Chap. 9. 



RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



175 



VERMONT KEGISTERS. 



ESTABLISHED RELIGION. 



ers, equally ephemeral, have from time to 

 time sprung up in different places. 



Vermont Registers. There were sev- 

 eral successive annual political Registers 

 published at Rutland previous to the year 

 1800, but the earliest series which was 

 continued any considerable length of 

 time was commenced at Middlebury, in 

 1^03, by Huntington & Fitcii, and was 

 continued about 12 years. The next se- 

 ries of Vermont Registers was commenced 



at Burlington, in 1810, by Samuel Mills, 

 and was published annually till 1824. In 

 1818, a Register and Almanac was com- 

 menced at Alontpelier, which has been 

 published annually, and which is still 

 continued. These series of Registers 

 embrace a large amount of political and 

 other facts, and are highly worthy of a 

 place in our public libraries, as works of 

 reference, but we are not aware that com- 

 plete series of them are any where to bo 

 found. 



CHAPTER IX. 



RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. 



Section I. 

 Religion of the State. 



Although we have in the United States 

 no religious establishment, we certainly 

 have an established religion, and that re- 

 ligion is Christianity. The existence of 

 Christianity, and its binding force, as the 

 religion of the land, over the consciences 

 and conduct of the people, is recognized 

 by the constitutions and laws of nearly, 

 or quite all of the states in the Union, and 

 they all recognize the Old and New Tes- 

 tament scriptures as containing the doc- 

 trines and precepts of this religion. But 

 here they stop. They do not attempt to 

 define the doctrines which these scrip- 

 tures inculcate, or to give preference to 

 any one of the various sects into which 

 Christians are divided. Having estab- 

 lished the Bible as the religious charter, 

 individuals are left to interpret it accord- 

 ing to tlie dictates of their own judgments 

 and consciences, provided they do not 

 disturb or interfere with the rights and 

 privileges of others. 



In the constitution of Vermont, and in 

 the subsequent acts of the legislature, 

 Christianity is very clearly recognized as 

 the religion of the state. In the third 

 article of the declaration of rights it is de- 

 clared, " that all men have a natural and 

 unalienable right to worship Almighty 

 God according to the dictates of their own 

 consciences and understandings, as in 

 their opinion shall be regulated by the 

 .word of God." Here the word of God, or 

 the Bible, is plainly recognized as the 



basis of religious opinion and worship. 

 And while the article goes on to declare 

 that no man ought to be compelled to at- 

 tend, erect, or support any place of wor- 

 ship contrary to the dictates of his con- 

 science, it is plainly implied that his con- 

 science is to be enlightened and guided 

 by the Bible. It speaks of the various 

 denominations of Christians as constitu- 

 ting the whole community, and enjoing 

 upon all the observance of the Christian 

 Sabbath and the keeping up of such sort 

 of religious worship as " to them shall 

 seem most agreeable to the revealed will 

 of God." 



At the first session of the general as- 

 sembly in 1778, a resolution to observe 

 the Lord 's Day as the Sabbath, was among 

 the first adopted by that body, and in our 

 first printed code of laws, enacted in 

 1779, is a law enforcing the observance of 

 the Christian Sabbath and for preventing 

 the disturbance of religious worship. And 

 shortly afterwards an act was passed, en- 

 titled " an act for supporting ministers of 

 the gospel," based, as was declared in the 

 preamble, on the " importance to the 

 community, as well as to individuals, that 

 the precepts of Christianity be publicly, 

 and at stated times, inculcated on the 

 minds of the inhabitants." 



But while Christianity is plainly re- 

 cognized as the religion of the state, and 

 while the moral precepts of the Bible are 

 the acknowledged basis of our legislative 

 enactments, and while some kind of reli- 

 gious worship, regulated by the 2cord of 

 God, is enjoined upon all, government 



