USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 26
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12.
Not long after came our renowned and blessed Governor, and divers of his Assistants with him. Their ships came into Charles river, and many pas- sengers landed at Charlestown, many of whom died the winter following. Governor Winthrop purposed to set down his station about Cambridge, or some-
1 Winthrop, in his Journal, under June 17, says, "As we came home, (from Charlestown to Salem,) we came by Nantasket, and sent for Capt. Squib ashore, and ended a difference between him and the pas- sengers," undoubtedly growing out of his recent ill treatment of them ; and Trumbull says that " Capt. Squeb was afterwards obliged to pay damages for this conduct." This information he may have de-
rived from some early document left by the first settlers of Windsor, who came in the ship. See Winthrop's Hist. i. 28, and Trumbull's Con- necticut, i. 23.
2
This neck was called Dorches-
ter Neck till it was annexed to the metropolis in 1804, since which time it has been called South Boston. See Harris's History of Dorchester in Mass. Hist. Coll. ix. 162, and Snow's Hist. of Boston, p. 319.
351
SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS.
where on the river ; but viewing the place, liked CHAP. that plain neck, that was called then Blackstone's - 1630.
XVIII. Neck, now Boston.1 But in the mean time, before they could build at Boston, they lived many of them in tents and wigwams at Charlestown, their meeting- place being abroad under a tree, where I have heard Mr. Wilson and Mr. Phillips preach many a good sermon.
Now coming into this country, I found it a vacant wilderness, in respect of English. There were in- deed some English at Plymouth and Salem, and some few at Charlestown,2 who were very destitute when we came ashore; and planting time being past, shortly after provision was not to be had for money. I wrote to my friends, namely to my dear father, to send me some provision ; which accordingly he did, and also gave order to one of his neighbours to sup- ply me with what I needed, (he being a seaman ; ) who coming hither, supplied me with divers things. But before this supply came, yea, and after too, (that being spent, and the then unsubdued wilderness yielding little food,) many a time if I could have filled my belly, though with mean victuals, it would have been sweet unto me. Fish was a good help unto me and others. Bread was so very scarce, that sometimes I thought the very crusts of my father's table would have been very sweet unto me. And when I could have meal and water and salt boiled together, it was so good, who could wish better ?
In our beginning many were in great straits for
1 See note 3 on page 169.
2 These were probably £ the
Spragues and their companions,
who came from Salem to Charles- town the year previous.
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ft
1
352
SUFFERINGS FROM FAMINE.
CHAP. want of provision for themselves and their little XVIII. ones. Oh the hunger that many suffered, and saw
1630. no hope in an eye of reason to be supplied, only by clams, and muscles, and fish. We did quickly build boats, and some went a fishing. But bread was with
many a very scarce thing, and flesh of all kind as scarce. And in those days, in our straits, though I cannot say God sent a raven to feed us, as he did the prophet Elijah, yet this I can say, to the praise of God's glory, that he sent not only poor ravenous Indians, which came with their baskets of corn on their backs to trade with us, (which was a good sup- ply unto many,) but also sent ships from Holland and from Ireland with provisions, and Indian corn from Virginia, to supply the wants1 of his dear ser- vants in this wilderness, both for food and raiment. And when people's wants were great, not only in one town but in divers towns, such was the godly wisdom, care, and prudence, (not selfishness, but
1 Edward Johnson, an eye-wit- ness, gives a graphic description of the scarcity of provisions among the first colonists. "In the absence of bread, they feasted themselves with fish. The women once a day, as the tide gave way, resorted to the muscle and clam banks, (which are a fish as big as horse-muscles,) where they daily gathered their families food. Quoth one, 'My husband hath travelled as far as Plymouth, (which is near forty miles,) and hath with great toil brought a little corn home with him ; and before that is spent, the Lord will assuredly provide.' Quoth the other, 'Our last peck of meal is now in the oven at home a baking, and many of our godly neighbours have quite spent all, and we owe one loaf of that little we have.' Then spake a third, ' My husband hath ventured
himself among the Indians for corn, and can get none ; as also our hon- ored Governor hath distributed his so far, that a day or two more will put an end to his store, and all the rest. And yet, methinks, our child- ren are as cheerful, fat, and lusty, with feeding upon those muscles, clams, and other fish, as they were in England with their fill of bread ; which makes me cheerful in the Lord's providing for us; being fur- ther confirmed by the exhortation of our pastor to trust the Lord with pro- viding for us, whose is the earth and the fulness thereof.' And as they were encouraging one another, they lift up their eyes, and saw two ships coming in ; and presently this news came to their ears, that they were come from Ireland, full of victuals." See Mass. Hist. Coll. xiii. 125.
353
THE CHARITY AND TRUST OF THE PEOPLE.
self-denial,) of our Governor Winthrop and his As- CHAP. sistants, that when a ship came laden with provisions,
XVIII. they did order that the whole cargo should be bought 1630.
for a general stock ; and so accordingly it was, and distribution was made to every town, and to every person in each town, as every man had need.1 Thus God was pleased to care for his people in times of straits, and to fill his servants with food and glad- ness. Then did all the servants of God bless his holy name, and love one another with pure hearts fervently.
In those days God did cause his people to trust in him, and to be contented with mean things. It was not accounted a strange thing in those days to drink water, and to eat samp or hominy without butter or milk. Indeed, it would have been a strange thing to see a piece of roast beef, mutton, or veal ; though it was not long before there was roast goat. After the first winter, we were very healthy, though some 1631. of us had no great store of corn. The Indians did sometimes bring corn, and truck with us for clothing and knives ; and once I had a peck of corn, or there- abouts, for a little puppy-dog. Frost-fish, muscles, and clams were a relief to many. If our provision be better now than it was then, let us not, and do you, dear children, take heed that you do not, forget the Lord our God. You have better food and rai- ment than was in former times ; but have you better hearts than your forefathers had ? If so, rejoice in
1 Winthrop mentions the same circumstance under April 12, 1636. " The Charity, of Dartmouth, of 120 tons, arrived here laden with provi- sions. Mr. Peter bought all the
provisions at fifty in the hundred, (which saved the country £200,) and distributed them to all the towns, as each town needed." See Win- throp, i. 185, 388.
23
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.
354
THE CONTENTEDNESS OF THE COLONISTS.
CHAP. that mercy, and let New-England then shout for joy. XVIII.
Sure, all the people of God in other parts of the world, that shall hear that the children and grand- children of the first planters of New-England have better hearts and are more heavenly than their pre- decessors, they will doubtless greatly rejoice, and will say, "This is the generation whom the Lord hath blessed."
I took notice of it as a great favor of God unto me, not only to preserve my life, but to give me content- edness in all these straits ; insomuch that I do not remember that ever I did wish in my heart that I had not come into this country, or wish myself back again to my father's house. Yea, I was so far from that, that I wished and advised some of my dear brethren to come hither also ; and accordingly one of my brothers,1 and those two that married my two sisters, 1633. sold their means and came hither.2 The Lord Jesus Christ was so plainly held out in the preaching of the Gospel unto poor lost sinners, and the absolute necessity of the new birth, and God's holy spirit in those days was pleased to accompany the word with such efficacy upon the hearts of many, that our hearts were taken off from Old England and set upon heaven. The discourse not only of the aged, but of the youth also, was not, " How shall we go to England ?" (though some few did not only so discourse, but also
1 This was Edward, an elder bro- ther, who came over in 1633, and settled in Dorchester, where he died, Jan. 8, 1664.
2 There were three cousins of Roger Clap, the sons of his uncle Richard, who came to Dorchester. Their names were Thomas, Nicho- las, and John. Nicholas married
for his first wife a sister of Roger Clap, whose name was Sarah. George Weeks married the other sister. Of the 35 voters of the name of Clap now living in Dorchester, all but one are descended from Ni- cholas. See the Collections of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Histor- ical Society, No. 1, pp. vi .- xi. 62.
355
THE POWER OF RELIGION.
went back again,) but "How shall we go to heaven ? CHAP. Have I true grace wrought in my heart ? Have I XVIII. Christ or no ?" O how did men and women, young 1630. and old, pray for grace, beg for Christ in those days. And it was not in vain. Many were converted, and others established in believing. Many joined unto the several churches where they lived, confessing their faith publicly, and showing before all the as- sembly their experiences of the workings of God's spirit in their hearts to bring them to Christ ; which many hearers found very much good by, to help them to try their own hearts, and to consider how it was with them, whether any work of God's spirit were wrought in their own hearts or no. O the many tears that have been shed in Dorchester meeting- house at such times, both by those that have declar- ed God's work on their souls, and also by those that heard them. In those days God, even our own God, did bless New-England !
After God had brought me into this country, he was pleased to give me room in the hearts of his ser- vants ; so that I was admitted into the church fellow- ship at our first beginning in Dorchester, in the year 1630.
I now return to declare unto you some of the wonderful works of God in bringing so many of his faithful servants hither into this wilderness, and pre- serving us and ours unto this day, notwithstanding our great unworthiness, and notwithstanding the many assaults and stratagems of Satan and his instru- ments against God's people here. I say, wondrous works. For was it not a wondrous work of God, to put it into the hearts of so many worthies to agree
1 S 1. h
30 ger ah. her ame ter Ni- the stor- 62.
356
THE MAGISTRATES OF THE COLONY.
CHAP. together, when times were so bad in England that XVIII.
1630.
they could not worship God after the due manner prescribed in his most holy word, but they must be imprisoned, excommunicated, &c., I say that so many should agree to make humble suit unto our sovereign lord the King to grant them and such as they should approve of, a Patent of a tract of land in this remote wilderness, a place not inhabited but by very barbarous nations ? And was it not a wondrous good hand of God to incline the heart of our King so freely to grant it, with all the privileges which the Patent expresseth ? And what a wondrous work of God was it, to stir up such worthies to undertake such a difficult work, as to remove themselves, and their wives and children, from their native country, and to leave their gallant situations there, to come into this wilderness to set up the pure worship of God here ; men fit for government in the magistracy and in families, and sound, godly, learned men för the min- istry, and others that were very precious men and women, who came in the year 1630.
Those that came then were magistrates ; men of renown were Mr. Winthrop, Governor, Mr. Dudley, Deputy Governor, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. John- son, Mr. Rossiter, Mr. Ludlow, Mr. Nowel, and Mr. Bradstreet. Mr. Endicott came before, and others came then, besides those named. And there came famous ministers in that year, and afterwards ; as, to name some, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Warham, Mr. Maverick, and Mr. Phillips. In our low estate God did cheer our hearts in sending good and holy men and women, and also famous preachers of the word of God ; as Mr. Eliot, Mr. Weld, Mr. Cotton, Mr.
357
THE MINISTERS OF THE COLONY.
Hooker, Mr. Bulkley, Mr. Stone,1 Mr, Nathaniel CHAP. Rogers, and Mr. Ezekiel Rogers, Mr. Shepard, Mr. -
XVIII. Mather, Mr. Peters, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Whiting, 1630. Mr. Cobbet, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Brown, Mr. Flint, Mr. Thomson, Mr. Newman, Mr. Prudden, Mr. Nor- ris, Mr. Huit, Mr. Street, and many others.2 Thus did God work wonderfully for his poor people here.
Before I proceed any further, I will inform you that God stirred up his poor servants to use means in their beginning for their preservation ; though a low and weak people, yet a willing people to lay out their estates for the defence of themselves and others. They having friends in divers places who thought it best for our safety to build a fort upon the island now called Castle Island, at first they built a castle 1634.
1 Stoughton in the first edition of 1731, and all subsequent ones ; but in the copy which I have, which be- longed to Prince, the Annalist, and contains his notes and corrections, he has written Stone in the margin. There was no minister by the name of Stoughton among the colonists.
2 John Wilson * was the minister of Boston ; John Warham, of Dor- chester, and afterwards of Windsor, Conn .; John Maverick, of Dorches- ter ; George Phillips,* of Water- town ; John Eliot* and Thomas Weld,* of Roxbury ; John Cotton,* of Boston ; Thomas Hooker* and Samuel Stone,* of Hartford, Conn .; Peter Bulkley,* of Concord ; Na- thaniel Rogers,* of Ipswich ; Eze- kiel Rogers,* of Rowley ; Thomas Shepard,* of Cambridge ; Richard Mather, t of Dorchester ; Hugh Pe- ters,* of Salem ; John Davenport, t of New-Haven, Conn., and after- wards of Boston ; Samuel Whit- ing,* of Lynn ; Thomas Cobbett, of Lynn, and afterwards of Ipswich ; Peter Hobart,* of Hingham ; Ed- mund Brown, of Sudbury ; Henry Flint and William Tomson,t of
Braintree ; Samuel Newman,t of Rehoboth ; Peter Prudden, of Mil- ford, Conn. ; Edward Norris, of Salem ; Ephraim Huet, of Wind- sor, Conn. ; Nicholas Street, of Taunton, and afterwards of New- Haven, Conn. Of these ministers, twenty-seven in number, fourteen, (marked thus *,) had been educated and taken their degrees at the Uni- versity of Cambridge, in England ; and four (marked thus +,) had stu- died at Oxford. Most of the minis- ters who came to New-England, besides those contained in this list, had been educated at one of the Uni- versities. Of some of the above, an account has already been given, and of others due notice will be taken. The limits of these Notes, however, will not permit us to do justice to them all; and the reader is there- fore referred to Mather's third book of the Magnalia, i. 213, to Eliot's New-England, and Allen's Ameri- can Biographical Dictionaries. See also Wood's Athenæ et Fasti Oxon. and Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 247- 250.
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358
BOSTON CASTLE.
CHAP. with mud walls, which stood divers years. First, XVIII. Capt. Simpkins was commander thereof ; and after
1634. him Lieut. Monish for a little space. When the mud walls failed, it was built again with pine trees 1645. and earth ; and Capt. Davenport was commander. When that decayed, which was within a little time, there was a small castle built with brick walls, and had three rooms in it, a dwelling room below, a lodging room over it, the gun room over that, wherein stood six very good saker guns, and over it, upon the top, three lesser guns. All the time of our weakness, God was pleased to give us peace, until the wars with the Dutch in Charles the Second's time. At that time our works were very weak, and intelligence came to us that De Ruyter, a Dutch commander of a squadron of ships, was in the West Indies, and did intend to visit us ; whereupon our battery also was repaired, wherein are seven good guns. But in the very time of this report, in July, 1665. 1665, God was pleased to send a grievous storm of July 15. thunder and lightning, which did some hurt at Bos- ton, and struck dead here at the Castle Island that worthy, renowned Captain, Richard Davenport.1 Aug. 10. Upon which the General Court, in August 10th fol- lowing, appointed another Captain2 in the room of him that was slain. But, behold ! God wrought for us ; for although De Ruyter intended to come here;
1 Being fatigued with labor, he had lain down upon his bed to rest, the window of the castle being open against him. Three or four of the people were hurt, and a dog was killed at the gate. There was only a wainscot partition between the room where the captain was killed, and the powder magazine. No in- jury was done to the building. See
Hubbard, p. 642, and Hutchinson's Mass. i. 253.
2 This was Capt. Clap himself, as we learn from the following record : " At a General Court, begun Au- gust 1, 1665, this Court having con- sidered of the want of a captain for the Castle, do nominate and appoint Capt. Roger Clap to be captain thereof." Col. Rec. iv. 551.
359
BOSTON CASTLE.
yet God by contrary winds kept him out ; so he CHAP. went to Newfoundland, and did great spoil there. XVIII. And again, when danger grew on us by reason 1673. of the late wars with Holland, God permitted our castle at that very time to be burnt down, which was on the 21st day of March, 1672-3.1 But still March 21. God was pleased to keep this place in safety. The Lord enlarge our hearts unto thankfulness !
I will now return unto what I began to hint unto you before ; namely, that Satan and his instruments did malign us, and oppose our godly preachers, say-
1 The history of " THE CASTLE," from its commencement to the pre- sent time, deserves to be recorded, and there are abundant materials for it in the Court Records, at the State House. The limits of a Note, how- ever, will not permit us to use them ; and the topic, too, belongs more properly to the history of the me- tropolis. The first notice of it we find in Winthrop's Journal, under July 29, 1634; "The Governor and Council, and divers of the ministers, and others, met at Castle Island, and there agreed upon erecting two platforms, and one small fortifica- tion to secure them both ; and, for the present furtherance of it, they agreed to lay out £5 a man, till a rate might be made at the next Ge- neral Court. The Deputy, Roger Ludlow, was chosen overseer." At the General Court, Sept. 3, it was "ordered, that there should be a platform made on the north-east side of Castle Island, and a house built on the top of the hill, to defend the said platform." Edward Johnson informs us, that " there was a castle on an island, upon the passage into the Mattachusetts Bay, wholly built at first by the country in general. But, by reason the country affords no lime but what is burnt of oyster shells, it fell to decay in a few years after. Hereupon (in 1644) the next six towns take upon them to rebuild it. The castle is built on the north-
east of the island, upon a rising hill. The commander of it is one Captain Davenport, a man approved for his faithfulness, courage, and skill. Although this castle hath cost about £4000, yet are not this poor pilgrim people weary of maintaining it in good repair." Edward Randolph, in his Narrative of the state of New- England in 1676, writes, " Three miles from Boston, upon a small island, there is a castle of stone lately built, and in good repair, with four bastions, and mounted with 38 guns, 16 whole culverin, commodiously seated upon a rising ground sixty paces from the water- side, under which, at high-water- mark, is a small stone battery of six guns. The present commander is one. Capt. Clap, an old man ; his salary £50 per annum. There be- long to it six gunners, each £10 per annum." In 1705, its name was changed to Castle William, and in 1799, the island having been pre- viously ceded to the United States, it received the name of Fort Inde- pendence. When the substantial fortress now building on the site is completed, it is hoped that the an- cient name, " THE CASTLE," will be restored. See Col. Rec. i. 122 ; Winthrop, i. 137, ii. 155, 243; Hutchinson's Massachusetts, i. 284 ; Hutchinson's State Papers, p. 486 ; Holmes's Annals, i. 493, ii. 412 ; Mass. Hist. Coll. xvii. 56.
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360
TROUBLES FROM THE ANTINOMIANS.
CHAP. ing they were legal preachers, but themselves were XVIII. for free grace and for the teachings of the Spirit ; 1636. and they prevailed so by their flatteries and fair speeches, that they led away not only "silly women, laden with their lusts," but many men also, and some of strong parts too, who were not ashamed to give out that our ministers were but legal preachers, and so endeavoured to bring up an evil report upon our faithful preachers, that they themselves might be in high esteem ; and many of them would presume to preach in private houses, both men and women, much like the Quakers. They would talk of the Spirit, and of revelations by the Spirit without the Word, as the Quakers do talk of the Light within them, rejecting the holy Scriptures. But God, by his servants assembled in a Synod at Cambridge in 1637. 1637, did discover his truth most plainly, to the es- tablishment of his people, and the changing of some, and to the recovery of not a few, which had been drawn away with their dissimulations. Thus God delivered his people out of the snare of the Devil at that time. Let us, and do you in your generations, bless the holy name of the Lord. "The snare is broken, and we and ours are delivered." There were some that not only stood out obstinate against the truth, but continually reviled both our godly ministers and magistrates, and greatly troubled our Israel. But, by order of the General Court, they were banished out of this jurisdiction ; and then had the churches rest, and were multiplied.1
1 The best account of this whole affair will be found in the Rev. George E. Ellis's "Life of Anne Hutchinson, with a Sketch of the ities are there all enumerated.
Antinomian Controversy in Massa- chusetts," in Sparks's Am. Biog. xvi. 167-376. The original author-
361
TROUBLES FROM THE QUAKERS.
Many years after this, Satan made another assault CHAP. upon God's poor people here, by stirring up the XVIII. Quakers to come amongst us, both men and women; 1656. July. who pretended holiness and perfection, saying they spake and acted by the Spirit and Light within, which (as they say) is their guide ; and most blasphemously said that the Light within is the Christ, the Saviour, and deceived many to their persuasion. But, blessed be God, the Government and Churches both did bear witness against them, and their loathsome and perni- cious doctrine ; for which they were banished out of this jurisdiction, not to return without license, upon pain of death. The reason of that law was, because God's people here could not worship the true and living God, as He hath appointed us in our public assemblies, without being disturbed by them ; and other weighty reasons, as the dangerousness of their opinions, &c. Some of them presumed to return, to the loss of their lives for breaking that law, which was made for our peace and safety.1
Now as Satan has been a lying spirit to deceive and ensnare the mind, to draw us from God by error, so hath he stirred up evil men to seek the hurt of this country. But God hath delivered his poor people here from time to time ; sometimes by putting cour- age into our magistrates to punish those that did re- bel, and sometimes God hath wrought for us by his providence other ways. Here was one Ratcliff 2
1 For an account of the treatment of the Quakers in Massachusetts, see Hutchinson's Hist. of Massa- chusetts, i. 196-205 ; . Grahame's Hist. of the United States, i. 303- 312 ; Mather's Magnalia, ii. 451- 463 ; Norton's Heart of New-Eng-
land Rent ; Bishop's New-England Judged ; Sewell's History of the Quakers, pp. 160, 171, 193-200.
2 Philip Ratcliff was a servant of Governor Cradock. On his return to England, he became, with Morton and Gardiner, a violent enemy to
362
DIXY BULL, THE PIRATE.
CHAP. spake boldly and wickedly against the Government XVIII. and Governors here, using such words as some judg- 1631. ed deserved death. He was for his wickedness June. whipped, and had both his ears cut off in Boston, A. D. 1631. I saw it done. There was one Mor- ton,1 that was a pestilent fellow, a troubler of the country, who did not only seek our hurt here, but went to England, and did his utmost there, by false reports against our Governor ; but God wrought for us, and saved us, and caused all his designs to be of 1632. none effect. There arose up against us one Bull,2 who went to the eastward a trading, and turned pirate, and took a vessel or two, and plundered some plant- ers thereabouts, and intended to return into the Bay, and do mischief to our magistrates here in Dorches- ter and other places. But, as they were weighing anchor, one of Mr. Short's3 men shot from the shore, and struck the principal actor dead, and the rest were filled with fear and horror. They having taken one Anthony Dicks,4 a master of a vessel, did endea- vour to persuade him to pilot them unto Virginia ; but he would not. They told him that they were filled with such fear and horror, that they were afraid of the very rattling of the ropes ; this Mr. Dicks told
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