Of medium height, florid complexion, and as he grew old some tendency to
be stout, but with snowy hair and much personal dignity, he seems to have
had an irresistible charm of manner toward those whom he wished to
attract.
Comprehending thoroughly the feelings and prejudices of the clergy, he
influenced them even more by his exquisite tact than by his commanding
ability; and of easy fortune and hospitable alike from inclination and
from interest, he entertained every elder who went to Boston. He
understood the art of flattery to perfection; or, as Norton expressed it,
"he was a man of ingenuous and pious candor, rejoicing (as opportunity
served) to take notice of and testifie unto the gifts of God in his
brethren, thereby drawing the hearts of them to him...." [Footnote:
Norton's _Funeral Sermon_, p. 37.] No other clergyman has ever been able
to reach the position he held with apparent ease, which amounted to a
sort of primacy of New England. His dangers lay in the very fecundity of
his mind. Though hampered by his education and profession, he was
naturally liberal; and his first miscalculation was when, almost
immediately on landing, he supported Winthrop, who was in disgrace for the
mildness of his administration, against the austerer Dudley.
The consciousness of his intellectual superiority seems to have given him
an almost overweening confidence in his ability to induce his brethren to
accept the broader theology he loved to preach; nor did he apparently
realize that comprehension was incompatible with a theocratic government,
and that his success would have undermined the organization he was
laboring to perfect.
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