921.73 W589w.pdf - Mesa FamilySearch Library

i Io Memoir of
is said is not lawful here. But God forbid yt it
should be unlawful to keep y° holie birthday of
y_ Savioure of mankind. We did hope yt sch
things might not be in this pleasant lande,
where there be manie who tho no churchmen
yet be willing to acknowledge sound doctrine,
the churchmen, yea even popish catholicks doe
y° same. And ye minister, Mister Whiting,
thinketh such things grievous, he being of
large minde and good heart, and yet far enow
from y° establishment. But y° first minister,
Master Batcheldor, was stout to beat down
everie sproute of y° episcopacie in this puritan
soil."
" The large mind and good heart" of Mr.
Whiting, when put to the test on many other
occasions, were always in favor of the greatest
liberality towards those from whom he differed
in opinion. He had suffered much in order to
escape the tyranny of the bishops, yet he would
not refuse his son John permission to return to
England, and to obey the dictates of his own
conscience by devoting his life, as a "godly
conformist," to the service of the Church.