PRESIDENT White Library, * CORNBLL University. /i^ya^^ r :^2.///f^ Cornell University Library F 82W72 S91 Roger Williams the pioneer of religious ollci 3 1924 028 851 901 The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028851901 EOaEE WILLIAMS' f t^T^ ,; 1 v5 .^^^ ■ ) "? ^f' ■ f ^-^^ ^v. '^ s; -^ . -^ . s ,-, 1^ -0 ' ; 1 ^r^; ^ ■:^, --i ,; K"'"?-^ /^ : f i^li,y i^ 5 ^ '^ / ■. «; ''.' '^'■■^^. ' ^■■^. V' L' ,■ ^^- ■■ - J. -^, '^ci- , \. .: f ] >J '\/ ^ .■ -o . '. ■""^ . ■? V ■•^ ^ s ■ i r^ v^ " - ti - ^v "^ N^ ", \^ ^. . ^^ ::^.:,/ ■ 1 /' ■'- 1 / \ ^ "i k. H re o 1-1 . ■< 2 ROGER WILLIAMS THE PIONEER OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY BY OSCAE S. STRAUS AUTHOR OF "the GEIGIIir OF THE BEPUBLICAir POEM OP GOVEEN- MENT IN THE UNITED STATES" NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1894 Q h. 1(> ^^^* CopyrigM, 1894, by The Century Co. The DeVinne Press. TO MY EKOTHEES ISIDOR AND NATHAN STRAUS PEEFACE THE Eeformation, the Puritan Eevolu- tion, and the establishment of Eeligious Ljlierty are the important stages in the de- velopment of freedom from medieval des- potism to the modern recognition of the inalienable rights of man. They are links in the chain of history stretching from the reign of Henry VIII. to the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. The apos- tles of these three epochs are Luther, Crom- well, and Eoger Williams. The first lessened the tyranny of the Church by dividing it. The second weakened the claims of absolute monarchy by overturning the throne of the British empire, and the third reclaimed lib- I erty of conscience by separating the func- tions of Church and State. The value and significance of a reform are not measured by the population or the extent of the area in which it has its rise. On the contrary, the larger the principle the smaller must often be the community in which it can best be tested. X PBEFACE Roger Williams was one of the most unique and picturesque persons in our early history. He left his native land and came to America at the height of the Puritan emigration, im- pelled by the same motives as actuated the leaders of that great exodus — to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Shortly after his arrival he discovered that the church brethren of Massachusetts Bay Colony were more absolute in exacting con- formity than the English hierarchy had ever been, or became, even under the domina- tion of Archbishop Laud. Puritanism had begun its development in Massachusetts Bay practically unobstructed. The leaders were men of learning and ability, prompted by high and holy motives to build up a Chris- tian commonwealth according to an agreed Calvinistic model. They were conscientious in their piety, unyielding in their rigid en- forcement of their doctrines, and merciless toward heretics. Eoger Williams did not ac- cept this model, which he regarded as per- meated with the spirit of the Inquisition. He contended that the civil magistrate had no jurisdiction over conscience. The axi- thorities of the Bay had no scruples in rid- ding themselves of discordant elements. They had sent back to England only a short time before two Church-of-England men, and were about seizing Eoger WiUiams and shipping him back also. Fortunately he es- PREFACE XI caped, and, after a perilous exile in mid- winter through the wilderness, went beyond their jurisdiction into the country of the Narragansett Indians and founded Provi- dence. There he built up a little community according to his model, where " all men may walk as their conscience persuade them, every one in the name of his Grod," and which, as he expressed it, should forever be "a shelter to the poor and the persecuted according to their several persuasions." This was his message for the world at large. This was the logical outcome of the spirit of the Puri- tans while they were a persecuted sect, but opposed to their politico-ecclesiastical sys- tem when they attained to power. His prin- ciples, both pohtical and religious, were of- fensive to the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, and it is not strange that he was re- garded and characterized by them as a stub- born heretic and disturber of the civU peace. Accordingly, we find that the early histor- ians, Morton, Mather, Hubbard, and others, wrote against him with a partizan and pre- judiced pen. Later writers, some from in- herited predilections, and others because they assumed that the estimate of contem- poraries was the correct one, followed their predecessors. His life was one continuous battle for religious liberty. The prejudices and enmities he encountered have such vi- tality that they have come down even to our Xll PEEFACE day. I have endeavored to record impar- tially the character and- work of this re- markable man. In 1834 Professor James D. Knowles pub- lished a memoir of Eoger Williams, which, though encumbered with documents, was a valuable contribution toward a more cor- rect estimate of the character and work of this great reformer. This, in 1846, was fol- lowed by a shorter life written by Professor William Gammell of Brown University ; and in 1852 Rev. Dr. Eomeo Elton published a life containing some additional data de- rived from the Sadleir correspondence. All of these biographies are long out of print. Since these were written some valuable ad- ditional material has been discovered. I have freely consulted this, as well as every reliable source of information, especially the records and the works of Eoger Williams himself. Wherever possible I have let him speak through his own writings, as best cal- culated to illustrate his motives and personal characteristics. He was the pioneer of Re- ligious Liberty. His whole life throbbed with that principle, upon which as a basis he was the first to establish a political com- munity. The influence of his " lively experi- ment " I will not attempt to measure. He was the apostle of the American system of a free Church in a free State. I desire to express my indebtedness for PEEFACE XIU courteous replies to my inquiries to Dr. Reu- ben A. Guild, late Librarian of Brown Uni- versity, whose valuable monographs have been of great assistance to me. I desire also to express my acknowledgment to Hon. Ho- ratio Rogers, President of the Rhode Island Historical Society, and to Mr. Walter Gr, Webster, of Providence. There are others to whom acknowledgments are due, especially to Professor Charles Waldstein, for consult- ing for me the original records of Pembroke College, and to Mr. Harold Frederic, the London correspondent of the New York Times, for a like service in consulting the records of the Charter House. I am thankful to my friend Mr. Daniel Gr. Thompson for valuable corrections and sug- gestions, and to Mr. John Foord, who wrote a series of three scholarly articles in 1876, for the Sunday edition of the New York Times, upon Roger Williams and the development of Religious Liberty. CONTENTS CHAPTEE I.— The J)irth, parentage, and early life of Eoger WilUams.— His father a London tailor. — His pa- tron, Sir Edward Coke. — Attends Charter House school and Cambridge University 1-12 • CHAPTEE n.— Eoger Williams embarks for America. — Arrives in Boston. — Declines to become pastor of the church there. — The reasons. — The New England Puritan Commonwealth : the congregation, the basis. — Freeman and Church membership. — Policy of exclusiveness. — Eemoves to Salem, and becomes assistant to Mr. Skel- ton. — New England's early chroniclers 13-28 CHAPTEE III.— The General Court interferes.— "Williams removes to Plymouth. — His acquaintance with the Indi- ans. — His treatise on the patent. — Williams's character. — Wearing of veils. — The Eed Cross cut from the stan- dard by Endicott 29-41 CHAPTEE IV.— The charges against Williams, and the proceedings that lead to his banishment. — His objections to taking an oath. — The new oath of allegiance. — Ob- jects to compulsory attendance at church. — Summary of the several charges. — The ministers advise his banish- ment 42-57 CHAPTEE v.— The sentence of banishment.— Eeview of the causes. — The character of John Cotton contrasted with that of Williams. — Williams leaves Salem. — His journey through the wilderness to Narragansett Bay. — He proceeds to Seekonk and begins a settlement. — Founds the town of Providence 58-76 XVI CONTENTS CHAPTER VI.— Settlement of Providence.— Purchase of lands from the Indians. — A government with religious - liberty. — Dissensions at Providence because of "cranks." — The Verin incident. — Sir Henry Vane. — Banishment of Anne Hutchinson. — The Antinomiau controversy. — The Bay's system of formalism contributes to the settle- ment of Portsmouth and Newport. — Form of the Hebrew commonwealth imitated. — Coddington chosen as the judge 77-93 CHAPTER VII.— Founding of Hartford by Hooker.— The Pequod war. — Williams asked by Massachusetts to inter- cede. — Prevents Indian league. — Early Puritan chroni- clers ignore "Williams's services. — The growth of Provi- dence through arbitrary measures in Massachusetts. — Williams becomes a Baptist. — First Baptist church. ^ — Williams a seeker, or of no church. — Laws regard- ing liberty of eonseieuce. — Parable of the ship. — Lib- erty of conscience and the State 94-112 CHAPTER VIII.— The New England confederacy.- Wil- liams's mission to England to procure a charter. — His key to the Indian languages. — Affairs in England. — Ob-w^ tains a charter. — Its liberal provisions. — The Westmin- ster Assembly of Divines. — Williams's "Queries of the Highest Considerations," or plea for separation of Church >/ and State 113-130 CHAPTER IX.— Toleration.- The English Baptists.— Williams's stay in London.— The Westminster Assembly and the five dissenting members.— Williams's "Bloudy Tenent of Persecution " published. — He returns to Amer-^ iea with the charter, and proceeds to Providence. — He averts, for a second time, Indian war 131-145 CHAPTER X.— Samuel Gorton.— Massachusetts's claim of jurisdiction over Narragansett towns.— Confederation of Providence, Newport, Portsmouth, and Warwick.— De-y moeracy and liberty of conscience. — Williams removes to Wiekford.— Dissensions in Providence.— Williams as a pacificator.— Coddington and the designs of Massachu- setts. — Williams chosen deputy governor. — Persecution of Clarke and Holmes.— Williams's letter to Endi- cott 146-165 CONTENTS XVU CHAPTER XI.— Public affaii-s in England.— Coddington procures a charter. — Williams and Clarke sail for Eng- land. — The establishment of Presbyterianism. — Wil-^ liams champions separation of Church and State. — His proposals include readmission of Jews into England. — His "Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody."— His "Hire- ling Ministry None of Christ," and his "Experiments of Spiritual Life." — Lives at Vane's house. — Friend- ship -with Milton. — Teaches languages for a living. — His correspondence with Mrs. Sadleir. — Returns to America 166-187 CHAPTER Xn.— Williams president.- His administra- tion. — Urges upon Massachusetts pacific policy toward the Indians. — Disorder in the colony. — Cromwell's letter to the colony. — Williams reelected president. — Codding- ton gives in his allegiance. — Williams's attempts to conv ciliate the united colonies. — The affair of William Harris. — Rhode Island refuses tb persecute the Quakers. — Spirit of her government 188-208 CHAPTER XHI.- Rhode Island under the protector.— Clarke obtains a new charter from Charles II. — Its liberal provisions for liberty of conscience and democracy. — Organization of government under the charter. — Wil- liams elected assistant. — His letter to the town of Provi- dence to reserve common lands for exiles. — Morton's memorial published. — His letter to Major Mason. — Wil- liams's challenge to George Pox, and his controversy with the Quakers.- King Philip's war 209-225 CHAPTER XrV.— Conclusion 226-234 EOGEE WILLIAMS CHAPTER I The birth, parentage, and early life of Eoger Williams. His father a London tailor. His patron, Sir Edward Coke. Attends Charter House school and Cambridge University. IN" February, 1631, at the height of the Pu- ritan emigration, in the second year of Charles's rule without a parliament, during the ascendency of the Laudian influence, there arrived in Boston harbor a young Pu- ritan minister about twenty-four years of age. Governor Winthrop, Dudley, and their eight hundred followers and associates, had arrived at Salem the previous June, and had removed across the river to a place on the peninsula known by the Indian name Shaw- mut, but which was soon thereafter called Boston. This young minister was accom- panied by his wife Mary. His arrival was recorded by Winthrop as the coming of " a godly minister." Five years later, in Jan- uary, 1636, this same godly minister was a solitary pilgrim, wandering amidst primeval 2 KOGEE WILLIAMS forest, seeking a place of refuge from the ecclesiastical tjTanny which had been estab- lished in Massachusetts Bay under the pri- macy of the Eev. John Cotton. The name of this exile was Roger Wil- liams; his chief ci'ime was having main- tained that the civil power had no jurisdic- tion over conscience. He was the founder of the State of Ehode Island. He was the first to establish Religious Liberty in the New World, and was one of her earliest cham- pions in the Old. He was the prophet of his age at a time when the rest of the civilized world, with the single exception of Holland, was dominated by a spirit of fanaticism. Among his friends and associates during his eventful career, besides Sir Edward Coke, who was his patron, were Cromwell; Milton; Sir Henry Vane the younger ; Harrison, the Major-G-eneral of the Parliamentary army; Lawrence, Lord President of the Council of State ; the leading Independent members of the Long Parliament; the Eev. Hugh Pe- ters; the Governors Winthrop, father and son; John Endicott; and others of promi- nence in England and America. Of the early life of Eoger Williams we know very little, and much of that little is involved in doubt. We do not even know his face. No portrait of him, if such ever existed, has come down to us. We know him chiefly through his writings, his con- ROGER WILLIAMS d troversies, and as the earliest champion of Religious Liberty. Professor James D. Knowles, who in 1834 wrote the most complete, and in many re- spects the most accurate, memoir of Roger Williams,' expresses regret that so little is known of his early life. Only a few facts have been preserved, and these resting not upon certain evidence, but rather on tradi- tion. On such authority it is stated that Williams was born in Wales in 1599. It has been supposed that he was a relative of Oli- ver Cromwell, but this supposition depends not upon evidence, but is a speculation which contains a preponderating element of im- probability. Williams in his writings no- where claims, or as much as intimates, any kinship with the Protector, and it is a natu- ral conclusion that if such relationship, however remote, existed, the traditions in his family would have preserved at least some knowledge of so significant a fact; and, further, that such a circumstance would have been referred to by some of his con- temporaries, and by Williams himseK in his voluminous writings, or in some of his let- ters, many of which have come down to us. Williams repeatedly alludes to his intimacy with Cromwell, and mentions a " close con- 1 " Memoir of Roger Williams, the founder of the State of Rhode Island." Boston, 1834. 4 KOGER WILLIAMS ference with Oliver" on the subject of Pop- ery, to which both were bitterly opposed; but no direct or inferential reference is made to kinship with him. The most authentic data respecting the early years of Williams ai"e from Mrs. Sad- leir, the daughter of Sir Edward Coke, the great lawyer and legal writer, who, in a note appended by her to one of WiUiams's let- ters addressed to her, wrote : This Roger Williams when he was a youth, would, in a short-hand, take sermons and speeches in the Star Chamber, and present them to my dear father. He seeing so hopeful a youth, took such a liking to him that he sent him into Sutton's Hospital, and he was the second that was placed there.i Upon the completion of his preparatory studies, Williams was admitted to Cambridge University. Dr. Elton and other authorities refer to a record in Oxford University, that he was entered at Jesus College, April 30, 1624.' The age of entry, eighteen, as given in the record, would make the year of his birth 1606. He has failed to note that this record cannot apply to our Roger. His name 1 MS. letters of Roger Williams to Mrs. Sadleir, in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Publication of the Narragansett Club, Vol. VI, p. 252. 2 The record reads, "Eoderieus Williams filius Gulielmi WilUams de Conwelgaio, Pleb. an : nat. 18, entered at Jesus College April 30th, 1624." Elton, p. 9. EOGEE WILLIAMS 5 Latinized would not be Bodericus, but Bog- erus. In the absence of conclusive proof, we are perhaps justified in assuming, as the more probable, that he received his educa- tion at Cambi'idge, whence Coke himself grad- uated, and where a Puritan of that period would be the more likely to go. When we come to investigate "Williams's parentage and place of birth, we find also a wide divergence of authorities. Dr. Reuben A. Gruild, the learned librarian of Brown University, of Providence, and Mr. Henry F. Waters, of Salem, the distinguished genealo- gist, have, within the past few years, after careful study and reseai'ch, arrived at differ- ent conclusions. The Eoger Williams of Mr. Waters was an Englishman born in London, while the Roger Williams of Dr. Guild was born in the town of Gwinear, Cornwall. The former was the son of James and Alice Williams. The father was a mer- chant tailor of the city of London, and, ac- cording to Mr. Waters's estimate, Roger was born between 1599 and 1602. The Roger Williams of Dr. Guild was the son of Wil- liam and Alice Williams, and was born on December 21, 1602. The father was styled in the register of the parish church at Gwi- near a "gentleman," and it would therefore appear that Roger was of good family. Dr. Guild, in his "Footprints of Roger Williams," states : "At the age of fourteen 6 EOGEK WILLIAMS ■we find Mm in the Star Chamber at London taking notes of the speeches, where he at- tracted the attention of his future patron, Sir Edward Coke. By him he was placed in the 'Charter House School,' being the second scholar whose name was entered upon the records of that noble institution. This was in 1614. He probably remained until he was eighteen or nineteen, the rules of the institution, at the present day at least, not allowing a pupil to remain after that age. In 1624 he entered Pembroke College, Cambridge. The writer has visited this school, and also Pembroke College, and has seen at the latter place the entries made by Williams in his own peculiar handwriting." Waters rejects the Welsh origin of Wil- liams, and bases his reasons upon the rec- ords of the wills of James Williams, a London tailor, and of his wife, Alice Wil- liams, and of their son-in-law, Ealph Wight- man. He states that Roger, the son of Alice Williams, was closely related to a gentle family, the Pembertons, known in London, and that perhaps through Henry Lyde of Westminster, with whom the father, James Williams, was so closely connected in the management of Mrs. Pate's estate, we may find the channel of influence by which young Roger Williams got access to the "Star Chamber." Amos Perry, the secre- tary of the Rhode Island Historical Society EOGER WILLIAMS 7 of Providence, and John Ward Dean, the editor of the " New England Historical and Grenealogical Register," both side with the conclusions of Waters.^ Having carefully weighed and examined the authorities above cited, as well as such other data as were accessible, I have come to the following conclusions respecting the parentage, place, and date of birth of our Eoger Williams. The investigations of Waters seem to me conclusive as to the parentage and place of birth, namely, that he was the son of James Williams, a mer- chant tailor of London, and of his wife, Alice Williams. The evidence for this is found in the wills of both father and mo- ther, who name as legatees their sons, Roger, Robert, and Sidrach. The will of the mother, dated August 1, 1634, refers to "my son Eoger Williams now i)eyond the seas," and to his wife and daughter. At that time Roger was in New England. He was married, and had one child, a daughter, Mary. These wills also refer to another son, Sidrach. Roger, in his " George Fox," also refers to another brother as being a member of the " Levant or Turkey Company of Mer- chants." It is probably from this brother he 1 " New England Historical and Grenealogical Eegister,'" July, 1889 — Dean's note to the discussion. "Providence Journal," December 29, 1890, for Perry's article reviewing the evidence. / 8 BOGEE WILLIAMS learned of the religious toleration in the Turkish empire, which is referred to in a subsequent chapter. The exact year of the birth of Eoger Wil- liams is -in doubt. We must arrive at it by inference. I have been compelled to"" differ from the authorities above cited. I place it in the year 1607, and the reasons for this conclusion are the following : Mrs. Sadleir's note above cited is undoubted evidence for the fact that Williams was a pensioner at Sutton's hospital school ; but when she says that he was the second scholar placed there, she must have meant that he was the second saholar placed there by her father, and not the second scholar who entered the school. The will of James Sutton, which provided for the foundation of this school, was contested by the testator's nephew, whose counsel was the then solicitor-general, the distinguished Francis Bacon, and was sustained through the learned argument of Sir Edward Coke, who was one of the governors of the hos- pital. Nothing more natural than that Coke should place his protege in this school. The contest was determined in 1614, and in the same year the governors met to nominate the officers of the institution, and the first scholars — thirty-five in number — were elected on July 19, and instruction began in October of that year. By its rules it was provided that no scholars could be admitted EOGEE WILLIAMS 9 under 10 or over 14 years. It was also pro- vided by the regulations that every year, be- tween Easter and midsummer, a committee should make a visitation of the school and certify at the assembly following "which be- tween the ages of 16 and 18 are fit to be pre- ferred to the universities."^ Scholars sent to the universities were each allowed a yearly pension of £16 for eight years while pm'su- ing their studies. I have had the records of the Charter House searched anew. In addi- tion to the entry that Roger Williams was elected a scholar of the Charter House School June 25, 1621, is the following, under date Qf 1629 : Roger Williams who hath exhibition and so far about five years past, hath forsaken the university and is become discontinuer of his studies there. Exhibition suspended until order to the contrary. This record is in accord with his being registered at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, June 29, 1623, and with his taking his degree in 1626. But we have even more conclusive evidence in the fact that his signature to the subscription book' of that year, a photograph of which I have com- pared, is so similar to the signatures to the letters written to Mrs. Sadleir, there can be no reasonable doubt of their ha\dng been 1 "The Charter House, Past and Present." W. H. Brown, 1879. 10 KOGEK WILLIAMS written by the same hand. When he entered the Charter House in June, 1621, he was not more than 14 years of age, and when he en- tered Pembroke College on June 29, 1623, he was about 16 years of age. Comparing this date of his birth with the other data as to his age, referred to by Williams himself in his letters, we find no discrepancy. In 1632, in his letter from Plymouth to Governor Winthrop, he says he is " nearer upwards of 30 than 25," which is another way of saying he was over 25 and under 30, or nearer to 30 than 25 is to 30, which agrees with his date of birth in 1607 ; that is to say, he was be- tween 25 and 26 years of age. In his testi- mony relative to the first settlement of the Narragansett country, given in July, 1679, he describes himself as being then " near to four score years," which is also quite con- sistent with the date of his birth in 1607, for he was then between 72 and 73 ; or, in other words, over three score and ten, and, there- fore, counting his age by scores, he would naturally use the expression he did. The error of Knowles, Guild, Arnold, and other authorities arose chiefly from their not inter- preting Mrs. Sadleir's note correctly, in the light of the fact the school received its first scholars in 1614, and that he was not the second scholar who entered, but the second scholar placed there hy Sir JEdward Coke. Eeasoning from the above data, it is clear KOGEE WILLIAMS 11 that Williams was born in the year 1607; for, if he had been born prior to that year, he would have been over fourteen in 1621, when he entered the Charter House. If he had been born later than 1607, he would not have been in 1632 " nearer upwards of thirty than twenty-five." He would have been un- der twenty-five. Some very important facts have, within the past few years, been brought to light by two letters of Williams in the collection of Gr. Alan Lowndes, reported by the Histori- cal Manuscript Commission of England in their seventh report.' The first letter has no date, but was evidently written a short time before the second, which is dated May 2, 1629. Both were addressed to Lady Bar- rington, who was a daughter of Sir Henry Cromwell, and an aunt of the Protector. Wil- liams, at the time of writing them, was chap- lain to Sir William Masham of Otes, County of Essex, where the second letter was dated. The letters refer to his love for the niece of Lady Barrington, and they give evidence of a proposal of marriage. He alludes to his pecuniary circumstances and prospects, to his aged mother, still living, and to the cir- cumstances that, by reason of a tender con- 1 Eeprinted in the " New England Historical and Genea- logical Register," July, 1889, with a letter from Mr. Lowndes and a note by the editor. 12 KOGEK WILLIAMS science, his having been kept back from honor and preferment. He says, "Besides many former offers yt late New England call, I have since had 2 severall livings proferred to me each of them 100£ per annum ; but as things yet stand among us I see not how any means and I shall meet yt way." Lowndes suggests that probably his disappointment in love was one of the causes of his emigration. This may be possible, but the fact of his being induced, from conscien- tious scruples, to decline preferment in his profession, and his reference to the con- ditions of ecclesiastical affairs in England, make it probable that the latter were the impelling motives. CHAPTER II Eoger Williams embarks for America. Arrives in Boston. Declines to become pastor of the church there. The reasons. The New England Puritan Commonwealth : the congregation, the basis. Freeman and church membership. Policy of exclusiveness. Removes to Salem, and becomes assistant to Mr. Skel- ton. New England's early chroniclers. AFTER Williams left college, tradition J\. runs that he commenced the study of law under the guidance of his generous patron, Sir Edward Coke, who, it is assumed, would naturally wish to bring up his pupil to the honorable and useful profession in which he had achieved such signal success, a,nd attained so distinguished a position. Williams did not long pursue the study of law. He seemed to have found it uncon- genial to his tastes, and to have taken up instead the study of theology, which, in the light of a passage in the last of his published works, was in accord with the influences of his early surroundings, and with the bent of his mind ; for he says : "From my childhood, now about three score years, the father of 14 KOGEK WILLIAMS lights and mercies touclied my soul with a love for himself, to his only begotten, the true Lord Jesus, to his holy Scriptures, etc."^ There is abundant reason to conclude that he soon developed into a decided opponent of the liturgy and ceremonies of the church, thereby placing himself on the side of the most radical Puritans. In his " Bloody Tenent yet more Bloody" he refers to this period of his life in the following language : Master Cotton may call to mind that the dis- cusser, riding with himself and one other of precious memory, Master Hooker, to and from Sempringham, presented his arguments from Scripture, why he durst not join with them in their use of Common Prayer. This was the celebrated John Cotton of Boston, the chief persecutor of Williams, and his opponent in the discussions regarding freedom of conscience. The reasons, per- sonal to himself, if such there were, that compelled Williams to emigrate to America we have not been able to find specifically stated. An allusion thereto is made by him in one of his letters to Mrs. Sadleir, wherein he refers to his being more extreme in his opposi- tion to the natio rial church than'was her father. Sir Edward Coke. In this letter he says : And truly it was as bitter as death to me when Bishop Laud pursued me out of this land, and my 1 "George Fox, Digged Out Of His Burrowes." Boston, 1676. EOGER WILLIAMS 15 conscience was persuaded against the national Churcli, and ceremonies, and bishops, beyond the conscience of your dear father.^ He embarked from Bristol witli Ms wife, Mary, in the ship Lyon, Captain Pierce, master, December 1, 1630, and after a tedious and stormy voyage of sixty-five days arrived off Nantasket February 5 following. Win- throp, as we have said, noted his arrival as that of a " godly minister."^ No sooner had WiUiams set foot upon the shores of New England than he came in con- flict with the ecclesiastical and civil authori- ties of the colony, whom he soon thereafter found arrayed against him, for asserting and maintaining with unwavering fidelity and aggressiveness those principles which have immortalized his name as the champion of rehgious liberty. To understand the circum- stances which brought about this conflict and instigated the church-brethren of Massa- chusetts to combat the principles which Wil- liams contended for, it will be necessary to review the ecclesiastical and civil policy of the colony, their relation the one with the 1 Elton, p. 89. In a letter to John Cotton of Plymouth, the son of John Cotton of Boston, he says: "He [God] knows what gains and preferments I have refused in uni- versities, city, country, and court in Old England and some- thing in New England, etc., to keep my soul undefiled in this point and not to act with a doubting conscience." Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, 356. 2 "Winthrop's History of New England," I, p. 41. 16 KOGEB WILLIAMS other, and the methods employed to build up and protect from interference and intru- sion their Utopia, that theocracy afterward styled the Puritan Commonwealth. It will be remembered that the members of the Pilgrim or Plymouth Colony were Separatists, and were associated as a dis- tinct church before they left Holland. In this, as in their subsequent ecclesiastical or- ganization, each church was independent of all others. Another principle of the Ply- mouth Chm-ch was that the state had no right to punish for ecclesiastical censures, as they were spiritual, and it had no authority to inflict for such censures temporal penal- ties. These principles were a logical result of the causes which drove them out of Eng- land and prompted their emigration. For this reason we find these colonists manifesting in their subsequent history a more tolerant and humane spirit than the Bay colonists. They counseled moderation toward Quakers, and they were never guilty of hanging witches. The Massg^chusetts colonists who settled Salem, Boston, and other towns of the Bay, though nonconformists, were not separated from the established chm-ch while in Eng- land. Their scruples were against conform- ing to many of the ceremonies of that church. Their aim and hope were to work reforms from within the chm-ch ; many,even,in order to avoid persecution while in England, KOGEB WILLIAMS 17 though, nonconformists at heart, outwardly submitted to the forms of the established church. When they emigrated to America, they departed as members of the Church of England. Winthrop and his associates, on leaving, while on board their ships at Yar- mouth, addressed a farewell letter to the rest of their brethren, wherein they say : " We desire you should be pleased to take notice of the principles and body of our Company, as those who esteem it our honour to call the Church of England, from whence we arise, our dear mother, and cannot part from our dear native country, where she especially resideth, without much sadness of heart and many tears in our eyes : ever acknowledging that such hope and part as we have obtained in the common salvation we have received in her bosom, and sucked it from her breasts. We leave it not, therefore, as loathing that milk wherewith we were nourished, but blessing God for the parentage and education, as members of the same body, shaU always rejoice in her good, and unf eignedly grieve for any sorrow that shall ever betide her : and while we have breath, sincerely desire and endeavor the continuance and abundance of her welfare, with the enlargement of her bounds in the Kingdom of Christ Jesus." ^ The first concern of the colonists was the formation of their several churches. A church had been organized at Salem August 6, 1629, at which time the Rev. Mr. Skel- 1 Hutohinson, Vol. I, appendix No. 1. Knowles, p. 40. 2 18 KOGEK WILLIAMS ton was chosen or instituted as the pastor, and the Rev. Mr. Higginson as teacher. At Charlestown another church was foraied July 30, 1630, by Governor Winthrop and others, of which the Eev. John WUson was elected teacher. "We used imposition of hands," says the governor, "but with this protestation by all, that it was only a sign of election and confirmation, not of any intent that Mr. Wilson should renounce the minis- try he received in England." ^ Their purpose was by this method of elec- tion to establish the independence of their church and yet retain their connection with the Church of England ; in other words, to hold their union and communion with the established church without subjecting them- selves to its ecclesiastical control. From a careful study of the organization and development of the New England Puri- tan Commonwealth it will be seen that it was cast in an ecclesiastical mold. It was purely the Calvinistic idea of a common- wealth, in part democratic and in part aris- tocratic, designed to protect, strengthen, and uphold the framework of the church. Its basis was not the town meeting, but the congregation. As early as 1631 it was en- acted " that for time to come,, no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body pol- 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 32. ROGEK WILLIAMS 19 itic but such as are members of some of the churches within the same." ' The clergy dom- inated the church, for none could be pro- posed to membership therein unless allowed by the elders. "This," says Hutchinson,' "must needs render the influence of the Clergy very great under the old Constitution. Nobody could be proposed to the Church for a member unless the minister allowed it. Nobody could be admitted a Freeman unless he was a Member of the Church." Thus, to become a freeman, each applicant had to make confession of his faith and doc- trines, which, if not approved of by the clergy, would debar him from the rights of a citizen, but not absolve him from the obliga- tions to pay taxes for the support of the church. By this means the clergy administered the temporal power and held fast thereto until the charter was wrested from their grasp in 1684. The intent and purpose of the founders of the commonwealth are forcibly expressed by John Cotton, who was its unmitered pope, and for nineteen years had the largest share in molding its civil-ecclesiastical polity, and whose influence was greatest in bringing about the banishment of Roger Williams. " God so framed the state of church govern- ment and ordinances that they may be com- 1 Mass. Eeeords, Vol. I, p. 87. 2 Hutchinson's " Original Papers of Mass. Bay," p. 88. 20 EOGEE WILLIAMS patible to any Commonwealth, thougli never so mucli disordered in his frame. But yet when a Commonwealth hath liberty to mould his own frame {scriptures plenitudinem adoro), I conceive the scripture hath given full di- rection for the right ordering of the same, and that in such sort as may best maintain the euexia of the Church. Mr. Hooker doth often quote a saying that no man fashions his house to his hangings, but his hangings to his house. It is better that the Commonwealth be fashioned to the setting forth of God's house, which is his Church, than to accommo- date the Church frame to the civil state."' This description and illustration give us an adequate and correct idea of the relations of Church and State in the commonwealth of saints. It was not a union of the two — far from it, for that signifies some equality at least of authority; but it was a Church dominating the State, and using it as an in- strument to carry out its will. The con- sequence was that every civil question had its religious bearing, and^g^ery religious question had its civil be^rog, but in all questions the religioi^/^pect preponder- ated. The most that(i^|. be said in defense of their policy of gu^ed exclusiveness is that such methods were consonant with the 1 Mr. Cotton's letter to Lord Say and Sele, 1636. Hutch- inson, Vol. I, appendix 3. ROGEK WILLIAMS 21 interests and instructions of a stock com- pany organized and conducted to preserve, for the enrichment of its stock-holders, a trade monopoly. Yet to assert that the Pu- ritan fathers were impelled by such sordid purposes to emigrate and found a new state in the wilds of America, while far from serv- ing even as an apology for their heartless in- tolerance and_yigprous persecutions, would be a hbel upon their motives. Yet we find that the late Rev. Henry M. Dexter, D. D., in his work entitled "As to Roger Williams," which is characterized by most painstaking historical research, in order to justify all the cruel acts of the early New England Puri- tans, and to show why, in 1875, the sentence of banishment against Roger WiUiams, de- creed in 1635, should not have been revoked, rests his argument and bases his conclusions mainly upon the claim that the company of Massachusetts Bay "was in its begin- ning, in point of fact, neither more nor less than a private corporation chartered by the Grovernment for purposes of fishing, real es- tate improvement and general commerce." However much comfort it may give the disciples of Rev. Dr. Dexter to find excuses for the acts of intolerance and oppression of the early Puritans in the patent and regula- tions of a stock company, we are unable to discover any such plea made by the fathers themselves, or by the apologists of their age. 22 KOGER WILLIAMS The fact is, notwithstanding the soul oppres- sion from which they had suffered, they did not rise to the height of a principle, but were content to rest on the plane of their perse- cutors. "When they found themselves vested with civil authority, they in turn abused their power and converted their state into another High Commission, which, instead of being only an arm of the government, as in England, grew in New England to be the state itself. To such an extent did they carry the abuse of their acquired authority over those within their jurisdiction, that they even whipped, mutilated, and banished those who made known their complaints to friends in England, or to the council of the com- pany there. Such was the case of Henry Lynn, who was sentenced to be whipped and banished by the Court held on October 6, 1630, " for writing into England falsely and maliciously against the government and ex- ecution of justice here.'" During the same year, some fourteen per- sons were punished and banished, not for any crimes they had committed, but mainly, if not entirely, because they exercised the right of free speech to criticize the unjust acts of the magistrates and elders.^ 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 61. 2 Thomas Waif ord and his wife were ordered out of the limits for contempt of authority. Philip RatclifEe was fined and banished for malicious speeches against the govern- ment and the church at Salem. See Mass. Col. Kec, Vol. I, p. 75 ei seq. EOGEK WILLIAMS 23 When Roger Williams arrived in America, he was already known and highly esteemed by some of the leading men in the colony. He was immediately thereafter invited to of- ficiate in place of John Wilson, teacher of the church at Boston, who was about to revisit England, and who sailed on the return voy- age of the Lyon, the same ship that brought Williams; but Williams promptly declined, upon conscientious grounds, because they of Boston were an unseparated people.^ There was apparentlyanother reason, which was of more consequence, and rested upon principle as distinguished from forms of cere- mony, namely, that the congregation at Bos- ton maintained that the civil authorities might inflict penalties for spiritual censures ; for we find this latter cause, according to Winthrop,^ specified by the Court in its let- ter to Endicott, when the church at Salem had called Williams to the office of teacher, protesting against his being chosen without first advising with the Council at Boston, and until a conference had been held by it. The Puritan writers have uniformly sus- tained the Boston Court, and stigmatized Williams for being contentious and extreme in his opinions, and for creating dissension, without adequate cause, among the brethren at Boston. But it will be remembered that 1 Letter to Rev. John Cotton, Jr., March 25, 1671. 2 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 53. 24 KOGEK WILLIAMS nrncli of the religious contention of that age concerned itself about ceremonies. They were objected to by the non-conformists within the church because they had a ten- dency to lessen the chasm between Protestant- ism and Eomanism, and they were still more strenuously opposed by the Separatists or non-conformists without the church because their retention was regarded as tending to sanction and perpetuate the corruptions with which they had been associated. To Wil- liams it seemed absurd and a compromise of principle for the New England brethren to retain connection with the Church of Eng- land, especially in view of the fact that they had quitted England because of their refusal to conform to the ceremonies of that church. The other charge^ brought against Wil- liams is that he denied the power of the civil magistracy to punish for the violation of the first table of the law. To understand the force and meaning of this objection, which goes to the root and foundation of the Puri- tan Commonwealth, whose statute book was the Bible, pure and simple, we must bear in mind that the Ten Commandments were the corner-stone of their fabric. They were di- vided into " Two Tables," the first four cov- ering the first table, and the other six the second. The first table prescribed the duties 1 Vol. I, p. 91, id. KOGEE WILLIAMS 25 which, man owes to God, namely, worship, the use of oaths, and the observance of the Sabbath. The second table relates to the duties which man owes to man. The magis- trate under this system claimed that his jur- isdiction related both to those duties which were to be rendered unto Caesar, as weU as to those which belonged to God. Eoger Wil- liams resolutely denied the power and the right of the civil authorities to assume jur- isdiction over the matters embraced in the first table, and to inflict penalties for the neglect of religious duties. A few weeks after "Williams ariived, and after his refusal to join with the congre- gation at Boston, he was invited by the church at Salem to become an assistant to Mr. Skelton, as teacher, in the place of the late Mr. Higginson, who died but a few months before. ' Williams accepted and commenced his ministry in that town, but the civil authority, the General Court of the Colony of Boston, interfered and remon- strated with the church at Salem to forbear 1 Pastor and Teacher. The distinction between these two offices in the early New England Chnroh is that both were preachers, but the pastor's functions were thought to have special reference to practical life, to man in his religious, social, and political relations ; while the teacher's functions were confined rather to dogma and faith. Both were to be vigilant against error, the pastor chiefly in matters of prac- tice, the teacher in matters of belief and theology. See Walker's " Thomas Hooker," p. 69. 26 EOGEK WILLIAMS choosing Mm. "Whether or not, in accordance with the congregational church government as understood at that period, the authorities at Boston had any jurisdiction to interfere with the church at Salem in its right to reg- ulate its own affairs and to make selection of a pastor, has been the cause of considera- ble contention. One important fact is here brought out, which was subsequently ex- pressly incorporated in the laws, namely, that the civil power was a pliant and yield- ing instrument in the hands of the clergy. Notwithstanding this protest, Mr. Williams was chosen as the teacher of the church at Salem. At this same court, the law was passed to which we have before referred, which excluded from the rights of a free- man every person who was not a member of some one of the churches. Whether the difficulty which had already arisen respect- ing Williams was in part the reason for the enactment of this law is not certain, but, circumstantially, is quite probable. No theory of religious liberty had found a resting-place in the minds of these dog- matically devout men, who had suffered and sacrificed so much for conscience, and who proposed that all others who might differ from them should likewise suffer. In the theocratic commonwealth they were build- ing up there was no room for the assertion or propagation of any opinion that did not entirely coincide with theirs. The governor KOGEE AVILLIAMS 27 and council were to have a care " to maintain peace and unity." Under these instructions and with such doctrines, within the jurisdic- tion of the Bay Colony, toleration was to be trodden down as heresy, and the voice that should give utterance to the heterodox prin- ciples of soul-liberty was to be stifled, and its author thrust out into the wilderness where none could be corrupted by its unholy sound. The early chroniclers of New England were not historians, but ecclesiastical partizans, and they saw in every event the direct inter- position of Providence for the special guid- ance and protection of their little common- wealth. The ministers and church-brethren were the infallible interpreters of God's will, and all dissenters were heretics and sinners. It is only within our generation that the history of New England is beginning to be truthfully written, and the Puritan fathers — the Winthrops, Dudleys, Endicotts, Cottons, and Mathers — are appearing as creatures of flesh and blood, clothed with their qualities and defects, their virtues and their faults. Charles Francis Adams, in his recent book, very truthfully says : The trouble with historical writers who have taken upon themselves the defense of the found- ers of Massachusetts, is that they have sophisti- cated away the facts.^ 1 "Massaohusetts, Its Historians and History," by Charles Francis Adams. Boston, 1893. 28 KOGEK WILLIAMS "WTieii that mass of sophistication which has been accumulating for two centuries is entirely dispelled, we shall then all the more heartily agree with Hawthorne when he says: Let us thank God for having given us such ancestors; and let each successive generation thank him. not less fervently for being one step further from them in the march of ages.^ 1 As an illustration of the methods lay which this " sophis- tication " was brought about, the reader is referred to an anonymous letter from England, sent to Governor Winthrop, and written shortly after the banishment of Williams, in 1636-37. The writer, evidently a man of learning and stand- ing, cautions the New Englanders to make a record which would disarm the criticisms and attacks of their enemies. " I know," he writes, " that the wise among you do not expect protection from God, without a mixture of the serpent's wisdom and the dove's innocency. . . . Now give me leave to propose some few things which some, perhaps, if not all, will do you good. You may please in some pubUo meeting disclaim all such letters. You may please to have further caution given in your plantation about your disci- pline . . . for your disclaiming of these and the like odious things shall much advantage you . . . with your friends in Old England. As you may gather hereby, that your disclaiming of Mr. Williams's opinions, and your deal- ing with him so as we hear you did, took ofE much prejudice from you with us, and hath stopt the mouths of some." In a postscript he cautions them to conceal that any one has written to them upon these points, and adds that the " pat- ent is called in and condemned." Mass. Historical Coll., Fourth Series, Vol. VI, pp. 442-51 (The Winthrop Papers). CHAPTER III The General Court interferes. Williams removes to Ply- mouth. His acquaintance with the Indians. His treatise on the patent. Williams's character. Wearing of veils. The Bed Cross out from the standard by Endioott. ON April 12, 1631, Williams was settled as minister of the churcli at Salem. On the same day the magistrates were as- sembled at Boston to express their dis approbation of the action of the Salem brethren, as stated in the last chapter, and desired all further proceedings to be post- poned until a conference should be had between the two churches. What further occurred to intimidate or force the church at Salem to heed the arrogated authority of the Boston church, the records do not disclose ; but we do know that Williams remained there only for a short while, and that before the close of the summer he removed to Plymouth. His leaving Salem was evidently not of his own choice, nor in accord with the wish of the Salem church. He must have been highly esteemed by the Salem congregation 30 KOGEE WILLIAMS as is quite evident from the fact of his return, by their invitation, two years after to resume among them his ministerial duties. There seems to be some doubt whether he was at this time ordained by the Salem church. Knowles, Elton, Gammell,and others say that he was; while Dexter, relying on the au- thority of Hubbard and Felt, claims that the interference of the Boston court caused the church at Salem to forbear from proceeding with him.' If he were not ordained, then so much less is there ground for the claim that he removed to Plymouth entirely of his own accord, and that the church was not in any wise influenced by this intermeddling from without. In either event there is no doubt about the action and purposes of the court at Boston to prevent Williams from being received by the church at Salem and at the same time to deprive him, by the church at Salem, of the rights and privileges of a freeman. At Plymouth "Williams was received with much respect, where, says Governor Brad- ford, He was freely entertained according to onr poor ability, and he exercised his gifts among us ; and after some time he was admitted a member of the church and his teaching well appro ved.^ 1 Dexter, "As to Roger Williams," p. 5 and note. 2 Prince, p. 377. EOGEE WILLIAMS 31 He became assistant to Mr. Ealph Smith, who was the pastor of the church there. During Williams's residence at Plymouth, Governor Winthrop, together with Mr. Wil- son, teacher of the Boston church, and several others, visited there and attended service at the church when Williams offici- ated. The governor notes in his journal : On the Lord's day there was a sacrament whieli they did partake in; and in the afternoon Mr. Roger WilUams (according to their custom) pro- pounded a question to which the pastor, Mr. Smith, spake briefly ; then Mr. Williams prophesied ; and after the Groveruor of Plymouth spake to the question ; after him the elder, then some two or three more of the congregation. Then the elder desired the Grovernor of Massachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which they did. ^ This record shows how the religious ser- vices united the civil and ecclesiastical func- tionaries, and serves to throw some light upon the ministration of Williams while at Ply- mouth. Here WiUiams remained for two years, supporting himself by manual labor and teaching in the church among the Pil- grim Fathers. He doubtless proclaimed and inculcated those principles of soul-liberty which had already aroused the enmity and opposition of the Boston Court. He also 1 Winthrop's "History of New England," Vol. I, p. 91. 32 KOGER WILLIAMS attracted to him and to his principles, from which he never separated himself, a number of the Plymouth flock. That his ministry at Plymouth excited the fears and opposition of such men as the Elder Brewster is evident, in that when Williams accepted an invita- tion to go back to Salem to assist Skelton, Brewster, who prevailed upon the church to give him his demission together with his followers, expressed his fear that Williams would, like John- Smith the se-baptist at Amsterdam, run the same course of rigid separation and an'abaptistry. Mr. Cotton, in his "Answer to Eoger Williams," states, the Elder Brewster warned the whole chui'ch of the danger of his spirit.^ During his residence at Plymouth, Wil- liams availed himself of the opportunities for becoming intimately acquainted with the chief sachems of the neighboring tribes of Indians who frequently came to him; and for studying their language. This intimacy had an important bearing upon Williams's subsequent life in the fouuding of Rhode Island, and also in his ability to protect New England from savage warfare. His philan- thropic purpose in cultivating the friendship of the Indians, and in studying their lan- guage and manners, was to enable him to be of benefit to them and to promote their wel- 1 Underbill's introduction to the "Bloudy Tenent," p. 11. KOGER WILLIAMS 33 fare. In one of Ms letters he says: "My soul's desire was to do the natives good," and this is borne out by all his relations with them, and by his assertion and maintenance of the principle which contributed to his ban- ishment, namely, that the land belonged to the Indians and title thereto could be ac- quired only from them, and not by virtue of the king's grant. Among the chiefs whose acquaintance he formed at this peiiod was Massasoit, or Ousamequin, the sachem of the Wampanoags, also called the Pokanoket Tribe, who inhabited the Plymouth territory. This chief was the father of the famous Philip. He also became intimate with Can- onicus, sachem of the Narragansetts. He states in a letter written many years after : " Grod was pleased to give me a painful pa- tient spirit to lodge with them in their filthy smoky holes ( even while I lived at Plymouth and Salem) to gain their tongue." He re- mained at Plymouth about two years, and just before leaving his eldest daughter was born, named Mary, after her mother. In August, 1633, Williams returned to Salem and resumed his ministerial labors as assistant to Mr. Skelton, whose health was rapidly failing. Again within the jurisdic- tions of the Bay, the authorities there were not slow in bringing about a conflict with this sturdy champion of the inalienable right of private judgment, and of spiritual and in- 34 KOGEE WILLIAMS tellectual liberty. We do not know to what extent lie advocated his principles, which doubtless were always uppermost in his mind, and which served ever to make him an object of dread and hostility to the magistrates and elders of the Bay, for unfortunately we are largely dependent upon data contained in the accusations of his adversaries for his acts dur- ing this period of his life. " To fasten upon Roger Williams," says Arnold,^ " the stigma of factious opposition to the government, as has often been attempted, is to belie history by an effort to vindicate bigotry and tyranny at the expense of truth." Shortly after his return to Salem an inci- dent is cited which has been magnified to prove how factious and contentious Williams was on every possible occasion. It was cus- tomary for ministers to meet at one another's houses to discuss religious questions. These meetings were objected to by Skelton and Williams, but especially by the former. The reason for this opposition has been variously interpreted by some, because it was feared by Skelton and Williams such meetings might grow in time to a presbytery or superintendency to prejudice the church liberties.^ To us it appears more likely that 1 "History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation," by Samuel Green Arnold, Vol. I, p. 25. 2 Arnold, Vol. I, p. 26. BOGEE WILLIAMS 35 Skelton, who was feeble in healtli and not so vigorous and aggressive as WiUianis, feared that such discussions might again call down the censures and interference of the Boston church. It is immaterial in what light this incident be regarded, for we find shortly thereafter that opportunity for hostility on the part of the magistrates and ministers against Wil- liams presented itself, based upon a treatise he had written in Plymouth, for the gov- ernor and Council there, upon the royal pat- ent under which the colonists held their land, wherein he maintained that they could not derive title to the land under the royal gi-ant, but that such title could only be ac- quired from its lawful owners — the Indians. Whatever may be the legal status, predi- cated upon the right of conquest, there can be no question about the ethical correctness of this position. The Court consulted the higher powers, — the clergy, — and according to Winthrop^ there were three passages in this treatise which were the chief grounds of offense: that he charged Bang James with having told a solemn lie, in that he claimed to have been the first Christian prince who discovered the land ; that he charged the king and others with blasphemy for calling Europe Christendom or the Christian world, iHistory,Vol. I, p. 122. 36 EOGEE WILLIAMS • and lastly that he applied to the reigning king, Charles, three passages in the Revela- tion.' Regarding the first point, that King James was the first Christian king who discovered the land, that is such a palpable misstate- ment of fact that it need not be argued, as more than a century before New England was discovered under Henry VII. This speci- fication, taken in conjunction with the sec- ond ground of complaint, rather points to the solicitude of the court for their charter rights, fearing to have any expression go forth which might attract the attention and arouse the active hostility of Archbishop Laud, whose dreaded influence might oper- ate to repeal the charter. This treatise had not been and was not intended for publication, but was in the nature of a private communication for the information of Governor Bradford of Ply- mouth. WiUiams doubtless fuUy understood that the treatise was objectionable, and sub- jected him to the charge of disloyalty, but it was not his nature to allow the king's claims, and technicalities based on usurpa- tion, to interfere with his sense of right and justice. This supposition is borne out by his mild and conciliatory attitude on this oc- casion in reply to the summons to appear lEev. xvi, 13, 14; xvii, 12, 13; xviii, 9, 4. ROGER WILLIAMS 37 before the next court, to be censured. He wrote privately and oflficially to the governor, offering his book, or any part thereof, to be bnrned, and to give satisfaction of his loyal intentions. The magistrates were willing to accept the offer, as they seemed to have found the matters not so evil as had first appeared. This complaisance on the part of Williams has been construed by Dexter and those of his school into a promise to abstain ever af- terward from attacking the company's title to the lands, and from openly assailing the Church of England as anti-Christian.^ How such inferences can be drawn from the circumstances it is difficult to conceive, ex- cept it be with a view to discredit the hon- esty of the character of WiUiams. Whatever may be the faults of this strong, unyielding, straightforward, and undaunted man, he surely cannot be accused of having been evasive or untruthful. He was not the kind of a man who lacked at any time the courage of his convictions. They were his constant guides, which he followed regardless of con- sequences. Men cast in such a mold are usually regarded as being contentious and obstinate, simply because they will not make compromises with their convictions. He was preeminently aggressive, and was ever con- 1 Dexter, p. 30. 38 EOGEK WILLIAMS tending for what lie believed to be rigbt and just. In theology he was, perhaps, fuUy as narrow as Cotton and the Puritans of his day, but he differed from them in that he refused to sacrifice the rights of conscience upon the altar of Dogma. He maintained that " all men may walk as their consciences ■ persuade them, everyone in the name of his God " ; that there was no power, either civil or ecclesiastical, vested with authority to put restraint upon conscience. He argued, in this treatise, that the heathen had rights which neither King nor Christian could dis- regard ; that the Indians were independent tribes, and were in no sense subjects of the King of England. He denied the claim that " Christian Kings (so-called) are invested with a right, by virtue of their Christianity, to take and give away the lands and countries of other men." For a while Williams did not come into collision with the magistrates. He seems to have continued his ministry without any notable instances of opposition. In August, 1634, Skelton died, and Williams was invited to fill his place and become the teacher of the church. Here again the magistrates in- terposed, and sent a request or mandate to the church that it should not ordain him ; but the church gave no heed to this injunction, and Williams was chosen as teacher. This inde-. pendence of the Salem church and "great KOGER WILLIAMS 39 contempt of authority," as it was character- ized by the magistrates and ministers, was not suffered to go without rebuke and punish- ment, as we shall see in the following chapter. After the lapse of some six weeks we again hear of a controversy in which Williams was concerned, regarding the wearing of veils, in religious assemblies, by females. It seems that the question was raised on Lecture-Day at Boston'. Cotton thought that where, by the custom of the place, the wearing of veils was not a sign of woman's subjection, they were not commanded by the apostle. Endi- cott took the other side, and, according to Hubbard, he had been influenced by Wil- liams's preaching. The incident has been brought forward to illustrate by what a contentious spirit Williams was constantly animated. If it serves to illustrate any- thing other than the ridiculous importance attached to trivial conventionalities, it would seem that Cotton was the one at fault, and the aggressor; for, according to Hutchinson,^ he came to Salem soon after this custom began, and took occasion to preach against it, as having no sufficient foundation in scriptures. If Williams took the opposite ground, as we hope he did, it is rather to his credit, and a sign of his gallantry toward the women of his congregation, who, it is gratifying to learn, \ 1 HutchlnsoD, Vol. I, 379. 40 EOGER WILLIAMS even in those days of strict Puritan regime,, had not entirely lost a sense of the whole- some and inspiring value of feminine charms. About this time another incident occurred which was made the basis of a charge against Williams. It seems that whatever occurred at Salem displeasing to the ministers or magistrates of the colony was attributed to Williams, and he was held accountable. At any rate, there is no evidence that he ever endeavored to shirk the responsibility, but, on the contrary, that he manfully assumed the burdens of his flock. It is stated that in consequence of Williams's preaching, Endi- cott had ordered the cross to be cut out of the military colors, as a relic of Popish supersti- tion. This act was little short of treason, but the evidence is lacking that Williams was responsible in any other way than upon the general theory that he preached against the sign of the cross as a symbol of Popery, and that Endicott, in his religious fervor, muti- lated the ensign established by the authority of the king. The red cross in the standard was detestable in the eyes of the colonists, and probably no notice would have been taken of this action but for the fear of con- sequences, especially as shortly before the news had arrived that a commission had been appointed in England with power to call in their patents, and the colonists were at this very time fortifying several of the towns to KOGEK WILLIAMS 41 defend themselves by force, if required, against such, a contingency. The punish- ment was merely nominal. Endicott was admonished and debarred from holding of- fice for one year. No further reference was made to Williams, it probably appearing upon the hearing that he had no connection with this act. CHAPTER IV The charges against Williams, and the proceedings that lead to his banishment. His objections to taking an oath. The new oath of allegiance. Objects to eompTilsory attendance at church. Summary of the several charges. The ministers advise his banishment. THE causes for "whicli Roger Williams was banished liave been the subject of much discussion and divergence of opinion, not because the data are obscure or the facts in doubt, but because the Puritan apologists, in their endeavor to vindicate this action, have characterized Williams as a rebel against the civil authorities, instead of his being the sturdy champion of soul-liberty. They have euphemized his banishment into "exclu- sion " or " enlargement." " I cannot help thinking," says Dexter, "that the weight of evidence is conclusive to the point: this exclusion from the colony took place for reasons purely political, and having no rela- tion to his notions upon toleration." ' These apologists go so far as to deny that it was a hardship for Williams to be driven 1 Dexter, p. 79. 42 BOGEE WILLIAMS , 43 out in midwinter, when the earth was cov- ered with snow, from the habitations of civilized men into the trackless wilderness inhabited only by savages. John Cotton tries to make it appear, with that sophistry of the schoolmen in which he was such an adept, that, after aU, his banishment was but " an enlargement," where a man " doth not so much lose civil comforts, as change them."^ The church-brethren's estimate of Williams was on a level with their apprecia- tion of the great principle to which his life was consecrated ; that he was an incorrigible offender, and that the Boston Court was pa- tient, lenient, and long enduring; that he was obstinate, wrong-headed, and persistent in his pm'pose to disturb the peace and har-, mony of the colony. The explanation of these diverging opin- ions, so far as Williams's contemporaries are concerned, may be accounted for in part, perhaps, from the fact that the New Eng- land Puritans' understanding of religious freedom "was not the freedom of the indi- vidual mind from the domination of the spiritual order, but merely the freedom of their particular church; and just as the English government had thrown off the tyr- anny of the Pope, to estabhsh the tyranny of the bishops, they threw off the tyranny of 1 Reply to Williams, Ms Examination, etc., p. 8. 44 KOGEE WILLIAMS the bishops to establish the tyranny of the brethren."^ Willams, in his famous letter to Major Mason, touching upon the relations, or ra- ther conflicts, between the two colonies, Con- necticut and the Providence Plantations, refers to the New England Puritan concep- tion of religious liberty in the following terms : " Yom'selves pretend liberty of con- science, but alas ! it is but self, the great god self, only to yourselves." ^ In no country, from the time Constantine enthroned Christianity and united Church and State, had there existed a Christian state free from the fetters of the church, or a Christianity free from the contaminating control of the state. The civil and religious functions were one, and the priest and the politicians were inseparably allied. A pre- tense to preserve the public peace and the church from infection always served as the reason or excuse for persecution, to crush out error and heresy. Viewed from this standpoint, we can readily understand that the reasons for the conviction of Eoger Wil- liams were confounded in the minds of those who formulated the sentence of his banish- ment. Under priestly governments, such as 1 Discourse by Chief Justice Job Durfee, Providence, 1847. 2 Letter of Eoger Williams, Nar. Club Publications, Vol. VI, p. 346. KOGEE WILLIAMS 45 that of Massachusetts Bay, heresy and trea- son were convertible. They were construed as offenses against the Church and State ; and the assertion of a principle, which predicated the right of private judgment in matters of religion, and denied that the civil power had jurisdiction over conscience, was to detract from the authority which was wholly arro- gated by the state, and exclusively delegated to the priests. There never was a government where the civil power was more completely under the sway of the church than in Massachusetts Bay; The whole structure of society was permeated with fanaticism and theocratic dogma, and the legislator was a Calvinist, who emphasized the authority of the state to coerce the opinions of thinking men to conform to ecclesiastical rule. The prin- ciple of spiritual freedom had taken full possession of Williams, and was shaping every thought, expression, sermon, and action of his life. Hence it was that at every turn he found himself in conflict with the clergy and Court of Massachusetts. At almost every session of the Court, during Williams's second residence in -Salem, he was summoned for some cause or other to appear, because his conduct or opinions had subjected him to complaint. A few months after his settlement there as teacher of the church, in November, 1634, we 46 KOGEB WILLIAMS find him summoned, to appear before tlie court for again teaching publicly "against the king's patent, and our great sin in claim- ing right thereby to this country, and for terming the churches of England anti-Chris- tian." A new accusation was made in the following April, that he had taught publicly "that a magistrate ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerated man, for that we thereby have communion with a wicked man in the worship of God, and cause him to take the name of Grod in vain." Ac- cording to Winthrop, he was heard before all the ministers and clearly refuted. We must take this conclusion with some allow- ance, for it comes from the side opposed to Williams. Williams has left his opinions upon this subject in the appendix to the " Hireling Ministry none of Christ's," where he states he regards the taking of an oath to be an act of worship ; and while an oath can be taken by a Christian on proper occasions, JDut not for trivial cause — that an irreligious man could not sincerely perform this act of worship, and no man ought to be forced to perform this any more than any other act of worship. These views regarding the nature of an oath he held before he" left England, as appears from a passage in his reply to George Fox, where Williams declares he had submitted to the loss of large sums " in the Chancery in England " rather than yield to KOGEE WIIxLIAMS 47 the offensive formality of kissing the Bible, holding np hands, etc., though he did not ob- ject to taking the oath without them. It wiU be observed that these objections are mainly based upon his guiding principle, his opposition to the civil power exercising con- trol over conscience, by enforcing an act of worship such as he believed the taking of an oath to be. The permission given under the statutes of many of the States, for the affiant to make declaration, instead of taking an oath, is a recognition of the principle contended for by Williams. There is good reason to believe that WiUiams's objections respecting oaths at this time were not urged because of any abstract theory he desired to establish, but by reason of his opposition to the new oath of allegiance which the com-t required of every citizen. The cause for this oath, as stated by Cotton,^ was because The magistrates and other members of the general court, upon intelligence of some episco- pal and malignant practises against the country, made an order of court to take trial of the fidelity of the people, not by imposing upon them, but by offering to them an oath of fidelity, that in case any should refuse to take it, they might not be- trust them with places of public charge and com- mand. This oath, when it came abroad, he (Mr. Williams) vehemently withstood, and dissuaded 1 "Tenet Washed," pp. 28, 29. 48 KOGEB WILLIAMS sundry from it, partly because it was, he said, Christ's prerogative to have his office established by an oath ; partly because an oath was part of God's worship, and God's worship was not to be put on carnal persons, as he conceived many of the people to be. So the court was enforced to desist from the proceeding. Such, is Cotton's version, which was, how- ever, only in part correct. From the form of the oath it appears that the object con- templated was to effect a practical transfer of allegiance from the king to the church- brethren of the colony, for which there was neither warrant nor authority; and, besides, it was opposed to the charter, and inconsis- tent with the duties of a British subject/ Professor Knowles ^ very properly adds : To this oath, under such circumstances, Mr. WiUiams, as a friend of liberty, was opposed. He would not renounce an oath which he had taken and substitute another which bound him to obey whatever laws the magistrates might deem whole- some. The reason assigned for the new oath, moreover, was to guard against "Episcopal and malignant practises." This gave it the appearance of a law to restrain liberty of conscience. Cotton says the oath was only offered^ not imposed. This is not correct, as by a subse- 1 See "Form of Oath," Mass. Col. Bee, I, pp. 115, 117. 2 Knowles's "Life of Eoger Williams," p. 67. BOGEK WILLIAMS 49 quent act of tlie Court it was made obliga- tory on every inhabitant of sixteen years of age and upward, upon the penalty of his being punished in case of refusal, at the dis- cretion of the court.^ The controversies between Williams and the government of the colony grew day by day more violent and decisive, and, as it wUl be seen, they were but corollaries to the main contention of Williams, which is re- echoed through all his writings and letters : that the civil powers have no authority over the consciences of men. The magistrates enacted a law requiring every man to attend public worship, and to contribute to its sup- port. This Williams denounced as a viola- tion of natural rights, and the source of aU forms of persecution. "No one," are his words, "should be bound to maintain a wor- ship against his own consent." In July, 1635, he was again summoned to Boston to answer to the charges brought against him at the General Court, which was then in ses- sion. He was accused of maintaining the following dangerous opinions : First, That the magistrate ought not to punish the breach of the first table, otherwise than in such cases as did disturb the civil peace. Secondly, That he ought not to tender an oath to an unre- generated man. Thirdly, That a man ought not 1 Baekus, Vol. I, p. 62. 50 BOGEK WILLIAMS to pray with such, though wife and child, &c. Fourthly, That a mau ought not to give thahks after sacrament, nor after meat, &c.' The ministers were requested to attend by the magistrates, and give their advice. They "professedly declared" that Williams de- served to be banished from the colony for maintaining the doctrine " that the civil mag- istrate might not intermeddle even to stop a church from heresy and apostasy"; and that the churches ought to request the magistrates to remove him. It will be seen from the above quotation of the charges, it is impliedly acknowledged by Grovernor Winthrop, that Williams, care- fully discriminated between offenses which tended to disturb the civil peace and those which were purely spiritual, thereby clearly defining and allowing the proper functions of civil government. In his " Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered," referring to the charges made against him, that his doctrines tended to disturb the civil peace, Williams says : They were publicly summed up and charged upon me, and yet none of them tending to the breach of holy or civil peace, of which I have, ever desired to be unfeignedly tender, acknowledging the ordinance of magistracy to be properly and ade- 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 162. EOGEE WILLIAMS 51 quately fitted by God to preserve the civil state in civil peace and order, as he hath also appointed a spiritual government and governors in matters pertaining to his worship and the conscience of men. The third and fourth charges at most are nominal, technical, and trivial, and in all fairness it is proper to assume they would not have been seriously made, much less considered, but as subsidiary to the m9,in of- fenses stated under the first two charges. To assume otherwise, and to allow that for such causes alone the Boston Court woidd have banished Williams, would be doing vio- lence even to the church-brethren's notions of the functions of government. It cannot be gainsaid that the principle of religious liberty, predicated, as it always must be, upon the separation of Church and State, was in direct conflict with the claims of the- ocratic govei'nment as established in Massa- chusetts Bay. Williams contended that the civil power can extend " only to the bodies and goods and outward estates of men," and that with conscience and religious opinions " the civil magistrates may not intermeddle even to stop a church from apostacy and heresy." When he was summoned before the General Court, his " opinions were ad- judged by all, magisti'ates and ministers, to be erroneous and very dangerous, and after long debsite, time was given to him and the 52 BOGEE WILLIAMS churcli at Salem, to consider of these things till the next Greneral Court, and then either to give satisfaction to the Court, or else to expect the sentence." The biographers of Williams allude to the fact that there is no evidence of an examina- tion of witnesses or hearing of counsel. These were not necessary, especially as the charges were not denied by Williams, but on the con- trary they were admitted, and hence there was no occasion to proceed further with a trial. The Boston Court, the Puritan Star Chamber, was as little hampered by legal precedents in forms of procedure as in the method or extent of the punishment it de- creed. So long as the judgment could be an- notated with a verse from the Pentateuch, the consciences of the magistrates were appeased. It was not enough to punish Williams for his "high crimes and misdemeanors," but the whole Salem church was particeps criminis so long as he failed to give satis- faction for his dangerous opinions. It so hap- pened that the community of Salem had a petition before this court for "some land at Marblehead Neck which they did chal- lenge as belonging to their town." The court, when, the petition came up, refused to grant it until the Salem men should give satisfaction, "because they had chosen Mr. Williams their teacher while he had stood under question ROGER WILLIAMS 53 of aiTthority, and offered contempt to the magistrates, &c."^ Thereupon, according to Winthrop, the Salem church wrote to the other churches to admonish the magistrates and the deputies of their heinous sin. The result was, as will ap- pear, that not only did the aspect of "Wil- liams's offense become more grave, but they themselves were placed in the attitude of rebels, by having their deputies excluded from the General Court. The Court of the church-brethren, if it lacked some of the divine attributes, such as wisdom, justice, and mercy, did not fall be- hind its heavenly prototype in the universal- ity of its jurisdiction. Before such a court as this, where all human rights were forfeit- able for a breach of an ecclesiastical rule or law, Eoger Williams was summoned, and yet he never flinched in the assertion of his "treasonable" doctrines^ of the right of con- science; nor did he, when the conditional judgment was given, that at the next gen- eral court he must expect sentence unless he would in the mean time retract, or, as it was designated, " give satisfaction," even by word, sign, or act indicate any lack of stead- fastness, or any inclination to compromise with his persecutors. That the Salem men did not remain loyal to their teacher in the 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 164. 54 ROGER "WILLIAMS face of the sentence awaiting them, is not to be wondered at and could not have been ex- pected. Communities never rise to the eleva- tion of their greatest or best men, nor sink to the level of their worst members. The general tendency of the Salemites to stand by their teacher until coerced from their sup- port of him, is creditable to them, even viewed from the vantage-ground of our day, and is at the same time a positive testimony to the influence of Williams and to the esteem in which he was held by this community, — re- markable in many respects, but especially for the fervor and intensity of its bigotry. The other churches refused to entertain the appeal of the Salem church, and thereupon Williams, not uninformed, perhaps, as to the side his church would take in this contro- versy, called upon it to withdraw communion from the other churches. Here stood the one chm'ch ah'eady condemned, with sentence sus- pended over it. Against it were arrayed the aggregate power of the colony — its nine churches, the priests, and the magistrates. What could the Salem church and commu- nity do, threatened with disfranchisement, its deputies excluded from the general court, and its petition for land, to which it was en- titled, denied I Dragooned into submission, it had to abandon its persecuted minister to struggle alone against the united power of Church and State. To deny Williams the KOGEE WILLIAMS 55 merit of devotion to a principle in this con- test, wherein there was no alternative but re- traction or banishment, is to belie history in order to justify bigotry, and to convert mar- tyrdom into wrong-headed obstinacy. This is precisely what Cotton sought to do in his version of the controversy given ten years later, in order to vindicate himself and the church-brethren from the stigma of their acts in the eyes of a more enlightened public opinion in England. Williams pursued no half-hearted or half-way measures. He stood unshaken upon the firm ground of his con- victions, and declared to the Salem church that he could no longer commune with them, thereby entirely separating himself from them, and them from him. It is not improb- able that he took this extreme course to dis- sociate them from the consequences of his acts, before the General Court then about to assemble. The day arrives, the court con- venes, — this being Octobei", 1635, — with the ministers summoned to advise them, so as to sanctify the sentence with scriptural author- ity, and the violation of the English law with pentateuchal citation. Williams appears, not to be retried, but to be sentenced unless he will retract. With the certainty of the court sentence staring him in the face, he is called upon to maintain his opinions in a disputa- tion with Mr. Hooker, one of the famous trio of divines who had been selected " to reduce 56 KOGER WILLIAMS him from any of Ms errors." Failing in this, sentence was to be pronounced. We will quote the proceedings from Grov- ernor's Winthrop's record, which, as an au- thority, is justly recognized as the most trustworthy, being in the form of a diary of current events, by an opponent of "Williams, but not so embittered in his opposition as to sacrifice truth to prejudice.^ At the general court Mr. Williams, the teacher of Salem, was again convented, and all the minis- ters of the Bay being desired to be present, he was charged with the said two letters, that to the churches, complaining of the magistrates for in- justice, extreme oppression, &c., and the other to his own church, to persuade them to renounce communion with all the churches of the Bay as full of anti-Christian pollution/ &c. He justified both of these letters and maintained all his opin- ions, and being offered further conference or dis- putation, and a month's respite, he chose to dispute presently. So, Mr. Hooker was chosen to dis- pute with him, but could not reduce him from any of his errors. So, the next morning the Court sentenced him to depart out of our jurisdiction within six weeks, all the ministers, save one, ap- proving the sentence ; and his own Church had him under question also for the same cause ; and he, at his return home, refused communion with his own church, who openly disclaimed his errors, and wrote an humble subjnission to the magis- iWinthrop, Vol. I, 171. ROGER WILLIAMS 57 trates, acknowledging their fault in joining with Mr. Williams in that letter to the chtirches against them, etc. Chief Justice Durfee, in Ms admirable an- niversary discourse, very correctly says : The future of Rhode Island, to some extent the future of the world, hangs suspe,nded on the issue. Win he, like his church, worn out and desperate, blenching before the unknown, lose heart and yield ? Never. He stands unshaken in the " rockie strength " of his convictions. He is ready " not only to be bound and banished, but to die for them." So hour after hour he argues un- subdued, till the sun sinks low and the weary court adjourns. On the morrow (Friday, October 9, 1635), still persisting in his glorious "contu- macy," he is sentenced, the clergy, all save one, advising to be banished, or to adopt the apolo- getic and felicitous euphemism of his great ad- versary, John Cotton, ' enlarged' out of Massachu- setts.i 1 " Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Plant- ing of Providence" (June 24, 1886). Oration by Thomas Durfee. CHAPTEE V The sentence of banishment. Review 6f the causes. The character of John Cotton contrasted with that of Williams. WiUiams leaves Salem. His journey through the wilder- ness to Narragansett Bay. He proceeds to Seekonk and begins a settlement. Founds the town of Providence. THE tribunal known as. "The General Court," which tried, sentenced, and ban- ished Eoger Williams, was also his accuser, and instigated the charges against him. It consisted originally of the governor, the deputy governor of the company, and eigh- teen assistants, who were from time to time chosen and elected from the freemen of the company. The Greneral Court at the time of the trial of Williams had been modified. It convened at New Town on October 8, 1635, and was made up of the governor, deputy governor, eight assistants, and from twenty- five to twenty-eight deputies in all, two or three chosen by the freemen of each town. John Haynes of New Town was governor. He had been a landholder in Essex. Richard Bellingham of Boston, who had been a lawyer KOGEK WILLIAMS 59 and had been recorder of Boston in Lincoln- shire, -was deputy governor. The eight as- sistants were John Winthrop; Atherton Hough, who had been mayor of Boston on the Witham ; William Coddington, who had been treasurer of Boston; Simon Brad- street of New Town; Thomas Dudley of Eox- bury; Increase No well of Chaiiestown; John Humfrey of Lynn; and Eichard Dummer of Newbury. Leaving out the three deputies of Salem — the town in which Williams re- sided — who had been disfranchised, there remained twenty-iive deputies from nine towns. How many of the latter were pres- ent on this occasion the records do not state. The presumption is, from the importance of the business before this court, that nearly the entire number attended. Such is the opinion of Dexter, who gives the names of those having the right to serve at that time.^ They passed the following sentence : Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the eld- ers of the Church of Salem, hath broached and divulged divers new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates ; as also writ letters of defamation, both of the magistrates and churches here, and that before any conviction and yet maintaineth the same without any retraction ; it is therefore ordered that the said Mi*. Williams 1 Dexter, "As to Roger Williams," p. 51. 60 ROGER WILLIAMS shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing, which, if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful for the Governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without hcense from the Court.^ It is a matter for regret tliat the records do not disclose the name of the one minister who had the courage, the manliness, and the independence to disapprove of the sentence of banishment. His name deserves to stand out boldly in the annals of America. Dr. Dexter, in his studied effort to deprive Wil- liams of the mantle of glory, so as to -cast it upon his chief antagonist, intimates that Cot- ton was, or might have been, this solitary dis- sentient.^ This intimation hardly accords with Cotton's justification of the sentence and citation of scriptural authority to sus- tain it. In his letter to WiUiams, printed eight years thereafter, he says: Let not any prejudice against my person (I be- seech you) forestall either your affection or judg- ment, as if I had hastened forward the sentence of your civil banishment ; for what was done by 1 There has been much discussion as to the exact date o£ the sentence of banishment. I have accepted Dr. Dexter's date, October 9, 1635. Professor Diman fixes it on October 8, and Mr. Guild fixes it on November 3. Winthrop puts it under the general date of October. For full discussion see Dexter, p. 58, note. 2 Dexter, p. 59. KOGEE "WILLIAMS 61 the magistrates in that kind, was neither done by my counsel nor consent, although I dare not deny the sentence passed to be righteous in the eyes of God, ete.i To this Williams replies : Yet to the particular that Mr. Cotton consented not, what need he, being not one of the Civil Court? But that he counseled it (and so con- sented) besides what other proof I might produce, ete.2 In Williams's introduction to this letter he gives the reason for Cotton's effort to absolve himself from the reproach and blame for hav- ing caused his banishment as follows : Some friends being much grieved that one pub- licly acknowledged to be godly and dearly beloved, should yet be so exposed to the mercy of a howl- ing wilderness in frost and snow, etc. Mr. Cotton, to take off the edge of censure from himself, pro- f esseth both in speech and writing that he was no procurer of my sorrows. It will be remembered that this contro- versy between Williams and Cotton took place some time after the event ; namely, from 1644 to 1652, and was carried on, not behind the closed door of the church-brethren, but 1 "A Letter of Mr. John Cotton's," Nar. Club, Vol. I, 297. 2 "Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered," idem, p. 328. 62 KOGEK "WILLIAMS before the people of England, where these let- ters wei'e printed. This was, moreover, at the time when the Independents were rising higher and higher in power, and when the affairs of the colonies were intrusted to a board of commissioners, consisting of the Earl of Warwick as chief governor, assisted by five peers and twelve commoners. Promi- nent among the latter was Sir Henry Vane the younger, the intimate friend of Roger Williams, and his distinguished coadjutor in the cause of religious liberty; and Oliver Cromwell, the rising general, the leader in camp and in Parliament, the Liberal of Lib- erals, whose speech on the dissolution of Parliament clearly shows the breadth of his conception and his concern for religious liberty. Those that were sound in the faith, how proper was it for them to labour for liberty, for a Just Lib- erty, that men might not be trampled upon for their consciences! Had not they themselves la- boured but lately under the weight of persecution? And was it fit for them to sit heavy upon others ? Is it ingenuous to ask liberty and not to give it ! What greater hypocrisy, than for those who were oppressed by the bishops to become the greatest oppressors themselves so soon as their yoke was removed?^ 1 Speeoli on tie dissolution of Parliament, Jan. 22, 1655, Carlyle's "Cromwell," Vol. TV, p. 107. KOGEE WILLIAMS 63 It is quite probable that he had the New England theocrats in his mind's eye when he made the speech. With these men WiUiams was on terms of the closest intimacy; so was Cottdn. Wil- liams, when he went to London in June, 1643, to obtain the charter of Rhode Island, was received most cordially by Vane, whose guest he was both in London and in Lincolnshire, and by him he was presented to the commis- sioners. Such, in brief, was the condition of affairs in the mother-country, and such were the men at the helm of affairs when this con- troversy between Williams and Cotton was waged with skill and ability on both sides. There was every motive on Cotton's part to " take the edge of censm*e from himself," and to make it appear that the doctrine of soul- liberty had nothing to do with his banish- ment.^ On the other hand, the basis for a motive on WiUiams's part to claim falsely and fraudulently, as charged by Cotton, that his advocacy of soul-liberty was one of the causes of his banishment, is entirely wanting. He had successfully founded Providence upon that principle, and had obtained a charter impliedly, but none the less definitely, guard- ing that right by restricting its operation to purely political concerns, as evidenced by 1 The letter quoted at the end of Chapter II is in conso- nance with such motive. 64 ROGER WILLIAMS the use of tlie word " civil " everywhere as a limiting prefix to the terms " government " or "laws" wherever they occur in the instrument. Wmiams, in "Mr. Cotton's Letter Exam- ined and Answered," enumerates the charges brought against him. He says : After my public trial and answers, one of the most eminent magistrates, whose name and speech may by others be remembered, stood up and spoke. " Mr. WUhams holds forth these four particulars : first, that we have not our land by patent from the king, but that the natives are the true owners of it, and that we ought to repent of such a receiv- ing it by patent ; secondly, that it is not lawful to caU a wicked person to swear, to pray, as being actions of God's worship; thirdly, that it is not lawful to hear any of the ministers of the Parish Assemblies in England; fourthly, that the civil magistrates' power extends only to the bodies and goods, and outward state of men." I acknowledge the particulars were rightly summed up.i In his letter to Major Mason, in 1670, he says Grovernor Haynes pronounced the sen- tence of banishment. Subsequently, ia the same letter, he states that Haynefe, having some differences with the Bay, made the fol- lowing confession to him : I think, Mr. WiUiams, I must confess to you, that the most wise God hath provided and cut out this 1 Nar. Club Pub., Vol. II, pp. 40, 41. In his letter to Endioott he again enumerates the causes, making them the same. M., Vol. VI, p. 217. ROGER WILLIAMS 65 part of Ms world (meanlag Providence Plantations) for a refuge and receptacle for all sorts of con- sciences. I am under a cloud, and my brother Hooker, with the Bay, as you have been, we have removed from them thus far (Hartford) and yet they are not satisfied.^ This confession was made, as lie states, in Haynes's house at Hai'tford, and was very probably made soon after Hooker's removal there, with his congregation, which took place in June, 1636. This is the same Hooker who came over with Cotton in 1633 and was ap- pointed to dispute with Williams, pending the sentence of banishment.^ It is needless to pursue this subject fm*- ther. The fame of Eoger Williams as the greatest and earliest champion of soul-lib- erty does not rest upon a barren assertion of the principle with which his name is associ- ated, and to which his life was conseci'ated, but upon its practical establishment, as the corner-stone upon which he buUt up the in- fant community of Providence. On the other hand, his antagonist, John Cotton, who was the high priest of the theocracy, — a man of consummate ability, and distinguished for 1 Id., Vol. VI, pp. 344, 345. 2 See also Williams's letter to Governor Winthrop, Jan. 10, 1637, id., Vol. VI, p. 84. For a full and judicial discussion of this subject the reader is referred to Chief Justice Thomas Durfee's "Anniversary- Oration" (note 2). Providence, S. S. Eider, 1887. 5 66 KOGEK WILLIAMS his learning, — was, during and after the period covered by this controversy, formu- lating those laws under which Antinomi- ans, Baptists, Quakers, and other sectaries were fined, imprisoned, branded, banished, whipped, mutUated, and hanged; so that one of the magistrates of the Bay, then in Eng- land, wrote from London to Cotton : It dotli not a little grieve my spirit to hear what sad things are reported daily of your tyranny and persecution in New England, — as that you fine, whip, and imprison men for their consciences.' Cotton united the qualities of a jurist with those of a priest. He was a politician as well as a theologian. When he came to America in 1633, at the age of forty-eight, he came with a high reputation as one of the greatest lights among the nonconform- ists, having been rector of St. Botolph's Church in Boston, in Lincolnshire, where his fame as a pulpit orator was renowned among the Independent clergy, who were distinguished for* eloquence. The Boston of the New World was named in his honor, and he became at once the spiritual and intel- lectual leader of the New England theoc- racy, which he organized and molded into 1 Huteli. Coll., Prince ed.,Vol. II, p. 127 ; Brooks Adams's "Emancipation of Massaoliusetts," p. 39. KOGEK WILLIAMS 67 its iron-clad form/ An exile himself for cause of conscience by reason of his con- spicuous and outspoken independence, he became a special mark of Laud's persecu- tions, which he escaped by coming to Amer- ica. In theory, in his writings, he was an advanced Independent; in practice he was as intolerant as the primate from whose op- pressions he fled. The doctrine of toleration, the principles of religious liberty, were well known and understood by him; but when he became vested with power, he either was unwilling from considerations of policy, or lacked the courage to apply them, although at times he leaned far to shield the moi*e liberal who came under the ban of the theocratic rule. This was notably the case, shortly after his arrival, when he sided with Wmthrop against the austere and autocratic Dudley, and in his effort to shield and excul- pate Anne Hutchinson, who while she had im- bibed some of his liberal tendencies, would not invoke that policy or the skill which was his, to cloak them under the prevailing or- thodox forms. He also endeavor'ed to excul- pate Wheelwright from the charge brought against him of preaching what was charged to be "a covenant of grace." While such 1 Hulsbard says of him : " Whatever he delivered in the pulpit was soon put into an Order of Court, if of a civil, or set up as a practice in the church, if of an ecclesiastical concernment." P. 182. 68 EOGEE WILLIAMS were his tendencies, he lacked the courage, which Williams possessed in its most com- bative form, to defend principles as against power, and when the crucial moment came, he availed himself of his natural tact and ingenuity, fortified by uncommon learning, to range himself on the side of the " powers that be," whose guide and tool, whose auto- crat and vassal he was in turn. He was characteristically described by "Williams as "swimming with the stream of outward credit and profit."^ Endicott, Salem's principal deputy, who sided with Williams in justifying the letter of admonition sent by the Salem church, in addition to exclusion from the General Court, was imprisoned, and was not discharged un- til he acknowledged his offense. Samuel Sharpe, as appears by the record of the same court, was ordered to appear and answer for his connection with this letter, and to dis- close the names of all the others who justi- fied the same, or else to give satisfaction by acknowledging his offense. Knowles very justly concludes that the conduct of the Salem church in abandoning Williams is to be ascribed to the severe measures of the magistrates, rather than to hostility to their respected minister.^ Williams received 1 " Mr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered." Nar. Club Pub., Vol. I, p. 339. 2 Knowles, p. 73. EOGEK WILLIAMS 69 permission to remain at Salem till spring, but complaint was made that lie would not refrain in his own house from uttering Ms opinion ; that many people, " taken with an apprehension of his godliness," resorted there to listen to his teachings ; that he had drawn above twenty persons to his opinions, and that he was preparing to form a plantation about Narragansett Bay. Upon this infor- mation the Court summarily and without notice to Williams, changed its sentence, re- solving to send him to England by a ship then lying in the harbor, ready to sail. On January 11th he was again summoned to attend the court, then assembled at Boston; but he refused to obey, suspecting, presum- ably, some sinister designs, which, perhaps, he refers to in his letter to John Cotton, the son, written in 1671, wherein he says : Long after, when you had consultations of kill- ing me, but some rather advised a dry pit of banishment, Mr. Peters advised an excommunica- tion to be sent me (after the manner of the Popish bulls, etc.) ; but this same man, in London, em- braced me, and told me he was for liberty of con- science, and preached it.' The magistrates immediately thereafter, in order to rid themselves entirely of Wil- liams and frustrate his noble purpose to es- 1 Letters of Roger Williams. Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 355. 70 KOGEK WILLIAMS tablish. an independent commiinity, where " all men may walk as their consciences per- suade them, every one in the name of his God," sent a small sloop to Salem with a commission to Captain UnderhUl to appre- hend him and carry him on board the ship about to sail to England. "When the oflB- cers came to his house, they found his wife and children, but he had gone three days be- fore — whither they could not learn. Win- throp states^ that he had drawn above twenty persons to his opinions, who intended to join his community; from whence it was feared that the infection would spread into these churches, the people being, many of them, much taken with the apprehension of his godliness. He had so far prevailed at Salem that many there, especially devout women, did embrace his opinions, and sep- arated from the churches for this cause. It appears that Governor Winthrop had privately advised him to leave the colony, from mixed motives of public peace and concern for the interests of Williams; for he says in one of his letters : " Mr. John Win- throp the grandfather, who though he were carried with the stream for my banishment, yet he tenderly loved me to his last breath." The same fact is referred to in his letter to Major Mason, and the advice of Winthrop is 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 175. ROGER "WILLIAMS 71 ascribed to "many high and heavenly and public ends." While there cannot be two opinions as to the injustice of the Puritans in persecuting others who, impelled by the same motives as themselves, were seeking a new world where they hoped, and had reason to believe, they might have the liberty to worship God un- trammeled by human laws, — yet allowance should be made for the age they lived in, when civil liberty was associated with chaos and anarchy, and religious liberty was re- garded as anti-Christian. The same spirit of historical justice which should induce us to moderate censure as toward the Puritans for their intolerance, heightens our admira- tion for the devotion to principle of those they persecuted; notably Eoger Williams, who not only saw far in advance of his day, but had the fortitude and the holy determi- nation, single-handed, to combat the over- whelming spirit of fanaticism and bigotry of his generation, and to suffer martyrdom for a principle which has steadily been making progress in the circuit of the globe, and to which we owe the chief blessings that flow from a more enlightened age. Roger Williams was not a Liberal in re- ligion, but a religious Liberal. He was not lax in his faith ; on the contrary, he was even more tenacious of his creed than Cotton or Hooker ; in fact, he was unnecessarily scru- 72 KOGER WILLIAMS pulous about many minor points of doctrine and polity. His piety was never impugned or censured even by his enemies. Wbile lie was all this, he was tender of the consciences of other men, and in his determination that others should enjoy the same freedom as he claimed for himself, he maintained that the civil power has no jurisdiction over conscience; and in that lay the cause of his banishment. It was in the month of January, 1636, that Williams secretly, and in haste to escape ar- rest, departed from Salem, leaving behind him his wife and young children, and began his perilous exile alone, to seek a refuge from the tyranny of the church-brethren. In the letter to Major Mason, from which we have already quoted, he describes his wandering through the wilderness and his subsequent settlement, first at Seekonk, and afterward at Providence. We will quote his own state- ment, as the only authentic account, though meager, of his journey : When I was unkindly and unchristianly, as I believe, driven from my house, and land and wife and children, in midst of a New England winter, now about thirty-five years past, at Salem, that ever honored G-overnor Winthrop privately wrote to me to steer my course to the Narragansett Bay and Indians, for many high, and heavenly and public ends encouraging me, from the freeness of the place from any English claims or patents. I took his prudent motion as a hint and voice from God, and, waiving all ether thoughts and motions^ KOGEK WILLIAMS 73 I steered my course from Salem — thougli in winter snow, which I feel yet — nnto these parts, wherein I may say Peniel, that is, I have seen the face of God. I first pitched, and hegan to buUd and plant at Seekonk, now Rehoboth; but I re- ceived a letter from my ancient friend, Mr. Wins- low, then Governor of Plymouth, professing his own and others' love and respect to me, yet loving- ly advising me, since I was fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they were loth to displease the Bay, to remove but to the other side of the water; and then he said I had the country free before me, and might be as free as themselves, and we should be loving neighbors together. These were the joint understandings of these two wise and emi- nently Christian Governors, and others, in their day, together with their counsel and advice as to the freedom and vacancy of this place, which in this respect and many other providences of the Most Holy and Only Wise, I called Providence. Some time after, the Plymouth great Sachem, Ousamaquin (Massasoit), upon occasion, affirming that Providence was his land and therefore Ply- mouth's land, and some resenting it, the then prudent and godly Governor, Mr. Bradford, and others of his godly council, answered, that if, after due examination, it should be found true what the barbarian said, yet having, to my loss of a harvest that year been now — though by their gentle ad- vice — as good as banished from Plymouth as from Massachusetts, and I had quietly and pa- tiently departed from them, at their motion, to the place where now I was, I should not be moles- ted and tossed up and down again while they had breath in their bodies. And surely between those, my friends of the Bay and Plymouth, I was sorely 74 KOGEE WILLIAMS tossed, for one fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean, beside the yearly loss of no small matter in my trading with English and natives, being debarred from Boston, the chief mart and port of New England. God knows that many thousand pounds cannot repay the losses I have sustained. It lies upon the Massachusetts and me, yea, and other colonies joining with them, to examine with fear and trembling, before the eyes of flaming fire, the true cause of aU my sorrows and sufferings. It pleased the Father of Spirits to touch many hearts dear to him with some relentings ; amongst which that great and pious soul, Mr. Winslow, melted and kindly visited me, at Providence, and put a piece of gold into the hands of my wife for our supply. According to tlie weight of authority, and the foregoing extract, when Williams left Salem he made his way from there by sea, coasting, probably, from place to place during the "fourteen weeks" that "he was sorely tossed," and holding intercourse with the native tribes, whose language he had ac- quired, as we have before stated, during his residence at Plymouth/ 1 See Guild's Biographical Introduction, Nar. Club Pub., Vol. I, p. 32. Dr. Dexter and Professor Diman interpret this and other references differently, and conclude that the journey must have been by land. See Dexter, p. 62, note ; Nar. Club Pub., Vol. II, p. 87. Perhaps the true interpreta- tion is that the journey was partly by sea and partly by land; that is, from the coast inward — to confer with the natives — was by land, and the rest by sea. ROGER WILLIAMS 75 It was in the latter part of June, 1636, tliat Williams with his four companions,^ who had in the mean time joined him, em- barked in his canoe at Seekonk to seek another spot beyond the jurisdiction of both Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. He proceeded down the Seekonk Eiver, and, ac- cording to tradition, as his httle bark ap- proached the eastern banks of that river, at " Slate Rock," WiQiams and his companions were greeted by a company of Indians with the friendly salutation, "What cheer, Ne- top I " After landing and exchanging saluta- tions with the natives, he again embarked, and passing around the headlands, now known as Indian and Fox Points, he entered Mooshausick River. Here Williams and his companions landed, and upon the ascending slope of the hill commenced the first settle- ment of Rhode Island, to which, in gratitude 1 According to Arnold (History of Rhode Island, Vol. I, p. 97) the original companions of Roger Williams, by his own ac- count, were four in number, who joined him in his first plant- ing at Seekonk, while Joshua Verin came later in season to become one of the six original settlers of Providence. "Yet out of pity," says Williams, "I gave leave to WiUiam Har- ris, then poor and destitute, to come along in my company. I consented to John Smith, miller at Dorchester (banished also) to go with me, and at John Smith's desire, to a poor young fellow, Francis Wickes, as also to a lad of Richard Waterman's. These are all I remember." Williams's "Ans- wer to W. Harris before the Court of Commissioners," Nov. 17, 1677. 76 EOGEK WILLIAMS to " G-od's merciful providence to him in his distress," he gave the name of Providence. " What sought they thus afar 1 Bright jewels of the mine 1 The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? — They sought a faith's pure shrine ! "Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod. They have left unstained what there they found, — Freedom to worship God ! " CHAPTER VI Settlement of Providence. Purchase of lands from the Indians. A government with religious liberty. Dissen- sions at Providence because of ' ' cranks." The Verin incident. Sir Henry Vane. Banishment of Anne Hutchinson. The Antinomian controversy. The Bay's system of formalism contributes to the settlement of Portsmouth and Newport. Form of the Hebrew commonwealth imi- tated. Coddington chosen as the judge. AS we trace the life of Eoger Williams we J\- are continually impressed not only with the force of his character, but with his per- sistency and rigid consistency, not only to proclaiming and advocating the right, but in practically vindicating his apparently im- pulsive assertion of it. He had affirmed that the king's patent could not of itself give to the white man, • though he be a model Christian, a just title to the lands of the Indians, and we accordingly find, as soon as he and his companions came to Provi- dence, negotiations were entered into with the sachems for the purchase of the lands he and his associates required. The owners of the lands were his friends Canonicus and his nephew Miantonomo, the chiefs of the Nar- 78 KOGEK WILLIAMS ragansett tribe. By a deed dated in Marcli, 1638, certain lands and meadows lying on the two fresh, rivers Mooshausick and Wan- asquatucket, which, as the deed recites, had been previously purchased, were conveyed to him by these sachems. "We also," the deed concludes, "in consideration of the many kindnesses and services he, Williams, hath continually done for us, both with om* friends of Massachusetts, as also at Connec- ticut and Apaum or Plymouth, we do freely give unto him all that land from those rivers reaching to Pawtucket River." The lands thus conveyed to Williams alone were by him equally divided, so that he and his twelve associates, who had either originally accompanied, or soon thereafter joined him, had each a like share. Elton and Knowles very correctly conclude that the lands at Providence having been purchased by Wil- liams, he might have been, like William Penn, the proprietor of his colony after having se- cured it by patent from the rulers in Eng- land, and thus have exercised a control over its government and enriched himself and family.^ But this was not his purpose, nor 1 This conclusion is sustained by his letter to the town of Providence, in August, 1654, wherein he states : "I have been blamed for parting with Moshassuck and afterwards Pawtucket (which were mine as truly as any man's coat upon his back) without reserving to myself a part of land or an inch of voice in any matter, more than to my servants KOGEK WILLIAMS 79 was it directly or remotely the cause for which he suffered banishment and misery. Principle — not profit; liberty — not power; conviction — not ambition, — were his impel- ling motives, which he consistently main- tained, theoretically and practically, then and at all times. In the confirmatory deed made in 1661 he incorporated his purpose in its re- cital. "I desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience. I then con- sidering the condition of divers of my dis- tressed countrymen, I communicated my said purchase unto my loving friends (whom he names), who then desired to take shelter with me." In the summer of 1636 Mrs. Wil- liams, with her two infant children, left Salem to join her husband at Providence. In the course of two years Williams's community was augmented by a number of friends from Massachusetts and others from England, who came to enjoy that soul liberty which was denied them elsewhere on this great conti- nent, and which there was secured to all, not as a concession under toleration, but as a right as free as the light of heaven and the air of the wilderness. The community thus and strangers. It hath been told me that I labored for a licentious and contentious people and that I have foolishly parted with town and colony advantages, by which I might have preserved both town and colony in as good order as any in the country about us." Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 262. 80 ROGER "WILLIAMS formed and . growing found it necessary to organize under some compact or agreement to serve as a basis of government. It was simple, explicit, and comprehensive, as will be seen by the tenor of the instrument which every inhabitant was required and was privi- leged to sign : We whose names are hereunder-written, being desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for public good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabi- tants, masters of families incorporated together into a township, and such others whom they shall admit unto the same, only in civil things. It is signed by thirteen persons — Eicha^i-, Scott, William x Reynolds, John x Field, Chad. Brown, John Warner, George Eickard, Edward Cope, Thomas x AngeU, Thomas x Harris, Francis x Wickes, Benedict Arnold, Joshua Winsor, and William Wickenden. It will be observed that five of the above signers affixed their x mark, presumably because they could not write. The instrument doubt- less was drawn up by Williams, as it bears the characteristic impress of his life-purpose : to found a community which should forever be a refuge and shelter for the persecuted and KOGEE WILLIAMS 81 oppressed for conscience, as he forcibly states it in his letter to Major Mason : Besides, sir, the matter with us is not about these children's toys of land, meadows, cattle, government, &c. But here, all over this colony, a great number of weak and distressed souls, scat- tered, are flying hither from Old and New Eng- land, the Most High and Only Wise hath, in His infinite wisdom, provided this country and this corner as a shelter for the poor and persecuted, according to their several persuasions. It will be observed that the parties bind themselves '■'■only in civil things," thus secur- ing the rights of conscience by excluding them from the domain and the jurisdiction of government. This compact is without date in the records, and doubtless refers to a pre- vious agreement of the first settlers and to their incorporation into a town fellowship. The government thus established was a pure democracy of the inhabitants. It remained in its non-representative form for several years, the legislative, judicial, and executive func- tions being discharged by a general assembly of the inhabitants, who met monthly in town meeting, and who chose a clerk and a trea- surer at each meeting. It was not to be expected that this little community could escape the dissensions, the discussions, the troubles and turmoil that 82 EOGEE WILLIAMS naturally follow in the wake of liberty, con- tiguous as it was to Massachusetts Bay, which was ruling with the iron hand of uni- formity and casting out by its persecutions all discordant elements. The world has always had its quota of men of strange eccentricities, with confused notions of their own rights and the necessary limitations government imposes. These men, whom in our time we caU by the expressive name of "cranks," naturally drifted to the Provi- dence community and occasioned not a little trouble to this infant settlement. Winthrop in his Journal records a rather amusing inci- dent of this nature, which he must have de- rived largely from hearsay and from sources rather inimical than friendly, and therefore somewhat colored : At Providence, also, the devil was not idle. For whereas at their first coining thither, Mr. "Williams and the rest did make an order that no man should he molested for his conscience, now men's wives, and children and servants, claiming hberty hereby to go to all religious meetings, though never so often, and because one Verin refused to let his wife go to Mr. Wilhams' so often as she was called for, they required to have him censured. But there stood up one Arnold, a worthy man of their own company, and withstood it, telhng them that, when he consented to that order, he never intended it should extend to the breach of any ordinance of God, such as the subjection of wives to their hus- bands, etc., and gave divers sohd reasons against ROGER WILLIAMS 83 it. Then one Greene replied that if they should restrain their wives, etc., all the women in the country would cry out of them, etc. Arnold an- swered him thus : Did you pretend to leave Mas- sachusetts because you would not offend G-od to please men, and would you now break an ordi- nance and commandment of God to please women. In conclusion when they would have censured Ve- rin, Arnold told them that it was against their own order, for Verin did that he did out of conscience ; and their order was that no man should be cen- sured for his conscience. This account bears upon its face the im- print of an effort by ridicule to show the ab- surdity of any government permitting full liberty in matters of conscience. The ac- count as disclosed by the town record is doubtless correct, that "it was agreed that Joshua Verin, upon the breach of a cove- nent for restraining of the libertie of consci- ence, shall be withheld from the libertie of voting till he shall declare the contrarie." The incident is interesting as the earliest record in the colony of the conflict between liberty and law. The decision arrived at and the penalty imposed give evidence of a con- sistent respect for both.' 1 Dexter and others have distorted this incident in the ef- fort to prove the inconsistency of Williams, for his inflicting a civil punishment for a spiritual offense . Dexter, p. 92. To our mind the logic of this incident is just the reverse ; that even the marriage covenant did not vest the husband with the right to put restraint upon the conscience of his wife. 84 KOGEK WILLIAMS The spirit and the policy that governed the Bay colony, and which caused her Gren- eral Court to cast out Williams because she could not assimilate this sturdy and unbend- ing foe against her church-state rule, grew more aggressive by reason of his banishment, and the rulers, encouraged by their victory, continued their rigid course, and proceeded to clear her territory of all discordant ele- ments. The ministers were iron-clad formal- ists, and began a system of legislation based upon mistaken analogies with the Judaic code. The Pentateuch was substituted for the common law, and under their sacerdo- tal code idolatry, blasphemy, adultery, and other offenses were made capital, which were not so under the English law. This system of formalism had great effect on externals as well as upon matters of abstract belief. The doleful voice, the sanctimonious speech, the sorrowful countenance, the somber garb, the frigid manner and austere life which charac- tei'ized the early Puritans grew out of this system, together with the extreme stress laid upon ceremonials and differences of minor importance to the neglect of holier truths and broader views. Notwithstanding this saintly rigidity, new opinions crept out and came in with the new-comers. At a general synod held at Cambridge on August 30, 1637, which lasted three weeks, and was attended by the ministers and magistrates, they de- BOGEE WILLIAMS 85 nounced and condemned no less than eighty- two opinions as being erroneous. In October, 1635, — some three months be- fore the flight of Williams, — there came to Boston a young man of twenty-three years of age, Henry Vane the younger, a natural republican and an enthusiastic lover of lib- erty. With him, on the same ship, was the Rev. Hugh Peters, who afterward, like Vane, also became famous under the com- monwealth, though in a different sphere of activity. It was Vane's plan to settle Con- necticut in association with Grovernor Win- throp's son John. Vane's distinguished birth and his influence in England, combined with his brilliant qualities of mind and heart, attracted at once the admiration of the Boston brethren, by whom he was intrusted with important functions, to revise the ad- ministration of the government. At the fol- lowing election after his arrival, in March, 1636, he was chosen governor, succeeding Haynes. Vane, as we shall see, after escaping from the narrow and perplexing restraints of his Boston surroundings, on his return to England, where he played such a conspicuous part in the rise of the Independents, became a close friend of Roger Williams, and was of the greatest assistance to him in securing the several charters for the colony of Rhode Island. During this time, by reason of the further 86 KOGEE WILLIAMS encroachment of the English hierarchy upon the hberties of the subjects, there arrived in Massachusetts Bay a large number of immi- grants. Among these new-comers was Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, who, with her husband and their family, came to Boston in 1636. She was a woman of rare ability and mascu- line strength of mind. She was well con- nected — a sister-in-law of the famous divine Wheelwright, and a friend of Cotton, whom she had followed from her home in Lincoln- shire to America. She was treated with consideration and respect by Cotton, Gov- ernor Vane, and other men of distinction. She possessed talent and enthusiasm for her convictions, and she soon became a leader among the women of Boston, who, up to the time of her coming, had not so much as ven- tured opinions of their own. It was the custom in that age, so distinguished for its endless didactic sermons fringed with length- ening prayers, for members to meet every week and repeat Mr. Cotton's sermons, in order to extend their sanctifying influence, and to converse on religious subjects. Mrs. Hutchinson introduced a meeting of women for the same purpose, where she repeated these sermons with commentaries. Her elo- quence was admired, and her meetings soon became the attractive feature of that quaint town of Boston. Her fame grew, and, we are told, her vanity also. Encouraged by her ROGER WILLIAMS 87 success, and stimulated by her active, meta- physical mind, she drifted from the beaten path and entered into speculations which aroused the church-brethren and became the source of bitter and violent contention, which threatened that iron-bound uniformity which was fostered by a network of laws and acts regulating the minutiae of daily life such as the world had never witnessed. The opin- ions ascribed to her are involved in the clouds of theological speculations which are now, and must have been then, as mystical as they are inconsequential, so far as practi- cal results are concerned. They related to such points as the nature of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the person of the believer, and the connection between sancti- fication and justification. From this were deduced consequences which her contention did not imply and which she did not admit. The followers of Mrs. Hutchinson maintained the doctrine of an inward light — justifica- tion by faith as distinguished from justifica- tion by works. They claimed to be " under a covenant of grace," while she denounced those opposed as being " under a covenant of works." The new views were embraced by a majority of the Boston church, includ- ing Mr. Cotton, and were warmly supported by Governor Vane. The Hutchinson party, or the " Opinionists," as they were at first called, soon received another name . they OO KOGEK WTLLLiMS "were termed the Antinomians/ Etymologi- cally, says Ellis, it would signify antago- nism, opposition to the law ; but by usage it meant, without the help of the law, inde- pendence of it and elevation above it. In- stead of a relief from obligation by a com- pliance with a covenant of works, it trusted to an inward assurance of having been brought into right relations with Grod, ac- cepted and forgiven, by a gracious influence of his spirit.^ The controversy grew in bit- terness and extent so that it seriously divided the colony. The ruling ministers saw in it serious danger to their supremacy, in that the doctrine by faith and the right of private judgment were nearly allied. The half uneonscious train of reasoning on which they based their claim to exact implicit obedience from the people seems, when analyzed, to yield to this syllogism : All revelation is contained in the Bible ; but to interpret the ancient sacred writings with authority a technical training is essential, which is confined to priests ; therefore, no one can define God's wlU who is not of the ministry. Had the possibility of direct revelation been admitted, this reasoning must fall ; for then, obviously, the 1 For a full aoooimt of this bitter controversy see Arnold's "History of Rhode Island," Vol. I, eh. 2; Adams's "Eman- cipation of Massachusetts," ch. 2, and other New England histories. 2 " The Puritan Age in Massachusetts," by George E. Ellis, pp. 301, 303. BOGER WILLIAMS 89 word of an inspired peasant would have out- weighed the sermon of an uninspired divine. It follows, necessarily, that ecclesiastics so situated would have been jealous of lay preaching, and absolutely intolerant of the minor Ught.' The controversy was not one which could be settled satisfactorily to the ruling minis- try by ecclesiastical disputations, and very naturally in such cases, under such a form of government, the civil power was invoked, as it had been against Roger Williams. Mrs. Hutchinson and several of the ministers were summoned, upon the charge of heresy, before the Greneral Court. She was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be banished. Eev. Mr. Wheelwright, her brother-in-law, who had publicly espoused her cause, was also banished. John Cotton, who was also suspected, was examined as a witness on be- half of the accused; but he, with his accus- tomed adroitness and theologico-legal faculty for argument, so confused the court that they would have acquitted Mrs. Hutchinson but for her own undaunted testimony, by which she incriminated herself. An act, passed at the same session, decreed a severe punish- ment for all persons who should speak evil of the Judges and magistrates. This anti- nomian controversy assumed such large proportions that it developed from an ec- 1 Adams's "Emancipation of Massachusetts," p. 48. 90 KOGEK WILLIAMS clesiastical dispute into a political conten- tion, dividing the parties in the colony. " It began to be as common," says Winthrop, " to distinguish between men by being un- der a covenant of grace or a covenant of works, as in other countries between Protest- ants and Papists." * In the Q-eneral Court the anti-Hutchinson- ians were in the majority, and it was moved that the next session, which was to be in May, when the choice of governor was to take place, should be held in Newtown. This was to show its displeasure of Boston, where the Hutchinsonians were strong, if not in the majority, and of which party Vane was the head, while Winthrop was the leader of the other faction. The election which fol- lowed resulted in the defeat of Vane, and in the choice of Winthrop for governor and Dudley for deputy governor. After this Vane entered into a controversy with Win- throp regarding an order which the court had made, to keep out all persons who might be dangerous to the commonwealth, and im- posing a penalty upon all who should harbor above three weeks such persons as should not be allowed by some of the magistrates. This order was passed to exclude such per- sons as were then coming over, who were on Vane's side in this controversy. From Vane's 1 Winthrop, Vol. I, p. 213. EOGER WILLIAMS 91 argument we will quote a single sentence as showing his liberal views against the back- ground of such tribal legislation: lict us then do unto our brethren at least as we would desire to be done unto by barbarians ; which is not to be rejected because we suit not with the disposition of their sachem, nor because by our coming, G-od takes them away, and troubles them, and so to their appearance we ruin them. Vane, disgusted with the turn of affairs, though greatly instructed by his experi- ences with the formalistic church-brethren, returned to England in the following Au- gust, where he acted such a conspicuous part in the stirring events which led to the rise of the Commonwealth, and began that historic career which culminated in his execution by order of Charles II. We have given a hasty review of these controversies because they had an important and direct influence upon the settlement at Providence. Many of the so-called Anti- nomians who had been proscribed by the Massachusetts authorities departed from Boston under the leadership of John Clarke, a learned physician, and William Codding- ton, who had been treasurer of the colony and a principal merchant in Boston, and proceeded southward with the intent to set- tle on Long Island or upon the shores of Delaware Bay. At Providence they were 92 EOGER WILLIAMS hospitably received by Roger Williams, who advised them to form a settlement on the island, now called Rhode Island, from which the state is named. This island was be- yond the limits of both Plymouth and the Bay. By the friendly and effective help of Williams, they purchased from Canonicus and Miantonomo, Aquedneck and other is- lands in the Narragansett Bay. " It was not price nor money," says Williams, " that could have purchased Rhode Island. Rhode Island was obtained by love and favour which that honorable gentleman, Sir Henry Vane and myself, had with that great sachem, Miantonomo, about the league, which I procured between the Massachu- setts English and the Narragansetts in the Pequod war." This little colony increased rapidly, so that in the following spring some of their number moved to the south- west part of the island and began the set- tlement of Newport. The northern part of the island which was first occupied was called Portsmouth. Both towns, however, were considered, as they were in fact, as be- longing to the same colony. To this settle- ment, also, came Anne Hutchinson with her husband and family after they had been banished from Massachusetts. There is no record that in this atmosphere of freedom she occasioned any trouble or disturbance. Here she led a quiet and peaceable life until KOGEK WILLIAMS 93 the deatli of lier husband in 1642, when she removed to the neighborhood of New York, where she and all the members of her family, sixteen in number, were murdered by the Indians, with the exception of one daughter, who was taken into captivity. In imitation of the form of government which existed under the judges of Israel, during the period of the Hebrew Common- wealth,^ the two settlements, Rhode Island and Portsmouth, chose Coddington to be their magistrate, with the title of Judge, and a few months afterward they elected three elders to assist him. This form of govern- ment continued until 1640. 1 For an account of the Hebrew Commonwealth and its influence, see "The Origin of Eepublioan Form of Govern- ment in the United States," by the author. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1885. CHAPTER VII Poundiag of Hartford by Hooker. The Pequod war. Wil- liams asked by Massachusetts to intercede. Prevents Indian league. Early Puritan chroniclers ignore Wil- liams's services. The growth of Providence through arbitrary measures in Massachusetts. Williams becomes a Baptist. First Baptist church. Wil- liams a seeker, or of no church. Laws regard- ing liberty of conscience. Parable of the ships. Liberty of conscience and the State. THE sequence of cause and effect and tlie irony of fate were seldom, if ever, quite so closely allied as in the circumstances that led to the banishment of Roger Williams, and which, a few months thereafter, impelled the governor who pronounced his sentence and the minister who acted as chief prosecutor or disputant, together with their followers, to leave comfortable homes and cultivated fields and transfer their household gods to Connecticut, there to begin anew the hard- ships and privations of colonization. The reasons for the removal of Grovernor Haynes, of pastor Hooker, teacher Stone, and their flock, from Newtown in Massachusetts EOGEB WILLIAMS 95 to Connecticut, where they founded the town of Hartford (so named in honor of Stone's birthplace in England) must have been weighty. It required two weeks to make this pilgrimage, and it lay through almost path- less woods. Hooker's wife was so infirm that she had to be carried in a litter. It was a toilsome journey; men, women, and children, many of delicate frames and all of refine- ment, were trudging through primeval for- ests in seai'ch of a new home. Causes more real and substantial than the one stated — namely, an insufficient area of land — lay at the bottom of this removal, and they are to be found in the fact that the system of the Bay's government was too narrow, exclusive, and undemocratic under the dominating in- fluence of Cotton. The franchise, as has been stated, was limited to church-membership, and though the population of the colony numbered several thousand, the freemen were, under this system, only about three hundred and fifty. Newtown had grown to be one of the most prosperous and flourishing towns in the Bay colony, the total tax paid by its inhabitants equaling that of Boston. That the cause of this voluntary exile was as we have stated is evidenced not alone by "Wil- liams, in his letter to Major Mason, cited in the last chapter, but by contemporaneous cir- cumstances and authorities, and by the fact that this dependence of civil rights upon 96 KOGEK WILLIAMS clmrcli membership was never adopted by the Connecticut colony.^ This colony from the first was distinctively democratic under the guidance of Hooker, while the Bay was and continued to grow more theocratic and autocratic under the domination of Cotton in excluding the many from the rights of free- men. The authorities of the Bay endeavored by various expedients to hold this new colony within their gi'asp, by claiming that it was within the territorial bounds of Massachu- setts, and accordingly appointed commissions to govern Hartford and the two neighboring settlements, Windsor and Wethersfield. The attitude of the Bay government to- ward these new and struggling communities was surely not neighborly ; on the contrary, it was despicable, unkind, and unjust, as is shown by the letters of Hooker to Winthrop, wherein he narrates his grievances and com- plains of the slanders and hostile acts of the people of the Bay in sedulously spreading false and damaging reports so as to deter emigration thence to Connecticut.^ In face of all the cruel treatment Eoger Williams had suffered, and although he was a positive, active, and aggressive man, yet the wrath and enmity he provoked he never 1 Walker's Hooker, " Makers of America" Series, pp. 82-93. 2 Connecticut Historical Society Collections, Vol. I, pp. 1-18. EOGER WILLIAMS 97 shared; the sweetness of his temperament remained unruffled through all his trials; spitefulness and revenge were foreign to his character ; he was ever ready to return good for evil. This is disclosed not only in his letters and the com'se of his life, but also in his powerful agency, at great personal risk and danger, in protecting his persecutors from Indian attacks. The effective part taken by WiUiams so soon after his banishment, at the solicitation of the magistrates of Massachu- setts, in the Pequod war, and in averting the imminent danger of a general league among the Indians for the destruction of New Eng- land colonists, would, if he had done naught besides, have glorified his name and memory, and entitled him to the lasting gratitude of the people of this country for all time. In 1634 the governor and council of Mas- sachusetts Bay had concluded with the most irreconcilable and hostile tribe of Indians, the Pequods, a treaty of peace and friend- ship. In 1636, a short time after Williams settled at Providence, they attacked a party of traders in a sloop near Block Island and murdered John Oldham, one of the company from Massachusetts. Williams, in a letter to Governor Vane, was the first to convey to the Massachusetts people the intelligence of this murder and of the contemplated Indian league. The magistrates of Massachusetts solicited his mediation with the Narragan- 98 KOGEK WILLIAMS setts. He promptly complied, went upon this hazardous mission, and succeeded in de- feating the plan of the Pequods in their effort to form a coalition with the Narragansetts. In his letter to Major Mason, who had taken an active and distinguished part in this war, he refers among other things to his agency at this time. Adverting to the request of the Bay to prevent the proposed Indian league against the Enghsh, he says : The Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hand, and scarce acquainting my wife, to ship myself alone in a poor canoe, and to cut through a stormy wind with great seas, every minute in hazard of life, to the Sachem's house. Three days and nights my business forced me to lodge and mix with the bloody Pequod ambassa- dors, whose hands and arms, methought, reeked with the blood of my countrymen, murdered and massacred by them on the Connecticut River, and from whom I could not but nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also. God won- drously preserved me, and helped me to break to pieces the Pequod's negotiation and design; and to make and finish, by many travels and changes, the English league with the Narragansetts and Mohegans against the Pequods. Williams prevailed upon Miantonomo, the Narragansett sachem, together with two sons of Canonicus and a large number of at- tendants, to make a visit to Boston ni October, 1636, and confer with the authori- EOGEB WILLIAMS 99 ties of the Bay, and then to conclude a treaty of perpetual peace and alliance, in which it was stipulated that neither party without the consent of the other should make peace with the Pequods. The terms of the treaty were arranged by WUliams, and, according to Winthrop, as the treaty was in English and the magistrates could not explain the articles to the Indians, it was agreed to send a copy to Williams, who could best interpret them. Knowles concludes that this measure was probably adopted at the request of the Indi- ans, who had confidence in Williams, which confidence was equally reposed in him by the government of the Bay. The agency of Williams at this critical juncture did not end here. The Pequods, though foiled in their efforts to secure the alliance of the Narragansetts, determined to maintain the conflict alone. They began the war im- mediately and prosecuted it with their ac- customed ferocity. The details of this war are well known and can be read in every history, so that we need only recount a few of the more important incidents here in con- nection with the agency of Williams. The Indians attacked the fort at Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut Eiver. The alarm occasioned by this advance, and by the murder and barbarous tortures of a number of white men, spread terror throughout the English settlements far and wide. Massa- 100 KOGEK WILLIAMS ehusetts sent one hundred and twenty men under the command of Captain, afterward General, Stoughton, with Rev. Mr. Wilson, of Boston, as their chaplain. The troops marched by way of Providence and were hospitably entertained by Eoger Williams. He accompanied the troops to Narragansett, where by his good offices he established mutual confidence between them and their Indian allies. He then returned to Provi- dence and acted through the war as the medi- um of intercourse between the colonists and the Indians. The war terminated by an at- tack upon Mystic Fort, under the command of Major Mason, in May, 1637. Some five or six hundred Pequods had taken refuge in this fort and fortified it with palisades. The Pequods made a final desperate resistance, but with little effect, as their simple weapons could do but little injury to the assailants, with their superior military tactics and their fireai'ms. The attack wa^ made at daybreak, when the Pequods were buried in profound sleep. The crash of musketry roused them, and then the English, bursting through their breastworks of sticks and brushwood, rushed upon them with drawn swords. One short hour completed the work, and when the sun rose the burnt corpses of nearly seven hun- dred Indians was all that remained of the valiant Pequods. Men, women, and children fell together in this indiscriminate and ROGER WILLIAMS 101 wholesale' slaughter. Seven only were taken captives, and a like number escaped. The loss of the English was but two killed and about twenty wounded. A day of thanks- giving for this signal victory was held in the churches. The Massachusetts troops of one hundred and twenty men, under Captain Stoughton, who arrived about a month later, were joined by Major Mason with forty men from Connecticut. They pursued the remnant of the Pequods, who concealed themselves in swamps and in the country westward. One of their chief hiding-places was attacked, and one hundred Indians cap- tured. The men were slaughtered, and of the women and children some were dis- tributed among the Narragansetts and others sent to Boston as slaves. The troops pursued the main body of fugitives to a swamp near New Haven, where an en- counter took place with a similar result and which practically closed the war. Sassacus, the great sachem, was murdered, with twenty of his men, by the Mohegans, to whom they had fled for shelter. Mr. Ludlow, the law- yer of the colony, and Mr. Pyneheon, who subsequently wrote a book on the "Meritori- ous Price of Our Redemption," carried to Boston a part of the skin and scalps of the vanquished Sassacus and other Pequod sachems. The only voice that was raised against this barbarous gloating over the 102 EOGEE WILLIAMS bloody remains of the valiant Indians "was that of Eoger Williams. " Those dead hands," he wrote, "were no pleasing sight. I have always shown dislike to such dismembering of the dead." ' Arnold, in his " History of Ehode Island," ^ refers to the singular fact that Winthrop, of all the old writers, is the only one who makes any mention of the important part per- formed by Roger Williams in averting the threatened catastrophe in the war by frustrat- ing the well-laid plans of the Pequods. But for this timely and prudent intervention and effective services at this critical juncture the fortunes of this earliest war of extermination would in all probability have been reversed. This wholesale slaughter of the Pequods, and the taking and selling into slavery of their captured women and children, do not accord with the oft reiterated profession of the Puritan fathers of their purpose to preach Christ to the savages. The Rev. Hugh Peters writes to John Winthrop, Jr., that he has heard of a dividend of women and children from the Pequod captives, and that he would like a share, "a young woman or girl and a boy if you think good." ' The omission by all the early Puritan 1 Walker's Hooker, p. 100. 2 " History of Ehode Island," Vol. I, p. 91, note. 3 Fourth Series Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. VI, p. 95. ROGER WILLIAMS 103 chronicles and historians, with the sole ex- ception of Winthrop, even to refer to the eminent services of Roger Williams, not to speak of their acknowledgment and grati- tude, which he had so richly earned, is an evidence not only of their prejudice against him, but of their utter disregard of historical justice. This is the reason why we must distrust all their statements which are un- favorable to Williams and look elsewhere for an estimate of his life, controversies, and eminent achievements. In his letter to Major Mason he relates that Grovernor Win- throp and "some other of the council mo- tioned and it was debated whether or no I had not merited, not only to be recalled from banishment, but also to be honored with some mark of favour, it is known who hin- dered, who never promoted the liberty of other men's conscience." This allusion is doubtless to Governor Dudley, who was un- alterably opposed to toleration. At his death some verses, written in his own hand, were found in his pocket, of which the two following lines will give an idea of their author's tenets : Let men of God in conrt and churclies watch O'er STicli as do a toleration hatch. During this time the Providence colony was growing in stability and in numbers. The arbitrary measures following the expul- 104 KOGEK WILLIAMS sion of Anne Hutcliinson and her adherents drove from Massachusetts many besides these, some of whom came to Providence, not because they approved of or were in sympa- thy with Williams's idea of government — the entire separation of Church and State, — but because they could there enjoy the liberty to worship as their conscience persuaded them, free from restraint. Williams was accused of being only a theorist, a crack-brain, hav- ing "a windmill in his head," and of lacking practical sense. We can discover no ground for such charges, however charitably they may have been formulated ; on the contrary, we find him continually making careful provision not only that the liberty he es- tablished should endure, but that the new- comers might share equally with the original settlers in all the advantages of the colony and in the allotment of land. During the winter of 1637, Williams, jointly with Governor Winthrop, purchased from Canonicus the island which was named by him Prudence ; the two smaller islands which he purchased shortly thereafter he called Patience and Hope. These lands, to- gether with other property, he afterward sold, and it is believed he used the proceeds to defray his expenses in England when on a mission there in the service of the colony. Winthrop retained his interest in Pru(^ence and bequeathed it to his son Stephen. EOGER WILLIAMS 105 Williams, during all this time, besides Ms public labors, was compelled, in order to earn a livelihood for himself and family, to work constantly and laboriously, — according to his own words, " Time was spent day and night, at home and abroad, on land and water, at the hoe and at the oar, for bread." That Wil- liams was of strong physique is attested by his active life full of cares, burdens, and hard- ships; his constant employment, physical and mental, marked by extraordinary vigor and energy. The affairs of the colony rested mainly upon his shoulders, and untoward circumstances were constantly arising that required his personal attention. In Win- throp's history there are continual refer- ences to information received from Williams respecting the natives. About this time four young white men, who had been ser- vants in Plymouth and had absconded, mur- dered an Indian near Providence. Williams, together with two others, went in search of them, apprehended the murderers, and brought them to Providence. There being some question in what jurisdiction they should be tried, he wrote to Winthrop, and upon his advice they were sent to Plymouth, the territory in which the murder was com- mitted. Upon the trial they confessed their crime, and the three, one having escaped, were executed. The birth of Williams's eldest son, said to 106 EOGBK WILLIAMS be the first white male child born in Rhode Island, took place in the autumn of 1638. He was named Providence. While the purpose of the arbitrary mea- sures of the Bay government, above referred to, was to crush out all elements militating against that uniformity which the magis- trates determined at any cost to maintain and solidify, it was not contemplated that thereby the Providence colony, which was hated, if not of sufi&cient consequence to be feared, would thereby be augmented and strengthened. But such was the result, and this only increased the enmity of the Bay against that colony, so that in March, 1638, a law was passed which practically excluded the inhabitants of Providence from coming within its limits. This act operated to the very serious disadvantage of the people at Providence, and Williams complained that many thousand pounds would not repay the losses he sustained in being debarred from Boston, the chief port of New England, and from trading with the English and Indians within that jurisdiction. At the end of 1638 there was an immigra- tion of Baptists, or, as they were then called. Anabaptists, to Providence from Massachu- setts, impelled by the same causes' that ac- tuated the other settlers who sought this colony of freedom. Prominent among these were Ezekiel Holyman and Mrs. Scott, a EOGEB WILLIAMS 107 sister-in-law of Mrs. Hutchinson. It is not surprising that Williams should have felt a leaning toward this sect, which throughout its entire history preached the gospel of love, abhorred and abstained from persecution, and preeminently maintained the rights of con- science. Williams was formally baptized by Holyman, and then in turn administered the rite to him and ten others. This event has been generally looked upon as the establishment of the first Baptist church in America. Gover- nor Winthrop refers to this influx into Provi- dence from Boston in his record. He says : Many of Boston and others, who were of Mrs. Hutchinson's judgment and party, removed to the isle of Aquiday; and others, who were of the rigid separation, and favored anabaptism, removed to Providence, so as those parts became to be well peopled.! Williams did not long retain his connec- tion with this church — only some three or four months. It is evident that he could not content himself with any of the estab- lished forms of creed, because they did not admit of sufficient latitude for unrestrained individualism in matters of belief, which to his mind was a prerequisite for fuU liberty of conscience, and for the further reason that he doubted the apostolic authority of 1 Winthiop, Vol. I, p. 293. 108 KOGEK WILLIAMS all orders of th.e churcli. This led Mm to doubt not only his own baptism, but baptism in general. For these reasons he left the church and became what in New England was known as a Seeker — a term, says Gram- mell, not inaptly applied to those who, in any age of the church, are dissatisfied with the prevailing creeds and institutions and seek for more congenial views of truth, or a faith better adapted to their spiritual wants. Although he terminated his membership with the church, he continued to preach, and re- mained on relations of closest intimacy with his successor in the ministry, the Eev. Chad. Brown. In his reply to George Fox, written in 1676, he says : I profess that if my soul could find rest in join- ing unto any of the churches professing Christ Jesus now extant, I would readily and gladly do it, yea, unto themselves whom I now opposed.^ The colony was emerging from a little crude settlement into a community of more importance by the constant influx of immi- grants, and it became necessary to organ- ize a more systematic and compact form of civil government than the agreement re- ferred to between the original settlers and those who came shortly thereafter, desig- nated the "New-comers." The immediate 1 "George Fox Digged Out of His Burrowes," p. 66. SOGER WILLIAMS 109 occasion for more definite and better regu- lated organization were disputes and diffi- culties arising respecting the boundaries of lands between the two original settlements which formed the town of Providence. A committee was appointed to adjust these disputes, and to report a form of future gov- ernment for the town. This report, con- sisting of twelve articles, was accepted by the people, and was signed by tHirty-nine of the inhabitants or freemen. The provisions, though general, were clear and definite upon the subject of liberty of conscience. It reads: We agree, as formerly hath been the liberties of the town, so still, to hold forth liberty of conscience.! The government of Ehode Island was also more regularly organized the same year, with a like scrupulous regard for the fundamental rights of conscience. On March 16, 1641, it was ordered by the authority of the general court " that none be accounted a delinquent for Doctrine, provided it be not directly re- pugnant to the government or laws estab- lished." In September following they passed a special act as follows : It is ordered that the law of the last Court made concerning liberty of conscience in point of doc- trine be perpetuated. 1 " Staple's Annals," p. 40. 110 ROGER WILLIAMS It will be observed that in these and all other provisions respecting liberty of eon- science, which lie at the basis of the laws of Providence, Newport, and Rhode Island, care- ful discriminations are made so as not to eon- found the liberties of conscience with license in civil matters in contempt of law and order. That the one could not exist without the other was the theory upon which all governments justified persecution on the civil side, and the union of Church and State as an ecclesiastical necessity. How clearly Roger Williams understood the principles for which he contended, and how well he comprehended their practical application, is shown not only by these early provisions in the laws, but also by his writings and the striking illustrations which he has given in his parable of the ship, in his letter to the town of Providence, Avritten in reply to cer- tain accusations that his principles were hos- tile to the civil peace : That ever I should speak or write a tittle, that tends to such an infinite liberty of conseienee, is a mistake, and which I have ever disclaimed and abhorred. To prevent such mistakes, I shall at present only propose this case : There goes many a ship to sea with many hundred souls in one ship, whose weal and woe is common, and is a true picture of a commonwealth, or a human combina- tion or society. It hath fallen out some times, that both papists and protestants, Jews and Turks, may be embarked in one ship ; upon which ROGER "WILLIAMS '111 supposal I affirm, that all the liberty of conscience, that ever I pleaded for, turns upon these two hinges — that none of the papists, protestants, Jews or Turks, be forced to come to the ship's prayer-s or worship, nor compelled from their own particular prayers or worship, if they practice any. I fui-ther add that I never denied, that notwithstanding this liberty, the commander of this ship ought to com- mand the ship's course, yea, and also command that justice, peace and sobriety, be kept and prac- ticed both among the seamen and all the passen- gers. If any of the seamen refuse to perform their services, or passengers pay their freight; if any refuse to help, in person or purse, towards the common charges or defence ; if any refuse to obey the common laws and orders of the ship, concern- ing their common peace or preservation; if any shall mutiny and rise against their commanders and offlcers ; if any should preach or write that there ought to be no commanders or officers, be- cause all are equal in Christ, therefore no masters nor officers, no laws nor orders, nor corrections nor punishments ; — I say, I never denied, but in such cases, whatever is pretended, the commander or commanders may judge, resist, compel and punish such transgressors, according to their de- serts and merits. This is seriously and honestly minded, may, if it so please the Father of lights, let in some light to such as willingly shut not their eyes. ^ This letter was written in January, 1655. In contrast therewith we will quote a pas- sage from the " Simple Cobler of Aggawam," 1 Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 278. 112 KOGEK "WILLIAMS by the Eev. Nathaniel Ward, the lawyer- divine of Ipswich, who drew up the first legal code for the government of the Bay colony, aptly known as the " Body of Liberties." That that will give Liberty of Conscience in mat- ters of Religion, must give Liberty of Conscience and Conversation in their Moral Laws, or else the Fiddle will be out of tune and some of the strings crack. It is said, That Men ought to have Liberty of their Conscience, and that it is Persecution to debar them of it : I can stand amazed then reply to this : It is an astonishment to think that the brains of men should be parboiled in such impi- o\is ignorance. Here we have in juxtaposition liberty as established and interpreted by Williams, and the theocratic misinterpretation of it by Puritan New England. Her apologists are constantly reminding us we must re- member the age; that this was the middle of the seventeenth centiiry, when intolerance ruled the civilized world and the rights of conscience were neither understood nor rec- ognized. This is doubtless true, and there-' fore our greater admiration for the little out- cast settlements of Rhode Island, where men of all creeds and of no creeds, the exiles and the banished, under the guidance of liberty's indomitable champion, were demonstrating to the Old and the New World that religious liberty was not licentiousness, but soul-free- dom, and entirely compatible with civil order. CHAPTER VIII The New England confederacy. Williams's mission to England to procure a charter. His key to the In- dian languages. Affairs in England. Obtains a charter. Its liberal provisions. The Westmin- ster Assembly of Divines. Williams's " Que- ries of the Highest Considerations," or plea for separation of Church and State. THE formation in 1643 of the New Eng- land confedei'acy, under the name of " The United Colonies of New England," marks an important epoch in the history and governmental development of the colonies and the country. It was the firgt of those unions of the colonies which in the following century enabled them to work out for them- selves that political autonomy to which the Declaration of Independence was the pre- lude. This union, like all subsequent con- federations, was brought about through perils from without which threatened the welfare and existence of the respective colo- nies. The subject had been under considera- tion and discussion for some time, especially 114 KOGEE WILLIAMS since the alarm of the previous year, occa- sioned, by reports of the design of the In- dians to unite in a war to exterminate the whites. The natives at this time had begun to acquire firearms from English and Dutch traders and to become expert in their use. The objects for which this union was formed were not only for protection against the In- dians, but also for common defense against the attacks of the Dutch on the Hudson, as weU as against the possible designs of the French colonies in the north under Jesuit guidance, with their extensive Indian alli- ances. In face of the dangers, real and imaginary, the difficulties in effecting a un- ion, by reason of the claim of Massachusetts to a preponderating influence, were over- come, and on May 19, 1643, the four colonies, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, formed themselves into a union under written articles of confederation " for mutual help and strength in all future con- cernment." These four colonies had a popu- lation of about 24,000. The new province of Maine, of which Sir Ferdinando Grorges was proprietor, was excluded, presumably for the reason that the Church of England was there established, and because of the old ex- isting feud between him and the Puritans. While it does not clearly appear that this colony sought to join the confederacy, it is quite certain that Rhode Island was solici- tous of becoming a member of the union for ROGER WILLIAMS 115 protection against the hostile savages that surrounded her on all sides. Her request, however, was refused both in 1644 and in 1648. The want of a charter was the alleged ground for her exclusion, but that this was a pretext is evident from the fact that when in the following year a charter was obtained she was still excluded, and continued to be so long as the confederacy lasted. The real reason, doubtless, was because the very ex- istence of the Rhode Island colonies was a menace to the theocratic institutions of the others. From the first settlement of Ehode Island it became the refuge for all the liber- als and opponents of the theocracy, as well as for the fanatics and turbulent persons who were driven out or emigrated from the other colonies. These incongruous elements, as has already been referred to, created great obstacles to the regular organization of gov- ernment. It is a marvelous tribute to free government that even in its early disorgan- ized and crude form it adapted itself to the needs of such heterogeneous elements without doing violence to the principles of its great founder, who, amid the quarrels of contend- ing factions, steered his little ship of state to a safe harbor by the compass of an en- lightened conscience. The New England confederacy is interest- ing in the light of subsequent history, not only as the first union of colonies for mutual protection, but as an experiment in federal 116 KOGEB, WILLIAMS government. The articles of union provided for a firm league, offensive and defensive, between the several colonies. Each colony retained its full control over its local affairs, while the confederate government was ex- clusively vested with the regulation of such matters as dealings with the Indians, with other colonies, and foreign powers. In case any colony was invaded, the quota of men and amount of money the other colonies were to contribute were provided for on a basis of ratio proportioned to the number of males in each colony between the ages of sixteen and sixty. The business of the con- federacy was conducted by a board of com- missioners, two from each of the colonies, all of whom were church members. They elected a chairman or president from among themselves. The concurrence of two thu-ds, or six commissioners, was necessary for the adoption of any measure. In case the com- missioners could not agree, the subject-mat- ter was referred to the legislatures or general courts of the several colonies. The govern- ment of the confederacy was a league of the governments of the separate colonies, not of the people therein as such. It was neither more nor less than a piece of political ma- chinery to provide against external dangers.^ 1 The articles are found in "Winthrop," Vol.11, 101; "Brad- ford," p. 257, and in the "Acts of Commisioners," pp. 3-13. KOGEK WILLIAMS 117 The confederacy continued to exist in more or less compact form for a period of forty- one years, until 1684, when, with the revo- cation of the charter of Massachusetts, it collapsed, and with it the Puritan theocracy. This theocracy was doomed from the outset to be only a temporary institution, based as it was upon assumption of power inconsistent with a colonial state, and upon a theory of ecclesiastical supremacy incompatible with personal liberty and the development of civil freedom. The wonder is that it maintained itself as long as it did. Its history, to which we must frequently recur, is marked with persecutions and oppressions, a painful illus- tration of the evils that result from subject- ing the temporal power to priestly control. Its chief influences were to stunt develop- ment and check immigration. The forma- tion of the New England confederacy was a matter of anxious concern to the Rhode Island and Providence settlements. It com- pleted their isolation and left those most exposed to Indian attacks to their fate. As early as 1638, in answer to a communication from John Greene, a resident of Providence, wherein he charged the Massachusetts court with usurping the power over men's con- sciences, that court enacted a law that if any inhabitants of the Providence Planta- tions came within the Bay's jurisdiction they should be apprehended, and unless they ab- 118 ROGEK WIIXiIAMS jured their opinions as to the powers and right of the magistrates, they should be compelled to go hence. This open hostility of the confederacy, together -with the claim made by Massachusetts that the Ehode Is- land and Providence colonies had no author- ity to set up civil government, induced these latter colonies, which up to this time were distinct, to ally themselves and to seek a charter for their government from the mo- ther country in order to protect themselves. At an assembly held in Newport, September 19, 1642, a committee was ■ appointed with instructions to procure a charter. The mis- sion was promptly intrusted to Williams. It was one of vital significance and impor- tance. Upon its issue depended the existence of the colony. Failure would have eneoixr- aged the confederated colonies to realize their claim by extending their jurisdiction over the Narragansett settlements. In "Wil- liams's letter to Major Mason he says : Upon frequent exceptions against Providence men, that we had no authority for civil govern- ment, I went purposely to England, and upon my report and petition, the Parliament granted us a charter of government for these parts, so judged vacant on all hands. And upon this the country about was more friendly, and treated us as an au- thorized colony, only the differences of our con- sciences much obstructed. He accordingly left his family and pro- ceeded to Maiihattoes (New York). It would. EOGEK WILLIAMS 119 of coui'se, have been much more convenient for him to have set sail from Boston, but Koger Williams was an outlaw from Massa- chusetts. His reputation as a pacifier of the Indians was doubtless well known to the Dutch colony, as immediately after his ar- rival there, his of&ces in that capacity were in demand. The Indians on Long Island, provoked by the unjustified cruelties of the Dutch, had risen against the white men in great numbers ; they had burned many of their houses and murdered Mrs. Hutchinson and her family, and attacked the dwelling of Lady Moody, also an exile from Massachu- setts. Through the influence of "Williams and his successful intercession, peace was restored and the Dutch settlements were spared. This occurred in the month of June, 1643. Shortly thereafter, dm'ing the same or beginning of the following month, he set sail from New York for England. We have no records to inform us regarding the inci- dents or duration of this voyage. That he employed the leisure allowed him by the voyage we know, as he has left a most valu- able record of work performed in his " Key to the Indian Languages." He informs us : I drew the materials in a rude lump at sea, as a private help to my memory ; that I might not by my present absence lightly lose what I had so dearly bought in some few years' hardship and changes among barbarians. 120 EOGEE WIULIAMS It was published soon after his amval in England, before the close of the year, and ■was the first systematic attempt to trans- late the Indian language into a civilized tongue. It contains much valuable and cu- rious information regarding their customs and habits, religion and government. The book had a direct bearing upon "WiUiams's mission and connects it in a significant manner with the history of Rhode Island, in that it is specially mentioned by the com- missioners and members of Parliament in a letter to which we shaU refer, as among the considerations which influenced Parliament in granting the charter. When Williams arrived in England, the nation was in the throes of a civil war, the issue of which was yet uncertain. It was but a few months after the illustrious Hamp- den, the great and popular Liberal leader, had met his death on the field of Chalgrove. Political events were running rapidly. The king had already fled from London, and England was ruled by the Long Parliament. This disturbed and uncertain state of affairs was favorable to the mission of Williams. Parliament was not in a position to alienate the allegiance of the colonies. By an ordi- nance of November 3, 1643, it had intrusted their government to the administration of the Earl of Warwick as Governor-Greneral and Lord High Admiral, with a council con:- BOGEK WILLIAMS 121 posed of five peers and twelve commoners. Prominent among these were Lord Say and Sele, Pym, Sir Arthur Haselrig, Oliver Cromwell, and the younger Vane, the early friend of Wilhams, who had himself advo- cated while in America and after his return, the doctrines of religious toleration. The earl and this council were vested with plenary powers over the colonies, to examine into their affairs, to send for papers and per- sons, to remove governors and oflScers, to appoint others in their places and define their powers. From these commissioners Roger Williams, aided by the firm friendship and powerful infiuence of Vane, obtained his charter, dated March 17, 1644, which gave to the towns of Providence, Portsmouth, and Newport, under the designation of "the Providence Plantations in the Narragansett Bay, full power to rule themselves as they shall by free consent agree unto." This char- ter is remarkable for its liberal provisions, and doubtless granted everything in the most friendly spirit that Williams prayed for. This is evidenced by the recital, which reads : And Whereas divers well affected and industri- ous English inhabitants of the towns of Provi- dence, Portsmouth, and Newport, in the tract aforesaid, have adventured to make a nearer neighborhood and society to and with the great body of the Narragansetts, which may in time, by 122 KOGEK WILLIAMS the blessing of God upon their endeavors lay a surer foundation of happiness to all America; . . . And whereas, the said English have rep- resented their desires ... to have their hope- ful beginnings approved and confirined by granting unto them a free charter of civil incorporation and government, that they may order and govern their Plantations in such manner as to maintain justice and peace both among themselves and to- wards all men with whom they shall have to do. This recital evidently purposed to put the seal of authority not only upon the terri- torial rights of the Narragansett settlers, but also the stamp of approval upon the prin- ciples of their founder. The charter is remarkable not only for what it grants, but equally for its limitations, which in the light of the origin of these colonies, were not restrictions but safeguards. One of these limitations was that the laws and constitu- tions and punishments permitted by the charter should be conformable to the laws of England so far as circumstances would per- mit. The other limitation confined their powers of government to civil affairs. This was confirmatory not only of the principle of soul liberty, but of the very arguments which Williams employed to advocate it and to justify his course. He had uniformly de- nied the right of government to interfere in matters of conscience. The omission to grant any power in matters of religion was KOGER WILLIAMS 123 the only confirmation of the rights of con- science which Williams could consistently admit, and was therefore the more accepta- ble, for to receive religious liberty as a ,concession from any power would be a virtual recognition that it could of right be taken away or denied. That Wilhams and his associates designed and interpreted this provision of the charter is apparent not only by inferential reasoning but by the record, for we find that in 1657, in answer to the request of the commissioners of the united colonies, wherein they sought to prevail on Rhode Island to unite in the general perse- cution of the Quakers, the General Assembly which met at Portsmouth used this lan- guage : Whereas freedom of different consciences to be protected from enforcements, was the principal ground of our charter, both with respect to our humble suit for it, as also to the true intent of the honorable and renowned Parhament of England, in granting the same to us, which freedom we still prize, as the greatest happiness that men can pos- sess in this world, therefore we shall, for the pres- ervation of our civil peace and order, the more especially take notice that those people, and any others that are here, or shaU come among us, be impartiaUy required, and to our utmost con- strained, to perform aU civil duties requisite. . . . As concerning these Quakers (so called) which are now among us, we have no law among us 124 ROGER WILLIAMS whereby to punish any for only declaring by words, &c., their minds and understanding concern- ing the things and ways of God, as to salvation and eternal condition.' Williams remained in England a little over a year, from about the middle of Jnly, 1643, to about the middle of August, 1644. During this time, besides fulfilling the purpose of his mission in obtaining the charter, he did a large share of literary work, to which we shall presently refer. He also took an active part in the discussions of this period, and in alleviating the sufferings among the poor of London occasioned by the civil war which was then raging. When the winter ap- proached the poor of London were much dis- tressed for lack of fuel, the supply of coal from Newcastle having been cut off. He put himself at the service of 'Parliament to remedy this evil by the supply of firewood. Shortly after Williams's arrival in Eng- land there appeared in London a little quarto pamphlet of thirteen pages, a letter which John Cotton had written to him af- ter his banishment, but which was first printed at this time. In this letter Cotton attempts to justify the banishment of his antagonist for his corrupt doctrines, " which tend to the disturbance both of civill and 1 Knowles, p. 294. EOGER WILLIAMS 125 holy peace." ^ This letter was evidently a part of the controversy between Cotton and Williams, and was the first which appeared in print of that voluminous controversy be- tween the high priest of the theocracy and the apostle of the New World gospel of liberty. Some question arose between the two contestants, by whose instigation this letter was printed. Williams admits having received it, but disclaims any connection with the publication of it. Williams did not remain long silent. His answer came the following year in the form of a little book entitled, " Mr. Cotton's Letter Lately Printed, Examined, and Answered." This answer is carefully written, and contains a clear and dispassionate statement of Williams's griev- ances, together with the bases, both scrip- tural and humanistic, upon which the prin- ciples of religious liberty for which he contended are founded. The arrangement is orderly and logical. The subject of his banishment is succinctly reviewed, and the causes thereof clearly stated. In his preface, addressed to the impartial reader, he refers to having prepared his answer, which he now makes public, at the time Cotton's letter was originally received by him. He charges 1 Originally printed in London, 1643. Eeprinted in Narra- gansett Club Pub., Vol. I, p. 286, with an introduction by E. A. Guild. 126 KOGEE WILLIAMS Cotton, and through. Cotton aiTaigns the theocratic system, with that " body-killing, soule-killing, and state-killing doctrine of not permitting, but persecuting all other consciences and wayes of worship but his own in the civill State, and so consequently in the whole world if the power or Empire thereof were in his hand." In answer to the charge made against him as a distui'ber of the civil peace, which was the one generally urged to justify persecution and the inter- vention of the ciAdl authority to maintain uniformity in religion, he says : Acknowledging the ordinance of Magistracie to be properly and adequately fitted by God, to pre- serve the civill State in civill peace and order ; as lie hath also appointed a spirituaU government and Governours in matters pertaining to his wor- ship and the consciences of men, both which Gov- ernment, Governours, Laws, Offences, Punish- ments are Essentially distinct, and the confounding of them brings aU the world in Combustion.^ The arguments and plea of Eoger Williams were not those of an idle speculator or mere theorist. The personal sacrifices he had made and the state he was organizing were proof of his devotion to the principles he advocated. " I shah, be ready for the same grounds," he exclaimed, " not only to be 1 Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. I, p. 335. ROGER WILLIAMS 127 bound and banished, but to die also in New England." " Persecutors of men's bodies seldom or never do these men's souls good." The civil war, when it first broke out, in its religious aspect, was a contest between two sects which were equally intolerant. On the one side was the Established Church with its claim to divine episcopacy ; on the other, were the Scotch Presbyterians. The latter joined the Parliamentary forces with twenty thousand men, in the hope of completing the overthrow of Prelacy and of estabhshing Presbyterianism. The religious side of the struggle was materially advanced by Puri- tan divines, some of the most distinguished among whom were then or had been in New England. In July, 1643, the House passed an ordinance for calling an assembly of learned divines for settUng the govern- ment and liturgy of the Church of England. This was the origin of the Westminster As- sembly, which first met in Henry VII.'s chapel on July 1 of that year. Heniy Vane, the younger, was a member of that body, together with five Independent min- isters who had seats therein. Of the 157 members, according to Guild,' there were 121 divines. The great body were Presby- terians, or inclined to that form of ecclesias- 1 Guild's introductory remarks to " Queries of Highest Consideration." Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. II, p. 245. 128 KOGEK WILLIAMS tieal polity. The ancient Scotcli covenant, with a few slight alterations, under the title of the " Solemn League and Covenant," which was accepted through Vane and his. two colleagues, was subscribed to by the House of Commons, and shortly thereafter by the House of Lords. At this time, and for some years prior, the Puritans had developed into a political party of which the extreme wing were the Independents. Upon the ques- tion of the form of church government — whether Congregational or Presbyterian — to be established throughout the realm, and as to the degree of toleration to be allowed to dissenters, the latter became a distinct party under the leadership of Cromwell, St. John, and Vane. A number of the New England ministers sent and had printed in London treatises and essays primarily in defense of their system, and secondarily, with a view of influencing the Assembly. Independency was frequently referred to as the " New England way." There were others supporting the same side, principally those who in England had been persecuted under Laud, and had fled to Holland and America, from where they had returned at the beginning of the civil war. Prominent among these were the Rev. Hugh Peters, Thomas Goodwin, and Philip Nye. This was a subject upon which Roger Williams had flrm convictions, the re- sult not only of careful consideration, but of KOGEK WILLIAMS 129 his personal trials and experiences. Amid this vexing controversy, wherein both par- ties were fiercely struggling for supremacy, he pointed out a way to greater hberty, un- der which the question of the degree of tol- eration the predominant sect should allow was entirely eliminated. He addressed a letter to both Houses of Parliament, entitled " Queries of Highest Consideration," wherein he pleads for the entire separation of church and state, and shows the impossibility of es- tablishing any form of religion without doing violence to men's consciences and degrading religion itself. "Whether," are his words, " in the constitution of a national church, it can possibly be framed without a racking and tormenting of the souls, as well as of the bodies of persons, for it seems not pos- sible to fit it to every conscience: sooner shall one suit of apparel fit every body, one law president every case, one size or last every foot ? Lastly, whether it be not the cause of a world of hypocrites, the soothing up of people in a formal state worship to the ruin of their souls: The ground of perse- cution to Christ Jesus in his members, and sooner or later, the kindling of the devour- ing flames of civil wars, as aU ages justify ? " He cites the example of Holland, which prospered notwithstanding all sects were tol- erated there. He passes in review the sov- ereigns of England from Henry VII., and 130 KOGER WILLIAMS refers to the various forms of religion estab- lished and condemned as heretical under succeeding reigns, " whereunder in the course of a few years many forms of religion were set up and puUed down;" so that, he adds, " the fathers made the children heretics, and the children the fathers." Among the many arguments put forward in this letter, clothed in the form of queries, he asks whether it be not a true mark of a false church to persecute ; "for did not Jesus check Peter from fighting for him, telling him that all that take the sword shall perish by the sword." Such were some of the arguments Wil- liams, during his stay in England, put before the assembly of wrangling divines and Par- liament, who were substituting one form of spiritual uniformity, Presbyterianism, in place of another. Prelacy, whereby to domi- nate over the souls of men. Both were equally intolerant, and both persecuted to maintain an enforced religion. The Puri- tans contended for a Presbyterian state with uniformity in belief and doctrine. CHAPTEE IX Toleration. The English Baptists. Williams's stay in London. The Westminster AssemlDly and the five dissenting members. Williams's " Bloudy Tenent of Persecution" published. He returns to America with the charter, and proceeds to Providence. He averts, for a second time, Indian war. THE spirit of liberty is kindled in the fires of persecution. The rights of man are consecrated by suffering and by the wrongs of his oppressors. The records of those wrongs are the precedents for persecution in a barbarous age, and the safeguards of free- dom in an age of enlightenment. The ideas of toleration came into England, under Eliza- beth and James, with the return of the per- secuted sectaries, who had fled to Holland for refuge, where they had tasted the sweet fruits of toleration in the most liberal of Christian countries. The sect which pushed farthest onward in grasping the ideas of liberty of conscience was the one which has been most cruelly and relentlessly perse- cuted, the poor, despised, and anathematized 132 KOGEE WILLIAMS Anglo-Dutch. Anabaptists, who called John Smyth their leader. In a " Confession or Declaration of Faith," promulgated in 1611 by the English Baptists of Amsterdam, this article occurs : The magistrate is not to meddle with religion, or matters of conscience, nor compell men to this or that form of religion; because Christ is the King and Lawgiver of the Church and Conscience. Masson says it is believed that this is the first expression of the absolute principle of liberty of conscience in the public articles of any body of Christians.^ Leonard Busher, who was a member of the little Baptist con- gregation in old London, which was founded in 1611 by Thomas Helwisse shortly after his return from Holland, published, in 1614, a tract advocating liberty of conscience He says : As kings and bishops can not command the wind, so they can not command faith, and as the wind bloweth where it listeth, so is every man that is born of the Spirit. You may force men to chui'ch against their consciences, but they will believe as they did before, when they come there. ... I read that Jews, Christians and Turks are tolerated in Constantinople, and yet are peaceable, though so contrary the one to the other. If this be so, how much more ought Christians not to force one another to religion! And how 1 Masson's "Life of Milton," Vol. Ill, p. 101 et seq. KOGEK WILLIAMS 133 much more ought Christians to tolerate Chris- tians, when as the Turks do tolerate them ! Shall we be less merciful than the Turks ? or shall we learn the Turks to persecute Christians ? ' The Independents, while they advocated toleration, limited it to a very narrow com- pass to " all true visible churches " ; just sufficient to include themselves, they advo- cated the supervision and control of the church by the civil power.^ The Baptists, on the other hand, had a much more enlightened and advanced view; they held that Christianity should propagate itself by its own spiritual force; that the civil government was entirely apart and distinct, and should have no control over conscience or power to inflict punishment for spiritual censures. 1 Under the capitulations of the Ottoman Empire with Christian nations, liberty of worship was guaranteed. The earliest of these was made by the Sultan Saladin with the Pisan Eepublie in 1173. This was followed, after the taking of Constantinople, by other capitulations concluded with the Italian Republics in 1453, with France in 1528, and with England in 1579 under Elizabeth, with Charles in 1641, renewed with Charles II. in 1675. ''Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire," by Edward A. Van Dyck. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1881. 2 " We believe that we and all true visible churches ought to be overseen and kept in good order and peace, and ought to be governed under Christ; both supremely and also subordinately by the civil magistrate; yea in causes of religion when need is." From the confessions of faith by Jacob's congregation of Independents. Masson, Vol. HI, p. 104. 9« 134 KOGEE WILLIAMS During Williams's stay in London we know he was on intimate terms with the younger Vane and frequently in his com- pany, and doubtless had intercourse with the leading members of Parliament and the divines of the Westminster Assembly, especially with the five Independents, Thomas Groodwin, Bridge, Nye, Simpson, and Burroughs, who, though less advanced in their ideas than he, yet were advocates and defenders of a system far more liberal than the majority, who were radically anti- tolerant. BaiUie, one of the chief divines, refers to Williams in a letter as "my good acquaintance Mr. Roger Williams.' Milton, with the publication of his " Doctrine of Dis- cipline of Divorce," which appeared in 1643, had put himself entirely outside of orthodox English society by his heretical views re- garding the marriage sacrament. He had advocated the cause of church reform, and had made himself otherwise odious as a sectary. Masson infers that Eoger Williams at this time also made the acquaintance of Milton.^ This inference is quite probable, especially in view of the intimate friendship between the two during Wilhams's second visit to England, eight years later. 1 Masson, Vol. H, p. 154. Baillie's Letters, Vol. U, p. 313, and Dissuasive, pp. 224-252. 2 Id., Vol. IV, p. 528. KOGEK WILLIAMS 135 The question of toleration was paramount both in the Westminster Assembly and in Parliament. The demand addressed to the latter body by the five dissenting brethren in their " Apologetical Narrative," in January, 1644, clothed the entire contention with a garb of respectability it had theretofore lacked, when confined to the despised Bap- tist sect and a few advanced Liberals. The question was, " What amount of conformity is to be allowed in the new Presbyterian Church, which is to be the National Church of England ? " Shortly after this a number of pamphlets and books appeared advocat- ing the tolerant and anti-tolerant sides. Among the former, the two most prominent were "the Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience discussed in a Con- ference between Truth and Peace," and " A Reply of Two of the Brethren to A. S., etc.; with a Plea for Liberty of Conscience for the Apologists' Church-way against the Cavils of the said A. S." They were all anony- mous, but the authors of the two latter were well known at the time. The one was Roger Williams, and the other was John Goodwin, vicar of St. Stephen's, in Coleman street, whom the Presbyterians had before this singled out as a special mark for their hostility. Williams, having his charter safely in hand and about returning to America, dis- charged this parting shot against the de- 136 EOGEE WILLIAMS signs of tlie Presbyterian divines, who sought to establish an intolerant national church. His purpose was at the same time to vindicate his plan of church freedom and state freedom, as against the prevailing New England system. This work, which formed part of the controversy between him and Cotton, grew out of the following circum- stances. In 1620 a treatise, entitled "An Humble Supplication to the King's Majesty as it was Presented in 1620," was written by Murton, or some other London Baptist, when a prisoner in Newgate for conscience' sake. It is a forcible and concise argument against persecution, and a plea for liberty of con- science. Williams informs us that so rigid was the prisoner's confinement that paper, pens, and ink were denied him, and he had recourse to sheets of paper supplied to him by a friend in London as stoppers to the bottles containing his daily allowance of milk. He wrote his argument in milk on paper thus provided and returned them in the same way. Williams says : In such paper, written with milk, nothing will appear ; but the way of reading it, by the fire, be- ing known to Ms friend, who received the papers, he transcribed and kept them together, although the author himself could not correct nor view what himself had written.' 1 "Bloudy Tenent,'' eh. 2. Underhill's introduction and Masson's "Milton," Vol. Ill, p. 114. KOGEE WILLIAMS 137 A copy of this treatise, or reasons against persecution, had been sent to Cotton in 1635 for his consideration, and Cotton had writ- ten a reply, quoting scripture for the justifi- cation of persecution, and citing the author- ity of Calvin, Besa, and other reformers as to the right of the civU magistrate to prose- cute and punish for religious errors.- This reply, when published, was sent by Mr. Hall, a Congregational minister at Roxbury, to Williams, and gave rise to the book above referred to, significantly entitled, " The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution Discussed." Cotton's reply is printed in full by Williams in his book. The argument is carried for- ward in the form of a dialogue between Truth and Peace over Cotton's doctrine of persecution. When this is concluded, the dialogue is continued over another New England document, which had been written to convince some of the Salem brethren who leaned to Williams's opinions as to church government. This treatise, the " Model of Church and Civil Power," forms the subject of the second part of the " Bloudy Tenent." The authorship was attributed by Williams to Cotton. To this statement Cotton makes a special plea of denial, charging Williams with a " double falsehood " : first, in saying that he wrote it, and second, that the minis- ter who did write it sent it to Salem. It appears, however, from Williams's subse- 138 ROGEE WILLIAMS quent book that, while Cotton did not write it, he took part in its production, approved of it, and directed others to repair to it for satisfactory information. The real author is believed to have been Richard Mather. " Certain it is," says UnderhiU in his intro- duction, "that the principles of this docu- ment pervade all subsequent legislation of the colony, and many of its conclusions were embodied in its ecclesiastical and civil laws. Williams did well in selecting these two pieces for discussion. They broadly state those views which are antagonistic to in- tellectual and religious freedom." This book is dedicated to both Houses of Parliament. It is divided into one hundred and thirty-eight short chapters, eighty-one of which are devoted to the discussion of Cotton's reply, and the remainder in examin- ing " A Model of Church and Civil Power," composed by Mr. Cotton and the ministers of New England, and sent to the church at Salem as a f mother " Confirmation of the Bloody Doctrine of Persecution for Cause of Conscience." It was written, as "WUliams states,^ under great disadvantage, when his time was taken up in attendance upon Par- hament, and while he was traveling to and from London in order to supply firewood for the poor of that city. We will cite a few 1 "Bloody Tenent yet more Bloody," p. 38. KOGEK WILLIAMS 139 of the marginal summaries, which wUl give the reader an idea of the contents : The Churcli and Civil State confusedly made all one. The civil magistrates bound to preserve the 'bodies of their subjects, and not to destroy them for Conscience' sake. The civil sword may make a nation of hypocrites and anti-Christians, but not one Christian. Forcing of Conscience is a soid-rape. Evil is always evil, yet permission of it may in case be good. Persecution for Con- science hath been the lancet which hath let blood the nations. Christ Jesus the deepest politician that ever was, and yet he commands a toleration of anti-Christians. Constantine and the good emperors confessed to have done more hurt to the name and crown of Christ than the bloody Neros did. Seducing teachers, either Pagan, Jewish, Turkish, or anti-Christian, may yet be obedient subjects. A National Church, not instituted by Christ Jesus. Man hath no power to make laws to bind conscience. The civil commonwealth- and the spiritual commonwealth, the Church, not in- consistent, though independent the one of the other. Forcing of men to godUness, or God's worship, the greatest cause of breach of civil peace. Persons may with less sin be forced to marry whom they cannot love, than to worship where they cannot beUeve. The very Indians abhor to disturb any conscience at worship. The civil magistrate owes two things to false wor- shippers — (1) Permission, (2) Protection. While in style the book shows signs of haste, the sentences often involved and dis- 140 BOGEK WILLIAMS jointed, the argumerit is systematically car- ried forward and gives evidence of calm deliberation and careful study, pertinent in its detail and illustrations to tlie time in wMeli lie writes and th.e class of men lie ad- dresses : namely, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers in old and New England. Throughout the writings of Williams is disclosed a practical conception as distin- guished from theoretical speculations re- garding the functions and the relations of the Church and the State. The principles he expounded, and for which he contended, were no dreams ; they lay at the basis of the pohtical organization of the colony he had planted, and whose destiny depended upon their correct interpretation. The charter he had so recently obtained gave him the con- stitutional right to perfect in detail that sys- tem which in the concrete he had already begun and outlined. The reahty was con- stantly before him in all his expositions, and what to his compeers Milton and Goodwin were largely, if not entirely, theories, appli- cable to imaginary commonwealths, or to England rapidly passing under Presbyterian establishment, to him were deductions drawn from the growing Narragansett settlements, which were practically developing under those principles of liberty he was expound- ing in his writings. This book, " The Bloudy KOGEK WILLIAMS 141 Tenent," passed through two editions the first year, and was further honored by being ordered by the House of Commons to be burned, upon the accusation of a committee of the Presbyterian Assembly. The fact is, while toleration to a limited extent was fa- vored by a number of the more advanced Independents, absolute liberty of conscience such as WiUiams advocated was even by them regarded as rank heresy, leading to anarchy and chaos. In the same year Milton published his plea for religious toleration, the "Areopagitica " ; but his perception fell far short of that soul liberty which Williams so clearly conceived and so forcibly advo- cated. Milton asks only that " many may be tolerated rather than all be compelled," and then even limits his idea of the scope of toleration by excluding Popery, which he ar- gues should be extirpated. In fact, the prin- ciples of liberty advocated by "Williams in this book, as well as in aU his subsequent writings, were more than two hundred years in advance of his generation, and are in fuU accord with the most enlightened thought of om' day. Williams returned to America in the au- tumn of 1644, and landed at Boston on the 17th day of September. He ventured to tread on this forbidden gi'ound by virtue of the following letter from twelve leading members 142 ROGEK WILLIAMS of the Parliamentary party to the Governor and Assistants of Massachusetts : Our Much Honored Friends : Taking notice some of us of long time of Mr. Roger WOliams' good affections and conscience, and of Ms suffer- ings by our common enemy and oppressors of God's people, the prelates, as also of his great in- dustry and travels in his printed Indian labors, in your parts (the like whereof we have not seen ex- tant from any part of America), and in which re- spect it hath pleased both Houses of Parliament to grant unto him, and friends with him, a free and absolute charter of civil government for those parts of his abode, and withal sorrowfully resenting, that amongst good men (our friends) driven to the ends of the world, exercised with trials of a wilderness, and who mutually give good testimony, each of the other (as we observe you do of him, and he abun- dantly of you), there should be such a distance ; we thought it fit, upon divers considerations, to profess our great desires of both your utmost endeavors of nearer closing and of ready expressing those good affections (which we perceive you bear to each other), in effectual performance of all friendly offices. . . . This letter enabled Williams to land at Boston, and to proceed without hindrance to Providence, but beyond this it had no effect in changing the attitude toward him of the authorities of Massachusetts. According to Hubbard, the magistrates, upon the receipt of the letter, saw no reason to condemn them- selves for their former proceedings. They EOCEB WILLIAMS 143 were willing to hold with him a correspon- dence, but so long as he maintained "his dangerous principles of separation, unless he can be brought to lay them down, they see no reason why to concede to him, or any so persuaded, free hberty of ingress and egress."^ This letter was carefully written, with the evident purpose of bringing about a better agreement between the various New Eng- land Independents, so that evidences of their quarrels and disagreements could not be brought forward as arguments against a more liberal policy in England. Toleration was the paramount question under discus- sion at that time in the assembly of West- minster divines. The five Independents contended for a limited toleration around an established national church. These are doubtless some of the "divers considera- tions," referred to.^ The return of Williams, with a charter which invested his colony with an indepen- dent government, instead of mollifying the temper of the united colonies, had precisely the contrary effect, and they continued to pursue an unfriendly poHcy against Ehode Island. In this they were stimulated and en- couraged by the developments in England, where a new national church was being 1 Hubbard's " History of New England," p. 349. 2 Masson, Vol. HI, p. 127. 144 ROGEK WILLIAMS foiined on the Presbyterian model, which was absolutely anti-toleration. In Boston there was no feeling of friendship for him. The magistrates were doubtless chagrined by the success of his mission, as is shown by a letter of Richard Scott in the " New Eng- land Firebrand Quenched." The inhabitants of Providence, in fourteen canoes, met him at Seekonk to welcome his return, and con- vey him home in triumph. Immediately after his return his services as a pacificator of the Indians were again brought into requi- sition in settling the difficulties which had arisen during his absence between the united colonies and the Narragansetts, whose favor- ite sachem, Miantonomo, had been put to death by the Mohegans. The Narragansetts resolved to avenge this wrong against the lat- ter and the colonies who had sanctioned it. They commenced hostilities, killed several of the Mohegans, and threatened to carry the war against all the colonists excepting those of Providence and in Rhode Island.^ A meeting of the commissioners was held in Boston, whom Williams informed of the hostile designs of the Indians. He was sent for by the sachems to advise them, and he served as an interpreter. By his mediation Pasacus, the brother and successor of Mian- 1 Williams's letter to G-ovemor Winthrop. Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. 11, p. 144. EOGER WILLIAMS 145 tonomo and other chiefs, were induced to go to Boston, where a treaty was concluded in August, 1644, by which the Narragansetts agreed to make peace with the Mohegans. Thus, a second time was Williams mainly instrumental in averting an Indian war which threatened the existence of the united colo- nies. This was done in spite of the fact that these colonies had excluded the Providence colony from their confederacy. CHAPTEE X Samuel Gorton. Massaehusetts's claim of jurisdiction over Narragansett towns. Confederation of Providence, New- port, Portsmouth, and Warwick. Democracy and liberty of conscience. Williams removes to Wiekford. Dissen- sions in Providence. Williams as a pacificator. Cod- dington and the designs of Massachusetts. Williams chosen deputy governor. Persecution of Clarke and Holmes. Williams's letter to Endicott. WE have seen how the town of Provi- dence was disturbed by " cranks " and erratic persons. Whatever may be said of the government of the Bay, its autocratic rule secured imphcit obedience even if it did not inspire respect ; it was formal, strict, and energetic in ridding itself of dis- cordant elements by summary measures. The persons thus expelled, or who came un- der the ban of the theocracy, repaired to the Narragansett towns, where they contributed to the existing disorder. Liberty was con- strued by them as a license to disregard all legal regulations and government imposts. Among the most tm'bulent and seditious of distm'bers of that time, whose career gave KOGEE WILLIAMS 147 trouble to Williams and the Rhode Island settlers, was Samuel Gorton. He brought dissensions wherever he went. He had been a London clothier, and came to Boston in 1637. From his writings he appears to have received a scant education ; none the less, he was a man of ideas, though they were un- systematized. He had at all times the courage of his convictions, and the earnest- ness with which he avowed them brought him adherents and subjected him to the penalties which he and those who adopted his pecuhar principles were made to suffer. Wherever there was a government he placed himself in opposition to it. He soon removed to Plymouth, where he came in conflict with the pastor, whose wife seemed to prefer Gorton's teachings to those of her husband. From there he fled to Newport, where his con- tentions caused a breach between that town and Portsmouth. Thence he went to Ports- mouth, where, too, he was found intolerable, and according to some authorities he was flogged and banished. He then made his way, with a few followers, to Pawtuxet, within the jurisdiction of Providence, where the tolerant and kind-hearted Eoger Wil- liams received him with hospitality. He soon made himself a disturber, the more readily because of the nature of the social compact there existing which had not been as yet molded into definite organization. 148 KOGEK WILLIAMS Williams disapproved of Gorton, and he says of him : " Having abused high and low at Aquedneck [Newport], bewitching and madding poor Providence."^ His actions gave rise to serious consequences, in that they gave pretext for Massachusetts to claim jurisdiction over the settlement of Narragansett Bay. Gorton purchased some land at Pawtuxet, and was soon joined by a number of persons who were disfranchised at Newport on account, it is believed, of ' their attachment to him and his doctrines. A feud arose between them and the former inhabitants which ended in violence. Win- throp says they came armed into the field, but Williams pacified them. Williams at all times deplored these disturbances in the colony, and we find him on this occasion, as at several later times, using his offices as a pacificator. At this time, however, his efforts did not meet with the desired result, as thirteen of the leading citizens of Providence, headed by William Arnold,^ presented a memorial to Massachusetts asking for as- sistance and counsel against this heady dis- turber of the colony. That Gorton had 1 Williams's "Letters," Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 141. Doyle (Vol. I, p. 237, note) suggests the correct date is 1640. 2 The father of Benedict Arnold, afterward governor of Rhode Island, and the great-great-grandfather of the trai- tor Benedict Arnold. ROGER WILLIAMS 149 considerable , influence and following is shown by the fact that he was frequently elected to ofl&ces. The answer given by the magistrates of Massachusetts was, if the settlers wished for any such assistance or interference from one of the older colonies they must submit to its jurisdiction.^ In September, 1642, four of the petitioners, headed by Arnold, appeared before the General Court at Boston and took the sug- gested course by yielding themselves and their lands to the government of Massachu- setts, which was precisely what the latter desired in order to extend her jurisdiction over the settlements and territory of Narra- gansett Bay. It does not definitely appear from the records whether these four intended thereby to submit merely themselves or the entire colony to Massachusetts. In either case such a transfer of jurisdiction, whether made by a minority large or small, could not be sustained either from the standpoint of local self-government or from the powers the respective colonies derived from Eng- land. The prevailing disorganization in the Providence colony, coupled with the desire of Massachusetts to extend her territoiy and rid herself of these heretical settlements. iThe oireumstanoes are stated Toy Winthrop, Vol. II, pp. 58-59. 10* 150 ROGEB WILLIAMS ■whose growth would be a constant source of annoyance if not menace, induced her to accept the offer, and to summon Grorton and his followers to Boston to make good their title to the land they claimed and occupied. In answer to this demand a letter was sent by Gorton and eleven others,^ wherein they contemptuously denied the authority of Mas- sachusetts and refused to obey the sum- mons. After these proceedings, Gorton and his associates removed from Providence, across the Pawtuxet River along the south- ern boundary of "Williams's purchase, to Shawomet, afterward known as "Warwick, on the shore of what is now Greenwich Bay, where they purchased in Januaiy, 1643, a tract of land from Miantonomo. The trans- fer was complicated by the unsettled condi- tions of Indian land grants and the respect- ive rights of the chief and the lesser chiefs. The latter, Saconoco and Pomham, disa- vowed the sale, and laid the matter before the General Court at Boston. By what means and considerations these chiefs gave Massa- chusetts the coveted opportunity to make good its claim of jurisdiction is not known ; the circumstances, however, point to an astuteness of design which far transcends Indian craftiness. The court summoned Miantonomo and the two complainants, and 1 "Hypocrisy Unmasked," p. 3. KOGEB WILLIAMS 151 the lesser chiefs, before them, and decided to sustain the latter, provided they would place themselves under the jurisdiction of Massa- chusetts, which was subsequently done by a deed formally executed. Doubtless, the Pawtuxet men, William Arnold and his associates, who were bitterly opposed to Gorton, in conjunction with the magistrates of the Bay, were instigators of this skilfully concocted scheme. Grorton and his men were now summoned to Boston to show cause why they should not surren- der their land and answer the charges against them. The summons was con- temptuously answered, and, according to Winthrop, with " blasphemy against churches and magistracy," The court at Boston, in accordance with the course outlined by the Massachusetts government, which had already been approved by the federal com- missioners, decided to send three commis- sioners and forty armed men to Pawtuxet to hear the accused. They seized Gorton and ten of his followers, and carried them to Boston, where they were committed to jail awaiting trial, but led out on the following Sunday, and compelled against their will to' attend church and hear Cotton preach. They were brought to trial for their lives, not for any specific crime, other than blas- phemy and heresy, so far as can be ascer- tained from the mass of rambling mystical 152 ROGER WILLIAMS literature that surrounds this subject. Before proceeding to judgment, the court, as was usual in 'such cases, consulted the elders, and their decision, as was also usual, was not tempered with mercy, but was for the sentence of death, which was accepted by all save three of the magistrates. The majority of the deputies refused to sanction the sentence, so that a compromise was agreed upon, whereby Grorton and six others were to be confined in irons during the pleasm*e of the court, subject to hard labor, and with the proviso, should they break jail or proclaim heresy, or reproach the church or state, then, upon conviction thereof, they should suffer death. Their cattle and prop- erty were confiscated, and they were led as slaves in chains before the congregation at Cotton's lecture, as a lesson and warning to all who would depart from the church- way. They were put to labor during the winter, and were then banished on pain of death. Grorton and two of his followers then went to England and laid their grievances before the Board of Commissioners of Parliament, where the Earl of Warwick confirmed Grorton's title to Shawomet. In the interim, the other persecuted settlers repaired to Aquedneck, where they were kindly received. Grorton returned and occupied his lands at Shawomet, the name of which was by him BOGEE WILLIAMS 153 changed to Warwick in honor of the Earl. Here he Uved until his death in 1677. The account of Gorton, which is here given in brief outline, is interesting as throwing a side-light upon the severity of the govern- ment of Massachusetts and the obstacles thereby thrown in the way of the Narra- gansett colonies. It nowhere appears that Eoger Williams entangled himself with Gorton's controversies, other than in his capacity as a peacemaker, as above referred to, although the difficulties Gorton fomented had a serious effect upon the Providence colony, and added to the ti'ouble existing among its members.' — Upon WiUiams's return to Providence from England he endeavored to put into effect the charter he brought with him, but the several towns embraced in it were not prepared to enter upon the organization of a general government by reason of local questions and differences which had not as yet been ad- justed. It was not until May, 1647, at a general assembly of the people of the Provi- dence plantations, held at Portsmouth, that 1 For a full account of Gorton, see Arnold's "History of Ehode Island," Vol. I, ch. 6 ; Collection of Ehode Island Historical Society, Vol. II, containing Gorton's "Simplici- ties Defence," with Staple's introduction; also the various standard histories of New England, Palfrey, Doyle, and others. Article of Charles Deane, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. IV. 154 KOGEK WILLIAMS a form of government was agreed upon, in accordance with the powers granted by the charter. It provided for the annual election of a president and four assistants, in whom the executive power was vested, and who constituted the general court for the hearing of aU cases on appeal. The legislative as- sembly was composed of six commissioners for each town, who should make laws and order all the general affairs of the colony. A code of laws was drawn up, based in the main upon the English statute laws. In two important points, however, it embodied the principles which Williams had contended for, and which had made him and many of his colleagues exiles from Massachusetts. It declared that an oath should not be neces- sary in courts of law, but that a declaration should be sufficient, and provided for liberty of conscience. We will quote the conclud- ing words of the code, which contains this provision : These are the laws that concern all men, and these are the penalties for the transgressions thereof, which, by common consent, are ratified and established throughout the whole colony. And otherwise than thus, what is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their conscience persuade them, every one in the name of his God. And let the saints of the Most High walk in this colony without molestation, in the name of Jehovah their God, forever and ever. EOGEB WILLIAMS 155 The office of president of .the colony, which so naturally belonged to "Williams, was be- stowed upon John Coggeshall of Newport. This was very probably done in accordance with the counsel of Williams, and not from lack of appreciation of his position or of the value of his services; for among the acts passed at the first meeting of the assembly was one making honorable mention of his services in negotiating the charter and grant- ing him as a free gift for his labors one hundred pounds, of which, however, for some reason only a part was paid. Of this amount Newport was to pay one half, Ports- mouth thirty pounds, and Providence twenty pounds. Warwick, the fourth of the united colonies, was too small as yet to bear any of the burden. The preamble and bill of rights which precedes the code of civil and criminal law is simple and comprehensive. It declares that the form of government established " is Democratical ; that is to say, a government held by the free and voluntary consent of all, or the greater part, of the free inhabitants." This provision is no less significant for that time than was the doctrine of religious free- dom, and stamps the union of the Narra- gansett towns as a democratic federal republic, in the most enlightened sense as understood even in our day, which stands out in bold contrast with the theocracy of the older colonies. " To have been among 156 KOGEE WILLIAMS the earliest upholders of religious freedom," says Doyle, "a claim so often and so un- scrupulously made in behalf of the founders of Massachusetts, a claim which they them- selves would have repudiated with scorn and horror, is an honor which may with justice be given to the despised outcasts of Narra- gansett Bay." ' Two years prior to this time, the year fol- lowing his return from London, Williams removed from Providence, twenty miles down the Bay, to a place now called Wick- ford, then known by the Indian name Caw- cawmsquissick, from which place many of his letters are dated. Here he erected a trading-house, where he carried on traffic with the Narragansetts. His family in the mean time had increased, so that he had six children, and doubtless his object in remov- ing here was the better to support them. His stay in England had deprived them of his services, and this, together with the expense he had been put to while there, which had not been refunded, made this move aU the more necessary. There was also very proba- bly another reason for his settling in the IDoyle's "English Colonies in America," Vol. I, p. 272. " Demoeraey," says Winthrop in his pamphlet on the veto, "is, amongst most civil nations, accounted the meanest and worst form of government, . . . and history records that it hath always been of least continuance and fullest of troubles." ROGER WILLIAMS 157 Narragansett country — to enable him to do missionary work among the Indians, as this was one of the objects he always consistently pursued throughout his life. He remained here the greater part of six years, retaining, however, his citizenship in Providence, where he continued to take an important part in the affairs of the colony, and held various elective offices, as assistant for the town of Providence. The petty strifes and local disputes which had so long delayed the union of towns un- der the charter were not allayed by that event. The subject of federation was not then understood, nor were the people ripe for the concessions that would thereby be- come necessary to render it efficient. This was true of the Bay colonies, where only one form of faith and political opinions was tolerated, and applied with much greater force to the Rhode Island towns, where every form of belief and political notions had free scope. The refugees who had gath- ered there were not all reformers. There were a large number of malcontents, who, like Gorton, were opposed to every and all forms of organized government. That Wil- liams and the founders of Ehode Island were able under any circumstances to prevent anarchy, is deserving of greater credit than historians appear to have recognized. The records of those times which have come 158 ROGER WILLIAMS down to us are not sufficiently full to advise us of the nature of the many feuds and diffi- culties that presented themselves. Williams appears to have kept himself with wonderful tact and sagacity aloof from these quarrels except when a crisis was imminent, and then he comes forward in the character of a men- tor, like Joshua, to call to their minds the troubles and persecutions they had suffered, and the peace and freedom that now is in their power to enjoy. His earnest appeals to the history of their past experiences were frequently of avail, but it must have been to him, if not discouraging, at least mortifying, to have his principles perverted. That such were his feelings, not that he was without hope of ultimate success, but because these dissensions gave point to the predictions of his enemies, is evidenced in several of his letters. In December, 1647, to compose differences that had arisen in Providence, he signed an agreement, together with several other of his townsmen, providing for the better conduct of affairs in the town's assembly. This doc- ument, Knowles very correctly concludes, was written by him. It begins : Considering the great mercy afforded unto us in this liberty thus to meet together, being denied to many of our countrymen in most parts, espe- cially in our poor native country, now deploring ROGER WILLIAMS 159 their distressed condition in most sad and bloody ca- lamities, . . . moreover the many plots and present endeavors at home and abroad, not only to dis- turb OUT peace and liberty, but utterly to root up both root and branch of this our being.i More serious dissensions were now brew- ing. The next meeting of tlie Assembly was convened in May, 1648. This body, consist- ing of twenty-four members, was called the Q-eneral Court of Elections when engaged in the choice of ofl&cers for the colony. Wil- liam Coddington was elected president, and one assistant was chosen respectively from Providence, Newport, Warwick, and Ports- mouth. Williams, as before, represented Providence. A disagreement had arisen be- tween Portsmouth and its partizans and the remaining three towns. Williams endeav- ored to bring about an arrangement through arbitration. These differences were perhaps aggravated by affairs in England, which were then reaching a crisis. The precise grounds for this disagreement do not appear, but it resulted in Coddington presenting a written request, signed by him and two oth- ers in behalf of the island of Rhode Island, to be received as a member of the New Eng- land confederation. This the commission- ers, however, refused, unless the petitioners should recognize themselves, according to 1 Knowles, p. 211. See agreement in full. 160 ROGER WILLIAMS the claim that had previously been urged by that colony, to hold under the Plymouth patent. A special meeting of the General Assembly was called in the beginning of the following year. Coddington had in the mean time gone to England; for what purpose was not then known. Williams, though not present at this session, was elected deputy president of the colony. Though he appears to have declined the honor, he acted until the following May election. Special charters of incorporation were granted at this session to the several towns. Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth, and Newport, which in their general tenor were modeled after the colonial charter. During this time a number of let- ters were written by Williams to his friend John Winthrop, the younger, afterward Q-overnor of Connecticut, with whom Wil- liams had become acquainted in England, and always remained on terms of closest friendship. These letters relate to politics in England and at home, to literature, ag- riculture, and the Indians. • Much of the in- formation we have regarding affairs in the Providence Plantations is derived from this source. About this time a discovery of what was believed to be gold and silver ore baused considerable excitement on the island. It is mentioned in the same letter wherein Wil- liams refers to Coddington having gone with his daughter to the Bay on his way to Eng- KOGEK WILLIAMS 161 land. In a letter of June 13, 1649, lie men- tions having received a letter from Ms brother stating that a ship had arrived in the Bay which brought confirmation of the death of King Charles. Dangers now threatened Rhode Island from within and without. The designs of Massachusetts to dismember the Narragan- sett settlements gravely menaced their co- lonial independence.^ Plymouth had at various times claimed jurisdiction, as part of its territory, over Warwick and Pawtuxet. In 1650 the set- tlers of the latter town preferred a complaint against Ehode Island to the government of Massachusetts. The court of Boston sent an order to Ehode Island forbidding that colony from prosecuting any suits against the subjects of Massachusetts. The court also entered into negotiations with Plymouth for the transfer to Massachusetts of its rights over the territory of Rhode Island. Plymouth accordingly made over its alleged rights to the lands covered by Pawtuxet and Warwick, and thereupon these towns were incorpo- rated and annexed to the county of Suffolk. This proceeding brought out strong protests from Rhode Island. The president of the colony, Nicholas Easton, called a convention composed of a special committee of three 1 Arnold's "History of Ehode Island," Vol. I, p. 229 et seq. 11 162 ROGER WILLIAMS from each, town to take tlie action of Massa- chusetts into consideration. He addressed a letter to Massachusetts stating that Ehode Island and Warwick now formed one colony, and would protect their rights. While the colony was agitated by these issues, which so seriously threatened dis- memberment, Coddington was in England pressing designs of his own before the Council of State, and for the severance of the islands from the mainland. At the Greneral Assembly held at Portsmouth in October of that year, Roger Williams was again urged to go to England, to offset the active measures that were then taken in regard to Warwick and Pawtuxet. The sum of £100, voted three years before to defray his expenses, had not been paid. The Assembly now voted to pay the ar- rears, and £100 more, if he would go; but if he would not, Mr. Balston, John Clarke, and John Warner were named, any two of them to go. John Clarke was at that time assistant for Newport, as well as pas- tor of the first Baptist church there, which was formed about six years previous. He was born in 1610, and had been educated as a physician in London. In 1637 he landed at Boston, and like so many others who were in the Providence Plantations, he had fled from Massachusetts during the Antinomian persecutions. He, together with KOGEK WILLIAMS 163 several of his followers, settled near "Wil- liams at Aquedneck (Newport). Clarke was one of the most prominent men in the Plan- tations. In the summer of 1651 Clarke, accompanied by John Crandall, a member of his church, and Obadiah Holmes, who had just fled from Plymouth, went to visit an aged Baptist residing near Lynn, who had requested an interview with some of his brethren. They reached Lynn on the fol- lowing Saturday, and stayed within doors on Sunday. A few friends were present, and while Clarke was in the midst of a sermon, the house was entered by two con- stables with a warrant commanding them to arrest certain "erroneous persons being strangers." The stern and intolerant John Endicott was governor. After their arrest they were forcibly conducted to church. Clarke at the end of the services asked leave and arose to address the congregation, but was at once stopped. The prisoners were the next day taken to Boston and placed in jail there. They were brought before the governor for trial, if the proceedings can be dignified by that name. The prisoners were reviled by Endicott as Anabaptists. They repudiated the name, and Clarke said although he had baptized many he had never re-baptized any one. Upon this state- ment, without f ui'ther evidence, they were convicted and sentenced. Clarke was fined 164 KOGEK WILLIAMS twenty pounds, Holmes thirty pounds, and Crandall five pounds, and in default of pay- ment " each was to be well whipped." They refused to pay their fine, as that would have been an admission of guilt, and they were committed to prison. Some one without Clarke's knowledge paid his fine, and he was released. Holmes was cruelly whipped. Two of the spectators, one an old man named Hazel, who had come from Seeconk to visit him, were arrested for shaking hands with him after the punishment was over and were themselves sentenced to pay a fine, or to be whipped. The action of Endicott, which is illustra- tive of the beginning of that reign of terror which fills many dark pages in the history of Massachusetts and Plymouth, brought forth a letter from Roger Williams to Endi- cott which places in the clear light of con- trast New England Puritanism — which had developed into a form of fanaticism run mad — with the prophetic principles of liberty of the founder of Rhode Island. Williams and Endicott were on terms of intimacy, which began some fifteen years prior, during Willianis's pastorate in Salem, when Endi- cott defaced the English flag by cutting out the red cross, which Hubbard claims was be- cause he was " too much inspired by the notions of Roger Williams." ^ While there iHubbard, p. 164. EOGEE WILLIAMS 165 are no satisfactory grounds for the statement that he was prompted to this act by Wil- liams, it is doubtless true he was inspired by the latter's teachings, just as many others were who were memiiers of his congrega- tion, until he was dragooned away from them by disfranchisement. The letter is ad- dressed to "Major Endicott, Grovernor of Massachusetts upon the occasion of the late persecution against Mr. Clarke and Obadiah Holmes, and others at Boston." ^ It was written in the summer of 1651, shortly after the event it refers to occurred, and was dehvered to Endicott by John Winthrop, Jr. It is well worth reading in full. We will here make but a single citation: Sir I must be humbly bold to say 'tis impossi- ble for any man or men to maintain their Christ by their sword and to worship a true Christ ! to fight against aU Consciences opposite theirs, and not to fight against God in some of them, and to hunt after the precious life of the true Lord Jesus Christ. This statement is thoroughly character- istic of WiUiams, and is in itself the most impressive argument from the religious side that can be urged against persecution and for liberty of conscience, nor has it ever been more succinctly and forcibly stated. 1 Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. IV, p. 502. CHAPTER XI Public affairs in England. Coddington procures a charter. Williams and Clarke sail for England. The establish- ment of Presbyterianism. Williams champions separa- tion of Chnrch and State. His proposals include read- mission of Jews into England. His " Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody." His " Hireling Ministry None of Christ," and his " Experiments of Spiritual Life." Lives at Vane's house. Friendship with Milton. Teaches languages for a living. His correspond- ence with Mrs. Sadleir. Keturns to America. IN the intervening five years between Williams's return from England, and Coddington's arrival there, for the purpose of procuring a new charter, many changes had taken place in the mother-country. The King had been beheaded, the Lords and Commons had in turn been swept aside and the Commonwealth established, with the supreme power vested in the hands of forty- one persons as the Council of State with Cromwell in the chair. Sir Henry Vane, the younger, was a member of this first council, which was installed in February, 1649. The EOGEE. "WILLIAMS 167 post of " Secretary for the Foreign Tongues" was given to John Milton. A revolution no less complete had taken place in ecclesias- tical affairs. Episcopacy had been abolished three years past. The Assembly of Presby- terian Divines had held its last session, and was practically defunct. Presbyterianism maintained a nominal establishment in Eng- land, while in Scotland it was dominant with all its anti-tolerant discipline and decrees until cm-bed by Cromwell. For two years the efforts of Coddington were without result. During these momentous changes, more important matters than such as re- lated to distant colonies occupied the coun- cil. It is doubtful whether Coddington applied for a hearing during this time ; if he did, he did not obtain one until the end of this period. It is not known by what means and through what influence he finally suc- ceeded in obtaining from the Council of State a commission, signed by John Brad- shaw, to govern the island of Rhode Island and Connecticut during his life, with a council of six to be named by the people and approved by himself. With this docu- ment, which in effect constituted him dic- tator of the richest portion of the State, in August, 1651, he returned home to sever the islands from the mainland. Coddington was a practical man of affairs endowed with a superior intellect, and very 168 ROGER WILLIAMS self-reliant. He was a native of Lincoln- shire, England, and was, while there in 1629, appointed assistant judge for the colony of Massachusetts Bay. He came over with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He was also for some time treasui'er of the colony and was the leading merchant in Boston, where he built the first brick house. With a num- ber of educated and more liberal citizens of that time he sided with the Antinomians, and upon their expulsion he went to Aqued- neck, which island (subsequently called the island of Rhode Island and after that New- port) he purchased for himself and his associates. He was made first judge or chief magistrate of the new colony. The divisions and dissensions at this time pre- vailing are believed to have been the cause for his going to England and obtaining the commission to himself as governor, and separating from the other towns. He seems in this move not to have represented the prevailing sentiment of the colonists, for immediately upon his return, great alarm was felt, and steps were at once taken by the majority of the citizens at Newport and Portsmouth to send John Clarke to England to obtain a revocation of Coddington's com- mission. A general assembly of the two remaining towns, Providence and Warwick, was called, at which Samuel Gorton was chosen president, and Roger Williams was EOGEE WILLIAMS 169 urged to accompany Clarke and represent the cause of the colony. He consented to leave home from a sense of duty, but not without much reluctance, arising, naturally, from the needs of his large family and his inability to sustain the expense. He had not been reimbursed for the outlay of his former mission. In order to raise the necessary funds he had to seU his trading house at Narragansett, which yielded him an annual income of one hundred pounds. In a letter to John Winthrop, Jr., he says he has been overcome by the importunities of his neigh- bors to go to England " to endeavor the re- newal of their liberties upon occasion of Mr. Coddington's late grant." ^ In November, 1651, Williams joined Clarke in Boston, from which place they sailed together for Eng- land, having first, however, met considerable difficulty in obtaining permission to pass through Massachusetts. In the mean time, the island towns submitted to the govern- ment of Coddington, while Providence and Warwick continued under the charter and held their regular court of election in the spring. On their arrival in London, Wil- liams and Clarke presented a joint petition to the Council of State, which was referred to the committee on foreign affairs. At this time he frequently corresponded with John 1 Knowles, p. 247. 170 EOGEE WILLIAMS Winthrop, Jr., and in one of his letters, he writes he had spoken of him to Vane, who expressed the wish that Winthrop might join with his colony, and also informs him that his brother, Stephen Winthrop, is " a great man for sonl liberty.'" In another letter,^ he writes his brother flourishes in good esteem and is eminent in maintaining liberty of conscience, and that his father, Hugh Peters, preaches the same doctrine, but not so zealously as some years since, " yet cries out against New English rigidities and persecutions, their civil injuries and wrongs to himself, and their un-Christian dealing with him in excommunicating his wife."' Between Rhode Island and the Dutch at Manhattan, a difficulty arose, growing out of the settlement of accounts between the crew of the Dutch vessel and John Warner, who was assistant of the town of Warwick. Gre- raerd, a member of this crew, was a brother- in-law of Warner. The matter became quite serious, and the record of the proceedings was referred to Williams.* The General As- sembly at Providence also addressed a letter to him, which is evidence of the esteem in which he was held, as it is stated it would contribute to the stability of the government and cause those who were refractory to yield 1 Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 234. 2 u., p. 259. 3 Winthrop had married a daughter of Kev. Hugh Peters. 4 Arnold's "History of Khode Island," Vol. I, p. 241. KOGEE "WILLIAMS 171 obedience if he would, upon the renewal of the charter, have himself appointed as governor/ In no act of Williams's life is a spirit of selfishness disclosed; throughout he labored for principles and for the welfare of the community. He took no steps to avail himself of the invitation of his fellow- citizens to have himself appointed governor. He continued his efforts for the renewal of the charter, which at first met with consid- erable opposition ; but in October, 1652, an order in council was issued vacating the Coddington commission and directing the towns to reunite under the charter. The mission was in every respect successful. WUliams and Clarke remained in England on their private business, and to maintain the rights of the colonies, while William Dyre returned home with the Joyful news. Williams's stay in England, covering a space of about two and a half years, until the early summer of 1654, is replete with interest. Our record concerning his work and doings is more complete than of any other similar period of his eventful career. It was now the fourth year of the commonwealth, and war with the Dutch was then raging, which ended so gloriously with Blake's victoi'ies. The internal affairs in England were in a precarious condition. Cromwell dissolved 1 See letter, Knowles, p. 255. 172 KOGEK WILLIAMS the Euinp Parliament and dismissed the Council of State. Ecclesiastical affairs, with the cessation of the Assembly of Divines, were not thereby progressed or settled. The subject fell to a committee of Parliament, of which Cromwell was one, which was known as the "Committee for the Propagation of the Grospel." The committee took into con- sideration certain proposals of some twenty leading divines; among them were four of the original five Independents of the West- minster Assembly. The question, as it developed with all the various proposals, protests, and petitions before the committee, narrowed down to the choice between a state church with toleration within fi:xed limits and complete toleration, or Voluntary- ism. Among the papers was one presented by Major Butler, Charles Vane, the younger brother of Sir Henry Vane, and others, for absolute Voluntaryism. This paper con- tained four proposals, from which we quote the two last : 3. Whether for the Civil Powers to assume a judgment in spirituals be not against the liber- ties given by Christ Jesus to his people. 4. Whether it be not the duty of the Magistrate to permit the Jews, whose conversion we look for, to live freely and peaceably amongst us.i 1 See Masson, Vol. IV, pp. 393, 396, note. KOGEE WILLIAMS 173 This protest and proposal was accompa- nied by a comment signed " E. W.," and was written by Eoger Williams, who was then living with Sir Henry Vane at his house in Charing Cross, and who took, as we shall see, an active and prominent part in these im- portant discussions. In this paper Williams makes a forcible plea for liberty of con- science : " Oh, that it would please the Father of Spirits to affect the heart of Par- liament with such a merciful sense of the Soul-Bars and Yokes which our Fathers have laid upon the neck of this Nation, and at last to proclaim a true and absolute Soul-ireedova to aU the people of the Land impartially ; so that no person be forced to pray nor pay, otherwise than as his Soul believeth and con- senteth."^ As to the readmission of the Jews he argues at length under seven different heads, why this wrong — their exclusion — should not be continued. We quote a few extracts : I humbly conceive it to be the Duty of the Civil Magistrate to break down that superstitious wall 1 This tract, with the title " Butler's Fourth Paper," 1652, was found in 1874 by Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull in a vol- ume of old pamphlets of the 17th century, now in posses- sion of John Nicholas Brown of Providence, who kindly permitted Mr. William E. Foster of the Providence Library to have a copy made for me. 174 BOGEK WILLUMS of separation (as to Civil things) between us Gen- tiles and the Jews, and freely (without this asking) to make way for their free and peaceable Habita^ tion amongst us. As other Nations, so this especially, and the Kings thereof have had just cause to fear, that the unchristian oppressions, incivilities and inhti- manities of this Nation against the Jews, have cried to Heaven against this Nation and the Kings and Princes of it. What Jiorrible oppressions and horrible slaugh- ters have the Jews suffered from the Kings and peoples of this Nation, in the Reigns of Henry 2, K. John, Richard 1. and Edward 1. Concerning which not only we, but the Jews themselves keep Chronicles. The question of the readmission of the Jews was brought up at this time through petitions by the descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese exiles residing in Holland, chief among whom was Manasseh ben Israel, who was on terms of intimacy with Lord Oliver St. John, the English ambassador in Holland. In 1654, upon the termination of the war between England and Holland, Crom- well, whose sympathies were with the Jews, permitted their return, not officially, but, as it were, by a back door. It is gratifying to record as a further evidence of the humane tolerance of Roger Williams, that not alone was he the founder of a State in the New World, which was the first to shelter the ROGEB WILLIAMS 175 Jews under equal laws/ but he also took a significant part in securing their readmission into England after long years of exclusion following their final expulsion under Edward in the year 1290. Masson, whose painstak- ing researches and accurate, scholarly life of Milton and his times cover this period of English history, says : That Williams could not be silent or idle in the midst of that contest between Voluntaryism and the State- Church principle which he found agitat- ing London on his arrival, in the guise of opposed sets of Proposals for the Propagation of the Gos- pel, might have been guessed without proof. Was he not the man in the whole world who had done most to propagate the theory of Absolute Volun- taryism in Religion or No State-Church of any kind ; and might it not be said that the contro- versy he now found going on was the result in 1 The Jews first settled in Newport during the presidency of Williams, between the years 1655 and 1657. They came from New Amsterdam, and were soon afterward joined by others from CuTa5oa. Ac6ording to Judge Charles P. Daly, in his work entitled "The Settlement of the Jews in North America" (edited by Max J. Kohler, and published by Philip Cowen, N. Y., 1893), there were at that time vessels trading between Cura^oa and New Amsterdam ; and some of the Jews from Holland, who had gone to colonize the former place, came on their return passage to New Amsterdam, where, informed of the advantages presented by Rhode Island, they joined their coreligionists in that colony, and became the nucleus of the wealthy and influential Jewish community which continued to flourish in Newport after the American Revolution. See also Peterson's " History of Rhode Island," p. 181. 176 KOGEE WILLIAMS great part of the ideas lie had himself sown in the English mind in his former visit ; more especially in his famous book of 1644 called TheBloody Tenent of Persecution, and that the Voluntaries he now found so numerous in England were his own pupils ? i This book in due course found its way to Boston, and brought forth from John Cotton a reply which was published in London in 1647, which bore the title, "The Tenent washed and made White in the Blood of the Lamb." To this book Williams wrote a re- joinder, which he sent to England for publi- cation, and which appeared shortly after his arrival in London in April, 1652, entitled " The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to wash it White in the Blood of the Lamb."^ This book has several prefaces, the first addressed to Par- liament, and the second to the general courts of New England. The work is followed by a letter to Governor Endicott in regard to the case of Clarke and Holmes, and to which reference was made in the preceding chapter. This case furnished a pertinent illustration of the principles advocated in the book, and at thesametime strengthened Clarke's own plea.* 1 Masson, Vol. IV, p. 396. 2 Eeprintedin Nar. Club Pub., Vol. IV; carefully edited, with an introduction by S. L. Caldwell of Providence, 1870. 3 "111 News from New England, or a Narration of New England's Persecution by John Clarke, Physician of Ehode Island in America," May 13, 1652. 4 Mass. Hist. Col., II. EOGEE, WILLIAMS 177 The book is a quarto volume of 374 pages, and principally treats of the following topics: The Nature- of Persecution; The Power of the Sword in Spiritual Matters ; and Parlia- ment's Permission of Dissenting Consciences Justified. To this is added an appendix, consisting of an address to the clergy of the four great parties. The book is written in the same general form as his previous one, in the form of a conference between Truth and Peace, and substantially supplementary thereto, with additional argument and illus- trations. In the appendix he says : Just like two men whom we have known break out to blows and wrestling, so have the Protest- ant Bishops wrestled with Popish, and Popish with Protestant, the Presbyterian with the Indepen- dent, and the Independent with the Presbyterian. And our chronicles and experiences have told this nation and the world how he whose turn it is to be brought under, hath ever felt a heavy, wrath- ful hand of an unbrotherly and un-Christian persecution. The English pubhc were discussing the question of the continuance or abolition of tithes. Williams threw himself into the controversy, and in this same year he pub- lished a pamphlet with the title, " Hirehng Ministry None of Christ's," etc. Its chief pur- pose was to oppose the legal establishment of religion and the compulsory support of the 178 EOaEE WILLIAMS clergy. He argued there ougtit to be perfect liberty to all men to maintain sucb form of worship and sach ministry as they prefer, and that ministers ought to be supported by vol- untary subscription, and not by forced con- tributions. Following the reeomniendations contained in the four proposals above re- ferred to respecting the readmission of the Jews to England, he also expresses in this pamphlet this further enlightened and tol- erant opinion concerning them : By tlie merciful assistance of the Most High, I have desired to labor in Europe, in America, with English, with Barbarians, yea, and also, I have longed after some trading with Jews themselves, for whose hard measure, I fear the nations and England hath yet a score to pay. I desire not that liberty to myself which I would not freely and impartially weigh out to all the con- sciences of the world besides. [To this he adds in a subsequent page :] AH these consciences (yea, the very consciences of the Papists, Jews, &c., as I have proved at large in my answer to Master Cotton's washings) ought freely and impartially to be per- mitted their several respective worships, and what way of maintaining them, they freely choose. "Williams also printed at this time another pamphlet, entitled " Experiments of Spirit- ual Life," etc. It is dedicated to Ladj^ Vane, the wife of his friend, and is in the form of a letter addressed to his own wife upon her recovery from a dangerous sickness. It con- KOGEK WILLIAMS 179 sists of sixty small quarto pages, and is the most didactic of Ms works, being the only- one, excepting his " Key into the Language of America," which was not of a contro- versial nature.' During his stay in England he spent much of his time with his friend Sir Henry Vane, both in London and at his country-seat at Belleau, in Lincolnshire. Many of his let- ters during this period were addressed from this latter place. On April 1, 1653, he wrote a letter to the towns of Providence and Warwick, advising them of the return of Mr. Dyre with the council's letters in answer to the petition drawn up by Vane and himself, whereby the council, through Vane's media- tion, granted a prehminary confirmation of the charter until a final adjudication could be had. He speaks of the many obstacles which opposed — namely, the war between England and Holland, and the opposition of Winslow and Hopkins, the representatives of the New England confederacy, together with their friends in ParUament and the Independent and Presbyterian priests. His main support was Vane, or, to quote his words, " The sheet anchor of our ship is Sir Henry, who will do as the eye of God leads iFor accounts of the writings of Williams, see Guild's "Account of the Writings of Roger Williams," Providence, 1862; "History of American Literature," Professor Moses Coit Tyler ; Knowles, ch. xxvi. 180 ROGER WILLIAMS him." He expresses solicitude for his wife and children, and for the welfare of the colony, and he admonishes them " that no private respects, or gains or quarrels, may cause them to neglect the public and com- mon safety, peace, and liberties." At the house of Vane, while prosecuting the special business which had brought him over, and in the prominent part he took in the great dis- cussion which was then agitating England on the question of an established church, he came into frequent communication and fa- miliar acquaintance with the leading men of England, as has been stated in the earlier part of this book. He had occasional inter- views with Cromwell, and spent much of his time with the council's Latin secretary, John Milton, who was then in the first threatening of his blindness. In a letter to Winthrop which he wrote soon after his return, he re- fers to his occupation at this time, and of his frequent visits to Milton he says : ' It pleases the Lord to call me, for some time and with some persons to practise the Hebrew, the Greek, Latin, French and Dutch. The Secretary of the Council, Mr. Milton, for my Dutch I read him, read me many more languages. He also refers to his giving lessons to the sons of a member of Parliament, which he 1 " Letters of Williams," Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 258. KOGER WILLIAMS 181 did to earn money to defray his expenses. TMs letter is not only an evidence of Wil- liams's scholastic acquirements, but also of his advanced method of instructing in these languages; for, from his reference, he evi- dently employed the objective method, by words and phrases used colloquially, as dis- tinguished from the analytical method of the ordinary grammars. Masson states that "Williams learned his Dutch in America, but in this we think he is mistaken. He seldom came in contact with the Dutch, excepting for a brief time on his first return to Eng- land, when, being prevented from entering Boston, he went to Manhattan and embarked there. He very probably acquired the Dutch tongue, and with it some of the principles which characterize his life's work, from the Dutch colonists who were scattered through- out the southern and eastern counties of England, and in London, the descendants of those who sought a refuge in England when Charles V. began his persecution of the Prot- estants in the Netherlands.' The most amusing and in many respects interesting incident of Williams's life in Eng- land was his correspondence with Mrs. Sad- leir, the daughter of his former benefactor, iPor an acooTint of Duteli influence upon English. Puri- tans and upon the settlers of New England, see Campbell's "The Puritans in Holland, England, and America," Vol. I, eh. X (Harper & Bros., 1892). 12» 182 KOGEE WILLIAMS Sir Edward Coke.' She was an ardent Royal- ist and Ohurcli of England woman. Her pre- fixed note to this correspondence, from which we quoted in Chapter I, gives us the most reliable data we have of WilHams's early life. With his first letter he sent her a copy of his " Experiments of Spiritual Life," being of a philosophical nature and not controversial or distinctly anti-orthodox. It nevertheless disturbed the equanimity of the good old woman, so she returned the book, with the statement that she " has given over reading many books, and those she now reads besides the Bible and the late King's book are Hooker's ' Ecclesiastical Polity,' and the like ; " and then concludes with a line of sarcasm which would do credit to the pen of Junius : These lights shall be my guide; I wish they may be yours; for your new lights that are so much cried up, I believe, in the conclusion, they will prove but dark lanterns ; therefore I dare not meddle with them. And subscribes herself, "Tour friend in the old way." Williams, not so easily rebuffed, addressed her a second letter, which breathes the same spirit of kindli- ness and respect, which he accompanied 1 These letters were first printed in Elton's " Life of Roger Williams " (1852). Elton's attention was called to them by the historian George Bancroft, and they are in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. EOGEE WILLIAMS 183 with his "Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience." This was fol- lowed by a short reply, wherein she entreats him not to trouble her more, and wishiug him a good journey to Providence. To this Williams rejoins in a long letter discussing the " old " and the " new way," and recom- mends her to read Milton's " Eikonoklastes," or answer to the King's book. The lady then closes the correspondence with a letter which discloses a pen sharpened with anger and steeped in bitterness, but none the less stanch in support of her "old and best way," in which Milton did not escape her furious venom. She says : It seems you liave a face of brass so that you cannot blush. For Melton's \sic] book you desn-e I should read. If I be not mistaken, that is he that has wrote a book of the Lawfulness of Divorce ; and if report says true, he had at that time two or three wives living. This perhaps were good doc- trine in New England, but it is most abominable in Old England. . . . God has begun his punish- ment upon him here [meaning his blindness] ; his punishment will be hereafter in Hell. Williams refers in his letters to the self- denial he had to practise while in England; for he had to provide not only for his own support, but in part for that of his large family. The Greneral Assembly of Providence and Warwick express regret in their letter 184 EOGEE WILLIAMS that they could not send him money in consequence of their domestic discord, but informed him that they would aid his family. He occupied himself at this time in helping to supply the poor in London with fuel; whether he received any compensation for his services and travehng expenses does not appear. This employment does none the less credit to his benevolent disposition. In April, 1653, Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament and its Council, of State, and dismissed Vane from participation in pubhc affairs. Williams, however, continued in good relations with Cromwell, watching the interests of the colony. He remained un- til the establishing of the protectorate. The lack of harmony in the colony, and refusal of the several towns to reunite under the charter as directed, doubtless disturbed him ; and this coupled with his desire to be with his family, which required him, decided him to return before the objects of his mission were fuUy accomplished, but not without ample assurances from Cromwell of a favor- able issue. He left the conduct of the busi- ness in Clarke's hands, and in the early summer of 1654 he landed at Boston. He brought with him an order from the Lord Protector's councU requiring the government of Massachusetts to allow him in the future to land and embark from their territory with- out being molested, which order was obeyed. He also brought with him a letter from Sir EOGEK WILLIAMS 185 Henry Vane, addressed to the inhabitants of the colony of Rhode Island, appealing to them to stop their quarrels and unite peace- ably under 'the charter. He says : Are there no wise men amongst you ? No pub- he, self-denying spirits, that at least, upon the grounds of pubUc safety, equity and prudence, can find out some way or means of union and reconciliation for you amongst yourselves, before you become a prey to common enemies, especially since this state, by the last letter from the Council of State, give you freedom, as supposing a better use would have been made of it than there hath been? Upon his arrival in Providence his first object was to bring about a union among the several towns which still kept asunder by reason of petty differences and jealous- ies, stimulated by turbulent spirits which abounded in the colony. That he should have felt disappointed and discouraged upon his return by such a disordered state of affairs is not surprising. We cannot help admiring his enduring hopefulness and un- ending patience. Having carefully surveyed the condition of affairs and the dangers im- minent, both from without and from within, he addressed a calm and conciliatory letter to the citizens of Providence, in which he recounts with modest accuracy the labors he had performed and the sacrifices he had made for their benefit, and for which he " reaped nothing but grief and sorrow and 186 KOGEE WILLIAMS bitterness." This disordered state of the colonies seemed to verify all the predictions of their enemies : that they were a licentious and ungovernable people, and that the sepa- ration of the civil from the ecclesiastical state would result in anarchy to both. These are his words : It hath been told me that I labored for a licen- tious and contentious people. ... I have been charged with folly for that freedom and hberty which I have always stood for. . . . This, and ten times more, I have been censured for, and at this present am called a traitor, by one party, against the State of England for not maintaining the charter and the colony. . . . But, gentlemen, blessed be God, who f aileth not and blessed be Ms name for his wonderful Providences, by which alone this town and colony and that grand cause of Truth and Freedom of Conscience, hath been upheld to this day. The entire letter is admirably framed, and is throughout a most thoughtful appeal to their best interests and civil welfare. It had the desired effect. A meeting of the town was soon thereafter held, at which commis- sioners were appointed to meet with those who should be chosen from the other towns, for the purpose of reorganizing the govern- ment of the province. On August 31st a meeting of the commissioners of all the towns was held, and articles of union were definitely agreed upon, whereby the govern- KOGEK WILLIAMS 187 ment was reestablished on its old founda- tions. WHUams was requested by the citi- zens of Providence to prepare an answer to Sir Henry Vane's letter, in the name of the town. This answer, which has been pre- served in the town records, gives another evidence of Williams's great faculty as a conciliator on the high plane of patriotism. Commencing with an expression of regret because of Sir Henry's retirement from the helm of public affairs, he speaks of his loving lines to the colony as "the sweet fruits of his rest." Then follows an example of his style, so apt in its metaphor, of which there are many in his writings : Thus the sun, when he retires his brightness from the world, yet from under the very clouds, we perceive his presence and enjoy some light and heat and sweet refreshings. He points out the causes that have dis- turbed the colony, which had their origin chiefly in Coddington's effort to rend the col- ony asunder ; and then proceeds to set forth the blessings they have enjoyed, in that they have " drunk of the cup of as great liberties as any people under the whole heaven." He concludes with the expression of hope That when we are gone and rotten, our poster- ity and children after us shall read in our town records, your pious and favourable letters, and loving kindness to us, and this our answer and real endeavour after peace and righteousness. CHAPTEE XII Williams president. His administration. Urges upon Massaeliusetts pacific policy toward tlie Indians. Dis- order in the colony. Cromwell's letter to the colony. Williams reelected president. Coddington gives in his allegiance. Williams's attempts to conciliate the united colonies. The affair of William Harris. Rhode Island refuses to persecute the Quakers. Spirit of her government. THE first general election after the re- organization of tlie government was held at "Warwick on September 12, 1654, about three months after the return of Wil- liams from England., At this critical state of the affairs of the colony we are not sm^- prised that of all the leading men of the several- towns the citizens should turn to Williams, whose patinotism was never dimmed by even a shadow of suspicion of seH-inter- est. He was accordingly elected presi- dent, while Thomas Harris, John Roome, Benedict Arnold, and Randall Holden were elected assistants, respectively, for Provi- dence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick. At the same meeting, together with Grregory KOGEE "WILLIAMS 189 Dexter, the town-clerk of Providence, he was appointed to draw up and send letters "of humble thanksgiving," in the colony's name, to his highness the Lord Protector, Sir Henry Vane, Mr. Holland, and Mr. John Clarke. War had broken out between the Narra- gansetts and the Indians on Long Island, and there was a prospect of hostilities again springing up between them and the united colonies. One of the first duties to which WUliams devoted himself, after assuming the presidency, was to interpose his friendly of- fices to prevent what again threatened to become a general Indian war. With this pur- pose he addressed a letter to the Greneral As- sembly of Massachusetts, urging upon them a pacific policy. He appealed to their grati- tude to the Indians, who had given them shel- ter and land when their own countrymen had driven them forth, and called their attention to the inconsistency of having moneys col- lected in England for the conversion of the Indians and waging unnecessary and cruel wars against them. This letter appears to have had a good effect, as Massachusetts, by opposing the hostilities in which the com- missioners of the colonies had already de- termined to join, put an end to the war. The administration of Williams was beset with numerous perplexities and diflficulties which separately and collectively seriously 190 KOGEK, WILLIAkS threatened the colony's independent exist- ence. The party adhering to Coddington, though small in numbers, refused to recog- nize the order of the Council of State, and continued to make opposition so long as the final determination of the questions respect- ing the charter was yet pending. Then the several towns were too independent of one another to make the union adequate for the purpose of a general government. The questions of boundary between the several towns had already begun to spring up, and continued for many years to stimulate local self-interests, to the detriment of a more effi- cient union. In Providence, under the pre- tense of voluntary drilling, a tumult occurred in which some of the principal citizens were implicated: Thomas Olney, Robert Williams (the brother of Eoger), William Harris, and others. Added to these several disturbing elements, yet another obtruded, which was even more serious in its tendencies, in that it menaced the very basis of the colony's or- ganization. This was the subject referred to in Vane's letter, from which we quoted in the last chapter, when he counseled them to "put a stop to their growing breaches and distractions, silence their enemies, encourage their friends and honor the name of Grod." A perverted idea of governmental functions and the rights of freedom of conscience had taken possession of the minds of some of KOGEK WILLIAMS 191 the citizens from their inability to distin- guish between the necessary limitations which all government must impose upon personal liberty for the general welfare and the unnecessary restrictions which tyranny exacts. This increased the spirit of faction and disorder, disastrous to the peace and harmony of the several and collective colo- nies. The manner in which Williams, with a firm hand and clear foresight, piloted the little ship of state, with its precious freight, the rights of conscience, through these troubled waters, thereby avoiding the rocks of anarchy, gives the best illustration of his enlightened views of government and of his prophetic conception of religious liberty, which have been by some misunderstood, but more often misrepresented. Shortly after Williams was elected presi- dent, some person, whether actuated by con- scientious motives or for the purpose of making mischief, sent and circulated among the inhabitants of Providence, a paper main- taining "that it was blood-guiltiness and against the rule of the gospel, to execute judgment upon transgressors against the public or private weal."' WiUiams could not rest silent while such doctrines were be- ing promulgated, which formulated the hope 1 Baokus's "History of the Baptists," Vol. I, p. 296; Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 278. 192 ROGER WILLIAMS and predictions of Ms enemies by implying that religious liberty was incompatible with civil order. He addressed the letter to the town of Providence known as the parable of the ship, which we have already referred to and quoted.' The unsettled condition of affairs in Eng- land always reflected themselves in the colo- nies. At this time those who were Eoyalists refused obedience to the government in Ehode Island, thereby adding to the factions already existing. Complaints of these po- litical dissensions were made to Cromwell through the agent of the colonies. Dr. Clarke, which caused the protector to address the following letter to them : Gentlemen : Your agent here hath represented unto us some particulars concerning your govern- ment, which you judge necessary to be settled by us here. But by reason of other great and weighty affairs of this Commonwealth, we have been ne- cessitated to defer the consideration of them to a further opportunity ; for the mean time we were willing to let you know that you are to proceed in your government according to the tenor of your charter, formerly granted on that behalf ; taking care of the peace and safety of those plantations, that neither through any intestine commotions, or foreign invasions, there do arise any detriment or dishonor to this Commonwealth, or yourselves, as far as you, by your care and diligence can prevent. 1 See Chapter VIII. KOGEE WILLIAMS 193 And as for the things whieii are before us, they shall, as soon as the other occasions wiU permit, receive a just and fitting determination. And so we bid you farewell and rest. Your very loving friend Olives P. 29th March, 1655. At the regular annual election, which was held at Providence in May of this year, Wil- liams was reelected president, and the same general officers were chosen, except Thomas Harris, who gave place to Thomas Olney, as assistant for Providence. The court roll of freeman in the several towns numbered 247 persons, of whom Providence had forty-two, Warwick thirty-eight, Portsmouth seventy- one, and Newport ninety-six. Newport was by far the largest town, and was growing rapidly. Arnold points out that not every resident was a freeman, but every resident might become a freeman or legal inhabitant.^ If proposed at one town-meeting he could be admitted at the following one, provided no valid objection had been made against him. These numbers do not give us sufficient data to estimate the population of the several towns ; they serve, however, to give us their relative size. The letter from Cromwell caused a special session of the assembly to be held at Portsmouth, while they formally voted submission to the Protector's rule, and 1 "History of Rhode Island," Vol. I, p. 256. 13 194 EOGER WILLIAMS passed a law providing that any persons who might be convicted as leaders of factions should be sent to England, there to be tried and punished. This act, following Williams's letter to the town of Providence and the Protector's instructions, is a proof that the governor and assistants of Ehode Island were determined to put into energetic opera- tion the powers of government, so all im- portant to quell the many factions and feuds that existed in the various towns, to the dis- paragement of law and order. The effect was most salutary. Coddington, who up to this time had refused allegiance to the gov- ernment, signed a public declaration of his submission to the colony as now united, and he and Dyre subscribed, in the presence of Williams and others, an agreement of settle- ment of the long-standing feud between them. Even William Harris, one of the original settlers of Providence, an influential inhabi- tant, but nevertheless a chronic agitator, seemed to have been temporarily subdued, and gave in his allegiance. Besides these internal disorders, which disturbed the col- ony, its authority was constantly defied by certain inhabitants of Pawtuxet and War- wick, who claimed to be solely responsible to the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and re- fused to pay taxes levied by the colony. Cer- tain Indians living near these towns claimed a similar jurisdiction, and made depredations EOGEK WILLIAMS 195 upon the property and cattle of the citizens of these towns. These obstructionists based their refusal to submit to the authority of the several towns for fear of displeasing Massachusetts, and, strange to say, the Indi- ans alleged a like reason for not coming to friendly terms with the authorities. It ap- peared as quite probable that Massachusetts encouraged, if she did not foment, these dis- orders. Williams, as president of the Provi- dence Plantations, on November 15, 1655, addressed a letter to the general court of Massachusetts, detailing all these grievances, and asking that the court's authority be withdrawn from these people, or that they be removed into the jurisdiction of that colony. It seems some of them sold liquor to the Indians, as weU as arms and ammu- nition, which was a constant menace to the lives of the people of the colony. WUliams in his letter plainly lays the blame for these dangers and disorders upon Massachusetts, and appealingly calls attention to the fact, while she has refused to sell ammunition to the citizens of Rhode Island, yet such Indi- ans who profess subjection are supplied ; and because of this, says : " Only ourselves, by former and later denial, seem to be devoted to the Indian shambles and massacres." No at- tention was paid to this letter, so he followed it by another letter the next spring, ad- dressed to Endicott, then the governor, who 196 BOGEK WILLIAMS invited Mm to visit Boston. In a subse- quent letter to the general court he asks a confirmation of his right, under the order of the Protector, to enter their ports. Es- pecially did he deem this necessary before entering their jurisdiction, as he was con- siderably molested on the last occasion, while passing through Boston, when about to embark for England. This confirmation was evidently given, for we find five days thereafter a letter of his, dated Boston, May 17th, addressed to the General Court, express- ing his appreciation of their adjusting certain of the more important matters he had pre- sented in his previous communications. The general election this year was held at Portsmouth on May 20, 1656. WUliams, who was still in Boston, or on his retui-n, was again elected president. One of the most serious difficulties that disturbed the colony was again projected by William Harris, who reiterated and disseminated the disorganizing doctrine he had previously proclaimed: " that he that can say that it is his conscience, ought not to yield subjection to any human order among men." This is the same question that had created disorder some two years before, when Williams wrote his famous letter of the parable of the ship, in the mean time the government had be- come better organized, and in view of other distm'bing causes, more energetic action was ROGER WILLIAMS 197 deemed , necessary. Harris was an influen- tial citizen, and though misguided as to the fundamental requisites of all forms of gov- ernment, was not lacking either in ability or devotion to such principles as he believed in : which he fearlessly proclaimed, regardless of consequences. It is not apparent what ac- tion was resolved upon by the magistrates of the colony, but from what followed it is evident Williams regarded this manifesta- tion as in the nature of treason against the authorities of England and of the colony. "Williams, as president, issued a warrant for the arrest of Hams. The warrant recites, whereas Harris had published to aU the towns of the colony writings containing his noto- rious defiance to the authority of the Protec- tor, and also because of his notorious attempt to draw the subjects of the colony into a traitorous renouncing of their allegiance, and because openly in face of the com't he declaimed himself resolved to maintain these said writings with his blood, that his arrest is ordered, and he be brought before the next general court for trial.^ At the next General Assembly, held in New- port in May, 1657, "WiUiams was not a candi- date. Benedict Arnold was chosen president. The trial of Harris could not proceed be- 1 The warrant is printed in full in Arnold's " History," Vol. I, p. 263, note. 13* 198 ROGER WILLIAMS cause of the absence of his accusers. It went over to an adjourned session, held in Warwick on July 4th. Harris read a copy of his book upon which his indictment was based, while Williams read the accusations. It was referred to a committee to report what further action should be taken. They advised that the matter be referred to Eng- land, and that Harris should give bonds for good behavior until the result was known. Cromwell and his government were at this time too much occupied to give attention to these small affairs in a distant colony, and the accusation against Harris was never prosecuted further. Williams, by reason of this prosecution of Harris, has been charged with inconsistency, with violating the principles of religious liberty, and with indorsing the action of the magistrates of Massachusetts in their ban- ishment of him, a quarter of a century before.' It needs no argument to disprove this claim. One has only to read the charges to see the clear distinction between the two cases. Here was a man advocating anarchy in its boldest form, and going about making converts to his disorganizing schemes, stat- ing at a general meeting of the colony that "he was ready to maintain these doctrines with his blood." This was in the nature of 1 Dexter, " As to Roger Williams," p. 95. KOGEK WILLIAMS 199 treason, and was properly referred to the authorities of the mother-country, the of- fender being in the mean time bound over for his good behavior. The distinction between the two offenses is as broad and clear as be- tween the signification of the tenns anarchy and religious liberty. The year 1656 is memorable in the annals of New England for the arrival of the Quakers. The manner in which they were treated in the several colonies is illustrative of the liberal spirit of the people and government of Ehode Island as contrasted with the intolerance of the other colonies, where this sect was perse- cuted with barbaric ferocity. This dai*k epi- sode which marks the climax of the The- ocracy is so fully narrated in the standard histories of our colonial era, and has been separately treated from all sides by so many of our ablest writers, that we will only refer to it as briefly as possible. The correct des- ignation of this sect, the disciples of George Fox, is " the Society of Friends." They were derisively named " Quakers" from the con- vulsive agitations and movement of muscles by a few enthusiasts whUe under trial. The effect of cruel persecution upon the earlj^ members of this sect was such as to goad some to frenzy, who, while in this abnormal condition, were guilty of very extravagant actions, so that the principles of the sect, the rights of private judgment in religion. 200 BOGEE WILLIAMS "were overshadowed by the peculiarities which it had adopted. The adherents were loaded with hatred and contempt, and re- garded as a band of heretic vagabonds and tramps, enemies of both Church and State. The doctrine of "inward light" or private inspiration, the extreme equivalent of indi- vidual judgment for the guidance of life, was particularly obnoxious to the New England Puritans. These Puritans, by reason of their unrestricted domination in their new home, and because of their not encountering the opposition and mellowing influences experienced by the Puritans in England, be- came thereby the more stern, austere, and intolerant. Always tender of their own con- sciences, they were unyielding toward the religious belief of others. No Christian sect has ever been imbued with a deeper sense of conscience as evidenced by heroic devotion to their principles, than the Quakers. They were aggressive, they courted the ferocity of persecutors, they were martyrs by the in- spiration that moved them, without fear of consequences, "to bear testimony" against the errors and corruptions in church and state. Their coming to Boston was dreaded worse than a pestilence, and was regarded as an invasion. The first Quakers who came to New England were two unprotected women, the one Ann Austin; about sixty years of age. EOGEK WILLIAMS 201 the mother of five children, and the other, Mary Fisher, her maiden friend, over thirty. They came from Barbadoes. Immediately upon their arrival they were taken from ship to jail, and for fear that any one would talk with them and thereby spread their heresies, the window of their cell was boarded up. Four years afterward, Mary Fisher went on a mission to the Orient, to bring her testi- mony to the Turks. The great sultan Mohammed IV. was on the throne. He ac- corded her an audience and received her with civility, and she was in nowise re- strained while in his dominions. The cir- cumstance of Mary Fisher having been persecuted and imprisoned both in old and New England, and left free and unmolested in the dominions of the sultan, has been variously explained so as not to be too cred- itable to the " Grand Turk." The fact is, in Mohammedan lands the humane principles of toleration had been learned and practised earlier than in Christian countries, as is evi- denced by the Turkish concessions to Chris- tian and other sects, which date back to the twelfth century. These were continued and renewed in the middle of the sixteenth cen- tury, when Constantinople was captured. They were subsequently, in the decline of the greatness of the Ottoman Empire, incor- porated in treaties with Christian powers, 202 KOGEK WILLIAMS and are to this day in full effect, and known as "capitulations."' When we recall that the Quakers in their scorn and hatred gave vent to their volu- ble imprecations against the governor and magistrates of Massachusetts, — how they rushed into the " steeple houses " of the in- tensely devout Puritans and interrupted the sermons of their priests with their "testi- mony"; how Thomas Newhouse once came in the Old South Meeting-House holding in each hand a glass bottle and smashed them before the astonished worshipers with the remark, " Thus will the Lord break you all to pieces " ; how Lydia Wardel startled the congregation at Newbury by going through the aisles of the meeting-house naked, and how Deborah Wilson went about the streets in a similar manner, all " to bear testimony," — we can hardly wonder that Puritanism should be roused to the highest pitch of in- dignation. This, however, in nowise excuses the harsh and extreme penalties which characterize the savage persecution of the Quakers by Massachusetts while under the domination of Grovernor Endicott and the bigoted Rev. John Norton, whereby three 1 See Van Dyke's "Capitulation of the Ottoman Empire." The writer, while XT. S. Minister to Turkey, had frequent oc- casion to cite these capitulations in protecting the rights of American missionaries throughout that empire. See "Foreign Relations of the U. S.," 1888, 1889, and 1890. ROGER WILLIAMS 203 men and one woman were hanged, and others were branded and had their ears cropped, and many were cruelly whipped, without taking into account the greater number that were imprisoned and fined. The several united colonies passed severe laws against the Quakers, and endeavored to prevail on and finally to coerce Rhode Island to join in this persecution. The General As- sembly, which met at Portsmouth in March, 1657, returned an answer to the commis- sioners of the united colonies, in which they said : Whereas freedom of different consciences to be protected from enforcements, was the principal ground of our charter, both with respect to our humble suit for it, as also to the true intent of the honorable and renowned Parliament of England, in granting of the same to us, which freedom we still prize, as the greatest happiness that men can possess in this world, therefore we shall, for the preservation of our civil peace and order, the more especially take notice that those people, and any others that are here, or shall come among us, be impartially required, and to our utmost con- strained, to perform aU civil duties requisite. And in case they refuse it, we resolve to make use of the first opportunity to inform our agent, residing in England. During all this time, for a period of five years, while this persecution of Quakers con- tinued, Rhode Island, which had become known as " a hai'borage for all sorts of con- 204 KOGEE WILLIAMS sciences," also served as the place of refuge for those who fled from this cruel ordeal. It was a source of vexation to and a cause of complaint by the other colonies that the towns of Narragansett Bay did not co- operate in expelling these heretics who " propagate the Kingdome of Sathan." It must be said in justice to the other united colonies that while severe laws were enacted against the Quakers none of them went to the extreme, as did Massachusetts, in passing capital laws. Nor in England, though many suffered abuse and privation in prison, were any of this sect ever capitally punished. The commissioners of the united colonies were not content with this reply of the General Assembly, and wrote again, convey- ing a veiled threat that something might foll6w unless Rhode Island complied. She returned a reply, in which, while expressing disapprobation of the conduct of some of these Quakers, she remained steadfast to her principles, informing the commissioners : "We have no law among us whereby to punish any for only declaring by words, etc., their minds and understanding concerning the things and ways of God, as to salvation and eternal condition." They also at the same time gave some wholesome advice on the effects of toleration in allaying sectarian zeal, by informing the commissioners that where these people are not persecuted and ROGER WILLIAMS • 205 are allowed to express themselves freely, there they make few converts and least desire to come. The commissioners, s-till not satisfied, determined to coerce Rhode Island Tinder penalty of cutting her off from all commercial intercourse with the other colo- nies. At this juncture, for fear that efforts should be made by the other colonies to force Rhode Island, through the English government, to depart from her cherished principles and cooperate in these cruel per- secutions, it was decided to address the col- ony's agent. Dr. Clarke, who was instructed to plead their cause. Accordingly, at the Gfeneral Assembly held at Warwick in No- vember, 1658, a committee was appointed to draft and forward the letter referred to. It is contained in the colony's records, and re- flects great credit upon the citizens of Rhode Island for their steadfast devotion to those principles of liberty so thoroughly in accord with the spirit of the colony's foundation, and from which they would not depart, even under the grave threats of their powerful confederate neighbors. The letter, after setting forth the measm-es the other colonies adopted, and of their being offended because the Quakers had full liberty in Rhode Island, and their threatening to cut off their trade, concludes as follows : Sir, this is our earnest and present request unto you in this matter, that as you may perceive in our 206 EOGEK WILLIAMS answer to the united colonies, ... so may it please you to have an ej'e and ear open, in case our adversaries should seek to undermine us in our privileges granted unto us, and to plead oui* case in such sort, as that we may not be compelled to exercise any civil power over men's consciences, so long as human orders in point of civility are not corrupted and violated, which our neighbors about us do frequently practise, whereof many of us have large experience, and judge it to be no less than a point of Absolute Cruelty. This ended the controversy between the commissioners of the united colonies and Rhode Island, as we read of no other efforts to induce or coerce the latter colony to de- part from her cherished principles of soul- liberty. Though Wniiams had retired from the ofSce of president, he continued to occupy a seat in the upper house of the Greneral As- sembly. The position the colony so reso- lutely took in this controversy, which began during WiUiams's presidency, was dictated and guided chiefly by him. This attitude of Williams and of the Assembly of Rhode Isl- and, in upholding the principles of religious liberty, is all the more to be commended when we bear in mind that the doctrines and practices of that sect were especially disapproved by Williams, as will be shown in the next chapter in our reference to his famous controversy with the Quakers. We have briefly narrated in this chapter KOGEK WILLIAMS 207 the principal events of Williams's adminis- tration, which, extended over a period of about two and a half years. He assumed the ofl&ce when there were internal feuds and ex- ternal dangers all seriously threatening the independent existence of the colony. New- port and Warwick under the Coddington de- fection at first refused to reorganize under the charter, thereby strengthening the in- trigues of Massachusetts in her designs to annex or disperse this "heretic colony." Then came the attack upon the principles of liberty, all the more discouraging because it was led by one of the original founders and a man of high influence in the community, who was not instigated by a desire to make mischief, but was entirely sincere in his per- verted ideas of the functions of government. Then we find him acting as the colony's diplomatic agent in going himself to Boston and adjusting there with Governor Endicott and the court the various subjects of con- tention, that caused so much trouble and confusion. Then came the invasion of the Quakers and the controversy with the united colonies. Through all of these perplexities, which necessarily menaced the integrity and independence of the colony, Williams steered the ship of state with a firm hand and a wise head. It was his privilege not only to be the pioneer of his colony and to formulate the principles of its government, but to lead 208 EOGEK WILLIAMS it through the dangers of anarchy and seces- sion to harmony and union, with a popula- tion of several thousands growing in welfare and in a proper appreciation of the liberties guaranteed to them under their charter and laws. CHAPTER XIII Rhode Island tmder the protector. Clarke obtains a new charter from Charles II. Its liberal provisions for liberty of conscience and democracy. Organization of govern- ment under the charter. Williams elected assistant. His letter to the town of Providence to reserve common lands for exiles. Morton's memorial pub- lished. His letter to Major Mason. Williams's challenge to George Fox, and his contro- versy with the Quakers. King Philip's war. THE shifting phases of the home govern- ment were always reflected in the con- federate colonies, not directly, but inversely. Revolutions in England, and her inability, consequent thereupon, to give attention to colonial affairs, were promptly taken advan- tage of in Massachusetts and in the sister colonies by the assumption of greater pow- ers of sovereignty. They did not proclaim either of the Protectors, nor did they put themselves in opposition. They simply maintained a passive attitude. . Rhode Isl- and, on the other hand, promptly acquiesced, and of her own accord submitted to the powers that were. She cheerfully welcomed 210 EOGEK WILLIAMS Cromwell as Protector. He was known to be tolerant in religion and in state, and the Rhode Islanders felt secure under his rule. When Eichard Cromwell, on the death of Oliver, in September, 1658, succeeded to the protectorate, the colony of Rhode Island adopted an address, wherein they said : May it please your Highness to know, that this poor colony of Providence Plantations, mostly consists of a birth and breeding of the Provi- dence of the Most High, we being an outcast people, formerly from our mother nation, in the bishop's days and since from the New-English over-zealous colonies. On May 29, 1660, Charles II. entered Lon- don to occupy the throne. In Rhode Island, as soon as the news of his restoration was received, the king was proclaimed. A new commission was sent to the colony's agent. Dr. Clarke, and he continued . his efforts to procure a new charter. Several sums of money were voted at different times to be sent to the agent, which were apportioned as a payment from the several towns. Clarke, with great judgment and skiU, pushed forward his negotiations, having remained in England during all this time, since the year 1651. At length, on July 8, 1663, he succeeded in his mission, and secured from the king a new charter for the colony. It was received and promulgated by the colo- KOGEK WILLIAMS 211 nists with due formality and with demon- strations of great joy. It was most liberal in its provisions, and gave to the colony the choice of every ofllcer, the instrument only appointing the first governor and assistants, who were to continue in office till the follow- ing May. Benedict Arnold was created governor, and Roger "WiUiams one of the assistants. It embodied the principles of its founders by securing the most perfect free- dom in matters of religion : No person within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion, in matters of religion, who do not ac- tuaUy disturb the civil peace of our said colony ; but that all and every person and persons may, from time to time, and at aU times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his own and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of rehgious concernments, throughout the tract of land here- after mentioned, they behaving themselves peace- ably and quietly and not using this hberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the ciAdl injury or outward disturbance of others. This definite, precise, and comprehensive provision, securing the unrestricted rights of conscience to the inhabitants of "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," the name given to the province in the charter, was in complete accord with the petitioners' address to his Majesty, in which they "freely 212 BOGEE WILLIAMS declared it is much, on their hearts (if they be permitted) to hold forth a lively experi- ment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand, and best be maintained, and that among our English subjects, with a full lib- erty in religious concernments ; and that true piety, rightly grounded on the Gospel principles, will give the best and greatest security to sovereignty, and will lay in the hearts of men the strongest obligations to true loyalty." This is a most remarkable charter, and differs from the charters granted to the other colonies, both for its civil as well as for its re- ligious guarantees. Charles II. was not toler- ant either by training or disposition, and the fulsome laudations of monarchy, the adora- tion bestowed upon the person of the king by the Episcopalians as well as by the Presbyte- rians, had the effect to encourage Charles, as no English sovereign had been before or since, to wrap about him the mantle of " di- vine right." The fact of his confirming to this colony such liberty in matters of religion may have been because he was himself at heart a Catholic, and had little sympathy with Protestant uniformity aside from its political value. The second remarkable quality of this charter is its democratic char- acter. When the colony was organized under its previous charter, the assembly de- clared, " that the form of government estab- KOGEK WILLIAMS 213 lished is Demoeratical — that is to say, a government held by the free and voluntary consent of all, or the greater part of the free inhabitants." This charter practically con- firmed this extreme form of democracy by conferring upon the colony the power to make such laws "as to them shall seem meet for the good and welfare of the said Com- pany," provided they be as near as possible agreeable to the laws of the realm, " consid- ering the nature and constitution of the place and people there." While yet under this charter, Ehode Island adopted the Constitution of the United States, and continued to be governed by it until 1843, thereby directly bringing down through 180 years the legacy of her great founder, as the most precious heritage of the American people. The " lively experiment " of the ht- tle outcast colony has leavened the mass of intolerance throughout aU civilized nations, and is steadily making the circuit of the habitable globe. Upon the organization of the government under the charter, the colony began to pros- per. The first Assembly was held in the following March, and assumed with energy the functions of government. Williams was appointed to transcribe the charter into the records of the colony. In the following May the first general election was held by the people at Newport. Benedict Arnold was 214 ROGER WILLIAMS chosen governor, "WiUiam Brenton, deputy governor. A recorder, sergeant, attorney, and solicitor were also elected. These seven general officers, with ten assistants, together with eighteen deputies chosen by the towns, composed the General Assembly. Williams was chosen one of the assistants, and in con- nection with Dr. Clarke was appointed to make a revision of the laws, so that their provisions might be clearly understood with a view to more rigid enforcement. For many yea^s, until 1677, "Williams con- tinued to participate in the administration of the colony, holding from time to time va- rious offices. He was reelected assistant for Providence in 1667 and 1670. In 1677 he was again elected, but declined to serve, presum- ably on account of his advanced age and his infirmities, as he was then about seventy years of age. During this time he officiated frequently in town affairs as moderator of its meetings, as manager of public improve- ments, as a member of committees to draft public letters and documents, and to con- duct negotiations with the Indians. His constant solicitude was for a proper under- standing and appreciation by his neighbors and the citizens of the colony of the liberties with which they were blessed. In a letter written to the town of Providence upon a pro- posal to divide up the common lands among the inhabitants, he pleaded with them with the ROGER WILLIAMS 215 foresight of a prophet to leave these lands common for future settlers who might be driven or come unto them to partake of their freedom ; for all experience tells us that public peace and love is better than abundance of corn and cattle. I have one only motion and petition, which I ear- nestly pray the town to lay to heart, as ever they look for a blessing from Grod on the town, on your families, your corn and cattle, and your children after you ; it is this, that after you have got over the blacJc broolc of some soul bondage yourselves, you tear not down the bridge after you, by leaving no small pittance for distressed souls that may come after you?- These words should be writ large, and held before the eyes of the people of this country for all time to come. The so-called "American policy," which is invoked against immigrants from the Old World, is a libel upon the immortal fame of the patriarchs of our freedom, and the spirit of our origin and marvelous development. The admonition above quoted is our continent's message to enfranchised mankind. It comes down to us as a direct heritage from the founder of our liberties, reechoed through our history, and consecrated by the patriotism and wis- dom of Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Let us have a care that we do not 1 Narragansett Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 318. 216 KOGEE WILLIAMS in the years of our prosperity prostrate our- selves before the golden calf of temporary expediency, and through false lights violate the universal principles of justice and liberty underlying our American institutions. In his letter to Grovernor Winthrop of Connecticut, written in 1669, Williams refers to Morton's Memorial, which had appeared in that year, and which was the first of those Puritan chronicles to blacken his name and fame. He says : Since I saw you I have read Morton's Memorial, and rejoice at the encomiums upon your father and other precious worthies, though I be a repro- bate, " contempt! vitior alg!." ^ In the following year (June, 1670) he wrote his famous letter to Major Mason, to which we have had occasion several times to refer.^ He speaks of his age and infirmities, which arrested his traveling about, and necessitated his resorting to his pen. This letter is espe- cially valuable for its autographic data touching his banishment and his settlement at Providence. He refers lovingly to the kind counsel given to him by his honored friends. Governors Winthrop and Winslow. 1 "New England's Memorial; or, a Brief Relation of the most Memorable and Eemarkable passages in the Provi- dence of God in the Planters of New England in America," etc. Camhridge, 1669. 2 NaiTagansett Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 333. EOGER "WILLIAMS 217 It was written touching the territorial claims of Massachusetts over parts of the Narra- gansett country. It is replete with beauti- ful passages fuU of sage counsel. He says regarding these constant quarrels about ter- ritory : What are all the contentions and wars of this world about, generally, but for greater dishes and bowls of porridge. Eef erring to his own colony, he says : But here all over this colony, a great niunber of weak and distressed souls, scattered, are flying hither from Old and New England, the Most High and Only Wise hath, in his infinite wisdom, pro- vided this country and this corner as a shelter for the poor and persecuted, according to their several persuasions. From whatever light we look upon Roger Williams, he appears to us as one of the most remarkable and picturesque persons in our early history. We cannot fail to be im- pressed with his far-seeing wisdom and with the strength of his character. He had his faults, but they were chiefly defects of his qualities, the complements of his virtues. He was headstrong, as all men of intense convictions are, and perhaps given a little overmuch to controversy. Winthrop very justly wrote to him : " We have often tried your patience, but could never conquer it." In his controversy with the Quakers he dis- 218 KOGER WILLIAMS played too much, acrimony, and perhaps more zeal tlian was consistent with the issue, which he himself provoked. This incident has attached some odium to his memory, which, however, is not justified in the light of the motives that prompted him. These, as stated by him, were: first, the vindication of the name of Grod from the dishonor brought upon it by the Quakers ; secondly, to justify the colony in receiving them when banished from the other colonies ; thirdly, the hope that such a discussion would awaken " some soul-consideration " among these peo- ple, and thus save them from errors. While Ehode Island received the members of this sect, and permitted them to enjoy all their rights, her citizens were not in accord with their opinions or their practices. He states in his book of the controversy : " We suffer for their sake, and are accounted their abettors." * Williams had always been radically opposed to the peculiar doctrines and practices of the early Quakers. He re- garded them as unscriptural and injurious to Christianity and good morals. Though such was his belief and his antagonism, he in- curred anew all the odium and enmity of the united colonies, and steadfastly resisted their threats, rather than violate the principles of soul liberty even against this sect, which 1 " George Fox Digged Out of His Burrowes." KOGEB WILLIAMS 219 was universally spurned and detested. It appears to us that the very acrimony which, characterizes this controversy on the part of Williams accentuates the deepness of Ms convictions and the fuUness of his concep- tions of the principles of religious liberty. It was an object lesson to the Puritan magis- trates, revealing not only the character of WiUiams, but the spirit of Ehode Island, that liberty of conscience did not imply approval of the errors it sheltered, nor did disapproval justify the intolerance toward those who held them. As stated in the last chapter, the eccen- tricities and practices of the early Quakers were such as would shock the sensibilities of any community, even though it were less strait-laced than the New England Puri- tans of the seventeenth century. The early Quakers were dominated by such an intense religious fervor that the effect of the bitter persecutions they suffered goaded some to frenzy, so that they fearlessly and openly scorned the ordinary usages of society and gloried in violent expressions and in a con- temptuous disregard of the decencies of life. In the month of July, 1672, G-eorge Fox, the distinguished founder of the sect, was at Newport. Williams promptly sent him a formal challenge containing fourteen propo- sitions to be debated there and at Providence. For some cause or other the challenge did 220 ROGER WILLIAMS not reach Fox, who had taken his departure for England. Wilhams asserted that Fox had left in order to avoid debate. In this Williams was in error. The challenge was accepted by some of Fox's followers, and the debate was opened at Newport on August 9th. Williams, although now about sixty- five and not in vigorous health, threw him- self with so much eagerness and zeal into this controversy that, in order to participate therein, he rowed himself in a boat a distance of some thirty mUes. The discussion com- menced at Newport, in the Quaker meeting- house. John Stubs, John Burnyeat, and William Edmundson were opposed to him. He refers to the two former as able and learned men. The debate continued three days in a boisterous and disorderly manner, and was then transferred to Providence, where it lasted one more day, disfigured throughout by severe language and terminat- ing in confusion, discreditable alike to both sides. WUliams wrote an account of this controversy in a book covering 327 closely printed pages, entitled " Greorge Fox Digged Out of His Burrowes."^ This book, while dis- playing considerable learning and acuteness, 1 Reprinted in Narragansett Cluti Put., Vol. I, p. 503. Bnmyeat, in Ms " Truth Exalted," refers to this discussion ; he says: "We spent in dispute with him (Williams) three days at Eoad-Island, but he could not make any proof of his charges to the satisfaction of the auditory, for there was a great congregation every day," p. 53. BOGEE WILLIAMS 221 is characterized by bitter and even dis- courteous language, not found in his other writings. Williams himself playfully de- scribes it as " sharp scripture language." Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampa- noags, and the faithful ally of the Plymouth colonists, died in 1660, leaving two sons, "Wamsutta and Metacom, or, as they were nicknamed by the English, Alexander and Philip. The former succeeded his father, but his reign was brief. He died on his re- turn from Plymouth, where he was sum- moned to appear before the general court to explain rumors then current regarding cer- tain hostile designs. Philip suspected the Plymouth people of poisoning his brother ; but such was not the fact. In the summer of 1675 the jealousies and hostilities that had been so long gathering, Uke a dark cloud, broke out into a furious and desolating war, which spread terror and devastation to almost every settlement in New England. It lasted more than a year, and for a time threatened the extermination of the colonies. Of the ninety towns, according to Fiske,' twelve were utterly destroyed, while more than forty others were the scene of fire and slaughter. More than a thousand strong men lost their lives, while scores of women and little children perished under the toma- 1 " The Begimiings of New England," by John Fiske, p. 240. Boston, 1890. 222 KOGEE WILLIAMS hawk. It was the most distressing period the country had ever seen, and almost every family was in mourning. On this occasion, for the first time, Ehode Island became ex- posed to the hostile attacks of the Indians. Many of the inhabitants of Providence and of other towns removed to the island for safety. Williams, however, remained at home, and accepted a commission as captain in the militia, and drilled companies in Prov- idence. He also petitioned the town for leave to convert one of the houses into a garrison, and erect other defenses for the security of women and children. The peti- tion was granted, and the defenses were made entirely at private expense, for which he subscribed ten pounds — by far the lar- gest subscription on the list. In spite of these preparations. Providence was attacked and twenty-nine houses were burned, among them the one in which the town records were kept. The records were partly destroyed, and the remainder were saved by being thrown in a pond, from which they were afterward recovered.' It is 1 The early records of the town of Providence are being carefully edited and republished by a commission consisting of Hon. Horatio Rogers, president of the Rhode Island His- torical Society; George M. Carpenter, and Edward Field. Vols. I and II have appeared. See also first and second reports of commissioners, city documents, No. 18 of 1892 and No. 13 of 1893. EOGEK WILLIAMS 223 stated in the old traditions of Providence that when the Indians appeared on the heights north of the town Williams took his staff and went forth to meet them, hoping, as on former occasions, to appease their ven- geance. He counseled them to cease hostili- ties, by telling them of the power of Eng- land, and that Massachusetts could raise thousands of men, and if they were killed the King of England would supply their places as fast as they fell. "Well," an- swered one of the chieftains, "let them come. We are ready for them. But as for you. Brother Williams, you are a good man. You have been kind to us many years. Not a hair of your head shall be touched." ' This, the bloodiest of all the Indian wars, was brought to a close in August, 1676, by the death of Philip. The Pokanokets were nearly exterminated, and of the once power- ful Narragansetts scarcely a hundred of them were left to return and occupy the lodges of the tribe. The terror, disaster, and loss of life this war produced will explain, if they do not justify, the many acts of cruelty on the part of the whites, and their consign- ing the captives into slavery. The head of Philip was sent to Boston, where it was exposed on a gibbet, and his hand was sent 1 Elton, p. 128. Baylie's "History of Plymouth," Vol. ni, p. 314. 224 ROGEE, "WILLIAMS to Plymoutli. The disposition to be made of his little son of nine years, who was taken captive, caused much discussion among the ministers. One urged, although Deute- ronomy explicitly forbids to punish the child for the father's sin, yet, after all, the children of Saul and Achan perished with their parents. Increase Mather, soon to be- come president of Hai-vard College, sug- gested, though David spared the infant Hadad, yet it might have been better for his people if he had been less merciful. Many of the captives, including the son of Philip, were shipped to Bermuda and sold into slavery, and the rest were distributed and sold among the colonists at home. The captives who were brought to Providence were distributed among the heads of families, to serve from seven to twenty-five years, according to their age. This was done conformably to the report of a committee of five, to whom the matter was referred. It may surprise us to find the name of Roger Williams as first on the list of this committee, and his taking his full quota of the number of captives. Such is, nevertheless, the fact, as evidenced by the town records. Grammell says, in possible explanation of Williams's part in these trans- actions, that he may have regarded their servitude as the only condition compatible with the peace and safety of the colonies. When we remember how well nigh extin- EOGEK WILLIAMS 225 guished these tribes of Indians were at the close of the war, we are constrained to ex- cept to the sufficiency of this explanation. The most we can urge is that Williams, after long years of effort to better the condition of the Indians, his hopes for their civilization were completely shattered. Yet, even in this frame of mind, he was more merciful than the leading men, ministers, and mem- bers of the general court of the other colo- nies, who sanctioned not only the enslaving of the captives, but their transportation to foreign climes, where, according to Fiske, some, for want of purchasers, were set ashore on strange coasts and abandoned, and a few were even carried to one of the foulest medieval slave marts — Morocco.' 1 For a graphic and sueoinet aeeoimt of Bang Philip's war, see Fiske's " The Begumings if New England," ch. 5. La^'^ CHAPTER XIV CONCLUSION They are slaves who dare not be In the right with two or three. Lowell. THE life of Eoger Williams was now rap- idly nearing its end, and the records give us but few facts whicli throw light upon his declining years. One would like to dwell upon his home life, surrounded by his faith- ful wife and six children. His daughter Mary, the eldest, was at the close of King Philip's war about forty-three years of age, and the youngest, his son Joseph, was about thirty-two. His brother Robert was a school- master at Newport; but little is known of him, excepting when Eoger had his contro- versy with the Quakers there, this brother endeavored to aid him in the discussion, but it was not permitted by the opponents. In May, 1677, he was again elected an assistant in the colonial assembly, but he declined the office. He continued, however, his watchful interest in the affairs of the colony. He was especially solicitous about the orderly ad- ROGER WILLIAMS 227 ministration of the government, to check every threatening encroachment, however remote, upon the domain of religious liberty. A few factious citizens raised objections to the payment of the necessary rates, or taxes, which induced him to present to his fellow- townsmen a paper entitled " Considerations touching Eates," embodying valuable princi- ples of government, and setting forth the duty of every citizen to share the common burdens. We shall extract a few of these considerations. They are twenty in all : Government and order in families, towns, &c., is the ordinance of the Most High — for the peace and good of mankind. That mankind cannot keep together without some government. Till matters come to a settled government, no man is ordinarily sure of his house, goods, lands, cattle, wife, chil- dren, or life. Hence is that ancient maxim, It is better to live under a tyrant in peace, than under the sword, or where every man is a tyrant. No govern- ment is maintained without tribute, custom, rates, taxes, &c. Our charter excels all in New England, or in the world, as to the souls of men. During this time he still continued his visits to Narragansett for the purpose of preaching to the English and Indians who lived there. In a letter to Governor Brad- street of Massachusetts, the last we have from him, written one year before his death, he refers to his being old, weak, and rup^ tured, besides being lame in both feet. He 228 KOGER WILLIAMS expresses the desire to print the discourses which he delivered before the war to the English at Narragansett, but that he had not the money, and must apply to his friends in the various colonies to contribute toward the same. The letter plainly gives evidence of his poverty during the last years of his life, as this tract consisted of only thirty sheets of his writing.^ A letter from his son Daniel, written in 1710, to those who claimed as purchasers Of lands in Providence from his father, indicates that his father gave away his lands and other estate to persons who were in want, so that in their old age both father and mother were dependent upon their children.^ It is not surprising that a man of this extreme altruistic type, whose whole life was so intently devoted to the wel- fare of others, in constant strife for the real- ization of the principles of soul-liberty, which he foresaw would bring peace and happiness to a continent, should neglect his own mate- rial interests. Well might he say : And as to myself, in endeavoring after your temporal and spiritual peace, I humbly desire to 1 Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 403. Dr. Guild says these sermons formed, as late as 1829, according to a statement of Holmes in his "American Annals," a part of the Prince col- lection of manuscripts. It is a matter of regret that they were not printed, and that they have long since disappeared from view. — ' ' The Baptist Home Missionary Monthly," Oct. , 1892, p. 330. 2 Letter of Daniel Williams. Knowles, p. 110, note. ROGER WILLIAMS 229 say, if I perish, I perish. It is but a shadow van- ished, a bubble broke, a dream finished. Eternity will pay for all.' The last public act of Williams, of which we have record, was to aflfixhis signature to a doc- ument, bearing date January 16, 1683, settling a dispute relative to the boundaries between the Providence lands and those adjacent. His neighbors and friends in Providence evidently did not fully appreciate the import of the work which this sturdy pioneer had begun, or the far-reaching effect it was des- tined to produce, otherwise either record or tradition would have preserved some account of the closing years of the life of the founder of their colony. The greater number of his contemporaries in the other colonies, with the notable exception of the Governors Win- throp, father and son, were too radically op- posed to all the ideas of civil and religious liberty which Williams so firmly advocated to recognize that they embodied aught but antichristian heresies, destructive alike to true religion and civil order. The few who were not opposed to him from religious con- siderations still failed to look beyond the smoke and noise of his petty quarrels to de- tect the onward march of the great forces this prophet of soul-liberty had set in motion. The ideas Williams developed he derived neither from his theological doctrines, which 1 Letter to Major Mason. Nar. Club Pub., Vol. VI, p. 350 15* 230 KOGEK WILLIAMS were tenaciously orthodox, nor from the Grreek or Roman philosophers. They came from the goodness of his great heart, which was filled with the love of justice to all. The contemporaries of a prophet seldom are aware of his proximity. Posterity is usually the first to discover him and appreciate his foresight through the blessings his wisdom has secured for them. Schon die Zukunft Mrte rauschen In der Feme der Prophet. We have only a brief record of his death in a casual, secondary form. It is conveyed in a letter written from Providence by John Thornton to the Reverend Samuel Hubbard, dated May 10, 1684, which says : The Lord hath arrested by death our ancient and approved friend, Mr. Roger "Williams, with divers others here.i 1 In regard to the date of the death of Williams, Mr. Sid- ney S. Eider, in "Book Notes," Deo. 16, 1893, says: "The precise date of the death of Roger Williams has not yet been discovered, but a fact brought out in the recently published volume of the 'Early Records' (the fourth) brings us much nearer to it. Mr. Backus gave in 1777 the first approximate date, in effect thus : Williams signed a document January 16, 1683-4. He was then alive. A letter written by some- body, May 10, 1684, says Mr. Williams is dead. In 1835 Mr. Knowles followed Backus, and so everybody has followed Knowles and Backus. Not long since Mr. George T. Hart discovered in a deed of W. Carpenter, dated April 25, 1684, that he (Carpenter) was the last survivor of the original thir- teen. Mr. Hart at once reasoned that if Carpenter told the truth, Mr. Williams was dead before that date, and thus the time when Williams was known to be dead was carried back ROGEK WILLIAMS 231 He was buried, says Callender, with all the solemnity the colony was able to show. His remains were interred in a spot which he himself had selected on his own land, a short distance from the place where forty-seven years before he had first landed. Taking the date of his birth as 1607, he was at his death in his seventy-seventh or seventy- eighth year. We have endeavored, as our narrative progressed, to give our estimate of the aims, purposes, and work of this remarkable man. We have had occasion to regret the lack of particulars whereby we might draw his por- trait even in rough outline. Of his personal traits it is difficult to form any conception. We do not know whether he was tall or short of stature, stout or spare in frame. He must have been of vigorous and robust health, otherwise he could not have endured the from May 10 to April 25, 1684. Now comes this very inter- esting addition to our knowledge : On page 64 of this fourth volume is a list of names, with this heading : ' Here f ol- loweth the list of y* lands on y« west side of y^ seven mile line.' Lot No. 7 was drawn to Roger Williams. Thus he was living March 17, 1683-4, and died before April 25, 1684. There was, indeed, another Roger Williams, — a son of Dan- iel and grandson of the founder,— born May, 1680, and hence was then three years old when this draft took place. Why is it that everybody insists upon writing that Williams died in 1683 ? He died in 1684. The correction of the calendar in Rhode Island in 1752 necessitates the addition (now) of eleven days to March 17, 1684, which makes the true date March 28, and that carries the time into the New- Year, for March 25 was then New- Year's day ; but the date 1683 has never been correct for men writing in this age." • 232 KOGEK WILLIAMS many hardships he had to undergo as an exile, a pioneer, and while among the Indi- ans. He received the benefits of a univer- sity education, and we know he was versed in five languages besides his own — French, Dutch, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He was not so gifted and scholarly as Milton, nor as a minister so learned as Cotton, nor did he possess the powers of leadership or the qualities of a statesman like Winthrop. He lacked many of the characteristics of great- ness. There was nothing mysterious about him ; he had no conceits, nor were there any surprising or brilliant incidents in his ca- reer. He was neither a fixed star, a comet, nor a meteor. He drew his inspirations not from the clouds, but from the sufferings of men, — from his love of justice, not from the dreams of power or majesty. Ambition formed no part of his nature. His attention was never turned upon self, nor upon the honors or rewards which success brings. His theology was severely Oalvinistic, typical of his generation, not in advance of it. In none of his acts can we detect any striving for honor, glory, or position. The proposition of the General Assembly of Providence, while on his second mission to England, to procure for himself the appointment as gov- ernor, he declined. 'As a governor or in the legislative body of the colony he was not the superior of Coddington, and was far in- EOGEK WILLIAMS 233 f erior to Winthrop. His mind, though clear, forcible, and logical, was neither of a bril- liant nor of a highly philosophical order. He was ardent, impulsive, combative, and restless; but he was kind, benevolent, sin- cere, and forgiving; no feeling of mahce, revenge or enmity ever embittered his mag- nanimous heart. He may have lacked some of the graces in word and manner of the cul- tured Puritan ministers of his times, but we have yet to find his equal in that unwaver- ing devotion to truth, justice, and the wel- fare of others which characterized his life from beginning to end. We call those great who have devoted their lives to some noble cause, and have thereby influenced for the better the course of events. Measured by that standard, Eoger Williams deserves a high niche in the temple of fame, alongside of the greatest re- formers who mark epochs in the world's his- tory. He was not the first to discover the principles of rehgious liberty, but he was the first to proclaim them in all their plenitude, and to found and build up a political com- munity with those principles as the basis of its organization. The influence and effect of his "lively experiment" of religious lib- erty and democratic government upon the political system of our country, and through- out the civilized world, are admirably stated by Professor Grervinus in his " Introduction 234 BOGEE WILIilAMS to the History of the Nineteenth Century." He says : Roger Williams founded in 1636 a small new society in Rhode Island, upon the principles of entire liberty of conscience, and the uncontrolled power of the majority in secular affairs. The theories of freedom in Church and State, taught in the schools of philosophy in Europe, were here brought into practice in the government of a small community. It was prophesied that the democratic attempts to obtain universal suffrage, a general elective franchise, annual parliaments, entire re- ligious freedom, and the Miltonian right of schism would be of short duration. But these institutions have not only maintained themselves here, but have spread over the whole union. They have su- perseded the aristocratic commencements of Caro- lina and of New York, the high-church party in Virginia, the theocracy in Massachusetts, and the monarchy throughout America ; they have given laws to one quarter of the globe, and, dreaded for their moral influence, they stand in the back- ground of every democratic struggle in Europe.^ I / 1 H. G. Bohn [Lond., 1853], p. 65. INDEX INDEX Adams, Brooks, " Emancipation of Massaoliusetts," 66, 88, 89. Adams, Ciiarles Francis, on tlie blstorians of New England, 27. Adultery, in Massachusetts, 84. Alexander. See Wamsittta. Allegiance, tbe oatti of, i1-4S. America, a refuge for English dissenters, 128. American institutions, 216. American policy, the so-oaUed, 215. Amsterdam, John Smith's course at, 32 ; English Baptists at, 132. Anabaptists, their share in se- curing libei-ty of conscience, 131, 132 ; Clarke, Crandall, and Holmes repudiate the name, 163. See also Baptists. Anarchy, approaches to, In Bhode Island, 167; preached by William Harris, 198; dis- tinction between religious lib- erty and, 199. Angell, Thomas, 80. "Answer to W. Hams," 75. Antinomian controversy, the, 87- 90. Antinomiaus, persecution of, 66, 91, 162, 168; meaning of the name, 88. ' Apaum. See Plymouth. "Apologetlcal Narrative," 136. Apostolic authority, Williams's doubts of, 107, 108. Aquedneck, sold to the Antino- mians, 92; Gorton's followers repair to, 162; settlement of John Clarke at, 163 ; purchased by Coddington, 168. See also NEWPOKT. Aqulday, migration of Baptists to, 107. "Areopagltica," 1«. Arms, sale of, to Indians, 195. Arnold, Benedict, signer of the compact of government of Providence, 80 ; advocates sub- 16 , jection of wives to their hus- bands, 82 ; governor of Rhode Island, 118, 211, 213, 2U ; assis- tant for Newport, 188 ; chosen president, 197. Arnold, Benedict, the traitor, Ms ancestry, 148. Arnold, Samuel Green, errors as to Williams's age, 10 ; on Wil- liams's alleged opposition to the government, 34 ; " History of the State of Bhode Island," 34, 76, 88, 102, 163, 161, 170, 193, 197 ; on the Pequod war, 102. Arnold, William, great-great- grandfather of traitor Amqld, 148 ; opposition to Gorton, 148 et seq. ; utters " blasphemy against churches and magis- tracy," 161. Assembly of Presbyterian Di- vines, 167, 172. Austin, Ann, arrival andimpris- onment of, in Boston, 200, 201. Backus, Isaac, 49 ; " History of the Baptists," 191 ; on the death of Williams, 230. Bacon, Francis, 8. Baillie, Robert, 134. Balston, WtUiam, 162. Bancroft, George, 182. Banishment, punishment by, 22, 66. Baptism, Williams's doubts of, 108. Baptists, persecution of, 66; migration from Massachusetts to Providence, 106; establish- ment of the first church in America, 107; maintain the rights of conscience, 107; Williams's relations with, 107, 108 ; position on relations of civil power and church, 133; a despised sect, 135. Barrtngton, Lady, correspon- dence with Williams, 11, 12. 238 INDEX Bellingliam, Eichard, deputy fovemor, 68, 69 ; recorder of loston, LincoluBnlre, 69. Bermuda, Indian captives sold to, 221. BlMe, the statute-book of the Puritan Commonwealtli, 24; the revelation of the, 88, 89. Blgotry,WilIlams'8 flght against, 71. BlaSe, Admiral, victories of, 171. Blasphemy, a capital crime in Massachusetts, 84 ; Gorton tried for, 151. Block Island, murder hy Indians near, 97. "Bloody Tenent yet more Bloody," U, 138, 176, 177. " Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience," dis- cussed, 32, 136, 136 ; publica- tion of, 137 et eeq. ; literary style^ 139, UO; success of the publication, 140, 141; ordered to be burned, 141 ; reaches Bos- ton, 176; sent to Mrs. Sadleir, 183. "Body of Liberties," the, 112. Boston, Eng., BeUingham, Cod- dington, and Hough in, 69; John Cotton's rectorship in, 66. Boston, Mass., landing of Wil- liams at, 1, 141, 142, 184; reli- gious principles of the colonists of, 16 et seq. ; WiUiams invited to fill Wilson's place at, 23; Williams's refusal to join the congregation at, 25; Williams summoned to, 49, 69 ; Williams cut off from trading-privileges with, 74 ; arrival of vane and Peters in, 86; position of wo- men in, 86; Anne Hutchinson in, 86, 87; schism in, 87; strength of the Hutchinson party in, 90; banishment of Antinomians from, 91 ; visit of Miantonomo to, 98, 99 ; Pe- quod prisoners sent to, 101; Providence debarred from trading with, 106; migration of Baptists to Providence from, 107; Williams outlawed from, 119 ; feeUngs toward WiUiams in, 144 ; treaty between the Mo- hegans and Harragansetts at, 144, 145 ; Gorton arrives at, 147 ; Arnold appears before theGen- eral Court at, 149 ; Gorton sum- moned to, 150, 161 ; Gorton and his followers imprisoned in, 161, 152 ; arrival of John Clarke at, 162; imprisonment of Clarke, CrandaU, and Holmes at, 163-165 ; Coddington builds the first brick house in, 168; Williams and Clarke sail for England from, 169 ; " The Bloody Tenent " reaches, 176 ; WUliams prevented from em- barking from, 181; Williams visits, 196 ; dread of the Quakers In, 200 ; arrival and imprison- ment of Ann Austin and Miary Fisher in, 200, 201 ; King PhiUp's head sent to, 223. Bradford, Gov. William, on Wil- liams's reception at Plymouth, 30 ; Williams's treatise on land titles written for, 30; treat- ment of WiUiams, 73 ; " Narra- tive of the Founding of Ply- mouth," 116. Bradshaw, John, signs Codding- ton's commission, 167. Bradstreet, Simon, assistant, 59; letter from Williams to, 227, 228. Branding, punishment by, 66. Brenton, William, elected dep- uty governor, 214. Brewster, William, opposes Wil- liams, 32. Bridge, WlUiam, Williams's in- tercourse with, 134. Bristol, Williams embarks from, 15. Brown, Eev. Chad., 80, 108. Bumyeat, John, debates with Williams, 220; "Truth Ex- alted," 220. Burroughs, Jeremiah, 134. Busher, Leonard, advocates Uta- erty of conscience, 132. Butler, Major, proposes volun- taryism, 172 ; " Butler's Fourth Paper," 173. Caldwell, S. L., introduction to " The Bloody Tenent Yet More Bloody," 176. CaDender, John, records Wil- liams's burial, 231. Calvin, John, cited in defense of religious persecution, 137. Calvinism, in the formation of the New England Common- wealth, 18. Cambridge, Williams's educa- tion at, 4, 6, 9; Sir E. Coke educated at, 6. Cambridge, Mass., synod at, 84, 86. See also New Town. Campbell, Douglas, "The Puri- tans in Holland, England, and America," 181. INDEX 239 Canonlous, WUliams's intimacy ■witli, 33 ; conTeys land to Wil- liams, 77, 78 ; sells land to the Antinomlans, 92; visit ol liis sons to Boston, 98 ; sells land to Williams and Wintlirop, 104. OarlyIe,Tliomas," CromweU," 62. Carolina, aristocratic founding of, 231. Carpenter, George M., republi- cation of Providence records by, 222. Carpenter, W., 230. Cawcawmsqulssick, Williams re- moves from Providence to, 166. See also Wioki-obd. Ceremonials, a bone of religious contention,24; stresslaidupon, in Massachusetts, 84. Charles I., reign without a par- liament, 1; Williams's offense against, 36 ; flight from Lon- don, 120 ; execution of, 161, 166. Charles II., executes Sir Henry Yane, 91: restoration of, 210; grants a new charter, 210 ; pro- claimed in Bhode Island, 210; address of Bhode Island to, 211, 212; personal characteris- tics, 212. Charles V., persecutions by, in the Netherlands, 181. Charlestown, ilrst church at, 18. Charter House School, Wil- liams's education at, 6, 9-11. See also Sutton's Hospital. Christ, the lawgiver of the church and conscience, 132 ; a politician, 139 ; commands tol- eration, 139 ; did not institute a national church, 139. Christianity, WUUams on the rights of, 38. Church, paramount authority In Massachusetts Bay colony, 46 ; Christ the lawgiver of the, 182. Church and state. Cotton on the relations of, 19, 20 ; the alliance of, 44, 46 ; religious liberty pred- icated upon separation of, 61 ; reasons for union of, 110 ; Wil- liams's attitude on, 129, 130, 136 ; relations discussed in the " Bloudy Tenent," 139. Church of England, conneotionof New England churches with, 17, 18, 24; established in Maine, 114; Westminster Assembly, 127 ; position in the Civil War, 127. Church reform, Milton an advo- cate of, 134. CivU liberty, confounded with anarchy, 71. Civil power, its relations with matters of religion and con- science, 2, 23, 26, 38, 46, 49, SI, 64, 72, 132, 133, 137, 172 ; a yielding Instrument in the bands of the clerg}^, 26; restrictions on, in Providence, 80, 81. CIvilWar,religiousaspectofthe, 127. Clarke, John, leads Antinomians to Bhode Island, 91 ; pastor of first Baptist church at New- port, 162; assistant for New- port, 162; named lor mission to England, 162 ; arrival at Bos- ton, 162 ; flight from Massachu- setts, 162 ; settles near Aqued- neck, 163; prominence, 163; visits Lynn, 163; repudiates the name of Anabaptist, 163; arrest, trial, and punishment of, 163-166; chosen to obtain revocation of Coddington's commission, 168; arrival in London with Williams, 169; presents petition to the Coun- cil of State, 169; remains in England, 171 ; " 111 News from New England," etc., 176 ; Wil- liams's letter to Gov. Endicott concerning Holmes and, 176; Williams leaves conduct of af- fairs to, 184; letter of thanks to, 189 ; agent of the colonies in England, 192 ; instructed to plead the cause of Bhode Isl- and's protection of Quakers, 206 ; new commission issued to, 210; procures a new charter, 210; appointed to revise the laws, 214. Clergy, power of, 19, 26 ; support of, 178. Coddington, William, treasurer of Boston, Eng., 59; assistant, 59; leads Antinomians from Boston, Mass., 91 ; chosenmag- istrate, 93 ; elected president, 159 ; attempts to enter the New England confederation, 159 et seq. ; goes to England, 160 ; his efforts in England, 162, 167; obtains commission as governor of Bhode Island and Connecticut, 167; mental qualt&cations, 167, 168 ; causes of his going to England, 168; builds the first brick house in Boston, 168; assistant Judge for Massachusetts Bay, 168; sides with the Antinomians, 240 INDEX 168; purchases Aquedneok, 168 ; first judge of Aquedneok, 168 ; feeling in Eliode Island over Ms action, 168; mission of Clarke and Williams to Eng- land concerning commission of, 168 et seq. ; tlie island towns submit to, 169; Ms commission vacated, 171 ; disturbing efforts of, 187 ; iis following in Bbode Island, 190 ; submits to the col- ony, 19*; settlement of feud between Dyre and, 194; defec- tion of, 207; Williams com- pared with, 232. Coggeshall, Jolm, 155. Coke, Sir Edward, friend and patron of WUliams, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 13, 182; Ms daughter, i (see also Sadleie, Mrs.) ; educated at Cambridge, 5; sustains James Sutton's will, 8 ; opposi- tion to the national church, 14. Colonies, union of the, 113 et seq. (see also New England Con- federacy) ; home disturb- ances reflected in, 209. Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel, 172. Common lands, WlUiams's views on, 214, 216. Common Prayer, discussion with Cotton touching the use of, 14. Commonwealth, establishment in England, 166. "Confession or Declaration of Faith," 132. Congregation, the, the basis of the New England Puritan Com- monwealth, 18, 19. Connecticut, relations between Providence Plantations and, 44; Williams's influence with the Indians in, 78; Vane's design to settle, 85; removals from Massachusetts to, 94 et seq. ; civU rights divorced from church membership in, 95, 96 ; democracy in, 96; sends sol- diers against the Pequods, 101 ; joins the New England Confed- eracy, 114 ; John Winttoop, Jr., governor of, 160; Coddington obtains a governor's commis- sion for, 167. Connecticut Klver, Indian war- fare on, 99. Conscience, question of author- ity of civil power over, 2, 46, 49, 51, 72 ; Williams's struggles for the rights of, 14, 38 ; liberty of, in Providence, 81, 83 ; liberty of worship according to Wil- liams's idea of, 104 ; Christ the lawgiver of the, 132 ; man has no power to bind, 139 ; the forcing of, a soul-rape, 139. "Considerations touching Eates," 227. Constantino, evil wrought by, 139. Constantinople, toleration in, 132 ; taking of, 133, 201. Contempt of authority, the of- fense of, 22. Conviction, Williams's impelling motive, 79. Cope, Edward, 80. Cotton, Eev. John, ecclesiastical tyranny of, 2 ; diecussiou with Williams concerning the use of CommonPrayer,14; Williams's chief persecutor, 14; the un- mitered pope of New England, 19 ; on the relations of church and state, 19, 20; connection with the banishiuent of Wil- liams, 19, 43, 60, 61; letter to Lord Say and Sele, 20 ; " Ans- wer to Eoger Williams," 32; narrowness of, 38, 96, 96 ; on the wearing of veils, 39 ; " Eeply to Williams," 43 ; on the oath of allegiance, 47, 48; "The Tenent washed and made WMte," 47, 176 ; belies Mstory, 55 ; letter to Williams, 60, 61 ; controversy with Williams, 61- 66, 69, 124^126, 136 et seq. ; friends in England, 63 ; the high priest of theocracy, 65 ; his character, abilities, etc., 65-68, 89 ; arrival in America, 66; letter to, de- nouncingpersecution, 66 ; rec- tor of St. Botolph's Church, 66 ; the spiritual and intellectual leader of New England, 66; eff'orts to sMeld Wheelwright, 67; persecuted by Laud, 67; sides with Wintnrop against Dudley, 67 ; friendship for, and efforts to shield Anne Hutchin- son, 67, 86, 87, 89; promulga- tion of his sermons, 86 ; Wil- liams's charge against, 126; reply to Murton's pamphlet, 137; defends persecution, 137; charges Williams with false- hood, 137 ; charged with author- ship of "Model of Church and Civil Power," 137, 138; Gorton and Ms followers compelled to attend Ms ministry, 151; Wflliams compared with, 232. Cotton, Jolin, Jr., letters to, 16, 23, 69. Council of State, establlsliment In England, 166 ; grants a com- mission to Coddington, 167 ; Williams and Clarke present a joint petition to, 169 ; dismissal of, 172, 184. Covenant of grace and tlie cove- nant of works, 87, 90. Crandall, Jolin, accompanies Clarke and Holmes to Lynn, 163; repudiates the name of Anabaptist, 163; arrest, trial, and punlsliinent of, 163, 164. " CraAs," 82. Cromwell, Sir Henry, 11. Cromwell, Oliver, Williams's re- lations with, 2-4, 180, 184; Wil- liams's conference with, on subject of popery, 4 ; nephew of Lady Barrmgton, li ; com- missioner of the colonies, 62; leadership of, 62; speech on the dissolution of Par- liament, 62; on hypocrisy, 62; in English Council, 121; leader of dissenters in Eng- land, 128; president of the Council of State, 166; curbs Presbyterlanism in Scotland, 167 ; dissolves the Rump Parlia- ment and the CounoU of State, 171, 172, 184; member of the Committeef or the Propagation of the Gospel, 172 ; permits the return of the Jews, 174 ; dis- misses Vane, 184; letter of thanks to, 189; letter to the colony, 192, 193 ; effect of his letter, 193 et seq. ; his authority delied by Hams, 197 ; Harris's affair referred to, 198; Bhode Island's attitude toward, 209, 210; death of, 210. Cromwell, Richard, succeeds to the Protectorate, 210. Cross, Puritan feeling against the emblem, 40. Curafoa, trade between Ne wAm- sterdam and, 176; settlement of Jews in Newport from, 175. Daly, Charles P., "The Settle- ment of the Jews m North America," 176. Dean, John Ward, opinion on Williams's birth and paren- tage, 7. Declaration of Independence, the, 113. Delaware Bay, proposed Aiiti- nomian settlement upon, 91. Democracy, John Winthrop on, 156. 16* Dexter, Gregory, 188, 189. Dexter, Eev. Henry jyi.,.iustlfle8 the persecution of Williams, 21 ; on ciuestion of WUliams's ordination at Salem, 30; "As to Roger Williams," 30, 59, 198; on Williams's position re- garding the Indians' title to land, 37 ; on Williaras's banish- ment, 42; on constitution of the General Court, 69 ; on date of WUUams's sentence, 60; ef- fort to deprive Williams of his mantle of glory, 60; on Wil- liams's Journey from Salem to Seekonk, 74; charges WlUlams with inconsistency, 83. Diman, Prof. J. L., on date of Williams's sentence, 60; on Willlams'sjoumey from Salem to Seekonk, 74. Dissent, how regarded in New England, 27. Divine right of kings, 212. Divorce, Milton on, 134, 183. Doyle, J. A., 148, 1B3 ; on the early upholders of religious free- dom, 166; "English Colonies in Ainerica," 166. Dudley, Thomas; arrival at Salem, 1 ; removal to Shawmut, 1 ; assistant, 69 ; Cotton sides with Winthrop against, 67; elected deputy governor, 90; opposition to toleration, 103. Dummer, Richard, 69. Durfee, Job, discourse by, 44. Durfee, Thomas, "Two Hun- dred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Planting of Provi- dence," 67, 65. Dutch, supply the Indians with firearms, 114; New England combination against the, 114 ; seek Williams's aid with the Indians, 119; peace with the Indians, 119; influence of, upon the English Puritans, 181. See also Hollaot>. Dutch language, WUUams's study of, 180, 181, 232. Dyre, WiUiam, carries news of the sustaining of the charter to Rhode Island, 171; return of, to Rhode Island, 179 ; set- tlement of feud between Cod- dington and, 194. Easton, Nicholas, president of Rhode Island, 161; protests against Massachusetts' action, 161, 162. 242 INDEX EccleeiaBtical censures, tlie Tight of the Btate to punish for, 16. " Ecclesiastical Polity," 182. Edmundson, WUliam, debates with Williams, 220. Education, Williams's methods of, 181. Edward I., Bufferings of the Jews under, 174, 175. " Eikonoklastes," 183. Elizabeth, Queen, toleration tn the reign of, 131. Ellis, George E., " The Puritan Age in Massachusetts," 88 ; on Antinoraianism, 88. Elton, Dr. E., erroneous state- ment by, regarding Williams's entry at Oxford, 4, 6 ; " Life of Eoger WUliams," 16, 182, 223; on ctuestion of WiUiams's ordi- nation at Salem, 30; on Wil- Uams's partition jof land, T8. Endlcott, John, Williams's inti- macy with, and tufluenee over, 2, 39, 40, 164 ; letter of General Court to, regarding the calling of Williams to Salem, 23; on the wearing of veils, 39; orders the red cross cut from the flag, 40, 164, 166; punishment for his action, 41; letters from WUliams to, 64, 164, 165, 176, 195; sides with WUUams, 68; excluded from the General Court, 68; imprisonment of, 68; governor of Massachusetts, 163-165 ; trial of Clarke, Cran- dall, and Holmes before, 163- 165; invites Williams to visit Boston, 196 ; persecution of the Quakers, 202; Williams's ne- gotiations with, 207. England, rise of power of Inde- pendents in, 62; recruits for the Providence colony from, 79 ; encroachments of the hier- archy on personal liberty in, 86; Williams seeks a charter from, 118; under rule of the Earl of Warwick, 120 ; the Long Parliament, 120; civil war in, 120, 124, sufferings in, 124; wniiams's sojourn in, 124, 171 etseq. ; dissensions over church government, 128; toleration m, 131, 141 ; compacts with Ot- toman Empire, regarding lib- erty of worship, 133; the pro- posed Presbyterian church for, 135 ; transition toward Presby- terianism, 140, 143, 144; liberty of conscience in, 141 ; effect of dissensions in New England, on her colonial policy, 143; serious condition of amurs in, 158, 159, 161, 171, 172, 192 : Cod- dington goes to, 160 ; Codding- ton's schemes in, 162, 168 ; Wil- liams urged to go to, 162; changes in, 166 ; Presbyterian- ism m, 167; Clarke and Wil- liams Bail from Boston for, 169 ; Williams's mission to, concern- ing Coddlngton, 169; war with Holland,171,174,179; Williams's plea for the readraieslon of Jews to, 173 et seq.; peace with Holland, 174; sufferings of the Jews in, 174, 178 ; the question of tithes in, 177, 178; Williams's acquaintance in, 180; Wil- liams's self-denial in, 183 ; es- tablishment of the Protector- ate, 184; Williams called a ti'aitor to, 186 ; leaders of fac- tions tobesentfortrial to, 194; mellowing influences on the Puritans of, 200 ; treatment of Quakers in, 204 ; revolution in, 209; Richard Cromwell Protec- tor, 210. Episcopacy, abolished in Eng- land, 167. " Experiments of Spiritual Life," 178, 182. Faith, the doctrine of, 88. Fanaticism, universality of, 2; in Massachusetts, 46; Wil- liams's fight against, 71. Fanatics, Rhode island a refuge for, 115. Felt, J. B., on question of Wil- liams's ordination at Salem, 30. Field, Edward, republication of Providence records by, 222. Field, John, 80. Fines, punishment by, 66. Fisher, Mary, arrival and imprisonment of, in Boston, 201 ; mission to Turkey, 201. Fiske, John, on King Philip's war, 221; " The Beginnings of New England," 221, 225 ; on the treatment of captive Indians, 225. "Footprints of Roger Wil- liams," 5. Pox, George, Williams's reply to, 46, 108 ; followers of, 199 et seq.; at Newport, 219; chal- lenged to debate by Williams, 219. See also "George Pox" ; Quakers. Pox Point, 75. INDEX 24i5 France, compact with Ottoman Empire, regarding .liberty of worship, 133. Franklin, Benjamin, 215. Freedom of conscience. See Conscience. Freemen, the qualifications of. In New England, 19, 26. Free speech, limitations on the right of, 22. French, New England comhlnar tion against the, ill. French language, Williams's study of, 180, 232. Gammell, WiUlam, on question of Williams's ordination at Salem, 30: on "seekers," 108; on Williams's action alter King Philip's war, 224. General Court, letter to Endi- cott concerning the calling of WiUiams to Salem, 23 ; remon- strates with the church at Salem against Williams's ap- pointment, 25, 26, 29, 30; charges against Williams's treatise on Indian title to land, 35-37; fears for the charter, 36; dread of Laud, 36; sum- mons Williams heiore it for censure, 37; Williams in con- flict with, 45 et seq.; pre- scribes an oath of allegiance, 47-49; Williams before, 61; course regardlngSaleni's claim of land at Marblehead, 62 ; the Puritan Star Chamber, 52; procedure of, 52, 55 ; universal- ity of its jurisdiction, 53 ; con- Tening of, for sentence, 65, 66; sentences Williams to banishment, 66, 67 ; its consti- tution, 68; convenes at New Town, 68, 90; Endicott ex- cluded from, 68; resolves to send Williams to England, 69 ; trials lor heresy before, 89; anti-Hutchinson majority in, 90; Williams's letters to, 195, 196. See also Massachusetts. General Court of Elections, 159. "George Fox Digged Out of his Burrowes," 7, 14, 108, 218, 220. Gervinus, Prof. G. G., on Wil- liams's work, 233, 234. Gold, reported discovery of, in Bhode Island, 160. Goodwin, John, author of "A Eeplyof Two of the Brethren," 135 ; hostility of the Presbyte- rians to, 135. Goodwin, Thomas, 128, 134, 140. Gorges, Sir Fei-dlnando, feud with the Puritans, 114. Gorton, Samuel, arrives in Bos- ton, 147 ; troubles at Plymouth and Newport, 147; settles in Pawtuxet, 147, 148; disap- proved by Williams, 148; draws seceders from Newport, 148; influence of , 149 ; removes from Providence to Shawomet, 150; summoned to Boston, 150, 151; denies the authority of Massachusetts, 150, 161; Ar- nold's opposition to, 151 ; seized and carried to Boston, 151 ; tried for heresy and blas- phemy, 151 ; compelled to at- tend Cotton's church, 151 ; his sentence and punishment, 152 ; appeals to England, 152; se- cures his title to land, 152 ; re- turns to Shawomet, 162 ; " Sim- pUoities Defence," 153; changes name of Shawometto Warwick, 152, 153; bibliography of, 153; death of, 153 ; chosen president of meeting of Providence and Warwick, 168. Government, misconstruction of the functions of, 190, 191 ; an ordinance of God, 227 ; neces- sity of support for, 227. Greek, Williams's acquaintance with, 180, 232. Greene, John, on restraint of wo- men in liberty of conscience, 83 ; charges the Massachusetts court with usurping power over men's consciences, 117. Greenwich Bay, Gorton setjtles on, 150. Guild, Dr. Beuben, "Footprints of Soger WUUame," 5; on var rious events in Williams's life, 5, 6, 10, 60, 74 ; Introduction to " Mr. Cotton's Letter," 125 ; on the Westminster Assembly ,127 ; "Account of the Writings of Eoger Williams," 179 ; on Wil- liams's sermons, 228. Gwinear, Williams's supposed birth in, 5. Hampden, John, 120. Hanging, punisliment by, 66. Harris, Thomas, 80, 188, 193. Harris, WiUiam, one of Wil- liams's companions in exile, 75 ; implicated in tumult in Providence, 190; a chronic agitator, 194; submits to the colony, 194; disturbance by. 244 INDEX 196-198; adherence to principle, 197 ; preaches anarcliy, 198. Hart, George T., on tlie deatli of Williams, 230, 231. HartJord, Conn., removal of Haynes and Hooker to, 65; founding of, 95; attitude of Massachusetts toward, 96. HaseMg, Sir Arthur, 121. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, on the Puritan fathers, 28. Haynes, John, governor, 68 ; pro- nounces Williams's sentence of hanlahment, 64 ; differences with Massachusetts 64, 65; confession to Williams, 64, 65 ; removal to Hartford, 65, 94, 95 ; succeeded by Vane, 85. Hehrew, Williams's acquain- tance with, 180, 232. Hebrew Commonwealth, the, 93. Helwisse, Thomas, 182. Henry II., sufferings of the Jews under, 174. Henry VII., discovery of New England under, 36. Heresy, toleration ranked as, 27 ; a convertible term with trea- son, 45 ; WUllams on, 130 ; Gor- ton tried for, 151. Higginson, Eev. Francis, 18, 25. "Hireling Ministry None of Christ's," 46, 177. Holden, Bandall, 188. HoUand, freedom from fanati- cism, 2 ; Separatists in, 16 ; de- parture of the Plymouth col- ony from, 16; a refuge for English dissenters, 128, 131 ; toleration in, 129, 131 ; war with England, 171, 174, 179; exUed Jews in, 174; migration of Jews to Bhode Island from, 176; refugees from, in London, 181. HoUand, , 189. Holmes, Obadlah, flight from Plymouth, 163 ; accompanies Clarke and Holmes to Lynn, 163 ; repudiates the name of Anabaptist, 163; arrest, trial, and punishment of, 163-166. Holyman, Ezekiel, migrates to Providence, 106 ; baptizes Wil- liams, 107. Hooker, Richard, "Ecclesiastical Polity," 182. Hooker, Thomas, quoted, 20 ; "Makers of America," 26, 96, 102 ; WiUiams's disputation with, 65-67, 65; differences with Massachusetts, 65; re- moval to Hartford, 65, 94 elseq.; illness of his wife, 96'; letters to Winthrop, 96; democratic leadership of, 96. Hope purchase of the island of, 104. Hopkins^ Gov., opposes the con- flrmatiou of the Bhode Island charter, 179. Hough, Atherton, 59. Houseof Commous, subscribes to the Solemn League and Cove- nant, 128 ; orders the " Bloudy Tenent" to be burned, 141; abolished, 166. House of Lords, subscribes to the Solemn League and Cove- nant, 128; aboUahed, 166. Hubbard, Bev. WUllam, on ques- tion of Williams's ordination at Salem, 30 ; on Endlcott's posi- tion on the veU question, 39 ; on Cotton's rule, 67 ; " History of New England," 142, 143; on Endlcott's motives in cutting the cross from the flag, 164. Hubbard, Eev. Samuel, letter of John Thornton to, 230. Hudson, the Dutch on the, 114. "Humble Supplication to the King's Majesty, An," 136. Humfrey, Jolin, 59. Husbands, right to put restraint on consciences of wives, 83. Hutchinson, Anne, Cotton's ef- forts to shield, 67; arrival in Massachusetts, 86 ; personal characteristics, 86, 87; reli- gious teachings of, 86-89 ; sup- ported by Cotton and Gov. Vane, 87 ; tried for heresy and banished, 89, 104; settles in Bhode Island, 92 ; death of her husband, 93; removes to neigh- borhood of NewTork, 93; mur- dered by Indians, 93, 119. Hutchinson, Thomas, " Original Papers of Massachusetts Bay," 17, 19, 20, 66; on the status of freemen, 19 ; on Cotton's posi- tion regarding the veil ques- tion, 39. Hypocrisy, Cromwell on, 62. Idolatry, a capital offense in Massachusetts, 84. Immigration, modem views of, 216. Independents, rise of power of, in England, 62; fame of the clergy for eloquence, 66 ; Vane's part in the rise of, 86 ; the ex- treme wing of the Puritan INDEX zto party, 128; toleration among the, 133 ; confession of faitli by Jacob's con^egation of, 133; WiUianis's intercourse "witli the, 134; favora limited tolera- tion, Ul, 113 ; oppose the con- Urmatiou of the Bhode Island charter, 179. Indian land-grants, 160. Indian language, Williams's translation of, 120. Indian Point, 76. Indians, Williams's relations and intercourse -witli, 32, 33, 74, 78, 97-100, 119, U2, IM, 145, 167, 189, 214, 223; Williams's views of their ownership of the land, 33, 36-38, 64, 77; WUliams as- serts the independence of, 38 ; Williams seeks refuge among the, 72 ; welcome at fflate Rock from, 76 ; sell land to Williams, 77, 78 ; league between Narra- . gansettsand the Massachusetts English, 92 ; murder the Hutch- inson family, 93, 119; treaty with, 99.; barbarities of, 99; Williams protests against mu- tilating slain, 101, 102 ; murder of one in Plymouth, 105; ac- quire the use of firearms, 114 ; predicted war of exterminar tion by the, 114; murders by, on Long Island, 119 ; peace be- tween the Dutch and the, 119 ; abhor to disturb conscience at worship, 139; war between the Narragansetts and those of Long Island, 189 ; Massachu- setts' debt to, 189; depreda- tions of, 194, 196 ; sale of arms and liquor to, 196 ; King Phil- ip's war, 221-226 ; sold into slav- ery, 224, 225 ; Williams preaches to, 227. Bee also Mohegans; Narkagansetts ; Peqdods. Intellectual Uberty, the right of, 33, 34. Intolerance, in the seventeenth century, 112. Invisible ink, 136. Inward light, the doctrine of, 87, 200. Israel, Manasseh ben, 174. Italy, compact between Otto- man Empire and republics of, for liberty of worship, 133. James I., Williams's charges against, 36, 36; toleration in the reign of, 131. Jefferson, Thomas, 216. Jesuits, the, in the North, 114. Jesus College, Oxford, alleged entry of WiUiams at, 4. Jews, expected conversion of, 172 ; duty of the magistrates to permit them to live peaceably, 172 et seq. ; WUliams's plea for their readmisslon to England, 173 et seq. ; exiles in Holland, 174; Cromwell permits their return, 174 ; sufferings in Eng- land, 174, 178; migration of, from Holland to Ehode Island, 175 ; settlement in Newport,176. John, King, Bufferings of the Jews under, 174. Judaic code, attempts to formu- late Massachusetts law ac- cording to, 84. Justtflcation, the doctrine of, 87. "Key into the Language of America," 119, 120, 179. King Philip, 33; suspects Ply- mouth of poisoning Wameutta, 221; death of, 223; his head sent to Boston, 223 ; his hand sent to Plymouth, 223, 224 ; his son sold in Bermuda, 224. King Philip's war, 221-225. Knowles, James D., "Memoir of Eoger Williams," 3, 17, 48, 124, 169, 171, 179, 228 ; errors as to Williams's age, 10; on ques- tion of Williams's ordination at Balem, 30 ; on the oath of al- legiance, 48; on the attitude of the Salem church toward WU- liams, 68 ; on Williams's parti- tion of land, 78 ; on the Indian treaty, 99 ; on Williams's agree- ment for regulation of Provi- dence government, 158 ; on the death of WiUiams, 230. Land question, Williams's teach- ings on the, 46. Latin, Williams's acquaintance with, 180, 232. Laud, Archbishop, influence of, 1; forces Williams to emi- grate, 14 ; the General Court's dread of, 36; persecutions of, 67, 128. Law, Williams's study of, 13. Lavprence, Maj.-Gen., 2. "Letters of Koger WUliams," 69, 180. Levant Company of Merchants,7. Liberty, Williams's impelling motive, 79; how its spirit Is kindled, 131; construed into license, 146; the conflict be- tween law and, 83. 246 INDEX Liberty of conscience, Williams on, ii, 166, 173 et sea., 178; preaolied by; Hugh Peters, 69 ; a prerequisite for, 107 ; pro- vided for in schemes tor gov- ernment ol Providence, 109, 110, 164 ; not confounded with license in civil matters, llO, 111 ; the theocratic interpreta- tion of, 112; part of the Anabaptists in securing, 131, 132; Busher on, 132; Maason on, 132; a plea for, 136; how regarded in England, Ul; confounded with license in civil government, 190 et seq,; William Harris's doctrine of, 196; granted by the new charter, 211 et seq. ; does not imply approval of errors, 219. Liberty of worship, in Turkey, 133; Williams's advocacy of, 178. Lincoln, Abraham, 215. Lincolnshire, Williams's visit to, 63; Anne Hutchinson's emi- gration from, 86; Coddington a native of, 168. Liquor, sale to Indians, 196. London, Williams's supposed birth in, 6, 6 ; flight of Charles L from, 120 ; Williams's work among the poor of, 121, 138, 184 ; the Baptists in, 132 ; Wil- liams's «ojoum in, 134 ; arrival of Williams and Clarke in, 169 ; agitation in, over State-Church and Voluntaryism contest, 176; Dutch refugees in, 181; Charles II.'s entrance into, 210. Long Island, proposed Antl- nomian settlement upon, 91; Indian murders on, 119; war between ITarragansetts and Indians of, 189. Long Parliament, the^, 120. Lowndes, G. Alan, Williams's letters In collection of, 11; suggestion as to cause of Wil- liams's emigration, 12. Ludlow, Roger, carries Indian scalps to Boston, 101. Lyde, Henry, 6. Lynn, visit of Clarke, Crandall, and Holmes to, 163. Lynn, Henry, whipped and ban- ished, 22. Magistracy, Williams on the or- dmance of, 60, 61, 126. Magistrates, duties toward their subjects, 139 ; duty to permit Jews to live peaceably, 172 et seq. Maine, the Church of England in, 114; excluded from the New England confederacy, lU. MaUclouB speeches against the government, the offense of, 22. Manhattan, difiScuity between Ehode Island and, 170; Wil- liams's embarkation from, 181. See also New York. MarbleheadNeck, Salem's claim for land at, 62. Marriage, Milton's heretical views of, 134. Masham, Sir WiUiam, Williams chaplain to, 11. Mason, Major John, letter from Williams to, 44, 64, 66, 70, 72, 81, 96,98,103,118,216,217,229; leads attack on Mystic Fort, 100 ; pursues the Pequods, 101. Massachusetts, ecclesiastical rule and tyranny, 2, 44, 46 ; re- view of ecclesiastical and civil policy, 16 et seq. ; attitude to- ward Williams,15, 33, 34,142-144 ; intolerance, 16 ; religious prin- ciples, 16 et seq. ; toleration, 27 ; historians of, 27; theocratic government, 61, 96, 234; Wil- liams "enlarged" out of, 57; Gov. Haynes'sdlfferences with, 64j 66 ; Williams's influence with the Indians, 78, .189 ; re- cruits for Providence colony from, 79 ; attempts to formulate law on the Judaic code, 84; capital crimes, 84: causes of WfUiams's expulsion, 84; in- crease of persecution, 84 ; Vane chosen governor, 85; new ar- rivals, 86; arrival of Anne Hutchinson, 86; regulation of daily Ufe, 87 ; schism, 88 ; trials for heresy, 89 ; banishment of Anne Hutchinson, 92; removals to Connecticut from, 94 et seq. ; limitations of the franchise, 96 ; narrow system of government, 95; endeavors to control Con- necticut, 96; treaty with the Pequods, 97 ; war with the Pe- quods, 100, 101 ; Anne Hutchin- son's adherents driven from, 104 ; emigration of Baptists to Providence, 106; jealousy of Providence, 106 ; ioms the New England confederacy, 114 ; claims for preponderance in the New England alliance, 114 ; revocation of charter, 117; passes a law against inhabi- A-nAJAUJ^ tantB of Provldenee, 117, 118; claims that Kbode Island and Providence liave no right to set up civil government, 118; Lady Moody exiled, 119; Wil- liams outlawed, 119 ; letter to the governor from members of the Parliamentary party of England, Ul, 142; endeavors of the Parliamentary party In England to heal the breach be- tvf een Williams and, 142, 143 ; strictness of its rule, 146; claims jurisdiction overNarra- ganaett Bay, 148-ieO, 217 ; citi- zens of Providence appeal to, 148 et seq. ; Indian appeals to, in Gorton's land case, 160 ; sum- mons Gorton to Boston, 150, ISl ; sends an armed force to Pawtuxet, 151; seizes Gorton and his followers, 161; sever- ity of the government, 153; Doyle on her claims to the foundation of religious free- dom, 166 ; lack of appreciation of the principle of federation, 167 ; Coddington goes to Eng- land by way of, 160; designs to dismember theNarragansett settlements, 161 ; Pavrtuxet appeals to, against Bhode Is- land, 161 ; negotiates with Ply- mouth for transfer of rights over Ehode Island, 161 ; orderb Rhode Island not to prose- cute suits against Massachu- setts' subjects, 161; flight of John Clarke, 162; reign of terror, 164; John Endicott, governor, 163-165 ; expulsion of the Antinomians, 168 ; Codding- ton's offices in, 168 ; Clarke and wmiams obtain leave to pass through, 169; ordered to give free passage to Williams, 184 ; debt to the Indians, 189 ; dis- puted sovereignty over Paw- tuxet and Warwick, 194, 195; refuses to sell arms to Bhode Island, 195; violence of the Quakers. 202; passes capital lavrs against the Quakers, 204 ; intrigues against Ehode Is- land, 207; attitude regarding the revolution in England, 209. See also General Court. Massachusetts Bay Company, 21. Hasaasoit^ Williams's acquain- tance with, 33 ; claims the land of Providence, 78; death of,221. Mas8on,David,onthe principle of libertyof conscience, 132; "Life of Milton," 132-134, 136. 143, 172, 173, 176 ; on WUUams's position in the contest between Volun- taryism and the State-Church party, 175, 176 ; on WUUams's acquisition of Dutch, 181. Mather, Increase, on the exer- cise of mercy, 224. Mather, Elchard, supposed au- thor of the " Model of Church and Civil Power," 138. "Meritorious Price of Our Ee- demption," 101. Metacom. See King Philip. Miantonomo, conveys land to WUliams, 77, 78; sells land to the Antinomians, 92; visits Boston, 98, 99 ; killed by Mo- hegans, 144 ; Gorton purchases a tract of land from, 160 ; sum- moned to Massachusetts, ISO. Milton, John, WUUams's ac- quaintance with, 2, 134, 180 ; a sectary, 184; heretical views regarding marriage, 134; "Doc- trine of Discipline of Divorce," 134; an advocate of church reform, 134 ; compeer of WU- liams, 140; "Areopagltlca," 141 ; advocates extirpation of Popery, 141 ; appointed Secre- tary for the Foreign Tongues, 167; threatened vnth blind- ness, 180; on divorce, 183; Mrs. Sadleir's wrath with, 183 ; " Eikonoklastes," 183 ; his blindness alleged to be the punishment of God, 183 ; com- pared with Williams, 232. See also Masson. Ministers' meetings, 34, 35. "Model of Church and Civil Power," the, 137, 138. Mohammed IV., reception of Mary Fisher, 201. Mohegans, league with the Eng- lish and Narragansetts, 98; murder Sassacus, 101 ; kill Mi- antonomo, 144 ; war with the Narragansetts, 144 ; peace with the Narragansetts, 145. Moody, Lady, 119. Mooshausick Elver, Williams on the, 76, 78. Morocco, captive Indians sold into, 226. Moshassuck, Williams blamed for parting with, 78. "Mr. Cotton's JJetter Lately Printed, Examined and An- swered," 60, 61, 64, 68, 125. Murton, , a Baptist prisoner for conscience' sake, 136. 248 INDEX Mutilation, punishment by ,22, 66. Mystic Fort, massacre at, 100. Nantasket, arrival of tlie " Lyon" off, 15. Narraeansett Bay, ftrst settle- ment on, 10 ; Williams prepares to form a plantation on, 69; Williams's migration to, 72; settlement of Antinomians, 92; Massach'usetts claims jurisdic- tion over, US et seq. ; entitled to claim tlie foundation of re- ligious freedom, 166 ; Williams sells his trading-house at, 169 ; heretics in, 204; Massachu- setts' claim to, 217; Williams preaches at, 227. Narragansett Club Publications, 4, 15, 44, 61, 64, 65, 68, 69, 74, 79, 111, 125-127, 144, 148, 170, 176, 180, 191, 215, 216, 220, 228, 229. Narragansett Indians, the, 33; convey land to Williams, 77, 78 ; league with Massachusetts English, 92; Williams's influ- ence with, 97, 98 ; league with English and Mohegans, 98, 99 ; distribution of Pequod prison- ers among, 101 ; war with Mo- hegans, 144; peace with Mohe- fans, 145 ; diinculties with New Ingland confederacy, 144, 145 ; Williams trades with, 156 ; Wil- liams's mission among, 157; war between Long Island In- dians and, 189; slaughter of, 223. Narragansett settlements, their growth, 140; obstacles in the way of, 153 ; a democratic fed- eral republic, 165; designs of Massachusetts to dismember, 161. National church, not instituted by Christ, 139. Netherlands, Charles V.'s perse- cutions in the, 181. See also Holland. New Amsterdam, trade between Curafoa and, 175; settlement of Jews in Newport from, 175. Newbury, Lydia Wardel's " tes- timony " at, 202. " Newcomers," the, 108. New England, Williams receives a call from, 12 ; Williams's ar- rival in, 15, 23; ecclesiastical influences in, 18 ; qualifications of a freeman In, 19 ; relations of the church in, to the state, 19, 20 ; persecutions, 22, 66 ; lack of religious liberty, 26 et seq. ; the early chroniclers of, 27; the true history of, belated, 27 ; the calling in of the patent, 28; Williams's influence in protect- ing it from savage warfare, 32; fanaticism, 45; "seekers," 108 ; interpretation of liberty of conscience, 112; effect of dissensions In, on England's policy toward, 143; her Pu- ritanism contrasted with Wil- liams's principles of liberty, 164 ; Peters condemns persecu- tion in, 170; arrival of the Quakers, 199, 200; attitude re- garding the revolution in Eng- land, 209; King PhUip's war, 221-225. New England Confederacy, for- mation of, 113 et seq. ; popula- tion, 114; exclusion of Maine, 114 ; Rhode Island excluded from, 114, lis; an experiment in federal government, 115, 116 ; form of government, 116 ; col- lapse of, 117; invites Bhode Island to join in persecution of the Quakers, 123; attitude toward Ehode Island, 143, 204- 206 ; difaculties with the Nar- ragansetts, 144, 146; Codding- ton attempts to enter,169e«se3.; opposes the confirmation of the Rhode Island chaoH^er, 179. "New England Firebrand Quenched," 144. " New England's Memorial," 216. "New England way," the, 128. Newgate, imprisonment in, for conscience' sake, 136. New Haven, Pequod massacre near, 101; joins the New Eng- land confederacy, 114. Newhouse, Thomas, creates a scene in the Old South Meet^ tag-House, 202. Newport, settlement of, 92 ; pro- tection of liberty of conscience in, 110; charter Assembly at, 118; charter of, 121; Gorton's troubles, 147 ; breach between Portsmouth and, 147 ; Gorton's following from, 148; share of gift to Williams, 155 ; sends an assistant to the Assembly, 159 ; incorporated, 160 ; formation of first Baptist church at, 162; former name of, 168; alarmed over Coddington's ac- tion, 168 ; settlement of Jews in, 175 ; Benedict Arnold elected, assistant, 188; growth, 193; freemen, 193; meeting of the UNKJSA. General AssemMy, 197 ; defec- tion of, 207 ; first general elec- tion under new charter, 213, 211; WlUiams's debate with Quakers, 220 ; Robert Williams teaclies sclioolat, 226. See also Aquedneck. New Town, Mass., conventions of tlie General Court at, 68, 90 ; removals to Connecticut from, 94 et sea.; growtli, 96. New York, Williams embarks for England from, 118, 119; aristo- cratic founding of, 234. See also Manhattan. Nonconformists, tlie Massachu- setts Bay colonists, 16 et seq.; tlieir objections to ceremonies, 24. Norton, John, persecution of the Quakers by, 202. Nowell, Increase, 59. Nye, PhUip, 134. Oath of allegiance, made obli- gatory by the General Court, 49. Oatlis, Williams's position on the taking of, 25, 46-49 ; made unnecessary in Providence courts, 154. Oldham, John, murdered by In- dians, 97. Old South Meeting-House, Tho- mas Newhouse creates a scene in, 202. Olney, Thomas, implicated in tumult in Providence, 190; suc- ceeds Harris as assistant for Providence, 193. Opinionlsts, the, 87. "Origin of Bepublican Form of Government in the United States, The," 93. Ottoman Empire, liberty of wor- ship in, 133 ; capitulations of, 133, 201, 202. See also Levant ; TUEKEY. Ousamequln. See Massasoit. Oxford, allegedentry of Williams at Jesus College, 4. Palfrey, John Gorham, 163. Papists, Williams's attitude to- ward, 178. Parliament, grants a charter to Narragansett settlements, 118, 120-124; Williams's letter to, on toleration, 129 ; toleration a paramount question in, 136; permission or dissenting con- sciences justified, 177. See also HotrSE OF Commons; House OP LOKDS. Parliamentary forces, Presbyte- rian support of the, 127. Pasacus, concludes treaty of peace with the Mohegans, 144, 145. Pastor, the duties of the office, 25. Pate, Mrs., 6. Patience, purchase of the island of, 104. Pawtucket, Williams blamed for parting with, 78. Pawtucket Elver, Williams ob- tains land on the, 78. Pawtuxet, Gorton settles in, 147 ' et seq. ; Williams allays strife at, 148; jurisdiction claimed by Plymouth, 161 ; appeals to Massachusetts against Rhode Island,161 ; annexed to Suffolk county, 161; disputed sover- eignty over, 194, 195. Pawtuxet River, 160. Pemberton family, connection of Williams with the, 6. Pembroke College, WiUlams's ed- ucation at, 6, 9, 10, 13. Penn, WiUiam, land methods of, 78. Pentateuch, the basis of General Court procedure, 62, 65 ; bind- ing authority in Massachu- setts, 84. Pequods, treaty with Massachu- setts Bay, 97; murder John Oldham, 97; Williams'smission among, 98; defeated in plan to form coalition with Narragan- setts, 98; war with the Eng- lish, 99-102; massacre and en- slavement of, 100-102. Pequod war, the, 92, 97, 99-102. Perry, Amos, opinion as to birth and parentage of WUliams, 6, 7. Persecution. See Religious Persecution. Peters, Hugh, friend of Wil- liams, 2 ; advises excommuni- cation of Williams, 69; advo- cates liberty of conscience, 69, 170; arrival in Boston, 85; asks for share in captive Indians, 102 ; leader of English dissent- ers, 128; condemns New Eng- land persecutions, 170; John Winthrop, Jr., marries adaugh- ter of, 170. Peterson, Rev. Edward, "His- tory of Rhode Island," 176. Philip, King. See King Philip. Pierce, Captain, 16. 250 INDEX Pilgriin Colony. SeePLTMOOTH. Fisa, compact with OttomanEm- pire for liberty of worship, 133. Plymouth, members of the colo- ny Separatists, 16; toleration in, 16 ; Williams removes from Salem to,29; Williams's workat, 30-33 ; visit of Gov. Winthrop, 31 ; Williams leaves, 33 ; treat- ment of Williams, 73, 74; Wil- liams's influence with Indians at, 78; murder and executlonin, 105 ; j oins the New England con- federacy. Hi ; removal of Gor- ton to,M7; claim ofjurisdiction over Warwick and Pawtuxet, 161 ; Massachusetts negotiates with, for transfer of its rights over Rhode Island, 161 ; trans- fers rights to Massachusetts, 161 ; flight of Holmes, 163 ; reign of terror, 164; Wamsutta's death laid at the door of, 221 ; King Philip's hand sent to, 223, 224. Plymouth Church, principles of, 16. Pokanokets, the, 33; slaughter of, 223. Fomham, appeals to Massachu- setts in Gorton's land case, 150. Pope, the EngUah overthrow of the authority of the, 43. Popery, Williams's conference with Cromwell on, 4; Milton advocates its extirpation, 141. Portsmouth, E. I. , settlement, 92; governmentbyjudges,93 ; char- ter, 121 ; meetings of the Gen- eral Assembly, 123, 153, 162, 193, 203; Gorton's troubles, 147; disagreements between other towns and, 147, 159; share of gift to Williams, 165 ; sends an assistant to the Assembly, 159 ; incorporated,160; alarmedover Coddington's action, 168 ; John Boome elected assistant, 188; freemen in, 193; general elec- tion, 196. Presbyterian Church, position in the Civil War, 127; proposed for England, 135, 136. Presbyterlanism,England'8 tran- sition toward, 140, 143, 144 ; in England and Scotland, 167. Presbyterians, hostility to John Goodwin, 135 ; design to estab- lish an intolerant national church, 135, 136 ; anti-toleration attitude, 144; oppose the con- firmation of the Rhode Island charter, 179. Priests, their monopoly of reve- lation, 88, 89. Prince, Thomas, 30. Prince coUectlonof manuscripts, 228. Princij)le, WUliams's impelling motive, 79. Private Judgment, the right of, 33, 45, 88, 199, 200. Protectorate, establishment of the, 184. Protestants, persecuted in the Netherlands, 181. Protestantism, aniark of separa- tion between Bomanism and, 24. Providence, relations between Connecticut and, 44; 250th an- niversary, 57, 65; liberty of conscience in, 63, 66, 79, 81-83, 109, 110, 123, 154 ; a shelter for the poor and persecuted, 66, 81; WiUiams's settlement at, 72, 73, 76, 76; site claimed by Massar soit, 73 ; the naming of, 73 ; orig- inal settlers, 76; negotiations for purchase of land at, 77, 78 ; partition of land, 78 ; Williams's letters to, 78, 79, 110, 111, 179, 185, 186, 192, 194; motives for foundation, 79 ; growth, 79, 103, 106, 108; compaict of govern- ment, 80 ; form of government, 81, 164, 155 ; activity of the devil in, 82; "cranks" in, 82, 146; in- fluence of affairs in Massachu- setts on, 91 ; Williams receives banished Antlnomians at, 91, 92 ; WiUiams entertains Massa- chusetts soldiers at, 100 ; immi- gration of Anne Hutchinson's adherents, 104; murder near, 105; Massachusetts' Jealousy of, 106 ; debarred from trading with Boston, 106 ; immigration of Baptists from Massachu- setts, 106 ; new form of govern- ment for, 108 et seq.; disputes concerning boundaries, 109, 229 ; isolation, 117 ; allies itself with Rhode Island, 118; char- ter, 121, 123, 140 ; WiUiams's re- turn to, 142-144, 163,185; citizens appeal to Massachusetts, 148 et seq.; strife and discord, 148, 149, 157 et seq., 183-185, 190; Gorton removes from, 150; effect of the Gorton troubles, 153; difficul- ties regarding organization of government, 153 et seq. ; meet- ings of the General Assembly, 153, 169, 168; bill of rights, 165; share of gift to Williams, 156, INDEX JIOl elections in, 155, 188, 193 ; Wil- liams retains bis citizensliip in, 157 ; Williams an assistant in, 157, 169, 2U; origin of its liis- tory, 160; incorporated, 160; continues under the charter, 169; the General Assembly's pecuniary attitude toward Wil- uams, 183, 181; town meeting in, 186; Gregory Dexter town- clerk of, 188, 189 ; malicious pa- Ser circulated in, 191 ; Thomas Iney elected assistant, 193; freemen, 193 ; send address to Eicbard Cromwell, 210; Wil- liams's views on the common lands of, 2U, 215 ; debate with the Quakers, 219, 220; King Philip's war, 222; Williams drills militia in, 222; partial destruction of the records, and their republication, 222; Indian captives in, 224 ; disposition of Williams's lands, 228; lack of appreciation of Williams, 229; desires Williams for governor, 232. Providence,divine,howregarded in New England, 27. Prudence, purchase of the is- land of, 104. Public worship, compulsory at- tendance on, 49. Pmitan Commonwealth, the statute-book of, 24. Puritan emigration, the, 1. Puritan fathers, true aspect of the, 27; Hawthorne on the, 28. Puritan histoi'ians. Ingratitude toward Williams, 102, 103. Puritanism, contrasted with Williams's principles of lib- erty, 164. Puritans, WiUiams among the radical, 14; motives of emi- gration, 21; intolerance, 21, 200; abuse of power, 22; perse- cutions by, 22, 71 ; the New Eng- land idea of religious freedom, 43, 44 ; allowances to be made for, 71; peculiarities, 84; al- leged purpose to preach Christ to the savages, 102 ; feud with Gorges, 114; position in the Civil War, 127; a political party, 128; contention for a Presbyterian state, ISO ; Dutch influence on,181 ; austerity, 200 ; opposition to the doctrine of inward light, 200; difference between those of England and ■those of New England, 200. Puritan theocracy, collapse of, 117. Fyncheon, John, carries Indian scalps to Boston, 101 ; " Meri- torious Price of Our Eedemp- tion," 101. Quakers, attitude of Plymouth Colony toward, 16; persecu- tion of, 66, 123, 199 et seq.; attitude of Bhode Island to- ward, 123, 124, 203, 218 ; why so caUed, 199; arrival in New England, 199, 200; extrava^ gances of, 199 et sea., 219; how regarded, 200; devotion to principle, 200; their coming dreaded in Boston, 200; vio- lent actions in Boston, 202; passage of laws against, 203 ; how treated in England, 204; capital laws of Massachusetts against, 204; Williams's atti- tude toward, 206; Williams's controversy with, 217, 218 ; uni- versally detested, 218, 219 ; dis- honor the name of God, 218; religious fervor, 219; accept Wimams's challenge, 220. " Queries of Highest Considera- tion," 127, 129. Katcliffe, Philip, fined and ban- ished, 22. Bates, Williams on, 227. Eehoboth. See Seekonk. Eeligious duties, Williams denies power of civil authorities to punish for neglect of, 25. Eeligious liberty, Williams the champion of, 2, 3, 15 ; lack of, in the New England colonies, 26 et seq.; the New England Puritan idea of, 43, 44; predi- cated upon separation of church and state, 61 ; Cotton's position on, 67; regarded as an- ti-Christian, 71 ; Ehode Island a pioneer in the cause, 112 ; establishment in Providence Plantations, 165 ; Doyle on the claim of Massachusetts to have established, 156; WU- liams's conception of, 191, 192 ; compatible with civil govern- ment, 192 ; distinction between anarchy and, 199; WUliams charged with violating its principles, 198 ; upheld by Wil- liams and Ehode Island, 206; not to be confounded with civil license, 211; granted by the 252 INDEX new charter, 211 et seq. ; Wil- liams's jealousy for, 227. EeUgious opinions, WilUams on tlie lack of authority of civil power over, 61. Beligious persecution, excuses for, M; tfie source of all forms of, 4,9; WUliams on, 129, 130; its lires Idndle the spirit of liberty, 131; a forcible argu- ment against, 136 ; defended by Cotton, 137 ; its nature, 177. " Eeply of Two of the Brethren to A. 8., etc.. A," 135. Eevelatlon, the interpretation of, 88, 89; a monopoly in the priesthood, 88, 89. Eeynolds, WUllam, 80. Ehode Island, WUliams the founder of, 2; the foundation of, 32 ; its fate in the General Court, 67; Its charters, 63, 85, 116, 171, 179, 203, 210-213; first settlement in, 75, 76 ; purchase of, 92 ; settlement of Antino- mians, 92; growth, 92; imita- tion of Hebrew form of govern- ment, 93 ; birth of first white male child, 106; organization of government, 109 ; protection of liberty of conscience, 109, 110 ; a pioneer in the cause of religious liberty, 112; excluded from the New England confed- eracy, 114, 115; a menace to New England theocracy, 116; success of free government in, 115 ; a shelter for the op- pressed, 115, 217; isolation, 117 ; aUled witli Providence, 118; invited to join New England in persecution of Quakers, 123; attitude of New England con- federacy toward, 143, 204r-206; feuds and disturbances, 147 et , seq., 157 et seq., 185, 192 ; diver- sity of the refugees In, 157; Williams a paoiflcator, 168, 185 ; attempts to enter the New England confederation, 159 et seq.; reported discovery of gold and silver, 160; dangers men- acing, 161; Pawtuxet appeals to Massachusetts against, 161 ; Massachusetts negotiates with Plymouth for transfer of her rights over, 161; protests against Massachusetts' action, "161, 162 ; Coddington obtains a f;overnor'8 commission for, 167 ; ormer name of, 168 ; difficulty with the Dutch at Manhattan, 170; tlie General Assembly asks Williams to have himself ap- pointed governor, 170, 171 ; an asylum for Jews, 174; Imihi- gration of Jews from Holland, 175 ; Vane appeals to, to stop ctuarreling, 185 ; reorganization of government, 186 etseg. ; gen- eral election at Warwick, 188 ; difficulties of WiUiams's ad- ministration, 189 et seq.; con- duct of Eoyalists in, 192 ; letter of Cromwell to, 192, 193 ; quali- fications of freemen, 193 ; Mas- sachusetts refuses to sell arms to, 196; liberal spirit of, 199; attitude toward Quakers, 203 ; " a harborage for aU sorts of consciences," 203, 204; stead- fast in principle, 204, 205 ; ap- peals to England, 205, 206; Williams's seat in the Assem- bly, 206; Intrigues of Massa- chusetts against, 207 ; welcomes Cromwell as Protector, 209, 210 ; address to Bichard Cromwell, 210; proclamation of Charles II., 210; address to Charles II., 211, 212 ; adoption of D. 8. Con- stitution, 213 ; prosperity, 213 ; far-reaching infiuence of, 213, 234 ; the first Assembly under the new charter, 213, 214; re- ception of the Quakers, 218; spirit of, 219; King Philip's war, 222-225. Ehode Island and Providence Plantations, adoption of the name, 211. Eichard I., sufferings of Jews under, 174. Eickard, George, 80. Eider, 8idney S., "Book Notes," 230; on death of WiOiams, 230. Eom anism , a mark of separation between Protestantism and, 24. Eoome, John, 188. Eoxbury, Mr. Hall Congrega- tional minister at, 137. Eoyalists, insubordination of, 192. Eump Parliament, dissolution of 172, 184. Sabbath observance, 25. Saoonoco, appeals to Massachu- setts in Gorton's land case, 150. Sadleir, Mrs., correspondence with WiUlams, 4, 8-10, 14, 16, 181 et seq.; testimony regarding WUllams's education at Sut- ton's Hospital, 8; Eoyalist principles, 182 ; on divorce, 183 ; wrath with Milton, 183. INDEX 253 St. Join, Oliver, English ambas- sador in Holland, 174. Saladln, Sultan, compact lor lib- er^ of worship with Pisa, 133. Salem, Mass., arrival of Pilgrims at, and their removal to Shaw- mut, 1 ; religions principles of colonists, 16 e< seg.; formatlonof first chm-oh In, 17, 18 ; offenses against the church at, 22 ; calls WUliams to ministry, 23, 25, 26, 38; the General Court remon- strates against appointment of Williams, 25, 26, 29, 30; Wil- liams's settlement as minister at, and removal to Plymouth from, 29 ; Williams's standing in, 29, 30 ; Williams's return to, 30, 33 ; independence and con- tempt of authority by the church at, 38, 39; Williams's dilflculties during second resi- dence at, is et seg. ; the church particeps criminis with Wil- liams, 62 ; claims land at Mar- blehead, 62 ; attacks thema^s- trates, 63 ; exclusion of deputies from General Court, 63 ; lack of loyaliy to Williams, 63 ei seg. ; bigotry in, 64 ; position of the church, 64 ; deputies of, disfran- chised, 59 ; action of the church regarding charges against Wil- liams, 68; Williams obtains permission to remain at, till spring, 69; schism in, 70; XJn- derhill's expedition to, to cap- ture Williams, 70; Williams's departure, 72-74 ; Mrs. Williams leaves, 79; Williams's follow- ing in, 137; WUUams's pas- torate in, 164. Sanctifloation, doctrine of, 87. Sassacus, murder of, 101. Say and Sole, Lord, John Cot- ton's letter to, 20 ; in English Council, 121, Saybrook, Indian attack on, 99. Sootland,Presbyterianismin,l67. Scott, Richard, 80, 144. Scott, Mrs., migrates to Provi- dence, 106. " Seekers," 108. Seekonk, Williams's settlement at, 72, 73, 76; Williams's wel- come at, 144. Seekonk Elver, WrUiams's pas- sage down the, 75. Separatists, the, 16, 24. Sermons, length of, 86. Sharpe, Samuel, 68. Shawmut, removal of the Pil- grims from Salem to, 1. 17 Shawomet, Gorton removes to, 160; Gorton's title to, con- flrmed, 162. Ship, WiUiams's parable of the, 110, 111, 192, 196. Silver, reported discovery of, in Bhode Island, 160. Simpson, Sldrach, Williams's in- tercourse with, 134. Skelton, Bev. Mr., first pastor at Salem, 17, 18 ; Williams becomes assistant to, 25 ; failing health of, 33, 36 ; opposition to minis- ters' meetings, 84 ; death, 38. Slate Bock, Williams's arrival at, 76. Smith, John, the Amsterdam se- baptist, 32. Smith, John, one of Williams's exiled companions, 76. Smith, Balph, pastor of church at Plymouth, 31. Smyth, John, leader of the Anar baptists, 132. Society of Friends. See Quakers. " Solemn League and Covenant," the, 128. Soul-liberty, how regarded in the Bay Colony, 27 ; WUliams proclaims principles of, at Plymouth, 31, 32 ; Williams the champion of, 42, 63, 66, 141, 228 : Provlaence founded on, 63, 65, 79; WUUams's principles of, approved by the home gov- ernment, 122; Stephen Win- throp " a great man for," 170. See also Libeety of Consci- ence; Priv ATE Judgment. Spiritual government, WUliams on, 51. Spiritual liberty, the right of, 33, 34,46. Star Chamber, WiUiams's short- hand notes in, 4, 6. Stone, Samuel, removal of, to Connecticut, 94. Stoughton, Capt. Israel, leads Massachusetts forces against thePequods, 100, 101. Straus, Oscar, U. S. Minister to Turkey, 202 ; use of the capitu- lations of the Ottoman Empire, 202. Stubs, John, debates with WU- liams, 220. Suffering, consecrates the rights of man, 131. Suffolk County, Pawtuxet and Warwick annexed to, 161. Sutton, James, founder of Sut- ton's Hospital, 8; contest of his will, 8. 254 INDEX Sutton's Hospital, Williams's education m, 4, 8-10. See also Chakter House. Sword, Williams on tlie use of ttie, 166 ; power in spiritual matters, 177. Taxes, collected fiom non-mem- bers of tlie church, 19; Wil- liams on, 227. Teacher, the duties of the oiHee, 29. Ten Commandments, the, the comer-stone of the Puritan Commonwealth, 24 ; what they prescribe, 24, 26; WiUlams's position on the authority of the civil power to punish breaches of the first table, 49. "Tenent Washed and Made White," the, 47, 176. Testimony, the Quakers' idea of, 202. Thanks after meat and after sacrament, WUliams's position on the giving of, 60. Theocratic dogma, 45. Theology, the study of, 13 ; Anne Hutcmnson's, 87-89. Thornton, John, letter to Eev. Samuel Hubbard, 230 ; records death of Williams, 230. Tithes, discussion of the subject in England, 177, 178. Toleration, m Turkey, 8, 201; considered as heresy In the Bay Colony, 27 ; Cotton's posi- tion on, 67; Gov. Dudley's opposition to, 103; dissension in England as to, 128; Wil- Uams's attitude on, 128, 129; prosperity of Holland under, 129 ; introduction of ideas into England, 131 ; in Holland, 131 ; among the Independents, 183 ; pamphlet advocacy of, and op- position to, 136; a paramount question in the Westminster Assembly and In Parliament, 135, 143 ; commanded by Christ, 139 ; condition in England, 141 ; opposed by the Presbyterians, 144; proposed state church with, 172 et seq. ; in Mohamme- dan lands, 201 ; advantages of, 204, 206 ; complete, see Volun- TAKTISM. See also Eeligious LiBEKTT. Town-meeting, not the basis of the New England Puritan com- monwealth, 18. Treason, a convertible term with heresy, 45. Trinity College, Cambridge, WU- liams's papers hi the library of, 4, 182. Turbulent persons, Rhode Island a refuge for, 116. Turkey, religious toleration in, 8, 201 ; Mary Fisher's mission to, 201; concessions to Christian sects, 201 ; protection of Ameri- can missionaries in, 202. Turks, contrasted with Chris- tians, 132, 133. Tyler, Moses Colt, " History of American Literature," 179. Underhlll, Edward B., Introduc- tion to "Bloudy Tenent," 32, 136, 138. Underbill, Capt. John, sent to Salem to arrest Williams, 70. " United Colonies of New Eng- land," the, 113 et seq. U. 8. Constitution, adoption by Bhode Island, 213. Van Dyck, Edward A., "Capitu- lations of the Ottoman Em- pire," 133, 202. Vane, Charles, proposes Volun- taryism, 172. Vane, Sir Henry, Jr., Williams's friendship with, 2, 62, 63, 86, 121, 134, 173, 179, 180 ; commis- sioner of the colonies, 62; leader of dissenters in Eng- land, 86, 128; arrival of, m Boston, 86; personal charac- teristics, 85; designs tiie set- tlement of Connecticut, 85; chosen governor, 85 ; supports Anne Hutchinson, 86, 87, 90; controversy with Wlnthrop, 90 ; defeated for governor, 90 ; returns to England, 91 ; liberal views of, 91 ; activity in politi- cal affairs, 91 ; execution of, 91 ; influence with Indians, 92 ; letter from Williams to, 97 ; an advocate of religious tolerar tion, 121; member of the CouncU of State, 121, 166; member of the Westminster Assembly, 127; wishes John Winthrop, Jr., to join Wil- liams's colony, 170; supports the confirmation of the Bhode Island charter, 179 ; dismissed by Cromwell, 184; appeals to Bhode Island to cease quarrel- ing, 184, 185; Williams's answer to. 187 ; letter of thanks to, 189. INDEX 255 Yane, Lady, dedication of " Ex- periments of Spiritual Life" to, 178. Veils, Williams's controversy as to wearing of, 39, M. Verin, Josliua, 76 ; punlsbed for restraining liberty of con- science, 82, 83. Virginia, high-cliurcli founding of, 234. Voluntaryism, proposal for a system of, 172 et seq. Wales, Williams's birtli in, 3. WaJford, Tliomas, banlslied, 22. Wampanoags, the, 33, 221. Wamsutta, son of Massasoit, 221. Wanasquatucket Eiver, Wil- liams actiuires land on tbe, 78. Waid, Eev. Natbaniel, "The Simple Cohler of Aggawam," 111, 112 ; author of first legal code of the Bay Colony, 112. Wardel, Lydia, "bears testi- mony" at Newbury, 202. Warner, John, signer of the com- pact of government of Provi- dence, 80; named for mission to England, 162; assistant of Warwick, 170; diflBculty with a Dutch crew, 170. Warwick, its name, 150, 153 ; in- significance, 155 ; sends an as- sistant to the Assembly, 159; incorporated, 160 ; jurisdiction over, claimed by Plymouth, 161; annexed to Suffolk, 161; meetings of the General As- sembly at, 168, 198, 205; con- tinues under the charter, 169 ; WUliams's letter to, 179; do- mestic discord, 183, 184; gen- eral election, 188; Bandall Holden elected assistant, 188 ; freemen in, 193 ; disputed sov- ereignty over, 194, 196; defec- tion of, 207. Warwick, Earl of, oluef commis- sioner of the colonies, 62 ; Gov- ernor-General and Lord High Admiral of England, 120 ; con- firms Gorton's title, 152. Washington, George, 216. Waterman, Richard, 76. Waters, Henry P., Investigations Into Williams's birth and par- entage, 6-7. Westminster Assembly, meeting of, 127 ; Williams's Intercourse with, 134; toleration a par- amount question in, 136, 143. Wethersfield, attitude of Massar chusetts toward, 96. Wheelwright,Kev. John, charges against, 67 ; Cotton's efl'orts to shield, 67 ; relation to Anne Hutchinson, 86; banished for heresy, 89. Whipping, punishment by, 22, 66 ; Hazel's and Holmes's cases, 164; punishment of Quakers by, 203. Wickenden, William, 80. Wickes, Francis, 75, 80. Wickford, WHUams's trading- house at, 166. See also Caw- CAWMSQUISSICK. Wightman, Ralph, 6. Williams, Alice, 5-7. Williams, Daniel, 228, 231. WUliams, James, father of Roger, 5-7. Williams, Joseph, 226. Williams, Mary, wife of Poger, 1,79. Williams, Mary, daughter of Roger, 7, 33, 226. Williams, Providence, birth of, 106, 106. Williams, Robert, 7 ; implicated in tumult in Providence, 190 ; teaches school at Newport, 226. Williams, Roderick, 4. Williams, Roger, birth, parent- age, education, and early Ufe, 2-15, 232 ; troubles with Massa- chusetts, trials, sentence, etc., 2, 25, 26, 28-30, 32, 37, 38, 40, 42 et seq., 55-67, 59, 60, 64, 65, 69, 74, 84, 94; rell^ous, social, and political principles, 2, 3, 13-16, 24, 26, 34, 38, 44, 46, 47-61, 63, 66, 71, 72, 82, 104, 107, 108, 110, 111, 122, 128, 129, 140, 141, 164, 173-176, 177, 178, 214, 215, 227-234; cor- respondence with Mrs. Sadleir, 4, 14, 15, 181 et seq. ; relations with Quakers, 7, 108, 206, 217- 220 ; physical and mental char- acteristics, 12, 23, 34, 36-39, 42, 43, 53, 56-67, 61, 68, 70-72, 77, 79, 83, 96, 97, 104, 126, 127, 158, 169, 171, 174, 180, 181, 184, 187, 188, 191, 194, 198, 207, 208, 215, 217 et seq., 227, 228, 230-233 ; receives a call from New England, 12 ; reasons for his emigration, 12, 14, 16 ; early troubles in New England, 15 ; letters to John Cotton, Jr., 15, 23, 69 ; controversy, corre- spondence, and relations with Cotton, 19, 60-66, 69, 124-126, 136-138, 232; declines Boston pastorate, 23 ; labors in, and re- lations with Salem, 23, 25, 26, 256 INDEX 29, 30, 33, 63 et SCO., 68, 69, 72- 74, 164; refuses to join the congregation at Boston, 25 ■, lar bors in, and relations with, Plymouth, 29-33, 38, 73,74; rela- tions with, and defense of, In- dians, 32, 33, 35-38, 64, 77, 78, 97- 103, 119, 142, 144, 145, 156, 157, 189, 223, 224 ; his family, 33, 105, 156 ; relations, correspondence, etc., with EndiCOtt, 39, 40, 64, 68, 164, 166, 176, 196, 196, 207 ; letter to Major Mason, 44, 64, 65, 70, 72, 81, 96, 98, 108, 118, 216, 217, 229; losses in the Court of Chancery, 46 ; writings of, 60, 64, 75, 119, 120, 129, 136, 138, 176-179, 227 ; re- lations, correspondence, etc., with Vane, 62, 63, 85, 97, 121, 134, 173, 179, 180, 187; missions to England, sojourn and labors there, 63, 118, 119, 124, 134, 138, 162, 168, 169, 171, 180, 181, 183, 184; labors in connection with the charter, 63, 118, 121 et seq., 135, 142, 171, 213; flight from Salem, journey through the wilderness, and settlement on Narragansett Bay, 70-79 ; rela- tions with Gov. Wlnslow, 73, 74; political leadership, ad- ministration, andpublicduties, 80, 166, 157, 159, 160, 170, 171, 188 et seq., 193, 196-198, 206, 207, 211, 214, 222, 226, 229 ; assists the An- tinomians to settle In Rhode Island, 92 ; persecutions of, 96 ; proposal to recall him from banishment and honor him, 103 ; pecuniary situation, means of livelihood, etc., 104, 169, 180, 181, 228; apprehends four murderers, 105 ; relations with the Baptists, 107, 108 ; re- lations with Massachusetts, 119, 126, 142-144, 184, 196; lit- erary work and style, 124, 139, 140; prints Cotton's reply to Murton's pamphlet, 137 : suf- ferings at the hands of the prel- ates, 142 ; the Gorton troubles, 147 et seq.; "Letters of," 148, 180 ; gift to, from the colony, 165 ; removes from Providence to CawcawmscLuissicl!;, 166 ; re- lations, correspondence, etc., with John Winthrop, Jr., 160, 169, 170, 216 ; notes of bibliog- raphy of, 179 ; caDed a traitor to England, 186; declining years, death, and burial, 226- 231; disposition of his estate, 228 ; sermons of, 228. For de- tails of WiUiams's Ufe see the various titles of this index. WUliams, Roger (son of Daniel), 231. Williams, Sldrach, 7. Williams, William, 4, 5. Wilson, Deborah, "bears testi- mony," 202. WOson, Eev. John, teacher of first chui'ch at Charlestown, 18 ; Williams invited to take his place, 23 ; returns to England, 23 ; attends Williams's services at Plymouth, 31; chaplain to Massachusetts forces, lOO. Winslow, Edward, governor of Plymouth, letter to Williams, 73; kindness to Williams, 74; opposes the contirmation of the Bhode Island charter, 179; Williams's friendship for, 216. Winsor, Joshua, 80. Winthrop, Gov. John, arrival at Salem and removal to Bhaw- mut, 1 ; records Williams's ar- rival in the colony, 1,15; friend of Williams, 2; letters from Williams to, 10, 65, 106, 144; farewell letter of, 17; forms flrst church at Charlestown, 18; anonymous letter to, re- garding WiUiams's hanish- ment, 28; attends Williams's services at Plymouth, 31; on Williams's treatise on the In- dian title to land, 36 ; on Wil- liams's position regarding oaths, 46; on Williams's dis- crimination between civU and spiritual offenses, 60; record of General Court proceedings against Williams, 66, 67 ; assis- tant, 59; on the date of Wil- liams's sentence, 60 ; supported hy Cotton against IJudley, 67 ; reports Williams's following, 70 ; privately advises Williams to leave the colony, 70, 72 ; elec- ted governor, 90 ; on the Autl- nomian controversy, 90; con- troversy with Vane, 90 ; leads the anti-Hutchinson faction, 90; letters of Hooker to, 96; records treaty with Indians, 99; proposal to recall Williams from banishment, 103 ; records Williams's services to the col- ony, 103, 106; purchases land from Canonious, 104 ; records the migration of Baptists to Providence, 107 ; records Gor- ton's disturbances, 148; re- cords Arnold's blasphemy INDEX -257 against cliurGlies and magis- tracy, 151 ; on democracy, 166 ; lanmng of, in Massachusetts, 168; on WlUiams's patience, 217 ; Williams compared with, 232, 233. Wintlirop, John, Jr., Williams's MendsMp -witli, 2, 160, 216; design to settle Connecticut, 86 ; letter from Hugh Peters to, 102; governor of Connecticut, 160 ; Williams's correspon- dence with, 160, 169, 170, 216; delivers letter from Willi am s to Endicott, 166 ; marries daugh- ter of Hugh Peters, 170. Winthrop, Stephen, tates the Island of Prudence, 104 ; " a great man for soul-llherty," 170. " Winthrop's Journal," 15, 22, 23, 31,35, 53,56,82,107,116. " Winthrop Papers," 28. Witches, 16. Women, wearing of veUs by, 39, 40; suhjectionof wives to their husbands, 82 ; claim liberty to attend religious meetings, 82, 83; position of, in Boston, 86. Worship, prescribed by the Com- mandments, 25.