boldness of such an announcement. It was an ultimatum hurled by that
little flock at the king, the pope and the civil government and the
hierarchy."

"That explains all the horrible persecutions of the Baptists in Holland
that I read about this morning,' said Dorothy.

"Very true," said Mr. Walton. "Of course the thunderbolts of the higher
powers fell upon the heads of the rebellious Baptists, but persecution
only fanned the flame of their faith and zeal. They grew and spread.
They planted the seeds of their faith on English soil, and we read that
after 1660 the English prisons were full of Baptists, and Miss Dorothy
has already read of the brave Baptists who formed the flower of
Cromwell's Ironsides."

"What do you mean exactly by saying that the Baptists have given
religious liberty to the world?" asked Mr. Page.

"I mean this," said Mr. Walton. "Up to the sixteenth century the
Catholic Church held the so-called Christian world in its grip,
controlled men's consciences and decided how every man was to worship.
The Baptists rebelled against any interference with the religious life."

"I thought it was Martin Luther with his Reformation who broke the power
of the Catholic Church and thus gave birth to religious liberty," said
Sterling.

"The Reformation under Luther did strike a prodigious blow at
Catholicism, but it was not a fight for absolute religious liberty.
Never forget that. Lutheranism simply threw off Catholicism to
substitute a state church of its own. In the Reformation in England the
church broke from Catholicism, but it sought to set up a state Episcopal
church. In Scotland a Presbyterian state church was set up, but during
all this time the Baptists were ever sounding their demand for absolute
religious liberty without any interference or help from the government
and for complete separation of church and state."

"Did not the Baptists bring these principles to this country?" asked
Dorothy. "I think I read that they did."

"You are right, Miss Dorothy. Roger Williams, who was a Baptist--"

"What is that!" exclaimed Sterling. "Roger Williams a Baptist?"

"He surely was, and he was the apostle of religious liberty for America.
And how did the clause in the Constitution of the United States granting
religious liberty get in there? It was brought about by the Baptists of
Virginia, who pleaded for it and fought for it and suffered for it.
Bancroft, the historian, states that the Baptists gave religi