Ralph Partridge

Ralph Partridge was a most worthy minister, and a great sufferer from the persecuting prelates. He was hunted by the severity of the bishops, as he used to express it, " like a partridge upon the mountains, till at last he was resolved to . get out of their reach, and took flight to New England." Upon his arrival, he settled at Duxbury in the colony of Plymouth, and was held in very high repute through the country. The synod of Cambridge, in 1648, made choice of him, together with Mr. Cotton and Mr. Mather, to draw up their model of church government. He was a person of great humility and self-denial, and always content with the meanest circumstances. When most of the ministers of Plymouth colony left their places, on account of tjieir want of a sufficient maintenance, this good man continued with his people to the last.* He lived a pious and unblamable life, possessed a grave and solid judgment, was famous in disputation, and much honoured and beloved by all who knew him. This excellent servant of Christ was scarcely ever interrupted in his ministry by bodily sickness, during the period of forty years. He died in a good old age, in the year KJ.38.+