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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. ly errata Bd to nt ne pelure, ipon d 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 TII.K PURITAN CIIARACTKU. 1 I .A i AN ADDRESS DELIVKKKD UKPORK TIIK NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY or TlIK CITY OP^ MONTREAL, DECEMBER 23, 185T. BY REV. ASA D, SMITH, D.D., PASTOR OF THB POOKl'KBNrH STB8BT PRKSBTTRRIAN CHURCH, NRW YORK MONTREAL : rUBLI8HED BY THE 800IKTY. 18 5 8. F \fONTnRAI„ I)(>C. 2 J. 1HS7. Rpv. Asa D. Smith, D.D.. Dear Sir :—The undersi-fiiod, iiiombcrs of tlic ('ommittoc of tlio New Fiii«,'lun«l Society of Montroal. Iiavinj? liatoiiod witli (loop iiitoroHt to your Orution, on ^Vednesl^ay tlio 23d iiist , rospectfully request a copy for ()ul)Iicat.ion, Veiy truly yours, CANFIELD DOUWIN. NATHANIEL S. WlIirNKY, WILIJAM T. HAifHON, ('HAMrp:()N HIIOWN, CLAUK Firrs, KBNKZEIl V. TU'ITLE, H?:NRY W. ATWATEll, HOKATIO A. NELSON, SAMUEL G. BROWNING, SCTH B. SCOT!', CALVIN P. LADD. ALFRED M. FARLEY New York, January 12, 1858. ( f ENTLEMEN : In compliunce with the reijiiost so cou-teously conveyed in your note of the 24th uit., I herewith submit to your disposal the Address deliver- lil before the Society which you represent. Very rospectfully and tru"/ yours, ASA D. SMITH. •Messrs. Canobld Dorwin, Natuaniel S. Whitney, WiLUAM T. Bauron, and others. Committee. 4 ADDRESS. (iKNTLEMEN OF THE NeW Kn^LAND SoCIETY The celcbrution to which wc gather here, has, 111 the eyes of so'ne of us — of some even of tljc sons of New Kn^land — a certain aspe(;t of novelty. Not that we liave failed to chcrisli, as becomes us, the memory of the Pilgrims. Their names and their deeds have been as household words to us. Musing upon them till the lire has burned, we have told them to our children, and have sounded them forth in the chief places of concourse. As from year to year this anniversary has returned, we have given heed to the summons of other like societies, — hard by the rock of Plymouth itself; or in the old Puritan capital ; oi- in the great metropolis of the natioTi : or in its newer regions, prompt to confess, in their matchless progress, the presence and the power of the New England spirit. We meet to- day, however, without the bounds of the land of the pilgrims. We are on British soil, within the sound of that drum-beat whose echoes girdle the globe. 6 The same royal banner waves over ua whieh was flung to tlie breeze at Marston Moor, at Nasel)y and at VVoreestcr. We sit under that same seeptrc which was borne oy Henry \'1 1 1, the verital>le lihie- beard of our nursery terrors, by " bk^ody Mary," at wlu>se name the eheek (»!' our ehildliood was bhinehecl, and by James 1, who tlii'eatened, and was " as good as his word, " to " harry" our Ibre- fatliers out of his reahu. ]\u\ uniijue though tlie seene is, it luis no repul- sive or ill-boding aspeet. Its spirit is peaee, and its omens are all of goo<l. It is not only of high his- toric import, it has a grand prophetic signilieaney. Out of the lires of Puritanism, the J5ritish seeptre has eome, as the most loyal admit, more linely tem- pered. The mists of prejudice dispelled, it is seen now, by all who have eyes to see, how great is the debt which even Old England owes to the men and the principles we celebrate to-day. Her "meteor flag " waves us not deliance, but a welcome. Like the stars and stripes of our native land, it is a symbol t(j us of liberty. Though on British soil, it is a free air we breathe, an air the freer, as our British friends will be prom})t to admit, for the mighty Puritan winds that have stirred it. We are brothers all, of one priceless heritage, of one great mission, and in all that is dearest to humanity, we trust, of one glorious desthiy. We who are strangers here, yet feel ourselves at home. The very face of nature dee})ens the impression. It is a New England sky that is arched over us. It is \ I which was at Nasoby 111 10 s('(!|)tr(' Jilhlt' HUnj. ►'ly Mary," lliood wa.s t'lied, and our fore- no ropiil- co, and \\t* Iiigh his- ^iiilicaney. ih «(!cptri' nely Icm- it is seen -•at is the men and " meteor L\ Like it is a 1 soil, it as our for the We are great nanity, ho are The It is It is 1 i our own wintry hmdscapc that stretches about us. Holding in abeyance some more recent and sadder memories, ibe very soil of the province is hallowed to us by the mingled blood — that of the two Eng- lands shed in the same (;ause — with whicli in the earlier times it was drenched. Well, then, may all minor diversities be forgotten, as we open our hearts to the joy of this festive occasion. There are no "malignants" here ; there are no "fana- tics.'' With something more than a mere intenui- tional comity, with a oneness whi(;h, having its roots deep in the past, will send many a blessing far into the future — a oneness which will be more and more, we are persuaded, that of the tw(j great em- pires rei)rese!ited here — we assemble to-day to commemorate the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. The orator at your last anniversary discoursed with great felicity, both of thought and diction, on the " Vision " of the Puritans. A fitting topic was this, and especially appropriate, as the fu'st in your series of anniversary addresses. Out of what men see, comes evermore what they do. We look in vain for achievement, where there is no discernment. So it is written, " Where there is no vision the peo- ple perish." ]5oth discernment and achievement are the issue of character, and they both react upon character. That is the resultant of all moral forces, the condensation and crystallization, the fountain and the sum of all human excellence. We make, then, some little advance in the course of thought, or at all events call you to a new stand-point, when we aiiiiouiH'e as \\w tliome of the pros(Mit occasion, The 1*ukitan C'liAiiArTKu. Wr sliall prcstujl it as ^rowinj^ out of certain f^roat priMciplt's, partially approhi'iidod at (Irst. hut in ])rocosM oi" time nioro I'lilly oclaircistMl ; principles aided, both as to their development and their moulding inllueuec, by the Ibrcc of circumstances — the outwaid, as ever hap- pc us, co-workinn; with the inward. We shall take into view not only its nascent state, in the early stru<jjgles with the thi'one and the hiei'ar<!hy, nor even its more advanced and yet iinpei-l'eci staj^e, when it sought a reru<;e in the western world, but its mature nianil'estation also in the settled asj)ect8 jtud habitudes of New Kngland life. As nothing mundane is (piite faultless, so here we may take note both of defects and excrescences. And as hu- man nature is essentially one. and moral excellence in its aptitudes cosmopolitan, we may not forget that the true Puritan spirit has had a lodgment in many other than Puritan bosoms. It wrought mightily in fJlermany. It animated the exiled Ilue- gonots. It had a home in the valleys of Piedmont. FiVen to the Romish communion, as the lives of Savonarola and others like-miiuled bear witness, it has not been utterly a stranger. We claim for the noncomformists of England no monopoly of good- ness. We utter no unseendy words of bigotry or nncharitableness. Yet we are constrained to hold, not only that the type of character we set forth is one of the noblest the world has ever seen, but that the Puritans themselves are its best exempli- i 9 lit occasion, rt'scnt it as s, partially time nioro as to their n't\ by the s ever liap- sluiil lake the early luvhy, nor Ccet stage, vork], but »'<! asjiects s notliiiinr may take 11(1 as hu- jxcelleiioe lot forget Igmoiit in wrought iled IIuc- *icdmont. ^ lives of .'itness, it in for the of good- igotry or I to hold, t forth is 3en, but Jxempli- fication. If we speak freely and boldly, it will be rememlu'red that this is no less a IJritish than u New Kugljiiid pi'ivilcge. Something will be par- doned to filial Iri'liiig. to patriotism, and to the oc- casion. That saying will be borne in min<l, more- over, that (lod sil'tf'd thr(M» kingdoms to find seed for the iM'w world. Our Ibitish auditors esixMrially will renuMuber, that whatever conunendations of Ncnv FiUgland we utter, are to the jiraise also of the FatlKM'land. l''or not oidy had the e\(!el- lences we celebrate their root theie, they live there still, -already an»ong its noblest and fairest treasures, and destined clearly to a still ampler growth. First among the distinguishing attribut(\>^ of Pu- ritan character, we name individualily. AVe name it first, because in the scopt^ we give it, it is most fundamental. Tt has its origin in the depths of the moral nature — in the profoundest and most un- alterable religious ccjnvictions. It is radicated in the richest and deepest soil of Puritan history. It is involved in the clear, vivid sense of personal resj>oT}sibility to the Judge of all. It is wra])ped up in the right of private judgment. A\'hen the priest is the soul's (tonscience-keeper, and the par- ticular worshipper is the mere appanage of an overshadowing hierarchy, there can, of course, be little of true and ennobling individualism. The loftiest fncidtics of huraanit}- held 'v\ duress, stifled and well nigh crushed out of it, and its course downward, by consequence, toward a miserable 10 >^ chattelism, what likelihood, nay what possibility, of any proper personal development? There is no- thing left to develope. But the moment the great system of spiritual brokerage is set aside, as by Luther and his compeers, — the moment the soul stands erect before God, in its proper individual sonship, — praying for itself, through the one suffi- cient Mediator, — answering for itself, and so judg- ing for itself, — then does it stand erect also before its fellow-men — not in religious matters only, but in all others. Spiritual freedom secured, civil freedom follows, as a thing of course. The whole individual being is exalted, and its sphere enlarged. With self-government come self-reliance, indepen- dence of opinion, and that free unfoldhig of indi- vidual character, according to its idiosyncracies, without which there is no jjossibility of the highest general advancement. Such is the outline of what may be called the Puritan development. Of the correctness of our representation as to the connection of political with religious liberty — the vital connection, not the merely accidental or mechanical — let all history bear witness. Let English history especially tes- tify. When Magna Charta was granted at Runny- mede, it was not, be it remembered, with the favor of Rome. Rome sided not with the intrepid bar- ons, but with reluctant and faithless John. Nay, so far as lay in her power, she soon wrested fi m its place that corner-stone of British liberty. By Pope Lmocent III, Magna Charta was formally ab- )ssibility, of 'lore is no- it tlie great side, as by it the soul individual 3 one sjiffi. id so judg- l«o before only, but ired, civil riie whole enlarged. , iiidepcn- ? of indi- yncracies, 'G highest ailed the 5s of our l^ical with not the history ally tes- Runny- he favor pid bar- Nay, ed fi m ty. By ally ab- 11 rogated ; and its principles were fully carried out only as Puritanism leavened the nation. Wicklide, it is true, fitly styled " t!ic Morning Star of the Reformation," was so far favored by king and court, that though papal bulls called for his blood, he died peacefully ir his bed. It was not till the reign of Hein-y VI, that by order of the Council of Constance, his bones were publicly burned, and the ashes thrown into the stream that Hows near the church at Lutterworth. He took the king's part, it must bo remembered, however, in regard to certain onerous exactions of the Papacy. The full scope of his teachings, besides, was not, at that time, generally perceived — not even, it may be said, by Wicklifle himself Only the faint dawn then brightened the hill-tops. In the lapse of time, the hostile bearing of his principles on all absolutism, became api)arent. It was seen also, as Thomas Fuller has so quaintly said, that as the stream into which his ashes were cast took them " into tlie Avon, Avon into the Severn, Severn, into the narrow seas — they into the main ocean," so those ashes became " the emblems of his doc- trine '" ■''' ''' dispersed over all the world." Then did all absolutism arouse itself to the battle. Laws were enacted from reign to reign against the hated Lollards. Royal proclamations were issued. Persecutions were set on foot. The tribunals of justice were subsidized. The reading of the Bible, that great fountain of Puritan thought and argu- ment, was prohibited. In Henry YIII, the two :f. 12 despotisms, civil and ecclesiastical, were formally united, each giving strength and intensity to the other. Hunted liberty had indeed a Lreathing time under the youthful Edward. But the archers made ready their bows again, and for a more ter- rible onset, as Mary asc^ended the throne. Though Elizabeth was Protestant in name, she showed no favor to the uonconformists. She claimed the most absolute supremacy in matters of religion ; and to crush all who questioned it, established the Court of High Commission. Yet she acted not in this with reference to religion alone ; she had her eye also on her civil supremacy. It was in view of this, probably, that the Duke of Cumberland replied, when she asked his opinion of the two mar- tyrs, Barrowe and Greenwood, that he judged them the servants of God, but " dangerous to the state." It was in the heart of Elizabeth to say with the French monarch, " I am the State." Matters per- taining to it were all at the disposal of her sovereign will. Not even parliaments might touch them. " Still less," says Hume, "were they to meddle with the Church." Least of all was the hidividual wor- shipper to judge for himself It might lead, and it probably would, to judgments in other directions. Clearly was this likelihood seen by that vaunting professor of kingcraft, James I. "My Lords," said he to the Bishops, " I may thank you that these Puritans plead for my supremacy ; for if once you are out, and they are in place, I know what would become of my supremacy — for 7io buhop, no '•e formally I'^ity to Ihe breathing tlio archers more tor- . TJioiigh showed no aimed the f I'cligion ; )]i.shed the ted not in e had her as in view imberland > two mar- ked them, the state." r with the otters per- sovereign ic]i them, 'ddle with iliial wor- ad, and it irections. vaunting ^ Lords/' you that ►1' if once ow what l^hop^ no 13 king''' Such were the sympathies between des- potism in the State and despotism in the Church. And so it happened commonly, that as religious liberty was abridged, the spirit of civil tyranny })e- came more rami)ant ; or as the rights of the indi- vidual conscience were secured, the prerogatives of the Crown were happily curtailed. Well may Hume say, as notwithstanding all his prejudices he does, "The precious spark of liberty was kindled and was preserved hij the Puritans aiofie ;'' and it is "to this sect, * "'' that the English owe the ivhole freedom of their Constitution.^^ The element of character thus potent in English history, lost nothing of its force as borne across the sea. With a new field, affording new opportuni- ties and incentives, it had a new and larger mani- festation. It gave shape to the civil institutions, the grand pattern whereof Puritan hands had con- structed in the cabin of the Mayflower. It dis- carded the ancient maxim, the individual for the State, and replaced it by that other, — liable, indeed, to great abuse, but yet full of all wisdom and be- nignity, — the State for the individual. It asserted the rights of the personal conscience ; not, indeed, we are free to say, without occasional faltering and inconsistency. There has been something of mis- apprehension and exaggeration on this point ; the age and the circumstances, perhaps, have been too little considered. Yet, after all, we cannot but acknowledge, with reverent regret, that our Pil- grim Fathers did in some instances infringe their 14 own principles. This is only saying, that though groat men, they were but men. As the Puritan spirit, however, accomplished its full informing work, the law of toleration gained unbroken domi- nancy ; and a high individualism marks now, it must be admitted, all the forms and outgoings of the New England life. The genuine Yankee has a great liorror of spiri- tual despotism iri all its modifications. He respects the clergyman, but he will not blindly follow liim. He will even talk over the sermon after meeting, and catch the minister tripping if he can. As he may think for himself about divine things, you may be sure he will make free with human. He has an opinion about everything, and he hesitates not to utter it. He is trained to do this, with a training begotten of what it nurtures. The deliberations of the school district and the town meeting, the debates of the lyceum, the various political discus- sions, the exercise of the elective franchise, with the broad range of judgment which it calls for, all give scope to the individualism of his character. There is a wide reach to this proclivity. It enters not merely into practical matters, but into the highest spheres of metaphysical speculation. Be- tween those opposite poles of philosophy, nomi- nalism and realism, you need be in no doubt, exceptional cases apart, as to which he will choose. Unless, indeed, as is most likely, he seeks a golden mean between the two. Downright realism, to borrow a Yankee phrase, " stands but a poor liat though the Puritan informing oken domi- ks now, it utgoings of or of spiri- le respects ollow him. ' meeting, fi. As he > you may He has an tes not to a training iberations Jting, the al discus- nse, with s for, all haracter. It enters into the )n. Be- y, nomi- > doubt, choose. t golden lism, to a poor 15 chance'' in New England. The elder Edwards did, indeed, ingraft it, to some extent, on the great banyan tree of his theology ; but it has never been thought to grow well. It has been deemed an ex- crescence by most of his successors, and they have been diligently striving to prune it away. Vou seek in vain to get into the brain of a thorC'Ugh- going New Englander, the idea of a species, as an actual entity, apart from the individuals. With his sharp logic, lie will "whittle" away such a theory till it ends in nothingness. There is, it must be admitted, a liability to excess in this direction. The individualizing habit needs to be watched and guarded, in relation as well to its theoretic as its practical tendencies. "We welcome, in this view, that dynamic method which, in modern thinking generally, is taking the place of the atomic and the mechanical, and which is makhig all science more vital and organic. While it runs occasion- ally into a haziness and dreaminess, less to be toler- ated than the baldest nominalism, it will exert, on the whole, a happy restraining and modifying in- fluence. It v/ill not annul — it will only, we trust, render more effective — that characteristic of New England which, after all proper abatements, must be deemed one of the chief elements both of her excellence and her power. The value of this trait may further appear as we pass to that natural offshoot of it, originality. The more of a mere vassal one is, in whatever sense, the more he loses himself in the mass, the less 'A :4 m 16 likely is he to be fertile in invention. His hubit is, to think others thoughts, and wiilk in ways which they prescribe. Not trusting his own judgment, it of course falls into hebetude. Hardly at liberty to adopt new things, why should ho seek for them ? But with self-consciousuees, self-assertion, and self- reliance, comes a new vigor of im.agination, and a new boldness of research. Thinking for liimself, and thinking freely, he is likely to encounter new thoughts — of which never did free spirit fail. And if they be good, as well as new, why should he reject tliem ? Why should not he make progress as well as others? Seeking no monopoly in dis- covery, he allows none. He bows {o no intellectual autocracy. He has no superstitious reverence for the past. His hope of the future eidarges, rather, with his enlarged conceptions of that humanity for which its treasures are to be unfolded. To just this original cast of mind did all the Puritan history tend. What a pioneer was Wick- liffe, in a large domain of thought ! Not more ad- venturous was he who, a century afterwards, made his way over unknown waters to this western world. Not stranger were his theories to the doctors of Salamanca, thQ,n to the great mass of men the prin- ciples which the father of Puritanism set forth. No Luther had then arisen to cast up in the desert a highway for the Lord. It was an untrodden patn which he took, over rough places, and through tangled thickets of error. Easy is it for us to apprehend truths, so amply vindicated and 17 lis luibit is, vv.iys whicli idgnient, it J at liberty c for them ? 11, and self- iioii, and a Cor liimself, )iiiiter new fail. And should he ■( ■ e progress H)ly in dis- iitellectual 'erence for :es, rather, nianity for id all the \as Wick- . more ad- rds, made :'rii world. loctors of 'i the prin- )rth. No ; desert a ntrodden ;. oes, and ' 3 ' is it for ''i itcd and \ tested ns to eomineiHl general a('ceptanco. Tlie most timid, drivelHnj;-c'0})yi.st can talk ill lur<:o now of the rii^hts of conseienco, and llic princi[)le.s of civil liberty. It was ipiito another thing to re- verse tliL- judgnienl of centuries ; to take ji stand against councils and universities : to ([uestion dog- mas which had come to be regarded almost as iirst truths ; to oppose an authority which, by the al- lowance of tlu' whole Christian world, sat "as God in the tem[)le of (Jod." This Wicklille did, and this to some extent did the Puritans of succeeding ages. The light, it is true, gradually bi-ightened. Precedents were multiplied. The line of noncon- formist argument had less and less of novelty about it. Yet down even to the reign of James 1, usage, prescription, old dogmas and creeds, old petrified conventionalities, were largely against them. Such a lingering was there of the old ub- solutistic habit of thought, even in the da^'s of the Long Parliament, that for the sake of the impres- sion upon the peo})le, the very forces to be enn)loyed against the king were levied in his name. And when Charles was led, at last, to the scaiTold — not here to discuss the justice or the expediency of the deed — it indicated, at least, in its relations to the general sentiment of the world, a bold originality of thought, of which history affords hardly a parallel. ■'The truth is," Carlyle Justly remarks, "no mod- ern writer caji conceive the then atrocity, ferocity, unspeakability of this fact. First, after long read- ing in the old dead pamphlets, does one see the 'f' 18 Tna<j^nitii(l(; of it. To 1)0 (M|iiullecl, nay to be nre- feiTcd, tliiiik soino, in point of liorror, to llio cnici- (ixion of (/lirist. Alas, in tliese irreverent limes of ours, if all the kin^s of Europe were to be cut in pieees at one swoop, and llun^jj in lieai)S in St. Mar<;aret"s church-yard on the same day, the emo- tion w(»uld, in strict arithmetical truth, be small in comparison I" With such historic antecedents and associations, it is no marvel that ori<;inality so characterizes the land of the l^il^rims. Jt marks all lier institutions. It permeates all individual and social life. In the line of inventions and discoveries pertainin*:; to the material interests of men — to take the lowest view —while the nation at large holds honorable com- petition with the old world, the records of the Patent Ollice give an unquestionable primacy to New Engi'ind. Iler brain has wrought more largely in this direction than that of all the country be- sides. For whatever notable novelty — from a razor- stro}) to i spinning-jenny — from a cooking stove to an electric elegraph — from a box of curiously com- pounded pills, that will almost set a fractured limb, to a subtile fluid that will steej) the senses in a more than ^lorphean forgetfulness — you look no where so hopefully as to a scheming Yankee. Nor is L.ie originality of New England less mani- fest in higher relations. We see it in her litera- ture. It is, indeed, a human, nay, an Anglo-Saxon literature ; and it must, therefoic, have something in common with that of the Fatherland. Nor do 19 lo 1)0 Dre- > llio cruci- iit times of ) 1)0 cut in Mips in St. , tho eino- 1)0 small in sociations, toi'lzos the istitutions. L'. In the lino- to tho west view ■able corn- els of the rimacy to •re largely untry bo- m a razor- g stove to usly corn- red limb, ill a more no where ess mani- er litera- lo-Saxon omething Nor do :•? we }*M\\ lliat liore and tl'oro, on this side of (lie water as well as the other, uie vice of plagiarism may l)e detected. What wo aflirm is, that as in what we are, so in what wo write, there ai'o marked {)ecnliarities. The idiosyncracy is manifest. The frnit bears the ilavor of the Soil. Foregoing, as we needs must, all analytic or inductive proof, we may sustain ourselves here by tho very testimony of our defamers. Certain of our FiUglish and Scotch critics are perpetually demolishing, though with a singular unconsciousness of it, their own fabrics of misrepresentation. In the very same breath in which they find fault with us for having no national literature, for servilely copying transatlantic models, they are out upon us incontinently for our villanous Americanisms. And not merely lor those peculi- arities of expression, many of which are but the natural outgrowth of our peculiar national life ; they berate us for that very life itself, as it is breathed through our writings. " Why will you so imitate?" say they. " Why not give expression to your own proper character ?" And they wind up by very consistently adding, " Why are you so vehement, and intensive, and exaggerative, and explosive ? Why not keep quiet as we do ? Why not write like Oliver Goldsmith or the Spectator? Why not speak like Sir Robert Peel or my Lord Chatham ?'' Nowhere has the view we now take ampler con- firmation than in the domain of various philosophy, and the sj)here of divinity. The whole history of '11 i' > it i 20 N"p\v Kn,i!;lnn(] liiis Ixvmi a poninioiitiirv on thr.t n()]>lc' sayiiii!; of .lolm Hol^inson, "J am vci-y conrKhMil lliiit llie I.oi'il has niort' tnilli iiiid liulil 1<» Itrcak t'oi'lh out of his lioly wonl." She lias lieoii oven siil)j('('t to i'('|»roa('h in this rc<;nnl. A land of wild ami i)(»slir(»roiis isms has slii* hiMMi (hMioniiiiatod : and in no qnarkM- hav<' herosy-hnntors liad a wider I'anirc It shonld !)»' ivincndxTiM], Iiowcnt'i'. that in the l\M-liK' soil wcmmIs <:^row as woll as the u'oldon y;rain that onlv ahsohito sterility is sure of exenip- lion IVom them. It is oidy stnuMiant intellect that esea[ies all perversion, save oidy that p^reatest ol" perversions, stagnancy itself. Individuality aud oriuiiiiility. such as mark New Kn^land, umy some- times <io astray. Now and then we may see ruin in their wake. Yet, on the whole, whnt good have they achieved, uot only in sheddinp; lin;ht on nniny an old and familiar path of science, hut in opening to the worhl many a new one. We pass here natuvally to a third element of Puritan character, intelUgcncc. This, as preceding remarks have indicated, is intinnitely connected with those already considered. With an mifet- tered conscience, a sense of individual I'espon- sibility, an immediate and elevating connnunion of the soul with the Infmite One, such as hieran.'hical formalism forbids : with a deepened impression, by conseiiuence, of the magnitude of all personal in- terests, and an independent and scrutinizing origi- nality ; it is impossible that ignorance sliould be tolerated. In such mental habitudes, the desire to '1 ■i ..1 21 li;il iiolde cojilidoiit t<» lii'ciik it'on (»voii nl of wild I tod ; and !i widcM' vci". that Hi ,n()ldori f CX(M11|)- llocl lliat (.'iilcsl of ilitv ;nid av some- woo ruin ood luivo )ii many opening 'ment of receding )nnected I unfet- I'cspon- union of 'arehical .si on, I)v lonal in- ig origi- ould be lesire to I, know is involvcid ; tlie ell'url will follow, nf (•()\n>e, and I lie mt'iins will l»e secured. Those lialiiludes. indeed, arc hoiii (tf intelligence. Tliey sustain to it tile relation both ol' cause and ellect. It isoidyby clear llionglit that the Puritan princijiles can be duly appreciated. Whatever association they may at any time have had with intellectual darkness, lias been not natural, but abnornud. As the Mower leans to\vai'<l the sunlight, so has it ever been with them : and the brighter the radiance around them, the more have they thriven. In all ages of their progress, their leading advocates have been among the mightiest thinkers of the times and of the race, and the most zealous friends of i)o})ular enlighten- ment. It is in no strain of undeserved or fulsome panegyric that a modern writer has })ronoimced " //le Puritans a title of intellectual as well as moral nobility.'' Time would fail us to s[)eak at large of Wick- lill'e, who. besides his otiier accpiirements, was ail ade})t in scholastic divinity, especially in the Aristotelian philosojihy ; of Tyndale, the trans- lator, who was able to vaiupiish in controversy even the erudite Sir Thomas More ; of the elo([uent Hooper, and the learned Whitehead ; of Sampson, President of Magdalen College, Oxford ; of Hum- phreys, described by Neale as " an able linguist, and a deeper divine ;'' of John Knox, of whom it has been said, " his tongue was a match for Mary's sceptre ; " of Miles Coverdale, and Cartwrigbt, and Fox the martyrologisl, and other men of high men- 22 till cuKniv. who, ii) tho (liivc ('ciitiirics prcciMlin^ the roi^^ni of .liiiiu's I, wcir variously imhiicfl with the i'uritan spirit. Nor iuhmI wr piuisc to show- how us. IVoiii r(M«^u to i('i<;n. arts of iiiiil'oiiiiity woro |iass(Ml, and (Mirorccfi hv the Stui" riianihcr tttid Court of llii^di Connuissiou, the wcll-iMlucatcd liiiiustorswoiv larf^ely drivtMi IVoni their pulpits ; and in many instances, to use the just lan«;ua<^e of the times, "men of no ^it'ts," "shiftless men," "men rtltofj^ether i^^norant," "servin«; men, and the hasest of all sorts,'* were i)ut in their j)la('es. I'assinjij to the seventeenth century, what a constellation of illustri- ous names ])reaks upon us ! A wondtu'ful a^i^e was that in all that related to mental achievement. W may well be douhted if. in this re^jiard. the world owes an e(jual debt to any other. The Puritan mind had. indeed, been in training- for a<i:es. It had been taske(l by earnest discussion on the most momen- tous themes. It was no holiday allair, that <j!;ra))- pling with questions on which hung all the dearest interests of life, nay often life itself. No faculty could slumber, or fail to do its utmost, when to our fathers, as well as to Luther, the point in de- bate seemed the ''artirulus sffot/is re/ radnitis.'^ More than their own lives to them, as the dungeon and the stake bore witness, were the welfare of the (ihiirch and the glory of God. And so intellect wrought on, mighty events as well as n)ighty de- bates stirring it to its lowest depths. Nor was its action confined to a single sphere : the movement was universal. In all the domain of thought. • there were giants in those days." 23 VVlijit iu)hle (M I'uritsin f'onns tliron^; upon tlio mind's ey<* uswospoiik. Thoiv wore tlio purliiiincnt- arv onitors.— " Kill",' l*yrn." as lie was cailiMl. |br the power whcrowith lie touclKMl all I lie cords of tli(» liiiiiiaii heart, and Hampden and Mollis, lii.s sa«;aci(ms and fai-sceinu; eom[»eers. Tlieic was John lioeke, (Hsconi'sin^ not only in hland phi-ase of toleration, luit in a serene, philosophic sj)irit, of the mysteries of the hnnnin sonl. Thei'c was "one Xfilton/'sin^inn; not only of"' i*ara<lise liost" ami " I*aradise KegaincMl," hut of " Sluu(,'htore(l siiitit«, whoao bones Lie Hcitttorcil uii tli« Alpine laouutiuDu culd." There was Owen, " the Trince of Divines ;" and Rates, the " silver-tongued ;" and Howe, with his majesty and depth ; and Flavel, with his tender- ness and practical insight : and Baxter, with his pungency and fervor ; and Charnocke, with his vigor and discrimination ; and Matthew Henry, vvitii his quaintness and scripturalness. There was the dreamer of Bedford jail, too. whose word-panorama of the " Pil^M'im's Progress" shall attract the gaze of the nations till time shall be no more. As the Puritan character took root in New Eng- land, it had the same element of high intelligence. Of tlu* four hundred volumes in the library of Pilder Brewster, sixty -four were in Tjtitin, and others in (Jrcek and Hebrew. Governors Bradford and Winslow, though they had not received a Thii- versity education, were men of no mean ac(|uire- m 111 !!' 24 nients. The iniuisters of the new settlements were generally well trained ibr tlieir work ; yonie of them were eminent for learning. John Cotton was able to converse in Hebrew. Xorton had been a scholar of the hiohost rank at Cambridge. Dunster was a great proficient in Oriental literature ; and (.■haun- cey had been Professor of Hebrew and Lecturer in Greek at his alma mater. It is not strange thai some of the first thoughts of such men should be about education. Not only was Harvard College* founded, but in due time other institutions of learn- ing. The Connnon School system was established. A free State, they were convinced, could hardly exist without free schools. Knowledge and self- government must ever go togethei* — so knowledge and the right of private judgment. Self-govern- ment else w^ere self-destruction, and a free con- sciences an unchained maniac. To their wisdom and painstaking in this direction, and to the populai' sentiment wdiich has come down from them, New England is mainly indebted, both for her present excellent system of educational appliances, and foi- the general intelligence of her people. Nor is she alone a debtor. What she has thus received, she has, in the true Puritan spirit, been ever dilfusing. A great boon has she conferred, hi giving to the rest of the country the idea and the pattern of the common school. She has held out, besides, her own elevated ty})e of the College and the University. The nation has been stirred by it. As field after field has been reached by the advancing tide of 25 population, not only has the exani])le of the foun- ders of Harvard, of Yale, and of Dartmouth been influential, so that the higher seminaries of learn- ing have been early estahlisluMl, — those seminaries, at first, of necessity, rude and imperfect, liave been continually drawn upward by the uiagnetic force of the Eastern models. The schools of N"ew England, moreover, have benefited other sections of the country, through the individuals they have trained. These have been going forth in every direction, impelled by the spirit of enterprise and of thrift, many of them to ()ccu})y chairs of instruction, more to exert in other ways — in the pulpit, at the bar, in the medi- cal profession, in mercantile life, and even in indus- trial i)ursuits— a quickening influence on the com- mon mind. Much has been said at the East, and said justl}', of the loss resulting from such emigra- tion. Yet is there gain in it — yea, exceeding glory. New England is working tiuis in her proper voca- tion. Though she were stationai'v in an economical view, or even " minished and brought low," yet might we deem her, in this higher respect, lifted up and enlarged. Just here is the hiding of her power. Be it that other parts of the great national organism have more of gi-owth in the grosser sense — of till- broadening of the chest, and the out- stretching of the limbs, the hardening of bone, and the strengthening of muscle and sinew. The growth here is of the cerebral tissues. It is the glory of New England to be as the brain of the nation — to '\i^ If 26 send forth to all the extremities those vital forces without which the hiigest bulk is but "Monstrura honenduin, infonue, ingens, cui lumen adeinptiim.'' For the highest manifestation of the intelligence of a people or a class, we look to their literature. Young as the Western Republic is, it is last gain- ing, in this regard, an honorable position among the nations. The time is past when it was said taunt- ingly, " Who reads an American book ?" The time is at hand, yea, it now is, when it may be rather said, Who has not read one ? And of all Ameri- can literature, that of New England undoubtedly has the pre-eminence. We say this in no mean spirit of envy or detraction, but with a readiness to render due justice to all other pai'ts of the land. In the whole range of school-books, — to begin at the beginning,— from the tiny primer, to the quarto dictionary — from the first lessons in arithmetic, to the highest department of mathematical science — from the rudiments of geography, to the fullest ex- position thereof — from the alphabet of chemistry, up to the structure of the universe, — from the barest outlines of mental and moral science, to the complete system of " Empirical Psychology," — the sons of the Puritans have had almost a monopoly. Hardly less eminent have they been in the more general walks of literature. TIow large their con- tributions to theological science. What lustrous names cluster in our memory as we speak — Edwards, of world-wide fame : Hopkins, and Bel- 27 lamy and D wight, those master spirits of their day ; the great logician of yraiikHii ; the ardent exegete of Andover, fitly called the father of herineneutical science in the conntry, and his clear-minded col- league in the chair of systematic divinity — not to speak of others hardly less worthy of note. Meagre comparatively would be the catalogue of American authors in theology, were the men of New England omitted. By our Puritan thinkers, the loftiest heights of philosophy have been scaled — by some who sleep with their fathers, and by others who are yet among us. In the historical line, wherein phi- losophy teaches by example, we can point, among the living, to our Motley, our Prescott, and our Bancroft, all an honor to their sphere, the last scarcely inferior to his most brilliant European (contemporary. In the department of legal lore, we have had oiu' Danes, our Pickerings, and our Stories ; in the medical line, our Olivers, our Jack- sons, and our Warrens. What prominence has been awarded to the periodical literature of the East, especially in its weightier issues, I need not say. Its Bibliotheca, its North American, and its characteristic New Englander, will at once occur to you. With all our gravity and utilitarianism, even our prose has been adorned by some of the most curious fabrics of the imagination . Female fingers have been busy in this direction, as of our Hale, and Child, and Stephens, and Sedgwick, and Stowe. Artists of the other sex have given us " Mosses from an old Manse," and strange "Scarlet t||i Itfl it) 28 Letters,'' Jind ftiutastic " Snow Tillages," and (|ueer old "Houses with Seven (laldes." They have i)re- seuted " Life" to us as in a kaleidoscope, giviu^- us now its ■' Reveries," and now its " Dreams," and now its strangely woven " Threads," and its most fascinating " ilomance." (Jreat is the pt)wer of eloquence, both as it falls from the lips of the liv- ing and as it is echoed along the track of ages. Xew England has not been unmindful of this. Largely did she avail herself of it iu the olden time. Nor has her recent history been a stranger to its triuniplis. The men of this generation have looked on a liviii<>; trio, the like of which, it mav be doubt- ed if the world can furnish. Xeed I name him, the sleeper at Marshfield, the clear shining of whose logic was as the fullness of noontide ; or him of Cambridge, the light of whose genius comes gently and winningly over us, like that day-dawn whicii he has so exquisirely painted ; or him at the head of the I^oston bar, the outburst of whose vivid im- agination is as the rainbow for mingled beauty, and as the meteor for startling strangeness — yea as a shower of L^iooting stars, or a whole hemi- sphere suddenly illumined by auroral s})lend()rs ? We forget noc the sweet intluence of poesy, of great potency whether in ballads or in epics. We listen gratefully and exultingly to tlie "L'salms of Life." and the unique forest melodies, which Longfellow has poured forth ; to the grave and "soul-like" tones of Dana's harp ; to Whittier's hymns of lofty eheei- for honest toil, and his clarion notes of rebuke for :!?I2S21 29 the proud oppressor. At tlio ])i(l(lin,u' of Picrpont, llie "Airs ol' rnlostino" llojit aroimd us, mid the Mavllower I'ides acraiii ui)Oii tlic wintry sea. As the most musieal voiees of hirds, tlie stniiiis oi' Stoddard sootlie us. Tlie inerry lau_tili of Saxe rings out, elear and stirring as tlie tinkling sleigh- bells of his own northern home. And he ol' the healing art shows that his wit is keener than his scalpel, and that rhymed mirih, at least, " doeth good like a medicine." A\'ith bright gems of feel- ing, of life, and oi'i'aith, Willis charms us. Lowell, while he decks virtue in her fairest robes, '^l:;guer- rcotypes grindy befoi-e us drivelling cant and bra- zen hypocrisy. The measures of a Sigourncy and of a (lould lind a welcome at our eirs ; those of the one simple and sweet as the inim of bees, or the murmur of crystal brooks,— those of the other more finely wrought, like the strains that fall from the lute or the guitar. With manlier notes, Lunt and Burlei I'll stir us to noble deeds. We muse with Dryant on the banks of his own " (Ireen River," the peace of the scene passing into our hearts. Or in more solemn mood, as befits pilgiims and sti'ang- ers upon earth, we listen to the funereal tones of his " Thanato})sis." To the traits of character already named, m/jsci- entiousncss must be added. It is indeed involved. as we have seen, in a true individuality, but it de- serves, for its importance, a brief separate notice. By all who estimate aright man's moral relations, it must be deemed the noblest of all ({ualities. It i i 1 1 :ii;! 30 is the chief hnk between the visible and tlie invisi- ble, the clearest impress of the divine upon our being. In the old Puritan life it was ever i)romi- nent. We have already had occasion variously to glance at its workings. We need not say at large, what careful ponderings of duty it undcitook, what bold and uncompromising decisions it rea^'hed, what a lofty superiority to human opinion it manifest- ed, W'hat burdens it bore, or what sacrifices it made. I need not remind you what moral transformations it wrought, how dissoluteness of manners gave place to strictness and sobriety, and a high spir- itual tone, manifest not only in the more elevated walks of life, and in the leading minds, but in the humbler and less cultivated classes. That all was gold that glittered, that there was nothing of cant and hypocrisy, especially at the period when Puri- ti>nism held the reins of civil power, we do not affirm. In the most precious ore from the mine we look for something of alloy. Ever, in the his- tory of our world, when the sons of God come to present themselves before the Lord, Satan comes also among them. Yet Macaulay tells us, that the very army of Cromwell, renowned as it was for valor, was chiefly distinguished *' by the austere morality and the fear of God which pervaded all ranks.'' "It is acknowledged by the most zealous Royalists," he says, " that in that singular camp, no oath was heard, no drunkenness or gambling was seen ; and that, during the long dominion of the soldiery, the property of the peaceable citizen, and :u the honor of woman were held saered.*' To wlial general elevation of Puritan character do facts like these bear witness. some directions the scru})les of our fore- That ni fathers were pressed too far, the profoundest rever for their virtues d( to den ence lor tneir virtues uoes not re(|uu'e us to aeny. I can hardly sympathize with them, to give a single example, in their dislike of that sim])le and beauti- ful token of plighted faith, the marriage ring. Yet we must bear in mind the age in which they lived, and the special reason they had for a godly jealousy as touching ill-meaning ceremonies. It was not the mere form that troubled them — so they often testify. It was the import of that form — its associations and snggeslions — its conventional and symbolical power over men. Who does not know that little things may in this way bei^ome great ? Who needs to be told that the rite or the usage which in some circumstances is perfectly harmless, may in others be properly disfiarded as of evil in- fluence ? Not he, surely, who has heard the noble Paul exclaim, " If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stand- eth."' There is one point, at least, in wliieli we think the descendants of the Pilgrims are in advance of their fathers ; — in their estimate, we mean, of the esthetic element. That was a just analysis of the old philosopher, which resolved all excellence into the true, the beautiful, and the good. And quite as just was that judgment of his which gave to 32 *^oocl the pro-eminoiu'c So — witli all sclf'-doiiial, even unto inurtyrdoiii — did llie old Puritans. Their error was not in suhordinatini!;, but in uiider- ■>aluin;z; the beanlirul. There is a true Christian use of it, as aocoi-dant with our spiritual aptitudes, as with our eni(>tional and iniai^'inative natui'e. It has been well tei-nied the shadow of vii-tue. In all virtue it inheres, 'We read ol'ten ni the 8ci'ip- tures of the " beauty of lioliiiess." And as God has touched all ei'eation with it, he designed it, doubt- less, not only as itself an innoeent source of enjo}'- ment, but as a help to the soul in its loftier aspira- tions. It has a typical si.^nifieancy. According to that law of correspondence, by wliieh all inferior good has a certain analogy to something higher, we have in all natural loveliness an cnibleni of spiritual. It has, besides, an assimilating iidluence. Its tendency, as it passes before us, is to conform us unto itself. " The attentive mind. I3y this liannonious action on its powers. I'ecomes itself harmonious ; wont so oft In outwimt tiiinn;s to meditate the cliarin Of siiered order, soon slie seeics iit Imtuo 'i"o find a Icindred order, to exert Witliin herself this elegance of love, This fair inspired deli;,dit; her tempered powers ivefuie at length, and every passion wears A chaster, milder, more attractive mien." This was but imperfectly understood by the early Puritans. They restrained unduly, be- sides, what may be called the play-element of our natiu-e. How it struggled for vent may be seen, 33 we think, even in Cromwell, in those occasional and sometimes inept pleasantries, which Ilnnie and others have recorded. Yet here, again, we must take due account of the times. Wo must remem- ber against what reigning frivolity our forefathers had to contend, and what is the nat\n-al and almost irresistible issue of a great reaction. AVho shall stay the pendulum just midway in the arc of its vibration ? They erred, certainly, on the f^wl'e side. The sternest stoicism is better than unbridled epi- cureanism. If we must choose between the two, give us the unbending gravity of the most rigid old Roundhead — give us even the scru})les which most provoked the merriment of the Cavaliers — rather than that laxness of conscience which has come to question whether there be any "higher law," and that elTeminacy and self-indulgence which leaves to religion often but an empty name. We complete our outline as we add, that the Puritan character is marked by strength. That is but to condense into a single statement all that has been said. From the traits already named, nothing else could be inferred. They are all elements of strength,- -the self-reliant individuality that can stand alone against a world — the originality that ventures fearlessly into untried paths — the intelli- gence that walks ever in the sunlight — the con- scientiousness which arms the soul as with a divine energy. To a like result has the whole Puritan history tended. What might of patience, of per- severance, of self-sacrifice, of courage, of achieve- j:lii^i'jft 34 nicnt, did the loii*;- .stni«jj«^do in FiUfjlaiid evince. And liow was stren«;tli increased by it. Well ini^lit the scjjonrncrs at Leydeu say, " It is not with us as with otlicr men, whom small things (;an discourage.'' Klse their I'eet had nevei* trodden tlie soil of llolhmd ; or they had HngercMJ there ; or they had turned away I'rom the forbidding shores of Xew Kngland, to seek a resting-i)lace in a more genial clime. in the Lusiad of Camoens, as Vasco de (iama, on his voy- age of discovery, reaches the ('ai)e of (iood Hope, which never navigator had doubled before, the genius of the hitherto unknown ocean is repre- sented as rising out of the sea, amid tempest and thunder — a huge phantom towering to the clouds — and with terrilic looks and tones warning away the bold adventui'ers. What phantoms were those which warned away our rilgrim Fathers ! The storm-king uiet them on the coast. The famine- fiend was thei-e. The demon of war menaced them. The angel of death spread his dark wing over their dwellings. In three months half their num- ber were sleeping beneath the snows of winter. Yet neither of the stalwart men nor of the gentle women who survived, did a single heart falter. When in the spring the ^Nfayilower retiu-ned to England, not one of them took passage in her. They had found what they sought, "a faith's pure shrine," and " freedom to worship God."' They still clung to the hope with which they sailed from Delft-liaven, "of propagating and advancing the Gospel of the 35 kiiijidoin of Christ.'' Why should tlioy turn back ? HiirdcMiH and sorrows wore \\\h>]\ thcni. and jicrils aroiuid thoni. \\\\\ wit li a strength })()rn of I'aith. and both ti-ii'd and oidianciMl by all the past, they were (M(ual to the ^rcat (MncrgiMU-y. Kvcmi while their tears were bedewin<;- tin; <i;ravcs of the newly fallen, " 'J'lioy Hhouk tin; dcptlis of the desert's gloom With tlic'ir liymiiH of lofty clint'r.'' Well was it, both for them and their descend- ants, that the ^u'lowin^ descriptions of Sir AValter Ilaleif^h lured them not tf) the milder skies and fairer landscajx' of (Guiana. Xew Kn<iland was just the region for a new dcvel()i)ment of the Puritan ehara<'ter. It was designed by the Tireat Maker, not as a eoueh of ignoble sloth, or a garden of sensuous delights, but as a field of braeing toil, a i)hysical and moral 1 tattle field. No relaxing tropical heats are upon it. Stei-n wintry blasts have still their mission among its hills. The soil, to great extent, is hard and rough, unmai'ked by alluvial f'ertilit}', and yielding its harvests only to the hand of the diligent. Even now, if men gain a livelihood there, it must be by that sweat of the brow, ^vhich, while it exhausts, by one of na- ture's paradoxes, increases sti'ength ; and by those exercises of keen sagacity, clear judgment, and rigid self-control, so germane to all true manliness and eflectiveness. It was a noble laboratory of character, to which the pilgrim voyagers were led, a matchless stand-point from which to leaven and to mould the whole broad empire of freedom. jiplfji till lift 86 As wo rejoict! t()-(ljiv ill our hirtli-ri^lit, HretlircMi of the New Kiiuliind Society, let us (lili«;eutly eopy the virtues wliich have nnido it so precious. Xiiy, let us ^'ive to our thoughts and our liopes a still widei" range. With the progress of science and art, and the (tonseijuent facilities for intercomnuuiiea- tion, the \V(M'ld is fast lending to unity. An amal- gam of ehara(!ter looms u[) in the fuliu'e. in which the Puritan element shall, indeed, he prominent, but which shall he enricheil jiiid graced hy what- ever is beautiful ami noble in our <liversilied hu- manity. We may say of it. in the language of the Apocaly[)se concerning the heavenly city, " they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.'' How naturally does this high ideal connect itself with the novel but grateful associations and reciprocities of the present occasion. J^et us kee[) it in view ever, even amid the dearest ancestral memories, and the stron^'est emotions of a laudable •ecojrnize in pati 'ly every man a brother, but shall best apprehend and advance the tiue brotherhood of the nations. So shall we hasten the coming of tliat day, when 'Springs the crowning race uf Imnuvii kind.'' h