Williams says, that his life was in danger, by his excessive labours; preaching thrice a week, by labours night and day in the field, and by travels night and day to go and return from court.

But could a man who said, as Governor Winthrop assures us, that he wrote only for private friends on the patent, and would burn the writings with his own hands to quiet the public fears, be charged with obstinacy? Did not his friends send Delegates to the government? Could close communion be opposed to it? Did not the government admit that it might be lawfully granted? Did he not obey every summons? Did he not appear ready to defend his cause at every opportunity? If he wrote a letter to all the churches, did not the government give the example, and was it any thing unusual at this time?There was a meeting of this kind by letter from the government in the same year.

As to the sneer at his piety, his piety was so well known that Mr. Cotton reproaches Williams" that he held himself acknowledged, godly and beloved." Such a sneer must have been indulged from some public opinion. The people of Salem were pious, if any were so, and after all the reports, Cotton gives it as his opinion in their favour, that they never did separate from the churches; it must then have been only a threatening. This church had this high opinion. And that the magistrates had an opinion of their sincerity, the officer may attest, "who denies that he thought Mr. Williams sick, and that the warrant did not oblige him to go that night, but that he had learnt the concourse to him increasing, provoked the magistrates." So he was hurried into banishment.

As to his having never been forsaken. If the submission of the church to the act of dismission, be a proof, then his first separation is a proof. Yet they loved him well enough to recal him when they dared, and with all that caution which expresses interest and affection. It may be affirmed that better proofs cannot exist of the permanent effect of opinion and character, than are to be found in Salem for a century. They used the greatest caution about the authority of the synods, and dared even to question the right of prior choice in the church, of the minister; and as

soon

soon as they heard of Penn's purchase, they purchased their lands of such Indians as they could find, though fifty years afterwards, still remembering the doctrine of the patent. We repeat then all our assertions. As to the refusal of the freeman's oath, it was a consequent affair.He was one of the freemen before May, 1631; and his name is on the list of one hundred and eight, at that time. As to his separation, it is easily explained by Governor Winthrop; for he says, after the submission of Salem, most of them held Williams's opinion, though only a few applied for liberty of close communion. And what is this but a confession, that the submission was political, and therefore such as his true friends would never ask of him?

The candid man will find that Williams was the forerunner of Penn in this Western world. He had as hard a fate. But like Penn, after all he suffered, he is immortal. He was a father of a free colony, and even in this generation his name is blessed.

P. S. As the merit of Mr. Williams has been questioned, it may be agreeable to hear him speaking for himself. "I did not assent to the church, because undue influence was used to intimidate them, contrary to their first assent or inclination; and the voice of the church and admonition was not to desert my ministry. Some gentlemen, who consented to the sentence against me, solemnly testified with tears, that they did it by the advice and counsel of Mr. Cotton, who says, 'if he did counsel one or two, it would not argue the act of the magistrate!"" This good man, after his banishment, sent notice next year of the dangers from the natives, and saved the colony, which enjoyed, from this seasonable interposition, a quiet of forty years. Where shall we find more true virtue, more generous forgiveness, or a greater public benefactor? Governor Winthrop been at liberty to concur with Endicot, and not have been deterred by the competition of Boston and Salem, Williams would have lived and died in Salem.*

Had

* For the future, no remarks of a polemick nature will be published in this work. These volumes are not calculated even for historical controversy.

The book, or any part of it, is subjective to a review; and there are many publications more proper for the critick to display his acumen, and to distribute either praise or censure. As the Remarks upon the History of Salem were admitted, it is but just to give place to the author's reply.

THE HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF JOHN ELIOT, THE FIRST MINISTER OF THE CHURCH IN ROXBURY. COLLECT

ED FROM MANUSCRIPTS, AND BOOKS PUBLISHED THE

LAST CENTURY. BY ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

Thardy race.

HE first settlers of New-England were a pious and The ministers of religion were equally respectable for their learning, for their activity, and their zeal. Among them, John Eliot, commonly called the Apostle to the Indians, exhibited more lively traits of an extraordinary character than we find in most ages of the church, or in most christian countries. He, who could prefer the American wilderness to the pleasant fields of Europe, was ready to wander through this wilderness for the sake of doing good. To be active was the delight of his soul; and he went to the hovels which could not keep out the wind and rain, where he laboured incessantly among the aboriginals of America, though his popular talents gave him a distinction among the first divines of Massachusetts, at a time that the magistrates and all the people held the clergy in peculiar honour.

We know but little of his connections before he left his native country. He was born in England, A. D. 1604. There is nothing related of his parents, except that they gave him a liberal education, and were exemplary for their piety;-for this their memory is precious.

"I do see," says this excellent man, "that it was a great favour of God to me that my first years were seasoned with the fear of God, the word and prayer." Is there not sufficient encouragement to educate ingenuous youth, and impress the tender heart with lessons of wisdom, to think they will shed tears of grateful sensibility on our sepulchres?

When Mr. Eliot left the university of Cambridge, he himself became a teacher; and while he led children and youth into the paths of virtue, acquired also an acquaintance with the human heart. At this time he had an opportunity of hearing the venerable Hooker, and never lost

the

the serious impressions which he received under his preaching; to him he was always attached, as well as to his mode of administering the order of the churches.

In the year 1631, Mr. Eliot arrived at Boston; and the succeeding year, November 5, 1632, was settled as Teacher of the Church in Roxbury. Governor Winthrop says, "Mr. John Eliot, a member of Boston congregation, whom the company intended presently to call to the office of teacher, was called to be a teacher to the company at Roxbury; and though Boston laboured all they could, both with the congregation at Roxbury and with Mr. Eliot himself, alledging their want of him, and the covenant between them, yet he could not be diverted from accepting the call at Roxbury; so he was dismissed."

When Mr. Eliot came to Boston, the preceding year, there was no minister at the First Church. Mr. Wilson had gone to England, and the religious service was carried on by Governor Winthrop, Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Nowel, the ruling elder. Mr. Hubbard says these men accepted the charge, "knowing well that the princes of Judah, in king Hezekiah's reign, were appointed to teach the people out of the law of God."

Mr. Wilson left Boston the latter end of March, 1631. Mr. Eliot arrived November following, with the Governor's lady and sixty other persons, in the ship Lyon. He immediately joined the First Church, and preached with them till he settled at Roxbury. Had he accepted the call from the First Church, it might have been happy for the people; but most probably the great work which he afterwards undertook, would not have been devised, and for this he was very peculiarly qualified. But had the connection taken place, those animosities might have been prevented, which afterwards divided the church, banished the christian spirit from their counsels, and disturbed the whole community. Mr. Cotton, who was called to be their teacher, was a learned and excellent man, but opinionated; countenanced Wheelwright, Mrs. Hutchinson, and others, who were spreading antinomian errors through all the churches. The pastor, Mr. Wilson, Governor Winthrop, and Mr. Dudley, supported and defended the principles and practices of the churches before this fanatical

woman,

woman, Mrs. Hutchinson, came into the country. With them were the ministers and people of the other congregations; but Vane was governor, a hot-brained enthusiast, and under his wing Mr. Cotton carried on the opposition against the pastor; the church was divided; mutual censures passed between the brethren, and every thing, especially their ecclesiastical affairs, wore a most gloomy aspect. Amidst this melancholy kind of embarrassment, the prudence and good sense of Governor Winthrop were conspicuous. Such abilities and so much candour as he possessed were absolutely necessary for the times.

The prior engagement of Mr. Eliot to settle with the people at Roxbury, who came over with him in the same ship, and to whom he was warmly attached, was sufficient to satisfy his friends of the church in Boston, and they gave him a regular dismission. He was accordingly united with the church at Roxbury as their teacher, and Mr. Welde was called the next year to be their pastor. They lived in much harmony; and under their ministry the town grew and flourished ;-it still retains a rank of distinction among the best places in the environs of the metropolis.

In the year 1641, Mr. Welde was sent to England as agent for the Province, where he continued till the reign of Charles II. He then lost his living (at Gatesend in the bishoprick of Durham) with the other ejected ministers; but he did not return again to New England. Mr. Welde and Mr. Eliot happily coalesced in sentiment, were both firm in the congregational interest, and equally firm in opposing the errors of antinomianism. There is a book now extant-Welde's Short Story of the rise, reign, and ruin of the antinomians, familists, and libertines, that infected the churches. It is a scarce and curious book; but while it points out the extravagances of their opinions and conduct, it shows that in the bitterness of dispute, a pious author may not know what spirit he is of.

The trial of Mrs. Hutchinson is a precious document for those who would know the manners, customs, and principles of our fathers. And we may here learn something of the character of Mr. Eliot. He, with several other ministers, had visited her, conversed freely upon religious