Through charity Roger Williams fled into the depths of snowy forests and crossed frozen streams, to form among savage tribes a new colony where no man would be denied political privileges because of religious belief. Through charity he forgave those who exiled him and at the risk of his own life saved Puritan and Pilgrim from an impending Indian massacre. Through charity he shared his purchased possessions gratuitously with others. Through charity he formed the immortal compact binding men together “only in civil things.” Through charity he sacrificed his humble patrimony, his home at Salem, and the earnings of his lifetime to safeguard and protect the colony he had founded for the joys of others. Through charity he extended for the first time in our national history a loving welcome to men of all beliefs into the new fraternity of human hearts founded for human helpfulness. Roger Williams possessed the faith of the Pilgrim and the hope of the Puritan. Faith and hope getteth, but charity giveth. Roger Williams possessed the charity of Christ. He followed in the footsteps of his Master along a pathway of pain. Like the Man of Galilee, in the olive orchard and vine-clad garden, and on the bleak skull-shaped hill without the walls of Jerusalem, his humble servant, the man of Providence, had his Gethsemane and Golgotha in the frozen forests and on the snow-clad hills under the wintry skies of New England. Aye, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod, They left unstained what there they found, Freedom to worship God. And now in these United States of America, there abideth the faith of the Pilgrim, the hope of the Puritan, and the charity of Roger Williams; but the greatest of these is charity. STUDY OUTLINE OF THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROGER WILLIAMS I ROGER WILLIAMS AND HIS TIMES 1. _Rise and Development of English Puritanism_: Reformation in England, from Wyclif to Henry VIII. Reformation under Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Elizabeth. Influence of the Marian exiles. Rise of English Puritanism. Influence and mission of Thomas Cartwright and Robert Browne. Growth of Presbyterianism and independency. Origin of British Baptists (in Wales and England). 2. _Contemporaneous Colonial Settlements_: The Plymouth Pilgrims. The Dorchester Adventurers. Naumkeag settlers. Endicott Company at Salem. Winthrop Company at Boston. Connecticut settlers. Early Dutch and Virginia settlements. (Study idealism, origin, vitality of each.) 3. _Indian Predecessors of Roger Williams and Puritans_: Tribal settlements, their ideas, customs, and moral status. Ideas of soul-liberty among the Indians. Priority of Williams’ Indian missionary work. Labors of Eliot and others. II ROGER WILLIAMS, HIS LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS 1. _Life Prior to Exile from England, 1602-1629_: His birth and education. Religious ferment in England. His love affairs, marriage, and exile.