OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. VOL. IX. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY HALL & HILLER, No. 53, CORNHILL. MUNROE & FRANCIS, PRINTERS. 1804. REPRINTED BY T. R. MARVIN, MDCCCLVII. COLLECTIONS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST CHURches IN MASSACHUSETTS. ACCOUNT OF MINISTERS WHO WERE FIXED IN SALEM, CHARLESTOWN, DORCHESTER, AND BOSTON, WATERTOWN, AND ROXBURY. CONTROVERSY WITH ROGER WILLIAMS, AND MRS. HUTCHINSON. SYNOD IN 1637; AND STATE OF RELIGION TO THE YEAR 1647. HE wisest statesmen have observed, that a regular ministry is the great instrument of civilizing mankind. It is evident, that their business is connected with a virtuous education, and the encouragement of polite literature; and it is a fact, that the most social order prevails, and most knowledge is diffused in those towns and states, where the people have regarded the institutions of religion, and chosen men of liberal education for their teachers. The fathers of New-England, who subdued the wilderness, and turned its roughest spots into fruitful fields, had been well educated in the old country; and were disposed to encourage a learned ministry. They frequently observed that a country destitute of ministers, was like paradise without the tree of life. But they extended their views beyond this sublunary state, and planted churches not so much for social improvements, and to bless the present scene of existence, as to brighten the prospects of future glory. When |