White, John (3)

a Puritan divine, known as the Patritarch of Dorchester, was born at Stanton, St. John, Oxfordshire, England, in December, 1574. He was educated at Winchester School and New College, Oxford, of which he became perpetual fellow in 1595; here he graduated, took holy orders, and became a frequent preacher at Oxford; became rector of Trinity Church, Dorchester, in 1606; was one of the projectors of the colony of Massachusetts in 1624; had his house plundered and his, library carried away by the soldiers of Prince Rupert; escaped to London, and was made minister of the Savoy; was appointed one of the learned divines. to assist in a committee of religion selected by the House of Lords in 1640; became a member of the Westminster Assembly in 1643; was chosen rector of Lambeth in 1645; and afterwards returned to Dorchester, where he died, July 21, 1648. He published, The Planter's Plea; or, The Grounds of Plantations Examined, and the Usual Objections Answered (1630): — A Way to the Tree of Life Discovered, etc. (1647): — Commentary on the First Three Chapters of Genesis (1656).