When Parris says that "these people have great weight in society," what does he mean?

In act 4, Reverend Parris tells Deputy Governor Danforth that he ought to consider postponing the hangings scheduled to take place today.  He says that "it were another sort that hanged till now," by which he means that the people that have already been hanged were not as respected in the town; those people were outcasts, but these people are known to be upstanding citizens and good Christians.  He says,

I would to God it were not so, Excellency, but these people have great weight yet in the town.  

In other words, the people about to be hanged—Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, among others—are still thought of as good people.  The citizens of Salem already question their guilt and could riot if Rebecca "send[s] up some righteous prayer" as she is about to die.