ere was a solemn wrangle for days,
till Cotton, shrinking from his position, contrived, through abundant
use of doubtfull expressions, to effect his reconciliation with the
dominant party. After a session of twenty-four days the synod
adjourned, and Wheelwright, alone of the ministers, was left as the
scapegoat of the Antinomians, and with him the majority determined to
make short work.[14]

At the general court which met November 2, 1637, the transgressions of
Wheelwright through his fast-day sermon were made the basis of
operations. For this offence Wheelwright had been judged guilty more
than nine months before, but sentence had been deferred; he was now
sentenced to disfranchisement and banishment. Many of his friends at
Boston, including William Aspinwall and John Coggeshall, delegates to
the general court, experienced similar treatment for signing the
petition presented to the court in March, 1637, after the verdict
against Wheelwright.[15]

An order was passed for disarming Mrs. Hutchinson's followers, and
finally the arch-heretic herself was sent for and her examination
lasted two days. In the dialogue with Winthrop which began the
proceedings, Mrs. Hutchinson had decidedly the best of the
controversy; and Winthrop himself confesses that "she knew when to
speak and when to hold her tongue." The evidence failed wretchedly
upon the main charge, which was that Mrs. Hutchinson alleged that all
the ministers in Massachusetts except Mr. Cotton preached "a covenant
of works." On the contrary, by her own evidence and that of Mr. Cotton
and Mr. Leverett, it appeared that Mrs. Hutchinson had said that "they
did not preach a covenant of grace as clearly as Mr. Cotton did,"
which was probably very true.[16]

Her condemnation was a matter of course, and at the end of two days
the court banished her from the colony; but as it was winter she was
committed to the temporary care of Mr. Joseph Welde, of Roxbury,
brother of the Rev. Thomas Welde, who afterwards wrote a rancorous
account of these difficulties, entitled _A Short Story_. While in his
house, Mrs. Hutchinson was subjected to many exhortations by anxious
elders, till her spirits sank under the trial and she made a
retraction. Nevertheless, it was not as full as her tormentors
desired, and the added penalty of dismissal from church was imposed.
After her excommunication her spirits revived, "and she gloried in her
condemnation and declared that it was the greatest ha