Chapter VII: The World-Wide Influence of Roger Williams’ (3)

Roger Williams protected the Quakers by granting them in his colony a shelter from persecutions. However, he was never friendly to their peculiar tenets and assailed them in debates and pamphlets. When George Fox, their founder, was in America in 1672, Williams challenged him to a debate. A delay in getting the challenge to Fox, who had sailed for England, did not leave the debate unaccepted. Three Rhode Island Quakers undertook the task. Roger Williams rowed the thirty miles to Newport and for three days debated with all the characteristic bitterness of debates of that period. They adjourned to complete the debate at Providence. Williams is seen in the worst light here and has been greatly criticized for the strong language he used in opposing these Quakers. We should never forget that the Puritans went far beyond strong language, in persecuting some to death and in exiling others. Both sides claimed a victory in the debate, which was perpetuated in pamphlets, issued at its completion. Williams wrote one, entitled, “George Fox Digg’d out of his Burrowes.” Fox replied with one, entitled, “A New-England Fire-Brand Quenched.” Fox’s book is a quarto of 489 pages. Williams’ book, a small quarto of 327 pages, was printed in Boston, 1676. The only original copy known to exist is the one in the Library of Harvard College.

Roger Williams wrote many letters, the originals of which were widely scattered. Many of these have been collected and printed in a volume by the Rhode Island Historical Society. In one of these letters, to Governor Bradford, of Boston, he refers to a collection of discourses which he had reduced to writing. These sermons, with treatises written prior to his banishment, are probably lost forever.

KING PHILIP’S WAR

Canonicus died, June 4, 1647. Massasoit died in 1660, leaving two sons, Wamsutta and Metacon, or as they were nicknamed by the English, Alexander and Philip. The former succeeded his father. On a return from Plymouth Alexander died suddenly, and Philip suspected that he was poisoned. This, however, was not the fact. The Narragansetts had not forgotten the death or murder of Miantonomo, and the Indians generally felt that the English were gradually crowding them out of their own domains. Philip took advantage of this feeling and organized a war which had for its object the complete extermination of all the English settlements. This war, opening in Plymouth, 1675, lasted more than a year. Twelve out of the ninety New England towns were completely destroyed and forty others were the scene of fire and slaughter. A thousand strong men lost their lives in addition to a large number of helpless women and children who were tomahawked. Rhode Island, for the first time, was exposed to the hostile attacks of the Indians. Many of the inhabitants, fearing the impending disaster, had joined the army of attack against the Indians. In retaliation for this, Providence was attacked, and twenty-nine houses were burned. One of them contained the town records, part of which were saved by being thrown into a pond, from which they were afterward recovered. When the Indians appeared on the heights above Providence, Roger Williams, unarmed, went out to counsel with them. He urged them to stop the warfare, telling them that the English king would come to the assistance of the colonists and, with greater numbers, overpower the Indians. They replied:

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.

He returned to a house which had been converted into a fort. It was not touched, but the town otherwise was destroyed. Most of the citizens of the mainland fled to Rhode Island and Newport. The doom of the Indians was sounded, the war was put down, and the leaders were captured or slain. Immediately after the war the work of rebuilding commenced. Houses were built larger and more substantially.

A _NEW-ENGLAND_-

Fire-Brand Quenched,

Being an

ANSWER

UNTO A

Slanderous Book, Entituled; _GEORGE FOX
Digged out of his Burrows_, &c. Printed at _Boston_ in the Year
1676, by _Roger Williams_ of _Providence_ in _New-England_.

Which he _Dedicateth_ to the _KING_, with Desires, _That, if_
the Most-High _please_, Old _and_ New-England _may Flourish, when
the_ Pope & Mahomet, Rome & Constantinople _are in their Ashes_.

Of a _DISPUTE_ upon XIV. of his _Proposals_ held and debated
betwixt him, the said _Roger Williams_, on the one part, and
_John Stubs_, _William Edmundson_ and _John Burnyeat_ on the other.
At _Providence_ and _Newport_ in _Rode-Island_, in the Year 1672.
IN which his _Cavils_ are Refuted, & his _Reflections_ Reproved.

In Two Parts.

AS ALSO,

An _ANSWER_ to _R. W’s APPENDIX_, &c.

WITH A

_POST-SCRIPT_ Confuting his Blasphemous Assertions,
_viz._ _Of the Blood of_ Christ, _that was Shed, its being_
Corruptible _and_ Corrupted; _and that_ Salvation _was by a Man,
that was_ Corruptible,
&_c._ Where-unto is added a

_CATALOGUE_ of his _Railery_, _Lies_, _Scorn_ & _Blasphemies_: And
His _TEMPORIZING SPIRIT_ made manifest. Also, The
_LETTERS_ of _W. Coddington_ of _Rode-Island_, and _R. Scot_ of
_Providence_ in _New-England_ concerning _R.W._ And _Lastly_, Some
_TESTIMONIES_ of _Antient_ & _Modern Authors_ concerning
the _LIGHT_, _SCRIPTURES_, _RULE_ &, the _SOUL_ of _Man_.

By _GEORGE FOX_ and _JOHN BURNYEAT_.

Printed in the Year MDC. LXXIX.

Roger Williams for many years had a trading-place, where he did business with the Indians. This store was near the present village of Wickford. His profits, he tells us, were five hundred dollars a year. The foundations of this old building are still intact, with a new superstructure over them. Late in life he made monthly preaching visits to this place. When too old to do this, he planned the publication of his sermons for the natives. Roger Williams was the original missionary to the North American Indians, antedating the illustrious Eliot by thirteen years. Williams’ Indian Bible is in the John Hay Library, Providence, R. I.

WUSKU

WUTTESTAMENTUM

NULLORDUMUN

JESUS CHRIST

Nuppoquohwussuaeneumun.

_CAMBRIDGE_:

Printed by _Samuel Green_ and _Marmaduke Johnson_,

MDCLXI.

THE

HOLY BIBLE:

CONTAINING THE

OLD TESTAMENT

AND THE _NEW_.

Translated into the

INDIAN LANGUAGE

_AND_

Ordered to be Printed by Commissioners of the _United Colonies_
in _NEW-ENGLAND_,

At the Charge, and with the Consent of the

CORPORATION IN _ENGLAND_

_For the Propagation of the Gospel amongst the_ Indians
_in New_-England.

_CAMBRIDGE._

Printed by _Samuel Green_ and _Marmaduke Johnson_.

MDCLXIII.

In 1683, Roger Williams died. All the inhabitants of Providence turned out to honor his memory. The coffin was carried on the shoulders of his friends, and his earthly remains were laid to rest on his own property, on the slope of the hill east of his residence and the spring. An apple tree grew above the grave. The roots drew from the remains their nourishment and followed the shape of the skeleton and the legs. Today these same roots are preserved in the Rhode Island Historical Society’s collection. Reuben A. Guild describes this in the following manner:

Still further up the hill among the trees of his orchard, was the family burial ground. Crossing Benefit Street and passing into the rear of the house of the late Sullivan Dorr, a few feet from the stable door, is the original grave of Roger Williams. It is covered by a finished cap of a heavy stone pillar. Here for nearly two hundred years slept the remains of the Apostle of Religious Liberty. In March, 1860, the grave was opened, and the dust, for that was all that remained of the mortal body, was carefully placed in an urn and deposited in Mr. Randall’s family tomb in the North Burial Ground. Mrs. Williams’ grave was also visited, and a lock of braided hair was all that was discovered. At the bottom of Roger Williams’ grave the root of an apple tree had turned out of its way to enter in at the head. Following the position of the body to the thighs, it had turned, now divided, to follow each leg to the feet, tender fibers shooting out in various directions.

Roger Williams died a poor man. His interest in the needy and distressed had kept him constantly poor. Ambition formed no part of his personal life. His ambitions were for the larger group of distressed souls. A prophet is rarely appreciated in his own age by his contemporaries. Posterity, in later days, usually discovers the greatness and genius of the man and the ideal he realized. Today that ideal is the secret of America’s greatness and one that has given her distinction among the nations. Shortly before Williams’ death there was a discussion relative to dividing up the common lands. Williams wrote to the Town of Providence a plea, which is characteristic of the spirit of the man:

For all experience tells us that public peace and love is better than abundance of corn and cattle. I have only one motion and petition which I earnestly pray the town to lay to heart, as ever they look for a blessing from God upon the town, on your families, your corn and cattle, and your children after you; it is this, that after you have got over the black brook of some soul bondage yourself, you tear not down the bridge after you, by leaving no small pittance for distressed souls that may come after you.

V

FROM SOUL-LIBERTY TO ABSOLUTE CIVIL LIBERTY

RHODE ISLAND’S GIFT

Last of the thirteen, smallest of them all,
What canst thou bring to this world’s festival,
Where all thy sisters come with pride and power,
And bring each one a princess’ generous dower
Of gold and gems, and fruits and precious woods,
And joyous tribute of their costly goods?
What can we bring? No outward show of gain,
No pomp of state; we bring the sons of men!

Bring gold, fair sisters, yellow gold,
And gems, and all that’s fair and fine,
And heap them all, the new, the old,
Before our country’s stately shrine.
Bring hardihood from north and east,
Bring beauty from the south and west,
Bring valor to adorn the feast,
Bring all that has withstood time’s test.
We grudge you not the riches rare,
We grudge you not your acres broad,
We bring you for our noble share
THE LIBERTY TO WORSHIP GOD.

--_Caroline Hazard, Poem read on “Rhode Island Day” at World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, October 5, 1893._

FROM SOUL-LIBERTY TO ABSOLUTE CIVIL LIBERTY

The ideal of democracy grew in all the New England colonies and led eventually to the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America. Rhode Island, however, in the century prior to the Revolution, had never given up her advocacy of soul-liberty, and thus the Revolution was to her a greater struggle than to the other colonies. This distinct feature will be seen in a study of the real successors of Roger Williams, in the struggle for religious liberty. Therefore it is interesting to note some of the outstanding events in the history of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, previous to the Revolutionary War.

In June, 1700, a lot was set aside for a training-ground, a burial-ground, and other public uses. Thus originated the North Burial Ground, the first public burial-ground in the colony. Before this each family had buried on its own land. Not until 1760, when Benefit Street was laid through the burial-grounds of many of the citizens, including the land where Roger Williams first settled, did they come to use in a general way this North Burial Ground. Then many bodies were removed to the new place for burial.

The second house of worship to be erected in the colony, in 1704, was the Friends’ Meeting House, in what is now Lincoln. It is still standing, although with an extensive addition. The Friends’ Meeting House in Providence was erected about the same time. The First Congregational Church was organized in 1720, a meeting-house being erected in 1723. It was on the site of the present county court-house. In 1722, the Episcopalians erected their first church building. It was called King’s Church, and was on the site of the present St. John’s Church on North Main Street. In 1798, the Methodists organized their first church, building their first meeting-house in 1816 at the corner of Aborn and Washington Streets. The Roman Catholics commenced their work in 1827, meeting in Mechanics’ Hall, afterward in the old Town House. From the very start no discouragement was given to any church to organize in Rhode Island. During this same period of time Baptists were hindered in other colonies.

In 1660, the proprietors of the colony ordered the setting aside of one hundred acres of upland and six of meadows to be reserved for the maintenance of a school. In 1696, a piece of land on Dexter Lane, or Stamper’s Hill, was set apart for a school. This schoolhouse was built about the year 1697, about fifty feet north of Olney Street, on the east side of Stamper’s Street. It was used for about fifty years. The schoolmaster probably received all of his compensation from the scholars. A lot on the end of the Court House Parade was left for a school building. The first reference to a school house on this lot is found in the town records for 1752. The town leased this schoolhouse to a schoolmaster. In 1769, the first free school was established on King’s Street, now Meeting Street. This building is used now as a fresh-air school.

BROWN UNIVERSITY

As early as 1762 a movement was instituted by James Manning of Scotch Plains, New Jersey, to establish in Rhode Island a university on the broad basis of religious freedom, but under the special care of the Baptists. A charter, to be presented to the General Assembly in 1763, was prepared by Rev. Ezra Stiles, a Congregational minister at Newport. When the document was ready for presentation, it was noticed that the governing power was to be given to a presbyterian body. That occasioned postponement. A charter was granted, however, in February, 1764, under the name of “The Trustees and Fellows of the College or University in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America.” The corporation was given power to change its name. It organized with James Manning as president. Active teaching work was commenced at Warren in 1766. The founding of this university was an event touching not only the life of Rhode Island, but of the whole country. As a Baptist movement, it was first proposed by Morgan Edwards in 1762, at the Philadelphia Baptist Association. James Manning came from the little church at Scotch Plains, New Jersey, and from a Baptist Association to the only place in America, at that time, where a Baptist university could be established. The Baptists desired the controlling power, but not the whole power of administration, in order to preserve their great principle of religious freedom. According to the original charter, twenty-two of the thirty-six trustees were to be Baptists, five Quakers, four Congregationalists, and five Episcopalians. Of the twelve fellows, eight were to be Baptist, the rest indefinitely of any or all denominations. The following extract shows the Baptist ideal:

into this liberal and catholic institution shall never be admitted any religious tests, but, on the contrary, all the members hereof, shall forever enjoy full, free, absolute, and uninterrupted liberty of conscience; and that the places of professors, tutors, and all other officers, the President alone excepted, shall be free and open for all denominations of Protestants, and the youths of all religious denominations shall and may be admitted to the equal advantages, emoluments, and honors of the university; and that the sectarian differences shall not make any part of the public and classical instructions.

Its early history is interesting. There was but one student during its first year, the Rev. William Rogers, of Newport, then fourteen years old. In 1767, four new students enrolled. The first years of the college were spent at Warren, where Dr. James Manning, the president, was the acting pastor of a Baptist church recently organized. In 1769, the first class of seven was ready for graduation and the first commencement was held on September 7, 1769.

The various towns of the colony contended earnestly to have the college permanently located with them. Newport considered that her large gifts to the college were sufficient to give her the preference. Providence, being a stronger center for the Baptists, won, and, in 1770, the college was moved to that city. The old brick schoolhouse, near the foot of Meeting Street, was the first building used by the college. The students boarded in private families at a dollar and a quarter a week. The building committee soon selected a better location for the school and a better place for housing the student body. Morgan Edwards said of the site finally selected:

Commanding a prospect of the Town of Providence below, of the Narragansett Bay and Island and of an extensive country, variegated with hills and dales, woods and plains.... Surely this spot was made for a seat of the Muses.

The first building, one sufficient for the needs of the college for the following fifty years, was University Hall, modeled after Nassau Hall of Princeton. The upper two stories were added after the Revolutionary war. For six years, during that great struggle, the hall was used as barracks and hospital for the combined American and French troops. In 1775, the present First Baptist Church Meeting House was erected, “for the public worship of Almighty God and to hold commencements in.” Since 1775 until the present time, with the exceptions of the years 1804 and 1832, this church has been used for the commencement exercises. On its platform illustrious students have received their degrees and have gone forth to bless the world. The presidents of Brown University, seated in the James Manning chair, have presided at the commencements in the historic Baptist Meeting House, and have given public honor to men who in turn have honored the university and city. George Washington received the honorary degree of LL. D. in 1790. Among her illustrious graduates none is greater than Adoniram Judson, our pioneer American and Baptist foreign missionary.

Doctor Manning died in 1791, and was buried in the North Burial Ground. The corporation voted that same year,

That the children of the Jews may be admitted into this institution and entirely enjoy the freedom of their own religion, without any constraint or imposition whatever.

The name of the college was changed from Rhode Island to Brown University, in 1804, in honor of Nicholas Brown, whose liberal gifts to the college were much appreciated. He was a trustee and in his lifetime gave about $100,000 to the college. In 1821 the increasing number of students made another building imperative, and Nicholas Brown gave this needed structure, Hope College, as a gift to the institution.

The second president of Brown University was Jonathan Maxcy, who served from 1792 until 1802. In these ten years two hundred and twenty-seven were graduated, sixty-six claiming law as their profession, and fifty-six entering the ministry. Asa Messer was the third president, serving from 1802 until his resignation in 1826. His membership was in the First Baptist Church, but his views, after 1815, were Unitarian. Acts of vandalism, such as breaking into the library, beating down the pulpit, and breaking windows, were such that he took it as a protest against his position and finally resigned.

The next president was Francis Wayland. He completely reorganized the University. He introduced the elective system, and offered several practical courses. The college grounds were laid out. Two new buildings were erected. Manning Hall, a gift of Nicholas Brown, and named in honor of the first president, was built in 1840. In this Doric structure the library found a home on the first floor and the chapel on the second. Rhode Island Hall was erected shortly afterward, $10,000 being raised by Rhode Island men and women, and the balance of $12,500 being largely the gift of Nicholas Brown. Doctor Wayland’s presidency came to an end by his death in 1855. He was buried in North Burial Ground. Following him came Barnes Sears, Alexis Gaswell, Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, Elisha Benjamin Andrews, and the present president, W. H. P. Faunce, since June, 1899. Today the college has more than a thousand students, about thirty buildings, and an endowment of more than four million dollars. Brown University was the pioneer of the hundreds of schools, colleges, and universities which the Baptists were destined to have in the years that followed. These are not limited to one State, but are scattered all over our country.

Pilgrims to Providence, the birthplace of religious liberty in America, should not fail to visit those buildings which contain sacred relics of the long and hard struggle for soul-liberty and political freedom in America.

The present million-dollar CITY HALL, at the west end of Exchange Place, in Providence, was erected in the period 1874 to 1878. In the office of the Recorder of Deeds can be seen “the original deeds” from the Indian chiefs to Roger Williams in 1636, also his letter transferring to his loving friends, “a share of the new territory.” The original Compact of Government is here also, and there is a bust of Roger Williams over the entrance.

THE OLD STATE HOUSE, situated on Benefit Street, is a building which can well vie with Faneuil Hall in Boston and Independence Hall in Philadelphia as a “Cradle of Liberty.” Built in 1763, it was originally occupied by the Rhode Island Colonial Assembly, who here on May 4, 1776, two months previous to the Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia, adopted the famous act renouncing allegiance to Great Britain. This fact is commemorated by a bronze tablet and also by an annual commemoration in all the public schools of Providence.

THE NEW STATE HOUSE, or “Marble Palace,” on the crest of Capitol Hill, completed in 1902 at a cost of $3,200,000, is built of white Georgia marble, and has for a distinguishing feature one of the few marble domes existing in the world. This inscription is on the south front of the Capitol:

To hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained, with full Liberty in Religious Concernments.

On the north side, we read,

Providence Plantations, Founded by Roger Williams, 1636, Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, incorporated by Parliament, 1643, Rhode Island, Providence Plantations, obtained Royal Charter 1663. In General Assembly declared a Sovereign State, May 4th, 1776.

The inscription around the interior of the dome is a Latin quotation from Tacitus. Translated it is:

Rare felicity of the times when it is permitted to think as you like, and say what you think.

In the State Chamber is Gilbert Stuart’s rare full-length portrait of General Washington. In the Secretary of State’s office is the original charter, granted in 1663, under which the colony and State were governed until 1843. In a subbasement there is a collection of State historical exhibits, originally collected for the Jamestown Exposition. On the dome of the State House there is a colossal bronze statue of “Independent Man, or the Genius of Religious Liberty,” designed by Brewster.

THE COURT HOUSE is on the corner of Benefit and College Streets. In its corridor there is a historical painting by C. F. Grant, picturing “The return of Roger Williams with the first charter for the Colony in 1644.”

RHODE ISLAND IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

Rhode Island was the first to strike a blow for civil liberty as she was the first in the struggle for religious liberty. She was last, however, to adopt the Constitution of the United States. She hesitated to surrender to the federal government the liberties enjoyed under her charter, the most liberal ever granted to a colony. She has a right to be proud of her record, before, during, and after the Revolutionary war. E. Benjamin Andrews opened his case for Rhode Island’s recognition with these words:

States are great or small according to their miles, and as the little birth town of the Christ, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, was not least among the princes of Judah, so Rhode Island, diminutive as she is physically, is far from least among the princely Constituents of this republic.

The history of Rhode Island proves that the best compatriot political liberty ever had was absolute religious liberty.

Rhode Island was the first to strike the name of king from the charter of her liberties, thus becoming the first sovereign independent State in all the New World.

Rhode Island was the first to recommend the permanent establishment of a Continental Congress, in town meeting assembled, May 17, 1774, and in General Assembly, June 15, 1774, she appointed Samuel Ward and Ezek Hopkins her first delegates thereto.

Rhode Island was also the first, by overt act, to renounce allegiance to George III of England. She was first to instruct her officers to disregard the Stamp Act and to ensure them indemnity for so doing. In 1765, she explicitly declared that in herself alone was vested the right of local taxation.

Rhode Island was first to fire a gun against the dominion of England. The first blood of the Revolutionary war was spilt in Narragansett Bay. Lexington was fought April 19, 1775; the Boston Tea Party was on December 16, 1773; Providence men, after perfecting their plans at the Sabin Tavern, Planet and South Main Streets, rowed down the river, and on June 10, 1772, sent up the Gaspee in flames.

On July 19, 1769, the men of Newport sunk His Majesty’s sloop, Liberty. Rhode Island was the first to establish an American navy. She gave the command to Abraham Whipple, who forthwith captured the first war prize (the tender of the frigate Rose, then off Newport). After the war of independence was under way, Rhode Island was the first to recommend and urge upon Congress the establishment of a Continental navy. Congress chose a Rhode Islander to work out the plans. Ezek Hopkins, a Providence man, was appointed commander-in-chief. Three-fourths of all the officers were from Rhode Island. These men were the vikings of the American Revolution. Ezek Hopkins’ home is still preserved on Admiral Street. There is a monument to him at his grave in Hopkins Square, corner Branch Avenue and Charles Street.

In proportion to her size none of the other States can compare with Rhode Island in the amount given to the Continental loan. Her citizens, unlocking their purses, freely furnished the sinews of war. She contributed seven times as much as South Carolina, whose population was three times as large; one and a half times as much as Maryland, whose population was four times as great; twice as much as Virginia, with a population eight times larger.

Rhode Island contributed proportionately her share of men to the great struggle. Rhode Island men were in every great battle under Washington. Rhode Island has been greatly criticized for not quickly adopting the Constitution. She was the last to adopt it. Her conception of religious and civic liberty in combination was such that she was not willing to lose easily the liberty which she had obtained for herself and which she freely advocated for others. Her part in the great struggle was so great that her motive for delay in adopting the Constitution should never be questioned. Her ideal of liberty, unique to Rhode Island then, is the generally accepted one now throughout America and back of every great politicial reform in lands beyond our borders.

Ex-Governor Russell Brown, on Rhode Island Day at the World’s Columbian Exposition, said:

The history of our State is a birthright which neither lands nor gold can buy, for full as it is of stirring and passionate events, there is not an incident in our annals that can bring the scarlet of shame to the cheek of civilized man. Roger Williams the first settler, the thrice-exiled friend of the weak and oppressed, by his revolt against Puritan intolerance and his sacrifice for soul liberty, baptized Rhode Island’s early days with glory sufficient for any State.

VI

THE TORCH-BEARERS OF THE IDEAL OF ROGER WILLIAMS UNTIL LIBERTY ENLIGHTENED THE WORLD

I believe all our Baptist ministers in town, except two, and most of our brethren in the country were on the side of the Americans in the late dispute.... To this hour we believe that the independence of America will, for a while, secure the liberty of this country, but if that continent had been reduced, Britain would not have long been free.--_Doctor Rippon, of London, England, to President Manning, of Rhode Island College, written in 1784._

Nor need any one dream that Jefferson and Madison could have carried this measure by their genius and influence. They were opposed by many men whose transcendent services, or unequalled oratory, or wealth, position, financial interests, or intense prejudices would have enabled them easily to resist their unsupported assaults. Like a couple of first-class engineers on a tender with a train attached, but no locomotive, would Jefferson and Madison have appeared without the Baptists. They furnished the locomotive for these skilled engineers which drew the train of religious liberty through every persecuting enactment in the penal code of Virginia.--_Wm. Cathcart, D. D., in “The Baptists and the American Revolution.”_

The Baptists were the first and only religious denomination that struck for independence from Great Britain, and the first and only one that made a move for religious liberty before independence was declared.... Of those who took part in the struggle for religious liberty, the Baptists were the only denomination that maintained a consistent record and held out without wavering until the end--until every vestige of the old establishment had been obliterated by the sale of the glebes.--_Dr. Charles James, in “Documentary History of the Struggle for Religious Liberty in Virginia.”_

THE TORCH-BEARERS OF THE IDEAL OF ROGER WILLIAMS UNTIL LIBERTY ENLIGHTENED THE WORLD

We have seen the early struggles of Roger Williams. We have seen the halo of glory which clusters about the State he founded. We have seen his place in the plans of a Divine providence. We have also seen his place in the procession of heroes who held aloft the torch of religious and soul-liberty throughout the ages. When by death, he was compelled to drop that torch, others took it up and continued the procession until the first amendment to our National Constitution became a fact of history. The Baptists led the historic movement in all the colonies which stood for this principle of “Religious Liberty.” Oscar S. Straus says:

The Baptists ... 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.

Professor Gervinus, professor at Heidelberg, Germany, about the year 1850, published a work, in which he referred to Williams and his ideal:

Roger Williams urged an entire liberty of conscience in Massachusetts. He was obliged to fly from the country, and in 1636 he founded a small new society in Rhode Island upon the principles of entire liberty of conscience. It was prophesied that the democratic attempts to obtain a general elective franchise and entire religious liberty would be of short duration. But these institutions have spread from that petty state over the whole union. They superseded the aristocratic commencements of Carolina and New York, the High-church part of 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 background of every democratic struggle in Europe.

For the publication of such sentiments, Professor Gervinus was tried at Mannheim and sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and to have his books publicly burned.

Back of political progress there must be spiritual strength. Back of the final victory of religious liberty in America there was not only the glorious example of Rhode Island as a political demonstration but the persistent propagation of the ideals in all the States. This was chiefly the task of the Baptists, many of whose churches could trace their origin to settlers from Rhode Island.

During the Colonial period, the laws of Massachusetts and Virginia relating to soul-liberty were most severe; those in Maryland and Pennsylvania, the most lenient, outside of Rhode Island.

[Sidenote: 1644. Nov. 13.]

Whereas Thomas Gold (and others) obstinate and turbulent Annabaptists, have some time since combined themselves wh others in a pretended church estate xxxxx to the great griefe and offence of the godly orthodox xxxxxxxx and about two years since were enjoyned by this Court to desist from said practise and to returne to our allowed Church Assemblies, xxxxxx this Court doe judge it necessary that they be removed to some other part of this country or elsewhere: and accordingly doeth order that (they) doe before the twentieth of July next remove themselves out of this jurisdiccon.

In Massachusetts the Baptist sentiment did not die out with the banishment of Roger Williams. In 1640, Rev. Mr. Chauncey advocated the immersion of believers and also of infants. Later President Dunster, of Cambridge College, went further and denounced the whole system of infant baptism. About the same time, Lady Moody, of Lynn, denied infant baptism. In 1644, a poor man by the name of Painter, reaching the same conclusion, refused to have his child baptized. The court interfered and the man was tied up and whipped. On November 13, 1644, two months after Williams arrived in Boston, en route to Providence, with the charter, the Massachusetts Bay Colony passed a law against the Baptists, in which they were described as “The incendiaries of commonwealths, the troublers of churches.” They ordered that all who “openly condemn or oppose the baptizing of infants shall be sentenced to banishment.” The General Court issued an order in 1644 banishing the founders of the Boston Baptist Church. In 1651, Obadiah Holmes, John Clarke, and John Crandall came to Lynn, Massachusetts, from Newport, Rhode Island. They were holding a service in Mr. Witter’s house, about two miles out from Lynn. Mr. Clarke was preaching from Revelation 3:10. The service was broken up by the arrival of two constables, who, with clamorous tongues, interrupted the discourse and arrested the preachers. The prisoners were held in Lynn until the morning, when they were taken to the Boston prison. Two weeks later, they were sentenced to pay heavy fines. The fines of Clarke and Crandall were paid by friends. Holmes refused any assistance in paying his fine of thirty pounds and was publicly whipped with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip. Thirteen others, who sympathized with these brethren, were arrested and were ordered to pay a fine of forty shillings each or take ten lashes. John Hazel, an old man from Rehoboth, was whipped and died a few days afterward. Clarke published the story of this incident in “Ill Newes from New-England”--an original copy is in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, R. I. Cotton was the religious leader in Boston, back of this persecution. In 1680 the doors of the Baptist meeting-house in Boston were nailed up by the authorities. Finally the Baptists in Boston won some freedom, which, however, was denied to other Baptist churches throughout the State. Isaac Backus was the leader among the Massachusetts Baptists for soul-liberty. With President Manning, he appealed to the Massachusetts delegates at the Continental Congress to provide in the Constitution for separation of Church and State. John Adams replied to them: “They might as well turn the heavenly bodies out of their annual and diurnal courses as to expect they would give up their establishment.” This spirit of opposition was continued until 1833, in which year the last vestige of oppressive religious intolerance was removed from the statute-books of Massachusetts.

ILL

NEWES

FROM

NEW-ENGLAND

OR

A Narative of _New-Englands_

PERSECUTION.

WHEREIN IS DECLARED

That while old _England_ is becoming new,
_New-England_ is become Old.

Also four Proposals to the Honoured Parliament and Councel of State,
touching the way to _Propagate the Gospel of Christ_ (with small
charge and great safety) both in Old _England_ and New.

Also four conclusions touching the faith and order of the Gospel of
Christ out of his last Will and Testament, confirmed and justified

By JOHN CLARK Physician of Rode Island in _America_.

_Revel._ 2. 25. _Hold fast till I come._
3. 11. _Behold I come quickly._
22. 20. _Amen, even so come Lord Jesus._

_LONDON_,

Printed by _Henry Hills_ living in _Fleet-Yard_ next door to the
_Rose_ and _Crown_, in the year 1652.

In Virginia, the opposition to the Baptist movement was bitter and unrelenting. The early settlers of Virginia left England, when their church, the Established Church of England, had won a complete victory over all other persuasions. The Virginians sought to duplicate in the new land the spirit of the victors across the sea and make religion uniform in their colony. Laws were passed against popish recusants as early as 1643. Other laws were passed by their assembly between the years 1659 and 1663 against those who failed to have their children baptized. The Quakers especially found these laws most severe. The early Baptists of Virginia were of the common people; their ministers were illiterate; and for a while they escaped notice. The first imprisonment of Baptists was in the county of Spottsylvania, Va., June 4, 1768. Three Baptists, John Waller, Lewis Craig, and James Childs, with others, were arrested for disturbing the peace. (There was no law against preaching.) The opposing lawyer in the court-room made this charge:

May it please your worships, these men are great disturbers of the peace; they cannot meet a man on the road, but they ram a text of Scripture down his throat.

Mr. Waller so defended himself and his brethren that their enemies were somewhat puzzled to know how to proceed against them. They offered to release them on promise to refrain from preaching in the county for a year and a day. The defendants refused the offer and were sent to prison. Other Baptist ministers were arrested, and soon thirty were under arrest. The prisons became Baptist pulpits, and multitudes gathered around them to hear the preachers. Their opponents engaged drummers to drown the preaching; high enclosures were in some cases erected before prison windows, and suffocating materials were burned near the prisons. Baptists from the beginning were unremitting in their struggle to secure religious liberty. They secured the support of Patrick Henry, a member of the Established Church, but a firm friend of all who stood for liberty, civil and religious. He helped the Baptists to win the complete victory.

The Baptist cause was destined to have a more congenial atmosphere in Pennsylvania when we remember that William Penn, its illustrious founder, had an English Baptist father and a Dutch mother, undoubtedly of Anabaptist descent. He received his charter in 1681, forty-five years after Roger Williams’ banishment from Massachusetts. Penn possessed broad and liberal ideas and was opposed to any church establishment. He provided

that all persons who confess and acknowledge the Almighty and Eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world, ... should in no ways be molested, nor compelled to frequent or maintain any religious worship.

Yet only those confessing faith in Jesus Christ could become freemen in Penn’s domain. The separate Quakers in the colony of Pennsylvania were arrested, fined, and imprisoned for dissent.

The first company of Baptists in this colony came from Rhode Island. William Dugan came there in 1684, three years after Penn received his charter. He settled at Cold Spring, in Bucks County. The first church in Philadelphia was founded by John Holmes in 1686. The first meeting-place was at the corner of Second and Chestnut Streets.

[Sidenote: Two Thirds of the Members have the Power of a full House. No Member to vote &c. in the House till qualified. The Qualification of every Member of Assembly. Altered by an Act pass’d in the II Geo. I, entitled An Act--prescribing the Forms of Declaration of Fidelity. &c.]

AND if any County or Part of this Province shall refuse or neglect to choose their respective Representatives as aforesaid, or if chosen, do not meet to serve in Assembly, those who are so chosen and met shall have the full Power of an Assembly in as ample Manner as if all the Representatives had been chosen and met; Provided, they are not less than two Thirds of the Whole that ought to meet.

AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED by the Authority aforesaid, That no Person who shall be hereafter a Member of the Assembly, or House of Representatives of this Province, shall be capable to vote in the said House, or sit there during any Debate, after their Speaker is chosen, until he shall make and subscribe the following Declarations and Profession his Belief, _viz._,

_I_ A. B. _do sincerely promise, and solemnly declare before GOD and the World, That I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Queen_ Anne. _And I do solemnly profess and declare. That I do, from my Heart, abbor, detest and renounce as impious and heretical, that damnable Doctrine and Position, That Princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, or any Authority of the See of_ Rome, _may be deposed or murdered by their Subjects, or any other whatsoever_.

_AND I do declare, That no foreign Prince, Person, Prelate, State or Potentate hath, or ought to have, any Power, Jurisdiction, Superiority, Preeminence or Authority ecclesiastical or spiritual, within the Realm of_ England, _or the Dominions thereunto belonging_.

_AND I_ A. B. _do solemnly and sincerely, in the Presence of_ GOD, _profess, testify and declare, That I do believe that in the Sacrament of the_ LORD’s _Supper there is not any Transubstantiation of the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of_ CHRIST, _at or after the Consecration thereof, by any Person whatsoever; and that the Invocation or Adoration of the Virgin_ Mary, _or any other Saint, and the Sacrifice of the_ Mass, _as they are now used in the Church of_ Rome, _are superstitions and Idolatrous_.

_AND I do solemnly, in the Presence of_ GOD, _profess, testify and declare. That I do make this Declaration and every Part thereof, in the plain and ordinary Sense of the Words read unto me, as they are commonly understood by_ English Protestants, _without any Evasion, Equivocation or mental Reservation whatsoever and without any Dispensation already granted me for this Purpose by the Pope, or any other Authority or Person whatsoever, or without any Hope of any such Dispensation from any Person or Authority whatsoever, or without thinking I am or may be acquitted before_ GOD, _or Man, or absolved of this Declaration, or any Part thereof, although the Pope, or any other Person or Persons, or Power whatsoever, should dispense with or annull the same, or declare that it was null or void from the Beginning_.

_AND I_ A. B. _profess Faith in_ GOD _the Father, and in_ JESUS CHRIST, _his eternal Son, the true_ GOD, _and in the_ HOLY SPIRIT, _one_ GOD, _blessed for evermore; and do acknowledge the_ Holy Scriptures _of the_ Old _and_ New-Testament, _to be given by divine Inspiration_.

Lord Baltimore, the Roman Catholic proprietor of Maryland, was far in advance of his Church. He came to the New World to secure religious liberty for himself and his friends. The Maryland Act of Toleration, issued in 1649, provided that

Blasphemy against God, and a denial of the Trinity should be punished with death and confiscation of lands and goods, and blasphemy against the Virgin Mary should first be punished by a fine of five pounds, and if persisted in, by a forfeiture of all possessions and banishment from the colony.

[Sidenote: 1649.]

Acts and Orders of ASSEMBLY, assented to, enacted and made, at a General Session of the said Assembly, begun and held at _St. Mary_’s on the 2d Day of _April_ 1649, and ended the 21st Day of the same Month.

WILLIAM STONE, Esq; Governor.

CHAP. I.

[Sidenote: Passed 21st of _April_ 1649.]

_An Act concerning Religion. Lib._ C _and_ WH. _fol._ 106. _Lib._ WH. _fol._ 111. _and Lib._ WH _and_ L. _fol._ 1.

Confirmed among the perpetual Laws 1676, _ch._ 2.

_N. B._ By this Law, (1.) Blasphemy against GOD, denying our Saviour JESUS CHRIST to be the Son of GOD, or denying the Holy TRINITY, or the Godhead of any of the Three Persons, _&c._ was to be Punished with Death, and Confiscation of Lands and Goods to the Lord Proprietary. (2.) Persons using any reproachful Words or Speeches concerning the Blessed Virgin _Mary_, Mother of our Saviour, or the Holy Apostles or Evangelists, or any of them, for the 1st Offence to forfeit 5_l._ Sterling to the Lord Proprietary; or, in default of Payment, to be publicly Whipped, and Imprisoned at the Pleasure of his Lordship, or his Lieut. General. For the 2d Offence to forfeit 10_l._ Sterling, or in default of Payment to be publicly and severely Whipped, and Imprisoned as before directed. And for the 3d Offence to forfeit Lands and Goods, and be for ever Banished out of the Province. (3.) Persons reproaching any other within the Province by the Name or Denomination of Heretic, Schismatic, Idolater, Puritan, Independent, Presbyterian, Popish Priest, Jesuit, Jesuited Papist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Round-Head, Separatist, or any other Name or Term in a reproach-

The Baptist church at Chestnut Ridge was formed in 1742 by Henry Sator, a layman of the General Baptist order, who had recently come from England. He invited Baptist ministers to preach in his house. They soon gathered a congregation; proselytes were gained, and a church organized. This church appealed to the governor and was taken under the protection of the toleration laws.

94. _Capitall Laws._

1.

[Sidenote: Dut. 13. 6, 10.

Dut. 17. 2, 6

Ex. 22. 20.]

[Sidenote: P. 14.

S. 1.]

If any man after legall conviction shall have or worship any other god, but the lord god, he shall be put to death.

2.

[Sidenote: Ex. 22. 18.

Lev. 20. 27.

Dut. 18. 10.]

[Sidenote: S. 2.]

If any man or woeman be a witch, (that is hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit,) They shall be put to death.

3.

[Sidenote: Lev. 24. 15, 16.]

[Sidenote: S. 3.]

If any man shall Blaspheme the name of god, the father, Sonne or Holie ghost, with direct, expresse, presumptuous or high handed blasphemie, or shall curse god in the like manner, he shall be put to death.

THE FINAL VICTORY IN THE LONG STRUGGLE

Two Baptist organizations in close sympathy with each other contributed much toward the final victory. They made appeals to their immediate constituency and also to the larger following of all Baptists and other lovers of religious liberty. These were the Warren Association in New England, and the General Committee in Virginia. Each had a committee of grievances. The Baptists were nobly assisted by Presbyterians and Quakers in the final stages of the great conflict. Isaac Backus wrote his immortal work on “A History of New England, with Especial Reference to the Baptists.” He drafted appeals for the Association and for the committee on grievances to the General Assembly, published addresses on religious liberty, and inserted advertisements in leading papers. He believed that partial history and false statements regarding Baptist history and doctrines should be removed by scattering impartial and true knowledge. He was a Baptist giant and had his share in forming sentiment, which eventually made religious intoleration impossible in America.

Isaac Backus, with President Manning, of Brown University, then Rhode Island College, went to Philadelphia and with Quakers and others appealed to John Adams and other Massachusetts delegates in Carpenter Hall, Philadelphia. These advocates of soul-liberty took the position that to pay taxes to support a church clergy in which they did not believe was as much a wrong as to pay taxes for a government in which they had no representation. It was not the paltry tax of fourpence a man that the colonists in Massachusetts rebelled against. It was the principle that was back of paying the pence which they opposed. They were greatly amazed when John Adams told them that their own colony, Massachusetts, had “the most mild and equitable establishment of religion that was known in the world.”

The Virginia Baptists, through their General Convention, organized in 1784, united the efforts of the Baptists there and in New England for the final phases of the war against religious tyranny. For four years they had worked for liberty in their State laws and had won a complete victory. Then, in 1788, they turned to the national issue. The Federal Constitution had provided in Article VI, “No religious Test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” This did not satisfy the Baptists, because religious tests might be imposed for other purposes than those specified. In a noble letter, drafted by John Leland, a Baptist minister, they appealed to Washington. They paid a high compliment to his achievements and then stated their grievance, closing with these words:

If religious liberty is rather insecure in the Constitution the administration will certainly prevent all oppression, for a WASHINGTON will preside. Should the horrid evils that have been so pestiferous in Asia and Europe, faction, ambition, war, perfidy, fraud, and persecution for conscience sake, ever approach the borders of our happy nation, may the name and administration of our beloved President, like the radiant source of day, scatter all the dark clouds from the American hemisphere.

Washington replied that his ideals were the same, assuring them of this, in the following words:

No one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution.

He complimented the Baptists and said that they

have been, throughout America, uniformly and almost unanimously, the firm friends to civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glorious revolution.

His assurance was not empty words. In a short time James Madison, with the President’s approval, submitted certain amendments. Article VI was superseded by the First Amendment to the Constitution, which specified:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Thus the long fight was won in America, and now people generally appreciate the importance of the victory gained. Rhode Island may have hesitated to accept the imperfect Constitution, with its lack of assurance for complete religious liberty. In this connection we should not forget that Massachusetts and Connecticut were the last to ratify the First Amendment.

VII

THE WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE OF ROGER WILLIAMS’ IDEAL

“The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon trusted foundations of political liberty.”--_President Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917._

Till the war-drum throbb’d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl’d
In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.
There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe,
And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law.
--_Alfred Tennyson._

A day will come when bullets and bombs shall be replaced by ballots, by the universal suffrages of the people, by the sacred arbitrament of a great Sovereign Senate.... A day will come when we shall face those two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, in face of each other, extending hand to hand over the ocean, exchanging their products, their commerce, their industry, their art, their genius clearing the earth, colonizing deserts, and ameliorating creation under the eye of the Creator. To you, I appeal, French, English, Germans, Russians, Slavs, Europeans, Americans, what have we to do to hasten the coming of the great day? LOVE ONE ANOTHER.--_Victor Hugo._

I asked him (Premier Lloyd George) what message he would send to American Baptists. Quick as a flash, he turned and said: “Tell them that it is Baptist principles that we are fighting for in this great struggle. All that Baptists count dear is at stake in this issue.”--_Lloyd George to George Coleman, President, Northern Baptist Convention. From the latter’s speech at Atlantic City, N. J., May, 1918._

THE WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE OF ROGER WILLIAMS’ IDEAL

Roger Williams, as a man of vision, was experimenting with a new idealism. His ideas, now generally accepted, have made absolute religious liberty, with its complete separation of Church and State, an idea almost synonymous with the name of the United States of America. That lonely man, in the smallest of the colonies, set the pace for the other twelve original commonwealths and established a national pattern for the forty-eight States in the present Union. Our cup of blessing has overflowed, and today the whole world is awaking to the blessings in store for them if they partake of the same privileges.

“Mankind has pursued liberty over mountain and across valley,” writes Pres. E. Y. Mullins,