Page:New England and the Bavarian Illuminati.djvu/50

 had the situation well in hand. That instrument contained a bill of rights which reaffirmed the authority of the legislature to authorize and require the various towns and parishes " to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God "; * affirmed also that the legislature had authority to enjoin attendance upon public worship; that towns and parishes were to have the right to elect their ministers and make contracts with them for their support; and that moneys, in the form of rates paid by the people in the support of public worship, were to be applied according to the preference of the ratepayer, " provided, there be any [minister] on whose instructions he attends "; otherwise the minister selected by the town or parish was to receive the benefit of the tax. 2 There is no difficulty in discerning here the outlines of the old ideal of a state church. The day of deliverance for dissent was not yet. 8

What did take place during the Revolutionary period to promote the cause of religious freedom and to hasten the day of its triumph was the publication of various pamphlets and treatises devoted to the cause of toleration or championing the closely allied cause of democracy in church and state.* Several of these 5 were from the pen of the indomi


 * 1 The Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Passed from the Year 1780, to the End of the Year 1800, vol. i, pp. 19, 20.


 * 2 Ibid.


 * 3 Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, pp. 228 et seq., for cases of persecution under the operation of the bill of rights.


 * 4 The contribution made by the newspapers must not be overlooked in this connection. From about 1770 on there may be traced a growing disposition on the part of dissenters to air their grievances in the public journals. Supporters of the Establishment were not slow to respond.


 * 5 In addition to the two specifically referred to, Backus published the following: Policy, as well as Honesty, Forbids the Use of Secular Force in Religious Affairs, Boston, 1779; Truth is Great, and Will Prevail, Boston, 1781; A Door Opened for Equal Christian Liberty, etc., Boston, 1783.