STATE OF RELIGIOUS PARTIES. II. 47 ratists, or Independents.' But questionable as was his sin- CHAP. cerity, and inconstant, as were his professions, so congenial were the doctrines he taught to the views of the people that he easily succeeded in gathering a large congregation; and after its dispersion and his own defection, the seed which had been scattered so rapidly grew, that Sir Walter Ra- 1592. liegh, in a speech in Parliament, computed the number of separatists or "Brownists" at twenty thousand.2 There were now at least four claases or parties in religion in England: -the Catholics, who adhered to the Church of Rome; the members of the English Church; the Puritans; and the Separatists or Independents. Of the third class were the founders of the Massachusetts Colony, and to the fourth belonged the settlers at Plymouth. The former-the Puritans—were simply non-conformists. Connected with the National Church, they questioned chiefly the propriety of some of her observances. They submitted to her authority so far as they could, and acknowledged her as their "mother" in all matters of doctrinal concern. Their clergy were educated at her colleges, and ordained by her bishops; the laity were connected with her by many of the dearest ties; and up to the date of their removal to America, they made no open secession from her communion, and had liberty been allowed them, they would probably have continued in the land of their nativity, and in the bosom of the Establishment.3 The Plymouth colonists were not of the National Church. Years before their expatriation they had renounced her communion, and formed churches of their own. Between them, however, and the Massachusetts colonists, the differ 1It has long been the fashion to stigmatize, by way of reproach, as Brownists, all the early settlers of New England; but the injustice of this proceeding will, we think, be evident to every candid mind. See Cotton's Way. of Cong. Churches Cleared, 5; 48 II. THE CHURCH OF THE PILGRIMS. CHAP. ences which existed were in matters of policy rather than in articles of faith; and on arriving in the New World, apart from the influences of their native land, and under circumstances of a far different character, a few years intercourse assimilated their views and cemented their union.' Such was the origin of Puritanism and Independency; and though, in the history of both these sects, as well as of the English and the Romish Churches, we shall find much intolerance displayed, the result of this contest for greater individualism in religious affairs has been, to induce watchfulness of all encroachments upon the rights of conscience; and happy changes have followed in all Protestant communities where these rights are respected and secured. We must now pass to the history of the church of the 1592. Pilgrims. So early as 1592, a church was gathered at London, of which Francis Johnson was chosen pastor, and John Greenwood became the teacher; but this church being broken up by the authorities, and its teacher imprisoned, the pastor, with a portion of his flock, escaped to Holland, and settled at Amsterdam, where for many years they continued to abide." A few years later another church was gathered, "to the north of the Trent," in a rural district "near the joining borders of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire." This was the church of the Pilgrims, which, though first established at Gainsborough, was afterwards formed into two bodies, and the junior ordinarily met for public worship at the house of William Brewster, well known as the Elder of the church at Plymouth. This eminent man, so famous 1 Robinson's Apology, passim; Winslows's Hypocrisy Unmasked,ed. 1646; Bradford, in Chron. Pil., 390, 415, 427; Baillie's Dissuasive, 32, 33, 55, 56, 59; Cotton's Way, 17; Hunter's Founders, 163-78. 2 Cotton's Way, 6; Baillie's Dissuasive, 14, 15; Bradford, in Chron. Pil, 24. 424, 445-7; Stow, 765; Brandt, Hist. Ref., 1. 479; Neal, 1. 198, 242-3; Prince, 104, 235. The learned Henry Ainsworth, "a man of a thousand," is said to have accompanied this church to Holland, and to have been connected with it as teacher. THE CHURCH AT SCROOBY. II. 49 in the annals of the Plymouth Colony, is supposed to have CHAP. been born in Suffolk, England, in 1560, or 1564. Having received in early life a suitable education, he became a student at Cambridge, and afterwards an attachè to William Davison, Esq., a polished courtier of the reign of Elizabeth, her Secretary of State, and her Ambassador to Holland, whither Mr. Brewster accompanied him, "being esteemed rather as a son than a servant." Withdrawing from public life when his employer was displaced, Mr. Brewster received an appointment before April, 1594, as Postmaster at Scrooby, April, in Nottinghamshire, and there resided until his removal to Holland, faithfully discharging the duties of his office, and devoting himself zealously to the interests of the church with which he was connected. ' The location of this church, and the history of its patron, have been involved for years in more or less obscurity; but recently, through the successful researches of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and an Assistant Keeper of Her Majesty's Records, many new facts have been brought to light, whose importance we cannot too highly appreciate. It may now be considered as satisfactorily proved, that the Church of the Pilgrims was first gathered at Gainsborough, and afterwards at Scrooby, in that part of Nottingham known as "the Hundred of Basset-Lawe," a mile and a half south of the market town of Bawtry, on the borders of York, and only a short distance from the verge of Lincolnshire. Scrooby, at present, is an obscure agricultural village, with few objects of interest beside its church; but anciently it was a place of much more note, and was surrounded by 1 See Bradford's Life of Brewster, in Chron. Pil., Chap. xxvii.; but especially, Rev. Joseph Hunter's "Founders of New Plymouth," published at London, in 1854, pp. 53 68. Comp. also, Cotton's Way, 4; 1594. 50 II. MINISTERS OF THE SCROOBY CHURCH. CHAP religious houses even before the Reformation. Situated near the high road from York to London, it was, on that account, a convenient resting place for the Archbishops of York in their journeys to the metropolis; and lying near the celebrated Hatfield Chace, it was, on that account, a favorite resort for the enjoyment of field-sports. It was the frequent residence of Ap. Savage, in the reign of Henry VII.; it was for many weeks the abode of Cardinal Wolsey in his disgrace; and it was the rendezvous of the Earl of Shrewsbury and his contingent, when he joined the army of the King assembled to oppose "the Pilgrimage of Grace." In the reign of Elizabeth the manor was alienated by Ap. Sandys, and settled upon his son Sir Samuel Sandys; and thenceforth it became a private possession, sometimes inhabited by the Sandyses themselves, and sometimes occupied by tenants. Mr. Brewster was its tenant at the time he dwelt there as Postmaster of the village. Gov. Bradford has left us the names of two ministers, formerly Puritans, who seceded from the National Church, and resided at or near Scrooby:-John Smith, "a man of able gifts and a good preacher," and Richard Clifton, "a grave and reverend preacher, who by his pains and diligence had done much good, and under God, had been a means of the conversion of many." Mr. Smith was the pastor of the church at Gainsborough, which is supposed to have been gathered before that at Scrooby; but lacking the spirit of gentleness which the gospel commends, he seems to have been in favor with few of his cotemporaries. Mr. Clifton, who was born at Normanton, Derby 1 See Stow, 574. 2 Hunter's Sketch, in 4 M. H. Coll., 1. 54-7, and his "Founders of New Plymouth," 16-26, 139, 140; Leland's Itinerary, 1. 35, ed. Hearne; Dugdale's Eng. and Wales Delin., 1369. 3 Bradford, in Chron. Pil., 22-3, 993 453; also Baillie's Dissuasive, 15. For fuller notices of Smith, see Brooks' Lives of the Puritans; Bradford, in Chron. Pil., 450; Hunter's Founders, &c., 32-5; Neal, 1. 243, note. 4 Smith's Parrallels, &c.; Hunter's Founders, 33. JOHN ROBINSON. II. 51 shire, about 1553, is supposed to have been the person who, CHAP. in 1585, was instituted to the vicarage of Marnham, near Newark upon Trent; and in July, 1586, he is known to have had charge of the rectory of Babworth, in the heart of Basset-Lawe.1 Forsaking the Established Church, he became pastor or teacher of the church in Brewster's house, after its separate organization, accompanied that church in its exile to Holland, and died at Amsterdam in 1616.2 The most noted of the seceding ministers, however, whose name is connected with the history of the Pilgrims, was John Robinson, who, even by Baillie,-no friend to his views, is called "the most learned, polished, and modest spirit" that ever separated from the Church of England. Of the parentage and early history of this celebrated man, nothing is certainly known. He was probably born in Nottingham, or Lincolnshire, in 1575, and at the age of seventeen, is supposed to have entered Corpus Christi, Cambridge, and on completing his term at the University, he proceeded to Norfolk, and in the neighborhood of or at Norwich, commenced his labors in the National Church.5 But his scruples respecting the ceremonies of this Church being immovably fixed, he omitted or modified them in his parochial labors. This subjecting him to annoyance, he was temporarily suspended from his clerical functions; and after applying unsuccessfully for the Mastership of the Great Hospital, or for a building to be secured to him by lease in which he might officiate, he withdrew entirely from the Church, and became an open seceder;-not as "the victim of chagrin and disappointment," as has been ungen 1 Hunter, 42. Hunter, 44, from Records in the Clifton Family Bible. See also, Bradford, in Chron. Pil., 453; and 4 M. H. Coll., 1. 61. Dissuasive, 17. See also Cotton's Way, 7. 44 M. H. Coll., 1. 113-14; Hunter, 92-3. 'Neal, 1. 244; Hanbury, Mem. Indep's, 1839, vol. 1. 185, et seq.; 4 M. H. Coll., 1. 73, 74, 115, note; Hunter, 94-96. |