Current renderings of the Massachusetts state seal use a sans-serif for this motto, but it appears to have been originally drawn as a serif. The face, as drawn, is inconsistent in its style, so this might be a tall order to fill. Perhaps someone with knowledge of the period (1890-1910) might know what the illustrator was going for?
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The image is atrocious: do you have anything clearer? There's simply not enough distinctive information there. The leg of the uppercase R is usually a distinguishing feature, but it is noticeably absent in this example.
Yes, it is a terrible image, but the only one I've been able to find. It's taken from here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=MrkVAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22The%20Coat%20of%20Ar...
There doesn't seem to be any other published image of the original.
Well, there is this…
http://marriottexposed.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2000px-Seal_o...
As you surmised, the lettering appears to be hand-drawn and shows "Old Style" influences. With the exception of the rather clumsy single-serif C in the original, this typeface is close…
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/mti/bembo-2/16780572/glyphs.html
Yes, the wikipedia svg. It has its charms, I suppose.
That Bembo ain't gonna cut it, though. I think an openface Caslon might do the trick.
Captured from web.archive.org on 6 Nov 2013. view this capture
