921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

I I4 Memoir of
Yet do I think yt our laws and our magistrates
have been mch too hard vpon them, and vpon
others that do not think alike wth vs. Surelie
wee, of all people, ought to know how pretious
libertie of conscience is, for manie of vs here
haue suffered enow for its sake. And I do say
yt a church yt cannot stand of its own strength
ought to fall. And I doe say further, yt when
one strippeth naked and goeth about uttering
iamentations and outcries against ye evil ways
of y° people, they themselves are in evil ways
and should be dealt with by y° civil power, be
they Quakers or what nots. And so I end my
says about y_ matter."
During the year 166I new disputes arose
respecting religious rites and observances.
" Those differences of opinion," says Drake,*
"relative to certain theological points, had at
this time, in the opinion of the General Court,
become alarming. To remedy the evil, that
body ordered a synod, or council, of all the
churches to convene at Boston in the month of
September. This has been regarded by many
* Hist. of Boston, p. 36z.