The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-04-22


promoted rather than prevented by the
policy OF persecution. Massachusetts, be-
came powerful and united state only
when she followed the example OF her
despised little sister, and became COM
monwealth of ideas as well as common
wealth OF goods.
Samuel Gorton's religious views have
also been greatly misunderstood and mis-
represented. In SO far as they have re-
ceived attention in recent years they have
been mainly inferred form incomplete
aud imperfect stftemcnts In two OF his
published works, "Simplicitie's Defence
Against seven Headed Policb.," and "The
incompatible Key to the CX Psaime.'
The main object of these works was po-
litical and polemicai rather than exposi-
tory. The involved style and quaint and
mystical phraseology have repelled the
modern student. BY far the most COM
plete exposition of samuel Gorton's reli-
gious convictions Is to be found in a re-
markable unpublished manuscript In his
own handwriting, preserved In the
library.of the X. j. Historical Society
running commentary on the Lords
Prayer. Merely as a literary curiosity it
merits the attention OF the studious and
curio us. Ii is In the clear, careful, accu-
rate hand writing OF the scholar. The
lines are closely written, the characters
are minute. and almost as accurate as
copper plate Impressions. When the reader
has searched diligently beneath the
quaint and involved phraseology, brist-
ling with Scriptural quotations and come
into sympathetic contact with the living
thought OF the writer, the surprising
ing moderness of many of Gorton's ideas.
Though not conventionally othordox
we everywhere touch the personality OF
vigorous and independent thinker, who
in many directions foreshadowed the
views OF advanced thinkers OF a later day.
Dr. James entered upon careful expo
sition OF Gorton's religious views, declar-
ing him TO have been profoundly chris
tian, resembling that OF Swedneborg in
its Christocentric character, and like
Swedenborg, regarding the Infinite and
absolute as per SO Unknowable. To both,
however, Christianity solved the ,enos-
tic problem. In Christ they found per-
feet expression OF the divine nature, ana
the only rational object of worship. Un-
like Swedenborg, however,
ooRToN's THEOLOGY
was monistic and impersonal. While
swedenborg turns his most powerful bat
teries upon Pauls doctrine of justifica-
tion by faith Gorton stands with Luther in
| its defence.
With the Quakers he is opposed to the
ritual and ordinances of conventionl reii-
| gion, and a"hireling ministry" Ali men,
ne affirms, may rightly exhort and inter-
! pret.
To the conventional interpretations OF
universities and schools, he preferred ''the
universitie OF human reason, and reading
| the great volume of visible creation.n The
| spirit of prophesy, he claimed, with the
modern transcennentalist, Is as immedi-
! ately with man now as IN any period OF
| the past. With the eanscendentalists,
also, he opposed all sectarlanism. Even
the disputes between the Catholics and
| Protestants he deemed OF small account,
1 becaue thew were abOut rites and Cerp-
| monies when he deemed non-essential.
| He opposed the Quaker doctrine OF the
"inner light" because 1t might imply a
supernatural revelation of truth to the
individual. ALI revelations. he claimed,
| must be tested "by the natural" human
reason. Even more than the Protestants
| of his day he recognized the necessity OF
| sound learning in reading and interpret
ing the Scriptures.
Though Christocentric, Samuel Cor
tons theology was also boldly Unitarian.
| He interprets the Scriptural references to
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ss
spiritual distinction in the nature of
| Christ" having q unity not found else
where. With Claiming, he also taught
| the divinity of human nature-the equal
nearness of the divine spirit to the sin
ner and the saint. He believed, however,
in the eternal antagonism of good and
evil, the one ever tending to eternal life,
| the other to eternal destruction. He
! taught, therefore, a conditional immor-
| tally, wholly dependent on the charac-
| ter of the individual "Neither can any
salvation have proportion with the Son
| of God, he says, "but freedom from sin. I"
This saved him from the errors Of anti
nomianism. He taught that all virtue
consists in the serviGe OF Others. The
soul exists now In eternity. Heaven and
hell are conditions of the present not of
any distant future, "such doctrine as sets
faV 70 80 4. a
| glory than either Is or hath been," he
declares, "keeps the mamma for tomorrow,
| to the breeding of worms in it." He
taught that the divine nature is both
masculine and feminine, and In one Of
| the most impressive passages in his COM
mentary on the Lords Prayer he argues
| for the equal recognition of woman with
man as teacher OF religion.
After some account OF his family life,
| and q brief notice of some of his descend
| ants, DIR. James concluded as follows
"The house which Samuel Gorton erect
ed and where he spent the concludi ng
| yesrs of his life was Landmark
| in Old Warwick until within the last half
century. From its door his eyes could rest
| on the placid waters OF Warwick cove, and
beyond the meadows could see his cattle
grazing upon the rounded uplsnds of
| Warwick Neck. The surrounding scenery
| is restful to the eye, and invites the
soul delighted. A year ago / visited the
spot and conversed with the oldest repre-
sentative OF four generations OF his de-
scendsnts now occupying the ancestral
acres. walked up the hillside back Of
the site of the
OLD ooRToN HOMESTEAD,
to the little family graveyard, where
tradition says that Samuel Gorton was
laid to rest with the patent of the town
OF Warwick which he obtained in En-
gland--a nobler decoration than a royal
order-upon his breast. Not even green
mound or an overarching tree now marks
the sacred bit of earth where his body
long since turned to dust.
All around, however, are the gracious
evidences that his life and labors were
not vainly spent. The prosperity of the
town which he founded and Of the COM
monwealth which he helped TO build,
constituted his most enduring monument.
South lies the quiet hamlet Of East Green
wicb, OF which his son was one of the
founders, built upon land once owned in
part by Samuel Gorton. West, also, lies