USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Sketches about Salem people > Part 8
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While Endicott was the one who cut the cross from the ensign, and while he was sentenced for the same, it was generally considered that he reflected the opinion of, and was influenced by, Williams, who upon the death of Skelton on August 2, 1634, was made pastor of the church.
If we are to do justice to all concerned, we ought to
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remember that it was after all this had transpired, when the magistrates had good reason to be most sensitive and fearful, that Williams was called into court, on the charge of having broken his promise and of teaching publicly against the king's patent and of the sin of the people "in claiming any right thereby to the country." It was bad enough to have enemies attacking the patent from with- out, to say nothing of having them within.
The incident concerning the cutting of the cross from the ensign in Salem must not be taken too seriously. It must be remembered that in 1636 the magistrates took the same position as Endicott and Williams had done a short time before. It came about thus :
A ship named the Hector was in the harbor. The mas- ter's mate, a man by the name of Miller, denounced some of the people who came aboard ship, and called them all traitors and rebels because the king's colors were not flying at the fort. The Governor informed the Master, who agreed to turn the mate over to the magistrates. But it so happened that when the marshal and four ser- geants went for him that the Master was away, and those in command would not give Miller up. The next day the Master turned him over to the court, where he ad- mitted his offence and signed a submission, after which he was discharged. The wording of the submission is exceedingly derogatory and severe, and it is certain that Miller, far from writing it, must have signed it with many mental reservations, and with the idea that this was the best way out of a delicate and dangerous situa- tion. Then the tables turned.
The governor asked the Masters present if they had anything to say. They spoke very courteously, but nev- ertheless made it very plain, that if they on their return to England were asked what colors they saw in Massachu- setts, they wished to be able to say that they saw the. king's colors. The magistrates tried to be very crafty in their reply, and said, that they did not have the king's colors. Then, no doubt to their great discomfort, the Masters offered to make them a present of the same.' Thereupon they were forced to reveal their true feelings,
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BY REV. MILO E. PEARSON, D. D.
and replied, that they were persuaded that the cross was idolatrous, "and might not be set in their ensign." Un- doubtedly they were conscientious in their position, but they desired safety as well as a clear conscience. So they conferred with Mr. Dudley and Mr. Cotton, and it was finally decided, that the king's colors "might be set up at the fort upon this distinction, that the fort was main- tained in the king's name." Some of them could not accept this bit of sophistry, and so could not join in the act, but even they were so doubtful or fearful as to be unwilling to oppose the suggestion.
There has been a great deal of interest in the actual colors used by the colonists after the removal of the cross. Winthrop and other writers fail to give us the desired information. But a Journal written by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, and made available to the public by the Long Island Historical Society, shows us what it was. The men were from Holland and were members of a re- ligious sect called Labadists. They were seeking land where they could establish a colony for their co-religion- ists. After visiting the Middle Colonists they returned to Europe by way of Boston. The journal contains this notation : "I observe that while the English flag or color has a red ground with a small white field in the upper- most corner, where there is a red cross, they have here dispensed with the cross in their colors, and preserved the rest."
But now to return to Williams. In April, 1635, he presented himself before the court. The charge against him seems not to be the breaking of his promise or his public teaching against the patent, but rather his posi- tion that the magistrate had no right to tender an oath to an unregenerate man. In so doing, Williams claimed that they had communion with an unregenerate man in the worship of God, and furthermore, that they caused the man to take the name of God in vain. Again the ministers were present and argued the matter. Endicott is reported to have supported Williams at the first, but later to have given way.
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In July of 1635 Williams was summoned again, and appeared before the court, charged with dangerous opin- ions. First, he held that the magistrate ought not to punish the breach of the first table (that is, the first four commandments), except in such cases as disturbed the civic peace. Second, that the magistrate ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man; Third, that a man ought not to pray with such, even though a wife or child; Fourth, that a man ought not to give thanks after the sacrament or after meat.
The position and the charges demonstrate most effec- tively the queer ways in which not only Williams, but the magistrates confused fundamentals and accidentals. Williams is to be commended most heartily for his con- scientiousness and his stand for liberty in matters of religion. His contention for the separation of Church and State has long since been accepted on all sides. But it is to be lamented that he was not endowed with a mind more gifted in distinguishing the important from the un- important, the vital from the trivial. But he was so constituted that he defended the one as rigorously as the other. The same tendency is found in the magistrates and the ministers.
The issues he created and championed seemed almost unbelievable. In Salem the episode of the veils is most ridiculous. But we must not be too hard and critical of Williams, for it was Skelton who, according to Hub- bard, was the first to insist that all the women wear veils, "under the penalty of non-communion." He urged it both as a duty and a necessity. Williams followed the line which Skelton had laid down, and did it with equal, or even greater dogmatism. It must have been with the greatest relish that Mr. Cotton, speaking in the pulpit of his rival Mr. Williams one Sunday morning, demon- strated from Scripture that veils were worn, in Hebrew time, only by virgins, widows, or by women of the street, and then beheld the results of his labors, in the fact that women came to the afternoon lecture by Mr. Williams, unveiled.
But perhaps Mr. Cotton was more clever than con-
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BY REV. MILO E. PEARSON, D. D.
sistent, for he on the occasion of his wife's admission to the church gave testimony for her, saying that she should not be put to open confession, as it was not befitting a woman's modesty. He seems to have been more con- cerned for the modesty of Mrs. Cotton in Boston, than for the modesty of the women in Salem, which Mr. Williams had a mind to protect.
At the court at which Williams was censured for his erroneous opinions, the church in Salem was criticised for having called him to become its leader at a time when the other churches were about "to admonish him of his errours." The magistrates and ministers concurred in the view that his ideas were both erroneous and danger- ous, and they held that the church was guilty of contempt in calling him at that time. But no sentence was passed. Rather time was given both to the church and Mr. Wil- liams, to consider matters until the next meeting of the court, and then "to give satisfaction, or to expect sen- tence." And it was decided, upon advice of the minis- ters, which had been requested by the magistrates, "that if any one persisted in those opinions, he ought to be removed."
At this point matters rapidly became worse rather than better. The people in Salem had petitioned the General Court for a piece of land in Marblehead Neck, which they felt belonged to them. The case was not considered on its merits, but was put over until it was seen what satisfaction the church and ministers would make con- cerning the charges against them. Williams was natu- rally and rightly aroused. The people shared his feel- ings. In consequence letters were sent to the surround- ing churches, asking them to admonish the magistrates about this (as they called it) heinous sin. The intentions behind the letters may have been of the best. But the results were distinctly bad. The deputies of Salem were not received by the next court, until satisfaction was given about the letters.
In August Mr. Williams was indisposed and was un- able to speak. He wrote to the church saying that he could not have communion with the churches of the Bay,
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and stating that he would not have communion with his own Church unless they likewise refused to fellowship with these sister churches. It is recorded that the church was grieved by the epistle.
In September Mr. Endicott appeared before the Gen- eral Court and sought to justify the letters sent to the churches. But he was a shrewd man, and was careful to retract and to acknowledge his fault, before matters went too far and his case became irreparable. So here he acknowledged his fault, and was discharged.
But it was otherwise with Williams. Above all things he was honest, and also courageous. He took his posi- tion, rightly or wrongly, stood his ground, and then took the consequences. Endicott might take to cover, to save his skin, but not so with Williams. In October he was brought before the court again, charged with two letters. The first was the letter sent to the churches condemning the magistrates. The second was the letter to his own Church in Salem, urging the people not to fellowship with the other churches. But he, instead of recanting, stood his ground and defended his opinions. The court was narrow and bigoted. Williams was exceedingly opin- ionated. Here Greek met Greek. The court, however, sought to be fair. Williams was offered a month's delay, after which time there would be further conference and discussion. Perhaps his courage and zeal surpassed his judgment, for he chose to debate the matter immediately. Mr. Hooker was selected to discuss the points at issue with him and to show him his mistakes. Hooker was a man of ability, but he assumed a large contract when he undertook to convince Williams of his errors. Hooker failed, and the next morning Williams was sentenced to leave the colony within six weeks. In this predicament, as often happens, his own church deserted him, or at least Winthrop reports that "it had him under question for the same cause," and further, that it "openly dis- claimed his errors, and wrote a humble submission to the magistrates, acknowledging their fault in joining with Mr. Williams in the letter to the churches."
Upon this turn of events, Williams adopted a drastic
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policy with his own church. He wrote a letter demand- ing that they withdraw from the other churches or he would withdraw from them. His threat did not have the desired effect, and he, true to his word, renounced communion with them. But he was not to be silenced. He established a preaching service at his own house. So far did he carry his scruples, that when his wife con- tinued to attend the church he refused, as Cotton Mather tells us, to fellowship with her in religious exercises. But Williams always had his faithful followers. There were those who followed him from Plymouth. Likewise there were those who were true to him in Salem.
It seems that because of the condition of his health, because of the winter, and perhaps for other reasons as well, a stay of his sentence had been granted, allowing him until spring to depart. It seems to have been granted with the tacit understanding that he should refrain from the further propagation of his disagreeable and disrupt- ing opinions. About whether he was supremely consci- entious, or plainly self-willed, people differ in their opin- ions. But it is known that he did not cease preaching.
So it was, that at a meeting of the governor and assist- ants, held in January, that they were reliably informed that Williams was continuing the meetings in his house, and that he was preaching "even about the points he had been censured for." It was therefore agreed that he should be sent to England on a ship which was about ready to leave. This was decided upon because it was under- stood that he had gathered about 20 people about him, and that they were likely to follow him to the region of Narragansett Bay where his dangerous ideas might spread and still disturb the Colony. A warrant was sent, order- ing him to come to Boston to be shipped. He replied saying that he could not comply without hazard to his life. Accordingly a boat was sent for him, and Captain Underhill was commissioned to take him and carry him
aboard the ship, which then lay at Nantasket. But Williams had received word of the plan, and accordingly when they came to his house in Salem, they learned that he had been gone for three days. He had done what they
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feared he would do, and what Winthrop seems to have advised him to do. He had gone to the Narragansett country.
People naturally differ widely in their estimate of this kindly and lovable, and yet provoking man. There are those who laud him as a saint and martyr, who stood for the highest principles, and who paid the penalty for the same, through the harshness, bigotry, and cruelty of the ministers and magistrates. He must have had many appealing qualities, for many followed him with affec- tion, and even some of those who noted his weakness and opposed his opinions, blessed God for his services, and maintained friendly attitudes, even after his banishment. This was true of some of those in Plymouth. It was true of no less a personage than Winthrop in the Bay.
But the fault was not entirely one-sided. We are not confronted with a saint on the one hand, and with de- mons on the other. Williams was flesh and blood; he was man and not God; he had human faults and frailties. The magistrates must be judged by the standards of their day, not of ours. They were narrow, bigoted, severe, cunning, inconsistent and un-Christian. In driving Wil- liams from the Colony they banished one whom the world has come to know and revere. But they were men of character, too, laboring under the handicap of ideas and types of organization which were rapidly becoming anti- quated both in church and state. And even the severest critics of the magistrates of Massachusetts must admit that prior to, and in his banishment, the court showed 8 consideration and leniency which was seldom granted to similar political and religious offenders, either on the continent, the Mother country, or here in the Colony.
Time and space permit only the slightest reference to Williams in Rhode Island, which he founded. We can only record a few impressions of his life and contribu- tion there.
Perhaps the thing which impresses one first and fore- most is his attitude toward Massachusetts. It would not have been strange, if after what he considered to be a most harsh and cruel banishment, he had become bitter-
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BY REV. MILO E. PEARSON, D. D.
and vindictive, and had sought ways and means of re- taliating against the Colony. But there is no record of anything of the sort. In fact, when Massachusetts was in imminent danger from the Indians, Williams took great pains to keep the Narragansetts from joining with the Pequods. Furthermore, he persuaded them to ally themselves with the English in Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth, and he sent Winthrop valuable information about the Pequods and their environment. So in this and other ways, if he did not obey the injunction to love his enemies, his attitude and actions ought to have heaped coals of fire on their heads.
Another impression which we cannot escape, is that when Williams was once established in Rhode Island, and represented not the critical minority, but the re- sponsible majority, that he himself became less cen- sorious and critical, and was more constructive and conservative. While there were problems and differ- ences of opinion without end, his love for disputa- tion and argument seems to have been exercised on Mr. Cotton and not so much on his fellow colonists. In fact, not until near the end of his life did the old spirit flare up with the old-time zeal.
The Quakers, along with other persecuted dissenters were welcomed to Rhode Island. Two women once vis- ited him and tried to interest him in their doctrine, but in vain. In one of their meetings which he attended he arose and tried to speak about "the true and the false Christ, the true and the false Spirit." But one of the men began to pray. Then followed a hymn and another prayer, and then the meeting was dismissed. But in 1671 the Quakers were visited by their leader, George Fox, who attracted much attention and caused great excitement. Williams sent a challenge to debate 14 propositions which he laid down. Fox did not receive the challenge until after he had left Rhode Island, so his part was taken by three of the brethren. The four- teen propositions, the debate, and the report of the same which he entitled "George Fox Digg'd out of his Bur- rowes" were all so bitter and acrimonious that Gov. Cod-
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dington denounced him in strong terms, and others whom Williams considered his friends turned against him. But this was only an episode. His prevailing temper was that of consideration and conciliation.
This spirit seems to have come to its completed ex- pression in his kindly and humane dealings with the Indians. They welcomed him as a trusted friend, on his arrival at Narragansett Bay. They gave him land, for which they evidently refused direct payment, al- though according to William's own words he must have rendered adequate remuneration in the hospitality of his home, and the free use of boats and other appliances.
He took pains, not only to understand them, but to interpret them to others. On his way to England, where he hoped to secure a charter, he wrote a book on the language and customs of the Indians. His combination of grammar and vocabulary, along with interesting in- formation and human-interest stories might well be taken as a precedent by authors of similar texts today. Wil- liams was truly interested in the Indians - not only in their spiritual, but also in their physical welfare. Had all others in the New World been as just and consider- ate in their attitude, the terrible massacres and the equally dreadful reprisals, would never have been known, and some of the darkest pages in our history, would never have been penned.
We have already hinted at the welcome which Rhode Island gave to persecuted dissenters. In consequence many cranks were attracted to the settlement. The road toward liberty and democracy was by no means smooth, but it should be noted that Williams never receded from his position, and furthermore, he built securely enough, so that the edifice remained.
Among the sects which naturally came to the Narra- gansett region, were the Anabaptists. It will have been noticed that many of Williams' opinions harmonized with theirs. It is not to be wondered at, that he became sufficiently converted to their position to be re-baptized and unite with them. This, however, was not for long; it was only for three or four months. He was too much
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BY REV. MILO E. PEARSON, D. D.
of an individualist to be restrained by their established beliefs. So he left the church, and became what was known as a Seeker.
In speaking of the tolerance of Williams, it is a great mistake to suppose that he was the first to stand for freedom of conscience. Twenty-five years before Wil- liams' birth William of Orange in opposing the perse- cutions at Middleburg said, "You have no right to trouble yourselves with any man's conscience, so long as nothing is done to cause harm or public scandal." Many others likewise had taken the same position.
In Maryland about the same time religious freedom was granted to those of Christian faith. But so far did Williams go that he welcomed. into his Colony, not only Christians of all varieties, but Jews and unbelievers. The wonder is, that at a time when men gave such free expression to their opinions and emotions, that the ex- periment was able to succeed.
In concluding this paper I wish to present two docu- ments, both of which express in practical form the opin- ions and ideals of this man whose greatest faults, per- haps, were, that he was persistent, and that he was one hundred years ahead of his times.
The first document is the Compact, drawn up for the earliest government of the settlement. By it the gov- ernment was to be, by, and for the people, and solely under civil control. The ecclesiastical power was elimi- nated, not only for the protection of the state, but like- wise for the safety of religion.
The Compact reads:
"We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabitt in ye towne of Providence, do promise to subject our- selves in active or passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for publick good of or body in an orderly way, by the maior consent of the present Inhabitants, maisters of families. Incorporated together into a towne fellowship and others whome they shall admitt unto them, only in civil things."
The second document is a part of the Charter granted in 1663 by Charles II to the Colony. It incorporates
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one of the great principles for which Williams had fought and suffered.
"No person within the said Colony, at any time here- after, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any difference in opinion, in matters of religion, who do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said Colony; but that all and every person and persons, may, from time to time, and in all times' hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his own and their own judgments and consciences in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereinafter mentioned, they behaving themselves peace- ably and quietly and not using their liberty to licentious- ness and profaneness, nor to the civil injury or outward disturbance of others."
Bibliography: Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Winthrop's Journal, Hubbard's "History of New Eng- land," Felt's "Ecclesiastical History of New England," J. R. Green's "Short History of the English People," Carpenter, "Roger Williams"; Strauss, "Roger Wil- liams"; Northend, "The Bay Colony"; Prof. J. L. Din- man, Address on Roger Williams; Gammell, "Life of Roger Williams"; Bradford, "History of Plymouth Plantation"; Roger Williams, "The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution"; Roger Williams, "The Hireling Minis- try"; Roger Williams, "A Key to the Language in Amer- ica"; Mass. Historical Collections; Publications of the Narragansett Club.
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS.
BY GENERAL WILLIAM .A. PEW.
Little more is known concerning the forbears of Simon Bradstreet than that his father came of a good Suffolk family and was a clergyman at Horbling near Boston in Lincolnshire, England. Among the lineal descendants of Simon Bradstreet were Richard H. Dana, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Wendell Phillips, and William Ellery Channing. The lives of these four men might furnish material for a discussion on the theme, "The trees of the Lord are full of sap." The name itself was originally "Bread street."
Simon Bradstreet's contemporaries agree that he was "a superior man in education, in living, and in good breeding." The old records say that "he was a comely and handsome youth." He fenced with skill as became a gentleman. He learned to dance "admirably well" be- fore the Puritans discovered that dancing was a sin. There is no record that he practised dancing in the new world. His portrait hangs in the State House, another in the Essex Institute, and a third in the Council Chamber of the City Hall at Salem. His dress is Puritan, but the face might do duty as that of a Cavalier.
Bradstreet's father was a friend of John Cotton, for many years Vicar of St. Botolph's in Boston, England. Cotton was a learned man who conversed with ease in Latin and Hebrew. As a pulpit orator he was famous, and crowds thronged the ancient church to hear him. In 1635, escaping the persecutions of Archbishop Laud, he fled to New England and became the leading divine in the Colony. His son, Seaborn Cotton, so named because
(1)
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THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
he was born during the flight across the ocean, married a daughter of Bradstreet.
Besides enjoying familiar intercourse with men of learning who were John Cotton's associates, Bradstreet lived in the families of the Countess of Lincoln and the Countess of Warwick, where he mingled with the social life in the Eastern Counties. At his father's death he was attending the grammar school at Horbling. This death interfered with and postponed his entry into college. Later he matriculated at Cambridge, and although his course was interrupted, he finally received a bachelor's degree, and later a master's degree, from Emmanuel College.
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