it was impossible considering the remote distance of New England from Westminster-hall that they should appear in the time allowed Thus illegally was the Charter of the Massachusets Colony wrested from them as for the Colonies of Plymouth Conecticot and Road Island there was never any Judgment against them nor any Surrender but by a mere Rape in the year 1686 their Charters and Priviledges were violently taken from them Since that time the Country hath mightily declined and gone to ruin daily not being now like the place it was Five Years ago which is not much to be wondred at considering the Intollerable Oppressions they have been Labouring under since their Charters were Ravished from them In the Year 1686. Sir Edmond Andros was sent by the late King James to New England with a Commission absolutely destructive to the fundamentals of the English Government Impowering him with Four more none of them chosen by the People to Levy Money and make Laws nay and in case of War in the Plantations to send as many of the Inhabitants as he would two Thousand Miles out of the Country This Commission being Illegal and so in it self void the People not being able to Continue longer under those Oppressions did this last Spring assert their English Liberties Rights and Priviledges and Unanimously Declare for the Prince of Orange and the Parliament of England And it is greatly to be observed that as long as New England enjoyed their Charters for more than Fifty Years together they never put the Crown of England to a Penny Charge which is more than can be said of any other Forreign Plantations dependant on England But since they have been under a Government not by Charters but by Commission the Country hath been Chargeable and less Beneficial to the Kings Revenue than in former times It hath indeed been objected that in New England they did many Years a go Transgress the Act of Navigation But the Trasgression of some few particular Persons ought not to be charged as the fault of the Government there who did in the Year 1663 make a Law that the Act of Navigation should be Strictly observed and their Governours are Sworn to see that Law Executed and have to the uttermost of their power been careful therein Many other Things have been suggested against New England he most of which having no footsteps of Truth in them but being the Malicious Inventions of the Tobijahs and Sanballats of the Age are not worth mentioning Not but the People there being but Men have had their failings as well as other Men in all places of the World. The only thing so far as I can learn which can with any Coluor of Truth be justly reflected on them as a great fault is that in some matters relating to Conscience and difference of opinion they have been more rigid and severe than the Primitive Christians or the Gospel doth allow of Yet this is to be said in their behalf that things are reported worse than indeed they were and that now many Leading Men and the generality of the People are of a more moderate Temper I know many that have a great Interest there do abhor the Spirit of Persecution as much as any Men in the World. It is certainly for the Interest of England that New England be incouraged and preserved in all their Rights Priviledges and Properties and those ill Men who have given or shall give contrary advice notwithstanding all their vain pretences to the contrary have and will prejudice the Interest of the Crown more than they are or ever were or can be able to make amends for which I evince by the Arguments following I. The Kings Revenue all things considered is as much or more augmented by New England than by any other of the Foreign Plantations This will seem to some a strange Assertion But consider what I say and then judge if it be not true The other American Plantations cannot well subsist without New England which is by a Thousand Leagues nearer to them than either England or Ireland so that they are supplied with Provisions Beef Pork Meal Fish c. And also with the Lumber Trade Deal Boards Pipe-Staves c. chiefly from New England Also the Carribbe Islands have theire Horses from thence It is then in a greater part by means of New England that the other Plantations are made prosperous and beneficial they pay Customs in the Plantations for the Goods they Export from thence into New England and when those Goods are brought into England they pay the same again the Second time by which means not a little is contributed to the Crown Some Manufactures there are amongst them but not a Twentieth part of what the Country hath need of or is consumed there most of their Cloathing as to Woollen and Linnen all sorts of Upholstery Wares Haberdashers and Silk Wares Stuffs Silks c. they have from England and make returns in Plate Pieces of Eight Beaver Moose and Deer Skins Oyl and Iron all which but the Bullion the Country affords Also by Sugars and Tobacco Indico and indeed all the Product of the other Plantations which with their own Vessels they fetch and transport to England II. I know not whether in the World there be a better place for shipping nor can I say how many but many hundreds there are hundreds of Vessels of their own building do belong to the Country besides great Numbers built and sold into England for they yearly build many good Ships some of which for London and other places in England The Country abounds with Pine-Trees Excellent Cedars and Oak for building of Ships and Ship-Masts in abundance by those that are proper Judges the best in the World and come yearly from thence for the Use of the King's Ships And it hath been affirmed by knowing Men in Navigation and Building that whenever the King of England pleases he may in New England on such easie Rates as is scarce imaginable build Navies of Ships There being no better Timber in the World and in such quantities as are inexhaustible and in such convenient Places as if God and Nature had adapted these vast Timbers for the said use which is worth consideration for that Timber is generally wanting in England and in Ireland what is is too far from Waters and Places fit for Carriage and the East-Land Oak is spungy and unfit III. The English born in New England have the true inherent Spirit of the Old apt and fit for Martial Employs and as an addition to their Natural Courage and Sobriety are well instructed in Martial Discipline All the Inhabitants from sixteen to sixty Years in each Town are by the Law and constant Custom of the Country to bear Arms if occasion shall require and that they may be fit so to do They have in each Town and Village their Training-days eight Times every Year wherein they are exercised in Military Discipline that so they may be expert in War on
A BRIEF RELATION OF THE STATE OF New England From the Beginning of that PLANTATION To this Present Year 1689. In a Letter to a Person of Quality LICENCED July 30th 1689. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwine near the Black Bull in the Old-Baily 1689. A BRIEF RELATION OF THE STATE OF New England HONOVRED SIR I Have received yours wherein you desire me to give you a Brief Account of the past and present State of New England which in as few words as I can and as straits of time will permit me I shall endeavour your Satisfaction in New England contains that Tract of Land which is between forty and forty five Degrees of Northern Latitude It was for some time known by the name of the Northern Plantation but King Charles the First then Prince of Wales gave it the name of New England The first settlement of the English there was in the year 1620 viz. at New Plymouth New England differs from other Foreign Plantations in respect of the Grounds and Motives inducing the First Planters to remove into that American Desert other Plantations were built upon Worldly Interests New England upon that which is purely Religious for although they did and do agree as is evident from their Printed Confession of Faith with all other Protestant Reformed Churches and more especially with England in Matters of Doctrin and in all Fundamental Points of Faith yet as to the Liturgy Ceremonies and Church-Government by Bishops they were and are Non-conformists It was grievous to them to think of living in continual difference with their Protestant Brethren in England upon which account they resolved on a peaceable SECESSION into a corner of the World and being desirous to be under the Protection of England about twenty worthy Gentlemen obtained a Charter from King Charles the First bearing date from the year 1628. which giveth them Right to the Soil for they hold their Titles of Lands as of the Mannor of East-Greenwich in Kent and in Common SOCAGE which notwithstanding they purchased their Lands of the Indians who were the Native Proprietors By their mentioned Charter they are Empower'd to Elect yearly their own Governor and Deputy-Governor and Magistrates as here in London and in other Towns Corporate the Freemen chuse their Lord Mayors Mayors Aldermen c. They have also Power to make such Laws as shall be most proper and suitable for the Plantation Nevertheless as an acknowledgment of their dependance on England by their Charters they are obliged not to make any Laws which shall be repugnant to the Laws in England Also the fifth part of all Oar of Gold or Silver found in that Territory belongs to the Crown of England The Report of this Charter did encourage many very deserving persons to Transplant themselves and their Families into New England Gentlemen of Ancient and Worshipful Families and Ministers of the Gospel then of great fame here in England Tradesmen Artificers and Planters to the Number of about four thousand did in twelve years time go thither The hazards they run and the difficulties which they encountred with in subduing a Wilderness cannot be easily exprest in a large Tract But the Almighty God by a wonderful Providence carried them through all In the year 1637 they were in imminent danger of being cut off by the barbarous Heathen but when it came to a War mighty numbers of the Indians were slain by a few of the English which caused a terror of God to fall upon the Heathen round about so that after the Pequod Indians were subdued there was peace in the Land for forty eight years together and being setled under a good and easie Government the Plantation increased and prospered wonderfully yea so as cannot be parallelled in any History never was place brought to such a Considerableness in so short a time that which was not long since a howling Wilderness in few years time became a pleasant Land wherein was abundance of all things meet for Soul and Body which can be imputed to nothing else but to their Religion the Gospel bringing a fulness of Blessings along with it Some have observed that since the year 1640 more Persons have removed out of New England than have gone thither Nevertheless the four thousand who did between that and the year 1620 transplant themselves into New England are so marvelously increased as that if the Computation fail not they are now become more than Two hundred thousand Souls There are Towns and Villages on the Sea-Coasts from Long Island to Boston which is Three hundred English Miles and the like from Boston to Pemmaquid which is Two hundred Miles more In the year 1662 Conecticot Colony as also Read Island with the Plantations thereunto belonging had Charters granted to them by King Charles the Second being much of the same Tenor with the Patent of the Massachusets whereby these Colonies were made distinct Government In the year 1675 the Indians began a second War with the English the Issue of which was that whole Nations of them were destroy'd Never did men shew greater Courage and Bravery in their Encounters with the Barbarous Heathen than they did Although it must be acknowledged that the Indians advantages were such as they could not have been overcome if God had not fought against them by sending the Evil Arrows of Famine and Mortal Diseases among them I have often thought of an Expression of an Indian there We could easily be too hard for the English but said he striking on his Breast The Englishmens God makes us afraid here As long as they enjoyed their first Government no Enemies could stand before them but since that they have not been able to subdue an hundred Indians who did the last year commit some outrages among them having been as I am credibly insormed designedly provoked thereunto by some Injuries done unto them by those then in Power who intended the Ruine of the English and Advancement of the French Interest in that Territory As for your Enquiry By what means they came to be deprived of their Charters Rights and Liberties please to understand that in the year 1683 a Quo Warranto was issued out against them and with the Notification thereof by the then King's Order there was a Declaration published enjoyning those few particular Persons mentioned in the Quo Warranto to make their defence at their own perticular Charge without any help by a publick Stock By this it was easie to see that some Persons were resolv'd to have the Charters condemned quo jure quaque injuria Nevertheless the Governor and Company appointed an Attorney to appear and answer to the Quo Warranto in the Court of King's Bench. The Prosecutors not being able to make any thing of it there a new Suit was Commenced by a Scire facias in the High Court of Chancery But tho they had not sufficient time given them to make their Defence yet Judgment was entred against them for Default in not appearing when
all occasions for their own Defence and Service of their Prince who will find whenever he shall please for to command and commissionate them that they are able by the Blessing of God to secure and enlarge his Dominions and to bring their French Neighbours into an intire Subjection to the Crown of England And from this Consideration it was that the French Ministers who all the World knows had a mighty Ascendent over White-Hall in the Two Late Kings Reigns ceased not in their Negotiations until amongst other Articles agreed on One was that in Case of a War betwixt England and France there shall be a Neutrality in the Plantations They wisely foreseeing that if the King of England should arm and commission his Subjects in New England the Frenchmen in those parts could not stand before them In the Time of the Late Protector Cromwel they did by order from England take several Forts from the French which by King Charles the Second were restored to them again no ways to the Honour or Interest of the English Nation And it 's hoped His Majesty and the High Court of Parliament will put that value upon New England as so vast a Tract of Land and Body of People deserve from a Government on which they depend and are so great and useful a Member as they have manifested themselves to be And that in so Eminent a manner as calls for Protection Encouragement and Restauration to all their Rights Priviledges and Proprieties and what Additions more as in His Majesty great Wisdom shall be thought fit for his Service the Protestant Religion and the good of that People who on the 18th of April 1689. Unanimously rose in Arms and after having seized upon their Illegal Governour and the rest of their Oppressors declared for the Prince of Orange and the Parliament of England the Protestant Religion and their Ancient Constitution and to this day do keep the Country for our Present Sovereigns King William and Queen Mary against King Lewis and the Abdicated King James waiting His Majesties Commands c. Which Declaration is in the words following WE do therefore seize upon the Persons of those few Ill Men which have been next unto our sins the Grand Authors of our Miseries resolving to secure them for what Justice Orders from his Highness with the English Parliament shall direct lest e're we are aware we find what we may fear being on all sides in danger our selves to be by them given away to a Foreign Power before such Orders can reach unto us for which Orders we now humbly wait in the mean time firmly believing that we have endeavoured nothing but what meer Duty to God and our Country calls for at our hands We commit our Enterprize to the Blessing of him who hears the Cry of the oppressed and advise all our Neighbours for whom we have thus ventured our selves to joyn with us in Prayers and all just Actions for the Defence of the Land. The twelfth Article of New England is the Key of the New World America if the French King had got it into his Possession he might soon have made himself Master of America and this in all Probability would have been done this Summer if the New Englanders in and about Boston penetrating into the Designs carrying on had not risen as one Man and seized Sir E. A. who is as of a French Extract so in the French Interests being sent to New England by the Late King James with an Illegal and Arbitrary Commission and those ill Men who joyned with him in his Tyranny All men do acknowledge that those brave Souls whom God hath so wonderfully assisted and spirited to preserve London-Derry and perhaps thereby to save all Ireland by securing it and declaring for King William and Queen Mary deserve great Favour and Protection from the Government And the same must be acknowledged due unto the People of New England and more especially when it is considered of what Value and Consequence to England New England is and that they so early as it were rescued the Country out of the hands of the French even before they knew the Prince of Orange was King of England and that at a Time when they knew no more than that His Highness was landed in England with a design to endeavour the delivering the Kingdom and the Churches of God from Popery Slavery and Arbitrary Power which as they lookt upon as an Heroick and Glorious Undertaking so they also accounted it their Duty to embark themselves in the same Cause though they knew not what the Issue of so mighty a Work would be which hath caused some Persons of no Mean Figure to say These People deserve His Majesties and the Nations Respect Countenance and Speedy Restitution of all their Rights and to be enabled by His Majesties Commissions to prosecute the War against France in America which they are capable to do without any considerable Charge to the Government And indeed New England hath upon the best Accounts which can be mentioned out-done all America For there they have erected an Vniversity which began in the year 1642 wherein things are managed pro more Academiarum in Anglia Several Persons of more than ordinary Learning yea and many scores of able Ministers of the Gospel have there had their Education There by the Statutes of the Colledge none is to be admitted before he can write Latin in a pure Style and translate any ordinary Greek Author It is customary with them every Morning in the Colledge-Hall to read a Chapter out of the Hebrew Bible and at Night a Chapter out of the Greek Original The Tutors there instruct their Pupils in Logick Natural and Moral Philosophy Metaphysicks Geography Astronomy Arithmetick Geometry c. and the Learned Men there have a corresponding communication with other Learned Men in divers parts of the World where the Reformed Religion is professed and by them highly reverenced for their Learning and Sobriety an Instance of which appears by the following Letter written by the Eminent Mr. Kick to the Queen's Majesty that now is in February last by way of Supplication for New England To Her Royal Highness the Princess of Orange c. May it please your Royal Highness THE great and good God who â—â—th foretold us in the Scriptures that a great and wonderful Deliverance shall be wrought for his Church in the latter days when the Mountain of Zion shall be exalted in the top of the Mountains seemeth to have designed to mâ—â—â— use of His Highness the Prince of Orange and Your Royal Highness as Instruments in that glorious Deliverance Having already done such marvellous things in England by His Highness in order to that great Work insomuch that the Eyes of all the Protestant Churches and People of God are this day towards His Highness and Your Royal Highness as Instruments in God's Hand for the further carrying on of the Deliverance of his Church from the cruel Sufferings and
In the Island of Martha which is about Twenty Two Miles long are two American Churches planted which are more Famous than the rest for that over one of them presides an Ancient Indian Minister called Hiacooms John Hiacooms Son of the said Indian Minister also Preaches the Gospel to his Contrymen in _____ Church in that place John Tockinosh a Converted Indian Teaches In these Churches Ruling Elders of the Indians are joyned to the Ministers The Ministers were chosen by the People and when they had Fasted and Prayed Mr. Elliott and Mr. Cotton laid their hands on them so that they were solemnly Ordained All the Congregations of the Converted Indians the Catechumeni and those that are in Church-Order every Lords Day meet together the Minister always beginning with Prayer and without a Form because from the heart when the Ruler of the Assembly hath ended his Prayer the whole Cogregation of Indians praise God with Singing in which many of them are excelling After the Psalm he that Preaches reads a place of Scripture and Expounds it gathers Doctrins from it proves them by Scripture and reasons and infers use from them after the manner of the English of whom they have been taught Then another Prayer to God in the Name of Christ concludes the whole Service in which manner they meet twice every Lord's Day they observe no Holy Days but the Lord's Day except upon some extraordinary occasion and then they solemnly set apart whole Days either in giving thanks or fasting and praying with great fervor of Mind Before the English came into these Parts these Barbarous Nations were altogether ignorant of the true God hence it is that in their Prayers and Sermons they use English Words and Terms He that calls upon the most Holy Name of God says Jehovah or God or Lord and also they have Learned and borrowed many other Theological Phrases from the English There are six Churches of Baptized Indians in New England and eighteen Assemblies of Catechumeni professing the Name of Christ Of the Indians there are four and twenty who are Preachers of the Word of God and there are also four English Ministers who Preach the Gospel in the Indian Tongue and there are many of the Indians Children who have learned by heart the Catechism either of that samous Divine Mr. Will. Perkins or that put forth by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and can in their own Mother-Tongue answer to all the questions in it Thus Sir I have endeavoured to gratifie your request with as much Brevity as the Subject will admit and exceeding the Bounds of a Letter am forced to be so prolix and the rather for that most of what I have written is upon my own knowledge Truth and the rest undeniable fact though not the twentieth Part of the Truths might be said of the Almighty's most wonderful blessing and prospering New England and his Gospel among the Heathen there which to me looks like the Beginnings of the fulfilling those many Prophecies in Holy Writ concerning them And after all this I cannot but admire there should be as you say there is any Man in England who owns but even the bare name of a Protestant at such a time as this when God seems to have begun the Reformation of the whole World and eminently to appear for the True Reformed Religion should be an Enemy unto such a People as are in New England and their Discipline as to the Religious Worship When as to all knowing and unprejudiced persons its consonant to the practice of the Primitive Church and of the Reformed Churches throughout the World Which one would think should not find an Enemy among any sort of Christians but those called Papists or else among such as Papist like can give up their Religion Rights Liberties and Properties nay their very Senses to the conduct of their Fellow Creatures FINIS Books lately Printed for R. Baldwin THE History of the most Illustrious VVilliam Prince of Orangc deduc'd from the first Founders of the Ancient House of Nassau Together with the most Considerable Actions of this Present Prince Fourteen Papers viz. 1. A Letter from a Gentleman in Ireland to his Friâ—nd in London upon occasion of a Pamplet Entituled A Vindication of the present Government of reland under his Excellency Richard Earl of Tyrconnel 2. A Letter from a Freeholder to the rest of the Freeholders of England and all Others who have Votes in the Choice of Parliament Mâ—â— 3. An Enquiry into the Reasons for Abrogating the Test imposed on all Members of Parliament Offered by S. Ox. 4. Reflections on a late Pamphlet Entituled Parlimentum Pacificum Licensed by the Earl of Sunderland and printed at London in March 1688. 5. A Lâ—tter to a Dissenter upon occasion of his Majesties Gracious Declaration of Indulgence 6. The Anatomy of an Equivalent 7. A Letter from a Clergy-man in the City to his Friend in the Country containing his Reasons for not reading the Declaration 8. An Answer to the City Minister's Letter from his Country Friend 9. A Letter to a Dissenter from his Friend at the Hague concerning the Penal Laws and the Test shewing that the Popular Plea for Liberty of Conscience is not concerned in that Question 10. A plain Account of the Persecution laid to the Charge of the Church of England 11. Abby and other Church-lands not Assured to such Possessors as are Roman Catholicks Dedicated to the Nobility and Gentry of that Religion 12. The King's Power in Ecclesiastical matters truly Stated 13. A Letter of several French Ministers fled into Germany upon the account of the Persecution in France to such of their Brethren in England as approved the King's Declaration touching Liberty of Conscience Translated from the Original in French. 14. Popish Treatise not to be Fely'd on In a â—â—tter from a Gentleman at York to his Friend in the Prince of Orange 's Camp Addressed to all Members of the next Parliament The VVay to Peace amongst all Protestants Being a Letter of Reconciliation sent by Bishop Ridley to Bishop Hooper with some Observations upon it By Samuel Johnson Purgatory provâ—d by Miracles Collected out of Roman Cathoâ—ick Authors VVith some remarkable Histories relating to British English and Irish Saints VVith a Preface concerning Miracles By S. Johnson An Historical Relation of several Great and Learned Fomanists who did imbrace the Protestant Beligion with their Reasons for their Change deliver'd in their own words Collected chiefly from most eminent Historians of the Roman Perswasion To which is added a Catalogue of sundry great Persons of the Roman Catholick Religion who have all along oppos'd the Tenets of the Church of Rome The Character of a Trimmer His Opinion of 1. The Laws and Government 2. Protestant Religion 3. The Papists 4. Foreign Affairs By the Honourable Sir W. Coventry A Seasonable Discourse shewing the Unreasonableness and Mischiefs of Impositions in Matters of Religion recommended to serious Consideration By Mr. Andr. Marvel a late Member of the Honourable House of Commons The Revolter A Trage-Comedy acted between the Hind and Patter and Religio Laici c. The Absolute Necessity of Standing by the Present Government or a View of what both Church-men and Dissenters must Expect if by their Unhappy Divisions Popery and Tyranny should return again An Impartial Relation of the Illegal Proceedings against St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxon in the Year of our Lord 1687 containing only Matters of Fact as they occurred Collected by a Fellow of the said Colledge