The Beginnings of New England: Or the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious LibertyFiske, John
History
The Beginnings of New England: Or the Puritan Theocracy in its Relations to Civil and Religious Liberty
Fiske, John
New England -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Puritans
The vexatious character of the new government was most strongly felt at
Boston where Andros had his headquarters. Measures were at once taken
for the erection of an Episcopal church, and meantime the royal order
was that one of the principal meeting-houses should be seized for the
use of the Church of England. This was an ominous beginning. In the
eyes of the people it was much more than a mere question of disturbing
Puritan prejudices. They had before them the experience of Scotland
during the past ten years, the savage times of "Old Mortality," the
times which had seen the tyrannical prelate, on the lonely moor, begging
in vain for his life, the times of Drumclog and Bothwell Brigg, of
Claverhouse and his flinty-hearted troopers, of helpless women tied to
stakes on the Solway shore and drowned by inches in the rising tide.
What had happened in one part of the world might happen in another, for
the Stuart policy was the same. It aimed not at securing toleration but
at asserting unchecked supremacy. Its demand for an inch was the prelude
to its seizing an ell, and so our forefathers understood it. Sir
Edmund's formal demand for the Old South Meeting-House was flatly
refused, but on Good Friday, 1687, the sexton was frightened into
opening it, and thenceforward Episcopal services were held there
alternately with the regular services until the overthrow of Andros. The
pastor, Samuel Willard, was son of the gallant veteran who had rescued
the beleaguered people of Brookfield in King Philip's war. Amusing
passages occurred between him and Sir Edmund, who relished the
pleasantry of keeping minister and congregation waiting an hour or
two in the street on Sundays before yielding to them the use of their
meeting-house. More kindly memories of the unpopular governor are
associated with the building of the first King's Chapel on the spot
where its venerable successor now stands. The church was not finished
until after Sir Edmund had taken his departure, but Lady Andros, who
died in February, 1688, lies in the burying-ground hard by. Her gentle
manners had won all hearts. For the moment, we are told, one touch of
nature made enemies kin, and as Sir Edmund walked to the townhouse
"many a head was bared to the bereaved husband that before had remained
stubbornly covered to the exalted governor." [38] [Sidenote: Episcopal
services in Boston] [Sidenote: Founding of the King's Chapel, 1689]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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