By ARTHUR B. STRICKLAND THE JUDSON PRESS Copyright, 1919, by GILBERT N. BRINK, Secretary Published June, 1919 TO My Wife SYMPATHETIC HELPER AND INSPIRING COMPANION IN ALL MY WORK THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED...

THE APOSTLE OF SOUL-LIBERTY That body-killing, soul-killing, state-killing doctrine of not permitting but persecuting all other consciences and ways of worship but his own in the civil state.... Whole nations and generations of men have been forced (though unregenerate and unrepentant) to pretend and assume the name of Jesus Christ, which only belongs, according to the institution of the Lord Jesus, to truly regenerate and repentant souls. Secondly, that all others dissenting from them, whether

THE FOUNDING OF PROVIDENCE A community on the unheard-of principles of absolute religious liberty combined with perfect civil democracy.— Professor Mason. Thus for the first time in history a form of government was adopted which drew a clear and unmistakable line between the temporal and the spiritual power, and a community came into being which was an anomaly among the nations.— Prof. J. L. Diman. No one principle of political or social or religious policy lies nearer the base of American insti

THE HISTORIC CUSTODIANS OF SOUL-LIBERTY Roger Williams must forever rank as one of the great epoch-makers of the world, and to him impartial historians accord the honor of being the first democrat. It was not until his expulsion from Salem Colony that he became a Baptist, but the evidence is indisputable that he had long been a Baptist at heart. He had spent much time among the Baptists in England and was familiar with their doctrines and writings. No sooner had Williams set foot in America than

SOUL-LIBERTY AT HOME IN A COMMONWEALTH It is his unique title to preeminence and fame that he was the first to found an absolutely free church in an absolutely free State, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations remain a monument of his sagacity and daring and penetration, a center from which the light of soul-liberty has radiated far and wide till it has flooded a whole continent, and shines with concentrated splendor in the constellation of States which now form the great Western Republic.

FROM SOUL-LIBERTY TO ABSOLUTE CIVIL LIBERTY Rhode Island’s Gift — Caroline Hazard, Poem read on “Rhode Island Day” at World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, October 5, 1893. THE ideal of democracy grew in all the New England colonies and led eventually to the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States of America. Rhode Island, however, in the century prior to the Revolution, had never given up her advocacy of soul-liberty, and thus the Revolution was to her a greater struggle

THE TORCH-BEARERS OF THE IDEAL OF ROGER WILLIAMS UNTIL LIBERTY ENLIGHTENED THE WORLD I believe all our Baptist ministers in town, except two, and most of our brethren in the country were on the side of the Americans in the late dispute.... To this hour we believe that the independence of America will, for a while, secure the liberty of this country, but if that continent had been reduced, Britain would not have long been free.— Doctor Rippon, of London, England, to President Manning, of Rhode Is

THE WORLD-WIDE INFLUENCE OF ROGER WILLIAMS’ IDEAL “The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon trusted foundations of political liberty.”— President Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917. A day will come when bullets and bombs shall be replaced by ballots, by the universal suffrages of the people, by the sacred arbitrament of a great Sovereign Senate.... A day will come when we shall face those two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States

I Roger Williams and His Times 1. Rise and Development of English Puritanism : Reformation in England, from Wyclif to Henry VIII. Reformation under Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth. Influence of the Marian exiles. Rise of English Puritanism. Influence and mission of Thomas Cartwright and Robert Browne. Growth of Presbyterianism and independency. Origin of British Baptists (in Wales and England). 2. Contemporaneous Colonial Settlements : The Plymouth Pilgrims. The Dorchester Adventurers. Naum

Biographies : Backus, “History of New England.” (First history in which Williams’ life-story is told at length.) Knowles, “Memoir of Roger Williams.” Gammell, “Life of Roger Williams.” Elton, “Life of Roger Williams.” Straus, “Roger Williams, Pioneer of Religious Liberty.” Carpenter, “Roger Williams, A Political Pioneer.” Hall, “Roger Williams.” Original Documents : “Complete Writings of Roger Williams,” Narragansett Club Publications. Bradford, “The Bradford History.” Winthrop, “History of the

I Places of Interest Outside of Rhode Island In England : Charterhouse School. Pembroke College, Cambridge. In America : Salem: Site of First Meeting House. The original old First Church. The Original Roger Williams House (The Witch House). Plymouth: Coles Hill. The Burial Hill. Harbor. The Meresteads. Boston and Vicinity: Original Bradford History in State House. Site of Meeting House where trial took place (Dunster and Meeting Streets, Cambridge). Site of old First Church. New York City: Roger