XXV.—But, if we direct our attention to the word of God, it will carry us much further; even to submit to the government, not only of those princes who discharge their duty to us with becoming integrity and fidelity, but of all who possess the sovereignty, even though they perform none of the duties of their function. For though the Lord testifies that the magistrate is an eminent gift of his liberality to preserve the safety of men, and prescribes to magistrates themselves the extent of their duty; yet he, at the same time, declares, that whatever be their characters, they have their government only from him; that those who govern for the public good are true specimens and mirrors of his beneficence; and that those who rule in an unjust and tyrannical manner are raised up by him to punish the iniquity of the people; that all equally possess that sacred majesty which he hath invested with legitimate authority....
XXIX.—But it will be said, that rulers owe mutual duties to their subjects. That I have already confessed. But he who infers from this that obedience ought to be rendered to none but just rulers, is a very bad reasoner. For husbands owe mutual duties to their wives, and parents to their children. Now, if husbands and parents violate their obligations, if parents conduct themselves with discouraging severity and fastidious moroseness towards their children, whom they are forbidden to provoke to wrath: if husbands despise and vex their wives, whom they are commanded to love and to spare as the weaker vessels; does it follow that children should be less obedient to their parents; or wives to their husbands? They are still subject, even to those who are wicked and unkind....
XXXII.—But in the obedience which we have shewn to be due to the authority of governors, it is always necessary to make one exception, and that is entitled to our first attention, that it do not seduce us from obedience to him, to whose will the desires of all kings ought to be subject, to whose decrees all their commands ought to yield, to whose majesty all their scepters ought to submit....
62. Early Hardships and Religious Matters, 1630-1631
a. Extracts from Winthrop's "History of New England"
John Winthrop, leader of the great Puritan migration of 1630, while on board ship, began a "Journal," which gradually merged into a great contemporary "History." The work was printed first in 1790. A better edition appeared in 1853; and, that edition having long been "out of print," the work was reëdited by Dr. James K. Hosmer in 1907 ("Original Narratives" Series). The spelling and punctuation have been modernized in all these editions.
(1) [The Voyage.]
April 6, 1630. [Eight days on board; but still delayed at Yarmouth in the English Channel]....
Our captain called over our landmen, and tried them at their muskets, and such as were good shot among them were enrolled to serve in the ship, if occasion should be.