Liberal Thought in America 145 



it folly to interpose obstacles in the way of the 

 natural working of reason and common sense ; the 

 other is the intense devotion to spiritual ideals 

 which, in spite of all inherited encumbrances of 

 bigotry and superstition, never casts off its alle- 

 giance to reason as the final arbiter. The former 

 spirit is of vast use in the world, although its ten- 

 dency is to deaden into mere worldliness as typified 

 in a Franklin ; the latter spirit may commit many 

 an error, but its drift is toward light and stimulus 

 and exaltation of life as typified in an Emerson. 

 In the darkest days of New England Puritanism 

 the paramount allegiance to reason was never lost 

 sight of ; and out of this fact came the triumph of 

 free thinking, although no such result was ever 

 intended. 



The aims of the Puritans who settled in New 

 England were not all alike, but one dominant aim 

 with many was the founding of a commonwealth 

 in which church and state should be identified, 

 somewhat after the pattern of the old Hebrew 

 theocracy. To this end the suffrage in Massachu- 

 setts and New Haven was limited to persons quali- 

 fied to receive the sacrament in Congregational 

 churches. This Massachusetts idea was never 

 adopted by Plymouth, and the founding of Con- 

 necticut was at least in part a liberal protest 



