ROGER WILLIAMS, AND THE INDIANS.

THE PILGRIM FATHERS, who went out to settle on the wild shores of North America in the year 1620, were followed from time to time by others, who, like themselves, fled from their native land in those days of persecution, that they might there find

"FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD."

Among these, about ten years after the voyage of the May-flower," was ROGER WILLIAMS, who had been a clergyman of the church of England, but, disliking its formalities, seceded, and ranging himself with the nonconformists, fled to America from the persecutions which then raged in this country. The great principles of civil and religious liberty were not then understood in the Western world, and as Mr. Williams was a man of intrepid firmness in advocating those principles, we are not surprised at the excitement and opposition which his doctrines awakened. He settled first in Boston, New England, the magistracy of which condemned his opinions, and subsequently sentenced him to banishment. Under that cruel act of legislation he was driven from his family, in the midst of winter, to seek for refuge amongst the wild Indians. After great sufferings, having conciliated the Indians, he commenced the formation of a Colony, to which he gave the name of 'Providence,' situate on Rhode Island, a name which it still bears. Here, Mr. Williams formed the first baptist church in America, in the year 1639.

Thus he became the founder of a new order of things. Several of his friends afterwards joined him, and in that infant settlement he sustained the two-fold character of Minister and Lawgiver. He formed a constitution on the broad principle of civil and religious liberty, and thus became the first ruler that recognized equal rights. Nearly a century and a half after that,

when the Americans achieved their independence, thirteen of the states united in forming a government for themselves, and adopted that principle; thus America became, what the little Colony of Providence had been before, a refuge for the persecuted for conscience sake. It has been well observed that the millions in both hemispheres who are now rejoicing in the triumph of liberal principles, should unite in erecting a monument to perpetuate the memory of Roger Williams, the first Governor who held liberty of conscience to be the birthright of man.

From "Baptists in America," by Drs. Cox and Hoby, we make an extract in illustration of the engraving:

"While at Providence, we paid a visit to the spot where Roger Williams first landed. We approached the rock from the high ground, toward the town, which overlooks the retired cove. We were accompanied in the excursion by our esteemed brother Pattison, the pastor of the church which Williams formed two centuries ago, in 1639. At the perilous moment of Williams's landing, the shore was occupied by a party of Indians. Warned off from Rehoboth, the last place where they had taken refuge, by the men of Plymouth, because he maintained that civil magistrates, as such, have no power in the church, and that christians, as such, are subject to no laws or control but those of King Jesus,' during the winter of 1636, Williams and Olney, with their hired attendant, Thomas Angel, crossed the river in a canoe. Life or death seemed, under God, to depend upon the manner in which they were met by the Indians, who watched their approach, when the salutation from one of the savages, 'What cheer! assured the outcasts of a friendly reception. To commemorate the goodness of God, who had thus guided and preserved them, they ultimately gave their settlement the name of 'Providence.'

The Hon. Francis Baylis paid the following tribute to the memory of this distinguished but singular man:"Roger Williams was one of the most extraordinary men of the age; and when we consider his liberality at that period, we cannot but regard him as almost a prodigy. He contended that church and state were separate, and that the land could not be lawfully taken from the Indians without their consent. These were alarming doctrines for those times. He was summoned before synods, and threatened with excommunication, but he stood firmly to the faith; and after repeated trials and persecutions, he was banished as a pest in society, and an officer was despatched to put him on board a vessel and send him to England. He was warned of his danger, and, rising from his sick bed, fled and built his wigwam within the jurisdiction of Plymouth colony. But Massachusetts demanded that he should be delivered up, and Governor Winslow, not having sufficient firmness to protect him, secretly advised Williams to leave the jurisdiction of Plymouth. He threw himself into a canoe with his companions, floated down the stream, rounded the point of Tockwotton, proceeded up the river, and landed in the cove, and there he chose his place of rest. 'The world was all before him, and Providence his guide.' He landed at a spring, he found earth and water, and in gratitude to heaven, he called the place Providence, and there he founded his little commonwealth. No cross was reared, no standard was planted, no monument was erected, no coins were buried, and not even a record was made, for these wanderers were destitute of paper and books. And this was the spot on which one of the most thriving cities of the United States now stands. It was here the true principles of toleration were planted, and have since flourished. The Indians had no such quality as intolerance among them, and with them Williams was free to enjoy his own opinions unmolested."

Young British Readers! See what some of your forefathers had to endure for the sake of freedom in religion. WILLIAMS and others went to America, and planted religious freedom there, where it has grown and flourished ever since. In our own land JOHN BUNYAN, and DANIEL DE FOE, and others, suffered in prison for the same righteous cause, and by their manly and noble conduct secured for us, under Providence, the blessings we now enjoy. Had they not stood firm for the truth of God we should not now be enjoying the civil and religious privileges we possess-in public preaching, cheap copies of the Bible, schools for all, with magazines and books of all kinds. Proud priests and tyrant kings would still have kept us in darkness and spiritual bondage, as they did our forefathers, and as they are doing in other nations-as in Spain, and Portugal, and Italy-at this day. Oh never forget, that it is one of the best blessings a people can enjoy, when they have

"FREEDOM TO WORSHIP GOD."

THE LAND OF PALESTINE.

PALESTINE, or PALESTINA, is a country in Asia which was the scene of the great events recorded in the Bible. It received this name because a large and fertile portion of it was inhabited by the Philistines, the descendants of Mizraim, the second son of Ham, and grandson of Noah. Its first name however was Canaan, given to it because the sons of Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, were its original inhabitants. It is bounded on the east by Syria and Arabia, on the south by Arabia, on the west by the "Great" or Mediterranean Sea, and on the north by Syria. This country is about two hundred miles in length, and about ninety in breadth. Sandys, who travelled through it three centuries ago, says, "It is a land

One of

adorned with beautiful mountains and luxurious valleys, the rocks producing excellent water, and no part void of delight or profit." It is traversed from north to south by two ranges of hills, from which several smaller chains radiate in various directions. these ranges extends from Lebanon to the borders of Arabia, and intersects the country lying between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. The western side of this range of hills is described as being uncommonly fertile, and as bearing marks of having been cultivated in ancient times to its very summit by means of terraces. On the eastern side the soil is lighter, and the vegetation less luxuriant, especially along the basin of the Dead Sea. The mountains which form the eastern chain, traversing the country beyond Jordan, are still, as in the days of the Israelites, remarkable for their rich pastures and stately forests, except towards the southwest extremity, where they become wild and precipitous. Nothing can exceed the picturesque beauty of Bashan and Gilead, or the terrific grandeur of the hills that overhang the lake of Sodom.

The most remarkable of the mountains of these ranges are Lebanon, Carmel, and Tabor. Lebanon is situated in the most northern part of Palestine, or the Holy Land. It consists of two chains parallel with each other, and with the coast of the Mediterranean, the height and fertility of these most magnificent mountains furnished the sacred writers with their most august and sublime figures. So great is their elevation, that their summits penetrate the clouds, and are covered with perpetual snow. In former ages they were celebrated for the cedar trees, which they produced in great abundance, and which grew to a prodigious size and thickness; some of them exceeding forty-eight feet in circumference. But though the cedars have now almost entirely disappeared from Lebanon, these mountains are still remarkable for other vegetable productions.