.. so that
through these reproaches occasion was given to men, to abhorre the
offerings of the Lord." [Footnote: Welde's _Short Story_, Pref. Sections
7-11.]
"Now, one of them in a solemne convention of ministers dared to say to
their faces, that they did not preach the Covenant of Free Grace, and that
they themselves had not the seale of the Spirit.... Now, after our sermons
were ended at our publike lectures, you might have seene halfe a dozen
pistols discharged at the face of the preacher (I meane) so many
objections made by the opinionists in the open assembly against our
doctrine ... to the marvellous weakening of holy truths delivered ... in
the hearts of all the weaker sort." [Footnote: Welde's _Short Story_,
Pref. Sections 7-11.]
John Wheelwright was a man whose character extorts our admiration, if it
does not win our love. The personal friend of Cromwell and of Vane, with a
mind vigorous and masculine, and a courage stern and determined even above
the Puritan standard of resolution and of daring, he spoke the truth which
was within him, and could neither be intimidated nor cajoled. In October
an attempt had been made to have him settled as a teacher of the Boston
church in conjunction with Wilson and Cotton, but it had miscarried
through Winthrop's opposition, and he had afterward taken charge of a
congregation that had been gathered at Mount Wollaston, in what is now
Quincy.
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