These magisterial rigors did not suffice to quell the evil-doers; for shortly afterwards Philip Radcliff ventured to revile the “powers that be;” nor did he scruple to asperse the colonial churches. For this misdemeanor he was condemned to lose his ears. This did not subdue him; so he was whipped and banished. All which processes did not serve to increase his affection for the Pilgrims. Landing in England, he did them what mischief he could.[737]
Then came another rogue. This was Sir Christopher Gardiner, “one of those mysterious visitors whose appearance in remote settlements so easily stimulates the imaginations of men of more staid habits and better mutual acquaintance.”[738] It was not known who he was, nor whence he came, nor why. It has been conjectured that he was a spy of Sir Ferdinand Gorges and other foes of Puritanism in England.[739] Bradford says, “He came into these parts on pretence of forsaking the world, and to live a private life in a godly course. He had been a great traveller, was a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, and a relative of that Gardiner who was so bitter a persecutor under “Bloody Mary.” Now he avowed himself penitent for his past ill life, offered to join the churches here, and said he was willing to apply himself to any employment.”[740]
Soon, however, he fell under suspicion at Massachusetts Bay. He was suspected of living in concubinage with “a comely young woman whom he had brought over with him,” and whom he called his cousin, “after the Italian manner.” Being cited to answer these charges, he decamped. Soon Winthrop received letters which showed that this “knight” had “two wives living in London.”[741] An order was issued for his apprehension. Eventually he took refuge at Plymouth. Here he chanced to drop his diary; and in this was found a “memorial showing what day he was reconciled to the pope and the church of Rome, and in what university he took his scapula and such and such degrees.”[742] So Bradford sent the unmasked Jesuit, with the unfortunate diary, to Winthrop;[743] who, in his turn, presently sent him back “to the two wives in Old England, that they might search him further.”[744] On reaching the island, he was not restrained of his liberty, but roaming at large, soon found out the enemies of the colonies; and he, with Radcliff, actively engaged in intrigues to its prejudice.[745]
“So difficult was it,” observes Elliot, “to get away from the wickedness of Satan, who, even in this virgin land, and among these godly Puritans, would thrust himself in where his company was in no way wanted. But now one more rascal was exported and sent home, where, with his two wives and his ‘Italian manner,’ and his popery, he would not poison Massachusetts.”[746]
Yet, spite of these isolated instances of riot, insubordination, and disturbance, the Puritan settlements were in the main models of industry, sobriety, and good order. “I have read,” says Cotton Mather, “a printed sermon which was preached before ‘both Houses of Parliament, the lord-mayor and aldermen of London, and the Westminster assembly of divines,’ the greatest audience then in the world; and in that sermon the preacher had this passage: ‘I have lived in a country where, in seven years, I never saw a beggar, nor heard an oath, nor looked upon a drunkard.’ That Utopia was New England.”[747] Mather adds sadly: “But they who go hence now must tell another story.”[748]
What was the secret of such prosperity? When Demosthenes was asked what it was that so long preserved Athens in a flourishing state, he replied, “The orators are men of learning and wisdom; the magistrates do justice; the citizens are quiet, and the laws are kept among them all.”[749] ’Twas a glorious record for the immortal city, and the same secret gave the settlements of the Pilgrim fathers substantial peace and happy order.
Winthrop relates that once “at Watertown there was, in the view of divers witnesses, a great combat betwixt a mouse and a snake; and, after a long fight, the mouse prevailed and killed the snake. The pastor of Boston, Mr. Wilson, a very sincere, holy man, hearing of it, gave this interpretation: the mouse was a poor contemptible people, brought by God hither, who should overcome Satan here, and dispossess him of his kingdom. Upon the same occasion he added: ‘I dreamed before coming to this country, that I was here and saw a church rise out of the earth, which gradually expanded into a colossal shape’—as pray God ours may.”[750]
Winthrop’s prayer seemed even then in the way to exact fulfilment. Many earnest, devoted Pilgrims, continued to pour into New England. In 1631, Eliot, the famous apostle to the Indians, landed at Salem.[751] Full of love and full of hope, he soon entered upon those labors which have immortalized his name on earth, and enrolled it on the heavenly records as a teacher and benefactor of his race.[752] A little earlier, Roger Williams was wafted to these shores, where, in his May of youth, he found a glorious destiny awaited him.[753]