"Williams' life and major works — the 1643 bestseller A Key Into the Language of America and the 1644 treatise The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution — inspire nothing less than awe. Williams showed up in Massachusetts in 1631 and immediately mixed it up with the theocrats there, staking controversial positions on hotly debated questions such as the presence of a disturbingly papal cross on the flag of England. Two of his arguments would earn him exile: He insisted that the colonists had robbed the local Indians of their property (he called it "an unjust usurpation upon others' possessions") and, even worse, that civil magistrates had no business enforcing religious laws (lest "the wilderness of the world" engulf "the garden of the church")."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesPolitical activistsPoliticians from LondonAmerican colonial governorsPoliticians from Rhode Island
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Nick Gillespie in "Remembering Roger Williams" - Reason magazine (November 2005)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian)
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Roger Williams (theologian)
Roger Williams (21 December 1603 – 1 April 1684) was an Anglo-American clergyman, a pioneering advocate for freedom of conscience in religious matters, and the separation of church and state. He was the founder of the Rhode Island colony.
27 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Roger Williams (theologian) →
Related Quotes
"Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No …"
"I present you with a Key : I have not heard of the like yet framed, since it pleased God to bring that mighty contine…"
"The natives are very exact and punctual in the bounds of their lands, belonging to this or that prince or people, eve…"
"I was persuaded and am, that God's way is first to turn a soul from its idols, both of heart, worship, and conversati…"
"Men's consciences ought in no sort to be violated, urged, or constrained. And whenever men have attempted any thing b…"
"God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted and enforced in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (…"
"A civil sword (as woeful experience in all ages has proved) is so far from bringing or helping forward an opposite in…"
"God needeth not the help of a material sword of steel to assist the sword of the Spirit in the affairs of conscience."
"The God of Peace, the God of Truth will shortly seal this truth, and confirm this witness, and make it evident to the…"
"All civil states with their officers of justice in their respective constitutions and administrations are proved esse…"