HISTORY OF VERMONT. 387 



serted in their fullest extent, in the constitution 

 of Vermont. In the declaration of rights, there 

 is a clause which seems to be adequiite to the 

 subject, and clearly expresses the religious rights 

 of the people. "Nor can any man be justly 

 deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citi- 

 zen, on account of his religious sentiments, or 

 peculiar mode of religious worship ; and no au- 

 thority can, or ought to be vested in, or assum- 

 ed by any power whatever, that shall in any case 

 interfere with, or in any manner control the 

 rights of conscience, in the free exercise of re- 

 ligious worship."* In the plan of government 

 formed in 1778, and revised in 1786, a religious 

 test was imposed upon the members of the as- 

 sembly, inconsistent with the above declaration : 

 In the late revisal of the constitution (1792) this 

 imperfection has been done away ; and religious 

 liberty has acquired a complete establishment, 

 by a declaration that " no religious test shill be 

 required of any member of the legislature."! 



A greater attention to the liberal arts and sci- 

 ences, would be of great advantage to the reli- 

 gious and civil interests of the state. The peo- 

 ple of Vermont have not the advantages for the 

 education of their youth, or the improvement of 

 knowledge, which the people in the other states 

 have. The disadvantc^p-es and dan^-ers, wliich 

 arise for want of literary institutions, are greater 

 than they were aware of. The religion of ig- 

 norance, will either be, infidelity, or supersti- 

 tion ; and it often produces an unnatural mix- 

 ture of both, greatly unfavorable to the moral, 

 and civil interests of nien. When foily, in its 

 ' own view, is become infallible and sacred, it 



* Declaration of rights, Article III. 



?Ua or fiamc of government, Section V. 



