Living too." After a Delay of more than two Years, the Church consented to call a Council, who met at the Village, April 3d, 1695. Dr. Increase Mather was chosen Moderator, and offered the following Report, which was accepted by the Council, and presented to the Church:--1st, They unanimously declared that "we judge that altho' in the late and dark Time of the Confusions, wherein Satan had obtained a more than ordinary Liberty to sift this Plantation, there were sundry unwarrantable and uncomfortable Steps taken, by Mr. Samuel Parris, the Pastor of the Church in Salem Village, then under the hurrying Distractions of amazing Afflictions; yet the said Mr. Parris, by the good Hand of God, brought unto a better Sense of Things, hath so fully expressed it, that a Christian Charity may, and should, receive Satisfaction therewith. 2, They advised the dissenting Brethren to accept the Satisfaction, which he had tendered in his Christian Acknowledgment of the Errors therein committed, and in case Mr. Parris finds after all, that he can not with any Comfort and Service, continue in his present Station, his Removal from thence, will not expose him to any hard Character with us. Having observed that there is, in Salem Village, a Spirit full of Contention and Animosity, too sadly verifying the Blemish, which hath heretofore lain upon them; and that some Complaints against Mr. Parris have been either causeless or groundless, or unduly aggravated, we do, in the Name and Fear of the Lord, solemnly warn them to consider whether, if they continue to devoure one another, it will not be Bitterness in the latter End." The Recommendation of the Council appears to have been satisfactory to the Friends of Mr. Parris and the Pastor was resolved to continue in the Ministry. At the same Time, the Report of the Council was unsatisfactory to those Persons opposed to Mr. Parris, as it did not recommend his Dismission; accordingly, on the 3d Day of May, 1695, a Paper, signed by 16 young Men, 52 Householders and 18 Church Members, was handed to the Rev. Elders, composing the late Council at the Village, requesting them to give Parris's Case a rehearing, and more plainly advise the Pastor to cease his Labors, and seek to dispose himself elsewhere, &c. On the 6th of May, 1695, in Answer to the Opponents of Mr. Parris, the Council sent a Letter to the Pastor, informing him of the Extent of the Opposition to his Ministry, and advising him to come away from his present Station, and unite in calling another Minister, and forgiving and forgetting all former Grievances.