have a tendency to subvert the good order of the churches and towns within the Province,- Voted, that Mr. Cooke, Mr. Welles, Mr. Lynde, Captain Goddard, and Mr. Lewis, with such as the Honorable Board shall appoint, be a Committee to consider what may be proper for this Court to do thereon, and make report as soon as may be."

"April 14th, 1731. Ordered that Mr. Wolcot go up with a message to the Honorable Board, to inquire whether they have passed on the vote of the House on the 9th instant, referring to Mr. Greenwood's sermon, - who returned he had delivered the message and was informed by Mr. Secretary that the Board Non-concurred the said vote."

The sermon of Mr. Greenwood is not in the library of this Society, nor in that of the Boston Athenæum, but is in the City Library. On examination of that sermon, it will be found to contain strong "expressions" of the authority of clergymen as "rulers" of the church, and the members ("the fraternity," as he calls them) as "subjects," who have no right to decide who shall be admitted to the church, or be excommunicated, or be affected by other discipline; but that all is exclusively under the authority of the "ruler." This, probably, was what was deemed by the House of Representatives to have the "tendency" alleged by them, and to render it "proper to do" something "thereon."

If mention of the aforesaid vote of the House of Representatives is made in any historical or other publication, it has escaped my sight.

Though, by a colony ordinance, "No injunction shall be put upon any church, in point of doctrine, discipline, or worship,"-yet the practice was for the magistrates to interpose for the preservation of uniformity and peace in the church.

Mr. DEANE made the following communication respecting an original manuscript of Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, in the Library of this Society:

Governor Bradford's Dialogue between Old Men and Young Men, concerning "The Church and the Government thereof."

The author of this Dialogue was William Bradford, for many years governor of the colony of New-Plymouth, and author of the History of Plymouth Plantation, published for the first time, by the Massachusetts Historical Society, in

1856. The original manuscript, written in the beautiful hand of Governor Bradford, in a small volume, five inches by three in size, of about one hundred and fifty pages, is in the Library of the Historical Society.

This, it will be seen, is styled the "third conference."

The first Dialogue, or Conference, was held or written in 1648, and relates chiefly to the views of the Separatists; and gives a most interesting and valuable sketch of those who were early and prominently engaged in the religious movement which marked the rise of that sect, with many of whom Bradford was personally acquainted. A few leaves only of the original manuscript of the first conference are extant, and these are in the Library of the Historical Society. The whole, however, was copied by Secretary Morton into the records of the Plymouth Church, and was printed for the first time by Dr. Young, in his Chronicles of the Pilgrims, in 1841. In a note at the conclusion of the Dialogue, Dr. Young says, " Bradford continued this Dialogue in two other parts; one of which I have had in my possession, written with his own hand. The title is as follows: A Dialogue or 3d Conference,' &c., citing in full the title of the volume before us. As to the second conference, I have never seen it, nor any reference to it.

This Third Conference, as will be seen by the title, relates to "The Church and the Government thereof." The date, "1652," on the first leaf of the book, probably indicates the year in which it was written. Though this must be regarded as mainly an ecclesiastical discussion, it cannot be wholly devoid of interest and value in an historical point of view. Correct opinions on this subject were considered as of the first importance by our Pilgrim ancestors; and a knowledge of what one, with the experience, position, and character of Governor Bradford, thought and felt concerning the religious sects of his own day, will not be regarded with indifference by any student of our early history. Bradford was sweet-tem

pered and heavenly-minded in his youth. Forming his religious opinions at an early age, the sincerity of his convictions was soon put to the test. The singular purity of his character received its seal in the ordeal of persecution through which he passed. He well knew what it meant to be compelled to leave his native land and the associations there dear to him, that he might worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. A firm opponent of all religious hierarchies and spiritual domination, he belonged to that sect of Christians sometimes nicknamed "Brownists," which had wholly separated from the Church of England. Brought up under the teachings of the famous Robinson (who, though a rigid Separatist at first, so far modified his views as to admit that good men might be found in all the reformed communions), Bradford became a man of large and generous views, singularly forgiving, and tolerant in his judgment of others. In treating of the Papists, his language may seem severe he has no qualifying words; but probably his estimate of that stupendous hierarchy would not differ materially from that of the great body of Protestants to-day throughout the world, and he cites abundant authority for his historical statements.

Congregationalism was the central thought which animated the minds of the Pilgrims, and around which clustered their hopes of securing a pure faith and worship. Firm in his convictions of the validity of that form of church government, Bradford ably defends it throughout this little treatise, as agreeing alike with the Word of God, and with the examples of the first Christians. The Protestant doctrine of the Sufficiency of the Scriptures is laid down at the beginning of the Dialogue, as a starting point in the discussion.

Under the head of "The Independent or Congregational way," in which body Bradford would include his own communion (though the name "Independent," he says, was put upon them by way of reproach), it is worthy of notice that,

for his proofs and illustrations, he draws largely from a work of John Cotton, published in 1648. This shows how fully at this time the religious opinions of the founders of the Massachusetts Colony, composed chiefly of Puritans within the Church of England who never would admit that they had left her communion, harmonized with those of the Separatists of Plymouth.

Bradford seems not to have been unmindful of the influence of his own colony in moulding the ecclesiastical constitution of the neighboring settlement. The good Plymouth physician, Deacon Samuel Fuller, had more than once been called professionally to administer to the necessities of the Massachusetts colonists in times of sickness; and on such occasions the opportunities for conferences on higher themes were not lost. He was in Charlestown in the summer of 1630, soon after the arrival there of Winthrop and his company; and in one of his letters to Governor Bradford from that place, dated June 28th, he says: "I have been at Mattapan, at the request of Mr. Warham, and let some twenty of those people blood; I had conference with them till I was weary. Mr. Warham holds that the visible church may consist of a mixed people, – godly, and openly ungodly,-upon which point we had all our conference, to which I trust the Lord will give a blessing. Here is come over with these gentlemen one Mr. Phillips (a Suffolk man), who hath told me in private, that if they will have him stand minister by that calling which he received from the prelates in England, he will leave them. The governor is a godly, wise, and humble gentleman, and very discreet, and of a fine and good temper. We have some privy enemies in the Bay, but, blessed be God, more friends. The governor hath had conference with me, both in private and before sundry others. Opposers, there is not wanting, and Satan is busy; but if the Lord be on our side, who can be against us? The governor hath told me he hoped we will not

be wanting in helping them, so I think you will be sent for. Here is a gentleman, one Mr. Cottington, a Boston man, who told me that Mr. Cotton's charge at Hampton was, that they should take advice of them at Plymouth, and should do nothing to offend them. Captain Endicott (my dear friend, and a friend to us all) is a second Barrow."* Endicott's sympathy in Fuller's views had been secured the preceding year at Salem. This letter shows the anxiety which existed in the minds of the Plymouth people respecting the then pending question of the ecclesiastical constitution of the new colony. ‡ In another letter from Fuller to Bradford, dated at Charlestown, August 2d, the writer mentions the entering into church covenant there of some of the principal persons of the settlement, according to the Congregational method. After citing this last letter in his History, Bradford concludes: "Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here § kindled hath shone to many; yea, in some sort, to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise!" ||

The original manuscript of this Dialogue, as I have said, is in the Library of the Historical Society. From a memorandum on one of the leaves at the beginning of the volume, made in 1826, it appears to have been "found among

* See I. Mass. Hist. Coll. iii. 74, 75.

† See Bradford's History, pp. 264, 265.

See Palfrey's History of New England, i. 316, 317.

"Gov.

§ Prince, i. 250, cites this passage from Bradford's MS. History, and says: Bradford adding this immediately after the article [letter] of Aug. 2, it seems uncertain whether by here he meant Plymouth or Boston Church; though I am apt to think the latter." The following manuscript note, by Judge Davis, is written in the margin of his own copy of Morton's Memorial (penes me) against this citation: "I doubt the correctaess of Mr. Prince's conjecture in reference to the meaning of Gov. Bradford's language in this instance. For many reasons, which might be suggested, it would appear probable, that by 'here,' Gov. B., always a stanch Plymothean, had reference to Plymouth." Bradford's History, p. 279.