mmon consent, under seven successive
Governors. It now ceased to exist as a distinct Government, to the great
regret of its inhabitants, after having been administered tolerantly and
loyally for a period of seventy years, as has been narrated above, in
Chap. II.

Such is an abstract of the provisions of the second Massachusetts
Charter--provisions similar to those which have been incorporated into
the constitution and government of every British North American Province
for the last hundred years.[215]

It remains to note how the new Charter was received, and what was the
effect of its operation. A faction in Boston opposed its reception, and
desired to resume the old contests; but a large majority of the deputies
and the great body of the colony cordially and thankfully accepted the
new Charter as a great improvement upon the first Charter in terminating
their disputes and defining their relations with England, in putting an
end to a denominational franchise and tyranny inconsistent with
religious or civil liberty, and in placing the elective franchise,
eligibility to office, legislation and government upon the broad
foundation of public freedom and equal rights to all classes of
citizens.[216]

The influence of the new Charter upon the social state of Massachusetts,
as well as upon its legislation and government, was manifestly
beneficial. Judge Story observes: "After the grant of the provincial
Charter, in 1691, the legislation of the colony took a wider scope, and
became more liberal as well as more exact."[217]

The improved spirit of loyalty was not less conspicuous. Mr. Neal,
writing more than twenty years (1720) after the granting of the new
Charter, says: "The people of New England are a dutiful and loyal
people.... King George is not known to have a single enemy to his
person, family, or government in New England."[218]

The influence of the new state of things upon the spirit of toleration
and of Christian charity among Christians of different denominations,
and on society at large, was most remarkable. In a sermon preached on a
public Fast Day, March 22, 1716 (and afterwards published), by the Rev.
Mr. Coleman, one of the ministers of Boston, we have the following
words:

"If there be any customs in our Churches, derived from our ancestors,
wherein those terms of Church communion are imposed which Christ has not
imposed in the New Testament, they ought to be laid aside, for they are
justly to be conde