Hypocrisy Unmasked, Letter 2
The ſecond letter of Samuel Gorton and his Accomplices,
From our Neck: Curo, September 15. 1643.
TO the great and honoured Idol Generall, now ſet up in the Maſſachuſets, whoſe pretended equity in diſtribution of Juſtice unto the ſoules and bodies of men, is nothing elſe but a meer device of man, according to the ancient cuſtomes & ſleights of Satan, transforming himſelf into an angel of Light, to ſubject and make ſlaves of that ſpecies or kinde that God hath honoured with his owne Image, read Dan. 3. Chap. wherein (if it be not like Lots love unto the Sodomites) you may ſee, the viſage or countenance of the State, for wee know the ſound of all the muſick, from the higheſt note of wind-inſtruments, ſounding, or ſet up by the breath or voices of men, (to have dominion and rule as though there were no God in heaven or in earth but they, to doe right unto the ſonnes of men) unto the loweſt tones of the ſtringed inſtruments, ſubjecting themſelves to hand or skill of the deviſed miniſtrations of men, as though God had made man to bee a vaſſall to his owne ſpecies or kinde, for hee may as well bee a ſlave to his belly, and make it his God, as to any thing that man can bring forth, yea, even in his beſt perfection, who can lay claime to no title or terme of honour but what the duſt, rottenneſſe, and putrefaction can affoord, for that of right belongeth ſolely to our Lord Chriſt. Woe therefore unto the world, becauſe of the Idols thereof; for Idols muſt needs be ſet up, but woe unto them by whom they are erected.
Out of the aboveſaid principles, which is the kindome of darkneſſe and of the devill; you have writ another Note unto us, to adde to your former pride and folly, telling us againe, you have taken Pumham, with others into your Juriſdiction and Government, and that upon good grounds (as you ſay:) you might have done well to have proved your ſelfe Chriſtians, before you had mingled your ſelves with the heathen, that ſo your children might have knowne how to put a diſtinction betwixt yours and them in after times, but wee perceive that to bee too hard a worke for your ſelves to performe, even in time preſent. But if you will communicate Juſtice and Government with that Indian, wee adviſe you to keep him amongſt your ſelves, where hee, and you may performe that worthy worke: Yet upon a better ground, wee can informe you, that hee may not expect former curteſies from us, for now by your Note, wee are reſolved of his breach of Covenant with us, in this his ſeeking and ſubjection unto you, which formerly hee hath alwayes denyed; let him and you know therefore, that hee is to make other proviſion for his planting of corne hereafter, than upon Mſhawomet, for wee will not harbour amongſt us any ſuch fawning, lying, and cadaverous perſon as hee is, after knowledge of him, as now in part you have given unto us, onelyonly hee ſhall have liberty ſufficient to take away his corne, habitation, or any of his implements, ſo be it hee paſſe away in peace and quiet, which might in no caſe bee admitted, if it were ſo that wee lived by blood, as you doe, either through inciſion of the noſe, diviſion of the eare from the head, ſtigmatize upon the back, ſuffocation of the veines, through extremity of cold, by your baniſhments in the winter, or ſtraugled in the fleſh with a halter. But we know our courſe, profeſſing the kingdome of God and his righteouſneſſe, renouncing that of darkneſſe and the devill, wherein you delight to truſt, for without the practiſe of theſe things, you cannot kiſſe your hand, bleſſe the Idol, nor profeſſe your vowes and offerings to bee paid and performed. O yee generation of vipers, who hath fore-warned you, or fore-ſtalled your mindes with this, but Satan himſelfe, that the practice of theſe things is to fly from the wrath to come; Whereas the very exerciſe and performance of them, is nothing elſe but the vengeance and wrath of God upon you already, in that mankind, ſo harmonically made in the Image of God, is in the exerciſes of the kingdome, become the torturer and tormentor, yea the executioner of it ſelfe, whilſt thoſe of you that are of the ſame ſtock and ſtem, worke out, yea, and that curiouſly, through the law of your mindes, the death and deſtruction of one another; when as, in the meane time, the ſame nature or ſubſiſtance, in the way of our Lord Jeſus, ſaves both it ſelfe and others. You tell us of complaints made by the Indians, of unjuſt dealings and injuries done unto them, why doe they not make them knowne to us, they never complained to us of any thing done unto this day, but they had ſatisfaction to the full, according to their owne minde, for oft wee know, in what they expreſſe unto us, although our wrongs inſufferable done by them lie ſtill in the deck, for wee know very well, wee have plenty of cauſeleſſe adverſaries, wanting no malice that Satan can inject, therefore wee ſuffer much, that in the perfection and heighth of their plots, they may receive the greater rebuke and ſhame for their baſeneſſe, in the eies of all the world.
To which end wee have not onelyonly committed our condition unto writings, but them alſo into the hands and cuſtody of ſuch friends, from whom they ſhall not bee taken by any, or by all the governments of this Country, as formerly they have beene, that ſo our wrongs might not appeare; therefore never picke a quarrell againſt us in theſe things, for wee know all your ſtiles and devices, that being you now want ſuch as old malicious Arnauld, one of your low ſtringed inſtruments, to exerciſe his fidle amongſt us, and wee are void of your benediction alſo, ſprung out of the ſame ſtock to make rents and diviſions for you to enter to gaine honour unto your ſelves in having patients to heale, though they lie never ſo long under your hands, your chirurgerie muſt bee thought never the worſe. Wanting theſe or ſuch like of the Engliſh, to betray the liberties, God hath given us into your hands, now you worke by your coadjutors, theſe accurſed Indians; but you are deceived in us, we are not a Cope fitted for your ſo eager appetite, no otherwiſe, then if you take it downe it ſhall prove unto you a Cope of trembling, either making you vomit out your owne eternall ſhame, or elſe to burſt in ſunder with your fellow confeſſor for aire, Jud… Iſcariot.
For Mr. Winthrop and his Copartner Parker, may not thinke to lay our purchaſed plantation to their Iland ſo neere adjoyning, for they come too late in that point, though Benedick hath reported that Myantonimo, one of the Sachims, of whom wee bought it, ſhould loſe his head for ſelling his right thereof to us.
As alſo a miniſter affirmed that Mr. Winthrop ſhould ſay to him, that wee ſhould either bee ſubjected unto you, or elſe removed hence, though it ſhould coſt Bloud. Know therefore, that our lives are ſet apart already for the caſe wee have in hand, ſo wee will loſe nothing but what is put apart aforehand, bethinke your ſelves therefore what you ſhould gaine by fetching of them, in caſe it were in your power, for our loſſe ſhould bee nothing at all.
For wee are reſolved, that according as you put forth your ſelves towards us, ſo ſhall you finde us transformed to anſwer you. If you put forth your hand to us as country-men, ours are in readineſſe for you: If you exerciſe the pen, accordingly doe wee become a ready writer; If your ſword bee drawne, ours is girt upon our thigh; If you preſent a gun, make haſte to give the firſt fire: for we are come to put fire upon the earth, and it is our deſire to have it ſpeedily kindled.
For your purſuite of us, ſtill, to come your Courts, to receive your parcells of Juſtice, undoubtedly either God hath blinded your eyes that you ſee not our anſwer formerly given in that point, or elſe you are moſt andacious to urge it upon us againe; alſo you may take notice that wee take it in more diſdaine then you could doe, in caſe we ſhould importune you (yea) the chiefe amongſt you, to come up to us, and bee employed according to our pleaſure, in ſuch workes as wee thought good to ſet you about; and for your grant of freedome unto us to come downe to you, and returne in ſafety, wee cannot ſufficiently vilifie this your verball and per…unctory offer, knowing very well, according to the verdict of your owne conſcience, that what wrongs ſoever are paſſed amongſt us ſince our comming into this Country, you have beene the violent agents, and wee the patients. To feare therefore to come amongſt you as ſuch as have done wrong, the cauſe vaniſheth in us, ſo muſt the effect alſo. And to feare to come unto you as tyrants, which your grant muſt neceſſarily implies, wee cannot, knowing that hee which is with us, is ſtronger then hee which is with you.
Alſo the earth is the Lords and the fullneſſe thereof, and when, and where hee ſhall call wee will goe, but not at the will and luſt of ſorry men to play their parts with us at their pleaſure, as formerly they have done, and as it is apparant you deſire to doe, for if your luſts prevailed not over you in that kinde, you might well thinke that wee have better employments then to trot to the Maſſachuſets upon the report of a lying Indian, or Engliſh either, as your factors and ordinary hacknies doe.
But know this Oyee—that ſo long as wee behave our ſelves as men, walking in the name of our God, where ever wee have occaſion to come, if any mortall man whoſe breath is in his noſtrils, dares to call us into queſtion, wee dare to give an anſwer to him, or them, nor ſhall wee faile through God, to give teſtimony even in his conſcience of the hope that is in us, whether his queſtion may concerne the rice or ſucceſſion either of Prieſt or Peere. In the meane time we ſit in ſafety under the cloudy pillar, while the Nations roare and make a noiſe about us, and though you may looke upon us with the unopened eye of Eliahs ſervant, thinking us as nothing to thoſe that are againſt us, yet wherever the cloud reſts, wee know the Lords returne to the many thouſands of Iſrael.
In that you ſay our freedome granted to come to you, takes away all excuſe from us, wee freely retort it upon your ſelves to to make excuſes, whoſe Lawes and proceedings with the ſoules and bodies of men, is nothing elſe but a continued art (like the horſe in the mill) of accuſing and excuſing, which you doe by circumſtances and conjectures, as all the fathers have done before you, the Diviners and Necromancers of the world, who are gone to their owne place and have their reward; But for the true nature, riſe, and diſtribution of things as they are indeed and ſhall remaine and abide as a law firme and ſtable forever, wee ſay and can make it good, you know nothing at all, therefore ſuch as can delight themſelves in preaching, profeſſing, and executing of ſuch things, as muſt end as the brute beaſts doe, nay take them away for preſent and they have loſt their honour, religion, as alſo their God; let ſuch wee ſay, know themſelves to bee that beaſt and falſe prophet, no man of God at all. In the meane time wee looke not on the things that are ſeene, but on the things that are not ſeene, knowing the one are temporary, the other eternall. Nor doe wee thinke the better of any man for being inveſted into places or things that will in time waxe old as doth a garment, neither judge we the worſe of any man for the want of them: for if we ſhould we muſt condemne the Lord Chriſt, as ſo many doe at this day.
Wee demand when wee may expect ſome of you to come to us, to anſwer and give ſatisfaction for ſome of theſe foule and inhumane wrongs you have done, not to the Indians, but to us your country-men: not to bring in a Catalogue, as we might, take this one particular abuſe you are now acting; in that you abet, and backe theſe baſe Indians to abuſe us. Indeed Pumham is an aſpiring perſon, as becomes a Prince of his profeſſion, for having crept into one of our neighbours houſes, in the abſence of the people, and felloniouſly rifled the ſame, hee was taken comming out againe at the Chimney-top: Soccononoco alſo hath entred in like manner into one of our houſes with divers of his companions, and breaking open a cheſt, did ſteale out divers parcels of goods, ſome part whereof, as ſome of his companions have affirmed, are in his cuſtody at this time. Yet we ſtand ſtill to ſee to what good iſſue you will bring your proceedings with theſe perſons, by whom you are ſo honorably attended in the Court generall, as you call it, and would honour us alſo, to come three or foureſcore miles to ſtand by you and them; wee could tell you alſo that it is nothing with theſe fellowes to ſend our cattle out of the woods with arrowes in their ſides, as at this preſent it appeares in one even now ſo come home, and it is well they come home at all, for ſometimes their wigwams can receive them, and wee have nothing of them at all; yea they can domineere over our wives and children in our houſes, when wee are abroad about our neceſſary occaſions, ſometimes throwing ſtones, to the endangering of their lives, and ſometimes violently taking our goods, making us to runne for it if wee will have it, and If wee ſpeake to them to amend their manners, they can preſently vaunt it out, that the Maſſachuſets is all one with them, let the Villanie they doe bee what it will, they thinke themſelves ſecure, for they looke to bee upheld by you in whatever they doe, if you bee ſtronger then them which they have to deale withall, and they looke with the ſame eye your ſelves doe, thinking the multitude will beare downe all, and perſwade themſelves (as well as they may) that you tolerate and maintaine them in other of their daily practices, as lying, Sabbath-breaking, taking of many wives, groſſe whoredomes, and fornications, ſo you will doe alſo, in their ſtealing, abuſing of our Children, and the like, for you have your diligent ledgers amongſt them that inculcate daily upon this, how hatefull wee are unto you, calling us by other names of their owne deviſing, bearing them in hand, wee are not Engliſh men, and therefore the object of envy of all that are about us, and that if wee have any thing to doe with you, the very naming our perſons ſhall caſt our caſe bee it what it will, as it is too evident by the caſe depending betweene William Arnauld and John Warner, that no ſooner was the name of Mr. Gorton mentioned amongſt you, but Mr. Dudley diſdainefully asking, is this one, joyned to Gorton, and Mr. Winthrop unjuſtly upon the ſame ſpeech, refuſed the oath of the witneſſe calling him knight of the poſt: are theſe the wayes and perſons you trade by towards us? are theſe the people you honour your ſelves withall? the Lord ſhall lay ſuch honour in the duſt, and bow downe your backes with ſhame and ſorrow to the grave, and declare ſuch to bee Apoſtatiſers from the truth, and falſifiers of the word of God onelyonly to pleaſe men, and ſerve their owne luſts, that can give thankes in their publique Congregations for their unity with ſuch groſſe abominations as theſe. Wee muſt needes aske you another queſtion from a Sermon now preached amongſt you, namely how that bloud reliſheth you have ſucked formerly from us, by caſting us upon ſtraights above our ſtrength, that, have not beene exerciſed in ſuch kinde of labours, no more then the beſt of you in former times in removing us from our former conveniences, to the taking away of the lives of ſome of us, when you are about your diſhed up dainties, having turned the juice of a poore ſilly Grape that periſheth in the uſe of it, into the bloud of our Lord Jeſus by the cunning skill of your Magicians, which doth make mad and drunke ſo many in the world, and yet a little ſleepe makes them their owne men againe, ſo can it heale and pacifie the conſciences at preſent, but the leaſt hand of God returnes the feares and terrour againe, let our bloud wee ſay preſent it ſelfe together herewith, you hypocrites when will you anſwer ſuch caſes as theſe, and wee doe hereby promiſe unto you, that wee will never looke man in the face if you have not a fairer hearing then ever wee had amongſt you, or can ever expect; And bee it knowne to you all, that wee are your owne Countrymen, whatever you report of us, though the Lord hath taught us a language you never ſpoake, neither can you heare it, and that is the cauſe of your alienation from us; for as you have mouthes and ſpeake not, ſo have you eares & heare not; ſo we leave you to the judgement and arraignment of God Almighty. The joynt act, not of the Court Generall, but of the peculiar fellowſhip, now abiding upon Mſhawomet.
Randall Holden.
This they owned in Court though onelyonly Holdens hand were to it.
Poſtſcriptum.
VVEE need not put a ſeale unto this our warrant, no more then you did to yours. The Lord hath added one to our hands, in the very concluſion of it, in that effuſion of bloud, and horrible Maſſacre, now made at the Dutch plantation, of our loving Country-men, women, and children, which is nothing elſe, but the compleate figure in a ſhort epitomie of what wee have writ, ſummed up in one entire act, and leſt you ſhould make it part of your juſtification, as you do all ſuch like acts, provided they bee not upon your owne backes, concluding them to be greater ſinners then your ſelves, wee tell you (nay) but except you repent, you ſhall likewiſe periſh.
For wee aske you who was the cauſe of Miſtreſſe Hutchinſon her departure from amongſt you, was it voluntarie? No, ſhee changed her phraſes according to the dictates of your tutors, and confeſſed her miſtakes, that ſo ſhee might give you content to abide amongſt you, yet did you expell her and caſt her away; no leſſe are you the originall of her removall from Aquethneck, for when ſhee ſaw her children could not come downe amongſt you, no not to conferre with you in your own way of brotherhood; but be clapt up, and detained by ſo long impriſonment, rumors alſo being noiſed, that the Iſland ſhould bee brought under your Government, which if it ſhould, ſhee was fearefull of their lives, or elſe to act againſt the plaine verdict of their owne conſcience, having had ſo great and apparant proofe of your dealings before, as alſo the Iſland being at ſuch diviſions within it ſelfe, ſome earneſtly deſiring it ſhould bee delivered into your hands, profeſſing their unity with you, others denyed it, profeſſing their diſſent and diviſion from you, though for what themſelves know not, but onelyonly their abominable pride to exerciſe the like tyranny.
From theſe and ſuch like workings having their originall in you, ſhee gathered unto her ſelfe and tooke up this fiction, (with the reſt of her friends) that the Dutch plantation was the Citie of refuge, as ſhee had gathered like things from your doctrines before, when ſhe ſeemed to hold out ſome certaine glimpſes or glances of light, more then appeared elſewhere whilſt there was ſuch to approve it, in whom there might bee ſome hope to exalt the inſtruments thereof, higher then could bee expected from others, but you know very well you could never reſt nor bee at quiet, till you had put it under a Buſhell, ideſt, bounded and meaſured the infinite and immenſe word of God, according to your owne ſhallow, humane, and carnall capacities, which, howſoever may get the higheſt ſeates in your Synagogues, Synods, and Jewiſh Synedrions, yet ſhall it never enter into the kingdome of God to be a doorekeeper there. Do not therefore beguile your ſelves in crying out againſt the errours of thoſe ſo miſerably falne, for they are no other things which they held but branches of theſame root your ſelves ſo ſtoutly ſtand upon, but know this that now the axe is laid to the root of the tree, whereof you are a part, and every tree that brings not forth fruit according to the law of that good things, which the father knowes, how to give to thoſe that aske it, ſhall bee cut downe, and caſt it into the fire: Neither doe you fill up your ſpeeches or tales, (wee meane your Sermons) but that wee affect not the Idolizing of words, no more then of perſons or places. For your ſelves know the word is no more but a bruit or talke, as you know alſo your great and terrible word Magiſtrate, is no more in its originall, then Maſterly, or Maſterleſſe, which hath no great luſtre in our ordinary acceptation. Therefore wee looke to finde and injoy the ſubſtance, and let the ceremony of theſe things, like vapour vaniſh away, though they gather themſelves into clouds, without any water at all in them, the Lord is in the mean time a dew unto Iſrael, and makes him to grow like a lillie, caſting out his roots and branches as Lebanon.
We ſay, fill not up your talk as your manner is, crying, that ſhee went out without ordinances, for God can raiſe up out of that ſtone, which you have already rejected, as children, ſo alſo miniſters and ordinances unto Abraham: You may remember alſo, that every people and poore plantation, formerly fleeced by you, cannot reach unto the hire of one of your Levites, nor fetch in, one ſuch Dove as you ſend abroad into our native Country, to carry and bring you news.
Nor can you charge them in that point, for it was for protection or government ſhee went; And however, hire, in other reſpects, yet the price of a wife, and ſafetie of his owne life adjoyned, carryed a Miniſter along with them of the ſame riſe and breeding together with you… owne, to adde unto the blood ſo ſavagely and cauſeleſly ſpilt, with a company of ſuch as you take pleaſure to protect, for they are all of one ſpirit, if they have not hands in the ſame act; we ſay their death is cauſeleſſe, for wee have heard them affirm that ſhee would never heave up a hand, no nor move a tongue againſt any that perſecuted or troubled them, but onelyonly indeavour to ſave themſelves by flight, not perceiving the nature and end of perſecution, neither of that antichriſtian oppoſition and tyrannie, the iſſue whereof declares it ſelf in this ſo … and lamentable.
Note, good Reader, that I had order to publiſh theſe two Letters of his, as well literatim as verbatim, but becauſe their Orthography was ſo bad, as it would ſcarce have been underſtood, I left it to bee corrected by the Printer, but no word to be changed: And the reaſon of the word here left out, is, becauſe it was worne out, and ſo ſoyled in the origina… … wee could not read it, and thought good rather to leave it a bl…k, then to put in a word of our own that was not theirs.
In the next place, I preſent thee here …ith certaine Obſervations collected out of both their Letters, by a godly and reverend Divine, whereby the Reader may the better underſtand them, and indeed try the ſpirits of theſe men, whether they be of God or no. Now theſe his Obſervations are ranked into three H…ads: Ʋiz.
Firſt, their reproachfull and reviling ſpeeches of the Government and Magiſtrates of the Maſſachuſets, which in Gortons Booke hee pretends ſo much to honour, becauſe their Government is derived from the State of England; and therefore I deſire thee to take the better notice of it.
The ſecond Head of his Obſervations directs thee to their reviling language, not onelyonly againſt that particular Government, and the Magiſtrates of it, but againſt Magiſtracy it ſelfe, and all Civill power.
And in his third Head; thou art directed to take notice of their blaſphemous ſpeeches againſt the holy things of God. All which becauſe they are of great concernment, I beſeech the Reader to take a little paines to compare them with Mr. Gort…ns and his Companies Letters.