921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

_ev. Sarnue/ _[//ziling. 65
in the summer following Mr. Whiting's arrival
here. Though it lasted only about a year, it
was sufficiently savage and merciless to show
him that fighting men were in need of more
light upon the true principles of Christianity.
To an enlightened statesman, the aspect of
public affairs in the Colony of Massachusetts
Bay, at that time, must have seemed gloomy
and disheartening. Although. our forefathers
fled from England to escape the control of
a government which had become a tyranny
because it was armed with the powers of
the Church and State combined, yet a re-
markable peculiarity in the plan of self-gov-
ernment adopted by them was the strict and
inseparable union of civil and ecclesiastical
authority. And many of the magistrates,
though annually elected by the votes of the peo-
ple, seemed determined to grasp the power of
governing the bodies and souls of their associates.
As early as I634, the General Court, then
consisting of the governor, lieutenant-governor,
assistants, and deputies, and holding the legislative
power, passed the following order:m
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