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The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England (also known as the New England Company or Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America) is a British charitable organization created to promote Christian missionary activity among the
Native American peoples
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...
of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and other parts of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
under British control. The Company's current website states that "the New England Company can lay claim to being the oldest missionary society still active in Britain."
It was founded by the ''Act for the promoting and propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England'', passed by
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
's Parliament on 27 July 1649. That Act set up a Corporation in England, consisting of a President, a Treasurer, and fourteen people to assist them.
This Corporation had the power to collect money in England for missionary purposes in New England.
[ This money was received by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England and dispersed for missionary purposes. The official name of the Corporation was "The President and Society for the propagation of the Gospel in New England".]
Following the restoration of the English monarchy
The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...
, the Society was granted a Royal Charter by Charles II in 1662. That charter provided for the promotion and propagation of "the Gospel of Christ unto and amongst the heathen natives in or near New England and parts adjacent in America".
The Society operated within the territory of what is now the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from 1649 to 1786, sending both missionaries and teachers to New England and later also to Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. Due to the independence of the United States from Great Britain, after 1786 the Society continued to operate only in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and the British West Indies
The British West Indies (BWI) were colonized British territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grena ...
.
The Society supported the early efforts of John Eliot in , culminating in the first printed translation of the Christian Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
into a Native American language. The corresponding book, known as the "Eliot Indian Bible
The ''Eliot Indian Bible'' ( alq, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God; also known as the ''Algonquian Bible'') was the first translation of the Christian Bible into an indigenous American language, as well as the first Bible publishe ...
", was published in 1663 in the Massachusett language
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people ...
. The Society also played a critical role in funding and supporting institutions that sought to educate Native Americans, including the Harvard Indian College
The Indian College was an institution established in the 1640s in order to educate Native American students at Harvard College in the town of Cambridge, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Indian College's building, located in Harvard Yard, w ...
and later Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
.
The first president of the Society was the eminent Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...
scientist Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of ...
(1627–1691). Boyle, who had no direct descendants, stated in his will that his legacy should be dedicated to "the Advance or Propagation of the Christian Religion amongst Infidells". After an prolonged dispute among his executors it was decided that the legacy would be used to purchase Brafferton Estate in Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, and that the proceeds of that estate would be used to pay "a rent-charge in perpetuity of £90 ''per annum'' unto the Company for Propagating the Gospel in New England".
References
{{reflist
Religion in New England
Religious organisations based in London
Christian missions
Christian missionary societies
Christian organizations established in the 17th century
1649 establishments in England
Congregationalism in England