But even if they did not enjoy a great deal of success in converting the populace that was here, the English did have a great deal of success in transplanting their religion to this New World. After earlier efforts that had been financed by some individuals to establish colonies in the New World, the London Company, which was operated under a charter which was actually authorized and chartered by the throne, succeeded in planting a permanent settlement on the James River in 1607. This settlement was called James Town, and it was (if you remember your American History) Sir Walter Raleigh who laid claim to being the founder of this first successful settlement here in this part of the New World.

Among the petitioners and the first settlers was an Anglican clergyman. He was, indeed, among the group of the first settlers to land in the Spring of 1607. One of the first things that he did, as the clergyman among this group of settlers, was to begin to provide religious services for the settlers. Well, since the church and the state were united in England, it was perfectly normal for the settlers to create a similar arrangement in the new colony, and so the Church of England, the Anglican Church, was established in the New World.

I’ve read (and some of it is rather interesting) that as a result of that relationship—the church and state being one—that such things as church attendance was required; that the activities of one’s life were very highly regulated and governed by the church/state organization; and also, it was required that one contribute—tithe—to the church. Any breaking of those laws—missing church services, for example—if you didn’t have a good excuse, then you were subject to be punished. Likewise, if you didn’t give your tithe, you were called into account for that.

The ministry—this church/state relationship—was supported not only by the tithe, but also by what was called “Gleeb land” [also spelled Gleebe; Glebe]. That was a practice that actually came from the time of the Middle Ages; it was a practice where there was property that was associated with the church—the congregation—and it was property that was worked, and any profit that came from the working of that land, that property, went to the church. Well, you remember that when the Revolution eventually comes along, one of the issues, one of the problems, that the colonists had with the crown was this business of the church/state relationship, and the paying of these tithes, which went against the colonists’ desires.

The Anglican Church was very strict, not only with those who were members, but they were also very strict about allowing others to be there in that area. Any others who were not Anglicans, who were not members of the Church of England, were considered to be non-conformists. And so, those who were Catholics, or Quakers, or whatever, were just not welcome in this Virginia Colony.

The Anglican Church remained the established (that is, state-supported) church during the whole of the colonial period. The Anglican Church would eventually become the Protestant Episcopal Church.

But a change would take place. And that change would take place for a number of reasons, none the least of which was because as more and more people came to the New World, Anglicans began to be outnumbered in the Virginia Colony. And so, their very strict enforcement of keeping people out would eventually be lost simply because they would be overwhelmed by numbers of others—Puritans, for example.

Religion played a far more important part in the founding and early history of the New England colonies than it did in Virginia. Religion was the prime motive that brought many to this region, and it was religion that sustained them during difficult times.

It would be the Pilgrims who would come first, landing in the fall of 1620. You recall, we talked about the Pilgrims a little bit when we were talking about the Reformation in England. They were dissenters—they had actually withdrawn from the Church of England, and they had formed independent congregations. And so, they came here to the New World looking for this independence—looking for the possibility that they could practice their religion freely.

Many of them had actually made a transition—they had left England and had gone to the Netherlands initially, looking for sanctuary and religious freedom. However, they didn’t find it there, and so they moved on and set out for America and the New World.

Within a few years, they were joined by an ever-increasing stream of Puritans. Now, remember, unlike the Pilgrims, who had disassociated themselves from the Church of England, the Puritans were individuals who were attempting to reform the Church of England from within. They were ones who were disenchanted with the church/state relationship that existed there in England; they were disenchanted with so many of the trappings of Roman Catholicism being a part of the practices of the Anglican Church, and so they were attempting to reform the church from within. However, when those attempts were being resisted and they fell under a great deal of persecution under King Charles I, many Puritans came to this country. As a matter of fact, during the period from 1628 to 1640, a period that is called “The Great Migration,” it is estimated that more than 20,000 made that journey across the ocean to this land.

Well, as a result, the Puritans outnumbered the Pilgrims. But an interesting thing happened. The Puritans who arrived as members of the Church of England, of the Anglican Church, soon found it expedient to adopt a different form of government, a congregational form of church government, and so on. And so, it wouldn’t take them long to no longer consider themselves as Anglicans. Rather, they, instead, referred to themselves as “Congregationalists.”

The Puritans came to gain religious freedom, but it must be understood that they were only interested, really, in religious freedom for themselves. Ones who took exception to Puritan doctrine and practice were soon invited to leave the Colony, or they suffered persecution at the hands of the Puritans, who had suffered persecution in England.

Religious freedom, religious tolerance, as we know it, as we understand it today, had many growing pains to go through. There are many examples that could be cited, but one that I thought was interesting was one named Roger Williams, who is actually credited with being the founder of the State of Rhode Island. His founding of the State of Rhode Island grew out of this practice by the Puritans to excommunicate people from their Colony who did not agree with them.

This one, Williams, arrived in Massachusetts in 1631, and he soon found himself at odds with the orthodox leadership of the Puritans. Eventually, he was ordered banned from the Colony, but to escape being deported back to England, he fled into the frozen wilderness. Here he was given refuge by the Narragansett Indians. (After he had first arrived in the New World, he had done some missionary work with these Native Americans.) And so, the following Spring in 1631, Williams and some other exiles founded Providence on Narragansett Bay. Here, in this community, Williams would found what is widely considered to be the first Baptist church in America. Because of the religious toleration that was granted by this Colony, other dissenters were soon attracted to it.