. The student's American history . ed in their handsuntil the outbreak of the Revolution. VIII. Rhode Island (1636). 124. Roger Williams founds Providence.; the << livelyexperiment. — In the spring of 1636. Roger Williams (§ 91),with a few friends, formed a settlement at the head of Narra- gansett Bay. In commemorationof the many mercies he had re-ceived from the Most High, hecalled the place Providence. Idesired, he says, it might be fora shelter for persons distressed forconscience. ^^ In the colony of Providenceabsolute religious liberty wasguaranteed to all. It was, asRoger Williams
. The student's American history . ed in their handsuntil the outbreak of the Revolution. VIII. Rhode Island (1636). 124. Roger Williams founds Providence.; the << livelyexperiment. — In the spring of 1636. Roger Williams (§ 91),with a few friends, formed a settlement at the head of Narra- gansett Bay. In commemorationof the many mercies he had re-ceived from the Most High, hecalled the place Providence. Idesired, he says, it might be fora shelter for persons distressed forconscience. ^^ In the colony of Providenceabsolute religious liberty wasguaranteed to all. It was, asRoger Williams said, a livelyexperiment — one that had never been made before. Morethan a century earlier (1515) Sir Thomas More in his romanceof Utopia had dared to hint at such toleration in England. Theidea was regarded as an excellent jest. Well-nigh half a cen-tury later (1561) LHopital, Chancellor of France, likewisepleaded, but without success, for freedom of ^^ LordBaltimore (1634) granted it in Maryland, but confined it to. 1636-.] ENGLISH AND FRENCH SETTLEMENTS. I05 trinitarian Christians (§ 120). In Rhode Island (1636) RogerWilHams, casting all limitations aside, welcomed men not onlyof every faith, — Jew, Christian, or Pagan, — but men of no faith,to the enjoyment of what he called soul liberty.^^ Completereligious toleration had its origin in America. Later, Williams(1654) explained how this soul liberty was to be madeconsistent with the maintenance of order. He compared thecolony to the passengers in a ship. No one, said he, must be forced to come to the ships prayers ; but on the otherhand no mutiny can be permitted, and no mans religious beliefcan be allowed to disturb the civil peace. ^®° A striking illustration of the practical working of such broadtoleration occurred a few years later. The commissioners ofthe New England Confederacy (1657) requested GovernorArnold of Rhode Island to exclude Quakers as a commonpest. The Governor replied that they had no
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