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The Complete Writings of Roger Williams
This is a facsimile reprint of the 1964 edition published in New York by Russell & Russell, Inc., which was itself an enlarged version of the original produced in 1867 by the Narragansett Club Publications, Providence, RI.
503 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1676
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About the author
Roger Williams
42 books20 followersRoger Williams (c. 1603 – between January and March 1683) was an English Puritan theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He was expelled by the Puritan Leaders because they thought he was spreading "new and dangerous ideas", so in 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams was a member of the first Baptist church in America, the First Baptist Church of Providence.
Williams was also a student of Native American languages, an early advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans, and arguably the first abolitionist in North America, having organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of the British American colonies.
Williams was also a student of Native American languages, an early advocate for fair dealings with Native Americans, and arguably the first abolitionist in North America, having organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of the British American colonies.
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June 17, 2016This is a reprint of volume 5 of the 1963 edition of The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, which, in turn, was a reprint of volume 5 of the nineteenth-century Narragansett Edition. The entire volume is devoted to Roger Williams's last major work: George Fox Digg'd out of his Burrowes (hereafter cited as GFDB). The present edition appears to reproduce exactly the 1676 edition of GFDB. If there was an edition of this book published prior to 1676, it apparently is no longer extant, as English Early Books Online (EEBO) also reproduces the 1676 edition with the same printed footnotes that are included in the present edition.
GFDB is an account of four days of live debate in August of 1672 between Williams and representatives of the Quakers (Friends) on theological issues. The first three days occurred in Newport (Rhode Island); the last day took place in Providence (Rhode Island). Williams had hoped to hire a stenographer to take down the exact words of the debates. Since he was unable to obtain a stenographer, he relied on his memory, augmented by extensive additional reflections, in writing this book. The Quakers, who did retain a stenographer to record the debates, responded to GFDB with their own account of the debates and an extended response to Williams's book. Although Williams began to prepare a reply to the Quakers' response, he was dissuaded from completing this project by an unknown friend who "advised to let it sleep, and for beare publicke Contests with Protestants since it is the Designe of Hell and Rome [the Roman Catholic Church] etc. to cut the throats of all the protesters [Protestants] in the world." Letter of Williams to Governor Simon Bradstreet, May 6, 1682, in The Correspondence of Roger Williams, ed. Glenn W. LaFantasie (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England / Brown University Press, 1988), 2:777-78.
Most of Williams's earlier works, to the extent they have survived, involved the issues of freedom of conscience and separation of church and state. Williams opposed the governmentally established Church of England as well as the legal establishment of the Roman Catholic Church throughout much of continental Europe. But his publications on religious liberty were written during periods when the immediately relevant governmental authorities were neither Anglican nor Catholic. Williams was banished from the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1635-36 after he opposed its Calvinist Puritan theocracy; he then founded the settlement of Providence, which later evolved into what we know as Rhode Island. Williams's town and nascent colony were based on the principles of separation of church and state and complete liberty of conscience. John Cotton was the most important clerical representative of the Massachusetts Bay theocracy, and Williams and Cotton engaged in an extended written disputation on the proper relationship between church and state. Williams also made return trips to England during the English Civil Wars and Interregnum. During those visits, the Anglican hierarchy of the Church of England had been dismantled, and the Presbyterians were attempting to create their own theocracy, while the Independents (Congregationalists), under Oliver Cromwell, were developing a modified theocratic system based on governmentally required religious tithes and a limited toleration of some but not all Protestant sects. Accordingly, Williams's publications from 1643 to 1652 were directed not only against John Cotton and Massachusetts Bay but also against the Presbyterian and Independent efforts to remake the Church of England into some sort of Puritan theocracy.
Cotton, the Independents/Congregationalists, and the Presbyterians all shared with Williams many (but not all) basics of Calvinist theology. Accordingly, in his writings opposing their theocratic efforts, Williams always treated his coreligionists with a certain amount of respect. Not so, the Quakers. The Friends proceeded from entirely different theological foundations, and Williams identified those principles with Satan and the Roman Catholic Church (which virtually all Protestants at the time regarded as the "Antichrist"). Williams's theological debates with the Quakers were full of emotional invective on both sides. Space does not permit a further discussion of those theological disputes here.
Although I disagree with the theology of Roger Williams expressed in GFDB, I give this edition five stars for its accuracy in reproducing the 1676 publication and for the clarity with which Roger Williams presented his theological dispute with the Friends. Williams's earlier works did not fully explicate his theological principles. Many secondary accounts have accordingly largely ignored his decidedly unmodern theology. His conservative theology did not, however, prevent Williams from having a very strong commitment to liberty of conscience and separation of church and state. Williams did not depart from these principles in GFDB. Indeed, Williams accused the Quakers of religious principles that would, if they ever obtained control of government, lead to their own establishment of religion and persecution of religious dissenters. Today, we find Williams's view of the Friends virtually incomprehensible. However, the pacific Quakers of more recent times were and are different from the militant Quakers of the seventeenth century. The seventeenth-century Quakers tested, by their public actions, the parameters of freedom and the very definition of civility. Roger Williams's attempts to reconcile, intellectually and emotionally, the tension between his conservative theology and his commitment to religious freedom make this work one of enduring interest.
For further discussion of Williams's views and the treatment of Quakers by the seventeenth-century New England theocracies, see my book The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience.
(Revised 8/21/2015)
GFDB is an account of four days of live debate in August of 1672 between Williams and representatives of the Quakers (Friends) on theological issues. The first three days occurred in Newport (Rhode Island); the last day took place in Providence (Rhode Island). Williams had hoped to hire a stenographer to take down the exact words of the debates. Since he was unable to obtain a stenographer, he relied on his memory, augmented by extensive additional reflections, in writing this book. The Quakers, who did retain a stenographer to record the debates, responded to GFDB with their own account of the debates and an extended response to Williams's book. Although Williams began to prepare a reply to the Quakers' response, he was dissuaded from completing this project by an unknown friend who "advised to let it sleep, and for beare publicke Contests with Protestants since it is the Designe of Hell and Rome [the Roman Catholic Church] etc. to cut the throats of all the protesters [Protestants] in the world." Letter of Williams to Governor Simon Bradstreet, May 6, 1682, in The Correspondence of Roger Williams, ed. Glenn W. LaFantasie (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England / Brown University Press, 1988), 2:777-78.
Most of Williams's earlier works, to the extent they have survived, involved the issues of freedom of conscience and separation of church and state. Williams opposed the governmentally established Church of England as well as the legal establishment of the Roman Catholic Church throughout much of continental Europe. But his publications on religious liberty were written during periods when the immediately relevant governmental authorities were neither Anglican nor Catholic. Williams was banished from the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1635-36 after he opposed its Calvinist Puritan theocracy; he then founded the settlement of Providence, which later evolved into what we know as Rhode Island. Williams's town and nascent colony were based on the principles of separation of church and state and complete liberty of conscience. John Cotton was the most important clerical representative of the Massachusetts Bay theocracy, and Williams and Cotton engaged in an extended written disputation on the proper relationship between church and state. Williams also made return trips to England during the English Civil Wars and Interregnum. During those visits, the Anglican hierarchy of the Church of England had been dismantled, and the Presbyterians were attempting to create their own theocracy, while the Independents (Congregationalists), under Oliver Cromwell, were developing a modified theocratic system based on governmentally required religious tithes and a limited toleration of some but not all Protestant sects. Accordingly, Williams's publications from 1643 to 1652 were directed not only against John Cotton and Massachusetts Bay but also against the Presbyterian and Independent efforts to remake the Church of England into some sort of Puritan theocracy.
Cotton, the Independents/Congregationalists, and the Presbyterians all shared with Williams many (but not all) basics of Calvinist theology. Accordingly, in his writings opposing their theocratic efforts, Williams always treated his coreligionists with a certain amount of respect. Not so, the Quakers. The Friends proceeded from entirely different theological foundations, and Williams identified those principles with Satan and the Roman Catholic Church (which virtually all Protestants at the time regarded as the "Antichrist"). Williams's theological debates with the Quakers were full of emotional invective on both sides. Space does not permit a further discussion of those theological disputes here.
Although I disagree with the theology of Roger Williams expressed in GFDB, I give this edition five stars for its accuracy in reproducing the 1676 publication and for the clarity with which Roger Williams presented his theological dispute with the Friends. Williams's earlier works did not fully explicate his theological principles. Many secondary accounts have accordingly largely ignored his decidedly unmodern theology. His conservative theology did not, however, prevent Williams from having a very strong commitment to liberty of conscience and separation of church and state. Williams did not depart from these principles in GFDB. Indeed, Williams accused the Quakers of religious principles that would, if they ever obtained control of government, lead to their own establishment of religion and persecution of religious dissenters. Today, we find Williams's view of the Friends virtually incomprehensible. However, the pacific Quakers of more recent times were and are different from the militant Quakers of the seventeenth century. The seventeenth-century Quakers tested, by their public actions, the parameters of freedom and the very definition of civility. Roger Williams's attempts to reconcile, intellectually and emotionally, the tension between his conservative theology and his commitment to religious freedom make this work one of enduring interest.
For further discussion of Williams's views and the treatment of Quakers by the seventeenth-century New England theocracies, see my book The First American Founder: Roger Williams and Freedom of Conscience.
(Revised 8/21/2015)
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