HE founders of Massachusetts,
having fled from persecution on
account of their religious opin-
ions, were chiefly anxious to
secure to themselves and their
descendants the unmolested en-
joyment of these opinions in
the country where they had
taken refuge. For this pur-
pose they deemed it important

to require of all the members of their community, conformity
to their religious views, to a certain extent; and this, in a
small state, such as they proposed to found, they considered
not only practicable but absolutely essential to the continued

ROGER WILLIAMS'S DOCTRINE.

181

existence of the colony. The puritans had not learned to separate moral and religious from political questions, nor had the governors of any other state or sovereignty in the world, at that period, learned to make this distinction. We must not be surprised therefore to find that what was considered heresy, by the rulers of Massachusetts, should be regarded as subversive of the very foundations of society, and that, in accordance with these views, it should receive from them precisely the same sort of treatment which at the same period dissent from the established religion of the state was receiving from the rulers of the most enlightened nations of Europe.

The impracticability of maintaining a uniformity of religious opinion even in a small community, most favourably situated for the purpose, soon became apparent. Among the emigrants of 1630 was Roger Williams, a puritan minister who officiated for some time as a pastor in New Plymouth; but subsequently obtained leave to resign his functions at that place, and in 1633 was appointed minister of Salem. His unflinching assertion of the rights of conscience, and the new views which he developed of the nature of religious liberty, had early attracted the attention of the leading men of the colony, and excited the hostility of a great portion of the people. Indeed there was much in his doctrine to awaken the prejudices and excite the alarm of those who had adopted the exclusive theory of Winthrop and his adherents.

"He maintained that it was not lawful for an unregenerate man to pray, nor for Christians to join in family prayer with those whom they judged unregenerate: that it was not lawful to take an oath of allegiance, which he had declined himself to take, and advised his congregation equally to reject: that King Charles had unjustly usurped the power of disposing of the territory of the Indians, and hence the colonial patent was utterly invalid: that the civil magistrate had no right to restrain or direct the consciences of men; and that anything short of unlimited toleration for all religious systems was detestable persecution."*

* Grahame.

182

ROGER WILLIAMS EXILED.

These opinions and others of a kindred nature, enforced with an uncompromising zeal, soon occasioned his separation from his pastoral charge. A few admirers clung to him in his retirement; and when he denounced the use of the cross on the British flag, the fiery and enthusiastic Endicott cut the Popish emblem, as he styled it, from the national standard; nor did the censure of this act by the provincial authorities convince the military trained bands of Williams's error. With them the leaders were obliged to compromise. While measures were in agitation for bringing Williams to a judicial reckoning, Cotton and other ministers proposed a conference with him, of the fruitlessness of which the far-sighted Winthrop warned them-" You are deceived in that man, if you think he will condescend to learn of any of you." Subsequent events showed that these two men, the most distinguished in the colony, regarded each other with mutual respect throughout the whole controversy. The conference was ineffectual; and sentence of banishment was pronounced against Williams. This sentence was so unpopular in Salem, that a large proportion of the inhabitants prepared to follow him into exile; when an earnest remonstrance from Cotton and the other ministers of Boston, hardly induced them to relinquish their purpose. Alarmed at this movement, his enemies determined to send him to England; but he evaded the warrant issued for his apprehension, and making his escape in the midst of winter, sought shelter among the recesses of the forest. His sufferings should never be forgotten by the friends of religious liberty. For more than three months he was a houseless wanderer in the woods (1635). It was well for him that his philanthropic spirit had previously led him to cultivate the friendship of the Indians. From Massasoit and Canonicus he received a cordial welcome; and he was ever after their advocate and friend.

His first attempt at a settlement was at Seekonk, where he procured land from Osamaquin, the chief sachem of Pokanoket, and began to build. But a private letter from Governor Winthrop brought him information that this place was within

the jurisdiction of Plymouth colony, and advised him to remove to the neighbourhood of Narragansett Bay. His friends Miantonomoh and Canonicus assured him that he should not want land for a settlement in that vicinity. "With this assurance, he, with five other persons, went over Seekonk river to seek a place for that purpose. Descending the stream, as they drew near the little cove, north of Tookwotten, now called India Point, they were saluted by the natives with the friendly term, What cheer? Passing down to the mouth of the river, and round Fox Point, they proceeded a little way up the river on the other side to a place called by the Indians Mooshausick; where they landed and were hospitably received. Not far from the landing, Roger Williams afterwards built his house. Here he, with his companions, began a plantation, which, in acknowledgment of God's merciful providence to him in his distress,' he called PROVIDENCE.* In 1638 a deed

6

184

ARRIVAL OF PETERS AND VANE.

of Canonicus and Miantonomoh confirmed his possession of the land. The exile, persecuted for his testimony to the freedom of conscience, had become the founder of a state.

During the summer of the same year, twenty ships arrived in Massachusetts, bringing no less than three thousand new settlers. Among them was Hugh Peters, the celebrated chaplain and counsellor of Oliver Cromwell; and Sir Henry, commonly called Sir Harry Vane, son of a privy counsellor at the English court. Peters, a zealous puritan and a warm advocate of popular rights, became minister of Salem, where he "not only discharged his sacred functions with zeal and advantage, but roused the planters to new courses of useful industry, and encouraged them by his own successful example. He remained in New England till 1641, when at the request of the colonists he went to transact some business for them in the mother country, from which he was fated never to return. But his race remained in the land which had been thus highly indebted to his virtue; and the name of Winthrop, one of the most honoured in New England, was acquired and transmitted by his daughter. Vane, afterwards Sir Henry Vane the younger, had been for some time restrained from indulging his wish to proceed to New England, by the prohibition of his father, who was at length induced to waive his objections by the interference of the king. A young man of patrician family, animated with such ardent devotion to the cause of pure religion and liberty, that, relinquishing all his prospects in Britain, he chose to settle in an infant colony, which, as yet, afforded little more than a subsistence for its inhabitants, was received in New England with the fondest regard and admiration. He was then little more than twentyfour years of age. His youth, which seemed to magnify the sacrifice he had made, increased no less the impression which his manners and appearance were calculated to produce. The deep, thoughtful composure of his aspect and demeanour, stamped a serious grace, and somewhat (according to our conceptions) of angelic grandeur on the bloom of manhood; his countenance disclosed the surface of a character not less