USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the colonial period. 1492-1692 v. I > Part 4
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' Gorges, in 3 M. H. Coll., 6. 64- 5; Council's Relat., in 2 M. H. Coll., 9. 11-12. The Patent is in the vol- ume of the Plym. Col. Laws, pub. in 1836, and in Hazard, Baylies, and Trumbull.
" Their names are in the instru- ment, and may be seen as above.
3 Smith, in 3 M. H. Coll., 3. 31 ; Baylies' Mem. Plym. Col., 1. 185 ;
Bancroft's U. S., 1. 272 ; Everett's Orations, 208. - Douglas, 1. 366, says this patent " was designedly extended much North and South, to include and keep up the English claims to New Netherlands in pos- session of the Dutch, to the South- ward, and to L'Acadia, since called Nova Scotia, then in possession of the French, to the Northward."
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7
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30
CHARACTER OF THE GREAT PATENT.
CHAP. consent of the king.1 In other respects its powers were I. complete. The lands and islands, the rivers and harbors, the mines and fisheries were all under its control. None, without leave, could buy a skin, catch a fish, or build a hut. It was a commercial monopoly, exclusive and des- · potic : - a corporation potent for evil or for good .?
At the very moment this charter was granted, as if to prove that without its aid more could be accomplished than under its sanction, a solitary bark -the forlorn May- flower- was wending its way wearily across the Atlantic, bearing in its bosom a resolute band of one hundred men, women and children, who were, under God, to become the founders of a wide-spread republic, and to plant the seeds of a thriving nation, whose destiny, yet unfolding, futurity alone can fully reveal.
1 This fact is worthy of notice, and should ever be borne in mind in investigating the history of New England. We are aware it has been asserted that the Council could confer by grant powers similar to its own ; but this was denied by the
Crown Lawyers, and must therefore be considered as doubtful. See Belknap's N. H., 1. App. xv, and the authorites quoted in Chap. 6 of this work.
2 For the views of the Council, see 2 M. H. Coll., 9. 13.
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CHAPTER II.
THE REFORMATION. THE PILGRIMS.
To appreciate the circumstances which led to the settle- CHAP. II.
mont of Plymouth in 1620, and to the establishment of the Massachusetts Colony a few years later, it is necessary to 1517 to be acquainted with the history of religion, especially in 1620. England, during the preceding hundred years.
At the opening of the sixteenth century all Christian Europe, with but slight exceptions, was under the dominion of the Church of Rome. The Pope was the recognized head of that Church, and the fountain of all power, both temporal and spiritual. Kings reigned by his decree ; subjects bowed to his behests. The keys of heaven and hell were in his hands. He was the vicegerent of Christ ; omnipotent in his sphere ; impeccable - infallible-a God upon earth.
The Supremacy of the Pope few dared question. At- tempts had been made to renounce his dominion, but the offenders were speedily reduced to submission, or atoned for their contumacy by the loss of their lives. It was more than high treason to deny his authority ; - it was heresy - blasphemy - an unpardonable sin. Hence his sway was undisputed. The world was his footstool, and all were his subjects.
England herself was Catholic at this time. For many hundred years that nation, like her neighbors, had been the vassal of Rome. The network of the Church spread all over the kingdom, and the yoke of her superstitition seemed
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32
PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION.
CHAP. riveted firmly upon the necks of the people. The govern- II. ment, indeed, had successfully resisted a few of her en- croachments ; and individual minds had emancipated them- selves from her thraldom, and denounced her as "Baby- lon," " the Mother of Harlots." Yet when Luther kindled the fires of the Reformation, Henry VIII., the reigning monarch, was a dutiful and obedient child of the Church; and no sooner did he hear of the apostasy of the Saxon monk, than he zealously denounced him as the chief of heretics, wrote in defense of the Seven Sacraments, and was rewarded for his championship with the flattering title of " Defender of the Faith."1
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1517. to
1538.
In twenty years from the day on which Luther burned the bull of Lco before the gates of Wittenberg, his views had spread with electric speed ; the Augsburg Confession had been published ; Protestantism had assumed its dis- tinctive position ; and in Saxony and most of the German principalities, in Sweden and Denmark, Hungary and Bohe- mia, Poland and the Netherlands, France and Spain, and in Switzerland and England, the reformation had secretly or openly gained foothold, and the assumptions of Rome had been publicly spurned .? Erasmus had leveled the shafts of his wit against the flagrant abuses of the Church, the corruptions of her priesthood, and the brutishness of the monastic orders; Calvin, Melancthon, Zuingle, Petri, Bucer Œcolampadius, Peter Martyr, and Bullinger, early and warmly enlisted in the cause of reform ; and a host of determined and indomitable opponents of the supreme and unlimited authority of the Pope sprung into existence, hurl- ing back the thunders fulminated from the Vatican, tram-
1 Burnet, 1. 51, 282; 3. 26-7, 258; Echard, 640; Parl. Hist. Eng., 3. 26 ; Neal, 1. 31 ; Whitelock's Mem., 203, ed. 1709. This title was confirmed by the vote of a full con- sistory at Rome, and ratified by the
signatures of twenty-seven Cardi nals; and the Bull is in Herbert' Henry VIII., 95-8.
2 Mosheim, Eccl. Ilist, XVI. cent., Sect., 1. c. 2.
33
ENGLAND RENOUNCES THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE.
pling upon decretals, the engines of its vengeance, and CHAP. vwsing the corruption, the profligacy, and the disgusting II. d-baucheries which disgraced its dominion.
Even Henry himself had experienced a change in this 1530. time ; originating, not from his conviction of the falsity of Romanism, or from his sympathy with the reformation, but from the refusal of Clement VII. to decree his divorce from Catherine of Arragon, and sanction his marriage with Anne Boleyn.' Inflamed by his passions more than influenced by reason, the monarch renounced his allegiance to the Roman S, abrogated the authority of the Pope in his realm, Jan. 20. assumed the title of "Supreme Head of the Church of 1534-5. England," and compelled his subjects to acknowledge him substantially as Pope in his own dominions.2
Previously, the doctrines of Luther had gained admit- tance into the kingdom, and though repudiated by the king and by the majority of the clergy, they had been received by the thoughtful with marked approbation ; speeches preg- nant with Protestant principles had been delivered in the House of Commons ; and a reformation of religion, con- sistently with the laws of the land, had been publicly resolved upon.3 Hence the king, in asserting the Trans- Alpine in opposition to the Cis-Alpine Supremacy, found a portion of the people measurably prepared for the step, and a few in the higher walks-as Cranmer, Cromwell, Shaxton and Latimer-favored the change.4
But whatever may have been the views of the thoughtful or the desires of the wise, or however readily Henry may
1 For a full history of this affair, Henry VIII., c. 1; Burnet, 1. 234- see Burnet, vols. 1 and 3 ; Herbert's 7; Parl. Ilist. Eng., 3. 109-13; Herbert's Henry VIII., 408; Stow, 571; Echard, 680-3; Neal, 1. 34; Whitelock, 213. Henry VIII., 243, et seq .; Acta Regia, 3. 244, et seq .; and Parl. Hlist. Eng., vol. 3. Comp. also Stow's Chron., ed. 1631. pp. 540- 546, 560 ; Whitelock, Memo., 205, 4; Parl. Ilist. Eng., 3. 56-65. et seq. 4 Burnet, 1. 344-51.
' P'ulton's Statutes at Large, 26
8 Herbert's Henry VIII., 148, 320-
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34
HENRY THE HEAD OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH.
CHAP. have himself countenanced their schemes out of favor to the II. new Queen, or to subserve his own ends, on the part of the monarch it may be unhesitatingly affirmed that this renunci- ation of the power of Rome and assertion of his own suprem- acy, was instigated by no wish to introduce a purer and more simple worship, nor does he appear ever to have been personally in favor of that phase of Protestantism which not only denied the authority of the Pope, but denounced also the forms and many of the dogmas of Catholicism.1 His was simply a daring yet successful attempt to vest in him- self the insignia of Rome : - to transfer the Tiara from the Tiber to the Thames. This was all he desired : - this was all he would permit.
The Act of Supremacy contained no clause favorable to re- ligious liberty ; the suppression of monasteries and the sequestration of their revenues served chiefly to replenish the exhausted treasury of an extravagant prince, or to gratify the avarice and rapacity of his courtiers ; - the church after all remained essentially Popish. 2 Indeed, so far was the king from tolerating inquiry, or sincerely favoring the views of the reformers, that, after the death of Anne, and the Lady Jane who succeeded her, - both of 1539. whom were friendly to the reformation, - an Act for " abol- ishing diversity of opinion," known as " the Bloody Statute," or " the Lash with Six Strings," was passed, which asserted most of the objectionable doctrines of the Romish church,
1 The language of the Stat. 25 H. VIII., c. 21., is significant, and shows what the views of the king were at this time. " Provided al- waies," says that instrument, " that this act nor any thing or things therein contained, shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded, that your Grace, your Nobles, and Subjects, intend by the same to decline, or varie from the congregation of Christ's Church, in any thinge, con-
cerning the verie articles of the Catholike faith of Christendom," &c. " Stat. at Large, 27 H. VIII., c. 27, 28, and 31 II. VIII., c. 13 : Bur- net, 1. 313, 430 ; Parl. Hist. Eng., 3. 115-18 ; Neal, 1. 35 ; Hallam, 50- 4 ; Herbert's Henry VIII., 397. The latter says of the king : " He sepa- rated himself from the Obedience of the Roman Church, but not from the Religion thereof."
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1834328
POSITION OF AFFAIRS AT THE CLOSE OF HIS REIGN.
the denial of which subjected the offender to the penalty of CHAP. death, and to the forfeiture of his lands and goods as a~ Il. !- lon ; ' and although in his genial mood the Scriptures had been translated into English, - the vernacular of the realm, -the reading of the same-which had been per_ mitted for a season, but which was protested against by the bishops - now that Cromwell had fallen and his influence was withdrawn, was prohibited to all under the rank of a 1513. gentleman ; the king's form of "Orthodox doctrine " was set forth as a standard of belief; and all teaching contrary to his instructions were to recant for the first offense ; ab- jare for the second and bear a fagot; and for a further relapse they were to be adjudged as heretics, forfeit their goods, and be burned at the stake.2
Such was the position of affairs at the close of this reign. Conscience was not enfranchised ; liberty was not allowed ; the supremacy of the Anglican Church alone was main- tained. The king, by his power, could burn as heretics the favorers of Protestantism, and hang as traitors the supporters of the Pope. Had Calvin or Luther been Eng- lishmen they might have perished by fire. 3 The minds of men as well as the forms of worship were controlled by the crown. The people could proceed no further than the king authorized. Suspending their own judgment, they were to follow their monarch, licentious as he was; to bow at his beck, and subscribe to his creed. None might utter a whisper of opposition to his capricious proceedings. As tenacious of his reputation for Catholic Orthodoxy as of his claims to spiritual dominion, he cared little for progress in
1 Stat. at Large, 31 H. VIII., c. 14 ; Burnet, 1. 412-17 ; Herbert's IIenry VIII., 510 ; Parl. Hist. Eng., 3. 140, 147-150; Neal, 1. 39 ; Whitelock, 217. Cranmer at first opposed this Act, and Shaxton and Latimer re- fused to conform to it ; but it con- tinued in force, nor was it repealed
until after the accession of Edward VI. Strype, Mem., 1. 352 ; Kennet, 2. 219; Burnet, 1. 428.
2 Stat. at Large, 34 H. VIII., c. 1 ; Burnet, 1. 434, 441, 486, 516-18.
3 Turner's England, 3. 140; White- lock's Memo., 218; Macauly, 1. 46.
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36
ACCESSION OF EDWARD VI.
CHAP. religious affairs, and cared only to maintain his own abso- II. lute power. Hence he never departed widely from the creed of his childhood, and died in the Romish rather than in the Protestant communion. 1 Yet something had been gained : - the power of the Pontiff was broken, and an impulse was given to the spirit of inquiry which the mon- arch and the clergy strove in vain to resist." But there was a Pope now in England as well as in Italy, and there was a Catholic Church in the British dominions as well as at Rome.
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1547.
Upon the accession of Edward VI., the son of Henry and the Lady Jane Seymour, who had been educated by Pro- testants, and who was distinguished for his precocity, a disposition was evinced on the part of the wisest teachers of the new theology to advance farther than had been done in the preceding reign, and several changes were introduced favorable to the reformation. Yet, although the power was largely in the hands of the clergy, and more progress might have been easily made, it will hardly be doubted by those best acquainted with the history of the reformation at this period, that what was accomplished was not the result of a comprehensive view and calm investigation of all the doctrines and practices which had long been established, but the triumph rather of a specific policy, in discarding certain articles and forms which were condemned as well by the more moderate as by the moro zealous opponents of Catholicism.
It was during this reign that the public prayers were revised, translated into English, and a liturgy prepared. It was during this reign that the forty-two articles of
1 Burnet, Pref. vol. 1. 40 ; HIal- lam, 56; Bancroft, U. S., 1. 277. 2 It was for this that the memory of Henry was principally cherished ; as " The Majestic lord Who broke the bonds of Rome."
That he was a confirmed sensual- ist, his whole life proves; and that the church is more indebted to his~ violence than to his virtues, few will probably dispute.
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CONTROVERSY ABOUT CEREMONIES.
religion were drawn up and established, though afterwards CHAP. II. 1547 to 1550.
modified and reduced to thirty-nine. As a proof, however, that the principal object intended to be secured by these measures was less to enfranchise the individual conscience, or lay down broad principles of universal application, than to build up a National Church in contradistinction from the Church of Rome, persecution continued to be waged against "vagabond monks and anabaptists," the former of whom were doomed to slavery for from one to five years, and to wear a ring of iron upon their bodies;1 a proclamation was issued prohibiting plebeian or clerical innovations under severe penalties; none were permitted to preach without license ; all were to worship at the parish churches upon pain of punishment for refusing so to do; and the order of service being prescribed, all divine offices were to be performed according to it, and all refusing to com- ply were, for the first offense, to be imprisoned six months and forfeit a year's profit of their benefice ; for the second to forfeit all church preferments and suffer a year's impris- onment ; and for the third to be imprisoned for life !"
The controversy about ceremonies is another instance in point. Luther, the Saxon reformer, intent on the propa- gation of his own system of theology, had moderated his views concerning ceremonial observances, and favored mag- nificence as an aid to devotion,- permitting the crucifix and the taper, and even pictures and images, as well as the vestments of the church, as things of indifference ; whilst Calvin, the "French refugee," outstripping him in the race, and pushing the principles of Protestantism to their farthest results, avoided all appeals to the senses as coun-
1 Stat. at Large, 1 Ed. VI., c. 2; 2 Ed. VI., c. 1 ; 5 and 6 Ed. VI., Burnet, 2. 71, 176-9 ; Lingard, 7. c. 1; Burnet, 2. 94-5, 148-9; 3. 293; Whitelock, 222; Lingard, 7. 2 Stat. at Large, 1 Ed. VI., c. 1; 22, 29, 31, 43, 60, 67, 71, 88, 91-3
24.
4
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OPPOSITION OF HOOPER TO THE RITES OF THE CHURCH.
CHAP. tenancing idolatry, and demanded a spiritual worship in its II. utmost simplicity.
The views of these champions spread into England ; and. as the hierarchy was incorporated with the civil policy of the kingdom, prelates and peers, bishops and barons, com- . posed the national legislature; the subordinate ranks of ecclesiastics were continued ; the vestments of the clergy, and a large number of rites, sanctioned by custom and invested with the charms of immemorial antiquity, were retained ; and so essential were these considered to the maintenance of the power of the church, and its influence over the masses of the people, that, though admitted to be extrinsic appendages, it was insisted that it would be unwise hastily to abolish them, and impolitic to do so with- out careful deliberation.
1550.
Hooper set the example of opposition to these rites by refusing to be consecrated in the episcopal vestments, nor could Cranmer and Ridley shake his purpose ; but after nine months contumacy and a " seasonable imprisonment," he was induced so far to forego his scruples as to submit to be attired in them when ordained, and on public occa- sions, but at other times he was permitted to follow his own judgment. In his reluctant compliance, however, he was not alone, though the Adiaphorists seem to have been the most numerous party. Yet though Bucer and Peter Martyr, then in England, expressed their dissatisfaction at seeing these habits retained, and Calvin and Bullinger wrote from Switzerland in the same strain, and the Helvetic divines generally applauded his consistency, upon the whole submission to the popular demand was advised, and thus for a season the dispute terminated, only to burst out anew and with increased violence a few years later.1
1 Burnet, 2, 242-5, 264; 3. 299-307; Lingard, 7. 75-7; Neal, 1. 51; Grahame, 1. 127.
39
ACCESSION OF MARY.
It should be observed in passing, that this opposition to CHAP. Wetments was not, as has been asserted, a " senseless .eruple." It was because such vestments were the badges of Popery, uncountenanced by Scripture or the usage of the first centuries, that they were so strongly condemned. It was because they were regarded as inimical to spiritu- ality, and as symbolizing with superstition -a mystical signification being affixed to them by the Romish Church - that they were abhorred and repudiated. And, while the English Church, animated with the desire of confirming her own power, conciliating her adversaries, and reconciling the people to the renunciation of the Pope, steered a middle course, tolerating and retaining many of the ancient habits and customs, those who were radically and irreconcilably hostile to every vestige of Catholicism, suspected that church-and not wholly without reason-of a Janus-faced policy ; - of temporizing, to seduce the adherents of the old religion, and to retain their hold upon the affections of the people ; - and hence the bitterness and the unstinted virulence of their censures of both churches as corrupt and anti-christian.
But the bright star of Protestantism was suddenly eclipsed. Edward unfortunately expired at the early age of sixteen ; and Mary, the daughter of Henry and Catherine of Arra- gon, who next ascended the throne, was educated a Catho- lic, and possessed the bigotry and pride which she inher- ited from her mother. The Reformation, therefore, had no charms for her. Not only did she subvert what had been done by her father and her half brother, re-establishing Catholicism with its pageantry and creed, but at the insti- gation of Bonner, the fierce winds of persecution were let loose upon the favorers of Protestantism, the fires of Smith- field were kindled, and eminent divines and hundreds of the laity perished at the stake, while hundreds more, fortu- nate enough to escape, found at Frankfort, Geneva, Basil
II. n
1553 10 1558.
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40
THE TROUBLES AT FRANKFORT.
CHAP. and Zurich, an asylum from the violence which was raging II. at home.1
Nov.17, 1558. The career of Mary, however, was happily of short dura- tion; and when Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry and Anne ascended the throne, by a new Act of Supremacy the king- dom was once more and permanently severed from the Papal Sec .? But the differences which had originated in the life-time of Edward, had been renewed in Germany and Switzerland among the exiles of Mary's reign. Surrounded by the influence of Calvin and his associates, those who were anxious for more purity of worship, and who recog- nized, though imperfectly, the distinguishing principle of Protestantism, - the right of private judgment to cvery human soul,-labored to free themselves wholly from unscriptural ceremonies ; while the friends of the Anglican Church clung to its policy and supported its practices.2 The former, by permission, had settled at Frankfort ; and though the liturgy was used in their church, the responses were omitted ; the litany, the surplice, and other things were dispensed with ; and in the sacraments, those parts were rejected which were decmed superstitious and super- fluous. 4
1556.
Scarcely had this church been established a year, cre Dr. Cox, the former tutor of Edward VI., came to Frank- fort, broke through the rules which had been adopted, and caused the litany to be used, and the responses to be made. This led to a controversy, which "neither the honor of God, the common persecution, nor the mediation of Calvin" could wholly assuage. Accusations of rebellion and charges
1 Stat. at Large, 1 and 2 Phil. & Mary, c. 8 ; Fuller 1. 405, ed. 1656; Burnet, 3. 408; Strype, Mem., 3. 146, ed. 1721; Fox, 3. 96-7, cd. 1684; Chron. Pil., 9.
2 Stat. at Large., 1 Eliz., c. 1; Whitelock, 225.
3 Bradford, in Chron. Phil., 10. * The principal authority on these matters, used by all historians, is the Treatise on the Troubles at Frank, fort, published in 1575. A copy of this work is in the Prince Library, at the rooms of the Mass. Ilist. Soc.
41
ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH.
of high treason were preferred ;1 and so bitter was the CHAP. trife that the church was completely broken up. Fox,~ IL. the martyrologist, with his associates, retired to Basil ; 1550. Whittingham, and Knox, the Scottish Reformer, settled at Geneva ; and Cox and his adherents remained at Frankfort. Time, the calmer of the passions of men, alone softened the asperities of this unhappy schism ; and before leaving the country to return to their native land, a reconciliation was prepared by concessions to the Puritans ; the churches passed letters of mutual love, promised to forget the dif- ferences which had divided them, and agreed to unite in forwarding the reformation, and in procuring the abolish- ment of offensive ceremonies : - pledges which were after- wards partially redeemed. 2
Upon the accession of Elizabeth the exiles returned, and 1558. those who had hid in the houses of their friends emerged from their concealment and ventured once more to appear. But the constitution`of her Majesty's Council, and the arbi- trary course early adopted by the Queen, and resolutely adhered to throughout her reign, soon satisfied the Puritans that there was very little hope of a farther reformation in religious affairs, and that the chief aim of her Majesty and her able advisers, was to build up more firmly her own power through the aid of the Church, whose interests were identified with the interests of the Crown. Instead, there- fore, of resuming the work begun in her half-brother's reign, and carrying it on to its full fruition, as many of the clergy hoped she would do, she seemed well contented to leave things as he had left them, and to make no changes calcu-
Fuller, 2. 27, et seq.
: Strype,Ann., 1. 103-5, ed. 1725; Burnet, 2. 528 ; Neal, 1. 71; Prince, 217-18; Hallam, 105-6. Puritan- ism originated with Hooper, in 1550, but the name was not applied until
1564. Strype, Ann., 1. 459-65. A notice of Whittingham, the distin- guished leader of the Frankfort Church, may be seen in N. Eng. Gen. and Hist. Reg., 5. 150, 311. Comp. also 1 M. II. Coll., 5. 206.
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42
RISE OF THE PURITANS.
CHAP. lated essentially to impair the effectiveness of the Estab- II. lished religion.1
1558
1581. 1 to
Had the objectionable and unscriptural parts of the Com- mon Prayer been removed, or the ceremonies left indifferent; had the popish habits been exchanged for more comely garments, and the Pope's decrees, with the ex-officio inqui- sition oath abolished ; the general frame of diocesan epis- copacy would, very probably, have remained untouched, and the body of the people might have continued in the Church without much uneasiness." But the supremacy of the Crown being provided for and decreed, an Act of Par- liament in the first year of her reign established the uni- formity of Common Prayer under severe penalties for non- compliance ; and subscription to the habits, the ceremonies, and the thirty-nine articles being subsequently required,3 by these, and other enactments of her reign, especially the re-erection of the Court of High Commission, with its tre- mendous and superlatively inquisitorial machinery, the scruples of the Puritans were wholly overlooked in the common zeal to assert and support the supremacy of the National Church. As a natural consequence, persecution ensucd. The Puritans were a sect; this made them a faction. Opposition, so far from destroying, served only to radicate their principles and increase their power. In all classes of society their followers were found, though most numerous among the tradesmen in the towns, and the small proprietors and protestant gentry in the country ; and long before the close of their reign they began to return a majority of the House of Commons.
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