Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 1 HENRY BARROW 1575?–1625 AND THE EXILED CHURCH OF AMSTERDAM (1593–1622) Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 3 HENRY BARROW SEPARATIST (1550?–1593) AND THE EXILED CHURCH OF AMSTERDAM (1593–1622) by FRED. J. POWICKE, PhD Quinta Press Weston Rhyn 2008 Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 4 Quinta Press Meadow View, Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire, England, SY10 7RN Visit our web-site: http://www.quintapress.com ISBN 1 897856 xx x First published Layout copyright Quinta Press © 2008 4 Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 5 FIRST PROOF READING DRAFT 5 HENRY BARROW, SEPARATIST HENRY BARROW SEPARATIST 1550?–1593 AND THE EXILED CHURCH OF AMSTERDAM (1593–1622) BY FRED. J. POWICKE, PH.D. Author of “John Norris of Bemerton,” &c. Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 6 6 HENRY BARROW SEPARATIST (1550?–1593) LONDON JAMES CLARKE & CO., 13 &: 14, FLEET STR.EET 1900 TO REV. ALEXANDER MACKENNAL, B.A., D.D., OF BOWDON, IN RECOGNITION OF HIS INTIMATE ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE “ORIGINS” OF ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALISM, AND IN GRATITUDE FOR MUCH PERSONAL KINDNESS TO THE WRITER. PREFACE. THIS book has grown out of a series of twelve “Short Lectures on the Origin of Congregationalism,” delivered to my own people during the winter months of 1896–7, in connection with the “Ter-centenary Celebration.” Two of them dealt directly with Barrow and the Amsterdam Church. In preparing the one on Barrow, it struck me that his relative importance in the story of the Separatists had not been fully appreciated; and I thought that the best way to test the accuracy of this impression would be to undertake a fresh study, first of all, of his own writings. I hoped, at the same time, that investigation of the “sources” might throw new light on the course of his life and his personal character. Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 7 FIRST PROOF READING DRAFT 7 So far as a discovery of new facts is concerned, I cannot say that the result; has quite answered expectation. Cor- rection of some errors and clearer arrangement are, perhaps, as much as can be claimed here. But, as to Barrow’s own position and influence, the result does seem to prove that he, rather than Robert Browne and John Robinson, deserves to be named emphatically the founder of English Congregationalism. Possibly such a judgment may be questioned; and whether it be sound or no the reader will decide for himself. Of one thing, however, I feel sure. No one will question the heroic quality of the man, his passionate devotion to an ideal end, his absolute single-heartedness. No one, moreover, will question that the worth of his example in these respects viii cannot be too strongly commended to his descendants of these later and laxer days. When the lecture on the Amsterdam Church was due, Mr. Arber’s “Story of the Pilgrim Fathers” had just come out. More than one paper of good standing praised it highly; and this, together with the writer’s reputation for scholarly research, made me turn to it eagerly. I did not doubt his rather bold assertion that every item and statement in the book was of the nature of “solid rock”—“absolutely or morally certain”: though it was rather startling to learn that the actual truth about the poor exiled Church was worse than one had imagined; that, under Francis Johnson and Ainsworth, Barrow’s goodly company of saints had lapsed so swiftly into a mere “rebellious rout.” Still more startling was it to behold Johnson himself “unmasked” as a “hypocrite,” a “thoroughly bad man.” It was, indeed, the feeling that perhaps Mr. Arber had unwittingly done injustice to Johnson which induced me to examine some of his references. What revealed itself was so surprising and disappointing as to shake at once my confidence in his trustworthiness. With a view, therefore, to getting at the facts I took pains to consult all the authorities which underlie his account of the exiled Church. The last chapter of the second part is the outcome. Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 8 8 HENRY BARROW SEPARATIST (1550?–1593) Concerning the book as a whole, I will only venture to add that at least it is not “second-hand.” Of course, much old ground has had to be traversed, and possibly there is little or nothing in it that is new. The “ aftermath” could scarcely fail to be somewhat slight when reapers like Wad- dington, Dexter, Brown, and Mackennal have been in the field. But even with regard to familiar facts and statements, it has been my aim to verify them wherever possible; while, in the case of Barrow himself and his contemporaries, I have ix striven to let nothing pass for which his own or their evidence could not be cited. I had hoped to give a more definite place to John Green- wood, and had written a chapter on him, as well as another on his and Barrow’s protagonist, George Gifford, of Maldon; but considerations of space ruled these out. The omission, however, is no real loss. For—if one knows the mind of Barrow, one may be said to know Greenwood’s; and if one (writes of Barrow one can hardly help including in the narrative the few transmitted details which pertain to his friend. As to Gifford, though he should be conspicuous—more so than he has been— in a history of the Puritans, the special significance of his relation to the Separatists may be easily gathered from the chapter on the “Reformists.” Most of the quotations from Barrow and others have been conformed to our present mode of spelling. There are those who make a great point of printing an old author exactly as he appeared at first; and sometimes this may be of importance, but not when the spelling is so arbitrary as it was 300 years ago. “For,” as Dean Church remarks, “spelling in Hooker’s (i.e., Barrow’s) time, and for long afterwards, was not only, anomalous, as ours also is, but anomalous with an apparent unconsciousness of the possibility of regularity. The spelling of the same word sometimes varies within two lines. The use of double letters, or the interchange of vowels and diphthongs in the same word, often seems a mere matter of haphazard.” Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 9 FIRST PROOF READING DRAFT 9 I ought to say that I am indebted to my son, Mr. F. M. Powicke, B.A., of Balliol College, for the exhaustive index. THE PARSONAGE, HATHERLOW, NEAR STOCKPORT. August, 1900. CONTENTS. PAGES INTRODUCTION xiii–xlvii PART I. CHAPTER I.—Henry Barrow 1–82 NOTE I.—Was Barrrow Marprelate? 82–5 NOTE II.—Comparison of Lists of Separatist Prisoners 85–7 CHAPTER II.—Barrow’s Doctrine of the Church 91–127 NOTE I.—Barrow’s Views as to the Ecclesiastical Powers of the Prince 128–9 NOTE II.—Barrow’s Argument for the Destruction of Churches 129–131 CHAPTER III.—Barrow and the Reformists 135–157 CHAPTER IV.—The Bishops of Barrow’s Day 161–181 CHAPTER V.—Archbishop Whitgift and his Ecclesiastical Polity185–197 CHAPTER VI.—Barrow and the Anabaptists 201–218 PART II. CHAPTER I.—The Exiled Church 221–261 CHAPTER II.—The Question of the Eldership at Amsterdam and Leyden 265–284 CHAPTER III.—Professor Arber and the Amsterdam Church 287–325 APPENDICES. No. I.—The Scholar of Oxford 329 No. II.—The Earliest Separatist Manifesto 330 No. III.—The Chronology of Barrow’s Writings (and Greenwood’s) 331–341 Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 10 10 HENRY BARROW SEPARATIST (1550?–1593) No. IV.—The Two Editions of “A True Description of the Visible Church” 342–347 No. V.—The Separatists’ Seven Questions 348–349 INDEX OF REFERENCES 351–353 GENERAL INDEX 355–363 [[GREEK]]mæ eÑk¡ peri tÓn megÖstwn sumbalËmeqa[[GREEK]]. MOTTO OF HERACLEITUS. INTRODUCTION. I THINK it quite likely that anyone who may care to read this book will find himself wondering whether it was worth while to spend so much pains on such a subject. Certainly, the story is not, in itself, very attractive. We know too little of Barrow to make possible a full-length portrait of him; and what we do know, drawn as it is from the last few years of his life, presents him in connection with circumstances scarcely fitted to elicit the finer and sweeter elements of character. And as to the Amsterdam Church, when every effort has been made to do it justice, it still brings before us a somewhat sordid scene, nowise remarkable for loftiness of life, thought, or aim. Moreover, the things for which Barrow and his fellows contended and suffered may appear so trivial—not the central questions which concern the “spirit’s true endow- ment,” or its practical relations to life and godliness, nor yet the universal problems which ennoble the quest of philosophy, but the structure and government of a Church! No doubt Barrow evinced the courage of a martyr; but martyrdom, it may be said, becomes a vain self-sacrifice if it be not inspired by some adequate motive; and, seeing that he held the common faith of Christians in all other respects, was he right to “strive and cry” and throwaway his life for the poor remainder? John Smyth said, as he neared the end of his brief and stormy career, “My desire is to end controversies among Christians rather than, to make and maintain them— especially in matters of the outward Church and ceremonies; Henry Barrow v1.qxp:Henry Barrow Separatist 26 12 2008 19:14 Page 11 FIRST PROOF READING DRAFT 11 and it is the grief of my heart that I have so long cumbered myself and spent my time therein; and I profess that differ- xiv ences of judgment for matters of circumstance, as are all things of the outward Church, shall not cause me to refuse the brotherhood of any penitent and faithful Christian whatsoever.” Not a few must read such words with keen sympathy.