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1640.]

JOHN DAVENPORT AND HIS CHURCH.

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that whoever should after September, 1641, "drinke [smoke] any other tobacco but such as is, or shall be, planted within these liberties," should suffer the heavy penalty of a fine of five shillings for every pound. Such laws foreshadowed some of the important industries and future wealth of the State of Connecticut.

The supremacy obtained over the Indians by arms was confirmed by law over those who survived the Pequot war. It was a penal act to sell them arms, or even to mend those of which they were already in possession. Theft, and intimidation for the sake of theft, the crimes to which the savages were most inclined, were severely punished. If they could not be made good citizens, and that was hardly attempted, it was hoped, at least, that as vagabonds they might be rendered harmless. The dealings of the colonists with them were so far just that they paid for the lands they wanted, and permitted the Indians to retain those the English did not want, provided they were peaceful and kept within their own bounds. When these conditions were not observed a raid upon their cornfields and wigwams renewed the lesson of the war. Whoever recognized the higher duty of attempting to lead them to a knowledge of Christianity was quite free to do so without interference from the State; but their most efficient teachers were the lives the Christians led, and the examples they followed were naturally those which were most evil.

Settlement

Haven.

While the Pequot war was in progress a fresh colony from England arrived in Boston and was looking for a place of settlement. Edward Hopkins, who soon after went to Hartford, was in of New this company; John Davenport, a clergyman of some note from London, was their pastor, and the leading man among them was Theophilus Eaton, a merchant of reputation and of affluence. It was a company of wealth and respectability, and the magistrates of Massachusetts would have gladly retained them within their jurisdiction.

But there were two reasons, imperative with the new-comers, for seeking a place for their future home without the bounds of Massachusetts: there was too much theological controversy and not sufficient harbor accommodation about the Bay. The banishment of Mrs. Hutchinson was not the extirpation of heresy, and Mr. Davenport, it is said, was fearful lest his flock should be led astray by the fatal doctrines of the Antinomians. Whatever other dangers might lurk in the wilderness, the Indians would not, at least, unsettle men's minds as to sanctification and justification. The other point was equally clear: the farming lands near all the good harbors about the Bay were already occupied. Agriculture must, of course, be their immediate reliance; but they hoped to found a commercial colony, and

therefore sought for a commodious port where trade would grow, while lands not too far off to be conveniently cultivated should yield

John Davenport.

them a subsistence. Anoth

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er reason given was that they wished to put themselves beyond the reach of a general governor, should one be appointed for all New England; but as this had ceased to be probable, the alleged fear of it could only have been a thin disguise for a more substantial purpose a wish to escape the jurisdiction of Massachusetts and have an independent government of their own. In the spring of 1638, the whole company sailed from Boston for Quinnipiack, now New Haven, purchased the preceding autumn from Momauguin, the Indian sachem, for twelve coats of English cloth, twelve alchemy spoons, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives, twelve porringers and four cases of French knives and scissors. Several of their number had held possession through the winter, but the first solemn and formal act of occupation was on the 18th of April, the Sunday after their arrival. Then this new band of Pilgrim Fathers assembled beneath the spreading branches of a giant oak, and the pastor, Davenport, preached to them from the text, Matthew iv. 1: "Then was Jesus led up of the Sunday at Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil." New Haven. "He had a good day," he said afterwards; and doubtless his hearers, who all looked up to him with great reverence, were as much edified with his expounding of the temptations that were to

The first

Momauguin's Signature.

beset them in the wilderness, as he was satisfied with his own performance.

Their undertaking was sanctified not long after by a day of fasting and prayer, when they entered into a covenant that in all things, whether in Church or in State, they would be guided by the rules

1 "Quinnepaca or Quinnepange rather," Niles's History of Indian and French Wars. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Third series, vol. vi.

2 New Haven Records in Trumbull's History of Connecticut.

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1639.]

66

SETTLEMENT OF NEW HAVEN.

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which the Scripture held forth to them." The temptations of the wilderness could not have been many or great to a community which could live for more than a year without other government than this simple compact.

But in June of the next year preliminary measures were taken for a permanent political organization. These were of a remarkable character, whether looked upon as an instance of the intense earnestness of the religious convictions of the Puritans, or of the submissive deference they were

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accustomed to yield to their spiritual guides. The whole community gathered together in a barn, for want of any other building large enough to hold them and the first business of the assembly was to listen to a sermon of instruction

Site of Newman's Barn.

and exhortation from Mr. Davenport. His text was from Proverbs ix. 1: "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." Herein he found warrant and direction for the gathering of a Church and the formation of a State.

The Church

The Church was to rest upon seven pillars and the foundation of the State was the Church. The right and the duty to gather the one and create the other were inherent, not derivative. of seven pilThere was no recognition of either hierarch or king. The lars. assembled people were to choose from among themselves twelve men the most esteemed for their virtue and their wisdom, and these twelve were to elect seven others who were to be the seven pillars. On the pillars the Church was to be built; the seven men, that is, were to call about them such persons as they deemed fit to be members of the Church, and these members were to form the state. For in the Scriptures was to be found a perfect rule for the guidance and government of men in all human affairs, in the family, in the commonwealth, in the church. Church-membership was citizenship; he who was not fit for that, was unfit for this, for the state must be "according to God."

1 The tradition is that the barn belonged to Robert Newman, and it is supposed to have stood at the corner of Grove and Temple Streets, on land afterwards occupied by the house of Noah Webster, the lexicographer, New Haven. - Bacon's Historical Discourses.

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