day, as this man was observing the people flocking to Mr. Wilson's lecture, the thought occurred to him ;-" Why should I tarry at home to work, when so many go to hear a sermon?" And so he went with the multitude. But when there, he heard a sermon specially applicable to himself, from the text ;-"Let him that stole, steal no more." Receiving this as God's message to his soul, the penitent hearer became a reformed and pious man.

In those persecuting times, it was not to be expected, that a servant of God so eminent for zeal and usefulness as Mr. Wilson, should escape unharmed. There was a sort of upstart preacher among the Puritans at Sudbury, who, irritated at the superior respect paid to Mr. Wilson, became a conformist. In him the smoke of apostacy, as too often happens, burst forth into the blaze of persecution. This person made his complaints to the Bishop's courts, from whose sentence our worthy pastor escaped only by the powerful intercession of some influential men who exerted themselves in his behalf. On one occasion, his prosecutor employed a pursuivant, noticed above all others for his activity in such business, to arrest Mr. Wilson. But though this "mighty hunter," whose "prey was man," arrested scores of people, who were

returning from lecture, he dismissed them all, because he had missed of taking the preacher, who, by a good providence, had gone out of his way to visit a friend.

After this, a lady of rank, not intending any offence, chanced to speak too favorably of Mr. Wilson's preaching in comparison with that of a certain reverend doctor. Upon this the angry divine applied to the Bishop of London, who suspended Mr. Wilson from office for the scandalous offence of preaching better than some of his neighbors.

This suspension had not been long taken off, when he was wholly silenced, with several other worthy ministers, by Dr. Harsnet, Bishop of Norwich. After a while, the Earl of Warwick, a very potent nobleman, signed a letter to this Bishop, which letter Mr. Wilson drew up at the Earl's desire. Hereupon he was at once restored to the freedom of his ministry. That same Bishop, not long after, went forth upon an expedition to the northern part of his diocese, to put down the non-conforming pastors and people there. Meanwhile the ministers in the southern region set apart a day of fasting, to pray for the help of heaven in behalf of their brethren. On that very day, the oppressive prelate was taken with a violent fit, which VOL. II. 3

forced him to stop at a wretched inn on the road, when he suddenly expired. This is one out of the numberless instances which church history affords, of the miserable end which persecutors have commonly met. "The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth."

But persecution died not with Dr. Harsnet. The harrassed and worn out Puritans began to sigh for that repose and security, which the old world could not offer them. They began to say one to another;"The sun shines as pleasantly on America as on England, and the Sun of Righteousness much more clearly. Let us remove whither the providence of God calls, and make that our country, which will afford us what is dearer than property or life, the liberty of worshiping God in the way which appears to us most conducive to our eternal welfare."* Mr. Wilson, after he had ministered at Sudbury for ten or twelve years, embarked with many of his neighbors in the large company of fifteen hundred settlers, which came over with John Winthrop in the year 1630. They left the Isle of Wight on the 8th of April; and by the 12th of June, the principal vessel of their fleet of thirteen, arrived at Salem, which had

Neal's Hist. Vol. II. p. 207.

begun to be settled some three or four years before. Thus these good men went from one sore trial to another. They left behind them the home from which it was so painful parting; and before them were the sorrows of the wilderness.

town

CHAPTER II.

Hard times. Mr. Wilson's activity. Church formed at CharlesMr. Wilson installed as teacher of the church. Removal to Boston. Mr. Wilson returns to England. His second voyage to America. House of worship built. Prognostications. Excursion to Plymouth: Sabbath, and order of worship there. Mr. Wilson installed as pastor of Boston. Arrival of John Cotton, who becomes teacher. Mr. Wilson's labors among the Indians. Account of Sagamore John. His death and the destruction of his band. His son committed to Mr. Wilson's care. Treatment of the Indians. Land-title. John Cotton. Penn's treaty. Low price of wild lands. Revival in Boston Church. Intercourse between the ministry and magistracy. The clergy, the friends of liberty. Adventure at Nantasket. Mr. Wilson again returns to England. Dangers on the Irish coast. Driven to Ireland. Travels in England. Legacy of Dr. Wilson. Visit to Sudbury. Visit to Nathaniel Rog. ers. Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson. Good Mr. Dod's message to her. Her husband in peril. Edward Johnson. Sails for America the last time. His fellow voyagers, Shepard, Hugh Peters, &c. Arrival at Boston. Antinomian controversy.

MR. Wilson was about forty-two years of age when he came to this country. He exerted himself most energetically to encourage the people under the inconceivable difficulties of a new settlement. His "over-doing liberality," knew no bounds except his limited means. Morton, naming him as "eminent for love and