Excerpt from The 'Retraction' of Robert Browne, Father of Congregationalism: Being 'a Reproofe of Certeine Schismatical Persons (I.e. Hnery Barrowe, John Greenwood, and Their Congregation) And Their Doctrine Touching the Hearing and Preaching of the Word of God', Written Probably Early in the Year 1588 Since Lost, and Now First Pu This fact, however, does not seem so strange when it is known that for some reason neither of these writings appears to be mentioned in the index of the catalogue. Thus easily was made this 'find' of the two most extended manuscripts of Browne's apparently still in existence. The present publication of the complete text of 'A reproofe' enables me to realize a hope that I have had in mind since the day of its discovery, for it gives a better idea of the Robert Browne of the early part of 1588, than has been furnished by any historian from that time to this. In the light of recent investigations it is true that Browne must still be held in higher regard as a thinker than as a man, though the most recent and as yet unpublished independent findings of the Rev. F. Ives Cater of Oundle, I believe, also agree with my own, that Browne has hitherto been much too severely criticized by his detractors and that in the latter part of his life he was perfectly sane, even though he did return into the bosom of the Church of England. It should be remembered that Browne was the contemporary of great men and great thinkers, and that in his way he is as notable as some men of much greater fame in other fields of thought. He was a person of great independence, which characteristic gained him no praise in his lifetime, though to-day it adds great interest to his writings and the study of his life. In summing up the results of recent studies concerning Browne, it may be said that during the last four and a half years the story of his life has been almost completely reconstructed by the discovery of many new facts, and by the elimination in so far as possible of the recurring mistakes of a long line of writers and historians. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.