Chronicles of the Pilgrim fathers of the colony of Plymouth, from 1602-1625 online

which Francis Johnson, mentioned
in note ' on pace 24, was pastor.
See Fuller's Ch. Hisi. iii. 136 ; Hal-
lam's Const. Hist. i. 230, (4lo ed.) ;
Prince's Annals, p. 303.

* Stow, in his Chronicle, page
6^7, says, " Elias Thacker was
hanged at Saint Edmondshury on
the 4th of June, 1583, and John
Coping on the 6th of the same



month, for spreading certain books
seditiously penned by one Robert
Browne against the Bock of Com-
mon Prayer established by the laws
of this realm. Their books, so
many as could be found, were burnt
before them." See Strype's Annals,
iii. 186; Fuller's Ch. Hist. iii. 66;
Neal's Puritans, i. 254, 260, (4lo.
ed.)

^ This was Lord John Popham,
Chief Justice of England, who af-
terwards took so deep an interest
ill the colonization of New Eng-
land, and was foremost in planting
the abortive colony at Sagadahoc
in 1607. See note ' on page 50,
and note ^ on page 112; and Wood's
Athen. Oxon. i. 342.



428 THESE MARTYRS NOT BROWNISTS.

CHAP. For Mr. Penry, how unjustly he was charged, him-
^^v^ self hath made manifest to the Avorld in his books, and
that Declaration which he made a little before his suf-
fering ; all which are extant in print, with some of his
godly letters/

As for Mr. Barrow and Mr. Greenwood, it also ap-
pears by their own writings how those statutes formerly
made against the Papists were wrested against them,
and they condemned thereupon ; as may be seen by
their Examinations.^

YOUNG MEN.

But these were rigid Brownists, and lie under much
aspersion, and their names much blemished and be-
clouded, uot only by enemies, but even by godly and
very reverend men.

ANCIENT MEN.

They can no more justly be called Brownists, than
the disciples might have been called Judasites ; for
they did as much abhor Brown's apostasy, and profane
course, and his defection, as the disciples and other
Christians did Judas's treachery.



' These tracts of Penry are in rowe, John Grenewood, and John
the Prince Collection, in the Lilira- Penrie, before the Higli Comniis-
ry of the Mass. Hist. Society. Hal- sioners and Lords of the Council ;
lam says, " Penry's protestation at penned by the prisoners themselves
his death is in a style of the most before their deaths." "Let any
affecting and simple eloquence." man read the examinations of Bar-
He was a graduate of O.xford, and row and Greenwood, and I am mis-
was charged with being one of the taken if he will not perceive a
author's of Martin Mar-Prelate, plain-hearted Christian simplicity
See Wood's Aihen. Oxon. i. 258 — in their behaviour, and an inhu-
261 ; Hallairi's Const. Hist. i. 221, man spirit of cruelty and tyranny
and Neal's Puritans, i. 374 — 379. in their persecutors." Peirce's

* In the Harleian Miscellany, ii. Vindication of the Dissenters, page

10 — 42 (Svo. ed.) may be seen 146.
" The Examinations of Henry Bar-



HENRY BARROW, THE MARTYR. 429

And for their rigid and rouo;hness of spirit, as some chap.

• XXVI

of them, especially Mr. Barrow, is taxed, it may be — v^^
considered they were very rigidly and roughly dealt
with, not only by the Lord's enemies and their ene-
mies, but by some godly persons of those times, ditfer-
ing in opinions from them ; which makes some of us
call to mind what one Doctor Taylor hath written in a
late book in these stirring times. " Such an eminent
man," saith he, " hath had the good hap to be reputed
orthodox by posterity, and did condemn such a man
of such an opinion, and yet himself erred in as con-
siderable matters ; but meeting with better neigh-
bours in his life-time, and a more charitable posterity
after his death, hath his memory preserved in honor ;
and the other's name suffers without cause." Of which
he gives instances in his book entitled The Liberty of
Prophesying, page 33 and following.

We refer you to Mr. Robinson's Answer to Mr. Ber-
nard,' where he charges him with blasphemy, railing,
scoffing, &c. " For Mr. Barrow," saith Mr. Robinson,
" as I say with Mr. Ains worth, that I will not justify
all the words of another man, nor yet mine own, so say
I also with Mr. Smith, that because I know not by
what particular motion of the Spirit he was guided to
write in those phrases, I dare not censure him as you
do ; especially considering with what fiery zeal the
Lord hath furnished such his servants at all times, as
he hath stirred up for special reformation. Let the
example of Luther alone suffice, whom into what terms
his zeal carried, his writings testify ; and yet both in
him and in Mr. Barrow there might be with true spi-

' See the title of this work in note ' on page 40.



430 SLANDERS AGAINST BARROW.

CHAP, ritual zeal fleshly indignation mingled." Answer to

ii^ Mr. Bernard, folio 84.

And further in page 86 he saith, that " such harsh
terms wherewith he entertains such persons and things
in the church as carry with them most appearance of
holiness, thej are to be interpreted according to his
meaning, with this distinction, that Mr. Barrow speaks
not of these persons and things simply, but in a re-
spect, and so and so consid>ered ; and so no one term
given by Mr. Barrow but may, at the least, be tole-
rated."

YOUNG MEN.

But divers reverend men have expressed concerning
this matter that God is not wont to make choice of men
infamous for gross sins and vices before their calling, to
make them any instruments of reformation after their
calling, and proceed to declare that Mr. Barrow was a
great gamester and a dicer when he lived in court, and
getting much by play, would boast of loose spending
it with courtesans, &c.

ANCIENT MEN.

Truly, with due respect to such reverend men be it
spoken, those things might well have been spared from
putting in print, especially so long after his death,
when not only he, but all his friends are taken out of
the world, that might vindicate his name. That he
was tainted with vices at the court before his conversion
and calling, it is not very strange ; and if he had lived
and died in that condition, it is like he might have
gone out of the world without any public brand on his
name, and have passed for a tolerable Christian and



xiii. 13.



VINDICATION OF BARROW. 431

member of the church. He had hurt enough done chap.
him, whilst he lived, by evil and cruel enemies ; why i^iL
should godly men be prejudicated to him after his
death in his name ? Was not the Apostle Paul a per-
secutor of God's saints unto death ? And doth not the
same Apostle, speaking of scandalous and lascivious
persons, say, " And such were some of you ; but ye if""' -
are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our
God."

And if histories deceive us not, was not Cyprian a
magician before his conversion, and Augustine a Mani-
chaean ? And when it was said unto him in the voice
he heard, ToUe et lege, he was directed to that place of
Scripture, " Not in gluttony and drunkenness, nor in ^Ro",
chambering and wantonness, nor in strife and envy-
ing ; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and take
no thought for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it." ^
By which it may seem that if God do not^ make
choice of such men as have been infamous for gross
vices before their calling, yet sometimes he is wont to
do it, and is free to choose whom he pleaseth for
notable instruments for his own work. As for other
things that have been spoken of him and Mr. Green-
wood and Mr. Penry, we leave them as they are.
But some of us have reason to think there are some
mistakes in the relations of those things. Only we
shall add other public testimonies concerning them
from witnesses of very worthy credit, which are also
in print.

First, from Mr. Phillips. A famous and godly



1 This is the Geneva version. * The word ordinarily seems to
See note ' on page 14. havebeen accidentally omitted here.



^32 BARROW AND GREENWOOD.

CHAP, preacher, having heard and seen Mr. Barrow's holy

XXVI. . .

-^v^^ speeches and preparations for death, said, " Barrow,
Barrow, my soul be \\'ith thine ! " The same author
also reports, that Queen Elizabeth asked learned
Doctor Reynolds^ what he thought of those two men^
Mr. Barrow and Mr. Greenwood ; and he answered
her Majesty that it could not avail any thing to show .
his judgment concerning them, seeing they were put
to death ; and being loath to speak his mind further,
her Majesty charged him upon his allegiance to speak.
Whereupon he answered, that he was persuaded, if
they had lived, they would have been two as worthy
instruments for the church of God, as have been raised
up in this age. Her Majesty sighed, and said no more.
But after that, riding to a park by the place where
they were executed, and being willing to take further
information concerning them, demanded of the right
honorable the Earl of Cumberland, that was present
when they suffered, what end they made. He an-
svi'ered, " a very godly end, and prayed for your
Majesty, and the State," fcc.^ We may also add what
some of us have heard by credible information, that the
Queen demanded of the Archbishop^ what he thought

' Dr. John Reynolds, one of clined a bishopric. He died in
the most learned divines of his 1607. See Wood's Athen. Oxon.
age, was, according to Anthony i. 339 — 342; Prince's Worthies of
Wood, "the pillar of Puritanism, Devon, pp. 6S4 — 692; Fuller's Ch.
and the grand favorer of Noncon- Hist. iii. 172—193, 228, 230.
formiiy." He was born in Devon- * See Peirce's Vindication of the
shire in 1549, and educated in Cor- Dissenters, part i. p. 147, and
pus Christi College, Oxford, of Strype's Life of Bishop Aylmer, p.
which he was afterwards president. 247, and Neal's History of New
He was the principal champion of England, i. 71.
the Puritans at the Hampton Court ^ Whitgift. He succeeded Grin-
Conference, and was one of the dal in 1584, and held the see till
persons appointed by James to his death in 1694, the second year
make the English version of the of James's reign. See Fuller's Ch.
Bible now in common use. He Hist. iii. 66, 198.
had been Dean of Lincoln, and de-



BARROW'S CHARACTER. 433



^ XXVI.



of them in his conscience. He answered "he thought ch\p.
they were the servants of God, but dangerous to the
State." "Alas !" said she, " shall we put the servants
of God to death ?" And this was the true cause whj
no more of them were put to death in her da\ s.^



YOUNG MEN.

Did any of you know Mr. Barrow ? if we may be so
bold to ask, for we would willingly know what [was]
his life and conversation ; because some, we perceive,
have him in precious esteem, and others can scarce
name him without some note of obloquy and dislike.

ANCIENT MEN.

We have not seen his person ; but some of us have
been well acquainted with those that knew him fa-
miliarly both before and after his conversion ; and one
of us hath had conference with one that was his do-
mestic servant, and tended upon him both before and
some while after the same.

He was a gentleman of good worth, and a flourishing
courtier in his time, and, as appears in his own answers 15S6.
to the Archbishop and Doctor Cousens, he was some 19.'
time a student at Cambridge and the Inns of Court,
and accomplished with strong parts.

We have heard his conversion to be on this wise.
Walking: in London one Lord's dav with one of his
companions, he heard a preacher at his sermon very
loud, as they passed by the church. Upon which Mr.

' " There be grave professors, when she heard of it afterwards."

â– who lived near those occurrences, Cotton's Way, page 5. Bayliesays,

who speak of Queen Elizabeth as p. 14, that " Queen Elizabeth, by the

ignorant of Barrow's execution and evil adviceof ihecruelprelatesabout

Greenwood's, and displeased at it her, caused Barrow to be hanged."

55



434 BARROWS CONVERSION.

CHAP. Barrow said unto his consort, " Let us go in and hear
'J-v^ what this man saith that is thus earnest." " Tush,"
saith the other, " what ! shall we go to hear a man
talk .'^" &c. But in he went and sat down. And the
minister was vehement in reproving sin, and sharply
applied the judgments of God against the same ; and,
it should seem, touched him to the quick in such things
as he was guilty of, so as God set it home to his soul,
and began to work his repentance and conversion
thereby. For he was so stricken as he could not be
quiet, until by conference with godly men and further
hearing of the word, with diligent reading and medita-r
tion, God brought peace to his soul and conscience,
after much humiHation of heart and reformation of life ;
so as he left the court, and retired himself to a private
life, some time in the country and some time in the
city, giving himself to study and reading of the Scrip-
tures and other good works very diligently. And be-
ing missed at court by his consorts and acquaintance,
it was quickly bruited abroad that Barrow was turned
Puritan. What his course was afterwards, his writings
show, as also his sufferings and conference with men
of all sorts do declare, until his life was taken from
him.

And thus much we can further affirm, from those
that well knew him, that he was very comfortable to
the poor and those in distress in their sufferings ; and
when he saw he must die, he gave a stock for the
relief of the poor of the church, which was a good help
to them in their banished condition afterwards. Yea,
and that which some will hardly believe, he did much
persuade them to peace, and composed many differ-
ences that were grown amongst them whilst he lived,



THE SEPARATISTS AND PURITANS, 435

and would have, it is like, prevented more that after chap.

• 1 ^ XXVI.

fell out, if he had continued. ^— v-^

YOUNG MEN.

We thank you for your pains. We hope it will
extend further than our satisfaction. W^e cannot but
marvel that such a man should be by so many aspersed.

ANCIENT MEN.

It is not much to be marvelled at ; for he was most
plain in discovering the cruelty, fraud, and hypocrisy
of the enemies of the truth, and searching into the cor-
ruptions of the time, which made him abhorred of
them ; and peradvcnture something too harsh against
the baitings of divers of the preachers and professors
that he had to deal with in those times, who out of
fear or weakness did not come so close up to the truth
in their practice as their doctrines and grounds seemed
to hold forth. Which makes us remember what was the
answer of Erasmus to the Duke of Saxony, when he
asked his opinion whether Luther had erred. He an-
swered, "his opinions were good, but wished he would
moderate his style, which stirred him up the more
enemies, no doubt."

YOUNG MEN.

We find in the writings of some such who were very
eminent in their times for piety and learning, that those
of the Separation^ found more favor in our native coun-
try than those who were reproached by the name of
Puritans ; and after much discourse thereabouts, come

' For an account of the difference aratists, see Prince's Annals, pp.
between tiie Puritans and the Sep- 302 — 305.



436



SUFFERINGS OF THE PURITANS.



CHAP, to this conclusion, that no comparison will hold from
^^^-^ the Separatists to them in their sufferings but a minori ;
and then thej go on and say, what a compulsory ban-
ishment has been put upon those blessed and glorious
lights, Mr. Cartvvright,^ Mr. Parker,^ Doctor Ames, &c.

ANCIENT MEN.

Far be it from any of us to detract from or to ex-
tenuate the sufferings of any of the servants of God,
much less from those worthies forenamed, or any others
afterwards mentioned. Yet, under favor, we crave
pardon if we cannot consent to the judgment of such
eminent ones for piety and learning above hinted.
We doubt not, but do easily grant, that the sufferings
of those reproached by the name of Puritans were
great, especially some of them, and were better known
to those pious and learned [men] first above intimated,
than the sufferings of those that are reproached by the
name of Brownists and Separatists.^ But we shall



1 Thomas Cartwright, " chief of
the Nonconformists," as Fuller
calls him, was one of the most
learned scholars and skilful dis-
putants of his age. He was bora
in 1535, and educated at Cam-
bridge ; was fellow of Trinity Col-
lege, and Lady Margaret's profes-
sor of divinity. But venturing in
some of his lectures to point out
the defects in the discipline of the
Church, he was expelled from the
university. He then went to Ge-
neva, and afterwards became prea-
cher to the English merchants
at Antwerp. After his return from
Antwerp he was often in trouble
by suspensions, deprivations and
long imprisonment; till at length
the Earl of Leicester made him
governor of his hospital at War-
wick, where he died in 1603. See



Fuller's Ch. Hist. ii. 503, iii. 105,
165, 171; Neal's Puritans, i. 420._

" Robert Parker, a puritan di-
vine of Wiltshire, in consequence
of publishing a Treatise on the
Cross in Baptism, was obliged in
1607 to fly into Holland. Here he
would have been chosen pastor of
the English church at Amsterdam;
but the magistrates being afraid of
offending King James, he went to
Doesburgh, and became minister
of the garrison there, where he died
in 1630. See Wood's Athen. Oxon.
i.464 ; Peirce's Vindication, p. 171 ;
Neal's Puritans, i. 436, 456.

^ On the occasion of the passage
of a law of banishment against the
Separatists in 1593, Sir Walter
Raleigh said in the House of Com-
mons, ''In his conceit the Brown-
ists are worthy to be rooted out of



PERSECUTION OF THE SEPARATISTS. 437

give you some instances, and leave it to you and some chap.
others to consider of. v - v^

1. Though no more were publicly executed, yet
sundry more were condemned, and brought to the gal-
lows, and ascended the ladder, not knowing but they
should die, and have been reprieved, and after banish-
ed ; some of which we have known and often spoken
with.

2. Others have not only been forced into voluntary
banishment, by great numbers, to avoid further cruelty,
but divers, after long and sore imprisonment, have
been forced to abjure the land by oath, never to return
without leave. In anno 1604 four persons at once
were forced to do so at a public Sessions in London,
or else upon refusal they were to be hanged. This
their abjuration was done on the statute of the 35 of
Queen Elizabeth. Some of these we have also known.

3. We find mention in a printed book of seventeen
or eighteen that have died in several prisons in London
in six years' time before the year 1592, besides what
have been in other parts of the land, and since that
time, perishing by cold, hunger, or noisomeness of the
prison.

4. In the same year we find a lamentable petition, 15 92.
now in print, of sixty persons committed unbailable to
several prisons in London, as Newgate, the Gatehouse,
Clink, &c., being made close prisoners, allowing them
neither meat, drink, nor lodging, nor suffering any

a commonwealth; but what dan- afraid there is near twenty thou-

ger may grow to ourselves if this sand of them in England ; and

law passes, it were fit to be consid- when they are gone, who shall

^ed. If two or three thousand maintain their wives and child-

Brownists meet at the seaside, at ren ?" Simon D'Ewes's Journals,

whose charge shall they be trans- p. 517, and Peirce's Vindication,

ported? or whither will you send page 143.
them? I am sorry for it; I am



438 THE SEPARATISTS EXCOMMUNICATED.

CHAP, whose hearts the Lord would stir up for their relief,

XXVI. , I 1 •

■— — to have any access unto them ; so as they complain
that no felons, traitors, nor murderers in the land were
thus dealt with ; and so after many other grievous
complaints conclude with these words : " We crave
for all of us but the liberty either to die openly, or to
live openly in the land of our nativity. If we deserve
death, it beseemeth the majesty of justice not to see
us closely murdered, yea starved to death with hunger
and cold, and stifled in loathsome dungeons. If we
be guiltless, we crave but the benefit of our innocence,
viz. that we may have peace to serve our God and our
Prince in the place of the sepulchres of our fathers."^

And what numbers since those, who have been put
unto compulsory banishment and other hard sufferings,
as loss of goods, friends, and long and hard imprison-
ments, under which many have died, — it is so w^ell
known, that it would make up a volume to rehearse
them, and would not only equalize but far exceed the
number of those godly called Puritans that have suffer-
ed. Suppose they were but few of them ministers
that suffered, as above expressed ; yet their sorrows
might be as great, and their w^ants more, and their
souls as much afflicted, because more contemned and
neglected of men.

But some have said they were excommunicated ; and
that was no great matter as excommunications went in
those days. So were these, not only while they were
living, but some of them many times after they were
dead; and as some of the other were imprisoned, so
were more of these. But it is further said, all of
them were deprived of their ministry ; and so were

* See Peirce's Vindication of the Dissenters, part i. p. 144.



THE SEPARATISTS IMPRISONED AND BANISHED. 439

these of their livelihood and maintenance, although chap.
they had no offices to lose. But those remained still -^v^
in the land, and were succoured and sheltered bj good
people in a competent wise, the most of them, and
sundry of them lived as well, as may easily be proved,
if not better, than if they had enjoyed their benefices ;
whereas the other were, a great number of them, forc-
ed to fly into foreign lands for shelter, or else might
have perished in prisons ; and these poor creatures en-
dured, many of them, such hardships (as is well known
to some of us) as makes our hearts still ache to re-
member.

We some of us knew Mr. Parker, Doctor Ames, and
Mr. Jacob ^ in Holland, when they sojourned for a
time in Leyden ; and all three boarded together and
had their victuals dressed by some of our acquaintance,
and then they lived comfortable, and then they were
provided for as became their persons. And after Mr.
Jacob returned, and Mr. Parker was at Amsterdam,

1 Henry Jacob was born in the gre^ational Church. He continued
county of Kent in 1563, and was with his people about eight years,
educated at Oxford. He became a but in 1624, went to Virginia,
clergyman of the Church of Eng- where he soon after died. From
land, and as Anthony Wood says, the Library of the American Anti-
" was a person most excellently quarian Society, at Worcester, I
well read in theological authors, have obtained the use of a book
but withal was a most zealous written by Jacob, entitled ''An At-
Puritan, or as his son Henry used testation of many learned, godly
to say, the first Independent in and famous divines, lights of reli-
England." He wrote two treatises gion and pillars of the gospel, jus-
againstFrancis Johnson, the Brown- tifying this doctrine, viz. that the
ist, in defence of the Church of Eng- church government ought to be al-
land's being a true church. But ways with the people's free con-
flying from the persecution under sent. Anno Dom. 1613." pp. 323.
Bishop Bancroft in 1604, he fell in 16mo. This work is not contained
with John Robinson at Leyden, in Wood's list of Jacob's writings,
find conferring with him embraced nor is it mentioned by Ncal. See
his peculiar sentiments of church Wood's Athen. Oxon.i. 464 ; Neal's
government. On his return to Puritans, i. 438, 476 ; Mass. Hist.
England, he laid in 1616, the foun- Coll. xi. 164 — 167.
dation of an Independent or Con-



440 SUFFERINGS OF THE SEPARATISTS.

CHAP, where he printed some of his books, and Mr. Ames
-^-v~ disposed of himself to other places, it was not worse
with him ; and some of us well know how it fared
then with many precious Christians in divers times
and places. To speak the truth, the professors in
England, though many of them suffered much at the
hands of the prelates, yet they had a great advantage
of the Separatists ; for the Separatists had not only the
prelates and their faction to encounter with, (and what
hard measure they met with at their hands, above the
other, doth sufficiently appear by what is before de-
clared,) but also they must endure the frowns, and
many times the sharp invectives, of the forward minis-
ters against them, both in public and private ; and
what influence they had upon the spirits of the people,
is well enough known also ; by reason hereof the min-
isters in foreign countries did look awry at them when