prayer, with fasting on this occasion, the family then saw their deliverance perfected; and the children afterwards, all of them, not only approved themselves devout Christians, but unto the praise of God reckoned these their afflictions among the special incentives of their Christianity. The ministers of Boston and Charlestown afterwards accompanied the printed narrative of these things with their attestation to the truth of it. And when it was reprinted at London the famous Mr. Baxter prefixed a preface unto it, wherein he says: "This great instance comes with such convincing evidence, that he must be a very obdurate Sadducee that will not believe it." JOHN WISE (1652-1725) John Wise was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1673, and ten years later was ordained pastor of the Second Church of Ipswich—a post which he held until his death. He was a man of great height and remarkable strength, and it is said that in a wrestling-match with a challenger from Andover-the champion of that whole region-he almost instantly threw his opponent. He first attracted general notice in 1687, when he led his parishioners in resistance against the collection of a tax imposed by Sir Edmund Andros. For this he was, with five others, thrown into jail at Boston, and later fined. He afterwards wrote: "The evidence in the case, as to the substance of it, was that we too boldly endeavored to persuade ourselves that we were Englishmen and under privileges." This spirit of independence was characteristic, and Wise later manifested it in two small books which deserve a better fate than their present neglect. In 1705 there was published at Boston a set of Questions and Proposals addressed to the ministers and churches of New England. The pamphlet bore no signatures, but was understood to be the work of Increase and Cotton Mather and a number of ministers friendly to them. It was, in fact, one of the attempts of the Mathers to preserve the early Puritanism of the colony; in this instance an attempt to insure conservatism in the New England churches by doing away with their congregational form of government and their independence of each other, and by instituting a centralized control which would concentrate authority in the hands of the clergy. The pamphlet was worded cautiously and shrewdly to disguise its purpose, but this was soon grasped by Wise, who set himself the task of answering it. In 1710 he published The Churches' Quarrel Espoused, in which he took up the Questions and Proposals one by one and riddled them with such great effect that the scheme they suggested was never again brought forward. This book he followed in 1717 with A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, from which two selections are here reprinted. In both books Wise, in defending congregational church-government, stands uncompromisingly for the cause of freedom, and his words have a significance not bounded by their immediate occasion. Protestantism necessarily has stood for individual freedom, because, repudiating the authority of tradition, it could only fall back on "private judgment" in interpreting the divine revelation. The early New England Puritans, following Calvin, sought to create a new infallible church, but, being Protestants, they had no basis on which to rest it save the consent of its members. When this inevitably began to fail them they helplessly turned towards autocratic control. At this juncture John Wise proved himself a true Protestant, conscious of the real nature and bearings of his religion, and eager to oppose its enemies from within. In so doing, he also remarkably and vividly illustrated the fact that the principles of the Reformation have a political as well as a religious significance. M. C. Tyler (History of American Literature, 1676–1765) writes: "Upon the whole, no other American author of the colonial time is the equal of John Wise in the union of great breadth and power of thought with great splendor of style. . . . Perhaps even greater than the distinction he deserves for his brilliant writing, is the distinction due him for the prophetic clearness, the courage, and the inapproachable ability with which, in that unfriendly time, he, almost alone among Americans, avowed his belief in civil governments founded on the idea of human equality. He was the first great American democrat. In the earlier years of the eighteenth century, he announced the political ideas that, fifty years later, took immortal form under the pen of Thomas Jefferson." Wise is not a "correct" writer, but he is forceful and vivid, and on the whole he deserves the high praise which Tyler has given him for the manner as well as the content of his work. The earlier of his two books follows a controversial method not uncommon in his day and in the preceding century, but one which is almost invariably fatal to the interest of later generations. This is a pity, for there are memorable sentences buried in it. For instance: "Right reason, that great oracle in human affairs, is the soul of man so formed and endowed by creation, with a certain sagacity or acumen, . . . whereby man's intellect is enabled to take up (pro Medulo, or in a degree) the true idea or perception of things agreeable with and according to their natures." And again: "Order is both the beauty and safety of the universe; take away the decorum whereby the whole hangs together, the great frame of nature is unpinned, and drops piece from piece; and out of a beautiful structure we have a chaos." This is finely said, and it is fortunate that Wise's method of procedure in his Vindication was such that time has built but the slightest of barriers between it and readers of the present day. A VINDICATION OF THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES DRAWN FROM ANTIQUITY; THE LIGHT OF NATURE; HOLY SCRIPTURE; ITS NOBLE Nature; and from the Dignity Divine PROVIDENCE HAS PUT UPON IT.1 THUS ends my first demonstration in a fair parallel drawn up between the holiest churches that ever were in the world,2 and the churches of New England; and however they may differ in their morals, they are very harmonious in their order. And considering that the former cannot rationally be thought but they derived their constitution from the apostles, and so it must needs be of a divine original: and if so then these in New England who are fashioned so exactly like them, must needs be of the same pedigree, etc. But I shall waive all improvement of the premises, and leave the whole to the serious and judicious thoughts of every impartial reader, not doubting but he will find sufficient evidence of the divine original of these churches in what has been said. And that I might now obtain a supersedeas, and forbear adding any further plea in their defense. But yet to gratify my own curiosity, and divert the reader, I shall proceed to inquire into the natural reason of the constitution of those churches we have been comparing. In this question I shall go out of the common road, and take into an unusual and unbeaten path; wherein possibly I may fall into some thickets now and then, and be somewhat entangled; yet I hope the candid reader will afford some succor by his tender clemency, and his friendly interpretation of my good intentions. For though I may in so devious a way miss of some part of the truth, yet I have a great presumption that I may open a road to men 1 That Wise probably influenced the leaders of the Revolution is evidenced by the fact that his two books were reprinted in 1772. The passages here reproduced are taken from what is thought to be a copy of the earlier of two editions published in that year. It was impossible to secure a copy of the edition of 1717. Spelling and punctuation have been altered. 2 I. e., those of the earliest Christian centuries. In the preceding portion of the book, here omitted, Wise vindicates the congregational form of church government by showing its agreement with that which obtained in the earliest Christian churches. of greater learning, and a deeper search, that will lead to a rich treasure of knowledge, and wisdom, for ease and relief under those many questions and crabbed debates concerning church-government in the Christian world; for to me it seems most apparent that under Christ the reason of the constitution of these and the primitive churches is really and truly owing to the original state and liberty of mankind, and founded peculiarly in the light of nature. And thus I come to the SECOND DEMONSTRATION in defense of our Platform, which is founded in the Light of Nature. CHAP. I THE divine establishment in providence of the forenamed churches in their order is apparently the royal assent of the supreme monarch of the churches to the grave decisions of reason in favor of man's natural state of being, and original freedom. For if we should make a new survey of the constitution before named under the brightest light of nature, there is no greater example of natural wisdom in any settlement on earth— for the present and future security of human beings in all that is most valuable and grand-than in this. That it seems to me as though wise and provident nature by the dictates of right reason, excited by the moving suggestions of humanity, and awed with equality, and principles of self-preservation, the just demands of natural liberty, equity, originally drew up the scheme, and then obtained the royal approbation. And certainly it is agreeable that we attribute it to God, whether we receive it nextly from reason or revelation, for that each is equally an emanation of his wisdom (Proverbs, 20. 27): "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly." There be many larger volumes in this dark recess called the belly to be read by that candle God has lighted up. And I am very well assured the forenamed constitution is a transcript out of some of their The Platform of Church-Discipline Gathered out of the Word of God, and agreed upon by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches assembled in the Synod at Cambridge in New England: . . . the Eighth Month, Anno 1648. ... pages (John, 1. 4, 9): “And the life was the light of men, which lighteth every man which cometh into the world." This admirable effect of Christ's creating power in hanging out so many lights to guide man through a dark world, is as applicable to the light of reason, as to that of revelation. For that the light of reason as a law and rule of right is an effect of Christ's goodness, care, and creating power, as well as of revelation; though revelation is nature's law in a fairer and brighter edition. This is granted by the London ministers (p. 8. C. 3): "That, that which is evident by, and consonant to the true light of nature, or natural reason, is to be accounted, Jure Divino, in matters of religion." But in the further and more distinct management of this plea, I shall, 1. Lay before the reader several principles [of] natural knowledge. 2. Apply or improve them in ecclesiastical affairs. 3. Infer from the premises, a demonstration that these churches, if not properly formed, yet are fairly established in their present order by the law of nature. CHAP. II I SHALL disclose several principles of natural knowledge, plainly discovering the law of nature, or the true sentiments of natural reason, with respect to man's being and government. And in this essay I shall peculiarly confine the discourse to two heads, viz.: 1. Of the natural (in distinction to the civil), and then, 2. Of the civil being of man. And I shall principally take Baron Puffendorff for my chief guide and spokesman. I shall consider man in a state of natural being, as a free-born subject under the crown of heaven, and owing homage to none but God himself. It is certain civil government 1 Samuel von Pufendorf (1632-1694), German writer on jurisprudence and history, was a professor at Heidelberg and at Lund. His chief work was De Jure Naturæ et Gentium (On the Law of Nature and Nations), 1672. This was one of the sources of Locke's conception of the Law of Nature. Locke also used the first book of Richard Hooker's treatise Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, and so too, it would appear, did Wise. It has not been suggested that Wise knew Locke's Two Treatises of Government. in general is a very admirable result of providence, and an incomparable benefit to mankind, yet must needs be acknowledged to be the effect of human free-compacts and not of divine institution; it is the produce of man's reason, of human and rational combinations, and not from any direct orders of infinite wisdom, in any positive law wherein is drawn up this or that scheme of civil government. Government (says the Lord Warrington) is necessary . . . in that no society of men can subsist without it; and that particular form of government is necessary which best suits the temper and inclination of a people. Nothing can be God's ordinance but what he has particularly declared to be such; there is no particular form of civil government described in God's word, neither does nature prompt it. The government of the Jews was changed five times. Government is not formed by nature, as other births or productions; if it were, it would be the same in all countries, because nature keeps the same method, in the same thing, in all climates. If a commonwealth be changed into a monarchy, is it nature that forms and brings forth the monarch? Or if a royal family be wholly extinct (as in Noah's case, being not heir apparent from descent from Adam), is it nature that must go to work (with the king's bees, who themselves alone preserve the royal race in that empire) to breed a monarch before the people can have a king, or a government sent over them? And thus we must leave kings to resolve which is their best title to their crowns, whether natural right or the constitution of government settled by human compacts, under the direction and conduct of reason. But to proceed under the head of a state of natural being, I shall more distinctly explain the state of human nature in its original capacity, as man is placed on earth by his Maker, and clothed with many investitures and immunities which properly belong to man separately considered. As, The prime immunity in man's state is that he is most properly the subject of the law of nature. He is the favorite animal on earth; in that this part of God's image, viz., reason, is congenate with his nature, wherein by a law immutable, instamped upon his frame, God has provided a rule for men in all their actions, obliging each one to the performance of that which is right, not only as to justice, but likewise as to all other moral virtues, the which is nothing but the dictate of right reason founded in the soul of man. (Molloy, De Mao, Præf.) That which is to be drawn from man's reason, flowing from the true current of that faculty, when unperverted, may be said to be the law of nature, on which account the Holy Scriptures declare it written on men's hearts. For being endowed with a soul, you may know from yourself how and what you ought to act (Romans, 2. 14): “These having not a law, are a law to themselves." So that the meaning is, when we acknowledge the law of nature to be the dictate of right reason, we must mean that the understanding of man is endowed with such a power as to be able, from the contemplation of human condition, to discover a necessity of living agreeably with this law, and likewise to find out some principle by which the precepts of it may be clearly and solidly demonstrated. The way to discover the law of nature in our own state is by a narrow watch and accurate contemplation of our natural condition and propensions. Others say this is the way to find out the law of nature; scil., if a man any ways doubts whether what he is going to do to another man be agreeable to the law of nature, then let him suppose himself to be in that other man's room, and by this rule effectually executed. A man must be a very dull scholar to nature not to make proficiency in the knowledge of her laws. But more particularly in pursuing our condition for the discovery of the law of nature, this is very obvious to view, viz.: 1. A principle of self-love and self-preservation is very predominant in every man's being. 2. A sociable disposition. 3. An affection or love to mankind in general. And, to give such sentiments the force of a law, we must suppose a God who takes care of all mankind, and has thus obliged each one, as a subject of higher principles of being than mere instincts. For that all law, properly considered, supposes a capable subject and a superior power, and the law of God which is binding, is published by the dictates of right reason as other ways. Therefore, says Plutarch, "to follow God and obey reason is the same thing." But, moreover, that God has established the law of nature as the general rule of government is further illustrable from the many sanctions in providence, and from the peace and guilt of conscience in them that either obey or violate the law of nature. But, moreover, the foundation of the law of nature with relation to government may be thus discovered, scil.: Man is a creature extremely desirous of his own preservation; of himself he is plainly exposed to many wants, unable to secure his own safety and maintenance without assistance of his fellows; and he is also able of returning kindness by the furtherance of mutual good; but yet man is often found to be malicious, insolent, and easily provoked, and as powerful in effecting mischief as he is ready in designing it. Now that such a creature may be preserved, it is necessary that he be sociable; that is, that he be capable and disposed to unite himself to those of his own species, and to regulate himself towards them, that they may have no fair reason to do him harm, but rather incline to promote his interests and secure his rights and concerns. This, then, is a fundamental law of nature, that every man, as far as in him lies, do maintain a sociableness with others, agreeable with the main end and disposition of human nature in general. For this is very apparent, that reason and society render man the most potent of all creatures. And finally, from the principles of sociableness it follows as a fundamental law of nature, that man is not so wedded to his own interest but that he can make the common good the mark of his aim. And hence he becomes capacitated to enter into a civil state by the law of nature; for without this property in nature, viz., Sociableness, which is for cementing of parts, every government would soon molder and dissolve. The second great immunity of man is an original liberty instamped upon his rational nature. He that intrudes upon this liberty violates the law of nature. In this discourse I shall waive the consideration of man's moral turpitude, but shall view him physically as a creature which God has made and furnished essentially with many ennobling immunities, which render him the most |