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Papers of the Winthrop Family, Volume 2

Introduction

General Observations: Autograph Draft

May 1629
General Observations for the Plantation of New England1
Winthrop, John White, John

1629

1st. It wilbe a service to the church of great consequens by carringe the gospell into those parts to raise a bulworke against the kingdom of antichrist which the Jesuits labour to rere in all parts of the world:

2d. All other churches of Europe beinge brought to desolation it cannot be but that the like iudgement is comminge vpon vs and who knoweth but that god hath prepared this place for a refuge for many whome he meaneth to saue in the general distruction:

3d. The land groneth vnder her inhabitants soe that man the best of creatures is held more base then the earth they tread on:

4th. We are growen to that hight of intemperancy as noe mans estate 112will suffice him to keepe sayle with his equall and he that doeth not must Hue in contempt. Hence trades are carried soe deceiptfully and vnrightusly as yt is almost inpossible for a good vpright man to maynteyne his charge and to Hue comfortably in his profession:

5th. The fountaynes of learninge and religion are soe corrupted as besides the vnsupportable charge many chyldren of best witts and fayrest hopes are perverted corrupted and vtterly overthrowne by the multitude of evill examples and the licentious government of those seminaryes:

6th. The earth is the lords garden and he hath given yt to the sonns of men to be tylled and improved why then should we stand strivinge here for places of habitation many men spending as much labour and cost to recover and keepe somtymes an acre or tow of land which would procure many acres of as good or better in an other place and in the meane tyme they suffer whole countryes vsefull and convenient for the vse of man to lye wast without inhabitant:

7th. What can be a better or more honorable worke then to helpe rayse and support a particuler church whyle yt is in the budd and infancy to ioyne our forces with such a company of faithfull people as by a tymly assistance may growe stronge and prosper and for want of yt may be put to great hazard yf not ruinated:

8th. Yf such as are knowen to be godly and Hue in welth heare shall forsake all this to ioyne themselues with this church and to runne their hazard yt wilbe an example of great vse boeth for the removinge of the scandall of worldly and sinister respectes to giue more lyfe to the faith of godly people in their prayers for the plantation and alsoe to encourage others to ioyne the more willingly in yt:

obiection Yt wilbe a greate wronge to our owne country and church to take away the godly people and we shall lay yt the more open to the iudgements feared: | solution | yt wilbe nothinge in respect of those that shalbe lefte and many that Hue in noe vse heare more then for their owne private famylyes maye be imployed to a more commen good in an other place: 3° by such as are of noe vse heare to be soe imployed as the church shall receaue noe losse: 4°. the church since christs tyme is to be considered as vniversall without respect of countryes: soe as he that doeth good in any place doeth serve the church in all places 5°. yt is the revealed will of god that the gospell should be preached in all places and nations and therfore we knowe not whether the Indians will receaue yt yet yt is a good worke to observe gods will in offeringe yt for god shall haue glory yf they refuse:

ob: We haue feared a iudgement a longe tyme but yet we are saffe: 113yt were better to stay till yt come and either we may fly then or yf we be overtaken we may content our selues to suffer with such a church as this: | sol: | It is likly that this consideration made the church beyounde the seas viz: the Palatinate and Rochell to sit still and not labour for shelter whyle they might: but the wofull spectackle of their ruine may teach vs wysdome to avoyd the plauge whyle yt is forsenne and not to tary as they did till yt overtake vs: yf they were now in their former liberty we may be sure they would take other course for their safty Although most of them had myscarried in their escape yet that had not bine halfe soe miserable to themselues and scandalous to religion as their desperate backslydinge and abiuringe the truth which many of their auncient professors amongst them and their whole posteryty that remayne are plunged into:

ob: We haue here a plentyfull land of all thinges with peace: | sol: yet we must leaue all this abundance yf yt be taken from vs: 2. when we be in our graues yt wilbe all one to haue liued in plenty or poverty or whether we had died in a bed of downe or one a locke of strawe only this is the advantage of a meane condition that yt is at more freedome to dye the lesse comfort any haue in the things of this world the more liberty and desire he may haue to lay vpp treasure in heaven:

ob: But we may perrish in the way or when we come there hunger or the sword there: how vncomfortable would yt be to see our wyfes chyldren and frends come to such mysery by our occasion: | sol: such obiections savour to much of the flesh who can free hymselfe or his frends from the like calamyties heare: yf this course be warrantable we must trust gods providence for those thinges either he will keepe those evills from vs: or will dispose them for our good and in able vs to beare them:

ob: but what warrant haue we to take the land which is and hath bine soe longe tyme possessed by other sonnes of Adam: | sol: | that which is commen to all is proper to none these savage people ramble over much land without title or property. 2°. ther is more then enough for them and vs: 3° god hath consumed these nations in a myraculouse plauge wherby a great parte of their country is left voyd without inhabitants: we shal com in with good leaue of these nations:

ob: But we should yet send younge ones and such as can be best spared and not of our best number and magistrates sol: yt is a great worke and therfore requyres skylfull artifficers to lay the foundation of a new buyldinge then to vphold and maynteyne yt alreddy buylt: yf great thinges be attempted by weake meanes instruments the effects wilbe aunswearable:

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ob: We see that plantations that haue bine formerly made succeed ill: sol: the fruit of any probable designe is not to be decerned by the immediate successe yt may appeare in tyme that they were to good vse. 2° ther were great and fundamentall errors in the other which are likly to be avoyded in this for first their mayne end which was proposed was carnal and not religiouse they aymed cheefly at profitt and not the propagation of religion: secondly they vsed vnfitt instruments viz: a multitude of rude and misgoverned persons the very scumme of the land: 3. they did not establysh a right forme of government:

Endorsed, not “in the same handwriting as the paper,” as is stated in 1 Proceedings, VIII. 430, but in a quite different hand, probably that of a government clerk:

White of Dorchester his instructions for the plantation of new England.
1.

Public Record Office, Colonial Papers, VI. 64, for the concluding page of which, see illustration; 1 Proceedings , VIII. 428–430 (1865). The heading is in the manuscript. Discussed above as draft B.