During the next few years events moved fast. In 1678 the ecclesiastical
power was so shattered that the Baptists felt strong enough to build a
church; but the old despotic spirit lived even in the throes of death, and
the legislature passed an act forbidding the erection of unlicensed
meeting-houses under penalty of confiscation. Nevertheless it was
finished, but on the Sunday on which it was to have been opened the
marshal nailed the doors fast and posted notices forbidding all persons to
enter, by order of the court. After a time the doors were broken open, and
services were held; a number of the congregation were summoned before the
court, admonished, and forbidden to meet in any public place; [Footnote:
June 11, 1680. _Mass. Rec._ v. 271.] but the handwriting was now glowing
on the wall, priestly threats had lost their terror; the order was
disregarded; and now for almost two hundred years Massachusetts has been
foremost in defending the equal rights of men before the law.
The old world was passing away, a new era was opening, and a few words are
due to that singular aristocracy which so long ruled New England. For two
centuries Increase Mather has been extolled as an eminent example of the
abilities and virtues which then adorned his order. In 1681, when all was
over, he published a solemn statement of the attitude the clergy had held
toward the Baptists, and from his words posterity may judge of their
standard of morality and of truth.
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