USA > New Hampshire > The history of New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 5
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Neal's Hift. N. Eng. vol. I. p.84
" appointed that or no, I charge you be- " fore God and his bleffed angels that you " follow me no further than you have feen
" me follow the Lord Jefus Chrift. If " God reveal any thing to you by any "' other inftrument et his, be as ready to " receive
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" receive it, as ever you were to receive " any truth by my miniftry ; for I am " verily perfuaded, I am very confident, " the Lord has more truth yet to break " forth out of his holy word. For my " part, I cannot fufficiently bewail the con- " dition of the reformed churches, who are " come to a period in religion, and will " go at prefent no farther than the inftru- " ments of their reformation. The Lu- " therans cannot be drawn to go beyond " what Luther faw ; whatever part of his " will our good God has revealed to Cal- " vin, they will rather die than embrace it. " And theCalvinifts you fee ftick faft where
" they were left by that great man of God, " who yet faw not all things, This is a " mifery much to be lamented ; for though " they were burning and fhining lights in " their times, yet they penetrated not in- " to the whole counfel of God ; but were " they now living, would be as willing to " embrace farther light,as that which they " at firft received. I befeech you to re- " member it is an article of your church "' covenant, That you be ready to receive " whatever truth Shall be made known to " you from the written word of God. Re- " member that, and every other article of " your facred covenant. But I muft here- " withal
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" withal exhort you to take heed what " you receive as truth. Examine, con- " fider and compare it with other fcrip- " tures of truth, before you receive it ; for " it is not poffible the chriftian world " fhould come fo lately out of fuch thick " antichriftian darknefs, and that perfec- " tion of knowledge fhould break forth at " once." It is much to be regretted that this excellent man did not live to come to New-England and to diffufe more gen- crally fuch truly catholic and apoftolic principles.
Many of the firft planters of New- England were perfons of good education, and fome of them eminent for their abil- ities and learning. Such men could not but fee the neceffity of fecuring to their pofterity the advantages which they had fo dearly purchafed. One of their firft concerns was to have their children confidered, from their earlieft years, as fubjects of ecclefiaftical difcipline. This became a matter of controverfy, and was largely diffcuffed in fermons and pam- phlets, and at length determined by the au- thority of a fynod. A regular courfe of academical learning was a point of equal importance, and admitted of no difpute. They faw that the reputation and happi- nefs
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nefs of the whole country depended great- ly upon it. They therefore took early care for the eftablifhment of fchools, and within ten years from their firft fettlement, founded a college at Cambridge*, which from fmall beginnings, by the munificence of its patrons, has made a diftinguithed figure in the republic of letters. Many eminent men have there been formed for the fervice of the church and ftate ; and without this advantage the country could not have arrived, in fo fhort a time, at its prefent refpectable ftate ; nor have been furnifhed with men capable of filling the various ftations of ufefulnefs, and of de- fending our civil and religious libertics.
Though the firft planters derived from the royal grants and charters a political right as fubjects of the crown of England, to this territory ; yet they did not think themfelves juftly entitled to the property of it till they had fairly purchafed it of its native lords, and made them full fatisfac- tiont. Nor did they content themfelves with
* " When New-England was poor, and we were but few in ramber: " there was a fpirit to encourage learning, and the college was fun vi (tudents." Refult of a Synod in 1579.
+ The Abbe Raynal in his elegant history of the Bad and WeA ! .. dies fpeaks of the purchafe made of the Indians by Woher Fen. .. : 681, as ts an example of moderation and jifice . Admira, atous
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with merely living peaceably among them, but exerted themfelves vigoroufly in en- deavouring their converfion to chritianity, which was one of the obligations of their patent, and one of the profeffed defigns of their fettlement in this country. This painful work was remarkably fucceeded, and the names of ELIOT and MAYHEW will always be remembered as unwearied inftruments in promoting it. Great care was taken by the government to prevent fraud and injuftice toward the Indians in trade, or violence to their perfons. The neareft of the natives were fo fenfible of the juftice of their Englifh neighbours, that they lived in a ftate of peace with them, with but little interruption, for above fifty years.
Slavery was thought fo inconfiftent with the natural rights of mankind, and detri- mental to fociety, that an exprefs law was made, prohibiting the buying or felling of flaves, except thofe taken in lawful war, or reduced to fervitude for their crimes
" was never thought of before, by the Europeans." It can be no de- rogation from the honor due to the wife founder of Pennfylvania that the example of this moderation and juti.ce was firtt fet by the planters of New-England, whofe deeds ot conveyance from the Indians were earlier than his by hall a century
In fome parts of the wo intry the lands purchafed of the Indians are fubject to a quit-rent, which . annually paid to their pofterity. They have lands jeferved to the'; . fe, which are not allowed to be purchafed of them without the senky' .. !! ! gularere.
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crimes by a judicial fentence ; and thefe were to have the fame privileges as were allowed by the laws of Mofes. There was a remarkable inftance of juftice in the exe- cution of this law in 1645, when a Ne- gro who had been fraudulently brought from the coaft of Africa, and fold in the country, was by the fpecial interpofition of the general court taken from his mafter in order to be fent home to his native land *. How long after this the importa- tion of blacks continued to be difallowed is uncertain; but if the fame refolute juf- tice had always been obferved, it would have been much for the credit and intereft of the country ; and our own ftruggles for liberty would not have carried fo flagrant an appearance of inconfiftency.
Severe laws conformable to the princi- ples of the laws of Mofes were enacted againft all kinds of immorality. Blafphe- my, idolatry, adultery, unnatural lufts, rape, murder, man-ftealing, falfe witnefs, rebellion
* " 14. 5d mo. 1645. The court thought proper to write to Mr. " Williams of Pafcataqua (underftanding that the Negroes which " Captain Smyth brought were fraudulently and injurioufly taken and " brought from Guinea, by Captain Smyth's conteffion and the reft of " the company ) that he forthwith fend the Negio which he had of Cap, " tain Smyth hither, that he may be fent home, which this court doth " refolve to fend back without delay. And if you have any thing to al- " ledge, why you fhould not return him to be difpofed of by the court, "' it will be expected you fhould forthwith make it appear either by ". yourfelf or your agent."
Mafiachufetts Records.
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rebellion againft parents, and confpiracy againft the commonwealth were made ca- pital crimes; and becaufe fome doubted whether the magiftrate could punifh breaches of the four firft commands of the decalogue, this right was afferted in the higheft tone, and the denial of it ranked among the moft peftilent herefies, and pu- nifhed with banifhment. By the feverity and impartiality with which thofe laws were executed, intemperance and profane- nefs were fo effectually difcountenanced that Hugh Peters, who had refided in the country feven years, declared before the parliament that he had not feen a drunk- en man, nor heard a profane oath during that period. The report of this extraor- dinary ftrictnefs, whilit it invited many of the beft men in England to come over, kept them clear of thofe wretches who fly from one country to another to efcape the punifhment of their crimes.
The profeffed defign of the plantation being the advancement of religion, and men of the ftricteft morals being appoint- ed to the chief places of government, their zeal for purity of every kind carried them into fome refinements in their laws which are not generally fuppofed to come with- in the fphere of magiftracy, and in larger communities
H. P's Ser- mon before Parlt. 1646. P. 44.
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communities could fcarcely be attended to in a judicial way. The drinking of healths, and the ufe of tobacco were forbidden, the former being confidered as an heathenifh and idolatrous practice, grounded on the ancient libations ; the other as a fpecies of intoxication and wafte of time. Laws were inftituted to regulate the intercourfe be- tiveen the fexes, and the advances toward matrimony : They had a ceremony of be- trothing, which preceded that of marriage. Pride and levity of behavior came under the cognizance of the magiftrate. Not only the richnefs but the mode of drefs, and cut of the hair were fubject to ftate- regulations. Women were forbidden to expofe their arms or bofoms to view ; it was ordered that their fleeves ihould reach down to their wrift, and their gowns be clofed round the neck. Men were obliged to cut fhort their hair, that they might not refemble women. No perion not worth two hundred pounds was allowed to wear gold or filverlace, or filk hoods and fcarfs. Offences againft thefe laws were prefentable by the grand jury ; and thofe who dreffed above their rank were to be affeffed accordingly. Sumptuary laws might be of ufe in the beginning of a new plantation ; but thefe pious rulers had
more
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more in view than the political good. They were not only concerned for the ex- ternal appearance of fobriety and good order, but thought themfelves obliged, as far as they were able to promote real re- ligion and enforce the obfervance of the divine precepts.
As they were fond of imagining a near refemblance between the circumftances of their fettlement in this country and the redemption of Ifrael from Egypt or Baby- lon ; it is not ftrange that they fhould alfo look upon their " commonwealth as an " inftitution of God for the prefervation " of their churches, and the civil rulers " as both members and fathers of them." The famous John Cotton, the firft mini- fter in Bofton was the chief promoter of this fentiment. When he arrived in 1633, he found the people divided in their opi- nions. Some had been admitted to the privilges of freemen at the firft general court, who were not in communion with the churches ; after this an order was paffed, that none but members of the churches Should be admitted freemen ; whereby all other perfons were excluded from every office or privilege civil or mil- itary. This great man by his eloquence confirmed thofe who had embraced this opinion,
Increafe Mather's life, P. 57.
Mather's Magnalia, lib. 3. p.20.
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opinion, and earneftly pleaded " that the " government might be confidered as a " theocracy wherein the Lord was judge, " lawgiver and king; that the laws which " he gave Ifrael might be adopted, fo " far as they were of moral and perpetual " equity ; that the people might be confider- " ed as God's people in covenant with him, " that none but perfons of approved piety " and eminent gifts fhould be chofen rulers; " that the minifters fhould be confulted in " all matters of religion ; and that the " magiftrate fhould have a fuperintending " and coercive power over the churches. At the defire of the court, he compiled a fyftem of laws founded chiefly on the laws of Mofes, which was confidered by the legiflative body as the general ftandard ; though they never formally adopted it, and in fome inftances varied from it.
Thefe principles were fundamentally the fame with thofe on which were ground- ed all the perfecutions which they had en- dured in England, and naturally led to the fame extremes of conduct which they had fo bitterly complained of in thofe civil and ecclefiaftical rulers, from whofetyran- ny they had fled into this wildernefs. They had already proceeded a ftep farther than the hierarchy had ever attempted. No
Hitch. Collect. papers, P. 161.
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No teft-law had as yet been made in England ; but they had at one blow cut off all but thofe of their own communion, from the privileges of civil offices, how- ever otherwife qualified. They thought that as they had fuffered fo much in lay- ing the foundation of a new ftate, which was fuppofed to be "a model of the glori- " ous kingdom of Chrift on earth*," they had an exclufive right to all the honours and privileges of it; and having the pow- er in their hands, they effectually eftab- Jifhed their pretenfions, and made all dif- fenters and difturbers feel the weight of their indignation.
In confequence of the union thus form- ed between the church and ftate on the plan of the Jewifh theocracy, the minifters were called to fit in council, and give their ad- vice in matters of religion and cafes of confcience which came before the court, and without them they never proceeded to any act of an ecclefiaftical nature. As none were allowed to vote in the election of
* " I look upon this as a little model of the glorious kingdom of " Chrift on earth. Chrift reigns among us in the commonwealth as " well as in the church, and hath his glorious in tereit involved in the " good of both focieties refpectively. H. that fhall be treacherous " and falfe to the civil government, is guilty of high treafon againft the " Lord Jefus Chrift, and will be procceded againft as a rebel and traitor '. to the King of kings, when he shall hold his great affizes at the end ". of the world. "'
President Oakes's Flection Sermon, 1673.
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of rulers but freemen, and freemen muft be church members ; and as none could be admitted into the church but by the elders, who firft examined, and then pro- pounded them to the brethren for their vote, the clergy acquired hereby a vaft afcendency over both rulers and people, and had in effect the keys of the ftate as well as the church in their hands. The magiftrates, on the other hand, regulated the gathering of churches, interpofed in the fettlement and difmiffion of minifters, arbitrated in ecclefiaftical controverfies and controled fynodical affemblies. This co- ercive power in the magiftrate was deem- ed abfolutely neceffary to preferve " the " order of the gofpel."
The principle on which this power is grounded is expreffed in the Cambridge Platform in terms as foft as poffible. "The " power and authority of magiftrates is not " for the reftraining of churches, or any " other good works, but for the helping " in and furthering thereof, and therefore " the confent and countenance of magi- " ftrates when it may be bad, is not to be " flighted or lightly efteemed; but,on the " contrary, it is a part of the honor due " to chriftian magiftrates to defire and " crave their confent and approbation
G " therein ;
Chap. 17. Seft. 3.
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" therein : which being obtained, the " churches may then proceed in their way " with much more encouragement and " comfort." This article (like divers o- thers in that work) is curioufly and artful- ly drawn up, fo that there is an appearance of liberty and tendernefs but none in reali- ty : For although the magiftrate was not to reftrain any good works, yet he was to be the judge of the good or evil of the works to be reftrained ; and what fecurity could churches have that they fhould not be reftrained in the performance of what they judged to be good works? They might indeed think themfelves fafe, whilit their rulers were fo zealous for the purity of the churches of which themfelves were mem- bers, and whilft their minifters were con- fulted in all ecclefiafticalaffairs ; but if the civil powers had acted without fuch con- fultation, or if the minifters had been in- duced to yield to the opinion of the ma- giftrates, when contrary to the intereft of the churches, what then would have be- come of religious liberty ?
The idea of liberty in matters of relig- jon was in that day ftrangely understood, and myfterioufly expreffed. The venera- ble Higginfon of Salem in his fermon on the day of the election 1663, fpeaks thus ; " The
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" The gofpel of Chrift hath a right para-
" mount all rights in the world ; it hath
" a divine and fupreme right to be receiv- " ed in every nation, and the knee of ma- " giftracy is to bow at the name of Jefus.
" This right carries liberty along with it, " for all fuchas profefs the gofpel, to walk " according to the faith and order of the " gofpel. That which is contrary to the " gofpel hath noright, and therefore fhould " have no liberty." Here the queftion arifes, Who is to be the judge of what is agreeable or contrary to the gofpel ? If the magiftrate, then there is only a liberty to believe and practife what the magiftrate thinks right. A fimilar fentiment occurs in the fermon of the learned Prefident Oakes on the fame occafion in 1673 ; " The outcry of fome is forliberty of con-
" fcience. This is the great Diana of the " libertines of this age. But remember " that as long as you have liberty to walk " in the faith and order of the gofpel, and " may lead quiet and peaceable lives in " all godlinefs and honefty, you have as " much liberty of confcience as Paul de- " fired under any government." Here the queftion recurs, Would Paul have fub- mitted to walk according to the opinion which the magiftrate might entertain of G 2 the
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Shephard's Election Sermon, 1672.
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the faith and order of the gofpel ? But this was all the freedom allowed by the fpirit of thefe times. Liberty of confcience and toleration were offenfive terms, and they who ufed them were fuppofed to be the enemies of religion and government. " I look upon toleration(fays the fame au- " thor) as the firft-born of all abomina- " tions ; if it fhould be born and brought " forth among us, you may call it Gad, " and give the fame reafon that Leah did " for the name of her fon, Behold a troop " cometh, a troop of all manner of abo- "minations." In another of thefe election fermons( which may generally be account- ed the echo of the public voice, or the po- litical pulfe by which the popular opinion may be felt) it is threwdly intimated that toleration had its origin from the devil, and the fpeech of the demoniac who cried out, " what have we to do with thee, let " us alone, thou Jefus of Nazareth," is ftyled "Satan's plea for toleration." The following admonition to pofterity, written by the Deputy-Governor Dudley, is another fpecimen.
Morton's Memorial, P. 179.
" Let men of God in courts and churches
" watch
" O'er fuch as do a toleration hatch ; " Left
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" Left that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice,
" To poifon all with herefy and vice.
" If men be left and otherwife combine
" My epitaph's I die no libertine."
The champion of thefe fentiments was Cotton, who though eminently meek, placid and charitable, yet was ftrongly tinctured with the prevailing opinion, That the magiftrate had a coercive power againft heretics. The banifhment of Ro- ger Williams, minifter of Salem, occafion- ed a vehement controverfy on this point. Williams having written in favour of lib- erty of confcience, and ftyled the oppofite principle " the bloody tenet ;" was an- fwered by Cotton, who publithed a treatife in 1647 with this ftrange title, " The " bloody tenet wafhed, and made white in " the blood of the Lamb." In this work he labours to prove the lawfulnefs of the magiftrate's ufing the civil fword to extir- pate heretics, from the commands given to the Jews to put to death blafphemers and idolaters. To the objection, that per- fecution ferves to make men hypocrites, he fays, " better tolerate hypocrites and " tares than briars and thorns. In fuch " cafes the civil fword doth not fo much " attend the converfion of feducers, as the " preventing the feduction of honeft minds
" by
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" by their means." He allows indeed that " the magiftrate ought not to draw " the fword againft feducers till he have " ufed all good means for their conviction : " But if after their continuance in obfti- " nate rebellion againft the light he fhall " ftill walk toward them in foft and gentle " cominiferation, his foftnefs and gentle- " nefs is exceffive large to foxes and " wolves ; but his bowels are miferably " ftraitned and hardned againft the poor " fheep and lambs of Chrift. Nor is it " fruftrating the end of Chrift's coming, " which was to fave fouls, but a direct ad- " vancing it, to deftroy, if need be, the " bodies of thofe wolves, who feek to de- " ftroy the fouls of thofe for whom Chrift " died." In purfuing his argument he refines fo far as to deny that any man is to be perfecuted on account of confcience " till being convinced in his confcience of " his wickednefs, he do ftand out therein, " not only againft the truth, but againft " the light of his own confcience, that fo " it may appear he is not perfecuted for " caufe of confcience, but punished for " finning againft his own confcience." To which he adds, " fometimes it may be "an aggravation of fin both in judgment " and practice that a man committeth it in " confciencè."
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" confcience." After having faid that "' it was toleration which made the world " antichriftian," he concludes his book with this fingular ejaculation, " the Lord " keep us from being bewitched with the " whore's cup, left while wefeem to reject " her with open face of profeffion, we " bring her in by a back door of tolera- " tion ; and fo come to drink deeply of " the cup of the Lord's wrath, and be " filled with her plagues."
But the ftrangeft language that ever was ufed on this or perhaps on any other fubject, is to be found in a book printed in 1645 by the humourous Ward of Ip- fwich entitled " the Simple Cobler of A- " gawam." "My heart (fays he) hath "' naturally detefted four things ; the ftand- "ing of the Apocrypha in the bible : " foreigners dwelling in my country, to " croud out native fubjects into the cor- " ners of the earth : alchymized coins : " toleration of divers religions or of one " religion in fegregant fhapes. He that " willingly affents to the laft, if he ex- " amines his heart by day-light, his con- " fcience will tell him, he is either an " atheift, or an heretic, or an hypocrite, "' or at beft a captive to fome luft. Poly- " piety is the greateft impiety in the " world.
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" world. To authorize an untruth by to- " leration of the ftate, is to build a fconce " againft the walls of heaven, to batter " God out of his chair. Perfecution of " true religion and toleration of falfe are the " Jannes and Jambres to the kingdom of " Chrift, whereof the laft is by far the worft. " He that is willing to tolerate any un- " found opinion, that his own may be to- " lerated though never fo found, will for " a need, hang God's bible at the devil's " girdle. It is faid that men ought to " have liberty of confcience and that it is " perfecution to debar them of it : I can " rather ftand amazed than reply to this ; " it is an aftonifhment that the brains of " men fhould be parboiled in fuch impi- " ous ignorance."
From thefe fpecimens ( of which the reader will think he has had enough) it is eafy to fee how deeply the principle of intolerancy was rooted in the minds of our forefathers. Had it ftood only in their books as a fub- ject of fpeculation, it might have been excufed, confidering the prejudices of the times ; but it was drawn out into fatal practice, and caufed fevere perfecutions which cannot be juftified confiftently with chriftianity or true policy. Whatever may be faid in favour of their proceedings againft
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againft the Antinomians, whofe principles had fuch an effect on the minds of the people as materially affected the founda- tions of government, in the infancy of the plantation ; yet the Anabaptifts and Qua- kers were fo inconfiderable for numbers, and the colony was then fo well eftablifh- ed that no danger could have been rati- onally apprehended to the commonwealth from them. Rhode-Ifland was fettled by fome of the Antinomian exiles on a plan of entire religious liberty : men of every denomination being equally protected and countenanced, and enjoying the honours and offices of government. The Ana- baptifts, fined and banifhed, flocked to that new fettlement, and many of the Quakers alfo took refuge there ; fo that Rhode- Ifland was in thofe days looked upon as the drain or fink of New-England ; and it has been faid that " if any man had loft his " religion, he might find it there, among " fuch a general mufter of opinionifts." Notwithftanding this invective, it is much to the honour of that government that there never was an inftarce of perfecution for confcience fake countenanced by them. Rhode-Ifland and Pennfylvania afford a ftrong proof that toleration conduces great- ly to the fettlement and increafe of an in- fant plantation. The
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