CHAPTER I. OF THE FIRST BEGINNINGS OF THIS CHURCH AND PEOPLE. I. mis. WHEN, by the travail and diligence of some godly CHAP. and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land, so in the north Impriparts, many became enlightened by the word of God, and had their ignorance and sins discovered by the word of God's grace, and began, by his grace, to reform their lives and make conscience of their ways, the work of God was no sooner manifest in them, but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude, and the ministers urged with the yoke of subscription,' or else must be silenced; and the poor people were so urged with apparitors and pursuivants and the Commission Courts, as truly their 1 Subscription to the book of common prayer, the rites and ceremonies, and all the thirty-nine articles. See Fuller, iii. 68; Prince, p. 99. This was the celebrated Court of High Commission, so called because it claimed a larger jurisdiction and higher powers than the ordinary courts of the bishops; its jurisdiction extended over the whole kingdom. It was provided for by the Act of Supremacy, passed in 1559, but did not go into full operation till 1584. It was an ecclesiastical court, consisting of forty-four persons, twelve of whom were 20 ORIGIN OF THE PILGRIMS. things by CHAP. affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they НАР. bare sundry years with much patience, until they were occasioned, by the continuance and increase of these troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days, to see further into these the light of the word of God; how that not only those base beggarly ceremonies were unlawful, but also that the lordly, tyrannous power of the prelates ought not to be submitted to, which those contrary to the freedom of the Gospel would load and burthen men's consciences with, and by their compulsive power make a profane mixture of persons and things in the worship of God; and that their offices and callings, courts and canons, &c. were unlawful and antichristian, being such as have no warrant in the word of God, but the same that were used in Popery, and still retained; of which a famous author thus writeth in his Dutch commentaries : 1603. April. "At the coming of King James out of Scotland into England, the new king," saith he, "found there estab suspected persons on their oaths, Puritans, i. 84, 274, 285; Hallam, i. 215. (4to ed.) I have inserted the words these and that from Prince, who quotes this passage from Bradford's MS. See his Annals, p. 100. 2 At the famous Conference at Hampton Court, held Jan. 14, 1604, James declared, "I will none of that liberty as to ceremonies; I will have one doctrine and one discipline, one religion in substance and ceremony. I shall make them [the Puritans] conform themselves, or I will barry them out of the land, or else do worse. If any would not be quiet, and show his obedience, he were worthy to be hanged."In his speech at the opening of his first parliament, March 19, 1604, he "professed that the sect of Puri THEY FORM A SEPARATE CHURCH. I. 21 lished the reformed religion, according to the reformed CHAP. religion of King Edward the Sixth, retaining or keeping still the spiritual state of the bishops, &c. after the old manner, much varying and differing from the Reformed Churches of Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, Emden, Geneva, &c., whose Reformation is cut or shapen much nearer the first churches, as it was used in the Apostles' times."1 So many therefore of these professors as saw the evil of these things, in these parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for his truth, they shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and, as the Lord's free people, joined themselves, (by a 1602. covenant of the Lord,) into a church estate, in the fellowship of the Gospel, to walk in all his ways, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them.2 tans or Novelists was not to be suffered in any well governed commonwealth." In a private letter written about the same time, he said, "I had rather live like a hermit in the forest, than be king over such a people as the pack of Puritans that overrules the lower house." He had previously written to his son in the Basilicon Doron, "Take heed, my son, to such Puritans, very pests in the church and commonwealth. I protest before the great God, that ye shall never find with any Highfand or Border thieves greater ingratitude and more lies and vile perjuries than with these fanatic spirits." Barlow's Sum and Substance, pp. 71, 83, 92; Calderwood, Hist. Ch. Scotland, p. 478; Hallain, i. 332. In conformity with these views, on the 5th of March, 1604, he issued a proclamation, that the same religion, with common prayer, and episcopal jurisdiction, shall fully and only be publicly exercised, in all respects, as in the reign of Queen The Reformed Churches shapen Prince says, "Governor Brad 22 I. JOHN ROBINSON'S CHURCH. CHAP. And that it cost them much pains, trouble, sorrow, affliction, and persecution, and expense of their estates, &c. this ensuing history will declare.' 1606. These people became two distinct bodies or churches, in regard of distance of place, and did congregate severally, for they were of several towns and villages, some in Nottinghamshire, some in Lincolnshire, and some of Yorkshire, where they bordered nearest together. In the one of these churches, besides others of note, was Mr. John Smith,3 a man of able gifts, and a good preacher, who afterwards was chosen their pastor. But these afterwards falling into some errors in the Low Countries, there for the most part buried themselves and their names. But in this other church, which must be the subject of our discourse, besides other worthy men, was Mr. Richard Clifton, a grave and reverend preacher, who by his pains and diligence had done much good, and ford's History takes no notice of "These seem to be some of the 2 I have substituted Lincolnshire for Lancashire, on the authority of Prince. This is most likely to be the correct reading, as Lincolnshire borders both on Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire, whilst Lancashire does not. Besides, Prince was remarkable for his accuracy, and is less likely to have made a mistake in deciphering and copying a word than Morton. He tells us, "In the passages relating to the Plymouth planters, I chiefly use Gov. Bradford's manuscript History of that Church and Colony, in folio; who was with them from their beginning to the end of his Narrative, which is now before me, and was never published." Annals, p. 99. 3 Some account of Smith, Clifton, and Robinson, is contained in Gov. Bradford's Dialogue, in a subsequent part of this volume; where will also be found a more extended memoir of Elder Brewster, also written by Gov. Bradford. THE PILGRIMS PERSECUTED. I. 23 under God had been a means of the conversion of CHAP. many; and also that famous and worthy man, Mr.~~~~~ John Robinson, who afterwards was their pastor for 1606. many years, until the Lord took him away by death; and also Mr. William Brewster, a reverend man, who afterwards was chosen an elder of the church, and lived with them until old age and death. But, after these things, they could not long continue in any peaceable manner, but were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as molehills to mountains in comparison to these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapped up in prisons, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their hands; and the most were fain to fly and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood. Yet these, and many other sharper things which afterward befell them, were no other than they looked for, and therefore were the better prepared to bear them by the assistance of God's grace and spirit. Yet seeing themselves thus molested, and that there was no hope of their continuance there, by a joint consent they resolved to go into the Low Countries, where they heard was freedom of religion for all men,' as also how After the introduction of the Reformed religion into the Low Countries in 1573, the utmost religious freedom was allowed, all sects were tolerated, and an asylum was opened for fugitives from persecution from every land. See Grotius, Annals, p. 41; Brandt, i. 308; Strada, i. 457. This honorable peculiarity has often been made an occasion of reproach against the country. Thus Bishop Hall, in his letter to Smith and Robinson, Decade iii. Epist. 1, speaks of Amsterdam as a common harbour |