"Severe laws, conformable to the principles of the laws of Moses, were
enacted against all kinds of immorality.
"Blasphemy, idolatry, unnatural lusts, rape, murder, adultery,
man-stealing, bearing false witness, rebellion against parents, were all
_equally_ made _capital_ crimes. The law against the latter was in these
words:--'If any child or children, above sixteen years of age, and of
sufficient understanding, shall curse or smite their natural father or
mother, he or they shall be _put to death. Exodus_ xxi, 17; _Lev._ x, 9.'
"A law was passed to prohibit, under a severe penalty, the _smoking of
tobacco_, which was compared to the _smoke_ of the _bottomless pit_.
_Drinking_ of _healths_, and _wearing long hair_, were also forbidden,
under the same penalty: the first was considered as a heathenish and
idolatrous practice, grounded on the ancient libations.
"Previous to putting the laws in execution against the latter, the
following proclamation was issued, and is now preserved among the records
at Havard College, Cambridge, near Boston:--
"Forasmuch as the wearing of long hair, after the manner of ruffians and
barbarous indians, has begun to invade New England, contrary to the rule
of God's word, _Corinthians_ xi, 14, which says it is a shame for a man to
wear long hair; as also the commendable custom generally of all the
_godly_ of our nation, until these few years; we, the magistrates who have
subscribed this paper, (for the showing of our own _innocency_ in this
behalf,) do declare and manifest our dislike and detestation against the
wearing of such long hair, as against a thing _uncivil_ and _unmanly_;
whereby men do deform themselves, and offend _sober_ and _modest_ men, and
do _corrupt good manners_. We do therefore, earnestly intreat all the
elders of this jurisdiction, as often as they shall see cause, to
_manifest their zeal_ against it in their public administrations, and to
take care that the _members_ of their respective churches be not _defiled
therewith_, that so, such as shall prove obstinate, and will not reform
themselves, may have God and man to witness against them.
"The 3d month, 10th day, 1649.
"_Jo. Endicott_, Governor.
_Tho. Dudley_, Dep. Governor
_Rich. Bellingham.
Rich. Salton Stall.
Increase Nowell.
William Hibbins.
Tho. Flint.
Rob. Bridges.
Simon Bradstreet_.'
"Laws were made to regulate the intercourse between the sexes, and the
advances towards matrimony. They had a ceremony of betrothing, which
preceded that of marriage. _Pride_ and _levity_ came under the cognizance
of the magistrates. Not only the richness, but the mode of dress, and cut
of the hair, were subject to regulations. Women were forbidden to expose
their _arms_ or _bosoms_ to view. It was ordered, that their sleeves
should reach down to their _wrists_, and their gowns to be closed round
the _neck_. Women _offending_ against these laws were _presentable_ by the
_grand jury_.
"The following were some of their favourite arguments in favour of
persecution. The celebrated Cotton, in a treatise published in 1647,
laboured to prove the lawfulness of the magistrate using the civil sword,
to extirpate _heretics_, from the command given to the jews, to put
to death _blasphemers_ and _idolaters!_
"After saying it was _toleration_, which made the world _antichristian_,
he concludes his work with this singular ejaculation:--'The Lord keep us
from being bewitched with the whore's cup, lest while we seem to reject
her with our profession, we bring her in by a _back door_ of _toleration_,
and so drink deeply of the cup of the Lord's wrath, and be filled with her
plagues!'
"During a war with the eastern Indians, a council was called, and a
proposal made to draw upon them the _Mohawks_, their ancient enemy, though
then at peace: the lawfulness of this proceeding was doubted by some
_tender consciences_; but all their doubts vanished, when it was urged,
that _Abraham_ had entered into a confederacy with the _Amorites, among
whom he dwelt_, and made use of _their_ assistance in recovering his
kinsman _Lot_ from the hands of their _common enemy_."
* * * * *
"The quakers at first were banished; but this proving insufficient, a
succession of sanguinary laws were enacted against them; such as
imprisonment, whipping, cutting off the ears, boreing the tongue with a
red-hot iron, and banishment on pain of death. In consequence of these
laws, four quakers were put to death at Boston only; when their friends in
England procured an order from king Charles the Second, which put a stop
to _capital executions_."
And now, friend Joseph, what do you think of these primitive christians?
When the _real_ Christian _William Penn_ arrived in America, what was _his
retaliation?_ He called his city _Philadelphia_, to perpetuate a memorial
of the cords of peace and good will, which bound him, and all his
followers, not only to one another, but even to his enemies at Boston,
were they inclined to come and settle with them.--The following words of
his proclamation ought to be written in letters of gold:--
"Because no people can be happy, if abridged of the freedom of their
consciences, as to their religious professions and worship; I do grant and
declare, that no person inhabiting this province, or territories, who
shall acknowledge one Almighty God, the Creator, Ruler, and Upholder of
the world, and live quietly under the civil government, shall in any case
be molested, or prejudiced in his person or estate because of his
conscientious persuasion or practice."
But to return to New England; happily for these states, the revolution
has done away great part of the severity of their ancient laws; but
the inhabitants still retain a taste for scriptural phrases and allusions
in their writings. As you are fond of _poetry_, I send you two
specimens of this kind of writing; the first is from a tomb-stone at
_Plymouth_[Footnote: The oldest settlement north of Virginia.]. It was
written by one of the first settlers, and is in the true spirit of those
times.--