For a long time the “Separatists,” as they were called, were as unpopular with the great body of Puritans as with the churchmen.  Popular aversion was expressed by the derisive name of “Brownists,” given them from Robert Browne, the first to set forth their doctrines in a formal pamphlet, entitled The Life and Manners of True Christians.  Their meetings were broken up by mobs, and worshippers were subjected to insults.[6]

Holland at that time was the only country enlightened enough to open its doors to all religions professing Jesus Christ; and as early as 1593 a Separatist congregation, which had come into existence at London, took refuge at Amsterdam, and they were followed by many other persons persecuted under the laws of Queen Elizabeth.  When she died, in 1603, there were hopes at first of a milder policy from King James, but they were speedily dispelled, and at a conference of Puritans and High Churchmen at Hampton Court in 1604 the king warned dissenters, “I will make them conform or I will harry them out of this land, or else worse”; and he was as good as his word.[7]

Several congregations of Separatists were located in the northeastern part of England, in some towns and villages in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire.  One held meetings, under Rev. John Smith, a Cambridge graduate, at Gainsborough, and another, under Richard Clifton as pastor and John Robinson as teacher, at the small village of Scrooby.  Persecuted by the king’s officers, these congregations began to consider the advisability of joining their brethren in Holland.  That of Gainsborough was the first to emigrate, and, following the example of the London church, it settled at Amsterdam.

In the second, or Scrooby, congregation, destined to furnish the “Pilgrim Fathers” of New England,[8] three men were conspicuous as leaders.  The first was John Robinson, a man, according to the testimony of an opponent, of “excellent parts, and the most learned, polished, and modest spirit” that ever separated from the church of England.  The second was the elder, William Brewster, like Robinson, educated at Cambridge, who had served as one of the under-secretaries of state for many years.  After the downfall of his patron, Secretary Davison, he accepted the position of postmaster and went to live at Scrooby in an old manor house of Sir Samuel Sandys, the elder brother of Sir Edwin Sandys, where, in the great hall, the Separatists held their meetings.[9] The third character was William Bradford, born at Austerfield, a village neighboring to Scrooby, and at the time of the flight from England seventeen years of age, afterwards noted for his ability and loftiness of character.