Jamestown - Essays >> Essay: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
Saul's Prohibition Staide: Daniel Price's Rhetoric of Reproof
by Christina M. Hoffmann
with comments by Edward J. Gallagher, Kate Lehnes, Karen B. Manahan, Elizabeth Vogstberger, and Elizabeth Wiggins
History of the Jamestown Settlement: Part I
(1) The wilderness of America called for Englishmen to settle there with their families, their institutions, and their religion....Persons of many crafts and professions were required, and this gave a potentially broader interest to colonial enterprise than had any previous English venture. To satisfy and to increase this interest, publishers and promoters provided a steady flow of literature on the New World between 1603 and 1620 (Parker, "Preachers" 192).
(2) In April of 1606, James I granted the first charter for the Virginia Company. This charter would eventually prove to be a disaster. Death and destruction would greet the first settlers, and word of the trials and tribulations experienced in Jamestown began to permeate the British consciousness. The public began to express greater and graver doubts about settlement with the suggestion of a second settlement. Such doubt called for a campaign of justification unlike any previously seen. In particular, the sermons of 1609, from Robert Johnson to William Crashaw, move forceful justification of colonization into the spotlight. H.C. Porter states, "the sermons of 1609 make quite clear that there had been a debate in England not only about the use of planting colonies, but about the morality" (350). In terms of morality, we must consider the following question as framework for the investigation of justification literature in general and Daniel Price's sermon in particular:
What right had the first discoverers of America to land, and take possession of a country, without asking the consent of its inhabitants, or yielding them an adequate compensation for their territory (Irving)?
Preachers as Justifiers and the Bible as a Text of Justification
(3) On May 28, 1609, Daniel Price preached Saul's Prohibition Staide. Or The apprehension, and Examination of Savle. And the Indictement of all that persecute Christ, with a reproofe of those that traduce the Honourable Plantation of Virginia, five days after King James I signed the second charter of the Virginia Company. Not only was Daniel Price the chaplain to Prince Henry, but he was also well known as one of the most fashionable preachers in London. According to Louis B. Wright, "Price had also gained special merit in the eyes of businessmen by the publication of The Marchant in 1608, a sermon preached at Paul's Cross, in which he glorified the commercial groups of the city" (94-95). Price's Saul speech was again presented at Paul's Cross, known as a hotbed of activity for the Anglican Church in England, and served primarily as a vehicle to equate opposition to the Virginia colony with opposition to the Church and to progress of the nation. Though Price does not discuss Virginia throughout the whole of the sermon, there is no doubt that it is his focus [comment1]. He specifically points to the problems of those who "traduce" the plantation and specifically discusses it in the last few pages of his sermon. In his sermon, Price uses a variety of techniques and references to outline and downplay the dissention and objections related to colonization in his attempt to sway listeners and convince them to support the cause. Price reproves traducers by referencing Biblical stories and directly connecting them to the justification of colonization, by setting up a binary opposition that suggests "you are either with us or against us," by pointing to the ultimate rewards for England, and by outlining possible lost opportunities.
Virginia in context -- justification reason #1: Direct Connections between Biblical Justification and Justification of Colonization
(4) Price reproves traducers by outlining the conversion of Paul and pointing to the story of Deborah. Price is simultaneously laying the groundwork for the transfer of guilt and acceptance, an authority of speaker, and a suggestion that his upcoming, short but highly important discussion will further justify the actions of the colonizers and the English rights to settlement. Price first makes heavy use of and reference to the story of Saul's conversion. In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, a light from heaven flashed around Saul, vicious persecutor of Christians, on his way to Damascus, and he fell to the ground, hearing a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute me?" The conversion narrative is an effective tool in a sermon, in that it places the listener in a position that is more active and invites the listener to consider the call of the Lord to "the Way." This story serves as the basis for the tone of the real message, the justification of the settlement of Jamestown, which begins on page F2.
(5) Price uses the Saul story and adds rhetorical flourish in an attempt to confute, create, and control later in the sermon by masking the immorality of forceful invasion as "the Angell of Virginia [who] cryeth out to this land, as the Angell of Macedonia did to Paul, O come and helpe vs" (F3). Using the dual reference to the Angel of Virginia and the Angel of Macedonia, Price begins to knit together the beginning of his sermon with the real reasons for the sermon: to reprove traducers of colonization and to attempt to sway them to see the "right" way. In the Bible, Paul has a vision of an Angel of Macedonia, which he saw as a call from God to evangelize in Macedonia. As a result, he sailed for Europe and preached the Gospel in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, Athens, and Corinth. Then he returned to Antioch by way of Ephesus and Jerusalem. Price's rhetoric suggests that those who are vocal opponents of colonization are unfaithful as well as a hindrance to nation, faith, and progress on both a societal and an individual level. Through reference to the Angel of Macedonia, Price effectively draws together religion, nation, law, morality, and the requirement for equal support of them all. This is the longest section of Price's sermon, but the Saul conversion story is neither the primary focus nor the only Biblical story referenced in his address to the traducers of Virginia.
(6) In continuing his reproof of traducers, Price also refers to the Biblical story of Deborah, a figure in the Book of Judges. The story of Deborah points out the problems with inaction and the ramifications of doubting either God or those who put forth God's word. Deborah was a prophetess and the Judge of Israel during a period of oppression, and her primary role was administration and justice. The war leader Barak came to her and asked for her guidance in the planning and implementation of his moves against other tribes. Deborah gave clear and correct advice, but Barak doubted her and asked that she come with him to prove she was sure of her directions.
(7) Like the repetition of the line "Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?" that runs through the Saul story, there is repetition in the Deborah story, "Is not Yahweh gone out before you?" [comment2]. For Price, this line builds upon the line from Saul since it suggests that beyond persecution there might perhaps be, even more alarmingly, a doubt in Yahweh's presence and a tone of judgment and authority that places guilt and disappointment firmly on the minds and the shoulders of those doubters. This point is planted in the Virginia section of Price's sermon and is also tied in with Price's "us versus them" rhetoric, which will be discussed in some detail next. In the biblical story, the Canaanites were routed by the Israelites as a result of Deborah's faith in God and his teachings. And were it not for Deborah's active involvement, Israel would have remained oppressed and tragic. Deborah's call to arms is lauded as one to which generations of Kings listened. But, perhaps of greatest importance for Price is the Roll of Dishonor that comes between the story's Call to Action and Victory of Yahweh.
(8) The roll of dishonor discusses the shortcomings of those who failed to heed the call of God and can be seen as a veiled reference to the traducers of Virginia. Some have suggested that the quote "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" comes from this story. Price uses the Deborah story to point to this quote and the "sheep-like" tendencies of those who have not responded to the call, in effect accusing them of following the crowd and disregarding glory and honor (Judg 5.16-18). The people of England, and more specifically the traducers, would be as the Meroz in Deborah's story, who blatantly and fully disregarded God's call and as a result brought a curse upon themselves. Price seamlessly connects the idea of a cursed place, arguably from this story, with a view of then-contemporary England as a cursed place of infidels. Price's references to the stories and the angels within them once again seek to impress upon the listeners just how close God and his wrath are to the action, or inaction, of his followers.
Virginia in context -- justification reason #2: You are either with us, who are right, or against us, and therefore wrong
9) Price moves away from direct Biblical connections in his sermon and extends his reproof to the present and more general Christian public by suggesting that "God has called this land," England, to an "Apostleship" (F3). Price places those in England as duty-bound to see the settlement through, and as either apostles or traducers, with no room for middle ground [comment3]. Earlier in the sermon, Price speaks of "mercy and judgment together" (B2) and unites both in one place, "action" (B2). These earlier points coupled with the Virginia pages further tighten the above mentioned connections and strengthen the apparent "equality" between obtaining commodities and saving souls. According to John Parker, Price defended Virginia as one of the most fertile and fruitful places on earth; yet he kept his emphasis on the thousands of souls waiting to be saved, and asked "'Shall Scepticall Humorists bee a meanes to keep such an honour from us, such a blessing to them?" ("Preachers" 200). The reproof continues, as Price posits that in spite of all the possibilities of opportunity and advancement, "our own lasie, drousie, yet barking Countrimen traduce it" (F3).
(10) During the time of Price, the opposition to the Virginia colony was growing. According to Parker, Price's sermon "was a chastisement of all sorts of evil-doers; it specifically called attention to 'those that traduce the Honourable Plantation of Virginia' in a subtitle. The message was hardly subtle, for Price gathered up papists, swearers, drunkards, and others of whom he disapproved, and likened them all to Saul as persecutors of Christ" (199). Price was lumping those who were vocally opposed to colonization and those who wanted nothing to do with the activities in the New World together with what were considered the worst sort of people. Price goes so far as positioning the persecution of Christ as equal to the traducing of Virginia, thereby implying that you are either with us or against us as both countrymen and as Christians. Price accuses those who traduce Virginia as equally traducing "the remembrance of that Virgine Queen of eternal memory" (F3) and continues on to suggest the pragmatic application of a new settlement which could "proue to us the Barne of Britaine, as Sicily was to Rome, or the Garden of the World was Thessaly, or the Argosie of the world as is Germany" (F2).
(11) Price's "us versus them" avoids existing damaging stories and rumors and focuses on the possibilities and the successes of already proven settlements. Price does not discuss the First Charter and the resulting publications and information; he instead positions his stance as the only one that matters, once again basing fact in an unknown and unquestionable "truth." No longer was "because God said so" a valid means for explaining away devastation and settlement, particularly when the primary beneficiaries were private shareholders as well as Christianity and England, so Price replaces this rhetorical tactic with an "unspoken truth" that one must see as he does. It is assumed that his is the right way, and the onus is upon anyone who does not see that as such. The issues of privatization and colonial legitimization required elegant rhetorical twists in tracts and sermons above and beyond the religious rhetoric, since the problems of the first Virginia Charter were increasingly evidenced by John Smith, among others, in accounts that were not altogether favorable to the New World, or the old one for that matter. As a result, Price had to develop a rhetoric that would become more persuasive and exclusive, especially in answer to these louder, more critical and more evidentiary moral charges. To overcome the aforementioned travel literature and first-person accounts of "the other truth about Virginia," Price creates the "us versus them" dichotomy that is then extended to be "right versus wrong."
(12) To strengthen the "right versus wrong" argument, Price then moves to outline the honorable characteristics and noble qualities of those who are part of his group. Simultaneously, he drives home his point to skeptics, traducers, and dissenters all in one fell swoop, "Whosoever they be that purposely withstand or confront this most Christian, most Honorable voyage, let him read that place in feare" (F3). Price points to the wisdom and greatness of the authority of King and government, sets them apart as "Oracles" (F3), and suggests the duty and honor attached to the support of and belief in the settlement. Keep in mind that this sermon came after the failure of the first charter, and was a result of a carefully planned campaign instituted to request men and money. Christianity and the Bible were still the main methods of common understanding and communication during the settlement of the New World. The idea of legally justifying the taking of land and goods by force had to somehow be reconciled with Christian morality teachings that, while not specifically prohibiting such actions, were certainly not condoning them. This legitimization ties together the aforementioned Biblical stories of Deborah and Saul of the past with Price's "us versus them" rhetoric of the present. These rhetorical devices then allow Price to reprove traducers based upon future possibilities.
Virginia in context -- justification reason #3: What's in it for us
(13) Price reproves traducers by positioning England in light of Jerusalem and what might be. Like Jerusalem, England should be a "Seate of Judgment, euen the Seate of the house of David, Peace bee within thy walles, plenteousness within thy Pallaces" (F4). Price situates England as the place to which all spoils are available, for now. In a direct address to his traducers during the Virginia portion of his speech comes the warning: "infections," "trickes of deceyuing," "lusts," "pride," "oppression," "gluttony," and "general disease" are awaiting them. Ultimately, disregarding or disavowing requests for funds, people, and supplies for the New World is tantamount to disregarding one's faith and ultimate survival of self and soul. Price's appeal places London not as the Holy Land from which all others would flow but, instead, as the place from which all evilness comes. This sentiment is outlined when he compares the London he longs for with the London he now sees:
So maye it be sayde of the Transformation of London. It sould be Jerusalem, the city of God, and it is become Viarthers slaughterhoufe, Thefes refuge, Oppressions safety, Whoredoms Stewes, Vsuries Banke, Vanities Stage, abounding in all kind of filthineff and prophaneneffe O remember that fines haue been the Pioners of the greateft Cities, and haue not left one stone vpon another (F4).
And he sees this because traducers have chosen to follow their own paths and ignore or disparage the one that is right and true.
(14) In perhaps his most effective rhetorical trick, Price brings the sermon right to the doorstep of the many and varied listeners, and traducers, in England through his appeals to their myriad temperaments; "whatsoever commodity England wanteth. The Pilosopher commendeth the Temperature, the Marchant the commodity, the Polititian the opportunity, the Diuine, the Pietie, in conuerting so many thousand souls" (F2). Although Price seemingly attempts to keep them all appeased, he is more concerned with forcing the listener into a thoughtful investigation, one that could perhaps leave those of more talk and less action feeling fearful or guilty, or at the very least looking at the Virginia settlement in a more favorable light. And, also of great importance is national and religious pride. The possibilities for progress and advancement of religion and nation abound in the New World. Price makes reference to these possibilities and to the need to desire them and achieve them [comment4].
Virginia in context -- justification reason #4: Possible Lost Opportunities
(15) In the Virginia section of the sermon, Price reproves traducers by pointing to the Spanish settlement of the Indies and the English attitude then:
When the descry of the Indians, was offered to that learned and famous Prince Henry the seuenth, Some idle, dull, and vnworthy Sceptickes moued the King not to entertain the motion. Wee know our losse by the Spaniards gaine, but now the Soules of those Dreamers doe semme by a Pithagoricall Transanimation to bee come into some of those scandalous and slanderous detractors of that most noble voyage (F2).
Price points out that the English missed a chance the first time and that by virtue of Pythagoras's principle of transanimation, the souls of the skeptics of old have begun a new cycle of existence in present skeptics. Further, Price notes the skeptical nature of the English towards the first voyages to the New World. These initial voyages ultimately resulted in the Spanish control of the West Indies. If the tone of the sermon is to be considered, Price suggests that the English were now aware, or at the very least should be aware, of just how much was lost in terms of progress, economy, and national pride as a result. The incredulous tone begs the question: how could the same mistake be repeated twice? For good measure, and through great rhetorical machinations, Price points to the logic and rational thought that encompasses the theories of Pythagoras in furthering the incredulous tone. Not only are the theories of Pythagoras steeped in the Western tradition of reason and logic, but they are also indicative of a mathematical anomaly: seemingly different pieces can be arranged in such a way that the exact result is achieved once again. Additionally, Pythagorean transanimation suggests that after death the human soul begins a new existence in the body of another.
(16) The entire sermon focuses in large part on conversion, and the additional reference to Henry VII at the beginning of the Virginia section continues that rhetorical move. Henry VII dissolved the Spanish/English connection as a result of a family death. His peaceful ways and rule were ultimately problematic for England because there was no English interest in the Spanish settlements as a result. Price points out the possibility of this same chain of events with Virginia and focuses the blame on skeptics and traducers. Further, these suggestions speak to Price's true motive: justification for the Virginia settlement in the shadow of public discontent and disillusionment. To soften his justification, Price blames those who see colonization as problematic. Further, he goes on to state that the "wiseset and noblest" and the "most experimented and learned" know that this "is like to be the most worthy Voyage that euer was effected by any Christian," because of "Peace of Entry...the plenty of the Countrey, and for the Clymate" (F2). In other words, those who are truly wise, intelligent and peace-loving are those who are willing to follow the leader and speak favorably of English settlements. As well, for Price, skeptics are heathens who have not learned from the past, looked to the future, or lived fully in the present.
(17) In the recent past, the Spanish had settled the Indies. Jamestown was yet another possibility that could not be let go without a successful attempt by the English, in spite of Papists or Traducers who, to Price, were equally appalling. Price sees beyond the desire to simply beat the Spaniards, however. The main objection for many in opposition was the taking of land from others. Here Price, like other preachers, makes a factual statement that is largely based in fiction that closes all avenues to argument and places traducers in a losing position: peaceful entry and the vastness of the lands justify the settlers' rights. Whatever is to occur after that, or in spite of it, is not worth noting, because ownership has been conferred, and is, as such, a non-issue. And to strengthen this point, Price notes that "the Coantrey is not unlike to equalize" myriad others in terms of products and goods for England (F2). Price refers to "Tyrus for colors, Bisan for woods, Persia for oils, Arabia for Spices" in an attempt to show the possibilities that abound and the needs that will be met by this second settlement of Virginia (F2). Price's message to traducers is that morality is not an issue, because nothing has been violated.
Closing Arguments
(18) Daniel Price reproves traducers by finding direct correlations between Biblical stories and the settlement of Jamestown, by setting up a dichotomy that pits both "us versus them" and "right versus wrong," by pointing to the possibilities that abound, and by pointing to possibilities that could be lost. Price's sermon comes days after the initiation of the second charter but before the June 8th departure of Governor Gates and 500 others. Through this second charter, the Virginia Company assumes direct administration of the colony. Instead of royal control through a royal council, there is private control through a corporation under a royal charter [comment5]. Power on the ground is now vested not in a President and Council in Virginia but a Governor: Sir Thomas Gates. (Bemiss) The loss of the ship Sea Venture during this journey and the resulting alterations to the second settlement colored the sermons of those who came after Price, and give Price the unique position of ideal justifier. Price can clearly and convincingly state each of his four points with authority and certainty because the second settlement lies on the horizon and abounds with possibility and practicality. As Fred M. Kimmey points out, "there are great expectations from colonizing activities. The profits are both in the present and in the future: by turning the savages to the path of righteousness not only will their souls be saved but the bounds of the kingdom enlarged" (51). The present profit and the future profit are melded together through what can certainly be called Price's language of empire. If one does God's bidding and actively pursues economic and spiritual progress "they shall shine as starres for euer and euer" (F3).
(19) However, Price's sermon is not without knowledge of public doubt and vocal disillusionment. As a result, his rhetorical prowess warns of repeating past mistakes and the dangers of traducing Virginia. He lays out the "you are either with us, who are right, or against us, and are therefore wrong" mentality and drives it home by pointing to the success of colonization elsewhere and the uselessness and immorality of the action of dissent. Price makes a rhetorical choice by invoking first Saul's conversion story through the main portion of his sermon, and later the story of Deborah. The references to these Biblical stories ultimately position the traducement of Virginia under the umbrella of the persecution of Christ. God's cry "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" and the reference to the story of Deborah remind listeners that settlement is an "apostolic" event, one that is divine and inspired, not immoral or base. In fact, Price attempts to turn the immoral and base accusations back on those who dare to challenge the authority of God and nation. Price was one preacher in a long line of justifiers, but his position was unique in that he was the first to preach after the revelation of the second charter. His sermon was the first in a new wave of justification documents that would culminate in William Crashaw's A New-yeeres Gift to Virginea London, 1610. In considering the rhetorical prowess and religious and political power of Daniel Price and his contemporaries, it becomes powerfully clear that language truly is the perfect instrument of colonization and the justification thereof [comment6].
Works Consulted
Bemiss, M. Samuel, ed. The Three Charters of the Virginia Company of London: With Seven Related Documents; 1606-1621. Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet Number 4. Williamsburg: The Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957.
Fitzmaurice, Andrew. "The Moral Philosophy of Jacobean Colonisation." Humanism and America: An Intellectual History of English Colonisation, 1500-1625. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. 58-101.
Horn, James. "The Conquest of Eden: Possession and Dominion in Early Virginia." Envisioning an English Empire: Jamestown and the Making of the North Atlantic World. Ed. Robert Appelbaum and John Wood Sweet. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P, 2005. 25-48.
---. A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Irving, Washington. A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. New York: The Kelmscott Society Publishers, pub date unknown. Book I, Chapter V.
Johnson, Robert. Noua Britannia Offring most excellent fruites by planting in Virginia. Exciting all such as be well affected to further the same., London : Printed [by John Windet] for Samuel Macham, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard, at the signe of the Bul-head, 1609. Virtual Jamestown. 2000. Virtual Jamestown Archive. 2 Jun. 2006. <https://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/jamestown-browse?id=J1051>.
Kimmey, Fred M. "Christianity and Indian Lands." Ethnohistory 7.1 (1960): 44-60.
Kingsbury, Susan Myra, ed. The Records of the Virginia Company of London. 4 vols. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1906-35. Online in the Thomas Jefferson Papers, American Memory Collection, Library of Congress : <https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/ jefferson_papers/mtjser8.html#pub>.
Lefler, Hugh. T. "Promotional Literature of the Southern Colonies." Journal of Southern History 33 (1967): 3-25.
Parker, John. "Preachers and Planters." Books to Build an Empire. Amsterdam: N. Israel, 1965. 192-216.
---. "Religion and the Virginia Colony, 1609-10." The Westward Enterprise: English Activities in Ireland, the Atlantic and America 1480-1650. Eds. K.R. Andrews, Nicholas P. Canny and P.E.H. Hair. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1979. 245-70.
Porter, H.C. The Inconstant Savage: England and the North American Indian 1500-1660. London: Duckworth, 1979.
Price, Daniel. Saul's Prohibition Staide. Or The apprehension, and Examination of Savle. And the Indictement of all that perfecute Christ, with a reproofe of thofe that traduce the Honourable Plantation of Virginia. London 1609.
Scanlan, Thomas. "Preaching the Nation: The Sermon as Promotion." Colonial Writing and the New World 1583-1671: Allegories of Desire. New York: Cambridge UP, 1999. 93-123.
Virtual Jamestown. Ed. Crandall A. Shifflett. 1996. 2 Feb. 2006. <https://www.virtualjamestown.org/>.
Washburn, Wilcomb E. "The Moral and Legal Justifications for Dispossessing the Indians." Seventeenth Century America: Essays in Colonial History. James Morton Smith, ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc, 1972. 15-32.
Williams, Robert A., Jr. "The English Conquest of Virginia." The American Indian in Western Legal Thought: The Discourses of Conquest. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. 193-225.
Wright, Louis B. "A Western Canaan Reserved for England." Religion and Empire: The Alliance between Piety and Commerce in English Expansion, 1585-1625. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1943. 84-114.
[comment1] Quantitatively, as Chris points out, Virginia has only a small presence in Price's sermon, but I really like the way he stylistically makes the rest of the sermon serve his reproving purpose. Very effectively, I think, Price sets in motion a repetitive chant so that when we come to the last verse -- the one about Virginia -- we are lulled into accepting it. It fits naturally in the sermon rhythm he develops over several pages prior. The point of the sermon is that you are either a Saul or a Paul, and in his application of that doctrine he starts to sing "If there are any _______ among you, you are a Saul." If there be among you a common Drunkard . . . . one that viper-like has eaten out his birth . . . . men of Traffic that have ever afforded any Engines of Artillery to the Turk . . . . those that deserve the title of a quarreling, querulous, litigious wrangler . . . . ministers who practice Simony . . . . lawyers who undertake unjust and false causes . . . . etc., then "Thou art a Saul"! As the climax of this litany, those who have "injuriously vilified and traduced . . . the Plantation of Virginia" fit seamlessly in. The lesson is that you too are Sauls. Here is an instance, then, in which rhetorical style is a justification strategy. Though the section on Virginia is much smaller in Price's sermon than that in other documents, there is a very effective "reading" (or listening) experience here. (Edward J. Gallagher)
[comment2] Price's use of repetition throughout his sermon is a powerful rhetorical mode that gets both his "preacherly" and political messages across. In fact, out of all of the justification sermons, Price's is the one I can imagine being read out loud. First off, the use of the phrase "Saul, Saul why persecuteth thou me?" early in the sermon effectively aligns the listener with God's "plight" in this situation. It is a powerful move to quote this first-person passage because right away the listener is aligned with a somewhat humanized God, making the rest of the sermon's explication of what God actually did in Saul's case that much more relatable to listeners looking for the right way to go. Of course, Price continues to repeat that phrase throughout the rest of his sermon, ingraining both the magnitude of Saul's error and the depth of pain it caused God. Repeating "Saul, Saul why persecuteth thou me?" reaffirms Price's point that disobeying God is something Christians must never, never do. The repetition is like an incantation, making the prevailing tone of this sermon somewhat more meditative and therefore more prayerful than the other justifiers' sermons (at least until the last few pages when Price really nails down his political message). After being lulled into submission, it would seem particularly difficult to resist Price's final message. (Kate Lehnes)
[comment3] Robert Gray also utilizes a powerful rhetoric of shame which, as Chris, suggests leaves no room for argument. There is not only a duty but a necessity for action and those who do not participate should not consider themselves part of the commonwealth. If there is a "curse" for inaction, then for Gray it is the curse of overpopulation that leads to a multitude of problems for the citizens of England. Gray's language makes it clear that those against the Virginia project are "traducers," especially in the following quotes.
"What then shall we thinke of those persons, who having an honourable life set before them, doe yet chuse rather to live in idlenesses, dishonestie and obscenitie? Surely they are of a degenerate and dunghill minder, neither are they worthy to be nourished in the bosome of a wel governed common-wealth" (B6, emphasis mine).
"So let perpetual shame and dishonour attend upon all those, which doting upon their wealth, or suffeting upon their pleasures, finde delaies and devise shifts, wither to save their purses or their persons from such honourable and profitable designments, as offer probably likelihoods of future food to this our countrey or common-wealth" (C, emphasis mine).
(Karen B. Manahan)
[comment4] The idea of advancing the glory of England runs throughout Robert Johnson's sermon, Nova Britannia. He repeatedly emphasizes how England is on the cusp of history and greatness in the Virginia project, and if her people do not recognize this, England will fade into oblivion. More specifically, he has an interesting take on this topic when he argues that increasing the number of King James's subjects—through the conversion of the Native Americans—will further glorify him:
And upon good warrant I speake it here in private, what by these new discoveries into the Westerne partes, and our hopefull settling in chiefest places of the East, with our former knowne trades in other parts of the world, I doe not doubt (by the helpe of god) but I may live to see the dayes (if Marchants have their due encouragement) that the wisedome, Majestie, and Honour of our King, shall be spread and enlarged to the ends of the world, our Navigations mightily encreased, and his Majesties customes more then trebled. (15)
Johnson tempts his audience to envision what he hopes to live to see—England taking her place amongst the great civilizations of the world. He hopes the Virginia project will bring the rightly deserved fame and wealth to England and King James. (Elizabeth Vogstberger)
[comment5] At the time of the second Jamestown charter one of the main emphases of the sermons is that the Jamestown government has been recreated and will be back on track with the new guidelines set out in the second charter. This theme can be seen in Crashaw, as he quite honestly acknowledges that the colony has, to this point, been misgoverned: "But now I answer more particularly, that if our men there haue been at any exigents in this kind, it grew not from any neccessitie that must needes accompanie that plantation, or that countrey: but proceeded plainly from the want of gouerment, and absence of our Gouernours, which was caused by the hand of God, the force of tempest, which neither humane wit could forsee, nor strength withstand" (G2). While Crashaw does not place responsibility of the mismanagement of the colony on anyone's shoulders, he states the obvious public and company sentiment that the government of Jamestown was not quite appropriate for the colony. Crashaw's sermon, like Price's, however, serves in part to re-assure investors that the new charter will bring a new age of management to Jamestown that will prove much more successful than the previous one: "And to conclude, seeing it is knowne to all, that know any thing in this matter, that the principal (if not the only) wound in this businesse hath been the want of gouerment, there is now care taken, that (by the blessing of God) there neuer shall be want of that againe" (G2). (Elizabeth Wiggins)
[comment6] Comparing Price's approach that Chris has written about with those of others who don't devote full works to the justification motive might be very valuable. See the timeline for sermons in 1609 by the following, and the pages numbers for the beginnings of the Virginia sections are in the parentheses: Crakanthorpe (D2), Benson (92), Tynley/2nd sermon (67). (Edward J. Gallagher)
