We must now return to where we left the history of the third church of English Separatists in Holland. As we have seen, the Scrooby church, with Richard Clyfton as its pastor and John Robinson its teacher, eventually reached Amsterdam in 1608. The members did not choose to settle in the city, but within a few months they were seeking permission from the authorities at Leyden, about twenty-two miles off, to move there. This was duly granted, and all arrangements were concluded by 1609. Leyden was ‘a fair and beautiful city’, but there were other, deeper, reasons for the Scrooby church to move there. No doubt, the quarrels which would be sure to come about with the domineering Francis Johnson, the pastor of the Ancient church, in addition to the notorious troubles already taking place within that church, made Leyden seem very attractive. Endless, miserable wrangles held no pleasure for men like John Robinson and William Bradford. However, not all the church members were agreed that they should leave Amsterdam. Richard Clyfton, for one, stayed behind, since his sympathies had begun to lie with Francis Johnson and a more Presbyterian form of church government with its emphasis upon eldership rule. |