THE NEW ENGLAND THEOCRACY. A HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS IN NEW ENGLAND TO THE REVIVALS OF 1740 BY H. F. UHDEN. WITH A PREFACE BY THE LATE DR. NEANDER. Translated from the Second German Edition BY H. C. CONANT, AUTHOR OF "THE ENGLISH BIBLE," ETC. ETC. BOSTON: GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET. NEW YORK: SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & CO. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by GOULD AND LINCOLN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY W. F. DRAPER, ANDOVER, MASS. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. It is a singular fact, that the New England Theocracy has found no historian on our own shores. A subject so rich in interest, so intimately connected with our history as a people, it would seem should long since have busied some master-hand among ourselves. The record of this great experiment of our Puritan fathers, among the most unique and instructive in ecclesiastical history, is here for the first time presented for our study, as a connected whole, by a foreign scholar. This circumstance is, however, a ground rather of congratulation than regret; for the conflicting interests, germinated in the stormy infancy of New England, have still too much vitality, and have spread their roots too widely, to allow a native historian, of whatever creed, to escape the suspicion of partiality. In the influences which originated and directed the present work, we have special cause of satisfaction. From the Preface by the late Dr. Neander, we learn that it was prepared under his own eye, by one whom he had selected as peculiarly fitted for the task; and that he gave his unqualified approval to its publication, thus pledging his own name for its thoroughness, ability, and candor. The work itself fully justifies this endorsement. From the list of authorities, at the end of the volume, it will be seen that the author had access to the original sources necessary for forming an independent and comprehensive judgment. The materials, thus obtained from a wide range of works, have been so thoroughly sifted and arranged as to present, within these moderate limits, a philosophical-religious sketch of the Congregationalist Theocracy, in which all the determining features of its character and career are clearly exhibited, in their inward relation to the system, and in their |