from Holland, Peters arrived at Boston in October 1635 (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 5th ser. i. 211).
On 3 March 1635–6 he was admitted a freeman of Massachusetts, and on 21 Dec. following was established as minister of the church at Salem. From the very first he took a prominent part in all the affairs of the colony. He began by arranging, in conjunction with Henry Vane, a meeting between Dudley and Winthrop, in order to effect a reconciliation between them. His own views, as well as his connection with the Winthrop family, led him usually to act in harmony with Winthrop. In ecclesiastical matters Peters was at this time less liberal than he subsequently became. He disapproved of the favour which Vane as governor showed to Mrs. Hutchinson, and publicly rebuked him for seeking to restrain the deliberations of the clergy, telling him to consider his youth and short experience of the things of God (Winthrop, History of New England, ed. Savage, i. 202, 211, 249, 446). At the trial of Mrs. Hutchinson in November 1637, Peters was one of the chief accusers, and endeavoured to browbeat a witness who spoke in her favour (Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay, 1765, ii. 490, 503, 519). He also maintained orthodoxy and ecclesiastical authority by excommunicating Roger Williams and others, and utilised the execution of one of his flock to warn the spectators to take heed of revelations and to respect the ordinance of excommunication (ib. i. 420; Winthrop, i. 336). More to his credit were his successful endeavours to appease the dissensions of the church at Piscataqua, and his indefatigable zeal in preaching (ib. i. 222, 225, ii. 34; Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 3rd ser. iii. 106). Under his ministry the church at Salem and the whole community increased in numbers and prosperity (ib. 1st ser. vi. 250).
Ecclesiastical duties, however, occupied only a portion of the time and energy of Peters. He interested himself in the foundation of the new colony at the mouth of the Connecticut, and endeavoured to reconcile the disputes between the English settlers there and the Dutch (Winthrop, ii. 32). Influenced by what he had seen in Holland, he made the economic development of the colony his special care. In one of his first sermons at Boston he urged the government ‘to take order for employment of people (especially women and children) in the winter time, for he feared that idleness would be the ruin of both church and commonwealth.’ He went from place to place ‘labouring to raise up men to a public frame of spirit,’ till he obtained subscriptions sufficient to set on foot the fishing business. And ‘being a man of a very public spirit and singular activity for all occasions,’ he procured others to join him in building a ship, in order that the colonists might be induced by his example to provide shipping of their own. On another occasion, when the colony was in distress for provisions, Peters bought the whole lading of a ship and resold it to the different communities, according to their needs, at a much lower rate than they could have purchased it from the merchants (ib. i. 210, 221, 222, ii. 29).
In 1641 the fortunes of the colony were greatly affected by the changed situation in England. The stream of emigration stopped, trade decreased, and it was thought necessary to send three agents to England who should represent the case of the colony to its creditors, and appeal to its friends for continued support. Peters was selected as one of these agents, in spite of the opposition of Endecott. They were also charged ‘to be ready to make use of any opportunity God should offer for the good of the country here, as also to give any advice as it should be required for the settling the right form of church discipline there.’ With this combined ecclesiastical and commercial mission Peters left New England in August 1641 (ib. ii. 30, 37). He succeeded in sending back commodities to the value of 500l. for the colony; but finding the fulfilment of his mission obstructed by the distractions of the time, and his own means running short, Peters accepted the post of chaplain to the forces raised by the adventurers for the reduction of Ireland. From June to September 1642 he served in the abortive expedition commanded by Alexander, lord Forbes, and wrote an account of their proceedings (‘A True Relation of the Passages of God's Providence in a Voyage for Ireland … wherein every day's work is set down faithfully by H. P., an eye-witness thereof,’ 4to, 1642; cf. Carte, Ormond, ii. 315; Whitelocke, Memorials, iii. 105). On his return to England Peters speedily became prominent in controversy, war, and politics. He preached against Laud at Lambeth, spoke disrespectfully of him during his trial, and was said to have proposed that the archbishop should be punished by transportation to New England (Laud, Works, iv. 21, 66; Prynne, Canterburies Doom, 1646, p. 56; A Copy of the Petition … by the Archbishop of Canterbury … wherein the said Archbishop desires that he may not be transported beyond the seas into New England with Master Peters, 4to, 1642).
