As the existence of the following tract was, until quite recently,
unknown,[A] a few words of introduction, exhibiting its character and
the circumstances under which it was written, may not be inappropriate.
[A] Professor Knowles, in his Memoir of Roger Williams, makes the
following statement: Mr. Williams is said to have published, in London,
in 1652, a work entitled "Experiments in Spiritual Life and Health, and
their Preservatives." Of this book, no copy has come to our knowledge.
The object of the work is, briefly to present to the christian the
evidences of personal piety and guard these evidences from abuse and
misapprehension. It is divided into three parts. The author first
treats of the evidences of a piety, which, though real, is weak and
imperfect; secondly, the evidences of a vigorous and maturer piety;
and the third part contains directions for maintaining and increasing
piety in the soul of the believer. It is written with clearness and
discrimination, and much resembles the treatises of Baxter on the same
subject. It is as well adapted to the condition of christians of the
present day as to the condition of those for whom it was written,
two hundred and ten years since. There cannot be found in it a word
of sectarian bitterness; on the contrary, it everywhere breathes the
spirit of catholic, christian charity.
The circumstances under which it was written are certainly peculiar. It
seems that his wife, to whom he appears to have been tenderly attached,
had been dangerously ill, but was now recovering. During her sickness
he had been from home, laboring among the Indians; and while absent, he
wrote this little treatise in the form of a letter to her, his object
being simply to promote her spiritual improvement. At the request of
his friends, it was published in London; and a dedication was prefixed
to it, addressed to Lady Vane the Younger. In this dedication, occurs
the following remarkable passage: "The form and stile I know will seem
to this refined age too rude and barbarous, and the truth is, the most
of it was penned and writ, (so as seldom or never such discourses
were,) in the thickest of the naked Indians of America, in their very
wild houses, and by their barbarous fires, when the Lord was pleased
this last year (more than ordinarily) to dispose my abode and travel
among them."
As a writer, Roger Williams has generally borne the reputation of a
violent and bitter controversialist. I believe that in this respect he
has suffered great injustice. It would seem from this tract, that, on
the contrary, his spirit was eminently candid and catholic, and that
controversy was to him a painful duty. In the same dedication he says:
"It is true, I have been sometimes prest to engage in controversies,
but I can really and uprightly say, my witness is on high, how harsh
and dolefull the touch of these strings are, [is,] and especially
against such worthies both in old and New England, in whom I joyfully,
before the world, acknowledge (in many heavenly respects) a lively
character and image of the love of God." Every thing in this tract is
in harmony with such a declaration.
STEPHEN RANDALL, Esq., a descendant of Roger Williams, a gentleman who
cherishes a proper respect for the memory of his great ancestor, has
been at much pains to procure the use of one of the only two known
copies of this work, and at his instance it is now re-published. It
is nearly a _fac simile_ of the original copy, retaining, unchanged,
all the obsolete words and phrases, with all the peculiarities
of orthography. In this form it will be more interesting to the
public, and especially to antiquarians, than it could be made by
any change whatever. In the hope, that, after the lapse of more than
two centuries, it will again be acceptable to christians of all
denominations, and exhibit in a new light the character of a great and
good man, it is now presented to the descendants of the Puritans.