The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-10
COURIER MONDAY

and the temptation to secure social and political standing by signing Mr. Da- venport's creed, whether he believed it or not, was strong one. The natural outcome of this was that church mem bership came to be lightly regarded, and the moral effect to be adversely felt MT. Davenport thought his plan would develop perfect state of brotherly love. Instead, it produced a state of suspicion and distrust. An imaginary case may serve to illustrate this point A certain man joined the church be- cause he wanted social and political in fluence, and he could get it in no other way. He advised his neighbor to do the same thing. The neighbor wanted political rights and social position, but while he respected MT. Davenport and was a Christian, he could not conscien- tiously adopt MT. Davenport's creed, for he did not believe it was the right one. He would gladly affiliate with a differ ent church. He was even willing to help establish one. But he found he must worship after Mir. Davenport's way or be politically and socially ostra- cized. He could not go with his family to another colony, for all his fortune was invested here, and here he must stay. When he came here he thought he was coming to land of liberty, where every man might worship as he chose; but he suddenly found himself under political, social and religious tyranny worse than that which he had left behind in England. He found his mode of worship marked out for him by another He found his religious freedom dependent on the will of one man, and that man as unyielding as the everlasting hills Moreover, he was rated an unbeliever. He realized for the first time in his life that an unbe- liever is one who is unable to adopt some other mans theological dogma. He read his Bible, studied the life of Christ and loved Him, and wanted to follow in His footsteps. His soul was filled with a wondrous light and he wanted to tell the whole world what he thought and felt In his absolute devo- ton he wanted to be baptized in river as Christ was-and the first he knew he was an "accursed Baptist heredc," Then he said he would stay away from church (just as MT. Davenport did in Amsterdam when he was no longer in sympathy with it). But the next morn
 ing a constable came around and ar
 rested him for absenting himself from
 divine service, and took him before the worshipful magistrates. His neighbor, who had advised him to swallow his conscience and join the church, was one of the judges. His indignation then broke loose, and he denounced his
 judge as a hypocrite and the minister as a tyrant-and received the reward of the heretic and the blasphemer! Now, that is a little piece of true fiction. It is as true as though you
 could read 1t ipsissima verba in the Col
 onial Records, and shows the inevitable
 result of MT. Davenport's idea of gov
 ernment It is the story of Roger Will Hams, with the difference that the Ply mouth colony merely banished him,
 while under our practice he would have
 been tiogged and branded.
 It was quite natural that under these conditions a strong opposition should develop, not to MT. Davenport person. ally (for he seems to have held the re- spect and affection of the community, but to the political principles which he represented. The opposition held that the civil government should be no long, CT subject to the church, that church. membership was a sacred matter with which politics had nothing whatever to do. They had no quarrel with MT. Da- venport or the church as such. Many Of them were church members and per
 sonal friends of the minister, but they saw, from the practical working of Da- | venport's plan, that divorce between l church and state was necessary to se- | cure a purer church and stronger state.
 | This breach was still further widened | by the appearance in town of two of l the men who sat in judgment upon | King Charles the First, and had signed l his death-warrant. These were Major | Generals Whalley and Goffe, late off, cers in Cromwell's army Both had stood close to Cromwell, not only in the
 wars, but during the period of the Com
 monwealth. Whalley was Cromwell s
 cousin and member of his council,
 and Goffe, who had married Whalley's
 daughter, was a close personal adviser.
 After the death of Cromwell and the | reStOfaIlOn or Lne SLuafIS, these men l fled to New England to escape the ven-
 geance of the new king whose father
 had been beheaded by their order
 | Davenport was advised of their com ing, and preached series of notable
 sermons indirectly charging his people
 to shelter the fugitives. This he did in
 a covert way, carefully avoiding words
 that could be used against him; but his
 meaning was plain and was under
 stood. When the so-called "Regicides'
 arrived in town he secreted them for a | time in his own house, and was their
 main protector difing their two years | stay in the colony. There is no end of
 tradition declaring that these regicides , hid in all sorts of impossible places,
 some of them so small that an ordinary
 dog would find difficulty in entering and
 coming out again head first; but the | fact is we'll established that wherever | they stayed, and whatever their move ments, the minister was their chief l friend and protector.
 Davenport's position with regard to
 the fugitives showed sublime courage.
 In the sheltering and comforting these
 traitors" as they were considered by the Stuarts, he was guilty of high trea-
 son, and none knew better than he what | would be the result in cast of discovery.