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

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SPRINGFIELD, 1636- JSS6. 253
Young as he was, however, he developed the very genms of diplomacy,
lu any new project of the advancement of the church he was quite
inclined first to consult those most hostile to liim. It is a great pity
that the recoixls are so silent upon the career of this remarkable man.
He evidently had a broad, stalwart common sense Avhicli kept him
from extremes.
Hardly was he under way in his ney^^ work when Whitefield
appeared in this valley. While no bigot, Mr. Breck proved him-
self a firm champion of his creed. He had evident!}' little de-
sire to see his people crying out in hysterical felicitations over an
anticipated eternity of bliss. It was remarked along tlie valley that
Mr. Breck rather snubbed young ]Mr. nVhitetield, for the latter was
yet under thirty. Mr. Whitefield's journeyiugs greatly stimulated
the wonderful revivals in religion Avhich were breaking over the
valley. That Mr. Breck distrusted the effect of special religious re-
vivals may be safely accepted as a fact. In later years one of his
congregation openly said that Mr. Breck opposed the "late stir" in
religion.
It is of passing interest to note that our contentious friend Rev.
Thomas Clap rode with Jonathan EdAvards to Boston in 1743, and
that afterward Mr. Clap circulated the curious repoil that Edwards
understood Whitefield to say that lie had a design of " turning out of
their places the greater part of the clergy of New England, and of
supplying their pulpits with ministers from England, Scotland and
Ireland." Mr. Edwards publicly denied making such a charge, but
]Mr. Clap reiterated it; and there the matter rests.
The discourtesy charged upon ]\Ir. Breck toward the English
Methodist is undoubtedly overdrawn. There is no sufficient reason to
doul )t the statement made in the accounts of Whiteheld's first Ameri-
can journey, that he preached in Springfield in 1740 on his way with
Jonathan Edwards from Northampton to East Windsor. If Mr.
Breck had refused the use of the meeting-house, and Whitefield had
really preached, say, at West Springfield, it seems that the circum-