In Connecticut It Is Enjoined That, As It Is The Duty Of
All Men To Worship The Supreme Being, And Their Right To Render
That Worship In The Mode Most Consistent With Their Consciences, No
Person Shall Be By Law Compelled To Join Or Be Classed With Any
Religious Association.
The line of argument is hardly logical, the
conclusion not being in accordance with or hanging on the first of
the two premises.
But nevertheless the meaning is clear. In a
free country no man shall be made to worship after any special
fashion; but it is decreed by the constitution that every man is
bound by duty to worship after some fashion. The article then goes
on to say how they who do worship are to be taxed for the support
of their peculiar church. I am not quite clear whether the New
Yorkers have not managed this difficulty with greater success.
When we come to the Old Bay State - to Massachusetts - we find the
Christian religion spoken of in the constitution as that which in
some one of its forms should receive the adherence of every good
citizen.
Hartford is a pleasant little town, with English-looking houses,
and an English-looking country around it. Here, as everywhere
through the States, one is struck by the size and comfort of the
residences. I sojourned there at the house of a friend, and could
find no limit to the number of spacious sitting-rooms which it
contained. The modest dining-room and drawing-room which suffice
with us for men of seven or eight hundred a year would be regarded
as very mean accommodation by persons of similar incomes in the
States.
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