Historical Sketch—View of the condition of the country at the time of Mr. Williams’ arrival.

The first settlement, by Europeans, in North America, was made in 1585, when Sir Walter Raleigh sent a fleet of seven ships from England to Virginia. One hundred and seven persons were landed on the island of Roanoke, near the mouth of Albemarle Sound, in the present State of North Carolina. But discouraged by the want of provisions, and probably by other causes, all the colonists returned to England the next year. Another, and more successful, attempt was made twenty years afterwards, under the authority of a patent from King James, who granted all the territory in North America, comprehended between the 34th and 45th degrees of latitude, to be equally divided between two companies, called, respectively, the London and the Plymouth.

In 1607, three ships, with one hundred emigrants, formed a settlement on the James River, in Virginia, and called the spot Jamestown, in honor of the King.

In the same year, a small colony made a settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River, in the present State of Maine; but the loss of their stores by fire, and the severity of the winter, induced them all to abandon the undertaking the next year, and return to England.

In 1610, a settlement was commenced at Newfoundland, and in 1614, the Dutch built a fort on the island of Manhattan, where the city of New York now stands, and held the country many years, under a grant from the States’ General, by the name of the New Netherlands.^[20]

In 1620, the ever memorable landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth took place. The colonists were a company of Puritans, who left England so early as 1608, with their pastor, the Rev. John Robinson, and settled at Leyden, in Holland. The merciless oppression which they endured in England impelled them thus to abandon their native land. They enjoyed protection and prosperity in Holland, but they were not satisfied with their condition and prospects in that country, which a foreign language and lax morals rendered an undesirable home for them and their children. They accordingly resolved to emigrate to America. They sailed from Plymouth (England) in September, 1620, and on the 11th of December they landed at the spot to which they gave the name of Plymouth.

The settlement of Massachusetts Bay occurred a few years after. This great enterprise was conducted under the direction of the Plymouth Company, who obtained a new patent from King James, by which a number of the highest nobility and gentry of England, their associates and successors, were constituted “the Council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering and governing of New England, in America.” By this patent, the whole territory between the 40th and the 48th degrees of north latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, was granted to the company.^[21] In 1627–8, the Company sold to several gentlemen, among whom were John Endicott and John Humfrey, all that part of New-England which lies between three miles north of Merrimac River and three miles south of Charles River, across the whole breadth of the continent. In June, 1628, Mr. Endicott sailed from England, for Naumkeag, since called Salem, where a small company of emigrants had fixed their residence a short time before. Mr. Endicott’s first letter from America is dated September 13, 1628, and his arrival is considered as the date of the first permanent settlement of Massachusetts Proper.

The patent from the Council of Plymouth gave a good right to the soil, (says Hutchinson, vol. i. pp. 16, 17) but no powers of government. A royal charter was necessary. This passed the seals March 4, 1628–9. It confirmed the patent of the Council of Plymouth, and created the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, in New-England, a body politic and corporate. By this charter, the Company were empowered to elect, annually, forever, out of the freemen of said Company, a Governor, a Deputy Governor, and eighteen assistants, and to make laws not repugnant to the laws of England.

As the state of things in the parent country daily became more distressing to the friends of religion and liberty, an emigration, unparalleled for its extent, and for the character of the emigrants, was projected. A considerable number of persons of great respectability, of good fortune, and of consideration in society, among whom were Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson, and Saltonstall, resolved to remove, with their families and property, to Massachusetts, on condition that the charter of the colony and the seat of its government should be transferred to America. This important proposition was acceded to, and on the 28th of April, 1630, Winthrop, who had been elected Governor, and his associates, sailed from Yarmouth,^[22] in a fleet, which, with the vessels that preceded and followed them the same season, amounted in the whole to seventeen sail,^[23] with above fifteen hundred passengers.^[24] The Arbella, with Governor Winthrop on board, arrived at Salem on the 12th of June, and the other vessels arrived soon after. The colonists there had lost eighty of their number by death the winter previous. Their provisions were nearly consumed, and they were in a distressing situation. The arrival of the new emigrants occasioned great joy to the sufferers, and revived their hopes.

It was early determined that Salem was not the proper position for the capital. The Governor, and the principal part of the emigrants, left Salem soon after their arrival, and resided awhile at Charlestown. Here sickness prevailed among them, and a considerable number died.^[25] They were distressed by the want of fresh water. Many of them accordingly abandoned Charlestown, and settled at Watertown and Dorchester, while a still larger number removed, in September, to the other side of the river, and laid the foundation of Boston. The peninsula was then inhabited by only one white man, the Rev. William Blackstone.^[26] It was called by the Indians Shawmut, and by the neighboring settlers, Trimountain, the former name signifying the abundance and sweetness of its waters, the latter the peculiar character of its hills.^[27] It was called Boston by a vote of the Court, September 7, in well deserved honor of the Rev. John Cotton, who had been a minister of Boston, in England, and whose arrival in America was earnestly expected.

The sufferings of the first inhabitants of the metropolis were very great. Sickness swept many of them into the grave. The weather during the winter was extremely severe, and provisions were so scarce, that the inhabitants were in imminent peril of starvation.^[28] At this critical juncture, the ship Lyon, in which Roger Williams had embarked, arrived, on the 5th of February, 1630–1. Governor Winthrop (vol. i. pp. 41, 42) thus records the arrival of this vessel:

“Feb. 5. The ship Lyon,^[29] Mr. William Peirce, master, arrived at Nantasket. She brought Mr. Williams, a godly minister,^[30] with his wife, Mr. Throgmorton, Perkins, Ong, and others, with their wives and children, about twenty passengers, and about two hundred tons of goods. She set sail from Bristol, December 1. She had a very tempestuous passage, yet through God’s mercy, all her people came safe, except Way his son, who fell from the spritsail yard in a tempest, and could not be recovered, though he kept in sight near a quarter of an hour; her goods also came all in good condition.”

The strong contrast between the situation of the present inhabitants of the metropolis, and that of the little company of suffering exiles in 1630, forces itself on our minds. They were few in number. They had no suitable dwellings to shelter them from the rigors of winter, then more severe, perhaps, than any which we now experience. They were almost without food. Disease was among them, and several of their number sunk into the grave, whose lives might doubtless have been preserved, had they been furnished with suitable shelter, food and medicine. When they looked around them, all was dreary and melancholy. “Where now exists a dense and aggregated mass of living beings and material things, amid all the accommodations of life, the splendors of wealth, the delights of taste, and whatever can gratify the cultivated intellect, there were then only a few hills, which, when the ocean receded, were intersected by wide marshes, and when its tide returned, appeared a group of lofty islands, abruptly rising from the surrounding waters. Thick forests concealed the neighboring hills, and the deep silence of nature was broken only by the voice of the wild beast or the bird, and the war whoop of the savage.”^[31]

How different the situation of the present inhabitants. That little company has swelled to more than sixty thousand. Those forests, which then covered the hills and vallies, are gone; the ocean has been driven back from much of the space over which it then rolled; and now, where stood the few tents and cabins of the first settlers, have sprung up, over the whole peninsula, sumptuous structures and spacious temples, comfortable dwellings, ample warehouses, and every thing which can minister to the happiness of men. The poorest of its citizens is better sheltered and better fed, than some of the richest families among the first inhabitants. Let them give devout thanks to God, that He has reserved for them a happier lot than that of their fathers. Let them, amid their profusion of blessings, praise the Lord, who has done so great things for their city, and its successive generations. Let them, above all, hold fast those great truths, for which the founders sacrificed every thing dear to them on earth.

As the colonists came to this country to enjoy the privilege of worshipping God according to their conceptions of His will, it was, of course, among their first objects to form churches, and make provision for the regular worship of the Most High.

The settlers at Plymouth were organized as a church before they left Holland, and as such they landed on our shores. This church was formed on the principle of entire independence on all human authority. Its members belonged to that class of the Non-Conformists, who had separated entirely from the Church of England, and adopted a form of church polity which they deemed more consistent with the letter and the spirit of the New Testament.

The separate independence of each church on all others; the necessity of true piety as a qualification for membership; the right of each church to elect its own officers; the rejection of all officers except pastors or elders, and deacons, and the entire equality of all pastors and elders, in respect to power and privileges, were among the principles adopted by this excellent body of Christians. They are the principles which the Scriptures teach, and it would have been happy for the cause of truth, if they had been held fast, without any corrupt mixture, by all the churches which professed to receive them. Another principle adopted by the church of Plymouth was, that ecclesiastical censures are wholly spiritual, and not to be accompanied with temporal penalties. In this respect, the church of Plymouth were in advance of their brethren in Massachusetts, and the history of the Plymouth colony is honorably distinguished by a tolerant spirit, which contributed not less to her peace and prosperity, than to her true fame.

The first settlers at Salem, Boston, and other towns in Massachusetts Bay, belonged, for the most part, to the other class of Non-Conformists, who did not, while in England, separate wholly from the Established Church, though they opposed her corruptions. They desired only a further reform of the Church herself, and retained their membership, some of them conforming, though reluctantly, to her ceremonies, to avoid persecution, and others refusing such a conformity, protected awhile by the indulgence of some mild Prelates, or by the friendship of powerful laymen. When, at length, despairing of the desired reform, and weary of persecution, they embarked for America, they came as members of the Church of England. Winthrop and his associates, while on board the fleet at Yarmouth, addressed a farewell letter to the “rest of their brethren in and of the Church of England,” which is as beautiful in diction as it is admirable for its affectionate pathos. They say, “We desire you would be pleased to take notice of the principals and body of our company, as those who esteem it our honor to call the Church of England, from whence we arise, our dear mother, and cannot part from our native country, where she specially resideth, without much sadness of heart and many tears in our eyes; ever acknowledging, that such hope and part as we have obtained in the common salvation, we have received in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts. We leave it not, therefore, as loathing that milk, wherewith we were nourished, but blessing God for the parentage and education, as members of the same body, shall always rejoice in her good, and unfeignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide her; and, while we have breath, sincerely desire and endeavor the continuance and abundance of her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the kingdom of Christ Jesus.”^[32]

There was, unquestionably, an entire sincerity in these expressions of attachment to the Church of England. There was, as they judged, no inconsistency in their subsequent conduct, in forming churches, from which Episcopacy, and all the ceremonies of the parent Church, were excluded. Their love for that Church was founded on her doctrines, not on her ceremonies. They recognised in her articles the genuine faith, once delivered to the saints. Her ceremonies they regarded as unseemly appendages, the relics of Popish superstition, of which they desired to divest her. They loved the inward spirit, not the outward form. They did reverence to the majestic soul, while they looked with sorrow on her fantastic attire. They would have remained in her bosom, and submitted to much which they deemed undesirable, if she would have permitted them to reject what they considered as positively unlawful and wrong. But as she left them no alternative but unconditional submission, or exile, they departed for America; and when they came to form churches here, they endeavored to incorporate that soul in a body befitting her dignity. The American church was, in their view, the Church of England, redeemed and regenerated, holding to her former self a similar relation to that which the just man made perfect bears to the saint who is still on earth, and encumbered with his diseased and mortal body.

A church was formed at Salem, on the 6th of August, 1629, when thirty persons entered into a covenant in writing, and the Rev. Mr. Skelton was ordained, or instituted, as the pastor, and the Rev. Mr. Higginson as the teacher; these offices being considered as distinct, and both being deemed essential to the welfare of a church. The church thus formed was entirely independent. The Governor of Plymouth, and other members of the church there, who had been invited to attend the ceremony, were not permitted to give the right hand of fellowship to the new church, till an explicit declaration had been made, that this service was not meant to indicate any right of interference or control. The pastor and teacher were inducted into office by the vote of the church, and by the imposition of the hands of the ruling elder, as the organ of the church. Thus careful were this body to exclude, at the outset, all authority but that of the Head of the Church. Several of the inhabitants, among whom Messrs. John and Samuel Brown were the principal men, opposed the new church, because the liturgy of the Church of England was rejected.^[33] They accordingly formed another society, in which the book of common prayer was read. The schism was speedily remedied, by a measure which was much more energetic than just. Mr. John Brown and his brother, the leaders, were sent to England, and their followers quietly relinquished their opposition.

A church was formed at Charlestown, July 30, 1630, by Governor Winthrop and a number of other persons, who signed a covenant, in which they simply promised to “walk in all our ways according to the rule of the Gospel, and in all sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, and in mutual love and respect to each other, so near as God shall give us grace.”^[34] On the 27th of August, the Rev. John Wilson was elected teacher. “We used imposition of hands,” says Governor Winthrop, “but with this protestation by all, that it was only as a sign of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce his ministry he received in England.”^[35] Thus careful were they to guard the independence of the church, while they preserved due respect for the Church of England, whose ministers, so far as they were pastors and teachers, they acknowledged and honored.

When the Governor and the greater portion of the colonists removed to Boston, the church, with the minister, removed thither. It remained without a house for public worship till August, 1632, when a building was commenced,^[36] on the south side of State street, opposite the spot where the Branch Bank now stands. It was a humble structure, with a thatched roof and mud walls.^[37] Perhaps, however, the metropolis has never seen a more devout congregation than that which was accustomed to assemble there. It well illustrates the piety of the founders, and their high regard for the ministry, that at the first Court of Assistants, held on board the Arbella, at Charlestown, August 23, 1630, the first question propounded was, How shall the ministers be maintained? It was ordered, that houses be built for them with convenient speed, at the public charge, and their salaries were established. These were sufficiently moderate. Mr. Wilson was allowed twenty pounds per annum, till his wife should arrive, and Mr. Phillips, the minister of Watertown, was to receive thirty pounds.^[38]

The ecclesiastical polity, now commenced, was afterwards moulded into a more regular and permanent form, by the personal influence of Mr. Cotton, and by the authority of the platform adopted in 1648. The great principles which were established were these: each church is independent, and possesses the sole power of governing itself, according to the Scriptures; piety and a holy life are the qualifications for church membership; the officers of a church are pastors, teachers, ruling elders and deacons, and are to be chosen by the church itself; the ordination of ministers is to be performed with imposition of hands, by the ministers of the neighboring churches. These and other principles, which, with some exceptions, are still held by the Independent, Congregational and Baptist churches, were joined, with another article, which was the source of manifold mischiefs to the colony. It is thus expressed, in the words of Hubbard, (540): “Church government and civil government may very well stand together, it being the duty of the magistrate to take care of matters of religion, and to improve his civil authority for observing the duties commanded in the first as well as in the second table; seeing the end of their office is not only the quiet and peaceable life of the subject in matters of righteousness and honesty, but also in matters of godliness.” 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.

The ecclesiastical polity being adjusted, the civil government was made to conform to it.^[39] To the excellent founders, religion was the most precious of all interests, and civil government was, in their view, useful, no further than it was necessary for the good order of the community, and the security of their religious privileges. Having escaped from the grasp of the civil power in England, they resolved, that in the new state to be formed here, the church should hold the first place. They wished to erect here a community, which should be itself a church, governed by the laws of Jesus Christ, flourishing in the peace and beauty of holiness, and realizing the glorious visions of the prophets. It was a noble conception, a sublime purpose, of which none but pure hearted men would have been capable. That they failed in accomplishing all their plans, was the natural result of human corruption; but they succeeded in forming a community, more moral, more easily governed, better educated, more thoroughly under the control of religious principles, and more truly free, than the world had then seen. At the General Court, held so early as May 18, 1631, it was ordered, that no person should be admitted to the privileges of a freeman, unless he was a member of some church in the colony. This law was, no doubt, unjust, and the colony was afterwards forced to repeal it. It was, also, injurious to the interests of religion, for it made church membership an object of earnest desire, for political purposes, and thus introduced men without piety into the church. It led to the adoption, to some extent, of the ruinous principle, that piety is not necessary to church membership, and it was one of the causes of that unhappy strife, which issued in the introduction of the half-way covenant.^[40] But the law is characteristic of the founders, and proves their determination to keep the state subordinate to the church. They also adopted, as the basis of their civil code, the laws of Moses, so far as they were of a moral nature, though, as Roger Williams remarked, “they extended their moral equity to so many particulars as to take in the whole judicial law.” They punished crimes, not by the laws of England, but by those of Moses. Idolatry, blasphemy, man stealing, adultery, and some other crimes, not punishable with death by the laws of the parent country, were made capital. Every inhabitant was compelled to contribute, in proportion to his ability, to the support of religion. This adoption of the Mosaic code, and a constant disposition to seek for precedents in the Old Testament, will account for many of the measures which have been attributed to the bigotry of our fathers.