Lawyer, minister, satirist, Nathaniel Ward was born in Haverhill, Suffolk, England, circa 1578. The son of John Ward, a Puritan minister at Bury St. Edmunds, Nathaniel studied law at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and took his M.A. in 1603. After practicing law in England, he traveled in 1616 to the Continent, where he visited the court of the Elector Palatine at Heidelberg. Influenced by the Calvinist preacher David Pareus, he decided to become a minister, was ordained in Germany in 1618, and served as chaplain to an English factory at Ebling until 1624. Returning to England, he served as curate of St. James's, Picadilly (1626-1628), and then as rector of Stondon-Massey in Essex (1628-1633). Advanced study, European travel, and training in law combined to enrich Ward's ministry and career as a writer.

Since his days at Ebling and at Emmanuel College, Ward had been acquainted with the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony...