Note 552 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 3)

This count in the indictment was well laid. The children of the non-communicants in early New England could not be baptized; though they might be if either one of the parents was a member of the church. At a later period this became one of the leading causes of political agitation in the colony, and is referred to in the Dr. Robert Childs petition of 1646. In 1670 from four fifths to five sixths of the adult male inhabitants of Massachusetts were without the franchise, as being non-communicants. (Lechford’s Plaine Dealing, pp. 47, 48, 151; Mem. Hist. of Boston, vol. i. p. 156; Palfrey, vol. ii. p. 8, vol. iii. p. 41.)