John Wheelwright - England

England

In late 1655, Wheelwright moved back to England with his family, to the home town of his wife, Mary. He had received his final salary payment from the Hampton church in the late summer, but was preaching in Alford, Lincolnshire by 12 December when a salary augmentation of £60 was to be granted "to John Wheelwright, minister of Alford, co. Lincoln, who has a great charge of children..." This remuneration was in addition to a £40 salary already allowed.

Extraordinary events had recently transpired in England, with King Charles I executed, power in the hands of a commoner, and freedom of the pulpit given to Puritans. The commoner in power was a personal friend of Wheelwright, the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, with whom Wheelwright had gone to college. Henry Vane, who had been very close to Wheelwright during the events of the Antinomian Controversy, had also reached high positions in government. These two prominent men had been working side by side for political and religious liberty, but became estranged and hostile towards each other in the early 1650s. Vane had retired from public life while Cromwell moved into the highest position of authority in England. Wheelwright was well received by Cromwell, who once described his classmate this way: "I remember the time when I was more afraid of meeting Wheelwright at football than I have been since of meeting an army in the field, for I was infallibly sure of being tripped up by him." Wheelwright wrote a letter to his church in Hampton, dated 20 April 1658, in which he described his meeting with Cromwell, writing, "I had discourse in private about the space of an hour. All his speeches seemed to me very orthodox and gracious."

Wheelwright probably spent most of his time in England in Lincolnshire, and besides preaching in Alford he likely preached at Belleau, the estate of Sir Henry Vane "who had greatly noticed him since his arrival in the kingdom". It is possible that Vane encouraged Wheelwright to publish his Apology. After the death of Cromwell in 1658, events became less favorable for England's Puritans. When the monarchy returned to power under King Charles II in 1660, Vane was imprisoned for his role during England's Interregnum and then executed in June 1662. With this situation, Wheelwright returned to New England in the summer of 1662 with several other ministers who had been visiting the kingdom.