Roger Williams, Prophet and Pioneer of Soul-LibertyStrickland, Arthur Barsazou
Religion
Roger Williams, Prophet and Pioneer of Soul-Liberty
Strickland, Arthur Barsazou
Williams, Roger, 1604?-1683
The second president of Brown University was Jonathan Maxcy, who served
from 1792 until 1802. In these ten years two hundred and twenty-seven
were graduated, sixty-six claiming law as their profession, and
fifty-six entering the ministry. Asa Messer was the third president,
serving from 1802 until his resignation in 1826. His membership was in
the First Baptist Church, but his views, after 1815, were Unitarian.
Acts of vandalism, such as breaking into the library, beating down the
pulpit, and breaking windows, were such that he took it as a protest
against his position and finally resigned.
The next president was Francis Wayland. He completely reorganized the
University. He introduced the elective system, and offered several
practical courses. The college grounds were laid out. Two new buildings
were erected. Manning Hall, a gift of Nicholas Brown, and named
in honor of the first president, was built in 1840. In this Doric
structure the library found a home on the first floor and the chapel on
the second. Rhode Island Hall was erected shortly afterward, $10,000
being raised by Rhode Island men and women, and the balance of $12,500
being largely the gift of Nicholas Brown. Doctor Wayland’s presidency
came to an end by his death in 1855. He was buried in North Burial
Ground. Following him came Barnes Sears, Alexis Gaswell, Ezekiel Gilman
Robinson, Elisha Benjamin Andrews, and the present president, W. H. P.
Faunce, since June, 1899. Today the college has more than a thousand
students, about thirty buildings, and an endowment of more than four
million dollars. Brown University was the pioneer of the hundreds of
schools, colleges, and universities which the Baptists were destined to
have in the years that followed. These are not limited to one State,
but are scattered all over our country.
Pilgrims to Providence, the birthplace of religious liberty in America,
should not fail to visit those buildings which contain sacred relics of
the long and hard struggle for soul-liberty and political freedom in
America.
The present million-dollar CITY HALL, at the west end of Exchange
Place, in Providence, was erected in the period 1874 to 1878. In the
office of the Recorder of Deeds can be seen “the original deeds”
from the Indian chiefs to Roger Williams in 1636, also his letter
transferring to his loving friends, “a share of the new territory.” The
original Compact of Government is here also, and there is a bust of
Roger Williams over the entrance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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