> 1687. then showed, that he was in the exercise of his SECT. 1. functions, as a civil magistrate; that in that capacity there was no power paramount to his; and. that though, as a member of the church of Christ, he was, like other members, subject to its rules, yet, as a ruler in one of the kingdoms of this world, he ought to command the obedience of christians. "What I have done," says he, "in this affair, I have done for the maintenance of peace. I can justify by instances in sacred history every part of my conduct. If priests have sometimes laid restraint upon kings, these in turn have undertaken the control of priests. If a magistrate should be guilty of taking private property by theft, he would be amenable to the church; but if, in discharging the duties of his office, he should banish from the state a disorderly subject, whether or not belonging to the church, I should consider him, as acting without the control of any ecclesiastick authority. I am also able to justify my conduct in this affair by the opinion of several of the clergy and other christian brethren, whose advice. I have taken and very carefully followed. In short, I have acted in the whole of this business conformably to my oath, which obliges me to do whatever I think for the glory of God and the common good. It has long been manifest to my friends as well, as to myself, that these opposite parties would not live together in peace, and that the only method of restoring tranquillity to the state was the banishing of the greatest offenders." SECT. II. 1638. March. In the month of March, 1638, Mrs. Hutchinson took up her residence in Roxbury. Here she was visited both by the wise and foolish, both by the wellmeaning peacemaker and the querulous disputant. Some went to her house to discover the extent and depth of her errours, some to cure, and others to multiply and aggravate them. The bruit of her heresy was indeed renewed with so much ardour, that the magistrates found it necessary to summon her before them. 15 March. She came, and on 15 March, at a publick lecture, appointed for the purpose, her errours were enumerated and condemned. She herself was solemnly admonished before the whole congregation. Mr. Cotton read the admonition, and unequivocally reproved the proud and contentious spirit, which had appeared in a woman, who had formerly been among the warmest of his admirers. The general court was now sitting at Cambridge; but the governour and treasurer,being members of First Church, were permitted to join the congregation in approving the punish ment. On 22 March, Mrs. H. appeared again. In the hope of her repentance, she had been liberated by the court. She had resided, a little while, at the house of Mr. Cotton, that he and Mr. Davenport might have opportunity of fully detecting her errours, exposing them to her conscience, and inducing a penitent temper. Their exhortations were not wholly without effect. She retracted in writing most of what were called her familistical She 1639. opinions; yet with such modifications and restric- SECT. II. tions, as rendered her acknowledgment of no value in the estimation of the church. They required an oral explanation, which should express more clearly a renunciation of her heresies. then declared, that it was just in God to leave her to imbibe and disseminate these wrong opinions, for slighting his sacred ordinances and reviling the rulers of his people. This confession, which was made apparently under the influence of a christian temper, and which concluded with a request for the prayers of the church in her behalf, awakened an expectation, that she might return to something like a decorous behaviour. But this expectation was baseless, as the fabrick of a vision. The moment they came to particular definitions, she was as wild and impudent as ever; and so palpable were her contradictions, that she as-. tonished and alienated those, who had formerly been her advocates. The last gleam of hope having fled, that she would ever conduct herself, as a sober and peaceable member of the church, a motion was made for her excommunication. Feeling a tenderness for the woman, and somewhat of horrour at the contemplated measure, some were for substituting another admonition; but the vote passed, and Mr. Wilson pronounced the sentence. The transaction is recorded in the following words. "Ann, the wife of our brother William Hutchinson, having, on the 15th of the third month, been openly in publique congregation, admonished of sundry errours held by her, 1638. SECT. II. was, on the same 22d day, cast out of the church for impenitently persisting in a manifest lye, then expressed by her in open congregation, the 15th of the same month, 1638." After excommunication, her spirits, which had been previously depressed, revived, and she gloried in her sufferings, thanking God, that she was counted worthy to be abused for the sake of Christ. But her own joy, on this event, could not have exceeded what was felt by the bulk of the people. They had so long been agitated by this vexatious affair, and such bickerings had it caused in families as well, as churches, that the prospect of its termination was universally pleasing. Notwithstanding the order of court, Mrs. Hutchinson seemed inclined to linger among her friends. Accordingly, two or three days after her excommunication, the governour sent her a warrant, obliging her to leave the limits of the jurisdiction, before the close of the month, and to abide in her house, until her departure. On the 28th, she went by water to her farm at Mount Wollaston, whence she was to sail with Mr. Wheelwright's family for Piscataqua. But she changed her mind, and journeyed by land to Providence, and thence proceeded to an island in the Narraganset bay, which her husband and others of her sect had purchased of the Indians, with the view of commencing a settlement by themselves, 1638. Although Mrs. Hutchinson was gone, it was SECT. II. long, before the effects of the controversy respecting her ceased. Neighbouring congregations could not but be interested in it; and it had produced a strong sensation in the whole vicinity. Roxbury church, in particular, contained members, who subscribed the obnoxious petition. March. They were however admonished at first, and, because they would not submit to the censures of the church, were eventually excommunicated. Although it should seem, that the magistrates and ministers, united as they were in governing the state and church, were terrible and irresistible in their sway, yet there were not wanting instanees, in which their power was defied. Just before the expulsion of Mrs. H. and whilst the court was sitting, one John Green of Providence wrote a letter to the governour and assistants in an uncourtly style. This man had accused the court, and probably with reason, of acting in an arbitrary manner; of persecuting Mr. Williams and his friends; and of cruelly restraining them from divulging their opinions. This freedom of speech had procured him a fine. He had acknowledged his errour, and his fine had been remitted. But now he criminated his former submission, and justified himself in his first act of repugnance to what he deemed an intolerant spirit. It was to no purpose to send to Rhodeisland for this offender; but the court ordered, that, if he and certain others, believed his confederates, H |