make them worthy to be placed beside the dying testimonies of any other Christian martyrs. His enemies could not in his books or by inquisitorial examination gain sufficient evidence to convict him of sedition; but among his private papers they had come upon some notes concerning a memorial to the Queen which he had thought of preparing. On these, which had never been seen before by anyone but himself, they prepared their indictment. He was tried at Westminster Hall, without being allowed to defend himself by counsel, and of course was convicted. Four days later he was sentenced; and on the fourth day after that, at five o'clock in the afternoon he was taken in a cart to the second milestone on the Kent road and hanged on a tree. The time chosen was an unusual hour in order that his friends might not be present. To the few who had been drawn to the place by seeing the gallows suddenly prepared, he wished to speak; but no word was he allowed to utter. So suffered John Penry at thirty-three years of age, the last of the English martyrs for Congregationalism.

CHAPTER III.

CONGREGATIONALISTS IN EXILE IN HOLLAND.

T had now become evident that English Congrega

IT

tionalists could find neither home nor safety in their native land. Just before his death Penry had counseled the church to seek in a body a refuge in some other country. This advice indeed had been made. imperative by an Act of Parliament passed the day after the execution of Barrowe and Greenwood, imposing banishment and forfeiture of property on every Separatist who, after three months imprisonment, refused to conform. The following year such as could escaped to Holland, and after some months settled in Amsterdam. Francis Johnson and his brother George remained another year in different prisons, but finally they were tried and banished for life. With two others, they were sent on two merchant vessels to America, but one of the ships having been wrecked off the coast of Newfoundland, the other took on board the passengers and crew, and put back to England. From thence the two brothers and a number of other Separatists found their way to Amsterdam.

Just before Penry's death he had advised the London Church to consult with their brethren in the west and north country. Quite a number of them were to be found in the counties of Lincoln, York and Nottingham. From being Puritans they became Separatists, and finally, by necessity, some became Pilgrims. Earnest

preachers of the gospel had stirred them to repentance and to the study of the Bible. Holy living exposed them to the scorn of their profligate neighbors. Their efforts quietly to worship God in their own way in private houses brought on them the forces of ecclesiastical oppression, just as their brethren in Norwich and London were being persecuted, perhaps about the same time. Under this hard discipline they became in process of years a people by themselves, and in 1602 a number of them covenanted together, forming a church which centered at Gainsborough, "to walk with God and with one another, in the enjoyment of the ordinances of God, according to the primitive pattern in the Word of God." The next year Queen Elizabeth died, and some hope of relief came to them from the coming of James I. to the throne. But in this they were disappointed. James had some skill and scholarship, but far more conceit and selfishness. He was as hostile to Congregationalism as his predecessor had been.

In 1606 this Separatist Church, for convenience and safety in holding assemblies, divided into two bodies. One continued to meet in Gainsborough, with John Smyth as its pastor, till before the end of the year it emigrated to Amsterdam. The other became the historic church at Scrooby, twelve miles distant, meeting in the house occupied by William Brewster. He was a gentleman of property, about thirty-four years of age, had been educated at Cambridge University, had held office under the Queen, and was familiar with public affairs. He was living in an old manor house which had for a great many years been a possession of the church. and was at one time a residence of the Archbishop of

York. In that house was the beginning of New England.

Richard Clyfton was the pastor of the Scrooby Church. With him was associated as teacher John Robinson, a name famous in the annals of Congregationalism, always at the head of the historic list of Congregational ministers in the United States, although he never came personally to this country. He

was about twenty-five years old, a Master of Arts of Cambridge, and had recently been a fellow of Corpus Christi College. He is described as "a man of learned, polished and modest spirit, pious and studious of the truth, largely accomplished, with suitable gifts and qualifications." Later on, Brewster was chosen ruling elder. Thus this Scrooby Church, composed of sturdy rural Englishmen and their families, devotedly studious of the Word of God and loyal to consciences

enlightened by it, and manned by worthy and able leaders, was preparing itself to be the pioneer of Congregationalism, and of civil institutions in America.

Persecution grew hotter as their organization became known. Their houses were watched and searched by officers of ecclesiastical courts. They were driven from their places of employment. Some were imprisoned; till at last they resolved, like their brethren in London, to escape to the United States of the Netherlands, where there was religious freedom for all. The risk was great. They were mostly farmers. They were to take their chances in a strange land among people who spoke another language, and whose occupations were mainly manufactures and commerce.

It was the winter of 1607 when they planned to embark from Boston, a seaport about fifty miles distant from their homes. But their enemies were as unwilling to let them go as to allow them to stay. The shipmaster who had agreed to take them betrayed them, and they were arrested, maltreated and brought back from the vessel to the town. After a month of imprisonment, all except Brewster and six others were liberated, and these not long after regained their freedom. Six months later they made another attempt to depart, on a Dutch ship, from Hull. But when most of the men had got on board, the women and children being on a bark aground, were surprised by officers and taken, while the ship sailed away without them, and was driven about by storms for fourteen days before its passengers could land in Holland, uncertain about the fate of their families. Those left behind were in sad plight, but after a time and having endured many hardships they all came together again in Amsterdam.