sect shortly after excited a still more dangerous
commotion in the colony. (1637.) Mrs. Hutchinson, a Lincolnshire lady of
great zeal and determination, joined by nearly the whole female
population, adopted these views in the strongest manner. The ministers
of the church, although decided Calvinists, and firmly opposed to the
Romish doctrines of salvation by works, earnestly pressed the
reformation of heart and conduct as a test of religion. Mrs. Hutchinson
and her followers held that to inculcate any rule of life or manners was
a crime against the Holy Spirit; in their actual deportment, however, it
must be confessed that their bitterest enemies could not find grounds of
censure. With the powerful advocacy of female zeal, these doctrines
spread rapidly, and the whole colony was soon divided between "the
covenant of works and the covenant of grace;" the ardor and obstinacy of
the disputants being by no means proportioned to their full
understanding of the point[336] in dispute. Sir Harry Vane,[337] whose
rank and character had caused him to be elected governor in spite of
his youth, zealously adopted Antinomian opinions, and, in consequence,
was ejected from office by the opposite party at the ensuing election,
Mrs. Hutchinson having failed to secure in the country districts that
superiority which she possessed in the town of Boston.[338] After some
ineffectual efforts to reconcile the seceders to the Church, the new
governor and the ministers summoned a general synod of the colonial
clergy to meet at Cambridge, where, after some very turbulent
proceedings, the whole of the Antinomian doctrines were condemned.

As might have been supposed, this condemnation had but little effect.
The obnoxious principles were preached as widely and zealously as
before, till the civil authority resorted to the rude argument of force,
banished Mr. Wheelwright, one of the leaders, with two of his followers,
from the colony, and fined and disfranchised others. Mrs. Hutchinson was
ultimately accused, condemned, and ordered to leave the colony in six
months. Although she made a sort of recantation of her errors, her
inexorable judges insisted in carrying out the sentence.[339] The
unhappy lady removed to Rhode Island, where her husband, through her
influence, was elected governor, and where she was followed by many of
her devoted adherents. (1638.) Thus the persecutions in the old
settlement of Massachusetts had the same effect as those in En