Life of Roger Williams : the founder of the state of Rhode Island

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Preface

In preparing the following sketch of Roger Williams, the writer has consulted nearly all the works of New England history, from which materials might be derived for the illustration of his life and character. He is, however, by far the most indebted to the elaborate " Memoir," prepared by the late Mr. Knowles, a work of great fulness and accuracy of information respectmg not only the immediate subject to which it relates, but also the general affairs of New England in that early age. This work, which probably contains all that can now be known concerning the life of the calumniated founder of Rhode Island, renders the task of a subsequent biographer comparatively easy. The narrative of Mr. Knowles has been generally compared with the original authorities on which he relies, and in all cases his statements have been found to be correct.

In selecting and arranging the materials, which are thus supplied, the aim of the present writer has been, to confine himself to

4 PREFACE.

those which are best fitted to illustrate the per sonal character of this eminent man, and to furnish the means of estimating aright the services he rendered to his own and to subsequent times. He has sought to give a plain and faithful narrative of a series of events, which seem the more remarkable, as, by the lapse of time, we are further separated from the period in which they occurred. These events, indeed, furnish a sad and perplexing commentary upon the principles of the Puritans, while they serve to impart the aspect of heroism to the life of him, whom the Puritans persecuted and banished. They are now well understood, and are regarded as, in some sense, among the anomalies of history ; yet they can never lose their interest and importance. So long as men shall continue to differ on religious subjects, and require the exercise of Christian charity and liberality, so long may they learn lessons of the highest practical value from the life of him, who has been justly styled " the apostle of religious liberty."

Contents

LIFE OF ROGER WILLIAMS.

BY WILLIAM GAMMELL.

Pkg».

Preface 3

Chapter I

His early Life. — His Education. — The Influ' ences that formed his Character and Opinions.

— He arrives at Boston 6

CHAPTER n.

The Puritan Settlements in Massachusetts. — The Principles on which they were founded.

— The Views of Williams. — The Charges of the Magistrates against him. — His Settlement at Salem. — His Removal to Plymouth^ and

the Cause ...... 13

CHAPTER HI.

His Reception at Plymouth. — His Discontent there, and Return to Salem. — Results of his Residence at Plymouth. — The Puritans* Dread of Anabaptists 21

VI CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

His secojid Residence in Salem. — His Disapprobation of the Ministers^ Meeting. — Trea^ tise concerning the King''s Patent. — Troubles with the Magistrates on Account of it. — Conduct of Williams. — He preaches upon the Duty of Women''s wearing Veils. — Also against the Cross in the Military Colors. — His Character and Standing in Salem. . . 28

CHAPTER V.

His Doctrine of the Freedom of Conscience. — The Difficulty in which it involves him with the Clergy and Magistrates. — His Opposition to the Freeman'' s Oath. — The Persecution of the Magistrates extends to the People of Salem. — He is deserted by his Church. — The Judgment of the Clergy. — The Decree of Banishment. — He leaves Salem. . 38

CHAPTER VI.

His Wanderings after his Banishment. — He visits Massasoit, and begins a Settlement at Seekonk. — He crosses the River, and lays the Foundations of Providence 54

CHAPTER Vn.

The principal Indian Tribes of New England. -^ Williams'' s Intercourse with them. — His

CONTENTS, VU

Views of their Rights, and his Influence with them. — Freedom of the Colony at Providence.

— Its Government limited to civil Things. — Circumstances in which Williams is placed. . 65

CHAPTER VIII.

The Pcquot War. — The Services Williams renders the Government of Massachusetts. — His Agency saves the Colonies from Destruction.

— His Letter to Governor Winthrop. — Issue of the War. — Manner in lohich his Services

are regarded by 3Iassachusetts 79

CHAPTER IX.

Inadequacy of Legislation for the Suppression of Heresy. — Account of Mrs. Hutchinson and her Controversy in Massachusetts. — Her Adherents are received at Providence. — They settle on Rhode Island. — Williams'' s Agency in the Purchase of the Island. — Relations of the Colony at Providence with 3Iassachusetts.

— Account of Samuel Gorton. — His Settlement at Pawtuxet. — His Difficulties with the People of Providence 94

CHAPTER X.

The New England Confederacy. — The Colonies in Rhode Island excluded. — They appeal to the King. — Williams is appointed their ., Agent, and sails for England. — Obtains a Charter. — Publishes the Bloody Tenet. —

VIU CONTENTS.

He returns to Rhode Island with the Char^ ter, — His Reception at Providence. — His Pacification of the Indians. — Organization of a Government under the Charter. — Spirit of its early Legislation .113

CHAPTER XI.

Private Life of Williams.'— Dissensions in Rhode Island. — Coddington^s Commission. — Oppressive Policy of the United Colonies. — Treatinent of John Clarke and others in Massachusctts. — Dissatisfaction with Coddington.

— Williams and Clarke are appointed Agents

of the Colony. — They sail for England. . 130

CHAPTER XII.

State of public Affairs in England. — Williams's Occupations while there. — Coddington' s Commission revoked. — Letter of the General Assembly to Williams. — His Intercourse with Sir Henry Vane, Cromwell, and 3Iilton. — His literary Labors. — His Return to Providence.

— Reorganization of the Government. — He

IS elected President of the Colony. ... 144

CHAPTER XIII.

Character of his Administration. — He acts as

Mediator bctvjeen the United Colonics and the

^ Indians. — Spirit of Disorder in the Colony.

— Williams's Letter to the Town of Providence. — Conduct of William Harris. — ^Vil-

CONTENTS. IX

Hams attempts to conciliate the other Colonies.

— TJieir Efforts to compel Rhode Island to persecute the Quakers. — Her liberal Policy towards them 160

CHAPTER XIV.

He retires from the Presidency. — Oliarles the Second grants a new Charter to the Colony

— Williams appointed an Assistant in the Government. — His Labors for the Indians. — His Controversy loith the Quakers. — King Philip^ s War. — The Services of Williams during the War. — Its Results. — The Close

of his Life, and his Death 178

CHAPTER XV.

His religious Opinions. — His Views respecting the Clergy. — Political Opinions. — Character as a Writer. — General Remarks 19''

Appendix

No. I. — Charges against Rhode Island. . . . 209 No. II. — Account of Roger Williams's Writings. 212

L 1 Jb L

WILLIAM GAMMFLL.

CHAPTER I.

His early Life. — His Education. — The Injlu* ences that formed his Character and Opinions. — He arrives at Boston.

Our only knowledge of the life of Roger Williams, previous to his arrival in America, is derived from tradition; and even this tradition rests upon no very certain evidence. No allusion is found in his writings, nor has any trace of documentary history been discovered, which can guide us to definite information concerning this period of his life. His peculiarities of opinion, and his subsequent exclusion from the sympathies of the colonies, undoubtedly contributed to render the interest of the early annalists of New England, in his personal history, far less than in that of most of the other leading men of his time. Not one of them appears to have taken any pains to inquire into his origin, or to

6 AMERICAN BIOGRAPfiy.

preserve, for the gratification of posterity, any account of his hfe and fortunes while Hving in Great Britain.

According to the traditions which have been preserved concerning him, he was born in Wales, in the year 1599. His parents were in the middle ranks of life, but of the character and circumstances of his family, or of the place of his birth, nothing can now be ascertained. He is said to have received his education at the university of Oxford, under the patronage of Sir Edward Coke, whose interest in him was first excited by an incident, which may have been characteristic of the early bias of his mind. He was struck with the young man's appearance at church, and his devout attention during public worship, and one day found that he was taking notes of the sermon. Sir Edward afterwards sent for him, and became so well pleased with his talents and character, that he obtained permission of his parents to place him at one of the colleges at Oxford. His name, however, cannot now be found on any of the rolls of the university, and, from the fact that Sir Edward Coke was himself a graduate of Cambridge, it bas been doubted whether Williams did not also receive his education at the same seat of learning.

The whole of the tradition relating to the

ROGER WILLIAMS.

patronage of Sir Edward Coke may well be called ill question ; for, at best, it rests upon no very satisfactory foundation. It is certain, however, from li's own statements, as well as from the character of his writings, that Mr. Williams received a classical education, and it is in a very high degree probable, that he pursued his studies at one of the famous seats of learning, which, until a recent period, have given to England nearly all her educated men. After the close of his residence at the university, he is said to have commenced the study of the law, under the guidance of his illustrious patron ; but his inclinations, which were early subjected to the influence of strong religious feelings, led him soon to abandon this pursuit, and enter upon the study of theology. This was a study, which largely engrossed the minds of most of the educated men of that age, and to which the growth and culture of his own spiritual nature had already given him a decided and controlling bias, " From my childhood," says he, near the close of his life, '' now above threescore years, the Father of hghts and mercies touched my soul with a love to himself, to his only-begotten, the true Lord Jesus, and to his Holy Scriptures." The religious character, whose germs were thus early planted, gi-ew and ripened with his years, amidst the retirement of his secluded studies, and bore fruits in a life of piety and vn'tue, which won for him the respect and confidence of those with whom he was associated. His mind was enriched and expanded with the best learning of the age ; and it is probable, that his preparation for the sacred profession to which he was looking forward, was, for the time, unusually thorough and complete. He was admitted to orders in the established church, though it is not known by what bishop, or in what year, he was ordained. It is also said, that he was appointed to the charge of a parish, while in England ; but of this no mention whatever is made in his writings, which now exist.

But, though so little can now be ascertained concerning his personal career in early life, yet the history of that troubled and exciting period of English affairs enables us to form no doubtful estimate of the influences that lent their aid in forming his opinions and shaping his character. He had grown to manhood at a time when society in England was in one of those transition states, which mark the departure of an old and the forming of a new era. The principles of the reformation, which had first been preached in England by Wickliffe and his followers, were slowly and silently working out their legitimate results in the institutions both of the church and tlie state, not less than in the minds of the people. Their influence was resisted by the prerogative of the monarch and the power of tlie hierarchy, and the rites of a corrupted church were still imposed, by statutes of uniformity, upon the free consciences of Englishmen. The great contest, which had commenced with the reformation, between the worn-out forms of a preceding age and the principles of civil and religious freedom, was at that time waged with unabated zeal. It is evident, from numerous passages in his subsequent writings, that Roger Williams, while in England, was no indifferent spectator of the events which marked the age. Into the controversy which then divided the English church, he had undoubtedly thrown himself with all the energy of his ardent and sanguine temperament. He had thoroughly studied the principles at issue between the two parties, and, with no wavering faith, had embraced the tenets of the persecuted Puritans, who then constituted the most pious portion of the established church. He thus became the associate and friend of Cotton and Hooker, and seems to have had occasional intercourse with Vane and Cromwell.

But, in addition to the views which he held in common with these and other eminent Puritans of his time, the lessons of history, and the workings of his clear and far-seeing mind, had forced upon his conviction another principle, which, even before he left his native country, had settled itself firmly in his faith. This principle w^as the inalienable freedom of the conscience, the responsibility of man to God alone in all matters of religious belief and worship. It had been held, and occasionally asserted, in some modified form, by the friends of freedom in a former age, and w^as, indeed, a legitimate result of the spirit and doctrines of the reformation ; but in the mind of Roger Williams alone, in modern times, does it appear to have been first conceived in the length and breadth of its universal application.

Holding such views, it is not surprising that he should have been among the earhest to join the bands of emigrants, who were preparing to seek an asylum for their persecuted worship upon the shores of New England. Some of his acquaintances had already preceded him to the new world, while the Puritans, in every part of England, were looking with anxious interest to the colonies, which had thus been planted beyond the sea. Yielding to the general impulse which then so widely prevailed, he embarked at Bristol, on the 1st of December, 1630, in the ship Lion, Captain Pierce, master, (the same ship, which, in successive passages, bore so many of the emigrants to New England,) and, after a tempestuous voyage of sixty-six days, arrived at Boston, on the Sth of February, 1631.

He was now in the thirty-second year of his age, and in the full maturity of all his powers, having already acquired a reputation for eloquence and piety, which had spread widely in England, and had preceded him to America. His arrival at Boston is mentioned by Governor Winthrop, in his Journal, as of " a godly minister," and was doubtless hailed, by the churches of the infant settlements of Massachusetts Bay, as an accession to their strength of the precious gifts of piety and learning. They little anticipated the startling doctrines he would put forth ; and he had no intimation of the singular destiny, that was preparing for him, amid the unknown wilderness to which he had come.

When he embarked at Bristol, he had been recently married, and was accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Mary Williams, a lady, who lived to share his changeful fortunes among the checkered scenes through which he subsequently parsed, but of whose early history even less is known than of that of her husband.

Chapter II

The Puritan Settlements in Massachusetts. — The Principles on ivhich they were founded. — The Views of Williams. — The Charges of the Magistrates against him. — His Settlement at Salem. — His Removal to Plymouth^ and the Cause.

The settlements composing the colony ol Massachusetts Bay were established in the year 1628, and the two years following. The first company of emigrants settled at Salem in 1628, and was under the direction of the enterprising and fearless Endicott. In the year 1630, there arrived in the bay another band of Pilgrims, who, like their brethren of Plymouth, had already organized a commonwealth, and elected their officers, under a charter from the King, which henceforth was to be administered within the territory of the colony, of whose existence and rights it contained the guaranty. This company was by far the most wealthy and most cultivated of all the bands of emigrants, who had yet arrived in New England. There were among its members men of large hereditary fortune, and of gentle blood ; scholars versed in all the learning of the times ; civilians long practised in the study of public affairs ; and clergymen whose learning and piety had won the highest respect of their parishes in England At the head of all was Winthrop, whom they had chosen Governor, a man of the noblest virtues, whose warm enthusiasm was tempered by mild and gentle benevolence, and whose bland and high-bred manners were fitted to command the love and respect of his associates, and, even amidst the privations of the wilderness, to throw an air of dignity and a charm of propriety over every scene of life upon which he entered.

We may well pause, for a moment, to consider the principles which the fathers of Massachusetts had incorporated into their commonwealth, and upon which they had erected the fabric of their society. It is a mistake, as has often been remarked, to suppose that they came to New England with any notions of unlimited freedom of conscience. It was no part of their aim, in bidding farewell to their native island, to build, across the ocean, an asylum for the persecuted of every name. Even the possibility of such a state of society had never dawned upon their minds. " The emigrants," as has justly been said, " were a body of sincere believers, desiring purity of religion, not a colony of philosophers, bent upon universal toleration." They had come to " this outside of the world," as they deemed it, to enjoy, unmolested, their own worship, and to practise, without hinderance or restraint, the principles of their own faith. They were generally members of the established church of England, but desired that the principles of the reformation should be applied still more thoroughly to purify her doctrines, and elevate and spiritualize her w^orship. It was to escape oppression for themselves, not to secure the boon of freedom to others ; to carry into practice their own views of Christian worship, and their own doctrines of civil liberty, not to open a temple for the disciples of every faith and the adherents of every creed ; that they had braved the ocean and the wilderness, and begun to plant their civil and religious institutions beneath these unpropitious skies.

To secure the accomplishment of this object, the dearest which their hearts could cherish, all their legislation was designed, and all the arrangements of their society were framed. It was in accordance with this, that they reserved to themselves the right of admitting only whom they pleased as freemen of the colony ; and within a little more than a year after their arrival, they " ordered and agreed that, for time to come, no man should be admitted to the freedom of the body politic, but such as are members of some of the churches within the hmits of the same.'' It was the aspiration of the Puritans to form a Christian republic, after the model of the Jewish theocracy, in which the laws of Moses should constitute the rules of civil life. Their system, thus educed from the highest sources of authority, tolerated no contradiction and allowed of no dissent. The mandates of public sentiment, not less than the enactments of the General Court, in the infant colony, were as stern and unyielding as had been the statutes of uniformity, from whose tyrannical operation they had fled when they embarked for the shores of the new world. Wrapped in their singular and somewhat original social system there lay the germs both of immense good and immense evil ; of a moral energy that was to bless the world by the results it has produced, and of dissensions that were to rend their youthful republic, and kindle the fires of intolerance and fanaticism even upon the spots most sacred to freedom.

Such were the principles on which the colony of Massachusetts Bay had been founded, and such was its spirit during the first year of its existence, in the course of which Roger Williams landed upon its shores, and became one of its residents. Like the colonists who had preceded him, he had come hither for conscience* sake, to find, for the profession and the practice of his religious faith, a freedom which England had refused to grant. Here, then, we may well suppose, Mr. Williams had expected to realize the visions of his imagination, and find a state of society in which he could cherish and express the great doctrines which had taken full poiSsession of his soul. He was among those with whom, in the essential points of Christian faith and morals, he entirely agreed. In the applications of his great principle of the freedom of conscience, however, there were constantly presented occasions of infinite disagreement.

Scarcely had he stepped ashore at Boston, when he found the whole civil and ecclesiastical authorities of Massachusetts arrayed in hostility against him. In the asylum of the exiled Puritans, intolerance had also found a home. The same odious principle, which, by uniting the church with the civil power, had given rise to all the persecutions, that, during three centuries, had stained the soil of England with martyrs' blood, and driven into exile some of the master-spirits of her people, was also incorporated into the society of the New England Pilgrims. Its form and aspect, indeed, were changed, but its spirit was still the same. Its action was chastened by the straitened circumstances of exile, and of an infant state ; but it still authorized the civil magistrate to watch over the opin il G E R W 1 L L I A. M S . 17

ions of men, to punish for errors of doctrine, and for neglect of religious duties, and was destined, by its subsequent applications, to destroy the harmony and quiet of the New England colonies, and to fix upon the escutcheon of some of them the foulest stains.

A few weeks after his arrival, Mr. Williams was invited by the church at Salem to become assistant to their pastor, the Reverend Mr. Skelton ; but the magistrates of the colony had heard of his opinions, and immediately interposed their remonstrances with the people of Salem to prevent his settlement. The reasons of this interference on the part of the authorities, as alleged in the letter, which they addressed to the church at Salem, are, first, that Mr. Williams had refused to join with the congregation at Boston, because they would not declare their repentance for having had communion with the churches of England while they lived there ; secondly, that he " had declared his opinion, that the magistrate might not punish a breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offence that was a breach of the first table."

W^ith respect to the former of these jfeharges, it is difficult now to determine, precisely, how much importance he attached to the sin of which he thus called the Boston church to declare their repentance. It is, however, certain that he was not alone in thinking the Puritans had done wrong in holding communion with those whose power and resources were constantly employed in crushing the spirit of true piety in England. It was, in his estimation, allowing a compromise with sin. It was lending an indirect sanction and connivance to a church, whose usages he deemed corrupt, and whose government he regarded as tyranny. Whatever views may now be entertained of this sentiment, it will scarcely be pretended that it furnished any ground for the magistrates to prevent the settlement of Mr. Williams in the ministry to which he had been ordained, and to which he was now called by the suffrages of the church in Salem. The second of the above charges, it will be seen, relates to liis declaration of the great doctrine, to the vindication and elucidation of which he was to devote his life. His doctrine was in direct conflict with both the opinions and the practices of the colony of Massachusetts, whose counsellors and elders considered themselves the appointed guardians of the orthodoxy of the oeople ; and in that age they could conceive of no other mode of executing their trust, than by inflicting civil penalties upon every one who ventured to dissent even in the most unimportant particulars from the prevailing faith. The opinion of Roger Williams, which was then urged in proof of his unsuitableness to become a minister of the gospel, has long since become the common sentiment of the American people, and is fast spreading itself over the civilized world, everywhere, in its course, giving peace to the distracted elements of society, and placing on a sure basis the institutions both of government and rehgion.

Mr. Williams, however, had already removed to Salem, where, on the 12th of April, 1631, he was settled as a minister of the church, notwithstanding the opposition of the magistrates, who at the time were assembled at Boston. On the 18th of the following May, after having been duly propounded, he was admitted a freeman of the colony, and took the usual oath of allegiance prescribed in such cases. He was now, in the fullest sense of the word, a citizen of the colony, and one of the ministers of its oldest church. He had thus identified himself with its interests by the most significant acts which a citizen can perform, and was doubtless as ready to labor in its service, and to share its burdens, as any of those w^ho had been appointed to preside over its affairs. The people of Salem had extended to him their confidence, and his life and ministry there had confirmed their respect and attachment, and were giving promise of a long career, as their guide, and teacher, and friend.

But his settlement here was destined to be brought to an early close. The act of the church in calling him to be their minister, contrary to the advice of the Governor and General Court, had awakened tlie stern displeasure of those functionaries, and was not easily forgiven. His own opinions, also, which he had taken no pains to disguise, had excited the suspicions of the magistrates and elders of the colony ; and, true to their united trust, as the guardians of the popular faith, they did not allow him to remain in peace at a post to which he had been invited in disregard of their wishes and advice. For the sake of private opinions, therefore, which did not in the least affect his relations to the civil power, as a citizen, he and his church were continually harassed and disturbed. At length, after the lapse of a few months, as is thought, at the close of the summer, he removed from Salem, and sought a residence in the colony of Plymouth, beyond the persecuting jurisdiction of the Court of Massachusetts Bay. This removal was undoubtedly dictated by prudence and a desire for peace and quiet, and was not the result of his own independent choice ; for in the venerable pastory; and among the people of Salem, he had found friends, whose interests in his ministry, respect for his character, and attention to his welfare, had enhsted in their behalf his warmest feelings of regard, which he long continued to cherish.

Chapter III

His Reception at Plymouth, — His Discontent there, and Return to Salem. — Results of his Residence at Plymouth. — The Puritans^ Dread of Anabaptists.

Mr. Williams removed to Plymouth probably in the month of August, 1631. He was received there with the respect which his reputation as a minister, and his high personal character, were so well calculated to call forth. He was entertained by the Governor and the leading citizens, and after some time, having been admitted to the church, was settled as assistant to the pastor, the Reverend Ralph Smith. The Puritans who had come over in the Mayflower, and settled at Plymouth, had, from the first, manifested a more liberal spirit than their neighbors, who had subsequently settled in the Bay.

Before they embarked upon their perilous voy age, they had resided for some time in Holland, and become entirely alienated from the established church of England. It is probable that, on this account, the views of Roger Williams, concerning the propriety of holding communion with that church, were, to say the least, less offensive to them tlian to their brethren of Massachusetts. However this may have been, they seem to have been ready to receive him among them with the most cordial fellowship; and with more than usual attention and respect. Governor Bradford says his teaching was '' well approved, for the benefit whereof," he adds, ''I shall bless God, and am thankful to him ever for his sharpest admonitions and reproofs, so far as they agreed with truth."

But though he- had now fixed his residence beyond the jurisdiction of the Court of Massachusetts, he had not removed from the reach of that disposition which displays itself in every age, and in all conditions of society, to distrust and annoy those who are in advance of prevailing opinions, or at variance with existing institutions. It is the usual destiny of such men to be misunderstood and suspected by their contemporaries, and often to be proscribed as the enemies of the state, even while they are studiously cherishing its dearest interests. Thus