The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

I. Publisher Harris-Uses Prophetic Idioms in New England Primer

Unusual importance attaches to BENJAMIN HARRIS (fl. 1673-1716), Anabaptist bookseller, publisher, and author, and publisher of the first American newspaper. Born in England, he began his publishing career by printing a religious work, War with the Devil (1673). This he produced at his bookshop m London, which served as a center for the dissemination of his views. From 1676 to 1686 Harris published much, including books, broadsides, ballads, and tracts, against the perversities of the Jesuits and the pope. ³ Prominent among these was The Protestant Tutor (1679), ⁴ the preface of which was addressed to “All Protestant Parents, School-Masters and School-Mistresses of Children.” These publications brought him into sharp conflict with the civil authorities. He engaged in denouncing the “Popish Plots” and published the journal Domestick Intelligence, which name was soon changed to Protestant (Domestick) Intelligence ⁵ In 1681, because of pressure and differences over publishing policies, it ceased publication. But while it was being issued under the latter name this advertisement appeared: PFF3 115.2

Picture 1: FAMOUS NEW ENGLAND PRIMER INTERPRETS SYMBOLS
Passing through unnumbered editions, the harris reader included prophetic terms in Smith-field martyr Rogers’ Poem (upper), with lines omitted in modern reproduction (Lower). Man of sin pictured in early editions (center)
page 117

“There is lately Published by Benjamin Harris, a Book Intituled, The Protestant Tutor, Instructing Children to Spell and Read English, and Grounding them in the True Protestant Religion, and Discovering the Errors and Deceits of the Papists.” ⁶ PFF3 117.1

In 1686 Harris left for Boston with a stock of books and opened a bookshop in the center of the town, establishing himself on a firm basis. Competition was keen, but he was successful in launching An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord MDCLXXXVII, by John Tulley. ⁷ This he continued to publish. The 1694 issue contains a bit of prophetic interpretation following the Almanack proper. In 1687 Harris went back to London to procure more books, returning to Boston in 1688. In 1690 he started Publick Occurences, Both Forreign and Domes-tick ⁸ the first “genuine newspaper” to be published in America. But the word “Publick” was construed as constituting an official document sustained by the government. The colonial authorities were therefore compelled to suppress it.” ⁹ So the first American newspaper was short-lived. PFF3 117.2

But Harris’ best claim to fame was the publication of The New England Primer, As previously noted, before coming to New England, Harris had brought out The Protestant Tutor, containing a Protestant catechism and a “Little Book of Martyrs,” designed to teach children spelling and “the true Protestant religion,” as well as the errors and iniquities of the “Papists.” Much of the Tutor seems to have been incorporated into The New England Primer ¹⁰ which, as a textbook for children, became “probably the most remarkable book that was ever published in this country.” In this enterprise, Harris was apparently aided by Cotton Mather, Samuel Willard, and Judge Sewall. This New England Primer had a “mighty influence in moulding the mind, forming the habit, and coloring the creed of our ancestors.” It is a mirror of the Puritanism of the time, even including leading points in prophetic interpretation. By it millions were taught to read, that they might read the Bible. From it numberless individuals drew their first instruction in religious principle. With it they were drilled and catechized. ¹¹ PFF3 118.1

The New England Primer is aptly described thus: PFF3 118.2

“In prose as bare of beauty as the whitewash of their churches, in poetry as rough and stern as their storm-torn coast, in pictures as crude and unfinished as their own glacial-smoothed boulders, between stiff oak covers, which symbolized the contents, the children were led ... to God.” ¹² Ginn and Company’s “Foreword,” accompanying a modern (1937) facsimile reproduction, declares: PFF3 118.3

“The New England Primer was one of the greatest books ever published. It went through innumerable editions; it reflected in a marvellous way the spirit of the age that produced it, and contributed, perhaps more than any other book except the Bible to the moulding of those sturdy generations that gave to America its liberty and its institutions.” PFF3 118.4

The second edition, advertised in Newman’s News from the Stars ¹³ in 1690, indicates that its success was immediate. Wherever there was a local press it was reprinted-though changed until no two editions were exactly alike. ¹⁴ Prior to 1800 alone there were more than forty known editions. The New England presses could not supply the demand, and many were printed in Old England and imported; its total sales were literally “numbered by millions.” ¹⁵ Charles F. Heartman gives doubtless the most elaborate bibliographical check list extant-tabulating publishers and printers in more than seventy different cities. He puts the number issued between 1680 and 1830 as six to eight million. ¹⁶ In England the Primer was popular in an edition, presumably the same in text, entitled The New Englisfi Tutor, ¹⁷ but it was more popular under its own name. PFF3 119.1

In 1690 Harris produced more than ten publications, and in 1692 he became the official printer to the governor. But in 1695, after only eight years in Boston, he returned to London, having become the leading publisher and bookseller of the seventeenth century in America. ¹⁸ Of the fifty-five book titles in a list of early American imprints between 1692 and 1694, thirty-two were printed by Harris. ¹⁹ PFF3 119.2

1. PROPHETIC TERMINOLOGY IN “TUTOR” AND “PRIMER.”

Harris’ Protestant Tutor, upon which draft was made for his New England Primer and New English Tutor, dwelt upon the “Cruelties, Treasons, and Massacres” of “Papists” beginning under Bloody Mary-such as the Spanish Armada of 1588, the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the “Massacre of Ireland” of 1642, and the massacre of the French Protestants (1572), Waldenses and others (1655-56). ²⁰ It also was permeated with the prophetic terms and applications characteristic of the time. One standard feature in all three works was the alleged last message of John Rogers, minister of St. Sepulcher’s Church in London, and first martyr at Smith field under Queen Mary, in 1554. Along with other admonitions in verse, Rogers, as illustrated by a woodcut of the victim at the stake, is quoted as saying to his children: PFF3 119.3

“Abhor that arrant Whore of Rome,
And all her Blasphemies;
And drink not of her cursed Cup,
obey not her Decrees.” ²¹ PFF3 120.1

2. CATECHISM’S ANSWERS FROM THE PROPHECIES

Another feature replete with prophetic citations and admonitions was the “Catechism” for children, which was part of Harris’ Protestant Tutor. Questions 19 and 20 deal with the explicit terms and texts of prophetic exposition, and read: PFF3 120.2

“19. Q. Is the Pope rightly termed his Holiness? A. No. 2 Thessalonians 2:3. THAT man of SIN. PFF3 120.3

“20. Q. Is the Pope’s Power from God or from Satan? A. Satan. Revelation 13:2. The Dragon gave him his Power, and his Seat and great Authority.” ²² PFF3 120.4

The concluding questions in the series are even more pointed: PFF3 120.5

“42. Q. Is Rome stiled Babylon in the Revelation? A. Yes. Revelation 17:3, 5, 9, 18. I saw a Woman sit upon a Scarlet coloured Beast, full of names of Blasphemy? having seven Heads: and upon her Fore-head was a Name written Mystery, Babylon the great, the. Mother of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth. The seven Heads are seven Mountains, on which the Woman sitteth: and the Woman which thou sawest, is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth. PFF3 120.6

“43. Q. May we joyn with Rome? A. No. Revelation 18:4, 5. I heard a Voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her my People, that ye be not partakers oL her Sins, and that ye receive not of her Plagues. For her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” ²³ PFF3 120.7

3. PROPHETIC TERMINOLOGY IN “LITTLE MARTYRS.”

In Harris’ Protestant Tutor the “Little Book of Martyrs” depicts the papal persecutions in England for several hundred years. Starting with John Wycliffe, we quote these lines: PFF3 120.8

“And now John Wicklift boldly did begin
To preach ‘gainst Antichrist, that Man of Sin:
Who many Troubles stoutly did abide,
Yet spight o’th Pope, he naturally dy’d:
And being dead, from out the grave was turn’d;
And had his martyr’d Bones to Ashes burn’d.
Which Ashes they did cast into a Brook,
Because he had the Romish Faith forsook.” ²⁴ PFF3 121.1

Then comes the roster of such names as Sawtrey, Badly, Thorp, Cobham, Brown, Beverley. Later come these lines: PFF3 121.2

“After which Thomas Bilney did begin
To teach and preach against the Man of Sin,
And in St. Georges Church in Ipswich Town,
The Papists from the Pulpit pluckt him down.” ²⁵ PFF3 121.3

Now follows the recital of the fires of Smithfield, Oxford, and other places under Bloody Mary, with the martyr names of John Rogers, Laurence Saunders, John Bradford, Bishop Hooper, Latimer, Ridley, and Cranmer-800 slaughtered and 12,700 persecuted under Henry and Mary. ²⁶ PFF3 121.4

4. CUT OF TRIPLE-CROWNED MAN OF SIN

Most striking of all, and doubtless the most offensive to Catholics, was a cut, or print, of a man with a triple crown, bearing the caption, “The Pope, or Man of Sin.” This appeared in Harris’ New English Tutor, and in various editions of The New England Primer ²⁷ appearing as late as the 1770 Boston printing. ²⁸ PFF3 121.5

It was obviously based on the familiar figure of a man used to illustrate the signs of the zodiac in the almanac, with lines from different members of the body radiating out to the letters ABC, etc.-only with the superimposed papal tiara. The key read: PFF3 121.6

“Child, behold that Man of Sin, the Pope, worthy of thy utmost hatred. ‘Thou shalt find in his head, (A) Heresy.
In his Shoulders, (B) The Supporters of Disorder.
In his Heart, (C) Malice, Murder, and Treachery.
In his Arms, (D) Cruelty.
In his Knees, (E) False Worship and Idolatry.
In his Feet,(F) Swiftness to shed Blood.
In liis Stomach, (G) Insatiable (love. toiisness.
In his Loyns, (H) The worst of Lusts.” ²⁹ PFF3 121.7

In the 1737 edition of the Primer the cut was reproduced, but the key” ³⁰ was omitted. Later altered editions all omit the figure. (Reproduction of cut appears on page 116.) PFF3 122.1

5. ALTERATIONS OF THE TEXT

Wherever there was a local press it was reprinted, and variations in the text reflected political changes, religious trends, or the publishers’ taste or business interests, but there were certain characteristics which preserved the identity oL the Primer-the alphabet, syllabarium, Scripture ([notations, Lord’s prayer, Apostles’ Creed, catechism (either Cotton’s Milk for Babes or the Westminster Shorter Catechism or both), the famous alphabetical rhymes beginning- PFF3 122.2

“In Adam’s Fall
We sinned All” PFF3 122.3

and the even more famous poem and picture of the martyr John Rogers. ³¹ PFF3 122.4

This last affords a glaring example of modern tampering-irrespective of the motive-as it affects the constantly used and commonly understood idioms of prophetic interpretation in the seventeenth century. Virtually all the early editions had a cut of the martyred John Rogers, with the accompanying admonition to his children, which contained the lines before mentioned: PFF3 122.5

“Abhor that arrant Whore of Rome,
And all her Blasphemies;
And drink not of her cursed Cup,
obey not her decrees.” ³² PFF3 122.6

But in the “Twentieth Century Reprint,” previously noted, these four lines only of the poem have been expunged from the facsimile plate, simply leaving a blank space, while the rest of the poern is retained intact. This indicates a motive behind the change today from the emphasis and attitude of those earlier generations in colonial America when this Historical School of Protestant interpretation of prophecy was wrought into the very fabric of the basic literature of the time. PFF3 123.1