His motives, however, ought to be clearly understood. The colony of Rhode-Island had incurred reproach among the other colonies, because she refused to join in a persecution of the Quakers. Rhode-Island was the refuge of these persons, some of the magistrates, at this time, were of that sect, and it was asserted, that the public feeling in Rhode-Island was friendly to their doctrines and practices. Mr. Williams declares, in his book on the controversy, that he was induced to engage in a dispute with them, in order to bear public testimony, that while he was decidedly opposed to any measures which tended to impair liberty of conscience, he nevertheless disapproved the principles of the Quakers.[[342]] He says, that when he met them at Newport, on the first day of the dispute, “I took my seat at the other end of the house opposite to them, and began telling them, that the Most High was my witness, that not out of any prejudice against, or disrespect to, the persons of the Quakers, many of whom I knew and did love and honor, nor any foolish passion of pride or boldness, for I desired to be sensible of my many decays of my house of clay, and other ways; nor any earthly or worldly ends I had, that occasioned this trouble to myself and them.” p. 26.
Candor must admit, that his motives were laudable—a zeal for the honor of the colony, and for what he believed to be the truth. He accordingly took occasion, when the celebrated George Fox[[343]] was in Rhode-Island, to propose a public discussion, at Newport and Providence, in which the principles of the Quakers should be examined, in a friendly debate.
The challenge was in these words:
“To George Fox, or any other of my countrymen at Newport, who say they are the apostles and messengers of Christ Jesus. In humble confidence of the help of the Most High, I offer to maintain, in public, against all comers, these fourteen propositions following, to wit: the first seven at Newport, and the other seven at Providence. For the time when, I refer it to George Fox and his friends, at Newport.”
Such public debates were not uncommon during the reformation, in Germany, and in later times, in England. They have been held, in our own days, but their effect has seldom been beneficial to the cause of truth. They are more adapted to irritate than to convince. Few men have sufficient self-command to preserve their temper, in a controversy conducted through the press. When brought into personal contact, before a large assembly, the meekest men could scarcely avoid being chafed and petulant. Such contests are like the battles of old times, when the spear or the sword was the chief weapon, and the combatants, being brought hand to hand, fought with embittered rancor and dreadful carnage. Modern battles, in which the parties are at a greater distance, are less sanguinary. The result of these disputes, moreover, is as uncertain a test of truth and justice, as the termination of the ancient appeals to personal combat. Stronger lungs and greater self-conceit have sometimes enabled the advocate of error to win the victory.
The fourteen propositions of Mr. Williams we shall not quote. They affirmed, that the principles of the Quakers were unscriptural and pernicious.
Mr. Williams sent these propositions to Newport, but George Fox left the town for England, without seeing them. Mr. Williams asserted, that Fox departed in order to avoid the debate, and he condescended to a pun on “George Fox’s slily departing.” This insinuation was unfounded and unjustifiable. Fox unceremoniously charged him with lying, but this gross accusation cannot be admitted. Mr. Williams undoubtedly thought his assertion true,[[344]] though he ought not to have made it without better authority.
The debate commenced, however, at Newport, on the 9th of August, 1672. Mr. Williams rowed, in a boat, to Newport, thirty miles, a feat which few men of seventy-three years could perform, in these degenerate days. He arrived at Newport about midnight.[[345]] The next day the debate commenced, in the Quaker meeting-house. John Stubs, John Burnyeat and William Edmundson were the champions opposed to him. He speaks of the two former as able and learned men. The debate continued three days. It was, according to his account, a very disorderly scene. There was no moderator, and Mr. Williams complains of frequent and rude interruptions. His health was feeble, and he says, that, on the morning of the second day, “I heartily wished that I might rather have kept my bed, than have gone forth to a whole day’s fresh disputes.” His brother, Robert Williams, then a schoolmaster in Newport, attempted to aid him, but his interference was not permitted by his opponents. Mr. Williams’ demeanor, during the controversy, was, apparently, patient and collected. The debate was renewed at Providence on the 17th, and continued one day, when it was terminated, without producing any change of opinion on either side.
Mr. Williams wrote an account of this dispute, in a large book, of 327 pages. It was entitled, “George Fox digged out of his Burrowes,” &c., in allusion to a book which Fox and his friend Edward Burrowes (or Burrough) had written. Of Mr. Williams’ book we shall give a further account. It is able and acute, but it is disfigured by much severe language.
Fox and Burnyeat wrote a reply, entitled, “A New-England Firebrand Quenched,” in which they railed at Mr. Williams, in a coarse and bitter style.[[346]]