a man of the world; he was well ac- neighborhood of Scrooby who held very quainted with affairs, having served under pronounced opinions in favor of the reDavison, who had acted as ambassador formed doctrines. Such, for example, to the Netherlands for Queen Elizabeth. To what wide uses he could ever put this knowledge of human nature it would be difficult for us to conjecture, while engaged in the contracted duties associated with the Manor House of Scrooby. were John Smith of Gainsborough, who subsequently removed with his congregation to Holland; Richard Bernard of Worksop, who was violently abused by Smith for not forsaking a national Church; Richard Clifton of Babworth, a village near Scrooby, who with his long white beard afterwards formed a picturesque element among the Puritans of Amsterdam; and, finally, Thomas Toller, who wielded great spiritual influence in his parish of Sheffield from 1597 to the year of his death in 1644.* These and others that might be named differed much in their personal characteristics and in their zeal, as well as in the views they took of the lawfulness of a State Church; but they all agreed in holding tenaciously and But the broad river of English history was sweeping on, and would ere long bear him and his little ark on its current. Barrowe and Greenwood had been put to death in 1593, and Penry had been sent to his last account for the crime of preaching the gospel in Wales; but the principles which these men advocated were not to be put down by persecution. Scraps of paper issued forth from the dungeons of Southwark; and when Barrowe and Greenwood had been executed, these writings of theirs were treasured preaching vigorously the principles of the by a numerous band of followers. Elizabeth's policy had been a temporizing one. On the whole, however, she had succeeded in repressing the new Puritan fervor in the large towns and cities. But freedom, as in many similar cases, betook itself to the broader because obscurer air of the rural districts. But the Brownists alone must have been considerable in numbers; for Raleigh said in Parliament that the queen would have to deal with twenty thousand of them before she could hope to make her Acts of Uniformity effi cacious. Reformation. For the most part they were men of scholarly attainments; and they were all men of spiritual power. When, therefore, they were exposed to persecution on account of their principles, a large number of the people who had received benefit from their ministrations took umbrage; and with a tenacity and courage akin to the spirit of martyrdom they rallied round the Puritan flag. The question of the lawfulness of establishing religion by the power of the State had not come into view. Speaking broadly, the Puritans would hardly have There was a fermentation of religious known the meaning of modern watch. life in two directions. Within the Estab- words like those of disestablishment, lished Church a large and increasing disendowment, and religious equality, number of clergy existed who would by The questions underlying these pregnant no means conceal their Puritan proclivi- words were, however, being quietly canties at the bidding of government. And vassed in many a thoughtful brain, and in outside the pale of the Establishment their essence they were to be practically there was an increasing and vigorous host settled by the migrations of the Pilgrim both of laymen and clergy who were re- Fathers. During Elizabeth's reign the solved to carry out the principles of Prot-principles of Independency were advoestantism to their logical issue. But the cated by Robert Browne, a somewhat two forces acted and reacted upon one violent and, as events proved, a fickle another, and though they were to become combatant. He did not lack the courage increasingly distinct as history unfolded of an enthusiast, for he was several times itself, they at first tended to work harmo-imprisoned; but he was without moral niously in the same direction. At the beginning of the seventeenth century several clergymen were laboring in the 49. See Hunter's Founders of New Plymouth, pp. 48, backbone; for, notwithstanding his strong | tan revolt, the love of political freedom, protests against Establishments, he ended due obedience to rightfully constituted his days as a beneficed clergyman. The battle had to be fought by men of sterner stuff. A few of these understood the final points at issue. But for the most part the controversy in England was to assume a political aspect; and the question of individual and constitutional liberty had to be fought out in succeeding years. The tramp of Cromwell's Ironsides could already be heard toward the end of the reign of Elizabeth, and during the first few months after James had ascended the throne. authority, the principles of Separatism, and above all the simple godliness of brave men and true-hearted women, found there a congenial home. In the characters of those who composed that congre gation we see the lineaments which are traced by history, with a firm hand, on the minds of a great people. America was to be indebted not to Greece and Rome for the models by which to build up her free institutions, but rather to that phase of life which consolidated itself for a time in the remote and unknown village of Scrooby. In 1602 the people at Scrooby, together with those at Gainsborough, formed one "Church." This arrangement was brought to an end two years after, when the Gainsborough people, under the leadership of their pastor, John Smith, betook themselves to Holland. This separation proved in the end beneficial to the Scrooby Church, inasmuch as they were relieved of sectarian elements which would have resulted in much disorder; and moreover, being thrown now on their own mental and spiritual resources, they obtained a spirit of self-reliance which stood them in good stead in their subsequent troubles. But for the time being religion was the uppermost thought of the age, and the earnest men of the day were marking out the lines on which the future battle of English and American freedom was to be fought. And the point to which, in this article, we wish to call especial attention is that in the Puritan party were to be found two distinct lines of thought, and, as a consequence, two distinct lines of action. The Independents are often, for the sake of historical convenience, called by the general name of Puritans; but they have always formed the left wing of that party, and in all battles on behalf of civil and religious liberty they have ever been in the vanguard. The Puritans as a whole were all alike in their hatred of Popery and ceremonialism. But while most of them had no objection to a State Church so long as it acted on the lines of the Reformation, the Separatists had al-rity, and by their spiritual intensity, they ready declared, both in word and deed, that they refused to submit conscience and modes of worship to State authority. The Puritans were moving toward a Reformed Church in a free State; the Separatists toward a Free Church in a free State. They had many things in common; but there were important lines of difference between them even during Elizabeth's time. And it is only by a hearty recognition of this fact that we can intelligently answer the question as to whether the Pilgrim Fathers were perse cutors. Some of the chief elements of the seething life of England were crystallized in the little church at Scrooby. The Puri The men who ruled in this community were no fanatics. They were worthy to be the leaders of this new exodus; and by their solid mental attainments, by their practical sagacity, by their moral integ. gave an impetus to the movement which lends its beneficent influence to the contending elements of our own somewhat troubled times. William Brewster had not forgotten the lessons which he had learned in the Netherlands and in the metropolis. He was a man of ready parts, able to conciliate guests who waited at the Manor House on their journey southward or northward, dexterous as the postmaster of the district an office of no mean responsibility in those primitive times able to attract many Puritan preachers to his house, or, when these failed, proving himself to be an able and profitable expositor of the Scriptures to the people, who were by no means loth to accept him as the teacher for the day. One of the preachers whom he was successful in drawing to the Manor House was Richard Clifton, of Babworth, who, having been silenced and ejected from his living under Elizabeth, was not unwilling to take advantage of these surreptitious opportunities of proclaiming the gospel. While Clifton was still at Babworth he had for one of his hearers a youth who after wards made an important figure among the Pilgrims. This was William Brad ford. His religious life began under Mr. Clifton's ministry. Afterwards famous as the governor of Plymouth, he already displayed the virtues of prudence, practical common sense, and worldly wisdom, which proved afterwards to be of such invaluable service to the much-suffering and ofttried community. "If Brewster was the Aaron of the enterprise, Bradford was its Moses." John Robinson* was educated at Cambridge, where he entered Christ College in 1592, and became a fellow in 1598. He retained his fellowship till 1604. At the close of his university course he settled as a preacher in the neighborhod of Nor. wich. The exact locality is unknown; nor is it certain whether he was beneficed or not. The probabilities seem to be that he was only licensed as a preacher.t This license was withdrawn by his bishop on account of his Puritanism. He thereupon drew round him a large Puritan congregation in the city of Norwich itself. But here both he and his hearers were exposed to so much persecution that he was compelled to leave the city. In the mean while he had been considering his relations to the Established Church, and he had been most reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he could no longer remain in its membership. When, therefore, he left Norwich it was as a Separatist. The Church at Scrooby having lost the Gainsborough contingent of their members, were now casting about for a spiritual leader; and accordingly John Robinson seems to have been directed to them in the year 1604. But gifted as were these two men with rare virtues of grace, godliness, and courage, there was a third who stood head and shoulders above them both. Possessor of the common name of John Robinson, he yet stands before us in history as the pioneer of principles which are now the axioms of the highest ecclesiastical and Nothing could appear more commoncivil philosophy of the times. The his place than the "settlement" of a Separattorical research of our day has done ist pastor over a small and weak commusomething to rescue his name from its nity like that which assembled at Scrooundeserved oblivion. He is to Indepen- by. And yet the future course of civil dency what George Fox is to the Society and religious liberty depended in a large of Friends; and his successors have al- measure upon that event. Robinson was ready done much to recognize his claims about to mould the minds which in their as their founder. His works have been turn would shape the destinies of the New industriously collected and ably edited; World. It is of the first importance, the facts of his life have been sought out therefore, that we should endeavor to unby Mr. Hunter with the earnestness of an derstand the nature of his convictions, antiquarian; and his place in the move- especially with regard to the relations of ments of the seventeenth century has been Church and State. This is rendered the conclusively pointed out by Dr. Wadding more necessary because our own historiton in his laborious "History of Congre- ans have, we fear, been content to obtain gationalism." It now only remains for their knowledge for the most part at secMr. Masson, and those who give us a ond hand. And, as a natural consequence, general view of those stirring and trou- both the tenets and the conduct of the bled times, to recognize the prominent settlers of New Plymouth have been misplace which Robinson holds as a teacher understood and misrepresented. Mr. S. and a reformer. He is evidently one of R. Gardiner, notwithstanding his usual those men who might be easily overlooked, accuracy, tells us that Rhode Island for he was not a destroyer of old systems" was the first Christian community which so much as a quiet constructor of new and better ones. The elements of society became plastic in his hand, and with the sagacity and foresight which are found only in the highest statesmanship he built. up a form of government which harmonized the difficulties of his own day and also those of future generations. was established on the basis of the open and complete acknowledgment of religious liberty." Mr. J. R. Green slips with Hunter's Founders of New Plymouth, p. 92, et passim. † History of Congregationalism in Norfolk and Suffolk, p. 63. By John Browne, B. A. Jarrold and Son. 1878. S. R. Gardiner's "The Personal Government of his flowing and fascinating rhetoric from the Pilgrims to the Puritans as though they formed the same company and held the same principles. After a brief sketch of the Pilgrim Fathers and their landing on the New England shores, he adds, "From the moment of their establishment the eyes of the English Puritans were fixed on the little Puritan settlement in North America." * Words here are important. It is evident that the distinction between Puritan and Pilgrim principles has not been seen, and it has therefore not been presented. And, as a consequence, the whole colony is lumped together, and we are informed that "with the strength and manliness of Puritanism its bigotry and narrowness had crossed the Atlantic too." It is evident that Mr. Green includes the Pilgrims with those who were guilty of persecuting Roger Williams and of driving him from the colony; or at least he makes no attempt to vindicate their character. These misconceptions are very natural, but they are not worthy of English historians. They arise from the fact that the cue has never been given by any noteworthy writer on this side of the Atlantic; and hence we search the brilliant pages of our best authors for a distinction which, when once seized, could never be lost. For were any one of our painstaking historians to be convinced that the Pilgrims were as distinct from Puritans as modern Congregationalists are from the Evangelical party in the Established Church, his story of that tragic struggle for liberty under Elizabeth and the Stuarts would receive a new and a warmer coloring. 66 We must, however, return to Robinson, in whose teachings and writings are to be found, if we mistake not, the germs of all that is now meant by the newly-coined and pregnant phrase, religious equality." The errors and inaccuracies of which we complain begin at this point. We confess that John Robinson's exposition of Church principles cannot be read without Charles I.," vol. ii., p. 279. See also "Prince Charles," vol. ii., pp. 34-62, where Mr. Gardiner closes an otherwise fair and full account of the Separatists by saying that Robinson's views were accompanied by much 66 narrowness of mind and intolerance of spirit." "A Short History of the English People" p. 493. By J. R. Green, M.A. Also "History of the English some weariness to the flesh. But if we wish to ascertain his views this weariness ought perhaps to be encountered. Mr. Masson, however, in quoting a most important passage from Robinson's work, is content to do so at second hand.* And, as a result, he quotes words correctly enough; but fails to catch the drift of Robinson's argument. What that drift is it would be tedious to explain. It is evident that Robinson believed that Christianity could be promulgated only by persuasion. One of his sections is headed "Moral means only allowed by Christ; "† and the whole tenor of his work is to show that the kingdom of heaven is spiritual in its nature. He had, however, to deal with those who drew most of their arguments from the Old Testament. And conse quently there is much abstruse writing about the doings of the kings of Judah, whose example seems to have had greater weight than it would have at the present time. Amongst other things Robinson tries to show that Hebrew reformations generally took place with the consent of the people at large; and under similar circumstances he seems to think that godly magistrates may put down public and notable idolatry. A part of this sentence is quoted by Mr. Masson, who obtained it from Fletcher's "History of Independency;" and the other part of the sentence, where Robinson denies that any king is to "draw all the people of his nation into covenant with the Lord," is inadvertently omitted. We grant that, even were the whole sentence quoted, the view which Mr. Masson takes of its meaning would receive some apparent corroboration. But the sentence must be looked at in connection with the somewhat antique argument of which it forms a part. And above all the strong, clear, and forcible statements in favor of the absolute spirituality of the Christian Church, together with the impressive protests against the employment of force in reli. gious matters, must, we think, be accepted as finally determining his standpoint in reference to the Church and State question. But Mr. Masson, having convinced himself on the slender quotation to which we have referred that Robinson, "the liberal Robinson," held that the magis People," vol. iii., p. 168. In this volume Mr. Green makes one or two verbal alterations. He has discov-trate was bound to interfere on behalf of ered that the Independents were driven to Amsterdam, the orthodoxy of the churches and the reliand not to Rotterdam; but he still asserts that this exile took place in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, whereas the Scrooby people did not leave England till 1607. He is evidently thinking of the migration under Johnson and Ainsworth in 1597. ↑ Ibid. p. 498. The Life of Milton in connection with the History of his Time, vol. ii., p. 570. By David Masson. † Works of Robinson, vol. ii., p. 307. Edited by Robert Ashton. " The gious good of his subjects - finds it easy reigns of Elizabeth and of James I. But, to affirm that this Robinsonian Indepen- on the whole, events were fermenting in dency was carried over to New England. the direction of individual liberty. Another link in the chain is given when repressive policy of Elizabeth had driven it is stated that "both in Massachusetts the thought of England into literary diand in New Haven church membership rections. The Reformation had been ac was a condition of the franchise."* Mr. companied by a Renaissance in culture as Masson makes the significant admission well as in art and architecture. The mind that there was no express rule to this of man had been bursting its swaddling effect in the constitutions of New Ply-clothes from the time of Michael Angelo mouth and Connecticut; but he adds, and Savonarola to that of Erasmus and "There seems to have been tantamount Martin Luther. Florence, the birthplace custom." + No authority whatever is of the new classical reform, was linking quoted, and no arguments are adduced itself to Geneva, the birthplace of the for the existence of this "custom." What new religious reform. But in England if the "custom never existed? But the artistic and the religious movements from these second-hand quotations and seemed to go hand in hand. And it was these apparent "customs it is again an because Elizabeth kept down the fires of easy step to include both Pilgrims and religious zeal with such tremendous force, Puritans under one sweeping designation, that the flame of literary beauty and culand to give particulars of the persecutions ture burned so much the more conspicuin which they were all engaged. The ously. In a seething age like the ElizaNew Englanders "resorted to actual per- bethan, the energies of men must have secution." The Individualism of Roger some outlet. If the devotional and theoWilliams, Anabaptism, and Antinomian- logical side of human nature was reism; these three isms came under the pressed, the artistic side would be all the lash of the Puritans, and of course the more exuberant, and tend, in its very Pilgrims were parties to these shameful riches, to a voluptuous luxuriance. While acts. But were they? We shall see. the stern struggles, of which the Pilgrim Historians on the other side of the exodus was the issue, were proceeding, Atlantic are more just to the Pilgrims. England was not without its pageants, its They have had opportunities of watching lighter moods, and its daring intellectual the growth of the mixed and varied ele- enterprise. These may seem at first sight ments which have made modern America; like the fiddling of Nero while Rome was and they have not failed to see that the burning. They were, however, forces Pilgrims brought to New Plymouth be- which were working in favor of the elasliefs peculiar to themselves. Bancroft in ticity, and consequently of the freedom, particular, besides giving a graphic ac of the human mind. Shakespeare's dracount of their hardships and of the vicis- mas opened out continents of beauty as situdes through which they passed, does important in their own sphere as the disfull justice to the principles which they coveries of Columbus in the previous held so dear. He says that "their resi-generation had been in the physical world. dence in Holland had made them ac- They presented history in a very vivid quainted with various forms of Christianity, a wide experience had emancipated them from bigotry, and they were never betrayed into the excesses of religious persecution, though they sometimes permitted a disproportion between punishment and crime." § This verdict is not only corroborated by a close examination of Robinson's writings, but also by a comparison of the struggles of this part of the Puritan army with the general movements of the time. No distinct theory of the functions of the State had crystallized itself during the * Life of Milton, vol. ii., p. 570. + Ibid. p. 572. Ibid. p. 573. form, and, often enabling the people to grasp through dramatic presentation the facts of the past, they suggested very wholesome lessons for their own day. The time of action is the time of prose. When men smelt the battle from afar, they found no inclination for flights of imagination. Poetry declined during Shakespeare's own life, though in his own soul it ever burned a brighter and brighter light till his death in 1616. Hooker and Bacon were now to be the great names in the intellectual world. And apart from them England had to be satisfied with published sermons, small treatises, and controversial tracts, which, like puffs of smoke, served to show the positions in SG. Bancroft, History of the United States, vol. i., which the deadly fray was to be carried p. 242. on. |