Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/272

 216 THE HISTORY OF BAERINGTON. ing the house." and further added " that he should not have been uneasy if others had not." And so the story goes of church difificulty, estrangement, sin, and confession until the year 1740, when by mutual vote of the church, town, and Church Council, the pastoral rela- tions were dissolved. Prior to his dismission from the pas- torate, Mr. Heath petitioned the town to grant him and his heirs, "thirteen feet long and ten feet wide of ground in the burying place at Princes Hill, so called in Barrington to build a tomb where or near the place his deceased family now lies to be for him and his heirs forever," which was " granted in the affirmative by every vote present." In November, 1740, the town voted "to concur with the vote of the Church in dismissing the Rev. Mr. Peleg Heath from being the minister of this town " and Capt. Joseph Allen, James Adams, and John Adams were chosen a com- mittee " to present the Rev. Peleg Heath with the town's vote in their concurring with the Church in his dismission." Thus terminated Mr. Heath's ministerial career, after twelve laborious and stormy years, during which his Christian char- acter was never questioned, though his conduct and posi- tions were subject to the severest criticism. He sought so far as we can see the best good of the church and people and the church in the main strongly supported him. When the votes of the members are recorded, there are few instances of persons voting contrary to the pastor's views. As we have already stated, the removal of the meeting-house was the chief cause of the trouble of the community. Princes Hill was the dividing line between the contestants. Those on the north of the Hill favored its removal and were Mr. Heath's strong supporters ; those on the south fought against it and were his opponents. That act changed the whole history of the town. As the meeting-house was the centre of the social, the control of all these interests was removed from the south to the north part of the town, and it is a noticeable fact that after the year 1740, the leading Church and town officers were chosen from the inhabitants