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 One
is surely naive and lacking in historical acumen who thinks the
Reformation in England was brought about by Henry VIII’s
desire for divorce. We have briefly discussed the work of John
Wycilf (late 14th. century); and a less-abridged history would
trace the growing desire for political and religious freedom
which prepared England for her break with the Pope. The
unsettled times are seen by noting that Tyndale’s New
Testament was publicly condemned by the King’s council in
1530, and Tyndale strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. But
the break with Rome (about 1534) was followed by an official
issue of an English translation of the Bible in 1537. There was
yet to come the exploits of “Bloody Mary” and her execution
of Protestant leaders; then the crowning of Queen Elizabeth
(1559) and the passing of the “Act of Uniformity.” The
country had become officially “protestant” with a vengeance,
enforcing by law an adherence to a State religion.
Out
of this background came the “Independents” and their
distinctive contribution to a free church. As early as 1567
there are traces of small groups in London who opposed the
system of national churches. In 1583 two preachers, Thacker and
Copping, were put to death for the implied denial of the queen’s
supremacy. Congregationalist Henry Barrowe “denied that the
Church of England in its national form is the true Church of
Christ. He denied that the queen could make laws for the Church
which were not first made by Christ. He asserted that each
particular church should govern itself, and have an eldership of
its own.” (Fisher, p. 461.) He was executed (along with
fellows Greenwood and Penry) in 1593. What price freedom?
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But
John Robinson is likely considered the founder of Independence
as a developed and organized system. Belknap (via Shepherd, “Falling
Away and Restoration,” p. 139) names some of their principles.
1. No church ought to consist of more members than can meet in
one place for worship and discipline. 2. A church of Christ is
to consist only of such as appear to believe in and obey Him. 3.
Any competent number of such have a right, when conscience
obliges them, to form themselves into a distinct church. 4. They
have a right to choose their own officers. 5. These officers are
teaching elders, ruling elders, and deacons. 6. Such elders have
no power to rule the church, but by consent of the brethren. 7.
All elders and churches are equal in respect to power and
privileges. 8. The Lord’s Supper is to be received sitting at
the table. (When in Holland they observed it every Lord’s
Day.) 9. Ecclesiastical censures are wholly spiritual, and not
to be accompanied with temporal penalties.
Harassment
drove the church at Scrooby, England, to move to Amsterdam,
Holland, in 1608. Internal problems moved them on to Leyden in
1609; and some ten years later these “pilgrims” boarded the
Mayflower, and came to the New England coast of our America —
landing in December, 1620.
We
hope you will preserve these historical sketches, rereading and
connecting the series that will run (D.V.) throughout Vol. 12,
Plain Talk.
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