Williams, Philip, D.D., an English clergyman of the 18th century, became a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1730, and was rector of Starston and Bar- row. He published a volume of Observations (1733), some controversial works, and a number of Sermons.
Williams, Robert, was one of the earliest Meth- odist ministers in America. Previous to his leaving England, Mr. Wesley had given him permission to preach under the direction of the regular ministers. He first labored for a time in New York city. Under date of Nov. 1, 1769, Mr. Pilmoor, then in Philadelphia, writes, "Robert Williams called, on his way from New York to Maryland. He came over abfiut business, and being a local preacher in England, Mr. Wesley gave him a li- cense to preach occasionally under the direction of the regular preachers." He afterwards speaks of him as "very sincere and zealous." Williams spent the great- er part of his time in Maryland, where he was instru- mental in commencing a great work. In 1772 he pass- ed south into Virginia, where his labors were greatly blessed. Early in 1775 he located, and Sept. 26, 1775, he died. Bishop Asbury says of him, " He has been a very useful, laborious man, and the Lord gave him many souls to his ministry. Perhaps no man in America has ministered to awakening so many souls as God has awakened bj' him." It has been said of him that " he was the first travelling preacher in America that mar- ried, located, and died." See Bangs, Hist, of the M. E. Church, i, 73, 76, 89 ; Simpson, Cyclop, of Methodism, 8. v.; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, vii, 11.
Williams, Roger, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island, was born at Conwyl Cayo, Wales, in 1599. In his youth he went to London, and attracted the at- tention of Sir Edward Coke by his sh<trt-hand notes of sermons and speeches in the Star -Chamber, and was sent by him to Sutton's Hospital (now the Charter- house School) in 1621. On April 30, 1624, he entered Jesus College, Oxford, where he obtained an exhibi- tion. According to some authorities, he was admit- ted to Pembroke College, Cambridge, Jan. 29, 1623, and matriculated pensioner July 7, 1625, graduating A.B. in Januar}', 1627. He studied Latin, Greek, He- brew, French, and Dutch, and took orders in the Church of England. He soon, however, became an extreme Puritan, with tendencies towards the views of the Baptists, who were rapidly rising in England at that
time. To avoid the persecution then rife in his own country, he emigrated to New England, arriving at Boston Feb. 5, 1631, accompanied by his wife, Mary. He refused to join the congregation at Boston, because the people woidd not make public declaration of their repentance for having been in communion with the Church of England. He therefore went to Salem, to become the assistant to pastor Skelton ; but the gen- eral court remonstrated against his settlement there, on account of his attitude towards the Boston congrega- tion ; and, further, that he " had declared his opinion that the magistrate might not punish" Sabbath-break- ing and other religious offences, as belonging to the first table of the law. His ministry at Salem was brief. Before the close of the summer, persecution drove him to Plymouth, where for two years he was assistant to the pastor, Kal|ih Smith. At the close of this pe- riod he was invited to return to Salem as assistant to Skelton, and, after the latter's death, became pastor. In a short time he had very generally indoctrinated the people with his peculiar views. In the autumn of 1635 the general court banished him from the colony, with orders to depart within six weeks, because he had called in question the authority of magistrates in respect to two things — one relating to the right of the king to appropriate and grant the lands of the Indians without purchase, and the other to the right of the civil power to impose faith and worship. On the first of these questions he had written a paper in which he defended the right of the natives to the soil ; but on the interference of the court he put in an expla- nation, and consented to the burning of the MS. when they were somewhat more leniently disposed towards him. But on the other question he reiterated and am- plified his views; and when oppressed by his opponents, frankly declared his opinion that the magistrate ought not to interfere " even to stop a church from apostasy and heresy," and that the office of civil magistrate "ex- tends only to the bodies and goods and outward estates of man." He was the first to assert fully the doctrine of entire liberty of conscience, the right of every person to worship in what manner he pleased, or to refrain from public worship altogether without interference on the part of the civil magistrate. In reply to the charges against him, and in defence of his views, he published a painphlet entitled ^fr. Cotton's Letter Examined and Answered (printed in 1644). AYinter being at hand, the period for his departure was extended until spring; but he persisted in preaching, and the people fiocked to hear him. It became generally understood that many had decided to go with him to found a new colony not far distant, and the court decided to send him at once to England, regarding him as a dangerous person in the colony. A small vessel was despatched to Salem to convey him away; but he was forewarned, and fled before its arrival. Leaving- family and friends in mid- winter, he was " for fourteen weeks soreh' tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." But he had learned the Indian language while at Plym- outh, and was kindly received and sheltered by the sav- ages. He selected a site for his new colony on the shores of the Narraganset; and, after purchasing lands on the eastern shore of the Seekonk River, and plant- ing his corn, he learned that he was within the limits of the Plymouth colony. He therefore set out, with five companions, to make new explorations. They proceed- ed in a canoe to the spot which Williams fixed upon as his home. He said that he had " made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the sachems and na- tions round about;" "and having, of a sense of God's merciful providence " to them in their distress, called, the place Providence, he "desired it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience." Here he was joined by others who sympathized with his opinions, and even people from England flocked thither in con- siderable numbers. Roger Williams was the fomider, the lawgiver, and the minister of the infant colony, but