11 r principle, not to be argued upon or subjected to calculations of utility.” Puritanism was a protest against the will of one man, whether that man was Pope or King. What form of government, other than the pure Republic, can there be, where there is complete separation of Church and State, and where absolute political equality prevails ? Abolish the connection of Church and State, and all political distinctions between the members of the State, in any of the kingdoms or empires of Europe, and what would remain, or could exist there, but a pure Republic ? If the argument is not yet conclusive, consider then that the Puritan principle tends to the pure Republic, by virtue of its conservative protection of the individual member of the State against its corporate oppression; by virtue, also, of its elevation of individual conscience—thus bringing down the importance of the aggregate mass, and raising the personal importance and dignity of the subject or citizen ; by virtue of the importance it attaches to personal rights, exalting them above material interests—and so making those rights, and not property, the primary object of the care of gov- • eminent; and by virtue, still further, of the openness, directness, and frankness of conduct which it requires. Equal tolerance in religion, and equal enjoyment of the other absolute rights of man, are inconsistent with the secrecy and fraud which monarchy and aristocracy necessarily employ, and cannot endure private councils or cabals. The Puritan principle tends to the pure Republic obviously still more, because it seeks to abridge the powers of government, and substitute consent and free acquiescence as the bond of union between the members of the State, in the place of armed or military force. This operation of the principle is happily illustrated in our own Republic, which, although constituted by an ever-increasing number of distinct States, has nevertheless been held together eighty years, and is, I trust, to be held together forever, without, for that purpose, even the shadow of a standing army—an anomaly as pleasing as it is full of profitable instruction. Let it be confessed that the Puritans, as a body, were slow to discern these consequences and tendencies. They disclaimed them long, and with unquestionable sincerity. “Although (said they to Elizabeth) her Majesty be incensed against us, as if we would obey no laws, we take the Lord of Heaven and Earth to witness that we acknowledge, from the bottom of our hearts, her Majesty to be our lawful Queen, placed over us for our good; and we give God our most humble and hearty thanks for her happy government; and both in public and private we constantly pray for her prosperity. We renounce all foreign power, and acknowledge her Majesty’s supremacy to be lawful and just. We detest all error and heresy. Yet we desire that her Majesty will not think us disobedient, seeing we suffer ourselves to be displaced rather than yield to some things required. Our bodies and goods, and all we have, are in her Majesty’s hands; only our souls we reserve to our God, who is able to save and condemn us.” Long afterwards, and after the Puritans in America had practically enjoyed a pure republican government through some generations, the.Colony of Massachusetts saluted Charles II, on. his restoration, with this loyal address; “ To enjoy our liberty, and to walk according to the faith and order of the Gospel, was the cause of us transpl anting ourselves, with 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 riot yield without an evil conscience. We are not seditious to t he interests of Cassar.” Nevertheless, the reluctance of the Puritans to admit the full tendencies of their principle, cannot justly excite surprise. We necessarily fear, and feel our way, when we are treading on unknown ground, or in the dark. “ Let no one who begins an innovation,” says Machiavelli, “ expqct that he shall stop it at his pleasure, or regulate it according to his intention.” The Puritans never aimed to be, and never consciously were, secular or political reformers. Their field of labor, as they bounded it, lay all within the Church of Christ. They sought not an earthly Republic, but only the Kingdom of Heaven. When, sometimes, the thought presented itself, that, by reason of their fidelity to their profession, a purer and better political state would arise out of the commotions through which they were passing, it seemed still to them a merely secondary object, subordinate to the one sole religious purpose for which they
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=