“For consolation to them that are planted by God in any place, that find rooting and establishing from God, this is a cause of much encouragement unto you, that what he hath planted he will maintain, every plantation his right hand hath not planted shall be rooted up, but his own plantation shall prosper and flourish. When he promiseth peace and safety, what enemies shall be able to make the promise of God of none effect? Neglect not walls, and bulwarks, and fortifications for your own defence; but ever let the Name of the Lord be your strong Tower; and the word of his Promise the Rock of your Refuge. His word that made heaven and earth will not fail, till heaven and earth be no more. Amen.”
John Cotton, the Calvinist reformer and English vicar, spoke to hundreds of Puritans in March 1630 as they prepared to leave England for America. His parting sermon was entitled “God’s Promise to His Plantation,” and those who were listening would soon be joining the recently chartered plantation of Massachusetts Bay.
