roger williams, prophet and pioneer of soul-liberty

8/22/2019 Roger Williams, Prophet and Pioneer of Soul-liberty

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ROGER WILLIAMS


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Statue of Roger Williams in Roger Williams Park,Providence, R. I.


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ROGER WILLIAMSPROPHET AND PIONEER OF SOUL-LIBERTY

ARTHUR B. STRICKLAND

THE JUDSON PRESSBOSTON


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h S V

Copyright, igig, byGILBERT N. BRINK, Secretary

Published June, igig

AUG -5 1919

CLA530453


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X

TO

SYMPATHETIC HELPERAND

INSPIRING COMPANIONIN ALL MY WORK

THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLYINSCRIBED


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BAPTIST SPARKS FROM A HEBREW ANVIL" Even the absence of a definite experiment must not deter him. He

would create a society where the principles would be put to the test.He would fashion a State where the Church and the crown would bemutually helpful though independent. He would create a condition ofhumanity where the sovereignty of the soul before God would be re-spected, and where every man, believer or disbeliever, Gentile, Jew, orTurk, would have untrammeled opportunity for the display and exerciseof the faith within him. Here lies the core of his heroism! "

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CONCERNING THE MONUMENT ATROGER WILLIAMS PARK" This one monument speaks the gratitude of one State. But the whole

country has an eloquent voice of appreciation. Even as the tombstone ofSir Christopher Wren, the builder of St. Paul's Cathedral, intones thelarger praise when it says, ' \i you would see his monument, look aroundyou,' so would we point to the great principles of equal and religiousfreedom, written into the Constitution of forty-eight States, and engravenon the minds of ninety millions of people in our countrj- and making theirmoral and civic influence felt all over the civilized globe, as worthytributes to the genius of Roger Williams."Extracts from Thanksgiving Address on "Roger Williams," deliveredby Rabbi Abram Simon, Ph.D., to Reforined Congregation KenescthIsrael, Philadelphia, November 24, 1912.


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PREFACEThe four years of the great war have witnessed two astounding

facts, namely, the recrudescence of an ancient barbarism and theworld-wide application of the ideals of Christianity. Duringthese momentous times the frontiers of barbarism and of civiliza-tion were clearly marked. The greater part of the world declaredits position and took sides with one or other of the contestants.The whole world was either for or against, either friend or foeto, the essential principles of a Christian civilization.

It was no accident that the torch of the Hun and the Crossof the Christ should meet again on the old historic battle-groundbetween the Somme and the Rhine, and especially at the Marne.We thank God in victory's hour that the Cross of the Christ isagain triumphant, and we trust the torch of the Hun is ex-tinguished forever. Autocracy's serpent head has been crushedbeneath the heel of a militant democracy. That bruised heelis our reminder of the cost of victory. It staggers the imagina-tion to state in terms of manhood, materials, and money theprice we have paid to make a world safe for democracy.The eyes of a world have been opened. Men have thought

of Calvary, the price the Son of God paid to redeem the way-ward, wicked world. Men through their Calvary have come tounderstand the message of Christ's Crossthat all men are ofequal value in the sight of humanity's God, and therefore areentitled to equal privileges in the world he has made for theirhappiness. Out from the shambles of these war-torn yearsthere has come forth, slowly and certainly, with ever-increasingclearness, the shining form of the ideal supreme, the truth trium-phant, the principle of full, free, absolute soul-liberty.As the thirsty caravan turns to the springs, as the mariner

turns to his compass in the darkest night, so the war-wearyworldall parts of it, both that of friend and that of foelooksbeseechingly to America and to the ideal of which she is thegreat exemplar. From her shores there went forth an armywhich under God turned the tide against barbarism and made


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PREFACEpossible the final victory for civilization. That army was com-posed of men whose fathers represented every nation underheaven. Some who received the highest honor for distinguishedservice were born under the very flags they sought to overthrow.It was humanity's army, dominated by ideals distinctly American,which fought, not for military glory, not for hellish hatred, notfor selfish gain, but as the crusaders of a new order, of an inter-national fraternity.The distinctive feature of America's greatness is not her bound-

less wealth, not her limitless resources, not her inimitable ver-satility. It is the ideal which she has inherited from her fathers.That ideal, in the forefront of the world's thought today, hadits yesterday of suffering and of sacrifice.

It is tim.ely in the hour of democracy's triumph to turn ourthoughts toward the genesis of soul-liberty in America. Todaymillions of men espouse her sacred cause. In the dawn ofAmerican history, in the early colonial times, a misunderstood,maligned, and persecuted refugee, Roger Williams, stood almostalone as her defender. Driven from motherland and from adoptedhome, he found among the savages of the wilderness a placewhere he could live out his principles of soul-liberty and grantfreely to others what he desired for himself. He has been rightlycalled " The First American," because he was the first to actualizein a commonwealth the distinctively American principle of free-dom for mind and body and soul.Roger Williams was not the discoverer of the principle of soul-

liberty. What Jesus did and said was the torch of truth destinedto illumine the whole world. His death on the cross was thevoice of God in eloquent terms, telling us that all men wereequal sharers in his love and entitled to equal opportunities andprivileges in the world which he had made for man's well-being.Christ taught clearly that men should not force others to belief inhim or to Christian conduct, nor destroy those who failed to fol-low his teachings as they saw them.For centuries faithful witnesses kept alive in the world theseprecious truths. In fact, for a millennium the name Anabaptistor Baptist was synonymous with soul-liberty. Baptists on theContinent and in England sowed broadcast these seeds which led

to a glorious harvest in the new world. After the death of Ro^-er


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PREFACE XIUWilliams the Baptists in the colonies continued the work sonobly begun by him. In the face of bitterest persecution theylabored for a century before the much-desired principle of soul-liberty was interwoven into our National Constitution and pro-tected by the First Amendment.Our Western Hemisphere represents two types of civilization.

The Rio Grande is the dividing line between a civilization whichis Baptist in its distinctive and essential character and one whichis non-Baptist. To the north we see what the democracy of thesoul can do when associated with the democracy of politicalrights. To the south we see but the twilight of civilization, aplace where there is political democracy in name, but where it isrendered powerless because the mind and soul do not enjoy fullfreedom. It is the difference between religious democracy andreligious autocracy. To the north the Bible is loved, it is studiedfreely, and its principles are followed. It is a land where theBible is unchained and where the prevailing religions are of achurch without a bishop in a land without a king. To the souththe Bible is practically suppressed, its study is discouraged, andits truths go unheeded.

Europe, thou art looking across the seas to America. Lookto all three Americas. Political democracy is universal in North,Central, and South America. Ask thyself the question. Why isthe civilization of the north so attractive ? It is because ReligiousLiberty is married to Political Liberty. Dost thou want ourblessedness? Then see to it that thy new-born democracies andthine ancient ones have complete soul-liberty. Give the Bible achance to bless thy stricken lands. Let the truths from God'sbook do their revolutionary work for thee as they have for God'sliberty land on this side of the sea.

Religious liberty has unchained the Bible, scattered the dark-ness of superstition, flooded our continent with light and blessing.It has toppled selfish autocrats from their thrones, it has unlockedthe shackles from the feet of millions who were living in spiritualand physical slavery. Religious liberty opens the doors and letsGod's sunlight of truth enter to warm and bless the world.To Roger W^illiams and the historic Baptist denomination we

turn for the story of the genesis and growth of this great bless-ing in America. There is an effort, in evidence in the secular


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^IV PREFACEand religious press of America, and, in some sections, in many ofour public schools, to rob both Williams and the Baptists of theircrown of glory. In certain quarters both Protestants and Catho-lics are attributing the honor of giving birth to religious libertyto communions which centuries ago persecuted our Baptist fore-fathers unto banishment and death.The early American Colonies can be divided into three classes.One class included those who sought for uniformity in religion.Exile and death were resorted to to make that religious ''uni-formity possible. Baptists were martyred in Massachusetts andVirginia. Another class included those who granted a tolerationto other Christian religions, but who denied political privilegesto Jews, infidels, or Unitarians. Maryland and Pennsylvania,although far advanced from the persecuting spirit of some of thecolonies, belong to this second class. There was another class,represented at first by the smallest of the colonies, little BaptistRhode Island, which gave full, absolute, religious liberty. Nopolitical privilege was dependent on religious belief. The atti-tude of the early colonists to the Jews is the acid test of theirclaim to priority as the advocates of soul-liberty in America.Hebrew scholars and statesmen do not hesitate to give theirtribute of honor to Roger Williams and the Baptists. The Hon.Oscar S. Straus, twice American Ambassador to Turkey, Secre-tary of Labor and Commerce in the late President Roosevelt'sCabinet, and President of the League to Enforce Peace, said onJanuary 13, 1919, on the eve of sailing for Europe and the PeaceConference

If I were asked to select from all the great men who have left theirimpress upon this continent from the days that the Puritan Pilgrimsset foot on Plymouth Rock, until the time when only a few days agowe laid to rest the greatest American in our generationTheodore Roose-velt; if I were asked whom to hold before the American people and theworld to typify the American spirit of fairness, of freedom, of libertyui Church and State, I would vdthout any hesitation select that greatprophet M'ho established the first political community on the basis of afree Church in a free State, the great and immortal Roger Williams.He became a Baptist, or as they were then called, Anabaptist, becauseto his spirit and ideals the Baptist faith approached nearer than anyothera community and a church which is famous for never havingstained its hands with the blood of persecutors.


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CONTENTSPage

I. The Apostle of Soul-liderty iII. The Founding of Providence '27III. The Historic Custodians of Soul-licertv 57IV'. Soul-liberty at Home in a Commonwealth 79V. From Soul-liberty to Absolute Civil Liberty 103VI. The Torch-bearers of the Ideal of Roger Williams

Until Liberty Enlightened the World 119VII. The World-wide Influence of Roger Williams'

Ideal 1 37Study Outline of the Life and Times of Roger

Williams i45A Selected Bibliography I49An Itinerary for a Historic Pilgrimage 151


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTThe author desires to express his indebtedness to the John CarterBrown Library, Providence, R. I., to the " Providence Maga-zine," to the Rhode Island Historical Society, to the Roger Wil-liams Park IVIuseum, and to the New York City Public Library,for valuable assistance rendered in securing illustrations for thisbook.


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPage

Statue of Rui:;cr irilliams FrontispieceCopy of Shorthand Found in Indian Bible 4Sir Edzcard Coke eCharterhouse School o"A Key into the Language of America " 12Boston, 16^2 J ^The Fort and Chapel on the Hill Where Roger Williams

Preached i^Pembroke College 17Facsimile from Original Records of the Order for theBanishment of Roger Williams 20Original Church at Salem, Alass 21Site of Home of Roger JVilliams in Proridence, R. 1 21Sun-dial and Compass Used by Roger JrHliams in His Flight 30Spring at the Seeko>ik Settlement 31Tablet Marking Seekonk Site 31What Cheer Rock. Landing-place of Roger Williams 31Original Deed of Providence from the Indians 35Williams' Letter of Transference to His Loving Friends 39The Original Providence " Compact " 41The First Division of Home Lots in Providence 4^," Simplicities Defence " 4-rThe Arrival of Roger IVilliarns zcith the Charter 4(;" Mr. Cottons Letter Lately Printed " 52" The Bloudy Tenent, . . discussed " 53Roger Jl'illiams' Reference to "An Humble Supplication"

in His " Bloudy Tenent " c^" Christenings make not Christians " 63First Baptist Church of Providence 65Roger Mozvry's " Ordinarie." Built id^jj, Demolished 1900. 65


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XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPace

Interior of First Baptist Church, Providence 69Bell of First Baptist Church, Providenee 73" The Fourth Paper, . . by Maior Butler " 82" The Bloudy Tcnent, Washed " 84" The Bloody Tcnent yet Adore Bloody " 85" The Hireling Ministry " 87'' Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health " 88" George Fox Digg'd out of his Burrozves " 90Models of Indian Village in Roger Williams Park Museum. 91" A Nezv-England Fire-Brand Quenched " 94Rhode Island Historical Society Museum 95Apple Tree Root from the Grave of Roger Williams 95Grave of Roger Williams 95Neiv Testament Title-page of Roger Williams Indian Bible 98Indian Bible Used by Roger Williams, the Pioneer Mission-

ary to the American Indians 99Original Home of Brown University, in Providence, R. /.. . 109Broivn University in Early Nineteenth Century 109Capitol Building in Providence, Where the Charter is Kept. . 113City Hall, Providence, Where the Compact, Indian Deed, and

Letter of Transference Are Kept 113Order Banishing the Founders of the First Baptist Church

in Boston 123" III Nezt'es from Nezv-England " 125John Clarke Memorial, First Baptist Church of Nezvport, R. I. 127Grave of John Clarke 127The Lazv in William Penn's Colony 129The Lazv Concerning Religious Toleration in Maryland

Colony 130Puritan-Religious-Liberty! 131William Rogers I33James Manning I33Isaac Backus I33


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY


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That body-killing, soul-killing, state-killing doctrine of not permittingbut persecuting all other consciences and ways of worship but his own inthe civil state. . . Whole nations and generations of men have beenforced (though unregenerate and unrepentant) to pretend and assumethe name of Jesus Christ, which only belongs, according to the institu-tion of the Lord Jesus, to truly regenerate and repentant souls. Secondly,that all others dissenting from them, whether Jews or Gentiles, their coun-trymen especially (for strangers have a liberty), have not been permittedcivil habitation in this world with them, but have been distressed andpersecuted by them. Roger ]ViUiams' Estimate of Religious Persecution.The principle of religious liberty did not assert itself, save in one

instance, at once that American colonization was begun. For the mostpart, the founders of these colonies came to this country imbued withthe ideas concerning the relations between government and religion, whichhad been universal in Europe. . . This makes the attitude of our Amer-ican exception, Roger Williams, the more striking and significant. Morethan one hundred years in advance of his time, he denied the entiretheory and practice of the past. Sanford Cobb.Roger Williams advocated the complete separation of Church and

State, at a time when there was no historical example of such separation.Ncztniian.


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTYAGO\'ERNMENT of the people, formed by the people for

the people, with Church and State completely separate,and with political privileges not dependent on religious

belief, was organized and maintained successfully for the firsttime in Christendom in Rhode Island, the smallest of the Amer-ican Colonies. Its inspiration and founder was Roger Williams,the apostle of soul-liberty. Because he was the first asserter ofthe principle which has since been recognized as the distinctivecharacter of our national greatness, he has been called " TheFirst American."

Little is known of the personal appearance of Roger Williams.His contemporaries describe him as a man of " no ordinaryparts," with " a never-failing sweetness of temper and unques-tioned piety."' They also said he was a man of " unyieldingtenacity of purpose, a man who could grasp a principle in all itsbearings and who could incorporate it in a social compact."" He was no crude, unlearned agitator, but a scholar and thinker."Governor Bradford speaks of him as " having many preciousparts." Governor Winthrop refers to him as " a godly minister."The artist's conception, based upon these characteristics, is

best expressed by a monument in Roger Williams Park, Provi-dence, R. I, It is the work of Franklin Simmons, and was erectedby the city of Providence in 1877. In a beautiful park of overfour hundred acres with hills and drives and lakes, surroundedby trees and shrubbery, and on land originally purchased fromthe Indians by Williams, the illustrious pioneer of a new orderis seen in heroic form. He seems to be looking out over thevery colony he formed. In his hand he holds a volume, entitled" Soul-Liberty, 1636," a title which has since become synonymouswith his name. History is seen writing " 1636," the birth yearof soul-liberty in America. She continues to write with increasingappreciation of the far-reaching influence of this illustrious heroof religious and political democracy.

3


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4 ROGER WILLIAMSFor many years scholars thoug-ht that Roger WilHams was

born at the close of the sixteenth century at Gwinear, Cornwall.England. Now it is generally believed that he was born in Lon-don, England, in the opening years of the seventeenth century.He had two brothers and a sister. His father was a tailor.About this time Timothy Bright and Peter Bales introduced intoEngland a new method of writing which was called " shorthand."The boy Roger Williams learned it and visited the famous StarChamber to put it into practice. The judge noticed the lad andinspected his work. To his amazement, the record was com-

I -sJ/K rHi-JU,*^* -f'^dZ '^"^' Q^-H-^ia^-

Copy of Shorthand Found on Fly-leaf of Roger Williams'Indian Bible

plete and accurate. This judge, Sir Edward Coke, the mostdistinguished lawyer and jurist of his day, immediately took aninterest in the lad, and became his patron, securing for Williamsadmission to the Charterhouse School. This was the schoolwhere John Wesley, Thackeray, Addison, and others were edu-cated. He was admitted as a pensioner, in June, 1621. Later,through Coke's influence, he was admitted to Pembroke College,Cambridge, in June, 1623. He was graduated with the degreeof bachelor of arts in 1627, and the year following was admittedto holy orders. About this time he was disappointed in a loveaffair, the lady of his choice being Jane Whalley. He soughtpermission of her aunt, Lady Barrington, to marry her. When


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Sir Edward CokeCourtesy of " Providence Magazine "


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY Jrefused, he wrote a striking letter in which he predicted forLady Harrington a very unhappy hereafter unless she repented.

In 1629, we find him at High Laves, Essex, not far fromChelmesford. where Thomas Hooker, later the founder of Hart-ford Colony, was minister. Here he also met John Cotton.Men's views at that time were changing. The people of theEstablished Church were divided into three classes. One stoodby the Established Order in all things ; another class of Puritanssought to stay by the Church, but aimed to purify the movement;the third class was for absolute separation. Williams, withhundreds of others, was disturbed. The anger of Lady Har-rington and the suspicions of Archbishop Laud started a per-secution which drove him out of England. He said

:

I was persecuted in and out of my father's house. Truly it wasas bitter as death to me when Bisliop Laud pursued me out of the land,and my conscience was persuaded against the national church, and cere-monies and bishops ... I say, it was as bitter as death to me whenI rode Windsor way to take ship at Bristol.Many years later he wrote :He (God) knows what gains and preferments I have refused in uni-

versities, city, country, and court in old England, and something in NewEngland, to keep my soul undefiled in this point and not to act with adoubting conscience.

Before leaving England, he was married. The only informationwe have in regard to his wife, up to that time, is that her namewas Mary Warned. They sailed on the ship Lyon, from Bristol,England, December i, 1630. After a tempestuous journey ofsixty-six days they arrived ofif Nantasket, February 5, 163 1.Judge Durfee speaks thus of this flight:He was obliged to fly or dissemble his convictions, and for him, as

for all noblest natures, a life of transparent truthfulness was alone aninstinct and a necessity. This absolute sincerity is the key to his char-acter, as it was always the mainspring of his conduct. It was thiswhich led him to reject indignantly the compromises with his consciencewhich from time to time were proposed to him. It was this which im-pelled him when he discovered a truth to proclaim it, when he detectedan error to expose it, when he saw an evil, to try and remedy it, andwhen he could do a good, even to his enemies, to do it.


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8 ROGER WILLIAMSUpon his arrival in Boston he was invited to become the teacher

in the Boston church, succeeding Mr. Wilson who was aboutto return to England. To his surprise, he discovered that theBoston church was a church unseparated from the EstablishedChurch of England, and he felt conscientiously bound to declinetheir invitation. The Boston people, who believed their churchto be the " most glorious on earth," were astonished at his re-fusal. Williams would not act as their teacher unless they pub-licly repented of their relation to the Established Order. Itwas perfectly natural that a soul with convictions, such as Wil-liams possessed, should desire to be absolutely separated fromthe Established Order. One incident from many will show thespirit of the Established Church in England toward those withinits ranks who had become Puritan, let alone Separatist. Neal, inhis " History of the Puritans," tells of Doctor Leighton's perse-cution in England. He was arrested by Archbishop Laud andthe following sentence was passed upon him : That he becommitted to the prison of the Fleet for Hfe, and pay a fine of ten thou-sand pounds ; that the High Commission should degrade him from hisministry, and that he should be brought to the pillory at Westminster,while the court was sitting and be publicly whipped; after whipping beset upon the pillory a convenient time, and have one of his ears cut off,one side of his nose split, and be branded in the face with a double S. S.for a sower of sedition : that then he should be carried back to prison,and after a few da^-s be pilloryed a second time in Cheapside, and havethe other side of his nose split, and his other ear cut off and then beshut up in close prison for the rest of his life.

In the district in which Roger Williams lived this sentence wascarried out in all its hellish cruelty just prior to Williams'banishment from England. Do we blame the exile Williamsfor repudiating the movement which at that hour was so wickedin its persecutions? He meant to have a sea between him anda thing so hateful. John Cotton said that Williams looked uponhimself as one who " had received a clearer illumination andapprehension of the state of Christ's kingdom, and of the purityof church communion, than all Christendom besides." CottonMather said that Williams had " a windmill in his head." Wellfor America that such a windmill was there and that he was aprophet with clear visions of truth.


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY IIAfter refusing the Boston church, Roger Williams was in-

vited by the Salem church to be assistant to Mr. Skelton, theiraged teacher. He accepted their invitation and became Teacher.April 12, 163 1. The General Court in Boston remonstrated withthe Salem church. The persecution of this court led doubtlessto his retirement from Salem at the close of that summer.He left the Massachusetts Bay Colony and became assistantto Ralph Smith, the- pastor at Plymouth. The Plymouth people,being strict Separatists, were more congenial company, sincethey had withdrawn from the Established Order to form a churchafter the pattern of the Primitive Qiurch niodel. Williams re-mained in Plymouth for about two years. Governor Bradfordsoon detected his advanced positions, relative to separation ofChurch and State, but considered it " questionable judgment."He praised his qualities as a minister, writing thus of him :His teaching, well approved, for ye benefit whereof I still bless God,and am thankful to him, even for his sharpest admonitions and reproofs,so far as they agreed with truth.

Governor \\'inthrop, with Mr. Wîlson, teacher of the Bostonchurch, visited Plymouth at this time.They were very kindly treated and feasted everj' day at several houses.On the Lord's Da_\-, there was a sacrament which they did partake in

;

and, in the afternoon, Mr. Roger Wîlliams (according to their custom)propounded a question, to which the Pastor, Îr. Smith, spoke briefly

;

then Mr. Williams prophesied ; and after the Governor of Plymouthspoke to the question. Then the elder (Mr. William Brewster) desiredthe Governor of Massachusetts and Mr. Wilson to speak to it, which theydid. When this was ended, the deacon,. Afr. Fuller, put the congregationin mind of their duty of contribution ; whereupon the Governor and allthe rest went down to the deacon's seat, and put into the box and thenreturned.

W'illiams came in contact with the Indians who visited Plymouthfrom time to time, and gained the confidence of Massasoit, thefather of the famous Philip. He studied their language andcultivated their friendship. He writes in one of his letters," My soul's desire was to do the natives good ! " Near theclose of his life he referred to this early experience: " God waspleased to give me a painful patient spirit, to lodge with them


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A Key into theLANGUAGEO F

AMERICA'An help to the Laniuage ofthe Nativesin chac part of A m e r i c A, calledNEfV-ENG L AND,

Together, with brfefe Olffervatiom ofthe Cu-ftomes, Manners and Worlliips, &c. ofthe

aforeliid '^\atiV(s, jn Peace and Warrc,in Life and Death.

On all which are added Spirituall Obfervatwnt^Generall and Particular by the tyf^thour, of

chicfe and ipeciall ufc(upon all occafionsJtoall the EngliJI^ Inhabicingthofe parts

yet pleafant^nd profitable tothe view of all men :

BT ROGER WILLIAMSoi Tro'^idence in ^e"fl'-E^lei4j.


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Boston, 1632From an old print

The Fort and Chapel on the Hill Where Roger Williams PreachedUsed by permission of A. S. Burbank, Plymouth, Mass.


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY 1in their filthy smoke, to gain their tongue." Surely the Provi-dence of God was thus preparing the way for the founding of anew colony, to be made possible through these very Indians whohad implicit confidence in this man of God.

Williams was Pauline in his self-supporting ministry. Hewrote : " At Plymouth I spake on the Lord's Day and week daysand worked hard at my hoe for my bread (and so afterward atSalem until I found them to be an unseparated people)." Hisministry made friends and foes. His foes feared he would runthe same course of Anabaptist behavior as did John Smith, theSe-Baptist, at Amsterdam. Early in August his first child wasborn, and was named Mary after her mother. Later in the samemonth, he became for a second time the assistant to Mr. Skelton.at Salem. A number of choice spirits, who had been attractedto his ministry, went with him. He requested a letter of dis-mission from the Plymouth church to unite with the Salemchurch. This was granted, but with a caution as to his ad-vanced views. To advocate the separation of Church and Stateplaced a man at that time with the " Anabaptists," as this wasconsidered their great distinctive doctrine.He commenced his labors at Salem under this cloud and alsowith the General Court in Boston very suspicious of his work.

Already there was the distant rumbling of a storm which wouldeventually drive him into exile.The ministers of the Bay Colony, from the churches of Boston,

Newtowne (Cambridge), Watertown, Roxbury, Dorchester,Salem, and elsewhere, were accustomed to meet for discussionand common interest. Roger Williams feared that this might leadto a presbytery or superintendency, to the prejudice of localchurch liberty. He loathed everything which might make forintolerance.

In December, 1633, he forwarded to the governor and hisassistants a document which he had prepared at Plymouth, inwhich he disputed their right to have the land by the king's grant.Williams claimed, " they have no title except they compoundedwith the natives." He also accused King James of telling a liein claiming to be " the first Christian prince to discover thisnew land." This treatise had never been published or madepublic. Its appearance now terrified the governor and the assis-


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l6 ROGER WILLIAMS

tants, for at that very time they were holding the possession totheir colony on a charter originally given for a different purpose.It had been granted in England to a trading company, and itstransfer was questionable. They feared the king might with-draw it. This treatise of Williams would be considered treasonby the king. They met on December twenty-seventh and coun-seled with Williams. Seeing the grave danger to the colony, heagreed to give evidence of loyalty. Today we do not questionthe ethical correctness of the advanced position held by Williams.

It was not long before this pioneer of soul-liberty raised a newquestion concerning " the propriety of administering an oath,which is an act of worship, to either the unwilling or the unre-generate." Williams' position was peculiarly obnoxious to themagistrates who were then on the point of testing the loyaltyof the colonists by administering an oath of allegiance which wasto be, in reality, allegiance to the colony instead of to the king.The Court was called to discuss the new objection to its policy.Mr. Cotton informs us that the position was so well defendedby Williams that " it threatened the court with serious em-barrassment." The people supported Williams' position, andthe court was compelled to desist. On the death of Skelton, inAugust, 1634, the Salem church installed Roger Williams as theirteacher. This act gave great offense to the General Court inBoston. Williams commenced anew his agitation against theright to own land by the king's patent. The Salem church andWilliams were both cited to appear before the General Court,July 18, 1635, to answer complaints made against them.The elders gave their opinion :

He who would obstinately maintain such opinions (whereby a churchmight run into heresy, apostasy, or tyranny, and yet the civil Magistratesmay not intermeddle) ought to be removed, and that the other churchesought to request the Magistrates so to do.

The church and the pastor were notified " to consider the matteruntil the next General Court, and then to recant, or expect thecourt to take some final action." At this same court, the Salempeople petitioned for a title to some land at Marblehead Neck,which was theirs, as they believed, by a just claim. The courtrefused even to consider this claim, " until there shall be time


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY I9to test more fully the quality of your allegiance to the powerwhich you desire should be interposed on your behalf." Pro-fessor Knowles says

:

Here is a candid avowal that justice was refused to Salem, on thequestion of civil right, as a punishment for the conduct of church andpastor. A volume could not more forcibly illustrate the danger of aconnection between the civil and ecclesiastical power.

Teacher and people at Salem were indignant, and a letterwas addressed to the churches of the colony in protest againstsuch injustice. The churches were asked to admonish the magis-trates and deputies within their membership. These churchesrefused or neglected to do this. In some cases the letters nevercame before the church. Williams then called on his own churchto withdraw communion with such churches. It declined todo this, and he withdrew from the Salem church, preaching hislast sermon, August 19, 1635. Here was a repetition of thefirst conflict. Straus writes :Here stood the one church already condemned, with sentence suspended

over it. Against it were arrayed the aggregate power of the colonyitsnine churches, the priests, and the magistrates. What could the Salemchurch and community do, threatened with disfranchisement, its deputiesexcluded from the General Court, and its petition for land to which itwas entitled, denied? Dragooned into submission it had to abandon itspersecuted minister to struggle alone against the united power of Churchand State. To deny Williams the merit of devotion to a principle inthis contest, wherein there was no alternative but retraction or banish-ment, is to belie history in order to justify bigotry, and to convert mar-tyrdom into wrong-headed obstinacy. This is exactly what Cotton soughtto do in his version of the controversy given ten years later in order tovindicate himself and his church brethren from the stigma of their acts inthe eyes of a more enlightened public opinion in England. Williams pur-sued no half-hearted or half-way measures. He stood unshaken upon thefirm ground of his convictions, and declared to the Salem church that hecould no longer commune with them, thereby entirely separating himselffrom them and them from him.He went so far as to refuse to commune with his own wife inthe new commimion which he formed in his own home, until shewould completely withdraw from the Salem church.The time for the next General Court drew near. The Salem

church letter and Williams' withdrawal from his church made


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20 ROGER WILLIAMShis foes determined to crush him. They had thoughts of putting-him to death.The General Court convened in the rude meeting-house of the

church in Newtowne (Camhridge), on the corner of Dunsterand ^lill Streets. Wilhams maintained his positions. He wasasked if he desired a month to reflect and then come and arguethe matter before them. He dechned, choosing '* to dispute pres-ently." Thomas Hooker, minister at Newtowne, was appointedto argue with him on the spot, to make him see his errors.

^rXj^-:iv-iiKL^

I635. Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, bath broached and divulged dyvers newe3rd Sept. and dangerous opinions against the aucthorite of magistrates, as ai o with others of defamcon, both of the magistratesand churches here, and that before any conviccon, and yet maintaineth the same without retraccon, it is therefore

ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depte out of this jurisdiccon within sixe weekes nowe nexte ensueing, wchif hee neglectto pforme, it shall be lawfull for the Gouv'r and two of the magistrates to send him to some place outof this jurisdiccon, not to returne any more without licence from the Court.

Fac-simile from Original Records of the Order for the Banishmentof Roger Williams

Williams' positions had a " rockie strength " and he was ready," not only to be bound and banished, but to die also in NewEngland ; as for the most holy truths of God in Christ Jesus."He would not recant. So the Court met the following- day,Friday, October 9, 1635, and passed the following sentence:Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem,

hath broached and divulged dyvers newe and dangerous opinions againstthe aucthorite of magistrates, as also with letters of defamcon, both of themagistrates and churches here, and that before any conviccon, and yetmaintaineth the same without retraccon.


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Original Church at Salem, Mass.

Site of Home of Roger Williams in Providence, R. I.


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THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY 27,it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depte out of thisjurisdiccon within sixe weekes nowe nexte ensueing, wch if hee neglect topforme, it shall be lawfull for the Gouv'r and two of the magistrates tosend him to some place out of this jurisdiccon, not to returne any morewithout licence from the Court.

Although WiUiams had withdrawn from the church at Salem,yet his character was such that the town was indignant at thisdecree of the court. About this time, his second child was born.Like the prophets of old, he gave the child a significant name, call-ing her " Freeborn." Mr. Williams' health at this time was farfrom being robust. A stay of sentence was therefore granted,and he was to be allowed to remain until the following spring.He did not refrain from advocating his opinions, and soon theauthorities heard of meetings in his house at Salem and of twentywho were prepared to go with him to found a new colony at thehead of the Narragansett Bay. At its January meeting, the Courtdecided to send him to England at once in a ship then about toreturn. He was cited to appear in Boston, but reported inabilitydue to his impaired health. They then sent a pinnace for himby sea. Being forewarned, he fled to the wilderness in the depthsof which, for fourteen weeks, he suffered the hardships of a NewEngland winter.The original Roger Williams Church is still preserved at

Salem. The first church in the first town of the MassachusettsBay Colony was at the corner of Washington and Essex Streets.There is a brick structure there now and a marble tablet marksit as the site of the first church in the Massachusetts Bay ColonyOn another tablet, is the inscription

:

The frame of the first Meeting House in which the civil affairs of theColony were transacted, is preserved and now stands in the rear of Plum-mer Hall.

Plummer Hall is on Essex Street not very far from the FirstChurch. In the rear is the Roger Williams Church, a small build-ing, measuring twenty feet long by seventeen wide by twelve highat its posts. Originally it had a gallery over the door at theentrance and a minister's seat in the opposite corner. On the


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24 ROGER WILLIAMSwall Opposite to the entrance is a list of its succession of pastorsand the years of their service

Francis Hig-g-inson 1629- 1630Samuel Skelton 1629-1634Roger Williams 1631-1635Hugh Peters 1636-1641 etc., etc.

It could accommodate about one hundred people. There wereonly forty families in Salem in 1632. There were only sixhouses, besides that of Governor Endicott, when Higginson ar-rived in 1629. Here in this ancient meeting-house Roger Wil-liams preached those truths which led to his banishment. Fromits pulpit came, clearly stated, the ideals that millions have sinceaccepted. The glory of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, or theRoyal Sancte Chapella, of Paris, can never equal the gloryof this crude edifice, the cradle of religious liberty in the NewWorld.The Roger Williams Home at Salem is still preserved. It

is better known as " the Witch House " because it was occupiedby Judge Carwin, one of the judges connected with the tragedyof 1692. It stands at the western corner of Essex and NorthStreets. It was built by the founder of Rhode Island and wasat that time second only to the Governor's home. Though it hasbeen altered and repaired, the original rooms in this buildingare as follows: The eastern room on the first floor, 18 x 21J/,and the room directly over it, 20 x 21^ ; the western room onthe first floor, 16^ x 18, and the room over it, 16^ x 20. Thechimney is 8 x 12. The part of the house which retains itsoriginal appearance is the projecting corner of the western part,fronting on Essex Street. Roger Williams mortgaged this house," for supplies," to establish the colony at Providence.

Mr. Upham, in his report to the Essex Institution, says ofthis wonderful house

Here, ^\^thin these very walls, lived, tvvo hundred and fifty years ago,that remarkable and truly heroic man, who, in his devotion to the prin-ciple of free conscience, and liberty of belief, untrammelcd by civil power,penetrated in midwinter in the depths of an unknown wilderness to seeka new home, a home which he could find only among savages, whose


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THE ArOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY 25respect for the benevolence and truthfulness of his character made them,then and ever afterward, his constant friends. From this spacious andpleasant mansion, he fled through the deep snows of a New Englandforest, leaving his wife and young children to the care of Providence,whose silent "voice" through the conscience, was his only support andguide. The State which he founded may ever look back with a justpride upon the history of Roger Williams.


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II

THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE


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A community on the unheard-of principles of absohite rehgious hbertycombined with perfect civil democracy. Professor Mason.Thus for the first time in history a form of government was adopted

which drew a clear and unmistakable line between the temporal and thespiritual power, and a community came into being which was an anomalyamong the nations. Prof. J. L. Diiiian.No one principle of political or social or religious policy lies nearer the

base of American institutions and has done more to shape our careerthan this principle inherited from Rhode Island, and it may be assertedthat the future of America was in a large measure determined by thatGeneral Court which summoned Roger Williams to answer for " diversnew and dangerous opinions," and his banishment became a pivotal actin universal history.Frt^/. Alonzo IVilliams.

In summing up the history of the struggle for religious liberty it maybe said that papal bulls and Protestant creeds have favored tyranny.Theologians of the sixteenth century and philosophers of the seventeenth,Descartes, Spinoza, and Hobbes, favored the State churches. It wasbitter experience of persecution that led jurists, and statesmen of Hollandand France, in face of the opposition of theologians and philosophers, toenforce the toleration of dissent. While there was toleration in Hollandand France, there was, for the first time, in the history of the world inany commonwealth, liberty and equality and separation of Church andState in Rhode Island. W. W. Evarts, in " The Long Road to Freedomof Worship."

In the code of laws established by them, we read for the first time sinceChristianity ascended the throne of the Caesars, the declaration that con-science should be free and men should not be punished for worshipingGod in the way they were persuaded he requires. Judge Story.


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCEROGER WILLIA:\IS left Salem on or about January 15.

1636, making- the journey alone through the forests. Witha pocket compass, and a sun-dial to tell the hours, he set

out, probably taking the road to Boston for some distance.Nearing Boston, presumably at Saugus, he went west for a whileand then straight south until he reached the home of ]\Iassasoit,the Wampanoag sachem, at Alount Hope, near Bristol. Theground was covered with snow, and he must have suffered sorelyon this journey of eighty or ninety miles. Thirty-five yearslater in a letter to Major Mason, he refers to this experience:

First, when I was unkindly and unchristianly, as I believe, driven frommy house and land, and wife and children (in the midst of a NewEngland winter, now about thirty-five years past), at Salem, that ever-honored Governor, Mr. Winthrop, privately wrote me to steer my courseto Narragansett Bay and the Indians, for many high and public ends,encouraging me, from the freeness of the place from any English claimsor patents. I took his prudent notion as a hint and voice from God, andwaving all other thoughts and notions, I steered my course from Salem(though in winter snow, which I feel yet) unto those parts wherein Imay say " Peniel " ; that is, I have seen the face of God.He also wrote : " I was sorely tossed for one fourteen weeks,in a bitter winter season, not knowing* what bread or bed didmean ! " In his old age he exclaimed, " I bear to this day in mybody the effects of that winter's exposure." In one of his bookshe refers to " hardships of sea and land in a banished condition."The precious relics of this flight are the sun-dial and compass,

now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Society.Williams finally reached Seekonk Cove, about the twenty-

third of April. The spot was at Manton's Neck, near the cove,where there was a good spring of water. Here he was joined byfour companions, his wife, and two children. " I gave leave toWilliam' Harris, then poor and destitute," said Williams, " tocome along in my company. I consented to John Smith, miller

D 29


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30 ROGER WILLIAMSat Dorchester (banished also), to go witli me, and, at JohnSmith's desire, to a poor young- fellow, Francis Wickes, as alsoa lad of Richard Waterman's." The latter was doubtless ThomasAngell. Joshua Verein came later. Some historians think thatothers joined them at the Seekonk before they were compelledto leave. Here they remained for two months. After providing-rude shelters and sowing seeds, they received a warning to moveon. " I received a letter," said Williams,from my ancient friend, Mr. Winslow, the Governor of Plymonth, pro-fessing his own and others' love for me, yet lovingly advising me, sinceI was fallen into the edge of their bounds, and they were loathe todisplease the Baj^ to remove to the other side of the water, and there,he said, I had the country free before me, and might be free as them-selves, and we should be loving neighbors together.

Sun-dial and Compass Used by Roger Williams in His FlightCourtesy of " Providence Magazine "

His removal cost him the " loss of a harvest that year." His-torians are agreed that about the end of June he left Seekonk.The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary was celebrated, June23 and 24. 1886. Embarking in a crude Indian canoe, Williamsand his companions, six in all, crossed over the river to a littlecove on the west side, where they were halted by a party ofIndians, with the friendly interrogation, "What cheer?" Herethe party landed on a rock which has been known ever since as" What Cheer Rock." The cove is now filled and the rock cov-


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fWfi"Spring at the Seekonk Settlement Tablet Marking Seekonk Site

What Cheer Rock. Landing-place of Roger Williams


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE 33ered from sight. A suitable monument has been erected over therock. It is in an open park space at the corner of Roger andWiUiams Streets, Providence. A piece of this rock is preservedat the First Baptist Church of Providence, and another has re-cently been placed in cross form in the lobby floor of the newCentral Baptist Church of the same city. It is hoped that a pieceof this rock will be worked into the National Baptist Memorialin our country's capital.

After friendly salutations with the Indians, they reembarkedand made their way down the river around the headland ofTockwotten and past Indian and Fox points, where they reachedthe mouth of the Moshassuck River. Rowing up this beautifulstream, then bordered on either side with a dense forest, theylanded on the east side of the river, where there was an invitingspring. Here, on the ascending slopes of the hill, they com-menced a new settlement, which Williams called " Providence,"in gratitude to God's merciful Providence to them in their dis-tress. Later, when they spread out in larger numbers and inall directions from this place, it was called " Providence Planta-tions." They prepared shelters for their families, probably wig-wams made of poles covered with hemloclo boughs and forestleaves. We can in imagination see them climb the hill to apoint where Prospect Street now runs, to enjoy a wider view oftheir new territory.From that height of almost two hundred feet they saw to the

westward, through openings in the forest, the cove at the headof the great salt river with broad sandy beaches on the easternand northern shores and salt marshes bordering the westernand southern. From the north the sparkling waters of theMoshassuck River came leaping over the falls as it emptied itselfinto the estuary at its mouth. Bordering this stream was avalley of beauty and fertility. The clear waters of the Woonas-quatucket threaded their way from the west through anotherfertile valley. Between these rivers and also southward (of theWoonasquatucket) was a sandy plateau, covered with pine forestsstretching to the Indian town of Mashapaug on the southwestand Pawtuxet Valley to the south. Between the edge of the tidalflow and the open waters of the great salt river there was asalt marsh dotted with islands, beyond which rose the bold peak


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34 ROGER WILLIAMSof Weybosset Hill. Down the river to the south they saw thesteep hills of Sassafras and Field's Point, beyond which couldbe seen the lower bay and its forest-covered shores and islands.The eastern slope of the hill stretched a mile toward the shoreof the Seekonk. To the northeast the view was cut off by ahigher eminence covered with oak and pine. In all directions,save that of the bay itself, the farther distances were lost in anindistinguishable maze of forest-crowned heights. At the feetof the spectators was the place of their immediate settlement,where the western slope of the hill gradually diminished inheight toward the south. At its lowest extremity, Fox Pointprojected into the bay. This slope was covered with a growthof oak and hickory.

A Purchased PossessionRoger Williams differed from the ordinary colonists of his age,

who held that the Indian, being heathen, had no real ownershipof the land. It belonged to the Christians who might firstclaim it by right of discovery. Williams, who " always aimed todo the Indians only good," recognized Indian ownership andsecured his colony from them by purchase. Here among themhe first sought to apply his doctrine of soul-liberty. To him theywere humans with equal rights and privileges. He bitterlyfought the Puritan position that the pagan heathen had no prop-erty rights which the Christian, with his superior culture, wasbound to respect. Roger Williams insisted that the land shouldbe purchased from the Indians, the original owners. He gainedthe lasting respect of the Indian and the undying animosity ofthe Puritan for holding to ideals which have since come to berecognized as American. He thus laid the foundation for thebelief in America that the weaker and smaller powers have rightswhich the greater powers must respect, a belief which led us intothe recent great war. While this principle is receiving world-wide application, let us not forget that Roger Williams was thepioneer of international justice in America, if not in the wor|/d.The land viewed froni the top of the hill was owned by fivedistinct Indian tribes. The Narragansetts dominated over all thelands now occupied by Rhode Island, and ruled over all otherlesser tribes in this territory. In the northern part of this State,


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/', iiij'-/ir^J

I f".f^ J

^i;

Original Deed of Providence from the Indians


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE ^^ythe Niptnucs lived in the place now occupied by Smithfield,Glocester, and Burrilville. On the southern seacoast borderdwelt the Niantics. Part of the Wampanoag tribe dwelt inCumberland and extended to the western side of the river whichwe now call the Blackstone. The Pequots lived in ConnecticutColony. Indian government was monarchial, and became extinctwith the slaughter of the last of the line of rulers or sachemsin the massacre of July 2, 1676. Canonicus was the ruling sachemwhen the English first came. As he grew old he needed anassistant and his nephew, Miantonomo, was appointed. Mian-tonomo worked well with the elder chief. He never succeededto the position of ruling chief, being murdered in 1643. RogerWilliams secured his land from these sachems. Williams wrotein 166 1 as follows :

I was the procurer of the purchase, not by monies, nor payments, thenatives being so shy and jealous, that monies could not do it, but by thatlanguage, acquaintance, and favor with the natives and other advantageswhich it pleased God to give me, and also bore the charges and ventureof all the gratuities which I gave to the great Sachems and nativesround about us, and lay engaged for a loving and peaceable neighborhoodwith, to my great charge and travel.He found Indian gifts very costly. Presents were made fre-quently. He allowed the Indians to use his pinnace and shallopat command, transporting and lodging fifty at his home at atime. He never denied them any lawful thing. Canonicus hadfreely what he desired from Roger Williams' trading-post atNarragansett. William Harris stated in 1677 that Roger Wil-liams had paid thus one hundred and sixty pounds ($800) forProvidence and Pawtucket.

Mr. Williams generously admitted the first twelve proprietorsof the Providence Purchase to an equal share with himself, with-out exacting any remuneration. The thirty pounds which hereceived were paid by succeeding settlers, at the rate of thirtyshillings each. This was not a payment for the land but whathe called '' a loving gratuity." Straus says

:

He might have been like William Penn, the proprietor of his colony,after having secured it by patent from the rulers in England, and thushave exercised a control over its government and enriched himself and


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38 ROGER WILLIAMSfamily. But this was not his purpose, nor was it directly or remotelythe cause for which he suffered banishment and misery. Principlenotprofit ; libertynot pow'er ; convictionnot ambition, were his impellingmotives which he consistently maintained, theoretically and practicallythen, and at all times.

Williams" own words wereI desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience.

I then considering the conditions of divers of my distressed countrj-men,I communicated my said purchase unto my loving friends (whom henames) who desired to take shelter with me.He afterward purchased, jointly with Governor Winthrop, theIsland of Prudence from Canonicus. He also purchased, a littlelater, the small islands of Patience and Hope, afterward sellinghis interest in them to help pay his expenses to England onbusiness for the colony.

Following is a true copy of the Original Deed of Land forProvidence from Canonicus and Mianfononio:

At Nanhiggansick, the 24tli of the first month, commonly called March,in the second year of the Plantations of Plantings at Alooshausick orProvidence. Memorandum that we Caunaunicus and Meauntunomo, thetwo chief sachems of Nanhiggansick, having two years since sold untoRoger Williams, the lands and meadows upon the two fresh rivers, calledMooshausick and Wanasquatucket, do now by these presents, establish andconfirm the bounds of those lands, from the river and fields at Pawtucket,the great hill of Neotackonkonutt, on the northwest, and the town ofiMashapauge on the west. As also in consideration of the many kindnessesand services he hath continualh^ done for us, both with our friends ofMassachusetts, as also at Quinickicutt and Apaum, or Plymouth, we donow freely give unto him all the land from those rivers reaching toPawtuxet River, as also the grass and meadows upon the said PawtuxetRiver. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

In the presence ofThe Mark * of Setash,The Mark * of Assotenewit,The Alark * of Caunaunicus,The Mark * of Meauntunomo.

This original deed is preserved, as a precious relic, in the CityHall at Providence.


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Bt . fino^no unto afl'mc. ^,M?/5.i7:,,,^


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40 roger williams

Early Experiences in ProvidenceThe Providence planters soon built their crude homes. The

Indian name of the plantation was Notaquonchanet. In theirearly records of Providence this name is spelt in at least forty-two different forms. Other settlers came and swelled theirnumbers. The original six were bound together by a compact.It was verbal, or if written, the copy has been lost. When newsettlers came and Wickes and Angell had reached majority, acopy of the original agreement was drawn up and signed by thosenot included in the first compact. Williams was familiar withthe great compact signed in the Mayflower by the Pilgrims andprobably it suggested to his mind the need of one in Providence.This Providence Compact is as followsWe, whose names are hereunder written, being desirous to inhabit in

the town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves in active orpassive obedience, to all such orders or agreements as shall be made forthe public good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major consent ofthe present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together intoa township, and such others whom they shall admit unto the same, ONLYIN CIVIL THINGS.

Edmund J. Carpenter says of this CompactA compact of government, which in its terms, must be regarded as the

most remarkable political document theretofore executed, not even ex-cepting the Magna Charta. It was a document which placed a govern-ment, formed by the people, solely in the control of the civil arm. Itgave the first example of a pure democracy, from which all ecclesiasticalpower was eliminated. It was the first enunciation of a great principle,which years later, formed the corner-stone of the great republic. Itwas the act of a statesman fully a centur>- in advance of his time.

At the west entrance to the street railroad tunnel in Providencea bronze tablet commemorates the fact that there in the openair the first town meetings were held.Roger Williams' house was opposite the spring, forty-eight

feet to the east of the present Main Street and four feet northof Rowland Street. Next, to the north of his residence, w^as thehouse and lot of Joshua Verein. North of this was RichardScott's. The first house south of Williams' was that of John


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1 ^O

r-. i* ^ 4

rf *-,

%il^'. H^'fiff


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE 43Throckmorton and, beyond, that of WilHam Harris. At firstthe struggle for existence was hard, more so because of the lossof the crops planted at Seekonk. Governor Winslow, of Plym-outh, conscious of the wrong Plymouth Colony had done toWilliams, visited the little settlement that first summer and lefta gift of gold with ^Irs. Williams. In the spring and summerof the following year, new houses were built along the street.The new settlers brought money with them, and Williams enlistedoutside capital to help develop the colony.The number of town lots increased. The land lay between

the present Main Street and Hope Street. Each lot was of equalwidth and ran eastward. Eventually there were one hundred andtwo of these lots extending from ]\Iile End Brook, which entersthe river a little north of Fox Point, to Harrington's Lane, nowthe dividing line between Providence and North Providence.Meeting and Power Streets were the dividing streets in thoseearly days. In addition to the home lot, each proprietor had an" out six-acre lot " assigned to him. Williams' " out lot " was at" What Cheer Rock."

The Threatened Indian TRounLEWilliams, although suffering from Puritan persecution, had

an opportunity that first year of doing good to his persecutors.He became the savior of all the New England Colonies. ThePequot Indians planned the annihilation of the English. \\'il-liams, hearing of this, did his utmost to break up an Indian league,and kept the Narragansetts from joining the Pequots andMohicans. He describes this experience in the following state-ment :The Lord helped me immediately to put my life into my hands, and

scarce acquainting my wife, to ship alone, in a poor canoe, and to cutthrough a stormy wind, with great seas, every minute in hazard of life,to the sachem's house. Three days and nights my business forced meto lodge and mix with the bloody Pequod ambassadors, whose handsand arms, methought, reeked widi the blood of my countrymen, murderedand massacred by them on the Connecticut River, and from whom I couldnot but nightly look for their bloody knives at my own throat also. Godwondrously preserved me, and helped me to break the Pequod's negotia-tion and design ; and to make and finish, by many travels and charges, theEnglish league with the Narragansetts and Mohegans against the Pequods.


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44 ROGER WILLIAMS

As a result of this, the tribe of Pequots was obliterated completelyand a danger hanging over all the colonies was removed.The Indian villages of southern New England were composed

at times of as many as fifty houses or wigwams. Alost of thesewigwams were shaped like the half of an orange, with the flator cut surface down. They were ten to twelve feet in diameterand could accommodate two families. Other houses were likethe half of a stovepipe cut lengthwise, twenty to thirty feet long,and accommodated from two families in the summertime tofifty in the winter, when the people crowded together for thesake of warmth. The council-chamber was often as long as onehundred feet with a width of thirty feet. It was used only forcouncils. A fortified stockade in the center of the village wasmade of logs set into the ground. Such was the shelter affordedWilliams when he fled from Salem, and such was the place whenhe met the Indian sachems in council seeking to avert the mas-sacre of the whites. In these villages he preached the everlastinggospel of the Son of God. He had the constant confidence ofIndian sachems because he applied to them the principle of soul-liberty which he sought to practise among the whites.In the autumn of 1638, Roger Williams' third child and firstson was born and named " Providence." He was the first whitemale child born in this colony. In the year 1639-1640 the towngrew and felt the need of a system of town government. OnJuly 23, 1640, an organization was decided upon in which theyvested the care of the general interests of the town in five " dis-posers ' or arbitrators. The people retained the right to appealfrom the " disposers

"to the general town meeting. They werecareful to provide that as " formerly hath been the liberties of

the town, so still to hold for the liberty of conscience."In 1638 a settlement had been made at Portsmouth on Rhode

Island. John Clarke and Mrs. Ann Hutchinson were the leadersof this new band who were looking for a place where they mighthave religious freedom, which was denied them at Boston. Theywent first to New Hampshire, but, finding it too cold there, turnedto the south. By the friendly assistance of Mr. Williams, theysecured from Canonicus and Miantonomo, for a consideration offorty fathoms of white beads, Aquidneck and other islands inNarragansett Bay. The natives residing on the island itself


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46 ROGER WILLIAMS

were induced to remove for a consideration of ten coats andtwenty hoes. The new settlers chose Mr. Coddington to be theirjudge and united in a covenant with each other and with theirGod. They made Mr. Coddington their governor in 1640.About this same time a number of Providence people settled

in Pawtuxet, four miles south of Providence in territory cededto Williams. Warwick and Shawomet were settled by SamuelGorton and his friends. Gorton was a strange character whodid not find things congenial for him at Boston, Plymouth, andNewport in turn. Roger Williams, however, gave him shelterin Providence. Finally he went to Pawtuxet and later toShawomet, for which he paid four fathoms of wampum to theIndians. At once Boston Colony claimed that Shawomet wasunder their jurisdiction. Gorton and his associates refused tocome to Boston at the bidding of the authorities. Forty soldierscame to Shawomet and seized Gorton and ten of his friends andimprisoned them in Boston. They were tried for their lives,escaping only by two votes. They were then imprisoned in thevarious towns. Each one was compelled to wear a chain fastbolted around his legs. If they spoke to any person, other thanan officer of the Church or of the State, they were to be put todeath. They were kept at labor that winter and then banished inthe spring. Gorton escaped to England and secured an orderfrom the Earl of Warwick and the Commissioners of the Coloniesrequiring Massachusetts not to molest the settlers at Shawomet.Thereafter Gorton and his friends occupied their lands in peace.

Gorton wrote his side of the question in " Simplicities De-fence," in which he referred to his persecutors as " That Servantso Imperious in his ]\Iaster's Absence Revived." This is anotherindictment against the persecuting Puritans by one who foundshelter in the Baptist colony of Rhode Island.

The Story of the First CharterAs the colony grew, it was found necessary that there should

be some vested authority which would command respect from theneighbors. Notwithstanding what Williams had done for thePlymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies in connection withthe Pequot War, and the personal friendships he had with thegovernors, they would not consider that he or his had any sepa-


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SIMTLICiTJES TfEFEJ^CEagainftSEVEN-HEADED POLICY.ORInnocency Vindicated, being unjuftly Acculed,

andforely Ccururc4.,b5cthatSeven - headed Qhurch - Government

United inNEW-ENGLAND:ORThat Servant (b Imperious in his Mailers AbfenceRevived, and now thus re-ading inN B V V-E N G L A N D,ORThecombatcof the United Colonies, not onely againft

fomeofthe Natives and Subjefts, but againft the Authonty alfoof the KingJmc oi England, with thiir execution of Lawt, in the naiDC an J

Authority of the fcrvaiit, (or of tlicmfclves) and not in the Natr.c andAuthority of the Loid,or fountain of the Gcveraireiit.Wherein is declared an Adl ofa great people and Country

of the Indians in thofeparts,boch Princes and People (unaniasoofly)in their voluntary SubmiHion and Subjedion unto the Ptote^ioiiand Govcrninent of Old Ergland (from the Fame they hear thereof) toge-

ther with the true manner and forme of it, as it appears uader their ov Jihands and feah, being (lirred up, and provoked thereto, by

the Combate and courfes above-faid.Throughout which Treatife is fecretly intermingled, thatgreat Oppofition, which is in the goings forth of thofe two grand

Spirits, that are, and ever have been, extant in the World(lUrough the fans of men) from the beginning andfoundation theicof. ^j/'^

Jmprimatur^ ty4ug. 3*. i


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48 ROGER WILLIAMSrate colony rights whatever. He had been their Joseph driverrfrom home and country by hostile brethren. In exile, he becamethe savior of his brethren from- a dreadful massacre by the In-dians. Nevertheless, Plymouth claimed jurisdiction over all theplantations in Narragansett Bay, and Massachusetts claimed itover Providence, Pawtuxet, and Shawomet. The Dutch hadformed a trading-post at Dutch Island and elsewhere and couldstrike a blow at the colony at any time. Out of these conditionsgrew the demand for a charter. Roger Williams, at a greatpersonal sacrifice, went to England from Manhattan, now NewYork City, because the two colonies to the north forbade hisdeparture from their ports.Arriving in England, he found the country in the midst ofthe great Civil War. King Charles was powerless because Par-liament controlled the realm. Parliament had placed colonialinterest in charge of a committee of which the Earl of Warwickwas chairman or '' Governor in Chief, and Lord High Admiralof the Colonies." From this council a charter was granted,March 17, 1644. The colony was incorporated as " ProvidencePlantations " and embraced the territory now covered by the Stateof Rhode Island. There was granted to the inhabitants ofProvidence, Portsmouth, and Newport, afree and absolute charter of incorporation . . . together with full powerand authority to govern themselves and such others as shall hereafterinhabit within any part of said tract of land by such form of civil govern-ment as by the voluntary consent of all or the greatest part of themshall be found most serviceable to their estate and condition, etc.

Upon the return of Williams, the inhabitants of Providence,learning of his approach, came out in fourteen canoes to meethim at the Seekonk. They traveled over the historic course whichhe had traveled six years before when he was an exile. Nowin triumph they escorted their beloved leader to home and native.town. A picture of his return with the charter, by Grant, is onthe walls of the Court House at Providence.The earliest published work of Mr. Williams is entitled,

A Key into the Language of America : or, an help to the Languageof the Natives in that part of America, called New-England. Together,


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE 5with briefe Observations of the Customes, Manners and Worships, etc.of the aforesaid Natives, in Peace and Warre, in Life and Death. Onall which are added Spirituall Observations, Generall and Particular bythe Authour, of chiefe and speciall use (upon all occasions) to all theEnglish Inhabiting those parts; yet pleasant and profitable to the view ofall men : By Roger Williams of Providence in New-England. London,Printed by Gregory Dexter, 1643.

It was written at sea, en route to England, in the summer of1643. Copies of the original edition are in the Bodleian Library,at Oxford, the British Museum, also in the Library of the Massa-chusetts Historical Society, Harvard College, Brown Univer-sity, and the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester. Itcomprises two hundred and sixteen small duodecimo pages, in-cluding preface and table.The second published work of Roger Williams is entitled,

" Mr. Cottons Letter Lately Printed, Examined and Answered.By Roger Williams of Providence, in New-England. London,Imprinted in the Yeere 1644." Mr. Cotton had sought to " takeoff the edge of Censure from himself "that he was no procurerof the sorrow which came to Williams in his flight and exile.It is a small quarto of forty-seven pages, preceded by an addressof two pages. The letter referred to was written by John Cotton,and was published in London, 1643. The author vindicated theact of the magistrates in banishing Roger Williams from Massa-chusetts. He denies that he himself had any agency in it. Itconsists of thirteen small quarto pages. Good copies of both theLetter and the reply are in the Library of Brown L^niversity.Two copies of the reply are in England, one in the BritishMuseum, the other in Bodleian Library. A mutilated copy ofthe reply is also in the Library of Yale College.Roger Williams wrote also, when in England, securing the

Charter for Rhode Island, a work entitled, " The Bloudy Tenent,of Persecution for cause of Conscience, discussed." It is con-sidered the best written of all his works. These discussions wereprepared in London,for publike view, in charge of roomes and corners, yea, sometimes invariety of strange houses, sometimes in the fields, in the midst of travel,where he hath been forced to gather and scatter his loose thoughts andpapers.


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M'" CottonsLETTERLately Printed;EXAMINED/VNDANSWERED:

By ^ger Williams of TrovidenceIn

LONDON,Imprinted in the ycere itf+4.


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THEBLOVDY TENENT.ofPftRSEcUTiON, forcaufeofConscience, difcufledjin

iiA Conference hettteeneTRVTH^d PEACE.Who.

In all tender Alfe


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54 ROGER WILLIAMSIt is written in an animated style and has the adornment of beau-tiful imagery. Original copies are rare, eight only are knownto exist, one in the British Museum, one in Bodleian Library, onein Brown University Library, one in Harvard College Library.

This work is based on a Baptist publication, entitled " AnHumble Supplication to the King's Majesty, as it was presented1620." This latter was a clear and concise argument againstpersecution and for liberty of conscience. It was written byMurton, or some other London Baptist, who was imprisonedin Newgate for conscience sake. His confinement was so rigid

In fucJh Paper written with Afi7i.nothing will appcare.but the wtyof reading it by /?rf being knowne to this frpcr.d who received the Pa-fcts, he tranfcribedtndkcpt together the Papers, although the c^-thijr bimfclfc could not corrcft.nor view what himielic bad w-itten.

It was in miikf,tending to foulc "cwri/hnent.cven for Batef and Suck-lings in Chrift.

It wftsin f7M7(i:f,fpiritually white, pure and innocent, likcthofe whitthorfes ofthe fVerdoitrtitb and ntiek.ej[f,zr\A the white Lmnen or Armottroi ngbteoHf/tefryin the ty^rmy oife/us. Rfv.6.ii 19.

It was in wj7^


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THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE , 55suffered the same injustice from neighboring colonies. Theassembly in Newport, September 19, 1642, which intrusted thework of securing a charter to Williams, was in reality fusingtogether these separate groups, which had a common enemy andcommon principles, into a State. The Town of Providence, agreat monument to Roger Williams, must now give way to theState of Rhode Island, which was destined to become a stilllarger monument to the ideals of this great exponent of civil andreligious liberty, " a liberty which does not permit license in civilmatters in contempt of law and order."


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Ill

THE HISTORIC CUSTODIANS OFSOUL-LIBERTY


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Roger Williams must forever rank as one of the great epoch-makersof the world, and to him impartial historians accord the honor ofbeing the first democrat. It was not until his expulsion from Salem Colonythat he became a Baptist, but the evidence is indisputable that he hadlong been a Baptist at heart. He had spent much time among the Bap-tists in England and was familiar with their doctrines and writings.No sooner had Williams set foot in America than he found himself inconflict with the authorities, both civil and religious.6". Z. Batten, in" The Christian State."There is not a confession of faith, nor a creed, framed by any of

the Reformers, which does not give the magistrate a coercive power inreligion, and almost every one at the same time curses the resistingBaptists. E. B. Underhill, in "Struggles and Triumphs."Godly princes may lawfully issue edicts for compelling obstinate and

rebellious persons to worship the true God and to maintain the unity ofthe faith. Calvin.

Democracy, I do not concej've that ever God did ordeyne as a fitgovernment eyther for Church or Commonwealth. . . As for monarchy andaristocracy, they are both of them clearly approved, and directed inScripture. John Cotton.

It is said that Men ought to have Liberty of their Conscience, and thatit is Persecution to debar them of it ; I can stand amazed than replyto this : It is an astonishment to think that the brains of men should beparboiled in such impious ignorance. Rev. Nathaniel Ward, LawyerDivine, of Ipswich, who dreiu tip tJie first legal code for MassachusettsBay Colony.


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THE HISTORIC CUSTODIANS OFSOUL-LIBERTYROGER WILLIA]\IS, both minister and citizen, probablyled the Providence planters in their rehgious activities.He was neither identified with the EstabHshed Church ofEngland, nor in sympathy with the intolerance of the new estab-lished order at Boston and Salem, or even the one at Plymouth.He was a Separatist of the most pronounced type, and that wasexactly the accredited Baptist position. He was one with theBaptists in his ideas concerning- a complete separation from theState Church of England, one with them in the absolute separa-tion of Church and State, one with them in insisting- upon aregenerate church-membership. So according to the logic ofthe situation he turned to the Baptist movement. He may havebeen instructed as to their position by Mrs. Scott (the sister ofthe Antinomian, Mrs. Ann flutchinson), wdio came to Providenceshortly before the baptism of Williams. Roger Williams hadbeen accused of tendencies toward the Anabaptists while inPlymouth, Salem, and Boston. Before he met Mrs. Scott, how-ever, he held the Baptist positions of the time. It is not unlikelythat she, being an intelligent Baptist, showed Williams the re-markable similarity between his position and that of the Bap-tists. Some time before Alarch, 1639, Williams was baptized.In the absence of a Baptist minister, Ezekiel Holliman, an exilefrom Salem, baptized Roger Williams, who in turn baptizedMr. Holliman and some ten others. Like the disciple band ofold the Baptist movement in Providence and America com-menced with a band of twelve disciples. Their names are asfollows : Roger Williams, Ezekiel Holliman, William x\rnold ( ?),^William Harris, Stukely Westcott, John Green, Richard Water-man, Thomas James, Robert Cole, William Carpenter (?),Francis Weston, and Thomas Olney. Thus was organized theFirst Baptist Church in America.

^ The " ? " is after Arnold's name in First Baptist Church Register.59


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6o ROGER WILLIAMSGreat was the consternation in Salem when news reached there

of the baptism of Wilhams and others who had been members oftheir church. The Puritan church took action at once. The letterannouncing to the church at Dorchester the exclusion of theoiTenders is interesting:Reverend and dearly beloved in the Lord :We thought it our bounden duty to acquaint you with the names of

such persons, as have had the great censure passed upon them, in thisour church, with the reasons thereof, beseeching you in the Lord, notonly to read their names in public to yours, but also to give us the likenotice of any dealt with in like manner by you, so that we may walktoward them accordingly, for some of us here have had communionignorantly with some of other churches. 2 Thess. 3 : 14. We can do noless than have such noted as disobey the truth.Roger Williams and his wife, John Throckmorton and his wife, Thomas

Olney and his wife, Stukely Westcott and his wife, Mary Holliman,Widow Reeves.These wholly refused to hear the church, denying it, and all the churches

in the Bay, to be true churches, and (except two) are all rebaptized.

After some time Roger Wilhams left the Baptist church hehad organized in Providence. Because of this fact many haveasked the question, " Was Roger Williams after all a Baptist? "His life-story reveals the fact that he held the Baptist viewsbefore he left Plymouth. Elder Brewster detected the Baptistheresy in his teaching to the people of the Pilgrim colony andwarned the leaders of the Bay Colony of this tendency to " Ana-baptistery." Williams' ministry in the Bay Colony reveals thefact that he was against everything which was related to theEpiscopacy or that might even lead to a " presbytery." He re-fused to minister to the Boston church because it was relatedto the Episcopal State Church of England. He also questionedthe propriety of the ministers' conference in New England, forfear they might establish a presbytery which would rob the localchurch of its congregational privileges. His whole life in Amner-ica was universally true to the accepted Baptist position relativeto church polity.At the time of Williams' baptism, English Baptists were

agitated in regard to the proper administrators of Christian bap-tism. Many crossed to the Continent and were baptized by min-


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HISTORIC CUSTODIANS OF SOUL-LIBERTY 6listers in Holland. Williams was soon troubled also in regard tothe same question. Was he properly baptized? That was thequestion which confronted him. He would not juggle withhis conscience. He knew of no Baptist minister or baptizedbeliever ordained to the ministry in America when he was bap-tized. His own baptism was by an unbaptized person. He madedilig"ent study of the question and could not satisfy his mindthat there was a real succession of proper administrators. Inthe awful decline of the church he was convinced that the sacredsuccession had been broken. He believed that either that suc-cession must be in existence, or God must raise up a new " aposto-late," to commence again the sacred succession. True to prin-ciple, he felt he must withdraw from the church at Providence.In the years which followed nothing which he; said or did everchanged the facts that he was the first recognized pastor of thefirst Baptist church that was organized in America, that he wasthe first known case in America of a believer being immersedupon profession of faith into the fellowship of a local Baptistchurch, and that he was the organizer of the first Baptist churchin America.

In the years which followed his separation from the church atProvidence, he left no uncertainty as to his Baptist views onevery question save that of the proper administrator of bap-tism and its kindred subject of ordination. In all other views hewas a loyal Baptist until his death. In his day, the Baptistswere divided into two recognized divisions, namely. Particularand General Baptists. Dr. Henry M. King, of Providence, oneof the successors of Roger Williams in

roger williams, prophet and pioneer of soul-liberty

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