CHAPTER V.

THE

THE PURITANS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

HE first Puritans of Massachusetts came hither with no intention of separating from the Church of England. They were of the Reform party within the church. They stood between it and the Separatists, disapproving of both. They hoped to make something better than either, which should still be the Church of England. Yet, as Robinson had predicted, the simple fact of removal from England to the New World made the Puritan emigrants become Separatists, though they did not for some time realize the change which had been wrought.

The first Puritan settlement began with a little company of fishermen on Cape Ann. Its chief patron was John White, a noted Puritan minister of Dorchester, England, and it was maintained by a company formed in that town. This settlement began in 1624, Roger Conant being superintendent of the plantation. John Lyford, after his deserved expulsion from the Plymouth Colony, found his way thither, and representing that he had left Plymouth because his conscience could not abide the Separatists, was received as a minister. The settlement did not prosper, and being given up the second year by the Dorchester Company, most of the men went back to England.

But Roger Conant, with a few others, remained. He informed Mr. White that there was a better chance for a colony at Naumkeag, a little west of Cape Ann, and suggested that it "might prove a receptacle for such as upon the account of religion would be willing to begin a foreign plantation in the New World." Conant sought to plant a Puritan colony, as far from Popery on the one hand as from Separatism on the other. White, who never came to America, promised to help him. The company removed to Naumkeag. Lyford, having had, or claiming to have had, a call to Virginia, persuaded most of the company to break their engagement to stay, and to follow him thither. Conant declared that he would stand firm, though everyone should forsake him. He persuaded his three associates, who had also accepted White's offer of help, to remain with him.

Early in 1628, under White's leadership, the Company of Massachusetts Bay was organized in England. It received a grant of "that part of New England which lies between the Merrimack and Charles rivers in the bottom of Massachusetts Bay." The grant included the land beyond this tract three miles from the banks of both rivers. The scheme for a Puritan colony was furthered by the growing conviction in the Puritan party in England that it would find justice at home only through revolution and war. Captain John Endecott, a brave and earnest Puritan, was chosen to govern the new plantation, and with his wife and about forty others arrived in the ship "Abigail," September 6, of that year. Some discontent arose between the newcomers and those already on the ground, but it was soon removed by prudent man

agement; and in memory of that event the name. of the plantation was changed to Salem, which means Peace.

Soon they were visited with severe sickness, and Captain Endecott applied to Plymouth Colony for help. Dr. Samuel Fuller, deacon of the Pilgrim church and physician of the colony, was sent to Salem. He brought with him more than healing for the body. He gave the New England Puritans so true an idea of the New England Pilgrims that they were drawn toward that union which in years to come was to result in one denomination of Christians and one commonwealth. Govenor Endecott, writing to Governor Bradford in grateful acknowledgment of Dr. Fuller's services, declared himself convinced that the Pilgrims' method of worship was right. "It is," he wrote, "as far as I can gather, no other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed himself to me; being very far different from the common report that hath been spread of you touching that particular."

Governor Endecott soon had an opportunity to put in practice his theories of church worship, and of church government also, for the next year, 1629, the Massachusetts Company, encouraged by reports of the prosperity of the plantation, sent out six vessels with nearly four hundred persons, live stock and extensive equipments for the settlers. With this company came four ministers. Francis Higginson, Samuel Skelton and Francis Bright were Puritans; Ralph Smith was a Separatist, and when that fact was discovered he came near having to give up his passage. He was

finally permitted to sail under restrictions. These Puritan ministers did not propose to renounce the mother church. Higginson had been forbidden to officiate as a minister in England because of his views, yet he is said to have gathered his children and the other passengers into the stern of the ship as they passed Land's End, and to have used these words: "We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England, 'Farewell, Babylon! farewell, Rome!' but we will say, 'Farewell, dear England, farewell, the Church of God in England and all the Christian friends there.' We do not go to New England as Separatists from the Church of England, though we cannot but separate from the corruptions in it; but we go to practice the positive part of church reformation, and propagate the gospel in America." Perhaps the presence of that Separatist minister might have added emphasis to these words.

The company was careful to provide able preachers, because it was in a true sense a foreign missionary organization. They sought not only to plant a Christian colony, but to Christianize the Indians also. They avowed "that the propagating of the gospel is a thing we do profess above all to be our aim in settling this plantation." The Puritan not less than the Pilgrim\ colony was a religious enterprise, planned and carried, out by Christian men. These three ministers contracted with the company which sent them, "to do their uttermost to further the main end of this plantation," to secure "by the assistance of Almighty God the conversion of the savages." Each minister was to have from the company for an outfit twenty pounds,

also ten pounds for books and a salary of twenty pounds a year. He had free passage to New England, with house, food and firewood, to be furnished by the colony. Higginson had ten pounds a year in addition on account of his large family.

Ralph Smith soon found his way to Plymouth and became the first pastor in that colony. The other ministers remained at Salem. But somehow it was at once felt that though they were regularly ordained, and the people to whom they came were members of the Church of England, something more was needed to qualify them for the exercise of the pastoral office in this new land. The governor talked the matter over with the chief men of the colony. The result was that he appointed a day of fasting and prayer for the consideration of church affairs. On that day, July 20, all places of business being closed, Messrs. Higginson and Skelton gave their views as to the church and answered questions as to the ministerial calling; and their statements being satisfactory, a ballot was taken, every fit member voting," and Mr. Skelton was chosen pastor and Mr. Higginson, teacher. This is the first instance on record of the use of the printed ballot in America. These two men accepted the call thus extended, and at once were formally set apart for their work. First Mr. Higginson, with three or four of the gravest members, laid hands on Mr. Skelton with prayer. Then, in like manner, hands were laid on Mr. Higginson. An elder and two deacons were also nominated, but their election was postponed, because it was thought that some more able men might be sent over from England from whom the church might choose. Some have supposed that