The Launch of Falcon Fleet Forty Five From Boston
Yesterday, my friend Casey called me and I told him I was not in my body and had been astro-traveling to Oakland where I visited the homes of all my friends – who had died. There were hostile people. One man pulled a gun on me. I awoke in the middle of the night and removed the name of a helper and her dog because I believed I was under psychic attack. I read about the Russian threat. Then I found the long poem of my 9th. grandfather that speaks of the plague and the Spanish armada. John (Jack) is the person that wants to be in me right now. I told Casey my Walk-ins go way back and began at a early age. We talked about Jack London’s father being a medium and Tarot card reader.
The image of my ancestor was rendered – after he was exhumed from his grave -because no one thought to paint his portrait while alive. We have the same aquiline nose. That is the church he founded burning down. I am in Real Time. The Russians have made their Rasputin. This is why I made my helpers, Victoria Rosamond Bond, and Miriam Starfish Christling. They are my Spirit Guide and Spirit Protection.
No man of God, or theologian – but I – can explain the event of the dead coming out of their graves – at the moment of the death of Jesus. This did not happen – when he was resurrected. Jesus had opened The Land of The Dead – so he could enter – and do holy work with the dead. I believe he was conducting a Baptism of the dead so they would be free of the sins they collected – while alive – so then could be citizens of The New Earth and Heaven – that the Puritans believed they were ordained to dwell in, be fruitful…..and multiply! I believe the holy ghosts of the Puritans wandered the American Wilderness as Holy Spirits. I call to them – and their horses! This is it! This is no dress rehearsal. It’s…….Show Time! The makers of Lord of the Rings, did not have the Dead Kings attack on horseback. Why?
Jack Wilson
Furturian Warrior and High Priest
“I see the shapes of men….and horses!”
(6) How to Read the Judgment Card | Tarot Cards – YouTube
(6) Aragorn and the Army of the Dead (EXTENDED) – LOTR – YouTube
(6) FRIESIAN HORSE – A Documentary about the Amazing Friesian Horse .. – YouTube
“and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
These verses see the resurrection of “many” saints, and their appearance in the city where they are seen by “many.” The concern that Biblical scholars have had for centuries with this story, is that these momentous events are mentioned nowhere else. Not only are they not noticed by any contemporary non-Christian sources, but none of the other gospel writers mentions this occurring. The author of Matthew gives no further details himself about this event.[2] No reaction to these events is described, nor does he mention what happened to the saints after their appearance. Nolland speculates as to what happened after to the risen saints. He considers it unlikely that they simply returned to the grave after a brief time among the living, he also does not think it likely that the saints resumed their normal lives on Earth. Thus Nolland feels that Matthew probably imagines the saints being translated directly to heaven after a short time on Earth, similar to Elijah.[3]
The army of the dead were men of the White Mountains. They were cursed by Isildur to stay at Middle-earth after they broke their oath of loyalty to him during the War of the Last Alliance. Since it was Isildur who cursed them, they could only answer to an heir of Isildur. The army of the dead was known to haunt the caves below the Dwimorberg. They also hunt the valley of Harrowdale, also known as Paths of the Dead. It is said that if the army of the dead is spotted in the valley or in the Paths of the Dead, this is a warning that death or trouble is on the way. The army of the dead was led by the king of the dead, considered to be the most terrifying among them all. The army of the dead was known by many names, such as the Oathbreakers, the Dead of Dunharrow, the Grey Host, the Sleepless Dead, the Shadow-men, the Shadow host, and the Shadows. Note that the term “army of the dead” was only used in Peter Jackson’s portrayal of the Lord of the Rings.
? Army of the Dead | The Tolkien Forum Wiki ?
The Bohemian Knight Under White Mountain | Rosamond Press
Elisabeth von Pezold, née Princess of Schwarzenberg-Frauenberg | Rosamond Press
Come to White Mountain
Posted on October 1, 2014 by Royal Rosamond Press
Twenty-seven years ago I began to warn my Hippie-Liberal friends that the Christian-right will take us back in time – to the new Dark Age! When Bush invaded Iraq, I told my friends Radical Islam will help the Christian-right put the world in Biblical mud buildings – with dirt floors.
The Czech Republic sent the Kurds AK-47 ammunition via the Canadian Air Force – that arrived September 18th. Is that Czech ammunition we see the Kurdish women loading into their weapons in my post ‘The Rebirth of Chivalry’? This ammo is a God-send that arrived in the nick-of-time!
The history of the British Isles and Bohemia is very intertwined. Together they form the Protestant Hegemony in Europe. All the Royal Houses of Europe come together in Bohemia where on White Mountain the Protestant Wittelsbach family lost Bohemia to Papal Habsburg forces. Pope Francis almost calls for a new Crusade. What would a Protestant Crusade look like? Would Francis bless such a thing?
Wensel Anton Braskewitz/Prescowitz, came to America from Bohemia Czechoslovakia. He was named after the Wenceslas Kings of Bohemia.
US and NATO meet to discuss ‘Russia’s recent large-scale military activities’ near Ukraine (msn.com)
The United States and European allies are “discussing concerns” about Russia’s reported military buildup on the border of Ukraine, a senior State Department official said in a warning to Moscow.
“We’re absolutely concerned by recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine, including violations of the July 2020 ceasefire,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Thursday. “Additionally, we are aware of Ukrainian military reports concerning Russian troop movements on Ukraine’s borders. We are discussing our concerns about that increase in tensions and ceasefire violations and regional tensions with NATO
Price blamed Russia for the deaths of four Ukrainian soldiers last week, whereas Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov raised the specter of “new war” in eastern Ukraine due to ceasefire violations that Moscow attributes to Ukrainian forces. Russian officials deny invading Ukraine, despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s previous admission that he had ordered such an operation, and maintain that Ukrainian officials need not fear the movement of Russian troops to the Ukrainian border.
“The Russian Federation transfers the Armed Forces on its soil as it wants to,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, per state media. “This should not concern anyone and this is not posing any threat to anrgyone.”
US EYES RUSSIAN MOVES IN UKRAINE WITH SUSPICION
The buildup spurred a meeting of diplomats from across the NATO alliance. “Allies shared their concerns about Russia’s recent large-scale military activities in and around Ukraine,” a NATO official told Reuters. “Russia’s destabilizing actions undermine efforts to deescalate tensions,”
Ukraine and Russia have been locked in a conflict since 2014, when unmarked Russian forces rolled over the border into Crimea as Putin and other Russian officials denied their involvement. That claim was an apparent effort to induce Ukraine’s U.S. and European partners from responding efficiently, but Putin admitted to the ruse during a 2015 documentary on the operation.
“I gave orders to the Defense Ministry —why hide it? — to deploy special forces of the GRU [military intelligence], as well as marines and commandos there under the guise of reinforcing security for our military facilities in Crimea,” Putin said.
Peskov reverted Thursday to the previous posture of denying military involvement in Ukraine.
“As for the participation of Russian troops in the armed conflict on Ukraine’s soil, the Russian troops have never taken part in it and are not participating now,” Peskov said. “And we, the European countries and all world states, would not like the civil war in Ukraine as a result of provocations and provocative steps by Ukraine’s military to flare up again.”
Russian forces are amassing on the border on a scale that Ukrainian officials suggest could portend a major assault. “Moscow must stop fueling the military frenzy and immediately and explicitly confirm its commitment to a diplomatic settlement and ceasefire,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday.
Lavrov struck an ominous note while denying any Russian responsibility for tensions. “Any attempts to start a new military conflict in Ukraine’s war-torn east could end up destroying Ukraine,” Lavrov said Thursday, per the Kyiv Post.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Price avoided making explicit criticism of Russia’s reported troop buildup within Russian borders but signaled Washington’s displeasure. “What we would object to are aggressive actions — actions that have an intent of intimidating, of threatening, our partner in Ukraine,” he said.
Tags: News, Foreign Policy, National Security, Russia, Ukraine, NATO, Vladimir Putin
Original Author: Joel Gehrke
Original Location: US and NATO meet to discuss ‘Russia’s recent large-scale military activities’ near Ukraine
Attack On My Cats And Light
Posted on June 27, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
My ugly neighbors have been forming a ‘God Squad’ that was founded by Jason who had his sons preaching to other children trying to convert them. I am sure many of my neighbors heard about my resistance to the God Squad who saw me taking walks with my cats. I say MY cats because you did not see them walking with others who live here. Everyone was amazed! They compared me to Jesus, and, that made them irate because I gave them no sign I was one of them, and thus a follower of Jesus. They felt threatened, because they saw a light around me. Why wasn’t I sharing it with them? They could feel my light had healing energy. Why wasn’t I healing them? I was healing them. They being in my presence – is healing! Ugly and obese Kim Haffner needed to be healed. I was healing her, but this giant hog-woman wanted more.
Kim wanted it all for all the wrong reasons. She is a CONSUMER, a ravenous bottomless pit! Look at her ugly lard hanging down! Kim is ashamed she looks like this. She is aware our neighbors are disgusted. She needs a diversion. She needs to make the Beautiful – ugly! She needs to be seen as the beautiful Light Giver and Defender of the Ugly. I doubt she is a Christian. She did this to a woman in the last place she lived. Kim is – insane! She betrayed our friendship by passing around my sister’s biography. Handing it to her was her invitation to invade my privacy – with the help of my fucking ugly neighbors!
Kim is very smart, but her disability overcame her ambitions. This is why she ended up working on a mental ward, the only ones seeing her most of the day, are mentally ill. Tis was a her social level, her station in life. When she read about my family sister, and saw how gifted and smart I was, she was very threatened. All of a sudden the hiding place for all her blubber, is gone! She used my identity to hide her obesity. In the videos she rages about how I don’t belong here – and my cats! We are too beautiful. She is too ugly!
“Look at him – not me! He’s the ugly one – not me!”
If you must know, I am a priest after Melchizedek.
My cat in Boston would walk after me three blocks to the park where she played with dogs. They chased her up a tree, but, she then went down and chased them.
Angry, Jealous, Devils are everywhere! This is why I stay to myself – and write all day! They want me to come outside and play evil witchy religious games with them. Fuck off!
What got my neighbors in a rage is my declaration that I am their beloved Anti-Christ who must come before the return of Jesus. Now being a big part of the Evangelical Pantheon, I declare I will not to FULFILL any of their expectations, thus thwarting the Second Coming.
“I have seen the blue print! How can I be anti-anything if I do not oppose it?”
And they were in a fury that I tripped them up, and challenged their belief system that has taken over the Senate and White House? Why should I leave them alone when they claim that pussy-grabber is like a Messiah? As the latest accusation he raped a woman, it says;
“She’s not my type!”
Where is the Angry Christian Mob gathering at the White House to thwart the real Antichrist? Where is the God Squad? This is Mass Mental Illness!
John Presco
TEMPLAR SUCCESSION OF THE MAGI PRIESTHOOD OF MELCHIZEDEK
The Order of the Temple of Solomon, as the direct continuation of the historical Knights Templar, has preserved the Ancient Priesthood of Solomon, which includes the most ancient Magi Priesthood of the Biblical Melchizedek.
John Wilson – Has Risen!
Posted on December 10, 2019 by Royal Rosamond Press
Several researchers say my 9th. grandfather is buried in a vault under King’s Chapel in Boston, but, his remains and coffin have not been found. There is a hidden room, that contains his massive folio of writing. He wrote many poems in Latin. Rena Easton was supposed to come to Boston in 1970. She is destined to find Wilson’s bones with me, and commit to memory my kin’s work. My twice named unborn granddaughter, is destined to own the Wilson legacy. She too will own an amazing memory. Lara Roozemond is my kindred. She is coming to believe in her destiny, and moves into the Realm of the Rose in the Water of Eternal Life!
The insane and deluded Evangelical President is meeting with a Russian Warlock today in order to decide the fate of America found by the Wilsons. Trump has the Attorney General on the leash of The Devil, and has ordered him to destroy the FBI and the Department of Justice. The Southern Baptist Hersey is the bodyguard of a Lying Lunatic – who is Impeached! Of course Trump and Melania want to find the Fountain of Youth. The First Lady is one-hundred a eighty-six years old!
John Wilson Rosamond
Copyright 2019
John Wilson and Judgement Day
Posted on September 27, 2018by Royal Rosamond Press
Today is John Wilson’s Day. He is a great grandfather of mine. He was the head of the First Church of Boston, and a Puritan leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He judged two women. One was excommunicated, the other, hanged.
The question I put forth, is, was the Spirit of Jesus at these trials? Was his spirit, invoked? This is the late 1600s. Jesus has not yet bid The Boston Patriots to rebel against the Church of England, and Their King, which the ministers of The King’s Church – ruled an Act of Treason!
Did Jesus found our Democracy in 1776? Most of the evangelicals who lay hands of the President of the United States, claim God-Jesus did just that. Why then didn’t King Jesus bid our Founding Fathers to give women The Right To Vote? It appears women had a voice in the first churches established in The Colonies – by my kindred. Does this give me a Divine Parotitic Voice? Or, do I have to subscribe to The Rapture? Are these questions ones that Brett Kavanaugh should be considering, verses what other woman is going to step out of the dark and accuse him of getting a teenage child drunk and raping her with the help of his best friend – who will not be testifying today!
John Presco ‘Nazarite Judge’
“On the eve of an extraordinary hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee at which both Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a California professor who has accused him of assaulting her when they were both teenagers, will testify, Mr. Trump said that “some very evil” Democrats had plotted to destroy Judge Kavanaugh’s reputation. And he lamented what he called “a very dangerous period in our country” in which men are presumed guilty.”
While Wilson had little to say during Hutchinson’s civil trial, he delivered the final pronouncement at her church trial.
Wilson exhorted Mary Dyer to repent, but it was her goal to hang as a martyr.
In the 1650s Quaker missionaries began filtering into the Massachusetts Bay Colony, mostly from Rhode Island, creating alarm among the colony’s magistrates and ministers, including Wilson.[9] In 1870, M’Clure wrote that Wilson “blended an intense love of truth with as intense a hatred of error”, referring to the Quakers’ marked diversion from Puritan orthodoxy
Return of the Scarlet Letter
Posted on August 7, 2018by Royal Rosamond Press
My kindred, John Wilson, is buried in The King’s Chapel, along with Elizabeth Pain who is associated with Hester Prynne the subject of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.
Christine Wandel lived on Hancock Street located on Beacon Hill. I lived on Anderson Street a few blocks away. I took the Mafia to court at the top of Hancock, and won. I loved in with Dottie Witherspoon on Cambridge. She descends from Signer, John Witherspoon. We were both looking for a new religion. We were destined for the Church. I should have never left Boston. I have features like John Wilson. I am kin to real Boston Bluebloods.
I am going to author a Television Script titled ‘The Return of the Scarlet Letter’. The series will span time. The spirit of John and Elizabeth will come into the beings of many. John was the minister of the first church in Boston and brought the word of God to the Native Americans, and is in Hawthorne’s book. Beacon Hill was a Hobbit like place.
John Presco
Copyright 2018
http://www.celebrateboston.com/strange/scarlet-letter.htm
Elizabeth Pain’s gravestone in King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts
Pain’s grave is at King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston, Massachusetts, and is engraved:
HERE LYES
Ye BODY OF ELIZABETH PAIN WIFE TO SAMUEL PAIN AGED NEAR 52 YEARS, DEPARTED THIS LIFE NOUEMBR
Ye 26 1704
Pain’s grave is in the same cemetery mentioned in The Scarlet Letter, which ends with a description of Hester Prynne’s grave:
So said Hester Prynne, and glanced her sad eyes downward at the scarlet letter. And, after many, many years, a new grave was delved, near an old and sunken one, in that burial–ground beside which King’s Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tomb–stone served for both. All around, there were monuments carved with armorial bearings; and on this simple slab of slate—as the curious investigator may still discern, and perplex himself with the purport—there appeared the semblance of an engraved escutcheon. It bore a device, a herald’s wording of which may serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so sombre is it, and relieved only by one ever–glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:— “ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES”
Pain’s headstone has “an engraved escutcheon” on which enthusiasts see the letter A (for adultery): it appears in the shield to the right of two lions.[4] Scholar Laurie Rozakis has argued that an alternate or additional source for the story may be Hester Craford, a woman flogged for fornication with John Wedg.[5]
http://www.celebrateboston.com/strange/scarlet-letter.htm
https://www.geni.com/people/Rev-John-Wilson/6000000000209545581
http://www.jfredpeterson.com/tree/g12wils.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Pain
His homestead was in Boston, Suffolk, MA, on the northwest corner of the present State and Devonshire Streets, but he had several other grants of land from the General Court. The town of Boston made a grant to him Dec. 8, 1634.
He received a grant of 750 acres, bounded on the east by the bay on the north or northwest by a line not far south of present E. Squantum Street in Quincy and including all the upland west of present Hancock Street, and north of it to Milton Line, on the west, and on the south by a small brook called Stand Brook, later Sachem’s Brook and now completely covered over (along Brook Street, Wollaston, to the bay), and including a large swamp from which the brook ran. He soon built a house and it, or a successor house, stood until 1857 on present Linden Street, Wollaston, near the junction of Hancock Street where the cellar hole on the south side of Linden Street was visible until after 1900. A sketch of the typical salt box or lean-to house is included in Whitfield’s “Homes of our Forefather’s”, and “Chapel of Ease”, by D. M. Wilson, 1890.
He sold the farm May 31, 1667, and confirmed the sale in his will of the same date, equally to his son, Rev. JOHN WILSON of Medfield, and daughter Mary, wife of Rev. Samuel Danforth of Roxbury. JOHN and Mary made a division of the land in 1687, JOHN taking the southern part which remained in the possession of his descendants for many years afterwards.
JOHN and ELIZABETH are both buried in a tomb in King’s Chapel Burying Ground, in Boston.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Chapel
The King’s Chapel congregation was founded by Royal Governor Sir Edmund Andros in 1686 as the first Anglican Church in colonial New England during the reign of King James II. The original King’s Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 at the corner of Tremont and School Streets, where the church stands today. It was situated on the public burying ground, now King’s Chapel Burying Ground, because no resident would sell land for a church that was not Congregationalist (at the time, the Congregational church was the official religion of Massachusetts).
1688 King’s Chapel building (demolished)
In 1749, construction began on the current stone structure, which was designed by Peter Harrison and completed in 1754. The stone church was built around the wooden church. When the stone church was complete, the wooden church was disassembled and removed through the windows of the new church. The wood was then shipped to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where it was used to construct St. John’s Anglican Church. That church was destroyed by fire on Halloween night, 2001. It has since been rebuilt. Originally, there were plans to add a steeple, although funding shortfalls prevented this from happening.[3]
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, an 1850 novel, is a work of historical fiction written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne.[1] It is considered his “masterwork”.[2] Set in 17th-century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As she struggles to raise her rambunctious daughter, Pearl, on her own, the father of her unborn child is revealed and is shown to be experiencing severe guilt. Through the scorn and judgment of the citizens and Roger Chillingworth (Hester’s husband), the two decide to remain together. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
In this painting, The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle, Hester Prynne and Pearl are in the foreground and Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are in the background (painting by Hugues Merle, 1861).
The following are symbols that are embedded in The Scarlet Letter:
- The Scarlet Letter A: In the beginning of the novel Hester’s letter A is a representation of her sin and adultery. However, as time progresses, the meaning of the letter changed. It now represented, to some, able. It states “The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her—so much power to do, and power to sympathize—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (129).[23]
- Meteor: The meteor shaped as an A serves as another symbol in the book. To Reverend Dimmesdale the meteor is a sign from God who is revealing his sin to everyone and causes him to be ridden with guilt. However, others perceived the letter to be a symbol for angel.[23]
- Dimmesdale’s name: Dimmesdale’s name itself also holds symbolism. His name contains the root word “dim” which evokes the feeling of faint, weak, and gloom. This represents the constant state Dimmesdale finds himself in. His life has dimmed itself every since his sin causing his light of life to fade and dim.[23]
- Roger Chillingworth’s name: Roger Chillingworth’s name is also perceived to have symbolism. This is because his name contains the word “chilling” which reveals the cold, chilling demeanor.[23]
- Pearl: Pearl symbolizes the embodiment of her parent’s sin and passion. She is a constant reminder of the sin her mother can’t escape from. It is mentioned she “was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed in life” (84).[23]
- Rosebush: The rosebush is mentioned twice within the course of the story. At the beginning, it is first viewed as natures way of offering beauty to those who leave and enter the prison as well with a glimmer of hope to those who inhabit it. The rosebush is perceived as a symbol of brightness in a story filled with human sorrow. [23]
- The Scaffold: The scaffold is mentioned three times throughout the novel. It can be viewed as separating the book into the beginning, middle, and end. It symbolizes shame, revelation of sin, and guilt for it is where Hester received her scarlet letter as punishment and where Dimmesdale experience his revelation through the meteor.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts; his birthplace is preserved and open to the public.[3] William Hathorne was the author’s great-great-great-grandfather. He was a Puritan and was the first of the family to emigrate from England, settling in Dorchester, Massachusetts before moving to Salem. There he became an important member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and held many political positions, including magistrate and judge, becoming infamous for his harsh sentencing.[4] William’s son and the author’s great-great-grandfather John Hathorne was one of the judges who oversaw the Salem witch trials. Hawthorne probably added the “w” to his surname in his early twenties, shortly after graduating from college, in an effort to dissociate himself from his notorious forebears.[5]
Just as he uses true historical figures as characters in his story “Young Goodman Brown,” Nathaniel Hawthorne writes into his narrative of “The Scarlet Letter” the “stern divine” John Wilson, a minister who came to America in 1630. A strong figure of Puritan intolerance he appears in Chapter III in the first scaffold scene. However, Hawthorne describes him in such a way as to suggest his Puritanical ineffectiveness and punitive nature:
withal a man of kind and genial spirit….an attribute [that] was…a matter of shame than self-congratulation with him….There he stood, with a border of grizzled locks beneath his skull-cap; while his gray eyes, accustomed to the shaded light of his study , were winking, like those of Hester’s infant, in the unadulterated sunshine. He looked like the darkly engraved portraits which we see prefixed to old volumes of sermons; and no more right than of those portraits would have to step forth, as he now did and meddle with a question of human guilt, passion, and anguish.
Alluding to the judges of the witchcraft trials, Hawthorne suggests the Puritanical sanctimony in the Reverend Wilson who admits that he overrides the concern of Mr. Dimmesdale that it is a wrongdoing to question her in “such broad daylight, and in the presence of so great a multitude.” But, Mr. Wilson, continues, he has explained to Dimmesdale that the wrongdoing is in the “commission of the sin, and not in the showing of it forth.” He, then, bids the Reverend Dimmesdale to step forward and question Hester. But, despite his pleas, Hester refuses. Mr. Wilson cries “more harshly than before,”
Woman, transgress not beyond the limits of Heaven’s mercy!
The Reverend Mr. Wilson appears again at the mansion of Governor Bellingham and questions Hester about her right to raise the little girl. When he asks Pearl who “made thee,” Pearl astonishes him by replying that she was plucked from the wild rose bush by the prison. After this response, the Reverend Wilson feels the child should be taken from Hester, believing the mother wishes to “make a mountain bank of this child.”
When Roger Chillingworth suggests that they guess the father of the child, the “good Mr. Wilson” suggests that it would be “sinful” to pursue the matter; better to “pray and fast upon it.” Mr. Wilson does not appear again until the second scaffold scene in Chapter XII, and then he does perceive Mr. Dimmesdale through the darkness even though Dimmesdale barely restrains himself from speaking:
The venerable Father Wilson continued to step slowly onward, looking carefully at the muddy parthway before his feet.
And, finally, in the third scaffold scene, “the venerable John Wison,…stepped forward hastily to offer his support” to Reverend Dimmesdale, but the young minister “repelled the old man’s arm.”
Symbolic of Puritanism and its ineffectiveness in assuaging the soul, the Reverend Mr. Wilson is part of the tableaux that present the punitive character of Puritanism and its ineffectiveness.
WOW …..Shawn Sinclair ( Martin Adoption ) and Steve StClair together on a radio show The Hidden History Hour lol .I found the show to be very uninformative other than the fact that Shawn admitted an adoption in his family line..teehe I tried to call in but of course he would not answerLoading…
John Cotton
The most religiously devout of the Founding Fathers was Reverend John Cotton (1585-1652). He was an eminent theologian in the early days of Massachusetts. Cotton was born in Derby (pronounced “Darby”), England, and was later parish priest in old Boston at the famous St. Botolph Church.
Cotton emigrated to Massachusetts in 1633, and with John Wilson they established the first church in Boston. Cotton was called the Teacher, and Wilson was called the Pastor, as such was the distinction of that day. John Cotton remained Teacher at the first Boston church until his death in 1652. It is believed that establishment of the Boston Latin School, America’s first public school, was largely due to the work by John Cotton.
https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:37720m54m
Elizabeth Pain is buried at King’s Chapel Burying Ground. She died in 1704, and her grave is marked with a beautiful carved stone. It is believed that Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was inspired by the shield on Elizabeth Pain’s gravestone, and referred to it in his famous book The Scarlet Letter.
Wikipedia summarizes The Scarlet Letter concisely: “Hester Prynne, the story’s protagonist, is a young married woman whose husband was presumed to have been lost at sea on the journey to the New World. She begins a secret adulterous relationship with Arthur Dimmesdale, the highly regarded town minister, and becomes pregnant with a daughter, whom she names Pearl. She is then publicly vilified and forced to wear the scarlet letter ‘A’ on her clothing to identify her as an adulteress, but loyally refuses to reveal the identity of her lover. She accepts the punishment with grace and refuses to be defeated by the shame inflicted upon her by her society.”
John Wilson (minister)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to searchFor other people named John Wilson, see John Wilson (disambiguation).
| John Wilson | |
|---|---|
| Reverend John Wilson | |
| Born | c. 1588 Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 7 August 1667 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Resting place | King’s Chapel Burying Ground |
| Education | B.A. 1609/10, King’s College, Cambridge; M.A. 1613, Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Clergyman |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Mansfield |
| Children | Edmund, John, Elizabeth, Mary |
| Parent(s) | Reverend William Wilson and Isabel Woodhull |
John Wilson (c.1588–1667), was a Puritan clergyman in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the minister of the First Church of Boston from its beginnings in Charlestown in 1630 until his death in 1667. He is most noted for being a minister at odds with Anne Hutchinson during the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638, and for being an attending minister during the execution of Mary Dyer in 1660.
Born into a prominent English family from Sudbury in Suffolk, his father was the chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus held a high position in the Anglican Church. Young Wilson was sent to school at Eton for four years, and then attended the university at King’s College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1610. From there he studied law briefly, and then studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he received an M.A. in 1613. Following his ordination, he was the chaplain for some prominent families for a few years, before being installed as pastor in his home town of Sudbury. Over the next ten years he was dismissed and then reinstated on several occasions, because of his strong Puritan sentiments which contradicted the practices of the established church.
As with many other Puritan divines, Wilson came to New England, and sailed with his friend John Winthrop and the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He was the first minister of the settlers, who established themselves in Charlestown, but soon crossed the Charles River into Boston. Wilson was an encouragement to the early settlers during the very trying initial years of colonization. He made two return trips to England during his early days in Boston, the first time to persuade his wife to come, after she initially refused to make the trip, and the second time to transact some business. Upon his second return to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635, Anne Hutchinson was first exposed to his preaching, and found an unhappy difference between his theology and that of her mentor, John Cotton, who was the other Boston minister. The theologically astute, sharp-minded, and outspoken Hutchinson, who had been hosting large groups of followers in her home, began to criticize Wilson, and the divide erupted into the Antinomian Controversy. Hutchinson was eventually tried and banished from the colony, as was her brother-in-law, Reverend John Wheelwright.
Following the controversy, Wilson and Cotton were able to work together to heal the divisions within the Boston church, but after Cotton’s death more controversy befell Boston as the Quakers began to infiltrate the orthodox colony with their evangelists. Greatly opposed to their theology, Wilson supported the actions taken against them, and supervised the execution of his former parishioner, Mary Dyer in 1660. He died in 1667, the longest-lived of the early ministers in the Boston area, and his passing was lamented by those who knew him and worked with him, but he is also remembered for the roles he played in the persecution of those who did not embrace the Puritan orthodoxy.
Contents
- 1Early life
- 2Massachusetts
- 3Antinomian Controversy
- 4Later years
- 5Execution of Mary Dyer
- 6Death and legacy
- 7Family
- 8See also
- 9References
- 10External links
Early life[edit]
John Wilson was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England about 1588,[1] the son of the Reverend William Wilson (1542–1615). John’s father, originally of Sudbury in Suffolk,[2][3] was a chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edmund Grindal.[4] His father was also a prebend of St Paul’s in London, a minister in Rochester, Kent, and a rector of the parish of Cliffe, Kent.[3] Wilson’s mother was Isabel Woodhull, the daughter of John Woodhull and Elizabeth Grindal, and a niece of Archbishop Grindal.[5][6] According to Wilson’s biographer, A. W. M’Clure, Archbishop Grindal favored the Puritans to the extent of his power, to the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth.[3]
Eton College, where Wilson studied for four years
Wilson was first formally educated at Eton College, where he spent four years, and at one time was chosen to speak a Latin oration during the visit of the duc de Biron, ambassador from the court of Henry IV of France.[7] The duke then gave him a special gift of a gold coin called “three angels”, worth about ten shillings.[6][1] On 23 August 1605, at the age of 14, Wilson was admitted to King’s College, Cambridge.[2] While there he was initially prejudiced against the Puritans, but changed his stance after reading Richard Rogers’ Seven Treatises (1604), and he subsequently traveled to Dedham to hear Rogers preach.[4][6] He and other like-minded students frequently met to discuss theology, and he also regularly visited prisons to minister to the inmates.[8] He received his B.A. from King’s College in 1609/10,[2] then studied law for a year at the Inns of Court in London.[9] He next attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, noted for its Puritan advocacy, where he received his M.A. in 1613.[2][9] While at Emmanuel, he likely formed a friendship with future New England divines, John Cotton and Thomas Hooker.[9] He was probably soon ordained as a minister in the Anglican Church, but records of this event are not extant.[2]
In 1615 Wilson visited his dying father, who had these parting words for his son: “while thou wast at the university, because thou wouldst not conform, I fain would have brought thee to some higher preferment; but I see thy conscience is very scrupulous about somethings imposed in the church. Nevertheless, I have rejoiced to see the grace and fear of God in thy heart; and seeing thou hast hitherto maintained a good conscience, and walked according to thy light, do so still. Go by the rule of God’s holy word, and the Lord bless thee.”[10]
Wilson preached for three years as the chaplain to several respectful families in Suffolk, one of them being the family of the Countess of Leicester. It was to her that he later dedicated his only book, Some Helps to Faith…, published in 1630.[11] In time he was offered, and accepted, the position of minister at Sudbury, from where his family had originated.[7] While there he met John Winthrop, and likely supported Winthrop’s unsuccessful 1626 bid to become a member of Parliament.[9] Wilson was suspended and then restored several times as minister, the issue being nonconformity (Puritan leanings) with the established practices of the Anglican Church.[7] Like many Puritans, he began turning his thoughts toward New England.
Massachusetts[edit]
Wilson arrived in New England with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630.
Wilson was an early member of the Massachusetts Bay Company, and accompanied John Winthrop and the Winthrop Fleet to New England in 1630. As soon as they arrived, he, with Governor Winthrop, Thomas Dudley, and Isaac Johnson, entered into a formal and solemn covenant with each other to walk together in the fellowship of the gospel.[7] Life was harsh in the new wilderness, and Plymouth historian Nathaniel Morton said that Wilson “bare a great share of the difficulties of these new beginnings with great cheerfulness and alacrity of spirit.”[12] Wilson was chosen the pastor of their first church in Charlestown, being installed as teacher there on 27 August 1630,[6] and in the same month the General Court ordered that a dwelling-house should be built for him at the public expense, and the governor and Sir Richard Saltonstall were appointed to put this into effect. By the same authority it was also ordered, that Wilson’s salary, until the arrival of his wife, should be 20 pounds a year.[7] After the Charlestown church was established, most of its members moved across the Charles River to Boston, after which services were held alternately on each side of the river, and then later only in Boston.[13]
Well before leaving England, Wilson was married to Elizabeth Mansfield, the daughter of Sir John Mansfield, and had at least two children born in England, but his wife had initially refused to come to New England with him.[2] Her refusal was the subject of several letters sent from John Winthrop’s wife, Margaret, to her son John Winthrop Jr., in May 1631.[14] Wilson then made a trip back to England from 1631 to 1632. Though his biographer, in 1870, stated that she still did not come back to New England with Wilson until 1635, Anderson in 1995 pointed out that the couple had a child baptized in Boston in 1633; therefore she had to have come with Wilson during this earlier trip.[14][15]
On 2 July 1632 Wilson was admitted as a freeman of the colony, and later the same month the first meeting house was built in Boston. For this and Wilson’s parsonage, the congregation made a voluntary contribution of 120 pounds.[16] On 25 October 1632 Wilson, with Governor Winthrop and a few other men, set out on a friendly visit to Plymouth where they were hospitably received. They held a worship service on the Sabbath, and that same afternoon they met again, and engaged in a discussion centered around a question posed by the Plymouth teacher, Roger Williams. William Bradford, the Plymouth governor, and William Brewster, the ruling elder, spoke, after which Governor Winthrop and Wilson were invited to speak. The Boston men returned the following Wednesday, with Winthrop riding Governor Bradford’s horse.[17]
On 23 November, Wilson, who had previously been ordained teacher, was installed as minister of the First Church of Boston.[2][17] In 1633 the church at Boston received another minister, when John Cotton arrived and was installed as teacher.[18] In November 1633 Wilson made one of his many visits outside Boston, and went to Agawam (later Ipswich), since the settlers there did not yet have a minister.[19] He also visited the natives, tending to their sick, and instructing others who were capable of understanding him. In this regard he became the first Protestant missionary to the North American native people, a work later to be carried on with much success by Reverend John Eliot.[19] Closer to home, Wilson sometimes led groups of Christians, including magistrates and other ministers, to the church lectures in nearby towns, sharing his “heavenly discourse” during the trip.[20]
In late 1634, Wilson made his final trip to England, leaving the ministry of the Boston Church in the hands of his co-pastor, John Cotton, and traveling with John Winthrop Jr.[21] While returning to England he had a harrowing experience off the coast of Ireland during some violent winter weather, and though other ships perished, his landed. During his journey across Ireland and England, Wilson was able to minister to many people, and tell them about New England. In his journal, John Winthrop noted that while in Ireland, Wilson “gave much satisfaction to the Christians there about New England.”[22] Leaving England for the final time on 10 August 1635, Wilson arrived back in New England on the third of October.[23] Soon after his return, M’Clure writes, “the Antinomian Controversy broke out and raged for two…years and with a fury that threatened the destruction of his church.”[24]
Antinomian Controversy[edit]
Main article: Antinomian Controversy
Wilson first became acquainted with Anne Hutchinson when in 1634, as the minister of the Boston Church, he was notified of some heterodox views that she revealed while en route to New England on the ship Griffin. A minister aboard the ship was questioned by her in such a way as to cause him some alarm, and word was sent to Wilson. In conference with his co-minister in Boston, the Reverend John Cotton, Hutchinson was examined, and deemed suitable for church membership, though admitted a week later than her husband because of initial uncertainty.[25]
John Cotton shared the ministry with Wilson at the Boston church.
When Wilson returned from his England trip in 1635, he was accompanied aboard the ship Abigail by two other people who would play a role in the religious controversy to come. One of these was the Reverend Hugh Peter, who became the minister in Salem, and the other was a young aristocrat, Henry Vane, who soon became the governor of the colony.[26]
In the pulpit, Wilson was said to have a voice that was harsh and indistinct and his demeanor was directed at strict discipline, but he had a penchant for rhymes, and would frequently engage in word play.[27] He was unpopular during his early days of preaching in Boston, partly attributable to his strictness in teaching, and partly from his violent and arbitrary manner.[28] His gruff style was further highlighted by the mild qualities of John Cotton, with whom he shared the church’s ministry. When Wilson returned to Boston in 1635, Hutchinson was exposed to his teaching for the first time, and immediately saw a big difference between her own doctrines and his.[28] She found his emphasis on morality, and his doctrine of “evidencing justification by sanctification” (a covenant of works) to be repugnant, and she told her followers that Wilson lacked “the seal of the Spirit.”[28] Wilson’s doctrines were shared with all of the other ministers in the colony, except for Cotton, and the Boston congregation had grown accustomed to Cotton’s lack of emphasis on preparation “in favor of stressing the inevitability of God’s will.”[29] The positions of Cotton and Wilson were matters of emphasis, and neither minister believed that works could help to save a person.[29] It is likely that most members of the Boston church could not see much difference between the doctrines of the two men, but the astute Hutchinson could, prompting her to criticize Wilson at her home gatherings.[29] Probably in early 1636 he became aware of divisions within his own Boston congregation, and soon came to realize that Hutchinson’s views were widely divergent from those of the orthodox clergy in the colony.[30]
Wilson said nothing of his discovery, but instead preached his covenant of works even more vehemently.[31] As soon as Winthrop became aware of what was happening, he made an entry in his journal about Hutchinson, who did “meddle in such things as are proper for men, whose minds are stronger.”[32] He also noted the 1636 arrival in the colony of Hutchinson’s in-law who became an ally in religious opinion: “There joined with her in these opinions a brother of hers, one Mr. Wheelwright, a silenced minister sometimes in England.”[33]
Meetings of the ministers[edit]
Governor Henry Vane was furious over Wilson’s “sad speech,” which cast aspersions on Reverend Cotton.
In October 1636 the ministers, realizing that a theological tempest was forming in the colony, decided to get to the heart of the issue, and held a series of meetings, which also included Hutchinson and some of the magistrates.[34] In order to deal with the theological errors of the Hutchinson group, the ministers first had to come to a consensus about their own positions, and this they were unable to do. Hutchinson’s followers used this impasse to attempt to have Wheelwright appointed as another minister to the Boston church, an expression of their dissatisfaction with Wilson. Winthrop came to Wilson’s rescue, as an elder in the church, by invoking a ruling requiring unanimity in a church vote, and was thus able to forestall Wheelwright’s appointment there. Instead, Wheelwright was sent about ten miles south to Mount Wollaston to preach.[35]
As the meetings continued into December 1636, the theological debate escalated. Wilson delivered “a very sad speech of the condition of our churches,” insinuating that Cotton, his fellow Boston minister, was partly responsible for the dissension.[36] Wilson’s speech was moved to represent the sense of the meeting, and was approved by all of the ministers and magistrates present with the notable exceptions of Governor Vane, Reverend Cotton, Reverend Wheelwright, and two strong supporters of Hutchinson, William Coddington and Richard Dummer.[37]
Cotton, normally of a very placid disposition, was indignant over the proceedings and lead a delegation to admonish Wilson for his uncharitable insinuations.[37] On Saturday, 31 December 1636, the Boston congregants met to prefer charges against Wilson. Governor Vane launched the attack, and was joined by other members of the congregation.[37] Wilson met the onslaught with a quiet dignity, and responded soberly to each of the accusations brought against him.[38] The crowd refused to accept his excuses, and demanded a vote of censure. At this point Cotton intervened, and with more restraint than his parishioners, offered that without unanimity a vote of censure was out of order.[38] While the ultimate indignity of censure was averted, Cotton nevertheless gave a grave exhortation to his colleague to allay the temper of the congregants.[38] The next day Wilson preached such a conciliatory sermon that even Governor Vane rose and voiced his approval.[38]
“Dung cast on their faces”[edit]
The Boston congregants, followers of Hutchinson, were now emboldened to seize the offensive and discredit the orthodox doctrines at services throughout the colony. The saddened Winthrop lamented, “Now the faithfull Ministers of Christ must have dung cast on their faces, and be not better than legall Preachers.”[39] As Hutchinson’s followers attacked ministers with questions calculated to diminish confidence in their teachings, Winthrop continued his lament, “so many objections made by the opinionists…against our doctrine delivered, if it suited not their new fancies.”[38] When Wilson rose to preach or pray, the Hutchinsonians boldly rose and walked out of the meeting house. While Wilson was the favorite butt of this abuse, it was not restricted just to the Boston church, and similar gestures were being made toward the other ministers who preached a covenant of works.[40]
John Winthrop, after lamenting the attacks on the ministers, was buoyed by the results of the 1637 election
In hopes of bringing the mounting crisis under control, the General Court called for a day of fasting and repentance to be held on Thursday, 19 January 1637. During the Boston church service held that day, Cotton invited Wheelwright to come forward and deliver a sermon. Instead of the hoped-for peace, the opposite transpired. In the sermon Wheelwright stated that those who taught a covenant of works were Antichrists, and all the ministers besides Cotton saw this as being directed at them, though Wheelwright later denied this.[41] During a meeting of the General Court in March Wheelwright was questioned at length, and ultimately charged with sedition, though not sentenced.[42]
Election of May 1637[edit]
The religious division had by now become a political issue, resulting in great excitement during the elections of May 1637. The orthodox party of the majority of magistrates and ministers maneuvered to have the elections moved from Boston to Newtown (later Cambridge) where the Hutchinsonians would have less support. The Boston supporters of Hutchinson wanted a petition to be read before the election, but the orthodox party insisted on holding the election first. Tempers flared, and bitter words gave way to blows as zealots on both sides clamored to have their opinions heard.[43] During the excitement, Reverend Wilson was lifted up into a tree, and he bellowed to the crowd below, imploring them to look at their charter, to which a cry went out for the election to take place.[43] The crowd then divided, with a majority going to one end of the common to hold the election, leaving the Boston faction in the minority by themselves. Seeing the futility of resisting further, the Boston group joined in the election.[44]
The election was a sweeping victory for the orthodox party, with Henry Vane replaced by Winthrop as governor, and Hutchinson supporters William Coddington and Richard Dummer losing their positions as magistrates.[45] Soon after the election, Wilson volunteered to be the minister of a military unit that went to Connecticut to settle the conflict with the Pequot Indians. When he returned to Boston on 5 August, two days after Vane boarded a ship for England, never to return, Wilson was summoned to take part in a synod of all the colony’s ministers.[46] Many theological issues needed to be put to rest, and new issues that arose during the course of the controversy had to be dealt with.[47]
Trials of Hutchinson[edit]
While Wilson had little to say during Hutchinson’s civil trial, he delivered the final pronouncement at her church trial.
By late 1637, the conclusion of the controversy was beginning to take shape. During the court held in early November, Wheelwright was finally sentenced to banishment, the delay caused by the hopes that he would, at some point, recant. On 7 November the trial of Anne Hutchinson began, and Wilson was there with most of the other ministers in the colony, though his role was somewhat restrained.[48] During the second day of the trial, when things seemed to be going in her favor, Hutchinson insisted on making a statement, admitting that her knowledge of things had come from a divine inspiration, prophesying her deliverance from the proceedings, and announcing that a curse would befall the colony. This was all that her judges needed to hear, and she was accused of heresy and sentenced to banishment, though she would be held in detention for four months, awaiting a trial by the clergy.[49] While no statements made by Wilson were recorded in either existing transcript of this trial, Wilson did make a speech against Hutchinson at the end of the proceedings, to which Hutchinson responded with anger four months later during her church trial.[50]
Her church trial took place at the Boston meeting house on two consecutive Thursdays in March 1638. Hutchinson was accused of numerous theological errors of which only four were covered during the first day, so the trial was scheduled to continue the following week, when Wilson took an active part in the proceedings. During this second day of interrogation a week later, Hutchinson read a carefully written recantation of her theological errors. Had the trial ended there, she would have likely remained in communion with the church, with the possibility of even returning there some day.[51] Wilson, however, did not accept this recantation, and he re-opened a line of questioning from the previous week. With this, a new onslaught began, and when later given the opportunity, Wilson said, “[The root of]… your errors…is the slightinge of Gods faythfull Ministers and contenminge and cryinge down them as Nobodies.”[52] Hugh Peter chimed in, followed by Thomas Shepard, and then Wilson spoke again, “I cannot but reverence and adore the wise hand of God…in leavinge our sister to pride and Lyinge.”[52] Then John Eliot made his statement, and Wilson resumed, “Consider how we cane…longer suffer her to goe on still in seducinge to seduce, and in deacevinge to deaceve, and in lyinge to lye!”[52]
As the battering continued, even Cotton chided her, and while concerns from the congregation brought pause to the ministers, the momentum still remained with them. When the final points of order were addressed, it was left to Wilson to deliver the final blow: “The Church consentinge to it we will proced to excommunication.”[53] He then continued, “Forasmuch as you, Mrs. Hutchinson, have highly transgressed and offended…and troubled the Church with your Errors and have drawen away many a poor soule, and have upheld your Revelations; and forasmuch as you have made a Lye…Therefor in the name of our Lord Je[sus] Ch[rist]…I doe cast you out and…deliver you up to Sathan…and account you from this time forth to be a Hethen and a Publican…I command you in the name of Ch[rist] Je[sus] and of this Church as a Leper to withdraw your selfe out of the Congregation.”[53]
Later years[edit]
Hutchinson left the colony within a week of her excommmunication, and following this conclusion of the Antinomian Controversy, Wilson worked with Cotton to reunite the Boston church.[9] Following Cotton’s death in 1652, his position was filled, following four years of campaigning, by John Norton from Ipswich. Norton held this position until his death in 1663.[54]
Wilson was an early advocate of the conversion of Indians to Christianity, and acted on this belief by taking the orphaned son of Wonohaquaham, a local sagamore into his home to educate.[9] In 1647 he visited the “praying Indians” of Nonantum, and noticed that they had built a house of worship that Wilson described as appearing “like the workmanship of an English housewright.”[55] During the 1650s and 1660s, in order to boost declining membership in the Boston church, Wilson supported a ruling known as the Half-Way Covenant, allowing parishioners to be brought into the church without having had a conversion experience.[9]
In 1656, Wilson and John Norton were the two ministers of the Boston church when the widow Ann Hibbins was convicted of witchcraft by the General Court and executed in Boston. Hibbins’ husband died in 1654, and the unhappy widow was first tried the next year following complaints of her neighbors about her behavior. Details of the event are lacking, because the great Boston journalist, John Winthrop was dead, and the next generations of note takers, Increase Mather and Cotton Mather had not yet emerged. A 1684 letter, however, survives, written by a Reverend Beach in Jamaica to Increase Mather in New England. In the letter Beach stated that he, Wilson and others were guests at Norton’s table when Norton made the statement that the only reason Hibbins was executed was because she had more wit than her neighbors, thus implying her innocence. The sentiments of Wilson are not specifically expressed in the letter, though several writers have inferred that his sentiments were the same as Norton’s.[56]
Execution of Mary Dyer[edit]
Main articles: Mary Dyer and Boston martyrs
Wilson exhorted Mary Dyer to repent, but it was her goal to hang as a martyr.
In the 1650s Quaker missionaries began filtering into the Massachusetts Bay Colony, mostly from Rhode Island, creating alarm among the colony’s magistrates and ministers, including Wilson.[9] In 1870, M’Clure wrote that Wilson “blended an intense love of truth with as intense a hatred of error”, referring to the Quakers’ marked diversion from Puritan orthodoxy.[57]
On 27 October 1659 three Quakers—Marmaduke Stevenson, William Robinson and Mary Dyer—were led to the Boston gallows from the prison where they had been recently held for their Quaker evangelism, against which Massachusetts had enacted very strict laws. Wilson, now nearly 70, as pastor of the Boston church was on hand as the supervising minister. As the two Quaker men first approached the gallows, wearing hats, Wilson said to Robinson, “Shall such jacks as you come in before authority with your hats on?”[58] Ignoring the barb, Robinson then let forth a barrage of words, to which Wilson angrily responded, “Hold thy tongue, be silent; thou art going to die with a lie in your mouth.”[59] The two Quaker men were then hanged, after which it was Dyer’s turn to ascend the ladder. As the noose was fastened about her neck, and her face covered, a young man came running and shouting, wielding a document which he waved before the authorities. Governor Endecott had stayed her execution.[60] After the two executions had taken place, Wilson was said to have written a ballad about the event, which was sung by young men around Boston.[61]
Not willing to let public sentiment over the executions subside, Dyer knew that she had to go through with her martyrdom. After the winter she returned to the Bay Colony in May 1660, and was immediately arrested. On the 31st of the month she was brought before Endecott, who questioned her briefly, and then pronounced her execution for the following day. On 1 June, Dyer was once again led to the gallows, and while standing at the hanging tree for the final time, Wilson, who had received her into the Boston church 24 years earlier and had baptized her son Samuel, called to her. His words were, “Mary Dyer, O repent, O repent, and be not so deluded and carried away by deceit of the devil.”[62] Her reply was, “Nay, man, I am not now to repent.”[62] With these final words, the ladder was kicked away, and she died when her neck snapped.[62]
Death and legacy[edit]
Richard Mather was one of several ministers remembered in Wilson’s 1667 will.
Wilson’s final years were marked by a prolonged illness.[63] In his will, dated 31 May 1667, Wilson remembered a large number of people, among them being several of the local ministers, including Richard Mather of Dorchester and Thomas Shepard Jr. of Charlestown.[64] He died on 7 August 1667, and his son-in-law Samuel Danforth wrote, “About two of the clock in the morning, my honored Father, Mr. John Wilson, Pastor to the church of Boston, aged about 78 years and an half, a man eminent in faith, love, humility, self-denial, prayer, sound[n]ess of mind, zeal for God, liberality to all men, esp[ecial]ly to the s[ain]ts & ministers of Christ, rested from his labors & sorrows, beloved & lamented of all, and very honorably interred the day following.”[14] His funeral sermon was preached by local divine, Increase Mather,[6] and he was buried in the King’s Chapel Burying Ground in Boston.[65]
Wilson was notable for making anagrams based on the names of his friends and acquaintances. M’Clure described them as numerous and nimble, and if not exact, they were always instructive, and he would rather force a poor match than lose the moral.[66] An anecdote given by Wilson biographer M’Clure, whether true or not, points to the character of Wilson: a person met Wilson returning from a journey and remarked, “Sir, I have sad news for you: while you have been abroad, your house is burnt.” To this Wilson is reputed to have replied, “Blessed be God! He has burnt this house, because he intends to give me a better.”[67]
In 1809 historian John Eliot called Wilson affable in speech, but condescending in his deportment.[6] An early mentor of his, Dr. William Ames, wrote, “that if he might have his option of the best condition this side of heaven, it would be [to be] the teacher of a congregational church of which Mr. Wilson was pastor.”[6] Plymouth historian Nathaniel Morton called him “eminent for love and zeal” and M’Clure wrote that his unfeigning modesty was excessive.[12] In this vein, M’Clure wrote that Wilson refused to ever sit for a portrait and his response to those who suggested he do so was “What! Such a poor vile creature as I am! Shall my picture be drawn? I say No; it never shall.”[68] M’Clure then suggested that the line drawing of Wilson in the Massachusetts Historical Society was made after his death.[68] Cotton Mather, the noted Puritan who was a grandson of both Richard Mather and John Cotton wrote of Wilson, “If the picture of this good, and therein great man, were to be exactly given, great zeal, with great love, would be the two principal strokes that, joined with orthodoxy, should make up his portraiture.”[68]
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Reblogged this on Rosamond Press and commented:
The Supreme Court and the Crisis-Christians destroyed our democracy by passing that Abortion Witch Hunt Law in Texas. I have stated my belief that my great grandfather inspired our Constitution because he found a rival religion, heretical, and banished them without their guns.