Benjamin Woodbridge

WOODBRIDGE, BENJAMIN (1622-1684), divine, born in 1622, was the son of John Woodbridge (1582-1637), rector of Stanton-Fitzwarren, Wiltshire, and his wife Sarah (1593-1663), daughter of Robert Parker (1564?-1614) [q. v.] He matriculated from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 9 Nov. 1638, but went in 1639 to New England, whither his elder brother, John (noticed below), had preceded him in 1634 in company with his uncle, Thomas Parker (1595-1677 ) [q. v.] Benjamin was the first graduate of Harvard College, commencing B.A. in 1642. Returning to England, he re-entered Magdalen Hall, and proceeded M.A. on 10 Nov. 1648. At that time he had already been doing duty as a minister in Salisbury, and on 18 May had been appointed rector of Newbury in Berkshire, where he had great success as a preacher and 'was much resorted to by those of the presbyterian persuasion.' 'By his excellent instruction and wise conduct he reduced the whole town to sobriety of sentiment in matters of religion and a happy unity in worship.' In 1652 he attempted to refute two ministers of Salisbury, Thomas Warren and William Eyre, in a sermon on 'Justification by Faith,' which was published and commended by Baxter (The Right Method for a Settled Peace of Conscience and Spiritual Comfort, London, 1663). Eyre responded in 'Vindiciae Justificationis Gratuitae' (London, 1654), when Baxter upheld his own and Woodbridge's views in his 'Admonition to Mr. William Eyre of Salisbury' (London, 1654); and Woodbridge himself issued a reply, entitled 'The Method of Grace in the Justification of Sinners' (London, 1656).

Woodbridge was one of the assistants for the ejection of scandalous ministers in 1654. In 1657 the trustees for the maintenance of ministers granted an augmentation of 20l. for an assistant for him at Newbury. At the Restoration he was made one of the king's chaplains and had the canonry of Windsor offered him, but 'bogling long with himself whether he should take that dignity or not' (Wood), it was given to another. He was one of the commissioners at the Savoy conference in 1661, but was silenced by the act of uniformity in 1662. Subsequently he preached in private in Newbury, but was frequently disturbed and imprisoned. Eventually he consented to conform and take holy orders from Earle, bishop of Salisbury, at Oxford in October 1665. But, afterwards reproaching himself for his inconsistency, be returned to his quiet preaching in Newbury until the indulgence of March 167S enabled him to act with fuller publicity. On the breaking out of the 'popish plot' in 1678 he was encouraged to greater efforts, and preached a place of worship every Sunday at Highclere in Hampshire. In 1683 he retired to Englefleld in Berkshire, where he died 1 Nov. 1684, and was buried in Newbury on the 4th. [%E2%80%89386%E2%80%89] Woodbridge published in 1648, under the pseudonym 'Filodexter Transilvanus,' 'Church Members set in Joynt, or a Discovery of the Unwarrantable and Disorderly Practice of Private Christians, in usurping the Peculiar Office and Work of Christ's own Pastours, namely Publick Preaching.' The book was written in reply to a treatise entitled 'Preaching without Ordination,' published the previous year under the pseudonym of 'Lieut. E. Chillenden.' Woodbridge's book was republished in 1656 and in 1657. He also published in London 1601 a work by James Noyes (who had married his mother's sister), entitled 'Moses and Aaron; or the Rights of the Church and State' Woodbridge wrote some verses, inscribed on the tomb of John Cotton of Boston, Mass. (d. 1652), which possibly gave Franklin a hint for his celebrated epitaph upon himself.