native country, where she specially resided, without much sadness of heart and many tears in their eyes; ever acknowledging that such hope and part as they had attained in the common salvation, they had received in her bosom and sucked from her breasts." Among them were probably some sincerely attached to episcopal order and worship. Driven out as they were from their native land by the high-handed tyranny of Laud, they remembered only as it faded out of their sight that it was the land of their birth and their fathers' sepulchres. "We will not say,"-such are the words ascribed to Higginson,-" as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England, Farewell, Babylon! farewell, Rome! 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 practise the positive part of Church reformation, and propagate the gospel in America."

Prior to the arrival of this company a number of Puritans, including men of wealth and wide social influence, had obtained from the Council of New England a tract of land of considerable extent, from the Merrimack to the Charles River. This was made over to an association of six gentlemen, one of whom, John Endicott, a stern and resolute Puritan, was installed as governor over the new plantation. He was to be aided by "a plentiful provision of godly ministers," and enjoined to bear in mind-so ran the letter of instructions from the directors in London-that "the propagating of the

gospel is the thing we do profess above all to be our aim in settling this plantation. Endicott and his following made their way to Naumkeag, and here they joined themselves to a number of others, and the name Naumkeag was changed to Salem, or "peace," in token of the amicable agreement which had been concluded with the earlier settlers. By the accession of the company led by Francis Higginson, Salem rose at once into strength and importance, and Endicott became governor of a colony that took the lead of all others, at once distancing New Plymouth, which had been in existence for nine years.

The second Independent or Congregational Church in America.-By this time Endicott's Puritan convictions had carried him to the extreme verge of Separatism, as is evidenced by a letter he wrote to Governor Bradford of Plymouth prior to the arrival of Higginson and his company: Touching your judgment of the outward forms of God's worship, it is, as far as I can yet 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 unto me." On the arrival and settlement of the new-comers the whole matter of the Church standing of the colony came up for consideration, and after a day spent in fasting and prayer, and after Higginson and Skelton had given a detailed statement of their views, a ballot was taken, "every fit member voting"; and Skelton was chosen pastor, and Higginson teacher. This is the first recorded instance of voting by ballot in America. They were solemnly

inducted into their office, the Plymouth Church being invited to send delegates; and Bradford and others who were present with him gave to pastor and teacher the right hand of fellowship, "wishing all prosperity and a blessed success to such good beginnings." 1 A Confession of Faith and Covenant according to the Holy Scriptures, was drawn up by Higginson in the following terms—the same substantially, it will be observed, as that adopted by the little Church at Scrooby :" We covenant with the Lord, and one with another, and do bind ourselves, in the presence of God, to walk together in all His ways, according as He is pleased to reveal Himself unto us in His blessed word of truth." Thus the Church of Skelton and Higginson was the second Independent or Congregational Church in America.

"To the great European world," says Mr. Bancroft, "the few tenants of the mud-hovels at Salem might appear too insignificant to merit notice; to themselves they were as the chosen emissaries of God. .. The emigrants were not so much a body politic as a Church in the wilderness, with no benefactor round them but nature, no present sovereign but God. An entire separation was made between State and Church; religious worship was established on the basis of the independence of each separate religious community. The Church was self-constituted. It did not ask the assent of the King, or recognise him as its head; its officers were set apart and ordained among themselves; it used no liturgy; it rejected unnecessary ceremonies, and reduced the simplicity of Calvin to a still plainer standard. The motives 1 Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 265.

which controlled their decisions were so deeply seated in the character of their party, that the doctrine and discipline established at Salem remained the rule of Puritan New England." 1

It was not to be expected, in so mixed a body of colonists, that this doctrine and discipline would secure perfect conformity. There were those who were favourers of Prelacy, and were sincerely attached to "the Common Prayer worship." These naturally took umbrage at what they regarded as an an unwarrantable invasion of their liberty. "You are Separatists," they said to their fellowcolonists, “and you will shortly be Anabaptists." "We separate," was the answer," not from the Church of England, but from its corruptions. We came away from the Common Prayer and ceremonies in our native land, where we suffered much for nonconformity; in this place. of liberty we cannot, we will not use them. Their imposition would be a sinful violation of the worship of God." The stronger party proceeded by force to suppress the convictions of the weaker,-thus showing how, in their zeal for freedom, men may be recreant to the very genius of freedom, and they seized upon the two leaders of the episcopal section, and at the instance of Endicott, who told them "that New England was no place for such as they," shipped them off to England by the first returning vessel. They were banished from Salem because they were Churchmen. For such summary retaliation no defence can be offered.2 It was

1 Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. i. p. 262; in revised edition, pp. 271–272, in which the phraseology is slightly altered. 2 Yet Dr. Palfrey, in his History of New England, vol. i. pp. 299, 300, does essay to defend it. The right of the Governor and Com

the first upcropping of the persecuting spirit in New England.

The Fathers of New Plymouth Plymouth Puritans and Separatists.-A very sharp line of distinction is sometimes drawn between the religious, or, speaking more strictly, the ecclesiastical position of the early colonists of Massachusetts and the Pilgrim Fathers of Plymouth. It is maintained that the inclusion among the former of Episcopalians and Presbyterians and Conpany of Massachusetts Bay to exclude at their pleasure dangerous or disagreeable persons from their domain they never regarded as questionable, any more than a householder doubts his right to determine who shall be the inmates of his home. No civilised man had a right to come or to be within their chartered limits except themselves and such others as they, in the exercise of an absolute discretion, saw fit to harbour. . . . Religious intolerance, like every other public restraint, is criminal wherever it is not needful for the public safety; it is simply self-defence whenever tolerance would be public ruin." True, but who will maintain that the safety of the colony was endangered by the presence of “ one, two, or more surpliced priests conducting worship in accordance with the Book of Common Prayer"? It is probably quite true that behind the surpliced priest the colonists saw the intolerance of Laud and the despotism of the Court of High Commission; but seeing that the surpliced priest had no power to threaten them with either the one or the other, they might just as well have left him alone. It is not pretended that these men were guilty of insubordination or of not being "conformable to the government." Had that been any ground of accusation against them, they should have been dealt with, not as Churchmen, but as rebels. As Churchmen (Dr. Palfrey's specious pleading notwithstanding) justice and religious toleration required that they should be protected, and the rulers of the colony could well have afforded to extend toleration to them. "Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us." Will Dr. Palfrey say that this exorcist was a dangerous or disagreeable person, whom the disciples had a perfect right to exclude," or interdict? The Master had a very different opinion.