His life was so pure, that he was never accused of any vice, to leave a blot on his memory. His noble sentiments respecting religious toleration did not, indeed, accord with the sentiments of the age in which he lived, and exposed him to trouble; but at the present time they are almost universally embraced. His exertions to promote the civil prosperity of Rhode Island must endear his name to those who are now enjoying the fruits of his labors. He possessed the singular honor of contributing much towards establishing the first government upon the earth, which gave equal liberty, civil and religious, to all men living under it.
Ann Hutchinson.
A woman who occasioned much difficulty in New England, soon after its first settlement, came from Lincolnshire to Boston, 1635, and was the wife of one of the representatives of Boston. The members of Mr. Cotton's church used to meet every week to repeat his sermons, and discourse on doctrines. She set up meetings for women, and soon had a numerous audience. After repeating the sermons of Mr. Cotton, she added reflections of her own; she advocated her own sentiments, and warped the discourses of her minister to coincide with them. She soon threw the whole colony into a flame. The progress of her sentiments occasioned the synod of 1637, the first synod in America. This convention of ministers condemned eighty-two erroneous opinions, then propagated in the country. Mrs. Hutchinson, after this sentence of her opinions, was herself called before the court in November of the same year, and, being convicted of traducing the ministers, and advancing errors, was banished the colony. She went with her husband to Rhode Island. In the year 1642, after her husband's death, she removed into the Dutch country beyond New Haven; and the next year, she, her son Francis, and most of her family of sixteen persons, were killed by the Indians.
Michael Molinos.
Founder of the ancient sect of Quietists, was a Spaniard, of a rich and honorable family. He entered into priest's orders young, but would accept no preferment in the church. He possessed great talents, and was ardently pious, without any of the austerities of the Romish religious orders. He went to Rome, where, in 1675, he published his “Spiritual Guide,” which gave him universal reputation. The Jesuits and Dominicans, envious at his success, charged him with heresy, and at last succeeded in getting him condemned by the Inquisition. He died of torment in their dungeons, a few years after.
John Wesley.
The great founder of Methodism was born at Epworth, in England, in 1703. In 1714, he was placed at the Charter House; and two years after he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford. In 1725, he was ordained deacon, and the next year became fellow and tutor of Lincoln College.