USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 20
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Before you come, be careful to be strongly in- structed what things are fittest to bring with you for your more comfortable passage at sea, as also for your husbandry occasions when you come to the land. For when you are once parted with England,
1 See the Agreement with Bright
and Higginson, on pp. 208 and 210.
2 Probably an error for seven. See pp. 111, 114, 116 and 117.
264
NECESSARIES FOR THE COLONY.
CHAP. XII. you shall meet neither with taverns, nor alehouse,
1629.
Sept.
nor butchers', nor grocers', nor apothecaries' shops to help what things you need, in the midst of the great ocean, nor when you are come to land ; here are yet neither markets nor fairs to buy what you want. Therefore be sure to furnish yourselves with things fitting to be had, before you come ; as meal for bread, malt for drink, woollen and linen cloth, and leather for shoes, and all manner of carpenters' tools, and a good deal of iron and steel to make nails, and locks for houses, and furniture for ploughs and carts, and glass for windows,1 and many other things, which were better for you to think of them there than to want them here.
Whilst I was writing this letter,? my wife brought me word that the fishers had caught sixteen hundred bass at one draught ; which, if they were in Eng- land, were worth many a pound.
A Letter3 sent from New-England by Master Graves,4 Engineer, now there resident.
Thus much I can affirm in general, that I never came in a more goodly country in all my life, all
1 See Chronicles of Plymouth, note 1 on page 237.
2 The preceding letter was not a part of Higginson's New-England's Plantation. Yet it was written by him about the same time, and comes in more appropriately here than at the end of the Journal of his voyage, to which it was appended. I have taken the liberty to insert it in this place. Gov. Winthrop undoubtedly refers to it, when, in a letter to his son John, dated Oct. 9, 1629, he writes, "I have sent down all the
late news from New-England. I would have some of you read it to your mother, and let Forth copy out the observations and all that follows from the IP, and the Letter in the end, and show it Mr. Mott and others that intend this voyage." See Win- throp's Hist. i. 361.
3 This Letter is not contained in the first edition, printed the same year. It may be a part of the letter mentioned in note 2 on page 152.
4 See pages 53, 56, and note 2 on page 152.
265
FRUITFULNESS OF THE COUNTRY.
things considered. If it hath not at any time been CHAP. manured and husbanded, yet it is very beautiful in XII. open lands, mixed with goodly woods, and again 1629. open plains, in some places five hundred acres, some Sept. places more, some less, not much troublesome for to clear for the plough to go in ; no place barren but on the tops of the hills. The grass and weeds grow up to a man's face in the lowlands, and by fresh rivers abundance of grass and large meadows, with- out any tree or shrub to hinder the scythe. I never saw, except in Hungaria,1 unto which I always par- allel this country, in all or most respects ; for every thing that is here either sown or planted prospereth far better than in Old England. The increase of corn is here far beyond expectation, as I have seen here by experience in barley, the which, because it is so much above your conception, I will not men- tion. And cattle do prosper very well, and those that are bred here far greater than those with you in England. Vines do grow here plentifully, laden with the biggest grapes that ever I saw ; some I have seen four inches about. So that I am bold to say of this country, as it is commonly said in Germany of Hungaria, that for cattle, corn, and wine, it excelleth. We have many more hopeful commodities here in this country, the which time will teach to make good use of. In the mean time, we abound with such things which, next under God, do make us subsist ; as fish, fowl, deer, and sundry sorts of fruits, as musk-melons, water-melons, Indian pompions, Indian pease, beans, and many other odd fruits that I cannot name ; all which are made good and pleasant through
1 " He hath been a traveller in divers foreign parts." See p. 153.
266
HEALTHFULNESS OF THE COUNTRY.
CHAP. this main blessing of God, the healthfulness of the XII. country, which far exceedeth all parts that ever I 1629. have been in. It is observed that few or none do Sept. here fall sick, unless of the scurvy, that they bring from aboard the ship with them; whereof I have cured some of my company only by labor. Thus making an end of an imperfect description, and com- mitting you to God, &c.
1630. A Catalogue of such needful things as every planter doth or ought to provide to go to New-England ; as namely for one man ; which, being doubled, may serve for as many as you please, viz.
Victuals for a whole year for a man, and so after the rate for more.
8 bushels of meal,
2 bushels of pease,
2 bushels of oatmeal,
1 suit of frieze,3
1 suit of cloth,
1 gallon of oil,
3 pair of stockings,
4 pair of shoes,
2 pair of sheets,
7 ells of canvass, to make a bed and bolster,
1 Monmouth cap,1
3 falling bands,2
3 shirts,
1 See note 2 on page 41.
2 See note 5 on page 40.
1 waistcoat,
1 suit of canvass,
1 gallon of aqua-vitæ,
2 gallons of vinegar,
1 firkin of butter.
Apparel.
1 pair of blankets,
1 coarse rug.
3 A sort of coarse woollen cloth.
267-
THINGS NEEDFUL FOR THE PLANTER.
Arms.
2 frowers,2 CHAP.
1 armour, complete,
1 handbill,3 XII.
1 long piece,
1 grindstone,
1630.
1 sword,
1 pickaxe, Nails, of all sorts.
1 belt,
1 bandoleer,1
20 pound of powder,
Household Implements.
1 iron pot,
60 pound of lead, 1 pistol and goose shot. 1 kettle,
1 frying-pan,
Tools.
1 gridiron,
1 broad hoe,
2 skillets,
1 narrow hoe,
1 spit,
1 broad axe,
Wooden platters,
1 felling axe,
Dishes,
1 steel handsaw,
Spoons,
1 whipsaw,
Trenchers.
1 hammer,
1 shovel,
Spices.
1 spade,
Sugar,
2 augers,
Pepper,
4 chisels,
Cloves,
2 piercers, stocked,
Mace,
1 gimlet,
Cinnamon,
1 hatchet,
Nutmegs, Fruit.
Also, there are divers other things necessary to be taken over to this Plantation, as books, nets, hooks and lines, cheese, bacon, kine, goats, &c.4
1 See note 5 on page 44.
3 An edged tool, with a hooked 2 An edged tool, used in cleaving point, used to lop trees, hedges, &c. laths.
4 This list of articles is not con- tained in the first edition.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
FOR PLANTING NEW-ENGLAND.
CHAPTER XIII.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE PLANTATION IN NEW-ENGLAND ; WITH AN ANSWER TO SEVERAL OBJECTIONS.
FIRST, it will be a service to the Church of great CHAP. consequence, to carry the Gospel into those parts of XIII. the world, and to raise a bulwark against the king- 1629. dom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits labor to rear up in all places of the world.
Secondly, all other churches of Europe are brought to desolation, and it may be justly feared that the like judgment is coming upon us ; and who knows but that God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the general destruction ?
Thirdly, the land grows weary of her inhabitants, so that man, which is the most precious of all crea- tures, is here more vile and base than the earth they tread upon ; so as children, neighbours and friends, especially of the poor, are counted the greatest burdens, which, if things were right, would be the chiefest earthly blessings.
Fourthly, we are grown to that excess and in-
272
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
CHAP. temperance in all excess of riot, as no mean estate XIII. almost will suffice [a man]1 to keep sail with his 1629. equals ; and he that fails in it, must live in scorn and contempt. Hence it comes to pass, that all arts and trades are carried in that deceitful manner and unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good, upright man to maintain his charge, and live comfortably in any of them.
Fifthly, the schools of learning and religion are so corrupted as, (besides the unsupportable charge of their education,) most children, even the best, witti- est, and of fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitude of evil ex- amples and licentious governors of those seminaries.
Sixthly, the whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to the sons of Adam to be tilled and improved by them. Why then should we stand starving here for places of habitation, (many men spending as much labor and cost to recover or keep sometimes an acre or two of lands as would procure him many hundreds of acres, as good or better; in another place,) and in the mean time suffer whole countries, as profitable for the use of man, to lie waste without any improvement ?
Seventhly, what can be a better work, and more noble, and worthy a Christian, than to help to raise and support a particular church while it is in its in- fancy, and to join our forces with such a company of faithful people as by a timely assistance may grow stronger and prosper, and for want of it may be put to great hazard, if not wholly ruined ?
1 So in Mather, Magnalia, i. 65, who says he transcribes from a MS.
273
FOR PLANTING NEW-ENGLAND.
Eighthly, if any such as are known to be godly, CHAP. and live in wealth and prosperity here, shall forsake XIII. all this to join themselves with this church, and run 1629. in hazard with them of a hard and mean condition, it will be an example of great use both for the remov- ing of scandal and sinister and worldly respects, to give more life to the faith of God's people in their prayers for the Plantation, and also to encourage others to join the more willingly in it.
OBJECTIONS.
OBJ. 1. It will be a great wrong to our own Church and country to take away the best people ; and we shall lay it more open to the judgments feared.
ANS. First, the number will be nothing in respect of those that are left. Secondly, many that live to no use here, more than for their own private fami- lies, may be employed to a more common good in another place. Thirdly, such as are of good use here may yet be so employed as the Church shall re- ceive no loss ; and since Christ's coming, the Church is to be conceived as universal, without distinction of countries ; so as he that doth good in any one place, serves the Church in all places, in regard of the unity. Fourthly, it is the revealed will of God that the Gospel should be preached to all nations ; and though we know not whether the Indians will re- ceive it or not, yet it is a good work to observe God's will in offering it to them ; for God shall have glory by it, though they refuse it.
OBJ. 2. We have feared a judgment a long time ; but yet we are safe. Therefore it were better to stay till it come ; and either we may fly then, or if
18
274
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
CHAP. we be overtaken in it, we may well be content to XIII.
- suffer with such a Church as ours is.
1629. ANS. It is likely that this consideration made the Churches beyond the seas, as the Palatinate1 and Rochelle,2 &c. to sit still at home, and not look out for shelter while they might have found it. But the woful spectacle of their ruin may teach us more wis- dom, to avoid the plague while it is foreseen, and not to tarry as they did, till it overtook them. If they were now at their former liberty, we may be sure they would take other courses for their safety. And though most of them had miscarried in their escape, yet it had not been half so miserable to themselves, or scandalous to religion, as this des-
I Frederic V., the Elector Pala- tine of the Rhine, married, in 1612, the princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England, and in 1619 accepted the crown offered to him by the Protestants of Bohemia. This election gave great offence to Ferdinand, the Emperor of Germa- ny, who claimed the kingdom as his own. He consequently invaded and reduced both the Palatinate and Bo- hemia, defeated the Palgrave near Prague in 1621, and put him under the ban of the Empire. A dreadful persecution of the Protestants now commenced through the Austrian territories, and the Catholic religion was forcibly introduced into the Pa- latinate. An edict was issued, that the Protestant ministers should be forever exiled, and their churches closed. See Mod. Univ. Hist. xxvii. 1-24 ; Coxe's Hist. of the House of Austria, i. 769-797, 815; Harte's Hist. of Gustavus Adolphus, i. 238- 246.
2 Rochelle, the principal seat and strong-hold of the Huguenots, was besieged by Cardinal Richelieu, and, after a long and desperate resistance,
was reduced by famine in Oct. 1628. This disastrous event prostrated the Protestants in France, and broke their spirits and their strength. Their af- fairs became every day more afflictive and perilous. They saw and dread- ed the approaching storm, but knew not how to evade it. Some of them fled to England, but found no peace there ; for Laud and other high churchmen drove them back. See Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. v. 351 ; and Dr. Holmes's Memoir of the French Protestants, in Mass. Hist. Coll. xxii. 18.
Prince, the Annalist, referring to the two events mentioned in the text, says, " In France and Navarre the King begins to persecute the Protestants, and turn them out of their churches. In Bohemia and Germany the Imperial and Spanish forces are ruining the Reformed in- terest ; and the King of England, extremely solicitous of matching his only son, Prince Charles, to the Spanish Infanta, refuses to support his own daughter, the excellent Queen of Bohemia, the darling of the British Puritans." Annals, p. 179.
275
FOR PLANTING NEW-ENGLAND.
perate backsliding and abjuring the truth, which CHAP. many of the ancient professors among them, and the XIII. whole posterity that remain, are plunged into. 1629.
OBJ. 3. We have here a fruitful land, with peace, and plenty of all things.
ANS. We are like to have as good conditions there in time ; but yet we must leave all this abundance, if it be not taken from us. When we are in our graves, it will be all one whether we have lived in plenty or in penury, whether we have died in a bed of down or locks of straw. Only this is the advan- tage of the mean condition, that it is a more freedom to die. And the less comfort any have in the things of this world, the more liberty they have to lay up treasure in heaven.
OBJ. 4. We may perish by the way, or when we come there, having1 hunger or the sword, &c .; and how uncomfortable will it be to see our wives and children and friends come to such misery by our occasion.
ANS. Such objections savor too much of the flesh. Who can secure himself or his from the like calami- ties here ? If this course be warrantable, we may trust God's providence for these things. Either he will keep those evils from us, or will dispose them for our good, and enable us to bear them.
OBJ. 5. But what warrant have we to take that land, which is and hath been of long time possessed of others the sons of Adam ?
ANS. That which is common to all is proper to none. This savage people ruleth over many lands
1 Perhaps an error for braving.
·
276
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Gen. xiii .- xv.
CHAP. without title or property ; for they enclose no ground, XIII. neither have they cattle to maintain it, but remove 1629. their dwellings as they have occasion, or as they can prevail against their neighbours. And why may not Christians have liberty to go and dwell amongst them in their waste lands and woods, (leaving them such places as they have manured for their corn,) as lawfully as Abraham did amongst the Sodomites ? For God hath given to the sons of men a twofold right to the earth; there is a natural right, and a civil right. The first right was natural, when men held the earth in common, every man sowing and feeding where he pleased. Then, as men and cattle increased, they appropriated some parcels of ground by enclosing and peculiar manurance ; and this in time got them a civil right. Such was the right Gen. xxiii. 9. which Ephron the Hittite had in the field of Machpe- lah, wherein Abraham could not bury a dead corpse without leave, though for the outparts of the country, which lay common, he dwelt upon them and took the fruit of them at his pleasure. This appears also in Gen. xxxvii. 1,17. Jacob and his sons, who fed their flocks as boldly in the Canaanites' land, for he is said to be lord of the country ; and at Dothan and all other places men accounted nothing their own but that which they had appropriated by their own industry, as appears plainly by Abimelech's servants, who in their own country Gen. xxvi. 20. did often contend with Isaac's servants about wells which they had digged, but never about the lands which they occupied. So likewise between Jacob
Gen. xxx. and Laban ; he would not take a kid of Laban's without special contract, but he makes no bargain with him for the land where they fed. And it is
?
·
277
FOR PLANTING NEW-ENGLAND.
probable that if the country had not been as free for CHAP. XIII. Jacob as for Laban, that covetous wretch would have made his advantage of him, and have upbraided Jacob 1629. with it, as he did with the rest. Secondly, there is more than enough for them and us. Thirdly, God hath consumed the natives with a miraculous plague,1 whereby the greater part of the country is left void of inhabitants. Fourthly, we shall come in with good leave of the natives.
OBJ. 6. We should send our young ones, and such as may best be spared, and not of the best of our ministers and magistrates.
ANS. It is a great work, and requires more skilful artisans to lay the foundation of a new building, than to uphold and repair one that is already built. If great things be attempted by weak instruments, the effects will be answerable.
OBJ. 7. We see that those plantations that have been formerly made, succeeded ill.
ANS. First, the fruit of any public design is not to be discerned by the immediate success ; it may ap- pear in time, that they were all to good use. Se- condly, there were great fundamental errors in others, which are like to be avoided in this ; for, first, their main end and purpose was carnal, and not religious ; secondly, they aimed chiefly at profit, and not at the propagation of religion ; thirdly, they used too unfit instruments, a multitude of rude, ungovern- ed persons, the very scums of the land ; fourthly, they did not stablish a right form of government.2
1 See page 256, and Chronicles of Plymouth, note 3 on p. 183.
2 This paper was drawn up before August 21, 1629. For in a letter
of that date, written by John Win- throp, jr. to his father, he says, "The CONCLUSIONS which you sent down, I showed my uncle and aunt,
278
THE CONCLUSIONS.
CHAP. who like them well. I think they XIII.
1629.
are unanswerable ; and it cannot but be a prosperous action, which is so well allowed by the judgments of God's prophets, undertaken by so religious and wise worthies of Israel, and indented to God's glory in so special a service." Mr. Savage re- marks on this, "The CONCLUSIONS spoken of by the son were, no doubt, a paper of Considerations for the Plantation, with an Answer to several Objections, probably drawn by our author (Gov. Winthrop.) I have had in my possession the larger
part of the original;" which he since informs me was in the hand- writing of Winthrop. Felt, in his Annals of Salem, i. 69, ascribes it to Higginson, but upon no other au- thority than the general title which Hutchinson prefixes to certain pa- pers appended to the Journal of the Voyage. The MS. used by Hutch- inson is now in my possession, and from that I print. It varies some- what from Mather's copy in the Magnalia, i. 65. See Savage's Winthrop, i. 360.
THE AGREEMENT AT CAMBRIDGE.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE TRUE COPY OF THE AGREEMENT AT CAM- BRIDGE, AUGUST 26, 1629.
UPON due consideration of the state of the Planta- CHAP. tion now in hand for New-England, wherein we, whose names are hereunto subscribed, have engaged ourselves, and having weighed the greatness of the work in regard of the consequence, God's glory and the Church's good ; as also in regard of the difficul- ties and discouragements which in all probabilities must be forecast upon the prosecution of this busi- ness ; considering withal that this whole adventure grows upon the joint confidence we have in each other's fidelity and resolution herein, so as no man of us would have adventured it without assurance of the rest ; now, for the better encouragement of ourselves and others that shall join with us in this action, and to the end that every man may without scruple dis- pose of his estate and affairs as may best fit his pre- paration for this voyage ; it is fully and faithfully AGREED amongst us, and every of us doth hereby freely and sincerely promise and bind himself, in the
XIV. - 1629. Aug. 26.
282
THE AGREEMENT AT CAMBRIDGE.
CHAP. word of a Christian, and in the presence of God, who
XIV.
1629.
Aug.
26.
is the searcher of all hearts, that we will so really endeavour the prosecution of this work, as by God's assistance, we will be ready in our persons, and with such of our several families as are to go with us, and such provision as we are able conveniently to furnish ourselves withal, to embark for the said Plantation by the first of March next, at such port or ports of this land as shall be agreed upon by the Company, to the end to pass the seas, (under God's protection,) to inhabit and continue in New-England : Provided always, that before the last of September next, the whole government, together with the patent for the said Plantation, be first, by an order of Court, legally transferred and established to remain with us and others which shall inhabit upon the said Plantation :1 and provided also, that if any shall be hindered by such just and inevitable let or other cause, to be allowed by three parts of four of these whose names are hereunto subscribed, then such persons, for such times and during such lets, to be discharged of this bond. And we do further promise, every one for himself, that shall fail to be ready through his own default by the day appointed, to pay for every day's default the sum of £3, to the use of the rest of the company who shall be ready by the same day and time.
This was done by order of Court, the 29th of August, 1629.2
RICHARD SALTONSTALL, THOMAS DUDLEY,
WILLIAM VASSALL, NICHOLAS WEST,3 ISAAC JOHNSON,
JOHN HUMFREY,
THOMAS SHARPE, INCREASE NOWELL,
JOHN WINTHROP,
WILLIAM PINCHON,4
KELLAM BROWNE,3
WILLIAM COLBRON.
283
WILLIAM PYNCHON, OF SPRINGFIELD.
1 See pages 85-88, and 91.
2 This seems to have been a note interpolated after the paper was signed. See page 88.
3 West and Browne never came over to the Colony, and nothing is known concerning them.
4 William Pynchon, whose name occurs so frequently in the Compa- ny's Records, was a gentleman of learning as well as religion. He was one of the Assistants named in the Charter, and came over with Gov. Winthrop. He laid the found- ation of the town of Roxbury, and was the first member of the church in that place. Early in 1636 he re- moved to Connecticut river, with eight others, and was the father of the town of Springfield, which was so named after the town in England where he resided, near Chelmsford, in Essex. In 1650, there appeared in England a book entitled, " The Meritorious Price of our Redemp- tion, Justification, &c., clearing it from some Errors, by William Pin- chin, in New-England, gent." A copy of this book was brought over by a ship a few days before the meeting of the General Court, which was held Oct. 15, and which pro- ceeded to pass the following order : " This Court having had a sight of a book lately printed, under the name of William Pinchon, in New- England, gent., and judging it meet, do therefore order; first, that a Pro- test be drawn, fully and clearly to satisfy all men that this Court do ut- terly dislike it and detest it as erro- neous and dangerous ; secondly, that it be sufficiently answered by one of the reverend elders ; thirdly, that the said William Pinchon, gent., be summoned to appear before the next General Court to answer for the same ; fourthly, that the said book, now brought over, be burnt by the executioner, and that in the market- place in Boston on the morrow, im- mediately after the Lecture." The Rev. John Norton, of Ipswich, was entreated to answer the book, which he did. The Protest of the Court
covers a page of their Records, and CHAP. in it they condemn the book as XIV. " false, erroneous, and heretical," and declare their purpose " to pro- ceed with the author according to 1629. Aug. 26. his demerits, unless he retract the same, and give full satisfaction both here and by some second writing to be printed and dispersed in England." The grand error of the book consist- ed in regarding the sufferings of Christ as merely " trials of his obe- dience ;" and of course it was the first heretical work on the Atone- ment that was written in this coun- try. At the next General Court, held May 7, 1651, Pynchon appear- ed, and explained or retracted the obnoxious opinions, after having conferred with the Rev. Messrs. Cotton, Norris, and Norton. He appeared before them again Oct. 14, 1651, but the judgment of the Court on his errors and heresies was sus- pended till the next session in May, 1652. Before that time, Mr. Pyn- chon, seeing the storm gathering, and doubtful what might be the re- sult, prudently left the Colony and returned to England, accompanied by his son-in-law, Capt. Henry Smith, and the Rev. George Moxon, a graduate of Sydney College, Cam- bridge, in 1623, who had been the minister of Springfield since 1637. Is it not probable, that Moxon him- self was infected with the same her- esy, and perhaps had a hand in writ- ing the book ? From a letter of the Governor and Council, preserved in Mass. Hist. Coll. xxi. 35, it appears that Sir Henry Vane had written them a letter in behalf of Pynchon, April 15, 1652, previous to which he had probably arrived in England. They speak of him as " one whom we did all love and respect," and intimate that he had privately held this doctrine " above thirty years." He died at Wraysbury, on the Thames, in Buckinghamshire, in October, 1662, aged 72 or 74. His son, John, was a prominent man in the Colony, and a long line of de- scendants may be seen in Farmer's
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