's history must run along the
channel, not of the Thames or the Mersey, but of the
Hudson and the Mississippi."


THE FIRST CHURCH IN CAMBRIDGE,
March, I896.




I.
The Puritan in England.
ERRATA.
Page 56, Hampton Court, zo t Hlampden.,, I2i, Emmanuel College, not Emanuel.,, 121, St. Botolph, not Buttolph.








The Puritan in England.


AMONG      the great types of character that
have left a permanent mark upon modern
history we must place the English Puritans.
Macaulay speaks of them as perhaps " the most
remarkable body of men which the world has
ever produced."  Hallam  says "the Puritans
were the depositaries of the sacred fire of liberty." Hume writes that " the precious spark of
liberty had been kindled and was preserved by
the Puritans alone;" and that " it is to them that
the English owe the whole freedom of their
Constitution." Carlyle says, in his Introduction
to the Letters and Speeches of Cromwell: " One
wishes there were a history of English Puritanism, — the last of all our Heroisms, but sees
small prospect of such a thing at present. Few
nobler Heroisms, — at bottom perhaps, - no
nobler Heroism ever transacted itself on this
earth." Other writers on the history of the
English people in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries speak of the services which the Puri



4 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


tans rendered to religion and to freedom in
similar terms.
It is considerably more than three centuries
since Puritanism became a power in moulding
the people of English birth and speech. Both
England and America have felt their influence
as well upon the political institutions of the
people, as upon their intellectual development,
and their religious life. If that influence has
been more decided in America than
Puritan influence in New in England it is because the Puritans
England.  in this country had the advantage of
working in the forming period of our history,
when they were not limited by the power of
established customs.  For a hundred and fifty
years our Puritan fathers and their descendants
lived here an isolated and peculiar people. There
was very little admixture of foreign blood. In
this new country they were free to build the
Church and the state according to their own
ideas. During that period the New England
spirit was developed, and embodied in the Puritan churches and colleges and schools, and in
the political institutions of the New England
colonies. About twenty-one thousand persons
came from England within the twelve years
between 1628 and 1640. There was never afterwards any considerable increase of their numbers
from England. From these twenty-one thousand




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


5


people about one fourth' of the present population of the United States have descended. The
Puritan element in our population has been the
controlling power in the republic. It has been
modified by other influences, from Scotland, and
France, and Holland, as the country has grown
older, but on the whole, New England principles
and institutions have been moulding the whole
people and directing the policy of the nation.
I.
IF we would understand the Puritans who
planted the colonies on this side of the sea, we
must trace their history back to the mother
country. For our Pilgrim and Puritan fathers
were a part of the great Puritan party Power of the
which had been growing for about a Puritan party
century before I62o, and which was of     England
sufficient strength not only to plant colonies in
New England, but also to overthrow the arbitrary power of the Stuarts, and establish the
Commonwealth in 1649, and, forty years later, to
secure the political and religious liberties of the
English people, by a revolution under William
1 Mr. Bancroft states that in 1834 one third of the people of the
United States were descendants of the first settlers of Massachusetts. Vol. I. 375. Mr. John Fiske says one fourth the present population have come from them. " Beginnings of New England," I43.




6  THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and Mary, which made England a free and
Protestant kingdom for all time.
The history of the English Puritans is almost
the same as that of the Protestant Reformation
in England. It is plain that the beginning of
the Reformation was at least as far back as the
time of Wyclif, in the last half of the
Beginnings of
the Reforma- fourteenth century. He was born in the
t0on,
year 1 324. He was the foremost among
the scholars of his time. His spare and emaciated frame had been weakened by study, and
by the severe discipline to which he subjected himself. But within this frail form there was a mind
of great capacity, - a restless and indomitable
spirit, - and a conscience which directed all his
life. He was the special friend of John of Gaunt,
who was able to protect him from the power of
the ecclesiastics. His great work was the translation of the Bible into English, and his defence
of the right of every man to read the Scriptures
in his own tongue. He denied the doctrine of
transubstantiation, and asserted that, in the primitive Church, there were but two sorts of clergy.
He was opposed to the multiplication of ranks
in the clergy. He advocated a simple form of
worship, and spoke against auricular confession.
JohnWyclif: His protest was against the practices of
1324-1384.  the Church, rather than against its doctrines. He was the father of our English prose,




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


7


as Chaucer was the father of English poetry.
He made his appeal boldly to the people, against
the threats of the ecclesiastics. " I believe that
in the end the truth will conquer," he said. He
issued a multitude of tracts in the language of
the common people, in which he attacked the
worship of the saints and of images, the idle and
scandalous lives of the clergy, pardons, indulgences, and pilgrimages to the shrines of the
saints. He organized and sent forth an order
of preachers, who were called " Simple Priests."
They went everywhere among the people, wearing the long russet-dress by which they were
known; and they preached the doctrines of Wyclif
so forcibly, that it was said, a few years later,
"Every second man you meet is a disciple of
Wyclif." They were found in the cities as well
as among the peasants of the country. Some
of the nobility, and some of the men of learning,
adopted his opinions.
If Wyclif had lived a hundred and fifty years
later, it is very likely that the Protestant Reformation in England would have been
-,,   i  i *  f  i   i..   The Lollards.
developed under his lead, somewhat as
the Reformation in Germany was under Luther.
But Wyclif had not the advantage of the printing-press, nor of the great intellectual awakening that accompanied the revival of learning.
The people of his time, although they wel



8 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


comed the truths which he gave them, were
not intelligent and stable enough to hold and
transmit these truths, in spite of the determined
opposition which they aroused. The severe persecution which followed his death checked the
progress of his doctrines. His followers were
called Lollards - that is, idle babblers - by their
enemies. Very severe laws for the punishment
of heresy were enacted in the reign of Henry
the Fourth.  Thirty-nine prominent Lollards
were put to death in a single year; and a much
larger number of the common people. The
movement for reform lost the vigor and hopefulness which it had shown at the outset. But
it continued to live through the next century and
a half. Little is said about it by the historians,
except when the movement showed its power in
some struggle for the rights of the people against
arbitrary power. Passages from Wyclif's Bible
and from his tracts were copied by hand and
passed about from cottage to cottage. The Lollard preachers, clad in their long russet robes,
with their pilgrim staves, went barefoot from
village to village, reading the Word of God to the
common people, and making them familiar with
its teachings and its histories. This was the
preliminary work of the Reformation. The Loilards were the Puritans of the fifteenth century.
They were numerous in the eastern counties




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


9


of England, the very section where, at a later
time, Puritanism had its greatest strength. As
late as I520, the Bishop of Lincoln reported that
Lollardism was very troublesome in his diocese.
As many as two hundred heretics were brought
before him in the course of a single episcopal
visitation.
II.
THE Reformation in England in the sixteenth
century was very different from the Reformation
that was in progress on the continent. In England, the movement was not religious but political. On the continent, it was intensely religious.
This distinction is important because it is probable that if the Reformation in England had been
like that in Germany and in Switzerland Difference
Difference
and in France, there would have been betweenthe
Reformation in
no such thing as the Puritan party England and
in England. All over Europe there inGermany
had been a preparation for a great movement for
the reform of the Church. The books of Wyclif
had been read as far away as Bohemia. There
was a new interest everywhere in the Bible.
Men were longing for a simple gospel. Luther
was prepared for his work as the leader of the
Reformation by a very deep religious experience.
" Ah," he exclaimed, at one time, "with what
anxiety and labor, with what searching of the


F




10 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Scriptures, have I justified myself, in conscience,
in standing up alone against the Pope." " Here
I take my stand," he said, in the presence of the
Diet, and of the Emperor; "I can do naught
else. May God help me. Amen." It was this
deep religious spirit which made the words of
Luther so effective. Those who had been longing and praying for a reform were eager to join
the great movement. The Protestants all stood
together, in opposition to the errors against which
they protested.
But in England the movement for separation
from the Church of Rome began with the king,
not with the people. Henry the Eighth was
never a Protestant, in the sense in which the
German Reformers were. le had earned the
title of Defender of the Faith by his book in
reply to Luther's work on the Sacraments. The
books of Luther were solemnly burned at St.
Paul's, and orders were issued for the persecution
of heretics. To the end of his life, Henry was
in most respects a Romanist. The Law of the
Six Articles, which he approved, sanctioned the
sacrifice of the Mass, the communion in one
kind, the celibacy of the clergy, monastic vows,
private masses, and auricular confession. The
so-called Reformation in his reign was incomplete and superficial. He broke away from the
Church of Rome for reasons that were personal




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


II


and political, rather than religious.  Virtually,
the Church of England exchanged one Pope for
another. Henry denied the supremacy of the
Pope, but made himself the head of the English
Church. He condemned to death those who
denied transubstantiation, and those who denied
his supremacy over the Church.
III.
YET all through his reign the Reformation
was making progress among the people. The
new translations of the Scriptures, by Tyndale
and Coverdale, were printed and scattered far
and wide.  Later in the reign, the king ordered the English Bible to be read in the
churches.
In the short reign of Edward the Sixth, the
Protestant Book of Common Prayer was issued,
and a Protestant Confession was prepared and
imposed upon the Church by authority. But
Queen Mary restored the Mass, set aside the
new Prayer Book, and, as far as practicable,
brought back England to its old relations to
the Church of Rome. The great majority of the
priests, and of the people accepted the changes.
But there were many who held tenaciously to
the Protestant faith. More than three hundred
were burned at the stake, and their constancy




12 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


gave new strength to their cause. Eight hundred more whose lives were in danger escaped
beyond the sea, and spent the years of her reign
in close association with the Protestants on the
continent. When Latimer was burned, he said,
" We shall this day light such a candle, by God's
grace, in England, as, I trust, shall never be put
out." When Cramner, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was led to the stake, the act excited feelings of abhorrence among the people. His martyrdom has been regarded as the death-blow to
Catholicism in England.
IV.
THE accession of Elizabeth to the throne, in
I558, was the critical period in the history of
the English Reformation.  The young queen
was commonly believed to be a Protestant, although she had conformed to the Catholic ritual
during the reign of Mary. Her first acts encouraged the hopes of the Reformers.  She
released all the prisoners confined for their religion by her sister, and encouraged the Protestant
exiles to return to England. She kissed the
English Bible which the people of London presented to her, and promised "diligently to read
therein." She restored the Book of Common
Prayer, which had been hallowed by the suffer



THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


I3


ings of the martyrs; but she caused certain alter=
ations to be made in the Book, which were designed to recommend it to the Romanists. She
said to the Spanish embassador, " I shall do as
my father used to do."  By the Act of Supremacy, passed in the first year of her TheActof
reign, the queen was declared to be Supremacy.
the supreme governor of the Church, authorized
to nominate all bishops, and to correct all heresies.
All those who held benefices or offices were
required to take the Oath of Supremacy, avowing the queen to be the only supreme governor
within the realm, "as well in all spiritual and
ecclesiastical causes and things as temporal."
It was provided by the Act of Uniform- TheActof
ity that the Book of Common Prayer Uniformity.
should be used in all public religious services,
and that any minister who should refuse to use
it, or who should use any other rites and forms
than those therein set down, should forfeit his salary for one year, and be imprisoned for six months;
and that for the second offence he should lose
his benefice, and be imprisoned for a year; and
for the third, he should be imprisoned for life.1
Persons not in orders who should thus offend,
were to be punished with equal severity. The
ceremonies of the Church, and the dress of the
clergy, were to be as in the time of King Edward.
1 i Eliz. cap. I, sect. II.




14 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


The queen only had power to make changes in
these matters.
It was these acts which really formed the
Puritan Party in England. The Puritans were
origin of te those who were "for carrying the ReforPuit.   mation to its logical results."  There
were certain things among the forms and ceremonies of the Established Church to which they
could not conform with good consciences. The
fires of Smithfield had intensified the Protestantism of the English people. The exiles who
came back from the continent were full of admi.
ration for the simplicity of Protestant worship
abroad. "Protestantism," says Mr. J. R. Green,
"had become a fiercer thing; and was pouring
back from Geneva with dreams of revolutionary
changes in Church and state." Many things in
the ritual of the Church of England seemed to
them to favor the errors and superstitions of the
Church of Rome. The contest was not, at that
time, in respect to the doctrines of the Church,
nor in respect to the Episcopal form of Govern.
ment. It related to forms and ceremonies and
vestments. These were immaterial in themselves,
and yet each one of them at that time had a
doctrinal significance. We have seen, in our own
times, something of the intensity of ritualistic
controversies. But in that age such matters
touched the life of the Church much more closely.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


I5


The separation from Romanism was still recent.
The majority of the English people were probably Romanists when Elizabeth ascended the
throne. The Protestant minority, however, in-t
cluded the ablest and most powerful men in the
kingdom, and they were not in a mood to accept,
under a Protestant queen, any modes of worship,
or of the administration of the Sacraments, which
were suggestive of the Real-presence in the elements at the Lord's table, or of a superstitious
regard for the Cross, or of any of the practices
of the old Church which they had renounced.
They were protesting a-gainst tran-s-itstantiation;, ^ 
when they refused to kneel at the altar to receive
the elements at the Supper. They objected to the
use of the sign of the Cross in baptism, and the
use of the ring in marriage, and to the use of
clerical vestments, especially to the use of the cap
and the surplice, not because they were wrong
in themselves, but because they could not use
them without seeming to sanction opinions which
they deemed inconsistent with the truth which
it was their special mission to defend. New and
better associations, and the mellowing influences
of time have made these things quite indifferent
to us; but it is not difficult to understand how
significant they were three centuries ago.




i6 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


V.
IN the early years of Elizabeth the acts of
Supremacy and of Uniformity were not executed very strictly. They were put in force first
against the Roman Catholics. Under their provisions all the bishops except one lost their
places. The Protestant exiles who had returned,
were welcomed by the Church, and a number of
them were appointed to the vacant bishoprics.
Only about two hundred of the parish priests lost
their livings, out of some seven or eight thousand. The changes were generally in favor of the
progress of the Reformation among the people.
The Act of Uniformity was administered more
strictly as the years went by. The Court of High
Commission, under the Archbishop of Canterbury, was clothed with ample powers for carrying these laws into effect. About the year I564,
the word Puritan began to be used, not at first
as a term of reproach, but to designate those who
sought the purest form of worship,-" religio
purissima." They desired to remain within the
Church; but they refused to conform to practices
which seemed to them the badges of Rome. A
large proportion of the clergy of the Established
Church were Puritans.  So were a number of
the bishops, and some of the archbishops.
In I565, the Commission sent to prison the




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


I7


Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, because he refused to wear the required vestments. The same
year all the clergymen of London ThePuritans
were brought before the Commission, bclesiasfi
and asked to promise to conform to all commission.
the requirements of the Prayer Book. Thirtyseven out of ninety-eight refused to give the
promise; and they were suspended from the ministry, and deprived of their livings. Miles Coverdale, one of the translators of the Bible, was
deprived of his parish for non-conformity, in the
eighty-third year of his age. John Foxe, the
Puritan author of the Book of Martyrs, also refused to conform; but he was suffered to go in
peace, on account of his great reputation; and
he held his small office in the Church until his
death.  When the Puritan ministers of London
were driven from their churches in 1565, their
followers held meetings in private houses, and
in public halls, without any disorder, and listened
to the Bible, and the sermons of their ministers.
A congregation of this sort was arrested by the
sheriff in I567. The only charge against them
was that they were worshipping God under forms
not prescribed by law. They were found guilty
of this offence, and a large number of them were
sent to prison for a year.1 The next year the
1 Neal's History of the Puritans, r. o08; Hallam, i. I86; Campbell's Puritan in England, Holland, and America, I, 400-447.




IS THE PURITAN IN ENGLA.ND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Spanish embassador, writing to Philip, said:
" Those who call themselves of the religio purissima go on increasing. They are styled Puritans,
because they allow no ceremonies, nor any forms
save those which are authorized by the bare
letter of the gospel. They will not come to the
churches which are used by the rest, nor will
they allow their ministers to wear any marked or
separate dress. Some of them have been taken
up; but they have no fear of prison."'
The work of silencing the Puritans went on
from year to year, with increasing severity; and
yet they still clung to the Protestant Church of
the realm, and tried to do their work under its
shadow. When they were expelled from their
livings for non-conformity, they obtained employment as preachers for the regular incumbents,
who were too ignorant or too indolent to preach
themselves, or they took refuge in the families
of the gentry, where they found a useful employment as teachers. Their books were suppressed;
their private meetings were broken up; and even
private citizens were brought before the High
Commission, and punished for non-conformity.
In I583, Whitgift, whom the queen used to
call her "little black parson," was appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury, that he might "root
out Puritanism and the favorers thereof." The
1 Froude, ix. 327.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


I9


next month after his appointment, he issued
orders for the enforcement of religious discipline
throughout the realm. Two months later, the
court of High Commission was made a permanent institution to enforce the acts of Uniformity.
This court was continued for fifty years. Whitgift issued orders forbidding all preaching, reading, or catechising in private houses. This was
intended to prevent the assembling of neighbors
to read the Bible, or for any religious service.
It was also provided that no one should assume
the functions of a clergyman unless he had been
admitted to holy orders in the Church of England. All clergymen were required to subscribe
a declaration of approval of the Thirty-nine Articles, and of the Book of Common Prayer, as
containing nothing contrary to the Word of
God; and also a promise to use its forms of
prayer, and no other. These requirements went
beyond the laws, but they were enforced with
unsparing vigor. Several hundred of the best
ministers in England were silenced, and their parishes were left destitute. It was a short matter:
Do you wear the surplice? Do you make the sign
of the Cross in baptism, and use the ring in
marriage, and require communicants to kneel
when they receive the Communion? If not, you
must cease to preach, and give up your salary.
No witnesses were necessary. The accused was




20 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


put under oath, and required to criminate himself. The methods of the High Commission
under Whitgift were as relentless and as unscrupulous as those of the Inquisition.
VI.
THESE extreme measures were for a time successful. A uniformity of worship was brought
about.  The   Puritan ministers, whose nonconformity had sometimes been winked at, were
now driven from their pulpits. The press was
placed under a strict censorship. No book could
be printed except with the approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of London.
No printing-presses were allowed in any part of
England outside London, except one in each of
the Universities. This was the decree of the
Star Chamber, issued at the instigation of the
Archbishop. The effect of all this was to deepen
the convictions of the Puritans, and increase
their influence in the country. More and more
the attention of the people was directed to the
Bible. It was read everywhere. It became the
one book with which every Englishman was
familiar. It colored the common speech of the
people. The old Prophets lived again as God's
messengers to their nation; the imagery of
the Bible moulded their common speech. This




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


21


familiarity with the Bible gave the people a more
serious spirit, and a higher view of the meaning
of life. " Theology rules here," said a discriminating foreign observer, in London, in one of the
later years of Elizabeth. The pressure brought
to bear by the High Commission set everybody
to reading religious books. A multitude of such
books and pamphlets, printed on the continent,
found their way across the Channel, and were
eagerly read. For a long time the great subjects
of discussion in England related to the Church
and its modes of worship.
VII.
ONE result of the arbitrary measures of the
High Commission was the division of the Puritans into two sections. The larger The Nonnumber of the Puritans continued to Conformists.
be simply Non-Conformists. They claimed their
rights as Protestants in the Church of England,
but refused to conform to certain of its requirements.  The Separatists, however, renounced
their connection with the National Church, and
formed themselves into independent churches,
with the simplest possible organization, and a
plain and simple form of worship. They were
the people who insisted upon "reformation without tarrying for any." From them have sprung




22 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the great body of dissenting churches in Great
Britain, and the Independent and Congregational
churches in America.
It is not easy to tell where Separatism had its
beginning. As early as the time of Queen Mary,
there were small companies of Christians who
Origin of the were accustomed to meet in private
Separatists. places for religious services, and who
disowned the Established Church. All through
the reign of Elizabeth, there were such gatherings in London, and in northern and eastern
England. The first organized Separatist Church
of which we have any definite account was formed
in Norwich, about the year I58o, by Robert
Browne, a graduate of Cambridge, and a relative
of Lord Burghley, a favorite Minister of Queen
Elizabeth. From him the Separatists received
the name of Brownists. He published a number
of books which were widely read, in which he
set forth his views in regard to the constitution
of a Christian church, and also in regard to the
relation of the state to the Church.
He held that the state, as such, has no ecclesiastical authority at all: so that the Church should
Views of  have no connection with the state exRobertBrowne. cept such as grows out of its secular
relations. He believed that the Church of England had become so corrupt that it was impossible to secure discipline within it. Not only




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


23


the most worldly people, but those whose lives
were scandalous, had a legal right to partake of
the Lord's Supper, side by side with the very
elect and anointed of God. It was therefore
the duty of true Christians to separate from that
Church, and to follow Christ elsewhere.
In respect to the Constitution of the Church
itself, Browne held these principles: —
First: That any company of Christians who
covenant with God and with each other to walk
according to the teachings of Christ, and to engage in His service, and His worship, and who
observe the Sacraments, is a true Church, and
is independent of all control but that of the divine
Head of the Church.l
Second: The government of the Church rests
with Christ in the first instance, and through
Him it comes to the members of the Church, as
His disciples united in His name. "The Church
government," Browne says, " is the Lordship of
Christ, in the Communion of His offices, whereby
His people obey His will, and have mutual use
of their gifts and callings to further their godliness and welfare." So that the members of the
Church are to decide all questions which properly
come before it, subject only to the authority of
Christ.
Third: The officers of a church are the pastor,
1 Treatise on Reformation without tarrying for any.




24 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and the teacher, who are to teach the Word, and
exhort to good works, and true obedience; and
one or more elders, " for oversight and counsel,
and redressing things amiss;" and one or more
deacons, or deaconesses, to care for the secular
matters of the church, and to visit the sick, and
the afflicted, and to relieve the wants of the poor.
These principles seem harmless enough at
this day, but at that time they were regarded as
"strange and dangerous doctrines." The minister was arrested and imprisoned for preaching
them. The little church in Norwich which accepted these principles was compelled to leave
the country, in order to find a place where it
would be free to worship according to this way.
Robert Browne was in prison thirty-two times
in the course of the next six years. Some of
the dungeons in which he was confined were
so dark that he could not see his hand at
midday. He was only safe from arrest when
he was outside the kingdom. At length, worn
out by persecution, broken in mind as well as
in body, he gave up the contest, returned to
the Established Church, and accepted a small
parish where he spent the later years of his life
in peace and obscurity.l
About the year I587, we find traces of congregations of Separatists in London. They met
1 Dr. H. M. Dexter, on Congregationalism, II6-I28.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.        25
sometimes in private houses, and sometimes in
the fields outside the city.  At these meetings
they used to read and expound the
Separatist
Scriptures, and to pray. The officers Churches in
were always in quest of them, for such  London.
services were contrary to the Act of Uniformity.
As many as sixty persons were sometimes present
at these meetings, while a much larger number
were interested in them. So many were imprisoned, that at some seasons the number in attendance was less than twenty. Sometimes they were
nearly all in prison at once, and then they would
hold their religious services in the prison. Fiftynine of them were incarcerated in the various
prisons of London at one time. Some of these
prisoners were kept in irons. Some were without proper food. A list has been preserved of
twenty-five who died in prison; twenty of these
were men, and five were women.1
Governor Bradford states in his history that
at least six of the Separatists were publicly executed for their non-conformity.2 These were John
Coppin, William Dennis, Elias Thacker, Henry
Barrowe, John Greenwood, and John Penry.
Of the three whose names are first in the list,
little is known except that they were publicly
executed as Separatists, after long periods of
1 A true Confession, et cetera - I596, quoted by Dr. Dexter.
2 Bradford's History.




26 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


imprisonment. Coppin and Thacker were tried
for selling the books of Robert Browne, and for
heresy. Thacker was hanged at St. Edmunds
in Suffolk, June 4, I583, and Coppin on the
following day. The moral effect was heightened
-so the Chief Justice wrote - by the fact that
about forty of the books of Browne and Harrison
were burned at the same time.
Of the three others we have fuller accounts,
which they prepared before they were put to
Trials of  death. Henry Barrowe was arrested in
Barroweand November, I586, and was kept in prison
Greenwood.
the most of the time for about seven
years. He was a graduate of Cambridge, and a
member of Gray's Inn. While in prison he published a number of books, in which he set forth
his opinions in regard to the Church of England.
He was finally condemned to death for publishing seditious books. He was reprieved by the
queen the next day; and efforts were made to
induce him to retract. It was in vain, and, after
being a second time reprieved, he was hanged at
Tyburn the 6th of April, I593.
His friend and fellow prisoner, John Greenwood, was also a graduate from Cambridge, and
a clergyman of the Church of England. He
had scruples in respect to his connection with
that Church, and finally withdrew from it and
joined the Separatists. He was arrested in 586,




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


27


for holding a private religious meeting at the
house of Henry Martyn in London. After six
years in prison, he was released, and returned to
the meetings of his old friends, the Separatists.
He was again imprisoned, and, in I593, was tried
for publishing seditious books. He was found
guilty, and was sentenced to death. On the 6th
of April, I593, he was hanged at Tyburn, with
his friend Barrowe.
John Penry was born in Wales, took his degree of B. A. at Cambridge, and that of M. A.
at Oxford.   He took orders in the
John Penry.
Episcopal Church, and preached both 
at Oxford and at Cambridge. He also became
a Separatist, and was committed to prison. He
was kept on bread and water, although his wife
asked permission to provide him something
better, pleading that he was "a very weak and
sickly man." It was not easy to find any pretense for condemning him, because he had not
published any books since he became a Separatist. But his private papers were seized, and
among them was found the first draught of a
petition to the queen.  It had not been finished, or published. He protested that this writing was a part of his private diary, and that no
creature under heaven knew of it except himself,
until it was seized by the officers. But he was
brought to trial for "speaking and writing against




28 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the queen, and for defaming her Majesty." He
was found guilty, and was executed at St. Thomas
Waterings in Surrey, May 29, I593. The best
use that Elizabeth Tudor had for these honest
and independent men was to hang them by the
neck until they were dead.1
VIII.
THE Puritans were helpless under the arbitrary power of the State Church; but they
TheMartin still made their appeal to public opinMar-prelate ion, that power which in the modern
Tracts.  world is stronger than princes and
hierarchies. They could not lawfully own printing-presses, or print books, without the approval
of the Archbishop. But a new turn was given
to the controversy by the sudden appearance of
a series of pamphlets bearing the name of Martin
Mar-prelate, —gentleman. There were seven of
them published within about seven months, between the early winter of I588, and midsummer
1589. It has been said that the Puritans lacked
a sense of humor, but the keen wit and satire of
these pamphlets made them the most effective
weapons for the Non-Conformists. The pamphlets
were of necessity anonymous; and the secret has
1 Waddington's Historical Papers: Congregational Martyrs,
I73.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


29


been so well kept that no one knows, to this day,
who Martin was. The press on which they were
printed was concealed in private houses, and carried from place to place in a cart to escape the
officers. Four of the pamphlets were printed
upon this press. When at last it was seized,
Martin procured another, so that the remaining
pamphlets were printed in due time. A royal
proclamation forbade the owning or reading of
these tracts: but the students of the Universities
hid them in the folds of their gowns; even the
nobles read them; the Earl of Essex presented
one to the queen; and all England was laughing
at the shrewd and audacious attacks upon the
prelates. There was a certain coarseness about
them, which belonged to the age, but there was
nothing indecent or blasphemous. "Now prelates," said Martin, assuming an easy equality
with the bishops, "I give you more counsel.
Repent. Give over your lordly callings. Reform
your families and your children.  Pray her
Majesty to forgive you, and the Lord first of all
to put away your sins. Write no more against
the cause of the Reformation. Punish nobody for
refusing to wear popish garments, or for omitting
popish corruptions from the Prayer Book, or for
not kneeling at the Communion table. Study
more than you do, and preach oftener. Take
no more bribes: leave your simony. In a word,




30 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


become good Christians. Let me hear no more
of your evil doings."
Vigorous and systematic efforts were made to
break the force of these attacks. The police
force was ordered to spare no pains to discover
and arrest the author of them. An elaborate
reply to Martin's first pamphlet was prepared by
one of the bishops. It was a ponderous quarto
of two hundred and fifty-two pages. The effect
of this reply was to add to the importance of the
pamphlet, and to prepare the people to read the
second, which was issued a few weeks later. As
the other pamphlets of the series appeared, there
were other replies. The bishops quoted Latin
abundantly, and Martin quoted as much as the
bishops. It was a number of years before the
echoes of the discussion died away.
IX.
THESE were only incidents in the great movement of the English people toward a thorough
Growth of  reformation. It was not hindered by
HeuReign of  persecution.  It had been growing
Elizabeth.  stronger all through the reign  of
Elizabeth; and when she died, in I603, it is
probable that the majority of her subjects were
' of the Puritan party. The people were gaining in intelligence.  The printing-press was a




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


31


great power, though it was not yet free.  The
books which could not be printed in England
were sent abroad for publication, and when they
came back they were eagerly read by the people.
For the first time in English history, an enlightened public opinion was springing up.
One cause of the growth of Puritanism was the
unfriendly attitude of the Catholic powers toward
England. The Pope called upon Elizabeth, at the
beginning of her reign, to submit her claims to
the throne to his tribunal. After she had declared
herself a Protestant, the Pope issued his bull of
excommunication, deposing the queen, and releasing her subjects from their allegiance. The
Catholic nobles in the north of England raised
the standard of rebellion. There were a number
of plots to assassinate the queen; and these plots
were traced in most instances to Roman Catholics.
The latest of these plots was approved by Mary
of Scotland, and the discovery of her complicity
in this plot led to her execution. The Spanish
Armada, which sailed in July, I588, was intended
to encourage a rebellion of the Roman Catholics
of England. The plan had the approval of the
Pope.1 Three hundred priests were sent over to
organize the revolt. They circulated a book which
taught that it was the duty of the people to take
up arms at the bidding of the Pope, and to fight
1 Green's History, vol. ii. 439.




32 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


for the Faith against the queen and other heretics. The Puritans were the leaders in the splendid uprising of the English people, of all faiths
and of all classes, which secured the defeat of the
Armada. It is not surprising that since that day
the great body of the English people, have regarded Romanism as a menace to the very existence of the nation.
The sufferings of their fellow Protestants on
the continent added to the intensity of feeling
among the English Protestants. The Massacre
on St. Bartholomew's day, in I572, by which,
according to the most conservative writers, more
than twenty-two thousand Protestants, including women and children, were cut off, filled
England with horror. In that awful hour, says
Mr. Campbell, the Spanish king laughed as he
had never laughed before, and the Pope ordered
a special Te Deum to be sung.
Still more fearful were the cruelties of which the
Spaniards were guilty in their war against the
Protestant provinces in the Netherlands. The
Duke of Alva boasted, at the time of his departure
from the Netherlands, that' within six years he
had executed eighteen thousand six hundred
heretics and traitors.'  A large number of the
Dutch Protestants found refuge in England.
1 Campbell's Puritan in Holland, England, and America, vol. i.
2I2 and 488 —490.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


33


They settled in the eastern counties, and became
permanent citizens there.  The narratives which
these refugees gave of the unspeakable sufferings
of their countrymen under the tyranny of their
Roman Catholic king had more influence in
England than even the Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Large numbers of the French Huguenots
also settled in England. The story of the sufferings of the Protestants was told with wonderful
pathos and vividness in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
This book was set up in the parish churches by
order of Queen Elizabeth, and was read by the
people more than any other book except the
English Bible. The influence of these Protestants
from the continent was seen in the marvellous
vigor of the Puritan party in the seventeenth
century, in the eastern counties, where some
hundreds of thousands of these exiles made their
homes. It is well known that the first settlers of
New England came in the largest numbers from
eastern England.
One other cause of the spread of Puritanism in
the later years of Elizabeth should be mentioned.
England and Scotland had come to stand almost
alone as Protestant powers.  The hopes of the
earlier reformers of a complete purification of the
Church had been disappointed. France had
seemed at one time likely to become a Protestant
country; but the Huguenots had been driven into
3




34 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


exile, and scattered over the world.  The United
Provinces had been trodden under the heel of the
oppressor. A part of them had accepted the rule
of Spain; and few believed that the heroic struggle
of the Dutch Protestants could succeed. In Germany, the Catholic powers were steadily gaining,
and the Protestants were already on the defensive.
The Thirty Years War was near at hand. The
cause of the Reformation seemed to depend upon
the fidelity of the English people.
This was the urgent reason for pushing the
Reformation in the English Church to its logical
results. The Established Church has grown out
of a series of compromises between those who
still favored some of the practices of the Romanists, and the radical reformers who had adopted
the theology and the polity of the reformed
churches on the continent.  The Puritans held
that it was dangerous, at that crisis, to halt between
two opinions.  They demanded the abolition of
Romish ceremonies, and the training of an intelligent ministry, who should be competent to
teach the people. They complained that a large
proportion of the parish priests were ignorant,
and of scandalous lives.  The Puritans of the
House of Commons presented an address to the
queen, in I57I, in which they said: " Great numbers are admitted to the ministry that are infamous in their lives, so that the Protestant




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


35


religion is in great peril."  Another petition complained that the ministers who were competent
had been silenced for non-conformity, and that
such as were left were unfit for the office, " having
been either popist priests, or shiftless men thrust
in upon the ministry when they know not how
else to live,- serving-men, and the basest of
all sorts, men of no gifts.  So they are of no
common honesty, rioters, dicers, drunkards, and
such like, of offensive lives." The Council made
an examination of the statements contained in this
petition, and they reported that the statements
were correct.2 With such a state of things within
the Church, the best men of the nation made
common cause with the Puritans in their demand
for a thorough reformation. " Why," asked Lord
Bacon, " should the civil state be purged and restored by good and wholesome laws, made every
three years, in Parliament assembled, devising
remedies as fast as time breweth mischief, and the
ecclesiastical state still continue upon the dregs of
time, and receive no alteration these forty-five
years or more? "
X.
THROUGH the later years of Elizabeth the Puritans had waited, in the hope that when her successor, James the First, should ascend the throne,
the way would be open for the reformation of the
1 Campbell, vol. i. 466.  2 Strype's Whitgift, 167-168.




36 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Church. James had hardly crossed the border,
on his way to London for his coronation, when
The illenary he was met by what was called the MilPetition.  lenary Petition, with the signatures of
some eight hundred of the English clergy. This
contained the proposals of the Puritan ministers
for the reformation of the Church.  They did
not ask for any change in the government or the
organization of the Established Church.  The
great body of the Non-Conformists would have
been satisfied to continue under the rule of bishops,
and to use the Book of Common Prayer in worship.  The proposals which have been recently
made by the Lambeth Conference for the union
of all branches of the Church under the Historic
Episcopate would have been entirely satisfactory
to the Puritans. What they asked was: the
Requests ofthe omission of the sign of the Cross in
Puritans,  baptism, of the ring in marriage, of
bowing at the name of Jesus, of the lessons
from the Apocrypha in public worship, and
the omission of the cap and surplice; that the
music used in the churches be made plainer and
simpler; that the Lord's day be hallowed;
that none be made ministers who were unable to
preach; that candidates for the Communion be
examined as to their fitness; and that discipline
be attended to more strictly.1
1 Gardner's History of England from the Accession of James I.,
vol. i. I63.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


37


These proposals were certainly moderate; the
most of them have been long ago adopted by the
English Church. The Petition was an honest
effort at comprehension which would have led to
important results if it had been welcomed by the
king and the bishops. Lord Bacon, who was far
from being a Puritan, sent forth at that time a
plea that things which are not essential be left
"to the holy wisdom and spiritual discretion of
the master builders and  inferior builders in
Christ's Church." He advised the king that it
would be proper and expedient to institute such
reforms as those which the Puritans had asked
for.'
King James received the Millenary Petition
graciously, and promised a conference of bishops
and divines in which it should be discussed.
Ten months later, he summoned four Puritan
ministers to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and eight of the bishops, and seven deans, at
Hampton Court. The proposals of the Puritans
were discussed for three days; the King himself,
who has been called the "wisest fool in Christendom," took the leading part in the discussion.
One suggestion of the Puritan divines for a new
translation of the Bible was received with favor.
This was afterwards carried out, and the author

1 Bacon's Works. Montagu's Edition, vol. ii. 420-430, on the
Pacification of the Church.




38 THE PURITAN ZN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ized version of I 6 i was the result. But the
propositions for a reform in the Church met the
decided opposition of the king and of all the
bishops. They were unwilling that any matters
of form or ceremony should be left to the discretion of the clergyman who conducted the public
services. "I will have one doctrine, one discipline, one religion, in substance and in ceremony," said King James; "I will make them
conform, or I will harry them out of the land, or
else worse." The aged Archbishop of Canterbury
exclaimed: "Undoubtedly your Majesty spake
by the special assistance of God's spirit." And
Bancroft, the Bishop of London, fell on his knees,
and said, "There has been no such king since
Christ's time." Soon after, the Convocation, with
the approval of the king, passed a series of canons
which forbade, on penalty of excommunication,
the least deviation from the Prayer Book, or any
disparagement of the established system of government and worship in the Church.
Xi.
THE Puritans were disappointed, but not cast
down. They had hoped for favorable changes
from the new king. He had been bred a Presbyterian, and a Calvinist; he had subscribed to
the Solemn League and Covenant, and had




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


39


praised the Scottish Church as the "sincerest
in the world." He had spoken, while in Scotland, of the Anglican Service as "an evil said
Mass in English."  They had hoped that one
coming from another Protestant nation would
be prepared to mediate between the parties in
the English Church; and they expected that he
would receive with favor the proposals for union
with liberty, and mutual charity. The grand opportunity of uniting English-speaking Protestants
in one Church, with one way of worship, was lost,
and the divisions, which have lasted till our own
time, have resulted from the mistakes of that
critical time.
The half century, that followed the accession
of James the First, was the great age of Puritanism.  The contest soon passed beyond ecclesiastical matters, and became political as well as
religious.  The king opposed his prerogativeto the Constitutional rights of Parliament, and 
of the people of England. The Puritans took
the lead in this contest on the side of liberty in \
the state as well as in the Church.
XII.
THE causes which led to this broadening of
the questions in debate are not far to seek. The
first is to be found in the fact of the union of
1 Neal's Puritans, part ii. ch. i.




40 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Church and state.  The new king assumed for
himself prerogatives which had never been conReasons of ceded by the English people, and he was
hePlitl supported in these claims by the prelthe Contest. ates of the Established Church. So that
the Puritans, in their contention for the right to
worship according to their convictions, found the
power of the king and of his council arrayed
against them.  The character of the new king
also gave a new turn to the controversy. Elizabeth had been diplomatic, if not always sincere.
She knew how to keep in touch with her people,
and she never attempted to force upon them a
Character of great measure to which they were opJames the  posed.  The greatness of the queen
was shown when she acknowledged
her mistakes to her people, and adopted the
measures which they called for. But James
never understood the English people. He allowed himself to drift into a position of opposition to their wishes. He was as obstinate as he
was wrong-headed. He dissolved one Parliament
after another because the Commons insisted, by
a very large majority, upon calling for a redress
of grievances before voting the supplies. He
said at one time," As it is atheism and blasphemy
to dispute what God can do; so it is presumption and a high contempt in a subject to dispute
what a king can do."




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


41


The position which the clergy of the Established Church assumed as the defenders of the
royal prerogative, and of the divine right of
kings, and of the duty of passive obedience,
tended to give a political character to The Divine
the contest.   When the king joined RghtofKings.
with the Church in setting forth these arbitrary
claims, the Puritans were led by the logic of
events to take the lead in asserting the liberties
of the people.  "England is the last monarchy
that retains her liberties," said Sir Thomas
Phillips; "let them  not perish now."
Another reason - if we accept the views of
the most eminent English historians -was their
theological system. "Logically carried Calvinsmand
out," says Mr. Campbell, " Calvinism is the Rightsof.the People.
democratic in its teachings.    "The 
meanest peasant," says Mr. J. R. Green, "once
called of God, felt within him a strength that
was stronger than    the  might of kings.    In
that mighty elevation of the masses, which was
embodied in the Calvinistic doctrines of election
and grace, lay the germs of the modern principles of human equality."  Whether we accept this
theory of the natural tendency of the system of
the Genevan reformer or not, it is true historically
that Calvinists have always stood for the rights
of the people in opposition to arbitrary power.
1 Green, vol. iii. 45. Campbell, vol. ii. Io-I2. See also Froude,
Bancroft, Fiske, and others.




42 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


The High Church party began at this time to
put forth claims which separated them further
than before from the Non-Conformists.
The Divine
Right of  In the reign of Elizabeth, Prelacy had
Episcopacy. been advocated as a form of church government which stood upon its merits as a useful
and ancient polity.' The great men of that age
never denied that a church without a bishop
might be a true church, or that a minister, who
had not received Episcopal ordination, might have
a true and valid commission. They recognized
the Protestant churches on the continent as true
churches.   In repeated instances the English
Church had recognized Presbyterian ordination
as valid, and had admitted Presbyterian ministers
to benefices in the English Church without re-ordination. It was held that the Prayer Book did
not require such re-ordination. This liberal spirit
of fellowship with Protestant churches that were
not Episcopal was very grateful to the Non-Conformists.  A  recent writer has stated that the
doctrine of Apostolical Succession was not to
be found in the writings of the Elizabethan
divines until the celebrated sermon of Bishop
Bancroft was preached, in the year of the destruction of the Armada.2 A more conservative
1 Macaulay, vol. i. 58, 59. Green, iii. 157, 158. Campbell,
ii. 367.
2 Contemporary Review, November, I892, 437. See also articles
in The Guardian and The Church Quarterly, I890.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


43


statement is this: that the great divines of the
time of Elizabeth did not claim that ordination
by bishops was essential to a valid commission as
a minister.  This is plainly the view of Hooker
in his Ecclesiastical Polity.'  The broad and
generous spirit which he sought to impart to the
Church, would, if it had been carried out, have
prevented the division of Protestant England into
two hostile camps.
But in the time of James it began to be claimed,
by leading clergymen, that Prelacy was essential
to the existence of a church, or the validity of
Christian ordinances. " They claimed," says Macaulay, "a celestial origin for the polity of the
Episcopal Church, and ascribed a new dignity
and importance to her services. Some practices
which had been long disused, and which were
commonly regarded as superstitious mummeries,
were revived."2  In the time of Elizabeth, for
example, the Communion table had stood almost
always in the midst of the church. But in the
time of Charles the First, a royal decree required
its removal to the place in the nave of the church,
which it had occupied before the Reformation.
The priests wore the cap and the surplice during
the time of the service; but they often wore the
1 Ecclesiastical Polity vii. ch. xiv. Ii. Green, vol. iii. 31.
2 Macaulay's England, vol. i. 6o. Campbell, vol. ii. 222.
Green, vol. iii. I6.




44 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Genevan gown in the pulpit. In the' chapel of
Lambeth House, the stained glass was removed
from the windows, in order that there might be
more light for the people to follow the lessons.
The Communion table was moved into the middle
of the chapel, the credence table was destroyed,
the cope was no longer used as a special vestment
in the Communion, and the archbishop forbore to
bow at the name of Jesus. The aspect of English churches, and of English worship, in the
reign of Elizabeth, says Mr. Green, " tended more
and more to the model of Geneva." But under
the Stuarts the forms of worship were brought
nearer to the ritual of the Church of Rome.
Some of the bishops, and a large number of
the clergy, advocated the doctrine of the Realpresence in the Sacrament, and the practice of
auricular confession, and of praying for the
dead.
'' Last of all, the fact that the Puritans had bec come a leading party - perhaps a majority - in
the kingdom, led them to make questions of the
reform of the Church the leading questions in
the Parliamentary debates. They were entirely
loyal to the king; but their love of liberty, in the
state as well as in the Church, their English
pluck and stamina, required them to stand for the
rights of the people.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


45


XIII.
So it came to pass that the Puritans became
the leading defenders of constitutional liberty in
the time of the Stuarts. They had a majority
in the first Parliament of James the First, which
met in I604, The first act of the House The First
of Commons was to frame bills for Parliamentof
James First,
the redress of ecclesiastical grievances. I604.
When these were rejected by the Lords, at the
instigation of the king the Commons sent a very
bold address to the king, in which they said,
that Parliament had come together in the spirit
of peace; that they desired to put an end to
the dissension among the ministers, and to preserve uniformity by the abandonment of a few
ceremonies of small importance, by the redress of
grievances, and by training a preaching ministry.
They said: "Let your Majesty be pleased to
receive from your Commons in Parliament information as well of the abuses in the Church, as in
the civil state and government."  " Your Majesty
would be misinformed, if any man should deliver
that the kings of England have any absolute
power in themselves, either to alter religion, or to
make any laws concerning the same, otherwise
than by consent of Parliament."
The king did not profit by the advice of the




46 THE PURITAN AN ENGLANiD AND NEW ENGLAND.


Commons, and, after some further conferences, the
Parliament was adjourned.  The High Church
party, with the assent of the king, set aside the
compromises that had been observed in the time
of Elizabeth, and adopted a series of canons which
increased the pressure upon the Non-Conformists.
Three hundred ministers, who were unable to
comply with the new demands of the Convocation,
were driven from their parishes in I605. Ten
men who had presented a petition for reform, were
sent to prison, because, as the judges said, " Such
things tend to sedition and rebellion." The Convocation formally asserted the divine right of
kings, and the duty of passive obedience.  Test
oaths were imposed upon students entering the
universities.  The Convocation denounced as a
fatal error the assertion that all power and authority are from the people. In accordance with
these declarations was that of the University of
Oxford, that it is never lawful for subjects to take
up arms against their princes.
The king assumed the right to levy duties
upon certain classes of goods without the consent
of Parliament. As soon as Parliament came together, they asserted their right to determine what
impositions should be made.  They also asked
that the ministers who had been silenced should
be permitted to preach; and that the jurisdiction
of Ecclesiastical Courts should be regulated by




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


47


law. The king insisted upon his prerogative, and
in I6II dissolved his first Parliament.
For three years, he tried the experiment of governing without a Parliament, while the people
were gradually coming to the point of TS
The Second
governing the state without a king. "A Parliament,
people may be without a king," said a I64.
leading member of Parliament, " but a king cannot
be without a people." In 1614, he convened his
second Parliament. In this body the great Parliamentary leaders appeared, for the first time,-John
Pym, Sir John Eliot, and Thomas Wentworth.
This Parliament refused to vote supplies until
they had attended to the public grievances. They
fixed upon the abuses of the Church as the first
grievance to be redressed. The king dissolved this
Parliament after a session of only two months.
For the next seven years no Parliament was
summoned. The king attempted to raise money
by loans and benevolences. He sent letters to the
wealthy land-owners, asking for money to meet the
expenses of the government; but the letters were
not answered. In three years only sixty thousand
pounds were raised. The judges were appealed to,
but in vain. The Chief Justice, Sir Edward Coke,
told the king that the laws of England were the
supreme rule, and that when any cause came before him he should act as it became a judge to
act. He was dismissed from his office; but this
only increased the difficulties of the king.




48 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


In 162 I, a third Parliament was convened. The
king forbade them to discuss matters of state, and
threatened to commit to the Tower those
The Third
Parliament,  who opposed his demands. They reM62I.    plied, that the rights and privileges of
Parliament are the birthright of the English people; that the making of laws and the redress
of grievances are proper subjects of debate in Parliament; and that every member has, and of right
ought to have, freedom of speech. The king, in
his rage, sent for the Journals of the House, and
tore out the pages which contained the record of
The Fourth  this protestation, and dissolved the ParParliament,  liament. Three years later, he called
I625.     his fourth and last Parliament, which
proved to be as fearless and as far-sighted as those
that had gone before. The next year, the king
died, having failed in all his plans to check the
rising spirit of liberty in the nation.
The great leaders during this reign were
Hampden, Pym, Eliot, Coke, and Selden. They
were not all Puritans; but they were agreed in
demanding their rights, and the rights of the people. The Archbishop of Canterbury, in the later
years of James, was Dr. George Abbott, a man of
gentle spirit, and of great learning, who was disposed to favor the Puritans so far as he could
without violating the laws of the Church. It was
commonly believed at the time that he was more




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


49


than half a Puritan. His name stands second
among the translators of the Bible. In his time,
the service in Lambeth Chapel was almost as
simple as that in Presbyterian churches. He forbade the reading of the proclamation of King
James, permitting sports and pastimes on the
Sabbath. He refused to license the publication
of a sermon in which the king's prerogative was
unduly magnified; he tried to moderate the
severity of the persecution of the Non-Conformists,
and to secure a compromise between the parties.
In this the Archbishop did not stand alone among
those who were devoted to the Established Church.
There was a large minority among the clergy, as
well as among the laity, who, while they did not
scruple to conform to the ritual of the Church,
joined heartily with the Puritans in their opposition
to the arbitrary measures of the Stuarts, and in
their demand for liberty in the Church. It was
their misfortune that they were overborne by the
extreme men who had been selected to fill the
more prominent positions in the Church.
XIV.
IT was during the reign of James the First that
the settlement of New England was begun. The
Pilgrim Fathers, and the Puritans, who laid the
foundations of these States, had been trained for
4




50 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


their work in the conflicts that were going on in
England in the earlier part of the seventeenth
century. They had seen thousands of the Protestants of France and of the Netherlands driven
into exile, and they were becoming accustomed
to the thought that they must cross the sea, and
plant a New England in the New World. The
The Thirty Thirty Years War had already begun,
Years War. and the Parliament and people of England had called in vain upon the king to throw
the great power of England into the scale, on the
side of the struggling Protestants. But James
was seeking to strengthen his dynasty by a matrimonial alliance with Spain, — the most cruel of
the persecutors of the Protestants. When this
plan failed, he turned to France, and entered
into negotiations for the marriage of his eldest
son with a French princess.  But the rumor
of it awakened the opposition of the Puritans.
The French They knew the danger of introducing
Alance.  a Roman Catholic queen, with her
French attendants, at such a critical time. They
also resented the stipulations - to which the king
had consented - of relaxing the laws against the
Romanists, as the price of the alliance, because
those stipulations would furnish a pretext to a
foreign government to interfere in the civil affairs
of England. They foresaw that the French alliance would bring into the royal family influences




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


51


that would weaken the hold of the Reformation
upon the nation. In fact, the prospects of the
Protestant Reformation in Europe had never been
so dark as they were in the last years of James
the First.
XV.
THE Pilgrim Fathers, who began the settlement of New England in 1620, came from the
northern counties of England. "They were from
several villages," -says their historian, Governor
Bradford, - "some in Nottingham, some in Lincoln, and some in Yorkshire, where they bordered
nearest together." A number of zeal- The Plgrim
ous preachers had been going about in Fathers, I604.
these northern hamlets, teaching the people from
the Word of God, and moving them to reform
their lives. We are not told who these preachers
were, but their success was so great that there
was already a beginning of persecution. These
people formed themselves into two Independent
churches, which met from week to week on the
Lord's day for worship. One was at Gainsborough-upon-Trent, which had as its minister
John Smith, and which left the country for
Amsterdam, under stress of persecution, in I606.
The other church, in which we are especially
interested, was at Scrooby. It met for worship
in the chapel of the old manor-house, which was




52 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


at that time under the control of Mr. William
Brewster, who was looking after the mails for the
government, and who was also the agent for the
Archbishop of York, for the care of the manorhouse. The place was described as a "mean
townlet," and it is hardly more than that to-day.
The ministers of this church were Mr. Richard
Clipton - "a grave and reverend preacher who
had done much good" -and Mr. John Robinson, -"a famous and worthy man," a graduate
John     of Corpus-Christi, in Cambridge, where
Robinson.  he attained a Fellowship. During the
four years from I600 to 1604, he had been a
teacher or lecturer at Norwich. He was suspended by the Bishop on account of his Puritan
tendencies. He made efforts to obtain the right
to preach in some chapel, or to secure the mastership in the Hospital. It was in such humble
positions as these that many of the ministers
who had been silenced for non-conformity continued to preach. But Robinson did not secure
a chapel or a lectureship, and so he went into the
north country, where he found the two Separatist churches. They were already enduring persecution. "Some were taken and clapped up in
prisons, others had their houses beset, and watched
night and day, and hardly escaped their hands;
and the most were fain to fly, and leave their
livelihood.  Seeing themselves thus molested,




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


53


and that there was no hope of their continuance
there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into
the Low Countries, where they had heard was
freedom of religion for all men. So, after they
had continued together about a year, and kept
their meetings in one place or another, exercising
the worship of God amongst themselves, notwithstanding all the diligence and malice of their
adversaries, they, seeing they could no longer
continue in that condition, resolved to get over
into Holland as they could, which was in the
year 1607 and I6o8." 1
These religious people were countrymen, " used
to a plain country life and the innocent trade
of husbandry." They were going to a strange
country where they must learn a new language,
and get their living they knew not how; for they
were not acquainted with trades nor traffic.
"But their desires were set on the
Condition and
ways of God," says their historian, Spirit of the
"and to enjoy His ordinances; and so Pilgrims.
they trusted His providence. But they found
the ports and havens shut against them, so that
although they could not stay, yet were they not
permitted to go." A large company of them
purposed to sail from Boston in Lincolnshire;
and they hired a ship to take them and their
goods to Holland. But when they had gone on
1 Bradford's History of Plymouth Colony, chap. i.




54 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


board, the master of the ship betrayed them to
the officers who were watching for them. They
were taken back to the town, rifled by the officers
of much of their money and other goods, and committed to prison. After a month's imprisonment,
the greater part were set at liberty; but some of
the principal men were kept in prison. In the
course of time they were set at liberty, and this
large company of plain people managed to subsist through the winter. It is not easy to see how,
for they had broken up their homes, and sold
their property.
In the spring following, they made another attempt to reach Holland. They made an agreement with a Dutch shipmaster to take them to
Zealand. At the appointed time the women and
The Depature children with the goods were sent in
for Holland.  a small bark, and the men were to
meet them by land. The bark arrived one day
before the ship came, and ran aground in low
water. While they were waiting for the tide,
the ship came, and took on board a boat-load
of the men who were on the shore. Before the
others could get to the ship, a company of armed
men with officers appeared and took them into
custody, with the women and children.  The
Dutch shipmaster, seeing that the most of his
passengers were gone, hoisted sail and went on
his voyage with such passengers as he had.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


55


"Pitiful it was," says Bradford, " to see the heavy
case of these poor women in their distress: what
weeping and crying on every side, - some for
their husbands that were carried away in the
ship; others not knowing what should become
of them and their little ones;' others melted in
tears, seeing their poor little ones hanging about
them crying for fear and quaking with cold.
Being thus apprehended, they were hurried from
one place to another, and from one justice to
another, until in the end they knew not what to
do with them. For to imprison so many helpless
women and children for no other cause but that
they would go with their husbands, seemed to be
unreasonable, and all would cry out of them: and
to send them home again was as difficult, for they
alleged (as the truth was) they had no homes to
go to, for they had sold or otherwise disposed of
their houses and livings. After they had been
in these troubles a good while, and conveyed
from one constable to another, they were glad to
be rid of them upon any terms; though, in the
mean time, the poor souls endured misery enough.
In the end they all got over, some at one time,
and some at another, and met again according
to their desires, with no small rejoicing." Mr.
Robinson and Mr. Brewster and the other leading men of the company remained in England
to help the women and children, so that they




56 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


came to Holland last. The whole party was
gathered in Amsterdam. Such were the experiences of these plain country people who were
fleeing from their native land in the years that
followed the Hampden Court Conference. By
such constancy in suffering they were preparing
for the great mission, which was to come to
them twelve years later, - to lay the foundations
for a new Christian Commonwealth beyond the
sea.
The next year they removed to Leyden, " a fair
and beautiful city," where "they fell into such
trades and employments as they best could, and
at length they came to raise a competent and
comfortable living with hard and continual labor."
Mr. Robinson was duly chosen their pastor, and
Mr. Brewster their elder. "And so they grew in
knowledge and other gifts and graces of the Spirit
of God, and lived together in peace and love and
holiness. And many came unto them from divers
parts of England, so that they grew to be a great
congregation." That " fair and beautiful city"
was their dwelling-place for about twelve years.
Lie in   The friendly Dutch people saw that
Leyden.  they were diligent in their callings; and
they gave them their confidence and favor, and
strove to get their custom, and to employ them
above others in their work, on account of their
honesty and diligence. The magistrates of the




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


57


city gave this testimony of them about the time
of their coming away: " These English have
lived amongst us now this twelve years, and yet
we have never had any suit or accusation against
any of them."
In due time it became plain to these Godly
people that it was expedient for them to make
one more removal. They had been hospitably
entertained in Holland, and had enjoyed liberty
of conscience there.  They had continued to
worship God on the Lord's day, according to their
simple Congregational way, no man for- Reasons orthe
bidding them. But that was not their removal from
country. There was no room to establish  yen.
a new commonwealth. Their children were not
likely to continue to use the English language, nor
to follow the customs of the English people. They
would be likely to become mingled with the people
of the land in which they dwelt. They had heard
much of the unpeopled countries of America.
They had a " great hope and inward zeal of laying
some good foundations for the propagating and
advancing the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ
in those remote parts of the world; yea, though
they should be but as stepping-stones unto others
for preparing of so great a work." So, with much
difficulty, they obtained a patent from the Virginia Company, and made preparations for their
voyage. "They knew they were Pilgrims, and




58 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


looked not much on those things, but lifted up
their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, and
quieted their spirits."
XVI.
IT is not the purpose of this chapter to follow
them in their voyage, or to trace the history of
their settlement at Plymouth, but only to show
by what experiences they were prepared for their
great mission. " Through scenes of gloom and
misery," says Mr. Bancroft, " the Pilgrims showed
the way to an asylum for those who would go to
the wilderness for liberty of conscience. Enduring every hardship themselves, they were the servants of posterity, - the benefactors of succeeding
generations."  " Out of small beginnings," said
Governor Bradford, "great things have been produced; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone to many,
in some sort to our whole nation."
The light did shine. There is abundant evidence
that the progress of that small colony, which went
to the New World in I620, was watched with
great interest by the Puritan leaders who were
engaged in the struggle for civil and religious
liberty in England. "Let it not be grievous to
you," wrote some of the English Puritans to the
men of Plymouth, "that you have been instru



THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


59


mental to break the ice for others. The honor
shall be yours to the world's end."
The Puritans were not ready to leave the old
country when the Pilgrims went, be- Charesthe
cause they were in the midst of the con- First, 1625.
test with James the First. When Charles became
king, in 1625, there were strong hopes that he
would profit by the experience of his father. He
had been popular as a prince. It was understood
that he was a decided Protestant, and that counted
for a great deal.  It was believed that the young
king, who had lived so long among the English
people, would regard the will of the nation; for
it was evident that England was becoming more
thoroughly Puritan every year.
But, unfortunately, the Duke of Buckingham
stood nearest to the king as his friend and adviser,
while Bishop Laud was his chief counsellor in
ecclesiastical matters. The pulpits of the Established Church resounded with denunciations of the
Non-Conformists, and with the assertion of the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and of the duty
of passive obedience. Montague, a chaplain at
the court, advocated the doctrine of the Realpresence in the Sacrament. Dr. Mainwaring
preached before the king that there was no need
to ask the consent of Parliament for the imposition of taxes, and that to resist the will of the
king was to incur eternal damnation. Both these




60 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


clergymen were sent to prison by order of Parliament for their public utterances, but both were
set at liberty, and made bishops by order of the
king. Charles seemed only too ready to adopt
the principles which the High Church clergymen
were teaching. In AMay, he called together his first
Parliament, and asked for a grant of supplies.
They voted a hundred and forty thousand pounds,
and then proceeded to consider the public grievances.  The leading members of the House of
Commons had learned from their experiences
under James that the most effectual check upon
the arbitrary power of the king was the control
of the national treasury.  They determined that
no grants of money should be voted except upon
condition of the redress of grievances. They made
the customary grant of the duties from customs,
but limited the grant to a single year, and then
proceeded to consider the complaints of the
people. " They saw," says Mr. Palfrey, "that the
time had come to determine whether the English
people should live in future under an absolute or
under a limited monarchy; and they launched
upon the course of measures which was to decide
that momentous question." 1
Charles dissolved three Parliaments within four
years. He committed Sir John Eliot to the
Tower of London for his bold words in defence
1 Palfrey, vol. i. 265.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


of the rights of the people. The House of Commons refused to go on with the public business
until he was set at liberty. For ten  Sir John
days the king obstinately refused to  Elot.
release him. He finally yielded to the necessity
that was upon him, but soon dissolved the Parliament. After the dissolution, Charles attempted
to raise money by forced loans; but the people
refused to give anything save by way of Parliament. The Chief Justice refused to recognize
the legality of the taxes imposed by the authority of the king, and he was summarily dismissed
from his office. John Hampden was thrown into
prison, because he refused to pay money that was
demanded without authority of law, in violation
of Magna Charta. The third Parliament, which
met in 1628, drew up the famous Petition of
Right, to which they asked the assent Petitionof
of the king, as the condition of the  Right.
grant of money. In this Petition they demanded
that no taxes be hereafter levied without the consent of Parliament; that no person be fined, or
imprisoned, or in any way punished, without a
trial; that martial law in time of peace, and the
billeting of soldiers upon the people, be discontinued; and that the rights and liberties of the
people, according to the laws and statutes of the
realm, be recognized by all the officers and ministers of the king; and especially that the writ of




62 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Habeas Corpus shall not be denied whenever the
law allows it.' To this Petition, after many
evasions, the king gave his assent in the usual
form: " Let right be done as is desired."  The
bill for subsidies was immediately passed, and
the bells were rung, and the bonfires were lighted
in token of the joy of the people.
But the faithless king had no intention of keeping the promises that he had given.  Arbitrary
arrests were still made, and taxes and customs
were still levied, without authority of law. The
House of Commons refused to vote further
supplies until these grievances should be redressed; and when they found that the king had
determined upon a dissolution, they declared, by
formal resolutions, that whoever should bring in
innovations in religion, or should levy subsidies
not granted in Parliament, is a capital enemy to
Final Decla- the kingdom, and every subject volunrPaton of  tarily complying with illegal acts and
Parliament,
1629.   demands is a betrayer of the liberty
of England, and an enemy of the same.
Thus the issue was joined between those who
stood for the ancient liberties of the people, and
the supporters of the arbitrary monarch. As
soon as Charles had dissolved this Parliament, he
entered upon that course of tyranny which, after
twelve years, led to the Great Rebellion. For
1 Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. 287, N. Y. Edition.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


63


eleven years, he governed without a Parliament.
The leaders of the Commons in the last Parliament were thrown into prison. Sir John Eliot,
the boldest of the patriotic leaders, was subjected
to an imprisonment so severe that he TheDa
died after three years. Towards the  of Charles.
end of his life, the king was asked to order his
release for a time, in order that he might breathe
the fresh air, and gain some respite from the
attacks of disease. But he refused to grant even
this favor. After the death of Sir John, his son
requested permission to bury him in his native
county; but the King replied, "Let Sir John
Eliot's body be buried in the church of that
parish where he died," - that is, in the prison.
When the imprisoned patriots were claimed by
a writ of Habeas Corpus, the Lieutenant of the
Tower was forbidden to produce his prisoners in
court. They were condemned to pay heavy fines,
and to be imprisoned during the pleasure of the
king.  Large sums of money were secured for
the Treasury by arbitrary fines, and by the sale
of Monopolies, which had been prohibited by
law since the time of Elizabeth. The customs
duties were collected without authority of law.
Those who protested against these illegal exactions were ruined by excessive fines. Loans
were demanded in the king's name from the freeholders in every shire. By such means as these




64 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the annual revenue was raised from half a million
to eight hundred thousand pounds; and some of
the courtiers expressed the hope that " the king
would never need any more Parliaments."
While the king was carrying out his plans in
the government of EnglandBishop L       as
transforming the English Church.   First, he
severed the ties which had united the Reformed
Churches of the continent with the Church of
England. He held that ordination by bishops
was essential to a valid ministry, and that the
Reformed Churches of Switzerland and of
Germany were not true Churches. The freedom of worship, which had been allowed to the
Protestant refugees from the Low Countries and
from France, was withdrawn, and those exiles
were required to conform to the ritual of the
Church of England, or to flee from the kingdom.
In I633, Laud became Archbisjiwp-of Canterbury. He began at once to use the great power
of the court of High Commission to reduce the
Puritan ministers to submission. The offensive
ceremonies were strictly insisted upon.  Every
minister who refused to conform to them was
silenced. The lectureships founded in towrs,
which had been the refuge of the Puritan
preachers after they were silenced, were suppressed by the Primate. He also withdrew the
privilege of keeping chaplains, because many




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


wealthy persons in the country had appointed
the suspended ministers as their preachers. The
Puritans had been buying up the appropriations of livings in certain parishes, and they
attempted to secure, through feoffees, the right
to appoint their own ministers to the parishes
of which they were patrons; but the Archbishop, by a stretch of power, put an end to
these feoffments. The people had become very
fond of the small pocket Bibles, with marginal notes, which had been imported from
Geneva; but these marginal notes were obnoxious
to the Archbishop, and so the importation of
these Bibles was prohibited. Hundreds of laymen
were excommunicated for refusing to kneel when
they received the Communion. The English
people, under the influence of the Puritans, had
been accustomed to keep Sunday very strictly,
as they do to this day.  But the Archbishop
ordered every minister to read from the pulpit
a declaration in favor of Sunday sports. Large
numbers were deprived of their livings, and
silenced, for refusing to read such a declaration.
One minister read the declaration to his people,
and then read the Ten Commandments, and said:
"You have heard the commands of man, and
the commands of God. Obey which you please."
The progress toward the doctrines and the
ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church was
5




66 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


rapid. It was this that touched the people most
deeply. "The Gospel," said Sir John Eliot, "is
that truth in which this kingdom has been happy
through a long and rare prosperity." " Whenever
mention is made of danger to religion," said
another, "and of the increase of Popery, their
affections are much stirred." The Archbishop
was not a Romanist; but he aimed at restoring
the pomp and splendor of Romanism in public
worship, and at bringing the Church into closer
relations with Rome. He avowed his preference
for a celibate clergy.  Some of the bishops advocated auricular confession, and prayers for the
dead. The doctrines of the Church of Rome
were preached in the pulpits from which the most
learned and devout ministers in the land had
Extreme  been ejected. Laud was backed by the
Measures of
theah-f power of the king, who was determined
bishop.  to root out Puritanism from the kingdom, while the prelates were preaching passive
obedience, and turning religion into a systematic
attack on English liberty. In the pages of Neal,
one may still find the record of the petty persecution which w.s carried into the most distant
and obscure parishes of the kingdom.  Every
minister who hesitated to conform to any of the
requirements of the Established Church, in regard
to vestments, or ceremonies, or the manner of
observing Sunday, was pursued with unrelenting




TIHE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


67


vigilance. It was not enough to deprive him of
his living. He must not preach in the fields, or
in a private house.  He must not teach a school,
or take private pupils.    He must not practise
medicine, or engage in business. He was liable
to arrest for his non-conformity, and to heavy fines
and imprisonment. Those ministers who became
the first pastors of the churches in New England,
had almost all of them been silenced for non-conformity. Several of them had been imprisoned.
Some of the most eminent of them were fleeing
from the officers when they took passage for
America.
There is no more graphic picture of the condition of England at that time than the few lines
of " Lycidas," one of the early poems Mlton's
of that foremost Englishman of his age, "Lycidas."
John Milton. In his tender lament at the too
early death of his friend Lycidas, he contrasts his
pure and beautiful life with the lives of those who
"for their bellies' sake,
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold.
Of other care they little reckoning make,
Than how to scramble at the shearer's feast,
And shove away the worthy bidden guest:
Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold
A sheep hook."
The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed; "

while the "grim wolf" of Rome,




68 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


" with privy paw,
Daily devours apace, and nothing said:
But that two-handed engine at the door
Stands ready to smite once, and smite no more."
Milton says of himself, that when he came to
some maturity of years, he perceived "that tyranny had invaded the Church, and that he who
ilton's on- would take orders must subscribe slave,
conformity. and take an oath withal," so that he
thought it better to give up the sacred office,
rather than to obtain it by "servitude and forswearing."  Milton was but one of many of the
cultured and devout young men from the universities who found themselves shut out from   the
National Church by its lack of toleration.
XVII.
THAT which is called the bigotry of the Puritans was the result of such experiences as these.
Their spirit was that of soldiers in an enemy's
country, encompassed by adroit and treacherous
enemies, and standing for their rights as Englishmen and Protestant Christians. It may be that
men who have to contend with such kings
The Bigotry
of the  as the Stuarts are likely to become narrow.
Puritans. In the conflict for the right to worship
according to their consciences, such men would
be likely to develop the sterner virtues. With a




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


69


great price, they obtained the freedom which we
enjoy, and so long as the conflict lasted, they
belonged to the Church militant. That which we
call their narrowness was the result of their vigilance. They crossed the ocean to be free from
the power of the prelates and of Rome, and it is.,
not surprising that they claimed the right to
exclude from their new plantations those who
seemed to them to be unfriendly to their great
purpose. We who have entered into the heritage
which they gained, have little right to judge them
by the standards of an age of peace and luxury.
XVIII.
THE great Puritan migration to New England
began in the darkest hour of the struggle for constitutional and religious liberty.  King Charles
had determined to govern without a Parliament, in
defiance of the will of the people. There seemed
to be no available means of carrying out the will
of the people, when it was resisted by the power
of the king. It rested with him to summon a
Parliament when he pleased, and he could dissolve it when it interfered with his plans. By a
careful economy, and by maintaining peace with
foreign powers, Charles had reduced the expenses
of the government to the smallest practicable
sum, and this he succeeded in obtaining by means




70 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


which were indeed illegal, but which it was not
easy to interrupt. The judges held their offices
Meansof us- during the pleasure of the king, and,
tang the in many instances, they became subTyranny of
the King.  servient to his will. The moral power
of the Established Church was used by the Primate to sustain the personal government.
When Charles was dissolving his third Parliament, he granted the Charter which established the
TheSette- Colony of Massachusetts. Men thought
ment of Mas- they saw the hand of Providence pointing
sachusetts.
them to the lands beyond the sea as the
place where they could realize their ideal of a
free Church in a free state. The Puritans did
not all give up the contest. The great majority
remained to continue the struggle that was to
result in the overthrow of the personal government and the vindication of the rights of the
people. It is an interesting fact, however, that at
one time even John Hampden purchased a tract
of land in New England, with a view to leading
a colony there. There is a tradition that Oliver
Cromwell was only prevented from going by a
royal embargo. The Puritan Lord Warwick
bought a tract of land in the Connecticut valley,
and Lord Saye and Sele and Lord Brooke at one
time expected to transport themselves to Massachusetts. It was better, however, that these leaders who were engaged in the struggle in England




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


7I


remained behind, and that younger men, who
were not needed at home, led the colony across
the sea.  Those who went away were     not
inferior to those who stayed behind. Though separated by the breadth of the Atlantic, the two
sections of the Puritan party continued in full
sympathy with each other, each section carrying
out, in its own way, and according to its environment, the principles which they held in common.
The plan for emigration had been under discussion in the Puritan families for a long time. Sir
John Eliot, while a prisoner in the Tower, corresponded with John Hampden about it.1 A notable
"agreement" was entered into at Cambridge, in
I629, for the settlement of New England, signed
by John Winthrop, William   Pynchon, Isaac
Johnson, Thomas Dudley, and others. The emigration was on a large scale. Endicott went to
Salem in I628, with forty or fifty persons; four
hundred came with Higginson in I629; eight
hundred arrived with Governor Winthrop in I630.
Up to the time of the meeting of the Long Parliament, in I640, the average number of emigrants
was about two thousand a year. After the meeting of the Long Parliament, very few came over,
as the Puritans in England had gained a position
which gave them the assurance of success.
1 Life of Winthrop.




72 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


XIX.
THE struggle in England had been going on
through all those years. The most important
events were connected with the efforts of the king
to collect money without the authority of Parliament. The law officers of the crown had found
The Ship-  precedents for collecting money from
Money.   the port towns to equip ships for
the navy. Writs were issued, and the money
was paid by the towns on the coast. But, it was
argued, the obligation to support the royal navy
rests as much upon the people who live away
from the sea, as upon those in the port towns. So
that it was claimed that all the people of England
were bound to pay ship-money. A quarter of a
million a year was collected in this way. But,
the ministers of the king reasoned, if the people
of England are bound to pay ship-money to support the navy, they are under an equal obligation
to pay ship-money to support the army, and to
meet all the expenses of the government. If such
claims as these were allowed, it was plain that
there would be no need of the authority of Parliament for the collection of the revenue.
It was John Hampden who brought the question
before the courts. The trial of this case, in I637,
attracted the attention of the whole country. It




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


73


lasted twelve days. In the end, seven of the
twelve judges decided that no statute prohibiting
arbitrary taxation could be pleaded against the
king's will. "Rex is lex," said the judges. " Acts
of Parliament to take away the king's royal power
in the defence of his kingdom are void." The
king and his courtiers exulted over the decision;
but the people of England were aroused to a sense
of the danger to their liberties. Hampden had
gained his purpose by the publicity of the proceedings; and from that day the people never forgot
the lesson of that historic trial. The struggle
began in Scotland. The Scottish people renewed
their covenant, and gathered an army to resist the
efforts of Charles to introduce the Episcopal forms
of worship into their churches. The Scottish war
made it necessary for the king to summon a Parliament, which met in April, 1640.  The king
asked for grants of money to put down the Scottish
rebellion. But the Commons declared that no
subsidy could be granted till security was had for
religion, and the rights of the people. Charles
dissolved the Parliament after a session of three
weeks. This dissolution added to the determination of the people. The king found it impossible by any expedients to raise money to meet the
expenses of the war, and before the year ended he
was forced to summon another Parliament. While
the elections were pending, Hampden and Pym




74 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


rode together through the counties to rouse the
people to a sense of the crisis which was upon
them. When the Houses came together, the first
The Long  week was spent in receiving petitions
Parliament Of grievances, which came pouring in
from every county and borough. A list of the
officers, who had executed the illegal orders of the
king, was prepared. The oppression and persecution of Laud and his instruments were passed in
review. Strafford was impeached and sent to the
Tower. The Archbishop followed him soon after.
The Puritans whose ears had been cropped off,
and who had been sentenced to imprisonment for
life, were set at liberty, and were received in London with great honor, as the martyrs of liberty.
ThIe House of Commons declared the collection
of ship-money illegal, and passed a statute which
put a final end to the claim of a right to impose taxes of any sort without the consent of
Parliament. Another act required the assembly
of Parliament once in three years, and made it
the duty of the returning officers to proceed with
the elections if the king should fail to summon
them.
A Committee of Religion was appointed to
consider the state of the Church, and to free it
from the innovations which had been made by
Laud and his coadjutors. But the great majority
of this Parliament, in its best days, was opposed




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


75


to any change in the constitution of the Church.
They set themselves to restore it to its state under
Elizabeth, and to put an end to the pcrsecutiDn
of the Non-Conformists.
We have reached the point in the history when
the emigration to New England came to an end.
The direct influence of the English Puritans in
moulding the character of our Puritan forefathers
lasted only so long as the stream of emigration
continued to flow toward the Colonies. It is not
necessary for the purpose of this book to follow
it further. The two great objects for which the
Puritans had been contending seemed to be within
reach when the Long Parliament met at Westminster. The plans of Charles had broken down,
and a personal government, without the control
of Parliament, was found to be impossible. The
National Church was to be henceforth a Protestant Church, because the nation had become
thoroughly Protestant. If the English Puritans
had been content to secure these two capital
objects, - a limited monarchy, and a Protestant
Church under Episcopal forms of government and
of worship, - they would probably have held the
control of England for an indefinite period. But
unfortunately the great leaders of the party, Eliot,
Coke, Hampden, and Pym, did not live to guide
its policy when its success was assured. New
leaders gave a new direction to its action.  The




76 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


attempt was made to set aside Episcopacy and
Monarchy, both of which were firmly rooted in the
'fraditions of the people. The failure of the policy! of the new leaders to establish a republican Commonwealth, and to make Presbyterianism  or
Independency the State Church, would have been
foreseen by such statesmen as John Hampden,
and John Pym. The restoration of the Monarchy,
and of the Episcopal Church only hindered for a
few years the success of those principles of constitutional liberty and of religious reform for which,the Puritans had been contending so long.
XX.
A FEW words should be added in respect to the
quality and the value of the Puritan party in
England. We should, first of all, acknowledge
its limitations. They had the faults of their age.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were
very far behind the nineteenth. Our goodly
heritage has come to us as the result of their
fidelity to the principles of liberty, as they were
able to apprehend them.  It must be admitted
also that there was a certain insular narrowness
about the English Puritans. They were not as
tolerant as the Dutch Protestants of the sixteenth
century. William the Silent was in many ways a
more admirable character than Oliver Cromwell.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


77


A republic was possible in the Low Countries,
while the English Commonwealth was a failure.
The Pilgrims went to Holland because they had
heard that in that country "there was freedom of
religion for all men." The Puritans were never
as tolerant as that.
On the other hand, the Puritans were the advanced Liberals of their time in England. They
were, first of all, Protestants in their
The Puritan
religion and Calvinists in their theology, spirit and
Character.
and they were therefore the champions
of liberty in the Church and in the state. All their
tendencies led them to claim their rights as Englishmen under the ancient laws of the realm. They
stood for Magna Charta. They formulated the
Petition of Right. They combined to resist the
attacks upon the rights of the people.
No greater wrong has been done to the Puritans
than by the assumption that they were, as a class,
rude and ungraceful in their ways of,..*~~~~~~~.     "       ~Their Manners
living.  There was a time, after they andDomestic
had gained political power, when large Life.
numbers of selfish and insincere men joined
them, and when the Puritan character degenerated. There were perhaps hypocrites among
them when they had within their gift the highest honors of the Commonwealth.  These men
exaggerated their peculiarities, and brought them
into contempt. But the Puritans of the age of




78 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
Elizabeth, and of James and Charles, were genuine patriots, and their lives were as gentle as they
Lwere heroic. "The Puritanism of the first forty
years of the seventeenth century," says Mr.
Palfrey, "was not tainted with degrading or
ungraceful associations of any sort. The rank,
the wealth, the chivalry, the genius, the learning,
the accomplishments, the social refinements, and
elegance of the time were largely represented
in its ranks. The statesmen of the first period
of the Long Parliament had been bred in the
luxury of the landed aristocracy of the realm.
The Parliamentary General, Essex, was a man with
every grace of person, mind, and culture, fitted
to be the ornament of a splendid court. John
Milton, the Latin Secretary of Cromwell, who
was equal to the foremost of mankind in genius
and learning, was skilled in all manly exercises,
and proficient in the lighter accomplishments,
beyond any other Englishman of his day. There
was no better swordsman or amateur musician
than he; and his portraits exhibit him with locks
as flowing as Prince Rupert's.  John Owen, the
great theologian of the Puritans, was considered
in his time something of a coxcomb."  There are
no more tender or graceful letters in our literature
than those of John Winthrop to his wife. The life
of Colonel Hutchinson, written by his widow, gives
1 Palfrey, i. 279 —28I.




THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND.


79


a most attractive picture of a Puritan family at
that time. She dwells on his personal beauty,
and on his love of music, " often diverting himself
with a viol, on which he played masterly."
Nor did the Puritans of that earlier time break
with the harmless gayeties of the world about them.
They entered with zest into the sports of English
country life. They were not iconoclasts until
they were convinced that the High Church party
were making use of music and art to divert men
from the true religious life. That which we call
the sternness of the Puritan spirit was the result,
in large part, of persecution and of the struggle
to maintain the truth.
The Puritans were the friends of learning in
their time. A large number of them were graduates from Cambridge or Oxford. They made
some noble contributions to English literature.
A Puritan was the first Protestant founder of
a college in an English university. A graduate
from a Puritan college in Cambridge was the
founder of Harvard University. The Puritans
had a fair share of the learning and eloquence
of their times.
We do well to remember that the greaet
Puritan migration to New England took place
in the best period of Puritanism, before the party 
had been weakened by those who came to it 
after its victory had been won. Our forefathers




80 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


brought to New England the best that the Old
England had to give.
If we inquire what influences this great party
has left with the English-speaking races, the
ermanent  answer will be: Free governments, by
Permanent
nfluence of  the people, and for the people, on both
the Puritans.. 
sides of the Atlantic; a free press;
an enlightened public opinion, which controls
princes and Cabinets; free public schools open
to the children of the people; a nobler Christian
manhood; a fuller comprehension of the religion
of Christ, which brings help and comfort to the
poor, which brings liberty to the slaves as those
redeemed by the Saviour of the world; the
separation of Church and state; the equality
of all branches of the Church before the law;
freedom within the Church, whether it be Prelatical or Presbyterian or Congregational; a quiet
Sunday, with its opportunities for the culture of
the spiritual nature; and a free pulpit, in sympathy
with all sorts and conditions of men; preaching
in pagan lands, and in those that are Christian;
the Gospel for all such as labor and are heavy
laden.




II.
The Pilgrim and the Puritan:
Which?
6








The Pilgrim and the Puritan:
Which?
THE history of the Puritan party in England
prepares us to appreciate the early settlers of
New England. That strong and peculiar type
of men had been developed by the experiences
of three generations in the Mother Country.
They brought with them the principles for which
they had been struggling. They came to the
New World because they hoped to lay the foundations of a free state, and a free Protestant
Church such as they had tried to develop in the
land of their fathers. The success of the earlier
English colonies on this side of the Atlantic had
not been so great as to awaken any enthusiasm
for emigration. There had been severe privations, and some disastrous failures. The evidence is conclusive that our forefathers came to
New England not as adventurers, but, as the
friends of liberty and of the Protestant religion,
to found a state in which they could work out
the principles for which they had been contending, and which they had come to believe could
not be developed in the Old World.




84 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


We shall do well to study, first of all, the
characteristics of the two earliest colonies. For
The Two  it is well known that the Province of
Colonies.  Massachusetts, which was constituted
in the year I692, was made up from two original
colonies, - the Plymouth Colony, or, as we
say, the Old Colony; and the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. We have already seen that the
two colonies were settled at different times, by
different classes of people. The Pilgrims had
come from their life in Holland, where the influence of William the Silent had given a free and
tolerant spirit to the earnest Protestants who had
stood heroically against the armies of Spain.
They could not forget the country where they
had found refuge from persecution. They were
the disciples of Robert Browne, and they had
founded a Separatist Church in the new settlement. The Puritans were fresh from the great
national contest for their rights as Englishmen
under Magna Charta, in the times of Charles
the First and Bishop Laud.   They brought
with them the principles of Sir John Eliot,
John Hampden, and John Pym. They had a
great dread of Popery, and they believed the
Church of England was relapsing into the superstitions of Romanism.
Each Colony was developing its political and
religious institutions in its own way. In many




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


85


respects the two colonies were similar, in other
respects they were unlike. It was with them
much as it had been with the Republics of Greece
in the best periods of Grecian history. The differences between them - small as well as great
- were continued from one generation to another.
If the two colonies had not been welded together
by the imperial mandate from England, it is very
likely that the differences between them would
have continued, and perhaps become more striking, just as the differences between Athens and
Sparta and Corinth did.
We shall come to a closer study of these two
colonies, as we consider the question: Which
has had most to do in mouldinzg the people of New
Eng land?
I.
THE earlier historians usually gave the precedence to the Puritans. Even so recent a writer
as Mr. Palfrey gives much the larger The Earier
space to the annals of the younger Mstorians.
colony. Plymouth occupies quite a subordinate
place in his volumes. But in later times there
has been a higher estimate of the character and
influence of the Pilgrims. Dr. Leonard Bacon,
for example, wrote of them as though almost everything that is excellent in the New England character had been derived from them. He has been




86 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


followed by a number of more recent authors,
so that it has become the fashion to ascribe
almost every excellence of our people to those
who came over in the Mayflower. New England families are eager to trace their lineage back
to the Pilgrim Fathers. A great many churches
have been named from the Pilgrims, few, in comparison, from the Puritans.
II.
THE Pilgrims began their settlement at Plymouth in I620. So that theirs was properly
Difference in called the Old Colony. The Puritans
Date.    began their colony at Salem  eight
years later; and as their settlements extended
around Massachusetts Bay, the Colony was called
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. In a new
country the advantage of a few=years in residence
counts for much. The Pilgrims had a Colony
well organized and governed according to democratic principles, and a Church organized after
the Congregational way before the Puritans
came. It may be that the Puritans would have
come to America if the Pilgrims had not been
already settled at Plymouth; but it is certain
that the Puritans were more inclined to make
the venture, from the fact that a Colony of devout
Protestant Englishmen had already gained a




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHI"CH?


87


foothold here. The Puritans naturally looked
to the Colony at Plymouth for models in the
organization of their State, and of their churches.
III.
THE pioneers in these two colonies differed
in some important respects in their views of the
Church. The Pilgrims had been, for Sparatists
many years before they came to Ply- and Non-Conmouth, Separatists. The Puritans hador
no scruples about their connection with the
Protestant Church established in England. They
could continue in its worship and discipline with
good consciences, provided it was faithful to the
Protestant Reformation. It has been abundantly
shown that their objection was not to the use of
the Liturgy in public worship, nor to prelatical
government. They objected to certain teachings
of the Book of Common Prayer then in use, and
to certain forms and ceremonies which, as they
believed, tended toward the superstitions of the
Church of Rome. The Puritans therefore, so
long as they remained in England, claimed their
rights as members of the National Church. They
refused to conform to practices which they regarded as evil, and claimed the right to worship
in the churches of the establishment, and to continue members of the National Church, without




88 THE PURITAN TN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND


conforming to its objectionable practices. Several
of the men who came with Governor Winthrop,
in I630, had been church wardens in England.
Some of them went back to the Church of England when they returned to the Old Country to
spend their declining years. It is related that
when the ship which carried Mr. Higginson to
Salem came to Land's End, he called the passengers to take a last view of England, and said:
" We will not say as the Separatists were wont
to say, Farewell, Babylon, farewell, Rome; but
we will say, Farewell, dear Englanl, farewell, the
Church of God in England. We do not go to
New England as Separatists from the Church
of England, though we cannot but separate from
the corruptions of it; but we go to practise the
positive part of Church reformation, and to propagate the Gospel in America." '
When Governor Winthrop was setting out for
America with his company, they issued an address
to their countrymen, which was dated April 7, 1 630,
in which they said: " We esteem it an honor to
call the Church of England our dear Mother, and
cannot part from our native country without much
sadness of heart, and many tears in our eyes...
We bless God for the parentage and education as
members of the same body, and shall always rejoice
1 Genesis of the New England Churches, Dr. Leonard Bacon,
467.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


89


in her good.... We wish our heads and hearts
may be fountains of tears for your everlasting
welfare, when we shall be in our poor cottages in
the wilderness... And so, commending you to
the grace of God in Christ, we shall ever remain
your assured friends and brethren." ' It is plain
from these words, which were probably written by
the Reverend John White, the Puritan rector of
Trinity Church in Dorchester, that the Puritans
were much less severe in their judgments of the
English Church, - much more charitable in these
respects, - than the Pilgrims.
IV.
IT was not alone in their relations to the Church
of England that the Pilgrims differed from the Puritans.  The Pilgrims were, for the most SocialPosition
part, people in humble stations in life. of thePilgrims
in England.
Governor Bradford says, "they were
not acquainted with trades, nor traffic, but had
been used to a plain country life, and the innocent
trade of husbandry." Mr. Palfrey speaks of them
as" north country peasants; " and he states that it
is not known to this day from what English homes
they came.2 They were people of simple faith,
1 Quoted by Dr. Twitchell in his Life of Governor Winthrop,
53-54. Also in Palfrey, vol. i. 312.
2 Young's Chronicles, 25. Palfrey, vol. i. 139, i6o.




90 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ready to suffer the loss of all things for conscience's
sake. When they came to Leyden, they fell into
such trades and employments as they best could.
Some were registered as silk-workers, some as
wool-carders, fustian-makers; three were printers,
one a mason, one a carpenter, one a tailor, one a
smith, and five were merchants.
I do not forget by any means the eminent men
who were the leaders of the Plymouth Colony:
the excellent Governor Carver; Governor Bradford, the historian of the Colony, and for thirty
years its enterprising and sagacious chief magistate; Governor Winslow, descended from an ancient English family, a gentleman of consummate
address, a born diplomatist; and Elder Brewster,
a scholar and courtier in earlier life, and later
the beloved ruling Elder of the Church, and for
the many years while the people were without a
minister, the religious teacher of the congregation.
On the other hand, the Puritans who came to
Massachusetts were, for the most part, persons in
comfortable circumstances in life, of good education, and with good social connections in England.
Social Position " The principal planters of Massachuof the    setts," says Dr. Bacon, "were English
Puritans.
country gentlemen of no inconsiderable fortunes, of enlarged understandings, improved
by liberal education."' The great Puritan party
1 Genesis of New England Churches, 229, 230.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


9I


of England moulded the public opinion of that
country, for the first half of the seventeenth century. Those who came to New England were
fitted by their abilities and training to be the
founders of States.  An unusual proportion of
them were graduates from the English universities. Others who were not graduates were well
read in history and literature, and in theology.
Their ministers were the equals in ability and in
culture of the clergymen who remained in the
National Church.
V.
IT will help us to understand the two colonies,
if we compare them with respect to the leading
objects of their founders. The Pilgrims came to
these shores, not from the Mother Country, but
from Holland. They were already exiles. They
came to the wilderness as a place of refuge. They
were already a people without a country. Obec of
Their condition in Holland had been a the Pilgrim
hard one; so hard that they were glad Colony'
to go from it into the New World. They were
especially anxious to find a place where they could
bring up their children to good habits, and where
they would be likely to use the English language,
and to keep their connection with the English nation. They had also very much at heart the conversion of the pagan Indians to the Christian faith.




92 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENVGLAND.


The plans of the Puritans were much more
comprehensive. They came to founc a New
ects of  England because the Old  England
Objects of
the Puritan  seemed to have lost its liberties, and to
Colony   lie helpless at the feet of Charles the
First. They came here as the representatives of
the Puritan party, - a party which included at that
time a majority of the English people. It does
not appear from their history that religious motives had less influence with the Puritans than
with the Pilgrims. But the Puritans had, in addition to their religious interests, certain political
plans which they never lost sight of. There were
great statesmen among them, and great theologians. That portion of this party which settled
Massachusetts was in sympathy with the great
Puritan leaders in England.  They regarded
themselves as the pioneers of a movement which
was likely to transfer a large part of the nation to
the New World. They had suffered for many
years for their devotion to liberty and to the
Protestant religion in England; and they purposed
to found a Colony in which they, and those who
should join them, would be free according to the
ancient charters and statutes of England. It was
not their purpose to open their Colony to people
of different views from their own, for the reason
that they were yet weak and comparatively few
in number, and they could not tell what would be




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


93


the result of opening their doors to all comers.
They were going into the wilderness to enjoy
peace and freedom; and they did not dare run the
risk of losing the objects for which they had
expatriated themselves, by admitting people of all
faiths, and of all political views. They would
found a Puritan state for the oppressed Puritans;
and they claimed the right to send away any persons who seemed to them likely to disturb the
peace and unity of the Colony.
In the earlier years of their history there was a
prospect that a large proportion of the English Puritans would be compelled to leave England for
America, just as a large proportion of the French
Huguenots had been compelled to leave France.
They were as resolute as Cromwell's Ironsides to
protect the asylum which they had founded.
Their plans were carefully laid. When there was
a prospect that King Charles would try to compel
them to submit to unjust demands, they proceeded
to build fortifications in Boston Harbor, and to
arm and discipline the militia, so as to be prepared
to resist any attempts to subjugate them. The
Spirit of I776 had been developed among the
Massachusetts Puritans more than a hundred
years before that date. They were bold, partly
because they were men of courage as well as of
faith, and partly because they had back of them
a numerous and powerful party at home.




94 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


VI.
IN respect to the form of organization for the
churches, the influence of the Pilgrims was the
leading influence. They had a church organized
after the Congregational way before they came
from Leyden. Their pastor, John Robinson, had
given them clear and decided views in regard to
the pattern of the Church which the New Testa.
ment furnishes. It had been agreed that although
the Pastor and a large part of the members were
to remain in Holland, those who went to America
were to constitute an Independent Church. The
Pilgrim Church at Plymouth was an independent
branch of the church in Leyden.  When the
Puritans began their Colony this Pilgrim Church
had been in regular existence a number of years.
So far as can be known, the Puritans had no
definite plans for the organization of the Church
when they landed. It is as clear as anything else
in their history that they had continued up to that
time members of the Church of England. Their
ministers had been ordained as ministers
The Puritan
Viewsofthe in the Episcopal Church, and all their
Church. ministry had been in that church. The
Puritans had decided objections to the Separatist
Churches, and had been unfriendly to the Pilgrims
because they had broken away entirely from the




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


95


National Church. Their natural affiliation as
Protestants and Non-Conformists was with the
Reformed Churches of Geneva, and of France and
Scotland. The connections between the English
Puritans and the churches of Geneva had been
very close for many years. If they were to break
away from the Church of England it was the most
natural thing in the world for them to follow the
method of almost all the Protestant churches,
except the Church of England, and organize
according to some of the Presbyterian models.
Their leading men were in correspondence with
the leading Calvinistic ministers on the continent,
and they were familiar with the practical working
of their churches.
But the Puritans were hardly an organized
Colony before they consulted the Pilgrims in
regard to the best way of forming a church.' Their
bitter experiences in the English Church had prepared them to look with more favor upon the
non-prelatical churches. When the conciliatory
proposals of the Millenary Petition were rejected,
and when the whole power of the Established
Church was used to " make them conform, or to
harry them out of the land," and when, for many
years, they saw their national church moving
toward the practices and the doctrines of the
1 Mass. Hist. Collections, iii. 65, 75. Young's Chronicles, 386.
Winslow's Brief Narrative.




96 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Romanists, their opinions were gradually modified
in respect to the forms of worship and the modes
of government in that Church. So that the Puritans, who were entirely loyal to the Episcopal
Church when James the First became King of
England, were prepared to look with favor upon
a much simpler organization when they came to
New England. The fact that they had left behind
the institutions of the Old Country, and that they
were entirely free to carry out their own ideas, had
much to do with the change. The most conservative people become progressive in a new country.
But there is decisive evidence that they were
guided by the teachings and the experiences of
the men of Plymouth. Governor Winslow, for
Reasonswhy example, says that some of the chief of
they rganized the Puritans advised with us in respect
Independent
Churches. to a right way of worship, and desired
to know whereupon our practice was grounded.
"We accordingly showed them," he says, "the
primitive practice, taken out of the Acts of the
Apostles, and the Epistles written to the several
churches by the said Apostles, together with the
Commandments of Christ the Lord in the Gospel,
and other our warrant for every particular we did,
from the book of God."' Endicott, writing to Governor Bradford from Salem, in 1629, thanks him for
sending Dr. Fuller to them. He says that he has
1 Young's Chronicles, 386. Walker's Creeds and Platforms.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


97


been satisfied by Dr. Fuller in regard to the outward form of God's worship. This Dr. Fuller was
a deacon of the church at Plymouth. During the
winter of I628-9 there was a serious epidemic
among the settlers at Salem, and Gover- Dea.Samuel
nor Endicott sent a messenger to ask FBelovhe
that Dr. Fuller might be sent to their Physician
aid. Hle came at their call, and remained at Salem
until the sickness abated.  He was the guest of
Governor Endicott; and " they had much conversation about what had been going on at Plymouth
during the eight years since its settlement."  Dr.
Fuller explained their methods of procedure in
civil matters, and also in church matters; and
Governor Endicott accepted his views. This was
before the organization of the first church in the
Massachusetts Colony.  In the month of June
following this visit of Dr. Fuller, three ships landed
at Salem, bringing a large number of passengers.
On the 6th of August of that year, the first church
was formed.  A small number of the people at
Salem desired to use the Book of Common Prayer;
but a great majority preferred to follow the example of the Pilgrim Church at Plymouth, and
organize after the Congregational way. How
much the influence of Governor Bradford and of
Dr. Fuller had to do with this decision may never
be known.  Undoubtedly they were among the
instruments in the change that took place among
7




98 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the Puritans.  For it is plain that there was a
decided change of sentiment among them. When
the first church among the Puritans was formed,
August 6, I629, it was almost an exact copy of the
Pilgrim Church in Plymouth.l " We have come
away from the Common Prayer, and ceremonies
in our native land," they said, " where we suffered
much for non-conformity. In this place of liberty
we cannot use them. Their imposition would be
a sinful violation of the worship of God."  " We
separate not from the Church of England, but from
its corruptions."
The example of the church in Salem was followed by the churches that were formed within a
year or two in Charlestown and in Boston. The
precedent was thus firmly established, and the
churches of the Pilgrims and those of the Puritans
were organized as Independent or Congregational
Churches.
VII.
IN respect to the political and social institutions
of Massachusetts, the influence of the Old Colony
was very great.   The frame of government in
the Pilgrim Colony was as near as practicable a
pure Democracy. The suffrage was conferred by
1 Dr. Tarbox, in Collections of the Old Colony Historical Society,
1878, 41-50. Three Episodes of Massachusetts History, Charles
F. Adams, I892.




THE PILGRIMz AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?


99


the freemen upon all whom they deemed worthy of
it. There was no religious test. The Governor
was chosen by general suffrage. The Politica
citizens also elected a Council of Five and Socia
to advise and assist the Governor. The
whole body of adult male inhabitants constituted
the Legislature.1 There could be no law or tax
without the consent of the freemen. The general
meeting of the freemen of the Colony was like a
modern town-meeting. As population increased,
a representative system became necessary, and
each town in the Colony sent its representatives
to the House of Delegates. Their social ThePilgrim
institutions were also very simple. There Republic.
were few traces of an aristocracy. The people of
the Old Colony lived together on terms of Christian equality.
The influence of Holland appears in these institutions of the Pilgrim Fathers. Their twelve years
among those stanch defenders of liberty had
given them new ideas in regard to the right of
the people to direct the course of government,
and in regard to the right of suffrage, and the
organization of the town, and in respect to legislation, and to common schools for the people.
They introduced a number of principles which
had not at that time been accepted in England,
when they laid the foundations of the NEW
England.
1 Bancroft, i. 251.




I00 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


In the Massachusetts Colony, however, we find
that they copied the institutions of the Mother
The Puritan Country, and adopted many of its social
Republic.  distinctions. The right of suffrage was
restricted to the members of the churches of the
Colony, just as in England the suffrage was limited
to communicants in the Church of England. The
churches which were recognized by law, that is,
the Independent Congregational Churches, were
supported by a tax upon all the inhabitants, just
as in England the Established Church was supported by rates upon all property of the people
of the parish. The Governor and the Assistants
were chosen by the votes of the freemen of the
Colony. The Deputies were elected by the freemen in each town. It was seriously proposed that
members of the Court of Assistants should hold
office for life, or until removed for cause.  John
Cotton preached before the General Court, in 1634,
" that a magistrate ought not to be turned into the
condition of a private man without just cause."
It was at one time proposed that a number of the
great Puritan noblemen should settle in Massachusetts, with the understanding that they should
have a permanent place in the government, and
that their rank should be hereditary. The fact that
these proposals were made shows one of the tendencies of the times. But these tendencies were
not permitted to control the colony. The Demo



THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  101


cratic principles of the people asserted themselves
even in the earlier years. The eminent public
men, like Governor Winthrop, learned from experience that they had no secure tenure of official
position, except so long as they carried out the will
of those who had elected them. It is an error to
suppose that either the ministers, or the more
prominent citizens, had the control of the Colony.
There were instances, even in the early years,
when these natural leaders were out-voted and set
aside in a popular election.
VIII.
IN respect to numbers and wealth the two colonies were very unlike. When the Old Colony was
four years old, it contained only thirty- umbersand
two cabins, inhabited by one hundred wealth.
and eighty persons. Six years later, it numbered
three hundred.  Five years after this, when the
Colony was fifteen years old, it had only five hundred people. After seventy years, it had only eight
thousand people. So slow was its growth. And
yet that small Colony has exerted an influence out
of all proportion to its numbers.  Its
Weakness
history reads like a work of the imagina- of the Old
tion, rather than a recital of events in Colony.
this prosaic world.  There is a certain poetic
quality about it which makes its simple annals




102 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NE W ENGLAND.


very fascinating. The sublime faith of its people,
their patience under adversity, their boldness in
crossing the sea with limited numbers and scanty
resources, the motives which inspired the enterprise, - "that we might enjoy liberty of conscience" and "keep our own language and the
name of Englishmen," and " train our children
as we were trained," and " enlarge the Church of
Christ,"- and besides all this, their gentleness
and charity toward those who differed with them,
their freedom from the spirit of persecution, their
tolerance in a century of intolerance, - all these
have won for them the sympathy and the admiration of good men everywhere.
So much as this may be fairly and heartily conceded to the Pilgrim Fathers. And yet the clearheaded student of New England history will find,
as he compares the two colonies, that, after all,
the elements of vigorous growth and permanent
influence were in the Puritan Colony, rather than
in the Colony at Plymouth. He will look first
at the numbers who came to the Bay Colony.
The number of Pilgrims in Holland when the
Mayflower sailed for America was not much
more than three hundred. Less than half of
these sailed in the Mayflower on its first voyage.
Those who remained behind were a small company from which to recruit a colony. But when
I Winslow's Narrative in Young's Chronicles, 38I.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  I03


the Puritans crossed the sea the larger part of
England was Puritan. Twelve years after the
beginning of the Puritan settlements, vigorous
the Colony had more than twenty thou- r     of thete
sand people. In that time they had C0lo1y.
planted fifty towns and villages, built thirty or
forty churches and a larger number of ministers'
houses, a castle, forts, roads, and a prison, all at
their own charges. They were living in comfortable houses, with gardens, orchards, cornfields,
and well-fenced fields.' They had founded Harvard College, and they were taxing themselves for
its support. Colonies had already gone out from
them to begin settlements on the Connecticut
River, at Springfield, and at Hartford, and also at
New   Haven, and in Rhode Island, and New
Hampshire.    This is a marvellous record of
growth for a Colony separated from the Mother
Country by the width of the Atlantic. It indicates the singular energy and enterprise of the
Puritans.  It is from such elements that colonies
grow into a nation.
IX.
THIS is the outward material growth. But the
contrast was quite as marked in the intellectual
spirit of the two colonies. Let us take as the
1 Wonder Working Providence, ch. xiv. New England's First
Fruits.




104 THE PURITAN ZN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


first illustration of this contrast, the religious
teachers of the people in the two colonies. DurThe Intellec- ing the first fifty years of the history of
tual Spirit of
the Two  Plymouth there was a singular lack of
Colonies, permanence in the ministry of that town.
Lyford, who was their first minister, proved to be
a weak as well as a bad man, and he was finally deMinisters i posed and sent out of the Colony. The
the Plymouth next minister was a youug man named
Colony.  Rogers, who had been sent over from
England. He proved to be "crazed in his brain,"
says Bradford, "so that they were fain to be at
further charges to send him back next year."
The third minister was Smith, who came over
with Higginson in i629. Hie exercised his gifts
among them five or six years. He was soon seen
to be a man of mean abilities, and finally " laid
down his place of ministry, partly by his own willingness, as thinking it too heavy a burden, and
partly at the desire and by the persuasion of
others." '
Next came John Norton, who was " well liked
and much desired of them," but who could not be
persuaded to remain longer than one winter, and
then departed to enter upon his grand career in
Massachusetts. Next came Mr. Raynor, an excellent man, but not of commanding abilities or
character. Mr. Charles Chauncy was about three
1 Bradford. Young's Chronicles, 351.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  105


years associated with Mr. Raynor as Pastor, Mr.
Raynor being Teacher.   It was very fortunate
for the Pilgrims that during these years of continued change in the pastoral office, they were
able to fall back upon their excellent Ruling Elder, Mr. Brewster, of whom Governor Bradford
has written that " when the church had no other
minister, he taught every Sabbath, and that powerfully and profitably, to the great contentment of
his hearers and their comfortable edification."1
For thirteen years after the departure of Mr.
Raynor the church in Plymouth was without a
stated minister. Elder Cushman, the successor
of Elder Brewster, preached, without being a
pastor. In 1667, John Cotton, Jr., came to them
from Boston, and continued with the church for
many years.2
The Royal Commissioners reported to the
king, in I666, that they found in the Plymouth
Colony "only twelve small towns," and that the
people were so poor that " they were not able to
maintain scholars to their ministers, but were
necessitated to make use of a gifted brother in
some places." 3 This statement of the Commissioners may have been true of some towns, but
there were a number of university men settled as
1 Young's Chronicles, 467.
2 Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic.
8 Hutchinson's Collection, 417.




Io6 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


pastors in the Old Colony,- such as Ralph Partridge of Duxbury, John Lothrop of Barnstable,
Henry Dunster of Scituate, Samuel Newman of
Rehoboth, and Charles Chauncy of Plymouth.'
The contrast is very marked between such a
ministry as these statements indicate, and the
ministry which we find in the Colony of Massachusetts in its earlier years, when Higginson,
Cotton, Norton, Hooker, Mather, Shepard, and
The Ministers their associates were the intellectual
oftheMassa- leaders of their people, as well as their
chusetts
Colony.  spiritual guides. Some of them  had
carried off the honors in the English universities.
They were among the strongest men in the Colony. This difference indicates a great difference
in the financial resources of the people of the
two colonies, and possibly a difference in their
intelligence also.
There were among the Puritans at that time a
large number of men of broad and liberal learning. They were already beginning to send to
the press books and pamphlets that were very
creditable to their intelligence and their training. These books were published in London at
first, and later in Salem and Boston. The literature of the first half century is creditable not
only to the authors, but to the readers who were
able to follow such close and logical thinking.
1 Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, 510-540.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  107


Copies of these old books have been preserved as
heirlooms in the older New England families,
whence they are finding their way into the best
historical libraries.  Those who contributed to
this literature were for the most part dwellers in
the Puritan colony.  The Pilgrims made some
valuable contributions, but they are few in number. Boston and Cambridge were as truly the
intellectual centres of New England in the seventeenth century as they are in the nineteenth. Harvard College was an important means of influence,
and it had much to do in giving the pre-eminencel
to the younger Colony.
X.
THE great enterprises undertaken for the general interest of New England had their origin
in the Puritan colonies.  The synod  The
which prepared the Cambridge Plat- Cambridge
i  r  i   Platform.
form, for example, was called by the
General Court of Massachusetts; and the men
who had the leading part in framing that Platform, and so in moulding the Congregational
polity for a hundred years, were either citizens of
Massachusetts at that time, or men like Hooker,
who had once belonged to that Colony. Governor
Bradford was present as the messenger of the
church in Plymouth. So was Ralph Partridge




IO8 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


of Duxbury, and possibly two or three others from
the Old Colony.  John Cotton of Boston, Richard Mather of Dorchester, and Ralph Partridge
of Duxbury were appointed to draw up, each by
himself, a model of church government. The
one drawn up by Richard Mather was for substance adopted  by the synod.   Mr. Partridge
also prepared a model, which was not acceptable
to the majority, on account of its Low Church tendencies.  The manuscript copy, which is still
preserved in the Library of the Antiquarian
Society at Worcester, shows that the Pilgrim
pastor was not as advanced a Congregationalist
as the Puritans had already become.l This was
all that the Plymouth Colony contributed toward
the result of this most important synod.
The confederacy of the four principal colonies
of New England had its origin in the Puritan
The ew   Colony of Connecticut. Plymouth was
England  a member of it, with the colonies of
Confederacy.
Massachusetts Bay and New Haven;
but Plymouth never had a leading part in the
Confederacy. This was the first in the long
series of unions between the English colonies and
provinces of North America, which led, in the
course of time, to the confederation of the States
1 Dr. Dexter's Congregationalism as seen in its Literature,
335-338. It should be added that the present Congregationalism
is much nearer that of the Plymouth Church than that of the
Cambridge Platform.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  I09


in the national Union.  On the whole view of
the history, it is plain that the political influence
of Plymouth was never very great.
XI.
IN respect to legislation, there was less difference between the Pilgrim and the Puritan colonies than is commonly supposed. Both Legislaion.
Legislation.
were influenced by the precedents to
which they had been accustomed in England,
and by the general spirit of the seventeenth century.  The Pilgrims had profited by the larger
and more tolerant spirit of the Dutch Republic.
In both colonies the people claimed the rights
and liberties of Englishmen. In both, after a few
years, the people were taxed for the support of
the regular ministers, just as they had been in
England.   Punishments which would now be
considered harsh and cruel, such as the use of
the stocks, the pillory, and the whipping-post,
were used in both colonies.
The laws of Plymouth against the Quakers
were as severe as those of Massachusetts. Meetings of the Quakers for public worship Lawsagainst
were forbidden by the laws of the Col- theQuakers
ony of Plymouth, and all who attended such
meetings were liable to a fine of ten shillings, and
all who spoke at such meetings were liable to a




I IO THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


fine of forty shillings.  Men in the Plymouth
Colony were disfranchised because they were
Quakers, and also because they had harbored
Quakers in their houses. The law provided that
the people called Quakers could be arrested, sent
to the House of Correction, put in the stocks, or
in the cage, their books could be seized, and their
horses also; they could be banished, and, by a late
law, they could be put to death.l The last law,
however, was never executed.
The laws of Plymouth provided that a witch
should be put to death. The Pilgrims shared the
common belief of their time that human beings
actually had direct dealings with the Devil, and
Laws against that they used the power which he gave
witchcraft. them to torture and to destroy their
enemies; and they thought it their duty to punish
in the severest way those who were guilty of
such an offence against their kind. They embodied this common belief in their laws.
But there was a difference between the two
colonies in respect to the execution of the laws.
The Quakers were fined, and imprisoned, and
disfranchised, and even whipped in the Plymouth
Colony, not, however, on account of their religious
opinions, but because of their disorderly practices.
1 The authority for these statements is found in the printed
Records of the Plymouth Colony, vol. xi. II, I2, 95, 1oo, 172.
Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, 478-490, 531.




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICH?  I I I


But the merciful spirit of the people would not
have tolerated the execution of the death-penalty
for such offences. They adopted the wiser course
of shutting them up in prison when they The Merciful
became persistent in disturbing the good spirit of the
Pilgrims.
order and peace of the community, as
the Quakers of that day frequently did.  It is
quite possible that this leniency of the people of
Plymouth may have influenced the people of
Massachusetts to repeal their law which prescribed the penalty of death for such offences.
There were two trials for witchcraft within the
Colony of Plymouth. But the people had cooler
heads than the people of Salem and of Trialsfor
Boston. They cross-examined the wit- WitpchrafIn
nesses, and scanned their testimony, and Colony.
found the charges not proven.  The people of
Massachusetts came at length to the same judgment. But before they reached it, they had done
many acts of cruel injustice, which are the darkest
stain upon their history.
These classes of laws, however, constitute but a
small part of the legislation of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. There is much in the Legislation
records of the Colony which shows how   husetts
Massachusetts
vigilant and how wise the people of that Colony.
Colony were in protecting the rights of the citizen, in caring for the unfortunate, in restraining,
crime, in securing the financial prosperity of the




112 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


community, and in protecting it from the dangers
which threatened it.  That body of laws has
exerted an influence far beyond the limits of
Massachusetts, and has had much to do in moulding the institutions of our nation.
XII.
IN summing up the results of this comparison
of these two colonies, we shall do well not to judge
either the Pilgrims or the Puritans by the standards of our times, because our times owe very
much to their teaching and example.  For we
know that" Men may rise on stepping stones
Of their dead selves to higher things."
Nor should we give too much weight to the
superiority of the Puritans in numbers and
Results of  wealth, and in intellectual and social
Cmparison, culture. For the influences that rule
the world do not come from such things as these.
"The meek shall inherit the earth." It may be
fairly claimed that the influence of the Puritans
upon New England has been greater in some
respects than that of the Pilgrims. The energy,
the enterprise, the political sagacity, the genius
for creating new types of government,- these are
the inheritance of New England from the Puritan
fathers. The intellectual life of New England,




THE PILGRIM AND THE PURITAN: WHICHI  113


and much of its best religious life, have come
from them. I do not know that the Pilgrims
were more devoutr't-an the Puritans. There is
no evidence at all, tildt 1 have been able to find,
that the religious life in the churches within the
Colony of Plymouth was higher than that within
the churches of the Colony of Massachusetts.
Governor Bradford lamented, in his last days, the
degeneracy of his people at Plymouth, jusL as the
ministers in Boston lamented the decline from
the old spirit of New England.
But the Pilgrims had been purified by the fires
of a fiercer persecution. They had learned lessons of patience and of gentleness in the hard
school of adversity. Their "gentleness had made
them great."  New England would not have had
the same elements of power if its founders had.
all been like those who came in the Mayflower. '
The New England character would not have given
its impress to a great nation like this republic.
But, after all, the beauty, the poetry, of New England have come, in great part, from those who
landed on Plymouth Rock. They have taught
the world a larger tolerance, gentler manners,
purer laws.  We have learned from them the
grand possibilities which wait for men of faith,
who are content to bow their heads to the storm,
and commit their way unto the Lord, and trust
Him to bring them to the desired haven.
S








Ill.
The Early Ministers of New
England,








The Early Ministers of New
England.
HE Puritan ministers were the best representatives of the Puritan fathers.  The
materials for the study of their character and
work are provided for us in their own writings,
and in the writings of those who were associated
with them in planting the New England colonies.
There was a reason why those men published
so many books and pamphlets in the years
when they were so much engaged in laying the
foundations of the Colony. C,y were, as we
have seen, the pioneers of tbl, Puritan party
in England, and it was part of their work to
send home clear and definite accounts of the
towns and of the churches which they were
planting. These narratives disclose to us the
motives and the principles which governed
them. They are the original documents from
which the early history of New England can
be written.




I 18 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NE W ENGLAND.


I.
THESE early ministers were of course in
sympathy with the intense Protestantism of the
The Early  English  Puritans.  They had been
Istesd the special victims of Bishop Laud.
been Moulded
by Persecution. Many of them had been driven from
their parishes, after years of faithful service, by
the new requirements of the dominant party in
the Church. They had suffered from heavy fines,
and from imprisonment. Some of them had been
driven from England years before they came to
America. They had found a place of refuge in
Geneva, and had come under the Calvinistic
influences of that city. These men had cut loose
from human traditions, and had formed the habit
of appealing to the Scriptures for the rules of
life, and methods of worship, and of political
administration.
They were men of one book, and that book the
Bible; and they regarded the Book as the sufficient rule in all matters, secular as well as
ecclesiastical.  They had also a remarkable
sense of the authority of righteousness. It has
been said by French writers that the English
people differ from the French in that they are inclined to exalt conscience as the supreme guide
of life. But among the English people the Pilgrim




THE EARLY MINISTEZRS OF NEW ENGLAND.  119


and Puritan ministers were pre-eminent in this
regard. They tested all things by a moral rule.
They had also a profound sense of the presence
of God in the world, and of the responsibility of
every man to Him for every act of his life. With
this, there was also a conviction of the dignity of
man, as a free being, responsible directly to his
Creator. These high views raised them above
the lower motives of life. Their religion gave
them, as one has recently said, "a superb and
shining courage."  It mattered very little to
them what consequences might come from their
actions, so long as they had the approval of
their consciences. Their history is full of incidents which show that they did their work
from day to day as though standing on the
threshold of the spiritual world. In that light,
duty becomes the supreme law. It is related of
Governor Cranfield of New Hampshire, that he
sent an order to Rev. Joshua Moody, the minister of Portsmouth, to administer the Lord's
Supper, according to the rites of the Church of
England, to himself and two of his friends, on a
certain Sunday. But neither the Governor nor
his friends, according to the opinions of Mr.
Moody, were prepared to receive the Sacrament.
So the minister refused to obey the order of the
Governor, and, in consequence, was sent to prison
for six months. It is related of another Puritan,




I20 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


-- not a minister, -— that on the famous Dark
Day, when the Day of Judgment was supposed
to be at hand, he refused to consent to an adjournment of the Legislature, of which he was a
member, saying, "Either the Day of Judgment
has come, or it has not; if the Day has come, I
choose to be found at the post of duty; and if it
has not come, there is no reason for an adjournment."
It is difficult to conceive of a finer opportunity
than the New England Puritans had to work
out a fresh and original system of religion and
of government. Given those vigorous AngloSaxons, —trained in the hard school of adversity, men of faith and prayer, who had searched
all history for examples, - transplanted to the
wilderness, and left by themselves for a century and a half, to build, as best they could a
Church and a state, and the world might be
sure that something would be evolved that
would be worthy the attention of the most
thoughtful students of history.
II.
THE early ministers of New England were, as
a class, men of thorough education and culture.
John Robinson,' who certainly deserves to be
1 Prince's History of New England, 38.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  121


counted among the ministers who formed the
character of the Pilgrims, although he never
came to America, was a graduate of Cambridge, in 6o00, and was a man of great learning,
as well of rare sweetness of temper, and of a
broad and tolerant habit of mind. While his
people were settled at Leyden, he was connected
with the university of that city, and was put
forward as the ablest champion of Calvinism
against the Arminians. John Wilson and John
Cotton, the two earliest pastors of the First
Church in Boston, were both graduates of Cambridge, and had both been for years clergymen
in the Churcn of England. Cotton had been a
Fellow and a Tutor in Emanuel College. For
more than twenty years he was vicar in the
Church of St. Buttolph, in old Boston, " perhaps
the most stately parish church in England,"says Mr. Palfrey,-"a cathedral in size and
beauty." His name is still held in honor in St.
Buttolph, and a beautiful chapel has been recently fitted up, in that church, which bears his
name, and a Latin inscription to his memory.
From this superb temple he came, while in the
vigor of his manhood, "to preach the Gospel
within the mud walls, and under the thatched
roof of the first meeting-house in Boston."1
Cotton Mather says of him, that "he was a
1 Palfrey, History of New England, vol. i. 368.




I22 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.,walking library, a universal scholar, an indefatigable student, the Cato of his age for his gravity,
but having a glory with it which Cato had not." '
Francis Higginson and Samuel Skelof theFirst ton, the first ministers of Salem, were
Ministers of  also graduates of Cambridge, and had
New England.
been clergymen in the Church of
England. Roger Williams was graduated from
Pembroke College, Cambridge, and was probably
admitted to orders in the National Church. He
was a man of learning, a close observer of nature,
and was the master of a clear and vigorous
English style.
Four years after the settlement of Boston, there
were thirteen ministers in Massachusetts, most of
them graduates of Cambridge or Oxford, and
several of them distinguished for professional
attainments, and most of them men who had held
livings in the Church of England. Ten years
later, there were about eighty ministers in New
England, - that is, one in three hundred of the
population. A number of these ministers were
men of good property, and aristocratic connections.
Generally they were graduates of the English
universities. The education which those universities imparted at that time was such as the classic
writers and the great statesmen of the seventeenth
century received. Those ministers, as a rule, were
I Quoted in Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. i. 29.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  123


able to read both the Old and New Testaments in
the original tongues, and were familiar with the
best theological literature of their time. The people demanded an educated ministry. The Royal
Commissioners reported to the king, in I666, that
"every town or village in Connecticut had a
scholar to their minister."
Thomas Hooker, who was the leader of the
Connecticut Colony, was distinguished as a scholar
at the University of Cambridge, where Thomas
he was graduated, became a clergyman Hooker.
in the English Church, was silenced in the time of
Laud, went to Holland, and, in I633, came to New
England. Cotton Mather speaks of him as " the
incomparable Hooker,- a man in whom learning
and wisdom were tempered with zeal and holiness."
The Mathers - Richard, Samuel, Increase, and
Cotton -were among the most learned and accomplished men of their time. The first was educated
at Oxford, and the three others were graduated
from Harvard. They showed that the education
that was given by the new college, was a fair equivalent for that which the old English universities
were able to impart. John Norton, also a graduate
of Cambridge, came to Boston in 1635, and was
settled at Ipswich, and was afterwards the pastor
of the First Church in Boston. He was a man
of great ability, a fine classical scholar, and a
well read divine, author of a System of Divinity,




124 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and of a number of other theological works which
had great influence in their day. Among them
was the first book in the Latin language produced
in Massachusetts.
Governor Winthrop states that as early as 1638
there were probably forty or fifty sons of Cambridge dwelling in the villages of Massachusetts
and Connecticut, and not a few of the sons of
Oxford; while Mr. Palfrey states that there were
in New England, at any time between 1630 and
I690, as many sons of these two famous nurseries
of learning as would have been found in a proportionate number of their fellow-subjects in the
Mother Country.1
We have some account of the libraries of the
early settlers of New England, laymen as well as
ministers. Elder Brewster left a library of two
hundred and seventy-five substantial volumes.
Hooker's library was appraised after his death at
three hundred pounds, Davenport's at two hundred
and thirty-three pounds, Stone's at one hundred
twenty-seven.  John Harvard, the founder of
Harvard College, left a library of three hundred and
twenty volumes, classical and patristic works, as
well as modern writings in theology and general
literature.  When we consider that the sums at
which these libraries were appraised represent the
salary of a minister in those times for three or
2 Palfrey, vol. ii. 38-39.  2 Palfrey, i. 549; vol. ii. 45.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OP NEW ENGLAND.  125


four years, we can see that they prized good books,
and paid more for them than for almost anything
else. Even more decisive in regard to the intellectual spirit of the early ministers of New England
is the quality of the books which they Intellectual
published. One who reads them     is Sirl the
constantly surprised at the extent and Ministers.
thoroughness of the learning of their authors.
The founding of Harvard College, in I636, was
perhaps the most decisive evidence of their love
of learning. The founders said it was their purpose " to advance learning, and perpetuate it to
their posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate
ministry to the churches, after our present ministers shall lie in the dust."' And so the people of
the Colony taxed themselves heavily, from year to
year, for the support of the college. They knew
that the free church in a free state, which they
were trying to establish, must rest upon the intelligence of the people, and that the people are
dependent in large part upon the culture of their
professional men.
III.
THE early ministers of New England were also
men of great dignity of character, and courtliness
of manner. The age of Queen Elizabeth, and of
the Stuarts, was a time when the dress and man1 New England First Fruits.




126 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ners of professional men, and of public officials,
were of the first importance. There was a great
TheManers   deal of formality in the intercourse of
ofthe Early  such persons with    other men.       The
Ministers.
iniers   Puritans brought with them       the style
and manners of the higher classes in England, and
they were very careful to guard against the tendency, which must always be felt in a new country,
toward ruder manners and a lower culture. The
Governor and the judges wore their official robes
on  important public occasions.         The   portraits
which we have of some of the early ministers of
Boston, and of some other places in Massachusetts,
represent them as wearing the gown and bands.'
The practice may not have been followed in the
small towns; and yet, if I may judge from the portraits I have seen, it was not uncommon. The Puritan ministers had been, the most of them, ministers
1 One cannot be sure of the authenticity of old portraits, in all
cases. The portrait of John Cotton, e.g. which is given without the
suggestion of a doubt, in the Memorial History of Boston, and in
the History of the First Church, is now known to belong to some
descendant of the great Puritan divine. It is possible that some
other portraits are not authentic. The following are represented
in old portraits with gown and bands: John Wilson, Richard
Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, Samuel Willard, Benjamin Coleman, John Davenport, Charles Chauncy, Thomas Prince,
John Hancock of Lexington, William  Cooper, Benjamin Wadsworth, Samuel Phillips of Andover, and Stephen Williams of Longmeadow. After the time of Charles II. the ministers are represented
with the wig. This list can be easily extended, but these names,
from different localities, indicate the general custom.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OP NEW ENGLAND.  127


in the Church of England, and had been accustomed to wear the priestly robes. So far as the
customs of the National Church seemed to them
to tend toward Popery, they laid them aside;
and the Puritans certainly had decided objections
to certain forms of clerical vestments, which the
reactionary party -  the high fliers," as they were
called - in the English Church, were disposed to
adopt. But there is no reason to suppose that the
simple clerical vestments which were used by the
Protestant ministers in the English Church were
objected to by the Puritans. But the gown and
bands which the ministers of New England used,
came from Gcnevan and Scottish sources, not from
prelatical; and they put them on, as the Presbyterian and Dissenting ministers of Great Britain
do at the present time, simply as the customary
badges of their office.
The early Puritan ministers who came from
England represented the best life of the Mother
Country. Three of. those.miaisters - Cotton,
Hooker, and Davenport - were invited to sit in
the Westminster Assembly. 0ne ofTihTm,-Case
Matier, was sent to represent the Colony in Eng.
land, when there was. need of skilful diplcmacy;
and he was kept abroad, as the agent of the Colony,
a number of years. He was a man of practical
wisdom, gentle without weakness, and cautious
without timidity. His face, as represented in the




128 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


old portraits, was almost feminine in its aspect, as
far as possible from the hardness that is so often
ascribed to the Puritan ministers.
There was a dignity and authority in the pastorate in those times which could not outlast the
simple habits of Colonial days. The minister was
at the head of a little theocracy. He used his
power wisely and unselfishly, for the most part;
but he was a man of power by virtue of his office
as a minister of religion. "Are you, sir, the person
who serves here?" said a traveller, to the pastor at
Rowley, whom he met in the street.  " I am, sir,
the person who rules here," was the prompt reply.
Professor Park has described Rev. Samuel Phillips, who was pastor of the church in Andover
eighty years after the settlement of New England,
riding on horseback through his parish, with his
wife on a pillion behind him, his majestic figure
crowned by a three-cornered hat, as one whom
every traveller would be sure to recognize as a
man who held control over his diocese.   He
governed well. He was loved as well as feared.
He was a man of learning, author of nineteen
books and pamphlets, an energetic pastor, a pungent and impressive preacher, to the hearts, but
especially to the consciences of his people.1
Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe has given some
interesting sketches of some of the old-time min1 Bibliotheca Sacra, I856-r86I.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND,  129


isters, which are drawn, for the most part, from
reliable sources, though none of them relate to the
first period of Puritan history.  "The  Parson
most vivid image of respectability and  Lothrop.
majesty," she says, " which a little boy, born in a
Massachusetts village, could form, was the minister. In the little theocracy which the Puritans
established in the wilderness, the ministry was the
only order of nobility. It was their voice that
determined, ex-cat/edra, all questions, from the
choice of a Governor to that of the village schoolteacher."  She describes Parson   Lothrop, a
successor of the missionary Eliot, as a fair representative " of the third generation of the ministers
of Massachusetts; one of the cleanest, most gentlemanly, most well-bred of men, never appearing
without all the decorums of silk-stockings, shining
knee and shoe buckles, well-brushed shoes, and
the ample, immaculately-powdered clerical wig,
out of which shone his calm, clear, serious face,
like the moon out of a fleecy cloud. His Sunday
sermons were well-written specimens of the purest
and most Addisonian English. Hie had the formal
and ceremonious politeness of a gentleman of the
old school. He was ever gracious and affable, as
a man who habitually surveys every one from
above, and is disposed to listen with indulgent
courtesy, and who has advice for all seekers; but
there was not the slightest shadow of anything
9




130 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


which encouraged the most presuming to offer
advice in return. Parson Lothrop was so calmly
awful in his sense of his own position and authority, that it would have been a sight worth seeing
to witness the coming of any of his parish to him
with suggestions and admonitions." 1
The sketch which Mrs. Stowe has drawn of
Dr. Hopkins of Newport will answer for the
ministers of the next generation. " He entered
the dining-room with all the dignity of a fullbottomed, powdered wig, full flowing coat, with
ample cuffs, silver knee and shoe buckles, as
Dr. Samuel became the majesty of a minister of those
Hopkins.  days. The company rose at his entrance.
The men bowed, and the women courtesied; and
all remained standing while he addressed to each,
with punctilious decorum, those inquiries in regard
to health and welfare which preface a social
interview."2
IV.
IN respect to the maintenance of the ministers,
it was ordered by the Court of Assistants of the
Te Support Colony of Massachusetts, at their first
of the   meeting on this side the Atlantic, that
houses should be built for the ministers
"with convenient speed," and that an allowance
of thirty pounds a year be made to each of the
1 Old Time Folks, 3-10.  2 Minister's Wooing, 60.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  131


ministers from the common treasury. In Boston,
the ministers were provided for by voluntary contributions made every Sunday in the churches.
This custom was followed in that town for more
than a century. In some other towns the same
method was followed for a few years.  The first
meeting-house in Boston, and the house for Mr.
Wilson, the first minister, were paid for out of a
voluntary contribution.  The cost of the two was
about a hundred and twenty pounds. After a few
years, the larger number of the churches adopted
the method of raising the salary for the minister by
taxation.  In 1654, a law was passed which provided for raising money by taxation for the salaries
of ministers, the erection of meeting-houses, and
for building or hiring houses for the ministers to
live in.1 Cotton Mather said that the ministers of
the Gospel would have a poor time of it, if they
must rely upon a free contribution of the people
for their maintenance; and so it was "enacted
that the salary for the minister who has been duly
elected by the majority of the people shall be levied
by a rate upon all the inhabitants; and the minister,
thus chosen by the people, is the king's minister,
and the salary raised for him is raised in the king's
name, and is the king's allowance unto him." 2
1 Palfrey, vol. i. 317; vol. ii. 39.  Winthrop, vol. i. 87.  Mass.
Records, i. 87.
2 Ratio Disciplina, 20-21.




132 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


He says further that the churches of New England
consider not so much the age as the worth of a
candidate for ordination, so that they even accept
very young ministers of great promise, and their
youth is no prejudice against them.
It was common to provide what was called a
settlement, in addition to the annual salary, in
order, as they said, " that if the minister should die
during his ministry among them, his family may
have a comfortable maintenance." The church in
New London, Connecticut, for example, agreed to
pay their minister eighty pounds a year, for three
years, and afterwards " as much more as God shall
move our hearts to give, and we do find it needful
to pay."  He was to have "all such silver as is
weekly contributed by strangers, to help toward
buying of books."  The people were also to pay
the expense of transporting his family and effects
from Concord, and also to provide him a house,
and small farm, and firewood free of charge.'
In Good News from New England there are
definite statements in respect to the salaries of
ministers at that time: John Norton of Ipswich
had /70  a year; Richard Mather of Dorchester,
/70; John Cotton of Boston, /9o; while John
Wilson of the same church had /6o; Thomas
Parker of Newbury, /40; and William Thompson
of Braintree, 30o. The salary of the President of
1 Felt's Ecclesiastical History of N. E., vol. ii. 33I.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  133


Harvard College in those days was f Ioo, afterward increased to /I5o.1  In the earlier years of
the Colony, much of the salary was paid in provisions. There was often an agreement that a
certain proportion should be paid in this way.
In most instances where we are able to get definite accounts of ministers who lived in the second
or third generation of the Colony, we find that
they owned the dwellings which they occupied,
and that they also owned a farm from which a
part of their maintenance was derived. Peter
Thatcher of Milton had a farm, and was so well
informed in respect to agriculture that he was
constantly consulted by his parishioners in respect
to the management of their farms. Even President Edwards of Northampton was a farmer; and
though he did not know his own cows when he
saw them, Mrs. Edwards managed the business
so well that a large part of the support of the
family came from it. Rev. Jonathan Strong of
Randolph had a farm, which he cultivated. He
used to labor with his hands a large part of the
week during the summer, and to teach Latin and
Greek to boys preparing for college in the winter.2
These examples, taken from different periods of
New England history, are typical illustrations of
the close connection of the ministers with agriculture. New England, for the first two centuries
1 This was published in London in I648.  2 Sprague's Annals.




I34 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


was almost exclusively an agricultural country,
and the pastors were the better fitted for their work
by a certain familiarity with that way of life.
Undoubtedly this practice contributed to the permanence of the pastorate, and to the independence
of the ministers. They were, for the most part,
men of substance. They had a position and influence as permanent citizens, who were rooted in
the soil. Having their permanent homes, the
ministers were not inclined to move from place to
place. They lad their own horses and carriages,
and made long journeys in their own conveyances.
A minister, in the old times, was not usually a
poor man. He was the equal of his parishioners
in the things that give one an independent position
in the community. His office was respected; his
income was sure; his home was his own; and he
could go and come with as much freedom as any
other busy man.
Out of this state of things grew the old-time
ministerial hospitality. It was not common for
ministers on their journeys to stop at hotels.
Each country pastor was eager to welcome a
brother minister on his journey; and so it came
to pass that the pastors had the opportunity very
often to exchange thoughts and impulses with
each other. These habits of the New England
ministers continued to a time within the memory
of some now living. The old independence of




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  135


the ministers, living on their own homesteads,
among their people, and cultivating the generous
hospitality which was common before the days of
railways, went along with habits of thorough investigation, and independent thinking, along with a
permanent pastorate, the catechetical instruction
of children, and a profound pastoral influence.
V.
IN respect to the dwellings of the early ministers of New England, and their furniture, their
way of living, and their food, the information is
abundant. In Massachusetts, as in the other
colonies, the log-house, very often with Dwellingsof
a thatched roof, served a large propor- the Ministers.
tion of the people for a dwelling in the early years.
The houses of the ministers were like those of
the people. For a few years after the settlement
of Boston, the larger part of the houses in that
town were built of logs. The old writers state
that the tall grass, gathered on the beaches, was
much used for thatching the roofs of houses.
But the improvement was rapid.    A   Puritan
writer of I642 says, " The Lord hath been pleased
to turn all the wigwams, huts, and hovels the
English dwelt in at their first coming, into orderly,
fair, well-built houses, well furnished, many of
them, together with orchards filled with goodly




136 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


fruit-trees, and gardens with variety of flowers." 
There is an old house, built in 1639 by Rev. Mr.
Whitfield, which was still standing a few years
ago, in Guilford, Connecticut, which was supposed
to be the oldest house in the United States, north
of Florida. The walls are of stone, very thick,
from a ledge not far away. The roof is inclined
at an angle of sixty degrees. The height of the
first story is seven feet, eight inches, and that of
the second six feet, nine inches. In every principal room there is an ample fire-place, opening into
the great old-fashioned chimney. This house,
however, was exceptional. The small log-cabin,
with the old well-sweep outside, and with cultivated fields about it, - this was the home of the
ministers of the first generation.  They were
enterprising men however, and, as the country
became older and richer, the ministers secured
more comfortable dwellings.
The articles of furniture which are carefully
preserved in our time, and which are said to have
come over in the Mayflower, give one the impression that the Pilgrim homes were well
Furniture of
the Puritan furnished.  Many of the articles are of
Homes.   English oak, elaborately carved. One
may see cuts of them in volumes that have been
recently published.  But the larger number of
these articles are not as old as the Mayflower.
1 Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, 174.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  137


If they had all been loaded into that small vessel,
"there would have been no room," as one has said,
"for the Pilgrim Fathers."   It is true, however,
that some of the old furniture which is still preserved did come from England, at various times,
during the Puritan exodus, and it is also certain
that some of their homes were well furnished.
But the furniture in most of the early dwellings
was very plain, and of moderate cost. Most articles
of table furniture were made of pewter. No forks
appear in the early inventories of household goods.
Governor Bradford had " four large silver spoons,
and nine of smaller size."  But he was accounted
one of the rich men of the Colony. In r662, one
of the principal men of Salem left to his daughter
by will, " two pewter platters and likewise an iron
pot."  From such items as these, which appear in
a great many inventories, it would seem that the
style of furnishing was a long way below that of
country homes in our time.  On the other hand,
a few chairs and tables and other articles which
undoubtedly belonged to the early Colonists show
that some of them brought into the wilderness
the best from their ancestral homes.
The food used in the homes of the early ministers was not too rich for health and comfort. Not
much butcher's meat was to be had at first. The
few domestic animals were permitted to multiply
1 Palfrey, vol. ii. 64, note.




138 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


that the fields might be stocked with flocks and
herds. But game and fish were abundant. You
recollect that the Pilgrims sent out a
Their Food.
hunting party before their first Thanksgiving, that they might have "rare and dainty
fare" for the festival. In 1642, however, "beef,
pork, and mutton were common in many houses,"
according to an old writer, and also " apples, pears,
and quince tarts, instead of their former pumpkinpies; poultry they have plenty, and great variety,
and they have not forgotten the English fashion of
stirring up their appetites with variety of cooking
their food."1
" In the early days of New England," says Mr.
Palfrey, "wheaten bread was not so uncommon
as it afterwards became, but its place was largely
supplied by preparations of Indian corn. A mixture of two parts of Indian meal, with one part of
rye flour, seems for two hundred years to have
furnished the bread for the great body of the
people."  The morning and evening meals, for a
hundred and fifty years, were commonly of boiled
Indian meal, - hasty pudding, - with milk or
molasses, or else there was a porridge made of
beans or peas flavored with salted beef or pork.
~   That was the age of homespun, - plain living
'and high thinking.
Tea was not much used in the first century and
1 Wonder Working Providence.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  139


a quarter of New England history, nor coffee for
a century and a half. Beer, such as could be brewed
in families, was in common use; and after
Drinks.
the orchards were grown, cider was a very
common drink. Wine and spirituous liquors were
brought into the country in considerable quantities, and were used freely by the people, ministers
as well as laymen. It was common for the people
to provide these liquors for their ministers whenever they came to their homes, and also for the
ministers to offer them to their guests. Yet a
careful observer, writing from Massachusetts in
164I, said, "Drunkenness and profane swearing
are but rare in this country."  Another writer
said, " One may live there from year to year and
not see a drunkard, hear an oath, or meet a beggar."
"In seven years," said another, " among thousands
there dwelling, I never saw any drunk, nor heard
an oath, nor saw any begging, nor the Sabbath
broken."l
VI.
THE New England Puritans called their places
of worship meeting-houses, not because they were
places of assembly for the people, but because they
went there to meet the Lord, and to receive His
blessing; as the children of Israel used to go to
the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, to receive com1 Lechford, 69. New England First Fruits. Hugh Peters.




140 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


munications from God.  Cotton Mather said, " I
find no just ground in Scripture to apply such a
trope as church to a house for public worship. A
meeting-house is the term that is most commonly
Meeting-  used by New England Christians; and
Houses.  every town, for the most part, can say,
we have a modest and a handsome house for the
worship of God, not set off with gaudy, pompous,
theatrical fineries, but suited unto the simplicity
of Christian worship."' The meeting-house was
the central building of a Puritan town. The village
grew up around it, and the country roads were
laid out with reference to it.  The first meetinghouses were built of logs, and thatched. The pulpit
was a simple desk. There were rough benches on
either side of the central aisle.  The men sat on
one side, and the women on the other. Sometimes
the meeting-house was surrounded by palisades,
with a sentinel at the gate; and the people used it
as a place of deposit for powder, and also for their
most valuable possessions.
Later, the meeting-houses were built on a larger
plan, and covered with boards or planks, and the
roofs were shingled. The form of the village meeting-house, in the second period of our history, was
nearly square, with a roof in the form of a pyramid, crowned with a steeple. If the people could
afford the luxury of a bell, it was hung in the
steeple, and the bell-rope hung down in the centre
1 Ratio Disciplinxe.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  14I


of the audience-room. The sexton used to stand
half-way between the principal entrance and the
pulpit, when he rung the bell. The only one of
these Puritan meeting-houses now in use is the
one in Hingham, Massachusetts, which was built
in I681.1 It is of wood, and is sixty-five feet by
forty-five. The pulpit stood in the middle of the
long side.   The galleries were on three sides.
The old timbers still show the marks of the axe,
and are massive enough for the ribs of a ship.
This ancient meeting-house, which is commonly
called the Old Ship, is now a well-furnished and
elegant Unitarian church. The churches of that
time in New Haven, and in Milford, Connecticut,
in Andover and West Springfield, Massachusetts,
were fine specimens of this type. Of similar
form was the third edifice of the First Church in
Boston, built in I713, and occupied by that congregation for almost a century.2
That style of church architecture, which was
followed in New England for about a hundred
years, was peculiar to the Puritans. The churches
in the old country with which they were familiar,
were much like the churches of our own time in
form. But our fathers did not desire to reproduce those old models in their new homes. The
1 For a view of this ancient Meeting-House, as it is at the
present time, see the plate which faces page 117.
2 Dr. Dexter's article on Meeting-Houses, Congregational Quarterly, vol. i. I86. President Porter's article, New Englander, 1883,
303.




142 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


churches of England had been built while that
country was under the Romish ritual. They had
been used for the Mass, and could easily be
adapted to the services of the old Church. The
Puritans made it a point to avoid whatever could
be suggestive of the forms of worship which they
disliked.  So they provided buildings spacious
enough to accommodate the people, and plain
enough to guard against ecclesiastical pomp and
the traditional forms of worship.  Hence that
style of building, which was once common in all
parts of New England, that used to be called the
"barn meeting-house." Its original form, before
porches and the steeple were added, was a perfectly
plain structure, almost square, without a chimney
or anything to mark it as a place of worship. It had
doors on three sides, with two, sometimes three,
rows of windows. The principal door was placed
in the middle of one of the long sides, the pulpit
being in the middle of the opposite side. The
side-doors were placed in the middle of each of
the ends.  Galleries were built on three sides.
The pulpit was high, and was overhung by the
sounding-board, suspended from the bare and
unpainted rafters by a slender iron rod.  This
sounding-board looked not unlike a huge extinguisher, made ready to drop upon the head of any
preacher who should prove unfaithful to his trust.1
1 The sounding-board was borrowed from the churches of
Europe, where it is still common.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  143


The people were seated, in the early days, on
rough benches, the men and women on opposite
sides. Pews were not provided at first. Now
and then a special vote was passed by the town
authorizing some person to build a pew in the
meeting-house at his own expense. Squares on
the floor, about six feet by six, were deeded to
individuals, on which they erected pews to suit
themselves.  Later, it was customary to require
the pews to be built " with wainscot worke, and
all of a kind."  These pews were apt to be set
up next the wall, or in front of the pulpit. Sometimes they had curtains, which screened the occupants from view. The pews gradually encroached
upon the open spaces, until the practice was
adopted of providing pews for all the congregation. With permanent pews came the practice
of seating families together. The pews were
large and high, with seats on four sides, because
the average Puritan family was numerous.
A committee was appointed to assign seats in
the meeting-house. This was called dignifying
the seats, because they were assigned according
to the social position, or the wealth of
The Pews.
the occupants. The best seat was sometimes assigned to the man who paid the highest
tax in the parish.  Sometimes the committee
were instructed " to have respect unto them that
are fifty years old and upwards, others to be




144 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


seated according their pay." In one instance, we
have a record that the committee was instructed
" to have respect to age, office, and estate, so far
as it tendeth to make a man respectable, and to
everything else that hath the same tendency."
A third modification in the form of the meeting-house was adopted in what may be called the
e Meetig- third period of New England history.
Houseof the As the danger from Popery did not
Third Period.
seem to our fathers to be so great as it
had appeared to be in the beginning, they were
disposed to build their houses of worship much
nearer the traditional type of a Christian church,
a form borrowed perhaps from the Roman basilica.
The ground plan was no longer square, but oblong.
The steeple was placed at the front end, and usually projected a little from the main building.
The pulpit was commonly, though not always, at
the end opposite the main entrance. The ample
galleries were still on three sides of the audienceroom, and were provided with pews. There were
double rows of windows, on three sides. At the
end where the pulpit was placed, there was one
window, larger than the others, and arched at the
top. The pulpit was still far above the pews,
with the sounding-board above it.
One of the oldest examples of this style, now in
constant use, is Christ Church in Salem Street,
Boston, built in 1723.  This church has two gal



THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I45


leries, the upper of which is still called " the slaves'
gallery." A much finer specimen is the Old South
Meeting-House, on Washington Street, Boston,
erected in I729. The First Church in Springfield, the First in Westfield, and the Old South
in Windsor, Vermont, are fine examples of this
style. This became the common form for a Congregational place of worship, in the later years of
the last century and the first half of the present
century. Some of these old buildings have been
changed in recent years, but they are easily recognized, by an experienced observer, as belonging to
the type of the later Puritan age. It is characteristic of these buildings, that they are all admirably
adapted to their purpose as places for preaching
the Gospel. They can accommodate a larger
number of people than buildings of other forms.
The pulpit is still the central object, and the occupants of every pew are in view of the preacher.
The old meeting-houses of New England embodied the ideas of the Puritan ministers. There
were few professional architects in the new
country, and in many instances the meeting-house
was planned by the minister. The plainness and
simplicity of those places of worship suited the
worshippers. Our fathers would have felt uncomfortable in a beautiful Gothic church, such as those
in which they had worshipped while in England.
The plain meeting-house was in harmony with the
IO




146 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


way of worship which they had chosen.         If the
pulpits were high, it was because the ministers
were expected to stand far above the people, and
to be shining examples of Protestant principles.
They would have been afraid of low pulpits, lest
they might tend toward Popery and the service of
the Mass.
The meeting-house was never lighted except by
the sun, until singing-schools, at a comparatively
late period, made it necessary to introLighting and
Warmingofthe duce candles.  Night meetings in the
Meeting-House.  *
meeting-house were considered      quite
improper; and the Puritan ministers would have
thought candles too suggestive of the superstitions
of the Church of Rome. There were no fireplaces,
or stoves, or other means of warming those old
meeting-houses for a hundred and fifty years after
the Colony was planted.' This is not so strange
as it seems, for the churches and cathedrals in
Europe were not warmed until a time comparatively recent. Our forefathers had been accustomed to worship in cold churches in the Mother
Country.2 Still those cold places of worship must
1 Dr. Dexter says: " The first church stove which I have seen
mentioned in Massachusetts was in the First Church in Boston,
I773." There is, however, a suggestion of an earlier one in the history of the First Church in Newton.
2 Any traveller can verify these statements. The old stone church
in Grasmere, e.g. where Wordsworth was accustomed to worship for
many years, has not to this day a chimney. It is not many years




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  147


have been severe tests of the zeal and fidelity of
the worshippers. President Porter remarks,"( The
breath of the worshippers of a cold winter morning
would not unfrequently seem like smoke from a
hundred furnaces, as it came in contact with the
frosty atmosphere. The walls, which had been
almost congealed into ice by the fierce northwesters of the preceding week, would strike a chill
of death into the frame of many in the congregation, who had come ploughing through unbroken
roads and    unswept walks."'      "Herein    is the
patience of the saints."
VII.
OF course the Puritan ministers regarded the
public worship of God on the Lord's-day as of the
first importance.    The people were ex-     rub
emplary in their attendance, and the laws Worship.
which they enacted required all persons within
their jurisdiction to go regularly to the religious
services.   To neglect this, exposed the neglector
to a heavy fine.2  These laws were not peculiar to
since the first stoves were introduced into that church, and the smoke
pipes are still carried through the roof. This is not uncommon in
the parish churches of England. The heatingapparatus in the great
abbeys and cathedrals is so modern that it contrasts strangely with
the other work of the interiors.
1 Bibliotheca Sacra, I883, 310.
2 General Laws, 83. Palfrey, vol. ii. 33; vol. iii. 49. Mass.
Records, vol. iii. 317. Felt, vol. ii. 453.




148 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


New England. The laws of Virginia made the
same requirement. So did the laws of England.
This was in accordance with the spirit of that age.
It was even provided by the laws of Massachusetts
that on the recurrence of the mid-week lectures,
all innkeepers and victuallers within one mile
from the meeting-house should clear their houses
during the time of service of all persons able to go
to meeting. It was also provided that any person
who should smoke tobacco within two miles from
the meeting-house, going or returning from public
worship, should pay a fine of twelvepence.  So
they carried out the injunction, "Keep thy foot
when thou goest to the house of God."
The Lord's-day began at sunset on Saturday,
according to the laws of Connecticut.1 But the
The ord-  laws of Massachusetts provided that
day.     persons employed to labor might stop
work at three o'clock Saturday afternoon, and
spend the remainder of the day in catechising their
children, and in preparation for the Sabbath. Both
these enactments imply that it was the custom to
begin the Sabbath on the evening of Saturday.
The early ministers of New England regarded the
Sabbath as a time for the public worship of God,
and for religious instruction. The people came
together " at nine of the clock," for the morning
service. In the early times, before they could
1 Felt, vol. ii. 33. Mass. Records, vol. i. 395.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I49


afford the luxury of bells, they were summoned
by the beat of a drum. Sometimes the voice of
the town-crier, or the blowing of a conch-shell, or
of a horn, served instead of the drum. The old
meeting-houses were crowded, for they were not
too large, and the people had a mind to go.
Inside the doors, the most conspicuous object
was the pulpit, with the things that belonged to
it. In front of the pulpit, on a low platform, sat
the deacons, facing the congregation. On a platform a little higher than the deacons sat the ruling elders. Above them, in the pulpit itself, sat
the two ministers. This array of dignitaries, some
of them, at least, in robes of office, looked down
upon the congregation, and was looked up to by
the people. " Our principal care and desire," says
John Cotton, "is to administer the ordinances of
Christ himselve in their native puritie, The Orderof
and simplicitie, without any dressing or Services.
painting of human inventions."1 And so, leaving
the traditional forms of worship, they conducted
the services in this wise: -
First, " the bills which any of the neighbors put
up, desiring a remembrance in the public prayers
and praises were read."
Then, the pastor began with solemn prayer,
continuing about a quarter of an hour.
After this, the teacher read and expounded a
1 Cotton's Way of the Churches.




150 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


chapter in the Bible. For they would have no
reading without " giving the sense."         This exposition of the chapter was one of the leading parts
of the service. It was generally a very thorough
exposition, and continued a long time. It was one
of the most instructive parts of the service.
Then a psalm      was sung by the congregation,
"whichever one of the ruling elders dictates."
In some churches, though not in all, it was the custom for the elder to read the psalm, line by line, in
order that those who were not provided with books
might be able to join in the singing. No instrumental music was allowed in the Puritan
Church Music.
churches, partly because such music was
very prominent in the services of the prelatical
churches, and partly because it was believed to
1 Lechford, Plain Dealing, 44.
2 From the beginning of the Reformation, the singing of psalms
and hymns, by the people, was made a prominent part of the public services of religion. It has been said, that the Reformation
among the German people was advanced quite as much by Luther's
hymns, as by his sermons. Our fathers brought to New England
a version of the Psalter made by Ainsworth of Amsterdam, which
they used in their religious services for many years. About I640,
the Bay Psalm Book was introduced into the churches. This was
prepared by some New England ministers, among whom were
Mather of Dorchester, President Dunster of Harvard College, Weld
and Eliot of Roxbury. This was in use for about a century, passing
through seventy editions. It did not contain the Te Deum, or the
Gloria in Excelsis, but it did contain a metrical version of the
Psalms, the Song of Solomon, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah.
In I693, an edition of Sternhold and Hopkins was published in
Cambridge, and was used in the churches to some extent.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  151


be contrary to the word of God.1 But the people
were able to sing the few tunes that were in use in
the English churches when they came over.            Cotton Mather, who is a good authority upon such a
matter, states that " their way of singing was not
with disorderly clamors, but in such grave tunes
as are most used in our nation: it has been commended by strangers, as melodious and agreeable:
-more than a score of tunes are heard regularly
sung in our assemblies. The churches of New
England admit not into their public services any
other than the Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
of the Old and New Testaments faithfully translated into English metre.       They did not favor the
Te Deum, or any merely human composition." 2
1 Amos, v. 23.
2 Ratio Discipline, 54-56. Palfrey, vol. ii. 41.
" The early settlers of New England," says Rev. Mr. Symmes,
"used to sing by note, and there are many now living who learned
to sing from their forefathers." Music was studied in Harvard
College for many years after it was founded, and the ministers
educated there were taught to sing. The music used in churches
was written in their Psalm-books. The number of tunes thus
written rarely exceeded five or six. The music was taken from
Ravenscroft's collection, published in England in I6I8, which was
the standard book for the churches in England and America for a
long time. About I690, music began to be printed in this country,
appended to the Psalm-book. Some of the tunes thus printed were
Litchfield, Canterbury, York, Windsor, Cambridge, St. David's,
Martyrs, Hackney, and Old Hundredth. They were printed in two
parts only, and were accompanied by a few simple directions for
singing.
Toward the end of the first century of New England history, the




152 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Our fathers did not favor church choirs. The
singing was by the congregation for the larger
part of the first century.
After the psalm came the sermon by the pastor.
This was the great feature         of the   service.   Its
length was measured by the hour-glass, which
commonly      stood   on  the   pulpit.    The minister
turned the glass when he began his sermon; and
he was expected, on ordinary occasions, to draw
his discourse to a close when the last sands were
decline in church music had become very perceptible. The cultivation of music had been neglected, and at the commencement of
the eighteenth century few congregations were able to sing more
than three or four tunes. The knowledge and use of notes had been
long neglected, so that the few melodies in use became corrupted,
until no two individuals sang them alike. " Every melody was tortured and twisted," says an old writer, " until the psalms were uttered
in a medley of confused noises, rather than in a decorous song."
" It is with great difficulty that this part of worship is performed,
and with great indecency in some congregations, for want of skill."
About 1720, a reformation was inaugurated. The ministers as
usual took the lead, and preached and published excellent discourses
upon the subject. Singing-schools were commenced about this time,
and sacred music was taught by competent teachers. From these
schools came church choirs. The objections to the use of instruments of music in church services were gradually overcome. This
reform however was vigorously opposed. The question whether it
was better to sing by note, or to sing by rote, was hotly debated.
In some places the discussion was so warm as to interrupt the harmony of the churches. Several ecclesiastical councils were convened during the first half of the last century to consider that
question. In the end, the better methods of singing were generally adopted, and musical cultivation in this country was rapidly
advanced.
History of Music in New England, by George Hood; Palfrey,
vol. ii 40.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NE W ENGLAND.  153


running out from the glass. Yet there were instances when the glass was turned two or three
times. To quote again, one of the old writers,
"The pastor, bespeaking attention, reads a text,
longer or shorter, as he pleases, from the sacred
Scriptures; and then makes a sermon.
Sermons of
He gives himself a liberty, either to the Puritan,~,rA       / ^. {I. *.   Ministers.
preach over a Body of Divinity, in order,
or to handle such doctrines and cases as he may
judge most necessary. Care was taken not to
weary the hearers, so that they should be dull at
the evening assembly; so that ministers generally
limited themselves unto about one hour." 1
The sermons of the early ministers of New
England were not written, although they were
carefully prepared.  It is said that Mr. Wareham
of Dorchester wAas the first who used written sermons in New England.     But in the time of
Cotton Mather the use of written sermons hlad
become common.
The sermon being finished, the teacher makes
a shorter prayer. After the prayer, another psalm
was sung.
After these services of worship and of instruction were concluded, baptism was admin- Bapand
Baptism and
istered to children who were presented theLord's
by their Christian parents. It was com- S
mon to insist that all such baptisms should be
in the meeting-house, and in the presence of the
1 Ratio Disciplinae, 55-57.




I54 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


congregation. In most instances the children
were presented within seven days from their birth,
though they were sometimes presented earlier.
Once a month, the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper was administered, in connection with the
morning services. It was very simple, conforming
to the words of the New Testament. The ministers, with the other officers of the church, were
seated at the table. After the prayer of consecration, the ministers handed the elements, first
to those seated with them at the table, after which
they were passed to the deacons, who distributed
them to the communicants. They received them
sitting in their usual seats. The minister who
had not offered the prayer of consecration prayed
after the elements had been passed.  Then a
psalm was sung, and the people were dismissed
with the benediction.
This completed the morning services.  The
intermission was longer or shorter, according to
the convenience of the people, though the more
common hour for the evening service was two
o'clock. At this service, the pastor began with
prayer, as in the morning. Then a psalm was
sung by the congregation. The minister who
had preached in the morning, expounded the
chapter in the afternoon, and the one who had
expounded in the morning, preached in the afternoon. After the sermon another psalm was sung.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I55


When this was ended, one of the deacons arose
and said: "Brethren of the congregation, now
there is time left for contribution: Wherefore, as
God hath prospered you, freely offer. Then they
bring their offering to the deacon at his seat, and
put it into a box of wood for the purThe Offerings
pose, if it be money or papers.   If it inthe
be any other articles, they set it, or lay Church.
it down, before the deacons, and so pass another
way to their seats again.   In coming forward,
they are careful to have the Majistrates, and
chiefe Gentlemen first, and then the Elders, and
all the congregation of men, and most of them
that are not of the church, all single persons,
widows, and women in absence of their husbands."
4 I have seen," says Lechford, "a faire gilt cup
with a cover offered there by one, which is still
used at the Communion.      These moneys, and
goods, the deacons dispose towards the maintenance of the ministers, and the poore of the
church, and the church's occasions."  The contribution finished, there follows the admission of
members to the church, or hearing matters of
offence, or other things, sometimes till it is very
late. They sing a psalm at the close, and the
pastor concludeth with a prayer and a blessing.1
1 The materials for this account of the way of worship of our
fathers are derived from John Cotton, Lechford, Winthrop, Cotton
Mather, and some others.




I56 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


VIII.
THERE was a mid-week lecture in many of the
churches. This was conducted much like one of
The     the services on the Lord's-day. The
Mid-week  people were expected to attend it, as
Lecture.  they were to attend on the Sabbath. In
Boston, and some other towns, the lecture was on
Thursday; but it might be on any day of the
week, so that in sections where the churches
were not far apart, the people had the opportunity
to hear the word preached every day. When John
Norton was pastor of the Church in Boston, his
reputation for eloquence and piety was so great
that people used to come from the adjoining
towns, sometimes even from places as far away
as Ipswich, to hear him. In 1639, there were so
many lectures, and so many persons neglected
their business for the purpose of attending them,
going often two or three days in a week, that the
General Court sought a conference with the elders
" to consider about the length and frequency of
church assemblies," lest they should seriously
interrupt the work of the people.
The old writers make frequent references to
these week-day lectures. John Cotton was preaching a series of expository lectures upon the Book
of Revelation, on Thursdays, about I640. This




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I57


series extended through several years, and parts
of it were published in London, from notes taken
by one of his hearers.    It was the method of
Mr. Cotton in all his preaching to go through the
books of Scripture in the way of exposition, and
it is stated that in the course of his ministry he
had expounded almost every one of the books of
the Bible.l
There are records, more or less complete, of
the parochial work of the early ministers.    In
1641, the General Court requested the TheirParoelders to "make a Chatechisme for the chialWork.
instruction of youth in the grounds of religion."2
" Milk for Babes," by John Cotton, was used for
more than a century, and it was always printed
in the earlier editions of the "New England
Primer." Its full title was " Spiritual Milk for
American Babes drawn out of the Breasts of
Both Testaments for Their Souls' Nourishment."
Later, the "Westminster Shorter Catechism" was
introduced; and this supplemented the less ambitious teaching of Mr. Cotton. Some of the
pastors were wont to catechise the young people
on the Lord's-day, in the afternoon, before the
sermon. Others gathered the children at their
1 Cotton, Way of the Churches. Winthrop's History of
New England, i. 324 (folio p. 39o). Lechford, 5I, notes. Cotton
Mather, Ratio Disciplinoe, 63.
2 Records of the Colony of Massachusetts, vol. i. 328.




158 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


own houses, on some week-day, for the same purpose. Others went from house to house to catechise the children. There were also more public
recitations of the catechism. So that the careful
and systematic teaching of religious truth to the
young was a great part of the work of the early
ministers.
The visiting of the sick, and of the aged and
infirm, and the pastoral care of the families that
made up the congregation, was then, as now, a
great part of the work of the ministers. Those
visits were more formal and professional than
such visits are in our times. But there is abundant evidence that they were full of kindness
as well as fidelity, and that they supplemented in
an admirable way the other parts of pastoral
labor.'
IX.
THE churches that were organized by the Pilgrim
ministers were strictly Independent Churches.
The Pilgrims had followed that way at Scrooby,
and in Holland, and they naturally organized the
Church in Plymouth according to their old models.
The Puritans, after a little time, adopted the same
model.
Within four weeks after the arrival of Higginson and Skelton at Salem, in I629, a day was set
1 Cotton Mather's Ratio Discipline, o16- III.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  159


apart for the choice of a pastor and a teacher.
Mr. Skelton was chosen pastor, and Mr. Higginson teacher. Mr. Higginson, and three or four of
the gravest men, laid their hands on Mr. Skelton's
head, and prayed. So he was inducted into his
office as pastor. Then, by a similar religious
service, Mr. Higginson was set apart for his office
as teacher, Mr. Skelton laying his hands upon his
head. After this had been done, Mr.
Form of the
Higginson drew   up a Confession of Earliest OrFaith, and a Church   Covenant; and gaized
Churches in
copies of the same were delivered to New
England.
thirty persons who were to constitute
the church.  Messengers were sent to Plymouth
to ask the Pilgrim Church in that place to send
delegates to witness the further proceedings. At
the day appointed the two ministers prayed and
preached; thirty persons assented to the Articles
of Faith and Covenant; the ministers were again
ordained, by the imposition of the hands of some
of the brethren appointed by the newly organized
church.  Governor Bradford and the other messengers from the Church in Plymouth gave to the
new church the hand of fellowship, and thus the
second church in New England was organized.
The other churches within the Puritan Colony
were organized in a similar way.'
1 Morton's New England Memorial, 99. Prince's History of
New England (edition of 1736), 91-92.




i60 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND,


In the first generation of New England history,
a church which was fully equipped had two ministers, one the pastor, and the other the teacher.
Both of them were preachers. Both were called
elders, and both were authorized to administer
the Sacraments. The special function of the
pastor was public and private exhortation, and
that of the teacher was doctrinal and biblical
explanation. In practice, the two offices were
much the same, the pastor preaching one part of
the day, and expounding the other, and the
teacher also preaching once, and expounding
once each Lord's-day. The pastor was, however,
the leading officer of the church.  Both gave
themselves to parochial work. Each church had,
also, one or more ruling elders, who shared with
the ministers the responsibility for the discipline
of the church. The church had also one or more
deacons, who had charge of the finances of the
church, and of providing for the poor. In later
times, however, this large number of officers, suggested perhaps by the various ranks in the ministry of the Episcopal Church, was found to be
unnecessary. The offices of pastor and teacher
were united in a single minister, and the ruling
elders were dispensed with.'
People in the Episcopal Church have sometimes questioned the validity of Non-Episcopal
1 Cotton's Way of the Churches. Lechford's Plain Dealing.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OP NEWENGLAND.  16i


ordination. But among the Puritans, the question was whether Episcopal ordination was valid.
They held that the only valid call to the ministry
was the call of Christ through a congregation of
His people. So that, although their ministers
had been ordained years before, by the bishops
and presbyters of the Church of England, they
held that their office had terminated with the end
of their pastorate. The doctrine of the p(rmanence of the office of the ministry, aside from the
pastorate of a local church, they held to be
nothing short of a Romish heresy. One who
ceased to be a pastor was no longer a minister.
He could enter the ministry again only by the
call of a church, and a new ordination.  So
that it was not so much a disowning of Episcopal
ordination, as the opinion that the validity of the
ordination had passed away when the pastorate
ended. If the call of the church was the only
true call to the ministry, it followed that it was
proper for the church to set apart the man of
their choice to the sacred office.
They also limited the functions of the pastor
by the bounds of his parish. It was provided by
law, in Massachusetts, that if any minister should
preach, or administer the Sacraments, outside his
own parish, except by the invitation of the settled
minister of that place, he should lose his salary.
It was also provided, by law, that if any person,
II r




i62 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


not a settled minister, should exhort in any
parish, without the invitation of the pastor, and
a majority of the congregation, he should be put
under bonds of one hundred pounds to keep the
peace. The practice of private members speaking in religious assemblies, without a special invitation from the officers of the church, was not
encouraged.' So carefully did the Puritan legislature protect the privileges of the settled
ministers! It is even related of a Puritan minister, who was making a voyage across the
Atlantic, that when he was asked to baptize a
child, which was at the point of death, he declined to do it, because, as he said, there was no
regular congregation worshipping in that place.
X.
IT only remains to speak of the mistakes of the
early Puritan ministers. They were laying foundations. They were the builders of states. They
had few precedents to guide them. It is not surprising that they made mistakes. Those mistakes
stand out distinctly in their history. It is easy to
overrate them. Some recent writers have given
so much prominence to these mistakes that they
have failed to do justice to the Puritan spirit
Lechford's Plain Dealing, I2-16, and 43, note. Palfrey, vol.
ii. 39.




THE EARLY MIfiVISTERS OF NEW EVNGA1VND.  163


and work. Those mistakes were the mistakes of
great men, and of sincere and honest men. Their
honesty was shown in their readiness to correct
their errors.
The Puritan ministers were limited by their
environment, as we are by ours. They lived in
times of conflict; and it was their mis- The Mistakes
sion to stand for the truth, and to suffer of th Eay
Puritan Minisfor it, as the heroes of faith. Their ters.
fidelity to the truth made them positive men.
Such men are liable to push a point too far.
They were not far enough from the experiences
of persecution to give a hospitable reception to
the new truth that was breaking from the Word
of God. It is too much to require that the opinions and the methods of such men should be up to
the standard of the last decade of the nineteenth
century.  But the Puritan ministers, with all
their limitations, were men of remarkable good
sense. If they made mistakes, they had enough
of Anglo-Saxon sagacity to discover and correct
them.   They made progress in building the
Church and the state in the New World by rectifying their errors.
For example, in the earlier years of the
Colony of Massachusetts, they would have no
public reading of the Bible, unless accompanied
by an exposition. The reason was, that it was
important, at that time, to guard against a




164 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.'


tendency to a formal and perfunctory service in
public worship. They would have the reader
give the sense, that the worship might be intelligent. But in the course of time they learned
that it was quite possible to read the Scriptures
intelligently, and devotionally, without an exposition; so that, before the close of the century, the
custom of reading the Scriptures in public worship,
without note or comment, had become common.1
Another illustration of the progressive spirit
of the Puritan ministers is found in the history
Their Progres- of their method of conducting the sersive Spirit.  vices at funerals.  They would have
nothing that was suggestive of prayers for the
dead.   One of the old Puritan writers said:
" All prayers, either over or for the dead, are not
only superstitious and vain, but are also idolatry,
and against the plain Scriptures of God."2 And
so the old ministers would not consent, on any
ground of sentiment or of feeling, to follow the
English customs with respect to funerals, because
they apprehended that those customs tended
toward the practices of the Church of Rome.
To such a point had they come in their opposition to the superstitions of that Church, that, for
many years, "nothing was read at burials, nor
1 Ratio Disciplinae, 65.
2 J. Canne's Necessity of Separation, I634, II2. Ratio Disciplinae, 117.  Lechford, 88.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I65


any funeral sermon made, but all the neighborhood, or a good company of them, came together,
by the tolling of the bell, and carried the dead
solemnly to his grave, and then stood by him
while he was buried. The ministers were most
commonly present," but had no part. But all
this was too unnatural, and too far from the spirit
of the New Testament, to be continued by such
Christians as they were. So that, we find, as their
dread of the prevalence of Romanism became less,
they gradually adopted the funeral customs that
have been common among Protestant Christians.
The first instance, so far as we know, of prayer
at a funeral, in Massachusetts, was at the burial
of Rev. William  Adams, of Roxbury, in I685.
Judge Sewall has noted in his diary, that, " Mr.
Wilson, the minister at Medfield, prayed with the
company before they went to the grave." In the
earlier years of the eighteenth century, according
to Cotton Mather, it had come to be the ordinary
practice to have religious services at funerals.
The celebration of marriage was also by a
magistrate, in the earlier years of our history.
The reason was that the Church of Rome had
exalted marriage to the rank of a Sacrament.
As Protestants, the Puritans made their protest
against this as emphatic as possible. So they
treated marriage as purely a civil contract, and
sent the parties who were to be married from the




i66 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


church to the town-house. The ministers were
themselves married by magistrates.    But they
were in error in saying that marriage was only
a civil contract. The people gradually dropped
this extreme theory, and began to connect marriage with the Church and its religious services.
By the time of Cotton Mather, marriage was
commonly celebrated by the pastors, and was
recognized as an institution which had close connections with religion. But the use of the ring
in marriage was objected to for many years more,
as a Popish superstition.l
Our Puritan fathers made it a matter of conscience to call the days of the week by numerals,
and to call the months in the same way, as the
Quakers do to this day. It was a singular
scruple which they had, and it had its origin
amongst the Lollards, and the Anabaptists, from
whom the Quakers and some other Protestant
sects came. They thought it was giving honor
to the heathen gods, and to pagan worship, to
call their days Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday,
or Wednesday, or to call their months January,
or March, or May.    But while this scruple has
been so tenacious among the Friends, that even
Mr. Whittier continued to follow it as long as he
1 Felt, vol. i. 59. Lechford, 86, note. Ratio Discipline. R. C.
Winthrop says, vol. ii. 382, "The earliest record of a marriage by
a minister, in Massachusetts, is dated I686."




THE EARLY MINISTERS OP NEW ENGLAND.  I67


lived, our Puritan fathers had laid it aside before
their colonies had completed their first century.
The Puritan ministers had very strong prejudices against the observance of the ancient fasts
and festivals of the Christian year. The observance
of Christmas and Easter was regarded by them
as " one of the earliest apostacies and superstitions
of the primitive times."  They would have no
regularly recurring holy-days except the Sabbath.1
And yet, as deeply religious people, they felt the
need of such days. So they appointed from time
to time Days of Fasting and Prayer, at the season
of planting, or at other seasons; and, after the harvest had been gathered, or whenever any special
blessing had been given to them, they appointed
Days of Thanksgiving.  The observance of these
days was required by law, just as the observance
of the Sabbath was required.2 In the earlier periods
of our history, these days were religiously observed.
These occasional fasts and thanksgivings long ago
became stated days.   The objections to stated
days of fasting and thanksgiving have been overcome.   The laws which forbade the observance
of Christmas and Easter were long ago repealed;
and those days have steadily grown in favor with
the best people among the sons of the Puritans,
1 Ratio Discipline, I86. John Cotton's Way of the Churches.
2 Palfrey, vol. i. 43, 44. Fasts and Thanksgivings of New England, by W. DeLoss Love, Jr., 1895.




I68 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


until it has come to pass that the Puritan Thanksgiving itself seems to be giving place to the
Christmas of the Christian centuries, and the
annual Fast-day has already been discarded in the
State of Massachusetts. It may be that it is only
a question of time when Good-Friday will take the
place of the New England Fast-day. I do not
doubt that if Governor Winthrop and John Cotton
were living to-day they would heartily approve the
change.
XI.
THESE illustrations of the progressive spirit of
the Puritan ministers relate to matters which are
perhaps of minor importance. But the same spirit
was shown in much more important things.
In the first years of the Colony of Massachusetts,
it was ordered by the General Court that " no man
The Suffrage shall be admitted to the freedom of this
Limitedto  body politic, but such as are members
Members of
the Church. of some of the churches within the limits
of the same." In this way the Puritans sought to
limit the citizenship to the best men.  But there
were indications almost immediately that the propriety of a religious test was questioned, especially
by the more progressive men among the ministers.
Thomas Hooker wrote a letter to Governor Winthrop, in which he said, " In matters which concern
the common good, a general council, chosen by




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  169


all, to transact business which concerns all, I conceive most suitable to rule, and safe for the relief
of the whole."  With this view of the true basis
for the right of suffrage, Mr. Hooker, in 1635, led
a company of his friends to found a new colony
on the banks of the Connecticut. At the first
session of the General Court of the new colony,
Mr. Hooker preached a sermon in which he said,
" The foundation of authority is laid in the free
consent of the people;" " the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people, by God's own
ordinance;".. "they who have power to appoint
officers and magistrates, have the right to set the
bounds and limitations of the power and place of
those who are called." Thus it was that this Puritan minister laid down the principles which underlie the Constitution of the United States, a hundred
and forty years before the American Revolution.
These principles were embodied in the written
constitution of the Colony of Connecticut, which
was adopted in I639. That constitution did not
impose any religious test to limit the admission
of adult male citizens to the right of suffrage.
These principles had a great influence in Massachusetts. In 1647, the General Court voted that
those who were not members of the churches
might vote for selectmen, and on questions relating
to the assessment of taxes, and that such persons
might be chosen to fill certain offices in the towns.




170 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


In 1669, under some pressure from the king, the
Court was induced to repeal the law which limited
the suffrage to communicants in the churches.
And when, in 1692, the Provincial Charter from
William and Miary was received, the change in
public opinion had been so decided that there was
very little opposition to its provisions, which extended the suffrage to all qualified citizens, without
reference to their ecclesiastical relations.1
It is hardly necessary to mention the wellknown fact, that the Plymouth Colony never imposed any religious test as a qualification for the
suffrage. There were persons in that Colony who
did not agree with the views of the majority, but
some of these persons were voters, and were admitted to a prominent part in the administration
of the Colony.
The next illustration touches a more serious
charge.  The Puritans of Massachusetts have
been called intolerant, because they sent out of
the Colony a number of persons whom they regarded as disturbers of the peace. They claimed
the right, in the first years of the Colony, while
their institutions were in the forming state, to shut
out those who would cause divisions among the
people, and those who had shown themselves
restless and uncomfortable members of society.
In the early years of the Colony, the Browns1 Mass. Colonial Records, vol. i. I97; vol. iv. I 8.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  I7


one of them a merchant, and the other a lawyerwere shipped back to England, because they attempted to gather a congregation, in Salem, which
should use the Book of Common Prayer in the
worship of God, after the manner of the Episcopal
Church. Eight or ten other persons, whose presence in the Colony was found to be inconvenient
or dangerous, were sent away at various times.
The most noted of this class of persons was
Roger Williamns, who was certainly one of the
greatest of the Puritan ministers, and whose services in behalf of religious liberty have given him
a place among the foremost men of that great age.
He arrived in Boston, in 1631, when the Colony
was still young, and weak, and when he was himself hardly thirty years of age. He had taken the
degree of Bachelor of Arts at Cambridge, in i 626;
and he had probably been a clergyman in the
Church of England. He says that Bishop Laud
pursued him out of the land. Soon after he arrived in Boston, he was invited to take the place
of one of the pastors, for a few months. He
declined the courteous request, because, Roger
as he said, he did not "dare officiate to Williams.
an unseparated people." By this he seems to have
meant that the church in Boston was not radical
enough in its separation from  the Church of
England. After this he preached a few months
in Salem, then two or three years for the Pilgrims




172 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


in Plymouth, and then, leaving them somewhat
abruptly, after setting forth, as Governor Bradford
tells us, certain strange opinions, which stirred up
controversy, he went back to Salem, and preached
some years in that town. Some of the people of
Salem were inclined to adopt his opinions, while
a large number dissented from them. The magistrates came to look upon him as a disturber of
the peace, and an enemy of good order in the
young Colony.    He taught that the charter of
the Colony was of no force or authority; that
the people had no title to their lands; that it was
unlawful to join in worship with any person who
was unregenerate, though that person might be
a member of one's own family; and that it was
unlawful to administer the oath to one who was
not a Christian. The churches of the Colony,
he said, were idolatrous and corrupt, and their
ministers were false, and hirelings.l
Great efforts were made by Mr. Cotton and
Mr. Hooker, to convince Mr. Williams that he
was in error in these severe judgments, and to induce him to withdraw his accusations, but in vain.
Finally the General Court, after long delay, and
several hearings, decided that Mr. Williams, having divulged new and strange opinions, against the
1 Palfrey, vol. i. 413. Winthrop's History, vol. i. 6i,  I r1.  Mass.
Colonial Records, vol. i. 77, 82-86, 9I, io8. Dexter's As to Roger
Williams, 3, note. Bradford's History.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  173


authority of the magistrates, and of the churches,
should depart out of this jurisdiction, within six
weeks. The time was afterwards extended to six
months, and Mr. Williams finally left the Colony.
His great reputation was made after he was himself at the head of a colony. An independent
position made him conservative and constructive.
As he grew older and more mature, he developed
a character which has secured to him the admiration and respect of all the friends of religious
liberty. After he left Massachusetts, he became
a Baptist, and was baptized by immersion; and he
did a great deal to give influence and usefulness
to that religious denomination. But that was not
the reason that he was required to depart out of
the Colony.
It is pleasing to know that the sentence of the
General Court against Mr. Williams was revoked
some forty years later. The vote, which is preserved in the Archives of Massachusetts,1 makes
honorable mention of the services which Mr.
Williams had rendered. by his influence with the
Indians, in time of war, and by his respect for the
authority of the Colony in several services desired
of him; and also of the misfortunes which he
had suffered in his old age, on account of the
burning of his house in Providence by the Indians;
and it declares that the "sentence of restraint
1 Massachusetts Archives, vol. x. 233.




174 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


from coming into the Colony " is repealed, and that
Mr. Williams " shall have liberty to repair into any
of our Towns for his security and comfortable
abode during these Public Troubles."
XII.
THE heaviest charge against the early Puritan
ministers relates to the part which they had in the
prosecution of the Quakers, and in the most cruel
and atrocious proceedings which grew out of the
delusion concerning witchcraft.  The first occurred between I656 and I66I, when the Colony
of Massachusetts was about thirty years old; the
second between I690 and I692.  No reasonable
excuse can be made for the extreme folly and
wickedness of those proceedings. It seems unac' - table that men with so much of English
sense _ '       should have been thrown into
a panic by the pi,,ence of a small band of Quakers
in a colony which had at that time a population
of thirty or forty thousand people. It is no valid
excuse for the Puritans to allege that the Quakers
were persecuted in England as well as in New
England. It is true that during the years when
there were twenty or thirty Quakers in jail in New
England, there were more than a thousand of them
imprisoned in Great Britain. The whole number
who were fined, imprisoned, or scourged in the




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  175


two colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth may
have been sixty; while the number who suffered
in that way in England was between three and
four thousand; and three hundred and ersecution of
thirty-eight died in English prisons. the Quakers.
But we have a right to expect a larger charity
among a people who had themselves endured persecution.  It is true, however, that the Puritans
dealt with the Quakers simply as intruders into
their Colony. They claimed the right to forbid
them to enter their bounds; and they always offered
them a free pardon, even after sentence, if they
would depart from the Colony. When the law
was passed in Massachusetts which provided for
inflicting the penalty of death upon Quakers
found in the Colony under certain circumstances,
it was vigorously opposed by a numerous party,
which included both ministers and laymen, and it
was finally enacted by a majority of only a single
vote. It is also true, that each of the four persons
who were put to death under that law came into
the Colony from abroad, after he knew of the existence of the law. They came expressly to defy the
penalty.  Each of them was offered his liberty if
he would engage to leave the Colony. They voluntarily laid down their lives as a testimony against
an unrighteous law, and their death led to the
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xx. I48, 9th ed.  Palfrey, vol. ii.
440 —445, note.




176 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


repeal of the law. In this case, as in so many others,
the victory was with the persecuted party.
Thirty years later, another epidemic of folly
swept over the New England colonies, which led
Witchcraftin to a multitude of horrors, and the juew England. dicial murder of about twenty persons.
The Puritans had always believed in the existence
of what is known in history as witchcraft, as most
persons who lived in the seventeenth century did.
When it was alleged that there were persons in
Salem, and various other places, who had entered
into a league with the Devil to torture and kill
their neighbors, they seem to have taken leave of
their senses, and given themselves up to a carnival of folly. The history of that delusion is
undoubtedly the darkest part of their record.
And yet it is an error to suppose that our fathers
were peculiar in this thing.  They only adopted
the common belief of their times.  The atrocities
in New England were much less than those in
Old England. The state trials of England show
that Chief Justice Hale, and others among the most
eminent jurists in that country, believed that witchcraft was a crime to be punished by law.  In the
years when witches were hung in Massachusetts,
a much larger number were put to death in Great
Britain.1 It is related that the bull of Pope Inno1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. Witchcraft. Palfrey, vol. iii.
124-125.




THE EARLY IMINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  177


cent the Eighth against witchcraftcaused the death
of a hundred thousand persons in Germany alone.
The story of man's inhumanity to man is not
limited to Massachusetts.  The English statutes
against witchcraft were not repealed until fifty
years after the superstition had passed away from
New England. It can be fairly claimed, in behalf
of our fathers, that the madness was past in about
two years, instead of lasting for generations, as it
did in so many other countries; and that the
number of victims, when compared with the
number who were put to death elsewhere, was
small.  Moreover, those who had been led to
participate in the atrocious acts of the epidemic
of cruelty, were among the first to discover the
folly and wickedness of the whole thing. The
confessions which they made were very full, and
as public as their offence had been.
XIII.
ANOTHER illustration of the progressive tendency among the early New England ministers is
to be found in the history of their Church Polity.
The first churches were strictly inde-  e ityo
The Polity of
pendent. The ministers were jealous of the Early
Churches.
any act which implied that a neighbor
church had a right to influence another church. In
the earliest years the churches exercised their right
12




178 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


to ordain their own officers, without the advice or
help of their neighbors. Thus they lost sight of
the fellowship of the churches, in the one kingdom
of our Lord. They followed the same course that
the English Independents have followed, whose
churches were said by one of their own divines
to be "like so many ships launched singly, and
sailing apart and alone in the vast ocean of these
tumultuous times, exposed to every wind of doctrine."'  There was no more important work
done by the early Puritan ministers than the
evolution of the Congregational Church Polity
from the Independency of the first years of the
Colony. It was by experience and free discussion that they learned to limit the tendency to
the isolation of the local church, by the principle
of fellowship.
John Cotton and Thomas Hooker seem to have
been the leaders in the movement to supply the
defects in the ecclesiastical system. Both of them
published important works designed to lead toward
a better Polity. The movement was strengthened
by the apprehension that the Presbyterian party
in England designed to impose their system of
church government upon the colonies. It was felt
that the separate and isolated churches in New
England were in no condition to resist such an
effort. The General Court of Massachusetts
1 The Savoy Divines of 1658, quoted by Palfrey, vol. ii. I80.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.   179


therefore invited the churches in all the colonies
of New England to send their elders and messengers to a synod at Cambridge "to establish and
settle the right form of government and discipline
for the churches."  The synod met in i646, and,
after a short session, adjourned for a few months,
and then adjourned a second time, so that the
final session was held in i648.  All through the
two years, the discussion of principles was going
on among the churches, so that in the end a good
degree of unanimity was secured.
The Cambridge Platform which the synod
finally adopted was designed to introduce order
and unity, and to create a system capable of more
efficient action than had been provided for by the
earlier methods. The synod, in seeking for a
bond of union, discarded the methods of the
Presbyterian and Episcopal churches, and adopted
the system of ecclesiastical councils, which had
been growing in favor among them for a long
period. The council, as they conceived of it, was
not to be a permanent body, but to be convened
for special occasions, and to be made up of ministers and delegates from the churches of the
vicinity; and its existence terminated when the
business for which it was called had been done.
Its decisions were not authoritative, but " had so
much weight as there was weight in the reasons
for them."  The platform recognizes and defines




I80 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the rights of the local church, and it denies to
councils the power of discipline by authority.
But it encourages the calling of councils to consider and advise in matters of common interest.
It allows the ordination of church officers by officers of other churches, assembled in mutual
councils, thus relaxing the ancient rule. "It belongeth unto synods and councils to debate and
determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience, to clear up from the Word directions for
the worship of God, and for the good government
of the church, to bear witness against mal-administration and corruption in doctrine or manners in
any particular church, and to give directions for
the reformation thereof." 1
This platform has not been by any means a
fixed rule of procedure. As it was itself the result
of the development of principles, so its provisions
have been modified and improved as the experience and needs of the churches have required, as
they have spread beyond the limits of New England into all parts of the country. But the Cambridge Platform has maintained its place as an
ancient and valuable standard among the Congregational churches for two hundred and forty-eight
years. Its influence in securing the stability and
the steady growth of the Puritan churches has
1 Historical Preface to the Cambridge Platform. Palfrey, vol. ii.
I65 —186.




THE EARLY MINISTERS OF NEW ENGLAND.  81


been very great.  It still holds a place of honor
among them, and is one of the finest monuments
of the wisdom and piety of our fathers.
XIV.
THE right of private judgment, that leading
principle of Protestantism, is the source of most
of the progress of modern times.  The Puritans,
in the exercise of this right, had thrown aside a
great body of traditions from the Middle Ages;
and they had put the ocean between themselves
and the old societies and governments and
churches, that they might work out freely their
convictions in a new church and a new commonwealth. Every man of them felt that it was his
right and duty to judge for himself in respect to
all matters of truth and duty. It is an error to
suppose that the Puritans were content to take
their opinions from their ministers, or that the
ministers themselves were agreed in respect to all
points of faith or practice. The spirit of inquiry
possessed all minds. New opinions were springing up every day. One of the synods found it
necessary to condemn eighty-two errors that had
been set forth by some among them. There could
be no more striking illustration of the independent
thinking of our fathers. Mr. John Fiske calls this
tendency rationalism, and he says, "The conse



182 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


quences of this rationalistic spirit have been very
far-reaching.  In the conviction that religious
opinions must be consonant with reason, and that
religious truth must be brought home to each
individual by rational argument, we may find one
of the chief causes of that peculiarly conservative
yet flexible intelligence which has enabled the
Puritan countries to take the lead in the civilized
world of to-day." 1
These statements of Mr. Fiske lead towards the
true philosophy of New England history.  Our
Puritan fathers felt bound not only to interpret
the Bible for themselves, but to test all principles
and institutions by their reason and conscience.
This habit of mind made them the most original
and progressive men of their time.  They were
not hidebound conservatives.  They proved all
things, and held fast that which was good. The
New England spirit has been developed from the
thinking and the devotion of those heroic men,
planted in this new world, where they were free
to build according to new patterns, bringing out
of their treasure things new and old.


1 Beginnings of New England, I49.




IV.
William Pynchon, Gent.








William Pynchon, Gent.


IN writing of the early Puritan ministers of New
England, it has been necessary to speak of a
great many persons besides the ministers. For
the ministers were closely connected with all the
public men of the colonies, and with the social
and political interests of the people. So that we
have already seen what sort of men the political
leaders of the people were; how they lived, and
what ideals they were working out. The picture of
Puritan life, however, will be more complete, if we
study the lives of some of those who were not
ministers. There were men in the colonies who
guided the people in working out their principles,
as Eliot and Hampden and Pym had The Great
led the Puritans in the Mother Coun- Pritan
Governors
try. We think at once of Governor and statesmen.
John Winthrop, and his son of the same name,
the Governor of Connecticut; and of the more
conservative Governor Dudley, of Sir Henry
Vane, also a Governor of Massachusetts, and
of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth,




I86 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and his successor Edward Winslow. But the
lives of these men have been often written, and
very little that is new remains to be said about
them.
I.
I HAVE chosen, therefore, to write of another man
of affairs, of the Colonial age, who is not so well
known as some of the other men, though he stood
in the front rank among the founders of Massachusetts. William Pynchon was a Puritan of
the Puritans, who came to New England with
John Winthrop, in I630. He was one of the men
who signed the notable agreement at Cambridge,
August i6, I629, with Winthrop and Dudley and
William  Isaac Johnson and eight others, which
Pnchon.  led the way to the settlement of New
England. He was an original member of the
Massachusetts Company, formed in England, and
was one of its officers. He was the representative
of an ancient and wealthy English family.
" The first of the Pynchon family,"2 says President Thomas R. Pynchon, D. D., now of Trinity
College, Hartford, Conn., "came to England with
the Conqueror, and had a grant of manors in Lincolnshire. Thence they drifted, after some generations, into Northamptonshire, where W. Pynchon
1 See the frontispiece for his portrait.
2 MS. letter from President T. R. Pynchon, dated Trinity Col.
lege, Hartford, March 4, I886.




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


I87


resided, who was the grandfather of Henry Chichley, Archbishop of Canterbury, who flourished in
the time of kings Henry Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth,
between I4I4 and I443. From Northamptonshire they passed into Essex, and had property at
Writtle, near Chelmsford. The church of that
town, a noble building, has in its chancel many
fine monuments running through several generations of the family." Nicholas Pynchon was sheriff
of London, in I532.1  His son John, of Writtle,
Essex, married Jane, heiress of Sir Richard Empson, one of the ministers of Henry the Seventh.
John Pynchon died in 1573, leaving six children.
His second son, John, settled in Springfield, Essex, near Chelmsford. His son William, of whom
I am to write, was born, probably in Springfield,
about 1590. The date of his birth is determined
by an inscription 2 on his portrait, now in possession of the Essex Institute, at Salem, which indicates that the portrait was painted in 1657, and
that his age was sixty-seven years.
William Pynchon, gent, as his name is always
written in the records of the Colony, was a man
of fortune, well versed in affairs, and well educated.
It is said that he was not a graduate from the
university; but his works show that he had some
1 Heraldic Journal, No. I4, April, I866, quoted in Records of
the Pynchon Family.
2 " Guil. Pynchon armg. Effigies. | Delin. Anno Dom. I657. I
aet. 67."




188 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, and a wide acquaintance with the theological literature of his time. He was one of the
patentees named in the Charter of the Colony of
Massachusetts Bay, from Charles the First, which
bears the date of March 28, I628.1 He was also
named in the same charter one of the eighteen Assistants, and was connected with the government of
the Company before it was transferred to this side
Settement of  the Atlantic by the notable vote of
Roxbury.  its members. He was the leader in the
settlement of Roxbury, and one of the founders of
the first church in that town.2 He was engaged
in business, perhaps as a merchant. While at
Roxbury he was for some years Treasurer of the
Colony, and was elected, from year to year, one of
the Assistants. He was early licensed as a furtrader. In 1632, he paid twenty-five pounds into
the treasury of the Colony for his license as a furtrader. The same sum was paid each year until
1635, when the General Court remitted one fifth of
the amount, probably because the trade had become
less lucrative.
II.
IT is not easy to understand why it was that,
within five or six years after the settlements near
1 Bancroft, vol. i. 265, 281. Mass. Records, vol. i.
2 Hist. Boston, vol. i. 40I-4II.




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


I89


Boston were begun, the people in a number of these
settlements were moved by a common impulse to go
further west. The reasons given, says Winthrop,1
were their" lack of accommodations for their cattle,
so that they were not able to maintain Thereto
their ministers, nor could receive any Plant a ew
more friends to help them; and also the Colony.
fruitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut,
and the danger of its being possessed by others,"
Dutch or English; and, what is always the decisive
reason with persons seized by the western fever,
"the strong bent of their spirit to remove thither."
Cotton Mather says, " It was not long before the
Massachusetts Colony was become like a hive
overstocked with bees, and many of the new inhabitants entertained thoughts of swarming into
plantations extending further into the country."
" The Colony," he says,2 " might fetch its description from the Scripture: ' Thou hast brought a
vine out of England; Thou hast cast out the
heathen and planted it; Thou preparedst room
before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and
it filled the land.' But still there was one stroke
wanting, to wit, ' SSe sentforth her branzce/s tunto
the river,' whereupon many of the planters, belonging especially to the towns of Cambridge, Dorchester, Watertown, and Roxbury, took up reso1 Winthrop's History of New England, vol. i. 140.
2 Quoted by Dr. Holland in Hist. of Western Mass., i. 20.




I90 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


lutions to travel an hundred miles westward from
those towns for a further settlement upon that
famous river, the report of which had made a little
Nilus of it." All of which means, that Boston,
Cambridge, and the rest were full, as the people
thought, and they were already feeling the stirrings of that wonderful instinct which in two
centuries and a half has belted the continent with
Puritan populations, which stretch already as far
as the Massachusetts charter gave a title, even to
the western sea.
The I4th of May, i634,1 the General Court
granted leave to the inhabitants of Newtown "to
remove their habitations to some convenient
place." On the 6th of May, 1635, it was voted to
grant liberty to the inhabitants of Watertown, and
to the inhabitants of " Rocksbury to remove themselves to any place they shall think meete, not to
prejudice another plantation, provided they continue still under this government." That same
year a company, or several companies, settled on
the Connecticut River within the present limits of
Connecticut. In I635, two men, John Cable and
John Woodcock, were sent by Mr. Pynchon to
the Connecticut River to build a house for the
new plantation. It is probable that Mr. Pynchon
himself had before this crossed the country, to the
valley of the river, and selected the place for the
settlement.
I Mass. Records, i. I36.




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


I9I


III.
IN the spring of 1636, Mr. Pynchon and seven
other men made their way through the wilderness,
following, it is supposed, the Bay Path, TheSpringfield
so called, and began a new plantation. Colony, 1636.
Their goods were sent by water, in Governor
Winthrop's vessel, - the " Blessing of the Bay," -
which left Boston, April 26th. We ride to Springfield, over almost the exact route of the Bay Path,
in less than three hours. The pioneers were perhaps a week cutting their road through the forest,
following, for a part of the way, an Indian trail.
The date of their arrival is not known, but on the
I4th of May they subscribed an agreement, which
contains fifteen articles, and which was designed
as the fundamental law of the Colony. It gives it
the name of the Plantation of Agawam, spelled in
the agreement Agaam, according to the pronunciation of the Indians of the vicinity. The first
article provides for the settlement of a " Godly
and faithful minister," " with all convenient speed,
with whom we propose to joyne in church covenant, to walk in all the ways of Christ."1 The
second limits the number of families to forty, or
by general consent to fifty at the utmost. The
others provide for the allotment of land to the
1 Judge Morris's Address, 1876, Appendix.




192 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


various settlers, and for defraying the expenses of
the settlement. It was stipulated that no man
except Mr. William  Pynchon " shall have above
ten acres for his house lot." On laying out the
land, the general course was to " allow each inhabitant a house lot on the west side of " what is now
called Main Street, "eight rods wide, from  the
street to the river; a like width in the meadow in
front of his house, to the foot of the hill; and a
wood lot, of the same breadth, extending, at first
eighty, and afterwards an hundred rods, nearly to
the top of the hill; and, when practicable, an allotment in the intervale, on the west side of the River,
of the same width, and, as near as might be,
directly against his lot." 
Mr. Pynchon was the magistrate of the Colony,
at first under a general commission from the
Mr. Pynchon General Court, dated March 3, I636,2
the only  which authorizes eight persons to deMagistrate.
termine, in a judicial way, differences,
and to inflict corporal punishment, or imprisonment, or to levy fines, in various plantations on
the Connecticut River.
There is on record, at the Registry of Deeds in
Hampden County,3 a paper which conveys the
Indian title to the lands, on both sides of the river
1 Address by George Bliss, March 24, I828.
2 Massachusetts Colonial Records, vol. i. 170-I71.
3 Dr. Holland's History, vol. i. 29.




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


193


for four or five miles, to William Pynchon, Esq.,
Mr. Henry Smith (his son-in-law), and their heirs
and associates. It is dated July 15, i636, and
is signed by thirteen Indians, by their marks.
The consideration acknowledged in the deed is
eighteen fathom  of wampum, eighteen coats,
eighteen hatchets, eighteen hoes, and eighteen
knives, besides certain presents made to some of
the chiefs.
The year following the settlement, the people
secured the services of Rev. George Moxon, and
under him they formed a church.'  Mr. Moxon
had received Episcopal ordination in England.
He was a graduate of Sidney College, Cambridge,
and took his degree of A.B. in 1623. He was a
personal friend of Mr. Pynchon, and continued
in the Colony only so long as Mr. Pynchon did.2
A house was built for him by a voluntary assessment in I639; and he received a salary of forty
pounds a year, of which, in 1638, Mr. Pynchon
paid /24 6s. 8dC.
All the settlements on the ConnecticutWethersfield, Hartford, Windsor, and Agawam -
were at first united under a joint commission,
appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts,
of which Mr. Pynchon was a member. He attended a court held at Hartford in November,
I Hist. of Conn. Valley, 33.  a Hist. of Conn. Valley, 33.
2 Holland's History, vol. i. 31.
I3




194 THE PURITAN IN ENGL4AND AND NEW ENGLAND.


1636, and also in 1637. In i638, Rev. George
Moxon and John Burr were chosen to represent
Agawam at the same court.1  It had been uncertain how many of the settlements were under the
jurisdiction of Massachusetts; but, in 1638, the
people of Agawam became satisfied that "by
God's Providence they were now fallen into the
line of the Massachusetts jurisdiction;" and they
chose Mr. William Pynchon " to execute the office
of a magistrate in this our plantation of Agawam,"
" till we receive further directions from the General Court in the Massachusetts Bay." The
record of this action occupies the second page in
the manuscript volume known as " The Pynchon
Record Book."   The magistrate was authorized
"to administer oaths, issue warrants, hear and
examine misdemeanors, inflict corporal punishment by whipping and the stocks, to commit to
prison; to try actions for debt or trespass, and
keep records of verdicts, judgments, and executions, and whatever else may tend to the king's
peace." 2 It was agreed, on account of the scarcity
of men, that six persons should be deemed a
" good and sufficient jury to try any action, under
the sum of ten pounds."


1 Holland's History, vol. i. 33.


2 Ibid.




WILLIAJzM PYNCHON, GENT.


I95


IV.
THIS was really a form of government, adopted
by the inhabitants of the Colony, and was an
assumption of the right of self-govern- A ew
ment, and especially of independence of oement.
the authority of Connecticut. This action led to
a prolonged controversy, in which Mr. Pynchon
acted as the leader of the Colonists. Their position was finally sustained by the General Court
of Massachusetts, which, on the 2d of June, 164I,
adopted an elaborate paper,1 which asserted the
claim of the Massachusetts Colony to the plantation, and ordered that " William Pynchon, gent,
for the year shall have full power and authority
to govern the inhabitants of Agawam, now Springfield, to hear and determine all causes and offences,
both civil and criminal, that reach not to life,
limbs, or banishment, according to the laws heare
established." A little earlier than this, namely, the
I4th of April, 1640, the inhabitants assembled in
general town-meeting, and changed the name of
their plantation from  Agawam  to Springfield,
as a compliment to Mr. Pynchon, whose home
was in Springfield before his removal to New
England.2  Mr. Pynchon was the magistrate of
the Colony from the beginning to T651, first as a
I Mass. Records, vol. i. 321.  2 Holland's History, vol. i. 34.




i96 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


member of the joint commission, then by vote of
the people of Agawam, and after June 2, 1641, by
commission from the General Court.
The records of his court show the variety and
importance of his duties.  One of the most important cases was a suit for slander. John Woodcock was complained of for slandering the pastor,
Rev. George Moxon, by saying that the said
Moxon had taken a false oath against him at
Hartford. Mr. Moxon claimed ~9 I9s. damages,
but the jury awarded him /6 I3s. There were
suits for the collection of debts, and for violation
of contract. Estates were settled in Mr. Pynchon's
court, and the inventories in his Record Book
give us glimpses of the sort of property and of
household furniture in those times, as well as of
the prices at which articles were valued. In I65I,
Hugh Parsons was apprehended on charge of
witchcraft. The testimony against him is recorded
by Mr. Pynchon.   The duty of the magistrate
consisted in the examination of witnesses. Parsons
was sent to Boston for trial. Witnesses were
produced, and the testimony taken in Springfield
A Caseof  was read, and the prisoner was found
Witchcraft guilty of the sin of witchcraft. The
General Court reviewed the case and reversed the
verdict.  The wife of Parsons had been insane,
and had taken the life of her infant child. She
was arrested for the double crime of witchcraft




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


I97


and murder.   Her examination was before Mr.
Pynchon.   She was tried in Boston, and found
guilty of murder only. As there is no further
record in her case, it is probable that she died in
prison.  This was forty years earlier than the
great excitement in connection with witchcraft in
Salem and Boston. It was, so far as I know, the
earliest trial for witchcraft in Massachusetts.
The settlers very early adopted a code of
municipal regulations. The annual town-meeting
was fixed upon the first Tuesday in November.1
Every householder was required to have a ladder
annexed to his house, as a security in case of fire,
and to have his chimney swept at stated periods.
It was forbidden to carry fire from house to house,
not being sufficiently covered, on penalty of a fine
of 5s., and a liability for all damages. As the
houses were covered with thatch, and the chimneys were wooden frames covered with mortar,
and there was much inflammable material in the
street, the need of this regulation is apparent.
November 14, I639, it was ordered that the
" Sealed Peck, which Mr. Pynchon hath, shall be
the ordinary Peck to buy and sell by in the Plantation."  "The exercise of trayning was to be
practiced one day in every month." No person
was to trade, give, or lend to any Indian any quantity of powder, little or great, under penalty of 40s.
1 Address by George Bliss, 1828, Appendix N.




I98 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


The wages of carpenters were fixed at 2s. 6d. a
day, for the nine best months, and at 2s. from the
ioth of November to the Ioth of FebLaws in
Regard to  ruary. Mowers should have 2s. 6d. a
Prices.
day. Sawers, 6s. 6d. per hundred feet,
" they to fall and hewe, and the owner to bring to
the pitt."  Ordinary farm labor was 2s. a day for
nine months, and i8d. for three months; only
from the 24th of April to the 24th of June they
"' are left to their liberty as men can agree."  A
day's work was the whole day, allowing convenient
time for food and rest.  Violation of these rules
to be punished " by the Magistrate according to
the quality and nature of the offence." Any man
elected to any office in the town, and refusing
or neglecting to serve, "shall pay to the Town
Treasurer 205., unless he have served in that office
the year before." And any inhabitant who should
absent himself from town-meeting should be liable
to a fine of 2s. 6d.  " Jan. 8, I646, it was agreed
by the plantation with John Matthews to beat the
drum for the meetings, for a year's space, at io
A.M. on Lecture days, and 9, on the Lord's days,
in the fournoons only, and he is to beat it from
Mr. Moxon's to R. Stebbins house, and ye meetings to begin within half an hour after, for which
his paynes, he is to have 7d., in wampum, of every
family in the town, or a peck of Indian corn if
they have not wampum."




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


199


Mr. Pynchon succeeded in preserving friendly
relations with the Indians of the vicinity by a
wise and conciliatory policy.' One part Reatons
of his policy was to treat the Indians as with the
an independent people.  In I648, for
example, he was directed by Lieutenant-Governor
Dudley to take into custody certain Indians who
had murdered some other Indians. In his answer
Mr. Pynchon convinced Governor Dudley that
neither the murderers nor those murdered were
under the jurisdiction of the Colony. The attempt
to interfere was at once abandoned by the authorities at Boston.  But whenever the Indians committed offences against our own people, Mr.
Pynchon claimed jurisdiction, and by a wise
blending of authority, with an appeal to the Indian's sense of justice, he commonly succeeded in
securing redress. The Indians had confidence in
him, and were plainly ready to be guided by his
wishes.
Besides his public duties, Mr. Pynchon was an
active business man.  The trade in beaver and
other furs was very lucrative, and this trade in the
vicinity of Springfield was controlled by him. To
facilitate this trade, he early established a warehouse near the southern limit of what was then
considered Springfield. This place still retains
the name of Warehouse Point, and is a station
1 Address by Judge Morris, I876.




200 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


on the railroad below Springfield.  It was for
many years the centre of an extensive trade with
the Indians, and was the point from which the
furs were shipped to England.  Mr. Pynchon
added very largely to his fortune while in
Springfield, and at the time of his return to
England was one of the richest men in New
England.
He was also the representative man of Springfield abroad. The communications of the government at Boston were made through him.. For a
few years after he went to Springfield he was
naturally left off from the Board of Assistants.
But, in I643, the Colony having become well
established, and the Bay Path more easily passed
over, Mr. Pynchon was again elected an Assistant, and was re-elected annually until i650.
V.
THIS brings us to the time of the publication
of Mr. Pynchon's famous book, entitled " The
Meritorious Price of Our Redemption." It is a
small quarto volume of a hundred and fifty-eight
pages, " printed in London, by T. M. and George
Whittington and James Moxon, and to be sold
at the Blue Anchor in Cornhill, near the Royal
Exchange, I650." It is now exceedingly rare.
There is one copy in the Congregational Library,




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


201


Boston, one in the British Museum, and only one
other, so far as I can learn, - that an elegantly
bound copy that has been recently purchased
by Rev. Thomas R. Pynchon, D.D., of Hartford, Connecticut.  Some years ago this copy
brought four hundred dollars, a larger sum than
the whole edition cost in the beginning.
This book was received in Boston in the
summer of 1650, and produced a great exciteMr. Pynchon's ment. The General Court,1 coming
Famous Boo. together in October, adopted a solemn
protest against the many errors and heresies of
the book. This protest was made, they say, " for
vindication of the truth," and also "to keep the
people here committed to our care in the true
knowledge and faith of our Lord Jesus Christ;"
"and likewise, for the clearing of ourselves to
our Christian brethren and others in England,"
"where this book was printed and is dispersed."
They protest their innocency, as not "privy to
the writinge, composinge, printinge, nor divulginge thereof," and declare that they "detest and
abhorre many of the opinions and assertions
therein, as false, erronyous, and hereticale;" and
for proof of their sincerity in this protest they
" condemne the said booke to be burned in the
market place, at Boston, by the common executioner." They also summon Mr. Pynchon to
1 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 215.




202 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


appear before the next General Court to answer
whether " he will owne the booke as his or not,
which, if he doth, we purpose (God willinge) to
proceed with him  according to his demerits,
unless he retract the same." It was also ordered
that Mr. John Norton, of Ipswich, " should be
entreated to answer Mr. Pynchon's book with
all convenient speed."  It was also ordered, —
and this casts light upon the motive for these
rapid and extreme measures, - that the foregoing
declaration " be signed by the Secretary, and sent
to England to be printed there." No one can tell,
at this distance of time, all the reasons for this
unusual action by the General Court. It is plain
that it was not simply a judicial proceeding.
There were politics in the case.  The state of
parties; the opinions of men who happened to be,
just at that time, at the head of affairs; the fears
of those who were most solicitous to maintain a
certain type of theological opinion; the presence
in the Colony of men whose views were more
liberal, and the desire to hold them in check, -
all these entered into the motives of those who
controlled the action of the General Court.
Mr. Pynchon was an honored magistrate, a
member for many years of the General Court, a
gentleman now   past his sixtieth year, whose
opinions had been treated with great respect
throughout the history of the Colony, and who was




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


203


certainly entitled to be treated with great consideration. But the defection of such a man from
the truth, as it was held by men like Endicott
and Dudley, would be a very serious matter, and
one that must be corrected if possible. There
was a law of Massachusetts, passed four years
before, which condemned to fine and banishment
whosoever should "go about to subvert and
destroy the Christian faith and religion by
broaching and maintaining" certain "damnable
heresies," among which was specified that of
"denying that Christ gave himself a ransom for
our sins."  This, the book was understood to do.
Mr. Palfrey also suggests that there was an unusual solicitude in the Colony as to the course of
affairs in England, after the execution of King
Charles, and also that the moderating influence
of Governor Winthrop was removed just at this
time.2  We know that Thomas Dudley was Governor,3 and John Endicott Deputy Governor, both
of whom were men disposed to favor extreme
measures for the maintenance of their standard of
orthodoxy.  A letter written by John Cotton to
certain brethren in England, at the time, shows
that the action was hastened by the fact that "a
1 This is the statement of Mr. Palfrey. He cites Mass. Records,
vol. ii. 177; Code of I658, 34.
2 Palfrey's History, vol. ii. 395, note.
8 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 182.




204 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ship was in the harbor, ready to sail for England."
" Now the court," 1 he says, " perceiving by the
title-page, that the contents of the book were unsound and derogatory both to the justice of God
and the grace of Christ, which would do great
harm, they judged it meet, whilst the ship stayed,
to declare their own judgement against the book,
and to send a copy of their declaration to England
by that ship."
VI 
THE book itself is worthy of more than a passing notice as a part of the history of the times.
It is the production of a very intelligent layman,
living upon the outermost rim of civilization, and
moved by the currents of theological opinion in
Character  his time to put forth his independent
of the Bok. protest against opinions that seemed to
him inconsistent with the Word of God.  Those
were the days of the Westminster Assembly,
which sat from  1643 to I647. The Assembly
had carried the expression of Calvinistic doctrine
further than moderate Puritans like Mr. Pynchon
would be ready to go. For Mr. Pynchon, like
many of those who came with Governor Winthrop, had been a devout member of the Church
of England.  He was one of the wardens in the
1 Appendix to John Norton's Answer to Pynchon.




IVILLIAM PYVCHON, GENT.


205


church   in Springfield, in  Old England.1    His
theological opinions had been formed under the
preaching of the ministers of the Established
Church, rather than under the Calvinistic preachers of New   England.    He was properly a NonConformist, but not a Separatist.
The assembly2 declares that Christ " bore the
weight of God's wrath;" (laid down his life an
offering for sin; "  satisfied divine justice; " was
" under the infinite wrath of God; " that He '" did
fully discharge the debt of " the elect, "and did
make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his
Father's justice in their behalf;" that we are
justified by the " imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ " unto us; that God " imputes
the righteousness of Christ " unto us.'  The ministers of New England were accustomed to use
language which went further than these guarded
statements of the Assembly.      John Norton, in
his reply to Pynchon, maintains, in an elaborate
argument, that the sins of the elect were imputed
to our Saviour; that for their sins He suffered the
torments of hell, and that the righteousness of
Christ is imputed to the elect.
The heresies which the General Court found
1 These facts are given on the authority of Professor Pynchon,
of Hartford, who states that there is a tablet in the church in Springfield which shows the fact.
2 Larger Catechism, ii. 49. Ibid., ii. 38.
8 Confession, xi. s. II, ch. xi. I. Larger Catechism, 271.




206 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


upon the title-page of Mr. Pynchon's book were
these: That Christ did not suffer for us those
unutterable torments of God's wrath which commonly are called hell torments; and that He did
not bear our sins by imputation, and consequently
did not bear the curse of the Law for them; and
also that the righteousness of Christ is not imputed to us. The most vigorous part of the book
is the discussion of the texts of Scripture which
are supposed to prove that our sins were imputed
to Christ, and that He suffered the wrath of God,
and the punishment due for the sins of the elect.
The discussion of Isa. liii. 4-6; 2 Cor. v. 21;
Ps. xxii. I; Matt. xxvi. 37; Luke xxii. 43-44;
and Heb. v. 7, is very close and logical. I have
followed his reasonings with great interest. He
shows an acquaintance with the Hebrew and
Greek texts, refers to the Septuagint version, compares the rendering of various passages in the
Genevan version with that in Tyndale, and in
King James's version. He was a correspondent
of Ainsworth, and quotes in support of his opinions
an autograph letter from that theologian. He
Scholarshipof quotes Ainsworth, Broughton, Robert
Mr.Pynchon. Wilmot, John Calvin, Martin Luther,
Nichols, Richardson, Ursinus, Bastingius, Goodwin, Palanus, John Forbes, and St. Augustine,
thirteen in all of the great theologians.
Following this polemic part of the book is the




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


207


constructive part, in which he attempts to define
the real basis of our redemption. In this he starts
from the passage in Rom. v. 19, which reads: " For
as by one man's disobedience many were made
sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." lie holds that as Adam's disobedience ruined the world, so Christ's perfect
obedience, as our Mediator, redeemed the world.
Christ had His work set before Him by the Father.
This was the work which He had completed, when
He said, " I have finished the work which Thou
gavest me to do." 1 If His obedience had been in
the slightest degree imperfect, it would have vitiated the entire work. His death was the final test
of His obedience. If He had died unwillingly He
had died in vain. So the death of Christ was a
voluntary death. " I lay down my life that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again."2  Mr. Pynchon
says: " His divine nature was the altar upon which
He sacrificed His human nature."  His humanity
was the oblation. "Then," he goes on to say,
"His mediatorial death may well be The Deathof
called a miraculous death. It was no Christ
Voluntary.
less miraculous than the raising the
dead body of Lazarus." The Devil and his agents
had power to bruise Him, and buffet Him, and to
1 John xvii. 4.      2 John x. 17-18.




208 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


nail Him to the cross. But they had no power to
separate His soul from His body. So His death
was not passive. It was active, and so a part of His
mediatorial obedience. He quotes Augustine, who
says, " Who can sleep when he wist, as Christ died
when He would? Who can lay aside his garment,
as Christ laid aside His flesh? Who can leave his
place so as Christ left His life?"1  Christ died
before the thieves, so that " Pilate marvelled if He
were already dead." 2 He died when the life of
obedience set for Him  was finished, " whereof
His mediatorial death was the master-piece." He
said that it was " finished," and then, " He bowed
His head and gave up the ghost." '  So Christ did
not suffer the wrath of God, but He did the will
of God. We may be saved because the law, which
was broken by disobedience, was honored and
restored by the obedience of the God-man.
VII.
IT was ordered by the General Court, after they
had burned Mr. Pynchon's book, " that Mr. Norton,
Actionof the one of the reverend elders of Ipswich,
GeneralCourt. should be intreated  to answer Mr.
Pynchon's booke with all convenient speed."4
This John Norton was a man of great reputation
1 Tractate upon John, 119.  3 John xix. 30.
2 Mark x   '          4 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 26.




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


209


in his day. He was a student at Cambridge
University, and was master of an elegant Latin
style.  He succeeded John Cotton as pastor of
the First Church in Boston.' His widow, Madame
Norton, gave the Old South the ground on which
the Old South meeting-house on Washington
Street now stands.2  Mr. Norton's reply is entitled,
"A Discussion of that Great Point in Divinity,
the Sufferings of Christ."  It is a very able and
learned work, thoroughly scientific in its methods,
and sets forth the doctrine of the Westminster
Assembly concerning the Atonement, and goes
beyond that Confession in respect to Imputation.3
For this work Mr. Norton received from the General Court the sum of /20, with a vote of thanks;
and they sent his book to England to be printed.
In addition to providing for a reply to Mr.
Pynchon's book, the General Court advised him to
confer with Mr. John Cotton, Mr. Norrice, and
Mr. Norton about some points in his book.4 His
conference with them naturally broadened his view
of the subject he lhad in hand.5  He had been but
a solitary thinker, and in giving emphasis to his
protest against the extreme satisfaction theory, he
1 Memorial History of Boston, vol. i. 464. Sprague's Annals,
Congl., vol. i. 58. See this volume, 123.
2 Memorial History of Boston, vol. i. 194.
8 Palfrey, vol. ii. 396, note.
4 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 239, also, 248.
5 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 229.
14




210 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


had failed to do justice to the relation of the work
of the Redeemer to sin and guilt. This, as a
conscientious man, he was more than willing to
acknowledge.   Accordingly he appeared before
the General Court, in May, 1651, with the following paper:" According to the Court's advice, I have Conferred
with Mr. Cotton, Mr. Norrice, and    Mr. Norton
Statementof about some points of the greatest conseMr. Pynchon quence in my book, and I hope I have so
to the Court.
explayned my meaninge to them as to take
off the worst construction; and it hath pleased God to
let me see that I have not spoken in my book so fully
of the price, and merit of Christ sufferings as I should
have done, for in my booke I call them but trialls of his
obedience, yet intending thereby to amplyfy and exalt
the mediatorial obedyence of Christ as the only meritorious price of man's redemption: but now, at present, I
am much inclined to think that his sufferings were appointed by God for a further end, namely, as the due
punishment of our sins by way of satisfaction to divine
justice for man's redemption.
"Your humble servant, in all dutifull respects,
" WILLIAM PYNCHON." 1
VIII.
THIS is spoken of by several authorities as a
retraction; and Dr. Holland2 intimates that he
1 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 229.
2 Holland's History, vol. i. 38. Art. on Pynchon in N. E. Hist.
and Gen. Register, Oct. 1859.




W[7ILLIAIM PYNCHON, GENT.


211


"was convinced against his will."  But there is
no retraction here; but only a frank statement by
a sincere and ingenuous man that after conference with his friends, the learned divines, he had
become satisfied that in one respect he had failed
to do justice to one side of an important truth;
and further, that he found that some of his expressions had been misunderstood.  Certainly,
Mr. Pynchon was not the man to be " convinced
against his will," or to retract any statement which
he believed to be true.  Besides, as we shall see,
Mr. Pynchon was really master of the situation,
and his opponents had more occasion to fear him
than he had to fear them.  That his paper was
not taken as a retraction is evident also from the
action of the Court, which voted that this paper
showed Mr. Pynchon to be in a hopeful way, and
dismissed him till the October session to study
the questions by the aid of Mr. Norton's reply,
directing that he should appear in October and
give all due satisfaction.
At this session of the General Court Mr. Pynchon was not re-elected o.e of the Assistants,
and was left out of the magistracy. In October,
he failed to appear, and the General Court 1 judged
it " meete that all patience be exercised towards
him, that he may be reduced into the way of truth,
and renounce his errors and heresies," and there1 Mass. Records, vol. iii. 257.




212 THE PURITAN dIN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


fore, as nothing else was possible, gave him until
the next General Court in May, "that he may
give full satisfaction for his offence, which they
more desire than to proceed to so great a censure
as his offence deserves." So he was placed under
bonds of /Ioo to appear in May " to stand to the
judgement and censure of the Courte."
This is the last reference to this case in the
Records of Massachusetts.  Mr. Pynchon did
not appear at the next session of the Court.
Whether his bail of ~Ioo was forfeited we have
no means of knowing. During that year, he returned to England.  Of course he went openly,
and probably sailed from Boston.  A part of his
family followed him; but his son John remained
in Springfield, and became the most important
man in the Colony, succeeding to his father's influence and authority.  Thus it appears that,
notwithstanding the vigorous terms employed by
the General Court in October, I650o, proposing,
"(God willing) to proceed with" Mr. Pynchon
c" according to his demerits, unless he retracts his
heresies," he yet remained within their jurisdiction for about two years, and in that time appeared
before them only once, although summoned three
times, and in the end chose his own time for
leaving the Colony, and retiring, with his princely
fortune, to his estate in England.
It deserves to be mentioned, as a part of the




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


213


history of the times, that Sir Henry Vane wrote
to the Magistrates, complaining of the course they
had taken, and was answered in a joint Letters from
letter by nine of them.1    A  letter was E1gland.
also written by certain men of influence in England to the ministers of Boston, and others, urging
them to set a favorable construction upon the
tenets set forth in Mr. Pynchon's book "as disputable, and to    some   of note probable;" and
requesting the ministers to "intercede with the
Magistrates to deal favorably with him, as a
gentleman pious, and deserving." 2     To this letter
a reply was made, signed by John Cotton, Richard
Mather, and three others, which explained the
occasion of the promptness of the Court in its
first action, and stated that the Court was disposed to deal favorably with the author of the
book, appointing three, all friends and acquaintances, such as himself chose, to confer with him,
and finding him yielding in some main point,
which he willingly expressed under his own hand,
the Court readily accepted the same.3
1 Palfrey's New England, vol. ii. 396.
2 Appendix to Norton's Answer to Pynchon.
8 The following is on the first page of John Eliot's record of
church members, Roxbury, Mass.:" Mr William Pinchon: he was chosen an Assistant, yearely so
long as he lived among us: his wife dyed soone after he landed at
N. Eng: he brought 4 children to N. E. Ann, Mary, John, Margret.
After some years he married Mmrs Francis Samford, a grave matron




214 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


IX.
ON arriving in England, Mr. Pynchon settled
in Wraysbury, on the Thames, in BuckinghamMisLifein   shire.  This place is in   the very heart
England.   of England, about three         miles   below
Windsor Castle, and directly opposite Magna
Charta Island and      Runnymede.        Horton, where
Milton at one time lived, is an adjoining town.
He found     himself under the      Puritan   Commonwealth, in England, which must have been agreeable to one of his political and religious opinions.
In the enjoyment of an ample fortune, surrounded
by many friends of his earlier life, with abundant
leisure, Mr. Pynchon appears to have given the
of the church at Dorchester. When so many removed fro these
parts to Plant Conecicot rivr he also wt- othr company went thithr
& planted at a place called Agawam, & was recomiended to the
church at windsor on Conecticott, vntill such time as it should
please God to pvide yt they might enter into church estate among
themselves. his daughter Ann: was married to Mr Smith, sone to
MrS Samford by a former husband he was a Godly, wise young man,
& removed to Agawam w-h his parents.  His daughter mary was
married to Mr Hollioke, the sone of Mr Hollioke of Linn; Mr Pinchons ancient freind.
'' Afterwards he wrote a Dialogue concerning Justification, wch
was printed anno I65o, stiled the meritorious price, a book full of
error & weakens, & some heresies w1h the Generall Court of ye
Massachusetts Condemned to be burnt, & appointed M- John
Norton then Teacher at Ipswich to confute ye errors contained
therein."




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


215


ten remaining years of his life to study and writing. The man who had helped in gathering two
Congregational churches in New England, returned to the Church of England, and was buried
in the ancient churchyard, under the shadow of
one of the most beautiful of the rural churches of
Old England.'
The year of his arrival in England he published: -
"The Jews' Synagogue, a Treatise concerning
the Worship used by the Jews. Quarto. London,
1652. John Bellamie."
Two years later, he published two treatises on
the Sabbath:" The Time when the First Sabbath was ordained. By William Pynchon, Esq. Published
by authority.    London: Printed by R. G., and
to be sold by T. N. at the Three Lions in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange.      1654."
"Holy Time: or The True Limits of the Lord's
Day.    By William   Pynchon, Esq.      Published by
authority. Printed at London, by R. G., and are
1 In I886, I visited Wraysbury. The railroad station is a small
and very modest one, not far from the Thames, and about twenty
miles from London. The scenery has been compared to that of the
Connecticut valley. There is perhaps a suggestion of that valley,
and of the hills on the west, but the Thames at that point is much
smaller than the Connecticut. In that quiet retreat, environed by
the scenes most memorable in the history of English liberty, this
great Puritan found the repose which was denied him in Massachusetts.




216 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


to be sold by T. N., at the sign of the Three Lions,
in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange. I654."
Mr. Norton's answer to Mr. Pynchon's first
book was not published till 1653. Two years later,
Mr. Pynchon published a rejoinder, of which the
following is the title:"The Meritorious Price of Man's Redemption;
or Christ's Satisfaction Discussed and Explained.
By William Pynchon, late of New England.
1655. Thomas Newbury, London, I655."
It is dedicated to Oliver St. John, the author
esteeming him " an able Judge, not only in those
controversies that concern the common laws of
the land, but also in divine controversies."
This is a quarto of four hundred and forty
pages, and is by far the most elaborate of Mr.
Pynchon's works. In this he uses the "altar
terms," as they have been called, and seems to
recognize the side of truth to which he referred
in his letter to the General Court; namely, that
in some way "the sufferings of Christ" "were
appointed" as "the due punishment of our sins,
by way of satisfaction of divine justice."  He
controverts again, with great ability, the doctrine
that our Lord suffered the vindictive wrath of
God and the torments of hell.
A copy of this book is in the library of Harvard
University.
His last book was entitled: " The Covenant of




WILLIAM PYNCHON, GENT.


217


Nature made with Adam Described, etc., and
Cleared from Sundry Great Mistakes."   In this
volume the address to the reader is dated: " From
my Study, Wraysbury, Feb. Io, I66I."
Mr. Pynchon died at Wraysbury some time in
October, 1662, aged seventy-two years.
He was twice married. No record that I have
seen gives the date of the first marriage, or the
name of his wife. She came with him to New
England, and died in Roxbury during the first
year, perhaps in consequence of the hardships of
the life in the new country.  The children of
this marriage were:John, born 1621;
Annie, who married Henry Smith;
Margaret, who   married  William  Davis, of
Boston;
Mary, who married Elizur Holyoke;
And a son, who was drowned in the Connecticut
River.1
After the death of his wife, Mr. Pynchon married Mrs. Frances Samford, "a grave matron of
the church at Dorchester," as the Roxbury church
records say, but they do not give the date of the
marriage. Mrs. Pynchon died at Wraysbury,
October Io, 1657.
1 " Mr. Pynchon lately lost a boy, who tending cows near our
river, too venturously went into a birchen canowe, which overturned,
and he was drowned." [Mr. Moxon's letter to Governor Winthrop
about i638.]- Conn. Valley, vol. i. 40.




218 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
There is a striking portrait of Mr. Pynchon in
the possession of the Essex Historical Society of
Salem. It was painted in England, and sent by
him to his son John. The frontispiece of this
volume is taken from that painting. With his
long, closely-fitting coat and small-clothes, the
broad collar or band of linen lying flat upon
his shoulders, and a closely-fitting silk cap upon
his head, he was the impersonation of quiet
dignity, and patriarchal grace.  His seal ring,
with his arms, is still in existence, in the possession of a descendant at the South.




The Family and Social Life of
the Puritans.












~~-:;


COLONEL JOHN HUTCIIINSON
OF OWTHORPE.




The Family and Social Life of
the  Puritans.
"tH   OME, as we conceive it now," says Mr. John
Richard Green, "was the creation of the
Puritan." He gives the reason for his statement.
"Wife and child rose from mere dependants on the
will of husband or father, as husband and father
saw in them saints like himself, souls hallowed by
the touch of a divine Spirit, and called with a divine calling like his own. The sense of spiritual
fellowship gave a new tenderness and refinement
to the common family affections."' The philosophic historian is undoubtedly correct. The
Puritan had broken away from the old traditions,
and from ecclesiastical bonds, and had come into
a realm of comparatively free and liberal thought.
His fellowship was with the Father, and with His
Son, Jesus Christ, without the intervention of the
priest or of the Church. So far forth he was a
free man, in personal relations with God. All the
members of his family were equally free, and
equally the favorites of God. This intense indi1 Green's History of the English People, vol. iii. 19.




222 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


vidualism opened a new social life, with a broader
charity, and a warmer and more absorbing love.
It developed a new type of citizenship, and has
tended undoubtedly toward Democracy. It has
lifted the common man to an equality with those
in the privileged classes. The religious sentiment
of the Puritans has developed the altruistic feeling, so abundant in modern life.
Some illustrations from Puritan history will
make these statements plain, and will set forth
the reasons for them. We need to know what
sort of men and women the Puritans were in their
homes.
MRS. HUTCHINSON, writing to her children concerning their father, has given a vivid description
of that model Puritan, Colonel John Hutchinson,'
of Owthorpe, who lived in the time of Oliver
Cromwell. She says: -
" He was of a middle stature, of a slender and exactly
well-proportional shape in all parts, his hair of light
col. Hutchinson, brown, very thick set in his youth, softer than
a Typical  the finest silk, and curling into loose great
Puritan.  rings at the ends: his eyes of a lively gray,
his visage thin, his mouth well made, and his lips very
ruddy and graceful; his teeth even and white as the purest ivory, his forehead not very high, his nose raised and
1 See his portrait, page 220.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  223


sharp; but withal he had a most amiable countenance,
which carried in it something of magnanimity and majesty
mixed with sweetness, that at the same time bespoke love
and awe in all that saw him. " "He was nimble and active
and graceful in all his motions; he was apt for any bodily
exercise; he could dance admirably well, but neither in
youth nor riper years made any practice of it; he had skill
in fencing, such as became a gentleman; he had a great
love of music;... he had good judgment in paintings,
graving, sculpture, and all liberal arts, and had many
curiosities of all kinds; he took much pleasure in the
improvement of grounds, in planting groves and walks,
and fruit trees; he was wonderfully neat, cleanly and
genteel in his habit." " He hated persecution for religion, and was always a champion for all religious people
against all oppressors." " Neither in youth, nor riper
age could the most fair or enticing women ever draw
him into unnecessary familiarity or vain converse or dalliance with them, yet he despised nothing of the female
sex but their follies and vanities; wise and virtuous
women he loved, and delighted in all pure, holy and
unblameable conversation with them." "For conjugal
affection to his wife, it was such as whosoever would draw
out a rule of honor, kindness and religion, need no more,
but exactly draw out his example; never man had a
greater passion for a woman, nor a more honorable
esteem for a wife. He governed by persuasion, which
he never employed but to things honorable and profitable for herself; he loved her soul and her honor more
than her outside, and yet he had for her person a constant indulgence." " So constant was he in his love that
when she ceased to be young and lovely, he began to
show most fondness; he loved her at such a kind and




224 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


generous rate as words cannot express."  "He was as
kind a father, as dear a brother, as good a master, and
as faithful a friend as the world had."
" He understood well, and as well performed when he
undertook it, the military art in all parts of it; he naturally loved the employment as it suited with his active
temper more than any, conceiving a mutual delight in
leading those men that loved his conduct, and when he
commanded soldiers, never was man more loved and
reverenced by all that were under him," and "they
joyed as much in his commands as he in their obedience."
" He had a sweet and loving courtesy to the poorest,
and would often employ many spare hours with the
commonest soldiers and poorest laborers." 1
Yet this man, so gentle, so affectionate, so
highly cultured, was a Puritan soldier- a Colonel
in the army of Cromwell - who fought vigorously
through the civil war. He was one of the judges
who condemned the king to death.    After Oliver
Cromwell became Lord Protector, Colonel Hutchinson disclosed to him a plot against his life; and
when Cromwell called him "My dear Colonel,"
and invited him to "come in and take a part" in
his government, Hutchinson refused, telling him
plainly that he liked not any of his ways since he
broke up the Parliament. After the restoration of
Charles the Second, Colonel Hutchinson suffered
a long and cruel imprisonment, and finally died
in prison, because he would not in any way com1 Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, Bohn's Edition, I863, I9-35.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  225


promise his principles, or betray his friends. This
man was one of the Ironsides, and yet his family
and social life was as full of sweetness, and tenderness,- of the love of all beautiful and gracious
things,- as the lives of those who are the
choicest spirits of our own time.
Nor did Hutchinson stand alone among the
Puritans of his time. John Milton is the completest type of Puritanism. " His youth shows
us," says a recent writer, " how much of the gayety, the poetic ease, the intellectual culture of the
Renaissance lingered in a Puritan home." His tract
on Education is one of the broadest and most
liberal treatises of the seventeenth cen- John.ton
John lrlilton
tury,-a prophecy of the nineteenth. thePoetofthe
Puritans.
"Whenever the element of beauty is
found in Milton," says Professor Shedd, "it is
found in absolute purity." " A more absolute
beauty and a more delicate aerial grace are not to
be found than appear in the Comus, and the fourth
book of Paradise Lost." '
We read in the records of that age, of a certain
Puritan mother, in humble life in England, that
" she was very loving and obedient to her parents,
loving and true to her husband, very tender-hearted
to her children, loving all that were Godly." These
illustrations of the Puritan spirit and temper can
be multiplied from the records of that age.
Literary Essays, 23.
15




226 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


II.
ONE of the reliable sources of information in
respect to family and social life is the correspondence between members of families. Such letters
are apt to be destroyed, especially the most significant and domestic letters. We have, fortunately, a large number of the letters which passed
between Governor John Winthrop and his wife,
and also his letters to his son.  Winthrop
was in many ways the best representative of the
early New England Puritans. There is a statue,
in one of the public squares of Boston,
John Winthrop,
the Founder of to John Winthrop, " Founder of MassaMassachusetts. chusetts," with the Bible in one hand,
and the charter of the Colony in the other.
Another statue of him is in the chapel of the
cemetery at Mount Auburn. Another statue of
him, as a representative of the State, stands in the
Capitol at Washington. He was for eleven years
the Governor of the Colony, and as long as he
lived, he was its foremost citizen. From his letters and his journals, we derive our most definite
knowledge of the life in the Colony in the first
generation. He was born in England, in 1588, so
that he was forty-two when he came to New
England. Margaret Tyndal was his third wife.
When Adam Winthrop, the aged father of John




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF TIlE PURITANS.  227


Winthrop, learned that she was betrothed to his
son, he sent her a present, with a letter in which
he addressed her as " Gentle Mistress Margaret,"
and assured her of his fatherly love and affection,
spelling Love with a capital letter, and told her
with the frankness of a patriarch, that he thought
himself happy that in his old age " I shal injoye
the familiar company of so virtuous and loving a
daughter and passe the residue of my daise in
peace and quietness." "I doe heare faithfully
promise for my sonne that he will alwaise be a
most kinde and lovinge husbande unto you."
Our first letter from John Winthrop is addressed
to " My dearest friend and most heartily beloved
Mrs. Margt Tyndall."  This was before their
marriage.  The next is addressed to " My onely
beloved spouse, my most sweet friend, Lett of
and faithful companion of my pilgrim- Jon Winthrop,,),,  to his Wife.
age, the happye, and hopefull supplye
(next Christ Jesus) of my greatest losses."  He
says at the end, " My father and mother salute
thee heartily."
The next is addressed to " My deare wife," and
was written when she was away from home attending at her mother's bedside in her last sickness.
Later, he writes to her as " My Truely Beloved
and Deare wife;" " My sweet wife;" " My most
Deare and Sweet Spouse;" "My Good Wife;"
"My Deare Wife, my Chiefe Love in this World;"




228 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and he subscribes the letters, "Thyne;" "Thy
faithful husband;" " Thine as his owne; " " Thy
faithful husband, still present with thee in his most
unkind absence;" " So I kiss my sweet wife, and
rest, Thy frail but faithful husband."
She begins her letter, " My Dear Husband;"
and ends it with, " Your loving and obedient wife; "
" Most Deare and Lovinge Husband," and " Your
obedient wife allways;" "My most Kinde and
Loving Husband," "Your lovinge and obedient
wife." In one letter she goes quite beyond all modern precedents, and writes, " Thy unworthy wife."
Here is a letter, written at Groton, in Suffolk,
in I630, (N. s.) addressed to John Winthrop, Esqt
at Mr. Downing's house, in Fleet Street, and
written just before his departure for New England.
"MY DEARE HUSBAND, - I knowe thou art desyrus
to heere often from us, wh makes me take plesure in
rightinge to thee, and in relatinge my true affections to
thee and desyers of your wished welfayer.... I must
part with my most deare Husban, wh is a very hard
tryall for me to undergoe. If the Lord doe not supporte
and healpe me in it, I shalbe unable to beare it. I have
now received thy kinde letter wch I cannot reade without
sheding a great many tears, but I will resine thee, and
MargaretWin- give thee into the hands of the almiti God,
throp's Letters who is allsoficient for thee, whome I truste
to her Husband. will keep thee, and prosper thee in the way
thou art to goe.... I know I shall have thy prayers to
God for me that what is wanting in thy presence may be




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  229


supplyed by the comfort of God's spirit. I am now full
of passion, havinge newly received thy letter, and not
able to right much. My sonne F. will right about other
busines. I beginne to fear I shall see thee no more before
thou goest (to New England) w" I should be very sory
for and earnestly intreat thee that thou wilt corn once
more downe if it be possible."
The Governor did "corn once more downe,"
after such a letter as that.  He wrote:
" I purpose (if God will) to be with thee upon Thursdaye come senight, and then I must take my Farewell
of thee, for a Suniers daye, and a winters daye.  The
Lord o= good God will, (I hope) sende us a happye
meetinge againe in his good tyme: Amen."  " Among
other things let the brassen quart in the Larder house
be putt up: & my gray cloake and the coate wv was my
brother Fones: & let this warrant inclosed to sent to
Colchester to ME SamUL Borrowes by the next tyme the
carte goes. The Lord blesse thee my sweet wife, w-' all
our children."
Thy faithfull husband,
Feb: 5 I629. (o. s.)              Jo: WINTHROP.
"Remember to putt me up some Cardons & Card'
seed." "The readinge of (thy letter) has dissolved my
head into tears.... If I live, I will see thee ereI goe,
I shall parte from thee with sorrowe enough: be comfortable my most sweet wife."
She wrote again: " I am glad to heere you will
come home this weike, for I desire to enjoy thy
sweete presence as ofte as I can, before that longe




230 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


partinge come wsh I desyre the Lord to fit us for."
He writes, February I4th, "Thou must be my valentine, fr none hath challenged me."  March 2d,
the Governor writes again, having in the meantime been home to Groton to say farewell, and
returned to London to complete his arrangements
for the voyage to New England.   He tells her
that their two sons, and most of the servants have
already gone to South Hampton: and adds, "Ah
my most kinde & deare wife, how sweet is thy
love to me.  The Lorde blesse thee & thine, wI!
the blessinges from above... So I kisse &
embrace thee & rest thyne ever." March ioth, he
wrote again, sending his love to his children by
name, including " the little one unknown," and to
each of the servants, and to his old neighbors.
Four days later, he writes again from Southampton; on the 22d, there is another letter to his
wife, written " aboard the Arabella ridinge at the
Cowes."  He writes once more, March 28th, still
on board the ship, which had been detained by
adverse winds. " Our boys," he says, " are well,
and cheerful, and have no mind of home. They
lie both with me, and sleep as soundly in a rug,
(for we use no sheets here,) as ever they did at
Groton: and so do I myself."  " Mondays and
Fridays, at five of the clock at night we shall
meet in spirit till we meet in person."  "Yet if
all these hopes should fail, blessed be our God,




FAVILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OP THE PURITANS.  231


that we are assured we shall meet one day, if not
as husband and wife, yet in a better condition."
Once more, before the fleet set out on its voyage,
he wrote, April 3d, to acknowledge two letters
from his wife, and to tell her that " on friday
when 5 of the clocke came," he " had respitt from
his cares " to remember her, and to " parlye " with,
and meet her "in Spiritt before the Lord."
These extracts from this correspondencetwo hundred and sixty years old -may give
some impression of its quality.     Time blots out
almost all things written by the hand of man; but
there are almost a hundred of these letters, which
have been rescued from oblivion, and they give
us, almost at first hand, repeated glimpses of
the actual life of this representative Puritan
family.   The correspondence which passed        between   Governor Winthrop       and  his son John,
cannot be quoted here, for lack of space, but it is,
in its own way, as suggestive of the tenderness,
and singular wisdom, and piety of this old family,
as the correspondence from which these scattered
specimen leaves have been selected.'
1 Twenty-seven of these letters were printed in r825, in the
appendix to the first volume of Governor Winthrop's Journal. The
others were printed in The Life and Letters of John Winthrop, by
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston, 1869, and also in the Collections
of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Rev. Joseph H. Twichell,
of Hartford, Conn., edited an edition of fifty-eight of the letters,
with the title, " Some Old Puritan Love Letters," New York, I893.
In this edition the old spelling is very carefully restored.




232 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


It was the I6th of July before Governor Winthrop had an opportunity to send his next letter.
The mails did not cross the Atlantic as frequently
then as now. They had a long and tempestuous
voyage, and his letter is full of gratitude for their
preservation, as well as of affection for those left
in the old home at Groton.
It was the 3d of November (o. s.) of the next
year when Mrs. Winthrop was able to join her
husband.   She went in the ship Lyon, with his
eldest son, and other of his children.  Great was
the rejoicing at their arrival.  "Divers of the
Assistants, and most of the people of the near
plantations came to welcome them, and brought,
and sent, for divers days, great store of provisions,
as fat hogs, kids, venison, poultry, geese, partridges,
etc., so as the like joy, and manifestation of love
had never been seen in New England.  It was a
great marvel," said Governor Winthrop, " that so
much people, and such store of provisions could
be gathered together at so few hours warning." 1
III.
IT is not difficult to conjecture what the social
and family life would be in a community made up
of such men and women as those seventeenth
1 The History of New England, from I630 to I649, by John
Winthrop, Esq., Boston, I853.




FAMiILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  233


century Puritans of whom we have been reading.
Such gentleness, and affection, and refinement of
feeling, and such piety would bear fruit in the
most beautiful lives.
But the records that have come down to us
from the Colonial period of New England history
give us a distinct picture of life as it
Records of the
actually went on from year to year. It colonial
is marvellous how   abundant thesePeriod.
records are.  Those old Pilgrims had a respect
for their mission, and they were sure that those
who should come after them would desire to know
their history. We have, first of all, the incomparable histories written by Governor Bradford of
Plymouth, and by Governor Winthrop of Boston.
They cover the time from the earliest settlements
co 1646.  We have also the official records, not
only of these two oldest colonies, but of Rhode
Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. These
are supplemented by a great number of histories,
and narratives, journals, pamphlets, and treatises,
letters and replies, which make the life of that
time luminous to those who will go to the original
sources.
IV.
WHAT then was the life in the Colonial period
of our history? In the first place, it was a life in
the earlier part of the seventeenth century. The




234 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


fathers of New England were very much in
advance of their time, and yet they were influife inthe  enced by the spirit of their times. It
Colonialge. is not only unwise but unjust to test
their opinions, and their social habits, by the standards of our time. No intelligent student of their
history will ignore the fact that the world has
made marvellous progress since 1620. The belief
in witchcraft was, I think, universal in Christendom in that age.  The great jurists and philosophers of England were confident that there were
such creatures as witches. Sir Matthew Hale,
and Sir Thomas Browne, and Ralph Cudworth,
and Blackstone, and even John Wesley believed
in witchcraft' " It is supposed," says Professor
Fisher, " that prior to the witchcraft epidemic in
Massachusetts, thirty thousand persons had been
put to death in England on this charge, seventyfive thousand in France, and a hundred thousand
in Germany."
Cruel punishments were inflicted in the times
of Queen Elizabeth. She sent Mary Queen of
Scots to the block, just as Charles the
The Times of
QueenEliza- Second sent Sir Henry Vane to the
beth.  block.  The spirit of our age   does
not tolerate slavery, but slavery was common
then. Our societies for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals; Cruelty to Children; the laws that
1 Professor Fisher's History of the Christian Church, 479-483.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OP THE PURITANS. 235


protect children and women from excessive labor;
that prohibit cock-fighting, and prize-fighting, and,
in some States, prohibit bull-fighting, - all these
are the outgrowths of the last years of the nineteenth century. We do not look for such things
in the times of Oliver Cromwell.
It is not easy for us to do justice to an age so
different from our own. Life was more simple in
those days, yet in many ways it was more picturesque, more courtly, more reverent. The
respect that was paid to parents, and to Lieinthe
the aged, and to those in official posi- Seventeenth
zli~~~~~~~~)~~  r   i  -Century.
tions, the reverence for the Bible, and
the Church, and the Lord's-day, the interest in
Philosophy and Theology, and in religious services, - these were very unlike the tendencies of
our time.  It does not follow that the life of that
time was inferior to the life of to-day.  Those
people were evidently sincere in the expression of
their opinions.  Their manners and methods of
life grew out of their experiences. The habits
of Queen Elizabeth were very different from
those of Queen Victoria, yet it may be that Elizabeth's place in history is higher than Victoria will
deserve. Our nineteenth century has no poets
or dramatists to be compared with Milton and
Shakespeare.  Certainly, we have no reason to
look down upon the men who lived in the times
of John Hampden, and Eliot, and Pym, and Vane,




236 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and Milton, and Cromwell.  Mr. Gladstone has
recently said: " I do not think we are stronger,
but weaker, than the men of the Middle Ages.
The men of the sixteenth century were stronger
in brain power than our men." 
V.
WE should also remember that the fathers of
New England were pioneers.  Those who make
the first settlements in a new country
Our Fathers
lived ina  cannot live as they had lived in their old
ew Coutry. homes. Many of the criticisms upon the
Puritans are very inconsiderate. They have been
spoken of as hard and narrow, because they did
not have days of public festivity and amusement.
But the settlers at Plymouth had to build
houses to shelter their families, with their own
hands, in the depth of winter. They had no
overtyof the domestic animals except dogs. They
Early Pioneers had no ploughs. They must break up
the land, and prepare it for corn with hoes. " The
first beginning of any cattle in the land," says
Bradford, "was in March, 1624, when three
heifers and a bull were landed."2 For three years
and more the Colony had been without milk or
butter or cheese except such as came from abroad.
1 Review of Reviews, April, I892. Interview with W. T. Stead.
2 Bradford, I58.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  237


All their journeys were on foot or in boats. There
was often great scarcity of food.  There were no
preserved meats, no vegetables, and no bread
stuffs to be had.  Water was the only drink, except beer and liquors.  There was a time when
lobsters, clams, and mussels furnished the principal food of the people.  After the return of
Governor Winslow from England, they were able
to allow four ounces of bread a day to each inhabitant, and this was given out each day. Two
years after the settlement was begun, two ships
arrived from England, bringing a large number
of the wives and children of the earliest settlers,
who had been left behind at Leyden.  It was a
joyful reunion, and yet the new-comers "found
their old friends in a very low condition; many
were ragged in aparell: & some little better than
half naked."  " The best dish they could present
their friends with was a lobster, or a piece of fish,
without bread, or anything els but a cupp of pure
spring water."' "The long continuance of this
diate," says Governor Bradford, " and their labors
abroad had somewhat abated Ye freshness of their
former complexion." The fact is, the new-comers
hardly recognized their own kindred, so changed
were they by the lack of nutritious food, and by
the severity of their labors. Governor Bradford
compares their condition to that of Jacob and his
1 Bradford, I45.




238 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
sons in Canaan, in the time of famine. For, he
says, although "the famine was great, or heavie
in the land; yet they had such great herds, and
store of cattle of sundrie kinds, which, besides
flesh, must needs produce other food, as milke,
butter & cheese, &c., and yet it was counted a sore
affliction; theirs hear must need be very great,
therefore, who not only wanted the staffe of bread,
but all these things, and had no Egipte to goe too.
But God fedd them out of ye sea for ye most parte,
so wonderful is his providence over his in all ages;
for his mercy endureth for ever."'
In addition to these troubles, the Colony was
in debt to the company in England, which had
provided the vessel that brought them over, and
the supplies for the settlers. For many years
they were obliged to send to England, whatever
they had gained from their trade with the natives,
towards the payment of their debts. Besides this,
they had among them a number of persons who
were not honest or industrious men.  Some of
those who were sent over by the company in
England were so bad that they were obliged to
send them back at large expense. All through
the history of the Plymouth Colony they had to
carry along with them a good many people who
had no sympathy with the high moral standards
of the Pilgrims.
1 Bradford's History, I46.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 239


They were also exposed to attacks from the
savages about them.  They treated the Indians
with great kindness and consideration; Dangerfrom
but they were never free from the danger the Indians.
of a hostile attack. Their village was protected
by a line of palisades, with bastions; and the gates
were locked at night and guarded. They built
a fort, on the top of which they planted six cannon.
In times of special danger, a watch was kept up at
the fort day and night.l As the years went by,
their hardships were less, but their condition was
still that of pioneers, in a new country, with the
ocean between them and the old home.
VI.
THE larger Colony at Massachusetts Bay was
better provided for. The first ships that came
over brought with the passengers, cows, The Massachuhorses, goats, and swine.2  They had sett Colony.
also a supply of provisions. And yet, more than
a quarter of those who came to Salem died during
the first winter. Two hundred of Governor Winthrop's company died before the close of the
autumn. There was great suffering from the lack
of food, in the winter that followed. Shell-fish
had to serve for meat, and ground-nuts and acorns
1 Bradford, II3, 126.
2 Governor Winthrop's History, vol. i. 34-44.




240 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


for bread. The rude cabins which the people were
able to put up were a very poor protection against
the cold of a New England winter, for people,
many of whom had lived in great comfort in the
old country. " Oh the hunger that many suffered,"
said one of the old writers, " and saw no hope to
be supplied, only by clams, and muscles, and fish." 
When the first ship arrived from England, with
provisions for the Colony, Governor Winthrop
was giving the last handfuls of meal in the barrel
to a poor man.
These settlements were also subject to alarms
from bands of hostile Indians who were prowling
about.2 A few years later, they had occasion to
fortify the harbor of Boston, and arm and drill the
men of the Colony, because they had reason to
expect a hostile attack from the king's ships. The
colonies in Rhode Island, and Connecticut, and
New Hampshire had a similar record of privation
Connecticut, and suffering during the first years. In
Rhode sland, the course of time the industry and thrift
and New
Hampshire. of the people brought them such comforts and such prosperity as can be had in new
settlements.  But life in New England was very
simple for many years. In 1632, Governor Winthrop records the removal of the wind-mill from
Newtown to Boston, because at Newtown it would
not grind but with a westerly wind. The whole
1 Wonder Working Providence, xxiv. 2 Winthrop, vol. i. 59.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 24I


Colony seems to have been dependent upon a
single wind-mill.1
The next year, a water-mill was set up in Dorchester, and another in Roxbury. The same year
a " Mercate" (Market) was authorized to be kept
on Thursday, in Boston, "it being
~' -,..1  The Wind-mill
lecture day."  The long journeys which andWaterGovernor Winthrop made on the busi- mils
ness of the Colony were on foot, or in boats, for
many years. When he visited Plymouth, Governor Bradford, - "a very discreet and grave man,"
— with Mr. Brewster the Elder, and some others
came forth and met them without the town, and
conducted them to the house of the Governor,
where they were very kindly entertained, and
feasted each day at several houses. On Wednesday following, "the Governor and his company
came out of Plimouth about five in the morning;
the Governor of Plimouth, with the pastor and
Elder, etc., accompanying them near half a mile,
out of town, in the dark." 2
In the second generation, as almost always happens in a new country, the people in the New
England colonies were, as a class, of ruder manners, and of a lower grade of intelligence than
those who had come from the Mother Country.
There was some improvement in the third generation; but all through the first century of our
1 Winthrop, vol. i. Io4, I38.  2 Winthrop, vol. i. IIo.
I6




242 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


history, the people had the characteristics of pioneers. It is not reasonable for the critics of our
time to expect from these pioneers, of two hundred and sixty years ago, the broad and liberal
views, and the generous culture of their descendants of the seventh generation.
VII.
MR. LONGFELLOW'S poem, entitled, " The Courtship of Miles Standish, " gives us a very correct
TheCourtship picture of the social and family life of
of iles  the Pilgrims. The poet was interested
Standish.
in the tradition on which the poem is
founded from family reasons.
It is not claimed that this poem is in all respects
accurate in its statements. It is a work of art;
and the poet has grouped about the central story
a number of incidents which occurred in a little
different connection. John Alden was not quite
the youngest of those who came in the Mayflower, though he was a young man of twentyone. Rose Standish was not the first of those
who died at Plymouth. The milk-white steer,
which, according to the poem, carried the bride
on its back, to her new home, after the simple
marriage ceremony, was doubtless still in Old
England when the marriage occurred, two years
after the Mayflower went back. But after all the




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANSo  243


liberty which we have to allow to the poet, it remains true that this poem gives a correct representation of the spirit of the Pilgrims, and of their
way of life in 1623. The journals of Mr. Longfellow show that he was a diligent student of the
early New England history at the time he was
writing the poem.l The characters in the poem
are well-known persons in the history of the
Colony.   Miles Standish was such a man as the
poet has described, even to the books TheCharacters
in his library, a catalogue of which has Authentic.
been preserved.2 John Alden is a typical Pilgrim, with a warm heart, a high sense of honor,
a vigilant conscience, and the imagination of an
enthusiastic leader of men. He became a leading man in the Colony, was one of the Assistants
more than forty years, treasurer of the Colony
thirteen years, and was frequently a deputy to the
General Court. Priscilla Mullins, - "the beautiful Puritan maiden," the lover of music," Singing the hundredth Psalm, the grand old Puritan anthem,""While with her foot on the treadle she guided the wheel in its
motion."
"Open wide on her lap, lay the well-worn psalm-book of
Ainsworth,
Printed in Amsterdam, the words and the music together,
Rough-hewn, angular notes, like stones in the wall 6f a churchyard."
1 Life of H. W. Longfellow, vol. ii. 289-320.
2 The Pilgrim Republic, 450-451.




244 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Governor Bradford, also, is faithfully represented
in the poem. So is Elder Brewster, though he
was not so aged a man, at the date of the mar.
riage, as the poet would have him.
The tradition on which the action of the poem
is founded, is certainly very old. It is probably
authentic. It is very likely that the bashful captain -" A man not of words, but of actions," " A
maker of war, and not a maker of phrases" - was
so indiscreet as to send his youthful secretary to
ask for the hand of the young woman, who was... alone in the world; her father and mother and brother
Died in the winter together."
Her reply, according to the best tradition, was,
" Why so many words for the Captain, and no
words for yourself, John? I
The charm of the poem for us is in its picture
of the life at Plymouth. What can be finer than
the description of the departure of the Mayflower?" Long in silence they watched the receding sail of the vessel,
Much endeared to them all, as something living and human;
Then, as if filled with the spirit, and wrapt in a vision
prophetic,
Baring his hoary head, the excellent Elder of Plymouth
Said, 'Let us pray!' and they prayed, and thanked the Lord
and took courage.
Mournfully sobbed the waves at the base of the rock, and
above them




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  245


Bowed and whispered the wheat on the hill of death, and
their kindred
Seemed to awake in their graves, and to join in the prayer that
they uttered."
Here is the new Pilgrim    home:Meanwhile Alden at home had built him a new habitation,
Solid, substantial, of timber rough-hewn from the firs of the
forest.
Wooden-barred was the door, and the roof was covered with
rushes;
Latticed the windows were, and the window-panes were of
paper,
Oiled to admit the light, while wind and rain were excluded.
There too he dug a well, and around it planted an orchard:
Still may be seen to this day some trace of the well and the
orchard."
"Oft when his labor was finished, with eager feet would the
dreamer
Follow the pathway that ran through the woods to the house
of Priscilla,
Led by illusions romantic and subtile deceptions of fancy,
Pleasure disguised as duty, and love in the semblance of
friendship.
Ever of her he thought, when he fashioned the walls of his
dwelling;
Ever of her he thought, when he delved in the soil of his
garden;
Ever of her he thought, when he read in his Bible on Sunday
Praise of the virtuous woman, as she is described in the
Proverbs."
"This was the wedding morn of Priscilla the Puritan maiden.
Friends were assembled together; the Elder and Magistrate
also




246 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Graced the scene with their presence, and stood like the Law
and the Gospel,
One with the sanction of earth and one with the blessing of
Heaven.
Simple and brief was the wedding, as that of Ruth and of Boaz.
Softly the youth and the maiden repeated the words of betrothal,
Taking each other for husband and wife in the Magistrate's
presence,
After the Puritan way, and the laudable custom of Holland.
Fervently then, and devoutly, the excellent Elder of Plymouth
Prayed for the hearth and the home, that were founded that
day in affection,
Speaking of life and of death, and imploring divine benedictions."
When all was over we read: —
"Onward the bridal procession now moved to their new habitation,
Happy husband and wife, and friends conversing together.
Pleasantly murmured the brook, as they crossed the ford in the
forest,
Pleased with the image that passed, like a dream of love
through its bosom,
Tremulous, floating in air, o'er the depths of the azure abysses."
"Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pastoral ages,
Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca and
Isaac,
Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always,
Love immortal and young in the endless succession of lovers.
So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal
procession." 1
1 The Courtship of Miles Standish, I859.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 247


VIII.
THESE records and traditions may help us to
understand the social and family life of the Puritans. We pass next to some of he practical methods
by which these hardy pioneers directed their social
and family life. We are not to expect them to
follow the conventional rules of the Old ThePuitans
World. They were men of ideas and of inAdvanceof
their Times.
independent principles. They had found
it impracticable to develop their ideas in England.
The Stuarts, and those who belonged to their
party, had crowded these vigorous Protestants -
the champions of civil and religious libertyfrom their homes, and they had come to the New
World to develop their ideas in a free state and a
free Church. They were men far in advance of
their times. Longfellow has borrowed the strong
expression of one of their leaders, when he says:
" God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this
planting,
Then had sifted the wheat, as the living seed of a nation."
The Puritans sought to develop the individual.
As they believed that each man was the special
object of God's love and care, so they insisted
that each child should be educated and trained
for his duties in this life and beyond.  That was
the reason why they provided schools for the




248 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


children of the people. They had no examples of
such schools in England. They were more than
two centuries in advance of the Mother Country
in this respect. " Until quite recently," says an
English writer, " there was no public provision for
education in England, and even now it is only the
elementary education of the people that can be
said to be regulated by law."1 James Russell
Lowell speaks of the founders of New England
as the inventors of Common Schools,2 and says
that these schools are defences against " monopoly
in Church and state." Sir William Berkeley, one
of the early Governors of Virginia, wrote to England, " I thank God there are no free schools or
printing, and I hope we shall not have them
these hundred years. For learning hath brought
heresy, and disobedience, and sects into the world,
and printing hath divulged them, and libels against
the best government. God keep us from both." 3
The Dutch Republic, however, had an excellent
The Common system of common schools; and when
chools t  the Pilgrims went to Leyden, they found
the Dutch  te                y   n      f
Republic.  a land " where every child went to school,
where almost every inhabitant could read and
write."4  Governor Bradford tells us that they
1 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. Education, vol. vii. 678.
2 Among My Books, 242. This statement, however, needs to
be modified.
8 Campbell's Puritan, vol. i. 32.
4 Motley's United Netherlands, vol. iv. 432.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  249


were at first unable to establish a school at Plymouth, "for want of a fit person, and also for lack
of means to pay a teacher." So the parents taught
their own children to read in the first years; but,
as soon as they were able, they set up common
schools, and required all towns which had fifty
families to maintain such schools.  The Annals
of the Colony are full of references to schools and
schoolmasters.' There was a school in Boston
five years after the first settlement, of Common
which Philemon Parment was the Schoolsin
lNew England.
teacher. Daniel Maude was his successor, and for his maintenance a contribution of
fifty pounds was made by the leading citizens.
Governor Winthrop     states that " divers free
schools were erected, as at Roxbury, (for the
maintenance whereof every inhabitant bound
some house or land for a yearly allowance forever)
and at Boston, where they made an order to allow
forever fifty pounds to the master, and an house,
and thirty pounds to an usher, who should also
teach to read and write, and cipher; and Indians'
children were to be taught freely.  Other towns
did the like, providing maintenance by several
means." 2 In 1647, a general act was passed, which
required every town of fifty families or more, to
1 Bradford's History, I6I-I62. Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic,
494-497. Plymouth Records, vol. i. 37.
2 Winthrop's History, vol. ii. 264.




250 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


appoint one to teach all children to read and
write; and every town of one hundred families to
set up a grammar school, the masters thereof
being able to prepare students for the University.
Ezekiel Cheever was the earliest schoolmaster in
New Haven, and John Higginson the first in
Hartford. Every New England Colony, as soon
as it was able, provided for the support of schools;
" to the end that learning may not be buried in
the graves of our forefathers in Church and commonwealth." The movement for universal education was in the air in those years. Wherever the
Puritans planted themselves, their social and
family life was the life of readers and thinkers.
The common school has gone to Virginia now,
and far beyond, in disregard of the prayer of the
old Tory Governor.  The first settlers of these
earliest American colonies, north and south,
planted the seeds from which their descendants
of the seventh generation are reaping.  The
schools for the people may have brought some
heresies, and some disobedience, but they have
brought light; they have brought free and liberal
thought; they have brought liberty to the slaves,
and help to the poor, and light to the ignorant.
The common schools made possible the New
England town-meeting, - that little congress of
the local democracy which was the germ of the
republic.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  251


IX.
TEE legislation of the Puritans also influenced
their social life.  Many of their laws, it is true,
had the characteristics of the seventeenth century.
But, as a whole, their legislation was far in advance
of their times. It is common, even now, for
writers of limited information to refer to the socalled Blue Laws of'Connecticut as specimens of
the laws of the Puritans. It is said that the laws
contained such provisions as these: No one shall
travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut
hair, or shave on the Sabbath day. No woman
shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or Fasting
day: no one shall read the Book of Common
Prayer, keep Christmas, or Saint days, make
minced pies, dance, play cards, or play on any instrument of music, except the drum,
The Blue Laws.
trumpet, and jewsharp; no one shall
run on the Sabbath day, or walk in the garden
or elsewhere except reverently, to and from meeting: no food or lodging shall be afforded to a
Quaker or other Heretic: every male shall have
his hair cut round according to a cap.1
It is well known that these Blue Laws were the
invention of one Samuel Peters, a Tory, who had
1 General History of Connecticut, by Rev. Samuel Peters, London, 1781, 65-82.




252 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


been driven from the country on account of his
disloyalty, during the war of the Revolution. He
published in London, in 1781, a book which professes to give " A History of Connecticut from its
first settlement."  The code of laws which this
book contains has been proved to be a fabrication.
There were no such laws in Connecticut or in any
other part of New England; " nor is there any
record of so much as single judgment pronounced
agreeably to the tenor of these provisions." 1
Some of the laws which were enacted in New
England were like those in force in other parts
of the Christian world at that time.
Laws of the
Seventeenth  There were sumptuary laws everyCentury.  where; laws to punish those whose
religious opinions were different from those of
the majority; laws designed to enforce religious
duties; meddlesome laws, interfering with small
matters, which it is wiser to let alone. There were
cruel laws: laws which imposed the death-penalty
for offences which we have learned to deal with
in another way.
But the laws of New England were more merciful than those of New York, or of Virginia.
They were much more merciful than the laws of
England. At the end of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, thirty-one crimes were punished with
1 Blue Laws, True and False, by J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford, 1876, 30-32.  Palfrey, vol. ii. 30 —37.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  253


death by the laws of England.   Connecticut had
only twelve capital crimes in I642, Massachusetts
at the same date had ten, Plymouth had only
eight.' In England, those who were adjudged
guilty of the crime of witchcraft were LawofEngto be put to death without benefit of land andof
31ew England.
clergy. The writ for burning a heretic
(de hcretico comburendo) was not abolished in
England till late in the reign of Charles the
Second. As late as the time of James the Second,
fourteen hundred Quakers were in prison at one
time in England, in accordance with the laws
then in force in that country.2   By the laws of
Virginia, Quakers, or other Separatists who should
join in religious worship not authorized
Laws of Engin England or this country, were, for the land and of
third offence, to be banished fronm Vir- Vigiia.
ginia.3  Quakers were to be put to death if they
should return a second time.   No minister was
allowed to hold a religious service unless he had
been ordained by a bishop in England.      Any
person absenting himself from divine service for
a month was to be fined; and if he should refuse
to pay his fine, he was to be whipped, " on the
bare back, ten lashes, well laid on." The penalty
for blasphemy, in Maryland, in I649, was for the
1 Trumbull, Blue Laws, 59. Palfrey, vol. ii. 27, note, 28-31.
Body of Liberties, 8I-9o.
2 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Art. Quakers.
3 Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, I67.




254 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


first offence to "be bored through the tongue,"
and for the third offence it was death.l
Some of these seventeenth century laws were
enacted in the New England colonies.   Some
were put in a milder form; many were repealed
or greatly modified in a few years. The decided
tendency in these colonies was towards softening
the penalties or repealing the laws.  The reason
was that the legislators that enacted all laws were
elected by the people in their town-meetings, and
these representatives were very susceptible to public opinion. The law which provided that Quakers
Laws against who returned to the Colony after they
Quakers.  had been banished should be put to
death, was very unpopular among the people. It
has been already stated that it was passed in the
House of Deputies by a majority of one vote.2
The penalty was executed upon four persons.
But the pressure of public opinion against the
law was so strong that after three or four years
the law became a dead letter, and before many
years it was repealed.
The prosecutions for witchcraft, in I691 and
I692, were brought under an old law enacted fifty
itchcrft. years before.  While the excitement
lasted, and within a limited area, juries
were found that would convict on such poor testi1 Blue Laws, True and False, J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford,
1876, 309-S360.
2 Mass. Colonial Records, vol. iv. 346.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 255


mony as was presented. But public opinion soon
condemned the prosecutions, and within a few
months it was impossible to find a jury that would
bring in a verdict of guilty of Witchcraft.  The
people sent such remonstrances to the General
Court that the prosecutions were stopped. It was
the enlightened judgment of the Puritan Colonists
that put a stop to these judicial murders, which
were continued in Europe for many years afterwards.
The Puritan legislation was very practical.
James Russell Lowell has spoken in emphatic
terms of the practical good sense of our fathers.
They had been the champions of liberty in England;and they adopted, very early, the Body of
Liberties, prepared by Mr. Nathaniel Ward of
Ipswich, a man learned in the law, as well as in
divinity, which stated in clear and vigorous terms
the rights of the citizen under the law. "No
man's life shall be taken away; no man's honor
or good name shall be stained; no ractical
man's person shall be arrested, re- tegislaton.
strained, banished, or anyways punished; no man
shall be deprived of his wife or children; no
man's goods or estate shall be taken away,. 
unless by virtue of some express law of the country, established by the General Court and sufficiently published." 1
1 Body of Liberties, Art. 90-98.




256 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


The laws tended strongly toward democracy.
They tended also to protect the family; to
secure its purity and its permanence; to restrain
vice and crime; to protect the poor and the weak.
The laws regulated the sale of intoxicating drinks,
perhaps as effectually as our modern laws have
done. It is doubtful whether we have made any
real progress in respect to that class of legislation,
since the time of Governor Winthrop. For many
years the General Court assumed the guardianship
of widows and orphans, and the care of the insane
and other unfortunate people. There were also
laws to protect the Indians from injustice, as well
as from the tendencies to vice from their contact
with unprincipled white men. These laws were
designed to aid the missionary work among
them.
X.
LIFE in New England was less democratic in
the Colonial period than it is in our time. Many
of the class distinctions of old England were
transferred to the new country. Only twelve of
those who came in the Mayflower had the title
Mr. prefixed to their names. The others were
plain John Alden, Thomas Williams, etc. Only
a few of those in the Massachusetts Colony had
the prefix Mr., or Mrs. These titles were given
to those who had belonged to the class of gentle



FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  257


men in England, and also to ministers, and physicians, and their wives. Goodman and goodwife
were the appropriate addresses of persons who
were below the condition of gentility, and above
that of servants. Most of the deputies to the
General Court were designated by their names
only, unless they had a military title. A gentleman might be deprived of his rank for a disgraceful act. It was ordered by the Court, in I631, that
Josias Plastowe shall be fined five pounds for
stealing corn from the Indians, and that hereafter
he shall be called by the name of Josias, and not
Mr. as formerly he used to be.1 These distinctions in social rank were carefully preserved in
the early catalogues of Harvard College. Those
who had been graduated from College were entitled to the title Sir, until they had Aristocratic
received the degree of Master of Arts, Dtinctions.
when their proper title was Mr. People were
sometimes seated in the meeting-house according to their social rank. Still, the tendency
was towards a free and hearty life, as it is always
in a new   country.  Conventional distinctions
faded away, although there were traces of the
aristocratic traditions they had brought from
England, down to the time of the American
Revolution.
1 Winthrop's History, vol. i 74, note.
I7




258 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


XI.
THE dress of the people during the Colonial
period was generally plain, as well because of
their limited resources, as because it was the
policy of the colonies to discourage the wasting
of their resources by habits of extravaThe Dress of
the Early  gance. And yet those in official posicolomsts.  *        r       1
tions were frequently passing to and
from England, and it was necessary for them to
maintain the style and manners of gentlemen of
their rank in the old country.  Professional men
and public officers were expected to wear a distinctive dress. The typical Puritan, as his appearance is preserved in the old portraits, and in
modern statues, looks like a man of distinction.
Clothes counted for quite as much in the seventeenth century, as they do now. The Simple
Cobbler of Agawam complained of five or six
extravagant women in the Colony, who inquire
"what dresse the Queen is in this week," and
"( what is the very newest fashion of the Court,"
and who "egge to be in it in all haste, whatever
it be." " I honor the woman," he says, " that can
honor herself with her attire, but for a woman who
lives but to ape the newest court fashions I look
at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, - the product




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 259


of a quarter of a cipher,-the epitome of
nothing." 1
The General Court enacted laws at various
times to limit extravagance in dress. The fact
that such laws were needed shows that human nature in the times of the Puritans was very much
the same that it is now. Their young people had
a love for beautiful things; and they sought to
adorn themselves, even beyond their means. The
younger generation were not inconoclasts. Some
of them were disposed to break away from the
customs of the pioneers. In 1634, it was enacted
that "noe person, either man or woman, shall
hereafter make or buy any apparel that hath lace
in it, or silver and gold."  It was afterward
ordered that no one whose estate is less than two
hundred pounds shall wear gold or silver lace, or
gold or silver buttons. Still later, it was enacted
that no one shall wear embroidered caps, gold
and silver girdles, immoderate great sleeves, or
slashed apparel. 2 We read in the Records of the
Plymouth Colony of a man who created a sensation by appearing in the streets of Plymouth in
long red-silk stockings.3 In the inventory of the
estate of plain Elder Brewster, we find " one blue
cloth coat," one " violet color cloth coat," one
1 The Simple Cobbler of Agawam, 25-28, 1647.
2 Colonial Records, vol. i. 273; vol. v. 59. Laws, I634-I65I.
8 Records, vol. i. 93.




260 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


green  waistcoat."  In "New   England's First
Fruits" it is said: " Linnen fustian we are making already; sheep are coming on for woolen
cloth; in the meantime we may be supplied by
way of trade from other parts; cordovan deer,
seal, and moose skins are to be had plentifully,
which will help this way, especially for servants'
clothing."1 Evidently these pioneers were thrifty
people, who respected themselves, and dressed
as well as they were able, though they avoided
with prudent care habits that were beyond their
incomes.
XII.
THE inventory of the estate of Elder Brewster
shows that his furniture was appraised at about
Domestic  one hundred pounds. The inventory
Furniture of the household goods of Governor
Winthrop sums up the value at one hundred and
three pounds. This included several feather beds
and bolsters worth two pounds apiece; a down
bed, pillows and bolsters worth five pounds; a
large number of pewter dishes and plates, tin
plates, brass and copper kettles, brass candlesticks,
brass and iron andirons, some old armor, fire-arms,
several small carpets, cushions, cloaks, cloth-ofgold scarf, table-cloths, napkins, a large number
1 New England's First Fruits, ch. xxiv.




FAMIILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  26I


of chairs, tables, cabinets, chests, two suits of
clothes worth six pounds, six pairs of spectacles,
and many other things.
There is preserved in the Records of the
Colony of Massachusetts,1 an inventory of the
household goods of Mrs. Martha Coytmore, who
afterwards became the fourth wife of Governor
Winthrop. The whole value of the estate of her
first husband seems to have been about thirteen
hundred pounds.    One hundred and twentyseven pounds of this was represented by the
household furniture. The items are much the
same as those in the inventory of the furniture
of the Governor. Some articles, however, were
more expensive. There was a cypress chest worth
two pounds ten shillings, diaper table-cloths, with
napkins, worth several pounds, a silk red and
green quilt, striped curtains, and some silver
plate worth fifteen pounds.
These are specimens of the inventories of the
estates of persons in the best condition in life,
in Boston, twenty years after the town was
settled. The furniture in the largest number of
houses was much more primitive and of less
cost.
1 Records, vol. ii. 234-236.




262 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


XIII.
THE amusements of these plain people dwelling
in the wilderness were few and simple. And. yet
they were not as few as some writers would lead
us to suppose. It is true that games of chance
Amusements of were prohibited by law.  No one was
the People.  permitted to possess cards, dice, or
other instrument of gaming. Dancing was also
prohibited.1 But it is possible for the right sort
of people to lead a pleasant social life without
gaming or dancing.
The Puritans enjoyed their religion.  They delighted in prayer, and in communion with God.
They were profoundly interested in religious truth.
Religious services were very attractive to them.
They were intellectual people.   The religious
spirit has been found to agree very well with
the intellectual spirit. The independent thinkers
of New England, as a rule, had a Puritan
ancestry.
Our fathers loved their new country, as pioneers generally do. They believed it was better
than any other.   They were free to work out
their own ideas in this new world. They were
readers  and  thinkers.   They   debated  great
1 Records of Mass., vol. i. 84 and 233. Records of Connecticut, vol. i. 289, 527.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 263


questions under the shadows of the primitive
forests.  They did not feel the need of the
pleasures which people of less intellect and less
faith seem to require.
There is abundant evidence that there was a
genuine, hearty, social life in these colonies.
Travellers of that period, who came to New
England, do not speak of the life they found
here as a gloomy life. The people were interested in each other. They had their own simple
rustic amusements such as those to which they
had been accustomed in England.
Take as an example the first Harvest Festival
at Plymouth. The Pilgrims had gathered their
first harvest, after the year of severe labor and
privation, while they were building their houses,
and breaking up the ground, and caring for
their crops.  The harvest was bountiful, and
they had at last a right to give themselves up to
recreation.  We read, in Mourt's Relation:
"Our harvest being gotten in, our Governor
sent foure men on fowling, that we might after
a more special manner rejoice together, after we
had gathered the fruit of our labors.  They
foure in one day killed as much fowle, as, with
a little help beside, served the Cor-,arvesFestival
pany almost a weeke, at which time, at lymouth.
amongst other Recreations, we exercised  our
Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us,




264 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and amongst the rest, their greatest King,
Massasoyt, with some ninety men, whome for
three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they
went out and killed fine Deere, which they
brought to the Plantation, and bestowed on
our Governor, and vpon the Captaine, and
others." 1
This was not a religious festival. There is
no mention of any religious services. The week
seems to have been given up to sports, and a
succession of festivals, as well as to the entertainment of their dusky neighbors. In these ways,
these vigorous men enjoyed themselves, making
the best use of their limited opportunities.
In Massachusetts, there was a larger population, and a greater variety of occasions of
interest. The house of Governor Winthrop was
seldom without its guests.  There were interesting people coming from abroad, whose presence added interest to the home-life.  The
Commencement week at the new college was
always interesting. We read of a great training
on Boston Common, which brought together
the people from the various settlements. Many
gentlemen and gentlewomen dined in tents on
the Common. Judge Sewell, in his Diary, refers
very often to the dinner parties which he attended.  He sometimes gives us the names of
1 Mourt's Relation, I33.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OP THE PURITANS.  265


the guests, and tells us something of the bill of
fare. The picture of a New England Holiday,
in the " Scarlet Letter," with its mingled light and
shade, gives a very fair impression of life in those
days.  Hawthorne says, very truly, that the generation next to the early emigrants - who had
never mingled in the sports of Old England —
wore the darkest shade of Puritanism.1
Human nature in the colonies was very much
like human nature in the rest of the world. The
amusements of the young people were not
always such as their fathers and mothers approved. There are numerous records of " Mixt
dancings, unlawful gamings, extravagence in dress,
light behavior," and such like offences. These
things do not appear to have been confined to
any one period in our history.  They became
more frequent as the colonies became richer and
more populous. The family discipline was careful
and faithful, but the habits and characters of the
children did not always develop according to the
Puritan model.
XIV.
WE may draw another class of illustrations of
the social life of the Puritans from  their intercourse with the French, whose settlements in
1 Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, 270-290. In some of his other
books, Mr. Hawthorne fails to do justice to the Puritans.




266 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND,


the north were older than those of the Puritans. The French officials were zeallntercourse
with the  ous Roman Catholics, and their habits
Frnch.
were very different from  those of
the Puritans.
In 1643, La Tour arrived in Boston harbor
with his ship, and a hundred and forty people,
among them two Friars, and two women who
were to wait upon the wife of La Tour. They
were courteously received by Governor Winthrop,
who escorted La Tour to his lodgings on shore,
" with a sufficient guard." While the Frenchmen
were in the town the training day came on, and
La Tour witnessed with pleasure the evolutions
of the citizen-soldiers.  In the afternoon, the
French soldiers were landed, with their arms,
and they were permitted to exercise, " The
Governor and others of the Magistrates coming
into the field."  The Puritan soldiers escorted
the Frenchmen to the landing-place.  " Our
Governor and others in the town," we are told,
"entertained La Tour and his gentlemen with
much courtesy, both in their houses and at
table.  La Tour came duly to our church
meetings, and always accompanied the Governor to and from thence, who all the time
of his abode here was attended with a good
guard of halberts and musketeers."   There
were animated discussions among the people




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS.  267


in regard to the propriety of receiving these
"idolatrous Papists," as some called them, with
so much honor.    But the majority approved
the wise and courteous course of the Governor.
There was a good deal of social intercourse
between the people and the French.  We read:
" Of the two Friars which came in this ship,
the one was a very learned acute man. Divers
of our Elders, who had conference with him,
reported so of him. They came not into the
town, lest they should give offence, but once,
being brought by some to see Mr. Cotton and
confer with him, and when they came to depart,
the chief came to take leave of the Governor,
and the two Elders of Boston, and showed himself very thankful for the courtesy they found
among us."' This picture of the learned Friar,
calling on John Cotton, to "confer with him,"
being brought by some of the Puritans, is one
of the evidences that there was a place for
courtesy toward those of another faith, among
those stanch Protestants.
Three years later, another company of French
men came to Boston.     They arrived on the
Lord's-day.  "Major Gibbons sent two of his
chief officers to meet them  at the water side,
who conducted them to their lodgings, sine
strepzIu.  The public worship being ended,
Winthrop's History, vol. ii. 128-I38, I53.




268 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the Governor repaired home, and sent Major
Gibbons with a guard of musketeers to attend
them to the Governor's house, who, meeting
them without his door, carried them into his
house, where they were entertained with wine
and sweetmeats, and after a while, he accompanied them to their lodgings. The Governor
explained to them the Puritan way of observing
the Lord's-day,'that all men either come to our
public meetings, or keep themselves quiet in
their houses.'  The French Catholics complied
with the customs of the Colony, for 'they continued private all that day until sunset, and made
use of such books, Latin and French, as the Governor had, and the liberty of a private walk in his
garden, and so gave no offence.'  When they
had finished their business, they were attended to
their boat by the Governor, and the Commissioners of the Colony. When they sailed for
home, they were saluted with five guns from
Boston, three from Charlestown, and five from
Castle Island.  They returned the salute, and
went of their voyage." 
A still more interesting incident occurred four
years later. Father Gabriel Druillette, a Jesuit
missionary among the Abenaquis, in what is now
the State of Maine, was sent by the Governor
of Canada, D'Ailleboust, as a diplomatic agent to
1 Winthrop, vol. ii. 334-336.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF TIHE PURITANS.  269


Massachusetts, and to Plymouth.     His purpose
was to engage the Colonies in alliance with the
French, against the Iroquois.     The.                     Visit of Father
Jesuit missionary hoped by such an Druillette,
rI650.
alliance to secure protection for the
Christian Indians, against their savage enemies.
He has left a journal of his visit, in French, which
was published some forty years ago.1
Druillette reached Boston in December, i650.
He was known      as a zealous Jesuit missionary. He was received with great courtesy and
respect.  He was invited to the house of General
Gibbons, who charged him to make no other house
his home, while he remained there. The General
gave to his guest a key to an apartment in his
house, where he might be free to pray, and to go
through the services of his religion.  It has been
suggested that the first Mass in Boston may have
been solemnized in that room. General Gibbons
presented his guest to Governor Dudley, who
examined his credentials, and invited him to dine
at his house.   From   Boston, Father Druillette
went to Plymouth, where he was courteously
received by Governor Bradford, who invited him
to dine at his house the next day. As the next
1 Narr6 du Voyage faict pour la Mission des Abnaquiois, et des
Connaissances tirez, de la Nouvelle Angleterre et des dispositions
des Magistrats de cette Republique pour le secours contre les
Iroquois, as annees I650 et I65I. Par le R. Pere Gabriel
Druillette, de Ia Compagnie de Jesus. Quebec.




270 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


day was Friday, the Pilgrim Governor provided
fish for dinner, in recognition of the religious
customs of his Jesuit guest. The Priest found
favor among the people of Plymouth, although
the Magistrates did not embarrass themselves by
entering into the alliance which he proposed.
On the 24th of December, the good missionary
started on his return to Boston by land. On his
way back, he called at Roxbury on John Eliot, the
Puritan missionary among the Indians. It must
have been about the time of Christmas day. He
writes in his journal that Eliot invited him to
lodge with him, as the night had overtaken him.
These two missionaries - the Jesuit, and the
Puritan-had much discourse concerning their
work among the Indians. "Here is a scene," says
Dr. Ellis, " that might well engage the pencil of
an artist. These two men,... separated as the
poles in their religious convictions, principles and
methods, are seen in simple, human, loving conJohn Eliotand verse, as kind host, and responsive
the Catholic  stranger guest. The humble sitting
M/ssiosnary.
and working room of the Apostle Eliot,
in his modest cottage, has the essentials of comfort, and there is a guest chamber." The Priest
writes in his journal that Eliot treated him with
respect and affection, and invited him to pass the
winter with him. "Perhaps their conversation
was in Latin," says Dr. Ellis, " though Eliot was




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS  271


an accomplished scholar, and might have the
mastery of the French. The morning and evening devotions of the Puritan household, with grace
and blessing each meal must have kept their
wonted course, while the faithful Priest had his
oratory, - his orisons, - and his matin  Mass
before breaking his fast." 1
So nearly do good people of different creeds
approach each other, who are devoted to the
service of the one Lord, and to the salvation of
their fellow-men.
XV.
LAST of all, we can estimate the social and
family life of the Puritans, from its results, in the
types of character which we find in their descendants. We are living among people of the seventh
and eighth generation from the founders of New
England. That is a long period through which
to transmit distinctive traits.  Mr. Galton, in his
work on Hereditary Genius, tells us that "the
ablest race of whom history bears record is unquestionably the Ancient Greeks."'    But the
Greek type, which was preserved for a few centuries, became grradually feebler, and was long ago
lost. The Patricians at Rome were as distinctly
1 Palfrey, vol. ii. 305-308. The Puritan Age and Rule, by George
E. Ellis, 366-374.
2 Hereditary Genius, 329.




272 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND,
marked in their time, but Gibbon tells us that at
the time of the Republic most of the Patrician
families had failed, and that the type was lost.
Mr. Benjamin Kidd states that "only five out of
over five hundred of the oldest aristocratic families
in England, at the present time, can trace direct
descent through the male line, to the fifteenth
century."  " Despite the immeasurable safeguards
with which they have been able to surround themselves, such classes seem to be quite unable to
keep up the stock for more than a limited number
of generations. They are continually dying out
at the top, and being recruited from below." A
similar state of things has been found to exist in
France among the noble families of that country.
The Puritan type in this country has met a
number of other vigorous types, each of which has
moulded a large number of our people. Beside
the Cavaliers of Virginia, who made the Church
ThePu tn  of England the established Church in
The Puritan
Type inthe  that Colony, there has been the Scotch,
United States. and the Scotch-Irish type, out of which
has come the great Presbyterian Body. The
French Huguenots have been very numerous.
So have the Dutch, and the Germans. There
has been a mingling of blood. Each type has
exerted an influence upon the others, and there
is a tendency to melt down these distinctive
1 Social Evolution, 277.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS. 273


types in the comprehensive national spirit and
character.
But for all that, the New England type of mind,
after two hundred and seventy years, is still as
distinct in the great stream of our American life,
as the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. A large
fraction of the people of the United States have
sprung from those who settled the colonies of
New England. They are to be found in every
State, and in almost every city and town. The
men and women of Puritan blood, wherever we
find them, are apt to be people of vigorous intellects, of thrifty habits, of inventive genius, and of
strong moral character. They stand for liberty
in the Church, and in the state. The leaders of
liberal thought have been descendants of the
Puritans. A large proportion of the great conservative leaders have also been of Puritan lineage.
I find these men in the South, and in the extreme
West, as well as in the East. They are preaching
in California and in Oregon. They are Senators
and Representatives from Colorado, and from
Michigan: from Washington, and from Ohio;
from nWisconsin and from  Illinois.  President
John Adams and President John Quincy Adams,
and the poet Longfellow were among the descendants of John Alden and of Priscilla Mullins.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was of the eighth generation of Puritan ministers. Nathaniel Hawthorne




274  THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


was a descendant of William Hawthorne, who
came to America with Governor Winthrop, and
who settled in Dorchester, in 1630. James Russell
Lowell was a descendant from Percival Lowell,
a prosperous merchant, who settled in Newbury,
in I639, and of the long line of his successors, -
merchants and lawyers and ministers.
I have before me, as I write, a list of a hundred
and twenty-five men who have died within the
last three years, and who were members of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society of
Boston. They were not selected men, excepting
that they were especially interested in the history
of New England families. The majority of them
were residents of Massachusetts, but a large
number lived in other parts of New England, and
in other sections of the country, and some in
foreign lands. There are among them descendants of the French Huguenots, of the Scotch,
the Dutch, and the English. It has been found,
from an examination of this list of a hundred and
twenty-five members of this Society, who have died
in I893, I894, and 1895, that about two-thirds of
them were able to trace their descent from the Pilgrims or the Puritans of New England. The list
includes such names as William Frederick Poole,
the Librarian of Chicago, Joseph H. Stickney, a
merchant of Baltimore, Thomas E. Proctor and
Benjamin F. Nourse of Boston, both successful




FAMLILY AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PURITANS  275


business men, and both descended from persons
who were put to death in Salem at the time of the
witchcraft delusion, Ex-Governor Oliver Ames,
and Frederick L. Ames, and Waldo Higginson,
Moses Kimball, Gyles Merrill of Haverhill,
Warren Ladd of Providence, Judge Charles C.
Baldwin of Cleveland, Elisha C. Leonard of New
Bedford, James R. Newhall of Lynn, Dr. Henry
Delevan Paine of Albany, Daniel Clapp, Peter
Butler, Peter Thacher, James W. Austin, Francis
G. Pratt, and many others of Boston. These are
representative men, specimens of the thousands
of men in active life who are of Puritan descent,
whom one may meet from day to day in business
or in professional life.
Phillips Brooks was one of these representative
men, a descendant on his father's side from
Thomas Brooks, and on his mother's side from
George Phillips, the first minister of Watertown.
Three generations ago one of the descendants of
John Cotton became the wife of the great grandfather of Phillips Brooks. So that he came from
at least three lines of Puritan ancestors, - Cotton,
Phillips, and Brooks.  He showed what a well
developed Puritan of the seventh generation may
become under favorable circumstances.  Francis
Parkman, LL.D., the eminent historian of the
French in America, who died in 1893, traced his
family line to Elias Parkman, through a long suc



276 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


cession of ministers and men of letters.  Judge
Peleg Emery Aldrich, who has only recently
passed away, was only one of the many eminent
descendants of George Aldrich of early Puritan
times. Henry Oscar Houghton, the eminent
publisher, was of the seventh generation from
John Houghton.    Leverett Saltonstall was descended from Sir Richard Saltonstall, the leader
in the settlement of Watertown. He was the sixth
in lineal descent to graduate from Harvard College. Dr. Andrew P. Peabody was a descendant
of the seventh generation from Lieut. Francis
Peabody, and from a long line of New England
ministers. Dr. Alonzo A. Miner was of the seventh generation from Thomas Miner, who came
to Boston in I630. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D.,
so eminent as a statesman, an orator, and an
author, was of the sixth generation from the great
Puritan Governor, John Winthrop.  There have
been eminent men in every period of the history
of the Winthrops, but none have been more admirable than the eminent man who has so lately
passed away.1
The Puritan discipline was undoubtedly severe,
but it trained men for heroic action. That social
and family life of theirs is still bearing fruit. The
Puritan type is very persistent. No other section
1 Proceedings of the New England Historic Genealogical
Society, 1894-5-6. Genealogical Register, I893 —96.




FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIE OP THE PURITANS. 277
of the Anglo-Saxon race has excelled the Puritans
in the number of great men and of good men,soldiers and statesmen and scholars, that it has
produced.  Whether the social and family life of
the present generation in New England is likely
to preserve the type for other generations is an
interesting and important question.




I




Religious Opinions of the Fathers
of New England.








Religious Opinions of the Fathers
of New England.
VW  E shall fail to understand the Puritans unless
we know what views they adopted in regard to religious truth. For their whole tone and
spirit, and their methods of life, were the outgrowth
of their religious opinions.  Like a great poet of
our time, " they believed in the soul, and were very
sure of God."  They knew that He was not far
from every one of them. Duty to God was their
highest rule. Religious motives had the largest
place in their lives. They had crossed the sea
that they might be free to follow their convictions
of duty. The larger number of them had been in
a condition of comfort in England; some of them
had been affluent.  The early years of the reign
of Charles the First had been times of great
prosperity for those who could fall in with the
teachings of the Established Church and with the
views of the court. But they had left their English homes behind them, that they might be free
to follow their religious convictions.




282 THE PURITAN ZN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


I.
THE Puritans were, first of all, Protestants.
They lived to protest against error and to bear
witness to the truth. Their ProtestantThe Puritans
were Protest- ism was of that intense and aggressive
ants.     type, which generations of conflict with
the Church of Rome had developed.
As Protestants they appealed to the Bible as
the only infallible rule of faith and of duty. They
asserted its authority in opposition to that of the
traditions of the Church. But, in the interpretation of the Bible they insisted upon the right of
private judgment.  They denied the right of the
Church, or of the councils, to give them an interpretation of the Word. A Puritan was a man
who submitted with meekness to the teaching of
God's word, as he understsood it.
As consistent Protestants, the Puritans gave
great emphasis to the doctrine of justification
by faith. They guarded very carefully, in their
teachings, against the covenant of works. They
would not admit that there was any merit, as a
ground of justification, in the best actions of the
holiest men.
The Puritans derived from their study of the
Bible a new sense of the sanctity of the Lord'sday.  It was from the Puritans that the English




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 283


people learned to keep the first day of the week
so strictly that, even now, their habits of Sabbath
observance are in marked contrast with those of
the other nations of Europe. The Puritan clergymen would surrender their livings sooner than
sanction the proclamation of the king, which required the people to devote a part of the day to
amusements. The King's Book of Sports served
the purpose of separating the Puritans from the
other classes of their countrymen.  One of the
leading motives in the great Puritan migration
was the desire to establish the habit of the strict
observance of the Lord's-day   among   their
children.
The whole tone and spirit of New England
during the first generation was unworldly, to a
remarkable degree.  There was a good deal of
propriety in calling their state a theocracy. The
sermons of the seventeenth century were longer
and more abstract than those of our time. Many
of them consisted of close and logical discussions
of the doctrines of the Bible. Some of them were
sections of theological treatises.  Willard's Body
of Divinity deserves to rank high among the
theological works of New England; but it consists of two hundred and forty-six sermons. The
first of them was preached January 31, I687; the
last, April i, I707, -an interval of twenty years.
John Norton's theological works were given to




284 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


his people in the form of sermons. So were those
of John Cotton and of Thomas Hooker.
The few books which the Colonists were able
to have in their homes were, for the most part,
theological. They became as skilful as the Scottish people in theological discussion. They were
as quick to detect any departure from the standards of doctrine which they had accepted, as the
Athenians were to detect faults of pronunciation,
or of style, in their orators. In those periods of
their history there was good reason for the practice of preaching as candidates, for there were
persons in every congregation who were qualified
to form an intelligent opinion of the correctness
of the teaching of the preacher.  The great doctrines of religion were living themes for the people,
the subjects of discussion at the fireside, in the
market, and at all social gatherings.
II.
AMONG Protestants, the fathers of New England
belonged to the Reformed instead of the Lutheran
branch of the Church, and to the Calvinistic instead of the Arminian party. The Pilgrims, who
settled the Old Colony, had been trained under
John Robinson, who was an able defender of the
decrees of the Synod of Dort against the Arminians. The Puritans of the Bay Colony found the




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATIIERS. 285


standards of the Westminster Assembly the best
exponents of their faith.  Up to the time of the
Westminster Assembly, there does not The Westseem to have been much discussion siterCdn
among them as to the particular shade Catecisms.
of Calvinism they would teach.  Their theology,
like their religion, had been shaped by the hard
experiences of their lives. It may be that the
religion of the camp is not quite the same as that
of the fireside. The Puritans desired to exalt the
sovereignty of God, for they believed He had
chosen them for a great mission, and they depended utterly upon Him for protection and success.  Many of those who had been driven from
England had spent years in Geneva, and they
had been influenced by the decided Calvinistic
teachings of the ministers of that city. There
was a difference among them, as to some points
in the system, but the tendency during the first
two generations was toward a very high type of
Calvinism.
III.
THE books that were written in New England,
in the first period, related to the organization and
discipline of the churches, rather than
Their Interest
to  theology.  "The  Way    of the inthePolity
Churches," " Necessity of Separation," f the Church
"Why Ruling Elders should be Chosen," " The




286 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


Necessity of Infant Baptism," " Should those not
in Covenant with the Church present their Children for Baptism? "- these are specimens of the
titles of the early pamphlets. When the Synod
was convened at Cambridge, in I646, it devoted
itself to the Platform of Church Government, instead of the construction of a New Confession of
Faith.  The reason was that they were content,
for the most part, to accept the Westminster
Confession; but they felt the need of rounding
out and completing that form of Church polity
which had grown up in New England.
IV.
THE Puritans were always, however, deeply interested in theology. What their views were, we
may learn from the catechisms which they taught
their children, as well as from the creeds of their
churches, and from the books which they
published.
That famous catechism, prepared by John Cotton, in I641 or I642, at the request of the General
Court, entitled " Milk for Babes," which was in
common use for about a century, although it deals,
for the most part, with practical matMilk for Babes.
ters of duty to God and to men, yet sets
forth quite distinctly the doctrine of the Trinity,
of the Fall of Man, asserting that " we sinned in




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 287


Adam, and fell with him," and also that his sin is
imputed to us; that the wages of sin is death;
that "faith is a grace of the spirit whereby I deny
myself, and believe on Christ for righteousness and
salvation."  The rhyming couplet in the New
England Primer:
' In Adam's fall,
We sinned all,"
is not unlike the teachings of this catechism, in
which several generations of Puritan children
were trained.
Those who were admitted as members of the
Puritan churches were required to give to the
church an account of their religious experiences,
and also of their "knowledge in the
Relation of
principles of religion."  This "know- Religious
edge " included a statement of what Eperences
truths and principles they had deduced from the
Scriptures.1 It is clear from the early pamphlets
that our fathers regarded the knowledge of the
great principles of the Christian religion as an
important preparation for admission to the church.
The examination of the candidates as to their
"knowledge of the principles of religion " led, in
the course of time, to the adoption of a creed by
the Church.   Thus, the church in Salem, which
1 These points are fully discussed by Professor Williston
Walker in his Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, 107,
notes. He quotes the original authorities.




288 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


was the earliest in New England, next to the Pilgrim church in Plymouth, had originally only this
simple covenant: " We covenant with the Lord,
and one with another: and do bynd ourselves in
the presence of God, to walke together in all his
covenant and waies, according as he is pleased to
Creed of the  reveale himself unto us in his Blessed
Church in
Salem.   word of truth."  As time went on, it
was found expedient to expand this covenant, and
make it more specific.  In 1665, a formal creed
was set forth with this title: " A Direction for a
Public Profession in the Church Assembly, after
private Examination by the Elders: which Direction is taken out of the Scripture, and points unto
that Faith and Covenant contained in the Scripture; being the same for substance which was
propounded to and agreed upon by the Church of
Salem in their beginning, the sixth of the sixth
moneth I629." This ancient Confession of Faith
sets forth the doctrine of the Trinity; of God's
providence and government of the world; the fall
of man; the redemptive work of Christ, who
"became man that he might redeem and save us
by his obedience unto death;" of the Holy Spirit;
who, " working Faith in God's Elect, applyeth unto
them Christ with all his Benefits of Justification,
and Sanctification, unto Salvation."
The history of the first Synod called by the
General Court of Massachusetts, which met in




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 289


what is now Cambridge, in 1637, gives some intimations of the discussions which went on among
the Colonists in the earlier years.  Those were
the days of Mrs. Hutchinson, who came to Boston
in 1634.  The questions which were TheFirst
raised by her bold teachings, set the SythasnOd Mrs
whole Colony in a turmoil. The Synod I634-3s.
chose Thomas Hooker, and Peter Bulkly moderators, and proceeded to consider eighty-two erroneous opinions which had been set forth in this
country at various times. One would think the
Synod had abundant work on its hands, for
the twenty-four days of its session. Most of these
errors were traced to the teachings of Mrs.
Hutchinson. It is plain that the intense religious
spirit of the people had led them to speculate very
freely with reference to the questions which had
been raised by their new teachers. Some of their
speculations were crude, and some, in the opinion
of the Synod, were subversive to the fundamentals of religion. Cotton Mather states that they
were of an Antinomian and Familistical tendency.
The Synod dealt with these errors one by one.
After stating the erroneous opinions, they would
say, " This is contrary to such and such texts of
Scripture," and this, according to the author of
the Magnalia, did " smite the error under the fifth
1 See Winthrop's History, vol. i. 284-288. Three Episodes of
Massachusetts History, I892. Charles Francis Adams.
I9




290 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


rib." The influence of this Synod tended to harmonize the opinions of the people.    In I637,
however, the General Court of Massachusetts
banished Mrs. Hutchinson and some of her
supporters from the Colony.'
About the time of the Westminster Assembly,
there was, as we have seen in the sketch of Mr.
ynchon's Dis- Pynchon,2 more or less dissent from
cussion of the
pieo ofhe  some of the statements, which it was
Redemption. then common to make, in regard to the
Atonement.    Mr. Pynchon did not stand alone
in his denial of the dogma of strict satisfaction.
Some of the leading men among the Puritans in
England were in sympathy with his views. But
the larger number were against him. The reply
to his book, by Mr. John Norton, asserted in the
plainest terms that the Redeemer suffered the
punishment which the sinner deserved to suffer.
Mr. Norton did not hesitate to affirm that He
suffered the torments of the souls that are lost.
Both parties in this great debate imply that the
Atonement of Christ is limited to the elect, and
that there is no provision for the salvation of those
whom God has not chosen unto salvation.
1 See Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. 508-515. Felt, vol. i. 313-3I9.
Walker's Creeds and Platforms, T33-135.
2 See pages 20I-212 of this volume.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERfS. 29I


THE meeting of the Cambridge Synod, in 1646
to 1648, was a very important event, not only
because it led to the adoption of the The estminCambridge Platform of Church Govern- sterConfession
ment, but because the Synod adopted,
for the first time, in the name of the churches of
New England, a standard of doctrine. In the
preface to the Platform the Synod declares:
"Wee beleive & profess the same Doctrine of
the trueth of the Gospell, which generally is
received in all the reformed Churches of Christ
in Europe: so especially, we desire not to vary
from the doctrine of faith, & truth held forth by
the Churches of our native country." It is further
stated in this preface, that the Synod voted unanimously, "the last of the sixth month I648, in
these words: This Synod, having perused, and
considered the Confession of faith published of
late by the Reverend Assembly in England, doe
judge it to be very holy, orthodox, & judicious
in all matters of faith: & doe therefore freely
& fully consent thereunto, for the substance
thereof." 1 These declarations of the Synod had
an important influence upon the theological dis

1 Walker's Creeds and Platforms, 194-196.




292 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


cussions of the New England divines for the next
half century, as we shall see from such of their
works as have come down to us.
VI.
WITHIN a few years after the time of the Cambridge Synod, a number of theological books were
produced in New England, which were the first
fruits of our literature, and which are the most
authentic statements of the teachings of the early
divines of New England.
Thomas Shepard, the first pastor of the church
in Cambridge, left a number of works which show
how an active pastor, and an earnest preacher,
understood the doctrines of the Gospel.   Mr.
Shepard was born in Northamptonshire, in I605,
received the degree of B.A. from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1623, and that of M.A. in I627.
He received deacon's orders, and was appointed
to one of the Puritan lectureships, in Essex, with
a salary of /30 a year.1  He was permitted to
labor in that place about three years and a half,
when he was silenced by Bishop Laud, and driven
out of the diocese. After incredible sufferings
from persecution, during the next four years, he
made his escape in disguise, and sailed for New
1 Shepard's Works, Doctrinal Tract and Book Society, Boston,
1853. 3 vols. vol. i. lxx. Cromwell's Letters and Speeches, by
Carlyle, vol. i. 50.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 293


England, in I635. The next year, the Church in
Cambridge was formed, and Mr. Shepard was
ordained as the first pastor. That was the year
in which Harvard College was founded in Cambridge.  Mr. Shepard deserves to rank with
Cotton, and Hooker, and Mather, among the
leading ministers in the Colonies.  His works
belong to the first generation, for he died in I649.
" God's decree," he says, " is His eternal and determinate purpose concerning the effecting of all
things, by His mighty power, according to His
counsel."  And yet, as a preacher, Mr. Shepard
held to the freedom of the will. "In the fall, " he
tells us, " man abused his own free will, in yielding to the temptations which he might have
resisted." The sin of Adam " is imputed unto us,
and so the punishment must needs follow upon it."1
He reasons in the usual manner in
Theology of
regard to this imputation. " We were Thomas
in Adam, as the members are in the    hepad.
head, - as children in his loins, - as debtors in
their surety, as branches in their roots: it being
just that, as, if he standing, all had stood by imputation of his righteousness, - so, he falling, all
should fall by imputation of his sin." So he declares that " every man living is born guilty of
Adam's sin." 2 "The justice and equity is this: —
All our estates were contained in that ship."
1 Works, vol. i. 335-351.  2 Ibid., 24.




294 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


"We were all in Adam, as a whole country is in
a Parliament man, and though we made no agreement to have Adam stand for us, yet the Lord
made it for us."
Passing next to Redemption, he tells us that,
"It is the satisfaction made, or the price paid to
the justice of God, for the life and deliverance of
man out of the captivity of sin, Satan, and death,
by a Redeemer, according to a covenant made
between Him and the Father."   So it came to
pass that " Christ stood in the room of all them
whom mercy decreed to save."  "Justification is
the gracious act of God, whereby, for the satisfaction of Christ, apprehended by faith, and imputed
to the faithful, He absolves them from the guilt and
condemnation of all sin, and accepts them, as
perfectly righteous, to eternal life." " Faith is
the first act of our spiritual life, whereby, the soul,
believing God, believeth in Him, and thus resteth,
as in the only author and principle of life."' In
this passage he teaches that faith is an act of the
believer. So he taught that the sinner is free in
his rejection of Christ. "The cause of this ruin,"
he says, "is from  themselves."  As a practical
preacher, Shepard found it important to teach
this truth with great earnestness.  It is very plain,
that those old Calvinistic preachers tried to develop
a sense of freedom and of responsibility among
those to whom they were preaching.
1 Sum of the Christian Religion.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN FATHERS. 295


VII.
THE Orthodox Evangelist, by John Norton, of
Ipswich, is one of the oldest elaborate theological works of the New England divines. It was
published in London, in I654.    The original
edition contains three hundred and
The Orthodox
fifty-five pages, and was written for Evangelist, by
the use of thoughtful laymen in the John on.
Puritan churches. The author was a preacher
and pastor, as well as a well-read theologian.
After a very subtle discussion of the essence of
God, and of His attributes, he proceeds to His
eternal decrees.
" The decree of God," he says, " is God's one,
eternal, free, constant act, absolutely determining
the infallible being of whatever is, besides Himself, unto the praise of His own glory."  He
says, with Calvin: "God willeth by one single
act. With Him there is nothing past, - nothing
to come, but all is present. Whatever He thinks,
He always has thought, and always doth, and will
think. There can no more be a new thought,
or purpose, than a new God."' "The decree of
God is the antecedent of sin, but it is not the
cause of sin."  " God is free from any motive
besides His own will."    "God is essentially
1 Orthodox Evangelist, 51, 52.




296 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


good: - He is goodness itself." "All goodness
cometh from  Him."  " God is a full fountain;
willing to communicate of His goodness, as the
sun communicates of its light."l " The will of
God is the rule of justice between Him and His
creatures.  The holiness of God is conformity
unto Himself."2  "The justice of God leads
Him to render unto the reasonable creature
what is due thereunto, according to His word,
whether by way of grace, or punishment."
In respect to man, he says: "The liberty of
man, though subordinate to God's decree, freely
willeth the very same thing, and no other, than
that which it would have willed, had there been
no decree.  Man acts as freely as if there were
no decree. Liberty is the effect of the decree; so
far is the decree from being a hindrance to
liberty."  In the same connection, he says:
"All who hear the gospel, are equally bound to
believe.  How can God    command those to
believe, whom He hath decreed that they shall
not believe?  " Hope is grounded upon God's
revealed will, not upon the decree that is unrevealed." " Every person that heareth the gospel
is equally capable of believing. We are to look
upon all those living under the gospel as elected,
in the judgement of charity. It is the duty of
1 Orthodox Evangelist, 12.  8 Ibid., 76.
2 Ibid., I6.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN FATFIERS. 297


every one to believe."' " It is a sin for any to
conclude in this life that he is among the
reprobate."
He agrees with the other Calvinists of his time
in respect to the fall of man, and the consequences
of the fall. " Adam, being a public person, his
posterity, in a seminal respect, was contained in
his loins, and so sinned in him sinning."  " Adam
might not have sinned; and yet, it could not be but
that Adam should sin.  Both of these are true."2
"Necessity and liberty consist together."  " God
imputes the guilt of his sin to all his posterity."
"Original sin is propagated in the soul by reason
of the sin of Adam."3 "The soul contracts sin,
by its connection with the body, as when one falls
into the dirt, he is defiled, and besmeared." " God,
whiles He creates souls, doth deprive them of
original righteousness."4
And yet he teaches that " the Parable of the
Prodigal Son's return unto his father's house is
proposed as the pattern of the sinner's being
brought home unto Jesus Christ. The younger
son was sensible of his lost condition before he
was found." 5 Still, " the elect's seeking God, is
the effect of God's seeking them. Our seeking
before faith is the effect of the common work of
the Spirit: our seeking after faith is the effect of
1 Orthodox Evangelist, 198-200.  2 Ibid., 74.
8 Ibid., 143.  4 Ibid., I40-144.  5 Ibid., I38.




298 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the saving work of the Spirit."l "The Arminians tax the Orthodox for asserting all acts before
faith to be sin; and they pretend that there is in
man, before regeneration, a hunger and thirst, after
righteousness, and a hatred of sin. They say that
to all such God giveth sufficient grace to believe.
But this is contrary to the Scripture." 2
"Saving faith is an impulse or motion of the
spirit of grace. It enables the soul to yield obediIrresistible  ence unto the commands of God."3
Grace.    " The soul is passive in vocation; that
is, in the infusion of the principle of life." 4 " The
manner of working of faith is irresistible, that
is, it prevaileth over all opposition." But there
are certain means of obtaining faith; such as
"God's love to men, and Christ's work for
sinners, and the invitations of the gospel." 
"Justification is a gracious act of God upon a
believer, whereby he doth freely discharge him
from sin, and accept him as righteous with the
righteousness of Christ, and acknowledge him
to have a right to eternal life. The efficient
cause of Justification is the good pleasure of
God."6
These citations are sufficient to show  the
method of this most logical of the early divines
of New England. Undoubtedly, he held firmly


1 Orthodox Evangelist, 159.    3 Ibid., 220.
2 Ibid., i66.                  4 Ibid., 257.


5 Ibid., 213, 214.
6 Ibid., 300.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATIEERS. 299


the system of John Calvin, in all its essential
points. And yet he sought constantly to guard
against the tendency of that system to a denial of
human freedom, and of personal responsibility.
He made much of the free love of God, and of
the motives of the Gospel. It is plain that his
methods of thinking as a logician were very often
modified by his moral instincts as a preacher.
A greater man than John Norton, was the
learned and accomplished   Thomas   Hooker,
whose moving eloquence in the pulpit was
equalled only by his statesmanship.  Hooker
was the author of a large number of religious
books, which contain altogether more than two
thousand pages. These were printed at various
times between I637 and I65I.  One
of them was printed in Amsterdam, thoasher,
the others in London.  We find in and Practical
Theologian.
these books the theology of Calvin,
concerning the decrees, the fall of man, original
sin, inability, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints. This theology, however, is
used in a practical way, and accommodated to
the exigencies of the preacher. There are hints
in these volumes of the distinction between
natural and moral ability, which President
Edwards brought out a hundred years later.
Hooker teaches that man is free, and therefore
fully responsible. He makes much of the abound



300 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ing love of God, and of the free and hearty offers
of divine grace.
His longest work    is entitled  "The Soul's
Vocation, or Effectual Calling to Christ," published in London in 1638, and contains six hundred and sixty-eight pages.  He says: -
"The offer of grace from God is free: the means of
grace are also free: grace must be free because there is
nothing in man to purchase it: and because he can do
nothing to merit it. The saints should therefore magnify the mercy of God. The wicked, that want this
mercy, should take encouragement, and seek after this
mercy, seeing it is free.  Those burdened under their
sins should hope for mercy from the freeness of it. The
soul must be willing to recieve Christ and grace before
it will have Christ and grace." 1
"The will is the natural power or faculty wherewith
every one is endowed to will." "The will is the hand of
the soul.  But the hand must turn towards the object,
The Saint's  and open itself before it can grasp its object.
Vocation.  So a man must turn his will towards an object and open itself. The hand of the soul must be open,
before it can close with and fasten upon a thing. When
the soul opens the hand to catch at grace, and lay hold
thereupon, then it wills to receive grace.  So, when we
are unwilling to receive a thing, we turn away our hearts
from the thing.  When the soul is unwilling to receive
anything, it shuts itself against that thing, and will by
no means receive it." 2  "Whosoever in truth doth will
to have Christ, shall receive him."3
1 The Soul's Vocation, 1-23.
2 Ibid., 31.         8 Ibid., 54.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN FA THERS. 301


" No man, of himself, by nature, can will to receive
Christ. A natural man hath no power to receive Christ,
as we learn from I Cor. ii. I4. The natural man is unwilling to be wrought upon, that he may be made capable to receive the grace of God."1  " While life is
continued, and the means of grace afforded to a people,
that is the season wherein God meaneth to lead the soul
to recieve life and salvation." 2
This passage is followed by a most earnest and
tender appeal to the hearers to give themselves
up at once to the Saviour, who is even now waiting for their acceptance.
In another volume, Hooker says —
"Every man in his natural state is fastened and settled
in sinne and corruption.  They are in slavery to sinne.
But God draws the hearts of sinners, first, by giving them
light; then by the manifesting of His mercy, namely,
by his readiness to receive sinners, by his calls and entreaties to them to come, by his patience in waiting for
them. He also draws them by their own consciences,
which warn them of their sinne, and bear witness against
it. More than all, he draws them by his Spirit." 3
In " The Saints Dignitie and Dutie" we read:"Christ gave himself to incarnation that he might be
the ransom of the guilty. He suffered the wrath of God.
He made a covenant with the Father, and He gave a
perfect price, for the full payment of whatever is due to
God for all those for whom He paid it."
1 The Soul's Vocation, 85.    2 Ibid., I6o.
3 The Unbelievers Preparing for Christ, 44.




302 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEIW ENGLAND.


Without further quotation, it is but just to
say that Hooker sets forth the truth with great
spiritual discrimination, great tenderness, and
fidelity, and with a sweet reasonableness, which
must have commended the Gospel to the people
to whom the sermons contained in these volumes
were preached.
VIII.
WE pass over half a century, to the time of
President Willard. There had been a decline in
the religious spirit of the people during that
period. The prevalent Calvinism was stated in
harsher and more dogmatic forms.     Willard's
Body of Divinity was begun in the latter part
of the seventeenth century. It was the earliest
folio on theology published in this country, and
the largest book that had been published on any
subject.' It is in the form  of lectures on the
Shorter Catechism. It is valuable as a statement,
by an able man, of the theological system which
had prevailed for half a century before President
Edwards set forth his Improvements in theology.
President Willard expounded very clearly the
external and internal evidence of the divine
authority of the Bible. He taught the doctrine of
1 A Compleat Body of Divinity, by the Reverend and Learned
Samuel Willard, late Pastor of the South Church in Boston, and
Vice-President of Harvard College. 914 pages. Boston, I726.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 303


verbal inspiration. The justice of God, he says,
is His "inclination to render to all their due
according to rule."1 The benignity of God is
"God willing bountifully to bestow the good
things of this life upon sinners." 2 "' Election is an
act of grace. Redemption is an act of pure grace."
Election is absolute, not hypothetical.  The subjects of election are a definite number of men.
"There are some men to whom God doth not
afford the means and offices of Salvation, and they
must needs perish."  "Adam stood not as a private, but a public person.  He was the representative, and the common stock of all AdamtheRoct
mankind. All men were in him. If oftheRace.
they were in him, and sinned in him, how can
they be other than sinners?  Adam sinned and
all sinned in him." 3
"God is under no obligation to redeem men
before His good pleasure." 4 " God's love of certain persons is not the cause of their election, nor
is His hatred of others the cause of their reprobation."  The last end of God's election is the
manifestation and exaltation of the glory of His
grace." " Reprobation is the predestination of a
definite number of men for the manifestation of
the glory of God's revenging justice in them."5
But " reprobation doth not take away the liberty
1 Body of Divinity, 75.     2 Ibid., 84.
3 Ibid., I96-I97.  Ibid., 25I.  5 Ibid., 262-264.




304 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


of the creature.  God made no man on purpose
to damn him."
He gives abundant space to the subject of Redemption. The humanity of Christ, he says,
"was a compleat undivided human
Christ the
Redeemerof  nature."  "The body of Christ had its
natural origin from his mother."' The
satisfaction by which Christ made reconciliation
was given to the justice of God. He suffered the
penalty for our sin. Christ died for the elect.
" The covenant of redemption must last as long
as there are any of God's elect to be born."
" Christ died for a select company that was known
to him, by name, from eternity." 2
" In his natural state, no man hath any seed of
faith in him.  His only capacity is a capacity to
receive faith."  "The cause of effectual calling is
the everlasting love of God."  The
Spirit of God deals with the understanding and the will. He changes the will. The
ability is from  God.  We are persuaded and
enabled to embrace Christ.  The terms are presented, and the sinner is made willing.3  " There
is a miserable impotency and malignity of will
with respect to holy choices."  The will remains
a will, however. It has not lost its natural power.
It cannot be forced.  But a divine change is
I Body of Divinity, 293-298.  8 Ibid., 428-436.
2 Ibid., 331-383.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHIERS. 305


necessary.  The new principle of saving grace in
the will and the affections is from God. " We are
passive in conversion," and yet " there is an active
as well as a passive conversion."  "The man is
dead. When the Spirit has given him life, then he
is active in conversion." "Justification is immutable: therefore a justified person can never again
come under a Law-guilt." "In sanctification there
is a new power or ability put into the man." "A
natural man can contribute nothing to his own
conversion." 
These quotations are perhaps enough to give a
correct impression of this theology of the later
Puritan age. The difference between this and
the teachings of the earlier divines like Hooker
and Norton is that President Willard places the
emphasis upon the divine work in our salvation,
so as to leave little room for the use of motives
addressed to free and responsible beings, while
Hooker and Norton are chiefly concerned to develop a sense of responsibility and of obligation.
Theirs was a theology that could be preached.
IX.
THE theological views of our forefathers were
influenced by their experiences in their new homes,
quite as much as by the writings of their divines.
1 Body of Divinity, 449-505.
20




306 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


If some of their opinions were severe, there was,
after all, a fountain of gentleness and kindness in
the heart of the typical Puritan.
One of the remarkable episodes in New England history relates to the Half-Way Covenant,
which was approved by the Synod of I662, and
which was in use for more than a hundred years.
The Puritans seem to have adopted this, partly on
account of their interest in their children and
grandchildren, who were growing up in the Colonies which they had planted in the wilderness.
It was the easier for them to make this departure
from the method of the first generation of Colonists, because the Puritans were never rigid
Separatists. There was a good deal of truth in
the remark of Roger Williams, that the " Churches
of the Bay Colony were unseparated Churches."
Although they followed the pattern of the Church
in Plymouth in the organization of their
The Half-Way
Covenant.  Churches, they still regarded the Church
of England as their " Dear Mother;"
and they had not forgotten its methods of baptism,
and confirmation, and hereditary membership.
The early Puritans had made it a cardinal doctrine that none should be members of the Church
except those who gave evidence that they had
been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. They
believed that the corruptions of the Church of
England were due to the easy terms on which




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN F.ATHERS. 307


persons had been admitted to the Lord's Table.
They attempted to limit the membership in their
new churches to those who were able to relate an
experience of a work of grace in their souls. And
yet they desired, in some way, to bring their infant
children into some connection with the Church.
" We find in Scripture," they said, " that the Lord
is very tender of His grace, that He delighteth to
manifest and magnifie the riches of it, and that He
cannot endure any straining or eclipsing thereof,
which is both dishonorable unto God, and injurious unto men. And in special, He is large in
the Grace of His Covenant, which He maketh
with His visible Church and people, and tender of
having the same straitned.   Hence, when He
takes any into Covenant with Himself, He will
not only be their God, but the God of their seed
after them in their generations.... Hence, we
dare not, with the Anti-pmdobaptist, exclude the
infant children of the faithful from the covenant,
or from membership in the visible church, and consequently, not from Baptism, the seal thereof." 
And so they held, that the children of believers
are included with their parents, and are entitled
to all church privileges of which infants are capable.  Among    these privileges was baptism.2
1 Preface to the Result of the Synod of I662, Walker's Creeds
and Platforms, 303. See also Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. 238.
2 Mather on Church Government, 21-22.




308 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


They baptized their children, because these children were already members of the Church, by
reason of the covenant into which their parents
had entered. The older divines - Cotton, Davenport, Hooker, and Richard Mather - held, in the
earlier years, that none but children of " visible
saints" should be baptized. But these baptized
children constituted a peculiar class in the Puritan
churches. They were members, but not in full
Communion. Their membership brought to them
certain blessings of the covenant. They were
hereditary members, and so under the watch and
care of the Church. But they were not permitted
to come to the Lord's Table, or to vote in the
meetings of the Church until they should profess
their assent to the doctrines of the Church, and
accept its covenant, and give satisfactory evidence
that they were born of the Spirit.
Unfortunately, as we shall presently see, the
number of those in the Puritan churches who
were in full communion was not large. For
some reason, the means of grace were not as fruitful as had been expected. l So that, in the second
and third generations, there was a large number
of parents, who were not in "full communion"
with the churches. Most of these parents were
accounted as members of the churches, because
they had been baptized; but they were not communicants. Should they be permitted to present




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS.  309


their children for baptism, on the strength of their
half-way membership?  According to the earlier
practice they were not permitted to do so. But
it was found that this practice was leaving the
majority of the children without baptism.
This matter was earnestly debated in Massachusetts and Connecticut for many years. The
tide was turning, and some of the older ministers
began to relax the strictness of their views. In
1656, the General Court of Massachusetts summoned a council of ministers, who were designated by name, to meet, with such others as any
of the " Confederated Colonies " should send, to
clear up the question. The Council met in 1657,
in Boston, and decided that all members of the
Church had the right to present their children for
baptism, though some of them had not the right
to come to the Lord's Table.
This decision of the Council, or Assembly, was
not accepted as decisive. Some of the leading
men, like President Chauncy in Massachusetts,
and Mr. Davenport in Connecticut, objected to it,
as an abandonment of the principle of a converted
Church membership. Finally, the General Court
of Massachusetts called a proper Synod, composed
of all the ministers and the representa- TheSynod
tives of all the churches in the Colony. of 1662.
This Synod met in Boston, the second Tuesday
in March, I662.   It contained about seventy




310 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


members, one-third of them  ministers.  The
principal question given to them was this: Who
are the SubjecIs of Baplism?
After some weeks of consideration and debate,
the Synod, by a vote of seven to one, decided in
favor of the Half-Way Covenant. They held that
parents who had been baptized in infancy, who
were not scandalous in life, and who had solemnly
owned the covenant before the Church, wherein
they gave themselves and their children to the
Lord, might present their children for baptism.
This was called the Half-Way Covenant, because these parents were in covenant with the
Church, not as "visible saints," who had been
renewed by the Holy Spirit, and who were prepared to come to the Lord's Table, but only as
baptized persons who had an intellectual belief in
the truth, and who were living moral lives. These
parents were in the Church on account of the faith
of their parents, at one remove; and their children
were in the Church on account of the faith of their
grandparents, at two removes.
The decision of the Synod added intensity to
the discussions among the people. A multitude
Dissent from f pamphlets followed, in which one can
Dissent from
the Views of still read the close and earnest discussions of two hundred and thirty years
ago. There were Synodists and Anti-synodists. A
decided majority of the ministers favored the Half



RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN ZAATHERS. 311


Way Covenant. A large number of the people
never accepted it. Some of the most learned and
able ministers warned the people that the new
method would open the doors of the churches to the
unworthy, and that it would tend to throw into the
shade the work of the Spirit in regeneration.
The need of a change of heart would not be felt
by those who had not only been admitted to membership in the Church, but who had participated
in some of its most sacred rites.1
President Chauncy, of Harvard, and John
Davenport, of New Haven, led the opposition to
the new system, while Wilson and Norton and
Mather, among the older ministers, and a large
number of the younger ministers were its earnest
advocates. Cotton Mather tells us that although
the pastors generally favored it, yet in many of
the churches a number of the brethren were so
decided in their opposition that it was not
practicable to follow the recommendations of the
Synod. The First Church in Boston, as soon as
there was a vacancy in the pastorate, called Mr.
Davenport to be their minister on account of his
opposition to the Half-Way Covenant. This call
led to a division of the church, and the formation
of what is now the Old South Church.2  For
some years these two churches did not commune
1 Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. 259-266.
2 Ibid., 266.




3I2 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


with each other. But those who accepted the
new methods were the more numerous party,
and the tendency was for those who had been
opposed to them to fall in with the common
practice. A few churches, however, never accepted the laxer method.
As time went on, the Half-Way Covenant
was itself modified.  In the beginning, only
those who had themselves received baptism, were
permitted to own the covenant, and to present
their children for baptism. In the time of Cotton
Mather, any one who was free from scandalous
sins, and from open impiety, could be baptized.'
"Owning the Covenant" was at first a very
solemn profession of a purpose to lead a Christian
life. Before the close of the century, however,
owning the covenant, and presenting the children
for baptism, had become mere forms, which were
supposed to have a certain efficacy of their own.
In fact, the rites and sacraments of the Puritan
churches came to be regarded in the earlier years
of the eighteenth century as means of salvation.
So the grand-children of the early Puritans approached very nearly the practices which their forefathers had condemned in the Church of England.
As the seventeenth century closed, there was
a low type of piety in the churches. W\ith this
came, on the one side, a hardening of the
1 Mather's Ratio Discipline, 80.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS.  313


doctrines which were preached in the pulpits,
and on the other side, a departure from those
doctrines, and the adoption of what was then
called Arminianism.  The necessity of a work
of the Spirit to renew and sanctify the heart was
no longer insisted on. Revivals of religion were
few. There was a tendency to preach morality,
instead of to insist upon a really spiritual experience. The venerable Stoddard of Northampton
published a sermon, in I707, in which he maintained that "the Lord's Supper is a converting ordinance, and that sanctification is not a
necessary qualification to partaking of the Lord's
Supper."1 These views were accepted in many
churches. Discipline was much neglected, and
immorality was tolerated.  The difference between the Church and the world was fast passing away. It was not until the Great Awakening, in the time of Edwards, and of Whitefield,
that the churches came back to the earlier views
in regard to the qualifications for membership in
the Church. There were a number of churches
that refused to hear Whitefield, or to enter into
the new religious movement. These churches
held to a dry and lifeless orthodoxy, and placed
great reliance upon forms and religious rites.
New England Unitarianism, which was developed
toward the close of the eighteenth century, and
1 The Great Awakening, Joseph Tracy, 4.




314 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the beginning of the nineteenth, was the result of
a departure from the older religious views, which
began in the times of the Half-Way Covenant.
The preaching which led to the great revival
gave special emphasis to the work of the Holy
Spirit in the change which is called conversion.
It led to a sharp discrimination between the
Church and the world.    The Half-Way Covenant was gradually laid aside, and with it the theory of hereditary Church membership. The new
method of stating the doctrines of grace, which
was set forth by President Edwards, led to a
new style of preaching, which gave prominence
to the freedom and responsibility of man. This
method of preaching prepared the way for the
great revivals of religion which marked the close
of the last century and the earlier years of the
present century.   From  those revivals have
sprung the great missionary movements of the
nineteenth century, and the new and more enterprising spirit in the churches of all denominations,
in our times.l
X.
THE discussion of the influence of the Synod
of 1662 has led us far beyond the period to which
1 Edwards' Qualifications for Full Communion. Mather's Magnalia, vol. ii. 279. Walker's Creeds and Platforms, 280-29o.
Tracy's Great Awakening, I-40.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATIIERS. 315


that Synod belonged.   But there was another
Synod which had an influence upon the religious
views of the fathers of New England, which should
have a place in this section.
This was the Reforming Synod of I679,
which met in Boston, September ioth, of that
year, at the call of the General Court. It was
made up of the Elders and Messengers of the
churches of the Colony.  It was called to consider two questions: first, " What are the evils
that have provoked the Lord to bring His
judgments upon New England? second, What
is to be done that so these evils may be reformed? " The people had been suffering from
the great Indian wars, and from extensive conflagrations, from shipwrecks, and from the pestilence. They believed that these disasters had
come in God's providence, in consequence of
their sins; and they set themselves to inquire,
with fasting and prayer, for the causes of these
great disasters. After mature deliberation the
Synod prepared a statement of the.heReforming
evils that were common in the Colony, Synodof 1679.
and presented it to the General Court. This
careful official document is preserved in Mather's
Magnalia, and in other works; and it casts a
flood of light upon the religious condition of
Massachusetts at the end of the first half-century.
I quote only the leading statements, each of




316 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


which is supported, in the original paper, by a
number of particulars. They say:1 "There has
been a great and visible decay of the power of
Godliness amongst many Professors in these
churches: communion with God, in His ways of
worship, especially in secret, is much neglected;"
the sins of " pride," " of contention," and of
"extravagance," abound; "servants   and  the
poorer sort of people are guilty in this matter,"
they "goe above their estates and degrees;"
"church fellowship is greatly neglected; the
rising generation are not mindful of that which
their Baptism doth engage them unto;" "Profanity abounds;" "there is much irreverent behavior in the solemn worship of God." There is
also, " much Sabbath breaking;" "traveling on
the Lord's day is common." " Family worship
is much neglected;" "the Scriptures are not
daily read, that so the word of Christ might dwell
richly with them."  " Law-suits are common,
brother going to law with brother."  "There is
much intemperance. That shameful iniquity of
sinfull drinking is become too general a Provocation, Dayes of Training, and other publick
Solemnityes have been much abused in this respect." " Indians have been debauched, by those
who call themselves Christians, who have put
1 Mather's Magnalia, Hartford ed. 820, vol. ii. 273. Williston
Walker's Creeds and Platforms, 426-436.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN FATHERS. 317


their bottles to them and made them drunk
also."  "Instead of converting the Heathen"
these people have "taught them    wickedness
which before they were not guilty of." "Church
members frequent publick Houses," and " there
misspend precious time, unto the dishonor of the
Gospel."  " These are hainous breaches of the
Seventh Commandment.     Temptations thereto
are become too common."   There is " unlawful
gaming," "and an abundance of Idleness," there
are " mixed Dancings;" "immodest apparel is
put on; " "there is a want of truth amongst men:
promise breaking is a common sin, for which
New England doth stand ill abroad in the world."
There is also an " Inordinate affection to the
world." "Farms and merchandisings have been
preferred before the things of God."  " Religion
is made subordinate unto worldly interests."
"Some traders sell their goods at excessive Rates."
Men are "under the prevailing power of a
worldly spirit,"  "There hath been much opposition to the work of Reformation." " Sin and
sinners have  many Advocates."   "A   public
spirit is greatly wanting in the most of men."
"All seek their own; not the things of Jesus
Christ." "Hence, schools of learning, and other
publick concerns are in a languishing state,"
"Christ is not prized and embraced in all his
offices and ordinances as ought to be." Last of




31I8 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
all, " there is great unfruitfulness under the
means of grace."
After these statements of the sins which were
most common in New England at that time,
the Synod made an earnest appeal to the good
people to seek to bring about a reformation.
They urged those in official positions, first of all
to take the lead in a reform of manners. They
advised that none be admitted to the " Lord's
Supper without making a personal and publick
profession of their Faith and Repentance, either
orally, or in some other way, - to the satisfaction
of the Church."  They also urged the duty of
attending to discipline in the churches; of seeking to "provide a full supply of officers in the
churches;" of providing "for the maintenance
of ministers;" of " due care and faithfulness with
respect unto the establishment and execution of
wholesome laws; especially laws to regulate
Publick Houses,- to regulate the sale of strong
drink; and to punish vice and crime."
They also recommended solemn and explicit
renewal of the Covenant in the churches, the
confession of sin, and a turning unto the ways of
the Lord. The people should " cry mightily unto
God, that He would be pleased to rain down
Righteousness" upon them.
This appeal of the Synod was heartily seconded
by the General Court. The laws against intem



RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATlHERS  3T9


perance, and Sabbath breaking, and various forms
of vice were more strictly enforced. The churches
entered into the work of reformation with great
earnestness.  Days of fasting and prayer were
appointed; there was a solemn renewing of the
covenant in many places; the ministers preached
frequently, not only on the Lord's-days, but on
week days; and, Cotton Mather tells us: " Many
thousands will testifie that they never saw the
special presence of God more notably discovered,
than in the solemnities of those opportunities."
XI.
THE same Synod met again, by adjournment,
May 12, i68o, to propose a Confession of Faith.
The Boston Synod of 1648 had ex- 
Adoption of the
pressed a hearty assent to the Westmin- Savoy Confesster Confession, "for the substance Si'
thereof."  But the Congregationalists of England
determined to have a Confession of their own.
Accordingly, a council, or Synod, met at the
Savoy, in London, September 29, I658, composed
of representatives of one hundred and twenty
churches. The number of members was about
two hundred.   The session lasted two weeks.
The Synod amended the Confession of the Westminster Assembly in a number of respects, with1 Cotton Mather, Magnalia, vol. ii. 283, edition of I820.




320 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


out changing, however, its strong Calvinistic statements; and then adopted the amended Confession
unanimously, October 12, I658. The phraseology
was improved in a number of sections. A new
chapter was added concerning "the Gospel, and
the extent of the Grace thereof," which is intensely
Calvinistic. In chapter twenty-four, they asserted
the principle of toleration in minor matters, for
those who do not disturb others in their way of
worship. They omitted such parts of the older
Confession as set forth the Presbyterian form of
Church government; and they added thirty sections relating to Church order, according to the
Congregational way.
When the Boston Synod came together, in 168o,
for its second session, it proceeded at once to act
upon the report of a committee, chosen at its first
session, to draw up a Confession of Faith. This
committee recommended the adoption of the
Savoy Confession, with slight and unimportant
amendments. The Synod went carefully through
the Confession, adopted the amendments proposed,
and then adopted the Confession. The General
Court, the next month, approved of this action of
the Synod, and ordered that the Confession, with
the Platform of I648, "be printed for the benefit
of these churches in present, and after times."'
This Confession continued to be the standard of
1 Mass. Records, vol. v. 287.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN FATHERS. 321
the Congregational churches for almost two hundred years. The National Council of I865 -which represented not merely the churches of
the Colony of Massachusetts, but the Congregational churches of the United States  declared
that it embodied substantially the faith of those
churches.1  There have been a number of periods
since i680, when the Congregational churches
have taken up certain improvements upon the
older statements of Calvinism, and the New England theology of to-day is much broader than that
of the older Confessions; and yet, the Savoy
Confession is the only extended and elaborate
Confession of Faith which they have ever adopted.
The Connecticut Synod, which met at Saybrook,
September 9, 1708, also adopted the Savoy Confession, at the same time that they adopted the
Saybrook Platform.
XII.
IN closing this statement of the religious opinions of the fathers of New England, it is important to point out the influence of this system of
religious teaching upon the people.
These doctrines of the older Calvinism were
practically the only doctrines that were preached
in New England for about a hundred years.
1 National Congregational Council, i865, 361.




322 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


They had full sway among a people who were
isolated from the great currents of thought in the
larger world. In the results of that teaching, we
Resultsof the have an indication of what that type
reachingof  of theology is likely to effect.  In
Calvinism.  no other part of the world, except possibly in Scotland, has High Calvinism been given
so clear a field in which to develop its full
influence.
It should be said, in the first place, that the
religious teachings of the early preachers of New
England did develop a remarkable type of religious character. We have abundant evidence to
show what that type was. There was a high
ethical standard, for one thing. The religious
men of that time were honest men. Their lives
were pure. They brought up their children to
fear God, and keep His commandments. They
were also devout men. They magnified, above
all other things, their personal relations with a
personal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
They believed that they were the elect of God, -
the objects of His peculiar care, and destined to
an eternal inheritance in heaven. So they lived
as pilgrims and strangers on the earth. Their
lives were directed by the Providence of God, and
they were working out His great plans. No other
people have had more reverence for the Bible, or
the Sabbath, or the Church, with its ordinances.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FA THERS. 323


They were guided by the highest motives. They
had the world under their feet. Their training
made them good soldiers of Jesus Christ. They
had the spirit of the Scottish Covenanters.
Their theological views tended to make them
the defenders of liberty. They laid the foundations of the Republic. Their churches were
democratic.  So were their towns.
Results of the
So were the Colonies, as far as the Calvinistic
people were permitted to frame their Training.
government. And when George the Third, far on
in the eighteenth century, attempted to deprive
the English Colonists of their rights as Englishmen, the descendants of these Calvinistic Puritans
took the lead in the Revolution which made us a
free nation.
Our fathers, also, transmitted to their descendants a vigorous type of manhood, and that type
has been perpetuated, among the widely scattered
sons of the Puritans, for two centuries and a half.
They have been men of convictions, - with the
courage of their convictions, — the defenders of
liberty, and the champions of the oppressed. It
is not too much to claim that this Calvinistic
training-like iron in the blood-gave tone
and quality to the New England character.




324 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


XIII.
So much may be justly claimed for the results
of the religious training in the early times in
New England.   But there were other results of
that training which were not so desirable.  That
which religion gained in intensity in those times,
it lost in extension.  The religious teaching and
discipline, which made a small number eminent
in piety, left the largest part of the people outside
the churches. The first generation of Colonists
were a selected class.  God had sifted them out
from the mass of their countrymen, that they
might be the seed for a new Christian nation.
They were men of eminent piety. They were
devout men. They walked humbly before God.
small umber Religious ideas and religious motives
the umtsr   guided their plans of life.  But it was
Churches  not so with the second generation.
The majority of the sons of the Puritans never
became communicants in their churches.  Lechford says, that at the time of his visit, in I641,
only a quarter of the people were members of the
churches.1  As none could become voters in the
Colony of Massachusetts who were not communicants, it was a subject of complaint, at all periods
of its history, that only a minority of the male
1 Lechford's Plain Dealing, 59.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN PATHERS. 325


adults could have any share in the government.
Mr. Palfrey states, as the result of careful investigation, that, in I670, the number of freemen
in Massachusetts was between ten and twelve
hundred.  That was equal to a quarter or a fifth
part of the adult males in the Colony.' It is true
that some male members of the churches did not
become freemen; but the number of such was
never large. So that it appears to be true that
only about a quarter of the grown men in the
Colony were communicants in the churches.
This fact was frequently referred to in the
political discussions of those times. This large
number of disfranchised people comSmall Number
plained of the injustice that was done of embersin
the Churches.
them. From time to time concessions
were made to their demands.2 These facts show
very plainly that a large proportion of grown
people were outside the churches. These noncommunicants were the children of the Puritans.
Very few came into the Colony from Europe
after 1642. These were the very persons who,
under favorable conditions, would have been most
likely to come into the churches. Why was it
that the children of the Puritans were not prepared to become members of the churches?
There was something pathetic in the complaints
1 Palfrey's New England, vol. iii. 41; vol ii. 8, note.
2 Pages I68-I70 of this volume.




326 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


which the fathers were continually making of " the
great unfruitfulness under the means of grace."
We have seen that it was the consciousness of
this "unfruitfulness" that led to the Half-Way
Covenant.  They hoped to prepare their sons
and daughters for "full communion," by admitting them to some of the privileges of the Church.
But this expedient failed. Those who came into
the churches were not benefited, unless there had
been a work of God's Spirit in their souls.
If we compare the "fruitfulness under the
means of grace," in the first century of our history, with that in the present century, we shall
find that we have at present one in five of the
people of the United States, a communicant in
some one of the Protestant churches. This is,
not one in five of the adults, but one in five of
all who are counted when the census is taken;
persons of all ages, from infancy upwards, including a great many millions of people of
foreign birth and training, and with alien languages.  But the Puritans had a population of
pure English blood, and of Puritan training.
XIV.
ANOTHER very significant fact relating to the
Puritan churches in the first century is this:
they did not succeed in maintaining a vigorous




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 327


spiritual life among  Christians.  There  were
times when the religious spirit rose very high.
But there were also times of long-continued
declension, when it seemed to good men that
"the glory was departing from New England."
The election  sermons preached   in Religious
Massachusetts in i668, I669, and I670, theuritan
all speak of such a declension at the Churches
time of the Reforming Synod.' The statement
of Thomas Prince is that "a little after I66o there
began to appear a Decay: And this increased to
I67o, when it grew very visible and threatening,
and was generally complained of and bewailed
bitterly by the Pious among them: And yet
much more to i68o, when but few of the first
generation remained."2  These statements are
confirmed by the Result of the Synod of 1679.
The earnest religious services -which followed the
Reforming Synod were of use in checking the
downward tendency, and yet, the religious life in
New England between I68o and 1735 was very
far below the expectations of the fathers. Revivals
of religion were few.  Dissensions arose in the
churches which led, in some instances, to divisions. The fanaticism and cruelty which attended
the proceedings relating to witchcraft were partly
1 Election Sermons, by Mr. Stoughton, I668, Mr. Thomas Walley, I669, Mr. Samuel Danforth, I670.
2 Christian History of New England, vol. i. 94, Boston, I743.




328 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the result of the decay in the religious life of
New England. There was a movement, toward
the end of the sixteenth century, in Massachusetts,
to strengthen the system of Church government,
in the hope that by this means the churches might
be protected from false doctrines, and prepared to
enforce Church discipline. This movement, which
failed in Massachusetts, was successful in Connecticut, and led to the adoption of the Saybrook
Platform in I708.
Still the process of declension went on.  The
statements which are made in the works of President Edwards, and in the journals of Mr. Whitefield, and the writings of others who had a leading
part in the Great Awakening show that the condition of the churches was even worse than it had
been at the time of the Reforming Synod.l
It appears further, from the writings of the
younger Edwards, that the High Calvinism which
was preached here so long, finally lost its hold
upon the people, in consequence of the spread
of what was called in those times Arminianism.
There is abundant evidence that during the first
third of the eighteenth century, a large number of
the pastors became Arminians. Dr. Edwards
says, " The Calvinists were nearly driven out of
the field by the Arminians, Pelagians, and Socin1 Dwight's Life of Edwards, vol. i. I20. Journals of Whitefield.
Life and Times of Whitefield. Tracy's Great Awakening.




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE PURITAN FATHERS. 329


ians.  The Calvinists appealed to Scripture," he
adds, "in support of their peculiar tenets, but the
sense in which they interpreted the sacred writings was inconsistent with human liberty, moral
agency, accountableness, praise, and blame.  It
was inconsistent with all command and
Testimony of
exhortation, with all reward and punish- the Younger
Edwards.
ment. The Calvinists themselves began  war
to be ashamed of their own cause, and to give it
up, so far at least, as it relates to liberty and
necessity." I
" But Mr. Edwards," he continues, " put an end
to this seeming triumph of theirs."  He points
out the " Improvements in Theology" which his
father had introduced, such as "the difference
between natural and moral necessity, and inability; " the nature of true holiness; the origin of
evil; the doctrine of Atonement; of imputation;
and of regeneration. President Edwards "proved
that the Atonement does not consist in the payment of a debt," but that the suffering of Christ
establishes " the authority of the divine law," and
" supports the divine government," so that " God
without the prostration of His authority and
government can pardon and save those who
believe."
1 Works of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, vol. i. 480-48r. See also the
statements in The Case of Robert Breck in this volume, 335-360.




330 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


XV.
IT is quite possible that some of these strong
statements need to be modified.  The estimate
of the older theology which Dr. Edwards sets
forth was doubtless influenced by his own decided
leanings toward the new divinity which the elder
Edwards had done so much to recommend. But
after making all necessary allowances for the personal element in his statements, the evidence is
TheNewEng- conclusive that the extreme High Calland Theology. vinism of the earlier Puritan divines
had proved insufficient to meet the needs of the
later generations of New England people, and
that, too, under the most favorable conditions of
which we can readily conceive.  It failed to do
justice to the great truths concerning the Love of
God, in the Work of Redemption, and in the free
offers of salvation.  It also failed to present the
claims of God so as to develop the sense of responsibility, which commends the call of God to
every man's conscience.
The elder Edwards - our greatest theologian
thus far - was enabled to relieve that system of
some of its difficulties, so as to give to Consistent
Calvinism a new lease of life.  Out of these Improvements in Theology there grew a new
method of preaching. The great revivals of 1730




RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP THE PURITAN PATHERS. 331


to I750 were the results of this new method of
presenting the truth to men. Since the Edwardean period, there has been in the Puritan churches
of New England a modified Calvinism, which has
been called the New England Theology.  The
successors of Edwards - Hopkins, Smalley, the
younger Edwards, Emmons, and the othershave followed out his principles along two divergent lines. So that, whatever else may be said of
those theological views which have prevailed in
New England for the last century and a half, it
cannot be said that they have been entirely borrowed from others, or that they have been received
without original and thorough examination.  It
is safe to predict that the theology of the future,
among the Puritan churches of New England,
will be developed along the lines which were
marked out by President Edwards.








VII.
The Case of Reverend Robert Breck,
of Springfield.








The Case of Reverend Robert Breck,
of Springfield.
THE beginning of the second century in the
New England Colonies was a period of
transition.  Many of the best influences of the
earlier period were still vigorous.  The country
had lost the appearance of a newly settled region.
The population was already numerous; the people
were living in comfortable houses; their farms
were well-cultivated and productive. The people
had lost something of the provincial character.
They were already open to the influences from the
larger world beyond the sea. Some of the customs of the earlier years had been ThePeriod of
dropped. The meeting-houses were Tra=sitio.
larger and more comfortable. There had been a
great improvement in the style of sacred music.
There were choirs in many of the churches. The
practice of reading the Scriptures without an exposition had become common.   Marriages and
funerals were conducted by the ministers much
as they are now.




336 THE PURITAN2 IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


The Half-Way Covenant had brought many
changes into the churches. Those who desired
to become communicants were not scrutinized as
closely as they had been in the earlier times.
Yale College had been founded; and it was already
an important institution of learning in the new
country.  The churches of Connecticut had
adopted the stronger polity of the Saybrook Platform.  They were more conservative than those
of Massachusetts.  There had been a departure,
more or less general, from the older theology.
There was a conservative wing, and a liberal wing,
among the ministers. The term Arminian was
applied, as a term of reproach, to those who were
beginning to question the views of the older Calvinists.
The best way to study this period is to investigate some one of the controversies of the time,
important enough to have connections with a
large number of people, from different localities,
and of different callings in life.  Such a controversy was the one which arose in Springfield,
Massachusetts, in I734, and continued for two
years, in respect to the settlement of Robert Breck
as pastor of the church in that town; an event
which had a certain importance, in its time, for
the people of Springfield, but which interests us
mainly on account of the light it casts upon the
way of life of the people a century and a half ago.




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


337


I.
THE town of Springfield was then one hundred
years old.  There were about a thousand people
living within the present limits of that TheTownof
city.1  Mr. Breck was the fourth pastor Springfield.
of the church. The average length of the pastorate had been thirty years. The number of
members of the church was sixty-seven. The
valley of the Connecticut was already full of
thriving towns and villages. We read
0  C~-  ~ )  Prosperity of
in the pamphlets of that time of Long- the Connecticut
meadow, and Westfield, and Hadley, vaey.
Northampton, Hatfield, and Deerfield, among
other places in the vicinity. The Hampshire
Association of Ministers was a vigorous organization, made up of thirteen pastors, among whom
were Jonathan Edwards, of Northampton, Isaac
Chauncy, of Hadley, William Williams, of Hatfield, Stephen Williams, of Longmeadow, Samuel
Hopkins, of West Springfield, and Ebenezer
Devotion, of Suffield. This Association, though
organized for the mutual improvement of its
members, like similar bodies in our own time, was
accused of seeking to control the action of the
churches in the selection of their pastors. It was
alleged that some of these pastors were Presby1 Judge Morris' Historical Address.
22




338 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


terians, and that they took it for granted that an
Association had powers like those of a Presbytery.
Their theological views were, for the most part,
those of the earlier Puritans, which are moderately
stated in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
It was before the time of the " Improvements in
theology " set forth by President Edwards. But
even then, as we shall see, there was a difference
in theological opinion among the pastors, and a
still greater difference in their views of Christian
liberty. For the most part they were devoted to
their religious work. The years I734 and I735
were the years of the Great Awakening at Northampton; and Mr. Edwards was too fully absorbed
in his work at home to enter very fully into the
affairs of the church in Springfield.
II.
THE ministers and churches of Massachusetts
at that time were profoundly affected by the conhurch and  nection of the Church with the state.
state.    The laws of the Colozny of Massachusetts Bay had limited even the right of suffrage to
members of the church. The charter of the Province of Massachusetts, which was granted by
William and Mary, in I69g, extended the suffrage
to all male freeholders who possessed an estate
worth two pounds a year. This provision of the




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BREGCKA


339


charter opened the way for giving to those who
were not communicants a voice in the selection
of their ministers, and in the direction of the
pecuniary interests of the parish. All this tended
to liberalize the spirit of legislation. The General
Court of the Province never enacted a law for the
punishment of heresy by fine and banishment,
such as that under which William Pynchon had
been summoned to appear before the General
Court, in 1650, to answer for his book entitled
The Meritorious Price of our Redemption." 
Still, the legislation of the provincial period of
our history was designed to bring the Church
under the fostering care and protection of the
state. The basis of this legislation was a law
passed in I692, at the second session of the General Court, under the provincial charter, for the
settlement and support of ministers. 2 It requires
the inhabitants of each town to be constantly
provided with "an able, learned, and orthodox
minister, or ministers, of good conversation, to
dispense the word of God to them."  The minister was to be chosen by the church, "according to
the directions given in the Word of God."  The
inhabitants of the town or precinct " who usually
attend on the public worship of God," were to be
1 See page 203 of this volume.
2 These laws may be found in the Province Laws, vol. i. 62,1 02,
216, o6, 6,  97; and vol. ii. 58; vol. iii. 288.




340 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


called together to accept or reject the candidate
whom the church had chosen. If they accepted
him, he became the legal minister of the town or
precinct. If they rejected him, the church might
still refer the matter to a council of neighboring
churches, and if the council approved the choice
of the church, the minister, accepting the call, 1
and duly installed, became the legal pastor, and
was entitled to his salary. The amount both of
the " settlement " and of the " maintenance " of
the minister was fixed by a contract before his
introduction to his office; and the people were
required to pay toward his settlement and maintenance, "each man his several proportion
thereof." The Court of General Sessions of the
county was required to see that the contract was
fulfilled. If any town or precinct should neglect
to provide itself with a suitable minister, the Court
of Quarter Sessions was required to " make order
upon them speedily to provide themselves with a
minister." If this order was disregarded, it was
the duty of the court to procure and settle a
minister, and order the charge of such minister's
settlement and maintenance to be levied on the
inhabitants of such town. At a later time, it was
made the duty of the General Court itself, on
1 The first law gave the choice to the people of the town. This
was amended at the next session so as to give the church the right
to lead in the choice.




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


34I


receiving notice from the court of any county that
a town or precinct was destitute of a minister, to
provide and send to every such town or precinct
an able, learned, and orthodox minister, of good
conversation, and to provide for his support by
adding to the taxes of such town or precinct so
much as they should judge sufficient for this end.
These laws assumed a definite method of procedure on the part of churches and congregations,
such as is marked out in the Cambridge Platform.
This Platform had a quasi-legal authority, having
been commended to the churches by the General
Court, and it was constantly appealed to as the
standard in the discussions of those days.
Thus the churches of the olden time were
accustomed to depend on the authority of the
state for raising the money to support public
worship. In the course of time, they learned to
follow legal forms and precedents, and to transact
much of their most important business in a legal
spirit and environment. There would sometimes
be a doubt whether a council called to settle a
minister had been legally called, and whether its
proceedings were regular and valid; whether a
minister had been " duly settled according to law; "
whether a minister was " orthodox, able, learned,
and of good conversation," within the meaning of
the law; and whether he coninzued to possess all
these excellent qualities. On the decision of these




342 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


questions would depend his right to his salary, and
also the right of the town, or parish, to assess a
tax for his support.  Sometimes the question
would be raised whether a town which was supporting a minister had such a minister that it was
not liable to be presented by the grand jury, and
prosecuted as a destitute town. These discussions
and litigations were among the most characteristic
things relating to the life and manners of our
fathers.
III.
ROBERT BRECK, of Springfield, was the son of
Rev. Robert Breck, of Marlboro', of whom the
"Boston News-Letter" said: " He was an able
minister, a man of great learning in the original
languages of the Bible, and in philosophy, and
also a man of great courage and prudence." His
grandfather was Captain John Breck, "a very
ingenious and worthy man." His great-grandfather was Edward Breck, a man of wealth and
influence in England, who came to this country
in I636, and settled in Dorchester.
Robert Breck was born in Marlboro', Massachusetts, July 25, I713, and entered Harvard
College at the age of thirteen. His
rank as a scholar is indicated by the
fact that the President and Fellows awarded to
him the honorary prize of thirty pounds as a




THE CASE OP REV. ROBERT BRECK.   343
"sober, diligent, and promising student, and
candidate for the ministry."  He was graduated
with honor in I730.  It has been stated that
he studied theology with his father, but as the
father died the year after his son was graduated,
it is probable that he continued his studies
without an instructor.  He began to preach
while he was very young, according to the
custom  of those times. He was hardly more
than twenty when we find him preaching in
Scotland, a parish in Windham County, Connecticut, and at various other places in that
Colony.  The young and untrained preacher
was very free and bold in his utterances, and
very early subjected himself to the charge of
heresy, a charge which some of the pastors of the
vicinity were disposed to press to his injury.
Some time in May, 1734, the First Church in
Springfield invited him to preach as a candidate
for settlement. He came, and preached Called to see
to the acceptance of the people, so that asrastor.
after about three months the church and parish
gave him a call, and proposed terms of settlement. He had then just passed his twenty-first
birthday.
Soon after he came to Springfield, there were
reports passing from one to another that he was
not sound in the faith. The people listened to
his sermons, but failed to detect anything that




344 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


savored of heresy. So far as the pamphlets1
which were published at the time, on both sides,
give us information, it was not claimed that there
was anything unsound in his religious teachings
after he came to Springfield. The reports all
came from Connecticut. A letter was received
from a minister in that Colony, which stated that
"Mr. Breck was not a suitable person to be
employed in the ministry," and named Rev.
Thomas Clap, of Windham, afterwards President
of Yale College, and two others, as persons who
were responsible for the charges. This letter
was put into the hands of Mr. Breck, who went
at once to Windham to confer with Mr. Clap in
respect to the accusations.   Mr. Clap was not
Charges against satisfied with the result of the conferhim.       ence, and so wrote a long letter to the
Hampshire Association of Ministers, in which
he set forth the four charges against the young
candidate for the pastorate.
I. That he had denied that the passage in
i John v. 7, concerning the "three that bear
record in heaven," and also the passage in
John viii., concerning the woman taken in
adultery, were of divine inspiration.
1 Narrative of the Proceedings of those Ministers of Hampshire
County that have disapproved the Settlement of Mr. Robert
Breck, Boston, 1736.
Answer to the Above, Boston, I736.
Letter to the Author of the Answer, Boston, I737.




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECKC.


345


2. That he had also denied the necessity of
Christ's satisfaction to divine justice for sin,
and had said that God might, consistent with
His justice, forgive sin without any satisfaction.
3. That he had preached that the heathen,
who lived up to the light of nature, would be
saved. Christ would be in some way revealed to
them; or they would be saved in some other way.
4. That there was a general report that he had
stolen books from the college library, while a student, and that he had been expelled from college
for this offence; and further, that when Mr. Clap
had informed him of these reports, he had denied
them, a denial which was now known to be false.
In addition to all this, it was stated in other
letters that Mr. Breck had said publicly, that " if
the decrees of God were absolute, he saw no
encouragement for men to try to do their duty,
for let them do what they would, they could not
alter their condition; and that we were not under
obligation any further than we had power." On
the ground of these statements, it was charged
that he was an Arminian.
IV.
THESE charges were the basis of the opposition
to the settlement of Mr. Breck.  In reply to the
charges, he claimed that it was unjust to use




346 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


against him expressions which he might have made
use of in his earliest sermons, at a time when his
views were quite immature; that these expressions
did not express his settled opinions; that some
of them had never been used in his sermons, but
only in oral discussion with pastors with whom
he was discoursing, for the sake of clearing his
own mind; and also, that some of these statements were not inconsistent with the Confession
of Faith. He asked to be judged, not by these
early sermons, but by the sermons he had
preached in his present pulpit; and he repeatedly
invited those who questioned his orthodoxy to
satisfy themselves by an examination as to his
views in theology.
In respect to the charge of taking books from
the library, he admitted that there had been a
technical offence, which gave some color to the
charge, but claimed that the offence, such as it
was, was the fault of a boy of thirteen, and that it
was so trivial that the faculty did not make it a
matter of formal discipline, and that his subsequent deportment had been so exemplary that
they had selected him as the student most worthy
to receive the honorary prize. Mr. Breck also
stated that he had never denied that there had
been some foundation for the story, but had
only denied it in the exaggerated form in which
it had been reported. These are the leading




THE CASE OP REV. ROBERT BRECI.


347


points in the case as it is presented in the
pamphlets and in the manuscripts which have
been preserved.
Mr. Breck was informed that these reports had
excited a degree of prejudice against him among
the ministers of the vicinity, and that Declines
if he were to accept the call they might theCal.
refuse to ordain him. He was also informed that
they had exerted more or less influence with some
members of his congregation.  He therefore decided to refer the matter again to the people.
He knew that he had the confidence of a large
majority of his congregation, and that some of
the pastors of the vicinity were satisfied as to his
integrity and his orthodoxy, so that there would
be no serious difficulty in securing ordination.
" If one council will not do it," he said, " another
will."  With these views, he stated, in his reply
to the call, that while he was disposed, on some
accounts, to accept their invitation, he did not
think the provision for his temporal support was
sufficient, and that he could not accept the call
unless they should see the way clear to increase
it.  The people were not quite agreed in the
matter, and did not think it expedient to increase
the salary. So that Mr. Breck finally declined
the call, and returned to lis friends in Boston.




348 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


V.
BUT the people were not satisfied. The records
of the parish show that the majority believed that
his settlement had been prevented by the intermeddling of " some persons of note who had sent
writings to some of the ministers of this vicinity."
The parish, therefore, appointed a committee,
November 8th, to find out how much ground
there was for the charges against Mr. Breck, and
also to learn more definitely the views of the
ministers. In response to their inquiries, six of
the pastors, among whom we find the name of
Jonathan Edwards, signed a paper, which reads
as follows:
" Upon consideration of the case of Mr. Robert
Breck, represented to us in some letters from
Windham and Norwich, we think it advisable
that the people of Springfield do no further make
their application to him."
The committee reported, and the people considered the advice. Six weeks later, the freeholders, and other inhabitants assembled according to
law, voted " that application be made to the worthy
Mr. Robert Breck to preach the word of God to us
in this place, in order to a settlement." This vote
was passed by a decisive majority, and a committee
was chosen to proceed to Cambridge, make inves



THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.  349
tigations, ask advice, and act according to their
best judgment.  The result was that Mr. Breck
returned to Springfield, and began to preach
again. This open disregard of the advice of the
ministers of the vicinity seems to have been unusual, and it had the effect to lead them to enter
more directly into the case.  A majority of them
seem  to have thought that it would be an infringement of their rights for the people to settle
a minister within the county in opposition to their
advice. The next stage in the business was the
effort of the Association to investigate the charges
against Mr. Breck. They entered into correspondence with various parties in Connecticut;
and also induced Mr. Breck to write to Mr. Clap,
and endeavor to make his peace with him. They
invited Mr. Breck to attend the meeting of the
Association, in April, I735, and make such statement as he thought proper with reference to the
charges.  He seems to have accepted their proposals in good faith.  He wrote a letter to Mr.
Clap, in which he made such acknowledgments
and concessions as he thought proper, but he
failed to satisfy that gentleman. He also read to
the Association a paper which was quite satisfactory to some of the pastors, but not to the majority.
Six out of thirteen ministers now took his part,
and remained his friends to the end. He next
asked the Association to satisfy themselves as to




350 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEWP ENGLAND.


his theological views by an oral examination.
The majority declined to do this, on the ground
that charges were already pending against him.
At this stage of the business a committee from
the First Parish appeared before the Association
to inquire " what impediment, if any, there was to
the settlement of Mr. Breck; and if such impediment existed, how it could be removed."
VI.
THIS was designed to open the way for a formal
examination of the charges of Mr. Clap and others
from Connecticut. Mr. Breck and his friends
were prepared to welcome such an investigation;
but they asked to be permitted to name one or
two of the persons who were to pass upon the
case. The Association appointed seven of their
own members to hear the whole case, and to give
their judgment. It was pointed out to them that
several of these gentlemen had already prejudged
the case, and expressed their opinion publicly.
Mlr. Breck offered to go on with the investigation
if one of the committee would retire, or if, that
gentleman remaining, he might call in two unprejudiced persons from outside the county.
These propositions were declined by the majority,
and so the proposed investigation failed.




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECIC.


35I


At this stage of the business the First Church
in Springfield, on the I 7th of April, renewed their
call to Mr. Breck, and one week later    The Call
the parish voted to concur.     It ap- ~Renewed
peared that a decided majority of the church and
congregation were very earnest to secure the permanent settlement of the     young   preacher as
their pastor.  It remained to be seen whether the
minority of the people, aided by the majority of the
Association, would be able to prevent it.     Mr.
Breck, made wiser by the experiences of the year,
acted with a degree of prudence and foresight
which he had not before shown.    He first sent a
communication to the people, in which he said
that, in the peculiar circumstances of this case,
he should seek advice from his friends before he
gave an answer to their call.  He went soon after
to Boston, and requested the pastors of that town,
who were well-known throughout the Province,
to examine him as to his views in theology.  This
they did, and as a result gave him  a certificate1
that they had found him sound in the faith.  They
say: " These may certify that on the 8th cday of
May, 1735, we discoursed with     Robert Breck,
1 This was signed by Benjamin Coleman, Joseph Sewall, John
Webb, William Cooper, Thomas Foxcroft, Samuel Chcckley,
Joshua Gee, and Mather Byles. One of them said afterrwards: "' I
can assure you that his examination was not a sli-lht! one, if the
ability and fidelity of the eight ministers that were concerned in it
can be relied on."




352 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND rEW ENGLAND.


M. A., to our good satisfaction, concerning his
orthodoxy in the great doctrines of Christianity,
as believed and professed in the churches of Christ
in New England, agreeable to the Westminster
Confession of Faith; and so recommend him to
the grace of God, and are his brethren in Christ."
With this indorsement he returned to Springfield, and on the 28th of July accepted the call.
The next step was to select a council for his
ordination. The excitement in Springfield ran
very high. Four members of the church presented
a protest, which was entered upon the records.
Twenty-seven members of the parish sent to Mr.
Breck a remonstrance against his course in
accepting the call before submitting himself to
the judgment of the ministers of the Association as to his orthodoxy and as to his character.
Mr. Breck replied that the council would be the
proper tribunal to pass upon all these questions.
VII.
IN the end the church voted, by a decided
majority, to call a council for his installation.
They selected four churches within the county,
designating them by the names of their pastors,
and left it with the pastor-elect, with a committee
of the church, to select an equal number of
churches outside the county.  The council, as




THE CASE OP REV. ROBERT BRECK.


353


finally agreed upon, consistedl of the church in
Hatfield, Rev. William Williams, pastor; Hadley,
Rev. Isaac Chauncy, pastor; Suffield, Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, pastor; Sunderland, Rev. William
Rand, pastor; Brattle Street Church, Boston,
Rev. William Cooper, pastor; Second The Council
Church, Boston, Rev. Samuel Mather,          Called.
pastor; the New Brick Church, Boston, Rev.
William Welstead, pastor; and the church in
Sudbury, Rev. William        Cooke,    pastor.    The
council was to meet October 7th.
Those who opposed the settlement of Mr. Breck
denied the legality of the council for two reasons:
First, because the votes of the church designated
the pastors, instead of the churches to which they
ministered; and because these votes left it with
the pastor-elect and a committee of the church to
select a part of the churches; and, Secondly, because the church had no right to call churches
from outside Hampshire County. It was replied,
on the part of the church, that what was done by
1 Mr. Williams was the oldest minister in the county, being 70;
Isaac Chauncy (H. C., 1693) was grandson of President Chauncy;
Ebenezer Devotion, H. C., 1707; William Rand, H. C., I724;
William Cooper, born 1694, H. C., 1712, junior pastor with Dr.
Coleman, - "there was not a more decided Calvinist than he, yet
he was a staunch advocate of religious liberty," - was elected
President H. C., r737; Samuel Mather, son of Cotton Mather, H.
C., 1723; D.D., -"'was charged with looseness of doctrine;"
William Welstead, H. C., 1716, " an excellent Christian gentleman,
and an exemplary minister; " William Cooke, H. C., 1716.
23




354 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


its committee, chosen for the purpose, was done
by itself, -that the letter missive, which went in
the name of the church, was addressed to all the
churches, by name, and that they had elected
delegates to the council, showing that they understood the invitation.  It was also claimed that
they had a right to go outside the county for
members of the council, as there was nothing in
the Cambridge Platform to forbid it; and that in
this case it was necessary in order to secure an
impartial council.
It is not easy to understand, at this distance of
time, the intense interest which this case excited,
not only at Springfield, but in other parts of New
England. The members of the council from Boston went to Springfield a week in advance of the
meeting of the council, in order to consult with
the ministers of the vicinity, and learn from them
directly the grounds of their opposition. How
abundant the leisure of those pastors of the olden
time! It is a hundred miles from  Boston to
Springfield, and the stage-coaches, or ministerial
chaises, of those days would be more than one day
on the journey. Yet they went from town to town
in the Connecticut valley, and tried to induce the
pastors to submit their complaints against Mr.
Breck to the council. When the time for the
meeting of the council came, the ministers of
the county were present in Springfield to watch the




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


355


proceedings, and to use their influence to prevent
the ordination. The President of Yale College
was also there, as the champion of orthodoxy, to
direct the measures of the opposition.  Rev.
Thomas Clap and a number of other pastors from
Connecticut were there, with documents to be
presented to the council. It was confidently
asserted by the opponents of Mr. Breck that
whatever the council might do, " there would be
no ordination."
In order to secure the fulfilment of this prediction, the dissatisfied members of the parish had
induced three justices of the Court of Sessions to
come from Northampton to Springfield, with the
purpose of using the authority of the court, if
necessary, to prevent the council from completing
the service for which it had been convened. It
was afterwards proved before the General Court
that it was at first intended to arrest all the members of the council who had come from outside the
county, and lock them up in jail, on the ground
that their attempt to sit as members of a council
in Hampshire County was an unlawful act, -an
usurpation of power,-to the great injury of the
minority. Warrants were actually made out for
their arrest, but as one of the justices was doubtful
as to their right to issue them, this plan was abandoned. The second plan was to arrest Mr. Breck,
and hold him in custody until the council should
adjourn.




356 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


VIII.
WE may well suppose that when the day for
the meeting of the council came business was
suspended in Springfield, and that the people were
eagerly watching the proceedings. The council
met in the morning, not in the church, but in the
house of Madam Brewer, the widow of the last
pastor. Seven of the eight churches invited were
represented  by pastors and delegates.  The
church in Hatfield, of which the venerable William
Williams was pastor, declined to respond, on the
ground that the council was irregular and illegal.
Proceedings of The council organized by choosing
the Cocil.  Rev. William  Cooper, of Boston,
Moderator. Their first act was to invite the church
- as well the minority as the majority - to lay all
the facts in the case before them. Two papers
were presented.  The first was a remonstrance
against the right of "the body calling itself a
council" to ordain Mr. Breck, signed by William
Pynchon, Jr., Esq., and others of the minority of
the parish. The second was a protest against the
right of the council to act in the case, signed by
six pastors of the county. The council, after considering these papers, and the reasons which were
set forth in support of them, voted: " That the
elders and other delegates here assembled are an




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


357


ecclesiastical council, properly called by the First
Church in Springfield to join in the regular carrying on of the ordination of Mr. Breck, and are
ready to hear, judge, and act in the case."
The council next called upon those who objected
to Mr. Breck to present the evidence in support
of the charges which they made against him.
This they declined to do, on the ground that they
could not recognize the body then in session as a
regular and legal council. The Moderator next
asked Rev. Mr. Clap and Rev. Mr. Kirkland, the
authors of the charges, to let the council know
whatever they knew against the candidate, which
might disqualify him for the ministry. Mr. Clap
proceeded to read a number of documents, most
of them sworn to before a magistrate, with reference to the preaching of Mr. Breck while he was
in Connecticut. These papers cover the whole
case, and constitute the evidence on which the
minority based their opposition. They are printed
in full in the pamphlet published by the Hampshire ministers. Just as Mr. Clap finished reading the papers, and before Mr. Breck Arrestof
had commenced his reply, an officer the Candidate.
entered the room with a warrant for the arrest of
"Robert Breck, gentleman," and for bringing him
forthwith before the court then in session in the
town-house, " To answer for such things as should
be objected to him." Mr. Breck was taken by




358 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the officer from the council, and carried to the
town-house.  Proclamation was made that any
persons who knew about the principles or the
character of Mr. Breck should come forward and
give testimony. Mr. Clap and Mr. Kirkland came
forward and presented the evidence which they
had just read to the council, with some additional
statements. Mr. Breck was also examined by the
justices as to his theological opinions. The evidence tended to show that he was not sound in
the faith, and also that he had charged various
persons with misrepresentation and falsehood.
The old charge of taking books from the college
library was also referred to in the testimony as a
matter of common report. The proceedings seem
to have been of the nature of an inquiry into the
character of the candidate and his fitness to be a
settled minister under the laws of the Province.
These proceedings of the secular power had
the effect, of course, of suspending the session of
the ecclesiastical council.  Before adjourning,
however, they sent a vigorous protest to the court,
in which they say that they " consider it a duty
not only to the church in Springfield, but to the
churches which they represent, and to all the
churches of Christ throughout the Province, to
inform the court that when they sent their officer
to apprehend Mr. Breck they were regularly and
legally convened in council, at the desire of the




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


359


church in Springfield, for the regular carrying on
the ordination of said Mr. Breck, according to the
order of the gospel in the churches of New England, and were actually hearing the charges
against him when the court saw fit to wrest the
case out of their hands." Having sent their protest, the council waited for the result. Mr. Breck
was held in custody until night; and the justices
gave orders to their officer to hold him till the
next day.  But certain members of the council
gave their word that he should appear when called
for, and he was permitted to go to his lodgings.
The council reassembled early in the morning,
and continued the hearing of the case. Mr. Clap
and Mr. Kirkland made oral statements as to
the additional testimony they had given in court.
The justices soon sent for Mr. Breck, and held
him until late in the afternoon, when they made
out a warrant which directed the sheriff to take
him to Windsor, in the Colony of Connecticut,
and deliver him into the custody of the County
Court, " there to answer for those things which
might be objected against him."  He was taken
to Windsor, and delivered to the officers of the
court. He was permitted to give bonds for his
appearance at a subsequent time to answer to a
charge concerning the doctrines which he had
preached while within that Colony.
These proceedings increased very much the




360  THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


excitement among the people at Springfield. The
church appointed a committee to attend him, " in
token of respect as their pastor-elect, and the
people gave evident marks of their affection for
him  as he went through         the town."      The next
day they assembled in the meeting-house to pray
for his safe return. The record says: " It was a
large and weeping assembly." A          day or two later,
Mr. Breck returned to Springfield, and the council resumed its sessions.       They considered more
fully the charges and the testimony for and against
him, and listened to his reply. The decisive paper
in the case was a Confession        of Faith    which   he
drew up for the satisfaction of the council, as a
statement of his mature opinions concerning the
leading truths of the Gospel.l It is a serious and
1 In this Confession, which is too long to insert entire, he declares
his belief in one God, who is also triune; in the Holy Scriptures,
which are of divine authority, and which have been preserved by
God's providence '" pure and uncorrupt; " in the decrees of God,
by which, whatsoever comes to pass in time has been foreordained
from all eternity, — "yet so as not to take away the will of His
creatures, or make Himself the Author of sin;" in the providential
government of the world; in the first covenant with Adam; in his
fall from his first estate, which involved the race " in his guilt and
corruption;" in the covenant of redemption, and the vicarious sacrifice of the God-Man, " which satisfied divine justice for the sins
of the elect, and reconciles them to God;" in the work of the Holy
Spirit, "who makes effectual application of the benefits of Christ's
redemption to the souls of men; " in the inability of fallen man to
that which is spiritually good, and the necessity of effectual calling
by the Almighty Spirit; in the imputation of the righteousness of




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


36i


definite statement, following substantially the
Westminster Confession, and, by      implication,
renouncing most of the errors which he had been
accused of preaching in Connecticut.    After reciting the statement of his belief, he said: " This
is the scheme of Christian doctrine which I have
learned from  the Holy Scriptures, and which I
shall think myself obliged to teach others in the
best manner I am able, while at the same time I
put them that profess to believe in mind that they
be careful to maintain good works.      It is my
prayer that my knowledge of these things may
be enlarged, my faith of them     confirmed, and
that I may be enabled always to keep the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."    This
Confession was satisfactory to the whole council.
It was read by a man on horseback, to a great
crowd of people who assembled in the street
in front of the house in which the council was
holding its sessions; and was subsequently read
by the candidate to the congregation at his
ordination. The council, after a full consideration of the case, came to a Result in which
they said, that they found that Mr. Breck had
been regularly called by a very great majority
Christ for their justification; in the work of sanctification; in the
final perseverance of the saints; the eternal separation of the righteous from the wicked; the righteous for life eternal, and the wicked
for everlasting punishment.




362 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


to the church and precinct of Springfield; and
also that he was sound in the faith, and of good
conversation; so that they advise the people " to
continue their regards for him." "Nevertheless,"
they say, " having met with an unusual interposition and hindrance in carrying on the work upon
which we were called, we do not think it advisable
to proceed further herein at this time, but that this
council be adjourned" to meet in Boston, October
2ist.  The Moderator remained in Springfield
over the Sabbath, and read this result to the
congregation.
IX.
THE object of the adjournment was not only
to allow time for the excitement to subside, but
also to test the legality of the interference of
the secular authorities with the work of the
council. Two weeks later, the church appointed
a committee to bring the matter before the
General Court.  This committee presented a
memorial to the General Court on the 25th of
November, in which they stated the fact of the
call of Mr. Breck by a very great majority of the
church and precinct, and the convening of a
council for his ordination, and say that " on the
day appointed for that solemnity John Stoddard,
Ebenezer Pomeroy, and Timothy Dwight, Esqrs.,
his Majesty's justices of the peace for the County




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


363


of Hampshire, had caused him to be arrested and
taken from the aforesaid ecclesiastical council,
and brought before them, and that they examined
him touching divers points of doctrine; and,
further, that by a warrant from the said justices,
he was sent to Windsor, in the Colony of Connecticut, where he was bound over by Appealtothe
the County Court to answer to a charge GeneralCourt.
touching his doctrines." They ask the General
Court to decide whether these proceedings have
been according to law, and if not, to grant such
redress as the case admits.
The journals of the General Court show that
the case was very fully considered by that body.
It was first assigned to the 5th of December, at
which time the papers were read. It was voted
to inquire into the matter of complaint, and to
appoint a committee to report what action ought
to be taken. Notice was sent to the justices at
Northampton, and to other parties interested.
The General Court heard not only the committee
from Springfield, but Mr. Breck, and the Moderator of the council, and various other persons.
The matter was before the Court December 5th
and 6th, 9th, 24th, 26th, and 27th. The decision
was; First, that the council was duly called, and
was properly and legally a council, according to
the usages of the churches; and, Secondly, that
the justices had no right to " interrupt the church




364 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


and ecclesiastical council, while they were, in the
exercise of their just rights, investigating the
case."
Strengthened by this decision, the council,
which had been continued by successive adjourne rnationments, reassembled at Springfield on
the 27th of January, 1736, and "finding
that the people did abide firm in their choice of
Mr. Breck, and their desire to have him as their
pastor," they proceeded to ordain him as pastor
of the church.  The sermon was preached by
Mr. Cooper, the Moderator, from Matthew xiii. 3.
In this sermon, which was printed, Mr. Cooper
bears this testimony in respect to the young
pastor: " I think myself bound to testify, on this
occasion, that in all this time I never heard one
hard word drop from you respecting any person
of any order. I have seen your tears, admired
your silence, and hope God has heard your
prayers.  May the fruit of all be to humble
you, to prove you, and to make you a greater
blessing to this church and people."
X.
THOSE who were opposed to Mr. Breck made
one more effort to prevent him from continuing
as the minister of the church. They signed a
complaint to the Court of Sessions for the county,




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.


365


which set forth that the church in Springfield
was destitute of a minister duly settled according
to law; that one Robert Breck had taken upon
himself the office of pastor, under pretence that
he had been ordained; that the said Breck is not
qualified, according to the laws of this Province,
to be a Gospel minister, inasmuch as he is not
orthodox in his belief, and not of good conversation; that, according to law, there can be no
money raised for the settlement and support of
any person in the ministry but such as are
orthodox and of good conversation. They therefore ask the court to make such order in the
premises "that some suitable person may be
settled in the pastoral office in said church, it
being contrary to the law of this Province, and
the peace of the king, that a person of such
principles and conversation should take upon
himself the office of a minister, or that the said
church should be destitute of a settled minister."
The court took this petition into consideration
on the 2d of March, and summoned the church
and parish to appear and answer the complaint.
The parish appointed a committee of five, of
which William Pynchon, Jr., Esq., was chairman,
to represent them before the court, and instructed
them to " carry the case as far as necessary, from
court to court, in order to a final determination
of the matter."  As there is no further refer



366 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


ence to the case in the records of the parish, it
is probable that it never came before the court
for trial.
These proceedings were followed by a number
of pamphlets, which are the authentic sources of
information concerning these matters. The first
was published in Boston, I 736, a few months after
the ordination had taken place.  It is entitled
" A Narrative of the Proceedings of those Ministers of the County of Hampshire that have disapproved the Settlement of Mr. Robert Breck."
It is a vigorous pamphlet of about one hundred
pages. This was followed the same year by" An
Answer to the Hampshire Narrative." This also
contains one hundred pages. It is said to have
been written by Rev. William Cooper, of Boston.
The next year appeared another thick pamphlet,
with the title, "A Letter to the Author of the
Answer to the Narrative."
XI.
WHILE these proceedings in court, and this war
of pamphlets were going on, the young pastor set
himself to conciliate the opposition among his
people. He gave himself to the duties of his office
with exemplary fidelity. It is said of him, that if
he wished any favor he would ask it from some
one of his people who had been unfriendly. Such




THE CASE OF REV. ROBERT BRECK.   367
an expression of his confidence won their good
will. He chose his wife wisely also. He married,
a few weeks after his ordination, Eunice Brewer,
the daughter of his predecessor, who had been
universally loved and revered. He invited Rev.
Stephen Williams, of Longmeadow, who had been
one of the most decided of his opponents, to perform the marriage ceremony; and this act of
courtesy is said to have modified his opposition.
In a few years, he was accepted by his brethren
in the ministry, as well as by his people, as a
minister "able, learned, orthodox, and of good
conversation."
Mr. Breck was the pastor of the church in
Springfield forty-eight years. The church grew
with the town, and its minister became a
The Pastor.
man of great influence in the Connecticut valley. It is more than a hundred years since
his death; but the traditions concerning him at
Springfield are still fresh, and he is held in great
esteem and veneration. His funeral sermon was
preached by Dr. Lathrop, of West Springfield,
who had been a student in divinity under him.
In this sermon, he said: " His intellectual powers
were naturally superior, and were brig-htened by
his education, and enlarged by an extensive acquaintance with men and books. He accustomed
himself to a close manner of reasoning and thinking, and filled up his time with diligent application.




368 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


History was his amusement, divinity his study;
he excelled in both, especially the latter. He was
an accomplished gentleman, and an exemplary
Christian. His attendance on the duties of his
profession was constant, his preparations for the
sanctuary were mature, his public prayers were
deliberate and solemn, his sermons were full of
thought, - dressed in the most proper language,
and communicated in the easiest manner. His
religious sentiments were formed on a careful
examination of the Scriptures, without servile
attachment to sects or systems.  His turn of
thinking was liberal yet Scriptural, exalted yet
humble."
Such was the man as he seemed to his contemporaries at the close of a pastorate of half a
century.




VIII.
The Religious Life in the Eighteenth Century in Northern New England.
Brunswick, Maine.
24








The Religious Life in the Eighteenth Century in Northern New England.
Brunswick, Maine.1
AT the close of the seventeenth century, less
than half of what is now called New England
had been settled. There were a few strong towns
in New Hampshire, and a few settlements on the
coast of Maine. As the people of Puritan descent
pushed their way northward, to settle and cultivate
what is now Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, they organized their towns and their
churches according to the Puritan models. Those
new communities passed through experiences not
very different from those through which the
people in southern New England had passed a
hundred years earlier. It was, in many respects,
the Puritan history over again.
Yet there were decided differences between the
older and the newer churches. Many of the most
perplexing questions had been settled during the
first generation. There was a well-defined polity
1 An Address at the Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Congregational Church in Brunswick.




372 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


for the churches. The system of administration
had been slowly learned from experiences in the
town and the county and the Province. The new
Difference churches were likely to receive encourbetweenthe agement and material aid from the older
Older and
Newer   and stronger churches. Southern New
Churches.  England did a great deal of Home Missionary work in northern New England, long
before the west was opened for such work. There
was a greater diversity of race and nationality
when the later churches were gathered. In many
of the newer towns the Scotch Presbyterians were
as numerous as the descendants of the Puritans.
It took a generation or two for these elements to
harmonize. The war of the Revolution affected
these newer settlements more than it did those
that were older, because they were more exposed
to attacks from the Indians, and from the English
in Canada.
It is worth while, therefore, to study the religious
life in northern New England in the eighteenth
century.  To do this, let us take a representative
church in Maine, in the town of Brunswick, which
was settled in the early years of the century.
The first settlers began very early to make provision for the preaching of the Gospel. Sometimes at Fort George, sometimes in private
dwellings, or in barns, and later in the first
meeting-houses, - for there were two, on opposite




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH' CENTURY.  373
sides of the township, -  they came together to
worship God. It is plain, from such records as
have come down to us, that the early settlers
cared a good deal for these religious services.
I.
AMONG the reasons which the inhabitants of
Brunswick urged, in their petition for a charter,
in 1735, were these: " That a commo- Tl,,etitio
dious meeting house has been erected, for harter.
and a pious and orthodox minister secured," and
that they desired to be vested with power to tax
themselves for his maintenance.  This commodious meeting-house was located midway between
the old Fort and Maquoit.  The History of the
town contains a picture of this meeting-house. It
was a plain building, facing the south, with a projecting porch, but without a tower or steeple. The
records do not give the dimensions of the edifice,
but they give glimpses of its interior. The walls
were unfinished; there was no ceiling; the roof
timbers were in view; there was a high pulpit,
with a sounding-board above it. There was a gallery, and both the gallery and the floor of the
church had pews, large and square; and each pew
had seats on three sides. The environment of
this " commodious meeting-house " was characteristic of the times. In front stood the stocks; in




374 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the rear was the whipping-post; near by was the
graveyard.   North of the graveyard was a pound,
with a substantial fence, and a gate securely locked.
Within the house, far up under the roof, was a
loft used as a powder magazine.'
II.
THIS was the place of worship for the people
of the west side of Brunswick for about seventy
years, until after Bowdoin College was founded.
The Early  In   that   pulpit  Robert    Rutherford
Ministers.  preached   seven   years, and    Robert
Dunlap thirteen years, up to I760. Those were
times of great peril to the pioneers, when block
houses were built for defence against the Indians.
It is related that when Mr. Dunlap went to Newmeadows to preach, he was escorted by his neighbors, who went armed to the place of prayer. In
that pulpit also, John Miller preached twenty-four
years, which included the period of the Revolutionary War, and Ebenezer Coffin eight years.
These together cover fifty-two years of somewhat
regular pastoral work in the eighteenth century.2
1 History of Brunswick, 637.
2 Rev. Robert Rutherford was a native of Ireland. He came
to this country in 1729, preached in Pemaquid four years, preached
in Brunswick, 1735-I742. He died 1756, aged 68. History of
Brunswick, 802.
Rev. Robert Dunlap was born in the parish of Barilla, County
of Antrim, Ulster, Ireland, August, 1715, was educated in the Uni



BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.  375


III.
THESE are the outward facts.        But underneath
all this there must have been a religious spirit
and life of which we can gain little knowledge
from   any records     that are    now   extant.    The
records of the First Parish relate very naturally
to secular matters, such as the arrangements for
the settlement and the dismission of pastors, the
assessment of the parish taxes, repairs of the
meeting-house, and other matters of a
Z:0                                   The Spiritual
business nature.     Whenever there was Lifeofthe
Church.
any lack of harmony among the members of the church, it was very apt to leave some
trace   upon   the  records.    It may be that such
records give undue prominence to these things.
But of the spiritual life of the people, - of their
religious habits, of the quality of the preaching
they were able to get, of the doctrines which they
versity of Edinburgh, was Master of Arts at nineteen, came to this
country in 1736. He was a Presbyterian, preached at various places
in Massachusetts and in Maine, was engaged to preach in Brunswick in I746, on a salary of ~200, and ordained in Boston, in 1747.
He was dismissed in I760.  He died in Brunswick, June 26, 1776.
History of Brunswick, 728.
Rev. John Miller, of Milton, Mass., was engaged in Brunswick,
December, I76I, and installed as pastor the next year, and continued his ministry there about twenty-four years. He died in Boston
in 1788. History of Brunswick, 773.
Rev. Ebenezer Coffin was ordained as pastor of the church in
Brunswick in January, I794. He continued his ministry there about
eight years.




376 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


accepted, and of the spiritual power of the Church
in the last century, - the records give us less information than they dO of the votes passed to
determine the location of the meeting-house, or
the salary of the minister. We should like to
know more than we do of the religious life of the
people who lived in those times of simplicity and of
comparative poverty. In respect to these matters,
the indirect evidence is more abundant than that
which is direct.
IV.
ONE thing which affected the religious life in
Brunswick was the connection of the Church with
Conneco  the state. It is not quite certain that
Connection of
Church and  the church had been organized when
state.
Mr. Rutherford became the minister,
by vote of the town of Brunswick, or even when
Mr. Dunlap began his ministry. The people of
the town called the minister by vote in townmeeting. The contract was made between the
town and the minister. His salary was raised by
a tax, levied upon all the rate-payers. After the
church was organized, it had the right, under the
laws of Massachusetts, to choose its minister, and
the town had the right to accept or reject the
candidate whom the church had selected. The
laws required that every town should be constantly provided with a minister, and if it should




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.  377


neglect for six months to secure an " able, learned,
and orthodox minister, of good conversation," the
town was liable to be prosecuted and fined for
such neglect.  Brunswick was prosecuted and
fined in I8IO under that law. It was not always
easy for the church and the town to agree in the
choice of a minister. In a good many instances
the minister who had been chosen by the church
was rejected by the town. In 1786, the town
voted to dismiss the pastor, but the church voted
to retain him. Whereupon, the town voted not
to raise any money for his support.
There was always more or less trouble in
collecting the tax levied for the support of the
pastor. Twenty-one persons were sent to jail, in
a parish not far from Brunswick, because they
refused to pay the tax assessed upon them for the
support of the minister of the town.1
The connection of Church and state did not
work as well in Maine as it had done in Massachusetts. It was not as easy to continue that
connection after the Revolution, as it had been
before. The growth of a spirit of personal independence, under a republican government, and the
increasing diversity of religious opinions, made it
a hard matter for a church and a town to get on
with harmony and good feeling in the support of
religious institutions. So that the time came, in
1 Mr. Harlow's Address at Cape Elizabeth.




378 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


the natural course of events, when the connection
which had existed so long became a hindrance to
the prosperity of religion in the town.
V.
THE difference of opinion in respect to Church
government was also a great obstacle to the prosperity of religion in Brunswick. The first church
Congrega-  was probably organized as a Presbytionalism and terian church, and in its earlier history
Presbyterianism.     it was connected with the Presbytery of
Londonderry.  Mr. Dunlap was a Presbyterian
from mature conviction, as well as by his training.
The people in the west part of the town were, for
the most part, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, while
those at New Meadows were Congregationalists.
The Presbyterians were the more decided in their
preferences, because that had been the polity of
their fathers. The Congregationalists were not
disposed to yield, because New England was full
of churches of their order, and theirs was, in some
sort, the State Church. There were never more
than ten Presbyterian churches in Maine at one
time, while the Congregational churches in the
district greatly outnumbered them. In a small
town on the frontier, a hundred years ago, the
questions between these denominations seemed
more important than they seem to us at this time.




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, LV THE 18TH CENTURY.  379


Nevertheless, there was a spirit of conciliation. In
I774, the church in Brunswick voted that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper should be adminis*
tered "at the West meeting-house from the long
table, the communicants sitting around it, or in
the body-pews, as they might see fit;" and that in
the East meeting-house it should be according to
"the Congregational form." " Baptism was to be
in either form, as persons might choose."  There
was a difference in respect to singing, and, in 1786,
the town voted " to allow the people at the Eastend to regulate the way of singing in Divine
service in the East-end as they shall think proper."
The same year, the church voted against the new
way of singing adopted at the East-end of the
town, and directed that the psalms and hymns
should be read by the deacon, line by line. Some
in the church desired to have ruling elders appointed, while others wished to have deacons.
The discipline of the church suffered on account
of these disagreements, and the relation between
pastor and people was sometimes weakened by
them. But, as the larger number of those who
came to Brunswick from other places were Congregationalists, the Presbyterians gradually lost
the control, and, by the end of the century, the
church had become to all intents a Congregational
church. This tendency was strengthened by the
establishment of Bowdoin College.




380 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


VI.
THROUGH all this period Brunswick was but a
modest and obscure settlement among the pines.
On every side except the river, the dwellings stood
close up to the forest, which stretched away for
miles. The principal business of the place was
the trade in lumber.' The people commonly
Coditonof  went on foot to the church. Some of
the People.  those who lived at a distance owned a
horse, a saddle, and a pillion, which would accommodate a man, his wife, and one or two children.
It is a matter of dispute whether there were two
or three wheeled chaises in town before the
Revolution. The New England meeting-houses
were not warmed in the last century, and those in
these northern regions were not lighted. The
people who came in from their long walk through
the snow were a strong and hardy race, else they
could not have endured the cold, as they sat, in
this unfinished house, through the long services.
The services in those days were held in the day
time.
But through all this period of hardship and
poverty the church continued to grow and to
prosper. There is reason to believe that public worship was maintained with a good measure
1 History of Bowdoin College, 2, 83.




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURIY.  38I
of regularity, - that the sacraments of the Church
were administered, and that the standard of
piety was a high one.  We have the   owth
Growth and
names of more than a hundred who Prosperity of
were members of the church before th ch.
the year 800oo, and the list is known to be
incomplete.
The service of song in the last century was
more simple than it is now. The num- The Service
ber of tunes used in public worship was of song.
very limited, and there was probably no instrumental music in the earlier years.  The choirs
were large in those days, and the chorister was
a person of great importance.   In 1763, the
church voted to use "the version of the psalms
by Tate and Brady, with the hymns of Dr. Watts
annexed thereto."
VII.
THE ministers of those times had a position in
the community very different from that of their
successors in this century. They were still settled
for life. The towns were required by law to pay
their salaries.  They were distinguished from
other people by their dress and their TheMinisters
manners.   The description of Rev. of those Days.
Samuel Eaton, minister in Harpswell from 1764
to 1822, by Professor Alpheus S. Packard, is very
graphic. "He was above the average stature,




382 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND A4ND NEW ENGLAND.


with a large frame, and full habit. His entrance
into the church, on the Sabbath, and his stately
progress up the broad aisle,- bowing to the
sitters on each side, according to the custom of
those days, always attracted attention. He wore
a broad skirted coat, with wide pocket flaps, a
waistcoat flaring in front, and falling to the knees,
breeches, high shoes with large plated buckles,
- the whole surmounted with a capacious wig and
a cocked hat." 
Yet those ministers, with all their dignity, and
stateliness, had a great deal of human nature
about them. They put on their courtly manners,
according to the customs of their time, but there
was genuine manhood underneath the manners.
The pictures of President McKeen which we are
accustomed to see, represent him in the dress of
his times, with his long hair gathered in a queue.
He was the pastor of the church in Beverly, Massachusetts, from I 785 to 802. He was above the
ordinary stature, and of commanding appearance,
and dignified manners. In the earlier years of
his ministry, he was fond of athletic sports. One
day a visitor at his house in Beverly was boasting
of his strength and skill as a wrestler; whereupon
the minister invited him to retire to a suitable
place that they might both test their abilities in
that line. The proposal was accepted, and they
1 Sprague's Annals, vol. i. Samuel Eaton.




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.  383


went out. But the minister was too much for the
athlete and, after repeated falls, he acknowledged
that the pastor was the better man. 
The use of intoxicating drinks was more common in those days than now.    Parson Smith
speaks of an ordination at New Gloucester, in
1765, as a "jolly ordination."  He says, " We lost
sight of decorum." The progress of the ministers
toward the practice of total abstinence from strong
drink was slow. It was not till 1813 that the
Cumberland Association voted that " there be no
ardent spirits used by the Association as a body
in future."2 That vote casts a suggestive backlight upon the social customs of our clerical
fathers.
VIII.
WHAT were the religious teachings in the old
meeting-houses?
We have a good many sources of information.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century the
opinions that had been held by the older Puritans
had been modified, partly through the influence
of President Edwards, and the divines of his school,
and a more liberal, and, as we think, a more
Biblical, theology began to be preached. Mr.
Dunlap had been trained in the more rigid Scot1 Sprague's Annals, vol. ii. Joseph McKeen.
2 Centennial Pamphlet, Cumberland Association, 24, 33.




384 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


tish School. H-Ie is said to have been vehement,
and persuasive in his style of preaching, and to
have taken the celebrated Mr. Whitefield, whom
he had met soon after his arrival in this country,
as his model. But his successor, Mr. Miller, was
a decided Congregationalist, and he probably
preached the New England theology. He is said
to have been very charitable in his treatment of
those who differed with him in religious matters.
All the ministers of the church in
Religious
Views of the Brunswick during the last century were
M3inisters.
Calvinists (except possibly, Mr. Coffin),
and they gave their people the strong meat of the
Gospel.
That was before the time of Sunday-schools
in New England. The children were taught the
catechism at home, and in the day-schools. They
were also catechised by their pastors. The Bible
was carefully taught to the children, in the last
century, by their fathers and mothers; and it is
not certain but they had a better knowledge of
the Scriptures, and of the religious truths which
they teach, than the children of our own times.
IX.
THE methods of pastoral visiting in the last
century were more systematic and thorough than
those to which we have been accustomed. The




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.  385


ministers were expected to go from house to
house, and teach religious truths to the people,
especially to the young people. They astoral
were also in the habit of conversing  Vis:tisng
with each individual in regard to his religious
duties, and to use their personal influence to lead
them forward in a religious life. Here is a record
made by a pastor in Maine of his method of pastoral visiting in 1766, and preserved for us in
Greenleaf's Ecclesiastical Sketches: " First to
salute the house:-compare the lists with the
family: and note how many know the catechism,
- how many have taken the covenant, - and how
many are church members. Then, to exhort the
young people to give attendance to reading, - to
secret prayer, - to public worship, - the observance of the Sabbath, - to live peaceable and
faithful lives, - to seek the grace of God, and a
true conversion. To address parents about their
spiritual state, - secret devotions, -family worship, - government, - catechising, -public worship,- the sacraments, - if they are church
members, see to what profit, - if in error or
vice, to reclaim, -if in divisions, heal, - if poor,
help,- lastly, pray with them all."'
It is not surprising that the pastor who followed
that method, relates that after a few months of
that sort of work, there was a general revival of
1 Greenleaf's Sketches, 133, note.
25




386 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.


religion in the town: "A solemn, sweet, and
glorious season," that "many of God's people
Revivals of  were filled with the joy of the Lord,
Religion.  and that many were brought to see
their need of that Saviour whom they had shamefully neglected, and wickedly crucified."  It is
not surprising that this work of grace extended
into the adjoining towns.
The revivals of religion, during the latter part
of the eighteenth century, were very wonderful.
I have read of a work of grace in Harpswell,
Maine, in 1756, which brought sixty-seven
persons into the church, in that small community;
of another, in North Yarmouth, in I791, which
pervaded the whole town, and brought one
hundred and fifty into the church; of another
in New Gloucester, in 179I, which was exceedingly
powerful.1 These revivals were all in the vicinity
of Brunswick.   It is well known that the last
years of the last century, and the earliest years in
this, were marked by very thorough and extended
revivals of religion in all parts of New England.
The establishment of Bowdoin College at
Brunswick has had a great influence upon the
church. The first building for the College was
erected in I798. It was ready for use in 1802,
at which time a house was erected for the President.  The first class was graduated in I8o6.
1 Greenleaf's Sketches, 69-70, 66-67, 119-I20.




BRUNSWICK, MAINE, IN THE 18TH CENTURY.  387


President McKeen (elected I801) used to preach
on Sunday, either in the meeting-house of the
First Parish, or in the College chapel.  From
that time to the present, there has been a close
connection between the College and the church.
This connection has given to the church a great
increase of influence and of usefulness.
X.
IF I were asked to state the essential and
permanent qualities in the religious life of New
England, during the eighteenth century, I
should answer: To-day is the child of yesterday, - this century is the child of the last
century. New England owes its spe- The Permanent
cial characteristics to the Pilgrims and Qalities of the
Religious Life
the Puritans. The religious life into ofthat Century.
which we have entered is a continuation of
that of our fathers. They planted the seed, and
we are reaping the harvests. If we have made
some improvements in theology, so did they. If
we have entered into the work of reform, so did
they. If we have been favored with revivals of
religion, so were they. Our Bible and Tract
Societies, our societies for Home, and Foreign
Missions, which grew up in New England in the
earlier decades of this century, are the results of
their religious training  and example.  That




388 THE PURITAN IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND.
which we are doing, with our more abundant
means, and our more fortunate environment, to
make human life sweeter, and purer, and to make
the world freer and happier, and to enlarge the
kingdom of Christ among men, - much of this is
the flowering and fruitage from the planting of
our fathers, who in the great straitness of their
lives, with much self-denial, and with devout
prayer laid the foundations of our free Christian
Commonwealths. The Pilgrims and the Puritans
did not live in vain. Their influence has gone
out into all the earth. We are drinking at the
fountains which they opened. We walk in their
light, and we are to pass on the torch to other
generations.




Index.








Index.
ABBOTT, GEORGE, Archbishop of Canterbury, 48; one of the translators of the Bible, favors the Puritans, 48; seeks to make
peace in the Church, 49.
AFTERNOON SERVICE OF WORSHIP in Puritan Churches, I54.
AGREEMENT AT CAMBRIDGE, England, 7I.
ALDEN, JOHN, 242; his new home, 245; marriage, 246.
AMUSEMENTS OF THE PILGRIMS AND PURITANS, 262; games of
chance forbidden, dancing, 262; simple rustic pleasures, 263;
Harvest Festival at Plymouth, 263; not religious, 264; training
days in Boston, 264; guests at the house of the Governor, dinner parties described in the Diary of Judge Sewall, 264; Commencement week, 264; Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, 265.
ASSOCIATION, HAMPSHIRE, of ministers, 337; members of, 337;
receives charges against Mr. Breck, 344; advises against his
settlement, 348; provides for an investigation of the charges,
349; opposes the installation, 356.
AUGUSTINE QUOTED, 208.
AWAKENING, THE GREAT, 314; influence of, 338; connection of
the New Divinity with the revival, 339.
BACON, DR. LEONARD, 85, 90.
BACON, LORD, on reform of Church, 35, 37.
BANISHMENT OF ROGER WILLIAMS, 171, 173; the sentence revoked, 173.
BAPTISM OF CHILDREN, I53-154; church membership of children, 308; consequence of this doctrine, 309.
BAY COLONY, THE, 102-103.
BAY-PATH, 191.
BAY PSALM BOOK, 150.
BIBLE, love for, and obedience to, I8; not read in public without
exposition, 163.




392


INDEX.


BLUE LAWS OF CONNECTICUT, 251; the invention of Samuel
Peters, 252; his book, 252.
BoDY OF LIBERTIES, 255.
BOOKS INTRODUCED FROM THE CONTINENT, 2.1
BRADFORD, GOVERNOR WILLIAM, 58, 90, I59, 233, 244.
BRECK, REV. ROBERT, Ancestry, 342; graduated at Harvard,
approved by the Faculty, 343; began to preach in Connecticut,
called to Springfield, 343; opposition to his settlement, 344;
charges against him, 344-345; his reply to the charges, 346;
declines the call, 347; returns to Boston, 347; advice of the
Association to the Church, 348; Mr. Breck again invited to
preach in Springfield, 349; action of the Association, 349; objections to the method of investigation, 350; the second call of
the church, 351; certificate from the ministers of Boston, 352;
accepts the call, 352; his Confession of Faith, 360; arrest and
removal to Connecticut, 358; return, 360; is ordained, 364;
marriage, 367; his life and work as a pastor, 367; his funeral
sermon, 368.
BREWSTER, ELDER WILLIAM, 52, 90, 105, 124, 244-245; his dress,
259; furniture, 260.
BROOKS, PHILLIPS, 275.
BROWNE, ROBERT, views of, 22-24; pastor of the Separatist
Church, persecuted, 24; returns to the Established Church,
24.
BRUNSWICK, MAINE, 372; early provision for preaching, 373;
reasons for seeking a charter, 373; Church and State, 376;
condition of the town, 380; founding of Bowdoin College,
374, 388.
BURR, JOHN, I94.
CABLE, JOHN, 190.
CALVINISM, PREACHED IN NEW    ENGLAND, 321; influence of,
322; strong type of Christian character, 322; defenders of
liberty, 323; vigorous type of manhood, 323; small number
of church members, 324; children of the Puritans not members
of their churches, 325; " unfruitfulness of the means of grace,"
326; compared with results of modern preaching, 326; frequent
religious declensions, 327; testimony of Prince, 327; Salem
Witchcraft, 327; dissensions in the churches, 328; growth of
Arminianism, 328; influence of the Edwardean theology, 329;
successors of Edwards, 331; New England Theology, 331.
CALVINISM TENDS TOWARD LIBERTY AND DEMOCRACY, 41, 222.




INDEX.


393


CALVINISTIC DOCTRINES of the Puritans, 41; Synod of Dort, 284;
teachings from Geneva, 285.
CAMBRIDGE AGREEMENT, 1629, 71, 179, I86.
CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM, 107, 341.
CAMBRIDGE SYNOD of 1646, 07; called by the General Court of
Mass., 178; contained delegates from the other colonies, 179;
adopts the Cambridge Platform, 179; accepts the Westminster
Confession, 291.
CAMBRIDGE the Puritan University, 121.
CARVER, GOVERNOR JOHN, 90.
CATHOLIC POWERS UNFRIENDLY to Elizabeth, 31; the Spanish
Armada, 31, 42; St. Bartholomew, 32; Duke of Alva, 32;
Thirty Years War, 34, 50.
CHARLES THE FIRST, 59; his first Parliament, 6o; the Petition of
Right, 6i; demands forced loans, 63; his tyranny, 69-70;
grants the charter of Massachusetts, 70; demands ship money,
72, 74; the Long Parliament, 71, 74, 75.
CHARTER OF COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 70, I88.
CHURCH AND STATE IN ENGLAND, 39.
CHURCH AND STATE IN MAINE, 376; the minister paid by the
town, 376; trouble in collecting the tax, 377; increase of independence after the Revolution, 377; towns required to pay
the salaries, 381.
CHURCH AND STATE IN MASSACHUSETTS, 339; qualifications of
ministers, 339; method of choosing a minister, 340; the salary
to be raised by a tax, 340; the General Court to select a minister
if the town neglects, 341; the Cambridge Platform, 341; questions that frequently caused divisions, 342.
CHURCHES, INDEPENDENT, 94; model of Scrooby, I58; Plymouth
Church, I58; Salem, 159; officers of, I6o, 287.
COFFEE not used, 139.
COFFIN, REV. EBENEZER, of Brunswick, note on his life, 375; his
religious views, 384.
COMMITTEE OF RELIGION, 74.
COMMON SCHOOLS, reasons for, 248; Governor of Virginia dislikes,
248; schools in the Dutch Republic, 248; in Plymouth, 24,9;
Boston, general law, 250; schools in New Haven, 250; Hartford; influence of, 250.
COMPARISON OF THE PILGRIMS with the Puritans, 85, r12; why
the Pilgrims came, 83; why the Puritans came, 83; difference
in date of settlement, 86; Separatists and Non-Conformists,
87; social position of the Pilgrims, 89; of the Puritans, go;




394                      INDEX.
objects of the Pilgrim Colony, 91, o12; objects of the Puritans,
92; government of the Pilgrim Colony, 98, 99; government of
the Puritan Colony, Ioo; numbers and wealth, o10; ministry
at Plymouth, o04; confederacy of the colonies of New England, o08; legislation in the two colonies, 109-II2.
CONFEDERACY of New England Colonies, Io8.
CONNECTICUT RIVER JOINT COMMISSION, 193.
CONNECTICUT SETTLED, 169-I93, 240.
CONTRIBUTIONS ON THE SABBATH, 155.
COOPER, REV. WILLIAM, member of the Council at Springfield,
353; moderator of the Council, 356; speaks before the General
Court, 363; preaches the sermon, 364; writes one of the pamphlets, 366.
COTTON, JOHN, IOO, xo6, IO8, 121; scholarship, 122, 127, 132; midweek lectures, I56, 213, 267; Catechism, 286.
COUNCIL AT SPRINGFIELD, called, 352; members, 353; its regularity questioned, 353-354; meets in Springfield, 356; remonstrances presented, 356; testimony given, 357; arrest of Mr.
Breck, 357; protest from the Council, 358; he is sent to Connecticut, 359; meets the next day, 359; return of Mr. Breck,
36o; his statement of belief, 360-36I; result of the Council,
361; adjournment, 362; re-assembles, 364; ordains Mr. Breck,
364.
COURT OF MR. PYNCHON, I96.
COURT OF GENERAL SESSIONS at Springfield, 355; arrest of Mr.
Breck, 357; examination as to his religious views, 358; sends
him to Connecticut, 359; investigates complaint against the
Church in Springfield, 365.
COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH, 242-246; poetic license, 242;
its historic basis, characters from real life, 243.
CRANFIELD, GOVERNOR, 119.
CREEDS OF THE CHURCHES, 287; grew out of covenants, 287;
creed of the Church in Salem, 288.
CROMWELL proposes to remove to America, 70; Lord Saye and
Sele, Lord Warwick, and other Puritan noblemen, 70.
CULTURE OF THE PURITANS, 78, 79, 222-225.
CUSHMAN, ELDER, 105.
DAVENPORT, JOHN, 124, 127; pastor of the Old South in Boston, 311.
DECLINE OF PROTESTANT POWER IN EUROPE, 33.
DESCENDANTS FROM THE PURITANS Of the seventh generation,
273-277.




INDEX.                     395
DEXTER, DR. HENRY M., 24.
DIGNIFYING THE SEATS, 143.
DRESS OF THE COLONISTS, 258; dress of officials, 258; portraits
of Puritans, 126, 258; laws against extravagance, 259; dress
of Elder Brewster, 259.
DRUILLETTE, FATHER GABRIEL, a Jesuit missionary, z68; sent to
Boston, 269; to Plymouth, 270; visits the Apostle Eliot, 270.
DUDLEY, THOMAS, 185, 203.
DUNLAP, REV. ROBERT, of Brunswick, birthplace, 374 and note,
also, 375; salary paid by the town, 376; a Presbyterian, 378;
manners and theological views, 383.
DWELLINGS OF MINISTERS, 135.
EASTERN COUNTIES OF ENGLAND, full of Puritans, 33.
EATON, REV. SAMUEL, of Harpswell, 381.
EDWARD THE SIXTH, a Protestant king, I; Book of Common
Prayer, II, I3.
EDWARDS, PRESIDENT JONATHAN, I33, 299; revival under the
preaching of, 313; new divinity, 314; the younger Edwards,
328; improvements in theology by President Edwards, 329; influence upon the theology of New England, 330; influence in
the Connecticut Valley, 337, 338.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY IN NEW ENGLAND, 371; difference between the settlement of Northern New England and Southern,
372; mingling of nationalities, 372.
ELIOT, JOHN, record concerning Mr. Pynchon, note, 213; receives
Father Druillette, 27I.
ELIZABETH, a Protestant Queen, 12; Act of Supremacy, 13, 16;
Act of Uniformity, 13; Court of High Commission, I6-I9, 64;
increased severity against Non-Conformists, I6; Whitgift, I8;
subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles required, I9; growth
of Puritanism, 30; death of the Queen, 30; character, 40.
ELIZABETH, compared with Victoria, 235.
ENDICOTT, GOVERNOR JOHN, 96, 203.
ESTIMATE OF THE PURITANS by English historians: Macaulay,
3; Hallam, Hume, Carlyle, 3; John Richard Green, xxxvi, xl,
14, 41, 44, 221.
EXCOMMUNICATION OF NON-CONFORMISTS, 65.
FARMERS, early ministers were, I33.
FOOD in early Puritan times, I37.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION in Holland, 53.




396                      INDEX.
FRENCH OF CANADA, 265, Roman Catholics, 266; visits of La
Tour, I643 and 1646, 267; Druillette, 268.
FULLER, DR. SAMUEL, 96, 97.
FUNERALS, methods of conducting, I64.
FURNITURE OF THE PILGRIMS AND PURITANS, 135; inventory of
the furniture of Elder Brewster, 260; inventory of household
goods of Governor John Winthrop, 260; of Mrs. Martha
Coytmore, 261.
GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS, considers the complaint of
the Church of Springfield, 363; decides that the Council was
regular and legal, 363; that the magistrates had no right to
interfere, 364.
GOWN AND BANDS in the pulpit, 126.
GRASMERE PARISH CHURCH (England), note, I46.
HABEAS CORPUS, Writ of, insisted on, 62; refused, 63.
HALF-WAY COVENANT, 306; arose from regard for children, a
survival from the Church of England, 306; " Unseparated
Churches," 306; the grace of the Covenant, 307; why children
were baptized, 308; small number in the Churches in "full
Communion," 308; who are the subjects of baptism? 310; decision of the first Council, 309; the Synod of I662, 309; its
decision, 310; dissent from these views, 310; Synodists and
Antisynodists, 31I; leaders on the two sides; call of Mr. Davenport to Boston, 31I; the Half-Way Covenant modified, 312;
reliance on outward forms, 313; the Lord's Supper a converting ordinance, 313; results of these doctrines, 314, 336.
HARVARD COLLEGE, 103, 125, [32.
HARVARD, JOHN, 124.
HARVEST FESTIVAL at Plymouth, 263; wild game, exercise of
arms, 263; the Indians feasted, 264; not a religious festival,
264.
HENRY THE EIGHTH, Defender of the Faith, o1; law of the Six
Articles, Io; Progress of the Reformation, II.
HIGGINSON, FRANCIS, 88, 122, I58.
HIGH CHURCH PARTY IN ENGLAND, 42; reactionary party in the
Church, 43; the Real Presence in the Sacrament advocated, 59.
HINGHAM MEETING-HOUSE, 141.
HISTORIANS ON THE PURITANS: Macaulay, 3, 43; Hallam, 3;
Hume, 3; Carlyle, 3; Green, 14, 41, 221; Bancroft, 58; Campbell, 41.




INDEX.                       397
HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW ENGLAND, its necrology for 1893, 1894, and 1895, 274, 276.
HOLLAND, Influence of, xxxvii, 99, o19.
HOOKER'S ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY, 43.
HOOKER, THOMAS, graduated at the University at Cambridge,
125; invited to sit in the Westminster Assembly, 127; letter
on the suffrage, 168; sermon, 169; his published works, 289,
299; Grace is free, 300; The Free Will, 300; depravity, 301;
Redemption, 301; free invitations, 302.
HOPKINS, SAMUEL, I30.
HOSPITALITY OF THE PURITANS, 266; the two Friars, 267; the
Lord's-day, 267; second company of Frenchmen, 267; entertained at the house of the Governor, 268; taken to the meetinghouse, 268; Father Gabriel Druillette, the Jesuit Missionary,
268-269; visit to Plymouth, a fish dinner on Friday, 270; visits
the Apostle Eliot, 270.
HOUSE OF COMMONS investigates abuses, 34, 45; refuses to vote
supplies without redress of abuses, 62.
HUTCHINSON, MRS. ANNE, 289; banished, 290.
HUTCHINSON, COLONEL JOHN, of Owthorpe, 78; personal description, 222; love of art, 223; respect for woman, hatred of persecution, conjugal affection, 223; love of a military life, 224;
saves the life of Cromwell, 224; dies in prison, 224.
HUGUENOTS, 33.
INDEPENDENT CHURCHES, 158.
INDIANS, conversion of, 9I; their marks as signatures to a deed,
193; friendly relations, 199; their independence recognized, I99.
JAMES THE FIRST, his character, 35, 37, 38, 40; claims unlimited
power, 40, 46; his first Parliament, 45; second Parliament, 47;
third Parliament, 48; Journals of the Commons, 48; Book of
Sports, 49, 65; his French Alliance, 50.
JOHNSON, ISAAC, 186.
JUDGMENT, DAY OF, 120.
LAMBETH HOUSE, Conference, 36, 44.
LA TOUR visits Boston, 266-267; welcomed, saluted at his departure, 268.
LAUD, BISHOP OF LONDON, 59, 64; Archbishop of Canterbury, 64,
66, 74; suppresses Puritan Lectureships, 64; feoffments, 65;
committed to the tower, 74.




398                     INDEX.
LEGISLATION OF MASSACHUSETTS, 109, II; in respect to heretics,
203; tended toward democracy, 256; regulated the sale of intoxicating drinks, 256.
LEGISLATION OF THE PURITANS in advance of their times, 25;
seventeenth century laws, 251; more merciful than those of Virginia, 253; or New York, or England, 252; capital crimes, 252;
English laws against Quakers, witchcraft, 253; blasphemy, penalty for, in Maryland, 253; Puritan laws against Quakers, 254;
against witchcraft, 255.
LETTERS FROM ENGLAND in regard to Pynchon's book, 213; reply
from the Elders, 213.
LETTERS OF GOVERNOR WINTHROP TO HIS WIFE, and of Margaret Winthrop to her husband, 227-232.
LETTERS OF GOVERNOR WINTHROP TO HIS SON, 231.
LEYDEN, the refuge of the Pilgrims, 56.
LIBRARIES of the Puritans, 124.
LIGHTING and warming the meeting-houses, 146.
LONGFELLOW, H. W., a student of New England history, 243;
descendant from John Alden, 273.
LONG PARLIAMENT, 71, 74, 75.
LORD'S-DAY began Saturday evening, 148; religious services,
I49.
LORD'S SUPPER, mode of administering, 154.
LOTHROP, PARSON, 129.
LUTHER, 9.
LYCIDAS OF MILTON, 67.
MAGNA CHARTA, a Puritan watchword, 61.
MANNERS of the Early Ministers, 125-129, I30.
MARRIAGE by the Magistrate, t65.
MARTIN MAR-PRELATE TRACTS, 28; replies, 30.
MARTYRS OF THE SEPARATISTS, 25; Copping, Dennis, Thacker,
25; Henry Barrowe, 26; John Greenwood, John Penry, 27.
MARY. restores the Mass, II; martyrs during her reign, I2.
MASSACHUSETTS, Government of, Ioo; order of nobility proposed,
100.
MATHER, COTTON. 121, 140, 189.
MATHER, INCREASE. 127.
MATHER, RICHARD, I08, 123; salary, 132; letters to England,
213.
MAYFLOWER, THE. 86, 136; departure of, 244.
MCKEEN, PRESIDENT JOSEPH, 382; preaching, 388.
1                             0 IU~L j~rrr ~   vl rr~r l~




INDEX.


399


MEETING-HOUSES, 139; meaning of, 139; central building of the
town, 140; built of logs at first, square with pointed roof, 40o;
examples of that style, I41; barn meeting-house, I42; sounding-board, 142; benches, square pews, 143; third period, I44;
Christ Church, 144; Old South Meeting-house, 145.
MEETING-HOUSE, IN BRUNSWICK, 373; its environment, 374; the
East Meeting-house, 373, 379; no means of heating or lighting,
380.
MERITORIOUS PRICE OF OUR REDEMPTION, 200; published 165o,
copies now extant, 2I0; excitement kindled by the book, condemned to be burned, 201; answered by John Norton, 202;
letters from England concerning, 203; John Cotton explains the
action, 204; analysis of the book, 206; discussion of Scripture
texts, versions quoted, theologians quoted, 206; constructive
part of the book, 207; death of Christ a part of His obedience,
208.
MID-WEEK LECTURES, I56.
MILK FOR BABES, by John Cotton, 157, 286.
MILLENARY PETITION, 36, 70; Hampton Court Conference, 37;
an opportunity lost for the union of English Christians, 39; the
points of agreement proposed by the Puritans, 36; King James
determines to root out Puritanism, 38, 66, 95.
MILLER, REV. JOHN, of Brunswick, notices of, 375, note; length
of his ministry, 374; a decided Congregationalist, 384.
MILTON, JOHN, culture, love of liberty, 68; Lycidas, 67; love of
art, 78, 225.
MINISTERS, THE EARLY IN NEW ENGLAND, 117; representatives
of Puritans, 117; intense Protestants, I8; men of one book,
118; of education and culture, 120; original languages of the
Bible, 123; libraries, 124; dignity and courtliness, I25; gown
and bands, 126; dress of, 129; salaries, 132; dwellings, 135;
food, 137; preaching, 152; mid-week lectures, I56; parochial
work, 157; ordination of, i6r.
MINISTERS IN MAINE, 381; description of Rev. Samuel Eaton,
382; President McKeen, 382; use of intoxicating liquors,
383.
MINISTERS LIMITED TO THE PARISH, 161.
MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH AT PLYMOUTH, Lyford, 104; Rogers,
Smith, Raynor, Charles Chauncy, 104, To6; John Cotton, Jr.,
105.
MISTAKES OF THE PURITANS, 162; limited by their environment,
163; no public reading of the Bible without exposition, I63;




400


INDEX.


services at funerals, I64; marriage by the magistrate, I65;
days of the week by numerals, I66; festivals of the Christian
year, 167.
MOODY, JOSHUA, 119.
MOXON, GEORGE, 193; salary of, I93.
NEW ENGLAND THEOLOGY, 330, 383.
NEW ENGLAND TYPE of mind, 271; seventh generation from the
founders, 272; modified by other types, 273; examples of, in
our time, 273.
NEW HAMPSHIRE, 240.
NEW HAVEN, 0o8.
NON-CONFORMISTS prosecuted, 17; Dean of Christ Church in
prison, 17; ministers in London suspended, 17; John Foxe;
preaching in private houses forbidden, 19; Non-Conformists in
prison, 17, I9, 25-26.
NORTON, JOHN, graduates at Cambridge, Io6, 123; minister of Ipswich, 123; salary of, 132; mid-week lectures, I56; answers the
book of Mr. Pynchon, 202, 290; minister of Boston, 209; publishes The Orthodox Evangelist, 295; Decrees of God, 295;
liberty of man, 296; the fall of man, 297; saving faith, 298;
justification, 298.
OFFICERS OF A PURITAN CHURCH, 16o.
OLD COLONY LEGISLATION, democratic, 98; no religious test, 99;
severity of it, IO9; Quakers at Plymouth, o19-IiO; witchcraft, IO.
OLD COLONY MINISTERS: Ralph Partridge, John Lothrop, Henry
Dunster, Samuel Newman, Charles Chauncy, io6.
ORDER OF SERVICES on Sunday, 149.
ORDINATION OF MINISTERS, I58, i6o.
PACKARD, PROF. ALPHEUS S., 381.
PALFREY, DR. J. G., 60, 78, 85, 89, 121, 138, 325.
PARK, PROF. EDWARDS A., 128.
PARLIAMENTARY LEADERS: Pym, 47, 48, 73, 75; Eliot, 47, 48, 6o,
63, 66, 71, 84; Coke, 47, 48, 75; John Hampden, 6i, 70, 72,
75; trial of Hampden's cause, 72; Rex is lex, 73.
PAROCHIAL WORK OF THE EARLY MINISTERS, 157; pastoral visiting, in the eighteenth century, 384; methodical and faithful, 385 -PARSONS, HUGH, tried for witchcraft, 196.




INDEX.


401


PETITION OF RIGHT, 6I.
PHILLIPS, SAMUEL, 128.
PILGRIM CHURCH in Plymouth, 94, 98.
PILGRIM FATHERS, 49; Gainsborough-upon-Trent, 5I; Scrooby,
51; spirit of the Pilgrims, 53-57; their sufferings, 52, 54, 55;
their departure for Holland, 54-55; in Amsterdam, 56; remove
to Leyden, 56; reasons for their going to America, 57; their
departure, 57, 84; poetic quality in Pilgrim history, Io; their
legislation, Iog; Quakers at Plymouth, lo9-o10.
PILGRIM MODEL OF A CHURCH adopted, 94, 96.
PILGRIMS, THE, PIONEERS, 236; without domestic animals, 236;
or ploughs, without milk or butter, 236; without nourishing
food, 237; or suitable clothing, 237; compared with Jacob and
his sons, 238; in debt to the Company in England, 238; exposed to savages, 239.
PLYMOUTH COLONY, 84; government of, 98; no religious tests, 99,
IOI, 102, 170.
POLITY OF THE EARLY CHURCHES, 177; the Cambridge Platform,
179; fellowship of the Churches, 18o, 285.
POLITICAL ELEMENTS IN THE PURITAN CAUSE, 39.
POVERTY OF THE PIONEER SETTLERS IN MAINE, 380; the pillion,
number of wheeled carriages, 380.
PREACHING IN BRUNSWICK in the last century, 383; doctrines
preached, catechising, 383.
PRESBYTERIANS IN MAINE, 372; first church in Brunswick Presbyterian, 378; became Congregational, 379.
PRESBYTERIAN ORDINATION recognized by the Church of England, 42.
PRINCE, THOMAS, 327.
PRINTING-PRESSES, not allowed, 20, 28, 31.
PRISCILLA MULLINS, 243; reply to Standish, 244.
PROTESTANT EXILES return to England, I6.
PROTESTANT REFORMATION in England, 9; the Puritan protest
against error, 282; love of the Bible, 282; the Lord's-day, 283.
PROTESTANT REFUGEES IN ENGLAND, I6, 33.
PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 170,338; provisions of its charter,
union of Church and State, 339; no religious test for the Suffrage, 340.
PUBLIC WORSHIP, 147; attendance required by law, 148; began at
9 o'clock, 148; called at beat of the drum, 149; order of services, 149; prayers, I49; exposition, singing, 150; sermons,
152; afternoon services, 154; contributions, 155.
26




402


INDEX.


PUBLIC WORSHIP, AND THE SACRAMENTS, in Maine, 374; how the
Lord's Supper was administered, 379; baptism, 379; regular
services on the Lord's-day, 380.
PURITANS IN ENGLAND, 5, 14, 16; origin of the word, I6; Religio
purissima, i6; division of the Puritans, 21; rapid growth of
Puritanism, 30; political elements in the Puritan cause, 39; the
defenders of liberty, 39, 45, 76, 92; requests from the Church
of England, 36; their so-called bigotry, causes, 68; migration
to New England, 69, 79; limitations of the Puritans, 76; their
culture, 78, 79; John Owen, 78; Colonel John Hutchinson, 78,
222-225; their colleges, 79; their influence, 8o; causes of the
fall of the Commonwealth, 75-76.
-7PURITANS IN NEW   ENGLAND, Non-Conformists, 84; from the
upper middle classes, go; political plans, 92; suffrage restricted
by a religious test, Ioo; thrifty and prosperous people, ro2;
their intellectual spirit, Io6; Harvard College, Cambridge
Platform, Io7; their legislation, 11, 251.
PURITANS IN MASSACHUSETTS, provided with cattle and other
domestic animals, 239; often destitute of nourishing food, 240;
visited by sickness, 240; dependent on a wind-mill, 240; influence of, 273-276, 306.
PURITAN INFLUENCE IN NEW ENGLAND, 4; numbers who came
from England, 4; proportion of Puritan descent, 5.
PURITAN MINISTERS SILENCED, 20, 64, 67.
PURITAN OBJECTIONS TO SEPARATISTS, 94.
PURITAN SCRUPLES about Conformity, i5.
PURITAN TYPE, THE, 271; compared with the Greek type, 271;
Patricians of Rome, 272.
PYNCHON RECORD BOOK, 194.
PYNCHON, WILLIAM, GENT., I85; ancestry, 186; portrait, 187;
education, member of the Massachusetts Company, Treasurer,
188; fur-trader, 188; house lot, 192; magistrate, 192, 194;
controls trade with the Indians, I99; gains a large fortune,
200; publishes a book in I65o, 200; the Meritorious Price of
our Redemption, 200; called to answer before the General
Court, 202; required to retract; causes of the excitement, politics in the case, 202; his scholarship, 206; constructive part of
his book, 207; confers with the Elders, 209; explains his opinions before the General Court, 210; meaning of his letter to the
Court, 210; left out of the magistracy, 211; placed under
bonds, 212; returns to England, 212; Wraysbury, literary occupations, 215; Works, 215-216; family, 217; portrait, 218;
book, 290, 338.




INDEX.                       403
QUAKERS, their treatment in England, I74; reasons why they were
not tolerated in New England, 175; four of them put to death,
175; repeal of the law, 175, 254.
REACTIONARY PARTY IN THE CHURCH, 43; advocates passive
obedience, 45; the divine right of kings, 41, 46, 59; the high
prerogatives of the king, 47; Montague, 59; Mainwaring, 59.
REASONS FOR EXCLUDING those not of their way of thinking, 93.
REFORMATION IN ENGLAND, 9; Luther, 9; difference between
German Reformation and the English, 9.
REFORMING SYNOD, 315.
RELIGION IN PURITAN LIFE, 262.
REPUBLICS OF GREECE, 85.
REVIVALS OF RELIGION, few, 313; The Great Awakening, 314,
338; revivals in Maine, 385; in Harpswell, 386; in North
Yarmouth, 386.
RHODE ISLAND, 240.
RING IN MARRIAGE, 15.
ROBINSON, REV. JOHN, 52, 94, 20o.
ROMANISM in the Church of England, 59, 65, 66, 84, 95.
ROMANISTS, numbers of in England, 15.
ROYAL COMMISSIONERS, I05, 123.
RUTHERFORD, REV. ROBERT, 374 and note; length of pastorate,
374.
SABBATH, THE PURITAN VIEW concerning, 65, 148, 268, 282-283;
Book of Sports, 65, 283.
SALEM. First Church formed, 97, 159.
SAVOY CONFESSION, 319; an improvement on the Westminster
Confession, 320; adopted in Boston, I68o, 320; reaffirmed
I865, 321.
SAYBROOK PLATFORM, 321; influence of, 328; in the second
century, 336.
SCOTTISH WAR in I640. 73.
SECOND CENTURY in New England History, '35; period of transition, improved buildings, and ways of ving 336; Half-way
Covenant, 336; Yale College, 336; Saybrook platform, 336;
Arminian theology, 336.
SEPARATISTS, origin of, 21; Separatist Church in Norwich, 22;
Separatists in London, 24; persecution of, 25; martyrs, 25-28.
SERMONS OF THE PURITAN MINISTERS, 152; not written; length,
153.




404


INDEX.


SERVICE OF SONG IN MASSACHUSETTS, 150; in Brunswick, 379;
number of tunes, 381; version of psalms, 38I.
SETTLEMENT FOR THE MINISTER, 132, 340.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, 233; belief in witchcraft, 234; cruel punishments, 234; slavery, 234; simple life, reverence, dignity, 235;
respect for philosophy and religion, 235; its great poets and
statesmen, 236.
SHEPARD, THOMAS, personal history, io6, 292; pastor of the Church
in Cambridge, 293; his views in theology, 293; his works, 292
note.
SHIP-MONEY, 72, 74.
SIMPLE COBBLER OF AGAWAM, 258.
SINGING, 150; no instruments of music, 150; psalter of Ainsworth,
Bay Psalm Book, tunes used, 15o; no choirs, 152; singing by
note, or by rote, 15I; decline of church music (note), reform
in methods of singing, 151; church choirs, 152; in Maine,
379.
SKELTON, SAMUEL, I22, I58.
SOCIAL DISTINCTIONS, 143; the titles Mr. and Mrs., 256; Goodman and Goodwife, 257; loss of the title by a misdemeanor,
257; catalogues of Harvard, 257; the title Sir, 257.
SOUNDING BOARD, 141; in English churches (note), 142.
SPRINGFIELD, Settlement of, 191; mutual agreement, 191, I95;
number of families, allotment of land, 191; Agawam, I91; agreement with the Indians, 192; jury, I94; sets up a government,
195; town-meeting, 197; penalty for carrying fire; standard of
measure; monthly training, powder not to be sold to Indians,
197; wages of carpenters, I98; other laborers; penalty for refusing to serve as an officer of the town; stipend paid for beating the drum for the meetings, 198.
SPRINGFIELD IN ITS SECOND CENTURY, 337; towns in the Connecticut Valley, Association of Ministers, 337.
STAFFORD IMPEACHED, 74.
STANDISH, MILES, 243.
STAR CHAMBER, 20.
SUFFRAGE LIMITED by a religious test, 99, i68, I69.
SUPPORT OF MINISTERS, IJ0; voluntary contributions, 13I; tax
by authority of the Cooloty, 131; salaries of, 132; " settlement,"
132; not poor men, 134; qualifications, 339; method of selectIng a minister, 340; support of, 340.
SYNOD OF 1637, 289; condemns eighty-two erroneous views, 290.
SYNOD OF CAMBRIDGE, I646, 107, 178, 291.




INDEX.


405


SYNOD OF I679, 315; time and place of meeting, 315; questions
before it, 315; statement of the sins of New England, 316 -318; recommendations, 318; seconded by the General Court,
318; and by the Churches, results, 319; adjourned meeting of
the Synod, 319; Savoy Synod, and its confession, 319-320;
The Boston Synod adopts its confession, 320; amendments,
320; Congregational Council of I865, 321; influence of this
Confession, 321, 327.
TABLE FURNITURE, I37.
TAX FOR SUPPORT OF CHURCHES, IOO.
TEA, not in use, 138.
TENNYSON, quoted, 112.
THANKSGIVING DAYS, 167; days of fasting, 167.
THIRTY YEARS WAR, 34, 50.
TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE, Wyclifs, 6; Tyndale's, II; Coverdale's, I I; King James', 37.
UNITARIANISM IN NEW ENGLAND, origin of, 313.
VANE, SIR HENRY, 185, 213.
VERSIONS quoted in Mr. Pynchon's book, 206.
WARD, NATHANIEL, 255; author of Body of Liberties, and the
Simple Cobbler of Agawam, 258.
WAREHOUSE POINT, 199.
WATER MILL, the first, 241.
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY, date of, 204; statement of its doctrines
concerning Atonement, 205.
WHITE, REV. JOHN, of Dorchester, England, 89.
WHITGIFT, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, IS.
WILLARD'S, SAMUEL, Body of Divinity, 283; earliest folio in New
England, 302; evidence for the Bible, 303; inspiration; election, 303; Redemption, 304; Person of Christ, Inability, 304;
difference between this theology and that of Hooker, 305.
WILLIAMS, ROGER, 122, 171, I73; recalled, 174, 306.
WILLIAM THE SILENT, 76, 84.
WILSON, JOHN, 121, 132.
WINDMILL SET UP IN NEWTOWN, 240; in Boston, 241.
WINE AND SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS, 139.
WINSLOW, GOVERNOR EDWARD, 90, 96, 185.
WINTHROP, ADAM, 226.




406


INDEX.


WINTHROP, GOVERNOR JOHN, address on leaving England, 88;
results from his death, 203; birth, 226; commemorated by
statues, 226; marriage to Margaret Tyndal, 226; letters to his
wife from Groton, 227; from London, 229; Southampton, 230;
from the Arabella, 230; from Massachusetts, 232; writes a
history, 233.
WINTHROP, MARGARET, 226; letters to her husband, 228-230;
sails in the ship Lyon; reception by the people in Boston, 232.
WINTHROP, ROBERT C., 276.
WITCHCRAFT, Pilgrim laws against, jIIO common belief in, IZg6
numbers put to death in Europe, 177; trial for witchcraft in
Springfield, I96; belief in, in the seventeenth century, 234;
English laws against, 253; Puritan laws, 255; reasons why
the prosecutions ceasedgSS.
WRAYSBURY, home of Mr. Pynchon, 214, 215.
WYCLIF, JOHN, date of his birth, 6; translation of the Bible, 6;
earliest English Reformer, 6; the Lollards, 7; persecuted, 8.
YALE COLLEGE, 336; its President at the Council in Springfield,
355.
ZEALOUS PROTESTANTS, 282; appealed to the Bible, justification
by faith, sanctity of the Lord's-day, 282.








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