President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law in 1934 that the second Monday in October, Columbus Day, would be observed as a national holiday. President Biden issued a proclamation in 2021 that changed it to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I will refrain from the political debate over this holiday and focus instead on the contributions of Puritan Roger Williams (1603-1683), a pastor in Salem, Massachusetts in the 1630s, to honor Native Americans. He challenged the English monarchy that native-born Americans had a legitimate right to the land and insisted that colonists had a moral obligation to purchase it for a fair price. He also agitated fellow Puritans with his assertion that civil magistrates had no jurisdiction over religious matters, thereby challenging the theocracy of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He declared that forced worship “stinks in God’s nostrils.” He was arrested in October 1635 for “dangerous opinions” and was banished from the colony. Since he was ill and winter was fast approaching, he was granted a reprieve until spring. Roger didn’t comply with the gag order and went right on preaching. Soldiers were sent to arrest him, but he fled, forced to leave his wife and young children. In his words, “He entered the wilderness ill and alone.” He trekked fifty-five miles over fourteen weeks in deep snow, with only a compass as his guide. It was bitterly cold, yet the harsh conditions contained a silver lining. Rivers were frozen solid, and snow was light and powdery, making progress possible. A kind chief offered him a wigwam to survive the winter. He returned a year later with an exploration party and was greeted by a member of the Narragansett tribe, “What cheer, netop.” Translated, it meant, “Hello, friend.”
Roger settled in a land he called Providence (Rhode Island) since he believed God’s gracious providence had led them there. He applied for a charter in 1643 known as “A Key to the Language of America,” that included the words: “Boast not English, of thy birth and blood,
Thy brother Indian is by birth as Good,
Of one blood God made him,
and Thee and All,
as wise, as fair, as strong, as personal.”
Roger’s poem, written as he ended his wilderness ordeal, praises God for provision in difficult circumstances:
Roger Williams
You make a path, provide a guide,
And feed a wilderness,
Your glorious name, while breath remains,
O that I may confess.
Lost many a time, I had no guide,
No house but a hollow tree.
In stormy winter night no fire,
No food, no company.
In You, I found a house, a bed,
A table, company,
No cup so bitter but’s made sweet,
Where You shall sweetening be.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.