Tenet of PERSECUTION, for the sake of Conscience," of which specimens have been given, was animadverted upon by the Rev. Mr. Cotton, of Boston, in America, in a work called, "The Bloody Tenet washed and made White in the Blood of the Lamb." MR. WILLIAMS made a reply, with this appropriate title, "The Bloody Tenet, yet more Bloody, by Mr. Cotton's endeavour to wash it White!"

MR. WILLIAMS (says Mr. Backus) had argued that Mr. Cotton's doctrine tended to the setting up of a Spanish Inquisition in all parts of the world, and to frustrate the great design of Christ's coming. He denies it, and accuses Mr. Williams of rather promoting the principal end of the Spanish Inquisition, "by proclaiming impunity to all their whorish and wolvish emissaries. Nor is it, says he, a frustrating of the sweet end of Christ's coming which was to save souls, but rather a direct advancing of it to destroy, if need be, the bodies of those wolves who seek to destroy the souls of those for whom Christ died." MR. WILLIAMS replies-" I cannot without great horror observe, what is this but to give a woful occasion at least to all civil powers in the world to persecute CHRIST in his poor saints and servants? Yea, if Master Cotton and his friends of his conscience should be cast by God's Providence (whose wheels turn about in the depth of his councils wonderfully), I say, should they be cast under the reach of opposite swords, will they not produce Master Cotton's own bloody tenet and doc

trine to warrant them (according to their consciences) to deal with him as a wolf, an idolatrous heretic, and as dangerous an emissary and seducer as any whom Master Cotton so accuseth? Master Cotton hath no reason to charge the discusser with indulgence or partiality towards Romish and wolvish emissarieshis judgment and practice is known so far different, that for departing too far from them (as is pretended) he suffers the brands, and bears the marks of one of CHRIST's poor persecuted heretics to this day! All that he pleaded for is an impartial liberty to their consciences in worshipping God, as well as consciences and worships of other their fellow subjects."

. Thus Extracts have been transcribed from his chief publications, which will enable the reader to form his own judgment on the subject.

Even Dr. Robertson, the historian, though he designates MR. WILLIAMS as being "in high estimation," yet deeming him a fanatic, he was not apprized of his worth. Speaking of Massachusetts' Bay, he remarks,—“ WILLIAMS, a minister of Salem, in high estimation, having conceived an antipathy to the cross of St. George, in the standard of England, declaimed against it with so much vehemence, as a relic of superstition and idolatry, which ought not to be retained among a people so pure and sanctified, that Endicott, one of the members of the Court of Assistants, in a transport of zeal, publickly cut out the cross from the ensign displayed before the governor's gate! This frivolous matter

R

interested and divided the colony.

Some of the militia scrupled to follow colours in which there was a cross, lest they should be doing honour to an idol, whilst others refused to serve under a mutilated banner, lest they should be suspected of having renounced their allegiance to the crown of England."

As to the real character of MR. ROGER WILLIAMS, multifarious are the testimonies borne in its favour. Governor Hutchinson says, "Instead of showing any revengeful temper or resentment, he was continually employed in acts of kindness and benevolence to his enemies." Governor Hopkins declares, that "ROGER WILLIAMS justly claimed the honour of being the first legislator in the world that fully and effectually provided for and established a free, full, and absolute LIBERTY of CONSCIENCE!" Mr. Calender observes, that "the true grounds of LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE were not understood in America, till MR. WILLIAMS and Mr. Clarke publicly avowed that CHRIST alone is king in his own kingdom, and that no others had authority over his subjects in the affairs of conscience and eternal salvation!"

The Rev. Isaac Backus has asserted, with great truth, that "MR. ROGER WILLIAMS was not only the first Baptist Minister in New England, but also the first founder of complete religious liberty upon earth since the rise of Antichrist." And well might Dr. William Gordon, author of the History of the American War, declare, "ROGER WILLIAMS justly

claims the honour of having been the first legislator in the world in its latter ages that fully and effectually provided for and established a free, full, and absolute LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE!" Thus it is that not the great and good WILLIAM PENN, but a poor, persecuted, Welsh Baptist minister, first asserted and established universal liberty of conscience in the wilderness of America! And yet

this illustrious sufferer for conscience seems to be forgotten

PATRIOTS have toiled, and in their country's cause
Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge
Their names to the sweet lyre! The historic muse
Proud of the treasure, marches with it down
To latest times; and sculpture, in her turn,
Gives bond in stone and ever-during brass
To guard them, and to immortalize her trust:
But fairer wreaths are due, though never paid,
To those, who posted at the shrine of TRUTH
Have fallen in her defence! A patriot's blood
Well spent in such a strife may earn indeed,
And for a time ensure, to his loved land
The sweets of liberty and equal laws;
But MARTYRS struggle for a brighter prize,
And win it with more pain. Their blood is shed

• In confirmation of the noblest claim,

Our claim to feed upon IMMORTAL TRUTH,

To walk with GOD, to be divinely free,

To soar, and to anticipate the skies!

Yet few remember them. They lived unknown

$ Till PERSECUTION dragg'd them into fame,

And chased them up to heaven! Their ashes flew,
No marble tells us whither. With their names,

No bard embalms and sanctifies his song;
And HISTORY, so warm on meaner themes,
Is cold on this. She execrates indeed
The tyranny, that doomed them to the fire,
But gives THE Glorious sufferERS little praise!

My FRIEND RICHARDS, however, would have set the exalted principles and generous conduct of ROGER WILLIAMS in their proper light. In his last illness he lamented, that he had not carried his intention of writing his Life into execution. This slight sketch furnishes the reader with some faint idea of what he would most satisfactorily have accomplished. However reviled by bigots and persecutors, a statue of gold ought to have been raised to his virtues! But the consummately free state of RHODE ISLAND, adorned and enriched by its liberal university, is the mausoleum of his glory. After the lapse of more than a century, deign, hallowed Spirit-to accept this imperfect tribute of regard to thy memory!

RHODE ISLAND, though the smallest of the United States, has, on account of its climate and fertility, been denominated the EDEN of America. The University established at Warren, 1764, was in 1770, removed to PROVIDENCE, the capital of the state. On the side of a hill, the COLLEGE, an edifice of brick, stands four stories high, one hundred and fifty feet long and fifty wide, with a partition of ten feet on each side of the building. It has eight large rooms, and many lesser ones, for