These men, as we have stated, could swing the axe, or chop logic, at a
moment's notice; could pull vegetables, or dig out Hebrew roots, with
alternate ease. Notwithstanding their long days of labor, their minds
kept their edge, being freshly set by incessant doctrinal disputations.
Such, indeed, was the public appetite for controversy that polemic
warfare never slumbered. Our view of their character is assisted by a
contrast with the English clergy of the same day, and which reveals
shameful deformities on the part of the latter--avarice, indolence, and
gluttony. Of such, Milton spake in Lycidas, with withering contempt, as
those who

'for their bellies' sake
Creep, and intrude, and climb into the fold.'

If the Puritan poet be charged with prejudice, we have only to turn to
the pages of Macaulay for confirmation. Where, indeed, if this be true,
did Fielding obtain the originals for the ordinary at Newgate, or
'parson Trulliber' in Joseph Andrews?

Sad and strange was that disappointment which awaited the first
emigrants to Massachusetts Bay. But there was a divine mercy in it; they
came to seek peace, but a sword awaited them. I refer to the famous Anne
Wheelright controversy, which rent the infant settlement of Boston for
more than ten years. The excitement extended through the entire colony,
affording many a bitter and vindictive argument. The pulpit belabored it
in sermons of two hours' length, after which the deacons in their
official seats occasionally expatiated to audiences whose patience on
this theme was inexhaustible. As the controversy waxed hot, it got into
the hands of the civil authorities, and some of its disputants were
thrust into jail as heretical. Anna Wheelright was a woman of great