%40.  Church and State in Massachusetts.%—­Down to the moment of their arrival in America the Puritans had not been Separatists.  They were still members of the Church of England who desired to see her form of worship purified.  But the party under Endicott had no sooner reached Salem than they seceded, and the first Congregational Church in New England was founded.

Some in Salem were not prepared for so radical a step, and attempted to establish a church on the episcopal model; but Endicott promptly sent two of the leaders back to England.  Thus were established two facts:  1.  The separation or secession of the Colonial Church from that of England. 2.  That the episcopal form of worship would not be tolerated in the colony.

In 1631 another step was taken which united church and state, for it was then ordered that “no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same.”

This was intolerance of the grossest kind, and soon became the cause of troubles which led to the founding of Rhode Island and Connecticut.

%41.  The Planting of Rhode Island.%—­There came to Salem (from Plymouth), in 1633, a young minister named Roger Williams.  He dissented heartily from the intolerance of the people of Massachusetts, and, though a minister of the Salem church, insisted

1.  On the separation of church and state.

2.  On the toleration of all religious beliefs.

3.  On the repeal of all laws requiring attendance on religious worship.

To us, in this century, the justice of each of these principles is self-evident.  But in the seventeenth century there was no country in the world where it was safe to declare them.  For doing so in some parts of Europe, a man would most certainly have been burned at the stake.  For doing so in England, he would have been put in the pillory, or had his ears cut off, or been sent to jail.  That Williams’s teachings should seem rank heresy in New England was quite natural.  But, to make matters worse, he wrote a pamphlet in which he boldly stated

1.  That the soil belonged to the Indians.

2.  That the settlers could obtain a valid title only by purchase from the Indians.

3.  That accepting a deed for the land from a mere intruder like the King of England was a sin requiring public repentance.

In the opinion of the people of New England such doctrine could not fail to bring down on Massachusetts the wrath of the King.  When, therefore, a little later, Endicott cut the red cross of St. George out of the colors of the Salem militia, the people considered his act a defiance of royal authority, attributed it to the teachings of Williams, and proceeded to punish both.  Endicott was rebuked by the General Court (or legislature) and forbidden to hold office for a year.  Williams was ordered to go back to England.  But he fled to the woods, and made his