480 LIVES OF THE PURITANS. which' he was charged, we do note attempt to determine ; but he appears to have been the _ first of our countrymen who thoroughly understood the grounds of civil and religious liberty. The famous Mr. John Cotton, and the rest of the ministers of New England, were, so far concerned in his prosecution and banishment as to 'shew, that while they made loud outcries against popery, they themselves retained and cherished the very worst part of even its intolerant and persecuting spirit. This will be a reproach to them, even to the latest posterity.. Mr.. Williams called the place to which he was banished PROVIDENCE, "from a sense of God's,inercifulprovidence to him in his distress ; and though, for a considerable time, he suffered much fatigue and want,' he provided a refuge for persons persecuted for conscience' sake."t About the year 1639 he embraced the sentiments of the baptists ; and being in want of one to administer the ordi- nance of baptism, " he was baptized by one of his community, then Mr. Williams baptized him and the rest of the society. ' This appears to have been the first baptist church in Arne- rica.t In the year 1644 Mr. Williams came to England, with the view of procuring a charter ; and though, upon his arrival, he found, the nation deeply involved- in civil war, he succeeded in obtaining it of the parliament, under the name 'of " The INCORPORATION OF PROVIDENCE PLANTA- TIONS IN THE NARRAGANSET-BAY, IN NEW ENGLAND, with full power and authority to rule themselves, and such others as shall hereafter inhabit within any part of the said tract of land, by such form of civil government as by volun- tary consent of all, or the greater part of them, they shall find. most suitable to their state and condition." While Mr. Williams was in London to , procure this charter, he published a book, called, "The Bloody Tenet of, Persecution for the Cause of Conscience," 1644. This work appeared to Mr. Cotton of dangerous tendency, there- fore he published an answer to it, entitled,, " The Bloody Tenet washed and made White in the Blood of the Lamb," 1647. Mr. Williams replied to this in a work entitled, " The Bloody Tenet yet more Bloody, by Mr. Cotton's endeavour to wash, it White in the Blood of the Lamb," 1652. The grand principle for which he contended was, " That persons may, with less sin, be forced to marry whom MS. Account.-Backus's Mist. vol. 1. p. 69, 70, 112.=Mather's New England, b. vii. p. 7-9. Morse andParish's Hist. p. 87. t Backus's Hist. vol. i. p. 106.
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