“FAREWELL, DEAR ENGLAND.”
“With news the time’s in labor, and throws forth
Each minute some.”
SHAKSPEARE.
“Why should we crave a hallowed spot?
An altar is in each man’s cot;
A church in every grove that spreads
Its living roof above our heads.”
WORDSWORTH.
With the precious charter in its pocket, the complacent Massachusetts
Company strode out of the royal antechamber, and proceeded at once
to effect an organization. Matthew Cradock was elected to the
gubernatorial chair; and to Endicott, as deputy, was delegated the
government of New England.[607]
A letter of instructions was indited. It was unique, and highly
illustrative of the benevolent spirit of these builders of
states—_Conditores Imperiorum_—to whose brotherhood Lord Bacon, in
“the true marshalling of the sovereign degrees of honor,” assigns the
highest place.[608] Let us cull some specimen paragraphs from the
old parchment: “If any of the savages”—such were the orders long and
uniformly followed and placed on record more than half a century
before William Penn proclaimed the principles of peace on the borders
of the Delaware[609]—“pretend right of inheritance to all or any part
of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to purchase
their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion.”[610]
Elsewhere the colonial authorities were bidden “particularly to
publish, that no wrong nor injury be offered to the Indians.”[611]
Tobacco was held in especial abhorrence, and denounced as “a trade
by this whole Company disowned, and utterly disclaimed by some of
the chiefest, who absolutely declare themselves unwilling to have a
hand in the plantation, if the intention be to cherish or permit the
culture thereof.”[612]
Endicott was authorized to expel the incorrigible, using force
when necessary. It was also appointed that all labor should cease
at “three o’clock on Saturday afternoon, in preparation for the
Sabbath.”[613]
The colonial seal was an Indian erect, with an arrow in his right
hand, and the motto, “Come over and help us,” peculiarly appropriate
in that age. The old seal has been retained by Massachusetts; but
the motto has been superseded by Algernon Sydney’s famous Latin, _Sub
libertate quietem_.[614]
“No idle drone may live amongst us;” so ran the colonial statute;
and it “was the spirit as well as the law of the dauntless community
which was to turn the sterility of New England into a cluster of
wealthy, cultured, model states.”
The charter had been granted to the Massachusetts Company in March;
in April preparations were hastening for the embarkation of fresh
emigrants.[615] It was not difficult to get recruits; for the
pinchers of tender consciences grew daily more rigorous. Puritanism
saw popery preparing to spring upon it upon one side; it felt the
ravenous bite of the Conformists on the other side. It was worse than
folly to look to the government for redress; that was the engine of
the persecutors. Villiers of Buckingham, that volatile madman, who was
“Every thing by turns, and nothing long,”
as Pope has painted him, had been recently assassinated. His place in
the king’s confidence was now filled by Strafford, the systematizer
of tyranny in England, whose audacious genius impelled him to attempt
to nationalize despotism, and erected the tenets of absolute power
inside of constitutional forms.[616] By his side stood Laud, his
Siamese twin, a prelate who assumed to ransack the universe—
“Whose tongue
Outvenomed all the worms of Nile.”
The statesman and the priest carried it with a high hand;[617] and
the time was not yet when Cozens could say, “The king has no more
authority in ecclesiastical matters than the boy who rubs my horse’s
heels.”[618]
The suffering Non-conformists, “meted and peeled” at home, heard with
rapture of that Puritan colony in the wilderness, governed by men
whose opinions accorded with their own, and sheltered beneath the
ægis of a royal charter. Emigration began to assume unprecedented
proportions;[619] and the Company might have its pick of the best men
in the island. But much good seed was left; enough to grow Cromwell,
and nourish Hampden, and succor Pym.
By the middle of April, 1629, six ships were ready to sail; and under
license from the Lord Treasurer, these were freighted with “eighty
women and maids and twenty-six children”—hostages of the fixed
attachment of the emigrants to the New World—“and two hundred men,
with victuals, arms, tools, and necessary wearing apparel.”[620] They
also took on board “one hundred and forty head of cattle, and forty
goats.”[621]
As this was a religious enterprise, care was taken “to make
plentiful provision of godly ministers.”[622] Four clergymen now
embarked for Massachusetts Bay. Two of these made no figure on the
north shore of New England. Bright was a strict Conformist; and not
liking the ecclesiastical proceedings of his comrades, he returned
to England in the succeeding summer.[623] Smith was a Separatist;
and since these Puritans were not yet “Come-outers,” they were shy
of him, so that in landing he went to Nantasket,[624] where we shall
meet him again. The remaining two were Mr. Higginson and Mr. Skelton;
the first of Leicestershire, the other of Lincolnshire.[625] They
were both ardent Puritans, who had held livings in the Church of
England, and been silenced for non-conformity.[626] On receiving an
invitation to accompany this expedition, they had “esteemed it a call
from heaven,” and joyfully assented.[627] “Both of these men,” says
Cotton Mather, “were eminent for learning and virtue; and being thus
in a sense driven out of England, they sought graves on the American
strand, whereon the epitaph might be inscribed that was on Scipio’s:
_Ingrata patria, ne mortui quidem habebis ossa._”[628] But unlike
the ill-used pagan, they had no taunts for their erring country.
“We will not say,” cried Francis Higginson, as he stood on deck off
the Isle of Wight, and looked back on the receding shores of the
fast-anchored island—“We will not say, Farewell, Babylon, Farewell,
Rome! but, Farewell, dear England!”[629]
“England did not regret the departure of these Christian heroes,
because she did not know her best men. What nation does? To
materialists and politicians, these Pilgrims seemed to be visionaries
and idealists; impracticable, and in the way. Yet this class is
always the life of a nation. We can look back upon them, and surfeit
them with praise; but we cannot easily see their mates walking
amongst us, treading our own sidewalks, and so learn to cherish, and
not kill the prophets.”[630]
Higginson, Skelton, and their future parishioners, landed at Salem
“in the last days of June.”[631] Their friends already on the spot
gave them a hearty pioneer welcome. Higginson employed his first
leisure moments in writing home a transcript of the situation: “When
we came first to Naumkeag, we found about half a score of cottages,
and a fair house built for the governor. We found also abundance
of corn planted by those here, very good and well-liking. The two
hundred passengers whom we brought were, by common consent of the
old planters, combined together into one body politic, under the
same governor. There are in all of us, both old and new planters,
about three hundred; whereof two hundred are planted at Naumkeag,
now called Salem, and the rest have settled at Massachusetts Bay,
beginning to build a town there, which we call Charlestown. But that
which is our greatest comfort, and our means of defence above all
others, is, that we have here the true religion and holy ordinances
of Almighty God taught amongst us. Thanks be to God, we have here
plenty of preaching and diligent catechizing, with strict and careful
exercise and good and commendable order to bring our people into a
Christian conversation with those with whom we have to do withal. And
thus we doubt not but God will be with us; and if God be with us, who
can be against us?”[632]
On their arrival at Salem, these Massachusetts Pilgrims found no
church. It was their first care to erect one; and in the prosecution
of this work, they had recourse to the devout Plymouth colonists,
their brothers in the faith. Cordial greetings had already been
exchanged between these sister colonies. About the time of the
arrival of Higginson, “an infection had spread among the northern
pioneers, of which many died; some of the scurvy, others of a
hectic fever.”[633] Endicott had sent a missive to Plymouth at this
time, requesting medical aid, as he had no leech with him. Bradford
immediately sent Thomas Fuller, physician to his plantation, and the
first in New England—for he was a comer in the “Mayflower”—to the
relief of the Salem sufferers, and armed him with an affectionate
letter of condolence and Christian sympathy.[634]
These lines, and the prompt despatch of the surgeon, Endicott thus
acknowledged:
“RIGHT WORTHY SIR—It is a thing not usual that servants to one
Master and of the same household should be strangers; I assure you,
I desire it not; nay, to speak more plainly, I cannot be so to you.
God’s people are all marked with one and the same mark and sealed
with one and the same seal, and have, in the main, one and the same
heart, guided by one and the same Spirit of truth; and where this
is, there can be no discord; nay, here must needs be sweet harmony.
And the same request, with you, I make unto the Lord—that we may,
as Christian brethren, be united by a heavenly and unfeigned love,
bending all our hearts and forces in furthering a work beyond our
unaided strength, with reverence and fear, fastening our eyes
always on Him that is able to direct and prosper all our ways.
“I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love and
care in sending Mr. Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am by
him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of God’s
worship. It is, so 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 far from the common report that hath been spread of you
touching this particular.[635] But God’s children must not look for
less here below than ill-report and slanderous gibes; and ’tis a
great mercy that he strengthens them to go through with it. I shall
not need, at this time, to be tedious unto you, for, God willing, I
purpose to see your face shortly. In the mean time, I humbly take
my leave of you, committing you to the Lord’s blessed protection
and rest.
“Your assured Friend,
“JO. ENDICOTT.
“NAUMKEAG, May 11, 1629.”[636]
The chain of friendship thus early welded had an additional link
added to it when the Leyden exiles, borne to America in company with
Higginson and Skelton, landed from the same flotilla, and pushed
from Salem on to Plymouth. Bradford, in reciting this incident, says
finely, “Their long stay and keeping back was recompensed by the
Lord to their friends here with a double blessing, in that they not
only enjoyed them now beyond their late expectation, but with them
many more godly friends and Christian brothers, as the beginning
of a larger harvest unto the Lord, in the increase of his churches
and people in these waste parts, to the admiration of many and the
wonder of the world; and that here should be a resting-place for so
many of God’s children, when so sharp a scourge came upon their own
land. But it was the Lord’s doing, and it ought to be marvellous in
our eyes.”[637]
Higginson and Endicott had reached Salem in the latter part of June,
1629. Some twenty days later, Endicott “set apart a solemn day of
humiliation for the foundation of a church and the choice of a pastor
and a teacher.”[638] The elder Pilgrims at Plymouth were invited to
be present, and lend their countenance to the unique ceremony.[639]
The 20th of July arrived. The first part of the day was spent
in prayer and preaching; the latter portion was devoted to the
ecclesiastical election.[640] “It was after this manner,” says
Gott—who had come over with Endicott, and was afterwards a deacon in
the Salem church—in a letter to Bradford rehearsing the proceedings:
“the persons thought of, who had been ministers in the English
Establishment, were questioned concerning their calling to preach.
They acknowledged that there was a twofold calling, the one inward,
when the Lord moved the heart of man to take that calling upon him,
and fitted him with gifts for it; the other outward, and from the
people, when a company of believers are united in a covenant to
walk together in all the ways of God, and all the male members are
given a free voice in the choice of their church officers. Now we,
being persuaded that these two men were so qualified as the apostle
speaks to Timothy, ‘A bishop must be blameless, sober, apt to teach,’
we think we may say, as the eunuch said unto Philip, ‘What should
hinder my being baptized, seeing there is water?’ and he believed.
So those servants of God, clearing all things by their answers, and
being thus fitted, we saw no reason why we might not freely give
our voices for their election. Therefore every fit member wrote in
a note the name of him whom the Lord moved him to think fit for a
pastor; and so likewise the name of him whom they would have for a
teacher. Mr. Skelton was chosen pastor, and Mr. Higginson teacher;
and they accepting the choice, Mr. Higginson, with several others,
laid hands on Mr. Skelton, using prayer therewith; after which there
was an imposition of hands on Mr. Higginson by Mr. Skelton and the
rest.”[641]
Bradford, “and some others with him, coming by sea,” and being
“hindered by cross-winds,” could not reach Salem in the beginning of
the ceremony, but “came into the assembly afterwards, and gave them
the right hand of fellowship, wishing all prosperity and a blessed
success unto such good beginnings.”[642]
Some days after this election, Mr. Higginson drew up “A Confession
of Faith and Church Covenant.” Thirty persons assented to it, and
a self-constituted church was planted in the wilderness.[643]
This transaction has determined and colored the whole religious
constitution of New England. It was a bold and aggressive act. But
the Pilgrims had always objected to the ceremonial law of the home
Establishment; and now, being in the Western wilds, they felt free
to form their ecclesiasticism on what they conceived to be a more
authentic model. “In their position, such words as ‘Non-conformity’
and ‘Separatism’ ceased to be significant. It was only important
that they should conform to their view of the Bible; and their
determination to do so was not shaken by the thought that in doing so
they must separate, not in spirit, but in discipline and usage, from
a church three thousand miles away.”[644]
The New England theocracy was begotten of these proceedings.[645]
“The emigrants,” remarks Bancroft, “were not so much a body politic
as a church in the wilderness, with no benefactor around them but
Nature, no present sovereign but God. An entire separation was made
between church and state—at least in theory; religious worship
was established on the basis of the independence of each separate
religious community; and these rigid Calvinists, of whose rude
intolerance the world had been filled with malignant calumnies,
subscribed a covenant cherishing, it is true, the severest virtues,
but without one tinge of fanaticism. It was an act of piety, not
of study; it favored virtue, not superstition; inquiry, and not
submission. The communicants were enthusiasts, but not bigots.”[646]
They declared that “the Holy Scriptures only were to be followed, and
no man’s authority, be he Augustine, Tertullian, or even Cherubim or
Seraphim.”[647]
This entire transaction gave dissatisfaction to some at Salem.
Finally, John and Samuel Brown, “two brothers, the one a merchant,
the other a lawyer, both men of parts, estate, and figure in
the settlement, gathered a company separate from the public
assembly.”[648]
Mutual bickerings ensued. A breach of the peace was threatened.[649]
Then Endicott interposed. He sent the Browns home to England, and
thereby restored quiet.[650]
The brothers Brown, on reaching England, carried a lusty impeachment
to the archiepiscopal throne, then occupied by Laud.[651] The
Massachusetts Company, alarmed by the clamor, wrote letters of
caution to Endicott: “Beware! ’tis possible some undigested
counsels have been too suddenly put in execution, which may have
ill-construction with the state here, and make us obnoxious to any
adversary;”[652] which shows, not that the island Puritans did not
sympathize with bluff Endicott’s action, but that they dreaded lest
it might provoke a hostile government to give their pet colony its
_coup de grâce_.