Note 150 — Chapter I

This was the view propounded by President Ezra Stiles, of Yale, in his election sermon of May 3, 1783: “Through the liberty enjoyed here, all religious sects will grow up into large and respectable bodies. But the Congregational and Presbyterian denominations, however hitherto despised, will, by the blessing of Heaven continue to hold the greatest figure in America, and, notwithstanding all the fruitless labors and exertions to proselyte us to other communions, become more numerous than the whole collective body of our fellow protestants in Europe.” (Quoted by Backus, History of New England, vol. ii, p. 312.)