THE HE Rev. William Stevens Perry, D.D., is a public benefactor, to whom all American Churchmen should be profoundly grateful. With a passion for the collection of every kind of document, printed or manuscript, which may by any possibility contribute to the history of the American Church; and with sufficient means at his disposal for the indulgence of his ruling passion to the utmost he has amassed-whether of his own property, or as forming part of the archives of the Church confided to his faithful charge the most extensive collection of the sort ever yet known. Nor is his generosity confined to the mere placing of his treasures freely at the service of any brother who is a fellow-laborer in the same field. He has gone far beyond this. His work of editing in separate volumes the documents in his possession illustrating the History of the Church in each Colony, is a gigantic labor, which, in addition to the cure of a large parish, and his most responsible and exacting duties as Secretary of the Lower House of the General Convention, are more than enough to break down any ordinary man. But, unfortunately, the number of persons interested in these researches is exceedingly small among us. The struggle for existence and advance is as yet too earnest to allow us much leisure to indulge the retrospective affection which would delight in ransacking the piles of débris that antiquarian interest may get together, and pick therefrom the shining particles which may go toward forming the wrought gold of our future history. After long waiting for general interest to become sufficiently strong to publish these volumes at a fixed and moderate price, and waiting for many years in vain, Dr. Perry has hit on a plan which leaves all the trouble and risk on his hands, with no remuneration except the satisfactory consciousness of a good work well done; while the pecuniary outlay is equally divided among all the subscribers to the series of volumes. The result is, a succession of truly magnificent volumes, imperial quarto in form, printed on laid paper, with generous margins of from two to three inches," large paper copies," all of them; and printed in the old style type which is a pleasure to the eye. The binding is in full keeping, the gilt tops and uncut sides being in the best "library" taste. Volumes I. and II. were devoted to Virginia and Pennsylvania. Volume III., devoted to Massachusetts, has just appeared, and is now lying before us, with proportions rather more portly than its predecessors, yet quite as comely. Now what shall we do with such a vast amount of material? Here are nearly four hundred and fifty separate documents, besides notes, etc. To scan them all, and weave from them a connected narrative of the History of the Church in Massachusetts previous to the outbreak of the Revolution, would be in itself a great labor; but we leave it to the future historian. We are only writing a review, not a history and cannot think of such a thing as taking the needed time and trouble for the performance of a task which is none of our business. Our object shall rather be, to imitate the ancient and worthy example of "little Jack Horner," who "put in his thumbs, And pulled out the plums: Then said, 'What a good boy am I!'" We shall just dip into this portly volume here and there, at a venture, and give our readers a taste of the rich and racy flavors of the olden time. The opening piece in the volume is the reprint of Edward Randolph's very spirited account of "The Present State of New England," covering some twenty-four pages. Its date is the year 1676. And among the other peculiarities of the Puritan Government-which lose nothing of salient piquancy in passing through Randolph's hands-we come across the following, which shows how beautifully that old original Puritanism deserved the modern enco mium of being the fountain of liberty, whether of the press or of conscience. Speaking of the magistrates, Randolph says: And for keeping all persons in perfect obedience to their authority, it is enacted, That whosoever shall revile the person of any Magistrate or Minister, or shall defame any Court of Justice, or the sentence and proceedings of the same, or the Judges of any such Court, in respect of any Act or Sentence therein passed, shall be punished by whipping, fine, imprisonment, disfranchisement, or banishment, as the quality or measure of the offence shall deserve. And whosoever shall conspire & attempt any invasion, insurrection, or public rebellion against their Commonwealth, or shall endeavour to surprise any Town or Forts, or shall treacherously and perfidiously attempt the alteration & subversion of their frame of polity or Government fundamental, he shall be put to death (pp. 3, 4). Who can wonder, then, at the almost supernatural awe with which "the Ministers" and "the Magistrates" were regarded in those old times? Nor were these laws idle words, or mere scareAs to the Laws and Ordinances there in force, Mr. Randolph says: crows. No law is in force or esteem there, but such as are made by the General Court, and therefore it is accounted a Breach of their priviledges, & a betraying of the Liberties of their Commonwealth, to urge the observation of the Laws of England or his Majesty's Commands (p. 5). In Randolph's time the singular anomaly had already developed itself, that, with all this strictness and terribleness of civil and spiritual tyranny and exclusiveness, the narrow Puritan system could not be made to work satisfactorily, as touching the majority of the population. Of course, when they began, having things all in their own hands, their law was easily passed and carried into effect, that none should hold office, or even have the right to vote (or be reckoned one of the "freemen "), except only "Church members," meaning thereby Puritan communicants. But in half a century, the system so rapidly lost its full spiritual hold of its own people, that "the number of the Church members and freemen," as Randolph tells us, "compared with the rest of the inhabitants of that Jurisdiction (who are termed the dissenting party), is very inconsiderable, not being reckoned above one sixth part " (p. 7). In England, a great deal has been said about the growth of Dissent. And that it has grown, is unhappily too true. But as to the rate of its growth, the Church of England has surely no reason to fear comparison with the Puritanism of Massachusetts. In England, in three hundred years and for the last half the period, with perfect liberty to all to become Dissenters |