Page:The Rise of American Civilization (Volume 1).djvu/59

 mote the power of England" was the chief object of the Virginia Company; its heart was set on the glory of God and the propagation of the Christian faith among them that sat in darkness. In their advertisements for colonists the officers of the Company were at pains to indicate that they wished only settlers of correct religious life. "They also made careful provision for the maintenance of the religious habits they prized so highly; churches were built with such elaboration as their means allowed, and the practice of attending the daily services there was carefully enforced. The whole work of colonization was treated as an enterprise in which it was a work of piety to engage and collections were made in parish churches for the college that was planned for the English and the Indians at the Henrico settlement."

Moreover, the House of Burgesses elected by the freeholders of Virginia was in complete accord with the religious professions of the Company and the Crown. It required the church wardens to report for trial "all who led profane and ungodly lives, common swearers and drunkards, adulterers, fornicators, slanderers, tale-bearers; all such as 'do not behave themselves orderly and soberly during divine services,' and all masters and mistresses delinquent in catechising children and 'ignorant persons' placed under their charge."

It is true that the records of Virginia are not sown with Biblical quotations and with references to the wonder-working providence of God, but if statutes, orders, and decrees meant anything at all, then Virginia was as pious as Massachusetts and as devout as Plymouth. Indeed, it must not be forgotten that the Pilgrims originally arranged with the Virginia Company to settle on its soil and that the prospect of securing the accession of this new group of recruits was welcomed by leading members of the corporation. The Pilgrims, in spite of their "perversity" in religious faith, were just the kind of sturdy and sober laborers so eagerly sought by the Company and it was merely an