It had stood for nearly fifty years--long enough to accomplish the main end of that Nationalist principle which the Puritans, notwithstanding their fraternizing with the Pilgrim Separatists, had never let go.

The organization of the church throughout New England, excepting Rhode Island, had gone forward in even step with the advance of population.

Two rules had with these colonists the force of axioms: first, that it was the duty of every town, as a Christian community, to sustain the town church; secondly, that it was the duty of every citizen of the town to contribute to this end according to his ability.

The breaking up of the town church by schisms and the shirking of individual duty on the ground of dissent were alike discountenanced, sometimes by severely intolerant measures.

The ultimate collision of these principles with the sturdy individualism that had been accepted from the Separatists of Plymouth was inevitable.