CHRISTIAN COLONIZATION OF THE VARIOUS COLONIES - THEIR VIEWS OF CIVILLIBERTY - THEIR LOCAL GOVERNMENT - MASSACHUSETTS COLONY - FORMS OF CIVIL OOVERNMENT - CHRISTIANITY THE SOUL OF THEIR CIVIL SYSTEMS - COLONY OF CONNECTICUT - GOVERNMENT INSTITUTED BY THE CHURCH - WINTHROP - BANCROFT'S PICTURE OF THE COLONY - RHODE ISLAND COLONY - ROGER WILLIAMS - CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF RHODE ISLAND - NEW HAMPSHIRE COLONY - PICTURE OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES - ITS CHRISTIAN BEAUTY AND INTEREST.

"The discovery of America," said Webster, "its colonization by the nations of Europe, the history and progress of the colonies, from their establishment to the time when the principal of them threw off their allegiance to the respective states by which they had been planted, and founded governments of their own, constitutes one of the most interesting portions of the annals of man. The Reformation of Luther broke out, kindling up the minds of men afresh, leading to new habits of thought, and awakening in individuals energies before unknown even to themselves. The religious controversies of this period changed society as well as religion." All the colonies, educated under the genius of Christianity and indoctrinated into the knowledge of the principles of just civil governments, laid the basis of their civil systems on the Bible, and made its truths the corner-stone of all their institutions. The fundamental doctrine of the men who planted each colony was, that the legislation of the Bible must be supreme and universal. They rejected as heretical the idea that civil governments could be rightly instituted, or wisely administered, without Christianity. Hence their institutions and their civilization began under the auspices of Heaven, and at once assumed the form of Christian order, and rose into Christian symmetry and completeness; their local democracies, in township, county, and colony, became the nurseries of freedom, and schools of science and art in civil government, and in which each independent colony was in process of preparation for working out the grand results of freedom, and the establishment of a Christian nation on the American continent.

"Our fathers brought with them from England not merely a vague spirit of personal liberty, but certain ideas of the method of liberty in civil life. Taking the germ from certain Saxon institutions in England, they gave to it in the colonies a development which it had never had in the mother-country. The township in New England and the churches were the germs and prototypes of the sovereignty of states. It is De Tocqueville who says that the institutions of America are but the unfolding and larger application of the forms and principles of the townships of New England. New England townships are yet the purest, if not the only, specimens of absolute democracy in the world. The New England method was to reserve to the individual every right possible, consistently with the good of his neighbor; to retain in the town every particle of authority possible, consistently with the welfare of the state, and to yield to the Great and General Court, as the legislature was named, and to the executive, only such powers as were necessary for the welfare of the whole commonwealth. Thus the colonial governments were broad at the base. Authority was restricted to a few things at the top, but grew in breadth as it came near to the people. This was not an accident. It was the studious effort of sturdy and wise men to keep for the individual just as much personal liberty as was consistent with an equal liberty in all his fellows."

"The settlement of New England," says Trumbull, "purely for the purposes of religion and the propagation of civil and religious liberty, is an event which has no parallel in the history of modern ages. The piety, self-denial, suffering, patience, perseverance, and magnanimity of the first settlers of the country are without a rival. The happy and extensive consequences of the settlements which they made, and of the sentiments which they were careful to propagate to their posterity, to the Church, and to the world, admit of no description. They are still increasing, spreading wider and wider, and appear more and more important."

MASSACHUSETTS,

As an independent colony, was the first and most memorable of the Puritan family. Its Christian history and bold enunciation and vindication of the pure doctrines of Christianity, and their incorporation into forms of civil government and social life, is one of the most remarkable and instructive chapters in the Christian history of the world.

Charles II reascended the throne of England in 1660, when the New England colonies had largely increased in population, prosperity, and political power. Grown strong in Christian faith, and in a fervent love for liberty, the people of Massachusetts enjoyed too much freedom for the despotic feelings and principles of the king. Hence, on the restoration of Charles II, they feared that their freedom would be abridged and their rights taken from them. The people of the commonwealth sent to the king a formal and a frank address. It was full of Christian sentiment and faith, and declared their purpose to submit to the government of the king in all things not conflicting with their duties to the King of kings.

They prayed for the continuance of civil and religious liberties. "Your servants are true men, fearing God and the king. We could not live without the public worship of God ; and that we, therefore, might enjoy divine worship, without human mixtures, we, not without tears, departed from our country, kindred, and fathers' houses. To enjoy our liberty, and to walk according to the faith and order of the gospel, was the cause of our transporting ourselves, our wives, our little ones, and our substance, choosing the pure Christian worship, with a good conscience, in this remote wilderness, rather than the pleasures of England with submission to the impositions of the hierarchy, to which we could not yield without an evil conscience."

These professions of good faith and loyalty failed to secure the favor of Charles II. He demanded a surrender of their charter, and with it their independence as a free Christian commonwealth. The remonstrances against these usurpations are suggestive memorials of their Christian faith and firmness, and a vindication of the axiom that " resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." In their address to Charles IL, 1664, they declare that they were "resolved to act for the glory of God, and for the felicities of his people;" and that, "having now above thirty years enjoyed the privilege of government within themselves, as their undoubted right in the sight of God and man, to be governed by rulers of our own choosing, and laws of our own, is the fundamental privilege of our charter."

This contest was a time of trial and of danger to their civil liberties, and they said their hope was in God alone. A day of fasting and humiliation was appointed, and the peoplo prostrated themselves in humiliation and prayer before God, and implored his interposition. The civil court, when convened for the administration of business, spent a portion of each day in prayer, - six elders praying, and a minister preaching a sermon. "We must," said Uiey, "as well consider God's displeasure as the king's, the interests of ourselves and of God's things, as his majesty's prerogative; for our liberties are of concernment, and to be regarded as to preservation."

"Religion," says Bancroft, "had been the motive of settlement; religion was now its counsellor. The fervors of the most ardent devotion were kindled; a more than usually solemn form of religious observance was adopted ; a synod of all the churches in Massachusetts was convened to inquire into the causes of the dangers to New England liberty, and the mode of removing the evils." " Submission," said they, " would be an offence against the majesty of Heaven. Blind obedience to the pleasure of the king cannot be without great sin, and incurring the high displeasure of the King of kings. Submission would be contrary unto that which has been the unanimous advice of the ministers, given after a solemn day of prayer. The ministers of God in New England have more of the spirit of John the Baptist in them, than now, when a storm hath overtaken them, to be reeds shaken with the wind. The priests were to be the first that set their foot in the water, and there to stand till the danger be past. Of all men, they should be an example to the Lord's people, of faith, courage, and constancy.

"The civil liberties of New England are part of the inheritance of their fathers; and shall we give that inheritance away? Is it objected that we shall be exposed to great suffering? Better suffer than sin. It is better to trust the God of our fathers than to put confidence in princes. If we suffer because we dare not comply with the wills of men, against the will of God, we suffer in a good cause, and shall be accounted martyrs in the next generation and at the great day."

These were the noble utterances of Christian men and legislators, and display the nature of the principles which governed them in times of trial. They stood firm to their Christian faith and civil rights, and demonstrated the inseparable union between Christianity and civil liberty. These principles, maintained with such Christian heroism, were reproduced in the scenes of the Eevolution, and contributed to the creation of a new and independent empire.

This Christian commonwealth declared that those "who should go about to subvert and destroy the Christian faith and religion by broaching and maintaining damnable heresies, as denying the immortality of the soul or the resucrection of the body, or denying that Christ gave himself a ransom for oar sins, or shall deny the moraKty of the 4th Commandment, or shall deny the ordinance of the civil magistrate, shall be banished."

"Were a council," said Wise, in 1669, "called of all the learned heads of the whole universe, could they dictate better laws and advise better measures for the aquirement of learning, the increase of virtue and good religion, than are in the royal province of Massachusetts? If we take a survey of the whole land, we shall find religion placed in the body politic as the soul in the body natural. That is, the whole soul is in the whole body while it is in every part."

CONNECTICUT

Unfolds, in its Christian colonization and civil institutions, the benign and beautiful fruits of the Christian religion. The aim of the crown and of the colonists in planting Connecticut wan to establish and extend the reign of the. Christian religion. For this purpose, the General Assembly of the Colony were instructed to govern the people "so as their good life and orderly conversation may win and invite the natives of the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind, and the Christian faith; which, in our royal intentions and the adventurer's free possession, is the only and principal end of this plantation."

The first organization of civil society and government was made, in 1639, at Quinipiack, now tlie beautiful city of New Haven. The emigrants, men of distinguished piety and ability, met in a large barn, on the 4th of June, 1639, and, in a very formal and solemn manner, proceeded to lay the foundations of their civil and religious polity.

The subject was introduced by a sermon from Mr. Davenport, the pastor, from the words of Solomon, ''Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." After a solemn invocation to Almighty God, he proceeded to represent to the Plantation that they were met to consult respecting the setting up of civil government according to the will of God, and for the nomination of persons who, by universal consent, were in all respects the best qualified for the foundation-work of a church. He enlarged on the great importance of thorough action, and exhorted every man to give his vote in the fear of God. A constitution was formed, which was characterized as "the first example of a written constitution; as a distinct organic act, constituting a government and defining its powers." The preamble and resolutions connected with its formation are as follows: -

"FORASMUCH as it hath pleased the Almighty God, by the wise disposition of his divine providence, so to order and dispose of things that we, the inhabitants of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, are now cohabiting and dwelling in and upon the river of Connecticut, and the lands thereunto adjoining, and well knowing where a people are gathered together the word of God requireth that, to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the aflfairs of the people at all seasons as occasion should require; do, therefore, associate and conjoin ourselves to be as one public STATE or COMMONWEALTH, and do enter into combination and confederation to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our LORD JESUS, which we now profess, as also the discipline of the churches, which, according to the truth of said gospel, is now practised amongst us; as also in our civil afiairs to be guided and governed according to such laws, rules, orders, and decrees as shall be made.

"I. That the Scriptures hold forth a perfect rule for the direction and government of all men in all duties which they are to perform to God and men, as well in families and commonwealths as in matters of the church.

"II. That as in matters which concerned the gathering and ordering of a church, so likewise in all public offices which concern civil order, - as the choice of magistrates and officers, making and repealing laws, dividing allotments of inheritance, and all things of like nature, - they would all be governed by those rules which the Scripture held forth to them.

"III. That all those who had desired to be received free planters had settled in the plantation with a purpose, resolution, and desire that they might be admitted into church fellowship according to Christ.

"IV. That all the free planters held themselves bound to establish such civil order as might best conduce to the securing of the purity and peace of the ordinance to themselves, and their posterity according to God."

When these resolutions had been passed, and the people had bound themselves to settle civil government according to the divine word, Mr. Davenport proceeded to state what men they must choose for civil rulers according to the divine word, and that they might most effectually secure to themselves and their posterity a just, free, and peaceable government. After a full discussion, it was unanimously determined -

"V. That church members only should be free burgesses; and that they only should choose magistrates among themselves, to have power of transacting all the public civil affairs of the plantation, of making and repealing laws, dividing inheritances, deciding of differences that may arise, and doing all things and businesses of a like nature."

That civil officers might be chosen and government proceed according to these resolutions, it was necessary that a church should be formed. Without this there could be neither freemen nor magistrates. Accordingly, in the most formal and solemn manner, a church was formed, with its proper officers. After this, those who constituted the church elected Theophilus Eaton governor of the civil commonwealth, and others to the offices of magistrates, secretary, and marshal.

The governor was then charged by the Rev. Mr. Davenport, in the most solemn manner, as to his duties, from Deut. i. 16, 17: - "And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it."

The General Court, established under this constitution, ordered, -

"That God's word should be the only rule for ordering the affairs of government in this commonwealth."

In 1662, Winthrop, whose father had been Governor of Massachusetts Colony, obtained from Charles II. a charter for the colony of Connecticut, which gave the largest civil liberty to the colonists, and contained the great American doctrine of popular sovereignty. Winthrop was a truly godly magistrate, combining learning, piety, and practical wisdom with superior administrative talents. He was for fourteen consecutive years governor of the colony.

"Religion," says Bancroft, "united with the pursuits of agriculture to give to the land the aspect of salubrity; religious knowledge was carried to the highest degree of refinement, alike in its application to moral duties, and to the mysterious questions on the nature of God, of liberty, and of the soul. Civil freedom was safe under the shelter of a masculine morality, and beggary and crime could not thrive in the midst of the severest manners. The government was in honest and upright hands ; the state was content with virtue and single-mindedness; and the public welfare never suffered at the hands of plain men." Under this Christian government " Connecticut was long the happiest state in the world." " The contentment of Connecticut was full to the brim. In a public proclamation, under the great seal of the colony, it told the world that its days, under the charter, were the ' halcyon days of peace.' "

"In an age," says Trumbull, "when the light of freedom was but just dawning, the illustrious men of the colony of Connecticut, by voluntary compact, formed one of the most free and happy constitutions of government which mankind have ever adopted. Connecticut has ever been distinguished by the free spirit of its government, the mildness of its laws, and the general difiusion of knowledge among all classes of its inhabitants. They have been no less distinguished for their industry, economy, purity of manners, prosperity, and spirit of enterprise. For more than a century and a half they have had no rival as to the steadiness of their government, their internal peace and harmony, their love and high enjoyment of domestic, civil, and religious order and happiness. They have ever stood among the most illuminated, fervent, and boldest defenders of the civil and religious rights of mankind."

RHODE ISLAND

Became a distinct colony in 1662, by the grant of a charter from Charles II. This charter gave the utmost Christian liberty in the exercise of the rights of conscience in religion.

The object of colonizing Rhode Island is thus expressed in the charter: - " The colonists are to pursue with peace and loyal minds their sober, serious, and religious intentions of godly edifying themselves and one another in the holy Christian faith and worship, together with the gaining over the conversion of the poor ignorant Indians to the sincere profession and obedience of the same faith and worship."

Roger Williams, a Baptist minister, and among the first emigrants to the colony of Massachusetts, was the founder of the Rhode Island Colony. Having seen and felt the evils of an intolerant spirit in matters of religion, he obtained a charter that granted freedom in religious matters to all denominations. "No person," declared the charter, "within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be in any wise molested or punished, disquieted or called in question, for any difference in opinion in matters of religion ; every person may at all times freely and fully enjoy his own judgment and conscience in matters of religious concernments." This organic law was confirmed by the first legislative Assembly declaring, in 1665, that "liberty to all persons as to the worship of God had been a principle maintained in the colony from the very beginning thereof; and it was much in their hearts to preserve the same liberty forever." In 1680 the same fundamental law was re-enacted : - " We leave every man to walk as God persuades his heart : all our people enjoy freedom of conscience."

"Roger Williams," says Bancroft, " asserted the great doctrine of intellectual liberty. It became his glory to found a state upon that principle, and to stamp himself upon its rising institutions so deeply that the impress can never be erased without the total destruction of the work. He was the first person in modern Christendom to assert in its plenitude the doctrine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of opinions before the law ; and in its defence it was the harbinger of Milton, the precursor and the superior of Jeremy Taylor. Williams would permit persecutions of no opinion, of no religion, leaving heresy unharmed by law, and orthodoxy unprotected by the terrors of penal statutes." He had the honor of enunciating that fundamental principle of the Bible and of American institutions, "that the civil power has no jurisdiction over the conscience," a doctrine which, Bancroft says, " secures him an immortality of fame, as its application has given religious peace to the American world."

The colony thus founded on a Christian basis enjoyed a Christian democracy, and this original charter of civil and religious liberty continued as the organic government of Rhode Island till 1842, " the oldest constituted charter in the world. Nowhere in the world were life, liberty, and property safer than in Rhode Island."

"Rhode Island," says Arnold, in his history of that commonwealth, "was a State whose founders had been doubly tried in the purifying fire; a State which more than any other has exerted, by the weight of its example, an influence to shape the political ideas of the present day, whose moral power has been in the inverse ratio with its material importance ; of which an eminent historian of the United States has said, that, had its territory ' corresponded to the importance and singularity of the principles of its early existence, the world would have been filled with wonder at the phenomena of its history.'"

NEW HAMPSHIRE,

In 1679, was separated from Massachusetts and organized as an independent province. The colonists, having been so long a part of the Christian commonwealth of Massachusetts, constituted their institutions on the same Christian basis. Its legislature was Christian, and the colony greatly prospered and increased in population. It nourished a class of Christian men who loved liberty, and who have ever exerted a prominent influence on the civil and religious interests of the American nation.

January 1, 1680, a royal decree declared New Hampshire an independent province ; and the policy of the king was to smooth the way to an unjust and an unconstitutional government. The colonists, in their remonstrances, declared that the policy " struck liberty out of existence, by denying them the choice of their own rulers ; and they viewed the loss of liberty as a precursor to an invasion of their prosperity." A civil assembly was convened, and a solemn public fast proclaimed and observed to propitiate the favor of Heaven, and the continuance of their " precious and pleasant things."

In an address to the king, the colonists of New Hampshire say, "that your petitioners' predecessors removed themselves, and some of us, into this remote region and howling wilderness, in pursuance of the glorious cause proposed, viz.: The glory of God, the enlarging of his majesty's dominions, and spreading the gospel among the heathen."

The influence and results of the Christian constitutions and governments of New England are stated by Rev. John Wise, in a work on the Government of the New England Churches, as follows: -

"1. Legislative power (that civil omnipotence) is doing very great things for religion, by their proclamations, and all penal laws enacted for the crushing of immorality and vice, and all their wise and exact precepts for the support of justice and piety. They are opening many civil channels, whereby they are conveying judgment, justice, and righteousness down our streets from the great fountain. Nay, this great and dread assembly puts awe upon all mankind. And the more daring and desperate are kept within compass, from a sense of this most terrible seat of thunder hanging over their "heads, and upon every affront ready to break in strokes of vengeance and woes upon them, especially if they grow beyond the reach of common law.

"2. The executive power, or ministers of the law, are like a standing camp to awe, and a flying army to beat off, the enemy: they have their spies and scouts out in every quarter to observe his motions and break his measures, namely, in the innumerable number of all sorts of civil officers; and thus by the sword of justice they hunt down sin and impiety in the land. They are a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well; for the civil authority, by their wise and just precepts, their personal and noble examples and zealous administrations, outdo Plato himself, with all his moral reasons; for they can turn a Sodom into a Sion, and keep Sion to be Sion, evident by the history and chronicles of several governments of God's ancient people. For chief rulers, by their good or bad measures, can make or mar, kill or cure, a nation in a moral sense."