ABSTRACT
Unpacked, three events from the 1630s begin to explain that problem of judgment. They confirm Philip Gura's claim that there was an antiauthoritarian streak in Massachusetts Bay Puritanism, and show that its reach stretched into the ranks of colonial leadership. The sign of the cross in the center of the flag called to mind the pope and the problem of idolatry in general. As John Winthrop put it, the cross was "a superstitious thing and a relic of the Antichrist". In many respects, the dispute between Winthrop and Vane simply repeated the arguments about authority that had gone before. Their debate turned on issues of human authority raised by Wheelwright's sermon, and John Endecott's decision to cut the cross out of the flag. Yet this last debate also marked a turning point. Although he was confused and shifted ground during the debate with Vane as a result, Winthrop's arguments in the debate over the statute relating to strangers.
