conveniences to which they were subjected, and by the more powerful motive, the hope of laying a foundation for the extensive advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom in these then wild and inhospitable regions, they were induced to remove to America. A part of the company at Holland, uniting with others in England, sailed on the 6th of September, 1620, and, on the 10th of November, arrived at Cape Cod, and, on the 22d of December, 1620, landed, with their effects, at Plymouth, one hundred and one souls. In 1621, their number was increased by the addition of thirty-five of their friends and associates from Holland.

In 1628, Mr. Endecott, who may be considered the founder of Massachusetts, with a company of about one hundred, landed at, and commenced the settlement of, Salem, and was the governor of the new plantation. In June, 1629, three hundred more arrived at the same place. The next year, 1630, Mr. John Winthrop, having been constituted governor of the colony, and his suit, with fifteen hundred settlers, came over; some of whom sat down at Charlestown, and others at Boston. Indeed, every year produced additions to the colony till 1640. At that time civil war broke out at home, and emigrations ceased. From 1620 to 1640, a term of twenty years, it is computed, that the number of emigrants to this country amounted to four thousand families, or about twenty-one thousand British subjects, among whom were many persons of great learning, eminent piety, and high distinction; many in easy, and others in affluent, circumstances.

Among the later emigrants were those, who, two hundred years ago, sat down in this place, and here reared, and fostered, and handed down to posterity, the inestimable institutions of religion and learning.

The Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, who was at the head of this settlement, was the first minister of the town. He was born in England in 1590, and was the son of the eminently pious and learned divine, Rev. Richard Rogers of Weathersfield, Essex County, England. In childhood and early youth, our Mr. Rogers was distinguished for genius, discernment, and learning. At the age of twenty he was graduated, at the university at Cambridge, as master of arts. Till about this time in life, he himself says, in the preamble of his will, "I made but ill use of my knowledge, and lived in a formal profession of religion. The Lord was pleased, by occasion of a sore sickness, which was likely to be death, to make me see the worth and need of Christ, and to take such hold of him, as that I could never let him go to this hour; whereby I am now encouraged to bequeath and commit my soul into his hands, who hath redeemed it, and my body to the earth, since he will give me, with these eyes, to see my Redeemer." Having finished his education, he became chaplain in the pious, learned, and accomplished family of Sir Francis Barrington, of Essex. His public services, both of prayer and preaching, at this early time of life even, were attended with such powerful strains of oratory, that his ministry was very acceptable, much frequented, and remarkably successful. After five or six years, profitably and usefully spent in this family, Sir Francis bestowed upon Mr. Rogers the benefice of Rowley, in Yorkshire, where he labored, with great fidelity and eminent usefulness, for seventeen years. At length, unwilling to conform, he was suspended, and was induced to seek a retreat from oppression and persecution, and the privilege of worshipping God according to the dic

tates of his own conscience, in this land of the Pilgrims; or, as he himself tells the tale, "for refusing to read that accursed book that allowed sports on God's holy Sabbath, or Lord's day, I was suspended, and, by it and other sad signs of the times, driven, with many of my hearers, into New England." Mr. Rogers arrived in this country with many respectable families of his Yorkshire friends, "godly men," as the historian says, " and most of them of good estate," in the autumn of 1638. He commenced the settlement of this place, in April, 1639, with sixty families, who labored in common about five years; but the act of incorporation was not had till the 4th of September following. On the 3d of December, 1639, Mr. Rogers was installed pastor over the church, which was, probably, at that time organized; for we are informed, in the words of the historian, under this date, that "they," that is, the professed friends of Christ then here," renewed their church covenant, and their call of Mr. Rogers to the office of pastor, according to the course of other churches"; and it appears, that Thomas Mighill and Maximilian Jewett were, at the same time, appointed deacons. The number of which the church was first constituted, in the absence of all records, cannot be determined. But if sixty families, meriting the eminent appellation of " "godly," had taken up their abode here, it will not be extravagant to suppose, that there were one hundred and fifty members at the commencement, probably more.*

* The particulars of the organization of the church, the installation of Mr. Rogers, the number of members of which the church was first constituted, numbers added, &c., cannot be stated; for, if they were recorded in church records, those records were lost by the fire which consumed the dwelling of Mr. Rogers, near the close of his life.

Mr. Rogers had an annual salary of sixty pounds. The first meeting-house was probably built in 1639; so eminent were the Puritans, and so eminent are their genuine descendants, to make the attainment of a place of worship the object of their first concern. I say, probably in 1639; for, early in the year following, mention is made of it in an order of the General Court; and the site of it was the very spot, or near it, where the present congregational meeting-house now stands. Mr. Rogers was a man of undoubted and ardent piety, sound learning, zealous and persevering in his efforts to advance the cause of truth and holiness, and, for a considerable portion of his life, at least, of great influence. Strong and ardent in his passions, he was sometimes hurried from the straight line of Christian duty; but such was his humility, that he was always ready to acknowledge his errors and retrace his steps. His praise was in all the churches about him, but especially in his own; where his preaching, consisting peculiarly of the doctrines "of regeneration, and union to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith," was eminently successful. "In the management of these points," says Cotton Mather, "he had a notable faculty of penetrating into the souls of his hearers, and manifesting the very secrets of their hearts. His prayers and sermons would make such lively representations of the thoughts then working in the minds of his people, that it would amaze them to see their own condition so exactly represented. And his occasional discourses with his people, especially with the young ones among them, and, most of all, with such as had been, by their deceased parents, recommended unto his watchful care, were marvellously profitable. He was a tree of knowledge, but so laden with fruit, that he stooped for

the very children to pick off the apples ready to drop into their mouths. Sometimes they would come to his house, a dozen in an evening; and, calling them up into his study, one by one, he would examine them, how they walked with God? How they spent their time? What good books they read? Whether they prayed without ceasing? And he would therewithal admonish them to take heed of such temptations and corruptions, as he thought most endangered them. And if any differences had fallen out among his people, he would forthwith send for them, to lay before him the reason of their differences; and such was his interest in them, that he usually healed and stopped all their little contentions, before they could break out into any open flames." It is said, that a traveller, passing through town, inquired of him, "Are you, Sir, the person who serves here?” To whom he replied, "I am, Sir, the person who rules here."

So prominent and commanding were his talents, that he was persuaded, in addition to his labors on the Sabbath, to give a lecture once in two weeks, for the benefit of the inhabitants of other towns, as well as of his own; which was well attended, and with great satisfaction and profit. But on account of this increased labor, a colleague was settled to assist him.

In the latter part of

his life, Mr. Rogers was subjected to many calamities. As Cotton Mather says, "The rest of this good man's time in the world was winter; he saw more nights than

* It is not known how long the lecture, commenced by Mr. Rogers, was continued; but a monthly lecture, holden on the first Wednesday of each month, was early established, and regularly sustained until since the commencement of the present century.