The sum of the matter is, that from the beginning of the Reformation in the English nation, there had always been a generation of godly men, desirous to pursue the reformation of religion, according to the Word of God… though withstood by those who have still employed the power which they have generally still had in their hands not only to stop the progress of the desired reformation, but also, with innumerable vexations, to persecute those that heartily wish well unto it. … [The Puritans were] driven to seek a place for the exercise of the Protestant religion, according to the right of conscience, in the deserts of America.
– Cotton Mather, The General Achievement of Christ in America, 1702
