“For the removing of which guilt, and the pacifying of the wrath of the
Most High against this nation, and for the furthering of that great end
of propagating the Gospel of Christ Jesus; It is humbly conceived to
be a great and weighty duty which is upon this state, to provide (on
the Jews’ account) some gracious expedients for such holy and truly
Christian ends.”
It may be that this stand taken by Roger Williams influenced Cromwell
in his later treatment of the oppressed people. Without openly
welcoming them back into England, he did, as one writer has put it,
allow them to enter by the back door.
Poverty was still a heavy handicap to Roger Williams. To raise needed
funds, he was not ashamed to turn to any kind of employment so long
as it was honorable. Thus we read of his giving language lessons to
the sons of a member of Parliament. As to his methods, they were
both reasonable and interesting. There was no forcing of dry old
set formulas upon his pupils to be learned by heart. Instead, he
substituted what would be called to-day the “natural method”--that is,
he taught those words and phrases in most common use by means of easy
conversations. Happy students, to have a teacher who thought grammar
rules a “tyranny”! So well did these lessons succeed that after Roger
Williams returned to America, he taught his own three boys in the same
way.
Once more the poor of London were his debtors. His own wants were never
of so much importance as those of his neighbors. As on the previous
visit, he helped supply the needy with fuel.
One episode of Roger Williams’ stay in London was amusing, yet pathetic
as well. All the years he had spent in New England he had not forgotten
the kind friend of his youth, Sir Edward Coke. It therefore occurred to
him, now that he was in his native land once more, to make inquiries
after the daughter of the famous judge, Mrs. Anne Sadlier. He did so in
a courteous letter, at the same time sending her one of his discourses
that had recently been printed. The good lady had the rudeness to
return it, saying that she read little beyond a few standard religious
works. That she looked upon her father’s former protegé as a dangerous
advanced thinker is shown by her saying bluntly that she believed his
“new lights would prove but dark lanterns.” In reply, Roger Williams
referred her to the volumes covering his late controversy with John
Cotton. Shocked beyond measure at the mere title “Bloody Tenent,”
Mrs. Sadlier did not attempt to read further and tartly told her
correspondent not to trouble her again. With more persistence than
wisdom, Roger Williams did write still once more. Mrs. Sadlier was
thoroughly roused by the sermon-like epistle he sent and in anything
but lady-like language, told the writer he had a “face of brass.” Poor
Roger Williams was silenced at last.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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