Of course, in the seventeenth
century such a phase of feeling was ephemeral; but the phenomena which
attended it are exceptionally interesting, and possibly they are somewhat
similar to those which accompany the liberation of a primitive people.
The knowledge which divided the Massachusetts clergy from other men was
their supposed proficiency in the interpretation of the ancient writings
containing the revelations of God. For the perpetuation of this lore a
seminary was as essential to them as an association of priests for the
instruction of neophytes is to the Zuni now, or as the training at the
Temple was to the Jews. In no other way could the popular faith in their
special sanctity be sustained. It is also true that few priesthoods have
made more systematic use of terror. The slaughter of Anne Hutchinson and
her family was exultingly declared to be the judgment of God for defaming
the elders. Increase Mather denounced the disobedient Colman in the words
of Moses to Korah; Cotton Mather revelled in picturing the torments of the
bewitched; and, even in the last century Jonathan Edwards frightened
people into convulsions by his preaching. On the other hand, it is obvious
that the reproduction of the Mosaic law could not in the nature of things
have been complete; and the two weak points in the otherwise strong
position of the clergy were that the spirit of their age did not permit
them to make their order hereditary, nor, although their college was a
true theological school, did they perceive the danger of allowing any lay
admixture.
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