eyed the summons, he was to have been forcibly conveyed on board a
vessel then in the harbor, and sent off to England as a rebel and
schismatic, unworthy to dwell in the new settlement.

When the summons arrived at Salem, Roger was ill, having caught a fever
from some members of his flock on whom he had been attending; and he
therefore replied, with truth, that it would endanger his life to
attempt the journey to Boston. His serious indisposition had occasioned
to Edith much anxiety and alarm; but now she was made to feel how often
those events which we regard as misfortunes are really 'blessings in
disguise'; and how frequently our merciful and all-seeing Father
renders them the means of our preservation from far greater evils. It
would be well if the conviction of this blessed truth were constantly
present to our minds. How many anxious cares would it disperse or
soothe, and how many thanksgivings would it call forth.

Edith felt its truth, and its consolation, as she sat by the side of
her husband's couch, and wrote, from his dictation, the reply that
saved him from immediate compliance with the dreaded summons. Nothing
would have induced Roger to plead illness as an excuse for disobedience
unless it had actually existed: and his fearless spirit would probably
have led him into the snare that was laid for him. Edith knew this
secret danger; for Governor Winthrop, who had seen and admired her on
one of his visits to Plymouth, and who now kindly sympathized in her
feelings, had sent her a private note by the messenger, in which he
warned her of the danger that waited Williams at Boston, and desired
her, by some means, to prevent his appearing before the General
Assembly. Winthrop highly disapproved of the young minister's bold and
independent conduct; but he shrunk from so cruel an act as was resolved
on by his council. He did not, however, choose to declare his more
lenient judgement; and he adopted the plan of informing Roger's wife of
the fate that was designed for him, and leaving it to her judgement and
affection to take the proper measures to avert it.

It was not until after the departure of the messenger, that Edith told
her husband of Winthrop's kind interference, and showed him his note.
The indignation of Williams at such a flagrant disregard of all common
justice was so great, that Edith feared it would bring on an accession
of the fever. It, however, acted in a perfectly contrary manner. He
slept well