spirit, who were publishing there at the hazard of reputation, and property, and life, the same principles which have since attracted the statesman's eye as he has seen them shining among the statutes of this commonwealth, we need be at no loss to conjecture whence he drew them. He learned them from men who derived them from the Bible. The fact is, that although in New-England he seemed to stand alone, there were many in Old England with whom he had common sympathies, who cherished the same sentiments, who in some instances suffered for them the loss of all things, clung to them under galling bondage, and proclaimed them amidst the fires of martyrdom.

An allusion has already been made to the fact, that before Mr. Williams left Plymouth, an apprehension was expressed by the ruling Elder there, "that he would run the same course of anabaptistry, that Mr. Smyth, of Amsterdam, had done." This man was once a minister of the Church of England, but having spent nine months in studying the controversy between that Church and the Puritans, he joined the latter, and is spoken of as a leading man among them in 1592. In 1606, he settled at Amsterdam, over the Puritan Church there, and from having begun to question the validity of infant

baptism in the Church of England, he gave it up altogether. Then, changing his views as to the nature and design of baptism, he became the head of a secession from the Puritans, and formed a Baptist Church. It was reported by his enemies, that he had baptized himself, and thence they called him a Se-Baptist. That, however, was an ill-grounded report, inasmuch as there is no proof of it, and it is contrary to those principles contained in his writings which have already been stated. Against Mr. Smyth and other Separatists from the Established Church, the celebrated Bishop Hall took up his pen, and speaks of him in a manner which indicates the eminence he held among the ministers of that day. Alluding to him in an address to Mr. Robinson of Leyden, he says, "what is become of your partner, yea, your guide? Wo is me, he hath renounced christendom with our church, and hath washed off his former waters with new, and now condemns you all for not separating farther, no less than we condemn you for separating so far. He tells you true; your station is unsafe; either you must go forward to him, or back to us. All your Rabbis cannot answer that charge of your rebaptized brother. If we be a true church, you must return; if we be not, as a false church is no church of God,

you must rebaptize. If our baptism be good, then is our constitution good."*

About the year 1611, Mr Smyth died, and was succeeded by Mr Helwisse, in company with whom the church returned to London, in 1614. When we consider the reasons for that event, it presents a sublime moral spectacle to which history has not done justice. Although the spirit of persecution was still raging in England, they became impressed with the idea that to fly from it, betrayed a want of courage and of true fidelity to Christ. Believing that they were converted to God in order to be lights in the world holding forth the word of life, they felt bound, they said, to let their light shine by their conversation amongst the wicked, as the greatest means of converting them and destroying anti-christ's kingdom: overcoming (not by flying away, but) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, not loving their lives unto the death. Speaking of the Divine goodness to Israel under the ancient dispensation they say, "did God thus respect his work and people then, as all must put to their helping hand, and none must withdraw their shoulder lest oth

* Bishop Hall's Apology of the Church of England, p. 722, 794, quoted by Ivimey.

ers should be discouraged, and is there no regard to be had thereof now; but any occasion, as fear of a little imprisonment or the like, may excuse any both from the Lord's work and the help of their brethren, that for want of their society and comfort are exceedingly weakened, if not overcome?" These sentiments are expressed in a tract which they put forth, entitled, "Persecution for Religion judged and condemned." If any should say, that in returning to England, they erred in judgment, all must admit that an impressive moral glory invests their characters, in the attitude which they then assumed, since they were not fanatics courting martyrdom, but calm defenders of the rights of man. It is said by an able critic of the present day, that in the treatise which they published, "they maintained with admirable explicitness, the impolicy and wickedness of persecution. They chose their ground with judgment, and defended it with scriptural fidelity; and the arguments which they employed, are suited to every age and to every form of persecution. The distinct province of politics and religion, of God and the magistrate, is clearly marked, and the absurdity of persecution is thence argued. This was putting the question on its right basis, and entitles the authors of this treatise to the gratitude

and admiration of posterity."* This event occurred during the youth of Roger Williams, and we may reasonably suppose that his mind might have been strongly influenced by such an exhibition of the principles of freedom, and by the illustration of their power in so noble an example.

In considering the workings of his thoughts, it is interesting to observe how Williams's views of the spiritual nature of Christ's Kingdom, preserved him from the errors of some men, high in political life, who were connected with the Baptists, and with whom he associated in England. I refer to such men as Major-General Harrison, second in command in Cromwell's army, together with others, who though advocating liberty of conscience in all its latitude, were expecting the government of the world to be given to the saints, and the coming of Messiah's reign with great outward glory. These were called Fifth Monarchy-men, and among them were a number of Baptist ministers, such as Feake and Simson, to whom Mr. Williams refers in a letter to Governor Winthrop, soon after his return from England. "Surely, sir," he observes, “he (Major-General Harrison) is a very gallant, most deserving, heavenly man, but most high flown

* Dr. Price's History of Protestant Nonconformity, vol. I, p. 519-20.