RETURN FROM PITTSBURG 337 



ance of their duties, and the most worthy, the greater 

 number likely, will be the better rewarded. There will 

 not be seen every day so grievous a contrast between 

 the preaching and the practice of ministers accepted 

 and paid without any control of their terms of service ; 

 nor will there be heard from a proud, domineering 

 priest exhortations to humility and abnegations un- 

 known to him, and no red-cheeked, over-fed bacchanal 

 will be recommending the virtues of moderation and 

 continence, equally beyond his ken. 



The ministers of the established church formerly 

 paid by the state, who were sent over from England 

 to America, were seldom what they ought to be. They 

 were commonly held to be good enough for America. 

 At one time they were almost the only scholars in the 

 country, and they were expected to know everything; 

 but when people found out that they either knew noth- 

 ing, or of what they knew brought nothing into prac- 

 tice, this gave their numerous and increasing opponents 

 many and lasting triumphs, and opportunity always to 

 be marking down new blemishes in their doctrine. 

 And so it happened that they were frequently deserted 

 of their hearers, these joining in with other factions of 

 belief. It is known reliably that in Virginia and Mary- 

 land all the religious societies coming off from the 

 established church have been considerably increased 

 by those discontent with their teachers. In Virginia, 

 only 40 years ago, the proportion between the Dis- 

 senters and the established church was as I to 20; 

 but in the year 1776 the number on either side was al- 

 most the same. 



The constitution of America regards all religious 

 societies, of what name soever, as arbitrary societies, 

 22 



