St Vincent Seminary - Symposium Yearbook (Latrobe, PA)

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Elllllllflllli: glllg slmls Ellli ammwm ig... zlll' Fill . 1 Y 1 1 . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . Y . 1 1 . . . . 5 1 . I 'X a n T f ' . . . . . 1 1 . . . . . . . - 1 C . . . . . 1 1 . . 7 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 C . C C I umuumm. ' E . . : IIIIIIII They tolerated the most radical opinions on religious questions and bore a deadly hatred against King, Prelates, and Catholics. To others they appeared a lawless element. Elizabeth, as well as James I persecuted them and several of their congregations Hed to Holland. Toward a group of these that later founded Plymouth in America we shall direct our attention Elizabeth appointed Whitgift, an avowed foe of the Puritans as Primate Under his regime, Puritan ministers were deprived of benefices and their parishioners punished for attending their services 1n the forests where they continued to exercise the func- tions of their ministry Prominent men sought some relief for them from Elizabeth but their exhortations went unheeded. The Primate moreover was empowered to establish a court of commissioners for the detection of non-conformity, giving freer course to the severities of the law. The Puritans, however, remained steadfast. Robert Brown a clergyman, after whom a sect was named, roamed about inveighlng against bishops, ecclesiastical courts, and I'Cl1glOUS ceremonies His impetuous and illiberal spirit hastened the publication of opinions not yet matured in the Puritan body and which but for his unseasonable interposition, might sooner have ripened into the system of the Independents. Elizabeth applied the remedy of persecution to this innovation. The congregation dissolved into parts, but the doctrines took root in the Puritan body These Brownists, declaring the prin- ciple of the Church of England superstitious, her sacraments and ordinances invalid renounced communion not only with her but with every other Protestant church not harboring their tenets. They could assemble only by stealth. Against these the queen directed the fury of the law. In 1593, it was decreed that any person above sixteen years of age, who obstinately refused for one month to attend public worship in a legitimate parochial church should be imprisoned, that if for three months he persis- tently refused he must abjure the realmg and that refusing this condition or returning after banishment, he be put to death This decree together with others of similar nature enacted under James I Ellzabeth s successor, caused many Puritans to migrate to Leyden Holland' but after ten years there, conditions prompt- ed them to migrate to America. Consequently, on September 6 1620 they set out and tvso months later cast anchor in the harbor of Cape Cod. Before landing they adopted a constitution of government 'md elected John Carver governor for one year The legislature at first 'comprised the whole population xx H2211 T Ellllllg ll I lll lllll sllllll slll 'I llll ll I U Y fi . -u n El-I ' ' Cl I Ill

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- llunuu 5.--E Susanna? El. V5 Z ll fllllll ll ' 77 ' ll ' Puritans. Elizabeth, however, did not propose to follow their lllllllllllll- Piwitanism and Catholicism in Colonial Times HARRY C FESER A. B. IGOTRY and religious prejudice, those inseparable agents of ill-will have within the past year, again made their appearance among us. A natural outgrowth of the circum- stances connected with the last presidential election, they served anew as weapons of attack for narrow-minded orators and illiber- al writers to injure not only the presidential candidate himself but his fellow-Catholics as well Many, not of the Faith, yet charitable enough to respect the religious beliefs of their fellow- men expressed amazement at these unjust attacksg while on the other hand they sincerely admired the calmness with which the Catholics bore them. This however, should not have caused undue surprise for it has ever been thus. History records many such instances. The very beginning of our own Colonial Days, in fact offers a notable example. the Puritans and the Catholics. It might be fitting therefore to inquire into the conditions of affairs relative to each party in England: the causes of their embarkation to America and finally the attitude taken by each after settling here At Elizabeth s accession to the throne, a number of Protestant clergymen who had fled to Switzerland during lVIary's reign, returned to England eager to spread Calvinistic teachings and practices Accusing the Church of England of retaining too many features of the Catholic Church, they immediately deter- mined to purify it from Romish idolatry. Hence the name advice and the government soon checked their agitation. For the time being the Church of England seemed securely estab lished but the strife between Puritanism and the crown was to have tremendous consequences under Elizabeth's successors In the matter of Church government, the Puritans favored an extension of the movement which had torn England from the Catholic Church Two groups stood in sharp opposition, an influential Low-Church element within the Established Church and the fanatical Separatists without The latter' the Independents maintained that there should be no national church but that each local parish be wholly separated from the C1Vll power and independent of other churches 4'-3 8.1 ll21l muuumh Ill alllllI Elll 'llllil lllllll' Q

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Illlllllll , llllil gllli :IIIIIIE ill E auunugi ' S 1 ll 1 77 ' l . . I , I. I 0 the seed of Puritanical intolerance was already being sown, and ? . , . . ' ll ' i1 0 I , ' ll 77 - lunlm Y! , 1 ' ll , I I . . . Y Y 1 . . . . 1 Y! Y . 0 9 , 0 3 lllll . fi Ellis. , I I' l ' , Illlllli - 5 llllllllllllls I . Ez A but as their number increased, the representative system was adopted In May 1631 at the first court of election in Massachu- setts that the body of the Commons might be preserved of good and honest men it was decreed that no persons be admit- ted to the freedom of the body politic except members of certain churches. Historians and statesmen have frequently censured this provision and questioned the right of the government to make it Naturally it was productive of much dissension. Indeed as we shall see it blossomed forth into a huge thorny bush to stmg those at variance with the doctrines of its sowers Roger Williams a minister of Salem, having promulgated certain heretlcal tenets tending equally to sap the founda- tions of the establishment in Church and State, and failing to conform to the opinions of the ruling powers, was banished from the Colony. His heresy was that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control opiniong should punish guilt but never violate the freedom of the soul. ' His exile obliged him to enter the woods in winterg and cast out from the society of civilized men for affirming the noblest right of humanity, he found a shelter among the savages who welcomed him Religious dissension continued in Plymouth. A controversy arose involving Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and two clergymen Wheelwright and Cotton, in opposition to a majority of the ministers. Mrs. Hutchinson commented bitterly against the opposing preachers whom she declared to be under a covenant of works. The quality of her adherents made the affair one of political importance which could not have occurred had not the Church and State been so intimately connected. The general court censured Wheelwright and this further embroiled the fac- tions so that the party question of the day was made the test of elections and interfered with the discussion of every pro- cedure. Finally in 1637 Anne Hutchinson and Wheelwright were banished and many of the adherents migrated elsewhere. Thus the intolerance of Massachusetts became instrumental in scattering new settlers over the country and in founding new communities of men who were ready to sacrifice all delights of social tolerance to the preservation of the rights of conscience In 1643 a Confederation of the United Colonies of New England was formed embracing Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut' and New Haven. Rhode Island was excluded for declining to submit to the jurisdiction of Plymouth. Providence Bancroft. - 5.2 12311 mn. I un. 'li ll- allllllllllllli alll: Ellllllg illls 'lllllllllllllh