INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. EVERY loyal American ought to know the principles and motives which led to the founding of this Republic. These cannot be understood without an acquaintance with the men and women who first came to New England. Their work was greater than beginning a nation. Dr. John Fiske says: "Among the most significant events which prophesied the final triumph of the English over the Roman idea, perhaps the most significant-the one which marks most incisively the new era-was the migration of English Puritans across the Atlantic Ocean." But the character of these pioneers of New England was largely formed in old England and in Holland; and it can best be interpreted by a symphathetic student of their history who has lived long among the scenes of their earlier years. For this task no one living is better fitted than Dr. John Brown, of Bedford, England. For more than thirty years he has been the beloved minister of the church at Bunyan mecting, in that ancient town. The first edition of his elaborate biography of John Bunyan, published about ten years ago, was exhausted in a few weeks, and successive editions since that time have not only greatly increased the interest in the life and works of the immortal dreamer, but have spread the fame of his biographer on both sides of the Atlantic. Dr. John Brown is one of the best known and most honored of English Nonconformist ministers, and one of the most trusted authorities on the important historical topics he has treated. His broad sympathies with all honest men of every denominational name have made his judgment impartial, while his popular literary style and his enthusiasm as a student of history have clothed with life the facts he has discovered in many dry and dusty manuscripts. He is skillful in unraveling facts and fiction long woven together by custom, in showing how both have taken hold of present life, and in giving due weight to fact while he puts fiction aside. His address on the Historic Episcopate, which he delivered in London in 1891, as president of the Congregational Union in England and Wales, is one of the most incisive and convincing utterances yet made on that topic, and is still extensively quoted. He gave the first address at the reception of the International Congregational Council in London in the same year, and was one of the most prominent Englishmen in the deliberations of that body. His repeated visits to the United States have made him widely known and loved in this country. In October, 1892, he represented the Congregational Union of England and Wales at the National Council of Congregational Churches in Minneapolis. During all his mature life Dr. Brown has been interested in the Pilgrims and Puritans who first settled New England. He has inherited and manifested their spirit, though with none of the intolerance which sometimes qualified the Puritans. Living within easy reach of the homes of the Pilgrims, he has familiarized himself with every nook and |