bridge, and then removed with many others to Hartford, in 1636, and were leaders in the colony of Connecticut, where men were received to be freemen who were not members of their churches. They also held that none had a right to bring their children to baptism but communicants, while Cotton was for others doing it, if they were not scandalous. And he was for carrying the power of councils higher than Hooker would.

Governor Winthrop gives the following account of the manner of their forming churches, and receiving members into them, which was soon established. It was, that where a church was designed to be gathered, their chief rulers and ministers must be convened, and those who were to be the first members of the church were to tell their experiences before them, and have their approbation, or else they were not to proceed. Of this he relates the following example. In 1635, the most of the church in Dorchester, with their minister, removed up, and planted Windsor, and began the colony of Connecticut; in which year Mr. Richard Mather came over and settled in Dorchester. And on April 11, 1636, many rulers and ministers met there for the purpose of forming a new church; but it was not done, because the most of those who intended to be members were thought not meet at present to be the foundation of a church, because they had built their hopes of salvation upon unsound grounds, viz.: "Some upon dreams and ravishes of spirit by fits; others upon the reformation of their lives; others upon duties and performances, &c. wherein they discovered three special errors. 1. That they had not come to hate sin because it is filthy, but only left it because it is hurtful. 2. That by reason of this they had never truly closed with Christ, (or rather Christ with them,) but had made use of him only to help the imperfection of their sanctification and duties, and not made him their sanctification, wisdom, &c. 3. They expected to believe by some power of their own, and not only and wholly from Christ." These are the views that Governor Winthrop had of Christian experiences, and of how churches should be

1633.]

ROGER WILLIAMS.

35

gathered. And satisfaction was gained the fall after, when a church was gathered there.*

Perhaps he, and many rulers and teachers among them, were as wise and pious men as any who ever undertook to establish religion upon earth by human laws, enforced by the sword of the magistrate; and the evils which they ran into ought to be imputed to that principle, and not to any others which they held that were agreeable to the gospel. But as their persecutors in England were then exerting all their influence to bring these people again under their power in religious matters, they took such measures to defend themselves as cannot be justified; and as Mr. Roger Williams earnestly laboured to prevent those measures, and to promote the establishment of full liberty of conscience in this country, they bent all their power against him.

According to his own account, and good information from others, he was born in Wales, in 1599, and he had the early patronage of the famous Sir Edward Coke; was educated at the University of Oxford, and was introduced into the ministry in the Church of England. But he soon found that he could not in conscience conform to many things in their worship; therefore he came over to this country, and arrived at Boston, in February, 1631; and in April, he was called to preach at Salem; but as he had refused to commune with the church at Boston, and objected against the oaths which they took when they came out of England, and the force in religious affairs which they exercised here, the court at Boston wrote to Salem against him, upon which he went to Plymouth, where he preached above two years, and was highly esteemed by Governor Bradford and others. Mr. Prince supposed that he had taken the oath of a freeman at Boston, in May, 1631, because a man of his name is upon their records in that month; but this was an evident mistake, and I found a Roger Williams upon their records the fall before this minister came to America. As these colonies had received the grant of American lands from the kings

* Winthrop, p. 98. 105.

of England, Mr. Williams wrote his thoughts against it while he lived at Plymouth, which some liked, and others did not; and as Mr. Skelton was sick at Salem, Williams was invited there to preach in his place, and he obtained a dismission in the summer of 1633, and preached there till Skelton died, August 2, 1634, after which he was ordained in Salem. He had spoken against the meeting of ministers by themselves, once a fortnight, fearing that it might grow in time to a presbytery or superintendency over the churches ;* and greater difficulties soon followed.

Their charter gave them no power to make any laws contrary to the laws of England, and they had sworn to act accordingly; yet when they met at Boston, May 14, 1634, before they elected their officers, the assembly passed an act which said, "It was agreed and ordered, that the former oath of freemen shall be revoked, so far as it is dissonant from the oath of freemen hereunder written, and that those that received the former oath shall stand bound no further thereby, to any intent or purpose, than this new oath ties them that now take the same.

THE OATH OF A FREEMAN.

"I, A. B., being by God's providence an inhabitant and freeman in this Commonweal, do freely acknowledge myself to be subject to the government thereof, and therefore, do here swear by the great and dreadful name of the everliving God, that I will be true and faithful to the same, and will accordingly yield assistance and support hereunto with my person and estate as in equity I am bound, and. will also truly endeavour to maintain and preserve all the liberties and privileges thereof; submitting myself to the wholesome laws and orders made and established by the same. And further, that I will not plot nor practise any evil against it, nor consent to any that shall so do; but will truly discover and reveal the same to lawful authority now here established, for the speedy preventing thereof. Moreover, I do solemnly bind myself in the sight of God,

* Winthrop, p. 57.

1635.]

THIE FREEMAN'S OATH.

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that when I shall be called to give my voice touching any such matters of this state wherein freemen are to deal, I will give my vote and suffrage as I shall judge in mine own conscience may best conduce and tend to the public weal of the body, without respect of persons or favour of any man; so help me God in the Lord Jesus Christ.?'

And it appears that they never acted any more in the name of the kings of England, until after 1660. And what a stretch of arbitrary power was this! Yet men might still choose whether they would take this oath or not, if they would be content not to be freemen. But when they met again, March 4, 1635, they enacted, "That every man of or above the age of sixteen years, who hath been or shall hereafter be resident within this jurisdiction by the space of six months, (as well servants as others,) and not infranchised, shall take the oath of residents, before the governor, deputy governor, or two of the next assistants, who shall have power to convent him for that purpose; and upon his refusal, to bind him over to the next court of assistants, and upon his refusal the second time to be punished at the discretion of the court. It is ordered that the freeman's oath shall be given to every man of or above the age of sixteen years, the clause for election of magistrates only excepted."

Now as this act was to bind all, Mr. Williams openly preached against it at Salem, for which the governor and assistants convented him before them on April 30; but he refused to retract what he had done, and Mr. Cotton says, "The court was forced to desist from that proceeding. Indeed he calls it the first of these acts, but Governor Winthrop shews it to be the second. And because of it, they at their meeting in May took away some land from Salem, by an act which said, "The land betwixt the Clift and the Forest river, near Marblehead, shall for the present be improved by John Humphrey, Esq.; and as the inhabitants of Marblehead shall stand in need of it, the said John Humphrey shall part with it, the said inhabitants allowing him equal recompense for his labour and cost

* Tenet washed, part second, p. 29.

† Journal, p. 80.

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bestowed thereupon; provided, that if in the mean time the inhabitants of Salem can satisfy the court that they have a true right unto it, that then it shall belong unto the inhabitants thereof." And how was that satisfaction to be given? Why, they gave up Mr. Williams in the fall after; and when the court met, March 3, 1636, they said, "It was proved this court that Marbleneck belongs to Salem."

Thus it stands upon their records, though Mr. Cotton pretends that Salem only petitioned for land in May, 1635; instead of their having some taken from them, until they gave him up. That act of taking land from them, appeared so evil to Mr. Williams and his church, that they wrote letters of reproof to the churches where those rulers belonged; upon which their rulers and ministers met in July, and gave Williams notice that he should be banished if he did not give them satisfaction; and Salem church yielded so much to them, that he left preaching to them in August. And when the court met in September, Governor Winthrop says, "Mr. Endicot made a protestation in justification of the letters formerly sent from Salem to other churches against the magistrates and deputies, for which he was committed, but the same day he came and acknowledged his fault, and was discharged,' He afterwards acted at the head of their government in hanging the Quakers; but as Williams remained steadfast, their records say,

"Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of 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 retraction; 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 magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more without leave from the court."