He permitted the transaction of several minor affairs, and Mr. Peck, as
Moderator, conducted the business with his habitual exactness and effect
of far-off impersonality. The people waited with exemplary patience,
and Putney, who lounged in one corner of his pew, gave no more sign of
excitement, with his chin sunk in his rumpled shirt-front, than his
sad-faced wife at the other end of the seat.

Mr. Gerrish rose, with the air of rising in his own good time, and said,
with dry pomp, "Mr. Moderator, I have prepared a resolution, which I will
ask you to read to this meeting."

He held up a paper as he spoke, and then passed it to the minister, who
opened and read it-"_Whereas_, It is indispensable to the prosperity and well-being of
any and every organisation, and especially of a Christian church, that the
teachings of its minister be in accord with the convictions of a majority
of its members upon vital questions of eternal interest, with the end and
aim of securing the greatest efficiency of that body in the community, as
an example and a shining light before men to guide their steps in the
strait and narrow path; therefore "_Resolved_, That a committee of this society be appointed to inquire
if such is the case in the instance of the Rev. Julius W. Peck, and be
instructed to report upon the same."