formally adopted as the state church. 1 From that day forward an intimate and intense paternalism characterized the attitude of the civil government toward the Establishment. Its most serious and permanent, as well as its lighter and occasional concerns, all were provided for with equal constancy. Contingencies of every description were either prudently anticipated or, arising suddenly, received the immediate and painstaking attention of the magistrates. 2
The following list, though far from complete, will serve to illustrate this point. Without the consent of the General Court, churches could not be organized, 3 nor bonds be severed between pastors and their flocks. 4 The formation of new parishes and the fixing of their limits, 5 the calling of new ministers, 6 the determination of the time at which arrearages in ministers' salaries must be paid fully, 7 the fixing of the location of new houses of worship, 8 the disposition of cases of discipline appealed from the decisions of local church courts, 9 the settlement of the question as to who were to be permitted to receive the Lord's Supper, 10 the proffer of counsel concerning the behavior offended members were expected to manifest toward pastors for whom they entertained no affection nor respect lx these all were regarded as part of the proper business of the General Court.
- 1 The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, vol. i, p. 21. 2l
- 2 Cobb, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America, pp. 246 et seq.
- 3 The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, vol. i, p. 311.
- 4 Ibid., pp. 356, 362; vol. ii, pp. 99, 240; vol. iii, pp. 78, 82 et seq.
- 5 Ibid., vol. iii, pp. 13, 18, 101, 216 et seq.
- 6 Ibid., vol. iv, pp. 67, 127, 136 et seq.
- 7 Ibid., vol. vii, p. 554.
- 8 Ibid., pp. 334, 335.
- 9 Ibid., vol. iii, p. 183.
- 10 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 437 et seq.
- 11 Ibid., vol. iii, p. 104.
