BRECK, ROBERT
(25 July 1713, Marlborough, MA-23 April 1784, Springfield, MA) Education: B.A., Harvard College, 1730; M.A., Harvard, 1733. Career: supply preacher, Windham, CT, 1733-34; minister, Springfield, MA,1735-1784.
The rebellious streak in Robert Breck's nature was first apparent in his teens at Harvard when he was publicly admonished for drinking rum and gambling and was also suspected of stealing. He was dismissed from Harvard in 1729, but kept up his studies and was allowed to graduate with the class.
In 1733 Breck went to Connecticut, where his father had left him seven thousand acres of land, and preached at Windham. There his preaching was as outrageous to conservative Calvinists as his misbehavior at Harvard. He claimed that Indians who lived moral lives according to the light of nature would be saved, and he castigated others for embracing a too exclusive view of salvation. His position on the natives was doubly offensive: it showed too much favor to a people whom many colonists despised, and it gave too much credit to human beings in their own redemption.
Near Windham lived Reverend Thomas Clap, future president of Yale, and no friend to doctrinal deviants. Clap rode to Windham and spent twenty-four hours closeted with Breck. Afterwards Breck remarked, "I suppose you wou'd have it here, as it is in Scotland; there the young ministers cannot think freely for themselves; but they must think as the old Ministers do, or else they will not ordain them." Despite Clap's opposition, in 1734 the people of Windham offered Breck a generous settlement. But Clap intervened, declaring that Breck was an Arminian and unacceptable as a minister in Connecticut.
The young man then returned to Massachusetts and began preaching at Springfield. There he was more cautious, his doctrine was orthodox, and he was called to be minister at Springfield. But in the mean time local ministers had heard from Clap that Breck had preached Arminianism, along with other theological indiscretions at Windham. During 1735 the major event in the religious life of New England was the debate over the propriety of ordaining Robert
Breck. The issue grew from the question of his orthodoxy to include the problem of just who should make such a determination. Breck eventually found ~clerical supporters from outside the immediate region of Springfield, much to the disgust of the local clergy.
The events that followed are one index of the religious condition of New .England at that time: fears of heresy mingled with fears of ministerial domination and confusion about the character of ecclesiastical government in the Congregational commonwealths. The ordination was set for October 1735. An ordaining council arrived in town from eastern Massachusetts; opposing ministers from the Hampshire Association also met, and studiously avoided crossing paths with the outsiders. More accusations were hurled at Breck, and the local justices of the peace decided to arrest him. A crowd gathered around the house where Breck was being examined, mainly Breck supporters, and a man on horseback read to them Breck's eminently orthodox confession of faith. This was possibly the first confession "that ever was read on Horse-back." "The old horse stood astonished at what was doing," one observer reported. The justices, none the less, decided that Breck had violated the Massachusetts statute against atheism and blasphemy, but since he had done so in Connecticut, he must be handed over to the authorities there. And so a curious procession was formed consisting of Breck, the Sheriff, and an "honor guard" of his supporters from the church-and off they rode to Connecticut.
Fortunately for Breck, Connecticut wanted nothing to do with this ecclesiastical "hot potato" and after administering a symbolic rap on the knuckles, sent him back to Massachusetts. The controversy continued to rage for several weeks, pushing news from Europe off the front page of the Boston newspapers. The Massachusetts House came to Breck's assistance, fInding that he had been misused. Encouraged, the ordaining council returned to SpringfIeld in January 1736 and completed its work.
The Breck case would agitate historians for several generations, later liberals seeing him as a martyr, conservatives feeling he got no more than he deserved. But Robert Breck settled easily into his ministry, proving himself an intelligent preacher and a skillful diplomat. Shortly after his ordination he married his predecessor's daughter, who was related to many of the leading families in the region. He shrewdly invited one of his former opponents, Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow to perform the wedding. Williams was somewhat startled at the invitation, but talked himself into accepting. He confided in his diary, "I think it was prudent to consent. I can see no just objection to his being married, although I did object to his being ordained."
Breck might be considered a mild Arminian during his almost half century as a minister. He introduced the Half-Way Covenant to his church, and he preached against rigid standards of orthodoxy. During the Great Awakening he opposed the enthusiasts, and he remained so hostile to the revival that he refused-to let George WhitefIeld preach in his pulpit in 1764. During the Revolution, Breck preached a fast sermon in 1780 that was so cool to the patriots' cause that he was charged with treason by the general court. But the charge was dismissed.
Robert Breck died of consumption in 1784. Had the Breck case of 1735 occurred ninety years later the SpringfIeld pastor might have found solace by joining the newly formed Unitarian Church. Instead his career is a good example of the capacity of early Congregationalism to absorb individuals representing a rather broad range of religious opinion.
Bibliography
A: The Duty of Ministers (Boston. 1748); The Departure of Elijah Lamented (Springfield. 1782) [funeral sermon for Stephen Williams]; Past Dispensations of Providence (Hartford, 1784) [on burning of Springfield by Indians, 1675].
B: SHG 8, 661-80; An Examination of and Some Answers to a Pamphlet, Intitled, A Narrative and Defence of the Proceedings of the Ministers of Hampshire, Who Disapproved of Mr. Breck's Settlement (Boston, 1736); A Narrative of the Proceedings of those Ministers of the County of Hampshire ... That Have Disapproved of the late Measures Taken in Order to the Settlement of Mr. Robert Breck (Boston. 1736); William Cooper, The Work of Ministers Represented Under the Figure of Sowers (Boston. 1736) [ordination sermon for Breck]; A Letter to the Author of the Pamphlet Called an Answer to the Hampshire Narrative (Boston. 1737); Charles Edwin Jones. 'The Impolitic Mr. Edwards: The Personal Dimension of the Robert Breck Affair," New England Quarterly. 51 (1978). 64-79.
The rebellious streak in Robert Breck's nature was first apparent in his teens at Harvard when he was publicly admonished for drinking rum and gambling and was also suspected of stealing. He was dismissed from Harvard in 1729, but kept up his studies and was allowed to graduate with the class.
In 1733 Breck went to Connecticut, where his father had left him seven thousand acres of land, and preached at Windham. There his preaching was as outrageous to conservative Calvinists as his misbehavior at Harvard. He claimed that Indians who lived moral lives according to the light of nature would be saved, and he castigated others for embracing a too exclusive view of salvation. His position on the natives was doubly offensive: it showed too much favor to a people whom many colonists despised, and it gave too much credit to human beings in their own redemption.
Near Windham lived Reverend Thomas Clap, future president of Yale, and no friend to doctrinal deviants. Clap rode to Windham and spent twenty-four hours closeted with Breck. Afterwards Breck remarked, "I suppose you wou'd have it here, as it is in Scotland; there the young ministers cannot think freely for themselves; but they must think as the old Ministers do, or else they will not ordain them." Despite Clap's opposition, in 1734 the people of Windham offered Breck a generous settlement. But Clap intervened, declaring that Breck was an Arminian and unacceptable as a minister in Connecticut.
The young man then returned to Massachusetts and began preaching at Springfield. There he was more cautious, his doctrine was orthodox, and he was called to be minister at Springfield. But in the mean time local ministers had heard from Clap that Breck had preached Arminianism, along with other theological indiscretions at Windham. During 1735 the major event in the religious life of New England was the debate over the propriety of ordaining Robert
Breck. The issue grew from the question of his orthodoxy to include the problem of just who should make such a determination. Breck eventually found ~clerical supporters from outside the immediate region of Springfield, much to the disgust of the local clergy.
The events that followed are one index of the religious condition of New .England at that time: fears of heresy mingled with fears of ministerial domination and confusion about the character of ecclesiastical government in the Congregational commonwealths. The ordination was set for October 1735. An ordaining council arrived in town from eastern Massachusetts; opposing ministers from the Hampshire Association also met, and studiously avoided crossing paths with the outsiders. More accusations were hurled at Breck, and the local justices of the peace decided to arrest him. A crowd gathered around the house where Breck was being examined, mainly Breck supporters, and a man on horseback read to them Breck's eminently orthodox confession of faith. This was possibly the first confession "that ever was read on Horse-back." "The old horse stood astonished at what was doing," one observer reported. The justices, none the less, decided that Breck had violated the Massachusetts statute against atheism and blasphemy, but since he had done so in Connecticut, he must be handed over to the authorities there. And so a curious procession was formed consisting of Breck, the Sheriff, and an "honor guard" of his supporters from the church-and off they rode to Connecticut.
Fortunately for Breck, Connecticut wanted nothing to do with this ecclesiastical "hot potato" and after administering a symbolic rap on the knuckles, sent him back to Massachusetts. The controversy continued to rage for several weeks, pushing news from Europe off the front page of the Boston newspapers. The Massachusetts House came to Breck's assistance, fInding that he had been misused. Encouraged, the ordaining council returned to SpringfIeld in January 1736 and completed its work.
The Breck case would agitate historians for several generations, later liberals seeing him as a martyr, conservatives feeling he got no more than he deserved. But Robert Breck settled easily into his ministry, proving himself an intelligent preacher and a skillful diplomat. Shortly after his ordination he married his predecessor's daughter, who was related to many of the leading families in the region. He shrewdly invited one of his former opponents, Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow to perform the wedding. Williams was somewhat startled at the invitation, but talked himself into accepting. He confided in his diary, "I think it was prudent to consent. I can see no just objection to his being married, although I did object to his being ordained."
Breck might be considered a mild Arminian during his almost half century as a minister. He introduced the Half-Way Covenant to his church, and he preached against rigid standards of orthodoxy. During the Great Awakening he opposed the enthusiasts, and he remained so hostile to the revival that he refused-to let George WhitefIeld preach in his pulpit in 1764. During the Revolution, Breck preached a fast sermon in 1780 that was so cool to the patriots' cause that he was charged with treason by the general court. But the charge was dismissed.
Robert Breck died of consumption in 1784. Had the Breck case of 1735 occurred ninety years later the SpringfIeld pastor might have found solace by joining the newly formed Unitarian Church. Instead his career is a good example of the capacity of early Congregationalism to absorb individuals representing a rather broad range of religious opinion.
Bibliography
A: The Duty of Ministers (Boston. 1748); The Departure of Elijah Lamented (Springfield. 1782) [funeral sermon for Stephen Williams]; Past Dispensations of Providence (Hartford, 1784) [on burning of Springfield by Indians, 1675].
B: SHG 8, 661-80; An Examination of and Some Answers to a Pamphlet, Intitled, A Narrative and Defence of the Proceedings of the Ministers of Hampshire, Who Disapproved of Mr. Breck's Settlement (Boston, 1736); A Narrative of the Proceedings of those Ministers of the County of Hampshire ... That Have Disapproved of the late Measures Taken in Order to the Settlement of Mr. Robert Breck (Boston. 1736); William Cooper, The Work of Ministers Represented Under the Figure of Sowers (Boston. 1736) [ordination sermon for Breck]; A Letter to the Author of the Pamphlet Called an Answer to the Hampshire Narrative (Boston. 1737); Charles Edwin Jones. 'The Impolitic Mr. Edwards: The Personal Dimension of the Robert Breck Affair," New England Quarterly. 51 (1978). 64-79.