Hitherto the character of Mr. Williams has been drawn by his enemies, rather than by his friends. The reason is obvious; the presbyterians of New England esta The oppressions of Laud, operating on a vigorous mind, like that of Mr. Williams, must of course produce an effect the reverse of what the archbishop intended. The sentence of the gene-blished colleges, and cultivated ral court of Massachussetts, ap- literature, more than an hundred proved by the ministers as well as years ago. The baptists have but the magistrates, could not be ex- lately established an university, pected to alter sentiments of such and began to cultivate literature; a man as Mr. Williams: rather so that the American writers and than retract his opinions, he chose men of education were, till of to go into exile. Thus it appears late, mostly on the side of the from the history of his life, that presbyterians. Notwithstanding the origin of those principles, the cavils of his enemies, I may which it is the glory of Mr. venture to assert, that Williams to have advocated, and the eminent men, which this kingall among to have been the first to reduce dom has sent forth to adorn and to practice, as soon as it was in cultivate the western wilderness, his power in America, was de- hardly one can be named who is rived from the principality of equal to Mr. Williams; unless, Wales. The pure ideas of liberty indeed, William Penn, the founder were his birthright, inherited from of the great and opulent state of his ancestors, those intrepid Pennsylvania, be excepted. In mountaineers, who defied the comparing Williams with Penn, yoke, which the Roman emperors we find the same degree of learnin vain sought, for hundreds of ing and discernment, which enyears, to impose on them. Those abled them to investigate the truth, principles were fostered and the same undaunted spirit which brought to maturity by the learn- prompted them to defend it, the ing and religion derived from the same enthusiastic love of liberty; alma mater of Oxford. The Lau-Williams, however, preceded Penn dian persecution of England, and by many years. Penn, with suthe not less fiery persecution of perior advantages of wealth and the presbyterians of Massachus-influence, went to America about setts-bay, might have shaken the fifty years after Williams: he apfirmness of an ordinary man: a pears to have emulated his predetimid spirit, in all probability, cessor in the liberality of his prinwould have yielded to such fiery ciples. He settled in a milder trials; but thanks to the unshaken climate, with a much greater exconstancy of Mr. Williams, he tent of territory and more fruitful persevered in defending his doc-soil. trine, and finally established it. To his wisdom in conceiving, and hardiness in executing, the United States owe the grand principle which characterizes their government, viz. that no man shall be molested on account of his religion. Justum, et tenacem propositi virum Posterity has been more grateful to Penn; the state still retaining his name. Williams has shared the fate of Columbus. When he founded an asylum for men persecuted for conscience' sake, he intended the states should have been called Providence, but it is called Rhode Island, Providence being the name of one town only in the state. Whatever may be This extraordinary man died at the age of eighty-four; his body was buried at Providence, the town which he founded, by the side of his daughter Patience Ashton. Though no monument has their comparative merit, the names them with my truly honoured and of Williams and Penn will be re- beloved adversary, Mr. Cotton." spectfully remembered by the After his settlement in Prolatest posterity, while the san-vidence, he complains much of guinary monsters, who, under the streightness of his time, "being mask of liberty, have disgraced constantly drunk up by necessary this age by their crimes, will be labours, for bread for many deforgotten, or recalled to mind with pending on one, the discharge of abhorrence. It seems to be a engagements, and wanting helps species of impiety, to wish the of transcribing." These streights destruction of institutions, origin- of time were such, as prevented ally derived from this nation, and him from publishing his papers. established with so much difficulty in the western world. Happy will it be for them, if they keep themselves uncontaminated by the pernicious influence of French politics and French morality. Mr. Williams was well acquaint-been erected to his memory, yet his ed with the manners, customs, and languages of the Indians, and was strenuous in his endeavours to convert and civilize them. In their wars with the white people, when his persecutors were hardly pressed, Mr. Williams, who had great influence over the Indians, restrained them, and rescued his persecutors from the effects of their vindictive spirit; in this, as in other things, proving himself to have possessed a truly Christian spirit, which commands us to overcome evil with good. merits will not soon be forgotten. His posterity may say, "si monumentum quæris, circumspice." However, an ingenuous mind may wish to draw a veil over the foibles of eminent men, yet the stern muse of history forbids, and demands, that strict and impartial justice be done. Whoever is elevated above the common level of mankind, must expect that his motives and actions will be scrutinized; and, as the best of men have their weak sides, it follows of necessity, that eminence will By some writers, Mr. Williams ever be attended with some exis called "a rigid Brownist, pre-posure of foibles or weakness. cise, uncharitable, and of most It is objected to him, that he turbulent and boisterous passions;" founded several churches, and by others he is denominated "a afterwards ceased to walk with godly and zealous preacher:" Let them: the reason is not assigned, us hear him speak for himself. In but it is easy to infer, that his his address to the clergy of Old own ideas of the perfection of a and New England, Scotland, and Christian church were far from Ireland, p. 319, he says, "What being realized. His book against I have suffered in my estate, body, Mr. Fox has been quoted, as name, spirit, I hope, through shewing a want of charity towards help from Christ, and for his sake, the Friends. Why he should write I have desired to bear with a spi- against that respectable denomirit of patience and of respect and nation of Christians, it is not easy love, even to my persecutors. As to say; especially as they had to particulars, I have and must never injured him. (if God so will) further debate Mr. Williams, during his life, was hardly and unjustly dealt | science is the birth-right of man, and granted it to those who differed from him in opinion. An apology may be made for the vehemence of his delivery, and want of requisite caution in deIt was very natural for a man who, PHILELEUTherus. A VIEW OF THE WISDOM OF GOD, of providence, which paved the way with; and, since his death, much odium has been cast upon his memory; but the day is not far distant, when the liberal doctrines which he advocated in religion, will be more generally acknow-claring his sentiments. ledged: then will it be discovered, though late, that the soundest in England, had been compelled ecclesiastical polity, is that which to keep silence, when he arrived secures freedom of conscience, in America, to exceed the bounds Libertas quæ sero, tamen respexit inertem, of prudence; and it was mean in Respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit. the general court of MassachusMuch has been said with respect setts, to take advantage of the to the obligations America is un- ingenuous frankness of Mr. Wilder to Britain, but Britain is also liams. under obligations to America. The nature of those benefits, which the two nations have reciprocally conferred on each other, it is not my intention here to discuss fully. I shall but barely touch upon the subject. If the doctrine of religious freedom originated in Great Britain, it was not reduced to practice in this kingdom. Here it remained a dead letter; but to America, the world is indebted for reducing this great principle to practice. If the abstract proposition, that freedom of conscience is the soundest church policy, was borrowed from England, the demonstration of the proposition comes from America. Mr. Williams could not reduce his refined ideas of religious liberty to practice in this kingdom; here he was not even allowed to divulge his sentiments: he sought a sanctuary in the solitude of the western wilderness, where his speculative ideas were subjected to the test of experiment. His trials, it must be confessed, were the experi-town, in the kingdom, the acmentum crucis, and fully established the truth of his principles. He denied, that Christ had appointed the civil sword against false teachers; and he is the first governor on record, who ever maintained, that liberty of con To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine. WE live, Mr. Editor, in peculiarly eventful times, in which, while we behold, on the one hand, much to fill us with alarm, and to rouse every feeling which is capable of being affected by the melancholy details of suffering humanity; we are also called to contemplate on the other, scenes fitted to diffuse the purest joy through the breast of every man who receives the scriptures as containing a revelation of mercy to our guilty world. Of this description, particularly, are the numerous Bible Societies which have lately been formed in every county, and almost in every counts of which have occupied the pages of almost every provincial newspaper, while more extended reports of their proceedings have issued from the press in a separate form, many of them containing some of the most splen enemy of human happiness appeared to have gained a signal triumph. A great nation, in the centre of Europe, whose example was likely to be extensively imitated, distinguished by the celebrity of its literary characters, who were the avowed patrons of infidelity, seemed prepared effectually to banish the influence of revelation; nay, to blot out the Christian name from the face of the earth. But, what was the result? "He that sitteth in heaven did laugh: the Lord held them in derision." Not only were the machinations of the wicked defeated, but defeated by the very weapons which they themselves had prepared. did displays of eloquence which | nage, by which that unhappy our language can boast. country was so long and so deeply There is, however, one re-afflicted. Here, then, the grand markable feature in the history of Bible Societies which, though it cannot fail to strike the attention of the most careless observer, I am not aware that it has been particularly noticed in any of the periodical publications of the day; I mean, the way in which they have received the countenance of persons, of all descriptions, and in many cases, even of those who, without breach of charity, we have reason to conclude, do not live under the practical influence of that book, on which they have heard so many fine eulogiums pronounced, and which they professedly wish to disseminate. This fact is notorious to all: but it may be useful to contemplate those events in the history of the times which have led to it. We have, I think, in this part of the history of Providence, a luminous display of the wisdom of God in bringing good out of evil, and in taking the wicked in their own devices. In attempting to illustrate this point, permit me, Mr. Editor, to lead back your attention to the commencement of the French revolution, or, rather, to one of the features in the history of that nation, which was intimately connected with this event. This, it is well known, was the prevalence of an infidel philosophy in France: that philosophy which denied the existence of a First Cause: which taught that death was an eternal sleep which made all human actions merely a calculation of expediency; which not only poured contempt on the authority of revelation, but confounded all moral distinctions, and thus prepared the public mind for those scenes of plunder, barbarity, and car : It was soon seen, that if the influence of moral obligation be destroyed, the security of life and property is gone, and human society could be expected to present nothing but one unvaried scene of misery and horror. But it was also found, that there was no solid basis for moral obligation but the revealed will of God; the authority of Him, in whose hand our breath is, and whose are all our ways; and who both can, and assuredly will, call us at last before his tribunal, to give an account of the deeds done in the body, whether these have been good or bad. Hence, many who felt merely an interest in the present life; who wished to enjoy their houses and lands in safety; who trembled at the thought of the midnight assassin, felt their present security and happiness intimately connected with the diffusion of that system which teaches men to look forward to a judgment to come. } From this quarter, then, arose a powerful recoil against the prin- | ciples of infidelity in the minds of many, merely on account of the pernicious influence of such principles on social order; nay, I may say, on account of their obvious tendency, to destroy that mutual confidence on which the safety and comfort of civil life is suspended. How wonderful are the ways of Providence! Here we may, indeed, see the finger of God, in bringing good out of evil: in counteracting the designs of the grand enemy of human happiness, and of his emissaries, among men; and in turning their most malignant machinations into foolishness; nay, in making the most unblushing avowal of the most horrid impiety, and of the rankest atheism and infidelity, ultimately instrumental in promoting the dissemination of the revelation of mercy. In contemplating such a wonderful revolution, how justly may we exclaim, " O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his way is past finding out!" But while some, we have reason to fear, are influenced by no other motives in supporting Bible Institutions, than because it is obvious, that the diffusion of religion among the lower orders, is intimately connected with the present safety of society; thousands, we believe, have a far higher aim, and rejoice in such institutions, as the means of opening up to millions the road that leads to eternal life. Let it, however, be recollected, that even those who are influenced only by the inferior motive just mentioned, indirectly give their testimony to the excellence of the Word of God. Even this inferior, worldly, and selfish motive cannot exist without an admission of the value of that book, from the principles of which such important practical consequences flow. Is not this, too, calculated to strike all who will reflect upon the subject, as furnishing one powerful argument in support of the divine origin of the Bible? Was ever error, was ever a deep laid scheme of deceit and imposture, found to produce effects so eminently conducive to human happiness? But, to conclude, Mr. Editor, though we cannot take the comfort of thinking, that all who have come forward in support of Bible Societies, are influenced by enlightened views of the value of the Word of God, we may derive some consolation from the hope, that where men thus publicly commit themselves as the avowed patrons of the Bible, they may be struck with the inconsistency of their conduct if they be found, in their personal habits, strangers to its practical influence. They may thus be led to examine, with serious attention, that book, which, according to their own public acknowledgment, produces effects so transcendently beneficial, and with which the best interests of human society are so intimately connected. Edinburgh, March 15. W. INNES. Such are the scarcity of Bibles in some of the counties in Ireland, and the anxiety of the people to read them, that a poor man has been in the habit of giving the sexton of the parish, in which he resides, three days' labour, in the harvest season, (the busiest time of the year,) for the privilege of admission to the church, in order to peruse the Sacred Scriptures. " |