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	John White's Christian faith - A Clergyman

John White was presented by the crown to the living of Holy Trinity on 11 November 1605 - less than a week after Guy Fawkes' failed attempt to blow up King and Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot. He took up his living in 1606. In doing so, he took on responsibility not only for Holy Trinity but also for St. Peter's church. This was an old arrangement that made the Rector of Holy Trinity the most important clergyman in town. It was an ideal situation for John White and his Puritan vision.

As Rector, John White was responsible for the services in his churches. These reflected his moderate Puritanism. The orthodox services of the Church of England were used. John White wore a surplice (rejected by more extreme Puritans as a sign of popery). Scripture was read and expounded in long sermons (many people took notes for later study). What he preached was theologically mainstream for the Church of England. His strong Calvinistic streak was only a matter of taking standard Church of England theology further than many people did. But it was enough to get the town talking. And that made people listen to him. And they heard him say that we should seek 'not so much our good, as the good of the community', and follow 'duty, and not gain to ourselves'. They absorbed the Puritan vision for Dorchester.

Preaching is, of course, no use without a congregation. There was no shortage of people. Thanks partly to an Act of Parliament that made church attendance compulsory, congregations at Holy Trinity and St. Peter's were about 1,000 each (Dorchester's population was only a few thousand at the time). As Puritan reforms took root, town officials "encouraged" the reluctant to attend and punished those who didn't without good reason. So John White preached to a mixture of people who wanted to be there, or who felt it their duty to be there, or were made to be there.

Some of what he taught is found in "ten vows" that he drew up. These included confession of "lukewarmness" towards God and in love for other people, pride, ambition, envy - in other words, all the usual sins. However, the vows included promises. To oppose "all ways of innovation" (i.e. high-church ceremonies) in worship. To reject "all ways of gain which shall be judged scandalous by the godly wise". To respond to "afflicted brethren's distresses in food, in clothing, and enlarging our hands to their necessities". To John White, the Puritan approach to faith and religious practices was intimately tied up with personal morality and love our neighbour. John White had remarkable success in persuading his parishioners to give generously to social welfare schemes and to relieve suffering in the town and elsewhere. Many of those who gave, however, probably never realised how precarious clergy finances were. When John White arrived in Dorchester, income to pay Holy Trinity clergy was adequate but St. Peter's income was very small and All Saints' (just up the road from St. Peter's and with fellow-Puritan William Benn as Rector) was not much better. To pursue his vision for Dorchester, John White needed assistance. That implied more income. A fund-raising campaign in 1630 resulted in £1,500 (a large sum in those days) from the town and supporters elsewhere. This was used to buy a parsonage in Seaton and Beer (about 30 miles away), providing an income of £100 per year. The income was shared among the clergy in Dorchester. Thus, John White succeeded in providing adequate income for clergy without the need for frequent appeals for money that would inevitably detract form funding of social welfare schemes.

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