Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

244 SPRINGFIELD, 1636-2SS6.
'' prejudiced Persons " was " intolerable Pride and Breach of Order,"
uiving '' too much Grounds for fear what may he expected from such
an one," and, finally, that the journey of the Boston ministers tended
*'to make a Breach among our Association to the Prejudice and
Scandal of our Churches." Five other ministers endorsed this letter.
Mr. Edwards was not in the county at that time, but he subsecjuently
approved it, and desired that " the World may count him one concur-
ring in it." After this document was read, William Pynchon, Jr.,
appeared at the head of a committee, and was permitted to read a
fovmidaV)le document setting forth the causes of discord in the Spring-
Held church. In the ten counts of the indictment there was little
new to the reader, miless it is that Mr. Breck was charged with con-
founding historical and living faith, and doubting the doctrine of pre-
destination. No evidence was introduced to support these charges,
and no argument could induce them to produce witnesses at a pul^lic
hearing.
The council renewed its requests for proof of charges on the fol-
lowing day, and were again put off. The town was in a feverish
state of uncertainty, and it was thougiit best to give up the prepara-
tions for the big dinner or " entertainment " which attended ordinations
in those days. The Boston ministers all stopped at a public tavern, and
most of the Hampshire ministers had also arrived, but had neglected
to call upon their eastern brethren. And that Avas not all. Mr.
Clap had come up the river with Kirtland, Huntington, and many
witnesses, as well as a liag full of afiidavits and documentary evi-
dence. There was still another group of men, who had come down
from Northampton, — Justice John Stoddard and two associates.
The two parties in the parish also maintained the strict lines of hos-
tility. All business was suspended, and the whole community felt
the extraordinary tension.
The second daj^ (8th) of the council opened not with the ordination,
as was planned, but with this vote :
—