William Howes and his son were in 1744 fined
fifty shillings "apeece for deriding such as sing in the congregation,
tearming them fooles." The church music was as sacred to the Puritans as
were the prayers, but it must have been a sore trial to many to keep still
about the vile manner and method of singing. In 1631 Phillip Ratcliffe,
for "speaking against the churches," had his ears cut off, was whipped and
banished. We know also the consternation caused in New Haven in 1646 by
Madam Brewster's saying that the custom of carrying contributions to
the Deacons' table was popish--was "like going to the High Alter,"
and "savored of the Mass." She answered her accusers in such a bold,
highhanded, and defiant manner that her heinous offence was considered
worthy of trial in a higher court, whose decision is now lost.
The colonists could not let their affection and zeal for an individual
minister cause them to show any disrespect or indifference to the Puritan
Church in general. When the question of the settlement of the Reverend Mr.
Lenthal in the church of Weymouth, Massachusetts, was under discussion, the
tyranny of the Puritan Church over any who dared oppose or question it was
shown in a marked manner, and may be cited as a typical case. Mr. Lenthal
was suspected of being poisoned with the Anne Hutchinson heresies, and he
also "opposed the way of gathering churches.
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