921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

]_ev. Samuel W_itz)ag. Io7
It was his belief, and he acted upon it, that
the general diffusion of useful knowledge was
essential to make good citizens or good Chris-
tians. Thus he successfully inaugurated the
New England system of common schools.
The year I656 brought changes of some importance
in his home affairs. His eldest son,
Rev. Samuel, jun., was married to Dorcas Ches-
ter. His friend Robert Keayne died, leaving a
small legacy to him ; and his beloved colleague
Mr. Cobbett, .after having faithfully served for
eighteen years, all the while preserving the
most affectionate relations with his pastor, with-
drew.*" They had been fi'iends in England.
Mather says, " They were almost every day to-
gether, and thought it a long day if they were
not so; the one rarely travelling abroad with-
_ut the other." Mr. Whiting's son John, who
" tfterwards went to England, graduated at Har-
vard College in I657, and this year his father
preached a sermon at Boston, before the An-
cient and Honorable Artillery Company,'r the
earliest of the series of sermons before that
* Lin., 80. Ann. of Lynn, 236. t Drake's Boston, 236.