[82] An edition of Wise’s tracts was published as late as 1860, by the Congregational Board of Publication. From that edition the citations are drawn. The following from the “Introductory Notice” is of interest: “ … some of the most glittering sentences of the immortal Declaration of Independence are almost literal quotations from this essay of John Wise [i. e., Vindication of the Government of New-England Churches]. And it is a significant fact, that in 1772, only four years before the declaration was made, a large edition of both those tracts was published by subscription in one duodecimo volume. The presumption which this fact alone suggests, that it was used as a political text-book in the great struggle for freedom then opening, is fully confirmed by the list of subscribers’ names printed at the end, with the number of copies annexed.” Page xx et seq.
[83] Ibid., pp. 48–50, 54, 56.
[84] Wise, op. cit., p. 56.
[85] Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, pp. 391–401, furnishes the following table of Baptist strength in New England in the year 1795: Churches, 325; ministers, 232; members, 20,902. Methodism had emerged in New England within the last quarter of the century, and Methodist ministers were indefatigable in their labors. By the close of the century as generous-minded a Congregational minister as Bentley could not altogether cover over his chagrin on account of the growth and influence of the “sects”. Cf. Diary of William Bentley, vol. ii, pp. 127, 409, 419.
[86] Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, p. 235. Cf. Burrage, History of the Baptist in New England, pp. 121 et seq.
[87] Cobb, The Rise of Religious Liberty in America, pp. 509–511.
[88] Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, p. 341.
[89] Ibid., pp. 351 et seq., 379.
[90] Backus, op. cit., pp. 353 et seq.
[91] Ibid., p. 379.