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But considerations of party advantage fall far short of furnishing a full explanation of the general sense of alarm the people of New England experienced on account of the open hostility to religion which they saw manifest in France. Out of France came a series of reports which taken together were calculated to raise their fears to the highest pitch. The confiscation of the property of the church, the abolition of religious vows, the promulgation of the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy," 1 the banishment of non- juror priests, the infamy of the Goddess of Reason, the abolition of the Christian Sabbath, the secularization of festivals 2 here were evidences of impiety as shameless as they were shock
- 1 By the adoption of this measure the Catholic clergy in France were turned into state officials. The relation of the Pope to the French clergy became that of a spiritual guide and counsellor only. The principle of territorial limitation on the part of ecclesiastics was also abolished. Cf. Sloane, The French Revolution and Religious Reform, pp. 121 et seq.
- 2 Aulard, The French Revolution, vol. iii, pp. 152-191, gives an excellent resume of the dechristianizing movement.
