0613b-Baptists In North America part 2
THE TROUBLOUS TIMES Chapter XIII continued In 1663, the church at Swansea, Massachusetts, was constituted by John Miles, who had just come from Swansea, Wales, with some of his brethren. The place where they ultimately settled was called after that which they had left. Meetings of the Baptists had been held there for thirteen years before, but no church had been founded. The Massachusetts government tried to strangle the church in its infancy, and actually fined all the members five pounds each for worshipping God contrary to the order established in the colony; but at last they yielded, and the church lived. A church was formed at Kittery, Maine, in 1682, but it died in its infancy. A church was organized at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1683. There were two churches in Pennsylvania:-Cold Spring, founded in 1684; Pennepek, in 1688. In the same year a church was established at Middletown, New Jersey. In 1688, the Baptist denomination in North America comprised thirteen churches only. Seven were in Rhode Island, two in Massachusetts, one in South Carolina, two in Pennsylvania, and one in New Jersey. Times have greatly changed since then! There are now upwards of thirteen thousand churches! The "little one" has literally "become a thousand!"
We conclude this chapter with a brief biographical sketch of Roger Williams, whose name has been already mentioned.
Very little is known of the early life of this great man. It is supposed that be was a native of Wales, and that he was born in the year 1599. Sir Edward Coke, as tradition states, observed his attention at church, where he was accustomed to take notes of the sermons, and liberally took charge of his education, thinking that he would prove in future years an able lawyer. This was a providential interposition, for Williams’s parents were poor, and, had it not been for Sir Edward’s generosity, he would have remained in humble life all his days. Having received a good classical education, he "commenced the study of the law, at the desire and under the guidance of his generous patron, who would naturally wish to train his pupil to the honorable and useful profession which he himself adorned. The providence of God may be seen in thus leading the mind of Mr. Williams to that acquaintance with the principles of law and government, which qualified him for his duties as legislator of his little colony. But he probably soon found that the study of the law was not congenial to his taste. Theology possessed more attractions to a mind and heart like his. To this divine science he directed his attention, and received episcopal orders. It is stated that he assumed, while in England, the charge of a parish; that his preaching was highly esteemed, and his private character revered."6 But Roger Williams’s mind was not formed for such subjection as the Church of England requires of its members. He understood Christian freedom too well to continue under the heavy yoke of an established church. Nor did he conceal his views. He had "presented his arguments from Scripture" to Messrs. Cotton and Hooker, who afterwards followed him to New England, "why he durst not join with them in the use of Common Prayer." Whether he was driven out by violence, or whether he voluntarily withdrew from the communion of the Church of England, cannot now be ascertained. This only is certain, that he left his native country, in search of Evangelical liberty, and landed at Boston on the 5th of February, 1630-31.
He had been but a few weeks in the colony, when he was invited by the church at Salem to become assistant to their minister. Mr. Skelton. He complied, and laboured there for a short time, when, in consequence of the opposition of the Boston people, he left for Plymouth, and preached there two years. Returning to Salem, and gladly received by the church in that place, he remained with them till his banishment.
Mr. Williams had been disappointed by the aspect of affairs in New England. He found that the colonists had set up a government of a theocratic kind; that none were admitted to the exercise of civil rights unless they were members of one of their churches; and that the offences against religion were punishable by the magistrate. These things he abhorred, and he testified his dislike from the very commencement of his residence. There was much jangling and disputation, and no small amount of high-handed oppression on the part of the colonial authorities. At length, sentence of banishment was passed upon Mr. Williams. It was thus expressed:-
"Whereas, Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church at Salem, hath broached and divulged divers new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates; as also writ letters of defamation, both of the magistrates and churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maintaineth the same without any retractation; it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensuing, which, if he neglect to perform, it shall be lawful for the governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without license from the Court."
Such were the "tender mercies" of the New England Puritans of those days. They had resisted the magistrate at home by refusing to obey him in things ecclesiastical, and, in consequence, had gone into exile; and now they banished their ministering brother for the very offence which they had themselves been guilty of. It seemed as if their boasted love of freedom was only a love of freedom for themselves, conjoined with the assumption of power to take it away from others. This sentence was passed November 3rd, 1635. Six weeks were allowed Mr. Williams for his removal. But he could not be silent. Meetings were held at his house, where he discoursed in his usual manner, much to the annoyance of the magistrates, who concluded that the only way to stop him would be to ship him off for England in a vessel then lying in the harbor. He heard of their design, and prevented its execution by flight. In the month of January, 1635-6, he left his home, and for fourteen weeks wandered about, exposed to the rigors of the seasons-sometimes in an open boat, sometimes in the woods-"not knowing what bread or bed did mean." At last he pitched his tent at Seekonk, where he purchased land of the Indians, and began to build and plant. Yet even there the spirit of persecution followed him. The place was supposed to be within the colony of Plymouth, and the magistrates of that town were afraid of those of Boston; so they requested him to go further off. Again he sallied forth on pilgrimage, accompanied by some of his friends who had joined him. "As they approached the little cove, near Tockwotton, now Indian Point, they were saluted by a company of Indians with the friendly interrogation, What cheer?7-a common English phrase, which they had learned from the colonists. At this spot they probably went on shore, but they did not long remain there. They passed round Indian Point and Fox Point, and proceeded up the river on the west side of the peninsula, to a spot near the mouth of the Moshassuck river. Tradition reports that Mr. Williams landed near a spring which remains to this day. At this spot the settlement of Rhode Island commenced.
’Oh, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod;
They have left unstained, what there they found, Freedom to worship God.’ To the town here founded, Mr. Williams, with his habitual piety, and in grateful remembrance of God’s merciful providence to him in his distress, gave the name of PROVIDENCE."8
Three years after, Mr. Williams avowed himself a Baptist, as has been already stated, and assisted in forming a Baptist church, of which he was the first pastor. The noble principles he had so fearlessly inculcated were adopted by the new colony, and embodied in its constitution. The first settlers in Providence signed the following covenant:-
"We, whose names are here under-written, being desirous to inhabit in the town of Providence, do promise to submit ourselves, in active or passive obedience, to all such orders or agreements, as shall be made for public good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorporated together into a township, and such others as they shall admit into the same, only in civil things." When the charter was obtained, a code of laws was prepared, of which these are the closing words: "Otherwise than thus, what is herein forbidden, all men may walk as their consciences persuade them, every one in the name of his God. AND LET THE LAMBS OF THE MOST HIGH WALK IN THIS COLONY, WITHOUT MOLESTATION, IN THE NAME OF JEHOVAH THEIR GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER."
Under the influence of certain new views of religion which he had embraced, Mr. Williams did not resume his connection with the church when he returned from England, but lived apart. Yet his was no idle life. He preached the Gospel among the scattered settlers; he promoted, in various ways, the temporal and spiritual welfare of the Indians; he was the adviser and friend of all the inhabitants; he took an active part in the government of the colony, of which he was repeatedly chosen President. In 1651, he visited England a second time on its behalf, and obtained a confirmation of the original charter. The uniform justice and kindness with which he treated the Indians so impressed them, that when, on occasion of "King Philip’s War," they attacked the colony, in 1676, and "Mr. Williams took his staff, and went to meet them,"-endeavoring to dissuade them from their enterprise, on the ground that the number and power of the English would prove overwhelming,-one of the chiefs said: "Well, 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."9Mr. Williams, like many other true patriots, died poor. For several years before his death, he was mainly dependent upon his children.
He died in the early part of the year 1683, in the 84th year of his age. No record of his last illness, and of the state of his mind at that time, has been furnished. There can be no doubt, however, that he was fully prepared for the event. In a letter addressed to Governor Bradstreet, at Boston, dated May 6th, 1682, after referring to recent intelligence from England, he says:-"All these are but sublunaries, temporaries, and trivials. Eternity (O eternity!) is our business." In less than a year from that time he had entered eternity. His body "was buried with all the solemnity the colony was able to show." His spirit rejoiced in perfect purity and freedom. So little is known of Williams’s successors at Providence, and of most of the other pastors of the churches founded in this period, that it is not worth while to give mere lists of names and dates.
1 Magnalia, book vii. chap. ii.
2 It was not, perhaps, generally known that Hanserd Knollys was at that time preaching at Dover, and that his services might have been obtained.
3 Knowles’s Memoir of Roger Williams, p. 171.
4 Benedict (Ed. 1848), p. 370.
5 Ivimey, ii. pp. 208-211.
6 Knowles’s Memoir, p. 24.
7 A poem called, "What Cheer?" by the Hon. Judge Durfee, would be read with interest. It refers to the incidents above briefly narrated. It was re-published in England some years since, with a Recommendatory Preface by the Rev. John
Eustace Giles.
8 Knowles, p. 102.
9 Knowles, p. 354.