[85] In the reply of the General Court, Dr. Child is referred to as "a Paduan Doctor (as he is reputed), lately come into the country, who hath not so much as tasted of their grievances, nor like to doe, being a bachelor and only a sojourner, who never payd a penny to any publick charge, though (of his owne good will) he _hath_ done something for publick use." [86] This document belongs chronologically in the next general division (_C_), below; but it is most conveniently presented here. XV. RHODE ISLAND TO 1660 89. A Compact in _Civil_ Things Only, 1336(?) _Early Records of the Town of Providence_ (1892), 1. These _Records_ were printed from the original manuscript records. In 1800, a manuscript "transcript" had been made of those records (without attempt to preserve the original spelling, and with various errors); and this transcript was followed in the first printed copy of this compact in the _Rhode Island Colony Records_ (1878), I, 14. The following entry was not dated. Apparently it was a paper presented by Williams and the first settlers to a second body of comers, probably in 1636. We whose names are hereunder, desirous to inhabitt in the towne of providence, do promise to subject ourselves in active and passive obedience to all such orders or agreements as shall be made for publick good of our body, in an orderly way, by the major consent of the present Inhabitants, maisters of families, Incorporated together into a towne fellowship, and others whome they shall admitt unto them, only in civill things. Richard Scott _mark_ William #X# Reynolds Abad browne John Warner [a character, probably a "mark," follows.] Edwarde Cope George Rickard Thomas Angell #X# _mark_ Thomas Harris ffrancis weekes #X# _mark_ Benedict Arnold Josua winsor William Wickenden _mark_ John #X# ffeild [In many ways this "compact" recalls the Mayflower Compact (No. 46); but the notable thing here is that obedience is promised in _civil_ things only. "Civil" is used in contradistinction with "ecclesiastical." Obedience is promised in matters that pertain to the _state_, not in those pertaining to the church. This was the primary force of the word "civil." Observe it in the same sense in the documents that follow.] 90. Religious Freedom Consonant with Civil Order Arnold's _History of Rhode Island_, I, 254, 255. The town of Providence had been disturbed by tumults, and some of the inhabitants reasoned loosely that their platform of freedom of conscience forbade them to punish the transgressors. Williams then wrote the following letter to the town, defining in a masterly way the limits of civil and religious freedom. This is a good point at which to review No. 84, with the Introduction thereto.