84 BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



4. That a man ought not to give thanks after the 

 sacrament nor after meat. 



Earnest debate followed, and he was dismissed till the 

 next General Court, which was to meet at Newtown, " to 

 consider these thiugs." 



In October he was summoned asrain for the last time. 

 His opinions had not changed. The Court, instructed by 

 the ministers, decided that he should depart out of their 

 jurisdiction within six weeks. The following is the act 

 of banishment as it stands upon the colony records : 

 " Whereas, Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the 

 church of Salem, hath broached and divulged divers new 

 and dangerous opinions against the authority of magis- 

 trates ; as also writ letters of defamation, both of the 

 magistrates and churches here, and that before any con- 

 viction, and yet maintaineth the same without any retrac- 

 tion ; it is therefore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams 

 shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now 

 next ensuing, which if he neglect to perform, it shall 

 be lawful for the Governor and two of the magistrates 

 to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to 

 return any more without license from the Court." 



This act of banishment was passed on the 3d of Nov., 

 all the ministers save one approving it. 



The Rev. Dr. Dexter, who has written an elaborate and 

 very interesting book to prove, or to endeavor to prove, 

 " the very great wrong done to the memory of the Puri- 

 tans of Massachusetts" in the case of Roger Williams, 

 gives us a very graphic picture of this " Particular " Court. 

 After mentioning by name the deputies who were prob- 

 ably present, among whom we find many of our old 

 friends of the past summer (the Salem men conspicuous 

 by their absence), he refers to the ministers of the Bay, 



