USA > Maryland > Maryland, two hundred years ago, a discourse > Part 8
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The charter of 1609 declares the principal effect anticipated from the colonization movement to be, the conversion of the people of those parts " to the true worship of God and christian religion ;" and significantly adds, "in which respect, we should be loth that any person should be permitted to pass, that we suspected to affect the superstitions of the church of Rome;" and enjoins that no person be allowed to enter the colony without taking the oath of supremacy ;- a regulation in effect equivalent to a positive exclusion of the Roman Catholics, since they -- could not, with the concurrence of their spiritual guides, take that oath.
The Orders of the Virginia company, issued in 1619 and 1620, require the council " to hold the people there in the true religion and service of God; and in assured allegeance to his Majestie and the Crowne of England."
A similar restriction to that in the Virginia charter, in regard to Roman Catholics, is inserted in a charter of New England, granted to Sir Fer- dinando Gorges and others, Nov. 3d, 1621.
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The charter of New Albion to Sir Edmund Plowden, granted June 21st. 1634, is almost a literal copy of that of Maryland, and the parallel clause in it, as there transhued, gaards "the word of God and true chris- tain religion or the allegeance due to us, our heirs, &c. from diminution, prejudice or injury."
The charter of the Province of Maine to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, < granted April 3d, 1639, forbids any interpretation whereby " God's word, true christian religion now taught, proposed and maintained, &c. may ' suffer prejudice or diminution."
These examples are sufficient to shew that every charter contained a clause or clauses relative to the obligations or rights of the grantee in regard to religion; and that there is a remarkable similarity among them all. The expression " sacrosancta Dei et vera Christiana religio," which I translate " the holy service of God and true christian religion," seems equivalent to those quoted in the Virginia and other charters, of which, unfortunately, we have not the Latin versions, to test the closeness and accuracy of their rendering. My translation, if correct, closely resembles the clause in the order of the Virginia Company, except that the terms are transposed. The expressions in the charters of Maine and New Albion are the same as in ours, excepting that what I render "holy service," they render " word." Whether sacrosancta is the equivalent term in each, I cannot say ; as I am unable to refer to Latin copies of those char- ters. The phrase, however, in our charter, is coupled with the clause relating to allegiance in such a manner as to render it somewhat doubtful which of the words, "change, prejudice, or diminution" is to be applied to the former subject, and which to the latter. I presume the original intent of the clause was, to guard against any "change" in the rites or ceremonial forms and doctrines of the established church, and any " prejudice, or diminution" of the royal prerogatives.
Still, it is by no means improbable that the expression in the Maryland charter was designedly shorn of the restrictive terms, "according to the doctrines, &c. of the church of England," used in the Virginia charter of 1606, and of the intolerant prohibition relative to Roman Catholics which disfigured that of 1609 ;- leaving the clause in a form so conveniently indefinite, that the "holy service of God and the true christian religion," might be construed to mean, either that professed by the Protestant, or that maintained by the Roman Catholic division of the church.
This view is strengthened by the fact, that, though the charter of New Albion, given to Sir Edmund Plowden, June 21st, 1634, just two years after the Maryland charter, contains the same unrestricted clause, yet the New England charter, granted to Gorges before that of Maryland, con- tains a clause carefully excluding all Roman Catholics, while that of Maine to Gorges in 1639, guards " God's word, true christian religion now taught, professed, and maintained, the fundamental laws of the realm, and allegiance," against prejudice and diminution.
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So far as Charles is concerned, if this view be correct, his tolerance, in allowing such a modification of the usual formula, would amount to a qualified concession to the professors of the same faith with the grantee; a measure by no means surprising at a period when the favor shewn to Roman Catholics was as marked, as the burthens laid upon the Puritans were oppressive. As to the first Lord Baltimore,-his death before the charter was even formally issued, leaves us to infer his principles of action and his objects, mainly from his faith, his known political views, and the tenor of his published writings; neither of which would lead us to anticipate a tolerant regard of those sectarians at least, (the Calvinists.) whose presence in any state, he declared to be a sure precursor of its destruction.
I must acknowledge my obligations to my friend BRANTZ MAYER, Esq. for drawing my attention to the erroneous translation of the clause upon which I have commented, though we do not precisely agree as to its force and import. That the reader may have an opportunity of comparing our views, I give, in addition to my own, his rendering and his reasons for adopting it.
Our grounds for rejecting the old translation are nearly the same; but Mr. Mayer renders the expression, "sacrosancta Dei et vera Christianu religio," "God's holy RIGHTS and the true Christian religion." His reasons for this rendering are as follows :
" The word Sacrosanctus, always conveys the idea of a consecrated inviolability, in consequence of inherent rights and privileges. In a dic- tionary, contemporary with the charter, I find the following definition,- in verbo, Sacrosanctus.
""'SACROSANCTUS: Apud Ciceronem dicebatur id quod interposito jure- . jurando sanctum, et institutum erat; idem etiam significat ac sanctus, santo. Tribunus plebis dicebatur sacrosanctus, quia eum nefas erat attingere ; louge diviniori ratione, Catholici appellamus ccelesiam Romanam sacrosanctam. Calpinus Parvus ;- seu Dictionarium Cæsaris Calderini Mirani : Venetiis, 1618.'
"Cicero, in Catil: 2. 8 .- uses the phrase-'Possessiones sacrosanctæ,' in this sense; and so does Livy in the epithet, -. Sacrosancta potestas,' as applied to the Tribuneship; and, in the sentence,-'ut plebi sui magis- tratus essent sacrosancti.'
" From the last sentence, in the definition given in the Venetian Dic- tionary of 1618, which I have cited in italies, it will be seen that the epithet had a peculiarly Catholic signification in its appropriation by the Roman Church."
I differ from Mr. Mayer in regard to the idea conveyed by the term sucrosancta ; and believe that, so far as it conveys the idea of conse- crated inviolability, it arises, not necessarily from any thing inherent in the subject to which it is applied, but rather from the act of consecration itself. It is not applied to God, his attributes, or what is inherently sacred, but rather to objects or subjects which, by some solemn ceremonial, or as Cicero says, "interposito jurejurundo," have been rendered sacred.
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Cicero himself, (pro Corn. Balb.) denies "quicquam sacrosanctum esse, nisi quod populus plebsre sanxisset." On this view, I should reverse the definition quoted above, and say, "Nefus erat tribunum attingere, quia erut sacrosanctus."
The sentence in Cicero, in which the expression, "possessiones sacro- sanctas" occurs, is as follows: "Ergo, in vastatione omnium, tuas pos- sessiones sacrosanctas futuras putas?" Stephani Thesaurus gives as a gloss on sacrosanctas, -- "intactas, et ab omni injuria tutus."
I find in the early English writers the ex ressions, "sacrosanctis Christi sacrificiis,"-" corpus sacrosanctum," and "sacrosancta mys- teria," but never "Spiritus sacrosanctus," "" Deus sacrosanctus," or "Dei filius sacrosanctus." God's RIGHTS, then, could not properly be called "sacrosaneta." The established ritual by which He is worshipped, the articles used in divine service, the church in which the service is per- formed, in fine, all things which formally or by implication have been consecrated to that sacred purpose, may be called " sucrosanctu."
For these reasons, in connection with the fact that the Virginia and other charters furnish us with a key to the fundamental idea intended to be conveyed in the clause, I prefer the translation, "God's holy rites," or "service," or "sacraments," to any other.
NOTE .- While correcting the proof of the preceding pages of Appendix, I received through the courtesy of HENRY G. SOMEREY, Esq. of London, a copy in Latin and in English, of the charter of Avalon. I have only room to say, that 72 Chalmers' assertion, that the Maryland charter is a literal copy of that of Avalon, is not correct. The passage, upon which I have commented, however, is the same in both charters, with the exception of " rere" for "rera," and, by an evident clerical error, the use of both "et" and " aut" before the word " dispen- dium." This is the passage upon which so much stress has been laid by some writers, as designedly introduced by Lord Baltimore into the charter of Mary- land, as the basis of that toleration, which he intended to make a cardinal prin- ciple in his colonial policy ;- but the fact of its antecedent insertion in the charter of Avalon, (which was originally a Protestant settlement,) granted to him as a Protestant, would seem to take away all ground for such an argument.
It is a notable fact, also, that the clause, which in the Maryland charter, in connection with the patronages and advow sons of churches, gives his Lordship license " to erect chapels and other places of worship, and to cause them to be consecrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England," is not to be found in the charter of Avalon. This gives gronud for the inference, that a restriction was deemed necessary on this point, in the charter to Lord Baltimore, as a Roman Catholic, which was not imposed upon him, when a recognized member of the established church. The insertion of this clause in the Mary- land charter, however, does not necessarily imply distrust of the grantee, on account of his religious faith ; for it exists also in charters granted to persons of known fidelity to the English Church.
The clause, declaring the aim of the grantee to be the spread of the Christian religion and the enlargement of the territories of the kingdom, is the same in both charters.
1. Mai
note 9
7.alt= july 8th /62 J. Trongate Thornton big de au Su I have your kind
note of June 26, and highly huge your commendation" / my address delivered before the inicial Society of this state.
Sketch of the non conformists, to
which you refer, was as written in connection with the address, bein
milled, to avoid making it So long, at has become shuffled away among my numer onees manuscripts, and, in my interest in other times of J of investigation, mas quite fracture per my seinem / 1 france . However , in compliar. your suggestion, I unil take the enlist opportunities. what it afej and are if it is in a condition to be male available; and ifso, I will himen it at qr- send it to che inesterecal Magen. sine. At present. I am so defin interested in vis great national work of making that vi, that me interest in the c. Part is suspended, - and wi- timi in
dieci, I have no time to use the formin the frem. The aword or the rinatant would suit me better.
if I can leave , I may make 1 - -
a haute visit to Boston, in where case, I will do myself I'm pleader !! calling on you. Mir Truch sich
Director ti
THE CENTENNIAL CANTATA.
THE.COLORISIS OF OLD ST. MARY'S FORGOTTEN. To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sin: I have read Mr. Sidney Lanier's "er-
po mition aud defans." of Is Centennial Cantata as pub- hamlin 'ils liters ! Saturday. Without catering od the di en-da u of the relations of poetry to musle, or
et Hed by the male of the sender nether, I have
one either in touch con Mr. Lated's Form, of a wholly
tolilly want .gib b: tori at theenty. I was the u:uro surprised at this fahne of the port to de justice to bis graftheir, started minds of the great ouristou, when I was affort ed be w state in the State of Maryland, the bathpler of aid a die! "uts limity on this Con- though. Me Lomersis me when he was appolacet to suite mici = viler tro tevi of the cantit, "# In.mor Matuty suggested
cis .. 1602 :1 . The best Spaten Could be-cilitately & hvitate 14 mieiVes at this time was the fact that after a homard years of the Thevet llasty rever colored by werte's, they had while in d'une wrap real. The Iden, then, of
Dann and Sahip vas, p =' cola esflog of the require-
Tue Pin atis of New-
i- of New -Yil, 'he Cava-
clau with proper ly and taste as logically
1 21. Mary's, that St. Mary's to-
Le J .5 ef Je.r .l .p-the
I- ii store of the
'sthrow Irom
of 'ber atoni-
1 .. The brlautet
ve bunted the
+ of the glove. J. 1. M."
This is one of 10 0 Examples : din, ent un'ure fromany [ have seen published. My what' ,lamm Lasfotit: to do with the qualities of the anchuras a part of postup, that I may be permitted to rome k thet w of hold occasional verses seem to
food, shee.
5563
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