The New England settlers showed more sincerity than other adventurers in endeavoring to accomplish their principal professed object of colonization, that of teaching Christianity to the Indians.[345] They appointed zealous and pious ministers for the mission,[346] and established a seminary for the education of the natives, whence some scholars were to be selected to preach the Gospel among their savage countrymen. Great obstacles were encountered in this good work; the Indians showed a bigoted attachment to their own strange religious conceits, and their priests and conjurers used all their powerful influence against Christianity, denouncing in furious terms all who forsook their creed for the English God. Despite these difficulties, a number of savages were induced to form themselves in villages, and lead a civilized[347] and Christian life, under the guidance of ministers of their own race.[348] In a few years thirty congregations of "praying Indians,"[349] their numbers amounting to 3000, were established in Massachusetts. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 314: 35 Eliz., c. 1, stat. 4, p. 841-843; _Parl. Hist._, p. 863; Strype's _Whitgift_, p. 414, &c.; Neale's _Puritans_, vol. i., p. 526, 527, quoted by Bancroft, vol. i., p. 290.] [Footnote 315: "The _Gospel Advocate_ asserts that 'the judicial law of Moses being still in force, no prince or law ought to save the lives of (_inter alios_) heretics, willful breakers of the Sabbath, neglecters of the sacrament without just reason.' Well may the historian of the Puritans (Neale) say, 'Both parties agreed in asserting the necessity of a uniformity of public worship, _and of using the sword of the magistrate in support of their respective principles_.' It should never be forgotten by those who are inclined to blame the severe laws passed against these Nonconformists, that the English government was dealing with men whose avowed wish and object it was not simply to be tolerated, but to subvert existing institutions in Church and State, and set up in their place those approved by themselves."--Godley's _Letters from America_, vol. ii., p. 135.] [Footnote 316: "The most noisy advocate of the new opinions was Brown, a man of rashness, possessing neither true courage nor constancy. He has acquired historical notoriety because his hot-headed indiscretion urged him to undertake the defense of separation.... Brown eventually purchased a living in the English Church by conformity."--Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. i., p. 287.] [Footnote 317: "But, although Holland is a country of the greatest religious freedom, they were not better satisfied there than in England. They were tolerated, indeed, but watched. Their zeal began to have dangerous languor for want of opposition, and being without power and influence, they grew tired of the indolent security of their sanctuary. They were desirous of removing to a country where they should see no superior."--Russell's _Modern Europe_, vol. ii., p. 427.