f wealthy
Puritans bought the territory from the Council of Plymouth, and,
receiving a charter the following year from Charles I., sent small
colonies across the Atlantic. Then the company itself followed, taking
with it the charter and officers, thus gaining a colony in America that
was wholly independent of England. Salem and some other small
settlements had previously been made.

The colony was one of the most important that ever settled in this
country. Its leaders were not only of the best character, but were
wealthy, wise, and far-seeing. A large number arrived in 1630, and
founded Boston, Cambridge, Lynn, and other towns. Although they suffered
many privations, they were not so harsh as those of Plymouth, and the
colony prospered. During the ten years succeeding 1630, 20,000 people
settled in Massachusetts, and in 1692 the two colonies united under the
name of Massachusetts.

It would seem that since these people had fled to America to escape
religious persecution, they would have been tolerant of the views of
those among them, but such unhappily was not the case. The most
important part of their work was the building of churches and the
establishment of religious instruction. The minister was the most
important man in the colony, and no one was allowed to vote unless a
member of the church. A reproof in church was considered the most
disgraceful penalty that could be visited upon a wrong-doer. The sermons
were two, three, and sometimes four hours long, and the business of one
of the officers was to watch those overcome by drowsiness and wake them
up, sometimes quite sharply.

[Illustration: KING PHILIP'S WAR--DEATH OF THE KING.]

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.

Roger Williams, a Baptist preacher, told the Puritans, as the people
came generally to be called, that they did wrong to take the land from
the Indians without paying for it, and that a person was answerable to
God alone for his belief. These charges were answered by the banishment
of Williams from the colony. All the Baptists were expelled in 1635.
Shortly afterward, Anne Hutchinson boldly preached the doctrine of
Antinomianism, which declares that a man is not saved by the help of
good works, but by divine grace alone. In other words, no matter how
wickedly he lives, his salvation is wholly independent of it. She went
to Rhode Island and afterward to New Netherland, where she was killed in
one of the attacks of the Indians upon the Dutch settlements.

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