The Emancipation of Massachusetts by Adams, Brooks, 1848-1927

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Chapter Ii.

Chapter Iii.

The Emancipation Of Massachusetts. Chapter I. The Commonwealth.

Chapter Ii. The Antinomians.

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Chapter Iii. The Cambridge Platform.

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Chapter Iv. The Anabaptists.

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Chapter V. The Quakers.

Chronology. Turbulent Quakers.

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* * * * * Friends,

Chapter Vi. The Scire Facias.

Chapter Vii. The Witchcraft.

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Chapter Viii. Brattle Church.

* * * * * Mr. Colman:

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Chapter Ix. Harvard College.

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* * * * * * * * * * J. Dudley. Chapter X. The Lawyers.

Charter. Constitution. Charter. Constitution. * * * * *

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Josiah Quincy. * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter Xi. The Revolution.

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As for the pleas which you make for Col. Lewis, and others that have broke away disorderly from our church, I think there's neither weight nor truth in them; nor do I believe such poor shifts will stand them nor you in any stead in the awful day of account; and as for your saying that as bad as you are yet you lie open to conviction,--for my part I find no reason to think you do, seeing you are so free and full in denying plain matters of fact.... I don't think it worth my while to say anything further in the affair, and as you began the controversy against rule or justice, so I hope modesty will induce you to desist; and do assure you that if you see cause to make any more replies, my purpose is, without reading of them, to put them under the pot among my other thorns and there let one flame quench the matter.... HEZ. GOLD.

STRATFORD, _July_ 21, 1741. [Footnote: _Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson,_ p. 111.]

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And so by an obvious sequence of cause and effect it came to pass that the clergy were early ripe for rebellion, and only awaited their opportunity. Nor could it have been otherwise. An autocratic priesthood had seen their order stripped of its privileges one by one, until nothing remained but their moral empire over their parishioners, and then at last not only did an association of rival ecclesiastics send over emissaries to steal away their people, but they proposed to establish a bishop in the land. The thought was wormwood. He would be rich, he would live in a palace, he would be supported by the patronage and pomp of the royal governors; the imposing ceremonial would become fashionable; and in imagination they already saw themselves reduced to the humble position of dissenters in their own kingdom. Jonathan Mayhew was called a heretic by his more conservative brethren, but he was one of the ablest and the most acrid of the Boston ministers. He took little pains to disguise his feelings, and so early as 1750 he preached a sermon, which was once famous, wherein he told his hearers that it was their duty to oppose the encroachment of the British prelates, if necessary, by force.