the established Church, or as they were called, Puritans. Later
arrivals brought more mixed companies, but still the Puritan element
always largely prevailed. Now separated by an ocean from, kings and
bishops, they resolved to realize the darling idea which, like the
fiery pillar before the wandering Israelites, had conducted them
across the sea, and that was the establishment of a commonwealth after
the model of perfection which they fondly imagined they had
discovered. And where should they find that perfect system, except in
the awful and mysterious volume wherein was the revelation of God's
will, and which, with a devotion that had impressed its every syllable
on their minds, they had day and night been studying? Was there not
contained therein a form of government which He had given to his
favored people; and what did both reason and piety suggest but to
accommodate it to their circumstances? All things favored the
undertaking. They were at too great a distance to be easily molested
by their enemies: the distracted condition of the government at home
afforded little opportunity for a strict supervision of their affairs;
and the few savages in their neighborhood left by the devastating
pestilence wherewith Providence had swept the new Canaan, in order to
make room for them, they soon found powerless before the terror of
their fire-arms. By excluding all whom it was their pleasure to call
lewd and debauched, or, in other words, who differed from them in
opinion, from participation in the government, they expected to avoid
confusion, and secure the blessing of heaven. It is absurd to suppose
that human pride, and ambition, and avarice did not intrude into these
visions of a reign of the saints on earth, but unquestionably notions
like these exerted a strong influence. They established their
commonwealth upon their theocratic model, and commenced the
experiment.