d the group of earnest worshipers in Scrooby, who had
first organized at Gainsboro in 1602, composed the earliest Puritan
church to stand and prosper, others following in a multitude as the
cause gained momentum.

Brewster was made Elder at Scrooby, and the boy Bradford was one of the
charter members. He accepted the instruction of kind friends who were
glad to satisfy his eager thirst for spiritual knowledge. Conspicuous
among these was Rev. Richard Clyfton of Babworth, who ministered to the
new church for a short time until their permanent pastor was secured,
the devout and learned John Robinson. But before the church was formed
in Gainsboro and Scrooby, when Bradford was hardly twelve he walked
every Sunday over the fields to Babworth, six or seven miles from
Austerfield, joining Brewster at Scrooby on the way. The Elder was made
Postmaster in the year his future Governor was born, and the two
Williams were lifelong intimates. Religiously he was like a father to
the boy.

With this unchecked expansion of his soul, young William's intellect was
also awakened. Though at first forbidden advanced schooling, he became a
self-taught man, a thoughtful student of history, philosophy and
theology, proficient also in linguistics, as the classic Latin and
Greek, and late in life, the original Hebrew of the Old Testament.

His joining with the Separatists from the Established State Church of
England was an act which offended his relatives and early acquaintances,
who tried in vain to make him abandon his stand; for he could not,
consistently with his convictions, comply with their desires. It was
observed that "neither could the wrath of his uncles, nor the scoff of
his neighbors, now turned upon him as one of the Puritans, divert him
from his pious inclinations". Thus he answered them, "To keep a good
conscience and walk in such a way as God has prescribed in his word is a
thing which I shall prefer above you all, and above life itself."

Government officers soon discovered this company of Dissenters, stopped
their meetings, and proceeded to make arrests. In the autumn of 1607
when seventeen years of age, Bradford and his associates endeavored to
go over to Holland, where religious liberty was allowed. He was one of
the chief advocates of this measure. But the ship master that was to
take them betrayed their plan to the authorities, who sent the Puritans
into prison at Boston in Lincolnshire. Next spring the same attempt was