Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-07-04

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sometimes speak of him as. the first to
establish religious liberty" but these very
historians modify these expressions and
indeed cancel them by narrating the facts
above set forth--facts which invaldate his
claims and those of. all his SUCCESSORS
Whatever laudations may be INDUCED in by
those disposed to favor Lord Baltimore their
own evidence when sifted, will show that
there is but little harmony between their ap.
plause, and the facts to which they testify.
The following account Of Roger Will.
lams on the other hand, will show that he
understood the theory Of religious liberty,
in all its plenitude and glory, as we'll as at
that early period as the most enlightened of
the present day. He protested that "magis.
trates are but the agents of the people, or
its trustees, on whom no spiritual power in
matters OF worship can ever be conferred ;"
"that their power extends only to the bodies
and goods and outward estate of men,
Banc. |, 37l. "In the capacious recesses
of his mind he had revolved the nature of
intolerance, and he, and he alone, had arrived
at the great principle, which is its sole effec.
tual remedy. He announced his discovery
under the simple proposition Of the sanctity
of conscience. The civil magistrate should
restrain crime, but never control opinion !;
should punish guilt, but never Violate the
freedom of the soul. The doctrine con-
tanned within itself an entire reformation of
theological jurisprudence: it would blot
from the statute book the felony of noncon.
formity; would quench the fires that perse.
cution had so long kept burning; would re.
peal every law compelling attendance on
public worship; would abolish tithes and
all forced contributions to the maintenance
of religion; would give an equal Proteetion
to euery form of religious faith; and never
suffer the authority Of the civil government
to be enlisted against the mosque OF the
Mussulman, or the alter of the fireworshiper
against the Jewish Synagogue, or the Ro-
man Cathedral. In the unwavering asser-
ton Of these views, Roger Williams never
changed his position; the sanctity of con:
science was the great tenet which with all
its consequences he defended as he first trod
the shores of New England, and in his ex:
treme old age it was the last pulsation of
his heart" Bancroft l., 367-S.
=" He was the first person inmodern chris:
tendon, to assert in its plenitude the doc.
trine of freedom of conscience, the equality
of opinions before the law; and in its de-
fence he was the harbinger Of Milton, the
precursor and superior of Jeremy Taylor"
Brancroft I, 376. The voice Of Williams
in favor of liberty was heard in New Eng
land in 1851; which was before Lord Balti-
more's patent was granted; when Milton
was % years Of age and Taylor but Is.
Williams great idea Of what he called " soul
liberty" was at that time, says Hildreth,
"cholly nouel." vol. |. p. 223. Novel indeed
it may have been, outside of the little Bap.
list world; but there were many Of that
faith and order besides " iliams, who were
imbued with the spirit Of liberty. Indeed
it was not Williams who produced the Bap.
fists; the Baptists produced him. They
were not the exponents Of his views, but he
of theirs. Said the people Of Rhode Island,
in their instructions to him, when he went
to England to apply to Charles IL for
charter, "plead our case in such sort as we
may not be compelled to exercise any civil
power over mems consciences; we do judge
it no less than point of absolute cruelty"
These instructions are printed in Mass. Hist,
Coll. XVII. IS. "The document" says
Bancroft, sis of the highest interest; no
learning nor skill in rhetoric could have
mended it." II. 81. Freedom Of conscience
unlimited freedom of mind, was from the
first the trophy of the Baptists." ditto II. &c.
"'They applied the doctrine of the Reforma-
ton, to the social relations of life and
threatened an end to King. g.craft, spiritual
dominion, tithes and vasalage. The party
was trodden under foot with reproaches and
most arrogant scorn; and its history is writ.
ten in tie blood of myriads Of the German
peasantry; but its principles, safe in their
Immortality, escaped with Roger Williams
to Providence; and his colony is the wit
ness that naturally the paths Of the Baptists
were paths Of freedom, pleasantness and
peace" Banc. Ii. 459. In the government
of Rhode Island, "Freedom of faith and
worship was assured to au,-the first formal
and legal establishment of religious liberty
ever promulgated whether in America or
Europe" Hildreth |. 323. The following
is quotation from the charter itself: "No
person within said colony shall be molested,
punished, disquieted, or called in question
for any differences of opinion in matters of
religion who does not actually disturb. the
civil peace; but that all and every person
and persons may atall times freely and fully
have and enjoy his and their own judgments
and consciences, in matters of religious con:
cernments, they behaving themselves peacea'
bly, and quietly, and not using this liberty
to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the
civil injury and outward disturbance of
Others" "!The charter did not limit free.
dom to Christian sects alone; it granted
equal rights to the paynim and the worship.
per of Fo." Ban. II. SO.
In discussing this question, many seem to
take it for granted, that the governments,
both of Maryland and Rhode Island, were
really free, and that the point to be decided,
relates only to priority of time. This is not
the true issue. 1t is not question OF time,
las between these two claimants) but a
question of fact. I have shown that the
government of Lord Baltimore was not free;
and that of Williams ,cas.
Allow me, Mr.. Stephens, to say IN con.
clusion, that if in the casual allusion referred
to, you have erred, believe you have not
done so Intentionally. | know enough OF