CHRISTIAN SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PURITAN SETTLEMENT - CIVIL GOVERNMENT INSTITUTED IN THE MAYFLOWER - THE CHARTER - VIEWS OF BANCROFT AND OTHERS - SYNOD OF NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES - DEFINE CIVIL GOVERNMENT - CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW ENGLAND, BT MATHER - CHARTERS EXPRESS CHRISTIAN OBJECTS OF THE SETTLEMENT - WEBSTER'S VIEWS OF THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE PURITANS - CHOATE'S VIEW - BANCROFT'S VIEW OF CALVIN'S INFLUENCE.

The noblest significance of the Puritan settlement of the North American continent consists in its Christian origin and aim. As the design of Columbus was to ''subject every thing to law, order, and religion," so the Puritans began practically to execute this great work. Their first act was to institute a form of civil government in conformity with the revealed will of God, and under whose benign legislation they were to enjoy all the rights and privileges of civil and religious freedom. The form of government was instituted in the cabin of the Mayflower, before they landed on Plymouth Kock, and signed and ratified under the solemnity of prayer and the most sacred sanctions of the Christian religion. That charter of a godly government is as follows: -

"In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony on the northern part of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combrne ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names, at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620."

"This Constitution," said Webster, "invokes a religious sanction and the authority of God on their civil obligations; for it was no doctrine of the Puritans that civil obedience is a mere matter of expediency."

"This," says Bancroft, ''was the birth of constitutional liberty. In the cabin of the Mayflower humanity recovered its rights, and instituted governments on the basis of equal rights, for the general good. As the Pilgrims landed, their institutions were already perfected. Democratic liberty and independent Christian worship at once existed in America."

"The compiict of the Puritans," said John Quincy Adams, "is a full demonstration that the nature of civil governments, abstracted from the political institutions of their native country, had been an object of their serious meditation."

"Thou little Mayflower," said Carlyle, "hadst in thee a veritable Promethean spark, the life-spark of the largest nation on our earth! Honor to the brave and true! They verily carry fire from heaven, and have a power that themselves dream not of. Let all men honor Puritanism, since God has honored it."

"This compact was the first in the world," says Hall, the historian of the Puritans, "entered into by freemen, preserving the liberties of each, and guaranteeing to all equal privileges and rights. It was the germ of the first true republic on earth. The great idea, so novel, so startling to the world, so directly opposed to the divine right of kings and prelates, under whose sway the world had so long groaned in bondage, - the great idea of such a republic, as founded in the nature and inalienable rights of man, the Pilgrims derived from the gospel scheme of a Christian church. 'For this stupendous discovery, which is now so simple that we wonder it could ever have been overlooked, we are wholly indebted to the diligent search which the Puritans made into the great principles of the rights of conscience, and into the true scriptural model of a Christian church." The charter of freedom formed in the Mayflower is a solemn, dignified, republican state paper, worthy of the founders of a free Christian republic. Good authorities have pronounced it to have been the germ of American Constitutions." "It contained," says Pitkin, "the elements of those forms of government peculiar to the New World."

The synod of the New England churches met at Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 30, 1648, and defined the nature of civil government, the functions of the civil magistrate, and the duties of the citizens, as follows: -

"I. God, the Supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him, over the people, and for his own glory and the public good ; and to this end hath armed them with the power of the sword for the defence and encouragement of them that do well, and for the punishment of evil-doers.

"II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of magistrate when called thereunto. In the management whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each Commonwealth,' so for that end they may lawfully now, under the New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions.

"III. They who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercises of it, resist the ordinances of God ; and for their publishing such opinions or maintaining of such practices as are contrary to the light of nature, or the known principles of Christianity, or to the power of godliness, or such erroneous opinions and practices as either in their own nature, or in tho manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the church, they may be called to account and proceeded against by the censure of the church and by the power of the civil magistrate; yet in such differences about the doctrines of the gospel, or the ways of the worship of God, as may befall men exercising a good conscience, manifesting it in their conversation, and holding the foundation and duly observing the rules of peace and order, there is no warrant in the magistrate to abridge them of their liberty.

"IV. It is the duty of the people to pray for magistrates, to honor their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their authority for conscience's sake. Infidelity or indifference does not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority, nor free the people from their due obedience to him. From which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted ; much less has the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their dominions, or over any of their people; and least of all to deprive them of their dominions and lives, if he shall judge them to be heretics, or upon other pretext whatsoever."

Civil government on the basis of the Bible and the free principles of a pure Christianity was not the only object that the Puritans had in view in coming to the New World. They had also the great and good end of extending and establishing the kingdom of Christ, and of bringing the whole continent under the reign of Christianity and filling it with its saving blessings. Hence a grand part of the mission of the Puritans was to christianize and civilize the native Indians, who were the sole possessors of the North American continent.

Cotton Mather, in his work on New England, makes the following statements as to the motives and reasons that moved the Puritans to come to the New World : -

"The God of heaven served, as it were, a summons upon the spirits of his people in the English nation, stirring up the spirits of thousands which never saw the faces of each other, with a most unanimous inclination to leave the pleasant accommodations of their native country, and go over a terrible ocean into a more terrible desert, for the pure enjoyment of all his ordinances. It is now fit that the reasons of this undertaking should be more exactly made known unto posterity ; especially unto the posterity of those who were the undertakers, lest they come at length to forget and neglect the true interests of New England. Wherefore I shall transcribe some of them from a manuscript wherein they were tendered unto consideration. 

"GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE PLANTATION OF NEW ENGLAND.

"First. It will be a service unto the church of great consequence, to carry the gospel into those parts of the world and raise a bulwark against the kingdom of Antichrist, which the Jesuits labor to rear up in all parts of the world.

"Secondly. All other churches of Europe have been brought under desolations ; and it may be feared that the like judgments are coming upon us ; and who knows but God has provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the general destruction?

"Thirdly. The land grows weary of her inhabitants, inasmuch that man, which is the most precious of all creatures, is here (in Europe) more vile and base than the earth he treads upon. Children, neighbors, and friends, especially the poor, are counted the greatest burdens ; which, if things were right, would be counted the chiefest of earthly blessings.

"Fourthly. We are grown to that intemperance in all excess of riot, as no mean establishment will suffice a man to keep sail with his equals, and he that fails in it must live in scorn and contempt. Hence it comes to pass that all arts and trades are carried in that deceitful manner and unrighteous course, as it is almost impossible for a good, upright man to maintain his constant charge and live comfortably in them.

'[sic] Fifthly. The schools of learning and religion are so corrupted as (beside the unsupportable charge of education) most children, even the best, wittiest, and of the fairest hopes, are perverted, corrupted, and utterly overthrown by the multitudes of evil examples and licentious behavior in these seminaries.

"Sixthly. The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to the sons of Adam, to be tilled and improved by them: why then should we stand starving here for places of habitation, and in the mean time suffer whole countries, as profitable for the use of man, to be waste without improvement?

"Seventhly. What can be a better and nobler work, and more worthy of a Christian, than to erect and support a reformed particular church in its infancy, and unite our forces with such a company of faithful people, as by timely assistance may grow stronger and prosper, but for want of it may be put to great hazards, if not wholly ruined?

"Eighthly. If any such as are known to be godly, and live in wealth and prosperity here, shall forsake all this to join with this reformed church, and with it run the hazard of a hard and mean condition, it will be an example of great use, both for removing of scandal and to give more life unto the faith of God's people in their prayers for the plantation, and also to encourage others to join the more willingly in it."

In 1629, an Emigrant Aid Society was formed in England to promote the more rapid settlement of the North American Colonies; and in the instructions to John Endicott, who was to conduct the emigration, it is declared that the purpose is " for propagating of the gospel in these things we do profess ABOVE ALL to be our ayme in settling this plantacion."

In 1643, a confederation between the colonies of Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven was formed, in which it is affirmed that " wee all came into these parts of America with the same end and ayme, namely, to advance the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to enjoy the liberties thereof with puritie and peace, and for preserving and propagating the truth and liberties of the gospel."

In the charter granted to Massachusetts, in 1640, by Charles I., the Colonies are enjoined by "their good life and orderly conversation to winne and invite the natives of the country to the knowledge of the only true God and Saviour of mankind, and the Christian faith which, in our royal intention and the adventurer's free possession, is the principal end of this plantation."

In 1658, John Eliot, pastor of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and afterwards a devoted and distinguished missionary, completed the translation of the entire Bible, including the Old and New Testaments, for the use of the Indians. This fact having been communicated to the corporation established in London for the propagation of the gospel among the Indians of New England, that body declared, that "wee conceive" (the printing of the work) "will not only be acceptable unto God, but very proffitable to the poor heathen, and will much tend to the promotion of the sperituall [sic] part of this worke amongst them. And therefore wee offer it not only as our owne, but as the judgment of others, that the New Testament bee first printed in the Indian language."

The New Testament was, accordingly, printed at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1660; and its preface contained the following "Epistle Dedicatory :" -

To the High and Mighty PRINCE, CHARLES the Second, by the Grace of God KING of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the faith, &c. The Commissioners of the United Colonies in NEW ENGLAND wish increase of all happiness, &c.

"The people of these four colonies (confederate for mutual defence in the time of the late distractions of our dear native country), your Majestie's natural born subjects, by the Favor and Grant of Your Royal Father and Grandfather of Famous Memory, put themselves upon this great and hazardous undertaking, of planting themselves at their own Charge in these remote ends of the Earth, that, without offence or provocation to our dear Brethren and Countrymen, we might enjoy the liberty to Worship God, which our own Consciences informed us was not only Right, but Duty; As also that we might (if it so pleased God) be instrumental to spread the light of the Gospel, the knowledge of the Son of God our Saviour, to the poor barbarous Heathen, which by His late Majesty, in some of our patents, is declared to be His principal aim.

"Our Errand hither hath been Endeavours and Blessings; many of the wild Indians being taught, and understanding the Doctrine of the Christian Religion, and with much affection attending Such Preachers as are sent to teach them. Many of their Children are instructed to Write and Reade, and some of them have proceeded further, to attain the knowledge of the Latine and Greek tongues, and are brought up with our English youth in University-learning. There are divers of them that can and do reade some parts of the Scripture, and some Catechisms, which was formerly Translated into their own Language, which hath occasioned the undertaking of a greater Work, viz.: The Printing of the whole Bible, which (being Translated by a painful Labourer [Eliot] amongst them, who was desirous to see the Work accomplished in his dayes) hath already proceeded to the finishing of the New Testament, which we here humbly present to Your Majesty, as the first fruits and accomplishment of the Pious Design of your Royal Ancestors.

"And we do most humbly beseech your Majesty, that a matter of so much Devotion and Piety, tending so much to the Honour of God, may Suffer no disappointment. As this Book was begun, and now finished, in the first year of your Establishment ; which doth not only presage the happy success of your Highness' Government, but will be a perpetual Monument, that, by your Majestie's Favour, the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was first made known to the Indians."

"Our ancestors," said Webster, "estiiblished their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot be safely trusted on any other foundation than religious principles, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. Living under the heavenly light of revelation, they hoped to find all the social dispositions, all the duties which men owe to each other and to society, enforced and performed. Whatever makes good men makes good citizens. Our fathers came here to enjoy their religion, free and unmolested; and, at the end of two centuries, there is nothing of which we can express a more deep and earnest conviction than of the inestimable importance of that religion to man, in regard to this life, and that which is to come. Let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration of the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate it with the elements of their society, and to difiuse its influences through all their institutions, - civil, political, social, and educational. Let us cherish their sentiments, and extend their influence still more and more, until the full conviction that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity." A set of men more conscientious in their doings, or simpler in their manners, or nobler in their character, or purer in their life and doctrines, never founded a commonwealth.

"There was," says Choate, "one influence on the history of the Puritans, whose permanent and varied effects on its doctrines and destiny is among the most striking in the whole history of opinion. I mean its contact with the republican reforms of the continent, and particularly those of Geneva. I ascribe to the five years of Geneva an influence that has changed the condition of the world. I seem to myself to trace to it, as an influence on the English race, a new theology, a new politics, another tone of character, the opening of another era of time and liberty. I seem to myself to trace to it a portion, at least, of the great civil war of England, the republican constitution framed in the cabin of the Mayflower, the divinity of Jonathan Edwards, the battle of Bunker Hill, and the independence of America."

Referring to the same influence, Bancroft says that "the genius of Calvin infused enduring elements into the institutions of Geneva, and made it, for the modern world, the impregnable fortress of popular liberty, the fertile seed-plot of democracy. He that will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows but little of the origin of American liberty."

"Of the Puritans it may be said," remarks Judge Story, "with as much truth as of any men that have ever lived, that they acted up to their principles, and followed them out with an unfaltering firmness. They displayed at all times a downright honesty of heart and purpose. In simplicity of life, in godly sincerity, in temperance, in humility, and in patience, as well as in zeal, they seemed to belong to the apostolical age. Their wisdom, while it looked on this world, reached far beyond it in its aim and objects. They valued earthly pursuits no farther than they were consistent with religion. Amidst the temptations of human grandeur, they stood unmoved, unshaken, unseduced. Their scruples of conscience, if they sometimes betrayed them into difficulties, never betrayed them into voluntary sin. They possessed a moral courage which looked present dangers in the face as though they were distant and doubtful, seeking no escape, and indulging no terror. When, in defence of their faith, of what they deemed pure and undefiled religion, we see them resign their property, their preferments, their friends, and their homes ; when we see them submitting to banishment and ignominy, and even to death; when we see them in foreign lands, on inhospitable shores, in the midst of sickness and famine, in desolation and disaster, still true to themselves, still confident in God's providence, still submissive to his chastisements, still thankful for his blessings, still ready to exclaim, in the language of Scripture, 'We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;' when we see such things, where is the man whose soul does not melt within him at the sight ? Where shall examples be sought or found, more fully to point out what Christianity is and what it ought to accomplish?

"What better origin could we desire than from men of characters like these? men to whom conscience was every thing, and worldly prosperity nothing ; men whose thoughts belonged to eternity rather than to time ; men who, in the near prospect of their sacrifices, could say, as our forefathers did say, ' When we are in our graves, it will be all one whether we have lived in plenty or in penury, whether we have died in a bed of down, or locks of straw. Only this is the advantage of the mean condition, THAT THERE IS MORE FREEDOM TO DIE, and the less comfort any have in the things of this world, the more liberty they have to lay up treasures in heaven.' Men who, in answer to the objections urged by the anxiety of friendship, that they might perish by the way, or by hunger, or the sword, could answer, as our forefathers did, ' We may trust God's providence for these things ; either he will keep these evils from us, or will dispose of them for our good, and enable us to bear them.' Men who, in still later days, in their appeal for protection to the throne, could say with pathetic truth and simplicity, as our forefathers did, ' That we might enjoy divine worship, without human mixtures, without offence to God, man, our own consciences, with leave, but not without tears, we departed from our country, kindred, and fathers' houses, into this Patmos, 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 our long absence, many of us become gray-headed, and some of us stooping for age.'

"If these be not the sentiments of lofty virtue, if they breathe not the genuine spirit of Christianity, if they speak not high approaches towards moral perfection, if they possess not an enduring sublimity, then indeed have I illy read the human heart ; then indeed have I strangely mistaken the inspirations of religion."