Independents

One group formed an independent congregation in Norwich. One of their leaders was Robert Browne. He became sufficiently well-known for the movement to be called "Brownists". Their church members made a "covenant" (agreement) to meet together and support one another. They needed that support, because they met severe opposition. The bishops and the government lost patience, and took legal action against them. They put some members of the church in prison. In the end the pressure drove them, and many others like them, to the Continent. The Dutch government allowed greater freedom for people to follow their religious beliefs, so many English "Separatists" went to live there. They hoped that, one day, their own country would allow them to follow their ways of worship, and then they could return. The English Civil War was to be their opportunity. They took their place in English religious life as the Congregational Churches.

But, for one group of "Independents", the situation in England looked too unhopeful. They escaped by sailing to America. We remember them as the "Pilgrim Fathers". Their greatest leader was John Robinson. He is still famous for the words, "The Lord has more truth yet to break out of his holy Word". No-one, he believed, should be satisfied just to hold on to what people in the past have decided. God was moving on, and they followed him to New England.