CHAPTER VIII.

THE PATRIOTIC PIETY OF '76.

THE original chart of American Liberty was drawn and signed in the cabin of the Mayflower. It was a civil compact, based on republican principles and sanctioned by religious faith. Such men as Carver, Bradford, Brewster, and Winslow, blessed our nation in its cradle, and patriotic teachers of religion have ever fostered its growth. At an early day, the acute and subtle Cotton, the erudite and energetic Hooker, and their associates, replenished the beacon-fires of learning, patriotism, and piety along our "rock-bound coast." Not a little did these men of God contribute to produce that state of things which prospectively seemed propitious, and in view of which they greatly rejoiced. In 1644, Cotton wrote to his friends in Holland, "The order of the churches and the commonwealth is now so settled in New England by common consent, that it brings to mind the new heaven and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." Hooker was an apostolic hero, whose eye, voice, soul, gesture, and whole form were animated with the vital energy of primitive zeal. He was full of public spirit and active charity, serenely trusting in Providence with "a glorious peace of soul;" and,

"though persecutions and banisnments had awaited him as one wave follows another," he adhered to the cause of advancing civilization without wavering, and looked for its ultimate triumph without a doubt. His cotemporaries placed him "in the first rank of men," and praised him as "the one rich pearl, with which Europe more than repaid America for the treasures from her coast."

But such is the selfish tendency of our corrupt nature, that even the best men are inclined to consolidate power in themselves for the fortification of their favorite creeds. Some of the leading Puritans early strove to check the democratic tendency of colonial institutions. On the election day, in May, 1634, Cotton preached to the assembled citizens against rotation in office. But the instinctive sense of political rights in the masses prevailed; the electors, now increased to three hundred and eighty, were bent on exercising their absolute power; they reversed the decision of the pulpit, elected a new governor and deputy, of congenial sentiments, and thus, to use their own language, "the people established a "eformation of such things as they judged to be amiss in the government." The dictation of popular rights by aristocratic cliques was annihilated by popular discussion. "The freemen of every town in the Bay were busy in inquiring into their liberties and privileges.” The principle of representative democracy was recognized and established as perfectly two centuries ago, as it is to-day.

But there were two other elements not yet clearly defined and popularly enjoyed-universal suffrage and

free toleration of religious sentiments. Who shall be the herald and type of these to the world? Let the best of American historians present him to your judgment and admiration. Says Bancroft, in the first volume of his History, "Roger Williams' mind had already matured a doctrine which secures him an immortality of fame, as its application has given religious peace to the American world. He was a Puritan, and a fugitive from English persecution; but his wrongs had not clouded his accurate understanding; in the capacious recesses of his mind he had revolved the nature of intolerance, and he, and he alone, had arrived at the great principle which is its sole effectual remedy. He announced his discovery under the simple proposition of the sanctity of conscience. This was the great tenet, which, with all its consequences, he defended, as he first trod the shores of New England; and in his extreme old age it was the last pulsation of his heart. He was the first person in modern Christendom to assert, in its plenitude, the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, and in its defence he was the harbinger of Milton, the precursor and superior of Jeremy Taylor."

Dr. Robertson, in his History of America, says, "Roger Williams' spirit differed from that of the Puritans of Massachusetts; it was mild and tolerating; and having himself to reject established opinions, he endeavored to secure the same liberty to other men, by maintaining that the exercise of private judgment was a natural and sacred right; that the civil magistrate has no compulsive jurisdiction in the concerns of religion ; that the punishment of any person on account of his

opinions was an encroachment on conscience and an act of persecution. These humane principles he instilled into his followers; and all who felt or dreaded oppression in other settlements, resorted to a community in which universal toleration was known to be a fundamental maxim."

The Puritans were a noble race. As Junius said to the king, "They left their native land in search of freedom, and found it in a desert." But they imported errors, and were imbued with the common imperfections of mankind; to correct which, Roger Williams was raised up by Providence, and early planted, with all his wealth of sublime principle and worth, in our infant land. It is worthy of note, that the sentiments respecting toleration which he first proclaimed, and for which he was severely persecuted by his fellow refugees, are now the unanimous opinions of this great nation, while those of the Puritans, on the same subject, have been discarded, as false in theory and oppressive in practice, and are at this moment obsolete in every free section of the globe. The germinal principle of religious liberty which first struggled into being under that great and good man's fostering care, amid bleak winters and savage tribes, has since grown to a mighty tree, under which the nations are beginning to worship in peaceful joy. And its growth is not yet consummated, thank God!

"Millions of souls shall feel its power,

And bear it down to millions more."

A careful perusal of our primitive annals will induce

a high appreciation of the patriotic piety and mutual sympathy between preachers and their flocks that then prevailed. Devoted ministers of religion, like Eliot and Wilson, shared in the hardships and dangers consequent on the early Indian wars. And when news first arrived in Boston of the menacing attitude assumed by England, prompt consultations were held for the common weal, and the boldest measures were projected. The fathers in Israel were all assembled, and "discovered their minds to one another." They voted unanimously against submission, and publicly declared, says Winthrop, "We ought to defend our lawful possessions, if we are able; if not, to avoid and protract." Six hundred pounds were immediately raised in the poor settlements of the northern colony, and the fortifications were hastened by every kind of popular aid. The influence of the ministry was patriotic and conservative, at the South as well as around Plymouth rock. Smith, in his history of the colony at Jamestown, refers to the excellent Hunt, by whose "good doctrine and exhortation," popular vices were restrained, and the welfare of all promoted to the

utmost extent.

The Revolutionary War was a struggle imposed on our fathers, not sought by them; injustice was in their esteem a legitimate cause for resistance, and all willingly shared in the discharge of a duty which none could doubt. Those who led in the church, and those who led in the field, were impelled by one conviction and labored together with the same design. One taught the law of justice, the other defended it; one was the voice of God, the other was His arm. Thus, the American