Joshua Moody (or Moodey), probably born at Ipswich in England, was brought to New England in 1634 by his father, William, one of the first settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts. Moody graduated from Harvard in 1653 and went on to take an M.A. In February of 1655, he was chosen a fellow of Harvard College, where he remained almost three years before taking up ministerial duties at Portsmouth in 1658. During the next thirteen years, Moody labored as a frontier minister, supported by the voluntary subscription of some eighty-six persons, until he was able to organize a church in 1671. While at Portsmouth, Moody showed himself a staunch supporter of Harvard College, for in response to a government appeal for funds, he and his followers pledged £60 per annum for a period of seven years for "the advancement of good litterature there."

Throughout his life, Moody never hesitated to speak freely about sin in...