ity of the title,--there arose an outcry against
these proceedings. Wheelwright was brought to trial on certain counts,
and he and Governor Vane, with Cotton himself,--he having been gradually
brought into the controversy in a rather singular manner,--formed a
party which was opposed to the mass of the Puritans and was considered
little less than a scandal. At the end of a three weeks' session, held
in Cambridge to deal with this matter of heresy, the first American
clerical synod condemned the opinions of the recalcitrants, and then
proceeded to adopt a resolution which is of more importance to us than
was their general condemnation; it ran thus:

"That though women might meet (some few together) to pray and edify one
another, yet such a set assembly (as was then in practice at Boston)
where sixty or more did meet every week, and one woman (in a prophetical
way, by resolving questions of doctrine and expounding Scripture) took
upon her the whole exercise, was agreed to be disorderly and without
rule."

Though this expression of opinion, for it was after all but little more,
on the part of the synod was aimed at the special case of Mrs.
Hutchinson, it is none the less of some general interest in its broad
statement. Evidently the Puritans were at one with St. Paul in his
opinion that women should be silent in the churches.

None the less for the fulminations of the synod did Mrs. Hutchinson
continue to hold the meetings that were so repugnant to the elders of
the colony; and by this time she had become a real power. That she was
entirely convinced of the truth of her tenets, of the divine source of
her "revelations," and of the honesty and purity of her own purpose is
certain; that she was considerably influenced by a love of notoriety and
an intense natural combativeness is at least probable. Opposition,
especially that which took the form of contempt for her sex and
intelligence, only inflamed her the more; and soon she became really
turbulent in her denunciations of the ruling powers. Matters became so
grave, threatening not only the orthodoxy but the peace of the colony,
that drastic methods were decided upon. John Wheelwright was first
disfranchised and banished, and then Mrs. Hutchinson was summoned before
the Court. The proceedings on the occasion of her arraignment may best
be set forth in the words of Winthrop, that prejudiced yet trustworthy
chronicler:

"The Court also sent for Mrs. Hutchinson, and charge