the last of which is as follows: "Whether a judge be bound to pronounce
such sentence as a positive law prescribes, in case it be apparently above
or beneath the merit of the offence?" To which the elders replied at great
length, saying that the penalty must vary with the gravity of the crime,
and added examples: "So any sin committed with an high hand, as the
gathering of sticks on the Sabbath day, may be punished with death when a
lesser punishment may serve for gathering sticks privily and in some
need." [Footnote: Winthrop, ii. 204, 205.] Yet though the clerical
influence was so unbounded the theocracy itself was exposed to constant
peril. In monarchies such as France or Spain the priests who rule the king
have the force of the nation at command to dispose of at their will; but
in Massachusetts a more difficult problem was presented, for the voters
had to be controlled. By the law requiring freemen to be church-members
the elders meant to grasp the key to the suffrage, but experience soon
proved that more stringent regulation was needed.

According to the original Congregational theory each church was complete
and independent, and elected its own officers and conducted its own
worship, free from interference from without, except that others of the
same communion might offer advice or admonition. Under the theocracy no
such loose system was possible, for heresy might enter in three different
ways; first, under the early law, "blasphemers" might form a congregation
and from thence creep into the company; second, an established church
might fall into error; third, an unsound minister might be chosen, who
would debauch his flock by securing the admission of sectaries to the
sacrament. Above all, a creed was necessary by means of which false
doctrine might be instantly detected and condemned. Accordingly, one by
one, as the need for vigilance increased, laws were passed to guard these
points of danger.