in that university, and afterwards was settled in the ministry at Ware. By the persecutions of the spiritual courts, (for preaching against the sports, corruptions, dissipations, dances, wakes, and revels, which Arch-Bishop Laud had let loose upon the Lord's day, to the grief, and distress of the Puritans, as well as all the good people of England,) he was driven from his ministry, and persecuted by fines and imprisonments, until he was constrained to flee into banishment, and took refuge amongst the pilgrims of the church, in the wilds of New-England, where he arrived in the year 1638, and where he became president of Harvard College, at Cambridge. Here he spent the remainder of his days, as a learned, laborious, and dignified governor, and here he closed his useful life, in the year 1672, in the 82d year of his age. The praise of this godly man will ever be in the university, as well as in the churches of New-England.

The limits of this work, will not permit me to pursue this glorious subject of the worthies of New-England, and speak of the splendid and useful labours of a Stone, a Cotton, a Mather, an Edwards, and others, whose wisdom, talents, and virtue, did honour to their names, and whose names will ever live in the churches of New-England.* "These suns are set!-O, rise some other such, or all is talk of old achievements and despair of new !" Great was the damage England sustained from the loss of such men great was their acquisition in promoting the order, interest, happiness, peace, and glory of the church in the wilderness. ! Thus we see how God makes use of his own means to accomplish his own purposes, and always adapts his causes

The mantle of the Elijahs of New-England, has fallen, and continues to fall, upon her Elishas, through a period of about one hundred years, imparting the same inspiration to a succession of worthies, who (with a steady eye to the glory of God, and the best good of his church,) have become his great instruments of building up this modern Canaan in the wilderness of the west. Their deeds are recorded in the annals of New-England, and of the world, and their names can never die,

to the desired effects. Had not the spiritual persecutions in England, under the tyranny of a Bishop Laud, driven these godly men from their livings, and their religion; who would have supplied their places in New-England? and without such men, what would have become of the church in the wilderness? and without the example, the labours, and prayers of the church in the wilderness, what would have become of the Puritan church in England? and further, without the united prayers, and labours of these churches, where would have been the Bible Societies, the Missionary Societies, the Education Societies, and let me add, the Praying Societies, of the days in which we live? These are great in themselves, yet they are only parts of the divine plan, in planting His little church in the wilderness, and in building up His modern Canaan in the wilds of New-England.

Let us adore the God of our fathers, for what our eyes have seen, our ears heard, and we ourselves have enjoyed, of the riches of his goodness; and let our faith expand with our hopes, in the future promises of the gospel, which are yet full of the riches of his goodness. Here, in these pro-, mises, are blessings yet to be unfolded to his church, greater than all those she has yet injoyed.. Blessings, such as "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive of." Blessings, which shall fill the church with his praise, and the whole earth with his glory.

See Appendix marked a.

CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORY OF THE PILGRIMS CONTINUED.

We have noticed the planting of the colonies of Ply-inouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-Haven, and Rhode Island, with an attempt to establish the colony of New-Hampshire: we have noticed the freedom of civil and religious government, already established in these colonies, together with the severity of discipline that became necessary, to effect this great object. We have, also, noticed the attempt of Gorges, and others, in the reign of Charles I. to subvert these free institutions, by attempting to erect NewEngland into twelve Lordships, and planting himself at their head, under a grant from the same king. We have also noticed, how God frowned upon this attempt, in the death of Gorges, and the total destruction of his plan. We have also noticed, in a short sketch, the characters of those worthies who first planted New-England. We will now go forward, and consider an attempt of the natives, to destroy the settlements of Connecticut, and give a summary sketch of the Pequot war.

When the English attempted to explore the Connecticut River, 1634, the Pequots murdered a Captain Norton, with six of his company, which shewed the hostility of their character. In 1636, they murdered a Mr. Oldham, at Block-Island. These acts of hostility, roused the resentment of the governor and council of Massachusetts, and they resolved to punish the outrage, and bring the offenders to justice. They accordingly detached 90 men, under the command of Captain Endicot and others, with orders to take exemplary vengeance on the offenders. They set sail, immediately, for Block-Island, promptly executed their commission, and from thence, directed their course to Connecticut River, where they took twenty men, and re

turned to Pequot River, (Thames) where they commenced an attack upon the villages, dispersed the Indians, (about 300) burnt their wigwams, canoes, corn, &c. and returned to Boston. This opened a war of the natives, upon the settlement at Saybrook; they assaulted the settlement, and an action ensued, in which one of the English was wounded. Depredations were continued, and it became dangerous for the English to appear in the fields, to pursue their labours; they were often ambushed, and sometimes taken and carried off. In autumn, of the same year, the Naraganset chiefs, entered into a confederacy at Boston, with the English, of offensive and defensive war, against the Pequots. This treaty was so guarded as to prevent the surprise of the English, if the Naragansets should prove. treacherous.

...The Plymouth company complained of the aggressions of the Massachusetts colony, in commiting hostilities against the Pequots; but they justified themselves, by the necessity of the case, and the first aggressions of the Indians. About the same time, the Pequots murdered one Tilly, on the banks of Connecticut River, by cutting off his hands and feet, and thus leaving him to perish. In May, 1637, six men were killed by the Indians, at Wethersfield, and three women, and twenty cows were carried off, and three young girls taken prisoners. This led the settlers of this village, to build a stone fort, upon a rising ground, near the banks of the great meadow, where the whole village. retired to pass the night, and where the women and children retired, in case of alarm; the men, after this, went armed into the field, to their common labour.

These successes, gave spirit and confidence to the Indians, and emboldened them in the war. The Dutch, at Manhattan, encouraged the Indians in their hostilities; this led to an union of effort between Connecticut cand Massachusetts; the former furnished 90 men, and MassaVOL. I.

19

chusetts 140; these were joined by 20 more from Connecticut, which made up an army of 250 men; and Uncas, sachem of the Mohegans, united in the war. When this formidable force was assembled for the war, the Rev. Mr. Hooker of Hartford, made the following address to the troops.

"Fellow Soldiers, Countrymen, and Companions, you are this day assembled by the special providence of God; you are not collected by wild fancy, nor ferocious passions. It is not a tumultuous assembly, whose actions are abortive, or if successful, produce only theft, rapine, rape, and murder; crimes inconsistent with nature's light, inconsistent with a soldier's valour. You, my dear hearts, were selected from your neighbours, by the godly fathers of the land, for your known courage, to execute such a work. Your cause is the cause of heaven; the enemy have blasphemed your God,* and slain his servants; you are only the minsters of his justice. I do not pretend that your enemies are careless, or indifferent; no, their hatred is inflamed, their lips thirst for blood; they would devour you, and all the people of God; but my brave soldiers their guilt has reached the clouds; they are ripe for destruction; their cruelty is notorious; and cruelty and cowardice are always united. There is nothing, therefore, to prevent your certain victory, but their nimble feet, their impenetrable swamps, and woods; from these your small numbers will entice them, or your courage drive them. I now put the question-Who would not fight in such a cause? fight with undaunted boldness? do you wish for more encouragement? more I give you. Riches waken the soldier's sword; and though you will not obtain silver and gold, on the field of victory; you will secure what is infinite

* They had said the Englishman's God was one fly, and the Englishman

was one sqaw.