921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

84 Memoir of
when, and by what influences was this marvel-
lous result attained ? Who were they that con-
tended against the seemingly inseparable union
of civil and ecclesiastical power, on which the
colonial government was founded, and for the
perpetuation of which the chief magistrates
of those times so earnestly struggled? Who
taught the people to develop that spirit, which,
at a later period, spurned the narrow and big-
oted policy of those who sought to rule men's
souls with a rod of iron? Most of the Puri-
tan ministers were in full accord with the pub-
lic opinion of their day and generation; but
there were some among the preachers and the
laymen, of large minds and of prophetic vision,
who took no part in the persecutions of their
fellow-beings, but advocated, in those days of
darkness, the true principles of toleration, and
demanded the dissolution of all connection
between civil and ecclesiastical authority.
" The clergy were consulted about the laws,
were frequently present at the passing of them,
and, by the necessity of their influence on
the origination, demonstrated how much the