The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-11-21
ROGER WILLIAMS.
and toWWAer NJ Religious LIkesty
NImAlcMteA ~ Osenx =. StsaWs.

To rHt t.Diror ~ Tus Srs St: In
1uE SIS ~ November ~ on the edi-
, torial page there was ~ letter from
james sylvester. to the cTcct that The
religious tolerance Of Roger williams.
the founder ~ Rhode Island n the
pioneer II religious liberty. II a myth.
He concludes in these words: THAT
Roger Williams tale Is n dream story.
n will not stand investigation. The
facts are all against IT," And he cites
a few mostly secondary authorities in
order to give color to his conclusions.
Some Of them he cites incorrectly. az.
for instance. that bancroft stated
that Lord Calvert Of the Maryland
Colony was entitled to hat honor"
referring to the claim that Roger
Williams was the true and original
%proclaimer OF religious liberation in
this country. ON the contrary. Ban
croft states Vol. l., page 255) that
| Roger Williams was the first person
In modern Christendom to establish
civil government on h doctrine OF
the liberty Of conscience. the equality
" opinions before the law, and In It's
defence he was the harbinger Of Mill
ton, the precursor and superior OF
Jeremy Taylor. for Taylor limited his
federation to a few Christian sects.
The wisdom OF Williams compassed
| mankind"
Fortunately. the story Of the life and
services Of Roger Williams Is an open
book. The records. u to his conten-
| ton for and the establishment Of re-
ligious liberty and Of his founding the
first political community in modern
times o that principle. are %sacredly
preserved in the archives Of the State
Of Rhode Island.
Fnrum the very beginning Efforts
were made to belittle the great services
of Roger Williams in the founding OF
the Providence Colony in Rhode Island
| upon the cornerstone of religious lib
| erty. or to use his own phrase. soul
liberty" both on the part of early
Puritans who prosecuted him, and
on the part OF Romanists. who put
forth the claim that the credit for the
first establishment OF religious liberty
on this continent is due to the Catholic
Lord Baltimore. the founder OF the
Colony OF Maryland.
Some years Z | made n very care
ful and. I trust. an impartial study OF
the entire subject In my Life OF
Roger Williams which was pub
lished in 1899. While in the founding
of Maryland Lord Baltimore made a
great step forward in securing free
dom OF conscience for all Christians,
Protestants n Catholics alike, he did
not rise to the high plane Of Roger
Williams in the founding Of the Colony
of Providence. In the Maryland plan
religious freedom was limited to
Christians. while the religious liberty
of Roger Williams was without limi-
tations and applied 10 all creeds and
sects. and nOn-Christians as well.
The Providence Compact Of 1887. I'M
like any civil government previously
founded. bound the inhabitants to-
yether in active or passive obedience
only in civil things" thus
leaving religion outside of and apart
from the jurisdiction of the State. In
tho words Of Roger Williams. in this
community all men may walk as
their conscienccs persuade them, every
one in the name of his God" and
Il, as he expressed II. should for
ever be "a shelter TO the poor and the
prosecuted. according 10 their several
pcrsuasions." His life was n contin-
uous battle for religious liberty. The
prciudices and enmities he encount-
cred had such vitality nat they have
coinc down even to u day.
That the Maryland freedom OF con-
science was to Oe restricted. limited TO
Christians, Is shown In the instruc-
tons to the ~colonists Calvert Papers.
Vol. T.. page 1927. As early as 1913
a proclamation was issued in Mary
land against such as cherish n fac
ton in religion" and on April II,
16i9. it was enacted that no persons
''~prnfesSing To believe in Jesus Christ
should be in any way troubled in the
| free exercise thereof. and in n supple
mentary act II was provided that the
penalty should be death for any n
who should deny or revilc the doc
trine of the Trinity, Vet with these
limitations there was no Protestant
State i'm C~hristendom that accorded as
fun liberty to Catholics n no Cath
Ollie State that accorded as full liberty
To- Professionals. Of course with the con-
s~picuouS exception Of the Rhode ISL
and Colony.
Perhaps no Christian sect was ever
more prosecuted han the Quakers. In
1867 some Quakers who lad come to
Massachusetts sought shelter in
| Rhode Island and an effort was made
on the part OF the commissioners Of
the united colonies to compel Rhode
Island 70 expel them. and the Roger
Williams colony was characterized as
"a harbinger for all sorts Of con-
sciences" In 1853 the other New Eng
land Colonies, which were offended be
cause the Quakers had fun liberty
IN Rhode Island, threatened TO cut off
trade with this Colony unless the
Rhode Islanders would eXpcl The
Qunkers The answer OF the Rhode
Island Genera! Assembly was: We
have no law among us whereby to
punish any for only declaring BY
words . their minds and I'M
derstandlng concerning the th.ngs and
WAYS OF God as TO salvation me eter-
nal condition"
The leading historians OF other ma
| tions who have studied the develop
ment of religious liberty freely ac-
cord to Roger Williams the we'll de-
served crown Of glory as being the
founder OF religious liberty. The dis
tingulshed German historian Gervi-
nus in hts Introduction to the History
OF the Nineteenth Century says:
| Roger Williams founded In 1896 a small
new society In Rhode Island upon the
nrin,lples OF entire liberty OF conscience