By Thomas W. Bicknell, LL.D.
The act of banishment which severed Roger Williams from the
Massachusetts Colony, in 1635, was the means of _advancing_, rather
than _hindering_, the spread of the so-called _heresies_ which
he so bravely advocated. As the persecutions which drove the disciples
of Christ from Jerusalem were the means of extending the cause of
Christianity, so the principles of toleration and of soul-liberty were
strengthened by opposition, in the mind of this apostle of freedom of
conscience in the New World. His Welsh birth and Puritan education made
him a bold and earnest advocate of whatever truth his conscience
approved, and he went everywhere "preaching the word" of individual
freedom. The sentence of exile could not silence his tongue, nor destroy
his influence. "The divers new and dangerous opinions" which he had
"broached and divulged," though hostile to the notions of the clergy and
the authorities of Massachusetts Bay, were at the same time quite
acceptable to a few brave souls, who, like himself, dared the censures,
and even the persecutions, of their brethren, for the sake of liberty of
conscience.
The dwellers in old Rehoboth were the nearest white neighbors of Roger
Williams and his band at Providence. The Reverend Samuel Newman was the
pastor of the church in this ancient town, having removed with the first
settlers from Weymouth in 1643. Learned, godly, and hospitable, as he
was, he had not reached the "height of that great argument" concerning
human freedom; and while he cherished kindly feelings toward the
dwellers at Providence, he evidently feared the introduction of their
sentiments among his people. The jealous care of Newman to preserve what
he conscientiously regarded as the purity of religious faith and polity
was not a sufficient barrier against the teachings of the founder of
Rhode Island.
Although the settlers of Plymouth Colony cherished more liberal
sentiments than their neighbors of the Bay Colony, and sanctioned the
expulsion of Mr. Williams from Seekonk only for the purpose of
preserving peace with those whom Blackstone called "the Lord Bretheren,"
yet they guarded the prerogatives of the ruling church order as worthy
not only of the _respect_, but also the _support_, of all.
Rehoboth was the most liberal, as well as the most loyal, of the
children of Plymouth; but the free opinions which the planters brought
from Weymouth, where an attempt had already been made to establish a
Baptist church, enabled them to sympathize strongly with their neighbors
across the Seekonk River. "At this time," says Baylies, "so much
indifference as to the support of the clergy was manifested in Plymouth
Colony, as to excite the alarm of the other confederated colonies. The
complaint of Massachusetts against Plymouth on this subject was laid
before the Commissioners, and drew from them a severe reprehension.
Rehoboth had been afflicted with a severe schism, and by its proximity
to Providence and its plantations, where there was a universal
toleration, the practice of free inquiry was encouraged, and principle,
fancy, whim, and conscience, all conspired to lessen the veneration for
ecclesiastical authority." As the "serious schism" referred to above led
to the foundation of the first Baptist church within the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, on New Meadow Neck in Old Swanzey, it is worthy of record
here. The leader in this church revolt was Obadiah Holmes, a native of
Preston, in Lancashire, England. He was connected with the church in
Salem from 1639 till 1646, when he was excommunicated, and removing with
his family to Rehoboth, he joined Mr. Newman's church. The doctrines and
the discipline of this church proved too severe for Mr. Holmes, and he,
with eight others, withdrew in 1649, and established a new church by
themselves.
Mr. Newman's irascible temper was kindled into a persecuting zeal
against the offending brethren, and, after excommunicating them, he
aroused the civil authorities against them. So successful was he that
four petitions were presented to the Plymouth Court; one from Rehoboth,
signed by thirty-five persons; one from Taunton; one from all the
clergymen in the colony but two, and one from the government of
Massachusetts. How will the authorities at Plymouth treat this first
division in the ruling church of the colony? Will they punish by severe
fines, by imprisonment, by scourgings, or by banishment? By neither, for
a milder spirit of toleration prevailed, and the separatists were simply
directed to "refrain from practices disagreeable to their brethren, and
to appear before the Court."
In 1651, some time after his trial at Plymouth, Mr. Holmes was arrested,
with Mr. Clarke, of Newport, and Mr. Crandall, for preaching and
worshiping God with some of their brethren at Lynn. They were condemned
by the Court at Boston to suffer fines or whippings. Holmes refused to
pay the fine, and would not allow his friends to pay it for him, saying
that "to pay it would be acknowledging himself to have done wrong,
whereas his conscience testified that he had done right." He was
accordingly punished with thirty lashes from a three-corded whip, with
such severity, says Governor Jenks, "that in many days, if not some
weeks, he could take no rest but as he lay upon his knees and elbows,
not being able to suffer any part of his body to touch the bed whereon
he lay." Soon after this, Holmes and his followers moved to Newport, and
on the death of the Reverend Mr. Clarke, in 1652, he succeeded him as
pastor of the First Baptist Church in that time. Mr. Holmes died at
Newport in 1682, aged seventy-six years.
The persecution offered to the Rehoboth Baptists scattered their
church, but did not destroy their principles. Facing the obloquy
attached to their cause, and braving the trials imposed by the civil
and ecclesiastical powers, they must wait patiently God's time of
deliverance. That their lives were free from guile, none claim. That
their cause was righteous, none will deny; and while the elements
of a Baptist church were thus gathering strength on this side of the
Atlantic, a leader was prepared for them, by God's providence, on the
other. In the same year that Obadiah Holmes and his band established
their church in Massachusetts, in opposition to the Puritan order,
Charles I, the great English traitor, expiated his "high crimes and
misdemeanors" on the scaffold, at the hands of a Puritan Parliament.
Then followed the period of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, and then
the Restoration, when "there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew
not Joseph." The Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, under the sanction
of Charles II, though a fatal blow at the purity and piety of the
English Church, was a royal blessing to the cause of religion in
America. Two thousand bravely conscientious men, who feared God more
than the decrees of Pope, King, or Parliament, were driven from their
livings and from the kingdom. What was England's great loss was
America's great gain, for a grand tidal wave of emigration swept
westward across the Atlantic to our shores. Godly men and women, clergy
and laity, made up this exiled band, too true and earnest to yield a
base compliance to the edict of conformity. For thirteen years here the
Dissenters from Mr. Newman's church waited for a spiritual guide, but
not in vain.
How our Baptist brethren here conducted themselves during these years,
and the difficulties they may have occasioned or encountered, we know
but little. Plymouth, liberal already, has grown more lenient towards
church offenders in matters of conscience. Mr. John Brown, a citizen of
Rehoboth, and one of the magistrates, has presented before the Court his
scruples at the expediency of coercing the people to support the
ministry, and has offered to pay from his own property the taxes of all
those of his townsmen who may refuse their support of the ministry. This
was in 1665. Massachusetts Bay has tried to correct the errors of her
sister colony on the subject of toleration, and has in turn been rebuked
by her example.