Thus all men's pleas the Judge with ease

doth answer and confute,

Until that all, both great and small,

are silencéd and mute.

Vain hopes are cropt, all mouths are stopt,

sinners have naught to say,

But that 'tis just and equal most

they should be damn'd for aye.

Behold the formidable estate of all the ungodly as they stand hopeless and helpless before an impartial Judge expecting their final Sentence. Rev. 6: 16, 17.

EPILOGUE TO "GOD'S CONTROVERSY WITH NEW

ENGLAND"

Ah dear New England! dearest land to me;
Which unto God hast hitherto been dear,
And mayst be still more dear than formerlie,
If to his voice thou wilt incline thine ear.

Consider wel & wisely what the rod,

Wherewith thou art from yeer to yeer chastized,
Instructeth thee. Repent, & turn to God,
Who wil not have his nurture be despized.

Thou still hast in thee many praying saints,
Of great account, and precious with the Lord,
Who dayly powre out unto him their plaints,

And strive to please him both in deed & word.

Cheer on, sweet souls, my heart is with you all,
And shall be with you, maugre Sathan's might:
And whereso'ere this body be a Thrall,

Still in New-England shall be my delight.

N

PETER FOLGER

[The greater part of the New England writings that have been preserved from the seventeenth century are the work of ministers and other members of the theological and intellectual oligarchy that dominated the government. Many of the contemporaries of these authors were, however, practical, hardheaded Yankees who were inclined to criticise the opinions and the acts of their superiors. These men were not in the habit of writing much, and they doubtless refrained, through fear for their personal safety, from expressing their most radical ideas openly. The few of their rude utterances that have been preserved have, therefore, an especial interest. One of these works is "A Looking Glass for the Times, or The former Spirit of New-England revived in this generation," a doggerel poem of some four hundred lines, written by Peter Folger in 1675. Folger was one of the first settlers of Nantucket, a land-surveyor, who, if he had written nothing, would still have been remembered as the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. At the outbreak of the Indian troubles he took the ground that the afflictions of the colonists were a divine punishment for their religious intolerance, and he criticised the interference of the ministers with affairs of state. A mistaken reading of a passage in Franklin's "Autobiography" once led to the belief that the verses were published in the year that they were written; but it now seems certain that Folger had the discretion common to men of his class, and that he gave his work no publicity that was likely to get him into trouble. It is probable that if Cotton Mather had seen the poem, he would not have used some complimentary terms with which he refers to the author in the "Magnalia." The first known edition of the verses, now very rare, was published in 1763. The brief selection here given is from the reprint of this edition made by Sidney S. Rider in the Rhode Island Historical Tracts.]

A WORD CONCERNING MAGISTRATES AND MIN

ISTERS

[From "A Looking Glass for the Times"]

I would not have you for to think,
tho' I have wrote so much,
That I hereby do throw a Stone

at Magistrates as such.

The Rulers in the Country I

do own them in the Lord;
And such as are for Government,
with them I do accord.

But that which I intend hereby,

is that they would keep bound, And meddle not with God's Worship, for which they have no ground. And I am not alone herein, there's many hundreds more That have for many Year's ago spake much upon that Score, Indeed I really believe

it's not your Business

To meddle with the Church of Christ, in Matters more or less,

There's work enough to do besides,
to judge in mine and thine,
To succour Poor and Fatherless,
that is the Work in fine.

And I do think that now you find

enough of that to do;

Much more at such a Time as this

as there is War also,

Indeed I count it very low

for People in these Days,

To ask the Rulers for their leave to serve God in his Ways.

I count it worse in Magistrates

to use the Iron Sword,

To do that Work which Christ alone

will do by his own Word.

The Church may now go stay at home,

there's nothing for to do;

Their Work is all cut out by Law, and almost made up too.

Now Reader, least you should mistake, in what I said before Concerning Minister's, I think

to write a few Words more,

I would not have you for to think that I am such a Fool,

To write against Learning, as such, or to cry down a School.

But 'tis that Popish College way, that I intend hereby,

Where Men are mew'd up in a Cage,

fit for all Villany.

But I shall leave this puddle Stuff

to neighbours at the Door,

That can speak more unto such things,

upon a knowing Score.

And now these Men though ne'er so bad, when they have learn'd their Trade, They must come in and bear a Part, whatever Laws are made.

I can't but wonder for to see our Magistrates and Wise,

That they sit still, and suffer them, to ride on them, not rise,

And stir them up to do that Work
that Scripture Rule there wants,
To persecute and persecute

Those that they judge are Saints.
There's one thing more that I believe
is worse than all the rest,
They vilify the Spirit of God,

and count School Learning Best.
If that a Boy hath learn'd his Trade,
and can the Spirit disgrace,

Then he is lifted up on high,

and needs must have a Place, But I shall leave this dirty Stuff, and give but here a hint,

Because that you have Cradock's Book,

and may see more in Print.

There are some few, it may be, that

are clear of this same Trade;

And of those Men, I only say,

these Verses are not made.