1969/06/01 by E. Brooks Holifield · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #American Constitutional Law and Politics #Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment #Anabaptists #Toleration #Law #Religious studies #Theology #History #Philosophy #Classics #Sociology #Political science #Politics
paper · doi:10.2307/3162706
openalex publication_date 1969/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
On a December day in 1676, Thomas Shepard, minister of the Church of Christ in Charlestown, passionately “discoursed of Reformation,” bemoaning the inability of the ministers and magistrates to unite against the disorderly mob of Quakers and Anabaptists. If the Quakers were suppressed, he argued, maybe the recalcitrant magistrates would “see reason to handle” the troublesome Anabaptists. His sympathic audience, Mr. Rowlandson, the Lancaster minister, Mr. Willard, pastor of the Old South Church, and Mr. Sewall, their host, listened quietly. It had not always been like this. Magistrates had once been reliable champions of the “Congregational Way.”