Dismissed by the Church: The Defiance of Richard Clifton

Richard Clifton (Clyfton) was a troublemaking minister during the late 1500s and early 1600s. He faced multiple disciplinary meetings for his noncompliance with church customs like announcing church holy days, making the sign of the cross during baptisms, or wearing a traditional white clergy robe. The Church of England dismissed him from his duties on March 15, 1605, when he would not pledge submission to new church laws. 

Finding kinship with Separatists in northern Nottinghamshire, Clifton joined the unauthorized church in Scrooby. There he became a crucial early mentor to William Brewster, William Bradford, and Pastor John Robinson who became the Pilgrims’ most cherished spiritual shepherd.  

After many Scrooby Separatists fled to Holland to escape English persecution, Clifton followed them to Amsterdam in 1608. He emerged as a prominent writer championing Separatist views and rebuking the English church. However, soon his views softened. Renouncing his earlier dogmatic positions, he began criticizing his former religious partners. 

The conflicts between Separatist churches in Amsterdam prompted John Robinson’s flock to move to Leyden. Clifton passed away in Amsterdam in 1616, four years before many among his former church left Holland for rugged New England.  

Despite Clifton’s surprising religious reversal, William Bradford remembered his former mentor fondly, describing him as a “fatherly old man” with a “great white beard, and it was a pity that such a reverend old man should be forced to leave his country, and at that age go into exile. But it was his lot, and he bore it patiently.”

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“We are afflicted on every side, yet are we not in distress: we are in doubt, but yet we despair not. We are persecuted, but not forsaken: cast down, but we perish not.”

(2 Corinthians 4:8-9; 1599 Geneva Bible)

Another Warrant for William Brewster

 On December 1, 1607, a second arrest warrant was issued for William Brewster, charged with being "disobedient in matters of religion." 

The Separatists who met in Brewster's home could no longer, in good conscience, worship with the Church of England. There were too many remnants of the Roman Catholic faith for their taste. In Brewster's Nottinghamshire home in Scrooby, England, they believed they could worship as their conscience dictated and avoid any conflicts with the local church authorities. This arrangement, however, did not last for long. 

Three years earlier, the Church of England issued 141 rules to force the Separatists into cooperation in matters of church beliefs and practices. But those new rules served only to toughen their determination to go their own way. King James feared that their religious rebellion may lead to a political rebellion and an attempt to overthrow his government. He angrily declared, "I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land." 

Archbishop Tobias Matthews made himself an expert on these religious radicals, reading every possible book on the subject. For harboring these disagreeable pietists and teaching them unlawful religious doctrines, the Archbishop declared that William Brewster was "a very dangerous schismatical Separatist." 

Brewster eventually paid the fines laid against him and two other Separatist friends, however he refused to appear in court to face the charges. Though he escaped arrest this time, it would not be England’s last attempt to bring him in for his religious rebellion. 

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“But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the assemblies, and into prisons, and bring you before Kings and rulers for my Name’s sake.” 

(Luke 21:12; 1599 Geneva Bible)