ROGER WILLIAMS IN SALEM. 79 



says " as a youth he would in shorthand take sermons and 

 speeches in the Star Chamber and present them to my dear 

 father." After leavins; college he studied law for a short 

 time, but theology was nearer his heart and he soon be- 

 came a decided opponent to the ceremonies of the church. 

 Even in his 3'oung days he had discussions with Hooker 

 and Cotton upon the use of the Common Prayer. " His 

 mind was enriched and expanded with the best learning 

 of the age." The great controversy which divided the 

 English Church was at its height ; he thoroughly studied 

 the principles at issue and early placed himself upon the 

 Puritan side. But he went beyond the Puritans : he was 

 firmly convinced that conscience should be free, that no 

 person should be responsible in matters of belief to any 

 other person or persons, but to God alone. He naturally 

 looked to Xew England as a haven for disafiected people 

 in England and sailed with his wife Mary on the 1st of 

 December, 1630, in the Lion, Captain Pierce, for Boston 

 where he arrived after a long jind stormy passage on the 

 5th of February, 1631. 



Roger Williams supposed he should find a state of 

 society in which "he could express the great doctrine 

 which had taken full possession of his soul," but he soon 

 found that freedom of conscience was not allowed. Gam- 

 mell says "It is a mistake, as has been often remarked, 

 to suppose that they [these Puritans] came to New Eng- 

 land with any notions of unlimited freedom of conscience." 

 "It was to escape oppression for themselves, not to 

 secure the l)oon of freedom to others." 



Mr. Wilson, the minister of Boston, being about to 

 return to England for a short period, it is said that Mr. 

 Williams refused a call to preach to the people of that 

 place in his absence on the ground that they were an 

 "unseparated people." At any rate he did not unite with 



