John Warham

John Warham was a pious and celebrated preacher at Exeter; but, on account of the tyrannical proceedings of the prelates, was forced to flee to New England for refuge from the storm. Previous to his departure, a congregational church being gathered at Plymouth, he was, after solemn fasting and prayer, chosen one of its pastors; and in the year 1630, many pious families out of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, accompanied them to New England.* Upon their arrival, they began the settlement of Windsor, where, as pastor of the church, he spent the rest of his days. The whole colony of Connecticut looked lip to him as the principal pillar, and the father of the colony. Though he was a most pious man, he often laboured under melancholy apprehensions, even despairing of his own salvation. Such were the painful temptations under which his holy soul groaned, that he sometimes administered the Lord's supper to the people of his charge, not daring to starve their souls, when he forbore to partake with them, concluding that he was not one of God's children. This darkness continued more or less to the day of his death. He was the first minister in New England that ever preached by the use of notes; yet he delivered his sermons with remarkable energy and success.t