It was good to be at the Evangelical Library today for the latest lunch time lecture. We had a good turn out and a good lecture from Mostyn Roberts on Roger Williams (1603-1683).
Mostyn helpfully guided us through his life her adn in America, where he spent a good deal of time seeking to reach Native Americans. Being turned out od Salem, Masachusetts, he went on to found Rhode Island, which became a haven for the persecuted of all sorts. We were given a summary of his famous 1644 work The Bloudy Tenant Persecution, for Cause of Conscience, his reply to John Cotton (who, incidentally, wanted the death penalty for thiose who rejected infant baptism). Mostyn stressed to us that it was Williams's desire for peace that chiefly drove him. Clearly in many ways he was ahead of hsi time and a man whose ideas are well worth considering. His understanding of conscience seems to have been very clear indeed.
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