Liberal Thought in America 129 



sophy and religion, and an exactly true belief on 

 minute points of theology was deemed necessary 

 for one's personal salvation. Changes in opinion 

 simply wrought a transfer of allegiance from one 

 orthodoxy to another, and the new orthodoxy felt 

 bound as much as the old one to persecute all who 

 refused such allegiance. From this point of view 

 the history of the progress of liberal thought be- 

 comes curiously interesting, for it shows how one 

 of the most momentous revolutions in human life 

 has steadily gone on in spite of the inveterate 

 antagonism of the very men concerned in bringing 

 it about! To a considerable extent, the history 

 has been the same over a large part of the globe. 

 The causes which have been at work in America 

 have also been at work in Europe, and even be- 

 yond ; and the liberal thought with which we are 

 familiar is characteristic not so much of America 

 as of the latter part of the nineteenth century. 

 But along with the general causes there have been 

 local causes which have especially concerned the 

 New World, and a clear account of the matter 

 requires us to indicate both the one and the other. 

 From the revolt of Henry VIII. against the 

 Papacy down to the Revolution of 1688, there was 

 in England a progressive movement toward liberal 

 thought. It was at first a crude unconscious move- 



