1667.

ed to convey some moral and religious instruc- SECT. V. tion. In reference to these, which were not always exact, and to his remarkable hospitality, it was said by the witty author of the Simple Cobbler of Agawam, that the anagram of John Wilson was, "I pray come in, you are heartily welcome."

In all the offices of friendship and good neighbourhood he seems to have been a model of christian charity, being full of compassion to the distressed, of advice to the friendless, and of consolation to the aged. To designs and deeds of beneficence his heart and his purse were always open. He loved the house and worship of God, and was concerned for the spiritual improvement, not only of his own congregation, but of the neighbouring churches. He was seen assisting at their lectures as long, as he was able to preach; and, after age had palsied his head and his hands, his heart still glowed with the warmth of youth, and he was, conversant among his friends, counselling them to adhere firmly to the good profession of their faith, and in the language of St. John exhorting them, "Little children love one another."

His humility shone brightly to the last. On his dying bed he was surrounded by many of the congregation, who desired to witness the closing scene of the good man's life, and to see with what calmness so excellent a christian would die. He told them, that he should soon go to be with his departed friends in heaven. Yet he added, I

SECT. V. have been an unprofitable servant. The Lord be merciful to me a sinner! He died, 7 Aug. 1667, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

1667.

Mr. W. preached his last thursday lecture, 16 Nov. 1665, which was taken in short hand by a hearer, and afterwards published. He also published a tract in London, entitled Helps to Faith.

SECTION VI.

From the death of Mr. Wilson to the settlement of Messieurs
Davenport and Allen, embracing the year 1668.

Ir may not here be amiss to glance at the condi- SECT. VI.
tion of the churches in general. The morals of 1668.
the people, it was thought, had lost something of
the purity, which marked the fathers of Neweng-
land. This declension from primitive holiness
was attributed partly to a disrespect for synodical
decrees, and partly to the inattention of the clergy
to their pastoral duties. The governour and
council therefore, in 1668, wrote a serious and
affectionate letter, addressing it to each minister
in the colony. It called upon the teachers of re-
ligion in a solemn manner to guard against the
slumbers of sloth, and renew their zeal for the
spiritual improvement of the souls committed to
their watch, and for the general promotion of
piety in the land. The measure was well receiv-
ed, and attended with a beneficial effect.† More
diligence was observed by pastors in their cate--
chetical instructions; and a disposition was mani-
fested to print and circulate books on practical
piety.

SECT. VI.

1668.

It was in this year, and with a view to the revival and diffusion of a spirit of piety, that an attempt was made to print an edition of Thomas a Kempis. The design however failed, through an apprehension in the general court, that the book, being written by a papist, might excite a relish for popish principles. Capt. Daniel Gookin and Rev. Jonathan Mitchel, who were licensers of the press, were accordingly ordered by the court to stop the progress of the work. What would be thought, at this day, of a legislature, which should forbid the publication of any one book of any one sect of christians? Indeed a like degree of rigour, at the same point of time, was not exercised in the parent country. But it had grown customary with men, who had fled the tyranny of the lord bishops to practise the tyranny of the lord brethren.* Intolerance was the order of the day; and the government of each individual church was as eagle eyed in discovering heresy, and sometimes as cruel in punishing it, as the Spanish inquisition.

This truth was disgracefully manifest, about this period, in the sufferings of the baptists. At the very moment, when congregationalists were writhing beneath the lashes of persecution in England, they seemed determined in this country to retaliate vengeance on dissenters from them. This wicked conduct was neither unnoticed nor unreproved.† A letter was sent from London to

1668.

the governour of Massachusetts, signed by Drs. SECT. VI. Goodwin and Owen, Messrs. Nye and Caryl, and nine other ministers, entreating him to use his authority for releasing the baptists from prison, and rescuing them from the power of sanguinary laws. But this letter, though penned with moderation and gentleness, and containing the most touching appeals to the heart, made no impression on the congregationalists of Massachusetts. The baptists still groaned in prisons. The most unrighteous laws stared them in the face; and the most villanous conduct was secretly practised to their mischief.

This treatment of the baptists was comparitively trivial to what the poor quakers endured. They were subjects of reproach, scorn, buffetting, scourges, torture, and death. They were stripped of the clothes, they wore, and robbed of the beds, whereon they lay. The vessels, in which they ate, were forced from them, and their food itself reduced almost to nothing. If any thing in extenuation of this persecuting spirit may be alleged, it is the exceedingly irregular and extravagant behaviour of the sectaries, who kept no terms with decency, and strangely imagined, they were doing God service by violating the rules of good manners.

The church was, for the first time, vacant; and the desk was supplied by preachers, whom circumstances threw in the way.

Six men, and four women were, this year, admitted to the church, and three male and two female children baptized.