THE STORY OF A NEW ENGLAND CHURCH 66 ON the third day of October, 1635, the ship Defence, of London, arrived at Boston. It had been a "longsome voyage" of nearly two months, for the ship was very rotten and unfit for such a voyage," and at the first storm began to leak badly, so that the passengers thought they might have to turn back. Among her passengers was a young Puritan minister who had been driven out of England, with his wife and young child. They were welcomed by many friends, and entertained for a day or two, and then they crossed the river to Newtown. It happened just at that time that many of the settlers of this village were preparing to remove to Connecticut. This young minister, Thomas Shepard, and his friends, numbering about sixty persons, decided to remain until they could find a better place, and a few of the former settlers, reluctant to remove, remained with them. Among these was John Bridge, a man prominent in the affairs of the town, whose services have recently been recognized in a statue of bronze. He was among those who had invited Shepard to come to the New World, and had provided a place for him. In the following February these new comers desired to be properly organized as a church. They gained the approbation of the magistrates, and invited the neighboring churches to be present and to assist "in constituting their body." With carefulness and dignity, with regard for order, and an ample sense of the fitness of things, they formed the new church, following in their thought the simple methods of the New Testament. The leading members were men of learning, high character, and exalted purpose, who had consented to become exiles that they might enjoy the religious liberty which was to them more than comfort and life. They entered into a solemn covenant whereby they promised to walk in all their ways according to the rules of the gospel," and in mutual love and respect each to other, so near as God shall give us grace." They were few in number, perhaps only seven, for it was considered that seven was a convenient number for a church. Thus the beginning was made. It was great in its intent and in its results. It was an entire church: independent, in that there was no human authority over it; Congregational, in that it was in fellowship with all the churches along the New England coast. Clearly, the church was not the house in which it worshiped. It did not include those of the company who had not entered into covenant. It did not include any of the other villagers, though they might be connected with it in its services, and aid in meeting its expenses. The church was those men and women, and only those, who had made covenant one with another in the sight of God. In this integrity it was to remain. The wife of the young minister had encouraged him to leave his own country and seek another beyond the sea. His own account of her influence is full of meaning: "My dear wife did much long to see me settled there in peace, and so put me on to it." The name of Margaret Shepard deserves the honor with which it is regarded. Her husband's testimony is all that she could desire: "When the Lord had fitted a wife for me he then gave me her, who was a most sweet, humble woman, full of Christ, and a very discerning Christian; a wife who was most incomparably loving to me and every way amiable and holy, and endued with a very sweet spirit of prayer." "Thus did I marry the best and fittest woman in the world unto me." The voyage had been a very hard one for the young Yorkshire mother. In one of the many storms, the husband writes, "my dear wife took such a cold and got such weakness as that she fell into a con |