Radical Puritans in England 1550 - 1660 by R.J. Acheson

Author:R.J. Acheson [Acheson, R.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe, Renaissance
ISBN: 9781317880707
Google: Ms0FBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-07-15T16:06:04+00:00

The General Baptists

The first significant event as far as this group was concerned during the 1640s was the meeting of all London General Baptists at Whitechapel in January 1641 (62). By and large, this was a meeting of the three General Baptist churches, but the dominant figure was Thomas Lambe. Not only did his meetings thereafter become notorious, but his church also became a nursery for some of the most influential Baptist preachers of the decade, such as Samuel Oates, Henry Denne, and Jeremiah Ives. Their use of propaganda can arguably be said to have been of real influence on the development of Leveller political techniques, and it is no coincidence that Samuel Oates was to be found distributing that cornerstone of Leveller political demands, The Agreement of the People, in Stamford in 1647.

Equally, their evangelistic tours foreshadowed those of the Quakers in the latter half of the 1650s. Between 1641 and 1646, Lambe himself went through Gloucestershire, Norfolk, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, and Wiltshire, whilst between 1645 and 1648 Oates was to be found in several of those counties and in Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire and Rutland as well. On each occasion, these and other Baptist itinerants left behind them small groups of converts whom they encouraged to set up Baptist churches. Unlike the Particular Baptists, however, there seems to have been little attempt made to establish a formal organisation or framework within which these churches could operate, although Dr White argues that such an interpretation may only appear valid because of a lack of documentary evidence. There is a suggestion that the General Baptist churches of the East Midlands enjoyed some kind of association, as did those in Cambridgeshire (68). Likewise, the Baptist churches of Kent appear to have met on at least two occasions in order to discuss matters of doctrine. These two meetings may have been occasioned by a crisis over the whole question of salvation and therefore may well have been unrepresentative, but it is significant that the church book of the General Baptists of Smarden, a village in the heart of the Kentish Weald, refers to ‘quarterly meetings’ held with their counterparts just over the border in Sussex (90).

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