The Knight of the Golden Melice | Page 3

corrupt hierarchy,
had become odious, and was to be resisted and restrained. The idea of
abolishing the monarchy had indeed not entered the mind of the most
daring reformer; but it is certain, that when his feelings were inflamed
by brooding over real and fancied wrongs from the established Church,
his anger would overflow upon the government, which, with no sparing
hand, wielded the sword to enforce pains and penalties, imposed,

ostensibly for the protection of religion, but in reality for the interests
of an ally and its own safety. It was this exasperation, partly of a
religious and partly of a political nature, that bore its legitimate fruit in
the execution of Charles.
Before that awful lesson, however, discontent had increased until the
unhappy zealots, too feeble to resist, yet too resolute to submit,
determined to leave their country. Hard fate! Self-banished from the
associations of childhood, from the memorials of their ancestors! But
whither should they fly? They had heard indeed of a country; far
beyond the sea, where a refuge might be found, and whither some of
their countrymen had gone; but those first emigrants were cavaliers,
men of the same creed as their persecutors, and who had been induced
to leave England by motives different from those which controlled their
minds. Their purpose would not be attained by joining the Virginia
colony. They were not merely adventurers, hunting after earthly
treasures, but pilgrims in search of the kingdom of heaven. Their
company consisted of delicate women and children, from whom they
could not part, as well as of hardy men; and such were unfit to
encounter the perils of a new settlement, in an untried climate, and an
unknown country, infested by savages. Their principal want was
religious liberty; that they could find in Holland, and to Holland they
went. It was close at hand, and should any favorable change occur in
England, it would be easy to return. But after an experience of some
dozen years, they found insuperable objections to remaining there, and
determined, no such changes having taken place as they anticipated
when they left their native land, to emigrate to America. In a season of
the year as stern as the mood of their own minds, they sought the
stormy shores of New-England, and their example was soon followed
by others direct from the parent country. This first column was
composed exclusively of Protestants, who had refused conformity to
the established Church, or as they were called, Puritans. Later arrivals
brought more mixed companies, but still the Puritan element always
largely prevailed. Now separated by an ocean from, kings and bishops,
they resolved to realize the darling idea which, like the fiery pillar
before the wandering Israelites, had conducted them across the sea, and
that was the establishment of a commonwealth after the model of
perfection which they fondly imagined they had discovered. And where

should they find that perfect system, except in the awful and mysterious
volume wherein was the revelation of God's will, and which, with a
devotion that had impressed its every syllable on their minds, they had
day and night been studying? Was there not contained therein a form of
government which He had given to his favored people; and what did
both reason and piety suggest but to accommodate it to their
circumstances? All things favored the undertaking. They were at too
great a distance to be easily molested by their enemies: the distracted
condition of the government at home afforded little opportunity for a
strict supervision of their affairs; and the few savages in their
neighborhood left by the devastating pestilence wherewith Providence
had swept the new Canaan, in order to make room for them, they soon
found powerless before the terror of their fire-arms. By excluding all
whom it was their pleasure to call lewd and debauched, or, in other
words, who differed from them in opinion, from participation in the
government, they expected to avoid confusion, and secure the blessing
of heaven. It is absurd to suppose that human pride, and ambition, and
avarice did not intrude into these visions of a reign of the saints on
earth, but unquestionably notions like these exerted a strong influence.
They established their commonwealth upon their theocratic model, and
commenced the experiment.
Soon, in logical and honest sequence with the principles which they
professed, followed a system of persecution rivaling that of which they
complained in England. To be true to themselves and creed, they were
obliged to adopt it. We may do as we please; we may say that the
fanatical notion, the horrid Erinnys, the baleful mother of woes
innumerable, that the dogmas of religion may rightfully be enforced by
the sword of the civil, power, dominated the world, and in this way
account for their conduct;