Roger Williams (1604(5)‒1683), the son of James (_ob._ 1621) and Alice Williams, was a native of London. He was one of the great pioneers of Religious liberty, his prime contention being that the civil powers should have no authority over the consciences of men. Ecclesiastical tyranny induced him to emigrate in 1631 to America. In 1635 he was banished from the state of Massachusetts for his heretical and political opinions. The following year he and a few other malcontents, after many hardships and trials arrived at Rhode Island, and in gratitude to God’s mercy he named the first settlement “Providence.” In 1638 he purchased land from the aborigines, and the state of Rhode Island was founded. In June, 1643, he set sail for his native land to obtain a charter, which was granted, dated 14 March, 1644, giving the “Providence Plantations” full power to rule themselves by any form of government they preferred. During his stay here of but a few months, he published two tracts advocating religious and political freedom. In one he writes: “For who knowes not but many ... of the ... Jewish Religion, may be clear and free from _scandalous offences_ in their life, and also from _disobedience_ to the Civill Lawes of a State?”¹ ¹ The | Blovdy tenent, | of Persecution, for cause of | Conscience, discussed, in | A Conference _betweene_ | Trvth and Peace. | Who, In all tender Affection, present to the High | Court of _Parliament_, (as the _Result_ of | their _Discourse_) these, (amongst other | Passages) of _highest consideration_. | Printed in the Year 1644. (_4to_. 12 _ll._ + 247 _pp._ [B. M.]) Chap. lvi., _p._ 171. In July, 1644, he left the English shores, and in the following month, the tract containing this plea for the Jews, was by the order of the Commons publicly burnt by the common hangman. The author arrived at Boston on the seventeenth of December following. In 1651 he again embarked for England, in connection with matters concerning the State he had founded and remained for two and a half years. Ecclesiastical affairs here were in an unsettled condition, so a “Parliamentary Committee,” known as “The Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel,” was formed, of which Cromwell himself was a member, to consider certain proposals of some twenty leading divines. Among the papers, one presented by Major Butler and others, contained the following clause:―― 4. “Whether it be not the duty of the Magistrates to permit the Jews, ... to live freely and peaceably among us.” This was accompanied by a comment, signed R.W.,¹ in which he argues at length under seven different heads why “this wrong”――their exclusion should not be continued:―― ¹ Roger Williams.