The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 3

V. The Collapse of the Theocratic Experiment

The closing years of the seventeenth century witnessed a profound change in Massachusetts. The experiment of a theocratic Bible commonwealth had failed. The influence of the clergy in civil government, though not eliminated, was greatly restricted, and their hold upon the people definitely weakened. During the half century of its supremacy it had been subjected to a succession of shocks-the struggle for representative government, the stand of Roger Williams, the Quaker invasion, the annulling of the old charter, and reaction from the witchcraft prosecutions. Each had played its part in the overthrow. ¹⁸ PFF3 143.2

But more powerful than all these was perhaps the gradual trend toward rationalism, the development of liberalism, and the widening of human sympathies. The old school churchmen remained rigid and unyielding, and sought to perpetuate the pattern of the Puritan founders in the great American venture. In this they failed. Wertenbaker phrases it well: PFF3 143.3

“In the last analysis the New England theocracy failed because it tried to crystalize the Puritan spirit of the seventeenth century, while the tide of a new civilization swept over and past them.” ¹⁹ PFF3 143.4

Picture 1: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LEADERS CONTINUE PROPHETIC INTERPRETATION
Left to right (upper): Thomas prince, congregational clergyman; jonathan Mayhew, Dudleian lecturer; aaron burr, presbyterian president of princeton. (center): Charles Chauncy, congregational minister; samuel Sewall, massachusetts jurist; Jonathan Edwards,revivalist and princeton president. (lower): Isaac backus, baptist historian; timothy dwight, president of vale; william Linn, president of Queen’s college
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