MR. ALBRO'S DISCOURSE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 FATHERS OE NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 isz-^i-yr 
 
THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED AT CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 DECEMBER 22, 1844 
 
 y 
 
 By JOHN A. ALBRO, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN CONNECTION WITH 
 THE SHEPARD SOCIETY. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 CHARLES C. LITTLE AND JAMES BROWN. 
 M DCCC XLV. 
 
Thurston, Tornj, if* Company, Printers, 
 31 Devonshire Street, Boston. 
 
Cambridge, December, 1844. 
 Rev. John A. Albro, 
 Dear Sir, — Having listened with much pleasure to your Discourse on 
 the 22d instant, and esteeming it an honorable tribute to the memory and 
 character of our Pilgrim Fathers, and believing the dissemination of its 
 principles important, we respectfully request that you will allow it to be 
 published. 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 Charles C. Little, 
 Zelotes Hosmer, 
 Jacob H. Bates, 
 Charles W. Homer, 
 William Saunders. 
 Asa Gray. 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 
 The Discourse, which you do me the honor to think may be useful to the 
 
 public, is at your service ; and I commit it to the press with the prayer that 
 
 He who conducted the Pilgrims to these shores, and sustained them in 
 
 their labors, may make it instrumental in advancing the work which they 
 
 made so many sacrifices to commence in New England. 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 JOHN A. ALBRO. 
 
 Messrs. C. C. Little, Zelotes Hosmer, J. H. Bates, ) 
 Charles W. Homer, Wm. Saunders, Asa Gray. J 
 
DISCOURSE. 
 
 PSALM XLIV. 1—3. 
 
 WE HAVE HEARD WITH OUR EARS, O GOD, OUR FATHERS HAVE TOLD US, WHAT WORK 
 THOU DIDST IN THEIR DAYS, IN THE TIMES OP OLD. HOW THOU DIDST DRIVE OUT 
 THE HEATHEN WITH THY HAND, AND PLANTEDST THEM ; HOW THOU DIDST AFFLICT 
 THE PEOPLE, AND CAST THEM OUT. FOR THEY GOT NOT THE LAND IN POSSESSION 
 BY THEIR OWN SWORD, NEITHER DID THEIR OWN ARM SAVE THEM ; BUT THY RIGHT 
 HAND, AND THINE ARM, AND THE LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE, BECAUSE THOU 
 HADST A FAVOR UNTO THEM. 
 
 Just two hundred and twenty-four years ago this 
 day, a ship's company, consisting of about one hundred 
 persons, landed upon these shores, then inhabited only 
 by wandering savages, and commenced the first per- 
 manent, civilized settlement in this part of the world. 
 They were soon followed by other and larger compa- 
 nies of similar character, driven from their native 
 country by the same causes, and having in view the 
 same great object. These colonists, among whom the 
 names of Bradford, Winslow, Brewster, Carver, Win- 
 throp, Endicot, Cotton and Shepard, appear conspic- 
 uous, were the political and religious fathers of New 
 England. 
 
 It is natural that we, who have entered into their 
 labors, and enjoy the fruits of their toil and self- 
 denial, should wish to know something respecting 
 their character, and to understand the great object 
 
6 
 
 of their sacrifices. Nay, it is the solemn duty of 
 all who call themselves by the name of Puritan, to 
 study the history of their fathers with an enlightened 
 zeal. It has been too much the fashion in New Eng- 
 land, to represent the Pilgrims in a contemptible or 
 ridiculous light, and to speak of our institutions, 
 both religious and political, as accidental results of ig- 
 norance, superstition, and fanaticism. But this is as 
 ungrateful as it is absurd. We ought to know better ; 
 and the time is not far distant when public opinion and 
 feeling will be greatly changed in relation to those 
 men. As new dangers threaten our beloved New 
 England, and principles and practices subversive of 
 our privileges are openly advocated and embraced, 
 we shall instinctively turn to the wisdom of the past, 
 and examine with increasing interest the grounds 
 upon which our liberties and hopes rest ; and all 
 sober, intelligent and thoughtful men, whatever may 
 be their religious opinions or ecclesiastical relations, 
 will see in the Pilgrims, not greedy adventurers nor 
 bewildered fanatics, but men chosen of God, and 
 wonderfully fitted both intellectually and morally for 
 the arduous work of laying the foundation of a great, 
 free, and powerful commonwealth, — men who de- 
 serve to be held in everlasting remembrance, and 
 honored at each returning anniversary by the praises 
 of a grateful posterity. 
 
 It will not be unsuitable or unprofitable for us to 
 dwell for a few moments this morning upon the 
 character, and principles of those from whom we 
 have received this fair inheritance ; not merely for 
 the sake of celebrating the praises of men, however 
 good or great, but of commemorating the work which 
 
God wrought in their days, and by tlieir agency, and 
 of awakening our gratitude to Him from whom 
 Cometh every good and perfect gift. 
 
 Our Pilarim Fathers were Encrhshmen, and mem- 
 bers, originally, of the church of England. They 
 separated from the church in which they were 
 born and educated, abandoned their pleasant homes, 
 and came to this wilderness, not merely to escape 
 from the oppression to which they were subject 
 on account of non-conformity to the requirements 
 of a religious system which they believed to be in- 
 consistent with the purity, freedom, and simplicity of 
 the Gospel ; but to erect the tabernacle of God among 
 the heathen, according to the pattern shown them in 
 the mount ; to build around the altar and church of 
 God a religious commonwealth which should be gov- 
 erned, not by the blind and capricious will of man, 
 but by the law of Christ; and to propagate the 
 Gospel among the aborigines of this continent, 
 which had never before been visited by the day- 
 spring from on high. Let them be the expositors 
 of their own principles and designs. " We are 
 thankfully to acknowledge," says Gov. Bradford, 
 " the great work of God in the reformation made in 
 our dear native land ; in which the tyranny and 
 power of the pope was cast off, and the purity of 
 doctrine in the chief foundations of religion restor- 
 ed : and though she fell short, in some things, of 
 other reformed churches, especially in government, 
 yet not in the truth and power of godliness, but 
 rather to exceed these in such as the Lord raised 
 up and enlightened among them. But herein was 
 the great defect, that this lordly hierarchy was con- 
 
tinued after the pope was cut off, in the same calhngs 
 and offices, and ruled (in a manner) by the same laws, 
 and had the same power and jurisdiction over the 
 whole nation, without any distinction ; all being com- 
 pelled, as members of this national church, to submit 
 to the form of worship established, and this govern- 
 ment set over them far differing from the liberty of the 
 Gospel and the practice of other reformed churches, 
 who admitted only such into the church, and to par- 
 take of the holy things, as manifested repentance, 
 and made public confession of their faith, according 
 to the Scriptures ; and had such a ministry set over 
 them as themselves liked and approved of.* 
 
 This, not only our fathers, but many in the church, 
 as Ridley, a bishop and a martyr, complained of. 
 And " finding the pious ministers urged with subscrip- 
 tion, or silenced, and the people greatly vexed with 
 the commissary courts, apparitors and pursuivants, 
 which they bare sundry years with much patience, 
 till they were led by the continuance and increase 
 of these troubles and other means, to search and 
 see further into these things through the light of 
 God's word ; — how that not only the ceremonies 
 were unlawful, but also the lordly and tyrannical 
 power of the prelates, who contrary to the freedom 
 of the Gospel would load the consciences of men, and 
 by their compulsive power make a profane mixture 
 of divine worship; — that their offices, courts and 
 canons, were unlawful, being such as have no war- 
 rant in the word of God, but were the same which 
 were used in popery and still retained. Upon which 
 
 * Bradford's History of Massachusetts. App. p. 430. 
 
9 
 
 these people shake off this yoke of antichristian bond- 
 age, and, as the Lord's free people, join themselves 
 by covenant into a church state, to v^alk in all his 
 ways, made known, or to be made known to them, 
 according to their best endeavors, whatever it might 
 cost them."* 
 
 But their design, as has been said, was not merely 
 to find a spot where they and their posterity might en- 
 joy freedom from what they considered ecclesiastical 
 tyranny ; they desired to extend the boundaries of 
 Zion ; to make Christ known to the heathen ; and to 
 impart to the natives of this country the blessings 
 of a pure Christianity in exchange for the asylum 
 which they sought for themselves. To use their 
 own language, " They hoped the honor of God, of 
 their king and country would be advanced by this 
 settlement without injury to the native inhabitants : 
 they intended to take nothing but what the Indians 
 were willing to dispose of; not to interfere with them 
 except for the maintenance of peace among them, 
 and the propagation of Christianity." 
 
 This noble design they attempted to realize by 
 planting Congregationalism, which was at once 
 church and state, — a Christian commonwealth, — a 
 church exercising so much temporal power as was 
 necessary to its preservation and perpetuity, — and a 
 state modeled upon the idea, and deriving all its 
 vitality and all its sanctions from the spiritual life of 
 the church. If they erred in thus uniting, or rather 
 identifying the church and state, their descendants and 
 successors have corrected their mistake by separating 
 
 * Bradford's History of Massachusetts. App. p. 429. 
 b 
 
10 
 
 these two things widely enough. But the church 
 which they here planted, and the political organiza- 
 tion which they framed in accordance with their 
 religious ideas, both survive the lapse of time and the 
 changes of the world, and make us acquainted with 
 their view of a free commonwealth, and a truly spirit- 
 ual church. 
 
 Of their political work I do not intend to speak. 
 Respecting the ecclesiastical system which they 
 adopted, a few words will suffice. Congregationalism, 
 — the Congregationalism of our fathers, I mean, — 
 rests professedly, not partly upon the Bible and partly 
 upon the devices of men, like the angel of the apoca- 
 lypse, who stood with one foot upon the land and 
 the other upon the sea, but directly and solely upon 
 the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus 
 Christ himself being the chief corner stone. It recog- 
 nizes the Redeemer, who gave himself that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse the church by his own blood, 
 and that he might present it unto himself a glorious 
 church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing, as the only head, and source of all authority. It 
 calls the ministers of Christ brethren, and forbids them 
 in the name of him who is the master of us all, to claim 
 any authority or official preeminence over each other. 
 It secures to the churches the right to elect those who 
 are to rule over them in the Lord ; to maintain their 
 own discipline and order ; and to seek their own edi- 
 fication and religious welfare in the way pointed out 
 by the word of God. It elevates the Bible above the 
 wisdom of man, and makes all the members, from the 
 least to the greatest, amenable to one tribunal, and 
 responsible to one Lawgiver. It aims to give free 
 
11 
 
 scope to individual piety, without encouraging pride 
 of gifts, and calls into exercise the talents of all for 
 the promotion of the common cause. It guarantees 
 the right of private judgment in matters pertaining 
 to the soul's salvation, — encouraging men to think 
 freely, to act conscientiously, to search the Scriptures 
 carefully, — and sets no limit to the development of 
 Christian character. It presents a plain, scriptural 
 Creed, which all who truly believe the Bible, and look 
 to Christ alone for redemption, can assent to, and a 
 form of government and of worship at once simple, 
 conformable to the spirit of the Gospel, and obviously 
 conducive to personal freedom, edification, and spirit- 
 ual enjoyment,* It exalts the spiritual above the 
 formal, without denying the use of decent forms ; 
 inward worship above external rites ; obedience to 
 the law of Christ above conformity to man's de- 
 vices ; and God's truth above all the learning and 
 philosophy of the world. It preaches to all men 
 repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as an atoning Saviour, as the great con- 
 ditions of eternal life ; and when it has secured these, 
 it exhorts its converts to worship and serve God ac- 
 cording to the dictates of a conscience purged from 
 dead works, and enlightened by the Holy Ghost. It 
 has ever been a powerful ally of civil freedom, 
 intelligence, general education, and true progress. 
 It has infused something of its free spirit into de- 
 nominations that reject its doctrines, and condemn 
 its order; and those who would hmit its influence 
 are often warmed and animated by its fire. It is the 
 
 * See Cambridge Platform, 1648, and Confession of faith, 1680. 
 
12 
 
 nursing queen of missions; and in the name of her 
 divine Lord, calls upon all her children to aid in 
 preaching the Gospel to every creature. 
 
 Such, briefly, is the ecclesiastical system which the 
 Pilgrims came to this wilderness to establish. And 
 by the grace of God they accomplished their purpose. 
 The congregational churches, founded by the Fathers, 
 have been the glory of the land, the best expositors 
 of religious rights and duties, and the gate of heaven 
 to innumerable heavy laden sinners. And if the time 
 shall ever come when Congregationalism shall be 
 deprived of its strength, and driven from its place 
 among the institutions of our country, a great light 
 will be extinguished, and even those most hostile to 
 it will have reason to mourn. 
 
 What, then, was the moral, and religious charac- 
 ter of those who conceived and executed a design 
 so vast and so beneficial ? None who read the early 
 history of New England can fail to see that the Pil- 
 grim Fathers were extraordinary men ; that, viewed 
 as the founders of a church and state, every thing 
 about them bore the stamp of greatness ; that they 
 had an energy, boldness, decision, steadfastness of 
 purpose, and clearness of vision, which place them 
 among the world's greatest men and best benefactors. 
 
 But the most prominent and shining characteristic 
 of those men was a deep, pure, and vigorous piety. 
 They were eminently holy men. They walked by 
 faith, and not by sight ; and under the severest labor, 
 the most disheartening trials, the most cruel sufferings, 
 endured as seeing him who is invisible. They 
 reposed unwavering confidence in God and in the 
 cause which they had espoused. Amidst all the 
 
13 
 
 hardships to which they were continually exposed, — 
 the terrors of famine, the rigor of a New England 
 winter without comfortable dwellings, the wasting 
 sickness which once threatened the very existence 
 of the infant colony, the unprecedented labors and 
 discouragements which they encountered at every 
 step, — they never desponded, and never murmur- 
 ed. They never expressed regret that they had un- 
 dertaken to rear the tabernacle of God among the 
 savages of the wilderness, nor breathed a wish, like 
 the Israelites of old, to go back to the country from 
 whence they came out. " We are well weaned," 
 said they, "from the dehcate milk of our mother coun- 
 try, and inured to the difficulties of a strange land. 
 We are knit together in a strict sacred bond, to take 
 care of the good of each other and of the whole. It is 
 not with us as with other men, whom small things can 
 discourage, or small discontents cause to wish them- 
 selves at home again." They never doubted that 
 the cause they had undertaken, would prosper in the 
 end, or that God would glorify himself by the perma- 
 nent establishment of Christianity in this new world. 
 When they were brought apparently to the brink of 
 destruction, and nothing appeared to the eye of sense 
 but a speedy annihilation of all their hopes ; when 
 He in whom they had trusted, and for whose glory 
 they had made these immense sacrifices, seemed to 
 frown upon their enterprise, and to disown both them 
 and their work ; they never rebelled against his provi- 
 dence, nor questioned his love. Oppressed, afflicted, 
 cast out from the world's favor and protection, for- 
 saken of man, and apparently of God also for a sea- 
 son, shut in by the merciless sea, and the savage 
 
14 
 
 wilderness, they prayed and sang as aforetime ; and 
 in their deepest distress exclaimed with the clear 
 vision and earnest faith of the Prophet, " Although 
 the figtree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in 
 the vines ; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the 
 fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut oft' 
 from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls ; 
 yet we will rejoice in the Lord, we will joy in the 
 God of our salvation." Truly we may say of them 
 as the apostle speaks of the elders and persecuted 
 saints of old, of whom the world was not worthy, that 
 theirs was a faith which subdued kingdoms, wrought 
 righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths 
 of lions, and quenched the violence of fire. 
 
 The great end of all their labor and sacrifices, was 
 not, as we have seen, personal aggrandisement, but 
 the glory of God. The settlement of New England 
 was designed to secure a place where they and 
 their children might live according to the divine 
 commandments, and where they might be instru- 
 mental in extending the knowlege of salvation. This 
 is evident from all that they did. • Their government, 
 laws, literary institutions, even the soil from which 
 they gained their daily bread, were consecrated to 
 Christ and the Church. Pure and undefiled relig- 
 ion was all in all with them. For this they went out, 
 hke Abraham, from their father's house, not knowing 
 whither they went ; for this they cheerfully endured 
 all the privations and hardships of the wilderness ; 
 for this they sacrificed every thing dear to them in 
 this life ; for this they labored, and were at any mo- 
 ment ready to die. 
 
 They reverenced the Bible. Probably there never 
 
15 
 
 was a community of professing Christians who bowed 
 with such profound, cheerful, and enlightened submis- 
 sion to the revealed will of God. Their faith in its 
 doctrines was mingled with no doubt or misgiving. 
 Their obedience to its requirements was checked by 
 no fear of consequences. They loved to meditate upon 
 its doctrines and promises. It was infinitely more dear 
 to them than any earthly good. In their wanderings it 
 was their cloud by day and pillar of fire by night. In 
 their afflictions it was their comforter. Its light shone 
 like the shekinah in their temples. Their laws were 
 framed upon its legislation. Its spirit hallowed their 
 affections and their motives. Its wisdom prompted 
 and sanctioned all their works. They left it as the 
 most precious legacy to their children. And to their 
 constant, prayerful, and systematic study of the divine 
 oracles we must ascribe that clear sightedness, that 
 profound wisdom, that lofty patriotism, and that per- 
 severance in well doing, which so preeminently 
 distinguished them. 
 
 They regarded the Sabbath as a divine Institution. 
 One reason assigned by the Plymouth colony for their 
 leaving Holland, where they had been kindly received, 
 and where they might have remained, was, we are 
 told, that their children might not be led to adopt the 
 lax notions which prevailed there, even among Chris- 
 tians, in regard to the keeping of the Sabbath. They 
 commenced their great work in this country with the 
 deep conviction that the religion, the morals, and the 
 temporal prosperity of the commonwealth were inti- 
 mately connected with the right observance of this 
 day. They declared in their laws that the violation 
 of the fourth commandment by a community tends to 
 
16 
 
 the dishonor of God, and to the reproach of rehgion, 
 renders divine ordinances unprofitable, destroys the 
 power of godhness, is the source of all profaneness 
 and irreligion, and brings down the judgments of God 
 upon the land. And their practice was consistent 
 with their principles. They remembered the Sabbath 
 day to keep it holy. They did every thing in their 
 power to secure a strict observance of it by their chil- 
 dren and the population in general. They required 
 by law that the Sabbath should be kept, outwardly 
 at least, by abstinence from all servile labor, unne- 
 cessary travelling, and vain recreation ; and that all 
 persons should attend public worship on the Lord's 
 day, unless prevented by some reasonable cause. * 
 
 For this they have been blamed by some in modern 
 times. A generation has come upon the stage who 
 are disposed to undo all that the Fathers did upon 
 this subject. For many years there has been a grow- 
 ing disregard of the Sabbath. Business and pleasure 
 are allowed to disturb its quiet, to the scandal of relig- 
 ion, and the grief of all Christians. And to fill up the 
 measure of our folly, conventions are held, and 
 newspapers established, and lecturers employed to 
 convince the community that the fourth command- 
 ment was never binding upon us, and that to follow 
 the example of the Pilgrims is absurd and oppressive. 
 I wonder what they would have thought of such a 
 meeting as was held not a great while ago in the city 
 of Boston, with reference to the claims of this sacred 
 day. In their gloomiest moments, I am sure, they 
 never dreamed that men claiming this as their native 
 
 * General Laws, pp. 132, 133. 
 
17 
 
 land, and calling themselves Christian reformers, 
 would endeavor to destroy an institution which they 
 deemed so essential to our temporal as well as spiritual 
 prosperity. What say you, my hearers, were the Fa- 
 thers right or wrong upon this subject? Shall we 
 follow their example, or join with those who would 
 blot out the Sabbath, and destroy all the privileges 
 and blessings connected with it. 
 
 They highly valued the ordinances of the gospel. 
 They landed upon these shores as a church of Christ ; 
 and their main object was to enjoy without moles- 
 tation the preaching of the word, and the adminis- 
 tration of the sacraments, according to their un- 
 derstanding of the Divine will. And as they prosecuted 
 their design of founding here a religious common- 
 wealth, they adopted it as a principle, never to 
 commence a settlement without a pastor to preach the 
 Gospel, and to break unto them the bread of life. One 
 of their first works, after fixing upon the site of a 
 town, was to build a house for the worship of God. 
 Poor and feeble as they were, they seem never to have 
 been too poor or too feeble to find out a place for the 
 Lord, — a habitation for the miglity God of Jacob. The 
 towns in New England, generally, for more than a 
 hundred years after the landing of the Pilgrims, did 
 not average over forty families when they built their 
 first house of worship, and began to enjoy the stated 
 ministrations of the Gospel : and there are accounts of 
 " raisings," as they are termed, where all the inhabi- 
 tants of the town could sit together upon the sills of 
 the house. How deeply must they have loved the 
 sanctuary to be inclined to make such efforts and sac- 
 
18 
 
 rifices, as in their weakness and poverty they must 
 have done, in order to enjoy its privileges. 
 
 They were men of much prayer, and communion 
 with God. The greatness of their work and of their 
 trials taught them the value of a throne of grace ; and 
 they gathered about it, not to perform a ceremony, or 
 to fulfil a duty, but to ask for the strength they needed 
 in their perils and their sufferings. Perhaps there 
 never was a people who sought so constantly, so 
 fervently, so perscveringly, the Divine blessing upon 
 their work. They undertook nothing either of a pub- 
 lic or private nature without solemn prayer. They 
 baptized their whole life with the spirit of supplication. 
 It was this that imparted fortitude and courage to their 
 hearts. It was this that bore them triumphantly through 
 their hardships. It was this that gave to their religious 
 character that firmness and transparency which ren- 
 dered it so remarkable. It was this that crowned their 
 work with success. We may safely say that no com- 
 pany of prayerless men, ever exhibited the character, 
 or performed the works, or enjoyed the Divine peace, 
 that distinguished our Fathers. 
 
 They were men of profound wisdom, prudence, and 
 foresight. Many are accustomed to speak of the 
 Pilgrims as people, whose views were bounded by a 
 thorny and unintelligible creed, and whose affections 
 were confined within the limits of a small and pecu- 
 liar sect. Piety was, doubtless, their most prominent 
 and beautiful characteristic ; and they labored with 
 singular devotion for the prosperity of the church, and 
 the diffusion of their religious views. But they were 
 not merely pious and narrow-minded theologians. 
 
19 
 
 Many of them were great men, even in the sense in 
 which that phrase is used by the world. They pos- 
 sessed all the elements of a sublime and illustrious 
 character. They were men of highly cultivated minds. 
 They had much knowledge of the world. Their plans 
 were conceived and executed with great wisdom and 
 prudence. They were far in advance of their age in 
 sound political knowledge. They were public spirited 
 men ; who lived not to themselves, but for a remote 
 posterity. England at that time had not many better 
 men, and it would be a grievous wrong to their mem- 
 ory to compare them with the founders of Greece or 
 Rome. That we do not estimate their intellectual 
 character extravagantly, is evident from their works, 
 — from what they accomplished. They have left their 
 image and superscription upon all that we see around 
 us. Here is a desert turned into a fruitful field. 
 Here are institutions, religious, political, and liter- 
 ary, which are adapted to secure and perpetuate the 
 most precious rights of man; — institutions, which, 
 with the light and experience of two centuries we have 
 not changed materially, except for the worse. When 
 did feeble and narrow-minded men ever conceive and 
 execute a work like this ? " Do men gather grapes 
 of thorns, or figs of thistles ? Wherefore by their 
 fruits we may know them." 
 
 That the Pilgrim Fathers understood the importance 
 of general education in relation to the virtue, freedom, 
 and happiness of society, is evident from their early 
 and unwearied efforts to diffuse among the people a 
 sound and healthful literature. The schoolmaster 
 held, in their estimation, a place next the gospel min- 
 ister ; and the school-house, in their settlements, rose 
 
20 
 
 fast by the house of God. To them we owe that system 
 of common school education which extends the benefits 
 of knowledge to all classes, and to every man's door. 
 And as soon as they had provided themselves with 
 dwellings for their families, and erected convenient 
 places for God's worship, while yet poor, and suffer- 
 ing the want of even the common necessaries of life, 
 they founded a High School, which soon became a 
 flourishing College, for the advancement of learning, 
 and the thorough education of their posterity; believ- 
 ing that it greatly concerned the welfare of the country 
 that its youth should be acquainted with good litera- 
 ture, and dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the 
 churches, when their first pastors were in the dust.* 
 
 There was one element in the educational system 
 of the Puritans which distinguished it, and which we 
 must not pass over without remark, and that was re- 
 ligion. Believing that it is " one chief object of Satan 
 to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures," 
 and that it was necessary to the safety of the people 
 that youth should be educated in sound doctrine, as 
 well as in good learning, they took care that all the 
 children of the commonwealth should be taught to 
 read and understand the Bible. They had but little 
 confidence in knowledge without piety ; and they 
 sought to perpetuate the privileges and blessings they 
 had suffered so much to secure, by imbuing the minds 
 of their children with the doctrines of the Gospel. 
 
 It was with these views and feelings that they caused 
 the Bible and the Catechism to be taught diligently in 
 the college ; and required that all instructors of youth 
 
 * New England's First Fruits, 1C43. 
 
21 
 
 should be sound in the faith, as well as unexceptiona- 
 ble in their morals.* Their deep interest and con- 
 fidence in catechetical instruction was remarkable, 
 even in an age when that mode of communicating 
 religious truth was far more common than it is now. 
 Every minister was expected to catechize all the chil- 
 dren in his congregation frequently, and all parents 
 were required to see that their children were prepared 
 for that exercise. The selectmen of the several towns, 
 also, were required to see that all heads of families 
 catechized their children and domestics in the grounds 
 and principles of religion at least once a week ; and 
 if any were unable to do this, they were to cause such 
 children and domestics to learn some short orthodox 
 catechism by heart, that they might be prepared to an- 
 swer the questions that should be put to them out of the 
 book by their parents, or by the selectmen themselves.f 
 It is to be greatly lamented that catechetical instruc- 
 tion, which our Fathers felt to be so important in the 
 religious education of the youth of New England, should 
 be so generally laid aside as it is at the present day. 
 To this is unquestionably to be attributed much of the 
 the ignorance, error, and instability which has for a 
 long season been so deplorably manifest among us. 
 Nor will these evils be removed or diminished until 
 this practice is revived, and attended to with as much 
 faithfulness, diligence, and prayer, both in families and 
 in the church, as in the days of the Puritans. It may 
 be replied that we have the Sabbath school, which our 
 Fathers had not. But Sabbath schools, beneficial as 
 they are, should never be permitted to interfere with 
 
 * General Laws, p. 136. t Ibid. p. 26. 
 
22 
 
 parental or ministerial responsibility to the young ; nor 
 be regarded as a substitute for thorough doctrinal and 
 catechetical instruction at home. There is need of 
 both, and they should go hand in hand in the great 
 work of training up the rising generation in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord. 
 
 Such was the character of those men who turned 
 the wastes of New England into fruitful fields, and 
 made the wilderness to blossom as the rose. 
 
 But it is said they had their errors. It is even so. 
 To err is human. No one will maintain that they 
 never believed anything that was not true, nor did 
 anything that had better not have been done. But 
 in what period of the world, in what nation, shall we 
 find a company of men to whom was committed so 
 great a work, or who have executed the task as- 
 signed them, whatever it was, so nobly and so success- 
 fully ? What were their errors ? They were intolerant 
 bigots, says one. They were bloody persecutors, says 
 another. 
 
 The charge of bigotry is often brought against the 
 Fathers of New England, by those, who of all men 
 have the least right to say anything upon that sub- 
 ject. The words of the Saviour to those who clam- 
 ored for judgment upon the woman taken in adul- 
 tery, "Let him that is without this sin among you cast 
 the first stone at her," contain an admonition which 
 these swift witnesses against the Puritans would do 
 well to lay to heart. Moreover we may insist upon 
 the evidence that the Fathers of New England were 
 bigoted at all. What is bigotry ? Bigotry has been de- 
 fined to be a blind partiality for a particular sect, com- 
 bined with hatred of all who differ from us. If this 
 
23 
 
 definition be correct, the Pilgrims were no bigots. 
 They were Calvinists indeed ; and that they loved 
 their own church with an affection stronger than 
 death, is evident from the hardships they endured, and 
 the personal sacrifices they made to plant it, and to 
 sustain it in this country. But their attachment was 
 not blind or foolish. They knew by experience the 
 value of what they loved, and felt that the most in- 
 tense affection is cold in comparison with that love 
 wherewith they were loved by Him who died for them. 
 Nor did they hate any man or sect for differing from 
 them in opinion or practice. When the Massachu- 
 setts company were about to sail from Yarmouth, they 
 addressed a letter to the Christians of England which 
 exhibits a most kind, liberal, benevolent, and Christian 
 spirit. " We esteem it an honor," said they, " to 
 call the Church of England, from whence we rise, our 
 dear Mother ; and cannot part from our native coun- 
 try, where she specially resideth, without much sadness 
 of heart, and many tears. You are not ignorant that 
 the Spirit of God stirred up the heart of the apostle 
 Paul to make continual mention of Philippi, which 
 was a colony of Rome. Let the same Spirit, we be- 
 seech you, put you in mind to pray for us without 
 ceasing, who are weak colony from yourselves, making 
 request for us to God in your prayers. And so far as 
 God shall enable us, we will give Him no rest on your 
 behalf, wishing our heads and hearts may be as foun- 
 tains of tears for your everlasting welfare, when we 
 shall be in our poor cottages in the wilderness, overshad- 
 owed with the spirit of supplication, through the man- 
 ifold necessities and tribulations which may not alto- 
 gether unexpectedly, nor, we hope, unprofitably befal 
 
24 
 
 us." What language to use towards a church from 
 which they had received such hard measure ! If they 
 could have hated any denomination of Christians, it 
 would have been the Church of England. But flee- 
 ing as they were from fines and imprisonment to a 
 waste howhng wilderness, they pour out their prayers 
 and tears for that Mother, who seemed to have closed 
 her heart against some of the worthiest of her chil- 
 dren, and made their lives bitter with hard bondage. 
 Even Cotton Mather, who has been thought the 
 straitest and most exclusive of his sect, says that 
 the New England churches, though they were " shy 
 of using any thing in the worship of God, for which 
 they could not see a warrant in the Bible, yet swal- 
 lowed up the names of Congregational, Presbyterian, 
 Episcopalian, Anti-paedo Baptist, in that of Christian ; 
 persons of all those persuasions being taken into 
 fellowship, when visible godliness recommended 
 them." * When did bigotry ever use language like 
 this.? What denomination of Christians will now 
 reciprocate this charitable judgment which went forth 
 from the heart of Congregationalism, and which every 
 true son of the Pilgrims is now ready to subscribe 
 with his own hand ? 
 
 The other charge referred to is more serious. They 
 fled from persecution, it is said, and as soon as they 
 obtained power, they became the merciless persecu- 
 tors of all who could not agree with them in opinion 
 and practice. 
 
 This has been repeated so often, so confidently, and 
 with such a plausible reference to time, place, and 
 
 * Enchantments Encountered, p. 10. 
 
25 
 
 persons, that to many it seems like an incontrovertible 
 fact ; and any attempt to vindicate those much injured 
 men, may be regarded as indicating great ignorance of 
 their characters, or disregard of historical truth. To us, 
 however, this is not clear. After a somewhat careful 
 examination of the history of those troublous times 
 which tried the faith, and patience, and principles of 
 our Fathers, we are unable to find satisfactory evidence 
 that they were ever guilty of persecuting any man, or 
 body of men, on account of their religious opinions. 
 That it was their first great object to establish a church 
 and commonwealth upon principles, which were re- 
 garded by many as exclusive; that they adopted a 
 discipline which was felt by dissenters from their doc- 
 trines to be severe ; that they guarded the infant 
 church, which was of all things in this world dearest to 
 their hearts, and which they perilled all their hopes on 
 earth to plant firmly upon this soil, with a jealousy 
 very inconvenient to those who hated it ; and that they 
 were at times severe in the punishment of those who 
 intentionally violated the religious or civil order of the 
 country, no one will deny. But that they were perse- 
 cutors of good men, in the proper sense of that word, 
 cannot be shown from the undisputed record of their 
 public acts; and even the jealousy of dissent, and 
 severity of discipline which are complained of, find an 
 ample apology in the circumstances under which they 
 were obliged to act. 
 
 What is persecution? There is much vagueness 
 and confusion of thought in the public mind in rela- 
 tion to this question ; and every man who suffers in 
 mind, body, or estate, from the doings of church or 
 d 
 
26 
 
 commonwealth, is called a martyr by the multitude, 
 who do not discriminate between the sentence of a 
 wise and necessary law, and an act of wanton cruelty. 
 We may learn what persecution is from the consola- 
 tion which the Saviour administers to those who are 
 objects of it. " Blessed are they which are persecu- 
 ted for righteousness' sake ; for theirs is the kingdom 
 of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, 
 and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
 against you falsely, for tny sake.^'' This passage re- 
 quires us, in all cases, to examine the character and 
 acts of those who suffer, as well as of those against 
 whom the charge of persecution is brought. 
 
 The persecutor is a man who hates truth, and good 
 men ; who uses his power to harass and distress 
 those who seek only to enjoy inalienable rights, and 
 to do the work which God has assigned them; who 
 endeavors by fines, imprisonment, and death, to 
 suppress the doctrines of the Gospel, and to destroy 
 the liberty with which Christ has made men free. 
 Every act of undue severity, or even injustice, is 
 not persecution. To imprison or hang a man for vio- 
 lating the laws of the state; to excommunicate a her- 
 etic from the church ; to expel a disturber of the peace 
 from the society which he would subvert, — is not to 
 persecute him. It is an old and sound remark, that 
 it is not the kind or degree of suffering which a man 
 may endure, but the cause which makes a martyr. 
 Men complain that they are objects of relentless per- 
 secution, because they are not permitted to promul- 
 gate by the tongue and pen any doctrines which 
 they have adopted, or are involved in difficulties 
 
27 
 
 by the violation of the fundamental principles of 
 the government under which they live : as if every 
 opinion of theirs is an eternal truth which all 
 men are bound to reverence, and every action 
 the result of a pure conscience, which it would 
 be a sin against God and humanity to discount- 
 enance. But the Saviour promises a blessing only 
 upon those who suffer for righteousness^ sake. It 
 is not a man's own opinion, but Christ's truth, 
 that is the proper object of persecution. Men can- 
 not be martyrs, except as witnesses for God and 
 his cause. 
 
 They must also be good men. " Blessed are ye," 
 says the Saviour, " when men shall revile you, and 
 persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you 
 falsely.'^'' A man must not give occasion for any one 
 to speak evil of him. " If a man suffer as a Christian," 
 says the apostle, " let him not be ashamed. But let 
 none of you suffer as a inurderer, or as a thief, or as a 
 busy-body in other meti's matters : for what glory is it, if 
 when ye be buffetted for your faults, ye shall take it pa- 
 tiently?"* " Having your conversation honest among 
 the Gentiles, and having agood conscience, that whereas 
 they speak evil of you, as evil doers, they may be 
 ashamed that j^^/se/?/ accuse your good conversation in 
 Christ." t If, then, a man professing to be a Christian, 
 acts inconsistently with his profession ; if he does not 
 submit to the law of Christ; if he exhibits the spirit of 
 Cain or of Korah, and receives a just recompense 
 for the wrong that he has done, we are not to 
 consider him a martyr, nor feel much compassion 
 
 * 1 Peter, iv. 15, 16. t 1 Peter, ii. 12. 
 
28 
 
 for his sufferings. The act by which he suffers is not 
 persecution, but punishment. It falls not upon right- 
 eousness and truth, but upon crime, which the law 
 ought to punish wherever it appears. We should 
 not regard the clamor of such sufferers. Shall 
 men of perverse minds be permitted to plead their 
 religion as an excuse for their evil deeds, and when 
 they suffer as wrong-doers, to complain that they 
 are persecuted ? Shall the wolf in sheep's clothing 
 be looked upon as a martyr, because he is driven 
 by force from the fold, or has an iron collar placed 
 about his neck ? 
 
 It is well also to examine the temper manifested by 
 those who complain that they are persecuted. Our 
 Saviour points out the graces by which his martyrs 
 are adorned ; a heavenly wisdom which is pure, 
 peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy 
 and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypoc- 
 risy ; a divine patience that complains to none but 
 God ; a holy courage that fears nothing but sin ; 
 a pure zeal that burns like the fire kindled from heaven 
 upon the altar of sacrifice ; above all, a charity that 
 thinketh no evil, that rejoiceth not in iniquity but in 
 the truth, that will pity, and forgive, and bless, and 
 pray for the guilty persecutor, and will not fail even 
 at the stake or upon the cross. With such a temper 
 the blood of the martyr becomes the seed of the 
 church. 
 
 Now let us judge our Fathers and their acts of al- 
 leged persecution, by these plain Gospel principles. 
 When it is said that they fled from persecution, and 
 as soon as they obtained power, began to persecute 
 all who differed from them in opinion, we should ask 
 
29 
 
 ourselves again, who our Fathers were, — what was 
 their position, — what were the circumstances in which 
 they were called to act, — and who were the objects 
 of their severity. 
 
 The Pilgrim Fathers were not, as we have seen, or 
 may easily learn, haters of truth, or of good men. 
 They were not revilers of those who endeavored to 
 keep a conscience void of offence towards God and 
 towards man. They were not enemies of that king- 
 dom of righteousness and peace which Christ came to 
 establish in this world. On the contrary, they were 
 men who feared God, — who submitted with child-like 
 docility to the Law of Christ, — who loved the cause of 
 religion more than father, or mother, or country, — who 
 rejoiced in all the successes of the church, — who 
 blessed God for the partial reformation of the body from 
 which they were at last compelled to separate, — who 
 longed and prayed for the coming of Christ's kingdom 
 in power, — and who could say respecting Zion and her 
 sons, as David said of Jerusalem, " If I forget thee, 
 let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not re- 
 member thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
 mouth : if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 
 How could such men harbor the spirit of persecu- 
 tion, or use their power to crush and destroy any faith- 
 ful servant of Jesus Christ ? 
 
 They came to this country, as I have said, in or- 
 der to organize a religious community, according to 
 what they believed the Law of Christ sanctioned and 
 required ; to worship God in the forms which they 
 judged most conducive to religious enjoyment and 
 spiritual edification ; to train up their children in the 
 nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and to spread 
 
30 
 
 a pure gospel among the benighted tribes that 
 roamed through these forests. In order to real- 
 ize their object, they abandoned the soil which gave 
 them birth. They left Christendom to build the church 
 of God in its own way. They chose a spot for their 
 purpose, far from the civilized world, — a spot to which 
 no nation could lay a higher claim than their own, 
 founded as it was upon prior occupancy, and actual 
 purchase of the wild tribes that sometimes used it for 
 hunting. They invaded nobody's rights; "they got not 
 the land in possession by their sword," but in a manner 
 that all the world must pronounce just. And they 
 asked of their fellow-men nothing but to be allowed 
 the privilege of carrying out their own principles upon 
 their own soil, and of regulating the affairs of their 
 church and state, according to their views of truth 
 and duty. 
 
 And with what spirit and temper did they proceed 
 to execute their great design ? First of all, their char- 
 ter declared expressly, that there should always be lib- 
 erty of conscience in matters of religion. Then they 
 declared that all the people of God who were orthodox 
 in judgment, and not scandalous in life, should have 
 full liberty to gather themselves into a church estate, 
 provided they did it in a Christian way, observing the 
 rules of Christ revealed in his word, and with the ap- 
 probation of the magistrates, and of the elders of the 
 neighboring churches; and that every church should 
 freely enjoy all the ordinances of God, according to 
 the rules of the Gospel. And, finally, they announced 
 to the world, that all strangers professing the Christian 
 religion, who should flee to this colony from the tyr- 
 anny of their oppressors, should be succored accord- 
 
31 
 
 ing to their utmost ability.* These provisions, all 
 must allow, were as hberal as the condition and ob- 
 jects of the colony could possibly permit. 
 
 It is true that while they professed to maintain the 
 inviolability of conscience in matters of religion, they 
 regarded those who obstinately promulgated doctrines 
 subversive of the Christian faith, destructive to the 
 souls of men, and dangerous to society, as enemies of 
 the commonwealth; and therefore they passed laws 
 designed to restrain or punish such persons.f 
 They were willing that all persons within their juris- 
 diction, whether inhabitants or strangers, should enjoy 
 the same law and justice that was general for their 
 colony, in all cases proper to their cognizance, with- 
 out partiality or delay ; J but at the same time they 
 ordered that all who endeavored to destroy or disturb 
 the peace of the churches here established, by openly 
 renouncing or reviling their church estate, or their 
 ministry, or any ordinance dispensed in them, should 
 be punished with fine, imprisonment, or banishment, 
 according to the exigences of the case.|| 
 
 Under such laws, which they not only had a perfect 
 right to enact, but which were obviously required by 
 the condition of the colony, a few persons who came 
 into the country with no respect for the government, 
 or good-will toward the churches, might have suf- 
 fered some inconvenience. When they felt them- 
 selves bound to oppose publicly the religious order 
 here established, and to disobey the laws of the 
 state, they were compelled to endure the priva- 
 tion of accustomed privileges, or to withdraw from 
 
 * General Laws, p. 143. t lb. p. 39. J lb. p. 143. || lb. p. 45. 
 
32 
 
 the jurisdiction ; which they always had perfect 
 liberty to do. Those members of the church of 
 England who had found their way to the colony, 
 were not allowed to observe publicly the forms of that 
 church ; and Thomas Lechford, who thanked God 
 that he " understood by experience, that there is no 
 such government for Englishmen, or any nation, as a 
 monarchy ; nor for Christians, as by a lawful ministry 
 under godly diocesan bishops, deducing their station 
 and calling from Christ and his apostles, in descent 
 or succession," complained that he suffered much 
 by reason of not being able to agree to the dis- 
 cipline here established; being "kept from the sa- 
 crament, and all place of preferment in the com- 
 monwealth, and forced to get a living by writing 
 petty things, which scarce found him bread."* 
 
 The Baptists, also, were doubtless subject to incon- 
 veniences which must have been somewhat galling. 
 When a Baptist church was gathered in opposition 
 to a law of the colony above referred to, the mem- 
 bers were summoned before the magistrates, and for- 
 bidden to proceed ; but refusing to obey the law, 
 and persevering in their purpose to organize them- 
 selves into a church, some of them were imprison- 
 ed for contempt, and some were ordered to depart 
 from the colony, f But this act, it will be ob- 
 served, however harsh it may seem, had no relation 
 to their opinions upon the subject of baptism, but 
 to their actual violation of the laws. The condition 
 of Baptists, as well as of Episcopalians, was, no 
 doubt, unpleasant, under a government so thoroughly 
 
 * Plain Dealing, p. 68, 69. t Bradford's Hist. Mass. p. 68. 
 
33 
 
 congregational ; but we hear of nothing hke the per- 
 secution of them merely on account of their religious 
 opinions. That the government had a legal right by 
 their charter to establish a church polity which they 
 deemed conformable to the word of God ; to forbid 
 formsof worship which they judged to be unscriptural; 
 and to insist that if churches were gathered here, they 
 should be organized in accordance with the ecclesias- 
 tical system which they had adopted amidst so many 
 trials and hardships, no one can doubt. It might have 
 been injudicious ; it might have been contrary to 
 sound policy ; but it was not persecution. The error 
 of our Fathers, if they were in error upon this point, 
 consisted, says Bradford, in assuming that they had 
 at last discovered the true meaning of revelation, and 
 that it was their duty to allow no deviations from 
 it.* But the historian himself, while he condemns 
 their strict discipline and government in some cases, 
 and their severity towards those who would not 
 conform to their usages, admits that the toleration 
 pleaded for would have been fatal to the design which 
 they had in view. They came to America, he says, un- 
 der great privations, after long persecutions, to enjoy 
 their own forms of worship, which they believed to be in 
 accordance with the word of God. And had they not 
 been select in receiving new comers, and in reject- 
 ing the turbulent and schismatic, their object would 
 have been entirely defeated, and the colony probably 
 broken up.f So that the great question is, whether the 
 end they had in view in coming to this country, was of 
 importance enough to the church and to the world, 
 
 * Bradford's History of Massacliusetts. p. 50. tibid. p. 33. 
 
34 
 
 to be secured by laws which subjected a few dis- 
 senters to such privations as have been complained 
 of. Who will say that the unlimited toleration de- 
 manded, subversive as it must have been of the great 
 object of our Fathers, would have been better than the 
 New England which they left us as an inheritance ? 
 
 But there are cases of greater alleged oppression 
 and persecution, which are often referred to as evi- 
 dence that the Puritans cherished a bitter and relent- 
 less hostility against all who differed from them in 
 opinion. I allude to the banishment of Roger Williams ; 
 the imprisonment, banishment, and capital punishment 
 of the Quakers ; the dispersion of the company at Mount 
 Wollaston ; and the punishment of some others, re- 
 specting which I wish to say a few words. I do not 
 refer to the " trial of the witches," because that melan- 
 choly excitement does not properly belong to this 
 place. 
 
 Of Roger Williams I desire to speak with all suitable 
 respect. He came to Massachusetts a congrega- 
 tional minister of no mean standing, and by his tal- 
 ents and learning soon acquired considerable influ- 
 ence among the people. That he was a lover of 
 freedom, and capable of great usefulness in church 
 and state, will not be denied. It was doubtless very 
 grievous to him that he was obliged to leave the colony 
 at all, especially in the dead of winter, though he was 
 furnished with money, it is said, from Governor Win- 
 throp's purse to defray the expenses of his journey. 
 But it is proper to remark that he was regarded, even 
 by his best friends, as " an eccentric man," greatly 
 " wanting in prudence and stability of character," 
 " very precipitate and passionate," and easily carried 
 
35 
 
 away by "extravagant theories." He professed, in 
 later life, to be a Baptist; but he was not banished 
 for being a Baptist. His opinions in relation to the 
 mode or subjects of baptism, had no influence what- 
 ever in drawing down upon him the indignation of 
 the government. He was required to leave the col- 
 ony because he was a disturber of the public peace, 
 and dangerous to the well-being of the church. 
 
 In what way he became obnoxious to the charge 
 of being an enemy of the commonwealth, whom 
 it was necessary to get rid of, will appear by a 
 brief reference to some of the dangerous doctrines 
 which he promulgated in spite of all the kind and 
 friendly efforts which were made to persuade him to 
 desist. He violently opposed the whole civil and 
 ecclesiastical order which he found established here. 
 He denied the validity of the government's title to the 
 soil founded on the royal charter ; and, although every 
 foot of land, occupied by the people, had been actually 
 purchased and paid for, maintained that the Indians 
 were the only true proprietors of the country. He 
 denied the right of the civil authority to make laws 
 for the punishment of any breach of the fourth com- 
 mandment which did not disturb the public peace. 
 He maintained that it was unlawful to administer an 
 oath to an unregenerate man ; and that it was wrong 
 even to pray with unconverted people, though they 
 were wife and children. He wrote letters to the 
 churches complaining bitterly of the injustice and op- 
 pression of the magistrates, the direct tendency of 
 which was to excite disaffection among the people 
 against the government. He advised his own church 
 at Salem to renounce communion with all the church- 
 
36 
 
 es in the colony, as full of antichrist and corruption. 
 He condemned all who would not join with him in 
 anathematizing the church of England. And in the 
 expression and maintenance of his opinions, he was 
 violent, denunciatory, and abusive. With all his good 
 qualities, he was, by his position, learning, and tal- 
 ents, a dangerous subject of the new government, and 
 a destroyer of the peace of the infant churches : and as 
 it was impossible to convince, satisfy, or reclaim him, 
 he was required to depart out of the jurisdiction as the 
 only means of restoring quiet ; a sentence, which, 
 considering the provocation he gave, was remarkably 
 lenient and mild.* 
 
 The treatment of the Quakers has often been rep- 
 resented as unreasonable, and unmercifully severe. 
 But who were the Quakers, that their sufferings 
 should awaken a sympathy which cannot be aroused 
 by the afflictions of the Puritans ? It cannot be pre- 
 tended that they suffered for righteousness' sake ; for 
 no one who reads their history can discover any reli- 
 gion at all either in their creed or their temper. 
 Unlike tlie Friends of the present day, they were 
 fanatics of the wildest and most dangerous charac- 
 ter, who came to this country for the express pur- 
 pose of overthrowing, if possible, the existing gov- 
 ernment. They outrageously reviled both ministers 
 and magistrates ; and denounced the judgments of 
 God upon the people if they did not oppose and resist 
 their rulers. They grossly violated the laws of de- 
 cency and decorum as well as of the state, sometimes 
 rushing into churches on the Sabbath, in a state of 
 
 * See Wintlirop's Journal, pp. 84, 88. 
 
31 
 
 shameful nudity, and making outcries which were as 
 blasphemous as they were exciting. 
 
 Knowing the mischief they had done in England, 
 the Court passed a law that no Quaker should be 
 landed from any ship, or harbored by any person in the 
 colony. But this not being sufficient to prevent them 
 from swarming like " rogues and vagabonds," into 
 the country, other laws were enacted subjecting them 
 to whipping, branding, imprisonment, and banish- 
 ment. Even these severe modes of punishment were 
 found insufficient to abate the nuisance ; and at length 
 a law was made, subjecting any Quaker, who should 
 return to the colony after having been four times con- 
 victed and sent away, to the punishment of death.* 
 Under this law, four, I believe, were sentenced to be 
 hung. One was reprieved upon condition of depart- 
 ing out of the colony. Another refused to save his hfe 
 in this way, though earnestly exhorted to do so, choos- 
 ing rather to die, than to submit to the authority of the 
 government, which he had done so much to disturb. 
 Several others were punished less severely ; but all 
 who are now held up as martyrs, suffi9red as evil 
 doers of the most incorrigible character, whom it 
 would have been madness to permit to go at large 
 among the people. If we should think their pun- 
 ishment too severe, we cannot call it persecution 
 without an unpardonable abuse of language. 
 
 Indeed, when we consider the unofovernable malic- 
 nity, the blasphemous doctrines, and the rebelhous con- 
 duct of those fanatics, in connexion with the weakness 
 of the colony at that early period, we can hardly say that 
 their punishment was too severe. The Government 
 
 * General Laws, p. 60, 71, 62, 63. 
 
38 
 
 was evidently disposed, as they themselves declare, to 
 use as much lenity as vi^as consistent with their safety; 
 and resorted to extreme measures only when they 
 found that mild ones were unavailing.* Even now, 
 when we boast that every man is free to utter any 
 opinions he pleases, there is a limit to the develop- 
 ment of fanatacism and infidelity. Blasphemy is pun- 
 ished by our own courts with imprisonment ; and all 
 opinions, and practices which violate the peace of 
 society, and become dangerous to the public morals, 
 are suppressed by the strong arm of the law, without 
 subjecting our government to the charge of persecu- 
 tion, except among rogues and vagabonds. 
 
 In regard to Gorton, and the "nest of revellers " at 
 Mount Wollaston, as Mr. Adams calls them, a word 
 must suffice. They were the declared enemies of the 
 colony. They had neither religion nor honesty. 
 They neither feared God, nor regarded man. Their 
 conduct was lawless, desperate, and utterly inconsist- 
 with the public safety. They furnished the savages 
 with weapons and " strong water," and endeavored to 
 involve them in war with the whites. " Toleration in 
 those cases, would have been self-murder." In the 
 case of these men, and of many others who sufTer- 
 ed under the government of the early Puritans, 
 there was neither persecution, cruelty, nor injustice. 
 They were not, like our Fathers, harassed for not 
 doing what the state, according to the Law of Christ, 
 had no right to require, but properly punished for 
 doing what both law and gospel alike forbade. They 
 suffered, not for their religious opinions, nor for their 
 
 * General Laws, p. 62. 
 
39 
 
 obedience to Christ, but for wilful resistance to a gov- 
 ernment founded upon the Bible ; not for religion, but 
 for rebellion ; not for truth, but for treason. They 
 resisted the ordinance of God, and received to them- 
 selves the damnation which they obstinately incurred.* 
 But I will vindicate the Puritans no farther. They 
 had their faults, you say. Be it so. The sun has its 
 spots, but nevertheless it fills the world with light. 
 Our Fathers were men ; but what men ! In what 
 country or age of the world can you find their 
 superiors ? In the language of an old writer, " God 
 sifted three kingdoms to obtain wheat for the plant- 
 ing of New England." A divine blessing rested 
 upon their habitations. They finished the work 
 that was given them to do: and we may say 
 with Nicodemus, that none could have done the 
 things which they did, except God were with them. 
 " May the Lord our God be with us, as he was with 
 our Fathers." And that He may not leave us nor for- 
 sake us, let us cultivate the ardent and humble piety 
 which characterized the Puritans. Let us enthrone 
 the word of God in our hearts. Let us maintain the 
 ordinances of the Gospel in their purity and simplicity. 
 Let us cherish a spirit of prayer. Let us attend to 
 the thorough religious education of our children. Let 
 us remember that the work of preserving, if not 
 as difficult, is as necessary as that of building up. 
 Let us not forget that we are to transmit this in- 
 heritance to our posterity. Our Fathers, through 
 faith and patience are now inheriting the prom- 
 ises. Soon we shall join the congregation of the 
 
 • Rom. xiii. 2. 
 
40 
 
 dead, leaving to our children a land consecrated to 
 Christ and the church. May we leave it with the 
 assurance, that it has not been diminished in value in 
 our hands. And may we rise at the last day with our 
 Fathers, whose memory we honor, and whose faith 
 we follow, to join with them, and with all who have 
 come out of great tribulation, in ascribing blessing, 
 and honour, and glory, and power unto Him who sit- 
 teth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever. 
 
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