"The Birthplace of American Independence, 1687"
paid naval force under Sir William Phipps, the famous New Englander, who captured and destroyed the strong Fortress of Port Royal at Annapolis, in Nova Scotia, and proudly gave to the arms of Great Britain the glory of a most brilliant victory over France, the ally of King James, who was at that time still the defeated claimant to the Throne of England, which he never again occupied.
But we are not yet through with the Rev. Mr. Wise. The article from the "Britannica," heretofore quoted, goes on to say:
"Gov. Andros, as governor, laid a tax on the Province without consent of the assembly. Wise, in 1687, advised Ipswich not to obey the order, as contrary to Charter rights. For this he was arrested, and pleading Magna Charta, was told by one of the Judges not to think the laws of England followed him to the ends of the earth. He was fined, imprisoned and deposed. After Andros' fall he sued Judge Dudley for denying him Habeas Corpus. In November, 1705, appeared annoymously Questions and Proposals addressed to the New England Churches and attributed to the two Boston Mathers. Wise saw in it a plot to overthrow laic by clerical control in the Church and answered at his leisure with the 'Church's Quarrel Espoused' (1710).
"Prof. M. C. Tyler says: 'Its invectiveness, its earnestness, its vision of truth, its flashes of triumphant eloquence simply annihilated the scheme it assailed.' The topic was further handled in a 'Vindication of New England Churches (1717),' which fully evolves the democratic theory. The two pamphlets were re-printed in one volume one-half century later (1772) to do duty in the Revolutionary struggle, and the correspondence of many of the sentences in the Declaration of Independence with the very expressions of Wise in his book are suggestive of something like plagiarism. This volume was reproduced by the Congregational Board in 1860 as an authority upon that polity."
Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Josiah Quincy were among the members of the famous Committee of Correspondence whose writings influenced Philadelphia, New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, and other localities to join the great movement for independence, which movement was underway in 1772 and culminated in 1775. The influence of the clergy upon people of all sects was very strong up to the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, and no doubt ministers of all denominations had been influenced by the patriotic Pastor's demonstration of Christian republicanism and Christian democracy in these re-published volumes. Adams and his radical friends showed great political shrewdness in this action, and no doubt it was largely
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