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.��22.Dissentersthe mounting presence and influence of dissent in the decades leading up tothe Revolution are well known and handsomely celebrated in recent studiesof the Old Dominion.1 That dissenters were simultaneously parishioners hasnot been as readily understood.Until the middle decades of the eighteenth century, dissenter numbers weremodest.They were confined to a few localities and posed little threat to theAnglican establishment.2 The initial appearance of Quakers and Presbyteriansin the seventeenth century, it is true, had provoked suspicion and even outrighthostility.3 When this advance guard of nonconformity found a quiet nichewithin Virginia s parish arrangements, tensions yielded to toleration.4 Notall was perfect harmony, of course.5 John Ratliff, a Newport Parish Quaker,suddenly deserting his co-religionists in 1712, sought baptism by the Angli-can parson, and attended the parish church.Almost as suddenly, he regrettedwhat he had done.Remorseful and perhaps anxious to assure himself and theQuaker fellowship of his true allegiance, he resolved on a dramatic gesture.Marching to the parish church during Divine Service, he nailed to the door ascandalous paper, reflecting upon the Communion of the Church of Englandand importing a Renunciation of his baptisme that got him all the publicnotice he could possibly have desired and soon found him facing the countymagistrates.6Eager to foster economic development, Virginia officials, in league withplanter-speculators like William Byrd II, sponsored the importation of Frenchand German Protestants in the early decades of the eighteenth century.Thesefolk were even granted temporary relief from parish levies, enabling themto form their own congregations, build churches, and secure ministers, all of282 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
