WESTWARD, HO!
In order to understand why Roger Williams should have wanted to make
his home on this side of the water, we should know a little something
of the England in which he lived. It was not then the free, liberal
country it is to-day. In many matters, especially those relating to
religion, a man could not do as he chose, but as he was told. To-day,
one can attend any church he pleases; _then_ he was forced by law to
attend the established church. The king was the head of both church and
state.
Now it was not surprising that all persons of that day did not care
to support the same church. They were not able to think alike, any
more than we who live to-day. Curious, indeed, it would be if we
held exactly the same views as our neighbors and worshiped in the
same church. Some of the men of Roger Williams’ day objected to the
teachings of the national church, others wished to do away with its
forms and ceremonies. And because they could not conscientiously
worship the way the sovereign commanded, serious trouble arose. Those
who were independent enough to defy the king were liable to be fined,
banished or imprisoned. And the prisons of those days were anything but
pleasant places in which to spend one’s time!
The persons who objected to the established form of worship were of two
classes. On the one hand were church members who believed in working
for certain religious reforms without separating from the church. Their
enemies nicknamed them =_Puritans_=. The Puritans argued something like
this:
“We do not think our ministers should wear vestments. Neither do we
believe it right to make the sign of the cross in baptism. Kneeling at
sacrament is sinful in our eyes, also the use of the organ in church.
These ceremonies are too much like those of the Roman church from which
we have turned. But the established church is our church. She is our
own dear mother and we will not forsake her. At the same time, while
still remaining her children, we will try to lead her to a better,
purer life.”
The Separatists went further than this. In turn, they argued:
“The church is corrupt and we will have nothing to do with her. We
will form congregations of our own and worship according to our own
consciences.”
It is easy to see that being a Separatist was a far more dangerous
thing than being a Puritan. By remaining in the church, the Puritan
was shielded to an extent. The Separatist, on the other hand, had no
protection.
When James, the first Stuart king, came to the throne, he kept in mind
the motto, “No bishops, no king.” For political purposes, he determined
on a course of persecution. He said of all those who would not support
the national church, “I will _make_ them conform, or I will harry them
out of the land.”
That is just what he did. A little band of Separatists, who were
later to become world-famous, were glad to flee to Holland to escape
persecution. It was no small thing, three hundred or more years ago,
for any European country to shelter a people whose religion differed
from that of the state church and we therefore like to think of the
liberality of the Dutch. They and the English immigrants lived together
like brothers for a period of years. A thriving settlement was founded
at Leyden, and here, for about twelve years, the fugitives knew the
meaning of peace and happiness. Many of them learned to speak and write
the Dutch language, which one writer has called “the sister language
nearest to the English.” There were certainly marriages between the two
peoples and the English children were doubtless sent to the free Dutch
schools for their education.
As Roger Williams was familiar with Dutch, it may be that he studied
the language with the idea of making Holland his home. However that may
be, such a plan was never carried out. At least once he had occasion
to address King James, though what the occasion was, we are unable to
guess. He merely referred to the monarch briefly as “King James, whom
I have spoke with.”
Why did the English in Holland begin to long for still another home?
Living so contentedly, why were they not satisfied to remain so?
There seem to have been two reasons for their feeling as they did.
To begin with, there was grave danger of their becoming a part of
the Dutch nation. They were afraid of losing their speech, customs,
religion--everything that made them English Separatists.
Then, too, when they had attempted to spread their doctrines by means
of printing, King James had interfered and taken possession of the
types. When such tyranny as this could exist even in kindly Holland,
they thought it was high time to seek a home elsewhere.
“No home for these!--too well they knew
The mitered king behind the throne;
The sails were set, the pennons flew,
And westward, ho! for worlds unknown.”
The rest of the story of the “Pilgrim Fathers” we all know--how they
crossed the water, battled against famine, disease and poverty, and
succeeded slowly but surely in building up a settlement at Plymouth.
Years passed before they had any neighbors. At last, in 1628, the
little settlement of Salem was formed by the Massachusetts Bay Company.
This was followed two years later by a big migration of Puritans to
New England under John Winthrop which led to the founding of Boston
and several smaller towns. The colony which embraced these different
settlements was called Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Meanwhile, things had been going from bad to worse in England. King
Charles was now on the throne and his subjects were discouraged to find
that he was even more of a tyrannical master than James, his father.
How could anybody expect justice or fairness from a ruler who believed
that because he was a king, he could do no wrong? It grew more and
more uncomfortable for the Puritans every day, even in the established
church. One of Charles’ chief advisers, Archbishop Laud, was busy
ridding the country of all “heretics” and other offenders against the
royal will and law. If Roger Williams had now taken notes in the Star
Chamber as he did when a boy, he would have recorded many undeserved
punishments, such as heavy fines, whippings and worse. But he was now a
man and looking with longing eyes across the ocean, as so many of his
countrymen had before him.
As to Roger Williams’ true place among the different sects of his time,
he was without doubt a Separatist. More than one passage in his letters
points to this as the truth. There was no half-way to a man of his
decided character. Believing as he did, there was only one thing for
him to do--seek a refuge in the New World.
“And truly it was as bitter as death to me,” he wrote in after years,
“when Bishop Laud pursued me out of this land, and my conscience was
persuaded against the national church, and ceremonies, and bishops.”
By the last of the year 1630, our pioneer was ready to sail for America
and on December 1st, he took passage in the ship _Lyon_, commanded
by Captain Pierce, at Bristol. With him was his young wife Mary. Very
little is known about her early history--far less than what has been
discovered about the fair Jane whom Roger Williams failed to win. That
she made a good wife and mother and shared her husband’s troublous
career with loving devotion is quite certain.
For over two months, in the dead of winter, the vessel battled with
gales and storms and ice. One passenger, a young man, lost his life
and at times probably everybody aboard felt sure they would never see
land again. It must have been with deep relief and thanksgiving that
the weary passengers finally landed safely at Nantasket, near Boston,
February 5, 1631.
In this stormy fashion, Roger Williams’ new life began.