American History: Influential Ministers - Reverend John Wise

Introduction

We have now covered the three most influential colonies in the shaping of American history: Jamestown and Plymouth/Massachusetts Bay. Out of these three colonies flowed the two philosophies and Christian belief systems that would result in two very different types of colonies. One would lead to the horrors of Southern slavery and the other to the civil laws, moral principles, and philosophical ideals that would be presented in our Founding documents. But the story of how Christianity shaped the United States of America does not end there. There were many, many more Christian men and women who would influence the Founding Fathers and those who came before them. Today, we will turn our attention to the first man in that long list: John Wise.

Who Was John Wise?

To begin with, let us introduce John Wise. Most Americans would not know the name, even in many Christian circles. This is unfortunate since Wise has been called “The Father of American Independence” thanks to his teachings on the very principles in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which Wise was teaching from the pulpit as early as 1687.

Wise was a pastor in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and he was a Congregational minister. He was known both for his spiritual strength and his physical strength. According to writer J.M. Mackeye in his article “The Founder of American Democracy” (which appeared in Volume 29 of the New England Magazine during the years 1903 and 1904), Wise’s pastor in his early years was “the famous Eliot, Apostle to the Indians, and the inspiration derived from early association with him may have determined the lad in the choice of a career” (The New England Magazine, “The Founder of American Democracy”, pg 74). He would go on to graduate from Harvard College and then to accept the parsonage at Ipswich, where he would preach his many sermons that would prove so influential to American life.

Famous Sermons, Writings, and Speeches from John Wise

John Wise preached numerous sermons and wrote many essays, but among some of his most influential were those collected into his book, A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches and The Church’s Quarrel Ensponsed. The essays in this book were written in response to a few key events.

John Wise Vs. Edmund Andros

First, there was the intrusion of Edmund Andros–the governor of the New England colonies that King James II had appointed. Andros, according to Mackaye, had “been for two years and more the Governor of New England. The charters of the several colonies, under which they had for two generations practised self-government, had been abrogated by a characteristic act of the House of Stuart. Andros had already made himself obnoxious by his tyrannical conduct, and in the summer of 1687 added to his mal- odorous reputation by arbitrarily levy-ing a tax of a penny a pound on property holders indiscriminately. The people had no voice in the matter” (The New England Magazine, “The Founder of American Democracy”, pg 76).

Worse yet, he tried to force the religiously diverse New England community to become Anglican as those in Britain were required to be. This did not go over well, and Wise was one of the major leaders in the fight. He stated of authority that, ” It must needs be allowed, as a fundamental principle relating to government, that (under God) all power is originally in the people” (A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, pg 64).

Of the issues of governmental authority, both religious and civil, John Wise was most firm that it came from the ultimate authority of God and that it was only by the consent of those governed. As such, he found Andros’s insistence upon removing their ability to self-govern reprehensible as the people had not handed over that authority and further spoke out ardently against the many other things Andros did.

In “The Andros Tracts”, author William Henry Whitmore recounts the words written by Samuel Appleton, the lawyer who presented John Wise’s complaints: “Too tedious to illustrate more amply at this time, and so we conclude. John Wise, John Andrews Senior, William Goodhue Junior, Thomas French, these four persons named and Robert Kinsman. These four persons first named appeared the twentieth day of December, and Robert Kinsman appeared the one and twentieth day of December, 1689, and gave in their testimony upon oath before me Samuel Appleton Assistant for the Colony of the Massachusetts of New England.

“That those that were in confederacy with Sir E.A. for the enriching of themselves on the Ruins of New-England, did Invade the Property as well as Liberty of the Subject, is in the next place to be cleared, and we trust will be made out beyond dispute. When they little imagined that there should ever be such a Revolution in England as that which by means of His Present Majesty this Nation is Blest with, they feared not to declare their Sentiments to the inexpressible exasperation of the people whom they were then domineering over.

“They gave out, that now their Charter was gone, all their Lands were the Kings, that themselves did Represent the King, and that therefore Men that would have any Legal Title to their Lands must take Patents of them, on such Terms as they should see meet to impose. What people that had the Spirit of Englishmen could endure this?” (The Andros tracts : being a collection of pamphlets and official papers issued during the period between the overthrow of the Andros government and the establishment of the second charter of Massachusetts : with notes and memoirs of Sir Edmund Andros, 87).

For his troubles in opposing the unjust dissolution of their civil bodies to make way for Andros’s tyranny, David and Tim Barton state, “In response, Andros arrested Wise, removed him from his pastorate, imprisoned him, and imposed a hefty fine on him. Judge Joseph Dudley, an ally of Andros, then held Wise in prison, refusing Wise’s lawful right of habeas corpus” (The American Story, 94).

Eventually, John Wise was released, and he continued to create trouble for the British government. When King James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Andros was arrested and sent back to England. Wise was then chosen to help re-order their democratically elected governing body.

John Wise’s Resistance to Removing Local Church Control

Wise’s influence did not stop there. An attempt was made later on to remove local church control in favor of giving it to an elite church council. Wise, according to the Bartons, “not only fiercely resisted but almost single-handedly defeated the effort” (The American Story, 95). As a matter of fact, his piece A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches focused heavily on church government with some selections discussing how civil authority and government derived from similar principles to those of church government.

Without that document, the churches in New England might well have been united under the proposed council and ended up much like the Anglican or Catholic churches are today and were back then as well. This would have certainly led to the decline in independent laymen preaching and in the decline of Biblical literacy among the body of believers in New England, just as it did in both the Anglican and Catholic churches under the elite governing body of the priests.

John Wise’s Denouncement of the American Witch Trials

Notably, Wise was involved in denouncing the witch trials in New England as well. He, along with Cotton and Increase Mather and many other ministers in the area, stood up to the civil authorities on their witch hunts and pointed out that the trials had little to do with reason, Biblical thought, or civil liberties. They denounced the suspension of legal rights of the victims, such as the rights to fair trials, and because of their work in these areas, they were largely responsible for stopping the Salem Witch Trials so quickly.

To contrast the American Witch Trials to those in the Old World, we look to the estimated deaths due to the witch trials in England, Germany, and France. For reference, the American Witch Trials killed around 27-28 people total out of the eighteen months they went on. The European witch trials spanned several decades and killed around 500,000 people. Here are the estimated counts:

Germany: <100,000

England: <50,000

France: approximately 75,000 (numbers here are a little more unstable since the witch trials were not always well-documented in France, and local witch trials did not always report numbers officially.)

What was the difference? Those countries were not founded on the same principles as the colonies held to, they did not have Christian leaders who either were willing to speak out or knew what was happening was wrong, and those who might have spoken out were silenced. Despite the risk he and the others faced, John Wise refused to remain silent. He and the other brave men who spoke out against what was happening eventually brought an end to the American Witch Trials with only 28 deaths and eighteen months’ duration. An incredible feat if the duration and death toll of the Old World witch trials is considered!

This is a fact that is often overlooked by modern history textbooks, where the Salem witch trials are blown far out of proportion and sound much more like what happened in the Old World than what really went on in the New. Of course, there was no excuse whatsoever for the witch trials or the deaths of those innocents they took. The civil authorities did eventually recognize this and issue a formal apology and repented of their grave sins. Could it restore the dead? No. But it did go a long way toward ensuring it would never happen again.

All of this was because of John Wise and other ministers who pointed out that allowing the same individual to serve as judge, jury, and executioner, assuming guilt before it can be proven, refusing the accused the ability to face their accuser, using gossip and rumor as evidence, and forcing an individual to give testimony (often under torture) to incriminate themselves were all violations of Biblical standards laid out in the Old and New Testaments.

Had these men not intervened with sound Biblical arguments, the American witch trials might have turned out to be just as horrific as their Old World counterparts. (For more information on how the Bible directly shaped many of our due process protections, which would later end up in the Bill of Rights, refer to Federal Practices & Procedures, Federal Rules of Evidence.)

John Wise’s Works In Relation to the Declaration of Independence

The language of the Declaration of Independence and the principles therein, certainly, borrowed heavily from Wise. In Wise’s treatise on civil and church government, he asserted the following:

“I shall consider man in a state of natural being, as a free-born subject under the crown of heaven , and owing homage to none but God himself. It is certain civil government in general is a very admirable result of providence, and an incomparable benefit to mankind, yet must needs be acknowledged to be the effect of human free-compacts and not of divine institution ; it is the produce of man’s reason, of human and rational combinations, and not from any direct orders of infinite wisdom , in any positive law wherein is drawn up this or that scheme of civil government. Government ( says Lord Warrington ) is necessary . . . in that no society of men can subsist without it ; and that particular form of government is necessary which best suits the temper and inclination of a people. Nothing can be God’s ordinance, but what he has particularly declared to be such ; there is no particular form of civil government described in God’s word , neither does nature prompt it” (A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, pg 59).

“The prime immunity in man’s state , is that he is most properly the subject of the law of nature. He is the favorite animal on earth ; in that this part of God’s image, namely , reason , is congenate with his nature, wherein by a law immutable, enstamped upon his frame, God has provided a rule for men in all their actions, obliging each one to the performance of that which is right, not only as to justice , but like wise as to all other moral virtues , the which is nothing but the dictate of right reason founded in the soul of man. (Molloy, De Mao, Præf.) That which is to be drawn from man’s reason , flowing from the true current of that faculty, when unperverted, may be said to be the law of nature, on which account, the Holy Scriptures declare it written on men’s hearts” (A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, pg 60).

“Man’s external personal, natural liberty, antecedent to all human parts or alliances, must also be considered. And so every man must be conceived to be perfectly in his own power and disposal, and not to be controlled by the authority of any other. And thus every man must be acknowledged equal to every man , since all subjection and all command are equally banished on both sides ; and considering all men thus at liberty , every man has a prerogative to judge for himself, namely, what shall be most for his behoof, happiness, and well-being” (pg 64).

“The third capital immunity belonging to man’s nature , is an equality amongst men ; which is not to be denied by the law of nature, till man has resigned himself with all his rights for the sake of a civil state , and then his personal liberty and equality is to be cherished and preserved to the highest degree, as will consist with all just distinctions amongst men of honor, and shall be agreeable with the public good. For man has a high valuation of himself, and the passion seems to lay its first foundation (not in pride, but) really in the high and admirable frame and constitution of human nature” (pg 66).

Summing Up John Wise’s Statements

Mackaye sums it up well when he states, “What vital principle is to be found in the Declaration of Independence which is not involved in the following extracts from Wise’s argument for free government drawn ‘from the Light of Nature’?

‘All men are born free, and nature having set all men upon a level and made them equals, no servitude or subjection can be conceived without inequality.’

‘The first human subject and original of civil power is the people.’

‘When the subject of sovereign power is quite extinct that power returns to the people again, and when they are free they may set up what species of government they please.’

‘The formal reason of government is the will of the community.’

‘A civil state is a compound moral person … whose will is the will of all.’

‘The end of all good government is to cultivate humanity and promote the happiness of all and the good of every man in his rights, his life, liberty, estate, honor, etc., without injury or abuse done to any'” (Founder of American Democracy, pg 81).

It was not Jefferson who first came up with the idea that all men are created equal. It was a Biblical principle long before either Wise or Jefferson’s time, and Wise echoed it in his defense of those liberties for all. Jefferson picked up on it and wisely realized that these principles were the only basis for a government to be founded on if it were to avoid dictatorial behavior and violation of both God’s dictates and human nature. He and the other men and women who fought against English tyranny understood that it was these principles that were being violated and these principles that they would fight and die to keep and preserve.

Conclusion

John Wise was only one of the many incredible men and women who contributed to our country’s beginnings. More importantly for the purposes of this series, he is only one of many ministers who helped to shape the future of this country and to ground it solidly in Biblical principles even as they ensured there would be religious freedom the likes of which had never before been seen in the Old World.

Wise and those who followed after left us a legacy we would do well not to forget. What they gave us served as the foundation for the liberties we often take for granted. Liberties which will all too soon disappear if we do not understand what they are based on, why we have them, and why we must fight for them.

My hope is that you are beginning to understand that as you learn more about those behind our Founding and read through the primary sources I have been endeavoring to provide you with. We cannot afford to lose sight of where we came from or the incredible results of those roots. If we do, then the America our ancestors fought, bled, and perished to establish, protect, and nurture will perish along with the incredible legacy that those who died for it left.

After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, America vowed never to forget the brave men and women who died on that day. It was a good piece of advice, and one that I wish more would take to heart in relation to all of our history, not just that one moment in time. So, I say to you now of those who died to establish one of the most free countries known to man… Never forget.