be raised in the town or place where he or they belong, but such whose names shall be contained in the lists taken by the assessors, as in said act provided, or such as shall produce a certificate, under the hands of the minister and of two principal members of such church, setting forth that they conscientiously believe such person or persons to be of their perswasion, and that he or they usually and frequently attend the publick worship in such church on Lord's days. 1
A further provision of the act denied to Baptist ministers and their parishioners the right of furnishing the required certificates unless three other Baptist churches previously should have certified that the persons granting the certificates were regarded as members of that body. 2 To make the situation more galling, if that were possible, certificates so obtained had to be lodged annually with the town clerk before the time to pay the rates arrived.
From every point of view this legislation was objectionable to the Baptists. Their protest was instant and vigorous. 3 It was decided to send one of their number as agent to England, to carry their case before the government of the mother country. 4 A sharp remonstrance, so plain in its language that its signers came very near being taken into custody, was drawn up and presented to the General Court at Boston. 5 But great as was the sense of injustice under which the Baptists smarted, the operations of the act appear to have been most severe in the case of those who had drawn off from the orthodox churches on account of the disturbances created by the Great Awakening. The position of
- 1 Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, etc., vol. iii, p. 645.
- 2 Ibid.
- 3 Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, p. 140.
- 4 Ibid.
- 5 Ibid.
