182 



South Danvers ; W. L. Welch ; Charles H. Manning ; Sa- 

 lem Volunteers in the 21st Reg., Mass. Vols., by A. F. Wal- 

 cott ; 0. H. Saunders. 



Adjonrned. 



Friday, April 25, 1862. 



Meeting this evening at 8 o'clock, the President in the 

 chair. 



Records of proceeding meeting read. 



Letters were announced from Samuel A. Oreen, Surgeon 

 24tli Reg. Mass. Vols.; F. H. Lee of 23d Mass. Vols.; and 

 A. F. Walcott of 21st Mass. Vols.; W. Barry, Sec'y Chicago 

 Historical Society ; S. H. Grant, Lib. N. Y. Mercantile Li- 

 brary Association ; Solomon Lincoln of Hingham ; E. S. 

 Waters. 



A. C Goodell Jr., read a paper on the history of the Pu- 

 ritans, with especial reference to the distinction between the 

 Separatists, or Independents of Plymouth Colony, and the 

 Non-conformists of Massachusetts Bay. 



Beginning with a briel review of the progress of the Angli- 

 can reformation up to the time of the Marian persecutions, 

 he described the difficulties in the church of the exiles at 

 Frankfort, in 1554, as the origin of Puritanism in the Church 

 of England ; though the name Puritan is not known to have 

 been used before 1564. 



He then traced the origin of the Old Separatists to the 

 year 1566 ; of the Brownists to the year 1582 ; of the Semi- 

 Separatists to the year 1602 — from whom sprang the Ply- 

 mouth Colonists, or " Pilgrim Fathers ;" — and of the Non- 

 conformists to the year 1659, of Avhich class were the Puri 

 tans of Massachusetts Bay. 



In conclusion, he entered into an examination of the doc- 

 trines and of the ecclesiastical systems of the two colonies, 



