Biblical Separation

J.G. Vos, "The Separated Life," in John H. White, ed., The Book of Books: Essays on the Scriptures in Honor of Johannes G. Vos, pp. 103-104:

Science is never infallible; it cannot bind the conscience; therefore, the individual Christian must judge of the statements of science, and the statements of science must not judge the Christian. To deny this means to make science, instead of God, the lord of the conscience. No alleged "findings" of science can be formulated into an authoritative list of harmful things or acts. The relation between the sufficiency of Scripture as the standard of faith and conduct and the problem of the separated life must be summarized as follows:

1. The Christian is required by God to separate from what is sinful.
2. Scripture alone can demonstrate that a given course of conduct is sinful.
3. Natural revelation cannot be regarded as a fuller revelation than Scripture, or as coordinate with Scripture in any sense whatever.
4. It is possible that science or experience may show that certain conduct is harmful.
5. Science or experience can never show that anything is sinful.
6. Scripture teaches that what is really harmful is ordinarily sinful.
7. The decision whether science or experience shows that a particular conduct is harmful must be made by the individual concerned, not by other persons.
8. Church assemblies may not issue authoritative regulations based in whole or in part on any other standard than Scripture.

To depart from these principles is to deny the sufficiency of Scripture as the standard of faith and conduct and to elevate experience or science to the position of an additional authority coordinate with Scripture.

The Rediscovery of Jacques Le Moyne

On a humid day in July, I drove through Northern Virginia horse country to keep an appointment at the Oak Spring Garden Library in Upperville, Virginia, to view the private botanical art and rare book collection of Mrs. Rachel Mellon. The staff welcomed me warmly and treated me to an experience that I will never forget. Along with a tour of the vast holdings of Mrs. Mellon, who personally designed the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, and who will turn 100 years old next month, I was privileged to hold in my hands the one and only complete edition of the only book published by French Huguenot artist Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, La Clef des Champs (1586).

La Clef des Champs is a pattern book, designed to provide archetypical samples of various flora, fauna and animals for use in embroidery, tapestry and needlework. It was published at the end of Le Moyne's life and illustrates his remarkable skill at bringing creation to life through watercolor. It was dedicated to his patroness, Lady Mary Sidney, wife of Sir Henry Sidney, confidante of Queen Elizabeth I, and mother of the famous poet Sir Philip Sidney, and begins with a dedicatory epistle and a sonnet dedicated to her, one of several that Le Moyne was known to write. As I leafed through the pages, I was struck by the vividness of the color, still striking after over 400 years, and the attention to detail by this master. They are, as Wilfrid Blunt described, "a labour of love" (The Art of Botanical Illustration: An Illustrated History, p. 82). Two other manuscripts among the library's holdings attributed to him reaffirmed to me his amazing gift. One was especially noteworthy for his inclusion of roots in his floral works. These represent a significant portion of his extant works. What is especially remarkable is that but for the providence of God, Le Moyne would have been remembered only as one of the first French Huguenot martyrs in America.

Le Moyne was born in 1533 in Dieppe, France, both a prominent seaport and a Huguenot stronghold. Little is known about his early years. Miles Harvey hypothesizes that his father was the Catholic embroiderer and friend of Mary, Queen of Scots, Henry Le Moyne. He must have had connections to the royal court because he was invited to join the 1564 Florida expedition of Lt. René de Laudonnière, serving as the royal cartographer and artist for the voyage. He wrote a narrative of his experiences upon his return home at the personal request of King Charles IX to accompany his remarkable artwork. His account is one of a few invaluable sources which inform us of life at Fort Caroline, the third French Huguenot colony in the Americas (France Antarctique in Brazil (1555-1567) and Charlesfort, South Carolina (1562) were the first), and his artwork serves as the first European depictions of American Indians, the Timucua. His maps also fill an important role in the cartographical history of the United States. He survived the infamous Spanish massacre of Fort Caroline on September 20, 1565, by fleeing the fort and making a return voyage which landed him in England first, then overland to France. It is thought that he lost his artwork when he was forced to flee Fort Caroline suddenly, and then recreated his drawings on the return voyage or sometime thereafter, but Harvey speculates that he perhaps salvaged some of his notes at least.

Some time later, after fleeing France following the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, he entered the service of Sir Walter Raleigh, and became acquainted with John White, an artist who later famously served as Governor of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island, North Carolina. White was influenced artistically by the French Huguenot. Le Moyne died in May 1588, and was buried at Blackfriars Parish. His wife Jeane survived him by several years, but it does not appear that their son did. Towards the end of his life, Le Moyne made the acquaintance of Theodore de Bry, Belgian engraver, who had a vision to promote the exploration and colonization of America. De Bry sought to obtain Le Moyne's paintings for publishing but they were unable to come to terms; after Le Moyne's death, De Bry purchased them from Jeane, and subsquently published engravings based on the artwork of both John White and Jacques Le Moyne, which became sensational best-sellers in his day, and contributed greatly towards the early 17th century European migration to America.

However, Le Moyne himself faded into obscurity as an artist, as did the story of the Fort Caroline colony and its role in the building of America. It was not until the late 19th century that Americans began to realize that French Protestants had preceded English Protestants in settling this nation. It was not until 1900 that Le Moyne's art began to be identified as his, when his illustration of The Indian Chief Athore showing Laudonniere the Marker Column set up by Ribault was positively attributed to him (now in the possession of the New York Public Library), and notice was taken of its importance in art history. In 1922, Spencer Savage, librarian of the Linnean Society, realized that a collection of watercolor plants owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum was in fact the work of Le Moyne. This attribution paved the way for further attributions to Le Moyne, and stirred 20th century interest in the man himself, who lived such an interesting life and created such beautiful art. The world's rediscovery of Jacques Le Moyne has enriched our understanding of art and world history in so many ways.

His art may now be found in a few places around the world: the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the New York Public Library; the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut; Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, DC; and the Oak Spring Garden Library in Upperville, Virginia.

Le Moyne himself found pleasure in recreating the artwork of his God, as he wrote in a poem once, calling us to elevate our minds from the creation to the Creator:

Seek no more the colors of a gay Spring
which in the living flowers fade in an hour
here sweet Flora remains in her beauty
and does not lose her distinction through the rigors of time.

Patriarch of Dorchester, Father of Massachusetts

The man who is singly most responsible for the Puritan settlement of Massachusetts is John White, Patriarch of Dorchester (1575-1648). One of many John Whites in his era, and possibly related to John White, Artist and Governor of the Lost Colony of Roanoke (c. 1540-c. 1593), our "Patriarch," who was also the great-grandfather of John and Charles Wesley, was a leading Puritan of his day, and influential on both sides of the Atlantic.

John White was a Puritan whose ties to Dorchester, England, began with his appointment as rector there in 1606. He spent the rest of his life ministering to that community, and his importance as a leader in the town after a calamitous fire in 1613, after which, under his preaching, the town was greatly rebuilt, with a view towards employing and helping the poor, and reformed in its spiritual character. The town prospered in the ensuing years, and White, having noted the Pilgrim expedition to Plymouth upon the publication in 1622 of Mourt's Relation, helped to establish the Dorchester Company, which in 1623 founded a trading settlement at Cape Ann, near what is now Gloucester, Massachusetts, overseen by Thomas Gardner, said by some to be the first governor of Massachusetts, which in 1626 was moved further south, under the leadership of Roger Conant, and would become the town of Salem. White recruited emigrants and helped to raise funds for the work of the Dorchester Company, to help build Massachusetts as both a refuge for nonconforming Puritans as a profitable trading colony, though he himself conformed to the Church of England.

Daniel Neal, The History of New-England, Vol. 1, p. 122:

...the Reverend Mr. White, Minister of Dorchester, encourag'd by the Success of the Plimouth Colony, projected a new Settlement in the Massacuset Bay as an Asylum for the silenced Ministers;...

His trips to London, networking and earnest appeals led to the granting of a patent by the Plymouth Council for New England in 1628 to the successor of the Dorchester Company, the New England Company for the Plantation in Massachusetts Bay, which established the Massachusetts Company. It was under the auspices of this company that the Great Puritan Migration to New England commenced in 1630 with the sailing of the Winthrop Fleet. The Humble Request of His Majesties Loyall Subjects, the Governour and the Company late gone for New England; to the rest of their Brethren in and of the Church of England (1630) was published by John Winthrop and his group is thought to have been been drafted by John White of Dorchester. It sets forth their formal farewell to England, yet affirming their unbroken communion with the Church of England. John Cotton preached a farewell sermon at the departure of the Winthrop Fleet, God's Promise to His Plantation (1630), in which he promised a fuller accounting of the reasons for the Puritan migration, a promise which was fulfilled by the publication later that year of The Planters Plea, Or the Grounds of Plantations Examined, and usual Objections answered. Together with a manifestation of the causes moving such as have lately undertaken a Plantation in NEW ENGLAND: For the satisfaction of those that question the lawfulness of the Action. 2 Thess. v. 21. Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. by John White. This important document constitutes a full treatise on the history of the settling of Massachusetts to date, and setting forth the Biblical reasons for the planting of this particular settlement, its relation to the Church of England, and the establishment of colonial endeavors generally (including arguments "from Gods gift of the earth to men," "from the Law of marriage" and "from the benefit that comes to mens outward estates"), as well as answering concerns by friends and foes of the Puritans' enterprise. He continued to correspond with John Winthrop, and to labor for the benefit of the colonial settlement. Thus, though White himself never sailed to Massachusetts, his efforts to establish the Puritan colony there have led many to refer to him as the "Father of Massachusetts," even more so than the Pilgrim Fathers.

In 1643, White was chosen to serve among the Westminster Assembly of Divines. When the Assembly swore to uphold the Solemn League and Covenant on September 25, 1643, John Lightfoot recorded in his Journal that "Mr. White prayed near upon an hour." White attended faithfully and contributed diligently to the work of the Assembly, and was in fact married to the sister of Cornelius Burgess, his co-assessor at the Assembly. While the Assembly was engaged in a battle over whose metrical Psalter would be chosen to serve as the instrument of uniformity and "get the civil sanction," the leading candidates being Francis Rous and William Barton, White, who had prepared his own version of the metrical Psalms, preferred not to publish it while the debate was going on, in the interests of harmony. It was published posthumously with the permission of his son under the title David's Psalms in Metre, agreeable to the Hebrew. To be sung in usuall Tunes To the benefit of the Churches of Christ (1655) and shows his poetic skills. He also wrote a catechism. A.F. Mitchell writes, The Catechisms of the Second Reformation, p. xlvii:

His catechism, entitled A Plaine and Familiar Exposition upon the Creed, X. Commandments, Lord's Prayer, and Sacraments, etc., passed through several editions, and, save in the introduction, is identical with that of Josias White, his elder brother, though probably this last was the copyist.

He retired to the country after the end of the English Civil War, and wrote A Way to the Tree of Life: Sundry Directions for the Profitable Reading of the Scriptures: wherein is described occasionally the nature of a spirituall man, and, in A digression, the morality and perpetuity of the Fourth Commandment in every circumstance thereof, is discovered and cleared (1647). He also wrote A Commentary upon the Three First Chapters of the First Book of Moses called Genesis (1656), which contains prefaces by Stephen Marshall and Thomas Manton, commending the work. Charles Spurgeon said of White's commentary, "A folio upon three chapters! There were giants in those days." Manton himself said:

...That praise which was reserved for our Author, was, besides a solid Exposition of the Text, The deducing of Apt and pertinent Observations, together with fit and proper Reasons to each Point, which with what Judgment and Acutenesse it is performed, I leave to the Reader to judge.

To speak of the Worth of the Authour is needlesse, his praise being already in all the Churches:...

He died in 1648, having poured his life into a ministry which served the cause of Christ's kingdom on both sides of the Atlantic, and the name of this good man, as common as it is, is uncommonly worthy of remembrance.

The Art of Edwin White

Edwin D. White (1817-1877) was one of America's most gifted historical painters. He took up painting as a boy and, after studying abroad in Paris, Rome, Florence and Dusseldorf, returned home to achieve great success, notably in painting the iconic Signing of the Mayflower Compact (which later inspired the 5 cent 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary stamp, part of the only series of U.S. stamps not to reference "United States," "U.S.," or "America" on account of the event's importance in world history); Washington Resigning His Commission (which is displayed at the Maryland State Legislature in Annapolis); and Pocahontas Informing John Smith of the Conspiracy of the Indians. Among his other works are Leonardo Da Vinci and His Pupils; Van Dyck in the Studio of Rubens; View of the Arno from the Ponte Trinita; Milton's Visit to Galileo in Prison; and The Old Age of Milton.

A descendant of Elder John White, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut, Edwin White had a particular interest in historical paintings of religious significance; besides the Pilgrim scenes referenced above, he also painted the Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving and Separation of the Pilgrims at Delft Haven; Bunyan's Dream; The First Printing of the Bible; The Emigrants' Sabbath; The Sacred Lesson; A Morning With Luther; Luther's Vow; The Death-Bed of Luther; Landing of the Huguenots at the Mouth of the St. John's River, 1564; and Evening Hymn of the Huguenot Refugees (which has been reproduced on notecards by the National Huguenot Society).

White's paintings bring alive some of the most significant moments of history, and combining an interest in our Protestant heritage, with his exquisite skill, his legacy is worthy of remembrance.

Reasons For the Great Migration

The Great Puritan Migration of 1630-1640 is the name given to the mass removal of approximately 20,000 Puritans from Old England to New England in one decade. This numerical increase of whole families to the small colony of Massachusetts helped to establish and solidify the tenuous European foothold on the northern American continent. Puritans in England at this time were suffering much persecution as a result of Archbishop William Laud's high church policies. The economic and religious refuge possibilities envisioned by the London Company and the Plymouth Company (later the Plymouth Council for New England) and, later, as a result of the efforts of John White of Dorchester (1575-1648), "Patriarch of Dorchester," "Founder of Massachusetts," and member of the Westminster Assembly, the work of the Dorchester Company and its successors, the New England Company and the Massachusetts Bay Company, along with the 1629 Royal Charter and Cambridge Agreement, providing financial and legal support for the colonial enterprise; the providential survival of the Pilgrim Separatists at Plymouth Colony after the hard winter of 1620-1621; and the ongoing Anglican persecution all contributed to this mass migration. In 1630, John Winthrop sailed to New England on the Winthrop Fleet, famously preaching the "City on a Hill" sermon ("A Model of Christian Charity") while on the deck of the ship Arbella. William Ames designed to come over to New England but died in Holland in 1633 before he was able to do so. Also in 1633, on the ship Griffin, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone crossed over to New England. As Cotton Mather reports (Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 242):

There were then three eminent ministers of God in the ship; namely, Mr. Cotton, Mr. Hooker, and Mr. Stone; which glorious triumvirate coming together, made the poor people in the wilderness, at their coming, to say, that the God of heaven had supplied them, with what would in some sort answer their three great necessities; Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building:

The clearest account of the Puritans' motives in transplanting their families and churches, along with answering objections and concerns from those who felt that they were abandoning the Church of England in its time of need or separating from it, as well as providing Biblical justification for colonizing land peopled by the American Indians, is found is certain writings by some of the aforementioned men. Besides Winthrop's sermon above, see:

1. The Humble Request of His Majesties Loyall Subjects, the Governour and the Company late gone for New England; to the rest of their Brethren in and of the Church of England (1630). This document published by John Winthrop and his group may have been been drafted by John White of Dorchester. It sets forth their formal farewell to England, yet affirming their unbroken communion with the Church of England.

2. God's Promise to His Plantation (1630), a sermon preached by John Cotton upon the farewell of the Winthrop Fleet. In this sermon, Cotton provides "an ideological justification for engaging in such a risky venture, a promotional tract to encourage emigration, and a typological argument for possessing the wilderness" (Reiner Smolinski). He also promises a forthcoming more detailed justification for the colonial endeavor, which was to be provided by John White:

Ere long (if God will) thou shalt see a larger declaration of the first rise and ends of this enterprise, and so cleare and full a iustification of this designe, both in respect of that warrant it hath from Gods word, and also in respect of any other ground and circumstance of weight, that is considerable in the warrant of such worke, as (I hope) there will easily be removed any scruple of moment, which hitherto hath beene moved about it.

3. The Planters Plea, Or the Grounds of Plantations Examined, and usual Objections answered. Together with a manifestation of the causes moving such as have lately undertaken a Plantation in NEW ENGLAND: For the satisfaction of those that question the lawfulness of the Action. 2 Thess. v. 21. Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. (1630) by John White of Dorchester. This important document satisfies John Winthrop's promise and constitutes a full treatise on the history of the settling of Massachusetts to date, and setting forth the Biblical reasons for the planting of this particular settlement, its relation to the Church of England, and the establishment of colonial endeavors generally (including arguments "from Gods gift of the earth to men," "from the Law of marriage" and "from the benefit that comes to mens outward estates"), as well as answering concerns by friends and foes of the Puritans' enterprise.

Westminster Assembly Ground Rules

Daniel Neal gives us an account, based in part upon John Lightfoot's Journal of the Proceedings of the Westminster Assembly, of the ground rules that were laid at the commencement of this Assembly for its deliberations and activities.

History of the Puritans, Vol. 1 (1843 ed.), pp. 461-462:

The Assembly was opened on Saturday, July 1, 1643, with a sermon preached by Dr. [William] Twisse. The ordinance for their convention was then read, and the names of the members called over, after which they adjourned to Monday, and agreed on the following rules:

(1.) "That every session begin and end with a prayer.

(2.) "That after the first prayer, the names of the Assembly be called over, and those that are absent marked ; but if any member comes in afterward, he shall have liberty to give in his name to the scribes.

(3.) "That every member, before his admission to sit and vote, do take the following vow or protestation:

"I, A. B., do seriously and solemnly, in the presence of Almighty God, declare that, in this Assembly whereof I am a member, I will not maintain anything in matter of doctrine but what I believe in my conscience to be most agreeable to the Word of God; or in point of discipline, but what I shall conceive to conduce most to the glory of God, and the good and peace of his Church."

And, to refresh their memories, this protestation was read in the Assembly every Monday morning.

(4.) "That the appointed hour of meeting be ten in the morning; the afternoon to be reserved for committees.

(5.) "That three of the members of the Assembly be appointed weekly as chaplains; one to the House of Lords, another to the House of Commons, and a third to the committee of both kingdoms. The usual method was to take it by turns, and every Friday the chaplains were appointed for the following week.

(6.) "That all the members of the Assembly have liberty to be covered, except the scribes," who some time after had also this liberty indulged them.

Besides these, the Parliament, on the Thursday following, sent them some farther regulations. As,

(1.) "That two assessors be appointed with the prolocutor, to supply his place in case of absence or sickness, viz., Dr. Cornelius Burges [Burgess], and the Rev. Mr. John White, of Dorchester.

(2.) " That scribes be appointed, who are not to vote in the Assembly, viz., the Rev. Mr. [Henry] Roborough and Mr. [Adoniram] Byfield.

(3.) "That every member, on his first entrance into the Assembly, take the fore-mentioned protestation.

(4.) "That no resolution be given upon any question the same day wherein it was first proposed.

(6.) "What any man undertakes to prove as a necessary truth in religion, he shall make good from the Holy Scriptures.

(6.) "No man shall proceed in any dispute after the prolocutor has enjoined him silence, unless the Assembly desire he may go on.

(7.) "No man shall be denied the liberty of entering his dissent from the Assembly, with his reasons for it, after the point has been debated; from whence it shall be transmitted to Parliament, when either house shall require it.

(8.) "All things agreed upon and prepared for the Parliament shall be openly read, and allowed in the Assembly, and then offered as their judgment, if the majority assent; provided that the opinions of the persons dissenting, with their reasons, be annexed, if they desire it, and the solution of those reasons by the Assembly."

Larry Holley notes further in his unpublished dissertation, The Divines of the Westminster Assembly: A Study of Puritanism and Parliament (1979), Appendix III, p. 225, that an additional rule was propounded by the House of Lords on June 29, 1643, but rejected by the House of Commons on July 6:

No long Speeches to be permitted, that Matters may not be carried by impertinent Flourishes; but all Debates to be by Way of Argument, soberly and gravely managed.