Chapter XXXII: Eureka (2)

[712] Mass. Col. Rec., Bancroft.

[713] Bancroft, Story, Palfrey. See the Charter, in Massachusetts Hist. Col.

[714] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard.

[715] See chap. 19, pp. 245 et seq.

[716] Bradford, Winthrop, Hubbard.

[717] On the 19th of Oct.

[718] Winthrop, Hutchinson.

[719] See the charter.

[720] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 359.

[721] Ibid.

[722] Ibid., p. 360.

[723] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 360.

[724] Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 360, 361.

[725] Uhden’s New Eng. Theocracy, p. 68. Dexter’s Congregationalism.

[726] Ibid., p. 71.

[727] Ibid., Bancroft.

[728] Ibid. Vide Cambridge Platform.

[729] Vide the Cambridge Platform, 1648. “This Confession of Faith belongs, indeed, to a later period, but it expresses throughout the principles of the early colonists unchanged.” Uhden, p. 68.

[730] Wilson’s Pilgrim Fathers, pp. 487, 488.

[731] Winthrop’s Journal.

[732] Elliott, vol. 1, pp. 155, 156.

[733] Longfellow’s Courtship of Miles Standish. See, also, Banvard and Thatcher.

[734] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 154. Winthrop, Bradford, Prince.

[735] Ibid., p. 68. Banvard, Thatcher, Morton.

[736] Elliott, vol. 1, p. 68. Banvard, Thatcher, Morton. This was in 1630.

[737] Winthrop’s Journal.

[738] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 329.

[739] Ibid.

[740] Bradford, p. 294.

[741] Winthrop’s Journal.

[742] Bradford, p. 295.

[743] Ibid.

[744] Winthrop’s Journal.

[745] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 330.

[746] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 155.

[747] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 103.

[748] Ibid., p. 97.

[749] Orations, N. Y., 1855.

[750] Winthrop’s Hist., vol. 1, p. 97.

[751] Ibid., p. 76.

[752] Eliot spent the first years of his transatlantic life as a preacher at Roxbury. Here he was engaged with Weld and Richard Mather in compiling the first book published in New England—“The Psalms in Metre”—which appeared in 1640. In 1645, he became deeply interested in the work of evangelizing the Indians, “those ruins of mankind.” Into this labor he threw his whole heart; and he never relinquished it until God called him home; for he believed with the psalmist, that Jehovah was perpetually saying, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance.”

Going into the wilderness, he preached his first Indian sermon in October, 1646, in a wigwam at Nonantum, near Watertown. He had already familiarized himself with the aboriginal languages; and since the New England tribes—loosely estimated at a united membership of forty thousand—were a part of the Algonquin race, whose tongues were similar, this acquisition was not as difficult as it might seem. Eliot had the happiness to witness several conversions as the result of his first essay; and from that moment he worked on with a resolution and self-abnegation above all earthly praise. The “Apostle,” as he soon came to be called, at once commenced several translations. Two catechisms were done into the Indian dialects. A primer, the Psalms, and Baxter’s Call, followed; and finally, an Indian Bible, a marvellous monument of patience, industry, and faith, appeared in 1663. Of course, this work necessitated money. Eliot appealed for aid. The English Parliament granted, in 1649, a special sum for the promotion of the gospel among the aborigines. Large collections were made throughout England for the same purpose; and even infant Boston contributed twenty-five hundred dollars in its poverty. The zeal of Eliot and the funds of the godly were not in vain expended. A number of Indians were hopefully converted, and these were colonized into separate towns. The chief seat of the “praying Indians” was Natick, settled by them in 1651. There Eliot erected his headquarters; and he gave his converts “the same advice as to government that Jethro gave to Moses; so they assembled, and chose their rulers of hundreds, fifties, and tens, and proclaimed, ‘that God should rule over them.’” Their houses were Indian cabins, built of bark, except the meeting-house, which was fashioned after the churches of the pale-faces. In this latter building Eliot had a bed and a room. Natick then contained one hundred and fifty-two persons. Eliot saw that civilization was necessary for his dusky _protégés_, both as a bond of union and as a fulcrum for his gospel lever. He knew also that responsibility educates. So he was careful to induct into offices of honor and responsibility those of his converts who seemed the most trusty, energetic, and intelligent. Such commissions were highly esteemed by the Indians, and sometimes they performed their official duty with amusing formality. On one occasion, a native magistrate named Hihoudi, issued the following warrant, directed to an Indian constable: “I, Hihoudi, you, Peter Waterman. Jeremy Wisket,—quick you take him, fast you hold him, straight you bring him before me. Hihoudi!”

Natick was a nucleus settlement. Soon a number of supplementary colonies were grouped about it, and these embraced, some sixty, some seventy, some eighty, “praying Indians,” all provided with churches, schools, and the rude initial apparatus of civilization. In 1674, there were eleven hundred Christian Indians who were possessed of fixed homes within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. And Eliot enumerated twenty-five hundred more to Boyle, as settled in Plymouth, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. The usual exercises were praying, reading the Bible, and preaching—sometimes by a white teacher, sometimes by a native missionary. Then all united in singing; and we are told that “sundry could manage to do so very well.” After this, some were catechized. Then, says Eliot, “if there was any act of public discipline—as divers times there was, since ignorance and partial barbarism made many stumblers—the offender was called forth, exhorted to give glory to God, and urged to confess his sins.” King Philip’s war partially paralyzed these efforts of Eliot and his compeers; it robbed them of the sympathy of the whites, and roughened their path; but they persevered; and even after Eliot’s decease, in 1690, God put it into the hearts of some to carry on his work, and efforts continued to be made towards the evangelization of the natives as far down as the year 1754. At that time the Rev. Mr. Hawley was “set apart” for that special work, in the “Old South Church,” in Boston, and Deacon Woodbridge and Jonathan Edwards were enlisted in the same good cause. Roger Williams had been an active co-worker with Eliot, and a little later the Mayhews gleaned their rich harvest at Martha’s Vineyard. Indeed, the Mayhews were so successful that on the single little island where they labored, six meetings were held in as many different places every Sabbath, and there were ten native preachers, who, according to the testimony of Thomas Mayhew, were of “good knowledge and holy conversation.”

But the missionaries did not find it plain sailing. Besides the incessant jealousy between the whites and the aborigines, they had to encounter the natural repugnance of the Indian to desert the blind faith of his fathers and accept the God and Saviour of the white men. Massasoit, spite of his friendship for the whites, lived and died a strict unbeliever. Philip, his son, was equally obstinate, saying on one occasion, after listening to an exhortation from Eliot, and placing his hand on a button on the Apostle’s coat: “I care no more for the gospel than I care for that button.” The Narragansetts went so far as to prohibit preaching within their borders. Yet still the missionaries went on, and, with God’s blessing, they harvested many souls, long before good Bishop Berkeley launched his noble but abortive scheme for the conversion of the red men. Those readers who are desirous of studying this subject in detail, are referred to Sparks’ Life of Eliot; Mayhew’s Indian experiences; Mansell’s recent reprint at Albany of tracts concerning Eliot’s Indian missions; R. Williams’ Key; Hubbard’s Hist.; Mather’s Magnalia; Gookin, in Mass. Hist. Col., etc., etc.

[753] Ibid., p. 49. He came February 11, 1630.

[754] Wood’s New England Prospect, p. 4.

[755] J. Macpherson’s America Dissected, 1752.

[756] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 323. These were Salem, Charlestown, Watertown, Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mystic, and Saugus.

[757] Bradford, p. 311.

[758] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 1.

[759] Prince, Bancroft, Hutchinson.

[760] Bancroft, vol. 1, chap. 2. passim.

[761] Brodhead’s Hist. of New York. Dunlap.

[762] Chalmers, Hening.

[763] Thatcher’s Plymouth.

[764] Bradford, pp. 255-310.

[765] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 336.

[766] Bradford, p. 301.

[767] Chap. 21, p. 264.

[768] Bradford, p. 263.

[769] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 119. Young’s Chronicles, Morton’s Memorials, etc.

[770] Bradford, p. 263. Morton.

[771] The old form of expression for _exhort_ or _expound_.

[772] Now called “North river,” near Scituate. Massachusetts Hist. Col. 4.

[773] Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 108-111.

[774] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 337. Hubbard, Prince.

[775] Bradford, p. 294.

[776] Ibid., p. 311. Winthrop, Hubbard, Thatcher.

[777] Brodhead’s N. Y.; the Dutch claim to have discovered it. Brodhead.

[778] Bradford, ut antea.

[779] Trumbull’s Connecticut.

[780] Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 52.

[781] Bradford, p. 312.

[782] Ibid.

[783] Brodhead’s N. Y., Bradford, Hubbard.

[784] Ibid., Palfrey.

[785] Brodhead’s N. Y., Bradford, Hubbard, Palfrey.

[786] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 340.

[787] Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 105-113. Bradford, pp. 311-314. Brodhead, Hist. N. Y., vol. 1, pp. 235-242.

[788] “The insect here described,” remarks Judge Davis, “is the _Cicada Septendecim_ of Linnæus, commonly called the _locust_. They have frequently appeared since, indicated by Linnæus’ specific name.” Davis’ edition of the Mem., p. 171.

[789] Bradford, pp. 314, 315.

[790] Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 160, 161. Hist. Eng. Puritans, Am. Tract Soc., N. Y., 1866. Arch. Am. Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 97. Rev. J. S. M. Anderson’s Hist. of the Col. Chh. of the B. Emp., vol. 1, p. 175, note. The fact of this embarkation of Cromwell and Hampden has been questioned by some careful writers. See Forster’s British Statesmen, in loco. Also, Sanford’s Ill. of the Fr. Rev., Lond., 1858.

[791] Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 93.

[792] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 362.

[793] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 265.

[794] Bancroft, ut antea.

[795] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 363.

[796] Magnalia, vol. 1, pp. 265, 266.

[797] Ibid, p. 277.

[798] Ibid., 276.

[799] Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 343. Mr. Stone was his assistant.

[800] Bancroft, ut antea.

[801] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 346.

[802] Ibid., p. 345.

[803] Ibid.

[804] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 345.

[805] See the Charter.

[806] Chap. 21, pp. 260, 261; also chap. 27, p. 342.

[807] Winthrop’s Journal.

[808] Colony Records. Winthrop.

[809] Ibid.

[810] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard.

[811] Ibid., Elliot.

[812] Elliot, Bancroft.

[813] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 365.

[814] Bossuét.

[815] Reply to Whitgift, cited by Stowell in his History of England. Puritans.

[816] “Bloody Tenet;” see Cotton’s Controversy with Roger Williams.

[817] Rev. Mr. Ward, in 1647.

[818] Cited in Elliot, vol. 1, p. 190.

[819] Knowles’ Life of Roger Williams.

[820] Knowles, ut antea. Colony Records, C. Mather, etc.

[821] Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 367, 368.

[822] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 188. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 406, et seq.

[823] Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 53.

[824] See Williams’ “Hireling Ministry.”

[825] Bradford, p. 310.

[826] Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 495.

[827] Ibid.

[828] Winthrop, Hubbard, Mather’s Magnalia, Hutchinson.

[829] Winthrop’s Journal, pp. 63, 64.

[830] Knowles’ Life, Savage on Winthrop, Magnalia, etc.

[831] Bradford, p. 310.

[832] Ibid.

[833] Morton’s Memorial, p. 151. Bradford, p. 310.

[834] Prince, Elliot, Banvard.

[835] Cited in Elliot, vol. 1, p. 199. Banvard, p. 160.

[836] Ibid.

[837] Palfrey, Knowles. Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 143, 144.

[838] Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 197, 198.

[839] Knowles’ Life of Williams, Mather’s Magnalia, Dwight’s Tracts, ante chaps. 21 and 26, pp. 260, 261.

[840] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 368.

[841] Winthrop, vol. 1, pp. 145, 146. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 409.

[842] See 1 Corinthians 11:5.

[843] Magnalia. Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 409.

[844] A writ requiring a person to show by what right he is doing a special thing.

[845] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 200. Bancroft, Hubbard.

[846] Ibid., Hutchinson, Knowles.

[847] Williams’ connection with this act is but distant and oblique, if he had any. See Knowles, Winthrop, Hubbard, Palfrey, etc.

[848] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 201.

[849] Williams’ “Bloody Tenet.”

[850] Ibid.

[851] Felt’s Hist. of New England, vol. 1, p. 175.

[852] Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 372, 373.

[853] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard, Knowles, Elton’s Life.

[854] Bancroft, ut antea.

[855] Winthrop, Colonial Records, Knowles.

[856] Winthrop, Colony Records, Knowles.

[857] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 377.

[858] Ibid., Hubbard, Hutchinson.

[859] Knowles, Elton’s Life, Hutchinson, etc.

[860] Roger Williams in Mass. Hist. Col., vol. 1, p. 276.

[861] Ibid.

[862] Elliot.

[863] Knowles, Elliot, Judge Durfee’s poem, “What Cheer?”

[864] Knowles, p. 270.

[865] Elliot.

[866] Knowles, p. 120. Elton, Hutchinson.

[867] Cited in Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 371.

[868] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 497.

[869] Love will overcome all things.

[870] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard.

[871] Knowles, p. 295.

[872] Elton, p. 127. Hutchinson, Elliott.

[873] Ibid. Knowles, Hist. Col., vol. 2, p. 121.

[874] Ibid.

[875] Ibid.

[876] Rhode Island Colony Records.

[877] Morton’s Memorial, p. 154.

[878] See Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 38.

[879] Elton’s Life of Williams, p. 54. Knowles, Winthrop.

[880] Gammel, p. 182.

[881] Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 376, 377.

[882] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 80.

[883] Ibid., p. 136.

[884] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 383.

[885] Winthrop’s Journal.

[886] Ibid., Bancroft, Elliot, Palfrey, Hutchinson. They landed in October, 1635.

[887] See Encyclopedia Americana, Appleton’s Encyclopedia, English Encyclopedia.

[888] Mather’s Magnalia, Palfrey, etc.

[889] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 436.

[890] Winthrop, p. 170.

[891] Ibid., p. 173, Palfrey, Trumbull’s Hist. Conn., Elliot.

[892] Trumbull, Mather’s Magnalia.

[893] Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 158.

[894] Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 249, 250.

[895] Palfrey, Bancroft, Hubbard.

[896] Palfrey, Winthrop, Elliot, Bancroft.

[897] Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 136.

[898] Elliot, Hubbard.

[899] Ibid.

[900] Winthrop, pp. 177-179.

[901] New England’s First Fruits, vol. 1. Quincy’s Boston, etc.

[902] Ibid., Hutchinson, Hubbard, Mather’s Magnalia.

[903] The nation’s safety. See Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 1.

[904] See Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 1.

[905] “Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros.” HORACE.

[906] Winthrop, p. 132.

[907] Ibid., Palfrey, Bancroft, Trumbull.

[908] Memorial, pp. 239, 240.

[909] Trumbull, Winthrop, Hutchinson.

[910] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 396.

[911] Trumbull, vol. 1. Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 81.

[912] Bradford, Hubbard, Morton.

[913] Magnalia, ut antea.

[914] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 396.

[915] Palfrey, Trumbull, Bancroft. Elliot, etc.

[916] Hubbard, Palfrey, Elliot, Mather.

[917] Trumbull, vol. 1. Hubbard, Hist. Col.

[918] Ibid.

[919] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 88.

[920] Hubbard, p. 321. Hazard.

[921] “The settlers met in Mr. Newman’s barn,” etc. Elliot, vol. 1, p. 242.

[922] Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 83.

[923] Ibid.

[924] Bradford, Morton’s Memorial, Thatcher, Banvard.

[925] Ibid., Prince, Hazard.

[926] Increase Mather’s Early Hist. of New England, p. 121, et seq.

[927] Ibid.

[928] Elton’s Life of Roger Williams, p. 54.

[929] Elton’s life of Roger Williams, p. 54. Elliot, vol. 1, p. 210.

[930] Elliot.

[931] I. Mather’s Early Hist., etc. Palfrey, Bancroft, Elliot, Hutchinson.

[932] Ibid.

[933] White’s Incidents, p. 59. I. Mather, Palfrey, Hubbard, Winthrop.

[934] Ibid.

[935] Chap. 17, p. 215, et seq.

[936] Bradford, Morton’s Memorial, Hubbard, White.

[937] Winthrop, pp. 189, 190.

[938] Palfrey, White, Elliot, etc.

[939] Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 458, 459.

[940] Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 458, 459. I. Mather, Prince, Introduction to Mason’s Hist. of the Pequod War.

[941] Ibid.

[942] Gardiner’s Relations, etc., in Mass. Hist. Rep., 23.

[943] Ibid., p. 143. Trumbull’s Hist. Connecticut, vol. 1, p. 76.

[944] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 462.

[945] I. Mather, Gardiner in Mass. Hist. Col., 23.

[946] Mass. Hist. Col. Col. Rec., vol. 1, p. 192.

[947] Ibid.

[948] Plym. Col. Rec., vol. 1, pp. 60-62.

[949] Palfrey, ut antea. Prince. Introduction to Mason’s Hist.

[950] Mason’s Brief Hist., etc. Hubbard.

[951] Trumbull, Mather.

[952] Palfrey, vol. 1.

[953] Ibid., Hubbard, Trumbull, Mather.

[954] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 164.

[955] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 465.

[956] Ibid., Mason, Underhill.

[957] Palfrey, ut antea.

[958] Mason’s Brief Account, etc.

[959] Ibid., Palfrey, Elliot, I. Mather, Winthrop, Hubbard, Hutchinson. Two of the English were killed, and upwards of forty—more than half of the force—were wounded.

[960] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 467.

[961] Mason, Hubbard, Hazard, Trumbull.

[962] Ibid., Elliot.

[963] Trumbull, Mason, Winthrop, Hist. Coll.

[964] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 257. Trumbull.

[965] Ibid. Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 80. Winthrop, vol. 1. Palfrey.

[966] Uhden’s New England Theocracy, p. 135.

[967] Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard, Col. Records, etc.

[968] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 389.

[969] Ibid., p. 386.

[970] Uhden, Winthrop, Hutchinson, Hubbard.

[971] Shepherd’s Lamentation, 2.

[972] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 387.

[973] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 387.

[974] There are few controversies where a woman is not at the bottom of them.

[975] See Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 388.

[976] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 472, et seq.

[977] Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 200.

[978] Ibid., Hubbard.

[979] Palfrey, vol. 1, p. 473.

[980] Ibid. Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 516.

[981] Ibid., Elliot, Hutchinson, Uhden.

[982] Palfrey, Winthrop, Elliot, Hubbard, etc.

[983] Ibid., Col. Records.

[984] Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 509.

[985] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 263.

[986] Ibid.

[987] Ibid.

[988] Fuller’s Ch. Hist. of England, vol. 2, pp. 514, 515, et. seq.

[989] Ibid.

[990] Uhden, p. 98.

[991] Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 203. Hubbard, Palfrey, Hazard.

[992] Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 203. Hubbard, Palfrey, Hazard, Col. Records.

[993] Palfrey, vol. 1, pp. 475, 476. Winthrop.

[994] Ibid.

[995] Ibid., Bancroft, Elliot, Hutchinson.

[996] Ibid. Uhden, p. 96.

[997] Winthrop, Palfrey.

[998] Cited in Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 390.

[999] C. Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 510. Palfrey, Hubbard.

[1000] Ibid., Hutchinson’s Coll., Neale’s Hist. of New England.

[1001] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 267.

[1002] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 390.

[1003] C. Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 512.

[1004] Winthrop in Hutchinson’s Coll.

[1005] Winthrop’s Journal.

[1006] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 391.

[1007] Battles of the Churches.

[1008] Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 508.

[1009] Magnalia, vol. 2, p. 512.

[1010] Knowles’ Life of Williams, Elton. Mrs. Hutchinson, some years after her exile, suffered a melancholy fate, being tomahawked by the savages. See Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 393, 394.

[1011] Johnson’s Wonder-working Providence, p. 96.

[1012] Banvard, p. 200.

[1013] Thatcher’s New Plymouth, Banvard.

[1014] Charter and Laws of New Plymouth.

[1015] Ibid., Banvard.

[1016] Ibid.

[1017] Ibid.

[1018] Ibid.

[1019] Ibid.

[1020] Ibid.

[1021] Ibid.

[1022] Banvard, p. 211.

[1023] Charter and Laws, etc.

[1024] Banvard, ut antea.

[1025] Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 183, 184.

[1026] Chap. 12, p. 151.

[1027] Winthrop, vol. 1.

[1028] “Quo quis in republicâ majorem dignitatis gradum adeptus est, eo Deum colat submissius.”

[1029] Τέχνη πυβερνητικὴ.

[1030] He died in 1657, in his sixty-ninth year.

[1031] Thatcher, Wilson, Mather, etc.

[1032] Plymouth Pilgrims, p. 227.

[1033] Magnalia, vol. 1, pp. 113, 114.

[1034] Letter to John Winthrop the Younger, cited in Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 161.

[1035] Elliot. Life of J. Winthrop, by R. C. Winthrop. Boston, 1866.

[1036] Williams’ Letter to Mason. Knowles, Elton.

[1037] Wilson, p. 494.

[1038] Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 23.

[1039] Wilson.

[1040] Shawmut; or the Settlement of Boston, p. 86.

[1041] Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 40.

[1042] See his Sonnet in Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 134.

[1043] Elliot, vol. 1, p. 170.

[1044] Bancroft, vol. 1, p. 383.

[1045] Bancroft, ut antea.

[1046] Hubbard, cited in Elliot, vol. 1, pp. 173, 174.

[1047] Cicero, Orati Pro. Plan.

[1048] Hutchinson, vol. 1, p. 91. Mass. Historical Coll., vol. 1, 23. Neale’s New England.

[1049] Johnson, Mather, Bancroft.

[1050] Mass. Hist. Coll., vol. 1, p. 246, et seq.

[1051] Ibid., Bancroft.

[1052] Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 119.

[1053] Felt, vol. 1, p. 481.

[1054] Winthrop, vol. 2, p. 25.

[1055] Bancroft, vol. 1, pp. 416, 417.

[1056] Bancroft, ubi sup.

[1057] Mather’s Magnalia, vol. 1, p. 160. Palfrey, Hubbard, etc.

[1058] Hutchinson, Winthrop, Felt.

[1059] Ibid. Palfrey, Elliot, Bancroft.

[1060] Hubbard, p. 466. Col. Rec., etc.

[1061] W. Phillips.

[1062] Records in Hazard, vol. 2. Winthrop, Hubbard, Morton.

[1063] Bancroft, ut antea.

[1064] Hubbard, Hazard, Hutchinson, Morton, Bradford.

[1065] Hist. Coll., Col. Records, Elliot.

[1066] The half century which succeeded this act of union was singularly checkered. In this time four momentous events occurred. The first of these, in point of time, was the persecution of the Quakers. The early advocates of this sect in New England displayed little of the mild philosophy and statesmanlike benevolence of Penn and his modern disciples; and, indeed, “the first and most noisy exponents of any popular sect are apt to be men of little consideration.” To this rule the first Quakers of Massachusetts were no exception. They knew the public opinion of the province; they knew the laws which were put into the statute-book to curb heresy; yet they broke through the restraints of sentiment, and contemned the laws—not mildly, but with harsh, violent, and often indecent obstinacy. Persecution, under any circumstances, is wrong, and the theocratic principles of the Massachusetts colonists were far from being either just or necessary. Yet granting all this, and it has still been well said that, “if the essential guilt of persecution would be aggravated when aimed against the quiet, patient philanthropist of to-day, it does not follow that it would be attended with like aggravation, however wicked else, when the subject was the mischievous madman of two centuries ago, who went raving through the city reviling authority, inveighing against the law and order of the time, running naked in the streets, and rudely interrupting divine service in the churches, as many called Quakers, of both sexes, did in 1656 and onwards. The duty of toleration stops short of the permission of such indecency; nor does it suffer men, for conscience’ sake, or to gain a name like Abraham, to sacrifice their sons, as one of these Friends was proceeding to do in 1658, when the neighbors, alarmed by the boy’s cries, broke into the house in time to balk the fanatic.” Still, it must be confessed that there was a better way than the magistrates of Massachusetts took, and one more efficient in curbing this fanaticism, than the pillory, mutilation statutes, and the death penalty; and this Roger Williams proved in Rhode Island, and the younger Winthrop demonstrated in Connecticut—in both of which colonies there was freedom of religious opinion, and yet there were few Quakers.

That furious Indian war, known as “King Philip’s war,” occurred in 1675. It originated in the same deep-rooted feeling of jealousy and hatred—begotten of dispossession and imagined wrong—that caused the Pequod war. Massasoit died about 1661. He was succeeded by his son Alexander, who was, on his death, succeeded by his brother Philip, the hero of the struggle. This sagacious chieftain saw that the whites were grasping; that his corn-lands and hunting-grounds were rapidly being usurped; that rum was poisoning his warriors; and he panted for revenge. So he gave his days and nights to the organization of a conspiracy. “He spared no arts; he lived but for one purpose, and that was to unite the Indians, split into numberless clans, into one body, for the destruction of the encroaching pale-faces.” Philip was largely successful, and the ensuing conflict was bitter, doubtful, and prolonged. But eventually civilization and discipline triumphed. The great sagamore was slain, and peace once more brooded over mutilated and wailing New England—peace insured by the definitive subjection of the Indian tribes.

In 1683, James II. abrogated the Massachusetts charter; three years later, Sir Edmund Andros arrived, armed with the king’s commission to take upon himself the absolute government of New England. Andros at once commenced to play the despot. He shackled the press; he imprisoned men for their religious opinions; he endeavored to get possession of the charter of Connecticut—which, however, was hidden in the “charter-oak” at Hartford, a circumstance which has made the tree immortal; he denied the colonists the most common civil rights, and asserted the highest doctrines of arbitrary taxation. The colonies were ripe for insurrection, when, in 1688, news came of the landing and coronation of William of Orange. Instantly Andros was deposed, and flung, broken and dishonored, out of New England. In 1691, King William granted Massachusetts a new charter; but in this he reserved the right of appointing a colonial governor, allowed appeals to be made to the English courts, freed all Protestant religions, and confirmed the annexation of Plymouth to Massachusetts—an annexation which Plymouth had decreed in 1690. This charter robbed the colonists of several prerogatives which had betokened independence, and was continued in substance until the dawn of the Revolution. The same policy was pursued throughout New England.

It was in the years 1691-2 that what has been called the “Salem witchcraft epidemic” occurred. In that age the belief in witches was general and strong. In 1644, ’5, and ’6, England hanged fifteen persons accused of witchcraft in one batch at Chelmsford, sixteen at Yarmouth, and sixty in Suffolk. In Sweden, in 1670, there was a panic about witches; and in one town, Mahra, seventy persons were charged with this offence, and spite of their protestations of innocence, most of them were executed. Fifteen children were hung on their own confession; and fifty others were condemned to be whipped every Sunday for a twelvemonth. Even so late as 1697, five years after the Salem troubles, seven persons were hung in Scotland as witches, and that too upon the unsupported testimony of a single child eleven years old.

New England, then, was not alone in her belief in witches, or in her punishment of them. She merely shared the opinion of such consummate scholars and noble thinkers as Sir Thomas Browne and Sir Matthew Hale. Many things combined to increase this belief. James I. had published a book on demonology. Books containing rules for binding witches were in wide circulation. The practice and the opinion of centuries substantiated these phantoms. And the recent excitement in Sweden and England was certain to cause a ripple in America. Men’s minds were thus prepared for an epidemic. As early as the year 1688, a case of supposed witchcraft occurred in Boston. An old half-witted Irish woman was charged with having bewitched the children of John Goodwin, and she was soon hanged. The witches then quit Boston, and in 1691-2 appeared at Salem. Children began to act oddly, getting “into holes, creeping under chairs, and uttering foolish speeches”—all of which were esteemed as tokens of bewitchment. Inquiries were at once and everywhere made for witches. The children accused at random. This woman was said to be a witch, and that man. Salem was aghast. Startled women passed from house to house, repeating and enlarging every idle tale. Soon the excitement was unprecedented. Fasting and prayer failed to exorcise the “spirits.” Then the witches were imprisoned, tried, condemned, executed. A reign of terror commenced. All lived in fear; accusation was equivalent to proof; there seemed no safety. Many, spurred by fear, acknowledged themselves to be witches when accused, thinking thus to save their lives; others hastened to complain that they were bewitched; and only those who avowed themselves to belong to one of these two classes could be sure of life. Still the panic spread. Andover was infected. New England at large began to shudder. The executioner was busy. And it was not until January, 1692, that the panic began to abate. Nineteen persons had been hung; one had been pressed to death; many had been condemned; hundreds had been imprisoned. So remorseless, so cruel is panic. But the excess cured itself; the reaction was great; men began to lament the part they had played; and some made open confession in church of their grievous fault and weakness. The infatuation grew perhaps from the tricks or the craziness of the “bewitched” children; perhaps from the folly or the superstition of their parents. Whatever its cause, its effects were sad, and they are pregnant with warning.

It is sometimes said that these doings sprang naturally from the theology and temper of New England. Rather, they were directly counter to both. They were a weak and foolish importation from Europe; and they prevailed in New England only for a short season. Soon her sons outgrew such folly; and nowhere in Christendom was the popular revolution against witchcraft so speedy and complete as in the Puritan colonies.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Some accents and hyphens in words have been silently removed, some
added, when a predominant preference was found in the original book.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 7: ‘The Nansets’ replaced by ‘The Nausets’.
Pg 106: ‘opprobious speeches’ replaced by ‘opprobrious speeches’.
Pg 111: ‘to sow and hill’ replaced by ‘to sow and till’.
Pg 117: ‘the earthern floor’ replaced by ‘the earthen floor’.
Pg 124: ‘named Aspiret’ replaced by ‘named Aspinet’.
Pg 124: ‘bade Aspiret a hasty’ replaced by ‘bade Aspinet a hasty’.
Pg 125: ‘Squanto, Takamahamon’ replaced by ‘Squanto, Tokamahamon’.
Pg 151: ‘passed in in 1632’ replaced by ‘passed in 1632’.
Pg 174: ‘clams, and muscles’ replaced by ‘clams, and mussels’.
Pg 191: ‘They had had been left’ replaced by ‘They had been left’.
Pg 201: ‘sprang aleak’ replaced by ‘sprang a leak’.
Pg 217: ‘malicious inuendoes’ replaced by ‘malicious innuendoes’.
Pg 258: ‘seal of Soloomon’ replaced by ‘seal of Solomon’.
Pg 312: ‘wise statemanship’ replaced by ‘wise statesmanship’.
Pg 326: ‘both of Massachusets’ replaced by ‘both of Massachusetts’.
Pg 339: ‘with sevral other’ replaced by ‘with several other’.
Pg 373: ‘the evenging of’ replaced by ‘the avenging of’.
Footnote 57, Pg 46: ‘March 1, 1864-5’ replaced by ‘March 1, 1625’.