These lines, and the prompt despatch of the surgeon, Endicott thus acknowledged:
“Right Worthy Sir—It is a thing not usual that servants to one Master and of the same household should be strangers; I assure you, I desire it not; nay, to speak more plainly, I cannot be so to you. God’s people are all marked with one and the same mark and sealed with one and the same seal, and have, in the main, one and the same heart, guided by one and the same Spirit of truth; and where this is, there can be no discord; nay, here must needs be sweet harmony. And the same request, with you, I make unto the Lord—that we may, as Christian brethren, be united by a heavenly and unfeigned love, bending all our hearts and forces in furthering a work beyond our unaided strength, with reverence and fear, fastening our eyes always on Him that is able to direct and prosper all our ways.
“I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of God’s worship. It is, so far as I can gather, no other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed himself to me; being far from the common report that hath been spread of you touching this particular.[635] But God’s children must not look for less here below than ill-report and slanderous gibes; and ’tis a great mercy that he strengthens them to go through with it. I shall not need, at this time, to be tedious unto you, for, God willing, I purpose to see your face shortly. In the mean time, I humbly take my leave of you, committing you to the Lord’s blessed protection and rest.
“Your assured Friend,
“JO. ENDICOTT.
“Naumkeag, May 11, 1629.”[636]
The chain of friendship thus early welded had an additional link added to it when the Leyden exiles, borne to America in company with Higginson and Skelton, landed from the same flotilla, and pushed from Salem on to Plymouth. Bradford, in reciting this incident, says finely, “Their long stay and keeping back was recompensed by the Lord to their friends here with a double blessing, in that they not only enjoyed them now beyond their late expectation, but with them many more godly friends and Christian brothers, as the beginning of a larger harvest unto the Lord, in the increase of his churches and people in these waste parts, to the admiration of many and the wonder of the world; and that here should be a resting-place for so many of God’s children, when so sharp a scourge came upon their own land. But it was the Lord’s doing, and it ought to be marvellous in our eyes.”[637]
Higginson and Endicott had reached Salem in the latter part of June, 1629. Some twenty days later, Endicott “set apart a solemn day of humiliation for the foundation of a church and the choice of a pastor and a teacher.”[638] The elder Pilgrims at Plymouth were invited to be present, and lend their countenance to the unique ceremony.[639]
The 20th of July arrived. The first part of the day was spent in prayer and preaching; the latter portion was devoted to the ecclesiastical election.[640] “It was after this manner,” says Gott—who had come over with Endicott, and was afterwards a deacon in the Salem church—in a letter to Bradford rehearsing the proceedings: “the persons thought of, who had been ministers in the English Establishment, were questioned concerning their calling to preach. They acknowledged that there was a twofold calling, the one inward, when the Lord moved the heart of man to take that calling upon him, and fitted him with gifts for it; the other outward, and from the people, when a company of believers are united in a covenant to walk together in all the ways of God, and all the male members are given a free voice in the choice of their church officers. Now we, being persuaded that these two men were so qualified as the apostle speaks to Timothy, ‘A bishop must be blameless, sober, apt to teach,’ we think we may say, as the eunuch said unto Philip, ‘What should hinder my being baptized, seeing there is water?’ and he believed. So those servants of God, clearing all things by their answers, and being thus fitted, we saw no reason why we might not freely give our voices for their election. Therefore every fit member wrote in a note the name of him whom the Lord moved him to think fit for a pastor; and so likewise the name of him whom they would have for a teacher. Mr. Skelton was chosen pastor, and Mr. Higginson teacher; and they accepting the choice, Mr. Higginson, with several others, laid hands on Mr. Skelton, using prayer therewith; after which there was an imposition of hands on Mr. Higginson by Mr. Skelton and the rest.”[641]
Bradford, “and some others with him, coming by sea,” and being “hindered by cross-winds,” could not reach Salem in the beginning of the ceremony, but “came into the assembly afterwards, and gave them the right hand of fellowship, wishing all prosperity and a blessed success unto such good beginnings.”[642]
Some days after this election, Mr. Higginson drew up “A Confession of Faith and Church Covenant.” Thirty persons assented to it, and a self-constituted church was planted in the wilderness.[643] This transaction has determined and colored the whole religious constitution of New England. It was a bold and aggressive act. But the Pilgrims had always objected to the ceremonial law of the home Establishment; and now, being in the Western wilds, they felt free to form their ecclesiasticism on what they conceived to be a more authentic model. “In their position, such words as ‘Non-conformity’ and ‘Separatism’ ceased to be significant. It was only important that they should conform to their view of the Bible; and their determination to do so was not shaken by the thought that in doing so they must separate, not in spirit, but in discipline and usage, from a church three thousand miles away.”[644]