into your royal hands, wherein we crave leave to supplicate your majesty for your gracious protection of us in the continuance, both of our civil as of our religious libties, (according to the grantees' known end of suing for the patent,) conferred upon this plantation by your royal father. This, viz. our liberty to walk in the faith of the gospel with all good conscience, according to the order of the gospel, (unto which the former in these ends of the earth is but subservient,) was the cause of our transporting ourselves with our wives, our little ones, and our substance, from that pleasant land over the Atlantick ocean into the vast wilderness, choosing rather the pure scripture worship with a good conscience in this remote wilderness amongst the heathen, than the pleasures of England, with submission to the impositions of the then so disposed, and so far prevailing hierarchy, which we could not do without an evil conscience. For this cause we are this day in a land which lately was not sown, wherein we have conflicted with the sufferings thereof, much longer than Jacob was in Syria. Our witness is in heaven, that we left not our native country upon any dissatisfaction as to the constitution of the civil state. Our lot, after the example of the good old nonconformists, hath been, only to act a passive part throughout these late vicissitudes and successive overturning of states. separation from our brethren in this desert, hath been and is a sufficient bringing to mind the afflictions of Joseph; but providential exemption of us hereby from the late wars and temptations of either party, we account as a favour from God; the former clothes us with sackcloth, the latter with innocency. What reception, courtesy, and equanimity those greater, and others, adherers to the royal interest, who in their adverse changes visited these parts, were entertained with amongst us, according to the meanness of our condition, we appeal to their own reperts. Our Touching complaints put in against us, our humble request only is, that for the interim, while we are as dumb, by reason of our absence, your majesty would permit nothing to make an impression on your royal heart against us, until we have both opportunity and leave to answer for ourselves. Few will be nocent, said that impleader, if it be enough to deny; few will be innocent, said the then emperour, if it be enough to accuse. Concerning the quakers, open and capital blasphemers, open seducers from the glorious Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed gospel, and from the holy scriptures as the rule of life, open enemies to the government itself, as established in the hands of any but men of their own principles, malignant and assiduous promoters of doctrines,directly tending to subvert both our church and state, after all other means for a long time used in vain; we were at last constrained, for our own safety, to pass a sentence of banishment against them, upon pain of death. Such was their dangerous, and impetuous, and desperate turbulence, both to religion and state, civil and ecclesiastical, as that, how unwillingly soever, (could it have been avoided,) the magistrate at last, in conscience both to God and man, judged himself called for the defence of all, to keep the passage with the point of the sword held towards them. This could do no harm to him that would be warned thereby; their wittingly rushing themselves thereupon was their own act; we with all humility conceive a crime, bringing their blood on their own head. The quakers died not because of their other crimes, how capital soever, but upon their superadded presumptuous and incorrigible contempt of authority, breaking in upon us, notwithstanding their sentence of banishment made known to them. Had they not been restrained, so far as appeared, there was too much cause to fear that we ourselves must quickly have died, or worse; and such was their insolency, that they would not be restrained but by death; nay, had they at last but promised to depart the jurisdiction, and not to return without leave from authority, we should have been glad of such an opportunity to have said, they should not die. Let not the king hear men's words; your servants are true men, fearing of God and the king, not given to change, zealous of govern ment order, orthodox and peaceable in Israel. We are not seditious as to the interest of Cæsar, nor scismaticks as to the matters of religion. We distinguish between churches and their impurity, between a living man, though not without sickness or infirmity, and no man; irregularities, either in ourselves or others, we desire to be amended. We could not live without the publick worship of God, nor permitted the publick worship without such a yoke of subscription, and conformities we could not consent unto without sin. That we might therefore enjoy divine worship without human mixtures, without offence to God, man, our own consciences, we with leave, but not without tears, departed from our country, kindred, and fathers' houses, into this Pathmos; in relation whereunto we do not say our garments are become old, by reason of the very long journey, but that ourselves, who came away in our strength, are by reason of long absence many of us become grey headed, and some of us stooping for age. The omission of the prementioned injunctions, together with the walking of our churches as to the point of order, the congregational way is it wherein we desire our orthodox brethren would bear with us. Sir, We lie not before your sacred majesty. The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it were in rebellion or schism that we wittingly left our dwellings in our own country for dwellings in this strange land, save us not this day! Royal Sir, If according to this our humble petitionand good hope, the God of the spirits of all flesh, the Father of mercy, who comforteth the abjects, shall make the permission of the bereavement of that all, (for which we have and do suffer the loss of all precious, so precious in our sight,) as that your royal heart shall be inclined to shew unto us the kindness of the Lord in your highness' protection of us in these liberties, for which we hither came, which hitherto we have here enjoyed, upon Hezekiah's speaking comfortably to us as sons, this orphan shall not continue fatherless, but grow up as a revived infant, under a nursing father; these churches shall be comforted, a door of hope opened by so signal a pledge of the lengthening of their tranquillity; these poor, naked Gentiles, not a few of whom through grace are come and coming in, shall still see their wonted teachers, with encouragement of a more plentiful increase of the kingdom of Christ amongst them, and the blessing of the. poor, afflicted, (and yet we hope,) a people trusting in God, shall come upon the head and heart of that great king, who was sometimes an exile, as we are, with the religious stipulation of our prayers; we prostrate at your royal feet, beg pardon for this our boldness, craving, finally, that our names may be enrolled amongst Your majesty's most humble subjects and suppliants. In the name and by the order of the general court of the Massachusetts, What acceptance this address found with his majesty, may be gathered from the letters, which he ordered to be sent to the country, on the 15th of February following, a true copy of which here followeth : CHARLES R. Trusty and wellbeloved, we greet you well. It having pleased Almighty God, after long trial, both of us and our people, to touch their hearts at last with a just sense of our right, and by their assistance to restore us peaceably and without blood, to the exercise of our regal authority, for the good and welfare of the nations committed to our charge; we have made it our care to settle our lately distracted kingdoms at home, and to extend our thoughts to increase the trade and advantage of our colonies and plantations abroad; amongst which, as we consider that of New England to be one of the chiefest, having enjoyed and grown up under an orderly establishment, so we shall not come behind any of our royal predecessors, in a just encouragement and protection of all loving subjects there, whose application unto us, since our late happy restoration hath been very acceptable, and shall not want its due remembrance upon all seasonable occasions. Neither shall we forget to make you, and all our good people in those parts, equal partakers of those promises of liberty and moderation to tender consciences, expressed in our gracious declarations, which, though some persons in this our kingdom, of des perate, disloyal, and unchristian principles, have lately abused, to the publick disturbance and their own destruction, yet we are confident our good subjects in New England will make a right use of it, to the glory of God, their own spiritual comfort and edification; and so we bid you farewel. Given at our court at Whitehall, the 15th of February, 1660, in the thirteenth year of our reign. WILLIAM MORRICE. Ecclesiastical affairs in New England, from the year 1656 to the year 1661. THE affairs of the church in New England continued in the same state as before; and were hitherto ordered according to the platform of discipline, set forth in the year 1648; but in the beginning of this lustre some difficulties began to arise about the enlarging the subject of baptism, which unto this time had been administered unto those children only, whose immediate parents were admitted into full communion in the churches where they lived. But now the country came to be increased, and sundry families were found, that had many children born in them, whose immediate parents had never attempted to join to any of the churches, to which they belonged, and yet were very much unsatisfied that they could not obtain baptism for their children, although themselves made no way to be admitted to the Lord's supper. The case was generally apprehended to be difficultly circumstanced, as things had hitherto been carried on amongst those churches, and did occasion many debates between the ministers of the country, many of which were willing to have baptism enlarged to those in that capacity, but knew not well how to bring the matter about, with the peace of their churches, where many of their people were very scrupulous about any innovation. Questions of this nature were first started in the colony of Connecticut; the magistrates of which jurisdiction did, about the year 1656, send down several of them about this sub |