The Protestant fathers achieved a great deal of good, but certain elements required for original Christianity couldn’t be reformed back into existence. Reforming a corrupt institution and recovering the original requires more than human effort – it demands God’s involvement and someone sent by God to undertake the work.

Roger Williams, a New World reformer, exemplified this need. Considered a dangerous heretic, he fled Massachusetts, where he faced arrest and imprisonment for his unorthodox beliefs. He founded Providence, Rhode Island, and established the First Baptist Church in America. An abolitionist, he opposed slavery, learned Native American languages, and advocated for their equal treatment.

Williams, born and educated in London, fled to the American colonies due to the danger of holding unorthodox religious views in England. Witnessing the dangers of church-state power combination, he advocated for the separation of church and state. His writings inspired Thomas Jefferson to coin the phrase “wall of separation between church and state,” a foundation of the First Amendment to the U.S Constitution.

Williams was convinced that original Christianity couldn’t be recovered without direct involvement from God. He wrote that Christianity fell asleep in the bosom of Constantine and those Emperors who professed Christ. This led him to believe that freedom of conscience was vital for every soul to search for and accept truth.

He concluded that no regularly constituted Church of Christ existed on Earth, nor anyone qualified to administer church ordinances, until new apostles were sent. Without God directing a restoration, the original faith couldn’t be recovered due to much lost and little retained. He believed that reform should ultimately lead to restoration, contingent upon God’s return of the essential missing parts.