37 LIVES OF TRH PURITANS. troubles fromwhich he had protected others. He was pro- secuted by Archbishop Laud, particularly , for sefusing to read the Book of Sports.. Mr:Whitfield, being a man of great moderation and self-denial; would not contend with the metropolitical power of the archbishop ; but peaceably resigned his benefice and the public charge of his flock. AS there was no prospect of any reformation of the church, nor of his further: employ, in the ministry in his native country, he sold his estate, and, in the year 1639, retired to New England.. Many of his religious friends and ac- quaintances accompanied him ; who, upon their arrival, began a new plantation, and called the place of their settle- ment Guildford. There they formed .themselves into a christian society, choosing Mr. Whitfield to the office of pastor. After sojourning at Guildford eleven years, pa- tiently enduring the hardships of the new colony ; and having a pressing invitation to his native country, he returned to England in 1650. On his arrival, he was most cordially received by his old friends, and highly respected by some of the,first persons in the nation. He settled in the ministry at Winchester, where he probably continued the rest of his days. He was an excellent preacher, eminent for liberality and self-denial, and appears to have died about the restoration.+ He was author of ,a work entitled, " Some Help to stir up to Christian Duties," 1636. ADONIItAM BMW), A. M.-This pious divine was the son of Mr. Nicholas Byfield, another worthy puritan, and educated in Emanuel college, Cambridge. "In the year 1642 he became chaplain to Sir Henry Colmly's regiment, in the parliament's army ; and the year following was appointed scribe to the assembly of divines, being, accord- ing to Wood, " a most zealous covenanter."t Upon the first publication of the Directory, by order of the parlia- ment, the profits arising from the sale of it were bestowed upon Mr. Byfield and Mr. Henry Roborough, the other scribe, who sold the copy, it is said, for several hundred pounds .§ In the year 1646, when the " Confession of Faith" was drawn up by the assembly of divines, Mr. Byfield, Mr. Thomas Wilson, and Mr. Stanley Gower, were Prynne's Cant. Doome, p. 151. Mather's Hist. of New England, b. lit p. 217, 218. Athenw Oxon. col. ii. p. 229. Fuller's Church Hist. b. xi. p.222.
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