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Untitled Article
abroad on ffefc tftteaii * and we see where tl ^ jkflfe tmrk * tvMt the intera * tine lt > tlp upon U 4 deck , made its slow pro-Less to the shor ^ * We look around i * s , and behold the hifls and promontories where the anxious eyes of our fathers first saw the places of habitation aud of rest . We feel the cold which benumbed , and listen to the winds which pierced
them . Beneath us la the Rock on which New England received the feet of the pilgrims . We seem even to behold them , as they struggle with the elements , and , with toilsome eflbfts , gain the shore . We listen to the chiefs in council ; we see the unexampled exhibition of female fortitude and resignation ; we hear the
whisperings of youthful impatience , and we see , what a painter of our own has also represented by his pencil , chilled and shivering childhood , houseless but for a mother ' s arms , couchless but for a mo * ther ' s breast , till our own blood almost freezes . The mild dignity of Carver and of Bradford ; the decisive and soldier-like air and manner of Stan dish
the devout Brkwstkr ; the enterprising Allerton ; the general firmness and thoughtfulness of the whole band ; their conscious joy for dangers escaped ; their deep solicitude about dangers to come ; iheir trust in Heaven ; their high religious
faith , full of confidence and anticipation —all these seem to belong to this place , and to be present upon this occasion , to fill us with reverence and admiration . "—
Pp . 11 , 12 * The causes of the Puritan emigration are well described , its hazards are sketched with a glowing pencil , and the folly of bigotry and the value and force of religious liberty are asserted in terms becoming the mouth of a member of one of the freest
Christian State 3 that has ever existed in the world : " Of the motives which influenced the first settlers to a voluntary exile , induced them to relinquish their native country , and to seek an asylum in this then QiH ? xpioned wilderness , the first and principal , no doubt , were connected with
religion . They sought to enjoy a higher decree of religious freedom , aud what they esteemed a purer form of religious Worshi p than was allowed to their choice ° r presented to their imitation in the old world . The love of religSoas liberty *• a stronger sentiment , when fully excited , than an attachment to ch& or political freedom . That freedom wMch Jjte cotasctence demands , and which men " * l bound by their hopes of * alvatkttt to
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contend f&t can hardly fen ten be jtft&dm& Conscience , in the cause of religion and the worship of the Deity , prepares tfce mind to act and ta suffer beyond almost all other causes * It sometimes gives at * impulse so irresistible , that no fetters ef power or of opinion can withstand it . History instructs us that this love of teii ~
gious liberty , a compound sentiment let the breast of man , made op of the clearest sense of right aend the highest conviction of duty , is able to look the sternest despotism in the face , and , with means apparently most inadequate , to shake principalities and powers . There is a
boldness , a spirit of daring , in religions Reformers , not to be measured by the general rules which comrool men ' s purposes and actions . If the hand of power be laid upon it , this only seems to augment its force and its elasticity , and to cause its action to be more formidable
and terrible . Human invention has devised nothing , human power has compassed nothing' that can forcibly restrain it , when it breaks forth . Nothing can stop it , but to give way to it ; nothing can check it , but indulgence . It loses its power only when it has gained its object . The principle of toleration , to »
which the world has come so slowly , i » at once the most just and the most wise of all principles . Even when religious feeling takes a character of extravagance and enthusiasm , and seems to threaten the order of society , and shake the
columns of the socjal edifice , its principal danger is in its restraint . If it be allowed indulgence and expansion , like the elemental fires it only agitates and , perhaps , purifies the atmosphere , "while its efforts to . throw off restraint would burst the
world asunder . 44 It is certain , that although many of them were Republicans in principle , we have no evidence that our New-England ancestors would have emigrated , as they did , from their own native country , become wanderers in Europe , and finally undertaken the establishment of a colony
here , merely from their dislike of the political systems of Europe . They fled not so much from the civil government , as from the Hierarchy and the laws which enforced conformity to the Church Establishment . Mr . Robinson had left England an early as 1608 , on account of the prose
cutions for Nonconformity , and had retired to Holland . He left En £ tatiti from no disappointed ambition in affairs of state , from no regrets at the want *> f prfefei * mcnt in the Church , nor from a « y motive of distinction or of gain . Uitffbrmlty in matters of religion was pressed with such extreme rigour , that a vohmtary efcile
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Commemoration of Ito FW * t Settlement ifN * w England * 341
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1822, page 341, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2513/page/21/
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