Wise, John (1652-1725)
American clergyman of New England, known for his opposition to the strict Calvinist doctrine of the "elect" and for his espousal of the cause of democracy and equality a number of years before the American Revolution.
His two famous works are The Church's Quarrel Espoused ( 1710), an attack in satire on a proposal by the Mathers to set up a centralized control of the New England churches; and A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches ( 1717), an assertion of the doctrine of the natural rights of mankind, which Wise was the first American to employ in a plea for political democracy. In 1687 he attracted attention by leading his congregation in a refusal to pay taxes imposed on them by Governor Andros, and was arrested and imprisoned. His writings were widely read in the days of the Revolution.
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