Organized on the Independent, or Congregational, form, each religious congregation was a law unto itself, electing its own deacons and minister, and was but little influenced by the occasional synods, or councils of churches, which at last fell into disuse. At first the Church was bitterly intolerant; but this spirit gradually softened as it became more and more separated from the State. By the close of the seventeenth century John Eliot complained that religion had declined; in 1749 Douglass was able to write, "At present the Congregationalists of New England may be esteemed among the most moderate and charitable of Christian professions." The introduction of the Church of England under Andros aroused bitter opposition. Episcopalianism was vigorously preached against until the Revolution; but there was no great cause for complaint, as it was not sought to foist it upon the people, but to gain for it a hearing. The name "Bishop's palace," still applied to a house in Cambridge which was supposed when built to have been intended for an imported bishop, bears testimony to the popular feeling against the system. It had no success except among the Tory element in Boston and Portsmouth,--and later (1736-1750) in New Haven. In Rhode Island perfect tolerance made the colony a harboring place for all manner of despised sects and factious disturbers driven out of other communities, and the spirit of turbulence long reigned there. Sidenote: "The great awakening." A "great awakening" of religious fervor affected New England between 1713 and 1744. Originating in Northampton, Mass., in revivals under Solomon Stoddard, the popular excitement became almost frenzied under Jonathan Edwards, beginning in 1734. A visit from George Whitefield, the English revivalist, in 1740 caused a great fervor of religious interest, and it is estimated that twenty-five thousand converts were made by the great agitator throughout his New England pilgrimage. By 1744, when Whitefield again visited the scene of his triumphs, the excitement had greatly subsided. 80. The Witchcraft Delusion. Sidenote: The witchcraft craze.