Since these churches, though small, were all free and self-governing, they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by taking counsel together. But it led to an even bigger problem: every new Reformed church that came along aspired to remove itself even further from any hint of church of Rome than the churches before it. Thus they drifted further and further apart from one another in practice and as a result there came to be much strife, jealousy, discord, and bad blood between them.
