same in any congregation, when hee doth faithfully execute his service, and office therein, according to the will and word of God, either by interrupting him in his preaching, or by charging him falsely with an error, which hee hath not taught, in the open face of the church, or like a son of Korah, cast uppon his true doctrine, or himselfe, any reproach to the dishonor of the Lord Jesus, whoe hath sent him, and to the disparagement of that his holy ordinance, etc., shall for the first scandall bee convented and reproved openly, by the magis trates at some lecture, and bound to their good behaviour: and if a second time they breake forth into the like contemptuous carriages, they shall either pay five pounds to the publique treasure, or stand two houres openly, uppon a block or stoole foure foott high, uppon a lecture day, with a paper fixed on his breast written with capital let ters ner "ofAnGod's Open Holy and Obstinate Ordinances," Contemt that others may feare and bee ashamed of break ing out into the like wickedness. There are also other provisions compel ling attendance upon divine services on the Lord's day, public fast days, etc., under a penalty of five shillings. These instances cannot but point out a most lamentable state of affairs in the very land which was but a little while after to demand a religious freedom guaranteed by fundamental law and thus raised above the encroachment of power. Rhode Island alone contained the norm of religious tolera tion. In no modern state is there a securer guaranty than that embodied in the funda mental law of this colony. Everyone was given the right to "freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgment and con sciences in matters of religious concern ment." A powerful safeguard, this, and of inestimable value. Maryland discriminated
most unjustly between the different Chris tian sects, as for example, by excluding Roman Catholics from office. This was indeed an age of bigotry, and with very little change continued down to the time of the Revolution. So late as 1776, when the constitution of Pennsylvania was in process of formation, it was proposed to restrict membership in the Assembly and the right to vote and hold office to those who on oath or affirmation professed "faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, His eternal Son, the true God, etc." Thorpe, an able writer on our basic law, excuses these and similar limitations on the right of suffrage on the ground that the age set the qualification, and that property and religious tests were the most convenient. However true this may be, it is manifest beyond the peradventure of a doubt that at the time of the war religious freedom was an exceed ingly rare article. This leads to the question, What part did religion play in the Revolution? Many learned writers claim that one of the direct causes of the struggle for independence was the fear that an Episcopal hierarchy might be imposed upon the people. It is very true that years before James II. had issued a commission for the government of Massachu setts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Nesv Plymouth which should encourage the Es tablished Church. By the Declaration of Indulgence in these colonies religious free dom was secured, formally if not actually, for New England was the nest of bigots, who would brook no such unwelcome innovation. But behind this seeming benevolence was a Catholic king with secret designs for the extension of his own faith. Why say then that in matters religious the colonists were deeply sensitive? But it is quite natural that oppressors are always ready to cry out when it is feared that a similar yoke might
