Life of William Phips, Biography · Section 7
SECT. 7.
I am willing to Employ the Teſtimonies of others, as much as may be, to ſupport the Credit of my Hiſtory: And therefore, as I have hitherto related …o more than what there are Others enough to avouch; Thus I ſhall chooſe the Words of an Ingenious Perſon Printed at London ſome Years ago, to expreſs the Sum of what remains, whoſe Words are theſe, It has always been Sir William Phips's Diſpoſition to ſeek the Wealth of his People with as great Zeal and Unweariedneſs, as our Publicans uſe to ſeek their Loſs and Ruine. At firſt it ſeems, they were in hopes to gain this Gentleman to their Party, as thinking him Good-Natur'd, and eaſie to be flattered out of his Underſtanding; and the more, becauſe they had the advantage of ſome, no very good Treatment that Sir William had formerly met with, from the People and Government of New-England. But Sir William ſoon ſhewed them, that what they expected would be his Temptation to lead them into their little Tricks, he embraced as a Glorious Opportunity to ſhew his Generoſity and Greatneſs of Mind; for, in Imitation of the Greateſt Worthies that have ever been, he rather choſe to join in the Defence of his Country, with ſome Perſons, who formerly were none of his Friends, t…a… become the Head of a Faction, to its Ruine and …eſolation. It ſeems this Noble Diſpoſition of Sir William, joined with that Capacity and good Succeſs wherewith he hath been attended, in Raiſing himſelf by ſuch an Occaſion, as it may be, all things conſidered, has never happened to any before him, makes theſe Men apprehenſive; — And it muſt needs heighten their trouble to ſee, that he neither hath, nor doth ſpare himſelf, nor any thing that is near and dear unto him, in promoting the Good of his Native Country.
When Sir William Phips was per ardua & aſpera, thus Raiſed into an Higher Orb, it might eaſily be thought that he could not be without Charming Temptations to take the way on the left hand. But as the Grace of God kept him in the midſt of none of the ſtricteſt Company, unto which his Affairs daily led him, from abandoning himſelf to the lewd Vices of Gaming, Drinking, Swearing and Whoring, which the Men that made England to ſin, debauch'd ſo many of the Gentry into, and he deſerved the ſalutations of the Roman Poet:
Cum Tu, inter ſcabiem tantam, & Contagia Lucri,
Nil parvum ſapias, & adhuc Sublimia cures:
Thus, he was worthy to paſs among the Inſtances of Heroick Vertue for that Humility that ſtill Adorned him: He was Raiſed, and though he prudently accommodated himſelf to the Quality whereto he was now Raiſed, yet none could perceive him to be Lifted up. Or, if this were not Heroick, yet I will Relate one Thing more of him, that muſt certainly be accounted ſo. He had in his own Country of New-England, met with Provocations, that were enough to have Alienated any man Living that had no more than Fleſh and Blood in him, from the Service of it; and ſome that were Enemies to that Country, now lay hard at him to join with them, in their Endeavours to Raviſh away their Ancient Liberties. But this Gentleman had ſtudied another way to Revenge himſelf upon his Country, and that was to ſerve it, in all …ts Intereſts, with all of his, even with his Eſtate, …s Time, his Care, his Friends, and his very Life! The Old Heathen Vertue of PIETAS IN PATRIAM, or, LOVE TO ONES COƲNTRY, he turned into Chriſtian; and ſo notably exemplified it, in all the Reſt of his Life, that it will be an Eſſential Threed which is to be now interwoven into all that remains of his Hiſtory, and his Character. Accordingly though he had the Offers of a very Gainful Place among the Commiſſioners of the Navy, with many other Invitations to ſettle himſelf in England, nothing but a Return to New-England would content him. And whereas the Charters of New-England being taken away, there was a Governour Impoſed upon the Territories with as Arbitrary, and as Treaſonable a Commiſſion perhaps, as ever was heard of; a Commiſſion, by which the Governour, with Three or Four more, none of whom were choſen by the People, had Power to make what Laws they would, and Levy Taxes, according to their own Humours, upon the people; and he himſelf had Power to ſend the Beſt men in the Land, more than Ten Thouſand miles out of it, as he pleaſed: And in the Execution of his Power, the Country was every day ſuffering Intollerable Invaſions upon their Proprieties, yea, and the Lives of the Beſt Men in the Territory began to be practiſed upon: Sir William Phips applied himſelf to Conſider what was the moſt ſignificant Thing that could be done by him for that poor people, in their preſent Circumſtances. Indeed, when King James offered, as he did, unto Sir William Phips an Opportunity to Ask what he pleaſed of Him, Sir William Generouſly prayed for nothing but This, That New-England might have its Loſt Priviledges Restored. The King then Replied, Any Thing but that! whereupon he ſet himſelf to Conſider what was the Next Thing, that he might Ask for the ſervice, not of himſelf but of his Country. The Reſult of his Conſideration was, That by Petition to the King, he Obtained, with Expence of ſome Hundreds of Guinea's, a Patent, which conſtituted him The High Sheriff of that Country; Hoping, by his Deputies. in that Office, to ſupply the Country ſtill with Conſcientious Juries, which was the Only Method that the New-Englanders had left them, to ſecure any thing that was Dear unto them. Furniſhed with this Patent after he had in Company with Sir John Narborough, made a Second Viſit unto the Wreck (not ſo advantageous as the former, for a Reaſon already mentioned) in his way he Returned unto New-England, in the Sumaner of the Year 1688. able, after Five Years Abſence, to Entertain his Lady with ſome Accompliſhment of his Predictions; and then Built himſelf a Fair Brick Houſe in the very place, which wee foretold, the Reader can tell how many Sections ago. But the Infamous Government then Rampant there, found a way wholly to put by the Execution of this Patent; yea, he was like to have had his Perſon aſſaſſinated in the face of the Sun, before his own Door, which, with ſome further Deſigns then in his Mind, cauſed him, within a few Weeks to take another Voyage for Ergland.