St Vincent Seminary - Symposium Yearbook (Latrobe, PA)

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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

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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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Eli! slnul Jllll Ill MII ' . EQ' 1 1 sm in llflll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1 . ' 1 . . . . X 1 I Emu v- 4 fi' w w-2 . . v M... gamma! i HT:-xxx if III ii , NNI X ml C g-,, and Maine were barred because their people differed in religious matters from the members of the Confederacy. Thus we see continued that same intolerant spirit that overshadowed the Puritans from the very beginning of their colonization, a spirit that could but spread only dissension and ill-will among all concerned. The religious sentiment of the Puritan colonists imparted a peculiar character to their institutions. Religion was with them an affair of state and it was a paramount duty of the civil magis- trate to preserve its purity. We have seen the effects of this principle in the controversy involving Anne Hutchinson. Quakers and Anabaptists now began to experience the bitter- ness of this prejudicial disposition. Clark, a Baptist, was fined for preaching, and Holmes was Hogged for his religious opinions. Mary Fisher and Anne Austin, members of the Society of Friends, were banished because their manner of worship did not harmonize with the tenets of the governing powers. A special law was subsequently passed prohibiting admission of Quakers into the Colony. This, nevertheless, did not deter them from entering. Another decree was then enacted banishing them under penalty of death. As a result, several were cruelly hanged. And so we see that the very men who had fled from England in search of an asylum of religious freedom, themselves now tol- erated absolutely no other belief save their own When oppressed themselves, they exclaimed against indiscriminate toleratlong but when they became masters of the land they applied the same persecutions against the adherents of other faiths, which they themselves suffered at home. They contradicted their own principle by maintaining that human beings might and ought to punish what God alone could correct and alter. Truly, the very atmosphere in this Puritanical New England was saturated with un-Christian sentiments, prejudice and bigotry: forces that could breed nothing but dissension and contempt for authority What a distinct contrast there was between this Colony and the one we are about to consider: Catholic Maryland The Catholics in England, like the Purltans, were not immune from persecution. Although their faith was impaired somewhat by the revolt of Henry VIII against the Holy See and the estab- lishment of the Calvmistic Church in the Kingdom by the re- gents of Edward VI it nevertheless, could not be totally under- mined Moreover dreadful persecutions were directed against them in the hope of bringing this about. Under Elizabeth, the Mass was abolished the oath of supremacy reenacted, images A- Q ii ll24ll :Ill I Ill: Ellli illlllli ll llllllllllllb Ill: :lllllllllllllll