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

256 SPRINGFIELD, 1636-1886.
sous, Jr., and wife, desired to " own y" Gov' in order to have tlieir
child baptised. It was objected by some y' they had a child l)orn
w'in about seven months after marriage w*" being consider'd 1)}' y^
chh, and after some time of consideration. It was on the 22nd of
August put to vote whether y*" sd Daniel Parsons & wife should be
admitted to the Privilidges y' y-^ saught for & pass'd in y'' neg."
Daniel Parsons seems to have been a man of some local note. At
any rate, in 1738, the town granted him liberty to build a grist-mill
and a dam across the Chicopee river. But Mr. and Mrs. Parsons weie
not content to rest with the refusal of baptism to their child ;
and on
the 18th of November, after much debate, the church, underpressure,
laid down the rule : " That every p'son having a child seven months
after marriage w"'out any other proof or Demonstration of y' guilt,
shall be call'd upon and treated as Innocent p'"sons." This was
simply a recognition of the old custom of '' troth-plight" or " hand-
fast," which was practised in England to the Puritan era. In the
" Christian State of Matrimony," published in 1543, is this passage:
" Every man lykewyse must esteme the parson to wlioni he is hand-
fasted, none otherwyse than for his owne spouse, though as 3'et it be
not done in the church ner in the streate. After the hand-fastynge
and makyng of the contracte, the churchgojnig and weddyng should
not be defferred too longe, lest the wyckedde sowe hys ungracious
sede in the meane season."
The First Parish, in the early part of Mr. Breck's ministry, put a
liberal construction upon the rule requiring a declaration of convic-
tion of sin on the part of candidates for church-membership. It was
formally voted that it " did not look upon y'' Making a Relation to
be a necessary term of Comunion."
It appears that Widow Abigail Parsons, who wanted to join the
church in full communion, was troubled in her mind about the usual
way of making a " relation " of her religious experiences, and had
desired to be excused from it. The Springfield church had certainly
gone as far as the most liberal Congregationalist could have desired.