and practice of antiquity. Yet he would not give over his opinion; and the church of Plimouth, (though they could not agree to call him to office, yet,) being much taken with his able parts, they were very loath to part with him. He did maintain, also, that the Lord's supper ought to be administered in the evening, and every Lord's day; and the church at Sandwich (where one Mr. Leveridge was minister) fell into the practice of it; but that being a matter of no great ill consequence, save some outward inconvenience, there was little stir about it. This Mr. Chancey was after called to office in the church of Scituate.

One Palmer, of Hingham, and two others, (being ancient and skilful seamen,) being in a shallop of ||ten|| tons, in an easterly wind, by Peddock's Island, were overset; yet one of them had the sheet in his hand, and let fly; but it was too late, having but little ballast in her; yet it pleased God, there came by, soon after, a pinnace, which espied them sitting upon her side,|| yet deep in the water, and took them up, but the shallop was not heard of after.

Many men began to inquire after the southern parts; and the great advantages supposed to be had in Virginia and the West Indies, &c. made this country to be disesteemed of many; and yet those countries (for all their great wealth) have sent hither, both this year and formerly, for supply of clothes and other necessaries; and some families have forsaken both Provi dence and other the Caribbee Islands and Virginia to come live here. And though our people saw what meagre, unhealthful countenances they brought hither, and how fat and well liking ||2shrouds ||

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1 If nothing of greater value, than these answers of the churches, were lost by us, we should less regret the extent of our ignorance of the thoughts and actions of our fathers. From Keayne's MS. it appears, that answer by Boston church was made, 21 June, to a question and desire from the church of Plimouth, "whether it be lawful to use sprinkling in baptism, or rather dipping; Mr. Chauncy being of the mind, that it is a violation of an ordinance to use sprinkling instead of dipping." In the illustrious descendant's Life of his ancestor, there may be some mistake on this point. Yet an equal errour is, perhaps, discernible in the text, as to the confutation, and finding mistakes about "the judgment and practice of antiquity." Fortunately, it is a matter, on which little depends; and the churches here would da wisely to allow, as a large part of the antipædobaptists in England are liberal enough to do, that the substance of Christianity is of infinitely higher impor. tance than this form of expressing our devotion to it, and that a contro versy, which cannot be settled, had better be dropped,

2 Hingham Records show, that John Palmer came over in September, 1635, and those of the colony, that he was made free 13 March, 1638—9 Nothing more of him is known by me.

they became soon, yet they were so taken with the ease and plenty of those countries, as many of them sold their estates here to transport themselves to Providence; among whom the chief was John Humfrey, Esq. a gentleman of special parts of learning and activity, and a godly man, who had been one of the first beginners in the promoting of this plantation, and had laboured very much therein. He, being brought low in his estate, and having many children, and being well known to the lords of Providence, and offering himself to their service, was accepted to be the next governour. Whereupon he laboured much to draw men to join with him. This was looked at, both|| by the general court, and also by the elders, as an unwarrantable course; for though it was thought very needful to further plantation of churches in the West Indies, and all were willing to endeavour the same; yet to do it with disparagement of this country, (for they gave out that they could not subsist here,) caused us to fear, that the Lord was not with them in this way. And, withal, some considerations were propounded to them by the court, which diverted some of them, and made others to pause, upon three points especially: 1. How dangerous it was to bring up an ill report upon this good land, which God had found out and given to his people, and so to discourage the hearts of their brethren, &c. 2. To leave a place of rest and safety, to expose themselves, their wives and children, to the danger of a potent enemy, the Spaniard. 3. Their subjection to such governours as those in England shall set over them, &c. Notwithstanding these considerations, divers of them persisted in their resolutions, and went about to get some ship or bark to transport them; but they were still crossed by the hand of God.1

Mo. 3. 17.] Joseph 2Grafton set sail from Salem, the 2d day in the morning, in a 2ketch|| of about forty tons, (three men and a boy in her,) and arrived at Pemaquid (the wind easterly) upon the third day in the morning, and there took in some twenty

1 "That the Lord was not with them," in their design to draw off people from Massachusetts to the West Indies for a permanent plantation, we may as confidently believe, as did Winthrop and the majority who remained; yet it is desirable to disavow the notion, that their difficulties in the attempt prove, that they were still crossed by his hand."

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2 He had been made free at the general election in May, 1637. The relation in the text proves the prosperity of the plantation at Pemaquid, no less than the activity of Grafton. In the next volume it will be seen, that his vessel, carrying provisions to La Tour, was taken by D'Aulney, and the crew were very ill treated. Grafton died at Barbados, February, 1670. Descendants are known, among whom is one of the same name in this city.

cows, oxen, &c. with hay and water for them, and came to an anchor in the bay the 6th1 day, about three after noon.

It came over by divers letters and reports, that the Lord Say did labour, by disparaging this country, to divert men from coming to us, and so to draw them to the West Indies; and, finding that godly men were unwilling to come under other governours than such as they should make choice of themselves, &c. they condescended to articles somewhat suitable to our form of government, although they had formerly declared themselves much against it, and for a meer aristocratie,|| and an hereditary magistracy to be settled upon some great persons, &c.

The governour also wrote to the Lord Say about the report aforesaid, and therein showed his lordship, how evident it was, that God had chosen this country to plant his people in, and therefore how displeasing it would be to the Lord, and dangerous to himself, to hinder this work, or to discourage men from supplying us, by abasing the goodness of the country, which he never saw, and persuading men, that here was no possibility of subsistence; whereas there was a sure ground for his children's faith, that, being sent hither by him, either he saw that the land was a good land, and sufficient to maintain them, or else he intended to make it such, &c. To this letter his lordship returned answer, (not denying that which was reported of him, nor the evidence of the Lord's owning the work, but) alleging, that this was a place appointed only for a present refuge, &c. and that, a better place being now found out, we were all called to remove thither.

[Very large blank.]

more aristocratic||

1 Days of the week, probably, are meant. The same scruple, which led to change of the months, caused the names of the days to be offensive, and induced the fathers to reckon the less, as well as greater divisions of time, by numerals. Adherence to this custom distinguishes the Quakers.

APPENDIX.

A 1.

[The date of this letter is uncertain; probably as early as 1621 or 2.]

My good Wife,

I WROTE to thee this week by Roger Mather, but shall expect no other letter from thee, because of thy journey to Maplested, from whence I hope thou art safely returned. Blessed be the Lord, our good God, who watcheth over us in all our ways to do us good, and to comfort us with his manifold blessings, not taking occasion by our sins to punish us as we deserve. Through his mercy it is, that I continue in health, and that, to my great joy, I hear well of thee and our family. The Lord teach us the right use of all his blessings, and so temper our affections towards the good things of this life, as our greatest joy may be, that our names are in the book of life, that we have the good will of our heavenly Father, that Christ Jesus is ours, and that by him we have right to all things. Then, come what will, we may have joy and confidence.

My sweet wife,-I am sorry that I cannot now appoint the time, that I hope to return, which cannot be the next week; though, it is like, my sister Fones, or some of her company, will come down then; but you shall hear more the beginning of next week.

Mr. Fowle.

For news I have but one to write of, but that will be more welcome to thee than a great deal of other. My office is gone, and my chamber, and I shall be a saver in them both. So, as I hope, we shall now enjoy each other again, as we desire. The Lord teach us to improve our time and society to more use for our mutual comfort, and the good of our family, &c. than before. It is now bed time; but I must lie alone; therefore I make less haste. Yet I must kiss my sweet wife; and so, with my blessing to our children, and salutation to all our friends, I commend thee to the grace and blessing of the Lord, and rest

My brother D. and sister, and sister F. commend them to thee:

To his very loving wife, Mrs. WINTHROP,

at her House in Groton.