The Pilgrim Chronicles

by Rod Gragg

  “We Seek the Fellowship of His Faithful and Obedient Servants”

  The Separatist Movement Grows in England’s East Midlands

  “Are not these matters of conscience?”

  Dismissed from the Church of England, John Robinson took his family and went home to Sturton in Lincolnshire, where the Separatist movement was growing in illegal congregations among the region’s farmers, laborers, merchants, and land-owners. There, in the town of Gainsborough, another defrocked Anglican pastor, the Reverend John Smyth, pastored a growing congregation of Separatists. Smyth and his Separatist flock at Gainsborough, which numbered more than sixty members, were supported by the attorney and landowner Thomas Helwys.

  In nearby Scrooby, another Separatist congregation of about a hundred members had arisen under the leadership of the Reverend Richard Clyfton. A white-bearded, fatherly-looking minister, Clyfton—in the words of a church member—“had done much good, and under God had been a means of the conversion for many.” A native of the East Midlands, Clyfton had pastored an Anglican church at the nearby village of Babworth until he was defrocked for preaching Separatist doctrine. He had then established an illegal Separatist congregation in nearby Scrooby, presumably comprised of his former church members and others. Sometime in 1607, Robinson and his family joined the Scrooby congregation, where he assumed the duties of co-pastor with Clyfton. Witty, knowledgeable, and endearing, Robinson soon proved himself to be a powerful and magnetic preacher who ministered to the Scrooby congregation, and helped lead it in Separatist style worship.

  England’s East Midlands region was marked by small villages and pastoral countryside—and, in the early seventeenth century, it was also known as a seat of the Separatist movement.

  THE STORY OF SOME ENGLISH SHIRES

  For Separatists like the Scrooby congregation, a worship service typically lasted all day, from early morning until five or six in the afternoon, with a two-hour intermission at midday. Worshippers sang from a psalter, a collection of works from the Old Testament book of Psalms, and the musical worship was typically performed by the congregation rather than by a choir. Separatists thus followed John Calvin’s advice to “sing some psalms in the form of public prayers . . . so that the hearts of all may be roused and stimulated to make similar prayers and to render similar praise and thanks to God with a common love.” To Separatists, genuine prayer was not merely a public recitation led by a minister, but was instead a deeply personal and heartfelt act, which, in Robinson’s words, was meant to “pour out the conceptions of a godly and devout mind unto God, from faith and feeling of our wants, by the Holy Ghost.” A Separatist worship service was also an opportunity for worshippers to enjoy fellowship with each other, and to give God their tithes and offerings.

  The central focus of Separatist worship, however, was the reading of the Word—the pastor’s selected biblical text for the service—and the pastor’s sermon, which would “expose” the theme and meaning of the selected Scripture. Following the sermon, designated laymen who felt “called” by the Holy Spirit would then preach or “prophesy” about the Scripture text. Prophesying or lay-preaching as practiced by the Separatists loosely followed the style of worship that had been practiced by English exiles and others in Switzerland during the Reformation—although prophesying in the Swiss churches was generally done by ministers and seminary students. Prophesying was condemned by the Church of England because Church officials believed it could expose worshippers to uninformed opinion and false doctrine. Separatist leaders such as Robinson countered that it was the responsibility of the local congregation, not a church hierarchy, to preserve the truth of Scripture within the local church.

  A brief eyewitness account of a Separatist worship service at the time of Robinson’s ministry at Scrooby was preserved in a letter written to a relative by English Separatists Hugh and Ann Bromhead:

  I will give you a brief view of the causes of our separation and of our purposes in practice. First, we seek above all things the peace and protection of the Most High, and the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, we seek and fully purpose to worship God aright, according as He hath commanded in His most holy word. Thirdly, we seek the fellowship of His faithful and obedient servants, and together with them to enter covenant with the Lord, and by the direction of His Holy Spirit to proceed to a godly, free, and right choice of minister and other officers, by Him ordained to the service of His church. Fourthly, we seek to establish and obey the ordinances and laws of our Saviour, Christ, left by his last will and testament to the governing and guiding of His church. Fifthly, we purpose by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, . . . to leave our lives, if such be the good-will of our heavenly Father. And sixthly, now that our forsaking and utterly abandoning these disordered assemblies as they generally stand in England may not seem strange or offensive to any that will judge or be judged by the word of God. . . .

  Located in Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands, the town of Gainsborough was a regional river port—and home to a growing congregation of Separatists.

  THE ROMANTIC STORY OF THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS

  In Gainsborough, a Separatist congregation of about sixty members met in the Gainsborough Manor Hall, where they were led by Pastor John Smyth, who had been dismissed from the Church of England for his Separatist views.

  THE ROMANTIC STORY OF THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS

  “I will give you a brief view of the causes of our separation”

  The order of the worship and government of our Church is, 1: We begin with a prayer; after, read some one or two chapters of the Bible, give the sense thereof, and confer upon the same: 2: that done, we lay aside our books, and after a solemn prayer made by the first speaker, he propoundeth some text out of the Scripture, and prophesieth out of the same by the space of one hour or three quarters of an hour. After him standeth up a second speaker, and prophesieth out of the said text, the like time and place, sometimes more, sometimes less. After him the third, the fourth, the fifth, etc., as the time will give leave.

  In the village of Scrooby, located near Gainsborough, a sister congregation of Separatists were led by Pastor Richard Clifton, who had also been defrocked for his Separatist theology.

  A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES

  Then the first speaker concludeth with prayer as he began with prayer, with an exhortation to contribution to the poor, which collection being made, is also concluded with prayer. This morning exercise begins at eight of the clock and continueth unto twelve of the clock. The like course and exercise is observed in the afternoon from two of the clock unto five or six of the clock. Last of all, the execution of the government of the Church is handled. . . .

  Yours in the Lord, at all times to use,

  Hugh and Anne Bromhead4

  “We seek the fellowship of his faithful and obedient servants”

  They “Were Hunted and Persecuted on Every Side”

  The Separatists of Scrooby and Gainsborough Seek Escape

  To Pastor Robinson and the Scrooby Separatists, forty-year-old William Brewster was a godsend. In 1607, Brewster was the royal bailiff and postmaster at Scrooby, and the local congregation of Separatists worshipped in his home. It was a sprawling, two-story brick-and-timber manor house with almost forty rooms and a chapel. It had been built more than a century earlier as the palatial residence of the Anglican archbishop of York. King Henry VIII had visited once in the previous century, and had even owned it for awhile. Now, it remained government property, managed by bailiff Brewster, who opened it to Robinson’s Separatist congregation.

  Brewster had been raised in Scrooby, where his father was bailiff and postmaster before him. The royal appointment allowed Brewster’s father to raise his family in the rambling manor house, and also provided ample income—which allowed young William to enroll at Cambridge University while he was still in his teens. Bright, affable, and resourceful, Brewster was a natural student who would prove to be a lifelong book-lover, but for unknown reasons he did not
remain at Cambridge long enough to graduate.

  Separatist worship services typically featured a Bible-based sermon by the pastor, commentary or “prophesying” by lay leaders, and congregational singing from the Psalter, which consisted of Psalms set to music.

  UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA COMMUNICATIONS

  “He required him to take an oath . . . which he obstinately and utterly refused”

  Instead, he exercised his family connections to become a trusted aide to one of Queen Elizabeth’s secretaries of state, who valued him for his abilities, discretion, and integrity. As the assistant to a prominent government official, Brewster was exposed to the inner workings of government, along with the skills of diplomacy and the experience of travel outside England. In 1589, after more than half a decade in high places, he returned home to Scrooby to assist his ailing father. When his father died a year later, Brewster was appointed district postmaster in his place. He married a local woman, and began raising his family.

  He raised them as Separatists. Although Brewster had spent little time at Cambridge, it was there, like so many other Separatist leaders, that he had been introduced to Puritan theology, which eventually led him to the Separatist movement. At Scrooby, Brewster embraced the growing congregation of Separatists from the surrounding areas, opened his huge home as their meeting place and worship center, and served as a lay leader under pastors Clyfton and Robinson. Eventually, Brewster would become a ruling elder in the congregation as well as its promoter and protector—a “dear friend, and brother” in Pastor Robinson’s words. With Brewster’s help, the Separatist congregation at Scrooby attracted increasing numbers of converts—as well as the attention of a new and determined enemy.

  His name was Tobias Matthew, and he was the Church of England’s new archbishop of York. Appointed in 1606, Archbishop Matthew oversaw the Church in England’s northern diocese, which included Scrooby and the surrounding areas. He was an Oxford alumnus—a former dean and vice-chancellor of the university—and his influence within the English government was second only to the archbishop of Canterbury’s. A favorite of King James, he had preached the closing sermon at the 1604 Hampton Court Conference, and although now in his sixties, he was a relentless pursuer of all those who resisted King James or dissented from the Church of England. In the wake of the Gunpowder Plot, his primary targets were English Catholics—who were required to renounce the authority of the pope and take an oath of allegiance to the king—but in 1607, he began targeting the Separatists of the East Midlands.

  William Brewster, the bailiff and postmaster in the village of Scrooby, played a critical role as a lay leader in Pastor John Robinson’s Separatist congregation.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

  Matthew’s zeal to go after the Separatists may have been increased by a personal scandal—his son and namesake had just converted to Catholicism. Occurring so soon after the Gunpowder Plot, his son’s newfound Catholicism was a political and ecclesiastical embarrassment for the new archbishop of York, and he may have been desperate to demonstrate his fidelity to Church and King. Using warrants from the Church’s Court of High Commission, he arrested scores of Catholics, and—even though their numbers were far fewer—he also rounded up Separatists. In a joint campaign with Archbishop of Canterbury Richard Bancroft, Matthew employed the Church’s High Commission to prosecute the dissenters. Separatists in the East Midlands—mainly members of the congregations at Scrooby and Gainsborough—were arrested and fined, including bailiff and postmaster William Brewster, who was charged with being “a Brownist or disobedient in matters of religion.” Others feared that they would be next to undergo arrest.

  One Scrooby Separatist, Gervase Nevyle, boldly confronted his accusers in court, displaying the spirit of the persecuted apostles in the New Testament book of Acts, when they told their persecutors, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Nevyle refused to take the oath that was required to give testimony before the High Commission, claiming the court was illegal under English law. He also denounced the archbishop’s authority as an unbiblical, “antichristian hierarchie.” His outspoken resistance landed him in prison, but it also produced a court document that preserved a record of what Scrooby Separatists and others faced from Archbishop Matthew and the ecclesiastical court.

  William Brewster allowed Scrooby’s Separatist congregation to worship in his sprawling manor house, which at one time had been the official residence of the Anglican archbishop of York.

  THE ROMANTIC STORY OF THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS

  Nov. 10, 1607

  Office of the Court v. Gervase Nevyle of Scrooby

  Information hath been given and presentment made that the said Gervase Nevyle is one of the sect of Barrowists or Brownists, holding and maintaining erroneous opinions and doctrine repugnant to the Holy Scriptures and Word of God, for which his disobedience and schismatical obstinacy an attachment was awarded to William Blanchard messenger, etc. to apprehend him: by virtue whereof being by him brought before His Grace and said Associates and charged with his errors and dangerous opinions and disobedience, his Grace in the name of himself having charged him therewith, as also with certain contemptuous speeches and frequenting of conventicles and company of others of his profession, he required him to take an oath to make answer (so far as he ought and was bound by law) to certain interrogatories or questions by them conceived and set down in writing to be propounded and ministered unto him, and others of his brethren of the separation and sect aforesaid, which he obstinately and utterly refused, denying to give his Grace answer, and protesting very presumptuously and insolently in the presence of God against his authority and (as he termed it) his Antichristian Hierarchy; but yet yielded to answer to the rest of the said Commissioners (excepting his Grace only), although it was by them shown unto him that his Grace was chief of the Ecclesiastical Commission by virtue whereof he was convented and they all did then and there sit.

  In 1606, Anglican leader Tobias Matthew was appointed as archbishop of York, which made him the ranking Church of England official in northern England. He promptly launched a campaign against the region’s Separatists.

  WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

  And then, after divers godly exhortations and speeches to him, they did propound and read the said interrogatories unto him and presently set down his answers unto the same in their presences under his hand.

  And forsomuch as thereby, as also by his unreverent, contemptuous, and scandalous speeches, it appeared that he is a very dangerous schismatical Separatist Brownist and irreligious subject, holding and maintaining divers erroneous opinions, the said lord Archbishop with his colleagues have by their strait warrant committed him, the said Gervase, to the custody of William Blanchard, by him to be therewith delivered to the hands, ward and safe custody of the keeper or his deputy keeper of his Highness’s Castle of York, not permitting him to have any liberty or conference with any, without special license from three at least of the said Commissioners, whereof one to be of the Quorum.5

  “It appeared that he is a very dangerous schismatical Separatist”

  “They Resolved to Get Over into Holland”

  Persecuted Separatists Seek Self-Exile from England

  It was the growing threat from Archbishop Matthew—part of the nationwide crackdown on Separatists by King James—that spurred Separatists in the East Midlands to seek sanctuary in Holland. Although their attempts to escape England aboard the Dutch ship Francis and other vessels were blocked by English authorities, hundreds of Separatists in Scrooby, Gainsborough, and elsewhere were determined to escape England. Led by their pastors—Robinson, Clyfton, and Smyth—and by lay leaders such as William Brewster and Thomas Helwys, Separatists from the East Midlands took the risks, endured imprisonment, gave up their homes and belongings, and repeatedly tried to flee to Holland. In 1607 and 1608, many eventually made it.

  An English dissenter makes his case before an English court. The crackdown on Separatists following the Gunpowder Plot resulted in numerous ar
rests for worshipping outside of the Church of England.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

  Among them was William Brewster, who resigned his lucrative position as postmaster, went into hiding with his family, then managed to board passage to Holland. Their repeated attempts to flee England were difficult and dangerous, and yet—in the words of future Pilgrim leader William Bradford—“by God’s assistance they prevailed and got the victory.” As an eighteen-year-old member of the Scrooby congregation, Bradford was one of them. He would later pen an account of how the desperate exiles “resolved to get over into Holland.”

  “Some were taken and clapped up in prisons, others had their houses beset and watched night and day”

  When as by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God’s blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land, so in the North parts, many became enlightened by the Word of God and had their ignorance and sins discovered unto them, 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 vexed . . . as truly their affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they bore sundry years with much patience. . . .

  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.